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[9:45] committee meeting for Monday December

[9:47] 4th 2023 and our first committee is

[9:50] Public Safety Mr Williams sorry calendar

[9:55] I okay I'd like to call to order of the

[9:58] Public Safety Committee we have two

[9:59] items on the agenda tonight the first of

[10:01] which the bring uh dfr drone as a first

[10:04] responder will be presented at a later

[10:06] date uh the second will be a uh cprb

[10:10] appointments and that'll be discussed

[10:12] by well may m is not will not be here I

[10:17] can discuss

[10:18] it I'll do my best hold on I'll the

[10:21] right page you don't

[10:23] mind is this an appointment yep it's an

[10:25] appointment uh the cprb so um

[10:33] uh smha and the League of Women Voters

[10:36] has proposed Tom bellik uh William

[10:39] neerman and Victoria Cooper to be on the

[10:42] cprb um attached to the legislative

[10:46] request um there's a letter from the

[10:48] mayor dated November

[10:50] 27th um as you can see all three um are

[10:56] reside within the city of SC

[10:59] um Mr Bell is being recommended by the

[11:03] municipal Housing Authority William

[11:05] nimman is being uh recommended by the

[11:07] League of Women

[11:09] Voters um with Victoria Cooper being the

[11:12] alternate

[11:13] representative um the resumés are also

[11:16] attached um so looking for um is

[11:20] proposed by the mayor looking for

[11:21] confirmation by the city council any

[11:24] questions or comments from Council

[11:26] Members move those second I just I just

[11:29] have a quick question I just um and

[11:32] probably should ask prior knowledge of

[11:34] this I was just wondering about like um

[11:37] uh our diversity on on this board I

[11:39] don't know um how um how much attention

[11:43] we're paying to that um I know that like

[11:46] function of this board is to kind of one

[11:48] of the things that they're doing is is

[11:50] also working to kind of strengthen the

[11:54] relationship between police and

[11:56] Community um you know there's special

[11:58] communic the color so I'm just wondering

[12:00] how much uh you know how many people of

[12:02] color on this board how many people from

[12:05] marginalized uh communities are

[12:07] representation on this board I just

[12:08] think it's something that we just need

[12:09] to be mindful of

[12:11] for M I can tell you that uh there is a

[12:14] representative from the nacp on the

[12:16] board and the gentleman that we just um

[12:19] appointed is who is he representing M

[12:21] Patrick he is represent you um but he I

[12:26] can't remember and we just voted on city

[12:29] council city council we we put them on

[12:31] all right so um that's two people that I

[12:33] can immediately think of um Brendan are

[12:36] you aware of all the other people that

[12:37] are on the board I I thought she was

[12:39] asking which uh organizations were

[12:42] appointing this one okay and and again

[12:45] just for Clear it's just something it's

[12:47] just uh something for us to just keep in

[12:49] mind it's not you know I don't think

[12:50] that that um disqualifies any of these

[12:52] candidates it's just something for us to

[12:53] be mindful and there is one other person

[12:55] um but she may be leaving so I know that

[12:58] um mam KUSI is also a member of the

[13:00] board I don't know um and and and and so

[13:03] so we can just talk it through um it's

[13:05] uh there's another person of color that

[13:07] was there well and she's decided to

[13:08] leave so there has been adequate

[13:10] representation some people have decided

[13:12] to leave on their own because their

[13:13] terms are up but that that has been one

[13:15] thing that um this board has been able

[13:17] to do pretty successfully so we'll just

[13:19] keep it in mind to make sure that we

[13:20] stay that successful yeah definitely so

[13:22] thank you for the question Dan I think

[13:24] it's also worth noting very much a good

[13:26] question making sure that we um Mr fary

[13:29] have a nice understanding of the

[13:30] framework in which this body functions

[13:33] uh again it's an extension of the

[13:34] community to make sure that any

[13:36] complaints uh pushed forward are

[13:38] evaluated and reviewed in the the most

[13:41] critical of lenses uh but definitely uh

[13:44] my comments had with Miss Denine who's

[13:47] the current chair uh definitely very

[13:49] reassured that this um board is doing

[13:51] the good work of the city and I've also

[13:53] had following conversations looking to

[13:55] see if there's a way to bring some of

[13:57] these findings to the community in a way

[13:59] we can address uh complaints um how

[14:02] they're conducted but also uh to provide

[14:04] some some background context for just

[14:06] how to properly submit these moving

[14:08] forward um so if there are any other

[14:10] questions or concerns I did have one

[14:12] from Mr C a second um do we need to pass

[14:15] these individually or can we do it all

[14:17] us you can do it all together all right

[14:19] M for so actually just want to step back

[14:22] to the first agenda item so if you want

[14:23] to finish passing that through think

[14:25] bring that up I believe Mr we already

[14:27] have a

[14:29] second by miss patri all in favor thank

[14:32] you I just want to just mention on the

[14:34] first agenda item which is being moved

[14:36] out for two weeks it was a request by um

[14:38] Chief Clifford he wanted to make sure

[14:40] that the he had people here who actually

[14:42] from the organization and from uh a

[14:45] community that's already using the the

[14:46] product so that if there were any

[14:48] questions that came up they'd be able to

[14:50] answer them adequately and you know they

[14:51] wouldn't be um it wouldn't just be the

[14:53] police department trying to go based on

[14:55] what they've read so he's he um

[14:56] requested that this be pulled and put

[14:58] out for two weeks so um you have the

[15:00] information to read so we'll give you an

[15:01] opportunity to read up on it and then

[15:03] when the time comes hopefully if you

[15:05] have any questions then we can be

[15:07] answered at that time thank you any

[15:09] other follow Public Safety Committee

[15:11] hearing none appr toour so move second

[15:13] all in

[15:14] favor thank you I'd like to call the

[15:17] order City development and planning we

[15:19] have five items on the agenda and the

[15:21] first one is the dcni Hamilton Hill

[15:23] infill arer extension request Miss

[15:27] parver Madam president city

[15:31] council um we have the bcni Hamilton

[15:34] Hill infut project bcni presented before

[15:37] the council in September we Quest

[15:39] requesting a six-month extension to

[15:41] allow them time to get leverage funds

[15:44] needed to to meet pre-contractual

[15:47] requirements um and today we have the

[15:50] new CEO Shane bargy here with us to

[15:53] hopefully provide additional Insight um

[15:56] on where they are with retaining that

[15:58] funding to support the

[16:07] request thank you bless you thank

[16:10] you good evening I'm Shane bargie I'm

[16:14] eight days on the job at bcni but many

[16:17] many years in the community run in the

[16:19] boys and girls club and was Deputy

[16:21] County Manager for the last year uh I

[16:24] know that our board president Chad

[16:26] kilborne was here a few weeks ago and he

[16:28] spoke about uh looking for an extension

[16:31] to these arpa funds and as a result of

[16:34] the unpredictable nature of grant

[16:35] funding streams as well as the need to

[16:38] use the arpa funds as intended we've

[16:40] decided to complete this scattered site

[16:43] this connected the infill project for

[16:45] both home ownership and rentals in three

[16:47] stages this is the the adjustment we've

[16:49] made we requested a year extension for

[16:51] the city arpa award at 500k as we wanted

[16:54] to line it up uh to include the HCR home

[16:58] ARP funding which is also arpa funds

[17:01] however the HCR RFP just dropped last

[17:04] Friday so that makes timing an issue HCR

[17:08] did reach out to us bcni um in the last

[17:11] eight days and did encourage us to apply

[17:14] for this funding if our project met the

[17:16] qualifications which it

[17:18] does however as is the case with grant

[17:20] funding is sometimes does not follow our

[17:24] timelines uh the good news is this we

[17:27] have sec a significant private donor and

[17:31] with the city's arpa funds we can begin

[17:34] stage one of this plan immediately in

[17:37] fact environmentals have already been

[17:38] done completed on many of the distressed

[17:40] homes in the strategy stage one will

[17:43] include seven units on SKC Street of

[17:46] which bcni already has site control

[17:49] therefore we look to expend the arpa

[17:51] dollars on this stage uh before the end

[17:54] of the sixth month extension stage two

[17:58] includes another eight units and include

[17:59] some private dollars and the hopeful

[18:01] acquisition of HCR home ARP award

[18:05] dollars these are the homes on Germania

[18:08] a uh these are the ones that the city

[18:10] passed in a resolution uh committing to

[18:13] bcni they are very distressed properties

[18:17] we can make them beautiful Again by

[18:19] following the strategy that we have set

[18:22] forth

[18:25] this it's very important to note that

[18:27] HCR has been clear that it doesn't

[18:29] typically look to invest in projects

[18:32] that bring no additional dollars to the

[18:34] table the city's 500k in arpa investment

[18:38] as well as the private funding source

[18:41] that we've secured makes the HCR award

[18:43] far more rly Additionally the HCR

[18:46] dollars are also arpa funds so it lines

[18:49] up nicely with the city's arpa funds

[18:51] stage three will also require Grant

[18:54] dollars that we are applying for as well

[18:55] as a commitment from private

[18:57] investors we're working closely with the

[18:59] landbank and Metroplex to maximize these

[19:02] efforts through this scattered site SKC

[19:05] City infield project bcni is focused on

[19:08] renovating homes that are a major

[19:10] concern there is no reason other than

[19:13] dollars and a steadfast commitment that

[19:15] these properties cannot provide a

[19:17] beautiful home for families in the

[19:18] community in the not so distant future

[19:21] to

[19:22] summarize we are able to Begin work

[19:25] immediately on skincity street with the

[19:27] resources we have now including the 500k

[19:31] in arpa from the

[19:33] city so you know the 500k from the city

[19:36] those dollars aren't enough to fully

[19:37] rehab all of the units um which is why

[19:40] we have the private donor and that's key

[19:43] we expect all seven of these units to be

[19:45] beautiful durable safe and have people

[19:48] living in them

[19:49] ASAP stages two and three will be worked

[19:51] on a stage one is actually under

[19:54] construction we simply have to follow

[19:56] the funding streams timelines

[19:58] those with the dollars set the timelines

[20:01] and the

[20:03] rules that's what I have so far so I

[20:06] have a question are these going to be

[20:08] owner occupied or are these going to be

[20:09] rentals they're going to be a mix it's

[20:11] going to be a mix uh of the three stages

[20:15] we

[20:17] have 23 units about half of them will be

[20:20] honer a homeowner occupied and half of

[20:23] them will be rental that will be uh

[20:25] managed by bcni okay

[20:29] any questions Mr Williams so you said

[20:31] stage one was seven units on Spanky

[20:33] Street stage two was eight units on

[20:35] geran Avenue what was stage three stage

[20:37] three is paage right now um we're also

[20:41] looking on Pleasant Street as well in M

[20:46] Pleasant any other questions Mr M so we

[20:51] we do have two allocation to of

[20:52] allocation you mentioned actually

[20:55] speaking of both of them at the same

[20:57] time the $1 million on the 500 no are

[21:00] you just addressing the 500,000 this is

[21:02] just for the 500,000 that's all I'm

[21:04] speaking and now we already received the

[21:07] um counseling uh or the uh owner

[21:10] occupied rehab funding and we also

[21:12] received foreclosure ARA funds as well

[21:15] for foreclosure counseling and

[21:19] assistance so this is just for the the

[21:23] Hamilton Hill Andi

[21:27] yes other

[21:29] question I'm just I think it's always a

[21:32] good time when you're able to find some

[21:34] uh private uh funders you know that

[21:36] speaks definitely to uh the project in a

[21:38] really good life song glad to hear that

[21:41] m key there's no reason why we shouldn't

[21:43] be pushing this forward now the money's

[21:46] there those homes need

[21:49] it they should be ready to go as soon as

[21:53] possible other questions or

[21:56] comments a motion

[21:58] I I'll move it extend it for six months

[22:02] months yeah second all those in favor

[22:05] thank you very much Mr B thank you

[22:08] you're welcome and congratulations I

[22:11] guess on your new position thank you get

[22:13] the ground

[22:15] running all right uh our next item on

[22:18] the agenda is uh follow up on the ARA

[22:20] contract is cover We are continuing to

[22:23] move forward with our aror contracts

[22:25] getting executed contracts in um we are

[22:29] still waiting for Kanas Club um to

[22:32] review and return an executed contract

[22:35] and we just have one more that is still

[22:37] in corporate Council review which is the

[22:38] Hamilton Hill um sorry not Hamilton Hill

[22:41] Habitat for Humanity my apologies um the

[22:45] ones that are still pending um City

[22:47] council's decision or have been approved

[22:50] for an extension is the YWCA Harbor

[22:53] House and that is also on a spreadsheet

[22:55] that was provided to City Council in the

[22:57] package their extension expires on March

[23:01] 2024 and they have requested more funds

[23:04] from city council uh the Coco house is

[23:07] still pending a decision for the change

[23:09] and use of funds I plan to bring that

[23:11] back um at the next committee meeting um

[23:14] Electric City Food Cooperative their

[23:17] extension is up on March 12th 2024

[23:20] and Empowerment Center Du and may Kon

[23:24] Craig is in the hands of the mayor and

[23:26] City Council on how we are moving for

[23:28] with that and that is my ala

[23:30] update are there any

[23:36] questions okay all right thank you and

[23:38] everyone has the hand out of Miss

[23:40] car right thank you and additionally um

[23:45] Mr Ferrari provided us with the um the

[23:49] monies that have been spent so far so

[23:51] you should also have a handout um of the

[23:54] monies that have been spent or where we

[23:56] are in terms of um in terms of purchase

[23:59] orders and contract

[24:03] so um the remaining items are all for

[24:08] property sales and therefore will be in

[24:10] executive

[24:12] session so a motion to recess City

[24:15] development planning second all in favor

[24:17] I we recess thank you thank you I'd like

[24:20] to call the finance committee to AR on

[24:22] the forest item is a 2024 theic budget

[24:26] we had a public hearing

[24:28] um on the 27th of November I will open

[24:32] there for any questions in regards to

[24:34] the SIC

[24:37] budget see none they have a motion move

[24:40] it second all in favor I thank you the

[24:43] next one is the 2024 Upper Union Street

[24:46] budget same here we had public hearing

[24:48] on November 27th any

[24:51] discussion second all in favor I I thank

[24:55] you and third item is just a reminder

[24:58] amend the city of conect code section

[25:01] 2341 to modify the annual income amount

[25:04] for tax exempt and this is a public

[25:07] hearing is schedule for next week Monday

[25:09] December 11th at 700

[25:13] p.m. the next item is discussion the

[25:16] 2024 operating budget and I will hand

[25:18] this over to miss forf thank you Mr M

[25:21] bar so as we all know that um you all

[25:24] got the letter and the budget was vetoed

[25:26] by by the mayor he sent a letter which I

[25:29] which I did respond to and I'm sure that

[25:30] you all received a copy of that as well

[25:32] subsequent to that I the mayor and I had

[25:34] a meeting on this path Friday to discuss

[25:36] how we can you know move the budget

[25:38] forward and what it would take to to get

[25:39] that to happen uh I made some

[25:41] suggestions which he was uh open to I

[25:44] think it was a pretty productive

[25:45] conversation and we left that with that

[25:48] uh we could use RP funds um consider

[25:51] using our funds on the waste which is

[25:53] where where um the point of us not

[25:56] meeting um was so uh what I did was and

[26:01] I told him I would do is to forward some

[26:03] information on some suggestions and

[26:05] options that we could use in order to

[26:07] use the ARA funds and what he said that

[26:10] would happen is that he would um then

[26:13] have the someone reach out to the

[26:15] Department of Treasury to make sure that

[26:17] we could use them in that way so that's

[26:19] where we are at this point um what I

[26:21] will provide for all of you is a copy of

[26:23] the email that I did send to the mayor

[26:25] uh subsequent to our meeting so that you

[26:28] all you all have a copy of

[26:34] it

[26:40] and at this point in time we're waiting

[26:42] to hear that from the um Treasury

[26:45] Department in terms of us uh having the

[26:47] ability to use those funds as you can

[26:50] see I outlined two options both uh well

[26:52] one of which we discussed in the meeting

[26:55] and the other is something that uh

[26:58] we um that as I did a lot of research

[27:00] over the weekend and able to look at and

[27:02] come up with I would just um invite all

[27:05] council members if you haven't already

[27:07] to look at the overview of the ARA

[27:09] guidelines for 2022 and then in August

[27:12] 2021 there was another one that came out

[27:14] and then most recently on November uh

[27:17] 30th there was something coming out to

[27:18] cover talk uh for the obligation all the

[27:21] documents are online uh for you if you

[27:23] need um Miss Miku to forward them she

[27:26] can certainly do that if you want to to

[27:28] take the opportunity to to read through

[27:30] um them yourself as we try to move

[27:32] forward so at this point in time we're

[27:33] waiting to hear back from the treasury

[27:35] Department as to whether or not those

[27:37] funds can be used in that

[27:40] way Mr

[27:42] M that's in terms of the meeting on on

[27:45] so did you have any conversation

[27:47] followup conversation with Ferrari uh I

[27:49] have not spoken to Mr Ferrari I and I

[27:52] have not received any email from Mr

[27:54] Ferrari and I believe um Mr Guk do you

[27:59] know anything about where this is at

[28:00] this point um actually forward it over

[28:04] to um Alex and she's looking into um the

[28:08] uses uh we are able to um look at those

[28:11] two options okay so this point time it's

[28:14] been moved over to Ms Carver in the

[28:15] department of development who I

[28:17] understand has reached out yes all right

[28:20] you can just if you want to speak to

[28:24] that I did reach out um to the US

[28:26] Department of TR treasury just trying to

[28:28] find the cities of connecties point of

[28:31] contact UM once I receive the point of

[28:33] contact I'll be able to get clarity on

[28:35] the uses that are

[28:37] allowed so that's where we are at this

[28:39] point with this and uh we have our hope

[28:42] our goal was to be able to maybe to have

[28:45] the information today and to um to move

[28:47] that forward unfortunately uh due to uh

[28:51] illness and absence in our finance

[28:52] department last week we we weren't able

[28:54] to like get that done Hope on Friday

[28:56] would have been a day right in the day

[28:57] of the meeting and so that did not

[29:00] happen so at this point in time we are

[29:01] you know that's where we are there is a

[29:03] special council meeting that is called

[29:05] for this

[29:07] Thursday and uh May perhaps we'll have

[29:11] the information by then if not the

[29:12] council meeting will still go forward

[29:14] because we have to take action on the

[29:19] veto that's all I have Mr M

[29:26] there so we should reset the finance

[29:29] committee meeting so this

[29:31] Thursday start I mean you can recess you

[29:36] already have it scheduled as a a special

[29:39] council meeting so you can recess and

[29:41] you know try to vote something out of

[29:43] the finance committee and then into the

[29:45] special City counil meeting you can do

[29:47] that um the city C the special meeting

[29:50] will still go forward regardless you can

[29:53] certainly recess um we the meeting's

[29:56] called for what time on Thursday said3

[29:58] and you would be recessing then to what

[30:07] time how is everybody schedule this

[30:13] St can we try to recy we Recess

[30:18] Recess have exams and

[30:21] stuff 5:30 is it 5:30 is

[30:24] it h they can do the you know continue

[30:29] with the if you recess the finance

[30:31] committee um until 5:30 you would then

[30:34] do the special council meeting after

[30:37] obviously there's a delay based on you

[30:39] know the the order of

[30:42] operations um and depending on what

[30:44] information you have on Thursday there

[30:46] may be no you may not have any new

[30:50] information um and you would still go

[30:52] ahead then with the special you you open

[30:55] up with the finance committee right

[30:57] um and then you may just you know close

[31:00] that meeting out or recess it for

[31:03] another day you know assuming that you

[31:05] have new information at some point in

[31:06] time um and then move ahead into the

[31:09] special meeting

[31:11] okay okay so you want to recess to 5:30

[31:14] so we'll recess to 5:30 and um then

[31:17] follow with the special city council

[31:19] meeting after that I hope by then we can

[31:22] get all

[31:23] information M will you follow up

[31:26] absolutely

[31:27] I've I've sent followup emails as um we

[31:29] know all of you got the um email that

[31:31] the mayor is out of town this week

[31:33] however he has been in touch with the

[31:34] staff and I've been in touch with him so

[31:37] or he's away I don't know if he's out of

[31:38] town he's I'm assuming he's out of town

[31:40] since he did send out the ex you all got

[31:42] a copy of the executive order okay so um

[31:45] but we he did make himself available by

[31:47] phone and also by email so

[31:51] okay go ahead do we need to

[31:55] so because the media advisor says 5:30

[31:58] for the special council meeting do we

[31:59] have to worry about that or um I think

[32:03] you mean the folks who are here are

[32:04] under the impression that you know you

[32:06] the order of operations will be and if

[32:08] you have new information for the

[32:10] purposes of the the finance committee

[32:13] you can obviously discuss that and

[32:15] perhaps vote something out of the

[32:16] finance committee um for poent you know

[32:19] for the city the special city council

[32:21] meeting otherwise you would have the you

[32:24] know Mr M would call open the finance

[32:26] Comm

[32:28] um and you may have to recess that you

[32:30] know if you don't have new information

[32:32] uh and then go right into the special

[32:34] city council meeting to take action um

[32:37] on the veto um so when the mayor's uh

[32:41] veto the ordinance um it the ordinance

[32:45] is supposed to go before the council at

[32:47] its next meeting special or regular

[32:50] because the city code doesn't say um so

[32:53] it would be at the the special

[32:56] meeting

[32:59] any other

[33:01] question so seeing none I to turn a

[33:04] motion to recess the finance

[33:06] committee until December the 7th at 5:30

[33:10] p.m. second all in favor

[33:13] I any other business for finance motion

[33:18] second all in favor I thank

[33:22] you sorry take

[33:25] that

[33:28] sorry so I'm going to call to order

[33:30] claims we have one item on the agenda um

[33:33] alter of J G versus the city of skty um

[33:38] I'd like to turn over to um

[33:41] Miss

[33:43] sorry I got all sorry me

[33:46] I um so I would like a motion to go into

[33:49] executive session second all in favor I

[33:53] okay we're going to Second

[33:55] session

Schenectady City Council Committee Meeting, December 4, 2023

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