[0:01] [Music]

[0:45] I'd like to call the order the SK City

[0:47] Caucus meeting for Monday December 11th

[0:51] 2023 we have one public hearing this

[0:53] evening if the clerk would please read

[0:56] public hearing number one amending the

[0:57] city of SKC code section 234 4-1 to

[1:01] modify the annual income amount for the

[1:03] tax

[1:04] exemption we have eight items for

[1:06] original consideration if the clerk

[1:07] would please read item number one item

[1:09] number one under final consideration a

[1:11] resolution approving the 2024 Downtown

[1:13] special assessment District

[1:15] budget discuss in committee with

[1:18] objection on consent item number two for final consideration

[1:21] the resolution approving the 2024 Upper

[1:23] Union Street business Improvement

[1:25] District budget discussed in committee

[1:28] without objection and with and on

[1:32] consent item number three for original

[1:36] consideration a resolution confirming

[1:38] the appointment of to Thomas bellich

[1:41] William

[1:42] Nim to the city of Sky civilian police

[1:46] review board and Victoria Cooper as

[1:47] standby alternate for William nman this

[1:51] item is being pulled and returned to

[1:52] committee at the request of the director

[1:54] of operations item number four item

[1:57] number four for original consideration

[1:58] resolution amending resolution

[2:01] 2022-23 to modify the time period for

[2:03] Better Community neighborhoods

[2:05] Incorporated to secure required

[2:07] Financial commitments discussed in

[2:09] committee without objection on consent

[2:11] item number five item number five for

[2:13] original consideration a resolution

[2:14] authorizing the sale of 463 huet Street

[2:17] for

[2:18] $58,000 discussed in committee without

[2:20] objection on consent item number six for original

[2:24] consideration a resolution authorizing

[2:25] the sale at 1507 carry Street for

[2:28] $90,000 this in committee with objection

[2:31] on consent item number seven item number

[2:33] seven for original consideration a

[2:34] resolution authorizing the sale of 3323

[2:37] McDonald Avenue for $660,000 discussed

[2:40] in committee without objection on

[2:42] consent item number eight item number

[2:44] eight for original consideration a

[2:45] resolution authorizing the settlement of

[2:47] a claim by Walter G Fritz discussed in

[2:50] committee with objection on

[2:52] consent if there's nothing more to come

[2:54] before the city C caucus I ask for a

[2:55] motion to adjourn moveed by Mr Williams

[2:58] second by Mr mutar all in favor we are

[3:01] adjourned I'd like to call to order the

[3:03] city council meeting for Monday December

[3:05] 11

[3:07] 2023 and I'd like to call on Reverend Ki

[3:09] for the prayer and

[3:17] invocation Lord during this season of

[3:19] anticipation expectation and light grant

[3:23] that we may be found 're prepared to

[3:25] bring your goodness to all those we

[3:27] encounter and serve keep our in your

[3:30] care to protect all those especially

[3:32] traveling during the holidays ahead amen I'd ask council member Patrick if

[3:38] she lead us in the Pledge of Allegiance

[3:40] I pledge allegiance to the flag of the

[3:43] United States of America and to the for

[3:47] stands one nation God indivisible with

[3:52] liy and justice for

[3:56] all thank you if the clerk could please

[3:59] complete the roll

[4:01] call Mr muon pres Mr Toro pres Mr Farley

[4:07] here Mr

[4:09] Williams Miss Patrick here Mr palamini M

[4:13] Porterfield here thank you you we have

[4:16] one public hearing this evening we've

[4:18] just reminded we've uh extended the

[4:20] public hearing uh portion to four

[4:24] minutes okay public hearing number one

[4:27] is amending the city code section 2 34-1

[4:30] to modify the annual income amount for

[4:32] the tax

[4:36] exemption and I have no one signs up to

[4:39] speak so I declare that public hearing

[4:44] closed ask for the approval of minute of

[4:47] minutes for November 20th December 11th

[4:50] and December

[4:51] 7th moved by Miss Patrick second by Mr

[4:54] Williams all those in favor I I'd ask

[4:57] the clerk to read any Communications and

[5:03] petitions Communications presented to

[5:05] city council for Monday December 11th

[5:07] 2023 under official there were none

[5:10] under General from Karen schwind a

[5:13] letter in favor of amending the city of

[5:15] SKC code section 234

[5:18] d1n income amount for the tax

[5:22] exemption under petitions there were

[5:24] none thank you ask council members for

[5:28] any committee reports any committee

[5:32] reports seeing none this time we'll have

[5:35] priv privilege of the floor on the

[5:37] legislative agenda does anyone wish to

[5:39] speak on the legislative

[5:41] agenda I have no one else no one signed

[5:43] up to speak so I declare the public

[5:45] comment on the legislative agenda

[5:53] closed I ask for approval approval of

[5:56] the legislative

[5:57] agenda motion by Mr M second by Mr

[6:01] Farley all those in favor I at this time

[6:05] we'll entertain I beg your

[6:07] pardon at this time I entertain

[6:09] privilege of the floor regarding General

[6:11] City

[6:13] business I have three people signed up

[6:16] to speak excuse me four people signed up

[6:18] to speak and just a reminder that your

[6:21] time limit will be four minutes three

[6:22] minutes for this portion and you'll hear

[6:24] a timer go off when your time is up

[6:27] first person signed up to speak is jeie

[6:33] or good evening I'm jie or program

[6:35] manager for Capital District tobacco

[6:37] free communities at the last council

[6:39] meeting my colleagu Shar the results of

[6:40] the observations we conducted at 31

[6:43] tobacco retailers in the city of sken

[6:45] located within 1500 ft of one or more

[6:47] schools as part of that report we shared

[6:50] information about the violations of the

[6:52] state law that we observed specifically

[6:54] 19 retailers were displaying one or more

[6:56] exterior tobacco ads 16 were selling

[6:58] flavored cigarettes containing nicotine

[7:01] several of you expressed concern about

[7:03] these violations so I thought might be

[7:05] helpful to share what local enforcement

[7:06] of tobacco control laws currently looks

[7:09] like in New York state to legally sell

[7:12] tobacco and or vape products a retailer

[7:14] needs to have a cigarette and tobacco

[7:15] product retail license and or a Vapor

[7:18] Products license from New York State Tax

[7:19] and Finance most counties like skincity

[7:22] conduct compliance checks on all

[7:24] licensed tobacco and vape retailers

[7:25] through their local Department of

[7:27] Health's atupa program atup is an

[7:29] acronym for the New York State

[7:31] adolescent tobacco use prevention act

[7:34] they aim to do two checks of each

[7:35] retailer every year one to determine if

[7:38] they're conducting underage sales and

[7:39] the other to evaluate compliance with

[7:41] all other state tobacco control laws if

[7:44] an a Tupa officer observes a violation

[7:47] of any state law in most circumstances

[7:50] they will educate the retailer with the

[7:52] goal of achieving volary compliance they

[7:55] can also issue a violation notice to the

[7:57] retailer to appear for independent

[7:59] hearing

[8:00] if the violation is sustained either

[8:02] through a hearing or a stipulation the

[8:03] tup program May impose impose an

[8:06] appropriate fine they will also report

[8:08] the violation to New York State Tax and

[8:10] Finance and if the retailer holds a

[8:12] lottery license to New York Lottery the

[8:15] two agencies with the authority to

[8:17] suspend or revoke licenses the state

[8:20] agency may take additional action of

[8:22] their own but that doesn't mean that

[8:23] licenses are automatically suspended or

[8:26] revoked the county atupa program does

[8:29] not have the direct authority to suspend

[8:32] or revoke a license nor the authority to

[8:34] confiscate illegal products in fact the

[8:36] county Tupa program can only take action

[8:38] on the tobacco and VAP products that are

[8:40] on display they don't even have the

[8:42] authority to look behind the counter or

[8:44] in back rooms or storage

[8:46] areas many municipalities across the

[8:48] state have decided they want more

[8:50] control over tobacco and vape retailers

[8:52] Opera in their communities uh they want

[8:54] to hold them more accountable when they

[8:55] violate the law and they can the most

[8:58] common way commities have done this is

[9:00] through local licensing which they can

[9:02] impose on a wide variety of sanctions

[9:05] above and beyond monetary fines for

[9:07] violations of federal state and local

[9:09] laws in addition to empowering local

[9:11] officials to impose more meaningful

[9:13] consequences violations local licensing

[9:16] also provides a framework for

[9:18] municipality to strengthen and expand on

[9:20] what's in current law for example many

[9:23] municipalities have taken steps to place

[9:25] restrictions on where licensed retailers

[9:27] can be located including whether or not

[9:30] they're near schools they can place

[9:33] restrictions on the total number of

[9:34] licensed retailers in a specific

[9:36] geographic area or the proximity of

[9:38] tobacco retailers to one another they

[9:41] can also Place restrictions on the sale

[9:43] of menthol cigarettes and flavored

[9:44] cigars cigaros and smokeless tobacco

[9:46] products that have particular appeal to

[9:48] youth now local licensing isn't the only

[9:51] approach to reduce the impact of tobacco

[9:53] Marketing address Health Equity but it

[9:56] has proven to be effective in

[9:57] communities where it's been in place for

[9:59] a while I hope this has been helpful to

[10:01] you thank you thank

[10:04] you Claudia

[10:12] Kavanaugh good evening I'm cludia

[10:15] Kavanaugh president and CEO of black

[10:18] redneck

[10:19] LLC my company is geared uh to

[10:24] Republican voter registration but that's

[10:26] not why I'm here tonight I'm here

[10:28] tonight because

[10:29] I'm not going to be around for a couple

[10:31] weeks and I wanted to say goodbye to Mr

[10:34] palamini I'm so sorry that you uh are

[10:38] leaving the council uh you studying

[10:42] Force intelligent force and I also want

[10:45] to call you out um Mr Farley I know

[10:48] we're not supposed to talk to you but

[10:49] I'm going to anyway

[10:52] um during the last Finance meeting you

[10:56] were making all kinds of statements and

[10:58] undercurrent about Mr palamini saying

[11:00] it's it's it's unacceptable that he

[11:06] speak and and support his his position

[11:08] on his voting if you want to know what's

[11:11] really

[11:12] unacceptable the fact that you were able

[11:15] to bang this city taxpayers out of a

[11:17] half a million dollars without having to

[11:18] account for it at all and if we had a DA

[11:22] who was on his game you would have to

[11:24] account for where that money winner

[11:26] you'd be in

[11:27] jail Mr poly is a very accomplished

[11:32] person he has probably forgotten things

[11:34] you'll never

[11:36] learn and I think that

[11:39] if you really want to cut the budget a

[11:42] little bit more Mr Cen can stay in his

[11:45] office or go home at 5:00 because he's

[11:48] probably being paid

[11:49] overtime yeah you and he you

[11:53] know add much to miss Kavanaugh no no

[11:56] personal attacks well okay I'm Sorry

[11:58] Miss Miss Porterfield it's okay um and for you to try to silence Mr

[12:04] palamini when he was trying to make a

[12:06] comment about his the reason why he

[12:09] voted that that to me is unacceptable

[12:13] and that's more like Venezuelan style

[12:17] politics this we still have a

[12:19] constitution and people have a right to support the reason why they're voting

[12:24] for a

[12:25] situation and I I really Mr man I wish

[12:29] you the best of luck I know whatever you

[12:32] do whatever Direction you're going to go

[12:33] in you're going to be wonderful and if

[12:37] in the future you ever decide to jump

[12:40] the

[12:41] aisle the black redneck Corporation will

[12:44] definitely support you in your efforts

[12:47] for whatever you want to do if you

[12:49] decide to run for office in the future

[12:52] I'm sorry you're leaving and I hope the

[12:54] new person that's coming on is going to

[12:55] stand up to this the four uh situation

[12:59] of Setters that think that they're on

[13:03] top of the game and for the finance

[13:06] director to approve a budget that starts

[13:09] out with a def deficit is unbelievable

[13:11] to me I I I don't think he went to a

[13:15] warten School of

[13:17] Business good luck Mr palamini and um

[13:21] I'm sure our paths will cross again

[13:23] thank you Tom

[13:27] Kennedy

[13:34] good evening Mr Mayor city council uh I

[13:38] to forego my usual

[13:40] pleasantries

[13:42] um like uh my my sister

[13:47] uh clodia kav I can't be here for the

[13:50] next meeting and uh next council meeting

[13:54] and I didn't want to miss the

[13:55] opportunity to recognize and thank Mr

[13:59] pal manyi for his service to the city

[14:04] for his diligent uh work for the

[14:07] citizens uh who have

[14:09] needs um the other day I was at the uh

[14:12] Belleview little league and the paving

[14:15] there and what they did with the

[14:16] Pavilion is going to uh reap benefits

[14:20] for the kids up there for years to come

[14:23] and much of that is because of Mr pal

[14:26] manyi um even beyond that um as the

[14:31] chair of the the Republican Party um

[14:34] we're going to have odds at as Democrats

[14:38] and Republicans and the work and family

[14:40] party uh that's just the way things are

[14:44] um but it's refreshing when you have a

[14:49] politician and a elected leader who can

[14:51] set aside politics and deal with the

[14:53] issues and we've always found that to be

[14:55] with Mr pal

[14:57] manyi before I leave I just wanted to

[15:00] also uh send a message from uh our

[15:03] former mayor who couldn't be here Mr uh

[15:06] jiny he's down in New York City on

[15:07] business today I told him I was going to

[15:09] come tonight and speak

[15:11] and he said he wanted to remember Mr pal

[15:15] many's dad who was very proud of his son

[15:20] um and Mr jinsky recalls U holiday

[15:25] speaking with Mr Mr palman senior um and

[15:29] he was always very very proud of his son

[15:32] and wish he could be here uh he said he

[15:35] wished that he could be here to see how

[15:37] his son uh has served the city so with

[15:41] that um uh we appreciate it U again the

[15:44] Republican Party appreciates Mr pal many

[15:47] and we wish him all the all the best in

[15:50] the future and uh we hope we see him

[15:53] back here soon thank you thank

[15:57] you

[15:59] ran

[16:05] artist good evening I'm ran arst uh

[16:08] lifelong connected resident homeowner

[16:10] and business owner um I don't know can I

[16:13] just hand you that I'm not for you guys

[16:15] read just look at the date of that

[16:18] article that I was in in

[16:20] 2009 and I was in buis this four years

[16:23] before that it took four years for me to

[16:25] get any traction going on our minority

[16:28] partic ipation in this connec

[16:32] contracts we're at a lull nothing's

[16:35] happening it started to move I know

[16:37] Ron's in there now but we're still in

[16:40] the same position we're not getting the

[16:42] contracts they're making all kinds of

[16:45] excuses to not use the

[16:46] minorities and I've been coming down

[16:49] here on and off since

[16:52] 2005 asking begging for you guys to do

[16:55] something about this I see you out there

[16:58] when you come to my house and you want

[16:59] my vote I met you on a job Gary I told

[17:02] you there was a problem and it just goes

[17:04] on and on there's no way it's even

[17:07] acceptable to have million dooll

[17:09] contracts and give a minority $10,000 of

[17:13] it it just doesn't the numbers don't

[17:15] work out a lot of us are working in

[17:19] different

[17:20] towns and I know you guys are doing like

[17:22] a budget but I mean it's it's kind of

[17:24] simple to me we live here we want to

[17:28] work here we spend our money here these

[17:31] other

[17:32] contractors take that money and go to

[17:34] their

[17:35] Town what benefit are we getting them

[17:38] buying a water at at

[17:40] Stewarts I pay my taxes here I'm proud

[17:43] to be from

[17:46] skty and it's if they if I I think about

[17:50] it as this if you have children because

[17:54] I remember when I was in

[17:55] prek you had the fireman's hat to police

[17:58] policeman's hat to

[18:00] construction if we as minorities brown

[18:03] black

[18:05] whatever if we don't see our kind doing

[18:09] the work we don't believe it's

[18:11] obtainable to

[18:12] us so when you want to start with people

[18:16] saying that well all they see is the

[18:18] drug deal around the corner well let's

[18:20] start with let's seeing the people out

[18:22] there from their neighborhood with a

[18:24] job that will give them the incentive

[18:27] that there's something else to do

[18:28] it's not just look at the fancy car okay

[18:31] he can do the same thing but he goes to

[18:33] work every day and he doesn't have to

[18:34] worry about the problems it's a win-win

[18:37] I

[18:38] feel I just think we all need to do

[18:40] something about it and I'm just getting

[18:42] tired of coming down here year after

[18:44] year saying the same thing about the

[18:46] same companies and nothing getting done

[18:49] thank you thank

[18:55] you I have no one else signed up to

[18:57] speak so I declare the public comment of

[18:59] City business

[19:01] closed miscellaneous business of the

[19:07] council Mr Palam so the last several

[19:11] years in particular I've generally eduse

[19:14] this time of year to go over what we've

[19:17] accomplished during the year

[19:21] um so there

[19:25] um forget that I will really focus on

[19:29] the number of phone calls and uh text

[19:34] messages um that I've received over the

[19:36] past few weeks um very many um I want to

[19:40] thank all those

[19:42] individuals um you know they were very

[19:45] grateful to me um but the reality is

[19:51] none of that would have been

[19:52] accomplished without them I look at some

[19:56] of the things that we've accomplished

[19:59] together with Steve and Ed at the bellw

[20:02] Little League um or Hillhurst Park

[20:05] excuse me um where we worked on that for

[20:08] five six years and it's come to fruition

[20:11] finally this year Fair viiew Park as

[20:14] well and there's more to come there still needs to be The Botch ball

[20:18] courts as well as the dog park at

[20:21] Hillhurst um working with Ed and Rob at

[20:24] Belleview Little League to make sure uh

[20:27] the kids have have a safe place to play

[20:29] and they really have a number of

[20:31] initiatives to um help the kids um

[20:37] styman Park uh where we put up

[20:41] um um dog uh dispensers uh so that

[20:47] people can pick up after their dogs um

[20:49] and we have projects in the work cell

[20:51] happen the veterans uh Memorial with uh

[20:55] Camille and Dave at styons

[20:58] um I look at some of the things that

[21:01] we've accomplished at the a diamond

[21:03] where the uh baseball field with some

[21:06] others we recognized that the dimensions

[21:09] weren't appropriate for Collegiate

[21:11] tournaments made sure that was fixed um

[21:15] having proper bullpens in the scoreboard

[21:18] um then we look at some of the things

[21:21] that we've accomplished in woodlon with

[21:23] some of the cleanups and accomplishments

[21:26] with uh some of the the smaller parks

[21:29] within

[21:30] woodlon um Hamilton Hill when the uh we'

[21:34] done several cleanups on SKC Street when

[21:37] the lights were out on SKC Street showed

[21:39] up the next day with the mayor's help

[21:42] with Mr cucho's help the lights were

[21:45] turned back on um so these are just some

[21:49] of the

[21:50] small things that we've accomplished

[21:53] together the public with myself the

[21:57] Michigan Avenue Avenue field which has

[21:59] been quite frankly it's one of the

[22:01] better Youth Baseball facilities in the

[22:05] area um including you know probably

[22:08] around 50 60 miles for sure so all these

[22:13] things haven't been done while I

[22:15] appreciate the nice words they're not one person they're working

[22:20] together with the individuals in our

[22:22] community and that's an important aspect

[22:26] um you know working with the the various

[22:29] neighborhood associations so we've got a

[22:32] lot accomplished there's more to be done

[22:35] uh and things will get done uh we still

[22:38] in Bellvue for example Hillhurst Park

[22:41] Pool uh needs to be either fixed or

[22:44] filled in and put with a um Splash Pad

[22:49] so those are things that that we'll work

[22:51] on um but those were all together and

[22:55] that's the key aspect is different

[22:58] members of the community uh Deedra and

[23:01] Frank uh the elderly ladies in in

[23:04] Hamilton Hill that needed help um those

[23:08] were working together so that was uh I

[23:12] think some of the more important

[23:14] accomplishments um in this particular

[23:17] year um as far as the uh the the other

[23:22] things that that are happening um one

[23:25] thing I did want to comment on is with

[23:28] the school district with the Yates

[23:31] school with the fields um they should

[23:35] not sell those fields uh several years

[23:39] ago a school district was approached uh

[23:42] there were individuals ready to use the

[23:44] fields to get them up to Snuff the

[23:46] school district had the money to be able

[23:48] to to um repair those facilities and

[23:52] those could have been great things for

[23:54] those kids that are over there

[23:56] particularly in the north side

[23:58] Village you know giving them

[24:00] opportunities to have safe uh activities

[24:06] after school or in the summer um there

[24:08] were plenty of options to do and the

[24:12] school district really is doing the

[24:14] wrong thing in my opinion with this with

[24:16] this move so thank

[24:18] you thank you Miss

[24:24] Patrick uh earlier this evening uh the

[24:27] mayor

[24:28] council president Porterfield Miss Doro

[24:30] myself were all at the uh zone five um

[24:33] where several uh officers were promoted

[24:37] uh as well as we had new uh recruits

[24:40] that received their guns and badges this

[24:42] evening and uh their families were there

[24:44] it was a very nice uh ceremony and I

[24:46] just wanted to congratulate everyone uh

[24:49] that uh was involved with that tonight

[24:51] and wish them well and I I want them to

[24:54] uh hopefully stay safe also this time of

[24:57] year there's obviously many many

[24:59] nonprofits in our community um as well

[25:01] as the school district that are uh

[25:04] holding different kinds of events to

[25:06] either bring in food or bring in warm

[25:09] clothing um ringing Bells at the markets

[25:12] all this kind of stuff so I just want to

[25:14] thank all the volunteers that are out

[25:15] there uh making sure that the holidays

[25:17] are going to try to be a little bit

[25:19] brighter for folks that don't have uh as

[25:21] much as as those of us SE seated here so

[25:24] uh that's it thank you thank you

[25:28] Mr

[25:29] Furley thank you I just wanted to um

[25:32] Echo um some of what Miss Patrick was

[25:34] talking about with the local nonprofits

[25:36] um these are the holiday seasons and

[25:38] people always get together to give um

[25:40] and it's a beautiful thing it's a great

[25:42] energy that's within our city around

[25:43] this time I just want to caution

[25:45] everyone as you're doing these things

[25:47] and as you're helping families um we

[25:49] live in kind of the information age

[25:51] which uh really entails a lot of

[25:53] photographs and things like spreading

[25:55] across social media um I just want want

[25:57] to uh just encourage everyone to be

[25:59] really mindful um and try to as we help

[26:03] families that are need to do it with a

[26:05] level of dignity allowing them to

[26:06] maintain their dignity through the

[26:07] process meaning that we should be able

[26:09] to you know nonprofits take picture of

[26:11] the works that you're doing not

[26:13] necessarily those who are directly

[26:15] impacted um there's a lot of stigma

[26:17] attached to some of these things we just

[26:18] want to be mindful of that but I greatly

[26:20] appreciate all the work that's happened

[26:22] in the community thank you thank

[26:25] you mayor

[26:29] thank you madam president again

[26:31] appreciate everyone who came out tonight

[26:33] uh had the opportunity as councilwoman

[26:36] Patrick pointed out uh promote two

[26:39] sergeants two lieutenants and welcome

[26:41] eight new

[26:42] patrolman uh Patrol members who have uh

[26:46] graduated from the uh zone 5

[26:49] Academy so that uh again uh police

[26:53] department is out there doing a great

[26:56] job and uh uh serving the community well

[27:00] also encourage people as you're making

[27:02] some of your choices in the holiday

[27:04] season remember the venues in skty if

[27:07] you're doing your shopping going out for

[27:09] eating or entertaining a lot of great

[27:12] offerings here within the community uh

[27:14] some have been around a long time some

[27:15] are fairly new but take advantage of

[27:18] them thank you madam president thank you

[27:20] I'd like to thank everyone out for

[27:22] coming out tonight to voice to come

[27:24] voice their opinion and um to give their

[27:27] um congratulations to our council member

[27:29] and um thank you Miss Ora for coming to

[27:32] continually bring us that this

[27:33] information um I I also as the mayor

[27:36] said was at zone 5 today so it was great

[27:38] to see that and everybody was the the old guy they called him the old guy

[27:41] was 32 everybody was so young so it was

[27:44] uh so nice to to be able to have uh to

[27:48] have uh new police officers Jan our

[27:51] Force you know we've consistently

[27:52] talking about that we need to up the

[27:54] force so today we saw nine new officers

[27:56] join the force so it's glad to be there

[27:59] um and also just want to wish everyone a

[28:01] happy holiday season and stay safe

[28:04] there's nothing further to come I'll ask

[28:06] for a motion to adjourn mov by Mr Farley

[28:09] second by Mr muan all those in favor I

[28:12] we are adjourned have a good

[28:26] evening

[28:28] I don't know if you went back

Schenectady City Council Meeting, December 11, 2023

Transcript