[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