[0:00] [Music]
[0:28] he
[0:30] [Music]
[0:58] yeah
[1:05] [Music]
[1:28] yeah
[1:33] [Music]
[1:59] [Applause]
[2:07] [Music]
[3:28] e
[3:58] know
[4:28] e
[6:42] [Applause]
[6:58] for
[7:58] spe
[8:28] e
[8:58] spe
[9:28] e
[10:28] whe
[10:58] that
[11:27] you
[11:57] to
[12:27] e
[13:27] you
[13:57] for
[14:09] mayor do that
[14:27] after
[14:57] spe
[15:27] e
[15:50] would everyone please take their
[15:57] seats
[16:27] e
[16:47] thank you
[16:50] so welcome and happy New Year
[16:53] everyone thank you all for being here
[16:56] I'd like to call the organizational
[16:57] meeting of the city of skincity to order
[17:00] for Tuesday January 2nd
[17:03] 2024 I'd like to ask everyone to rise
[17:06] for the invocation by Reverend William
[17:08] ly Hamilton of Friendship Baptist
[17:25] Church let us
[17:27] pray gracious God our Father we invoke
[17:31] your presence into this place on this
[17:34] occasion that we come with bowed down
[17:37] heads to lift up those who have been
[17:40] selected and elected to serve in various
[17:43] capacities in the city of connecti we
[17:46] ask your continued blessing upon this
[17:48] city but we ask your special blessing
[17:50] upon mayor McCarthy we thank you that it
[17:53] is the will of the people that he will
[17:56] continue to serve where he has already
[17:59] served with great distinction he served
[18:02] honorably honestly in humility and great
[18:06] integrity and we ask that you would
[18:08] continue to lead him as he leads this
[18:11] great City we ask that you would
[18:13] continue to Grant him the wisdom the
[18:15] discern discernment the determination
[18:17] and courage as he faces the challenges
[18:20] of the May of skincity we ask your
[18:23] blessing God upon the council leaders
[18:25] grant them the wisdom the foresight the
[18:28] selfless desire to gather and work
[18:31] together for the betterment of the
[18:33] citizens of SCCY may they forever be
[18:36] mindful that it is a privilege to serve
[18:39] in skty and the citizens
[18:41] ofcity again we ask your blessing upon
[18:44] those who have gathered and those who
[18:46] are in the city of skincity please give
[18:48] us the spirit to work together in
[18:51] brotherly love to continue to live
[18:53] together and in
[18:56] peace make us
[18:59] mindful that when one suffers the city
[19:02] suffers that when one is elevated the
[19:04] city is elevated God we expect great
[19:08] things in the city of sky for I have not
[19:11] seen nor ear has heard nor has it
[19:13] entered the minds of man what God has
[19:16] for the city of skincity and those who
[19:18] continue to serve with Godly wisdom
[19:21] bless us grant us we pray
[19:27] amen
[19:29] I now ask Cadet King Cadet Rosario Cadet
[19:33] Marx and Cadet rahan of this connec High
[19:36] School rooc color guards to present the
[19:50] colors I now call upon fire chief Don
[19:53] Marino to lead us in the Pledge of
[19:57] Allegiance
[20:00] a pledge allegiance to the flag of the
[20:03] United States of America and to the
[20:06] Republic for which it stands one nation
[20:10] under God indivisible for liberty and
[20:14] justice for
[20:20] all thank
[20:27] you
[20:35] and I ask mayor McCarthy to come forward
[20:37] to take his oath of office his oath will
[20:39] be administered by The Honorable Matthew
[20:42] J sanusi everyone please be
[20:57] seated
[21:12] thank
[21:27] you
[21:33] ra your
[21:35] repeat I Gary R McCarthy do solemnly
[21:39] swear I Gary R McCarthy do solemnly
[21:43] swear that I will support and uphold the
[21:46] Constitution of the United States that I
[21:48] will support and uphold the Constitution
[21:51] of the United States that I will support
[21:53] and uphold the constitution of the state
[21:56] of New York that I will uphold the
[21:58] constitution of the state of New York
[22:01] and the charter and laws of the city of
[22:04] SK and the charter and the laws of the
[22:06] city of skincity and that I will
[22:09] Faithfully discharge the duties as mayor
[22:12] of the city of scity and that I will
[22:14] Faithfully discharge the duties as mayor
[22:16] of the city of sken to the best of my
[22:19] ability to the best of my ability so
[22:21] help me God so help me God
[22:24] congratulations thank
[22:26] you
[22:36] [Applause]
[22:52] congratulations mayor McCarthy thank you
[22:56] I now ask M DOR Doro to come forward her
[23:00] oath will be administered by her
[23:01] daughters D Donata raphaela and
[23:04] Gabriella
[23:26] Doro
[23:42] Tor Tor swear swear that I
[23:47] support that I will support the of the
[23:50] United States of the United States the
[23:53] Constitution of the state of New York
[23:55] the constitution of the state of New yor
[23:58] and the charter of the city of SK and I will
[24:03] Faithfully discharge the duties and I
[24:06] Faithfully discharge the duties of the
[24:09] office of of the office of city council
[24:13] member SK city council member the city
[24:17] of in the city of SK according to the
[24:20] best of my ability according to the best
[24:22] of my
[24:26] ability
[24:43] good evening I stand before you
[24:45] tonight good evening I stand before you
[24:49] tonight humbled by the faith you placed
[24:51] in me I was elected because I had so
[24:54] many of you absolutely right here in
[24:56] this room working with me
[24:58] and we'll continue to need your help
[25:00] moving forward this is our city but most
[25:03] importantly it's our home I look forward
[25:06] to working under mayor McCarthy's
[25:08] leadership and alongside my city council
[25:11] members and all the dedicated employees
[25:15] of the city of
[25:16] skty I just like to thank my dear
[25:18] friends John palami Dave balk and Bob
[25:22] and marielen brem for their guidance
[25:24] support and Leadership throughout my
[25:26] campaign I I'd also like to thank so
[25:28] many of you that walked with me Bill
[25:30] Masa and his beautiful granddaughter
[25:32] Clarissa they were by my side almost
[25:35] constantly I'm grateful to so many of
[25:37] you especially my amazing daughters
[25:39] Donata rafhaela and Gabriella for their
[25:42] encouragement love and support I look
[25:44] forward to working with each of you for
[25:46] the next four years thank
[25:48] [Applause]
[25:56] you
[25:59] I would now now like to call Mr Joseph
[26:02] manini to come
[26:03] forward his oath will be administered by
[26:06] the urban wise men and executive
[26:09] director of community fathers Mr Walter
[26:14] [Applause]
[26:26] Simkins
[26:32] hi Joseph man hi Jose who Solly swear that I will support the
[26:39] Constitution of the United States that I
[26:42] will support the Constitution of the
[26:43] United States the Constitution of the
[26:45] state of New York the constitution of
[26:47] the state of New York and the charter of
[26:49] the city of scity and the charter of the
[26:51] city city connected and that I will
[26:53] Faithfully discharge and I Faithfully
[26:56] discharge the office the duties of
[26:58] office of connect city council member of
[27:01] connect city council member in and for
[27:04] the city of SKC in andity conect
[27:07] according to the best of my ability
[27:21] EXC I'll I'll I'll be quick but there's
[27:24] so many people I'd love to acknowledge
[27:26] I'll try to get to that but I chose Mr
[27:28] Simpkins I've known Walter for so so
[27:30] long and be becoming a member of the
[27:33] council feels like coming home for me um
[27:36] I served this community for close to 30
[27:38] years in probation and social services
[27:41] and did a lot of wonderful work with so
[27:43] many partners uh the police department
[27:45] your nonprofit agencies Social Services
[27:48] the judges I've really gotten to know so
[27:50] many people and seeing so many of you
[27:52] here now is is a blessing to me and one
[27:56] thing Walter said to me was was really
[27:57] stuck to me it's probably the best
[27:59] compliment I could ever have is he says
[28:01] Joe I've known you how many years um and
[28:04] you haven't changed your heart's always
[28:06] in the right place you always want to
[28:07] make a difference in the communities
[28:08] here and I really respect that and uh
[28:11] Walter and I got to spend a week in the
[28:13] Bronx when I left the city and took a
[28:15] job as a commissioner down uh to look at
[28:18] a good Community program and I really
[28:19] got to know him there as well um so I'm
[28:22] really grateful I I want to thank my
[28:25] campaign manager Maxine barage
[28:28] I met um through a meeting and how she
[28:30] was supportive I um I had a lot of
[28:32] losses during Co both my parents my
[28:35] brother and his wife passed away this
[28:36] year uh well last year and it was very
[28:39] difficult and there were times I had my
[28:41] some of my own health issues and I did I
[28:43] wanted to drop out and her Relentless
[28:46] and ruthless compassion to keep me going
[28:48] and say Joe you still have a lot to
[28:50] offer and her strategies really made a
[28:53] difference um Mariam um and dman who
[28:56] approached me and John and asked me to
[28:57] run um cuz I know I know them all from
[29:01] the city and um I took that
[29:04] on being accepted by the Democratic
[29:07] party the mayor um Dorene Carmel getting
[29:11] to know everyone Carl I got to sat next
[29:13] to during the debate thoughtful and and
[29:15] straight it's been a great experience
[29:19] um my brother Chris my daughter Marielle
[29:23] her boyfriend St Andrew how are you Chris mom dad and and and Don were
[29:31] looking at we did it um so I'm looking
[29:34] forward to serve in this community I I'm so blessed to see so many friendly
[29:39] faces I'm really looking to get to work
[29:41] with every member of of this of this
[29:44] Council and and our public servants as
[29:46] well thank
[29:56] you
[30:00] I now call on Miss Carmel Patrick her
[30:02] oath will be administered by The
[30:04] Honorable Vincent
[30:26] versachi
[30:40] [Music]
[30:44] I say your name I caral Patrick do Solly
[30:48] swear do solemnly swear that I will
[30:50] support that I will support the
[30:52] Constitution of the United States the
[30:54] Constitution of the United States
[30:57] New York of the state of New York the
[31:00] city Charter of the city the city
[31:02] Charter of the city of and I will
[31:05] Faithfully discharge and I will
[31:06] Faithfully discharge the duties of the
[31:08] office the duties of the
[31:11] office City Council of SK City Council
[31:15] in and for in and for the city of SK the
[31:18] city of SK according to the best of my
[31:20] ability to of my
[31:23] ab
[31:26] congratul
[31:35] [Applause]
[31:45] well hello
[31:49] everyone I'm honored to have been
[31:51] elected for a second term on the conc
[31:54] city council thank you to everyone who
[31:56] came out to to vote which is such an
[31:58] important right that we have here in our
[31:59] country and I think we we see that all
[32:01] the time more and more as Time Marches
[32:04] On and everyone that supported our
[32:06] Democratic team I'd like to thank meline
[32:09] Thorne my campaign manager for her
[32:11] advice and guidance this year and Eileen
[32:13] handlan my treasurer for being so
[32:15] attentive to every detail and keeping us
[32:17] running smoothly thank you as well to my
[32:20] best bfff Terry scales roller who
[32:23] stepped in for my husband tonight to
[32:25] hold my parents' Bible for my swearing
[32:27] in it meant a lot to me to have her here
[32:30] to do so as well as to have her husband
[32:33] Bill roller with me tonight and of
[32:35] course thank you to judge Versace it was
[32:37] an honor to be sworn in by you for a
[32:39] second time many of you know that I had
[32:42] to unexpectedly schedule a knee
[32:44] replacement right in the middle of
[32:46] campaign season thank you to the entire
[32:49] campaign team who went door too
[32:52] addressed postcards delivered lawn signs
[32:54] and more your support meant so much to
[32:56] me me and I won't forget your kindness
[32:59] finally I can't thank my husband Bill
[33:01] Patrick enough he couldn't be with us
[33:03] tonight he's away teaching this week
[33:05] besides taking care of me after my
[33:07] surgery which was no small task that
[33:10] when I was able to go door too in the
[33:12] last several weeks of the campaign Bill
[33:15] drove around following us so that I
[33:18] wouldn't have far to go when my knee got
[33:20] too tired to keep on walking I'm so
[33:22] grateful for his love and his care to my
[33:26] city council colle colleagues I believe
[33:28] we are all here for one reason to make
[33:32] sure that we are serving our City's
[33:34] residents well keeping that goal in mind
[33:38] I look forward to collaborating with you
[33:39] all and with mayor McCarthy to keep
[33:42] skc's progress moving forward thank you
[33:46] [Applause]
[33:55] again
[33:59] and I call on Mr Carl Williams his oath
[34:02] will be administered by The Honorable
[34:04] Maran
[34:11] [Applause]
[34:25] Porterfield
[34:28] [Music]
[34:43] you Solly swear you solemnly swear that
[34:45] I will support the Constitution of the
[34:47] United States that I'll support the
[34:48] Constitution of the United States the
[34:50] Constitution of the state of New York
[34:51] the constitution of the state of New
[34:53] York the charter of the city of SKC the
[34:55] charter of the city and I will
[34:57] Faithfully discharge the duties and I
[34:59] Faithfully discharge the duties of
[35:01] office of Sky City council member office
[35:03] of Sky City Council in for the city of
[35:06] SKC and for the city of skty according
[35:08] to the best of my ability according to
[35:10] the best of my ability so help me God so
[35:12] help
[35:14] [Applause]
[35:25] me
[35:42] uh thank you so much uh firstly to the
[35:44] voters who came out to support me uh it
[35:46] definitely is a a weird uh uh
[35:49] understanding to accept just that so
[35:51] many people like I could not even count
[35:52] on my hands just elected to see me
[35:54] continue to do this good work that we
[35:57] are uh challenged to do day in and day
[35:59] out uh I wanted to take a moment to just
[36:00] singularly thank my wife Michaela and
[36:03] our two daughters zah M Malia uh for uh
[36:06] attending this journey with me that I
[36:08] have proactively uh decided our family
[36:10] to go on truly um serving as a council
[36:14] member is not something that I'm able to
[36:15] do by myself as you've seen I wear a lot
[36:18] of different roles the one that I
[36:19] prominently wear the the proudest is
[36:21] that of father and husband uh definitely
[36:23] to my daughters who've only known me as
[36:25] a council member I hope that that
[36:26] they'll truly understand the capacity of
[36:29] the work that I elect to do with my
[36:30] colleagues uh I definitely proactively
[36:33] look forward to serving collaboratively
[36:35] with the the Tage of the mayor uh to
[36:37] make sure that we can best serve the the
[36:38] members of our community uh but
[36:40] ultimately I cannot stand here tonight I
[36:42] do not stand here tonight uh without
[36:44] knowing that our household is truly in
[36:45] good hands with my wife so truly thank
[36:47] you uh for making this journey more
[36:49] tolerable uh and I definitely know there
[36:51] are a lot of trying nights there have
[36:54] been some long meetings Jo that they
[36:57] there some long
[36:58] meetings But ultimately uh understanding
[37:01] to the the to the words of Miss uh Doro
[37:04] and Miss Carmel uh definitely being in
[37:06] the right hearts and minds and
[37:08] understanding that these roles that we serve to do voluntarily uh it is is a
[37:13] responsibility that we need to take
[37:15] further fervently and and confidently um
[37:18] so definitely I think my message for
[37:20] 2024 is I I confidently stand here
[37:23] looking to to proactively address the
[37:25] issues and needs of our community uh and
[37:27] definitely doing that in in a unified
[37:29] and collaborative and cohesive front so
[37:31] thank you uh I know we've said a lot of
[37:33] words over the last few years and now
[37:34] it's time for Action so thank
[37:46] you I will now take the roll call for
[37:49] the connected city council Mr
[37:52] Toro Mr
[37:54] Farley Mr manini pres Mr M Baron pres
[37:58] Miss Patrick here miss Porterfield here
[38:01] Mr Williams here and now ask for a
[38:05] motion appointing a city council
[38:13] president Mr
[38:19] Toro thank you is there a second on the
[38:21] motion second motion
[38:25] okay
[38:27] are there any
[38:31] discussions I will now put the motion to
[38:33] appoint Miss Maran Porterfield as city
[38:35] council president to vote Mr
[38:38] Toro
[38:40] yes Mr Farley yes Mr Mancini yes Mr muin
[38:47] yes Miss Patrick yes Miss Porterfield
[38:50] yes Mr Williams
[38:54] yes the motion carries unanimous ly
[38:56] naming Miss Porterfield as council
[39:00] [Applause]
[39:16] president thank you and first of all I
[39:18] would like to thank God for the
[39:19] opportunity to be here another year
[39:22] there are some people who we lost in
[39:25] 2023
[39:27] so before I start my remarks I just ask
[39:29] for we all to give a a moment of silence
[39:32] and to remember those that we lost in
[39:44] 2023 thank you first of all I'd like to
[39:48] say happy New Year to everyone and thank
[39:50] you for being here this evening I'd like
[39:52] to congratulate the mayor on being
[39:54] elected to a new term and to all the
[39:55] council members who were reelected as
[39:57] well as welc M welcoming Mr manini to
[40:01] his first term on the city
[40:03] council with every new year be comes an
[40:06] opportunity to start aresh and so we as
[40:09] a council now have that
[40:11] opportunity we can reflect on the things
[40:13] that we accomplished in 2023 and there
[40:16] may be some who think that we didn't
[40:18] accomplish a lot but in fact if you look
[40:20] at our record you'll see that we agreed
[40:23] on more than we disagreed on because we
[40:25] just have to talk about the elephant in
[40:26] the room
[40:27] but we and one of the things I just want
[40:29] to note something that we did that is
[40:31] probably has not happened here before
[40:33] but has happened in other communities is
[40:35] our participatory budgeting where we
[40:37] allowed residents of the city to
[40:40] determine how we spent the arpa funds
[40:42] that were going to come in it wasn't a
[40:44] smooth ride but it was a ride where we
[40:47] learned some lessons and then people who
[40:48] don't normally benefit from the money
[40:50] that comes through the city were able to
[40:52] benefit and to do things within their
[40:54] different organizations so thank you to those who submitted
[40:57] applications thank you to those who um
[41:01] received funding and and continued with
[41:03] their project and thank you for those
[41:04] who took the time and effort to review
[41:06] some of those applications we really
[41:08] appreciate it and without our community
[41:10] it would be difficult to do that the
[41:11] work that we do the other thing that
[41:14] happened most recently is having the tax
[41:16] exemption raised the amount of tax
[41:18] exemption raised for seniors that is
[41:20] going to benefit some of the most
[41:22] vulnerable populations in our city the
[41:25] seniors and the lower income people but
[41:27] now we took the opportunity with the
[41:29] leadership of councilman Williams to
[41:32] actually to do that and so now those
[41:34] folks who maybe have been suffering a
[41:35] little bit because they lost their
[41:36] exemption because of the rais in Social
[41:38] Security are now going to be able to
[41:40] benefit from that again I want to thank
[41:43] all of the leadership here the police
[41:45] chief the mayor the fire chief chief
[41:48] Divine and all the city staff for
[41:50] continuing to work with us as we go
[41:52] through um making sure that we run the
[41:54] city to the best of our ability we
[41:56] really could not do it without
[41:58] you the council took some time last week
[42:01] to sit and reflect on what last year was
[42:04] like what the last few years were like
[42:06] and how we would move forward into
[42:09] 2024 and I want to thank you all for
[42:11] taking the time to do that because the
[42:14] true measure of character is when you
[42:16] are willing to have authentic meaningful
[42:19] conversations accept difficulties and
[42:22] respon and accept responsibility for
[42:24] what we've each added to the challenge
[42:26] that we faced and resolve to overcome
[42:29] them all and to do better since this is
[42:31] a council that gives out resolutions a
[42:33] lot we resolved that we would work
[42:36] together for the benefit of our
[42:38] community that we would not let outside
[42:40] influences make help make um a
[42:43] difference with us and determine how we
[42:45] treat each other but that we we work
[42:47] together because the city and is
[42:49] counting on us so I thank you all for
[42:52] that I look forward to working with you
[42:54] and I thank you for the opportunity
[42:56] you have given me to again be the
[42:58] council president and I know that we're
[43:00] going to have a wonderful year Mr manini
[43:03] thank you for being a part of this I'm
[43:05] sure I know that you thought about it
[43:07] for a while but but thank you for saying
[43:10] yes nonetheless and for those have
[43:12] continued to serve and chosen to
[43:13] continue serve I look forward to working
[43:15] with you thank you very
[43:18] [Applause]
[43:24] much this Porterfield would you please
[43:26] take the
[43:49] chair Mr John mutar has been selected to
[43:53] serve as the majority lead leader for a
[43:55] term commencing January 2024 until
[43:58] December
[44:00] 2025 this time I'd like to ask for a
[44:02] motion for city
[44:05] clerk motion by Miss Patrick second by
[44:08] Mr
[44:09] Mancini all in
[44:11] favor no Miss Michael has to I'm sorry
[44:13] has to take a roll call Miss Michael
[44:15] would you please take the roll call
[44:16] naming you as city
[44:18] clerk Mr Toro yes Mr Farley yes Mr
[44:25] Mancini
[44:26] yes Mr muan yes Miss Patrick yes Miss
[44:31] Porterfield yes Mr Williams yes thank
[44:36] you motion passes unanimously thank
[44:40] you may I have a motion designate this
[44:43] The Daily Gazette as the official
[44:45] publication for the city of skincity
[44:48] motion motion by Mr manini second by
[44:51] Miss Patrick all in favor
[44:54] I
[45:07] theed okay we'd like to have the
[45:09] benediction by Reverend Brad
[45:17] Jones wait excuse me the mayor will do
[45:21] his state of the city before the
[45:24] benediction
[45:27] out I need down
[45:35] there I was going to take a lot of
[45:37] pressure off
[45:40] me that uh want to thank everyone for uh
[45:43] coming out tonight uh can everybody here
[45:46] is significant your contributions to the
[45:49] city and community that we all love and
[45:54] appreciate uh thank uh Greg Caroline uh
[45:58] judge sanusi for administering the oath
[46:01] Classics connect success story product
[46:04] of City Schools moved out of the area
[46:08] practice law at a higher level came back
[46:11] here served at the DA's office was city
[46:13] court judge and has served this
[46:15] community's distinction as a county
[46:17] court judge and so Matt I thank you for
[46:21] uh your role in uh humbling experience
[46:24] just administering the oath to me
[46:26] tonight uh judge Caruso is here uh judge
[46:31] Versace uh judge Divine who we give a
[46:34] couple different titles to depending on
[46:36] what role he's in but uh thank you for
[46:39] uh your work uh uh Tom Isabella Dave
[46:43] balk uh forign members of the city
[46:45] council long distinguished Service uh
[46:48] thank you for joining us uh father isopo
[46:53] uh Reverend Hamilton Reverend Jones
[46:56] again thank you for the work that you do
[46:58] in your respective uh roles within the
[47:01] clergy in this
[47:03] community
[47:05] uh assemblyman Santa Barbara it's great
[47:08] to see you uh we always like state
[47:11] legislators to join us every time if you
[47:14] could come if you could bring a check
[47:15] though we appreciate you
[47:18] more but uh I've had the
[47:21] opportunity uh my role in the city is to
[47:24] sit in all three seats here out in the
[47:27] audience the deis the council seats the
[47:31] deis looks the most impressive but they
[47:34] are not the most comfortable seats
[47:36] they're big they're a little bit awkward
[47:38] to move around in the city council seats
[47:41] are really the best seats in this
[47:45] chamber and unfortunately where the
[47:48] public sits they are the worst seats
[47:50] they are I don't think any of the
[47:52] churches have any that are quite as bad
[47:54] as these pews that are here and so
[47:58] taking that into consideration I won't
[47:59] make my remarks too long tonight so that
[48:03] you don't have to uh sit here longer
[48:06] than you would like to but uh I want to
[48:08] thank the department heads and the city
[48:11] staff for the work they do every day for
[48:14] the residents of our city uh it's really
[48:17] a great team and it's really producing
[48:19] significant
[48:22] results even though the budget process
[48:24] this year was longer than than any of us
[48:26] would have liked the tax bills that
[48:28] we're sending out now reflect a 1 cent
[48:32] per thousand reduction in the tax rates
[48:34] for
[48:35] 2024 and what that means is that we have
[48:38] cut taxes seven out of the last nine
[48:40] years even though that the slight
[48:43] increase because of
[48:45] covid and the uh financial status of the
[48:48] city is sound our assessed value of
[48:50] property in the city continues to
[48:52] steadily rise with a total value this
[48:55] year of
[48:57] 2.47 billion
[49:00] dollar uh our garbage collection is one
[49:04] of the great Services we provide our
[49:06] residents the adopted budget requires us
[49:09] to deal with
[49:10] jackpots that's the slang term used by
[49:13] staff for people who put out an
[49:15] excessive amount of trash in front of
[49:17] their property we must find a formula
[49:20] that fairly allocates the additional
[49:22] cost they generate back to those
[49:24] individuals that uh and locations that
[49:27] generate it you look at just that one
[49:30] example there again all too often that
[49:32] happens here in the
[49:34] city the rates on the slide uh also came
[49:39] in actually as we were finishing the
[49:40] budget coming in from our contractors
[49:43] and vendors uh Municipal Solid Waste
[49:47] commonly referred to as
[49:49] MSW has a over 35% increase from what we
[49:54] paid last year year in
[49:56] 2023 and
[49:59] recyclables are going to go up over
[50:02] 125% and you have to remember for the
[50:04] recyclables we used
[50:06] to do it basically at a break even Point
[50:10] some years it would cost us a little bit
[50:12] some years we'd make a little bit of
[50:14] money based on the value of the tin
[50:17] plastic and glass that were the primary
[50:19] components that were being
[50:22] recycled now it costs more to do the
[50:27] recyclables than it does for
[50:30] MSW and so it's the whole area that we
[50:34] have to rethink how we approach and how
[50:37] do we deal with it and this week I'm
[50:40] going to appoint a working group that
[50:41] will include council president
[50:43] Porterfield and public service and
[50:45] utility chair Doro to review our current
[50:48] service model with Associated costs and
[50:51] benefits I'll direct that they provide a
[50:54] report and recommendation to the city
[50:56] council and myself for the February 20th
[50:58] committee meeting of the city council so
[51:01] that we can enact appropriate
[51:03] legislation or fee structure to again
[51:05] hold those individuals accountable that
[51:07] drive our
[51:10] costs a significant amount of our cost
[51:13] and demands for services are driven by
[51:16] what I label is high needs individuals
[51:18] and high needs
[51:20] locations we send code enforcement
[51:23] police the fire department the Bureau of
[51:25] service
[51:26] to locations that social services
[51:28] medical resources and other community
[51:31] providers are also being sent to
[51:35] unfortunately many times one provider
[51:38] does not know the other is dealing with
[51:41] that situation or that individual or
[51:44] family I'm Shifting the responsibility
[51:47] of director Matt Douglas who has done a
[51:49] great job with crime analysis and
[51:51] support of the police department to use
[51:54] his skill set on a city-wide basis we're
[51:57] collecting a lot of information and data
[52:00] and with Mr Douglas's
[52:03] experience I'm looking to better manage
[52:07] the city resources and improve our
[52:10] messaging to the public as we identify
[52:13] those locations and individuals and work
[52:15] in a coordinated manner to deal with
[52:19] them in a truly solution-based
[52:24] process this outlines some of the work
[52:26] that Matt has done and it's an ezri
[52:29] platform again it allows to take data
[52:32] and use it in a graphical format that is
[52:35] easily understood by not only the public
[52:38] but people who are providing services in
[52:40] evaluating situations that we deal
[52:44] with in 2020 we saw historic lows in
[52:47] criminal activity due the co pandemic
[52:50] unfortunately we've seen a slight uptick
[52:53] in crime but the numbers need need to be
[52:55] put into perspective the graph shows the
[52:58] last 12 years our part one violent crime
[53:01] is still 22% lower than when I came into
[53:04] office in 2012 and our property crimes
[53:07] are 19% lower than
[53:10] 2012 and while we've all experienced
[53:13] individuals complaining about speeding
[53:16] within the city and it is an issue that
[53:18] uh commissioner and chief I assume
[53:20] you'll be working on when you leave this
[53:21] meeting
[53:23] tonight uh
[53:26] crash data is actually down over 8% over
[53:30] the last four years so that we're seeing
[53:33] some of the improvements that we're
[53:35] doing with traffic control devices some
[53:38] of the enforcement it is uh producing
[53:41] results and we would encourage people to
[53:44] again think about the actions that
[53:47] you're taking for speeding littering and
[53:49] some of the other nuisances that uh
[53:51] drive a lot of the complaints that come
[53:53] to City Hall
[53:56] SKC continues to develop and Implement
[53:58] Innovative and
[54:00] advancements uh to further enhance
[54:03] Community accessibility to
[54:05] information in mid 2023 the SKC police
[54:09] uh launched the first public facing
[54:11] dashboard again it was designed by Matt
[54:13] Douglas and as an ezri uh platform that
[54:18] can be publicly accessed via the city
[54:22] website this shows reported part one
[54:25] crimes in the city of skincity during
[54:28] the last 28 days uh crime statistics can
[54:32] be selected by neighborhood or by a
[54:34] specific type of crime and where we
[54:37] start to look at high needs individuals
[54:39] and high needs locations what we're
[54:41] looking to do is take the talent that we
[54:43] have in some of our crime analysts in
[54:45] the planning department across City uh
[54:48] departments and be able to graphically
[54:50] represent not only criminal activity but
[54:54] code enforcement
[54:56] uh Health Care other issues that may be
[54:59] arising so that we can tell the story
[55:02] and then also better focus resources in
[55:05] a collective manner to solve
[55:08] them uh we're doing a lot of uh things
[55:11] in public safety we've uh done Dax
[55:14] that's datadriven policing septad is
[55:17] crime prevention through environmental
[55:19] design there's a whole list of uh things
[55:22] that uh we've been doing
[55:25] the one that I'm most proud of and I
[55:27] think has the most significance is the
[55:30] Hub model and that's where we take and
[55:33] send uh fire paramedics police Social
[55:36] Services mental health professionals
[55:39] drug and alcohol counselers in a team
[55:42] format to evaluate and guide individuals
[55:46] to the appropriate support so that they
[55:49] may live with dignity and reduce their
[55:52] needs for police and fire and emergency
[55:55] room Services there individuals that
[55:57] having problems within the community
[55:59] some are homeless uh some are living in
[56:02] less and desirable
[56:04] circumstances but we have a coordinated
[56:07] effort that is going out in really
[56:10] transforming some of their lives and
[56:12] making a dramatic difference in the
[56:14] related Public Safety costs that those
[56:16] individuals
[56:17] Drive Patrol finder a product developed
[56:21] by a local company transfinder who CEO
[56:24] Tony civella is with us tonight thank
[56:27] you Mr civella for joining us this
[56:30] product is fully deployed in the Patrol
[56:32] Division and it's making our police
[56:34] officers more effective and accountable
[56:37] and again it's a platform where it's
[56:39] connected leading with a local company
[56:42] putting in place a management system
[56:46] that leverage police resources and so
[56:50] I'm thankful that uh Civello and his
[56:53] team allowed connect to to be part of
[56:55] that process and we again look forward
[56:58] to having that not only deployed fully
[57:01] within SKC but with other communities
[57:04] across the state and hopefully across
[57:06] the country so that he'll be able to
[57:07] hire a few more people here in the city
[57:09] of
[57:11] skinc this summer the city of sken and
[57:14] uh local community organizations hosted
[57:17] the 518 common Unity cup again uh local
[57:21] law enforcement Community organizations
[57:23] participated in a five-week summer
[57:26] series uh Sports series that kicked off
[57:29] during National Night Out the fire in
[57:32] the police department participated in
[57:34] multiple community events throughout the
[57:36] year and it just shows our ability to
[57:39] take law enforcement in uh firefighters
[57:44] and put them out interact with the
[57:46] public in non-emergency uh situations so
[57:51] they build a better rapport with them uh
[57:53] it breaks down hopefully any barriers
[57:56] that exist and hopefully also increases
[58:00] our ability to recruit individuals who
[58:03] may want to consider either a
[58:05] firefighting career or Police Services
[58:09] also within the fire department we have
[58:11] a drone initiative there we recently
[58:14] received a grant from the Larry
[58:16] Foundation which will replace the
[58:18] descending devices those are equipment
[58:21] that firefighters wear during interior
[58:24] attack on working fires if in fact they
[58:27] become a trap they are able to repel
[58:30] outside the building uh getting away
[58:35] from whatever the danger is uh we've had
[58:38] devices in place for about a decade
[58:40] these are new more modern ones that will
[58:42] be more efficient and less bulky for the
[58:45] uh firefighters out in the street and uh
[58:48] serving this
[58:49] community uh the replacement of our
[58:52] portable radios in the fire department
[58:54] uh in 2024 is going to be a much needed
[58:57] upgrade and will go a long way to
[58:58] improving our tactical operations within
[59:01] the fire
[59:03] department uh distressed property is
[59:06] still one of our big problems uh this is
[59:11] an example before and after uh just a
[59:14] few years we've reduced the number of
[59:15] vacant properties in the city of SKC by
[59:18] over
[59:19] 50% uh but again it drives our costs for
[59:23] code enforcement uh police fire and
[59:26] related expenses and on top of that the
[59:28] Lost Property Tax uh again it's a still
[59:33] a large problem for the community now
[59:36] having said still being a problem our
[59:39] record is fairly impressive where we've
[59:41] sold over 800 properties my focus since
[59:46] I've been mayor is to prioritize the
[59:48] sale of city-owned properties to create
[59:50] primarily home ownership opportunities
[59:53] the sales of these properties have
[59:55] generated over $14.1 million and again
[59:59] have put back on the tax rols those
[1:00:02] coresponding
[1:00:04] houses uh this year Mount Pleasant will
[1:00:07] see a $9 million complete streets
[1:00:10] project that will include new
[1:00:12] streetscapes sidewalks bike Lanes Green
[1:00:15] Space and the rehabilitation of the
[1:00:16] Craig Street Bridge depal properties the
[1:00:20] Mosaic Apartments uh development on
[1:00:23] Crane Street will transform several
[1:00:26] Parcels of vacant land and buildings in
[1:00:28] the Mount Pleasant commercial Corridor
[1:00:30] into 60 units of new quality affordable
[1:00:34] housing this is the same developer that
[1:00:37] did the Joe Allen Apartments on Albany
[1:00:39] Street the $120 million Northside
[1:00:43] Village is complete and being rented out
[1:00:46] Bethesda House's new car house is open
[1:00:48] and providing Supportive Housing and
[1:00:51] emergency housing for adults
[1:00:53] experiencing homelessness
[1:00:55] again SKC continues to provide quality
[1:00:59] and affordable res uh housing to its
[1:01:02] residents the uh $2.3 million Restore
[1:01:07] New York award for the wedgeway building
[1:01:09] and that was the second largest in this
[1:01:12] region and the sixth largest in the
[1:01:14] state has enabled the restoration of
[1:01:16] this vacant blighted and historically
[1:01:19] significant structure in the heart of
[1:01:21] downtown to get underway from
[1:01:25] Rehabilitation and so it's a major
[1:01:28] project that makes a big difference in
[1:01:31] our downtown and we're just proud of the
[1:01:33] team that put that
[1:01:35] together uh this picture is the ribbon
[1:01:39] cutting of the new CDTA Mobility Hub on
[1:01:42] Lower State
[1:01:43] Street this was provided with CDTA and
[1:01:47] Senator Schumer lining up some federal
[1:01:49] money it provides bus service electric
[1:01:52] vehicle charging bicyc IC Le access in
[1:01:55] pedestrian
[1:01:57] amenities uh we also completed the
[1:01:59] sidewalk work on North College Street
[1:02:02] and there was drainage issues and Street
[1:02:04] improvements on North Center Street in
[1:02:07] the improvements to the Brandy Wine
[1:02:08] Avenue
[1:02:10] uh traffic Corridor will be completed
[1:02:14] this
[1:02:15] spring we have over $35 million of
[1:02:19] ongoing infrastructure projects going
[1:02:21] into
[1:02:22] 2024 The Rice Road water infrastructure
[1:02:25] improvements including three new water
[1:02:27] wells that will produce an excessive
[1:02:30] 9,000 gallons per minute which are made
[1:02:33] possible with a $3 million water
[1:02:36] infrastructure Improvement Grant uh
[1:02:39] Improvement act Grant from the New York
[1:02:41] State Environmental facilities
[1:02:43] Corporation these critical
[1:02:45] infrastructure upgrades will help
[1:02:47] improve the
[1:02:49] efficiency resiliency and sustainability
[1:02:52] of our water supply system which not
[1:02:54] only serves the residents of this city
[1:02:56] but multiple adjacent
[1:02:59] municipalities and also for general
[1:03:01] information uh the Kings Road Bridge
[1:03:04] rehab project we will formally close
[1:03:07] that bridge on Monday January 22 it will
[1:03:11] create some inconvenience but that will
[1:03:14] allow the project to be done in a more
[1:03:16] timely manner and actually at an overall
[1:03:19] lower cost so we uh appreciate people's
[1:03:22] tolerance and that inconvenience where
[1:03:24] they're going to be re-rooted uh off
[1:03:26] King's
[1:03:27] Road the Adaptive use uh reuse of
[1:03:30] historic buildings adds character to our
[1:03:33] community the Foster and Edison
[1:03:35] buildings are great examples of this uh
[1:03:39] home to the great Nest restaurant is in
[1:03:42] the Foster building the Edison banquet
[1:03:45] hall and both projects provide housing
[1:03:48] to new people moving into our community
[1:03:51] and if you've not stopped by the Armory
[1:03:53] Studio to see see the Claude Monae
[1:03:55] immersive experience please put that on
[1:03:58] your schedule and we have Ray leir one
[1:04:00] of the principles from uh the uh Armory
[1:04:03] joining us tonight thank you Mr leer for
[1:04:06] your
[1:04:07] work we continue to see an
[1:04:10] increase in the use of our online uh
[1:04:13] platform for residents to contact the
[1:04:16] city with issues or questions that see
[1:04:18] click fix if you don't have it on your
[1:04:21] uh phone sign up for it
[1:04:24] get it on the city
[1:04:27] website and after our second full year
[1:04:29] of deployment we're very happy with the
[1:04:32] utilization and look to continue promote
[1:04:35] its use by our residents is just one
[1:04:38] more way to better manage citizens
[1:04:40] request identifying problems and
[1:04:42] ensuring appropriate followup last year
[1:04:45] we successfully closed out over 1500
[1:04:50] requests thanks to a car's CV Grant we
[1:04:54] were able to expand our public Wi-Fi
[1:04:57] deployment into the north side Hamilton
[1:05:00] Hill between Seward place and Erie
[1:05:02] Boulevard and we will be turning on more
[1:05:04] in The Stockade area in the coming weeks
[1:05:08] I remind residents of the recent updated
[1:05:12] interactive WiFi map on our website to
[1:05:16] keep everyone posted and where we
[1:05:18] currently have this service there are
[1:05:21] over 250 access points currently shown
[1:05:25] on the map last year at this time we had
[1:05:27] about
[1:05:28] 115 and uh as we get into the uh spring
[1:05:32] months I expect to have over 400 total
[1:05:36] uh active sites in the
[1:05:40] city uh in the last 30 days our public
[1:05:43] WiFi has serviced between 1.9 and 2.9
[1:05:48] Million page requests every
[1:05:53] day this is allowing our citizens to
[1:05:56] obtain news information
[1:05:59] and access to things that they need to
[1:06:02] keep informed and have them provided
[1:06:05] basic knowledge in some cases it's a
[1:06:07] total of over 66 million hits happened
[1:06:11] in the month of December
[1:06:13] alone on the right side you of the slide
[1:06:16] you you can see the top destination
[1:06:19] categories while I'm talking about the
[1:06:21] uh Public Access there's also a par
[1:06:24] parallel secure side to that Network
[1:06:27] that we use for police fire and
[1:06:30] Municipal Services which allows us to be
[1:06:33] more efficient have uh greater access to
[1:06:37] information and again manage the
[1:06:40] resources of the
[1:06:42] city uh want to thank all the volunteers
[1:06:45] who helped organize the Capital District
[1:06:47] Drive electric week in sustainability
[1:06:50] fair to celebrate the National Drive
[1:06:53] electric week here in the electric city
[1:06:56] skty was the largest National Drive
[1:06:58] electric week event in the country by
[1:07:01] the number of registered participants
[1:07:03] for the second year in a row the fair is
[1:07:06] one of 215 events held in 22 cities
[1:07:11] Nationwide all dedicated to advancing
[1:07:14] the cause of Electric Mobility so again
[1:07:17] it shows connecties leadership in an
[1:07:20] emerging technology in an area that uh
[1:07:23] again reflects the history and the
[1:07:25] future of this
[1:07:27] city we continue to take advantage of
[1:07:29] incentives and Partnerships as we build
[1:07:31] our infrastructure and expand our
[1:07:33] electric
[1:07:35] Fleet this chart shows a comparison of
[1:07:38] two City Vehicles one vehicle driven an
[1:07:41] average of 50 miles a week
[1:07:45] produces over
[1:07:47] 13,000 pounds of carbon
[1:07:51] dioxide a similar Electric vehicle
[1:07:54] driven the same amount of mileage
[1:07:56] produces only 2,000 lbs of carbon
[1:08:00] dioxide so it shows the dramatic impact
[1:08:03] that we can have on our environment and
[1:08:05] I appreciate the city council's support
[1:08:08] in working with the Departments as we
[1:08:10] look to add electric vehicles to the
[1:08:13] fleet uh the leader in that of course is
[1:08:16] uh Mr da at the golf course who has
[1:08:19] converted all the golf carts to electric
[1:08:22] vehicles well hopefully the rest of the
[1:08:25] city will catch up with you
[1:08:27] Matt I appreciate the city council's
[1:08:30] early support for the new pool in
[1:08:32] Central Park which will be open this
[1:08:34] summer it's Tak a little bit longer than
[1:08:36] we'd like but uh it's a Class Act it's a
[1:08:40] great facility and uh it's a major
[1:08:43] project which complements our previous
[1:08:45] investment in music Haven the ad diamond
[1:08:48] in the ongoing upgrades to our tennis
[1:08:51] courts we're happy to have completed
[1:08:54] Jerry Burell Park improvements in
[1:08:56] 2023 the park now has a new Splash Pad
[1:09:00] basketball court seating area lighting
[1:09:03] and public art this is possible because
[1:09:06] of support from the New York State
[1:09:07] Department of parks and recreation in
[1:09:10] sken county and it complements the
[1:09:12] investment made by the city of
[1:09:15] sken we have uh the pickle ball and
[1:09:18] basketball courts at Hillhurst Park and
[1:09:21] the tennis courts at Fairview Park were
[1:09:23] completed in
[1:09:25] 2023 these projects were designed with
[1:09:28] the input from the Belleview
[1:09:29] preservation Association in the Mohawk
[1:09:32] pickle ball league new projects this
[1:09:34] year are in Central Park for the
[1:09:37] Michigan Avenue in the Central Park in
[1:09:40] the Michigan Avenue tennis
[1:09:42] courts now I started by saying I
[1:09:44] wouldn't make my remarks run too long so
[1:09:47] I'm just going to give you a quick
[1:09:49] overview here the next slides list over
[1:09:53] 70 active grants and $84 million that
[1:09:58] we're managing to better deliver
[1:10:00] services and improve our city and so
[1:10:03] even if I just took a minute and one to
[1:10:05] would take 84 minutes which I'm not
[1:10:07] going to do but I just if you have any
[1:10:10] questions on any of these projects
[1:10:12] councilman manini who's been here about
[1:10:15] a day and a half now is fully briefed on
[1:10:18] this and we'll be able to give you a
[1:10:20] detailed update on the way out
[1:10:24] so so but again these don't happen by
[1:10:28] accident it's a lot of people working
[1:10:29] together uh really producing results and
[1:10:32] this is a beyond the arpa money that we
[1:10:36] have so again it's really something that
[1:10:38] the staff should be proud of and the
[1:10:41] resident should be thankful for in terms
[1:10:43] of the results that we're producing
[1:10:46] here it seems like uh every week you do
[1:10:50] another ribbon cutting for new
[1:10:51] businesses or one that is expanding in
[1:10:54] and this is a result of our great
[1:10:56] unified economic development team led by
[1:10:59] Ray Gillan and the Metroplex staff it's
[1:11:03] uh really an impressive record that we
[1:11:05] have our community organizations and
[1:11:08] leaders are consistently recognized for
[1:11:10] milestones and significant
[1:11:15] accomplishments uh there are always good
[1:11:17] things going on and connected with our
[1:11:19] many Community Partners something
[1:11:22] happening literally every day
[1:11:24] here our working together is what enable
[1:11:27] us to make so many good things happen I
[1:11:31] thank you for the opportunity to
[1:11:33] continue to serve as your mayor and look
[1:11:35] forward to a productive 2024 as we build
[1:11:38] on the impressive record we have in that
[1:11:41] we set standards that other communities
[1:11:43] look for to follow in our footsteps and
[1:11:48] Lady Liberty is back in downtown's
[1:11:52] connecties
[1:11:58] [Applause]
[1:12:01] thank you and enjoy your
[1:12:03] [Applause]
[1:12:22] evening
[1:12:29] thank you mayor I'd ask everyone to
[1:12:31] please rise for the
[1:12:39] benediction good evening and happy New
[1:12:41] Year uh I'm Brad Jones I'm the director
[1:12:44] or another name for head pastor at
[1:12:46] Christ Church in September I celebrated
[1:12:48] my 25th year um as as the recor a pastor
[1:12:52] there and it's been my privilege to work
[1:12:55] in the community of Hamilton hill our
[1:12:58] mission field uh but also in the
[1:13:00] greatest skincity area these past
[1:13:02] several years my benediction is in two
[1:13:04] parts one is a just a brief closing
[1:13:06] prayer for the leaders the elected
[1:13:09] leaders uh of this city that we've U
[1:13:12] recognized this evening uh but the
[1:13:14] benediction is actually a blessing on
[1:13:17] all the people of God um and I I'm going
[1:13:20] to share with you the benediction that
[1:13:24] Moses uh passed on to Aaron to to pray
[1:13:27] over the people um this is a something
[1:13:32] that uh my seven children grew up with
[1:13:35] every night before they went to bed my
[1:13:37] wife and I would actually sing this
[1:13:39] blessing and I'm going to um with uh
[1:13:43] apologies to any professional musicians
[1:13:45] here I'm going to I'm going to sing that
[1:13:46] benediction uh over you so first a brief
[1:13:50] prayer almighty God our heavenly father
[1:13:52] send down upon those who hold office in
[1:13:57] this city of
[1:13:58] skincity the spirit of wisdom charity
[1:14:00] and
[1:14:01] Justice that with steadfast purpose they
[1:14:04] may Faithfully serve in their offices to
[1:14:06] promote the well-being of all people
[1:14:08] through Jesus Christ Our Lord
[1:14:12] amen the Lord bless you and keep you the
[1:14:18] Lord make his face shine upon you and
[1:14:22] give you peace peace and give you peace
[1:14:29] forever the Lord be gracious to you the
[1:14:35] Lord turn his face toward you and give
[1:14:40] you peace and give you peace and give
[1:14:45] you peace
[1:14:46] [Music]
[1:14:47] forever and give you peace and give you peace
[1:14:57] forever amen and God
[1:15:01] [Applause]
[1:15:17] bless council members I need a motion to
[1:15:20] adjourn move on Miss Patrick
[1:15:24] second by Mr Thank You by Mr M all in
[1:15:27] favor council members we meet in
[1:15:52] 110
[1:15:55] [Music]
[1:16:03] yeah