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meeting for Tuesday January 16th 2024
the first item on the agenda is a
presentation i' like to turn over to
Mayor McCarthy Madam president uh thank
you uh being here there been a lot of
interest in Mohawk Harbor of uh Focus
was put on the uh potential of an
aquatic center there which didn't quite
work out to the team has still been
exploring options and looking at uh
scenarios that will add value not only
to that site but the community as a
whole and with that I'll turn it over to
David buo the CEO of gesi to start with
their
presentation thank you
Mr come up here
surec president thank you you're welcome
if you use microphone then the people
out there can hear you terrific you're
welcome no you don't worry about it they
can hear they can hear I can't even hear
me those of you who don't know me
members of the city council I'm David
buo president CEO of the gesi group uh
been doing this now for 42 years before
most of you were born uh what I've got today I want to
introduce members of our team here that
uh can answer questions uh first and
foremost uh uh David Harris president of
Union College uh joela dice general
manager of the Rivers Casino Resort my
team my Chief Operating Officer David
all and the general counsel and vice
president Thomas Owens uh we appreciate
you putting this on the agenda today and
we'll try and keep it as brief or as
long as you want it uh with the
inclement weather uh but we have here is
a proposed project uh as you as you well
know we've developed uh well there go of
building MVP Building Center City 797
Broadway and then attacked M haror uh
and invested a lot of time and effort in
there we still have some vacant land and
we went through evaluating what we
wanted to do with it whether it was
Apartments whether it was a hotel
whether it was Bard Office Buildings uh
and uh then we talked to the Aquatic
Center about possibly coming out there
and bringing that from ex 12 where they are going to be in Clifton or
Saratoga County uh and uh we evaluated
that and looked on the impact on our
site uh uh we worked with them to pursue
another alternative at the viaport and
we're playing around with what ideas we
could do for this site we decided we
wanted to do something more Community
oriented than profit oriented believe it
or not for business to say that it's
unusual uh but from that standpoint uh
what I'd like to do is walk you through
the project I'm going to have Ray Gillan
come up and do a little bit before and
after and then we can uh answer any
questions that anybody
[Music]
has thank you thank you council
president new members returning members
welcome uh thank you for having us
tonight go through a couple of quick
slides some of you w don't may not
remember what the outo site looked like
before sat vacant for about 50 years
something the mayor talks about a lot
didn't pay any taxes cuz it was in tax
foreclosure there were about 50 jobs
there at one
company and many many people um
including some past city leaders who
have been in this room
recently uh prior to 2004 said you could
never do anything with this site and and
publicly scoffed at it at me personally
at at the teen when we brought forward a
proposal to redevelop the outgo site and
uh so we glory in the success of this
project because there were so many
doubters and so many people who said you
can't do anything there and our motto
was you can and we proved them uh we
proved that you could do it in fact the
Grand Vision for the site prior to 2004
is really scary uh they were looking at
storing medical waste there they were
looking at storing construction debris
there and they had signed a lease with a
tire recycling company and their plan
was to make this the biggest tire
recycling facility in the United States
and I had to threaten to condemn that
lease with the powers we have in
Metroplex to stop that project that was
a reality imagine 60 Acres of
Waterfront turning out with the fumes
with the dust with the pollution with
the
problems uh tire recycling and compared
to what we have and what was really
Troublesome is there was no respect for
the alcohol Legacy the the fact that
this facility built
90,000 locomotives that this facility
played a key role in winning World War
II in one month during World War II in
one 30-day period they built 100 tanks
and 200 locomotives they played a
critical role in the war effort and
these Visions for this site prior to
2004 that were discussed right in this
room a all about medical waste
construction debris treating the site as
a junkyard not as a sacred ground
that we know uh when it was the outgo
facility we've had huge success here
everybody knows the story we really help
SKC have a waterfront reconnect our city
to the Waterfront to our beautiful
Waterfront uh we put up and we worked
with the council president the
Porterfield uh when it came to naming
the streets we remember that we decided
we've got to memorialize this aloh
Heritage here we did a I think a
beautiful job of putting the trail
system in place and putting the signs
along the trails uh that Mark the
various highlights of the ALCO history
of course we developed the leadership of
the glassi group Casino it's been hugely
successful two hotels 100,000 square ft
of Technology office space the new
Regional headquarters to the SI group
just opened Apartments Town Homes
restaurants retail Marina everybody goes
there summertime to to watch the
concerts and we have a new dock that
we're working closely with Chris Wallen
and the city on um right on the
riverfront so we can pull big touring
boats in and have them Dock and come in
and visit
SKC our former mayor Stratton who was a
huge supporter of this project today
loves to tell people that the largest
and most successful Waterfront
development along the Erie Canal is it's
connected to new
york, 1500 jobs on site and growing
Casino pays $4 million a year in
property tax it's the only Casino of the
four licensed casinos in New York state
that did not get a pilot and uh the
property pays full taxes in addition the
city and the county each get a share of
the casino slots Revenue that amounted
to $2.6 Million last year that's an
addition to the property tax and of
course the city benefits from sales tax
the community benefits from occupancy
tax
tourism spending has increased
dramatically in scany county and there's
been a tremendous amount of development
around the harbor frankly we would have
not gotten the new train station if it
wasn't for M Harbor and the
casino this project we feel is it you
know really epitomizes smart growth and
one of the things that um Chris Wallen
will remember the mayor is that
everything was done when you build these
projects there's more infrastructure
work there's more Underground stuff than
there is stuff above ground it's really
the the base of the project is built
first excuse me and uh we put in all new
working with Paul Leon the city engineer
all new water and sewer infrastructure
was put in place at the developer's
expense prior to the the the the project
getting built and that coupled with what
you've all done to improve the sewer
system that $50 million sewer line which
is one of the greatest achievements in
infrastructure that I've seen in my
career and I've been doing this a long
time is the reason why the water quality
has improved so much and we have hardly
any outflows at all into the river this
used to happen every day in skank there
would be all kinds of municipal waste
going right into the river well it
doesn't happen anymore it wasn't an
accident it was planned it was planned
smart growth it was a joint effort with
uh the city the gesi group Metroplex and
what we have here today on site is the
number one Regional tourism attraction
in the Capital District according to the
Aly Business Review is M haror we have
almost 2 million people a year visits
connected um to come to Mo Harbor and to
the casino and to the other attractions
on the site so it's been a really fun
and exciting project a lot of hard work
by a lot of people in this room and
we're very grateful to their assistance
but it's been a big big success want to
give it back to Dave at this point to
talk about how we put the team together
to make it
successful thank you right yeah this
project uh and and like many others
actually started in this room but you
had every agency involved that I've ever
been involved with you had esdc do the
Secretary of State's office uh you had
uh the county you had the the health
department you had dec of course were
the Brownfield credits I I think we we
dotted every ey and crossed every te
with every agency going but it showed
how much if everybody worked together
you can really create such an
environment that that a project does is
successful uh actually I was very proud
that the governor highlighted this in
her State the state this year and said
MOA carber is the epitome and the poster
child for uh justifying Economic
Development by the state so that's
pretty impressive she's she brags about
connected when she talks about success
which is which is terrific um one of the
things we we we came up with was looking
at this thing and saying you know by the
way our gesi projects and the casino
project we pay taxes of over $20 million
a year in city and county and school so
that's a big number so just we we do our
fair share uh but the fact is that we
wanted to come up with something that we
felt was a little bit different that
could impa benefit the
community and benefit uh uh other
stakeholders uh when we looked at the
Aquatic Center we said what do we need
to drink bring more people to SKC and
they did a really nice job in terms of
convincing me that this would bring a
lot of people but when we looked at it
and what some of their needs were these
were bringing a lot of kids and swimming
and all that stuff it was more
beneficial to be a theia port and then
we started talking to U Dr Harris at
Union College about the needs of Union
College that had a very upy gentle
obsolete rink is that the right way to
say it I was around in 1977 I believe it
was when Achilles rink was built so it
is it is a dinosaur so they they were
looking for for a place to uh have their
home games uh the stiming by space on
campus uh we looked at it there was a
need to Albany County rink is going to
be closing probably sometime soon with
the expansion of the airport so he said
let's come up with a project that could
benefit uh can bring in trade shows
bring in uh the ability to uh to house
Union College men's and women's to
complement what's already out there most
of these projects are done in all
honesty by municipalities I don't know
any of them that are not done by
municipalities if you go right across
the board Glenn Falls Albany County
udica Rochester Syracuse they're all
being run by municipalities and owned by
municipalities this is kind of unique uh
we sort of took a step back and said how
do we we get this done by the private
sector it's not easy to do these things
don't make money they cost money but we
don't want to put the burden on any of
the municipalities to do it so we
decided to uh uh lay out a plan that
maximizes uh the use gives a lot of
flexibility creates a a facility that
could host D1 hockey men's and women's
and be proud for the community we can go
after other sports we've talked to
people with hockey basketball soccer uh
trade shows I I think we can compete
with and some of the other casinos in
the state particularly Turning Stone
they've increased their Event Center and
I go down there and I see all these
trade shows and conventions that are
going to Verona which I'm originally
from R out in that area but we should
have them here in the capital region
have them this connected those are going
to have such a huge impact uh for our
restaurants for our hotels for our
businesses and having people put us on
the map here uh again when Union playing
here you've got uh teams coming coming
in from all over the
Northeast coming here seeing this a
brand new facility here and the rest of
the development in moak Harbor is just
one that's going to turn people's heads
and make people really be aware of
what's going on it's connected in New
York uh this is a the hodge podge of
financing we've got a commitment from uh
Carl Hasty and and U um Kathy hokel uh
we've got uh some commitments from uh
Metroplex Angelo s barbar has been
supportive of it uh from our standpoint
this is this is not an easy thing to
finance we've got to do pilings this is
a an expensive project so we're looking
for uh uh the community to step up SKC
has not put any money into M Harbor a
lot of support from the Departments Etc
so from that standpoint we would look to
just reposition the money that was
allocated uh from the arpa for uh the
Aquatic Center to can keep it at Mok
Harbor because I think this will be
really it the payback and the return on
investment we feel will be dramatic for
the city and if you really look at it
the dollars are even less than one years
of the one year of the casino tax
alone next thankk
you I talk no that's okay uh I'm going
to wrap it up here because we know you
have a busy meeting
ahead this new attraction We Believe
will continue to boost tourism spending
in sked sked County
it'll keep SKC in the Forefront we want
to keep that number one ranking as far
as a
visitorship and uh tourism we want to
stay in first place in Capital Region
and compete with communities all over on
New York State and the Northeast go to
uica they just built a major new sports
complex downtown major basketball other
activities there over the holidays teams
from this area going out to UA we want
to attract that kind of event here as
Dave mentioned the facility can be used
for hockey basketball soccer lacrosse
special events trade shows uh all kinds
of um uses so that's one of the the
benefits of this the more activity there
is at the harbor the more Revenue comes
into the city it's as simple as that you
have to spend a little money to make a
little money but it's certainly proven
the case that more activity more
visitors more spending get more revenue
for the city so our request tonight
respectfully is that we'd asked the
council and the mayor uh to look at
keeping the arpa funding that was
allocated for m caror at M caror it's as
simple as that the money will be used in
total for infrastructure doesn't go into
the building itself it's going to be
used for infrastructure to handle the
growth that is needed water sewer roads
uh all of the underground work that has
to be done the
foundations um all of the work that has
to be done to put this new building in
place the new building is being paid for
in large vast majority of the funding is
coming from the gassi group Dave
mentioned we do have some State support
we thank the governor speaker Hasty and
assembly Angela s barara for their help
but what we really need is a commitment
by the city so that we can sign that
agreement with President Harris and uh
move forward
all the approvals are in place we we had
a very thorough we went through the
secret process we've been through the
planning uh zoning board of appeals we
went through your whole process here it
was a very good process it was very
positive and there were a lot of good
detailed discussions so the project is
shovel ready as we say in our business
all the approvals are in place um we
just need this last couple
commitments think about it as building
for the future it's it's an investment
by the city in the future of the city
it's infrastructure we need this to stay
competitive with other entertainment
venues other sports complexes that are
being developed by uh other cities in
the Northeast and the New York State and
if you think about it the 2.5 million is
less than one years's worth of your
share of the casino revenue we're asking
you to commit less than one year see
it's a one onee
commitment uh with this federal dollars
that you have invest in this and it'll
pay dividends for years to come happen
to answer any questions I think just a
couple of tidbits to by the way um Dr
Harris is here Union College is making
if the project happens a substantial
Financial commitment and a long-term
commitment for 25 years uh in putting
substantial dollars into the project uh
the casino has donated the land this is just a a mix and match of trying
to create something that usually the
state will write a check for $1.1
billion for Buffalo Bills maybe but uh from that standpoint this is on a lot
smaller scale but it's one that if we if
we put it all together I think there's there's a great probability that
this will work and we can be shovel
ready and put shovels in the ground soon
so we've got d Ray myself Dr Harris Joe
any any questions from anybody on the
floor the toal cost of the project $50
million and R mentioned that the other
or maybe we I'm sorry mentioned that the
other Arenas Etc are owned by
municipalities and who will own this one
uh a subsidiary of the gesi group I
really don't want
to okay it was one of those where I said
who wants to own it the city the county
the union Metroplex everybody took a
step back I was the only one that didn't
move I think this is a really important
point that the council president's
raised she usually does is all the
operational risk profit and loss
expenses booking that usually falls on
the communities as it does in Aly at the
MVP Arena well falls on Aly County we
did not have the county here or anyone
else really willing to step up and take
that profit and loss responsibility so
the bless group stepped up and did it so
we're looking for a one-time Capital
infusion versus an
ongoing contribution to the operations
of the center so that's a real good
question you asked it do you have an
idea of the um tax revenue will
generate we haven't done a complete like
economic impact statement because we're
trying to make sure that um we have um a
consensus commitment from some of the
funding sources including the city Dave
mentioned the city to date has not put
any contribution into the success of M
Harbor so this is the first time we're
asking for that and um but it we believe
it'll be a very uh
expansive um impact as far as visitors
increasing traffic at the casino
increasing traffic at the hotels there
were a couple announcements behind this
that are pending about future
Investments That U May spin off from
this Arena moving forward so we capture
all of that and put it into an economic
model but we have not completed that at
this point how many Jabs do you think
this will provide for
[Music]
you it's kind of an interesting one it's
a very good question uh Joe I mean on a permanent basis you're probably
talking 15 to 20 jobs but if if you take
a look at like the MVP Center then
downsizing it for instance they have 500
jobs that come in depending on what what Advent you're having but it's it's
going to be a lot of uh ups and downs
along those lines but to run the
facility it's not this is this is not a
job Creator this this is designed to
bring people in whether it's increasing
the revenue uh for the city for
occupancy taxes for sales taxes for uh I I would Envision the casino revenue
hopefully going up we got a little
challenge New York City's going to have
casinos we've got to compete with those
type of things too and we we've got some
uh other areas um the the Indians for
instance in Verona are keep expanding
and and trying to cut into our business
which impacts the city and the county
and ourselves but th those are the
reasons for it honesty I I Envision us
going after some of the State High
School championships and various Sports
to really bring people there and this really will will create a game
changer because it's a it's a right siiz
venue uh we're not competing with the
MVP Arena that's that's big that's
13,000 so that'll help gener jobs the
restaurants areas around oh absolutely
but again there's 1500 jobs now at the
harbor good paying jobs and we're 50
before and we think this going to
continue to grow and it helps retain
jobs as
well so thank you for that presentation
uh two questions first of which is you
briefly were talking about the
construction timeline um is there any
definite of when you would break ground
and part partly the question is uh for
the the Union College is there any
anticipations of next hockey season or
when is the expectation to
be well that's a good question but
there's no way I can build it for next
hockey season uh uh on
uh um but but it's to
answer so my joke Contin to we can do it
next season if we switch to roller
hockey I think you can get roller hockey
in time um but I think you're ready to
we're ready to engage the his project
but ready to go said shovel ready the goal would be for un unions
2025 inaugural season which I think
would be perfect TimeWise if we if we
put shovel in the ground over the next
30 to 60 days which is what we'd like to
do uh councilman we'd we'd love to uh
left to just literally have a
groundbreaking and get everybody
involved in the thing and all the all
the stakeholders and uh fortunately
we've had a mild winter so far and we've
be able to do some planning and doing
some things there we've actually uh sunk
a lot of time and effort into it it's
not a done deal yet because of we're
putting the funding together but if we
can do this I'm excited about and
starting as quickly as
[Music]
possible just kind add to that just
quickly the other thing to think about
with the Union piece we between men's
and women we have two division one
programs we have about 30 home games a
year I love hockey I love Union hockey
but it's not the greatest Fan Experience
instead of Park in terms of parking
right but if we have an opportunity for
people to come down to Mohawk Harbor
attend the game easily access then
there're at restaurants and other venues
there and around town so we want them to
stay here and spend their dollars
disconnect not get in the car and go off
to Clifton Park or back home or wherever
so I think there to the question about
jobs and so forth just from the union
hockey partners and everything else I
think there are definitely positive
externalities and the people around
Union will be happy when they don't have
to deal with the parking
there question second question was the
building is going to be built with the highest expectations in mind
Renovations and continuing to make this
be a beautification in the city uh you
speak to just where that uh funding will
be expected to come from it's coming
from
us there's it's a very unique structure
and one that uh uh we're gambling that
the the rest of the impact and the
accretion to the rest of the property
will provide us the ability to fund
those operations but it's only on us
there is no responsibility for Union
pays their proportionate share of
expenses so they're they're they're part
of the funding operation as well uh but
the fact is there's no City County
Metroplex continuing obligation good
question so I just uh thank you for the
presentation very informative um I I
guess something I kind of want to talk
about was what I liked about the Aquatic
Center was the the social impact and and
having opportunity for young people um
especially young people from
marginalized communities to you know
there were some um uh I guess I would
say uh uh preliminary commitments if you
will around like making sure that um
people from margin Comm communities get
the access that space and young people
you know learn how to swim and things
like that as I'm hearing that this is a
multi-use space you know it seemed like
there would be even more opportunity for uh you know maybe some Youth Sports
and um maybe even some you know business
internships and things like that um I
just will just kind of get you have you
know what's your willingness or really
flexibility to make sure that there's
kind of you know a clear community
benefit outside of the economic pie this
is a Community Asset first and foremost
it really is if it was economics I'd be
building apartments tomorrow we're full
in the apartments so this is one uh this
is a way for the gesi group to give back
Union to give back the casino to give
back uh but if if it was isolated to
swimming they're great people at the
Aquatic Center I think that's great
they're going to they're going to do a
nice job over there but this you're
going to be able to do learn to skate
learn to play hockey look cross soccer
basketball uh let's say connected high
as a big basketball game that they can't
fit here you can move it here we can do
some local stuff that's going to be
pretty cool for the people and and and
having another venue to practice inside
uh you got to remember there's a lot of
daytime nonuse uh so from that
standpoint and then non hockey season
too I mean you you've got let's just say
we do we do summer night in SKC range we
can do summer night over there too so
you can you could have have some other
events that this is this is a Community
Asset my lasty graduations for Community
College for instance they they they've
been looking for venues for a long time
so something or even a rain date if you
get rained out at the campus so there's
so many different things that uh that we
can do but I I also really think uh this
is something that's going to draw more
people kids are going to be able to have
access to uh uh some some sports and
access to things the the the people
watching the hockey games I some it's
tough to get to no matter what I've
tried a couple times it's not easy to
get there so it's also going to bring up
Union colleges stature as well as the
cities and but I I really do think that
we can really go after some of these
Regional events that that are important
and you see well some of the stuff uh
that's up in Glen's Falls they get a lot
of those things I mean we're a little
better located if you want my
opinion Mr I just want one final point
if you don't mind Todd G here tonight
he's in Cancun
boo but he's
already looking at events that he could
attract here and there's a lot of
interest I mean you know Regional
tournaments there's so many so much
Youth Sports has become an economic
development um program so to attract
them here you get the hotel movs Etc so
Todd is not here tonight but he's
already trying to poke events here Mr
Toro had a question s i I think it would
be a great com compliment to our already
um famous a diamond and Central Park and
the collegate sports that are happening
over there thanks to the the college and
the tennis as well the yes and the
promoters that that uh fill that the a
diamond every year so thank you John you
got a question yeah um can you briefly
touch on um the seating and the parking
to go with the seating sure uh well
there there is part plenty of parking on
site uh we do have access to parking
across the street as well uh on the
corner of not and uh uh not and Max and
actually we own Maxon as well uh we've
done the parking study so there's enough
to accommodate and really even the only
challenges and uh I know Joe and Dave
can help me out on that one the only
really challenge you would probably have
on on parking is on a probably Friday
night a little bit it's going to be
because the casino's busy and Union
College hockey games are busy Union
College Saturday hockey games are at
4:00 increasingly uh so from that
standpoint but we we balanced it off if
you go on site got remember our our
office parking nobody parks there at
nighttime so there's there's a lot of
parking on site we've got all the
specifics on the capacity for the arena
is David I'm going to David all as far
as seats go the capacity for the arena
is 2250 seats for hockey events and then
up to 3600 for other events when there's
seats on the floor but you know it's
2250 is primarily what we're looking at
and we size this to make it still very
comfortable not not a big or you know
want one probably couldn't afford
building any any bigger but from that
standpoint you want you want to still
maintain the atmosphere that Achilles
ring has speak to that at all well I
just want get back to this whole
Community piece I mean part of what
excites me about this is having Union
really be engaged with the community I
think it's a win for Union it's a win
for SKC um some of you may be aware that
we had this program we've Run for the
last few years now on Friday evenings in
the fall our field hockey team runs a
program for local youth show up with
sneakers it's all you need they provide
a stick and the women are really excited
to give you a free clinic in field
hockey from little kids up through e8th
grade or so when it comes to the
question about how we engage more
broadly in the community last year Union
College hosted an event talking about
diversity and iceo there are fewer than
five African-American coaches in all of
division one ice hockey two of them work
at you college and we've talked about
the fact that we've can partner with
Will revas in the past and others to try
and figure out how we take this game
that so many people love at Union and
help a broader group Po Folks learn to
enjoy it and even to get out on skates
and you know skate around a little play
a little plenty Patty and helmets and
whatnot so we think this allows us to do
even more of those kinds of activities
we've been doing in
col I think it's important we work with
the school district uh and and Community
groups to determine how we maximize it
whether it's the boys and girls club or
whether it's the y or whether it's the
uh the the schools I mean the the sky's
the limit this this is something you
don't want to say if you build that they
will come but this is going to be a
great asset and a lot of communities
don't have
this um so we had a document from esdc
which they kind of laid out what the
funding was and um so they laid and
based on this all of them funding is
there so um but there was one part
called Community company Equity so I
guess that's you it doesn't show though
that um which is 33 million but it
doesn't show at all what's put in by
Union College which I understand is 20
million so I you're all aware of the
document right yeah yes so it doesn't it
breaks it down but according to based on
this which all the council members did
get um it shows that the entire cost is
covered but um so but you're you're
saying tonight that there's still a
funding Gap so if you could just I'm
just going they sent me you could just
you know the funding Gap got increased
by over $2 million by Pile in alone that
we just brought out we have to deal with
uh so we're we're probably we're going
to end up if the project happens and we
have we've not decided right now uh
whether the Project's happening or not
we need we need these sources of we need
these sources of funding we will make a
decision pretty quickly one way or the
other but it's got it right now the
funding by Union by the state uh by
ourselves is is significant but it
doesn't close the
gap okay I'm just going on the doc I
understand unfortunately numbers are moving every time you bid
things out we have a place it's a very
good question coun president uh I used
to work at ESD so did David all and you
have to balance the sources and uses in
a document like this the public hearing
is going to be Friday on the state's
Grant uh and they have us down as in
Metroplex I believe for to to you know
and that's a placeholder
that we put in hoping that we would
secure this additional funding so that's
where the money shows up um because you
in a in a document like this the
expenses have to mirror the sources and uses are the kind of the the
foundation of of these Grant documents
but the state understands exactly where
we are with this project they're very
supportive of it the governor supportive
speaker Hy supportive uh Angelo S
Roberts done a spectacular job in in uh advocating for this money it's such a
welcome change for SKC to have an
aggressive member of the majority in the
New York State Assembly where for so
many decades we did not and we weren't
able to compete for funding like this so
uh it's it's something that the state is
extremely supportive and they're aware
of all of our funding challenges and and
opportunities at this point because we
disclosed everything to the
state so what shows up as Metroplex is
really which is 2 million it's our
placeholder for the for for for the
hopeful hopeful from the city um so will
there be a pilot at all with this
project we're looking at a Pilot yes
that takes advantage of the Brownfield
program that the the site is in the
brown Brownfield program and we we have
yet to to to uh determine the exact
amount of uh funding that'll be
available from that but something we're
looking at but it's a community center
we're not looking for this to be a huge
property taxpayer that's not what it's
about it's about bringing people in the
casino pays a huge property tax thank
you Joe thank you Rush Street and rivers
um this site in in total pays an
enormous amount of property taxes uh and
we've done a great job on that this
building is not uh as a community center
as an event center that they're not you
know the MVP arena is not paying taxes
these Arenas are not um uh big property
tax generators their value is from
visitation hotel stays sales tax and
other revenue and again if some some of
the folks who come here go over to the
casino and their revenue increases the
city gets a direct benefit from
that P I just want to say I think that
the project certainly has that economic
benefit and um I think it would be
fantastic and a fantastic compliment to
what already exists at Mohawk Harbor
which obviously has been such a great
Boom for our city of skty and you know
we can't can't I just think it's
fantastic that we have that but I think
the connection with the college is
fantastic I think the connection in
terms of the school district but also
with younger you know with with kids in
general um that it will expose our our
youth to um a great deal of other
activities um that might be available to
them but I'm really thrilled about what
I think will be the impact on the
restaurants and the rest of the other
types of Tourism attractions that we
have here in skincity so it just
continues to raise us higher and higher
um in in terms of our place in the state
so I appreciate the work that you put I
think this really give is a very good
comment I think this really gives
another arrow in the quiver of uh
discover concy really to go after a lot
of those those people that are going to
other places that we could have come
here to our city uh to because then then
they're going to see other things
happening here they're just not going to
an event center they just don't go to
Union College hockey games they're going to go to all sorts of
places and Todd Todd we have is a great
guy great asset and he's totally excited
about what the how we can compete
throughout the
[Music]
state any other questions
app I I do want to just point out one
thing just because just so that
everybody knows that when we talked
about the arpa funding in terms of the
Aquatic Center it was through an
application process so I just want
everybody to be aware that that is how
we defin we allocated that money
initially
so
okay I I think and again just you won't
find another bigger supporter than the
Aquatic Center than daveid I we we're
the ones who recruited them to the ALCO
site or the harbor site and we're uh
working very very hard to make their
vision and reality at vport uh what
we're asking is that that funding which
is really set aside for the harbor to do
a sports entertain tainment Event Center
related to Aquatics that it be allocated
to this project which has
multi-dimensional uses and that's our
respectful request thank
you I can just ask one question you're
you know it's gone to the Planning
Commission gone through the approval
process uh some of your word choice was
that like this is not 100% done what
does it take to close the deal so that
we can move forward with it we need
one we have a public hearing with the
state on Friday Friday uh we need uh a
vote whenever you can do it here from
the city uh Union uh deal is contingent
on these these funding
sources um uh in the county is uh we're
having a resolution and meeting with the
county too to for them to provide
support as
well so is it okay so I'm just going by
the document so 5 mil at the county the county is yet to act on
that okay so the county is that's onist
it's we're working closely with the
county and again as a host the tourism
Bureau and uh have been extremely
supportive we're supportive of the
Aquatic Center continue to be support of
the Aquatic Center get the fundamental
role that Sports tourism plays so we're
working with the county and esdc Grant
is 10 million that's just the money that
was provided in the state budget by the
governor speaker Hasty and ass in Santa
Barbara so again my question comes back
to I don't see the the the um here Union
College is not is not just here at all
it's in the equity section oh okay
you're you're including them there okay
under company Equity okay the thing to
keep in mind we're not an owner we're a
tenant think we're effectively a
lieutenant so that's guarantee that's
part of that money that you see okay so
Union's commitment is 25 years for use
and they're prepaid for a lot of this to
help fund the project okay so they 20
million paids for all that would you
just explain so the okay and the other
13 million then is that the colesy group
Yes actually it's 15 and five but I we
can get into the nuances they paid it
over some over time but yes all right
thank you and again because it's not
municipally owned any construction risk
any overage it's the responsibility of
the GL the way this is structured which
is very
unique I mean it really wants to leave
at this
point no that story about Mo car Dave
closed on the property on April Fool's
Day on April 1st and early on there were
a lot of challenges in the project and
he used to always say to me I don't know
if we made the right decision and we we
all hearkened back to April Fool's Day
but it turned out to be a wonderful
project for commun again please don't
forget that activity level prior to 2004
which is a long time ago I know people
say R look forward don't look back but
it needs to be said tire recycling
imagine that beautiful site imagine that
Alco Legacy being lost imagine the fumes
the dust imagine the negative impact on
Union College from having the world's
largest or the country's largest tire
recycling facility at their front door
separating them from the river it it
would have been a disaster and when this
when we started working on Long Harbor
we had to can't do attitude prior 2004
we were told this will never happen this
cannot happen and we Pro them wrong and
this project is another key step in
moving the ball forward we cannot stand
still we have to move the ball forward
or the puck in this case you know you
know the easiest thing for us to do is
not do this project this is probably I'm
old you guys are a lot younger than me
but the fact is that if you look at what
we're doing for connecting Investments
whether it was the investment in MVP
when the first started the thing back
when it jump started Ray convincing us
to do Center City which I'm not sure why
or how but we did that the movie theater
797 Broadway gob's headquarters there's
so many things that uh we did and this
is one way and I'll honesty uh to give
back I mean it is I mean we can those
apartments our apartments are full we
can we can fill up apartments on the
other side but this is one that I think
to tie Union College more into the
community when we first came here before
David was here Union College was an
island now they're part of our community
he's done a nice job in terms of
integrating it in and I really believe
that I think it it's one that it's just
an opportunity that we can create and it
just puts a bow on creating a nice
Entertainer District question Mr Farley
so um would it be uh pretty accurate to
say that as amazing as it sounds and um
certainly um there's a level of
excitement in the room that without the city council support for
this project it likely doesn't happen is
that pretty accurate
okay anybody else so I just want to you
did say that we didn't the city did not
um give any money towards towards the
casino any Financial but I just have to
say that the staff did a lot of work
down there our know engineer was really
involved I just got say some of some of
them right here as a matter of fact did
I see Chris Wallen here somewhere
Anthony just saying this is the first
time we've asked for a financial
commitment of any kind in doing this
project which I think is a significant
point but we cannot say enough good work
and when I talked about the sewer
improvements how transformational that
whole project is it doesn't get enough
recognition and the Chris Rolland
traffic circle that's right
award-winning the awardwinning
infrastructure improvements that were
made outside the game uh really won the
State Transportation award that year for
the um not Street uh rail pass and the
traffic
circle but the other thing as you said
earlier though think about when we first
came we had raw sewage because you had
infiltration storm water it was mixed
with sewage going into the Mohawk River
we saw it it is probably one of the
cleaner sections of the river now and it
it's it it is working with the city and
working with Paul F and you're right the
this could not have been done without a
c do attitude on the part of the city
really very very pleased you won't get
anything right right from police chief
fire chief every department head it was
uh uh a lot of hard work but you know
what they're proud too and when we drive
through there and see all those
employees I mean holy cow that that
really that there's a lot of people's
lives we impacted whether it's at Mok
Harbor or the casino I mean with the
amount of disc connected employees uh
they've got raises very significant over
the past years and they're doing very
well you don't find many people leaving
the employment that just you don't
know yes Mr Williams has question then
just in kind with your sentiment about
Pride I had a conversation with the
county legislator Omar mcel who um
recounted that his uncles were integral
in building the Empire Plaza in Albany
and as we talk about similar projects
where we can have opportunities for
members of this community to be very
involved in these types of uh
development efforts I would love to see
uh some of our local programs such as
seat Center uh but other uh just better
suited small businesses with
opportunities to truly uh put their
sweat and tears into these types of
items so that they can see this the
generationally their impact in the
community absolutely the seat Center I
know Joe we we hire a lot of people with
the seat center right we so we we work
with them but even on the construction
side absolutely I mean some of this is
going to be very specialized of course
but uh uh from that standpoint uh we use
a lot of local vendors I mean even the
general contractor that we would pick
with is locally here the Chas is
headquarter right in SKC with our
regional office SKC Hardware those are
people that have been involved in this project from the start so you're
absolutely right there will be major mwb
contracts thank that was my question so
this is you write you look in my paper
yeah I'm going to write some more I
can't
read because I know the state has a 30%
commitment for mwb and that's in the $10
million for sure yes oh so it's only 30%
of the 10 million it'll be and other
parts of the funding streams as
well okay that's it I didn't have any
other questions we really thank you for
taking the time it's uh it's exciting
and uh Dr Harris Joe and the team thank
you again for taking the time all right
thank you coming thank you thank you I
think that's
your oh okay that's way the
end
Finance what fin
yes
friend thank
you next on the agenda is
finance thank you I would like to call
the finance committee to order and we
have one item and that is change in the
CSA contract
language
thank all I got an easy War for you
tonight here uh this is just an mou
between the Citys connecti and uh CA uh
it's just clarifying language uh in
section 9 and section three uh regarding
the call outs emergency call outs uh for
specific group of CCA uh
employees
any
questions it's just a substitution of
language as far as there's no there's no
change it's just clarification in
language and this has to do with for DM
or call it's for call outs and emergency
call outs it's a 3-hour window uh
specifically uh for code enforcement
officers okay go ahead please so um
since there's a clarification then um
something must have come up to prompt
that there was a some misunderstanding
of it I believe there was a scenario uh
a few years ago um there was uh
miscommunication between the department
and payroll on what was uh shouldn't be
exactly paid out um and the the code
enforcement officer um wasn't
understanding what was actually written
um in the agreement so um we made
clarification language and different
scenarios um so they could bridge that
gap of
understanding so in the past did we pay
out based on the misunderstanding of the
language um I'm not 100% sure on that
out to look take a look at our records
but and is anyone go ahead
ma' the evolution of this is it used to
be a 4-Hour call
out the contract we modified that number
of years back to go to a 3-hour call out
is the employee uh is at time and a half
at that
point uh so we gained some savings on it
and most times their call out uh can be
adequate handled within a 3-hour window
what was happening is when there are
multiple call outs M so that if another
event happens during that 3-hour
window there was a question whether they
were treating it as a separate call out
and we get time and a half for another 3
hours or they were still on call from
the original call out and so this
clarifies that so that anything that
happens when they're called in in that
3-hour
window that's the time they get so they
might handle one call they might handle
two calls could handle three calls after
that they would be they go home or back
on their own time in another call out
that would reestablish another 3-hour
window so prior to the clarification
were we paying it out like there were
times there were times
when I will say the was not as accurate
as it maybe should have been or may have
been interpreted to different
individuals benefit where yes the the
payouts were
not consistent with what I've just
articulated okay and is there any
individual that's expecting now to be
reimbursed at the the old way before we
um change this no this will clarify it
and move forward everybody's on the same
page and when was the actual document
signed like September was 2023 September
25 925 2023
okay I guess I'm just wondering why it's
just coming Council action now I don't
have an answer for so it had to go back
to the there was a question whether we
could do anou without going back to the
full membership they wanted to take get
back to the full membership so that in
fact uh it did do that and then it came
back and so now it's coming to the
council okay but it's still the original
signature date of September 2020 we
have the terms and conditions of
employment since that time in whatever
it's September in fact a little bit
before that have been consistent with
what's outlined in the agreement
okay those are my questions any other
questions sen may I have a motion Mo
second second all in favor I I thank you
any other business before
Finance may have a
motion second all in favor I thank you
uh I'd like to call to oh I'd like to
call to order City development and
planning uh we have 12 items on the
agenda and I know that we have people
here for the Central Park sidewalk so Mr
M do you want to call that out of order
so
home if you don't mind I would
appreciate I hope everyone else we do
have uh people you want stay home
meeting fine
okay you are number eight so you can
just stay right there you want to stay
no
you okay so um Mr M yeah thank you on
the agenda thank you for putting this on
the agenda this um going to ask Mr wall
to give us an update on the Central Park
sidewalk project and where we are at
this point in time so that the resident
there can get an
update hello so where we are with this
project right now is that we have a a
petition in and we have looked at
preliminary design options for the
project um so to compare it what we
wanted to do was we just successfully
completed a similar project on North
College Street in The Stockade that
project was approximately 630 ft long uh
with 1260 ft of curb and it cost uh
$425,000 with uh some of those costs
being assessed back to them at the rate
of $55 a foot um for Central Parkway uh
it is a unique Street being much longer
twice as long wider with a median with
the lights down the middle um so the
length we actually is almost exactly two
times that so costing wise um we looked
and we estimating that the project will
cost uh between 1 and 1 .2 million for a
street uh reconstruction we have several
options that we've been discussing
internally um the options R all from um
essentially put it back the way it is
the street is two lanes with a center
median but does not uh technically have
on street parking people attempt to park
on street but most of the time they uh
park on the sidewalks and we're trying
to avoid having people park on the
sidewalks so we have options of um
essentially do nothing put it back the
way it is and post it for no parking um
residents on one side have driveways on
the other side have an Alleyway with
driveways in the back and then we have
uh several options uh the one uh one of
which is parking on one side and one of
which is parking on both sides but as we
explore our options our costs and the
impact of the neighborhood expand uh
pretty significantly so uh right now we
have no actions other than we have some
plinary ideas um and the thought was
then to um discuss that uh those costs
and the impact that would be uh at this
meeting and then possibly call a meeting
with the residents to discuss what they
would be in favor of going forward okay
any questions so so you mentioned 1.5
million 1.2 million that's the high high
side yes that's the high side if we were
to do essentially a complete Street
reconstruction with parking with parking
adjusting the the island yes uh it would
be curbs parking lighting land
Landscaping um it would be uh
essentially complete Street
reconstruction um haven't done one of
those in my tenure here yet the
residential area it would be almost akin
to what we've been doing on Erie
Boulevard where the entire Street would
be reconstructed right now the lanes are
um 15 ft so a typical travel Lane is 11
ft and then we want an 8T on street
parking linee for 19 ft total we have 15
ft which leaves 4T um if someone were to
Park uh really now people are kind of
smart about it if they Park they Park
where a turnaround is try to get around
it but if you park where the curbing is
you're impediment you're blocked so
that's why people are parking on the
sidewalk um you know there are options
out there that uh that could be
discussed but they weren't really pushed
too far down the road which is um for
possibly uh budget savings you could
eliminate the island Al together and
then if you eliminate the island then
you have that 10 ft to use but the
character of the street significantly
changes um so and then there are you
know we have we have quite a few things
um but the street is significantly
different um I know that uh for most
people looking at it you would think
it's very similar to right and de camp
but right and de Camp already had the
width to allow for parking so we
essentially put it back there was no
RightWay impacts there were no impacts
to Residents um one of the things that
we that we do have prepared for our
meeting uh when it's called is you know
impacts to the public um there would be
several uh impacts to trees um
essentially all um full grown trees
within 5 ft of the existing sidewalk
would have to be removed um most trees
within the median would be removed so
the street would be kind of starting
from scratch it's not to say we wouldn't
put Landscaping in but you do not
replace a fully mature 60ft tree with a
tree you replace it with a new tree so
the impact would be that um the other
thing just talking about you know
positives and negatives as we would go
forward is if the lanes get wider uh I
drove the street in the last week six
times I did not see a vehicle on the
street at any point when I drove um an
18t Lane with no one parked on it is
very wide so it will be also uh on us to
you know try to Harbor the the speed
issues that we always have because the
lanes will be wider and the trees will
be gone and trees tall trees help create
that narrowing effect so there's a lot
of you know positives and negatives that
uh that we'd have to discuss with the
residents on the street before moving
forward in so do you have an estimate on
uh keeping it the same way like the same
if we were to put it right back the
street if we were to put it right back
the way it is I would say essentially a
little south of a million dollar we
probably have around a $250,000 savings
to put it back the way it is you have to
remember if we span two what we're doing
is we're building a road where there
wasn't a road so we have to do a full
construction of a road where we're
talking about subbase base binder all
the way up uh to to expand that
similarly if the island moves the island
is grass we'll have to go down you know
you go down 24 in to build up a road bed
so that you have a consistent surface to
run traffic on um so yeah so Mr um so if
I'm understanding this correctly it's roughly million dollars to put it
back to its to what was that really
didn't meet maybe the needs of the
people in the neighborhood but for a
million two you can greatly change and
increase the yeah that's
what Fred Fred is uh he's our engineer
on the project he did North College with
us so he put some of this together so
yeah $250,000 to give or take would give
us would give us more but the impact
would be
noticeable and would it take so if
rather than just kind of like fixing
what there to how much longer would it
take to do and to make all the changes
that you've
described uh it would probably factor of
weeks I mean these are it's pretty
simple it's not you know as complex as
say the Central Park Pool project or the
event center it's flat work uh if we
were allowed to give them the site you
know close the road to one side and
allow them to work they probably work
pretty expediently it wouldn't be the
same amount but 3 weeks maybe only 3
weeks longer um Granite curb is
available so that's good the lighting is
a little tricky because we probably have
to replace the lighting which gets
involved with now we're metering the
lights because we probably take
ownership of the lights and doing a
little bit so maybe putting a a
different kind of light in there like a
park light um so it's not it's not as
simple as it seems like every time we do
a sidewalk program they're getting more
complex not less complex I haven't
figure that out yet cuz it's not you
know that many streets like this but
this is a complex project uh it's also expensive uh you know for a neighborhood street and the
impacts are are going to be large to the residents because what we would
like to do what we're recommending is
that we would expand essentially to the
West the side where the alley is because
it's flat so that we would essentially
hold the side with the hill and expand
West so the The Neighbors on the west
side with the alley would be impacted a
little bit more than the Neighbors on
the other side because we think that would be the best for the economy
of scale um so that we're not cutting
into the hill and affecting there's a
retaining wall and stairs and some
things on the on the east side of the
roadway but these are all just things
that we've looked at we have a lot of
information um and we're just waiting on
a call to have a public meeting with the residents which we actually
don't have not had a format to do we've
done that or via zoom and I think that
Mr mut and you called that together
before we we can do one you can do one
of that should get them informed did you
want to are you are you plan on doing
Zoom again though with are you going to
try we can do either Zoom or whatever is
preferred I will reach out to the
residents and prefer will do infor or
Zoom whatever the choice I would suggest
an iners meeting okay I think it would
be better if people are a lot of elderly
they're having a hard time with this
it's complicated lot of the
resents so AR we'll arrange um since you
the point person we'll arrange an in
person meeting and get some schedule
some some timeline and provide it to the
staff and the city council and the
[Music]
administration Mr William you have a
question yes uh so putting on my
resident uh frequent driver in scany had
on uh it's nothing more depressing than
seeing these efforts put forth they
repaying streets similar to Eerie
Boulevard and uh if you wouldn't mind
just educating uh and then seeing the
utility companies or seeing sections of
the roads torn up and then having to
kind of do a a so use the proper
language just peace mealing pwk
Patchwork Patchwork job which sort of
kind of like negates the whole intent of
redoing it is there any instance where
that is going to be an issue with this
on this project uh Central Parkway has
been completed uh the parkway streets
have been um we try to have
coordinations with National Grid
coordination meeting at the beginning of
every year the issue becomes it's just
um they have so many miles they do about
8 Miles so they essentially put as many
miles of pipe in as we pave streets and
as much as that we like to overlap and plan there is
always an outlier um and so some of the
commercial streets for example this is
uh you know one of the things that we're
looking at is I know that Upper Union
Street business district is becoming
Warn and that sooner than later we will
be getting complaints about Paving that
so that is an area that National Grid
has not yet been in so we are working
with National Grid to get in there and
do it so that they can disrupt it and
then we can come in and make it whole um
and that is what we try to do um but we
are not successful in every turn uh and
then sometimes there was a issue uh on
Albany Street where they actually had to
put in a second main cuz the first main
didn't adequately Supply the
neighborhood with gas there was an issue
on De camp uh where I was there and we
ran out of gas and they had to put an
emergency gas line in to connect to
service more gas so there things that
come up and we do get a lot of
complaints about National Grid
specifically right up behind me here on
not Terrace where we did a Paving job to
have them come and do a reinforcement
there um
and I I guess not to you know complain
about it more but these are you know an
$8 million project that requires
coordination and I have a staff of two
now if I had a full-time Road inspector
that was tasked with managing grid maybe
that gains us you know a little bit of
Leverage but right now um the
responsibility of managing this is
shared between myself codes signals uh
you know Metroplex sometimes gets
involved with complaints uh we we've had
complaints from County legislators you
know we all kind of team to try to
supervise that because there's not one
person that's tasked with it and that is
a difficult because for them National
grd has about as many people in this
room managing that project and we don't
so it is challenging but and we hear
about it but for Central Parkway we're
not going to allow them to to go in and
rip we'll make sure that the the gas Ms
are done and if it seemed as if I was
just I I truly appreciate the work your
office no it's okay I I it pains me just
as much but you get numb to it after 10
years ripping the road
apart I just want to add that when we um
when we allocated a million dollar last
year I think um we had set aside $55 per
linear feed I think at that point in
time if I'm not mistaken we set aside
$55 pinear feed for basic sidewalk not
for a project that is so complex like
Central Parkway so we might want to
reconsider that portion of either $55 or
up it a little because of the
complex this project being so complex
but with including Island we moving ra
expanding it if we were to go the full
design $1.2 million correct we might
want that would be that would be the
prerogative of the city council I'm
Comfort I'm just thr that on table
because I'm comfortable in the $55 a
foot for the residents yes Miss oh sorry
um I guess I when I my understanding
when we did that I thought that that was
you know we were trying to keep it at
the $55 for our residents regardless of
the of the um
project but I think um and I would
support staying at the $55 I mean I
think that's we had a lot of discussions
at that point um around this issue but I
guess when there is a public meeting um
if that's if that's not going to be the
case I think we would need to have you
know ducks in a row by the time of that
public meeting because I just don't want
to see see us going back to what
happened when first we started I mean I
wasn't on the council when we first
started sidewalk program but I certainly
remember um the issues that we had when
you know folks expected one um amount of
money that they were going to be charged
and then they got charged a different
amount of money so I think the idea that
we were trying to
standardize um you know I I think it's
still really valid yeah no my and I just
want to add to that because we only
allocated a million dollars toward
sidewalk so if we were to the Central
Parkway that's a million 1.5 so we might
we would have to
reallocate more money towards the
sidewalk um program there for Central
Parkway only which exceed our allocation
of $1 million set asde so that's why I
want to bring that to us to brainstorm
and we did we've done the number so the
estimate is is let's say we went and and
this is also from a residential
perspective you're paying the same no
matter what option so there is no
consequence of picking whatever option
because the 55 is the 55 that's what I
think right okay so and then that
translates to roughly the entire block
putting forward roughly
$175,000 would be the assessment on the
1.2 million so then the the Gap is a
little over a million
dollar
so if we were to S to 55 we would have
to reallocate additional funding right
so you know I want to bring that to the
table so we are aware of that if we
decide to move on that um
fee okay
so in terms of timeline um Mr
W I'm I'm ready you ready I'm ready yep
Ready schedule the meeting and we'll be
there yeah so if I may so let me just
understand the 1 million if you leave it
at that that means no reconstruction
you'll just put it back the way it is no
it's a reconstruction but it goes back
the way it actually would probably be a
little narrower it would be within the
footprint but no parking but that's the
issue the parking is an issue for the
residents on my side um the cars are
getting hit we're getting tickets
there's large vehicles that come up and
down
Park okay so um yeah but that's the kind
of stuff thank you those a good point to
bring up that's why they're going to
have the public meeting because that's
when that that's that discussion will
take place and you can decide what is
best for the yeah and there'll be other
people obviously there at the meeting to voice their and then I'm sure the
public can come not just Central par
and then before we even do anything with
these petitions I believe there's a
public
hearing so that there's a public hearing
so that other residents once it's
decided can Advocate if they think that
this is an investment you know there
it's it's a process yeah yeah we'll try
to schedule the inperson meeting and
then we move forward from there and then
schedule U the public hearing and all
the necessary um right items that need
to be put in place to move forward with
this project so we won't make decisions
we the council will not make decisions
without public input so I don't want
that to be a concern for you what's our
timeline with that the last meeting we
had last year okay so Mr moonar is going
to reach out and they're going to set a
meeting we'll try to schedule something
as fast as we can okay before somebody
gets killed on the Block cuz around D
ni's House That Sidewalk is really
bad micophone you can't
hear all right no cuz then we don't
we're going to do it as best as we can
as Mr W mentioned he's ready to go we'll
just need input from the the resident
and then the council need to do right we
need to get our action in order and move
forward right okay so we'll take care of
that thank you uh any other questions no
all right okay
you so thank you for indulging so you
guys get home
safe so the first item on the agenda is
fcal house
car Miss
car good evening city council Mr Mayor
um the department of development and
planning received a request from the
Coco house asking that the city council
revisit um their presentation that was
presented in September of
2023 asking for a change in use of fund
Coco house is asking that the $500,000 a
fund allocated to them be used for
salary and fr they provided an updated
layout on how those funds would support
salaries um I believe there are six
employees one of them including the
executive um director in addition to
that they are also asking for the
leverage fund requirement included in
the resolution be removed to move
forward with
contract all right um so as Miss Carver
laid out they initially were going to
asking for 500,000 to do some
construction work however um after
because it took so long for their
allocation they were able to get that
funding other
places and so now they're asking that
the what we initially allocated towards
that would now be moved over um to to
use for salaries right all right when
the last time they were there um I and
everyone did you give this to everyone
for in terms of the layout of the
salaries that we have this here
no all right so the one of the things
that they came the last time when they
asked for the allocation of the salar
was that the 100,000 be all of it be
towards the salary for the executive
director um and then the other salaries
I don't really they didn't really lay
out how they were going to um to pay
that and what I asked at that time was
if you could just if there's a way that
there could you in addition to the money
that we would allocate that there would
be other funding to go towards that so
not all of the funding our funding went
towards um just executive director
salary and I was told at the time that would happen I haven't seen that so
um I'm not opposed to reallocating uh
toward salaries but I think the
structure of it needs to be taken in
consideration of how we structure
it Miss Patrick I think um well don't
you mean I mean they have provided us
with how they would allocate the the funding so um I mean I'm in
favor of this I I want to point out that
it's not I mean the idea is
that we remember that we're trying to do
an expansion of their program offerings
so it's not just about it is about
salary I get that that that's they're
spending the money but they're doing it
because they want to expand the options
that they're providing to the youth that
they Ser so I just want to make sure we
get that on the record here um but I
don't I I guess if we we are to move
forward with this I don't want to you
know sort of uh I don't know better word
use but I don't think we need to
micromanage what they do internally I I
don't know um I I'm I'm satisfied with
the way that they have laid it out here
on this chart that they provided well
this is new it wasn't laid out like this
before before Oh no okay I guess I
thought you just were I thought you were
looking for more information no no
originally it was laid out that um the
entire amount that would come from arpa
would go only towards the executive
director's
salary right so what I was saying is if
we're going to provide that salary that
it needs and you're you're planning on
bringing in all these different other
positions that don't currently exist
that that amount that we allocate should
be spread amongst all of those those
positions so those people actually we
make sure that there's salary for when
they're hired gotcha okay so that was my question so that is my only
concern that we we spread it out this
answers that for my in my opinion
does the arbor fund allow to draw down 3
years from now the salar um it has to be
allocated by the end of 2024 this year
and then has to be spent by the end of
2026 so um we're already in 2024 and by
the time they execute contracts it may
not even be the full 500,000 just
because they're already I don't know
that we can really um I know that we
cannot I should say pay retroactively so
it would be have to would be after the
contract is
signed yes Mr Toro um what has Coco
house been doing prior to this for
salaries they got other grants and they
let me just say they're getting ready to
I think it's 27 years now Mr let me just
be clear that Mr um Rebus was not there
for 27 years but since he's taken over
it stayed open
consistently and you know he's uh the
Community Foundation I know has been a
part of it so they they look for money
in order to continue their program to
run and how will they continue after
2026 what they did probably before 20824
is to continue um looking for Grants um
to to continue the program as many
nonprofits in our city do absolutely and
what about how many how many
um um students is he facilitating after
school uh did he come here and speak
something about yes he did September last um
the r the ratio of it has gone down
after qu I I kind of forgot what he said
if you can just help me with that he the
amount of students that are coming after
school has
decreased um he may have alluded
something during Co which everybody saw
a decrease in all programs but but
there's another program that's being uh
that's happening in the school district
where most of the students are going
after school and his has decreased a
little
bit not familiar with that Mr far yeah
so I think
um and just my best understanding of
what the request is to um you know again
to uh fund uh the salaries for program
expansion and I think that the program
expansion then you expand your capacity
to serve uh of the students uh that um
are attending cabs and I think also like
there are you know a lot of different
variables as to why you know program
attendance um could increase or disc
decrease but I think that that doesn't
necessarily change the um uh the ex
expectation for robust programming for Youth and it so I think that that
can um I appreciate what your
in my best understanding kind of
recollect what he was saying was that Co
did impact as it did all but looking to
um increase yeah looking to increase capacity to serve uh kids in
Mr so so the funding here that is
breaking out here the back here is that
the full funding in terms of the salary
allocation here yes so they're asking us
to readjust the allocation the
allocation and to fund
these the Staffing position full time
two full-time and four part-time part
time is so the question to follow by
that is
that if we were
I'm just saying this if you were not a
fund us where would they receive the
funding from well in the letter of
support and in the presentation that
they presented if I recall correctly his
act was for him if he gets this funding
he can become a full-time employee
currently he is not full-time so that he
could go after the funds um for
sustainability after the funding and
then the letter of support they said
between now and 20 27 if they would have
fully replenished um the arpa arpa funds
to move forward
Mr fley so and I would just uh kind of
maybe reate I probably see some some
variation of this in the past especially
when we're dealing with um you know
smaller smaller nonprofits um you know a
lot of times the smaller nonprofits
don't have the capacity they don't have
a development department they don't have
some of the things that these real
larger big boxing field nonprofits have
so and so sometimes our line of
questioning for them is a little
different than what it is for larger uh
nonprofits because they don't have that
they don't they don't have that capacity
and I think that what if I again what my
understanding is that this money would
um allow uh for staff to do some
capacity growing capacity in order to
sustain you know it's kind of one of
those things that you can't go after
grant money you know as as we all know
grant money is extremely competitive
process when you're deal competing with
you know a couple nonprofit Prof who
have full development departments and
people who are making just their payroll
the development department is uh
exceeding um this ass probably you know
twofold sometimes so I just something
that we should keep in mind M Patrick
well I'm going to say that a similar a
similar statement which is I think that
um part of this is that if we grow if he
grows the capacity if the organization's
able to offer more programming it is
going to make them more attractive to
private funders so I think that was what
he was trying to present to us I mean
he'd have three years to uh be he's he's
a pretty successful fundraiser if you
ask me based on my experience as a
fundraiser um I mean I think we've all
watched this organization grow by Leaps
and Bounds over the last several years
and a lot of that has to do with he's
able to show the success that he you
know I think that's key to development
is being able to prove the outcomes that
you're you're getting um and so he's
been able to pretty much sustain his
fundraising um because he's able to show
um what he accomplishes for the Youth
that he is serving so I think that if he
is able to hire in particular I think
these part-time people but um if he
really is able to expand his program
offerings I think that's just going to
add to the level of outcomes that he's
going to be able to continue to show to
private funders I mean he gets a
tremendous amount of support from many
of our prominent uh private foundations
uh including the SKC Foundation um and
others in in the region so I think
that's where that's how I would answer
that that's how I see the sustainability
happening after the ARA funding and I
guess just to quote Mr Gillan from
earlier but you do have to spend money
to make money even from a nonprofit uh
development standpoint I can't tell you
how many times I argu with bosses about that particular piece that that
you do have to kind of you know step up
to the plate if you want to really grow
as a
nonprofit and I think PA go ahead Mr for
Alex I know we've had issues before with
how we can spend our money I mean when
we want it to put it in our budget is
this acceptable Alex okay the my
question yes and again I want to just
reiterate that uh they asked for funding
to use on a particular thing and because
the funding wasn't forthcoming we they went had to do it anyway and I
don't know if any of you have been there
but the work that they wanted to do
actually got done and so there therefore
asking that you know now we still
support um the efforts that are being
done there in the community in a um a
much needed community that we just use
it in a different way so and my only
concern like I said was that it just not
all of One salary that we spread it out
to all the positions that they said they
want to
hire anybody else so we so at this point
in time we would um the the motion would
be to we move to take away the match is
what they're asking and to also to
reallocate this to um to use for salary
as outlined in the document they
submitted to us
so Mr
M I'm going to pass okay I'll second all
those in
favor okay all right um bcni she's going
to be she's going to be up here for a
while um our department received a
request from Better Community
neighborhoods in regards to their
Hamilton Hill infill are for funding
they are asking the city council to
revisit um their requests um to lower
the leveraged amount of funds needed to
move forward with contract um in their
in the resolution they had 18 to one
match and they are looking to do a
onetoone match um and they are ready to
move forward with the project if that is
to
be as you remember um Shane BG who is
the new executive director came before
us a few couple Cycles ago to explain
the project saying that we're really
ready to go uh when it came time to drop
the contract we know that what happened
was the previous executive director made
a 18 to1 match for the ARA funds that we
were um willing to to allocate which is
pretty significant actually I'm
surprised that that was offered but um
but having revisiting it um and they
really to get this project moved for 18
to1 is just it's difficult to manage
yeah I've never heard of that never
heard okay so um so he's just asking
that the match now be um one to one one
to one and the approval of the use of
arpa funds is needed for them to move
forward with their New York State home
AR
application any amount of their arpa
funds they were getting 500 is it
500,000 right, and I just want to point
out that they do have that one match SEC
they already have that secure they just
need us to move on
this are you scratching
okay so so the ask is to uh to to change
the leverage fund amount from 8.5
million to
500,000 any discussion about
that any all right all motion I'm moov
second all in favor I
okay all right and now item number three
is going to be a followup on arpa follow
up on arpa
okay we are almost
there we are
95% um in contract with all uh approved
organizations with the exception of
those who have requested
extension those extensions are as
follows and our department is actively
working with these organizations already
to make sure that um they have what they
need by the time their extension expires
we have Coco house bcni Electric City
Co-Op and YWCA extensions will be
expiring on March 12th
2024 the only contract that is not been
a we have not executed is the Habitat
for Humanity contract and that is
because habitat still has additional
funding sources spread all around that
they have un been unsuccessful with
spending down at this time so once we
can get them with the strategy to spend
down the money we'll move forward with
executing the ARA contract but our staff
is working with them actively right now
and this is really surrounding the New
York State um home funding that they
have so they have a lot of money kind of
sitting on a table right
now U the Coco house which just did the
presentation the 12th BC and I will be
moving forward before their extension is
up the Electric City Co-Op the
department has met with them to see what
their plans are and making sure that we
just give them all the necessary um
tools that they need to present if they
need another extension or just be
prepared to move forward after March
well Electric City
Co-Op and the YW and YWCA YWCA has an
extension and then they requested
additional fund arpa funding we did put
a request into the executive director to get that um request formally in
writing so once I get that request I'll
be able to do a legislative request for
it right did you me to Bethesda I'm
sorry if I missed it Bethesda no didn't
get Toda I'm sorry I'm sorry Bethesda is
in
contract um you read did you mention a
miracle and Craig I missed it or do you
have any up I didn't get there yet
Mr I thought you were up I just was
talking about the ones who had the
extension they have an EXT they had an
extension but with okay she's going to
get to it mirac miracu on Craig will not
be moving forward they have put in a
formal request to remove to transfer
title back to the city of skty so our
department is working with law um to
ensure that that happens
properly mayor do you have anything you
want to say about that
you okay at this point we're yeah
working then we'll take title back I
shouldn't say we take title say a use
agreement so that we'll clear that up
and then uh uh Alex is looking at other
scenarios and we'll try and see what the
future of that building
is we we have an appointment to go look
into we're meeting with Rosa and we're
meeting with t Maurice myself and Rod
Garner we are going to view the
properties and the additional um
properties that are associated with
marac break sometime next week okay Miss
Patrick so the can you remind me Alex um
the funding was like 2.5
million2 what is
it2 1.2 1.25 okay so that money would
come back to us in terms of well we're
not sure yet we're going to have to so let me just um state that part of
this project and I think we all knew
that the community was really looking
for a community center and um there have
been and there not for conversation so
there's there's only so much that um I
can talk about um but there's other
groups who as that was working with mlc
that didn't have they weren't totally
formalized yet um kind of found out
about this afterwards and so that that
group was thought through their moving
ahead so more conversations will have to
take place in terms of does that group
take it over and what does it look like
with the city working and I'm not sure
what that looks like so it's it's very
informal conversations right
now the SKC Kanas house declined their
funding they had
$110,000 in ARA funds that was allocated
and they we went we sent over the
contract and they declined and said they
would not like to move forward they were
building benches
room tables okay they
did I know and lastly um we received a
formal request from the Bethesda house
um who was currently in contract um they
receive funding towards the car house
they are looking for an additional
$200,000 and arpa funding um to pay some
outstanding um bills associated with the car
house so um go ahead Mr I think you're
probably to ask the same question retro
payments retro payments no oh sorry my
question is I think we ran into a
similar scenario with the
um Can U pro um can they is that
appropriate use them to submit the they
haven't I haven't seen the dates of the
invoices yet but their contract is still
valid okay so if it has happened within
the last 12 months um it would be
acceptable use thank you um so there's some other things that um some
emails that we've receiv received
regarding beesa house so I think and
since they're under contract any
discussion about that would want to do
an executive session so um I would
suggest that we just discuss the rest of
it in executive session yes Mr turo
thank you um Alex you spoke about um
someone wanting a second extension I was
under the assumption that from March the
end of March no more extensions correct
we kind of put because did we are you
asking about this particular one um not
that particular I think I said it for
Electric City Co-Op just because I met
with them and they they threw that in
the air so I'm prematurely sing that
Council I think we discussed that
Council that we had to put a dead uh uh
an end dat on extensions um so right am
I right I believe you we did say that
because we have to get the money
allocated right and we can't keep
kicking the can down the road right yeah I think I think we spoke on
that in terms of extension that to allow
any more extension let's give them
adequate time the last extension and
then take about moving the the funding
to the city uh to the city projects
thank yes right you have more I have
none okay so we'll take up um Bethesda
house carara house discussion in
executive
session
okay and so oh Mr wall my back item
number
four 56 M okay okay police station
server room HVAC Chiller replacement so
what we have uh in the police station we
have both the computer server room and
what is affectionally known as the CRA
room which is the city's camera
surveillance room the rooms are um air
conditioning independently of the rest
of the building they have separate units
the two units that service them are well
P pass their service life one unit is
been down for over a year and its parts
are being used to keep the other unit
running um it's just a precarious
position we don't want to have um so we
have a bid to put a new called a crack
unit and then a split unit crack is a
computer room specific unit um we had
two bids and the low bid was from R&B
mechanical who does uh a lot of work
with the city the bid was uh actually
wellin our budget and we're comfortable
with awarding
it so do we already we have this money
is already yes this is from capital I
believe from capital budget yes this is
capital money we uh set aside money for
Capital Improvements in our 2023 capital
budget so that's coming out of there all
right any questions it that's second all
in favor I thank you and item number
five item number five is court agreement
correct yes y 5year term from 2023 to
2028 yep so as you're aware um the city
now houses the state courts so courts
are no longer run by the city they're
run by the state under the unified court
system we have to sign a 5e revolving
agreement with them through that
agreement they agree to pay us for um
the maintenance and upkeep of the
facilities utility costs things like
that essentially as a tenant and us as
the landlord um this 5year agreement uh
is up and then after this five during
this 5-year agreement we do one-year
reviews and quarterly reports um all
through throughout the year so I have uh
I work with the chief Clerk of the city
doing quarter reports and I work with
their office of administrative
management once a year through the end
of your reports
so any questions how do I know that like
court system may say let's we want you
to build another additional courtroom
and and typically is AAL fund it you
know you need to expand you need you
know it's a requirement you need another
judge
um having this agreement how's that I
mean how do we anticipate that or you
know anticipate that the potential tax
increased after do that so they they I I
have had some experience at the county
where they like this is no longer an
appropriate facility you need to do a
new courtroom um I mean anything any way
to kind of um in that agreement is any
kind of language about that if they say
add another courtroom how that would be
funded no well it doesn't address that
specifically um we are in you know
conversations with them about a hearing
room um and they are you know talking to
us about the hearing room in the court
facilities always uh we have a unique
Court situation here at the city where
we have two buildings which is uh unique
uh to some but that this is more of an
operating agreement for the 5 years and
it and uh it just kind of goes back to
our reimbursement which is in the
appendices in the
back
other
questions a motion Some Mo second all in
favor I and item number six the
revokable permit for wh Kett yep so what
we'd like to do with this one is
essentially amend uh the revocable
permit which has already been issued um
this is very simple they're going to be
screening off their uh recessed outdoor
space as they get a lot of uh bancy in
that area and uh one of the things is
the door is kind of right on the right
away because of the the property line so
we have the easiest thing is just to
make sure the door is added in to the to
the revokable permit and so that's what
we're looking to do is just amend it so
it includes the retractable awnings and
the overhangs and now the patio door so where the patio is currently where
you can just kind of go in and sit
without anything you know they're not
opening a door now they're going to
actually put in a door it's going to be
like a big
screened almost like a screen
transparent wall then there's going to
be a screen door oh okay so the issue is
you know at night they put all the
tables in there but it was open but
people would go into the space secluded
area and then they were having issues
with that so they like to be able to
keep people out of the the space that's
out of site
okay any other questions no I'll it
second all in
favor and so item number seven
is revokable for the RB Lounge uh right
down the street the rabbit Lounge uh is
a rebranded uh it's going to be a salon
I had to ask what the rabbit Lounge was
I was
intrigued uh but it is for uh a sign on
an existing sign post so what is the
rabbit La I I believe it's a beauty
salon oh that is taking place in the
existing there was a former beauty salon
there and they're just uh going under
like new management or new operat so so
for historic information there was
another facility named the rabbit Lounge
it's connected and it was not a bey so
oh so I thought it might be like a cat
cafe you know where you go into the
rabbit's
run not exactly so uh any
questions a
[Music]
motion all in
favor thank you very much wall
um so we already did the update for the
uh for the sidewalk so the next is a
ceremonial resolution recognizing black
history months um and actually this will
be Mr Harley um something we do every
year for black history month so just
looking for um Mr you want to speak to
that I'm sorry sure something we do
every year uh celebrating in Black
History Month um just uh looking uh to
put have another resolution recognizing
Black History Month and all the uh
contributions um uh made by uh people of
color uh in the city is concy and
Nationwide and also not just recogn also
recognizing that black history is
American history and um the way we
acknowledge our history um will inform
our future so very important our
resolation just look for support for
that second all in favor thank
you uh the remainder are property sales
yes so for that we would go into
executive
session and also we would also continue
um discussing the Bethesda House of
three that session just so to make sure
that everyone understand that being done
so uh ask for motion to go on Executive
session second all in favor okay we'll
go on Executive session the public would
have to leave
[Music]
and