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a
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he a
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ERS connected city council committee
meeting for Monday June 3rd
2024 um the first item on the agenda is
listed as a quarterly financial report
for 2024 uh but both Mr Ferrari and Mr
Guk are out um and so that will not
happen but I would like to ask the mayor
if there's some way we can get this on
the agenda this is my third request D
was going to be here tonight uh
diagnosed with Co and is showing s so um
well like I said this is the third
request if it if it if it's necessary we
ask like an outside party to look at our
budget and then do the presentation um I
don't want us I don't think any of us
want to go through what we went through
the last budget season so I'm just
trying to keep get get us up to speed so
we can go through the process and ask
any questions and we provide monthly
reports the information's there if you
have a specific question good chance I
could answer it or go back and have
staff put it together uh I don't have
specific questions today but my request
was for them to just go through ask for
our Revenue versus what we spent just so
we can hear it in that format okay but
we're giving you the reports on that so
don't know produ that have a specific
question to hear the revenue and
expenses so I know that you we did in
writing but I wanted a verbal um report
for that that's what we were asking for
S spreadsheet just read to you no well
because we may have discussions but I'd
like I'd like us find that person to be
here I anticipate somebody will be here
next Monday night I apologize D was
supposed to be here his wife was
diagnosed with Co and he became uh
symptomatic and is off but in two weeks
though right for the next committee
meeting yes okay thank
you finance Finance thank you I would
like to call the finance committee to
order and first item is a supplemental
Bond ordinance for Rice River Road
treatment
plan must
good evening good evening good
even actually tonight I have um Mike
Mill Mike m is our consultant from cha
who's been putting the project together
for the rice World treatment facility um
he's very versed in the additional cost
that are associated with the project
first phase um and in the second phase
um because we are trying to make a
redundant project so um I'm going to let
m speak if you have any questions
um it's Mike
Miller thank you very much
mik questions
already we all
set
than yeah the um phase one work has been
updated as we move through the design
essentially there's a number of um
components which are resulting and the
increased cost uh first of all uh the
floration improvements were originally
scheduled to be part of the phase two
work M um we did receive almost a
million dollars in grant money on that
and because the state has been taking so
long to close on the financing that
project is actually started and it's
almost completed so we're rolling it
into the Phase One financing because
that's going to close within months if
we wait it to the phase two financing
we'll probably be waiting another 6 to 9
months so this will allow the city to
put in for those uh reimbursements and
get that money back in Pocket because to
date we've been paying those project
costs out of out of our accounts keeping
the contractor hold okay so that that
works lit up uh the second big component
of it really deals with resiliency and
redundancy of the water
system um the state is really pushing
for people to look at the resiliency of
these facilities and really evaluate
what happen happens with climate change
and particularly with when you're within
a flood zone which we are so we went
back and we did an assessment with the
city and what we found was if we lost
one building one the main building it
was going to take our water supply out
and if we lost that building whether it
be because of a flood or because of a
fire or some other incident uh we
probably had 24 to 48 hours worth of
water before we dried up mhm so as part
of the project what we've done is we've
created this resiliency Zone that Co
that that coincides with the new pumps
that we've been installing so that if
anything happens to that building the
city will be able to operate this
resiliency Zone independently and
maintain water supply to the city okay
so that work entails bringing in a new
power service which is very
expensive um I think we all know with
that over the years
so we got a new power feed coming into
the facility to feed the resiliency Zone
as well as the um Transformers and all
the electrical equipment to support that
and then we are making some additional
improvements that were not originally
planned to one of the pump stations to
create this resiliency zone so that we
could maintain our
demand and then uh lastly in the spirit
of full disclosure there is a lot of
work flooding the market and so there
are some Market conditions as well that are driving the cost up a little
bit but to date we have secured almost
$4 million worth of grant funding for
the phase one work so that brings the
that will bring that Finance amount down
by that
amount we can apply for more grant money
now this year yeah that we are going to
be applying for more grant money for
phase two so the next phase of the
project that's why you'll see within the
packets there's a phase one and then a
phase two phase one we're updating
because we are getting set to go to
financing and we want to make sure that
there's nothing preventing us from
closing that Financial agreement with
EFC so that we can start uh getting
reimbursed for the cost in for to dat
okay okay any questions on the phase one
goe please so I see um it's great that
you got the $4 million congratulations
and I appreciate that you're applying
for more grants um it seems like so the
4 million is already
the 137401 173 already reflects it does
not oh so now we're down to 9 million
something correct okay correct which is
roughly a couple million dollars more
than what we had originally planned to
bond or that was in the original bond
amount okay thank you
yeah um question for the mayor would
this um qualify under the co
infrastructure Grant um to the
state Co we're getting under the weia
money on this so we are getting WEA
money and that's under the co the state
Co
um infrastructure grounds is that the
bipartisan money B money are you
referring to the bill money the
bipartisan infrastructure law money the we program there's a number of
federal
programs that essentially through the um the Federal Acts and that
money tends to roll back through the
states through these Define programs
within the state so within New York
state that's wqp grants for clean water
it's WEA grants for water waste water
and then there's separate bill grants
that come in as well as 0% interest
financing and things like that yeah this is funding that was passed by
Congress for uh Co and it's primarily um
driven toward infrastructure to the
state and the city or the town or
Village would apply to the state for
funding
that's part of the bipartisan
infrastructure yeah maybe
has I think it's all part of the buildy
okay any other questions you goe please
so I know you're saying that due to kind
of market conditions prices are are
starting to increase is there any way of
like how we can manage
um how we are is there any things that we can manage to I guess how we're
going about this to kind of offset some
of that like is it like a a faster to
like spending the money or something
like that um that would help mitigate
some of that or unfortunately the best
advice I can give us is to push as many
contracts out as soon as we can to try
and time them at the right times in the
year which is you know late fall early
winter so the contractors hopefully are
still trying to fill their tills if you
let these things slide until the spring
uh the contractors already have you know
a lot of work and they either want to
push it out even further or quite
frankly they're just not aggressive with
their bidding they're like I don't need
the work so I'll give you a price and uh
you know if you want me to do it bad
enough you'll pay me that money so the
best advice is to just keep moving
forward and to keep accelerating and get
the work out as quickly as we can some
components we do purchase separately
though we do for the pump station we
roughly $900,000 uh through sourcewell
we purchase through the city to the
generators that way we avoid the markup
from the contractors so certain items um
on equipment we can do that um as long
as it's you know through Source well um
it's a state contract and we did that
the pump station the sa SL and thank you
again for being aggressive and pursuing
some of that grant funding I know that
that's not easy work either just to even
kind of get in the running for that so
appreciate it oh it's fun to get grant
money it's great to get
it goodness thank you should I remind
you we got $26 million in grant money
for the for the pump station was last
year any
seeing none we have a motion on item
number
one second second all in favor I I item
number two supplemental Bond ordinance
for
r Rice Road treatment plan phase
two all right so this is this is the
next phase of the project same same
project out at the water treatment plant
uh this work involves an emergency
interconnection with the town of reram roughly a million
dollars to make that connection it
improves and up it updates and creates
the resiliency uh zone for the chlorine
system we include the emergency
generator within this work so that's one
of those things where we can try and
work through the state contract to
procure that directly and the state
markup on that because that's probably a
million dollar generator again uh we've
got miscellaneous building improvements
that will bring these buildings you know
up to date and prevent it prevent reg
groupage we're replacing a lot of roofs
on a lot of the buildings and then some
security and ska improvements as well
out of the time so what we're really
trying to do with phase one and phase
two quite frankly is to get the money
invested in the
facilities and uh be in a good position
moving forward I think one of the things
that that we try to strive is to take
advantage of the grant money while it's
on the table because unfortunately none
of us know how long these programs are
really going to last so we are
aggressively pushing forward with a lot
of this work trying to secure as much
grant money as we
can go ahead please and Mr chairman I'm
not quite sure what you're referring to
if you can send me to make sure that
we're following up on it I will do I
will send you an email a
copy 12 calls there 10 of them were put
in in the 40s um the newest two were in
the mid 60s so um and out of the 12
we're down to eight so with the three
new wells that have been tapped already
you know you know bring us to 11 um so
this is um you know they they've gotten
to their end of their life they're
running towards the end of their life
cycle so question oh go ahead please y
could you tell me the timeline on this
work uh once
we we're hoping to have the uh last
contract for phase one out towards the
end of the year so again we want to hit
that bidding cycle and then the phase
two work we're trying to get financing
set for next year so the way this works
is generally they'll let us know in
December of this year if the financing
is in place and then we'll probably
close on that towards the mid part of
next year so next year will probably be
a design year in terms of moving that
forward and we'll be trying to hit that
bidding Market towards the end of next
year
again thank you very much any other
question on item number
two seeing none may have a motion to
move item number two second all in favor
I thank you any other business for
finance I have a motion to Mo second all in favor thank thank you PA
you problem thank you okay I'd like to
call the order government operations we
have one item on the agenda um this is
the discussion regarding the conflict in
Gaza um as you know we've been receiving
multiple emails and people have have
been coming down um to the council
meetings um sharing their concerns and
suggesting actions that the city council
could take um with that I'm going to uh
pass over to kind of President pfield so
you can kind of FR that for us a little
bit thank you Mr Carley so as as he said
that we know that people have been
coming to the council meetings and um uh
asking us to make a to to uh take a
position there have been meetings that
have taken place outside of um people
coming to the Council meetings there was
a considered effort um by council member
Williams and council member Farley to
bring the two groups together which is
what something I've been suggesting from
beginning but anyway they were able to
do it however the final outcome was not
what we had hoped where the groups would
then to come together and come up with a
document that they could agree up on
that just did not um could not take
place um so at this point in time we've
been we've received um documents from uh
both groups also an additional document
that was uh forwarded to us by council
member Patrick for us to take into
consideration and for this Council to at
this time have this discussion about
where we are with this I just to want to
reiterate that this discussion is
amongst council members and we're at
tonight is not for for public comment or
input so
um you know we um not saying we're
anybody you know needs to take a
position tonight but I think that we
definitely need to have the discussion
because there's been multiple
conversations one-on ones and various
ones and um so but as a council I think
we need to come to the place where we
have a discussion and then um decide how
to move forward Miss Patrick yes um so I
would like to first of all i' would like
to um definitely say for the record that
I put in my resolution a couple of weeks
ago but it was not added to the
legislative agenda because there was um
the idea that another resolution was
going to come forward by two of my
colleagues that didn't happen um so now
I put my resolution back in and tonight
we were handed uh the additional
information um as we were coming into
the meeting so I don't think we've had a
chance to review uh these other
resolutions however I do want to state
that I think that we should review my
resolution which is basically indicating
that I I believe that City C it's not
appropriate for city council to get
involved in an international matter
whether it's this one or any other
conflict
uh around the world I think if we have
that discussion and we can agree upon my
resolution then the other two
resolutions we won't need to talk about
um because basically we will pass a
resolution saying that we don't want to
be uh necessarily considering uh the
other
resolutions pres yes um and i' just like
to add some clarity about the resolution
I specifically ask you if we could put
it off for a couple weeks I didn't just
not put it on the agenda so I just want
to be clear that I asked you if we could
put it off any year in agreement with
that okay it's not my memory
necessarily it it is what happened in
the future I'll send an email but I
asked if You' wait because there were
discussions Our Hope was that it did not
get to this uh to a place where there
was going to be you know contention in
council member versus council member so
I asked if we could do that and
hopefully the two groups were which
were having differences of opinions
could come up with something which is
why the meetings were convened and that
was the hope and that was you know the
guiding force behind that
so just want to lend that Clarity to
that so I guess for me um and I we'll
speak for myself when I say this I think
that I can appreciate honestly like the
opinion that you know it might not be I I don't know that if you know there
were a if there were a resolution to be
passed that it would necessarily change
the material conditions of the people
who are am miss this conflict I think
that I I I don't um that's not lost on
me I think um my intention was to talk
with people who have varying
perspectives to see like where are the
points of alignment what I will say that
um the conversations that I was privy to
um there was some there was a lot of
points of alignment and I think that
anytime we talk about something that has
the potential to become so contentious
is that we do Focus there so my
intention was to kind of let's start
there what we um can agree on and um and
then we can work on like or what's the
best process in order to uh bring these
things about and also I believe in being
responsive to people who have you know
been in contact with us um through uh
emails phone calls and coming down I
just think that it's you know I feel
obligated to um make sure that people
are listening to and that whatever
decision we make we make an informed
decision and we can only do that truly
by kind of listening um to the VAR
varying perspectives
so are we taking these resolutions one
by one how are we doing this well I
think that uh yeah I think that we need
to uh you know I didn't think that we
were going to get into a place tonight
where um we were going to
uh well discussion M Mr W so I can
understand that and think to M Patrick's
Point we start with the resolution that
she presented forward and I kind of
start based on my understanding of how
this entire conversation was presented
to the city council uh I was definitely
someone more in favor of trying to allow
this discussion to take place outside of
the council uh allowing some of our
faith-based communities to have this
initial discussion and then present us
with an option we move forward based on
a number of issues just outside of the
overall complexity of this issue and
when that did not continue or when that
did not uh exist uh I I was aware of the
email that you forwarded to the council
um however I want to be clear with one very intentional item uh was this a
resolution that you wrote personally or it's not as I've indicated every time
I've sent it out which is more than one
time that it was adapted from a similar
statement that was done by the Allington
County Board
um so I just I I really literally just
adapted it to make it for connecting
right and then by adapted it changed the
language differentiating the Arlington
County Board to SC yes any other pretty
much there might have been some other
minor grammatical changes that I didn't
think were you know like commas and
stuff uh from the original but I would
say minor in that there was the
replacement of their state elected
officials but outside of that I didn't
see any other adjustments um but
reason my uh personal perception of
passing this at this point in stage is
that we've already fielded a number of
Council meetings where we've heard from
individuals both locally from our
community and outside from both sides
indicating uh the request for just a
response from our Council and I sign
wholeheartedly think that this outcome
to pass this type of resolution I think
has been
missed what I'm sorry I didn't hear has
been missed I think the timeline for us
to consider and P this after having
heard Council meetings um I think for to
be exact I think to then say to those
individuals again from both sides that
we are going to elect to not respond I I
think reflects a certain city council
that I I did not become a member
of I don't think it's us not responding
I think it's us responding by saying
that we're not going to get involved in
an international matter and that we're
going to see that as we move forward as
well in case other uh items like this
come forward to the city council so that
is our response that is a
response Mr Williams but I would say
that response is very biased towards one
side and that's where the hesitation is
how is this biased towards one side it's
not biased towards one side the the the
perception of of not responding is
biased towards individuals that would
appreciate not seeing a
response that doesn't seem to make sense
to me but I'd like to hear from my
colleagues I'm in total agreement with
Miss Patrick um you know we we have
enough to worry about in our city um
being elected and and we're responsible
to our constituents the residents of our
city everyone that we serve um and I
think we've just wasted a little bit too
much time on this my heart pours out for
both sides that I hear that come on my
on a personal level it's not our
responsibility uh to pass a
resolution um for either side or jointly
together um I would hope that that they
could work on a resolution or or or
solving something themselves
but at this point um and they're more
than welcome to come to every council
meeting and and and I'll listen to them
and I'll understand what they're saying
um but I don't think it's our
responsibility right now to um to even
consider a resolution I would support
Miss
Patrick's
letter so um you know the I'm glad we're
having this conversation and um The
Passion of people that have come and
talk to us and presented to us um you
know what's happening in the Middle East
is De deeply concerning but I I wouldn't
I would not support a ceasefire
resolution I think as what's said is our
focus should be on the issues that are
directly um impacting our our citizens
whether infrastructure education um I
think a resolution would have minimal
effect if any um that should be left to
the federal represent
I I think what was said here that the
groups couldn't come to an agreement
kind of tells us it's a it's a very
diverse issue and we have a very diverse
population of residents and taking a
Firm Stance I think would create
unnecessary further division um so I I I
think we could Foster in dialogue as
it's been happening continue doing that
among the parties and and and I'm
encouraging that approach but I just I I
can't get behind a passing ceasefire
resolution I think it's it would do more
um harm than good I think it would be
more divisive um maybe maybe for us but
maybe for the residents I've spoken to
many residents and and you know their question was why are you even
entertaining this and um but I think we
need to from the folks that we've heard
too I think that's real important that
we hear from them um and and for me I
think it it's responsible to say you
know we won't support a ceasefire for
these
reasons um and and uh but because that's
a little bit outside of our purview and
that's my thoughts and feelings on
this so I guess what I would say um
listen to what my fellow council members
is saying and again I do appreciate your
input on this and I can understand why
um I think I'm in agreement that I think
the uh what the how impactful a
resolution uh would be um to the uh the
conflict guys I don't know that it will
have much impact at all um my L was okay
let's talk to the let's talk and be
responsive to the needs of the people
who have come before us who have said a
resolution means this for me and my
community or not having a resolution
means this for me in my in my respective
Community um so I think that really what
you know I guess what I would again like
to highlight is that we had Varan
perspectives at the table um and it's
not
wasn't necessarily this or that
conversation there was a lot of
alignment and the alignment that we
heard was around like you know peace
everyone wants peace and everyone um
wants people on either side of the
conflict to stop suffering losses to
civilians and children and families and
women and and and and and marginalized
vulnerable uh pors of the community that
was something that was a shared uh
expressed value at in the conversation
that I winess for so anytime that we
have something we can align and say
okay everyone wants seems to want peace
then the conversation is how do we
support that being an outcome and that's
where the resolution no resolution um
conversation um started to take place so
again um I think we take positions on in
the council uh
that impact you know that that really
represent the the best interest of the
people that live in our city and
I think that we that we're obligated I
feel an obligation to consider um those
things and that's why so I I that's kind
of a long-winded way of saying that's
our response to anyone would say why are
you even considering this because as a
leader in the community people are
coming to us to saying that this is
something that is impacting them and
their safety within our community so I
think that again we're obligated to do
so Mr Williams and with the same context
of being a responsive government I can
understand and definitely agree with
during our ini IAL phone calls with um
members from the prop Palestinian
Community are asking for a ceasefire I
was very open and saying that I was not
confident that a resolution would
achieve some of their objectives however
due to the continuous nature of their
convers of their uh attendance at our
Council meetings uh wanting to again be
representative as a u an advocate from
this community trying to identify in
part to what Mr farther was highlighting
can we get to that common ground and
what quickly became apparent was that that
is unable to to be achieved uh so and
then trying to be responsive to to the
needs or requests of either communities
again I I I lay with to say that passing
something would cause F attention I
would argue that attention is already
there and I think our continued lack of
having this discussion no fault to
anyone at the table uh that added in or
Amplified people's wanting to know where
each of our council member stood at so
if there is an obligation I would ask to
hear where everyone stands not regarding
your stance around any one resolution or
option just where you stand in general
as we have an onlen audience who is not
just in this room but also tuning in
wanting to know who or how their
individuals or individuals in these
positions are going to Advocate to
address their needs Mr thank you uh I
mean we have to be very careful we are
stepping into unart our territory here
getting involved in something that we as
a cons soci be very careful what we
doing
over the years this Council as long as
I've been here we have not bring for
resolution when there's conflict in
Syria when there conflict in Libya when
there conflict in Sudan when there
conflict in um in Russia where hundreds
of thousands of people are being
slaughtered Massacre whatever you want
to call it on a daily basis yes what is
happening in Gaza should not be
happening we need peace there I'm
totally for peace but we as a council I
think we should consider what we're
getting into this is international
matter it should be should encourage the
organizer to call the White House call
the Senators call our Congress
members to Lobby them to you know pass
something from that level fedal level us
on the ground here our resolution what
are we going to do with our resolution
if you pass one this evening and vote on
it unanimously it doesn't serve any
purpose are we dividing our community we
should bring them to the table what is
happening bring them to the table let's
get to the table to the Muslim and the
Jewish community and let's work on
issues that they have outstanding that's
what we need to for work on
International matter that is something
on a federal level absolutely wrong
what's happening there if it stopped
today it should stop today right now
what's happening there but we should not
be going doing this because we have not
done it in the
past why why
not and I'm not saying I'm against I am
what I'm you know I'm against what's
happening in Castle absolutely against
it but why are we as a
council it doesn't serve any purpose
getting a resolution what are we going
to do get on a flight to to Tel Aviv and
hand it to prime minister Netanyahu
until I'm disconnected d c comes to pass
a resolution seize fire he's not doing
it we have better thing to focus on and
I I just want to address some of the
things that that the text have been
going that I've been getting over the
last couple several weeks and yesterday
and
today that's okay good text bad text
hate text calling me all sort of
names I am I'm okay with that and you
can continue and I just want to address
one of the texts that came and miss
pfield and I had a conversation today
and you brought it up about two event
that
happen uh with related to in um event in
Guyana that has to do with
election um on the step of City Hall a
couple years ago um that was organized
by leaders within the gese community not
the city council not
Johan on one Sunday evening and then on
the Monday evening there was another
rally and city council member were
invited along with the Mayor John Mudan
and city council did not plan that event
last year there was another event in
Central Park when there was a fire
inyana that event was organized by our
community leaders we were invited many
others were invited so I want to address
those that the text I received and say
that the city council and myself sponsor
those event or coordinate that event
never happened on that
level so I just want to um like bring it
back to this particular one that we're
looking at right now and let me just say
that um I would not support moving this
forward um but I did was I took the
opportunity to look into the county
where this was packed where this came
from and just want to clarify this was
never a resolution that was passed by
the county um it was by it's no I went
to no I know it's I know it's not a
resolution all right there so isn't
either right so what what happened it
was not even passed by them it wasn't
even discussed there was there wasn't
even a letter sent um it it there was
there's a woman who I don't even know
what her ask was because all we saw was
the respon and this response unsigned so
I don't know even who said who made
response this is a response to a a
letter or a or a request um and so this
person whoever wrote the letter is
speaking on behalf of the county um the
County board but there was never a an
official thing I went to their official
site that they made um an official
statement on this so it was a response
to a letter and that was a response from
whoever the author was I don't know um I
further looked into what with this
County you know they talk about what
their you know their different
perspectives and that's a complex topic
and that they're a very diverse
community and I looked into it it's
first of all it's a county um group and
a County Board and like two over 240,000
people are on that it's a five member
board 240,000 people are in the county
that they're over and there's a five
member board and that board has zero
diversity zero diversity except unless
we're counting men and women and that's
it so there's a specific lens I say that comes in for me at least part of it
our our board that's very very different
um this place also has a sister city
they say in their statement that they um
have they don't usually jump into
um into International things they do
have a sister city um program and they
issued a statement about what went on in
Ukraine so some of what they're saying
is really not
100% um truthful because they have taken
a position on other things so I'm I'm
not willing to because as you said you
only made minor changes to what they
said I'm not willing to um to sign on to
a statement from a from an organization
who looks very different than we look in
terms of um our governance and and all
of that in addition they have made what
they're saying they don't do they they
have done in the past so um you know I
wouldn't wouldn't sign on to that um and
I think if if we were to do anything it
would really need to come from the the
city council members here not um adapted
from a board again who has um has a
different kind of governing body they're
a County board with a County Manager
they have a lot more people they have
zero um they have no ethnic diversity on
their board and um and they've al
already you know made a a resolution
against um what happened in um Russia
versus uh uh in the attack on the
Ukraine even you know they said they don't wouldn't you know doing this
thing so I'm not I would not support um
moving forward
Mr that's fine um I understand what
you're saying and I appreciate the
research that you did um we could come
up with our own statement my bottom line
is that what I'm trying to suggest is
that the city council will not get
involved in an international matter so I
don't care we don't have to use this
statement we could just say that in
response to the people that have come
forward to us on both sides that we are
choosing to not get involved in an
international matter it could be as
simple as that two sentences contact
your federal Representatives we do not
have to pass this statement and I wasn't
putting it forth as a resolution it
actually was a statement it was just
sort of a position statement um so
that's what I'm suggesting um I do think
that um the other resolutions would
cause more divisiveness there already
has been we definitely have had
residents who have come to us and said
that they feel unsafe
um we have seen Damage Done in our
community um to uh a desecration of of a
cemetery I mean there's already stuff
happening out there there were um
incidents at our last city council
meeting um that left a couple of us
feeling uh physically threatened um
divisiveness has happened so I'm
definitely suggesting that we say we are
not going to get involved in an
international
matter Mr
well I I would argue and I think having
this conversation at this agenda already
dictates that we are involved even at
least to dedicating our time at this
council meeting to this discussion uh to
answer Mr M Baron's comment about why
are we even entertaining the possibility
of presenting an action for a response
from our Council and I would say within
the within the purview of this group
requesting a ceasefire has sought out
their more appropriate means which is
the federal government or the state I
would say in the since that those
elements have remained unresponsive I do
not think it's it's unforeseen for them
to use more locally based municipalities
to represent their uh uh their stance
for for better or worse uh which is one
of the reasons why uh seeking out
continued conversations seeking out
whether we can have more of a
collaborative discussion until we had
this moment I don't think our community
is able to heal so I think to your point
Miss Patrick uh uh this is something
that we we have to address and and and a
and um in a number of different ways I'm allowing this conver or not allowing
I'm enjoying the conversation where
we're discussing this more but if you
when we get to the point we're able to
look at the other exhibits I think those
more accurately can address
um how this Council can uh be responsive
to this very unique circumstance can be
very clear in saying I did not sign up
or ran ran as a conected city councilman
to be International diplomat that is not
something that I I I wanted or sought
out to uh but again in understanding
this climate that we are in this climate
that our nation is currently in I think
it is up to us to understand what is an
appropriate response and again I don't
think at this juncture saying we're not
going to respond is an appropriate
response and I I I would just really say
that you know though things um might or
might have not happened in the past I
think that you know we need to be
responsive the times are here now and um
we can't afford to allow um our our
tradition to stifle our Innovation and
our responsiveness to our community so
when there are people that are part of
this community that are coming for us
and saying that this is impacting um my
family um then I think that again that
warrants uh a a conversation possibly
multiple conversations and
considerations on how do we you know
bring people together to say regardless
of what your point of view is on the
conflict in Gaza if what your interest
is is in peace and I and I'm I'm going
to make a an assumption which is not a
very safe thing to do in any uh
political Arena but I would assume that
most of the city council members my
colleagues are definitely pro peace are
definitely Pro uh
humanity and if there is language that
can represent that we are for
peace and we are for the safety of those
in our community where we condemn um any
acts of
Terror um whether those acts of Terror
are committed by Hamas if we condemn um
uh acts of Terror by Hamas or by
specific armed um wings of uh Israeli
government and not to be conf ated with
the people and people of religion that
live within our cities cuz I think that
what we can do is quickly start to
conflict those issues but I think that
if there is a place that where we're all
saying that we're for
peace in
Gaza then I think that that's something
that is is or maybe we're not for peace
and go I don't know I guess I do want to
respond again I feel
that we might all have different
opinions and and so therefore as a
council trying to pass something that
would be representative of us as a
council I think won't work I mean I'm
just being honest and so therefore again
I think the response is that it's not
appropriate for our local city council
to be going outside of our purview we
need to focus on the things that you
know our Council was elected to focus on
um and and this is not something that
our Council was elected to focus on this
in this particular circumstance or in
any other International matter um so so
I just you know that I mean I can't I
can't repeat it enough times but um well
I think so what are what I was saying
again just for points of clear is that
well number one I think you agree that
we all have different opinions on
multiple things right like there's
usually not something that doesn't
require some sort of a conversation or
an exchange of ideas to get to get to
place of agreement or disagreement right
um what I'm saying is that though this
is an international issue based on the
points that you're bringing up and the
things that the phone calls and the
things that people have been saying to us this is an international
issue but it has implications on the
well-being of people that live right
here in the city of SKC it really does I
mean you
can't if if it didn't then it would I
agree that we could just say hey it's
not you know there's no there's no
implications here but people have
brought forth and said this is how this
conflict or um
the the ramifications of what's
happening is impacting me my family and
my respective community so therefore um
I mean I'm going to be quite honest to
say this is something I would love not
to have to necessarily um uh uh look at
or really contemplate but I think that
that's what comes with the position of
leadership when people are saying that
though this is a international issue the
issue isn't just International it is
there are severe implications of people
that live right here in the state disc
con acity so that's why I guess my point
that I was trying to make was that I
think it could exagerate the
divisiveness if the city council um was
to pass a resolution um for example one
of these resolutions um so so I guess my
question is because I know we can pass a
lot of resolutions so is it the idea of
just passing a
resolution no matter what it says or is
it cuz I would think that if they're is
a resolution if there's a letter if
there's something to where people are
saying if we can agree on we just are leveraging whatever institutional
credibility that we have how little it
may be we're saying that we would like
for for peace for people to to live in
peace if we can all agree with that Then
I then I would say then that wouldn't be
a problem right because it's not the
fact that it's uh an action it's what
the resolution contains is what we
should really be looking into right cuz
I'm not just going to say let's pass a
resolution that um doesn't condemn um
the terrorist Acts or doesn't condemn or Hamas or uh certain arms of the
Israeli government I'm going to say if
that is too far for us to get into leads
if you will um but if there's a point of
alignment where we're saying that we
just want people to live in peace and if
we can get there then what would be the
issue that's that's I'm trying to go to
the lowest point of alignment now I'll
go around and if people feel
that that we don't need to address um
this at all and we're not in agreeing in
piece then that's a different story Mr
Mayor sorry my first question have the
three resolutions but they're unnumbered
or unlabeled so I didn't know if for
reference if
they just should be marked in some way
and Mr Carley might have you know just
do a oneline resolution we're all in
favor of world peace and encourage
everyone to work toward that goal abely
but
yes Mr oh I'm sorry yes yeah so I heard
what you said and it's sounding like we
would pass a resolution that connected
city council is in favor of World Peace
and I
think well period I know but I mean
that's like I'm sorry I'm not trying to
I mean with all due respect but I mean
it sounds like we're you know competing
for Miss America what would you like to
see happen I want world peace I mean
that's the old joke from at least when I
was a kid um but um I mean it just
doesn't have
any teeth in is that the right
expression I mean I I but I mean I'm
happy to say that the Sky City Council
is all for World
Peace okay so I guess then so then again
that I mean but again so
then but then we have to really look at
the and check our motivation for what
we're doing and what we're not doing
because if we're approaching this from a
genuine and honest and genuine way then
what we're saying is that we're okay
with passing a resolution that says that
we stand for a world peace which is
clearly an international issue right but
so we're okay with then getting involved
in international issue as long as we're
no that's why I started with I think
that we should make a statement that
we're not getting involved in an
International N I totally agree with
what you just Reed so so what I'm saying
is that let's really just check our
motivation as to why our positions are
and they shouldn't necessarily change
just based on right right um I just want
to add this point of clarity for the
mayor well miss Patrick read the one
that uh well um the one that was
connecting City Council who has received
request that was from Miss Patrick the
other two intentionally were not
identified they were um submitted by the
two other groups that were having
discussions we intentionally did not
identify which group they came for so
they would not be started out with a
level of bias oh so I just say they get
labeled resolution one resol ABC as
they're referred to you could uh for
correct one right so thank you madam
president yes I'm sorry so what you're
saying is they weren't subed by any of
our city council members
exactly is that do we have precedent
for Mr well I'm sorry I'm I stand
correctly go ahead Mr uh Williams I'm
sorry so I'd say they're respective of
ongoing conversations and discussions to
identify a document that represents the
community especially at which their
position comes from so again I don't
want to get back to the document that
you put forward but I think if anything
it should truly reflect or have a tone
of the city of SM and any of that
doesn't I think offers up the
opportunity for it to be uh not
reflective of the population our demogra
demographics of our community um so
again the conversations that I've been a
part of have been with multiple
Community leaders have been with
multiple faith-based leaders and these
two documents reflect two different
positions I would wholeheartedly ask
each of you to uh uh digest these
because I think they both speak to
Andress addressed to varying different
degrees and for any members of our
community that's wondering what we are
discussing uh I've spoken with Sam and
Miss pfield they will be available there
after our conversation um but again this
has been a complex conversation and
there's no easy way to continue through
it because anytime you have a statement
there is always a a a additional ask or
additional Aster to identify from the
other side proper context so again there
is no easy way to have this conversation
but I do think we are obligated to act
and Miss uh Miss Patrick I'm sorry I
miss F they they were submitted through
councilman Wing similar to your
statement that came from someplace else
that was submitted it was submitted to
councilman Williams so I'm sorry it just
wasn't written by him how about Mr just
to follow on this conversation so these
two resolution apart from this U Patrick
resolution you're saying that the group
doesn't want to identify themselves
which one belongs to the
group I would say there's bias so in
wanting to uh digest this information
wanting to look at its contents and not
necessarily the individual that
submitted it I thought was more
appropriate so the group that you you
and Mr Farley be meeting with is in the
Jewish community and the Muslim
Community and are these coming from the
Muslim Community and Jewish Community
yes so why can't we not identify
it I would say then again there is no
reason why we cannot identify but as
we've been uh uh introduced based on
everyone's position there is a knee-jerk
reaction to this conversation yes or
no yes yes or no there's an an initial
response to the nature of this
conversation yes right and in
understanding that and understanding
that we are in a different context
specifically to uh previous events that
this Council has entertained to submit
resolutions on wanting to look at this
from a different lens than Miss
porterfield's point of how do we just
evaluate the language that's it okay so
just I respect your your your your
bottle there but if if a group is going
to present a resolution or a statement I
would like them to stand by
it because if Miss Patrick present a a
statement here that was from on a
different County and you know drafted
differently you should have that but I
say she didn't I I understand
perception because
[Music]
Miss Patrick okay I did you are you done
speaking Mr M sorry sorry Mr M that's
sorry are you all set okay Miss pck did
you have I did in the times that I
emailed the statement indicate that it
was um the Allington County Board that
had um issued this statement and that I
had just made some minor tweets to it
been in response that there are often
behind the scenes conversations that the
public is not privy to hence providing
that context at is
important and can and I'll definitely
get right to you Mr T I think it's
really important that we recognize that
this is a very sensitive and and and can
be an inflammatory type of thing if we
don't stay within our parameters um as
council members and kind of again check
our motivation for why we're doing this
or why we even having this conversation
this is not a conversation that anyone
really wants to be in a position to have
I don't think anyone is okay with people
losing their lives with civilians losing
their lives to war any conflict I don't
think anyone here is okay with that what
I want us to do is to not is to be
mindful that we don't use this as a US
verse them gotcha kind of moment let me
winner argument with you at the table
when we have a great a much larger
obligation and opportunity to say hey
this is my position this is why this is
my position I understand and hear your
position
and then collectively we can either
agree or disagree but I'm I get
concerned with our especially around
something that is so sensitive that we
can kind of fall into that the tone of
the conversation can shift from what
we're here to do representing people of
City's connec into our own kind of let's
win the argument at the table when it's
just not a a conversation that anyone's
really uh super excited to have to be
I'm sorry Mr ter
just briefly reading over both of these
I would have liked to have have them
prior to this evening but um they're
both very different okay um no matter
who it one doesn't matter it's obvious
from these two statements that people
bringing this to the table are not in
agreement okay not in agreement so how
can we be in
agreement we can't and that's obvious
going around and around and around
tonight and I I I I value each and
everyone's
opinion but it's this is not in our
parameter so all we need to say as a
councel you guys keep going to the table
keep working on it keep promoting peace
within each of your cultures okay and
that can happen but right now we should
not even be involved in this it's and
nothing's going to happen here this
evening right nothing
so we make a statement
got keep going you know come to an
agreement come to the table you know
we'll support you all the way but we're
not supporting any resolution at this
time done that's all I have to
say again I think it would again I
don't around well but we we do go around
and around and again we go around around
on lots of issues and I think that we
have there's there a Norm at the table
um I don't think that we all operate on
one Accord I mean history will tell us
that yet we've had some pretty spirited
and contentious conversations around
things that impact the people that live
in the city and we were able to come to
a at least a point of clarity as to
where we stood individual individually
and things have passed out of the
council things have not passed out of
the council um because we haven't agreed
on things and that and it's okay for us
not to agree I just don't think it's
okay for us not to um have the
conversation and honor what people have
been bringing forward to us I'm not okay
with that I I mean I think that we have
had the conversation I think four of us
around the table have indicated that we
don't think that we should be making any
kind of judgment on an international
matter out of the seven of us um and so
I guess you know there's three of you on
this committee and you can decide
whether it's going to come out of
committee for discussion again next
Monday at city council um or not but at
this point what I would like to do and I
would hope that we would being that to
Mr tur's point in your point as well is
that you know some of this language um
that you received that you just received
right now um I would hope that what we
will be able to do is take the documents
that you have received tonight um as
well as the document that um that you
have submitted prior um take those read
them kind of digest through those and
then see if you know there may be some
um uh different different thoughts or or
at least consider you know maybe a a
different course of action and or not a
course of action so I at this point I
think that you guys have the information
we all have the information let's take
some time but this is very something we
need to be very thoughtful about let's
take some time to think about them and
then we can bring them back um and and
decide and and truly I don't want it to
be missed because there was a lot of
time and effort spent in crafting both
these two languages and I want to make
sure both of those
understand that to to to Mr parley's
point he's always able to kind of keep
our Council centered and keep us well
reflective of what we're saying and and
get away from the kind of the tone so
definitely uh uh each Document Speaks
differently towards this issue and that is a very blatant and and and
apparent understanding that took me uh a
lot of hours of dialogue to also
recognize and accept myself because I
was something I did not accept I
truthfully thought that we would be able
to craft some collaborative language and
that was not possible um but but again
to to to the time and and emotion that
was invested in both of these I can
guarantee each Community respects these
as the true intent and their ability to
identify language that addresses that
conflict and wherever you lay and I'm
not excluding the the Mandate that you
submitted but I would just ask you
compel you to just read that over and I do think although two weeks is
additional time and additional time in
this conflict but I think reflect of
everyone knows that whatever action We
Take It ultimately is not going to end
up itself influence that outcome in the
noise it it will not but to to Mr
Farley's point there is a considerable
ask from our community to respond to
this and that that in and that simple
statement was the reason why my actions
were that they
were so I think you know hearing you
know what people are saying today um and
I appreciate your ability to kind of
navigate this tough and difficult uh
conversation um so it's not lost on me
that this is something that um has
serious uh consequences um to people
professionally personally politically
all of the things and I just appreciate
you guys are willingness to kind of
engage in this conversation from a
genuine place I we will leave um
everyone has uh the documents of that
are in front of them have some time to
digest them and then we can um decide
whether whether a course of action will
be taken and what that course of action
will be oh I'm sorry president it's okay
so and I just want to remind folks that
so um it's been brought up that people
you know um wouldn't necessarily agree
and we can't come to an agreement uh
each council member has an opportunity
at the end of the meeting to State their
position on whatever is going on so just
keep in mind that if there if we get to
the place where we're just not able to
um pass anything through everyone here
has an opportunity to St them and say
this is where I stand so that is not
something that you you can always
exercise that um if we get to the point
where it's just not never coming up with
anything that that everybody can agree
on and sometimes that happens and as has
been stated we have to make sure that
we're also as we're doing this um make
sure that we're keeping making sure
we're doing the business of the people
and I've gotten statements from people
that um because of the number of people
at the council meeting that people
didn't have an opportunity to speak um
and I've figured out a way to rectify
that if if we get to that place again
because City business should still be um
our priority I'm not saying it's the
only thing that we do but it certainly
should be our priority so I will just
make sure that people that come to the
meeting have an opportunity to speak on
City business that outside this present
discussion that has been ongoing so I
just want to remind council members
again that if you just can't see any of
this being anything that you can agree
to um at all you always had the
opportunity for miscellaneous um
business of the council to State
whatever it is that you would like to
state so
um thank you but we did agree on world
peace that's something that we were able
to at least get agreed about so um any
more comments questions or concerns
around that Mr Williams if I
can throughout this conversation I
always recognize that or throughout my
com comments with the community always
recognize it was not my place to sway
anyone's opinion or their perspective on
this issue and I accepted that but
wholeheartedly I wanted to say I
appreciate everyone's openness and and
responses and I think you'll find that
the community regardless of how they
interpret your responses will appreciate
that uh uh thoughtfulness with with
being
transparent so I just want to so
government operations is not going to
consider this uh this evening well
there's no I mean in terms of you know
seeing if it comes out of committee
it's a discussion this no this was a
discussion point if you on the agenda
that's why it was it's list yeah it's
listed as a discussion point so just for
that particular reason so we can have a
discussion and everyone can make um
informed decision if and when we get to
a point of decision that's why it was on
for discussion Mr hi thank you m pfield
I know you you said you weren't in favor
of passing or considering um Miss
Patrick's uh statement um but I didn't
hear a stance from you
on you know where you may stand on
this um goe no I was trying to question
while well I I made my statement I'm not
willing to do this I'll read for the
rest of it and then when it's when when
I feel it's appropriate I'll make my
statement okay thank
you and just if you're wondering whether
I think we should get involved in
international matters I think there may
be opportunities where we will get
involved in National matters so I will
not blatantly and blankly say never
International matters I don't know what
the future holds so if that's what
you're looking for no not at all I was
just looking for your stance thank you
so that was helpful I not because I will
never blanketly say because I don't
think it's even as as elected people
that you blanketly say you will never
because we don't know what the future
bring so I will never just draw a line
in the say and say absolutely I will not
cross that line I will take into
consideration what is happening at the
moment at the time and use that to make
my decision and I think again you know
for me just for clarity is like um it
though it's an international matter it
definitely has a local implications and
that's where I think is where you know
what obligates US when people are com
and talk to us and saying how it's
impacting them within this community
then it's I think that that's what we're
obligated to um respond um and
understanding that our response might
not be adequate to what some people
would like and and and and that's okay I
think that we just you know I don't see
this
as uh only of Interest ational matter is
kind of the point I'm saying primarily
International matter but definitely has
some pretty um serious implications with
us um
locally so uh if there's no more
questions or comments around this issue
I'll leave everyone with this uh and I'd
like to
uh accept the motion to close government
operations second we're close all in
favor close thank you I'd like to call
again development and planning we have
eight items on the agenda the first item
is M Harver uh call for public hearing
for the histor commission changes good
evening on March 28th the proposed extor
commission City cold changes we
presented to city council and we asked
for zoning coordination referal to be
sent to the county which it did get sent
we received a response with no comments
but the recommendation to their
Department local so today I am here
asking city council to call for a public
hearing regarding those changes and if
needed submit those changes to the
commission so there's no
questions question I thought you were
asking a question I thought you were
asking a question as well you have me
there so you're moving it yeah second
all those in favor I think
for all right um excuse me the the next
item on the agenda is the extension of
building moratorium on the submission
and processing of building permits
certificates of occupancy certificant of
use and land use approvals for smoke
shops vape shops and toac tobacco or
vape consumption businesses M
barash Madam president I'll take that
one that's okay um this is uh last
council meeting you uh transmitted the
proposed ordinance up to the county we
haven't gotten response back so during
the pendency of that waiting that
response uh this is an extension of the
moratorium that ends on June 10th um and
that the public hearing is on Monday but
also you can it ends on that day so you
can pass this ordinance after the public
hearing to extend it out the September
10th or just such earlier time that you
take final action on the proposed
ordinance so with that how are we doing
I know that the reason we were having
this more time because we were working
on this zoning where are we with that
well the Zone that's the zoning
ordinance right that's gone that's gone
up to County planning for the input just
like the historic district commission so
once we get that back from County
Planning then you'll have the the
final uh uh ordinance draft for your
review and approval so you're waiting
for back to K yeah we're waiting for the
county to transmit that back just like
they they reviewed the uh historic
district ordinance so uh once we get
that then uh
you'll be able to take final action on
it but during that pendency we're just
pushing that out a little bit as we
await the but we don't ant we don't
anticipate them being out till September
no they have by by the code they they
have to do it within 30 days okay okay
thank you and when did we send it I'm
sorry it went out last week okay so I
anticipate in the next few weeks we'll
be get a report back okay yes Mr M so we
have to have two resolutions
is that no just it's just it's just an
ordinance you you have the public
hearings on Monday and this is the
ordinance amending the original
ordinance that that expires on the SE on
Monday and this is just pushing that uh
moratorium period out another 90 days to
September 10th but it's anticipated
you'll get that before that time but the
ordinance final
action just the one that answer your
question Mr all
right motion so Mo second all in favor I
thank you thank you uh the next item is
um ceremonial resolution recognizing
juneth 2024 we do this every year so
just asking for the council to consider
passing a resolution um recognizing Jun
so second all those in
favor item number four revisiting a
discussion about reducing speed to 25
mph and other traffic safety measures
Miss Patrick yes um I first want to
clarify that I wasn't um thinking that
we would be 25 miles hour across the
whole city but rather that um certain
neighborhoods would so we basically I
just wanted to initiate the discussion
again because residents have come to us
again continue to come to us about the
issue of the issues related to speeding
and other traffic uh violations in the
city so um
you know I wanted to bring it back I
thought that we probably would need to
have um other staff come in um and talk
about this but just wanted to put it out
on the table and see if folks were
interested in revisiting
this well the last time that we did um
discuss this Mr Wallen was here and he
did say we had to have a traffic
engineer who was also here but if I
remember correctly and in addition to
that um we would if we were going to do
we have to figure out where we could do
it versus where we couldn't because
places we wouldn't be able to do it uh
at this point in
time I don't know if Mr wall has put
anything forward or we even asked him to
put anything forward where we couldn't I'm not sure if it's
Mr Wallen or um uh M
Mr no but he's working with Mr wall
right Brian can Brian Canon Mr Canon Mr
Canon I've not met him what I've not met
him no I haven't either but um I'm happy
to reach out to them or would that be
appropriate for your office to reach out
to them to try to present something
there to us we have to ask what you want
presented right I guess I'd like to have
you know um their recommendations on uh
whether reducing the speed limit to 25 M
an hour in certain areas of the city
would help to alleviate some of the
issues that residents are coming forth
with concern about um so it would
probably be a traffic study um
yes Mr uh fary yeah yeah i' I'd also
like to know like where like kind of
like what are the parameters in which
those decisions are made for like where
we could decrease speed limit and where
we couldn't because I remember like one
point in the conversation I was thinking
we just need to increase stop signs
right and then kind of and I don't know
if I'm wrong about this but I remember I
think it was Mr rer that was saying that
actually increasing stop signs at
certain places
won't decrease uh will actually can have
uh reverse effect and won't make things
safer kind of cuz there's some other
byproducts of that that I was unaware of
like so I was thinking like yeah I'd
like
to to to see like where we could do that
and where we couldn't and kind of what
the rationale was why and I guess my
question is does that require uh a a
complete traffic study or is that more
is there something Mr may I don't know
like if like is there something that
where we can get kind of more of a at a
glance or is there going to be a traffic
study conducted anyway so should we just
kind of wait for that I guess that's
what my question is well some it's a
policy decision of the council what the
speed limit
is some changes do require study to
validate or substantiate what action
you're taking again it depends on what
road and what the intent is and what the
council's looking to to
do Patrick and I just want to say that was where you're right that the
other traffic calming measures um an
expression that I learned when we you
know over the course of time of talking
about this would include you know
looking at stop signs looking at um you
know speed bumps looking at all those
other kinds of things that might help
but there's also because we also have
had the conversation around the other
side of this which is enforcement um so
in fact um we've even had you know our
police come and talk to us about that
because that has implications as well
all around Staffing around you know
around lots of stuff so I just wanted to
bring it back to the table because um
obviously we're hearing from residents
at least I have been hearing from
residents um continuously around issues
that they feel are happening in their
neighborhoods because of
speeding I'm sorry you were making a
point and just yeah I was I guess I was I was thinking about because I
know that we did you know that on Kings
Road and we got a lot of information and
data um that was based on Kings Road in
particular and based on that information
that we got from you know Kings Rose is
that something that where we can kind of
just repeat that in other area so my
question is there is there are we is
there going to be a larger traffic study
done is that in the works or is there
going to be um responsive to whatever
neighborhood are coming forth to say
like there's an issue yeah I don't think
that we have anything under way right
now okay cuz I cuz Okay so I guess that
really kind of goes to to the mayor is there um based on what all the input
and all the discussions we have is there
um a traffic study underway right now
well we're collecting a lot more data
than we've had and we're collecting more
than most municipalities have some of
the other Comming devices the speed
humps you know we've deployed those
looked at what the uh impact is we moved
from a couple locations
uh I have not seen any accident
information from that which is what
really drives a lot of
these events you know the speeding might
be above what the posted limit is if you
don't have any accidents you know you're
kind of flying with the angels we do
some of these things where you put up
stop signs you're going to probably
increase the rear end uh collisions
the fender benders so that it's is what
you articulate what Mr Wallen pointed
out there are consequences or
different scenarios that play out for
any of these changes that you make and
we've all talked about the overall thing
is uh just educating people to be
compliant with
what the regulations are when they
driving a car and if yeah you do that it
makes life a lot simpler
may put that on the world peace
resolution just file file the BNT law
too but yes if you want some of that
back we can maybe break it down into
components or not a lot of it you could
talk for 2 or 3 hours here covering the
whole city so it's break it down into
specific areas and points that we think
are more easily achievable to uh get
some of the goals that we want m so can
you just a couple minutes to hammer that
out Mr Williams did you have something
you want to say yes and I was going to
add to Mr mayor's point I think it's important that we uh be intentional
of what we're trying to achieve and case
point being driven by like either
accident prone areas or like new high
nuisance areas where again to this point
like if we're trying to implicate a
change like old add don't change that's
not broken so I know some people uh
don't put a lot of value in calling the
police department because it may be
responsive and and not preventative in
some instances which I would argue
against I think that provides us the
proper data and context to evaluate
doing these types of measures so again
it's the mayor's point of U
understanding that you taking it upon
yourself to speed throughout different
communities or to uh drive on the
roadway in a manner that's not uh
appropriate it comes at expense to
someone else uh so so again please be
considered of your surroundings um but
also again if you are identifying these
areas Within in your community please
call the police department for better or
worse that helps us as a council
identify the appropriate means to
respond and as a council we need to make
sure that we have that understanding in
mind if we gather this information and
do nothing with it it is intrinsically a
waste of time so as long as we're
motivated to act with this information I
think that is the most appropriate Way
Forward yes Mr M yeah thank you I think
when we discussed it the last time we we
did identify a couple areas especially
the school zone I think was was a focus
point in into the school zone to look at
how we 25 hours historically would
affect those well they they're 15 they
are and high traffic high traffic area
high accident area so um I think we ask
for report I'm mistaken so we just have
to follow back and see where those
reports
are yeah the school district I'm sorry
but um Miss pill let me just um I think
the school the school zones are already
set at 15 M hour M um but I think you
know in terms of other
high areas I think Mr Williams just said
you know where there there's more
accidents or more violations that that
is we can we can ask for that
specific you another comment no I I just
want to add I mean in terms of that we
can um look at we have I'm trying to
think back what we discussed and what we
asked for at that point in time and
we're supposed to um get some report in
terms of the speeding across the city
and high traffic area high accident area
and to bring that back but I think it
went D that one time so I think getting
those reports would help us to identify
the area that needed the attention and
uh to look at the speed limit at that
point in time Mr Mr Mayor the highest
incident area for both Auto pedestrian
in just Autos is Brandy Wine Avenue at
state
Albany Dwayne and when you get to
890 we have
spent a number of years lining up the
money rebuilding that uh realigning it
and there's still some constraints
because it's Mon and Old City you don't
get things necessarily quite the
dimensions you want and I think all the
traffic control devices now are
operational being sequenced and so that
scenario where hopefully we're going to
see we spent a lot of money millions of
dollars that we're going to see a drop
in the number of events there and some
of that will learn from that uh do these
things pay off in terms of uh
minimizing auto accidents and again it
had the highest incidence of Auto
pedestrian those are ones where you get
you know serious injuries a lot of the
uh auto accidents where you get two cars
bumping into each other yes it's not
good uh yes today's world it's not cheap
either but uh the injuries are minimal
so it'll uh be an area where we spend a
lot of time collected a lot of
information and are going to be able to
see you know hopefully these things are
working and making a difference Mr M
yeah just add to that so one of the take
away from the last discussion we had was
the enforcement and do we have the manp
power from the police department to do
this enforcement because it's one thing
that we reduce the speed limit to 25 if
we ever to do that but how are we going
to enforce it there's nobody here from
the police department yes it's not
necessarily my position but if they were
here they would say any more C
yes and that's what I'm trying to
because if we're going to do this then
we we need we're going to need to
enforce it but then how do we enforce it
and and just I just want to follow then
Mr Williams and Miss um Miss Patrick
that another area of the city that we're
hearing a lot of PL where at least I am
is down on um Area Boulevard people
coming out of the side streets and
trying pedestrians I'm talking about
here trying to make their way across and
things that have happened people have
gotten hit so um we we definitely need
to address this in some way I'm not sure
if 25 mph or more traffic calming
devices or more right but we definitely
need to to um bring this to a place
where we can Mak make it makes a
difference stor my comment was going to your point there are hidden corridors
around the the city where if we continue
to try to retroact respond to it I think
we're always going to be chasing traffic
and then also Chief Clifford did come
here and provide a presentation of you
put a device that identifies that you're
exceeding speeding or you put a patrol
officer in any one position in the city
and almost instantaneously all disc
connected he knows to just drive around
that police officer but to your point Mr
M the conversation around the school
zones was uh I think there's a home rule
or something that we could apply to to
receive to cameras in those areas and
myself and Mr palini was to requesting
to see if that can be extended to other
areas in our community where we can
utilize technology to kind of identify
excessive speeding and then also do like
automatic ticket
ticketing so just to um we already the
home rule we've sent it in we have our
bill numbers I'll be sending you
actually update on that where we are
with that so that's we did follow up on
it yeah and so just so you know didn't
just go the way
of uh you know black hole or something
so it's it's been followed up and and we
finally are there miss Patrick did you
have another comment well I just um I
think that you know basically I think we
probably would want to have a
presentation by uh whether it's Mr
Wallen uh Mr um I'm
sorry Canon uh and someone from the
police department maybe a joint you know
the three of them um I think that would
be a good thing I mean I'm sure I I
think another thing would be
if I mean I heard from somebody again
today that's in a different neighborhood
from other people that I've heard from
so I'm sure if we all if if you all are
getting uh similar kinds of things maybe
we could also you know maybe send you
know to to miss Miku you know here's
this neighborhood that neighborhood this
neighborhood in preparation for and then
get that passed on to the um to the
folks around a presentation or you know
little studies in certain neighborhoods
depending on who we're hearing from um I don't know just throw that out to you
all no I think that makes sense because
we're trying to do this by a silo kind
of uh approach is not working right and
so we need to know so they can take a
bit a look more a more overall look so I
think that's a good suggestion so with
that if anyone has anything you know
forwarded because I know that all of us
or each of you know individually or more
than one I don't know how they all send
their emails not sure how people decide
where to send their emails but um get um
emails and comments regarding traffic
safety issues and I usually forward mine
onto the mayor's office um but it's a
good idea if we're going to do this
report that people um forward them all
to miss Miku and she can then forward on
them on to um the whoever's going to do
the presentation I think it's a good
idea to have people from all all three
of the groups that you mentioned the
chief Mr Wallen and Mr Cannon um to come
and don't have us in terms of timing I
think we'd have to give them more than
two weeks yeah so um just I just don't
want to lose it again in terms of this
the third time that we've talked about
it um I think I put the dates in here
that we have addressed it before so
um um Mr yeah I guess um I think that we
should cuz we're collecting all this
data and I remember Mr fuchi kind of
came and gave us a presentation that was
really cool and I was like you know
really shocked at the level of like all
the information we could get so I would
just say that we should be looking at
the the information that we have
currently and see what is actionable I
think that's a pretty uh safe place as
our what what's actionable and not only
an enforcement because we keep talking
about awareness and education and I
think that that might be something that
is a is a a easier lift than necessarily
enforcement or maybe I should say a
different lift but it's just something
that's I say that we really is worth
exploring with the with the data and the
information that we have now and I think
that you know some of the qualitative
data of residents that are saying this
is impeding my quality of life or
something that where we can at least if
we can't you know
justify uh certain interventions without
a traffic study then what what is within
our real house where we can least
respond to your point so we're not
continuous so just I mean this is a
conversation I'm sure will go on and on
but at least as the conversation going
on we can be responsive based on the
data that we have I also think that um
this will be a good uh place to kind of
partner with the school district I I do
remember some time ago there's
conversations about like um um some of
the research that the schools district
has done on like walking school bus
models and walkability for students to
get to school and I think that those
could be um good data points to see like
how we can respond there and I know that
the mayor was you know really open to
supporting you know any way that we can
increase safety for our Walkers within
the school district so I think that we
should maybe include them in that
conversation I would definitely reach
out um to do that that's okay okay
are you just waving that's all you hand
go you
Mr okay been
involuntary any for the
discussion okay so we will um uh just to
uh wrap it up we'll send the information
any any group any one we heard from any
areas we'll forward it to miss Miku Miss
mik who can um bring forward it and
there we'd have to ask you um whether we
could get the police chief Mr Wallen and
Mr Canon to um put the information
together and provide a report to the
city council and and U so will a month
be done with you two cycles we bring it
back uh two cycles okay thank you thank
you um the next four
items the M Street needs to be executive
session yes the ordinance should be
public
the so item number five is the ordinance
abandoning a portion of a mist stre m
barash
um did you
want we uh now are we going to dig with
okay I'll take a
problem so uh there is a vacant lot on
Amelia Street Amelia Street is a paper
Street um there are two buyers
interested in purchasing portions of it
uh this has been discussed
previously uh we are now ready to move
forward from the Law Department we
needed
um uh legal descript
for each of the Lots in order to be able
to describe them in an ordinance and
thereafter in uh the respective Deeds so
you have
um in front of you you have the
nothing so we can discuss the prices in
executive will
so in terms of the abandonment piece of
it though I thought we were going to
because I see no
documentation that at all regarding the
abandonment piece leg description I see
nothing I see it was the uh we had a
public hearing I guess last year on the
abandonment of the paper Street which is
a paper Street you know that's listed on
the official map is connect that
indicating that at some point we ever
wanted to use use that that would be a
street so what happened was last year
people expressed interest in the
purchasing this paper Street you had a
public hearing because you have to have
a public hearing before abandoning a
paper street that the city is no longer
going to be using that property for
anything
so you've done that you've done that and
during the course of that time period
when you had that public hearing last
year regarding the concept of banding
this particular portion of the
street there would legal descriptions
have been made regarding the parcel
itself right now it was was just on a a
map so therefore they had to do legal
descriptions by meats and Bounds and the
four corners of these particular Lots so
there's two things that you all have to
do is one is one you have to abandon the
street in other words you're making the
declaration and that will be in the
ordinance language you're not using this
make reference to the public hearing
that you had last year you're not using
this for a public purposes you're
abandoning this street and that that
portion that the portion that you're
abandoning will be in the legal
description of the ordinance the second
thing you have to do is then the actual
sale the sale would be in executive
section because there's certain terms of
it but the public got had up public
hearing that you you're abandoning the
public Street and you're abandoning that
uh paper Street with the idea of selling
it as parcels and and that's why you're
the ordinance is is goes first and then
the sale has to go second because you
have to abandon it first and then put
and then it will be up for sale or up
for sale I understand that and I
appreciate all of the
however some of that really needs to be
in writing because we have nothing here
like what you just explained really so
that there's some documentation of what
what's going on and what the process is
what what the ordinance will do what the
prop I I understand but the proposed
ordance when you have it on Monday we'll
have the public hearing notice attached
to it etc etc so it will be a complete
package so the coun in the future though
here we at least the council needs to be
able to have
that Madam president reason that's
actually um I just realized that it's
not in here is because we are waiting
for confirmation as to which legal
description goes with which section
block and lot number um so the ordinance
you will have it on Monday this has been
a process to get done and um we are just
waiting on that information because we
need to know which of the legal
descriptions to drop into the ordinance
um so that because we're
not
abandoning all the Lots we're abandoning
do the St so once I get confirmation of
which uh legal description goes with
which SPL then I'll be able to drop it
into the ordinance and you will have it
by um Thursday or if we get back in time
uh which I assume that we will and then
you'll have it for Monday so when you're
really not ready then we don't have you
know cuz I think the last time we talked
we said that we would been have so it's
really not today ready for we don't have
all of that I don't have control over
what information comes into me I only
have control over what you know what I
can ask for so we are in the process of
getting the legal description for the
section block of lot mbers it's a
process we're almost there uh We've
explained what the ordinance will
contain and it will be available to you
as soon as it's ready Mr
Mayor uh again this was also the point
where contention of whether we give a
quick claim deed or to a warranty deed
the those certifications for Section
block and lot number assigned by the
county isn't that correct yes so waiting
for that and even though it says Mr
O'Brien has outlined it's to do the
ordinance first if you don't have the
agreed on price I would tell you not to
do the ordinance first because that's
our point of Leverage to actually sell
it yes so that means we don't I know
that so we won't be discussing those
properties when we go into executive
session should do discuss it whether or
not actually forward Monday night so got
coun
okay so you suggesting we don't do the
abandonment first is that what you
suggest might still do it tonight but I
would wait till you go to Executive
session well agree well I have to tell
you that I'm still you know in terms of
doing the abandonment I just would
really like to see more documentation I
understand that you don't have control
over it and so I'm not that's this is
not about blaming you but simply making
sure that the council has the
information before us so you know we've
talked about it a lot um and I just
don't want us to come have to come back
because we made a misstep because we
didn't have the information so that's
why I always just like try to make sure
it's all here before we make these
decisions as a
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council you'll have it assum as it's
ready all right so we may not do the
abandonment until so we may have to have
a meeting before that and if if we don't
have it tonight then we can just meet
before that and then or do it by
unanimous consent on Monday if we don't
have the information tonight in order to
do it you can do it on
Monday
okay then the next the rest of the
items uh items six seven and8 are all
property sales and for that we would
need to go into executive session so mov
second all in favor I for the executive
session members of the public will have
to leave
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