[0:27] Hey, hey, hey.

[1:10] [music]

[1:21] hey, hey.

[1:22] Heat. Hey, Heat. [music]

[2:14] Heat. Heat. N.

[2:24] Heat. Heat.

[3:10] black.

[3:41] Heat. Heat.

[4:14] » [music]

[5:20] » Heat. Heat.

[6:25] Hey, hey.

[6:59] Heat.

[7:20] Heat.

[7:45] » [music]

[8:34] » Heat. Heat.

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[9:57] » [music]

[10:55] » Hey, hey.

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[11:58] » Heat. Heat. N.

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[12:22] Heat. Heat. N.

[12:46] Heat. Heat.

[13:42] N.

[13:52] Heat. Heat.

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[14:21] » [music]

[14:40] » Heat. Heat.

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[15:30] » Heat. Heat.

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[16:04] Hey, hey.

[16:23] » [music]

[16:36] » Heat. Hey, Heat.

[17:18] » [music]

[17:38] » Heat. Heat. N. [music]

[18:26] » [music]

[18:31] » Hey. Heat. Heat.

[20:23] Hey.

[20:36] Heat. Heat.

[20:50] [music]

[21:35] Hey,

[21:38] [music]

[21:51] hey, hey.

[22:45] » [clears throat]

[22:46] >> They're going to be made here.

[23:02] I'd like to call the order connecting

[23:03] city council committee meeting for

[23:04] Monday, December 15, 2025. And the first

[23:08] committee is public safety. Mr.

[23:10] Williams.

[23:11] >> Thank you. Uh we have one item on the

[23:13] agenda tonight. That is

[23:19] a reminder the redirection portion of

[23:21] Front Street to a one-way street from J

[23:23] Street to Mohawk Avenue and for Monroe

[23:25] Street to become a one-way street from

[23:27] Front Street to Gary Boulevard. The

[23:29] public hearing will be December 22nd. Um

[23:33] it's just a reminder to the public that

[23:34] this is going to be taking place. Um

[23:37] there are no other items to fall before

[23:38] public safety. May I have a motion to

[23:40] adjourn.

[23:42] So move.

[23:42] >> I will second. All those in favor?

[23:44] >> I I

[23:48] Okay. Um I will call to order government

[23:50] operations

[23:52] and the we have there's one item on the

[23:54] agenda, the alignment of weekly hour

[23:56] requirements for public safety managers

[23:58] include inclusion of public safety

[24:00] commissioner, Mr. Turo.

[24:02] >> Thank you. So uh I'd like to just bring

[24:04] this back briefly uh this evening before

[24:06] I defer to uh Miss Barash. Um I know

[24:09] that um the council wanted to speak to

[24:12] um Chief Burns regarding uh their 35h

[24:15] hour work. So if I could ask Chief Burns

[24:17] to come up and

[24:20] uh discuss that please.

[24:25] » Good evening, Madam President, council

[24:27] members, mayor. Uh so when I came to the

[24:30] office a couple years ago, I was told it

[24:32] was a 35 hour work week. We do not get

[24:34] paid for lunch. Um most of the times we

[24:37] really don't get lunch. we'll eat at our

[24:38] desk or whatever, answer emails. Uh I

[24:41] will say sometimes in the summertime we

[24:42] get to go out in that picnic table, but

[24:43] a lot of these lunches turn into

[24:44] business meetings, right? You're out

[24:46] there with the rest of the staff. You're

[24:47] discussing the day or or the plan or

[24:49] what's going on.

[24:55] » Chief, of the 19,000 calls that you

[24:58] handle, do any of those get in the way

[25:00] of your lunch?

[25:01] >> Oh, all the time. All the time. Y

[25:04] >> phone calls from the mayor gets in the

[25:05] way once in a while.

[25:07] Uh, any questions for Chief Burns?

[25:11] [clears throat]

[25:12] >> Uh, thank you, Chief.

[25:13] >> You're welcome.

[25:13] >> At this time, I'd like to defer Miss

[25:15] Mash.

[25:15] >> Thank you.

[25:17] >> Sure. So, um, it's my recommendation

[25:20] that this be tabled um until next cycle.

[25:24] Uh there are several other items that

[25:25] need to be dealt with in chapter 87 of

[25:28] the code and the law department would

[25:30] like to uh well needs to be able to

[25:34] review the entire chapter uh so that

[25:36] it's all done consistently uh and

[25:39] accurately with regard to whatever it is

[25:40] the council decides to change.

[25:43] >> Thank you.

[25:44] >> The entire chapter 87.

[25:46] >> We're going to be taking a look at the

[25:47] whole chapter.

[25:50] Okay.

[25:51] >> Thank you. So,

[25:54] >> is it that there'll be a recommendation

[25:56] on whether to adjust or not adjust or

[25:58] just a review?

[25:59] >> Uh, the law department won't make a

[26:00] recommendation on that. The law

[26:02] department will be reviewing that uh

[26:04] chapter uh for other things that have

[26:07] come up as well and so we might we would

[26:10] like to look at it as a whole and handle

[26:13] uh amendment of that chapter

[26:16] together

[26:18] all the items together.

[26:20] >> Okay. So anything else come before

[26:22] government operations

[26:24] >> Mr. Mair?

[26:24] >> So as you go into that um to look into

[26:27] chapter 87 can your recommendation also

[26:30] look at across the board on management

[26:33] all management.

[26:34] >> We are not going to make a

[26:35] recommendation on the hours. We will be

[26:37] we will take the council's

[26:39] recommendation and make the changes but

[26:42] we are not going to make a

[26:43] recommendation.

[26:45] We are going to be looking at it

[26:46] relating to some other issues that have

[26:48] come up, but it's beyond the scope of of

[26:51] our office to make a recommendation of

[26:53] how many hours a particular department

[26:55] should work.

[26:56] >> So, currently the council doesn't have a

[26:58] recommendation.

[26:59] >> It's up to the council. It's just not up

[27:01] to the law department.

[27:02] >> Okay.

[27:04] All right. Thank you.

[27:07] >> Are there any other questions or

[27:08] concerns?

[27:09] >> Is there anything else to come before

[27:11] government operations?

[27:12] >> Motion to adjourn.

[27:14] Second. All's in favor. I

[27:17] >> like to call to order city development

[27:18] and planning. We have eight items on the

[27:21] agenda. The first one, city of

[27:23] connecting Metroplex parking services

[27:25] agreement, transition to law school

[27:27] mobile payment technology. Mr. Wallen.

[27:38] Uh so several weeks ago um I presented

[27:41] up here with uh David Hogamp of the

[27:43] Metroplex Development Authority about

[27:45] Metroplex transition from the passport

[27:48] um to the Lazo platform after 5 years uh

[27:51] via the RFP. Um we did that presentation

[27:54] here. We met with LAGO. Um we've had

[27:57] some internal meetings. We discussed

[27:59] with the mayor and the enforcement

[28:00] provision and Metroplex and we would

[28:02] like to move forward also adopting the

[28:04] Lasco platform. Uh under the similar

[28:07] agreement with Metroplex that we've been

[28:08] working on that Metroplex would act as

[28:11] we would be under Metroplex essentially

[28:13] working uh they would handle most of the

[28:15] collection and then disperse to the

[28:17] city. Uh we would use that program uh

[28:19] starting on January 1st. Um, I have

[28:24] I'm sorry. I I have a sample of what

[28:28] we're looking at. We went through some

[28:29] iterations working, but the signs after

[28:32] January 1st that say passport would be

[28:34] replaced with this is a sample. The real

[28:36] sign would be bigger um with with this

[28:38] system. So, you would not need to

[28:40] download any kind of an app. What you

[28:43] would do is you would see this on a a

[28:44] post or a sign and you would scan that

[28:48] QR code there that is, you know, custom

[28:50] QR code with the city logo in it and

[28:52] that would immediately take you to the

[28:54] website where you would pay for your

[28:56] parking and you would just set it up.

[28:57] So, we've been working on um setting up

[28:59] the system. We simplified it with zones.

[29:02] So, we simplified the city into five

[29:04] zones. The reason for the zones is it

[29:06] helps us track where people are parking

[29:08] and where revenues are coming in. Um

[29:10] it's very easy to track Put this down

[29:12] for a second. Um where people are

[29:14] parking with kiosks because kiosks are

[29:16] individually accounted for. However, if

[29:19] we did not use a zone system of some

[29:21] kind and all we would get would be one

[29:23] revenue number for the entire city and

[29:25] we do like to know if people are parking

[29:27] around city hall, State Street, Lower

[29:30] State Street, uh or the Broadway area or

[29:32] upper union. So we've kind of broken

[29:33] them out into five zones. Um, so we

[29:36] would like the the council to authorize

[29:38] the mayor and the and the law department

[29:40] to enter an agreement with Metroplex for

[29:42] the LASCO um program.

[29:45] >> Are there any questions,

[29:48] Mr. Toro?

[29:48] >> Thank you. Yes. So, I've read through

[29:50] everything and and people can still pay

[29:52] by cash

[29:53] >> at the kiosk, but it's coin or credit.

[29:56] >> Coin credit.

[29:57] >> We do not take cash as that would

[29:59] require a separate reader and some other

[30:02] mechanicals that we don't like. We're

[30:03] trying to get away from cash.

[30:05] >> You mean coins as cash?

[30:07] >> Coins as cash.

[30:08] >> Yes. Yes. So, just for those listening

[30:11] that they're

[30:12] >> Yes. The kiosk people know a QR code a

[30:15] lot of people. So, at least they can go

[30:16] to the kiosk and take care of things

[30:18] there.

[30:19] >> And and I know in the budget was some

[30:21] new kiosk to replace some of ours. And

[30:24] we do we did work with um PD and we are

[30:28] looking at you know uh a little bit of

[30:30] an upgrade moving some around really

[30:31] trying to uh make some of them more

[30:33] efficient and put them in better

[30:34] locations um in coordination with this.

[30:37] >> So that would happen once uh once

[30:39] approved.

[30:40] >> Thank you.

[30:42] >> Any other questions?

[30:43] >> I'll move this item.

[30:44] >> I'll second. All those in favor?

[30:46] >> I thank you Mr. Wallen. Uh item number

[30:49] two, the city council to assume role of

[30:50] secret lead agency for the Drake a

[30:53] street connector.

[30:54] >> So um JC Street connector is a DRRi

[30:57] project as we've talked about before.

[30:59] >> Um due to the size and scope of the

[31:01] project, it required the city to do a

[31:03] full EAF and declare itself lead the

[31:05] agency. Um we did that several cycles

[31:08] ago. Uh after we declared that the city

[31:10] sent out um letters to all of the

[31:14] possible involved agencies, DOT, DEEC,

[31:16] Metroplex, County Planning, uh we got

[31:19] back responses from all of them

[31:21] regarding uh no exception to city

[31:23] assuming lead agency. So I'd like to ask

[31:25] that the council officially assume lead

[31:27] agency uh for this project so that we

[31:30] can move forward as this is a

[31:31] requirement that we have to have before

[31:33] we can bid it. Um we are looking to bid

[31:35] the project in mid January. Okay. Any

[31:39] other any questions?

[31:40] >> I'll move the item.

[31:42] >> I'll second. All those in favor? I

[31:44] >> I

[31:44] >> uh item number three, award the bidden

[31:46] contract for the Craig Mort

[31:49] replacement to American Evergreen

[31:51] Incorporated.

[31:53] >> So, uh as you're probably aware, Craig

[31:55] Street is getting a very large rehab

[31:57] come next year. Um that is the main

[32:00] project. That project, it will be going

[32:02] out to bid within the next most likely

[32:04] 10 days, if not 5 days. Um that is a $13

[32:07] million project, one of the largest in

[32:09] the city. Um it was agreed upon by the

[32:13] commissioner, city engineer, and the

[32:15] mayor that the idea was that we we

[32:17] videoed all the infrastructure below was

[32:20] in good shape. We made some repairs, but

[32:21] the water line cannot be videotaped. Uh

[32:24] water lines are essentially pressurized

[32:25] systems. So it was decided to replace um

[32:29] the existing distribution water line.

[32:31] And then we would also replace any

[32:33] foundled services which is part of the

[32:36] state's mandate that if we find any we

[32:38] will replace. So this is a uh pretty

[32:41] large project but it's a it's you know

[32:44] by value but also by scope. We're going

[32:46] to be going Craig Street essentially

[32:47] from Strong to Albany replacing the

[32:50] distribution uh yeah distribution main

[32:52] there. So

[32:53] >> yeah. So

[32:54] >> we when we just you know we did call

[32:56] references. This is a a group that uh is a large commercial group that we

[33:00] don't have any um hesitation about. We

[33:02] don't work a lot with them.

[33:04] >> Okay. So this wasn't initially a part of

[33:06] it but after you started doing looking

[33:08] at the project realized you should this

[33:10] is something

[33:10] >> this was not part of the federal federal

[33:12] won't pay for infrastructure like this

[33:14] but this was something that we decided

[33:16] uh that we should do. Um this is

[33:18] actually just to give you a little bit

[33:19] more information. This is actually the

[33:21] rebid. Ideally, we would have had this

[33:23] done a little earlier instead of doing

[33:24] the but um when we originally bid this,

[33:28] the top three biders all did not have

[33:30] the necessary paperwork in the correct

[33:32] order and it caused some confusion. And

[33:34] the best thing that we did is we all got

[33:36] together as a group and we said we

[33:37] should just rebid the project with a

[33:39] very strong focus on making sure

[33:40] everyone and it did work. All the three

[33:42] biders that did submit all did have uh

[33:45] coerent packages as compared to the last

[33:47] time. So that did work out. Um but we

[33:50] just lost time

[33:52] >> and and the um the cost of the project

[33:54] is accounted for.

[33:56] >> Yes, the cost of the project is going to

[33:57] be out of the water fund with some

[33:59] support from engineering codes that have

[34:01] been set up.

[34:02] >> Okay.

[34:04] Any other questions?

[34:06] >> I move this.

[34:07] >> I'll second. All in favor?

[34:08] >> I.

[34:09] >> Thank you, Mr. Roll.

[34:10] >> Thank you. Item number four is a

[34:12] reminder about amending uh ordinance

[34:15] 161, article 5, section 21 of the code

[34:18] ordinance to temporarily suspend payment

[34:21] uh for excess residential waste and

[34:22] bulky items. Public hearing will be on

[34:25] December 22nd.

[34:28] Item number five is a reminder uh

[34:30] reminder amending chapter 264 for the

[34:33] reszoning of certain parcels on Maxim

[34:34] Road. Uh the lots the lots are

[34:37] identified um in your on the agenda and

[34:42] they will go from um commercial to which

[34:45] is C3 to light industrial and the public

[34:48] hearing again will be on December 22nd.

[34:52] Item number six is a reminder adding the

[34:54] definition of better energy storage

[34:56] facilities to section 264-2 of this

[34:59] connecting city code to allow battery

[35:02] energy storage facilities in designated

[35:04] districts and the public hearing will be

[35:06] on December 22nd, 2025.

[35:10] Item number seven is the appointment of

[35:12] Dan Flynn to the Skenctity Industrial

[35:14] Development Agency. Mr. Williams.

[35:16] >> Yes, thank you. Uh excited to bring this

[35:18] individual forward. I think as we've

[35:20] heard of vacancies of this board for an

[35:22] extended period of time, I think

[35:24] identifying people who are interested in

[35:26] volunteering their time, but also

[35:27] volunteering the willingness to learn

[35:29] and be a part of these decisions

[35:31] throughout the city of Senate. Um, in

[35:33] the time that I've known Dan um just

[35:36] trying to be [clears throat] uh

[35:37] considerate, uh he has only showed me

[35:39] that he cares very much very deeply

[35:41] about the interest of the city and has

[35:43] pointed out himself uh to to do that

[35:45] work moving forward. He does it

[35:46] collaboratively, but excited to have

[35:49] this individual be considered. He's

[35:50] sitting directly behind me with the

[35:52] beautiful locks. Um, if you have any

[35:54] questions or concerns, please let me

[35:56] know.

[35:57] >> Are there any questions,

[35:59] >> Mr. Toro?

[36:00] >> They both have beautiful locks rather

[36:02] than [laughter]

[36:04] >> There you go. Thank you.

[36:06] >> Oh, no.

[36:07] >> Pardon me.

[36:08] >> This one.

[36:11] >> I'll move this.

[36:12] >> I'll second. All those in favor? Hi.

[36:14] >> Hi.

[36:15] >> Thank you.

[36:15] >> Item number eight, an ordinance amending

[36:17] chapter 183 of Skenki City Code, Miss

[36:19] Barrage.

[36:22] >> Chapter 183 of the Skenctity Code um

[36:25] relates to uh nuisance abatement.

[36:29] >> Exactly. Wait a minute. and the laws

[36:33] changed recently and we need to update

[36:37] the so it would be you have a sample

[36:41] ordinance in front of you sample

[36:43] amendment ordinance um if you look at 1B

[36:47] it's now labeled 1B or B1B uh article

[36:52] 221 is now article 222 of the penal law

[36:56] >> uh so we need to update that

[36:59] and then also So we look all the way at

[37:01] the bottom. We want to include uh we

[37:03] want to make it clear that any uh that

[37:07] under the point system uh any violation

[37:11] of New York state law or the city code

[37:13] is connected to the S3 points. So uh

[37:16] these are basically some housekeeping

[37:18] matters to update the code uh so that we

[37:22] can continue to do some statements

[37:24] without issue.

[37:26] So, we're call we are requesting that

[37:28] the council uh call a public hearing.

[37:33] » Are there any questions?

[37:37] So, this is just a call for a public

[37:38] hearing to amend.

[37:40] >> Yep.

[37:41] >> Okay.

[37:42] >> So,

[37:43] >> I'll second. All those in favor?

[37:45] >> I thank you.

[37:54] So, I'd like to call the order of the

[37:56] claims committee. We have one item on

[37:57] the agenda. We just have to close the

[37:58] point.

[37:59] >> Oh, I'm sorry. A motion to adjourn city

[38:01] development and planning. So,

[38:02] >> vote.

[38:02] >> Second. All those in favor?

[38:04] >> I. Thank you.

[38:05] >> So, I'd like to call to order the claims

[38:07] committee. We have one item on the

[38:08] agenda tonight. That is the discussion

[38:10] of all state uh ASOS versus that is an

[38:15] item that needs to be discussed in

[38:16] executive session. We have a motion.

[38:18] I'll second it. All those in favor? All

[38:20] right.

[38:21] >> All right. Members of the public will

[38:22] have to leave at this point.

[38:34] [music]

Schenectady City Council Committee Meeting, December 15, 2025

Transcript