Good evening. I'd like to call to order
this Schenectady City Caucus meeting for
Monday, April 13th, 2026.
There are 24 items for original
consideration. The clerk could please
read. Item number one.
for original
consideration, an ordinance adding the
definition of battery energy energy
storage systems to section 264-2 of the
Schenectady Zoning Code and amending
schedule B of chapter 264 of the Zoning
Code to allow battery energy storage
systems per specified standards.
Pass out of committee, non-consent. Item
number two. Item number two for original
consideration, a resolution declaring
the battery energy storage system as a
type two action and is not subject to
the Environmental State Quality Review
Act.
Pass out of committee, non-consent. Item
number three. Item number three for
original consideration, a resolution
calling for a public hearing to amend
section 9-6 of the Schenectady City Code
to increase the membership of the
Downtown Special Assessment District
Board from nine to 15 members and to
amend such membership qualifications.
Pass out of committee, non-consent. Item
number four. Item number four for
original consideration, a resolution
authorizing the mayor to enter into
intermunicipal cooperation agreement
with Schenectady County for the
distribution of funding awarded by the
New York State Division of Criminal
Justice Services to support local
enforcement agencies. Pass out of
committee, non-consent. Item number
five. Item number five for original
consideration, a resolution authorizing
the mayor to sign a proposal with the New York State
Empire State Development Connectivity
Mobile Service Incentive.
Pass out of committee, non-consent. Item
number six.
>> Item number six for original
consideration, a resolution authorizing
the mayor to sign a collective
bargaining agreement between the City of
Schenectady and Local 28 Schenectady
Paid Firefighters.
Pass out of committee, non-consent. Item
number seven. Item number seven for
original consideration, a resolution
authorizing the revised green fees and
rates at the Schenectady Municipal Golf
Course.
Pass out of committee, non-consent. Item
number eight. Item number eight for
original consideration, a resolution
amending resolution 2022-009
and 2022-224
to recapture American Funding
Rescue Plan Act funds from the
Duryee Foundation Self-Sufficiency
Project Transitional Housing Initiative.
Pass out of committee, non-consent. Item
number nine. Item number nine for
original consideration, a resolution
confirming the appointments to the CPRB.
This item is being removed and returned
back to committee for further
discussion. Item number 10. Item number
10 for original consideration, a
resolution reappointing Richard E.
Yeager to the Board of Assessment
Review. Discuss out of committee,
non-consent. Item number 11. Item number
11 for original consideration, a
resolution authorizing the mayor to
appoint two individuals to the Downtown
Schenectady Improvement Corporation.
Discuss out of committee, non-consent.
Item number 12. Item number 12 for
original consideration, a resolution
authorizing the sale of vacant lot on 22
McClellan Street for $11,300.
Discuss out of committee, non-consent.
Item number 13. Item number 13 for
original consideration, a resolution
authorizing the sale of vacant lot on
376 Hoosick Street for $2,000.
Discuss out of committee, non-consent.
Item number 14. Item number 14 for
original consideration, a resolution
rescinding resolution 2026-018.
Discuss out of committee, non-consent.
Item number 15. Item number 15 for
original consideration, a resolution
authorizing the sale of 814 Bedford Road
for $60,000.
Discuss out of committee, non-consent.
Item number 16. Item number 16 for
original consideration, a resolution
authorizing the sale of a vacant lot on
1080 Helderberg Avenue for $3,000.
Discuss out of committee, non-consent.
Item number 17. Item number 17 for
original consideration, a resolution
authorizing the redemption and
withdrawal of 1333 6th Avenue from
foreclosure. Discuss out of committee,
non-consent. Item number 18. Item number
18 for original consideration, a
resolution authorizing the settlement of
a claim by Long Pond Village Apartments
LLC.
Discuss out of committee, non-consent.
Item number 19. Item number 19 for
original consideration, a resolution
recognizing Friday, April 24th, 2026 as
Arbor Day in the City of Schenectady.
Discuss out of committee and
non-consent. This item will be presented
at a later date.
Item number 20. Item number 20th for
original consideration, a resolution
recognizing April 22nd, 2026 as Earth
Day in the City of Schenectady. Discuss
out of committee, non-consent. This item
also will be delivered at another date.
Item number 21. Item number 21 for
original consideration, a resolution
recognizing April 2026 as National
Poetry Month in the City of Schenectady.
Discuss out of committee, non-consent
and this item as well will be delivered
at a later date. Item number 22. Item
number 22 for original consideration, a
resolution honoring the Ladies Ancient
Order of Hibernians.
And this item as well will be delivered
at a later date. Discuss out of
committee, non-consent. Item number 23.
under contract and
supply, a resolution awarding the bid
and contract for the purchase of Globe
Firefighting Jackets and Pants.
Discuss out of committee, non-consent.
Item number 24. Item number 24 under
contract and supply, a resolution
awarding the bid and contract for the
signage and wayfinding rebid base bid
and alternate one to Grafton Data
Systems Incorporated in the total amount
of $218,482.50.
Discuss out of committee, non-consent.
There are no further items to come
before the City Caucus. May I have a
motion to adjourn? Moved by Mr. Toro,
seconded by Mr. Mutuviaran. All those in
favor? Aye. We are adjourned.
I'd like to call to order this
Schenectady City Council meeting for
Monday, April 13th, 2026. At this time,
I would like to ask
Council Member Chairs to deliver the
invocation followed by Councilman
Engert to provide the Pledge of
Allegiance.
Dear Lord, thank you for this day. Thank
you for the opportunity to continue to grow as a city
as we continue to work one another.
Thank you for the blessings that you
delivered to us, a safe weekend of
people volunteering allowing the
community to come together and to unite
themselves as one. We pray that you
continue to oversee us and guide us as
we know as the legislators in this city,
in the state, and all across the country
fight all sorts of impunities. We we ask
that you continue to guide us to do the
right things. In your name we pray.
Amen.
I pledge allegiance
to the flag
of the United States of America
and to the republic for which it stands,
one nation
under God,
indivisible, with liberty and justice
for all.
If the clerk could please complete the
roll.
Mr. Chairs. Present. Mr. Toro. Present.
Mr. Engert. Present. Mr. Mutuviaran.
Present. Ms. Patrick is absent. Ms.
Wiggins. Present. Mr. Williams. Present.
I will ask for approval of the minutes
for Monday, March 23rd, 2026. Moved by
Mr. Chairs, seconded by almost everyone.
Mr. Engert. All those in favor? Aye.
If the deputy clerk Excuse me. If the
clerk can please read any communications
and petitions, please.
Communications presented to the City
Council for Monday, April 13th, 2026.
Under official, there were none. Under
general general, from Eric Johnson, an
email requesting the reallocation of
uncommitted ARPA funds up to $950,000
to support the Electric City Community
Grocery Build Out project due to
increased construction costs and
outlining the project's anticipated
economic and community benefits
including job creation and improved
access to fresh food. From Maryann
Porterfield, an email clarifying
that a photo shared at a previous
council committee meeting depicted a
property clean out by a new owner, not
typical household garbage, and
expressing support for revising
revisiting policies on bulk waste
including requiring dumpsters for large
clean outs. Under petitions, there were
none.
Thank you. I'd like to call on any
council members to deliver any committee
reports.
Hearing none, uh we will now have
privilege of the floor concerning
matters of the legislative agenda.
Currently have no one signed up to
speak, so I declare public comment on
the legislative agenda closed.
At this time, I would ask for approval
of the legislative consent agenda.
So moved. Moved by Ruderman seconded by
Ms. Ms. Wiggins. All those in favor I.
We will now have privilege of the floor
concerning general city business.
We have seven individuals sign up to
speak. I'd like to remind the public
that you have three minutes to speak.
First of which will be Ms. Farmer.
Good evening. How's everyone?
I'm coming today and unfortunately the
mayor is not here but
>> [clears throat]
>> first of all I want to commend the ones
that took part in the cleaning of 890
this this past weekend.
It's a lot of garbage and things but
there's still a lot of
cleaning that needs to be done in the
city of Schenectady.
I had called Mike in October. I had
walked down to
down Lottridge Hill which is by that
goes runs into Nott Terrace Street.
And all down that area there's couches,
there's a toilet, there's garbage and
some of the people homeless people live
there's a vacant
building there that's decayed is falling
apart and I called OGS and told them
about it and the person that answered
the phone it was the guy I can't
remember his name but he asked me all
the information and he said that he
would have somebody go over there and
clean it up. To this day it has not been
cleaned up.
And it's just and you know I'm sure
there's rats and everything just
crawling all through there and then
there's another place over on Albany
Street. I think right the fence on the
other side is um parent parent um
Planned Parenthood and another business
but it's on the on the Albany side on
the opposite side of the fence. There's
garbage all on that area and then if you
go into Swan Street and you go at the
end of Swan Street going into the
cemetery and there's an entrance right
there that people walk in and out and
there's just garbage all this thrown
garbage all over there. And I really
think the mayor cuz I have not yet seen
him come through any of our
neighborhoods. I know not my
neighborhood at any time since he's been
reelected just to walk around and see
all the garbage and how his city looks.
He should be disgusted and disappointed
about how our our neighborhoods and
community is looking. We want people to
come here and live and and and raise
their children and the city is looking
is just nasty and dirty and we really
the city really needs to
start cleaning up and I know it's it's
some of the residents' fault but the
city has to take responsibility of all
the vacant areas because it's been there
and people walk past it and they ride
past it and I'm sure some of you
probably have rode past it and walked
past it and saw it but it needs to be
cleaned up. Thank you.
Mr. Vince Riggi.
Good evening Council President, Council
members.
First time I've been on this side of the
rail since 2011. It's been a while. So
I'll remember I had the three minutes
was programmed in my head. I'm here to
do a little trash talking tonight.
Uh three years ago I ran some numbers
and I'll give you all a copy of this of
costs and revenue out of the waste
department.
And the bottom line is in 2020 we had a
surplus of 1.8 million dollars.
In 2021 we had a surplus of 2.5 million
dollars.
In 2022 we had a surplus of 1.9 million
dollars. In 2023 now this was proposed
so this must have been for the 24 budget
it was 3 million dollars. So just the
three years not counting 2023 we had a
surplus of 6.3 million dollars.
My question is and you should be asking
this question where did that money go?
Obviously it didn't go for trash. It
must have been transferred to another
department. We can only guess what
happened to it and that's why this fund
should be a segregated fund like water
and sewer so that money cannot be used
for anything else. Right now we're
talking about different things for
jackpots this and that and the other
thing. That's all well and good but the
bottom line is about revenue. That's
what it's about. Pick up. We have to
pick up the trash. How many tons of
trash are generated? It has to be picked
up. We can't leave it in our house. We
can't do anything else with it and why
should the people like myself who's been
a good citizen and
following the rules if I have a party
then if I'm not in tier two or tier
three or tier four whatever it may be I
I'm going to have to go to another tier
in order to put out some extra garbage.
And then we have certain times of the
year like we had this past holiday
season where we had about 12 days with
no pick up. Two week that happened two
times. So we had extra garbage. These
are things that have to be thought
about. We shouldn't be reinventing the
wheel cuz when you do that we're going
to have a square wheel that's not going
to roll very well down the road and
that's where we're heading. I can see
what's happening. There's so much things
that have to be done or are are just not
being done and the bottom line though
and I'm going to give you all a copy of
this. Please look at these numbers.
I have it all the line items out of the
budgets. It's there so this isn't made
up or anything and I want you to please
look at these and we were generating
revenue out of the waste department.
That shouldn't be. It shouldn't be a
money making thing. That's for sure.
That's not what it's about and we should
be funding other departments with money
that should be used for trash. So now
we're talking about maybe a capital
expense to buy cans and cans last week
it was windy in Bellevue. I'm going to
tell you and I think one or two council
members they were on it. They were
blowing all over the road. Some people
they're working they can't bring them in
right away or some people don't bring
them in anyhow. They'll leave it out
there for two or three days. So these
are all things to consider. Don't
reinvent the wheel. I don't have any
access to my backyard in the winter time
so a can for me I have no way of getting
it out front again. I have a can on my
back porch. I take the bag out and I
bring it out front. That's what I do.
Wouldn't I'm sure I'm not the only one
like that. I'm 80 years old. You know I
can't keep doing this and I'm not going
to be dragging I can't make a path to my
backyard cuz I have no way to get back
there. I need you to summarize.
>> Okay. Well I'm going to hand you this
and please I did a lot of work on it.
Please look it over and see what you
think. Thank you.
for your time. Thank you.
Ms. Kelly Horton.
Good evening. Thank you for the
opportunity
to
come before you.
Um I am here. I was evicted from my home
this morning
at 8:15 they kicked my front door in.
>> [snorts]
>> The sheriff's department.
Um my dog is in the car right now.
>> [snorts]
>> And
it was
for unpaid taxes. I have the funds.
And I'd like the opportunity
for you to review
my situation.
And uh
She's been trying to pay them for the
last three to four weeks but they said
she had to come to the meeting
>> [snorts]
>> get put on I've been trying to pay them
since May of last year. I had 12,700
dollars in checks mailed back to me from
the tax department. Bank checks,
certified checks so I'd say this conversation isn't in
order. I want my home back. I I've owned
it for 29 years.
I understand that. If you wouldn't mind
waiting till the end of our meeting.
Yes. As I imagine other council members
would like to talk to you talk to you as
well.
Thank you.
Mr. Eric Johnson.
Uh good evening. My name is Eric
Johnson. I'm a resident of the city city
of Schenectady.
Mayor, honorable Council President and
Council esteemed Council members.
I'm pleased to be here today to talk
about
a few things. First just a order of
business if it's possible to put your
phone numbers on your web pages. I
wanted to invite every single one of you
to this cleanup and only a few of you
had your phone numbers listed on it.
And so you missed a great time on Wiley
Street this weekend where we had over 20
volunteers on Saturday and Sunday and we
uh committed around 320 volunteer hours
cleaning up the side of 890.
Uh it's the second year in a row that
we've done that and we had about 300
hours last year. So, that's about 620
hours of volunteer work
over the 2 years time. After that last
um cleanup in 2025, we came
and requested that the city, the
executive leadership, do something to
mitigate the illegal dumping that occurs
over the edge of Wiley Street, which
continues to occur.
There was nothing done about that.
And I would love to see something done
about that. I think our group I I'm with
uh organization called One Schenectady
and we're working on a a variety of
problems, a a group group of um
community members
uh and garbage is one of them. I think
that if uh there is desire to clean up
certain parts of the city, we're
certainly able to help facilitate
organize organizing and we've created a
good dialogue with the city for that
cleanup.
Uh but with regards to
um
the Wiley Street cleanup, uh obviously
there was nothing done. We uh talked to
neighbors and there's continued dumping
uh by people from outside of that
community. They take a brunt of the
uh
the burden of having a messy
neighborhood due to this illegal dumping
and it's often perceived that they're
the people doing it, but that
does not seem to be the case.
Um
I kind of So, there's 0.3 mi There's
basically uh five city-owned lots that
make up the continuity of that uh land
where people are doing the illegal
dumping and one private lot owned by a
gentleman named uh Lewis Welcome on
Eastern Avenue. And if we were to be
able to segment those three part three
segments of uh land that's mostly owned
by the city and provide
uh 0.3 mi of uh some sort of
impenetrable
thing, whether it's um
concrete barriers for road construction
or boulders or a fence. Um many of the
neighborhoods neighbors there have
security cameras. They're frightened to
go interact with these people that are
coming at night and I don't think we
should have uh
expect for them to put that burden on
themselves.
Uh so, I did put together a list of um
all the parcels that are um
that are involved and who owns them and
what the linear footage is for each one
of those three segments of barrier that
would be needed.
Uh and then did some costing just on
based on chain-link fence with gates.
And I know that money's tight for the
city, so maybe there's options that
would just prevent the
um
the narrow doers from doing the deeds
that they do. And I'll need you to
summarize. Thank you. That is all, but I
would like to invite each of you in this
room and on the council to a tour of the
Electric City Community Grocery tomorrow
at 5:30 at the back of the Wedgeway
building.
Uh and that is all. I'll just leave
Thanks very much. Have a good day.
Thank you.
Dean Marabito.
Good evening, uh council members.
Um my name's Dean Marabito. I live in
the city of Schenectady.
Uh during the last city council
committee meeting, Council President
Williams brought up the topic of
community composting.
Um
The Schenectady Community Compost
Project was launched in 2013.
And I feel it would be a great idea to
expand this project to include more
uh Schenectady residents.
Uh composting food scraps is not a new
idea.
Um
Humans have been composting food scraps
for over 12,000 years.
It's a fundamental human agricultural
practice.
Uh composting reduces landfill waste and
emissions.
Food scraps and yard waste make up over
30% of what of what is thrown away.
Food scraps in a landfill produce
methane gas due to decomposing
uh without oxygen.
Composting plays a critical role in
reducing this damage.
Uh these are just a few of the positives
of composting.
And although there may be challenges to
a community composting, uh the benefits
far outweigh the uh the challenges. So,
I urge the council to dig deeper into
this situation and uh maybe come up with
a plan for this. Thank you.
Mr. William Rivas.
Uh good evening, mayor and city council.
Uh my name is William Rivas and I'm here
tonight to talk about something that the
city has been trying to solve for a long
time.
Trust between community and police.
But I'm not here with an idea. I'm here
with a proven model built right here in
the city of Schenectady.
It started years ago, not with policy,
but with the people.
In 2016 through Save Our Streets, my
family and I, we launched Random Santa
Drop-Offs, bringing gifts, food, and
hope directly to families in our
neighborhoods and we made a decision
that changed everything.
We invited the police to be a part of
it. Not for a photo, but for proximity.
Because for many families, the only time
they saw police was when something went
wrong. But during those moments,
officers showed up differently.
And for some children, that was the
first time police came to their home and
no one went to jail. That matters.
From there, we didn't stop at moments,
we built a movement. In 2018, we rented
out Bowtie Cinemas for Black Panther and
asked the police department and the fire
department to come out and sit with us
and they did.
In 2022, we did it again with an even
larger crowd.
In 2019, we held court in the streets
when violence was at highest in the
city, we brought real voices together in
real spaces for very real conversations.
Not to argue, but to understand because
transformation only happens when people
are willing to see each other as humans.
No filters, no scripts because trust is
not built in comfort, it's built in
truth.
In 2020 during the pandemic when the
world was at its tipping point, we
focused on bringing people together. We
marched with protesters and Chief
Clifford, which by the way, may have
been one of the only police chief in the
nation to walk with members in the
protest and support our efforts.
We partnered with Dane Jennings and
Catapult Games, CCJ and local law
enforcement, Senator around police
de-escalation software and brought about
community conversations that lasted over
3 years.
Then I asked an even bigger question
during the reform and Chief Clifford and
Mayor McCarthy supported.
My question was, what if the community
didn't just talk about policing? What if
they helped shape it? So, the community
police new hire panel was created, the
first of its kind across the nation,
which brought about national press in
the interview with Soledad O'Brien and
was mentioned Governor Cuomo's state of
the state address. Also, we have an
academic report that was done after the
first 5 years by Finn Institute and we
have a Union College senior thesis
documenting this work and we're
currently listed on the New York State
Docs website.
So, while I'm credited with the idea and
implementation as its founder, it is
only because of the trust built by
everyone involved over the last 10 years
that this has been successful. Mayor
McCarthy, former Chief Clifford, current
Chief Whipple, the entire Schenectady
Police Department, City Council past and
present, Jamaal Muhammad, Maritsa
Martinez, Reverend William Hamilton, Ron
Gardner,
Kamau Kamali Brown, current City
Councilman Justin Chaires, and current
City Council President Carl Williams.
We have given the residents a real voice
in who gets hired to police their
neighborhoods. Not symbolic, but real.
That's not engagement, that's power
sharing. And we kept building. Through
events like the 518 Community Cup, we
created spaces where police and
community don't just meet in crisis.
They connect in community as families,
youth, officers together.
So, what we've built over time is not
just a series of events. It's a system,
a step-by-step model for building trust
from presence to conversation to courage
to shared power to unity. I'll need you
to summarize.
In respect to the trust built over time,
I believe it to be vital to have the
voices of the individuals involved
included in all conversations. Uh thank
you very much. I'm thankful for your
honoring in our work at this time.
Thank you.
And Ms. Maryann Porterfield.
Good evening. Thank you.
Uh good evening,
Council President, council members,
mayor. First of all, I'm going to take
this down. I would just want to thank
everybody that came out um for the
cleanup on Wiley's Hill Street over 890
uh this weekend. Thank you to One
Schenectady for organizing it and to
everybody that participated. It was
quite the feat. If you drove down Wiley
Street, the unbelievable amount of stuff
that came from people dumping. So, it's
This is the second year as was said by
Mr. um
by Eric Johnson, that this is the second
year it happens and so it continually
happens, but we shouldn't have to
continue to do that. So, what he has
presented and what I support and with
engaging the neighborhood as well, is
that we have a more permanent solution
to this problem. Last year, we asked for
um
a fence, but that didn't happen. This
year, I talked to neighbors, they're
asking for fencing. They're also asking
for um cameras to be put up so that this
doesn't continually happen cuz yes,
people will come and clean it up, but if
we didn't have to do that, that would
just be ideal and it just would make our
community much cleaner. If you drive
down 890 and you look,
you can see how bad it looks just
driving down 890, which is an entrance
into our city. Um one of the things we
talked about and I would certainly like
to see happen is that we could put some
barriers up until we come up with a
permanent solution because what if we
continue to do what we're doing what
without waiting doing a permanent
solution, then people will continue to
dump. So, I would definitely advocate
for that. Um so, you know, and thank you
again for for Councilman member um
Chairs and also Council President
Williams for not only being there and doing the work, but also for
listening to the other ideas of how we
can do things things to move forward.
I'd also like to uh just uh thank
Councilman Wiggins for convening the
Housing Stability Task Force meeting and
for bringing forth information about
what it's like for people who live in
our community and actually consider
hotels as their permanent housing. For
bringing forward information on how we
need to address this, how much money is
actually being paid towards this, which
really could be paid towards permanent
housing. So, thank you for bringing that
forward and for um convening the group
and for looking forward to some
solutions in this short time frame
that's now been given um since you are
the have been named chair. So, just
wanted to thank you for that and also
thank One Schenectady for already
gathering the statistics that this
committee needs in order to do it. So,
um the work is being done. Thank you all
for the work that you're doing and uh I
think that together we can just make
Schenectady the place we all um want to
be here and live in. Thank you.
I have no one else signed up to speak,
so I'll declare public comment on
general city business closed.
At this time, I'll entertain any
miscellaneous business from the council.
Mr. Inger?
Thank you, Mr. President. Uh I just want
to thank everybody for coming out to
speak tonight.
Um I just want to highlight a couple of
the neighborhood cleanups that are going
to be happening across the month of
April. So, BCNI is doing theirs
April 18th from 10:00 to 1:00 at Jerry
Burrell Park.
Schenectady and the Environmental
Clearinghouse will be doing theirs April
18th at 9:00 a.m.
The Stockade Neighborhood Association
will be meeting at Arthur's Market April
18th at 10:00 a.m.
Uh BANA will be doing theirs Saturday,
April 25th.
And they're meeting at the Calvary
Orthodox Church. Uh the Goose Hill
Neighborhood Association is doing theirs
April 25th from 8:00 a.m. to 2:00 and
they're meeting at Steinmetz Park.
Engine Hill, they're meeting at Main Ave
and Chrysler Ave parking lot
April 25th, 8:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m.
And the Upper Union Street Neighborhood
Association is meeting at Bruegger's
Bagel Shop on April 25th from 9:30 to
12:00.
And then to wrap it up, Mohawk Hudson
Earth Fest is happening in Central Park
from noon to 4:00. So, I invite
everybody to get out there and to help
clean up their neighborhoods. Thank you
again, Mr. President.
Thank you.
Mr. Mayor?
Oh, I'm sorry. Mr. Williams.
Good evening, everyone. Thanks for
coming out today.
Um I just want to say um
our first
Housing Stability Task Force meeting
went very well.
The discussions was highly informative
and I appreciate the knowledge and the
expertise everyone brought to the table.
This meeting confirmed that we have the
right people in the room to make a
meaningful impact for our community.
As moving forward, let me be clear about
what will what will and will not happen
at meetings I chair.
We are here
to do a serious work
and that requires discipline, respect,
and and professionalism for every single
participant. Side conversations,
pre-meetings, chatters, and any behavior
that distracts from the purpose of the
task force are not appropriate and will
not be accepted. I will not tolerate
indirect actions, gestures, signaling,
or anything meant to discourage others
from contributing.
That is unacceptable.
When we enter the space, we are to come
prepared as I was, to stay focused, and
we conduct ourselves with integrity.
This task force exists to serve the
community and I will protect the
standards required to do that.
Professionalism is an expectation and I
it will be held.
Thank you.
Mr. Mayor?
Thank you, Mr. President. Apologize for
being a few minutes late. Uh want to
thank everyone who uh came out on
Saturday also to do the Wiley Street
cleanup.
Uh we opened the golf course as Mr.
Inger has outlined, there's a whole
series of uh neighborhood cleanups that
are going to be happening
over the next couple of weeks.
Uh they're great efforts, but I would
also ask people to just consider your
own front yard, your own business. If
everybody does a little bit, it makes a
big difference across the city. And
where we're seeing the warm weather
today, it's uh at a little bit in the
low 70s. I think it's going to get in
the 80s next couple days.
Uh
it's good time to be out, uh pick up a
little bit, and then make a difference
in your own property and the city as a
whole.
Thank you, Mr. President.
Thank you. I know I'm the only person
that's standing between you and that
nice weather outside, so I will be
brief. Um heard a number of comments. I
first would like to say thank you for
everyone taking the time out of your day
to either attend or to speak and share
your thoughts. Um with regards to this
trash throughout the city, I urge
everyone to use our SeeClickFix
platform. I know that that is often
criticized, but sincerely that allows us
to document. And if you are not getting
any responses back, I urge you I heard
uh the comment about ensuring our
contact information is updated on the
city website. We are your advocates and
if you are not seeing a response, please
reach out and use us as council members.
Um there was also comments regarding
trash and then our considerations or
recommendation regarding a tiered
system. I would have to disagree with
not overcomplicating it. I think with
the understanding that this is a
historical issue that we've dealt with
throughout the city of Schenectady and I
don't think it's at the expense of no
one's consideration to addressing it. I
think with this council, we have truly
made a number of headways and by our
upcoming committee meeting next week,
I'm confident that we will be well
positioned to make a recommendation. Um
with that,
I'd also like to urge uh Ms. Horton and
anyone else that has experienced uh
foreclosures on their properties to
please make a point to come and share
your opinion. Uh that is not uh to
parade you around the public. That is
just ensure that we have an accurate
reflection of your issues and concerns.
I'm sincerely please uh stay after till
the end of this meeting.
Um and
I would like to also say thank you. I
know uh Mr. Rivas came and spoke
tonight, but he is not the only
individual throughout our city that is
doing the work, making a difference. Uh
truly, I'd like to give my sincerest
appreciation. I think often times people
discredit the work of Schenectady just
based on how things look, but if we peel
that layer back a little deeper, there
is a lot of change that is happening um
and I hope that that will continue
forward in the future. Uh so, without
further ado, I ask for a motion to
adjourn. So Moved by Mr. Chair, seconded
by Ms. Williams. All those in favor? I, we are adjourned. Enjoy the rest of
your night.