[music]
Heat. Heat. Heat.
» [music]
» Heat. Heat. N.
[music]
Heat. Heat.
[music]
Heat. Heat.
» [music]
>> Heat. Heat.
Hey, hey.
Heat. Heat.
Hey, hey, hey.
Heat.
Hey, heat.
Heat.
» [music]
» Heat. Heat.
[music]
» [music]
>> Hey, hey.
Heat. Heat.
[music]
Heat. Heat.
[music]
» [music]
» Everything. Heat. Heat. N. [music]
Heat. Heat.
[music]
Heat. Heat.
Wow. [music]
Wow.
» [music]
» Heat. Hey, Heat.
Heat.
» [music]
» Heat. [music]
Heat.
[music]
Heat.
[music]
» [music]
>> Heat.
Hey, Heat. [music]
Heat. Heat.
Hey, [music]
hey, hey.
hey.
[music]
Heat. Heat.
» [music]
» Hey,
[music]
hey, hey.
[music]
Heat.
[music]
Heat.
[music]
Heat. Heat.
» [music]
» Hey, [music]
» [music]
>> Heat. Heat.
I can do it.
I can't
Good evening. I'd like to call to order
this Skenctity City Caucus meeting for
Monday, May 11th.
We have 11 items for consideration. If
the clerk would please read item number
one. Item number one under final
consideration, an ordinance amending
section 9-6 of the Skenctity city code
to increase the membership of the
downtown special assessment district
board from 9 to 15 members and to amend
such membership qualifications.
>> Discussing committee without objection
on consent. Item number two.
>> Item number two for original
consideration. A resolution calling for
a public hearing on the proposed 2026
2027 annual action plan.
>> Discussing committee without objection
on consent. Item number three. Item
number three for original consideration,
a resolution calling for a public
hearing to amend certain sections of
chapter 161 of the Skenctity City Code,
garbage, rubbish, rubbish, and refues
regarding the requirements and standards
for the collection of solid waste and
recyclables and the setting of rates and
penalties.
>> Discussing committee without objection
on consent. Item number four.
>> Item number four for original
consideration. A resolution calling for
a public hearing to amend section 186-25
Central Park tennis court fee and
reservation system.
>> Discuss in committee without objection
on consent. Item number five.
>> Item number five for original
consideration. A resolution accepting
the 2026 2027 US Department of Housing
and Urban Development allocations.
>> Discussing committee without objection
non-consent. Item number six.
>> Item number six. under original
consideration a resolution authorizing
the mayor to enter into an agreement
with the USA for the installation and
operation of the smart access lock set
system in coordination with serve tennis
management program
>> discussing committee without objection
non-consent item number seven
>> item number seven for original
consideration a resolution com
confirming the reappoint of Harleen
Andrews and the primary as a primary
representative of the skenctity
municipal housing authority to the
civilian Police Review Board
>> discussing committee without objection
on consent. Item number eight.
>> Item number eight for original
consideration. A resolution confirming
the reappoint of Megan Hayes as the
primary representative of the League of
Women Voters of Skenctity County to the
Civilian Police Review Board.
>> Discussing committee without objection
on consent. Item number nine.
>> Item number nine for original
consideration. in a resolution
rescending resolution 2025 173 sale to
vacant lot 1856 Foster Avenue.
>> Discussing committee without objection
non-consent. Item number 10.
>> Item number 10 for original
consideration. Resolution recognizing
National Police Appreciation Week.
>> Discussing committee without objection
on consent. This item will be presented
May 12th.
Item number 11.
>> Item number 11 for original
consideration. and a resolution
recognizing National Teacher
Appreciation Week.
>> Discussing the committee without
objection on consent and this item will
be passed May 14th. I have no other
items to come before the city caucus.
I'd ask for a motion to adjurnn. Moved
by Mr. Chair, seconded by Mr. Ingert.
All those in favor?
>> I we are journ.
>> I'd like to call to order this Skenctity
City Council meeting for Monday, May
11th. Uh the invocation and a moment of
silence will be presented by Mr. Cheers.
If you would join me in a moment of
silence for the lives lost this past
week of youth members and elders.
Dear Lord, thank you for another week.
Thank you for the opportunity to
continue to grow our city and to bless
us in a way that we can be good members
for each other. Allow us to clear our
minds and to move forward collectively
in the right direction so that we can
continue to produce positive outcomes
for this city and continue to guide
those across the nation to do the right
things. We pray all these things in your
name. Amen.
>> Amen. And I ask for Elizabeth Wolf to
provide the pledge of allegiance.
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
role.
>> Mr. Chairs
>> present.
>> Mr. Sto Toro
>> present.
>> Mr. Enger.
>> Mr. Mutu
>> present.
>> Miss Patrick is absent. Miss Wiggins is
absent. Mr. Williams
>> present.
» I will ask for approval of the minutes
from Monday, April 27th. Moved by Mr.
Chairs, second by Mr. Ingert. All those
in favor? I.
If the deputy clerk can please read any
communications or petitions
» communications presented
>> corrected I'm I apologize if the city
clerk would please read any uh
communications and petitions.
>> Communications presented to the city
council for Monday May 11th 2026. Under
official there were none. Under General
from Carl Arbach, Sam Laria, Post 106 of
the Jewish War Veterans of the United
States, a thank you letter for the
donation to their post. And under
petitions, there were none.
>> I'd like to call on the council members
for their committee reports.
Hearing none, I'll move to privilege of
the floor concerning matters of
legislative agenda. We have four
individuals signed up to speak. I'd like
to remind them that you have three
minutes
to speak. First of which will be Anita
Russo.
» Good evening, Mr. Mayor and city council
members. I am Anita Russo, president of
the Skenctity Tennis Association. STA is
a nonprofit community tennis association
recognized by the United States Tennis
Association, USA Eastern Division for 66
season. STA has provided tennis
opportunities to players of all ages and
levels at Central Park. While we support
an electronic lock system to protect the
new facilities from v vandalism, we are
concerned about the proposed function
and implementation.
We believe the system may create
barriers to play, particularly the
requirement to manage online accounts
and passwords that may deter spontaneous
play and disadvantage those with limited
resources or technology challenges.
We hope to see a balance between
maintaining public lowcost access and
hosting tournaments that support our
local economy.
Before committing to the USDA's grant
proposal, it is essential that STA
understands exactly how the system will
function. While SDA supports the lock
system, we advise the council to be
vigilant regarding the agreement with
USA. Thank you,
» John Nudson.
Per a search per a search of AI clog in
New York state only New York City
charges for public tennis courts.
New York City charges $100 for adults,
$20 for seniors, $10 for youth per
season.
Generally across the USA there is no
charge for public course use unless one
wants to reserve a particular court at a
particular time for one only particular
use.
Although item six of this meeting is
supposed to be a discussion about the
installation of the smart access lock
system. The lock system locks are
already in the being installed. So it
becomes a question is are they open and
close the courts each day or is it to
charge $15 an hour to use the courts?
In 1984, my youth on now 84, I played
tennis Monday through Friday at 9:00 am
again with a different group at 5:00 PM
and once on Saturday and Sunday, 12
times a week, an average of two hours or
more
from June 1st through September 30th,
about 16 weeks, $15 an hour, that would
be $5,760
for the season
from 2010 to 2025. Before the cost is
connective to for Central Park courts
was close to zero. Jim Neil voluntarily
opened and closed the courts. Got
various people to contribute num money
for nets and rollers to remove water.
Discourage dog walkers from having the
dogs dirty up the courts.
Uh he
he's uh was fired from that job. Um,
when city hall took it over, they were
very upset or we were very upset because
they wanted to close the courts at 5:30
every night. Most people didn't get
there to play tennis until quarter after
5 or 5:30 and you used to play until
9:00. So, after a lot of arguing, they
set the time to 8:45.
The problem is is when you have people
that never play tennis making decisions
on how the tennis courts are run, you're
not going to get good decisions
generally. And I I just would like very
much to be able to have some of that
done. Um
the access lock system, USA clearly
states that they do not want it to be a
barrier to play or to exclude players.
If you put them in and charge a fee in
Senki, you're doing both because the
only times the courts are used where
there's any question is from five to
8:30 or nine o'clock at night when every
once in a while you get they get filled.
Uh there just a lot of questions that
are going to come up as the courts are
used. We may get tremendous number of
used groups coming in from other places.
the uh
um the question is is it used to be
understood and I'm not sure it's right
that they had they had first decision on
10 courts if they now have first choice
on all 18 courts it may be that on
Tuesday and Thursday night nobody else
plays there are other things that will
come in should connectity county city
residents get
>> excuse me I'll need you to summarize
>> treatment should double players get
access over single players. There are
just numerous little things that will
come up. Right now, we hardly, except
for that evening hours, we have the
courts are empty. If you put in $15 an
hour charge, how is someone supposed to
come in to learn how to play tennis? How
are you going to get people coming in
for random times during the day or city, you know, youth coming in to play
tennis? I don't think that's what you're
after. Maybe you are.
Thank you very much. Can I get someone
to
» Thank you,
Jonathan Sims.
» Good evening. Uh Jonathan Sims, I'm a
city resident. I play tennis. And uh I
can I could just echo John's sentiment,
sentiments that he shared. Uh, and then
just add a little bit to that. One, one
of the things I would really like for
you as mayor and council members to try
to do is to is to get grass this time
with this project instead of grass seed
and weeds. Uh, it's invariably we spray
the the grass seed right at the time
when the rain has stopped and then it
doesn't grow. Look at the grass around
the new uh swimming complex and it's
terrible. It's terrible. Any anywhere
we've done with the new bike trail going
up towards Central Park Middle School,
it's weeds all around where grass was
planted. It's if attention could be paid
to that wall, whoever negotiates the
contract, it would be great to ensure we
get grass. Secondarily about tennis in
particular, I live right near the park
and I have very much a similar
experience to John with the amount of
tennis that I play there. Uh he he
mentioned every point that I would make
and I would just add to that that it's really concerning to me to think
about walking over to the tennis courts
in the summer during the day when
virtually nobody's playing anyway and
having to pay $15 for an hour if I just
want to practice my serve by myself. If
I want to play with my grandkids and
help get them excited about tennis, you
know, yes, maybe I can afford it, but
$15 every time, it just doesn't make
sense for a city park that I'm already
paying for.
So, that's that's it. Thank you for
hearing me,
» Marian Porterfield.
Good evening, council president, council
members, mayor. Um, my name is Marian
Porterfield and I also am a tennis
player. Play with a lot of the folks
that you see here. And I do want to also
talk about the tennis court. Um, in
August 2025, the city council awarded a
bid of $3,69,000
to to build the tennis court in the city
of Skenctity. Um, USA is giving
approximately 1 million to that and 2.5
million was from ARPA funds, taxpayer
money. So,
I don't think it's fair that taxpayers
in the city of Skenctity residents
should have to pay those fees. The pool
was built. It cost about $10 million and
there's no cost for the pool to be um
for pe people to use the pool. So, that
is for me is it just really doesn't make
sense. It's a diff a smaller amount of
money, but yet and still people are
being asked. I know it was said that
it's to main do the maintenance of the
courts. However, my understanding of
this state-of-the-art court that's been
built, it will last 25 years with very
little maintenance. A lot of money was
spent on that. In addition to that, for
the USA, for the uh almost $1 million
that they have spent towards this, they
get to use the courts for 20 years with
no fee. So, that's about 500 about
$50,000 a year. And it's not fair to
residents that they have to pay for
maintenance, but an organization that's
coming in, I know they gave money
towards it, but so so did the taxpayers.
So the taxpayers should receive the same
level of consideration and not be
charged a fee um to to use the courts.
I've been to visit the courts, they are
absolutely beautiful. Can't wait to play
there. Um and the other part that was
said, if you you could play at other
courts, you could play at Michigan
Avenue or you could play at Jerry Bell
Park. And I've been to both parks.
Neither of them compared to what Central
Parks look looks like. Now, Michigan
Avenue has a lot of cracks. I know
they're fixing it, but there's no
comparison. And the message to me is
that uh if you are in a certain income
bracket and you simply can't afford it,
then you are relegated to pay play pay
on courts that are not quite as
wonderful as the new courts that are
built. So, I think all of that needs to
be taken into consideration when we talk
about um how much US is given as well as
how much the city has given towards this
project. And so residents should be able
to benefit from the amount of taxes that
they pay and to be able to use this very
nice public facility um that's being
built in Central Park. Thank you for
your time.
>> Thank you. [applause]
» I have no one else signed up to speak,
so I'll declare public comment on the
legislative agenda closed.
>> I will ask for approval of the
legislative agenda.
>> Moved by Mr. Min, seconded by Miss Toro.
All those in favor? Hi.
>> Hi.
>> So, we will now have privilege of the
floor concerning general city business.
I have six individuals signed up to
speak. I'd like to remind the public
that there will be three minutes.
First of which is John Cton or
Nutson, excuse me.
So from I don't know from 2010 to 2024
the coast it cost the city nothing for
the courts tenants the nets were paid
for the the um push uh things to get
water off the courts were paid for and
uh they were open and closed by an
individual.
If it makes a difference to the city, we
can get people to do that again. So your
court's costs go to zero. Those courts
are put in and designed to last 25 years
without anything done to them.
So your costs are not going to be
anything. And so how do you char how do
you justify charging $15 an hour for
people to come teach their children,
their grandchildren to play with other
people?
Um
again
you can the argument was we going to
keep track of people or we're going to
charge people because there's a usage.
The only time the courts are filled are
from 5 to 9 o'clock at night and
sometimes two or three weekends during
the summer when you have a perfect day
for playing tennis. You get the really
crowded courts. But other than that,
it's only those hours. And so you can't
charge. How's somebody going to come in
at 9:00, 10 o'clock in the morning when
nobody's there? And you're going to say,
"Oh, you can only get on the court if we
charge you $15 an hour."
Nobody does that. The only place that
they charge in the country is in cities
or or places where they're really low uh
few courts for all the people that want
to play and then they charge something
for the courts or if you want to make a
reservation to hold particular courts.
Um
I'm really after
I live near Central Park. It's amazing.
We have unbelievable baseball diamonds,
soccer fields, basketball courts, and
now tennis courts.
And as far as I know, the city does
nothing for bringing in really excellent
teachers so that our youth have an edge
and getting to be really good at these
sports, which they should be doing. And
I just hope that somehow you can get
work work with some foundations or
something so you bring in some really
good teachers so that our city has our
city youth has the ability to make take
advantage of all these wonderful
features that Central Park has.
» Thank you.
>> Rachel Ward.
» Hi. Good evening. I just wanted to take
a minute tonight to give thanks to the
city um employees and the city council
for all the beautiful beautiful um
efforts going on in Central Park. I know
that that's a little bit contrary to
stuff going on tonight, but I
[clears throat] I spend my weekend
basically over in Central Park and just
want to highlight the Rose Garden, the
new pool, music haven, um upgrades to
the playground, the new A diamond. I
learned today that we're actually
hosting the AAA baseball championship
playoffs with Russell Sage College.
These are all a real testament to the
people that have worked really hard to
make Central Park the crown jewel once
again. Um, and I just wanted to propose
another addition to the beautifification
efforts and that would be again
investigating the rehabilitation of the
Central Park flyer. I went on the ride a
lot as a child and I think that it
really would be a nice addition to the
park um and something to consider.
Obviously, you'd have to look into the
cost of that, but I do think it would be
a nice addition to everything else going
on there. Thank you.
Sean Ratigan.
» Yeah. Hey, good evening. Um, so I'd like
to once again ask the city uh to release
the city budget as a spreadsheet. Um, I
just requested this via email uh April
29th uh as of this year and
um I haven't really heard anything back
from the finance department. So I did
submit a foil request tonight. Um
Skynctity markets itself as a smart city
and from January 2020 to July 2021
monthly reports were released with
yearly reporting at the end of each
year.
Um, and so like what happened to that?
As a smart city, like we would think
that we would want to staff a position
to ensure that the city has prompt,
accurate, and public reporting. Um,
which you would think would be
important. Um, it's important to me as a
taxpayer because it's already an
enormous amount of work to analyze the
information, but then additionally
acquiring, formatting, cleaning the
data, it's that's a whole other job and
it's so much easier for the city to do
because you're the source of the data.
So having this information at hand is
important for public discourse and
understanding. currently is manifest in
the discussion around waste disposal. Uh
to understand all the facts and figures,
please just post all of the collected
data publicly. Waste is about 4.5% of
our budget and that's like not an
insignificant amount. It's, you know,
there's still bigger budget items, but
four four and a half% is not nothing.
Um, we should understand the problem at
hand and we should understand how our
taxes are paying to solve that problem.
So, publish the budget as a spreadsheet,
resume publishing data monthly, and just
make sure that the public's informed.
Thanks.
» Thank you.
>> Eric Johnson.
» Good evening. Eric Johnson, uh, city
resident, mayor, council president,
council members, city staff. Uh, I just
came to talk a little bit more about
garbage. I applaud the work that you all
are doing to get some organization
around what seems to me to be a little
bit of an outofcrol
uh, garbage operation and reeling in the
cost because it's untenable to maintain.
I understand that there was a 30%
increase in the collection of solid
waste and I see that as a tax increase
for our residents because there really
aren't other options.
Um, and also if I could ask a favor of
you, you have this term called uh
jackpots, but that doesn't mean anything
to a regular citizen. Uh, if it was able
to be quantified and measured, that
would be very helpful. uh it's just not
a useful terminology and certainly going
off of something that you can't measure
isn't um a good way to proceed with our
business.
Um and then to our I have a neighbor who
told me that there's no problem with the
trash and we should just keep doing the
same thing. But the reality is is that
we all I think that you all as council
members rec re uh recognize there's some
insolveny issues within the trash and
I'd hate to see for people going towards
private trash collection options when we
have the potential to be very efficient
here. Uh lastly uh on the issue of well
maybe two things. Uh it's very
concerning to me how hard the garbage
men and women work and throw their
bodies around and if there's anything
you can do to preserve their well-being.
Uh and so they're not becoming a
liability for their health and for the
uh insurance policies that you guys keep
the workman's comp. And then lastly uh
somewhat sadly I think just to report
that there's been some more dumping at
WY Street. So, uh, I know that you guys
are working forward to come up with a
solution for that. Um, but we just en
encourage the positive teamwork of city
council and staff to move forward with
this serious problem. Thank you.
» Thank you,
>> Elizabeth Walsh.
Greetings, Mayor McCarthy, esteemed city
council members, and everyone else. Uh,
I come with greetings and thanks in
celebration of being part of such a
leaderful community here in Skenctity. I
thank each of you on this side of the
rail for being willing to lead lives of
public service, to run for election, and
then maintain the work, do the work, and
keep going. want to acknowledge a couple
of folks running for offices behind me
too. Um, and thank for the staff to make
all of these visions reality along with
Central Park. Rachel Ward mentioned some
great things in Central Park, but I also
wanted to call out thanks for the
Skenctity Environmental Education Center
that the city's been investing in
that'll be an incredible resource there.
Um, wearing Skenctity Foundation hat. I
want to invite everyone um to join us on
Thursday at the Stockgate Inn from 5:30
to uh about 8 um to celebrate the 10
creative change makers circle. Uh it's
been a cohort that launched in November
and they're beautiful ideas that are
transforming into actionable plans and
we'll have presentations by uh 10 of
these creative change makers with nine
different projects that you can learn
about and see how you can help move
those possibilities forward. Uh but what
a gift it is to be part of a community
doing so much creative collaborative
work together. Um, also want to uh flag
an invitation. Uh, the Skinnctity
Foundation Create Community Studios is
partnering with Evolucid Creative uh to
host a couple of events leading up to
Declaration Day on July 4th to celebrate
the 250th anniversary of the signing of
the Declaration of Independence. Uh, but
there'll be fun events that are about uh
moving into the futures that we most
desire. And we'll also have a community
art project around Stones of Hope. Um,
but thank you everyone for showing up,
for participating in making the city a
great place to live. Thanks.
» Thank you,
Orlando Otis Hunley.
» Greetings. Uh, hello. My name is Orlando
Otis Hunley. Um recently this week I've
been uh visiting a lot of our small
businesses and interacting with them and
understanding a little bit of the recent
history uh where post the pandemic where
it was probably hard to get store. Am I
getting in there? I feel like I'm
getting in there. um when it was really
hard to store um a lot of the solutions
that were found were us spending money
on these plastic shields that really
didn't do much when in that moment we
could have built out a delivery system
and understanding so many live in
Skenctity right now around my age range
are doing driving as a job and with gas
prices as steep as they are printed in
the Daily Gazette the paper record
thanks to you all uh today we have to
understand that vocalizing these things
and uh we have to nip it in the butt the
fact that across this country California
tech companies are robbing the working
class. Um and there are many things that
we could do um just by working with
local software developers to open up
pathways for people to keep dollars
circulating locally. uh the fact that
around $3 million is leaving yearly in
fees Uber um for people to be driven
right up the street. Um this is one of
the most devastating things happening uh
to working people. People just want to
store reliably. Uh they just want to be
able to go out and enjoy the town and
not have a steep price attached to that.
Um,
» I feel really good about that. Thank
you.
>> 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.
Hearing none, Mr. Mayor.
Thank you, Mr. President. appreciate
everyone coming out and your thoughts
and uh ideas on the tennis uh courts and
just other facilities within the city.
Uh I would just remind people that uh
property owners and business owners,
everybody makes a difference and if you
can just clean up a little bit around
your own business, around your own home,
it has a dramatic impact on the overall
image of the city. So, everybody just
doing a little really has that big
impact and uh as we get into spring, the
flowers are blooming, the grass is
greener, and uh we're going to have a
bright and uh good summer for the whole
city. Thank you, Mr. President.
>> Thank you. Uh before I begin my
comments, uh based on the recommendation
from corporation council, just want to
outline that the Memorial Day resolution
has been tabled that will be presented
at a later date by Mr. Chairs. Uh just
for clarification moving forward, I'd
like to first wish uh all of our mothers
a belated Mother's Day. I hope everyone
had the opportunity to celebrate u those
pillars in our families throughout our
community. Uh truly there's a treasure
that needs to be constantly reminded of.
I also wanted to take an opportunity to
give early congratulations to Cocoa
House. They'll be celebrating their 30
years of light at an upcoming gala
that'll be hosted at uh uh the Glen
Peters Jewelers um May 13th. I'm beyond
excited uh for the reopening of Dailies
on the Yates. I don't know if you've had
an opportunity to uh visit that that
restaurant, but truly one of our
greatest treasures throughout the city
is just our small businesses and
restaurants. So, please uh make way
think that announcement is coming uh
midweek. Um also, I'd like to remind uh
as we are talking a lot about trash, um
Friday marks the second annual trash
parade. Uh so that does not mean you can
throw trash out into the streets. uh
sincerely it means and it's just a
reflection of just how much waste and
recycling efforts that need to be
improved moving forward. Uh so please if
you have your float ideas or your
costume ideas uh come prepared. There
were some really uh innovative um
costumes and that'll be taking place May
15th at 6:30 right at our downtown uh
Dr. Seuss Park. Um and then there were
some comments around the USA. Sincerely
thank you for providing that
perspective. You are correct in that I
am not a golfer but sincerely you bring
in your comments forward. I know I do
not speak only for myself but uh
transparency and making sure that we
have conclusion in our decision-m is
important to ensure that we are making
the right decision for your best
efforts. And then lastly wanted to
comment on making some of our documents
more public facing. Uh sincerely
transparency is the essence of what we
do and if you do not understand our
actions as city residents what are we
doing? So I know that there are some
barriers in place for good reason. Uh
but I think with the right conversation
we can see about returning to some of
those previous uh well-received efforts.
So without further ado, I would ask for
a motion to adjurnn. Moved by Mr. Miver,
seconded by Mr. Ingert. All those in
favor? I we are journed. Have a good
evening.
» [music]