[0:00] >> good morning, everyone. Good to see everyone this morning.
[0:04] we're going to get started with our work session going through our agenda for our 12 noon formal session.
[0:12] today's invocation will be led by legislator vinal. The pledge of allegiance will be led by legislator todaro.
[0:19] there are no tabled items from the previous meeting will be up for reconsideration.
[0:26] there are no items from the previous for reconsideration. The minutes from the previous meeting will be up for
[0:33] approval, and we have one public hearing, transfer, tax and road reserve fund,
[0:39] february 15, 2024 at 2:00 pm.
[0:44] miscellaneous resolutions on page 1 and page 2 has indicated there are no local laws at this time.
[0:53] committee report report number 3 from the public safety committee committee chair johnson.
[0:58] >> all set, madam chair. >> thank you. Report number 3 from the economic development committee committee chair johnson.
[1:03] >> we're going to be all set, but we're going to have an amendment to that economic debate.
[1:07] am I correct? We have an amendment to that. We'll do it. We're all set.
[1:12] >> thank you, sir. Legislative resolutions intro 4-1 from legislator meyers
[1:17] regarding calling on us congress and the city of new york to reimburse maryville school district.
[1:23] legislators, do you have any comments on the item? Well, this item will be up for approval today.
[1:28] continuing on with our agenda,
[1:33] intro 4-1 from legislators barnes and johnson
[1:37] regarding the audit corrective action plan requirement.
[1:44] are there any comments on this item? >> just so everybody knows this is calling on the controller to put
[1:52] together a plan for a corrective action plan for each department.
[1:57] this resolution here today is just instructing him to put some guidelines together and to then bring them back to us.
[2:07] we will have full discussion, a committee level, about it. We'll put it in committee.
[2:11] we'll discuss it amongst ourselves, we'll discuss it with the controller, but this is authorizing him to move forward
[2:18] and let's put some corrective action plans in place. I think we've all experienced what happens when an audit takes place in departments,
[2:29] and there's disagreements or there's nothing that happens after the audit,
[2:36] nothing takes place, no corrective measures are taking place.
[2:40] this will instruct that department on coming up with a plan
[2:44] on how to correct any mishandling of money or therefore,
[2:51] it's not today to discuss the body of it. We're going to ask the controller to do it and then we'll bring it back,
[2:58] put it in committee, and we'll have further discussion on it. This is something we wanted to adopt here today.
[3:03] >> thank you, legislator. >> legislator johnson. >> yeah. Madam chair, I concur with that.
[3:07] I come from a banking background and in banking departments had to create self-audits consistently.
[3:14] I mean, that's a way of checks and balances and that there's nothing in place,
[3:21] and the second part of this audit is unveiled some things
[3:26] that I think that it's just beyond our scope of imagination was happening,
[3:32] so I think corrective action and consistent corrective action is the way
[3:37] to go here because we have to find that what's happening. Because I know if we asked the question,
[3:43] the reference to be made, hey, we can't talk about that now because it's still an active investigation going on.
[3:49] but I think corrective action is a way to start that so we can get away from that type of commentary. Thank you.
[3:55] >> thank you. Continuing on with our agenda. Communications discharge committee communication 2e-1 from
[4:04] the economic development committee regarding from the county's resolution to
[4:12] authorize an entry into secondary extension contract with the western new york law center.
[4:17] paulette campbell's here to speak on this item in executive.
[4:30] mr. Clerk, are you going to speak on the item as well? Okay.
[4:36] >> sure. Just at the last meeting, there were some questions and there was a request
[4:43] for paulette to come in and her team and to put together a report,
[4:47] which we're handing out to the legislators. The good news is I think there's some really strong information in that report,
[4:56] and I think legislator todaro asked for a list of properties.
[5:03] not only did we give a list of the properties that were worked on by the western law center,
[5:07] we made sure that the property was attached to the legislator,
[5:11] so you know what properties were worked on on their behalf. Just briefly, and I'll leave it to them.
[5:18] they're a very humble group recently.
[5:24] this work has been looked on as a national model that we're doing here in erie county.
[5:30] and I'm very proud that not only you the legislature, but western law center has been a good team with that.
[5:37] paullete and your team, I'll let you give the report.
[5:42] thank you so much, chairwoman. >> thank you, mr. Clerk. Good morning, ladies. >> good morning.
[5:47] >> I will turn it over to gene who is in our department.
[5:52] we also have jordan [inaudible] who is the managing attorney of our housing unit.
[5:56] but gene has dealt directly with the properties for the past couple of years,
[6:01] so I will turn it over to gene a report. >> can everybody hear me okay?
[6:08] my name is gene blizzard. I'm the paralegal and community engagement specialist
[6:13] on the vacant abandoned property program at the western new york law center.
[6:17] in your packets, you will have received a written report of our services for 2023 two spreadsheets.
[6:24] one, that is a total spreadsheet of all of the properties that we worked on in 2023.
[6:29] then the second one is a breakdown by district of some of the zombie properties.
[6:37] the first section talks about the actual quantitative data of the report.
[6:43] we looked at research almost 500 vacant properties in
[6:47] 2023, 139 of those were brand new reports.
[6:52] we get a lot of repeat reports. A lot of people calling in regularly every
[6:57] 2-3 months about the same report in the same property in their community.
[7:02] those 500 properties create a ripple effect in the neighborhood.
[7:07] they don't just affect that one home, they affect the adjacent lot,
[7:12] the neighborhood, the community, the street as a whole, so it's not just 490 pinpoint issues.
[7:18] it creates a larger issue for the community in general.
[7:23] then that is the attachment 1, the full 490 properties.
[7:29] then of those 490, we split by district, the mortgage zombies.
[7:36] we make a distinction between a vacant abandoned property that has a mortgage versus one that doesn't have a mortgage.
[7:43] the reason that we chose to separate the mortgage properties for you by
[7:48] district is those are the properties we have the opportunity to make.
[7:52] we have the very clear legal avenues to seek compliance for properties that are dilapidated,
[7:59] falling apart under the zombie foreclosure law. Then you have the summary by district of those.
[8:07] we also redacted the house numbers just because when this information is shared publicly,
[8:12] we don't want increase of vandalism, people breaking in to steal copper,
[8:17] the neighbors being harassed about the property on the street. It's just a safety issue.
[8:23] but if you have questions about any specific properties in your district
[8:28] or anything that you think might not be on this list, you can absolutely reach out to me and my contact info is right in my report.
[8:37] there is a range of outcomes for these properties that we work on.
[8:42] ideally, all of them, at the end of the process, will be in compliance,
[8:46] fixed up, hopefully, sold in a new family living in them.
[8:50] but depending on the situation, sometimes they require external referrals to the department of health,
[8:57] code enforcement, local officials in the area.
[9:01] but ideally, we're looking for compliance and then that financial reinvestment in the community.
[9:11] speaking of financial reinvestment, we have estimated that almost $236,000 was reinvested into
[9:19] the community last year through banks making repairs on these vacant homes.
[9:25] that's a pretty conservative estimate in our opinion because we don't
[9:30] get to see the bills for the repairs that are done.
[9:34] if you think about how you can use kelly blue book to look up the value of your car,
[9:39] they also have a separate section that has a repairs estimate. We use their repair estimator to look,
[9:47] to generate an idea of what those repairs would have cost.
[9:52] but they are usually far below what banks actually spend to fix these properties up.
[10:01] due to the number of complaints that we get in during the year,
[10:07] we decided that we wanted to switch our approach a little bit and how we addressed the volume of complaints.
[10:16] we came up with a little bit of a rebrand. Quicker, cleaner, faster.
[10:21] quicker responses, cleaner neighborhoods, faster results.
[10:26] sometimes these properties take a lot of time to get fixed up.
[10:31] there's a lot of back and forth with the department of financial services
[10:36] with the actual bank servicers, code enforcement, and to really be able to focus our efforts,
[10:43] we created a top 10 list of properties to focus on.
[10:47] that doesn't mean that we're not still researching and looking into every single complaint that comes in.
[10:53] we just make sure that we're paying special attention to these properties because they are either low hanging fruit,
[11:00] so there's something we know we can easily get fixed up. Or they are a property that is very often complained about.
[11:09] sometimes we receive 5, 10, 15 complaints on the same property.
[11:15] we really want to be able to focus our efforts towards something that the community is really concerned about.
[11:21] you'll have that list of those properties with a brief online summary about the most recent work that's going on with them.
[11:31] there are court dates and interior inspections coming up for some of them.
[11:37] if one of those properties is in your district, you can definitely reach out to us.
[11:42] if you'd like to participate in either of those, we'd be happy to have you.
[11:54] I would like to highlight some of our wins,
[11:58] I guess, for this past year. There was a property on laird avenue that
[12:05] was beyond repair and it was becoming a severe fire and safety hazard,
[12:13] health risk to the community. The way that street is set up is the properties are so close together,
[12:23] barely a couple of feet in between them. If that house had gone up,
[12:27] the houses next to it would also have gone up as well.
[12:34] we were able to help facilitate the demolition of that,
[12:38] and the bank servicer on that property paid for that in full.
[12:47] we also have spent a lot of time trying to
[12:52] cultivate relationships with the electeds that we work with on a day-to-day basis.
[12:58] we have met with code enforcement from all municipalities.
[13:03] we did a bit of a tour last summer, where we went around to every municipality,
[13:09] meeting with the mayor, the supervisor, their code enforcement department.
[13:14] we've also met several times with some of the common council members,
[13:18] and we're looking to building new relationships with the new incoming members to see how we can better work together,
[13:25] now that they are in that position. We are always looking to work more closely with
[13:31] the electives because we can't do this work alone. We can't have eyes everywhere.
[13:36] it really requires us to work with electives,
[13:40] code enforcement, neighbors, and all of those resources working together.
[13:47] to be able to pool those resources, we hold task force meetings and a code enforcement roundtable.
[13:56] our code enforcement roundtable is an opportunity for code enforcement officers of
[14:01] all municipalities to come together and speak to each other, because they very rarely get to do that.
[14:06] they get to talk about the problems they're seeing in their municipality and see if other people are experiencing the same thing.
[14:15] if they are, what solutions are they trying to use to address those?
[14:20] we also take it as an opportunity to provide resources and training for them.
[14:26] at our most recent code enforcement roundtable, we had the erie county health department come in to talk about lead and lead abatement
[14:35] because obviously, we are all aware that asbestos is an issue. But lead is slowly becoming at
[14:41] the same level that asbestos is in properties in the county.
[14:45] we talked about getting lead certified to do those repairs, and the code enforcement officers really loved it.
[14:52] they even asked if the county would do a special training for them so that they could all get
[14:58] lead certified to do those repairs or at least be able to better identify what those repairs would entail.
[15:06] they have been very well received and the code enforcement officers
[15:11] love having that set aside time to be able to speak to one another,
[15:16] and then also pose questions to the law center about legal issues that they may not necessarily know the answers to.
[15:24] jordan actually gave a presentation on evictions for them,
[15:28] because a lot of their work is also people being evicted due to habitability issues,
[15:36] or they're raising habitability issues and they didn't necessarily know how to handle that situation because it's not a homeowner.
[15:43] jordan was able to provide some information and answer their questions on that.
[15:49] we don't always have those opportunities. Then our task force meetings,
[15:53] we invite all local elected officials, mayors, supervisors, code enforcement, all of our community departments,
[16:01] so belmont housing services, ppg to come together to talk about,
[16:08] again, issues that they're seeing in their communities.
[16:12] talking about how we can better come together to address them.
[16:17] code enforcement are welcome to come to those as well, but we'd like to have the separate time for them.
[16:24] also, our task force meetings, sometimes we have bank servicers that we work with.
[16:34] auckland financial corporation has been a long time partner with us.
[16:38] they are an out-of-town bank servicer that they actually fly in their representative,
[16:45] tamara gifford, from dc, to come to our meetings to meet with us.
[16:51] they meet with us once a month to go over the entire list of properties that they service in erie county,
[16:58] just so that we are aware of what properties should be on our radar,
[17:03] and also to keep them accountable for making sure that they're actually working on these properties and doing these repairs.
[17:11] in the past, m&t has also attended these task force meetings,
[17:17] and we're in the process of developing a better relationship with keybank as well,
[17:22] which is a good segue into our good neighbor project. Auckland was the first servicer that was asked to join the good neighbor project,
[17:31] which the whole idea is to be able to hold banks accountable in the way that we hold community members accountable.
[17:39] if you don't paint your house and you're the homeowner, you're going to get a code violation for it.
[17:44] if you are the bank servicer responsible for maintenance and you get a code violation for not painting your house,
[17:50] you're equally as responsible. Auckland has always been very proactive in reaching out to us,
[17:57] working with us, and we're not met with much resistance from them.
[18:01] when we tell them that there's an issue, they're like we'll get on it.
[18:06] I'll let you know what we can do or let's figure out a situation for that.
[18:10] we're hoping that more servicers will become as proactive as auckland is.
[18:17] I know sometimes that they see us as a scary entity of,
[18:23] well, you're just here to parade me and tell me what I'm doing wrong and expect me to spend money.
[18:28] but really our work is collaborative and if not everybody is participating,
[18:33] we're not going to get the best outcome. It's not about demonizing what you haven't done,
[18:40] it's about working together to make sure we're doing better for our communities.
[18:47] additionally, we made a return to what we call our foreclosure fridays,
[18:54] which every friday we would head out to a different zombie property that we have,
[19:00] whether it's on our top 10 list, which is what we've been focusing on, but in the past, we've done other properties outside of
[19:07] the list and that could be for a variety of reasons. Sometimes it's good news and we're going out there
[19:12] talking about how a servicer has already made repairs and has actually done the work that they said they were going to do.
[19:19] sometimes we are running a shame campaign about how we've been reaching out
[19:24] and asking them to do work and working with the department of financial services,
[19:29] and we've received no response or little work and we
[19:35] don't have an issue in pointing out the fact that you're either working with us or you're not working with us.
[19:42] because like we said, we want to hold you accountable in the same way we hold the community members accountable.
[19:51] then also, outside of all of the research that we do,
[19:56] the social media pushes and the task force meetings, we also try to be in the community as much as we can in an attempt to educate homeowners.
[20:06] because when it comes to foreclosure, a lot of properties become vacant because
[20:13] somebody gets a foreclosure notice and they think that they have to immediately leave. They don't know that they have rights.
[20:18] they don't know that they can stay in their property. We're trying to let people know that there are rights, you have options.
[20:25] you don't have to leave your home. We try to connect them with as many resources as possible.
[20:31] whether that's trying to figure out an estate matter or just navigating the foreclosure process with them,
[20:37] or helping negotiate a payment plan. If it's about a tax foreclosure,
[20:42] we want to be able to keep people in their homes and preserve homeownership and preserve neighborhoods whenever possible.
[20:54] >> sorry, I'll just say real quick. As you've heard, gene has a wealth of knowledge about the issues
[21:01] in the community with respect to vacant and abandoned properties, and without this funding.
[21:07] unfortunately, these services would not continue. That would mean the law center may not be able to continue doing
[21:15] the vacant and abandoned taskforce meetings that are held quarterly or the code enforcement trainings,
[21:21] and unfortunately, would not be able to partner with municipalities in the same way
[21:27] to hold servicers accountable for maintenance in the communities.
[21:33] we welcome any questions you do have about the services the law center has provided for the past several years.
[21:40] >> I'd also like to know before we get into questions, that the work that we do is entirely unique.
[21:47] nobody else is doing this work in new york state. We were actually invited to a conference in 2022 in chicago,
[21:56] the reclaiming vacant properties conference, and they had a panel on our work and what we were doing here in buffalo.
[22:06] it's a national conference and people are doing vacant work in other states.
[22:12] but we are the premier resource around the vacant abandoned properties in new york state.
[22:18] nobody else has a program like we do. What we're doing is very unique,
[22:24] but also is something that the community really needs, because if we don't do it,
[22:30] nobody else is doing it.
[22:34] >> on the question. Legislative, fine.
[22:39] >> thank you for coming. I was wondering that when we first talked about zombie houses,
[22:45] it was more about houses that were upside down on the mortgage, or the mortgage was so high more than the value of the property,
[22:51] and the same on the taxes, we did the super bids, it was because the taxes were higher than the value of the property.
[22:58] then over the course of the last 20-some years, things have changed and there's new issues that the issue of houses sell so fast,
[23:06] foreclosed properties sell so fast. There was a gap obviously during covid when there were
[23:13] no foreclosures going through and there were no text foreclosures of mortgage foreclosures going through.
[23:18] but other than that, things sell so fast and for so much and go to foreclosure.
[23:23] mortgage foreclosure sell way more than the mortgages or whatever. The traditional, what I thought of the zombie is a zombie house
[23:30] that can't be sold because the mortgage is more than the value of the house.
[23:34] I don't consider a zombie house something that's in the process of a normal foreclosure.
[23:40] whether it's an estate with no heirs or whatever, and the bank has to do a foreclosure.
[23:44] but as far as these houses that you're classifying is not say for example,
[23:49] it's hard for me to look because none of them have addresses. I understand your point about privacy,
[23:53] but on the other hand, if you're reporting to us, they should have addresses. Because how can we check to see the history of those properties in neighborhoods?
[24:01] because we might know those. But as with regard to the ones that are classified as zombies,
[24:07] does that mean that the mortgage is more than the value of the house,
[24:12] or just that the foreclosure is taken on because of covid closings?
[24:16] now, when you say the word zombie, what do you mean by zombie?
[24:20] >> under the zombie foreclosure law, a vacant and abandoned property,
[24:25] and there's criteria for determining whether a property is vacant, abandoned or not.
[24:30] because sometimes we get complains about a seasonal home that's not vacant and abandoned.
[24:34] is a vacant abandoned home with a delinquent mortgage. It can be anywhere in the foreclosure process.
[24:41] >> in other words, it doesn't mean that the foreclosure could be a lot less than the value of the property.
[24:45] it's just a zombie because it's in the foreclosure. To me, an abandoned house that's in the foreclosure isn't zombie.
[24:51] that zombie means something that they can't sell because there's some issue.
[24:57] >> the unsellable quality of it is that the property is in poor condition.
[25:01] we're not focusing just on houses that are in perfectly fine condition and could be sold easily in the foreclosure process.
[25:09] these are properties that require extensive repairs and sometimes even a demolition and a new build,
[25:15] which obviously the bank has to weigh the pros and cons of what is cheaper for them.
[25:21] but we care about the fact that the foreclosure process is long in new york state and properties will continue to get worse,
[25:28] especially through buffalo winters if they're not maintained.
[25:33] that is the zombie portion. The unsellable aspect is that these properties are so deteriorated,
[25:40] nobody would even be interested in purchase them regardless. >> what are the addresses on amherst just so that I can,
[25:49] because if you're saying that, I'm just just wondering as far as the zombie is like deadbeat dad.
[25:58] it's like one of those terms has a very negative thing. If you over use it, it has got a negative thing to a neighborhood.
[26:08] it's not like zombie is like walking dead,
[26:13] that meaning that it can't go. >> not. >> I'm saying that the zombie houses,
[26:18] if they're in a mortgage foreclosure house and the amount of the mortgage is less than the value of the house.
[26:24] are all these zombies ones where the mortgage is greater than the value of the house so that they can't be sold.
[26:30] >> I'm sorry to cut you off, gene, I think it really varies to be a zombie property.
[26:36] there just has to be a mortgage on the property, a 1-4 family household,
[26:42] and it is somewhere in the foreclosure process. It has to be a vacant and abandoned property,
[26:48] and usually the properties only come to our attention because a code enforcement officer or
[26:54] the community is reporting because the mortgage servicer is not doing the upkeep on the property.
[27:08] >> the one in garland, is that 95 maryland or is that the different address?
[27:14] I just looked up to see if there were foreclosures on garland and 95 came up.
[27:18] but it's sold almost immediately as soon as listed. Effect of contract was five days after it was listed?
[27:24] >> yes. >> is it 95 maryland? >> I don't know off the top of my head if it's 95 maryland I could provide you and
[27:30] every legislator for the specific addresses so that we can look into them together if you'd like.
[27:37] but not all of these properties are things that we're still working on.
[27:42] most of the zombies have been closed by the end of the year, whether that's because they sold or they were in compliance,
[27:49] a new family moved in. There's a couple of reasons why that would be closed.
[27:54] >> I really think that the western new york law center is awesome and great,
[27:59] and I really think that housing is a major issue. My point is that I think the reason I wasn't involved in decision to have this,
[28:06] but howard johnson and others, I think it's really good because we have to check to see.
[28:11] we're spending our money on things to see what is really the most neededd? Are zombie properties the most need right now,
[28:18] or affordable housing so people can get in faster and buy a house faster.
[28:22] I'm wondering, that's what I think the reason was, is to see if the zombie issue is an issue today.
[28:29] just like on the mortgage foreclosure, like I really think I'm the super vince because I don't think it's an issue today.
[28:34] it's an issue from 30 years ago, doesn't exist today, and I'd rather spend our money on things to help regular people get into houses.
[28:42] that's why I think it would be good to have the actual addresses just so we can just see.
[28:47] maybe more of a write up instead of talking generalities just to see on these properties,
[28:52] if it's just like a neighbor complained and then someone called and took out,
[28:56] you had the garbage taken out or whatever. But as far as like just looking,
[29:01] I look at the buffalo largournal every day. Every time it comes out of the foreclosures, they sell so fast.
[29:07] I'm just wondering if this is the issue that it was 20 years ago and I should not.
[29:13] we're going to move we have legislators who have questions. I suggest you and the legislator will set up some time to talk in depth
[29:20] about her theories and concerns about zombie properties are still thing or not.
[29:26] legislator johnson and legislator for showing. >> I just asked a couple of questions.
[29:33] I'm not a lawyer nor do I play one on tv, so zombie, when you say
[29:40] the term zombie and I see facing and abandoned and zombie, what is that?
[29:45] what is exactly the definition of the zombie crop?
[29:50] >> yes. Under the zombie foreclosure law, the legal definition of it is a vacant and abandoned home,
[29:57] which that has its own criteria of determining whether it's actually vacant and abandoned, and it has a delinquent mortgage.
[30:03] it could be at the initial filing stage all the way up to there might have been a judgment entered,
[30:10] so it could be anywhere in the foreclosure process.
[30:15] >> then the vna on here is vacant and abandoned, correct? >> yes. Vacant and abandoned.
[30:20] but there is not a mortgage on it. >> there is not a mortgage on it. What does other mean?
[30:26] >> other is a catch all term for sometimes we get properties reported to us that are not mortgage and the taxes are paid,
[30:34] so that's not really what we are looking into, and it's obviously impossible for people to know when they report properties to us,
[30:42] whether there's a mortgage, whether the taxes are paid. Which is part of the reason that's part of our job,
[30:47] is looking into it to see if there's actually any type of legal recourse that we can pursue.
[30:52] sometimes those are properties that we've marked in our system because they have sold,
[30:57] they're occupied now, they're no longer as bees. Sometimes they are in estate issue.
[31:03] in the past, we have helped people work through estate issues to help move the property.
[31:08] we've also helped a couple families get back into their homes even though it was in foreclosure and they thought they had to leave,
[31:15] and we were able to work out something with their servicer for them.
[31:19] unfortunately, other is a bit of a large catch all term for it doesn't just fit so cleanly into the zombie.
[31:27] >> I should note that the biggest issue why these homes are not selling is because if there's an estate issue,
[31:33] the homeowner is deceased, no one wants to claim the property, then that just delays the foreclosure process even longer.
[31:39] these homes aren't selling the source in the neighborhood, so it becomes a big issue.
[31:45] >> thank you for that. This list that you guys provided right here,
[31:51] these are the current making abandoned other zomic properties. This is the current list?
[31:57] >> which list? Attachment? >> the attachment. >> oh yes. The attachment 1,
[32:02] those 490 properties and then attachment 2, the ones by district, those are properties that we researched
[32:08] closed and there was some type of outcome in 2023.
[32:14] >> I can say here, these are the properties that we saved, so to speak.
[32:19] >> I don't assume saved would be the word, because there's a spectrum of what it looks like for compliance, unfortunately.
[32:30] >> again, how do you guys identify the zombie problems?
[32:35] is it a list that's generated, you go through foreclosure list from the city and the county,
[32:40] or are you guys go on actively searching for this problem? >> we don't have to actively search for them because so many people report them to us.
[32:49] we get complaints from neighbors, we get complaints on social media,
[32:54] mayors, supervisors, code enforcement officers. We very rarely ever have to seek them out.
[33:01] people bring them to us. Then we do the background research to figure out if it is mortgage,
[33:07] if it doesn't have a mortgage on it and it's delinquent, then we file a complaint with the department of financial services.
[33:14] they're kind of our go between the bank servicer, if there's no mortgage that looks a little bit different and requires outside referrals.
[33:22] because the zombie foreclosure law only covers mortgage 1-4 family homes.
[33:27] >> I have just two questions and they'll be quick questions. Once the property assigned say it goes to the court proceeding process,
[33:34] do you guys follow up after the court proceeding process, or once you guys get into the court proceeding process,
[33:39] will it just kind of go through the process there and you guys just move on?
[33:43] >> meaning if it's in housing court or the actual foreclosure process. >> well, in the same housing court,
[33:49] it has an issue with repairs.
[33:54] >> yeah, absolutely. As long as I'm able, I will go to the court dates if it's in buffalo city housing court,
[34:01] buffalo city code enforcement. They've been really great in all of the work.
[34:06] we worked very closely with them. They are always reaching out, asking to collaborate on things.
[34:12] and they're very communicative about things that are going on.
[34:17] and if we have bank contacts that we can share to try to get banks in housing court more often.
[34:22] that's really what code enforcement is moving towards. Because when they write violations and judgments
[34:27] for a deceased homeowner or an absent homeowner, they're never going to get that money.
[34:33] >> that answers my second question. I'm good, so thank you.
[34:37] >> we're researching the property and checking up on what's going on throughout the life of the foreclosure.
[34:44] but the goal is for the foreclosure to go through as soon as possible.
[34:49] >> thank you. Legislative by sean. Legislative by mizie.
[34:54] >> thank you. I have a hypothetical question I guess. If you had a situation where
[35:00] a municipality was dealing with the zombie house or squatter, and there was a lender involved.
[35:05] is there some date you can provide in that situation and say the house without a code,
[35:09] and they don't know who to site or how to deal with it? >> yeah, absolutely. That's actually something that happens quite
[35:15] often as people will report something as a vacant property,
[35:19] but really there is unwanted family member there or a squatter.
[35:24] we don't work on properties that are occupied, regardless of who they are occupied by.
[35:30] if there is a bank servicer involved, we can alert them to the fact that your property is supposed to be vacant,
[35:38] but there is somebody occupying it, and then the ball is in their court. But that's not our responsibility,
[35:44] nor do we have any legal avenues to remove someone from a property.
[35:50] >> I wasn't asking to remove, I just wondered if the property is a cold. For example, code violations to help
[35:56] address bills because the service provider doesn't necessarily own the property at that point.
[36:00] right. It's still the owner, maybe the foreclosure process for understanding.
[36:06] >> if the property is in foreclosure, if it is a mortgaged property and the bank is, you know,
[36:13] holding that delinquent mortgage, they are responsible for maintenance as long as the property is vacant.
[36:20] if there's a squatter in that property, there's not supposed to be.
[36:24] it's up to them to handle that situation as well as address the code of violations.
[36:30] if there's someone occupying the property and they are later removed,
[36:35] we'll be happy to assist if they want our help. But we don't really intervene in properties that are occupied in any way.
[36:44] >> you would be helpful at this stage of the process.
[36:48] perhaps in reaching out to the lender, and just letting you know the situation. Then if this person were removed,
[36:54] what type of right would you provide at that point? If it was vacated, you would help them to fix the house,
[37:00] to actually pay contractors to go there? >> we don't pay anyone to do anything.
[37:07] not a single cent comes out of our pocket for these things. If the property was later vacant,
[37:13] and we would probably file a complaint with the department of financial services,
[37:18] depending on who the lender is, we might be able to reach out to them directly because we have a relationship with
[37:23] them then it is their both legal and financial responsibility to fix the property.
[37:29] we don't pay for any of it. >> you have a way to hold the lender accountable?
[37:34] some property can just twist that a little bit? >> sure, I'm not an attorney,
[37:39] so this is going to be in late person speech. >> that much of money.
[37:44] >> essentially. Under the zombie foreclosure law, we can charge bank servicers $500 a day per day that the property is not in compliance,
[37:55] and up to $74,999.
[38:00] if we go over 75, it has to go into supreme court and that just costs more money.
[38:04] but they can get fined every day for how long
[38:09] the property is not in compliance then if it really does take that long,
[38:13] we could pursue a lawsuit on behalf of the municipality to not only get compliance,
[38:21] but also recoup those fines which come back to
[38:25] the municipality that we asked that they use specifically to fund housing and vacancy prevention.
[38:33] >> you've done at three of those lawsuits? >> our third one is pending. Yes.
[38:37] >> pending now. Thanks. >> yeah. I was just going to do a quick addendum.
[38:43] we can actually charge them 500 per day. Yes. The municipal attorneys or actually we can on behalf of the town, file a lawsuit.
[38:54] it normally does not need to get to that stage because we try to work with the servicer.
[39:00] if we can't just come to some resolution with them,
[39:05] then you pursue a department of financial service with complaint,
[39:09] and that will usually get them to comply. >> sorry, one more. How do I get somebody in touch with?
[39:17] you may face this issue in municipality? >> yeah. I mean, they can reach out to me directly.
[39:23] both my phone number and my email are in the cover letter and the report. They can reach out to me directly.
[39:30] or if you want to give me their information, I can reach out to them whatever is easier.
[39:35] but they can reach out to me directly. >> thank you.
[39:40] >> legislator by mizie. >> thank you. My angle is a little bit different.
[39:50] it seems to be everything you said is you're doing great work.
[39:55] but it seems like your goal and your authority is to maintain
[40:02] the property within the neighborhood so it becomes less of an eye sower until something is done.
[40:08] you seem like you've acted as a building inspector, as a communicator,
[40:13] as someone who can come in and get windows replaced or roots put
[40:19] on it or something that by making the mortgage move is that accurate?
[40:26] >> yeah. Our goal at the end of the day is, one get the property in compliance, preserve neighborhoods,
[40:32] preserve homeownership and that includes following through,
[40:37] making sure the foreclosure is complete, and at the end of the day, we would love to see a new family in that home.
[40:44] I don't want to see an out-of-town landlord or an out-of-town investor. I want to see a local family in that home.
[40:50] but I also want the property to be safe for them to live in before they purchase it.
[40:56] >> well, the biggest problem with housing in western new york,
[41:03] and I'm going to put it in a quotation "zombies", is because there's no movement on the.
[41:08] there is zero movement and it's usually by lenders. Lenders will not move because as we all know,
[41:14] the housing market in your county is through the roof, and any house that becomes available is always scooped up.
[41:21] we have an issue with banks or lenders that will not move on properties,
[41:26] and they have various reasons. They're upside down, the mortgage, it's not cost effective for them to move it,
[41:31] and then the county won't foreclose on them if there is a mortgage.
[41:36] that creates empty and abandoned homes. Your program really isn't to address the real problem,
[41:45] and that is the banks and then us, the county, and nobody will move on these homes.
[41:50] you're you're keeping the band aid on it and hoping you could work out some resolution.
[42:01] >> I'm not sure that I fully understand the question, but we are trying to get the banks to move more quickly on the foreclosures.
[42:10] the weight behind that is the zombie property law that was put into place a few years ago,
[42:19] that says that they can be held accountable up to $500 per day, that the property is not in compliance.
[42:25] >> the $500 usually tap on the price of the auction, kind of the big vicious cycle that you can't get yourself out.
[42:33] I understand what you're doing, and it's quality work.
[42:39] I agree with you on what you're doing. I just think that it needs to be understood that there is
[42:46] a bigger issue on how hard it is to move these properties that banks will not respond.
[42:51] I did this for years in my previous job, and banks will ignore you. You can push the problem because you can get to attorneys,
[42:58] but if they don't see any money at the end of it,
[43:03] they walk away, just like the homeowners walk away, and that lies the problem.
[43:09] when there is a mortgage on the property, it's forsaken if the banks won't move.
[43:17] it's probably out of your scope of work on actually trying to do that.
[43:23] I know you've made contacts and you get people to move. Some banks are cooperative on moving,
[43:29] but if there was a way, and I guess I'm not asking you to answer,
[43:34] but if there is a way that we ever really could do something to get banks to move quickly,
[43:41] and I've said this often with, once the taxes get upside down on properties,
[43:48] I've always kind of resorted to, that's what should be used for.
[43:54] the land bank should be used for, I'm going to say we use the word washing.
[43:58] washing of taxes. A tax bill or a mortgage bill. Then the property could go into the county auction.
[44:05] that would be the proper use, I shouldn't say proper, that would be the best use for a land bank.
[44:10] we shouldn't be rehabilitating houses, we shouldn't be rebuild.
[44:14] that's not what the county should be doing, but we should be making properties available to the general public,
[44:21] and we make them available by giving them on the auction board. I think the county has an obligation like I said,
[44:32] either to make properties whole so they are available. You can teach. I'm not sure everybody
[44:38] understands how hard unless they get a property to the auction because once it gets there,
[44:43] it will go no matter what treatments in it will go, and whether it's to a flipper,
[44:49] to an investor, or to an on the town person. We can't be so picky as to who purchases the property
[44:56] because more than likely they're in it for the money. If they're in for the money, they're in it to flip.
[45:00] they're in it to flip it, they're in it to improve. We want to encourage and we want to help people to repair these houses,
[45:09] to update these homes, and those are flippers, those are contractors. Those are guys that have the means to do it, they do it for a living.
[45:16] but by not making the housing stock available to them, it's helping no one.
[45:23] >> we have gotten a bank to
[45:29] walk away and to discharge their mortgage when they were not moving on a property,
[45:34] and then we were trying to get the county to bring it to tax foreclosure,
[45:41] and we know there's a delay in that process. >> yeah.
[45:45] >> we did have conversations with the land bank for this particular property I'm thinking of in the village of gowanda,
[45:53] to see if there was any way to escalate it, and it can be an issue.
[45:58] but we have worked on properties where there's I'll say special circumstances.
[46:06] >> right. It seems like county money would be wisely
[46:11] spent if we had made that available,
[46:16] I'm just saying land bank, it's not the land bank, that that would that would make the ease of to foreclosure and the auction path.
[46:26] there has to be a path to get there, and whether it's something, like I said,
[46:32] to release the taxes or the mortgage,
[46:37] or some means to an end. Otherwise there are properties that will never move.
[46:42] we could demolish them, in the town where I came from, we could start demolishing them,
[46:47] and they send empty lots, and the amount of money that is now on that lot will never be sold,
[46:54] until it gets washed. It just seems like there has to be some other way that we as legislators
[47:03] can create a fund for the good of the county to move properties that are stopped.
[47:11] I commend the work you're doing,
[47:16] but more needs to be done. Thank you for your time.
[47:20] >> any other questions from the members? Legislator todaro? >> I just want to make a statement.
[47:26] in the past, I've sat in three meetings. The village of the pew, village of lancaster,
[47:32] and the town of lancaster, on zombie properties.
[47:36] in the meeting with the zombie coalition, and I heard nothing but raving from the local officials,
[47:46] and the building inspectors because they have a voice now, a tool that anyone with a vested interest on the property is responsible,
[47:56] and they're getting the banks off their hands, let's say to expedite that property to get from a blighted situation,
[48:04] to at least putting a roof on it, or eradicating the rats in the neighborhood,
[48:09] getting the grass cut, making it safer. I applaud what they're doing,
[48:14] and I've witnessed it, and I've had no negative feedback from the coalition.
[48:21] I want to make that known because there's some concerns here, they're valid.
[48:27] but I've actually sat in those meetings and I've seen the outcome, and I want to congratulate you.
[48:32] thank you for doing the work. Thank you. >> thank you, legislator todaro. Legislator greene.
[48:37] >> thank you. Listening to legislator bargnesi,
[48:41] listening to legislator todaro, what they've experienced, the private sector.
[48:48] it seems like we have a problem that we've all been trying to address with the housing crisis.
[48:53] what do you think we could do as legislature, again, just not that your legal experts,
[48:58] but just your opinion to maybe move these processes along faster.
[49:03] to get these properties into the private sector, have people investing in them,
[49:09] and get them back onto the market. Is there anything we can do from your perspective?
[49:13] >> I will say when it comes to mortgage backing the abandoned properties,
[49:18] there is an expedited foreclosure process that exists to get it to a foreclosure sale faster.
[49:25] the banks don't use it, and I do not know why. It would be in their best interest to sell these properties quickly so that they can
[49:34] make more money as opposed to it becoming more underwater, requiring more repairs.
[49:41] if we could somehow collaborate at a solution to using that,
[49:47] it would be amazing, because the regular foreclosure process in new york state is long, and that's meant to protect homeowners.
[49:53] but seeing as the properties are not owner occupied, the homeowner is not living there,
[49:58] that doesn't really apply. When it comes to the properties that are tax delinquent,
[50:03] that have no mortgages, those are the biggest issues. Those are the properties we receive the most complaints about,
[50:10] and they are the most difficult for us to deal with, because I can't force it to be on the county auction list,
[50:18] I can't force somebody to buy it. There's less that I personally and the law center can do to push it to that point,
[50:27] and a lot of the properties that are tax delinquent that we've seen, sometimes are one $200,000 underwater,
[50:35] and most of that is interest. People can't crawl their way out of an 18% back tax rate,
[50:42] even if they wanted to, if they owed over $200,000 in taxes,
[50:47] and sometimes that's because the owner is deceased. The estate problem is a whole separate issue,
[50:53] but something really needs to be done about the tax delinquent properties,
[50:59] because those are the hardest for us to work on. Our work is not preventing these properties from going to sale.
[51:07] that's what we want. We want people to live in them, we want them to be occupied. But in the meantime,
[51:12] if we can be making them safer, and fixing them up for the community,
[51:17] that's a service to the community in the meantime. But the tax delinquent properties are the biggest issue that we have.
[51:24] >> any other questions? Western new york law center, thank you for your service to the residents of erie county and
[51:31] the work that you do in housing redevelopment, and of course, for joining us here today, wonderful presentation.
[51:36] thank you, ladies. We're going to get back to going through our agenda.
[51:51] we're still at communications discharged from committee. Communication 16e-19 from the energy and environment committee.
[52:01] we have joe fiegl here to speak on sewer district number 4. Good morning, joe.
[52:08] >> good morning. What I'm requesting today is
[52:13] an amendment and subsequent approval for an opening, and for contract number 60a in sewer district number 4.
[52:21] we opened bids on the project, the lowest responsible bidder was catco, at $1.171 million.
[52:30] it was below the engineer's estimate. The majority of the funding will be through american rescue plan,
[52:36] with a small amount to be funded at a later date.
[52:42] everything looks in order, and it's a really important project we would like to advance.
[52:47] >> any questions from the members? This item will be up for consideration today,
[52:53] and that is an amendment? >> yes, please. >> okay. Communication 2e-23,
[53:01] sewer district number 3. >> this is another amendment for a bid opening that we had earlier this year.
[53:09] contract number 71 at the southtowns facility. It would be replacing the heat exchanger at the plant.
[53:15] hohl industrial services was the lowest responsible bidder at a little under $1.5 million.
[53:20] we'll be funding this through capital reserves, again, below the engineer's estimate and everything looks in order,
[53:26] it's our recommendation to proceed ahead. >> great. Good to go.
[53:31] up for amendment and approval today. >> thank you, chair. >> thank you, mr. Fiegl. Continuing on with our agenda.
[53:36] suspension of the rules. Communication 4e-30 from legislator gilmour
[53:41] regarding the lease for his legislative office space, will be up for approval.
[53:45] communication 4e-31 from legislator baskin regarding an appointment to
[53:50] the erie county agricultural and farm land protection board will be up for approval,
[53:54] and intro 4-3 from legislators mills and
[54:00] gilmour regarding the erie county store and water conservation district board of directors appointment.
[54:06] this item will be up for approval today as well. Continuing on with our agenda,
[54:10] communication from elected officials. Communication 4e-1 through and including 4e-17 as indicated.
[54:21] continuing on with our agenda. Communication 4e-18, through and including communication 4e-29 as indicated.
[54:30] communications from the departments. Communication 4d-1 through and including communication 4d-6 as indicated,
[54:39] and communications from the people in other agencies. Communication 4m-1 through and including communication 4m-6 as indicated.
[54:49] any announcements for each other? Members we'll reconvene at 12 noon for a formal session.
[54:55] thanks. [background] good afternoon everyone.
[55:03] I call this meeting of the erie county legislature to order. This is meeting number 4 of the erie county legislature,
[55:15] february 15th, [laughter] 2024.
[55:20] madam clerk, would you please take the role? >> legislator greene. >> here. >> legislator lorigo,
[55:25] not present. Legislator mills. >> here. >> todaro. >> here. >> bargnesi.
[55:30] >> here. >> baskin. >> here. >> gilmour. >> I'm here. >> johnson. >> here. >> kooshoian.
[55:35] >> here. >> meyers. >> here. >> vinal. >> I'm here. >> call present. >> thank you. Today's invocation will be led by legislator vinal.
[55:42] please stand if you are able. >> I'd like to read the collect by mary stewart.
[55:52] "keep us o god from pettiness. Let us be large in thought, in word, in deed.
[55:57] let us be done with fault finding and leave off self-seeking. May we put away all pretense and meet each other face to
[56:03] face without self pity, and without prejudice. May we never be hasty in judgment, and always generous.
[56:08] let us take time for all things, make us to grow calm, serene, gentle.
[56:13] teach us to put into action our better impulses, straightforward and unafraid.
[56:17] grant that we may realize it is in the little things that create differences. That in the big things of life we are at one,
[56:23] and may we strive to touch and to know the great human heart of us all,
[56:28] and o lord god, let us not forget to be kind."
[56:32] >> amen. Thank you, legislator. Please remain standing for the pledge of allegiance led by legislator todaro.
[56:52] on with our agenda. Tabled items, there are none. Items for reconsideration from the previous meeting, there are none.
[56:58] minutes from the previous meeting, majority leader, you have the floor. >> thank you, madam chair. I move for immediate consideration on above.
[57:04] >> second. >> there's been a proper motion for consideration approval made by the majority leader has been seconded by legislator gilmour on the question. All in favor?
[57:11] >> [overlapping] aye. >> any opposed? >> carried unanimously. >> carried unanimously, the minutes are approved.
[57:17] public hearings today at 2:00 pm. There will be a public hearing on the transfer tax and road reserve fund here in the chambers.
[57:24] to now with our agenda miscellaneous resolutions on page 1 continued on to page 2.
[57:28] majority leader, you have the floor. >> madam chairman, I have the motion to consider. >> second. >> [inaudible] at a motion to consider
[57:33] miscellaneous resolutions made by the majority leader has been seconded by legislator johnson on the question. All in favor.
[57:39] >> aye. >> any opposed? >> ten to zero. >> okay. Carrimously miscellaneous resolutions are not before the body. Majority leader.
[57:48] >> [inaudible] approved at all. >> second. >> a motion to amend and make at all made by the majority leader has
[57:53] been seconded by legislator gilmour on the question. All in favor. >> [overlapping] aye. >> any opposed?
[57:58] >> ten to zero. >> unanimously, the miscellaneous resolutions are amended. Majority leader.
[58:03] >> madam chair, moved to approve as amended. >> second. >> proper motion to approve the miscellaneous resolutions as amended made by
[58:09] the majority leader has been seconded by legislator johnson on the question. All in favor?
[58:13] >> aye. >> any opposed? >> ten to zero. >> thank you. The miscellaneous resolutions are approved as amended.
[58:19] continuing on with our agenda. Local laws, there are none. Committee reports report number 3 from
[58:23] the public safety committee committee. Chair johnson. >> thank you, madam chair. Move immediate consideration approved.
[58:28] >> second. >> motion for immediate consideration approval made by committee chair johnson has been seconded by legislator gilmour on the question. All in favor?
[58:35] >> [overlapping] aye. >> any opposed? >> ten to zero. >> okay. Chair, the report is approved.
[58:40] report number 3 from the economic development committee. Committee chair johnson. >> move for consideration.
[58:46] >> second. >> there's been a proper motion for immediate consideration and approval made by committee chair johnson,
[58:50] has been seconded by legislator gilmour on the question. All in favor? >> aye.
[58:55] >> opposed? >> ten to zero. >> okay. Did he move the entire report?
[59:06] >> no, he just moved for immediate consideration. >> oh, move for immediate consideration.
[59:11] the report is now before the body. Legislator johnson. >> move to amend the report by making item number 1 receiving box. It's accurate.
[59:19] >> there's been a motion made by legislator johnson. It has been seconded by legislator gilmour to receive
[59:24] a file item number 1 on the question. All in favor?
[59:29] >> aye. >> any opposed? >> ten to zero. >> the report is now amended, legislator.
[59:34] >> all right, move to approve the report as amended. >> motion to approve the report as amended made by legislator johnson,
[59:42] seconded by legislator gilmour. On the question. All in favor? >> aye. >> any opposed?
[59:47] >> ten to zero. >> the report is now approved as amended. Legislator resolution intro 4-1. Majority leader.
[59:55] >> thank you, madam chair. I move for immediate consideration and approval. >> there has been a proper motion for
[59:59] immediate consideration and approval made by the majority leader. Do have a second. >> second.
[1:00:03] >> seconded by minority leader mills. On the question. All in favor?
[1:00:08] >> aye. >> any approach? >> ten to zero. >> the motion carries. The resolution is approved.
[1:00:12] intro 4-2. Mr. Meyers. >> thank you, madam chair. Move for immediate consideration and approval.
[1:00:17] >> there's been a motion made by legislator meyers, who has been seconded by legislator johnson.
[1:00:22] on the question. All in favor? >> aye. >> on the question. Roll call.
[1:00:27] >> actually, on the question, I thought we were sending this to committee for discussion.
[1:00:33] I know that I had a talk with the comptroller about whether or not any recommendations are even binding.
[1:00:40] so I think it's prudent to have a discussion on what type of
[1:00:44] correction happens to be recommended by the control and the committee.
[1:00:49] >> thank you. On the question. Legislator barnes. >> thank you, chairman. That is the point.
[1:00:56] it is the point of the committee but we are authorizing him to create a plan so it can't come to the committee so then we can't discuss it further.
[1:01:03] so we're authorizing here.
[1:01:08] this vote is to authorize him to come up with a plan, clock it in, and we'll talk about it in committee.
[1:01:15] >> are you aware of a report, legislator greene, that you want discussed?
[1:01:21] >> I'm just thinking right now, just looking at the whole idea
[1:01:26] of putting together a corrective action plan, I think it is great idea. I just want to get an understanding on whether or not the comptroller's time putting
[1:01:35] together an action plan on making recommendations is even something within his current powers right now,
[1:01:41] and then we can go back and look at all the different types of audits that have been done. Is this day forward, is this day back?
[1:01:47] are we going to be looking at previous audits or future audits? I'd like the idea of having a discussion.
[1:01:52] I think that's the first step that we should be taking, is to have that discussion with both the comptroller as well as the county attorney,
[1:02:02] to figure out what are our powers and what powers do we want to necessarily have shifted over to the comptroller?
[1:02:09] what if he audits us and we don't necessarily agree. The idea that the comptroller is going to have powers that mandate
[1:02:19] corrective action is something that we should probably have a much further discussion before we go down this road.
[1:02:26] >> you are missing the point. >> any questions for the second time, legislator? >> you're missing the point. That is what we're going to do.
[1:02:32] so they are going to have, so it's a plan that's going to be put into place. So if they disagree with the audit,
[1:02:37] then part the plan will state that they can come and disagree until they mutually come up with it but that's the whole point.
[1:02:44] we're going to put this forward for further discussion. Hopefully, put up some guidelines so there is an actual plan created.
[1:02:51] so when an audit is in place that someone doesn't like or won't come up with a plan, they have to.
[1:02:57] that's the whole discussion of purpose and I believe just taking this and putting
[1:03:02] this resolution of committee would initiate the discussion in itself [overlapping] in committee before there's a plan.
[1:03:07] >> they're not responding to each other is not really on the question. Go ahead guys.
[1:03:12] >> thank you, madam chair. Don't you want a plan? Don't you want to have something to talk about or do you want to do this?
[1:03:20] >> you can respond, yes, you guys respond to each other. >> thank you, madam chair. I don't want to disrespect the chair, I apologize.
[1:03:27] I think that taking this and putting this into a committee discussion would
[1:03:33] initiate both what the action plan is and the potential legality of it.
[1:03:40] that's the whole idea. It's great if the comptroller can come up with a plan, but I think having the county attorney in there to
[1:03:47] understand what the scope is about would be true, and I guess that's kind of the direction that I'd like to see this go
[1:03:55] is put this into committee for discussion.
[1:03:59] >> do you want to come up with the plan? You're not in the committee to have a discussion on that it, that's what I'm saying.
[1:04:04] >> by us not asking the comptroller to come up with a plan, that means you're making the plan.
[1:04:08] I'm not qualified to make the plan, are you? So we're asking who's qualified,
[1:04:14] who does the audit to come up with the plan for us to discuss? It's not hard, it's very easy.
[1:04:21] >> I'm not making the plan. I'm calling for him to make the plan.
[1:04:26] >> so that's going to conclude legislator barnes's response to legislator greenes on the question.
[1:04:33] so we're going to move on. Do any other members wish to speak on the question? >> yeah, I think we have to
[1:04:41] approve it today so the comptroller can't come up with a plan. In fact in banking industry,
[1:04:48] you have self-thoughts, you have plans that go to other departments that met out when something happens.
[1:04:55] here it is, we have a $326,000 check that they don't know what happened to that.
[1:05:05] we want to send that motion to committee to talk about what the comptroller should do, as opposed to saying,
[1:05:13] hey look comptroller, here you're going to ask you and your department,
[1:05:18] the qualified one, to come up with a corrective action plan.
[1:05:22] I don't know where most you work at, but I'm sure folks who are running
[1:05:26] business have corrective action plans for each varying departments.
[1:05:31] in business, people have to have that just in case to vet out any of mistakes.
[1:05:36] right now, we have money that they cannot be identified.
[1:05:42] they have somebody in investigation, they have a check that went out that was fraud and counterfeit.
[1:05:47] you have to have that looked into.
[1:05:51] we have to put something in place because we don't know if that's just for the audit.
[1:05:56] they get a year's audit. The year's audit was in debt. What if they went back further?
[1:06:01] we don't know if this is something that's ongoing or how much they want.
[1:06:05] we only have one year audit that caught one transaction. If it wasn't an audit,
[1:06:12] we wouldn't have caught that check or know if there's something that has been wrong.
[1:06:17] so I think if we have to send this to the committee,
[1:06:21] we have to send this to approval today so that comptroller can get to work on it,
[1:06:26] they can bring something back forth to clockton and have a viable discussion about this.
[1:06:30] just my thoughts. >> thank you, legislator. [overlapping]. >> I think I can clear this up.
[1:06:36] it was just pointed out to me. So communication 4d-10. The action plan is going to finance the management committee.
[1:06:44] so it's already here. So we are going to have the discussion about. You good with that? 4d-10. It's already going to committee the plan.
[1:06:55] so we're approving this action, authorizing it and the reported is then going to committee 4d-10.
[1:07:03] >> okay, yes, let's say it's darrel for the first time.
[1:07:08] >> yeah, I'd like to just say, isn't the legislature, are we the correct body?
[1:07:16] if I'm not mistaken, if the comptroller has an issue,
[1:07:20] if he presents it to our body, then we make the correct look.
[1:07:42] I just wanted to clarify where we're going with that. Thank you.
[1:07:47] >> on the question.
[1:07:53] >> on the motion to approve this, we're going to just have a roll call vote, madam clerk.
[1:07:59] >> on the motion to approve, legislator greene? >> yes to explain my vote. It seems very obvious as legislator bargnesi just pointed
[1:08:07] out that we've already got something going to committee that's going to be in the discussion specifically regarding this.
[1:08:12] then we're really voting on no action whatsoever. We're voting on what's ultimately
[1:08:17] a useless resolution because it's already moving forward on its own with or without this resolution.
[1:08:22] to me, it's an absolute waste. I'll vote no.
[1:08:27] >> thank you. Legislator lorigo, not present. Legislator mills? Todaro?
[1:08:36] >> no. >> bargnesi? >> no, I mean yes there's more on this, isn't it?
[1:08:43] it was clocked in three times. That's all it is.
[1:08:48] >> thank you, sir. Legislator baskin? >> yes. >> gilmour? >> yes.
[1:08:52] >> johnson? >> yes. >> kooshoian? >> yes. >> meyers? >> yes.
[1:08:57] >> vinal? >> yes. >> the vote is 7-3. This motion passes.
[1:09:01] >> the motion carries and the resolution is approved. Continuing on with our agenda. Communications discharged from committee.
[1:09:11] communication discharge from committee, majority leader meyers?
[1:09:16] >> thank you, madam chair. I have the three discharges. Move to discharge communication 2e-1 from the economic development committee.
[1:09:24] >> there's been a proper motion to discharge communication 2e-1 made by legislator meyers and the second?
[1:09:34] seconded by minority leader mills. All in favor?
[1:09:38] >> aye. [overlapping] >> any opposed? >> 10-0. >> the motion carries. The item is now before the legislature. Mr. Meyers?
[1:09:45] >> thank you, madam chair, move to approve the item. >> second. >> there's been a proper motion to approve the item made by the majority leader.
[1:09:52] it's been seconded by legislator gilmour. All in favor? >> aye. [overlapping] >> any opposed?
[1:09:57] >> 10-0. >> the motion carries. The item is approved. Legislator meyers?
[1:10:01] >> thank you, madam chair. Move to discharge communication 16e-19 from the energy environment committee.
[1:10:07] >> there's been a proper motion to discharge item
[1:10:11] 16e-19 made by the majority leader and it's been seconded by legislator gilmour. All in favor?
[1:10:18] >> aye. [overlapping] >> any opposed? >> 10-0. >> the motion carries and the item is now before the body. Majority leader?
[1:10:24] >> thank you madam chair. Move to amend communication 16e-19 with what's been passed out.
[1:10:28] >> there's been a proper motion to amend the item with what's been passed out made by the majority leader.
[1:10:32] it has been seconded by legislator gilmour. All in favor? >> aye. [overlapping]
[1:10:37] >> any opposed? >> 10-0. >> the motion carries. The item is now amended. Majority leader?
[1:10:42] >> move to approve as amended. >> there's been a proper motion to approve the item as amended made by
[1:10:47] the majority leader has been seconded by legislator johnson. All in favor? >> aye. [overlapping].
[1:10:52] >> any opposed? >> 10-0. >> the item is approved as amended. Majority leader, you have the floor.
[1:10:57] >> thank you, madam chair. I move to this charged communication 2e-23 from the energy environment committee.
[1:11:02] >> there's been a proper motion made by the majority leader. It's been seconded by legislator gilmour. All in favor?
[1:11:08] >> aye. [overlapping] >> any opposed? >> 10-0. >> carried unanimously.
[1:11:12] I'm sorry. The motion carries. The item is now before the legislature.
[1:11:17] majority leader, you have the floor. >> thank you, madam chair. Move to amend communication 2e-23 with what's been passed out.
[1:11:24] >> second. >> there has been a proper motion to amend the item with what's been passed out made by the majority leader.
[1:11:28] it's been seconded by legislator gilmour. All in favor? >> aye. [overlapping] >> any opposed.
[1:11:32] >> 10-0? >> the motion carries. The item is now amended. Majority leader?
[1:11:37] >> thank you, madam chair. Move to approve communication to 2e-23 as amended.
[1:11:41] >> there has been a proper motion to approve the item as amended made by the majority leader.
[1:11:46] it's been seconded by legislator gilmour. All in favor?
[1:11:50] >> aye. [overlapping]. >> any opposed? >>10-0. >> the item is approved as amended.
[1:11:54] suspension of the rules. Mr. Meyers will go first. >> thank you, madam chair. I have three suspensions today.
[1:12:00] the first is from legislator gilmour a lease agreement for his legislative office space.
[1:12:04] >> madam clerk? >> communication 4e-30. >> meyers?
[1:12:09] >> thank you, madam chair. Move for immediate consideration and approval. >> second. >> this item is up for immediate consideration and approval made by the majority leader.
[1:12:17] it has been seconded by legislator johnson. All in favor? >> aye. [overlapping] any opposed?
[1:12:22] >> 10-0. >> abstained. >> one abstention.
[1:12:27] >> 9-0 to 1. >> the motion carries. The item is approved.
[1:12:32] >> majority leader? >> thank you, madam chair. The next is from chair baskin. Appointment to the erie county agricultural and farm land protection board.
[1:12:38] >> madam clerk. >> communication 4e-31. >> mr. Meyers.
[1:12:43] >> move for immediate consideration and approval. >> there has been a proper motion for immediate consideration and approval made by the majority leader,
[1:12:49] it's been seconded by legislator gilmour. All in favor? >> aye. [overlapping] >> any opposed? >> 10-0.
[1:12:54] >> the motion carries. The item is approved. Majority leader? >> thank you, madam chair. The final suspension is from legislator mills and gilmour,
[1:13:00] erie county soil and water conservation district board of directors appointment. >> madam clerk?
[1:13:05] >> intro 4-3. >> majority leader?
[1:13:10] >> move for immediate consideration and approval. >> there has been a proper motion made by the majority leader. It's been seconded by legislator greene.
[1:13:16] I'm sorry. There's no question. All in favor? >> aye. [overlapping] >> any opposed? >> 10-0.
[1:13:21] >> the motion carries and the item is approved. Legislator vinal, I'll recognize you for the purpose of suspensions.
[1:13:28] >> move to suspend a resolution referring
[1:13:32] the thefts of erie county clerk's office to the federal white collar crimes unit. I would ask it to be,
[1:13:37] there was a discussion amongst the legislatures and there's a factual issue on it that we need to
[1:13:43] address because it's different memories of what happened. I'd ask that be referred to finance and management.
[1:13:49] >> has everybody seen this item? Suspensions are not debatable.
[1:13:56] if there's no debate, I guess just under my authority as chair and I'll send it to finance and management.
[1:14:02] I think there are no objections. Communication number? >> intro 4-4.
[1:14:07] >> it's intro 4-4 and it will be designated to the finance and management committee under my authority as chair.
[1:14:13] continuing on with our agenda. Communications from elected officials?
[1:14:17] yes. Questions? >> you can go ahead. >>legislator greene?
[1:14:22] >> I have a suspension to hand in regarding legislator lorigo's absence today.
[1:14:28] >> we are still on suspensions. This suspension is regarding the absence of the legislator,
[1:14:35] madam clerk item number? >> communication 4e-32. >> this item will be received, filed,
[1:14:41] and printed under my authority as chair. Continuing on with our agenda. Communications from elected officials.
[1:14:46] communication 4e-1 through and including communication 4e-29 as indicated.
[1:14:51] communication from the departments. Communication 4d-1 through including communication 4d-6 as indicated.
[1:14:58] communications from the people and other agencies. Communication 4m-1 through and including communication 4m-6 as indicated.
[1:15:05] announcements. Next week there is a break for the legislature.
[1:15:09] we will conduct committee meetings in two weeks on thursday, february 29.
[1:15:15] the schedule will be sent out next friday, february 23rd. The next scheduled session of the erie county legislature is thursday, march 7.
[1:15:24] are there any other announcements? Please stand if you are able for
[1:15:29] memorial resolutions. Legislator todaro?
[1:15:38] >> thank you, madam chair. I move to adjourn in the memory of sylvia gargano,
[1:15:44] robert [inaudible] and a dear friend of mine, giovanni falcone.
[1:15:50] >> we are sorry for your loss legislator. Legislator vinal?
[1:15:54] >> I'd like to move to close in memory of peter berger,
[1:15:58] longtime resident of western new york at amherst. He had a long career in finances and too died recently leaving many grandchildren.
[1:16:09] >> sorry for your loss. Legislator mills? >> thank you, madam chair. I'd like to adjourn the memory of brian
[1:16:15] [inaudible] and sheila merrill. >> we are sorry for your lost legislator.
[1:16:21] madam clerk. I'd like to adjourn in the memory of joanne wiley.
[1:16:25] she's my older cousin who just found out moments ago that she passed away last night.
[1:16:30] she's the older sister of longtime community servant
[1:16:34] and swat command leader for the buffalo pd, cedric holloway,
[1:16:39] and the oldest child of community activists in 1970's youth board commissioner johnny b. Wiley and she will be missed.
[1:16:49] a moment of silence for those that have gone on to be with the lord.
[1:17:00] amen, I'll entertain a motion to adjourn. >> so moved. >> motion to adjourn by legislator johnson.
[1:17:06] second by legislator gilmour. All in favor? >> aye. >> any opposed? >> 10-0. >> we stand adjourned.