[0:13] Good evening, everyone, and welcome to the City of Lockport Common Council proceedings for September 23rd, 2026. Please stand for the pledge to the flag. 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.
[0:37] Madam clerk, please call the roll.
[0:39] Alderman Craig here. Alderman Wyche. Here. Alderman O'Malley here. Alderman Fogel here. Alderman Wilie. Alderman Kirchberger here.
[0:51] At this time, I'd like to invite Pastor Steve Meyer from Fig Tree Fellowship to come up and do the invocation for us tonight, pastor.
[1:01] Thank you.
[1:04] Father God, I thank you for this city. God, as the weather is changing. I ask that you would you would keep this city safe. God, I pray for all the people, the residents, the representatives. God that you would keep them safe. You would keep them healthy. God is the weather, transitions and God. We pray for the common Council that you would guide their steps and their direction. We pray all of this in Jesus name. Amen.
[1:35] Amen. Thank you pastor. I have a few announcements tonight. Lockport Community Farmer's Market is still on Canal Street on Saturdays from 9 to 2. Please stop down and enjoy what they have to offer. This Monday night will be the last Monday Night Optimist Club car cruise. It's been a great season and we look forward to next year. Thank you cruisers and thank you. Organizers of the Monday Night Cruise. The 13th annual Oktoberfest is Saturday, October 3rd from 10 to 5 on Canal Street. Enjoy live music and expanded farmers market with local vendors, a family zone and a beer garden. At this time I would like to make a presentation. This is the fun part of my job. I'd like to invite Cookie Butcher up front please.
[2:28] Oh, I'm going to grab the microphone, shouldn't I? The first time I've done this. Thank you. Congratulations. I'm sure it's on.
[2:37] It's on. I was going to invite Johnny up here, but behind every good woman is a great man. And that's why we've got. That's why we have Johnny.
[2:49] I have a proclamation for Cookie Butcher.
[2:57] From the office of the mayor. Whereas Rose Cookie Butcher, I didn't know her name was Rose. Has demonstrated unwavering commitment to the city of Lockport through decades of selfless volunteerism, civic leadership, and community partnership. Whereas cookie has long been recognized for bringing businesses, nonprofits, government, and volunteers together to improve the quality of life in Lockport. Whereas, in 2000. Why volunteering for Canal Boat 110, she began caring for the flower beds and in 2018, with the help of the Navy Marine Club and Boy Scouts, she refurbished the boat and installed new flower beds, which she continues to maintain each summer. Whereas in 2024, she led the restoration of Mount Calvary Cemetery, organizing volunteers to mow, rake, trim trees, install the stone driveway, erect a new flagpole, and restore dignity. Dignity to the cemetery. Whereas, in 2025, she worked with the William G. Pomeroy Foundation to secure official recognition for the cemetery, resulting in historical signage installed in 2026. Whereas, in 2026, she hosted a dedication ceremony honoring for Civil War veterans buried at the cemetery. Whereas, through the ride for Roswell, she demonstrated extraordinary dedication to the Roswell Park Alliance Foundation, raising over 13,000 in 2020. For more than 27,000 as a top fundraiser in 2025 and over 32,000 in 2026 to support cancer research. Whereas, she served four years as president, the Lockport Business Association and contributed to numerous community events, her dedication has been recognized through numerous honors, including the Lockport Business Association, Business Person of the year, Lockport High School Distinguished Alumni, 2011, Vietnam Veterans of America Service Award 2022, a Certificate of Appreciation for supporting Niagara County, Purple Heart Veterans and the Rotary International Paul Harris Fellow Award in 2025. Now, therefore, be it resolved that I, John Lombardi, mayor of the city of Lockport, to hereby proclaim the Rose Cookie Butcher, is hereby recognized for her exceptional contributions to the community. Thus, we present also the key to the city, to her. Today, the city of Lockport also extends its deepest gratitude for her many years of dedication and service, and designates today as Cookie Butcher Day. Please give a round of applause.
[5:46] Doesn't want to come out.
[5:50] And I.
[5:51] I would also like to present to you the key to the city of Lockport. We thank you for everything that you've done for us and you continue to do. You were one remarkable woman. I thank you for that. There's the key to the city. If you'd like to say a few words.
[6:04] Sure, a little bit.
[6:06] Here, let me hold that.
[6:07] Then.
[6:12] A few.
[6:13] Words.
[6:13] Just a few words.
[6:18] I can talk it out. Thank you, mayor and the members of the Common Council for the wonderful award. I am truly honored and humbled to receive it. I've always believed that when you live in a community you care about, you should give back to it whenever you can. Being recognized in this way by the city is something I will always cherish. I want to thank all the volunteers who have helped me with all my projects. I could not do it. I could not do what I do without your support and dedication. Thank you to everyone who felt I was deserving of this award, and thank you to this community for allowing me to be part of it. I'm truly grateful and honored.
[6:59] Congratulations.
[7:08] Well.
[7:25] We now have a recess for anything on the agenda. Please come to the microphone. Give us your name and your address and the reason for speaking. That's anything on the agenda? No speakers. We'll close the recess, madam clerk.
[7:41] On motion of Alderman White, seconded by Alderman Craig. The minutes of the regular meeting of September 9th, 2026 are hereby approved as printed in the Journal of Proceedings.
[7:52] We have a resolution sponsored by Alderman Wyche, seconded by Alderman Craig.
[7:58] All those in favor? S4:
[7:58] Opposed. Carried.
[8:02] From the mayor appointments on August 31st. Mike Leggett, 62 Menard Street, Lockport, has been appointed to the Zoning Board of Appeals effective August 31st. I'm sorry, that should be 2026 for a three year term from the City Clerk. The clerk submitted payrolls, bills for services and expenses and reported that the Department had submitted reports of labor performed in their departments. Communications. On September 9th, we received a notice of defect in regards to a hazardous tree at 339 Pine Street.
[8:40] Resolution two resolved that the Mayor and City Clerk be authorized to issue orders in favor of the claimants for payrolls, bills and services to be paid on September 24th, 2026.
[8:52] We have a resolution sponsored by Alderman Craig, seconded by alderman O'Malley.
[8:58] All those in favor? S4:
[8:58] Opposed. Carried.
[9:01] Resolution three was withdrawn. Resolution four whereas, pursuant to General City Law chapter 23 and the city's Donation Acceptance Policy adopted by resolution 072226.
[9:18] 1, S2:
[9:46] That the donated canine dog has an estimated value of $10,600, representing the donor's documented cost of acquiring the dog, which value is acknowledged for city record keeping purposes? S1:
[9:52] All those in favor? S4:
[9:53] Opposed. Carried.
[9:55] Resolution five a sewer fund. Budget amendment due to wastewater plant flooding. Whereas, on August 2nd, 2026, the City of Lockport Wastewater Treatment plant experienced significant flooding, which resulted in damage to the plant and unintended unanticipated emergency costs. And whereas the wastewater treatment plant has incurred costs related to the flooding that were not included in the adopted 2026 sewer fund budget and requires additional funding to address these costs.
[10:30] And whereas the city received $923,349 S2:
[10:42] And whereas, the temporary municipal assistance received by the city is unrestricted and the city desires to utilize a portion of these funds to address the unanticipated costs associated with the August 2nd, 2026 flooding. Now therefore, be it resolved that the Common Council hereby authorize the transfer of Hundred and $50,000 from the General Fund contingency account to the sewer fund to fund unanticipated operating and capital costs associated with the August 2nd, 2026 flooding. And be it further resolved that the Common Council hereby amends the 2026 General and Sewer Fund budget as follows.
[11:21] We have a resolution sponsored by Alderman Wyche, seconded by Alderman Craig.
[11:27] All those in favor? S4:
[11:28] Opposed. Carried.
[11:34] Mayor, I move that the Common Council adjourn at 612 until Wednesday, October the 14th, 2026.
[11:43] We have a resolution sponsored by alderman O'Malley, seconded by Alderwoman Fogle.
[11:49] All those in favor? S4:
[11:50] Opposed?
[11:51] Carried.
[11:53] We'll now have a recess for the betterment of the community. If you've signed up, Alderman Hershberger will call you to the podium. Give us your name and your address and the reason for being here, please.
[12:04] Thank you.
[12:05] The first speaker we have tonight is Cindy.
[12:11] Hi, Cindy. Clinton Street, Lockport. Um, I was able to go on a tour with the EPA and the Dec regarding the lower town. 18 Mile Creek Superfund site. And, um, I was shown an area where contaminated soil is brought that is too wet to travel by truck or train out of the area. And I never knew what that area was. You can't see that area from the street because it's blocked by a green tarp. But you could see it on Saturday when I went by and took a picture. What did I see? I seen holes in that tarp. So if it was windy, thank God it wasn't that dirt could be all over lower town Because those piles are higher than the fence by about 2.5ft. I don't know, it's about probably 15 panels of fence wide, 2.5ft higher than the fence. So you can only imagine how much dirt could have been all over lower town. Um, I'd also like to know if anything, if any of you up there at the council can advise me. I applied for the grant, I got the grant, I got the call that I got the grant. And now we've gone. It's dead in the water. Um. These rainstorms, I don't know how much more my vent in my bathroom can take before the ceiling comes flying down. I've had people up on the roof. The roof is solid. Um, water's got to be coming from somewhere in there to come out. My ceiling fan in my bathroom. I no longer use the ceiling fan because I don't want to start a fire. But that's why I applied for this grant was to get that fixed. Whatever's causing that. And it all started with all this heavy rain that we've been having. So, um, I don't know. I haven't called Tammy or Vicky. I, when I got up here and spoke last week, I thought you guys were going to get in touch with Tammy or Vicky and have them call me and let me know where we're at with that.
[14:32] I'll follow up again.
[14:34] Because and another thing too is like, this is my third time applying. And when I applied, I had to give my husband's death certificate. My husband would never have applied for that. He and his name was never on there. It was only mine. I'm not sure why I had to give his death certificate, but I did.
[14:52] I checked on that. Cindy. There are guidelines that are that have to be followed, that are outside our our realm.
[14:58] Yeah, I understand all that. And I did all that. And now here we are. It's coming up on October 1st. There's only three months left of the year. So now what? In January, I got to submit all these documents again. I don't think so. This is the third year. I mean, I've given them all my bank documents. I've given them my fire, my house insurance. Um, I'm not going to keep doing that every year. Nothing's changed. Everything's the same. I mean, except for my two or whatever percent Social Security increase.
[15:34] I mean, that's the only change I'll have to report. Thank you, thank you.
[15:42] Next speaker, we have fawn. Not sure how to pronounce the last name. I'm sorry.
[15:50] If you could just state your full name. Hi.
[15:52] Fawn Palumbo from Washburn Street tattoo. Uh, I don't know how many people here have heard of Washburn Street Tattoo.
[16:00] What number?
[16:01] Washburn 1471. They won't allow me to put up a sign. I've been there three years.
[16:09] Um, I get to see everything on Washburn because I'm up all night long. We carry odd hours as a tattoo shop. Um, so I'm here because I want to make my corner beautiful. We have started an art hub on Friday evening. Started out with just one artist. None. We're up to two and all of our artists have children. So my parking lot is now an art hub for children. We set up tables every Friday. I purchase all the art supplies ourselves. Artists don't have to come and even pay for a table. You want a table? We're here. However, I want to make my parking lot someplace beautiful. I come out, I look around and it looks like an industrial place. Everything is forgotten about. They won't let me put up a sign, I said on the side of my wall. Can I put up a mural? No, it's my building. It's my parking lot. Can I put up planters? Can I plant trees? Can I do something to make it comfortable for the people that are in the neighborhood? The neighborhood has nothing. I've been there three years. I have my children, I have families, I have small children in my building, and there's absolutely nothing for kids to do. And I have this horrible parking lot that I don't like. I don't want to asphalt it. I don't want to cement it. What I want to do is create a nice green space where people can come and share their art and relax. And I'm just getting pushback and I don't know why.
[17:49] Fawn, can I ask who's pushing you back?
[17:52] Um, the permit please. When I went, I said, I just want to put up a sign. No, you got to pay for the permit and you got to drop off the schematics. Oh yeah. Um, sure. But it's just a sign. Like, can't I just. I have a building full of artists. I'm an artist. I want to make this building, this place, this corner, an art hub. Can I make it beautiful without having to constantly pay? I am trying to align with Lockport. I don't want to put up anything. I love graffiti art. I'm not going to be on the side of my building. I want the children come. And if you walk down my sidewalk, you can see there's sidewalk chalk everywhere. I can't even Lorraine's haven't taken it away. I just want the children to have some place where they can come and express themselves and make it a safe spot. I tell everyone.
[18:49] On which corner is the corner of Walnut and Washburn.
[18:51] Yes.
[18:52] All right. I'll do me a favor. Come see me.
[18:54] Absolutely.
[18:56] Well, I can help her. Come on down and see me. And, uh, check in with my secretary and find a time which is convenient for you.
[19:02] Awesome.
[19:03] All right. I'll do what I can to help you.
[19:04] Okay. Thank you.
[19:09] All right. Uh, the last speaker we have tonight is Nersesyan Natale.
[19:29] Hello. Nersesyan Natale. I actually was one of the organizers of the art hub for Washburn Street Tattoo. And that's why I'm here today, because it is a project I've thrown myself behind and fully endorsed. And one of the major reasons why I've endorsed it is when we talk about East End, Lockport and downtown Lockport, there is no creative hub. I mean, we have the Keenan Center. Keenan Center is amazing. No problems with them. Love them. But downtown down on Washburn area East End, there's nothing. And I know we have issues with kids getting into rather precarious situations, you know, whether it be drugs, whether it be crime. Let's give them a creative outlet. I mean, it's been shown time and time again. Creativity saves people. Save me. You know, I wouldn't be the same person I was if I didn't start drawing and making music. So my friend here could use his help with this and the city itself. I mean, you're a lot of the issues the city faces, there's solutions here we can use by creating spaces like this, creating community spaces. You have people come up here all the time and talk about that. You have spill your creativity. And as we move forward about trying to create community spaces, trying to create creative movements and trying to unite together, this is another way we can do this, hence why I brought it here. There is one more thing I wanted to touch on and I thought my friend Vaughn would. So I guess I'm going to introduce it. We are hoping to throw a tattoo party. It's a kind of vending event with concert. We want to throw it towards October 26th. Right, 24th. Got it. Cool. I'm bad with dates, we can tell. So we wanted to bring that up in conversation with the city, as we don't want to step on the city's policies at all. We don't know if the noise will be any problem. Um, so that would be a lovely conversation to be had, and we would appreciate your support and moving forward with this because it's a beautiful project and I've seen this council do beautiful things. I've thanked the council for approving some marine and different things like that. So I don't see why this would be, um, too difficult to bring forth. Thank you.
[21:37] You got it. Thank you.
[21:41] Anybody else? That's it.
[21:44] Yes, ma'am.
[21:45] I'm sorry I didn't put my name down, but I do something I'd like to ask. Talk about.
[21:50] Come on up to the podium.
[21:54] Sorry about that. Anyways, um, pepperoni live on Grand Street. The reason I'm up here actually is because, you know, the big garbage pickup issue in this city is really awful. Um, and driving around the city, you see mattresses, couches, dining rooms, you name it on the curbs on my street alone, there were two couches. That chair that sat out there for five weeks. Now, at some point in time, somebody has to notice the stuff besides me or mattresses. Let's face it, you guys, uh, you know, a mattress. Once it sits out in the rain for four days, it's probably pretty heavy. And these people are dragging them after a week back up towards their houses so they can drag them back down again. What is the deal? I know they say there's one item pickup on big garbage day or whatever you call it, but isn't there a way to get some of this stuff picked up? There's a burned out house next to the railroad tracks on, um, transit, and there's been a bunch of garbage in bags off this way of the tracks for three months now. I mean, this stuff sits there. It's it's crazy. And it grows. I mean, I hate to say it. I'm sure people at night sometimes go, oh, I can throw my recliner there. They'll never notice that there's already a bunch of junk. I'm just saying they only pick up one thing, and that's only once a month. And when people move out, they move out and they put whatever they're not taking with them there. And it looks it looks awful. I mean, and it's on a lot of our main drags into the city. It just looks awful. And it's really disgusting. And they do attract critters. Let's face it. They do.
[23:41] Pat Council president and I met with modern this week. There's a few things that have changed a little bit. We've got a little more specific ideas on how to do certain things. But you're absolutely right, 100%. You can buy bag tags and they'll take up to three tags. I can't remember exactly all of it, but we're going to prepare for the city and for the people List at the next meeting. That will explain the difficulties that we have and what we're looking to do. And we understand. Exactly. Yeah, we get to a point where if it gets too much, then we have to address it. And I don't want to do that anymore.
[24:15] Yeah. I mean, it's dumpy looking. I hate to say it, especially since I'm in the north end of town. And so that seems to be the area where you see it the most often. We must have a, a bigger, uh, transient society in my end of town. But I mean, it just looks like crap. It's bad enough they don't cut their grass. They don't trim their bushes. They don't maintain their homes. Their porches are filled with garbage. It's bad enough, but this is getting so out of control. Maybe you need a blight patrol. Go around and look at all the nasty.
[24:46] And on Pine Street, why are they putting the garbage cans in the road?
[24:49] That is not going to happen much longer.
[24:51] We see people do that on our street.
[24:53] They think it makes it easier. It doesn't. It's a it's it's an obstacle for people to get around. Yeah. Um, again, we'll have, we'll have more information. We're going to compile it at the next meeting. We'll be able to approach and direct. So okay, we're well aware of everything that you're saying.
[25:09] And I did have a car parked on my street that I did. I did talk to Raul about and it it's gone. I just wanted you to know it's no longer parked where it's not allowed to be parked. So that makes me a little happy. That's my other thing. I thought there was a limit to how many vehicles unlicensed vehicles could be on a property.
[25:29] One.
[25:30] Well, they might take right around a little bit in the north end and check that out.
[25:35] Let me know if we can help you. Thank you. Thank you. All right, everybody, thank you for being here tonight. God bless.