[0:02] 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.

[0:24] So, welcome to tonight's February 27th council meeting. Last day of February, winter's coming to an end, hopefully, even though some snow is predicted for later in the week.

[0:34] Tonight, we have three public hearings, which we will be taking care of first.

[0:40] And if we can have the roll call, Madam Clerk.

[0:50] Here.

[0:52] Here.

[0:53] Here.

[0:54] And the first public hearing is hearing comments about a local law amending

[1:00] Article 2, which is referred to as towing vehicles of Chapter 548, Vehicles

[1:05] and Traffic of the Code of the City of Peaks scale.

[1:08] And, Madam Clerk, if we could have the reading of the notice of public hearing and affidavit of publication.

[1:15] The copy of the legal notice is un-punished.

[1:17] It's published in the NERDA's open report.

[1:19] Okay.

[1:20] And so, for this public hearing, the city officials will be describing these amendments.

[1:26] Will be our police chief.

[1:28] Chief Tumalo.

[1:31] Mayor and council, this amendment to the ordinance, the towing ordinance,

[1:39] This is one component that was part of a number of changes that had been made previously, and

[1:45] the last one was an issue of extending the geographical area surrounding peak scale from

[1:53] one mile to two miles to include going companies within that radius that wishes, that would

[2:01] wish to be included on our toll list for the various needs when they arise.

[2:07] And that is in substance what this aspect of the towing ordinance will include.

[2:15] And so I know that we have had public comment over the last year as we've been revising our code on towing.

[2:23] So if anybody wants to speak on this final revision to our towing law, they can do so at this time.

[2:33] There's been no comment on this matter.

[2:35] I move to close the public hearing.

[2:36] Second.

[2:37] Go all in favor.

[2:38] Aye.

[2:40] Okay.

[2:40] Okay, so our next public hearing will be to hear comments amending Section 283 of 283, Section 9A, IH of Part 283 of the regulations of the city of peak scale entitled taxicabs.

[3:01] And Madam Clerk, if you could read the notice of public hearing and affidavit of publication.

[3:10] Okay. And both our police chief and our corporation counsel will be describing this.

[3:16] And this is the first public hearing that we're having on this section if I'm correct, right?

[3:21] And so we're expecting that we will get public comment.

[3:25] And so, Chief, if you could describe the changes in the ordinance and then a corporation counsel,

[3:30] if you could add in as necessary.

[3:32] Yes, Mayor, this was a discussion regarding taxi ordinance and the required liability insurance,

[3:40] which currently is $25.50 for the limits of coverage that is required by all taxi owners

[3:49] in the city.

[3:50] Discussion was to raise this to $100,000 to $300,000.

[4:02] People who were using the taxis in the city of Peakskill,

[4:06] in the event that there was some sort of a mishap and subsequent injuries or damage.

[4:11] Okay, and have there been any other changes that have been made to our taxi ordinance,

[4:18] or is this the only change?

[4:19] We had, there were other changes that had been made.

[4:22] This was the last of those substantive changes.

[4:26] Okay, and on the other changes we made, did we have a public hearing on those?

[4:30] I believe we did. This was the last of the, of the, of those, of those changes that were

[4:37] proposed isn't the last that is remaining.

[4:40] Okay. That's fine.

[4:41] And Corporation Counsel.

[4:43] I'd just like to speak. There have been a few questions which have been raised

[4:47] regarding this insurance coverage. We are recommending this increase in insurance

[4:53] coverage, which is in line with what New York City is currently requiring, has been

[4:58] requiring for almost 20 years.

[5:02] Also, the Westchester County Taxi and Limousine Commission

[5:06] requires higher limits, not for small cabs such as this,

[5:11] but for larger vehicles of eight passengers and up.

[5:14] They have exceeded their requirements

[5:17] that are the minimums that are in state law.

[5:20] We're recommending to exceed more than the minimums

[5:23] in state law because when an accident does occur,

[5:26] The coverage of 25,000 per occurrence is often not sufficient to cover the injuries that may occur to the passengers and there could be pedestrians and other people who are affected by an accident.

[5:42] We believe that this would protect the passengers and pedestrians who are in the area.

[5:49] There is case law to support what we're doing.

[5:52] In 1971, there was a case in the city of Newburgh which upheld 100,000, 300,000 insurance.

[6:00] That case has never been overruled.

[6:02] And there are numerous other cases which have upheld the right of a municipality to

[6:09] enact legislation for its local needs pursuant to the state constitution and also under

[6:16] the municipal home rule law.

[6:18] We have reviewed current regulations of the insurance department and have not determined

[6:27] that there is anything which would prevent us from doing this at this time.

[6:31] So we're recommending that this is a policy decision in order to lessen risk for passengers

[6:37] and pedestrians who would be in the area of an accident.

[6:41] Okay.

[6:42] And so Corporation Council, were you saying then that the City of Newburgh also has the

[6:46] 100, 300?

[6:48] No.

[6:48] The City of Newburgh currently does not have it.

[6:51] There was a case, this case upheld their right to do it, and at some point in time

[6:55] they reduced the amount.

[6:57] I see.

[6:57] Okay.

[7:00] Okay.

[7:01] If there's no further comment from you, the Corporation Council or the Chief will

[7:04] open this up to those who want to come and speak on this topic at this time.

[7:15] If we speak on this, are we able to speak again? Normally you limit us to one.

[7:19] Yes, public hearings. There are no time limits on public hearings,

[7:23] and when you speak on a public hearing, that is different than you can speak later

[7:27] at Citizens Desiring to be heard at our regular council session.

[7:30] George On Deck 31 Winchester Avenue, Pete's Hill.

[7:34] It's so good to see the entire council here.

[7:37] Three of you were missing at the last meeting, including you, Miss Mayer.

[7:41] I was ill.

[7:41] I know.

[7:42] I was ill too, but I came to the meeting.

[7:45] But Ronnie Reagan once said, a tax is a fine is a fee,

[7:51] and now I think you're starting to see you've gone too far.

[7:56] The taxi cab drivers in Pete's Gill,

[7:59] you want to up their insurance to $100,000 to $300,000

[8:04] and it will cost anywhere from $1,800 to $8,000,

[8:09] what I heard on your workshop. And you know what that would do? It would put many of them out of business.

[8:16] It also would make an undue hardship on the taxi riders of Pete's Guild.

[8:23] You haven't learned your lesson yet. You want to put an unfair fee on condo owners.

[8:28] You want to put a $250 fee on people who feed Canadian geese.

[8:33] You're wrong, Ms. Mayor and Ms. Council, and Council, you've got to stop this tax-finding

[8:40] and feeing people in P-Scale.

[8:42] I'll be back to speak more later.

[8:44] Thank you.

[8:46] Just to be clear, the insurance premiums are not anything that comes to the city.

[8:53] It's what a cab driver negotiates with his insurance carrier.

[9:01] Good evening, Council.

[9:02] Mayor.

[9:02] My name is Kevin Tui. I am a small business owner, taxi cab driver.

[9:09] I'm a citizen of Cortland Manor. I'm also an electrical contractor for over 20 years.

[9:15] Never in my business of 20 years have I experienced such a hardship like this cast upon me.

[9:24] I really feel that this is very unfair.

[9:28] As a business owner, not just a taxi cab driver, but as a small business owner, if everyone

[9:36] would just take a step back and do the math, they will see that it just doesn't work.

[9:43] I understand it's your duty as council members and as the mayor to protect the citizens,

[9:48] but it's also your duty to make sure you're ultra fair to small business.

[9:53] because the small business in this community is just important as the citizens.

[9:59] And that's all I have to say. Thank you.

[10:01] I just want to be clear. Your small business is a cap company or electrical contract?

[10:05] Both. Both. Thank you.

[10:19] I agree to some part of what you're trying to do because I've seen some very careless taxi drivers.

[10:29] However, as this gentleman just said, it is a hardship.

[10:34] My only question to the council is, did you do a study on how many accidents have been

[10:43] caused by taxi drivers and, you know, what did you base all this on?

[10:48] What did you base trying to increase their insurance coverage on?

[10:53] I like that explained.

[10:56] I mean, did you actually have someone come out, did you hire consultants to do an investigation

[11:04] to determine that, yes, it is necessary to raise the insurance on these taxi drivers?

[11:11] Thank you.

[11:13] I will say that the police have been talking with the cab companies for the past year.

[11:23] We have had reports and testimony from people who have been injured in cabs in the city.

[11:30] And we have been looking at what other jurisdictions are doing,

[11:34] and these are the recommendations that are coming from the staff to the council.

[11:40] And one of the items that we had asked the staff to go back and explore with the cab companies

[11:44] was if the insurance amounts were raised, what is the cost in the premium?

[11:50] And as you can imagine that is a moving target and it depends on everybody's individual driving records.

[11:57] But this is why we're here having the public hearing.

[12:00] So it wasn't recommended by the staff arbitrarily, but that's why we're here having a public comment

[12:06] because we have no desire to put small businesses out of business,

[12:10] but we are trying to balance everybody's interest. That's all.

[12:16] Good evening.

[12:17] My name is Ramon Fernandez.

[12:19] I am one taxi car owner so this means we do it like a really like another person says we

[12:31] are small small business and everybody know how is this is the economy in this moment

[12:39] And we got in the last inspiration, December, a lot of change from the city.

[12:49] And we tried to work every day too hard, many, many hours.

[12:56] And now we don't have a piece in our house.

[13:00] Our kids don't have a piece because we don't know what we're going to do.

[13:03] We don't know. Everybody and the driver is asking what the city wants to fall.

[13:09] They don't want to touch and then piss you because in December we start to do the inspection

[13:16] like for the second day of the month.

[13:20] We cannot do it until January because every day they give it to us one new change.

[13:29] And I don't know if you – I live out of the country, and I know that happened outside

[13:36] of America in the Third World.

[13:40] But here it's supposed to – you have to clear, clear business, regulation.

[13:46] And we don't know that.

[13:47] We don't have a piece in the house.

[13:49] The keys that – or why everyone is scared because we don't know if we're going

[13:54] to keep working. If you're doing like that, we're going to pay a lot of money. The city

[14:02] ingress a lot of things that we have to pay now. The license for the drivers, the license

[14:09] for the car, the inspection. Many, many small business, they have like a two or three cars,

[14:16] they had to pay more now, $7,000 more per year.

[14:22] That's not the city requirement.

[14:25] It's for the worker compensation.

[14:28] But that means they had to pay that.

[14:31] And now probably they had to pay another 3,000

[14:35] or maybe more, 2,000, 1,000.

[14:39] I don't know, whatever, only 100 now

[14:41] is two months for us.

[14:43] And another thing, that's my personal opinion.

[14:47] I don't know if you approve all the change that we're talking before in the police and

[14:53] couple meetings.

[14:55] But I remember they say something about the 3G approach.

[15:00] Forgive the license driver. Trigia, the license, USA license, experienced before that. And the

[15:10] comment the officers say, I feel really, really discriminated for that, like the Latin people

[15:16] that I am. And many old drivers, Latin drivers, they feel the same thing. Because the comment

[15:22] it was because they don't know if the people buy the license in another country.

[15:29] And I told that, and I want to say this in Korean, in front of everybody, because when

[15:36] I went to vote last November, I feel like it's a freedom in democracy for everybody.

[15:44] When I see a couple of months ago in New Jersey, they sell, they cast, the police

[15:50] got to some group, they sell lysing, I remember that, and I said, oh, maybe they

[15:55] They don't want to set the license for New Jersey because they set a license over there.

[16:00] And I feel that's not another point for the young people.

[16:05] They need to three-year for start doing any job, driving.

[16:11] And there's another point is many people, when they lose their job, they go to drive

[16:16] a taxi driver.

[16:17] You know that.

[16:18] Everybody knows that.

[16:19] When the people, they lose their job, they start to drive it.

[16:22] If you don't have a license for three years, it doesn't matter if you're American, resident, whatever, you cannot do that.

[16:29] And I think that's another point maybe there's none.

[16:32] But I don't know if you approve that before you have to do, and I want to express that.

[16:37] But at the first point, we want to keep working and doing everything under the law like we do it.

[16:45] Thank you.

[16:46] Thank you.

[16:55] Hi, my name is Roy D'Archival, a taxi owner and operator in Peekskill.

[17:02] As I sat on this in the Corporation Council, she compared us to our different municipalities

[17:07] where the demographics are totally different.

[17:11] In Peekskill, we have working class people and these are the people who pay the tax

[17:18] fees.

[17:19] Who are we going to pass these new...

[17:25] When we raise the insurance premiums, are we going to pass it off to the citizens of

[17:29] Picskelu right taxis every day?

[17:35] With the cost as we just incurred over the last couple of months, in these recessionary

[17:43] times, are you going to look at me as a small business owner and tell me that you're going

[17:47] to increase fees on me again, $7,000 for a little cap, owner who own three caps of

[17:54] workers' compensation.

[17:55] The fees went up for the licensing.

[17:58] The fees went up for the inspections.

[18:00] The fees went up for the HACA license.

[18:05] How are we supposed to survive in this kind of climate?

[18:09] You know, just food for thought.

[18:27] My name is John Mason, owner of John's Taxi Service.

[18:31] I've been in business for 20 years serving for the City of Peace Scale.

[18:35] When I first started in 1992, the license for a taxi, you know, a hack license was 125.

[18:43] After five years, your grandfather went in for only $25 a year.

[18:49] In 2002, the increase went to 125.

[18:54] In 2012, it went to 175.

[18:58] The registration of the city of Peace Hill went from 250 to 375.

[19:04] serve in the city of Peace Hill benefit for me. But since there's a policy that you want to inherit on us,

[19:11] it's going to make me close my business. I can't afford these rates. $8,000 more, which I'm paying already $5,000.

[19:21] I mean, come on. Give us a break. Thank you.

[19:24] Thank you.

[19:25] Thank you.

[19:26] My

[19:32] name is Anthony Bazzo. I think you know that. I own a taxi, part owner of a taxi company

[19:38] here in the city of Peagskill. I wrote an open letter about this issue three or four

[19:45] weeks ago. Hopefully you saw it. If you didn't, I don't know what more to do. I'll wait

[19:51] for the public hearing, but I don't want to really waste time reiterating what I've

[19:54] already said. However, listening to corporate counsel, one thing I've noticed is in the areas

[20:03] that were considered were all fleet areas, not only operator. You don't separate that.

[20:11] You treat everybody the same. So in other words, you penalize by the nature of the

[20:18] business, not the record of their driving. That is wrong.

[20:25] Also the fact that, like I

[20:26] said, you're dealing with areas that only have fleets. It's not an equal comparison.

[20:36] You have here, I've talked to a number of you people in private and I have heard one

[20:44] incident that did happen the fleet that is no longer in business because of the

[20:52] new rules that you said your new rules removed a company that was unsafe your

[21:01] new rules have already had a few drivers suspended that safety that's actual

[21:08] safety not you you can't make an unsafe driver safe by increasing the

[21:14] liability, you're not protecting the city of Pete's Hill because that money, that increase,

[21:21] because you're not going to give us a fair increase because you can't.

[21:23] People don't want to pay you $6 now.

[21:25] And then you'll have a number of cabs that are running for five and four because there's

[21:29] so much competition.

[21:30] You're not going to get any more than six.

[21:33] So that money must come from somewhere.

[21:35] It will come most likely from a discretionary pay thing such as repairs because you

[21:42] You only have the enforcement mechanism to really check on it every six months.

[21:46] Make sure everything's up to order.

[21:48] Other than that, you take everybody's word, unless something's very glaringly visible,

[21:52] you don't have the mechanism.

[21:54] So you'll actually make things less safe, because that money must come from somewhere.

[22:01] This is real.

[22:03] It's not theoretical.

[22:04] I've heard, well, what if there's a kid that has four people in it, and it has

[22:09] accident with somebody with two people in it, that's theoretical. That's hypothetical.

[22:14] You asked me to fight ghosts. Reality is there. Those people, each one losing money as we

[22:21] speak and people at the trains standing out in the cold because we're here fighting

[22:29] for our lives, our livelihoods because you're talking a minimum of a $2,000 increase, minimum.

[22:39] and because most of us have the major, there's only a couple carriers, those

[22:44] carriers do not carry anything above 2550, so all of us would be forced into a

[22:50] signed risk, which is why you have that jump in premiums. We are forced into a

[22:56] signed risk and it's a stigma because I found out from my private insurance

[23:00] company that my private ways go up because my record will show that I'm

[23:05] that with Strider, because of your regulation based not on my record, or on most of these

[23:14] people's records, but only because of the profession,

[23:19] and it stigmatizes the profession.

[23:21] You're saying this profession, especially when I hear it's compared to New York City

[23:24] care drivers, can you really sit here with this straight face and believe that your

[23:29] piece of care drivers are anywhere near the drivers, New York City care drivers.

[23:37] To compare that with insulting, I find that personally insulting. Those drivers in

[23:43] New York City, you're in the right to have to pay a hundred, three hundred thousand

[23:47] dollars in liability. And that's the thing. You're doing this arbitrarily.

[23:55] Instead of saying, okay, like you did for suspensions, you have to meet a

[24:00] certain standard to get your license.

[24:04] You're not making any

[24:06] standard. You're saying owner operated good driver, bad driver,

[24:09] you're old garbage. You're paying one way. You're going to pay

[24:13] this whole increase regardless of anything on

[24:16] hypotheticals, not reality, on what might be or will be on

[24:22] some of those people going out of business or having to work

[24:25] longer hours. That will be. What will be is the hardship on these small businesses.

[24:34] People that have already lost jobs because of this economy looking for

[24:38] another opportunity and working hard at it. Your new rules ensured better

[24:45] drivers, better safety. This does nothing but add a burden, makes nobody

[24:59] But you've already started dealing. You put rules in that had teeth that were meant to

[25:06] be enforced and are being enforced and it's working. The reason why this was put on the

[25:14] back burner was to see the other stuff first. This is not necessary. First thing, you may

[25:22] have the right to do this. People in the industry I've talked to say you don't, for the sake

[25:28] of argument you do. But having the right to do something does not mean it's the right

[25:34] thing to do. And you should first do that old adage, do no harm. And when you think of

[25:41] the amount of calves on the street, a given day and any given hour, and the amount of

[25:47] accidents that there may have been, the amount that may have surpassed the liability.

[25:53] What you're doing is trying to deal a giant hurt for a miniscule problem.

[26:01] There's something terribly wrong about that.

[26:04] There's something just so wrong.

[26:06] And that you can seriously consider putting honest, hard-working people in financial

[26:16] jeopardy on hypotheticals, and maybe one or two realities, but not compared to the big

[26:26] picture.

[26:27] Yes.

[26:29] Go on.

[26:31] If I could ask you a question.

[26:33] No, please.

[26:34] I know the rules.

[26:35] I know the rules.

[26:36] If I could ask you a question, then, if, and I don't know the mix off hand between

[26:43] fleet operated and owner operated in the city. But if, in what you're describing,

[26:48] if an owner-operator's license was suspended or a company's was because they run

[26:54] safe, and if they were applying to get reinstated, would the higher insurance

[27:00] requirement in your mind be an unfair requirement?

[27:04] No. That's what I said. If you put standards to earn the punishment this

[27:11] way that like the insurance companies do, they punish bad drivers, make them earn their punishment.

[27:19] Even insurance companies and we know that their reputation do not punish the good, they only

[27:26] punish the bad.

[27:28] And that's always been my objection in my open letter and everything I've said is that

[27:32] you've got this one size fits all, but your city is not one size fits all because you

[27:38] allow independent operators. And in her comparisons, none of those jurisdictions she mentioned allow

[27:46] that.

[27:49] Okay. Thank you. Thank you.

[28:01] No, I'm closing. May I see no further comment on this, on this

[28:06] public hearing? I move to close this public hearing. Second. All in favor. All right. Okay. Thank you

[28:12] for your comments. And then the third public hearing is to hear public comment on a local law to

[28:22] centralize and make uniform the city's property abatement procedures. And Madam Clerk, if we could have the

[28:28] reading of public hearing and affidavit of publication.

[28:36] Okay. And just for those of you who are here

[28:39] We're on the taxi ordinance.

[28:42] The nights that we have public hearings, we do not pass resolutions to adopt any local

[28:47] laws on the matter we had the public hearing on.

[28:50] We're here just to take comment, and then we'll bring it back to our Police Chief

[28:55] Corporation Council and staff to take all the comment and finalize that.

[29:02] So there isn't any further action that will happen on the taxi ordinance tonight, just

[29:07] in case you were all afraid that there was a resolution later on where we would be adopting

[29:10] something.

[29:11] We're not.

[29:11] We're just taking public comments.

[29:16] We have public meetings every other Monday.

[29:19] We'll discuss this further next Monday at our work session, and we'll make a determination

[29:27] whether we're revising the ordinance or whether we're not, but there'll be information

[29:34] that will go out after next Monday, whether we're holding it further for discussion

[29:39] or whether we're dropping it or whether we're moving it for some other action.

[29:43] But any modification to the proposed law that we have here, that's substantive,

[29:48] comes back for another public hearing.

[29:50] And so there's notices that go out on all of that, so you'll all be informed.

[29:56] And so the matter-

[30:00] We're on the property abatement procedures. The statement by the city official is from

[30:04] our corporation council, Bernice.

[30:09] This is a local law to centralize and make uniform the city's property abatement

[30:15] procedures. Currently, in several of our ordinances, we have procedures where if a

[30:22] property owner does not correct violations in a timely manner, the city can come in

[30:29] and correct those violations and then charge them back to the property owner.

[30:34] Ultimately, if the property owner does not reimburse the city for the cost that's incurred,

[30:40] then the cost is placed as a tax lien on the next year's property tax.

[30:47] That has been in effect previously.

[30:50] What we're doing here is standardizing so each one of these codes had different language within them,

[30:57] which is slightly different and also does not import the proper due process in all cases that is needed in this kind of situation.

[31:07] There needs to be due process at the time that a notice is going out that the city is going to undertake this work to afford the property owner

[31:16] the opportunity to come forward and to speak to their situation.

[31:19] There also is a need for due process at the time that the bill is sent out if a property

[31:25] owner believes that that bill is not correct.

[31:28] So there are two hearings built into the proposed local law that would afford that process.

[31:34] After that process is concluded and a determination is made as to the correct amount, then the

[31:41] lien would go on to the property if the city has not been reimbursed for this cost.

[31:46] What we're doing is we're proposing to create a new section of the City Charter to which

[31:52] all of these ordinances would feed.

[31:55] They would funnel in so that all of these separate codes would say is, please refer

[32:01] to the City Charter for the procedures so that it does not have to be recited in each

[32:07] one of the codes.

[32:08] And there would be a new section of the City Charter in Section C205 that would

[32:12] be created that would have these uniform procedures with due process.

[32:17] The codes that would feed into that city charter section, most of which have already abatement

[32:24] language in them, are the commercial property maintenance code, the housing standards code,

[32:31] the littering code, the snow and ice removal code, soil removal and excavations code,

[32:41] And the streets and sidewalks code and abandoned vehicles code those are the codes which would all as I say be funneling into this new section of the city charter that would set forth all of the due process standards to eventually lead toward a tax lien if the city were not reimbursed the cost.

[33:02] So with that overview of our streamlining this section and making sure everybody has due process if they're sent to bill.

[33:11] Does anybody want to speak on this topic at this time?

[33:30] Tim Ball, Fremont Street.

[33:33] The list that she just has given, is that going to be, I guess, publicly made up and sent out to the city residents

[33:45] so they can keep a copy of it and they know because, I mean, reading it here in the council and knowing what it is

[33:52] does not really notify the people ahead of time.

[33:56] This way they have a chance to read that thing

[34:00] and know that they're at fault.

[34:02] So if they do get the summons or whatever,

[34:05] they have no complaint.

[34:07] Because I mean, I've been here before and said,

[34:11] where there's people, my wife went to the store

[34:14] with my grandson and one had to walk behind the other

[34:16] because these hedges take up half of the sidewalk.

[34:19] And then I know when you come to the corner properties,

[34:23] if I can remember correctly from being on the job,

[34:27] that they're supposed to be cut down to like 30 inches

[34:31] and cut back something like 30 feet

[34:33] due to children on bicycles

[34:36] or infants running away from their mothers

[34:39] that they can be seen.

[34:42] And not only hedges but stone walls

[34:45] and things of that effect.

[34:46] I just think these things, once they're passed and everything, should be sent out just like you do with your garbage pickup calendar and everything else, so the people know ahead of time, just as being fair.

[34:58] I appreciate that. And what is part of this requirement is that anybody who's getting, who isn't complying, is sent to notice that they need to trim their hedges or remove their trash from their property, pick up the litter.

[35:15] And they're given, I believe, 15 days to respond.

[35:19] And if they don't, then they're sent to notice

[35:21] that the city will send in somebody to do it

[35:24] and will send them a bill.

[35:26] So even if they wanted to claim,

[35:28] I didn't know I had to trim my hedges.

[35:30] They're given a notice asking them to do so.

[35:32] They're not necessarily given a fine.

[35:33] They're given a request to please maintain their property.

[35:36] Then they'll be handed a fine if they don't,

[35:39] or we clean it up.

[35:41] But it's all about neighbors really complaining

[35:45] about unsafe and unsanitary conditions of neighboring properties.

[35:49] And so it goes for sidewalks and the things that you've mentioned, ice that doesn't get

[35:54] removed, et cetera.

[35:56] Hi, Janina Rodriguez again.

[35:59] Question to the Corporation Counselor.

[36:02] Clarification on what you mean by housing.

[36:05] Is that homes that have volleyball courts in their yard and the house is falling

[36:13] down like a couple homes on Smith Street, like 160, 217, for years, 217 is a nice order.

[36:28] I'm telling you, I don't even know how the building is still standing.

[36:31] So if you are proposing to put a tax lien on the owners that do not maintain your property

[36:38] but have immaculate volleyball courts, I'm all for you, okay?

[36:43] However, and put a tax lien on it, because I've complained, I don't know how many years to this city,

[36:47] I've lived in my home, March will be 30 years, and I've been plagued with horrible conditions in my area,

[36:57] and you've done nothing about it, nothing.

[37:00] You just allow them to continue your rec volleyball courts and neglect their homes.

[37:04] The other thing, your resolution, J9, under the article.

[37:12] But you're still on the public hearing on abatements?

[37:14] Well, this is about sidewalks.

[37:16] You mentioned sidewalks.

[37:17] First of all, we don't own the sidewalks.

[37:20] The city owns the sidewalks.

[37:22] So why should we repair, or if we didn't do the damage,

[37:27] let me rephrase that.

[37:28] If you did not do the damage to the city-owned sidewalk,

[37:31] Why should I get a lien on my home for your sidewalk if someone else broke that sidewalk

[37:39] with a truck which has happened in front of my home years ago?

[37:44] I'm going to be responsible to repair your sidewalk, I don't think so, no.

[37:50] And in fact when that other resolution at J9 I have a problem with that because snow

[37:57] Snow and Ice, Resolution J9, it was mentioned before, we'll talk about it later, but Snow

[38:04] and Ice, that's your responsibility because it's your sidewalk.

[38:10] There is city property, I wrote you a letter, prior written notice,

[38:17] a homeowner is responsible

[38:18] for removing the Snow and Ice in front of their home, yes, yes, because then if

[38:25] If someone falls because they didn't do anything about it,

[38:29] their homeowner insurance gets sued.

[38:31] But where does your liability come in?

[38:34] What is your liability come in?

[38:36] We have terrible sidewalks in the city.

[38:39] Terrible.

[38:41] They are owned by you, not a property owner,

[38:45] where their property abuts that sidewalk.

[38:47] Now, I understand that you wanna have,

[38:50] maybe I'm speaking out of turn,

[38:51] but the grass that's part of your J9, you know, can I speak on that or no?

[38:57] No, this is really on the procedures to streamline the abatement process.

[39:01] You're talking about other resolutions we've passed in the past?

[39:05] No, you have not passed J9.

[39:07] You didn't even put it up for, you didn't even, it was supposed to be J9, Section 505.61,

[39:17] We're between the budding property, the grass on each side of the sidewalk, it has to be 10 inches in height.

[39:26] If a property owner does not keep it maintained to 10 inches according to your new laws, then they're going to have a tax lien.

[39:36] That's ridiculous.

[39:39] You don't have a tax lien unless you're not cutting it and the city needs to send somebody

[39:44] in to take care of property that is individual property.

[39:49] Listen, that is absurd, truly.

[39:53] You have a lot of senior citizens, look at me, and I cannot afford a gardener.

[39:59] I'm going to fix income.

[40:00] So if I don't cut that grass that is outside and it's above 10 inches, I'm going to

[40:05] get a ticket? And then if I don't pay that ticket, you're going to put a tax lien

[40:09] on my home? I'm so sorry. No, thank you.

[40:12] Well, no, it doesn't work that way. If you don't, if a contractor has to go in to

[40:18] clean it and you're sent to bill, if you don't pay the bill, the bill does become

[40:22] a tax lien. If you do pay the bill.

[40:24] I'm not going to remit to that, therefore.

[40:26] I understand that.

[40:28] I'm telling you, you have gone too far. You have gone too far.

[40:34] And this is not to be. You understand? It just isn't. It isn't. Because you don't even maintain your parks and cut your grass. It's your parks. Thank you.

[40:58] Let's make a signal for the comment on this matter. I move to close the public hearing.

[41:03] Well, in favor.

[41:04] Aye.

[41:05] Okay.

[41:07] So that's the end of the public hearings.

[41:11] No council members have come and gone, so we don't need to do a roll call again.

[41:16] Madam Clerk, are there any department or city manager reports?

[41:22] We're told that we do have a presentation from the American Legion Post if they would like to do that now.

[41:38] John W. Union Avenue, Pigskill, New York, and the chaplain at American Legion post 274 and Pigskill.

[41:48] I know the mayor isn't going to believe it, but I'm going to be brief.

[41:52] And I thank her. She came by dog sled to the last meeting when we tried to get the heroes to hometown program started.

[42:00] It was during the day of the freak snowstorm.

[42:03] We're trying it again Saturday on March the 3rd and we know that we're going to

[42:10] have a good showing. We've been out beating the bushes. We're having veterans

[42:14] from out of the state area. We're having veterans groups from all over the

[42:21] county. We're having local political figures and we're having Sandy Gallup

[42:28] who's always here to support us. She's here in the room tonight. And we just want to know

[42:37] rather the public understands what's happening and we want to get it across to them. It's

[42:45] happened in this village city of Pigskill in 1944 and it's happening again now. People

[42:52] have hard times. Everybody's got hard times. There's hard luck everywhere. But we've

[42:57] got a homeless population of veterans, for example. It's 20% when there's only 8% of

[43:04] the population of the homeless normally. 20% and a lot of them are women veterans and

[43:10] children and so forth. We've got that problem. We've got the problem of the cutbacks at

[43:15] the VA in so many ways. We've got the frightening aspect of the VA being pulled out from

[43:21] under us, properties and so forth.

[43:24] And we've gotten so many things that are happening

[43:27] that we can't control.

[43:28] We could say, thank God we're out of Iraq

[43:31] and we're gonna be out of Afghanistan,

[43:33] but we're all kidding ourselves

[43:34] if we don't think that five years from now

[43:36] we're gonna have wounded veterans

[43:38] and veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder

[43:41] problem, that's why heroes to hometown commit to being.

[43:45] And it started with that name by the American Legion,

[43:49] But it will fail if it doesn't have the support of veterans groups everywhere, of public and community everywhere.

[43:56] And this is not a canned speech. I was alive when I was here and I was in school when I saw it happen.

[44:04] We've had the same problems. My dad didn't own a car. He was making maybe $16 a week and other guys weren't making much more.

[44:10] at Fleishmans and places around like this and at that time we had wounded veterans come

[44:16] home like Jack Buse and like Jeanne Newman and so forth and this town put together nickels

[44:22] and dimes and volunteer workforces and businesses like Jack Flowers that his people come in

[44:29] and worked on a Saturday and they gave their wages for that day to help to build the

[44:34] house which was a special need house.

[44:36] they did these kind of things and then other people came in and gave their work, their services, they built ramps and everything.

[44:44] We're going to need that kind of thing again.

[44:46] We can't name specifics now. What we want to do is get a committee in place, ready, all of the assets of the community.

[44:54] And the mayor was very kind and followed up by names.

[45:00] Deeming people who are already in the business of servicing the people that really need help.

[45:07] They don't have to be veterans. There's people throughout the community.

[45:10] But they're all going to fold together.

[45:12] But we really want to see the leadership of the community.

[45:16] We want to see the business people and community and so forth come and at least listen

[45:20] and then decide if they want to participate in this kind of a program.

[45:25] That's what we want.

[45:26] Now, the good things that are happening is we're getting these young Iraq, Afghanistan,

[45:33] the Gulf War veterans, joining veterans groups.

[45:36] They didn't used to do this.

[45:37] They used to have to be concerned with their family, their careers and everything.

[45:41] But we're getting them.

[45:42] We've got, you know, I was a little late in the dollar short.

[45:46] I was going to recommend that we take one of the Irish ones we had and make them the grand marshal for our parade.

[45:53] I really think we should recognize the veterans coming home at every public event this year.

[45:58] Somehow recognize them.

[46:00] I really think that would help them to feel like they're really welcomed home.

[46:06] But there's so many things that have to be done, and I'm going to be very sure.

[46:11] We've been fortunate again.

[46:14] We just got a charter in the works, and we're having an auxiliary again in the American Legion and Peace Scale.

[46:20] And you don't have to be an American Legion member if you're a woman, a granddaughter,

[46:25] a daughter, a grandmother, a mother.

[46:28] You can join if your husband or father was eligible to be an American Legion

[46:33] and participated in the service during the times that the wars, declared wars and so forth.

[46:39] We're also forming a Sons of the Legion group.

[46:43] And one of our Legionnaires' sons who's 40 years old is very anxious to get off the ground with this thing.

[46:49] So that's coming to fold.

[46:51] Those people will be involved in these kind of things

[46:53] we're talking about, driving somebody to,

[46:56] you go to Castle Point, they don't have a vehicle

[46:59] going up there when somebody can work

[47:01] and go for treatment later in the evening.

[47:05] But we can get volunteers to do it.

[47:07] We can put these things together.

[47:09] And what we're doing is urging the community to

[47:11] look at it and support it if they feel

[47:15] that it should be supported.

[47:16] we're better than any country in the world taking care of our people and we've

[47:21] got an obligation to keep the covenant with the veterans and their families.

[47:26] Thank you. And so the meeting on the 3rd is to involve the community and talk

[47:33] more about these initiatives that the American Legion post is is proposing and

[47:39] so for anyone who's interested if I remember correctly the meeting is at

[47:44] one o'clock. I think it starts at one o'clock down at the American Legion post for anybody

[47:48] who's interested in going. Okay. If we move to our statements from citizens

[47:53] desiring to be heard, five minutes.

[48:06] The peace issue and the unfair fee you want to put on condo loans for garbage. But let

[48:13] me just ask you a question first. We've had one of the mildest winters in history.

[48:18] Every city of Yonkers is going to save a million dollars on their salt removal and snow removal.

[48:26] How much will peat skills save?

[48:28] Two or three hundred thousand at least?

[48:31] It'll probably be less than two hundred.

[48:34] I'll ask you one question.

[48:36] Will that come back to the taxpayers then?

[48:39] That's for salt.

[48:40] If we didn't buy the salt, then there's savings.

[48:43] If we purchase salt, there is no savings.

[48:46] We have salt for next year.

[48:47] What about the overtime?

[48:48] So we won't know. We've been using our crews.

[48:52] And so there's a whole budget update that we will get to the first quarter to see where we stand financially.

[48:58] So I can't answer those right now.

[49:00] I was going to suggest if you didn't use it for salting, that you could use it to clean up the riverfront green and our parks.

[49:08] So we wouldn't have to get rid of the Canadian geese and peat scale and I'll address that in a minute.

[49:13] But first, I want to address another one of the fine fees and taxes you want to put on

[49:20] us people, because of your egalitarian view of Pete's skill of what you want it to be.

[49:28] You think I like coming here every week, Ms. Forster, recently?

[49:34] I'm putting my house up for renegotiating of my mortgage, and I could lose my house

[49:42] in a year or two because of the continuing fees, fines, and everything else you want to

[49:47] put on people.

[49:49] But maybe one thing you will understand is the number 1400.

[49:56] You won the election by 500 votes.

[49:59] You want to charge people an extra garbage fee who live in condominiums, and the condominiums

[50:06] or Chapel Hill, Green Acres,

[50:11] Hendrick Hills, the Highlands, Society Hill 2, and Society

[50:19] Hill 1. That's 700 votes times 2, 1,400 votes. Maybe you'll understand that the next time,

[50:28] a year and 10 months when you come around to get re-elected. And you too, Ms. Deputy

[50:33] mayor. If she's going to put a fee on condo owners, you're a business owner in

[50:39] downtown Peatskill. You get six pickups, we get one. You should be feed six times

[50:46] what the condo owners are being feed. Don't you agree? Oh, you're silent

[50:53] like you were last week when the mayor and two of the council people were in

[50:57] here. I belong to a Veterans Committee in in in Cortland and if you miss 25% of your meetings

[51:05] according to the bylaws you don't get to vote after that. Maybe you should be a bard from

[51:11] voting at these elections and maybe docked paid too. If the citizens can come out here

[51:16] you can be here for the meetings. In the last three months you had two very important

[51:22] meetings to budget, Ms. Mayer, and you weren't here, but they voted.

[51:26] So you could say it's a council budget, not mine.

[51:29] Well, you know that's not true, because you know a statement was read from me saying I

[51:33] supported the budget.

[51:34] In absentia.

[51:38] So, and I'm urging all those condos, of which I'm a member of one of them, to fight

[51:45] you in court.

[51:46] not to give in, not to pay a private hauler, because will you lay off a bunch of DPW work?

[51:54] You won't, but they'll be picking up 15, 700 less pickups.

[51:59] And you're not going to lay them off? What are they going to do?

[52:02] Maybe they could clean those parks up and you wouldn't step in the goose deal when you get down there.

[52:08] And I do have some big news for you, and I'm going to give a copy to your Corporation Council tomorrow.

[52:15] The vision of migratory birds, the federal government, the Canadian geese and their eggs are a protected species.

[52:27] You cannot kill them. You cannot limit them. So that may be news to you.

[52:32] And if you find people $250 for feeding them, shame on you.

[52:39] People go there with their children to feed the waterfowl on the Hudson.

[52:43] They seniors go down there, it doesn't cost anything.

[52:48] Get your parks department to clean up the Dupieu Park and the riverfront green.

[52:55] And it should be cleaned up more often.

[52:57] There was wood on that from the storm for three or four months.

[53:01] The parks department can use that extra money you got in the snow budget to clean up our parks.

[53:08] And you don't have to kill my little friend.

[53:28] And you need to turn the bird off, George, you need to turn off the bird.

[53:34] Then take it outside in the hall, George.

[53:37] Take him outside in the hall, George.

[53:46] I live in the town of Cortland. I've lived here for 45 years. I was born and raised in

[53:51] Austin, New York. The River Front Green is a place that I take my grandchildren practically

[53:57] every day. I also have a boat on the Hudson River, which I cherish. To eliminate those

[54:04] geese and ducks may even be against the law. I'm very familiar with hunting laws

[54:10] in the state of New York. There's an open season on ducks and geese, migraery birds. You also

[54:20] have to buy a duck stamp besides your regular hunting license. They are a protected species.

[54:29] What would allow to kill these birds other than the hunting season?

[54:34] We're not sure.

[54:34] We'll destroy their eggs.

[54:35] I don't know what you're doing.

[54:36] If you did it in the field, you'd be arrested instantly.

[54:39] We're actually, I don't know where this is coming from. We're not killing the birds.

[54:43] We're not hunting the birds. The school district made a request of the city in terms of whether there were things we could do to help them in maintaining their athletic fields.

[54:52] Can someone please either answer or turn off their phone to help them maintain their athletic fields which are fenced in and are being damaged by the geese?

[55:02] We for years have had a dog chase the geese off the river front green to limit the amount of cleanup that we need to do.

[55:10] But we have not passed any ordinances. We have not put any procedures or practices in place.

[55:16] I do know that on private property there are condominium property managers who in fact do addle the geese eggs,

[55:22] whether they're allowed to or not. I don't know how you tell one goose from a Canadian geese.

[55:27] But it's not a practice that the city has undertaken.

[55:30] There was a discussion between a joint reading between the school board and the council,

[55:36] and the school board made the request, what can we do to help them?

[55:40] And we were having a discussion.

[55:41] And we have not put anything in place that is attacking or killing or geese.

[55:49] But we would like to have a lot less goose poop to have to clean up if we can manage that.

[55:55] So we invaded their territory actually by our population of being here.

[56:01] They were here first.

[56:03] I know they're on the docks down there.

[56:05] I see the docks loaded with it every day.

[56:07] But that's the way it is.

[56:10] Maybe somebody could pressure wash them.

[56:11] Sammy, I know Sammy down there who collects the doles and so on for the entrance of a boat.

[56:17] Maybe somebody could get down there and pressure wash it and teach the kids,

[56:22] that this is the right thing to let these birds hang out.

[56:28] In the FDR Park, they're there.

[56:30] They multiply in the spring.

[56:32] They're just lovely to watch.

[56:34] But let me just say, you have no plans on destroying them.

[56:38] Is that correct?

[56:39] No, we don't.

[56:39] But we've had rules in place about not feeding the waterfowl for decades.

[56:44] And so while they're beautiful to watch, they are not pets.

[56:46] So they're not here for us to feed them, to coddle them.

[56:50] They're not pets.

[56:50] They are wild animals, they may be protected, but we're not killing them.

[56:54] I don't think they'd survive without the people bringing bread down there.

[56:56] Sure they do.

[56:57] You know, some people's salivations would go down there and spend 10 minutes throwing a little food for them.

[57:03] We've gotten rid of the cattails, we've got rid of the marshes, Camp Smith, all the cattails have been destroyed, et cetera.

[57:10] And I think they wouldn't make it if people didn't hand feed them a little bit.

[57:16] Well, actually they would.

[57:18] They would. They're waterfowl. They eat the things that are in the river.

[57:22] And we're not adverse to replanting 12 grasses and things like that

[57:26] along the water's edge. But there's no plans to destroy the geese.

[57:30] What are the plans to limit the geese?

[57:34] There are no plans. No.

[57:37] We've had a door for decades that chases them. And we've had signs for decades

[57:42] that said, don't feed the waterfowl. Nothing is different.

[57:45] Sir, thank you for your time.

[57:47] Thank you.

[57:48] Thank you very much.

[57:49] I just want to say one quick thing in my view that I don't think waterfowl should be fed

[57:54] bread.

[57:55] I don't think that's a normal diet, and I don't think it's good for them to be fed bread.

[58:02] I think, you know, I'm not an expert, but that's my view.

[58:05] Since they don't have natural habitat, if they have the natural habitat, you're right.

[58:10] They shouldn't be fed.

[58:11] Okay.

[58:12] Thank you.

[58:13] but it's gone. Thank you.

[58:25] I'm about tired of coming in here and I know you're

[58:28] tired of seeing me but I'm gonna keep coming okay last time I was here I was

[58:33] very angry and I had the right to be but all that doesn't make my blood

[58:39] pressure go up so it's not worth it. I got a few things I'd just like to

[58:42] address. Same issues as always. Dumber Heights. They put cameras in, they have foot patrol

[58:50] security. Okay? They removed the foot patrol without notifying any of the residents. Now

[58:58] I live there. Nobody told us that security wasn't going to be there. So what they did

[59:03] was they took a booth and built a booth in Bowman Towers, 807 Main Street, and they

[59:08] have a man that works 12-hour shifts and his responsibilities to look at the

[59:12] cameras and Bowman and Dunbar. One man, 12-hour shift. There's something wrong with

[59:18] that. Now I live in Dunbar. For him to see something that happens down there by the

[59:22] time somebody shoots somebody else, if he sees it, if he's not asleep, by the

[59:27] time they get there, the person's going to be dead and the person who's shot

[59:30] is going to be gone. That's not a good thing. This is why my car keeps

[59:34] just getting vandalized time to time again.

[59:36] Nine times, still nobody's doing nothing, okay?

[59:40] Why is Phipps still in office?

[59:43] Why is he still there if he was not

[59:45] no longer our executive director?

[59:47] Every time I come here and speak,

[59:48] you don't even wanna know what happened to me.

[59:50] You know what happened last time I was here, Don?

[59:52] I lost my job.

[59:55] They don't wanna renew my lease.

[59:57] I got 60 days to get out.

[1:00:00] Because of what I said last time I was here, Don.

[1:00:04] Yeah, you're just shaking hands, you know.

[1:00:07] It's so sad and it's pathetic, oh, you heard.

[1:00:11] So what you going to do, Ms. Mayor, as the queen of this city?

[1:00:15] What are you going to do for me? I'm sick and tired of coming in here.

[1:00:19] I try to be nice, but see, when you give me that look like you give me right now,

[1:00:22] that's when I get kind of like ghetto, and I don't really want to do that.

[1:00:25] But it's making me angry because I've been coming here.

[1:00:28] I wrote letters repeatedly.

[1:00:30] I've done everything by the book, and nobody is helping me.

[1:00:35] At all.

[1:00:36] Y'all sit there with this blank look on your face.

[1:00:39] Only one person I think is sincere.

[1:00:41] Drew, you and I have history.

[1:00:42] I don't wanna go there.

[1:00:44] Okay?

[1:00:44] Nobody's perfect.

[1:00:46] Now you got your house and your little positions

[1:00:48] and you forget where you came from.

[1:00:50] What's going on?

[1:00:51] Peace scale used to be a beautiful city.

[1:00:53] This is ridiculous for one person to be going through what I'm going through.

[1:00:57] Every time I come up here and speak, this man retaliates.

[1:01:00] I worked for housing for six years.

[1:01:02] He took my job from me.

[1:01:04] You know what he said?

[1:01:05] Anybody who's on disability can't work after six years, you know, lost your mind.

[1:01:09] Or because I can't be told the truth about what he's doing to me.

[1:01:13] One person and you're allowing it.

[1:01:15] You have the right.

[1:01:16] You have the power to have him out of that office.

[1:01:18] You better do something.

[1:01:20] You better get up off your high horse.

[1:01:21] You want to be queen bee then do something okay channel 12? I wish they would have stayed

[1:01:26] I wish the God they would have stayed

[1:01:29] Somebody's gonna help me. I'm gonna keep coming. I'm not gonna get channels 12

[1:01:33] I'm gonna get channel 7 every TV station in here. So there's somebody can hear my cries

[1:01:39] Somebody's got to help me this I don't have money for a lawyer

[1:01:42] I'm gonna fix income now. They don't want to renew my lease because of what I said the last time I was here Don I

[1:01:48] Keep saying it because you have a lot to do with that. I already know it

[1:01:51] Then I also find it funny that you laughing, you got a lot of nerve, you got a lot of nerves

[1:01:57] sitting there laughing.

[1:01:58] I'm not laughing.

[1:01:59] You got that smirk, you got a smirk.

[1:02:00] That's all.

[1:02:01] I'm going to pray for you.

[1:02:01] But I'm going to say this real quick.

[1:02:03] The last time I was here and I spoke about my daughter's car being vandalized, the

[1:02:07] next day I find it kind of strange that I had a detective come to my house like

[1:02:13] he was investigating, promised me, oh, I'm tired of this happening to you.

[1:02:18] Chief sent me down here to stay on top of things, Ms. Allen.

[1:02:20] That was the first and last time I've seen him.

[1:02:23] That was the beginning of February.

[1:02:25] This is the end of the month.

[1:02:26] He did that to keep me quiet,

[1:02:28] so I went and come in and talk about peace care PD.

[1:02:30] Two below.

[1:02:31] What are y'all doing, man?

[1:02:33] I'm sick of this.

[1:02:35] I'm really sick and tired of it.

[1:02:36] Like this city is so going down,

[1:02:38] and then people look at me,

[1:02:39] oh, I feel so bad, I see you on TV.

[1:02:41] That ain't helping me about feeling sorry for me.

[1:02:43] Help fix my situation.

[1:02:46] That's it.

[1:02:47] Thank you.

[1:02:54] Janetta Rodriguez again.

[1:02:57] The last time I was here was February 14th and I made a promise, not a threat, and I'm

[1:03:06] going to carry that promise out and I'll explain to you, but let me get to some business.

[1:03:12] I know that most of you, when you decided to run for office, that you had good intentions.

[1:03:19] I want to believe that.

[1:03:20] I truly want to believe that every last official in the city of Heatskill had

[1:03:29] good intentions for this city.

[1:03:33] I don't see that now. I can tell the public and you

[1:03:39] need to tell the public the truth. You need to tell them why you are breaching

[1:03:46] contracts with condo owners over garbage fees. Because, I will tell them, do you

[1:03:54] mind if I tell them? I'll tell them. Because the city has pending lawsuits.

[1:04:02] The

[1:04:02] executive director, I believe, you know, you guys have a 50-H hearing or

[1:04:07] something like that. Okay. The director, you support him. He's an officer, the

[1:04:14] the city of Pete's skill, former, okay well then you're not going to defend him, okay we'll

[1:04:25] skip that, don't answer that, but there are lawsuits, there are lawsuits on the books,

[1:04:34] some will be dismissed and a lot will not, the reason that the city of Pete's skill

[1:04:42] has made changes to ordinance, their codes, the city codes, to get extra money.

[1:04:51] The taxpayers, the resident city of Pete's Guild, pays the insurance premiums.

[1:04:55] We pay their salaries. We pay everything.

[1:05:00] So if you don't have enough insurance liability to cover pending lawsuits that won't be dismissed, you're liable.

[1:05:09] But that's passed down to us.

[1:05:11] So you have to get money from somewhere.

[1:05:15] Tell the truth to the people.

[1:05:17] Many people may support you because they may love Tumelo,

[1:05:21] and they may love you,

[1:05:23] and they may donate the rich ones to help get the city out of debt

[1:05:28] because we're turning into a ghost town.

[1:05:32] Just look around.

[1:05:33] Years ago, I used to walk the Main Street home.

[1:05:39] it was filled the area that you want to buy two more parcels for imminent or get

[1:05:46] it imminent domain to build your firehouse Wow firehouse my goodness that

[1:05:56] street was lined with trees and old beautiful homes and what did the city

[1:06:01] do not you not you but the city you're not a fault I don't blame you for

[1:06:07] everything, but you can correct things now and you choose not to. That's what I'm

[1:06:14] I'm I'm upset because you choose not to. You change and twist and bend and amend

[1:06:20] laws to suit yourself and that is got to stop. The thing is you built cross

[1:06:28] her plaza and you took all those beautiful the city did that and they

[1:06:32] They took all those beautiful homes down, wow, now you propose to do the same thing on the

[1:06:38] other side.

[1:06:40] Are you serious?

[1:06:41] No.

[1:06:41] No, no, no.

[1:06:42] I want to allow that.

[1:06:43] I want to allow that.

[1:06:45] And I know that you have to get state approval and that's why you've been with Greg Ball.

[1:06:49] So let me just send that right now, okay?

[1:06:52] You will not be allowed to do that and I will make it where, if I have to, none

[1:07:01] of you will be in office because under Article 13A, the judicial proceedings for the removal

[1:07:10] of public officers by impeachment, all I have to do is contact the governor of New York State

[1:07:20] and complain. And none of you that I complain about will be allowed to work in your capacity

[1:07:26] as you are right now. So play me, okay? Let me tell you that. Play me. I'm going to tell you right now, there are laws to keep you in place. I realize one of you. And since you refuse to remove Tumelo, look, if I got to pay for a lawsuit, then do me the favor. I don't want to see him. He did wrong. Please do right by the people here.

[1:07:56] do right. Don't breach the contracts. There's got to be other ways. I sent you a letter about

[1:08:03] empty lots. You can turn them to parking lots. There's so many things you can do to bring in

[1:08:08] revenue. But you know what? I'm not supposed to address anyone in particular because that's the

[1:08:14] bylaw. So I like to abide by the bylaw. You always break them. But I want to say this.

[1:08:20] When you stopped the progress of the city with having a box store, you really did some damage here.

[1:08:30] You truly did. You truly, truly did.

[1:08:35] Okay. All right. Yes, I will. I'm sorry.

[1:08:38] Now, what I want to give you, and it's only a second, I have two more letters.

[1:08:42] One is under, of course, Article 8, Section 698,

[1:08:48] powers and duties with regulations of two unsafe buildings and abandoned evacuations.

[1:08:55] I would like to see the cove demolished and you know you can do that.

[1:08:59] And you give her the other letters as well.

[1:09:01] And this is a prior notice.

[1:09:05] Okay.

[1:09:05] Thank you.

[1:09:05] For defects.

[1:09:07] Okay.

[1:09:07] Thank you.

[1:09:08] Yeah.

[1:09:08] So do your job.

[1:09:10] Thank you.

[1:09:20] Hello.

[1:09:20] My name is Christopher Burkett from Peace Guild.

[1:09:22] I'm not going to take too long to say what I have to say.

[1:09:25] have to say.

[1:09:30] This, what I got to say is directly towards, he's not here right now, Chief Tumulo.

[1:09:38] He's not here, but Mayor Foster, you are responsible for him. I don't want to say nothing that's

[1:09:44] going to jeopardize my case.

[1:09:49] You know, you've been given these, given the police department

[1:09:53] too much credit for what they've been doing. And back in June 22 of last year, I was arrested

[1:10:05] for something that I didn't do. And I stand here before you to let you know that I am

[1:10:10] innocent. Now, when I go to trial with my case, and hopefully it will be in my favor,

[1:10:22] where these, you know, it's going to add up, you already got some lawsuits right now. It's

[1:10:28] going to add up, because like I said, you know, you guys been, I mean, I've been a long resident

[1:10:35] here, a peace scale, and where these, where these crime had picked place, I mean, it's

[1:10:43] ridiculous. I mean, I grew up down in Bowman Towers, you know, I grew up, I mean,

[1:10:48] I drove taxis too, I drove taxis and where this other crime had took place was of my orphan backers.

[1:10:59] Now, like I said, I don't interact with stuff like that. I never did.

[1:11:05] There's no record of me being out in the streets doing nothing like that.

[1:11:12] But, you know, you guys came to my, you know, came to my church, you know, you've been coming to my church.

[1:11:18] Mayor Foster and Mr. Bennett, you know, I'm a faithful member of Mount Lebanon Baptist Church.

[1:11:24] I sit in the choir, I do security work there, I work in the kitchen, I do all that.

[1:11:29] You know, you got in these courtrooms and God we trust, where's the trust at?

[1:11:34] There's nothing but lies being put on me.

[1:11:37] And, you know, I've been locked up down like the, what's just the, you know, county jail for five days was something that I did not do.

[1:11:45] And you don't know what the humiliation I'm going through and the embarrassment.

[1:11:49] I was a sub-custodian working at the Peace School, the Peace of the School District.

[1:11:53] I cannot work there because of these charges that saw me.

[1:11:57] My hack license got taken away because of these charges.

[1:12:00] So I've been suffering all the time.

[1:12:03] And if you can look into this matter, I mean, it will be grateful.

[1:12:08] Thank you.

[1:12:09] Thank you.

[1:12:18] Darrell Davis, Committee for Justice.

[1:12:21] I want to start by saying that for two years we've been coming here

[1:12:28] asking for your help to deal with a tyrant at the Peaksville Housing Authority.

[1:12:35] The man who is very abusive has no respect for the law and you turn your backs on us.

[1:12:43] You insulted our intelligence telling us you have nothing to do with the housing authority

[1:12:49] and the fact is that you make the appointments and you have a sitting council member on the

[1:12:54] housing authority and the courts have already ruled that you are liable for goes on

[1:12:59] at the housing authority.

[1:13:00] The Thucca Shan Lawson showed that.

[1:13:03] All right?

[1:13:04] So it's time that everybody comes clean.

[1:13:09] You know, I've asked you, I've told you Mr. Phipps was going to get us in trouble.

[1:13:13] And Mary Foster, you backed him and said, keep him there during the interim.

[1:13:17] And it's seven months later and the man is still there.

[1:13:20] You know, as if we're looking for the president of the United States instead of an executive director of the Housing Authority.

[1:13:26] And you don't want to point people to the board.

[1:13:28] And please don't get into the technicalities of the city manager makes the appointments.

[1:13:33] I know that game, I was appointed myself by Mayor Pataki, sworn in by the city manager.

[1:13:41] You guys make the appointments, you make the recommendation to the city manager who

[1:13:45] makes the appointments.

[1:13:46] And you've neglected all of that.

[1:13:47] You pulled back to give Harold Phipps, fired in Asbury Park, New Jersey, suspended

[1:13:54] it for insubordination, sued for sexual harassment, HUD said it was incompetent to give them a

[1:13:59] free reign to gentrify public housing and peak scale.

[1:14:04] And so I asked you two weeks ago, and two weeks before that, and six weeks before that,

[1:14:11] if you knew about the lawsuit that Harold Phipps has dragged the Housing Authority in

[1:14:15] again, another lawsuit, the peak scale Housing Authority is in danger of financial collapse,

[1:14:22] which you want. You haven't lifted a finger to help anybody, poor or of color, but you

[1:14:30] want to get a tax lien if their grass is too high. Is this the government of the people?

[1:14:37] And so I asked you if you knew anything about this new lawsuit and you all said, no, nothing.

[1:14:42] Notice the claim? Nope, nope, nothing. Housing Authority Board meeting, I asked Mr. Phipps

[1:14:48] directly. I asked Mr. Florence directly. Did you get served a notice of claim? Nope, nope,

[1:14:53] nope. Nobody knows anything. You know, so I'll ask you again.

[1:15:00] City council, are you aware of any legal action against the Peaksville Housing Authority?

[1:15:04] And I will say again, no. I still have not received a notice of claim.

[1:15:07] If I am subject to a lawsuit, if I am being called into some lawsuit, I have not received a notice of claim.

[1:15:15] What about, what if you're the corporate accountant, it would go to you, wouldn't it? A notice of claim?

[1:15:20] Yes.

[1:15:21] Did you receive a notice of claim?

[1:15:23] We received a notice of claim last year for an occurrence at the Housing Authority,

[1:15:28] with which the city is not involved, therefore there's been no 50-H hearing on that particular matter.

[1:15:38] An incident at the housing...

[1:15:40] Yes, and I do say it with a straight face because that's not information that's come to the council.

[1:15:47] Was this incident regarding a dose of claim against Harold Phipps?

[1:15:53] I don't remember the nature of what the claim was.

[1:15:56] Let me help you out, sis.

[1:15:58] I am not a sis.

[1:15:59] Okay,

[1:16:02] don't get touchy.

[1:16:04] I can see that you're not a sis.

[1:16:08] I have the notice of claim in my hand and it says that you were served.

[1:16:11] Is that inaccurate?

[1:16:13] I already stated that we received a notice of claim last year.

[1:16:16] Regarding the Peace of your Housing Authority in Harold Fipps?

[1:16:19] I don't remember and I'm not here to be clueless.

[1:16:22] Sex discrimination?

[1:16:24] nation, uh, inappropriate billing, pressuring tenants,

[1:16:29] pressuring employees.

[1:16:31] Is that a document, Mr. Davis?

[1:16:33] You're going to hand it to the city clerk?

[1:16:35] No, I'm not.

[1:16:35] OK.

[1:16:36] Because you have it already.

[1:16:37] I don't have it.

[1:16:38] Let's see.

[1:16:38] Let's see who else got served.

[1:16:40] Your city manager didn't tell you that served?

[1:16:43] No.

[1:16:44] What about Ron Abad, who quit a bluntly two months ago

[1:16:48] from the Pizza House authority?

[1:16:49] He didn't share this with any of you?

[1:16:51] Huh?

[1:16:52] No.

[1:16:52] Really? Nobody knows nothing and you're defendants. The lawsuit, let's see, are any of you familiar

[1:17:00] with a law firm named Sakhala Stern? Any of you guys hear of that?

[1:17:06] Man, I know the law firm, but.

[1:17:08] Why do you know them?

[1:17:09] Because they're a law firm.

[1:17:11] Okay. Well, if you go to their website, they list you as a client, City of Peaks

[1:17:14] Guild.

[1:17:15] Well, not me personally. They may represent matters with the city.

[1:17:18] Let's split hairs again.

[1:17:20] You got caught lying, all right?

[1:17:22] I didn't get caught lying.

[1:17:23] The City of Peace Guild is named on a lawsuit,

[1:17:28] soccer law stoner as a client.

[1:17:30] The City of Peace Guild is listed.

[1:17:32] And nobody knows nothing.

[1:17:34] Your corporation council here is listed

[1:17:36] as someone who got the notice of claim,

[1:17:39] Harold Fipps, William Florence,

[1:17:41] City of Peace Guild, City Manager, and others.

[1:17:44] All right?

[1:17:44] So, stop the lying. That's number one. Number two, does the Housing Authority pay any bills for the City of Peaks Guild?

[1:17:54] For the City of Peaks Guild or to the City of Peaks Guild?

[1:17:57] On behalf of the paid any City of Peaks Guild bills. Has the Housing Authority paid any City of Peaks Guild bills? Mr. Phipps?

[1:18:06] I don't know what that means, but not that I'm aware of. I mean they pay taxes to the city.

[1:18:11] They say the planning department, City of Peekskill, had a bill.

[1:18:16] Has the housing authority paid any City of Peekskill bills or expenses?

[1:18:20] I would have no idea.

[1:18:22] Would you know, Mr. City Manager?

[1:18:25] If you could be specific.

[1:18:26] I'm asking any bill.

[1:18:28] Other than tax bills, I don't know if there's a billing arrangement between the city and the housing authority.

[1:18:34] They have pilot agreements where they pay payments and

[1:18:37] They have trash obligations where the city charges them for dumps or fees, so those are bills that are generated.

[1:18:44] I mean, there are things like that, so if you could be more specific, I can find out.

[1:18:49] No, not at this time, because I've seen some documents that are incredibly disturbing about the behavior of Mr. Phipps.

[1:18:57] Some of it is invasion of privacy.

[1:19:06] Some of it is women being in his office after hours with the lights down.

[1:19:15] Some of it is no big contracts to a company in New Jersey where he's from

[1:19:21] and his purchasing agent wouldn't sign it so he signed it.

[1:19:25] And all of this is documented. You can't change it now.

[1:19:29] Thank you.

[1:19:30] And so I'm telling you that this is your responsibility

[1:19:32] because we warned you and we told you and not only that, I found out that you're implicated in this.

[1:19:39] And you can say what you want, but you're listed as a client of the law firm

[1:19:43] who's defending the housing authority and apparently the city.

[1:19:47] Mr. Davis, the housing authority has paid bills for the city of Peaceville.

[1:19:52] All right.

[1:19:53] Mr. Davis, your time is up.

[1:19:55] Thank you.

[1:19:55] Yeah, I bet.

[1:19:56] Your time is up.

[1:19:58] And if you want to hand a copy of that to the clerk, that's fine.

[1:20:05] Mr. Davis, don't make it early out of water.

[1:20:07] It's the third time I've said your time is up.

[1:20:11] Mr.

[1:20:14] Davis, you're out of order. Thank you.

[1:20:20] So we're moving on to new business.

[1:20:23] We're moving on to new business.

[1:20:25] We're moving on to new business.

[1:20:28] Yes.

[1:20:29] We're moving on to new business.

[1:20:31] Because you got paid and implicated in a whole lot of stuff.

[1:20:35] Actually, that's not true.

[1:20:36] And since Mr. Davis wouldn't relinquish the podium, we're done.

[1:20:40] We're done.

[1:20:40] We're done for two months.

[1:20:42] Let's go.

[1:20:42] Two months you lie.

[1:20:44] So we're done.

[1:20:46] We're done.

[1:20:46] The resolution, J1, it's actually not shut down.

[1:20:50] We said we called Mr. Davis out of order, asked him repeatedly to leave the podium,

[1:20:56] And we are done with public comment. So Resolution J1.

[1:21:03] Madam Mayor, I move to accept Resolution J1 is written.

[1:21:08] Officers, please take care of the noise.

[1:21:12] So do we have a second?

[1:21:13] Do we have a second?

[1:21:15] On the question.

[1:21:16] The cross-cultural connection is applied for permission to hold a Mardi Gras Parade on Saturday, March 3rd,

[1:21:24] Commencing at 5.45 and ending at 6.15.

[1:21:29] All in favor?

[1:21:32] Whatever.

[1:21:32] All right.

[1:21:33] Resolution J2, St. Patrick's Day Parade.

[1:21:37] Councilman Rigger.

[1:21:39] I also want to let you know, yes Madam Mayor,

[1:21:43] I immediately accept Resolution J2 as presented.

[1:21:46] Second.

[1:21:47] Whereas the peak scale, St. Patrick's Committee has applied for permission

[1:21:51] to hold a parade on Saturday, March 10th, 2012,

[1:21:56] commencing at 3 p.m. and ending at 4 30 p.m.

[1:21:59] And whereas the parade will begin on South Division Street,

[1:22:02] proceed down 1st Street, North on Union Avenue,

[1:22:05] East on Central Avenue, North on Division Street,

[1:22:08] East on Main Street, South on James Street,

[1:22:10] West on Brown Street, and ending at the Paramount Center,

[1:22:13] resolve the city clerk, the hereby direct

[1:22:16] and authorized to issue a permit

[1:22:18] to the St. Patrick's Day Committee

[1:22:19] to hold a parade on Saturday, March 10th, 2012, pursuant to the ordinance governing the same.

[1:22:25] All in favor?

[1:22:27] Aye.

[1:22:28] Resolution J3, the Juneteenth Parade, Councilman Torres.

[1:22:33] I accept Resolution J3 as presented.

[1:22:36] On the question?

[1:22:37] Whereas Juneteenth commemorates the date that the slave in Texas learned the slavery had been abolished

[1:22:41] and its oldest national celebrated commemoration of the ending of slavery in the United States,

[1:22:46] The Juneteenth Parade Committee has applied for permission to hold a parade in Salvation on Saturday, June 16th, commencing at 8 a.m. and ending at 8 p.m.

[1:22:55] Resolve at City Clerk B, and she is at the City Clerk B, and she hereby directed to authorize issue of permit to the Juneteenth Parade Committee to hold a parade in Salvation on Saturday, June 16th, 2012, pursuant to the ordinance governing the same.

[1:23:09] Madam Mayor.

[1:23:10] Paul, in favor?

[1:23:11] Aye.

[1:23:11] And so we have a number of praise and concerts coming up. Resolution J-4, the pro-AM ensemble concert street closing.

[1:23:20] Councilman Bennett.

[1:23:22] Madam, may I move to accept Resolution J-4 as presented.

[1:23:24] Second.

[1:23:25] On the question.

[1:23:26] Music students from Peaksville High School, college music students and students from other areas will have rehearsed

[1:23:32] and performed with professional musicians as a member of a collective ensemble, the pro-AM ensemble.

[1:23:38] The Proan Ensemble wishes to perform an open-air concert on Friday, August 24th on North Division

[1:23:44] Street between Main and Park between the hours of 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. Therefore it be resolved

[1:23:49] that the Chief of Police is hereby authorized to close North Division Street between Main

[1:23:53] and Park on Friday, August 24th from 7 to 9 p.m., Madam Mayor.

[1:23:58] Okay.

[1:23:59] Fall in favor.

[1:24:01] Resolution J5, the grant award from Westchester County Youth Bureau for the continued operation

[1:24:07] of the 2012 Advancing Lift Program, Councilwoman Talbot.

[1:24:12] Madam Mayor, I move that Resolution J5 be passed as written.

[1:24:18] Second.

[1:24:19] On the question.

[1:24:22] Resolution J5 is authorizing the Acting City Manager

[1:24:26] to accept the grant award from Westchester County Youth Bureau

[1:24:31] for the continued operation of the 2012 Advancing LIFT

[1:24:36] or lift program. Whereas the County Youth Bureau has awarded the city $45,000 to continue

[1:24:43] this program whereas $45,000 will be allocated to the Youth Bureau for the next three years

[1:24:50] depending on the county appropriation. Whereas the funding will support the continuation

[1:24:57] of a comprehensive year-round program for city youth ages 11 to 14 of all economic

[1:25:03] background and whereas comprehensive program services and activities will reinforce positive

[1:25:10] youth development, including things like team building, positive peer development, communications,

[1:25:17] verbal and written skills as well as community service projects and summer activities.

[1:25:23] And whereas, I guess there's a few more warehouses, whereas other program activities will include

[1:25:28] problem-solving activities, community projects, peer leadership, educational

[1:25:34] enrichment, leadership training, et cetera, and the funding for each participant

[1:25:40] to register for accountability for each funding source and whereas the funding

[1:25:45] requires a match in the amount of $24,231 for a total contract amount of

[1:25:55] $69,231 and final whereas the matched will, the matched will be realized from the youth

[1:26:04] bureau's general operating budgets and now therefore let it be resolved that the city

[1:26:09] manager is hereby authorized to accept the 2012 funding in the amount of $45,000 and

[1:26:15] to amend the budget code 015.7143, project number 0622 to reflect this award.

[1:26:26] Okay.

[1:26:26] Well, in favor?

[1:26:27] Aye.

[1:26:28] And the Youth Bureau, our City Youth Bureau continues to work hard every year to gather

[1:26:33] more grants.

[1:26:35] And the match that is required under this grant is already in their operating budget.

[1:26:40] So we're glad to be able to support these activities for our teens and our youth.

[1:26:45] And the final resolution authorizing extra work authorization number eight for the remediation of peak scale landing councilman McGowan.

[1:26:53] Yes, Madam Mayor, I move to accept resolution J6 as presented.

[1:26:57] Second.

[1:26:58] On the question.

[1:26:59] The Department of Environmental Conservation Extension Certificate and Document Requirements necessitated that our project engineer of

[1:27:10] of cloud harbor associates exceed some of the budget costs

[1:27:14] for final remediation on peak scale landing.

[1:27:17] These costs include construction observations,

[1:27:21] project certification of soil cap thickness,

[1:27:25] payment application efforts and negotiations

[1:27:28] that resulted in a discontinuation

[1:27:30] of groundwater monitoring requirements.

[1:27:33] Overall, the total requested EWA is $23,820

[1:27:39] Because there are still funds available in our state assistance contract, which provides 90% reimbursement for the project cost,

[1:27:48] the total cost of the city after reimbursement is estimated to be $2,382.

[1:27:55] Therefore, the Common Council hereby authorizes the acting city manager or his designee to sign extra work authorization number 8

[1:28:04] in an amount not to exceed $23,820 in order to complete the remediation of peak-scale

[1:28:12] landing.

[1:28:14] The Common Council also authorizes the acting city manager or his designee to take any

[1:28:20] and all necessary steps to effectuate the intent of this resolution.

[1:28:25] I call in favor.

[1:28:26] I did want to make it clear that even though the overrun by the contractor was $23,000,

[1:28:33] We still have money already in our grant account and we get reimbursed under this by 90% so the only cost of the city is $2,300, not $23,000, and part of this extensive work also reduced further monitoring that would need to be done on the site.

[1:28:52] So our overall operating cost will be much lower than had this extra work not been done, so it was well spent.

[1:28:58] So it's funds well spent.

[1:29:00] Before we adjourn, I just wanted to clarify one matter for the viewing public.

[1:29:06] Just because somebody brings an action against the Housing Authority or its staff,

[1:29:11] that is not an action against the city of Peakskill.

[1:29:14] And so the lively debate happening here was all about the fact that if a notice of claim is filed

[1:29:19] and is erroneously filed with the city, it's up to our City Corporation Council

[1:29:25] to appropriately respond, not all such erroneously filed things,

[1:29:28] come to the attention of the counsel, those are handled within the purview of our

[1:29:33] Corporation Council, as would be the norm. The only things that come to us are things

[1:29:37] that actually will result in some potential threat to the city. And so the fact that

[1:29:43] somebody takes an action against the housing authority is not an action against

[1:29:47] the city of Peekskill and there seems to be some substantial confusion about how

[1:29:52] those matters work. So I just wanted to help clarify that over the discussion

[1:29:57] that was happening.

[1:30:00] Are adjourning the meeting for this evening?

[1:30:02] I'd like to make a few announcements.

[1:30:05] On Thursday, March 1st, from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m., the Pisco Youth Bureau and the Juneteenth

[1:30:15] Parade and Celebration Committee is throwing a best gospel concert as a fundraiser for the

[1:30:22] Juneteenth Parade.

[1:30:24] Again, that's Thursday, March 1st, from 7 to 9 p.m. at Peaceville Middle School.

[1:30:31] The Juneteenth Parade itself is Saturday, June 16th, so please save that date.

[1:30:37] And then this Saturday, March—no, not this Saturday—a week from this Saturday, March 10th at 4 p.m.,

[1:30:45] the Park Street AME Zion Church is holding the Life and Legacy of Harriet Tubman.

[1:30:51] Again, that's Saturday, March 10th at 4 p.m. and everyone is invited.

[1:30:56] There will be a musical presentation organized by Brother Doug Smith.

[1:31:02] Thank you.

[1:31:02] And if we, which will be interesting, it's the same day as the St. Patrick's Day Parade.

[1:31:07] So we have a lot going on on the 10th on that day.

[1:31:14] Right.

[1:31:15] And then there will be some events coming up for Earth Day on April 22nd,

[1:31:19] which we'll bring to everybody as well.

[1:31:21] But the weather's been holding out,

[1:31:23] so our calendars are starting to get very busy.

[1:31:26] And thank you, Women Assemblywoman Gaila,

[1:31:28] for being with us tonight.

[1:31:31] So we'll be back in a minute.

Common Council Regular Meeting

Transcript