[0:05] A public hearing tonight is to amend city code, chapter 2, 1, 2, article 3, the code, a city

[0:15] server took a spring, and titled, Senior Citizens Tax Example, I just want to say something about

[0:22] that, Commissioner.

[0:26] New York State passed some legislation for the New York State budget

[0:31] that allows us to increase our senior income tax exemption from 50% up to 65% and we haven't

[0:45] heard from anybody that has disagreed with that and the city would like to adopt that

[0:52] to help our seniors stay in their homes. It would take effect for the next tax year not this one.

[0:59] So that is what this public hearing is about with anyone like to speak concerning that, please step up to the microphone.

[1:08] We will be voting on this tonight.

[1:13] Seeing nobody, we will close the public hearing and we will be voting on this tonight.

[1:19] We'll start our meeting with a roll call.

[1:24] Mayor Saffron.

[1:26] Commissioner Karenan.

[1:28] Mayor.

[1:28] Commissioner Caremati.

[1:30] Commissioner Cole.

[1:32] Mr. Tracy.

[1:34] Supervisor Berger, isn't Supervisor Sondy?

[1:39] You have a quorum, sir.

[1:40] Thank you.

[1:40] Let's try to salute the flag.

[1:44] What do we do?

[1:45] To the flag of the United States of America.

[1:47] To the Republic for which it stands.

[1:50] One nation under the guidance, the individual,

[1:52] with liberty and justice are affordable.

[2:00] We have no presentations tonight.

[2:04] move for the counsel to approve the consent agenda. That's my motion. Is there a second?

[2:09] Second.

[2:10] I'll call the second. Any questions on it?

[2:13] All those in favor say aye? Aye.

[2:16] Any opposed? Aye.

[2:17] Nane? Of extensions that matter pass is five zero.

[2:20] We are now moving into our public comment period.

[2:25] We have some rules here that you can come up rows if you want.

[2:29] That's on the job is the public comment period, it is a period of an opportunity for members of the public to present their views to the city council.

[2:39] Each speaker will have three minutes and may not return to the microphone.

[2:43] The council typically does not respond to comments during the public comment period, but we're always happy to discuss matters with the public at other times.

[2:52] After public comment has concluded council members may address issues raised during the public comment period,

[2:59] request information from staff or direct that an issue be placed in a future agenda.

[3:04] We ask all participants the participants to respect the rules of the columns so that everyone has an equal opportunity to be heard.

[3:11] Speakers may not engage in conduct that disrupts the orderly conduct the meeting or prevents others from exercising their opportunity to speak.

[3:19] If necessary, we do cut off the microphone at three minutes.

[3:24] We welcome everyone here to speak.

[3:27] We're here to listen to what that speaker has to say for that three-minute period,

[3:34] but

[3:35] we do ask, even if you're in the middle of a sentence, we have a little clock that will

[3:39] help.

[3:40] Once that clock, even if we're in the middle, we ask you to stop speaking at that point.

[3:46] Go ahead, go as you want.

[3:52] I'm sorry, I need it.

[3:55] Okay, go ahead.

[3:57] I'm not sorry, I need it.

[4:00] I want to read some of the excerpts from article in the series,

[4:06] I'll be in August 26, and it's found my brother.

[4:13] Title the passing of a friend.

[4:15] They John Frustir, a racing fan, and it was written by Warren Ives, director of public

[4:22] relations at the Saratoga Harness Trail.

[4:26] Members of the Saratoga Racing family lost a friend to the afternoon.

[4:32] His name was Beat John Frustir, also known by racegoers as Mr. Win.

[4:42] Big John had no enemies. He took all kinds of hitting for many people.

[4:51] He was known and almost every eatery in Saratoma's spring.

[5:01] If you needed a favor, John Praster would comply.

[5:05] And the pest number appears there with many great structures, characterized in many novels,

[5:12] Don

[5:21] for a steer of a long steer.

[5:24] The image of a race tracker is changed loads.

[5:27] John for a steer was one of those individuals who helped that change.

[5:33] Every day says his mother's passing,

[5:36] John would visit her parade, say a short prayer.

[5:41] On Tuesday afternoon he parked his car

[5:43] and left the motor running to pay respects once again.

[5:47] Big John passed the finish line saying that prayer.

[5:52] Of course, racing will miss the big bell.

[5:57] John and I were both in our early 30s when the saw occurred.

[6:03] August 26th is etched in my mind.

[6:07] I am heartbroken that I had so much respect for people

[6:13] on this room, on the Council, and the City Attorney, August 26 will be etched in my mind as a day where I was misty, that I was dupped.

[6:35] So I'm going to take a sing from the Bible. Jesus Christ, my Lord, said Peter, you

[6:47] doct me, and I let you doct me, get behind me Satan. And I have some copies of this

[6:56] anyone in the audience wants it. And then we're trying to say, Toby, thank you.

[7:04] Thank you. Thank you. Next speaker, please. You have up to three minutes.

[7:13] Good evening. I'm Rob Kaufland, Greenfield, Avenue, Sertoga Springs, New York.

[7:16] I'm here to discuss the renewal of the Flock contract. I have to admit that the Flock

[7:24] cameras are in effective law enforcement. They truly are. But I think that this body.

[7:30] It has to look at it from a much broader perspective than just that of the leaked law enforcement.

[7:34] You know, I read 1984, 15 years when that was in the future.

[7:39] They talk about big brother and the pillars of that regime were consistently used mass surveillance.

[7:46] And I looked up in Wikipedia. I think it's a reasonable resource.

[7:50] That defines a mass surveillance as intricate surveillance of an entire or substantial fraction of a population

[7:57] in order to monitor that group of citizens.

[8:00] And then they looked up police state.

[8:02] And the electronic police state is state in which government aggressively uses electronic

[8:08] technologies to record, collect, store, organize, and distribute information about its

[8:13] clients.

[8:14] And that is exactly what Flock does.

[8:16] It obtains this information and transmits it to data, data, national database.

[8:22] It is an effective tool for law enforcement, but it also is an effective tool for an authoritarian

[8:28] regime or a wannabe authoritarian regime.

[8:31] And that would be, you know, where a power is vested in just a few people, where it would

[8:36] are not accountable to the public, and there's not a loud, meaningful opposition.

[8:42] Now, and what fundamentally does is eliminates checks and balances.

[8:48] And if I remember my American constitutional history correctly, checks and balances is a founding

[8:55] principle of this country and the mass surveillance and a tool for mass surveillance is

[9:05] the opposite of the founding of that of a founding principle and is opposite to the very

[9:11] concept of who the people.

[9:13] Thank you.

[9:14] Thank you.

[9:15] Next speaker please.

[9:20] You are up to three minutes, sir.

[9:25] Good evening. Thank you for having me here.

[9:27] Glad to see that number. My name is Robert Stromberg. I live in a round lake in Seratoria County.

[9:35] I have this a few things to say.

[9:37] Flock safety says on their website that they have a 96% OCR accuracy.

[9:46] OCR means optical character recognition,

[9:52] machine sees something written, and recognizes

[9:55] the letters and numbers.

[9:57] That's what the license plates have, something written.

[10:00] Now when I was in high school, a 96% grade, I'm a social study as a region's exam, it

[10:07] have been wonderful. But, this 96% accuracy rate leaves 4% error rate, letter by letter,

[10:18] character by character number by number.

[10:21] According to the South August brings transparency portal, 349,443 vehicles license plates were read in the last 30 days.

[10:35] Times 4%, that's 13,178 hours in the data coming in to our database.

[10:49] How does anybody sort out what's correct and what's not correct in those license plate

[10:56] reads?

[10:57] I think that's very tricky.

[10:59] My last point at transparency portal lists a whole lot of different agencies at government

[11:09] that can see our data, including an Alabama, but Blount County Commissioners.

[11:18] That's the government of Blount County, not just law enforcement.

[11:23] Including the city of Sierra Vista, Arizona.

[11:27] That's the city, the city government.

[11:32] I failed to see that there are adequate controls over who can read our data.

[11:37] And I drive to Santa Cruz Springs.

[11:41] You visit to shop, go to a venue for an event I like.

[11:46] I don't like the idea that my vehicle is being tracked.

[11:50] It could be a direct and error.

[11:54] Thank you.

[11:55] Thank you.

[11:57] Next speaker please.

[12:02] Next speaker.

[12:09] You have up to four minutes or three minutes.

[12:11] I'm sorry.

[12:11] Three minutes.

[12:13] Thanks.

[12:13] Thank you.

[12:14] I'm a resident.

[12:16] Sarah Toga Springs.

[12:16] I'm here also to talk about mass surveillance.

[12:20] I've observed the cameras in the city and was at the last meeting and listened to

[12:26] the responses from the commissioner.

[12:28] especially a commissioner call, and the, to me, the crux of this whole thing is the finding the balance between the considerations of privacy,

[12:40] the expectations of privacy of movement, the freedom of movement to attend legal gatherings, for example, to attend a protest to attend churches without being tracked,

[12:55] versus the clear value law enforcement that you gave a commissioner call gave an example of.

[13:04] Lastly, it's also balanced against the risk of abuses and the risks of abuse have been shown to be quite

[13:13] prevalent most directly last week and all of the county senior investigator being shown to

[13:23] illegally or inappropriately, I should say, used the flock database to track a person for

[13:32] personally use, I'll say.

[13:33] There's many other documented cases of that around the country.

[13:38] So, meet for one, I just want to express that to me, the values that are clearly there for law enforcement,

[13:47] don't come close to balancing the downside of it.

[13:51] of control of the data, the data is going to a private corporation that's selling that data

[13:55] to anyone that subscribes to their service.

[13:58] Don't know where the data is going, that data is not audited.

[14:02] They claim that the data that they collect from a sit from a municipality like Saratoga

[14:06] is the property of Saratoga Springs, but that has absolutely no value because they are

[14:13] given full use of the data to sell, resell and use it anyway they like.

[14:18] It doesn't matter who owns the data.

[14:20] It's what they do with the data.

[14:22] Another comment was made that they're only collecting pictures.

[14:25] They're just pictures of license plates.

[14:28] It's not the collection of the picture that's the problem.

[14:31] It's what they do with the license plate.

[14:34] And they build profiles of people's movement.

[14:37] They do these so-called heat maps.

[14:39] And it discourages people from engaging in lawful behavior

[14:46] that I mentioned, going to public spaces, protests and churches of your choice.

[14:53] So I want to express that my concern around the privacy issues.

[15:00] Far outweighed and valued to me as a citizen. I think many others then do the law enforcement values in this case. And I hope Seratoga cancels the contracts so we can properly vet that system and bring it back if it turns out to be so.

[15:17] Thank you. Next speaker, please.

[15:20] I

[15:24] was on Sam Brewer. I have a previously spoken to you at the end of July regarding artificial intelligence.

[15:30] And I'm going to continue that theme this evening.

[15:34] One thing we all have in common is we all have elementary school.

[15:36] We probably did show and tell.

[15:40] So I'm going to pass this.

[15:42] I'm going to supervise your time.

[15:44] I'm going to pass it around and take us an AI accelerator that's about 10 years old.

[15:48] Now, new those go for about $20,000, and for every one of those that Nvidia sells, I should say for every million of those that Nvidia sells, it increases the amount of planetary electricity that we need by a substantial amount by every 2 million of those cards raises the planetary requirement by 1 gigawatt, which is actually you can actually see it on the scale, okay?

[16:13] This is from 2000 to 2025.

[16:17] And you can see the massive rise in electricity consumption

[16:20] that's being caused by the installation

[16:22] of those accelerators.

[16:25] Now, it's one thing to put those accelerators

[16:28] into a data center.

[16:29] And some data centers have as many as 100,000 of those

[16:31] operating at the same time and one location.

[16:34] But what are they doing?

[16:36] It is kind of the other question.

[16:37] And I had made a comment that we're getting to the point

[16:40] where they're so smart, we might not be able to turn them off.

[16:43] I said we were at the point of no return.

[16:46] And in the week that followed Mark Zuckerberg, Bill Gates,

[16:50] Darial Amadi, President Obama, all spoke about this.

[16:54] The three of them wrote essays that were exactly the same

[16:57] length as the essay that I gave you for review.

[17:00] Now, this is where we are right now for debt.

[17:04] So this is, I did use chatGPT to help me out here.

[17:09] I'm trying to figure out when other computers

[17:12] going to be as smart as people. Okay, so I had chat GPT graph out different mammals and basically

[17:20] the processing power of difference. Humans are right here. A data center, like a large

[17:29] $50 million, $100 million data center, had, basically, on a variety of people, 10 years

[17:36] ago. It's very likely that there's AI consciousness in data centers not today. In about

[17:41] five years in 2030, you're going to be able to buy that same capability for ten thousand

[17:46] dollars and put it on your desk.

[17:49] So that's where we are right now.

[17:52] And the reason I'm really, really concerned about this, because the AI models can make biological

[17:59] weapons.

[18:01] They can write viruses on a prompt.

[18:04] And right now, the AI companies will tell you that, you know, their scar

[18:08] rails that you can't do that, but you can download ones with the guard rails stripped off,

[18:13] you can train them yourself, and you can disconnect them from the internet, and they

[18:16] will write this stuff.

[18:18] And this thing that you can buy will print it, and it's not controlled.

[18:23] So I'm going to lead you these charts, I'll pick them up in a few weeks, and thank you for

[18:27] the grant.

[18:28] Thank you sir.

[18:29] There's a little for you to look at.

[18:34] Thank you.

[18:35] Thank you.

[18:36] I'm next speaker, please.

[18:48] I'm Gordon Boyd, 99 State Street, Saratova Springs.

[18:52] I wish to thank Supervisor Berger and Sangvi for recently advancing a proposal at the County

[18:57] Board of Supervisors to have the last call in the bars at 3 AM rather than four.

[19:03] A adoption of this measure would improve public safety throughout the county, reduce the late

[19:07] night brawls, motor vehicle offenses, and will also help the city of Saratova Springs reduce

[19:12] over time and thereby save money.

[19:15] Now, this is something that the county has to do in order for the city to get the benefit.

[19:19] We can't close the bars early on our own.

[19:22] But thanks are also due to Commissioner of Public Safety Tim Call for his public support

[19:26] of Supervisor Berger's proposal.

[19:29] Unfortunately, improving public safety and safety money are not enough for all supervisors in Boston

[19:34] Spa.

[19:35] Because the Board's Public Safety Committee, unfortunately, voted down this proposal

[19:39] on September 1st. The committee chair Scott Ostrander failed to support it. He is the supervisor

[19:46] of the town of Milton, where so many of the Saratoma Springs bar customers reside and to

[19:51] where they drive home after hours of partying in our city. It makes you wonder if he is thinking

[19:56] about the well-being of his own constituents. And there's another person who shares the spotlight

[20:01] of blame with supervisor Ostrander. I refer to the chairman of the town of Milton Republican Party,

[20:06] an individual whose civic responsibility is to support and reelect Mr. Ostrander and to

[20:12] helpfully explain the supervisor's positions to the public.

[20:16] I refer to a Riley Flint, who, in addition to being the Milton Town Republican Chairman,

[20:21] is also the Deputy Commissioner of Finance in Saratova Springs.

[20:25] Mr. Flint lives in the town of Milton, not Saratova Springs.

[20:28] His day job in our city ostensibly includes advising Commissioner Kieranin about the cost

[20:34] of the police department over time that we pay for and how to fit these costs into the upcoming

[20:40] budget.

[20:41] I see Commissioner on Channel 6 that you are concerned about the expenses facing the city.

[20:46] Perhaps you should confer with Deputy Commissioner Flint and C.V. He can prevail on his

[20:50] very own supervisor to help the city hold down the cost of police over time. And while

[20:56] you are at it, Commissioner, you could also save some money by not removing the flock

[21:00] camera contract when it comes up in November. We and no many other people want to feel safe from

[21:08] constant surveillance and also keep our taxes down. Thank you very much. Thank you. Next speaker

[21:15] point.

[21:22] Good evening. This is me and the boss art with the Sarah Tugasprings preservation foundation.

[21:26] We received the revised UDO amendments yesterday, and we are currently reviewing them.

[21:37] We are disappointed that the changes to – there were not significant changes in architectural

[21:44] review districts.

[21:46] It largely is a demolition delay ordinance that will place the final determination of every

[21:53] building that's proposed to be demolished within the hands of the city council.

[21:58] If the city council chooses to move forward with that aspect of the ordinance, I would strongly

[22:04] encourage the city council to wait and do until there's a comprehensive building survey to

[22:11] understand which buildings are contributing architecturally to our gateways or should be designated

[22:18] as part of our historic districts.

[22:21] These buildings should not be designated

[22:23] purely in a reactive way,

[22:26] only when a demolition approval is being put forth.

[22:29] We believe...

[22:30] It should be done, not in a reactive way, I just said that backwards. Great. All right.

[22:39] The designation of building should be done in a proactive way, not in a reactionary way to a one-off demolition application.

[22:47] And so with that, that's all I will say at this time, we will continue to review it and provide our comments. Thank you so much for the opportunity.

[22:55] Thank you. Next speaker, please.

[23:09] Both the capabilities and the threat of AI as a whole have been somewhat overstated.

[23:16] It basically tells people what they want to hear to some degree in analyzes, but without

[23:21] human oversight, it's overreliance is basically a liability.

[23:28] As to the threat, that's as a weak point in that is already been pointed out.

[23:34] The classical amount of power it requires is its vulnerability.

[23:39] If for some reason it did start to get completely out of hand,

[23:43] anything that would shut down the power supply would shut down the AI itself.

[23:50] Old school physics provides plenty of answers there.

[23:55] As to license plate raiders, well, key question is how they're being used.

[24:01] On the front of a police cruise or whistling off, there's air to double-check the data, they can be a life-staving advantage

[24:08] informing them if there is a reason to believe the individual inside the crayavyacle out of them as a threat, if the vehicle's been stolen, etc.

[24:17] On the side of the school bus, they provide an obvious deterrent to people just ignoring that stop sign and a way to hold them accountable if they do.

[24:27] But if they are used to monitor a large area all at once, that's a whole

[24:33] other can of worms.

[24:36] And one that needs to be considered very, very carefully.

[24:39] Thank you.

[24:41] Thank you.

[24:45] But anyone else, like to speak tonight,

[24:51] so we'll close public comment with any of the

[24:55] commissioners, like to respond to, I think tonight.

[24:58] I will respond.

[24:59] Thank you, Mayor.

[25:01] I do want to respond to the flock, the company flock and the license plate readers, and I first

[25:09] wanted to just address Mr. Cofflin.

[25:12] Approximately 10 days ago we had a very large evacuation in our city, and we had to evacuate

[25:19] 110 units from the Raymond Walkins apartment complex, and I was a very, very difficult

[25:24] operation, and our fire department did a tremendous job, and I just want to recognize Mr.

[25:28] confident he is volunteer of the Red Cross and he's stepped up and to help and we certainly

[25:34] do appreciate it.

[25:36] Thank you for that.

[25:39] On the license plate readers are going to go through it and explain my position on it from

[25:44] the beginning.

[25:46] So the first question that comes to mind for me is it a legal technique or is it a lawful

[25:54] and I went back and I looked at the case law, a lot of it's in the courts now, but what's

[26:00] still out to me is a case in Norfolk, Virginia, actually the eastern district of Virginia

[26:05] in January of 2026, folks were suing the Norfolk Police Department.

[26:12] In our opinion, in order set forth by Judge Davis, from the eastern district of Virginia,

[26:18] And I wanted to just read a couple of citations,

[26:21] so people understand.

[26:23] And this is a quote.

[26:25] Flot cameras do not provide information

[26:27] to users about the location of individuals

[26:30] beyond public roadways or outside of vehicles, end quote.

[26:34] Meaning that unlike a cell phone or ankle monitor,

[26:37] they do not quote follow individuals inside building

[26:41] homes or anywhere else.

[26:43] They photograph vehicles on the public roadways

[26:46] with a stationary cameras are located.

[26:51] And there's a second citation that I want to add, and this is on page 3 of the decision,

[26:57] Federal and State Courts analyzing license plate reader claims have almost uniformly concluded

[27:03] that neither taking photos of the license plate of a vehicle on a public roadway, nor maintaining

[27:09] requiring a database of licemplate reader photos,

[27:13] constitutes a warm-lit, warm-lit, warm-lit search,

[27:17] and it gives the citations of collecting cases.

[27:19] In parentheses, collecting cases, demonstrating that nearly

[27:23] every court that has addressed the issue has held

[27:25] that the queries of licemplate reader databases

[27:29] do not constitute Fourth Amendment searches.

[27:33] Now, obviously, as we move forward and technology advances,

[27:36] technology becomes more intrusive. The courts could look at the collection and

[27:41] houses of this information and come to a different determination and that could

[27:45] happen someday, but today is not that day. So that's my position when we look for

[27:50] balance whether it's currently lawful and it is currently lawful. The second

[27:54] issue that we have, we have controls in place, as I mentioned earlier, last city

[27:59] council meeting. Actually, I misspoke. In set of seven policies, we have eight

[28:06] of license plate reader information.

[28:09] They are limited to supervisors and investigators only.

[28:13] We have a user ID and a password for each supervisor

[28:18] or investigator that makes a query.

[28:21] We conduct audits of the information routinely

[28:24] at least once a month.

[28:26] And then the third thing is, are they useful?

[28:29] And I'm glad we agree that they are extremely useful.

[28:32] I gave the example of the less meaning of how we removed the suspected person wanted for a

[28:39] homicide in Connecticut off our streets.

[28:41] We used it in the low-love burglary investigation to track the movements of vehicles, and

[28:46] we even used it in a stocking case in the Skidmore, the Ron Skidmore College.

[28:52] So those are the three factors that form my decision, but I also want the public to know

[28:58] Our contract is not expiring this fall.

[29:01] It is expiring in August of 2027.

[29:06] And I just want to explain that to you,

[29:08] because we were late getting the license plate

[29:11] with the operation, so that pushed the contract backwards.

[29:15] Thank you.

[29:16] I mean, obviously we are concerned about the controls,

[29:20] but we have to have confidence

[29:22] that our police department is functioning properly

[29:26] and following those, and I'm sure you're being sure of that.

[29:30] I do have a comment on AI.

[29:34] It was a conversation I had with our attorney today, and that is,

[29:40] we haven't talked about

[29:41] foils in a while, but I learned today that there are now AI agents that are foiling probably

[29:50] all over the country for information on PEOs and invoices and this sort of...

[30:03] The question comes in and it makes our people respond to give them all this information that I know that they're putting into a national database from marketing purposes.

[30:15] Felt can be abused, and we've finally gotten, we don't hear about our foil problems right now

[30:23] because we pretty much got an under control, but now we're having AI agents, and so we're

[30:28] talking right now about, you know, this is just wrong. But yet, if we get a foil, we

[30:35] have no choice but to answer it. And so it's an AI is creating a whole different level

[30:43] problems for us. So I just want to make you aware of that as we look into this more.

[30:48] We have looking for all outstanding bills and any department anything and it's meant for them

[30:55] to sell the information to the collectors. Yeah they're using a foil to collect data that they're

[31:02] going to use for their own marketing purposes. It's a very scary thing and the only way you can do this

[31:09] with an agent. You don't have 300 people calling every community asking for the, you know, presenting

[31:15] these foils, but you can ask an AI agent to do that quite easily. Interesting, aren't it?

[31:21] It's legal. Okay. But they list.

[31:22] So our public comment. Now, we do have an executive session tonight and I'm going to, we

[31:29] shouldn't be very long if you want to hang out. It shouldn't take us too long. I moved

[31:34] at the Council on the Goons and Executive Session regarding the matter of going as Hill,

[31:39] Inc. at all the verses, sir took spring planning board to talk about a proposed settlement.

[31:45] Is there a second?

[31:46] Second.

[31:47] Colors a second.

[31:48] All those in favor say aye.

[31:50] I will be in this room for just a few minutes.

[31:56] We're back in.

[31:57] We're back in.

[31:58] We're back in.

[32:00] We're back in.

[32:01] Okay.

[32:01] Thank you for your patience, everybody.

[32:04] We will be adding in the agenda item to my agenda to settle this issue between

[32:15] Boynes Hill and Sir Tuckers, Frank Kleinburg.

[32:18] Did you want to?

[32:21] Yes, sir.

[32:22] This is a matter of the spend.

[32:23] I'm going into the course for a number of years.

[32:26] I've involved a party that, because of the planning, but they suit an planning board

[32:30] application over several years, our outside council,

[32:35] and Minulmanics, has appeared for us on behalf of the Planning Board,

[32:39] and on behalf of the other city employees and personnel

[32:41] who were named in the caption as Defendants.

[32:45] It was after a mediation session,

[32:47] but a month or so ago, the resolution was proposed,

[32:50] another planning board meeting was held to review the application again,

[32:55] a planning board issued a decision that the plaintiff in the case,

[33:00] approved of, they were fine with it. And as a result, the signing of this settlement will settle

[33:06] all the cases against the city and any pending cases against city personnel by this individual

[33:11] will be dismissed. Okay, so I'll make that motion on my agenda when we get to it.

[33:18] So we move on to county supervisors who provides a burger.

[33:21] Well, yes, good evening. Thank you, Mayor. The first item on my agenda, I wanted to give a brief update

[33:27] on the county's horse racing, fire safety and prevention committee.

[33:32] We met again last night and at last night's meeting we approved our first set of recommendations

[33:36] for barn structures at New York State racetracks. This is a huge milestone in our meetings

[33:43] because we're actually making some significant progress in this topic. I think probably the most

[33:49] media of our focus areas as it involves state code.

[33:55] Just give you a couple examples of recommendations that the committee made.

[33:59] One, the committee recommended that fire resistant,

[34:02] resistive treatments be used on all barn structures in the

[34:05] York State, the race tracks.

[34:08] Two, there's a requirement for fire suppression.

[34:11] Either automatic sprinklers or an alternative fire protection

[34:15] systems such as water mist or non-toxic sprays, we're recommended as well. I intend to

[34:22] be sending a letter to the New York State Gaming Commission later this week, including

[34:26] the full set of recommendations that were voted on last night, and then we will continue to

[34:31] move through the other focus areas in the coming weeks. Item number two on my agenda is that

[34:37] today at the county board meeting, the county board voted to set a public hearing on a proposal

[34:44] to ban cradum and serve the sale of all products containing cradum and cradum itself in

[34:50] Saratoga County. The public hearing will be held after the large finance meeting on October

[34:58] 14th at 430 p.m. at the Saratoga County Board of Supervisors, 40 McMaster Street,

[35:04] Pulse and Spa. It's interesting because in the last couple of weeks since the last city council

[35:09] meeting when we discussed this, we've received an incredible number of emails from the public

[35:16] from people all over the country, all over the state on both sides of this issue that

[35:21] agree that the product, that the product should be banned, some people feel that the only

[35:26] this synthetic product should be banned and not the natural leaf cradum.

[35:30] It seems to be a rather complex issue and I just want to raise this up to the public

[35:34] and to the city council so that people are aware that there is a public hearing set in October and if people have further comments to send them along to the CERTA County Board of Supervisors in the meantime.

[35:48] Number three on my agenda, I wanted to just just just quick announcement that CERTA County is hosting a 2027 kickoff for the 250th anniversary of the battles of CERTAuga.

[36:02] This will be held Friday, October 9th at 10 a.m. at the Board of Supervisors meeting

[36:08] room in Balson Spa, and you can RSVP for that event to the county historian.

[36:14] Thank you very much.

[36:14] That completes my agenda.

[36:16] I have some prizes on me.

[36:20] Yeah, I think Supervisor Burger, colored most of what happened today, we did pass the local

[36:29] law number 5, print number 1 of 20, 26 in title, local law authorizing full property tax exemption

[36:36] for certain 100% permanent and total service disabled veterans. So that did pass unanimously.

[36:47] And I know that the city is also considering something I had a conversation with Commissioner

[36:53] choice you about it, and again, available for any questions or discussions.

[37:01] Thank you.

[37:02] Thank you.

[37:03] And to my agenda, so I moved to Ed and agenda item, that's my motion, is there a second?

[37:12] Second.

[37:13] All those in favor say aye.

[37:17] Now I make a motion to accept.

[37:24] How do I put it so accept the?

[37:26] It would be to accept the proposed settlement.

[37:30] Regiment in the matter of.

[37:32] Wina's Hill's innρίance of public police service, planning board at L. s. presented.

[37:37] That is our... did you get that?

[37:40] got that? Is there a second?

[37:42] Second?

[37:43] Second?

[37:44] Turn in any discussion on this? Will you say it.

[37:47] So, all those in favor say aye.

[37:49] Aye?

[37:50] Aye.

[37:50] And you're posed saying aye.

[37:52] Nope, extensions that matter past is 5.0. Thank you.

[37:55] Next is a update from the chair of our commission, our charter commission, Vince DeLean

[38:09] Addis.

[38:11] Go ahead.

[38:14] Thank you.

[38:15] Good evening, Mayor.

[38:16] Commissioners, supervisors.

[38:19] Vince DeLean, orders on the chair of the charter review commission, and I would just

[38:23] to take a few minutes this evening to provide an update and to address the determination that was

[38:28] made last week by the County Board of Elections. As you know, the County Board of Elections

[38:34] is comprised of two election commissioners, commissioners, Sarata, and Commissioner Begramian

[38:39] and last week they indicated that they were split or divided in their decision to place our proposed

[38:45] amendments to the city charter on the ballot for this year's election in November. As there are

[38:51] only two commissioners, it is necessarily requires both to agree in order before a matter

[38:57] to be placed on the ballot and they both could not agree.

[39:01] As I understand it, Commissioner Sarada was in favor of placing our proposals on the ballot,

[39:06] but Commissioner Benjamin was not.

[39:09] The issue ultimately boils down to a conflict that exists between two separate provisions

[39:13] of state law relating to the timing and the submission of ballot questions, and specifically

[39:19] the conflict between the municipal homeral law and the election law. Last year, when Mayor

[39:25] Stafford established the Charter Review Commission, he did so, and accordance with the

[39:30] provisions of Section 36 of the Municipal Homeral Law. Section 36, governs not just the

[39:37] creation of a Charter Review Commission, but also the organization and operation of a commission,

[39:43] and the specific timelines under which they are legally required to finalize and file their work with the office of the city clerk.

[39:55] Section 365B mandates that a charter review commission provide for submission of its proposed charter or amendments,

[40:03] quote to the electors of the city at a general or special election held not earlier than 60

[40:12] days after the filing thereof in the office of the city clerk. The section further provides

[40:17] that quote, if such general election occurs within 90 days after said filing, the proposed charter

[40:26] or amendment shall be submitted at such general election. The municipal homeeral law creates a specific

[40:32] 60 to 90 day window before the general election for the commission to file its work.

[40:39] And if it is filed during this 60 to 90 day period, the proposal must be placed on the ballot.

[40:47] The election law, on the other hand, establishes general transmittal requirements by which the

[40:52] city clerk must transmit certified copies of the proposed ballot question to the county board

[40:58] elections. Section 4-108 of the election law had historically required the clerk to forward

[41:06] ballot proposals at least 36 days before the general election, and this operated in harmony

[41:13] with the municipal homeral law. Using the date of this year's general election of November

[41:18] third, as an example, under the municipal homeral law, the commission would be required to

[41:24] is work with the city clerk between the dates of August 5th and September 4th in order to be within the 60-90 day window.

[41:34] The city clerk would then have until September 28th to transmit certified copies to the Board of Elections to be consistent with the 36-day requirement.

[41:44] These timeframes worked and were consistent with each other.

[41:48] However, several years ago, the legislature amended section 4-108 of the election law to align with the Federal Move Act, relating to our overseas military members, and they extended that 36-day requirement for the City Clerk to transmit certified copies to, quote, at least three months prior to the general election.

[42:09] In making this change, though the legislature did not make a corresponding change or adjustment to the 60 to 90 day requirement of the municipal home rolloff, creating a clear conflict and inconsistency between the two laws.

[42:25] So if we again use the date of this year's general election of November 3rd, the city clerk is now required to submit certified copies of ballot proposations to the Board of Elections by August 3rd

[42:38] to comply with the three-month requirement of the election law.

[42:42] But under the municipal home rule,

[42:44] the commission is required to file as proposal with the city clerk

[42:48] no earlier than August 5th,

[42:51] and no later than September 4th in order to comply with the 16 and 90 day filing requirement.

[42:57] In other words, and as our city attorney noted,

[43:00] previously in his correspondence to the Board of Elections,

[43:03] the election law now requires the city clerk

[43:06] to transmit to the Board of Elections something which the Municipal Homeral Law does not yet even require the city clerk to have.

[43:16] In amending the election law and not providing for a corresponding amendment to the Municipal Homeral Law, the legislature created a conflict,

[43:24] rendering it structurally and legally impossible to comply with the timing requirements of each law.

[43:30] conflicts or inconsistencies between provisions of state law are, unfortunately, not as uncommon as one would expect.

[43:40] Fortunately, the legislature, at least thought well enough to contemplate that there could be such a possibility,

[43:48] and it expressly included provisions in both the municipal homer law and the election law, to address which law prevails in the event of such an inconsistency.

[43:59] In fact, municipal homeroleau at Section 366G provides quote, the provisions of the election law or any other law relating to the submission of questions at general elections so far as the same are applicable and not inconsistent herewith shall apply to a question submitted.

[44:19] Election law, section 1-102, likewise provides, quote, where a specific provision of law

[44:27] exists in any other law, which is inconsistent with the provisions of this chapter,

[44:34] such provision shall apply.

[44:37] Here, the legislature clearly and expressly designed the municipal home

[44:42] law to supersede the election law. And it clearly and expressly designed the election

[44:48] law to be superseded by the municipal homer law in the event there is an inconsistency

[44:54] between the two provisions and there is clearly an inconsistency between the two provisions.

[45:00] The clearest indication of legislative intent is always the statutory language itself, when you give effect to its plain meaning.

[45:09] Here, the provisions of both laws expressly state that the election law must yield to the conflicting timing and procedural requirements of the municipal homer law.

[45:19] And there is no question that the submission by the Charter Review Commission was in full

[45:25] conformance with the timing and procedural requirements of the Municipal Romeral Law.

[45:31] That Commissioner Bragrimian relied on the inapplicable and superseded provisions of the

[45:36] election law to block our legally valid proposal from being placed in the ballot is unfortunate.

[45:43] She could have, and I would argue, should have consulted with her own county attorney and such

[45:48] issue. Instead it appears that she relied on the opinion of a local, political, party chair.

[45:56] The only recourse against the Board of Elections would be the commencement of an action

[46:00] in Sirator County Supreme Court requesting an order compelling the Board to perform their

[46:05] ministerial duty in place the proposal on the ballot. While we believe that such an action

[46:10] would have merit and would be warranted, we do not feel it is appropriate to ask the city

[46:16] or the taxpayers to incur the necessary costs associated with such an action.

[46:22] The Charter Review Commission's proposal could also be moved to a special election.

[46:28] But again, we do not believe this is the best court to take given the costs

[46:32] and the low voter turnout that typically comes with a special election.

[46:36] Instead, we believe it would be most appropriate to work toward placing this matter

[46:41] on the ballot for next year's general election, and we would ask the mayor to consider

[46:46] establishing a commission under section 36 of the municipal home roll-off utilizing the members

[46:52] of the current commission to allow it to continue its work. The charter commission has already

[46:58] provided for the most significant updates and improvements to our charter that has occurred since

[47:03] it was originally adopted some 25 years ago. Between local law number 4 and local law number 5

[47:10] of 2026 more than 40 amendments that were proposed as part of our phase one work have already

[47:17] been implemented. The amendments proposed as part of our phase two work and which are intended

[47:22] to be placed on the ballot for voter consideration are meant to further strengthen and improve

[47:28] our existing charter provide for organizational upgrades increase transparency and accountability

[47:35] and be completely a budget neutral.

[47:38] Moving the ballot question from this year's general election to next year's would simply allow

[47:44] for greater opportunity for the commission to inform and educate the public on those proposed amendments.

[47:50] And while it is unfortunate that the divided board of elections prevented the public from having the ability

[47:56] to decide this important ballot issue this year, we should make sure they do not do so next year.

[48:02] And in that regard, we would also ask that the City Attorney, who was also legal counsel

[48:08] for the Charter Review Commission, seek an opinion and clarification from the Attorney

[48:12] General's Office on how to address the conflict that clearly exists between the election

[48:17] law and the municipal home or law to ensure that this issue does not repeat itself next

[48:23] year.

[48:25] Thank you.

[48:25] I don't know if there any questions.

[48:26] Thank you.

[48:27] I don't think I can do it until I have to do the election.

[48:31] I'm definitely taking that under consideration.

[48:34] Yeah, it's a thing that happened.

[48:37] Yeah, I'm going to say it is quite unfortunate.

[48:39] I know you guys did a lot of hard work on this.

[48:42] And I appreciate and respect your recommendations,

[48:46] and especially if the city attorney could reach out to the attorney general

[48:49] just to get clarification on the conflict between the two laws

[48:54] is I think what I'm very important to do.

[48:57] So, thanks for that explanation.

[49:00] We need to get that on the record.

[49:02] Can you send that to us so I could just have it with my charter?

[49:07] What you just read, so I can just keep it with it with all my documents.

[49:11] Thank you.

[49:11] I will say as the city clerk, I was really disappointed in the fact that

[49:18] literally the exact rule that they used to fight the supervisor issue,

[49:24] which I agreed to say let's compromise on they use the exact opposite argument using that

[49:32] same municipal home rule law to then fight this. And I find that rather ironic that they

[49:37] decided to use the same municipal home rule and in one case said oh no the city municipal

[49:44] home rule charter trumps the county and then fast forward three months and we're using the same

[49:49] argument, just the other side of it, to argue why we can't, why ours doesn't stand up against it.

[49:57] I was really disappointed.

[49:59] Well, it's not a new record.

[50:00] And the claim that it was not transparent because everything was open.

[50:04] And if I may, I would also like to add that several years ago, I served as a member of a Charter

[50:10] Review Commission.

[50:11] I know how much work it is.

[50:13] I know how much effort you guys have taken in doing this work, and it must be very disappointing

[50:19] that this outcome has taken place, I just wanted to thank you for all the work that you did.

[50:26] Thank you, Commissioner.

[50:26] Very much.

[50:27] Thank you.

[50:28] Mr. Mayor, can I see something to...

[50:31] I served with B.K. on the charter review commission, so I do know how much work it is.

[50:36] And really appreciate all the effort that you all have put in,

[50:39] especially with Facebook and Facebook and all of that.

[50:42] And just the point of clarification,

[50:45] And if you had submitted the stuff before August, what is a third, then there wouldn't

[50:53] have been an issue of the election commissioners, Serrada, and back Romanian, back, the

[51:00] great.

[51:00] The Grameian, even having to have any input, right?

[51:05] That would have then been compliant with the election all, but it would have been outside

[51:09] of the dates that were set forth in the municipal homeral law.

[51:12] We had to bring one tour placement on the ballot.

[51:15] The municipal home will always pretty clear that it has to be filed within that 60 to 90 day window.

[51:21] The 90 day period brings it to us far out as August 5th.

[51:25] The three month window, because for some reason they decided to use a month calendar instead

[51:31] of a day calendar, but three months does not equal 90 days.

[51:34] You have multiple month 30, one days.

[51:36] So that brings it to August 3rd under the election law.

[51:39] We couldn't have filed until August 5th under the municipal home roll-off.

[51:43] And when was it actually filed?

[51:45] August 28th, but keep in mind under the municipal home roll-off, we had until September 4th.

[51:50] Right, so if you had filed it, August 3rd and 5th, it may have passed without them.

[51:55] It does not necessarily mean it would have been correct.

[51:57] I know other municipalities have done this and got it on the ballot, but there is a clear conflict between the two laws.

[52:04] And when there is that conflict between the election law and the municipal home roll-off,

[52:08] you have to look at the legislators intent on which of those two laws prevail and the language

[52:13] in both of those laws are clear and on ambiguous that the election law yields to the municipal

[52:19] rule.

[52:20] This is again very sad, very sad, and political, thank you, yes, thank you very much, let me give you

[52:29] I'm a...

[52:30] Next agenda item.

[52:34] I move for the council to approve the re-departments request to pay an invoice for $49.31 national landscaping, and long that is my motion, is there a second?

[52:54] Okay, so I've made my motion in a curmati second.

[52:58] Thank you.

[53:00] This is a hydro-seed project that Wybel Avenue is coming to the Council for approval because

[53:05] when the service was rendered, and invoice was not provided.

[53:09] Any other discussion?

[53:11] All those in favour say aye?

[53:13] Any opposed?

[53:14] Aye.

[53:14] No abstentions?

[53:16] It may have passed its 50.

[53:18] On to I move that the Council of Proof of Payment of an invoice from Fitzgerald Morris Baker

[53:24] in the amount of $540, that's my motion, is there a second? Second.

[53:30] Sure, I'm out of seconds. This invoice requires counsel approval

[53:34] due to the work being performed prior to the purchase order being issued any other discussion.

[53:41] All those in favor say aye, aye, any opposed say nay, abstentions, aye.

[53:46] Next, I move for the council to approve pavement on invoice from

[53:54] him and stop in the amount of $3,029.60, that's my motion, is there a second?

[54:02] Second.

[54:03] I have a second from Kiran.

[54:07] This invoice again requires council approval due to the work being performed prior to

[54:12] purchase order being issued, any other discussion?

[54:16] All those in favor say aye, aye, any opposed say,

[54:20] nay, no abstentions, five zero.

[54:23] Okay, so next is I move for the council

[54:26] to accept the conveniences for the Liberty Housing Project

[54:29] as required by the Liberty Site Plan

[54:32] and attached to the agenda.

[54:34] That is my motion, is there a second?

[54:37] Second.

[54:37] Second is Kiranan.

[54:39] The site plan approval for the Liberty Housing Project requires the following.

[54:45] A conservation easement over 16 plus acres for the

[54:50] lot of liberty will retain for passive recreation purposes

[54:54] and to indeed in the city for three plus acres that the city can use for future recreation

[55:01] and the other discussion on this.

[55:04] those in favor say aye aye and you post aye aye nor extensions

[55:09] out of passes five zero. Next I these next are hospital issues.

[55:17] There's two of them. I move for the council to review a proposed amendment to the

[55:21] Saratoga Hospital PUD at 211 Church Street and to request advisory opinions

[55:28] from the Saratoga County Planning Board, the City Planning Board and the DRB is

[55:34] second.

[55:36] I have a second from Cole.

[55:39] This is a Miracle Review.

[55:41] The hospital proposes to add the two adjacent parcels purchased from the Spine Center

[55:47] in the corner there to the PUD.

[55:50] The are currently zone office medical business district that's 31 at 35 Murdoch Street.

[55:56] The hospital seeks modifications to build a parking structure in zone E6 where parking already

[56:03] exists, and it proposes language throughout the PUD to simplify and clarify various provisions.

[56:11] That's my discussion.

[56:12] Is there any other discussion on this?

[56:15] Well, those in favor say aye.

[56:17] Aye.

[56:17] Any opposed?

[56:18] Aye.

[56:18] No abstentions.

[56:19] That matter passes.

[56:21] Five, zero.

[56:22] Next.

[56:24] I move to initiate a coordinated secret review for a proposed amendment to the Siratoga Hospital

[56:31] PUD and seek lead agency status for the environmental review of the proposed action.

[56:39] That's my motion.

[56:40] Do I have a second?

[56:43] Second.

[56:44] Second was coal.

[56:45] We good on it?

[56:48] This is a type one action.

[56:50] The involved agencies will include the planning board and the DRB.

[56:56] That's my discussion.

[56:57] Is there any other discussion in this?

[56:59] All those in favour say aye, aye, any opposed say nay, no abstentions, that matter passes 5-0.

[57:07] The last item is to set a public hearing, and I have some words to add to this.

[57:13] For local law number 6 of 2026, which amends the unified development ordinance articles 3-4-13-19-21 relative to land use board procedures.

[57:25] We will have that, that's something that we haven't, our next meeting starts at 6, right?

[57:34] For that compaget?

[57:37] But so we'll start this public hearing when you're done.

[57:45] I don't know how that works.

[57:46] Is it the answer?

[57:50] Okay, so next meeting starts at 6, because when I have a budget review,

[57:55] Um, I'm presenting the conflict.

[57:57] Is that anything?

[57:59] Okay.

[58:00] So, what'd you say?

[58:03] So, we will hit.

[58:07] So, Tony, should we just started at seven,

[58:09] so everybody knows we're starting at seven.

[58:13] Yeah.

[58:13] Let's do that.

[58:14] All of our legalists read at this time

[58:17] or assume they're after us,

[58:19] the matter can be reached.

[58:20] Well, I think in this case,

[58:22] it's important that a lot of people might talk,

[58:23] so let's start at seven.

[58:25] Or because if the confide you go ends earlier we just wait till 7 and if it goes later

[58:33] then it's as early as I would say I was just leave that language in there because that's a good

[58:38] catch all language vote. But so you can start at 7 and say at 7 or a suit there after

[58:43] is the matter can be reached.

[58:44] All right. So we'll do it at 7. So I have some words on this that I'd like to cover

[58:50] There's four areas. I'm going to talk about the scope. I want to talk some of our advisory opinions. I just want you to all be aware of what we've gone through already a timeline and then some thank you

[59:05] So I'm just going to read this. I'll take me a couple of minutes the city council establishes the city's land use policies and regulatory standards through legislation

[59:14] including the unified development ordinance, the UDO, the city's zoning ordinance, the city's

[59:21] land use boards administer those regulations and apply the standards established by the city council

[59:27] to individual applications.

[59:29] This amendment proposes no change to the stated purposes of the historic review or architectural review.

[59:37] This is a text amendment, not a map amendment, but there are no boundary changes to either

[59:42] overlay district. The authority and duties for the design review board have not changed except

[59:48] for the addition of reviewing the hardship appeal. The amendment targets the land use

[59:54] application, the land use application review process and intends to clarify.

[1:00:00] My procedures reduce delays, organize standards, and create a more defensible review framework. The changes

[1:00:07] also address comments received in 2021, from ship o, which is the State Historic Organization,

[1:00:16] to improve the designation procedure and address the lack of an appeal procedure. The council,

[1:00:23] This is our advisory.

[1:00:26] The council are a number that we requested advisory opinions from the city, the county planning boards, the DRB, and Shippo, as required for an amendment of the UDO.

[1:00:37] In July, we received those advisory opinions and their comments have informed the changes in the final draft.

[1:00:43] The reviews from the county planning board, city planning board, and Shippo were generally supportive of the UDO changes.

[1:00:50] Although the DRB advisory opinion did not support the amendment, the board supported several major elements of the amendment in clarifying review procedures as standards.

[1:01:02] The DRB's concern focused on the proposed demolition procedure for the architectural district and on the council and the council appeal procedure.

[1:01:12] We believe the final draft addresses the DRB's concerns and others who have expressed similar opinions, such as the Saratoga Springs Preservation Foundation.

[1:01:22] The DRB also provided many other detailed comments which we have incorporated into the final draft.

[1:01:28] The city's special use council, Miller Manic Shacker and Hepter, has worked with us during this process.

[1:01:36] Their role is not to provide an opinion on merit or policy. They provide us legal guidance.

[1:01:41] We have also asked Shippur to send us their comments on the final draft.

[1:01:47] The timeline, the public hearing will be held at the City Council meetings on October 6, in October 20.

[1:01:53] The final drafts of these articles are posted on the website and attached to this agenda.

[1:01:59] We encourage the public to read the final draft documents.

[1:02:03] Once the public hearing is closed, the council will complete the secret type one action,

[1:02:08] followed by the vote to adopt local law number six.

[1:02:12] I do want to thank that this has been a collaborative effort.

[1:02:15] I want to thank a few people that share the planning board and the DRB.

[1:02:20] have given even more of their volunteer time to work with our team, and have done valuable

[1:02:27] and constructive feedback directly on behalf of the boards.

[1:02:31] We've also had productive discussions with our city historian, Matt Feach, and with Samantha

[1:02:38] Botzer, the preservation foundation, and we appreciate their time and expertise.

[1:02:44] And we have worked closely with our CLG coordinator at Shippo, the state, the Francis's person we talked to there.

[1:02:53] It was been fully engaged with us in delivering how best to solve these problems for guidance continues.

[1:03:00] This work on the amendment has energized the city's efforts to have a more active preservation program,

[1:03:06] and we believe it advances the recommendations from the city's 2001 historic preservation plan

[1:03:13] and the 2015 comprehensive plan and finally I want to thank our staff who handled the work

[1:03:19] associated with this amendment while continuing to manage heavy volumes of land use and permit

[1:03:24] applications. They are the professionals who work with our land use boards and the applicants

[1:03:30] to administer and comply with the regulations of the UDO. Thank you. We'll move on to accounts.

[1:03:36] Thank you.

[1:03:39] Our first item is to set the public hearing of ordinance to amend Chapter 212 Article

[1:03:49] 5 of the Code of the City of Saratoga Springs entitled Veterans Tax Exemption.

[1:03:55] New York State passed legislation in the 26 budget that allows taxing authorities to adopt

[1:04:01] a 100% exemption from the assessed value of property, along with special districts for our

[1:04:07] disabled or OBGT veterans.

[1:04:13] The office is fully aware of any questions.

[1:04:17] It is a complicated as many to can tell you as well.

[1:04:20] It is a complicated exemption for sure.

[1:04:23] In summary is the following criteria would apply for this exemption.

[1:04:28] You have to meet either one or two.

[1:04:32] The first is released or discharged from service under honorable conditions.

[1:04:36] or have one of the following qualifying conditions where any service discharge or release was other than bad conduct or dissonable.

[1:04:45] That would include post-traumatic stress disorder, traumatic brain injuries, military sexual trauma or have been discharged as an LBGT veteran.

[1:04:54] And then you also must have item three.

[1:04:58] You must be considered by the United States Department of Veterans Affairs to be permanently and totally disabled as a result of military service.

[1:05:06] at 100% as evidenced by a letter and official form or another document that specifically states

[1:05:12] such veteran is considered to be permanently and totally disabled as a result of such

[1:05:18] service.

[1:05:20] Good show.

[1:05:21] We're going to set that up.

[1:05:22] It almost sounds like they have the only one.

[1:05:25] Sixth and the twenty of those, the two days of the mix.

[1:05:28] Okay.

[1:05:29] That's four veterans.

[1:05:31] So we would like to set those public hearing for two weeks.

[1:05:37] Our second item is a discussion in vote to amend City Code Chapter 212 Article 3 of the Code of the City of Saratoga Springs, New York entitled Senior Citizens Tax Exemption.

[1:05:50] I move to amend City Code Chapter 12 Article 3 of the Code of the City of Saratoga Springs, New York entitled Senior Citizens Tax Exemption as a tax to the agenda.

[1:06:00] Here, that's our motion. Is there a second?

[1:06:03] I can turn in. Any discussion?

[1:06:07] Just as we've discussed in the public hearing,

[1:06:09] some of these last few weeks, it's to amend the Section of the Code

[1:06:12] relating to our senior citizen tax exemption by increasing it

[1:06:15] from 50 up to 65% in order to best aid those over age 65

[1:06:20] and help them remain in their homes.

[1:06:22] All those in favor say aye. Aye. Aye.

[1:06:24] Aye. You're posting a no-pcentions five-zero.

[1:06:27] And our last item is a discussion about its authorization for the mayor to sign the New York Municipal Insurance

[1:06:34] reciprocal subscriber agreement, NIMER.

[1:06:39] I moved to authorize the mayor to sign the New York Municipal Insurance reciprocal subscriber

[1:06:45] agreement.

[1:06:46] Yes, we discussed this at the preliminary.

[1:06:49] Do I have a second for that?

[1:06:51] Second.

[1:06:52] The second.

[1:06:52] Any other discussion?

[1:06:55] Back in January 1st of 2024, the city began a contract that had been signed the prior year with

[1:07:02] NIMER for insurance coverage which still continues to this day uninterrupted. However, an oversight

[1:07:08] by NIMER that they recently noticed the subscriber agreement which governs the municipality's membership

[1:07:14] and participation was actually never completed. So this is just to correct the oversight and

[1:07:19] the agreement, it does not affect our previous or ongoing or future insurance coverage in any way.

[1:07:27] Any other discussion? I hope I was in favor of say aye.

[1:07:30] I can be posting it, no extensions, whether it will end.

[1:07:35] It's on the finance.

[1:07:36] Happy view.

[1:07:37] Thank you.

[1:07:38] My first item is just an update on city finances.

[1:07:42] We put together a visual of where your tax dollars go.

[1:07:46] It's a high level overview of the scope of services.

[1:07:49] Each department provides.

[1:07:51] It's not an exhaustive representation of the work. Each department handles.

[1:07:56] there are many daily responsibilities, services, facilities, and behind-the-scenes functions

[1:08:02] that are not captured in this high-level B.I.U.I.

[1:08:05] welcome any commissioners if they want to drill down, they can.

[1:08:10] We just wanted to say where does your tax bid dollars go, so 60 cents on every dollar goes

[1:08:15] to DPS, 18 to D.P.W.s, six cents for the mayor, accounts, and five to finance and

[1:08:24] Public safety, there's a police department that calls for service 27,000, and these are

[1:08:29] 2025 numbers, 944 arrests, you can see of course they do a lot more, but these are just

[1:08:35] again high-level things that the police department does, the fire departments, they receive

[1:08:40] about 7,000, not calls annually, they provide fire rescue hazard material full 24,7 operations,

[1:08:48] and then there's a traffic department for the traffic signals and regular

[1:08:53] choice signs and they paint the, I think the best way to describe our traffic

[1:09:00] maintenance department is signs and lines. Okay, fine, fine, fine, yeah. They follow the

[1:09:06] DPW around. DPW is 18 cents on every tax dollars. Again, this is very high level

[1:09:12] roads and streets are maintained, flowers, plants, leave pickup, compost, transfer, transportation

[1:09:19] to take care of all the city buildings, all the city grounds.

[1:09:24] They ran out of the carousel, overstate engineering department, they do the storm water, ensure

[1:09:30] that it's adequate.

[1:09:32] They also manage the water and sewer departments, however, they're separate budgets, so they're

[1:09:36] not included in this.

[1:09:38] Commissioner Cameron, do you want to add anything to other areas of investment, the mayor's,

[1:09:45] the other four departments, well, and then rent, mayor, council finance and rent, they're

[1:09:50] six cents and five cents for per every dollar, every tax dollar, you know, the mayor's

[1:09:54] department has a planning department, the building department issues, 1300 permits, usually they have

[1:10:01] the planning department, the city historian, the community development planner, and then they

[1:10:06] admin of parks, open, land, historic reservations, and sustainability.

[1:10:14] That position also handles grants for the city looks for them and works with the departments to apply and administer them.

[1:10:22] The accounts office is six cents on every dollar.

[1:10:25] There's a city clerk, the city assessor, purchasing, record retention, billing department.

[1:10:31] Finance is five cents on every tax dollar, fiscal oversight by

[1:10:35] your planning audits payroll accounts receivable.

[1:10:38] IT is also under them, it's IT for the city, all city buildings and

[1:10:44] facilities and emergency services, and then an erect department is five cents

[1:10:49] on every dollar and we have quite a robust erect department.

[1:10:55] I did want to point out Saratoga Springs is number two out of sixty one of the lowest tax

[1:11:00] rates per thousand. This information is from the New York state control is 2025 local government

[1:11:06] tax table. So again, I did a very high level view of what the departments provide and we are

[1:11:14] number two of the lowest tax rates in the state. So I think that's important as we move on

[1:11:21] in our 2027 budget discussion. Oh and then if you look if you look at the attachment, it

[1:11:27] all the cities, tax rates, and where they land.

[1:11:33] So with that said, I do want to read, I met with our finance team as we were going over the

[1:11:40] request of budgets for 2027 and I wanted to share some of my thoughts as we move on into this process.

[1:11:49] As we begin the 2027 budget process, we need to be honest about how we arrived at our current

[1:11:54] financial position for the past four years, the CD has been in deficit spending and using

[1:12:00] fund balance to balance the budget. There has been no meaningful plan to bring reoccurring

[1:12:04] expenditures in line with reoccurring revenues. Fund balance is not reoccurring revenue,

[1:12:09] once it's spent it's gone. After 2026 we will be very close to the CD's required minimum

[1:12:14] fund balance of 10%. Leaving little of the financial cushions we have relied upon in previous

[1:12:20] budgets. I mean, basically, we've been kicking the can down the road and the can has arrived

[1:12:25] at our doorstep. The financial pressures are not new during the 2026 budget process, former

[1:12:31] commissioners found to be identified significant increases over the previous four years. We

[1:12:35] retirement 18% increase liability insurance 10%. Health insurance 9% salary and debt service

[1:12:42] 5%. Recurring expenses grew approximately 3.5 times faster than recurring revenues. And

[1:12:48] The city cannot continue increasing recurring expenses without identifying recurring revenues

[1:12:54] or permanent savings to support them.

[1:12:57] For four years, the city had opportunities to address the growing gap between recurring

[1:13:01] revenues and expenditures and opportunities were not taken.

[1:13:05] Tax increases during this period did not adequately address the city's operating shortfall,

[1:13:10] including a 0% tax increase in 2025 while expenses grew.

[1:13:14] I recognize a raising taxes as narrow and easy decision, neither is reducing expenditures,

[1:13:21] changing services, restructuring operations, or making difficult staffing decisions.

[1:13:26] But governing requires making difficult choices.

[1:13:29] Avoiding those choices does not eliminate the cost.

[1:13:32] It simply pushes the problem into the next budget and makes eventual corrections more difficult.

[1:13:37] The 2026 budget anticipated using approximately 1.3 million of fund balance.

[1:13:42] current projections indicate that actual deficit will be closer to 4.7 million, approximately 3.7 million more than originally anticipated.

[1:13:52] This is not simply an accounting issue, it demonstrates that the city's underlying financial position is worse than the adoptive budget reflected.

[1:13:59] And initial department requests for 2027, currently show a projected shortfall of over $7 million.

[1:14:07] This is not the final budget.

[1:14:09] We view department requests identify savings, examine revenues, and make adjustments.

[1:14:14] But we should not minimize what this number represents.

[1:14:17] This is a structural imbalance that has developed over years,

[1:14:20] not a gap that can be solved by moving money between accounts.

[1:14:23] There is no single solution, and we all need to look at spending, staffing,

[1:14:27] operations, efficiencies, revenues, and services.

[1:14:31] Over the next week, I will meet individually with commissioners to review their departmental

[1:14:37] budgets and identify opportunities to reduce costs while protecting services residents

[1:14:42] we live on.

[1:14:44] Some choices will be difficult, some programs may need to change, some expenditures may need

[1:14:48] to be reduced, and additional revenue, including taxes, must be considered.

[1:14:53] There are no easy choices ahead, but continuing to do nothing is not an option.

[1:14:58] My responsibility as commissioner.

[1:15:00] Finance is not simply to find enough money to balance another budget. It's to make sure the city's financial plan reflects reality. And that we begin addressing the structural problems that have accumulated.

[1:15:12] We need to stop using one-time money to fund recurring expenses. We need to stop postponing difficult decisions. We need to stop treating fund balances and ongoing revenue source. And we need to establish a multi-year plan that brings recurring revenues and expenditures into balance.

[1:15:27] The residents of Saratoga Springs deserve transparency about the city's financial position,

[1:15:33] the cost correcting of it and the choices before us.

[1:15:36] We cannot change to the financial decisions of the last four years, but we must be accountable

[1:15:40] for the decisions we make now and begin to put the city on a sustainable financial path.

[1:15:46] So we'll be reaching out to the commissioners to set meetings with our budget director

[1:15:53] and myself to go over what was submitted, some options that finance office have come up with.

[1:16:03] And when we have the comp budget, I'll be presenting the comp budget and hopefully we can

[1:16:07] all be in agreement or work towards an agreement.

[1:16:14] My next item is-

[1:16:16] I just add something to this.

[1:16:17] Oh, sir, please.

[1:16:17] I do think that we are going to be in a position where we have to make very, very difficult decisions, especially with public safety.

[1:16:27] We have incredible response times in the city from both to police and fire departments that average around six minutes.

[1:16:35] So if we need to cut expenses, those response times will be going up, obviously, and that puts people's lives in danger.

[1:16:43] I understand that. At the same time, no one wants to raise taxes, and that is going to be

[1:16:49] the most difficult channels that we'll have ahead. I would add to us how we're going to balance

[1:16:53] that. Yeah, I agree. And I'm saying this so when we can all think about, you know, or work with

[1:17:00] your people that put the budget together of things that we can possibly look for ways to

[1:17:06] to save expenses for if we could raise revenue, new revenue sources.

[1:17:12] We're certainly not unique.

[1:17:14] Every day I read in the paper, another municipality is going through the same thing.

[1:17:18] It feels like it's everywhere.

[1:17:19] Healthcare has gone crazy, in terms of costs in general, have gone crazy.

[1:17:24] Every time a man is super expensive.

[1:17:26] If I may have, learning more and more, that there are things in the city that DPL

[1:17:34] responsible for that you're just not doing, or not doing well enough, and some of these

[1:17:42] are regulatory things that puts us under threat of perhaps not being not meeting the regulations

[1:17:50] that the state and other is just using both on us, and some of it has to do with not doing

[1:17:56] a good enough job of protecting an old stone sewers, and that causes flooding here and there

[1:18:03] people, we make it maybe really subject to lawsuits by our own citizens. So as the situation

[1:18:10] in D.P.W that I'm finding, we are currently not doing the things that we need to be doing

[1:18:16] and we are at risk. So I'll look forward to our discussions and to see where we go and how we

[1:18:23] address these issues. Again, it's not a one-year fix either. We're looking out for five years to see

[1:18:30] how we can come back to a budget neutral.

[1:18:34] Again, we, after this year our fund balance will be very close

[1:18:38] to the 10% required that per policy.

[1:18:45] So I appreciate you and I look forward to working with everyone

[1:18:47] as we move forward with that.

[1:18:49] My next item is I move to approve an update to city fees.

[1:18:54] That's a motion to say a second.

[1:18:56] Second.

[1:18:57] Colors a second.

[1:18:58] Discussion?

[1:18:59] This item is to approve an update to turn

[1:19:00] it be upon recommendation of the record department.

[1:19:04] The fee increasing is from 5,000 to 5,500.

[1:19:09] The other discussion?

[1:19:11] I was in favor of say aye.

[1:19:13] Any policy?

[1:19:14] No abstentions?

[1:19:15] Five zero.

[1:19:16] Thank you.

[1:19:16] My next item.

[1:19:18] I approve a motion to approve a bond resolution for the purchase of a tandem dump truck.

[1:19:23] It's a motion.

[1:19:24] Is there a second?

[1:19:25] Second?

[1:19:26] Second?

[1:19:27] This resolution authorizes the city to issue up to $322,082 in cereal bonds to finance the purchase

[1:19:36] of a replacement dump truck for unit number 292.

[1:19:40] The debt will have a 15-year probable repayment period and the principal and interest payments

[1:19:45] will begin upon delivery of the vehicle.

[1:19:49] This a roll call vote is required for this.

[1:19:51] This was approved in the capital budget to issue a bond resolution on a vehicle that won't be here.

[1:20:02] We'll order it now, but it won't be here for maybe two years, actually.

[1:20:06] So we have the motion.

[1:20:08] We get out of motion.

[1:20:11] I need a second.

[1:20:13] Second.

[1:20:13] Second is coal.

[1:20:15] Any other discussion?

[1:20:17] Okay, we take a roll call.

[1:20:20] Mayor Sanford?

[1:20:21] Yes.

[1:20:24] Commissioner Kiernan?

[1:20:25] Yes.

[1:20:26] Commissioner Caremati?

[1:20:27] Yes.

[1:20:28] Commissioner Cole?

[1:20:29] Yes.

[1:20:30] Commissioner Troy C.

[1:20:32] We had a past as Pfizer.

[1:20:34] Thank you.

[1:20:35] My next item is to approve by just transfers as attached to the agenda.

[1:20:39] That's the motion, is there a second?

[1:20:42] Second.

[1:20:45] Well, this item approves payroll related by

[1:20:48] your transfers as they were attached to the agenda,

[1:20:51] and also the use of the contingency line item to cover

[1:20:54] 34,313 dollars and 46 cents in the HVAC repairs

[1:21:01] for the police department.

[1:21:03] The remaining balance and the contingency line item will be

[1:21:05] 15,358 dollars and 43 cents.

[1:21:12] Yeah, I just want to comment or the air condition and heating system is beyond repair and that cause the big expense

[1:21:20] You know

[1:21:21] All those in favor say I

[1:21:23] Any opposed say nay no abstentions five zero my next item. I move to approve by due to amendments as a task to be a gender

[1:21:33] That's a motion is there a second second. I can cure a body

[1:21:38] This item improves a series of budget amendments, including over time in DPS and repairs

[1:21:44] and maintenance at the city center, but it also includes a budget amendment of using $149,000

[1:21:50] of honest line fund balance to replenish the salt and sand lines in DPW as they prepare

[1:21:56] for the upcoming winter months.

[1:21:58] Details are attached to the agenda.

[1:22:01] It wasn't an up money and the salt and sand lines are actually at zero, so in order to prepare

[1:22:06] referred October November December we had to move money in there.

[1:22:11] And over the roll call vote is needed because we're using on a sign

[1:22:15] fund balance for the soul and sandline items.

[1:22:18] Yeah, into that now.

[1:22:19] I know.

[1:22:21] Roll call vote.

[1:22:23] Mayors effort.

[1:22:24] Yes.

[1:22:25] Commissioner Kieranen.

[1:22:27] Commissioner Kieranen.

[1:22:28] Yes.

[1:22:29] Commissioner.

[1:22:30] Yes? Mr. Tracy.

[1:22:33] Peter Passes, 5-0.

[1:22:36] Dr. Public Court.

[1:22:37] Hey, thank you.

[1:22:40] I don't know, one, I move for the mayor to accept settlement agreement from National Grid in the amount

[1:22:46] of $15,000.

[1:22:47] It's a motion, is there a second?

[1:22:50] Second.

[1:22:51] Second, call.

[1:22:52] Discussion did.

[1:22:53] I took when did the city has reached the settlement, the National Grid,

[1:22:57] regarding damage that they caused when gas service broke through the city's

[1:23:03] sewer main. Resulting sewer backup, National Grid has agreed to compensate the

[1:23:08] city for the costs of the citizens and the settlement payment will be used

[1:23:12] to reimburse those expenses. Any other questions?

[1:23:16] Well, those in favour say aye. Aye. Any opposed?

[1:23:19] Aye. Any opposed? Aye. Any opposed?

[1:23:20] Aye. Any opposed? Aye. Any opposed?

[1:23:21] Aye. Any opposed? Aye. Any opposed? Aye. Any opposed?

[1:23:26] Aye. Any opposed?

[1:23:27] stopping solar electric facilities.

[1:23:30] That's the motion, sir.

[1:23:31] Second.

[1:23:32] Second.

[1:23:32] I can call.

[1:23:33] The agreement to grassy growth solar

[1:23:35] resources for operating, maintaining and developing

[1:23:38] the photovoltaic solar electric facilities for the city of

[1:23:41] certain of the springs.

[1:23:42] The solar credits are to offset water, sewer, and electric

[1:23:46] utility expenses at no cost of the city.

[1:23:49] Thus providing potential savings on the utilities bills.

[1:23:53] Any other discussion?

[1:23:54] I do, who keeps track of the credits and how they're applied?

[1:24:01] I don't know.

[1:24:03] And this was set up, I think, in the previous administration before I got here,

[1:24:09] and this is just an end to an agreement that's already in place.

[1:24:12] So, whatever method was being used before, it's being followed.

[1:24:17] How are you looking to it?

[1:24:19] Yeah, can you let me know, because we have another contract with solar credits as well.

[1:24:22] Yes, that's the why will field but but I'm still where we're now researching to ensure that I know what the credits were getting and I know the bills

[1:24:32] I'm having some of my office making sure these credits get to these bills like to close that loop

[1:24:38] So I'd like to be able to do that for this as well because it seems I just want to make sure that we're getting the credits that was off

[1:24:45] I know we're happy to help

[1:24:48] If we have found out that they don't voluntarily give us our money, if we have to kind of thank you.

[1:24:53] Exactly.

[1:24:54] So that's what I want to close the loop on that.

[1:24:58] Send up to get credits.

[1:24:59] Let's work together to make sure that we're getting what we're signing up for.

[1:25:03] Any other discussion?

[1:25:04] Deal.

[1:25:05] Yeah, all good.

[1:25:06] All those in favor say aye.

[1:25:09] Any opposed?

[1:25:11] No instructions.

[1:25:12] Five zero.

[1:25:13] Item number three.

[1:25:14] A move for the mayor to sign it.

[1:25:15] number one would grow in reality for commercial real-state services. That's the motion, now

[1:25:21] second it. This event number grow in reality will address the need to hire external vendors

[1:25:26] for the purposes of performing appraisals, engineering and environmental reviews and other services

[1:25:33] that will be considered routine in a municipal real-state transaction. It is not to exceed

[1:25:39] $120,000, of course, you know, these are related to our potential acquisition of the

[1:25:47] Boosies property.

[1:25:48] So if we have a motion, okay, table, I'll second that motion.

[1:25:56] And any other discussion on that?

[1:25:57] I think we're all pretty clear.

[1:25:59] Well, I just want to ensure that the council is committed.

[1:26:01] I don't want to spend a dime on this.

[1:26:04] If we move forward with this and it makes financial sense

[1:26:08] That the council is committed to move forward with this purchase, I guess.

[1:26:15] Again, it needs to make financial sense, but I don't want it to back out.

[1:26:19] We spend the money, and then all of a sudden, people change their mind.

[1:26:21] It's not a good idea.

[1:26:23] I just want to make sure that there's a commitment on the half of...

[1:26:27] Yeah, I'll speak for the Department of Public Safety.

[1:26:31] We're certainly committed to moving forward with it, and I think this will be a reimbursement.

[1:26:36] these expenses are reimbursed once we sell the city's property.

[1:26:43] Yeah, I mean this is a, I would say historic opportunity for us to acquire new facilities

[1:26:50] and be able to transact some of the properties that the city owns today.

[1:26:56] And I don't, I, everything looks really like a very, very promising thing for the city to do.

[1:27:03] Okay, thank you.

[1:27:04] Yeah, and to that, I do think it takes care of our infrastructure needs that I've been part of it.

[1:27:10] Part of it for a long time I've been avoided at really no cost or minimal cost.

[1:27:15] Yeah, and if anyone has any doubt, they can take another tour of the police department downstairs, or

[1:27:20] and the garage, and to be done with it.

[1:27:22] Probably, but there's a plate leaking.

[1:27:24] Right, that's right.

[1:27:25] If from a real estate perspective, this is an amazing opportunity.

[1:27:28] I mean, real estate people buy and sell properties all the time.

[1:27:32] So we have the opportunity to own just as much value-wise in real estate and have it something

[1:27:41] that's suiting our needs as opposed to owning that same amount of property, dollar-wise

[1:27:47] that isn't suiting our needs anywhere.

[1:27:50] So.

[1:27:50] I agree.

[1:27:51] The other discussion?

[1:27:53] All those in favor say aye.

[1:27:54] Aye.

[1:27:55] Any opposed thing?

[1:27:56] Aye.

[1:27:56] most engines, 5-0. Well, last item is I move for the Mayor to sign change order with

[1:28:03] J&K trucking and excavation in Quink for water distribution pipe replacement project

[1:28:10] Feast 3. This is the project on Clinton Street that is almost completed now.

[1:28:16] Okay, we have motion. Is there a second?

[1:28:19] Second.

[1:28:19] What was happening at any other discussion?

[1:28:23] What do you know is that one?

[1:28:24] All those in favor say aye.

[1:28:25] Aye.

[1:28:26] Any opposed saying aye?

[1:28:28] No abstentions.

[1:28:29] Matter passes.

[1:28:30] Excuse me.

[1:28:31] Thank you, sir.

[1:28:34] Thank you, Mayor.

[1:28:35] First item.

[1:28:35] I moved to authorize the mayor to sign the dendom

[1:28:38] with perigrain technologies to extend our current contract

[1:28:41] to December 31, 227 with the same terms and conditions

[1:28:46] at no additional cost and I put this in form of motion.

[1:28:51] At some motion, is there a second?

[1:28:53] Second?

[1:28:53] Second, can you carry money on your discussion?

[1:28:56] Yes, the Serial Contract was approved by Council and October of 2023 for a 3-year contract.

[1:29:03] This is a 3-year contract for data consulting services.

[1:29:09] This is basically for our software system that connects our computer and a 8-bit

[1:29:13] that system with our record management. And again, no additional cost to the city for the

[1:29:19] one year extension.

[1:29:20] Any other discussion?

[1:29:21] All those in favour of the guy?

[1:29:23] Hi.

[1:29:23] Any post same day?

[1:29:25] No abstention?

[1:29:26] Size 0.

[1:29:27] A second item I moved to authorize the bearers on a contract with Lerosis on Motiv for the outfitting

[1:29:33] of police vehicles in the amount of not to exceed $11,000 and that put that in a form

[1:29:38] remotion.

[1:29:39] We have a motion.

[1:29:39] Is there a second?

[1:29:42] Second.

[1:29:42] and Karen and here's the question.

[1:29:46] Funds will come from the Police Department's vehicle budget line, not to exceed $18,000 in the

[1:29:51] police equipment line, not to exceed $3,000 in this related to vehicle that was replaced

[1:29:58] because of an accident.

[1:30:04] May 3rd item, I move to authorize the payment to pitchfield communications in the amount of 312,803 cents, despite a deviation from the purchasing policy in direct finance, the issue payment from the capital, budget line, and I put this in form of motion.

[1:30:18] You have a motion. Is there a second? Second? Okay, Marty. Discussion?

[1:30:25] This installation was done prior to a purchase order being established. This is for a mobile radio speaker that will be located in the cab for the new fire engine.

[1:30:36] And I believe because it's coming from the capital budget line, we would need to roll call vote. Is that correct, Commissioner?

[1:30:42] Are you on pitch field communication?

[1:30:44] Yeah, unfortunately there's nothing attached to the agenda. Oh, there's not okay. I'll pull that then

[1:30:49] Yeah, thank you. I'm sorry. I just noticed that as like clicked on it.

[1:30:52] Get know where I will

[1:30:53] Okay, I'm pulling my item number three. I'm pulling 163. I'm pulling 163. That's correct.

[1:31:00] My fourth item is I moved to authorized the payment. I'm sorry, which is done by third item.

[1:31:06] I moved to authorized the payment to Allen. Elsework the amount of

[1:31:08] $2,270 for draft shoes for our police horse braiding, despite the deviation from the purchasing

[1:31:16] policy and direct finance issue of payment from the police department's horse care budget

[1:31:21] line.

[1:31:22] And I put that in a form of motion.

[1:31:24] That's the motion.

[1:31:25] Is there a second?

[1:31:28] Our current.

[1:31:30] Yeah, the discussion is that this vendor does not carry this sufficient required insurance.

[1:31:34] and the invoices are from February to August, and this is one of the areas in the light of the fiscal headwinds we are assessing to determine if we can move forward and still have the amount of unit to be operational.

[1:31:50] It doesn't impact calls to service, the time for calls to service, the impact or operations, so we are evaluating this program to see if we can continue it.

[1:32:01] let's say at the reality that we deal with.

[1:32:05] Any other discussion?

[1:32:08] Well, those in favor say aye.

[1:32:09] Aye.

[1:32:10] Any post saying aye.

[1:32:12] Note that since that matter of cases, is there anything else before the council tonight?

[1:32:17] And I move that we adjourn, do I have a second?

[1:32:20] Second is care of body, all in favor say aye.

[1:32:25] Note stenchies.

[1:32:27] No no.

Sep 15, 2026 City Council

Transcript