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Our

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public hearing tonight is to amend city code chapter 212, article 3 of the code of city,

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sir, took a spring and titled senior citizens tax exemption. Just want to say something about that, commissioner.

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New York State passed some legislation for the New York State budget that allows us to increase our senior low income tax exemption from 50% up to 65%.

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And we haven't heard from anybody that has disagreed with that.

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And the city would like to adopt that to help our seniors stay in their homes.

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It would take effect for the next tax year, not this one.

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So that is what this public hearing is about.

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If anyone would like to speak concerning that, please step up to the microphone.

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We will be voting on this tonight.

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Seeing nobody, we will close the public hearing and we will be voting on this tonight.

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We'll start our meeting with a roll call.

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Mayor Safford.

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Here.

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Commissioner Kiernan.

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Here.

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Commissioner Kiermadi.

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Here.

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Commissioner Cole.

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Here.

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Mr. Tracey.

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Here.

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Supervisor Berger.

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President.

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Supervisor Songley.

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Here.

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You have a quorum, sir.

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Thank you.

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What tries to salute the flag?

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What do we need to flag of the United States of America to the Republic for which it stands?

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One nation undergaveled, indivisible, was liberty and justice for all.

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We have no presentations tonight.

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I'll move for the council to approve the consent agenda.

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That's my motion.

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Is there a second?

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Calls the second.

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Any questions on it?

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All those in favor say aye.

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Aye.

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Any opposed?

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Say nay.

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No abstentions.

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That matter passes five zero.

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So we are now moving into our public comment period.

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We have some rules here that you can come up, Rose, if you want.

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That's on the agenda is the public comment period.

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It is an opportunity for members of the public to present their views to the City Council.

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Each speaker will have three minutes and may not return to the microphone.

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The council typically does not respond to comments during the public comment period, but we're

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We're always happy to discuss matters with the public at other times.

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After public comment has concluded council members may address issues raised during the

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public comment period, request information from staff or direct an issue be placed on

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a future agenda.

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We ask all participants to respect the rules of decorm so that everyone has an equal opportunity

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to be heard.

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Speakers may not engage in conduct that disrupts the orderly conduct of the meeting or prevents

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Once others from exercising their opportunity to speak, if necessary, we do cut off the microphone at three minutes.

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We welcome everyone here to speak.

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We're here to listen to what that speaker has to say for that three minute period.

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But we do ask, even if you're in the middle of a sentence, we have a little clock that will help.

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

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I'm sorry, I need it.

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Okay, go ahead.

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I'm not sorry, I need it.

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Okay.

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I want to read some of the excerpts from an article

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in the Seratovian on August 26th,

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and it's found my brother.

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The title of the passing of a friend,

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Big John Frustere, a racing fan, and it was written by Warren Ives, director of public

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relations at the Saritoga Harnest Track.

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Members of the Saritoga Racing family lost a friend to his Vietnam.

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His name was Big John Frustere, also known by racegoers as Mr. Win.

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Big

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John had no enemies. He took all kinds of kidding from many people.

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He was known in

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almost every eatery in Saratoga Springs.

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If you needed a favor, John Crestera would comply.

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In the past number of years, there have been many great strippers characterized

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in many

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John Fraster was one of those individuals who helped that change.

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Every day since his mother's passing, John would visit her grave, say a short prayer.

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On Tuesday afternoon, he parked his car and left the motor running to pay respects once again.

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Big John casts a finish line saying that prayer.

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course racing will miss the big fellow.

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John and I were both in our early 30s when the

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saw occurred. August 26 is etched in my mind. I am heartbroken that I had so much respect

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for people in this room on the council and the city attorney. August 26th will

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be etched in my mind as as a day where I was miss that I was duped. So I'm

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going to take a sing from the Bible. Jesus Christ, my Lord, said, Peter, you duke me.

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And I let you duke me. Get behind me, Satan. And I have some copies of this if anyone

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in the audience wants it.

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And that was from the Saratoga in 1871.

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Thank you.

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Next speaker, please.

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You have up to three minutes.

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Good evening.

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I'm Rob Connellan, Greenfield Avenue, Saratoga Springs, New York.

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I'm here to discuss the renewal of the flock contract.

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I have to admit that the flock cameras are an effective law enforcement.

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They truly are.

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But I think that this body has to look at it from a much broader perspective than just

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that of the law enforcement.

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You know, I read 1984, 15 years when it was, that was in the future, and they talk about

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big brother, and the pillars of that regime were consistent, used mass surveillance.

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And I looked up in Wikipedia, so I think it's a reasonable resource, that it finds mass

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surveillance as intricate surveillance of an entire or substantial fraction of a population

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in order to monitor that group of citizens.

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And then I looked up police state,

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and electronic police state is a state

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in which government aggressively uses electronic technologies

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to record, collect, store, organize,

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and distribute information about its clients.

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And that is exactly what Flot does.

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It obtains this information and transmits it

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to a data, national database.

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It is an effective tool for law enforcement,

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But it also is an effective tool for an authoritarian regime or a want to be authoritarian regime.

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And that would be, you know, where power is invested in just a few people who are not

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accountable to the public and does not allow meaningful opposition.

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Now, and what fundamentally does is it eliminates checks and balances.

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And if I remember my American constitutional history correctly, checks and balances

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is a founding principle of this country and the mass surveillance and a tool for mass

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surveillance is the opposite of the founding of that, of a founding principle and is opposite

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to the very concept of we, the people.

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Thank you.

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Thank you.

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And next speaker, please.

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You are up to three minutes, sir.

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Good evening.

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Thank you for having me here.

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Glad to see that number. My name is Robert Stromberg. I live in a round

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lake in Saratoga County. I have as a few things to say.

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Flock safety says on their website that they have a 96% OCR accuracy.

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OCR means optical character recognition,

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machine sees something written and recognizes the letters

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in numbers. That's what the license plates have, something written. Now, when I was in

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high school, a 96% curate on a social studies or agency exam would have been wonderful.

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But this 96% accuracy rate leaves 4% error rate, letter by letter, character by character

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dirt number by number.

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According to the South August brings transparency portal, 349,443 vehicles license plates were

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read in the last 30 days.

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times 4%. That's 13,978 errors in the data coming into our database. How does anybody

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sort out what's correct and what's not correct in those license plate reads? I think that's

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tricky. My last point, that transparency portal lists a whole lot of different agencies

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and government that can see our data, including in Alabama, the Blount County Commissioners.

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That's the government of Blount County, not just law enforcement, including the City

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I am the CEO of Vista Arizona, that's the city, the city government.

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I fail to see if there are adequate controls over who can read our data.

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I drive to Saratoga Springs, who visit to shop, go to a venue for an event I like.

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I don't like the idea that my vehicle is being tracked, and it could be tracked in error.

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Thank you.

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Thank you.

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Next speaker please.

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Next speaker.

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You have up to four minutes there or three minutes.

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I'm sorry.

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Three minutes.

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Thanks.

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Thank you.

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I'm a resident.

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Saratoga Springs.

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I'm here also to talk about mass surveillance.

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I've observed the cameras in the city and was that the last meeting and listened to the responses from the commissioner, especially the commissioner call.

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And to me, the crux of this whole thing is finding the balance between the considerations of privacy,

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the expectations of privacy of movement, the freedom of movement, to attend legal gatherings,

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for example, to attend protests, to attend churches without being tracked,

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In fact, versus the clear value to law enforcement that you gave, a commissioner called gave an example of last week.

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It's also balanced against the risk of abuses.

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And the risks of abuse have been shown to be quite prevalent.

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Most directly last week in Sarat or in Albany County, a senior investigator being shown to have illegally or

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or inappropriately, I should say, used the flock database

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to track a person for personal use, I'll say.

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There's many other documented cases of that

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around the country.

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So, meet for one, I just wanted to express that,

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to me, the values that are clearly there for law enforcement

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don't come close to balancing the downside of it.

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The lack of control of the data,

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data, the data is going to a private corporation that's selling that data to anyone that subscribes

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to their service.

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Don't know where the data is going, that data is not audited.

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They claim that the data that they collect from a municipality like Saratoga is the property

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of Saratoga Springs, but it has absolutely no value because they are given full use of the

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data to sell, resell, and use it in any way they like.

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It doesn't matter who owns the data.

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It's what they do with the data.

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Another comment was made that they're only collecting pictures.

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They're just pictures of license plates.

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It's not the collection of the picture.

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That's the problem.

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It's what they do with the license plate.

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And they build profiles of people's movement.

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They do these so-called heat maps.

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And it discourages people from engaging in lawful behavior

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that I mentioned, going to public spaces, protests, and churches of your choice.

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So, I want to express that my concern around the privacy issues.

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Far outweigh in value to me as a citizen, I think many others, then do the law enforcement values in this case. And I hope Saratoga cancels the contract so we can properly vet that system and bring it back if it turns out to be so. Thank you. Next speaker, please.

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I have previously spoken to you at the end of July regarding artificial intelligence.

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And I'm going to continue that theme this evening.

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One thing we all have in common as we all went to elementary school, we probably did show

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and tell.

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So I'm going to pass this supervisor's on me to pass it around the table.

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I said, hey, I accelerator, it's about 10 years old.

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I knew those go for about $20,000.

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And for every one of those that envidious sells, I should say for every million of

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those that envidious sells, it increases the amount of planetary electricity

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that we need by a substantial amount.

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But every two million of those cards raises the planetary requirement by one gigawatt,

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which is actually, you can actually see it on this scale, okay.

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This is from 2000 to 2025.

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And you can see the massive rise in electricity consumption that's being caused by the installation of those accelerators.

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Now, it's one thing to put those accelerators into a data center.

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And some data centers have as many as 100,000 of those operating at the same time in one location.

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But what are they doing is kind of the other question.

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And I made a comment that we're getting to the point where they're so smart we might not be able to turn them off.

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I said we were at the point of no return.

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And in the week that followed Mark Zuckerberg, Bill Gates,

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Dario Amadi, President Obama, all spoke about this.

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The three of them wrote essays that were exactly the same

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length as the essay that I gave you for review.

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Now, this is where we are right now today, OK?

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So this is, I had, I did use chat GPT to help me out here.

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I'm trying to figure out when are the computers going to be

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as smart as people. Okay, so I had CHAT GPT

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graph of different mammals and basically the processing power of different humans are

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right, the humanitary data center, like a large $50 million, $100 million data center,

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had was basically on parity with people 10 years ago. So it's very likely that there's AI

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consciousness in data centers not today. In about five years in 2030 you're going to be

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able to buy that same capability for $10,000 and put it on your desk, so that's where we

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are right now.

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And the reason I'm really, really concerned about this, because the AI models can make

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biological weapons.

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They can write viruses on a prompt.

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And right now, the AI companies will tell you that, you know, there's guardrails that you

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can't do that, but you can download ones with the guardrails stripped off.

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You can train them yourself and you can disconnect them from the internet and they will write the stuff.

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And this thing that you can buy will print it.

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And it's not controlled.

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So I'm going to leave you these charts.

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I'll pick them up in a few weeks.

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Thank you, sir.

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There's a rule for you to look at.

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Thank you.

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Thank you.

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00:18:35,360 --> 00:18:38,160
Next speaker, please.

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00:18:46,540 --> 00:18:46,960
Thank you, Mayor.

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I'm Gordon Boyd, 99 State Street Saratova Springs,

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I wish to thank Supervisor Berger and Sangvi

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for recently advancing a proposal at the County Board of Supervisors

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to have the last call in the bar at 3 a.m. rather than 4.

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00:19:02,960 --> 00:19:06,100
Adoption of this measure would improve public safety throughout the County,

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reduce the late night brawl, motor vehicle offenses,

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and will also help the City of Saratova Springs reduce over time and thereby save money.

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Now, this is something that the county has to do in order for the city to get the benefit.

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We can't close the bars early on our own.

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But thanks are also due to Commissioner of Public Safety, Tim Call, for his public support

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of Supervisor Berger's proposal.

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00:19:29,440 --> 00:19:33,400
Unfortunately, improving public safety and saving money are not enough for all supervisors

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in Boston Spa, because the Board's Public Safety Committee, unfortunately, voted down this

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proposal on September 1st.

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The committee chair, Scott Ostrander, failed to support it.

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He is the supervisor of the town of Milton, where so many of the Saratoga Springs bar

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customers reside and to where they drive home after hours of partying in our city.

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It makes you wonder if he is thinking about the well-being of his own constituents.

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And there's another person who shares a spotlight of blame with supervisor Ostrander.

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I refer to the chairman of the town of Milton Republican Party, an individual whose civic

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responsibility is to support and re-elect Mr. Ostrander and to hopefully explain the supervisor's

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positions to the public. I refer to Riley Flint who in addition to being the Milton town

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Republican chairman is also the Deputy Commissioner of Finance in Saratova Springs. Mr. Flint lives

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in the town of Milton, not Saratova Springs. His day job in our city ostensibly includes advising

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Commissioner Kiernan about the costs of the police department over time that we pay for and how to

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of these costs into the upcoming budget.

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I see Commissioner on Channel 6 that you are concerned

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about the expenses facing the city.

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Perhaps you should confer with Deputy Commissioner Flint

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and see if he can prevail on his very own supervisor

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to help the city hold down the cost of police over time.

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And while you are at it, Commissioner,

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you could also save some money by not renewing

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the flock camera contract when it comes up in November.

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We know many other people want to feel safe from constant surveillance and also keep our

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taxes down.

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Thank you very much.

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Thank you.

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00:21:13,380 --> 00:21:14,300
Next speaker please.

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00:21:16,480 --> 00:21:17,180
Good

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evening.

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00:21:23,440 --> 00:21:26,600
This is Samantha Bassart with the Sarah Togas Springs Preservation Foundation.

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00:21:27,650 --> 00:21:36,740
We received the revised UDO amendments yesterday and we are currently reviewing them.

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We are disappointed that the changes to, there were not significant changes to demolition in architectural review districts.

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00:21:46,060 --> 00:21:57,080
It largely is a demolition delay ordinance that will place the final determination of every building that's proposed to be demolished within the hands of the City Council.

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00:21:57,940 --> 00:22:03,560
If the City Council chooses to move forward with that aspect of the ordinance,

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I would strongly encourage the City Council to wait and do until there's a comprehensive building survey to understand which buildings are contributing architecturally to our gateways or should be designated as part of our historic districts.

295
00:22:21,620 --> 00:22:29,040
These buildings should not be designated purely in a reactive way only when a demolition approval is being put forth.

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We believe that it should be done in a reactive way.

297
00:22:34,180 --> 00:22:35,520
I just send that backwards, great.

298
00:22:36,400 --> 00:22:36,620
All right.

299
00:22:39,500 --> 00:22:42,440
The designation of building should be done in a proactive way,

300
00:22:42,620 --> 00:22:46,100
not in a reactionary way to a one-off demolition application.

301
00:22:46,800 --> 00:22:49,260
And so with that, that's all I will say at this time.

302
00:22:49,260 --> 00:22:51,380
We will continue to review it and provide our comments.

303
00:22:51,560 --> 00:22:52,960
Thank you so much for the opportunity.

304
00:22:55,200 --> 00:22:55,880
Thank you.

305
00:22:56,200 --> 00:22:58,100
Next speaker, please.

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00:23:09,170 --> 00:23:15,510
Both the capabilities and the threat of AI as a whole have been somewhat overstated.

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00:23:15,990 --> 00:23:21,510
It basically tells people what they want to hear to some degree it analyzes but without

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00:23:21,510 --> 00:23:27,430
human oversight, its overreliance is basically a liability.

309
00:23:28,370 --> 00:23:33,530
As to the threat, that's how the weak point in that has already been pointed out.

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00:23:33,530 --> 00:23:38,370
the classroom amount of power it requires is its vulnerability.

311
00:23:38,910 --> 00:23:42,290
If for some reason it did start to get completely out of hand,

312
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anything that would shut down the power supply

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00:23:45,710 --> 00:23:47,370
would shut down the AI itself.

314
00:23:50,070 --> 00:23:52,910
Old school physics provides plenty of answers there.

315
00:23:54,910 --> 00:23:57,210
As to license plate readers,

316
00:23:58,170 --> 00:24:01,590
well, key question is how they're being used.

317
00:24:02,250 --> 00:24:03,730
On the front of a police cruiser,

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00:24:03,730 --> 00:24:08,090
or whistle-off they're there to double check the data, they can be a life-saving advantage,

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00:24:08,750 --> 00:24:12,390
informing them if there is a reason to believe the individual inside the

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00:24:12,390 --> 00:24:16,490
create a vehicle ahead of them as a threat, if the vehicle has been stolen, etc.

321
00:24:17,630 --> 00:24:21,630
On the side of the school bus they provide an obvious deterrent to people just

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00:24:21,630 --> 00:24:25,830
ignoring that stop sign and a way to hold them accountable if they do.

323
00:24:25,830 --> 00:24:33,530
But if they are used to monitor a large area all at once, that's a whole

324
00:24:33,530 --> 00:24:38,990
another can of worms. And one that needs to be considered very very carefully.

325
00:24:39,690 --> 00:24:42,750
Thank you. Thank you. But

326
00:24:45,080 --> 00:24:46,720
anyone else like to speak tonight?

327
00:24:51,110 --> 00:24:52,310
So we'll close

328
00:24:52,310 --> 00:24:57,910
public comment. Would any of the commissioners like to respond to anything tonight?

329
00:24:57,910 --> 00:25:08,010
I will respond, thank you Mayor, I do want to respond to the flock, the company flock, and the license plate readers.

330
00:25:08,810 --> 00:25:18,210
And I first wanted to just address Mr. Cofflin approximately 10 days ago, we had a very large evacuation in our city.

331
00:25:18,550 --> 00:25:24,950
We had to evacuate 110 units from the Raymond Watkins apartment complex, that was a very, very difficult operation.

332
00:25:24,950 --> 00:25:27,290
and our fire department did a tremendous job,

333
00:25:27,470 --> 00:25:29,090
and I just want to recognize Mr. Kaufflin,

334
00:25:29,230 --> 00:25:30,690
he is a volunteer at the Red Cross,

335
00:25:31,790 --> 00:25:33,570
and he stepped up to help,

336
00:25:33,650 --> 00:25:35,230
and I certainly do appreciate it.

337
00:25:36,810 --> 00:25:37,710
Thank you for that.

338
00:25:38,830 --> 00:25:40,550
On the license plate readers,

339
00:25:40,730 --> 00:25:42,890
I'm gonna go through it and explain my position

340
00:25:42,890 --> 00:25:44,690
on it from the beginning.

341
00:25:46,330 --> 00:25:48,870
So the first question that comes to mind for me,

342
00:25:50,490 --> 00:25:51,910
is it a legal technique,

343
00:25:52,330 --> 00:25:53,610
is it a lawful technique?

344
00:25:53,610 --> 00:26:07,710
And I went back and I looked at the case law, a lot of it's in the courts now, but what stood out to me is that a case in Norfolk, Virginia, actually the Eastern District of Virginia in January of 2026.

345
00:26:08,830 --> 00:26:18,890
Folks were suing the Norfolk Police Department and there's an opinion in order set forth by Judge Davis from the Eastern District of Virginia.

346
00:26:18,890 --> 00:26:21,530
and I wanted to just read a couple of citations

347
00:26:21,530 --> 00:26:22,670
so people understand.

348
00:26:23,490 --> 00:26:24,170
And this is a quote,

349
00:26:25,030 --> 00:26:27,850
flock cameras do not provide information to users

350
00:26:27,850 --> 00:26:29,630
about the location of individuals

351
00:26:30,430 --> 00:26:34,110
beyond public roadways or outside of vehicles end quote.

352
00:26:34,710 --> 00:26:37,170
Meaning that unlike a cell phone or ankle monitor,

353
00:26:37,670 --> 00:26:41,950
they do not quote follow individuals inside building homes

354
00:26:41,950 --> 00:26:42,970
or anywhere else.

355
00:26:43,350 --> 00:26:46,850
They photograph vehicles on the public roadways

356
00:26:46,850 --> 00:26:53,770
with a stationary cameras are located and there's a second citation that I

357
00:26:53,770 --> 00:26:57,890
want to add and this is on page three of the decision. Federal and State

358
00:26:57,890 --> 00:27:02,710
courts analyzing license plate reader claims have almost uniformly concluded

359
00:27:02,710 --> 00:27:06,950
that neither taking photos of the license plate of a vehicle on a public

360
00:27:06,950 --> 00:27:12,510
roadway nor maintaining and querying a database of license plate reader photos

361
00:27:12,510 --> 00:27:19,030
constitutes a warrantless search, and it gives the citations of collecting cases.

362
00:27:19,410 --> 00:27:24,750
In parentheses, collecting cases, demonstrating that nearly every court that has addressed

363
00:27:24,750 --> 00:27:30,490
the issue has held that the queries of license plate reader databases do not constitute

364
00:27:30,490 --> 00:27:31,830
for the amendment searches.

365
00:27:32,930 --> 00:27:38,310
Now obviously, as we move forward and technology advances, technology becomes more intrusive.

366
00:27:38,310 --> 00:27:44,530
But the courts could look at the collection analysis of this information and come to a different determination.

367
00:27:45,010 --> 00:27:47,950
And that could happen someday, but today is not that day.

368
00:27:48,410 --> 00:27:53,730
So that's my position when we look for balance, whether it's currently lawful and it is currently lawful.

369
00:27:54,210 --> 00:27:59,910
The second issue that we have controls in place, as I mentioned our last city council meeting.

370
00:28:00,590 --> 00:28:06,630
Actually I misspoke, instead of seven policies, we have eight policies regarding the use of

371
00:28:06,630 --> 00:28:12,030
license plate reader information, they are limited to supervisors and investigators only.

372
00:28:13,370 --> 00:28:20,510
We have a user ID and a password for each supervisor or investigator that makes a query.

373
00:28:21,150 --> 00:28:25,890
We conduct audits of that information routinely at least once a month.

374
00:28:26,610 --> 00:28:28,590
And then the third thing is, are they useful?

375
00:28:29,070 --> 00:28:32,410
And I'm glad we agree that they are extremely useful.

376
00:28:32,410 --> 00:28:40,990
I gave the example at the last meeting of how we removed a suspected person wanting for a homicide in Connecticut off our streets.

377
00:28:41,450 --> 00:28:46,150
We used it in the low love burglary investigation to track the movements of vehicles.

378
00:28:46,730 --> 00:28:51,870
And we even use it in a stalking case in the Skidmore, around Skidmore College.

379
00:28:52,430 --> 00:28:55,530
So those are the three factors that form my decision.

380
00:28:56,190 --> 00:29:06,050
But I also want the public to know, our contract is not expiring this fall, is expiring in August of 2027.

381
00:29:06,610 --> 00:29:13,850
And I just wanted to explain that to you, because we were late getting the license plate readers operational, so that pushed the contract backwards.

382
00:29:15,150 --> 00:29:15,770
Thank you.

383
00:29:16,050 --> 00:29:16,270
Thank you.

384
00:29:16,270 --> 00:29:22,710
I mean, obviously we are concerned about the controls, but we have to have confidence

385
00:29:22,710 --> 00:29:28,430
that our police department is functioning properly and following those, and I'm sure you're

386
00:29:28,430 --> 00:29:29,390
being sure of that.

387
00:29:29,990 --> 00:29:32,890
I do have a comment on AI.

388
00:29:34,210 --> 00:29:40,910
It was a conversation I had with our attorney today, and that is we haven't talked about

389
00:29:40,910 --> 00:29:48,430
of foils in a while, but I learned today that there are now AI agents that are foiling

390
00:29:48,430 --> 00:29:59,990
probably all over the country for information on POs and invoices and this sort of

391
00:30:03,460 --> 00:30:10,220
The question comes in and it makes our people respond to give them all this information that

392
00:30:10,220 --> 00:30:14,060
I know that they're putting into a national database for marketing purposes.

393
00:30:15,260 --> 00:30:23,580
Foil can be abused and we've finally got, we don't hear about our foiled problems right

394
00:30:23,580 --> 00:30:28,680
now because we've pretty much gotten under control, but now we're having AI agents, and so

395
00:30:28,680 --> 00:30:32,060
So we're talking right now about, you know, this is just wrong.

396
00:30:33,100 --> 00:30:38,280
But yeah, if we get a foil, we have no choice but to answer it.

397
00:30:38,860 --> 00:30:44,140
And so it's, AI is creating a whole different level of problems for us.

398
00:30:44,220 --> 00:30:48,280
So I just want to make you aware of that as we look into this more.

399
00:30:48,600 --> 00:30:54,020
We have one looking for all outstanding bills, any department, anything, and it's meant

400
00:30:54,020 --> 00:30:57,260
for them to sell the information to deck collectors.

401
00:30:57,260 --> 00:31:03,920
Yeah, they're using a foil to collect data that they're going to use for their own marketing purposes.

402
00:31:04,200 --> 00:31:07,360
It's a very scary thing.

403
00:31:07,560 --> 00:31:12,620
And the only way you can do this with an agent, you know, you don't have 300 people calling every community

404
00:31:13,240 --> 00:31:15,820
asking for, you know, presenting these foils.

405
00:31:16,140 --> 00:31:18,880
But you can ask an AI agent to do that quite easily.

406
00:31:19,400 --> 00:31:20,140
Interesting, huh?

407
00:31:20,980 --> 00:31:21,420
It's legal.

408
00:31:21,560 --> 00:31:21,780
Okay.

409
00:31:22,040 --> 00:31:22,600
But they list.

410
00:31:22,600 --> 00:31:26,900
So our public now we do have an executive session tonight

411
00:31:28,000 --> 00:31:31,380
And I'm going to we shouldn't be very long if you want to hang out

412
00:31:32,060 --> 00:31:37,700
It shouldn't take us too long. I move that the council move into an executive session regarding the matter of

413
00:31:37,700 --> 00:31:42,160
Buenas hill ink at all versus Saratoga Springs planning board

414
00:31:43,680 --> 00:31:52,420
To talk about a proposed settlement is there a second second calls the second all those in favor say I I will be in this room for just a few minutes

415
00:31:52,600 --> 00:31:53,100
We're

416
00:31:56,170 --> 00:31:56,490
back in.

417
00:31:56,610 --> 00:31:57,610
We're back on.

418
00:31:58,570 --> 00:31:59,530
All right.

419
00:32:00,570 --> 00:32:01,250
Okay.

420
00:32:01,330 --> 00:32:02,870
Thank you for your patience, everybody.

421
00:32:03,150 --> 00:32:15,650
We will be adding an agenda item to my agenda to settle this issue between Boyn

422
00:32:15,650 --> 00:32:17,950
and Sihil and Sarah Tuckers brings to my board.

423
00:32:18,330 --> 00:32:18,470
And next.

424
00:32:18,950 --> 00:32:19,270
Did you want?

425
00:32:20,550 --> 00:32:21,410
Yes, ma'am.

426
00:32:21,890 --> 00:32:25,390
This is a matter that's been I'm going into the course for a number of years.

427
00:32:25,950 --> 00:32:31,390
It involved a party that, because of a planning, but they sued on a planning board application.

428
00:32:32,690 --> 00:32:38,810
Over several years, our outside council, middlemanics, has appeared for us on behalf of the planning board.

429
00:32:39,190 --> 00:32:44,270
And on behalf of the other city employees and personnel who were named in the caption as defendants.

430
00:32:44,750 --> 00:32:49,890
It was after a mediation session about a month or so ago, the resolution was proposed.

431
00:32:49,890 --> 00:33:11,930
Another planning board meeting was held to review the application again, the planning board issued a decision that the plaintiff in the case approved of, they were fine with it, and as a result, the signing of this settlement will settle all the cases against the city and any pending cases against the city personnel by this individual will be dismissed.

432
00:33:11,930 --> 00:33:17,350
Okay, so I'll make that motion on my agenda when we get to it.

433
00:33:17,930 --> 00:33:20,990
So we move on to county supervisors, supervisor Berger.

434
00:33:21,770 --> 00:33:23,170
Yes, good evening, thank you mayor.

435
00:33:24,170 --> 00:33:29,430
The first item on my agenda, I wanted to give a brief update on the county's horse racing,

436
00:33:29,570 --> 00:33:31,090
fire safety and prevention committee.

437
00:33:31,630 --> 00:33:36,290
We met again last night, and at last night's meeting we approved our first set of recommendations

438
00:33:36,290 --> 00:33:40,530
for barn structures at New York State racetracks.

439
00:33:40,530 --> 00:33:46,310
This is a huge milestone in our meetings because we're actually making some significant

440
00:33:46,310 --> 00:33:52,410
progress in this topic was I think probably the most meaty of our focus areas as it

441
00:33:52,410 --> 00:33:53,990
involves state code.

442
00:33:54,670 --> 00:33:58,390
Just to give you a couple examples of recommendations that the committee made.

443
00:33:59,490 --> 00:34:05,190
One, the committee recommended that fire resistant treatments be used on all barn structures

444
00:34:05,190 --> 00:34:12,870
in New York State at race tracks to there's a requirement for fire suppression either automatic

445
00:34:12,870 --> 00:34:18,750
sprinklers or an alternative fire protection system such as water mist or non-toxic sprays

446
00:34:19,240 --> 00:34:24,870
were recommended as well. I intend to be sending a letter to the New York State Gaming Commission

447
00:34:24,870 --> 00:34:29,270
later this week including the full set of recommendations that were voted on last night

448
00:34:30,070 --> 00:34:34,310
and then we will continue to move through the other focus areas in the coming weeks.

449
00:34:35,190 --> 00:34:45,430
Item number two on my agenda is that today at the county board meeting, the county board voted to set a public hearing on a proposal to ban

450
00:34:45,430 --> 00:34:51,510
Crade them and set the sale of all products containing Crade them and Crade them itself in Saratoga County.

451
00:34:52,690 --> 00:34:58,930
The public hearing will be held after the long finance meeting on October 14th at

452
00:34:58,930 --> 00:35:04,850
4.30 p.m. at the Saratoga County Board of Supervisors, 40 McMaster Street, Paulson Spa.

453
00:35:05,870 --> 00:35:09,950
It's interesting because in the last couple of weeks since the last city council meeting

454
00:35:09,950 --> 00:35:16,330
when we discussed this, we've received an incredible number of emails from the public,

455
00:35:16,450 --> 00:35:21,690
from people all over the country, all over the state on both sides of this issue that

456
00:35:21,690 --> 00:35:24,070
agree that the product should be banned.

457
00:35:24,710 --> 00:35:29,350
Some people feel that the only synthetic product should be banned and not the natural leaf

458
00:35:29,350 --> 00:35:35,670
It seems to be a rather complex issue, and I just wanted to raise this up to the public and to the City Council,

459
00:35:36,470 --> 00:35:46,750
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 Saratoga County Board of Supervisors in the meantime.

460
00:35:47,990 --> 00:36:01,910
Number three on my agenda, I wanted to just quick announcement that Saratoga County is hosting a 2027 kickoff for the 250th anniversary of the Battles of Saratoga.

461
00:36:02,610 --> 00:36:12,810
This will be held Friday October 9th at 10 a.m. at the Board of Supervisors Meeting Room in Balson Spa and you can RSVP for that event to the county historian.

462
00:36:12,810 --> 00:36:15,770
Thank you very much. That completes my agenda.

463
00:36:16,370 --> 00:36:17,530
I have some surprises on me.

464
00:36:19,950 --> 00:36:22,630
Yeah, I think Supervisor Burger,

465
00:36:25,040 --> 00:36:26,600
covered most of what happened today.

466
00:36:27,780 --> 00:36:30,560
We did pass the local law number five,

467
00:36:30,720 --> 00:36:33,900
print number one of 2026 entitled Local Law Authorizing.

468
00:36:34,540 --> 00:36:38,560
Full property tax exemption for certain 100% permanent

469
00:36:38,560 --> 00:36:40,720
and total service disabled veterans.

470
00:36:40,720 --> 00:36:51,260
So that did pass unanimously and I know that the city is also considering something I had a

471
00:36:51,260 --> 00:36:59,240
conversation with Commissioner Troisi about it and again available for any questions or

472
00:36:59,240 --> 00:37:01,900
discussions. Thank you.

473
00:37:02,000 --> 00:37:03,380
Thank you.

474
00:37:03,380 --> 00:37:12,460
to my agenda. So I moved to add an agenda item. That's my motion. Is there a second second?

475
00:37:12,500 --> 00:37:15,800
Second. Second. Chairman. All those in favor say aye.

476
00:37:15,980 --> 00:37:16,460
Aye. Aye.

477
00:37:17,360 --> 00:37:28,900
Now I make a motion to accept. How do I put it? So accept the it would be to accept the proposed

478
00:37:28,900 --> 00:37:31,560
settlement agreement in the matter of

479
00:37:31,560 --> 00:37:33,560
Buenos Hills Inc. vs.

480
00:37:33,800 --> 00:37:36,260
Servo Gisprings Planning Board, L, as presented.

481
00:37:36,700 --> 00:37:40,260
That is our, did you get that, got that?

482
00:37:40,800 --> 00:37:41,480
Is there a second?

483
00:37:42,360 --> 00:37:42,800
Second.

484
00:37:43,160 --> 00:37:43,360
Second.

485
00:37:43,880 --> 00:37:46,940
Turn in any discussion on this, we just had it.

486
00:37:47,380 --> 00:37:49,260
So all those in favor say aye.

487
00:37:49,560 --> 00:37:49,700
Aye.

488
00:37:50,260 --> 00:37:50,660
Any opposed?

489
00:37:50,900 --> 00:37:51,320
Say nay.

490
00:37:51,780 --> 00:37:52,560
No abstentions.

491
00:37:52,560 --> 00:37:54,200
That matter passed is 5-0.

492
00:37:54,440 --> 00:37:54,820
Thank you.

493
00:37:56,020 --> 00:38:06,360
Next is an update from the chair of our commission.

494
00:38:07,580 --> 00:38:11,860
Our charter commission, Vince De Leonartis, go ahead.

495
00:38:14,320 --> 00:38:14,680
Thank you.

496
00:38:15,240 --> 00:38:17,760
Good evening, Mayor, commissioners, supervisors.

497
00:38:18,920 --> 00:38:23,560
Vince De Leonartis on the chair of the Charter Review Commission, and I would just like to take

498
00:38:23,560 --> 00:38:28,380
a few minutes this evening to provide an update and to address the determination that was

499
00:38:28,380 --> 00:38:34,140
made last week by the County Board of Elections. As you know, the County Board of Elections

500
00:38:34,140 --> 00:38:39,400
is comprised of two election commissioners, Commissioner Sarada and Commissioner Begravean,

501
00:38:39,560 --> 00:38:44,960
and last week they indicated that they were split or divided in their decision to place our

502
00:38:44,960 --> 00:38:49,620
proposed amendments to the city charter on the ballot for this year's election in November.

503
00:38:50,220 --> 00:38:56,640
As there are only two commissioners, it necessarily requires both to agree in order before

504
00:38:56,640 --> 00:39:00,140
a matter to be placed on the ballot, and they both could not agree.

505
00:39:00,900 --> 00:39:05,380
As I understand it, Commissioner Sarada was in favor of placing our proposals on the ballot,

506
00:39:05,780 --> 00:39:07,860
but Commissioner Bergrainian was not.

507
00:39:08,920 --> 00:39:14,020
The issue ultimately boils down to a conflict that exists between two separate provisions of

508
00:39:14,020 --> 00:39:18,380
state law relating to the timing and the submission of ballot questions and

509
00:39:18,380 --> 00:39:23,320
specifically, the conflict between the municipal home rule law and the election law.

510
00:39:24,180 --> 00:39:27,820
Last year, when Mayor Stafford established the Charter Review Commission,

511
00:39:28,220 --> 00:39:33,740
he did so, and in accordance with the provisions of Section 36 of the municipal home rule law.

512
00:39:34,480 --> 00:39:39,080
Section 36 governs not just the creation of a Charter Review Commission,

513
00:39:39,080 --> 00:39:53,840
but also the organization and operation of a commission and the specific timelines under which they are legally required to finalize and file their work with the Office of the City Clerk.

514
00:39:54,920 --> 00:40:03,740
Section 36-5-B mandates that a charter review commission provide for submission of its proposed charter or amendments,

515
00:40:03,740 --> 00:40:15,120
quotes to the electors of the city at a general or special election held not earlier than 60 days after the filing thereof in the office of the city clerk.

516
00:40:16,000 --> 00:40:29,000
The section further provides that quote, if such general election occurs within 90 days after said filing, the proposed charter or amendments shall be submitted at such general election.

517
00:40:29,000 --> 00:40:36,500
The municipal home law creates a specific 60 to 90 day window before the general election

518
00:40:36,500 --> 00:40:42,740
for the commission to file its work and if it is filed during this 60 to 90 day period,

519
00:40:43,160 --> 00:40:45,880
the proposal must be placed on the ballot.

520
00:40:46,920 --> 00:40:52,100
The election law on the other hand establishes general transmittal requirements by which

521
00:40:52,100 --> 00:40:57,760
the city clerk must transmit certified copies of the proposed ballot question to the county

522
00:40:57,760 --> 00:41:05,140
Board of Elections. Section 4-108 of the election law had historically required the clerk

523
00:41:05,140 --> 00:41:12,540
to forward ballot proposals at least 36 days before the general election, and this operated

524
00:41:12,540 --> 00:41:18,340
in harmony with the municipal home rule law. Using the date of this year's general election

525
00:41:18,340 --> 00:41:24,160
of November 3 as an example, under the municipal home rule law, the commission would be required

526
00:41:24,160 --> 00:41:30,800
to file its work with the city clerk between the dates of August 5th and September 4th in

527
00:41:30,800 --> 00:41:37,360
order to be within the 60 to 90-day window. The city clerk would then have until September 28th

528
00:41:37,360 --> 00:41:43,120
to transmit certified copies to the Board of Elections to be consistent with the 36-day requirement.

529
00:41:43,760 --> 00:41:50,260
These time frames worked and were consistent with each other. However, several years ago,

530
00:41:50,260 --> 00:41:59,300
the legislature amended Section 4-108 of the election law to align with the federal move act relating to our overseas military members.

531
00:41:59,760 --> 00:42:09,060
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.

532
00:42:10,140 --> 00:42:19,640
In making this change though, the legislature did not make a corresponding change or adjustment to the 60-90-day requirement of the municipal home rule law,

533
00:42:19,640 --> 00:42:24,000
creating a clear conflict and inconsistency between the two laws.

534
00:42:25,060 --> 00:42:29,640
So if we again use the date of this year's general election of November 3rd,

535
00:42:30,400 --> 00:42:35,640
the city clerk is now required to submit certified copies of ballot propositions

536
00:42:35,640 --> 00:42:40,760
to the Board of Elections by August 3rd to comply with the three month requirement

537
00:42:40,760 --> 00:42:45,680
of the election law. But under the municipal home rule law, the commission is required

538
00:42:45,680 --> 00:42:51,960
to file his proposal with the city clerk no earlier than August 5th and no later than

539
00:42:51,960 --> 00:42:56,080
September 4th in order to comply with the 60 to 90 day filing requirement.

540
00:42:56,920 --> 00:43:01,920
In other words, and as our city attorney noted previously in his correspondence to the board

541
00:43:01,920 --> 00:43:08,640
of elections, the election law now requires the city clerk to transmit to the board of elections

542
00:43:08,640 --> 00:43:14,000
sometimes something which the municipal home law does not yet even require the city clerk

543
00:43:14,000 --> 00:43:14,760
to have.

544
00:43:15,860 --> 00:43:20,840
In amending the election law and in not providing for a corresponding amendment to the municipal

545
00:43:20,840 --> 00:43:27,600
home rule law, the legislature created a conflict, rendering it structurally and legally impossible

546
00:43:27,600 --> 00:43:30,260
to comply with the timing requirements of each law.

547
00:43:31,480 --> 00:43:38,380
Conflicts or inconsistencies between provisions of state law are unfortunately not as uncommon

548
00:43:38,380 --> 00:43:45,120
as one would expect. Fortunately, the legislature at least thought well enough to contemplate

549
00:43:45,120 --> 00:43:51,240
that there could be such a possibility and it expressly included provisions in both the

550
00:43:51,240 --> 00:43:57,600
municipal home rule law and the election law to address which law prevails in the event

551
00:43:57,600 --> 00:44:05,460
of such an inconsistency. In fact, municipal home rule law at Section 36-6G provides, quote,

552
00:44:05,460 --> 00:44:10,320
So, the provisions of the election law or any other law relating to the submission of

553
00:44:10,320 --> 00:44:16,620
questions at general elections, so far as the same are applicable and not inconsistent

554
00:44:16,620 --> 00:44:19,420
herewith, shall apply to a question submitted.

555
00:44:20,400 --> 00:44:27,940
Election Law Section 1-102 likewise provides, quote, where a specific provision of law exists

556
00:44:27,940 --> 00:44:34,780
in any other law which is inconsistent with the provisions of this chapter, such provisions

557
00:44:34,780 --> 00:44:42,600
will apply. Here the legislature clearly and expressly designed the municipal home

558
00:44:42,600 --> 00:44:48,040
rule law to supersede the election law and it clearly and expressly designed the

559
00:44:48,040 --> 00:44:52,880
election law to be superseded by the municipal home rule law in the event there is

560
00:44:52,880 --> 00:44:58,080
an inconsistency between the two provisions and there is clearly an inconsistency

561
00:44:58,080 --> 00:44:59,220
between the two provisions.

562
00:45:00,240 --> 00:45:30,220
The clearest indication of legislative intent is always the statutory language itself, when you give effect to its plain meaning. Here, the provisions of both laws expressly state that the election law must yield to the conflicting timing and procedural requirements of the municipal home rule law. And there is no question that the submission by the Charter Review Commission was in full conformance with the timing and procedural requirements of the municipal home rule.

563
00:45:31,140 --> 00:45:36,540
That Commissioner Bergrainian relied on the unapplicable and superseded provisions of the

564
00:45:36,540 --> 00:45:42,120
election law to block our legally valid proposal from being placed in the ballot is unfortunate.

565
00:45:42,980 --> 00:45:48,180
She could have, and I would argue, should have, consulted with her own county attorney

566
00:45:48,180 --> 00:45:48,860
in such issue.

567
00:45:49,780 --> 00:45:55,400
Instead it appears that she relied on the opinion of a local political party chair.

568
00:45:56,160 --> 00:46:00,280
The only recourse against the Board of Elections would be the Commencement of an Action in

569
00:46:00,280 --> 00:46:04,720
Seritorial County Supreme Court requesting an order compelling the Board to perform

570
00:46:04,720 --> 00:46:08,300
their ministerial duty and place the proposal on the ballot.

571
00:46:09,260 --> 00:46:14,180
While we believe that such an action would have merit and would be warranted, we do not feel

572
00:46:14,180 --> 00:46:20,440
it is appropriate to ask the City or the taxpayers to incur the necessary costs associated with

573
00:46:20,440 --> 00:46:21,160
such an action.

574
00:46:21,160 --> 00:46:27,100
The Charter Review Commission's proposal could also be moved to a special election.

575
00:46:27,760 --> 00:46:32,680
But again, we do not believe this is the best court to take given the costs and the low

576
00:46:32,680 --> 00:46:35,980
voter turnout that typically comes with a special election.

577
00:46:37,180 --> 00:46:42,140
Instead, we believe it would be most appropriate to work toward placing this matter on the ballot

578
00:46:42,140 --> 00:46:47,400
for next year's general election, and we would ask the mayor to consider establishing a commission

579
00:46:47,400 --> 00:46:53,540
under section 36 of the municipal home rule law utilizing the members of the current commission

580
00:46:53,540 --> 00:46:59,940
to allow it to continue its work. The charter commission has already provided for the most

581
00:46:59,940 --> 00:47:04,980
significant updates and improvements to our charter that has occurred since it was originally adopted

582
00:47:04,980 --> 00:47:12,660
some 25 years ago. Between local law number four and local law number five of 2026 more than 40

583
00:47:12,660 --> 00:47:18,200
amendments that were proposed as part of our phase one work have already been implemented.

584
00:47:18,920 --> 00:47:23,780
The amendments proposed as part of our phase two work in which are intended to be placed

585
00:47:23,780 --> 00:47:28,500
on the ballot for voter consideration are meant to further strengthen and improve our

586
00:47:28,500 --> 00:47:35,020
existing charter, provide for organizational upgrades, increase transparency and accountability,

587
00:47:35,560 --> 00:47:37,420
and be completely budget neutral.

588
00:47:38,180 --> 00:47:43,360
Moving the ballot question from this year's general election to next years would simply

589
00:47:43,360 --> 00:47:49,040
allow for greater opportunity for the commission to inform and educate the public on those

590
00:47:49,040 --> 00:47:49,920
proposed amendments.

591
00:47:50,560 --> 00:47:55,680
And while it is unfortunate that the divided board of elections prevented the public from having

592
00:47:55,680 --> 00:48:00,700
the ability to decide this important ballot issue this year, we should make sure that they

593
00:48:00,700 --> 00:48:02,400
do not do so next year.

594
00:48:02,400 --> 00:48:08,000
And in that regard, we would also ask that the City Attorney, who was also legal counsel

595
00:48:08,000 --> 00:48:12,420
for the Charter Review Commission, seek an opinion and clarification from the Attorney

596
00:48:12,420 --> 00:48:17,500
General's office on how to address the conflict that clearly exists between the election

597
00:48:17,500 --> 00:48:23,800
law and the municipal home or law to ensure that this issue does not repeat itself next year.

598
00:48:24,920 --> 00:48:25,460
Thank you.

599
00:48:25,560 --> 00:48:26,640
And I don't know if there are any questions.

600
00:48:26,760 --> 00:48:27,040
Thank you.

601
00:48:27,320 --> 00:48:29,460
I don't think I can do it until I ask the election.

602
00:48:30,180 --> 00:48:36,300
I can't apply. I'm definitely taking that under consideration. Yeah, it's a sad thing that happened.

603
00:48:37,340 --> 00:48:41,480
Yeah, I'm going to say it is quite unfortunate. I know you guys did a lot of hard work on this.

604
00:48:42,140 --> 00:48:49,820
And I appreciate and respect your recommendations, and especially if the city attorney could reach out to the attorney general

605
00:48:49,820 --> 00:48:56,780
just to get clarification on the conflict between the two laws is I think one of the very important to do.

606
00:48:56,780 --> 00:48:59,760
So, thanks for that explanation.

607
00:49:00,360 --> 00:49:01,880
We need to get that on the record.

608
00:49:02,020 --> 00:49:09,260
Can you send that to us so I could just have it with my charter, so I could just keep

609
00:49:09,260 --> 00:49:10,400
it with all my documents.

610
00:49:10,860 --> 00:49:11,120
Thank you.

611
00:49:11,440 --> 00:49:19,720
I will say, as the city clerk, I was really disappointed in the fact that literally the exact

612
00:49:19,720 --> 00:49:28,720
That rule that they used to fight the supervisor issue, which I agreed to say, let's compromise on,

613
00:49:29,040 --> 00:49:35,460
they used the exact opposite argument using that same municipal home rule law to then fight this.

614
00:49:35,900 --> 00:49:40,880
And I find that rather ironic that they decided to use the same municipal home rule.

615
00:49:40,980 --> 00:49:47,240
And in one case said, oh no, the city municipal home rule charter trumps the county and

616
00:49:47,240 --> 00:49:50,900
And then fast forward three months and we're using the same argument, just the other side

617
00:49:50,900 --> 00:49:57,080
of it to argue why we can't, why ours doesn't stand up against it.

618
00:49:57,220 --> 00:50:02,060
I was really disappointed in the record and the claim that it was not transparent because

619
00:50:02,060 --> 00:50:08,980
everything was open and if I may, I would also like to add that several years ago, I served

620
00:50:08,980 --> 00:50:14,200
as a member of a charter review commission, I know how much work it is, I know how much

621
00:50:14,200 --> 00:50:21,960
effort you guys have taken in doing this work and it must be very disappointing that this outcome has

622
00:50:21,960 --> 00:50:26,580
taken place. I just wanted to thank you for all the work that you did. Thank you, Commissioner,

623
00:50:26,880 --> 00:50:33,060
very much. Thank you. Mr. Mayor, can I see something too? I served with Beaky on the charter

624
00:50:33,060 --> 00:50:38,680
review commission so I do know how much work it is and really appreciate all the effort that you

625
00:50:38,680 --> 00:50:44,480
I've put in, especially with phase one, phase two and all of that, and just a point

626
00:50:44,480 --> 00:50:52,720
of clarification, if you had submitted the stuff before August, what is it third, then

627
00:50:52,720 --> 00:50:57,960
there wouldn't have been an issue of the Election Commissioner Surata and MacRomanian

628
00:50:58,460 --> 00:50:58,740
bag.

629
00:50:59,740 --> 00:51:00,120
The agreement.

630
00:51:00,420 --> 00:51:04,660
The agreement, even having to have any input, right?

631
00:51:04,660 --> 00:51:12,420
That would have then been compliant with the election law, but it would have been outside of the dates that were set forth in the Municipal Homeral Law.

632
00:51:12,720 --> 00:51:13,240
We had great room.

633
00:51:13,240 --> 00:51:15,260
We wanted to ensure placement on the ballot.

634
00:51:15,620 --> 00:51:20,700
The Municipal Homeral Law is pretty clear that it has to be filed within that 60-90-day window.

635
00:51:21,280 --> 00:51:25,600
The 90-day period brings it to as far out as August 5th.

636
00:51:25,600 --> 00:51:33,880
The three-month window, because for some reason they decided to use a month calendar instead of a day calendar, but three months does not equal 90 dates.

637
00:51:33,880 --> 00:51:38,940
you have multiple months, 31 days, so that brings it to August 3rd under the

638
00:51:38,940 --> 00:51:42,380
election law. We couldn't have filed it until August 5th under the municipal

639
00:51:42,380 --> 00:51:46,860
home rule law. And when was it actually filed? August 28th, but keep in mind

640
00:51:46,860 --> 00:51:51,780
under the municipal home rule, we had until September 4th. Right, so if you had

641
00:51:51,780 --> 00:51:55,720
filed it August 3rd and 5th, it may have passed without them. It does not

642
00:51:55,720 --> 00:51:58,680
necessarily mean it would have been correct. I know other municipalities have

643
00:51:58,680 --> 00:52:02,620
done this and got it on the ballot but there is a clear conflict between the

644
00:52:02,620 --> 00:52:07,060
two laws, and when there is that conflict between the election law and the municipal

645
00:52:07,060 --> 00:52:12,660
home rule law, you have to look at the legislatures intent on which of those two laws prevail, and

646
00:52:12,660 --> 00:52:18,980
the language in both of those laws are clear and unambiguous, that the election law yields to the

647
00:52:18,980 --> 00:52:19,920
municipal home rule law.

648
00:52:20,340 --> 00:52:24,260
This is, again, very sad, very sad, and political.

649
00:52:25,000 --> 00:52:25,680
Thank you.

650
00:52:25,840 --> 00:52:25,960
Yes.

651
00:52:26,120 --> 00:52:26,680
Thank you very much.

652
00:52:26,940 --> 00:52:27,320
Thank you.

653
00:52:27,320 --> 00:52:27,380
Thank you.

654
00:52:28,480 --> 00:52:31,340
On to my next agenda item.

655
00:52:33,820 --> 00:52:38,480
I move for the council to approve the right departments request to pay an invoice for

656
00:52:39,220 --> 00:52:44,300
$4,949.31 to national landscaping and lawn.

657
00:52:44,460 --> 00:52:46,520
That is my motion.

658
00:52:46,760 --> 00:52:47,280
Is there a second?

659
00:52:54,150 --> 00:52:54,370
Okay.

660
00:52:54,490 --> 00:52:58,570
So I've made my motion in Caramati's second.

661
00:52:58,570 --> 00:52:59,190
Thank you.

662
00:52:59,490 --> 00:53:05,430
Uh, this is a hydro-seat project that Wible Avenue is coming to the Council for Approval

663
00:53:05,430 --> 00:53:08,590
because when the service was rendered, an invoice was not provided.

664
00:53:09,350 --> 00:53:10,210
Any other discussion?

665
00:53:11,350 --> 00:53:12,450
All those in favor say aye.

666
00:53:12,810 --> 00:53:12,990
Aye.

667
00:53:13,330 --> 00:53:13,670
Any opposed?

668
00:53:13,910 --> 00:53:14,250
They nay.

669
00:53:14,430 --> 00:53:15,330
No abstentions.

670
00:53:16,070 --> 00:53:17,710
That matter passes five.

671
00:53:18,010 --> 00:53:18,250
Zero.

672
00:53:18,810 --> 00:53:24,470
And so I move that the Council approval payment of an invoice from Fitzgerald Morris Baker

673
00:53:24,470 --> 00:53:28,890
In the amount of $540, that's my motion, is there a second?

674
00:53:29,170 --> 00:53:29,590
Second.

675
00:53:30,430 --> 00:53:31,370
Curum Audi seconds.

676
00:53:31,810 --> 00:53:38,050
This invoice requires council approval due to the work being performed prior to the purchase order being issued.

677
00:53:38,470 --> 00:53:39,430
Any other discussion?

678
00:53:40,990 --> 00:53:42,190
All those in favor say aye.

679
00:53:42,450 --> 00:53:42,710
Aye.

680
00:53:43,050 --> 00:53:43,430
Any opposed?

681
00:53:43,710 --> 00:53:44,170
Say nay.

682
00:53:44,870 --> 00:53:45,470
Abstentions?

683
00:53:45,850 --> 00:53:46,350
5-0.

684
00:53:47,070 --> 00:53:49,430
Next, pardon me.

685
00:53:49,450 --> 00:53:52,910
I move for the council to approve pavement.

686
00:53:52,910 --> 00:54:01,230
an invoice from Hindman's job in the amount of $3,229.60. That's my motion. Is there a second?

687
00:54:03,190 --> 00:54:10,930
That was second from Kiernan. This invoice, again, requires counsel approval due to the work being

688
00:54:10,930 --> 00:54:17,590
performed prior to the purchase order being issued. Any other discussion? All those in favor say

689
00:54:17,590 --> 00:54:19,150
Aye. Aye. Aye. Any opposed?

690
00:54:19,410 --> 00:54:21,050
Say nay. No abstentions.

691
00:54:21,370 --> 00:54:22,290
5-0.

692
00:54:22,950 --> 00:54:26,730
Okay. So next is, I move for the council to accept the

693
00:54:26,730 --> 00:54:31,310
conveyances for the Liberty Housing Project as required by the Liberty

694
00:54:31,310 --> 00:54:35,030
Site Plan and attached to the agenda. That is my motion.

695
00:54:35,170 --> 00:54:38,310
Is there a second? Second. Second is Kiernan.

696
00:54:38,810 --> 00:54:45,190
The Site Plan approval for the Liberty Housing Project requires the following.

697
00:54:45,190 --> 00:54:52,510
A conservation easement over 16 plus acres for a lot of liberty will retain for passive

698
00:54:52,510 --> 00:54:59,830
recreation purposes and to a deed in the city for a three plus acres that the city can

699
00:54:59,830 --> 00:55:06,110
use for future recreation. Any other discussion on this? All those in favor say aye.

700
00:55:06,110 --> 00:55:06,930
Aye. Aye.

701
00:55:07,130 --> 00:55:07,490
Any opposed?

702
00:55:07,770 --> 00:55:07,850
Aye.

703
00:55:08,350 --> 00:55:10,810
No extensions, matter of passes, 5-0.

704
00:55:12,130 --> 00:55:16,770
Next day, these next are hospital issues.

705
00:55:17,050 --> 00:55:17,630
There's two of them.

706
00:55:18,210 --> 00:55:24,670
I move for the council to review a proposed amendment to the Saratoga Hospital PUD at 2-11

707
00:55:24,670 --> 00:55:30,990
Church Street and to request advisory opinions from the Saratoga County Planning Board, the

708
00:55:30,990 --> 00:55:33,670
City Planning Board, and the DRB.

709
00:55:33,670 --> 00:55:34,530
Is there a second?

710
00:55:35,770 --> 00:55:36,130
Second.

711
00:55:36,450 --> 00:55:37,470
Have a second from Cole.

712
00:55:38,550 --> 00:55:40,830
This is a mirrored for review.

713
00:55:41,370 --> 00:55:49,490
The hospital proposes to add the two adjacent parcels purchased from the spine center in the corner there to the PUD.

714
00:55:50,010 --> 00:55:53,530
They are currently zoned Office Medical Business District.

715
00:55:54,190 --> 00:55:56,230
That's 31 at 35 Mertel Street.

716
00:55:56,870 --> 00:56:01,550
The hospital seeks modifications to build a parking structure in zone E6.

717
00:56:01,550 --> 00:56:09,910
We're parking already exists and it proposes language throughout the PUD to simplify and clarify various provisions.

718
00:56:10,750 --> 00:56:13,790
That's my discussion, is there any other discussion on this?

719
00:56:15,250 --> 00:56:16,590
All those in favor say aye.

720
00:56:17,050 --> 00:56:17,230
Aye.

721
00:56:17,610 --> 00:56:17,990
Any opposed?

722
00:56:18,290 --> 00:56:18,650
Same day.

723
00:56:18,830 --> 00:56:19,750
No abstentions.

724
00:56:19,750 --> 00:56:20,630
That matter passes.

725
00:56:21,310 --> 00:56:22,090
5-0.

726
00:56:22,490 --> 00:56:30,130
Next, I move to initiate a coordinated secret review for a proposed amendment

727
00:56:30,130 --> 00:56:35,030
to the Saratoga Hospital PUD, and seek lead agency status

728
00:56:35,030 --> 00:56:38,050
for the environmental review of the proposed action.

729
00:56:38,970 --> 00:56:40,230
That's my motion.

730
00:56:40,370 --> 00:56:41,050
Do I have a second?

731
00:56:42,010 --> 00:56:42,340
Second.

732
00:56:43,150 --> 00:56:44,450
Second was cold?

733
00:56:45,090 --> 00:56:45,690
Good on it?

734
00:56:45,970 --> 00:56:46,110
Yes.

735
00:56:46,390 --> 00:56:46,530
Okay.

736
00:56:47,750 --> 00:56:49,870
This is a type one action.

737
00:56:50,670 --> 00:56:54,090
The evolved agencies will include the planning board

738
00:56:54,090 --> 00:56:55,370
and the DRB.

739
00:56:56,170 --> 00:56:57,010
That's my discussion.

740
00:56:57,010 --> 00:56:58,490
Is there any other discussion on this?

741
00:56:58,490 --> 00:57:05,230
All those in favor say aye, aye, any opposed, say nay, no abstentions, that matter passes

742
00:57:05,230 --> 00:57:06,050
5-0.

743
00:57:06,570 --> 00:57:12,590
The last item is to set a public hearing and I have some words to add to this.

744
00:57:13,250 --> 00:57:19,810
For local law number 6 of 2026, which amends the Unified Development Ordinance Articles

745
00:57:19,810 --> 00:57:28,050
3, 4, 13, 19, and 21, relative to land use board procedures, we will have that.

746
00:57:29,670 --> 00:57:34,530
It's 7 o'clock, our next meeting starts at 6, right?

747
00:57:34,890 --> 00:57:35,750
For that Compudget?

748
00:57:36,030 --> 00:57:36,190
Yeah.

749
00:57:37,030 --> 00:57:44,070
But so we'll start this public hearing when you're done?

750
00:57:44,910 --> 00:57:45,870
I don't know how that works.

751
00:57:50,800 --> 00:57:54,820
So our next meeting starts at 6 because we're going to have a budget review.

752
00:57:56,180 --> 00:57:57,760
I'm presenting the Compudget.

753
00:57:59,420 --> 00:58:04,940
Okay. So, what do you say? So, we will hit.

754
00:58:07,880 --> 00:58:13,760
So, Tony, should we just start at 7, so everybody knows we're starting at 7. Let's do that.

755
00:58:14,240 --> 00:58:19,880
All of our legalists read at this time or assume they're after as the matter can be reached.

756
00:58:19,880 --> 00:58:24,360
Well, I think in this case, it's important a lot of people might talk, so let's just

757
00:58:24,360 --> 00:58:25,200
set it at seven.

758
00:58:26,080 --> 00:58:31,580
Or because if the comp, if the comp had you goes ends earlier, we'd just wait till seven

759
00:58:31,580 --> 00:58:34,880
and if it goes later than it's as early as.

760
00:58:35,100 --> 00:58:39,040
Yeah, I would say, I would just leave that language in there because that's a good, catch-all

761
00:58:39,040 --> 00:58:39,840
language for both.

762
00:58:39,840 --> 00:58:44,080
But you can start at seven and say, at seven, or assume thereafter as the matter can be

763
00:58:44,080 --> 00:58:44,400
reached.

764
00:58:44,740 --> 00:58:44,880
Okay.

765
00:58:45,380 --> 00:58:46,180
So we'll do it at seven.

766
00:58:46,180 --> 00:58:50,580
So, I have some words on this that I'd like to cover.

767
00:58:51,060 --> 00:58:54,180
There's four areas I want to talk about the scope.

768
00:58:54,940 --> 00:58:59,220
I want to talk summary of our advisory opinions.

769
00:58:59,960 --> 00:59:02,460
I just want you to all be aware of what we've gone through already.

770
00:59:03,060 --> 00:59:05,300
A timeline, and then some thank you.

771
00:59:05,480 --> 00:59:07,640
So, I'm just going to read this, I'll take me a couple minutes.

772
00:59:08,580 --> 00:59:12,280
The City Council establishes the city's land use policies

773
00:59:12,280 --> 00:59:14,720
and regulatory standards through legislation,

774
00:59:14,720 --> 00:59:20,140
including the Unified Development Ordinance, the UDO, the City's zoning ordinance,

775
00:59:20,720 --> 00:59:25,300
the City's Land Use Boards administer those regulations and apply the standards

776
00:59:25,300 --> 00:59:28,880
established by the City Council to individual applications.

777
00:59:29,460 --> 00:59:35,040
This amendment proposes no change to the stated purposes of this historic review or

778
00:59:35,040 --> 00:59:39,680
architectural review. This is a text amendment, not a map amendment.

779
00:59:39,940 --> 00:59:43,000
There are no boundary changes to either overlay district.

780
00:59:43,000 --> 00:59:48,900
The authority and duties for the design review board have not changed except for the addition

781
00:59:48,900 --> 00:59:51,220
of reviewing the hardship appeal.

782
00:59:51,980 --> 00:59:58,800
The amendment targets the land use application, the land use application review process and

783
00:59:58,800 --> 00:59:59,740
intense to clarify.

784
01:00:00,000 --> 01:00:21,180
Aye, procedures, reduced delays, organized standards, and create a more defensible review framework. The changes also address comments received in 2021 from SHIPO, which is the State Historical Organization, to improve the designation procedure and address the lack of an appeal procedure.

785
01:00:22,480 --> 01:00:28,200
The council will read, this is our advisory, the council are a number that we requested

786
01:00:28,200 --> 01:00:35,100
advisory opinions from the city, the county planning boards, the DRB and SHIPO as required

787
01:00:35,100 --> 01:00:36,700
for an amendment of the UDO.

788
01:00:37,340 --> 01:00:41,980
In July, we received those advisory opinions and their comments have informed the changes

789
01:00:41,980 --> 01:00:43,120
in the final draft.

790
01:00:43,700 --> 01:00:48,180
The reviews from the county planning board, city planning board and SHIPO were generally

791
01:00:48,180 --> 01:00:50,020
supportive of the UDO changes.

792
01:00:50,020 --> 01:00:56,380
Although the DRB advisory opinion did not support the amendment, the board supported several

793
01:00:56,380 --> 01:01:01,560
major elements of the amendment in clarifying review procedures and standards.

794
01:01:02,320 --> 01:01:08,580
The DRB's concern focused on the proposed demolition procedure for the architectural district

795
01:01:08,580 --> 01:01:12,100
and on the council and the council appeal procedure.

796
01:01:12,540 --> 01:01:18,220
We believe the final draft addresses the DRB's concerns and others who have expressed similar

797
01:01:18,220 --> 01:01:24,640
opinions such as the Saratoga Springs Preservation Foundation. The DRB also provided many other

798
01:01:24,640 --> 01:01:29,860
detailed comments which we have incorporated into the final draft. The City's Special

799
01:01:29,860 --> 01:01:36,360
Use Council, Miller Manic Shactor and Heftar, has worked with us during this process. Their

800
01:01:36,360 --> 01:01:41,180
role is not to provide an opinion on merit or policy. They provide us legal guidance.

801
01:01:47,520 --> 01:01:48,200
We

802
01:01:48,200 --> 01:01:53,440
Public hearing will be held at the City Council meetings on October 6th and October 20th.

803
01:01:53,840 --> 01:01:58,480
The final drafts of these articles are posted on the website and attached to this agenda.

804
01:01:59,060 --> 01:02:02,980
We encourage the public to read the final draft documents.

805
01:02:03,480 --> 01:02:08,760
Once the public hearing is closed, the council will complete the secret type 1 action, followed

806
01:02:08,760 --> 01:02:11,660
by the vote, to adopt local law number 6.

807
01:02:12,320 --> 01:02:16,940
I do want to thank that this has been a collaborative effort, and I want to thank a few people

808
01:02:16,940 --> 01:02:23,820
the chairs of the planning board and the DRB have given even more their volunteer time to work

809
01:02:23,820 --> 01:02:30,820
with our team and have done valuable and constructive feedback directly on behalf of the boards.

810
01:02:31,300 --> 01:02:39,620
We've also had productive discussions with our city historian, Metvich, and with Samantha Basar,

811
01:02:40,080 --> 01:02:44,240
of the preservation foundation, and we appreciate their time and expertise.

812
01:02:44,240 --> 01:02:50,800
And we have worked closely with our CLG coordinator at Chippau, the state of Francis'

813
01:02:51,120 --> 01:02:52,660
person we talked to there.

814
01:02:53,160 --> 01:02:57,260
It has been fully engaged with us in delivering how best to solve these problems.

815
01:02:57,980 --> 01:02:59,300
Her guidance continues.

816
01:03:00,300 --> 01:03:05,980
This work on the amendment has energized the city's efforts to have a more active preservation

817
01:03:05,980 --> 01:03:12,200
program, and we believe it advances the recommendations from the city's 2001 historic preservation

818
01:03:12,200 --> 01:03:18,680
plan and the 2015 Comprehensive Plan and finally I want to thank our staff who've handled

819
01:03:18,680 --> 01:03:23,960
the work associated with this amendment while continuing to manage heavy volumes of land

820
01:03:23,960 --> 01:03:28,760
use and permit applications. They are the professionals who work with our land use boards

821
01:03:28,760 --> 01:03:35,380
and the applicants to administer and comply with the regulations of the UDO. Thank you.

822
01:03:35,380 --> 01:03:36,540
We will move on to a count.

823
01:03:37,500 --> 01:03:38,100
Thank you.

824
01:03:39,740 --> 01:03:50,160
Our first item is to set the public hearing of ordinance to amend chapter 212, Article 5

825
01:03:50,160 --> 01:03:54,400
of the Code of the City of Saratoga Springs entitled Veterans Tax Exemption.

826
01:03:55,640 --> 01:04:01,060
New York State passed legislation in the 2026 budget that allows taxing authorities to adopt

827
01:04:01,060 --> 01:04:06,900
a 100% exemption from the assessed value of property along with special districts for

828
01:04:06,900 --> 01:04:09,780
our disabled or OBGT veterans.

829
01:04:12,400 --> 01:04:15,940
The office is fully aware of any questions.

830
01:04:17,000 --> 01:04:20,200
It is a complicated as many to can tell you as well.

831
01:04:20,340 --> 01:04:22,040
It is a complicated exemption for sure.

832
01:04:23,100 --> 01:04:27,280
In summary is the following criteria would apply for this exemption.

833
01:04:27,280 --> 01:04:53,520
you have to meet either one or two, the first is released or discharged from service under honorable conditions or have one of the following qualifying conditions where any service discharge or release was other than bad conductor dishonorable that would include post traumatic stress disorder, traumatic brain injuries, military sexual trauma or have been discharged as an LBGT veteran.

834
01:04:53,520 --> 01:05:18,340
And then you also must have item three, you must be considered by the United States Department of Veteran Affairs to be permanently and totally disabled as a result of military service at 100% as evidence by a letter, an official form or another document that specifically states such veteran is considered to be permanently and totally disabled as a result of such service.

835
01:05:18,340 --> 01:05:18,500
Yes.

836
01:05:19,780 --> 01:05:20,300
Good.

837
01:05:20,400 --> 01:05:22,440
So that's going to be set there.

838
01:05:22,540 --> 01:05:24,380
It almost sounds like the other one.

839
01:05:24,920 --> 01:05:27,420
Sixth and the 20 of those, the two days of the meeting.

840
01:05:28,220 --> 01:05:28,420
Okay.

841
01:05:29,000 --> 01:05:29,960
That's four veterans.

842
01:05:30,420 --> 01:05:30,580
Okay.

843
01:05:31,080 --> 01:05:34,160
So we would like to set those public hearing with two weeks.

844
01:05:37,070 --> 01:05:43,970
Our second item is a discussion and vote to amend City Code Chapter 212, Article 3 of the

845
01:05:43,970 --> 01:05:48,710
Code of the City of Saratoga Springs, New York entitled Senior Citizens Tax Exemption.

846
01:05:50,450 --> 01:05:55,830
I move to amend City Code Chapter 212, Article 3 of the Code of the City of Saratoga Springs,

847
01:05:55,830 --> 01:05:59,970
New York entitled Senior Citizens Tax Exemption as it hatches to the agenda.

848
01:06:00,390 --> 01:06:06,490
Here, that's our motion. Is there a second? Second? Second, Karenann. Any discussion?

849
01:06:06,870 --> 01:06:11,210
Just as we've discussed in the public hearings over these last few weeks, it's to amend the

850
01:06:11,210 --> 01:06:16,050
section of the code relating to our Senior Citizens Tax Exemption by increasing it up to

851
01:06:16,050 --> 01:06:21,410
65% in order to best aid those over age 65 and help them remain in their homes.

852
01:06:21,890 --> 01:06:23,450
All those in favor say aye.

853
01:06:23,710 --> 01:06:24,030
Aye.

854
01:06:24,470 --> 01:06:25,390
Opposed say nay.

855
01:06:25,590 --> 01:06:26,370
No abstentions.

856
01:06:26,390 --> 01:06:26,950
5-0.

857
01:06:27,870 --> 01:06:30,630
And our third and last item is a discussion and vote.

858
01:06:30,870 --> 01:06:35,430
It's an authorization for the mayor to sign the New York Municipal Insurance Reciprocal

859
01:06:36,490 --> 01:06:37,950
Subscriber Agreement, Nimer.

860
01:06:39,570 --> 01:06:45,130
I move to authorize the mayor to sign the New York Municipal Insurance Reciprocal Subscriber

861
01:06:45,130 --> 01:06:50,210
agreement. Yeah, it is discussed. We discussed this at the preliminary. I do I have a second for

862
01:06:50,210 --> 01:06:58,270
that. Second, calls the second. Any other discussion? Back in January 1st of 2024, the city began a

863
01:06:58,270 --> 01:07:05,210
contract that had been signed the prior year with NIMAR for insurance coverage, which still continues

864
01:07:05,210 --> 01:07:11,770
to this day uninterrupted. However, in an oversight by NIMAR that they recently noticed, the subscriber

865
01:07:11,770 --> 01:07:15,770
agreement, which covers the municipalities membership and participation was actually

866
01:07:15,770 --> 01:07:20,690
never completed. So this is just to correct the oversight and sign the agreement. It does

867
01:07:20,690 --> 01:07:25,890
not affect our previous or ongoing or future insurance coverage in any way.

868
01:07:27,130 --> 01:07:29,870
Any other questions? All those in favor say aye.

869
01:07:30,210 --> 01:07:35,950
Aye. Any opposed say nay, no abstentions, 5-0-1 done and the finance.

870
01:07:35,950 --> 01:07:37,230
Thank you.

871
01:07:37,750 --> 01:07:40,770
My first item is just an update on city finances.

872
01:07:41,830 --> 01:07:46,150
We put together a visual of where your tax dollars go.

873
01:07:46,370 --> 01:07:50,670
It's a high level overview of the scope of services each department provides.

874
01:07:51,730 --> 01:07:56,650
It's not an exhaustive representation of the work each department handles.

875
01:07:56,830 --> 01:08:01,150
There are many daily responsibilities, services, facilities, and behind-the-scenes functions

876
01:08:01,150 --> 01:08:04,730
that are not captured in this high-level view.

877
01:08:04,730 --> 01:08:08,350
I welcome any commissioners if they want to drill down.

878
01:08:08,550 --> 01:08:12,650
They can but we just wanted to say where does your tax the dollars go?

879
01:08:12,910 --> 01:08:19,870
So 60 cents on every dollar goes to DPS 18 to DPW 6 cents for the mayor accounts

880
01:08:19,870 --> 01:08:25,410
and buy to finance and rec public safety.

881
01:08:25,550 --> 01:08:30,930
There's a police department that calls for service 27,000 and these are 2025 numbers.

882
01:08:30,930 --> 01:08:38,070
944 arrests. You can see, of course, they do a lot more. But these are just, again, high-level things that the police department does.

883
01:08:38,590 --> 01:08:48,110
The fire departments, they receive about 7,000 calls annually. They provide fire rescue hazard material, full 24-7 operations.

884
01:08:48,270 --> 01:08:54,930
And then there's a traffic department for the traffic signals and regulatory signs. And they paint the...

885
01:08:58,230 --> 01:09:02,670
I think the best way to describe our traffic maintenance department is signs and lines.

886
01:09:02,970 --> 01:09:04,470
Okay, signs and lines.

887
01:09:04,470 --> 01:09:07,310
They follow the DPW around.

888
01:09:08,690 --> 01:09:11,170
DPW is 18 cents on every tax dollars.

889
01:09:11,450 --> 01:09:12,590
Again, this is very high level.

890
01:09:12,850 --> 01:09:13,990
Roads and streets are maintained.

891
01:09:14,530 --> 01:09:18,630
Flowers, plants, leaf pickup, compost, transportation.

892
01:09:19,130 --> 01:09:21,990
They take care of all the city buildings, all the city grounds.

893
01:09:23,870 --> 01:09:29,890
They ran out the carousel, oversight of the engineering department, they do the storm

894
01:09:29,890 --> 01:09:31,470
water and ensure that it's adequate.

895
01:09:31,930 --> 01:09:35,970
They also manage the water and sewer departments, however, they're separate budgets, so they're

896
01:09:35,970 --> 01:09:37,190
not included in this.

897
01:09:38,490 --> 01:09:41,170
Commissioner Cameron, would you want to add anything to-

898
01:09:41,170 --> 01:09:41,390
No.

899
01:09:41,770 --> 01:09:41,890
Okay.

900
01:09:42,890 --> 01:09:47,450
Other areas of investment that mayors, the other four departments, well, and then REC,

901
01:09:47,450 --> 01:09:56,250
their mayor counts finance and rack their six cents and five cents per per every dollar, every tax dollar, you know, the mayor's department has the planning department.

902
01:09:57,030 --> 01:10:16,370
The building department issues 1300 permits yearly. They have the planning department, the city historian, the community development planner, and then they have the admin of parks, open land, historic reservations and sustainability that position also handles grants for the city.

903
01:10:16,370 --> 01:10:20,850
looks for them and works with the departments to apply and administer them.

904
01:10:21,930 --> 01:10:24,690
The accounts office is six cents on every dollar.

905
01:10:25,530 --> 01:10:30,230
There's a city clerk, the city assessor, purchasing records retention billing department.

906
01:10:31,910 --> 01:10:36,910
Finance is five cents on every tax dollar, fiscal oversight, budget planning, audits, payroll,

907
01:10:37,370 --> 01:10:39,890
accounts receivable, IT is also under them.

908
01:10:39,890 --> 01:10:46,290
It's IT for all city buildings and facilities and emergency services.

909
01:10:47,010 --> 01:10:50,430
And then the REC department is $5 on every dollar.

910
01:10:50,750 --> 01:10:53,050
And we have quite a robust REC department.

911
01:10:54,990 --> 01:11:00,410
I did want to point out Saratoga Springs is number two out of 61 of the lowest tax rates

912
01:11:00,410 --> 01:11:01,210
per thousand.

913
01:11:01,850 --> 01:11:07,530
This information is from the New York State Controller 2025 local government tax table.

914
01:11:07,530 --> 01:11:14,310
So again, I did a very high level view of what the departments provide and we are number

915
01:11:14,310 --> 01:11:17,870
two of the lowest tax rates in the state.

916
01:11:19,170 --> 01:11:22,750
So I think that's important as we move on in our 2027 budget discussion.

917
01:11:24,090 --> 01:11:30,370
Oh, and then if you look at the attachment, it gives all the cities tax rates and where

918
01:11:30,370 --> 01:11:30,710
they land.

919
01:11:33,190 --> 01:11:40,410
So with that said, I do want to read, I met with our finance team as we were going over

920
01:11:40,410 --> 01:11:46,470
the requested budgets for 2027 and I wanted to share some of my thoughts as we move on

921
01:11:46,470 --> 01:11:47,450
into this process.

922
01:11:49,570 --> 01:11:54,570
As we begin the 2027 budget process, we need to be honest about how we arrived at our current

923
01:11:54,570 --> 01:11:56,770
financial position for the past four years.

924
01:11:56,770 --> 01:12:01,610
the city has been in deficit spending and using fund balance to balance the budget.

925
01:12:02,010 --> 01:12:06,570
There's been no meaningful plan to bring reoccurring expenditure in line with reoccurring revenues.

926
01:12:07,230 --> 01:12:13,230
Fund balance is not reoccurring revenue once it's spent. It's gone. After 2026, we will be very close

927
01:12:13,230 --> 01:12:18,750
to the city's required minimum fund balance of 10%. Leaving little of the financial cushions,

928
01:12:18,870 --> 01:12:23,770
we have relied upon in previous budgets. I mean, basically we've been kicking the can down the road

929
01:12:23,770 --> 01:12:26,030
and the can has arrived at our doorstep.

930
01:12:26,490 --> 01:12:30,570
The financial pressures are not new during the 2026 budget process,

931
01:12:30,790 --> 01:12:33,510
former commissioner Samby identified significant increases

932
01:12:34,090 --> 01:12:35,530
over the previous four years.

933
01:12:35,790 --> 01:12:40,310
Retirement, 18% increased liability insurance, 10% health insurance,

934
01:12:40,510 --> 01:12:43,330
9% salary and debt service, 5%.

935
01:12:43,330 --> 01:12:46,930
Recurring expenses grew approximately three and a half times faster

936
01:12:46,930 --> 01:12:47,890
than recurring revenues.

937
01:12:48,610 --> 01:12:52,250
And the city cannot continue increasing recurring expenses

938
01:12:52,250 --> 01:12:56,330
without identifying recurring revenues or permanent savings to support them.

939
01:12:56,970 --> 01:13:00,970
For four years, the city had opportunities to address the growing gap between

940
01:13:00,970 --> 01:13:04,310
reoccurring revenues and expenditures and opportunities were not taken.

941
01:13:05,030 --> 01:13:09,270
Tax increases during this period did not adequately address the city's operating shortfall,

942
01:13:09,690 --> 01:13:13,910
including a zero-percent tax increase in 2025 while expenses grew.

943
01:13:14,810 --> 01:13:20,170
I recognize that raising taxes is never an easy decision, neither is reducing

944
01:13:20,170 --> 01:13:23,430
and expenditures, changing services, restructuring operations,

945
01:13:23,430 --> 01:13:25,590
or making difficult staffing decisions.

946
01:13:26,110 --> 01:13:28,630
But governing requires making difficult choices.

947
01:13:29,170 --> 01:13:31,890
Avoiding those choices does not eliminate the cost.

948
01:13:32,130 --> 01:13:34,370
It simply pushes the problem into the next budget

949
01:13:34,370 --> 01:13:36,650
and makes eventual corrections more difficult.

950
01:13:37,350 --> 01:13:40,270
The 2026 budget anticipated using approximately

951
01:13:40,270 --> 01:13:42,130
1.3 million of fund balance.

952
01:13:42,690 --> 01:13:45,010
Current projections indicate that actual deficit

953
01:13:45,010 --> 01:13:47,170
will be closer to 4.7 million.

954
01:13:47,170 --> 01:13:51,570
Approximately 3.7 million more than originally anticipated.

955
01:13:52,030 --> 01:13:53,750
This is not simply an accounting issue.

956
01:13:53,890 --> 01:13:59,030
It demonstrates that the city's underlying financial position is worse than the adopted budget reflected.

957
01:14:00,010 --> 01:14:06,230
Initial department requests for 2027 currently show a projected shortfall of over $7 million.

958
01:14:06,930 --> 01:14:08,510
This is not the final budget.

959
01:14:08,770 --> 01:14:13,470
We view department requests, identify savings, examine revenues and make adjustments.

960
01:14:14,050 --> 01:14:16,350
But we should not minimize what this number represents.

961
01:14:16,350 --> 01:14:22,810
This is a structural imbalance that has developed over years, not a gap that can be solved by moving money between accounts.

962
01:14:23,410 --> 01:14:30,090
There is no single solution and we all need to look at spending, staffing, operations, efficiencies, revenues, and services.

963
01:14:31,110 --> 01:14:43,610
Over the next week, I will meet individually with commissioners to review their departmental budgets and identify opportunities to reduce costs while protecting services residents we live on.

964
01:14:43,610 --> 01:14:48,490
Some choices will be difficult, some programs may need to change, some expenditures may need

965
01:14:48,490 --> 01:14:53,450
to be reduced, and additional revenue including taxes must be considered.

966
01:14:54,090 --> 01:14:57,850
There are no easy choices ahead, but continuing to do nothing is not an option.

967
01:14:57,850 --> 01:14:59,870
My responsibility as Commissioner

968
01:15:00,000 --> 01:15:29,680
The 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. Well, 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 balance as an ongoing revenue source, and we need to establish a multi-year plan that brings recurring revenues and expenditures into balance. The residents of Saratocus

969
01:15:29,680 --> 01:15:35,660
August brings deserve transparency about the city's financial position, the cost correcting of it and the choices before us.

970
01:15:36,100 --> 01:15:45,500
We cannot change to the financial decisions of the last four years, but we must be accountable for the decisions we make now and begin to put the city on a sustainable financial path.

971
01:15:46,240 --> 01:15:57,300
So we'll be reaching out to commissioners to set meetings with our budget director and myself to go over what was submitted.

972
01:15:57,300 --> 01:16:01,800
some options that the finance office have come up with.

973
01:16:02,440 --> 01:16:04,860
And when we have the composite,

974
01:16:05,220 --> 01:16:12,760
I'll be presenting the composite, and hopefully we can all be in agreement, or work towards an agreement.

975
01:16:14,620 --> 01:16:16,240
My next item is-

976
01:16:16,900 --> 01:16:24,420
I do think that we are going to be in a position where we have to make very, very difficult decisions.

977
01:16:25,160 --> 01:16:29,980
especially with public safety we have incredible response times in the city from

978
01:16:29,980 --> 01:16:35,660
both the police and fire departments the average around six minutes so if we

979
01:16:35,660 --> 01:16:41,440
need to cut expenses those response times will be going up obviously and that

980
01:16:41,440 --> 01:16:46,580
puts people's lives in danger I understand that at the same time no one wants to

981
01:16:46,580 --> 01:16:50,480
raise taxes and that that is going to be the most difficult channels that we'll

982
01:16:50,480 --> 01:16:53,280
ahead of us. How are we going to balance that?

983
01:16:53,840 --> 01:17:11,480
Yeah, I agree. And I'm saying this so when we can all think about, you know, or work with your people that put the budget together of things that we can possibly look for ways to cut to save expenses for if we could raise revenue, new revenue sources.

984
01:17:12,840 --> 01:17:18,180
Certainly not unique. Every day I read in the paper, another municipality is going through the same thing.

985
01:17:18,180 --> 01:17:19,580
It feels like it's everywhere.

986
01:17:19,840 --> 01:17:24,440
Healthcare has gone crazy, insurance costs in general have gone crazy.

987
01:17:24,720 --> 01:17:26,220
The retirement is super expensive.

988
01:17:26,820 --> 01:17:35,160
If I may add, learning more and more that there are things in the city that DPW is responsible

989
01:17:35,160 --> 01:17:40,020
for, that you're just not doing or not doing well enough.

990
01:17:40,020 --> 01:17:48,060
And some of these are regulatory things that puts us under threat of perhaps not being

991
01:17:48,060 --> 01:17:54,020
not meeting the regulations that the state and other agencies impose on us, and some

992
01:17:54,020 --> 01:18:00,260
of it has to do with not doing a good enough job of protecting in all stone sewers.

993
01:18:01,060 --> 01:18:06,240
And that causes flooding here and there and people make it, they may be subject to lawsuits

994
01:18:06,660 --> 01:18:07,700
by our own citizens.

995
01:18:07,700 --> 01:18:17,580
So as the situation in DPW that I'm finding we are currently not doing the things that we need to be doing and we are at risk.

996
01:18:18,160 --> 01:18:24,240
So I look forward to our discussions and to see where we go and how we address these issues.

997
01:18:24,860 --> 01:18:27,340
Again, it's not a one year fix either.

998
01:18:27,640 --> 01:18:34,100
We're looking out for five years to see how we can come back to a budget neutral.

999
01:18:34,100 --> 01:18:39,180
again after this year our fund balance will be very close to the 10% we

1000
01:18:39,180 --> 01:18:42,660
acquired that per our policy.

1001
01:18:45,450 --> 01:18:46,870
So I appreciate it and I look forward to

1002
01:18:46,870 --> 01:18:51,970
working with everyone as we move forward with that. My next item is I move to

1003
01:18:51,970 --> 01:18:56,670
approve an update to city fees. That's a motion to set a second. Second.

1004
01:18:56,950 --> 01:19:00,590
Pulse the second discussion. This item is to approve an update to

1005
01:19:00,590 --> 01:19:03,830
this tournament be upon recommendation of the Rec Department.

1006
01:19:04,350 --> 01:19:07,650
The fee increasing is from 5,000 to 5,500.

1007
01:19:08,650 --> 01:19:09,690
Any other discussion?

1008
01:19:11,210 --> 01:19:12,350
All in favor say aye.

1009
01:19:12,610 --> 01:19:12,850
Aye.

1010
01:19:13,190 --> 01:19:13,550
Any opposed?

1011
01:19:13,890 --> 01:19:14,010
Aye.

1012
01:19:14,510 --> 01:19:15,170
No abstentions.

1013
01:19:15,430 --> 01:19:15,810
Five zero.

1014
01:19:16,430 --> 01:19:16,730
Thank you.

1015
01:19:16,810 --> 01:19:17,410
My next item.

1016
01:19:17,510 --> 01:19:22,930
I approve a motion to approve a bond resolution for the purchase of a tandem dump truck.

1017
01:19:23,430 --> 01:19:24,030
It's a motion.

1018
01:19:24,190 --> 01:19:24,730
Is there a second?

1019
01:19:24,870 --> 01:19:25,070
Second.

1020
01:19:25,290 --> 01:19:25,750
Second.

1021
01:19:27,490 --> 01:19:35,870
This resolution authorizes the city to issue up to $322,082 in cereal bonds to finance the

1022
01:19:35,870 --> 01:19:39,510
purchase of a replacement dump truck for unit number 292.

1023
01:19:40,130 --> 01:19:45,030
The debt will have a 15 year probable repayment period and the principal and interest payments

1024
01:19:45,030 --> 01:19:47,470
will begin upon delivery of the vehicle.

1025
01:19:47,470 --> 01:20:05,630
So this, a roll call vote is required for this, this was approved in the capital budget to issue bond resolution on vehicle that won't be here, we'll order it now but it won't be here for maybe two years actually.

1026
01:20:05,630 --> 01:20:14,450
so we have the motion. We get out of motion. I need a second. Second. Second is

1027
01:20:14,450 --> 01:20:21,910
coal. Any other discussion? Okay, we take a roll call. Mayor Safford? Yes.

1028
01:20:23,710 --> 01:20:27,610
Commissioner Kiernan? Yes. Commissioner Kieramadi? Yes.

1029
01:20:27,610 --> 01:20:29,390
Yes, Mr. Cole. Yes.

1030
01:20:30,110 --> 01:20:31,430
Commissioner Troy C. Yes.

1031
01:20:32,170 --> 01:20:33,810
You had a pass this Pfizer.

1032
01:20:34,250 --> 01:20:38,490
Thank you. My next item is to approve budget transfers as attached to the agenda.

1033
01:20:39,670 --> 01:20:41,610
That's a motion. Is there a second?

1034
01:20:42,150 --> 01:20:42,470
Second.

1035
01:20:43,110 --> 01:20:45,130
Madam, any discussion?

1036
01:20:45,950 --> 01:20:50,850
Well, this item approves payroll related budget transfers as they were attached to the agenda

1037
01:20:50,850 --> 01:20:54,690
and also the use of the contingency line item to cover

1038
01:20:54,690 --> 01:21:02,490
34,313.46 in HVAC repairs for the police department.

1039
01:21:02,770 --> 01:21:08,730
The remaining balance and the contingency line on it will be $15,358.43.

1040
01:21:11,420 --> 01:21:12,820
Any other discusses?

1041
01:21:13,320 --> 01:21:19,140
Yeah, I just want to comment on the air conditioning and heating system is beyond repair and that causes a big expense.

1042
01:21:20,820 --> 01:21:23,400
Any other? All those in favor say aye.

1043
01:21:23,740 --> 01:21:26,300
Aye. Any opposed? Say nay. No abstentions.

1044
01:21:26,520 --> 01:21:27,000
Aye. Zero.

1045
01:21:27,420 --> 01:21:31,860
My next item, I move to approve budget amendments as attached to the agenda.

1046
01:21:33,740 --> 01:21:35,320
That's a motion. Is there a second?

1047
01:21:36,300 --> 01:21:37,140
Second. Second.

1048
01:21:37,140 --> 01:21:37,900
That can carry on by any.

1049
01:21:38,900 --> 01:21:44,720
This item approves a series of budget amendments including overtime and DPS and repairs and maintenance

1050
01:21:44,720 --> 01:21:45,760
at the city center.

1051
01:21:45,760 --> 01:21:51,500
But it also includes a budget amendment of using $149,000 of

1052
01:21:51,500 --> 01:21:57,860
Anasine fund balance to replenish the salt and sand lines in DPW as they prepare for the upcoming winter months.

1053
01:21:58,400 --> 01:22:00,240
Details are attached to the agenda.

1054
01:22:00,980 --> 01:22:05,320
There wasn't enough money in the salt and sand lines, they're actually at zero.

1055
01:22:05,780 --> 01:22:10,940
So in order to prepare for October and November, December, we had to move money in there.

1056
01:22:10,940 --> 01:22:12,780
and a roll call vote.

1057
01:22:13,000 --> 01:22:14,900
A roll call vote is needed because we're using

1058
01:22:14,900 --> 01:22:17,440
unassigned fund balance for the soul and the sand line items.

1059
01:22:17,700 --> 01:22:19,140
We're getting into that now.

1060
01:22:19,700 --> 01:22:20,080
I know.

1061
01:22:21,200 --> 01:22:22,360
Roll call vote.

1062
01:22:23,560 --> 01:22:24,520
Mayor Safford.

1063
01:22:24,780 --> 01:22:24,940
Yes.

1064
01:22:25,480 --> 01:22:26,680
Commissioner Kiernan.

1065
01:22:27,000 --> 01:22:27,120
Yes.

1066
01:22:27,680 --> 01:22:28,540
Commissioner Caramatti.

1067
01:22:28,840 --> 01:22:29,040
Yes.

1068
01:22:29,400 --> 01:22:30,100
Commissioner Cole.

1069
01:22:30,480 --> 01:22:30,760
Yes.

1070
01:22:31,140 --> 01:22:31,900
Commissioner Troy C.

1071
01:22:32,980 --> 01:22:34,280
May I have your pass this 5-0.

1072
01:22:35,760 --> 01:22:37,040
Now into public work.

1073
01:22:37,660 --> 01:22:38,540
Thank you.

1074
01:22:39,840 --> 01:22:47,200
I don't know, number one, I move for the mayor to accept settlement agreement from National Grid in the amount of $15,000.

1075
01:22:47,700 --> 01:22:49,180
It's a motion, is there a second?

1076
01:22:49,820 --> 01:22:50,500
Second.

1077
01:22:50,840 --> 01:22:51,740
Second, call.

1078
01:22:52,140 --> 01:22:52,620
Discussion?

1079
01:22:53,160 --> 01:23:03,560
The city has reached a settlement with National Grid regarding damage that they caused when gas service broke through the city's sewer main.

1080
01:23:03,560 --> 01:23:05,240
Resulting sewer backup.

1081
01:23:05,720 --> 01:23:14,100
National grid has agreed to compensate the city for the costs of this incident and the settlement payment will be used to reimburse those expenses.

1082
01:23:14,680 --> 01:23:15,860
Any other discussion?

1083
01:23:16,660 --> 01:23:17,840
All those in favor say aye.

1084
01:23:18,200 --> 01:23:18,440
Aye.

1085
01:23:18,720 --> 01:23:19,100
Any opposed?

1086
01:23:19,400 --> 01:23:19,700
Say no.

1087
01:23:19,980 --> 01:23:21,360
No extensions, five zero.

1088
01:23:21,680 --> 01:23:22,360
No number two.

1089
01:23:22,580 --> 01:23:28,940
I move for the mayor to sign grassy grove, addendum number three for developing solar or electric facilities.

1090
01:23:29,820 --> 01:23:30,700
That's the motion.

1091
01:23:30,840 --> 01:23:31,380
Is there a second?

1092
01:23:31,380 --> 01:23:31,920
Second.

1093
01:23:32,220 --> 01:23:32,520
Second.

1094
01:23:32,520 --> 01:23:32,940
I can call.

1095
01:23:33,820 --> 01:23:39,180
The agreement to grassy growth solar is for operating, maintaining and developing photovoltaic

1096
01:23:39,180 --> 01:23:42,240
solar electric facilities for the city of Saratoga Springs.

1097
01:23:42,900 --> 01:23:48,760
The solar credits are to offset water sewer and electric utility expenses at no cost to the

1098
01:23:48,760 --> 01:23:52,820
city, thus providing potential savings on the utilities bills.

1099
01:23:53,340 --> 01:23:54,620
Any other discussion?

1100
01:23:55,260 --> 01:23:55,860
I do.

1101
01:23:56,020 --> 01:23:59,100
Who keeps track of the credits and how they're applied?

1102
01:23:59,100 --> 01:24:01,600
I don't know.

1103
01:24:02,300 --> 01:24:02,700
Okay.

1104
01:24:03,460 --> 01:24:08,380
This was set up I think in the previous administration before I got here.

1105
01:24:09,000 --> 01:24:11,800
And this is just an addendum to an agreement that's already in place.

1106
01:24:12,440 --> 01:24:16,580
So whatever method was being used before is being followed.

1107
01:24:17,260 --> 01:24:18,640
I'll look into it.

1108
01:24:18,980 --> 01:24:22,580
Yeah, can you let me know because we have another contract with solar credits as well?

1109
01:24:23,020 --> 01:24:23,240
Yes.

1110
01:24:23,860 --> 01:24:25,300
That's the Bible field.

1111
01:24:25,300 --> 01:24:32,820
Yeah, but it's but I'm still we're we're now researching to ensure that I know what the credits were getting and I know the bills

1112
01:24:32,820 --> 01:24:37,880
I'm having some of my office making sure these credits get to these bills like to close that loop

1113
01:24:37,880 --> 01:24:41,080
So I'd like to be able to do that for this as well

1114
01:24:41,620 --> 01:24:45,520
Because it seems I just want to make sure that we're getting the credits that were

1115
01:24:45,520 --> 01:24:51,340
All find out bulletinal okay, and we're happy to help if we have found out that they don't voluntarily give us our money

1116
01:24:51,340 --> 01:24:52,620
We have to kind of thank you

1117
01:24:52,620 --> 01:25:02,440
Exactly, so that's what I want to close the loop on that sign up to get credits, but let's work together to make sure that we're getting what we're signing up for.

1118
01:25:02,840 --> 01:25:03,940
Any other discussion?

1119
01:25:04,600 --> 01:25:05,200
Go ahead.

1120
01:25:05,720 --> 01:25:07,780
Yeah, all good. All those in favor say aye.

1121
01:25:08,020 --> 01:25:08,260
Aye.

1122
01:25:09,420 --> 01:25:10,180
Any opposed?

1123
01:25:11,000 --> 01:25:12,660
No extensions, five zero.

1124
01:25:13,020 --> 01:25:13,880
Item number three.

1125
01:25:14,000 --> 01:25:16,760
I move for the mayor to sign it, then I'm number one.

1126
01:25:16,940 --> 01:25:20,120
We'll grow in realty for commercial real estate services.

1127
01:25:20,320 --> 01:25:21,900
That's a motion. I'll second it.

1128
01:25:21,900 --> 01:25:37,700
This addendum will draw in realty will address the need to hire external vendors for the purposes of performing appraisals, engineering, and environmental reviews, and other services that would be considered routine in a municipal real estate transaction.

1129
01:25:38,220 --> 01:25:40,500
And it's not to exceed $120,000.

1130
01:25:41,000 --> 01:25:48,000
Of course, you know, these are related to our potential acquisition of the Booses property.

1131
01:25:48,000 --> 01:25:51,940
So, but we have a motion, okay, on the table.

1132
01:25:52,520 --> 01:25:57,360
I'll second that motion, and any other discussion on that?

1133
01:25:57,540 --> 01:25:59,280
I think we're all pretty clear on what we're doing.

1134
01:25:59,300 --> 01:26:01,860
Well, I just want to ensure that the Council is committed,

1135
01:26:01,940 --> 01:26:06,340
I don't want to spend a dime on this if we move forward with this,

1136
01:26:06,460 --> 01:26:10,880
and it makes financial sense that the Council is committed

1137
01:26:10,880 --> 01:26:14,560
to move forward with this purchase, I guess.

1138
01:26:15,480 --> 01:26:15,740
I hope.

1139
01:26:15,740 --> 01:26:22,720
Again, it needs to make financial sense, but I don't want to back out, we spend the money and then all of a sudden people change their mind, it's not a good idea.

1140
01:26:23,000 --> 01:26:26,240
I just want to make sure that there's a commitment on the half of.

1141
01:26:28,660 --> 01:26:34,040
Yeah, I'll speak for Department of Public Safety, we're certainly committed to moving forward with it.

1142
01:26:34,920 --> 01:26:41,480
And I think this will be a reimburse, one of these expenses that will reimburse once we sell the city's property.

1143
01:26:43,160 --> 01:26:55,260
I mean, this is a, I would say historic opportunity for us to acquire new facilities and be able to transact some of the properties that the city owns today.

1144
01:26:56,380 --> 01:27:02,940
And I don't, everything looks really like a very, very promising thing for the city to do.

1145
01:27:03,180 --> 01:27:04,480
Thank you.

1146
01:27:04,480 --> 01:27:11,340
to that I do think it takes care of our infrastructure needs that have been part of it for a long time

1147
01:27:11,340 --> 01:27:14,820
I've been avoided at really no cost or minimal cost

1148
01:27:14,820 --> 01:27:21,660
Yeah, and if anyone has any doubt they can take another tour of the police department downstairs or and the garage

1149
01:27:22,460 --> 01:27:23,560
There's a plank leaking

1150
01:27:25,160 --> 01:27:28,720
From a real history perspective, this is an amazing opportunity. I mean

1151
01:27:29,300 --> 01:27:32,680
real estate people buy and sell properties all the time so

1152
01:27:34,480 --> 01:27:40,960
We have the opportunity to own just as much value-wise in real estate and have it something

1153
01:27:40,960 --> 01:27:46,800
that's suiting our needs as opposed to owning that same amount of property, dollar-wise,

1154
01:27:47,080 --> 01:27:48,840
that isn't suiting our needs anywhere.

1155
01:27:50,340 --> 01:27:51,120
I agree.

1156
01:27:51,580 --> 01:27:52,240
Any other discussion?

1157
01:27:52,860 --> 01:27:54,020
All those in favor say aye.

1158
01:27:54,220 --> 01:27:54,480
Aye.

1159
01:27:54,820 --> 01:27:55,220
Any opposed?

1160
01:27:55,520 --> 01:27:55,560
Aye.

1161
01:27:55,760 --> 01:27:56,000
Any opposed?

1162
01:27:56,540 --> 01:27:57,020
Any opposed?

1163
01:27:57,500 --> 01:27:58,060
Aye.

1164
01:27:58,380 --> 01:27:58,780
Any opposed?

1165
01:27:58,780 --> 01:28:05,940
last item is I move for the Mayor to sign change order with G&K trucking and excavation

1166
01:28:05,940 --> 01:28:11,320
in ink for water distribution pipe replacement project phase three.

1167
01:28:11,760 --> 01:28:15,780
This is their project on Clinton Street that is almost completed now.

1168
01:28:16,100 --> 01:28:18,160
Okay, we have a motion, is there a second?

1169
01:28:18,500 --> 01:28:18,840
Second.

1170
01:28:19,080 --> 01:28:23,920
There's almost a second in any other discussion, but he knows that one.

1171
01:28:23,920 --> 01:28:24,480
Please.

1172
01:28:24,480 --> 01:28:25,020
All hang, all those in favor.

1173
01:28:25,220 --> 01:28:25,620
Say aye.

1174
01:28:25,900 --> 01:28:26,060
Aye.

1175
01:28:26,380 --> 01:28:26,420
Aye.

1176
01:28:26,420 --> 01:28:26,540
Aye.

1177
01:28:26,540 --> 01:28:26,780
Aye.

1178
01:28:30,000 --> 01:28:30,440
Indeed.

1179
01:28:31,120 --> 01:28:31,860
Thank you, sir.

1180
01:28:33,700 --> 01:28:38,160
Thank you, Mayor. First item, I move to authorize the Mayor to sign that Dendham with

1181
01:28:38,160 --> 01:28:45,240
Peregrine Technologies to extend our current contract to December 31, 2027, with the

1182
01:28:45,240 --> 01:28:50,120
same terms and conditions at no additional cost, and they put this in form of a motion.

1183
01:28:50,800 --> 01:28:55,480
It's a motion. Is there a second? Second. Second, Ciarimati, any discussion?

1184
01:28:55,480 --> 01:29:02,380
Yes, this original contract was approved by Council on October of 2023 for a three-year contract.

1185
01:29:03,200 --> 01:29:08,260
This is a three-year contract for data consulting services.

1186
01:29:08,860 --> 01:29:16,600
This is basically for our software system that connects our computer-aided dispatch system with our record management.

1187
01:29:17,080 --> 01:29:19,700
And again, no additional cost to the city for the one-year extension.

1188
01:29:20,140 --> 01:29:20,880
Any other discussion?

1189
01:29:21,820 --> 01:29:23,000
All those in favor say aye.

1190
01:29:23,000 --> 01:29:23,600
Aye. Aye.

1191
01:29:23,920 --> 01:29:24,580
Opposed, aye.

1192
01:29:24,760 --> 01:29:25,740
No abstentions.

1193
01:29:26,000 --> 01:29:26,120
Aye.

1194
01:29:26,960 --> 01:29:27,720
Second, aye.

1195
01:29:27,800 --> 01:29:32,980
My move to authorize the bearers on a contract with LaRosa's on a motive for the outfitting

1196
01:29:32,980 --> 01:29:38,420
of police vehicles, the amount, not to exceed $11,000, and I put that in the form of

1197
01:29:38,420 --> 01:29:38,760
motion.

1198
01:29:39,000 --> 01:29:39,600
Do we have an motion?

1199
01:29:39,760 --> 01:29:40,360
Is there a second?

1200
01:29:41,280 --> 01:29:41,760
Second.

1201
01:29:42,140 --> 01:29:42,480
Second.

1202
01:29:43,060 --> 01:29:43,520
Ciaranon.

1203
01:29:44,640 --> 01:29:45,340
Any discussion?

1204
01:29:46,180 --> 01:29:51,300
Funds will come from the police department's vehicle budget line, not to exceed $8,000 in

1205
01:29:51,300 --> 01:29:59,900
the police equipment line not to exceed $3,000 and this is related to a vehicle that was replaced because of an accident.

1206
01:30:00,000 --> 01:30:28,120
I would never say aye. Aye. Any opposed, say nay, no abstentions, five zero. My third item, I move to authorize the payment to Pitzfield Communications in the amount of $312,083. Despite a deviation from the purchasing policy and direct finance, the issue payment from the capital budget line, and I put this in form of a motion. Your motion is here a second. Second, care mody. Discussion. This installation was done prior to a purchase order being established.

1207
01:30:28,120 --> 01:30:35,700
First, this is for a mobile radio speaker that will be located in the cab for the new fire engine.

1208
01:30:36,320 --> 01:30:39,580
And I believe because it's coming from the capital budget line, we would need a roll call vote.

1209
01:30:40,540 --> 01:30:41,680
Is that correct, Commissioner?

1210
01:30:42,580 --> 01:30:43,900
You want Pitzfield communication?

1211
01:30:44,340 --> 01:30:44,420
Yeah.

1212
01:30:45,120 --> 01:30:46,960
Unfortunately, there's nothing attached to the agenda.

1213
01:30:47,360 --> 01:30:47,720
Oh, there's not.

1214
01:30:47,880 --> 01:30:48,040
Okay.

1215
01:30:48,160 --> 01:30:48,760
I'll pull that down.

1216
01:30:49,000 --> 01:30:49,100
Yeah.

1217
01:30:49,220 --> 01:30:49,480
Thank you.

1218
01:30:49,540 --> 01:30:49,820
I'm sorry.

1219
01:30:50,060 --> 01:30:52,040
I just noticed that as I clicked on it.

1220
01:30:52,040 --> 01:30:52,780
Get nowhere I will.

1221
01:30:53,240 --> 01:30:53,520
Okay.

1222
01:30:53,520 --> 01:30:55,920
I am pulling my item number three.

1223
01:30:56,000 --> 01:30:56,960
Pulling 16-3.

1224
01:30:57,200 --> 01:30:58,960
I am pulling 16-3, that's correct.

1225
01:31:00,420 --> 01:31:03,340
My fourth item is I move to authorize the payment,

1226
01:31:03,640 --> 01:31:05,280
I'm sorry, which is not my third item.

1227
01:31:05,780 --> 01:31:08,120
I move to authorize the payment to Alan Ellsworth,

1228
01:31:08,300 --> 01:31:12,000
the amount of $2,270 for draft shoes,

1229
01:31:12,320 --> 01:31:14,700
for our police force braiding,

1230
01:31:14,940 --> 01:31:17,340
despite the deviation from the purchasing policy,

1231
01:31:17,640 --> 01:31:18,800
and direct finance issue of payment

1232
01:31:18,800 --> 01:31:21,140
from the police department's horse care budget line.

1233
01:31:22,560 --> 01:31:24,040
I'm going to put that in a form of motion.

1234
01:31:24,480 --> 01:31:25,060
That's the motion.

1235
01:31:25,240 --> 01:31:25,800
Is there a second?

1236
01:31:26,720 --> 01:31:27,020
Second.

1237
01:31:29,740 --> 01:31:34,160
The other discussion is that this vendor does not carry this sufficient required insurance

1238
01:31:34,780 --> 01:31:38,620
and the invoices are from February to August.

1239
01:31:39,540 --> 01:31:44,340
And this is one of the areas in the light of the fiscal headwinds we are assessing

1240
01:31:44,340 --> 01:31:50,560
to determine if we can move forward and still have the mounted unit to be operational.

1241
01:31:50,560 --> 01:31:56,020
Well, it doesn't impact calls to service, the time for calls to service doesn't impact

1242
01:31:56,020 --> 01:31:56,760
our operations.

1243
01:31:57,260 --> 01:32:01,320
So we are valuing this program to see if we can continue it.

1244
01:32:01,760 --> 01:32:03,860
Let's say at reality that we're dealing with.

1245
01:32:05,580 --> 01:32:06,860
Any other discussion?

1246
01:32:08,180 --> 01:32:09,400
All those in favor say aye.

1247
01:32:09,640 --> 01:32:09,900
Aye.

1248
01:32:10,240 --> 01:32:10,620
Any opposed?

1249
01:32:10,900 --> 01:32:11,300
Say nay.

1250
01:32:11,920 --> 01:32:12,660
No abstentions.

1251
01:32:12,860 --> 01:32:13,780
That matter passes.

1252
01:32:14,360 --> 01:32:16,920
Is there anything else before the council tonight?

1253
01:32:16,920 --> 01:32:23,200
And I move that we adjourned. Do I have a second? Second is Karamadi. All in favor say hi.

1254
01:32:24,740 --> 01:32:28,580
No extensions. No noes.