Common Council - workshop

Good evening, everyone. We will begin caucus. Mr. Jimenez, can you go through the role and introduce everyone?

Adams.

Present.

Annane. Ballerin. Brody. Farrell.

Here.

Flynn. Hoey. Here. Johnson. Present. Jones. We are joined by Ballarin. Keegan.

Here.

Lumpkin. Present. Powell. Here. Robinson. Williamson. Present. Zammer.

Here.

Ten present. We're also joined by Council President Kelly Kimbrough, Senior Assistant Corporation Council Martha Mahoney, Legislative Director Brian Jimenez, Council and Director of Policy Robert Winter, and Policy Analyst Carly Johnson.

Thank you so much. So I just wanted to begin by saying we need to go into an executive session, but I'd like to do it after we go through the agenda in case. I know there are actually a lot of members of the public that watch this, so I want to allow them to go through this. then after that we will be going into an executive session to discuss personnel issues if everybody can please it is important to have as many members there as possible so please try to stay through if there's something that you need to leave we do understand but it would be really best if everybody could stay so with that we will be moving through the agenda. So, um, starting off, we have a public hearing on ordinance 1472 26, which I believe is actually sponsored by council member Flynn. Um, and then after that, Uh, our local laws are held under ordinances held. Um, we will be taking voting on ordinance 1472 26 from council member Flynn, um, which is an ordinance amending the U S D O in relation to perm permitting batteries, energy storage systems. That's something that we will be having the hearing on. Yes.

Council member question in regards to. Is this any way or could it be connected to the data center or is this totally something different?

This is totally different than the data center.

Okay, thank you.

Yeah, but that is... Do you want me to explain? Absolutely. Because I'm a co-sponsor. So National Grid has an RFP out for battery storage. I believe it's worth 15 million. And so what we've seen is increased... Activity in terms of real estate purchasing for those who want to apply for that RFP it is a incredibly important that we allow leeway for the battery storage system to be put into place because that battery storage is specifically to prevent the city of albany from being at risk of blackouts when energy capacity is at its maximum particularly in the summer months when people are running a lot of air conditioning so on and so forth However, this year, one of the parcels that was purchased and proposals that had sort of been put before planning was close to a residential area. And there are significant concerns with having this type of facility situated in close proximity to residential homes. particularly given that they do give off a certain level of noise and also the risk of fire and what happens should they catch on fire. we drafted this legislation based upon the guidance that has been issued for other municipalities by nyserda which would allow for lithium battery storage to be positioned in the city of albany but done in such a way as to protect the public and particularly our residential areas from being adjacent to this type of battery storage So if there's any other questions, I or Deb can certainly assist in answering those questions.

Thank you for that rundown, and thank you for the question, Councilmember Johnson. That is something when we have a lot of discussions about data centers and batteries and things like that, it is good to clarify. We appreciate it. And a quick note that next when we move into resolutions introduced we actually will have to take council member flynn's resolution out of order because that has to be passed before the ordinance so that is more of a note for council president but just so everybody is aware and resolutions introduced from council member flynn resolution 98 9226r and that is a resolution declaring itself to be the lead agency for secret for the type 1 action making a negative declaration for that ordinance so we do have to pass that before we pass the ordinance itself so we will be taking that out of order Next, from Councilmember Flynn, Resolution 999226R. That is a resolution confirming the appointment of Justin Sheevilbein as the Commissioner of Water and Water Supply. That will go to General Services. And just a quick note with just a reminder of process or to share a process with newer Councilmembers. When there is a new appointment to a commissioner or head of department, the council has 45 days to officially confirm them or go through that process. And if we do not go through that process in the 45 days, then they automatically go into the position. Until then, they are acting. Next, from Councilmember Anani, Resolution 192.26 , that is a resolution confirming the appointment of John J. Riley, Jr. as Corporation Counsel. That will go to the Law Committee. From Councilmember Johnson, Resolution 101.92 , a resolution of the Common Council honoring the ongoing legacy of the Toon family and renaming a portion of Delaware Street in their honor. That will go to General Services. From Councilmember Zamer, Resolution 102-92-26R, a resolution of the Common Council consenting to the appointment of Kim Talavera-Brown to the Historic Resources Commission. That will go to planning. From Councilmember Keegan, Resolution 103-92-26R, a resolution of the Common Council authorizing the implementation and funding in the first instance. I'm not going to go through all of that, but transportation, federal aid project, and appropriating funds. Therefore, that will go to finance. next from councilmember keegan resolution 104 92 26r a resolution of the common council authorizing the implementation and funding in the first instance 100 of the federal aid and again for a federal aid project that will go to finance we will also have an mc for um the bonding ordinance to which I should have mentioned in ordinances apologies for the transfer station that is something that the amount we're expecting to see for that is 12 million dollars that will be emceed it is something that we need to move on sooner rather than later because there was meeting today and there will be a series of meetings in the community and we're also in the process of scheduling a general services committee meeting about the solid waste plan but as we all know the dump is closing they are expecting that we will not be accepting garbage in it anymore as of fall 2027 At that point, we need to have the transfer station in place. So in order to make sure that the transfer station is built before then, they have to go out to bid soon so they can start the actual construction in January of 2027. So they have to start bidding as soon as possible. If we emcee it, we should be able to go through committee meetings. We fortunately have quite a few finance committee meetings already scheduled conveniently. and hopefully pass it as soon as possible. It's unlikely that we'll be able to pass it by the October 5th because there aren't any committee meetings between then, but definitely needs to be passed in October, so hopefully on the October 19th. A quick note on that is that just to kind of for council members that were not able to attend this meeting. In addition to knowledge that we can no longer accept garbage in as of sometime in fall 2027 and that they're building the transfer station the transfer station is going to be about 26 000 square feet they're going to start construction in january 2027 and i know that this has been discussed a great deal but There aren't any other options in terms of things that we can do. There is no more extension in the life of the landfill. DEC has very firm rules about that, and we are bumped up against it as close as we possibly can be. And this is the next phase in that. So there are no other options for the landfill, unfortunately. So that is something we will be taking up. as an MC in our next meeting. And for any council members that have questions, they are in the process of scheduling a series of meetings throughout the city. And as I said, also hopefully a general services meeting. So you will either have the opportunity to go both to a community meeting or several of them. And also go to the General Services Committee meeting and actually ask direct questions. If your constituents have a lot of questions for you, you might want to do it at the committee meeting. Sometimes that is an opportunity to really get in depth with that. So just to make sure everybody is aware of that. That is everything for the agenda. Councilmember Keegan.

I just wanted to announce that I brought cake in in case anybody would like to grab a slice of cake. It is chocolate, it has mocha frosting, and it is leftover from my mother's birthday. There's also a raspberry preserve filling that came from my garden.

Well, that is much nicer news than anything I have to say, so thank you. um in addition to running and i know for any council members that were at the solid waste meeting did you want to add anything to those quick notes that i shared on it i know council member powell has not just been at this meeting but as it's something that's in her ward she's been very engaged on it so i don't know if you have anything to add um I do want to talk about our leadership meeting, and then for council members that have just joined us, we need to go into an executive session, so please buckle up and stay with us. me just make sure we discussed the landfill solid waste leadership management plan that we that i just ran through that was something that we talked through all of those points the purchase of the property is settled and again we are expecting a bond authorization ordinance coming through Everyone got emails for the speed hump process. I checked in with the mayor just to make sure as she was doing meetings that in my meeting with the mayor, she shared what streets had already been requested. Without speed humps happening this year, I know several members, including myself, there's been some concerns from constituents about if you know what has happened in the past as all of their advocacy is that still recognized do we need to start all over again they do have they will let you know if you are not told in that meeting what streets they have noted down you can definitely reach out to i would say reach out to liz to find out exactly what they are if you're curious what streets they have down for speed humps because it is something it's nice to know what they have before you start filling out documentation however feel free to fill out the documents and I always find I am somebody that feels like I'd rather document things too much than not enough um yes

Are you saying either to contact Liz or either like the Department of Engineering to be able to get an update from them as to the streets that we have already submitted or just?

Yeah, if you wanted to confirm which streets are, you don't have to confirm which streets are submitted. That's something that I personally was just curious about because I know that my, I know that my my constituents have done a lot of advocacy advocacy directly with the with the city and it's just i don't know how much of that has gotten through it's just nice to from my perspective it's something that's nice for council members to know you do not need to know that if that's something that's not in that you feel good about where you are don't worry about it you can also just go through the process and fill out the forms that they had sent out um We will be the solid waste meetings will be in person. There was discussion that one of the consultants would be remote. They will actually be in person for all of those community meetings, which is deeply appreciated. We discussed the department had confirmation process. And then we just ran down where we were on ranked choice voting, that process that we had just initially gone through the first meeting, which I thought was very informational if people have not. If you didn't go to that and you're curious about it, I definitely recommend watching through it. Both our council and our council did an excellent job. So really appreciate both Bobby and Martha sharing the information there. The next meetings are upcoming. Council Member Ranani, do you want to just share that quickly?

Yeah, our next meeting will be more so having multiple groups come in front of the committee. There have been a lot of 10 minutes for presentation. They don't have to use all 10. But after that, their remarks, it's my hope that council members will be able to ask each organization questions. And then we'll close it out, particularly with anyone that's participating in public comment to share for three minutes, their thoughts or anything they would like to talk about as it relates to ranked choice voting. There are three organizations that have reached out, confirmed. The Albany County Democratic Party has reached out, and they're going to send a representative. Working Families Party is also going to send a representative, and a ranked choice voting organization will also be here to present. So we look forward to having these organizations, and there's potentially other organizations that might be participating. Thank you.

Thank you very much. So if you are—if your constituents are interested in this, I definitely recommend going to the committee meetings or watching them afterwards if you're unable to attend one of them and have questions that you would like asked. I'm sure Councilmember Inanay would ask them, as would any law committee member. Or myself, I also plan to attend. We briefly discussed the data center, and I mentioned that Councilmember Lumpkin is currently working on legislation on that. So that is in process. And should anybody be interested in that and working with him on that, I know that he's had several meetings already. So we appreciate you moving forward with it. And feel free to reach out to Art, and I know who would Love any colleagues that want to join him with it. The treasurer mentioned that there is, I mentioned last time, there's usually a week that they do like a week if you are boot eligible for parking tickets that you can have a lower, like there's a reduction so you aren't booted anymore. I guess in the software that they have, they can send out a discount code to those people. So they have updated their technology and instead of them sending it out like on social media or like calling it just a week where people then have to look it up and see if they're eligible, people that are eligible will get a discount code. We will be getting more information on that, so that's something that, keep an eye out for that. And that's something that can be useful for constituents, especially in places I know, both Councilmember Johnson and Keegan have talked about different parking issues a lot. in terms of consistency through the city. So there are some areas, as we know, where people are hit harder than others. So make sure to keep an eye out for that. And Corporation Counsel's Office shared that they have two legal interns. And if any council members have any research projects or anything like that, they said that they would happily engage them in it, which we really appreciate. So I figured I would mention it here to flag for people Corporation Council. So that is the rundown of the different meetings. Does anybody have any questions before we go into the next session? Council Member Hoey.

Thank you, President Pro Temp. I did meet with the mayor a couple of weeks ago. I expressed my displeasure on the lack of communication about streets being paved. I mean, they were asking for next year, and I had four streets in for this year, and nobody told me they weren't going to be done. But it's understood that they're not going to be done. So they said that, you know, work with Liz, like you just mentioned, to get it. But I am concerned about striping, that they have not striped any streets this year. And around the schools, some of the crosswalks are gone. And the mayor did take out her book and write it down. i haven't gotten any feedback but at your next leadership i'd really appreciate i think it's important for the whole you know for the whole city that at least by the schools that we get the crosswalks i mean all crosswalks should be done but um you know for our kids i think it's most important thank you councilmember johnson

i would just like to add on um i know we're in a recession i know we're dealing with but like some things should be non-negotiable and street signs i mean uh crosswalks um you know the last that i saw we were doing stuff like that in-house i think that's part of the problem that's why and i'm suggesting that maybe we craft a letter up from the council, you know, to Mr. Trudeau because it comes out of his department of, you know, a super-duper ask because when you go by some of these schools and you look down on the ground, that stuff is faded out and, you know, I agree. We've been talking about it. I think someone from, I forget, no, I know who it is. It's our guy with Hines, I think his name is. Tom, Tom, maybe I'm butchering his name, but the guy who comes and talks about, help me out, the gentleman that comes and talks about The issue with Tom. I'm drawing a blank. He brought the book last session and I took the book home and I read it and it was talking about Florida. No. Water Florida Nation. Tom Ellis. Yes. Yes. Tom Ellis came in and he said it a number of times. So, you know, not to Again, loud anybody, but I think that that is a reasonable ask and it should be a non-negotiable because it's a lot of kids that walk to school and that's important.

Yeah, thank you very much. I will say we can certainly do a letter to the mayor on it if we'd like to have it be bigger than mentioning at the leadership meeting. I don't mind that at all. I'd be happy to do that, but I don't know that it's, if it's a letter from the council, I don't know that, I feel like it would be disrespectful to the mayor to send it to one of her staff member things, but we can also check in on what would be the best process with that. Yeah, totally agreed. And I completely appreciate everybody bringing that up because it is a huge issue. That's something that drivers look out for and pedestrians look out for. It's a huge part of pedestrian safety. And when we know kids are walking there, it's especially important. One more thing I would note that Carly pointed out on her handy dandy post-it note is just a reminder that the next meeting is on Thursday, so we can honor the celebration, or not celebration, the holiday of Yom Kippur. Correct, our next meeting is on the 24th. So with that, I'd like to make a motion to enter executive session to discuss the employment history of a particular person.

Second.

All those in favor?

Aye. OK. Oh, I'm sorry.

All right. Are we ready to.

Testing.

um go ahead councilmember adams during this meeting second um that was unanimous and just a quick note councilmember adams also made a motion to move out of executive second and um councilmember hoey seconded it and it was unanimous and i hope everyone has a wonderful evening