Common Council - Regular Meeting

I want to thank our head of maintenance here, Dan Gray. Dan Gray is here. Dan Mack, thank you very much. Making the decorating decisions, he picked out the colors and the draperies in our chamber, and I think he did a beautiful job. We've now got patio doors that go out onto a veranda, and there's some sunlight in here. So I really want to thank him. He worked hard at this. It took him a lot of time, a lot of thought, and the craftsman that we hired did a great job. So thank you, Dan. Pretty good.

Great job.

OK. You ready? OK. You guys ready?

OK. We'll call the order for our cow on August 4, 2026 at 5.30 PM. OK. RESOLUTION 2627-19. RESOLUTION ADOPTING THE MINUTES FROM THE LAST COUNCIL. THAT'S FINE. RESOLUTION 2627-20, OLDMAN MARTASELLA.

NEW SPEAKER WE'RE GOING TO GIVE THE SPCA. IT'S A $7,000 INCREASE FROM LAST YEAR. SO WE DISCUSSED THIS. BUT THE MAYOR AND I HAVE TALKED ABOUT IT.

NEW SPEAKER GO AHEAD. The problem is that, what do you call the animals they pick up? What's the term for that, Joe? Feral. No, no, no. What they call the term they use for dogs that get brought and don't get picked up. There's been a big problem at the SPCA, not just here, but nationwide.

Abandoned dogs? Abandoned? Not abandoned, but

There's been no reclamations of dogs. They're being brought to the SPCA, and I don't want to say redemptions, because that's the wrong thing. But people are not coming to pick up their dogs, and they're not able to distribute the strays. So as a result, they met with me several months ago, actually, to talk about the fact that they needed more money from the city to handle the number of dogs that they have to count for longer periods of time. And it was a significant increase. I did not smile when they told me about it. I asked for facts. They gave me the facts, but it's a lot of money. It's a big increase, but there's a real problem nationwide that they're having since COVID, as a matter of fact, where people are bringing dogs to the SPCA. Our animal control officer is picking up stray dogs, and no one is claiming them. So that was the biggest driver of this. That plus, of course, their utility bills are higher, et cetera, et cetera, but they don't have the space they need to take care of all of our dogs and also others as well. So we have to pay more for the space is basically what they're telling us.

This might be a crazy question, but do you think that there's a lack of education regarding, you know, hey, are you missing your dog? Maybe check in with the SPCA kind of thing, right? Is there anything we can do as a city to kind of promote? I believe they do, but do you own a dog?

I used to. Okay.

Yeah, and that's just kids now. Yeah.

I know that if anything ever happened to my wife's dog, she'd be over the SPCA in about a second. Right. Not everyone. It's a situation where I think, you know, it's nationwide, so it isn't just Amsterdam. It's true.

The reason why they have a license is in the event you lose your dog.

That's true, too.

Yeah. Call City Hall to see if anybody's found your dog. You got a tag?

They got attacked.

I see them.

I would add, we do have, so the police department where usually we encounter a stray dog, especially after hours, the animal control officer. We have had great success with just posting to social media as a network of other care agencies and other pet places that will share our posts. So we do get a lot of dogs where, yes, there is an owner that is looking for them. We're able to get that quickly and even get the dog right back to them. But we have seen people that dump their dog from a neighboring community, so no one recognizes it. If you're the owner of the dog and you want your dog, you're going to get it back. A lot of these dogs is an unfortunate situation where they come from a different community, bring them here, drop them, and go.

When we spoke to the officers of the SPCA regarding this increase, I had Gina Klein come over. does a fantastic job she knows animals in our city better than anyone and she confirmed all the facts and figures that they were giving me in terms of the number of days that our dogs were not being kept versus what they used to be kept etc and she agreed that you know it's really an issue she's doing all she can but you know that's why i brought this in front of you tonight it's such an increase is this the same increase that we approved during the budget I believe it is.

Louise, I believe we had that number. So it's contractual to catch up with what we approved. Okay, yeah, because we discussed it at length.

Yes, we did. Okay. Okay. Jimmy, you're done? Yes. Okay. Resolution 2627-21, resolution authorizing the mayor to renew the agreement with the New York State Senate for Senator Patricia A. Fahey's district office at City Hall.

yeah um senator fahy's uh office is again leasing an office space here at city hall as a matter of fact i think this goes beyond her term um it's going to you know hopefully she gets re-elected but again it's it's uh it's going to be a the office for amsterdam's representative in the state senate regardless of when who's who's going to so they're doing it through 2030.

From January 2027.

The only issue here is they have more paperwork than God when it comes to having to sign a lease on that. But we're very grateful that they're going to still have their presence here at City Hall. It's a convenient thing for our residents.

Resolution 2627-22. Mr. Marcell. Yes.

The tugboats are down at the Riverbank Park. As you can see, we received it November 23rd. NOW THE CANAL CORPORATION WOULD LIKE US TO TAKE OVER OWNERSHIP. OKAY.

THANK YOU.

IT'S ON OUR PROPERTY. OKAY.

WE ACCEPTED IT. DAN, WE WERE TRYING TO GET A GRANT. WE HAD AN ISSUE THAT BLOCKED OUR ABILITY TO GET A GRANT TO PAINT THAT.

IT HAD BEEN A LARGER GRANT THAT WE WERE GOING TO APPLY FOR. AND THE LARGER GRANT, JUST THE SCOPE OF THE GRANT DIDN'T QUITE FIT

we still need to do that because originally when they brought us the tender that the state official who actually accompanied the tender to amsterdam uh spoke with me for about a half an hour regarding he said apply for this grant which we did uh this was before you were here again i believe when it came in and uh we didn't get it he said you guarantee you're going to get it it you know it'll be enough to paint we're going to build a deck around it so that it could be really used as a as what we hoped it would be a tourist attraction. So we're going to continue to try and do that, but we didn't get that grant. So it's sitting there right now. Mike, you found some batteries in there, correct? Quite a few batteries.

Which we have to get rid of as well. That boat was originally diesel powered sometime in the past thousand years or so. They converted it to an electric motor, and there's a huge number of batteries in there.

Yeah.

So I'm going to address, we're going to address those batteries and continue to search for a grant to try and make that what we envisioned it to be when we took it out. But now they want us to take it over officially. So it's going to be ours.

Jimmy, if you've got room in the backyard. Yeah, I'd like to have it.

No, it will be nice. We just got to keep working at it.

Okay. Resolution 2627-23. Resolution authorizing contract renewal. Municipal Solutions.

Yes, Municipal Solutions is a company that we've been in contact with. Contract, this is 2008. It's a company that the comptroller's office utilizes for when we go out for bond vans. And what they do is they go out and find the lowest interest on these vans. And they bring them back to us. So when they say we're going to bond something, we're going to take out a note. Right, Louise? And that's what they do.

And Louise, you've been happy with them? And they also provided advice and counsel regarding how to finance our project.

Thank you. Resolution 2627-24. Resolution authorizing new renewal period for five-year contract with New York State Unified Court System.

Chief Spencer, you want to talk about this at all?

yeah this is uh we're up i think we do usually do with the five-year increment so we're coming up on that that milestone um the court system is located in the public safety building on the second floor they have a few offices and we provide locker room space for their personnel the court officers and offices for both of the sitting city court judges so this is a continuation of an agreement relationship that we've had long standing and it's continuing to work out for everybody

NEW SPEAKERS. NEW SPEAKERS. NEW SPEAKERS. NEW SPEAKERS. NEW SPEAKERS. NEW SPEAKERS. NEW SPEAKERS. NEW SPEAKERS. NEW SPEAKERS. NEW SPEAKERS. NEW SPEAKERS. NEW SPEAKERS. NEW SPEAKERS. NEW SPEAKERS. NEW SPEAKERS. NEW SPEAKERS. NEW SPEAKERS.

THIS IS FOR THE CLEANUP AND REMEDIATION OF IT FOR US TO APPLY FOR THE HCR GRANT. ANYTHING ELSE, DAN? YEAH, THIS IS FOR THE PUBLIC HEARING. THE PUBLIC HEARING, RIGHT.

SO NEXT MEETING, WE'LL HAVE THE PUBLIC HEARING AND THEN ADOPT A SEAT HERE.

AUGUST 18th AT 555.

SO THE NEXT STEP, TO BE ABLE TO APPLY FOR THE PUBLIC HEARING, THIS WILL BE THAT. AND DAN, IS THIS GOING TO BE, IS THIS CONNECTED TO THE COUNTY FUNDING?

THE COUNTY FUNDING IS THE BROWNFIELD MONEY. This is, this is, this is, that is to do with testing. This is to do with the authority.

Resolution 2627-26, Resolution Authorizing Interfund Loans for Upgrades to Shuttlework Park. Olden Holiday.

Great, thank you. I could speak on this, but Louise, do you have more information? I mean.

We've been awarded a grant. Sure. As you often are, I think. And it's a reimbursement grant, so this is just a way of avoiding having to borrow the funds. We're just sort of just lending the funds from one fund to another fund internally so that we can move forward with this initiative, and then we will be reimbursed by DASNY eventually.

We've spent approximately half of the money on the scoreboard. And we have other projects up there that have not started yet. We're waiting for the state contract on this $520,000 grant. We've been assured in a letter from the Assemblyman Santa Barbara's office that the money is coming, but we don't have the contract in place yet. But already half of the proceeds have been spent, and we're working on the other half. Wonderful, thank you.

Do you know what the other items are?

We have some big projects with softball. I think it's about $90,000. We have some pickleball work to do. Mike, do you know what else is going on up there? Yeah, pickleball, softball, truck trail. Oh, that's right. Cool. It would be an awesome place for the truck trail to go through.

Love it.

Thank you. Resolution 2627-27.

This is a resolution. Now, if you remember last year, the property company, Five Corners Development and NPR Group applied for an HCR grant. The HCR grant was denied at that time, and they're reapplying this year. FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE 66 AFFORDABLE HOUSING SENIOR UNITS AT 1719 EDWARD STREET, WHERE THE OLD MILL USED TO BE. THIS IS THE ONE THAT WE TALKED ABOUT BEFORE THE MEETING WHERE WE NEEDED TO CHANGE THE DATE ON THE SECOND WHEREAS TO 2026. 2023 WAS INCORRECT. AND IT'S JUST FOR THE COUNCIL TO SUPPORT THIS PROJECT FOR THE HCR APPLICATION.

RESOLUTION 2627-28, RESOLUTION APPROVING RECOMMENDATION FROM THE ANTI-ANTHROPERTY DISPOSITION COMMITTEE, AND AUTHORIZED IN SALES TO PARCELS OVER THE LIMITED DEPARTMENT.

SO THIS IS FOR 21 SECOND AVENUE AND 11 EDISON STREET. THE 21 SECOND AVENUE IS GOING TO GO FOR $1,000, AND I'M GOING TO LET MAYOR CINQUANI TELL US WHAT METHELI'S LAST NAME IS, BECAUSE I CANNOT.

Again, both of these parcels are being sold to parties that expressed an interest in purchasing them. We put them off a bid through the Property Disposition Committee. These were the high bidders on each of those properties, and the Property Disposition Committee voted unanimously to recommend to the Council that they sell these two properties to these two bidders. they're both going to be maintained as vacant lots. They're going to be, of course, maintained, which they are not right now. One of these is going to the golf cart company, and they do a great job with their property.

And it's virtually right next door to the golf cart company, where the Phillies is right next door to how she owns on Vannevar.

Right. So we expect to see an improvement. Right now, we're cutting them. We won't have to cut them any longer, but we hope in both cases they are maintained

ANY QUESTIONS? THEY'RE BOTH VERY GOOD PEOPLE.

RESOLUTION 2627-29, RESOLUTION INCLUDING THE AUDIT. THE AUDIT IS FINE. WE HAVE CONSENT. 2627-30, RESOLUTION AWARD CONTRACT FOR THE PIN 2650.58 ANSWERED AT THE DEBT MANAGEMENT PROJECT. ALL THROUGH OURSELVES.

THINK DAN YOU EXPLAINED IT VERY WELL IN YOUR EMAIL WHAT THIS HOME PROJECT IS ABOUT THIS ONE ABOUT THE SIDEWALKS IN EASTON I MEAN DOWN THERE YES DOWN THE MAIN STREET YES SIDEWALKS ROAD PROGRAM LIGHTS UM YES YOU EXPLAINED BUT GO AHEAD SO THIS IS THE THIS IS THE COMPLETE STREETS PROJECT UM IT IS WHERE THERE YOU PUT IT OUT TO BID UM WE GOT THIS BACK JULY 24TH UM BECKY

Joins the line LLC came as a little bit, and this is to fix, to do the improvements for Main Street. Sidewalks. The sidewalks, the lighting, and do the paving, do the part from the mall to where Stewart's is on the other side, to do some improvements on Bridge Street, and then do some improvements along Skylar Street, which will allow us to eventually close down Route 5 eastbound corridor.

Okay. Okay.

It's going to be a big project because right now they're already starting. I'm already starting to get compliments on, oh, I see people working on down there and the parking, the paving, the sidewalks, the street lighting. All this is going to be a big improvement, especially that one area. So thank you very much for all those. Thank you very much. And thank you, Dan. Engineer, thank you.

Okay. Resolution 2627-31, consent. Resolution budget transfer recreation for the holiday.

Cool. So, this is a free removal expense that was originally not in the operating budget. So, we're just kind of moving some money around.

And the board rocks slash pad.

The board rocks slash pad. Okay. Yep. That's true, yeah, the removing of the paint. It's safe.

Where was the tree?

You know, I don't know.

Probably the one at Spring Pines. I didn't get a phone call on this one. The Sassafras, yeah. I think it's the Sassafras one. If I had to guess, it would cost $15,000. That was a big tree. That concludes our agenda. I had a couple things for the golf and recreation. I got an email from one of the Arnold Avenue neighbors commending the recreation department on the work that they did at the Arnold Avenue Park, the paint and the cement around it, and then also the fence. So that was great to hear that the neighborhood is seeing some pride in that. And then on Sunday, the golf course the Muni Golf Foundation had a family tournament and Alderman Marticello and I were both in it yes and Alderman Chris taught me how to golf it was a lot of fun and it's been subsidized by the foundation and by some of the other groups that donate for you in sports and I hope they're going to have two more and I hope people will join that but there was a marshmallow hitting contest and Alderman Marticello beat me He hit the marshmallow further than I did. But that was really great to see some activity up there. The foundation is doing a great job. The work that they're doing and the improvements. And then after, it was the only day that that cross push wasn't underwater this week. So there's been a lot of that in the city. And I know that VWs are working hard to get things cleared up and public safety, keeping our roads safe.

Yeah, I'm just going to piggyback on that. I was going to talk about the flooding. We came out of it basically well. I'm sure Mike will address it further. But again, I know our DPW was out there all night. Our police department, our fire department, everyone was out there working. There was a lot of water. This city cannot swallow that much water. And the thing that really amazed me was that the old Brookside exterior reservoir filled up and overflowed. I mean, that's a lot of rain. So... Thank you, everybody, all the city employees who worked very, very hard to try and mitigate those problems, and they did a good job. Mike, we'll let you go from there.

Mike, can you just bring it back to what Kelly said? The golf course, a lot of people were inquiring. I know Kelly got calls, too, on the golf cart pass. Can you give us an update about that?

Well, yeah, sure. I've actually got that in my record. So... We have that project. It's being bid right now. It's advertised. I have a pre-bid meeting tomorrow. There's been quite a turnout. I think we've got six or seven plant holders. And I have a pre-bid meeting tomorrow. Anybody that I'm going to accept or bid from has got to show up because it's Not like paving the street, a little more particular and access is crucial so we don't tear the place up in the process of fixing the paths. Meet up in these next Monday, which the mayor and I talked, probably don't want to wait until the next meeting because time is of the essence at this point. So hoping for a quick special meeting next week to whoever's gonna do that, a contractor who's ever gonna do that work. But we wanna turn that around and get it going as soon as we can. Going through the steps.

In other news, Mike, I just wanna interrupt. I wanna announce that, yeah, I think most of you know that Senator Fahey did provide us with a grant. And as part of that project, it's gonna fix the paths, but it's also going to make it possible for us to have a cross-country ski loop this summer, or this winter, which will be about a mile in length, and Joe and Brightview and Joe and the foundation have worked together, and the Gulf Commission, I should say, to have that done. But I want to thank Senator Fahey for that contribution. It's going to make the golf course a much more of a season-round or year-round venue. Is there going to be a rental shop there? Yeah, we have skates now. I mean, no, we have skates, but we're going to put our, we're going to also bring our ice skating rink, I'm sorry. We do not rent cross-country skis, but that's a possibility. Cool. All right, Mike, I'm sorry.

Go ahead. Okay. Remember at the last meeting, we put a class resolution authorizing us to enter into the inter-municipal, a revised inter-municipal agreement with the town of Amsterdam and Fort Seward. That's fully executed now. As a requirement of that and also a BBC, we are upgrading, or right now we're upsizing a line on Henrietta between Guy Park and Stewart called 15 inch. It'll be a couple week project at least. We've committed a lot of our forces to it. It's a joint venture. Towns has brought in a lot of the materials for us. backfill, and they're providing trucking and hauling out all the spoils, which is a huge help. And again, it's one of the requirements that gets us back in a good standing with DEC and does the same for the town.

Also, I remember the odor on Stewart Street of backed-up sewer gas.

Yes.

This, right, Mike? That's what they should do.

So you've got Stewart Street is a 12-inch line. Everything above it is a 15-inch line. Almost all the water, wastewater, from the town of Amsterdam all the way up to Route 30 comes to the golf course, down along the edge, and into that line. And down that steep hill, when it hits that smaller line, it pressurizes it. That's also why you may or may not have seen some levitating manholes. We had some really high water last week. because they're flowing, it actually pressurized it. It pushes that gas ahead of it, and it goes out where, you know, because some of our catch basins are tied in, and it'll vent on certain conditions.

Henrietta's one of them.

Southside, it also occurs as well, periodically on Broadway when there's heavy flow from beach time. Anyway, it's going to increase the capacity and hopefully reduce or eliminate that methane

Oh, you're back. I know the residents of, I was up there two nights, three years ago, and we're walking around trying to figure out where the snow was coming from. And now we know, we're hoping this is going to resolve that.

Could that be over like on Ramsey and Francisco too?

Yeah, you can get it.

That would make sense from the town. I also mentioned that Dan already covered it and folks discussed a resolution two bids received for a complete street project I've tabulated them in the report we now have approval from HCR to advertise for bid for that service line project we're going to do that this week that's going to be week period and I expect to open bids on August 28th and so the reality of that is by the end of September will be it's late in the season but we'll be open mobilizing a contractor to do those services Southside boardwalk splash pad is open that's good news it actually looks really nice and people enjoy it and what else was i going to mention to you uh and the road program is still underway and i still expect bell signal in here shortly to begin paving uh i think where they're going to be first is on the longest streets that have the least um have the most milling and the least amount of structures so the upper piece of market street um Sloan is another one. I believe all the concrete work is done there, and that's a large, heavy-quantity street in terms of tons of asphalt. The last one that's going to get done, and I'm hoping the timing works out, is Northampton. I expect it will. National Grid's making good progress. And again, they're replacing low-pressure gas line all the way from its intersection with Guy Barg the way to route 30 and from van dyke up they're also running a parallel medium pressure line which is going to serve that area and it actually should help boost pressure to um sections of the city like well like our golf course clubhouse for example where we're off a low pressure line but they it's because it that ends they grid has told me that in the winter they bump pressures up to the regulators so you get adequate flow. It's gonna help that entire area with that. So as soon as they're done with that, I expect to be right behind them and repay that entire amount. That's about a mile road, actually.

Caller B and York, please stand for a pledge. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God,

This is a bill for the regime justice route.

Alderwoman Quisdemart. Here. Alderman Holliday.

Here.

Alderwoman Collins. Here. Alderman Carpenter. Here. Alderman Marticello.

Here. Motion to adopt the agenda.

Motion to adopt the agenda with 11 resolutions and two concepts.

Okay. Call the roll. Alderwoman Collins. Aye. Alderman Carpenter. Alderman Marticello. Aye. Alderwoman Cuesta-Mars. Aye. Alderman Holliday.

Aye. We have no proclamations this evening and no communications and presentations, I'm thinking. There's only two people out there in the public, and I don't think either one of them wants to talk to us tonight. But if you do, now's the time. But I would like to ask our fire chief, Agresta, could you talk a little bit about the fire? In the paper, we talked about some of the... there are five firefighters who require treatment could you just go through that a little bit and tell the council explain there's a fire on saturday uh temperatures were extremely warm the fire was extremely hot the house structure had a lot of contents in it and it was just a very hot fire where

Initial attack crews were going through their second bottle, and in some cases were getting into a third bottle. We had evaluations and rehab on scene, had an ankle injury in another fire, or going to the hospital for treatment.

And they're all good? Everybody's healthy? Hanging in there? Mm-hmm. I know they did a great job on the fire. We appreciate that.

There were some animals lost. Investigations still getting finished up. I think actually on the way back, or shortly after that, after fueling up, we encountered a red-tailed hawk.

We found a red-tailed hawk.

the place where it should be. So we didn't even need the SPCA.

What would that cost? It would have charged us. Chief Spencer, you guys had a drug raid. Do you want to talk about that a little bit?

Yes. The other morning we had a culmination of a very long investigation into narcotics trafficking. It led us to the main target of the investigation, who was charged in the press release with an A1 felony, the highest felony there is for an Considerable amount of narcotics, 26 ounces of cocaine, along with a weapon, secondary co-conspirators, different houses. So it really is a good chunk of a network of drug distribution, not just in our city, but into neighboring cities as well. So I'm very, very pleased with the results of the investigation, very pleased with the performance of the investigators and the SWAT operators. We had our partners at the sheriff's office, the state police who also assisted us. So very, very happy with that outcome, having the drugs and the guns off of our streets.

Congratulations to both of you. Thank you.

Thank you, both guys. And Mike, you already did your engineering report. So we are on to old business, and we don't have any. And so we are on to new business.

RESOLUTION NUMBER 2627-19, RESOLUTION ADOPTING MINUTES FROM LAST COMMENT COUNCIL MEETING. ALDERWOMAN COLLINS. AYE. ALDERMAN CARPENTER. AYE. ALDERMAN MARTICELLO.

AYE.

ALDERWOMAN CUISTIMAR. AYE. ALDERMAN HOLIDAY. AYE. RESOLUTION NUMBER 2627-20, RESOLUTION AUTHORIZING MAYOR TO EXECUTE DOG SHELTER SERVICES AGREEMENT WITH MONTGOMERY COUNTY SPCA BY ALDERMAN MARTASELLO.

SO MOVED. ANY DISCUSSION? CALL THE ROLL.

ALDERMAN MARTASELLO. AYE. ALDERWOMAN CHRISTIMARS. AYE. ALDERMAN HOLIDAY.

AYE.

ALDERWOMAN COLLINS. AYE. ALDERMAN CARPENTER. AYE. Resolution number 2627-21, resolution authorizing mayor to renew a lease agreement with the New York State Senate for Senator Patricia A. Fahey's district office at City Hall by Alderwoman Collins. Just read the resolve. Resolve that Mayor Cinquanti is hereby authorized to enter into a four-set agreement with the New York State Senate for a four-year term commencing January 1, 2027. and ending December 31st, 2030 in the amount of $1,200 annually payable to the city of Amsterdam in equal monthly installments of $100. Alderman Collins. Aye. Alderman Carpenter.

Aye.

Alderman Marticello.

Aye.

Alderman Quistamars. Aye. Alderman Holliday. Aye. Resolution number 2627-22, resolution authorizing agreement to accept ownership of vessel known as Tender 4 from the New York State Canal Corporation by Alderman Marticello. Please read it. Whereas NYSCC delivered a tugboat Tender 4 to the city in November 2023, which is displayed at Riverlink Park. And whereas NYSCC wishes to transfer ownership of the vessel to the city at no cost. and whereas a copy of the ownership transfer agreement being attached here too, it is hereby resolved that the attached agreement with the New York State Canal Corporation is hereby authorized.

Assembly. Discussion, please. Calderon.

Alderman Marticello. Aye. Alderwoman Quistamars. Aye. Alderman Holliday. Aye. Alderwoman Collins. Aye. Alderman Carpenter. Aye. RESOLUTION NUMBER 2627-23, RESOLUTION AUTHORIZING CONTRACT RENEWAL, MUNICIPAL SOLUTIONS, INC., BY ALDERMAN MARTIZELLO.

PLEASE READ THE THIRD WARRANT SCORES.

WHEREAS THE SERVICES PROVIDED BY MUNICIPAL SOLUTIONS, INC., PERTAIN TO THE GOAL OF BORROWING AT THE LOWEST OVERALL COST TO TAXPAYERS, WITH THE SERVICES MORE SPECIFICALLY PERTAINING TO BOND ANTICIPATION NO BORROWING AND LONG-TERM SERIAL BOND BORROWING.

THANK YOU. ANY QUESTIONS?

Alderman Marticello.

Aye.

Alderman Quistomars. Aye. Alderman Holliday. Aye. Alderman Collins. Aye. Alderman Carpenter.

Aye.

Resolution number 2627-24, resolution authorizing new renewal period for five-year contract with New York State Unified Court System by Alderman Collins. Whereas, by way of background, Amsterdam City Court is located at the Public Safety Building located at 1 Guy Park Avenue, said building being owned by the City of Amsterdam. And, whereas, by way of Resolution 2324-45, entered into a contract for a period of up to five years, retroactive to the date of April 1st, 2023, with the New York State Unified Court System relating to interior cleaning, minor repairs, and preventative building and property maintenance services for court facilities. And whereas, pursuant to Section 1 of the contract, New York State Unified Court System seeks to establish a new period of renewal retroactive to April 1st, 2026, and ending on March 31st, 2027 with maximum compensation to the city of Amsterdam for said period being $115,200. Alderman Collins.

Aye.

Alderman Carpenter. Aye. Alderman Marticello.

Aye.

Alderman Quistamars. Aye. Alderman Holliday. Aye. Resolution number 2627-25, A resolution scheduling public hearing to consider the submission of an application under the New York State Community Development Block Grant, CDBG, program for the cleanup and remediation of activities at 24 Willow Street by Alderman Carpenter.

Stacey, just read section one and two of now their board be resolved. Okay.

Public hearing date and location of public hearing shall be conducted by the Common Council on August 18, 2026 at 5.55 p.m. at City Hall Council Chambers, 61 Church Street, Amsterdam, New York, to hear all interested parties and citizens on the CDBG program and the proposed cleanup activities at 24 Willow Street. Notice of public hearing. The City Clerk is hereby authorized and directed to cause a notice of said public hearing to be published in the official newspaper of the City of Amsterdam, at least 10 days prior to the date of hearing, in compliance with Section 570.486, Subpart 1 of the Code of Federal Regulations, CFR, and State Guidelines.

So moved.

Any questions? Alderman Carpenter. Aye. Alderman Marticello.

Aye.

Alderman Quistomars. Aye. Alderman Holliday. Aye. Alderman Collins. Aye. Resolution number 2627-26, Resolution authorizing inter-fund loans for upgrades to Shuttleworth Park by Alderman Holiday.

Stacey, if you could just read the fourth whereas.

Whereas the city has been awarded a state and municipalities SAM grant in the amount of $525,000 for upgrades and enhancements to Shuttleworth Park. A recreation department... The Recreation Department is seeking authorization to allow an inter-fund transfer as a temporary borrowing between the general fund and the capital fund for this project. The amount transferred must be repaid either in the same fiscal year or the following fiscal year if the transfer takes place within the final 120 calendar days of a fiscal year.

Thank you, Stacey. So moved. Any questions? Call the roll, please.

Alderman Holiday.

Aye.

Alderwoman Collins. Aye. Alderman Carpenter. Aye. Alderman Marticello.

Aye.

Alderwoman Clistemar. Aye. Resolution number 2627-27, resolution in support of five corners and home leasing senior housing project for 17 through 19 Edward Street by Alderman Carpenter. Whereas Five Corners Development and NRP Group wish to construct 66 affordable senior housing units at 17 through 19 Edward Street. And whereas this project supports the goals outlined in both the City of Amsterdam's 2026 Comprehensive Plan, which is the most recent comprehensive plan adopted by the city, and the goals outlined in the Northern Neighborhoods Brownfield Opportunity Area. Now, therefore, be it resolved, the City of Amsterdam supports Five Corners NRP Group's senior housing project.

So moved. Any questions?

I do have questions. Why is it necessary we are supporting this now?

Because we supported it last time when they applied for their HCR grant as part of the application process, and they're reapplying because we didn't get it before. So they're reapplying for the HCR grant again, and they want the City Council's support. It adds strength to their application. Okay. Thank you. Someone?

Any questions?

Alderman Carpenter.

Aye.

Alderman Marticello. Aye. Alderman Quistamars. Aye. Alderman Holliday.

Aye.

Alderman Collins. Aye. Resolution number 2627-28, resolution approving recommendations from the Amsterdam Property Disposition Committee and authorizing the sale of two parcels by Alderman Carpenter.

Stacey, just read the third whereas and the fourth whereas, please.

Whereas, with regard to 21 Second Ave, the city, having received a total of one bid from Methili Medhasyatha in the amount of $1,273, and the PDC having recommended the sale of said parcel to Methili Medhasyatha for $1,273, and whereas, With regard to 11 Edson Street, the city having received a total of two bids from Israel Ettery in the amount of $1,500 and a bid from Par for the Course Prop LLC in the amount of $1,501 and the PDC having recommended sale of said parcel to Par for the Course Prop LLC in the amount of $1,501. So moved. Any questions? Call the roll, please. Alderman Carpenter. Aye. Alderman Marticello.

Aye.

Alderwoman Cuesta-Mars. Aye. Alderman Holliday.

Aye.

Alderwoman Collins. Aye. Resolution number 2627-29, resolution approving audit by Alderwoman Collins. So moved. Any questions? Alderwoman. Alderwoman Collins. Aye. Alderman Carpenter. Aye. Alderman Marticello.

Aye.

Alderwoman Cuesta-Mars. Aye. Alderman Holliday.

Aye.

Resolution number 2627-30, consent. Resolution awarding contract for the PIN 2650.58 Amsterdam Pedestrian Safety Project to Kubricki, Joynta, Lime, LLC by Alderman Marticello.

Whereas... Just the region last, and now therefore be resolved.

Now, therefore, be it resolved by the Common Council of the City of Amsterdam that the contract for PIN 2650.58, Amsterdam Pedestrian Safety Project, is hereby awarded to Kubricki Joynta Lime LLC, located at Wilton, New York, for the total base bid amount of $3,222,000. Thank you. So moved.

Is there any discussion? Thank you very much.

Alderman Marcello.

Aye.

Alderman Christomars. Aye. Alderman Holliday.

Aye.

Alderwoman Collins. Aye. Alderman Carpenter. Aye. Resolution number 2627-31, Consent. Resolution Budget Transfer of Recreation by Alderman Holliday.

Just read the two first where as's.

Whereas the Recreation Department incurred a $15,500 tree removal expense that was not included in the 2026-27 operating budget. WHEREAS THE RECREATION DEPARTMENT HAD TO ABSORB A $12,064 EXPENSE FOR REMOVING THE PAINT ON THE BOARDWALK SLASH PAD.

NEW SPEAKER OKAY. THANK YOU, STACY. SO MOVED. ANY DISCUSSION? CALL THE ROLL, PLEASE.

NEW SPEAKER ALDERMAN HOLIDAY.

NEW SPEAKER AYE.

NEW SPEAKER ALDERWOMAN COLLINS. NEW SPEAKER AYE. NEW SPEAKER ALDERMAN CARPENTER. NEW SPEAKER AYE. NEW SPEAKER ALDERMAN MARTICELLO. NEW SPEAKER AYE. NEW SPEAKER ALDERWOMAN CUSTOMERS. NEW SPEAKER AYE.

NEW SPEAKER SO, COUNCIL, CAN WE TURN THE BIDDING Oh, the bid opening, Mike, is Monday, correct? Yeah. Can we schedule a meeting for as early as possible next week? A special meeting? Yeah. Is a day good, bad? Tuesday's out for me. The other day's fine. Wednesday? Monday afternoon would be too soon? Probably. Wednesday? Wednesday's fine. Thursday? I'm fine any day. Wednesday's fine. I'd like mornings if we could. Is Wednesday good for you? Yeah, it'll make it happen. Anyone else? We would need at least three members to form a quorum, and it would have to be a unanimous consent at that point. Wednesday's good. Wednesday's good for you. We've got two. Do we have a third?

I'll do my best.

August is tough. We've got four of us. You're not here, Jim, right? When? Wednesday. Yeah, I'm here. ARE YOU HERE? NEXT WEDNESDAY. WEDNESDAY THE 12TH. YEAH, I'M HERE.

OKAY.

SO THAT'S THREE.

I DON'T KNOW. POSSIBLY.

POSSIBLY. IMPOSSIBLY. SO 10 O'CLOCK, GOOD? EARLIER? NINE? EARLIER. NINE WOULD BE NICE. NINE?

NINE.

NINE OKAY? YEAH. OKAY, NINE.

NINE.

MAKE SURE THAT PUTS OUT FIRST THINGS. I WILL. I'LL PUT THAT IN MY CALENDAR. At veterans? Yes. And it's going on right now. So if you have an opportunity to get up to vets, our public safety people are up there doing a great job. And we have a lot of vendors. Swimming pool is open. I think the show will be tonight for the kids. Usually there's mass advertising. So it should be a nice, great weather.

Motion to adjourn. Before we wrap it up, the Waterford Foundation would like to thank the mayor for his incredible job. at 518 Scott Town, our second year. It was an incredible show and everybody really sung their hearts out. And I gotta tell you, I really appreciate the work that the mayor puts into emceeing it because he just doesn't get up there and read from a piece of paper. He really does his research. And as I told the council before you walked in here, if you were allowed to be performing that show, you would have taken first place. So it's a mission of love.

Thank you very much for all your work. I appreciate it. Thank you. It was a great show. We appreciate what AWF does for our city.

Call the roll. Alderman Collins. Aye. Alderman Carpenter.

Aye.

Alderman Marticello.

Aye.

Alderman Quiston-Martinson. Aye. Alderman Holliday.

Aye. Thank you very much. Wednesday then at 9 o'clock. I only do show tunes.

I can see it.

Come here.