Common Council - Regular Meeting

All right, now we're live. Okay. Call to order the Committee of the Whole, September 15th, 2026. Resolution 2627-52, resolution adopting minutes from the last council meeting. Any questions about that one? All right. RESOLUTION 2627-53, RESOLUTION ADOPTING MINUTES FOR THE PUBLIC HEARING AND SPECIAL COMMON COUNCIL MEETING. THAT WAS HELD SEPTEMBER 8, 2026.

RESOLUTION APPROVING THE AUDIT.

THE AUDIT IS FINE. ANY QUESTIONS ABOUT THE AUDIT? WE ALSO HAVE SOME CONSENTS TO REVIEW. First one is 2627-55. Resolution authorizing the Mayor to execute an option agreement with the Land Reutilization Corporation of the Capital Region and specified municipal properties. Mayor, would you like to speak on this?

Yes, this is for the, pardon? No, I know it's for the land bank. This is for the program where we're going to be, the land bank is going to be putting up buildings instead of knocking them down on vacant lots, correct? This is a very important program. It's new. I'm excited about this. What we're doing here is we had to find two additional properties because two that they had picked originally were on a slope and they were trying to get as flat as possible, plans as flat as possible. And these were the candidates that were given to them. and they accepted two of them. But what's going to happen on these properties is they are going to be putting new homes into old neighborhoods and filling these vacant lots with new homes, single-family homes, which we sold with income guidelines to people, first-time homebuyers at affordable prices. Those people have to qualify for it. They'll have to have good credit. They'll have to have the right kind of income band. But it's a very exciting program. We've heard many times from the public that utilizing our older neighborhoods, being able to utilize that space for homes would be a wonderful thing to do. We can renovate them, but this is actually putting a new home in there. So I'm excited about it. I think we all agree it's a great thing.

Thank you, man. Any other comments? Thank you. Thank you. Resolution 2627-56, Resolution to adjust St. Mary's sewer charges. St. Mary's Hospital is disputing their 430 26-meter sewer bill because of an issue they experienced with their pool and tower that caused them to consume a significantly higher amount of water than usual. The city has agreed to reduce their 430 sewer charge by 75%, which amounts to a reduction of $9,350 Any questions?

And this water did not get, did not require treatment. So the engineer worked with them to figure out that so that we weren't paying to treat this water.

Okay. Resolution 2627-57, ultimate carpeting. This resolution is...

We settled the contract for the PSU in August, on August 18th for the MOA. And this is to address the retroactive increases that were part of that contractual appeal. I think Louise has, could speak on it as well.

Louise, any comments?

Oh, no, no, this is just moving the funding

It doesn't state total oh Sorry, it's around 60 something thousand seventy seven thousand So there's money THIS IS FOR 25.

THIS IS FOR RETRO. AND THE CURRENT YEAR AS WELL, BECAUSE CURRENT YEAR SALARIES WERE BUDGETED THE PRIOR YEAR AMOUNT, SO WE HAD TO ACTUALLY... FOR THREE YEARS BEING RETROACTIVE FROM JULY 1, 2025.

SO THIS RESOLUTION IS FOR RETRO. RETRO AND CURRENT YEAR. RESIDENT CONTRACT SETTLEMENT BUDGET TRANSFER. SO WE'RE MAKING A TRANSFER. SO THEY ALREADY SIGNED A CONTRACT. RIGHT. WE DID THAT LAST WEEK. WE DID IT IN AUGUST. IN AUGUST, YES. OKAY. SO I JUST WANT TO MAKE SURE WE'RE ALL CAUGHT UP TO DATE, RIGHT?

YEP.

OKAY. THANK YOU. IT TOOK A COUPLE WEEKS TO CALCULATE ALL THE AMOUNTS THAT WERE OWED TO EVERYONE AND WHAT LINE THEY CAME OUT OF.

NO. THE SECOND WHEREAS, THE TERM OF THE AGREEMENT IN THREE YEARS INCLUDES ANGLE SALARY INCLUSES RECORD ACTIVITY. AND THAT'S IN THE CONTRACT OF LAST YEAR.

Okay. Any questions?

Resolution 2627-58. This is a great resolution.

This resolution offers for installed security cameras at River Link Park, the MBO Bridge and Boardwalk and Bridge Street. IT'S TO BE COVERED BY A GRANT, $125,000. THIS DOES NOT INCLUDE THE INSOLATION OF ELECTRICAL OUTLETS, IF NECESSARY, WHICH WILL BE ADDRESSED IN A SEPARATE RESOLUTION AND ALTERNATIVE FUNDING SOURCE. THE MONEY'S COMING FROM A GRANT FROM DASNY. THE MAYOR, IS THERE ANYTHING YOU'D LIKE TO ADD TO IT? OR CHIEF?

NEW SPEAKER Yeah, Senator Fahey got us actually $250,000 worth of DASNE grants. And half of it will be used for this one. And we made a decision that we would use the other half for the lighting at River Link Park. It's totally went out and we have electrical problems down there. So this money will be used to fix that. But the cameras, of course, having cameras in River Link Park on the new boardwalk,

Any questions? Are there signs in these areas that say that there's recordings or anything like that?

I'm sorry?

Is there any signage in the areas that let people know that they could be recorded?

I'm not sure.

I don't think there is. Some of the entrances to the parks should say the parks are monitored and there is surveillance. Yeah, and these aren't flock cameras we're not looking at.

Yeah, just within parks.

Yeah, yeah. On that note, we had our last concert at River Link Park for the season and I wanted to thank the Mayor and Chief Spencer for working so hard when all the lights were out. It was pitch pitch dark and they came up with a plan on a dime and it brightened up the park a lot so people could find their way out and go across the bridge.

What did they use?

Chief brought some

spotlight i can't sponsor one company the other but makita and um with the help of a bunch of police cars and headlights so people could find their way out that's awesome we always get it done here desperately in need fortunately it was a journey concert so right we had most of the people that were my age quite the journey but in any event it was important i'm sorry that the lights were out in the first place I want to thank the Senator for her assistance. Other than that, any questions?

We have some time. Kelly, do you have anything else to discuss about your state history?

Let's see, the other item we had on there, I don't know if we talked at all, if any movement on, we were talking about Bayard and Jackson. We got kind of excited about that street and how it was getting closed. I don't know if any further side discussions had happened on that.

I know they were having, I think, gas lines on Jackson.

Did they finish them? They didn't do the gas line on Jackson? No.

They did something. I think they did the guess.

Because it's all been repaid. I won't buy it anymore.

Shiny new, yes. Because we had talked about closing the exit off of Jackson, going uphill to Major Lane. To Major Lane? Yeah. But I don't know where.

You could. Being able to go all the way up Jackson onto Major Lane, you want to close that off?

Because there really is no stop for people coming down Major Lane. If you come down Major Lane, I think you're pretty much going straight. And if someone shoots up out of there, you're kind of supposed to slow down.

You have two stops.

There's a turnoff to go down.

And there's a turnoff to go down so you're not on the same road.

Right, right. To go down is fine. It's the going up.

That has always been a hassle.

Yeah, it was uniquely Amsterdam streets.

Especially on a bicycle. Yeah. Unless it's an e-bike.

Unless it's an e-bike.

But no, really, I mean, I know all three of those roads have just been, I mean, Major Lane last year, Bayard and Jackson are now smooth, which is going to help a lot. But I mean, I believe there's stop signs, right? There's stop signs in Major Lane. The biggest issue on that would probably be somebody who lives on the top of Bayard or Jackson that doesn't have a driveway to turn around to get back Or they'd always have to come from the other direction and everybody would be parked on that side of the street. Nobody would be parked on the side going up. Yeah, if you got a low rider car, you don't wanna take that turn. No, you don't. My father's 83 Chevy Impala scraped out every time. That's it.

Okay, so that was . Okay.

You done, Cal? You got anything else?

I've got nothing else. No, we're done.

Mike, you wanna talk about engineering at this point?

Talk about anything anybody wants to say. We're talking about street paving before. We're talking about it again. Might as well keep talking about it. They've wrapped up today. Nice job. Tomorrow they are moving to and here we go again. Keeler Deal Reservoir in Crispin. That holds the tennis racket shaped streets over there that are adjacent to the reservoir fence. They're doing that tomorrow. That's prepped now. There's still a number of other streets. They've still got a page. The lower piece of North Hampton from Sky Park to Hobart, which is a war zone right now, as soon as they're done with the gas, Connecting over the new gas lines, we are going to mill and pave that. That's in the program. I still got my fingers crossed about Van Dyke to Route 30. I'm not sure yet because grid is still going. I don't know when they're going to be done with that upper piece because they're laying two lines through there. They have installed a new low pressure. They need to install a brand new medium pressure line. Which I don't believe they've done yet. So the timing of that The jury's still out The piece of upper Van Dyke That we've marked out I said it again upper market We're going that is marked out. It's probably going to be a the end of next week or the following week. Obviously, we're going to need to coordinate, make sure National Grid's not on the street because we want to keep towards Southbound again down Northampton. There's no good way to do it. They contemplated doing Nightworth, but that has its own set of risks that I prefer not to incur in the city. So if we can detour like we did last year, detour the southbound traffic, we are going to be much better off in the mix for a pretty quick job. And then you just alternate. You slide over the northbound traffic one lane or the other, depending on where you're working. That is coming. We've also had just today, so as everyone's aware now, DOT is whole arterial interchange from the thruway entrance exit all the way to the end of their project limits which is essentially prospect in the top of the bridge here and this whole interchange out here they're going to begin milling tomorrow they are going to mill on the pavement everything south of the bridge tomorrow so Both lanes, north and south, all the lanes from the thruway down to the bridge. And then Thursday, everything from this side of the bridge to probably the library. And then hopefully Friday, as the plan goes right now, much of the rest of this. I can't sugarcoat it. It's going to be a mess. They're going to be flagging. We're going to have difficulty getting in and out of this building. While the milling machine and the series of trucks is right in front of it, employees will be able to get in and out. I'm not sure how easy it's going to be for the public to do it. And milling will gum things up in this area for probably two to three hours. When they go to pave it, it's going to be longer because you've got more lanes And they're going to have to make multiple passes to complete this section of paving. We may want to consider, at the very least, when they're going to pave. When are they going to pave? Paving is two weeks. Right now, it looks like it's going to be the 28th. Mailing is this week. So you've got two different instances of when there's going to be a problem. I'm looking for holidays already. I'm trying to find something where you can move.

Can someone put something on the city website?

Again, we're supposed to be getting a press release from DOT that's going to announce it. When we get this press release and we get their schedule and it's in writing, we have to make a public announcement because it is going to be a mess. And when we make that announcement, we have to make it clear that if it's going to impact City Hall's hours for the public, then we're going to have to make it clear at that time. But it is going to be a mess. I'm upset to hear DOT isn't going to do this on the weekend or at nights, but that's the way it is. It's going to be on Friday. That's the way it is. We need to get these things done. But it's going to be a mess. So when we get the official press release or the official schedule, we will issue an announcement to the public in general in as many ways as we possibly can so that they understand it is going to be a mess. People are putting up with a lot of messes in our city thanks to National Grid and this and CHIPS. And it's just the way it is. We're going to get it done. And when it's done, it'll be beautiful. But until it's done, it's going to be a mess.

Can the traffic be detoured? Thank you.

they will you know they will do everything they have to so they can do their work and still keep traffic flowing and keep people safe but it's you know again we have to decide about city halls public hours etc um it's it's definitely a nuisance for the public if we have to not be able to have serve them but again it's it's what we have to do mike you're done

yeah so uh just to wrap this up uh the one service line project we did award after the last meeting um to kareem for the replacement of what service lines funded through a cdbg grant um we are working our way through this complete street streets project to get the contractor mobilized AND TO GET A CONTRACT EXTENSION WITH DEPARTMENT OF STATE. I AM VERY HOPEFUL THAT WE'RE GOING TO GET THAT. WE'RE GOING TO HAVE TO HAVE IT. AND CONTRACT IS GOING THROUGH ALL THE ADMINISTRATIVE STUFF UP FRONT THAT YOU GOT TO DO TO GET THESE THINGS OFF THE GROUND. Oh, and golf course cart path paving. They're scheduled for the last week of this month to start to work. And again, they're saying five or six days. So it'll take them, if that's work days, it'll take them a couple of weeks.

And as always, any questions you have, And just so the council's fully aware and the public, the Complete Streets program is funded by several sources, DOT, Department of State through our DRI. We're using a little bit of CHIPS money to do Main Street. And we have deadlines on the DRI money. The deadline for DRI ends this year. And there is no way that we can start the Complete Streets project now and have it done by the end of this year. So what we're seeking is an extension. In order to get that extension, we need to get a schedule, a work schedule from Kabricki. And that work schedule pretty much has to state that there's no way we can complete that project this year. And when we get that, we will officially, we already supplied for an extension, but that work schedule is the one missing piece. So when we get that and submit it to DOS, we're hoping, we expect DOS to say you can take until next year. But I want everybody to understand that's what we're waiting for. And there's no way that we could start now and spend all that money by the end of the construction season. So we need to make sure that we've got those extensions in place. I know it's been a long time. The Complete Streets Program is a very complicated thing involving different funding streams and different pieces of streets and the arterial and everything. So it's been a long time and I know there's a lot of impatience on the part of the downtown merchants, on the part of us, but we're moving forward on it. It's now five o'clock. I might as well talk about the community center. Johnny Sifu's building will be coming down. It'll be down by the end of October. We are now awaiting, there's a million dollar gap between what it's going to cost to build a community center and the amount of money we have. We are trying to get that gap filled. We were hoping that Ibera was going to bond through this tax credit program, and they're hesitating to do that because of the financial situation. But in any event, They just announced a new BRICS funding pack, a new BRICS program, which is the money that we'll provide for recreation centers and community centers in a community like ours. And so they, Ibero, is going to apply for a BRICS grant in order to cover that $1 million gap. And that's what we're waiting for now to get the new, to make sure that the money is there to build a new community center. In any event, Johnny Sifu is coming down by the end of October, okay?

Thank you very much.

So the city clerk's report for the month of August.

issued 142 birth certificates, which were eight less than 2025. 177 death certificates, which were 52 more than 2025. Dog licenses, we issued 31, which was 26 less than 2025. And marriage certificates, we issued 13, which was 17 less than 2025. There were 34 new births in the city of Amsterdam in 2026. There were, August 2026, there were 24 deaths in the city in August. There were six new dog licenses, which we issued. And there were six new marriages that came in. Total foils process were 106. 16 of those were accident requests, 63 were police incidents, 25 were property inquiries, and two of them were miscellaneous other items looking for a report from Louise of money we've spent or anything like that. I notarized 17 documents and we issued 60 handicap placards, 50 of those were permanent and 10 were temporary. Any questions?

I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the republic for which it stands, one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

Alderman Clifton Marks. Here. Alderman Holladay. Here. Alderman Collins. Here. Alderman Carpenter. Here. Alderman Marticello.

Here.

MOTION TO ADOPT THE AGENDA, THREE RESOLUTIONS AND FOUR CONCEPTS. ALL IN ROW.

ALL IN ROW. ALL IN ROW. ALL IN ROW. ALL IN ROW. ALL IN ROW. ALL IN ROW. ALL IN ROW. ALL IN ROW. ALL IN ROW. ALL IN ROW. ALL IN ROW. ALL IN ROW. ALL IN ROW.

ALL IN ROW. ALL IN ROW. ALL IN ROW. ALL IN ROW. ALL IN ROW. ALL IN ROW. ALL IN ROW. ALL IN ROW. ALL IN ROW. ALL IN ROW. ALL IN ROW. ALL IN ROW. ALL IN ROW. ALL IN ROW. ALL IN ROW. ALL IN ROW. ALL IN ROW. ALL IN ROW. ALL IN ROW. ALL IN ROW.

ALL IN ROW. ALL IN ROW. ALL IN ROW. ALL IN ROW. ALL IN ROW. ALL IN Mayor, I'm supposed to cut my lawn. I took my trees down and shrubs and stuff a little bit too much. But I've been concerned quite a while in back of Sleazak's, the weed situation back there. And I mentioned this before. When we had the mall, it was one eyesore. Now it's another eyesore. that's city property to my understanding. My understanding is that it has nothing to do with ADA, you know, uh, but, uh, I, I wish we could, it's on schedule to be cut. We haven't gotten to it yet. It's on the schedule. It's pretty bad. You know, cause we're definitely going to get up there and cut it. Good. Okay. That's one thing. Another thing is earlier this month, I saw, uh, on C-SPAN about water infrastructure in which Paul Tonko attended. And, um, you know, one of the things that people had brought up was about grant money. I don't know why the taxes go up, or I shouldn't say the taxes, the user fees go up. I thought we had two grant writers. Now years back, one was John Duchessy, obviously he's deceased. I don't know if he was replaced. There was another individual who was a grant writer. You know, why, why, why are we going after grants? You know, and so, so that's my, Use your fees for the water doesn't go up. Grant money is our money, but it makes it easier for the taxpayer, I think, by getting the grant money. And what good is having a grant writer if we're not using a grant writer? So I think in the future we should consider that, because as far as I'm concerned, the water isn't all that good for drinking. And if somebody wants to drink it, I know some people take the water and might put it in the refrigerator. I did that for a while. But like I said, I've been getting some good well water out in Hegeman, which I'm happy with. But I mean, if you can't drink the water, it's not, you know, the purpose. It would have been better to use your feeds on other things. And leave the water alone. You choose not to drink the water, right?

You can drink the water. You can drink the water.

You choose not to. I do. Well, I choose not to drink the water because we're getting the pamphlets and they're supposed to have all these contaminants type in there. No, no. Get your water tested. Please.

Well, I did have that. He did a show. Somebody did come over. The only people who are having any contaminant of lead in their water are the people who have old supply lines between the street and their shops. It's sitting in those lines, and that's where it's picking up small traces of lead. Most of our city does not have that problem check. So to say that you can't drink the water, it's just not telling people.

Why do we have the pamphlets? We're mandated by the Department of Health and the US EPA to send out an annual water quality report. That's all that pamphlet is. And when you look at the whole battery of tests on there, yeah, it's intimidating, but

you look at the if you read through it and where we are in the thresholds we're we're under on everything we have very good quality water right straight out of the mountains i'm just trying to correct your statement you can say that but but it's not true that we have well i know we had a former mayor i believe emmanuel was stated uh stated that it was one of the better tasting waters but i mean like i said i mean i didn't hear of any any kind of roundness i don't care

I just don't want people thinking that they can't drink their water because they certainly can and they don't have to worry about it. If they are concerned, they can have their water tested. There's very, very few homes in our city. When I say very few, there are very, very few people who have had their water tested and found lead in it.

Okay. That's good. I'm kind of running out of things to say about that. That's okay. One final thing. I think you did a pretty good job the last eight years, but I Usually I don't vote for a Democrat, but I thought I'd let you know I actually voted for you against Villa, which I usually don't vote for too many Democrats. But I didn't like the way things were going at that time. And I think that this thing with the apartments or something to use with that land bank, that's one heck of an idea. And hopefully that'll be successful because we need affordable housing here. And I didn't know that Johnny's Seafoods was still in existence. When I was a kid, I can remember we used to get the numbers. You stand in line with the numbers over there? But I didn't know that that building still existed as a kid or something. That's something. Okay. All right. Take it easy. Thank you, Jeff.

Bye. Okay. That ends public participation. I don't believe there's anybody else here to speak. So we'll go on to – we did that. We'll go on to Louise, your controller's report.

I have – pass out a two-month financial snapshot. Nothing unusual or out of the ordinary. Revenue and expenditures are happening at the pace we would expect.

So just what is the percentage then of two months of the year it would be equal to? Well, 16, yeah.

But we have quarterly tax installments, so they No, I understand.

I'm just trying to get an idea. Two out of 12 is what percentage? 16.66%. 16.6%. Thank you very much. Sorry, 8 point something. That's all I wanted to know. I'm sorry. I didn't mean to throw you off.

No, that's fine. Like I said, nothing remarkable here to necessarily talk about. I just want to just mention The contingency balances, we just want to keep a close eye on those because we settled one union contract, and it was the smallest union. And we have three more that we're hoping to settle. So we do expect to kind of use those funds pretty aggressively. This does not reflect, these numbers do not reflect the resolution for the up-shoot salary increases that is on the agenda for tonight. And I also want to mention, just want to get the word out, that we have a live property auction right now with four properties listed. It closes October 16th. These are four properties from our last foreclosure that were challenged in court. The city prevailed, and now we are auctioning those properties off. So definitely want to get the word out that that auction is live. It's a mini auction.

Mini auction.

Mini. Isn't that good?

Okay, thank you, Elise. Any questions for the controller?

Is the same auction house handling this all?

It's Tyler City, yeah. So, Elise, we don't have any old business, so we can get into new business and vote on the resolution.

Resolution number 2627-52, resolution adopting minutes from last common council meeting by Alderman Collins. Alderman Collins. Aye. Alderman Carpenter. Aye. Alderman Marticello. Aye. Alderwoman Cuesta-Marx. Aye. Alderman Holliday.

Aye.

Resolution number 2627-53, resolution adopting minutes from public hearing and special common council meeting by Alderwoman Collins. Resolve the minutes of the public hearing and special common council meeting of September 8th, 2026 are hereby adopted. Alderwoman Collins. Aye. Alderman Carpenter. Aye. Alderman Marticello. Aye. Alderwoman Cuesta-Marx. Aye. Alderman Holliday.

Aye.

Resolution number 2627-54, resolution approving audit by Alderwoman Collins.

The audit is fine.

Hold the roll. Alderwoman Collins. Aye. Alderman Carpenter. Aye. Alderman Marticello.

Aye.

Alderwoman Cuesta-Mars. Aye. Alderman Holliday.

Aye.

Resolution number 2627-55, consent. Resolution authorizing the mayor to execute an option agreement with the Land Reutilization Corporation of the Capital Region for specified municipal properties by Alderwoman Collins. Okay, so it goes down to the fourth whereas and just read them. Whereas the Property Disposition Committee recommended entering into an option agreement with the land bank for eight specified city-owned properties to facilitate neighborhood revitalization and blight mitigation. And whereas the committee has recommended replacing 6 Kimball Street with 102 Division Street, a property recently demolished utilizing community development block grant CDBG funds. And whereas the total agreed consideration for the option on these properties is $2,077.22. Now, therefore, be it resolved that the Common Council of the City of Amsterdam hereby approves and authorizes the execution of an option agreement with the Land Reutilization Corporation of the Capital Region for the following properties, 55 through 57 Union Street, 37 Elizabeth Street, 59 through 61 Union Street, 60 Union Street, 102 Division Street, 15 Kimball Street, 302 Division Street, and 82 Prospect Street. and be it further resolved that the mayor of the city of Amsterdam is hereby authorized to execute said option agreement and any other necessary documents to finalize the transaction subject to approval as to form by the corporation council.

Any questions?

Again, I just want to repeat that these are vacant lots that are now going to have new homes placed on them, and they are going to be on the tax rolls.

They're going to be sold to first-time homebuyers at affordable prices.

it's a huge win for our city i want to thank the land bank for what they're doing with this program alderman collins hi alderman carpenter hi alderman marticello hi alderwoman questomers and alderman holliday resolution number 2627-56 consent resolution to adjust saint mary's sewer charges by alderwoman collins just go to the result resolve the controller is authorized to reduce the metered sewer charge on saint mary's April 30th, 2026, Billing Statement by $9,393.93. Alderwoman Collins. Aye. Alderman Carpenter. Aye. Alderman Marticello.

Aye.

Alderwoman Quistamars. Aye. Alderman Holladay.

Aye.

Resolution number 2627-57, Consent. Resolution, Upshoot Contract Settlement Budget Transfer by Alderman Carpenter. Whereas on August 18th, 2026, the city of Amsterdam Common Council approved a memorandum of agreement with the United Public Service Employees Union, resolution number 2627-37. Whereas the term of the agreement is three years and includes annual salary increases retroactive to July 1st, 2025. whereas the funds for the retroactive salary increases and current year salary increases were not included in the 2026-27 city operating budget since negotiations were still ongoing when the budget was adopted. Resolved, the controller is authorized to make the following 2026-27 budget transfers to fund the negotiated up-shoot salary increases. Increased expense, controller personnel, $9,650.00. Recreation Personnel, $9,552. IT Personnel, $6,926. Engineering Personnel, $5,168. Assessor Personnel, $4,865. CED Personnel, $3,111. WTP Personnel, $12,745. Personnel, $11,952. Decrease expense, general funding contingency, $39,272. Water fund contingency, $12,745. Sewer fund contingency, $11,952. So moved. Any questions? Do we want to amend it to include the total or no? No, it's not necessary. I already did it. Thank you. Cool. alderman carpenter alderman marcello alderwoman christomars alderman holiday alderwoman collins resolution 2627-58 consent resolution authorizing city to engage shepherd communications and security for the purchase and installation of security cameras by alderman carpenter Whereas the City of Amsterdam is desirous to install security cameras at River Link Park, the MV Gao Bridge, the Boardwalk and Bridge Street. And whereas these cameras will be an extension of an existing surveillance and security network of cameras developed and maintained by Shepherd Communication and Security. And whereas the proposed anticipated cost to the City for the cameras is in the approximate amount of $125,115.73. This does not include the cost of installing the electrical outlets necessary, which will be addressed by a separate resolution and alternative funding source. And whereas, a copy of the proposal from Shepard Communication and Security being attached here too. And whereas, with regard to payment for the same, State Senator Patricia Fahey has secured a grant from the Dormitory Authority of the State of New York in the amount of $125,000, which will be applied toward the cost of this project. It is hereby resolved that the engagement of Shepherd Communication and Security is hereby authorized, and it is further resolved that expenses for the same shall be paid as set forth above.

So moved. So I just want everyone to know that we will not initiate this until we have that grant secured. I'm going to just... REITERATE ONE MORE TIME. WE'RE ALSO GOING TO PUT THE LIGHTS ON. WE ALSO ARE GOING TO BE PUTTING THE LIGHTS ON WITH THE SECOND PORTION OF HER GRANT. THANK YOU. WE ARE WAITING FOR A QUOTE FOR THOSE LIGHTS SO THAT WE CAN PUT TOGETHER THE ACTUAL RESOLUTION. THANK YOU VERY MUCH.

ANY OTHER QUESTIONS? CALDWELL?

ALDERMAN CARPENTER. AYE. ALDERMAN MARTICELLO. AYE. ALDERWOMAN CHRISTI MARS. AYE. ALDERMAN HOLIDAY. AYE. ALDERWOMAN COLLINS. AYE.

ARE THERE ANY OTHER QUESTIONS? comments. The Italian Fest was a success this past weekend. A lot of people, a lot of fun. A lot of music. I think our city enjoyed it. And I believe Oktoberfest is our next event. And that's going to be up at the Rockton, which is a location we tried last year. It was very hot that day. I remember that hot for October.

It was in August last year.

That's why it was so dark.

Yeah, we moved it to October.

You should have said October. Everyone's like late August. I felt like it was August, but in any event, yes. So it's going to be our last outdoor event of the year, so we're looking forward to it, except for the Winter Carnival, which is probably going to be in January, February, which is the last event of our fiscal year. In any event, thank you very much. Any other questions? Motion to adjourn.

Motion to adjourn. Alderwoman Collins. Aye. Alderman Carpenter.

Aye.

Alderman Marticello. Aye. Alderwoman Cuesta-Marx. Aye. Alderman Holliday. Aye. Thanks, everybody.