Common Council - Regular Meeting

Public hearing common council for Tuesday, March 24, 2026. The time is 5:30 p.m. This public hearing has been duly noticed for the following matter. Please read the public hearing notice. Notice of public hearing held by the common council on Tuesday, March 24th, 2026 at 5:30 p.m. and the Duff City Court for the consideration of discontinuence and/or abandonment of a portion of Union Street between Newton and Baron Street.

Thank you. This public hearing relates to resolutions number 30 of 2026 and a walk-in resolution forthcoming resolution 33 2026 which referred to the planning board proposed discontinuence and/or abandonment of a portion of Main Street between Mars Street and property at 820 Main Street. This time I will open the floor for public comment on this matter. If you wish to speak, please come forward. State your name and address for the record. I'd uh ask that we follow the same procedure as we do for privilege at the floor. So that's a maximum of three minutes per speaker. And I'd also point out that this is not a forum for a back and forth with the council or the administration. An opportunity uh just to be heard on the record and uh that you please keep your remarks germaine to this specific public hearing. There are two public hearings this evening. This is specific to the portion of Main Street between Newton and Marsden Streets. Uh my name is uh Robert Welch. I live at 42 Newton Street uh Dunker. And uh the reason I'm here anyways is uh I've lived there 55 years and I border the Park Avenue extension that you want to open up. Uh I'm totally against it. And uh reason is is that uh uh I don't want it open because it's going to add too much traffic to Newton Street. Right now we're we're Newton Street is busy. But even before they closed Main Street off, it was busy. Now we're going to open up another street and we're going to have more traffic out there. Another thing is is we have the Stell home right behind my house a little bit to the right of it or to the left of it. But anyways, that they have a lot of people there. They

walk right in the middle of the street most of the time. And the thing is I think it's a dangerous situation and uh I'm totally against it. Okay. Thank you for letting me say anything.

Thank you, Mr. Welch. My name is Robert Rrisco. I live at 45 Newton Street. I'm totally against opening Main Street. Just took appease 300 people to cross the street to go to work and you're going to get 10,000 people that drive that street mad because they got to go around that street. It also going to lead to making Park Avenue Extension, which I'm against. I live right across the street from that extension. I have floor floor to ceiling windows in my living room. If them people make a lefthand turn off of that street, they're just going to light up the whole inside of my house. And that's another reason I'm against Main Street being closed because it's going to lead to that street being built and we're against it. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Risco. Oh, one more thing. going into Newton Street, you now have eight entrances to that less than a half a mile street if you call count all the north and south streets that can come into Newton Street. Eight of them. Thank you, Mr. Risco.

Is there anyone else who wishes to speak on this matter? Director DeJoy, did you want to speak to any aspect of this particular hearing?

Sure. Thank you, uh, Councilman Wiser. Um, as we all know, Wells Enterprises is investing nearly $500,000 in creating a new state-of-the-art manufacturing platform for ice cream and creating a campus in in this area. Uh Wells has purchased numerous homes on Main Street um around the footprint of this new plant to create a large single in the largest single investment in Dunkerk's history. Uh Wells has requested the city of Dunkerk uh discontinue the section of Main Street to create a more secure and safe campus for their employees to park and provide efficient means of staging and logistics for their deliveries going in and out of uh the facility. Uh and this will create a spectacular entrance uh to this fantastic new facility. Um, so tonight, this is step one in the process for the closure of uh Main Street and the opening of uh Park. Uh, the city feels that opening of Park Avenue will alleviate some of the congestion. um that that could happen with uh additional uh cars that would be uh uh needing to detour to not go through uh Main Street. But we do have some uh folks here from Wells tonight that if they would like to offer any comment and uh um tell them more about their plan, uh I would welcome it. So, thank you. Yes, ma'am.

Yes. My name's Robert Welch. I live at 42 Newton. I I have a question. Uh, how many homes did Wells purchase? Anyone know? Could you pose the question? And Oh, okay. I I would like to know how many they purchased. And does that also mean that they took those off of our tax roll? So now we're not going to collect any taxes from them. Correct. That that was my qu that was a question. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Welch. Is there a representative from Wells who cares to speak on this matter?

Good evening. Um, my name is Michael Mezer with Mezer Civil Engineering, 8245 Sheridan Drive, Williamsville, New York. And with me tonight are U Mr. Brad Gallas and David Fiori and Andre Scov all of Wells. Um thank you thank you for the hearing. Thank you for giving us an opportunity to speak. This is a a a plan that we had not anticipated at the onset of the project, but as things are developing, it it just really made a whole lot of sense because of how the plant currently operates, especially with uh with the receiving bays that are immediately adjacent to the the plant now. And um because of the configuration, that's where they need to remain on that side of the plant. And uh anyone who's there now can see how the trucks have to maneuver around Main Street to get in and out. And it would be a similar situation under the new plan. We're very limited, believe it or not, uh by space um and because of the fact that we needed to u build the plant while the plant was still operating. That brought on some tremendous challenges. But um we've got a plan that that works really well. And as Mr. De Joy mentioned uh we felt it was best uh for uh safety of employees. Uh well from an operation standpoint it makes sense because of the maneuverability of the trucks in that area. But more importantly from a safety standpoint uh the employees who had the parking who we have the parking uh lot on the opposite side of the street now um they will not have to cross Main Street anymore to get in and out of the plant. And uh also just as important safety of the public because of the operation and the truck

maneuverability. It just makes a whole lot of sense for for that area not to have uh public anymore. So, um there was a question relating to the homes that were were uh purchased and uh some of which uh demolished eventually all of them will be but uh there were six in total but uh by comparison with what we expect the uh the value of the property to be once we're done with the expansion um it's probably going to be well well offset uh the the loss of the uh assessed value of those properties. But again, back to the uh back to the question of what we're doing there. Currently, we've got uh just over 250 parking spaces and with the needs expanding with the plant as the plant uh gets busier and busier, there's definitely a need for more employee parking. And uh we'll be able to add uh with the new plan 187 spaces. So, we'll be uh just over 450 parking spaces within that area. So, between the maneuverability and the need for the extra parking, we've we've had uh you know, the the uh if we're able to incorporate the property that Main Street now resides on in that area, it'll it'll give us an opportunity uh to make things a lot better for everybody. Um the parking lot itself, um it the main portion of it, the 250 spaces, that's that's remaining. We're just moving things closer closer to the plant itself. Um it's it's pretty straightforward actually just replacing that area and we're also of course we'll make sure that there are easements in place for any infrastructure that happens to be uh residing in that area right now. And with the plan that has developed uh working with the department

heads here in the in the city uh we think it'll work out quite nicely. the expansion of Park Avenue, uh the traffic maneuverability will uh you know, they'll be able to move around and and continue on with little little disruption. Um I think that's that's pretty much it. Um if there's anybody has any other questions, be happy to answer those.

Any questions from the council at this time? Um, did did you do a study on um amount of cars going into or going through Main Street throughout the day? How many cars um would not then be able to do that? And then how many you are going to be changing their changing their their right of way too? Um actually um boy it's almost a year ago now when we we came to uh this board requesting uh the ability to temporarily close Main Street for construction purposes which was almost an absolute must because of all the activity that's going on there. We did work very closely with your public works department on that and we I don't have them available today but we did uh provide information on the traffic flow on Main Street. But the nice thing about it is that um it's not going to um create more traffic. It's not going to hinder traffic. It'll just be a little bit more of a maneuver for for anyone who is traveling north on Main Street or South.

And I have Can I ask a question to Randy?

Absolutely. Um, Randy, did we ever get a a study from the county like we wanted to during the economic development um regarding traffic flow over that over those tracks? Uh, for two iterations of the quiet zone, uh, that railroad crossing by Northfor Southern is part of our quiet zone. So, we did a traffic study of the number of crossings of that per day. It's about 1500 per day. Probably was less over the last year because construction people have chosen to take different routes, but it's in the neighborhood of a,000 to 1500 crossings historically over the Main Street Norfolk southern tracks. And um Chief uh have have you seen any increase, decrease, any concerns about that area with traffic and or accidents?

Um accident wise, no. We we've always had issues with vehicles on street cut. Obviously with main streets, we do find traffic So there has been a little uptick in in speeding along along Newton. Anything further from the council?

Do you have any idea how much more traffic is how the traffic increase on on Newton Street? Now

I don't have no I don't know. I know sometimes the state will do studies on street. I don't know city street, but I don't know if there's traffic with main street closed. Um, you know, without running numbers on it, we would expect that uh there's probably been some dispersement in different directions. some down Newton and then Washington um or maybe over to Central and then some over William Street out to Route 60. So, you know, I I don't think it's a situation where all the traffic that has been uh stopped from moving on that section of Main Street is is going, you know, to the east or west. It's a split.

Mr. Risco, did you have a question? Speaking here, sir, Mr. Mezer, absolutely. Are you going to close the entrance to the parking lot on Main Street if Main Street is done?

Yes, sir. Yes, the the parking lot for you know, I apologize. I should show this plan. I'm sorry. No, just show the audience for now. But this is uh this is the the plan. The plant is over here just to give you some perspective. This is Main Street right here. There's Marsden and there is Park Avenue and there's Newton Street. So currently, as you're pointing out, this uh entrance into the parking area here, that's going to shift over to Mars. You will not have one coming in off of No. No. You just going to have the one entrance on? Yes, sir. That's all. Yes, sir.

How How much further back are you going to go with the parking lot where it is now

towards park? Not at all. Uh this is all existing that will remain as is. Anything that's infilling will be infilled in between the existing parking lot and where the used woods there to cleaned everything out and there's a foundation in there from old existing planet some type. I don't know factory or grinding factory or something and I was wondering what you were going to do with that. I'm not quite sure where that straight at the end of your parking lot here.

There's actually no no plans to do anything there at all. Thank you. Yeah, sure. Now, another question. NA Street is very narrow. Are two trucks and cars be able to go through it at the same time? Yes. Yes, they are. Are they going to widen Newton Street? No, there isn't a plan to widen Newton Street present. I mean, when snowball comes by my house now, I have to go every spring. I'm 86 years old and fix my property because of trying to make the road wider. Of course, that's a city. You have quite a few employees that walk at Newton Street,

but we have no sidewalk for them to walk. So, they walk on the street. on Newton Street. So, thank you. No curve stones, no sidewalk. I'm sorry. I should have Okay. Thank you. I can explain the plan here if you would like it, but council, do we need further explanation? Seems we're okay. Thank you, Mr. Mezer. You're welcome. Thank you. Is there anyone else who wishes to speak on this matter?

Um, can I just expand on their on their question? Has there ever been or will there be a um any plans to put a sidewalk or to put curbing on Newton? Um, it is a now now that it's being it we're going to have more people Yes.

When you're ready. Uh we uh we have a consultant uh that's looking into that. Newton Street is a federal aid highway. It's designated truck route. Uh Dodie Street as well as well. So, this engineer, Paul Parker, who's local, um is looking into uh getting state funding to help build uh rebuild that and hopefully put a sidewalk in at least one side. We have the dog park that success that's very popular. Be nice for people to be able to walk from Central, say, all the way over to the dog park as as a destination. walking employees to uh Wells would be another reason for sidewalk. So, uh in in about a month, we'd like to bring them into a public works meeting and show you what they have in mind for that particular road. It won't be done this construction season, but they are it does take an application to get the Marchelli funds from the state, but we are eligible for federal aid highway money for Newton. So, uh, Newton can be improved and we we know that there's some shortfalls with it. Um, we'd like to do a nice job on that. The last time we did a Marcheli project was a West Ford Street that's also a federal a truck highway. That was done about 15 years ago and it turned out really nicely. All new curbs, all new driveway aprons, new sidewalks. So, if we can get paid, you know, like that and do the match with chips, then Newton Street would look quite nice. Um, not necessarily tied into this project. We already had that in mind even before we heard about this project.

Thank you. Thank you, Director Woodbury. Anything else from the council? Anything else, Mr. Mezer? Nothing from us. Thank you.

Okay. Seeing none, I will now close the public hearing on the proposed discontinuence and/or abandonment of a portion of Main Street. Clerk, please record that the public hearing has concluded. With that, I'll now open the second public hearing scheduled for this evening. Clerk, please read the notice. Notice for a public hearing held by the common council on Tuesday, March 24th, 2026 at 5:30 p.m. in the Dunkerk City Court for the environmental review steps and other required steps for opening and improving of two city roads for development projects. Park Avenue, the full length between Marsden and Newton and West 7th from Brigham Road to the easterly line of Press Holdings LLC.

Thank you. This public hearing relates to resolution number 32 of 2026 and associated actions concerning environmental review and required steps for the opening and improvement of Park Avenue and West 7th Street in support of development projects. At this time, I will open the floor for public comment. Anyone wishing to speak again, please come forward. State your name and address for the record. We will limit this to one opportunity to speak per person, three minutes per person. Uh same uh same parameters as with the previous hearing. Good evening. Robert Whitmore, 135 West Fifth. Now, I noticed that you put a caveat of is part of resolution 30, 2026, but that's not what we would have seen beforehand. Um, we saw resolution 27, 2026. Correct. That was at the last council meeting.

That was a resolution for to hold the public hearing. Okay. So, but the did the public because I don't get the paper. Did the public get the other resolution? The one that you're having the public hearing on. They saw the the separate.

Okay. Just let me let me state my thing. It maybe I'm wrong. I would like to know the cost benefit which I know that the later resolutions do mention but what I saw from the common council. I'd like to know what the cost benefit was of each. And since both both of those roads for separate purposes, um wouldn't it be better to have had separate resolutions on those? Again, I know that the resolutions you have coming before you tonight to vote on answer all these questions, but what I received in the last meeting, what I had to look at for my comments, I just happened to see those ahead of time. Um, that's all I have. I would like to seen that beforehand, but

thank you, Mr. Whitmore. Good evening. My name is Rea Baisinski, 616 Brigham Road, Dunkerk, New York. I'm going to speak about resolution 32 uh regarding West 7th and Brighgam Road that is a block from my house. these battery storage containers. There are homes on that. That's West Seventh Street all around that area. I'm within a block of it of the area and I'm sure my neighbors are a little concerned about the battery storage facility that they want to put back there. You've got a dance studio with children in it. I know the fire department's next door to that, but um I'm I'm really not happy about that. You can't find any other land in the city to put that besides in somebody's backyard. There are several homes in the on that corner of West 7th in J Street, which is behind, you know, the next one over from Brigham Road. I'm not comfortable with it, and I don't think my neighbors are comfortable with it. Is there any way to make a deal with National Grid property? I mean, you've got all that land over there to put you could put storage containers on that considering it was a power plant at one time. Has that ever been looked at or talked to them and negotiated with them? That's all I have to say. Thank you.

Thank you, Miss Bisinski. Peter Pinkowski, Lakefront Boulevard. Uh question for the Seventh Street extension. Is there any other benefits to opening up this paper street other than the battery storage? Are there going to be lots available? Uh who's going to maintain the road? Is it going to be a city? Is does the city have to go in there and open this road up? Are they going to have to put infrastructure in that road if they open up a paper street and make lots available? other than not even thinking of the battery storage. Not that anybody would ever build next to the battery storage to begin with, but who's going to be responsible costwise for one maintaining that road and two to put the road in to bring that infrastructure that they're going to require to bring that equipment in back there. So, it's just not going to be a gravel road. Is it going to be a paved road? Is it going to have curbs? A little more information on what this is all about. And this is being asked for on the premise of that battery storage being okayed. Is the has the battery storage been 100% okayed by the city of Dunker, the DEEC, we don't know that. So we're we're putting the cart way ahead of the horse here by wanting to put this street in to a project that in essence unless somebody consider can tell me it's 100%. Why are we even considering this until that project gets okay? The city of Dunkerat doesn't have a lot of money to be paving streets and making streets. We can't get the streets paved in the city to begin with. And now you want to make a street to get this a potential project and that would be the only project that would ever get developed back on there just because of the wetlands involved. It's very limited to what could go back there. So, is the city going to be fronting the bill to do these streets to

put that street in back there? And is it only for the benefit of the future battery storage if that even ever gets approved 100%. I would like somebody from the city to tell the residents that that project is a go. It's 100%. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Powowski. Hi, my name is Brandon Bova, uh, local business owner, uh, 271 Doncaster Road in Buffalo. Uh, as a resident, I'm

I'm sorry, sir. Could you repeat that again? I didn't quite I didn't quite get that. Could you repeat that again? My name is Brandon Bova, reside at 271 Doncaster Road in the city of Buffalo. As a western New York uh business owner here uh spanning in Shiakwa and uh Erie County, um I see there's a lot of negative light on these battery storage uh centers. Um projects, I should call them. Um but in Buffalo, there's over over 70 already produced and the fact that a lot of these uh negative complaints are not actual factual. Um the technology involved in these is ever growing. uh they're pretty pretty secure uh what goes in them. There's no negative light that harms the um the environment or their you know general vicinity of you know kids playing families living. Um some of the houses these days with furnaces or you know different electronics or solar p uh panels could be outdated and cause more harm than good. Uh, so I'm just here to, you know, bring a positive light on the project and, uh, kind of have some people like give more facts than, uh, just make some false claims by a Google search. So, thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Boba.

Director DJ Choy,

Chris Picoski, 7 Lakefront Boulevard. Um, I thought this was just about the opening of the street, not necessarily the battery storage. Um, if it is about the battery storage, I would like it to be, you know, have a meeting to address this to the public. It seems like it was all backdoor. You had to come to the planning meeting is what Vince told me. Um, I didn't have any idea that it was going on. So, I would really like the city of Dunkerk to get its its residents involved in the decision of having this battery storage or not. Are we going to sell our soul for this? I don't know. It may be perfectly safe, but I need more information and I think our residents deserve more information. I mean, I don't know if the fire department said it was a go. Did you approve that? I don't know if you want to say right now, but they the only thing you you can do with that fire is to let it burn. Now, that's I mean, I'm getting behind myself because I don't it's that what this hearing is about. The hearing is about the the road. But if the road Why are you putting a road to nowhere? Is that battery storage going in for sure? I don't think the road should be okayed until we know that.

Thank you, Miss Pinowski. Director DeJoy, would you care to comment on any of this?

I certainly would. Thank you, uh, Councilman Weiser. Um the reason for the public hearing is to uh dedicate or extend seventh um on a new road to be constructed to city DPW standards with the entire cost being paid for by the developer of the proposed uh uh battery energy storage system project GCI lighthouse energy storage. Um, this project has received site plan approval, public meetings of the Dunkerk Planning Board, public meetings of the Shiitaka County Planning Board, and they have reviewed the environmental uh uh documents that have been uh seekers that that have been put forth. Uh this project is currently being considered and reviewed by New York State Energy Research Development Authority or NAERTA for funding in the long term um contracts to purchase index storage credits under NAERTA RFP ISCC is ISC RFP25-1. Um the project will provide other benefits uh to uh taxing juris jurisdictions uh the school and the county um through a pilot uh through the CCITA. And the reason that uh that's significant is is these type of projects. Um according to New York State real property tax law section 487 chapter 58 article 4 title 2 provides exemptions for these type of projects. So basically they wouldn't even be um

wouldn't have to pay adorum uh property taxes for this type of project. But the pilot will provide payments to these taxing jurisdictions. In addition, it was stipulated in the Dunkerk Planning Board um that one of the conditions is that this project once operational will provide a million dollars directly to the city of Dunkerk in payments. Now, I say that that would partly be some of the pilot payment that would be coming to the city um given the uh pilot uh uh schedule that is uh that will be approved by uh the IDA and the other part of it to to at least be a million dollars would be a direct payment to the city of Dunker. So there's significant benefit and what I can tell you is that if this project doesn't go forward for whatever reason, if it's not um awarded by Naerta, the city doesn't intend to u construct a road there without a project. Um so we're not going to be just spending money um on speculation of a project unless the project does go forward. Uh let's see what else. Uh lastly, this project won't be visible from uh Brigham Road. Will create literally no noise and it will be not noticeable uh to to people driving by Brigham Road. Um there will be a secure perimeter fence and adequate screening around it with trees and so forth around the perimeter. Um so I think this project uh many of the safeguards have been looked at. also want to point out that um that this project will exceed meet or

exceed Naerta's model law in terms of u how how it's constructed and how it be operated and uh it would be uh this that same law will be updated in our uh upcoming uh zoning code uh update. But um we do have uh some representatives here from GCI that can perhaps provide a little bit more definition um to what this project is and what it can mean with a host community agreement for the city of Dunkerk. So this is the type of development that can help uh attract additional economic development because it will provide that consistent and stable supply of electricity as it's needed and would be used during times of electrical uh load need the need for additional electrical energy. So with that um

thank you Director De Joy. Uh would any representatives uh from the project care to speak? This is the hearing for the vote the project. This is a public hearing for the project. This is a public hearing to open up. If there's relevance to the road, uh I think it's it's worth hearing the relevance the project has to the potential of the the road being opened.

Thank you, Mr. Councilman. Uh my name is Daniel Brennan. I'm council for grid connected infrastructure and I'm happy to be here with you tonight along with some of my colleagues and and our consultants to answer any questions uh that the council has, any questions that the public has about our battery energy storage project or the road that we're focusing on tonight. Um the need for the road is because our property that we have an option to purchase is landlocked. Um, it was previously owned by the city of Dunkirk and the city of Dunkirk transferred the property to a buyer leaving itself an easement but never actually built the road. So there's there's no legal access to this property. So all we're asking for the city to do now is is to build the road um that that was reserved the right was reserved for the city um back in I think 1949 when the property was transferred by the city. Um, and I'm happy again to answer any questions you have on the project itself, on the road. Um, we also have um some our one of our fire safety experts here tonight. Um, and we're happy to discuss this further, but I don't want to waste too much of the council's time if you don't have any specific questions for me.

Any questions from council? Um, I'm a little confused with uh you just said you were asking the city to build the road and Mr. De Joy just said that it's of no cost to the city. So which is it? That's right. So unfortunately,

uh, we're asking the city to exercise its right to dedicate a public road, and we are agreeing in advance that we will enter into a road development, construction, and management agreement whereby GCI will pay for all of the costs of construction. And and that's not just the materials and labor, but the engineering, uh any legal fees that the city may incur, um consulting work that you may that you may have to pay for, um in addition to the ongoing and permanent maintenance of that road because we understand that the road is being built for the benefit of our property. So, we will enter into an agreement with the city whereby we will pay for the construction development of the road and the maintenance uh going forward. But it's it's up to the city whether the city wants to build the road itself and and get have us pay for it or whether you'd prefer to have have us use our contractors to do that. We we'd leave that up to you and we'd ask that that council gives uh gives the mayor the opportunity to negotiate the sort of finer points of that with us. Director Joy, is is this going to be I mean obviously it's not going to be a private road. Um or will it be a private road something that needs to be as far as in the wintertime maintained by us plowed um when potholes come up? Are we going to be the one to to fix it? That type of stuff.

Just ongoing maintenance. I'm a little I just don't know who takes care of it in the future. Yeah, from what I just heard, Councilman S little uh it will be a public road. U but there's been an offer for advance or continuing payments toward maintaining that. So we would we it would be our plows on the road. It would be our crews fixing the potholes. How we get to that point and actually building it still needs to be negotiated. um whether we hire an engineer to design it and contract it out, whatever, the dollar signs for however that gets built is promised from that company.

So, right now, what we're doing is just looking at an environmental review. This is not this is not the we're going through the steps where we would take a road that's only half open and opening up the entire length of what we're talking about. So, it would it would go from being a paper street to being a real street. That's really essentially in a nutshell. Anything further, council?

Um, yeah, we we did meet with GCI, the council, a few weeks ago and we we had, you know, for a long time and they answered a lot of our questions and and um I do remember you saying that, you know, you will work with us and make sure that you pay for everything. along the way till it's built and also that it's going to be you know for the sake of Mrs. Fashinsky it's going to be way back no one will see it and if anything you you will build any trees or bushes you know to um to hide if it is if if necessary.

Do you have I'm I'm sorry to interrupt. Are you Go ahead. Yeah. Um, do you have uh an idea of how how many feet from show? I can show you, Mike. That's great. No, I I know. Just for the for the public. Okay. I'd like them to know how far back this street's going to go. Are we talking half a mile or are we talking 100 yards? It's over 1500, 1500. 1500 ft.

And that that distance was approved by the planning board. They looked at this extensively as I'm sure Councilman Terrain can tell you um and looked at the design. We've we've redesigned the project several times to meet uh the planning board's specifications and as part of that approval they the planning board set out conditions whereby we have to enter into this host community agreement with the city of Dunkerk. So the city of Dunkerk will have more opportunities to make sure that we get the project right and then it's built um in the in the correct way, the best way possible for the community. So this process is not by any means over. This is just one of many many steps along the way to to building this piece of critical grid infrastructure. if I could to uh and especially with uh the resident who lives on 616 Brigham Road. I would I actually took a walk back there. I I I walked

I'm not concerned about seeing the project. I'm concerned about the safety of the project. There are homes on street that are there now and there's home street which connect home streets.

Okay. and and and we uh when when they presented it to the planning board, that was one of the issues we had which they they they gave us an extensive um um presentation on and they brought it brought some fire experts to even give a give a presentation on it to make sure so that we were were sure that they had all all the risk mitigation covered and uh otherwise we wouldn't have we wouldn't have given a secret on that if we didn't have that information. So, and we were pretty satisfied with it when I took a walk back there to see how far back it was from the residents is it's quite a ways back away from the residents and some of that that property back there. Uh I doubt anybody's going to go back in the wetlands and buy property and build houses there. Now, one thing I will say is that uh uh and as far as the road is concerned, um there's not going to be a lot of traffic on that road because there won't be a need to go back there unless they have somebody going in to inspect the uh the facility and they and and the way the technology is made is set up, they can inspect that facility uh off offsite. they have a they have technology to inspect it off site without going there spending a lot of time going back and forth. So you won't see a lot of traffic there. Uh so so as far as getting potholes, the only way we get potholes is if the uh if the plows actually dig the potholes up, not because of use because it won't be used uh by uh you know no one no one will have a reason to go back there.

That's right. Anything further from the council? Yeah, I ju I just wanted to say I I and I'm sure the council we appreciate all the concerns and questions. That's why these projects take years because but there might be questions and concerns we hadn't thought of yet. But um I know um GCI and Vince are very thorough and um but most things have already been um thought of

and I share I share your I share your opinion what you just said too. I appreciate those who came out. I wish more people would come out to uh the meeting so they could actually hear it. Um because the questions that you brought up, I even had even even said to you those questions are going to be asked and you need to make sure that you can answer the questions uh because you need to answer those questions because I'm getting asked those questions. And so u that's that's that's the very reason why you need to be at these meetings and and you can share that information with your neighbors. I I don't live far from you. So, so trust me, uh, I share your concerns and that's the reason why we brought that up when we were meeting with them.

Is there ever going to be a community involvement meeting? Obviously, the few people if it's well known that there's going to be representatives from your company, I'm sure more people from that area are going to want to come to some kind of public meeting to discuss this. They're going to ask questions that four or five people in the room maybe not have all the questions. Is there gonna be something the city's gonna put on with the company future to talk about questions that the residents are gonna director to Joy? Can I feel that

anything in the future of future meetings? It's kind of been quiet. That's why we're not say and all the communities around us are morator. So why is why are we It's a question I don't know. I want to know more information. The biggest question I see from anybody talking is safety.

The biggest concern that these facilities generally is fire. How are how are these fires? I read the reviews from the recommendation on a fire at one of these facilities. The responsibility for the fire department is to people away from the toxic. That's what it says in writing for this project. So, a lot of questions not to be answered here, but the public needs to have an opportunity to be with the city and your representatives to bring more questions other than the planning. We need more information. the last community handover that had this the impact they had in the school because they had so many concern of the res moving forward if this moving forward we need a little more

thank you Mr. maybe unfortunately. Thank you. Is there anyone else who wishes to be heard on this matter? Okay, seeing none, I will now close the public hearing on the environmental review and related actions for these projects. Uh clerk, please record that the public hearing has been concluded. We will now proceed with the regular meeting of the Dunkerk Common Council. Okay. I now call the regular meeting to order on this 24th day of March, 2026 at 6:18 p.m. Clerk, please conduct the roll call.

Council member Lgoiaak here. Council member Terrain here. Council member Frederickson here. Council member CivilTo here. Council member at large wiser here. Thank you. Clerk, please rise for the pledge of allegiance. 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.

Okay, thank you all for joining us tonight. Next, we have the certification of prior meetings. This is to certify that an official copy of the minutes of the common council meeting of Tuesday, March 10th, 2026 was presented to the mayor on Friday, March 20th, 2026. Pursuant to section 3.03 of the Dunkerk City Charter, all items presented to the mayor are now in full force in effect. In witness whereof, I have here to set my hand and seal of the city of Dunkirk, New York, this 24th day of March, 2026. Is there a motion to dispense with the reading of the minutes and approve them as presented? Moved by council member Frederickson, seconded by council member Lusco. Clerk, please call the role. Council member Luscoiaak. I. Council member Terrain. I. Council member Frederickson. I.

Council member Ciletto. I. Council member at largeiser.

I. The minutes are approved as presented. We now move to privilege of the floor. The privilege of the floor shall be extended to any person appearing for themselves in which case each individual appearing shall be limited to three minutes and to any person representing any group who shall be limited to a maximum time of 5 minutes. The privilege of the floor is reserved for members of the public to speak on any subject pertinent to the affairs of city government. The city clerk shall have the duty of maintaining such time limits. The chair may determine in their discretion whether individuals are speaking for themselves or representing groups. The chair may the chair shall maintain good order and may require any speaker to cease speaking if remarks are made in bad taste or slanderous or not gerine. The time limit specified shall be adhered to except that the chair may allow any person speaking to complete a statement or a thought started before such time expires. A longer time may be allowed by the chair with the approval of the majority of the council.

Privilege of the floor is now open. There are any members of the public who wish to speak, please step forward, state your name and address, and address the council. I also see we have County Executive Wendell here with us this evening. I'd like to give him right of first refusal.

Thank you. County Executive Wendell, Lakewood, New York. Uh I just would like to address uh some of the questions or concerns that have been arising uh regard to the elected officials in what originally was coined the future of the north county. Uh after a meeting with a phone call with Mayor Dvas, we decided to conduct a meeting with the four elected officials uh the mayor of Dunkerk, Mayor Fredonia, town supervisors of Dunkerk and Pomfort. Uh we had a discussion that that afternoon on the 13th of March, Friday the 13th. Surprising uh we decided to have another meeting on Friday the 13th. If you're superstitious, not sure that would really fit in. Uh but nonetheless, uh at the end of that meeting, it was discussed. Uh we were looking at a couple of things. I know there was a discussion between the town and the city for uh police coverage, um law enforcement. So there were some discussions there. uh and as it proceeded forward we started to look at the current situation financially obligations etc different concerns that uh all groups had and it was meant the statement was made by one of the elected officials why don't we look at merging into one large municipality uh that was something I would have recommended that didn't come out uh but it was from the electeds and there was agreement uh that that's what we would look at now having said that we would look into that and the discussion I had was want to make sure before we leave we're all in. And by mean that that I mean we're all going to look at this. We're not committed. This isn't ironclad. We haven't signed in blood that this will happen. All that would say is we would begin the process. That meeting was then uh decided that we would have one additional member from each of the elected representatives attend another meeting March 13th and of uh this month and we would meet here at the incubator and discuss some of the concerns, questions etc. I did present and reach out. Uh there was a a uh

interview I had with Greg Larson on viewpoint that uh some people came commented that they were a little blindsided by the statement etc etc. One of the things we agreed to is going forward this will be completely transparent that we will have information to the public. This isn't done behind closed doors. These meetings will be open and as we develop more and more people will be involved. If you bring pe 50 people into a room and have a discussion right now very little will get accomplished. Anyone who's been in leadership understands that. So what we're doing is bringing the members uh forward. One of the things we discussed at the last meeting was what are the questions we ask? What shared services could be um researched? U council or excuse me, Supervisor Pacus said they were in a uh already in contact with CGR um center for governmental research and what questions could be asked. So then we I uh tked each one of the elected officials get those questions you have to supervisor pacis. That way we would have a large um group, if you will, of questions. Everybody would review those questions and we present them then to CG then to CGR. At that point, we would then begin the process of looking at what this possibly uh would look like. One of the things they talked about was law enforcement. We talked about our highway departments, DPW, DPFS, whichever towns and villages refer to them as. And then we started looking, one of the questions they talked about was uh animal control. The state just passed down a 35page document from Aen Markets of what each municipality must have in order to provide shelter for abandoned dogs or dogs that they had to um take into their custody. So when you look at all these things there are a lot of questions and by no means do we have the answers. One of the questions that was brought up by a um member of the Pford Town Council is you know can a city dissolve? How does a village dissolve? Does a city dissolve correct directly into a town? Does it have to do

a step down? We don't know. Uh, you know, in Shiakwa County under County Executive Vince Han, it was part of a initiative then proposed by Governor Cuomo of a government reduction initiative. They were looking at merging the town of Charlotte, the town of Gary, and the village of Sinclairville. Uh, so these have been researched before, looked at, at least in Shiakwa County. Went to a public referendum. It was um turned down by a handful of votes. What prompted my government um efficiency fund or what we now refer to as our government reduction initiative or the GRRI was that one of the representatives, one of the legislators said, "Should we look at this again? These people that voted it down may not even live here. They may be deceased. We don't know. Is it worth looking at?" And it paused myself to think, I agree. Let's look at this a little bit. When you look at where we are in the future, this isn't currently right now, but the future, these these costs, you look at some of the comments made, you know, this isn't going to be a cost savings. We don't know that in the first year, two, five, maybe not. But we're looking at 10, 15, and 20 years. You know, one of the things we need to to, you know, be cognizant about is by statute, the county is responsible for all unpaid taxes for towns and villages. We chose by refer by resolution to pay unpaid taxes for the cities. In the city of Jamestown, it's 2.498 million for 2024. For the city of Dunkirk, it was $1.5 million. The reason we're also talking about that is in the city of Dunker from 2024 to 2025 there was an increase of 120 parcels with unpaid a 120 person or parcel increase from the year before. So that means another 120 parcels were not paid in 2025. So it's a concern that it is a county um a concern going forward. So that's why we're looking at this. Several times throughout the meeting, you'll hear me

say, "This is your initiative. I respect home rule. This is not a county iron fist saying this is what we're doing." This is led by the elected officials in those areas. Uh they they do want to extend this to the town of Sheridan. Unfortunately, uh Supervisor Roach was unable to attend the last meeting as they do work closely with the town of Dunker. At the same time, if there are any towns or villages that this does or city that this does not prove beneficial to, they can step out and it can cease at any time. This isn't something that's moving down the tracks and nothing stopping it. We're making sure this is done the right way and we're stepping through every process that needs to be stepped through. So again, it's not ramming this down anybody's throat. It's bringing these questions to light. Historically, at the last meeting, it was also discovered that these talks will go back with the city of Dunkirk and village of Fredonia to the 1960s and again in the 1970s. So, this isn't a new talk that's coming up now. This is something that has been done in the past. And again, we need to look at economics. 5 years ago, 10 years ago, we're not in the same spot we are right now. Whether it's the village of Fredonia, city of Dunkerk, town of Dunkerk, town of Ponford, you know, the city of Dunkerk, we know what where you're standing financially. Ironically, the village of Fredonia has a tax rate of $61.25 per thousand. I believe that is one of, if not the highest tax in the state of New York. That's a concern, okay? Because again, we are required to pay those unpaid taxes. And if you're looking at that that figure on a $100,000 home, you're looking at a $6,100 tax bill on just your village taxes alone. So, as we at the county work to keep our taxes low, you know, it's we we're looking at this across the board. So, again, that's where we are. If anybody has any questions, I'd gladly answer. Um I don't have every answer, but I can just share with you, you know, what we have discussed so far.

Thank you, County Executive Wendell. We appreciate you taking time to join us this evening.

Thank you. Jim Ener, 121 Sison Street, Dunkirk. I'm speaking on behalf of Revital Life Dunkerk. I do have uh prepared remarks that I'd like to read. Unfortunately, it will take about the five minutes. All right. Uh so, who's ready for some good news? Um I'd like to provide updates on two of our projects. Uh first hanging baskets. This is our most visible program and has been around for many years. In preparation for this year's baskets and on advice of our supplier Euro Greenhouse, we have replaced all 55 cocoa shell basket liners. Plus, every year we supply the fertilizer and water saving crystals to ensure the baskets maintain a high quality appearance throughout the season. In addition, in January, we approached Nick Anson at PEK to ask if they could manufacture replacement chains. The answer was yes, and they have been absolutely great partners. The baskets are being planted this week, and the change will be ready soon. I'd like to thank the city of Dunkirk for your continued support of this program, especially the Department of Public Works, Jason Sislevich, and his crew at parks. Uh, and I'd also like to recognize Kathy Guzaki, who coordinates the hanging basket program for Revitalize. Second, the Point Gratchet Trail Project. We initiated this project several years ago. Through the leadership of our president Patrick Lions and trail committee chair Mary Beth Mold Downey, we embraced the vision to improve the trail, make it safe, and create an exciting new feature in the park. Officially, the holding after holding a contest to name the trail project last year, the name Discovery Way at the Point was chosen. I'm very pleased to report that we have successfully persevered through a number

of delays and challenges and in June key elements of the trail will be constructed. Throughout this journey, Revitalized Dunkerk spearheaded discussion with New York State DEEC because the trail passes through property owned by both the city of Dunkerk and the state of New York. We had the site surveyed to ensure we knew exactly where property boundaries were. We contracted with two professional organizations to help lay out the trail and provide ideas for the proposed activity zones. Last year, we hired Kravitz Tree Service to remove over 20 unsafe, dead, and dying ash trees along the trail and to widen the path while grinding branches and distributing mulch. Also, early last year, after not receiving a $25,000 grant request through the Ralph C. Wilson Jr. Foundation, we tried again later in the year. This time we were successful. Along the way we learned that the Wilson Foundation had partnered with Kaboom to build play spaces. We learned that they were planning to award six or seven grant projects split between Southeast Michigan and West and Western New York. Earlier this month, we were officially notified of our award. In anticipation of our good fortune, some of you may recall that in December, council approved our request, revitalized request for the donation of Ashvalt Road millings, which will be used to construct an approach path at no cost to the city. The path will extend from the existing paved lot next to Brooks Pavilion up to the trail head, a length of approximately 230 ft. Once again, we thank you for your support. Over the past 30 years, Kaboom has built more than 17,000 play spaces serving over 12 million kids. Kaboom sets the project schedule and pre-build requirements. The approach path is a prerequisite. I would like to publicly thank our trail committee, especially Chair Mold Downey and Nicole Wait, a committee member who wrote the grant

request for their hard work and perseverance. Nicole also submitted a grant request recently to the Northern Shitakqua Community Foundation, which we hope will cover the full cost of constructing the path. Kaboom's lead design professional, Lex, will be in Dunkerk tomorrow um for a morning walk at the trail to see it firsthand. Later, she will meet with about 30 students at Dunkerk Intermediate School to get their ideas. Input from kids is a critical component of design day. Then at 4 pm she will host a meeting for any interested adults. You're all invited to discuss the project. The meeting will be in the large group meeting room at Sunni Fredonia Center for Innovation and Economic Development located on Central Avenue. Our trail project is different from the typical playgrounds Kaboom has always built. They saw our project as the newer trend in nature play spaces and have expressed excitement about getting started. The build will take place over four days and they have chosen June 9th through 12th for the build week. They will design three distinct areas along the trail, the entrance, a music zone, and a nature play zone. Another key component of their projects is community involvement. We have just started securing volunteers and donations of food and water for the roughly 25 volunteers aged 18 and older needed for each of our build days. We're pleased to announce that Nestle Pyina has stepped up and wants to be hands-on. We hope for a massive outpouring of community support. In the coming days and weeks, you will see more and hear more about this project. Information will be posted on our website at revitalizeddunker.com. Oh, one more thing. Don't forget about our annual spring cleanup, Tuesday, April 21st, in partnership with National Fuels Day of Doing. National Fuel has also been another great community partner. Thank you for your time.

Thank you, Mr. Enzer. Is there anyone else who wishes to speak? William Dumps, 500 McKinley Avenue, I'd like to talk to Allan after the meeting about my dilemma that I don't believe has been resolved with my neighbor. Uh, my next question goes to Randy Woodbury. How much did it cost the city to move the brush pile from the barns down to the end of Lucas?

Uh, I can answer that. The uh we didn't move it. The the uh we took we the brush pile that used to be at the other end was ground up and disposed of. The pile at the at the east at sorry at the west end now is a new brush pile of storm damage stuff that's accumulated over 2025 and we've added to it with with the most recent storm. So we didn't move anything. We just did the operation in a different location. Are you going to pick up brush from all the wind damage that uh Yeah, that's a good the residents have occurred.

We we've been doing that ever since we got interrupted with the snowstorm. right after the storm. But um anybody that's got limbs and things like that between the sidewalk and the curb, we're out there. We were in the third ward today doing a pretty good job because we haven't, you know, as residents, we haven't heard anything stating that they would pick up brush because of the storm.

I I'll state it now. After every storm like that, we're we're out there cleaning up as quickly as we can. My other uh issue is I don't believe any elected official should have free health insurance coverage. Uh it costs a lot of money. Uh I pay a lot for my health insurance. I don't believe there's too few that don't. And uh I also would like to uh I would like to know how you could let people know what's going on in the city. You call for transparency, but there's a lot of people that don't have computers, don't have cell phones, don't have the uh capacity to get anywhere. Some don't even buy the newspaper anymore. We like to have some other type of communication so people in this city know what's going on. And uh that's all I have.

Thank you, Mr. Anyone else who wishes to speak this evening? Going once, twice. Privilege of the floor is now closed. Next, we move to communications from the mayor, including disapproval messages. The mayor is excused from this evening's meeting. And with that, we'll address communications from the public and petitions. request from the Shiitakwa County Department of Mental Hygiene requesting permission to use the lower pavilion at Point Gratchet Park on Saturday, August 29th, 2026 for a free community event in observance of International Overdose Awareness Day.

Any questions or comments from the council hearing? None. Do I have a motion to refer to the appropriate departments as well as approve subject to appropriate insuranceances and usual conditions? Motion by council member Terrain, seconded by Council Member Civotto. Clerk, please be call the role. Council member Lgoiaak. I. Council member Terrain. Hi. Council member Frederickson. Hi. Council member Cileto. Hi. Council member at largeiser. I. Motion carried. Notice of claim from Justin Worstski for alleged damages caused to their car tire due to a nail on the road. Any comments, council?

Okay. Okay. I need a motion to refer this to the law department and Department of Public Works. Moved by Council Member Luscoak, seconded by Council Member Frederickson. Kirk. Clerk, please call the role. Council member Lgoiaak. I. Council member Terrain. Hi. Council member Frederickson. Hi. Council member Cileto. Hi. Council member at largeiser. I. Motion carried. Notice of claim from Erica Gunnerson for alleged damages caused to her home by a city tree. Any discussion, councel? Okay. Okay, hearing none. I need a motion to refer this to the law department and department of public works. Moved by council member terrain, seconded by council member Frederickson. Clerk, please call the role. Council member Lascoiaak. I. Council member Terrain. I. Council member Frederickson. I. Council member Ciletto.

Hi. Council member Large Wiser. I. Motion carried. Loudspeaker permit request from Barts Cove to have live bands from May 1st, 2026 through November 30th, 2026 from 1:00 p.m. to 1:00 a.m. Any discussion? Council. I'm a little concerned about the 1:00 a.m. Is that going to affect anybody that lives in that area where they're going out late at night? You care to speak then? They're a they're a like lakefront business. So, they all they all have till 1:00 a.m. All the businesses along the lakefront, that's their limit, 1:00 a.m.

Anything further, council? Okay. In that case, do I have a motion to refer to the appropriate departments as well as approve? Moved by council member Terrain, seconded by council member CileToto. Clerk, please call the role. Council member Lecoak. I. Council member Terrain. Hi. Council member Frederickson. I. Council member CileTo. Hi. Council member Large Wiser. I. Motion carried. Loudspeaker permit request from the Shiakwa County Department of Mental Hygiene to have a live band at their event located at Point Gratchet on August 29th, 2026 from 400 p.m. to 8:30 p.m.

Any discussion, council? Hearing none. Do I have a motion to refer to the appropriate departments as well as approved? Moved by council member Frederickson. Seconded by council member Luscoak. Clerk, please call the role. Council member Loiaak. I. Council member Terrain. I. Council member Frederickson. I. Council member Cileto. I. Council member at largeiser. I. Motion carried. We now move to reports of standing committees, boards, and commissions. Council member Lusco.

Yes. I I wanted to thank the DPW team for their tireless work after the storm. They have addressed all of the emergencies and as Randy said, they're now going from ward to ward to pick up and grind the smaller and non-emergency branches and limbs. So, kindly leave any you believe yours was forgotten, just call 716 366-9832. The next um DPW meeting is next Tuesday, March 31st at 1 PM in the mayor's conference room, which is now on the first floor of the Sterns building. All city of Dunkerk residents are welcome. And I also wanted to remind all residents about the adopt a garden program the city designs for each year. If anyone wishes um to garden in a small area around the city, just call Andy Bone from the DPW office at 7163669837. Revitalize Dunkerk does many areas. Thank you. We revitalize Dunkerk. So glad you're there. However, if it's something you would like to do for your city, by all means, we have places. Also, please know that the council lobbied with the county public facilities committee meeting regarding our brush issue and the fact residents can no longer drop off any brush or shrubbery anymore on Lucas Avenue. There were specific reasons for its closure um which everyone here is working on correcting such as the salt piles and shed which have now been moved. The DEC recognized the salt shed was a hazard as the salt moved down to the stream behind Lucas Avenue site. So kindly stay positive as we are seeking solutions as we'll find them with the help of the rest of the council, the mayor Randy, the DPW director, and our county

executive Wendell. Thank you. Thank you, Council Member Train.

Uh good evening everyone. uh like to report that we had our personnel committee meeting uh just this week and I would like to one uh to welcome Jennifer Howard who's uh going to be a member of our city uh and uh also and and uh in the personnel in the as a personnel. Okay. And uh also I'd like to say that uh to thank all the personnel that are working in the city of Dunkerk uh for the job they're doing in this in this challenging times that we're in because uh and continue to to to do a good to do good work especially from the fire department, DPW, and the police department and continue to do good work. We know that we do have some vacancies. Uh we will work through those as we get to them. Uh and uh um pretty much that next meeting is going to be uh on the 15th of April.

Thank you, Council Member Frederickson. Okay. I just have a couple things. Um Vince, first, thank you for getting back to me on inquiry the other day with the existence or not existence of a Dunk business plan book. Um I was hoping that there actually was one, but apparently there isn't. Um, just a reminder the next public safety meeting April 27th at 100 p.m. in the Stern's conference room, first floor. Thank you, Council Member Civotto.

Um, just to respond to Councilman Frederickson, we do have a business plan. It's called a comprehensive plan. Um, there's the specific question was about uh small and and midsize businesses. if we have any um any loan pro um any um trying to think of the word um any programs for them and that's that's what we don't have. I wasn't as much concerned about the financing business. Just if we just had an idea if we're trying to do something to bring in small mid-size businesses into the city, something that's going to pay enough to bring people into the city. So, we increase our population. We increase our tax base and uh we increase our quality of life here.

Yeah. Just by having everything better than more businesses here that we don't have now.

Yeah. When I was um the last time I was a councilman, we had something called a comprehensive plan that was it addressed all different types of things having to do with expansion of the city. Um what we expect to do in the future um and um that's been modified since 2018 I believe is when it was done possibly 2017 18. Um so yeah, we have a very large comprehensive plan um that actually is very important when we're going after grants and um and we we make plans for the city, the future of the city. Um my qu is Mr. Wendle still here.

He left. Okay. Um of course

just wanted to say I appreciate his uh speaking. Um, but from what I understand, the city's not included in the um, GRRI, which I was kind of confused about when he spoke because I've talked to doc to um, Mr. Pos and the city wasn't involved in that research as far as I know. Um, I could be wrong, but um, I just wanted to ask him about that. Um, and Hey, I wanted to uh thank the police department for their work on the incident that happened uh the shelter in place in the fourth ward. Of course, just cuz I say it. You're welcome. Um uh seemed all the police officers that were here just left. Um I just wanted to convey my relief um that everyone in the department was safe and that everything turned out okay. Um, and our next economic development meeting will be on the 31st, which is next Tuesday, at 4 p.m. in the economic development conference center, conference room. Thank you. The finance committee met yesterday morning, March 23rd. We received an update from DPW on ongoing work related to water system operations, including a review of both city and north county water district rates in consultation with a water economist. As those discussions move forward, I've asked to be included to ensure coordination with council. We also heard about infrastructure needs within the water system and the importance of long-term planning for capital improvements, as well as continued efforts to secure external funding where possible. From a budget perspective, we were reminded that utility costs, particularly gas and electric, are significantly higher than anticipated and will require close monitoring as the year progresses. We also discussed staffing constraints in several departments, including seasonal staffing and parks and the potential need to revisit those allocations. Finally, we

received updates from the clerk, treasurer, and finance office regarding tax collection, cash flow, and ongoing implementation of financial software systems, all of which are critical to improving transparency and operational efficiency. And I believe uh clerk, you have a couple of words.

The city tax bills will go out Thursday this week. um with a collection period of April 1st through May 4th um without penalty and payments are accepted at the clerk treasurer's office formerly known as the city clerk office. Um and our collection period or time frame would be Monday through Thursday 9 to 4:00 p.m. with a dropbox located um up the front steps. You can drop um your bills off there. No cash accepted there, just checks, please. um on Fridays or you can mail them in to our office. And um also the unpaid water bills were relevied as of February 27th onto those tax bills and they will show up as a miscellaneous charge.

Thank you. Is that everything? Everything. Good. There is no unfinished business. So we will address the pre-filed resolutions next. Mr. Clerk, please introduce resolution number 28, 2022. Resolution 28-2026, resolution authorizing adopt a garden program. Any discussion? Council. Okay, seeing none, clerk, please call the role. Council member Lasco, I. Council member Terrain, I. Council member Frederickson, I. Council member Cileto, I. Council member at largeiser.

I. The resolution is hereby adopted. Resolution 29-2026 resolution accepting downtown revitalization initiative expand the city of Dunkerk Marina through new docks contract and engage design and engineering consultant. Any discussion council? Yes. Hey Vince, could you just um express is it the east or the west side or both? or this is just the city owned side on the east side of uh the marina. Okay. It's over by the hotel that that those are the ones over by a hotel at a hotel. Yes. You know.

Yes. Anything further? Council Vince, how much is it going to affect the usability of that area while it works? Is it going to affect anything there? I can't. the the usability of that area if all the work's being done. Is it going to affect anything there or is it just going to be everything worked around? Which area? Where we're talking about the um the docks. Yes. Is it going to affect anything there? No. Or is it not going to

No, what they're going to try to do is uh in addition to the docks that are that are there that are 40 years old, um they're going to there's going to be a plan for a new set of docks. uh the engineering and design for it, looking for the best type of system. Um that will uh get us the most number of slips and with the least amount of uh seasonal work that has to be done with uh pulling out docks and installing them and so forth to create more dock spaces which um will create more economic impact with more boers there in the marina. So they're improving the docks that are currently there and then putting in new docks. Yes. Yes. New slips.

So, yes. Anything further, council. Okay. Seeing no further discussion, clerk, please call the role. Council member Lgoak. I. Council member Terrain. Hi. Council member Frederickson. Hi. Council member Caliletto. Hi. Council member at largeiser. I. The resolution is hereby adopted. Resolution 30-2026. Resolution to refer to the planning board the discontinuence or abandonment of Main Street from the south right ofway lane of Marsden Street to the north property line of the property of 820 Main Street. Any discussion? Council. Okay. Seeing none, clerk, please call the role. Council member Tur or Council Member Lgo.

I. Council member Terrain. Hi. Council member Frederickson. Hi. Council member CileTo. Hi. Council member Largeweiser. I the resolution is hereby adopted. Resolution 31-20226 resolution to accept grants from the New York State DEEC and the National Grid for EV charging stations and approve agreements for installation. Any discussion? Council. Okay. Seeing none, clerk, please call the role. Council member Liscoak. I. Council member Terrain. Hi. Council member Frederickson. Hi. Council member CivilTo, I. Council member at largeiser, I. The resolution is hereby adopted.

Resolution 32-2026, resolution accepting an environmental review steps and other required steps for opening and improving West 7th from Brigham Road to the easterly line of Press Holdings LLC. Any discussion? Council. Okay. Seeing none, clerk, please call the role. Council member Lasco. Hi. Council member Terrain. Hi, Council Member Frederickson. Hi, Council Member CileTo. I, Council Member at Large Wiser, I. The resolution is hereby adopted. Moving on to new business. We have before us a walk-in resolution. Clerk, please introduce the walk-in.

Walk-in resolution 33-2026. Resolution authorizing the extension of Park Avenue between Marsden and Newton Streets. Okay, we'll need a motion to accept the walking resolution on the agenda. Moved by Council Member. Is there a second? Second by council. Cler, please call the role. Council member I council member I council member I council member I council member I motion to the car. Is there any discussion on walking resolution number 3326? Okay seeing none. Council member.

Hi. Council member. Hi. Council member. Hi. Council member. Hi. Council member here. Is there any further new business this evening? Um I'd like they they left, but I I wanted to say that uh at the next planning board meeting, I think they're going to be talking about um the uh better storage project. So the public have an opportunity to come in and ask questions at that meeting. You mean GCI will be there? Yeah, GCI will be at that meeting.

Um, the question was asked when that meeting was going to be. It's going to be uh uh March 25th, 4:00. In that case

I council member I council member Hi