Common Council - Regular Meeting

as you explain it, but allow my words to speak for themselves. Sure. This is an ode to Glens Falls parking. Hometown USA where people live, dine, and play. Where parking is a plenty as long as you pay. How much, you might ask? Well, let me tell you, friend. Is being downtown how you make meat's end? Where parking on the street isn't any better. $30 parking ticket and we're expected to be like, whatever. Pay your parking tickets on time or it's double the fee and residents everywhere are wondering, why me? $70 a month just for living downtown and going to work. And Mayor, I apologize for this next comment. Maybe I should be a stripper, close my business and learn to twerk. What time is it? I'm sorry, I have to go move my car.

Okay, would anyone else like to address the council? Thank you, please come up.

My name is Madeline, I also live downtown. I've lived downtown for two years. I personally find issue with and I appreciate you addressing the issue of purchasing a permit but then that not guaranteeing you a spot. I met with you this afternoon and you went over explaining the proposal for the different types of passage which I think is a good idea. I wasn't aware of the prices of these passes until I went home and read the Chronicle and got the information there because I don't really know, I don't have social media, I don't know where to find some of this information most of the time. At this rate, between the quarterly passes sort of overlapping and me not being able to get to the clerk's office during operating hours to get the new pass, I have paid for the pass and then for several parking tickets because of the in between and the inability to purchase the annual pass. I hear what you're saying about having entities purchasing other spots, bulk spots, I would probably before you charge $70 a month for a resident, which currently it works out to about $15 a month, jumping to 70 I feel like is very unrealistic for anyone making minimum wage, people who work or live downtown. I think that that is a jarring jump and something that a lot of people couldn't afford and I think you may run into another issue where because people can't afford the permits, they will not purchase the permits and then you have more clogging of the public lot where everyone is able to park and it doesn't really solve the issue. I also think that if an entity is going to try to purchase bulk spaces, maybe certain pricing and increase in pricing is attributed to how many spaces you are purchasing for your business and not so much on the individual person trying to park at their residence or at their work. especially since if we're going to be doing different types of passes, whereas now, to my understanding, it's the one pass and you can only give out so many, that if you can now give out a variety of passes, you will be sort of getting the money from a few different kinds of passes for the same amount of space, in which case I don't, I understand what you're talking about, like market prices, it hasn't been updated, but from $15 to 70 is, I feel like super unsustainable for most people, especially under the current economic conditions. And I don't think that that's going to go very smoothly. I think a lot of people will not be able to afford it. And I think that the public parking will just continue to be overcrowded. And that's my piece.

Thank you. It just come forward when it's one at a time, yeah. Yeah.

Let me brief Mayor. First, I wanna, sorry. Thank you for the context at the beginning, because it offered information I didn't know, which is always good, right? That's why we're here. Nancy and I have had permits in the parking garage over at the mill, Clinton, I guess, for about five years now. And it's always struck me, because I know the other business that occupies a lot of those spaces, nights and weekends, they're not occupied. Events are going on, you can't find parking on the street, and those spaces are wide open. So I applaud the Common Council in the city for trying to work through that process. And I think the big struggle, be it on street parking, parking lot parking, passes, is gonna be enforcement, right? When I pulled this today and looked at it, you know, because obviously Nance and I would sign up for the nights and weekends, right? During the days, 8.01, we'd be out and 6.01, we'd hope to be back. But inevitably, you're going to run, we are going to run into an enforcement issue, right? It's 601. If that car is not gone, somebody is going to be calling, looking for somebody to be towed. I don't know what the city's plan is for that. If you're going to tow or then that's got the repercussions of people showing up here that were towed, who are not going to be happy. I get it. You know, they got ran over at a meeting at work or whatever. It made somebody sick. Somebody ended up in the hospital. That spot's not open. There's always edges to this, right? That you're just not going to be able to deal with. Again, I applaud the city for trying to work through this. For 15 years since Nancy and I have had Fountain Square operators, I've told people we have not had a parking problem. Unfortunately, and I've said this to past administrations, it's not a statement about yours, we've given away our parking asset. We all love the new buildings that are being built on South Street, but we've got a couple thousand apartments that have been constructed everywhere downtown. First of all, we gave them tax breaks, we've given pilots and things away, but we have not required any of them to provide parking. And hopefully that's part of the agenda, too, is changing the zoning, having the impact fees and the seeker to back it up to address this. Because I think, well, again, I understand the permit process. I think this is going to cause some unintended consequences. Even selling the lot completely full somebody's gotta enforce it, right? A parking officer's gotta be out there towing somebody who's a patron to somebody's store or restaurant. You know, I think that's, I understand the pros and the cons to only filling the 90%, because you're still gonna have a percentage of people that have the permits that aren't there. They're on vacation, they're gone, whatever it may be. those spots should be used during the day, right? So we're still going to see a handful of spots in these lots that are vacant. And we're going to say, we should be using these. I don't have an answer. I don't know if there is a good one, but I think that I envision significant enforcement issues, particularly in the garages with the set timeframes, somebody is going to be called looking for somebody to be towed.

My name is Linda Plant. I live on Catherine Street in Glens Falls, of course, First Ward. And I am here to hopefully start the discussion. I hope we have people that are in the audience to vote, or if not vote, but who are against this Eastfield destruction of the woods. that are next to East Field that run along Platt Street, of course, and there's roughly 35 homes whose backyards abut that. If you count all the houses on Platt Street and the six or seven on Catherine Street, my house is one of them, of course. I was actually here 19 years ago, in November,

to fight our ex-Mayor Reagan, who wanted to develop houses back there.

This is the article from the Post Star, Wednesday, October 31st, 2007. Okay, 19 years ago, us neighbors found out about this. It was kept hush-hush. I happened to hear somebody walking in the woods in the back of my house one day, and I went back and through the thicket is this gentleman. with another gentleman who was a developer, and that's how we found out about it. So us neighbors fought this complex and we won. Issues were the same 19 years ago, but now with more concern on air pollution and the rising heat temps, we need these trees. It's a very complicated little patch of foliage and trees back there. And anybody who is from this area should look into it. We don't need outsiders coming in here telling us what we need. I will go on with the next thing here. We got our letters and there were about 12 of us, now jumping to this past month, after we found out about this, we went to the planning board meeting on July 1st. We hurried up and got as many people as we could. There were about 12 of us that showed up on July 1st. Five or six of us got up to speak. Then we all attended, it's doubling, this movement is doubling. July 20th we went to the zoning board, now I'm talking this year, and there were about 25 of us that showed up. We put this out on Facebook. We needed the public to know this because it's being hid. There was nothing in our local post star a week and a half after this happened, and I'm not faulting the post star. But I called and spoke to the editor of the Post Star on July 9th, nine days after we went to the meeting, and I asked her if someone could please come and get this out to the public and put it in the paper. So the Post Star, Saturday, July 11th, front page, single family home proposal receives backlash. and the photographer came and took a picture of the Paper Street between 57 and 63 Platte Street, and we were very, very thankful for this. So since July 11th, roughly a week and a half ago, it's been on Facebook, and we've had over 2,000 responses, and I can prove it, of thumbs up, meaning they don't want it, comments, et cetera. This has to stop.

I don't want to cut you off, but I did say there was a three-minute time limit. Yes, thank you. I think, as you rightly pointed out, you understand that this is actually not before the Common Council, but before the planning board.

We understand that.

I just want to make sure.

We wanted to address you, Mayor.

No, that's fine. Thank you.

Okay, and we want the public to know about this because it's not getting out there.

Okay. Okay.

Thank you. Thank you. And may I ask one more thing? And if I can't do it, not for me. There was a person that commented on this who was against it. I don't know them, but they asked me to read their post tonight because they are bedridden and they can't get out. It would be a separate person. I have the permission from them, and I would read it word for word. without any comment.

Okay, sure.

Thank you. This post was put on Facebook by a certain person. I'm not going to say their name. I don't know them. I never met them. I have it right here. Do I need to say it?

Yeah, because when you make comments, you have to state your name.

Then I will do that. This was posted by J.M. Riley.

Were you asked for an address, too?

I don't have an address.

And this isn't something that's in front of the council?

Pardon me?

Councilman Lapham's saying.

I can't hear what he said, I'm sorry.

He just said this is not in front of the council, but I said it was okay for you to read it.

This is another person that can't come here.

Yeah, that's fine, go ahead.

I texted him, whoever, I don't know the person, I don't know. And I explained to them that they could come and speak. And this is the final text that they, I asked if I could take their place because I was so taken aback by what they had to say. They said, okay, I am disabled to the point of bedridden, so won't be there, but I thank you for working on our behalf. So here it is exactly as written, and it's in here too. I would vote no, but I am not physically able to attend meetings am only a renter, but with all the houses all ready for sale in this area and all the unpleasant odors and businesses using volatile chemicals and such, I would think it was a big draw, I would think it was a big draw from new buyers, I wouldn't think, I'm sorry, I wouldn't think it was a big draw for new buyers. It seems unnecessary to remove the only barriers and points of beauty in this East End. There are tons of places to site new homes and these won't be that affordable with the prices of durables now. Plus, the trees give shade and lower temps in the area, help with wind shear, and are irreplaceable as a wildlife refuge. I have no desire to live in a place like Albany, so please don't turn this area into a total landscape where only the occasional tree or two is seen, and driveways and sidewalks and streets are the only view. Emoji on the end, sad and crying. Thank you.

Hi there. My name's Maddie Blair. I'm at 143 Sherman. I'm here to talk about the parking. I just wanted to say that it just feels like this parking situation, I understand where you're coming from. It seems like you've kind of already may have oversold the lot in some cases, even though we're 90%, since you said the people who currently have the permits can't find parking, et cetera.

I just want to clarify just because, just to make sure we have the, that I was clear before. The clerk's office only sells to 90% capacity, which means that the public can park there. So they don't oversell it, but because the public can park there, they sometimes can't find a parking spot. That's what I meant.

So I understand that. It seems like what you're saying would be reasonable, right? However, I think the problem is is that even in like the You guys put out the strategic plan where you had external assessor come in, in that report, it said parking, parking, parking, parking, right? Our number one thing, our number one problem is parking. And I think when you take away coming in as like an external person, the only lots you see, like as a visitor, if you're coming to a business, most of the lots that you're presenting here to take away the public parking, is those lots. Those are the lots that the visitors see. I just feel like, I feel like you shouldn't be making a decision on this until you have a larger plan in place for all of those public people to park. So like you shouldn't be taking away the public parking if you don't have additional public parking for those spaces that you know are already filled. So that's, really just what I came here to say. I just feel like we need to have a larger plan in place and we need to be drastically expanding our parking, which may be a planning board thing. I'm not really sure this is my first one of these things, but I just feel like no decision should be made until a space is opened up for those lots. Thanks. Thanks.

Hello, Mayor, Councilman, and thank you for being here. Melanie, my name is Melanie Weber. I live at 16 Horicon in Glens Falls, and I am a business owner in downtown Glens Falls. I rent at 18 Exchange Street. I own Grow, the children's store. I obviously am affected a little bit in my businesses by this Exchange Street lot specifically. A few concerns that I have, I completely understand that this is a problem that needs to be solved. I think this might this plan might be rushing it a little bit. And I reached out to the bid today and they confirmed that the bid had not been approached about this topic in recent times, which does feel like an appropriate first action before proposing something like this. For anyone who doesn't know, the bid is our downtown business district. So that would have been a great voice to get the opinion of, considering they represent all of the businesses in downtown Glens Falls. Maybe there was a survey put out to the community that residents that live downtown, I'm not sure, I can't speak to that, but I feel like maybe there wasn't. So a little bit more opinion on this before placing a plan. But as a business owner who relies on customers coming and driving to their business every single day, this will, potentially close grow. We have customers already who can't find spots because our lot is full of permits, and we have one of them. And I actually ask our staff on busy times to not use our permit and go park somewhere else and walk a couple blocks, because that's the appropriate thing to do when we're leaving parking spots open for our customers. I have specifically, I have customers who have children. They cannot park. My 10 kids who come to music class every day cannot park. I don't know where they're going to park if they're not allowed to park in the parking lot in front of our store. There's about five spaces, you know, depending on how people park on the street there in front of Grow on Exchange Street. But those are also often taken, which is great by other people. But It is a problem and I think that pushing away the customers who are supporting our small businesses is not the solution. I think residents and employees, business owners would all be, I will only speak on behalf of myself, I would be willing to park a few blocks away if we could find an affordable pass permit situation for a lot where I could walk safely two blocks, three blocks away from downtown Glens Falls like other communities that I've done a little bit of research on have. My suggestion is to look at those other communities, like Placid is one of them that has dealt with this recently, and they have a really nice system of a parking pass for employees specifically, and there's employee specific parking spots. If you don't get it, you don't get it. You know, there's only so many, but then they have another extended lot. They offer bus passes for employees who work downtown. There's a lot of other solutions. I think we need a solution, but making it so that customers can't park in front of our stores is not the answer. So thank you for your time. I appreciate you all working on this complicated issue.

Hi, Thomas Frederick, Sagamore Street, Glens Falls. I'm probably not going to make too many friends here today. I would like to say to the council that I think you're on the right track. I've lived in larger cities. I've watched progression. It's not easy. You mentioned the fees not even being to scale. It's not easy for citizens to, it's easy to grip fear.

It really is.

As a guy on Glen Street holds that sign, says it's going to be okay. Not all customers drive cars. I have been a citizen of Glens Falls my entire life. I have moved in and out for various career reasons and continually to maintain Glens Falls as my base. We pride ourselves in being a city that is walkable, that has bike trails. I am living proof that that happens. I am a career cook at the Pines in Glens Falls. I live in Sagamore Street. I enjoy a very nice ride from Sagamore Street to the Pines every day to my job. I think if people really just stop and pause for a moment, things will be okay. That's all. Thank you. Thank you.

Hello, I'm Michelle Hodgkins and I live on Platte Street and I want you to know I am against the 12 single family homes trying to be built at Eastfield for numerous reasons and believe it or not, one is deer that I see in my yard and they're being pushed out of this area. It's affecting a lot of my neighbor's backyards And the other thing is it's supposedly affordable housing at 350,000 to $380,000. In my mind, that is not affordable. And there's numerous places on Platte Street right now for sale all under $299,000. So I'd like you to think about that. Thank you.

Is there anyone else who wishes to address the council?

Hi.

Hello. Hi. My name is Diana Klupfer, and I own Kidja Vibe at 16 Exchange Street in Glens Falls. I live at 63 Harrison Avenue. This is regarding the parking. As a local small business owner who has invested money and time into adding value to downtown Glens Falls, I want to state that it would be a direct and immediate negative impact on local businesses to implement the privatization of three public parking lots in the downtown area. The Exchange Street lot specifically becoming fully permit That is the public parking lot area directly in front of my business along with my business neighbors who are already tucked away on a side street that isn't overly promoted. Making the Exchange Street lot permit only would immediately impact our foot traffic. It's already an uphill battle getting people to find us. But when you take away public parking where we get eyes on our shops and foot traffic walking by every day, you take away potential business and you make having a small business in downtown a climate that is not set up for success. You're asking people to believe in what is being built and that their investments in bringing unique experiences to downtown are worth it, but it doesn't feel that way when big factors that impact business survival are not given any real in-depth thought. No legitimate steps are being made to solve an issue that has been on the forefront of everyone's minds for years. Adding more apartments and more shops to downtown means more people commuting here and more people needing to park their cars. The parking is already limited with one major lot being taken down and built upon with a new building. I don't know where we thought all the cars were gonna just magically go. We are adding flair to downtown and encouraging people to come here and spend their time and their money, yet we don't have any clear structured parking for them to navigate. We have one shot at a first impression and when the reputation becomes Glens Falls doesn't have any parking, then people opt to go elsewhere and downtown never actually grows. My suggestion would be, if possible, a dedicated commuter lot for those that work downtown and finding somewhere to build a dedicated public parking lot for anyone visiting. There should be metered spots on the main streets but the parking lot should remain free with time limits implemented for certain times of the day. And for those that live and work in Glens Falls, we should have city resident stickers for our cars so we do not have to pay to park when we are coming here to work and enjoy the place we all pay our fair share to live in. Sorry if the microphone was making weird noises, but that's it.

Thank you. Thank you. Anyone else? Yes, come on up.

My name is Audrey Sharon. I live at 12 Catherine Street. I live in a neighborhood that I loved when I first moved there 22 years ago. I'm from Tupper Lake, New York. And within the city limits, it was a great spot. Because of the park next door and the wooded area behind, I was immediately attracted to that area. 22 years later, we're in a situation that is not good. We have industry that has been allowed to grow, toxins that are in our neighborhood, in the air, in the soil, in the ground. I just think that before we move forward with any more building and destruction of land. We have a pretty great little ecosystem back there that is absorbing 10 times the amount of carbon dioxide that is in our air. so many species of wildlife, so many species of birds. It's just, it's sad to think that it would be taken away. That's all I have to say. Thank you.

Good evening, everyone. I am speaking on the behalf of a local business owner and also myself. My name is Sam Gaughan. I live on South Street, and I'm also employed for a business in downtown Glens Falls. I'll be speaking on behalf of my father, who is the president and CEO of Associates of Glens Falls Insurance. who cannot be here tonight. He wrote, I reviewed the notice of the city's latest parking proposal on the Chronicles website today. I urge the city to not pass such a proposal as I believe it is unnecessary given the ample parking the city has. As Paul Bercockley and I mentioned at June's council meeting, there is not a lack of parking in downtown where moving to a paid model is not necessary. Tash, you will find a photo from 1.10 p.m. today which I can pass around, showing over 50 spots of the 150 spots where you've installed sensors to guide and monitor parking in the downtown core. As you can see in the attached folder, which I didn't print out, my apologies, this abundance of parking is a daily fact. I respectfully request the council table this motion and have discussions with downtown business, property and residents, businesses, property owners and residents that will be affected by this decision. Furthermore, I encourage each of you to ask yourself why this is a solution when communities to our south, Saratoga, that are larger, have more residents, businesses, and workers can provide free non-time parking in city lots and garages. I would argue the city of Glens Falls has more parking spaces and lots than Saratoga on a per capita basis. by comparing number of businesses, residential spaces, et cetera. I would welcome the opportunity to work with the city to create a more comprehensive solution than what has been done already and is being discussed tonight. And on a personal measure, I'm a born and raised product of the city and though I might have lived elsewhere, I recently brought my wife back to Glens Falls to give our family every benefit of hometown USA. My wife and I recently moved from an apartment in Saratoga to one on South Street as we looked to buy a house. We represent the roughly 47% of Americans who do not own homes. While we are very lucky and very blessed to live in Bonaccio's building on South Street that has access to the Monument Square parking garage, We, alongside the neighbors in our building, find ourselves relying on parking on the street or the Elm Street lot instead. Tasks such as bringing in six bags of groceries, running out to make a doctor's appointment, or rushing to help our loved ones in the event of emergency are far more feasible when parking is closer to where we live. Since May, when the GFPD more heavily began enforcing the city's mandates, most residents in our building have been hit by a parking violation one time or another, despite our best efforts to move our vehicles. It's not always feasible and it's not even always possible for us to move our cars. Should my neighbor have to leave her toddlers home alone for 10 minutes just to avoid a ticket? What about the 27% of people, including my wife, who work from home and cannot afford to leave a meeting or end a phone call? When my wife got ticketed our first week in town, she was dealing with an emergency involving an autistic child, which she provides telehealth counseling services for. In no way would it have been responsible for her to leave her session to move a car. With 70 more apartments set to open across the street from me, even though more of your constituents will soon face this dilemma, they will soon face the dilemma of having to choose between being responsible for their families and careers or paying the city more of their hard earned money. I bring this up even though this motion does not concern Elm Street, but in the future, such motions may. Tonight, you have heard from local business owners who are already feeling the pain of parking enforcement in the city for them and their employees. and U6 are the ones making that decision. You will likely have heard of how Saratoga, a town with a much more bustling tourist industry, is able to solve this problem with common sense. I ask, did any of you discuss this proposal with your counterparts in Saratoga? What about getting the thoughts of the business owners here tonight before calling for this vote? As a resident of downtown, I was not asked if I wanted this solution, but I hope that my statements thus far have shown you that I am emphatically against this measure. Parking passes and requiring folks to move their vehicles every three hours are not solutions. Whatever revenue the city can generate from $30 parking tickets or $40 parking passes is worth nothing if people do not want to live or work here. The people of the city have placed their trust in you to find solutions and improve our lives, and the precedent set by voting and the affirmative on this measure would violate that. The reason this measure is a quick and convenient solution for the city, not for your constituents. I urge you, please, work with residents and business owners here today and in the future to pursue different solutions. Thank you.

Thank you. Is there anyone else? Okay.

Hi. Good evening. My name is Tracy Sullivan. I'm the managing director of Adirondack Theater Festival and a resident of 14 Hudson in the downtown. Adirondack Theatre Festival is a 32-year cultural arts institution in the downtown, one of the city's longest. I'm here this evening to ask that the Council carefully consider the impact the proposed parking changes could have on accessibility to downtown and on the organizations and businesses that depend on it. This summer alone, Adirondack Theatre Festival welcomed 5,500 patrons and growing to the downtown to welcome them to the Charles R. Wood Theater. Those visitors don't just attend a performance. They dine in our restaurants, shop in our stores, stay in our hotels, and contribute to our local economy. The three public parking lots under consideration are among the most important parking resources for theater patrons. Most importantly, the Ridge Street lot serves as the accessible parking lot for the Charles R. Wood Theater. It provides the closest accessible parking and direct access to the theater through its rear accessible entrance. For many of our patrons, including older adults and individuals with mobility challenges, this is the safest and most practical way to attend a performance. Parking is one of the first questions our patrons ask when purchasing tickets. We welcome visitors from throughout the capital region, the North Country, Vermont, Massachusetts, and beyond. Convenient, accessible parking plays an important role in their decision to visit downtown. I support thoughtful investments that make Glenswell stronger, safer, and more vibrant. I simply ask that accessibility remain at the forefront of this discussion. Once public parking is lost, it's difficult to replace, and the effects extend beyond the theater to the many downtown businesses and organizations who also rely on those visitors. Thank you for your time.

Thank you.

Good evening.

Viggy Rayburg, and I rent the two apartments above Mikado. The city required me to get a permit for short-term rental. Part of that process was I had to provide parking. I basically have a question. You know, it took me over a year to get parking. And so I have two spots, one for each apartment in the parking garage. And is there a plan to contact the people who have permits to make sure, you know, do you really need them? You know, because that would go against what I've told the city that I'm providing for that permit. Yes. Yes.

The clerk's office plans to send letters to everybody who currently has permits.

All right, thank you very much. And just as a side note, I understand that you've looked into the pricing and it's just a bit of a shocker. It's quite a bit. Works out to be over $3,000 a year for me to do that. Thank you. Thank you.

Hi, Mayor. Hi, Council.

Oh, that feels loud. Thank you for your time. My name is Gabby Wood. I live at 23 Main Street, South Glens Falls. I have been a community service provider for the Glens Falls area with a nonprofit for a very long time. I am speaking to oppose the parking changes, of course. And I want to echo the sentiments of a lot of the folks who spoke very eloquently before me. But namely, I want to focus on the accessibility aspect of it. There are just a lot of concerns for what comes next after that. And as the woman who spoke prior to me pointed out, it works out for her to be over $3,000 a year. It's about a 470% increase for one of the lots that I worked out. I'm bad at math, though. So it feels cost prohibitive and it just doesn't feel very hometown USA-y to me. So I do hope that you will reconsider. But thank you for your time. Thank you.

Is there anyone else?

Hello, I'm Anne McCarthy. I live at 9 Water Street, which is just outside the city center. As someone who's a new retiree and can finally experience everything that Glens Falls has, because I've always worked farther away, I can understand the people who live here. I thought the idea of a residential pass where you can just park, leave your car, you're a resident, makes much more sense. The major parking lots that you're talking about are the ones that a lot of us who go to the library for programs or just to drop off a DVD because the on-street parking is packed. We park there. If we're going to the Woods Theater, we park there. If we're going to a hockey rink, we park there. Metering the street, I can see as I turn to Lake George where I don't go to Lake George anymore because I'm not gonna pay to go there just to walk at the beach. Meters are not under consideration. I just wanna make sure my opinion was clear in case anyone brought that up later. I don't want us turning into a Lake George where I'm not gonna go to the lake and get on one of the boats or do the shops because I have to pay for parking. Or there is no place to park. I'm just going to library drop off a DVD. You can't just drop it in the drop box. So pick up a hold. I have to try to circle around for parking. So I think parking is the biggest issue. I know when they built the farmer's market, they took a whole bunch of parking away. They even extended the sidewalk into the traffic on South Street. If you're turning right on South Street, it's a one car lane. And if that right arrow hits, you can't go anywhere if you're the second car because you're behind everybody in the red light. So that it was poor planning and we need to plan for more parking period that everyone can enjoy. No matter we have the bite on taste the bite or whatever it is on Wednesdays, I can see less people coming because of the parking issues. Thank you.

Thank you.

My name's Annette Bedore. I live at 3409th Street, Glens Falls. I'm sorry. Annette Bedore, Glens Falls, 3409th Street, Glens Falls, New York. I didn't write anything. I'm just winging it because I just saw. I lived all my life. I noticed that since the ad has been built, the parking is getting really bad around here. I mean, I have to say, and my father, I have to say, years ago was a councilman, and this is a parking issue when they had the Civic Center, and nothing still hasn't changed. There's a problem with the parking in Civic Center. Now we have a parking with the ad, and now you want to charge people to park, and I'll tell you, I will end up, if I have to go park and charge, I will end up probably going to Saratoga to do my shopping and go to the go other places just because I think it's an, plus the expense that you want people to pay for resident. I was gonna think of renting a place around here but I won't in the downtown because it's very expensive. I don't think I could afford if I retired to rent an apartment down here.

Hi, my name is Colin. I live downtown and I'm trying to like think of a compromise between the residents downtown and the small business owners. I do think it is important to have public parking. I do think that parking needs to be expanded and the revisiting a plan for a parking garage could be an idea just because there seems to be a lack of parking overall. Another idea is in the meantime, perhaps sectioning, it seems like the Exchange Street lot, it is small and there's not a lot of parking spots. So sectioning part of Exchange Street to be permit only and some of it to be parking and then sectioning part of Elm Street to be permit only and then the rest public parking could be another idea.

Thank you.

Hi, I'm Linda. I actually am a new business owner for Tea Salon is on South Street. I live in South Glens Falls. So I do thank you for moving the street parking to three hours because that has been a significant help. People coming in, you know, they're there for long services. I guess my concern is, yes, the price is a little big of a jump for people to have to buy permits. I guess my concern would be, is there a certain amount like that we could go to businesses to find out how many employees they have to maybe yes, you buy these amount of permits, but again, where someone was saying the overlapping in time. How can we control that we're going to be out at 6 o'clock to not be able to have our vehicles towed? So I guess maybe trying to figure something out a little bit more where hours of operation are would be helpful. I know you're saying that there's one where you can buy it for 24 hours, but I guess if we're buying those 24-hour ones, it's a lot for a business owner to have to dish those all out for employees. And also for, I guess, if they're taking away more permits that there might not be as much public parking, I guess like for our customers coming in, like could we buy a permit for the 24 hours for them to be able to use? Like could there be some sort of package deal, I guess? Something like that might be a little bit more helpful for business owners as well instead of it just being, like someone said, three grand a month for two passes or a year for, you know, so just kind of budget friendly. I think just coming into the city, it was something that wasn't expected, I guess, for employees as well because of the public parks parking. So I guess if you're taking that away, maybe just consider like business owners being able to afford it for their employees to be able to park as well. I think that's just something to kind of think about. Thank you. Anyone else?

Sorry.

Sure. Christina Richards, business owner, downtown Glens Falls. I own pharmacy. I just have actually some questions. I know at one time there was an exploration of putting a parking garage in the Warren Street lot. That lot is kind of in shambles. It's not in great shape to begin with. Is that something that is still being explored? Has that been kind of pushed off to the side? Do we have any information pertaining to that?

I was aware of a proposal from the prior administration to put a parking lot in the Elm Street lot, which we had significant opposition from all of the surrounding businesses for. I wasn't aware of a Warren Street proposal. Okay.

I'm just curious, like that parking lot is not in great shape and could use some work to begin with, and maybe that's an exploration that we could visit for the business owners. And I do go to Saratoga quite a bit, and their on-street parking is free, but their lots are now permitted. My daughter takes guitar lessons at Cafe Lena. I pay every time I park to be sure that there's a spot. I know you say there's no metered parking, but similar to Saratoga and Burlington, they have those numbered spots where you have to go to the meter, get a tag, and put it in the window. We have the app in place. We have the sensors. Have we explored that option in addition? So if I do only need to park for four hours, I can pay for that. Or my chefs work 10 hours a day. So we have to buy a 24-hour permit just for two of us is $3,400 a year. In the off-season, I employ 25 people. In the summer, I employ 35. we can all do the math. It just doesn't, it doesn't work in that aspect. So I understand that there definitely is a need for the solution. I don't have a complete solution, just some suggestions to possibly look into, but we could just maybe explore those. That'd be great.

Thank you. Anyone else?

Hello, my name is Kennedy Colty. I live on Sagamore Street in Glens Falls, and I also own Black Anvil Body Art. We're a tattoo shop. When we had moved into downtown, I was like, we very much considered it a really great thing because we want to support local businesses. We just celebrated our five-year anniversary downtown too, which I know is a huge accomplishment for a lot of small businesses. But yeah, we mostly moved downtown because we wanted to support other local shops. As a tattoo shop, I know we get some reputations about, like in the past, not being the most friendly of places. But if anyone knows tattoos, it was like, you need to have money to get tattoos. We have a lot of clients that travel from different states, especially even just like far parts of New York that have never been to Glens Falls and have a wonderful time here. Along with getting tattoos or a shop, they also spend a lot of money at local hotels, Airbnbs, retail stores, restaurants. We encourage them to go to local events and everything. And we heavily rely on the Warren Street parking lot. We do pay for passes for our employees. And I totally understand the problem with the parking passes also having a wait list. We have two, we're still on a wait list for a third one. So I totally understand that's a problem, but especially if the parking passes are going to be going up in price, that's something we just simply can't afford. And I would be willing to give up our employee parking passes in order to make more room for our clients, because we want them to keep supporting downtown. We want to remain in this downtown spot, but if we do, like if we do let these parking lots only be for employees, it's really gonna limit our clients to have somewhere to park, especially the ones that come from out of state and aren't familiar with the area. It's been tricky, let alone, I know the parking on the streets was allotted to up to three hours, which is wonderful. All the signs still say two hours only, and they also don't say that they're only from Monday through Friday. It just says it's very vague on the signs. Updated signage would be wonderful as well, but especially if we could find a solution to the parking problems before we limit them to employee-only lots, I would really appreciate it just so we can keep being in downtown and supporting other local businesses before we relocate elsewhere like I'm sure many other downtown businesses are looking into if this were to be proposed. So just food for thought. Yeah, any solutions would be wonderful. Same thing, we would love to park farther away and commute in, but we really love this area and we've, come to really enjoy it here. And unfortunately, I don't think we would have opened our business downtown if we had known about these future problems. I used to live downtown as well. I lived downtown for four years before we opened our business when we had done that. So it's been eight years of living downtown. I sometimes had issues in the exchange lot and then same thing in the police lot on Ridge Street with parking, but I always relied on the Warren Street lot that was always open. Still to this day, we always find open spots. Our clients never have issues. So yeah, to limit them, it's just tough on us, especially other, like our local business that are neighbors to us with finding a solution for where our clients can park in the future. So thank you.

Thank you. Anyone else? Oh, okay. All right, seeing no further comment, I will close the public comment period and we will go to committee reports. So committee report, Councilwoman at-large Gooden.

The Planning and Development Committee, we met and actually our topic that we were speaking on mostly was parking. We were talking about the sensors. I don't know if you realize in Glens Falls, we have sensors along the downtown and around the area. So we had an update on the sensors and we were talking about our parking person. who does our ticketing and she does use those sensors and they do work now a lot better, right? So, I mean, so that was really the main part of our discussion was the parking, the sensors, we had an update. We want the data, which they will be giving back to us. And we're really just trying to find, like we all are, solutions for parking. So we're really diligently working on parking. So we really appreciate your input because that's really what we're looking for because we are diligently working on it. So that was mostly all of our meeting that we spent on was the parking issues. So thank you.

Thank you. Councilman Donahue.

Thank you, Mayor. Uh, the audit and finance committee met yesterday. We, um, we reviewed the warrant. We, we looked at out of a little over a hundred vouchers and invoices. We looked at 39 of them councilman, uh, Lapham and I, and we found them to be in good standing and every, we didn't have too many questions on, it was a pretty straightforward, uh, warrant this time around. So everything looked to be fine. And we plan to meet on August 10th.

Thank you. Committee report, Councilman Rice.

The policy committee was going to meet today, but it was canceled, so we did not meet. So our next scheduled meeting is August 11th. We are pretty close on a tree commission powers and duties policy, and the encroachment policy are both pretty close. Beyond that, we're working on the mandatory policies, which I gave timelines to the department heads of around 30 to 45 days. expecting responses from them, able to deliberate on them in the next few months.

Thank you. Councilman Lapham.

The Technology Committee will be meeting next Thursday at 5 p.m. at City Hall.

Thank you. Councilman Palladino.

Our most recent quality of life met on July 20th and we had, because we had a little extra money from the county for OCTAX, we had some more applicants speak about applications, especially Nancy Turner of Glens Falls Collaborative just talking us through the Glens Falls brochure of why they need that money, OCTAX money for it. her Vietnam War Traveler Memorial Wall project or event that's going to be on October, August 20th to 24th. And then a woman representing the World Awareness Children's Museum sent us the, or gave us an update on their revamped application for helping to provide funds for marketing, as well as North Country Yards also talked about their application. And then the rest of the time we talked about updates on the park and map signage, which I guess is close in with the, or almost finished with the collaboration with Warren County's GIS. And then we also discussed a little about the lifeguard vacancies, trying to figure out a solutions. And our next meeting on August 17th, we'll have Tom Gerard figure out like how we can just gather more people to become lifeguards, which I did learn from the rec commission that there's five new applicants for lifeguards, which hopefully that'll helps keep, keep the momentum rising. So that way we don't have to close Eastfield. Um, and then also on August 17th, I've reached out some bike advocate groups to see if we can try and, um, work on a parody with Queensberry in terms of trying to regulate e-bikes because it does feel weird with the Warren County bike trail that Queensberry has a law for e-bikes, but Glens Falls doesn't to try and figure something out there. But our next meeting is August 17th at 5 p.m.

So just a quick update that, you know, the lifeguard shortage, it's not unique to us, but one of the things we're trying to do to address that is to form a junior lifeguard program to create a pipeline And when we lowered the age to 15 with supervision, we got five new applicants. So that's really good. And we're hoping that with them in the pipeline and expanding the junior guards program going forward, we'll be able to make some improvements. I also wanted you to know that an e-bike law is being drafted and will be before the Board of Public Safety at our next meeting.

When's the next meeting there?

The second Wednesday of the month at 4 p.m.

Nice. Okay.

I'll try to be there. Thank you.

All right. So now we will go to our consent agenda. Is there anything from the consent agenda that the council wishes to pull for discussion?

4.4, that feasibility study. That is on the regular agenda.

Oh, sorry. If there is none, is there a motion to... approve the consent agenda.

I'll make that motion. Second.

All in favor? Aye. Any opposed? Okay, that is approved. Now we will go to the regular agenda. Are there items that the council wishes to pull for discussion?

Clearly we should pull 14, what was it?

The parking, yep, uh-huh.

Yes.

and the feasibility study for the old Rite Aid.

Okay, and I would also like to pull the ice rink resolution for discussion as well. So the first, let's go to the items we're pulling for discussion. So I will start with the feasibility study. So, a resolution authorizing the city to enter into a professional services agreement with Finney Design Group for a feasibility study for a potential firehouse or public safety building. I'll invite our fire chief, Chief Bascue to come up. And I just, I think the council has been, we've been discussing this on an ongoing basis, but just for everybody's benefit, our fire department has two buildings. They're both in need of very significant repairs. Our police department is also in need of repairs and the Rite Aid property, meets the needs of centralized location, we think it's important that we at least consider this. And if this were to happen, while we would be using the Rite Aid property, we would be returning to other properties to the tax rolls. But I wanted to give Chief Baskew a chance to comment on this.

Yeah, on behalf of the fire department, we're both optimistic and enthusiastic that We're even entertaining this. It's been well overdue. Both stations are, as the mayor said, in desperate need of updating. Not only just in repairs and being outdated, just being energy efficient is... I wouldn't even be able to begin to put them on a scale of being energy efficient. I mean, we have snow coming in the station in the wintertime. There's a lot of wasted money, not to mention some health factors. We do live there. It is our home when we're working. So we're... Well, like you said, we're optimistic and enthusiastic that this early stage is even being investigated. And we certainly appreciate all the positive response that we've had. We haven't really heard any negative aspects to it yet. It's all been pretty positive, which is very encouraging on our end, so.

Does the Council have any questions for Chief Baskew regarding this or for me?

I guess one of the things that wanted me to pull it just, this is just a feasibility study to see if it could work with that, but a lot of the members of the community garden would love at least for it to be looked at to see if, while there could still be a fire department there, but also to keep at least part of that community garden intact.

Well, I know you wanna use up most of the space for it, but. I mean, it's possible. We've been working with the community garden people to move them all to other community garden spots in the city. And I think we've been doing that successfully, but we can see what the footprint would be needed to house a public safety building and all the parking. You can imagine that would be a significant fleet of vehicles that would need to fit there, but yeah. Okay, thank you. All right. Would anyone like to make a motion to approve resolution 4.4, authorizing the city to enter into a professional services agreement for feasibility study for a potential firehouse or public safety building?

I'll make that motion.

Second.

Do I need to do a roll call?

All in favor? Aye. Any opposed? Okay, that motion is approved. The next resolution that we pulled for discussion is a resolution for a facility use agreement with the Recreation Center Ice Rink with AYHA. We have some members of AYHA present. I'd like to invite whoever would like to come up, Nate Bremer, if you'd like to join us, I will say that this is the result of months and months of work on behalf of AYHA and the city to come up with a solution that will both remediate the environmental concerns while maintaining the building for recreational use for hockey and for other people in our community. And I'm very grateful for the partnership, but I wanted to give Nate an opportunity to address everybody.

Appreciate it. I promise I'll, we don't come here often, so we'll try to keep it under a minute per decade. So Mayor Palmer, members of the Common Council, city staff, thank you for giving me the opportunity to say a few words tonight. I'm Nathan Brimmer, vice president of Adirondack Youth Hockey Association. Our president, Royce Lawrence, unfortunately couldn't be here this evening, so I'm honored to be here representing him. Our board members who are here, Kathleen Givo, our secretary, Ed Bryan, our treasurer, The rest of our board are volunteers and hundreds of families who make up AYHA. Tonight is an important moment for our organization and I believe an important moment for hockey in the community. AYHA celebrated its 50th anniversary this past year. For nearly 40 of those years, we've been fortunate to call the Glens Falls Recreation Center our home. During that time, AYHA has grown into the largest youth sports organization within a 50 mile radius. But after 50 years, AYHA is more than simply a youth hockey program. It has become a cornerstone of youth sports in this region and an important part of the hockey identity of Greater Glens Falls. Generations of local kids have learned to skate at the recreation center. They played their first games there. Our high school programs have called it home. Parents have spent countless nights in those bleachers and coaches and volunteers have given thousands of hours to their time. I'm one of those kids. I grew up playing in this association and today I have the privilege of helping lead it. So when we talk about generations of families being impacted by AYHA and the Recreation Center, that isn't abstract to me. I've experienced it myself. Tonight also marks an important change in the relationship between AYHA and the city. Under our two previous agreements covering the past 20 years, the city staffed and operated the Recreation Center with city employees. Under this new agreement, at the request of the city, AYHA is stepping forward to assume responsibility, daily operation of the facility and operational costs that come with it. That is a significant new responsibility for our organization and we do not take it lightly. But when we were asked to step up, we were willing to do so because we understand how important this facility is, not to just AYHA, but to the entire community. We don't view this as simply AYHA operating hockey rink. We view it as an opportunity to be good stewards of an important community asset to build upon partnership with the city that has existed for decades. The recreation center may be our home, but it serves us much more than AYHA. It serves high school programs, public skaters, families, and others throughout the greater Glens Falls area. And for AYHA, our mission has always been more about, pardon me, has always been more than just wins and losses. We are fortunate to have incredibly dedicated group of volunteer coaches who believe deeply in long-term athlete development, helping young players develop their skills, confidence, character, and most importantly, a lifelong love of the game. We want the recreation center to remain a place where a child can walk through the doors for the first time, put on a pair of skates and begin that journey. One that may carry them through youth hockey into high school, perhaps Sunday, bring them back as a coach, a volunteer, a parent or a leader in this organization. I know that journey personally. We are also fortunate to live in a community where hockey exists at so many levels. Our relationship with the Adirondack Thunder is an important part of that. Our kids can learn to skate at the recreation center and then go downtown and watch professional hockey in their own community. At the same time, youth hockey helps develop the next generation of players, families, and fans who support the professional game. That relationship matters. Our mutual commitment to excellence to this community and to supporting one another is essential through the continued strength of hockey throughout this area. And that impact extends well beyond the ice. Hockey brings tournaments, visiting teams, families, and fans into this community. Those people stay in our hotels, eat in our restaurants, shop in our businesses, and contribute to our local economy. Youth hockey, professional hockey, our schools, our facilities, our business, and our city are all interconnected. Together they make hockey part of the identity of Greater Glens Falls. That is why we are so excited about what can come next at the recreation center. I want to thank Mayor Palmer for her commitment to working with us to pursue funding for capital improvements to the facility. Those investments can do so much more than preserve what we have today. They can allow us to expand programming, extend the usable season, create additional recreational opportunities, move forward much more year round use of the recreation center for the greater Glens Falls community. Through my work with USA Hockey across New York, I have had the opportunity to see youth programs and facilities throughout the country. These communities that are strongest are the ones that municipalities, youth organizations, schools, professional teams, businesses, volunteers, and families recognize that they are all a part of something larger. We have that here. I want to thank Mayor Palmer, the members of the Common Council, city staff, the Adirondack Thunder, our school programs, our community partners, and everyone on both sides who worked to bring this to this point. And I want to thank generations of AYHA volunteers, coaches, families, and board members who work, built the organization we have today. 50 years ago, local volunteers came together with a simple goal, to give kids in the community the opportunity to play hockey. I was fortunate enough to be one of those kids. For nearly 40 years, the Glens Falls Civic Center, pardon me, the Glens Falls Recreation Center has given this organization a place to call home. Tonight, our role in caring for that home changes substantially. We are entering into a seven year agreement and accepting a much greater responsibility for the future of this facility. But our hope is that what begins tonight represents much more than the next seven years. We hope that this is the beginning of the next chapter for the recreation center for AYJ and for hockey throughout greater Glens Falls. A chapter that strengthens this facility, expands opportunities for our community, deepens the partnerships that we have made to make successful hockey here and lays the foundation for the next 50 years. AYHA has been here for 50 years, and we intend to be here for the next 50. And when our community has asked us to step forward, we are ready to do it. We're excited to build that future together, and on behalf of the Adirondack Youth Hockey Association, we thank you for your trust, your partnership, and your continued support.

Thank you. Does anyone have any questions that they'd like to ask about this for either AYHA or for me? Thank you guys for stepping up.

Thank you guys. Yeah, really. We didn't want to lose that. Hey, how you doing, buddy? Good to see you. Good to see you.

Okay, so thank you very much.

Thank you.

And again, you know, this is, This is such a true testament of what happens when the city reaches out to the community and asks for partnership. And I am very grateful to AYHA, as well as to our city engineer, Jeremy Schneibel, our recreation director, Tom Gerard, and our city attorney, Taylor Basford, for putting months and months into these negotiations to find a solution that works for both entities. With that, I would like to ask for a motion. Motion to accept.

I'll second that.

All in favor? Aye. Any opposed? Okay, we are approved. Thank you. Okay, the next item we have pulled for discussion is the parking. So this is, let me find it on the agenda, a resolution to adjust the Clinton Avenue parking garage and municipal lot parking permit fee schedule I just wanted to clarify a couple things and then we will have the council also discuss this. I just want to make it clear, I think some of you know this, But the city wanted very much to make parking more available, not less available. So one of the first things we did was eliminate the parking limit that existed in the entire city. So previously you could not leave your car on the street for more than two hours everywhere in the city except for specific places that were different for certain reasons without getting a ticket. This meant that if you were an employee of the city, even a student at our school district, you might get a ticket if you were parked on any street in the city. So we eliminated that and we also moved the two hour parking limit to three hours to allow for more time for people to do business downtown. So I just wanna make sure people understand that our goal was to create more places for people to leave their cars. As Councilman Palladino alluded, we also think it's really important that we communicate all of this to everyone. We've been working with Warren County GIS to create a map, an interactive map. And the reason it's not ready, I'll take responsibility. I keep sending it back saying it's not ready yet because I want it to be very clear and user friendly. And it just wasn't quite there, but we're almost there. We think we're on the last iteration. and it will be able to clearly mark where you can park for free all day long, never get a ticket, which is most of the city now. It will also show you where there is a three hour parking limit or in some cases there's certain things that have happened on specific streets for specific reasons. We will also indicate that there are two additional lots that the city has made available to the public on off business hours through partnerships with businesses in the community. So Hudson Headwaters has a lot on South Street that they don't need on nights and weekends, and there's an Aero Bank lot as well, and those will be in the parking map. So really we are trying very hard to create more free parking for people. It may be that we need to look closer at this, but again, the intention of doing this was to make it so that if you're a person who pays the city for a pass, you get a spot. we don't think it's fair that you're buying a parking permit and you're not necessarily getting a spot. So with that, oh, I think there were a couple of things. Emily, did you want to say anything about enforcement? I know that came up earlier.

So right now with Clinton Avenue, particularly because Clinton Avenue, the parking garage, because right now they are guaranteed a spot. The enforcement right now is, I know they give a little bit of a grace period to try and get a hold of the owner, but they are towed, and so realistically guaranteeing of a spot in the future with these lots, that would be the ramification, would be a tow. Obviously, I think with signage, heavily signage, that would be ideally avoided, people parking in there that shouldn't be.

And there was a cushion between the day and the night, like a half an hour or something like that in place too. And also there are some daytime spots available. So if someone had an emergency and called the city and made us aware, we could move someone to a daily spot. The daily spots are, is it 10? $10. So people can park, people can still, even in those lots, get a $10 spot. I'm just trying to make sure I addressed everything that came up. I might have forgotten something, but I'll open it up to the council for discussion.

I wasn't, I don't think it was discussed, Do you think maybe we could have numbered spots on all these and maybe not move it to permit only? So that way people know the certain spots are open and free and these spots are for permits and we could like give numbers like, hey, this car goes here or this car goes here. So that way it's not a guessing game? Is that possible?

So with Quinn Avenue right now, Quinn Avenue does have numbered spots. I do think that when it comes to the daily spots that we need to designate them. However, you're proposing something different than what's being proposed. We're not proposing free spaces. We're proposing if someone needs a spot for the day, they have an ability to purchase one. So that's a little different than what's being proposed.

So with this proposal, there would be daily spots? Is that what you're saying?

There would be an option to park if you just needed it for one day for the public.

Okay.

Certain areas. There would be no free option.

Can I ask how that would be administered?

Yeah.

So if we designated the spot, then our traffic aid would essentially go through and be able to much easily identify if someone had a permit that was within a daily spot.

How does one get a daily spot?

Online through an online portal. It's our new ticketing system, T2, that is being utilized, and they do have a permit option.

Like a QR code on a post somewhere?

Exactly. So everything will be online. There will be no physical passes anymore. There will be no need for people to come in and purchase a pass.

Unless you don't want to use the online, you still could come in.

They could contact the clerk's office, and we could...

Okay, and the next, do we have, what are the hours currently for our enforcement personnel?

So the lots, some of the lots are different. For example, Ridge Street, I believe is 830 to five.

Sorry, I meant the person that we have hired to be a parking attendant. Do we know what her hours are? Your traffic age? Amber's hours.

Amber's hours. I believe, I'm not sure if it varies. I know usually it's 830 to 430, but I'm not sure if it varies.

Do we have a parking attendant that is going to be available at 6 o'clock when turnover is supposed to be happening?

I think the idea was that if the spot is not available, they would alert the police department who would then come and enforce it.

Because it's a law.

I think the idea as well as with having that timeline, I think having the 6 o'clock marker or whatever time frame it is, that... the chances of you having a permit and going over maybe a five minutes, but that lot being full all the time, you know, I don't think it would happen as often as we say. I mean, 601, it may not be full.

The next natural question is you mentioned a half hour buffer. That's not in the resolution. Are we thinking about adding something like that?

We had talked about that.

Yeah, but what was discussed was changing the time frame. So it was that everyone initially what was proposed was 530, but that was felt to be too early. So then it was changed to six.

Okay. I didn't realize that had been changed after because it went to committee and was vetted.

So that would be something I would wonder about, whether it be a 15 minute or a half hour buffer would be a nice addition. I mean, I have a number of other questions, but I think that for me, impetus or the impulse here is that you know the public listen to your explanation and then we listen to their concerns and I think at this point it would be responsible or prudent for us to table this to review their concerns and see what can be incorporated some of them are matters of opinion that we may have differences in some of them may have actual merit and I'd like to Just a poll the board or just to give you my opinion. I would prefer to table this and let it be discussed Offline and in person to and maybe it will come back unchanged I don't know but I think that we should at least take a moment to go through these comments that I wrote down like 15 and you know a lot of them were brought up a few times like which I also flagged the magnitude of the increase in is a jump. I know things are more expensive now than they used to be, and we're all kind of used to this, but it still might be something to consider to step it up.

We did review that in the Finance Committee, and the proposed rate increase was in keeping with a number of different communities, and we certainly can justify the cost from the amount that we are indebted to for a parking garage that was built on Park Street, as well as the commitments that the city is making in terms of securing other parking.

Right, that's what I mean by deliberation. We can talk about that or strike that. I know we did get vetted through committee. Let me just look at this real quick, the staffing. Was the bid consulted?

I don't know if, did the committee reach, I know there were some business owners that came to the, we had like a- We had two, we had two meetings about it, yes. That came to the committee and talked to you. I don't know if anybody reached out directly to the- Not directly to me, but they just came.

Yeah.

I'm a member of the bid board, and we did have an email communication about this today just to confirm that no one had had any conversation separately.

Nope.

Right. Thank you. And the other thing was the fiber sensors that we talked about. I know this is a politically sensitive topic right now, but fiber also has cameras that they can look at license plates to make sure that the people that are supposed to be in that lot are in that lot. So that's something that we could throw out there. We had a meeting with fiber at the Planning and Development Committee. Do you remember how much that cost? And he said it was going to be less than putting sensors in the ground, but was it going to be a lot? It was significant. Okay.

It was about, you know, like, if you want to, like, charge more, then that would be a good vehicle to...

Right, as opposed to hiring another parking attendant if necessary. That's your idea, I guess. Okay. All right. So that's kind of where I'm at.

I just, I don't know if... Can you just clarify the camera comment one more time?

The company fiber that put the sensors in the ground that look like little hockey pucks,

They also have a pro, a pro... We also have cameras that can identify license plates currently, which I said in that meeting as well.

Well, the system that we transitioned to, that T2 system Emily was talking about, makes it so the permits are not physical permits. They're attached to the license plate. So all the parking attendant has to do is scan the license plate to know if they have a permit. So it should make it much quicker and easier to determine that, but... Perhaps that could also aid in it. Do you have any further comments?

I think that covers me.

Okay. Anyone else have any further comments?

Yeah, I'd just like to kind of go over, you know, what we did in this process. Sure. So we in the previous administration had been tasked to look at a number of different things with parking. So we did at that time discuss with businesses and with a number of people. Mary Gooden was the chair of that with special projects. So we had that. We also had a couple of different parking surveys which identified that In Glens Falls, there isn't really much of a parking problem other than the issue in the core downtown area of the merit of turning over parking spaces, which is what we're left with with this. We've gone through these things. As the mayor had said, we increased the amount of time because businesses had said that there was a problem with the two hours, and the three hours would solve that problem for them. We looked at the different areas that was a recommendation in both studies to not enforce the parking restriction in the outlying areas, which is every single ward. So what we're talking about is that employees can park and not have to move their vehicle if they walk a couple of blocks away from the downtown area so that's what we're trying to to do we're not doing piecemeal things here we've already made the uh two hour parking into three hour parkings we've already created more more space for people to park outside of the court downtown area and this should relieve more of the parking spaces for off park off street parking in the downtown area and um one of the other things that we're looking to do in the um in the uh uh well in the planning and development committee is to look at on-street overnight parking which we looked at last year which would allow residents in the downtown area to park their car a couple of blocks away overnight without having to secure a parking pass.

Does anyone else have any further discussion? Okay, so I will entertain a motion. I've heard a couple... Councilman Rice, you wanted to table it. Would you like to?

I would like to make a motion to table it, at least until next meeting. So it gives us a chance to review the comments, and if you choose to talk to the bid, and then we'll take it up again.

I would agree with that. I'd second that.

Okay. All in favor, or should I do a roll? Does anyone request a roll call vote? No.

I think it's wise.

No. Well, okay.

The table.

I want a table.

Yes.

Yes.

Yes. Okay. So we appreciate everyone who came. We think input is important and we will probably move this. So the fees were considered in audit and finance, but we can move the policy discussion to policy committee and hopefully create a process for public input unless... We have it, in my opinion.

We have the public input.

We do have public input, but some of the public input was that they wanted to give us more input. So I would encourage you, if you do consider in committee, just reach out to the bid or whoever else.

Do we think this is a policy committee issue or is this a planning and development committee issue?

Or do you want to move it to quality of life? I mean... Would you like to take it? Sure. Okay. So we'll move it to the Quality of Life Committee. Councilman Palladino chairs that. We will ask him to create a process to get some input and look at some of the issues that came up. It's important to note that none of these changes were going to take effect until October anyway. So there was a lot of time to vet everything and make changes if needed. It's also important to note that As you heard here tonight, there were people who came and addressed us and said there is no parking problem in the city, and there are people who came and addressed us and said there is a huge parking problem in the city. So even amongst you, there are quite a lot of diverse opinions, and I don't think any one solution will make everybody happy, but I think it's important that we do our best. So that's where we are. We would like to, though, move this forward before we get to... the time when you need to do the next round of parking passes, which is October. So let's do a period of input and see what you may feel you wanna tweak or not. Does that sound good to everybody? Okay. And now we will go to our regular agenda items that we did.

Yeah, okay. I was just going to say that we hadn't, I thought we were moving ahead off of the regular agenda.

Oh, no, no. Okay. So the ones you asked me to pool, we pooled and we voted individually. Now we have the rest of the items on the regular agenda, which is 4.1, 4.2, which involved the solar array project. And 4.6, which is to endorse a grant application through Climate Smart Communities for the water treatment plant. And 4.7 and 4.8. Does anybody want me to take any of those individually? Are you comfortable moving those as a group?

Move as a group.

Move as a group.

I'm fine with moving. I just have one question about the seeker. Sure. Would we be going through the seeker like making a negative declaration at this point or a positive declaration? I can't hear. Or is that something for a further council meeting?

Something for a further council meeting.

Then I am fine moving forward.

Oh.

I know they all have them.

Okay. Did you all receive the amendment to 4.6, which was the climate smart communities grant application? You did. Okay. So just noting that there's a couple of minor changes just to clarify the language for the grant application. Okay. with the amended language, would anyone like to move the rest of the items on the regular agenda for approval?

Just one more question. Sure. And I think that eight is like, is the, is an executive session conversation or?

So what I can say on the record is that resolution eight is resolving a very longstanding employee difficulty that the city has been engaged in. We are very happy that this is brought to resolution. I cannot talk about specifics, but we will discuss it in executive session.

So should we be voting on that prior to, you know, after we've had that conversation?

You can't vote in executive session. We can come out and take a vote if somebody feels they're not ready to approve it now. Would you prefer that?

Yeah, I think I'd prefer that.

Okay, all right. So we will hold resolution eight. And we will record what happens and give you that information so you don't have to stay here all night. Okay, so... Can you say the numbers? Okay.

So this will be a motion for 4.1, 4.2, 4.6, and 4.7. Right.

Is there a motion? Motion to accept.

I'll second.

All in favor? Aye. Any opposed? Okay, they are approved. So the one outstanding item, we will come back into regular session after executive session and vote on that. We now go to old business, Councilman at-large Gooden.

I think I forgot to mention that the planning and development committee will be meeting on August the 20th at five o'clock on second floor. Didn't mention that.

Okay, thank you. Councilman Donahue.

No old business.

Councilman Rice.

No old business.

Councilman Latham. I had a couple of things.

I wanted to thank the mayor for the preparation of this agenda that I feel that the consent agenda and the regular agenda are very well put together. Thank you. I also wanted to thank the mayor's office as well for taking a look at the 88 transition plan. One of our one of the members of the community had some concerns about it. I looked at it and ran it through copilot and saw some defects. So I brought that to to the attention of the council. And we have a plan going forward to look at those defects and address any gaps there. I know there were some concerns about accessibility brought up today. And this would be one of those things that we could do. And hopefully we can also look at accessibility around our downtown as part of this and do that. I did have a complaint from one of my constituents about, so two different people had problems with dogs going out after their dogs just walking through the neighborhood. So just would like to raise the awareness to the different members of the community to make sure that you have your dogs under control and because if a dog attacks another dog that's a liability for you as a as a person and it's also just not a good look for the city and um that is what i had for old business thank you thank you councilman paladino um i learned about something today that is really cool uh

The Recreation Commission, Yvonne, just received the really cool new sign from Hamlin's Cove designed by Lisa Lehman. that the rec commission approved a couple months ago. It is now up right on Bush Street, right before the bridge on Hamlin's Cove, and it's a beautiful sign. I also gave my Hamlin's Cove history sign to the rec commission, and hopefully they'll put it up someday to allow people to see the history of Hamlin's Cove. And then I just wanna point out this really tragic thing that happened. recently in early July, but Amy Bartlett Regan had passed away. She was the Warren County attorney for 20 years, retiring in 2016, but since her retirement, she has been on so many local organizations, like on the board of the Chapman Museum, Voluntary Action Center, Glens Falls NAACP, Santa Club of Glens Falls, and most recently, the president of the Cradle Library Board of Trustees. She was only 71 and the city lost a very amazing woman. There's gonna be a friends and family, friends and family can pay respects tomorrow from four to six at Singleton Sullivan Potter Funeral Home with the funeral happening on Thursday morning at St. Mary's. Amy Bartlett Regan, you will be sorely missed.

Thank you, Sean. Now we will go to new business.

I was just going to echo for Sean. Our former mayor, Robert Regan, his wife, Amy, she was a beautiful person. I happen to know her father and the family, really, and she will be sorely missed. And we're our condolences to the family, to the Regan family and Bartlett family from the city of Glens Falls.

Thank you.

Councilman Donahue. Okay.

Thank you, Mayor. I'd like to thank my constituents over on Platte and Catherine Street for showing up and speaking out in this, you know, speaking out against a very small area where we want to potentially put a lot of houses. So just let you know that your voices have been heard. So thanks.

Thank you. Councilman Rice.

As Sean alluded to earlier in the Quality of Life Committee, we discussed the lifeguard shortage a little bit. I think Tom was on vacation last week, but I just want to bring up that I took it upon myself to reach out to BOCES to see if they would be interested. They have an adult learning program. I think it's called the ETA. And they were open to the possibility of starting the lifeguard certification course. It may not be necessary, but it's something that they would consider doing if we needed them to.

Councillor Holland.

Thank you.

Councillor Schell. No new business.

There is something very informative tomorrow at six o'clock at the Crandall Library Community Room, facilitated by Ken Tinley and Will Doolittle. There's gonna be a discussion with Mary Miller of the New York Publishers Association help people develop critical thinking skills and resources to distinguish between fact and fiction, especially in this age of AI where people can just make false stories and just trying to help teach people how to become better citizens in distinguishing news stories online. And then this weekend, up until August 7th, the Adirondack Theater Festival is going to be showing the Come From Away musical, which is a brilliant story, a true story about the small little town of Gander that had to have 38 planes diverted from internationally because they couldn't cross into US airspace on the morning of September 11th. Especially given that we're about to celebrate, not celebrate, honor 25 years ago of this tragic event. It's a beautiful story to remind us of the power of community during a crisis.

Thank you. I have a few items to talk about for new and old business. So first of all, I just want to acknowledge that this was a pretty remarkable and exciting council agenda that we had tonight. I recognize that the parking sparked most of the attention, but what we have done tonight is taken a big step forward for public safety in the city. We have finalized a great public-private partnership with AYHA. We have talked about giving relief to seniors and people with disabilities on their tax bills. And, you know, settled a longstanding employment issue, hopefully, when we come out of executive session. and found a new funding source to potentially help us with the electrical upgrade. So I want to just acknowledge how hard our staff and our council and I have been working on these issues. And I am very proud of the progress that we've made. I also, Let's see, I wanted to acknowledge that we've had a change and I think we, I'm not sure how successful we were tonight with recording this meeting, but as you may know, the auditors who were auditing the city flagged that we have been paying for recording of these meetings. It's a pretty, it had been a pretty hefty expense for the city. And as you can see, there's new cameras in with the court renovations. So we worked with StorTech, which is our technology provider, to come up with a solution to be able to use the court cameras to, for free, record these meetings. We tested it out. We worked with StorTech and court staff. I don't know what happened. But when we came in tonight, it wasn't working. So we have to find out. Steve tried to record this on his phone. If there is technical difficulties, I apologize, and we will have them worked out by the next meeting. But overall, we really don't need to be spending taxpayer dollars to have someone stand here with a camera when we have cameras in this. But we do think Mr. Pepp, who's done an amazing job for us, and that really started during COVID when we wanted to make sure the meetings were out there. So Emily will for sure publish the minutes. If we were able to get any recording, we'll... We got almost all of it. Okay, so Steve was recording on his phone. We'll upload that and hopefully by the next meeting, this'll be taken care of. Let's see, I attended Joint to Lime's 175th anniversary. That's pretty remarkable. this last week and I wanted to acknowledge that Glens Falls is home to a business that has been in operation for 10 years preceding the Civil War. Think about the changes that have gone on and the adjustments that have been made to make it that long. I did read a proclamation at that event and I want to read it for you just because I think it's important that the history of this be shared. It's really interesting. So whereas in 1851, Irish immigrant John Keenan and Glens Falls businessman Halsey R. Wing founded the Jointal Lime Company in the city of Glens Falls, recognizing the quality of the region's limestone deposits and establishing a business that would become one of New York State's oldest businesses. And whereas Jointal Lime began by producing lime, an essential building material used in the construction of homes, businesses, and infrastructure, and over the decades evolved to meet the changing needs of the construction industry by expanding into crushed stone, asphalt, ready mix concrete, paving services, and other essential construction materials. And whereas through generations of change, economic cycles, and advances in technology, Jointal Lime has demonstrated resilience, adaptability, and an enduring commitment to serving communities throughout our region while remaining firmly rooted in Glens Falls. And whereas now a proud member of the D.A. Collins Company's family, Joint Align continues to employ more than 100 people and operates facilities throughout the region, contributing to the roads, infrastructure, and development that strengthen our communities. And whereas for 175 years, Joint Align has been woven into the history of the city of Blount Falls, reflecting the hard work, ingenuity, and entrepreneurial spirit that have helped shape our community and supported its growth for generations. Now, therefore, I, Diana Palmer, Mayor of the City of Glens Falls, on behalf of the Common Council and the residents of the City of Glens Falls, do hereby congratulate Joint Aligned Company on the occasion of its 175th anniversary and extend our sincere appreciation to its employees, past and present, whose dedication and commitment have contributed to the company's remarkable legacy and to the continued strength of our community. I think it's important to note that, and we're lucky to have two businesses in Glens Falls that are celebrating 175 years. Aerobank, also previously Glens Falls National, I think joined to Lime has them beat by a couple months. We're pretty fortunate in our city. Yes, exactly. Continuing on the public safety discussion. So we've taken a step in looking at the feasibility of creating this public safety building. As you know, We've instituted a foot patrol in the police department. We've also brought back bike patrol and there will be bike patrols occasionally on the Warren County bike path. We're trying to have as much direct oversight and connection to the residents and businesses as possible. I've heard very good feedback from several residents and businesses about our foot patrol officer and the impact that that change is making. We are also working very hard on staffing in both departments. I know Captain Bascue has been working to decrease the burden on our firefighters who have been overworked and overtime has been significant because we had not been previously hiring as much as we could have been. And we've been bringing people forward to fill those vacancies and the Board of Public Safety Human Resources and the Fire Administration has been working on that. And we are looking to do the same thing with the police department. It's harder with the police department because the timing of the civil service test has to line up to the timing of the police academy to get people through. So it's a harder hurdle, but we are working very hard to try to fill those vacancies as well. I also wanted to let you know that over the last A couple weeks, I and Wendy Baird, our controller, have been meeting with each department to do mid-year budget checks. We've been going line by line through every budget. As you know, we are in a cleanup year. I'm sorry about this screeching. We are really engaged in a cleanup this year. There are many budgeting practices that we are trying to correct. There are many things in the previous budget that were underfunded in this budget and miscategorized, and we are going through that and identifying it one by one. The next step will be that each department head will have their budget due to our budget officer, Steve, on September 1st. Between September 1st and October 1st, I, along with our controller and our budget officer, will meet with each department head to go over all of their proposals, and then my budget will be due to you and the public by October 1st, and then we'll kick off the series of council budget review meetings. So just to give you a heads up, that will be here before we know it, and we're on track to move in that direction. I think that's all I have for tonight. The last item is to open up an additional public comment period. Is there anyone from the public that wishes to address us?

I have a little bit to say, but... I have a lot to say, but I'll save it for when it comes up.

Sure.

The development on Platt Street, 57 Platt Street. My name is Pete McCarthy. There is a proposed road that goes two feet from the side of my house. The property is beautiful. It blocks the light. It blocks the sound. You can still hear kids playing. You know, it's not overly loud. So it's a great piece of property to have. Not developed.

Thank you.

I'll keep it short. Thank you.

Again, I want to clarify that that is not before this board for consideration. We don't have a vote on that. The common council does not. After it goes through the planning board, some approvals may come before us. So we're happy to take your comment, but I think you know that the planning board are the people who will make the decision first. Okay. Any other? Yes.

Real quick, Mayor, thanks. Just a couple of comments. One, past mayor and well-known official Ed Bartholomew is smiling today.

Yes.

many people here may not know it, but 36 Elm started out probably 20, 25 years ago as a proposed incubator. SUNY, Adirondack, ACC then, I think Queensborough, a bunch of municipalities put in, I worked on that when I was a young associate. So it made me smile here tonight that this incubator has come full circle. My other comment was on the potential for the old Rite Aid to be a public safety hub. Perhaps that might open the old west side fire department building to become a transportation hub. Buses, things like that that we have struggled for years downtown, maybe that could be an opening for a transportation hub. It's a wide street, plenty of traffic in and out of the north way. I just throw that out there. And last, on the parking thing that occupied all your time tonight. As you guys know, I represent municipalities, so it's a thankless job that many of you have here. you know, none of what happened should be a criticism. I know there was a lot of work put in advance. You guys, as the mayor said, advanced the people's work tonight and you'll get to a result and I'll get my written comments in. And I think I'm just what the mayor said early at the beginning even changed my outlook. You know, so we're all gathering information, hopefully coming up with a better result. And I thank you for that.

Thank you. Thank you.

I'll make it really fast. Thank you for your time. I do want to second Matt. I know there were good intentions from everyone who worked on that parking, so thank you. Two really quick things to know that came up tonight that I didn't know about before. The new system, I don't know what it's called for the sensors, where we don't have to have a pass, but they will scan a license plate. That will most likely cause an issue. Is that how it's going to work?

So the sensors is totally separate from the permits?

Oh, I thought I heard that there will no more physical passes and that they would scan a license plate?

It will be the system that the traffic aid actually has in her hand.

Okay.

All the permitting information will be within that system. So when she scans the registration or whatever the case may be, it will pop up and say, oh, they have a permit.

So I do think you should propose that or consider the fact that many, at least two businesses in downtown right now, we buy one pass for all of our employees to share. And so that wouldn't be. possible for us anymore under this system?

There will be an option to have more than one plate attached to it.

I mean, we have 16-year-olds who drive their mom's car one day, their dad's car one day. Like, this will, that will, yeah. And I know, I just wanted, like, we would be happy to give more feedback on how people are using those passes to keep it so that we're not buying 10 of them.

Right, there is an option to have more than one car on one pass.

I completely understand. I'm just saying I think that's going to cause some, I don't know what their license plate numbers are. I don't know what.

Well, that's something that's going to have to happen with permits. You're going to have to have plates.

I completely understand that there's going to be changes from the current process, and I think that more feedback from the people who are using the passes maybe should be considered because there are a lot of unique situations, it sounds like, where we're trying to limit how many people are taking up those permits. And now... that might not be an option for us. My second thing was just to consider the timing. Again, I appreciate what you had said about putting in a buffer and also just considering what local businesses, when we actually do close, this is not just nine to five jobs. These are retail stores and restaurants. So I don't want to buy a 24 hour pass and take up that spot, but just really encourage you all to in between now and then give more time. I appreciate you say mayor, it was brought up that public comment is important in this and not just to be enraged, but to help. So thank you all.

Yeah. And Melanie, please come to the committee and give all your comments. Yeah. We'll go from there. Yeah.

I'm sorry.

Okay. Thank you also, Matt, for bringing up the, bringing back up the 36 Inc. It had been so long since we talked about it. I forgot to mention that in my, comments about all the good things that happened tonight, but that was another really positive step forward. Not only does it bring it back to the incubator roots, but it also creates kind of a public market for the residents. So I think that's gonna be really fun. So lots of positive changes. Any other, okay.

To further on our discussion and all with the city and all, the Board of Public Safety meeting, when are they, the dates on those?

It's the same every month. The second Wednesday of the month at 4 p.m. on the second floor of City Hall.

Okay, 4 p.m. And then does one have to call ahead of time to them to get on the agenda or can we just show up if we have some?

There's public comment.

There's public comment as well, okay. I think that's all and the next planning board meeting is obviously the first, when is that? The first Wednesday. The first Wednesday, so next week. Okay, thank you so much.

Also, there is a city calendar just in case you've ever wanna know about other meetings that list them all. Yep. I also wanted to mention about Amy Bartlett. I've been working with her on a women's history project. Elizabeth Hogan and I have been organizing to tell the story about notable women in our community. And she actually authored a story that's going to be in our book. So it'll be a nice way for her voice to continue in the community as well. With that, I need to, I realize how late it is, but I do need to ask for a motion to go into executive session. Councilman Lapham wanted us to talk about the employment agreement. We have other items too. We will come back into regular session and take a vote on that. We can take the minutes so that Emily doesn't have to stay, but I do need to ask Upon a vote, the Glens Falls Common Council may enter into executive session under New York State Open Meetings Law Article 7, Section 105 to discuss the medical, financial, credit, or employment history of a particular person or corporation or matters leading to the appointment, employment, promotion, demotion, discipline, suspension, dismissal, or removal of a particular person or corporation in Article 7, Section 105 to discuss proposed sale of city property where the disclosure would substantially affect the values thereof. Is there a motion?

Second.

All in favor? Aye. Any opposed? Okay, we are in executive session. We can go... Is this unlocked, do you think, the courtroom there? If it is, we can go in there, and then we will come back out here to do the last vote.

Yes. Oh, sure, with all the sweat dripping down. He just wants to take a picture.

Thank you. Thank you again.

Appreciate it. Hi, how are you?

Steve said a converter or something was wrong.

Yeah.