Common Council - public_hearing

Yeah, no, that's good to know.

We are going, today is August 25th, 2026, and we are going to open up our regular council meeting, and we're going to start off with a public hearing, public hearing regarding solutions to adopt the City of Glens Falls Smart Growth Comprehensive Plan. Should I read the rest of it? Okay. So we're going to open it up now for public comment. Anyone has any public comment, please come to the podium. Call your name and address, please.

Good evening. Hello. I'm Michael White, 5 Bowman Avenue, and I served as a chair of the Citizens Participation Committee for the preparation of the plan. but I'd like to thank the members of the Citizens Committee. They were beautiful participants, attended numerous meetings, followed along in drafting and gave enormous amount of time and attention. The member comments I have seen on the narrative goals and recommendations are overwhelmingly supportive, especially for the improvements that Allison has made since the consultant left. some of them coming out as late as last Friday. The plan's long list of narrative goals and recommendations are very generalized. The plan adopts goal language, such as encourage, embrace, improve, cooperate, support. In some cases, the plan is to prepare other plans, such as the capital improvement plan long-term control plan. This format is intended to preserve for the council maximum flexibility for future decisions going forward and best position us to qualify for the grant programs, the program grants. I've raised significant concerns about the future land use map. The map is the product of the consultant as to its effect by the committee. The CPC has not discussed it or vetted it. Taken all together, the map seems to have an intent and is a framework to substantially increase the density and lot coverage That policy direction would get us ahead of ourselves in terms of the next step, the planned zone map amendments, unless and until the up zone areas are considered for our capacity to provide water, sewer, drainage, parking, transportation, and recreation facilities. Since coming on board Allison, One of our volunteer members before that has been extremely attentive. She inherited the draft plan and the flume concept and has made textual revisions intended to demote the future land use map from a policy direction to a generalized discussion of considerations. The plan adoption is an essential step in a pressing need to revise and update the zoning action on map or use schedule revisions. I do think I speak for all the committee members in saying we hope you will give some attention to this issue going forward and that a real evaluation of our capacity to provide water, sewer, drainage, parking, transportation, green space, recreation to the areas precede any action to increase their In the end, we think adoption can work out and the issues can be addressed in the next phase. And as one member put it, we aren't going away. So I also wanted to acknowledge tonight with me a couple of my committee members, Pat Tavish and Bob Curtis. Thank you for your time. Thank you.

Any other comments? This is for the comprehensive plan.

I don't hear you well.

Are you speaking about the comprehensive plan?

This is for the comprehensive plan. All I wanted to do is... We'll have public comment. We'll have public comment. Not yet. Thank you. Thank you, Lenny. That's okay. Yes, please.

Hello, my name is Patricia Tadich. I live at 11 Lawton Avenue, Glens Falls, New York. I'm on the community planning committee. I also served as the retired director of planning for Warren County. for probably 40 years. And I had the pleasure of serving on this committee with other members from the community. And our chairman of our committee had brought up a number of issues that I think were relevant to like corrections or additions. And certainly the map stood as forefront because it's that colored piece of document inside the, you know, inside the comp plan. that draws your attention to things. And as we look at it, we can understand that it's a generalized map that shows, and I think Allison said it correctly, it characterized the land uses and by no means was that detailed, you know, ground level look at what needs to be done. For the purposes of going forward with the zoning ordinance. So, but I think it bears saying that, you know, I wanted to speak tonight. So it was on the record that as we go forward that zoning ordinance, it will be become that defining piece of document within the zoning ordinance and it's. The back to that is the comprehensive land use plan. So for the purposes of the community who may see this and think that somehow this is ultimate, that particular map in this document was going to ultimately reflect the changes, this is the first baby step forward. So it bears saying that in a public setting and have it as part of the record.

Thank you very much for your time tonight. Thank you. Any other comments?

Good evening, Mayor and Council. Claudia Bramer, I'm the attorney for the Planning Board and the Zoning Board. And I just wanted to reiterate Ms. Gaddy's comments. I think she provided you a memorandum about some of the issues and her overall support for the comprehensive plan. And I just wanted to first note, there have been many community members involved in this process for a very long time, so we're very thankful for their input and their consideration and their comments and to continue, keep it coming, and we very much value that. So, Also, I wanted to thank the planning committee who just recently met to discuss the comprehensive plan right before it came here last week and that Ms. Gaddy did make some additional final changes to the document before it got added to the agenda and came to you. So I did want to acknowledge those comments from the public that Ms. Gaddy did make changes to the narrative about the land use map, the future land use map or the flume, where she says, or the document that we hope that you will adopt tonight says it's a long-range planning tool and it is not a zoning map. So as the public said, this is a baby step forward. We will still be looking to do an official, actual update of our zoning code and the zoning map in the future, but that's not what this is. It's a planning tool, it's a guide, and it's an advisory tool for the council and for the planning board and the zoning board going forward. So the staff do support this and recommend that you adopt the comprehensive plan this evening. Thank you. And I'm available for any questions for any of you at any time. Thank you.

And we will open the public hearing of the proposed law to amend the zoning code to allow farm stands in some zoning districts. Does any comment from the audience? We'll leave this open five minutes.

I just wanted to ask the question about the zone I didn't see that particular piece of documentation, could you just for the sake of. Information just identify some of those zones because that's all I wanted to ask.

They would be allowed in the following zoning districts following an administrative review. I'm just paraphrasing, but this would be in the residential districts where it would be allowed by administrative review. And then a more extensive review, including site plan review approval by the planning board would include the cultural professional office district, local neighborhood commercial district, and our other commercial districts. And again, we have to take this back to the planning board for an advisory opinion. So we're not asking for action on this one tonight, just a public hearing. If there's any input, then we'll take it back to the planning board and then bring it back to you. Thank you. We're not voting on it tonight. Not tonight. We're not voting on this tonight. We just wanted to leave it open for public comment.

It is going to stay open.

Thank you.

until the next council meeting. So we won't take any action on that. So now we're gonna call to order our regular session and we'll have the Pledge of Allegiance led by Councilman Sean Palladino. comments and three minute opportunity to address the council and this is I've been I went to the justice string that they had in one

I wanted to leave off what I'm trying to do. I've been trying this since 2020. And I know you people don't understand sometimes, but we've got to do something to make our community and the kids I had about 30 college kids and high school kids, and I told them, I called time out, and I said, you kids have got to all get together and make tomorrow better than what we got. What have we got? Smoking, drinking, drugs are all legal. They all cause family problems. They all cause health problems. We're not bad. It's bad for you. You've only got one life. You can smoke if you want to, but then you get breathing problems, and the doctor tells you you're going to die. The kids on drugs have got two or three years to live. How is that good? Our kids have got to hear this and understand and ask questions. And anybody that comes to you people for the rest of your life with problems, listen, and when they get done talking, say, I hear you, but there's no use talking about it. It already went by. I can't help you, and you're going to get aggravated. Give it to me again. I'll give you some people to help you going forward. But all we have in real life, any of us, is tomorrow going forward. There is no past. There's no such thing. So if there's something bothering you, something you don't like, change it. And if you change it, you don't have to discuss it with anybody now. You don't have to explain it to anybody. I went to alternative sentencing in Washington County a couple years ago. And I can't think of his name right now, but he was retiring. He'd been there for years. I told him, quit taking these kids and people and giving them to a psychiatrist about the past. All we got is tomorrow. Listen to them and figure out where we got to take them today going forward. And I give them my binder of 40 things, which I give all the judges around here, all the lawyers have it. And the DA and Tony Jordan called me back back then and said, I love the idea with the Leaders Club. I'd be behind that 100%. So they're already in. And I want you to have this because now this guy, I had been talking to him before he even got this job. He asked for people to come forward and help 200 and something people. Supreme Court justices, health care people, everybody's coming. Schools, they're all turning around. So I just want to leave this for you to look at and to go over. You don't have to do anything I say. I'm maybe eight years old. But we've got to do something to make our community better and let the rest of the country follow us. They're crazy. So I don't want to hold you up. Our new mayor, you've already seen what she's got. But you've got to take all the kids in school. And if you've got a leader's club, no smoking, drinking drugs, and breaking the law, and put talent shows on, all our kids have talent. We can get them doing things for each other and with each other instead of being on the telephone all the time. I sat two weeks ago. Well, that's a cop-out, but I'll take it. I'm a professional, so I know what that means. You don't want to hear it. I got you. I know what the system is. I mean, that's what's so tough, where we are to where we need to get so we can listen to each other. You can't solve anything if you don't listen.

Thank you, Lenny. Appreciate it. Okay. Do you want to leave that? Okay. Thank you so much. Any other public comment? No, I said any other public comment?

Thank you, Lenny.

Okay, no other comment, public comment? Okay, then we'll move on to committee reports, please. Councilman Donahue.

Thank you, Councilwoman Gooden, at large Gooden. Auden Finance met yesterday afternoon at 530. We reviewed approximately 80 to 90 invoices out of the 146 invoices on this warrant. We found them all to be in good standing and whatnot, so we'll give We'd like to thank Carrie Lambert for week in and week out, putting together a very unbelievably organized warrant, and she makes the job super easy for us committee members. We also brought, we looked at parking, we revisited parking fees for the three three parking lots and we found them we're still going to give a positive recommendation for those those three parking lots for the parking permit fees um i believe that would that was that was it if anybody wants to it's on the committee i believe to echo what you said about the the uh job

Thank you.

Councilman Donahue. Councilman Landry. Thank you.

Labor Management Personnel Committee met this evening.

Our meeting focus exclusively on preparing for the upcoming West Falls Firefighter Union Local 2230 IAFF AFL-CIO contract negotiations. These negotiations will commence on September 10th. And we'll meet again at 6 p.m. on September 8th to finalize the city's needs as

Councilman race Discussed four items on its agenda the committee continued to its work on the emergency meeting authorization Reviewing applicable state law as part of developing a resolution for council consideration the committee also discussed the complete streets policy and expects to continue that review with input from our which continues to move through the committee's process and which I'll be sending to the chairwoman of that ethics board in the coming days. Finally, the committee discussed the encroachment permits policy, now including how licensing agreements might factor into that policy, and we will continue that discussion as more information becomes available and as stakeholders return from vacation. Thank you. We'll be meeting on September 8th.

Thank you, Mayor. The Technology Committee will be meeting on Thursday, September 3rd. There will be an agenda coming out shortly.

Thank you.

Thank you.

I do want to commend everyone that came to the Quality of Life meeting on the 17th. It was the biggest amount of people to come talk about the e-biking laws, the potential as well as Tom Gerard who helped tell us how the city's trying to improve the lifeguard situation. And for the parking situation, we're still gonna deliberate for the next one to see if we can change up the resolution, but the fees seem the general consensus is that we should, it's outside of our purview to change But it's just how it would affect everything else in terms of availability and single lot restrictions. I guess for now, it seems like everyone agrees that it wasn't in the purview of the Quality of Life Committee that the Audit and Finance did a good job to figure out the increase to align with the other municipalities. This is just trying to discuss how to alleviate the,

people in the city that are worried that it would take away parking availability by making it permanently see that as it may the finance committee met and having had no uh response from any of the any of

I guess before the next online finance committee, I should probably indicate some of the comments that we received from the public in terms of the fees. And then the other thing we talked about was the e-bike and law proposed by the Board of Public Safety, and we're still figuring out how that could be adjusted in terms of whether the fee, whether the, whether the fee for, or the fine, whether that should be reduced, or the implications of helmet use for, personal versus rentals. But we'll meet, the next time we'll meet is on the third Monday of September. I think it's on the 21st, I believe.

Thanks. Okay, thank you. Okay, and Planning and Development Committee, we met last Thursday, and we had Melanie Weber come to our meeting. She was the downtown bid. And she spoke to us on the way finding sign replacement for Exchange Street. And she was saying that they have the $8,500, but they got some things to figure out. So that was a discussion. And we were discussing about the height and how things are supposed to be. So that's still ongoing. So planning and development. And then Allison Gaddy, our planning and development chair person for the city director that's what i'm trying to say she um spoke to us she updated us on the comprehensive plan and um this well we're talking about this tonight and we know the importance of this comprehensive plan for us to get our grants that are coming up very quickly. So we've been working on this for a couple years and I think that we're in a good place and it's not etched in stone. We can review it yearly and it'll be ongoing. And we also talked about the overnight parking. We were talking about the wide streets in the city. And it would be in the downtown, which is a big area. In every ward, we're asking with these discussions to look at your ward and see where your biggest streets are. And possibly having it be overnight parking. When it snows, of course, it'll be or maybe one side parking or the other. Still in discussion, but real possibility. Maybe, I don't think it's a good idea for the residential side, but for the business downtown. So that was our discussion. And then Dr. Flagg, who was here tonight, I had asked him to come to give us the updates on what?

Just very briefly, a couple of things we had talked about at the planning meeting in addition to that, and I had an update to that, so that's why I wanted to mention something. We did talk about the timeline for the solar project that's going on in the Civic Center. I'm sorry, the arena, the... So the timeline looks like roughly they're giving themselves till about the late early spring to get that online This is to account for will probably get started before the weather even starts to turn bad But they want to give some accommodation of time both to schedule for the Civic Center for various events and also for probably inclement weather So we're hoping to have that online in the spring then we also We've been working for several years, as many of you know, on the climate action plans and greenhouse gas inventories, a DEC grant that we received several years ago, back even during COVID. I had not yet heard from DEC on their responses to our deliverables for that, which we submitted. I heard from them today. So I'll plan to have a resolution on the council agenda for the next meeting. And it should dovetail in many ways with the comprehensive plan. Let me double check that. We did have a public hearing. We've had several public events, but maybe before it's submitted, it may need a public hearing. Good point. I'll follow up. But we'll expedite this to the extent possible. Does it need to be expedited?

Do we have the time left for the grant?

The grant itself expired in March. This is supporting documentation. Sounds like we need to do it. One might come to that conclusion.

Thank you. Thank you so much. Okay, now we'll move to our consent agenda. Is there anything that anyone would like to discuss?

I would like to discuss the Aerobank agreements. I think in the agreement, obviously Aerobank owns that lot, and I definitely appreciate the city and Aerobank allowing the public to use it after hours and on weekends, but it looks like they restrict it to no overnight usage throughout the week. Is it possible to add or to ask them to to have overnight parking on the weekends, like Friday and Saturday night, to allow for...

If I could just address that one as well. There have been some discussions about overnight parking. The bank, to be totally honest, was indifferent to this. One of the issues that we have is with all the residents who are living downtown, especially on South Street, one of the primary purposes of the acquisition of the bank's permission is so that we can use that for events at the end. The problem is if you have people living in these adjacent buildings who come home on a Friday evening and they say, you know, a number of these folks, for instance, have spaces reserved for them at the 333 garage. If they come home on Friday night and decide they want to spend the weekend parked next door, then there's no parking available for the people who are trying to use the event center. So that was a specific reason why we decided, we asked them not to include that sort of prohibition in the agreement.

I guess that's okay. Good reason.

Okay, anyone else? Okay, can I have a motion to accept the consent agenda? So moved. I have a second.

Second.

All in favor? Aye. Any opposed? Thank you, Carrie. Next up is our regular agenda, and I would like to pull four, five. Just go one at a time. Okay. Okay, so I'll go one at a time. I got it. Okay, first one.

So is the new resolution that we just received is number six?

Yeah, that's number five.

Okay, so the first one up resolution to approve the second installment payment of the 2026 health insurance reimbursement Oops, I'm sorry resolution to approve A financing contract for a police department vehicle. Any questions?

Can I have the resolution? I guess I have one question. Was there one of the vehicles, was that decommissioned or something? That's why they need a new one? Or what's the reason why the city police need a new vehicle?

Okay, Bob made the motion. Can I have a second?

Yeah, second.

Okay, thank you. All in favor? Aye. Any opposed? Thank you, so carried. Next resolution, to accept a budget transfer to fund bid street striping project. Any questions, comments? Can I have a motion to make that motion? Second motion all in favor Any opposed? Thank you so much food carried resolution to ratify memorandum of agreement between COGF City of Glens Falls and CSEA local 1000 Any questions comments?

Is this something that you would agree that we

I don't, to be honest with you, at this point in time, I don't think there is.

think this will be in a better position yeah because i'll tell you why we'll bring it before we didn't have time to do it tonight we'll bring it before the committee on the 8th and have a report at the meeting on the that same evening okay so i'd like to make a motion to table and i guess i'd like to point out this was i think in relation to a lot of the grievances that happened with the csea back on the the snow depth emergency i think right i imagine we'll hear more about it in

for motion table any opposed okay so order we'll pull it table okay uh resolution authorizing labella associates professional service change order number four and that is Everybody, look at that. Any questions, any comments?

I think I had a question that Steve didn't really answer that well, because this is just moving money into a budget, but I think this is in relation to the rec center, and will the GF Youth Hockey Association be paying for this, or because they're taking control of it, or maybe Taylor, you can...

I can speak to that. So we have a proposed contract with the Youth Hockey Association that would require them to assume responsibility to pay in LaBella's contract services. We have outstanding invoices to LaBella that need to be paid, so that's the purpose of the change order is to cover those currently outstanding invoices that will be coming for work that they've already done before the contract with AYAJ.

This is before. All right.

All in favor? Opposed? So carried. We're going to discuss it.

resolution to adapt the city of glens falls smart growth yeah before we adopt the resolution um we'll need to complete part two of the environmental assessment form concerning the environmental quality review before we take action to adopt the comprehensive plan um i'll ask the council to go back to the first part of the printed agenda where the environmental assessment form is printed for you or published for you and then we can go through all of the questions together on the Do you want me to answer the questions again on the agenda?

They are on the agenda. We have to physically answer parts one, two, and three.

While you guys are looking for it, do you want me to give you a quick tutorial on this? Because I know the council doesn't do this very often. But we do these all the time at the planning board level. The environmental assessment form is basically to determine whether or not there are significant adverse environmental impacts. And when you're adopting the comprehensive plan, there aren't any specific projects development projects that are being considered as far as adopting the plan. Like was mentioned earlier, their goals for the future of the city and how we want to grow, but it doesn't specifically require any kinds of projects to be undertaken. So that's a lot of what happens when you do the secret form. Normally there's a project being under, you know, under consideration where people are going to be digging in the ground and doing some sort of construction. Here it might be acceptable for a lot of the answers to be no as far as there aren't any impacts because you're not having any physical disturbance on the land. There's no, there are no, um, physical changes, there's nothing happening to impact wildlife or flora, things like that. So just, you can, I think Ms. Baffert, Attorney Baffert is gonna go through the questions and you guys can just answer them verbally and then at the end you'll take a verbal motion with respect to the seeker and then it's kind of built into the written resolution.

So if during that process, one of those questions is a yes, what does that do to the process?

Well, if you go through and you think, yes, it's possible there's something, you go through and you answer the sub-questions. If you think it's a no or small, significant, adverse, no or small, that's one category, you check that box. If it's moderate to large impact and you check that box, what that typically means if you check a moderate to large impact box, is that you're saying there is a potential for a significantly adverse impact and we would need to develop an environmental impact statement. That hasn't been prepared as part of this process to date, so it's possible that if you come up with one of those, it's a moderate to large, but in the end, you decide there isn't a significant adverse impact We can explain that and make a written explanation in part three of the environmental assessment form tonight and still adopt a negative declaration, which would allow you to go forward with the passage of the comp plan tonight.

Just a question. If we are nos and there's one yes, are we voting at that point for what is no and yes?

It should be a consensus. So if it's one no, then the... Other side has it. It's kind of voting, but you don't need to vote on every single one if it seems like everyone has consensus. But the motion at the end about whether it's a negative declaration or not is a vote, is definitely a vote. I'm here. Thank you so much.

Okay.

So the first question is as to the adoption of the plan's impact on land, whether adopting the comprehensive plan may involve construction on or physical alteration of the land surface of the proposed site.

No. No.

So based on that, we're moving on to question two on the second page regarding the impact on geological features, whether the adoption of the comprehensive plan may result in the modification or destruction of or inhibit access to any unique or unusual landforms on the site, for example, cliffs, dunes, minerals, fossils, or caves. Moving on to question three on the same page regarding impacts on surface water, whether the adoption of the comprehensive plan may affect one or more wetlands or other surface water bodies. Moving on to question four on the following page, three, as to impact on groundwater, whether adopting the comprehensive plan may result in new or additional use of groundwater on question five as to impact on flooding whether the adoption of the comprehensive plan may result in development on land subject to flooding on the following page in item number six as to impacts on air whether adopting the comprehensive plan may include a state regulated air emission source

on the same page as to impact on plants and animals whether the proposed action may result in a loss of flora or fauna yes because if we're changing um the use of it oh no because it's not a rezone and it's not changing the official use of it

On the following pages to impact on agricultural resources, whether adopting the comprehensive plan could impact agricultural resources. The next page is to impact on aesthetic resources, whether the land use of the proposed action just adopting the plan are obviously different from or use patterns between the proposed project and a scenic or aesthetic resource as to the impact on historic and archaeological resources whether adopting the comprehensive plan excuse me may occur in or adjacent to a historic or archaeological resource On the next page in item 11, as to impact on open space and recreation, whether the proposed action could result in a loss of recreational opportunities or a reduction of an open space resource as designated in any adopted municipal open space plan. And in item 12, as to impact on critical environmental areas, whether the proposed action may be located within or adjacent to a critical environmental area. And item 13 on the next page is to impact on transportation, whether adopting the plan may result in a change to existing transportation systems. And then in question 14 is to impact on energy, whether the proposed action may cause an increase in the use of any form of energy. As to impact on noise, odor and light, whether adopting the plan may result in an increase in noise, odors or outdoor lighting. On the following page as to impact on human health, whether adopting the plan may have an impact on human health from exposure to new or existing sources of contaminants. as to consistency with community plans, item number 17 on the following page, whether the proposed action is not consistent with adopted land use plans. And then as to item 18 on the same page, as to consistency with community character, whether the proposed project is inconsistent with the existing community character. Okay, so those are all the questions in the forum and then we'll ask for a motion to determine that the proposed action has no significant impact on the environment.

motion for a negative declaration because the adoption of the comprehensive plan will result in no significant adverse impact on the environment. Motion? I'll make that motion second. All in favor? Aye. Any opposed? The motion is passed. Thank you so much. Can I have a motion to accept? Motion to accept. Second. Second. All in favor? Aye. Any opposed? The comprehensive plan is passed. Thank you so much. Okay, number five. Approval of the controller's office manual. I'm on the wrong page. I'm sorry, people. Right here. Resolution 124, Ridge Street, Option and Access Agreement document.

Any discussion? Yes, please. Okay. If we could. Yesterday afternoon, two and a half hours before our committee met, the members of the Common Council Audit and Finance Committee was notified by email from the city attorney that the mayor wanted us to consider an option and access agreement. the marketing agents for the former raid aid building on ridge street there have been brief discussions with the council on this property being considered for either a central location for our fire department or possibly a new public safety building additional downtown parking may result as well that's an item that needs to be thoroughly vetted i agree that this discussion should be had the cost of the city for this option access agreement could be as much as sixty thousand dollars plus yet to be determined consulting fees, and we will be taking taxable property off the city tax rolls. Even the sale of our existing firehouses would not entirely offset the loss of revenue. At the Audit and Finance Committee meeting, Councilman and Committee Chair Dan Donahue, Councilman Ben Lapham, and myself discussed the request and all agreed that more time and discussion was needed before we spend any city taxpayers' money. That's our job. We hold and are responsible to the city taxpayers for their tax dollars. The committee unanimously endorsed that the chairman send a response to the city attorney's email that the item request needed much more discussion as it affects so many taxpayers' dollars. Today, less than 24 hours after the chairman of the Audit and Finance Committee, with support from all of its members, was advised by the city's chief of staff that the item in question was being added to tonight's agenda. Is that how our committee system works? Can someone please explain to me the decision that was made to bring it to vote tonight? My constituents in the second ward need to know more about this issue before we spend any money. Thank you.

Can I have Jeff Flagg, please?

Yeah, I know this is a short notice item. I just want to give a little bit of background so you do understand where we are. The owners of that property, a firm called Vanguard Fund, has been working with us sort of informally since we first announced back, well, first began discussions back in early June about the prospect of looking at this property for the public safety building. We really couldn't do anything with them. The challenge we've had to work with is that they have had a tenant sort of waiting to lease this property that they have agreed to sort of postpone while we conduct the feasibility study. I couldn't give them any assurances that we would be pursuing the feasibility study until it was approved at the last council meeting at the end of last month. That was when the council agreed to fund the Finney feasibility study. At that point, they said, well, we need to have some assurances that we're going to be at least made whole while this process goes on. They're still paying taxes. They're still paying insurance, still paying maintenance costs. We've been going back and forth with this since the last council meeting. One of the challenges we had was that the attorney was on vacation last week. David Clingville, the other city attorney, wasn't able to get to this. And so we didn't get to it until early this week. Um, so we've submitted the revised. We're going back and forth to several different visions that they would be except they would find acceptable. Um, we finally came to this agreement, at least with them tentatively, and to be totally honest with you, it still needs to be vetted by their attorney since they only received it today as well. But the premise was that they need to have something that they can sort of hang their hat on while we're going to go through this process. I don't know that it's essentially critical that it happens, although I believe the process with Finney is already ongoing. So, I mean, I think somewhere along the line, the idea was to give us some... Time of consideration, where if the city's going to move forward, we'll have 90 days. If we decide at the end of these 90 days that we're going to move forward, those 90 days will have essentially been provided gratis. If at the end of that 90 days or somewhere subsequent to that, we discover that it's not a feasible project, the idea was that the breakup fee, if you want to call it that, would at least make them whole for the 90 days we waited, keeping in mind that they're still holding in abeyance their prospective tenant, who each month that goes by is... potentially less likely to sort of follow them or sign a lease with them.

Right. So my question is this. What's the Board of Public Safety's position on this? And let me be more specific. What's the Board of Public Safety's position on a centralized firehouse located at 124 Ridge Street, if that's the address?

I think that's the high-level 90-day period that we're asking for in this agreement, that they were offering us this 90 days. And if we can get through these processes at a high level and say, is this work pursuing further? We have another 12 months actually to go through all the programming and the finances and all the miscellaneous stuff you're going to have to go through in the feasibility study. So I can't answer the question specifically what the Board of Public Safety has weighed in on this.

For which we have no assurances we can even secure the property My concern is this I never like it when we take Tax generating property off the city tax rules way way way too much of it I'm watching the city of Albany with what they're dealing with right now because of all the state property that they have down there. That's one of my concerns. I realize we'd sell the Broad Street Firehouse and we'd sell the Ridge Street Firehouse, but that offset is not equivalent to what the loss of revenue would be on that property. Close, but not there. So if I understand you correctly, this option, would expire at no expense to the city after 90 days if we decide to walk away.

No, if we walk away, we have to give them the $15,000, which would account for the three months of time that we've cost them, essentially.

Right, and if we go forward, we continue at $5,000.

Correct, and if we go forward and the project culminates, that 90 days would have been essentially forgiven because it was never paid.

Has any other site been considered?

All of that was done outside of my purview. So, I mean, I know that the chief of police and the mayor had talked about several different options, and this seemed to be their consensus of the best site. So I was simply pursuing this from the standpoint of the owner of the property's perspective. I wasn't really deeply involved in the siting of the facility.

And, again, like I say, what has the public input been on this? This is what the feasibility study, I believe, is for.

Can I just ask a question from the chair of that committee was your understanding of what the events were that Bob just. explained. Does it do you agree with his version of events.

Mostly with what he said because we we did say it right at the beginning I said geez this this kind of got thrown on us on the 11th hour and whatnot So I was a little a little hesitant to put forward a real strong positive

the most reasonable but to give us some of the amount of time yeah and that that would be even more of an expense than what Bob you know if that was what Bob was saying yesterday then what this resolution is so that to me I was thinking 10 seemed like you know a decent amount of time to do all the all the necessary amount of time for the feasibility study to go through, do some intense kind of studies there and then get back to us so that we would have something that we could decide on. So now you're saying three months to me, I'm in favor of that too. So I am not saying what Bob is saying. that we had this strong line on this. Because to my understanding, this is like, if we can get that done in three months, that's great. We've already voted as a body to go forward with a feasibility study. How are we gonna have a feasibility study if we don't have some sort of commitment to the property owner to be able to go in to have the ability to at least cover some costs while we are going through due diligence

I think the cadence is the challenge is because you can't really make the commitment to them until you have the agreement to do it. But once you have the agreement to move forward with the study, you have to secure something with them. And this, after a reasonable amount of negotiation, seemed like the cost, if you're looking at this from the leasing cost after the 90-day period, is about $5 a square foot.

And to be honest with you, Ben, my question is almost more technical in nature. You know, we all, did you get that? Please, if you, I said this, I said, yes. He addressed me. I think I'm allowed to respond. You can respond when I'm done talking. I have the floor. When we discussed this yesterday at the meeting, it was discussed quickly. we all were kind of broadsided by the fact that we got something at 2 30 in the afternoon i'm speaking prior to a meeting that was being conducted two and a half hours later we all kind of agreed it was discussed kind of casually at the end of the meeting that yeah jesus we need some more information and then less than 24 hours the request of the committee evidently was just totally denied and we were presented with a resolution that was going to be brought forward tonight. I don't like the mechanics of that. The most powerful committee on the Common Council is the Audit and Finance Committee because we control the purse strings of the city. I'm bringing that up. You can disagree all you want, but Mr. Lapham, I'm bringing that up because my constituents in the second ward are concerned about the fact that has everything been done to make sure. I just want to make sure we're not reacting because some decision has been made somewhere that this is the place it has to be and we have to get a hold of it as quickly as we possibly can without more discussion on it at the council.

Yeah, I think it's limited in this case. The scope is limited to the feasibility study that the council approved the funding for two weeks ago, which is to look, I mean, specifically at this property. Once done, it seems that there's no option but to come up with some agreement, whether this is the final agreement or not.

You're interrupting. I had a chance. I listened to you to the end, so don't say that you can say something because somebody's addressing you.

Your comments.

Just stop it.

Stop what we'd like to hear. I do have something to say.

Bob continues to represent that he is the voice of the committee that day. He is one person there and the chair is sitting next to him. So don't tell me what I had as what my agreement was then, Bob, because you cannot speak to that.

Could I ask the city attorney to read the email that was

yesterday afternoon i received an email that said thank you for the heads up and information we can add this to tonight's discussion discussion one of us may reach out by phone between 5 30 and 6 30. thanks again and i didn't receive another email yesterday afternoon i received a message this morning That said, we feel the option agreement provides a 15-month exclusive option. I had asked the committee to consider alternative terms for the option, and I received a message that said we feel a 10-month period to do a study seems reasonable and would give CHEPLAG the time needed to negotiate a deal. Committee members, feel free to chime in if you think I may have missed something or want to add anything. That's all that I received.

Thank you.

So can I ask the chair? Did you feel that everything that Bob has just said was communicated and was the uniform

I do feel, Councilman Lapham, that it was, it seemed a bit rushed, a bit sudden to just have something thrown onto our agenda that late in the day, which, and he is right, I didn't think we would be voting on this. I thought maybe this would be for the next council meeting, so I understand where he's coming from, but I also understand where you guys are coming from, that we, yes, two weeks ago we did do the,

And it's a lot of money to think about how that connects that when you're saying we're going to do a feasibility study we're going to probably going to need to do some kind of outreach to the to the property owners, so that they're not taking all the risk and getting none of the benefit.

Councilman Lapham, I would say this, that I did personally feel that this was a bit rushed. We did put aside the money and we all are in agreement that the 10 month window would probably be the best viable option to negotiate a settlement or some sort of feasibility study that works with of 124 Ridge Street and the city and thought that we would have a good deal, but I think what, I don't know.

From what was discussed at the meeting, to me, was that we were in favor of what was the proposal at that time. It shifted somewhat, but I don't want to hear him telling me and were uniform with his opinion as it stands now. He represented that, we can go through it and see how he represented it. I am not in agreement with Bob Landry on this issue.

Councilman, I think he, him and I definitely felt like it seemed rushed to put it just on the agenda, right, tonight. I thought maybe it'd be on next council meeting's agenda, but yes, but we did all come to an agreement

But the issue is that it's a timing thing right now.

It is, and it is. I mean, it's a timing in the sense that we have been sort of dragging out this landowner for about two months, during which time he is being pressured by his prospective tenant. All this is costing them money. I guess every two weeks you go by, you say, well, that's another half of a month or whatever of income they're not getting. Any money they spend, obviously, on this property presumably we would have to pay for if we ever move forward with this project. My big fear is that they move forward with any kind of improvements. We discovered that this project works only if you tear the building down, and now you're paying for all the improvements that you have to tear down. In fairness, on the other side of the coin, having just presented this to them, today, right, since we only received it today or yesterday, they essentially said, you know, we're going to have to have our attorneys look at this. So, I mean, I don't know that there's a world crisis if we table this, but I think it needs to be clear that the council is aware of the responsibility if we're moving forward with this that

I'll call the question. I'm sorry. I'll make a motion.

Approve. To move forward. To move forward. Can I have a second? I don't know what we're voting for.

Okay.

We are voting to move forward on the Resolution 124, Ridge Street. Is this an approve?

This is to move forward. I'm in favor of this.

Yes.

Yes. No.

and we'll get back to the council and to our constituents. Okay, going forward. Other business, old business? I have no old business. Councilman?

Thank you. I'd like to congratulate the Glens Falls Collaborative, the team here at the City of Glens Falls and our entire downtown Glens Falls business community for another successful year with our summer Wednesday night Take a Bites. It's amazing how it's grown. What a wonderful, wonderful family event this is. And as it grows, it may become as big as what the Balloon Festival does for our city. So let's hope so and congratulations to all the people that were responsible for that. I also want to thank the local veteran organizations and their local community sponsors who were responsible for the moving Vietnam Memorial wall being on display at Cradle Park last weekend. As a child of the Vietnam era, this community woke up too many times to read in the post-ar that another native son had given his life for all of us in Vietnam. I lost many friends during this time, and that display was very emotional to many of us. And a huge thank you to those who lived to return home to continue their lives here and elsewhere. Those who are gone and those who remain will never be forgotten.

Improve drainage on Lexington Avenue and in other locations throughout the city I do want to just kind of Comment on the Quality of Life Committee meeting that we had was it last week that meeting went long and we did not get a chance to deliberate On what we felt would be the best way to move forward on the resolution We'll meet next month, and maybe that will be too late, but we will be meeting and deliberating at that time. And also, as far as the planning and development, to chime in on the overnight parking question, we do have numbers already as to the width of the streets, and we also have a pretty good idea of what is needed as far as the width for a snowplow versus the width for a fire truck. This is gonna become a question for the Board of Public Safety. appropriate to some extent at least. Thank you.

I learned recently about some potentially exciting news for good people that live on Fifth Street, one of three streets that still have concrete on it. of Engineering, DPW, met with National Grid last week to discuss repaving that road, and National Grid is currently working up a proposal to either convert it from concrete to asphalt for more conventional, more maintenance-friendly surface, or potentially any other things. Right now it's currently ongoing because I know 5th Street is a little bumpy right now after they did the National Grid gas lines. And then I just want to also like talk about that other recent event that happened with the School of Palooza that happened at the Cradle Public or Cradle Park that I think was last Tuesday or yeah last Tuesday where There was hundreds of different kids and organizations and churches that gave free clothing and backpacks for kids and parents getting ready for the school year. I think that was a brilliant way to show the community coming together, just like last Saturday with GemiFest, with all musicians and artists coming together to celebrate the end of summer.

It was not at the July meeting that you Acting mayor so I'd like to make a statement tonight I'm more than honored to see councilwoman at large very good and sitting in the chair of mayor tonight Is he acting there? Please enjoy that feeling that it must bring to you, Mary. It's well-deserved. You've continually moved forward as one of the city's best advocates, as a member of our esteemed police department for 25 years, as president of our local... of our local chapter of the NAACP as a councilman, as a councilman at large, and tonight to the top position as acting mayor. I wish we could clone you, Mary, as you portray everything that this community is all about. I'm proud to take this moment to honor the best of us. Very good.

I'd like to thank the Department of Public Works for their efforts in trimming bushes around Roosevelt Avenue, which has improved sight lines for drivers and for students walking to Kensington Road School. Separately, also a constituent reported that black tar spot disease is affecting her Norway maple trees. I want residents to know that this is not unique to Glens Falls, and it's been reported across New York and New England this season. And while it's unsightly, Norway maples are resilient, and the affected trees should recover. Thank you.

And Dan, thanks for what you did. is one of the complainers about the bushes and everything. One thing that she brought to my attention, and she thanks you for taking care of that, was that the lines at the stop signs haven't been painted, but if I'm correct, that isn't done because they aren't on the handicapped ramps.

Oh, that's good to know. It's also turned out that I found out today that that is Ward 4.

Right, right. But like I say, if you would just make sure that they, I call Tom Gerard, they finish painting those stops

I just want to highlight a new business coming to the area. Carissa O'Rourke is getting her own occupational therapy business called Meaningful Motion that she's going to be co... What's it called? co-owned i guess or like um going to be inside of grounded on glenn uh glenn street at yoga and meditation studio um and their open house is this saturday from 12 to 12 30. so not only can you get yoga and meditation from grounded on glenn but then you could also go with the occupational therapy

Hi, I'm Judy Calogero. I live on Lawton Avenue in Glens Falls, and I also chair the Glens Falls IDA meeting and sit on a couple boards with Mary and a few others. I wanted to talk about the black tar fungus and the maple tree. So I have a city maple tree right in front of my house, and it's been damaging the, what has been on those leaves is damaging my garden, and I'm a big gardener, and it was killing the pack of sandra in front of my house and damaging my lawn. So I had Stan Hunt come last week to the property, and they injected something into my tree, and I think it's fixing it. um and so uh and pantanage news more about it than i do but it is something that's going on and i think it's somewhat weather related and going all the way down to schenectady i believe but it um i don't know if the city would be interested in consulting with stan hop but they were very helpful to me and i did maybe do something i shouldn't have done with the city tree but it is it is your tree but i did it's in front of my house so i did

um have this injection done and it's actually still there you can see it if you wanted to drive by the house but they um i think it's going to work so anyways yeah just to quickly respond to that my understanding is that those medications of fungicide or whatever it is it does treat the symptoms of the disease but it doesn't actually cure it so it may come back yes so i have concerns about the safety of that fungicide for the environment although it is legal in the united states a lot of those They're banned in other countries, so I'm just worried about that.

Yeah, and Stan Hunt did say that they should come back next year and treat it again. So, yes, it is, I think, something that's not going to immediately go away. Like a flu shot, not a vaccine. Yeah, exactly. But anyways, they were very helpful to me. Thank you. Thank you. Any other comments?

Any other public comments? I just wanted to thank the mayor for asking me to be the acting mayor while she takes her daughter to college. And we wish all of our students that are going to college. I have three in college this year that I'm very proud of. And our children need our prayer and our guidance. so congratulations to all the kids and to all the parents because it was the parents also because it was a road to get them to college so congratulations to them all and congratulations to uh all the people that worked on that on the vietnam wall That's something that's very dear to my heart. My brother, my oldest brother, he was in the Vietnam War and he was shot five times and he lived and he still lives today. And he's handsome and doing great. But, you know, a lot of people did not make it. So I was just, just touched my heart, special to me. So I just thank all the people that were involved in bringing that wall here to Glens Falls. And it has really, really been a good showing there. And it's good education, it's good history. You don't need, you have to remember these things. They don't go away. 9-11 is coming up. we have to remember our past so that our future can be better. So thank you all for coming, and if there's nothing else, I'll take a motion to adjourn. Second? All in favor? Aye. Thank you so much.