Common Council - Regular Meeting

Good evening. Welcome to the city of Ithaca common council meeting for February 4th, 2026. We will call this meeting to order. Uh, let the record indicate that Alder person Kirby is excused this evening dealing with a family situation. Uh, agenda review. Any deletions of the agenda? Seeing none. Reports of municipal officials. Do we have any this evening? Breezing right along with that. Uh, I will recognize uh Mr. Clarebornne, invite you up to the table here. I do not have it in my agenda packet, unfortunately. So, I'm going to ask you to Well, I think you sent it this afternoon, but it is not in the agenda packet. But

yeah, then then All right, then. In that case, um, Mr. Defendini, would you like to uh please read and move the J Diane Sam's African-American History Month award?

So, this is the Gi the J. Diane Sam's annual African-American History Month recognition award honoring Miss Phoebe E. Brown. Whereas since 2004, the city of Ithaca Common Council has recognized an individual in our community of great esteem and stellar leadership during African-Amean History Month. and in doing so establish a tradition of honoring outstanding leadership, courage against unspeakable odds, and an unwavering commitment to the community that is in keeping with the vision of Dr. Carter G. Woodson, founder of Black African-American History Month. And whereas the late older person Jay Diane Sams was a heralded civil rights leader, longtime public servant, and the first African-American woman who also was a person with a disability to serve on common council, including as the first black woman to serve as the city's acting mayor. And whereas common council first bestowed this honor in 2004 on older person Sams following her retirement after representing the second ward in the city's populace for a decade. And whereas common council re renamed the annual recognition post humaneously in 2007 to honor older person Sam's tireless efforts on behalf of people of color, the underrepresented and other marginalized populations in and around Ithaca while as a single parent raising two sons who later established careers in law enforcement. And whereas since 2004, outstanding leaders across the greater Ithaca area have received this recognition from common council as being a person who advocates for social justice, change, racial equity, and fairness in the judicial and educational systems while also demonstrating a willingness to speak out publicly on behalf of the affforementioned objectives. And whereas

the name of each of these recipients are emblazed on a plaque affixed in the common council chambers and included with each year's resolution setting forth a standard of excellence embodied throughout the pioneers. This recognition honors and whereas one individual who has made such an indelible stamp upon Ithaca's history and is so revered that she is worthy of community acknowledgement is former alder person Miss Phoebe E. Brown. a fearless community advocate who helps unheard voices in this city become vocal and undeserved get connected to bring about positive change. And whereas from her start in Ithaca as an afterchool coordinator at the Southside Community Center in the early 1990s through her most recent stint as the regional coordinator with the Alliance of Families for Justice and representing the downtown and West Hell neighborhoods of the city's common council, Miss Brown has established her reputation as someone who does not hold her tongue regarding issues related to civil and human rights, be discrimination, reparations, incarceration and reintegration, addiction, housing, or poverty elimination. And whereas Miss Brown often shares her own life lessons to steer people away from mistakes she's made, commits her own resources to feed and clothe people in and around her neighborhood in Ithaca's north side, and allows her home to be a safe gathering place for women seeking refuge, support, or fellowship. And whereas Miss Brown's civic engagement has included serving on the board of directors for Alternatives Federal Credit Union, GreenStars Community Projects, and Rainbow Healing while working at ground level with Tomkins County, showing up for racial justice and mutual aid Tomkins, a grassroots organization that provides indispensable during the COVID pandemic. And whereas known for always being her authentic self, Miss Brown is known to operate around the city and beyond as someone whose life is an open book, leading with honesty and advocating with her heart on her sleeve for issues important to the disenfranchised. And whereas Miss Brown touts her masters and doctorate degrees and streetology, as she terms it, garnered through continual

education from life on the streets of Harlem, New York, to life in Ithaca, which she deploys regularly in helping those she encounters in need. And whereas Miss Brown's work in community has led to numerous awards including rear sojourners hassid social justice award from the multicultural resource center Laura Holberg award for the community foundation of Tomkins County social justice leader from business leaders of color and being named a Cornell University civic fellow. And whereas in considering Miss Brown's nomination, the selection committee com committee composed of past recipients of this award stated in summary, "Despite personal scarcity, Phoebe has been steadfast in speaking out both fiercely and loudly about injustice and addressing injustice of all kinds with intention. Now, therefore, be it resolved, the City of Ithaca Common Council bestows upon Miss Phoebe E. Brown the 2026 Jay Diane Sam's African-American History Month recognition during this February and urges all citizens to recognize the invaluable contributions of this positive, affirming and dedicated Ithacan who also serves as a stalwart example of the many prominent figures we celebrated throughout history and be of further resolve that in doing so, Miss Phoebe E. Brown is worthy of honor not only each year in February but throughout the entire calendar year. I so move. Is there a second? Seconded by older person Moss council lock in. Clap after we vote. All those in favor that carries unanimously. Now you clap.

BB, I know I am going to tell you to use the microphone. If Okay, the floor is yours, ma'am. Oh, y'all can see me on screen. You can. Well, can you see the dress? I am red carpet. get held up at security. Is that what it was?

Yeah. Yeah. I am so like wound up, so appreciative, so much gratitude. This is the this award here means so much to me. I I came to Ithaca, as y'all know. I was running away from Kraken New York City and I came to Ithaca. But don't even think I found some here too. But I remember being so afraid when I got here, right? But the women in this community loved me until I could learn to love myself. There were some men too. Bob Fitz Simmons um and a lot more. But I am just like every year when they announce this award, this is the first year that I felt I deserved it. Somebody who comes from the past that I can't come from, you get those still dark moments where you think you don't deserve it. But I'm here to tell anybody who's ever been where I've been. in jail, drugaddicted, homeless, scared in a dark place that you don't have to stay there. And Diane Sams, I'm telling you, I was coming out of a NA meeting and she was standing on her stoop and invited me to a campaign. I keep remembering the name, forgetting the name. I was Duffy

Carl McCall.

Carl McCall. Uh, and and she invited me there. I need to tell you all I was nervous. I felt intimidated. There was Diane, there was Marsha Ford, Audrey Cooper, um Leslie, so many women in this community that I was so intimidated by. I mean, not intimidated, in awe of who loved me till I can love myself. Y'all know I like to talk. I'm not going to overdo it, though. But what I will say is this community I came here my friend Dier told me to come here cuz I can get clean right she said I didn't know what she said I said we're Yiddica I even said the wrong name at the bus stop but I got here and I did not know then that this would be the place that healed me. I know y'all hear me talk lots of mad crap about Ithaca, right? But it was the place I needed to be to heal, right? And so when I invite friends to come to Ithaca, I'm truly honest with them. I said, "You're going to find whatever you found in Brooklyn, Bronx, Manhattan, Harlem, but you're also going to find the best of the best." And that is what you need to look for here in Ithaca. And what I do have to say, yes, I don't have no formal degree, but I have my PhD and masters in streetology. I earned it in Ithaca, Lennox Avenue, 7th Avenue. most importantly I just want to say

I know I just want to thank y'all for loving me till I love myself and I was afraid cuz I'm like don't overdo it be humble but today I am not going to be humble I'll be humble tomorrow Uh but today this is welld deserved. Diane prepared me for this award. I will never ever ever forget her. I still am trying to ask the city to name her street over by the mutual housing as Diane Sam's way, right? Because she deserves that over by mutual housing. It would not be there without her. And I want to see her picture all over Ithaca because if you and most people know her. So anyway, without further ado, I want to say one of my other biggest accomplishments is being the mother of Abdul Rashida and Lester. And I'm not going to name all the grandkids, but eight of them. Eight grandkids. I love them to death. And today is Mica and Somay's birthday. Happy birthday, my loves. And now I'll leave. Thank y'all. This feels so good. Maybe I won't leave. There's an empty seat over there.

Thank you all. Thank you so much. Congratulations.

Good evening. Thank you, uh, Common Council. Um, yes, we do this every year in honor of my mother. I'm one of two, um, siblings. I'm the youngest of two. Um, each year we we convene, uh, just probably, uh, just after the MLK breakfast to go through our list of people that we want to uh, nominate. Um, and yes, hands down, Miss Phoebe Brown, uh, was chosen.

Um, those those folks that, uh, sit on that committee, if you would please just stand up real quick so we know who you are. J Diane Sam's awardees, please stand up. Stay standing, please. Here. Also Dean Turner in the back who was unable to stand up as well. And Laura Laura Bronca. Yes. Yes. Leslie McBine. J.R. Clairbornne. Ken Glover. Millie Clark. Carl Graham. I did I see Cal Walker? Yes. Okay. If I'm forgetting anybody, please shout. Denise Lee. And I'd be remissed if I forgot. Would you please stand up? One of my one of my mothers favorite nieces, please stand up. Roxan's Roxanne made it all the way here from Rochester, New York. Thank you for coming, Roxanne. and thank you for the time council.

My turn. Can't take all the time. All right. Okay. We're about the same height here. Yeah. All right. Good evening, council. I just want to say thank you as well. I feel like I always come here and say thank you, but I think that uh this very important that we're able to continue this uh through Common Council's resolution to be able to continue to keep Diane here. Diane's legacy. Dian was someone who uh literally and figuratively gave her life to the city of Itha. Yes. Um she uh as someone once said, she is a woman with shortened statue with disabilities. Do not get in her way.

You know, she is somebody who makes whatever if she says yes, it's going to happen regardless of whether you believe it or not. And I was a witness to that because I saw her in city hall. I'll leave out the names of who those people were, but I saw her go into an office with someone. I heard a lot of yelling and screaming. I saw the walls literally shaking. I was like, "What's going on?" And they came out, everybody was two, three different colors of whatever they were, lighter than when they went in. And Diane got what she needed. So, uh, Diane was definitely a force of nature. And I would be remiss right now to say that as we increase our circle of our recipients, we also have to give homage to those that we lost. And this past year, we lost Miss uh, Lucy Brown.

Yes. and she's gone on to join Diane and ancestors, but she is someone who um right up front there when she was received the award, she said that this is like a lifetime achievement award for me. And I think if you look at everybody who's received it, you've heard um Phoe's story tonight. This really is something that not not only is it considered do we consider it a lifetime legacy award, but we also consider it a an boy to say keep going. You're not done yet. Your work is not done. So there are just more people now behind you that you may not have known that are help there there to help keep you going.

So and we all help keep each other going and as we also try to contribute to help you all keep going. So we thank you for what you do for the city. We thank you for this extending this we do look forward to the plaque that is mentioned in the um resolution being back in its place on the wall because y'all missed Diane. So she was up there and so we look forward to that day. And I just want to take time lastly to uh we have a new feature for this year. We always wonder about people come away, we f them with all these great words and clauses and applause and they walk away empty-handed. So this year, while we're waiting on the resolution, we have something new to present and easy. Okay, they heard it right here.

We have a plaque here. Let the folks on TV land see this. Uh this is the J. Diane Sam's African-American History Month award given to those who advocate and publicly speak out for social justice and change, racial equity and fairness in the judicial and educational systems. And the quote here is, "It's really important to me that those who have not heard for ages start being listened to."

D Jay Diane Sams is presented to Miss Phoebe Brown today, February 4th, 2026. And I have to say one thing. I forgot to uh welcome the ancestors in this room to keep us honest, safe, healthy, wealthy, and wise, but most importantly, keep us honest. Thank you. Thank you.

Y how bad they tricked me. I'm not gonna I'm not even going to tell that story. I'll say that. All right. But thank you again. This is beautiful. This whenever I feel because I still get in the moment of feeling dark places and hopefully I'm going to read this. I'm going to keep it right next to my bedstand. Thank you very much. Thank you.

Thank you. Congratulations again, older person Brown. Council, may I have a motion to accept the January 7th, 2026 minutes? Moved by Mr. Defendini, seconded by Mr. Keel. All those in favor of accepting the minutes. That carries unanimously. All the prestos unanimously. Um, all right. I have 30 speakers, which means that we have two minutes a person. Uh, and the first speaker is Terresa Alt. One moment. Teresa, you may begin. I'm Teresa Alt of 206 Eddie Street in College Town and you could probably guess what I will say.

Teresa, I'm going to I'm going to pause your time. If the chamber could just

You're not on the clock, Teresa. Let's just wait till uh Okay. What? I'm sorry. No, I'm just gonna restart it. I just If you're gonna if you're going to stay in the chambers, can you please just quiet down so we can listen to our speakers? We have a lot of uh folks here who would like to share their opinions and views and perspectives with council this evening. Thank you.

Teresa Al, 206 Eddie Street, College Town. You probably can guess what I will say. I see nothing on the agenda today that directly addresses this city's desperate need for more housing at rents that the people who work here can actually afford, let alone housing that people with very low incomes can afford. Um, I was asking who will be on the zoning advisory committee. Now, I have been told that I've been sent an email about that. Uh, apparently, uh, okay, nothing more to say about that. Uh, apparently it was chosen but not properly publicized or made available to the public. Uh but also what about rescending CAP? It has been the IDA's excuse for abating city property taxes to build luxury housing that now stays vacant. It would take a modest amount of work to sort out the several parts of CAP and see whether there is anything useful there that would not be required anyway. And what about a little push for the state to pass the permanently affordable social housing for New Yorkers bill? It would actually bring state money to build well permanently affordable social housing here. It's a longer term fix, but a huge one. I hear that it's going to come up soon.

Thank you very much. might uh I'm gonna ask that people we have an hour for public comment so I would like to get through all the speakers the next I will so my next speaker unfortunately is someone who has only listed their name as Jared and I will request that you identify yourself but come on up and then the speaker on deck the speaker on deck is uh Richard Booth am I sitting here yes and you have two minutes once you again.

Yeah. Okay. So, uh at the October County legislature meeting, uh there was lots of talk about flock. Multiple people there, uh in defense of flock said something along the lines of privacy doesn't matter because our phones all track us all. Anyways, uh this comment is in response to that mentality. Uh one, that's a pathetic justification for surveillance capitalism. Two, uh you underestimate how much of a stubborn nerd I am. Uh, three, have you ever asked yourselves why our phones and our tech are so invasive in the first place? It's because our representatives have let us down. You've sold us out to people who turn our private lives into profit. Not just you, of course, but representatives local to federal. Um, our phones didn't need to be this way. This path was chosen for us because someone figured out they could make more money out of us along the way, and because you have yet to put a stop to it. Uh, a privacy policy longer than the Bible that signs away my firstborn is not necessary to get my food delivered. I shouldn't need to install ad blockers and VPNs and other dorky tech things. Uh, not because I don't want to take responsibility for my life, but because I am a citizen and I'm not equipped to deal with this. Uh, this is an institutional kind of thing. We shouldn't bear citizens shouldn't bear the burden of maintaining a sliver of our privacy. One person can't opt out a flock. It's a choice that you made for the entire community. Um, I trust in my representatives to protect my well-being on this broad community level that I'm not equipped to navigate. Uh, you've betrayed my trust to a corporation of cartoonishly evil bullies, grifters, and war proeteers. Uh, my home is now complicit in cheesy sci-fi mass surveillance. To be clear, this isn't just about Flock. Uh, when we kick Flock out of Ithka, another company is going to be up. uh just like them selling us

the same thing. We need something broad like the GDPR uh the ACLU CCOPs. That is your time. Thank you. If anyone does run out of time because I know that there

but we do have to get we do have an hour for public comment. Please reserve the demonstrations of support for uh for at the end. Uh Mr. Booth followed by Kathy Nson. You have two minutes. Why don't you begin? Richard Booth, longtime city resident, uh, member of common council quite a few years ago. Three comments regarding the resolution dealing with worker protection. Uh, number one, I urge that you defeat the resolution or you table it indefinitely. By no reasonable definition is this a legitimate priority for the city of Ithaca. That is particularly true when the city is struggling badly to provide major services that are indeed what Ithaca residents have expected and and received for a very long time. Go talk to your constituents. You don't have enough police. TCAT is in trouble. Commons is in trouble. Um the the parking garages are often a mess and not well-run. The city needs to focus on its real priorities. If you're not willing to table this resolution indefinitely, you should at least table it until you ask and receive from appropriate state officials a clear and affirmative answer to the following question. Does current New York state law permit a city like the city of Ithaca to adopt this kind of legislation that will allow the regulation of employer decisions to terminate employment by one or more employees in including of course both for-profit employers and not not for-profit uh employers. Uh you are not a government agent entity with uh unlimited powers. you have only the power the state of New York has granted to cities. The same is true for counties and for villages and towns. Uh and so I

urge that if you're not willing to table this indefinitely uh you limit it uh you wait until you get that answer from the state. Thirdly, and I'm going to run out of time. If you go forward with this legislation, you're going to do a lot of damage to the city of Ithaca, its residents, and the city government in terms of city revenues, loss of city employers, discouragement of new city, new new employers. That is your time. You may submit the rest of your comments in writing. Kathy Nson, you're our next speaker, followed by Stacy Masten.

Welcome. You have two minutes once you begin. Thank you. I'm here to speak about the wrongful discharge and labor protections um resolution that's on your agenda. Um good evening. My name is Kathy Nason and I own a local staffing firm in Ithaca Express Employment Professionals. We work with 150 Ithaca area businesses each year. Everything from small familyowned businesses to the large employers in the community. Through our work, we help connect employees to good jobs quickly and safely. We see firsthand how hiring decisions are made and how existing employment laws are applied. I appreciate the council's focus on workers protections and want to share a practical perspective. Many believe existing protections for workers are already strong. New York state and federal law already prohibit wrongful termination, retaliation, and discrimination. Most employers rely on HR professionals or legal counsel to ensure their compliance, and unionized workers already have just cause protections and grievance processes in place. Policies like this resolution risk undermining the role of HR professionals whose job is already to ensure lawful employment policies. For forming a committee to explore changing local employment practices creates uncertainty for businesses because they don't know yet what requirements might be adopted or how they would be enforced. businesses, especially small ones, compare communities on where to do business, and uncertainty alone can

discourage them from opening or expanding in Ithaca. I urge the council to ensure that existing laws and union protections are insufficient before moving forward with this, which may affect Ithaca jobs. Our next speaker is Stacy Masten, followed by somebody Manzela, I think. I can't really read this handwriting. You have two minutes. Why don't you begin?

Yep. All right. Thank you um for giving us this opportunity. I am here uh Stacy Masten. I am the president for Sherm of Tomkins County, a local HR um organization, as well as the HR director of Tomkins Financial. Um, I just, you know, want to echo what some others have said and believe that we really strive to create an environment that supports our employees and the people of Ithaca as a financial institution actively working to support growth in this community. Um, we are concerned about um, you know, we we understand the challenges that face this community, but we are also concerned about how this initiative will strain growth of businesses in this local community. For this community to grow and thrive, it needs to attract new business opportunities. And this initiative would actively decrease the appeal of Ithaca as a destination for business growth with small businesses in particular facing unnecessarily burdensome roadblocks to their ability to effectively operate and employ local residents. We're here to listen and we want to express our concerns of the local community, but we encourage the council to collect all the data and feedback that supports our local laws that are being enforced today.

Thank you. My next speaker is I've heard Fran Mandela. Um, no,

you have two minutes once you begin. Thank you. My name is France Bataphor Manzela. I live in the town of Ithaca, but I spend a lot of time in the city of Ithaca and I'm here to speak against the use of cameras in our community. You will hear many of the speakers who know a lot more about this than I do, but I've been doing a lot of research and learning a lot about it. And I think the potential for abuse outweighs any kind of advantage. The sharing of information with organizations like ICE can cause mass massive violence and abuse. We've already seen it in certain communities in in our country. Um I've recently read that information on um location and other information on domestic violence survivors has been shared and has caused them to be at risk. Um, also in general, flack cameras are a massive intrusion into our privacy, into all of your privacy, into all of our privacy. I'm also wondering, have we done any studies to see the percentage of crimes that are truly solved because of flock cameras? Many municipalities, such as our neighbors in Syracuse, have already decided against this massive surveillance. They've already cancelled their contracts. So, I'm urging you to cancel ours, dismantle these cameras. You can be sure that I'm going to be visiting my um Tomkins County legislative rep to talk about this as well. Thank you very much.

Thank you. My next speaker is Jeremiah Craig, followed by Maryanne Grady Flores. Good evening. Welcome. You have two minutes once you begin.

My name is Jeremiah Craig. 123 Hudson Street here in Ithaca. I'm a business owner and I sit on the board of the Ithaca Rotary Club and the board of the Tomkins Chamber of Commerce in the small business seat. I've come before the council today to share my concerns and the concerns of other in the business community regarding the just cause of wrongful discharge and labor protections resolution. I support fair treatment of workers and agree that people should be fired arbitrarily. My concern is whether this propo proposal achieves that goal without creating unintended harm. I also support businesses and nonprofits and recognize their importance to our local economy and community. After reviewing the language released thus far, I'm concerned that this resolution does not take into account what many businesses are already doing through existing progressive discipline and termination policies. In a recent webinar hosted by Jobs with Justice, which included presenters from Ithaca, it was stated that employers can legally fire workers without warning or explanation leading to abuse or de discrimination. I believe this framing is misleading. Federal and state anti-discrimination laws and retaliation protections already exist. It was also stated that organizers have spoken with the business community. This is also misleading as the Chamber of Commerce has not been included in these discussions and many businesses only recently learned that this proposal was under consideration. Many of the businesses I've spoken with already use progressive discipline policies with documentation at every step. Many go beyond these progressive internal policies because they recognize how difficult it is to re to hire and ret retain employees in our local economy. Many businesses cannot afford to lose staff because they are already operating below ideal staffing levels. Introducing new regulatory system through just cause resolution would add complexity and cost processes that are already designed to be fair and transparent. I urge the council to carefully consider the impact of this resolution on local businesses and nonprofits and to include business community in future discussions. Thank you for your time.

Thank you. My next speaker is Maryanne Grady Flores followed by Kelly Cartill. Good evening. Welcome. You have two minutes. Why don't you begin?

Okay. So, um thank you. This is I'm Maryanne Grady Flores. I live in the city of Ithaca. Um I'm here to speak out against uh the flack cameras. I would like them to be taped up immediately. I shared my views at the county and I said I came up I moved here from New York City. I would never ever have dreamt that this is where we'd be today having uh surveillance all over us. Um I as a mother of children that are Latino and Irish, they don't look Irish. Anyway, I just had a conversation with my daughter who lives in LA. She looks like a Latina. She looks like the babysitter of our of my grandchildren, of her children. Her kids are are blondhaired, blue-eyed. I I was talking with Anna about the the need for her to have a locator on her phone because of ICE. Flock feeds that information into ICE. ICE has access to that. We want that eliminated from here. We want that eliminated from across the country. We don't need this stuff. Anyway, this is personal for me. Um, but it's personal for me in the sense that every person every person is uh subject to this horrendous uh administration that's come down the pike. I know most of us sit sitting here are disgusted with what's going on and all the people that have been killed in our prisons. I'm not talking about Renee Good and Alex Pretty. I'm talking about all the people that are in the prisons. The children too as young as two two months because of surveillance because of them

finding out where people are. We've got to get rid of flock immediately. Take the tape, wind it up, cover it. Thank you. Thank you very much. My next speaker is Kelly Cartmill, followed by Terry Harsh House. Hi, welcome. You have two minutes once you begin.

Hi, I'm Kelly Cartmill. I'm the area director of sales for the Canopy Hampton and Fairfield hotels as well as the Strand Cafe restaurant. As a representative of multiple hospitality employers, I'm here to request the city council includes our voices in the just cause deliberations. Due to the very diverse and large workforce of our industry represents in the city of Ithaca, I believe it would be extremely beneficial for council to include our representation in their discussions to understand the impact on our ability to operate, grow, and continue to serve this community. Many of us have not been consulted, surveyed, or invited into the conversations to share real world experiences, challenges, and existing practices that may already address these concerns. We believe that sitting down with local employers, hearing our perspectives, and reviewing actual data together could lead to solutions that protect workers and keep local businesses strong. Our hotels and restaurants take working conditions, employee benefits, policies, and procedures very seriously. We always strive to foster an environment that makes us a preferred employer in our industry. New York State already offers protection against workplace discrimination as well as offering a way to file claims. In addition, our company offers a confidential associate hotline and any reports are taken seriously, investigated, as well as a no retaliation policy strictly prohibiting any adverse action taken against the employee filing the complaint. We already follow a progressive discipline policy in all our hotels and restaurant. I believe if council wants to really take a comprehensive look at this, you have to engage with our businesses to see what is already in place. I think you would be impressed by the additional protections and benefits we provide to our workers. As we are an industry that always has a shortage of workers, so employee retention becomes even more vital and essential. We fully understand

and support the goal of fairness and stability. However, we respectfully ask before moving forward. My next speaker is Terry followed by Katie Church. Welcome Terry. Good to see you. You have two minutes. Why don't you begin?

My name is Terry Tares. I'm here to speak on the just cause legislation. Um, at will employment has long been the foundation of the employer employee relationship for a reason. It supports job creation, economic mobility, and allows businesses, especially small and midsized. Employers to make timely hiring decisions. That flexibility benefits both sides. Employees can pursue better opportunities, and employers can reward merit, not just seniority, helping younger workers advance more quickly in their careers. Ithaca is already a regional economic leader. In today's uncertain economic climate, our focus should be on attracting small and medium-sized businesses and young professionals who want to invest their time and capital here. Eliminating atill employment risks having the opposite effect, creating h uh hesitation and discouraging investment and job growth in our city. The justification for moving away from atwill employment appears to rest on the idea that employers are engaging in widespread widespread discriminatory or harmful practices. However, no clear economic data has been presented to demonstrate such a problem exists in Ithaca. Protecting employers from discrimination is essential and Ithaca and workers have strong proven protections. Employees can pursue claims through employment attorneys, often on a contingency basis, or seek compensation restitution at no cost through EEOC or the New York State Division of Human Rights. In fiscal year 2024 alone, the EEOC secured nearly 700 million for workers nationwide, and NYDHR recovered more than 1.2 million in the uh Fingerlakes region alone. New York New York's human rights law is among the most protective in the in the world, offering broader safeguards than federal law, including a lower standard for proving hostility work environment

claims. In short, Ithaca workers enjoy stronger protections than most workers in our country.

That is your time. You may submit your comments in writing. Next is Katie Church, followed by Adam Chandler. All right. Next is Adam Chandler, followed by another person, Josh Dolan. Welcome, Adam. You have two minutes once you begin. I request the following from the city of Ithaca. Disable the flock cameras and microphones in our community. The most immediate way to do that is simply wrap them in plastic. Two, cancel the contract and tell the flock tell Flock to remove the equipment. Keep an eye on the company though. When the city of Evston, Illinois cancelled their contract and remove the equipment, Flock came back days later and put them back in. Three, work with members of your community to pass community control over police surveillance cops legislation. On November 12th, 2025, Bvard County, Florida deputies were alerted by their Flock app that a warrant match linked to a nearby vehicle's license plate number. The deputies located the owner, put him in handcuffs, and booked him into the county jail overnight. What the flock AI didn't tell the officers was that the 21-year-old warrant was a mistake. The original charge was possession of a can of beer by a person under the legal drinking age. At the time, he was a college baseball player. He hired attorney who advised him the matter had been taken care of. The case, however, was later reset. A warrant was issued and no one, not the attorney court system defendant, ever took additional action. Despite multiple background checks over the next 20 years for employment, youth sports coaching, and international travel, the warrant never surfaced. But somehow this clerical error made its way into the vast database flock, a

company that was has received over $300 million from Peter Teal, the billionaire who created Palunteer, is accumulating about all of us. That clerical error wasn't fixed until after he was publicly arrested in front of children, parents, other families while coaching his son's baseball game. not for new misconduct, but because the criminal justice system failed to reconcile 2004 paperwork issue before ALPR technology magnified it into an active. Thank you. That is your time. You and anyone else who may run out of time may submit their comments in writing. Uh Josh, you're next. And then followed by Nan Roar.

All right. Uh Nan Roar, followed by uh V. Anglehart. Hi, Nan. Two minutes. Why don't you begin?

Let's go. Good evening. My name is Nan Roar and I am the CEO of the Downtown Ithaca Alliance. We are the 22 block business improvement district whose stakeholders include 160 plus property owners, hundreds of businesses and employees, thousands of residents, and tens of thousands of students and visitors. Before I start with my comment, I actually want to acknowledge acting city manager Dominic Rakio for his partnership and communication with the DIA. We appreciate the collaborative working relationship that supports positive outcomes for both downtown and the city. As council considers forming a special committee on labor protections, the DIA wants to be a resource and a conduit to our stakeholders. Our role is to help ensure communication flows both ways, connecting council with business owners and employees and helping council and our stakeholders understand the implications of any legislation being considered. We encourage a process that considers all sides of this issue and remains transparent and inclusive. This is a community that prides itself on valuing the whole person. Downtown is home to businesses, both small and large, whose owners actively support their employees and care about their well-being. Small business owners operate with limited time, staffing, and financial margins. These owners often end up paying their employees before and at a higher wage than they often pay themselves because they love what they do and they care deeply about downtown success as the heart of this community. Additional strain, whether operational or regulatory, can affect their ability to sustain their businesses, which ultimately impacts the vitality of downtown as a whole. The DIA is actively working to educate employers and employees on existing labor laws and provide practical resources. We are purchasing labor law posters for businesses, partnering with our HR consultant to host handbook and compliance workshops and collaborating with nonprofit and government partners to connect businesses with guidance that helps them meet current federal and state laws. We encourage a transparent process where stakeholders can participate meaningfully and the DIA

stands ready to assist in that endeavor. Thank you. Thank you. Next speaker is Viangelhart followed by William from Senica Street. Your handwriting is indecipherable to me. So if your name is William and you live on Senica Street, you're next. You have two minutes once you begin.

Hi everyone, my name is Vai. Um I'm a resident of Trumansburg and I'm here to talk about Flock. So in this issue, I see an opportunity for Ithaca to continue its tradition of bucking societal norms and setting an example for a better future. As a resident of Trumansburg, it's clear that the choices Ithaca makes have an impact that reach its own suburbs and beyond. With that in mind, I want to ask you all, how do we want to do loving community? In her book, All About Love, Bel. Hook says that cultures of domination rely on the cultivation of fear as a way to ensure obedience. Fear is the primary force upholding systems of systems of domination. When we choose to love, we choose to move against fear, against alienation and separation. We live in an increasingly militarized and surveiled society where individuals are treated by default as criminals and waiting. We're taught to be on guard towards each other and our government. I'm a dreamer, so I imagine a different world. one where everyone feels safe, where standards of behavior are upheld in loving ways, and where citizens feel protected by their governments, not stalked or harassed. This is an opportunity to move us in the right direction. Mass surveillance disproportionately impacts bipok, immigrant, and low-income neighborhoods. It discourages free speech, invades privacy, and leads to false arrests. It's used to monitor and prosecute political pro protesters, people seeking and providing reproductive health care, and LGBTQ plus communities. Clearly, it's not serving the people it claims to protect, especially the most vulnerable among us. Although the idealist in me would live in a world without mass surveillance, I understand it may not be realistic. However, however, there is community focused framework adopted by at least 26 jurisdictions across the country. Community control over police surveillance cops. This puts the power back in the hands of the community. It protects privacy, civil liberties, and dem democracy by requiring a rigorous transparent public review process that allows the public to question and reject surveillance practices that place vulnerable communities at greater risk. It requires police departments to get community buyin before acquiring new surveillance technologies. Governments and police should not be able to use surveillance tools without informing and securing permission from the people they serve. This is the bare minimum if we want to work toward a world rooted in love rather than fear. I urge the city

of Ithaca to not only sever ties with flock, but also to adopt a cops over law. Thank you very much. Next speaker is William, if you figured out who you are, followed by Ruth Yaro. Sorry, William. Couldn't read the handwriting. Yes, thank you. Italian. I should be able to read it, but you know, welcome. You got two minutes. Why don't you begin?

Thanks for um listening to me. I'm going to make it short and plain. I've lived in Ithaca all my life, lot longer than any of you have lived here. The two things that bother me here is on this great building, there should just be the American flag and the P flag. No other flag up there. put the other flags someplace else. The other thing that bothers me and it bothers a lot of my friends and they don't come dare come here because they're afraid to say it. It's time to get rid of Black Lives Matter down here on Green Street and put up all lives matter and get order and get and get rid of the free Gaza sign down there.

Thank you. Thank you for listening to me. My next speaker is Ruth Yaro followed by Peggy Coleman. Hi Ruth, welcome. You have two minutes. Why don't you begin?

I'm Ruth Yarrow. I've lived in Ithaca 30 years over three different times. I'm here to speak about safety. Two two issues. One in your revised uh distributed energy resource plan. Um it's very important to take out that nuclear and hydrogen are safe alternatives and uh clearly climate change is a threat but let's not substitute a nuclear source of energy. Uh second I'm here to speak about the flock cameras. I spoke to uh Chief Tom Kelly, asked him about them and he mentioned that there was an instance when they had found someone who had was a had committed a crime and that the flock cameras with the connections to other communities. They were able to apprehend the person. I feel that uh because we are a sanctuary city, a sanctuary county, uh this kind of connection that is when our data is collected on flock cameras, it goes to uh municipalities where that is not the case. And I worry about what would happen to the immigrants in our community with the use of these cameras in under the this administration. Also, the cameras don't just get the license plates and the make of the car, but they're able to tell the skin color of the people in the cars. We don't need

another technology that concentrates power uh in the hands of those that already have it. Thank you very much. That is your time. My next speaker is Peggy Coleman, followed by followed by Tony uh Lam Monaco. Peggy, welcome. You have two minutes once you begin.

Good evening, everyone. I am Peggy Coleman and I'm the president of the Tomkins Chamber. I represent the 750 plus uh public and private businesses and missiondriven organizations who are our members in this community. And I'm here to request that the city council includes the voice of employers who value their workforce in the just cause deliberations. um in the September 2025 common council meetings and most recently in a webinar on January 22nd uh hosted by Jobs with justice which included the uh Tomkins County Worker Center. Many of the examples cited for just unjust termination are protected under our current laws. Um there you know workforce discrimination is against the law period. The New York State human rights law um is stronger than most other laws as far as far as other atill um states. Um I have the references which I will submit in writing so that it can be shared with other workers on how to report. Um, I just think council should include the employers in this community to have a clear understanding of the progressive discipline policies that are already in place and the additional protections that are provided to workers. Um, the employee retention programs that are available right now to support workers to keep and grow in their jobs. And let the data support if this is a legal action that should be taken. And instead of legislating, I urge you to focus on the few bad actors while supporting economic development efforts in this city. The chamber is ready to be a partner to provide additional training and best practices um to all employers whether they're

chamber members or not to ensure fairness to all workers. Thank you very much. My next speaker is Tony Lman Monaco followed by Anne Johnson.

Welcome Tony. You have two minutes once you begin. Hi. Everyone in this room deserves healthy escapism, privacy, and enjoyment of public spaces. If you aren't familiar with the Hawthorne effect, it shows that there is a change in behavior of choices when someone knows that you're being watched. Footage from the cameras are available using commercial search engines. You can easily find these administrative databases and scroll through at your heart's content. None of this footage is encrypted. No usernames, passwords required, nothing. Anyone in this room can review, screen, record footage, whatever they need, watch the live feed. Not only is it likely that these cameras are vulnerable to manipulation, but it's also vulnerable to anyone being able to delete the footage at the touch of a button. How is this being vetted? Blocks new Condor cameras detect and track people using AI to follow you whether you are a person of interest or not. Anyone can use this information to study someone's habits, create a profile on you, steal from you, even kidnap you, intimidate you, scare you, the list goes on. Not to mention how inaccurate these cameras are at detecting noise. Imagine your home, police show up to your door, ask you about a phone conversation you had in a parking lot because you used certain keywords. Imagine explaining to a police officer you were just trying to sing a Bob Marley tune. I shot the sheriff. It's almost like getting accidentally swatted by AI. It's not a good time. There is an abundance of true stories that justify these hypothetical events. Here's something for you to chew on. I have seen these cameras in playgrounds and schools in a world where pedophiles run rampant and unimpeachable. These vulnerabilities only stand to impact our communities in negative ways. Surveillance is nothing new by all means. Our phone tracks everything we do. So why do we need more big

brother 1984 I'm good deuces. My next speaker is an Johnson and Johnson followed by uh Lori Kwiski. Welcome. You have two minutes once you begin.

Uh thank you. Um so I live on the lower part of West Hill and we woke up and realized that we were surrounded by flat camera sometime last spring. So, I've been following this issue very closely for almost a year now. I've been downloading IPD search audit logs from the so-called transparency portal that Flock provides. I've been doing this since June. I've missed a few weeks here and there, but I'd like to bring a few things to your attention. The first is that IPD conducted nationwide searches on the Flock system. In June, July, and September of last year. On June 1st, over 79,000 cameras were searched. On July 15th, over 78,000 cameras were searched. And in September, IPD conducted three different searches all over 97 or all over 90,000 cameras. We know these are nationwide searches because of the camera count. Now, I'd like to direct your attention to US Senator Ron Weiden's letters. His office investigated Flock last year due to concerns over privacy. And Senator Widen points out that Flock confirmed to his office that 75% of law enforcement customers enroll in the National Lookup tool. This is the national database. And this is because Flock only permits agencies to search the national database if they also first share their data with the national database. So it looks to me like our data at least was being shared at the national level. Maybe it still is. It's just a box that you click or uncclick. It's that easy. Secondly, I'd like to point out that Widen also confirmed that Flock does not require officers to enter active case numbers to search its database. Officers can enter any ambiguous or imprecise term that they want to run a search. And again, you see this in IPD's audit logs. In January of this year, IPD actually entered the term surveillance to run searches three times. It also ran three different searches with no reason entered at all. I didn't even think that was possible. I don't think the police department is taking the concerns of

surveillance seriously. This contrasts sharply with the sheriff who requires his staff to enter a case number. Thank you very much. That is your time. Lori is next, followed by Emily Thuja. Hi Lori, welcome. You have two minutes once you begin.

Good evening and thank you. Always an honor to be here. My name is Lori Kwinsky. I'm a resident of the city of Ithaca and also I work here in the city of Ithaca at Catholic Charities. I come here to talk about the flock cameras and in part I'm doing it because I think you'll notice that not a lot of people who have spoken about them are from other countries and there are a lot of people who are immigrants in our community. Last I heard about 12% of our population here. A lot of them are scared. We've heard stories of people feeling like they have to cover their faces because of these flock cameras. My agency, one of several that serves the immigrant community here in Tomkins, uh, serves around 300 people a year. And then you can imagine all of the people in their households to add to that number. People from Africa, Latin America, Asia, Europe, all kinds of places with all kinds of stories. In my work at Catholic Charities, I chair a community effort, a grassroots effort called immigrant solidarity. It's a wonderful group of people. We've been working on know your rights for people in the immigrant community here in Tomkins County. We've been raising money to help people in detention. We're very in immigration detention. We're very concerned about the flaw cameras because so much of what we're hearing is that it is coming down on immigrants. It is being used in this illegal enforcement uh so-called enforcement of immigration detention. I know this contract was signed in 2023 and sadly we are in a different era now in this country. It's not the same administration and it's not the same kind of quote unquote enforcement. I think that's reason enough for you to consider ending this contract, covering up those cameras, and then ending this contract. Everything we're seeing says

that this cannot be trusted as a company that would only keep this data here in our community for our own law enforcement to use. There's nothing that tells us that it wouldn't be given to uh the federal government. So, thank you. Thank you for your service and thank you for listening to us this evening.

Thank you. My next my next speaker is Emily Thuja followed by Todd Sadler. Welcome. You have two minutes once you begin. Um, feels weird to hear so many people against mass surveillance and then be surveiled while I'm speaking. But, um, uh, so I, uh, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I have good things to say. Um, and I want to wax poetic, but in the interest of time, uh, yay. I am encouraged that, um, Bonado is going to be helping the city update its accounting and also catching up on audits, possibly an accelerated pace. Um and another yay. Uh it sounds like we're closing um another round of attempting to hire a controller. Uh here's to progress.

Thank you very much. My next speaker is Todd Sadler, followed by Siram uh Parisama. Welcome. You have two minutes. Why don't you begin?

Hey Todd Sadler, 302 Cascadilla Street. Uh thank you all for being on the common council. I know it's not easy. It gets hot in here in more ways than one. Um, the flock surveillance system may or may not have some legitimate public safety benefits, but the risk to public safety, democracy, and the rule of law far outweigh the benefit at this time. Nobody here can guarantee that data gathered by the system cannot be misused. If anyone says that, I for one don't believe it. But let's say for the sake of argument that our local public servants are confident that none of this data will ever be used to target immigrants, dissident or any human being who has a right to uh human rights and privacy and due process. What will you do if one fine day a Trump operative tells you you have to give them full access to all the data and keep your mouth shut about it or else if the system is present in our community that can happen whether it's legal or constitutional or not. So what I'm asking uh is to end the contract and remove all the flat components right now. And if you do that, then that bad scenario can't happen. But as long as they're they remain in our community, that can happen. Let's do it before ICE shows up.

Thank you very much. Uh sam, you're my next speaker, followed by Jared Farley. Welcome. You have two minutes. Once you begin, sorry. Sure.

Uh good evening. My name is Shir Parram. Hope you all are doing well. I also wanted to speak against uh Flock and the contract being upheld right now by the city of Ithaca. Um in my opinion, the surveillance that's being opposed upon us by Flock is simply another extension of the Imperial tentacles that have been reaching out, namely recently in Minneapolis, but also in LA, in New York City, in in San Francisco, in every major city. Ithaca right now remains in a bubble. Um we hold a lot of power to at least at the very least protect our local residents. Um, and I would rather not give up that control and safety to the the maniacal whims of Peter Teal and his multiverse that extends into Palestine, into Kashmir, into all of these occupied territories in which the United States and other imperial extensions are responsible for death, destruction, exploitation, genocide, ecoside, you name it. Um, a lot of folks have also made comments about public safety. I would like to make it very uh clear that we have great evidence here in Ithaca that it is not the police that keep us safe. It is not surveillance that keeps us safe but rather our neighbors. We have groups like food not bombs that feeds people. We have ITU that protects housing. We have neighbors looking out for neighbors. And at the end of the day, that is what's most important to me. I would encourage the council to both end the contract with Flock and look to our community, our people uh supporting each other to then keep us safe. And I'll yield the rest of my time. Thank you. Thank you. My next speaker is Jared Farley, followed by Dirk Track.

Uh, hi there. My name is Jared Farley. I live over near East Hill. I just kind of want to know who's out there watching Minority Report and thinking that's a good idea. Was it them? I don't think so. Was it any of y'all? I don't I wasn't me. I want to be clear. I want flock out of the city. Eventually, I want them out of business. They can go do something else. I recognize that sitting up here, I am young. That being said, I don't want to deal with this and worse for the next 70 years. Um, it's and this is nothing compared to how it's going to be used in the next three and how it's already been used, but I'm just here to add this straw to the camel's back. I don't want to deal with this. I'm not sure anyone else here does. Let's just kill the contract. I yield my time.

Thank you very much. Uh, Durk's next, followed by Kathy Simpson. going twice. Oh, okay. Sorry, I couldn't see you behind the pillar. Welcome. You have two minutes once you begin.

Thank you. Uh, good evening. Uh, I would like to discuss trust. A piece of wisdom I've gleaned from folks in my life who are in recovery is that trust is consistency over time. I think you'll see from the comments here tonight in the many scandals and controversies swirling around this company that Flock has not demonstrated consistent trustworthiness over time. Tech commentator Ben Jordan has demonstrated security vulnerabilities in Flock products numerous times, even recording a video to YouTube directly from a public Flock camera to show how insecurely protected the equipment and data really is. Flock has offered many asurances that our data is secure. So, information like this is important when we evaluate their character. Move fast and break things is Silicon Valley's unofficial motto, but that's not an acceptable approach to democracy in a free society. Other tech firms have made similar claims. The dash cam company Nexar, one of the largest and present in many Ubers and lifts that you all may have ridden in, claimed that their customer data, videos, and audio of millions of car trips, was stripped of of the in-car audio and scrubbed of faces and license plates before being saved on their servers. Recently, it was reported that a hacker had breached Nexar's poorly defended servers to discover the complete audio of every conversation ever recorded uh uh that had ever occurred in a car with an XR device. Uh they also discovered documents indicating uh sharing relationships with the Israeli Defense Forces, though the company had denied any relationship with them. Uh the insecure and unencrypted footage discovered showed the complete drive from home out into the world and back of millions of people uh and of all the cars that had ever been in proximity to them as well. Uh this included the offices of people working in sensitive locations like Department of Defense and CIA offices. This massive cache of data amounted to nearly double of what should have been expected to be found on their servers. That isn't cheap. A company doesn't pay those kinds of data storage bills without noticing it. It's hard for me to believe that that wasn't intentional. Flock has pursued

partnership with Nexar to turn the Nexar dash cams into mobile Flock cameras that would feed into their Thank you very much. Thank you. My next speaker is Kathy Simpson, followed by Fred Sheps. Welcome. You have two minutes once you begin.

Thank you. I'm Kathy Simpson. I'm a citizen of Ithaca, New York. And my issue is really small compared to flock and uh employee rights short-term housing ordinance. I'm just here to please can't hear me. Thank you. I strongly encourage you to change the short-term rental ordinance to include not only owner occupied duplex residents, but owner occupied 3 to four unit apartments like mine on the corner of East Court and Lind Street. just lift it up a little bit from two units to three or four units. Thank you.

Thank you. Uh my next speaker is Fred Sheps, followed by someone online, Ian Palansky. Fred, welcome. You have two minutes. Why don't you begin? Thank you.

Uh my name is Fred Sheps. I'm speaking tonight as a community member who cares about effective city governance. All right. Okay. Well, then I will have to get closer. I don't have plenty of time yet. My name is Fred Sheps. I'm speaking tonight as a community member who cares about effective city governance. Dominic, thank you for the comprehensive monthly report. The clarity around monthly operations, vacancies, and financials is exactly what I think the public needs as hopefully also the council needs. Um, regarding the economic development position under your consent section, I've reviewed all the well-written memo, definitely well written in job description. As someone who cares about downtown vitality, I'd welcome understanding this year's economic development priorities so community partners like DIA and others can be uh can best support the city's goals. Much has already been said about the section on the special committee. Um, in reading this special committee resolution, which is item seven on the agenda, I want to acknowledge the quality of process design illustrated, clear timeline, milestones, stakeholder engagement, analytics, and so on. Um, since my time is limited here, I sent the council an email yesterday morning with a project management framework that could support the committee's success. I want you to be successful if you're going to choose to do this. I offer it in the spirit of contributing to good governance. Finally, thank you all for your service to our city and for the opportunity to contribute to this conversation. I look forward to 2026 and supporting Ithaca's continued success. Thank you.

Thank you. My next speaker is Ian Palansky on Zoom.

Welcome, Ian. Can you hear us? Yes, I can. All right, you have two minutes once you begin.

Thank you. My name is Ian Pansky and I'm the lead of the criminal justice committee of the Cornell ACLU. As the Cornell University chapter of the American Civil Li liberties union, we would like to formally denounce the use of Flock cameras in the Ithaca area due to their invasion of privacy, lack of oversight, and potential for serious abuses. According to Flock's guidelines, data collected by their cameras is retained for 30 days and can be accessed by anyone with system authorization. This amounts to around 130,000 data points on the movements of IT residents like you and me every month. And we share this data with over 90 police departments, many of which are known to cooperate with federal entities like ICE. Their ability to access the uh data from Ithaca's flock cameras conflicts with Ithaca's status as a sanctuary city and poses a serious risk to Ithaca's residents. There's also a startling lack of oversight for these cameras. Currently, there are insufficient safeguards to ensure that this technology is used responsibly. Law enforcement agencies have previously misused flock cameras and continue to do so with one particularly severe example occurring in 2024 when a Kansas police chief accessed flock cameras 164 times to stalk his ex-girlfriend. And officers are required to provide at least a brief written justification for tracking a person's movements. But these reasons are never vetted when they are given at all. To stress what was said earlier, um in the last month alone, six searches in Ithaca's system only had the justification of police investigation. Uh three more didn't provide a justification and another three which retrieved over 8,000 data points. The justification was just surveillance. Uh which I think should be alarming for all of us. As a chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union, we are increasingly alarmed at Flock's misuse by government entities in order to violate the liberties of our fellow Americans and immigrant members of our community alike. As such, we would like

to advise the city to cancel and not renew its contract with Flock in order to keep every member of the community safe and protected.

My next my next speaker, uh, Yoy, I will recognize you because I see you on the Zoom and I know who you are. uh for you and everyone else's knowledge. Uh people are only going to be recognized if they identify themselves as a person rather than or an organization. Can you hear us? If you can hear me, please unmute and we'll try one more time.

Here we go. Can you hear me now? We can hear you now. You have two minutes once you begin. Okay. Just a second. Um, my screen has like the Zoom screens blew up on my screen and Okay, there it is. We can hear you.

Yes, great. I'm ready. Um, thank you for your time tonight. Um, and thank you for the opportunity to speak. First, I'd like to thank the residents who have been showing up consistently to oppose uh frock surveillance. Uh, public oversight is essential. uh zero waste etha joins them in urging the council to introduce the resolution to banfrock promptly and without further delay. Uh we should not wait month for another presentation designed to defend a system the public uh is clearly asking you to end. I'm also asking you to think long think long term. The terrible things happening around the country did not appear overnight. They are the result of decades of institutional breakdown and policy drift. Local government should be scaffold scaffolding against the breakdown, not another pathway for it. On the distributed energy resources plan, I want to raise two issues. Solid waste and uh the definition of carbon-f free electricity. First, solid waste. The plan defines addressable carbon to include solid waste, but then treats waste as a side note. There are no concrete commitments to prevention, reuse systems, uh source separated correction, contamination reduction, procurement reform, enforcement, measurable zero waste targets, uh waste prevention and reuse of major climate levers. If waste is included in the climate framework, it should be uh central specific and measurable. Second, carbon-f free electricity since when the is in green new deal pro- nuclear. I'm not saying the city is building reactor. My point is governance definitions are policy doors. If the city's definition of carbon-f free electricity includes nuclear, the nuclear is eligible inside the framework regardless of intent. New

York state is actively pushing new nuclear through uh New York power authority and skyro county has cited uh uh as responding to uh NYPA's nuclear solicitation. If nuclear moves forward regionally, will Ethica accept that power under the carbon-f free claims? That is a locking problem. If nuclear Thank you. That is your time. You may submit the rest of your comments in writing. Okay. Thank you very much.

With that uh we will turn to privilege of the floor. We've concluded our speakers. Uh the one thing I will note is I will ask colleagues to reserve uh discussion of the resolution of the special committee for that item which will be our only substantive one of our two only substantive voting items. I will just remind I will respond to a couple things myself. Uh one for the speaker who brought up short-term rentals that is uh scheduled this month, right? We just did it.

Yeah, that is scheduled for next week that discussion. So you are welcome to attend that. Um for the speakers who made reference to special committee, the only thing I will clarify is there is no policy being voted on this evening as I appreciate some of the speakers uh noting. Uh what is being voted on is the creation of a committee to engage in all of the work that the business community has asked us to do. Uh and how did I forget flock? Um and the uh I don't know if the deputy city manager has a date for an update on that. I do not want to put him on the spot unless he does. But um that will be coming forward for a council discussion uh in the couple weeks.

Couple weeks. Um with that, Mr. Trumble. Um thank you, Mr. Mayor. Um and thank you to everyone who came out to speak out about Flock today. Um I think me and everyone on council here and share your concerns. Um I have drafted a resolution that I was going to submit um about trying to end the contract with Flock. Um, but you know, Dominic seems to also be doing that. Um, but I'll still be submitting that tomorrow. So, it could potentially be on the uh committee of the floor meeting next week. Um, and also unrelated but still important to say that guy who said um, black lives don't matter um, is completely un wrong and it's Black History Month. So, I hope you find some inner compassion. Mr. Deandini,

thank you to everyone who came out today. Um, everyone who came out to speak out against uh, flock. I definitely share your concerns. I'm incredibly perturred by the notion that um that we have flocked, but also that uh we're not really adhering to proper processes and procedures when it comes to accessing the data from officers in terms of doing these uh um uh searches. I am absolutely a uh no vote on renewing this contract when it's up uh eventually. And I'll go a step further to say I'm willing to work with any and all my colleagues on any type of measure to deactivate the cameras while while they are in uh while we are still in this contract. Uh happy to have those conversations with my colleagues, community members, and the city administration. Uh so thank you all for coming out here and continuing to bring this uh to our attention. Uh I'll leave it at that. Yeah,

with that the president for Britzio. I also just want to say thank you so much for coming out. I'm I'm really just been so moved by um like this community and I've lived here for over 40 years, but I just seeing you all here just reminds me over and over again how much you care, how much Ians care, how engaged you are in our life and with everything that's going on outside of our control and then also within our control. and I really appreciate your your input and your care for our neighbors, for our rights. Um, I want to also thank uh the business community for coming out. Um, I I think that the resolution that we have, and I know I'm going to keep comments mostly until later, but I just want to say I think that the resolution has been drafted um with the intention to be inclusive and to ensure that we bring the voices of the business community to the table and I will do everything possible to make sure that happens. But I think that that is the intention, you know, of the mayor and and of my colleagues. I will have some amendments to make all of that even more explicit and I will be uh putting those forward tonight. Thank you.

Thank you. With Oh, Mr. Shapiro, Miss Schvettz, this is the last call for hands. I don't want any love to my my former colleague, Mr. St. Perez, but I don't want any final final moment hand raises before we move on.

I'll be very quick, but I think uh I recognize some of the high school students getting signatures. You're supposed to be here for two hours, Miss Schmetsz. Um, echoing what everyone has said, thank you for being here to talk about flock. Um, also just want to point out last year when the council reaffirmed its sanctuary city status, we talked about making sure that that was um, taking concrete steps towards making Ithaca safer and not just a performative resolution. So, I think taking flock cameras down and ending that contract is a concrete step that we need to take for sanctuary city status. Mr. Su,

yeah, I think um, are my colleagues have already expressed, I think, how Comic Con feels about flock. Um, sometimes it takes a while for the democratic process to work through what it needs to work through, but we've, uh, yeah, boo. Uh, we've heard your we've heard your concerns. Um, and I think we'll work on it. I also just want to say generally whatever you had to say, I'm really glad that you came out to speak tonight. I think it can be super intimidating coming up and speaking in front of people. Um, and maybe if this was your first time doing it, thank you for doing it. I appreciate that. Also, we received a lot of emails from folks today. You may not get responses back because we received a lot of emails today, but um do know that we well some of us absolutely are reading those and appreciate those. So, thank you.

All right. Uh with that, I will without objection invite up uh Legislator Vincent to provide their briefing and gently encourage them in a playful way to uh be here on time next time. Sorry about that. Legislator, please. The floor is yours.

Sorry, I was on an event uh on uh Cornell's campus. Um so I don't know if you had a report given at uh your previous meeting uh without public comment in case uh since that was the case. So, we've had two meetings. Legislator, I appreciate I I thought I would invite you up before a recess. It looked like the room clearing. So, I want to just give you the respect of our attention. So, let's just wait. Maybe I'm not going to entertain a motion for recess, but I will just ask us to wait two minutes for the folks who are going to get out of the room to do so that we can give the legislature our attention. Please clear chambers. And this is your 22 warning. I would encourage the council members to return to their seats and the floor is yours. Uh, legislator Vincent, thank you for your patience.

No, it's all good. Um, so we had two meetings, one on January 20th and one on February 3rd. Uh, we had a very high-profile resolution on January 20th from Legislator Dawson, uh, on the, uh, Terols data center up in Lancing. Uh, the name is very long, so I'll just refer to it as resolution 13804. um which requested the Department of Environmental Conservation to require Kauga Operating Company to file a new permit for its water withdrawal permits rather than having the DEC simply renew its permits, which is what it's looking at doing right now. Um, additionally, we had some minor resolutions moving some money from our previous year's budget to this year, primarily for projects in the community housing development fund. Um and we now have our committee assignments and uh most of our board and liaison appointment appointments are in place. Uh on our February 3rd meeting, legislator Ben Con um proposed a resolution or sorry a hearing uh for an amendment to uh our star tax exemption. Um this amendment uh would is which is something that's been allowed by the state uh would move our limit from 50% to 65%. Uh so that that 65% would be for those with incomes of 33,650 and below. Um we also had an uh saw our u a presentation of our 2024 housing snapshot. Uh we receive one of these snapshots every two years. Um it's basically just a a presentation and um on a just a series of different statistics that the county's collected. Um, I wrote down some of the ones I found a bit interesting. Um, which is so far with the goal set in our action plan, we're behind on most types of housing supply. Uh, with the exception of student housing, uh, which is exactly on target. Um, there's also been a

significant decrease in homeowners who are burdened and highly burdened um, both with and without mortgages. However, there's been a slight increase in burdened renters. Um, which is an increase in around 1.7% of total renters. Uh, burdened meaning that uh 30% or burdened meaning yeah that 30% of your income is going towards uh paying for housing costs. Highly burdened is 50%. Um, outside of that, we had our first committee meeting uh specifically was the HED committee housing economic development. Uh and we have one resolution that's being proposed right now in there. Uh it's kind of interesting. It's a 2% royalty on crypto mining. Uh this is being proposed by legislator Seagler. Um the concept is basically we treat crypto mining the way we would just plain mining of a natural resource. Uh and as a result, you have to pay a royalty for each unit. In this case, each unit of cryptocurrency. Um we're still looking at it with legal.

But yeah, that's it. You have any questions? Thank you, legislator. I I have one question. Um, did your housing snapshot detail uh which municipalities might have led the county in housing production and if any of them exceeded their goals? They might have. Uh, I'll have to check. It's a very big presentation. Interesting thing. I I assumed. Uh, Mr. Soul, is there crypto mining occurring in the in the county? Yeah, it's it's apparently yes, but not in a large scale. Um, I was a little confused when I saw this uh resolution being presented uh earlier today. Um he said yes. He did go into specifics though. Um but there's going to be a lot of debate on this so we'll see. Miss Mtos.

Um yeah just to answer all the per all the person se uh sales uh quest sewell sorry question. Yes uh there is crypto mining that is going on in uh Lancing and I know that because I believe the family um that is doing that work um I pretty much was in the graduating class of one of those one of them. Any further questions for uh Miss Fitzio? Yeah, thanks. Thanks for coming. Can you tell us um which assignments did you get? I'm just curious what committees you're on. I'm going to be on housing and economic development uh planning, energy, and environmental quality. I'm the vice chair of that committee and uh government operations uh for committees. I'm also going to be on the city county working or yeah, the city county working group with Travis Brooks.

Great. Excellent. Well, I I really look forward to trying to build a closer relationship between all of you who are city representatives on the county board and and all of us. So, likewise. Yeah. Great. Thanks for coming. Thank you, legislator. And thank you for being good humored this evening. Um with that, I'll to entertain a motion for consent. Moved by all the person Trumbull, seconded by all the person MTOS. All those in favor of consent, that carries unanimously. Uh, may I have someone summarize and move the community responder unit roots? Mr. Wyn,

um, this resolution is the culmination of years of work under the reimagining public safety initiative um, implementing a phased in approach for community responder program over three years and includes directives to staff uh, that include drafting job descriptions, policing procedures, searching for grant funding and other parameters for the program. Thank you, Mr. Win. Uh, is there a second? Second by all the person Montos. Uh, we obviously had a very detailed conversation uh with the deputy city manager over many many months. Uh, I will offer him the opportunity to present on this, but I think council should have all of their questions well in hand. Um, but uh, Mr. Rekio,

thank you. I have uh, nothing further to present that isn't captured within the memo and resolution in front of you today. Okay, I'm happy to answer any questions if need be. Shapiro. Yeah, I just want to comment how fitting it is on a day that we recognize uh Miss Phoebe Brown that we're passing a resolution to get the community response team up in up and at him. So, uh seems like very much uh I don't know the right word, very poetic, very uh just the right thing. So, uh all the persons Fitzio and Trumbull.

Yeah, I was going to say, where the heck is Phoebe? We need her here right now. Um, no, thank you for for your work on this thus far and um I just also want to say thank you so much for ensuring that you know IPD is um is engaged in a meaningful way with this process and I see the chief is here and I don't know if he might want to say anything but um yeah certainly if there are any questions directed to IPD I appreciate I appreciate the victory lap we do have four executive sessions so all the persons Trumbull Win and uh defendini

um yeah just to kind of reiterate that I'm so excited to see this program finally get to fruition. Um, but one quick clarifying point that I've already had some people ask me. So, just for the public's perspective, this is not three unarmed responders um taking the roles that police officers would otherwise. It's being added on as staffing. Correct.

Thank you, Mr. Trumbull. All Mr. W. just feels really anticlimatic because so many things that are important that we pass come with dozens of public commenters uh in the room and a lot of energy and excitement and um but it has been a long time in the making um from 2020 um as as Phoebe always brought up executive order 203 one of the few good things that Cuomo did in his in his final years and I just want to thank the many many community members who gave up a ton of their time and energy um our acting city manager among them who over the past six years may have lost hope that this would ever happen. And so I I really want to thank everyone who stuck with us uh through this long process, all the people who are on multiple committees and listening uh groups and working groups and putting themselves out there in really uncomfortable ways uh that with the distance of time doesn't we may have lost like some of that, but it it took a lot to come out and a lot of trust to say like I'm going to put myself out there and uh it may not go anywhere and and we're finally here. So thank you to the administration. And thank you Dominic for for getting us here.

Thank you Mr. Win. Mr. Dini. Um I'll withdraw my original point, but go us. Uh Mr. Keale,

I'll say something real quick. Um so in the first interview I ever did with the Ithaca voice, um they said, "What's your perspective on the unarmed responders program?" And um I you know had been working in EMS at the time and um and I actually thought I had actually already worked with the armed responders program because I had worked with the county unit and I was so out of the loop on on all of this. And I went home that night and read like every news article that I could because I felt so embarrassed that I didn't have a better answer to provide uh in in this news interview. And it has been a pleasure to see this develop over the last uh two over two years now. Um, and also I'm just uh very grateful to Dominic Reio for pushing us over the finish line here or not finish line yet, but closer than we've ever been to this. Uh,

the hard part starts now. The hard part starts now. Um, and I also just want to thank my colleagues for for the insight that they provided um both current and past um into some of this stuff. And um and I'm just really excited to see see the positive impact this provides in the city of Ithaca and our residents. Um, I'm just excited to see him out on the streets and I'm excited to see him doing doing the work. Great. With that, all the person saying Perez, I didn't see you.

Oh, my fault. Um, I I know that we've already thoroughly gone over it. Um, I talked to some folks afterwards and I just wanted to throw out that um I think it would be the it currently asks for a certain defined geographic area for all the unarmed responders to work in. I would really like to see someone in the downtown area. I think um having someone there could still be really useful um because it's an area of high uh police traffic. Respond to that quickly. Uh thank you. I appreciate that. Um some of the language in the report in the uh resolution in the memo calls for further consideration of a defined geographic area related specifically to the capacity that we might have with this scaledback program. So that is not a predetermined outcome. It very well likely may be for the entire city when it begins. And on the downtown issue, I um I put a little detail in the city manager report about the resurgence of the community outreach worker program which will be very specifically defined within the business improvement district area of downtown and that is slated to return this year. Uh so these will work in conjunction with one another. I'm working with the downtown ethical alliance on standing that program back up. Um, and I'm hoping that they'll have a collaborative relationship between the two programs.

Thank you very much. With that, all those in favor that carries unanimously. Um, it's funny that for this next thing, I I actually had a conversation with uh Mr. Su right beforehand talking about how I rarely uh move items myself. Uh but because I did hear some incorrect statements earlier, I'm going to summarize and move the following resolution. Uh this is about the uh a resolution to establish a special committee through 2016 on wrongful discharge and labor protections. It could be both. 2026. Yeah. Um see I can Yeah, there we go. See, I can take it just like I dish it out. Um, we are establishing a special committee on wrongful discharge and labor protection that is effective upon adoption of this resolution to operate through New Year's Eve of this year. That committee's purpose shall be to evaluate, develop, and advance as appropriate potential legislation related to to wrongful discharge and labor protections consistent with the common council's already adopted legislative priorities and prior guidance. That committee shall consist of five members. It shall ascertain the scope and scale of wrongful discharge and labor protection issues within the city through public testimony and stakeholder engagement, including workers, labor organizations, unions, employers, business associations, and community stakeholders, including but not limited to Tomkins County Workers Center, the Cornell University School of Industrial Labor Relations, the Downtown Itha Alliance, the Tomkins County Chamber of Commerce, and Ithaca Economic Development. And the city manager shall direct the city attorney to provide within 90 days of the effective date of this resolution, which is today, an assessment of the legal feasibility, administrative requirements, fiscal implications, and risk of state or

federal preeemption associated with prospective legislation and provide such analysis to the special committee. And the committee shall meet at 6 p.m. on the fourth Wednesday of each month. So for all you following at home that means in three weeks is the first meeting in this room. Uh and it the meetings shall be open meeting law compliant and every meeting shall have at least 30 minutes set aside for public comment at each meeting. The city manager shall designate an appropriate staff member to assist with public meetings as appropriate. No later than 180 days after the effective date of this resolution. The special committee shall develop and adopt a statement of principles and policy objectives clarifying the scope, legislative intent, policy rationale, covered populations enforcement framework and e economic impact and implementation considerations of any proposed legislation and shall submit such statement to myself, the city manager, the city clerk, and the city attorney. Upon a finding of the legality of implementation of wrongful discharge and labor protection legislation, the city attorney's office shall provide a draft of legislation for consideration by the common council within 90 days of the receipt of the adopted principles and policy objectives approved by a vote of the special committee or return a report identifying issues that prevent the drafting of such legislation that is in conformance with the adopted principles and policy objectives. that upon the receipt of that draft legislative language, the special committee shall conduct no fewer than three well publicized public fora prior to submission of a complete report and shall review any proposed legislation to ensure consistency with his adopted principles and policy objectives. It shall also adopt a final report including draft legislative language approved by the committee and a fiscal impact statement addressing anticipated impacts on the city budget. The city manager shall direct the city controller to furnish all information reasonably

necessary to support the fiscal impact statement and shall review the statement prior to finalization and may as appropriate include a written narrative reflecting the finance department's findings. That final report shall be adopted by a special committee the special committee and referred to the committee of the whole the common council for consideration. And from time to time, the chair of the special committee committee shall meet with myself to discuss progress and shall upon request provide written and oral reports to the common council with at least seven days notice of me being asking them to do so. The city manager shall assign any appropriate staff to support its operations and the special committee shall be dissolved immediately upon the submission of its final report to the committee of the whole or December 31st, 2026, whichever occurs first. I so move seconded by all the person mottos discussion. all the person mtos. I will keep a list. Hands up, please.

Due to this being a reauthorization of a working group that we've already um uh had. This is not a reauthorization of a working group. Okay. Well, due to this being a conversation that we've already had, um I would like to call the question on this and we could just vote on the matter if possible. There's a motion to call the question. Is there a second? Seconded by all the person uh Schvettz. All those in favor of calling the question, which for our new members means ending debate and immediately going to a vote. All those in favor? Those opposed? That fails four to six. Uh debate continues. All the person for Pritzio, you're recognized.

Thank you so much. Um so as I said previously, I think that the mayor has drafted um a resolution that you know tries to ensure complete data collecting and acknowledges the need for inclusivity in this process. Um I think that it's uh you know it's something that we are trying to include the business community and their perspective in this. Um and I think that the language clearly um you know needs to establish this as an exploration and not a done deal. And and I want to believe that we all want to do this right just get it all on the table. Bring everybody let's figure out like let's identify the problem. Let's figure out if we have a problem, what the problem is, how widespread it is. Um, let's hear all sides of this issue. So, I have some um amended language which I sent I'm sorry, very uh late in the day. Um that I would like to um that I would like to include and I again I think it doesn't change anything substantively. What it does is it just makes it more explicit. It just has makes it more explicit that um the data would be accessible to the community at large and that small and large uh business owners um would be included in the in the conversation. So do you recommend how do you recommend uh shall I

you're moving to amend by substitution? Um yes I'm moving to amend by substitution or I could move and do these individually. Yeah, you could do that. Okay.

Is there a second to amend by substitution? Is there a second to amend by substitution? Seconded by all the person Shapiro. Uh in that case, I will recognize myself quick and just say all the person Fritzio, as you know, I was in meetings all day. I did briefly review it. Uh I did look uh it in fact does substantively change the intent of the legislative language that I drafted. So I will not be supporting this. I appreciate the kind words that you have said and I do think again this very clearly outlines the uh where we've been so far and outlines a pretty exhaustive process for how we move forward. Um and while I think we can always tweak language um as I have said to the the speakers this evening nothing we are doing tonight is policy. We are creating a public fora with public engagement for us to examine this question and I uh have a wellstated position about how I feel about editing things on the floor. So respectfully I will uh not support this. Uh Mr. Keel Shapi uh uh Keel uh uh Trumbull and Missetsz. Oh and

Mr. Shapiro. Sure. Why not? Um thank you Mr. Mayor. Um, I was actually pref hoping you would just move each of your amendments individually cuz I think I was thinking, you know, there's actually a lot in here that I think are good points. Um, I think I disagree with the mayor. I don't think that this really substantially changes the resolution. So, I'll be supporting this um because I do think it makes things a little bit more explicit and it's fine with me. So, I'll be voting for this.

Mr. Trumbull. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Um, yeah, I mean, I think for some of these it makes sense. I think just like for some lines, too, I was a little thrown off. Um, like you got rid of the word shall be to evaluate, develop, and advance and replaced it with be explore, evaluate, and make recommendations regarding. Um, and I think that, you know, if we're setting up this fivep person committee to explore this over 11 to 13 months with a lot of like public input, um, I think we should be giving this committee the ability to develop something that we can then discuss on a council floor as opposed to this kind of vagger language of exploring and evaluating. Um, but I do appreciate your insight still and I think some of these are good points. Mets.

Yeah. Seconding what um, was just said, I think like Mr. mayor just said um there are a lot of parts of this original resolution which made clear that over many months there will be a lot of input from stakeholders. Um, so I have no issue with those changes um and the wording around that. But I think that the uh second resolve is a substant substantial change to the content of the resolution and I think it makes it unclear um what the special committee is to be working on uh changing it from evaluating, developing and advancing to exploring, evaluating and making recommendations. So I think we should keep that clear especially given uh that this was submitted a few hours before this meeting.

Mr. Shapiro.

Thank you. Um, really quickly, I I don't know who wrote the original resolution, but I really very much appreciate uh the structure and the transparency of how we're designing the meeting. So, I think um um I just want to say that I I very much appreciate the language in it. Um I do however support Margaret's resolution specifically about that second resolved. I I sat in the in the first special committee and we um in my opinion never got to the point of actually evaluating what the problem was. We brought in the Tomkins Workers Center and we heard from them, but we never actually evaluated from a diverse set of people or organizations what the problem is and what we're trying to solve. So when I um saw Margaret's change to instead of what the key word for me that was important was instead of directing them to advance something was to explore making reserv recommendations. That's what hit home for me. I don't think this committee should be charged with advancing something they should be charged with researching and evaluating if there's a problem worthy of being advanced. And that's why uh the idea of exploring and making recommendations felt like better language to me. Um that's all I have to say.

Thank you, Mr. Shapiro. Mr. Su

uh I have myself next again and then Mr. Keel next again. Um I will just say that uh I appreciate Mr. Shapiro's comments. Um I uh will yeah to put a sharper and thank you to Mr. crumble for pulling up the specific uh issue that I I had objection with cuz I couldn't think of it on the spot. Um I will say I am largely one thing I do want to clarify Mr. Piro said the correct thing but I will also just note um that the next two words are as appropriate that the special committee shall be uh the purpose shall be to evaluate develop and advance as appropriate potential legislation. Um, I would also point council to and members are of course welcome to support whatever they want on an individual basis, but I would point council to the previously adopted uh legislative priorities of the common council which has identified this as an area that they would like uh legislation brought forward for consideration uh as early as March of 2024. And the last point, and respectfully to the older person who is offering this amendment, um the the largest reason I will uh oppose this is merely because um I worked on this for about a week and I respect that the older person had time to to do this last night. Um, but I haven't had time to really think about what those edits mean and I don't think frankly any of the this is this is I think like one step removed from how what I feel about how we change whereases or which have no material bearing on anything that the city does. Like I think at the end of the day the important thing is is we are giving the community what it's asked for which is a public forum for this to be transparently discussed and something to be brought forward to council. I do and point of information.

Was it a question or a point of information? Uh, it's a it's a clarifying question. Then I will come to you after Mr. Gil. Okay.

Um, I think I agree with the mayor. Um but I do want to state that I think it's important to note that um the while in the in the priorities in 2024 just cause was something said that we wanted to look into that. Um we also didn't endorse the decision or the previous report of the commission. We just accepted it. Um so I I can't remember if someone said that earlier. Um there are three tiers on our our process um for for um memos and we kind of took the middle ground on that one. Um so the previous common council didn't actually say this is something they wanted to do. They just accepted the the the u memo. Um so I think I will not be voting for this. I actually after after reviewing that section and track changes which I didn't have on before I do think it substantially changes it. Um, and I also understand the frustration associated with uh cutting and pacing on the floor.

Mr. Su, what section are you guys talking about? I'm I am code like I What section of what? No, no, excuse me. No cross talk. Thank you. Mr. Su, I'm looking at the hard copy that where you were that I was given the hard copy of what the resolution that we're talking about. Okay. So, we're talking about the second resolve. Ah, because Yes. So, what? Yes. all the person for Britzio sent via email later earlier this afternoon uh red red font colored edits which may not be included. It is the Oh, okay. I I don't know what you're looking at. So I just So So the

Can you just read that to me? The result you all are talking about. Well, I have no know because I have the resolution that is in the agenda packet that I've read, which is the purpose of the special committee shall be to evaluate, develop, and advance as appropriate potential legislation related to wrongful discharge and labor protections consistent with the common council's adopted legislative priorities and prior guidance. I do not have the all the person's version directly in front of me. So, I but it looks like Mr. Win has already provided to you. I I was looking at the correct section and then Okay. Yeah. Thank you. And then I have Mr. Trumbull and then Miss uh Fbritzio.

Um yeah, just another kind of aspect too is that I mean we do when we're setting this up talk about asserting the scope and the scale of wrongful discharge and labor protection. Like there is implicitly, you know, the ability to look into whether or not this is a problem and establish it. Also, I mean this is kind of a response to so many people showing up to public comments like today saying like, "Hey, we want to be heard. Like we're doing exactly what the public wants us here." Um, and I think it's unfair to turn this into a potential 12-month exploration process instead of giving us the power to write legislation when one of the most commonly complained about things I hear for local governments is that we don't get things done. Here's an opportunity we can engage with stakeholders, try to get something done and try to come out with a compromise that um both empowers employers, I mean employees and comes up with um, you know, better just cause for something that has been set up as a priority.

Mr. Mr. Britzio.

So resolution two um was the special counsel shall be to evaluate, develop and advance as appropriate potential legislation. The only change I was suggesting was would be explore, evaluate, and make recommendations regarding potential legislation. It does not imply a 12-month process or anything else. All it did was uh all this does is take out some language that in my mind makes this seem like a pre- uh ordained thing. So that's all I was doing with that. Okay. I just want to I want to move on to um the fourth resolve and and there all I was trying to do was add and multiple data points including from and the rest is all in there. I'm adding at the end of that you have uh listed that um this this conversation would involve the engagement including but not limited to and then you list Tommpkins County Workers Center various other places. I was simply adding and small and large business owners right recognizing them. I think that's important. In the fifth resolve, um I have added that the information which would be provided by the city attorney's office which would uh investigate the legal feasib feasibility of doing this and as well as the fiscal implications um that it would be provided not just to the special committee and to the common council but also be available to the public. Right? We want to be transparent about it. That's it makes it more explicit. That's all that does. Um, in in resolve number eight, um, I've added the words shall shall develop and adopt a summary of findings and if the committee deems appropriate, shall further develop principles and

policy objectives. Again, that may that takes out the um sort of pre-ordained uh sense that I I wanted to get away from. And then the other ones here um I think very importantly in the 10th resolve which is um that upon further receipt of draft legisl legislative language the special committee I was just including shall publish this on the city's website and conduct no fewer than three well publicized public forums that's the rest of it's the same all you know we can publicize the forums but if we haven't actually published the material then all we're doing is replicating what we did with the first budget hearing last year, which was we didn't we didn't publish the budget until the day we had the hearing. I was trying to avoid that kind of thing. Um, and then importantly, in the very next resolve, it says that the special committee shall adopt a final report um with a detailed allincclusive fiscal impact statement, right? And it it just says with said information provided by legal and finance staff, we want to ensure that we're getting information from everybody, right? Not just from the Tomkins County Workers Center, um not just from the Chamber of Commerce, not just from, you know, one place or another, right? We want to include that um we've gotten all the information. So, I don't see these as uh substantively changing anything other than that. We're making it more explicit about the public access and we're we're saying this is not a done deal. We should be willing to do that. If you're coming in sort of having

I have other hands. Sorry. I I have other hands. I think you've made your I'm just saying like let's not prejudge this process. That's all this was intended to do. I will recognize the next three hands, but first interject the brief point that again we are hairsplitting right now. This committee is going if if you if my dad turns off YouTube right now and stops watching this and then tunes back in next like at the end of the month, the committee is going to substantively do the exact same thing irrespective of the specific language we choose. Mr. Shapiro.

Yeah. Um, I have a lot of respect for my colleague, uh, Verbriio and that's why I seconded the motion and wanted to give her a chance to speak. I don't even have a paper print out of what we're looking at. I'm staring at it on my phone. I I I I have to agree with you, Mr. Mayor. I think this is a hard way to evaluate a word smithing of a resolution. Um, I'm not going to be supporting these changes. Um, but I will be supporting the motion when we when we get to that point. Mets. Um, I'd also like to point out that I believe there's an entire resolve saying that this is subject to open meetings law. So, um, the public can see every single thing that we discuss in these meetings. That does not need to be added. Uh, Mr. S, do you have a hand?

I I just I find most of it redundant. That's all the additional. Uh, and Mr. Defendini is next. Oh, uh, Mr. Keel. Um, you know, as I sit here and think about this also, um, since I've had so much time to do so, um, um, you know, we've been working on this for two years now, and if if some legislation, regardless of it passes or if it fails, one way or another, if some legislation doesn't come out of this working group, um, I'm going to freak out. So, that's all I'd say. I Yeah, I'm firmly not going to vote for

all the MTOS is next and then Fitzio. Uh yeah, I just want to say that my the problem I find with this resolution is that it does not and it I personally feel like it it doesn't believe that the this group the special committee is going to act in good faith and I think that the mayor sat here and and put together an original resolution that shows good faith um within the special committee. Um and so with that being said and judging off of the rest of my colleagues um engaging, I'd like to call the question. Seconded by Mr. Keel. All those in favor of calling the question. This time I will vote for it. Those opposed is going to withdraw.

Those opposed. All the Okay. All the So that's unanimously. We've called the question. Um so we are now voting on the resolution. Uh the the the motion I'm sorry the motion to amend. We're voting on the motion to amend. All the person for Britzio's resolution. All those in favor? Take that back. It's okay. Everybody gets one. All the person still votes.

All right. Those opposed. All right. That fails one to nine. Uh all the uh all those in favor of the resolution originally as moved. Those opposed and that carries 9 to1 with all the person for Britzio against. Um with that uh this con this committee has been duly constituted. As such I'm exercising my charter prerogative to appoint those members and they shall be. I shall do a formal certificate of appointment to register with the clerk's office, but those members shall include Mr. Deandini as chair, uh, Miss Moss, Mr. Su, Mr. Trumbull, and Mr. Keel. Um, moving right along to a bunch of other appointments from me. Uh, one is I am moving to reappoint existing sustainability and climate justice commissioner Nick Goldsmith. Uh uh all those in favor of that reappoint that carries unanimously. Uh I have a new appointment to uh the planning board chair. So this is uh Max Feffer is being appointed to replace Emily Patrina who shall remain on the planning board but was just serving as chair uh for the last few months. Uh I have a question from Mr. Su.

Yeah. Um it this isn't done as a traditional um vote correct. Well well it's a vote is does discussion happen on this? This is my you may discuss. Absolutely. Yeah. There's just no need to second it because there's no need to second but you can discuss. Okay. So why don't I'm done.

Um all right. This is uh I brought this concern to the group but um when I was reviewing the agenda there is we have no information on these individuals that we're approving at all. Um, so I know in the past Mr. Kees asked for a CV. I don't I guess maybe that violates some sort of public um things or something or other, but I really have no information at all on who these people are. So um I've never been on a board that approves folks without any information about them. Uh that seems inappropriate. I also think like for example, we're going to be approving a TECAP person and that's a substantial approval. No information on them. Uh my understanding is that individuals need to fill out I mean I filled out a form to to serve on one of these committees before. Nick has his in here. Um we don't have that. We've got Nick's but not for any of the other ones. Um so I am not going to be voting in favor of someone who I have no information about and I would be happy to hear from any of my other council members if they have information on any of these folks. Thank you.

Uh so the deputy clerk has uploaded this individual's information to legislate. Yes, there was not on the agenda.

Well, there it would never be on the agenda, which you are correct about that older person. We do not publish uh personal identifying information, resumes or anything like that in the agendas. It should be in legislate. Um this is an individual who has absolutely gone through uh and I would ask the deputy clerk to circulate those materials because they absolutely do exist. They have routed through uh open gov. They have been interviewed by all of the appropriate planning staff. Uh none of whom unfortunately are here this evening. Um and I don't I can't speak to the um I mean I know this information exists because it was put before me. Um but Rebecca, do you happen to know if anybody from from that part of planning is here still? Okay. Um I don't know what to say because uh you are correct that uh so I I guess what I will say is one thing. Um we have attempted to provide more information. I would strongly encourage council members who feel strongly about whether or not there are certain credentials we would like to see from our appointees work to codify that because it does not exist. And while your personal preference, which I respect, may be to do that, uh if we codify that, uh we can make it an absolute requirement that these things are before us, but um it's not presently a requirement to serve on any of these uh any of these boards.

There is an application requirement, right? No, not strictly speaking. That's how we solicit interest, but there is not actually a requirement in the city code.

What's we What's the process for that? And I can I can talk to you about it later. Well, I mean, yeah, I'm happy to I mean, candidly, right, like I think I think as folks as I as I think folks understand, right, the vast majority of the appointees that are brought before the common council, I'm just being extremely candid. So, if any of you out there in TV land want to serve on a commission, um, most of the time we have a vacancy and like one or two people who are qualified to do this. And by qualified I mean like live in the municipal boundaries of the city and are eligible for appointment demonstrate interest. most of the time when like uh those of you who might recall I think it was last month we did some maybe it was December but we did some like for the examining board of plumbers we appointed the everybody who applied because we are asking people to take time out of their uh their lives to do this um we can create more stringent requirements but this is a case of we have a vacancy uh the existing board chair does not want to serve this was the applicant who applied Uh, Mr. Keel and then other hands.

I mean, I think you know what I'm going to say. Uh, yeah. I mean, there's no materials in here. I haven't I've made a pretty strong point of not voting for anything that doesn't have materials. Um, you know, in retrospect, probably should have reached out and said, "Was there materials?" But, you know, this has come up before. There was no materials. Just planning on not voting from the night. Uh, frankly, thought that everyone else would vote for it and away to the race as we go. Um, but I would really like I'm happy to work with Mr. Shu and uh and codify that. Um, and I've said everything else before. So, okay. Any further question? Uh, deputy clerk.

That is the application. Deputy clerk, the the that is the Yeah. Um, so if you could just please circulate that, uh, Mr. Mr. Keel. So, wait, did he apply in 2023 and we're just doing this now or?

He originally applied in 2023. I'm not comfortable on the floor discussing the personal circumstances of this individual. So, I'm not going to give you additional detail outside. I will I'm happy to do so in private about this person's interest in eligibility. Uh but the the point being that uh when the planning staff reviewed the application pool, this was the person that they uh submitted to me. Seeing no further discussion, all those in favor of this appointment, those opposed that carry seven to three. Uh, my next is I clicked the wrong button. So, we're all gonna just kind of tread water for a second. I think these are Okay, TCOG. Uh, there is a mayard driven typo on this. Um, I accidentally emailed the wrong name to the deputy clerk after I uh sent the liaison assignments out to all of you. Um, I am appointing I am recommending that the uh council appoint uh Robin Trumbull to the four-year term to the Tomkins County Council of Governments TECOG and as the alternate uh it be all the person Keel for the two-year term. I accidentally said older person Moss uh surprising both of them. Um so uh that is that appointment. Um they did not provide me resumes. Mr. Deandini,

do we know anything about these Robin?

Oh, I stole your Oh, I stole your thunder. I'm so sorry. Uh any any Thank you both for your for your willingness to do this. Uh all those in favor of these appointments that carries unanimously. And next is an appointment set of appointments to the recreation partnership board. Uh I uh am further recommending we appoint all the persons Trumbull and Schvettz. We can recycle the joke again if you guys want. Okay, we got four executive sessions though, so maybe not. All those in favor of these appointments. That carries unanimously. Um, then I have a recommendation to the common council to appoint uh Natalie Model to the uh TCAP board. Uh, this person does not have application materials because they did not apply. Uh, I worked with the city manager's office to identify a staff member who is skilled in this area and is capable of serving in that capacity. Um, I uh am happy to have you direct any questions about that person in general terms to the to the deputy city manager, acting city manager. Um, we could also move into executive session if we're going to discuss the qualifications of a staff member. Uh, I have Mr. Su and then Mr. Shapiro.

I don't need the qualifications of a staff member, but why did you recommend them? I mean, Natalie is our transportation engineer in the Department of Public Works. For whatever it's also worth, I also consulted the sustainability director and asked if there was anyone on their team who would be appropriate and they rightly pointed out that this is a more infrastructure oriented responsibility and Mr. Wyn also consulted with me on what the needs of the board would be visav uh our existing staff capacity. Mr. Shapiro,

sure. Um just quickly because typically people that get assigned to boards are um doing so on a voluntary basis. Is this person uh going to be using their work hours to serve on the board? That is a great question and I can look in a little further um across the different um you know sort of units that people are on. So I don't want to misspeak here. Uh but my initial um you know feeling on that is yes, they're representing the city meetings happen oftentimes during their workday. And I think if we were to get into any more detail around that, I would urge us to move into executive session if we were to do so. Mr. Shapiro.

Sure. Just um just my understanding in casual conversations with Duen was that this board is requires a heavy time commitment as a volunteer. Um so that that is just concerning for me. I would remind the older person uh that um executive uh staff uh management staff executive confidentials often attend evening meetings as part of their responsibilities. Uh Mr. Keel and Miss Fbritzio.

Um I don't think I like the idea of appointing a staff member to one of our board or leazison appointments. Um, I think that um I think that we need to be looking for community members or people who have previously served on common council or other people who are kind of involved in the elected side of legislating um to serve in kind of legislative positions, especially in our partner organizations if we're appointing them. Um, you know, I think this this aligns with my previous statements um on kind of my uncomfortableness with um our legislative processes moving more towards um staff design and less towards um or maybe equally so towards staff implementation and like there's less of that separation as time has gone on. Um and I understand that some people maybe think that's that's the way they want to go. I just don't think it's necessarily the way I think we should be moving as both a community and a society. Um so I think I will be not supporting this uh this appointment tonight.

Thanks Alder President Fitzio.

Yeah, I also agree that I I really think we need to be putting community members into these positions. Um, and while I appreciate it's kind of a like I'm sure you see it as a creative solution, I think that, you know, from for a very long time now, we haven't um optimized our like outreach to the community to try to get people I mean there was whole room full of people and we know that this is a really active engaged community in so many ways over just a whole host of issues. Um, and I think that we could do a hugely better job putting out putting the information out there about where the where the openings are, you know, what we're looking for. Um, and that we would be able to solicit people. So, I just I just don't buy into the notion that we have really hard time getting people to do something in this community. I think it's that we need to try harder to communicate what we're looking for. And um and I I know that you are a master at this kind of thing, Dominic, and so I know that we're going forward um I think that we're going to do a better a better job at this. Um yeah,

I would just uh I would just note that no blame uh or responsibility for this decision should be on Mr. Reio. Uh not that you were not that you were suggesting there was, but just this was I this was my decision after consultation with him. It was not something he requested that I do. I just want to be clear about that. Um, I also would just uh anecdotally share that the community police board has three members of the 10 that it needs. Uh, uh, but I'm going to recognize Mr. Su.

I just want to reiterate that I think this is a real important position that the person's doing. TCAT is a non-substantial or a non-trivial part of our budget and I think the board helped create the budget and then we participate in that. So, just emphasizing, I know we're kind of making jokes about it, but like to really not know anything about this person. Thank you for sharing that. But I think that's a really big decision for us to be making. So whether it's in our like procedures or like they have to, it's ridiculous that they wouldn't. Sure. Yeah. And again, I would encourage folks to review that agenda when it comes out on Friday and if you have additional need for information to absolutely request that information. Uh all the person for Britzio.

Yeah. I think I I also just wanted to say that I do um share the concerns um about taking the person away from their from their work time um to to focus on this. And um to your point about the community police board, I think we need to, you know, get information. I I shouldn't have done that. I that was not Germaine. I shouldn't have done that. Uh Mr. Win,

um I'm actually pretty excited to have Natalie on the board to increase the synergy between TCAT and the city's planning. um you know Cornell's all of Cornell's um appointees are employees who are full-time and they you know bring with them the connections and background of being an employee of the organization specifically often in the transportation division. So um I think this is the first time in in a while uh that we've that we're bringing that same expertise to the TCAP board. I would also um that's thank you Mr. Win and that also reminds me uh speaking of synergy uh Natalie is also uh my proxy to the ITCTC uh which I don't actually remember what that stands for but it's like the transportation council. Yeah, I just don't remember the acronym. Yeah. Uh and she is uh represents us uh in on that on that board. Um seeing no further discussion. So

please. Yeah. Yeah. So thank you for that, Duen, because that's a really good point. Um, so you're comfortable, uh, I guess I would ask Dominic, you're comfortable, um, that this person has the bandwidth to to do this? Like what are we what are we losing out on by, you know, what are we replacing? I'm comfortable with their bandwidth and so is their supervisor, the director of public. Okay.

Currently the director of public works. you know, it'll be very very brief, but actually I'd like to move into executive session very briefly uh to discuss a personnel. No. Uh may uh council um may I request a two-minute recess to speak with the city attorney? Moved by all the person just me. Just me. All the person su second by all the person. All those in favor of a recess that carries nicely.

Maybe I should have

All right, we're back. hat that's back. We'll we'll move for well we can still make the motion. I'd like to move into executive session to discuss a personnel matter. Uh moved by me, seconded by all the person Keel. All those in favor of moving into executive session that carries unanimously. We will be back in a few moments. Uh folks, we will let's wait for Pat so he can join us after these commercial. Yes, exactly.

session that carries unanimously. Any further debate on the appointment, Mr. Defendini? Oh, any further debate? All those in favor of the appointment, that carries unanimously. Uh, what's my last appointment? My computer locked up. Ah uh I am uh nominating uh in the tradition of uh the person who sits in this seat uh uh I am just nominating uh Joe Kirby to replace former older person Chris Hayne Sharp on the program access oversight committee which is the uh uh community housing development fund. Oh man, it's Yeah. Um any discussion? All those in favor? That carries unanimously. Um um no reports other than the city manager report. Oh no. You have expressed a preference to discuss the report at this meeting. Correct.

Yes. Yes. Then then then yes.

Yes. And thank you. Um I recognize that we have other sessions tonight. So if there are questions that linger after this evening into the next two meetings in February, I would be more than happy to discuss them. and I feel as though the cadence for delivering the reports uh including the financial and vacancy report are going to best serve council doing so in the first meeting. Um so again I'll be happy to answer questions throughout but um you have several documents uh attached in the city manager report um including the vacancy and financial reports. I'll touch on those momentarily. I just want to run through the other pieces verbally briefly. Um we are moving forward uh well in the area of our department head searches specifically related to the controllers's office and uh director of human resources and I'm very grateful for those uh search committees. We have several candidates for each position. Um uh this evening you adopted the roots program for the community responder unit and just for your edification um I'll be moving forward on both an internal kickoff meeting uh including IPD uh HR um and other key stakeholders to move forward the you know process of starting a new division um within within the city which is a significant amount of work and then continue our external uh stakeholder engagement as well. Um, I focused some area in this report around downtown Ithaca and uh, parking as those are two areas I know many people on council and in the public are uh, keenly interested in and I can answer any questions on those areas you have within there. Um, and I've I've identified several um, emerging issues and ongoing priorities here that um, you know, I could have a 20page report for you, but to keep it succinct, just letting you know that these things are on the radar. Um, and I know that snow removal procedures is something that council is particularly interested in. Um, and I can just say that you should expect a

briefing uh, within one of the next three council meetings um, or so. So, I'm working on that and I want to make sure we have our procedures prepared for you. So, I could answer any brief questions on that report before moving into financials and uh vacancy. Mr. Shapiro, do you mind if I talk about financials? My question, I have four different questions somewhere. Let's stick let's let's tackle the the bulk of the report, then we'll do financials, then we'll do vacancy just to keep things coherent. Okay. Um I can come back to you. Yeah. Just quick question then regarding Cclick Fix.

Yes, sir. Um, I was noticing the several different ways that people can report things. Um, about how many times would you say someone needs to report graffiti before it gets removed?

It's a good question and sometimes a complicated one. Ideally, someone is reporting graffiti uh, you know, once and it is removed. But we have a scenario where multiple people will see a new um you know instance of graffiti in the community and we'll get multiple reports before the next workday starts or before uh the temperature is able to um be warm enough uh for us to actually use the chemical product to remove the graffiti. So it's a little a little complicated. Um but every time a cclick fix report comes through to our commons crew in particular which is where the graffiti um you know removal part of cclick fix is um focused they immediately receive that notification and go to the site.

Okay. Does like the department of public works need to consult with you before they remove graffiti? Not in the commons area or in you know the commons are where this is a mainly this item mainly arises.

Okay. Okay. Thanks. Uh just one more question then about your city manager report. Um it is somewhat finance related but it's from your city manager report course. Um we did meet as a uh finance advisory committee um once already and there's a strong desire amongst that group to have some sort of um I I don't want to I don't want to say decision- making but involvement in some way in um um the controller search whether that's just a meet and greet in some sort. I know there's a lot of I know it's very prescribed how the city must conduct searches, but I want to say that like our group met and that was one thing we talked about was wanting to see somehow get our ourselves involved in that process.

This is for our agenda for Friday morning. Okay, I'm looking forward to discuss. Thank you. Thank you all the person. Uh I had all the person's mottos and then Keel next. Um yes, thank you to the acting city uh city manager for putting together this report. I really appreciated the vacancy and the financial reports that followed um your overall city manager report. Just one quick overall question. Are we expected because I know the vacancy reports and the financial report sections, those would be pretty consistent, but would the other bullet the bold bullet points essentially be what you're working on throughout the month and then like a brief description or are you going to try to stay pretty consistent with what you have here? Right now,

I anticipate that the items brought forth in this narrative report will change over time depending on what the work product is. Um, these are things that I thought you needed um and the public needed a highle update on um for people to refer to. Um, but I can't promise for example that um, you know, department head meeting one-on- ones with acting city manager would would occur in this or even you know downtown Ithaca. A that's a frequent area, but I may not always have this level of report. Whereas next month, I know there are already issues that start on my calendar for February. So the March report, you will see several additional or different topics here. If you have a specific topic that you'd like to see covered or discussed, please reach out to me. I'd be more than happy to try and provide that detail.

Thank you,

Mr. Ke. Yes. One of my favorite parts about being on council and as you know and also I felt most advis But I would really like to see how we can I just interject really quick. Uh the uh Mr. Rekio and I spoke on Friday about that very group. I plan to bless you. I plan to reconstitute it as a special committee. Uh and it is on our agenda for us to discuss this Friday.

I would like that for college owners think about how we college. Um, this has been a big problem that I've heard of that business owners are really worried about. Um, also the other thing that I've heard a lot from my constituents and business owners in my district are that um, you know, you have in the grand scheme of things relatively lowers and new fees and the lack of parking in the college and the lack of it takes a long time and it effectively cut off should be using my microphone. Um, but I think if if there's a way we could think about um maybe working with businesses to offer a reduced rate for like monthly parking garage permits or something. Um I don't know what that looks like, but I just wanted to put on your radar. Um I'm happy to send a follow-up email to I I've been meaning to do that, but I saw it on here tonight, so I figured I'd mention it.

Thank you. And very briefly on the validation program, the next step that we are taking, city staff have developed a survey that we have asked the downtown Ithaca Alliance to distribute to downtown businesses, uh, key contacts at each business to answer some questions for us about the types of approaches they'd like to see within the validation program. We have now more deeply understood the sort of confines of the software and the tools in which we can use to offer a validation program through our existing um services that the city uh works with and we're going to take that input that we get from the survey work with the DIA and others to develop that as it relates with College Town. Um yeah, further discussion to be had in terms of the sort of parking and validation opportunities in College Town. Um, we have a opportunity downtown with the downtown Ethica alliance who is the sort of broker of many stakeholders. We can work through one relationship and and reach many. In Collegetown, I'd like to work with you on, you know, what types of relationships we could have so the business doesn't have to or the city doesn't have to have many businessto business relationships, which is um likely not something we'd be able to pull off as well as a one-to-one relationship with someone whose expertise it is to work with those businesses.

Mr. Trumble.

Um yeah, I mean Patrick um basically just covered most of what I was going to be talking about just as far as trying to get a similar program. Um I would be remiss if I didn't also ask if we could try to get that initial analysis of the downtown areas where parking could be changed. Also in College Town, I've got a good friend that some of you probably know, Daniel Kug, who um sends follow-ups to all of us all the time on the kind of insanity of parking and delivery drivers up in College Town. Um, and you know, if there's anywhere we could be making money on parking, you know, we should be targeting some of these, you know, sillyly utilized spaces. Um, and also really quick, I just wanted to say I think it's awesome that we are reworking theou with the downtown alliance. I think it's a long time coming and thank you Nan for being here with us today.

Thank you all the person.

Yeah, thank you Dominic for your effort with this um with the report. It's great to have this information. I have a couple things I wanted to ask about um with regard to Cclick Fix. I've been wondering um for a long time now how we would be able to um make it possible for people to use it for exterior property maintenance ordinance violations. So this would be for ways easy way to report ice and snow on sidewalks and then also other exterior property things. Right now the only way to do it is to send a note to the um either the mostly to to the planning department right to Lisa Nicholas um and or to the city attorney's office is how I had been Victor had in um instructed me before. So I'm just wondering what you what you see as the solution for that.

Thank you. This question has come up se at least three times from council members this very week. Um, and I pleased to explain a little bit and and report back. So, Cclick Fix is traditionally uh a tool that allows someone to report a defect to the city in the city's property or operations. So, um our our sidewalks that we're responsible for cleaning because our DPW crew can go and then clean the sidewalk we're responsible for. and someone submitting that information publicly. Um, it's in a public publicly accessible database. The recipient of that information is the city. The tool is not traditionally used in other cities for things like the building division activities, including exterior property maintenance, habitability concerns, um, you know, complaints or requests for the building division activity that you're right. Right now, people have to either call or email the building division within the planning department. um and that's likely not the most efficient way to track requests etc. So um with this we are looking into whether a subsection of cclick fix would be appropriate for this which I don't believe it will based on the traditional use of cclick fix and the public transparency uh piece of that and how complaints are made and other software like open gov that we have access to that allows us to um receive essentially forms from the public and then use a workflow. So the it's likely that the best path here will be another form tool that the city has that we can make accessible where we can then track and report on all of those more easily and our staff are exploring this very issue.

Thank you. Um with regard to confidentiality I I want to say that the current system right now um people who are making a complaint say about a property um have to leave their name. They will not take an anonymous complaint. Um, and I think that that's I think that's a problem like for somebody who's a renter for instance. Um, you know, who's concerned about retaliation. Um, so I I do like urge us to not just for the ease but also because we are missing a confidentiality piece right now. Um, and I would like to see that fixed. Um, then I have two I have two other things that I'm I have um they're kind of in the same in the same realm. one is about how how can we better manage the green space that's behind the old urban outfitters. Um, you know, I've walked through there a lot of times this week. It's just like full of dog poop, which, you know, it's been like that for a very long time. And um I'm you know I know that the um H&H place has has their staff that's out there trying to clean up stuff you know often frequently but um what can we do as a city to better monitor that situation and fix this problem?

I believe that's private property and it falls within that private property owner's responsibility. I would just I would just gently encourage us to ask questions about the city manager's report. Okay. Uh my next speaker is Mr. Su. Wait, can I I think is the garage was on the report. Correct. Sure. Yeah. I just you you just trailed off after you said okay. So I thought

correct one thing. I think there's some kind of agreement with the city about that space being accessible to the public. So that might fall into a different category. Um and just about the garage, um just in general, I you know, you know, there have been a lot of concerns, uh you know, levied there, and I'm just wondering what kind of progress we're making toward improvements.

Thank you. Uh you're referring to the Green Street garage and cleanliness and updates. Um uh we have ongoing feedback that we receive from downtown stakeholders primarily through cclick fix and uh we receive those cclick fix reports. You you see the signage in the report inviting the general public to use that tool. Our staff uh immediately prioritizes those requests as best as possible. I have communicated directly with our staff the expectations around cleanliness in that garage, continuing to focus on improving that over time. Um, we have repaired recently some drywall uh in the garage that was in need of repair. Um, there's a little bit more work to do when the weather gets warmer and we have some procurement uh activity going on related to other drywall um further up the staircase. Um, some complaints that we've heard over time. Uh, so it's it's an ongoing process and sometimes a moving target to be frank with with the use of the garage, but it is um it's a priority that's well noted and I've made sure that DPW knows that it is such.

Mr. Su, just in response to what you were saying about Cclick Fix, I also use it and I follow it and it's anonymous. Um, I don't know who is submitting the reports. I've also I've often been curious actually uh but I can't find that information. Um, and my question for you was about um hiring enforcement for Saturday parking. Actually, let's Is Saturday enforcement happening? If not, is there a timeline for that? For parking?

Yep. Yep. Um, I'll have to report back to you on the exact plan for that. We have some technology uh changes that we're we're considering going through right now. Um, and have some some hiring pieces to look into. Any further comments or questions on this section of the report? Mr. Shapiro, you're recognized for the financial. Thank you. Um just uh I'll try to keep it brief. The column in the on the first page that talks about percent of year to date, what does that actually refer to?

Great. So um that is um that is the percent of actual related to the total budgeted. So 1.8 8 million is 4% of the of the 40 million that's reported there. Okay,

we're we're um let's say I think we're like 7.2% of the way through the year. Um I didn't put that number in here. Um but this is to sort of benchmark against that. January numbers are going to be wonky. I think it'll become more clear in the March report when I can show you on March 4th you're 14% of the way through the year and our revenues are, you know, 34% of the expected total. Um, so we're outpacing, you know, the time of year on revenues. Um, but maybe we're underpacing that on our personnel expenditures, for example. I would just encourage you to think about it the other way around and thinking about it as a variance from budget. Sure. in which case it's not 4%, it's like 96% variance from budget.

Yeah, more considerations to have. That feedback is good. Um, as I know it's a little bit of a template at this stage, but yeah, that's a good that's a good point of feedback. Thank you.

Okay, so another question then real quick. Um, would you imagine because the revenue is just so dramatically different. Would you imagine that there's revenue that'll be coming in that just hasn't been posted to January yet? Yes, there is additional revenue that uh were that 2% that you see there that is not yet reconciled in our books. Um these numbers that you see here in this table are to show a proof of concept based on what is available today. When you receive the March numbers, they will be the actuals for what's been reconciled for January up through that point. So it'll lag a month, but it'll be a much more accurate picture. Um, so the difference that you see on March 4th will be whatever else has been posted since this report was produced.

For example, this is through 28 and I have it on good authority that the the mayor paid his property taxes on the 30th.

Okay. So then in the March meeting, we'll anticipate having the Jan the more up-to-date January numbers. And just just to bring up the finance advisory committee again, I think the one thing and I'm sure it's on your agenda for tomorrow or Friday. Um, I think we discussed wanting to see that committee to be able to see the finance report prior to it becoming to the full council. Um, just as a way of that advisory group kind of reviewing and vetting it before it gets to the full council. So, I don't know if that'll fit in with your timeline. We could certainly adjust our meeting timeline to to be uh more um to to be more considerate to your timeline, but I just wanted to put it out there that those were things we discussed. I'm sure the mayor will share that with you.

As you suspect, this is only a Friday agenda. Sorry to steal your No, no, that's fine. Yeah. I just don't want to put this the uh the city manager on the spot because we've not talked about that yet. Fair enough. Thank you, Mr. Su. Does the city have any reserve funds by chance? Have a fund balance. So, no designated reserve. Uh we do we we recently capitalized in a very small way some reserve uh for capital projects I believe in the 2026 budget for the very first time. Um, but we have a No, we have a fund balance and Okay. I was just if we do have those additional, I'd like to see them on their board. That's all. Okay.

We um not to speak for the controller and I'm happy to have her jump in with my normal regular council. You're about to get called on preamble. Um but uh we we are also in the process of trying to get an audited fund balance and so we have a uh general approximation um from budget of last year which I would point you to um I would point you to the budget hearing. I I have a rough sense of what it is based on those meetings. I'm happy to chat with you but we we don't have a um audited fund balance uh figure at this time. Right. And there's a fund balance position section of the monthly. I No, I saw that. I'm just looking for any additional Great question. Yep. Thanks. Uh colleagues, further Mr. Ke,

I was just going to uh note that Mr. Su and I learned at the Nikcom conference this weekend uh that um if the city sets up preserve fund accounts um rather than fund balances that are designated for specific purposes, the funds in those reserve funds accounts can actually be invested in specific ways which can increase annual returns by like between 4 and 8%. Um, so you know, uh, that would be kind of cool. And then, uh, Miss Cole, uh, Mr. Shapiro, can you just pass? Oh, thank you.

So, um, just to briefly discuss the reserve funds. Um, Alder person Cool is right. We do actually have um a few reserve funds that have been set up over the years with very specific um purposes. Um the one that I that comes to the top of my head um that does have some funding in it is um it's a sewer reserve fund. Um, so it was specifically designated um with sewer funds that were set aside um for that for I can't remember the exact purpose but each reserve fund that we have um is very specific and we did talk about some reserve funds last year in the budget and that is an option um this year when it comes around but um we could provide some further information um in an in a report as to what reserve funds exist in a balance.

Yeah, if it's not I'm just not not sure. It may be appropriate to wait to the budget to discuss that, but if it does work for this sort of thing, that would be good too. Whatever works for you guys. Uh question, please. Just a really quick question for Wendy. Um I seem to remember like last year, Wendy, that that we had some of the reserve funds. I thought we did have some funds invested

in a some kind of interestbearing account. Is that wrong wrong or so? Um the city does use um NIClass for um some of their investments um which I don't have the details um with me this evening but that is one of the ways um that a city can invest funds um but that's the um I don't have any information with me tonight but we so we we don't have funds invested though reserve we do have funds we do have funds invested in NIClass I just don't have the details, but that is one of the authorized ways that a um city can um invest funds.

Thanks. And then turning to the vacancy report, I wanted to just Oh, I'll recognize Mr. Trumbull first, please. You can go first if you want to. Sorry. I just wanted to thank Jamie and the HR department for uh providing this draft document. Um it is uh very helpful to see these positions in front of us including separation date and how it impacts the overall vacancy rate that we've budgeted for. So I just wanted to thank you and your and your team Mr. Trumbull.

Um yeah, thank you Mr. Mayor. Um so I just had a quick few clarifications and maybe this isn't the place to ask it just about the 10 police officer positions because that's not actually 10 vacancies from the police department, right? there's like these, you know, one is continuously recruiting, one is retirements, resignations, you know, hard to fill positions, etc. Um, and I was asking, I did my IPD ride along on Sunday, and I was trying to ask officer Babcock, who I was riding with, how many vacancies the police department does have now, and he was like, I think like four. Um, but then reading over this, you know, it looked more like 10. Um, so I was just kind of trying to see if you did know the exact number. Um, more so for when people ask me.

Thank you. Uh, my understanding is the number is 10. I would call Jamie up uh for if there are any further questions, but I will note uh something here. Yes, it does say um here in the separation date uh column there, continuously recruiting. You know, those four uh details there aren't specific to the position on the left there for the grouping. In the future report, I'll be separating that out as sort of a chunk to explain as it relates to a group of positions like the police officers. um you know they are we have retirements on a on a semi-frequent basis and recruitments and it's a there's a been a move recently to continuous recruitment for law enforcement officers um for different ways which is something that's been called for for years which I think will help us in some ways um it is a it is a ever moving target and we want to make sure we can fill as many of those as possible but currently this is the status. Miss Flynn, would you like to

Okay. I just wanted to see if you wanted to come up and Okay. Um, any further comments or questions on the vacancy report? I I I could just add the only little color I would have is um I often also uh just like subtract from the vacancy the number of people I've sworn in and then the chief then the chief will remind me that uh we have retirements. Um any further questions on the vacancy report? Okay, with that we are going to move into executive session to discuss collective bargaining. We will be back with an anticipated vote and then we will have a bunch more executive sessions where there will be no vote. May I have a motion to enter into executive session moved by all the persons mottos seconded by all the person win. All those in favor of moving into executive session that carries unanimously. We can go into my office for that word yours. We'll go up to the city manager's office.

Oh yeah. May I have a motion to exit executive session? Moved by Mr. Shapiro, seconded by Mr. Trumbull. All those in favor of exiting executive session, that carries unanimously. Um, I move to adopt and ratify the tenative agreement between the city of Ithaca and the city executive association. Seconded by Mr. Shapiro. All those in favor, that carries unanimously. Um, member of the public, we are going to enter into a series of executive sessions for which there will be no vote anticipated. So, we will be uh holding these chambers. Um, the public, we're going to enter into executive discussion to discuss a personnel matter. Moved by Mr. Keel, second by Mr. Shapiro. All those in favor? That carries unanimously. Uh thank you deputy clerk for uh staffing the meeting. You may shut down the webinar. And thank you member of the public. I used to