City Council - Regular Meeting

Time is 6:03 and I call this meeting to order. Can we can you please join us in standing for the pledge of allegiance? I aliance to the flag of America and to the republic for it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all. Clerk, you may now take the role. Council member Murray is absent. Council member Kavanaaugh present. Council member Hodkus present. Council Medavetski present. Council member Rathell present. Council member Dundan is absent. Council President Prom Middleton present. Thank you.

Thank you. So we'll now begin our discussion of legislation and the planning committee with chair Rafel and she will begin introducing RL26-97.

Thank you C council president proent Middleton. Uh, this is RL26-97, an ordinance to sell 2 and a half FET Street and four FET Street to Habitat for Humanity for $1. Our presenter is the executive director of Broom Broom County Habitat for Humanity. Yep. Come on down. Welcome. You'll just want to make sure that when speaking the green light is on so you can Yep. would you mind sharing the context of this ordinance?

Certainly. Thank you for having me. I did want to uh issue one quick clarification. It's two and four and a half bet. Um I just want to make sure that that's on our application. You said it's two two and four and a half. Two and four and a half. Thank you.

Okay. Thank you. So yes, uh Broom County Habitat for Humanity is looking to acquire those two adjacent properties. We plan to construct two single family homes on the lots. Uh I would imagine as you all know Vines is in that area on um the Syscoana Street area and we actually helped them construct their new zero emissions building and so we took a look at the neighborhood and we thought well Vines is doing something really great in that neighborhood and it's starting to or they're trying to start to make it look a little bit better and revitalize it and we'd like to pick up the torch and keep it going. So, we're going to start with two and four and a half and see how it goes.

Does Habitat only do single family? Traditionally, yes. Uh, right now we are in the midst of constructing our first ever two family home, but that's located in Johnson City. Um, that's on Spruce Street. It should be finished by the end of this year at the latest, but traditionally we do build single family homes. The two family was kind of a pet project of mine and based on how the crew responds, we'll see if we do it again. Are you familiar? So, you mentioned Vines. Are you familiar with the reimagining center city initiative that was launched by council last month?

I'm not. No. So you mentioned revitalizing uh that area, Center City in particular. Uh with the changing of the name of Columbus Park to Center City Park, council launched a neighborhood conversation around uh primarily centered on engaging with residents about what they how they're currently getting their needs met in that neighborhood, what they'd like to see coming into the neighborhood. Um, we have had thus far two meetings with just about every organizational stakeholder in Center City. Um, and I'd actually on our next agenda next month, we will talk in detail about housing. So, I'd love to have you, if you're interested, join that conversation. Um, at the moment, we're focused on direct kind of doortodoor neighborto- neighbor resident engagement. Uh but we have a really short timeline where we hope to identify kind of next steps for reinvestment.

Certainly. Yeah. I mean the thing is is I did inquire with the um local municipality regarding the current status of some of the other properties on Fyet Street because ideally we'd like to start with these two and kind of keep it rolling. There are a few that I believe I was told was were in process or in talks with uh BEu for potential acquisition and then the others are um on the more blighted side. So I hope for in the future you know if the city takes possession or if whomever is the proper owner disposes them that would be great. But for from what we could see, you know, right now it's just two vacant lots that could use a nice home and we hope to do that.

Does anybody else have any other questions? My mic is on. Yeah. Um, so two FET looks like it was a fairly large structure there. Is there potential to split that lot or possibly get three lots out of two lots here? I I mean, did we look at the the actual sizing of of the lots and the structures at all?

We have and honestly we are even with the two lots, we're trying to make sure we can make that work from an excavation standpoint. I've actually had our excavators preliminarily go out and assess where we would move things because We are a nonprofit. So if we don't have a place for excavated dirt after we've backfilled it, we have to figure out a place where we can dispossess ourselves of it and it becomes really costly. So his suggestion was that if we did acquire both two and four and a half that we could put any excess from two to four and then when we go to break ground on four, we will cross that bridge when we get there. But regarding making, you know, an additional lot in that spot, it's already quite tight.

So, how did who um how did this process get kicked off? Were you uh did this in Habitat initiative or did the the somebody in the city approach you folks or what or just what what put this on your radar other than the Vines Association?

Oh, no. Well, mines had nothing to do with that other than I just happened to be down and see that there was open space. But no, the the way that we got connected was the governor's um blockbyb block grant is something that was kind of put out to all nonprofit housing organizations in the five cities that were awarded the finances, ours included. And so initially we had looked into going through that grant but logistically speaking the parameters of the grant are simply too ownorous for us were quite small and historically we have not built in the city of Bingmpington and I believe at least over a decade because of previous uh hiccups and hang-ups prior to my time. In fact, when I started three years ago, they gave me an open letter that they signed to the previous executive director stating that they refused to work the volunteers, I mean, in the city of Bingmpington um because it was simply too ownorous. We are volunteerrun and they said that the city had made things excessively difficult and uh the red tape was more than they were willing to contend with. So, we've not built in the city of Bingmpington. And when initially approached about the blockbyb block grant, I had remarks that it's in the city of Bingmpington. So I started with Sarah Glo and Tito Martinez uh down at the mayor's office explaining our position and saying, you know, I personally think that this is a win-win and that we could reopen the lines of communication between Habitat and the city of Bingmpington, but I do want to start small. And so that was our initial opening. And then like I said the the parameters of that specific grant became too ownorous for us but we do work with the affordable housing corporation and we could still acquire a grant through those means.

So is the project contingent on particular grant funding or is this just another one in your pipeline and what would be the timeline for starting? So, regarding the timeline, as soon as we can get the keys, so to speak, we do plan to excavate, our goal is to do it this year. And then, of course, there's a race to get weather tight before the snow starts flying, but it's not a position we've not been in before and we've handled it. And then I'm sorry, what was your other question? Well, contingent on that spec on a specific grant funding or I mean, do you folks have projects going all the time, right? So, is this just

Well, we We do have projects going all the time, but that I would not say simultaneously. We generally get at least threearters of the way done with a project before embarking on another. We are very much so one house at a time with the exception of the two family we're building, which technically will be two houses, but it is not contingent on the grant funding. No, but ideally the grant funding would be great. It's just an excellent subsidy to help us. But the last house that we just closed on, unfortunately, the timing didn't work out and we didn't have the grant funding. So, we simply put the money out of pocket. So, but this would be the next one in the hopper, so to speak, if you're going to Yes. start this year.

Any other questions? Okay. So, you already have like a design for these buildings. an architectural plan. Yeah. Yes. Okay. And we do obser I'm sorry. Can you share it?

I could email it to you. I'm sorry I don't have it with me right now, but we do try to comport with neighborhood aesthetic. We don't want to put, you know, a bungalow in a area of skyscrapers, you know. So, we discussed it and based on the size of the plot and the current existing drawings we have, um, if any of you are familiar with Seven Burlington in Bingmpington, we built that house and it's, um, it's a ranch style, but it's turned. So, rather than being spread out, I guess, horizontally, it's turned vertically. So, um, and then it has a full basement and that's the style that we plan to build.

Any other questions? I think um, sorry.

No, go ahead. Um my my generally my position and approach to um vacant lots throughout the city and through other conversations that we have is that I'm pretty sure this is an R3 district. Um I know there was a two family a two family I think and a another two family I believe. Um, so that's probably like at least six units that were on those lots. And then we're going to reduce it down to just two families. So it, um, in terms of replenishing inventory, it's not like maximizing density in the allowable like zoning. Um, and I'm since there's the city is mostly R1 and is suited for single family, it's like single family should be built where single family can be built and um the multif family residential should be built in the areas where it's allowable to kind of maximize density and most units that we can have. Um, I guess that's just a comment. That's kind of the same thing I was shared about different presentations for single family, but

I mean I I understand or respect that position. That's why I wanted to do the two family to begin with and at Spruce Street. Part of the issue I will be very, you know, transparent is a our builds are done by volunteers. So I cannot force them. I can discuss it with them and I take what they say to heart and ultimately we do come to a decision as a team, but I know that just getting them to sign on board to even consider building in the city of Bingmpington and then consider building where we're building, it was an uphill battle for me, toward my build crew, for me, toward my board. They have a lot of concerns about finding homeowners who will qualify, who will want to live in that neighborhood. I kind of took the platform of we need to build the change we wish to see and it could either be blighted buildings and slum lords or we can create something beautiful out of what's nothing currently. So, you know, I'm not going to rule out and say never again will we build, you know, a two family or multif family or in the city of Bingmpington, but I do want to let you know that that's something I would like to do. It's just getting the rest of the organization on board is easier said than done. I would like to so I share that exact sentiment and I would say stakeholders uh that have been engaged in community conversations would have the same concern about dropping single families uh where additional units would be permitted and are possible. Would you be willing to commit to having that conversation with your volunteers about the potential of two families in those lots? I would certainly be open to discussing that. I will say regarding those two lots, it would be that would be something we'd have to definitively go back to the drawing board because I'm thinking of the current two family build

and the space that we have in which we've been able to work. And I know we could theoretically build a two family on those two lots, but to get a two two families on those two lots is again pushing it based on the drawings that we currently use. And I also would like to put on the record that if somehow the discussion was had and they did come on board which would again be you know both the volunteers and my actual board that I report to. I would want to say you know we had a lot of trouble. I mean I didn't experience it personally but just from what I was told a number of volunteers actually left the organization due to the per the restrictions of working within the city of Bingmpington. So, I wouldn't want it to be here is the olive branch and we're going to start off with a single family and then we ch transition to a a multif family and we get slapped with a bunch of additional red tape and a lot of rigomearroll and headache because it's already volunteers and then if you make them do additional ownorous tasks they just they pull out completely.

And I can understand that your interest would be your organization and the organization that you are entrusted to lead. our interest is going to be the right fit for that neighborhood. Anyone else? Well, thank you Leticia for coming. Um, thank you so much. Have a good evening. You too.

And if you can just send that over. Do you need Do you need an email address to send that information over that we requested? Okay, my clerk will Okay, she'll get she'll get you a card. Okay. Uh, finance committee chair c uh council member Kavanagh will now introduce RL26-98. Do we have Doug Jensen from All right. And CR, do you want to come down too?

Why not? I'm going to take a wild guess that u this is a RL2698 I'm going to take this as a wild guess that this is a consequence of our pushing for a sewer credit program and study.

That's exactly what it is for. Uh it is for completing the flow management study that was requested jointly by the owners um and funded only at $100,000 in in the budget. Um our bids have come in extremely higher than that. So we are seeking to move $250,000 from our reserve accounts into our operating budget to cover this. Can we get copies of the RFP and the and the responses? Yes, we can get you copies of the RFP.

Thank you. Sar, I asked you down, I guess, to comment on the health of the sewer fund and can we handle this expense and Well, yes. Fiscal opinion. Well, they're using their reserve fund. So, they have almost $2 million in there. So I think using the $250,000 they they've hardly used it in the since they've we put it in place in the end of 2022. Okay.

So I think this is prudent. And we have a timeline on starting the getting the study done and report back or

they would start the study very shortly after the uh owners approve the transfer. Of course, we can't uh commit to that until that's done. Um and I think the target deliverables right now is November. So, the study would commence during the rainy season looking forward in the spring and summer. Okay.

Would you would you mind over here? I know audio is a little difficult. Um would you mind refreshing my memory of um the objective for the for the study? Sure. The the study will analyze the actual flows in the sewer systems, determine where the flows to the plant are coming from. Okay. And then based on that, is it a a a billing question for for different municipalities that use the

We have a you have obviously we have a capacity amount. Um right now we have the the flow credit program which allocates certain gallons to certain basins throughout the air the service area. Uh so it would analyze whether the we are using are accurate or need to be changed. Thank you.

And um this looks like this is up for an expedition. Is is the um can you explain the reason why I think you said it already, but can you explain the reason why this needs to be expedited? We're behind uh on schedule right now. Um the our our first bid came in uh that the our board accepted um came in with one contingency uh to do with the GIS mapping which would have pushed this amount well over the $350,000 mark. That just meant we had to go to the second bidder.

So did um did Johnson City already approve this? Yeah, it is on Johnson City's agenda for tomorrow night. All right. And then obviously if it's gotten to us, the board feels that this is still worth Yes. the money to do. Yes. Okay. Any other questions? Uh I will motion to expedite as long as we get the uh information I requested. A second. A motion and a second. Clerk, any discussion regarding that expedition? Clerk, can you please take the role? Council member Rathmouth, I. Council Mavetsky, I. Council member Hodkis, I. Council member Kavanagh,

I. Council members Murray and Dunan are absent. Council President Prom Middleton. Hi. Thank you. That is 50 Z. Just since we didn't say it out loud, the expedition is requested to accommodate conducting the study during the area's late spring and summer heavy rain season. Oh, I thought we did. Okay, thanks Doug.

Thank you. Okay, Municipal and Public Affairs Committee member Metavveski, uh, will you now introduce RL26-99? All right, we're going to be talking about RL26-99, a resolution authorizing 90,2 and 48 from district attorney for discovery position. And we have our chief of police, John Ryan. Good evening. Uh this resolution is to accept uh $90,248 from the Broom County District Attorney's Office to help support and fund a position, a discovery technician position, which is a nonsworn member of the police department that serves in the role of discovery technician. This is money that's from the state through the district attorney's office to help uh with statemandated discovery processes. And uh it also is available for some training andor special important cases that have excessive amounts of discovery or video recovery for discovery purposes.

I believe we've previously accepted similar money. So this is an existing position with an existing person. Yes, it's an existing position that's currently staffed and uh they're working in that role now. We have accepted money prior. This and including by this body. Yes. Yes. Yeah. I'm pretty sure we voted on this before. Is it an annual renewal that we should be expecting because it was just last year? Right. Okay. Right. I don't think that it's um I guess funding dependent from the state through the DA. So, I guess you could say annual, but I don't know that there's anything guaranteed by legislation that the money would be guaranteed from year to year.

Okay. And I think I'm sure we asked this question previously, but what is the plan if the grant funding is no longer there? Would the position simply be sustained with existing budget?

Well, we were required to do it by law. So, uh the work would have to be done. Um from year to year, like when this went into effect with the bail reform, uh the monies were sent from the state. There's no indication that it would be pulled necessarily, but um I guess there's no definitive plan. If it was to be pulled, the work would still have to be done. Basically, you'd be paying a police officer to do it at a much higher rate if that were the case. So has this position been meeting the discovery needs of the department? Uh is it enough? I mean I know it was a major concern of the department when when all this got kind of kicked into place that that it was a significant new burden on on on compliance. So,

yeah, I think there's been some initiatives to try to uh streamline some of the processes and use other technologies that will help make it more efficient and probably more cost- effective, not just for our agency, but across the board throughout the county. Uh, as the district attorney's office is a central receiver of all that information, so I think they've put a lot of focus as well. Uh, we've been able to get by thus far. there are other persons that can provide a support role for um if there's burdensome cases or you know an excessive volume or considering for leave time and so forth we've been able to sustain thus far.

So what type of uh technology or do you have any more details on what those streamlining initiatives look like?

A lot of it has to do with video. Uh so there's video everywhere and it's all discoverable case evidence on an arrest. Uh how that video is compiled and then transferred. So if it's something where like a detective has to go to a location and physically download video from be it a digital source or some type of player uh transfer that data into something so it's protected. We have software programs that allow the data to be downloaded or still photographs to um certify their um legitimacy so they're not tampered or altered. Uh so collection of of that data using like centralized software programs that can that can be input and then transferred to the district attorney and used as case evidence there or opposed to there's certain case law and evidence rules that come into play as well as how you're duplicating that and transferring that. So there's been a lot of discussion and review and a push for uh utilizing those. It's all part of currently available through that Axon platform which is um originally it was a taser company and then the money to be made there is in data management and that's like what our body camera program utilizes. That's the platform in which we operate off of. So they're expanding into other areas of really what I guess would be considered data management.

Thank you. Anyone else? Does anybody else have any other questions? Okay, we will move right on again um to RL26-100 in the employees uh committee. Uh Hadasa, can you still MPA? Oh, sorry. That's okay. Sorry. I'm ready to go home, I guess. Sorry. So, 26-100, a resolution authorizing $178,840 strive grant for domestic violence response. Thank you so much. Another one that I believe we've accepted previously, correct?

Yeah. I I had a question about that. So, this is the second year I think we're receiving that grant. Correct. Yeah. They call it strive two, so it's a second award. Have you have you seen any um thing beneficial with this grant like with with this?

I think so. So strive one was like the implementation uh to lay the groundwork. Uh we did seven weeks of inservice training where all of the police officers from the department received this drive training that focuses on uh intimate partner violence and reducing lethality amongst domestic violence cases and reducing domestic violence victims. Uh so the program to say we rolled it out at the uh mid-Marchch timetable. Um so we're working through that. But I think I believe in the program. I think it's going to help make it safer for you know domestic violence situations and hopefully reduce lethality. Time will tell as far as what statistics show. Um, but I think it gives a victim-entered approach where you're creating options and the ability for victims to receive services and get out of those situations or um if they're remaining in those relationships, you know, offender accountability and uh counseling. It's kind of like a holistic approach to domestic violence. So, our portion is specific to, you know, the law enforcement aspect. there's other uh criminal justice or social service or provider agencies that partake. Uh but I think it it's a step in the right direction for uh the safety of those persons and families and children.

So who how many officers get trained or is it management? Is it the direct service officers? Is it every officer in their every officer the officers that operationally are handling those calls obviously are performing those tasks or implementing uh the resources you know on a more direct basis but all officers receive the training so they have an understanding of the program and uh the direction we're going with it and then a chunk of this goes to pay for an analyst correct

correct this this grant covers um training but the crux of it is salary infringe for an analyst which is a also a nonsworn uh position. So a non-p police officer that's a certified crime analyst that handles data management and analysis of the domestic violence information the reports. Uh they're our employee but they are the the grant analyst for or the strive analyst for the entire grant. So they're also working uh with or alongside other agencies to compile that as you know these persons move from within jurisdiction to jurisdiction or um it's not agency specific. So the current analyst there's only one analyst for the program. That analyst is our employee and she works uh daily out of the crime analysis center while in conjunction with the district attorney's office and then our detectives on follow-ups and so forth on domestic violence. What is the So the plan if I recall correctly referenced repeatedly references incidents that occur without law enforcement involvement and there was a component of a perceived need to quote foster community and understanding between residents and law enforcement. um a justification for law enforcement partnerships on sites like emergency shelters uh despite organizations currently working effectively with TV victims that haven't asked for BPD involvement. How has that component of the strive plan been going? Uh I'm not sure I know exactly what you're asking as far as working with

placing domestic violence victims elsewhere or shelters or just in general.

No, I mean in the plan there were references to concerns regarding incidents that occur without law enforcement involvement. So, uh, presumably the number of partners who experience violence who opt not to involve or engage with law enforcement, uh, for any number of reasons and claims that there should be more victim seeking services and support involved with law enforcement agencies. And there was a justification for attempting to enhance law enforcement partnerships on sites that current they're currently working effectively with DV victims. Uh but there was going to be some kind of outreach from the department to to foster community and understanding. I just that's I'm curious how that component of the strive grant and the implementation of the plan since last year has gone.

Sure. So if it's like the questions posed of a distrust of police or not wanting to involve the police but getting assistance through a provider uh trying to like bridge that gap so if they are a victim that the criminal justice process is initiated on their behalf so like to build trust with the police. Uh some of that is done with these uh there's a part of the program is called the DVHRT domestic violence. Um it's com it's comprised of detectives and other professionals that will do like specific follow-up. So, they receive uh specialized training to make like one-on-one contact, follow-up action with these victims to try to build that rapport, build that trust so that they can well sometimes effectuate an arrest and have the offender held accountable or help maybe remove that person from their living situation, you know, by their on their terms. Um, so it's it's victim focused and victim centered by design. So, I guess our role would be to help, you know, foster those relationships, but bringing in the complete the police component as far as if law enforcement is necessary to initiate um criminal charges or um assist the victim in that regard. or it may be like like we said um assist them in establishing a plan of exit for the relationship or the living situation they're in. So there's other resources that we can refer them to, be it like shelter or um victim advocate or crime victim's assistance. Um so I mean I don't have uh I didn't I don't have you know statistics as far as you know beforehand or after as far as like what

the plan looks like or how how the uh the funding is going. I think they kind of measure it that DVHRT team like on a case- by case basis like we have successful outcome um or this is somebody that has been abused for years but now there's assistance for them or they're seeking assistance through the team's efforts. And so you mentioned uh maintaining a victim- centered approach. I think what I'm hoping to ascertain is just to confirm that if there are providers involved uh let's say for example the only emergency shelter that serves women so YWCI if there are partners involved or that fostering of a relationship is happening I think I want to confirm that consent and agency the consent and agency of the victim remains the priority. So, it's a it would never be a one-sided like there's never any outreach to law enforcement without the victim's initiation or consent. So, like if we had a referral, I guess is maybe how you're phrasing it, like if a if a service provider agency is referring something to us or requesting that we do a follow-up uh like without the consent of a victim.

I think I would I'm I'm hoping that that's not part of that process that there's not a workflow that disregards the consent of the victim in engaging.

No. No. we the the victim's participation uh and willingness or desire to have assistance, that's that's their right. So, we're not intruding on that or nor are we seeking it out. We're making ourselves available with extra resources, you know, should they so choose. Um, I mean, like to talk hypothetical situations, but a domestic violence type situation that officers may respond on, the purpose is ultimately to say there are these resources. This victim has options and we're here to provide assistance to them. Um, we're not going to really solve their issue. The police role is the criminal justice side or facilitating access to these things. Be it like immediate removal to a shelter or uh follow up at a later time. They're in fear to provide truthful account of what took place. Making options available for the the victim to uh connect with police in a safe manner so that they can advance their situation, you know, legally with the police if that's what they need or they want. We don't um receive like tips or uh referrals and then seek something out when the victim's not willing. You know, there may be aspects of crime victims assistance that provide counselors and things that may um assist people in and provide their options or make it something more available than they thought it might be an option. I I I don't know how they operate wholly. That's their part, you know, not the law enforcement aspect.

And I I think this is my last question. I didn't see it in my notes, so I may be thinking of a different program. Was this the program that was also going to supply cell phones to victims to how is that piece of it?

So, that's basically the there's a a portion that's um they call it the LAP or lethality assessment program. So, part of the grant pays for the funding of uh cell phones that are put in the patrol cars. Uh they're not for the officers, they're for the use of the victim on a call. So, they have a manned line 247 where um an operator would take a call on this lethality assessment uh call and they call it the lap line where they would then connect with like the provider that you're talking about. So, we're there to facilitate this person making direct contact that particular night at a a call or a domestic violence incident so they can at least establish an immediate safety plan at the might be at the moment or it might be, you know, for the morning or like, okay, next week these are the resources available to me. I'll contact you. Um there's cards that we give out like with QR codes for the victims and resources and and pamphlets, but the purpose of the cell phone program is that night making direct contact. So if somebody needs to change their living situation at the moment, we put that in motion, you know, 4:00 in the morning, uh whatever that looks like. then we have uh the ability they connect with someone besides the police that are there for services or they may not want to deal with us necessarily so we can put them in touch with a human being at that time to get things in motion.

Thank you. And I'm sorry I lied. I have one more question just confirming does this 178,000 the amount being requested continue to support the two there were two positions added to crime victims and overtime dollars made available to rise is that sustained

so this portion is what's uh to the Bingington Police Department so there's multiple agencies and entities involved probation crime victims um the there's an executive board of the Strive program like locally within the county and then they had a budget there. So I can't speak exactly to those figures without having them in front of me. But this is our this is our portion. Thank you. The city police or I should say the city of Bingmpington's portion. Thank you. Okay.

Anyone else? Thank you. Okay. Uh we have do we have one more? No, we don't. Okay. Now, um employees uh committee member Metavves, can you now introduce RL26-101? All right. Um, so we have RL26-101, an ordinance to amend the 2026 mayor's office budget to increase salary for assistant to the mayor. And welcome, mayor.

Hi there. I sent councel uh an email uh alongside this this RL. As discussed, the city's deputy mayor, Megan Heyman, will be transitioning out of her role here uh shortly. And so uh twofold in an effort to kind of restructure uh the department and assist us getting done what we need done. Um and also acknowledging the additional roles that the assistant to the mayor for neighborhood and youth affairs uh has been undertaking and will continue to undertake as it relates to uh several multi-ep departmental um collaborative projects specifically dealing with public safety and code as well as the ongoing work of the neighborhood groups and in responding to constituent uh concerns. Uh this salary increase reflects those additional duties. Um it also is within uh the total budget for uh the department as uh Megan's replacement uh when hired would come in at that same level. So providing a little bit more parody uh in the department and uh just kind of trying to modernize the mayor's office and and respond to the needs of running the city and on a day-to-day basis. And again doing so without uh going over budget or needing any transfers and just the salary increase.

So I had a question. How long do you how long do you um when do you think you'll have a replacement for um Megan? Assuming council votes uh on this, you know, at at the next meeting in May, I would say some point in the month of June. And then what happens to um Matt? What's her name? The Maline. Yeah, Meline. I knew I knew it. I just had it in my head. Yeah. What happens to her? She she stays put. It's just the the increased salary. Okay.

So again, for the additional duties and the fact that you know more I think of the work of the office will be shared by her and the deputy position. So it's kind of, you know, again that the total amount of salary is not changing, but just kind of where it's being allocated given the workload, the fact that she's been with the office for a number of years. Okay. Can can we learn a little bit more about the code and public safety initiatives? I think we all know about the neighborhood meetings because she's at our neighborhood meetings.

Sure. Uh, you know, lockdown and problem properties. Um, that's that's a big part. uh coordinating multi-dep departmental uh uh initiatives as you know neighbors complain about a property. It may be a public safety issue which we can address through through the police department uh community response team. She is our office's liaison with that uh entity uh to deal with hotspot neighborhood policing but also to working creatively with with corporation council and Bob can probably share the number of emails and meetings he has with Meline uh on how we kind of attack specific problem properties and what works for one is does not necessarily work for others. And so we may need to look at lockdown with some some of which are code cases that eventually you know make their way to Supreme Court. So you know 11 stone which was detailed uh here recently you know office of corporation council and Elizabeth who's prosecuting that case is is doing the lion share of that but how that goes from you know citizen complaint to marshalling the resources of city hall to eventually prosecuting that that owner. Um, Meline has a lot to do with that and so, you know, she's basically taken over from me in terms of, you know, the day-to-day, weekby- week management of problem properties in the city. That's one example. Again, other code related uh or public safety related issues. Um, we had advanced the recreational vehicle uh change in the way that we're kind of doing things. So the roll out of that again working a lot with corporation council on just those neighborhood quality of life issues and how we stay on the cutting edge. So is there's not going to be any change

other than salary to the the deputy the why why am I why can't I think no I understand that but then the the deputy mayor that's going to be a salary decrease also yeah so that that will be with parody of the assistant to the mayor position got and then there's no structural change in those responsibilities. No. No. Okay. Thank you. It's your office and your budget. I think you get to structure it how you like pretty much within reason. Within reason.

Does anybody else have any other questions? Well, thank you. Thank you very much. Have a good day. Have a good evening. The sound system sounds great, by the way. I know we're on. In fact, round of applause for Bob from it. That's Bob. That's all. Hey, the mic the microphone is on. It's time to sing a song.

All right. Uh public works committee member Hutchkus will now introduce RL26-03. We will be skipping over um RL26102 as it was uh submitted as a duplicate previously previous previously discussed in RL26-96 due to an administrative error. Okay, we're looking at RL26-103, an ordinance to modify the 2026 capital fund to install gutters on Ross Park carousel. Um, how much detail can you give us, Ron?

I think this is very important that we do that. Uh, for whatever reason, the consultants did not put gutters on the new carousel building. And if you've seen it, you know that it's completely surrounded by doors. And my fear is if we allow it to come down that steep roof and splash off the sidewalk that the bottom of those doors won't last only a couple years. So I think it's important that we get the gutters up and save those doors. Sounds very reasonable to me. It seems like a crazy oversight to have happened. Yeah. From the designers and consultants and whatever.

Can't imagine why they didn't do it, but they didn't. And They're still getting their 15% on top of the bid, right? Of course. Do we Ron, looking at the budget transfer sheet, do we know what parks equipment is not being I had a talk with the parks uh with the parks director about that, but I was concerned that we were Can I ask the question just so that folks listening know what I'm asking? Um the so 13 grand in parks equipment question is just what's not being purchased if that's being transferred.

Uh it's it's a parks capital line. There was no specific item that they were looking to purchase this year. Um it's there um in anticipation of something expensive like a mower breaking or something. Um but Shane did not have any particular use in mind for it. Um so having said that you know I I ask that if a need arises that that that 13,000 in particular you know would have would have uh you know would would have been used for to please come to us and let us know and you know don't just let it let it sit and assume we can't figure something out down the road. So sorry for stepping on your question. So, is there anything that we can do regarding our displeasure for the gutters not being included initially? Is there something that we should be checking internally? Is there something we should be doing in terms of working with this company? What what happens when there's this kind of whoopsie? Hopefully from now on uh parks will come to us which they've started doing us when they go out for bid so we can look over the drawings and things. I think that's our catchall. We were not consulted on that and it started even upstairs in planning. They really didn't know how to put together a contract. So there's been many things on that project that engineering has corrected already. But I do now have parks and they're working with us so we can help them.

So is there um like a a documented process flow now or something that that if you were to at some point someday retire that there would be something or there's a new administration or whatever there is that people could point to and say ah this is how we do this type of project next time. It it's it's not documented but it's our standard procedure. So the guys in the office know what to look for. Will there be any sort of post-mortem on the project? Some sort of documentation that will exist that future parties can review? I think

lessons learned. I think I've probably said enough to individuals for a postmortem, but I'm still a fan of documentation because we can do some institutional knowledge can disappear rapidly when it's not searchable in Thank you. Anybody else have any other questions? Is this is this going to be the last RL for this carousel? Oh, don't hold them too. I hope so, but I doubt it. It's not your fault, Ron. All right. So, it is marked for expedition. I'll make the motion to expedite.

Okay. I'll motion to expedite. I'll second then. Any discussion? Obviously, as the fifth district representative, we would like a functioning carousel for Memorial Day opening weekend. Um, we have a huge amount of sunk cost into this project at this point. Um, to not walk away with a functioning carousel for Memorial Day weekend, I don't know when it will be open. when they took the center pole and stuff down for the old carousol, they found some parts that were broken and were trying to find replacements or a foundry that can cast them.

So, I guess I I I should ask then, um, is this the the is this maybe not even the bottleneck to to opening? So, we're expecting So, I guess in terms of whether or not this actually needs to be expedited if it's not the bottleneck. Well, the only reason to expedite is to keep the weather off of those doors. Yeah. Okay. Thank you. Clerk, can you please take the role if anybody else doesn't have anything else? Were you going to say something? Yeah, I was just going to say that by expediting it, we can get that contract over and done with quicker. Thank you. Council member Rathmemell. Hi. Council member Madavitzki. Hi. Council member Hodkus. Hi.

Council member Kavanagh. Hi. Council members Murray and Dundan are absent. Council President Prom Middleton. Thank you. That is 5. Thank you so much. And we're still in uh public works and parks. Uh committee member Hodkins, can you introduce RL26-104? I'm sorry. Could I Did I completely miss RL26102? I don't think we skipped it. We skipped it. It it was a duplicate submission from two weeks ago. I apologize. Okay. I missed that. Thank you. Okay. Yes, we didn't need to hire them twice.

Okay. So, we're we're now looking at RL26-104, a resolution authorizing an agreement with Barton and Legitis for preliminary engineering reports. This is exactly like the same one we did at the two weeks ago where we're trying to keep on the intended use plan and we have to update the preliminary engineering report. So it's identical to the one you did last time except it's a different project. So this is a report that looks like it dates back to maybe 2022. That's been in the pipeline that long.

It's been in the pipeline that long, but we have done some small work on that project in the interimm. We just haven't been ready to go for the gigantic one. Okay. Does anybody else have any other questions? Well, I see this is marked for expedition. Do I have a motion? A motion. A motion. Do I have a second? Second. A motion and a second. Any discussion regarding this expedition?

There's nothing marked on the paperwork for justification. So, I'm gonna request that again request that when something is requested for expedition that it be typed on this piece of paper. Okay. It has to be done by the 30th. Sounds like a good reason. I did appreciate the previous explanation about needing to stay on that rotating list. That was helpful for understanding why we continue to see some of these contracts cycle through. So, thank you. Yes. And some and sometimes we're trying to submit new data and increase our score so we get more funding.

That's why it stays on there for a few years.

Clerk, can you please take the role? Council member Rasmol. Hi. Council member Mavetszki. Hi. Council member Hodkas. Hi. Council member Kavanagh. Hi. Council members and Dundan are absent. Council member Council President Proep Middleton said I thank you. That is 50. Thank you so much. Ron, I hope you have a good evening. Good night, Mr. Now we'll go back to the finance committee chair Kavanagh. Can you please introduce RL26-105?

Okay. Uh RL26-105. Yeah. Yes. It's a resolution authorizing agreement with the BLC um $420,000 special project loan to Casey Kain LLC and we have Sarah Glo. Um, I've kind of I have spoken to each council member individually about the possibility of going into executive dec uh executive session for details um if folks feel the need to and corporation council I know is pretty well briefed on this whole thing but would you like to give a a public overview and see where we go from there?

Yeah. Um so as council mentioned this is a loan from local development corporation. Um one of the requirements of our loan programs um above a certain amount is to take these to city council for approval. So at our last BLDC meeting which was on um April 23rd, we approved this through um the local development corporation at the recommendation of the loan committee. So it is a $120,000 loan to KC Kain LLC. Um the top line of this is um this is a loan that will allow us to assist her in moving her monthly debt service from around $8,000 to I think close to $3,000. So that's the the primary purpose of this is to um uh get her out of some predatory debt that she has um entered into and enable her to continue operating her business. Um Katie Kane is the proprietor of the Simply Space on the south side um which is consisting of Simply Apparel and Simply Tan um in the number five comments. So happy to answer any questions but I'll keep it high level to start. I think I I don't have really have any questions because I spoke to Robert earlier. So he was he kind of really explained like the reason the reasoning behind it and why um this is coming forth now and the expedition. So that's just for me. I don't know if anybody else has any other questions, but I don't.

I guess I'm I'm I think this might be the first thing we voted on from BLC. Am I correct? My brain. Okay. So could you just talk me through the process of what comes to council versus what doesn't come to council? Like just just the big context. I would have to double check what the exact amounts are, but it's just particular loans over a certain amount. Um, and it's just an internal policy. It's not anything that's codified in our bylaws, I don't believe. I actually went looking before this meeting to see if there was anything. Um, but it's just a feature of our loan programs. I can get you the exact amount. I just don't have that off top of my head.

So, that means there in the last two years there haven't been any loans of this magnitude. Yeah. Not that we're subject to city council approval. This is the first one. So, do we know about the I think this represents about like half a little bit less than half of the total business debt. Um, do we know if that's better financing?

Yeah. So, the debt service I talked about is inclusive of her other loans as well. Some of the debt that she has incurred is not bad debt. It's not predatory high interest debt. And those are debts that she will continue to pay off with the um creditors that she has. This is really just a consolidation of the highinterest predator and we're talking up to 19% um interest on some of the loans she has. So that debt service is inclusive of the amount that she's paying us as well as the amount that she is paying her other creditors. I guess this is kind of uh can you talk more about the fund? Um, is this just this is just a BLC fund?

Is there there's different funds in BLC? And this is specifically I don't know. Yeah. Can you share more about it? Good question. So, this is um urban uh UDAG it's called and I should know off the top of my head but I don't. It is the is it urban development assistance grant?

That sounds right. Thank you. Um, uh, yeah. So we have a couple different funds through the local development corporation. We have what we call our restricted loan funds. Those are CDBG funded and they are tied to job creation and meeting the national objectives. So for every $35,000 that is loaned out of that particular account, one job has to be either created or retained for either a low to mod income person or a business that serves low to moderate income individuals. This is unrest. It's less restrictive. Yes, we also have unrestricted which is a different pot of money. Um, but this is not our like most strict uh loan fund. Um, this is like somewhere between our totally unrestricted money where the board has a lot of latitude to spend money on um public sector improvements or make loans um but not as restrictive as our strict CDBG loan funds that are tied to job creation. So, it's called the special projects fund because it has flexibility kind of above and beyond what a lot of our other loan funds have.

Thank you. there like geographic restrictions on it? Like is it certain business development areas that people qualify? Like if someone's watching this and they're like, "Hey, I have a lot of predatory loans and I'm got a business in east side or yeah, north side or

I'll take the question in two parts. Um on the geographic location, we serve the entire city of Bingmpington. for better or for worse, most of the city of Bingmpington falls under an area that's eligible for CDBG funding. Um, so I wouldn't say that we have particular areas that we do or do not invest in. But I think more importantly for anyone watching, what I would want them to say is um that if you are in sort of any need with your business, with starting a business, with a business you own, um really anything that you can reach out to our office. We started working with Katie around three years ago um and have been working diligently with her. One of the things that um really got us to this point was she went to every other financing source that is available, every bank, every community development finance institution, every grant she applied for, everything she could possibly do to do this without working through the local development corporation. She did um and she worked really closely with the local development corporation, Rachel Priest, our financial analyst, as well as Susan Frell, who serves as vice president of the board, to really run down everything that was out there. Unfortunately, there really just are not programs for this type of assistance. Most of the debt consolidation programs you see also have predatory interest rates on them. Um, so you don't really get yourself in a better situation by consolidating debt with one of those firms. Um, traditional financing won't touch debt consolidation. It's just a product that is not really available on the market, even from institutions that are um, subsidized through other public means.

Thank you. One of the points that was brought up during the BLC deliberations over this is that um there I think has been a traditionally a focus on creating new things. Um but this is a recently created thing that needs a little help to sustain and and hopefully grow. And so it's it's uh it's I think it's being recognized that it's important to put some effort and focus into sustaining the the businesses and the folks that have taken that that leap and started a business and and uh just need a you know helping hand to uh to to make it sustain and thrive. And just to put a finer point on that, um, one of the things I mentioned to Robert in our deliberations was that I sit on a monthly call with downtown business improvement district managers and other um, officials from cities across New York State. And pretty consistently, we spend 20 minutes of every call just talking about retail attraction. Nobody is doing it. Nobody can figure it out. Um, unless you already have a very, very strong base of wealth in your community, you're just not attracting um, retail right now. And even if even in communities that I think we would consider much more affluent than ours, they are still experiencing high levels of vacancy, just a very difficult time to start a business and specifically retail is still trying to find its place um postcoid. Um and so to um Robert's point, we really see this as an opportunity to keep something in a space that otherwise based on my conversations with other business owners in our area as well as looking statewide, I don't see a huge opportunity for us to be getting people into new spaces. Um, as much as we would like to do that, we will continue to work to try to make that happen. Um, and the LDC's resources is resources are available um to assist

people in doing that and our business plan competition is coming up, which we are always um optimistic will lead to some brick-andmortar investment at the end of the day. Um, it's just a really tricky time for that. And so trying to preserve what we have in our retail stock is increasingly important in my office. So, in like worst case scenario, um Katie can't pay this debt and something terrible happens with their business. Does the BLC then become the owner of like all that equipment and inventory type of situation?

We do have some collateral, although I think we're in a second position. Um it is personally guaranteed. So, and I think Robert, I might toss this over to you to explain how recapture works. Yeah. Um, oh, either Robert. Sorry. Oh, no. All right. Sorry. I mean, yeah. The lawyer take

I want to be a little bit careful with this because there's a legal piece to it in terms of how everything works. But basically, if this loan isn't repaid for one reason or another, then yes, there would be a trigger where the city would um basically act on the loan uh and try and well, the BLC would act on the loan and try and make a recovery against the loan um with whatever secured assets it can get access to. Thanks.

I appreciate the shop being there. I drive past it every day and I like how they rotate their inventory in the window. It's um quite visually appealing and when I walk by there, I appreciate it as well. So, I know we're talking about money stuff just to bring back some personalization that I appreciate the business being there. Um and they do a a nice street view job. And while I have you all here, I know that there are three different Mother's Day events happening on May 9th. One is at Simply Apparel, one is at Mama Bear Brand downtown, and one is at Golden Rod Studios downtown. I'm sure there are others as well. Um so there's lots of opportunities to go out and support local businesses um for Mother's Day this upcoming weekend. Are there

are there any limitations to and maybe this is also relevant to marketing and engagement but are there any limitations to so just looking back through annual reports. Uh it looks like Simply Tan and Apparel received a commercial facade improvement grant from BLC in 2024. Are there any limitations to how many allotments or grants can be pursued and received by the same business?

Not necessarily across different programs. So within each of the programs that we offer, there were upper limits and those are different depending on the program. We do look holistically at the amount of money that anyone organization is getting, but it's not a hard and fast if you already got money over here, we're definitely saying no over here. But it does become part of the larger conversation local development corporation has before making an additional allocation to a business. Oh, I was going to ask um is there a a strategy of the BLC or the economic development department for um if we're we're kind of taking this on that the you manage somehow like manage risk um through like support in in any sort of strategy there?

Yeah. Um and I would say it it really is case by case because it depends on what every individual business needs. But one of the things that um we like to do is by virtue of our involvement with these businesses and having a financial contribution let's say to their businesses um is being able to encourage them um to take advantage of other resources that are out there. Um so like I said when we first started having conversations with Katie it was about have you talked to Pursuit Lending which is a community development finance institution. New York State just launched this new loan program. Are you eligible for that? Um, and so walking her through kind of all of the resources that were out there for her. And we do the same thing with any business that talks to us. And it may be something as simple as, hey, you've been having some issues with your cash flow. How can we help you better um understand what your cash flow is, what your revenues are, what your expenditures are? A lot of times we'll refer folks over to the Small Business Development Center um because they are able to offer confidential services and they can really dig into the finances with you. So we try to understand what our strengths are and what another organization's strengths are and really encourage um folks who are using our assistance to then go out and make um those other um introductions. Um and I will mention that that Katie also used the small business development center. Um a lot of the documents that were submitted as part of her loan application were developed in coordination with with those folks over a number of months. Um but it really just depends on each particular business and what their needs are um what their challenges are. But yes, we do try to encourage them to look at the universe of opportunities that are out there. Um, one of the things we talk about, not just in my office, but across Broom County and economic development is we do really try to be a no wrong door community. If you come to us and we're not the right people to help you, we're going to try to help you find who is the right person and vice versa. We kind of are referring people back and forth across the ecosystem on a regular basis to get them in front of the resource that makes the most sense for them

wherever their journey is. We don't necessarily need them to understand exactly where they are in that journey. Um we just want them to make that first outreach whether it's to us to the small business development center to um our partners over at the um entrepreneurial assistance center at Sunni Broom. Uh and we're always just kind of constantly referring people back and forth um trying not to give them the runaround that they're knocking on too many doors but getting in front of the right person as quickly as possible so that they can uh get access to the services that best suit them. Thank you.

It sounds like a really thoughtful um process and I'm the something that clicked in my head was, you know, can we replicate some of this with the uh CDBG money and process and make because we've had other things that have come before us when we're like, well, they the nonprofit marked off that they've looked for everything and this is the thing of of last resort, but there's no documentation to back it up. and it sounds like you've you really go through that checkbox of this is this is a last resort effort. Um so I really appreciate that and like to see that replicated within city

and I I do think there's a um there's a push in the pull there, right? Because this is a significant amount of time that's being spent with one particular business that has one particular issue, right? and that is time that I either have to take away from other work I'm doing mostly just take away from my personal life and spend more time at work instead. Um and so we're always trying to balance those and understanding who needs more of our time and assistance and who really can just benefit from a referral or a little bit of um encouragement. Um so totally hear you on that. We try to be as flexible and as understanding as possible of where people are meeting us at the process and also just trying to be accountable to our own capacity and and how much we're able to um get done in any any given day. And I will say I'll give credit to Katie on this. She's the one that kept coming back and saying here's what I did in the last month. Like what do you guys think? Is this working? I don't think it's working for me. What other options do I have? Um so she was really engaged in the process. We've also had folks who maybe they come to us three years ago, we give them some resources to look at, we maybe make a referral and they maybe come back two years later. Um, so people kind of come in and out of the process at whatever speed makes the most sense for them.

Thank you. Does anybody else have any other questions? Uh, there's a motion to expedite or there's a request to expedite and I will motion to expedite and there is a stated reason. Uh but it basically comes down to the faster we get this done, the faster that uh this business would be not paying extra exorbitant uh interest on these on these the interest continues to acrew. So the faster we can close this out uh the more we'll be keeping this tight. I have a motion. Do I have a second? I'll second. Motion and a second. Any discussion regarding the expedition? We have an explanation already. So any discussion? Clerk, can you please take the role? Council member Rathmo. Hi. Council member Mavetski.

Hi. Council member Hodkas. Hi. Council member Kavanagh. Hi. Council members Murray and Don are absent. Council President Prom Middleton. Thank you. That is 50. Thank you so much, Clerk. Uh, and sorry to be documenting my horse voice on your new sound system, but thank you very much. That's okay. Still better than on the last. We can hear you though. It's clear. Have a good night. Same thing. Thank you. Okay. Uh now we're going to go with finance uh committee chair Kavanagh. He will now introduce RL26-106.

Okay. Uh RL26106 is a res resolution authorize reopening the 25-year retirement plan under chapter 644 of the New York State Local Retirement System. Um this is I think a continuation of the process that we started last year for this firefighter. Yes, we last year this is step number 58 or something. I no last year we we the RL was for um both u David Edwards and Scott Pavle.

Okay. Obviously, the tragedy with Padrick, we don't have to do his. Um, but with David Edwards, um, I jumped the gun. Uh, that they the state didn't pass the law until November. So, when you passed the RL last year, the state portion wasn't done yet. The state's portion wasn't done yet. So, this is just redoing what you approved last year on the RL that I attached.

Okay. They did approve it in November of 2025. I see. Okay. And we were pretty sure that this is the last firefighter that would be requesting this. Um I honestly I don't know, but I we're pretty close to finishing out all of the old the older firefighters um that fall under this section. Um, but I'm not sure. Okay. Any other questions? Anyone need a refresh from last year? No, I remember. Okay.

Anybody else have any other questions regarding this? Okay. Well, thank you, Chuck. Thank you. And now we are going to move on to rules and procedures. Uh, Special Studies Committee Chair, Council Member Kavanagh, can you introduce RL26-10? That's me. Um, why does it say that there? Mavetski, can you please introduce RL26-07? All right. Have a good night.

We have Corporation Council as our speaker here. Um, so it's U RL26-107, an ordinance to amend city code 327-2.6 six outdoor cafe permits to repeal uh liquor liability insurance requirements. Take it away, Bob.

So, this came up uh recently where liquor liability insurance has become increasingly expensive within New York State. Um it's not required by the state to maintain uh a liquor license. Um, so there's a number of businesses locally that have decided not to carry it and to have them obtain a policy for uh an outdoor cafe permit in order to be able to extend um service out into the sidewalk area for a few tables, whatever, is basically become prohibitively expensive where if we continue to require maintaining the insurance requirement um those owners and those operators most likely will stop applying for um sidewalk permits and will no longer have their outdoor seating. Um that's become kind of a mainstay downtown.

And so they these are just for clarification, these are restaurants that do or don't serve liquor and will be selling liquor outside on the street. It's solely for restaurants that have a liquor license. So, if you're a restaurant, you don't have a liquor license, you're just serving food, we don't require you to provide proof of liquor liability insurance. Um, for restaurants that do sell liquor, um, you know, we currently it's required for those businesses to extend their service into that outdoor cafe permit area. So they your your point about the it not being required to have this extra insurance is that they can legally in New York State sell if they have a liquor license inside legally sell on the sidewalk in their designated permitted zones without the insurance. Am I following that correct? Or it would be if you want to drink you have to sit inside and if you don't want to drink you you have to you can sit outside.

Correct. So like the way it currently works is you know those businesses maintain their liquor license in the summer. They um get their license modified to be able to extend service to the outdoor area. Um under neither of those schemes are they required to maintain liquor liability insurance by the state. um the only requirement for the liquor liability insurance is the local requirement.

So and I so I think that the relevant question would be so the city becomes an extra named insured on the liability policy under this under our law and that corporation council's opinion at this point is I step in if I'm misstating or please clarify is that the city's not getting any particularly great benefit or shield from requiring this extra insurance on these businesses?

Correct. I mean, we still have the general commercial liability insurance requirements. So, that's not going to change. It's strictly relating to um liquor liability insurance that we would no longer require them to carry for the their extensions. I guess stepping one step. Can you explain what liquor liability insurance is supposed to do?

So commercial liability insurance typically excludes a lot of coverage for alcoholrelated incidents. Um where you see liquor liability insurance come into play a lot is where you have issues of like someone getting over served. um or potent generally it's it's where someone's getting overs served that that it comes into play. Um, from the research that we did, one, we've never had a claim within the city where we obtain coverage through we've had claims related to outdoor cafe permit areas. But in terms of like liquor liability insurance, there's never been one where we claimed against the liquor liability insurance. It's always been, you know, where we're addressing it through the commercial liability piece and looking more statewide. We really weren't able to find an instance where it came into play outside of where uh like this the government entity basically like owned the entire space and basically had an operator in there operating a restaurant that served liquor. And that's where we saw an instance of liquor liability coming into play with it. And at the time when this requirement was put in place, liquability insurance was a lot cheaper. So it's one of those things like it's a nice cheap insurance policy to have and it's just become more expensive over time because you've seen more claims against bars and restaurants where liquor liability has come into play and that's where it's become prohibitively

expensive. Um removing this requirement also doesn't limit the city's ability to recover uh in terms of like if something happened and the city needed to access insurance or you know try and get recovery because there was an injury or whatever. We can still go after the owner of that bar restaurant. It's just there isn't that insurance pool to go after. What is the cost typically?

Uh, let me see. I know I got forwarded I think a quote for it. Um, I'd have to go dig it out and to give you like the number for it.

I I'm That's the primary reason that it's being waved. So, I I'm curious what amounts were calling cost prohibitive. Um and I yeah additional questions as well. Um how how many businesses were asking for this? Like is this one business, three businesses, all the businesses?

There were a few that brought it up. Um it got brought up through the mayor's office and economic development. Um so I don't know exactly how many off the top of my head. I can get you that information. In terms of the cost, I want to say the numbers that I saw it was going to be around like $10,000 or something for a few I forget what the number of tables was at that location, but it was like five tables. And that's an annual

uh Yes. Um, is there was there any thought put into having some piece in there relating to like potentially higher risk businesses? Like I'm thinking we've been having the um somewhat planned but not um still sporadic uh police going into locations and checking for underage drinking for example. Um, like does it make sense to require additional in insurance for documented higher risk relating to alcohol stuff? Um, I don't know, just throwing it out there wondering if that was considered, if it was, um, why, you know, what to do with that. So, in terms of like what's in the code, that's sort of like the minimum requirements. Um, and we have the same thing with event permits where we have a minimum insurance requirement and then based off of the type of event, we can ask for additional um amounts of insurance coverage because not every event is the same. Um, obviously the larger the event is, the more we're looking for higher levels of insurance for these um, these cafe permits. It's less location dependent and more what time you're going to be operating that space at. Um, you know, generally if if you're operating your your outdoor cafe permit, you know, during sort of regular business hours into like the dinner hour, you're not going to see a ton of issues where this would liability

issues would come into play. If someone's trying to operate an outdoor cafe permit area at 1 in the morning, uh that's where you're going to see higher risk come into play.

Anyone else? Just to clarify your immediate response to council member Matavitzky's last question, we have the general insurance requirements. Even with this not required, we retain the option to add additional requirements for higher risk businesses. Yes, we have the ability to request additional insurance again if we feel that it's necessary or appropriate. Um, again, for most, if not all, restaurants that I can think of that would apply for these permits. Again, in terms of like those general operating hours, I mean, none of them operate that many tables outside. Um I mean you're talking about generally handful of tables are getting operated out on the sidewalk. Um and I don't know many if any of them that operate them into sort of that very late night early evening hours. Um well I certainly love eating outside. Um, and it's been something that's definitely been commented on the lack of outdoor seating, at least um, precoid uh, in Bingmpington for people that that came to this area that were surprised at the small amount of outdoor seating. So, um, I hope that we see more outdoor seating. Does anybody else have any other questions? And I see we have a request for expedition for this RL.

Motion. Do I have a second? I'll second. Any discussion regarding the expedition? Well, it's outdoor cafe season, so yeah, hopefully. Done. Yeah, the weather's changing finally. Okay. Clerk, can you please call the role? Council Rathmo. I council Mavetski. I council member Hodkins. Hi, Council Member Kavanagh. Hi, Council Meers Murray and Dundon are absent. Council President Prom Middleton. Um, hi. Thank you. That is 5.

Okay. Thank you so much. Now, we are going to move on to RL where we at RL um 26-108. It's in municipal and public affairs. Uh, council member Wrath, can you go over that? Um, we have um Amy Amy's here. Um Amy, do you want to come down or and Yeah, you can come down and Bob. Um and Rebecca, you can. Sure.

Thank you, Council President Proen Middleton. This is RL26-108, a resolution authorizing an agreement with the Astrod Rice Foundation for the use of the city of Bingmpington's rec center. Uh we have both corporation council Bob Hury and executive director Amy Rice available. Do the two between the two of you do have a preference on who kind of presents the discussion and the agreement?

I can I can take the lead on it. Um so the Rice Foundation approached the city about utilizing the the space we have at St. the rec center um in order to kind of have some expanded capacity um that they wouldn't otherwise have. Um, so we're looking to accommodate them as well as make sure that, you know, none of our programming that's there gets affected. So this is kind of laying that out in terms of, you know, providing space for the foundation to be able to make use of while balancing the the city's needs and its uh activities that is planned there. Amy, with this agreement, does this is this the full extent of what you were hoping with a an agreement with the city for center use? Does this serve the the interests and needs of the foundation in a way you were hoping?

You could press the button.

Just put Yeah. green. There you go. We were hoping that we would have more access to use it for additional programs as we grew. Um, not programs that were we've already implemented, but it looks like the city already has a lot of different programs going on in there. So, we're just glad that we're able to at minimum um bring our flagship program in there, which is FACE, which we um provide after school and family engagement for East Middle School. So, we're hoping to expand that program to be able to offer it to West Middle School as well and provide them that service in a centralized location.

I had a question. Um, I have a bunch of questions. Can you talk about what your hopes are, like what you want to do with the program and what uh what are you adding on to the program? So, what we're adding is the ability to be able to offer it at West to West Middle School students as well. in the most cost-effective way being that we utilize East Middle School currently. Um and we want to bring the students both schools together in kind of a neutral um space.

Um and then just the uh proximity where it's located is ideal because it's centrally located. So it would be um most effective for all families and students of the city. Absolutely. and transportation how how do they plan to get there? So we provide transportation with face. Um what we do is we have um we work with other organizations to rent their vans.

So as far as the students are concerned we um do field when we do our field trips we um partner with organizations to rent their vans. And then we also for families um that want to participate who don't have vehicles, we provide them or who do have vehicles, we provide them um $10 gas cards to just kind of offset and ensure that you know we're not putting additional burdens on the family to ensure that they're able to come. Just a little incentive and as well as utilize the rented bands to transport families who don't have cars.

Thank you so much for that. And one thing I I um I just want to say a few things. one. Uh, thank you so much for what you're doing in the community. I think it's very important right now, this time in need. Um, I I'm grateful yesterday I got a chance to go to your annual fundraiser. That's very nice. U, very inspiring and I like the work that you do, not only with kids, but with families. So, basically, you're helping out kids, but bringing it as a whole, as a family, and sometimes we really need that as we can see with the way the world is is going. So, thank you for that. Um I I I want to circle back to that because you know you know with everything going on and kind of um you know our thoughts and how we can help the youth. I and especially with your program and and a lot of other programs I want to see how we can help in the city and you and you said one of the things you said is that you hoped that um you know you could have more access to to the rec center. Um, can you kind of uh just explain like what that would do if you had more access to the rec center because um you know that just by you telling us that that's going to give us some ideas on what we need to work on.

Yeah. So being a relatively new organization, we're um growing at a rapid pace, but um we have to solidify space to be able to uh add on to the programs that we already have. We're hoping to do u more mentorship programming um develop more mentorship programming and just um space has really been kind of the issue right now. Um so we've worked on our strategic plan and are going to be you know identifying ways where we can grow uh scale our organization at a steady pace while um meeting the needs the urgency and the needs of what the community needs.

Absolutely. And how many families how many families are there? How many families do you serve?

So we serve we do two sessions. Um we do uh one in the fall and one in the summer. We in the spring we take up to 15 families um per session. This session we have a little bit lower in enrollment. I think we have nine families. But the other piece that we do is we consistently provide the program year round. So every month any family who has participated in the program is uh extended the invitation to come back. So we consistently maintain our relationships with once the families have begun working with the organization. So um we could have as many as 25 families at a monthly followup session. We also offer these sessions over the summer months which we're grateful to partner with um Sunni Broom so we have space to kind of um offer the summer programming but you know as the programming uh grows we want to um just be able to have consistent space to support all the needs.

Absolutely. And a steady space too instead of moving around. I think that's kind of one of the things too like a steady a steady space instead of moving around. Um, have you have you worked with the youth assistant, Meline, at any point? Not yet. Okay. Yeah, I was just wondering about that. That might be something we could kind of bridge with that. Yeah. Do you have more questions?

No, go ahead. I'll I'll figure it out. Okay. Um I think the what faces in particular does but the foundation in general does incredibly well and I think it's unmatched among programs within the city is engaging with families engaging with students and one of the limitations that we identified with the parks department as they were developing programming within the rec center is that transportation is not provided. Um, I appreciate that you saw that need and have built it into what you offer to ensure that what you do and your programming is accessible. What I don't think we have a clear picture on, and Bob, this may be more of a of a you question. Just chatting internally, I'm not sure any of us have a clear picture of just what programming is being conducted at the rec center. And so if we could do whether we discuss it now or get a more comprehensive comparison of what the city purports to need the space for in a way that is limiting the foundation's access.

So probably the best person to bring into this would be Shane. Um since all this falls kind of underneath his umbrella. Um, I know that there's um some after school stuff that they over there. I know they use the facility for um like sports um both like your typical indoor sports as well as you know doing some of your outdoor practices before the weather gets better. Um, you know, I'm not sure what what all they have specifically for programming there, but I do know that it's been a focus to get it started up and get it built out. Um, and I think part of the goal, especially with accommodating the the FACE program, was that it worked well with the timing that they had already set for what was going on there already. And so that was a block of time that they could kind of set aside and use for it. And then, you know, in terms of like additional uses, it's not that the city's unwilling to explore uh providing time or space for additional uses. I think it's just a question of, you know, what that looks like in terms of it's going to be a regular thing, what we can accommodate, or if it's a one-off thing or more intermittent. Um, there might be some more flexibility there. Um, again, depending on kind of what's going on, the time of year, um, because I know from talking with Shane, you know, part of the issue, too, is that during different times of the year, you have different levels of use there.

Yeah, I I I understand that. But I do think that um, you know, there there are different levels, but we still can work around it. Like that space is just sitting there. it was brought um to us as like a center that is going to be kind of changing and we still really have to make our make use of it like it's sitting there and I understand like the different things that they have going but there's ways to work around it like I've been in places where there's constant there's a space where there's things that are constantly going on and even if we have to put a person that is like a maintenance person working in there non-stop to make sure that's okay I'd rather have that And I'm pretty sure that we'll all vote on having someone there 24 hours to keep that if that's an an issue. But just to have it like, you know, not being in the use for what we want it to be in use for and how it could um potentially help the city of Bingmpington. And you know, like I I think I was talking to a few people, we could even put a pantry in there or like there's so there's space in there and you know, we're not doing our justice if we're leaving it empty just for programs. um that are run by the city. It's for the city of Bingmpington. So, it should be used for every little thing that we have in Bingmpington. We could even rent it out like we could we could do a lot of things. We could rent it out and have that come back in as a fund for something else that we could use in the city because we have that space. So, sorry.

No. Yeah, I agree. I would love to see this go to committee where we're getting a concrete schedule from Shane. I I think it's not just the schedule, it's the accessibility, the efficacy of the programs and who is being served. Absolutely. Um I think we want to make sure that we're prioritizing uh underserved youth. So having those conversations um so if if if you're willing, Council Member Middleton, I'd love to see a a committee meeting to discuss it more at length. Sure. And and Amy, if you're willing to be a part of that conversation, too. Sure.

Not that we want to draw out, you know, getting this agreement in place. No, that would be the we're just trying to basically see how we can like programs like yours and if there's other things like how can we make the best and use the space, you know, what it's intended for. Okay. Yeah. And if we don't know about like a schedule or situation, we'd like to all kind of be in that loop.

Yeah. Yeah, I mean we we had our um we had a blanking on the word. We had a meeting at the rec center and you know we had to ourselves had to figure out how do we even get access to this space when we're on council, right? And how do we figure out when we can have a public forum in in the space? So I I think that makes sense for us to better understand and so that we can help organizations and constituents figure out how they access. Yeah. How it works like how you know. Yeah. Yeah. We're going to set up a meeting and but that has nothing to do with this. We were just thinking ahead of like how we can access that. Thank you.

I would say a little bit to do it like I would like to know what their claim is relative to why access is limited within this agreement. I just want to be able to compare schedule and if there's more that can be offered to Aster D Rice for use, I would love to see if we can initiate that. Absolutely. Oh, thank you. Thank you. Okay. Uh does anybody else have any other questions?

No, just a just a comment. Um, I think it's this is a great step towards having my vision for the the rec center was having a multitude of organizations being able to utilize the space um to help better serve the youth and I think this is a step towards making that uh reality. So, thank you for bringing this forward. Um, looking forward to see what you do with it and how we can continue to improve and get more people coordinating and on the same page. So, and if when you figure out when you wanted to start a mentor program, can you like reach out to me because that's something I've been thinking about. Okay. Perfect. Thank you.

And and thank you again for the work that you do. Um it is noticed and we definitely appreciate you in the city and if we can assist you in any way, even if you think it's impossible, please reach out to us. Um putting our minds together, we could definitely come up with something or try to come up with something to our best ability. Thank you. Okay. Thank you all so much. Of course. Thank you. So now um the last thing on the agenda tonight, planning committee chair council member Rethmmell will now introduce a discussion with Adam Flint. Oh well, sorry I just you could uh Yeah, I can say that Adam Flint uh and Brian Goodman regarding Bingmpington Community Power.

Sure. And that's a I mean that is the introduction. uh Adam who's here to present on Bingmpington Community Power and his colleague Brian Goodman met uh correct me if I'm wrong but individually with council member Mavetski and uh there was consensus and an interest in a broader presentation. We also have members who can't necessarily make the daytime committee meetings. So we wanted to to reserve some time on our work session to make sure that all members could hear. So Adam, I will pass it to you. Thank you uh council member Wrath Mill and also Metavves for your interest in uh our ability to be here. I'm sorry that my colleague Brian cannot join us. He's been dealing with some health issues. So you just get me and I know I'm standing between you and I hope not dinner but maybe so keep it short. Um so Bingington Community Power is a program of network for a sustainable tomorrow. We are a small nonprofit here in town that was started in 2008. We have a wide range of clean energy programs. Bingmpington Community Power is our environmental justice program. It started before COVID. Uh we managed to get some things done even during COVID, but it's really been the second round that has been bearing some more fruit. Uh so we have sort of three areas to this program and I should mention it's supported in the main at this point by an environmental justice grant from the department of environmental conservation. although we have been submitting proposals for other grants for expansion which I'll raise. So the first thing is that we uh provide education and capacity building for residents whether they are uh renters or homeowners and we would like to do some things with a few good landlords if we could find them um to be able to understand better how to deal with the uh energy situation both economically and health-wise safety wise

and comfortwise in their homes. So DIY solutions for renters and homeowners uh dealing with uh and understanding their NYG bill and uh how to go through the complaint process. I will say that that is a particular item of interest right now given I think everyone is aware we have a very very serious problem with our utility. Um we also uh helped folks navigate the state programs. we really don't have federal programs to help them navigate with the exception of HEAP. Uh and a little bit yeah there might be a little bit more. Um so that's kind of this the first area. Uh we also will include in that we haven't done it yet um some uh sessions on clean energy careers. Then the second area is data gathering. Um, one of the biggest reasons why people do not get clean energy improvements on their homes is they have other kind of improvements that get in the way. There's repair and remediation that has to happen first. So, if you have mold or some other airborne situation, the last thing you want to do is tighten up a home. That's a recipe for disaster. Uh, similarly, if you have a bad roof or bad foundation, uh, it's not really going to be a very good idea to put insulation on those things. Um, I know that the city and and other surrounding municipalities have and have had funds for that purpose. That's definitely something we want to discuss. Um, there's also a law statewide that is a very good law with almost no money called the GAP fund. Uh, we've been trying to get more money into that. I think you're all as familiar or more familiar uh than I am of the situation with the budget and with Albany right now. Uh, so it's been a bit of a frustration. Uh then the third area is really the navigation of these programs. Um and we're also working with partner organizations including the Broom County Health Department, DSS, Cooperative Extension. Um we consider Council Member Hodkis to be uh also a

partner since we're starting in the north side with this.

Um we don't want to just stay on the north side. No offense, but we really want to go broader and we have had conversations with council member Maveski about this. We've been doing a little bit more work in the .nma area. The basic limitation as in many things is money. Uh as I mentioned, we have applied for some other funding. And should we be successful, we want to expand uh not only to other uh disadvantaged communities in this city, but also to other places in Broom County. Uh we are applying for CDBG funds in the town of Union for that purpose. We'll see where that goes. Um, in terms of some of the challenges, uh, other than money, which I'll come back to, I did mention landlords. Uh, we really need to get connections with decent landlords because in part, that's how we can get uptake on the empower plus program, which actually allows landlords to use their uh, tenants income to qualify for money from anerta. um and also understanding a little bit more intimately why these programs don't have much uptake. Uh I I mean I think I kind of have an idea but it's a little better to have that kind of empirical knowledge. Um I guess the last thing that I will mention is in terms of funding uh I am also hotel motel money. I know there's CDBG money. We would very much be interested in talking with council uh about possible funding in the future for the program both in terms of funding for our operations and funding for the actual measures. Um again I'm aware that there have been in our programs that do some of those things but I don't get the sense that there's probably enough money in those. I know there are many competing priorities. So with that I'll stop and take any questions you have.

Adam, for the uh for the support navigating some of the programs, is there a direct referral that if I have a constituent who contacts me and is challenged by understanding their NICE bill? Is there a single point of contact that I should refer them to with Bingmpington Community Power or is it more of a website take a look kind of thing? So, we have um our info at and our uh our info@ny nest.org email which we respond to for a number of different uh purposes and uh also our virtual phone system. Um we would love to be able to help more people um with all of these things especially with the the nice bill situation. We had a program at the Room County Library. I will confess that because Brian has been ill for some time, we didn't promote it as well as we would like, but we had two people. Uh I will say that part of that is our problem, but our partners are basically saying it is exceedingly difficult sometimes now to get people out to things. Uh there's a lot of challenges everyone is facing and oftentimes not going out is a preferred option unless there's a compelling reason to do so. So we want to we want to have service delivery that actually works now

as opposed to like precoid or immediate postcoid. Um I also heard someone mention here the no wrong door idea. Uh we certainly are not resourced to do that but that is our vision as well. Uh we really don't want people to be running around from agency to agency trying to chase down what they need. Um, but that's a that's a whole other discussion involving a lot of other agencies that I think would like to do that uh if we have the resources. Have for renters in particular the DIY materials to help lower energy bills. Have you done or do you do uh workshops on

You can call them workshops. I mean, right now the DIY materials we have are via the utility NICG. And so there's exactly four things in those kits. Um, we would like to have more robust kits. Uh, we have door sweeps. I forget what they're called, but basically the plastic you put around the window that you put the um, hair dryer on and so forth. Um, Cooperative Extension did have more robust kits. There are issues with NAERTA around that. Um, so I would say I'm not satisfied with the material offerings that we have there, but that's what we've got at the moment. Um, those two things and I think the the baffles for outlets and one other thing that escapes me, but yes,

but they're they're readymade kits. They're ready-made kits. We've got I don't know 60 of them. They won't there won't be anymore. There was a change in priorities at MAERTA and that's no longer being supported.

Okay. Do do you have um like a simple sheet for landlords? So, I did following my conversation with Brian, I did uh speak with one landlord in my district and his viewpoint was uh likely the um his tenants probably made too much money to qualify for anything. So, it wasn't worth going after. his his um tenants are working folks. Um but he seemed to think that probably think they wouldn't qualify. Um I I know based on also you brought it up here the idea of like you need to have a house that's in a good enough condition or a property that's in a good enough condition where you don't have mold, you don't have roof problems, right? So you're looking for decent housing stock um with lower income tenants.

Yes, I'm aware of the contradiction there. Yeah. So um so yeah, so this is kind of the question of like what what what do we mean when we mean when we're talking about you know like working what does working class mean in like this kind of universe where we have the what is it the K economy or whatever. I I'm certainly not going to defend the way uh any government entity defines low income in the United States. Um but the way this program does is 80% of area median income and below. Uh, and in answer to your question, I don't have a dedicated one-pager. I will. That is another thing that has fallen behind uh since I'm a rather limited staff-wise at the moment.

Thank you. Yeah, because I'd be willing to keep the conversations going, but kind of the initial reaction is I don't think anyone qualifies or my property wouldn't qualify or

so what what the one pager will have and I certainly had this information in other forums is, you know, family size, income size. And so essentially a landlord could give this to the tenant and say, I'm considering this. Do you think you'd qualify? And just to say the landlord would have no role in dealing with the income qualification side of that. Nicera has a serer that does that. So essentially the landlord as the owner is responsible for dealing with uh NAERTA and the contractors on the upgrade side but on the income side that's entirely independent because I can imagine you know tenants would be a little leerary about sharing that sort of thing with anybody uh including a landlord. Do you I'm still interested in the DIY materials uh because often in the absence of funds and and the absence of other resources for more grassroots kind of community- based groups offering something material is the only sol immediate solution. Um, I'm curious if you've

uh curious if uh you've worked either with I I don't believe uh Bingington Tenants Union has had a conversation, but if you've introduced the DIY materials and the fact that the kits exist to, for example, uh the, you know, tenant based um rental assistance programs um where you've got extremely low-inccome renters with the um you know history of housing instability often motivated by some of this the energy issues. Have you worked with any organizations or the union or anything like that?

I've not worked with BTU. We we really so this is actually tying into something I said earlier. We feel that we should be doing fewer events with more organizations. Yeah. So uh we have a strong interest in in that sort of thing. Um that obviously solves several problems at once. Um yeah, so and and I will say that our our staffing issue will be resolved by June. We have a new person coming in. We'll have a new raft of interns. uh hopefully better funding, but uh we'll be able to pursue more things. Then

in ter going following up on the kits because I know uh this past winter, especially with the extreme cold snap um and I I did have uh calls relating to heat being turned off on um tenants, people heating their houses with their ovens and such in the fifth district. um that uh like is there a a drop off service or any like when people are in kind of situations and they're literally just trying to keep whatever residual heat in their place in their place.

So we are not very well set up for what are called no heat situations. Uh Cornell Cooperative Extensions uh regional energy hub program should really be taken advantage of there. That said, um, since the current president came in office and slashed funding for HEAP and other things, we actually don't have a good solution for that in this state. Full stop. Um, we didn't have emergency assistance through HEAP for much of the winter. Uh, and the DSS benefit involves a very, very honorous application process. The Empower Plus program was never designed as an emergency program because obviously if it's two degrees out, you can't wait weeks for somebody to fix your furnace. So, this is a problem right now that honestly if local communities can't find the resources for it, we don't have it. But I would say that if I, you know, if I get a no heat call or whatever, I refer to them because they are focused squarely on uh lowincome empower. Um that's that's what they do uh at the regional clean energy up program. So they have a lot more experience. They have a lot more contacts. They've walked people through the DSS. Um but I mean there's a young woman who I met through a alumni event at Bingmpington University uh who's working at TyCe and you know she told how what she went through to be able to help a family go through that process and eventually get solution after weeks. Um it's insane. So, you know, we have we have a lot a lot of resources in terms of knowledge and understanding and being able to help people manage uh the programs that exist. Uh but we certainly do not pretend to have the resources necessary for this. Um I'll also say and I'll just offer this up to council that uh we we

really want to um be a resource around the utility issue. Um, Nest's a party to the rate case. Currently, we're involved in um, uh, rate uh, regulation reform efforts. Uh, New York's rate making process is broken broken. And so, uh, there are things that can make a difference in the short term, but this is a systemic problem that we're facing in terms of the cost of rates. Um and there are uh many elected officials offices that are part of this rate case and have been directly exposed to how both the process and the rules and likely the outcomes are anything but providing just and reasonable and reliable service. So um I think you know many bodies such as this have done what they can to be engaged. It is a very timeconsuming business. Um, but I know that for example, the city of Ithaca is going to be calling on the AG's office to investigate the companies. I won't go any further than that right now. Um, it's my feeling also that the regulatory system has failed New Yorkers. It's a little bit off topic, but that is actually part of community power as we, you know, we try to help people individually, but we need to deal with these systems as well. Anybody else?

Thank you so much, Adam, for coming. I I'm really honored that come and you would come to council to bring this presentation. So, thank you. Well, that's that's very kind of you to say again, and I'm I'm very honored to be here. I think uh the work of this council has been been really great and it's just would be nice if we had uh uncommon resources to be able to do what we envision doing. Absolutely. We will one day. Yes, we will. We'll stick with it. Thank you. I hope stubborn faith. Yes, stubborn faith. We're manifesting. I hope you have a great evening. Thank you to you as well, all of you. And I'd like to entertain a motion to adjourn. Motion.