Common Council - Regular Meeting

start over. Council member Tobin here. Council member Sllamon here. Council member Panel here. Council member Lane here. Council member Conlin is absent. Council member Carpenter is absent. Council member Beckwith present. Council member uh Michaels is abusive. Ice to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

We have some recognitions to start off with. So, we'll start off with

Matt Wedgie. Is he here? over there. We're going to stand up so we can just look at you and give a little bit of praise here. So, um Matt Wedgie started April 1st, 1996 with his dedication. We appreciate your dedication and commitment to excellence and outstanding performance uh to ensure that our delivery of safe, high quality drinking water to our community. So, 30 years of continued service is making an amazing favorite every day. We appreciate that's a high impact job and highly appreciate it and we're just so excited to have you here. 30 years you know I don't think you're you know 30 yet they look at you look good and you help past the time and but we appreciate it. I don't know what we do without you. So we didn't want that time to let go and be missed. Uh so we we just want to take a second to recognize it. She shake her hand again.

Nobody's ever been over there really realize what goes on over there. Oh yeah. Oh yeah, it does. Take a visit. It's pretty complicated. Thanks to his wife for her commitment and letting me go out in the middle of the night and all the other issues we had to deal with. So, thank you. We appreciate it.

Um, we have a little story to tell. I think Chief maybe can come up with a little tell a little story. The next recognition of the firefighters and the very heroic recognitions that should be recognized to these firefighters. Thank you, Mayor. On February 26, 2026, in approximately 7:30 p.m., the Coral Fire Department was dispatched to a private residence in the fourth ward for an elderly man not breathing. Members of the Bshift arrived within 3 minutes and found an elderly male not breathing and no pulse. Resuscitative measures, including CPR and use of an AED, commenced immediately. Two shocks were delivered by the AED. The patient was transferred to an ambulance where advanced care was initiated. Pulses returned and the patient was taken to the hospital for a higher level of care. The quick and effective resuscitation efforts performed by all the members on the scene allow this gentleman to have a full recovery and return home within 10 days with no deficits or longlasting medical issues. Patients doctor, cardiologist, and other medical experts indicated that quick and efficient CPR saved his life. Simply put, all the members that were on scene utilized their training, their equipment, and medical knowledge to provide for a positive outcome. It is my honor to introduce to you tonight the gentleman who's alive because of the efforts of your fire department, Mr. Charles Castro.

I'd like to make note of the members that were on the call that day. Captain Jim Zelnack, Captain Will Fox, firefighter Ben Dodge, firefighter Mitch Gosser, firefighter Vincent Reed, firefighter Andrew Nyver, and Deputy Chief Reynolds. Up here, Mayor. All right. Scary. I'll just conclude very quickly. Um, you know, this is a testament to the support this council mayor give to the fire department, what we do. You don't know when, you don't know where, but it's obvious for Mr. cash line. It all fell together all good. And he did walk up the stairs, so I give him a point for that. But again, thank you for everything you do for this department um and what we try to do and do for the community. And I thank

you gentlemen. Yeah. No, appreciate these guys. And I always say my wife, but also my wife. She is bad. She couldn't do anything.

Hey, these guys saved you. I appreciate you very much. Okay. Thank you. Thank you. Mr. Gastine, thank you for coming and sharing that with us. They love to see this this side of the story. For sure. Yeah, we appreciate everybody and everything you do. Thank you.

Declaring April as fair housing month. have a hand of leg uh declaring April as fair hearing fair housing for the city floor. Whereas in accordance with title 8 fair housing policy of the civil rights act of 1968, the fair housing amendments act of 1988 and whereas the month of April uh 20206 is it? I think they're working.

There you go. Whereas in accordance with title 8 fair housing policy of the civil rights act of 1968 and the fair housing amendments act of 1988 and whereas the month of April 2026 has been designated by the US Department of Housing and Urban Developments Office of Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity is fair housing month. Now therefore, be it resolved that the common council of the city of Courtland hereby declares and proclaims April as fair housing month in the city of Courtland, New York.

All right. Thank you. Well, obviously it's a important item as as Earth Day is as well and um we're excited to have recognize that take the time to recognize it this month. Okay. Earth Day.

Uh, proclamation number two, declaring April 22nd as Earth Day in the city of Corland. Whereas the city of Corland is committed to protecting and preserving its natural resources and recognizes the important role its citizens play in this endeavor. And whereas Earth Day is an opportunity to come together with the rest of the world's citizens to celebrate and join the efforts of people who strive to improve the environment for ourselves and future generations. And whereas Earth Day reminds us all to be good stewards of our natural resources by which we help uh build a stronger econom economy, sustainable environment, and a healthier future. Now therefore, be it resolved that Scott Steve, mayor of the city of Courtland, does hereby proclaim April 22nd, 2026, Earth Day in the city of Courtland, and urges all citizens to celebrate the day, and be attentive every day to preserving our natural resources by participating in events to reduce consumption waste, encourage recycling, utilize renewable resources, eliminate pollution, and conserve water, land, and energy.

Thank you. And last is Arbor Day,

declaring April 24th as Arbor Day in the city of Courtland. Whereas in 1872, the Nebraska Board of Agriculture established a special day to be set aside for the planting of trees. And whereas this holiday called Arbor Day was first observed by the planting of more than 1 million trees in Nebraska. And whereas Arbor Day is now observed throughout the nation and the world. And whereas trees can be a solution to combating climate change by reducing the erosion of our precious top soil by wind and water, cutting heating and cooling costs, moderating the temperature, cleaning the air, producing life-giving oxygen, and providing habitat for wildlife. Whereas trees are a renewable resource, giving us paper wood for our homes, fuel for our fires, and countless other wood products. where as trees in our city increase property values, enhance the economy, the economic vitality vitality of business areas and our and beautify our community. And whereas trees wherever they are planted are a source of joy and spiritual renewal. Now therefore, be it resolved that Scott Steve, mayor of the city of Portland, does hereby proclaim April 24th, 2026 as Arbor Day in the city of Portland, and urges all citizens to celebrate Arbor Day and to support efforts to protect our trees and woodlands. And be it further resolved that all citizens are urged to plant trees to glam the heart and promote the well-being of this and future generations.

All right. Thank you. I think we'll have to name this Mike Dexter day is soon. Right. Right, Mike. So, um, we appreciate that. There are efforts that everybody does, especially those tied to our local community. Uh, public comments. Uh, Dr. Pul.

Hi everybody. I have some nice ideas to share with you today. I hope that you agree with me. As you know, the nighttime warming space, the only place we have in Courtland County uh, for that purpose, ends uh, this month. And then we go from May through October with no nighttime learning space. And so our uh citizens who have no homes have to go from place to place throughout the night. Um what I was thinking um is that we did have a porta potty uh to the right as a firehouse last fall and I was wondering if we could do that again especially during this time period when uh many places are saying no public restrooms and especially at night there's no place to go. some you can if even if you don't want to there are some um taverns and things that are open till 2:00 in the morning but that's it uh for our unhoused people. Um in order to do that you might want to approach some of the churches in the area and maybe they would uh want to contribute to that. Also I noticed that there are four places that are donations given to on today's uh agenda. Last uh month there was one to the youth bureau. I wonder if we could put a site to donate on the city of Courtland website so that anybody who wanted to donate and we could give some suggestions and I hope that you would include the unhoused in those suggestions. Um also there's a problem with water. Um the parks water fountain you remember them from your youth. um we're closed because of COVID and now the youth bureau has approached and met with to talk about um re uh having more having them again for our six there's only six um parks and especially if you if we could include courthouse park a lot of

people going to the courthouse back and forth might want something to drink and I'm told that when I spoke spoke to the uh head of the water department um I guess Matt Matt left um that the infrastructure is there under the ground. Even a fire hydrant is there. And he said it would not be very difficult to do that. You've seen in cemeteries that they have spiggots that you could fill your water bottles with. And in Banglad, they've started a program called Violence that they have spots around the city so anybody can get water. All I'm asking is that the courthouse park be included in those six uh parks that are under um discussion. Um also in um many cities they're starting to find vacant parking lots and then establishing um a place where um the unhoused from May till October especially and then all practically every night last year in the summer there was rain. It was wonderful for us during the day, but it was very hard on people who had to live outside. And so, Las Vegas, all um Los Angeles, all kinds of cities are doing this. And um I think if we we have so many vacant parking lots that one can see that it would be really nice if we could consider doing that. Catholic Charities gave out tents and sleeping bags recently. So, they got a grant specially for this. So maybe we could join with them in another grant.

What did I do? Could you pass that around to your We'll be happy to. All right. Thank you.

I had lots more to say, but next time. Okay. Thank you. Thank you. I like your bell. Amanda X. Thank you. Um I just wanted to say something that I found um we used to be able to get um through I believe it was seer was the congress person back in 2018. I found an article that for at least three years ending in 2018, Portland got $200,000 of Sunni impact aid through the state to help offset some of the costs that associated with hosting a a nonforprofit institution. uh since our police and fire departments do have to support that institution but legally aren't allowed to you know be getting extra money for it because they are tax exempt. Uh it seems like something we should be looking into.

Thank you. Thanks. Thank you very much.

Um Mr. Dexter working. Yep. Sheriff. Yeah. Okay.

It's very appropriate. My name is Mike Dexter. Been a city resident my whole life. I just retired from the landscape and design commission after 25 years and 20 years as chairman. It's very appropriate that Mr. Jwitt had read the proclamation for Arbor Day. We basically are Tree City USA over the last 19 years. that happened under my watch and the other members of my commission over the last 20 years. There are certain criteria that you have to meet to be at uh Tree City USA and we've met those every year for the last 18 years. It's something that my commission is proud of and I'm extremely proud of. Uh if you look up, there aren't a whole lot of other Tree City USA in Courtland County. Uh it's something that we took very very seriously when we were planting trees. There's also a qualification that you have to maintain and you have to spend $2 per capita each person. So each year we had to come up with $40,000 that either planted trees, tree removals, uh which is also through national grid and the city who did a lot of that work, but you have to come up with so much money spent every year to qualify to be a Tree City USA. Uh you may have noticed the Tree City USA flag flies at the waterworks where I used to work because it used to fly over here, but for whatever reason uh it was no longer flying at city hall, so it now flies at the waterworks. Uh the main reason I'm here tonight is and I was here a few weeks ago because of a tree that was taken down in the city. I've just recently received my notification of a re routine tree maintenance in my neighborhood. I will do this quickly. I hope I won't last as long as I did last time. Dear customer, as a recognized National Arbor Day Foundation Treeine USA utility award winner since 2000, National Grid strives

to provide safe, reliable energy to our more than 1.5 million customers throughout our New York service territory. In order to maintain safe and reliable energy services to our customers, we will be in your area on or about the start date noted above and will continue for the duration noted with our cycle tree vegetation management program. This was dated uh April 6th. I received it I think the day after that somebody told me they were on my street because I wasn't home. So, uh, I got a little bit late and I also talked to other people on my street. They also got the letter. I happen to be on the other side of the street where there are no wires. U, there are pretty few trees that may lean over the other side. But I would think that with all the technology that they have today with Googling that they ought to be able to know where the wires on, which side of the streets are on before they spend spend money to everybody on the off side of the street. There are a couple trees that may lean over on the other side. For the most part, my side of the street will not need any trimming. Hopefully, our programs provide that diseased and/or weakened trees together with those that have been planted or allowed to grow in hazardous locations and that they have the potential to contribute to power outages will be pruned or in some cases may include their removal if they pose as a severe threat. I underline that to our facilities. This tree that I brought to your attention a couple weeks ago at 134 Central A was nowhere near a severe threat to their power lines. When you see a tree that's in the lower lot power lines, they are cable TVs. They are uh cable TVs, telephone lines, anything else. But the primary lines are the lines that travel across the top of the power lines. They're 45 ft high,

most of them. This tree was no severe threat to those power lines. This is the picture two years ago. This was a tree that we planted with the approval of National Grid who gives us $50 back for every tree that they find appropriate to plant underneath their power lines. This tree, we got $50 back for this tree and National Grid came and cut it down because they were cutting down other trees in the area. And as I said last time, I hope this doesn't happen again to a tree that we and myself planted in this city. We planted over 700 800 trees. This tree was no severe threat. They saw the other trees coming down and I can only guess that they cut this one down because they were going down the street.

Thank you. One other one other thing, the work will performed by qualified contractors noted as crews. I hope that they have a certified arborist somewhere nearby so that they can see the trees that they cut down. This tree, if anything else, all it needed was a little clipping on the top. And I can tell you that there's two other trees in the area that they did not cut down. There's no branches on or no leaves on right now. But this tree was just when you do something with your hands and you plant something and you see it coming down for no good reason. I hope it never happens to any of you or any of your uh trees are in your house or by your house. Thank you. Thank you.

Thank you.

Mr. Chair, last Saturday I went to the Franklin Street yards facility and found it blocked off. I thought, "Oh, they better get that fixed before, you know, you know, spring gets into full swing and people have a lot of yard waste." But then I saw it was nicely covered with a lot of like mulch, I think, and they had taken out the uh concrete bunkers that uh had been there before. I thought, "Oh, maybe they're redesigning it." So just in case that's true, I we wanted to put in a request that we consider doing uh food waste collection there. Uh Geneva, which is a smaller city, does that you know pretty successfully. Um it would take uh covered shelter there to uh to collect it. And like we've had in the past, we probably need somebody there to uh oversee the collection that either move it around and make sure people don't throw construction debris and plastic there, but it has the possibility of being a money maker. Um food waste is about 1/5if to a quarter of our municipal waste. That would be savings from what's going into the landfill at $100 a ton roughly. And if we compost it as we could and we can get help with that, um it would sell for $50 a cubic yard. So, you know, that would probably pay for uh the person maintaining the yard waste facility and also the skid steer or something like that to push the yard waste and food waste around. So, thank you very much.

Thank you.

Thank you. Anybody else would like to speak the public comments? Okay. Uh Ch will go to U finance update. The full finance report will be the next meeting, but update and just do a quick update here. I sent everybody out uh a report hopefully last night on where we stood for the 25 uh fiscal year. Uh, as I stated, it's not final. There's still a lot more things that have to be scrubbed on it to get it to be final. Um, I am hopeful that those are the worst numbers that you're going to see. Hopefully, they get better from there from different things that I have. Um, but that is where we stand as of last night. Um I, as I stated, I do know there's some larger um revenue items that we have to pick up in uh the sewer fund from approvals, things that we did this year that need to go back to last year. Um so that's in in the works. Uh I did get approval from New York State on our sewer exclusion, which is one of the requirements of the WIA loan. Um that is going to be advertised in Friday's paper. Uh once we get everything back from there uh from the Courtland standard, we can send it up to the state to finalize that and send it to the people at the WIA loan. Uh that that's part of the requirement. Um the WIA loan itself, uh the last piece holding that up is the 2024 audit. Uh as of tonight, it's not finished. I I don't have a draft yet. Um we are still working diligently on it. Myself and the staff down there. Um when I say

diligently, uh that's our only focus right now is getting that completed. Um so we can get the WIA loan. If the deadline to do the WI loan and pay out the loan in the main borrowing was is tomorrow. That's not going to happen. Okay. But I worked with our bond people and we're going to do the lefy loan as a separate ban that can is callable at any time. Um, so it's not going to be an issue. It's going to cost us a little bit more, but it's uh still something that we can get completed.

Do you have an idea how close we are to finishing the the audit? Baby, I wish I could give you a definite answer on that. Every day, I hope we're getting closer. Before I came up here, uh, we found some things that get us closer, okay, to where we're not going to have a call it an adversarial write up because we can't document stuff. Uh, I think we're well within that range now. Okay. Um,

but it's a matter of when do we stop keep trying to figure out the problems that we have out there and fixing them and uh every day we find things that we need to correct. Like today we found stuff going back to 22. Uh so I think we're getting close to it. uh where the auditors will be won't say happy but we'll give them numbers that they feel comfortable reporting on.

As soon as we do get that, the next step is to have them write up the audit as a completed audit and come to the council and talk to you guys. Um

it's not Paige. I think that's all I have here for right now and I'll get you 26's uh data at the next meeting where we stand on that and update on 25 if it's material in nature. Um the other thing the health insurance hopefully I'm going to be able to give you a better report than just give you a number. I'm working with the uh consortium to get us what I've been giving you in the past is actual claims that we paid. I'm going to try to get you a report that gives you the incurred amount. So there's usually a lag of anywhere from four to six weeks from when just say I was to go to a doctor and submit a claim before that gets paid on an HA account may take four to six weeks. Uh I'm going to get that from the the time the claim is submitted. Okay. So we'll have a better idea of where we stand.

Chuck is your Yeah, there's some people. Yeah, it is. Am I just not speaking into it? Yeah, it's I could hear you when you speak into it. Yeah. Okay. Sorry about that. Still can't hear. It's on. I can hear it's on. No, it's not. Now it's not on. No. Okay. Oh, it's on now. You got to get right up there, I guess. That was basically the end of Can you guys hear me back there? No. No. No, not really. Shut it up. That's not what you're saying.

That's the last that I had of what I needed to speak about, but anybody have any questions? Okay. Um, we're receiving file motion receive and file for the mayor state of the city address that I've sent out. Everybody make a motion to see file. Um, can we discuss a little bit? Yes. Discuss the state. Yeah. Cool. Uh, couple couple questions with the updates to the numbers. You want to update some of the numbers in the state of the city or just let it go with what's in there?

I mean, I think it could be addressed next year at that time. I had to be in by that deadline. We don't really had all those numbers at that time, but I used the numbers that I had. So, had to be in by that date. So, we got that. Yeah. And there's good content in there. There's a lot of events that took place, a lot of good things in terms of the city moving forward. Um, don't want to focus, but a little clarification in terms of the financials. One of the things for the finance and audit committee, you talked about closing the current budget. Yes. Are are we talking 2025 or are there concerns about 26? Well, there's concerns about 2026. Yeah, we talked about that. So, the current year and making sure that we're okay.

Yeah, I mean, we know that the revenues are are not they weren't accurately stated and we're trying to fix that and you know, we get any ongoing concerns and make sure that those target lists as we discussed. Uh the WIA loan it's listed in there at 1.08% and my recollection I thought that was 1.8 I think 1.08 is correct 1.08 was the number that I was given from oh that's above it was stated at 1.8 I think you had mentioned that check that it's 1.08 is what I confirmed but I'll correct that I can find out tomorrow but I I 1.0 that's great

1.08 08. That's what I was told. 1.8 or a little different. Just over 1% what I was told. That's great. So, if I'm wrong stand corrected, I'm I know I said 1.8, but you I'm pretty I I looked it up. So, okay. But I've been wrong before. I hope it is. That's even better. That was why it was such a good deal.

Uh there's a couple that are tied together. We talk about process improvements that are recommended by it's bottom of page two paragraph 5 recommended by the committee. Um we've had some recommendations that we've been discussing internally. There are some that I brought forward a couple meetings back. And then it also you talk about on the bottom of page two basically line by line revenue verification uh and expenditure control that the recommendations that we've talked about a couple months ago I think will go a long way toward helping with this. So my hope is that the committee can meet again and then come forward with uh recommendations in terms of policy procedures. So for example, one of those was seeing the revenue in real time and that might mean access to bank statements for council and or just as things are coming in seeing revenue in addition to what our expenditures are. Uh but I wanted to make sure that those were consistent with what you're looking at because the the line by line one of the problems we we can look at what is budgeted but we can't compare it to last year and right now maybe not even 2024's budget for a year to date like we can't look and say all right well where were we in March of last year. So, some of these policies and procedures will benefit us this year, but they'll also benefit going into next year because if we're doing a good job of keeping track of the numbers this year, then next year it'll be a lot easier to track and say, "Hey, are we up to date? Is this consistent? Are we off task?"

Yeah, exactly. That's that's the point of the whole of doing it that way. and also putting together the checks and balances and given the directives like I think Miss Sman had an idea which is a great thought to sit with the department has to give directives this year because you know we're a quarter of the way through the year and we know we have some revenues that we have to make up that aren't accurate in the budget in order what we got to address. But we also know we can't make it all up in one year, right?

So we got to really be progressive in doing that. It's going to take more than one thought and take more than one meeting. And that's why we're hoping that the finance committee will meet every other week to keep up correct and do that. They meet the Tuesdays and if there's direction that we give the department heads before the department of meeting which is that following this is that Wednesday. So if the finance committee can block every Tuesday at the same time or five o'clock I think every other then council meeting and then another finance council meeting another finance we can compre you know progress in a very positive manner. Well, we have some late breaking news. Tuesdays aren't going to work. Yes. But Thursdays will um for the for the whole committee to meet. Certain committee members can't meet on

Oh, okay. But I know Chuck, I had a conflict on Thursdays. So, that was that was the problem with Thursdays because the issue I think it's imperative. It is. Oh, it is imperative. I think Thursdays were a problem again. We met early on. We'll figure it out. You were part of that. So you just I think consistently meeting I guess is the point you guys work out what date works but every other week it's off council week during the same week it doesn't matter but it'll be nice to get the council keep up to date and keep working towards that be you know keep making it better but that was the intent. Yeah we'll we'll we'll we'll make it work. That is the goal and we want to do that as quickly as possible

because we need to work together to make this clean up. I think it's important that Chuck is more important that Chuck's there than everybody else has. That's a good point. He's got to get us where everybody's at, where he's at, and getting things up to date. If things aren't up to date, it's garbage in, garbage out. And that's that's been the the past practice, and we need to stop doing that past practice. We'll make it work. Anything else? Did you have Brand? Anybody else? So, I have a motion to second the all in favor to receive five.

I um mayor's report. I'm not sure where he's going to be going here. um attended the uh chairman's round table and that's the precipice and that's uh all the chief elected officials in the county meet and we talked with NYG and National Grid was there we had a good conversation about the utilities and the increased utility rates which is un intolerable for most people on fixed incomes and and otherwise uh and it really hit everybody. I think we had a big one at wastewater plant. It was, you know, last in 2024. I was looking it was like 2 cents a kilowatt and it was 24 26 cents a kilowatt. That's a lot. That was a big hit. It's like a $58,000 bill. We can't have that. That's what we need to generate. So, it's it's really if you're looking at what's lagging in the first quarter, I think you'll see the utilities. So, hopefully that's better to do it. So, I've wor worked with some people to try to create a co-op so that non forprofits and businesses can buy in at in a better rate. And uh so we're working towards come up with some solutions for that. And then this resolution that we have later on is to talk about that to try to help get attention to that. We worked on a comprehensive plan, checked in with them to get that the final steps towards that. met with the board of realators and talked about all the ongoing issues and all the ongoing things with the realators and closings and our new codes and what that means to them. Um then the trash trash committee had their meeting. They're they need to continue on the farmers market with them. They're starting in uh a couple weeks here on May 9th. They're going to start opening up their events for Saturdays and Tuesdays again. They're excited about that. Attended a ribbon cutting for reuse. They opened a new facility over by Contenttos. They're excited about that. That's going well. Met with Chris Mkeley about the downtown Summers music series. So, that's going

to return in July for those four weeks in July. We're excited to have that and bigger and better. So, we're excited for that. Uh micro uh steering committee meetings coming up tomorrow. Retire uh police academy graduation tomorrow. How many candidates?

Six. So, we're going to a graduation tomorrow night for six candidates. Coffee with cop is tomorrow as well from 9 to 11 in brew. Uh first landscape and design meeting is the 15th if the committee is approved. Um homer hall is over panels. YWCA healthy kids uh is 10 to one at the YMCA. Um and then the Lego Fest is the 18th and 19th which there's a bus this year that you can take down the Centro to help you with parking and certainly uh combine all that. Um the big event uh for Sunni Portland is the nine met with them yesterday uh with the student uh SGA and they have 69 sites with over s 300 students signed up to do it. So they said they would take on some more sites. If anybody has any other ideas or sites also in that meeting we figured that there's 800 families coming in this weekend for an open house. So that we anticipate over 2,000 visitors. That's going to be busy in front of your house, Miss Lang.

Thank you. Uh and with the we also got the Sunni guy also got recognition for national recognition for the pep rally for the Cortica. So that's a town gown event that we started downtown and that got national recognition which is kind of great and nice to do that.

Um and then we do have a meeting with uh Sunni Portland. Mr. Amanda Axide brought that up to one of those items of discussion you do have with Dr. Bitterbomb is that uh where where that is and where that is done and is working with the SGA as well to try to work out some avenues there. Lawn pickup started this week. Uh so there they've been out. We've gotten some nice compliments on that and the yard waste gets opened back up at the top as well. But uh so once a month, you know, they'll be going through and picking that up. So, that'll help people with keeping the yards clean and doing that. Um, I think I covered everything I needed to cover. So, with that, we'll go to Mr. Tobin.

Thank you. Had a resident call. They were concerned about their water bill. It was a little bit significantly higher and sometimes it happens. We had a good conversation about it. Um, but I wanted to let people know if you're in the first W, any of the wards, if you have issues or concerns, feel free to reach out to me. Uh people sometimes reach out from different wards regardless. I did have a call from somebody over in Tom Michaels ward concerned about the smell from the wastewater treatment plant. Um and I do appreciate DPW reopening the South Franklin Street yard waste collection site. Um there's some inconveniences, but we need people to make sure they're only dropping off what is supposed to be dropped off. Sometimes there's all sorts of a manner of things and that just makes their job a little bit tougher and at some point like to follow up mayor with uh where what plans might be going on in terms of Parker School and also a resident on Wheeler Avenue who had talked to us about parking when school lets out at Smith School uh followed up with me and would like to be able to with them at some point. Hey Yep.

It's still there.

Uh thanks to the weather, it's been mostly quiet in the second ward. As the weather gets warmer, we won't have that benefit. To some of us, it's a benefit. We understand when our neighbors need to cut loose because they've been cold or indoors all winter and it's time to celebrate the spring. Um, but we do hope that when the big weekends rolled around that there are more police on duty to um hold them in check. I had a email exchange with um the head of the public works, Mike Weiss, and he responded favorably to complaints I'd received about the Franklin Street drop off being closed last weekend. The issue is people are dropping all kinds of things like rocks that destroy the chipper. Um my husband was dropping off our yard waste and he saw a dead deer in there.

And if people are doing stuff like that, the the facility is going to be closed until we can get somebody who's watching it. And you can imagine what a waste of time that could be. Time and your tax dollars. We don't want to have to pay somebody to babysit the yard waste site. That's just ridiculous. So, please, you know, lean on people to do the right thing. Um, I guess that's it for me. Thanks. Thank you, Mr.

Okay, so third ward. Um, I just continue to get complaints about the status of the streets in the third ward that that they're just a mess. Um, and that's an ongoing concern. Um, but other than that, we're good. Thank you, Y, Miss Lane. I'd like to thank the firefighters for saving Mr. Casterine. Um, he does I I have emailed with Mr. pass her line in the path so I know exactly where he lives and I want to thank you for doing that. Uh other than that quiet in the fourth m

pretty quiet in 74 other than comment on Katy and also if you're down in DPW and you see some something that looks suspicious call the police department because it's going to ruin it for everybody. Yeah. And you know, we all go down there and we all use it. And I've seen everything like you mentioned, Brian, whatever. It's not a dump, right? It's for the taxpayers and local residents only. So if you really see something that doesn't fit, make a phone call, please. We won't have it. Right. Thank you. Got a motion to approve the minutes. Back with Miss Any questions? All those in favor? I

oppos carried. Resolution agenda item number one, appoint members to landscape and design committee.

Resolve that the city of Corland County Council appoints Jim Maloney and Matt Brew Baker as advisory members to the landscape and design commission. And be it further resolved that the city of Chrome council thereby appoints the individuals listed in the table below to the landscape and design commission for the terms indicate therein. Uh Dana Murker for a term expiring December 31st, 2008. All terms expire uh December 31st. Kim Roman expiring 2000 end of 2028. Megan Swing expiring 2028, Larry Kohano expiring 2027 and Diane Bansing expiring 2026.

I have a motion for approval. Mr. Back with Mr. Tobin. Any questions? Move, please. Council member Tolin. Hi. Council member Sllamon. Hi. Council member Panel. Hi. Council member Lane. Hi.

Council member Beckwith. Hi. Agenda item number two, calling on Governor Hokll to declare on state energy state of emergency related to escalating energy costs. resolved that the city of Corland uh urges the governor to declare an an energy state of emergency to protect city residents and all New York stateers from extreme and unsustainable price spikes, promote stabilization of the power grid, and to promote affordable affordable energy. And be it further resolved that the city clerk will forward certified copies of this resolution to Governor Hokll, New York State Senator Leah Webb, New York State Assembly member Anna Kelly, and any other party dee necessary and proper.

I'll move it. Second, Mr. Beck with questions. As we stated before, we need to draw attention to this and not just bite the utilities. We can they have so move it, please. Council member Tobin. Hi. Council member Sllon. Hi. Council member Panel. Council member Lane. Council member Beck. Hi. Agenda item number three. Designate 125 1277 Helm Street as requiring an operating permit to the city code for a

resolve that the city of Corland County Council hereby declares the structure located at 125127 Elm Street as posing a potential risk pursuant to section 100-10A of the city code as adopted by local law 12 of 2023. Well, you further resolve that the owner and/or operator of the property shall be required to obtain and maintain an operating permit through the city of Corland code enforcement division and that the property shall be subject to periodic ex inspection for compliance uh with the New York State Fire Code property maintenance code and applicable local ordinances. I get a motion similar. Any questions?

Please. Council member Tobin. Hi. Council member Silvin. Hi. Council member Panelloo. Hi. Council member Lane. Hi. Council member Beckwith. Hi. Agenda item number four designate city of Portland fair housing officer. Resolved that the city of Corland County Council hereby designates the city of Corland director of administration finance as its housing officer, fair housing officer. And be it further resolved that any individual who desires to file a fair housing complaint allegation or excuse me, complaint alleging discrimination should contact the city of Portland finance department. Mr. Back with I'll second it. Okay,

thank you. Any questions? Can I move it please? Council member Tobin. Hi. Council member Sllament. Hi. Council member Canelo. Hi. Council member Lane. Hi. Council member Beckwood. Hi.

Agenda item number five. Authorize humane law enforcement agreement with the Portland County SPCA. Resolved that the city of Crawl County Council hereby authorizes Mayor Steve to execute an agreement with the Portland County SPCA for the purposes stated above in consideration of a sum not to exceed $25,000 for a period ending December 31st, 2026 to be charged to account A3510-541500 uh contractual professional services.

Get a motion. So Liz Lane, Mr. Pek just want to clarify everybody recognize that uh in the supporting document the document has already been signed u because we we uh had thought that it had already been approved by this board prior to but it was for last year. We did at the end of last year for retroactively last year. We didn't do it for this year. So once we found that we figured to bring it to this board that's why it was signed and it was cast as such. Any questions?

Yeah. C can I get a clarification? So the SPCA then would take care of basically stray dogs or if there is a dog that's a problem, but we're still contracting with another entity. Correct. That's correct. Chief, you want to explain it? I mean, they basically they do our stage. Go ahead. Yeah. They're going to help us with the enforcement of the laws on complex investigations where there's animal cruelty or abuse or maybe a vicious dog. We do contract with country acres just to do the housing of the dogs. You'll see SBCA doesn't have that capacity right now.

Anybody know if what are we paying with country acres number I mean it varies. Yeah. And over the over the last couple years we've gone around about a little bit. Um at one point where we doing more inhouse in terms of city PD. Yeah. And is there still an expectation for city PD in terms of this? Yes, we we're doing 90% of the investigations. They said when we need assistance, the SPCA steps in and helps us. Okay. And then if there's if there is a stray or a problem dog, is that the city or is this completely then go to the SPCA? SPCA when they're on duty. Yes.

When they're on duty. Yep. Business hour basically. So the police requested that as time when they're really busy or they can't handle it or they can't do that, they requested additional help services for them. Okay. But it's an as needed basis and I don't I don't think last year you used very much. I don't remember what that number was. Uh five or six times. Yeah. And we started with them back in the middle of the year within July. If um at some point more out of curiosity what the contract is with country acres and then is there any additional cost the city is paying in terms of the police department regarding animal control normal

just whomever is on shift salaries above us we have nothing above their normal salaries we have a we since you were gone Brian we put in uh kennels at the armory so we have a way to hold over if somebody loses their dog at night time you think they're going to reclaim it. We collect the dogs. The fleet PD does rather than having somebody come in and grab them. PD grabs them and instead of taking them to country acres, which is far outside the city limits, we hold them in the kennel till somebody calls. Then if they don't call, then the next day we send them to the count. The SPCA does that transport for us. Okay.

Very good. Thank you. So still a lot less than it was five years ago. Anybody else? Okay. Move it, please. Council members. Oh, I thought he Yeah, that's what he said. I thought he departed. No, it's fine. Or we can we can go up to him. Let's vote him. Council member Tolman I. Council member Selman. I. Council member Panelloo abstain. Council member Lane.

I council member Beckwith will uh record when he returns. Okay.

Okay. Agenda item number six. Authorized agreement with Shredsmart USA for on call document shredding service. Resolve that the city of Corland County Council does hereby authorize the city to enter into a three-year agreement with Shred Smart USA for on call shredding services with associated costs of $325 for installation and $85 per service to be charged to account a1670541000 contractual utilities. I get a motion.

Can we move or do we need Troy to vote first? I move on the other I didn't want to move back. Thank you. Would you like to be reported in favor or not in favor on the SPCA contract approval? Mr. Beckwith is recorded as an Okay. Motion for agenda item number six. Yes. Mr. Tobin. Any questions? Move it, please. Council member Tobin. Hi. Council member Sllin. Hi. Council member Panelloo. Hi. Council member Lane. Hi. Council member Beckler. Hi.

Um, somebody had mentioned before the meeting they want to lump seven, eight, and nine together. Is that still interest all three of those events? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Could I get a motion to combine seven eight n resolution? Miss Lane, all those in favor of combining. I So now on the motion of six, seven, and eight. So I'm sorry, seven is approved special thermos for the YWC walk the walk and ball which is going to be interesting.

And approval of events permit for the pride festival in the courthouse park on July 11th, 2026. and approve a special events permit for the dairy parade on June 2nd. Um, so with those three combined, can I get a motion? I'll move it. No, I'll second. Any questions on those events? They're all great events. I think we get to all them. I think should we get to all of them? Uh, the uh that sounds interesting. Well, not right either unless I get a front seat. Okay, chief. Sit in the back. wasn't good after my hip.

But yeah, I was when I when I first saw the YWCA thing, I was envisioning people plastic ball. This is going to end well that's changed different. So pretty excited about that. All right, movement, please. Council member Tobin. Hi. Council member Sllohan. Hi. Council member Panel. Hi. Council member Lane. Hi. Council member Beck. Hi.

Uh, agenda item number 10. Accept and recognize donations to the fire department. Resolved that the city of Coron common council on behalf of Mayor Steve and the fire department expresses its gratitude for the generosity of the donors below. And be it further resolved that the common council hereby accepts the donations listed below and appropriates them to account TE2044 Fire Department uh defiill donations uh for the purchase of placement defiill equipment. I won't read the amounts, but I'll read the donors. Um, Friendship House, uh, Les Wayneman, Eugene and Jacqueline Egan, Lilbeth Masten, Susan and Jeffrey Dovy, Michael and Lonnie Seagr, and Jean Ellsworth.

Motion back to um, exciting to see the people giving the donations. I think uh hard to beat Cheyenne at the end, but uh when we look at our deputy chief cute way did at the end, but we really appreciate it and it's great for the fire department to be able to have the resources to be able to do those replacements. Move it, please. Council member Tobin, I council member Sllamin I. Council member Canelo. Council member Lane. I council member Beckwith. Hi. Agenda item number 11, accept and recognize donations to the youth group.

Resolve that the City of Corland County Council on behalf of Mayor Steve and the youth bureau expresses its gratitude for the generosity of the donors below. be further resolved that the council hereby accepts the donations listed below and appropriates them to the accounts and for the purposes uh designated. Um a $500 donation from uh Beginnings Federal Credit Union to go to Porchfest and uh two donations in memory of James Lion, $500 from Robert Cordius and $100 from John Shirley. Much appreciated.

Yeah. Mr. Chvin, any questions? Please. Council member Tobin. Hi. Council member Sllanello. Council member Lane. Hi. Council member Beckwith. Hi.

Agenda item number 12. Accept and recognize donations to the police department. Resolve that the city of Corland County Council on behalf of Mayor Steve and the police department expresses its gratitude for the generosity of the donors below. Be further resolved that the council hereby accepts the donations and appropriates them to account TEO-2101 the K9 donations trust for the purchase of a replacement K9. Um I uh won't read all of the amounts, but I'll read the donors. Uh very generous donations um from Portland County DAV, David and Christine McNeel, Diane and Robert Ferry, Regina Deun, uh Karen Lehy, Richard Woodrum, uh Walter and Carolyn Ellenoff, Michael Whitlock, Beverly Ellison, Richard and Louise Kierney, Men Perkins, Michael Douglas, Tom Michaels, Charlotte Carter, Elizabeth Invescotti. Uh, I apologize for my pronunciation there. Uh, Rick Bandonsel, Stephen and Janet Herrick, Sherry and Peter, uh, Corinso, Gator Tavern, and Tim Francis.

I got a motion to Mr. to win the um again it's great I challenged deputy cute and he he pulled it off and then some was a big is a expensive uh and where the training is expensive so we're able to help with that so that's that's always great to give it a hand so um was that move it council member to hi council member Sllohan hi council member panelo hi council member lane Hi, Council Member Beckwith. Hi.

Okay. Um, our council has requested that we go into an executive session regarding contract negotiations. So, I have a motion to move to go to executive session. Any active? There will be no action taken after this. So, perhaps anybody that wants me. Yeah, it's just an update. I think the contract negotiations Michelle, we got a second.

I'll second favor. You can leave her.

Thank you.

There's one spot. So the longer you're going to be waiting It's already get out.

Yeah.

Is Carol trying to get in or something? that I had about 20 minutes of sick

elevator possibly. started like 12 elevator push flooring that when you get to the town we door into the hallway that I have in the direction of the board,

but I s that door open. The police chief said, "You were the deputy sick."

So that like if you went up there You want to take a couple blinds on stra. Are you enjoying the work?

Oh, yeah. Don't come with us. All right. Tuesday. Yeah. What do you mean?

Uh, no. She's got the Zoom. Go much. Oh, it's pretty easy actually.

I was grateful. I was going to say her hungry. Go ahead. You're going to like it better though. You're probably I can't remember multiple people. I just feel the hair in the back and they're all looking mad and they're all looking to hear me. Yeah. can't look right back at him.

Anybody judge Paul? So just uh concerns of the court security about uh access that sometimes it's I get a kick out of it because they give us we go to these I was telling you we go to these train you know judicial training sessions and they go they don't ever walk in the front door among the people know you always use the the private entrance meanwhile I got to go out in public to use the bathroom so there's really not bathroom if you're I use the bathroom that used to be in the bathroom. That one there?

No, that one if the other one's occupied. There's the one that's private for the court. Oh, okay. That's why the one that was in the mayor's suite of offices over there. Oh, okay. That's why. But you don't have to use the one that the people who are appearing. No.

and made the motion to come out. Miss Lane second and then uh we adjourn the meeting. We don't need a vote to do that. We just need a motion.