Common Council - Regular Meeting

Yeah, somehow. Oh, this is not Okay, at 6:30 I'd like to call the meeting of physical services committee to order on Monday, May 18th, 2026. Um, could I have a roll call, please? Councilor Meyer? Here. Councilor Plunkett? Here. Councilor Ashline? Here. Councilor Kennedy? Here. Could I have a motion to approve the minutes of the May 4th, 2026 committee meeting, please? Councilor Ashline, Councilor Plunkett. Roll call, please. Councilor Meyer? Yes. Councilor Plunkett? Yes. Councilor Ashline?

Yes. Councilor Kennedy? Yes. Okay, I don't see any old business. Under new business, authorizations. First item, the zoning and planning office has received a request for use of public space from Mr. Barry Dawson, owner of a single-family dwelling located at 230 West 8th Street, in order to replace an existing con- concrete step. Is there anyone here? Uh, I met with Jeff McGann today. Um, the the gentleman is um putting an addition on the back of his house. And what he wants to do, the uh the right-of-way goes right up to his eaves. So, what he wants to do is just extend the porch uh the step area to a 4x6, and he's going to put a roof over it so it's easier to get in the house. Improvements are going to be nice. It's going to improve the neighborhood, so um it looked pretty good to me. Any questions? Motion? Oh, Councilor Kennedy, Councilor Plunkett. Roll call, please. Councilor Meyer? Yes. Councilor Plunkett?

Yes. Councilor Ashline?

Yes. Councilor Kennedy? Yes. Item two, the zoning and planning office has received a request for use of public space from a Swigert hospital regarding the property located at 110 West 6th in order to install bike racks. Mike. Good evening, counselors. So, the school house was looking to come off the sidewalk with a 14 by 14 concrete pad to install these column pedestal style bike rack. The your typical bike rack they're they're having problems. The e-bikes don't fit in them. They've got bigger tires, they're bulkier. So, it's just to make and they're finding a lot of people that are coming and going from the hospital are using e-bikes. So, it's to make it easier on them, really. Yeah, I was with uh uh Jeff McGann this afternoon um and the public space is basically comes out between uh where the building is and the sidewalk. It's about halfway between the sidewalk and the building. Uh they want to put a concrete pad down. And it looks pretty good. They want to go corner to corner um to accommodate the bigger bikes. Any questions? Have a motion, please. Councilor Ashline, Councilor Kennedy. Roll call, please. Councilor Meyer? Yes. Councilor Plunkett?

Yes. Councilor Ashline?

Yes. Councilor Kennedy? Yes. Thanks, Mike. Item three, the office of economic development has received a request from Gina Holsapple for the use of public space to host the Gina Marie Music Studio Festival on July 19th, 2026 and August 2nd, 2026 from 1:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. Is there anybody here to talk to about that? Uh let's see here. From my notes, I thought she was supposed to be here. Um see, it's item three. Um Huh. I guess she's not here tonight. So, I don't really have too much information on it. Um anybody's got any questions, I don't know if I can answer them or not. Could I have a motion? Councilor Plunkett. I have a question. Yes. Uh I don't see it in the packet yet. Uh where is the public space that she's requesting? Uh I don't know if Abby has any information on it. You don't? I tried to I I guess I gave her a call and she said she's going to be here, so um I think I think in the application it identifies the pocket park. Yeah, okay. Which is the space between uh the buildings on Water Street.

On Water Street? Yeah, okay. It's a smaller space between the coffee shop and Mhm. Thank you. It does It does say pocket park. Mhm. Any other questions? Want to get a motion? Councilor Plunkett, Councilor Ashline. Roll call, please. Councilor Meyer. Yes. Councilor Plunkett. Yes. Councilor Ashline. Yes. Councilor Kennedy. Yes. Item four, the office of economic development has received a request for use of public space from Diane Catalone to host a wedding ceremony at Breakneck Park on Saturday, August 8th, 2026 from 1:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m. Uh I called Ms. Catalone. Um she couldn't be here tonight, but uh she kind of gave me a feel-good story. Um they met at Breakneck Park. Um and they met on the 8th. So it was in The date is important for her because um the ceremony will be on the 8th. August is the 8th month in '26, she said 2 + 6 is 8. So the The dates all come up with eight, so um she was she was pretty excited about it. Any questions? Motion, please. Councilor Ashline, Councilor Kennedy. Roll call, please. Councilor Meyer. Yes. Councilor Plunkett. Yes. Councilor Ashline. Yes. Councilor Kennedy. Yes. Item five, the city clerk's office has received a request from Elizabeth Allen on behalf of Rachel's Warrior Run in order to place 30 signs along popular roadways in order to promote an upcoming 5K. Um, I talked with uh Craig uh Revior. He said that um it's been done in the past. Uh he doesn't see any problem with it. Any questions? Yes. My only concern is it's 30 signs for 2 and 1/2 months. That's a lot of signs and a long duration. I'm wondering if that should be

shortened to 6 to 8 maybe 6 weeks and maybe limit to like 20 signs cuz I'm not I'm not 100% clear on where the locations will be for the signs. Oh, okay. Perfect. I So I'm not hearing what you're saying about the concern. So it's listed as the signs will be out for 2 and 1/2 months and there's going to be 30 of them. So I'm wondering what the locations are for the 30 signs. And if we can maybe limit that down maybe to like 20 or so, something.

Absolutely. I'm thinking you know, down is that Utica Street that goes by the high school and Canales. Which Which street? Utica Street? Is it Utica Street? Yeah. Okay. So down that street and up 104 by the college, across the bridge on East um Bridge Street going, you know, all the way to um the plazas, the shopping plazas up there. Those areas is what I'm thinking. So So mostly in like in front of businesses or corners. Yes, and then there'll be some like folks people that we know that will place them in their yards. Okay.

But not on, you know, in their on their personal private property. Okay. Is there a way to possibly like instead of like two two and a half months, maybe reduce that time. Um Sure. Um two months? So, the race is August 22nd. So, June 22nd. I mean, we want to get as much participation you know, the rate the signs help us get the word out about the event. So, um I mean, I could limit or you know, reduce it down to June 22nd-ish. Anyone else have thoughts on that? Uh any more comments, questions? Go ahead, Robert. The only thing I was going to say is would would it help if you like the day after or whenever registration closes, you pick up those signs immediately? Yeah. Yeah. Just to be clear, last year the signs were picked up the day of the race. I mean, after it was I have a picture of the signs if you want to look at them. It's in the back there. Yeah, I think they're They were up quick. Anyone have any comments about amending this to 20 signs instead of 30? Down to two months. And down to from you said July 20th or June 22nd to August 23rd.

August 23rd would be the day after the race and the signs would be picked up you know, no later than the 23rd, August 23rd. And you'll maintain the signs, right? So, like if a sign gets blown over or damaged, you'll maintain them. Absolutely. Yeah. Thank you. Thank you very much. You guys are really appreciate it. Thank you. Okay, so we'll need to amend the resolution as it stands to um amend the time from June 22nd to August 23rd and the amount of signs from 30 to 20. Um, let's see. So, I do a motion on that, correct, Kevin? Yes. So, could I have a motion to amend the Councilor uh Plunkett. Councilor Ashline. Nice, guys. Can I have a roll call, please? Councilor Meyer. Yes. Councilor Plunkett.

Yes. Councilor Ashline. Yes, to amend. Councilor Kennedy. No. Okay. All right. Item six. Oh, now we got to do the Now we have to do the Let me point of order. I I would recommend that now that the the motion to amend is was adopted, then you would Put a motion out.

Put a motion as amended to to take that vote. And then I also have a point of procedure. Miss Holsapple's here for item number three. I know that you approved and I informed her, but if you'd like to know about her event, she's here. Okay. We will We can have her come up after we finish this. Okay. Could I have a a motion to uh um, carry the amendment the amended motion of June 22nd to August 23rd and 20 signs. Motion, please. Councilor Ashline, Councilor Plunkett. Roll call, please. Councilor Meyer. Yes. Councilor Plunkett. Yes. Councilor Ashline.

Yes. Councilor Kennedy. No. Miss Holsapple, if you'd like to come up and give us a brief a brief uh description of what's going on. Yes, thanks. Um, the the festival is uh is to highlight our student bands alongside of Central New York performers and it's just a Sunday afternoon and we'd like to use the a park. Um, we have a couple of small vendors that line up along the sides keeping the the spaces clear, but um, and then folks bring in lawn chairs and we set up um, just like a little tarp over a a stage area and then they perform alongside um, Central New York professional musicians for the afternoon. So, we run from 1:00 to 5:00. We set up around 11:00, we're cleaned up by 6:00. Um, and it's a nice opportunity and folks walking by can stop in and listen and that kind of thing. Sounds like fun. It's a good event and we have we have a good time. The kids love it and so. Great. Well, thank you. Thank you. I appreciate it. I think

Item six, the city clerk's office has received a request from the Oswego Rotary Club for use of public space in order to install a peace pole at Veteran's Park. You'd like to speak, please. Yes, sir. Good evening. My name is Terry Gorman. I'm a part of the Oswego Rotary Club along with Summer Sheridan, Dave Granoff, and Sabine Ingerson. So, uh, uh, the uh, the peace pole project uh, is a project a global initiative to promote peace and unity across cultures and communities. The project was founded by Masahisa Go in Japan in 1955 following the devastation of World War II. His vision and message of may peace prevail on Earth has been shared across the world. More than 250,000 peace poles have been planted so far. One of Rotary's focus areas is peace building. This is one of the reasons our club is interested in sharing this idea with the Oswego community and believe we believe that when people work together to create peace, it can change the community and have a global effect. Several Rotary Clubs in Central New York have already participated this initiative. For For the Fulton Rotary Club planted a peace pole last fall at the Veterans Park. Inspired by such efforts, member of the members of the Oswego Rotary Club would like to sponsor and install a peace pole in the city of Oswego at Oswego Veterans Park. The Veterans Council of Oswego has approved our request to have the peace pole installed at the Veterans Park. The 8-ft pole has a message, "May peace prevail on Earth" in multiple languages. We have suggested uh selecting English, Polish, French, Irish, Gaelic, Italian, German, and Spanish to reflect the languages of these people um who settled in Oswego as well as the Haudenosaunee uh nation. We've also have other suggestions of other languages to perhaps uh uh to consider. We're limited to

eight items, though. The pole is a reminder to cultivate peace in thought, work, and action. I'd like to see this pole dedicated at a community ceremony including dignitaries, community leaders, and the public. The ceremony usually includes opening remarks, music, prayer, thoughts on peace peace peace and to foster a collective spirit of goodwill, planting, unveiling, and refreshments. We are seeking the support of the Oswego City of Oswego for this initiative. I uh I talked with uh Commissioner Rabior earlier about this and he said there'd be no problem finding a place to put it down in Veterans Park, so I think we should go with it. Yeah. That's John. If I could add, I know that uh Councilors Walton Sackett and I met early on in the process. And and the Rotary Club was very accommodating to think through what the best siting of this would be. Mhm. And um you know, I see Dr. Sheridan, Sabine Engerson, and Dave Granoff, and yourself here representing the the Um you know, and I think that Rotary has always thought globally but acted locally in in in the service of to others. So, you know, I I I'm happy to be able to support the council will be able to support this initiative as and I think it's an important message to the community. Thank you. Any other comments? Councilor Kennedy. Hi. Um, we spoke a little while before the official meeting, but um, I if I'm having any suggestions, I'm all for this initiative, but um, you know, obviously English, the Haudenosaunee language, and uh, uh, some of our Middle Eastern families like uh, Arabic would be a would be a great

initiative. I I work with communities up at Syracuse, and that's one of the big communities up there is Arabic speaking, so that would be one of my recommendations. Yes.

of the eight languages that could be on the board. Well, we still have time to select the languages, and we can we can have further discussion on narrowing the choices of the languages that are being considered. Thank you. Any other comments? Questions? So, I have a motion, please. Councilor Plunkett, Councilor Ashline. Roll call, please. Councilor Meyer? Yes. Councilor Plunkett? Yes. Councilor Ashline? Yes. Councilor Kennedy? Yes. Thank you. Item seven. City BOCES art educator, Laurel Lautensack, in partnership with the Oswego Department of Public Works and Parks and Recreation, the Oswego Fire Department, and local community mental health organizations request approval of a proposal for use of public space to implement a community public art initiative. Councilor Lautensack. Second the motion. Okay. Good evening, the Should I turn this to you or Should I just leave it like this? As some of you know, and others do not, I'm an art educator. I work at City BOCES. I have the pleasure of serving along many people, but the people in particular I service on a daily basis are those struggling with behavioral issues, IEP issues, and mental health issues. So, I have reached out to um the commissioner and the chief, but at the age starting at the age of 10, the second highest cause of death in that age from 10 to 24 is death by suicide. Um as many of you are aware, there have been multiple cases recently in our community about this. So, this is kind of a collaboration project in regards to that for

um students to work with the city as well as the community to create a visual installation of what um might bring hope to someone else. So, in order to survive, you have to have three basic things. And I'm going to argue that you have to have water, you know, physical shelter, and food, right? Protection and safe space. But you also need something called hope, right? So, this is an opportunity to provide um emotional support to someone and give someone purpose, right? Because to physically be able to have someone be safe doesn't mean that they're mentally safe. Okay? So, as you know, when you walk outside, you can see fire hydrants, and they are painted usually red. There's different colors for taps, which we'll go through, but this is an opportunity within our community that's there already to bring a little bit light to something that you might pass by and give you a moment of hope. And there's a physical thing to it, but we're thinking about changing the concept of the providing a water and making it from strictly use of water, but an opportunity of a distress. Water is more of brings life, right? So, allowing that to change that. Um the safety feature it physically protects the property, but this will allow people to protect their emotional health. Um accessibility, this is highly visible, right? But this will be seen more by being a different than traditional. So, the collaboration would be from the visual perspective, the SEL, which is social emotional perspective, and then the civil perspective. Allowing students to take their visual art to a different location and being seen while providing some services with the civil aspect of it. Everything that we do is going to go through the DPW alongside with the fire department, and then we're actually partnering with mental health providers in the community to raise all the funds

for this. So, there's no cost involved. It's like three-way partnership along with both these to be able to provide this project. So, the timeline of how this works. Students come up with ideas. We bring it to you to get your approval for this. Anything that the students do then goes through the DPW and fire department for their approval, and then it gets installed and paid for by the um mental health organizations. All like I said, all approvals are through the BTB fire and fire department. We're going to partner with them to bring in the actual codes. Um and one of you guys can talk to more about this, but these are the code colors that have to be on our fire hydrants, which some of them are not. So, all these fire hydrants that we use will be tested. They'll be color coded correctly, and then the design will come down here. We are This is not a new idea. It That's the timeline, but it has been implemented in many cities, including Tallahassee, Florida. I don't know how to say this. Is it DePaul, Illinois? Pennsylvania and California. It's been implemented throughout lots of the nation. Um it's just a different way of looking at things. So, these are some examples. These are obviously blue firefighters, which means Blue is best. It's the best. Okay, it's the best. There we go. So, it's an ecosystem with students, our community partners, the passersby who bring hope, and then um providing that. And we have some examples of what students have drawn. So, this is the packet they were given. This is not a packet of just draw art or anything. They each took their time of the message that they want to give us. And I'm going to share this one with you. This is by a 9-year-old that goes to a day treatment program,

who is there for mental health. So, for her, this is a very important factor on a daily basis. The idea I don't know if anyone wants to find like any of these. I got extra copies if anyone wants to look at them. Do you take yours? No. Okay. So, they come up with an idea, right? And her idea is that everyone is different and unique, and that's what makes you sparkle. Right? So, then she goes on to her project. Her project outline is that mental health is is a priority. Her theme is that we're going to grow, provide hope, kindness, nature, a community, resilience, friendship, and peace. Her message is that matter you matter, keep going, be kind. Growth through strength takes time. Stronger together or you belong. So, her statement, her artist statement is she wants to provide love, peace, and kindness, and positivity. This is her drawing. Obviously, it doesn't have the color code, but we'll add that. Okay? That she came up with. And on the back, this is why she did this.

[snorts]

This was done literally the other day. I have another example from an advanced art student. I think this one's really cool. And it has probably like 30 different messages on it as to why today matters. Both of these students are at the main program. Here's also last thing I have for you, which is the guide for both the physical safety and the why it's important. Do you guys want to talk to anything of this? All right. Okay. Yeah. What questions? Go ahead, Shane. Hit me.

[laughter] Councilor Thompson. Thank you. Um So, it doesn't list which hydrants or how many. Could you share which ones you're looking at currently? And it I I think it'd be great if we specifically list those, so that way it's more contained.

Every Like I said, every single thing that we do has to go through both of these guys. One for approval for both the testing to make sure it has the right color codes on it, and also the location. And that Not that I would ever send anything that wasn't an appropriate design, but that way they're also checking for that as well. My initial thought was down by where the deaths by suicides have happened originally or lately, by the waterfront. But, we are open to their suggestions and whatever. So, do we have any ideas which ones we're going to target and how many? Sounds like you have a place you'd like them to go. I don't. I'm just wondering what you guys had in mind. I I don't have any suggestions yet. Um As long as I can suggest it, you know, high vis obviously we want a high visibility areas. We're thinking downtown areas, uh near where the uh recent tragedies have have happened are probably good locations. Uh we do need as she mentioned, we do need to go out and test the hydrants. Um make sure they have adequate flow. Make sure it's a working hydrant. You know, if we don't want to If we need to replace the hydrant, we don't want to have someone paint it and then we're, you know, 6 months from now we end up replacing the hydrant. That would be terrible. Uh so, we'll we'll try to keep that from happening. Um I do want to mention the the AWWA color code is not a requirement. It is a suggested code. Uh we did look into that. There is no requirement to paint uh the barrels or tops. Uh when we decided that having the top painted the correct color is most beneficial for the fire department. That helps them identify quickly. It's a a visual. They're responding to a fire. They see that blue top, they know they're going to get the most water out

of that. Uh the next will be green. Um and then it's orange and red. Um the only color where we directed them to stay away from is black. Uh black indicates a a fire hydrant is out of service. So, we don't want to we don't want to identify a working hydrant as being out of service. Um assuming council is uh supports this and we get this passed, and then we'll get out there and do some testing, find some good locations. Uh I don't know how many. Four to five for this year. That's it. Four to five? Yeah. Okay. We try to avoid like residential areas and stick to mainly like maybe downtown, parks. I think that's the best bang for the buck, but we're open to whatever. Like for example, if this is a great initiative and we love this initiative and uh we want to partner with this. We go Renaissance at some point in time and do it in their area, that's a different opportunity kind of thing. Yeah, I think we'll call this Let's call this phase one, you know, the first year of this, the inaugural year of this. Um we're starting in commercial business or parks. Um and then if people want to see this, you know, a part of the Renaissance or whether people want to see this in their neighborhoods, we can certainly have that discussion and expand it going forward. Okay. Everything would come back here for approval for that. Okay. What if someone like a homeowner wants to paint their own fire hydrant? Do we plan to allow that in the future? They would they would have to come to council for approval. Otherwise, it that is vandalism. Okay. Um now I think the cap has to be the specific color. Does that include the dome as well or just the very top part?

Yeah, the the top is how you turn it on and off. So, not the not the very top, but yeah, the the top. move the design. It would be like

barrel. The dome, okay. It was just the kids marking it, yeah. Yeah, the top of the header is the bonnet. What do you see that that's the operating nut. The operating nut color doesn't matter, that's where the wrench goes. It's going to get worn off as it deteriorates. They use a hydrant that's not going to be It's this part here the top bonnet, that's the indicating color of the flow of that hydrant. Anything below that is going to be uh the code suggests caps are painted the same color as the cap that you've got in the fire department of the the responding call. They're looking for that blue cap. Okay. The uh So, there's two things. What the commission's talking about is which is what the AWWA AWWA AWWA American Water Works Association.

And there's the uh ISO. So, we're trying we're motivated to improve our ISO rating, which will lower commercial primarily commercial insurance rates, but also would affect residential rates. So, we would want to be sure that we already reached out preliminary preliminarily to ISO to get their opinion on it if it would affect our rating. And uh they suggest we keep we paint the tops and and the two uh barrels. So, um So, but we can we can double check with them exactly what they want to see. Now, do you have any concerns about response time because obviously every second matters in a fire and they're not going to be standard now. Um and I know we work with other departments for mutual aid. So, do you have any concerns in that realm? Not not so much response time, but you know, we try to we try to identify the best flow as we're going by. We do have these mapped on our on an app that we all have. Um A lot of times we don't have time to look at look at the tablet in the in the fire trucks on the way, but um we're generally grabbing the closest hydrant. We're laying in or or the next or the you know, the second engine is laying in or something. So, um if we do have Some Some areas we have options like the corner of uh uh like downtown, there's there's several hyd- fire hydrants on East 1st and Bridge. Same thing with East 1st and Utica. So, we're looking for the tops to grab the best one. In a more resident residential area, options are limited. Usually, you typically find them these on the corners. Uh and we're grabbing the closest one. Sometimes they're mid-block in somebody's front yard. But, um so, we're generally looking looking for the the closest one. Uh as far as the colors, like the commissioner said, we just want to stay away from anything dark. We want these to stand out. Um uh NFPA recommends uh even a a band, some kind of reflective band. A lot of times you see reflective rings on hydrants, which helps. Um but,

other than that, my my only concern would be when they're painted, we probably want to have somebody there uh you know, we'll use that opportunity to uh put some diversity on the threads, flush the hydrant, make sure that the threads don't get painted. Um make sure, you know, and then uh make sure it's in good working order, like the commissioner said. So. And we're going to use high-quality paint that's going to last how many years? I don't know how long paint lasts on the hydrants. Um There's nine What How many hydrants commissioner Nine 963 or eight. So, we don't we don't get to paint you know, it's something They need paint for sure. There's some It's a It's a full-time job and that's something that to flow and test them and paint them every year, so they don't all get painted every year, but it just depends, you know, if they Sometimes they wear out pretty quick. So, I don't know how long the designs will last and how long they will It's okay. You could figure out a plan uh if they start looking like Sure. gardeners, then like the paint over them. Yep. So. It is it is a good uh I like the partnership aspect of it. I think we can figure out the the public safety and I I would say that we have turned down residents [snorts] before that wanted to paint their hydrant. We've had a couple people over the years. Gone back and forth. Um you know, we get a phone call, "Hey, this person painted their hydrant green again." A couple things cuz it it matched their house and we have to go up there and see what's up there and repaint it. So, uh that would be one concern of mine is what do we tell residents when they come back and we tell them no, it's how does that look on us? Yep. They come through the council. Yes. Yep. Sounds like a good potential program and might be a good year to try it out and see how it works. Um key thing is making sure, you know, no paint on the threads and you know, you could open up the valves okay. That that's probably the most important piece.

Small number if it's a small number in a in a certain geographic area I can we can send out a you know directly to our people, "Hey, this is what we're doing. It's a community project." Uh like the council said, it's not it's not um um uncommon to find these. Oswego town has one on the corner of 7 and 720 720 that's painted purple for a particular reason. So, it's not uncommon. Uh small number manageable that we can tell our people, "Hey, this uh this certain block or this certain street uh we take a picture of this. Send out the flows and Thanks. Councilor Fitzgibbons. Uh great. I think the increased attention to the hydrants is a positive uh byproduct of this. I think the testing is is is also very good to to verify. It it I I think it's uh from a pilot point of view, if it did have traction, it might be a good opportunity to which in the traditional neighborhoods if those were ever embraced that we would ask for an adoption of a hydrant not only for the aesthetics of its uh colors and and the mission to which it serves but the maintenance cuz I know the fire department in January wouldn't mind to have a few partners uh working some of these hydrants as they're shoveling snow. So if if we could get neighbors to take rip better ownership and own the process you know and and maybe this is a gateway to start the conversation. Uh you know I I I would be for it. You know I think that you know a four hydrant start let's see where see what that does but I think you know if it if it does instead of uh having it open up maybe the gateway is is the partnership and and and if there's a desire to do that there's a there's a participation in the 12 months of maintenance of the

of the hydrant. We'd ask for a group of neighbors if they had that interest. We have great support uh from our residents. I know Mr. Tynan on the corner of Eighth and Albany in my neighborhood he he runs a snow blower around that fire hydrant. Yep. Every time it snows. So so my neighborhood does a great job with their hydrants. So more public acknowledgement is that what we talk and make it okay for people to do that. Empower people to that that this is all part of being a neighbor you know and Councilor Kennedy or Councilman I just want to add like if we could in the future cuz I see this as a multi-year thing. Okay.

Um if it goes into residential areas um if we could check with the homeowners before they paint them make sure they're okay. Um along his lines just just that way we don't get

Third word strong. Just just so that way we don't get feedback you know, a resident isn't happy um because it's going to be in front of their house, so. That'd be great. Thank you. Um for locations, have we thought maybe around like somewhere like Haven of Hope or Days Inn's house or It's a great idea, too. You know, one of those, you know, where people definitely could use the help. Yep. Yeah. They're one of the partners. They are at one of our schools and so they're going to provide some of the money. Hillside and Farnham are the ones that are going to provide the money as of right now. I think it's great to be able to for them to start off in a commercial in a non-commercial location. Yep. And that is to stay away from people's front yards in the county. Sure. I think it's a great idea. Any other comments, questions? Can I have a motion, please? Councilor Ashline, Councilor Kennedy, roll call, please. Councilor Meyer. Yes.

Councilor Plunkett. Yes. Councilor Ashline. Yes. Councilor Kennedy. Yes. Thank you. Item eight. The zoning and planning office requests a rescission of resolution 129 dated April 27, 2026 approving use of public space for Michael Clonan to install a driveway expansion at 31 Branson Street due to administrative errors. Mike, do you want me to take this one or Okay. Well, uh Mr. Clonan applied for a [snorts]

uh a permit to expand his driveway to widen it. Um come to find out there was a an error in reading of the right of ways for that particular street. So, he didn't He had plenty of room to do it. He didn't need a right of He didn't need a uh permission to go into public space for his driveway. So, this this uh we'll just rescind that motion and he'll be able to go ahead and do the driveway. Any questions, comments? Motion, please. Councilor Kennedy, Councilor Plunkett. Roll call, please. Councilor Meyer. Yes. Councilor Plunkett. Yes. Councilor Ashline. Yes.

Councilor Kennedy. Yes. Any other business that we need to take care of? Without that, could I please have a motion to adjourn? Councilor Kennedy, Councilor Ashline. Roll call, please. Councilor Meyer. Yes. Councilor Plunkett. Yes. Councilor Ashline. Yes. Councilor Kennedy. Yes. And with that, uh I'd like to call the Human Services Committee to order. Can I have a roll call, please? Councilor Kennedy. Here. Councilor Thompson. Here. Councilor Ashline.

Here. Um can we uh can I uh get a motion to approve the minutes of the May 4th, 2026 committee meeting, please. Councilor Ashline, Councilor Thompson. Councilor Kennedy. Yes. Councilor Thompson. Yes. Councilor Ashline.

Yes. I don't see any old business, uh so new business under authorizations, uh authorization number one. Chairman Chance Kennedy requests discussion regarding the installation of 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline signage at key locations throughout the city of Oswego. So, is Gina here? I didn't know if I would you would be able to see me over this podium. I was worrying this whole time, so. Um [snorts]

so, Gina and I spoke uh a little bit about this, and there's the signage is in the uh package and everything. Um so I will speak a little bit, and then you can fill in the gaps that I obviously will definitely miss. Perfect.

But um so the the signs themselves are already placed in Fulton on the bridges, two bridges in Fulton. Um, they like they say to reach out to 988 if you're in crisis. Um, I had said that the bridges would be great for here in Oswego. I had also suggested that we put them in uh, parks in the city. There are 19 according to the city website. I didn't realize there were that many. Um, but there are 19 parks in the city including the fort, um, splash pad, which I consider part of Breitbeck, but it's obviously not. Um, and things like that. So, um, the reason I had suggested parks and get on a little bit of a personal note. Um, in 2009 my uncle had committed suicide in a park and um, I feel uh, that parks are a place to reflect, but also a place of solitude and where people can do things that they, you know, shouldn't be. Um, and if they if we can help with this initiative save uh, save one life then we can then we did our then we did our job. So, uh, with that I'll let Gina speak on.

Yeah, thank you for sharing that. Um, good evening. My name is Gina Van and I am both a mental health professional in this community, but I was also born and raised in this community. And I'm here today um, during mental health awareness month to request support for this mental health initiative. Specifically, I'm proposing the installation of these 988 suicide and crisis lifeline signs at key locations throughout the city being the bridges and the parks. These signs serve a simple but powerful purpose, connecting people in moments of crisis to immediate life-saving support. The 988 [snorts] Lifeline is available 24/7. It's free and confidential, yet so many people still don't know it exists. Visibility matters, especially in public spaces, where someone may be struggling in silence. This initiative is being done in partnership with the Oswego County Suicide Prevention Coalition and the Oswego County Division of Mental Hygiene, and they have fully committed to or they have committed to a fully funding the Office of Mental Hygiene 10 signs free of cost to the city. They will purchase them and provide them to be able to put up at various locations. Um So, this is our opportunity to not just talk about mental health awareness, but to show it in action. By placing these signs in visible high-impact locations, we have an opportunity to take a small step that could make a life-saving difference. Thank you. Um any Questions? Comments, questions? No? Councilor Tech. How big are the signs? Is it the actual Um So, they're eight The ones that are you could get various sizes. The ones that they had put up in Fulton were 18-in by 18-in signs. Um And it Go ahead. Are they on a pole or So, it it would be the sign that's provided. Um

I think it's just going to depend on the location, right? Like the Bridge Street Bridge, we we have the light poles there, but there aren't necessarily poles, and it's kind of like the concrete um handrail. So, I think it would just really be a discussion on what's going to look the most aesthetic and and be in an appropriate location. That's That was my um understanding, and I and I know that they said that they would um pay for it 10. So, for the other math sir, I know we wanted to do two on each Um, so wait, four on each bridge. Four on each bridge, right? Cuz we wanted to do one on the beginning of the bridge.

I mean, we could be open to suggestions, but I figured like one on each side I know that's what we Yeah, the bridge. So, um, and then the other say if we do all 19, um, we uh, my thought was we could reach out to a foundation like a Shineman Foundation to funding for the other X amount of signs out there. Yeah. I'm sure we can connect to with the um, the suicide prevention coalition as well. Yeah. We can we can reach out to other funding. The to my um, knowledge and this is before Mr. Mayor, um, I feel like the the cost of the city would be pretty minimal just labor cost for the DPW to put up the signs, but please correct me if I'm incorrect in that. So, first I'll speak to to placement of the signs. Um, specifically on the bridges, 100% correct. The light poles, I mean, we have the capability of attaching signs to the light poles. There's no reason to you know, we don't need to install another base or another sign. Uh, same with the parks. All the parks have uh, light poles throughout the parks or there are already signs in the parks. These these signs can be added to those poles or to the light poles um, in an in you know, appropriate locations. Um, as far as the signs themselves, I did speak with Alex Dexter, our traffic uh, maintenance supervisor. An 18 18 18 by 18 sign blank is a is a normal size. It's a you know, readily available. Uh, we do have our own sign shop. Uh, if we were provided with um, you know, I did get a a a PDF of the sign you provided that in the email you sent me. Um, you know, if if we have the actual um I forget the name of the the actual file artwork file, uh we we could print these signs in-house. Okay. Um I'd be happy to have Alex work up an estimate of what that would cost. Uh it would be minimal. Um

the the biggest cost would probably be the I think you wanted me reflective and the background is black. I Ideally, we would like it I think So so the um the ones that they did in Fulton, they are reflective already. So the ones that um the county uh the office of mental hygiene said that they could provide would be reflective material, but I'm certain if we as long as there was like a approval to use the um like the 988 um like their template, the PDF, then I don't think there'd be an issue to print them in-house at all. Yes, I'm happy to have Alex work up a quick estimate of what it will cost to make it sounds like about 20 signs in addition to the 10 that are going to be donated. Um Yeah, that would be great and we can figure out how to pay for it. Once we have an estimate, we can put out feelers for how to get the money for that cuz they Besides that, what do you think the um it would just be like regular labor costs for

Um min- minimal. I would write this. You We're going to use people on staff. Um you know, you're talking about a couple nuts and bolts, maybe a band clamp. It's really minimal. contact Can I suggest one more place? Yes, absolutely. Um and the west side on the walking bridge, it's very close to the bridge entrance, but on the east side, the walking bridge is in between the two bridges and maybe we should put one there as well. Mhm. I I agree cuz Rotary Park

Oh, that makes sense. That perfect. Yeah, the Rotary Park is right there. So like that's That would be fit Yes, you're right. Absolutely. So Yeah, I was already thinking four for you you to get your bridge, four for Bridge Street Bridge, two for the pedestrian bridge. Uh and then at least one in each park. Is that where we're That's what we're thinking what we're thinking. To get started. Most of the parks, well, some of the parks anyways, have an actual like what the park is named.

Yep. Um and so I was thinking and I don't you know, whatever. I'm open to ideas, but wherever that sign is with the name of the sign, that would be where we would put it, but we could also figure out somewhere else too, like a lamp post or whatever. But that was just my just initial brainstorm idea. Okay. Um but I'm open to whatever. Yeah, I'll get that cost to you before council for we're next week, so you have a number to look at. Okay. Any other So that cost would probably just come out of like the general fund or something like that because we can't solicit for donations, so

No, right. we would have to probably fund that, right? Yes, and that's where you know, I get a cost of what it would cost us to make it 20 signs, whether we can absorb that in the in the traffic department DPW budget already or if we would have to come to council and ask for a budget amendment. Okay, thank you. George Foreman. I didn't call on you. Yeah. I didn't Thank you very much for normalizing this topic and and making it something that we're talking about. I think the message in the signs, you know, is a logistic, where we put them and how we can get them out there. I'd encourage us to look for other avenues to make this as part of our message, whether it's taglines, emails, whether it's It needs to be normalized in a way that it it it it's not It contains no stigma and the threshold for people seeking services is not viewed to be have any hurdles. So again, as much as we can, whether it's signs, whether it's messaging otherwise, we need to be as aggressive as we can to make sure that it's pervasively spoken of. I'm uh standing before you as a resident of the city, not the city attorney.

[laughter]

Uh and I appreciate every this discussion. I'm mindful of the month. I sympathize and empathize with anyone who has lost a loved one as a result of suicide. We're all touched by it. To me, 19, 20, 25 signs about the city of Oswego, 18 by 18 square inches, I think we're over-signing the city of Oswego with this message. It's an important message, but to your point, counselor, there are other ways to get the message out. How about encouraging storefronts and business owners to put a sign in, a 988 sign. I have one in my office up on Oak Hill. I don't know how many people come in and out of my office and see it, but if it saves one life, it was worth it. I'm just concerned about the over-signage of our public spaces with this message, with such a sign like this. Uh for all that we're doing here, um we can do more with uh less uh in-your-face messaging. That's just my point, my my position on this. I applaud it. I support it. I just caution you to temper the volume of signage uh like this across our public spaces. Thank you. Councilor Thompson. I'll respond to that comment. So, if you have too many signs, this is kind of why I suggested um 20 signs instead of 30. If you have too many, people stop paying paying attention to those signs. So, if you really want people to really notice them, you don't want too many. So, so the clerk only is right. You don't want to flood the city. Um I think they definitely should be on

bridges. Um maybe some of the major parks. Um but you don't want to put too too many out cuz we have approved a lot of signs over the last couple months to be placed in public places. Um so, you do have a valid point there. Um but I do think that these are important to be out there as well. So, I I think we just have to be mindful and find a balance and figure out what's going to work. Thanks. Mayor, did you

comment? Thank you. I'd have to echo uh our city attorney's comments. Uh this is an important topic. There's no doubt. Uh one of the things that wasn't brought up and I agree with counselor Thompson that we probably should think about this and how many signs we I know you mentioned earlier today about um not having some sign up for 2 and 1/2 months. I agree with that. We don't need signs up for 2 and 1/2 months for for an event. Uh but one of the things that you may not be thinking about is the fact that um this may be a good issue to broadcast and to uh remind people about. But what happens when there's other good intentions and people want to come to you, you approve 20 22 signs, whatever it is, for this. What about uh Mothers Against Drunk Driving and they want 20 signs in in various parks because children are in there. What about Alcoholics Anonymous? Uh what about domestic violence hotlines? Uh how about child protective hotlines? You're opening up uh the the Pandora's Box when you're going to allow all these signs. And I And I think uh uh our city attorney did point out there's other ways of getting the message out. Uh but if you're going to put these signs in, be aware that other people with other good intentions and other good programs and good ideas will be coming to this council and putting or asking for more signs to be put up in in parks. Clear path for veterans is another thing. ARISE, SNAP and HEAP programs. I mean, I know that this is a specific topic about suicide and I I understand your motivation and and why Council Kennedy wants to do this, but again, I think we've done a good job over the past 10-11 years to try to uh stop the proliferation of signs. I know some people might not like it, but we have put a restriction on for rent and for lease signs with that intention that they were up for weeks, if not months, if not years.

So, again, keep in mind, if you open the door for these signs, there'll be others that are going to be coming your way. And and if you open the door for this one, how can you say no to Mothers Against Drunk Driving when they want signs? So, something to think about. Thank you. Councilor Kennedy. I would I would say to that to that point, thank you for your input. The the issue that uh I feel like with our in our city and over the last good year or so, we've had at least two that I can think of off the top of my head, pretty decently high-profile cases of people committing suicide. One was a I believe a high school student who committed suicide because of bullying because they were an immigrant or from an immigrant family. So, Mothers Against Drunk Driving, while it's a great cause, that isn't something that happens really in our city too much as it does suicide because of our waterways. People have I don't know, easier or whatever when you have when you can jump off a bridge to commit suicide if that's what your intentions are. And so bringing this to light is something that we want to uh mitigate. And having these signs on the bridges and as as the authorization that said it's key locations, so we don't have to put them in parks. That was just a suggestion that I had I had laid out. Um but I definitely think the bridges are key factors in this initiative. And we have 10 signs that are already paid for per se. So we have 10 signs to work with. And um and if we use those 10 signs and put them in appropriate places around the city including the bridges and maybe one or two parks, then that would be fantastic. We don't need to put put them

in all 19 of our parks in the city. I just suggested that as a um suggestion. But um but I would like to at least kind of see them on the bridges uh because that's a big uh factor for people that are uh suffering from mental illness. Councilor Thompson. So if [clears throat] this goes forward, I would suggest maybe stick to the bridges and then instead of parks, maybe one at each side of the river on the walkway there. Um cuz I think that's an area people go when they're feeling down. Um that's what I would suggest. Another option might be catch nets that you could put that tie into the bridge. So if someone were to like jump over the bridge, it would actually catch them and they would be prevented from climbing over it. Um that's going to cost [snorts] money. I'm not sure if that's really feasible right now. Um but I would probably limit to those locations, maybe the bridges and um down by the walkway, one on each side. I think that'd be reasonable. Right.

I think that's great. I And that's kind of why I left the phrasing as key locations could be anywhere anywhere to everywhere in the in the city. Um just kind of spitballing. That's why I said parks, but you know, there there is an overproliferation of signs in the city. 100% agree with that and we do need to be mindful of that, but um I don't want to over over uh exhaust the the city with signs. That wasn't certainly not my intention to do that, but I just um I'm obviously passionate about this. So, um but if we can get these in key locations, especially like I said our bridges and the linear parks on the east and west side, I think that's a fantastic start. And um if we think we need more later, we can look at that like uh Mr. Mayor said, but um I think you know, 10 signs is a great great um starting point for us. Mr. Councilman Thompson No, this is just to discuss. It's not to actually approve a correct.

Um this is at this point this is just just to kind of discuss this. If we if we want to move forward with this, which I hope we do, um we can put this on you know, the next committee's agenda for a resolution to get this approval approval. Okay. That's the That'll give us some time to get some feedback from residents and we can get can get some feedback. For sure. If that's the uh an avenue we want to take, we can look at this again in June sometime or some other Can I Can I speak again to my point? Absolutely.

kind of wanted to circle back. I appreciate the perspective too cuz as I'm like excited about Oh my gosh, 30 signs, let's do this. Um aesthetically, like yes, that might be overwhelming to just see like signs plastered everywhere. So, um you know, 10 signs I was very excited about. Um you know, if if that's kind of the starting point, then you know, I it's it's a start. Um but I did want to circle back to another comment that was made about um kind of like missing missing the signs and sometimes like they're there, right? And and if we notice it cuz it's new or we haven't seen it before, and then it just kind of becomes part of the scenery. But for someone who is in a crisis, that could be very very different. And it may not be a sign, right? It doesn't necessarily have to be a sign that's the thing that catches their attention. It may be someone walking out of the door at Dunkin Donuts before the bridge that said, "Hey, how are you today?" and acknowledge that person. But this sign is just another um sort of attempt to try to reach somebody with the number that, you know, the the 988

[clears throat]

that number used to be a different number, and I couldn't even tell you what the number is. I think it was a 10-digit number. And so that part of this initiative was to shorten the number so that it was easier, so people didn't have to um remember. Or in a moment of crisis, we're not always thinking clearly and logically. So, um I know that there has since 988 rolled out, there has been a significant increase in the use of that. And and so that the hope is that even if it was one sign, I would love it to be 10. If it was only five, if it was only one, if it saves one life, you're right, that was worth it. Um and and certainly, um you know, I I'd be happy to um speak with businesses and and and sort of uh you know, get engagement with getting more signs in the window. I actually um was able to through um one of the 988 partners, I got an entire box full of 988 like merch and gear and stickers and posters that I can for free. They provide it to provide mental health providers for free. So, unfortunately, these signs weren't something that they had, um you know, but I also don't want to go around sticking 988 stickers all over the city. So, okay, that was all. Thank you. Thank you. And I think this part this with Council Lautenslager's initiative as well is a great message because this is also in a way helping the entire city in a different way, but it's different but the same where we can bring a light to somebody that is in crisis with mental health. The fire the fire hydrants are a great way to brighten somebody's day and I do like that all kids from all kinds are doing that which is fantastic. So, I think, you know, if we only do these 10 signs and we have the fire hydrants, I think, you know, if that's what we need, if that's all we can get, fine, that's fantastic cuz we have a fire hydrant initiative which I think

might take off with the city. So, um, you know, I've I'm all for this. Yeah, this is just kind of to get the feelers out at this point. Um, if this is something that we as a council would like to pursue, uh, we can we can put this on the agenda uh, for June and um, get the approval from the council and then move this forward to getting DPW to put up the signs and and go from there. So, um, with that, um, can I get a motion? Motion for I don't know to to I don't I don't know what I'm doing. To end the discussion? What? Oh, close the meeting? Okay, never mind. I don't Sorry. Never mind. A motion to adjourn, please. Councilor Ashworth, Councilor Santini. What? A what? Oh, hold on. Oh. Even though it's just a a discussion. I guess the point of procedural order if there is a um an action to be taken, a resolution to be prepared we can prepare one, but we would need the defined terms of that resolution. If you're not prepared to present that this evening perhaps I'd suggest that we take the the one week cycle, two week cycle, come up with a resolution that that covers all of the points that were discussed tonight and then bring it up for a vote. Does that make sense? Yeah, that's that's right. Thank you. Thank you. So then I think you're the motion to adjourn would be the appropriate motion at this time. Okay, sure. Wait, I'm sorry. Counselor Caracole Sorry. So I shouldn't put a motion to do this to do the what you just said? Well, I I don't know what you're you're doing.

want you put forward a resolution at a later time of what we discussed today. Yeah. So that should be what I Sorry, I apologize. That should be what I what I say now so we can get a vote on this for a later time. Is that correct? Um I'm sorry. It's There's no action to be taken other than an aspirational action, right? You're going to put something together in the future. You don't need to vote on that tonight. I mean, if you wanted to vote on authorizing the acquisition of the 10 signs and the placement of those signs, I that I heard very clearly, but then there's some additional discussion. Okay. Uh we can prepare a resolution to that effect but if you wanted to take the time to make a comprehensive resolution and cover all of the points that were discussed tonight, I'd suggest that we take at least the the two week cycle and and do it that way. Got you. Okay. Counselor Thompson Yeah, I would suggest waiting two weeks so if we can get some feedback from constituents and come up with a clear plan for these and then at the next committee meeting just have a resolution if we decide to go forward with that. I think that makes sense. That makes sense to me. The only The only thing I would I would like to put forward tonight is a resolution to accept on behalf of the office of mental health the signs themselves, not for the placement of the signs, but to accept the signs. Um on behalf of them for the city of Oswego. Is that something that Sure, we can prepare that.

Okay. So that would be that would be what I would like to to put forward today and then in 2 weeks we can decide placement. Um key like the key key area Yeah. key areas of the city of where those signs can be placed. But for now I would like to put forward a motion to accept the signs the 10 signs that were that are going to be donated by the office of mental health for placement and to be discussed at a later time. Can I get a motion? Councilor Ashline. Councilor Thompson. Councilor Kennedy. Yes. Councilor Thompson. Yes. Councilor Ashline.

Yes. Now, at this point can I get a motion to adjourn? Councilor Thompson, Councilor Ashline. Councilor Kennedy. Yes. Councilor Thompson. Yes. Councilor Ashline. Yes. Meeting is adjourned. At this time I'd like to call to order the Administrative Services Committee. Clerk, please call the roll. Councilor Plunkett. Here. Councilor Meyer. Here. Councilor Fitzgibbons. Here. Councilor Launsech. Here. Councilor Ashline. Here. I'd like a motion to approve the minutes of the May 4th, 2026 committee meeting, please. Councilor Meyer, Councilor Fitzgibbons. Councilor Plunkett. Yes. Councilor Meyer. Yes. Councilor Fitzgibbons. Yes. Councilor Launsech. Yes.

Councilor Ashline. Yes. Is there any old business? Let's move on to new business. Item one under authorization, Craig Rabyor, Commissioner of Public Works and Parks and Recreation, requests authorization for the City Chamberlain to complete a transfer of funds in the amount of $37,342.53 from the street lighting materials and supplies account to the garage contracted services account for Scriba street lighting. Mr. Commissioner? Councilors, good evening. Um Some of you are thinking, "Why do we need to spend all this money on these new street lights?" Uh the council last year, the mayor, and myself were were wise enough to put 50,000 into the street lighting budget uh for maintenance and repair uh even though they are new. Um the light fixture themselves are under warranty, however, getting power to them is not. Um the arms and the the the um mechanical pieces to hang the lights are not under warranty. So, if a light gets knocked down, say a traffic accident, or um the wind blows one down, which we've had happen, uh those are not covered. Uh when we did purchase the light fix the the street lights from National Grid, we also purchased the infrastructure that went goes with them. There's a lot of underground infrastructure. There's a lot of overhead wiring as well. Uh there were deficiencies in some of that wiring that was not part of the project. The project was to replace the light fixture, not to repair the wiring to go to the light fixture. So, that's why we we've uh um employed Scriba Scriba Electric, uh who is our maintenance one of our electric electrical maintenance contractors on contract with the City of Oswego, and they've done a fantastic job uh diagnosing and and and repairing and getting the street lights working uh where, you know, we had a new light fixture, they didn't have power to it. So, they're they're they're making those

corrections. Uh this is a transfer of funds from the materials and supplies account uh to contracted services to cover that cost. Uh as you you can see before you, we're we're at 37,000 and and some odd dollars uh to date. Uh that's not all the billing. They were out today making repairs, identifying issues. Uh we did find an issue that was National Grid's problem. So, National Grid is on the hook for for the one down on Lake Street that they're taking care of across from uh Gibby's there. Um any questions, comments? Councilor Thompson. So, how many of lights does this impact this work right here? Is it just a couple or is it like the whole block? I don't have a count on how many they've repaired. Um it's a significant amount at at this point, though. Uh they they just didn't have power. So, you had sections there were right There were sections like uh right across from City Hall here where there were five or six lights out. Uh that was a wire underground wiring issue. They fixed the underground wire. They got those five lights working. Um they're they're East First Street um in front of the Broadwell property, same thing. There was a a fusing issue in the in the fuse panel. They repaired that, got that block that whole block between on East First between uh Bridge and Cugo back working. Um instances like that. And then there's there's some individual ones as well in the neighborhoods uh whether you know a a nick in the wire, you know bad wiring, etc. Um we have So, it it it really varies and I don't have a number. We The last number I have was 70 outages still. Uh but uh Siemens has uh brought their contractor back in. They're actually they're supposed to be here this week. We expect to see them the the remainder of this week. Uh Human Electric and Harland is the is the subcontractor for

them to come in and go after those 70 that are out that we don't know why they're out. We don't know if it's a fixture or if it's electrical problem. If it's electrical problem, it's on us. If it's the fixture again, it's under warranty and they will replace that at their cost. Okay, so we might get future resolutions for additional funding to repair those. That is quite possible, yes. So this one's for roughly 37,000 for a Scriba Street. That's just those two blocks or Scriba Scriba Electric. I don't It says Scriba on there. It's Yeah. It's not worded correctly. So so that probably needs to be amended. Councilor appointment. The wording. I believe the resolution says Scriba Electric.

Does it? Right. No. The title's showing Scriba Street Lighting. The reference to Scriba is the contractor Scriba Electric Incorporated. Councilor Kennedy. Um is there a Scriba Street? Not Scriba Electric. Yes, there is a Scriba Street.

Okay, so Yeah. Yes. If it was just that street or if Scriba I don't I don't recall if we had any specific outages on Scriba Street. No, this is not the town of Scriba. We may have had an outage on Scriba Street. I don't recall there were there were many. Um but no, that that reference to Scriba there should be for the contractor Scriba Electric. Thank you. Councilor Launsech. I just had one question. Um you mentioned accidents. So when it's an accident, do we go after the people's insurance? Yes. Okay. Councilor Thompson. So just to go back, could we amend that title to represent what's actually

Yeah, we're just missing that word electric after Scriba. Scriba Electric Street Lighting. Thank you. No, not not Schenectady Electric Street. Schenectady Electric Incorporated, I believe. That's There you go. It's reference to the contractor, not not a street or the town. Thanks. Perfect. Any other questions for the Commissioner? Now, can I get a motion, please? Councilor Ashline, Councilor Lawton-Sack. Councilor Plunkett. Yes. Councilor Myer. Yes.

Councilor Fitzgibbons. Yes. Councilor Lawton-Sack. Yes. Councilor Ashline. Yes. Okay, item two on our authorization. Director of Information Technology Steve Coffee requests authorization for the City Chamberlain to complete a budget amendment in the amount of $16,671.20 to the computer materials and supplies account to implement a replacement access control system for City Hall. Mr. Coffee. Councilors, good evening. Um you should in your packet have the quote for this project. I also sent an email last Monday with a brief explanation and opening up for some questions. But to give a quick overview, we currently have a door controller system here at City Hall that's malfunctioning, which presents some some security issues. Uh we're looking to replace that. It was an unforeseen project, which is why we're looking for the budget amendment to cover that. Um we we've decided to go or we'd like to go with the Verkada system as that integrates uh directly with our new security cameras that we're putting in, which further down the road in capital improvement planning um is going to be a a larger initiative to start covering more of our buildings so we can start having a more unified access control system for the city. Um we've looked at I've got some rough estimates from another local vendor. We in the past have tried another brand, Councilor Fitzgibbons, we talked about Ubiquiti earlier. Um we didn't really like that. Some of the features were missing that we would prefer to have, so we're just trying to get this done. I did hear recently from Usherwood, who is the Verkada reseller, that at the 29th of this month pricing for the hardware will go up. So, assuming that this makes it past committee, passes council, that gives me uh 4 days in that same week to execute the agreement before price increases. Councilor Thompson. Um quick question. Will this increase any cost of uh support contracts or anything like that

going forward? So, no. It I don't I don't believe what you're asking. We are going to be obligated to every 5 years there's a licensing fee with the hardware that goes to essentially pay for the cloud-based uh features of of the system, but I don't think it's going to obligate us to any future support contracts or anything like that. If that answers what you're what you're looking for. Any other questions? Now, can I get a motion? Quick question. Oh, I'm sorry. Councilor Arseneault. This um system, is that just for the city hall building? Yep. So, it this will be If we do this, this will be site one of that. My My hope is and and working with the mayor for our 5-year capital improvement plans throughout [snorts] the future, I'd like to start integrating it at the other locations that have either RFID or just simply keypad access. So, that way it gives a one central point of control. But, for this instance, yes. This will just be for the two doors down in the basement. This is all low voltage cabling that we'll be running, right? Yep. Yep, it will. Councilor Lautenschlager. Um going off of Sheen's question, if we implement this in other locations, is there an additional hardware service fee? So, it's it's the the licensing fee is per device. So, and it's granular to how many doors you have controlled. So, we'll take as an example, the police department has the one door with keypad. We'd you'd be paying the license on the one door. Um and I believe and I could be wrong, but I do believe that at a certain volume that price you get becomes negotiable. Any other questions? If not, could I get a motion? Councilor Lotensack, Councilor FitzGibbons. Councilor Plunkett.

Yes. Councilor Mayor. Yes. Councilor FitzGibbons. Yes. Councilor Lotensack. Yes. Councilor Ashline. Yes. Thank you, Steve. Move on to item three on our authorization. The Office of Economic Development requests authorization for the City Chamberlain to complete a transfer of funds in the amount of $52,000 from the tourism contracted services account to the Office of Economic Development CDA account for the special events budget. Good evening.

Hi, Annie. So, this is just part of our normal operating budget. Um it was passed in the 2026 budget and we have different lines within that. The tourism and promotion line covers a couple different expenses. Part of that being some of our special events. So, it's just transferring that $52,000 over to the CDA budget so that we can um cut the checks and pay for some of the events coming up this year. Anybody have any questions? If not, could I get a motion, please? Councilor Lotensack, Councilor Mayor. Councilor Plunkett.

Yes. Councilor Mayor. Yes. Councilor FitzGibbons. Yes. Councilor Lotensack. Yes. Councilor Ashline. Yes. Item four on our authorization. The Office of Economic Development requests authorization for the City Chamberlain to accept funding in the amount of $5,000 from the Oswego County Tourism and Planning for planning the Independence Day celebration. Abby. Um so, this year is the 250th anniversary. With that, we're trying to go a little bigger for our Independence Day celebration. So, it's not just the parade, but we have the parade and the block party, two separate events, and the county is helping to support that so we can have a little more entertainment this year. Any questions or comments? All right, can I get a motion, please? Councilor Launsech. Councilor Fitzgibbons. Councilor Plunkett.

Yes. Councilor Myers. Yes. Councilor Fitzgibbons.

Yes. Councilor Launsech. Yes. Councilor Ashline. Yes. Thank you, Abby. Item five on our authorization, Craig Rabior, Commissioner of Public Works and Parks and Recreation, request discussion to operate and maintain the Oswego Little League bathrooms for public use. Commissioner? Councilors, good evening again. Um through discussion with various people and and you may have encountered this in uh Mr. Ashline, I don't know if you have any in being in your ward. A lot of people use the Fort Ontario uh complex, which includes the Oswego Little League uh players, safe haven, the fort, the pool, the rink. Um there's a walking path. It's a lot of activity over there during the day. You see, you know, especially with summertime, pick up, you know, still get some pick up kick kickball games or soccer games going on on the fields over there, even pick up baseball games and such. Uh definitely identified people have identified the need for a public bathroom. Um we we don't have a public bathroom in that area other than the pool, and that's limited to pool use. Uh limited to pool hours. Um would be difficult to open that to the general public uh for various reasons. So, uh speaking with Mr. Kerwin, uh president of Oswego Little League, uh partnering with them and using their bathrooms of in their concession stand, uh the city would operate and maintain them. Uh they have new fixtures, they've updated their their their um fixtures in the building. They need a little maintenance, uh maybe some paint and such, but uh we would clean them, keep them open during the day, open up up morning, open during the day, keep an eye on them, keep them clean, take the garbage out, clean them at the end of the night, lock them up. He's in favor of it. Mr. Karakouli, we do have a we do have a legal agreement with Saugus Little League. That believe it need to be amended and and Mr. Karakouli can speak to that. Any questions?

Councilor Meyer, would we have the personnel to go ahead and do that or would that be an additional person or It'll be one more stop for the personnel that that they're already out there doing it every day. Okay. Yep. Councilor Lottsack Are there going to be like certain months when we are thinking about Are we keeping them as open all year round? My intent is is park season, which is you know, March, around mid-March we start opening bathrooms and we run through um Sorry. Little League usually wraps up. They do their late fall ball in like October. So, by the end of October we'd be we'd be closing the bathroom, turning the water off, and winterizing the building. Any other questions or comments? Do you have any problems with vandalism in any of the other open bathrooms? All the time. All the time? Yes. Okay. It's a common thing. I say all the time. It's a common thing. Mostly graffiti. We've We've gotten very good at removing graffiti though. Any other questions or comments? If not, can I get a motion, please? Councilor Lottsack, Councilor Ashline One question. I'm sorry. Councilor Thompson I think our city attorney wanted to speak. I'm sorry. Just we'll again revise the resolution to clarify that this represents a modification of the management agreement between the city of Saugus Little League and city Little League. Um So, with that I I no problem with the a motion to adopt the resolution, but just it will be modified slightly. You'll get it in your packets later this week. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. City Attorney. Um I already have a motion from Councillor Lot and second from Councillor Ashline. Councillor Plunkett? Yes.

Councillor Meyer? Yes. Councillor Fitzgibbons? Yes. Councillor Lot and second? Yes. Councillor Ashline? Yes. Item six on our authorization. Mayor Robert A. Cordino requests favorable consideration by the Common Council to approve a priority docking agreement with American Cruise Lines Incorporated. Okay. Mr. City Attorney. Thank you. I believe the mayor's passing the the ball to me and yeah. And I appreciate it. I don't want to overstate or undersell what this discussion we're about to have and the potential action that we're going to be taking, but this is a really big deal. And it's a fun way an exciting way to to to wrap up this meeting in in my opinion. I hope you agree. In your packet is the docking facilities agreement between City of Oswego American Cruise Line. Um I can tell you it is not the final version. I just got one uh within the last day that adds additional sweeteners, if you will, to to the uh um revenue stream that the city will receive from hosting American Cruise Lines. So, American Cruise Lines has has agreed to uh this year [clears throat] seven uh individual cruises. They are one-way cruises. The first one uh launches from the Cahill Pier on Saturday. Uh for those who want to stick around and stay up late, maybe the hockey game tonight goes into overtime and you got to burn off some energy. Uh the vessel, to all 245 ft and about 60 ft wide of it, will be coming in at around midnight here at Cahill Pier.

It'll stay here for the balance of this week and then invite its passengers on Saturday and they'll they'll launch and of course you've already appropriated and approved events for Saturday. That's just the first stop. It'll It'll come back six more times this year. Uh it also is committed already to eight individual cruises in 2027 and another eight at least in 2028. They want to be here for the long haul. And this agreement is reflective of that. It's a a 10-year agreement with two 5-year extensions. And uh as far as the costs are concerned, um we've been working on this for for a number of months now. Um Mayor Cordiner, DPW Commissioner Revoir, myself, principally, but uh others have been involved in in putting this together. American Cruise Lines proposing to pay $3 per linear foot for each docking and then an additional uh $3 per linear feet per day that the uh ship is is docked in Oswego. So, for instance, comes in today tonight, uh maybe it comes in after 12:00, so uh but for the next 5 days that it's here, we would be getting $3 per linear foot. So, that's if you're doing the math, it's $735 a day uh for for the uh, docking of that vessel. In addition to that, uh, they will be uh, they propose to pay $2 per passenger uh, per trip embarking and disembarking. Again, these are one-way trips, so as they as they get on the the the boat,

that's $2 for every 130 passengers. That's the maximum capacity. I can tell you that I believe with the exception of one cruise that's still being filled, they're all sold out. Uh, for this year and actually most of them for next year and they're nearly sold out for 2028. Uh, so every time they embark, it's $2. When they come back and disembark, it's $2. What's interesting about the coming back, they come back on, let's say, a a Saturday and they a day or two they get the boat ready and they welcome a new set of passengers and off they go. So, that's in effect, you know, uh, $2 for each, so $4 uh, every coming and going. Uh, in addition to that and what's not in your packet is the um, latest agreement because we argued that, well, that's all well and good today, but 10 years, 15 years, 20 years from now, uh, those costs need to to meet inflation. So, they're agreeing to a 5% increase every 2 years, so 2 and 1/2% which is roughly about the the uh, uh, keep, you know, cost of inflation. I, you know, I tracked it back uh, 40 years and the uh, cost of inflation on for a dollar in since 1986 to to present is about $2 in uh, or I'm sorry, two 2. 8 percent, right? So, we're we're we're generally in line there. Um, in addition to that though and I want you to keep in mind I don't believe this administration sees us as as just a money grab. It's a It's a It's a wonderful opportunity to showcase our community. These are individuals that have disposable income. They're usually of retirement age. And if they like a

community, they typically come back to those communities on their own. Uh and I know this in talking with other uh communities, other organizations that that host American Cruise Line specifically and then have repeat customers. And we're in a unique position because we're also National Marine Sanctuary. Uh not headquartered, but principally headquartered here in the city of Oswego. Alpena, Michigan who is also a a marine sanctuary. Uh they welcome American Cruise Lines. Uh as a result of American Cruise Lines, they've attracted other cruise line companies to come into little Alpena, Michigan. And the economy there is uh benefited significantly from this. So, I like to look at this as an economic development opportunity, an opportunity to showcase the community as those passengers spend any additional time here, they're going to be spending their money here. Um and so I I um hopefully you you you look at it in the same way. Uh also mindful that we don't want it to cost the city any money. We have had some improvements made. We put bollards uh on Cahill Pier. If you've been down there, you'll see them. DPW did that work. Uh it's it's it's it's great. The American Cruise Line signed off on it. They're ready to come. They're coming tonight. Uh and they want to use our water. And uh so we've uh agreed to hook up a meter and a backflow prevention device. And they are paying for the metered water at the metered rate. Uh this will all be billed to them on a on a regular, probably monthly, basis uh as we incur those expenses. Um again, we've checked with other communities that have hosted American Cruise Line and other cruises. This is pretty standard for those communities.

Uh the arrangement um so we have no reason to doubt that it won't work well here. Uh and just so you know, the between the the uh the bollards and the uh water meter installation backflow prevention, it was about uh 16 almost uh $19,000 that they are agreeing to reimburse. And if there are any other needs or improvements that are are required by American Cruise Line, uh they're they're agreeable to paying for those. Um they did propose, I will just as a matter of uh transparency, they asked uh or in the original contract, they wanted us to provide um trash service. We told them we don't do trash service here, but we can provide them with a list of haulers. Um they called around and each one of the haulers that are on our our licensed list uh were recommending placing a a big roll-off down at City Hill Pier. We didn't like that. The company didn't like that. They found another vendor who is willing to do a live load, right? So they come in and and take it off and off they go. The only challenge was they were not on our list. So we worked it out and now we've got another new major hauler on our list because they're agreeable to to doing that. So I think this is uh is going to work out well, but I I know I've talked for um a little while. You may have some questions. I'm happy to field them. Councilor Thompson. I think this is great. Um this is a 3-year contract or is this It's actually a 10-year contract.

10-year. It's like it mentions 3 years in the communication. So, I just want to make sure I I may have misspoke. We have three years that they have put out their schedule for for cruises, but the it's written as a 10-year agreement with two five-year extensions. Okay. Excellent. Thank you. Councilman Fiscella? Yeah, I I see that we give access to the delivery vehicles. That's kind of unencumbered in terms of their access. I would hope that we have some uh call and response of what works well down there. You know, especially you saw the trash issue. Mhm. Saw it and addressed it, but we'd hate to be contractually bound to allow things to happen that we might have not have any control. So, I just make that comment and make sure the relationship is respectful of access to that area and use of the area by citizens in the community. The second thing is is that we we ask for the vendor to provide uh workers comp coverage statutory to the state of New York. Uh as a vessel of high seas subject to the Jones Act and the United United States Harbor Workers Act. Those are two much significantly higher benefits that their injured employees would have to have. So, we would want to make sure that we're consistent with the request for the Jones Act and the Harbor Workers Act to be included as far as the benefits that they'll be telling us that they'll be providing to their crew. I'm sure they do, but I I I think we should contractually make sure that's in there. I'll I'll run that by them. They are uh well-versed in in maritime law. I We did have an issue with with respect to uh uh immigration control border patrol uh last week that came up. Um there was some paperwork that wasn't just quite right. Uh the company got right on it and by it before the day was out, it was all squared away. Sure. Right. Other questions or comments? Uh yes, one from Councilman LoPorto.

So, I I can't speak out of order of Oswego authority on any of this matter. Um being maritime industry, has anyone ever reached out to us for navigable waterways? Just to make sure that things are communicated with us because we do have vessels coming in this week. So. I know they're discharging. Uh everything is coordinated. Uh Yeah, I mean, this is the the captain of the of the ship has been to Oswego, uh I believe a couple of times now, at least that I'm aware of. Uh So, I have every confidence they they uh there was a concern with some a sand bar that's out in the middle of the the the two piers between the uh basically uh out front of the Coast Guard, a little bit uh further to the west. Well, they know they're well aware of it.

That's and that was going to be my follow-up with Zach. I know that's the issue. They're well aware of it. Uh in your packet, I believe is the defined docking space. They need roughly 75 ft by 490 ft. Uh Commissioner will tell you, I don't know the exact uh footage, but it's between 9 900 and 1,000 ft of dock space there. When I referenced all of that and the the sand bar and and there's some concrete moorings that that were put in previously when when the yacht club was out there. Company's aware of all of it and they have a high degree of confidence that they'll be able to come right in. They said they they they uh berth their their vessels in in tighter quarters than what we are giving them. Uh I will say cuz I was there, I think Commissioner was there, I know the mayor was there when when we the representatives from American Cruise Line first came to visit on a very cold and blustery day in I think it was October when they looked at the Kiloh Pier, they turned to us and said, "Did you make this for us?" Literally, they they just thought that this was an ideal location. So, I think that that day really sealed it for the company and and here we are today uh later tonight welcoming the first uh cruise line uh in I don't I don't have the history. I know the city used to host cruise lines uh way back in the day. But, uh this is certainly I think a historic moment. I think historically in the '30s, that was there was a ferry that went to Picton, Ontario, and that was where it docked. Right. Yeah. 1930s. Yeah. Any other questions or comments? If not, can I get a motion? Councillor Lawton Sack, Councillor Myer. Councillor Plunkett. Yes. Councillor Myer. Yes. Councillor FitzGibbon. Yes. Councillor Lawton Sack. Yes. Councillor Ashline. Yes.

Does anybody have anything else? If not, can I get a motion to adjourn, please? Councillor Lawton Sack, Councillor Ashline. Councillor Plunkett. Yes. Councillor Myer. Yes. Councillor FitzGibbon. Yes. Councillor Lawton Sack. Yes. Councillor Ashline. Yes. Yes.