City Council - Regular Meeting

So it's the city of Newburgh City Council meeting June the 8th 2026 it is now. 3 minutes past the hour. So we're going to start off with a moment of silence and in the moment of silence I do have a very special request and that special request is for Go New York, go New York, go for the New York Knickerbockers. Tonight's a big night for the New York Knicks. Game three. They're two wins away from the title, the championship title for the NBA. And we're excited about this because it's been since 1973. so that is 53 years since the knicks have won the title and um i'm a big new york knick fan and i was a year old when that happened so so so in the moment of silence that we could just think about the team for their health and safety and a victory tonight so we'll take a brief moment of silence thank you thank you very much now we'll commence with the Pledge of Allegiance thank you so much roll call please

Council Member Martinez. Council Member McLemore.

Here.

Council Member Monteverde. Here. Council Member Shakur.

Here.

Council Member Stewart. Here. Council Member Zarillo.

Here.

Mayor Harvey.

Here.

So carried.

Thank you so much. next um we'll do um communications we have item number four we'll first do uh city managers uh update and then we'll we have one presentation after that mr morse thank you mayor

Pride month began June 1st. This is a time to recognize and celebrate the LGBTQ community and their role in strengthening and shaping our nation. To mark this important occasion, the city of Newburgh raised the Philadelphia pride flag at Broadway Park, located at the intersection of Broadway and Colden Street, as a visible symbol of solidarity with the community. The city is pleased to announce that the future combined sewer control facility project is advertised for bid. Construction contracts will be awarded to four separate prime contractors consisting of general construction, electrical, HVAC, and plumbing. Plans and bid documents for the project can be downloaded by going to the Bids and RFPs section at the city's website, which will redirect you to the BidNet Direct website. From there, interested bidders can click on Open Solicitations and navigate to solicitation number 6.26, City of Newburgh Combined Sewer Control Facility Project. There will be a non-mandatory in-person pre-bid conference on June 17, 2026 at 10 a.m. The submission deadline for bids is Thursday, July 23rd, 2026 by 11 a.m. The City of Newburgh is pleased to announce the start of a campaign to improve city-owned parks and recreational spaces to prepare for the summer season. Starting at Unico and Tyrone Crab Parks, this collaborative effort between the Department of Public Works, the Water Department, and the Recreation Department includes landscaping, litter removal, and the maintenance and repair of park furnishings, equipment, and facilities. The campaign continues today, June 8th, with Hasbrook Street Park and the People's Park, followed by landscaping at 123 Grand Street and Clinton Square tomorrow, June 9th. Thank you to all the city staff whose hard work and dedication have transformed our parks. I'd like to give a hand to our Department of Public Works for their hard work. The Delano Hitch Aquatic Center season passes are currently available only to city residents and will be made available to non-city residents beginning Sunday, June 21st. family pass for four members for city residents is $85 additional family members may be added for $15 individual passes are also available an adult pass ages 18 to 64 is $35 youth pass for those under 18 is $20 and a senior passes for 65 years old and over or $15 daily passes will will be available at $10 for adults, $5 for individuals under 18, and $2 for those over 65. Passes can be purchased in person or at the Aquatic Center or online at citynewberg.recdesk.com. The sanitation department collected a total of 838.5 tons of solid waste during the month of May. A total of 92.8 tons of recycling was processed, supporting the city's sustainability efforts. Additionally, 28 sanitation warnings were issued, reflecting ongoing enforcement of waste management regulations and community standards. The Department of Public Works staff installed new binoculars on the bluff at Bayview Terrace to restore public viewing of the Hudson River, as the previous ones have been removed due to damage to the lenses. The binoculars in the surrounding recreational area are open to the public for daily use from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. The next free bulk item pickup of 2026 will take place on Wednesday, June 24th. Residents are required to schedule their bulk item pickup by 3 p.m. on Friday, June 19th. Once scheduled, residents must put out their bulk items at the curbside no earlier than the night before collection. There is a limit of five items for pickup per address. The collection of bulk items is limited to indoor and outdoor furniture, washers, dryers, and tires. Building materials, car parts, except for tires, and hazardous items will not be collected. Anything beyond the allotted five items will be left in place and must be removed by the resident. The 2025 water quality report has been mailed out to our water customers and will soon be available on the city's website for download in Spanish and French Creole. This report is a summary of last year's water quality testing between January 1st and December 31st, 2025. For additional information or a hard copy, please scan the QR code on the screen or contact the City of Newburgh Water Department at 845-565-3356. The Ellis Avenue drinking water storage tank was internally inspected by divers and cleaned to ensure continued safe operation. Regular internal inspections and cleanings remove silt, sediment, and biofilms that can affect water quality and taste. This proactive measure ensures the city stays in compliance with the department health regulations, prevents costly structural issues, and supports the reliable delivery of clean drinking water. The city of Newburgh received a $500,000 grant from the New York State Department of Agriculture and Markets to advance the construction of a future dog shelter. This grant will help the city build an animal care and control facility, improving the safety and quality of spaces used to house animals brought in through the city's animal control division. The city of Newburgh thanks the New York State Department of Agriculture and Markets for selecting the city of Newburgh to receive this valuable grant. The land use boards received the following applications in May. The planning board received two new applications and issued three approvals. The zoning board of appeals received seven new applications and issued six approvals. The architectural review commission received six new applications and issued four approvals. Seven informational requests were received in the month of May. The City of Newburgh Police Department fielded 2,906 calls for service in May of 2026. The City's crime reduction strategies continue to produce results. Preliminary Part 1 crime data through May 31st shows a 21% decrease compared to the same timeframe in 2025. This includes a 21% decrease in violent crime and a 20% decrease in property crime. In the month of May, the Code Compliance Bureau issued 238 construction permits, completed 984 inspections, issued 455 notices of violation, issued 35 notices of violation in the Broadway corridor alone, sent three violations to court, received 459 complaints, closed 100 existing complaints, and issued 13 stop work orders. In May, the emergency medical services responded to 479 calls, resulting in 484 dispatches and 305 patient transports. Average response times fluctuated throughout the week, with Thursday recording the longest average response time. The busiest day of the week was Friday, which saw the highest number of emergency calls. The fire department received a total of 279 calls for service last month. Six of those calls, or 2.15%, were for structure fires. For all other fires, 16 calls received were 5.74%. 61 calls were for non-fire hazard calls. 66 calls were for non-fire calls for service. Lastly, 46.59% of the fire department's calls in May were for false alarms and false calls. Two exciting events will take place this month. Join the City of Newburgh this summer on Thursday starting on June 18th for our summer movie series hosted at Safe Harbors Green. This series will kick off with Space Jam. Pre-movie activities begin at 6 p.m. The film will begin at dusk. In addition, the sixth annual Juneteenth celebration will be held in Downing Park on Friday, June 19th, from 12 p.m. to 7 p.m. Join us for an unforgettable celebration featuring live entertainment and kid-friendly activities, as well as various food and drink vendors. Primary election early voting begins on June 13th. The City of Newburgh Activity Center at 401 Washington Street is an early voting site. The dates and hours for early voting at this location are listed on the screen. If you have questions regarding your voter registration status or other inquiries, please call the Orange County Board of Elections at 845-360-6500. For the latest news and announcements about the City of Newburgh, sign up for our news flash via Notify Me. Visit the City website at cityofnewburgh-ny.gov and click on the Notify Me button towards the center of the homepage. To subscribe, you must type your email and or phone number in the profile information section. Click the email and or phone icon next to the lists you want to subscribe to. You can also subscribe to receive the latest City news, agendas, and job exam postings. Members of the news media are reminded to direct all press inquiries to press at cityofnewburgh-ny.gov. That concludes the City Manager's Update.

thank you very much mr. Morris excellent job on the city manager update item number five falls under presentations and we have one presentation tonight which is a very very special presentation and recognition of of Newburgh Free Academy students who participated in the Ethel Skakel Kennedy Young Ormond's Leadership Summit so we have three students that participated and I'm sure their families are here with them and we have Miss Pushkenter representing the school district as a Representative, so we're going to go on the other side if the council chooses and we're going to celebrate these young people who participated in such an auspicious occasion. So Councilman McLemore initiated this effort, so we're gonna let you talk a little bit about it.

So three of the students had the opportunity to represent the Newburgh and Large City School District at the Ethel Skakel Kennedy Young Women's Leadership Summit at Manhattanville University. So they had the pleasure to meet Mary Carey Kennedy, who is an American lawyer, author, and human rights activist. Carrie is the daughter of former United States Senator Robert F. Kennedy and Ethel Kennedy, sister of Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr., and the niece of former President John F. Kennedy and former U.S. Senator Ted Kennedy. She's also the president of Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights, a nonprofit human rights advocacy organization. So we want to give these presentations to the certificates of recognition to the three students who were chosen to represent our city. And Mayor, do you want to read it or you want me to read it? Okay. Okay. So the certificate of recognition is in recognition of your outstanding participation in the Ethel Skakel Kennedy Young Women's Leadership Summit and your commitment to leadership, civic engagement, and social responsibility. Through your research, presentation, and thoughtful examination of issues including mental health, education, climate, civil rights, and community advocacy, your voice, leadership, and commitment of addressing the challenges facing our communities inspire others and contribute to a brighter and more equitable future for all. So congratulations to each and every one of you. So at this time, we're going to call up Rosaya. Rosaya? Rosaya? Rosaya. Did I say it right?

She's not here.

She's not here. Okay. So we will accept it. Well, could the teacher accept it?

Yeah, Ms. Pushcanter. What's her name?

Ms. Pushcanter. You're going to accept it on her behalf. Okay. Yeah, stay. Yeah. There you go. How do you say that? Kiera Kinsey. All right, Kiera? Kiera!

Kiera Kinsey.

Listen, I'm gonna mess up your name, I'm sorry. Yeah, take that. Thank you.

Congratulations.

Thank you. And my youngest, Zoe McLemore.

Congratulations. Yes, you want to say something?

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

So anyone want to say anything? What's that? Oh, yeah, she can pick it up from my office if she want to. OK, that's fine. All right. And if she wants to come and meet the mayor at a later time, that's fine, too. Yeah. So I want to say congratulations to all the recipients and your families. And one of the really wonderful things that we're seeing is a lot of amazing, amazing things happening with our students and our families uh... particularly in the new bernard city school district there's a lot of really really wonderful things going on and when we heard about this woman's summit uh... that our students participated in we were super super excited because that's important work it's important work for humanity is important work for solidarity in our community and globally the work of the women in our society particularly to push forward positive agendas and positive things for our community so let's give it up for these young people once again and if there are any council members that want to say a few words no you sure anyone okay then we'll go back to congratulations once again okay next um... we on on on agenda we have uh... our favorite part of the means that we have our city council which is the public comments we love hearing from our residents our constituents our neighbors our friends uh... from the city of newberg and from the surrounding areas if you're here so we are going to hear public comments from the public regarding agenda and or non-agenda items and the non-agenda items are general matters of the city we love to hear from you so that we can respond and act accordingly so please come before the mic if you have a public comment tell us your name you don't have to tell us exactly where you live just let us know if you live in the city or if you're one of our neighbors in the town or a town in New Windsor and then give us your public comment you have three minutes to do so Hi, Jamika.

Good afternoon, everybody. I'm Jamika Marks, founder and executive director of Marks Friends, Inc. So I'm here to say thank y'all because I see a lot of positive changes in the city continuously over the last five to ten years, and I'm grateful for y'all. I'm grateful for y'all pouring into small organizations like mine. But you always know when you see me, it's a little something to it. so I don't I'm always busy so I don't have time to come so I'm glad that who's in office is here so that we could go to you guys to get a lot of the stuff done so there's been recent changes to the policy for community events and some of the lines in it and some of the process is like kind of if you see that it's working for the city and it's positive help us make it smoother instead of like making it feel like it's like a struggle so one of the lines was like on a certain part of south street you have to have a certain permit from the state to do the event but when you go to call the state the state gave a lot of resistance and a lot of headaches i had to have like five different insurances to do it uh construction insurance and a whole bunch of other stuff Secondly, their sponsorship levels and different things that's on the sponsorship application that were been available to small organizations. I think that if we could find a person that could be more open to explain how it works for people to be able to have more positive events, um they should be supported not meet with um adversary or aggression so one of the things is i've got camp to you boys and girls club did a hard pause they need a reset funding has changed a lot over the last two years and a lot of people don't understand the dynamics of funding when you're a non-profit some fundings are where you have to do it and bill it afterwards some are block grants most of boys and girls gets like they get good donations but they get block grants so they're not able to run camp this year and a lot of people had their different opinions So in the midst of that, we had already spoke, because they're my fiscal manager, about me doing camp to you, which is like summer program, not actually a real camp, but going into the parks to do the programming. So I put the permits in, and when the permits got put in, the permit team kept asking so many questions. If you know who I am that's putting the permit in, come to South Street and ask me to explain it to you, instead of giving like a lot of resistance. Yeah, it's cute, I see the blitz and all that stuff, but if you're saying to me that, well, we're going to be in the park cleaning, are they going to be in the way? You know, if I hear that or it hits me like that, I'm going to feel some way because I'm trying to keep the kids off the streets. So where do you want them to go? In the middle of the street or the parks? So we don't mind cleaning the parks. We don't mind helping with anything that's moving forward for progression. But those things like that, I'm right on South Street. I'm always visible. I'm always present. If you're in new positions in the city, come stop by. Come hang out. You ain't got to like me. But if you're here for greater good, we all should be working together. So that's why I came down tonight because I felt a little offended by the, am I going to be in the way while they're cutting grass? Well, the park is from dusk to dawn, so if you're still cutting grass at 10, you should have been there at 7 or 6.30 with your staff cleaning the parks up so that when families start awake and they can use the park to keep these kids off the streets. Because do you want them shooting or do you want them at the park?

Thank you for that, Jamika. Perfect time and a perfect point. Thank you.

Thank you. Malachi Cleary, City of Newburgh. Thank you for the opportunity to speak. I'm here to speak today about a pedestrian safety concern in the city, but also relates to improving our public parks. I represent over 70 signatories on a petition to install a pedestrian crosswalk at the intersection of Washington and Water Street. That's the intersection just south of Pizza Shop. yep we believe that uh pedestrian safety improvements are warranted here because this is the main crossing by which pedestrians access people's waterfront park in addition to the waterfront in general people's waterfront park has proven to be a wonderful asset for the public community gathering place everyone loves it down there but unfortunately it's not easy to get to, especially if you're a pedestrian. That intersection is dangerous to cross for people and cars. So recognizing that, we submitted this petition to State Assemblymember Jacobson's office because this is a state road, so it falls under NYSDOT jurisdiction. And after we submitted our petition, we did have some correspondence with State Assemblymember Jacobson's office. And if you will indulge me, I would like to read some of that correspondence because it turns out that in order for NYSDOT to act, the City of Newburgh may need to take certain action. So this is what they said to me most recently. NYSDOT advised that the process should begin with the City of Newburgh. NYSDOT indicated that the City may submit a resolution identifying the requested improvement and its justification, after which NYSDOT would conduct a traffic study to evaluate the intersection and determine the scope of any necessary pedestrian enhancements. A little later, the representative of State Assemblyman Jacobson's office, who I've been in touch with, Jennifer Knox, was in contact with the city council, and forgive me if you're already aware of some of these questions, but she asked one specific question, and I would like to read the city's response. Has the city previously evaluated pedestrian safety concerns at this location? The city responded, no, but NYSDOT recently completed an evaluation of this intersection and determined that a signal was warranted. Any new signal would also include a new crosswalk and pedestrian signals. So what I would like to ask today is if the city would contact NYSDOT to confirm that this evaluation did take place, and if so, has a work order been issued to initiate and install those pedestrian safety concerns, and if not, would the city consider adopting this resolution to coordinate with NYSDOT?

Thank you. Thank you so much. Good evening. Good evening.

I'm Jeanine Williams, resident of the City of Newburgh. I first of all want to commend our City Council on the progress that has been made concerning our request as residents and constituents. I'm happy to hear about the park blitz that's good news is timely summertime and our children can benefit from that I had this question down for a while but each time I came I forgot to ask it I would like to see some modernization concerning our payment for our water sewer and sanitation bills I had noticed and this was a while ago I went to pay by my credit card and when they handed me my bill, my receipt back, it had a significant charge on it to use my credit card so I had the person undo it. They were not happy about it but they did it. um i would like to see some modernization we we have a lot of tech and logical advances that we probably could utilize for these things we should be able really to do things online call in and i'd like to see those things done so i wanted to bring that to the attention of our city council thank you so much good evening gregory nato city of newburgh

The future of Newburgh will not be determined by one project or one administration. It will be determined by whether we choose to plan intentionally, comprehensively, and forward-thinkingly today. Around the country, the most successful cities are embracing the principles of the 15-minute city, communities where residents can access daily needs like food, parks, schools, transportation, jobs, healthcare, and culture within a short walk, bike ride, or transit trip. Cities like Portland, Arlington, Boulder, and Minneapolis have used these concepts to increase quality of life, attract investment, support small businesses, and create stronger neighborhoods. Newburgh already has many of the ingredients these cities spent decades trying to build. Density, walkability, historic architecture, a waterfront, a street grid, and distinct neighborhoods. But we need a unified vision that ties all future planning together. that means discussing mixed-use development in every major project so housing exists alongside commercial office spaces and local businesses it means designing streets for people not just for cars with safer sidewalks bike infrastructure waterfront access public gathering spaces and reliable transit connections. It means investing in our parks, supporting neighborhood commercial corridors, and making every neighborhood feel optimistically connected to opportunity. Forward thinking planning also means protecting affordability and preventing displacement. The strongest cities understand that growth only succeeds when long-time residents benefit alongside new investment. We should be prioritizing workforce housing, support for local entrepreneurs, adaptive reuse of historic buildings, and public amenities that serve everyone. The reality is that cities across America are competing for residents, visitors, businesses, and talent. The cities winning those competitions are the ones creating vibrant, livable communities centered around culture, convenience, sustainability, and quality of life. Newburgh should not simply react to development proposals as they come. We should lead with a clear vision of what kind of city we want to become. We should challenge developers to create projects that fit within our framework for a new Newburgh, and not just take what we are being offered. We should know what's best for our city, and we should demand that with every new submission. I kindly request this council take a moment to closely review the To Washington project that is proposed on our riverfront. As it currently presented, this single-use, suburban-type parking lot heavy project feels disconnected from the rest of Newburgh. If we were to take inspiration from other successful municipalities, what could be changed or added to make it fit better within the future of Newburgh? Think forward. Think multi-use. You've got 30 seconds. This is our opportunity to create a Newburgh where constituents can live, work, gather, create, and thrive. Thank you.

Thank you. You only get 30 seconds beyond the three minutes.

How you doing? Local barber here. I'm here tonight to address the critical breakdown in municipal accountability, communication, and administrative due process. For months, I've been going back and forth with Councilwoman Ramona, and for over a year, I've been dealing with Omar from the City Hall regarding the no parking restrictions on Spring Street. These restrictions unnecessarily eliminate eight to 10 vital parking spaces. We have parking lines that directly contradict the no parking from here to corner signs and we have illegally painted lines by these careless construction crew that eliminated even more spaces solely for their own private benefit. Your residents are paying the price for the confusion with daily tickets. Parking in the neighborhood is already incredibly limited and as our elected city council, your absolute priority should be responding to our request of your constituents. I have already emailed the entire council with photographic proof and petition signed by numerous local residents, yet absolutely nothing has been done. Instead, I have been met with excuse after excuse, told we're going to hire parking consultants, and lately met with complete silence and no response or updates on any of my emails. Instead, Ramona told me to come speak here. To make the matter worse, I recently went to City Hall to address the citations face-to-face, and what I discovered was a terrifying administrative failure. I followed the law, I submitted my form of parking violation plea forms to dispute these tickets, and I'm currently waiting for my day with the parking tribunal. By law, these tickets should have been on administrative pause. Instead, the city staff admitted to me that because your automated citation system is completely disconnected from your tribunal process, the city has blocked my vehicle's registration from the DMV. The clock has taken on my registration hold. I'm being actively penalized facing the immediate threat of having my vehicle towed, impounded simply because the city's internal systems do not communicate with each other. I feel targeted and attacked just for voicing my opinion. Why is the city automated enforcement system working overtime to penalize its residents while the administrative drags its feet for a year to fix a single signage error? Look how the city deploys its resources. You mobilized with immense speed to remove a one-corner sign that exposed the city's liability near a fire hydrant. Yet, while residents requested removal of unortho, unortho, unortho, whatever, lines illegally painted by a private construction crew that continued to cause mass confusion in the city's stalls. During the last council meeting, I attended, Mr. Harvey yourself said that large trucks are a major problem because it ruins our streets. If that is the city's stance, why are we stripping parking from its residents to prioritize private truck access for a single studio? Communication completely stops the moment that administration is challenged. Should a constituent be afraid to speak up in the city of Newburgh? If we could not trust you to handle basic signage issues and illegal street markings without trapping residents in a bureaucratic nightmare, how can we trust you to run our city? This issue goes far beyond a single street corner. I should not have to stand up here to complain about a basic neighborhood issue. We should have an open, responsive, lively communication with our city officials without being penalized by broken administrative systems. Public service is the reason you ran for office. Please do your jobs.

Thank you.

Hello, good evening. Good evening. Corbin Redline, Ward 3. I'm unfortunately disappointed by some of the recent comments made by council members in the discussion surrounding Flock in response to constituents raising concerns around Flock, which has only been in Newburgh for two years. We received a lecture about Newburgh's crime rates decades ago, long before Flock or its AI technology even existed. And we're told that, quote, we're all under surveillance thanks to the Patriot Act. I'm not sure what the takeaway was supposed to be from that. Was it that because the federal government is already engaging in mass surveillance, we should use our tax dollars to help them? Additionally, it was suggested that somehow inconsistent for a constituent to ask for a speeding camera on their block or to have a ring doorbell camera and also oppose the presence of flock AOPRs. I'm afraid such statements could cause hesitancy among constituents who wish to speak out in opposition to flock, so I think it's important to clarify a few things. Speed cameras, which have been around for over 30 years, take photos of license plates after it records a car exceeding the speed limit. Flock ALPRs, on the other hand, engage in dragnet surveillance using AI not only to scan a car's license plate, but also other identifying information down to the bumper stickers of every single car that passes them without any suspicion of wrongdoing. Flock's ALPRs, unlike speed cameras, store the data in a searchable database. I have brought up before how this data can be accessed by federal agencies or Texas sheriffs cosplaying the handmaidens' tale. I agree that Ring cameras are creepy, but the city council did not vote to use our tax dollars to install them throughout the city. And the immense backlash regarding Ring's search party features illustrates how uncomfortable most people are with AI-powered mass surveillance. And funny enough, following that PR disaster, Ring announced it would be terminating its relationship with none other than flock safety. At the heart of the issue here is that residents of Newburgh had this AI mass surveillance technology imposed on them without their knowledge or consent. I watched a recording of the 2024 working session where the council discussed the Flock contract proposal in which the police chief and the former city manager weren't forthcoming about what this technology is fully capable of, nor questions of data retention, data sharing, or its searchable database. And a good portion of that discussion was about using ALPRs for parking violations, which to me seems more about revenue generation than public safety. So now we are stuck with these cameras that are on the hook for $400,000 because of this lack of transparency about this technology. I will say one immediate remedy that other cities have adopted is to cover the cameras with black plastic bags while they figure out how to exit their contract with Flock. But now members of the council are already in discussions with the police chief about what technology to replace the Flock cameras with. And it's important that we residents of Newburgh begin discussing how we make sure whatever they choose is not imposed on us without informed consent. The first step of that is that actually getting the data from the flock, about flock ALPRs over the two years to understand why some claim it's so necessary. Up until now it's been discussed in generalities and anecdotes, but residents deserve hard data. I have submitted a FOIA request for the ALPR data, including searches, queries, lookups, access logs, conducted by Newburgh Police and outside agencies. I'm hoping that the City Council can help facilitate this data's release so we can make an informed decision about whether we want to live in a panopticon or not. And lastly for everybody, we're going to be planning an educational event around AI and mass surveillance. Please stay tuned, and I hope if anyone wants to learn more about it, please reach out to me. Thank you so much.

Thank you.

Good evening, Kippy Boyle, Grand Street. I wanted to ask where the planning department is. It's been, I saw that there was a little one-page reference in the manager's report that talks about the land use boards, but this is the second agenda that I've looked at where the planning department itself is MIA. And I'm here because I thought that We had hired an outside firm to do a parking study. I don't remember exactly when. I don't remember exactly how much it's costing the taxpayers. But we've been kicking this down the road for years and years and years. And now with the two Washington Street development and the many other multi-unit developments that are going on, the parking issue is no longer, you can't kick it down the road anymore. Where is the report? When is the planning department going to give us a presentation so that the public can sit down, look at it, have its input? I mean, many of us here have knowledge about parking. what the suggestions are and how we're going to resolve it. The two Washington, Washington Street development, which now practically all of the waterfront is private parking, and they were going to allow us, the citizens, to share in their public, in their parking spaces in the evenings when their 145 units didn't need those spaces. And that's just one thing. For every unit that is proposed that you're all approving, traditionally there are two parking spaces that go with a unit. And I have spoken to people on the zoning board and they spend most of their time giving out variances. because there's no space for all these cars so the parking can't be handled in a vacuum in a silo over here it's got to be integrated into a whole transportation system how are we going to manage all this is huge it's really big and everybody's silent about it and until we do have a parking situation and a transportation plan i think there should be a moratorium on any more development

I'm sorry. I'm here to talk about the streetlights, sidewalks and the progress that you're making or not making. You know, there's a lot going on in the city that occurs in dark areas and there's money spent that from what I see, you know, in places that don't really, you know, I don't know. But you're spending a lot of money on sprinkler systems and water and things like that, but there's dark corridors in the city of Newburgh. The street lights are blown in a lot of places. The sidewalks are, you know, not in good shape. You know, people walk up and down and they talk to me and like, you know, how do you like this? I know you're making a lot of progress with the construction and everything with the street corners and everything and making the curves wider and all that and you know there's a lot going on in certain places and others you know and it's like from what I see and for what I've been told there's money going where You know, perhaps it could be better spent somewhere else, you know, sidewalks, you know, elderly people falling and tripping on the sidewalks that are, I know there's a cutoff point between ownership of, you know, and then the street and all that, but we can do better. You know, you have solar powered traffic situations or whatever, but you don't have solar powered street lights. There's trees growing in front of streetlights that make dark places. You have waterfronts and things like that that are open and things like that. But there's money spending places that could be better spent somewhere else. And that's what I'm hearing, and I've been told, and I've been trying to see, that I've been seeing myself. You know, I applaud you all. We're making progress. But you know, you have your things going. You have people making money, exorbitant amounts of money. Contractors, outside ownership is one thing. You know, natives that own, that don't live here, but they own. And then it's hard for natives to own. You know, so outside ownership is a problem. You know, I hear that a lot, and I'm sure you hear it a lot, but does it come here? You know, I don't know. I'm here. I'm saying that money could be better spent for safety, for children. You have bodegas and stores and things like that down on the east end that have to close at a certain time, but past the other end, you know, they stay open all night or in certain places, you know, and where are they from? They're not natives. You know what I mean? It hurts. And people hurt because money is spent unwisely to pockets, wherever. You know what I'm saying? So, you know, you know how it is. But the thing is, you can do better.

Thank you. Thank you.

You know, the outside situation where people coming in from outside and they're not natives and they treat people like trash that are from here and that are natives. You know what I'm saying?

I understand. Yes. Thank you. Thank you.

Ann Sullivan, Ellenville. I'm a member of the Newberg Working Families Party and the former co-chair of the Newberg Working Families Party. I too am here to express my disappointment in this council's lack of action of any kind on flock. again and again I hear council members say that they want to protect immigrants in this community that they want to stand up for low-income people in this community and yet when it comes to flock we're perfectly happy to allow this malicious invasive surveillance system to continue in this city and yes we're paying a lot of money for that invasive malicious surveillance system I heard recently that the chief of police was saying, oh, we can do things to protect people. Well, I don't believe you can. In the contract, it says under data use and licensing, Flock does not own and shall not sell customer generated data. It doesn't say Flock won't share it. It doesn't say Flock won't give it away. It only says it won't sell it. And it says that in bold prints, like that's what you're supposed to believe. But later on, if you go down to disclosure of footage, it says, subject to, and during the retention period, flock may access, flock may use, FLOC may preserve and or disclose the footage to law enforcement authorities, government officials, and or third parties if legally required to do so or if FLOC has a good faith belief that such access, use, preservation, disclosure is reasonably necessary. That means that during the retention period, FLoC can keep all of our footage. And just so you know, footage is defined as images, videos, audio, and other data. So I hope you will stop putting all of us in danger. As this last gentleman said, money could be much better spent, in my view, to support the community, to provide activities and jobs for the community, to provide senior activities, to provide a lot of things that this invasive system does not do.

Thank you. our last speaker I think she's gonna speak okay if you can we like the okay okay okay you two will be our last speakers

Hello everybody, it's Pastor Rosie. I've been dealing with something for three years and I wonder if you can help me. I've gone to the codes department on behalf of eight of us that live on Montgomery Street. So from Broad Street all the way down to our homes, The grass is groomed beautifully on Water Street, halfway up. The rest of the property is invasive weeds. We've protected some beautiful trees there, so we don't want them cut down. There's sumac trees, poison ivy, bee hives, all kinds of stuff. We put it in for codes for the last three years. There's been over eight code inspectors. We got some of the stuff chopped down last year. And I went to the court when they were having the hearing with the owner. And Jeremy, the lawyer I spoke to, he said it would be inspected by the codes and then they would determine whether the person accomplished the task. The person didn't accomplish the task because they cut some of the sumac trees and their stumps were up to your hips. So it was very dangerous how they cut and it was all jaggedy. I have lots of pictures. And they didn't cut up to the property lines and they didn't cut and get rid of the dead trees and some of the sumac trees. So now it's spring and they're growing all back up again. And I said, isn't this something that we can require this owner to maintain this property so every year eight of us don't have to write letters, don't have to go to court, don't have to keep pursuing this same problem. Also, on the one side of us, I'm not mentioning names right now so that if somebody can help me, I would be happy to tell you that and show you the pictures. There's been 16 years of violations for one home and I asked why it was 16 years, how come it's not maintained because they have overgrowth of all kinds of bushes and shrubs and they refuse and if they do anything they leave everything all over the place. So I wonder if we can get some help with this so we don't have to keep going through all this time and energy going to the courts and going to the codes because we've already had wonderful six to eight code inspectors come out and they were wonderful but nobody put some maintenance prerequisite on this person. So I also want to just thank you guys for enduring all the stuff that we share, keep you in my prayers, and thank you for your service.

Thank you.

Tracy, City of Newburgh. I'm here to talk about the tenant, ongoing tenant issues going on in the Vera Peterson homes. I just, trying to start from the beginning. So I'm just gonna say some facts. Building eight, there's apartment 70 had a leak in the bedroom. And a few years ago, two tenants ago, not even a few years ago, maybe it was a year ago, a friend of mine lived in apartment 70, same leak. CODES actually took their Peterson homes to court and deemed apartment 70 unlivable. She couldn't live there. She had to be moved. They moved the tenant to somewhere else. And then since then, they had moved two other families. One family I know moved, complained about molds, complained about leaks, same leak, same leak, same bedroom, same leak. Currently, there's a tenant that I know lives in the apartment. And this weekend, there was a dispute between the tenants, although I wasn't outside. One of the tenants called me and said, Tracy, I live on the third floor. So these apartments, third floor, second floor, lease to 70. Apartment 70 had asked the woman that I know, single mom, three kids, said, hey, is your water running all the time? Because I have a leak in this bedroom. So then she told me that she told management that the water was going slowly down in her tub. She had a drain. Management said that she's gonna charge her for the leak down stairs. I said that's crazy because that leak in apartment 70 was deemed unlivable because codes actually took them to court to fix that leak. So now management currently is threatening a single mother with three kids saying it was her tub that in fact caused that leak. I know of this one tenant These buildings are being patched up like band-aids and they're not being properly fixed. Tenants are now being threatened to now fix that. I know another person in another apartment who was charged for exterminator for bed bugs because she stated that, they stated that she's the only one that has it. I know, we know someone who used to live in that apartment actually. that comes here to speak a lot she also had that same apartment same building these are ongoing issues that now management is getting away with I know I only have a few seconds management is getting away with too much I complained about somebody was parked in one of the back roads and instead of them adjusting it well actually they saw the person parked there for numerous times instead of them getting on the tenant they decided we're gonna paint fire lane they painted fire lane on these four roads in the barracks, and with the chain locked, by the way, I looked up city codes, and a fire lane is not supposed to be locked, so they're violating their own little creation. I just have been busy, I haven't been on it to call codes on them for it, but they're just creating whatever patching that they wanna do, and no one's getting on it. I would like to request the same service that the Kennys got, the same service that the Varick homes need. What they need is the rec center to be able to meet with the owners and be able to talk about these issues. That's it. I know I have 30 seconds.

Thank you. Thank you.

Good evening, Michael Lebrun, Grand Street. I wasn't going to speak tonight. I usually come prepared, as you know, because usually three minutes is nowhere near enough for me to say what I want to say, and that's why I set up my blog, Newburgh is America. There I've already written several pieces about the problem that two Washingtons presents. I'll be writing a couple more articles about that project. I hope to have them ready tonight, but it's just one of them I'm struggling with. But it's about how buildings aren't just buildings, they represent values and ideas, and the spectrum is democracy on one end and authoritarianism on the other. Going back to Andreas Durrani's plan under the Leyland proposal, that location was specified to be a public park, to be the true agora, in the Greek sense of the word, of the place that belongs to nobody, therefore belongs to everybody. He also specified that the place that is now called the People's Park would be the perfect place to put a complex of mixed use, market rate, housing, hotels, and office space, and other businesses. It seems to me there's an opportunity for a deal there that would end up making People's Park 40% larger. And that's all I'll say right now. Thank you.

thank you mr lebron thank you very much so that will conclude our uh public comments segment of our agenda tonight um next we will go to the city council um regarding agenda and or not agenda items which are general matters of the city uh and they also council members have an opportunity to respond to some of the comments that were made tonight we'll start with council member martinez

thank you good evening everyone um i want to start off by thanking miss kathy lawrence and of the environmental justice groups that were at tyrone crab park this weekend we had the green up newberg which is becoming an annual event and i was a proud sponsor of it we had um free food, people were walking away with free plants, and just walking away with a lot of information and activities for the summer. Just a shout out to the free kayaking, or the kayaking opportunities that are gonna be happening at the waterfront. And also to give a shout out to Councilman Zorrilla, who often wears multiple hats, but was present with Outdoor Promise, who's also doing his camp this year with Newburgh Youth. And to give a shout out to Ms. Jamika Hall, who I have known since I worked for Assemblymember Jacobson, and I remember her coming into the office and the very first meeting was asking, how do I get my nonprofit started? How do I get funding? And to see how far you've come, and i don't wanna i'm not sure if you've made the announcement yet so i won't spoil it but the news that you gave me on saturday was amazing and just thank you for what you do for the youth we need a lot more people like that in newburgh and anything that we can do to support will continue to do we had a lot of people come and speak about housing walkability and the overall message that I'm hearing tonight is a unified vision which I 100% agree with and hope that the council can get together to sit down and really talk about what is our unified vision how are we going to connect the waterfront to downtown Newburgh and all the opportunities that we have to expand it to the rest of the city of Newburgh And every time that I hear about streetlights, I actually have noticed, and there have been multiple studies with environmental groups and PD who has reported it, how in the summer, crime naturally goes up, but with planting of more trees, with more shade, and mobile streetlights, believe it or not, are really effective with bringing down crime and just bringing an overall public safety without people feeling over policed or feeling like they're not able to really walk freely at night. And I also wanted to mention some of the housing issues So Varix has always had ongoing tenant issues. I know I've spoken with Ms. Wallace about housing resources. Unfortunately, when it comes to tenant repair issues, a lot of that is handled in court. And so I definitely, I'm sorry, can I just get 30 seconds? Encourage to continue giving out the Hudson Valley Justice Center and legal services information so they can get an attorney. and so the attorney can read them their rights and let them know what they can do for repair issues. But aside from that, I definitely hear you on the housing town hall, and that is something that we'll continue to work on.

Thank you so much, Council Member Martinez. Next we hear from Councilman McLemore.

So thank you, everyone, for speaking on today, tonight. I want to start off with some positive things, which would be attended a lot in the last three weeks or so, one being our Jameika Hall, her event. She has a series of events. It's the SOS events, and it it basically i think is save our streets or something like that and it's a community community oriented style where everyone is invited and it's it's a part of unification and solidarity and saving our children and so these are grassroots organizations and and we should definitely be out there supporting um organizations such as this And so she had hers on this weekend. I was there. I'm glad everything went well. And I want to tell you, keep doing what you're doing because it is working. And so also we had the Faith-Based Leaders Summit. It was well attended. And that Faith-Based Leaders Summit, it bridged the gap between elected officials and faith-based leaders. to unify and strengthen each other and also for us to come together so we could move in power. And so that was one of the features for me was Wendy Mejia. She spoke on family preparedness and also know your rights and louder.

I think that's how you say it.

Yeah. So I thought it was something that was amazing and also inspiring to hear how they are advocates for our community. And so also I want to thank the I'm just going down my list. I want to thank the Water Department and also DPW for their blitz campaign campaign. They're going around, they're cleaning up our parks, and I think that's something that beautifies and unifies our city. It also gives, it's more of an attractive thing where they could, you know, where people will be. be able to bring their children and not see debris all around. And so thank you to the Water Department and the DPW for doing what you're doing and taking that initiative. Also, I'm having a law enforcement put this on your calendar law enforcement symposium on September 12th at 10 a.m. at 245 Liberty Street. And we will be discussing current events, public strategies, interagency coordinations and issuing. 30 seconds, and issues impacting our neighborhood. That's open to the public. We have neighboring chiefs and sheriffs that will be coming, and we will be discussing that. Also, on July 11th is the 9th Annual Anti-Violence Community Day, right there at 140 Broadway from 12 to 4 p.m. Thank you.

Thank you very much, Councilman McLemore. Next, we'll hear from Councilmember Monteverde.

Thank you. And happy Gay Pride Month, everybody, June. And thanks for raising the flag, City of Newburgh. So a couple of things. I think it was Ms. Boyle asked about the parking study. I would go back and look at Thursday night's work session. We did discuss it. So you'll get a lot of good information. And that's currently in process right now. um also i think the gentleman who came up gordo um regarding his request i believe i emailed him about the transportation committee looking into some of his questions regarding parking on liberty street and the businesses you know for anybody who has any concerns regarding parking and there seems to be a lot questions these days about it I always say you know I'll go with them to the Transportation Committee it's an excellent committee they know what they're doing they're on top of things and you know always willing to look into whatever concerns people have about the current conditions with parking in the city of Newburgh because we are an urban city and parking is a problem It was a wonderful event this past weekend, several events. Jamaica, big shout out to you. Always lovely to stop by and see what you're doing, your hard work. Please continue to do what you do because it's so needed in our community. and you know reach out to me if you need a sponsorship I'd be happy to do that also over at the Audrey Carey Park no the Tyrone Crab Park there was a wonderful event as councilwoman Martinez mentioned that was a great event with all the vendors going around talking to everybody and all the good work that they're doing regarding climate and pollinating gardens you know the rowing club was there just a lot of wonderful organizations doing some really good work in the city of Newburgh and that's what it's all about these days also I want to do a big shout out regarding the park blitz I went by Unico Park it is finally looking fantastic after looking quite pitiful for many years they worked on Hasbrock Park today and and I'm sure the kids really appreciate that. It's a little pocket park on Hasbrook. Am I saying that right, Hasbrook? And I know that there are several other parks. City Hall looks great. I believe that they're working on South Street, right? South Street Park? Yes. and several other parks so again thank you for doing that that's a small initiative but man it is like people are so excited about that let's continue to do things like that and it's good teamwork building as well the crosswalk the young man that mentioned the crosswalk over on water street just curious if you went to the transportation committee to discuss that as well um okay great okay i can i can talk to you afterwards and and find out what the response was very curious about that because that's also very dangerous i've almost gotten hit several times even driving my car down that way um so again thank you everybody for coming out tonight

thank you very much councilmember Monteverde next we hear from councilman Shakur thank you very much councilman Shakur next we hear from councilmember Stewart

Thank you. Good evening, everyone. First, I want to congratulate once again the NFA young ladies who were honored here tonight. It's always good to see our young women stepping up in engagement in social justice and civic engagement, so kudos to them and their families. once again miss hall the process for permitting i'm going to ask that the city manager i'm sure he wrote this down for us to look at the process and see where the holes are and see if there is any way that we can create some kind of community-centered responsiveness to those permits because i know a lot of people want to have events So we want to make sure that there is some community responsiveness attached to that. And we can get a report on that at the next work session. That would be great. Also, I want to thank Ms. Hall for the pop-up food pantry that was done that actually benefited some of the residents in the Kinney and you worked with Jeter to do it. That was fabulous. A lot of the residents really appreciated it and it was well needed and they got really great food. It wasn't no cheap generic food. It was really good. like real meat and yeah really good good food uh and they were really excited about that that was a absolute blessing so thank you for partnering um with Jeter and the residents to make that happen the automated system for billing is absolutely time I don't know if that is the most updated system that we have but we definitely need to take a look at it I've heard so many other people talk about the system with the surcharges. So even if I can get an understanding of why those surcharges are sometimes like $30, $40 extra, if you're going to pay with your card, if we can identify what that is, explain to the public what it is, and see if there's any way to mitigate that, that would be great. Vision and strategic planning. It has to happen. We cannot move forward in this city unless we know what we are planning to do in the next five years. And it has to be a holistic approach and it has to include the planning department. It has to include all of the departments. And that is a part of the retreat that we are going to have. We know that there are some competing priorities coming up with our budget that's starting in September and also our city manager search. But the priority outside of that is the strategic planning. We need direction. Our staff need direction. The city staff needs direction. Our committees need direction. The next city manager to be able to come in with the clear vision But we have to know what that vision is first and it will include public comment and it will part of that will be done in public so you see what your council is talking about and it's a era of Transparency the blitz was great kudos to all of the departments for the blitz the clock outside is working the clock outside is working it is a beautiful clock and it is now pretty and it's actually working so kudos to you guys for just doing it and I want to point out that this is a level of collaboration that had not been they were not given the opportunity to collaborate at this level to make the city better so thank you guys for coming together and taking the initiative thank you council member story next we hear from councilman zoria

Thank you everyone for joining us today and again also congrats to the NFA women's leadership. I wish them luck as they develop their leadership skills to go on to do beautiful things. I've learned that leadership is hard and a lot of people have different expectations. So I wish them luck through the challenges of taking on leadership positions. the future I also do want to thank our city staff they know what what time it is now and the clock is working the events processing is getting better the some playground equipment is getting fixed collaboration between departments they're listening and I think they're playing catch-up so I appreciate the leadership coming from our staff I appreciate the leadership coming from our community to Mika Hall a great example sorry i couldn't pass by on saturday i did pass by driving and saw that it was popping off and i appreciate your efforts activating south street and would love to support i already told you future events i do want to shout out the environmental organizations that are also collaborating because leadership is also coming from the community level in different places some people are planting trees some people are planting seeds some people are planting youth and and showing them leadership and exposing them to opportunities so i think a lot of people focus on a lot of the negative things but there's a lot of beautiful things happening in little pockets of our community and we got to talk about those things too the state roads is a huge issue i live down the block from prospect street and south street and a person was run over and and didn't make it and i do not want to see those stories again so whatever we have to do to explore how we handle these different intersections that are causing an issue and risking the lives of our community members our family members our kids i would love to figure out how we explore those safety issues and and resolve them again also with the parking issue I think as the city grows we need to figure out these big questions for the future and also explore all their alternate forms of transportation not focused on such a car centric city the ferry bike Bike lanes, better bus routes, better transportation options, what other options exist to move around the city? How can we make it easier and safer for kids to ride their bikes places and access these places? I think all these, and economic development, how can people that have lived here have jobs and how can we attract good businesses that pay well? and have benefits to come here to newberg i think all these questions tie into uh economic development but also the vision and the comprehensive plan we need for our city going forward so i definitely want to not rely on grants and definitely have a good conversation about the future of our city and our comprehensive plan and just 30 more seconds um as far as as flock goes i agree i do not like what our country is becoming i think our freedoms our rights And our protections are actually being chipped away little by little. And I think convenience and the sense of safety sometimes makes us okay with letting go of our rights and our protections. But the Fourth Amendment, search and seizure without cause, I mean, these are kind of these little decisions that we make and little by little erode our rights away. I really do think that we should explore what our options are.

but i also want to be strategic in how we do that i do not agree with flock i do not want to just walk away and let it be i do think we should be strategic on how we approach it and continue the conversation thank you thank you very much councilman zuria i want to say thank you for everyone coming out as well and expressing your comments i do want to say that there is a vision there is a plan there has been a vision there has been a plan In fact, now there needs to be a revised vision and a revised strategic plan we all agree on and we've had conversations about that. We're going to be having a retreat to bring that into fruition. I do want to remind my colleagues that there is a shared rough draft of a vision that I have written and shared with the council so any feedback and any add-ons and things edits or whatever by the council please do that and send it my way so that we can have that rough draft when we do go to our retreat to crystallize our vision to crystallize our strategic master plan for the city and those that have come and have gotten active recently there were vignettes that were done before and after COVID there was a brownfield study that was done where there was a lot of public input and various different locations in 2018 we declared a housing crisis and all the developments that you're seeing have been in the pipeline well before some of our more recent active residents have come forward and all of those affordable housing projects are mixed use They have commercial and affordable housing with various different AMIs. They also provide employment. They also have massive infrastructure designs and upgrades and funding that will create inviting sidewalks, that will create inviting roads and pedestrian walks and hopefully bike lanes and some of that stuff that we're talking about. um mr morris and i met with the governor's regional rep this afternoon we got 1.9 million dollars um recently we i think we just heard about that hours ago for the lead line replacement the lead line replacement program we've already spent well over 2 million um for our residents who had um very unsafe uh water service line with lead So these things have been ongoing for a number of years before and even after COVID. And so we will definitely continue to do that. Parking is always going to be a challenge in any urban city. where there's high population density when you got density there's always going to be urban city walkable cities as we love to pride ourselves on I'll give myself 30 seconds you're always going to have parking challenges you all are very familiar with New York City many of you are from New York City or recently moved up from New York City you know any urban city especially large or small you're going to have parking challenges and we are definitely going to deal with that is definitely on the priority list for all of us with the studies and some of the ideas we talked about as the work session thank you very much Next on the agenda, we will go to the city manager's report.

Thank you, Mayor. Resolution number 124-2026, pin number 8005.26, contract with WSP for construction inspection services.

Do I have a motion for resolution number 124-2026? So moved. First motion accepted by Councilman Shakur. Do we have a second? Second.

Second.

Second by Councilman Zoria. Roll call into motion, please.

Councilmembers Martinez? Aye. McLemore? Yes. Monteverde? Yes. Shakur?

Yes.

Stewart? Yes. Zerillo?

Yes.

Mayor Harvey? Yes. Resolution approved.

Resolution number 125-2026, pin number 8758.75, contract with WSP for construction inspection services.

Do I have a motion for resolution number 125-2026? So moved. First motion is settled by Councilman Zoria. Do we have a second?

Second.

Second by Councilmember Monteverde. Roll call on the motion.

Council Members Martinez? Aye. McLemore? Yes. Monteverde? Yes. Shakur?

Yes.

Stewart? Yes. Zarrillo?

Yes.

Mayor Harvey?

Yes.

Resolution approved.

Resolution number 126-2026, pin number 8758.75 and 8005.26, contract with WSP for scheduling services.

Do we have a motion for resolution number 126-2026? So moved. First motion accepted by Councilman Zoria. Do we have a second?

Second.

Seconded by Councilmember Stewart. Roll call on the motion, please.

council members Martinez aye Macklemore yes Monteverde yes Shakur yes Stewart yes Zerilla yes Mayor Harvey yes resolution approved resolution number 127-2026 fireworks contract 2026 city of Newburgh 4th of July celebration do we have a motion for resolution number 127-2026

First motion accepted by Councilmember Monteverde. Do we have a second? Second. Seconded by Councilman Zoria. Roll call on the motion, please.

Councilmembers Martinez? Aye. McLemore? Yes. Monteverde? Yes. Shakur?

Yes.

Stewart? Yes. Zorilla? Yes. Mayor Harvey? Yes. Resolution approved.

Resolution number 128-2026, surplus inventory from police and DPW to be auctioned.

Do we have a motion for resolution number 128-2026? So moved. First motion accepted by Council Member Stewart. Do we have a second? Second. Second by Councilman Zoria. I'm going to take a brief pause before we do a roll call on this. I know the game is coming on. But Mr. Morris, one of the things I was thinking of in the work session I didn't get a chance to ask about um the auction um is it public is it open to the public and when where and how does it take place there's an auction website that all the city equipment gets auctioned off on anyone can register and and put a bid on in the website oh so it's done uh through the website okay okay when is that gonna go up uh it already depends when each vehicle gets listed okay um but we can put a link to that auction website on on our website okay that'd be awesome all right anyone else on that just in case okay roll call on a motion please

Council members Martinez. Aye. McLemore. Yes. Monteverde. Yes. Shakur. Yes. Stewart. Yes. Zerillo. Yes. Mayor Harvey. Yes. Resolution approved.

Resolution number 129-2026, contract with Solitude Lake Management to stock fish for the 2026 season in Lockwood Basin.

the motion for resolution number one to nine dash twenty twenty six first motion is that the by council member month of that would be we have a second second second by council member steward will call in a motion please council members martinez I Macklemore want to bet that the core yes store yes the real a yes they're Harvey yes resolution approved

Resolution number 130-2026, appointments to the Human Rights Commission.

We'll have a motion for resolution number 130-2026. So moved. First motion is by Councilman Zoria. Do we have a second?

Second.

Ooh, that was a close one. Seconded by Councilmember Monteverde. Roll call on the motion, please.

Councilmembers Martinez? Aye. McLemore? Yes. Monteverde? Yes. Shakur?

Yes.

Stewart? Yes. Zorilla? Yes. Mayor Harvey? Yes. Resolution approved.

Resolution number 131-2026, payment of claim with Tiffany Bayes.

Do we have a motion for resolution number 131-2026? So moved. First motion accepted by Councilman Zoria. Do we have a second? Second. Seconded by Councilmember Martinez. Roll call on the motion, please.

Council members Martinez? Aye. McLemore? Yes. Monteverde? Yes. Shakur?

Yes.

Stewart? Yes. Zarella?

Yes.

Mayor Harvey? Yes. Resolution approved.

Resolution number 132-2026, payment of claim with Johnson.

Do we have a motion for resolution number 132-2026? So moved. First motion is accepted by Councilman Zoria. Do we have a second?

Second.

Seconded by Councilmember Martinez. Roll call on the motion, please.

Councilmembers Martinez? Aye. McLemore? Yes. Monteverde? Yes. Shakur? Yes. Stewart? Yes. Zorilla?

Yes.

Mayor Harvey? Yes. Resolution approved.

Resolution number 133-2026, payment of claim with Progressive Advanced Insurance Company, Dino Pete.

Do we have a motion for resolution number 133-2026? So moved. First motion accepted by Council Member Monteverdi. Do we have a second?

second seconded by councilman zoria roll call on the motion please council members martinez aye mclemore monteverde yes shakur yes stewart yes zarilla yes mayor harvey yes resolution approved that concludes the city manager's report

Thank you very much, Mr. Morris. Excellent job. Next week, as we wind down the meeting, go to old business that the council would like for the executive team to consider if there are any old business items.

Councilman shakur. Yes, so once again, I would like to bring a plaque as a resolution and I'm going to bring it up every city council meeting to we vote on it. So I'm bringing it up as a resolution again.

Thank you very much anyone else.

oh I'm sorry go ahead council member Stewart yes I just liked for us to finalize the green light process I know some several people said that they may want it may have wanted to make an edit or just look at it again more thoroughly so that we can put it on the agenda for the green light process to begin

Excellent green light process, yep, yes, I don't know is coming up with the just want to keep it in everybody's mind for the hometown heroes program for for our veterans.

Thank you very much hometown heroes on for next work session.

Yeah.

won't uh... next thing would uh... what would be the next steps for the uh... charter review after we already voted so will be the next steps as far as application is concerned do we and that very sorry uh... the local i was sent to the secretary of state to be filed soon as that we get confirmation that the local laws filed we will begin advertising and soliciting for uh... applicants that's going to be consistent with the boards and commission appointments policy so that ad will be out for 30 days when we get the applications back after the closing date we will compile those applications we will get them to the council and the council can make their decisions at the at the council meeting cycle immediately following that so I would say probably not the August meeting, but in September we should be in a position to start making appointments to the commission.

OK. Thank you. Thank you. Anyone else for old business? If not, I have an old business item. I would like to continue discussion regarding foot patrols, bike unit, MPD, and also where we are with PCRAB, Police Community Review and Relations Board. So we can discuss that as well so that we can continue work collaboratively with the police department so that as the summer warms and heats up that we can maintain what good stuff that's been going on between put PD in the community so we want to discuss that if no other business items I forgot the word but the unified like garbage cans if we can

What is that we're talking about the garbage cans having everything uniformed in uniform garbage.

Garbage cans for the city, yes. Legislative action is on a legislative action. Yep list and then thank you.

I'm just keeping it in your minds.

And then also the Street Sweeper program. One of the things that I initiated years ago was putting the focus on DPW where we can hire formerly incarcerated individuals who who may need employment and now that the warm months are here and there was a collaboration with the parks blitz if we can talk about the street sweeper program where we can like I said hire those who are marginalized those who are re-entering our community from incarceration that would be awesome if we can see where we are with the street sweeper program

IT'S IN REGARDS TO THAT IS THAT SOMETHING THAT WE CAN WORK WITH ANOTHER ORGANIZATION TO DO LIKE THE DOE FUND WHO DOES WHO DO THAT LIKE IN NEW YORK STATE AND THEY'RE JUST REALLY GREAT THAT'S WHAT THEY DO IF WE CAN THAT BE AWESOME YEAH HOW WE CAN TALK ABOUT HOW THAT COLLABORATION CAN HAPPEN

because we do vote every year to fund the street sweeper program it is in the budget so we may be able to expand it with that collaboration that'd be awesome yeah okay if no other old business items we'll hear from council on new business items yes

I know that we recently have passed the resolution to our local law to establish a commission and will be appointing a commission shortly. I do have a resolution that I'll pass on regarding the budget and the financing for the committee. So I'll get that to you, Michelle.

Actually, that should be included in your annual budget. Okay, will do.

Councilman shukur new business, yes, new business and they were talking about the crosswalk down by the river about people's heart. I was also asking can we put in part of the study of the state will go along with it if we can build over a pair. If we can build over walking still like we have on the wall down by the river can we do a wall.

Anyone else for new business items. I got a councilmember Martinez.

Just following prior conversation, the sidewalk repair program.

What's that?

The sidewalk repair program.

Oh, sidewalk, yep. Sidewalk repair program. Anyone else?

Mm-hmm. Councilman McLemore? So being that a lot of our properties are being what we call a criminal mischief, being graffitied, if we can have some type of enforcement in these hotspot areas, Also, if we can get together and possibly as a council go around and clean up some of these properties, one being Rhodes Funeral Home, if we can ourselves go over there and I don't know what the liability would be. No, no liability? I don't know. no city no no not not city staff but if if we can get our you know some people community together and start taking pride in our community and try to get some people together to go over there and do so um maybe like you know the what what's what's this program called the uh camp uh what's this

outdoor promise like if they you know like some type of um you know like the children go over there and so and stuff like that so i have been up there four times with mr rhodes and we have cleaned that property up you told my role sooner right we have been up there four times cleaned that property up i brought the mayor up there i brought the police chief up there i brought the last city manager up there and we're back here again so the thing of it is there's no enforcement because we don't been here four times with that we haven't cleaned that property up four times since um since you since you know we have did that four times so the enforcement that's soon to be cleaned up and they're right back there so there's no enforcement so we can clean that up tomorrow and i guarantee next week it'll be at the same place as norman's we don't As long as we keep doing it like that. And so, yes. We did that four times. There's a couple of things in Newark we have already been doing. And people keep saying like it's new stuff. But I know you've been over there to talk to them. Like I said, we didn't do that for a time and we keep getting back to the same thing. We clean it up and they're back there the next day. So yes.

So we'll discuss it at the work session. Maybe we can put it on also, Mr. Morris, as a new business item to discuss what the protocols would be for cleaning graffiti in public spaces like for instance our waterfront when you drive down River Road as you're coming past our city on parking lots right there on that wall those walls where the CSX train lines are we did some wonderful work over there with the steps that go under the CSX train line and they graffitied it up down there and yeah so just having a discussion at the work session what those protocols are and what we can do as a city to get you know some fresh coat of paint or something or whatever that might look like yes we can I can I yes.

So on Tuesday and we talk about we were talking about you know new buildings construction and different things like that why would someone want to come in and build new buildings if they're going to be damaged. And so my thing is that if we don't take pride in our own property, then nobody else will. So even if it's not our own, at least it's your neighborhood. It's who you live in. So let's somewhat be organized and be good neighbors. That's all.

to go back to that did you have a new part. Yeah, I know for we didn't put that you know we were in for a moment we have to lock it up with the God, but we keep doing the thing then. Like I said for the last 3 or 4 years, I can tell you spots we've been doing we've been doing this stuff we've been doing it but it's no enforcement or no community involvement in keeping it done. You know we have to go one of the things we need and it goes back to surveillance. But we've been talking about that. But they don't fix the parks update and bliss and we've been talking about it. But now how do we keep them safe. You know so we said we might do some more do from maybe some grill and bring the water from home like a has broke or So all the parks one day and let's bring the community out. These are your parts, but we have to keep them up. Okay. Keep it up. Okay. Now, yes.

i know the the department of state released the consolidated funding application i just want to make sure we try to apply it to whatever we can i know it's due the end of july i would love to make sure we apply to that and also just a heads up there is a notice of funding opportunity for the outdoor recreation legacy partnership program that could help us with parks i think in general that we should explore it just came out this afternoon that's all i have thank you

Thank you anyone else if not we'll go to final comments.

You got some I just want to this is not this is just something not to just put on our radar was looking at the state budget and a lot there are some things that I think the city of Newburgh would be able to qualify for we should go after so if that's something that we can talk about later on. So we don't miss any deadlines out. I have some things written down so I'll just email them to you to see if it's feasible.

Thank you very much, Council Member Stewart. If not, like I said, we'll go to final comments. We'll start with Council Member Martinez.

Just thank you for coming out. Please enjoy the game tonight and enjoy the first game of the World Cup on Thursday. Have a good night.

Thank you very much. That's exciting. Council Member McLemore.

Yes. I ran out of time last, my other comments, but there was an event at the Newburgh Armory this weekend, Pathway to Power, hosted by George Vega. And Jorge Vega and he spoke at that event. It was a wonderful, motivating and inspiring event. And so I wanted to give a shout out to him for organizing that event as well. Chad had, after our work session, Chad had showed me the clock, showed me the inside of the clock. I didn't have a chance to do it, but thank you for the council members who said something about the clock. It is, it amps it up a little bit more to show pride in what our city actually has. And I'm so happy. I had all... I ain't even know the clock still works. And so and so he showed me how he was, you know, you got to turn this and turn that. And so I was I was just I was so happy to see some of the things and it looks like an antique. It just brings that like Yeah, it brings that pride. And so I'm glad that we're moving along and we're doing things together. Also, the Mullins, the Variks. Lake Street. We heard a resident from the barracks. We've been getting calls from the Mullins, been getting calls from Lake Street. These are things that this council, this entire council has been talking about. And so, yes, we definitely have to move on some of these issues and concerns. So we'll be around. Please do not stop reaching out to your ward representatives as well as your uh they are at large um representatives as well we're all working together to try to make sure that we we unify and work on your behalf um other than that just keep in mind um the july 11th uh 9th annual anti-violence community day and um that's from 12 to 4 that'll be right here on at 140 broadway and also the law enforcement symposium on september 12th at 10 a.m at 245 uh liberty street thank you thank you councilman macklemore next we hear from council member martin

Thank you. So I want to thank you, Chad Wade, for today. I was happy to see that they're on schedule now with the heights and the mowing on Bayview all the way around. So it's looking really nice. And also a shout out to the neighbors who built a picnic table and put it out there for the families to just sit around and have a picnic with their families. um the bluff's looking really good and bluff uh thank all my neighbors who chip in to help clean it up every every morning when people park there and just throw their alcoholic beverages and mcdonald's bags on the street um we do have trash cans there so you know the city's looking better and better taking pride in it city hall looks great with all the flowers it's great to walk into city hall now to see that you know we're taking pride and just cleaning up our uh parks and and our public spaces thanks thank you so much next we hear from councilman shakur thank you very much councilman shakur next we'll hear from council member stewart

Thank you all for staying. I know it's time to go. Just to let you know on our agenda today, it was a movement. This is why I like people to pay attention to the resolutions. It was over $639,000 that was moved. A lot of it is going into infrastructure. the engineering, our fireworks for 4th of July, and other various administrative services. So once again, paying attention to where these monies are going to is a way to hold us accountable in the future. The other thing is that I have started my office hours. Office hours is meet your council member. I will be in my office at 123 Grand Street every first and third Saturday of the month from 10 to 12. i have a link where you can schedule your appointments on there and also every second wednesday of the month from 6 30 to 8 and we can schedule things in between if necessary for residents to come and talk at some point uh hopefully our department uh dpw staff will go over there and blitz that office so that we something like that Chad so that we can blitz that office because we want to make it look pretty for our residents when they come in to speak with council we'll have some coffee and refreshments there for you when you come for meetings share your concerns ideas whatever come talk it's fine the other thing is the Kenney Town Hall was well attended we got some information I am looking for to get some one-pagers so that I can provide some more clarification on the subsidy aspect of it in terms of the rental subsidy the vouchers and the different things of that nature so that people can have with them and actually read it and digest it in their homes so that they can have a better understanding of this upcoming transition period And I hope to have that out soon, so that will do help. The clock outside is just gorgeous. When I was told about what it takes to actually wind the clock every day, I had the idea. I said, you know how the New York Stock Exchange rings the bell every day and someone is honored and they say, come and ring the bell? We should honor that. uh people our residents in the city councilman's a real estate business owner so many people that we can honor um with them coming every day at nine o'clock in the morning to wind up the clock for the day in the city of newburgh i think that would be a good tradition to start um with us hopefully we can do it but it's just an idea it would be nice cute and that's it that's excellent i love it uh councilman zodiac i like that idea

yeah i'll i'll try to keep it short thank you everyone for coming um i also wanted to shout out uh channel u fishing is gonna have their uh their fishing derby on saturday june 13th come out to masterson park and and do some fishing it's free for the community um i'm not sure if it'll be stocked by then but uh i think there's still some fish hanging around and i want to thank councilman mclemore for helping support rufus and getting him back on track and fishing with our youth i was happy to see that the kenny town hall was live streamed small wins i wasn't able to attend it but i was so happy to be able to tap into my uh what's happening in the city i want to thank the executive team for making that decision to improve accessibility one day we will have all board streamed we will get there one day i hope and i just want to include that this i think we all need to decide what kind of newberg we want and we need you to share your vision the Newburgh that you want because I believe there there was a plan in the past and I think we need to make it a more comprehensive plan as we go forward and and add elements that you would like to see so all of us are here trying to do our best to listen and act and listen and act and we all have our personal capacities the city has their capacity of what our staff can do simultaneously and i think the little things add up and make a huge difference so please have some grace with our staff with us as council people and with each other and i think don't stop asking for better because we won't and you shouldn't so i just want to say thank you for holding us accountable coming out and demanding better and please keep doing that i think that'll help a city become sustainable and have us have the hard conversations ahead of time so our kids and future generations to thank us and just enjoy what we've built together

thank you councilman Zoria and I'm gonna piggyback on that we definitely want to continue to hear from the public we definitely want the public to be a part of the shared vision a more comprehensive vision as was stated by a few of our council members a strategic plan that's definitely on the priority list there are some I guess low hanging fruits the budget hiring a city manager hiring consultants and things like that those are some of the things that we got a really really get to as we enter the budget season all the departments have had to submit their I call it the wish list sometime in July which is right around the corner And that kind of commences with the process behind the scenes with departments and the city manager's office. We still have to bid out for a consultant and things like that. So there's a lot going on and I do want to thank the public for coming out. and being very articulate in your expression. I did hear some great ideas from Greg Nadeau. Thank you for sharing some of the ideas and vision that you wrote out, and I took copious notes on that. But, yeah, it is going to be a shared vision. It is going to be a major strategic plan, all hands on deck. We want everyone involved. No ideal is a bad ideal. Every ideal is a good ideal. be considered and I'm super super excited about what Newburgh has in the future in the near future and in the far distant future so thank you again for coming out thank you to all the staff that came out and go Knicks have a good night