Common Council - Regular Meeting

Okay, it's time for the meeting to begin. As we always do, we start with public session. And prior to public session, as I always like to do, I have a proclamation that I'd like to read prior to the public session beginning. Is Sarah Sunday here by any chance? There she is. Come on right up here.

After I read this, if you want to say a few words, I'd appreciate it.

Okay, well, better late than never, as I always say. Did you know that May is Older Americans Month? And I know that today is the 26th of the month, but it's never too late to shine a light on our seniors. So I thought it was important to read this, even though it's not the first of May, I think it's important to highlight the accomplishments of seniors in our community. Whereas the city of Oswego was proud to recognize May 2026 as Older Americans Month, a time to honor the countless contributions, achievements, and lasting impact older adults have made to our community, our state, and our nation. And whereas older Americans continue to enrich the city of Oswego through their wisdom, leadership, volunteerism, service, membership, mentorship, dedication to families, friends, neighbors, and civic life. And whereas the strength and vitality of our community are enhanced by the active participation of older adults who continue to share their knowledge, talents, and experiences across generations. And whereas the city of Oswego recognizes the importance of supporting independence, dignity, health, and inclusion for older adults through accessible services, community engagement, and opportunities that promote quality of life. And whereas Older Americans Month also serves as an opportunity to celebrate the organizations, caregivers, advocates, and service providers who work tirelessly to support and empower older adults throughout our community. And whereas this year's observance encourages all residents to recognize and appreciate the valuable role older Americans play in building stronger families, neighborhoods, and communities. Now, therefore, I, Robert A. Corradino, Mayor of the City of Oswego, do hereby proclaim May 2026 as Older Americans Month in the City of Oswego, and encourage all residents to honor the achievements and contributions of older Americans, and to join in supporting opportunities for older adults to remain active, engaged, and valued members of the community. In witness thereof, I have heretofore sent my hand and caused the seal of the City of Oswego to be affixed this 26th day of May 2026.

this is a sarah sunday from the office of office for the aging for cerrigo county uh would you like to say a few words thank you so much thank you for this recognition um h may we do celebrate older americans month and we bring light to all the service that our older residents provide to us many times they're the unsung or you the people that you don't think about anymore but They contribute to the tax base tremendously. Their volunteerism without their volunteer hours and what they do in the volunteers, we just would not be able to have all the everything accomplished that we do in the city and across the county, across the state, across the country. And, you know, as part of what we're trying to do, we now have just opened a senior center up on Bunner Street. So anyone 60 and older, we have dining services, which we haven't had in the city of Oswego for so many years. But now two days a week, you can come up to our Bunner Street location on Tuesday, Wednesdays, sit down, have a meal, have a conversation. But we also have a computer lab. We have... intergenerational games we have a lot that's going to be going on as we continue on so we invite you all up there and again we're just so happy to have to bring this back to the city of oswego and thank you mayor cordino for recognizing older americans month absolutely i'm one of them

We'll just kind of go like this. Thank you again. Okay, let's proceed with the public session. I have three people signed up. The first one is Christine Novak. Please come to the microphone. And just as a reminder, we don't have many rules here at public session, but I'll just remind everybody that the simple rules are no profanity, no name calling, no personal attacks. And please try to keep it to five minutes so we can have everybody talk, okay?

I'll do my best.

Thank you.

My name is Chris Novak. I am an Oswego County resident of Ward 1, and I'm also a county representative of District 16. I learned recently that the mayor signed an executive order authorizing the use of facial recognition and video surveillance technology in Oswego without public input and without consultation with the city's common council. This news was shocking and troubling to me. Face recognition technology is a special menace to privacy, racial justice, free expression, and information security. When used for mass surveillance, it fundamentally removes your right to remain anonymous in public spaces. Our faces are unique identifiers. Unlike passwords, you can't get a new face. So government and business, often working in partnership, are increasingly using our faces to track our whereabouts, activities, and associations. Face recognition violates our human right to privacy. Surveillance cameras have flooded our public spaces. Face recognition technologies are more powerful by the day. Taken together, these systems quickly, cheaply, and easily ascertain where we've been, who we've been with, and what we've been doing, all based on a unique marker that we can't change, our own faces. Just by walking down the street, attending a protest, or entering a store, your movements can continuously be tracked and logged. This creates a chilling effect on your freedom of movement and association. And once a facial scan is captured, it's stored forever. Because faces cannot be encrypted, data breaches can leave individuals vulnerable to severe identity theft. Government uses face recognition, government use of face recognition also raises Fourth Amendment concerns. In recent years, the US Supreme Court has repeatedly placed limits on invasive government use of surveillance technologies. This includes policy, the police use of GPS devices and cell site location information to track movements. Faith surveillance can likewise track our movements. In addition, face recognition deters our freedom of expression. The First Amendment protects the right to confidentiality when we engage in many kinds of expressive activity. These include anonymous speech, private conversation, confidential receipt of unpopular ideas, gathering news from undisclosed sources, and confidential memberships in expressive associations. All of these activities depend on freedom from surveillance because many participants fear retaliation from police, employers, and neighbors. Research confirms that surveillance deters free speech. Also, who's paying for this technology? A mayor cannot unilaterally fund acquisition of new facial recognition technology if doing so requires allocating unapproved city funds. The city council still holds the power of the purse and must approve funding for major tech contracts. Also, executive orders are subject to state and federal law. If state legislators pass a law banning or heavily regulating biometric technology, it will overrule any conflicting local executive order. And on March 19, 2026, Senate Bill S-3699, the Facial Recognition Technology Study Act, passed in the New York State Senate, marking an important step toward addressing the growing use of biometric technology and its impact on privacy, civil liberties, and public safety. It establishes a task force of experts to study the use of facial recognition technologies across New York and to recommend appropriate regulatory framework. It would prohibit use of biometric surveillance technology by law enforcement, establish a biometric surveillance regulatory task force, and provide for the expiration and repeal of certain provisions. Why does the mayor feel the need to surveil the citizens of Oswego? Thank you.

Second person signed up is Kyle Zinzar.

Hi, my name is Kyle Zintars. I'm in the seventh ward, and I'm here to talk about a couple different things, so I will do my best to just break them down concisely. So first I want to echo what was just said. I'm concerned with the normalization of surveillance and biometric technology, especially like facial recognition and anything using AI to track activities of constituents. The mayor signed the executive order without talking to the public and to create a policy with this technology that is being banned in multiple areas of the country. City Common Council just passed a ban. They join other areas of the country like Erie County, Jackson, Mississippi, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Springfield, Massachusetts, and Virginia in taking action to ban this technology due to the lack of security these systems have. And just how hackable they are, all of that data is very vulnerable. And this is our personal data. So while Republicans have claimed to be the anti-Big Brother party for decades, we watch as they embrace these Big Brother technologies to move us into a police state where every move any community member makes is tracked and recorded and then fed into AI. This makes privacy theoretical. It no longer becomes a reality. And Democrats have also failed largely to resist these measures, which is why we need to oppose this. So I just want to stand here and say that I do oppose non-consensual surveillance of all kinds and know that that money could be used to prevent crime, which is what this is being touted as. crime deterrent to do things that would actually help people to prevent crime such as providing housing food health care and community so that's number one number two it's suicide prevention month and mental health awareness month and dealing with suicide prevention specifically I just want to say like my background I'm a mental health counselor at SUNY Oswego I've been in the field for 13 years I have worked on a three year campaign that was dedicated to suicide prevention at the college that was grant funded. I helped in the writing of media guidelines when writing about suicide and as outreach coordinator I helped crafting messages about suicide and suicide prevention around the campus using best practices. So I have a good background in suicide prevention. The best way to reduce suicide is to improve the living conditions of the community, which is to provide things that reduce overall stress, depression, and hopelessness. These include housing, access to food, health care, child care, accessibility for disabled people, gender-affirming care, mental health response rather than police response to crisis, and just general public space for people to come together to find community and connection. Beyond these the evidence-based suicide prevention tool that is best is physical barriers. So we see physical barriers on bridges such as the ones that are in Fulton. We also see netting underneath bridges to catch people who may attempt suicide and physical barriers dedicated to preserving spaces where cars could drive off into water or off of cliffs. You can decorate these they can become something that is a barrier but also a mark in the community. If you're interested in learning more about this, I suggest going to the Suicide Prevention Resource Center. You can look up information from SAMHSA, and you can look up information from the Suicide Awareness Voices of Education. So while there is less research to show concrete outcomes about signage, signage is still helpful. It is the first step in helping people to know that there's hope and there's a resource for someone to use. So I support the signs. 988 signs are valuable in the community. I just want to suggest that these are focused on offering hope and help seeking. So they should have a message of hope and they should have a number that people can use in order to get help. They should be in areas that are common, areas where people go to complete suicide. So to be clear, these signs do not cause people to have thoughts of suicide. Seeing the word suicide, talking about suicide does not cause suicide. While some worry about this idea of suicide contagion, the data shows us that what increases suicide is continuing to let people die by suicide. People complete suicide when they see others complete suicide, and no one does anything about it. That causes suicide. When we don't support people who need help, we don't provide alternatives to suicide, and either ignore suicide or report on suicide recklessly, like in the media, this continues the cycle of suicide. So telling people there is hope and how to access help only reduces the risk of suicide, as data confirms. And just to know, suicide is the second leading cause of death in people ages 10 to 34. And this is Mental Health Awareness Month, which means the least we can do is to get signs to put up on bridges where people have completed suicide. I think that's a really important part of this work. And I'll end briefly. I support the fire hydrants. I think it's a great idea. I think having kids make art makes them community members. They are visible community members. They get to feel proud. They get to bring their families there. And it brings diversity and creativity to the community. People get to tell their stories through their art. As a mental health counselor, I focus a lot on expressive arts therapy. It is healing to have art in our community. It is not a liability. We do a Halloween decor contest. There's no accidents that happen due to Halloween decor. We should have art in places. Thank you.

The third person that signed up is a Carol Thompson.

Can you hear me okay? I had to put this on my phone, my printer wouldn't work. Mayor Cordino, Attorney Caracoli, and members of the council, first I'll disclose, Councilor Thompson is my son. I appreciate the opportunity to speak this evening. I am here to address my concerns about signage and hydrant painting. I watched the committee meeting last week, and unless I missed something, there were questions that should have been asked that weren't. And now you may be putting the proverbial cart before the horse. And I want to make it clear, I am not opposed. to anything to do with mental health and i explained to counselor punklet plunkett this afternoon why okay but i want to know how you can even consider passing a resolution to have fire hydrants painted without even knowing where they will be placed or considering the liability Will the city get a liability waiver from city BOCES? Will this be permanent or temporary? How will it be promoted so that residents are aware that they exist and won't park in front of them? We don't need anyone thinking that they're decorative non-commissioned hydrants. I spoke with many community officials around the United States And many said that they just outright don't allow it. Those that temporarily do said they are limiting placement to parks with few structures around them. They require a maintenance and liability agreement and have contracts reserving the right to repair or repaint or remove artwork. Have any of you looked into this? Do you have these types of contracts drawn up? This afternoon, Councilor Plunkett reminded me of the painted hydrants in the city for the bicentennial. And I did look this up in the newspaper archives. These were temporary and there was plenty of publicity so the public was aware of where they were placed. These are things the council needs to do for public safety. And I will stress, these are for emergencies. There are better places and many other places to put student art. I'm an artist, the mayor knows I am. And I think that over the years, we've had different artwork displayed in storefronts, et cetera. As for accepting the donated signs, I ask, why is the city assuming liability for these signs? And why are you so willing to put the community at risk? I also did my homework. And I have seen lawsuits of reliability over signs. You know, I am in the process of preparing to defend my thesis in strategic communication. I have taken coursework beyond what I need. Message fatigue is real. You can search and find many scholarly articles on the subject, as I noted in my email that I sent to the council and I believe the mayor. Our brains are wired to filter out repeated stimuli so we can focus on new information. Excessive messaging can unintentionally normalize the subject and dilute the original purpose. And I think that the mayor and the city attorney made it very clear at the committee meeting when the mayor noted all the organizations who would probably love painted hydrants and signs. And so I asked this council, what do you plan to do when a half dozen other organizations launch signs and painted hydrants? Where do you draw the line? And all I'm asking is I'm not against these messaging, but I believe that you can dilute and take away the meaning behind the message. And this is what I've learned going through two years in this master's program is that sometimes, you know, we are humans. We respond to patterns and we start to tune them out. And so I ask before you take upon this, either of these projects i'm not saying to be against them i'm saying to do diligence do your homework listen to your mayor he's been here 10 years he knows counselor plunkett seven years they know the predicament you can put this council in the city in when you say one can do something and the other one can't or do we have a dozen organizations and a bunch of signs everywhere. We already have signs for Head Start, everybody's lawn mowing services, their painting services. I've seen signs everywhere. I saw a sign somehow attached to a mailbox. And it's like, We need to figure out how to do it responsibly so that you do not put the taxpayers or the residents of this city in jeopardy. Thank you.

All right, that was the last person that signed up. Is there anybody else who didn't get a chance to sign up that would like to speak here in the room?

Just like to talk about number one with the suicide prevention signs, obviously access to mental health support. I would like to see that be included in that signage. I recently went through and looked at some of the providers that we have, and we have limited access to psychiatric care and mental health in Oswego, New York. And that kind of ties into the AI surveillance. When we start to use these type of technologies for policing, we tend to go towards a criminal route to solving the issues of our community, rather than getting people the care and the treatment they actually need. Normally, when you go through issues with addiction, psychiatric care. These things are normally, they're commingled. There's two things going on at once and right now our addiction care doesn't include psychiatric care in the manner that it needs to. We have a lot of different Programs that reduce harm and those provide some safety to members of the community that they can step down from using harder drugs and go to programs like Farnham and have Suboxone and Methadone. But many of these people have underlying psychiatric things going on that they never have addressed. So to see more mental health signage is good, but to actually open up access to those people that need it is much more important to get to the root cause of whatever's going on. So I do think that the placement of those signs is incredibly important. Places like Farnham, places like the areas behind tractor supply over by where OCO is and the outreach to the members of the Oswego community who are homeless out there. There's definitely some places that would be much better places to place those. And I'd really like to see care taken and put into that so that those people that, most of those people that are probably thinking those things might not even have access to a cell phone out there. So with OCO being right there and building a new building, maybe OCO has outreach numbers as well as the suicide hotline on it. that way people can not only get the immediate attention they need in the moment but also continued attention and hopefully start to build some stability back within the community hopefully that's what would come of that outreach the other concern I have is I talked to Councilor Ashline and he gave me the company that the contract for the AI services is with and I'm not familiar with that company in specific. The one that I'm familiar with is the flock safety systems. I've talked to a lot of cyber security experts. I think it was mentioned earlier. The ability to hack these systems and the ability to have them used by people who have access to them to track their own personal targets, ex-girlfriends, other people, romantic relationships is pretty well documented. They provide access to community places. They put our children's data on. these mainframes and if their data storage is not encrypted in the proper way, access to all of our children's data is there. People can start to see patterns on where our children go and when they go. Now the same thing that helps to keep a community safe by noticing patterns with criminality, the algorithm can also be programmed to notice patterns to be exploited in many different ways if somebody is to access that on the back end. The power of these tools and how they continue to develop is going to be one of the biggest struggles that we face in our lifetime. How they're used, I'm pretty sure the Pope just wrote a new encyclical about it. it's called the magnificent human and it delves deeply into the power structures that are holding the capacity for data storage analysis and ai in the future i'm not sure if i think i put mr fitzgibbons to sleep with this one but uh it's uh it's an incredibly important time um It's like taking Pandora out of the box. I think it's something that needs to be looked at incredibly closely. Written rules and regulations are not standardized across the board, so the opportunity for harm is much higher without any concise agreement on how things are supposed to be formed. And if it's a message that is being asked at the highest levels of religious institutions like the Vatican, it's something that we should be asking ourselves as a community together and coming together to discuss and putting some actual thought into it. And you would actually want to have some type of civilian oversight so that it couldn't be abused because it is going to get more and more powerful. Within the next two to three years, I'm pretty sure we're going to see artificial general intelligence and the capabilities of what can be done is going to move at a rapid pace. So the only way to slow that pace down on a community level is to make decisions And actually take into account how it affects us for the next few generations and not just in the first couple weeks. So that's all I have to say and thank you for your time tonight.

As I said, that was the fourth person that spoke. Is there anybody else? If not, we'll proceed with the meeting. I close public session and we'll start the meeting. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the republic for which it stands, one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Please call the roll.

His honor, the mayor. Here. Counselor Kennedy. Here. Counselor Ashland. Here. Counselor Logsack. Here. Counselor Fitzgibbons. Here. Counselor Meyer. Here. Counselor Plunkett. Here. Counselor Thompson. Here. All present.

I just have a couple things under the mayor's report to share with you number one something that we've all been hoping that will end soon but the paving project or i should say begin soon the paving project has begun in case you haven't noticed and this year we're going to be doing it in two phases the first phase started last week and the milling and paving once it's done another week or so they will leave and then come back in august The reason for that is the fact that the DPW, which is doing an incredible amount of work in the city, has to prepare intersections and walkways and sidewalks for ADA compliance. So this gives them time. They've already worked since probably March to prepare the ADA compliance for the streets they're doing now. And this will give them another few months to finish the other ADA compliance. We will spend about $1.3 million on paving this year, which is all reimbursable money through the CHIPS program. Item number two, the Veterans of the Year Ceremony took place on Saturday at the American Legion Post 268. And it was an impressive show of support. It was two veterans were honored. The 2025 Veteran of the Year, which unfortunately didn't have a ceremony last year, his name is Andy Barton. He was celebrated on Saturday night, as well as the 2026 Veteran of the Year, Thomas Milan. And it was an honor for me and my wife to be there and to share in those festivities. Quite an honor to make sure that veterans are given the proper due respect. Item number three on my list is yesterday was Memorial Day, and the ceremony was held at Veterans Park at 11 AM. The park was very well attended. I've gone to this event probably for 10, 11 years now, and there was a great turnout despite the cool weather, and there was a little fog along the river as well. Certainly a fitting tribute to honor and remember the fallen service members. It certainly was nice to see the big turnout. The police chief, fire chief, representatives from their department were there. Counselor Plunkett, he was there as well, as well as a bunch of other people. And I was glad to see our old and retired city engineer Tony Leota was there. A veteran himself and also a 50 year employee of the city of Oswego. So that was a great event. And again, I want to thank the Veterans Council. I want to stress this. The Veterans Council puts this on every year. And George Hoffman is one of the people who actually is the motivator behind that. So again, thank you so much to the Veterans Council for putting that on. Item number four. I wanted to remind people that on Saturday, the 150th anniversary gala for the Oswego Fire Department will be held at the university's Hewitt Hall. Since 1876, the Oswego Fire Department has stood as a symbol of courage, professionalism, and unwavering dedication to our community. I'd like to congratulate all the firefighters in our current department as well as past generations for their contributions to serve and protect our community. It's a tremendous milestone and achievement. With that said, please call Resolution 168.

Approve minutes, common council meeting held May 11th, 2026.

Councillor Plunkett, Councillor Ashland. Any comments? Please call the roll.

Councillor Fitzgibbons. Yes. Councillor Meyer. Yes. Councillor Plunkett. Yes. Councillor Thompson. Yes. Councillor Kennedy. Yes. Councillor Ashland. Yes. Councillor Wattensack. Yes. Resolution passes 7-0.

Call resolution 169.

Approve use of public space, Barry Dawson, owner of a single family dwelling located at 230 West 8th Street in order to replace a concrete step.

Councilor Kennedy, Councilor Lonsack. Comments? Please call the roll. Councilor Fitzgibbons. Yes.

Councilor Meyer. Yes. Councilor Plunkett. Yes. Councilor Thompson. Yes. Councilor Kennedy. Yes. Councilor Ashland. Yes. Councilor Lonsack. Yes. Resolution passed at 7-0. Call Resolution 170. Approve use of public space at Swiggo Hospital, owner of a commercial space located at 110 West 6th Street, in order to install bike racks.

Councillor Ashland, Councillor Mayer. Comments? Please call the roll. Councillor Fitzgibbons.

Yes. Councillor Mayer. Yes. Councillor Plunkett. Yes. Councillor Thompson. Yes. Councillor Kennedy. Yes. Councillor Ashland. Yes. Councillor Longsack. Yes. Resolution passes 7-0.

Call resolution 171.

Prove use of public space at Swiggo Rotary Club in order to install a peace pole in Veterans Park.

Councilor Fitzgibbons, Councilor Thompson, comments? Please call the roll. Councilor Fitzgibbons?

Yes. Councilor Meyer? Yes. Councilor Plunkett? Yes. Councilor Thompson? Yes. Councilor Kennedy? Yes. Councilor Ashland? Yes. Councilor Lonsack? Yes. Resolution passes 7-0.

Call resolution 172.

Approve use of public space, Elizabeth Allen, in order to place signage to advertise an upcoming event.

Councilor Lautensack, Councilor Meyer, comments? Please call the roll.

Councilor Fitzgibbons? Yes. Councilor Meyer? Yes. Councilor Plunkett? Yes. Councilor Thompson? Yes. Councilor Kennedy? Yes. Councilor Ashland? Yes. Councilor Lautensack? Yes. Resolution passes 7-0.

Call resolution 173.

Authorize use of public space, Diane Catalone, in order to host a wedding at Brightbeck Park on Saturday, August 8th, 2026.

Councillor Kennedy, Councillor Thompson. Comments?

Please call the roll. Councillor Fitzgibbons. Yes. Councillor Meyer. Yes. Councillor Plunkett. Yes. Councillor Thompson. Yes. Councillor Kennedy. Yes. Councillor Ashland. Yes. Councillor Longstack. Yes. Resolution passes 7-0.

Call resolution 174.

Authorize use of public space, Gina Marie Music Studio in order to host the GMMS Summer Festival at the Water Street Square on Sunday, July 19th and Sunday, August 2nd, 2026.

Councilor Plunkett, Councilor Lovesay. Any comments? Please call the roll.

Councilor Fitzgibbons. Yes. Councilor Meyer. Yes. Councilor Plunkett. Yes. Councilor Thompson. Yes. Councilor Kennedy. Yes. Councilor Ashland. Yes. Councilor Longstaff.

Yes.

Resolution passes 7-0. Call resolution 175. Approve use of public space, City BOCES collaboration, painting fire hydrants, promoting compassionate themes.

Councilor Kennedy, Councilor Ashland. Comments?

Yes, Councilor? Yeah, I know it's been a few days we've talked about this, but I think there was some discussion about location and And I don't see that those records are memorialized in the resolution.

So I think we've talked about .

So I guess my comment would be that there's parameters here that I would like to think that you could memorialize or visit so that we can, I'm supportive of the product, I'm supportive, but I'm supportive of the parameters, and I think that we can see the impact All right, anybody else? Yes, Councilman Thompson.

So I love the idea about getting the positive message out to the public. I think that's great. I really don't think hydrants are the proper canvas for that. There's a lot of other ideas out there floating around from residents that they have thrown out. But with that said, Councilor Fitzgibbons is correct. There's many points that was discussed in committee that are not reflected in this resolution at this time. And there are many open concerns and questions that have been raised that have not been addressed yet properly. I think it'd be prudent to take two to four more weeks to refine the resolution and get any remaining concerns addressed. So I would like to put forth a motion to table this. Do I have a second?

Counselor, welcome. I'll make a second. Second. Okay, call the roll to table.

Councilor Fitzgibbon? No. Councilor Meyer? No. Councilor Plunkett? Yes. Councilor Thompson? Yes. Councilor Kennedy?

No.

Councilor Ashland? No. Councilor Luntzak?

Am I, what did I say? Abstain or recuse, which one's the correct word?

If you feel compelled to recuse yourself, you could do that. I don't think an abstention is necessary. Frankly, I don't think a recusal is necessary. You're not publicly benefiting or financially benefiting from this program in any way. Are you a counselor?

No.

You're promoting it. Correct. You support it.

Correct.

You put it in front of the council for consideration, but you have no pecuniary interest in whether this passes or fails.

Correct.

So you can vote your conscience.

No.

resolution to table fails two five zero all right so now we have to vote on the resolution as written

Can I speak to this? It does say in here that everything has to be approved by both the chief as well as the commissioner. So if they don't approve it, it doesn't happen. Every single thing has to go through as we go. You can add a number. Add a number, that's fine.

Counselor, you got your hand up? I want it spelled out in the resolution, otherwise it leaves the door wide open, and I don't think that's appropriate. I'd also like to mention our fire chief did throw out some valid ideas that, which is another reason why I want it stable, that I think should be considered. I think rushing us through is inappropriate and does a disservice to our constituents. So that's my point is we're not addressing everything on here. There's many other things that we have tabled this past year or over the last five months that have fewer concerns. This has a lot of concerns that have not been addressed. I've sent out emails, no replies. Other people have reached out and are not receiving replies. Yet we're going to push this through? That doesn't make sense. That's not right.

All right. Anybody else have any comments? All right, at this point, we've already voted no to table. So where do we go from here, city attorney?

I heard some debate about a potential amendment limiting the number and perhaps the location.

I would like you to at least to the parameters of the funding and the location and certain things reemphasize that this requires and the DPW. So there's an administrative oversight on execution and implementation of the idea.

So is there a motion to amend?

Yes, sir.

You need a second? I'm sorry, I'm not clear on how many, what's the number? Four.

Four.

Central Business District only?

Right.

Anything else I need to add before I ask for a second? All right, we have a motion to amend, second? Councilor Meyer, second?

Counselor Fitzgibbons? Yes. Counselor Meyer? Yes. Counselor Plunkett? No. Counselor Thompson?

No.

Counselor Kennedy? Yes. Counselor Ashland? Yes. Counselor Lonczak? Yes. Resolution passes 5-2. As amended. As amended, got it. Okay, call resolution 176. Motion to rescind resolution 129, dated April 27th, 2026.

Councilor Ashland, Councilor Lavinsack, comments? Please call the roll.

Councilor Fitzgibbons? Yes. Councilor Meyer? Yes. Councilor Plunkett? Yes. Councilor Thompson? Yes. Councilor Kennedy? Yes. Councilor Ashland? Yes. Councilor Lavinsack?

Yes.

Resolution passes 7-0.

Call resolution 177.

Accept donation of ten signs from the Oswego County Suicide Prevention Coalition.

Councilor Kennedy, Councilor Lavinsack, any comments? Councilor Fitzgibbons?

There's been a number of discussions about the signs without a conversation about what the signs are. And the signs are basically disseminating the presence of 988 as a community resource. They don't advertise enough for profit. They don't advocate for a physical advocacy group. It's a federal resource. It's a resource that was created in 2020 by legislation to create a national, crisis line, it was under the auspices of the Health and Human Services of the federal government as a resource. So the Secretary of the Health and Human Services, they were committed to making sure every American facing mental health or substance crisis can reach the 988 lifeline and get immediate help. The 988 helpline saves lives, strengthens families, and reminds Americans that they're never alone in their darkest moment. So when we talk about this in 2020, our president put the legislation in, in 2022, the 988 helpline to allow easy way for anyone to reach skilled . That doesn't diminish our local resources. This is a resource center available 24-7. This isn't advocating on behalf of anyone, not the profit group, that we in some way have to choose among. This is, if you remember in 1996, The community called 343-1212 to get the police and 343-1313 to get the fire department. And those are the numbers. 1997, they went to 911 to increase access to these services. 911 didn't cause more fires, didn't cause more crime. It became an efficient access to these resources. And I think that if we fail the moment to extend the conversation of access to service, my comment was I complimented the police department for advocating, our police department advocating this resource into our community. I complimented them on that, and I said we need to do more. In fact, that's what we did in 1996. Public officials spoke on behalf of 9-1-1 because it was a good thing. Schools talked to children about 9-1-1 because it was a good thing. And we disseminated that. The phone company, they just figured put out your phone, call 9-1-1. And that's how that became prevalent. So I think we, in this place of these resources, we need to have 10 signs out somewhere, and if you read the resolution, it's a pretty innocent resolution, because it speaks to the fact that we all have to agree where recycling sits. 10 signs we have to agree. That's not asking a lot, but it doesn't give, this resolution doesn't give it a blanket authority. We're not defaulting our obligations to be thoughtful and project. We're just advancing the public health access to care in a 24-7 resource.

So I very much support this, the citing of this.

the resolution speaks to the fact that that needs to be agreed on where the sites are these sites these signs are on the council which is actually the fault after we approve and that might be problematic If there's an overwhelming desire and question whether the citing of this is so critical to your approval, I guess I could defer to agreement for these citings. But it will not yield on the fact that this is an incredibly important public health. And it's public health that we need to advance. And it's not advertising any of our not-for-profit. It doesn't cause more. All right, thank you, counselor. Anybody else? Counselor Kennedy.

Before we move forward tonight, I just want to briefly remind everyone why this discussion matters. Over the past year, our community has experienced heartbreaking tragedies connected to the Oswego River and Lake Ontario. These are not abstract conversations or hypothetical situations. These are real people, real families, and real losses. Tonight, I want to say their names. Jomuel Rodriguez Fuentes, Tahiana Rokotahanahari, and Joshua Barker. Whether every circumstance surrounding these tragedies is publicly known or not, what is known is that our community continues to experience pain, crisis, loss, and mental health struggles that deserve acknowledgement rather than silence. The resolution before us tonight is simply to accept 10 donated 998 suicide and crisis lifeline signs from the Oswego County Suicide Prevention Coalition and Office of Mental Health. Placement discussions and any future considerations will occur separately at a later time. But I believe awareness matters, compassion matters, and making it known that help exists matters. If even one person in crisis sees a sign, calls 988, and chooses to stay with us another day, then this conversation is worth having.

All right, thank you. Anybody else? Any other councils? Councilor Thompson.

Thanks. so the message is very important i get that but we have to make sure that we do this right um so i know the placement is going to be dealt with later but is 10 signed the right number we haven't decided that we just threw out the number because that's what they're offering to donate maybe it should be less maybe it should be more And is the signs the right mechanism to get the message out? There's other ways to do it. I mean, we send out an annual letter that goes to every household every year as to what the city has accomplished. Maybe it could go in there. There's other ideas on the table that should be discussed. in addition accepting a donation versus use of public space what's the liability and responsibility on the taxpayers office we go and i think that's important to consider so we really haven't had that discussion in committee now when it came to committee last week i was not under the impression that we were voting on anything until it popped up on committee i don't think that's that was fair to the public and to the committee itself um If there was going to be a vote, I probably would have spent a little more time doing some research. But that wasn't conveyed. So I think right now, two more weeks does everyone justice. So I think we should table this. So I'm going to motion to table.

All right. We have a motion to table. Is there a second to table? Councilor Plunkett. I just want to call the roll.

Councilor Fitzgibbon. No. Councilor Mayer. Abstain. Councilor Plunkett. Yes. Councilor Thompson. Yes. Councilor Kennedy. No. Councilor Ashland. No. Councilor Longsack.

No.

Resolution table fails two, four, one.

All right, thank you. All right, anybody else have any comments before we vote on the resolution as written? Please call the roll.

Councilor Fitzgibbons? Yes. Councilor Meyer? Yes. Councilor Blunkett?

No.

Councilor Thompson?

No.

Councilor Kennedy? Yes. Councilor Ashland? Yes. Councilor Longstaff?

Yes.

Resolution passes 5-2-0.

Call resolution 178 please.

Authorize Mayor to execute any and all documents regarding the management and control of the Fort Ontario complex bathroom facilities.

Councilor Ashland, Councilor Thompson. Any comments? Please call the roll. Councilor Fitzgibbons.

Yes. Councilor Meyer. Yes. Councilor Plunkett. Yes. Councilor Thompson. Yes. Councilor Kemp. Yes. Councilor Ashton. Yes. Councilor Watson. Yes. Resolution passes 7-0.

Resolution 179.

Authorize Mayor to enter into a 10-year docking facilities agreement with American Cruise Lines.

Councilor Lemsack, Councilor Thompson, any comments? Please call the roll. Councilor Fitzgibbons?

Yes. Councilor Meyer? Yes. Councilor Plunkett? Yes. Councilor Thompson? Yes. Councilor Kennedy? Yes. Councilor Ashland? Yes. Councilor Lawton-Sack? Yes.

Resolution passes 7-0. Call Resolution 180.

Authorize City Chamberlain to accept funding in the amount of $5,000 from the Oswego County Tourism and Planning Office to support the Independence Day celebrations.

Councilor Plunkett, Councilor Kennedy. Comments? Please call the roll.

Councilor Fitzgibbons. Aye. Councilor Meyer. Yes. Councilor Plunkett. Yes. Councilor Thompson. Yes. Councilor Kennedy. Yes. Councilor Ashland. Yes. Councilor Lonsack. Yes. Resolution passed 7-0.

Call resolution 181.

Authorize City Chamberlain to complete a budget transfer in the amount of $52,000 from the tourism contracted services count to the CDA account 6420 for special events.

Councilor Lonsak, Councilor Kennedy. Comments?

Please call the roll. Councilor Fitzgibbons. Yes. Councilor Meyer. Yes. Councilor Plunkett. Yes. Councilor Thompson. Yes. Councilor Kennedy. Yes. Councilor Ashland. Yes. Councilor Lonsak. Yes. Resolution passes 7-0.

Call Resolution 182.

Authorize 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.

Councilor Thompson, Councilor Kennedy. Comments? Please call the roll. Councilor Fitzgibbons? Yes. Councilor Meyer?

Yes. Councilor Blunkett? Yes. Councilor Thompson? Yes. Councilor Kennedy? Yes. Councilor Ashland? Yes. Councilor Lonsack?

Yes.

Resolution passed 7-0.

Call Resolution 183.

Authorize City Chamberlain to complete a budget amendment in the amount of $16,671.20 to the computer materials and supplies account for a replacement access control system.

Councilor Kennedy, Councilor Mike, comments? Please call the roll.

Councilor Fitzgibbons. Yes. Councilor Meyer. Yes. Councilor Plunkett. Yes. Councilor Thompson. Yes. Councilor Kennedy. Yes. Councilor Ashline. Yes. Councilor Lonsack. Yes. Resolution passes 7-0.

That was the last item on the agenda. Is there any unfinished business? Seeing none, can I have a motion to adjourn? Councilor Plunkett, Councilor Ashline, please call the roll.

Councilor Fitzgibbons? Yes. Councilor Meyer? Yes. Councilor Plunkett? Yes. Councilor Thompson? Yes. Councilor Kennedy? Yes. Councilor Ashland? Yes. Councilor Longstaff? Yes. Resolution passed 7-0.

Thank you everyone.