Common Council - Regular Meeting

already. But if I can get something from the library, just what you the highlights you did last year, what you want to do next year, and the same with the fire. And I gota it's I got to do it by February 6. So just just something it doesn't have to be extravagant something I can go plug you guys during the when I'm there

all right we'll call the work session to order today's January 15th uh tonight we have we're going to go through the Aison report first Richard which I think Julie I don't know if you had an opportunity with anybody Yeah. Yeah. It's I thought I was the third I thought I was the third. This is the Oh, this is the third Thursday. I didn't have time to speak. All right, that's cool. Let's clean up. Chief Tom, can you come up to the mic, please? Okay. Sorry. I just wanted to Yeah.

All right. I know we spoke earlier and you have something you'd like to inform us all on

Didn't I sound official there for a second? Um um you said you had something about um um uh um so we I don't know

at the end of last year we were evaluating uh some of some of the the topics that we we cover right some some of the traffic community engagement and and etc. In doing that, we noticed some deficiencies that we're dialing in now. We've had meetings, ship meetings, specifically domestic incidents and partners. We've had meetings I've had meetings with them and I've started a math program with them and others one of the

partners very similar to what I did with the crisis. So as we move forward, we're starting to identify some interesting something doing really well in city. So we're excited to see what happens as that trans.

That was that. Yeah. Any other police questions while he's up here? I don't have any. I have nothing. Um what happened on Peru Street the [snorts] other day? heard there is pretty maybe a traffic stop that was initiated and one of the opins on that vehicle. Okay. Okay. There was a court pursuit that um subject was apprehended minor injury more so to the subject but because of the accident.

Um yeah. Yeah. I think just somebody said there was like lots of police cars and they didn't know what was going on. I didn't see anything in our email about in the afternoon. Yeah. Like um Sunday maybe or Saturday Monday through the week. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Um I'm not sure if this is an appropriate question for on the floor or not. Um I'll ask it maybe and then if it's not you can say no question the personnel or is it No. Okay. Um I was just going to ask how foils were if they were calming down or the as far as with the body cams.

Yeah. If if they were going well. We have we had quite a few at first. There was a there was an influx at first request. It had seemed to be mitigating itself. There are still we are still receiving before in general and we got working through those field asks both. We're researching other avenues but at the time coming right now it's the state. with just working through that. Was it overwhelming for for It was It was a heavy request. It was heavy. Okay. Okay.

That was a no question. Shoot. Never mind. Tonight's agenda, we have a couple of the Yes. You're sticking with the same I I have I have a question for Richard maybe on that issue because we have two invoices here to sign for stuff that we're voting on tonight. Are we are we These two items are things that we're going to be voting on tonight. Correct. It's uh the uh blanket PO for animal control services.

Yeah. Is that is that okay for us to sign this before we vote on it as POS? pretty animal. Once again, those are annuals that I don't have anything else for you. Thank you. So, while you're here, uh, Charles Grimshaw, is that the same person we've had over and over again?

Yes. Okay. Consistently the last threeish years, three years, I believe. Okay. Doing a great job. He is doing a great job. 10 animals in my backyard. I don't want to be a one officer, but we have 14 raccoons in the ceiling. I hear you. What are you raising them for? [laughter] They got in and we couldn't get them out. So I was diligent. Where was this at? Wow. I get that. I had a battle with a squirrel on Sunday. So, but I got it out. Right. Yeah.

Awesome. Thank you. Thank you. I'm expecting a hat. Yes. Get ready to sign a lot of stuff.

Any other questions about tonight's agenda? It's a pretty slim agenda item. Yes, I know. I know. Well, Andrew brought some uh

Andrew brought a copy of uh a lot of the grants that we're looking at and current ones that are active too. So, some questions. Uh anybody's got questions about the This is the completely new spreadsheet from last time. They do spreadsheets. Uh so the top bracket our current active grants that we're working on uh to include the license funding agency is project number how much the grant is um how much our local match is consulted is and what the status of the grant is. Uh the next one are the three capital projects that we're working on that we don't have an active grant for. Um the orange are the current grant grant opportunities that we're looking at applying for or we have applied for. Uh and then the bottom is other projects that aren't necessarily capital projects or uh have any um so we can kind of touch on some of them but all of them if there's specific ones you guys have questions on that talked about them.

Can you talk about the playground?

Yeah. So um couple big things here. The last funding round was announced uh last week and week before last. Um, we were awarded a $675,000 grant that was listed all-inclusive playground. Um, which is awesome. Unfortunately, that playground is noted to be almost $2 million, which means we're a little short of our uh total that we need for that. The good news is is two days after we were awarded the grant, the state came out with the uh I think it's called Play New York or New York Plays grant, which is a $2 million grant specifically for playground equipment. Uh the good thing about both of these grants are is we can apply for the New York Plays grant already having the $675,000 for the other grant and both of them can be used in conjunction with each other. So, our plan is is to apply, we are already working with our grant writer to apply for the plays New York grant. Uh, we're going to ask for the full $2 million because what we want to do is take the rest of the money for the all-inclusive playground, but then also use the money that's left over to update our skate so we can get both of those and kill two birds with one stone. Um, I am currently filling out the final, actually I just submitted today the final build of paperwork for the playground at South Acres, um, for the $250,000 grant that you have. So hopefully they will soon be telling us to go ahead and get that ordered. Uh tonight on the agenda you'll see there is a capital project revision for the parks project for the $100,000 that is for the botchi ball court um because this is one of the last steps that they are requiring for us to go ahead and get the uh all the paperwork

wrapped up for that project so we can get those installed. So hopefully come springtime we'll be working on patching ball and um a new playground at Salakers. Um another thing that we're looking at, another grant that came out is a municipal parks and recreation grant. Uh we are going to apply for that grant for the barn roof rehab. Uh what else we're going to include in there is the bathroom portion in that uh barn because that barn is open to the public because the section of that used to house bathrooms, but we had to shut the bathrooms down because the roof leaked which caused electrical problems the bathrooms. So if we could use this grant to pay for the roof to be replaced and do the bathroom rehab that needs to be done. And then we're also looking at some possible site lighting out there

and the community rooms. We're going to get the community room back open in the barn. Right. So that that that we can still open up currently. We hope we can rehab that whole building. Yep. So that uh so that's one of the other grants that we're looking at applying for making that um it says funding source general fund. So is that is that a split like a 8020 split or uh which one are you looking at? Um South Acres Farm Roof design. So that um so yeah. So right that's different. So that was the design phase. We went out. Okay. Mike had somebody come in and give us an estimate. Well, that was done couple years ago.

EPA did the design and started working out like a year and a half ago, two years. They've actually almost Yeah, they've almost completed that. So, now that they have that, we can actually take that provide that as part of the grant and say, "Hey, we've already spent x amount of dollars. We're invested in this. We're more than likely to get the grant because we've already set money um on a project." separately. Yeah, it's two different things. Yeah.

So, another uh another big project that I just submitted the pre-application for today is the TAP grant for the intersection of Ruber Street, Prospect, and George Angel. So, you're going to hear it, so I might as well say it. Um probably 20 years ago, they looked at putting a roundabout in that intersection. They did put one Well, they put a mini roundabout in. Yeah. wasn't real. So, if you go back and look at all the paperwork, they basically tried stuffing a roundabout in the exact same footprint that is currently there for the intersection. Right.

What we are looking to do is put a fulls size roundabout in there to help alleviate the traffic problems that are being caused from the school district when they're riding out because there are signs there to tell people they can only make a right-hand turn. Nobody's obeying those signs. It's causing a bunch of problems. Uh the most effective thing to do there is going to be around. So where are you gonna where are you going to take land from tooth? It'll be the school district. We're going to work in conjunction with the school. Yep. We got to This is school on River Street. Oh, you did about Mr. Lebron said parking lot. You can make it safer in and out. He said do what what it needs to be done.

Yeah. Actually, probably three or four months ago, we actually had a high school student who came in and [clears throat] gave us a presentation about the safety concerns that high school students had at that intersection. Uh, it's something that we have been looking at for a few years now, but they obviously had issues with it 20 years ago because they tried, you know, doing a mini roundabout there, but it was just too small. They couldn't get trucks around, fire trucks. They could. They just drove right over it. Yeah. Yeah. [laughter] And then the combined with the infrastructure upgrades that we need on Ruber Street, this would work hand in hand. I mean, we could come down the hill with a I think probably 18 or 24 inch line and that that would solidify that side of town. Well, that's going to be done in conjunction with the correct

correct. We would do infrastructure. You know, there's no sense in looking at these make pretty jobs. We have to get in the ground a lot of these places. We need to mitigate storm water down Luger Street as well. We need a trunk line down there. So, it's a tenfold thing. So, in these sections there's there are grant writers that look like they're like part of Legudas and maybe Lake Champling there.

Yeah. Or like Sorry, I can't see that. It's very tiny. Um and that is that built into the grant when you write the grant they pay themselves out of it. So some so some of them are uh Barnes & Judas we actually pay them a fee every year to be our grant writer. So they they work we have a set fee that they use they pull from that fee um late regional lake regional planning they uh they take it out of the grant right port or the infration season and Barton Judas does take it out of that if it's there when if they administer the grant for us and it's comes out of the grant they get their money from that

most most of the grants that they do I end up doing all the administration for um there's some of the grants uh that we've got that will not only allow me to do the administration but it'll allow me to do the construction inspection on them as well. Um so that'll say it's a little bit too construction. You have something to say, sir. With that roundabout evaluation and then looking at this control light, will we be able to take that out? I'm hoping just getting rid of that light by putting that and then you have the double flasher light, right? Take that out. Yep.

Well, and we get infrastructure upgrades out of it, too. You know, it's a it's it's it's, you know, three-fold. making that safer waste water is going to be in that right the the like I remember when we had a storm event maybe last year the year before there was actually water coming up from the uh manhole and the that's at the college yeah that's down further it was at the high school was it at the high school yeah there's water actually coming up from the okay remember we had that big right flood downtown basically so I wonder that might be the the line that comes from town could be is the water pumping up from the the town is running a new 12-in force main down Ruger Street.

So, this is perfect opportunity for us to upgrade our size, too, because we're going to go from a 12 to a 12 essentially. So, we need to the town has agreed to actually increase the size. We have a we have one place where our line reduces to a 10 and they're actually going to put a 24 inch line in it. 18 or 24 18 inch. So they're going to replace that for us because there's, you know, while they're in the gravel. So we're actually working with the town on a few things. Yeah. Recreation's a big one. We actually It was supposed to be a snowshoe event today.

You guys got any other questions on these pictures? gonna be a busy year. Yes, let's hope. Um, about the Jerry Drive crosswalk, is that something that is too early to be on this list?

Yeah. So, what what I'm hoping is that later in this year they're going to come out with what's called another piece after pedestrian safety action plan that's for a smaller project like that. Um, we were awarded one a few years ago where we did the intersections of uh Cornelia and Beman and Cornelia to North Cath Street where we put push button crosswalks in, rettime the lights, um, redid all the crosswalks and everything. So, that's the type of project that would fit into that grant. Um, TAP would have been okay for it. The problem with TAP is that is a $10 million grant opportunity and I would have hated to use a $10 million grant opportunity on something that may have only been a half a million to a million dollar project.

Yeah. Um so I'm And that's going to have to be part of a traffic study, too. They make a recommendation not even near there. Could be down the road, could be someplace else. Yeah. So they look they look at the whole thing and determined what needed done to be able to get that neighborhood safely across. Yeah. Right now the concern is the middle school and the high school. Those have been you know we've been avoiding those intersections for how many years? Yeah. And there's a lot of kids coming out of that middle school. You know firsthand. Yeah. Yeah. I mean it's we we need to clean that up. Yeah.

Yeah. There's a US EDA grant that has the maximum amount of $20 million. Um, we're looking at applying for that grant for the Oak Street Broad Street corridor. Nice. Right there. And the school wants to work with us on making that into a fourth. So, we put it right there. Okay. And it would really I think it would really clean that up. Yeah. Kind of realigning their exit so it's not offset, right? If you have people that come and then they shoot across. Yeah. That's really It's really sketchy. We need we have 1880 water lines under the ground there. So we get into the ground and get those water lines in place. How how far up does that go?

We would go from I think we're correct me if I'm wrong. South Street down to Mar Goodyear about Goodyear and then from down to Cornelius Street on Oak Street. It' be a T. Oh, okay. Down. Okay. And that would give us um I mean one of the big things too is we have no trunk line in the center.

Yeah. So it's it's this project is more about storm water separations. Um the the grant itself is for flooding issues that we've had um with those being combined sewers down through there and the microverse that we've had over the last few years. passing issues in that world using that health and we really looking at 90 10 80 staying away from those 50.

Yeah. Especially when you get into some of these high high-end jobs. I mean you know that that that project in Oak Street could go up to seven eight million. we can stay under 10% and that should be a lot better.

Yeah. You're basically looking at uh that one we need 20 grants, right? So if you do the full 20 million overs, but a lot of those grants you need to funding like it's like a tornado all over the place that we'll pay $19 million to redo just the intersection. We're not just redoing the intersection all the way from McDonald's down to Boston Avenue. um out of the first out of 16 not 80 and our aotment would end up being because we have a 92% grant for it. So we're on the hook for 8% which would be about $1.5 million. Um I can use chips funding for our little match. So essentially that project really

kind of like barber street. I did the same thing with barber street. We had a little bit of water. Um, we had a little bit of sewer and then we used chips funding for I think like five or six million. Yeah. And then everything else was was you'll be redoing all the water underneath there, right? Where it all comes together, doesn't it? Uh, the manifold. Yeah. That that will come out of the water fund. So that we'll have to pay for that watering out. Um because the grant doesn't cover cover that field. Um but it's going to cover the sidewalks in

I missed I'm sorry I missed the part about the actual crossing for the high school students. So yeah, you have the roundabout changing the traffic. Is there going to be an actual crossing? So there will be up and down. Yep. So there will be frostings around the whole the whole round developer. Yep. Yep. Because that whole grant is for uh it's a transportation alternative grant. So it's more about making the door that pedestrian and bicycle safety is in mind than it is necessarily for the vehicular traffic. But um kids kids can't cross the street. They're walking half a mile of the road across the street. I can't cross the street.

Yeah. I mean it's it's insane. So yeah, this will definitely help. Uh, one other thing that I want to point out, but maybe you're not already aware, we were awarded, I think, one almost $1.2 million. Let me see here. City. Yeah, $1.125 million for the city beach. Um, that is also for a new playground out at the beach. Is that under yellow? Uh, yep, that's under yellow. Under city beach, uh, waterfront accessibility.

Yep. So, we'll be able to put a new playground out there. We'll be able to do some new seating areas, hopefully some shade areas because our trees out there are the ones that are left aren't going to be there much longer. We did end up having to cut down probably 10 to 15 ash trees that were dead. Um, so we're losing our shade out there very quickly. So whether it's purchasing some gazeos to put out there so people can sit in the gazeos, um building like a new retaining wall that's kind of offset and doing some inlays where there's some seating areas for picnic tables and stuff in those inlays. Um so we've got a few ideas for that project, but I know the mayor talking about doing biable signage out there that would be covered under the strand as well. Can

we do some replanting of trees? Yes. Yep. We can do that as well. So that's a that's a big one. We were awarded the $675,000. Awesome. And then we still have the the flooding resiliency that we got for the McDonald. Is that one here? Yep. That's under park flood resiliency improvements. Okay.$1.18 million. We've got some big ones. That's awesome. That's great. Now, is that it um is that just the wall that they're doing there?

So, what what the plan is is a wall and then possibly like a kayak launch. So, there'd be like a ramp that would actually take you down to the water so you can launch a kayak from there, go out into the lake, or if you were, you know, upstream somewhere, you put a kayak in, you came down, you could get out there. Um there's already a boat launch there, isn't there? on the other side. Whole launch is down a little bit further and off to the other side. Oh, okay. So, this is only going to be in front of This is going to be right in the park right here on this side of the the river. So, going further down Cumberland where the other uh monument is.

Nope. This is going to be right here. It's going to replace the wall from the Bridge Street Bridge down to the train bridge. Okay. So because that wall is completely falling apart. We had a tree that fell down all in. So we're going to replace that wall and then redo the concert area that they sometimes they have concerts down there that little ground space. Um I know MLB has some electric there. So we're going to rehab that area. So maybe we can do something with that. Make that a little bit better and more conducive to that because the other the other part is that the stairway that leads down into the water is falling apart.

Yes. So we had actually thought about doing the grant for both of those, but the grant would only allow us to apply for one partial because they're two separate. Oh, they're two separate. Yeah. Even though it's one continuous wall, isn't it? No. after the No, because this wall ends at it ties into the training trestle and then that wall that wall ends just to the tree lot. It should have got back this way. Okay. So, couldn't apply for both of them at the same time. So, this one was the most pressing one because it was in worse shape. Yeah.

I I got I got Thank you. Um, I don't know if I want if I need to ask if she No, I probably don't. But Rich has something this has to do with the fire department, but when it says a blanket peel for whatever, whatever, whatever. So, we're paying this. And it says for 2026 we're paying this assuming it's going to not go any higher but it could go lower.

That's the PO that it's going to encumber part of the budget is purchase whatever the commodity is for the year. Okay.

Okay. Okay. There's quite a few of them. Wait, what?

Any other questions? I have nothing. I have a question about some of these. Are you looking at the the cost of like the EPW for gas. Yeah. Oh, I'm wondering about any of the things we're signing that have to do with like agreements with software providers or cloud hosting or anything like that. Is there anyone that's trying to negotiate for better rates for any of those? We are going out to RFP pretty quick, I believe. Correct.

Yeah. Oh, we are working on that every day. We have cut it down how much in the last year Richard. We really have no excessive conventions. praising what we had computers all installed this week and next week middle of pro

$5 a month for users we got 29 but that's a huge cost we can get back to using Microsoft it's going to be reduced by half the other leg of them

and that's the one of transparency and now we're all I mean it's going through a lot of demonstrations of software. Um we've got five systems 35,000 a year. Yeah.

Every time they change it and move it into a new basic version, we lose functionality. I withheld $6,000 from two years ago because they still have thermal and things that don't work pretty. Wow. So the demos were still more efficiency obviously being much better.

Yeah. easier screens, more flow, connectivity through the whole system. A customer is a customer everywhere, not just you know customer, but also the best quote I've got so far a year.

Well, we haven't finished our analysis yet. We're going to be getting all decision on purchase which means putting money down this year on a new system. It's going to be more and maybe implementing a time system for citywide time system. every month

and possible that your schedule systems were paying separate money by using something we all get a chance to test it the four quarters but you know four quarter systems inventory system scannable barcodes on here for ting counting u nuts because we need that kind of system we have to get rid of this one we bought 27 $750,000 huge mistake

what why why too much systems It was way too expensive and it was something that we didn't say everybody has to use. That's one of the problems because back then it was like, well, that's just for finance. We're not going to use that anyhow. It was just way too har. Yes. And you know, we had to interface those two systems. It was a hot pouch of systems that trying to get one integrated in the books for every is there is there any way the future for everybody

is there any cost associated with transferring the data over to a new system? Yes. Yes. We've got one quote so far say $312,000. Most of that is the annual have now but you don't see better it's a process. Okay. Thank you. And the field is the contract services. Sounds good.

Every dollar we look at every day that's we don't have to spend it. We don't have to spend it. This is this anything else?

Nothing else. With nothing else, we will I'll adjourn work session and we'll reconvene at 5:30. I chose glorious crampage.