Common Council - Regular Meeting

I saw that. Yeah. No, I gave him two of the peppermint Kit Kats like You're welcome. Oh, yeah. I haven't tried them yet. Hey, we'll call the work session door. Um questions about I just want to start this off um with Chief Lawless and Chief um Trombllay. I'm sorry, I'm tired. And um the reason I'm doing that now is because Chief Wallace has to leave early.

So um I just wanted to I guess toot their horn. Tuesday morning there was a severe fire in Colin Park. For those of you who don't know, and I'm sure everyone doesn't, I live right next door to that. Right next door. Coming down the street and I see all these lights and all these um fire trucks in front of my house. Needless to say, I was in a panic. Um that's beside the point. The situation was the fire hydrant was frozen. And these guys, I I just after I got home, Jane went back out. These guys, I am so completely impressed with the way they did everything. I mean, they had all the all their units were out there. Am I right? All your trucks were there. The way they all worked together because they had to call the town in because water had to be through the trucks. And I'm just I just was extremely impressed with the way they ran things. The way the guys went in, only stayed in for a certain amount of time, came back out, everything. It was very impressive. They got it under control. It was total, but that's beside the point. A bunny didn't make it. And I think a puppy. Yeah. So, I mean, there was that, but it was exemplary. And then Chief Tromblise people are are they work with the public so well because by the time I got down I was absolutely hysterical because I thought it was my house and they had the road blocked and the officer I'm like I need to I was hysterical at first I thought you know and I just needed to get to my house. He's like it's not your

house just go. um you can't go over the hose and it's like the hose wasn't anyway it was they just were so professional and it was just I just was so totally impressed with it all. I don't even know how the words are escaping me because it was a bad situation with that with the hydrant being froze up. So many alternative had to be taken that it was just great and you guys all worked together. Chief Trombl's people were so amazing the way it all flowed. They had to have the town come in and it was just wonderful. It I just kudos to both of you. I'm I'm sorry, but it was fantastic. So,

uh that what you saw was all right. So, these departments work really well together. And DPW Oh, and that's right. DPW had to come in. MLDD had to come in and he had three of his people, four of his people there immediately working to try to get us one. Yeah. I didn't mean to forget you, but I just it it No, they were there and and relationship that we all have. Yep. And that we have plans in place and we practice and we train and that's why they work. So, yeah. Well, I think the other thing to be mentioned too is Collins was built at a time when building codes weren't maybe what they are today, right?

It would not be built, Joe. You wouldn't allow that today. The what the the the setbacks and it's a it's the thing that should be mention mentioned is the fact that it it was contained to one unit. The the the neighboring unit, I mean, they're so close together. I mean, it could have been really catastrophic had we lost that whole park. And and and Joe, I mean, the setbacks are so different today, right? Uh yeah, for mobile home way different lot. Yeah, we wouldn't allow that today and they're so close and I mean it was really good job. So was able to see big starting building. Oh, it was Yeah.

Yeah. Thank god the lot on the other side was empty, but it just the ro the way you guys were rotating in and out of there and um it it was just just a team all of you everyone. It was just I mean it was really being there to see all of it from start to finish was was pretty incredible. So I just want to give a big shout out. That's all. You can go to now. Thank you again.

Is this your leaison stuff? Yeah. So, from a lessison standpoint, the three departments I have, I would I wasn't sure how to play it. Um, so everybody got a report back to me and questions answered. So, do I still call them up or do I give a brief synopsis or

what do you whatever you want to do, sir? I mean, whatever you want to do. I mean, you know, I you've got a couple community development, you've got some if you're DPW and some others. Yeah. Um, I think first foremost I think we should thank all the city employees because the way the weather's been has been brutally cold, whether it's electric, the building inspector, everybody and DPW, we've had waterline breaks and you know what? It's a pretty resilient city. Pretty proud of the folks that we have employed. So, absolutely. So, I don't have to say that part now. So, it's all good.

Well, no, it's I think it needs to be made. I mean, you know, everybody's in there. you know, you stay home warm in bed and there are people outside making sure we have electricity, water, and our sewer still flowing and they're here. So, all right. Um, and I think Andrew, instead of I think we'll just have you come up. We'll just give a brief.

Um, I think that's a lot easier, especially the two that we're trying to use to pay for our portion. So, you want to talk about grants? Yeah, just do one quick run through then we don't have

So, so we kind of went over the spreadsheet here that I handed out to you guys last week. Um, not a whole lot has changed on it. Um, one thing that we have done that's a little bit different from last time we talked about it was we put the the pre-application in for the TAP grant. Now, one of the items you're going to see on the agenda tonight is um you guys approving the use of our I think it's like 1 something million for the Taff is out here 1.137 million. Um that amount was reimburseable through CHIPS funding. So we just this is kind of a a formality that we have to do, but this is something that we think we would typically do before the application is submitted, but because the deadline was so short and we only have meetings every other week, we had to submit the application prior to getting this approved. Um, so that's one of the items that are on there for tonight's agenda. Um, I did have a meeting today with Sarakan Associates. Um, we've got two grant funding opportunities that are going on at City Beach. So, we have our our current uh beach dune restoration project, which we have a local match of I think $300,000 for. And then we were just awarded the um the beach waterfront accessibility grant. These two projects are going to kind of overlap with each other. Um, so what I'm going to do is once I have the contact for the accessibility project, uh, I'm going to try to get a Zoom meeting together with both funding agencies because I want to see if we can just kind of merge these two projects, kind of make them one. But what I'm really interested is seeing if they will allow us to use the same local match. So, if we have $300,000 for one and $300,000 for another, instead of paying $600,000, maybe just paying $300,000

and hopefully they'll allow us to do that. They have allowed that to happen some agencies um in the past. So, we're going to check and see if they'll let us do that. Save us a little bit of money and some of that in kind too. So, it's not exactly 300,000. We may be using front end loaders or whatever we may it be labor and towards that,

right? So, the current grant we have allows for uh inind services. I'm not sure that the the other one allows for it, but um it could be something as simple as, you know, paying the city's paying for the playground and that's the money that we we put forward as our share. So, there there's a whole bunch of different things we can do there um for that. Um so, that's kind of the the new stuff that's going on with the grants. Um, we do have quite a few agenda items tonight. Um, Emma's got a few for events, uh, road closures, stuff like that.

We have to talk about the Bailey Avenue, one of the lighting thing down there. We may have to defer that to something else. Okay. To use that fun, the grant opportunity. Okay. So, I was thinking maybe raining water and sewer to regionally. Okay. you know, it would be a really good project for that type of vote. So, we'll talk to answer that anyway. Um, so does anybody have any questions on any of the resolutions that we have on to? Um, we've got I mean, there's a there's a hodgepodge of stuff on there. Pretty basic. I did about the river the the boot waste reduction which I think is awesome. Um,

is this is this is just authorizing us to work with them. So this is selecting the hauler. Yep. So we when we put out the RFPs, we had two haulers. We had Cassello and then we had River. Um River was cheaper by quite a bit, almost a third of what Cassello was. Um so we've opted to move forward with with River. This is a pilot program, too. So the county's paying for this till7. That's what I was wondering is like how is it like is it going to be I noticed on their um on their documents that they sent that you could look at they had most of them were community drop offs or community things. Is that what we're doing?

Yep. So this will be this will be a metal food waste bin. It's all controlled by an app. Um but it also has a keypad. So if you have older people who don't um don't use apps and they just want to use the keypad. We give them the code. It opens the door up so they can dump their material in there and then they close it and and walk away. Would everybody get a different code or No, it's just a generic code, but you have to sign up for it. Um, but there's a way to identify who it is. Yeah. Not sure. Yeah. I'm not sure with the It also alerts the company when it's getting pulled. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. So, if if they have to So, what we It gives us the data. So, if we find that

right now, we're going to set up weekly pickups, which is what the hundred I think it was $105 a month. Um, if we find that maybe we don't have to pick up every week, we only have to pick up every two weeks, that's going to save us some money. So, we can look at the data at the end of the year of two years and say, "Okay, we're going to adjust or, hey, this is really popular. Um, we want to add some more of these locations." The health department says that they will still buy things for us up until we can add locations. How many are we having? So, right now, we're going to start with two. Yep. We're going to publicize, I assume.

Yep. will advertise it on on Facebook and everything and then people can um they can come sign up or there's an app that they can download and they can sign up through the app. But health department has also purchased I think there were two gallon containers that we can give to people and they can uh bring them home. They fill the two gallon containers up and they go and dump them in. It's they fill out you give them a bucket they're they're good. Nice. Yeah. Pretty cool, Jen. Yeah. Oh, yeah. I I deal directly with Yeah, I know. You look like you had something you wanted to add. So, no, it was good. We had a really good meeting with them the other day.

Well, it's a whole group of people that just you're here.

So, we've got uh road closure for events, beer gardens, uh fishing tournaments, uh street closure for some other events. Uh we have travel request for our uh planning technician to go to the state uh planning uh seminar. Uh we just talked about the river talked about tap already. Um you'll see we have Mike and I both have some capital projects. Essentially what's happening is anytime we have a capital project that we we know is going to be funded um best to create an individual capital project for that instead of like lumping a bunch together. So what this is is now that we've been awarded certain grants we're creating those capital projects. Um that way we can start uh we'll have the money set aside so we can start hiring uh design firms and such. So then we pay it and then we get reimbured for it. So, this just allocates the the money for those projects. Um 7.34, that's a technical services contract with CT Mail and Associates. So, what that is is every six years as part of the Derky Street, the original Derky Street um site contamination cleanup, we have to do periodic site reviews um where we are looking to make sure that water quality and water table's good. And then the building, they actually go in and analyze the the building next door. the farmers market.

Uh not the farmers market but the um the threetory I forget what it is. Um they've had so many different bank is

Yeah. Yes. So they go in there, look at the foundation, make sure that the foundation's not cracking. If it's cracking, um the building owners, we have an agreement with the building owners where they have to make repairs to that building based upon this report. Um so DEEC requires that we do this periodic report every six years. We're at that six years. So essentially, it says that it's a um even though it's kind of a new a new project, they they call it a change order because they're taking the original um the original project cost and they're just adding the $3,600 to that cost as a change order. So it's it I guess technically it's a change order, but it's it's a new project because it's six years old. So that's uh that's what you'll be approving if you choose to. Will that one be so that we'll see this 3600 with this same contract that goes up to 45,000? Like they're just going to keep adding to that every six years into perpetuity.

Yeah, I would I would assume. So, you know, I think last time they did it, it was a little bit less than 3600. I think it was like 32. So, you know, six years from now, it might be $4,000. So, they'll they'll do a change order for $4,000 and that number will go up to 49,000. Any questions?

No, I had one other more of a comment than a question and it's about the beer gardens. Um the only which I think we've got a good state of fun stuff coming up and it's awesome. I'm really excited about all of it. Um, I personally would love to see the ones that are like for the parks that are directly engaged with kids that maybe we look at that differently and we can vote. I know I understand why you want to lump them all together and get approval because it makes it easier to plan and get your vendors and get them together. So, I understand with like the logistics around it, but if we could approve separately the the playgrounds, I think I mean I would just I would like to see it separated out the things that are directly related to kids. Okay. um because my vote might be different if if that were separate, you know what I mean? Because we lump it all together. So, it's just a comment. So, okay.

I mean, we'll take that into consideration next time. Thank you. Thanks, guys. I will say Halloween and the road closures. Oh, yes. Absolutely. Yeah, because last year was a little Yeah, it was it was very nightmare and so very busy last year. I I actually wasn't there to attend, but I heard that there were people everywhere. Yeah. So definitely a good idea to uh disrupt some time. Sweet. Thanks guys. Thanks.

So, um my report uh I don't need to have Mike come up. He kind of went over some basics. um 100 truckloads of snow out moved. That is a lot. Um some overtime and I don't think it's out of the ballpark. Um there's a lot of plowing that went on. So in the last couple weeks so December I believe in December been busy. Exactly. Really busy. Exactly. So, not like big storms when you keep getting these these these little ones that make the road so slippery and we just, you know, got to make it safe.

And then I had a conversation with Janelle or or I should say um and um I didn't realize that our water quality goes up in the winter because there's no bacteria that can grow at minus 10 or whatever it was. So, that's great. And uh and uh we're still doing the what 60 40% on the uh well versus the pond. So you got I got a little Yeah, I got quite quite a bit of data data from Yeah. Yeah. No, it's pretty cool. Yeah. So, you know, no need to go into detail. That's it's good.

It's good stuff. and and a shout out from her to her employees that they're doing great. So, throw that out publicly.

Well, that you're clear and I'm clear. Okay. Anybody else questions about tonight's agenda or the Aison reports? I don't really have anything. Yeah. My reports are in the regular meeting. We can talk about some meeting times, too. I mean, we've had a big discussion. I think, you know, everybody's here with Jackie. We've passed a lot of ideas around. I don't know where going to go. I I think the consensus was that the the number one option that that Juliet spelled out was the way that we wanted to go, which I think is the uh starting at four.

Start at four. just so that I just did it here and I could I was only half paying attention to what Andrew was saying because I'm you know focused on something else while my my computing power of my brain is huge just still you have just other legal things that we would have to do so well right the the issue with the open meetings is essentially the United taking action we're having discussions Right. There may not need to be a actual public meeting. That being said, from my perspective, it gets pretty dicey, right? Because

right because then you can be talking about something that just happened to be Are we having a meeting or we just right conducting city business technically? Right. Well, not not if there's no discussion. just can't speak to

but the strict application of public meetings I think it's a bad idea because you're inherently questions about one or more of the items in front you and you would be ask question so I think it's a bad idea but there there is a way to do it that's something you're interested in that but I'm not a real that was the point. I mean, us to exclude the public in any way. We just needed more time to do it, right?

Yeah. Right. So, I think I think if we could just re reccalibrate it so that instead of 4:30, we come in at 4 and still have that being a public meeting. I think that would be sufficient. So, what would that mean legally? We have to put it in the press and officially say we're going to start meetings at 4 instead of 4:30, right? Well, the meeting times are set by the rules that you pass back in January 6, right? Whatever that Thursday was. So, you have to amend that uh to to send the new start, right? But we could amend it, I assume. Yeah. So, so let's do it. Yeah. So, we just need to put together a resolution that is that specific.

Yeah. So, I'll get with that together. We'll just I'm never going to be able to be here at 4. Exactly. So it might be I think it's pretty might be 405 410 just sometimes I never late there and we're not taking 10 minutes before Right. So it's you can get there and sometimes you won't. Yeah. I mean I'm down for that. Right. think we're all in accord

absolutely no comments. But also um going back to what I did in our email just um we used to sign these things through email until November or December of 2024 and then now we're signing the paper copies of that just like um Casey there was a reason for that.

Yeah. Um so it was echosign and it was all in one document. So if you signed one you signed them all. Um, and that's kind of how the echo sign was set up. Um, and then we were getting into, well, I there was some people that said, I don't want to sign this one, but I'll sign another totally fair. Um, but there was no efficient way of doing that in echosign. Um, so that was the reason when we we are looking at new ERP systems and we might be able to set you guys up as um another portion of that requisition or approval process. So it' be right on your computer that you could do it. Um, but that we're still looking at ERP systems um and have to make a decision on that. And once we make decision on that, then there might be an updated process.

I think even if we did do the this e-signing, like the kind of the point is that we need more time to look at things and talk about things and bring new items up. At least I feel pressured sometimes to just deal with what's in front of us that day and it's hard to revisit new ideas and you know, so it's hard. Each meeting looks different. I mean, if we have an executive session, but we really sometimes we use the work session, right?

So, it's hard to judge. I mean, how do we you know, we could come in at four o'clock and pres 4:45 and we're going to stay here 45 minutes until I would rather have too much time than I think the four would be I think four o'clock is and then Jen, you know, you're get here 15 minutes. I mean, it's the work session. you know, we go through the liaison reports and we start with tonight's agenda. A lot of department heads are just hanging around for, you know, they're waiting to go to meetings. So that, you know, because some of us don't live in, some don't live in town, so hard for them to drive home and come back. So I mean, and again, it's up to you guys. You guys determine when they meet. So,

yeah, that'd be fine, right? Yeah. So, Justin, do you want to

um request a brief executive session for All right, we'll do the real property. Um, can I get a motion to go to the executive session? Council Evans. Council local. Yes. Council Evans. Yes. Council Talon. Yes. Council man. Yes. Council Colleen. Yes.

No, I'm You're good. Yep.

Okay. I'll take a motion to come out of executive session. Larence. Council mayor. Roll call, please. Councelor Bond. Yes. Councelor Evans. Yes, councelor Pal. Yes, councelor Manette. Yes, councelor Paul. Yes. Perfect. Um, for the work session.

Oh, no action was taken in um executive session. Now, call an end to the work session. Um, everybody ready? We'll go right into the council meeting. Um, call the regular meeting of the common council order. Please rise and join me in the pledge of allegiance. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for it stands one nation indivisible justice for all

scarlet could you do the role please Hughes here councelor Bond here councelor Evans here councelor she's been excused Talon, I'm here. Sorry. Councelor Manette here. Councelor Fony here. Resolve the minutes of the regular meeting of the TMAN council held on January 15th, 2026 are approved and placed on file among the public records of the city clerk's office. We get a motion to accept the minutes. Councelor Colleen. Second. Councelor Evans. Roll call, please. Councelor Bond. Yes. Councelor Evans. Yes. Councelor Talon. Yes. Councelor Manette. Yes. Councelor Colleen, yes. Carried. Anyone here this evening wishing to make public comment on the agenda

on agenda items first? Yeah. Is it onto the agenda? Sir? Okay. Just identify yourself, name and address for the record.

Uh my name is Ben Martin. I live at 108 Court in Platburg. Um, I'm speaking in favor of I believe it's 70.19, which is the uh compost program. Uh, it's I think it's a great idea for the city to have a compost program. It's it's a comedic thing for people to do to reduce their trash, to help save room in our landfills, to reuse biological material back into the soil. which you know nationwide we have a problem with soil loss. So it's it's a great thing to have something replenishing our soil. Um and it's a be a great convenience for the people of the city to have to be able to do this and it's providing a service to the city that benefits not only the city benefits the people benefits the environment benefits it's just I think it's a win all around and I think like we should definitely approve this and go forward with it. Thank you.

Thank you. Anyone else for public comment for agenda items this evening? We will move forward.

Council payroll of the various departments of the city of Platsburg for the weeks ending January 21st, 2026 in the amount of $634,22.39. January 28th, 2022 in the amount of $5,41.65 65 and February 4th, 2026 in the amount of $69,581.91. Council approved the bills by the common council for the weeks ending January 23rd, 2026 in the amount of 2,963,366. January 30th, 2026 in the amount of $1,56,84257. February 6, 2026 in the amount of $855,43169

mentioned Ron Derigan, our area 8 legislators here this evening. Thank you for showing off. Um any leaison reports you sit with me? Um library. Yes. Um so I got to attend the first um library board meeting which was on January 27th and um great group of people. I'm looking forward to working with them. Um, and they did a nice um slideshow showing um all the wonderful things that have happened at the library. And one particular thing to take of note was that there were 1,08 new patrons to the library last year. So, keep going library. That's awesome. Yeah.

And the next meeting is going to be at January 24th at 4:30 on the second floor. So, see you there if you want to come. Claring task force.

All right. So, it's going to be a big night tonight because we got resolution 7.19 to um approve the a company to do the food scraps program. So, we're very excited about that. The climate task force has been working for how long now? Like maybe two and a half, three years on this at least. So, um just got to say thank you to everybody that's on the task force that's been working on this. Um Cody, I'm looking at you. definitely been doing so much work on it and I certainly have to um give a thank you to former counselor Elizabeth Gibbs for the past work that she has done on this too. Um she is definitely a part of this and um just really excited to get it going. Um our next meeting is going to be on February 18th at 5:15 on the second floor of the library. We're going to have a little bit earlier on 5:15 just so people have a little bit more time to get there. So all right, my report. Thank you.

Item 7.12, authorized 2026 road closures for city of Platburg events. Moved by Council Town. Second, Council Adams. Any discussion? Roll call. Council Bond. Yes. Councelor Evans. Yes. Councelor Talon. Yes. Councelor Vanette. Yes. Councelor Tony. Yes. Hearing item 7.13, authorized 2026 beer gardens for city of Platsburg events. Moved by council minute. Second. Councelor Bond. Discussion. Roll call. Councelor Bond. Yes. Councelor Evans. Yes. Councelor Talon. Yes. Councelor Manette. Yes. Councelor Colleen. Yes. Gary.

Item 7.14. Mal appointment board of assessment review. Moved by Councelor Talon. Second. Councelor Evans. Roll call. Councelor Bond. Yes. Councelor Evans. Yes. Councelor Talon. Yes. Councelor Manette. Yes. Councelor Colleen, yes. Item 7.15, authorize the mayor to sign Barry's 2026 fishing tournament agreement. Councelor Colleen second. Councelor Evans. Discussion. Roll call. Do we get any revenue? Do we get any revenue off of any of these fishing tournaments?

Anytime we bring people in the city, we're going to make something, right? Um, Emma, not sure. I mean, that's a more of a chamber. The chamber runs no events, so not sure about the revenue. I I'll get you an answer on that, but I do believe they're paid for by the chamber. Yeah, they all pay for their own, but I I'll get you an exact number for that. And the chamber pays for a lot of the stuff, you know, that's they co-sponsor a lot of the events, too. like the uh jet ski they pay I was just currently put out city resources and then don't get it you know we had people in the city and we don't get anything from right

don't um I don't think city resources are really involved right we don't we don't have a cost right call council bond yes council Evans Yes. Council Talon. Yes. Councelor Manette. Yes. Councelor Colleen. Yes. Carries. Item 7.16. Authorize street closure old soul design shop art and soul market. Move by councelor Talon. Second. Discussion. Roll call. Von. Yes. Councelor Evans. Yes. Councelor Talon. Yes. Councelor Manette. Yes. Council. Yes.

Item 7.17. Authorized beer garden old soul design shop art and soul market. Moved by councelor Talent. Second council man. Discussion. Somebody owes me a dollar. Uh, any no discussion? Roll call. Councelor Bond. Yes. Councelor Evans. Yes. Councelor Talon. Yes. Council Reette? Yes. Councelor Con? Yes. Gary. Item 7.18. request community development planning. Move by councelor Talon. Second. Councelor Evan. Any discussion? Roll call. Council Bond. Yes. Councelor Evans. Yes. Councelor Talon. Yes. Councelor Manette.

Yes. Councelor Colleen. Yes. Carrie. Item 7.19. Authorize the selection of River Valley as a contractor for the citywide food waste reduction program. Moved by councelor Powell. Second councelor Colleen. Any discussion? Um yeah um it's a great company. Um and I think we're going to work really well with them. Um other um municipalities in the county are working with them and it's been a very positive experience. So I'm ready to have a positive experience with them, too. Yeah. They set up in Champagne and Peru. They've they they're already in the county already. So, you know, we'll add to that. Yeah. Perfect. The Elizabeth Gibbs program in the city.

Yes. Well, we're gonna have CV Tech design a skin to put on the outside of this, too. So, we're going to get the kids involved and they're going to have a little contest. So, we're going to do we're gonna have a little fun with this, right? So, I I think I'm I'm excited. Let's see where it goes. And thank you for being supportive of it. It's very important. Any discuss any further discussion? Roll call. Council Bond. Yes. Council Evans. Yes. Council. Yes. Councelor Manette. Yes. Council. Yes. Item 7.20. Authorized contract.

Hey Quinn. Quinn. I'd like to have coffee with you this week if you got time. Yeah. Thanks. Item 7.20 20 authorized contract extension contract WRRF2025-01 15% sodium hypocchlorite for water resource recovery facility and water filtration plant move by councelor Colleen second councelor Manette any discussion seems a little too simplistic would you like Janelle to explain this no it's okay Janelle can tell you exactly what every one of these stand for so okay um I'm good no further discussion Roll call. Councelor Bond. Yes. Yes.

Bon. I'm sorry. Councelor Bond, I couldn't hear you. I already said yes. I couldn't hear you. I'm sorry. Said yes to my name. Yes. Council Talon. Yes. Council Manette. Yes. Councelor Colleen. Yes. Item 7.21. Authorize a landfill post culture monitoring. Moved by councelor. Second. Councelor Man, any discussion? This is this is a landfill that's way up that we have to monitor anytime near Katyville and we haven't used it in so long.

But I think we have to do this, right? Like it's part of the right. We It's uh Mike, it's How big is that? It's quite a big Yeah, it's a it's it's bigger than I mean it but it's so nice up there. years probably. Um after I came in, I reviewed some reports saying we need more red frequency. We might be able to get further reduction requiring less work and expense off but we still have 14 years

when it's all done. Is there a use for the land that we get to know or would we want to is it to it's up to us really and um it would depend on what the concentrations are at the time. We pay taxes, right? Yeah. So, yeah. Yeah. Any other discussion? Roll call. Councelor Bond. Yes. Councelor Evans. Yes. Councelor Talon. Yes. Councelor Manette. Yes. Council Colleen. Yes.

Aries. Item 7.22. Authorized grant application for New York State Department of Transportation. New York's NYS DOT transportation of education. Alternative alternatives program taper street project. Moved by council man. Second. Councelor B. Any discussion? Roll call. Councelor Bond. Yes. Councelor Evans. Yes. Councelor Town. Yes. Council Medette. Yes. Council. Yes. Carried. Item 7.23. Authorize election of cyber liability insurance coverage proposals. Moved by councelor Coning. Second. Councelor EB. Any discussion? Roll call.

Council Bond. Yes. Council Evans. Yes. Council Town. Yes. Council Bette. Yes. Council. Yes. Gary. Item 7.24. Authorizing MLB to advertise for bids. Moved by councelor Talon. Second. Councelor Evans. Discussion. Roll call. Yes. Councelor Evans. Yes. Councelor Talon. Yes. Councelor Manette. Yes. Councelor Colleen. Yes. Hearing. Item 7.25. Authorizing travel request for MLDD personnel for 2026. Moved by Councelor Colleen. Second. Councelor Evans. Discussion. Roll call. Councelor Vaughn. Yes.

Councelor Evans. Yes. Councelor Talon. Yes. Councelor Manette. Yes. Councelor Conine. Yes. Hearing. Item 7.26 authorizing a building to write off page final bill as required by the New York State Department of Public Service Regulations. Moved by Councelor Evans. Second. Councelor Colleen. Any discussion? Roll call. Councelor Bond. Yes. Councelor Evans. Yes. Council Talon. Yes. Council Manette. Yes. Council Pony. Yes. Item 7.27 establishing capital project H5110.08 2076 street services.

Fine. Councelor Evans. Second. Councilmanette. Any discussion? Is it these are all the ones that we've looked at before, right? That's just creating this is a fruit going making the way to pay with these tour chips and earth other forms of field. Any discussion? Roll call. Council. Yes. Council Evans. Yes. Counc. Yes. Council. Yes. Council.

Yes. Item 7.28. Establishing capital project H5110.09 2026 public service bill. Move by. Councelor Colleen second. Councelor Evans. Any discussions? Mike, when is Ohio Avenue going to set up? So design three4. So we may be able to put it out this summer. More likely construction. Any other discussion? Roll call.

Councilor Bond. Yes. Councelor Evans? Yes. Councilor Talon? Yes. Council Manette? Yes. Councelor Coley? Yes. Terry? Item 7.29, Establishing Capital Project H511.13 2026 Mcdana Park Blood Resiliency Improvement. Moved by Councelor Cole. Thanks, Councelor Manette. any discussion. So what when is this supposed to take place then or when is what Andrew I just wondering what the timeline is.

Yeah. So we have um we did some initial paperwork with the department of state which is the um the grant organizations that awarded it. Um so they've got a bunch of information that they have to put into their system. So, we're looking probably late spring to early summer. We're probably going out to RFP for design. That's just to go out for design. That's just to go for And that's this summer say.

Yep. So, you're talking this would probably be um designed over the wintertime, maybe for 2027 construction. 2027 is going to be a very busy year for construction. You're talking probably that project, the Coronation Street project is 2027 construction. very very job security. All right, that's all I had. Okay, thank you though. Any other questions or discussion? Roll call. Council Von, yes. Councelor Evans, yes. Council Talon, yes. Council Lynette, yes. Colleen, yes.

Item 7.2, establishing capital project H511.11 2026 Oak Street safe oops to school. Moved by Shelley Palen. Second, councelor Evans. Any discussion? Oh, I should have just told Andrew to stay up here. This is the sidewalk. Steps in. This is all the sidewalk. This is the sidewalks, but is it also the parking?

So, so no, essentially what this project is is to take our three foot wide sidewalks um that go from Elm Street to uh just past Bailey Avenue, I think, to Riley. um and pick the most briefest sidewalks, making bip wide sidewalks, addressing the intersection with Bailey Avenue. Um we have to mitigate have some speeding issues in there. So, one of the things we're going to do as a traffic measure is to actually bring the curb out that intersection to make the road not narrow it for traffic, but it appears narrower. So, people tend to slow down in that area. And then the other major one is the intersection right in front of the school. Um putting drop curbs in there and uh fixing we've got some water issues where water is ponding up on the sidewalk where it's creating an icing issue in winter time. So fixing the grids at that intersection to alleviate that problem.

Okay. And that's five foot sidewalks on each side. Yes, that's right. Wait. Thank you. Michael's got an answer. Any other discussion? Roll call. Councilor Vaughn. Yes. Councelor Evans. Yes. Council Talon. Yes. Council Manette. Yes. Council. Yes. Item 7.31. Establishing capital project H5111.10 2026. Put in first. Moved by council Evans. Second. Councelor Manette. Any discussion? Roll call. Council Bond. Yes. Councelor Evans.

Yes. Council Town. Yes. Council Manette. Yes. Council, yes. Item 7.32, establishing capital project H5114, 2026, Veterans Park, US. Move by Councelor Colleen. Second, councelor Bond. Discussion. Who's going to be doing the work for this then? Andrew. We don't have supposed to be Mike. Oh, was the last one on any question. At any rate, what's the timeline for this one?

So, Veterans Park uh initially was designed and put out to bid. It's $125,000 grant. Um the project when it was put out to bid came back a half a million dollars for construction costs. So, speaking with the veterans about what they're actually looking for, we're going to narrow the scope down, uh, kind of do a small redesign, and then put the project back out to bid to hopefully get, um, better bids at a lower cost for this project. Um, timeline for this one, ideally, it would be construction this year. So, but the bid has to be

So, the bid I have to put the I have to put it back on, right? Uh, it actually doesn't have to go to bid for design. Um, I just have to speak with Barton Judas about getting the design changed and then we can put it back out to bid here probably in a couple months. Okay. And then, uh, hopefully construction. We are spending this money this year. Yes. Billy Jones gave us this money four years ago and I every time I talk to him, he says, you got, have you spent that money yet? We will spend that this year. We have three grants of his. We are going to try to get we should be able to get this close with the two. Yeah,

the second round of diligence paperwork has gone out for both of them. So, I'm hoping they're going to give me the go-ahhead to start construction. So, this is imperative. This is important. These three all three of these grants are dozing grants and they're great. I mean, they're really good projects. It's the Botchi ball with accessible accessibility at South Acres. Yep. It's the um playground at South Acres and Veterans Park. And this is stamped concrete, some lighting that veterans want have wanted for four years now. So, we are going to do our everything we can. But again, it's hard when you have $125,000 grant. The bids come back. That's, you know, huge. So, we're going to get it paired down and we're going to make Listen, yes,

this is, you know, we're we're working on being a Purple Heart community this year. Jackie, our historian, Jackie Stewart, is going to be doing paperwork for us. The veterans are I mean, we have so many veterans in Clinton County and Platburg as a whole. This is really important. We need to get this done.

I'm good. Thank you. Any other might as well? Yes. I won't have question. Any other discussion on that? Roll call. Council Vaughn. Yes. Councelor Evans. Yes. Councelor Talon. Yes. Council Manette. Yes. Council colleagues. Yes. Carried. Item 7.33 establishing capital project H5111.12 2026 a beach waterfront accessibility. Move by councelor Manette. Second councelor Talon. Any discussion? Really happy to see this get off the ground. Excellent.

Yeah. And and having it piggy back with the other grant I think is going to be imperative. We we get out there and we give bilingual signs and we make it a we got to be better hosts. I mean, we ask people to go to our beach and we're not good hosts. Yeah. And that's this is going to be will make us these two will make this is going to encompass that like signage and

Yeah. So, so this one is signage. It's uh like seating areas. Um obviously if you guys have been out there in the last couple years, those big uh cottonwood trees that we have up there are not in good sh. So there's probably going to be a few more that have to come down. So whether it's gazeos or shade screens, uh something out there for shade and then um also a playground, a big portion of the screen for a for a playground at the beach. So after and I know they talked about the playground before I started working at the city 10 years ago. So it's been a long time. Yeah.

We're going to start looking for some sponsors that are going to help us maintain this too. I mean, we're going to have a lot of new parks in the city. One thing we haven't been good at is taking care of our property. So, we're going to look for some sponsors to maybe help us. And I think out of the beach would be a great place. You know, I think there's no more beautiful beach, a freshwater beach in America. So, it's going to be pretty I'm pretty excited about this. Any other discussions? Roll call. Council von. Yes. Councilor Evans. Yes. Council Talent. Yes. Councilman Edge. Yes. Council, yes. carries. Item 7.34 authorized director of community development to sign a technical services contract with CT hail associate.

Moved by councelor man. Second councelor Evans. Discussion. No discussion. Roll call. Council Bond. Yes. Councelor Evans. Yes. Councilor Talon. Yes. Council Manette. Yes. Councilor Colleen. Yes. Perry. The next one, Andrew, the next one's actually us. Yes, technically item 7.35 may appoint appointment.

Moved by councelor Talon second. Councelor Manette. Any discussion? Oh, no discussion. Well, let me give you Joe Rotella who love came in the other day to talk about a few things downtown, which was really great. And while he was here, he used to be the uh the head of the planning board. and we have a couple spots. So, he asked me for a couple things and I asked him. It worked out great. He gave me some really good feedback about downtown and we have another planning board member that we needed. So, anyways, um roll call. Councelor Bond, yes. Councelor Evans, yes. Council Town, yes. Council Lette, yes. Council Tony,

yes. Hearing item 7.36, authorizing MLDD to award bid bid number 2025-10. Moved by councelor Colleen second councelor Evans discussion roll call yes councelor Evans yes yes council yes councelor yes item 7.37 authorized retainer agreement both involve appraisal and consulting move by councelor colle second councelor man any discussion Roll call. Councelor Bond. Yes. Councelor Evans. Yes. Councelor Talon. Yes. Councelor Manette. Yes.

Councelor Colleen. Yes. Item 7.38. Authorizing with proposal city of Platford advantage IT security and managed services. Moved by councelor Evans. Second. Any discussion? Roll call. Council Vaughn. Yes. Councilor Evans. Yes. Council Talon. Yes. Council. Yes. Yes. Emily Reinhardt, could you come up to the podium for a second?

Want wish you a happy birthday. If I had known, I would have brought a cake. I did not know. You had told me, I would have made sure. But happy birthday and hope you have any more.

Um, is there any new business? No new business. Anyone wishing to make public comment for this evening? Thanks. Yes. How are you?

Um, so I am Jennifer Jwitt and I live in Champlne, New York. I am here because Sally Martin Luther King. I I have a dream that one day Plat City Press Republican has right on the front page that the city of Plford has passed their dog tathering law and that you guys will set the example for everybody. You may not realize how very important it is. All these organizations get notified that we passed this law. It's a very very big deal and honor and it's really celebrated. Um I'm here to provide more information on the dog tethering law, specifically on writing a city law because a city law is different than a rural law. This is important to a lot of people in the city of Platsburg and the rest of Clint County. We'd like to see this move forward. Anyone who researches dog tethering laws will see that city laws are more strict than rural laws. And there are many reasons for this. After the last meeting, I raised the question on the Platsburg Street team Facebook page on whether people felt the city of Platsburg should proceed with a dog tethering law. We received an overwhelming response and the comments were incredible. There was no negativity, only a plea to proceed. Some people may believe that a city doesn't need a law as much of the as much as the small towns, but that's not true at all. Cities need a law more so because people live so close together in proximity. Chain dogs are a public safety threat. They create a noise nuisance and more animal welfare concerns compared to in the rural towns. In cities, chain dogs are more likely to act territorial and aggressively towards pedestrians passing by. Those can be children, pets, or the elderly. I've experienced this for myself just in the village of Champlain where houses are also close together. The village of Champlne now has a law in place which has cut down on their public safety threat. When I first moved moved here, I'd walk my dogs and chain dogs often broke their chain and came after me on more than one occasion. It scared the living daylights out of me. They

don't know when um you don't know when a dog runs towards you, if it's aggressive or if it's friendly. On one occasion, my cedar senior golden retriever was attacked by an aggressive dog and she needed stitches. She wasn't the same for a heater. I was always nervous after that, worried it would happen again. What happens if an elderly person is mauled or a small child? Chain dogs are 2.8 times more likely to attack than house dogs. Combine the fact that you have ice and snow, and some of them can go down very quickly when a dog is chasing after them. Chain dogs are commonly associated with crime, dog fighting, illegal gambling, and often are victims of animal abuse and neglect, and are very often linked to domestic violence. says all of those hand in hand. Because of these reasons, cities all over the United the New York State have strict dog tethering laws in place and the city of Platsburg shouldn't be an exception. Cities such as Albany, Buffalo, New York City, Niagara Falls, Rochester, Syracuse, and Yoners all have a strict dog tethering law in place. Alby's law, for instance, doesn't allow any tethering between 700 p.m. and 6:00 a.m. It's very strict. Niagara Falls has a temperature restriction, and New York City has a time tethering law with no more than three hours of tethering in a 12-h hour period, as well as no tethering from 7:00 p.m. to 6:00 a.m. Just like Albany, you have your own police force, which will make enforcement easier. We don't expect the police to patrol looking for chain dogs. Instead, if a neighbor makes a call, at least you have a law in place and a police force available to respond. It's important to compare the city of Plattsburg to other cities around New York State. We may be in Clayton County, but this is still a city of what, 19,000 people here in Platsburgh. Frankly, it's irresponsible to not make a a law or take the matter seriously and put a dog tethering law in place. If a dog attack hasn't happened yet, it's inevitable and it will happen. At least with the law in

place, it shows that the city council has taken steps to prevent this possible public safety threat. and you didn't just ignore it. So, thank you. Mr. Mayor, would you mind if I made a comment? Go ahead, Miss Jew. Yeah.

First off, let me tell you that I admire your dedication and conviction towards this very sensitive topic. And I also want to say I appreciate your focus and determination. However, with someone with animal abusive OCD harm disorder, I can say the way you describe exactly what these dogs go through and share these very graphic videos to bring awareness to everyone is often extremely overwhelming. For myself, this is not to say I don't understand why you do this. I definitely do and I support it 100%. and I hope that the city is able to work together with you to come up with the law that works best for you and the city.

Thank you, Julie. I appreciate that. And I'm sorry if it upsets you in this graphic. Unfortunately, animal abuse can be graphic. Yeah, it can. But we all don't need to hear it. Not me. And I've excused myself as you know. And um I'm just letting you know why I do it. And I'm letting everyone else know why I do it. It's a horrible disability and I don't like it. I apologize. Any other public comment?

Um, I have a couple items that I say I 100% agree with you. Um, I have a dog. I've had dogs. They're members of the family. You wouldn't leave a child outside for eight hours a day to by themselves. And I don't think we should do that with dogs. So, if you want a lawn or you should buy a lawn or not a dog. Yes. I mean, goldfish are great if you want something you don't have to take care of. There you go.

Um, so there was a discussion earlier in the working group meeting about moving the working group meeting earlier from 4:30 to 4. And I understand there are things that this council has to do when your time is valuable um as far as signing papers, payroll, all that stuff that most people are not as the public are not going to be able to understand or comment on. And so if those things need to be done in a meeting that is earlier, I think that's fine. I would say, however, if you're having a public meeting where you're discussing items on the agenda, it should really be outside of most people's working hours. So, have moving it to four allows less people to participate in the democracy of this city. And like we can see just here, there are more people here now at 6:00 when the meeting started at 5:30 than there were during the working group because people just can't be here at that time. Like they have other obligations. They have work, they have child care, they have whatever. Um, so I think an effort should be made if you're having a public meeting that you want to let the public know about things, it should be allowing working people to come to it. And it was mentioned when we were discussing this back here that you have a live stream of it, which is great. 100% support that so people can see the proceedings if they can't be here because they have to be home or they have to be something. But someone who is driving a bus, working at Chipotle, you know, having to have a retail job can't watch a live stream of of a public meeting while they're at work. So I think if you're talking about rescheduling meetings, I think you need to consider that working people have a

role in our democracy as much as people who can who don't have obligations during working hours. So just when you're talking about rescheduling meetings, especially if they're public meetings, consider that working people should have a role in this too and we should make it available at times that working people can be them. Second thing um I wanted to mention is that and I was reminded because there is a item on there was an item on agenda about improving the city beach waterfront and I was I walk my dog down at the beach a lot and used the trail on the back and the wooden the wooden beachfront uh walkway was removed this year which I understand why I need to be removed cuz it was very old and it was it was falling apart and it needed to be removed. However, when it when it was removed and I came back, it was replaced with black top and I understand the reasoning for that because it, you know, it's probably easier to get it done. It's faster, it's cheaper, it's whatever. However, putting black top on a beach property seems like a bad idea to me. And I understand this is hindsight is 2020 and I should have paid attention to when the project was approved, but I'm just for future references in these projects. I mean, having black top near a beach, it's going to get hot. People are walking around without shoes. It's uncomfortable. And it it removes a certain aesthetics of the beach to not have that wooden board up there. And again, I understand that that would have been expensive and it would have

been but it would have been a nice thing to have on a property that's not only for local residents to use, but tourists come there and things like that. So, I would just encourage you in the future when you think about these projects, let's not just go with the lowest bid, the fastest thing. Let's think about the aesthetics, how it looks, and the character of the place before we go with the cheapest, fastest option. Thank you.

Any other public comment received? With no further public comment, no further reason for a executive session, I will now entertain a motion to councelor Talon. Manette. Roll call. Councelor Bond. Yes. Councelor Evans. Yes. Councelor Talon. Yes. Council Manette. Yes. Councelor Con? Yes. Meeting now. Thank you everyone for showing up. Yeah.