Common Council - workshop

you're good yes call the organization to order um any questions about tonight's attendance i just want to say thank you mike it's really nice

Every now and then I like that.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Whatever it was, I think that one book, you know, because every now and then it's like, when somebody asked me, I can't remember about my head.

I would give you more detail. But I don't put the detail on me. So then don't go in the direction you stated. So I'm kind of just asking. Great. And then Or you can ask me whatever else you want.

Ask about it. We're going to ask about it.

Yeah, what about that? You brought it up. No.

I'm not going to lie.

Well, they're important.

I think they're things that we need to talk about. OK. They're not supplies.

OK. So let's talk about them.

The first one is asphalt installation. So obviously, we've been paving. We got a promote ad. And when you're done, we finished up the West End. There's a lot of streets there. was up last week um everything accepted well we got a manual weather campaign paid um that's the good news there's a little bit of bad news is the cost of asphalt has gone up so what we buy our asphalt off county contract it's a pre-bid contract and so much for 20. builds into that contract is a bit called the asphalt escalation cost they can go up or down. Currently, I got the sheet actually today that's been out for about $3.50 a ton on what we did in April.

So what does that look like?

So, for instance, it was 4,000 tons of the west end, so you're looking at about $14,000, $15,000 process, which over all the streets, just on the asphalt material. But it's not horrible. The good news is that we have, I figured when I do the estimates with these projects, up where you have enough in the project where we don't have to purchase orders yeah i was going to say yeah and then now that even if we haven't changed the spending resolution our chips funding is yeah funny but it is important you know obviously the price of gas goes up We have four more on the Hill. We have Elizabeth Johnson,

Uh, the next one is a trees.

If you haven't been out to the oval, um, went extremely well. Uh, we're still doing a restoration. We did go out there yesterday.

us for free which is a great thing he stumped him uh stumpster dog he did him okay i can't believe he took a picture of every cottonwood every cottonwood had black in the center so if anybody says they were healthy trees they were not healthy trees we didn't take anything healthy and you know my nightmare would have been um like the one that just imploded eight foot off the ground i mean if somebody had been underneath that no right there it's the stump

yeah talking about literally the tree was say three foot on the stop they were going about six inches below the outside yeah so it was pretty pretty sketchy yeah every one of them kind of collapsed when they put the machine on it was it was uh it was overdue start and finish we got into another week like I said all we have now is get a seat if so and we shopped it around quite a bit mike got a really good price on it too so is there anything uh can you do anything about replanting with some other type of trees well unfortunately there were some decent um maple over there already um but i would propose that you know and that's one of the other things the next item is stuff branding and restoration also so we've spent i'm guessing in the neighborhood about 170 000 I've got to get the trees down first, but I still probably have 20 more trees that need to come down. So we have a, you know, the P.O. will probably get down with Janelle, so I can get the rest of these trees down. I have people calling in different situations are probably saying, I've got to stop my green space.

and then it put the giant elm falls right in penfield park on friday afternoon just uprooted it was wet well all those other trees are gone now they're not sucking up some of that water either right so the next step would be obviously after the stops are gone then we need to take a look with the emily of

And Andrew, when you talk about what species we're going to put in, a lot of people put in. It is a big discussion, but I think first things first, because he came on so fast with the ash trees, and obviously he's got cottonwood and you know we'll get serious about it's it's amazing how big those maples look now yes the cottonwoods aren't there and I think it will become healthier yeah I think you'll see though is that the size tree that you want to have um well it depends it depends out there I think yeah probably out there would be something like the maples that are there uh but they don't get out of hand either. You know, something we're addressing this into with the trees, you know, MLB trends, there are trees, I don't have guys that are, you know, certified with a little trust and key things turned out to be in the ground, but it's not not doing it. Sorry, to say, I care, which I blog, it's tearing up hers. So, one step at a time, I guess. But right now, I think we're almost to the back end of the uh then the last thing is i have singles i believe got a lot of rain uh was i lost singles this year mr happy yeah it's kind of we're we're keeping up with them um a couple of it was uh started by and over and did some more down south flat and small ones throughout the city where usually it's where a pipe comes into a structure. Pipe is small and fall apart, so we'd have to dig it up in place of pipe. That's integrated. So out in the Bay, Spring Country Village, I have a ton of that. We're going to have to come up with a plan to, you know, wallow in place the rest of that system out there.

Is that just old infrastructure?

It's old infrastructure. It's old galvanized stuff. We will be talking about next meeting on New York road by the credit union at Denver credit union here grow over the sky. So we have a single there at their apron. It's a three foot dangler color. That's close to eight foot underground. Basically, it's starting to rock. So we have a couple options. We could make a crater there. a capital project for that again the good news with that is it's covered by chip's point if it protects or it's adjacent to a road i won't touch the general fund grant of the other funds so that's the good news about that one also bad news is it's just more holes i have to make the ground or that should make the ground any questions about any of the topics besides like did you get the one down on the oh excuse me parkland water house HAB-Masyn Moyer- or out where there is one that they did something with it, they have this. HAB-Michael Leccese he or he.

: Well, someone put it home, but they didn't take it out so.

HAB-Michael Leccese he or he. : Maybe. HAB-Michael Leccese he or he. : Okay, all of their best way. HAB-Michael Leccese he or he.

: So are you doing the height and flushing years.

HAB-Michael Leccese he or he. : we're you're like and flush again public works always. HAB-Michael Leccese he or he. : I should say all it does a PD or a fire department there for a while, but it's it's a couple of things with that number one a lot of times they get pulled away. is and you know i prefer my guys kind of we we go a slower pace with the fire department typically go so i'm trying to make sure that we don't blow the system up somewhere else you know when you're fighting the fire i always tell the fire chief it's like you know don't worry about it just get the get the water flowing fight the fire i'll leave it with breaks after and change the worker chief so far and when the chief does train he doesn't make all of us we know the training speak to me.

Is the slip lining good enough? Bigger, bigger mains like on New York?

Absolutely. Absolutely. It's, you know, I would say it's, I can't give you the strategy. Basically, the struggle with it. Yeah. Good. Thanks, Mike. Okay. Yeah. Like I said, any, any questions? Uh, did you get, do you have the answer to, uh, or street seller? Yeah, I appreciate that. It's just, I think we talked about it, but I didn't. Yeah, absolutely. And if, uh, for some reason, you can say, I actually have a copy of the full order, so I can also, we might ask you. And again, that was a surprise. Also, that's this.

this is all yeah this is these are all this is all this huge this is all that we're referring tom did you want to address the council quick tom donahue one of my favorite people in the world and with the battle of plattsburgh so he wanted to address the council real quick yes and thank you for letting me uh address you um hey my name is tom donahue i'm the president of 18th portuguese and the organization that puts on the battle of plattsburgh

I've been working with the City of Platteville for the last six years, and mostly with the Mayor's office, partner with the City for the posting of the Annual Battle of the Platteville. And although most of my dealings are done with the Mayor, I understand that there are a lot more workings to City government than just the Mayor's office, and the Common Council is a big part of this. So I'm here for a few reasons. First is to say thank you for your support. My organization comes through organizations like yourself asking for support year after year and very seldom we get a chance to come back and say thank you and to me that's important. So I'm glad to be here to have the privilege and personally thank each and every one of you and actually that applies to your department heads too for making the ballot class very an important part of what you guys do and what we do. So thank you very much. Secondly, probably the better thing for you guys is I come here today to deliver a personal invitation to each and every one of you to come with us this year to help us celebrate the 100th anniversary of the McDonald Monument. 100 years ago, 7,000 people showed up in the city of Glassburg for the original dedication of the monument. This year, it turns 100 years old. And as part of the Battle of Plattsburgh weekend and partnering with the city, we are going to do a, they don't call it a rededication. I guess it's a centennial dedication of the month. So a hundred year old dedication ceremony. We hope all of you can be there. I think it's an important thing. We're going to have army bands and music and playing of the wreaths and speeches. And I won't forget 7,000 people like they did a hundred years ago. We're going to try to do what we can do. So I'm here today to offer each and every one of you an invitation. Later that evening, we're going to hold a get-together down at the boathouse down at Valcourt. And then the invitation is an offer for you folks to join us. We're going to send all these invitations out to many people, but I wanted to come here first and give them to you first. So if you want to attend, you have to do a reservation, which is on our website. There's information. So I hope that each and every one of you will join us. We'll have a great day, and it'll be a great 100-year historic event that maybe in another 100 years, somebody else will be doing. So thank you for your time. And unless you've got any questions, I'm going to go to camp. So I apologize. Are you guys here with the information? I can give it to the mayor. There's a few extra in there in case you want to invite some of them.

okay okay thank you thank you guys anybody got any more questions about tonight's agenda i do have a question for joel on the membership news on the nerc what is that just joel joel's not here Oh, I'm sorry. I'm blind. I'm sorry. I apologize. I'm sorry. Are you talking about the credits we're buying? No. It's one of our bills. Membership and NERC. NERC compliance program. I have no idea. I'm sure...

yeah bill always was a memory of that right right 35 000. they'll better do something for us at 35 000 so that's why 35 000 it's got to be something mandatory yeah what's that so they have a big buffet yeah out in vegas yeah

American Electric Reliability Act.

What is it? North American Electric Reliability Act.

What? Did it work in your city?

Sir.

Yes, I'm going to call it Reliability Act.

I don't know.

So, for the, um. With, I think if I'm just trying to understand, make sure I understand what it is. I think I do, um, based on what you guys had said, we love this, but. This the block in here that, um. Is in the email chain that has the, it looks like last year's numbers. Adds to it says the sum of platforms, bilateral congestion or revenue. Spenses and it comes to 1.3Million in change. So does that mean that when we buy the $500,000 in credits, this is what we did spend and we could have spent less? I'm not sure how this chart relates to that.

Question. I've never been included in the discussions or the charts or the numbers. I know that we're buying 73.

Right. How did they decide 73?

I don't know what they're worth, but I know that what you're supposed to do. is by our cost forward at a current rate as opposed to what escalates in the wintertime due to congestion charges or the summertime due to HVAC increased congestion charges.

So it's a stability factor. It's not like an investment. We're not like trying. It's a financial move, but it's not an investment. It's for stability so that we can have more stable rates.

As we go, generally, or last year, it's the transmission charges would kill. And that's what these credits will be applied towards the transmission. It's a, what is it? The over. I was determined terminology when it gets too cluttered in the system is what we got counted on.

So, if there's no congestion, then we're out the money. It's like, it's like buying. It's like buying insurance, but chances are, it seems like based on the information we got, if you guys were reading that right, it is going up every year. Like there's more congestion, not less.

We used to buy these on a regular basis because I forget how many years ago, 15, 16 years ago, we had a tremendous bill come in $3 million for transmission. it around the Great Lakes through Canada to Blacksburg instead of staying in the States. And it tripled our price, just like it did this past February, which I don't know why that happened, but you guys know the details. But the point was the TCCs prevent those congestion charges from being leveled up. you get to buy the power of gold. Like you're buying a commodity price when you're buying orange juice six months out of the current price.

Only 500,000 worth. That's what we're buying, right?

So 73 megawatts. How much seed farm works? 490,000 divided by 73. Exactly. Is that how it works? I don't know.

Yeah, I think so.

But we've never been involved in the MLG discussions or finances. They just have walked us further. But we stopped at some point. What was the congestion is passed everywhere, it has a 3.7. Right.

With all the ISO charges million and a half dollars for the ISO charges paid more in the transmission charges than anything should the January bill was like a million for getting it here and a million for the power.

And that's what got passed on to all of us with our high electric bills.

Except for the users of the excess power we had by the grid that was a million. two hundred and fifty thousand dollars for the surplus pilot over our one hundred and two megawatt a lot per day. So we got to charge that back to the data center and use that for what I created. So I have this ISO charge and it says a million and a half bucks for three different charges. So nobody knows what they're for. Ancillary charge. What does that mean? something extra that we just want to bill you for so you know what the history is of like why they stopped paying why they just i mean you have to ask bill tracy in trouble why they stopped buying the hedges because at one point in time we relied on those to keep our house down i'm not sure why they stopped but it seems like a good move to move them back into play again since what just happened that road was like yeah it sounded to me like it had something to do with that line in lake

Right, no, because now there's more and it doesn't matter which way it's going, it could be going north to Canada or south to us and it doesn't matter which direction it's going congestion is a traffic jam no matter what that how it's.

yeah but see if someone decides well Okay, you know they need a hundred and two megawatts we're going to ship it a different way to if we don't have a choice. We I the actual congestion church fees. They say that we're out in the power. I mean, why send power for, you know, to Ontario? That makes sense, but they do it. So then if there is no ease. So you're hedging this to prevent us in charge of that again. Power was a normal cost, but it cost you a sale. Like Dave said, it sounds like a bit of a racket, but it's like pay me now so you don't have to pay me later.

Well, and is there a way that they can turn an off valve so that they both clear off the congestion and take our money? Like, by rooting it another way, I don't know, regardless, it doesn't matter. Like, this is what we have.

This is yeah, it's all governed by the power of 32. I mean, this is their recommendation. They, they're following up. They. They said, listen, our recommendation is you buy this amount and if you want to be safe, guard your customers in the city of Plattsburgh, this is their recommendations. I mean, we can go against their recommendations, but. Right. But, I mean, that's at the end of the day, they, they regulate all this stuff. I mean, nothing more you can do.

No, I support it. I just wanted to make sure I understood it.

So the Northeast reliability commission is a federal agency, and they are in charge of the reliability for the system, making sure the system is reliable for rate payers. They do the touch testing and they inspect each of the substations every year. That's why we pay the, it's not a, it's not an option. Fair enough. Yeah, I made it for the 1. yeah, we have to, we have to pay them to make sure our equipment is up to. So, getting your car, it's like getting your car inspected just a little bit more money. Right so any other questions about tonight's agenda. I would like to request a brief executive session to discuss ongoing litigation. Could I get a motion? Councilor Manette? Councilor Evans? Roll call.

Yes.

Yes. Councilor Manette? Yes. Chair Connolly? Yes.

Okay. All right. Thank you. We'll be right back.

I will entertain a motion to come out of the executive session where no action was taken.

Councillor Townsend, Councillor Colleen.

roll call yes yes yes strike one um anything else for the work session before we go okay we will uh call the end of the work session we'll call the council meeting to order please rise and join me

Ms. Carla, could you do the poll please?

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Roll call. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes.

Any public comment this evening on agenda items? No comment. No comments. Move on.

Council approved the payrolls of the various departments of the City of Plattsburgh for the beginning of June 24, 2026 in the amount of $643,451.37. Council approved the bills audited by the Common Council for the weeks ending June 26, 2026 in the amount of $2,239,621.71 and July 3, 2026 in the amount of $724,170.67.

Manbreeze. Any reports from the liaison this evening?

Yeah, so for the past public library, the next meeting of the library board will be on July 28th at 430. on the second floor of the library. And then for Climate Smart Task Force, we had a good meeting. We tried out Adirondack Fox Brewery to see how that would work for a meeting space. And it was a beautiful outdoor meeting space. So we're actually going to have our next meeting there on July 2nd at 5.15. So all are welcome to join us.

That's it.

That's it.

Murgel, I am 7.116 authorized wrf to advertise for bids for the wr wf instrumental services.

Murgel, by. Murgel, Council haven't seen Council calling discussion. Murgel, Roll call.

Murgel, Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes. Carried. Item 7.117, authorizing for the use and purchase of trans-district and congested contracts, TCCs.

Moved by. Councillor Colleen. Second. Councillor Evans. Any discussion? Roll call.

Councillor Collins. Yes. Councillor Talon. Yes. Councillor Manette. Yes. Councillor Colleen. Yes. Carried. Item 7.118, authorizing the rule of the city's property tax and liability insurance coverage.

Moved by. Councillor Talon. Second. Councillor Evans. Any discussion? Roll call.

Councilor Evans?

Yes.

Councilor Talbot? Yes. Councilor Manette?

Yes.

Councilor Culling? Yes. Carries. Item 7.119, Establishing Capital Profit H5111.16-2026, Fire Equipment Purchase.

Move by. Councilor Culling? Second. Councilor Evans? Any discussion? Yes.

Yes.

Yes. Yes.

Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes.

Any new business to come before this council this evening?

Yeah, just we've got the 4th of July parade going on this Saturday at 2.30. I will be at the check-in table for those of you who are participating, so see you there.

Approximately 12.19 on Saturday, there will be a flyby. The Piedmont National Guard is going to fly by in McDonough, Monia as well. Um, we got on, we got on the schedule late. It's the only time they, I mean, they do everything. We couldn't do it before the parade, but at 1219, they are going to come by the McDonald money.

So we're going to have some, we're going to have some people down there or. Well, the parade doesn't start till 230, right? Right.

Right. So it's, they're going to come through here, right through right by city hall, which I think was the, it's going to be pretty good.

Yeah.

Yeah. So, and that we got this late. So, um, you know, if you can, you know, spread the word on that, because I think it's pretty cool. I mean, I love flybys and especially this year, the monument's a hundred and it's America two 50. And we have so many reasons to be out and, uh, Hopefully everybody has a great 4th of July kicks them out.

We'll take them over.

Yeah. Yeah. We got an airport over here too. We'll take them. Right? So, um, I don't have any reason for an executive session. Does anyone else. Um, any public comment this evening on regular items. With no comment, um, I will entertain a motion to adjourn. Counselor haven't counselor minute. Yes.

Yes. Yes. Yes. Meeting adjourned.