Common Council - Regular Meeting

Now good. Good evening. This is regular session of the Rome Common Council. The date is April 22nd, 2026. Mrs. Campbell, please read the role. Councelor Spice, present. Councelor Mortis present. Councelor Fazio present. Councelor Smith here. Councelor Riley present. Councelor Dury present. Councelor Spalia present. Please rise for the pledge of allegiance.

Aliance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all. Indication will be given by the chair. Lord, grant us wisdom and discernment as we navigate the complexities of our responsibilities. Let our choices be thoughtful, informed, and rooted in the best interests of those who depend on us for leadership. Amen. Amen.

At this point, the meeting is now open to the public. You have the opportunity to appear before the council and present your views concerning city affairs. If you wish to speak, please step up to the back. microphone. State your name and address and limit yourself to five minutes. Also, please sign in on the sign-in sheet so that it will help us with our record. And we have our first speaker ready to go. I come to these meetings now for probably four years, three years, someplace in there, four years. And every time I come, I hear everybody tear the city up about we're raising taxes, we're doing this, we're doing that, we don't have this, we don't have that. Last night, I went to the school board meeting. I wouldn't worry about the city's administration, but I can promise you I would have some real concerns with the administration for the Rome City School District. And I know that the city can't get involved in that. However, the people that are here complaining about the tax raise, things are getting done with the tax raise. The police department has never been better than it is right now. The fire department, I was on the trails last week when we had them two phony days where we thought summer hit. The trails weren't bad at all. 99. That's the number of resignations that the school district has had in two years. And not 99 custodians, 99 very good paying jobs or the majority of them of the 99.

That's disturbing. Now, I read in the paper that they're going to rent RCH for $220,000 a year. They could buy it for a h 100,000 more at the end of that lease from what was said last night. I also found out that our interm principal, while we're paying the old one, we're going to give the new one $2750 a week. When businesses come to Rome, the people that stay here, the first thing they're going to look at is the educational system. And I hate to say it, it's gone backwards. And it's not a teacher problem. It's not a an employee problem. It's an administration problem. It is. You don't have 99 people quit those jobs in Rome, New York. Those are decent paying jobs. 60 $70,000. Something you worked your whole life for, went to school, probably still paying student loans off. So maybe the people that want to come here and tell everybody how bad the administration is and this and that and all the other nonsense and well the cops aren't stopping anybody on mini bikes and uh there you know there's drugs in the city and everybody knows that Rome's not unique to it. Take a ride 13 miles down the road. See what you got there. Somebody, and I know you guys can't, but somebody needs to call the state and trigger an audit and an investigation because there's no way you should lose a

100 jobs in this city in two years.

Thank you, Dennis. Next speaker, please. Hi, good evening. My name is Selena and I live on North James. I've lived here for five years and during that time I've relied on biking and walking as my primary race of getting around and for five years I've ridden to work, gone to the grocery store and on our local streets and trails which he mentioned was really nice this past weekend when it was nice. Uh because of that I experienced our infrastructure very directly and on a daily basis. Over the past year, especially last summer, I noticed a significant increase in bicyclists on both regular ebikes and bikes. I want to emphasize that this I think this is a positive for our city. It shows a lot of growth. Many more people biking means less congestion, more activity in public spaces, healthier kids and families. For many people, not just in Rome, um but especially those in Rome, without access to a car, provides an affordable and practical form of transportation. That being said, before I go any further, I just want to preface. I genuinely appreciate that the council is taking this issue seriously and taking steps to address safety concerns in regards to the ebikes. I can only imagine how busy your guys' work keeps you, and it means a great deal to me to have representatives who listen and engage with their constituents and take action. I'd also like to note and thank the council for the improvements made to bicycle infrastructure since I last spoke, particularly to the addition of bike racks across the city and in our parks. These kinds of investments really do make a difference. At least they do

to me. Um the issue here from my perspective is how we maintain safety, accountability, and clear expectations as this form of transportation continues to grow. That being ebikes. The reason I became engaged with this issue is because during my daily commute, I have repeatedly seen dangerous situations like children running red lights at night, multiple people to a bike, or even the multiple near collisions with cars, if not the actual crashes that have happened up on Black River Boulevard. Um, these moments stand out to me because they feel preventable yet like a tragedy just waiting to happen. I do not want us to wait until we have to read a child's obituary in the paper. Personally, um, this is what led me to become, like I said, involved in earlier drafts with this issue out of concern for safety and how this could be addressed at the municipal level. As I reviewed the ordinance being considered today, I do think it makes an important step forward in addressing these concerns. I also noticed that many of the operational elements that help define safe use are not present in the same way. Um, currently it just tells you what's illegal, but not as clearly how to do it right. In the framework I was working from, there are clear sections outlining things like where ebikes can and can't be operated, which is currently in the bill, um, speed expectations, yielding in right of way, age requirements, helmet use, equipment, and lighting, such as making sure if you're biking at night, you have a light on, and what constit constitutes unsafe or prohibited behavior. I know generally speaking, that's common sense, but common sense isn't quite as common as it used to be. Those kinds of provisions help answer a very practical question. What does responsible use actually look like? From my perspective, that clarity is what supports prevention, giving people a clear understanding of how to operate safely before something goes wrong. Um, I also want to acknowledge the importance of enforcement. When unsafe behavior is happening, there must be consequences. And I'm glad you guys took

that very seriously. I was very happy to see that. Um, at the same time, I would encourage consideration of how the fine structure may impact members of the community. As I mentioned earlier, ebikes are an affordable form of transportation for many residents. For those individuals, particularly on the first or second offenses, higher fines could represent a significant financial hardship, but I think that's more of part of the plan in terms of deterrence versus encouragement. Um, I think there may be an opportunity to ensure that enforcement is both effective and proportionate, supporting safety while avoiding unintended burdens of people who rely on these for daily transportation. I understand there may be enforcement and resource considerations behind the current approach and I respect that those decisionions are very complex. Um, I've also seen the idea about that this idea and has meant to quote unquote add teeth to the enforcement and I understand the need for that when safety concerns arise. I think there may be an opportunity to strengthen this over time by incorporating clear operational guidelines so that responsible users can comply and enforcement can be more targeted and effective. Um, in that way, strong policy doesn't just come from penalties, but also from clarity and consistency, so that the enforcement supports clearly defined expectations rather than just replacing them. From my perspective, we all at the end of the day share the same goal, keeping people safe while maintaining a community that is accessible, active, and connected. So, I look forward to seeing how this continues to be framed over time, particularly in building out the clear operational guidelines and ensuring that enforcement remains balanced and practical. Thank you.

Thank you. Next speaker, please.

How y'all doing? Uh, this my first time doing this, but uh, it's about landlords. Landlords like WD Housing who are putting tenants in very dangerous apartment. In my apartment, every time it snowed, it was water leaking into a socket. All he did was go to court and tell a judge, "Oh, I fixed it. No proof, no nothing. I got pictures of a leadin infested apartment where mother and daughter live." This is what WD housing are putting people in. And guess what? Your code is very corrupt. Your fire, your fire department very corrupt. DSS is very corrupt. Under New York law, they supposed to go do an inspection, especially welfare, at least 12 months. I went to welfare, asked him about it. He tried to start an argument. I wouldn't let him get to me like that. It's their duty, especially that taxpayers is paying for this lady to live like this. This WD housing. Look, look at this. It's disgusting how a mother and child got to live. Lead infested apartments in Rome. Mostly all their apartments are dangerous. These are dangerous people that I'm asking y'all to contact the federal district attorney and have them come and charge you with a human rights violation and put them in federal prison under RICO charges. They are very dangerous. You know, at 313 Sky A, there was a fire there that got covered up. I talked to the mayor's uh secretary. She sent code over there. Everybody acting like they didn't see a fire. They came by my house December 15th. The fire department cut the basement lock and called one of the other officers over there to take a look. And I took a look and I got a witness, someone that was living there. They also said to tell let you know there was a fire there and

there was a garage in back of the house that burnt down. But they telling her there's no fire. And what guess that's what I asked. I said, "All right, if I could prove it to you, would you fire everybody?" She won't fire everybody. These are corrupt people that got to go. Yo, I'm coming here to y'all right now, but the next thing is I have nothing to do after work. I can stand out there and protest every day. I have nothing to do seven days a week. If you don't believe about me, call Briggs and Stratton about me. You know, they had us working around a bunch of pedophiles. I protest against that. You know, WD housing and every member need to go to prison. Please help me to put them in prison where they belong. These are dangerous people. They don't care about the community. You go to mostly all their houses is is is falling apart. This is a million-doll business. They making money. They getting state and federal money to put children in dangerous lead poisoned apartments. They're no different from the Somali. All right? And they supposed to be American citizens. They no different. You know, they don't care nothing about our children. All they care about is money. You know, these people really need to go to jail. You know, if you can stand with me, stand against me. It don't make me no difference. But not only they going to jail, somebody in code and somebody in the fire department is too, you know, cuz this is a cover up. It's definitely a cover up. And I don't know why a person would risk throwing away everything. A good job for a person for somebody. Stop feeding your family. Huh? For a friend instead of having loyalty to the people you supposed to protect. You know, I talked to the firefighter and he said he saw what he saw, but he's

not going to put it on paper. This is what he said to me. And he could go ask all the firefighters. I go over there all the time and talk to him to try to get him to make a statement. Listen, either the county could sit there and help me take them down. Check this out. I could get a bunch of us together and we could sue the county for millions. I got a $10 million lawsuit against Briggs and Stra. You can look my name up, Larry Lindsay. I got a lawsuit against WD Housing and that's what they trying to cover up. These are dangerous landlords, man. They got to go, you know. And and I'm not trying to sound racist or nothing. Mostly all the landlords that own everything out here is 98% white. And guess who they doing it to? White tenants. Huh? This is a white woman and her daughter. It's just that I care enough about people to let some cowards do this to them. These are cowards, man. These are all men around here that won't fix her apartment. Men, whole bunch of cowardly men and getting paid welfare money and federal money for this. I'm asking y'all to please do so. Get outside help, not these people downstairs. Thank you.

Thank you, Larry.

Next speaker, please. Anybody else wishing to speak? Public session is closed. The chair will entertain a motion that the reading of the minutes of the preceding session be dispensed with that they be approved. So moved. Councelor Smith. Second. Councelor Morris moved and seconded. Any discussion? All in favor say I. I. Oppose. Carried. Let's see here. Communications.

Luxus Botanica of 8234 Turn Road has submitted notice of an adult use cannabis retail dispensary license application to the city clerk's office. And the following financial reports for quarter ended 33126 have been received and filed in the city clerk's office. South Rome Senior Citizen Center and Capital Theater. Uh notices Mrs. Campbell.

4:226 at 5:30 p.m. Members of the common council will participate in a tour of the Roart Community Center facility. And 513:26 at 6 p.m. members of the common council will conduct a work session with members of the Citizens Advisory Council in the caucus room on the second floor of City Hall, 198 North Washington Street. Thank you. Uh, report city officials. public safety commissioner White

President Ash members of the council. Um, regarding the ebike uh legislation, I'm full support of that. I thank uh council spray and the members of the council that have reviewed that that will help us immensely in dealing with some of the issues with the ebikes here in the city. Um, just to be clear, the the legislation is not to prevent ebikes. It's to prevent the ille illegal use of ebikes in the unsafe operation of ebikes. Um, like was mentioned before, we welcome ebikes. We welcome regular bikes just as long as they're operated safely and considering all the laws and regulations that a car has to abide by when they're on the roadway. So, I'm in full support of that. I I thank the council for that. Uh, regarding Mr. Lindsay's comments, um, I I spoke to him a little bit before the meeting and I I will speak with him after. Um, the the one thing that disturbed me was the fact that he mentioned that the fire department and the codes department are corrupt. Just want to be clear that the members of their own fire department's codes division and the department and the codes department here at the city hall are some of the most hardworking honorable people I've ever worked with. I find that offensive to uh label them as corrupt. Um the city has no skin in the game when it comes to landlords in in the city. if if they're doing something illegal, we want to know about it and we act on every single one of them. There's no advantage to the city or any official to hide something, to not investigate something thoroughly. And I I I would hope that after our conversation, Mr. Lindseay will understand the fact that we gain nothing

by u not investigating a complaint. If there is a house or an apartment out there with lead paint, I strongly suggest that they come forward, file a complaint with the codes department. It will be thoroughly investigated and we will get it corrected. They have rules, regulations, state laws that they have to abide by. They do the very best that they can with what they have to work with. And um like I said, I I I hope that my conversation with Mr. Lindsay after the meeting, we can we can come up to some kind of agreement of moving forward in in the same direction and and get some answers that he's satisfied with. Thank you.

Thank you, Commissioner Kn. Anyone else? Board of counselors Riley. Uh in regards to uh real quick the uh tour that we had just uh tonight of the Romont Community Center, uh I thought it was uh well put on by the staff there as far as the executive director uh Jason Taki and uh Anne Peach Lynch, the executive vice president. Uh it's an eye openener. Um I behoove you to uh check that out as far as um uh in regards to the programs that they have, children's programs, visual, musical arts, community event, event rental, etc. Um recently at a ward meeting, we discussed uh traffic enforcement in the city to include ebikes. Um, we will be seeing uh more and more traffic enforcement type of uh of um concentration, I would call it, where the officer is only going to be doing traffic enforcement. Of course, if he gets called away to a major event, then he will go to that, but for the most part, it's just traffic enforcement. Um, I've noticed uh that the boulevards and the main roads that we always have speeding issues that it seems to be getting worse. I brought this up to the police chief along with the commissioner and uh they've come up with ways of paying it with grant money which um I give them credit for that. Uh last is the crisis stabilization center that uh I spoke upon when I was running for this position in regards to helping us with our people in crisis to include homeless. Uh when you're homeless, you are in crisis. So uh the crisis stabilization center was opened in Udica uh run by the United Caring Partners and

private entity nonforprofit. Uh the biggest thing that I'm getting feedback on that is that that's in Udica. We're in Rome. We have the problem here in Rome. Uh we spoke uh at our board meeting yesterday with uh Commissioner White in regards to possibility of coming up with a plan to bring people out there uh to use grant money to do that also. So uh thinking outside the box by the commissioner and his staff being the police police chief um along with our mayor um I give them credit for doing that. So it's something that is needed. Uh everybody says well you know if they want help they'll get it. that not that's not necessarily true. Um it's not going to be a 100% program, but anything that we can do to assist these people to get on the right track is something that uh we should be doing as a community. So, thank you, President Nash.

Thank you, Councelor Riley. Anyone else? Board of committees. Council Dury,

President Nash, members of the council, I just wanted to make everybody aware that um the finance committee had our quarterly our first quarterly meeting of the year with um with Treasurer Adams. Um and we went over lots of numbers. Um things are looking good. Um, obviously we the the the budget is tight in the areas of of gas and and and energy supplies, stuff like that. Um, but I want to commend um, Conor Adams, I'm sorry, um, Treasure Adams on doing a great job getting those numbers to us, explaining those numbers to us. Um, he he has a real great grasp of of of what we're doing. we are able to close out a couple of the projects which is something that our um financial advisors tell us we need to do. Um we are going to be sending things out for bond. So we we haven't in a few years we're going to be sending some stuff out for bond and we're looking to close even more stuff soon. Um one note that I do want to say about a lot of the things that we are going to be closing out. um all the department heads and and the departments did a great job in in not only estimating how much money um these things would cost, but a lot of times um they were able to save money in the process of finding uh the most efficient and best um product that we could find for them. And a lot of these different projects did come under budget um and that will go into into a special fund to help pay down the rest of the debts for them. So, so they're doing a great job on those levels and and at this point in time, we're in a good place. So, that that was our meeting and I don't know if Treasure Adams has anything to add. Okay. Thank you.

Thank you, Council Dury. Any other reports?

Council Spray, President Nash, members of the council, members of the public. Um, I just want to uh speak about resolution 5758 and 59. Um what is not shown on the agenda is on resolution 57. This is something that is approved annually and the city will bring in $4,520 for that. Resolution 58 is also something that is done annually that will also bring in $4,520 to the city. with resolution 59. This is something that we haven't received money for in many, many years, which is the DARE program. This year, according to Treasurer Adams, we will receive $3,800. So, all three of those will be uh revenue for the city, just so everyone is aware. Thank you.

Thank you, Compass Ba. Anyone else? Resolutions. Resolution number 55 authorizing the mayor of the city of Rome to accept a grant from the New York State Department of Criminal Justice Services statewide targeted reduction in inmate partner violence strive $30,684. Move it. Councelor Spel Morvis moved and seconded. Any discussion? All those in favor say I. I oppose. Resolution number 55 is carried. Resolution number 56

authorizing the city of Rome to enter into an agreement with the New York State Department of Transportation relative to the engineering and design of Potter Road and Williams Road safety improvements pin 2755.16 move it second councy move and seconded any discussion all those in favor say I oppose resolution number 56 is carried resolution number 57 Seven, authorizing the mayor of the city of Rome to enter into an inter intermunicipal agreement with the Onidita County for the city of Rome's participation in the municipal recreation program 2026. So moved. Councelor Morris

second. Councelor Fazio moved and seconded. Any discussion? All those in favor say I. Opposed. Resolution number 57 is carried. Resolution number 58 authorizing the mayor of the city of Rome to enter into an intermunicipal agreement with Onidita County for the city of Rome's participation in the juvenile aid program 2026. Move it. Councelor Spraia, I second. Councelor Riley moved and seconded. Any discussion? All those in favor say I. Opposed. Resolution number 58 is carried. Resolution number 59 authorizing the mayor of the city of Rome to enter into an intermunicipal agreement with Anida County for the city of Rome's participation in the DARE program 2026. Move that.

Councelor Fazio second. Councelor Spice moved and seconded. Any discussion? All those in favor say I. Opposed. Resolution number 59 is carried. Resolution number 60. Accepting donation presented to the city of Rome by the Dana Lauren team of River Hills property to be used for planting a tree at Fort Stanwick Park. $175. Move it. Councelor Smith and Councelor Mortis moved and seconded. Any discussion? All those in favor say I. I. Oppos. Roster number 60 is carried. Ordinances. Ordinance number 9864 authorizing the closing of streets for the annual Memorial Day program.

Move it. Councelor Spalia second. Councelor Dury. Unanimous guitar. Councelor Mortis second. And councelor Spurs. Or number 9864 has been moved and seconded. Unanimous consent has been moved and seconded. All those in favor of unanimous consent say I. I. Opposed. Unanimous consent is carried. Is there any discussion? This obviously will take place on May 25th, I believe. All those in favor say I. I. Oppos. Ordinance number 9864 is carried. Ordinance number 9865 authorizing a temporary use permit for Central Paving, Inc. Move it. Councelor Dury, second. Councelor Riley,

unanimous consent. Councelor uh Spurs. Ordinance number 9865 has been moved and seconded. Unanimous consent has been moved and seconded. All those in favor of unanimous consent say I. I oppose. Unanimous consent is carried. Is there any discussion? All those in favor of ordinance number 9865 say I. I. Post ordinance number 9865 is carried. Ordinance number 9866. Amending chapter 70 of the Rome Code of ordinances to regulate the operation of bicycles with electrical assist commonly known as ebikes, gas powered bicycles and electrical scooters in the city of Rome. Move it. Contra. Second councelor Riley

unanimous consent councis and counceloria or number 9866 has moved and seconded unanimous consent has been moved and seconded. All those in favor of unanimous consent say I

oppose unanimous consent is carried. Is any discussion spice? Thank you president Nash. Um just wanted to say a few words um regarding this ordinance. Um, our public safety committee met with the police commissioner, the police chief. We discussed how to better protect our residents um from people driving these ebikes. I'm sure a lot of us have had some situations with them zooming in and out of traffic. Um, so there's been an increase in the use of these ebikes throughout the city, our parks, and even our private property. We have seen an increase in the classes of ebikes driven around as well. The big thing here is we do not we do not, you know, we're not going against ebikes. Ride them all around, do whatever you want, but you have to follow the traffic. That's no matter what. What we're seeing is an increase with the class three ebikes that you can only have in cities of a million people or more. This is not wrong. This is not anywhere around here. Those are illegal around here. If you were in a city with a million people or more, you're able to ride those. So when I said it gives the police teeth, they were stopping these people. They would have to let them go. So now because these pose a danger to our residents and to other people, that's why we are amending the code, I'm sorry, amending, yes, the code, um, chapter 70 of the room code to be able to stop these. if we need to impound them, if we need to impose a fine, um, we need to do because they are I'm sure you can also see some of these bikes that people are modifying and putting motors on them. I was on East Street, there was just today on my way home, there was a um lawn mower with a modified engine. They were getting gas at the gas station. These things are not

supposed to be on our city streets. They cause issues. They are dangerous to not only you, but me, kids, everybody. Um, the overall thing here is drive your ebikes if they're class ones and two. Just follow the New York State laws. That's all we have. Just like anything else, follow the law. So, alls we're doing, we have this on the books. We're just amending this to put class three ebooks on. That's it. Thank you. Thank you, Caucus Bryce. Any further discussion? All those in favor say I. I.

Ordinance number 9866 is carried. Entertain a motion to adjurnn. Move it. Councelor Smith second. And councelor Morris. All in favor say I. Opposed. We are adjourned. Thank you.