City Council - Regular Meeting

I also wish that we could put the screen so we have more attention. i'll try to remember if not you'll flag me Oh, let's see, let's see, let's see.

That was hilarious.

No, it's OK. Yeah. There's three and a half . Passer, are we ready to go? Thank you.

Ladies and gentlemen, it is now six o'clock and I will call this meeting of the Syracuse City Council business meeting to order. Tonight, we will begin with an invocation by Councilman Watson, and then we'll be led in the Pledge of Allegiance by Councilwoman Brown.

Our dear Father in heaven, we're grateful for this opportunity we have to meet as a city council to conduct the business of our city. And we're grateful for those that are in attendance. We pray that we might be able to work together to do what is in the best interest of our city and our citizens. And we're grateful for this beautiful city that we live in and all of the blessings that we have. We say these things in the name of thy son, Jesus Christ. Amen. Amen.

Ladies and gentlemen,

City Council Chambers, Before we adopt our agenda tonight, we did have a tragedy in our Community recently and out of respect, I would ask that we observe a moment of silence for two bright young members of our Community who were lost. Thank you. And as we begin tonight, we will begin with public comment. I do have one that has been emailed in, so I will ask that be read first before I open it up to those in the audience.

Do we need to adopt the agenda?

Yes. Would you make a motion, please?

I move that we adopt tonight's agenda as published.

Second.

All in favor?

Aye.

Any opposed? Now we'll move into public comment.

Okay, dear Mayor Mon, and members of the City Council, I appreciated reading Mayor Mon's August newsletter, Fastest, Most Effective Ways to Influence Your Government. I especially appreciated the emphasis on staying informed, making respectful fact-based arguments, and participating constructively in local government. Those principles encourage the type of civic engagement that benefits both residents and city leaders. While I have not attended a City Council meeting in person, I regularly watch the City Council meetings on the City's YouTube channel. I also read the meeting packets before each meeting. I appreciate the City's commitment to transparency and the effort that goes into making information readily available to residents. It has helped me better understand both the opportunities and the constraints involved in local government. One item that caught my attention in the August 11th work session packet is the discussion regarding refinancing the 2023 Municipal Building Authority bonds. Staff notes that refinancing could reduce annual debt service by approximately $50,000 to $75,000, while also recognizing the uncertainty surrounding future interest rates and the potential loss of future refinancing flexibility. I appreciate that the staff report represents both the potential benefits and the potential risks, rather than advocating a predetermined outcome. As a resident and taxpayer, I encourage the council to continue approaching this decision with a long-term perspective. Saving taxpayer dollars is important, but so is preserving financial flexibility when market conditions remain uncertain. I trust you will carefully weigh both considerations before deciding how to proceed. Thank you for your service to your community and for the transparency you demonstrate through the city's newsletters, publicly available meeting packets, and recorded meetings. Mayor Mon's recent message encouraging respectful, informed, civic, Participation was well received and I hope to continue contributing in that same spirit. Respectfully, Eric Willison.

Great. I wasn't aware anybody reads those messages, but I'm very grateful. At this point in time, we'll open it up to the public here in the audience. If anyone has a comment, this is your time. There is a public hearing later in the meeting, but that would be only for that specific topic. So if you have any other comments, this is if you want to bring something to our attention or you'd like us to be aware of something, please come forward. We need you to state your name for the record and you have up to three minutes. Well, you can face us. Just speak into the mic. Or you can face whichever way. Sorry.

Mayors, city council members, I'm here to make a complaint about my utility bill. The emergency response on the utility bill, that's not a utility. It is... a taxable part that is part of the first responder program, and it should be absorbed by the police and fire departments. If they can't absorb it, then they need to make cuts to absorb that, because it's not a utility. You're making a president, presidents, to where anything can be put on our utility bills, and it's just not common sense. Um, the people of Syracuse didn't vote for a second fire station. It shouldn't have been built if it couldn't have been, uh, couldn't have been supported by the call volume in the city, which there is not enough call volume for it. And also. I don't understand why we're paying more for dirty water than we are for clean water on our utility bills. The state, I know, mandated that the meters be put in for secondary water, but if they mandated it, state should be paying for it, not the city. Thank you.

Is there anyone else?

I'm just going to flip this.

Oh yeah. I don't think you need to at this point, but. Okay, seeing none, I will close public comment. I will just remind people that if it's not on here, it is not open for discussion. That last commentary was not on our agenda, so we won't be discussing it tonight. Excuse me, sir. You do not yell out in my meeting. This is a city council meeting. We operate with rules of order, and shouting from the audience is not acceptable here.

I understand that, Mayor.

Okay, so we're moving on past that. The next item would be a recognition of our new royalty here for Miss Syracuse. I can see two lovely faces right here in the front row. And if you ladies would jump up really quickly. We started a tradition here where we administer an oath to these girls, letting them know what they're signed up for, though they're already awarded and crowned. So if you ladies both would raise your hand and repeat after me. I state your name.

I, Presley Luke. I, Michaela Redmond.

Pledge to represent Syracuse City as either Miss or Team Miss Syracuse.

Pledge to represent Syracuse City as Miss Team Syracuse. Pledge to represent Syracuse as Miss Syracuse.

With this title, I commit myself to making a difference through service and leadership.

With this title, I commit myself to make a difference between community

through service and leadership.

With this title, I commit to leading my service through community and leadership.

I strive to demonstrate excellence in my personal character.

I strive to demonstrate excellence in my personal character. I strive to represent excellence in my character.

I will carry my responsibility of this title with pride, purpose, and heart. You can say it together. I will carry my responsibility of this title with pride, purpose, and heart. And I will seek to elevate the spirit of those around me.

And I will seek to elevate the spirit of those around me.

This is my promise and my commitment to Syracuse city.

This is my promise and my commitment to Syracuse city.

Thank you ladies. We appreciate you. At this time, item number four is approval of minutes. We have business council meeting from July 14th. We have a special redevelopment agency meeting on the 14th. And we have our June 28th work session minutes for approval. If everybody's read through those, does anyone have any changes they'd like to make to those minutes before we make an approval? Seeing none, I'll take a motion to approve those minutes.

I move that we approve the minutes as outlined in the agenda.

Second.

Moved and seconded. All in favor? Aye. Any opposed? Okay, that passes unanimously. The next item is an item of consent. We have a consent item. Consent means that we've heard this in meetings in the past, and we've all agreed that this is to be moved forward, and we don't have any further discussion for it. the item of consent tonight is proposed resolution r20 or 626-32 authorizing the syracuse city fire department to enter into a contract to purchase an ambulance and authorizing other such actions as necessary in connection therewith does anybody have any reason to do other than recommend this to go forward as consent okay then i will ask for a motion

I move that we approve proposed resolution R626-32, authorizing the Syracuse City Fire Department to enter into a contract for purchase of an ambulance. Second.

One second. All in favor? Aye. Any opposed? motion passes unanimously the next item is our item of public hearing this is proposed ordinance 2026-18 vacating a municipal utility easement in section 8 township 4 north range 2 west slbm now i will just uh before we open this public hearing i will let you know that the staff has evaluated this we have found that there is no longer a use for this And so if you want to speak on this, I would hope that you're here to speak to keep it because right now we're about to vacate it. Is there anyone, I'll declare our public hearing open. Is there anyone here to speak on behalf of the public easement? Seeing none, I will close the public hearing and ask that council, we can move forward with this with a proposed ordinance.

Mayor, I have one typographical error that needs to be corrected.

Uh-oh, what did we miss?

If you will look at the ordinance section two, The sentence that says the municipal utility easement described in exhibit A and depicted in exhibit B, which encumbers the parcels identified and described in exhibit B is hereby vacated. That second exhibit B needs to read exhibit C. That's just a typo.

Okay. So can I get in the motion to include exhibit C?

Yeah, I can do that. Okay.

I move that we approve proposed ordinance 2026-18, vacating a municipal utility easement in Section 8, Township 4 North, Range 2 West, SLBM, with the change of making Exhibit B Exhibit C. Okay.

Motion made and seconded. All in favor?

Aye. Any opposed?

Motion passes unanimously. Item number seven is proposed ordinance 2026-19 amending Syracuse municipal code section 8.30 and 10.20.140 pertaining to final plat approvals. And for those who have not been through our previous work meetings, to let you know, this is a lot to do with changes at the state legislature. We're just trying to conform to those, make sure that we are doing the things that they're telling us we have to do in the ordinance. Noah, do you have anything new for us on this one? Nothing has changed. Okay. So council, is there any further discussion on this ordinance? Seeing none, I'll take a motion. second moved and seconded all in favor aye aye any opposed motion passes unanimously item number eight is proposed ordinance 2026-20 amending syracuse municipal code section 10.20.70 pertaining to zoning revisions again this is a lot of catching up with uh ordinance changes now is there anything that's changed since our work session

There was a slight change since the last time we talked about it. It was requested to make the other properties that have already received their zoning have the timer to begin on those ones as well. So that was just a slight change to, I think, the second to last sentence of the amendment.

Okay. And that's a good friendly amendment. We want all properties to, the purpose of this is to make sure that people act on those changes that we make and they don't sit for 10 years and then somebody decides to make a motion on something. So are there any further discussion on this? I'll take a motion then.

I move that we accept the proposed amendment to item 10.20.070.

Do I have a second? Motion made and seconded. All in favor?

Aye.

Any opposed? Motion passes unanimously. Item number nine, proposed ordinance 2026-21, adopting Syracuse Municipal Code section 11.15.40, requiring protective headgear when operating e-bikes, e-scooters on public property. just for the record this had already been through work session this is not new or a reaction to our current situation but we've been trying to look for ways that we can encourage safety as we've seen so much not safe in the city so is there anyone who'd like to speak on this from the council seeing none i'll take a motion

And we approve proposed ordinance 2026 dash 21 and set forth in agenda item nine.

OK. Second. Moved and seconded. All in favor? Aye. Any opposed? Motion passes unanimously. At this point in time, we would go to our second session of public comment. This is rare for a city, but we allow public comment prior to and after a meeting. So if you have a public comment, same rules apply. Is there anyone here that has a public comment? Seeing none, I will close our second public comment period. And I will move into mayoral announcements and council announcements. I'm going to start tonight because we had a wonderful event over at the BMX Park, and our partners with Antelope BMX did us proud. When the USA BMX came in and recognized their national event, They brought this to the city and suggested that I hang this in my office. But what they don't know is my office is actually the penalty box with the extreme temperatures. So nobody goes in there. So if I'm open to hanging this anywhere else in the city, it's just a recognition that we were a sponsor of a national event here in Syracuse. And thank you to all those people who participated in that. It was a great thing. I don't have any other announcements tonight, and I guess we'll go down. Paul, do you have any?

I don't have anything.

Andrea?

Brett? Nothing from me.

Julie? Abe?

No, we're good. Thank you.

okay uh so one last uh uh announcement for me and that is that we are canceling our work session for the month of august because we have had so few items come in that we are going to handle it tonight after this meeting is a work session and so i will Allow us to adjourn to the conference room where we will hold the next three or the next items of our work session. So we are in recess, but adjourn from the business meeting.

Mayor, will you actually just make a motion to adjourn this meeting since they're advertised as two separate meetings? Okay.

Can I get a motion to adjourn the business meeting?

I make a motion that we adjourn the business meeting. Second.

All in favor?

Aye.

Any opposed? We are adjourned from the business meeting. We will reconvene in five minutes in the administrative...