City Council - Regular Meeting

It is actually 517, and I call this public hearing to order. Clerk, will you please call the roll?

Council Member DiLorenzo?

Present.

Council Member Struber? Present. Council Member Spain-McClaren? Present. Council Member McKee? Present. Council Member Favreau? Present. Council Member Campbell-Cohen?

Present.

Council President Steele?

Also present.

Seven present.

Council President, I move that the council resolve itself into a committee of the whole for the purpose of conducting a public hearing.

Clerk, will you please read the notice of publication.

Regarding proposed local law, amending the charter of the city of Troy by repealing and replacing section C dash 40 public emergencies to align it with the state of New York executive law article 2 dash B regarding emergency declarations.

the public hearing regarding local number four is now open the rules of the chair are pursuant to section 234 of the special rules of the troy city council and they are as follows residents of the city are welcome to speak if you are a lawyer representing a resident we ask that you identify so we would ask that when you come forward to speak that you give your name and residence. Um, we ask that you direct all remarks to the chair. Uh, there'll be no back and forth, uh, between the chair or members and the speaker. And we also ask that you attempt to limit your remarks to five minutes. At this time, I would welcome anyone who wishes to address the council on local on number 4 to please come forward.

Good afternoon, council members. My name is Frankie, and I'm a resident of Troy. I'm here to express 100% support of local law number four, and I want to thank you for preserving my right to speak freely about it despite the mayor's best efforts to silence public comment on this proposed legislation. It seems obvious to me that greater clarity and more stringent rules are needed for emergency declarations in Troy, primarily to ensure that these declarations are only used for their intended purpose and not as a political tool to control or manipulate our local governing process. it's incredibly disappointing to me that we have to devote our city's time energy and resources to firm up the definition of an emergency something so basic and universally understood because the mayor decided to falsely declare a state of emergency when no such conditions existed but i understand that you have to take action and make these important adjustments when an elected official uses the city's emergency powers law in such a totally inappropriate way What's really sad, though, is that we're wasting so much precious time on the mayor's fake emergency when thousands of Troy residents are facing actual emergencies, economic emergencies. People throughout our city are seriously struggling with the skyrocketing cost of housing, health care, child care, groceries, and transportation. Troy's real life emergency is the crisis of ever expanding poverty and economic insecurity. How ordinary citizens will afford the basics like shelter, food, and medical care. So I just want to note how insulting it is to the Troy residents who are experiencing those legitimate emergencies when their mayor invents a fake emergency for purely political purposes. I think it's time for the community and the council to send a clear message to Mayor Montello that bending, breaking, or manipulating Troy's public emergency law to advance her own political agenda is not an acceptable governing strategy and not where her attention and priorities should be. I urge the council to pass local law number four quickly and efficiently so everyone can get back to doing real work that could actually benefit Troy residents who are experiencing real emergencies. And lastly, I'd like to suggest to the mayor and her staff that the easiest way to advance any agenda, political or otherwise, is to work together respectfully and harmoniously with your colleagues, whether you like them or agree with them or not. Your donor base and your circle of friends may love the hyper-partisan politics, But the majority of Troy voters are completely turned off by the gridlock and wasted time that goes with the extreme us against them version of politics. Healthy, respectful communication and the spirit of collaboration go a long way in any endeavor, including governing Troy. Let's make it all of us against poverty. All of us against violence. All of us against unsafe and unaffordable housing. No more us against them. No more mayor against the council. One Troy, united for the betterment of everyone, not just the privileged few. That's what we really want and need in our fair city. Thank you for taking time to hear my comments. It's appreciated.

Thank you, Frankie. You have someone online? OK. Please come forward, yes.

My name is Francis Sweet. I'm from District 6 and these are comments that I made in April on April 23rd when I brought up How many emergencies the mayor has come up with during her short tenure in office. And I'm going to go through them quicker than I did then. But there are 10 that I found that she had announced. Some of them were just on Facebook and had no other notice. The first one was the pump station issues. We have three building demolitions, a winter storm, The comptroller issue, which was delayed by a month and I don't think qualified as an emergency. Using emergency funds to beautify after the landslide that happened on spring. Then there was a lack of road salt, a water main break, and lock, the most recent one. A lot of those were to get around procurement rules that Having to go out to bid, having to get council authorization for something. Not actual emergencies. And when I had looked, I found ten. When one of our friends foiled, he found eight. So two of these were just completely made up and announced by the mayor for fun. That's great. And I think that this is a really strong example of why this needs to be reined in. It's It's the same as what's going on nationally, where there were things that everyone followed the rules. Everyone went through the standard procedures until they didn't. And then you found that all these loopholes existed. And now here in Troy, we need to plug those up. So thank you for putting forward this law and thank you for holding a public hearing on it.

Thank you, Frances. There are two people online and I would ask if you're interested in speaking as part of the public hearing, please raise your hand and we will recognize you. I'm sorry. Okay. Does anyone else wish to address the council during the public hearing? I'll ask one more time. Does anyone else wish to participate in this public hearing? Seeing none. Oh, they did just raise their hand. Okay.

Apologies, I was muted. Can everyone hear me?

Yes.

Thank you. My name is Danielle LaRose. I've been a resident of Troy about six years, currently in District 18. I just wanted to say I second Speaker Franke's points. Very well said, everyone. I want to take this opportunity to remind the mayor and the council that exercising the current and frustratingly vague definition of emergency, it's extremely troubling to me how easily this executive power was taken advantage of. And the recent actions, especially concerning flock, do not give me any assurance that this power would not continue to be abused. So I just want to strongly support this proposed legislation. And thank you for your time.

Thank you. Anyone else online wishing to speak? No one. Anyone else in the room wishing to speak? Seeing and hearing none, I would entertain a motion to adjourn the public hearing.

Motion.

Second.

Motion made by Councilmember Favreau, seconded by Councilmember DiLorenzo. All in favor? Aye. Opposed? We are adjourned. The next hearing will be at 5.30. which is two minutes away. good evening and welcome again to the Troy City Council um this is public hearing number two on local law number four it is 5 30. I would ask the clerk to read the role again

Council member de Lorenzo present council member struber present council member spain mclaren present council member mckee present council member favro present council member campbell-cohen council president steel still present seven present council president i move that the council resolve itself into a committee of the whole for the purpose of conducting a public hearing

Clerk, would you please call the notice of publication?

Regarding proposed local law amending the Charter of the City of Troy by repealing and replacing Section C-40, Public Emergencies, to align it with the State of New York Executive Law Article 2-B regarding emergency declarations.

The public hearing regarding local number four is now open. The rules of the chair are pursuant to section 234 of the special rules of the Troy City Council. They are the same as I read a few moments ago. We would encourage you to come forward, give your name, address, and if possible, keep your remarks to five minutes. Does anyone wish to address the council?

Hi, Council. I'm Noelle Dimash, and I'm a proud resident of District 2, Oakwood Ave. I actually haven't, I don't think, spoken to this council this year yet. So proud of you. Super grateful for this public forum. Super grateful for the really intelligent conversations and questions you guys are doing and holding the administration accountable. I'm really, really grateful. I'm grateful that you are passing this law, hopefully. And yeah, thank you so much for listening to us. It really makes a huge difference to the residents who come and show up. So thank you.

Thank you for your comments.

Hello, everyone. My name is Bree Harrington. I'm District 4, 10th Street. Just to reiterate, everybody, thank you so much for taking the time for delving into the state of emergency crisis that we have right now. Really appreciate you deconstructing the shoddy law that we have. And hopefully after this, it will be up to New York State compliance which would be wonderful. 80 grand is nothing to sneeze at as far as what got swiped from this not ideal state of emergency that we had going with Flock. We definitely could have used that 80 grand for other things. So hopefully Once this gets adjusted, we can go forward and have a more streamlined state of emergency system in place. So thanks again. Thank you.

Is there anyone online on Azure?

Does anyone else wish to address the council on local number four? It's part of the public hearing. Seeing none, and there's no one online with their hand raised, I would entertain a motion to adjourn the public hearing.

Motion.

Council Member McKee? Second. Seconded by Council Member McLaren. All in favor? Opposed? We are adjourned. Good evening, everyone. Again, as we continue our committee evening, it's 545, which is time for science and technology. And I'll turn the meeting over to the chair, Council Member Struber.

Thank you, Council President. Calling to order the Science and Technology Committee meeting at 545 p.m., Role, Council Member Struber is present. Council Member DiLorenzo?

Present.

Council Member Spain-McClaren? Present. Council Member McKee? Present. Council Member Favreau? Present. Council Member Campbell-Cohen?

Present.

Council President Steele?

Present.

All right. At this time, I'm hoping there's somebody here from the administration to talk through the website and ADA compliance.

Hello.

Thanks, Natasha.

So I sent over a list of questions that you probably have in front of you, and I did plan on starting with that. Oh, where's my? There we go. So as you guys probably know, there was an extension provided for ADA compliance on websites that was very luckily, luckily extended because we're not quite there. Could you walk us through the plans that are in place to get us compliant and what that looks like?

Sure. Good evening, everyone. So when we found out about this mandate, in the beginning of this year, we worked with our website service provider, Civic Plus, to go over options and the pricing to be an ADA-compliant before the mandate due date. And March, we had a meeting with them. We had a demo, they went through all those options and then they provided us a price code. We were going to add it to our budget for this year so we can have the funding for it to procure it for next year right before the mandate is due.

So Civic Plus is the one who's going to do the work?

So they already host our website. The thing is just that module that we have to pay for it and they will activate it. They probably will do the majority of the work.

Oh, I mean, that's exciting. It's literally just a module. We don't have to do a redesign or anything like that.

I don't think so. Based on the meeting we had, I think it's as simple as a couple hour of work. I think we should be good to go.

I'm sure once it's implemented, there's going to be certain things that I, myself, and everybody else that uses the website will have to be trained on, maybe some specifics with the modules themselves. But we can't foresee that right now. But as it looks right now, it doesn't seem to be too much of work once it's implemented and approved in the budget, of course.

Are they willing to give a trial of these modules to look at so you can plan that?

They're doing the demo.

During the demo, they did provide us all those options. The two that they think will satisfy the need for the mandate are the audio I manage implementation and doc access implementation. Those two will satisfy the mandate.

And will they let you trial those modules ahead of time so you can see what they do?

I don't think so. I did not ask that question. My biggest thing was to get the code and see how much it is. Sure.

Okay. It just seems prudent so you can start learning.

Yeah, absolutely.

So the training that you mentioned, that is one of my questions. Is anybody on staff right now trained in slash having knowledge of the WCAG 2.1 requirement for websites that the ADA is requiring?

So the person on our team, the BIS team that manages our website is Belinda. She is responsible for everything on the website. And then her backup is Mike Adelier. I am pretty sure Belinda is on top of it. She brought this up way before.

last year ended and we talked about it and that's why we're a little bit ahead of uh the time with the code and all the ducks in the row basically okay um i think my last question currently with ada compliance and the website specifically in doing my research and prep for all of this The website currently has PDF downloads of many different forms for reporting a complaint, what to do, all of those fun things. They haven't been updated since 2017 and have the wrong person listed on them.

Yeah, that's something we're currently working on together day by day to update. It seems like every other day that we're finding some form, like you mentioned, that has a wrong year on it or a wrong deadline date or a wrong contact person, something of that nature. That's something that we're definitely working on day by day. If we find something, we try to address it right away. If you see something that's on there, just let us know. Send us an email and we can get that fixed ASAP.

Well, considering we're talking about it, could we maybe put the ADA forms on priority so that people who might have an issue with that can actually reach the right person?

Sure.

Does anybody else on the council have questions on this? Chair?

Yep. Circling back to that quote, I'm just curious, how much was that quote given to you? So we can- Sure.

So this was provided to us on May 26th. The total cost for this is $22,910. yep and then per year it's about 20 000 i was reading the contract they have a five percent increase um when we renew the second year i'm sorry was that twenty thousand a year twenty two thousand nine hundred and ten dollars and eighty cents for the module for everything yes the audio and the dark access those two modules and implementation

And then once we purchase that, what is the annual cost?

So I have annual reoccurring service, $19,410.80. And that's subjected to 5% rate increase on the second year.

Thank you. And you mentioned audio, so they would be providing transcripts for videos. Is that what that's for? Okay. And have you heard from the public? Are there any complaints of non-compliancy currently?

I personally have not. Belinda, she manages the website. If there were any complaints, she would probably hear it first, and she for sure would have relayed it to me. I personally have not heard from anyone.

Okay. And so she'll be trained or is she the only she's the only one that's making updates to the website now? Is she the only one that's making updates?

He is the primary person and then we have a backup, my calendar, who updates on her behalf when she's on vacation or not in the office.

I'm just, yeah, no, I'm just thinking, because this is something that I'm dealing with with my day job as well. And I was just curious if anybody was going to be trained because like, for example, putting PDFs on a website, it would be nice if different departments that are submitting information to you were then trained so that it would be easier for her to just upload it to the website. So I didn't know if that was anything that you guys were considering.

Yeah, absolutely considering that. Yeah, I think that's the most efficient way forward once the technology is implemented. Absolutely. So that at least, you know, the most people in each department that access the website are uploading things, updating things. They need to have that basic understanding, myself included, for my purposes, too, so that, you know, we make sure that it functions properly and we can be quick about it.

Yeah. And social media as well, too.

Yes.

Yeah. That's all I got.

Chair, can you just provide some context to what sort of accessibility improvements are happening in terms of the documents?

With this updated? With the update, yeah. Yeah, I mean, there's a lot of things that I don't know every specific thing, but I know that it's going to make it easier for those that have hearing troubles and hearing disabilities, seeing disabilities, things of that nature with audio transcripts, with videos and reading documents. You know, somebody can plug in headphones to the city website. And I believe how it works is at least that I've seen in other places. I don't know if it's the same thing. but a volume icon that you can click on and you can read this to me or you can speak it to me. So things along that line. I'm sure there are more sophisticated features that I am not aware of at this moment that are going to come with it. That's why I want to learn more about it too. So again, we can make sure that it functions properly and that the people who need to access that specific feature are getting to where they need to go.

Thank you. Yeah.

Sorry.

Like a couple of the simple features that we saw were like people with vision issue. They are able to zoom it in a way where it doesn't bother their vision and also changes colors of the website for them. So it does not it's not harsh enough for them to be able to read through the website. On the doc access, basically it's a document accessibility platform that scans, converts, and monitors PDF documents on website to support ADA and Section 508 compliance efforts for user with disabilities. So these are all like features that are mandated and they will cover that mandate.

Okay, thank you.

You're welcome.

Sure.

Yep.

Oh, I just had one more that came to me. I was just thinking, has there been any talks, because I know it's budget season now and we're halfway through the year. Are there any other departments that maybe have any surplus funds or where there could be a transfer to get this work started sooner? I'm just thinking because this was technically due in April. Of this year, and the extension was made a day before that due date. So none of us knew that the extension was happening until, of course, it happened. So my only concern is if we're waiting for the budget to pass and you guys are just starting in January, I just want to make sure that it's done in time for August. And if you guys had any concerns about timeline and possibly.

I wouldn't know the answers to anything regarding budget surpluses. That would be a question for others in the administration. I would advise you to ask that question to the appropriate people, and we can get you that answer.

Chair.

Yep.

Katie, you want to go?

No, thanks. I'm just, are forms available in Braille upon request? I know the notification.

I'm sorry, say that one more time.

Are things available in Braille upon request? The form, not the website.

Oh, okay. I apologize for my naiveness, but tell me what braille is.

Braille is a language, the dots, for people with a blind or seeing disability.

Are you asking if that's currently available?

Well, on the website now, the things like the grievance procedures and the public notice say that the notices themselves are available in Braille upon request. Will documents also be made available in Braille?

We can certainly do that. Yeah, absolutely.

And I just want to reiterate what Councilmember Struber said about these forms being updated. My concern is that if anyone had, I mean, really, since this administration took over, um anyone having an issue you know i'm looking at the grievance procedure form um if they were not even just related to the website but any ada um issue throughout the city whether it be a sidewalk or an event that was not accessible anything like that the grievance procedure list someone else's name and email and i'm guessing that that person's email is no longer active and no one monitors it so we could have complaints out there in the universe that no one's ever seen or addressed um so please if if you can make this one a priority thank you you got it Chair. Yep.

So one of the questions I had, I was wondering about is, I've had constituents ask about searchable databases for forms. Is that something that's going to be a part of these improvements?

Yes. Something being actively worked on as well.

Excellent. Very happy to hear that.

I wish I was awake 24 hours the whole day because then I'd have everything done in one day.

so to follow up on that if that's part of these improvements is that like actually part of the two modules that you mentioned with the 22 000 or is that outside of those modules i believe that's outside of those modules okay as far as i'm aware So there's a bigger website improvement project?

Yes. Yes. There's been a website improvement project since I started here on January 3rd of 2025 that I pick at day by day.

Okay. Does anybody else have questions? Yep.

Does the scope of work for the ADA compliance include going back to the historical documents? I'm thinking of like agendas that are scanned. Yes. Okay.

It would go all the way back. Yep. I imagine. As far back as the record goes, at least on our website, yes.

Okay. And budgets as well.

Yes.

Okay.

Budgets are included. I know budgets are, yes, very important to that.

Well, I don't envy your job. Thank you. Thank you for doing it.

I'm sorry.

I can't hear what she's saying.

Financial statements as well.

Financial statements. Yes. As long as they're uploaded online. Yes.

True.

Yep. So this going forward, the $19,000 annually, is this something that this is apart from Civic Plus and all the alerts and the things like that we get? This is specifically towards the ADA modules. Yeah. And is that something that we have been paying or is this going to be a new expense?

New expense.

Okay. Thank you.

Unfunded mandate.

Gotcha.

Anybody else with questions? Is there anything else about the website or ADA that you guys think that we should be aware of that we might not have known to ask about?

The only thing actually I'm going to ask Throw it out there. If you guys are interested in a demo, I can schedule a meeting. You guys can, by all means, join. It's all remote, so you can join from your home and ask questions. I'd rather get everything out of the way before we even buy it. So somebody may have a question that they may not support, and we can look into alternatives.

Great. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you, Ahmed. All right. Thank you both.

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you, guys.

I would ask that the members of the administration who are handling the battery energy storage system check-in come to the table, please.

Hello, Chief.

Just two today? Oh, no, there's Carlo. Here comes Carlo. Welcome. Thank you guys for being here for our third and final check-in of the moratorium. Clearly we have been in communication. We have all been working on this for a very long time. We have drafts created wherever you would like to start. If there's anything new, any new questions, I open that for you.

I think this will be kind of brief. We did receive the eight page draft. We're starting to dissect it. We would like to sit down with you and whoever you'd like to have with you just to go through that draft. Like I said, we've gotten through maybe half of it. There are two things that we would like added to the draft, which we talked about in the prior two meetings. One is the emergency response financial assistance. You know, God forbid, if there was an emergency, we would like some obviously financial assistance for police, fire, whoever, if a third party has to come in and do air quality control, things to that nature. So that's one. And then number two, the decommissioning. I did see a section on the decommissioning. We feel that that needs to be beefed up a little. But saying that, we would love to sit down with you. I think Kitty should have, if she hasn't, asked for a couple dates and She did.

She had first sent it to my personal email and I totally missed it. So she just sent it to my city email today. I will look at that.

Perfect. Just throw us a couple of dates in the next couple of weeks. And I figure we could target maybe August finance, you know, for something to roll out if you'd like, you know, a science and tech meeting and then finance and finance. Then try to shoot for September-ish maybe for an actual piece of legislation. But we would like to sit with you. A couple things. We did actually connect in on your training with NYSERDA, I know. The chief and Carlo did. Carlo has connected with Warwick. So I'd like to throw it over to Carlo because, as you know, Warwick had that horrific fire with their facility. And so he did speak, I believe, to the supervisor and someone else there. And I'll throw it over to Carlo. And I'm not sure if the chief wants to add anything on top of that.

okay thanks good afternoon uh yes i spoke with uh warwick and we we've been connected through email and um we discussed a few things on the phone uh mainly i i called them recently because one of the questions i was trying to figure out are the setbacks because that was the last question you guys had uh to distance from these to other residents um because that is the main concern here that we have uh if there is an emergency um our fire department obviously would be able to manage and control the site it's just a toxic environment that when these batteries uh do catch on fire these facilities um and so they were explaining to me that the closest building they had was a school which is 200 yards um which is about what 750 feet away they during their emergency for the four days they were on site that school was evacuated um and other residents within 300 yards they were given the option to stick around. They were kind of told that environmentally it's not good to sit there and breathe that for days. But that was one of the things that came up. And also, we discussed why they have the battery operation and storage systems. And they have it because of the fact that they have a lot of brownouts. They don't have really good infrastructure. And instead of spending millions of dollars on upgrading, They're using these battery storage systems during peak times to basically generate for them so that they don't keep having brownouts and stuff like that. We were discussing our demographic and the 500 feet. He's like, you're kind of pushing it with the 500 feet. And we kind of discuss the purpose of the battery energy storage system for Troy because we're not doing it for our grid. It's not going into the city infrastructure. It's more of like rebates to the customers that they sign up, stuff like that.

I would just like to say I did watch the training last week or week before. And the one thing I did bring out, I know that they said there were 24 or 25 incidents globally, and that's fine. But my concern is, as these are fairly new systems, right, so as these systems age, My concern is the degrading of the system itself and the containers or such that they're in. The woman from NYSERDA that was here mentioned that, I know she didn't make an official cause of the Warwick. We had to do a root cause analysis or anything like that, but she did state that she believed it was water infiltration. That is a concern of mine because I believe over time, as things degrade, rodent infiltration water infiltration i think you have a higher probability as these this infrastructure gets older to have an incident again as carlos said not that we can't handle it we can handle the incident it's just that there's an increased probability of that and i just would like to see if we're gonna if we're gonna be on scene for four or five days around the clock i would like to see some sort of financial assurance you know that we can we could we could cover that

Thank you all, I did write that down and I apologize I missed that from the previous I included many things that you had asked for I missed that one, I apologize.

Right. And as far as the training is concerned, I know like NYSERDA has training. NYSERDA gets their training from New York State OFPC, obviously. So, you know, we have a large member of our department has already has battery energy storage system training, lithium ion battery training. So that's not, you know, a major concern. And as I said to you before, it's very site specific. Right. So Councilman McLaren wrote with us last week and, you know, We went through one of the new buildings that opened up, and that's something that we do in every structure that we can that has some sort of fire protection system or anything like that. And this would be just the same. We would do site visits, meet with the representatives of the company, get all the information we can. We have a pre-planned system, an electronic pre-planned system that we can access to let us know everything about that facility.

um and then I didn't believe Carla was talking about codes training yeah oh yeah we were talking about training last time so uh for code officials which there are a few in a fire department that are going to attend and uh my guys in the building department in October uh New York State coach division is putting together a training session so um I was trying to look up the date but I couldn't find I believe it's like like October 23rd or something so okay

I had a couple of comments for context for everybody in the room. I know setbacks have been a topic throughout all of this, and I wanted to put some distances in context, because if you are anything like me, You have absolutely no idea how long or far away something is until the tape measure comes out or you line up couches. So it's true. So we did some measurements of this room to put some distances just in context for those of us who can't just do that on our own. So the length of this room from end to end measured 70 feet. where council is sitting measures 22 and 1 half feet, and where most of the audience is sitting measures 16 feet from wall to wall. So just to put all of that in context when we're thinking about a setback and how far away, not necessarily the battery would be, where the fence for the battery system would be. Just context there. I don't actually have any questions. We've clearly been in contact and been working on this. So does anybody else on council have questions?

Sure. Yep. This is a question for the chief. In your opinion, does it make sense for the setback to be proportionate to the scale of the best facility? Like, should there be a blanket setback distance or should, you know, it should probably be proportionate.

I mean, I think everything's going to be very site specific. You know what I mean? I, yeah, it should be proportionate to the size of it.

yeah the touch on both of your guys setback is that when we're talking about setbacks we're talking from the facility themselves not the fence lines so you can have the facility uh you know 30 or 40 yards into the site but they might want to fence off the property at the property line it would be at the actual battery storage thing um talking about sites though is talking about warwick it was like one or two containers that caught on fire even though they had so no matter how big your facility is one container the contaminant is the same as if two containers went or three containers the contaminant will still get into the air um obviously the bigger the fire the the more it will be but that's what we're talking about one or two containers there them emptying a school for a few days

based on if the whole facility if the whole facility went then that would have been uh atrocious but it was a couple containers that went on fire at the time so the um folks from the siting office one of the points that they made was a 500 foot setback would functionally be a ban in the city of troy um is that your perspective as well well i mean

Well, it would require zoning. So if you have a site that specifically you wouldn't be able to develop on, you would obviously go to zoning. Because you're going to zoning already for a special use permit, you would have to go for setback variances. And at that time, it would allow a board to internally, and obviously the council as well can weigh in on it because it's going to be in front of the zoning board. It would be depending on the site specific itself. is that the kind of question you're asking is so if you put the 500 feet and you can't meet that in your parcel then you would get a zoning variance and depending on where it is you know would be up to the board to do the more research and get input from the fire department code officials and stuff like that I guess my question is really are you aware of any parcel in the city of Troy where a best facility is being considered and it would be able to comply with a 500 foot setback

didn't look into that no i don't i i could be mistaken i don't think it would be possible um which is fine i guess if that's the perspective but i i understand why the office of siting does view it as functionally a bam okay um that's it for me thank you

Anybody else? Chair. So that I'm understanding it correctly, the first addition that you had requested was emergency response assistance. So in this document, you would like us to provide a dollar amount of what would be provided each year for both the police and fire departments should something happen?

Just like a decommissioning program or bond that we try to get like a security bond or something in regard to that from the site, the owner, right? So that's something that we have. It would be for police, fire, codes, public utilities, public works, engineering, the whole city, you know, if you have a large-scale event.

Okay. Thank you. So a clarification off of that, the way you're thinking about that is a bond up front in case of emergency, not a per emergency cost?

Correct.

Okay. And the reason it's so hard to get it after at the fact. So providing that up front, some type of surdy bond or, you know, something. I mean, escrow, something like that would hold them more accountable, God forbid, if there was an event. um so even if it was i mean maybe not the full shot maybe a certain percentage something like that so we could talk through that but some type of escrow or something just um to hold them more accountable like i said god forbid if there was an event you know but not make it where you know it's it's inconceivable for them to do business so some type of balance okay any other questions all right I think we have come to the end of our BSS updates thank you all so much thank you and uh just saying Kitty a couple dates that'd be great thank you

All right, seeing as that was the last thing on the science and technology agenda, I am open to a motion to address.

Motion.

Second.

All in favor? Aye. We are adjourned.

Do you want to go right into minutes?

I thought the time was first. I'm sorry. Can I go to the back time first? Yes.

On at 630? Six. Oh.

We're going to take a brief break at this point before we begin our Finance Committee meeting. I would encourage folks who are standing, there are seats and we'd love for you to be more comfortable rather than standing. There are seats throughout the chambers. We're going to need them. Can you move the podium over? for a public forum. Yes, that is what I thought, but then I said special. Okay, all right.

All right, so we'll get rid of this and we'll put it back up again. Or not.

I guess we're going to just skip the table and just use the podium. But for now, let's move it over so we can do our presentation.

Let's try to get the camera. It's not working. So where is the camera? Up there. Thank you very much.

Changing up our agenda a little bit tonight because we have some very special guests with us. We're going to open our finance committee meeting with resolution 74 resolution. for honorary street renaming of a portion of Liberty Street as Crab Garrison Way. Council President Steele, Council Member Spain McLaren, Council Member McKee at the request of the administration. Is there a motion? Motion. Council Member McKee cannot do that. Motion. Council Member Struber? Second. With a second by Council Member Campbell-Cohen. discussion on the resolution or on the ordinance no it's a resolution i'll get my act together soon don't mind me um any discussion on the resolution Well, all in favor? Aye. Opposed? A resounding aye. We have a special presentation that we would like to make to the members at this time. Since it was unanimously adopted in finance you can be assured it will be adopted unanimously at our special meeting following so rather than have you sit around while we do our mundane business we'd like to make this presentation at this time so i would ask that the council members and the members of the crab club please come forward

yeah. yeah. we're going to do. A lot of years. One of the. ways. We. let's give it up for the crab club yes yes um

you know just uh the amount of folks that came down tonight um shows and let's have a couple people over here so we can uh include more folks john hey vanna vanna doling you're okay over there okay So quickly, John stopped in my office and I started talking about proctors. And here, if we could all just come to the side so the folks out there could see. So anyway, John took one of the proctors and he was Vanna White for a few minutes in the office. So Vanna Dolan, we appreciate. you know i'm as a member of the crab club and our deputy mayor recently joined joe mass come on up you're a member too brother come on um He is? Alex, come on, brother. Well, geez. Well, he's not yet, okay? Who is not a member of the Crab Club? Now... And this just exemplifies how far along you've come. And it's a true honor to be a member of the Crab Club. Your mission, it's incredible for fallen veterans, for what the Crab stands for. But saying that, more importantly, you care so much about this community. I cannot say enough about Josh, the board, the team who have stepped up to the plate to rejuvenate this organization. It has, and believe me, I'm born and raised in Troy, and I remember, you know, as a young girl, the Crab Club was thriving. ICC was thriving. We had the Hibernian Hall. You know, we had the Polish, you name it. We had a number of different clubs. We had a number of places to go. We used to have the St. Patrick's Day parade, had the AOA chapter. And little by little, you know, as time went on, our clubs changed. Kind of, you know, went backwards, you know, the younger generation, not stepping up to the plate, not becoming members. Well, guess what? They're coming back, you know, with the ICC. We have Joe's mom in that board rejuvenating the ICC. We have the Polish. And then we have the Crab Club. And for me to see how far you have come in just the past, like four or five years after COVID, incredible, remarkable, you know, Josh, Carol Weaver, John Dolan, all of you. You exemplify what Troy's all about. And we talk about Troy all the time. Talk about history, it's arts, it's architecture, waterfront, you name it, farmer's market, Uncle Sam, the home of Uncle Sam. But what makes Troy are you, our people, our community. So on behalf of myself, you know, Seamus, Joe, our team here at City Hall, we just want to say thank you, thank you, thank you for being a huge part of our community to continue literally, you know, what the Crab Club began as. And Jackson, turn that phone off. All right, brother?

Thanks.

But you exemplify. I know that they're looking down right now, the Ciccarellis and the whole gang, and they're looking down and they're saying, this is why, and this is what it's all about. So thank you. I'm honored to present this. We'll read it in a few minutes. Council President and I, believe it or not, don't believe what you read in the papers. we go out for wings every night or buds all right we do okay now we listen when it comes to our community we don't care about politics we don't care about that this is what it's all about so thank you thank you

I echo what the mayor said. On behalf of the council, we are so thrilled to be able to do this. It's going to be great to have that sign on the street and directing people to the Crab Club. I have a little trivia for you. When I was in high school at Troy High, graduating in 1971, No, I know. I received an award from the Crab Club for my whatever I did. I don't know. I'm sure it was something that the Crab Club believed in. Having fun, maybe. But the work that you do on behalf of veterans is exemplary. I mean, we are so grateful and so fortunate to have you in our city doing what you're doing for our veterans, for children. I mean, I could go on and on with the outreach, the fundraising that you are doing, and the good work that each and every one of you contributes. so it is a thrill for the city council the mayor to join together tonight and honor you and we look forward to unveiling the city the street sign for the crab club way

So we'll read this quick, and then we want to hear from Josh, our commander. And boy, I will tell you, this guy, he runs a tight ship. Jeez. I thought Seamus was tough. Nothing. All right. All right. Whereas the Mayor and the City of Detroit and the Detroit City Council wish to recognize and honor the long-standing service, sacrifice, and commitment of the members of Craft Garrison 1954 to the veterans and residents of the City of Detroit. And whereas at first glance, The name C.R.A.B. Garrison 1954 may not immediately be recognized as a veterans organization, but to those who understand its meaning, it represents something profoundly sacred. And whereas the letters C.R.A.B. stand for Ciccarelli, Ray, Agers, and Bevavino, four courageous servicemen who gave their lives in defense of the United States of America, and three making the ultimate sacrifice during World War II and one during the Korean War. And whereas the Crab Garrison was originally formed in 1954 as part of the Army-Navy Union, one of the nation's oldest veterans organizations, and later continued independently as Crab Garrison 1954 to ensure that the memory and the legacy of these four fallen heroes would never be forgotten. And whereas the organization was found by family members, friends, fellow veterans, and neighborhood residents who were united by shared service, sacrifice, and an unwavering commitment to honor those who gave their lives for our freedom today. And whereas the building occupied by the organization was purchased from the City of Troy for the sum of one dollar, with the understanding that the organization would remain dedicated to promoting the social welfare and well-being of veterans in our community and whereas over the course of more than 72 years the crab garrison has grown from a small group of approximately 15 veterans into a thriving organization of more than say a josh 400 members, let's give it up. all while maintaining leadership rooted in military service and continuing its mission of supporting our veterans and our Troy community. Whereas throughout its history, the Crabbe Garrison has demonstrated a steadfast commitment to charitable giving, to Sue Steele when she was a young kid's scholarship, I'm raising efforts supporting our veterans organizations and hosting events like honor and recognize veterans from all branches and eras of military service. And whereas the city of Troy recognizes the importance of preserving the memory of those who made the ultimate sacrifice for our nation, and acknowledges the extraordinary contributions of the Crab Garrison to the South Troy community and the city of Troy as a whole. Now, therefore, be it resolved that the Troy City Council and the mayor hereby approve and authorize the honorary renaming of the portion of Liberty Street located in front of the Crab Garrison Club 1954 as Crab Garrison Way. and that this honorary designation shall serve as a lasting tribute to the memory of those brave servicemen, Ciccarelli, Ray, Agers, and Bevavino, as well as to the generations of veterans and community members who have carried forward the mission and the legacy of Crab Garrison 1954. Thank you. And be it finally resolved that the City of Troy extends its gratitude and appreciation to the members past and present of Crab Garrison 1954 for their decades of service, patriotism, and dedication to veterans in our community. Let's give it up. Crab Garrison way. Thank you.

Mayor, City Council, honored guests and friends out there, it's a privilege to stand here today as we celebrate a truly meaningful milestone, the official naming of our section of Liberty Street as Crab Garrison Way. This is more than the unveiling of a street sign. It is a lasting tribute to a legacy of service, brotherhood, and history and community. It ensures that contributions and sacrifices of the members of Crab Garrison 1954 will be remembered not only today, but generations to come. A street name becomes part of the everyday life. People will travel this road. They'll look up. Perhaps they'll pause. They'll say, what is Crab Garrison 1954? Who was Crab? That question will open the door to the remarkable story of an organization that has dedicated itself to serving others and strengthening our community. On behalf of everyone whose lives have been touched by Crab Garrison 1954, including Ms. Steele, I want to express our sincere gratitude to the City Council, the Mayor, for recognizing this enduring legacy. Your support affirms that the history and the contributions of community organizations matter and deserve to be honored. To the members, past, present, this recognition belongs to you. reflects our commitment our perseverance and our belief in making a difference may this street sign serve as a reminder that our work has left a permanent mark on this community thank you to everyone who helped make today possible we're deeply honored incredibly grateful and proud to celebrate this historic occasion together thank you guys

We'll keep folks posted for the official dedication. We would love to grab a quick photo with everyone. Thank you. Thank you. Let's give it up again to these folks.

All right. Here we go. On three. One, two, three. Thank you. Thank you very much. i'll be in there

We don't have our council president back then.

They say you literally have to kind of soak on the stuff. Yeah.

Moving right along, we have earlier this evening pledged allegiance. We have not moved, so all members of the council are here. Um, this is the finance committee of the Troy city council. There are agendas in the back of the chambers, and this is the public forum associated with that agenda. So if you have any comments that you wish to make on any item on the agenda, please come forward to the podium.

Okay.

Hello. Hey, Greg Lyons here. So I live in Second Street right there in Troy. Hi again. So I emailed the council earlier but wasn't talked about. So I'm not going to go into so much detail here. It's going to be short and sweet. Yeah, another five minutes, hopefully. So I just want to comment because I have concerns with resolutions 78 and 77, both which aim to increase and improve the surveillance technologies of the Troy PD. Okay, I mean, it sounds like we've been here before, right? Like Flock, if you have the same concerns with Flock that I do, AI-driven systems, data collection and retention, third-party vendors without accountability, you should also be concerned with resolutions 78 and 77 because it's more of the same. We have more of the same here for the police and still no accountability, no oversight, no transparency. So my, I mean, I'm not requesting, I'm just asking, please, I'm imploring you, please postpone 78 and 77 until the council can pass legislation governing the use of these technologies. I think that's a pretty reasonable ask, right? Instead of just keep plowing forward. Just some legislation, government governing the auditing, the data collection, who can use it, why they can use it, all these things, right? So some oversight, accountability, and transparency. And that's really it. That's all my ask. Thank you.

Thank you, Greg.

Hello again, council members. My name is Frankie, and I'm a resident of Troy, and I'd like to express concern about Resolution 76, approving future sales of city-owned property to the Troy Land Development Corporation, or TLDC. I admit that I haven't been able to fully piece together all the relationships between the city and the TLDC, but it appears to be a fast-track mechanism for this administration to make any city real estate deal at once without having to put those deals out for bid. I don't think fast tracks are inherently bad, but what concerns me is the fact that there's no daylight between the Troy Land Development Corporation and the current city administration. The deputy mayor is the executive director of the TLDC and the TLDC board includes political allies of the mayor. I find it a stretch to see how independent choices are being made by or for the TLDC or the city when there is no discernible space between these two entities. I also don't think the public is being told the full extent of tax breaks and subsidies that tend to go along with these types of sweetheart deals that have become so common under the current administration. I would urge caution in approving any city-owned property sales being jettisoned to the Troy Land Development Corporation unless and until it proves itself to be a truly independent non-profit agency rather than a rubber stamp operation led by the Deputy Mayor and the Mayor's political pals. thank you for taking my comments into consideration i appreciate your time thank you frankie

Hi, my name is Frances Sweet, District 6. I have comments on resolutions 77 and 78. For 77, I have some questions. The clear AI-driven social media monitoring service, is that something new? Is that something that the TPD has been using already? and what are the guard rails for this that that um the explanation on it says that it is for you know it's in the grant that is going to fund snug which totally great and that this tool is supposed to be monitoring uh violent criminals associated with gun violence What are the guardrails so that this is not being misused? Because it also mentions their affiliates, their family, their friends, also under monitoring, people who have not committed crimes. And how far does that go? Where does that end? Who is an affiliate? Et cetera. So I think there need to be guardrails if this is a new thing. If this is an old thing, it also needs some guardrails. For 78, My question is similar. Is this additional cameras? Are these replacement cameras? My understanding is that they're replacement cameras. But no vendor is specified in this, in anything in the agenda. That means, you know, Flock, Axon, great companies could be who they choose to go with. And I think that it needs to be said who the vendor is going to be in the documentation, because otherwise it could be anyone and it could not go so great. So thank you. Thank you, Francis.

Does anyone else wish to address the council on any agenda item as part of the public forum?

I'll ask before I go forward and do this, but I was wondering if I could actually offer comment regarding battery storage, which was one of the topics for the Science and Technology Committee.

Well, actually, this is just agenda items, but I would encourage you to speak to Council Member Struber after the meeting. Wonderful.

I'd be happy to. Thank you.

All right. Thank you. Seeing none, we'll move on with our agenda. We have ordinances. Ordinance 32, ordinance amending the 2026 general fund budget, Council President Steele at the request of the administration. Is there a motion?

Motion.

Council Member McKee with a second by Council Member Struver. Discussion on the resolution? All in favor? Aye. Opposed? Aye. I'm sorry, was that an aye?

The mic was off, yes.

Ordinance 32 is adopted unanimously, 7-0. Ordinance 33, ordinance amending the 2026 general fund budget, Council President Steele, Council Member Spain McLaren, Council Member McKee, at the request of the administration. Is there a motion?

Motion.

Council Member Favreau? Second. By Council Member DiLorenzo? Discussion? Discussion. All in favor?

Aye.

Opposed? Ordinance 33 adopted 7-0. We previously acted on resolution 74 and we'll move on to resolution 76. Resolution determining that certain city-owned parcels of real property are not required for use by the city and preliminarily approving the future sale of the parcels to the troy local development corporation pursuant to an option agreement and requiring a public hearing to be held thereon council president steele at the request of the administration is there a motion motion also member mckee with a second by council member mclaren discussion on the resolution

Is somebody from the development team here to talk a little bit about this?

Hi, everybody. Good evening. I'm Christian Luizzi with the development team. Great. Thank you so much.

You may have to move the mic a little bit closer to you. It's not as sensitive as it should be.

I'll do my very best.

Thank you. Thank you.

I'm sure you've talked this to death and it feels like you've talked to the same people, but there are, believe it or not, people who haven't been at some of these meetings. So I was just hoping for the folks who are here who might not have been at some of the public meetings, if you could provide like a very high level explanation of what's planned here.

Yeah, absolutely. So our proposal and intention is a multi-use initiative. mixed-use building approximately 40 000 square feet of office approximately 50 residential apartments our goal is that this is more so a destination and a community so what we're building here is some place that somebody can go live they can play they can eat they can dine um And our intention is to develop this with the same quality into the likes of any other Louise property, maybe most recognizably across the river at Starbucks. And we want to bring that same quality of life and that same type of community across the river into Monument Square. Public space, as Jamie mentioned here, is a huge part of this development. Our intention is that we are going to redevelop that entire back of the riverfront. This will be donated back to the city. We will maintain it. And I think that's a pretty good brief overview of the project.

There's parking included too, right?

We have quite a bit of parking. And I think even more so from our initial proposal, which is a great thing in our eyes. had any questions i'd certainly be more than happy i we have spoke about it quite a bit but this is a long process and we know that i'm more than willing to to speak on anything you might have are you finished council member i am yeah okay council member mckee um you mentioned that you've increased the number of parking spaces can you tell us what the total number would be We don't have a total number at this point, but through preliminary engineering, and this includes to the east and west of the site, we're confident that we're going to be over what that initial proposal was.

And what was that?

There was approximately 107 parking spaces in the two-story garage underneath the building. And that estimate did not include either side. Okay.

Thank you.

Council president council member McLaren at the public meetings that you had, there were a lot of suggestions from the public. I know 1 of the asks was something similar to a trader Joe's on the 1st floor or some, you know, um,

There was a pharmacy was one of them.

Yes, a pharmacy. Yes, because it's much needed downtown. Also, there was a suggestion about a public bathroom because there aren't many available. Right. Is that something that you have given some serious consideration to?

It is. We took every comment from that meeting and we listed them all down in anticipation to speak about them at some point in the future. And our goal, whether it's positive or negative, is to be able to answer these questions thoughtfully. And I think everybody deserves to be able to have an answer that's been thought out and thorough. We are looking into that actively. Our anticipation is that as we get closer and more into the engineering of the project and the architecture of that back park is when we can really dive into that type of thing and get more into the weeds.

Okay. Thank you. Council President.

Council Member Struver.

Could you tell us more about the park space and waterfront and specifically also if you are relying on any New York State grant money for that development?

The New York State grant money is a huge part of this project. As you know, there's been many attempts that have not succeeded here over the last 10 plus years. The grant money is critical to make this happen. That said, we are extremely confident in our numbers and in our ability to use that funding in the way necessary to make this project work. It will ultimately be incorporated into the back park. Our goal is to create a community space, someplace that everybody can come to. That's open areas, green space, benches, sitting areas, to name a few.

I was thinking more. So there's another project up in Lansingburg that is using grant money specifically for redeveloping the waterfront. So I know about the ARPA funds and everything you're using, but there's nothing specific to waterfront and parks included here, right?

So we haven't broken out exactly which parts of the funding go where, whether that's the actual building or the parks. But ultimately, yes, it'll be used for the entire project, including the waterfront park.

And you mentioned that while the park area is going to be gifted back to the city, you're still going to be taking care of it?

That is correct.

And is there any kind of like vision that you can give us?

like anything to compare it to like what kind of expectations do we have for as far as the maintenance or just the park in general just the park in general it's going to be beautiful and well maintained yeah we do have renderings i don't know if you've seen them we can certainly send some renderings that we have but uh it will it will be very very nice i can promise you that how many trees

She's joking.

She's joking. Believe me, she's kidding.

Thank you. Council President?

Council Member Favreau. That was Struber.

You're fine. I wasn't at this presentation, but I did receive the renderings, and I believe it included a playground. Is that still the plan for that developed waterfront space?

There is a few renderings and a few different ideas being thrown out there. One of the ideas was a playground. One of them was outdoor exercise equipment. There was benches. Our intention is to really look at it thoroughly, to look at what the community is looking for, to look at what fits best there and what makes the most sense. I can't say it's a definitive yes or no answer as to a playground. I think as we get really closer into the engineering of the park and really laying it out thoughtfully and master planning this waterfront park. It'll be a lot bigger of a discussion and what we want to do and how we want to do it.

I'll highly advocate as a parent, as somebody who used to live downtown for about 15 years. I know I don't represent D4, but a playground would be chef's kiss. We really need one downtown. But you had mentioned you didn't have the funding parceled out as like what it would be spent on. As a member of the ARPA Steering Committee, I know $2 million would be going toward this project. Do you have any concerns spending that money by the end of this year?

We do not. Okay. This is a complex and expensive project, to say the least, so we are not concerned with that.

Okay, thank you. Council President. Council Member McKee.

I think you said the total more or less is 50 million for the whole project, and that includes the park.

Yes, ma'am.

Okay. And how many jobs? I know you mentioned it during the presentation. How many jobs is Velen bringing to the table and how many apartments will be built? And yeah, if you could just give me those numbers.

So initially they're going to bring their entire 80 person staff. from their current building to the monument square building i don't want to speak on behalf of vilani i know they have growth plans and to continue growing in the city of troy and continue employing more people um and the second part of that question i'm sorry uh the number of apartments number apartments i believe right now it's 51. and they're all market rate that's your plan our plan is to be uh The plan is going to be a little bit higher than market rate. But again, I don't have the final numbers to be able to give you that answer.

Okay. Thank you.

Council Member DiLorenzo.

I yield my question because Noreen asked it. Council Member McKee asked it.

Okay.

Council President.

Council Member Campbell-Cohen.

With regards to improving the riverfront walk, I think most people, when they imagine going for a walk, they think about going more than the distance of what's right in front of this property. And obviously, there's all the trail developed north of the property. Have you spoken at all with property owners to the south about

how you can make that riverfront walk sort of more cohesive and tied in with with the rest of the community we have and our intention is to the to the north of the property or from i'm looking at the river from the street on the right side um we're redeveloping that and the renders will show that we're redeveloping that entire portion of the park as well and it is our intention to continue moving down and incorporating that park further down to the south. To be honest with you, north, south, east, I look at this project, I have no idea which direction I'm looking at. We need a compass. We need a compass on these maps. Yeah. Great.

Thank you.

don't have a question i just have a comment um thank you you have done a tremendous job uh briefing the council making us aware of the plans involving us um and and we're very grateful for that that's an important piece of of the uh the project um i'm not going to start naming names because i'll forget somebody and then i'll be beat up on facebook so please know that I am very grateful to everyone to see this come to fruition. To fill that hole that has been there far too long is exciting. And we have tremendous confidence in your ability to deliver on that. And so we're really thrilled.

i appreciate that very much and i want to say thank you to the council as well in hearing us tonight we take these communities very seriously um monument square will be treated no differently and unless we were absolutely 100 confident we could get this done to do it the right way we wouldn't be here and we wouldn't be doing it so um but it takes everybody it takes everybody in this room and it takes everybody uh coming together to be able to do something like this that's going to be very very special and uh be generational so thank you thank you on resolution 76 all in favor aye opposed adopted unanimously thank you thank you

sorry what you did suddenly oh god

Resolution 77, resolution accepting a grant from the New York State Division of Criminal Justice Services under the GIVE initiative and authorizing the mayor to enter into a contract and execute documents related to the grant on behalf of the city of Troy. Council President Steele, at the request of the administration, is there a motion?

Motion.

Council Member McKee? Second. Seconded by Council Member McLaren.

discussion on the resolution council president council member struber do we have anybody from the administration who can answer questions on this resolution perfect because my questions are all over the place um so uh Resident already brought up, and I saw in here that CLEAR is part of this. My first couple of questions are going to be about CLEAR, so that can help who's answering. Which specific CLEAR product is in use?

It's the legal process one. There's a drop-down box, so we use the one that's for law enforcement.

Well, there's one for legal and then there's one for like fraud. That's why I was asking which or if there's more than one. You don't use the fraud one?

We do. Well, there's fraud information that's contained within the law enforcement one because we use that a lot, honestly. That's probably one of the bigger uses of it because out of all the platforms that we've tried, that seemed to have the best information for building a case.

Okay. And how long has CLEAR been in use for the police department?

Just one year. This is the second year.

All right. And from what I can see online of it, it looks like this is a system that aggregates data from other sources that you can query, but TPD does not enter data into this system. Is that correct?

That's correct. It's similar to LexisNexis Accurant or what's some of the other ones I looked up. TLO, XP, which is through TransUnion, IDECOR, Tracers, DelvePoint, they're all pretty similar. They aggregate the data. In fact, CLEAR stands for what? Consolidated Lead Evaluation and Reporting, which is just what it is. It's consolidated so that you don't have to go to the county clerk for this and go to some other place for this and look here and look here and look here and look here. It's all there. It makes it more efficient.

And how many users have access to that system?

Five.

And tell us about the types of situations where those five people are permitted to use the system.

So they're definitely in the fraud investigations, which we just wrapped one up and made a pretty significant arrest for a fraud against the city and some of our partners. And it's also used for fugitive apprehension. So if we're looking for somebody with a warrant that we've had, even if we haven't had difficulty, we usually go to that to see if there's some leads that can be generated from prior addresses or associates to help us locate that person. Um, so primarily that, or, or oftentimes too, if you have a phone number or you have an address, it'll like kind of backdoor it. So if you put the address in there, it might tell you who, who has lived there and so on. Um, or if you have a phone number, who that phone number, who was, was connected to, uh, so cases like that.

And is access audited and by whom, how often?

Yeah, there's a, uh, honestly i don't know how often it's audited i can find that out for you but there is an administrator our field intelligence officer is the administrator for it okay so all right i'm off of clear now for okay other people who might need to answer a question um so in looking at

The grant application in attachment B, it outlines the different types of personnel that this grant is supposed to be for in the justification section. The justification for number two and number three are the same, but the amounts and the titles are very different. Can you tell us about why?

Maybe it was a typo. I don't know. I don't have that portion here in front of me. So which two are you talking about?

It's the overtime for investigative is listed for $15,000. And then there's hotspot overtime.

All right. I thought you were talking about personnel.

It's listed under personnel.

Well, I guess because personnel use the overtime, maybe. Maybe that's why. I don't know. This is from the state, the grant application. So... Yeah, the hotspot. And what was the other one that you had?

It says OT investigative and the justification on both of them reads overtime for details focusing on our strategies of hotspot policing and community engagement details and non-fatal shooting investigative overtime.

Correct. And it has it for both of them.

Yes.

Because they do, they intermingle at times. So that's why the stay is acceptable with that definition of what we're going to use the overtime for, because sometimes you can run out of one. So we take money from both pools, depending on how many non-fatal shootings there are, or how much community engagement we want to do, or how much uptick in violence is in a certain hotspot. We can pull from both of those pools and they have no problem with that.

Okay. And speaking of community engagement, can you tell us about some of the community engagement strategies that this grant benefits?

Yeah. So we do a park walk and talk details. We'll bring the MCC, you know, the mobile command center out into a certain neighborhood. And it's not an enforcement detail. It's a get to know the neighbors detail and, you know, really just have the kids walk through the, through the MCC, um, engage with the neighbors. Uh, and we also do like barbecues, um, you know, cookout kind of things that we've done down at a, the ICC area or the market, actually, and also up in Geneva, Pompey Park and other locations throughout the city, 112th Street. So we try and use some of that money for that purpose to get people to see just the police department in that role rather than arresting people or investigating, really. And it also leads to some good intelligence because it's comfortable for somebody to come up to you in that setting and say, hey, I don't know if you knew, but this was going on in my alley or this is going on in my neighborhood. So it's been helpful that way too.

Fantastic. The next section in the grant under attachment B, it says fringe benefits. Can you tell us about what fringe benefits are?

Yeah. So the grant pays for personnel, pays for a field intelligence officer, an anti-violence coordinator, non-fatal shooting sergeant, and a crime analyst. And what's nice is that it pays their entire salary rather than just the salary, it pays for the fringe benefits. So it pays for their pension and all the things that the city has to pay for an employee, it covers that.

Speaking of the crime analyst, it states in the justification here that the crime analyst is employed by the Detroit Police Department, but within the justification, it mentions that they do work for all of Rensselaer County.

How does that work? I mean,

I think it's because our office is part of the give team and we are Rensselaer County, but anything that is. Paid for under the gift grant is going to be something that takes place in the give zone. Okay. So that analyst is really working on data relevant to the give zone. but sometimes i i'm guessing that they're allowing us to potentially if something happens in a surrounding area that we would be able to include that data in some sort of analysis um but we are a county partner and so is the sheriffs too as part of this so i'm thinking that's why yeah they have a lesser role we're we're like the co-chairs the city police chief and and the district attorney are the co-chairs of it and then probation is a part of it

and the sheriff's department has a very small part of it um probation has a quite a quite a large role in it honestly okay like the entire grant itself is like almost 1.2 million this is just our portion of it okay and then it mentions that there are monthly give meetings who attends those Uh, the police department, uh, so the FIO, the anti-crime or the anti-violence coordinator, the detective bureau captain, the deputy chief, cause he, the DB falls under him, the district attorney's office, probation, parole, um, some of the services like re-entry, the re-entry coordinator, um, US attorney's office, sometimes depending on what the, what's, what's on that agenda.

So these are all internal only meetings?

Yeah, they're partners within the GIB grant, yeah.

Okay, so is there...

The Crime Analysis Center, they're there too.

It mentions that there are, of course, the monthly reports for those meetings, quarterly progress reports. Is any of that ever a version, of course, that is okay to give out? Like, is any of that ever available to the public to look at?

I think it belongs to DCJS. We're reporting to them so that they can see that we stick to the fidelity of the grant. Maybe from them. You know what I mean? It goes directly to them.

Yeah. I actually just had a meeting with DCJS over at Hudson Valley the other day. We had a large meeting and there was a discussion about the give numbers. So they do neutralize it and take out Susan Marvin- Important information important intelligence and then that is available, like the successes there's a lot of data that will establish the success of the the gift process that is available to the public. Susan Marvin- Okay, I think, on the website, it should be right on DC jess's website okay.

Susan Marvin- that's the end of mine, thank you you're welcome that's the President. Susan Marvin- councilmember mckee.

Can you tell us the anti-violence coordinator works with some community-based organizations? Can you tell us?

Yeah, so the anti-violence coordinator for us is a person named Carrie Hoover. She's a retired Troy police officer, and she works with Parole Reentry, SNUG, And, uh, like we do our, we do our parole re-entry like kind of quarterly. It's up to parole when we do it, but we participate in it. And, uh, you know, we kind of do like a, it's like a call in basically for recently released parolees, uh, you know, and you, you kind of lay out what your expectations are and you also offer services. So service personnel are there too. So she coordinates all of that and she helps write the grant and she does all the reporting.

Great. Thank you.

You're welcome.

Council President, Council Member DeLorenzo.

So this is a reimbursement grant, so you guys have to... Yeah, it's all fronted. You guys have to front the money and then the state reimburses you.

Correct.

Are the quarterly progress reports required when you're submitting for reimbursement or is that something like a separate process?

It's a separate process.

Okay.

so you guys can get we're pretty timely on it though um in fact we're very timely on it it wasn't always that way but it has been over the last few years i mean this has been around this is the 13th year that this grant is is in place um and we never have a problem with our reimbursements

Okay. Changing gears. So Clear, did you guys use a different, or in terms of the Give Grant, Clear came along last year. Did you use a different type of similar software prior to Clear?

Yeah, we used LexisNexis and we just found that it wasn't as useful. It seemed to give more information, especially on the financials.

Okay.

Awesome. Thank you.

You're welcome. Any other questions? Thank you. You may want to stay because the next one may, but I would ask all in favor of resolution 77. Aye. Opposed? Resolution is adopted unanimously. 78, resolution accepting a state and municipalities SAM grant in the amount of 125,000 from the New York State Dormitory Authority, DASNY, and authorizing the mayor to enter into a grant disbursement agreement, CDA. and execute documents related to the grant on behalf of the city council president steele at the request of the administration is there a motion motion council member mclaren with a second by council member mckee and i'm assuming there are questions council president council member struber can you confirm for us which camera system this is a part of

Yeah, this is like the downtown cameras that you see in the intersections that go north, south, east, and west. There's been some iteration of those in place for probably 15 years. The most recent ones that we got were probably five years ago, and they're kind of end of life. And we found that... with with the urging of the district attorney's office um we're we're getting grainy photos and stuff which were useless in prosecution uh so it's it's it's just basic cctv um to be clear this is the eclipse system not the flock system eclipse correct yeah and yeah and the manufacturer's axis i think is the name of the camera okay but it's um

And where does the data live from this system? Is that on servers or storage that we physically have here in Troy?

Dave's our tech captain.

Correct. Some of it maybe. Yes, they live with us on our servers.

And there's no cloud-based data storage on this system? It is truly all local?

Yes.

The backups too?

Yes.

Okay. So, especially with the questions from residents and concerns about the different camera systems, is there a reason why eclipse was not mentioned specifically in the legislation or the memo?

no i mean that's who that's who the vendor's been for for the last several years um but there's there was no reason to to not have it in there i think we were just explaining what the camera upgrade was and it was it was not omitted purposefully but that's who that's who the vendor is eclipse and they're local they're up off a new corner road and rick would it be

amenable legally to add to the resolution that this is for eclipse just so everything is clear and above board there's yeah they're on the state contract so that's who we're using or who we want to use yeah uh i think it'd be okay i i don't quite know where i don't have the resolution in front of me anymore but we can just add some language that says uh the vendor is eclipse

Okay. Maybe if other people have questions, I can find a place for an amendment real fast.

Council President and Council Member McKee.

Thank you. Oh, I had one more. Yeah. Sorry. So the grant mentions that this is for new cameras downtown, but I thought at least one of them was meant for the Stortz at 112th Street. So I just wanted clarification there.

That's separate, right? There's, I think, the one at Glennon 6, maybe, or?

Yeah, there is no.

I don't have the list.

Yeah, I do believe, I don't believe that that is on there. I think it's just.

Yeah, I didn't see it in 12. No.

The only one that's not in the downtown, I do believe, is 16 Glen. Yeah.

Why don't you just read them up?

Yeah. 16 Glen, 8th and Hoosick, Broadway 3rd, Broadway and 4th, 3rd and Congress, 4th and Congress, Federal and 4th, Ferry and 3rd, Ferry and 4th, Fulton and 3rd, Fulton and 4th, River and Hutton, State and 3rd, State and 4th, State and 6th.

Thank you. That's helpful.

That's the end of my questions.

Council President.

Council Member McKee.

Can you tell me how many cameras there are that you'll be upgrading?

I tried counting. I lost track.

So it's easy. Yeah, so there's... There's one four-pack, right? You know. He'll know.

I thought I heard 120. Does that sound right?

15 cameras that were updated. I'm glad I asked.

Because they're a different format than the old cameras. So they're more consolidated, one unit, rather than having these four different cameras each time. Okay. It's just easier. Well, and it's just the way they make them now.

And what are the features of the upgrade? Is it just better photos?

Yeah, it's much better, like, pixels or whatever. It's much clearer. And they have pan, tilt, and zoom so that you can actually see something better. You know what I mean? So it's got that upgraded feature.

And I was a little confused about when the application was made. It looks like the grant disbursement agreement was signed by the mayor on May 6th. So would we be authorizing the GDA that was already executed? I'm just confused about that. Maybe Rick.

I think as the resolution makes clear, the grant second whereas paragraph says whereas the grant has not been finally awarded.

Right.

Okay, so DASNY is still requiring us to execute documents beforehand. The reason you have this resolution is because they want me to give an opinion as counsel that the grant and the term, the grant disbursement agreement is binding on the city. I can't do that without your authorization. So even though the grant has not been finally awarded, the state, in its bureaucratic wisdom, is requiring us to accept everything on paper, and then they will decide whether or not they're going to finally award the grant.

Okay. So that means that the Exhibit B, the Attachment B, where you were to give that approval, is not there. It's attached. And is that why? Because you can't do it until we authorize this?

Yeah, I'm not going to represent that the agreement is binding on the city when it's not.

Okay. All right. Thank you.

Any other questions? Rick, I'm wondering if we can in the third whereas. where it says we'll support a substantial upgrade to the city's current security camera system. Could we insert current Eclipse security camera system?

i'm informed that the eclipse is not the uh manufacturer they're the vendor so i would say uh actually in the uh first whereas for the purchase and installation of upgraded security cameras and equipment in the city from eclipse and i'll find out their real name whatever it is and uh and i'll say something like authorized state vendor or something like that And then that can also go in the now therefore be it resolved, that same language that we hit upon, if you're agreeable to that kind of vague.

Do we agree to that? Do we want to do it in the form of a what Rick said motion?

Yes, I think that makes it clear which system we are upgrading, which is what I was looking for.

Okay. That's not a problem at all.

Thank you. Any other questions? Yeah, Council President. Council Member DiLorenzo.

Yeah, Chief, just want to, I know you guys had said it was CCTV cameras pretty much. I just want to be clear for everybody. This is not facial recognition. There's no AI data tracking, anything like that included in this type of system.

That's correct. It's just images. Thank you. Or video, you know, but there's nothing AI or anything like that. Awesome.

Okay. Any other? All in favor? Aye. Opposed? Resolution 78, adopted unanimously.

Thank you, everyone. Thank you.

Resolution 79, resolution determining that proposed action is a type two action for purposes of the New York State Environmental Quality Review Act. Council President Steele, Council Member Campbell-Cohen at the request of the administration. Is there a motion?

Motion.

Council Member McLaren? Second. By Council Member Struber. Discussion? All in favor? Aye. Opposed? Resolution 78, adopted unanimously. Resolution 80. Bond Resolution of the City of Troy, New York authorizing the issuance of 15,500,000 serial bonds to finance the cost of the reconstruction of the city water supply or distribution system. Council President Steele, Council Member Campbell-Cohen at the request of the administration. Is there a motion?

Motion.

Council Member DiLorenzo? Second. Seconded by Council Member McLaren.

discussion on the resolution council president council member struber is there anybody from the administration who can talk about this resolution i only have two questions for this one what is the likelihood of us receiving this grant because this is a lot of money uh that's a great question that's not really sure um what happens if we don't get it like we're still in for this money whether we get the grant or not right no no it's the it's authorizing for Bond it's not necessarily going out to Bond

Okay. The goal is to show through the WEA grant that we're serious about the project, that we would put the money up to do the project if that weren't to happen. So it's pretty much to show that we're invested. We're not serious about it.

Got it. And then in reading through it, it mentions backup power being installed. What kind of backup power is that?

It would be like a diesel standby generator. like a very large, you know, like tractor trailer size generator. We have one there currently, but it was installed in 1999. Right.

I was just wondering, we've been talking about battery storage systems, and I didn't know if that might be part of this project.

Yeah, no, it's very, for us, you know, with the water and water distribution, you know, nothing bad about batteries or anything, but, you know, we have diesel fuel on site. We have the generator on site. We can produce everything we need without leaving the property. And it's also very high voltage. So you wouldn't be able to produce that from solar. It's 4160 volts. So it's quite a bit.

Thank you.

My question might be for our controller, who I think I saw. Yeah. Mike, if you would just clarify, is this part of the monies or the program that the governor announced that we were eligible for? and therefore we're fronting with bond money and we'll be reimbursed?

Unfortunately, I'm not quite aware. The corrosion control. Was that another program? That's a different program, yes.

That's a different program? Yeah. Okay, so we are indeed authorizing this amount of money for this project and it's There's no reimbursable program associated with this.

I just want to clarify. All right. So you're authorizing a bond issuance. The reason we're asking you to do that is because the WE2 grant requires that we have authorization for a bond issuance. It's sort of similar to the GIVE situation we just went through. We have to get everything, check all the boxes before they'll finally award us a grant.

thank you i mean i don't think that anyone would issue the 15 and a half million dollars unless we suddenly had a windfall unless the grant was in line to be received good okay that that clarifies for me thank you council president council member campbell in other words the what what they're doing by requiring us to pass this is basically showing that the council is not going to get in the way if it's awarded right that's correct okay thank you

I think it's worth noting, too, that the $15 million is just to kind of show the total scope of what it'd be. Obviously, if we get a lower award and what the reimbursement is would determine what we ultimately do. But I'm sure you'd all agree, go for as much as we can. So that's what we're doing.

Thank you. Any other questions? All in favor? Aye.

Okay.

resolution 80 is adopted 7-0 resolution 81 a resolution thank you everyone thank you thank you a resolution to commemorate the 30-year career and contributions of the band super 400 to the troy community by designating the portion of rensselaer street west of river street as super 400 way council president steel council member struber at the request of the administration is there a motion motion council member favreau second by council member mclaren discussion council president council member struber

I just have a statement. No questions. I didn't know who this band was until I started researching them because this part of the roadway is in my district. And then I realized I actually saw them accept an award at the Eddie's in 2023. So I started listening to their music. Apparently they have another new album dropping this year, which is incredible, especially because they've been around since 1996. That's a very long time to have a music career. So I'm excited to honor them for the contributions they've made to the music scene in Troy, the Capital Region, and around the world.

Thank you. Council President. Council Members. Favreau.

I too am a huge fan of Super 400, and I go back with them at least maybe 10 to 15 years. Printed a lot of their merch. I've taken piano lessons with them at their downtown location. My husband's taken bass lessons with them. So more than what they're providing entertainment to us, they're also teaching the next generation music. And a lot of the things that they're putting on is free. So if anybody has an opportunity to check out what they're doing at the Troy Music Academy, it's amazing. So I'm appreciative of them and looking forward to honoring them.

Good. Thank you, Council President. Council Member McLaren.

I just want to mention that Kenny's mom was my mother-in-law's first cousin. And we have very fond memories of Bonnie and miss her dearly.

Troy is a small town. And a great town. All right. All in favor? Aye. Opposed? Resolution 81 is adopted unanimously. That concludes our finance agenda. I would entertain a motion to adjourn the Finance Committee.

Motion.

Councilmember DiLorenzo? Second. By Councilmember Struber. All in favor? Aye. We are adjourned out of the finance. We want to go right into the special?

Sure. Okay.

Uh, for those who are watching and for those in the audience, we're moving on to a special meeting that was called to act upon certain items of that were previously, um, considered in the finance committee. Does anyone wish to address the council on any of the special meeting agenda items? Seeing none, we'll move along. Ordinances. Ordinance 33.

Ordinance 33, an ordinance amending the 2026 general fund budget. Council President Steele, Council Member Spain-McClaren, Council Member McKee at the request of the administration.

Is there a motion? Motion. Council Member Struver, second.

Second.

Council Member McLaren. Discussion? All in favor? Aye. Opposed?

7 eyes 0 knows the ordinance passes moving on to resolutions resolution 74 resolution 74 resolution for honorary street renaming of a portion of liberty street as crab garrison way council president steele council member spain mclaren council member mckee at the request of the administration is there a motion

motion council member favor second second by council member campbell cohen discussion we had the pleasure of sharing a moment with lots of members of the crab club earlier tonight um a great organization and certainly deserving of this all in favor aye opposed seven eyes zero knows the resolution passes Resolution 76.

Resolution 76, a resolution determining that certain city-owned parcels of real property are not required for use by the city and preliminarily approving the future sale of the parcels to the Troy Local Development Corporation pursuant to an option agreement and requiring a public local development. local hearing to be held there on Council President Steele at the request of the administration.

Is there a motion?

Motion.

Council Member McLaren with a second by Council Member DiLorenzo. Discussion? All in favor? Aye. Opposed?

Seven ayes, zero noes. The resolution passes.

Resolution 79.

resolution 79 a resolution determining that proposed action is a type 2 action for purposes of the new york state environmental quality review act council president steele council member campbell cohen at the request of the administration is there a motion motion council member mclaren second second council member struber discussion all in favor aye opposed seven eyes zero knows the resolution passes Resolution 80. Resolution 80, a bond resolution of the City of Troy, New York, authorizing the issuance of $15.5 million in serial bonds to finance the cost of the reconstruction of the city water supply or distribution system. Council President Steele, Council Member Campbell-Cohen at the request of the administration. Is there a motion?

Motion.

Council Member McLaren, second? Second. Council Member McKee? Discussion? all in favor aye opposed seven eyes zero knows the resolution passes that concludes our uh agenda I would entertain at this point in time a public forum on any item that anyone wishes to comment on to the council

Hi. Hello. Hi. Sorry. Francis Sweet, D6. I'm a little confused by what Chief DeWolf was saying with the CLEAR program and focused it his explanation almost completely on fraud when in the documentation all it focuses on is violent crimes and never mentions fraud. So what are we actually using this for? Is it for violent crimes or is it for fraud? Because there are two different arguments happening right now or explanations happening right now. I am also going to read something that was sent to me. So these are not my words. These are the words of someone else, but these are the questions I'm asking for them. If you spent six months establishing that flock data sharing needed democratic's oversight, why are you rubber stamping a grant that funds a more invasive tool with zero local use policy attached? This $9,000 clear line item is small, but it's buying access to a platform that makes flock look like a traffic camera. Does the council know what clear is? Have they read the justification that their own police department wrote? Sorry. Thanks. Thank you.

Hello again Greg lines second street in Troy here, I just want to know, I think the 60 days or five years at 120 days audit for the police for the flock is up, I was wondering if that's something that's going to made available. And yeah for the public to see that's real Thank you, thank you.

Does anyone else wish to address the council on any item? Seeing none, I would entertain a motion to adjourn. Motion. Council Member Favreau? Second. Second. Council Member McLaren? All in favor?

Aye. We are adjourned. Thank you.