finance the paving of streets acquisition of various the vehicles machinery and apparatus for the construction and maintenance acquisition and installation of cameras reconstruction of city hall construction and reconstruction of improvements to the water system acquisition and installation of automated meter reader system construction and reconstruction of improvements to the sewer system advisers that if we borrow everything together additional five point seven billion dollars along with our regular capital projects the city will save about fifteen thousand dollars in the cost of fisheries and this is the window of opportunity because we have to borrowing books we have to close them on a certain day so if the don't take advantage of this opportunity this week today then we will not be able erickson you know my only concern is when i read through legislation it doesn't say anything about that it talks about it being a fifteen year you know blow the whole thing so i would like to i guess find out from our bond who's advising us and how do these bonds if we can change the language in here to reflect that this is actually a short term float versus a long term bond and so when you read through it it says that it's a fifteen year bond and so i'd like  that's a good way to do it which it's the right way to do it but just but the legislation does not say that it's a short term right and so i think that just to close all the loopholes we need to make sure that it says that it's short term at least that portion of it that we're floating if that's appropriate for our bond counsel fit for some reason you can't do a bond that way you know i'm not an expert in the legal ease of bonding but i'd like to say that the only thing i can add to that is that i am not the man counsel and by counsel is the one who drafted this legislation my experience in the past has been that they know exactly what they're doing and that  i am not at liberty to change it in that once the lines enter the secondary market in the arsehole wherever they're sold it it's the merging that is here that is controlling and that they're the ones that work with the underwriters to cause it to go out in a certain manner an ordinance is drafted and what would be the worst case scenario for the maximum time frame there's no penalty to prepay these bonds at any point even though the discussion right now is about  all can say is the worst case scenario where it would be paid back over a fifteen year period in the band would have to go back out anyhow and even these numbers are drafted for a worst case scenario or hopefully that we will not have to borrow that much money but it would allow us to do it again to be able to match the cash flow with the actual construction of the reward so that as soon as we get the money back from the federal this present yes now now i'm confused because when is matt actually originally explained this to us she said that legally we had to get these funds through band not through and so what i'm hearing from the mayor is that these are bonded funds and that we actually could take the option to pay them back more slowly if we wanted to this is a one for the worst case scenario so we're looking this  as you said that we can we can not bond it so bond is a is a long term and the interest rates are high for that band is a shortage don which is so you're absolutely right we had that this is the worst case scenario i as soon as they get the money from the third and the state government going to done that on and b the debt service back but legally we cannot bond it because this is going to be a shorter anyone else any other comments questions questions for it's not so then should this legislation rita be an ordinance rather than a bound ordinance they're all referred to as bond ordinance ok so ok just checking forty one thousand and twenty five dollars and that should be amended to read twelve million seven hundred sixty nine thousand five hundred twenty five dollars and included in the list of items to be dealt with very boulevard ok so you want to totally separate resolution rather than the amendment you want this and they were there's now a new resolution is the same as the old one with those two things added so that resolution done with for the twelve thousand twelve million will become sixteen a correct ok so we're make this simple as possible as as much as we possibly can is there a motion from the floor to amend order this number two thousand and twelve to state what's in the resolution that we have in front of us for the twelve million dollars i will make that motion however i i think that i just want to make a comment that this is something that we probably could have had before us earlier and so there's still a lot of questions that i have in terms of how could we have done this slight tweaks to the legislation wording that would have made me more comfortable i understand what we're doing is the right thing to do from what i understand this point but i have a question that i would have preferred to ask  our bond expert who is not here to speak so being that i like to to get their contact information so i can call them tomorrow and asking these questions but being that time is of the essence and doing it tonight would save us you know considerable amount of money versus waiting in doing these as two separate ordinances i will move that we substitute item number one with the new number of twelve million seven hundred sixty thousand five twenty eight if that's the same number you have ok it's been moved as their second at second imbibe council member king i was in favor dollar amounts for this additional cash flow with this bond ordinance and to lead toward the contract you can't know what the numbers are going to be so those bids had come in and so i guess we're lucky he didn't come in yet tomorrow or wednesday ok number two this is yes clarification do we need to determine if this is going on the consent of gender or if it's going to be a roll to call vote for now we probably should you probably should since we're talking about it right now nine schenectady sitting all want to five jaish three four revisions to the chapter one sixty seven of the code of the city of schenectady regarding bake it buildings again this was discussed in committee without objection i on consent number three a resolution calling for a public airing monday april twenty third two thousand and twelve at seven p m at council chambers room to room nine schenectady city hall one hundred five j street for a band the men of daniels avenue in the city of schenectady pursuant to new york state second class cities law number section want to once again discussed in committee last week without objection on consent that goes on consent had a rest number for a resolution calling for a public airing april twenty third two thousand and twelve at seven p m council chambers room two all nine open fires ok again discussed in committee without objection on consent number five a resolution for leasing the two firetrucks discussed in committee without objection  chambers room two or nine schenectady city hall one of five j street is going to be new york for the abandonment of agnes street in the city of schenectady pursuant to new york second city second class cities last section one o one discussed in committee without objection on consent goes on the consent agenda a resolution appointing members of the board of assessment review began discussing committee without objection i c and consent appear on the consent agenda number thirteen a resolution authorizing and the city is going to ask you to enter into an easement agreement with national rarer passenger corporation a fifteen it's not a good number of fifteen a resolution awarding contract for the p i and seventeen fifty seven point sixteen erie boulevard in the amount of seventy one thousand four hundred ninety two dollars and thirty cents and without objection on consent that to appear on the consent of john doe anything else to con before the city council c oh god we pray for our sinful world we thank you lord to labor to renew creation that you seek not to judge but to save not to destroy but to to violence infect children here in schenectady that still go to bed hungry we know pray for our community who struggles and for those who do not look for the good in our beloved city speak to us now and show each of us our part that we play of bringing peace and justice to schenectady cleanse us from all that keeps us from serv you and from loving our neighbor with integrity of word and deed we pray to you in the one and only god in jesus name then ma yes we have one public hearing this evening and i have three or five people signed up but before we do the public hearing i think will do the resolution for the chamber and superintendent  the chamber of scanty county and presenting its good news all wards to area businesses and in commending interim schenectady school superintendent johnny gale skee for his service where as for more than fifteen years the chamber of schenectady county has been recognizing organizations in county which have shown extraordinary community support undergone major growth or expansion survive through economic ups and downs or launched a unique product or service within the past year or are simply true success good news stories and whereas the chamber of schenectady county will be presenting awards at the good news luncheon to be held on april twenty sixth two thousand and twelve at the riverstone manor in glenville to the following organizations for their exemplary performance and it once again good news whereas four corners pizza overcame the adversity of a major fire in two thousand  successfully rebuilt and reopened in august of two thousand and eleven but it's a good customer play bass and employees now up to ten people and whereas flood recovery coalition of the county is an organization encompassing several nonprofit or organizations habitat for humanity of schenectady county city mission catholic charities scap cooperated extension and community foundation in st clair's catholic church and was formed to help bridge the gap between the actual costs of rebuilding after flood and funds received through federal emergency management agency or as we know it fema or flood insurance and provides families with counseling and social support over time and whereas the volunteer income tax assistance the vita program assists through i r s certified volunteers individuals and families with a gross income of fifty thousand dollars or less with free state and federal income tax preparation and filing service and in conjunction there with offers free financial counseling the ability to buy savings bonds with their refunds and other financial indicate scuse me education and literacy resources that can help them take control of their finances and where as s d s deal has built in now maintains an experienced and sought after workforce that has a reputation for capability and competency completing difficult and complex projects both locally and nationally they have survived economic opposite downs and continue to make a positive impact in the lives of its employees in the community and whereas sander stevens of sandra's fine jewelry supports dozens of local nonprofit entities and efforts and demonstrating extraordinary community support by such activities as collecting one thousand two hundred seventy coats for kids and delivering them to scary for hunter coble scale and rather dam junction wait there's more good news and where s connected a floor covering has provided expert service to the community for three generations and has recently expanded with a move to max and road tripling it showroom space and doubling its staff and whereas the landmark stony lane grayle recently underwent major improvements to its facade with a nine hundred square foot addition and a four hundred square foot space for live entertainment and whereas interim schenectady school superintendent john you served this to the city school district admirably during a very difficult time in the history of the school district with a focus on strengthening relationships building community trust using his leadership organizational and financial skills and experience to help the school district and redirect attention back to the students teaching and learning demonstrating an ability in concern that will be truly missed and whereas the chamber of schenectady county is also pleased to announce its new centennial honor roll recognizing organizations or businesses celebrating one hundred years or more in schenectady county acknowledging both the perseverance and success of these organizations as well as their deep roots in our community this year adding to the role of the law firm hagan's roberts birol and c one hundred seventy five years that's amazing mariyam insurance agency one hundred seventeen years schenectady county historical society one hundred seventy years schenectady day nursery one hundred ten years the brown school one hundred  nineteen years general electric one hundred twenty years and the union presbyter in church one hundred thirty nine years therefore be it resolved that the council of state the city is going to be posit its deliberations to honor these businesses and organizations for their commitment to excellence and to commend interim schenectady school superintendent john hugo ski for his selfless service well don't we have a vibrant community with two representing the recipients of our good news awards this year then talbot who is the president of s t s steel and marian porter field who works with the united way and works with the vita program which is such a success story that in our community we sent both of them for joining us tonight and we thank the city council and the mayor for this recognition these businesses and individuals have labored a great deal on behalf of obviously their own businesses but they are true community believers and believe in schenectady county and the city is connectivity and it's our pleasure and honor to be able to recognize these folks on april twenty sixth and we invite our city council are rare and those viewing this he read the public proposed two thousand and twelve consolidated plan ok first person signed up jason plank meaningful access to all programs activities and services of said grant for the last five years a city in the county has had a contract to handle affirmative action services for which has not lived up to the contract requirements and have failed to  assure equal access to these grants the city still has not done an economic disparity study to help assure access to jobs and to the grounds the city still has not done an affordable and accessible plan for excess access to homes or rental units in the city implemented procedures designed to fulfill the one thousand nine hundred nine supreme court decision to maximize community integration of persons with disabilities the city of skin act these persons with disabilities are living in poverty four times higher than the non disabled the state  three times the new york state employment rates sits at seventy percent too high with schenectady county being the worst county in the state furthermore not having a plan to help purse with disabilities to live in the community of their choice is poor planning the misappropriation of said grant overlooked to a point of just attend a meeting after meeting and getting nothing done thank you thank you next person signed up is penny and i'm sorry penny i can't read that last name holmes here mccarthy my name is penny home something hamilton hill executive director forty years ago a group of individuals concerned about the wellbeing of children living in hamilton hill area schenectady founded hamilton hill arts center and its infancy the art center was a small scale summer program designed to offer a positive in creative maternity for children the art center draws upon the cultural visual technical and performing arts to provide a variety of programs at tiffany's resources and service to children and adults founded in one nine hundred sixty eight as a drop in center for at risk kids our program offers education arts opportunity  beauty to two people wildly to stir up the region it is our goal to have a positive in lasting impact on families and children especially those at risk that's the funding which we have received from the community development block we are so grateful for given a very hard economic times but as we all have the same common goal is to city is to provide for the most needy is at this time my x that you reinstate  much funding as you possibly can for us i thank you and i hope you will consider that thank you and city council and denise booker president i'm will be in the middle i'm the director of minority contractors technical assistance program for anybody who's might be behind me i'm pretty sure there's a diverse population that population we serve there is going to be my understanding a pretty big funding cut across the board for a lot of not for profits but i will tell you there will be a gap understanding from does not get funded that the money we do still have in our balance that it's going to be coming to us it's only going to carry so over just so far i will tell you that as may of next year if we don't secure two thousand and thirteen c d g funding the program will close we're only going to be going just so far like i said and i will say that we're only going to have one hundred twenty six dollars and eighty five cents left at the end of may of next year given the fact that if i'm hoping with city approval that we do get two thousand and thirteen funding the issue will be there's going to be a severe gap between the time or money runs out till the time for their funding can come from c d g if it if at all also i want to clarify there's a lot of confusion in misnomers in the sun or stand ins tap is not an employment agency where technical assistance program that serves the minorities within the construction field and within that we cover a lot business plans getting businesses started up as what we were noticing tonight there's many business starting the we help support that we offer technical systems and getting the minorities in the construction field state certified d o t certify d we assist with a lot of business start ups technical assistance and anything beyond and we do a lot of collaboration and referrals with other agencies i will say however we are not the employment agency because the city is not go duplications of services that's for one stop and other agencies common but make tab is purely for the minorities in the contracts and the construction field i also want to be very clear it in the city or the county when you hear minority and construction they automatically think make tap we fit a niche but not everybody fits into our services you know what we can offer not everybody is about when we don't give out jobs we can direct people but we're really there for the contractors the minority contractors and nobody not a lot of the construction jobs that are taking place in the city in the county i still want to see fair representation of the minorities in making sure that minority participation quota is going to be getting  want to see that change for the city and for the contractors that i offer assistance to thank you thank you good evening council members mayor mccarthy president my name is cheryl herder and i long term resident of the city of schenectady and i very much appreciate the opportunity to comment on the city's proposed use of federal funds through the consolidated plan process i am employed by the schenectady inner city ministry and i also serve on the board of directors of the him up in his art center both of these organizations have served residents of the city for over forty years and both address the needs of some of our most vulnerable citizens reverend grigsby is unable to attend this evening due to a scheduling conflict however he will be submitting something to the council in writing very soon certainly appreciates the city's continuing support of activities in the public parks and the security deposit revolving loan fund we also appreciate the added support for a second spree summer lunch program i think most of you know that last year we served almost thirty five thousand watches cecum is of course is the pointed to see that the damien center is not recommended damian is the only drop in center for individuals infected and affected by hiv aids in the coal county m b have the hamilton health arts center i will say that we certainly appreciate the city's recommendation of continued funding these funds will be used for a project her preach project reach provides an average of twenty school age children with educational programming six days a week year round all of the children who participate live in homes where the income is below poverty most are from single parent and project are has a significant impact on their young lives i note that the recommended allocation is a drop from last year's recommendation and asked that you consider finding the current york and i thank you for the opportunity to speak before you this evening on behalf of the y w c a northeastern new york we thank you for your past support of the y w through the city council the city of schenectady is consolidated planned funding cycles we ask you to please funds and why debbie's request for the front street pool again this year the y w c a has overseen the operation of this front street pool since nineteen ninety seven the front street pool offers a much needed affordable summer recreation option for the citizens of schenectady participation in this program will contribute to keeping youth off the streets and the system from engaging undesirable behaviors this program offers youth and their families a chance to participate in recreational swims swim lessons and to develop an interest in skills and a lifelong sport in ideal times all of connected is minnesota swimming pools would be open and free to the residents of schenectady unfortunately in today's world this is no longer a reality the y w c a of northeastern new york has in the past underwritten the cost of underwrite operating this front pool and as a nonprofit agency we do not have cash reserves to draw upon and all of our programs and or our services must be self supported or funded in some manner so we again thank you for your support for the consolidate plan and ask for funding so that the y w c a will be able to provide this much needed recreational  option to the cities of schenectady the citizens excuse me schenectady for this coming summer thank you thank you that concludes the public hearing i have no one else signed up presell second by council member are those in favor i minutes or approved communications and petitions four hundred ninety two dollars and thirty cents from the commissioner of general services a letter can command in the recommending the award of pin seventeen fifty seven point sixteen erie boulevard reconstruction i eighty ninety two units tree to refer member construction and of troy new york in the amount of ten million nine ave application applications for residents who wish to participate in the bellevue community wide garage sale june second are available at the meeting or call diane at three seven  three two three six six are available for the bucky's chicken barbecue june ninth from hamilton him neighborhood association and the mail announced in an open conversation with corporation consul john pollster thank you i just want to remind everyone that new york state law does prohibit open burning till may fifteenth and even after may fifteenth as we passed the c evening although it was a law that  property this means no campfires and no bonfires in this law is in place currently fires in gas or charcoal grills that have received safety certification are allowed but however please please please do not utilize your gas grill or your charcoal grill on a porch we recently had a very very bad fire in the city and that was the cause of it so just to remind you that there are fees attached in the fire department received a complaint they will request that you extinguish your fire if you don't they will extinguish it for you but it's really for the safety of yourself and the comfort and safety of your neighbors just a very important reminder no open burning in the city thank you council member anyone else committee reports say no committee reports the reports are close we will move on to privilege of the floor on the legislative agenda first person signed up is robert sanders  i imagine you're going pointer today and like i said i want to speak about it now because it had predicted that there was going to be an open primary most of us are democrats here except seven seats are filled ok imagine the democratic machine or democratic party is going to back the candidates it's going to be in the seven c ok or the six c and this sort of leaves me in the dust but now when you took the vote ok when you had the deadlock everybody sort of sat there and you looked at mr reddy and you said you know it's his fault it wasn't his fault ok we had the arrogance here thinking that you know we as democrats you know we're going to win all the time well you know you don't always win as my father said sometimes you strike out and we lost ok and we made a mistake ok executive committee it's in the executive committee is promising marion the seat but see that's against the bylaws in our own democratic committee it's promising a seat ok mary important field is a good person i'm going to say i'm going to say that she's a very good person but the promise of seat is against our own bylaws so you know i sit here i look around and i see everybody and i seen all the sniping in the back when john was in merriam back and forth and say you know this is a right ok johnson i hear the primary her i'm going to prior primary because you know why it's the right it's story it's the right thing to do but you know there's another way to take care is why not have the full democratic committee vote i mean who would be the right person would veron or porterfield but that never came to fortune because that vote never took place i did hear our city chairman say we should all get behind mar n porterfield now that john dropped out now that we shifted indorsement of mary important feel when the paper had printed lauren stanford and the guys that have printed that i was go primary are so you know there comes a time in place when you've got to say no more enough is enough ok so i'm saying to the people skin activity it's in your hands it's in your hands to see who's the right person because you guys will vote for marion porter feel ok to executive committee certainly can do it because i'm on that and you know the rest of the democratic party can't but i will get the signatures i've got the people to get the signatures and i do know one thing i'm going to leave it up to democratic people of the city is connected to democrats to find out who was the right person to sit in the sea thank you was that it had to be paid back it's been time and time again where they have brought peter to pay paul they've come up with these bonds and said all women we're going to float this for six months because we've got to do it and it comes down things out fifteen years they take the money and they just put in the general fund and just go right on down the road and i understand exactly where current counts when erickson is it should be in there it should mandate exactly the executive branch what they're supposed to be doing which is the merits office you guys control the finances and everything else you need to dictate exactly how those finances are supposed to be and you're supposed to tell the executive branch how to issue those finances so i mean it's a very easy fix that you can be able to do which is to add part b that this is a mandated of that amount to be paid back as soon as it comes in from the state or the feds or whatever it is that way you are directing the executive branch of exactly what has to be done if you don't do it you're just going to be paying robin people pay paul because they'll just take the money and just be able to float through the other question is that of he is the affirmative action on hiring person with disabilities for the erie bowl of our project not once was there affirmative action for hiring persons with disabilities in this project there wasn't even in  that american jews contract with the city deals with just minorities only it is also the duties of robert adams as the a contract compliance he also does the disability side because he does the contracts all over so you have two different individuals that were left out of this process that should have been made in the process and i'm hoping that this council be able to correct that and to be able to make sure that when these people come up that they're actually looking for jobs for personal disability actually have and one of the things that have i've investigated on apprenticeship programs they've cancelled the meeting for tomorrow and hopefully back in june is that these apprenticeship programs do not have primary and secondary job functions and so i wouldn't advise you guys to take a look at the website if you can't if you have it let me know i will send you the plus sized jason yes thank you and be able to take a look at it also to iss in june hopefully when they do come back they're going to have report on the apprenticeship program thank i'm not going to make a big issue or create a montreux placement on the council but i do want to clear myself of any illegal a ny legal suits brought against me for how i i repeat a situation number one nobody has told me who the one individual  promised this position i can suppose but those who weren't and were elected to it but i'm not even sure whether this promise was made before or after the election nother thing i'm not very sure is i know the council and i don't of the mayor whether he's involved in this or not but the council does have the right to approve a nomination of somebody for the replacement but only one person promised it this was not the whole elective process so i want it i want to know who's the one person that promised was it before or after the election and i think the only other thing is everybody may know miss porter feel right yet to see a resume on or i don't know she's married i don't know if she has children i don't know anything beyond who she is so just a little help from those that are here to help me i also want to mention that regarding the earache boulevard bid it was going to be in the neighborhood of fourteen million dollars is what we were told and then today it's ten million from all bidders except one who was in the eleven billion so whatever you did with this other thing tonight about bonds these i call them junk bonds bucko already just going up five million dollars so who am i to believe i don't want to link this to anything spiritual but you're not helping and then mr pollster is not the bond counsel who is i didn't know you were that specialized when it came to be a corporate counsel and then no penalty to pre pay by this very interesting you really thank you ok i have no one else signed up for the legislative agenda so say no and i will close the portion all mary i'm so sorry i could i forget you know come on  good evening my name is mary maclean and i live in the city i'm one to talk about number nine and number ten a long time ago i visited i visited an ecologically fragile sanctuary that was open to the public the tour guide told the visitors quote only take pictures and only leave footprints i doubt that will happen if the city negotiates and executes a nice men with the nature conservancy for access through the woodlawn preserve on and so on so many unanswered answered questions at the present time someone is dumping debris in central park along the perimeter of the parking lot near the dog or on the bridge it looks like chopped up pieces of asphalt it is not natural vegetation every time i go there the pile is higher which leads me to believe the material is been dumped there in anchorman it's such a situation could also happen if a city execute easement through the woodlawn preserve heavy equipment it's not needed to cause damage a couple of will barrels filled with some lungs on wanted materials could very easily be unloaded there even a child's wagon can move over the irregular terrain and conclusion and easement through this fragile area should not be granted it is asking for trouble with regard to the marion porterfield appointment so much more transparency so much for an open process the result was the same we went from a need for someone with a financial background to what eight people submit a resume to city council seven people interviewed for the position what was said by council members and the general public was we have two good candidates that must make the other five who ok now that really was everyone signed up for the legislative agenda and now we will go back to our consent agenda and we have roll call number one seven hundred sixty nine thousand five hundred twenty five dollars agora principal amount serial bonds of the city of schenectady new york pursuant to the local finance law to finance the paving of streets acquisition of various vehicles machinery and apparatus for construction and maintenance acquisition and insulation of cameras reconstruction of city hall construction and reconstruction of improvements to the water system acquisition and installation of automatic meter reader system construction and reconstruction of improvements prizes i just want to qualify my vote regardless of my questions you know i think we've we've got a guy our eyes and crossed our t's i think a very important thing for the public to know here is that ninety five percent of this cost of of  fixing erie boulevard is reimbursable to us the city is only responsible for five percent of that cost i think it's very very very important for people to know i also want to stress that this project is a been in the works for a number of years it's a crucial project it's a very very very important gateway into our city and i vote yes to support this moving forward erickson you know one of the speakers earlier this evening kind of agreeing with me in some regards i did not want to imply and i don't think i did but it might have gotten the impression that they were being inappropriate with this my really concern was is that the legislation reflect more specifically what we're going to do and so i just wanted to clarify that point and i would have liked to have a little more time to review and ask and be more specific questions but with that i madam president a to explain my vote i have the same questions that two of my colleagues of expressed and i think this should have been brought to us maybe a little sooner i was surprised when i saw  communications that said we need to short term borrow five point seven million dollars i have some concerns about reimbursements do they always happen is a guaranteed i don't know this so in all good conscience i'm going to have to vote no on this i know it's an important project but i'm going to vote no because it's a lot of money to spend and we don't have any money we all know that we're in we're in a lot of trouble financially and to just be week after week after week all the time and i'm tired of that and i'm not going to go along with the things like this so my vote is no  her i'm going to vote yes as well in and i you know i agree with my colleagues it is it's unfortunate that we need more than a perfect world in this and we wait for the scope of work but i think that sometimes we need to wait and get the best bid in the best estimates in that we possibly can as as i said to the mayor earlier i'm glad it didn't come yesterday or today are actually tomorrow or wednesday  i think that it's incumbent upon us as a council to keep track of this and not because we certainly don't trust the finance administration but it's a it's an issue that we need to keep a look on so we can be assured and the people that we represent and that voters in the office can also be assured that we are paying close attention to our fiscal zarif fiscal responsibilities as a council and i think with the questions asked able to at least save some money which is always a very important and i do credit our financial ministration for looking to that and certainly pointing that out to us what i'd like to have it sooner sure i'm sure you they probably would have liked to have it sooner as well but all of that being said this is a very important project this is a project that we have been waiting for as a city and as a city residents on the gateway into our city for probably at least five years we need to work with the federal government we need to recruit these dollars before we lose them and before we lose businesses that want to come into the city of schenectady and before we lose one of our best employers in the city of schenectady g e and have them show that we in the city of schenectady support them as well as they supporting us and so without i would vote yes hero five to one thank you number seven resolution appointing members to the board of assessment review mr reagan yes again madam president for these two individuals that are being proposed i haven't seen any resumes for them personally i brought forward a committee last week resumes of people that i nor interested in the positions i was told it was too late so with that i mean when there are people that are willing to serve on boards i said that before but if it's their political persuasion maybe has something to do with that i won't know i don't know what the put political persuasion of these people are personally they're willing to serve i don't know anything about the two people that are going to be  a resolution appointing marian porterfield to serve on the city council  i was actually on the inside of this process and i can say that it was a democratic process with the small d we did interview many qualified candidates in my personal opinion it came down to two candidates that were leading the pack i listened with an open mind and gathered information and made my decision i made a decision that wasn't necessarily a favorable one in sa my but i'm proud to say that i made my decision with integrity i think it came from much discussion open discussion and i appreciate that and i am proud to say that i can stand here and say that i voted for what i thought was right without any sort of a calculated approach to my vote i am also just as pleased to vote for someone i feel is equally qualified and i'm happy to say i to stay consistent with my thoughts about this from the beginning when this came to light i would like to see the voters decide i feel that way i think that is a true democratic way and since there may be a primary w least two candidates that we know of right now and i would see the voters decide i am sure i'm going to be able to work with mary and i've known her for many years and that's not going to be a problem but my issue is to be democratic and i think there's been too many appointments been made over the years on this consul and i don't not going to get personalities into this at all and i explained that when we had the boat with john and mary and i wanted that seat to stay open that's what i wanted that night that's what i want tonight so i will abstain from the to privilege of the floor on city business first person signed up jason plank budgets that are coming up with an about five months and if you told us around with sixteen government agencies that are in the county that are required to have an economic spares study if you set aside fourteen thousand over a three year period each year you'll have the six hundred thousand dollars approximately to do that you're going to start to study the studies been running anywhere between four hundred thousand about six hundred thousand dollars to do the study  we actually need to know exactly what the set asides are actually going to be out on in the codes under the city is that there is no set asides for minority or for women at all  if you take a look at the quarterly reports and the contract last year through the county in the city those codes were provided within that contract also to is that that those  codes were updated on july approximately around july first of two thousand and eight that we had no affirmative action officer in the city or in the county at that point in time because of  so the codes are sup substract also too is that last week last week we had talked about the ethics board policies and then just recently in the paper they just had another problems another officer with domestic violence and it was found out that the domestic violence policies have been done in the last sixteen years that goes back to the policies and procedures that we have within the city they're outdated they're old you know a lot of them haven't been done since one thousand nine hundred eighty nine and some of the affirmative action and some of the other policies and we need to call for  s what we've got that will make a good direction we can go thank you thank you mr plank institution questions depends a bit upon two things your leadership and your oversight of both the council in the mayor now we know errors were made by both the police and by the d office because some of them have been admitted to which means that your oversight is even more critical because the oversight that was provided within the police department in the d a s office failed the sheer volume mr mayor just recently there was an article about your first you're at the helm and you talk about focusing on a lot of incremental changes stis is a little different kind of thing it was to big different kind of thing the sheer volume of domestic violence in our community four to five hundred mystic incident reports a month i think skin took the stand because thinks requires r dynamic bold action on the part of the mayor and on the part of the city council now some changes are being made the d a s office and the police department of announced that the making some policy changes and that policy is being revised  that said your oversight means something only if it has teeth and it has teeth only if you know what you're talking about so council members mr mayor do you know exactly what mistakes were made by the police what mistakes were made by the d a why the judge was called when o c a says he had no role in this situation what changes have been made it's really important for you to know what mistakes were made so that you know whether the changes are going to address the problem now council president brucker you say you were requesting statistics did you get in from the police department do all of you have them  you're attending the council meetings or the test first meetings and i urge all of you to try that but a comprehensive plan domestic violence is a requires dynamic involvement and planning in your oversight won't work unless you provide the leadership by a council president at the council and the mayor unless you provide the planning unless you provide the commitment and unless you do the follow through and please don't forget  us and i was elected president the schenectady babe ruth baseball league in november of two thousand and eleven i served as a lead player representative for one year prior to my lection i'm here to address they've made about our organization at the march twenty six city council meeting for the record the board of directors of schenectady bay ruefully did not encourage or endorse anyone to speak on our behalf the statements made to the city council last month while heartfelt contain some misinformation that we feel pain of the organization in a negative light contrary to what was reported our feel the facility are in good condition we are fully operational bathrooms hot water and our structures are stable and secured  recently rebuild our infield in our batting cage there is fresh paint all over the facility and while there are definitely improvements to be made this complex is no more or less dangerous than any baseball field in america we've received some generous support from the community in our volunteer since the last council meeting we do need more the truth of the matter is that we're in desperate need of corporate sponsors we were almost four thousand dollars in the red last year and while we were forced to raise membership fees this year to cover our operations we still maintain the lowest cost of any youth baseball league in the area for this age group we feel the families disconnect he should have to spend so much money to provide a recreational activity for these kids who are at a very impressionable age i'm asking our local business community to stand up for this leagues it has so admirably in the past it's clear that we're not without needs but we do appreciate what the city of schenectady does and has done for this organization and its players i maintain gular contact with city employee jeremy howard who has also volunteers to coach in our league he served as our point of contact in the city for just about anything we need for as long as i've been involved here he recently acquired picnic tables for us that we use to install seating area for people to enjoy our concession stand fare we'll continue to sustain ourselves with the contributions and sweat of our sponsors families and volunteers and we'd like to invite you all to come out to the field any time our opening day scheduled for this saturday april fourteenth with games being played at ten am and twelve thirty while there we'd like you to take note of numerous improvements that we've made  including a new entry gate my goal is to helps connect these baseball program revitalize itself as a whole and to make the city of schenectady proud of this organization and facility once again  mair president dr graduation from springfield the last couple days actually last week this past week i've been driving around the city just checking different neighborhoods out and  you know from the age of twenty one to twenty i lived on vale so i'm quite familiar with hamilton hello failed foster out you know areas around there because i grew up around there and if you go around in that area today it's a whole different scene central state street things like that that part of the city you know there has to be some type of plan i heard from the former mayor well we're going to make a plan and i hear you know there's you know a consolidated plan well you know there's no plan ok no real plan of action or what we're going to do in these neighborhoods i remember hamilton held very well from the army pork store to laundromat that used to be over there and to my laundry all the time oh but it was it was a great place i want there all all the time i remember all run vail cutting through pail going to bail park going to the other side all the grocery stores over by copper keg and you go over there now and it's all just urban blight and you know it there's no one sitting on the other side from over there ok because we all sort of just pick and choose you know our own neighborhood you know where we where we should sit but these places need to be addressed the members of the council need to sit down take a look over by annoying it all night the middle school and places like that and say these places need to be fixed these people pay taxes to ok they pay em on hamilton hell they play more payment over by ave a seneca avenue eighty ave i know it's a big city ok but these people pay taxes ok or on hamilton hell you know people look hamilton hell and they say you know it's got where it really hasn't got that worse if you look at it and you've lived there and you see it actually people it's a commodity deal i'm not saying a word right but the people are joined at the hip over there if you've ever lived there for a while but you know if you live there and you get together and you're strong and you join like woodlawn has i always use women as an example like a neighborhood association you go to the city of make a plan and bring it to you every work you ideal work but like i said i'm going to keep on going around from neighborhood to neighborhood because this is he has got to get better it's not that it's bad it's gotten better under this mayor but it can get a lot lot lot better thank you reza schenectady i'm very pleased to understand that the work on the firehouse on third avenue is working that's just from work going down there being done there and that it should be completed and look real nice but i understand there's a lot of other city property that's not in great shape and that needs to be looked into as i suggested one time down here that the city council and people should be our elected city officials should inspect these buildings on a regular basis at least two three times a year this fall here to the courts fix that up look terrible we're here every two weeks and that's what restores the property school and nobody look after now this work on broadway wanted improvement to have the brush cut down and some of the trees cut down i just hope that project is completed and the dead trees the fallen trees the not get finished up on the large street the fact that people walk in the street there is horrible several weeks ago i parked at the corner i stopped for a red light of the corner of a large street and broadway and individual walks down large street walks right into my car i wasn't moving thank goodness i don't know if they were looking for a so but there has to be action taken within people walking under eight ninety broadway and mullard street where there is no sidewalk i asked both sides being put up down there there are no signs there is no action taken what's going on how many times you have to come here and talk about things look at that park up on the exit of the guy and the little triangle placed by the bar ballpark you've got a trash container there i don't understand why it's there there's trees growing up through it and all around it you couldn't put pressure there if you wanted to who looks after this a year ago i talked about the property dollar forced revenue by the yard down there we dump our dirt and so forth some big vehicle drove between the curb and the sidewalk a year ago in may i reported it and it may take six eight ten wheelbarrows the dirt but it still hasn't been filled did you can read see down by the twenty five million dollar plan employees to run a sewage plant that we were going to save a million dollars wonderful and i sure hope we do i'm wondering if a quarter of a million dollars was important to invest for all it's own or ready it's been three months the sewage should plain has been run a city employee or are we going to wait to the end of the year and then tell us that there was no money saved you need to look into these things and keep on top of it i think it's wonderful if we could save a million dollars the same thing with these thousand dollars excuse me i've got to go over a little mind you when you complain must pay an employee sixty seventy thousand dollars a year given benefits and provide him with a vehicle to go home and then they make another somebody thousand dollars in overtime i think you could write a contract for a lot less thank you mr brand city hall was renovated several years ago but i didn't know anybody was considering the reconstruction of city hall did you also new name to the to this vote who's going to take the bid for the reconstruction of city hall up feeder cross not and the gateway was supposed to be union college well since that time they put up a bunch of blockades there so nobody can get into  number two where it was going to be totally and on broadway and kind of flex yourself around there a little bit and then have a third gate way with is just supposed to lead to the western gate which is going to be construction constructed and they'll be no traffic there but maybe they'll build another freeman throat bridge for doing that  i have a request to make of city council please tell the camera man not to introduce other images on the t v screen when members of the public are at this podium if council feels the need to dispense information through open stage media please do it d miscellaneous business there is no reason to disrupt the speaker's presentation dorrien privilege of the floor council members have  minutes for their constituents to speak on some very serious city problems two images taking place at the same time is encroachment on that three minutes by the camera man standard the city's message takes precedence over the speaker's comments for instance at the last council meeting the garbage collection schedule was placed at the front of the screen the speaker was shown standing in the background coun insistence to show the neighborhoods weekly garbage collection schedule on the t v screen is not necessary people can look out their front door see what the neighbors are doing and do the same thing that's what they did before open stage media sense as well as council's decision to introduce other crimes of images on the general public's time thank thank you i have no one else signed up for pluto the floors this concludes privilege of the floor miscellaneous business from the council process just wanna make everyone aware that there's a state right wide career fair on thursday april twelfth from twelve thirty to four the albany portion of that event is at the empire plaza and people are encouraged to pre register  dr king career fair that is d r king career fair at labor i die of also want to talk to a little bit every report from the domestic violence task force want to talk a little bit about savin tonight which is a statewide automated victim information notification system and that is available to everyone twenty four hours a day seven days a week it is free to register and  it's available to all victims that have been granted an order of protection to register victims should visit and why are lert dot gov slash o p again that and why alert victim victims can also register other people to have notification is as well such as an advocate an attorney a family member and abusers are often more violent during a period of separation so again it is suggested people register right away once registered system offers updates in alerts as to the status via text message phone message or email also offers helpful links and resources to victims regarding the proposed changes the d a s office is working on it along with the domestic violence task force and i was going to give a preliminary update they just ask that we wait until everything is finalized so it is being looked at very very carefully by carney was at the meeting the other day and i report going forward more information about that ok thank you anyone else was king i just want to once again to congratulate marian on her selection for the city council seat and disown folks now her official swearing in ceremony will be in two weeks at the meeting i unfortunately will miss that i will be out of state at a conference but i'm sure it will go very well and i'm sure that would be very nice thing also wanted to mention our the chamber is going to be holding a recycling day for chamber members and their employees this is going to be wednesday april eighteenth nine in the morning till seven at night at glendale technology park building four  madam president i'd like to congratulate marian it's nice to see his face city seated across from myself look forward your swearing in two weeks we had cold sweeps in bellevue last week and they were very successful and did a good job we had squatters across the street from my house that were living in a house for a while and they were put out immediately the houses were boarded and that's when i'm through quite a few properties and they did a good job there was i did get a complaint maybe the rest of the council did too from a lady that maybe a block away from me and campbell that seems to be treated with a little heavy handed and i'm sure the mayor i talked to the mayor about that today and i'll be looking into that you know we want people to be treated with courtesy even if they're in violation that's for sure so i don't know all the specifics of that but in general the people in bellevue were happy with the results of the code sweeps and they did  they did a good job and they really relieved a lot of the blight that we had there and it gives just gives people better feeling so that's continuous through the other neighborhoods in the city that's certainly a positive that we all like to see but the fellow here with us who you with baseball i'm glad to see that there's another maybe side to that story is connect the babe ruth league and again that's a soft part spot in my heart youth baseball and again we have to remember you know schenectady is the home of little league world champions you know in one nine hundred fifty four and something we should all be proud of and it's an amazing thing and anytime we can encourage youth baseball and help them volunteer that's what it's all about it's all about volunteers and that's what they need so i encourage people when they can to volunteer to help out in any youth baseball pop warner football with george rose he does a terrific job taking care of our kids and any time we can help them and they need help financially also all so it's another thing we can think about i know these are tough financial times but to donate to if you can order volunteer at all helps in that old adage you know keep kids in sports and out of courts that's goes back to when i was a kid but it's true there is some truth to that so it does it it is a good diversion and a good activity for our youngsters and those people that donate  bond ordinance and i just want to make sure we point out that everybody knows you know what this is for it's a big chunk of money but it's for a very important things that we have going on this city right it's paving the streets that we're going to go on this summer people are very happy with what happened last year  think that infrastructure is probably one of the most important things we can be doing in the city right now and so paving the streets we you know buying some equipment that we need to maintain the city like trucks and things cameras in the neighborhoods people are very happy with the cameras in the neighborhoods  in the effects that are you know the results we get from those that's where this money is going in even the city hall you know we've done some renovations but it always kid needs some upkeep so there is some i think window work and or workers and things like that that we're going to doing so you know i think that it's very important we're doing this and so i'm glad some people talked about the consolidated plan c b g funding and i think as usual there's a lot of things we'd like to spend our money on but a smaller pool of money every year my my opinion on it again goes back to infrastructure i think that you know some of the main our main job here at city hall and being on the council  for residents is to provide you know secure public public safety and provide updated in functioning infrastructure those are are really for me my top priorities and i think that as a government that's what our top priority should be and so i would encourage of the drama that occurred in the past this is an open process is government you can't override the people going into a voting booth you know any every year and so i think that she's welcome here on the council i think it's important we have a full representation and we have all our seats filled i think you know we had the option of leaving it vacant which was one thing we considered but it the other day i think the port to have somebody working this is it's not like we just show up one so we can vote we there's e mails and phone calls and discussions and lots of things to figure out along the way and so you will be busy and i'm glad we have somebody to share that workload with so with good evening first of all i'd just like to say i really thank god for this opportunity to serve my city my community i'm looking forward to that and i understand it's a huge task and you know i thought about all those things before i even decided that this is something that i want to do and i'm looking forward to it i'd like to thank my fellow council members for their support and certainly i understand when people stand on their principle i have no problem with that whatsoever i just like to also say to to the community that supported me and to is of schenectady i look forward to working with everyone in all neighborhoods you know in getting doing what we need to do to make our city a better place not just one community mr sanders made did make several comments today about different communities and they understand those things and i and i feel that also all parts of the city definitely need to take a look at but together we can get it done this is about building community and so that's what i feel like together we will do i have a lot more to say at my fishel swearing in but i just want to take this opportunity say once again thank were actually budgeting savings about four hundred fifty thousand dollars the preliminary numbers for the first three months and they could vary somewhat will only show savings of about one hundred eighty thousand so we're doing very well there we auction in energy costs and other internal savings so that well within what we expected fact it's much better in so they were and continue to improve upon that and  ill more than justify the shift back to city management and city control city employees wanted to congratulate union college and their hockey team for their impressive season hopefully we can get them here in two weeks and give them some formal recognition on behalf of the city mary and i welcome you to the city council look forward to working with you know you're going to be a great addition remember that no matter what you do you'll find somebody will criticize something here but  were feel welcome happy to have you we appreciate your tenacity in a long drawn out process and we certainly know that but know that you're welcome know that we are a team here and i think we work pretty well together and mr erickson said we could've left the seat open we recognize that we needed someone and someone that was willing to work and willing to work as you said not necessarily for one section is city but we work with all sections of the city and