meeting to order the one hundred hearing tonight and then if the clerk would read the first item for final consideration i don't number one for final consideration an ordinance amending chapter one eighty number two an ordinance amending section two sixty four of the code of the city of schenectady regarding medical hospitality houses also discussed in committee without objection on consent number three number three for original consideration an ordinance amending the adapted two thousand and thirteen capital budget discussed in committee without objection on consent item number for an ordinance approving the continuation of the current bond anticipation notes for an additional year again discussed in committee mr ag all right it's a roll call on that i did number five an ordinance bond ordinance dated march eleventh two thousand and of six million nine hundred eighty five thousand dollar aggregate principal amount serial bonce of the city of schenectady new york person or to the local finance law to finance the acquisition and installation of water meters construction and reconstruction of the water distribution system acquisition of machinery and apparatus for construction and maintenance of bruce by the water department reconstruction of the sewer system and acquisition of the end installation of replacement equipment for the waste water treatment plant and pump stations this was also discussed in committee mr magee roll call don't number six a resolution authorizing bombers burrito bar to serve alcoholic beverages at a public event on may third two thousand and thirteen discussed in committee without objection and consent item number seven a resolution approving appointments by the city of schenectady energy advisory board again discussed in committee without objection on consent item number eight a resolution authorizing the city of schenectady to settle a claim made by adriana ferrara discussed in claims committee without objection on consent item number nine a resolution authorizing the city of schenectady to settle a claim due also discussed in claims without objection on consent item number ten a resolution recognizing the month of march as irish heritage month and recognizing the achievements of irish americans on st patrick's day we'll take this one out of order miss record you will present that under contract and supply item number twelve a resolution accepting a bid from united uniform and being a civil emergency services inc for fire fighter uniforms for the fire department discussed in public safety without objection on consent item number thirteen a resolution accepting a bid from garrison fire and rescue corp for gem toer harnesses for the fire department also discussed in public safety without objection on consent item number fourteen a resolution authorizing the city of schenectady to enter into a contract with mohawk hudson humane society to provide animal control shelter services for the confinement of dogs seized within the city of schenectady discus committee without objection on consent then we have one possible additional resolution under unanimous consent number fourteen essay a resolution was what this is about since it did not come through committee the national league of cities has offering an opportunity for cities to replied to a proposal on t v receiving technical assistance on promoting black male achievement there is first of all let me just be clarify that there is no money that the city has to pay in order to to apply for this for this technical assistance it would be a six hundred sixteen months technical assistance and the initiative would focus on improving education work and family outcomes for black men and boys it's sponsored by the national league of cities institute for youth education families and it's supported by the open site society foundation campaign for black male achievement so what the city would be doing is actually in conjunction with schenectady county community colleges opportunity was brought to us by dr quinn bullock and so the college would be writing in the city with the cities being asked to have a the governmental body support be the application the proposal it would be there would be six cities that would actually get the actual the it's not a grant it the technical assistance and it's so it's based on the data regarding black males in terms of education the homicide rate and other statistics like that so what the city is being asked to do is just to support it from the city council to say that we are willing to support the proposal and again there is no money involved there would be just a commitment to support the puzzle if we are awarded it to work together with the existing agencies that are already in our city we would not have to start anything new in order to do this so i just wanted to clarify what that's about thank you anyone have any questions about this if not i would entertain a motion to approve it ok ms present second as porterfield all in favor i and then a motion let us pray almighty never loving god we ask your blessing going to deliberations we pray for civil discourse as a part of civic responsibility we pray for the nations that have made our nation great we pray for ireland we pray for peace in the world be with us in our all right we have two out of order resolutions on the first one we do is the rule for irish heritage month  welcome everyone we're pleased that you can be here tonight and certainly our pleasure as the city council is as well as the mayor to offer up this resolution as we do for you every year and a very special day is coming up next sunday hope everyone comes in attends and madam chair i would like to read the resolution please y floor whereas millions of irish people faced with severe hardship due to famine in poverty in their homeland immigrated to the united states of the last several centuries in search of a more promising future for themselves and their families and whereas irish americans initially suffered prejudice and discrimination upon first arriving in the united states and where as an estimated thirty six million americans over eleven and a half percent of the population can trace a portion of their interests to ireland in the irish people and whereas the john f kennedy division one agent order of hibernian is has contributed to schenectady community for well over one hundred thirty one years by making donations to worthy causes including city school districts or city hospitals and other deserving organizations and whereas the month of march is universally celebrated as irish heritage munch in recognition of the achievements of irish  whereas the city council and the mayor was joined with those of irish descent everywhere and a sincere wish for peace in all of ireland in the full implementation of the good friday peace accord and wears march seventeenth is universally recognized an entirely celebrated st patrick's day in honor of the patron saint of the irish people now therefore be it resolved that an honor of the achievement and contributions of the irish american people the month of march he recognizes irish heritage month in the city of schenectady in further be it resolved that sunday march seventeenth two thousand and thirteen st patrick's day be celebrated throughout the city of schenectady in furtherance of peace in  and this will be the carol school of irish dance you very much happy st patrick's day everyone first of all we'd like to thank the ladies division's for having us at their hall every week for dance classes for these young ladies and a few young men will do few introductions here very enjoy well as always thank you  thank you for joining us tonight i have a resolution tonight recognizing the month of march as lesbian gay bisexual and transgender health month madam chair you have the floor ok whereas it serves as a great public interest to recognize and applaud those cultural events within state of new york which serve to celebrate diversity and in doing so help us to enfranchise all populations within the larger community and where as in full accord with its longstanding traditions the city council is justly proud to commemorate march two thousand and thirteen as the fourth annual new york lesbian gay bisexual and transgender health month with the theme week count count  and whereas al new yorkers have disproportionately in adequate health care due to financial cultural and personal barriers and new york health month in month encourages local group agencies and organizations to offer a full month of programs and events designated to educate advocate and build community around the theme of l g b t how and where as new york health month w raise a better understanding of l g b t health issues and the special health and social service needs that people have including increased rates of smoking breast cancer substance abuse yorkers in the organizations that serve them to educate advocate organize around l g b t health and wellness in all its various fish forms sickle sexual spiritual emotional and social and where as our society is greatly benefited by the purposeful efforts of individuals who unite for the cause of improving the quality of life for others and who have proactively work toward the goal of dignity for all now therefore be resolved that escape to the city council here by pass in its deliberations to commemorate march two thousand and thirteen as the fourth annual new york lesbian gay bisexual and transgender health month and as i've stated before my sept son is to engender my stepson has absolutely experienced discrimination in both his workplace and through medical visits so therefore madam chair i move this resolution  beautiful resolution states it is important for schenectady city to embrace diversity and enfranchise marginalized populations in this case those inhabitants of new york state where lesbian gay bisexual and transgender in your support of the fourth annual  we count count us we are reminded of the incredible health disparities which exist not only for l g p two yorkers but l g b t schenectady ins these barriers are not only financial and cultural but also the institutionalized discrimination against people which isn't demick in our culture we are routinely caught in the we can't fund you because we don't have any data on you but we will fund you to get data on you catch twenty two the first statewide needs assessment done in two thousand and nine through the empire state pride agenda has not had the tremendous impact on correcting such disparities as was hoped for there's much work to be done before yorkers can be counted among healthy new yorkers as the united nations human rights document book claims health is not just the absence of disease but the presence of wellness this resolution beautifully and powerfully supports that ideal by focusing not only on where people have increased  p t people but expresses the hope of wellness and health in its most inclusive form the physical sexual spiritual emotional and social well being fun i would note i am a resident of this great city of schenectady an internationally recognized pioneer  the transgender civil and human rights movement and myself and out and proud tradition to men i would call attention to the fact that transgender health disparities are ever more exponentially severe than those disparities r l g be brothers and sisters face is so very important that transgender health and health care are taught in our institutions of higher learning in our health classes in high school and in medical schools and or other years of human service provision in psychology there is an immediate need at the state level to pass genda to further send a message that such marginalization is not acceptable in new york state we transgender people count we make a difference in the city of schenectady every day of the year making valuable contributions count us because you can count on us we take our civic duties very seriously but we must be healthy we must be fully protected from discrimination that included and welcomed in this very diverse city and state to fully participate your resolution supports this high value and for this i on behalf of  of new york i'm grateful thank you again for your concern your consideration of joint credible support of the right we have one public hearing tonight the clerk would read that public here calling for public comment concerning a proposed local law amending tractor to ten of the administrative code of the city of schenectady regarding rental certificates all right i have eight people signed up to speak to this good evening mr mayor madam president city council members my name is joseph keller i'm a resident of the city of schenectady and i had an opportunity to look over the resolution and the consideration of this my wife is very supportive thank you many i took a look at this and in section c one noticed this one piece of legislation here which states that the building inspector has the opportunity to include whatever information he deems necessary as important as that is and that they may find things as they go along it's but seems to be more important to have something it's a more standardized form so that when homeowners and and house owners property owners go to have this property prepared for inspection and such that they have information up front influencing change as well as many other property owners in the area who can are going to be giving some great input on this i'm sure but this seems like it could really use a little bit more input and as far as standardization of a form rather than just seeing what the building inspector seems necessary to put inside it thank you very much ok thank you n city council i'm chris morris and i'm a member of slick schenectady landlords influencing change is here tonight to respond to the city's latest rental certificate proposal we would like to preface our specific comments on this proposal however with an organization update if you will since its beginning in october two thousand and eleven slick continues to work for positive change in the rental system in schenectady we network with city officials and authorities program directors and group organizers we're reaching out to all factions in schenectady who share the mission of enhancing the life of our community and some of our projects are as follows we seek to educate landlords in the many aspects of owning and operating rental property and in this vein we are finalizing the details of a slick home depot workshop program which will coincide very nicely with the city's latest small repairs proposal we are designing a universal lease which will have the capability of being appropriately adapted to the engine individual properties we are establishing a slick website to provide valuable information and updates for members and other interested parties we're networking with the a schenectady of the taskforce on a monthly basis in an effort to gain further insight into the workings of the participating agencies and their programs and as a group we will be tending landlord training sponsored by the eviction task force in may where slick will be included in introductions we have also implemented a tenant recognition program to acknowledge tenants who exemplify upstanding citizens of good conscience we feel attention to positive aspects of the tenant landlord connection will nurture more of the same the growth and work of slick is fueled by every let's commit to finding ways to effect significant change in both attitudes and procedures relevant to schenectady as rental system such as the rental certificate issue currently under consideration we hope to forge productive relationships with all those who can share and contribute to our ambitious mission thank you thank landlords the option to choose between inspections and we also anticipate the benefit of being able to perform certain repairs retarded necessity of hiring a certified plumber do however or that you also consider the following we ask that no inspection be required in owner occupied properties up to four units as these are considered to be residential rather than commercial your billing prepared because these are what the inspectors will be looking for hello and i am also a member of slick to continue with slicks proposal regarding property repairs and section one thirty eight of the latest proposal we suggest that the housing standards review board be in charge of writing the enforcement guidelines for permit requirements for instance rules regarding removal of move removal in installation of windows and doors or the repair or replacement of garage doors we asked that code enforcement training be employed mended with a strong emphasis on consistency and inspection procedures among officers and a more professional respectful and diplomatic approach to customer service we suggest that a performance rating form be given to the landlord at the conclusion of each rental certificate inspection this form would enable the landlord to detail the quality of his encounter with the city's representative at the meeting the landlord would be responsible for returning the completed form to the specified city office and finally ladies and gentlemen we request the return of a twenty five dollar fee for rental certificates if r certificate inspections are truly life safety issues the city claims and not revenue stream as many might believe then landlords throughout the city have to be convinced that they need to alter their thinking and soften their resistance to the ordinance we firmly believe that and compliance can double when landlords feel that the city along with our organization is making a concerted effort to address their issues and work with them not only will the compliance percentage increase but most importantly as more let more landlords come on board the the desperately sought after improved quality of housing throughout the tire city and in closing we fully understand that change is our challenge but ladies and gentleman we feel changes are in the air thank you very much thank you hafez i'm also a landlord and a member of slick my fellow landlords that are such a great job or just want to stress a couple of points we focus our discussion on two points in order to encourage landlords to voluntarily inspect their properties and we thought we were getting that from the city number one the reinstatement of day twenty five dollars factor fee which talked about number two tying inspection to the rental unit rather than the ten the of the landlords private insurance records also for the tenants we don't know they do not appreciate publishing their names and that the property they live in is a rental we are trying to protect the tenants privacy rights and we are also trying to protect the tenants from the intrusion of the city inspector go to enforcement receives funding for our tax money and from the federal grant like c d b she funds they then charge landlords fifty to one hundred dollars to respect each rental here and they violate our ego rights legal rights in the process using our tax money the city is prosecuting our citizen who would dare object to the violation of their rights and force one now if health and safety is some out of this ordinance why isn't the city inspecting every house including single family homes why isn't the city conduct against conducting inspection at no charge like the section eight inspection program and they finally why isn't the city acquiring insurance record of single family home owner's thank you luckily it was vacant so there were no injuries although we had been spending a weekend there initially they thought but a fire inspection proved that the cause of the junction box in the kitchen we had recently had electrical work done because  communications presented to the city council for monday march eleventh two thousand and thirteen from the mayor list of appointments dated monday march eleventh two thousand and thirteen under general a letter dated march first from the polish american veterans of schenectady extending their gratitude for the receipt of a recent donation of five hundred dollars from bellevue preservation inc they will hold their monthly meeting thursday march fourteenth at seven p m at st paul's call people's attention to agenda items number twelve and thirteen which appeared on the public safety agenda last week for the committee both these resolutions are one is both are for those city fire department both are for equipment turn out year in and harnesses that will certainly aid the firefighters not only in fighting fires but certainly in the safety of those members of the fire department number of twelve a war zone except the bid for uniforms and turnout gear and number thirteen is accepting the bid for the gem to harnesses which are the safety harnesses that i believe you and many of us saw that day on display but this has been a very long time in coming i also like to congratulate fire department graduate them on the receipt of being over award reset the end of the right foundation which help with a lot of the costs of the united uniform in the  money five six seven thousand dollars i forget the exact number but significant improvement so when we got the information i did a little research had dug around to see what other people were paying for the uniforms you know the panty shirts and you know different phones and from what i could find we were paying you know quite a bit less than other municipalities across the country so i got a little minor survey across i want to commend the staff of the for department i think it was deputy chief thank you health and recreation met today we met with a one to three on my neighborhood association of schenectady dog park committee along with carl carlson and some of the members of his staff regarding the dog park plan that i actually brought back a couple couple up a couple weeks ago so at this point we're moving forward to see what can happen with play and they have done a lot of work and are doing the fund raising themselves they've found an architect  rendering of what the renovation that they'd like to see happen with the park so we had a really good meeting today and mr olson will help by getting some estimates on what it would cost but let me just say again that they plan to do their own fundraising and not to ask the city to actually finance it but there may be a request for some in kind services to get the work done so at this point what will happen is will they'll go back look at the estimates find out what the cost will be and we will bring it back then to committee and probably have a presentation by the committee on what they would the plans that they have and what the what it looked like in the end and the overall commitment from the from the city count from the city so that was our meeting today and  there anything else that i'm leaving out so so we had a really good meeting very productive today thank you good news thank you all right that's the end of committee report so move to privilege of the floor related to the legislative agenda evening mayor and city council president council members and fellow city residents my name is on the kill her i'm a property owner and live in the city schenectady at the last city council meeting committee meeting mayor mccarthy presented the council with an at his nominations for the energy maybe three potential members don't live in the city one lives in this unit and one is in scotia when questioned the mayor stated he wished everyone could live in the city well i wish just those who work for the city and serve on the boards  city live in the city isn't there qualified people who live in the city who would like to serve on the energy advisory board why not ask residents to submit their resumes to the mayor and council for consideration i believe that there are city residents who are being willing and are interested in serving on this board there is much discussion about residency requirements mary mccarthy says he wants city office officials and or employees live in the city why shouldn't members of the city board with and say here is the catch the council has to consider an approve the mares appointments to the energy bowser board this council should insist that members of city boards live in the city this council has the power to ask the mayor to appoint city residents to this board and you should you should apply some residency requirements to include city board membership do so tonight thank you this is really not a team effort honestly i have to say that as my wife so generously stated there and very well stated there that residency requirements can't be stated enough we've heard it over and over and over again in a multitude of different meetings and and sessions here and i hope that the city will finally start to consider some of these appointments with very well qualified candidates right here within the city limits on resolution number two regarding the ordinance to him in the city code about disconnectedly medical hospitality house homes there that are coming about that are similar to jack's place in the file the effort there is in trouble part of the city we have a lot of folks that are from out of the area or have family coming from out of the area that are coming to visit people here in our hospitals vs homes provide not only a very comfortable in warm supportive atmosphere but also surprised sopra vides them with a great place to stay that's much more comfortable than a hotel room and i hope that the city council will give all forth their effort as well as our community as far as resolution number ten with the irish heritage month as a color her i'm a proud irish descendant and i was a pleasure to see this be hyper indians receive such a wonderful award for the heritage and also as an honorary member of the n y p d as emerald society from when i worked in york city emmaus it was a great to see that resolution to pass as well finally as far as resolutions twelve and thirteen i want to commend our fir apartment on the fantastic job that they did again as i've had twenty plus years in emergency services and in the fire departments and of various emergency medical service agencies the lifesaving equipment that they received through these grants is phenomenal and will truly benefit the people the city of schenectady thank you thank you item number for an ordinance approving the continuation of the current body anticipation note for an additional year ok for another year because i mean it's been over he stated in one of our credit reports that we're exceeding the median debt load for the for new york state right now i would like to i'd this is basically for a state and i realize this is going to pass but i would like to see us be paying more down on the principle every year on these bands because it's you know making that minimum payment means when we hope to a bond which twenty two million we're going to have to go to bonn next year and i guess my question was and i appreciate our finance commissioners answer that she believes that we're going to be in better shape next year but i have some concerns about that as far as what interest rate we're going to get this year versus next year so my concern was should we go to a bond this year for the twenty two million which basically most of it is the garage on foster avenue i mean it's can be a long term bond and now we're going to jump on that payment from five hundred forty thousand to about one point four million when we go to bond that's if we get a five percent rate next year which i could be questionable i hope that happens but my concerns are i think where our banns we have to pay a little more down on the principle that less than two percent i don't think that's an often obviously when we go to bond we have the bond more than we would if we're paying more on the principle so i would like to see that happen with that i'm going to vote no on this basically just to say i want to see things done a little differently we're going to have to start doing things differently with financing because we're carrying an awful lot of debt load you know we have the comptrol i'm going to vote yasin and just to clarify something that mr rickey said i too would love to see as pay down more i'd like to see is pay ten percent but you know the harsh reality is right now the city is doing the best that they don't number five an ordinance bond or a bond ordinance dated march eleventh two thousand and thirteen authorizing the issuance of six million nine hundred eighty five thousand dollars aggregate aggregate principal amount serial bonds of the city of schenectady new york person went to the local finance law to finance the acquisition and installation of water meters construction and reconstruction of the water distribution system acquisition of the machinery and the apparatus for construction and maintenance of bruce by the water department reconstruction of the sewer system and acquisition and installation of a replacement equipment for the wastewater treatment plant and pump stations all right with someone  a was porterfield mr erickson now i just want to you know to make a short comment on this this six points nine million dollars is it's coming out of the water in the sewer funds borrowing not the general fund all the work that's being done here is to repair and maintain the infrastructure in a city that's hundreds of years old and  waterfront yearly which up and going up and two thousand and eleven we transfer three million in two thousand and twelve we're transforming four point five million out of the fun and for thirteen we have earmarked four point five million have the documentation isn't this i mean i have memos going back to nine hundred ninety nine where auditors for the city question those inner fun transfers in the amount of those transfers that fund is basically self sufficient and should be but when we take money out to go into the general fund it should only be for support services to do with water and sort four point four million five million sounds like an awful lot for the support services and if that money stayed in the funds what we wouldn't be going out to band for almost seven million dollars which is adding to our debt load so again and i understand if we don't do that we're going to have to raise taxes but let's be truthful about everything where we are you know water and sewer it's nonexempt of also if we raise water and sewer rates and then we're transferring money out of that fund into the general fund i have a problem with that and there was never real legal opinion on this back in one nine hundred ninety nine and the question came up if a resident took to the city to court over this if those fine those transfers were apps absolutely legal or not i filed for it back in two thousand and four and the answer was we can't we can't give you documents that don't exist so i have some questions what all of this we're adding to the debt load again and naturally this work has to be done but i'd like to see it done within the sewer and water fund that's what people are taxed for with their water and sewer fees that they're charge what not exempt the ball you know can't get any exemptions on those so let's tell it like it isn't and get down to the reality of where we really are sitting and that's what i'd like to see thank you neighborhoods at the last city council committee meeting council president king continued in her efforts to reach out to the city neighborhoods by suggesting that a team of city council members and staff attend neighborhood association meetings and events strong neighborhoods make a strong city city officials and staff should be more accessible to the city residents after all we pay your wages i would like to suggest that when there is a list of appointments from the mayor the names of the people being appointed as well as the town city or village or where they live also be announced by the clerk city residents have a right to know who is being appointed to the boards of their city in addition it should be noted if the members of the various boards receive compensation in the form of pay or any other benefit again a city residents and taxpayers we have a right to know and we shouldn't have to research it we should have to foil it to get information finally the council has the power to veto or accept the nomination to boards from the mayor i strongly urge this council to ensure that board members live in the city there is no valid reason why someone living in a skill or a scotia be appointed to a city board we have qualified and dedicated community activists living right here in the city who donate their time and their efforts to make their city a better place for all of us to live use your power to fill board positions with city residents residents who have best interest in making our city strong and vibrant again thank you thank you i need you to summarize least you three minutes are up ok thank you thank you i don't know my wife signs me a pretty sick not getting it now and all in all seriousness thank you once again for allowing me to speak my name is joe kelleher and i am a resident of the city one of the things that i noticed in the area and when i first moved here after my wife and i were wed is i wanted to head join the american legion where i was before and i contacted one of the american legion homes here in the city and was advised that the american legion wasn't a really big functioning agency here in the city and they referred me over to miscue enough and i found that a little odd and then i found out why it's because as active as the american legion is here in the city of schenectady they don't have the home anymore where they used to meet and many times they along with not only other agencies but some w and other military and veteran organizations meet at post number ten ninety two in schenectady so i went over to ten ninety two in schenectady and i saw a lot of the organizations from right here in the city happened to go over to miscue and i did join in this kuna post and they immediately if not sooner as soon as i walked in the door maybe the communications officer and i can't imagine why i know all but my my point there is this is a place that's in our area it's right outside our city limits it's the only active home in schenectady county and it does take care of a lot of the people that are residents and veterans that are residents fray here in the city of schenectady so i hope that when we have when they have events we have the opportunity to support them too as our neighbors the  has been going very well i've been in touch with aaron buck and meyer she's a fantastic young lady who's done a fantastic job in organizing and planning the new matter schenectady community health assessment along with the schenectady coalition for  healthy community they've been doing a fantastic job in cities all over the area i didn't have the opportunity to help them in designing their website and getting that up and running for them and it's been a privilege to work with these fantastic people who are going out and finding out more information and gathering up information that's beneficial to all points of an all residents some schenectady finally i do want to encourage all residents and businesses of this city to truly take an active role in their neighborhoods in improving o and i wanted to just point out that mayor mccarthy will be speaking at bellevue preservation inc this thursday night at seven p m and then he is going to be speaking at the mount pleasant neighborhood association at eight p m before he arrives we're going to have the community of police who've been coming and telling us what's going on in our neighborhoods answering questions and then at seven thirty betsy henry and susan two for f going to talk about the forty trees that were seeking volunteers to help plant by the end of april a seven forty five there and back in my ear with ellis medicine you matters connected with talk about the assessment neighborhood by neighborhood and then mr mccarthy get married they are mccarthy will speak about neighborhood issues and we thank you so much for spreading yourself so thin we wanted to also let you know that we have the merchants association up and running we're going to have our third meeting the following thursday which is the third thursday of the month only march twenty first at global prophetic worship and healing ministries a fifty nine crane street will the hopper the director of government relations and business services of the chamber of schenectady county speak to the merchants we are seeking merchants to come out we're seeking also merchants to take executive committee positions we do have an acting president whose name is james bookout and we want to thank mr marcella for making the pretty available because mr bookout bought that marcella property for his new church so this old church on hamburg his congregation did and he is taking quite an interest in fixing up the neighborhood bringing in services we have some new businesses davis is a says he's got his barber shop we have a little chatterbox tiny tykes flip and twist we're looking for a dentist a doctor and up thomas just a vet ladies and men's wear we're looking for a lawyer an accountant we're looking to have a senior center again in the future some day here and we just want to let you know that there are services that global ministries for the youth a billiards movies and games on friday night which i didn't know existed and reverend bookout from the merchants association is going to be making sure there are youth programs for many of the youth and craned street so that we can get the kids off the street and get them into something more productive to do and not want to thank you very much for this time you're going to be hearing more from the ministers in the future of what they're doing in the neighborhood and i want to mention also that reverend robert at faith deliverance tabernacle serves the children summer lunches thank you thank you very much i played american legion baseball there was an awful lot of post in the area here and i have a heck of a time they sponsor a lot of baseball for his high school kids and it was great so i just wanted to mention that secondly something that was in the paper this past few weeks about we're not going to back this person because he sides with another person and i said last fall before  winter set in there was a comment made on or one of the consul people say and somebody was complaining they said well we have to answer to people well i get up and i says well you're supposed to answer to  people that a vote for you and what's happening is it's party wise i mean we're not going to put this person him because he's going to side with another person i thought you people were voted to help the city and the residents al i mean just because we're not going to rubber stamp someone we're going to not going to have to come in to run for office i mean this is ridiculous i mean i'm not in love with anybody don't get me wrong here on the council i'm sorry but i'm just saying this has to stop it is for the people of the city of schenectady it is not for someone to sit down there and rubberstamp what's going here and rubber stamp things and never question it like this gentleman has i don't believe it meeting after meeting year in year out does same party business it's got to stop we've got to get rid of  are mare what's he doing are difficult times financially here in his city promotions so are you free says gifts that's taxpayer money no wonder we can't pay our bills and pay off on the principal when you're given everything away how much do we make on recycling where's that money where's dollars from the sewage plant profit that we made by gosh something's gotta come up above the water here and that we can talk on a level treat each and everyone equal and be able to stand up and have some backbone and you took an oath here for the city and for the citizens not for the party not for yourself put a stop  out of office we don't need people representing us like that from the top to the bottom we need a clean house we lost some good people recently that could have been involved in this city and it shouldn't have happened party money is it your ego what is that you're not there for the people and this has got to stop i hope we haven't lost you mr erickson you're finally coming to life and doing things  if no one down but this is what we need here we need people that are going to stand up and fight for the citizens of this city all this money taxes going up how can you sell a hundred houses we reduced taxes you didn't reduce mine i did my house for almost fifty years i never had my taxes reduced how can you give it to others i've lived in this city all my life i was born and raised here and you never reduce my taxes who you are fighting for yourself you all think you're going to get a job like mr stratton ah yeah well i'll tell you i hope you don't know whether it's party or no party twelve fourteen sixteen years in office in a city and what have we got we got more debt now than we ever had we don't have anybody except one person fight for the citizens that's pretty lousy pretty low and it's time he's either change or you drop out of office because we need some people here that are going to support our citizens and do the right thing have some question what these things to muppet show you don't have a question you don't have any reason to something very very wrong thank you i thank you it's already two fifty five i haven't even started to speak i'd like to get back to the issue of open stage media i am not familiar with all the programs that o s produces for the city i do attend committee meetings in order to gather information during the committee meeting a monday february eighteenth a precentor told taping city council made it meetings at a cost of three hundred dollars per session the other program was for taping of committee meetings at two hundred dollars for each session on february twenty fifth dorn miscellaneous business of the city council meeting the mayor a numerated all the other programs that oh  produces for the city why isn't pain that oh ass ems work all inclusive why were these two programs targeted for separate payments why was a contract involved when the request was for a purchase order and if there was to be a contract should it not have applied to monday february twenty fifth and council voted for it frankly i don't think council members really know what they're doing on the same night the mayor also stated that o s m does of work if there he is comfortable with mediocrity or he doesn't botched the replays of those two leading us the shows are not good first of all the sound is very poor for both programs why bother to take them if the speakers are not a lot of ball another thing there was an incident in this chamber at the last council meetings the incident was never shown on camera it never would have gotten past mr hardman mr hardin's professional he taped everything that moved in this room everyone who was present and made the speakers look good i repeat if the city is going to spend money on programming insist on a good product that's the least we can do schenectady i say i got one solution for for this council to do number one we gotta do something about not turf heights people parking up there on both sides of the street why can't the people park down not terry cross the street and the lot i think were cut down a lot of accidents and stuff like that because when i going to run there the last time i was it's got to stop we've got to fill up the potholes there's a lot of everywhere even on crank street on the bridge so this is a lot to be done sixty's curbs and ridiculous don't need to have that happen all the time with gotta do something and do it fast thank you madam president city council march is disability awareness month and there are over fifty seven million individuals with disabilities that are living in the united states and what that act when when finally did sign it basically in acted some of the things within the disabled community and it helped create disability advocates there's now been well over a million of us have been trained as disability advocates this came from what's called the independent living movement which is out of berkeley california and you know i just think that with the regulations of coming through that we need to be able to take a look at this thirty fifth anniversary and actually take a look at where we've actually had been and where we actually are going we still have problems here within the city hiring person with disabilities  the state did a study and it said that we have a seventy percent unemployment rate for a person with disabilities and that's connected county is the worst county in the state in hiring persons with disabilities  apartment is a little over seven hundred dollars per month and just in the city and we need to be able to take a look at some of the different things that are happening we just lost our human rights director from retiring we need to know exactly who that person is going to be and we need to held our formative action person american just accountable you know where we had on that that's only twenty hours that we're paying for her is that twenty hours is not enough obviously not because we've got a lot of problems and we need to take a look at it because the end of this month we're supposed to have who is going to be contracted for the community don't block ever seen in this whole circle and the only thing that brought me here was you know grief and it brought me here to the point where i thought that of says the last you know straw like i thought this song would be resolved if i came here now and has the only thing that i've ever seen that i've respected was like when i first came here you know you were commendable definitely but you know i mean i got to say mr brand and what's your name there jesus i'm sorry she's around here anyway i forget but she sharpe you know i had a couple drinks but i have to come i mean who come here sober on a c i'll tell you right now bottom line we need to get a civilian intelligence agency there's something that's called the caper that basically holds like an influence of all the money spent and all that we really need to be able to download something to where we have everything at our fingertips these guys you cannot trust them like people are suffering i need your house might check this out but this guy he can't come up with a better like like idea to produce revenue than to basically pick on a bunch of people that are successful like i mean you know it's crazy here's what i'm seeing there is so much things going on right now and you need to realize this this me and he knows a bunch of legal tacticians that have like if you look at legal like you know wall it's open to interpretation they could use it for a dual purpose and they're trying to get rid of the civilian police review board brian what's going on everybody's going on and you know who still hear these dirtbags so vote for me than the birds and you might think it's a joke but i'm telling you right now swing  right that's the last person i had signed up so i'm going to declare this portion of the meeting close right good evening everybody my name's rabbit english i live in french i just want to know if we can make a big sign and north college to let the tractor trailers know that they can't go down there because i had an incident i'm sorry ladies and gentlemen for taking up your time there was a big tractor trailer stuck there and i had to call the police and cars are trying to get around i just want to know if they can make a big sign that would say no tractor trailers are allowed on a small it's a north college i just want to know because children play out there and i had to call the police again to help the gentleman get through and everything i just want to make a big sign that says no tractor trail i just like to first of all acknowledge that march is women's history month honors and celebrates the struggles and achievements of american women throughout the history of the united states and american women have struggled throughout our history to gain rights not simply for themselves but for  additionally a magic kingdom just had their thirty fifth anniversary and ms perasso and i both attended that and so they've sent us a letter of thank you says the city council we sincerely appreciate all your support that you the city have given a magic kingdom for their thirty fifth birthday celebration the ribbon cutting will be remembered by both so well and i and i know her name is kathy and all the families and staff  add a magic kingdom we continue to support our city thank you for everything kathy and so well done and this organization has been there as i said for thirty five years and they do a very important thing taking care our most vulnerable citizens was a very nice time in the thank you i just wanted to you think the landlord scroope from coming down tonight and communicating with us i've gone to a couple of their meetings and this group of individuals who are operating you know businesses instead of just being complaints they're coming in with suggestions or coming in with the perspective of they understand what the city is trying to do they understand what they need to do to continue the business and it's a collaborative effort and i know that  staff members had legal staff working with them as well and just a lot of communication going back and forth i think it's great the impact of reynolds properties in the city is that he is very important might be one of the most jervy least one of the top in terms of importance to economy every city needs a healthy quality housing stock for rental of a bill for rent and i don't think we could survive without n say so i just want to thank them from coming down and being very collaborative with that with myself and other members of the council and the city staff as well so thank you thank you yes as many of you know i tried to use my energy and my focus to keep positive on things but tonight really has me pretty rattled and for the one of the first times i feel like i need to speak up our jobs are not just what you see in committee meetings in a council meetings our jobs happen via email our jobs happen via phone calls our job happens via meetings both internal and so three times this week i met with the mayor about different issues twice this week i was out till seven eight nine o'clock last week this week it's four nights listening to people talking to people gathering information asking questions i take exception with saying that one of us has up here trying to work hard for the people we all try to work hard for the people and we all work hard for the people and i accept any phone call any email and any dialogue and we do ask questions and we do discuss things that being said i recognize that we have tax issues but i also recognize that we have an aging infrastructure we have an issue with not gaining our fair share of state as a superintendent shows the skewed amount of school aid we get is an issue we have an infrastructure that is aging we have an antiquated car fleet we have a tremendous work load of things and balance to try to make this city move forward affectively and as best as we all know how that being said we also work for pennies on the dollar for countless hours because we love our city we love our citizens and we want to move in a forward direction i will say proudly that i am proud to be a democrat i'm proud to work with a team of people that i work with i'm proud to look at state street and j street in erie boulevard i'm proud to be a city that's advancing instead of a city that's de taking as many cities across th nation are so that i just felt like i needed to say my piece tonight i will now turn my efforts back to using positive energy toward positive solutions and not just complaining about the problems that we have which i recognize but try to move in a forward direction so a nice segue into the fact that one of our new assemblyman listen to our legislation we passed supportive one point two million dollars in state aid let's hope that our senate representative championships this effort as much as our new assemblyman santa barbara has because lord knows we could use a little more equity in our state aid considering that you would have a city of our similar size gets far more than we do in addition i would like to call awareness to paul mitchell the school doing a wonderful thing for the community on march thirtieth at eight m they're having a speaker kathleen buckley kathy buckley it's free to the public it's going to be a proctor's come one come on she was born with the ability to communicate and she would was considered to be slow in elementary and empowering motivational speaker so i will announce that again in addition i want to call attention to the veterans club at seven eighteen union street they're having their st patrick's day celebration again sunday march seventeenth it's from noon to three thirty p m i went last year i know the mayor was right behind me unfortunately he had a busy day because we had a bad fire that day but it was more than enough to eat and some great comradery so everybody stopped by it's six dollars for a really nice corned beef or ham sandwich including homemade salads and all sorts of good things and then the last thing i was going to report was the mountain neighborhood association but i think sharon did a great job no i listen i'd rather have you give your passion and in ounce it from your so you are more than welcome and lastly i just want to call attention to slick and to the mouth maybe about pleasant neighborhood association and all of our neighborhood associations because i think sometimes our citizens think they can make a difference and slick has grown from the first i went to their very first meeting which was really not even an official meeting at misc unilag wherry and there was maybe a dozen people in the room the last meeting that i went to last week there was probably one hundred people in the room they consistently give us a good positive message for what they need  and i think the city is trying to meet them part way at least the best we can and i applaud their approach and their progressive way of getting things done and the same thing with and they really have worked very very hard and continue to move forward so thank you thank you you brought up about accessibility well i'm sure we're all excessive all and i'll say that but again i think when you have questions about things that come up in committee and you have some concerns about it please feel free to call you can call me at home any time my home number is three seven seven eight three two six i answer all my calls i don't screen calls and i'm retired so i have a lot of time on my hands and i'll be happy to listen to your concerns and to call the roll because when you come to the privilege of the floor unfortunately i consent agenda items it's kind of a little bit late at that point so i would like to see hear your concerns and i'll be happy to call for roll call so we can listen to you what you have to say and we can think about these things and give us some more to think about so any help feel free to call getting to slick it does prove when you get a group together of people i agree with my colleagues on this that changes can be made and i have to say and i talked to karl fellow earlier today and between him and eric shelling they did a great job of listening to these concerns i realize not everyone is going to be happy with everything but this is really a great move forward as far as customer service goes on that and you have the city listening to concerns making changes and still listening you know the doors not closed on this yet so it shows you and i listening to these concerns and working with these people that that all property they have a big time vested interest in the city is connected to me no question about that they're investing their money their dollars into the city of schenectady and i realize there are some bad landlords out there we know that but the people that are in that room at the community center they're not the bad landlord sat are there and they're addressing these issues they're going to do education which is needed so i think that's a big big big plus for the city and i can't say enough about that i think that's really really something to be commended quickly i talked to mr thorne about there's i've had some issues people complaining maybe some of you have two of minutes be appreciate that thank you thank you mayor thank you madam president we do want to thank everyone from slick who joined us tonight and again the ongoing dialogue that is occurring as council members have pointed out it is a dynamic process whose given taken its i believe will end in a product that will all be proud of this mystery to point out we may not every won't but he will be completely happy with it but it will be better than what was there in a lay the foundation for future growth in modification it's the one thing i the staff whenever there are deal with a public i want to use common sense in whatever the end result is you have to have a product that again people can understand there has to be a reason behind our actions and it has to make sense in terms of the application and the particular situation so i again thank members for coming down tonight thank you for your past consideration and again as we go forward to try and mix connect the better and the have roll call vote on our financing is to regain a good friend but and some of it you know we it's the balancing act to pay the bills in provide the level of service that the community  wants look at people reference the bureau of services and expense of building twenty million dollars but five million of that was for environmental remediation i don't know if you know it it in if you look at some of the again the financing if you have some context with people who used to be associated with union college who took substantial portions of real estate off the tax rolls you know so the college could do improvements they talk about the improvements there and they were good improvements by the neighborhood better but if we went to any property owner and said you don't have to pay taxes period people would be a lot more able to invest in their property and so that where some people have created the problem by pinching us in terms of some of our revenue we still have to maintain that level of services and deal with the problems that are out there in terms of the appointments for the energy advisory board that evolved from where it was an informal group and again it has some regional significance we're participating in the climate smart communities so actually there's a  grant application that's been spearheaded by the city of albany working with communities in the region those individuals that were recommended by me and confirmed by the council tonight was a group that evolved from the prior energy advisory board over a number of years and i think that their level of expertise serves us well and serves the region well that does not preclude other people from participating in it it has been a very open process more recently they haven't had regular meetings it was the intent of the council to can formalize it which we've done tonight and there will be formal meetings so that people can come forward can put their ideas in so that we can work on these product projects that benefit all of us remind people that change the clocks this weekend if people did not change the batteries in their smoke detectors or carbon monoxide sensors would encourage you to do it it's a cheap investment it really saves lives in the event that you do have an unfortunate set of circumstances where you have a fire or furnace or something where you have carbon dioxide build up and it would make an announcement not this week but a week from now ruby tuesdays is fine serene a what they called community giveback program in there if you go there on thursday through saturday march twenty first of the twenty third they'll donate twenty percent of your check back to the woodlawn park fund begin with one neighborhood association has a small group that is working on improving the woodland park they're laying the groundwork for significant improvements there i thank them for their service and their time and again we appreciate ruby tuesdays helping us out thank you madam president thank you i'd also like to say thanks slick for coming and i would also ask if you could possibly get us your comments in writing that would be very helpful to us ok but mr thorne reminded me that a list of appointments are on the table next to the podium and that all communications to the council are available in the clerk's office has no need to do a foil for that i also wanted to mention the that but his color her noted we are going to try to put teams of us together including the mayor to get out to neighborhood meetings so we would just ask if the neighbor if they person in charge of the