all right i'm going to call the city council caucus meeting to order we have two public hearings tonight if the clerk would read those public hearing number one regarding a proposed ordinance amending article four of chapter two t eight and chapter one thirty eight of the code of the city of schenectady regulating volves within the city right of ways right and public hearing number two public hearing number two concerning housing and community development needs for the federal consolidated plan cd b g ok then we'll move in on two items for original consideration item number one i don't number one under final consideration an ordinance amending chapter two three zero two of the administrative code of the city of schenectady relative to consolidation of residential lots i dismiss discussed in committee without objection on consent item number two i don't number two on your original consideration an ordinance amending chapter two to a dash eight two of the administrative code of the city of schenectady introduced only with a resolution calling for a public hearing relative to regulating sidewalk cafes calling for a public hearing without objection on consent item number three i don't number three a resolution accepting new york state department of motor vehicles police traffic services program grant i don't think is any argument with this one so without objection  consent item number four i don't number for a resident resolution authorizing the city to accept funding for assisting stop the deal and foresman also without objection on consent item number five i'm going to put back in committee for next week item number six i don't number six a resolution appointing douglas williams to the board of assessment review also discussed in committee without objection on consent item number seven i'm number seven a resolution confirming the mayoral point men of rose herald to the civilian police review board it was also discussed in committee without objection on consent item number eight i don't number it a resolution authorizing the settlement of a tax or sherry concerning properties owned by queen point l l c this was discussed in claims committee without objection on consent item number nine i don't number nine a resolution authorizing the city of schenectady a claim by john taylor also discussed in claims without objection on consent item number ten i don't number ten a resolution authorizing the city of schenectady to settle a claim by crystals and stars also discus i don't number twelve a resolution recognizing habitat for humanity the sauce to be taken out of order mr moody verin will present that item number thirteen i don't number thirteen under contract and supply a resolution authorizing committee without objection on consent item number fifteen i don't number fifteen a resolution authorizing purchase of chlorine gas also discussed in committee without objection on consent and we will move to consideration a resolution authorizing transfer of title up to nineteen north brandywine ave it was discussed in the claims committee meeting tonight without objection on consent item number seventeen i don't number seventeen a resolution authorizing the transfer of title of three six six two way also discussed in claims tonight without objection on consent item number eighteen i don't number eighteen a resolution authorizing the transfer of title of fourteen eighteen chrysler also discussed in claims without objection  consent and then we have three additional items to go on by unanimous consent the clerk would read the first one a resolution honoring chief michael dell rocco i will entertain a motion to approve this a resolution accepting titles of various properties from the schenectady urban renewal agency this was discussed in the meeting tonight entertain a motion to move that to the agenda seconded by mr ag all in favor i  pay mr erickson seconds all in favor i write i will now called to order the city council meeting for january twenty seventh two thousand and fourteen and ask you to rise for the invocation life and all that it holds you who have given us such potential help us this evening to live into that potential to know that all are created to be equal to be treated as equals help this council and the people of schenectady to serve the people and not the party to be about what is best for the most and not the least we give thanks for having places to go on a cold evening we remember those who don't have to be with them bless this work i'm  in the pledge of allegiance right we have three out of order resolutions the first one is dealing with our historic street signs  excellent we have a prop a president you have for excellent ok this is a resolution recognizing the historic street sign initiative where as several years ago schenectady historic commission passed a motion to install unique street signs in the city's historic districts with said signs to include custom designed brackets in posts and the names of particular historic districts with the signage color to be heritage brown a color which is standard for heritage turn tourism signage that will tie into future historic scenic and preservation initiatives and whereas beth volunteered to coordinate the project and whereas community has united schenectady residents and friends of the stockade historic district the stockade association morris avenue historic district neighborhood association and whereas all of these groups have created the momentum necessary to continue the final stage of the initiative by stalling installing in the extensive corridor and union triangle historic districts and now therefore be it resolved that the city council and the mayor of the city of schenectady pozen their deliberations to recognize and thank the sponsors of the historic sat the street sign initiative for their commitment and dedication to the city of schenectady and i will attest to the fact that that is at proctor's most wednesdays and also at the green market trying to spread the word on a regular basis she is really very committed along with their other partners so i will make a motion to move this is their second all in favor congratulations dollar street where the council allowed us to have the old sign so that we could give to those people who adopted the streets if you took union at lafayette for instance like creative vantage they're going to take up that union sign when the signs compound and schenectady heritage foundation is paying for all of the posts for the entire project their partner union college came on as a partner they made it possible for us to upgrade from a maintenance high cooperation with st john the evangelist church who's working with me to write a grant for this for this we're we're shooting for having the order and to get everything made maybe in march and have the signs up by late spring the only thing to really add is online donations are available you can go to downtown schenectady dot com and click on the link and make it online donation we three so if you work for g e ice you get the donations can be matched if you have a matching option so from the fund raising standpoint which is always yes and toxic dr paul so any donations you have are tax i'd just like to say that the heritage foundation feels that this is a very worthy project and basically what our involvement is really is like a matching grant to people that b and adopt a street something and really the first thing about a historic district is to recognize that you're in a special place this will follow the example of the other three historic districts that ok our next out of order resolution is recognizing habitat for humanity distributive aaron is going to present  office for the assistance and support that they have given in this and as we start our second year along this line we're going to learn and do better and do more so it's very exciting work and we appreciate all the volunteers and all the and the third out of order resolution is recognizing our outgoing fire chief chief this president is going to present th a sad day coming up i have to tell you that well it is my honor but it's very bittersweet but i know under the strong and good leadership of our chief he's left us with a good strong fire department to carry on until we have a new chief so madam president yes you have the floor and if you'd like to come up here and take pictures from here you certainly may ye and whereas his expertise in the field has been recognized by his fear peers through publication of several articles in professional journals and whereas his commitment to the core values of firefighting was demonstrated by his command as the task force leader for the new york state urban technical search and rescue team and whereas his response as the leader of the first usa are on the scene of the september eleventh world trade center attacks during the largest search and rescue effort in our country's history further demonstrates his dedication to serve those in need and where as chief among his many awards and commendations new york state assembly in new york state senate citations a new york state senate proclamation schenectady city council special resolutions and a schenectady fire department  a fire officer first takes that position his or her greatest responsibility is to personnel and the higher in rank you the greater that responsibility but it has been very humbling and a great honor for me to have had that opportunity and that duty over the period of my years here as a firefighter a company officer and a command officer i've worked under at least two city managers several mayors many council members and i want to say thank you thank you mayor mccarthy council president king and council members because i know that you and i'm sure all of your predecessors worked for the best of the city of schenectady and i believe that today schenectady is moving forward i think if you look around you can see it and it's because of our elected leaders our department heads our community leaders and city workers that this is happening and working together really does work i will be finishing up finally and probably most importantly i'd like to say thank you to the people of the city of schenectady and express my gratitude for their defense and support of the schenectady fire department without any regard to politics it's really been my pleasure and it's been an honor and a privilege to serve our department and i thank you very much thank you internet so i speedily went to it and i was surprised as a proposition was advertised in the legal notices in the newspapers i was very u in the past have been particular to certain buildings and not to the city so i think from my reading of it the legislation or the charter should three laws whatever lawyers want to call these they should be different larry differently and state that the city does have a right of way and it's my understanding that there will be closing of somewhere in the neighborhood  and in the building of new or vault and that underground basement and tree level at that sidewalk will be taken care of so that everybody can walk in these areas safely and not fear falling through thank you thank you and no one else signed up to speak for this public hearing some going to declare that closed to move on to the second one second public hearing concerning housing and community development needs for the federal consolidated plan c b g s right first person signed up is jason plank so what are you asking the public for you're not going for nothing and i told him that and to have his public hearing is totally wrong there are several things that are basically wrong with the thing you have you applied for a grant of three million dollars  october or is that out of this money of about two hundred thousand dollars if it's out of this money out of the fifteen percent that means you can have a twenty percent cut across the board we have an immune explained where that money is going to go from ok and that is to go to a private developer on to demolish a building five hundred thousand dollars so i mean and then the five year plan was done in two thousand and ten that was passed by the city council and what was presented by the mayor to the to the hud was totally different so they falsified the document and that point so now but the five year plan is going to be due next may not this coming may so where's that going to be put out worst publicans on that we've had several job contracts to rebuild a part over thirteen million dollars of federal money minority and person with disabilities did not come up compliance i mean the affirmative action officer manager that we're paying fifty thousand dollars out of this thing has not even done her job i mean even the human rights commission has come out says oh well we had some things got to work on but never anything gets done never had nothing gets done with the affirmative action hired you know where is the worst affirmative action where are the jobs because in the consolidate plan the five year plan you had listed you wanted to do one hundred jobs within the five years you haven't worked on that at all here it is the fourth in the final i'm not that close to statistical taking she works for the state of new york and she does have privy to those kinds of statistics however i do know that a certain council member and was employed t program and her play was forty three thousand dollars and that continued at least for two maybe even three years the program was discontinued and much to my shock and horror was the programme after three years there was no one in that particular community it was a zoned project no one was able to go forth with that program as a community volunteer program that is leadership i don't i don't think it matters how much of an oratory establishment you can create with that kind of money and i even wonder if this council is not at this point fifty fifty an employment program so i don't take  too hurt by some of the sellers being made and i do take them as sillars things happen from time to time to people i know that personally and i would certainly consider my life and greatly to have been able to make what you people are making just as council people thank you money i certainly support the city and i know of the efforts that go into this and i feel that it is well thought through they are doing the best they can to maximize the good use of this money and i would support whatever they are doing to move forward thank you all right i have no one else signed up so i'll clear this public hearing closed will move on to approval of the minutes from january thirteen four team under fishel from the mayor a list of appointments dated january twenty seventh twenty four team letter received from colophon the director of water and wastewater recommending the hydro acid lowest bid be awarded to keith chemical inc of wax how north carolina in the amount of forty thousand five hundred ninety two dollars to be charged to the two thousand and fourteen operating budget letter received from polyphonic director of water and wastewater recommending the sodium hypochlorite lowest bid be awarded to surpass chemical company of albany new york in the amount of sixty seven thousand five hundred ninety dollars to be charged to the twenty fourteen operating budget letter received from hall of the director of water and wastewater recommending the chlorine gas lowest bid be awarded to jones chemical inc of warwick new york in the amount of eighteen thousand two hundred fifty dollars to be charged to the twenty fourteen operating budget under general there are not under petitions or none thank you committee report three actually ended up coming in below last year's cost all three of them had multiple competitive bids and i'd like to commend polyphonic carlson and the group of that to the water treatment plant doing a great job in really attracting scraped and that's all you got thank you ok thank you anyone else in springfield thank you thank you under health and recreation there was actually something that was on the agenda today that we're going to be holding for two weeks but i'd also like to you know we've talked about the r p process and how it goes and there's been a lot of discussion among the council in questions from the general public so we will be having a open discussion regarding the are of people and so will you know give the information that when that will happen and just how the process works i am extremely confident that the people that we asked suit review are doing excellent job they're doing it fairly and so we just want everyone to understand how the process works so we'll have that meeting going forward thank you thank you anyone else all right then we will move on to privilege of the floor related to the legislative agenda i have four people twenty five dollars fine and i was hoping that we could be able to get this thing raised up to one hundred fifty accounts and blanchard is no longer here was ill was unable to take a leave of hope in the city council will probably take this back up in a try to get it to to the one fifty saval the disbelief marcus all at one fifty also to this last week we discussed about the pay raises and the office i have always said that we needed to do a complete overhaul of the job descriptions of what is within the city workforce we need to have diversification we need to have the first nation with it and you also got to realize the average c s a city employees about forty thousand the county is about forty two thousand the average city employee city resident is only about thirty one thousand thirty two thousand every ten to build resident is only about sixteen thousand per year and the average car park and police departments around seventy five thousand when you start talking for sick pay raises when the last year coal increases were selling one point five and the previous year was three and the previous year was zero and zero where's the disabled and where is the elderly we're not getting these four percent pay raises also too is when something works out o the next one and they have to go back in step ten to go back to step one and go through the steps all over again so there's a cost benefit analysis that needs to be done across the whole entire board and also too is what happens every first this year both the police and the fire departments both of their contracts are up and they had since two thousand and eight had four percent pay raises every year and so i mean we need to be able to take a look at the whole of our thing and i mean and then on top of all i from forty nine thousand to sixty four thousand so i mean you're getting these jobs that piecemeal and you need to go back and look at it and broaden out the thing so i mean you know these are some of the things that need to take a look at and just four percent that's just not cutting it  in this city making over one hundred thousand dollars that's my estimate how can you give these people making over one hundred thousand overtime pay where do you come up with this we you don't understand that we have people in this city making twenty thousand dollars and less trying to exist on their own they can't buy their food they can't buy their medicine and you want to give three fourth to forty percent increases or requested from you you cannot do that we cannot bear it anymore when are you going to stand up and i don't care for union employees  commissioner and tell him no it's done the good days are really the way and i don't care if the city or the school system we cannot afford it anymore it's gone too far i understand you and what would need producing some yes but you've got a lot of people that are and what are you doing about it do you have a job appraisal do you get all the memo discussion do you give on a warning north whose responsibility is this just a marriage consolidation of residential lots i got very concerned about this because at the caucus meeting i was fine i heard the mayor say that we were not going to be bothered with strangling  for doing survey work and gosh you know i really don't want to sugar daddy administration i did have the opportunity to do it to participate in an auction at the county level because of surveyor errors in fact there were three properties i was investigating three of them i could not have access to without trespassing and one of them somebody had already gone ahead and based on the information that they had from surveyors had built permanent utility buildings on their property and so it causes quite a hardship  county had to pay all over at they had to cover the surveyor errors and had to cover the demolition of such properties that were constructed there in order to correct these lines these hard hearted but that is the way it needs to be done and i'm not much ice hockey so does that play field hockey thank thank you year to check out other community to learn how they handle the fluoride issue that any of you bother to look into it don't take my word for secure counterparts on other legislative bonding in the capital district about the city can eliminate the expenditure of floor i say eliminate not say it's because council does not save anything it just spends needlessly and they're serious a perfect example it is said unnecessary item in the city budget and should be removed forget the controversy consider the cost boat no on item number four today mr erickson i do have those figures fifty four thousand dollars and twenty the out six thousand dollars and twenty thirty forty thousand dollars this year i don't know what the difference is is the write and then we will move to the privilege of the floor regarding city business i have eleven people signed up to speak of the start with joe rodriguez you thank you i never remember also made in force mitt aware of the issue as well however after i spoke with code enforcement i was made aware of the fact that code doesn't handle mold and they should be handling problems because this they will say they also would say in the conditions of the housing here in schenectady is atrocious is terrible and you need to do something instead of giving everybody wanted to raise this do something to try to have the standard of living here to take it better because what is going to be going to end up being a ghost town now you need to do something to better these conditions thank you thank you jason pla houses i have said this for every year now because of the city council is given to its developers its contractors some major concessions and during claims of of anywhere between twenty five to fifty percent reduction  and if that kind of reduction is available than the homeowner should be able to turn around take those same comps and be able to use them and you should be able to get at least a twenty five if not to thirty five percent reduction in your property taxes we still back and use those properties that have gotten that thing do a little bit of homework and you might save some money on your sustenance so like i said you know the former weeks in for the month of january committee report and do a outreach to the different communities for the stakeholders that would help try to improve the perp scene agreement we still don't have a purchasing policy here in the city that's diversified for persons with disabilities or  minorities also too is that section five zero three which is the front of action of parent person disability the new regs just came out and they're mandating that all federal contracts have at least seven percent employment for persons with disabilities and the city needs to upgrade its purchasing requirements on that piece you can find find it on the department of labor's federal contract compliance page and you can go to the press release and it will released all that information it also to this is a city has much stronger schip program then the state does and the city has not even enforced that piece of the pritish programs and some major construction projects that have happened within this within the city and the city's controls we need to start looking into that we're starting now to get out to bids now are starting to go out for the summer construction season and for other purposes so we need to start looking at those kinds of ideas of gets hurt back and number two thing is clean up the streets and he's up more to go on the walk lights because people have a lot to handicap and all the people are having trouble getting across the streets it's got to be done and in my opinion that's my opinion only and what i say here but i don't like the fact that we have all these people living in glenville rotterdam outside of city limits albany commissioners and everybody else living outside the city they're getting their money their pitch showering they're getting their benefits they're getting over time and they're getting in a lot of promised us he would not hire anybody that did not live in the city what happened i don't know where the police chief lives and the nothing against him or the job he's doing but it's not right to be hiring these people outside the city we've had enough of that and we've had some terrible terrible contracts how can we write such poor contracts look at that paving job until you never know and why isn't union never a priorit fire trucks and ambulances and trucks go up and down union avenue than most cities in history we can take care of our city our streets broadway abhi street you haven't walked off the street up above st paul's church my gosh you're going to lose a wheel and you want to give some pieces you want to give benefits you want to give this want to give back and the people don't live in the city even those that do there's some people  get a one percent so we increase and you want to give four percent three four percent forty percent to others and i'm not sure these people get one percent get it all t you've got a lot of work and not always your fault but you're stuck with it now and no matter what party you belong with you've got a work together thank you mark isaac mortgage paid for two years and then living the real easy life in the american dream however in these fourteen years my rent has increased twenty percent and now i'm having to pay part my car and some of  people don't have to do things like that and i'd like to call that here attention that i don't think you can really feel my pain unless you are paying every month and that includes the taxes school taxes city taxes county taxes property taxes say assessment taxes and things of that nature without benefit of star and other programs so i think since there's so many property transfers being made around here and since i'm not in a mom and pop shopper if you need money back out the count we've been holding aside with the our rent money maybe you ought invest in some of these properties and fix them up and then really know what it's like to be a part of the passion of schenectady and what really goes on here you feel much closer  i would like to commend because that put their program in the schools of providing newspapers to the students i think it's a wonderful thing i grew up with that in my senior year in high school and it was a very positive thing  my own personal appreciation of newspapers and being learning to be abreast of what's happening internationally is very positive and my only down and afterwards it seems to me that seeding went this is the socket people that are state sponsored and the this was the size of those that were state protected these are the big big c you know and they were the special programs with metra plex they're all members of metroplex the good old boys club and if they are getting enough money for stay and for metroplex the state has allowed metroplex to over bond so that they can get even more money but you know it sounds good and positive for the status of the city state of schenectady but anyway the same big guys are getting the same big bucks and they really have a lot of d i'm not in a residence to make give it a go to church year friendship back to us but i'm here as a college professor university of albany school of public health and just want to seek some assistance from many americans don't have health insurance there's a lot of confusion about what the benefits are the pros and cons and would like to let folks know that on the fifteenth their friendship n states three from nine to twelve will have representatives talking about new york state of health will have navigators there to schedule appointments for individuals to actually register for services affordable for those who don't have health insurance so i have to fly is here i have some more would just like to get your assistance in getting the word out so that we can get registered so i want to thank them for their dedication and service as being former commissioners and secondly i just want to thank the city council and mayor mccarthy for supporting us at or past martin luther king the celebration that we had on great overall turnout for them clearly from neighborhood associations to the school district and school board members and just the community at large just came out and supported us i just want to say thank you i'm behalf of the commission for supporting us your continued support we greatly appreciate and we continue to look forward to working with you in also to the mayor to start addressing the issues that's impacting our community the commission we are doing some build our community broader and make sure that our kids has role models here in the community that they can look to to make their future better so thank you thank you jess clark widow and foreclosed on her house her husband passed away several years ago she lost her job and did not have the money to twenty third kid was awesome oh thanksgiving day why did city council members not help are it is the same group who carved schenectady for a one bedroom apartment in escape euna she wasn't a deadbeat she fell on hard times and schenectady this government schenectady business and professional women's club has an event coming up february sorry march eighth eight thirty a m to five p m it's a unique event and it's called life unplugged is a one day program designed to give you and students an opportunity to learn what it costs to live and pay your bills for one month so the program is designed to encourage young adults to make critical decisions that will affect the course of their future they're encouraged envision they'd like to have when they're in their mid twenty's select the application or the occupation they'd like to have as an adult they receive a checking account equal to one month's salary from their desired job and then they and it's going to be at eighteen albany street at the tap building phone numbers three seven two zero nine three seven two zero nine it's thursday january thirtieth at six p information on the vita site ok so it's a free service and everyone that that prepares text there is trained in certified it's a program is run with united way the i r s in schenectady cash coalition so i encourage folks to use that service into you know have their taxes done for free and not utilize the services that are that's not necessarily beneficial to them financially thank you thank you an council for a little over two years i think some people have a misconception about what council people are supposed to do and what their duties are the basically a board of contract and supply that's what we are if somebody turned their job correctly up their city worker that's not our job to discipline them that's the mayor's job to discipline them when it comes to anything had goes on in the city departments that's the mayor's job that's not our job i know mayor mccarthy would tell us when it's our product for things well some things are your prerogative if they're not or a profit of but the ball gets passed to us when it the way it is that's really as simple as that there's some things that we truly have control over i'll speak to one of them is there's going to be a council possibly a council appointment coming up and i'm sure the party in control will be meeting it discussing this my recommendation to my colleagues is this let's leave the seat open let's let the voters decide next november we've operated with six council people for almost twenty months and sidemen on the council there's only four months i believe when we had seven i would like to see that open but the voters decide to take all the other stuff out of the out of the picture all the backroom deals all the arm twisting all the things that go on with this so it'll take a lot of pressure off the council also i would like to see that salary for that council person is probably about thirteen thousand five hundred left i would like to see a spider energy efficient air conditioners for the council chambers those air conditioning units we have for around twenty years old and there carol so i would like to see that done and maybe we could get it for the some things that can be done i think we'd have money left over but that's what i would see like to see and that's my recommendation for whatever it's worth and i think we would be we be able to move ahead and not be stalled on anything but this is just my recommendation now lastly i know we're talking pay raises came up tonight maybe i was at a different meeting but i don't remember us voting on anything that anybody got any more money that didn't happen you know the ball still be in trouble down the court so we're all thinking about it we're all going to make good decisions i'm sure when that happens we're all well aware of what the people in the trenches have been doing we're well aware that there hasn't been a lot of pay raises going on ten thirty seven i think at one percent or one and a half percent so when we talk about other things that this is no this thing that it just didn't happen you know we didn't give anybody anything yet i'm not going to say it's not going to happen but that didn't happen yet so i'll take full responsibility and be responsible for that what things that we do but things that we don't go you know some of it is mayor mccarthy said some of it is just out there for conjecture but department had meetings on a regular basis that when things go right somebody else takes credit for things go wrong it's my fault i will categorically say that the city of schenectady did not do that for closure in that the representations made at the rail tonight are just incorrect as a lot of things happen here but it's the nature of the business we improve the input from people coming down  here some people are more serious and actually want to make substantive change they want to make the city better other people look to complain more and tryin always accent uate negatives and while times are not based on factual underlying conditions or whatever it may be but i do appreciate the work the council does do you think we have a fairly healthy relationship of going back and forth and  going look to continue that as we go into two thousand and fourteen for the full year and looking to continue to build the good things that are happening in this community thank you madam president thank you and i just want to reiterate w mentioned for people who do have questions about health care insurance that there is a community forum to learn about the health insurance benefits available under the or fought affordable care act feb fifteenth from nine until noon at friendship house at friendship baptist church on nine fifty five states street the contact number is five one eight four zero two zero three seven zero so i know a lot of people have had a lot of questions and concerns