Common Council, Regular Meeting

1. 1:56So the regular meeting for February 4th, >> please rise for God. President Morris >> here. Council member >> here. >> Hagen >> here. >> Thar Foster >> here. Roberts >> here. Lola >> present >> here. >> Okay. Uh so first we have a motion to
2. 3:00dismiss dispense with reading of the minutes for January 12th and 20th meetings and place five. Um motion motion to dispense with we have J and uh any any um those in favor? All in favor? >> Any opposed? Okay. Is uh Heather on yet? >> Yes. >> Uh so the finance committee meeting was unable to meet this evening. So Heather is going to this meeting to provide us with the treasur's report. So Heather, I'll hand it over to you. >> Okie dokie. Um, this is weird. Hold on. There it is. Okay. Okay. Can everybody see my screen? Can you make it a tad bigger?
3. 4:06>> Sure, >> that's good. Y Okay, so this would be relatively short. Um so these numbers are through December but with a caveat in that um there's actually a lot of work that gets done between basically now and when the um annual financial report the AFR gets filed with the state of New York. Um including a bunch of expenditure chargebacks and revenue chargebacks and and a variety of other um modifications to where the numbers are today. So, I just want to preface this that for the most part, this is prior to chargebacks, I did try and make a couple estimates to give us an idea. Uh, so um, and I also added the 2026 budget in this time around so we can get a sense of what the budget for 26 looks like compared to where we might be coming in in 25. So, for plumbing permits, uh, you can see that we had a
4. 5:11budget of $20,000 for 2025. um year to date is a little over 8,800. Um I know that we've got some chargebacks for um the code enforcement officer, but I'm not sure what they are yet. We're still collecting those. Um so we're looking a little light on that number most likely. And you can see that uh for 2026, we kept it flat um versus where we had estimated 20 uh 2025 for building permits. Uh you can see that we're 375 was the budget. We're at 208 currently. Um there may, as I said, uh there may be some uh revenue chargebacks uh coming out of the code enforcement officer. I took a quick look. None of them looked huge. Um but we still have a bit of time. Um so in any case, we're at uh 208 now, and you can see that we took the budget down considerably in 26 from 375 to 250, which looks reasonably in line with where we are year-to- date for 2025. Uh, anybody have any questions on those
5. 6:14before I move on? Okay, great. Um, parking revenues. Um, so as you can see on and off streetet parking, we budgeted 264. We're at 184. Uh, so we're about 70% of where we wanted to be. Um, so we're looking a little light on that. We kept the budget the same. Uh but again though there are some numbers that um get deposited into uh our bank account that haven't been recorded yet because we are unfortunately a little behind on our bank reconciliations due to staff shortage and um our software implementation. But we are getting caught up on that. So that's good news. Um front street lot. You can see that we budgeted uh 527.5,000. We're at 362 right now. Um, I did take a quick look and and while it varies somewhere in the 5 to10 grand per month, it averages about $40,000 a month. So,
6. 7:16we'll probably get around another 120K uh charged back to 2025. So, that should bring us to about $480ish. And you can see that's uh very much in line with what we projected for the 2026 budget. So, we took that number down uh compared to where we thought it was going to come in at 2025. Uh for parking and other permits, uh we had a budget of 65. We're currently at 59. Um there may be some chargebacks on that, I don't know yet. Um but relatively close. And um if there are any revenue chargebacks, that'll just make that number even closer. And you can see for 26 we kept it flat. So that seems reasonable. Uh parking tickets, we budgeted 440. Um, we're currently at 447, uh, which is good. I did take a sort of a rough look at that average as well. So, it's likely we might get another, uh, 130 25 to 135K hopefully, uh, which would bring us to about 580,000. um which is great compared to the 2025
7. 8:20budget, but you can see we were very aggressive in the 2026 budget given the fact that, you know, we're supposed to have now or we do have now um meters in the first three blocks of Warren Street, which is all new revenue and um Oh, yep. Sorry, that's it. Um and I'm just seeing there's anything else to to comment on that. Oh, I think the other thing to comment on the onoff streetet parking is uh that although it looks light uh we have to remember that it was anticipated that the kiosks would be in place and the rates would have been increased by June of 2025. We all know that didn't happen. So even though it looks like we might be a little light on onoff streetet parking compared to budget in 25, we kept it flat in 26 with the assumption that those increases would in fact go into place. Um, I should have a much better sense of what 25 looks like by uh the next finance committee meeting because we'll hopefully have more of these things actually booked into the general ledger
8. 9:22system. Okay. Uh sales, cannabis, mortgage, and lodging tax. Sorry that this uh chart is a little squished. I apologize for that. Um although we haven't done the chargeback back in the system, we do have them in uh in hand for both the sales tax and the cannabis. So I went ahead and added them into this chart. Uh you can see that we had a budget of 2.4 million for sales tax and we actually came in at 2.541 which is great. And uh we have uh we assumed that we were going to come in higher than the 2.4. So for 2026 we budgeted 2.5 million. So that looks pretty uh reasonable compared to what 2025 actuals are for lodging tax. Uh again we had some aggressive numbers for lodging tax. Uh we have not uh did not see them. Um but to date uh through December we're at a little over 580,000 versus the budget of 750. Um there will be a chargeback for
9. 10:27that but we can't determine what it is. We basically take 50% of what we get in the first quarter of the following year and charge it back because the returns that people fire are all you know for prior period. Uh so uh we're at 581 now. I believe the chargeback last year was roughly 50,000. So it could be anywhere from you know 10,000 to maybe 40 or 50,000 additional charge back for 2025. And that makes the 2026 budget of 575 look pretty reasonable as well. Uh adult use cannabis, uh you can see for our first year of budgeting, uh we budgeted 235,000. We received about 100,000 less than that. That 131 number, it's not in the GL yet, but it is in fact does include the uh charge back to 2025. So that's going to be a pretty solid number there. And uh you can see for the 2026 budget, we reduced our estimate uh down from 235 to 160. So that looks um a little more
10. 11:32in line. Uh I will say the last quarter of the adult youth cannabis tax was about 40,000. So uh it's climbed up a little bit over the course of the year. So if it stays at that rate, that 160 looks pretty comfortable. And then mortgage tax. Um you know, this this varies quite a lot. We have no control over it. Uh we had a budget of 220. We came in at 207 which is pretty close. And we've kept the estimate for 2026 at 220 as well. Any questions on any of those numbers? >> I would say anything. >> Okay, great. Um so the rest of this I'll make it pretty quick. Um this is just some financial reporting data for anybody that that cares about this stuff. uh we have to file with uh we have to file a federal assistance expenditure form annually. It is basically the document that indicates whether or not we're going to have to do a single federal audit on top of the regular citywide audit. Um that was filed and we will in fact be required to
11. 12:37do both the regular audit and the signal federal audit and we also have to do a single uh DOT audit. Um the federal audit is uh based on a number of different uh projects that have federal funding and the DOT audit is uh primarily because of very street bridge. So I'm hoping at least the DOT audit goes away for uh the following fiscal year. Um financial systems, we're still we're still, you know, trying to to work out the kinks with our new uh general ledger and collection software. Um, one thing that ended up being an actually pretty significant problem was that the budgeting capability that we were promised did not actually exist or work. Uh, I basically had to create the entire citywide budget across all of the funds in Excel by hand and that's what we used. But it's obviously not a good long-term solution because it's, you know, super prone to just human error. You know, one wrong formula and everything's wrong. and uh with as many
12. 13:40line items that we have and as many you know phases that we go through the budget uh that we have um it's it's not feasible. So we'll be investigating um what their new budget solution software is and uh probably coming to the council and asking for uh funding for that. Uh other issues that you probably don't have to deal with, but suffice it to say we are still um trying to make things work. Uh, in terms of the foreclosure process, um, we continue to winnow down the list, which is great news. Um, we've actually had nine properties successfully enter into an installment agreements, and I have, uh, one more scheduled and one more that has been requested, but hasn't made an appointment yet. Uh we are going to send one more letter out to property owners uh specifically who owe less than $1,000 because we're about to start doing title searches and I'm not sure what the cost of those are going to be, but they were over $200 per
13. 14:43search last time we did this, which was probably 9 years ago. So I imagine twice that at least. And you know, I think people will be frustrated that they're on the foreclosure list because they only owe, you know, $25 or $370 and then they get, you know, extra several hundred added to their tax bill because they didn't clear up their tax bill in time. So, we're trying to do one more outreach to let these people know so they can clean up their balances and not have to deal with that. >> Yeah. Could I just can I ask a question, Heather? Sure. um as you go through, do you have any idea how many um of the total are in that less than 1,000 category? >> Believe it was 10. >> So, that's okay. So maybe what I could do also if the council would be willing is I could provide the list of those people um and maybe the council people could reach out to them as their constituents and try and get them you know
14. 15:46engaged to to you know clear up their their stuff. Um if anybody on the council would be willing to do that please let me know and I'd be happy to send you the names. Is is there any there's no confidentiality issue with us doing that? >> I mean, this is already public to the public desk, >> correct? Yep. It's all public information. >> I don't see an issue with that. >> Yeah. >> Yeah. I don't see a problem with that. >> Okay. Yeah. I don't think it's a problem. It's more It's more a case of, you know, are are you all willing to actually, you know, do some outreach to your constituents to let them know? I will I will plan on sending the list and anything you guys can do to help would be very much appreciated just because you know it it it seems silly but we can't do selective you know we can't be selective so I can't just say oh they don't know that much so don't put them on the list because that's not really legal so but I feel bad for them so >> Margaret is there a date for the next finance committee I'm just I'm >> yes it should have been before this meeting our problem is because of of absent correct for the it'll be before
15. 16:49the next um council. >> My question for that is because maybe that committee can come up with shared language for council members for the constituent outreach to avoid questions of confidentiality. >> Well, we we know all the people whose names were published. >> The names are published, but they might have more questions when you give them the balance that they owe or what they are supposed to do. Shared language is helpful. I don't think we would have to wait to a finance meeting for that. I think Heather could give us guidance. >> Sure. >> On what to communicate because that's pretty much what's going to be communicated in the letter anyway. And so we just reaching out to somebody that they may know. >> That's fine. Just share language I think will be helpful. >> Yeah. Yeah. Absolutely. But when I get the list, >> we'll take a look at we'll take a look at the list and then see what wards people are in and make sure that everybody's comfortable with what they've done. >> Yeah. What I will do is I will I will send out the the names and I will send out a copy of the letter that they
16. 17:53should be receiving. I'm not sure if the attorney sent it out yet or not. Um but I will I will get the text of that and send it as well so you can see what's being communicated from them. you obviously can, you know, probably be um nicer for lack of a better word and, you know, coming across as being helpful as opposed to, you know, challenging. So, >> um I will I will do both of those things. I think that's a good idea, Jenny. Thank you. >> Yeah, Heather, um everything you just said was pretty much good news or things progressing. How how big does the problem remain? Is there still uh people headed towards foreclosure or not? >> In terms of >> in terms of the foreclosure specifically, is that what you're asking about? >> No, just just like >> it's I think it's that set of bullets. >> Oh, okay. >> But there there are 36 which is approximately 2.1 million that are still outstanding. Correct, Father? >> That's kind of what I was asking. >> And then that that's already fewer than
17. 18:54the last time. And then there are five properties that account for 64% of the balance and 10 that account for 83. Correct? >> Yep. That's all correct. >> Well, what I don't understand 115 redeemed to date. What does that mean? >> That means of the original original list that you guys authorized, 115 of them have come off the list. >> Excellent. So, we basically had 140 151 properties when we started and we're down to 36. >> And so, and and nine are are in this there's 36 plus. There's also nine that are not in the redeemed category, but they've entered into an installment agreement. So, we've made some progress, I think. >> Yeah. >> Sitting, >> right? >> These are just these are the ones that have been sitting and haven't gone out. Right. the these are the ones that we identified as owing back taxes uh through the B in the finance committee
18. 19:56that we started working on. >> Did you send your bill to >> not know it was already in here? These are signed twice. >> I know why. >> I have a stack that we're all >> I understand. >> Okay. Sorry, Heather. >> Heather. So $1,000 could that be like, you know, an oversight? You know, that money that thousand seems very low. Could it like be an oversight? Maybe something they didn't realize they missed a fine or something. You know, where's that $1,000 come in? How does that play in the scheme of the amount? Well, I picked $1,000 just to use as a barrier. Um, for the exact reason I stated, which is for people that don't owe very much money, getting hit with a title search seems I think they would be very frustrated by that and we are trying to avoid that level of frustration. Having said that though, we can't subjectively hit the 1,000 isn't a you're coming off the list
19. 21:01because you owe less than a,000. We can't do that. Anybody that owes delinquent taxes has to stay on the list. But absolutely some of them ha probably, you know, I think there's at least one or two their balance is $25 and it's $25 cuz they had a bounce check fee, you know, back in 2023 and they still haven't paid it. But you also have to remember these people have gotten at least two and now they'll get three separate letters from the attorney in addition to the fact that we send at my office sends out in November a a statement out of the system to anybody that has delinquent taxes. So there's really no excuse for them to not know about it and there's really no excuse for them to not have paid it. But again, we are just trying to, you know, minimize their frustration factor, you know, frankly, at by increasing our frustration factor by having to go through this. But but we're trying. >> Does that make sense? >> I mean, well, yeah, because I mean, I see a maybe a percentage of a caretaker situation, right? A son daughter who
20. 22:07just, you know, is doing the money for the parents and, you know, and they're missing something. they're not paying attention, you know. Um, but I definitely want to be part of that and try to reach out because there could be some funding for seniors for 25 hours or something. I just think that's, you know, something that we should probably um, >> what >> what was that? >> I didn't I didn't say we thought it was you. >> Part of the reason as definitely not me. >> I thought I said something wrong. So, yeah. Okay, >> that was part of the reason I asked about the shared language because I feel like if there's next steps for folks like seniors that have such small balances and aren't sure what to do or if there's support for helping like we would have that information available to us in a script form or something that we're all saying the same thing giving the same information. Right. So, so the other thing that I can I can send to you guys is, you know, as we've talked um for multiple months now, um we did also uh include a brochure
21. 23:12from Galvin Housing Resources which offers free uh basically at risk of foreclosure counseling. They were we um when we issued the last round of demand letters, that brochure went in there, but the list was also provided to housing resources and housing resources basically looked through that list and determined who they thought might be a viable candidate for their counseling and independently reached out to them. So, I can send you that information, too. So, so you know what all of the communications were. >> Sure. Thank you. >> Yep. Um, so Margaret pretty much hit all the highlights. Um, so we're down to 36 properties, which is great, but obviously they still owe a huge amount of money. And obviously the top five and 10 properties are the ones that owe the bulk of it. Uh, like I said, the next steps, as we just been talking, is order title searches. And once we do those, those get added on to the tax bill. And then, uh, then we will officially file the list with the county clerk and be
22. 24:15begin the official proceedings. So, I think the other thing that's that's great about where we are with this is that we knocked a huge amount of properties off um with not a lot of um investment yet. I mean, obviously, we're paying the attorney and my office is doing a fair amount of work, but in terms of actually having to do the title searches and the filing and you know, when we start actually issuing things, we have to send things by certified mail and regular mail. And so the fact that we were able to, like I said, limb the list down so much is is a good thing from a from a financial expense standpoint as well. Um, just other items, which I'm sure are are not all the items that I need to have on this, but um, at least there's some. So 98 paddock place, you guys did authorize uh, the sale of that. Um I have been in touch with uh corporation council and um also DPW went and confirmed that the building uh was not you know um not negatively impacted by
23. 25:19either the the freezing weather or the snow or anything and and got that um water turned off and got got it locked up. Um, so, uh, based on my discussion with Andy, he's going to target, uh, April of this year for the sale. And so, you'll hear more about that as it gets closer. Um, uh, it's been great. I've had a couple really good uh, discussions with Ron Bogle. Um, we we uh, my office and the council's office uh, definitely were were struggling with some of the planning board uh, things specifically around escrow. And so we've had some very productive discussions with them and I know they're looking to streamline the whole uh sort of escrow process in the planning board. So um looking forward to that. Uh retirement reporting. Um New York State and local retirement system has implemented a mandatory gold standard uh retirement enhanced reporting capability. Uh we are struggling and have been struggling with this for months. uh we had a really bad
24. 26:22implementation of our when we moved to ADP payroll. I won't go into all the details but it is just causing huge amounts of problems and our inability to you know move to this mandatory thing and they're kind of breathing down our necks. Um we sort of got it figured out what the problems were. What we don't necessarily have figured out yet is how to solve them and how ADP can solve them for us and whether or not that's going to be uh anything they can do to start with um and B um you know will there most likely be a cost associated with it? Yes. So that's something that we have as I said been struggling with for for months at this point. Um it it's one of those things that you know the fact that we have you know multiple timekeepers and no centralized you know person in charge of payroll um makes it exponentially more challenging to not just getting it set up but then in terms of the the monthly reporting that has to
25. 27:23happen because you know um it's mistakes get made which makes the whole thing not work and then we have to figure out what mistakes were made and why it didn't work. So, just kind of cveting a little bit on that. Um, it's been a it's been challenging. Um, I do have a couple things I just want to put on and uh uh for the finance committee to consider. I don't think any of these are new. Um, but uh the city currently has a procurement policy. Um, it it's it's not great. It hasn't been updated in a while. And I think what many municipalities do and what I would propose and I know that Rob Perry uh would propose this as well is the state New York State has procurement policy. And so what I would propose is that basically as we do with other policies and things that the city of Hudson just says we're going to follow what the state procurement policy is and then as it gets modified ours get modified. So, I think right now for we have like
26. 28:26$10,000 as a maximum and I think this the states at a $30,000 maximum, you know, before you have to start getting multiple bids or something like that. So, that's just one thing. Um, second thing in a similar vein, >> Heather, Heather, I can put that I'll put that on the legal committee agenda and we'll just draft language to update the code for them. >> Awesome. >> That came that was one of the talks at night. I don't know if anyone attended. Mhm. >> This this has come up in the past with situations where we're way lower than what the state ordinarily requires for it impacts whether you have to get written bids, whether you have to do RFPs and so on. And the beauty of saying we're adopting the state policy is that then that's what it is. And as the state changes over time, you just stay in line with whatever the state is saying. So, I think that makes perfect sense and it's a it's a fairly easy fix. >> Awesome. That's great. Um, in a very
27. 29:28similar vein, uh, for those of you who don't know, um, this is not for budget amendments. Budget amendments are different, but budget transfers. So, if you're moving from line item one to line item two, you'll see some tonight, uh, because at the end of the year, we always have some as we're trying to, you know, get our expenses paid with the amount of money we have left on our budgets. Um, currently the policy is that a department head can just request a transfer from one line item to another within their departments up to $500. For up to $1,000, you just need a BEA resolution, which is a resolution that just has to be signed by two out of the three members of the BEA. And then anything $1,000 or higher goes to the council. those amounts have existed well before me and I think well well before me. Um so you know if if it was $500 and $1,000 back in 1975 and it's still $500 and $1,000 in you know 2026.
28. 30:31Um, I'm thinking along the same lines that for sense of efficiency that perhaps that could also be modified to maybe, you know, $1,000 to the department head, 5,000 to BEA, 10,000, you know, to the council or or something like that. Um, so that's just something I would like potentially to ask you guys to consider as well. not you know critical but it would be I think efficient >> so that's just internal transfer it's it so that's basically you're working within your budget >> right so you're talking >> exactly right >> that's exactly right y >> that makes sense to me just because you know uh things need to be done quickly and council meetings you know so that kind of makes sense to up that work working working within your budget >> Heather Um I'm just curious, are those in the code or those internal resolutions? >> It's either in the code or the charter. >> Oh, it is. Okay.
29. 31:35>> Yep. >> Thank you. >> That was Ken speaking by the way. He's here. This Ken is our new council attorney. I just >> Hello. >> Hi Ken. I actually recognized your voice so I knew it was you. >> Oh well, sorry I introduced myself. Good to hear you again. >> Okay, last item. This is a new item and again um it's it was really for the finance committee, not for the council as a whole at this point. Um but we have this it's another one of these things where it kind of is what it is, but it causes more problems than it probably should. And that is the fact that um the council members don't actually net enough money out of their paychecks to cover their health insurance. Which makes it challenging because then we have to request that the council people provide money to our office so that we have enough money to pay the bill. And then it gets in this issue of now we have to track who paid what and who
30. 32:38still owes what. And you know, it's I would like to uh potentially look to see how much it would cost to um potentially peg the council members salaries to the health insurance costs and make that a policy so that we get out of this sort of mess that we're in. Um, >> so Heather, can you scroll down a little because the the end of your thing is not showing on the screen. So you scroll down your document. >> Um, so I think that's something that we should take to finance and sit down and talk it through. >> Yep. >> People in your >> It is. >> So we'll we'll talk about that. >> Yeah. Yeah. And I will try I will try and have some rough idea of what those numbers would look like um for the next finance meeting as well. >> Okay, good. Thank you.
31. 33:40>> Yep. Okay. In in some more somewhat positive news, we actually after a lot of work, uh we did actually get the SID fee added to the tax bill. The tax bill went out. Um I know and Gary can can uh probably add to this. We've received a few people who were like, "Why am I getting this?" We put an in affirmative notice explaining what it was. Then there were a couple people that were like, "Hey, I went before the public works board and I wasn't supposed to be assessed this charge and I know the sidewalk uh the public works board is working on those." But unless Gary knows something that I don't, it didn't seem like a huge number of people it seemed, you know. So, I thought that was pretty successful. Um >> I agree. Yep. >> Can I ask you uh whether it's going well with the um tax exempt properties? >> You collected well from >> Oh, we haven't collected anything yet.
32. 34:43No, it doesn't stress. >> What did What did you just That was all that they they responded to. They didn't respond about paying. They just responded about receiving it. >> There were a couple who had questions regarding their assessment. Um, there have been no communications regarding exemptions or credit. Well, I mean, our credits were going back and forth, but that's all been pretty well settled. So, the exemptions went very well, too. Yeah. >> And Gary's going to give us an update also from public works board. >> Yeah. So um so so um we made the decision to put the SID charge in the second quarter um because in the the first and third quarters are city and county. So those are the two bigger amounts. Um the first also has either water or sewer and the second has water or sewer re levy. Um, so we added to the
33. 35:46second one so it wouldn't make the first or the third any bigger than they already are and we didn't add it to the fourth quarter because I think everybody likes the fact that that's the lowest amount, the last tax payment they have to make is the lowest one and wanted to keep that sort of yay feeling for them. Um, and I believe what we decided in the resolution uh that Crystal Peek wrote is that um we're going to make the SID fund we're going to give them 50% of what we should collect uh in the first quarter of the fiscal year and then the other 50% in the third quarter of the fiscal year and that is going to be uh basically regardless of how much we actually collect. So the SID fund will be made whole. It's the same thing that we do with the water and sewer relevy is that we give the water fund and the sewer fund the entire amount of their relevy once it's put on the taxes and then it becomes you know our burden to collect. Um so we're going to handle the SID fund the same way. Um, so,
34. 36:52uh, yeah, and then the only, you know, the only other potential issue that I think we might want to look at a little harder, um, as we go forward is the payoff of the half a million dollar loan because at the rate that it was budgeted for in 2026, it would take us a decade to pay back that loan. And, um, I would argue that that is probably a little longer than it should be. Um but that's something we can talk about in the finance committee as well at some point and also in the public works board. Uh in terms of anticipated borrowing, um I reached out again and just confirmed that the pumper truck delivery is not going to happen before June because June is when we're going to go out with our our annual borrowing. So that's uh that's all good. Um on the flip side, uh getting we're reimbursements for particularly Ferry Street Bridge, but also the DRRI. Um you know, we borrowed a little over $7 million to fund those two projects in a in a one-year bond anticipation note, which is going to
35. 37:55expire in the middle of June. And if we don't get those reimbursements back in time, we're not going to have enough cash flow without borrowing again to cover the expenditures. So, um I know Rob and I have had multiple discussions about this. Rob has had multiple discussions with um the engineering firm that's in charge of the Ferry Street Bridge and in charge of filing for the reimbursements. Um, so that's going to be a focus for sure over the next few months to, you know, hopefully minimize the amount that uh we might have to borrow again on a short-term basis, especially, you know, if we borrow it in June and then the reimbursement comes in July, it's going to be super frustrating. And to answer an anticipated question, can you set up something like this so it can be paid back early? Yes, but it uh it's often not actually financially uh beneficial because it ends up changing the rates. Um, other good news though is we did close on EFC financing for uh, phase one of the mayor's major sewer upgrade. Um,
36. 38:58and the nice thing about that is we did also do an interfund loan on that of I want to say around 600,000, but unlike some of these other projects with EFC doing the financing, they're very uh they're very quick to turn around and you can uh put in reimbursement requests on a very timely basis. So basically the amount of money you need to float in order to uh move the project along isn't nearly as great as it was in those other two projects. So that seems like so far it's it's going to work out well. Um we also uh along the same lines is uh we filed an application for sewer debt exclusion for the constitutional debt limit. I know you're all excited about that and it was approved. So that's actually a really good thing. Um it it uh if it had not been approved, it would have significantly uh limited the amount money that we could borrow for basically anything else. And I think that's it. I think that's it. Yep, that's it. >> Absolutely.
37. 40:00>> So, um Heather, uh thank you very much for that excellent report. Um if you could submit that to uh Lyric and council, we will post that for the public as a document from this meeting under reports. >> We'll do >> uh any council members have questions? >> No, we have member of the public. >> Yeah, there is Lloyd. So I think I can pony up $50 for those two people that owe 25 bucks. So I'll stop by in your office tomorrow. maybe some other people. I mean, you're talking about less than $10,000 for these 10 people, maybe five grand. I don't know what the number is, but maybe their the council or the finance community might, you know, uh entertain some sort of tax forgiveness. Now, I don't know the legality of how that would work, but I mean, it's some change. And I think you're correct by put people through such. So, I'll be by the office tomorrow with 50 bucks. and anyone else that wants to contribute to the goodness of
38. 41:03humanity, you might want to do something similar. >> Any other public comments? >> Okay, thank you very much. >> You have a Sorry, we have a hand. >> Stephanie, >> is she muted? >> She is muted. >> Stephanie, we think you're muted. Can you take yourself off mute? Um, I think we can move on if any other hands raise. >> She's trying to come off mute. She's not camera. >> Oh, it just it just came off mute. Sorry, I wasn't able to unmute. Um, thank you. Um, Council President Morris and thank you council members. I was thinking kind of along the lines of Lloyd just now. um wondering if there is
39. 42:06possibility of looking at the you know the continued erasure of community in Hudson and long-term multigenerational residents losing their homes and leaving the city of Hudson and wondering how if it is possible to kind of create a stay in place um fund or you know way that city the city of Hudson can protect its longtime residents who are the culture keepers and the historical um you know the people who make Hudson what it is and um just continuing you know keeping an eye on the the way like State Street and Columbia Street have changed so much over the last five years and how we've just lost so many families that really made Hudson what it is. So >> thank you. Uh so in just a FYI in public comment uh we take your comments. We
40. 43:11consider them. Um it's anything relating to policy etc. If it's a simple question asking for a factual answer that can be provided from documents already discussed we can clarify but anything else that requires discussion and deliberation we will not engage in debate. I will make one comment um that anything that is done with regard to the collection of the back taxes has to follow textbook and so anything that is anything that we come up with will have to abide by whatever the state requirements are. Um okay so that was treasurer's report. Uh so committee and departmental reports. We had our committee reports. Uh last week and we have received all the departmental reports. Those have been posted to the city website. Uh can I have a motion and second to place the committee reports on file? Motion from Jenny. Second >> from Gary. >> Um all in favor
41. 44:14>> opposed. Carried. Uh Gary is going to give us a brief public works report. Uh he was unable to attend our informal though. He's just going to give us an update on the status of mainly on where we are with regard to what DOJ was focused on. Correct. >> Uh sure. >> Yeah. >> Sure. And Yeah. So, uh I know there's some new members here um in the council. So, I'll just give a brief background. Um couple years back, I think we're all aware of it. DOJ came to the city, said that there need that they needed to see a solution on our part. Uh we moved forward and created the sidewalk uh initiative district um SID and the city loaned that initiative 500,000. uh back in 2024, public works board was formed again uh specifically to enact the SIC uh law that would had been passed. Um, starting
42. 45:20off we did an audit and we hired a outside firm, Hyman Hayes, who put together a report that became part of the solution for DOJ and they broke up the city into eight different areas identifying various ADA problems that were in existence. Um, this overall work has been addressed by a couple of different initiatives. Uh the biggest one, hello. Biggest one was DRRI. Um and so everything below Third Street for the most part has a lot of the ADA uh uh uh uh problems have been addressed that way. We have not gone back and done a full audit to see if everything that had initially been identified has been fixed. And in fact, I know for a fact that there were some curbs that that the uh BRRI was backed off from because of cost. So there is still work to be done
43. 46:22on Front Street as an example. Another initiative that DPW took on was hiring a precision safe sidewalks firm which grind uh the curb ramps down on Warren Street. A number of intersections were addressed that way. Um, that worked out okay, but I have to admit a few of the curved ramps are slippery when wept. I think it was ground down a bit too much, but um, we've tal discussed that and that is what it is. The public works board addressed primarily the curb ramps with connections to the public and municipal buildings. And so the various projects that we've taken on and had construction done on was at the youth center on third and cherry um and uh 7th and Union the sidewalk giving access to the police department and we also address intersections at fifth, sixth and seventh street between Warren and State Street. Um, beyond the actual construction that was accomplished, uh,
44. 47:26what we also did was make sure that the city, the public, all stakeholders involved uh, were involved and understood the ramifications. Uh, we took advantage of Hudson Hub, our online uh, uh, uh, center uh, for the city of Hudson. That worked out very nicely and communicating with the public. We also used took advantage of water sewer mailings to get more information. We went through all of the property assessments cap making calculations and merged that with the county database which went well. Um we also addressed the exemptions uh which were available from the law for firefighters and veterans. Um and that went well in both cases. we just piggybacked off of the um off of the the mechanism that the county had in place for exemptions and discounts. So that worked nicely and then also we worked with uh providing offering pass uh work credits and so
45. 48:30that took actual uh inspection um on the part of the board and negotiations in some cases and then going through the appeals process as well. U while I'm at it then I'm assuming you all know who's on the DPW and that probably is not the case. Um the the current DPW is cons consist of the mayor aid and ADA coordinator and in this case it's Tiffany Martin. We also have the public works commissioner Tyler Critzman and those are the two primary individuals in this uh in this board. The rest of us are there to support them. Um, I'm the uh uh the uh the council's representative. I'm also the chairperson which was voted on by the uh by the council here last year. And we have uh Dave Marston who we have a resolution to bring him back for another term for another year and also George Croninert uh who is also a community member and
46. 49:34was selected by the mayor's office. Um >> we'll be voting on David tonight. >> Yes. Um so budget initially alone was made of 500,000. Uh to date the total that has been paid out and that goes across to Portford and Associates for project management actual construction work and also the Lebur CDBG application. So the total of that amount was 396,335. There's a balance of uh almost 104,000 that's still available to us moving forward. Um we uh for at least this year have decided to pay back uh I believe it was 50,000. Did you just say 25 Heather? 50,000. Anyway, >> I said 50. >> Yeah. Okay. >> I said 50. >> Yeah. Um and and yeah, Heather is right. Um I I had proposed an an aggressive
47. 50:39uh uh uh payment plan in terms of keeping as much money with the PD uh PWB to get as much work done as possible. So I think at some point in a couple years I you know the that the payback ought to increase prioritization moving forward. We're we have not yet gotten together. Uh well, we got together in January. Uh we haven't gotten together yet this year uh this month. Um but uh we'll be sitting down uh reforming the team and uh looking to move forward identifying additional work and then also going back and saying okay how do we go back to where work has been done and then signing off on it in all likelihood following the Hyman Hayes uh report that uh we received back in >> 24 it's actually before that yeah was back a few years before that. So any questions? >> I just have a little addition to that.
48. 51:43um uh you know with the DOJ settlement also um was the identification of ADA coordinator uh and all the processes with the grievance process being on the website the renovations to city hall you know that was all part of that DOJ SE settlement including the sidewalk and uh you know the >> just for some that don't you know don't know and also you know the mapping of the DOJ settlement. That's why you're seeing the library because the senior centers there govern it's it's basically a path to government uh programming. Uh so I think that's um you know for just for some that didn't realize why you know why >> that has been the priority. >> Yes. >> Yeah. Exactly. And so um so I think that um I think we're doing very well uh in terms of where we are you know with that settlement in terms of uh and I think it's just going to be an ongoing uh process. I think the reason why the SID
49. 52:47uh was developed also because the nature of being eventually I don't know walkable because you know somebody fixes the sidewalk today and you know tomorrow it's the the sidewalk next to you is is going to be a tripping h right because it might not be leveled. So, I think it's having a sidewalk district and what Carrie's doing is to allow uh uniform sidewalks uh down the road to be um all uniforms, you know, regarding not just ADA, right? Is also the safety and everything of walkable city. >> Yes. >> Any hands raised, Logan? >> And we I see no hands in the room. So, uh thank you very much for that. Um and perhaps on a quarterly basis we could get a briefing. >> Yeah. >> Perfect. Um so we have received communications. All communications have been posted in the city website. Uh may I have a motion and a second to receive the communications and place them on by
50. 53:50a motion. >> Motion. >> Henry second. Carrie. Uh all in favor? >> I. Any opposed? Okay. Carried. So we have a number of resolutions that we uh introduced at our last meeting. So this evening we will have a motion um to vote um and a second on these resolutions. So in the past what we have done when you have the motion and second we we're doing the introduction. It could actually be a motion for an action the vote. So if you are motion and second on these we will need signatures this evening. Um, our first one is the Hudson River Restoratory Grant. May I have a motion to vote on that? Jenny. Second. Henry. Uh, roll call vote. >> President Morris. >> Yes. >> Council member Hatada. >> Yes. >> Kurt Hagen. >> Yes. >> Star Wars.
51. 54:53Foster. >> Yes. Roberts. >> Hi, Felton. >> Hi, Olen. >> Hi. >> Hi. >> Okay, our next one is the uh Firefox 2025 transfers from the police department. Motion second to vote. Um Jason second roll call. >> President Morris. Yes. >> Council member Hadad. >> Yes. >> Ernhagen. >> Yes. >> Romy Foster. >> Hi. >> Roberts. >> Hi. >> Felton. >> Hi. >> Bolo. >> Felen. >> Hi. >> Hi. >> And our next one is fire department transfers uh for fiscal year 2025. May we have a motion and second to vote? Motion is Henry. Just
52. 55:56roll call Morris. >> Yes. >> Council member Hadad. >> Yes. >> Hagen. >> Yes. >> Brownie Foster. >> Hi >> Roberts. >> Hi >> Felton. >> Hi >> Vo. Cousin. >> Hi >> Morancey. >> Hi. Our next one is a budget transfer for the survey of old park. Uh may I have a motion and second vote on this? We have Denny as as motion. Second is lower. >> President Lawrence. >> Yes. >> Council member Had. >> Yes. >> Hagen. >> Hi. >> Thar Foster. >> Hi. >> Roberts. >> Hi. >> Fatin. >> Hi. President >> and next is appoint reappoint authorizing appointment for CAC members.
53. 56:59May we have a motion and a second motion Henry. Second uh clerk Roco. >> President Lawrence. >> Yes. >> Council member Hadad. >> Yes. >> Hagen. Hi. Brownie. >> Hi. >> Robert. >> Hi. >> Felton. >> Hi. >> President. >> Hi. >> Morancey. >> Hi. >> Perry. >> Our next is the motion to uh reappoint David Marsden as the uh community member uh appointed by the council. And may I have a motion and second? Gary has motion. Henry a second. And uh roll call vote. >> President Warren. >> Yes. >> Council member Had. >> Yes. >> Fernhagen. >> Hi. >> Ronnie Star Foster. >> Hi. >> Roberts. >> Hi. Belton.
54. 58:01>> Hi. Hi. >> Hi. >> Um, our next is a revised uh license agreement with that scoop club following our discussion last week. There were a couple of minor edits that were requested that we made. Um, one clarified the voluntary role of the uh seasonal uh individuals of the snow club. Um we also changed the number of years on insurance from 3 to one. Uh and we clarified the definition of peer and dock and there was a port >> to do with the uh properties do. >> Oh yes. U yes we removed a subflos relating to uh J the sour and fuel pumping uh adjacent to the property. Uh those were the only changes made. So may I have a motion and a second? Motion is Jenny. Second is cla uh to vote on this
55. 59:05and we do a roll call. You want to clarify why the oneear thing has changed. That's the only thing that substance. >> Okay. Do you want to talk about that? >> Just to make point the um you know there's a tail on the insurance that had been three years and they requested reduced to once they didn't have to carry in the event they did not continue on. That becomes effective in the that becomes useful really when there's a an event that may happen where the damage would not emerge for some period of time. You know construction or medical, you know, there could be pain or some you did something inappropriate or negligent or whatever and you wouldn't know it for a while. Um but in this case given their role it seemed very improbable that anything would happen that was completely unknown and wouldn't emerge for two or three years. So it seemed a reasonable request on their part to to have car for one year. So we thought that that probably was reasonable. >> President Morris.
56. 1:00:07>> Yes. >> Council member Had. >> Yes. Fernhagen. >> Hi Brownie Sar Foster. >> Hi Roberts. >> Hi. >> Hi. >> Hi. >> Hi Eric. >> And uh we have the next two numbers eight and nine are resolutions that did not come before us in the informal. Um as you know the process now is unless it's an emergency things have to come before us in the informal for discussion. Uh however in this case these are these are from Michelle Tulo's projects with regard to housing and justice and uh the new process was she was unaware of the new process. So I'm I'm introducing these and uh Michelle is here this evening to walk us through what these two resolutions are and to answer any questions that you may have. So Michelle, we begin with the amendment of the existing contract with CT mail. Sorry. Um yeah,
57. 1:01:10>> you want do you want to come close to the mic so people send your >> um you can um so we have um a home rehab grant and we have a accessibility modifications grant to help people with disabilities get modifications in their home. Um we have an existing contract with CT mail that was prepared through an RFP process to do um environmental services sort of asbestous rain on etc. Um and there was one more service that needs to be added to the contract for them to just look for basically of any environmental issues on the site so that we can get our environmental clearance. So it's in the budget. So that's just the method that's added there. And the second one is for an engineering firm. Um they also procured through RFP lowest bid MWBE. Um and they will perform some engineering studies for homeowners. Um for example, someone who might need a lift or you're going to have to help with the design of that some structural um results give a study and
58. 1:02:15recommendations. >> I have a question about the second one. Um, do you have a list of properties? Because I was looking at >> and that this is just a grant. We're not matching that, right? >> No. >> And that's not that's just I don't know. I say free money, but >> we're not having to match that. >> Um, we have the properties. It's not public information, so that's why that's crossed out there. Um, but yeah, we have done the we um received the grant a year ago. So, we did the um homeowner application last like spring into summer. So over the fall we've been doing um like home inspections and building the work scope and stuff. >> Okay. And that's these are just recommendations. They don't provide any installation service or do they maybe recommend contractors or is it just uh plans for the service? >> Um so the there's there's funding for the service too. >> Oh >> yeah. So in the fall there's a contract where we have specialists. Um um they
59. 1:03:19had a construction in this summer 2025. Um there was a the council approved a um contract for who's the rehab specialist. So they developed the work scopes but they're not an engineer. So that's why we need that once we did it with focus. So there's a couple houses that needed engineering services and just the rules of procurement. We have to professional service we have to procure directly. They can't be subs. >> Thank you. Any other questions from council members? >> So Michelle, when when you say contractors, so who who selects the contractors? >> Um, it is a bid process. So it's advertised. Um, so we usually try to do um like info sessions and like postings and get a pretty wide range. And if the um contractors meet the requirements um then they are eligible to bid. So far as like insurance references, eligible like
60. 1:04:22um work experience, stuff like that. And then um the homeowners select the contractor. If the homeowner wants one that's not the least affordable, then they can get a difference um with that desk. And so so in terms of the contractor, so so the contractor does the work >> um who signs off on the work being complete completed and uh satisfactory? >> Um it's the the rehab specialist um the um homeowner and myself and um there's permits pulled from those things. than code. >> So code code code enforcement are code enforcement not a third party. No, >> the only difference of course is like electra you need like a third party inspector but >> and and if and is there any insurance in terms of the contractor say for example if the contractor
61. 1:05:24>> doesn't do a job we don't know about it in after effect is there ongoing insurance so the property owner is not responsible for that because obviously they can't go to small claims right because they did pay for it the grant paid for it so How how is the the homeowner going to recover uh to make them some you know a private? >> Yeah, that so we collect the um that's part of the requirements that contractors have to have insurance. It's on file provided to the homeowner um and then um those warranties are given for specific years for each type of um product that's used or different services. What a warranty choosing on the product, not the work being done. Right? >> The work has a one-year warranty and products have the lifespan of >> one. So, so if it's not noticed after a year or whatever, then then who who's responsible for >> the notice? >> We have to go case by case. In most
62. 1:06:26cases going to have to be um we have to go case by case. is different depending on what the specific work is. But um we can we see the questions happy to talk more um but it's not really relevant to this like contract resolution. So happy to talk more if you'd like. Um >> yeah because because yeah because like I said it's not the property owners kind of not involved in this in the end. So if there's no small claims because they're not paying for anything. So there's no recovery. But yeah, I'd like to see how the proper is is is protected. >> Thank you that much. >> Uh we have one hand raised. I think >> Yeah. >> Sorry, Henry, did you have a question? >> Um yes, I had one more. How this is the the end of like it seems like the end of the process you've already started. >> Exactly. >> The end of the beginning like there's kind of a year of setup of getting the whole team in place. >> Okay. And then construction projects will start later this spring.
63. 1:07:29>> Yeah. >> Okay. So, we're not revisiting we're not going to be revisiting this for an this firm. Oh, I'm only asking because they're they're um it seemed like just with a little bit of overtime they could leave that fund drive pretty quickly just on their overtime hourly rates at a perase basis. Um, not probably the worst case scenario. >> Sorry, which one are you speak which may >> I looking at the wrong one? >> No. Which one are you talking about? >> Um, the fees for having the engineers uh come from Terry Town >> and paying their travel, lodging, and food expenditures. >> That's not So above it is like the actual agreement. >> Yeah. for extra >> and that's like if something else was a question which has to be agreed upon by charities that's in there I think it's very unlikely >> right >> any of that would be agreed upon but um
64. 1:08:31and the you know they gave us a rate for doing the houses in one day or release right >> um so we have a uh we have somebody online >> yeah brown Uh yeah, this is not a comment on the resolution, but a comment on a technical matter. What I'm currently seeing on my screen is not an image directly from the screen from the room, but what seems to be Mr. Dutton's shared screen. Okay, now I'm back to seeing the image from the room. So, I guess whatever it was has been taken care of. >> Okay. Uh but Matt McGee would like to ask something. >> Yes. I was just curious if there are going to be public meetings uh wi with this body when they're deciding to do these things. >> Uh this this particular grant has been in place for a while through uh housing
65. 1:09:36trust fund. Correct. >> Um this isn't housing. >> It's not it's not done under housing trust. No, but um it's not like a public >> Well, it's it is it is a city project. >> I guess I'm confused with the question. >> So, can you clarify the question? >> Oh, yes. Uh I I would think that they are doing governmental work for the city when they're doing this. So, it would seem to me that they would need to have public meetings. Thank you. >> Okay. Just to clarify, you're you're referring to meetings where they the team is getting together to decide on uh next steps uh engaging contractors, what projects to work on their their process for identification and uh qualification if you will of applicants for uh home rehab that those leadings should be public. Is
66. 1:10:40that the question? muted the microphone. >> Sorry. >> Yes, >> I will check. I Yes, I will check into that. Thank you. >> No, thanks very much. >> Any any other hands raised? We have a member of the public in the room. >> Is this just an evaluation and how many properties or is it actual work that are being conducted? engineering the engineering just for evaluation and a report of recommendations at next step. >> How many different properties are we envisioning this covering? >> Um right now it's just three that need it. Um but there's an option for if we need another one or two to add that on. >> Okay, that's the bounty of this. >> Well, there's um more homeowners. There's more homes in the grant program, but only three require engineering services. Thank you. Uh, so if there are no other
67. 1:11:43questions, can I Yeah, >> more. Sorry. If there's only if there are only three, um, we get all of that, I don't know, 600 plus thousand at once. And do we get to keep if it's not used for this engineering project or does it roll into some other? >> There's like a max budget per house and within that budget you can like there's discretion to divide up the line items. So houses that have don't need engineer have a little bit more towards hard costs for example. >> Yeah. So there's like a max budget that can be spent per house but within that you can move around. So like some houses that are new don't need lead based painting for example, right? So like that could be more money cost or whatever. >> Kind of think they need it anyhow. Um, and do the homeowners get 100% of the cost coverage from this? >> Okay. So, a sweet program >> unless they choose a contractor who is
68. 1:12:47qualified for there. Yeah. Got >> in which case they have to make >> that's a hamstrit. >> Thank you very much. So, can we have a motion to uh this is number eight on your agenda authorizing the amendment of an existing contract with CT mail. Can I have a motion and a second to vote on this? We have motion from Jenny. Do I have second from? We can have roll call vote. >> President Morris. >> Yes. Council member Hadad. >> Hi. >> Hagen. >> Yes. >> Sar Foster. >> Yes. >> Robert. >> Hi. >> Hi. >> Roll. >> Present. >> Hi. >> Moranti. >> Hi. >> And now can we have a motion to vote on authorizing a contract for home and
69. 1:13:52access grant? Um clear. Motion. Jenny second. President, >> yes. >> Council member, >> hi. >> Hagen, >> yes. >> Foster, >> hi >> Robert. >> Hi. >> Felton. >> Hi. >> Rolo. >> Hi. >> Morancey. >> Hi. Yes. Uh and now we have uh in our homes of order where I said if there was an emergency situation that we could bring something to the formal that I've not previously been looked at in informal and we have a DPW transfer um uh that meets that requirement and it relates to the snow emergency. So uh any questions on that? But I think we know we have strong. >> Jason, do you want to give any is it
70. 1:14:56reported in your committee? What have they all suffer? >> We're out of salt. >> We're out of salt and we're out of overtime. >> Yes. >> Um and I think we're anticipating this pass along to be very large, but it it might be just large enough, but we're still going over. Um, and we need some money to plow the roads and salt the roads, >> right? And we also may have another storm. And the other thing to bear in mind is that the season doesn't end in March because it also has November and December. >> So, we will be revisiting this, I think. >> Yeah. >> So, do we have a motion to vote on this celebration? Very good. And second, Henry. Roll call. President. Yes. Council member Had. >> Yes. >> Hagen. >> Yes. >> Faroster. >> Hi. >> Robert.
71. 1:15:56>> I Belie. If the state during this time does a state of emergency, is there any recovery we can do for any funds if there's a state of emergency or is that only especially if our county's part of them? Can we recover funds? >> I'll take it to the committee. Okay. Thanks. Hi, >> Barry. >> Okay. Next, we have the bills. So, um, maybe I brought my copy. Any questions on I have mine so much I can't >> Does anyone have any questions? >> Um, actually this is real devastating question because I'm on the bills this time. >> No, you don't. >> I don't think we have any questions. So,
72. 1:17:00can we have a motion to pay the bills? >> Motion to take. >> Henry on the secondary. >> Gary and this list. Uh, okay. So, we do a roll call. >> President Morris. >> Yes. Council member Had. >> Yes. >> Hagen. Ronnie. >> Throw. Foster. >> Yes. >> Roberts. >> Hi. >> Belton. Hi, >> Paulo. >> Cousin. >> Hi, >> Marcy. >> Hi, >> Cara. >> Okay. Uh, in old business, um, we reviewed the, um, the video conferencing, uh, rules last week. And so, Ken, do you want to walk us through the next pro the process steps here? We're not voting on tonight. We are going to be doing it as a resolution because we already have a law. We have to go through some steps. So, do you want to just walk us through what we're going to be doing? Um yeah, you do have a law on the books governing video conferencing by members of the common
73. 1:18:04council and the other committees. Um but it is differs from what um it seems the council wants to do going forward because the um current thing is actually a law. It can't be superseded by a mere resolution. It takes a lot. Um there are a couple of ways to do that. discussion would probably be the most advisable would be um actually two things can go concurrently. One is just to repeal the existing law and take out of the code alto together and then to adopt a resolution and the one of the reasons for doing that a couple reasons. One being that the um authorizing statute was set for expiration and repeal in July. It's likely to get renewed. No guarantee though, but it also could be modified. And just as president said earlier about um the procurement process, sometimes it's better off to have your local things simply reference the state laws and not not have a separate law because when the
74. 1:19:06state things change, then you have to go through the whole local law procedure to change them and the cost of having your e-code updated and such. So in this case um because this is a a law that maybe maybe would be tweaked going forward for one reason or another u since it takes a local law in any case it I would suggest just repealing the one that's there and then adopting the new one as a resolution it still requires a public hearing and if we were to change in the future take require public hearing the justice law would but there is more flexibility because you don't again it doesn't codified doesn't get the decode doesn't get printed in your books. And if you found, for example, that you wanted to make a modify the description of extraordinary circumstances or change the number of cases in which someone could invoke those things, it would just be a lot easier to make those kinds of tweaks going along as a resolution. So um we'll prepare a local law to be introduced for the next informal meeting which will repeal the current radio
75. 1:20:10singing law and we'll simultaneously introduce or present you know really a a resolution and a public hearing can be set on the resolution at the same time as the public hearing to repeal a local law and so you can do them in tandem as you go through. One will end up just replacing the other one. And so the timing for this will be that we will bring these to the informal. >> Um they can be brought to the informal. You'll have to schedule a public hearing in both cases. So, um >> could could we put together a um local law to repeal the current and a uh a resolution >> and particularly local law perspective mail those to every council member so they have them on their desks for at least eight days then schedule of the hearing between that time and >> well you can present they can be presented at the informal meeting because it's eight days before you get to the formal going to be adopted anyway. So that's >> okay. So that would be okay.
76. 1:21:11>> Yes. >> And uh the public hearing piece has to occur after we have that between the informal >> and a simple thing like this often times I think public hearing would maybe precede the common council meeting but >> okay that's good public I mean just schedule and go there. Yeah, >> I think you would want to see the proposed law >> or proposed resolution, >> but that would be Monday. >> I don't it could be put in the paper use the register star as the official paper. >> So that could be within in within a couple of days and then maybe need five days, >> right? >> Five days notice the council to schedule public hearing. >> And then we have a public hearing before our meeting will >> So you could do that right on Monday. get it started immediately publish the public not the notice for it to the hearing on the following Tuesday 8 days later five days ahead of that Tuesday meeting >> you could do that and and and should be
77. 1:22:15able to do >> all that should work but I'll let you know window to put the publication in >> so I just that's >> if it doesn't get published in time >> it just goes out another month it's not the end of the world you have some We what we have in place just isn't doesn't specify um special circumstances that we want to recognize as extraordinary. That's the main difference to an item that's not on the agenda here, but I just want to bring it up. Um couple of months ago we had um and I know we discussed this uh in January uh we had a discussion around the liver league field >> uh 2025 tax exempt status that the assessor has agreed to. We had um guidance from our uh counselor I believe back in January. Um, if possible, and I'm going to defer to you, I would like
78. 1:23:18to ask for a vote in favor of designating that of agreeing to make that not for profit. That does require a um over it's a three-year. It's a three-year agreement. However, every year they have to um prove that they are still a nonprofit and it's still being used for nonprofit purposes. And to Dominic's questions about this in the past, this is about 2025. That's looking back. So this not something that's going to be a going on thing. It's Monique moves to another field. Is a passport to vote in favor of that without having a resolution drafted. >> There is a resolution. She said, she cir I thought it went to all of you. >> Oh, I didn't I did not find that. >> Okay. >> I just got quick update on that. So, um I think it's great if we can do the three years. Currently, the League Judge use it for literally games. Uh Henry the >> You're right. It's the softball that >> and ball and it was the Yep, you're
79. 1:24:23right. >> So, so that's the only field in Columb County and I think it helps guaranteed little league. >> Okay. >> Three years to be clear on the three-year provision. That's part of the t real property tax law that um this was brought as a both as an article 78 and as an article 7 under the tax law and I did verify that um it was proper to bring it under those provisions. I I want to check because normally article 7s had to do with the actual assessed value of the property whereas this had to do with determining that the property was entirely taxexempt. So it wasn't a question of the value of the underlying property which was that the assessor and and the other parties to the lawyers had determined that this properties actually was exempt irrespective of what the properties were. Um but the statute does specifically authorize that to be brought under article 7 tax law or as an article 78. It was brought under and they settled it under article 7. There's a provision on article 7 that any
80. 1:25:26settlement or resolution of an article 7 real property tax proceeding is binding for three years after the determination. So it's actually a statutory provision that makes the settlement or the or the decision binding for three years but that is subject to certain things. Um, for example, one of them would be doing work on the building and changing that, but one of the other things specifically in there has to do with um reaffirming the tax um exemption on an annual basis. So, even though it's a statutory three-year thing, that is subject to their providing on an annual basis verification that they still qualify for the exemption. So if the thing changes and it wasn't used for that purpose at any one of the time going forward for three years the exemption would terminate and the the um this agreement would terminate. So it's it's three years as long as everything stays the
81. 1:26:27same but they actually have an affirmative duty to show that on a handle basis. >> And is that transfer because this property is one of them supposedly earmarked for Bard. Is that transferable if it the properties transferred to Bard? I believe it would be if it's continues to be due exempt in both in the ownership and in the use. >> Um I didn't do the underlying litigation. I'm so not I haven't invest I don't have a full knowledge of the history and such. Um I didn't know that that was part of the question. >> We don't we don't know for sure what the bar crop is from. >> So I think >> you know but in any case comes up we'd have to reook. Um there's probably whatever the answer is, there's probably actually nothing that can be done about it one way or the other that um if it does carry forward, they would still have to demonstrate that they're entitled to that on an annual basis. If for some reason it didn't carry forward, then they would have to come and apply for it anyway. Um so it probably doesn't have a significant impact either way,
82. 1:27:31but it would probably continue with the transfer as long as the qualifications remain in place. So since you don't have copies of this resolution in front of you, I am going to read it. Um whereas Gavin Initiative's foundation with real property located in the city of Leon commenced proceedings pursuant to article 7 of the New York state real property law and article 78 of the New York civil practice law and rules challenging the assessment of property located in the city of Hudson County, New York and designated as parcel number 109.16-1-8 on the official assessment map of the city of Hudson um property for 2025 Whereas petitioner is New York State Charitable Trust. Whereas the new at the time relevant to the 2025 city of Hudson assessment role, petitioner was leasing the property to Benjamin Moral Little League, a notfor-profit organization. Whereas petitioner applied to the city for an exemption from real property taxes for 2025 assessment pursuant to real property tax law 420A and the
83. 1:28:36application was denied. Whereas respondents hereby agree uh that for the 2025 assessment goal the property will be eligible to be exempt >> excuse me >> was eligible >> sorry was thank you um was eligible to uh to be exempt from real property taxation pursuant to RTL420- and whereas proposed terms of settlement have been presented to the city of Hudson for a change in the exemption status and a reduction of the assessment as follows petitioner's application for RPG PL42A status for the 2025 city of Hudson assessment role is granted. All applicable tax refunds are to be paid with interest pursuant to section 726 of the re property tax law of the state of New York except that in the event the refund of taxes is paid within 60 days with the date of a service of a copy of a final court order with notice of entry then interest is waved and petitioner is required to submit an annual renewal application to maintain its exempt status on any successful tax.
84. 1:29:40Now therefore be it resolved that the county council of the city of Hudson does agree to the settlement of to the entry of the order for the change in exemption status and reduction of assessment for the property and be it further resolved that the city's officers employees agents are hereby authorized and directed for in the name of and on behalf of the city to carry out the provisions of the order and be it further resolved that the Rodenhousen chair andoro LLP in its capacity of attorney for respondence in this proceeding is authorized to execute such documents months as may be necessary to effectuate his speech. Question sir, >> is there a reason we want to vote tonight and not have more time? >> Because we it's been hanging around for about 3 months. >> Okay. >> Um because there's nothing further to discuss and clearly in 2025 they were tax exempt and it was an error on my part not to have put it on the agenda. it just slipped through and um I realized today that wait a minute we've
85. 1:30:42already had our our um session with the attorney back in January and there's nothing further to discuss that's why >> question >> there's no money to be re you mentioned the language talked about refunding back there's nothing >> they paid taxes in 2025 so they have to get a refund >> oh >> I believe they paid the tax >> yeah I think it's like >> yeah it's very it's That's not an issue with the city. >> No, it's I >> It's like $1,200 just >> I remember we looked at that. >> It was less than the legal fee than they have spent to file this. >> Yes. Yes. >> Okay. Any other questions? So, can I have a motion to vote on this resolution? >> Motion. >> Henry. Second. Jason. >> Uh, can we have a roll call vote? And you can have this. We are >> President Morris.
86. 1:31:51>> Hi. >> Council member Had. >> Hi. >> Fernhagen. >> Hi. >> Ronnie S. >> Foster. >> Hi. >> Roberts. >> Hi. >> Felt. I >> hi >> car. >> Great. So, any other new business from any council members? >> Jason. >> Um, we received something this afternoon that I just want advice on from the council and I don't know like how to answer. >> So, we should go into executive session or you personally want to >> No, no, not personally. >> It's involves everyone. >> I don't know how to respond. >> Okay. So the best thing for us to do is to enter the session. >> That's what I want. >> So um in that case before we do that with the process for that >> and I like to do that at the end of the meeting so public both particularly the people online can leave knowing that nothing exciting is going to happen um or opening uh and also the folks in the room can leave. So is there any other to
87. 1:32:55be clear actually um you you can actually close the meeting entirely because attorney plan privilege is actually different from executive session. >> Oh okay thank you. Excellent. >> So perfect. Executive session is something that's allowed for certain purposes. That's actually part of the meeting where you would within the meeting you would make a motion to go into executive session for the purpose stated you go in then you come back out. you're still in the meeting, then you close the meeting. Um, attorney client privilege is actually entirely outside of the open meetings law. Lovely. >> So, you can actually close the meeting and then just as a body, you can go in for attorney client and just discuss the legal question and talk. >> So, thank you. Any other business? Any other new business from anyone online? Morgan, >> no. >> Can I have a motion to adjourn? I got I got >> Oh, okay. >> First one up was Ronald. >> I will let Stephanie go first.
88. 1:33:59I yield to >> Thank you. Um, thank you again, Council President. Council members, I just wanted to um restate my letter of this afternoon so that members of the public can hear it. Um, I have written in support of the city of Hudson Department of Youth to ask that Mayor Ferris write an exemption to the mayoral decree creating the current hiring freeze so that a salary line can be created and employed to uh position an assistant director at the youth center immediately. The hiring freeze was not legislated. It was created by a mayoral order. so it can be addressed by the mayor creating an exemption to address this important staffing position. It's urgent that the director of the youth center be able to work with an assistant director now well in advance of the most demanding summer camp season at Oakdale to set polit policies, vet and hire summer staff and create and enact
89. 1:35:00trading protocols for summer staff. The addition of the assistant director position allows for two leaders and strong oversight at the three homes of the youth department's programming now. The Hudson Youth Center, the Hudson Area Library, and Oakdale Lake. And even though the summer transfers to Oakdale Lake, there's a lot of overlap when staff is trying to reposition themselves for their summer headquarters. Participation at Oakdale Lake has exploded in the last few years, and the youth department's commitment to safety and supervision requires months of advanced preparation with staff interviews, hiring, and onboarding, and maintenance of the property in addition to school year operations of expansive programming at the youth center and the senior center. I'm urging Mayor Ferris to consider the health and safety of Hudson's youth and es especially the multiple liabilities the city faces if Oakdale Lake staffing is not prioritized well in advance of when the summer season starts. Thank you again for the opportunity to speak to my community.
90. 1:36:07>> Hey, thank you. >> Thank you, Stephanie. >> Um so Ronald, you had a comment. Uh I I yeah I have a procedural question. Uh ifine priv privilege is being invoked as opposed to executive session does any kind of information have to be given about the nature of the litigation prior to >> no because it's actually not it doesn't have to specify that it is about litigation. It it's purely attorney and client discussion. So because that's by nature confidential, it's exempt from the open meetings law and um litigation can involve discussion among the members their strategy that that can you don't need for example you don't need a lawyer present to go into executive session to discuss litigation. Um this is specifically would be a discussion that you must have the lawyer present and answering and responding to specific legal matters or legal
91. 1:37:12questions with the book with the body. So there there are different things. >> On the other hand, if if a lawyer were present, you might still go into executive session as opposed to use the rubric of attorney client privilege >> and therefore be subject to the open meetings law. a difference in what you can legally discuss. Um when you go into executive session for litigation for example um as I said you don't need you don't need a lawyer there and you and the board members discuss among themselves their strategy um proposals all kinds of things that may be not strictly legal questions. um to go to a attorney client privilege, you're really constrained to the lawyer giving guidance, getting questions, giving guidance. Um but it wouldn't be just a freewilling discussion of all this litigation strategy. And again, this may have nothing to do with
92. 1:38:15litigation. Um >> you can say something here. So Ronald, first of all, a council member has a question and they are seeking legal advice. I don't know what the question is and we will not know until we go into attorney client meeting to hear the question and get the advice. So I think that's where we are. Um it I don't want to prolong the the discussion. I mean we can research the difference and the scenario between the two situations but I think it's not I think it's fine. >> Okay. I all I want to say is I've never heard this distinction made before and uh I I would be interested in the resolution of this question. Thank you. >> Absolutely. Um you had a question. We have in the room with question. >> I have a comment. >> So much um should I come to the mic? >> Yes. Yeah. The public country. Um, so I'm here um to urge members of the council um not to
93. 1:39:20uh consider uh changing the short-term rental legislation except to strengthen it. Current restrictions in place have the good effect of discouraging prospective investors and encouraging full-time residency. I'm a full-time resident of Hudson since 2005 and I believe I'm not alone in valuing very much the quality of life that comes with living all year long with brief and frequent exceptions next to people I know you all and coming alive. For example, yesterday morning in the snow I looked out my bedroom window and saw that my neighbor's basement door had blown wide open in the driving snow. I texted them. This is one of a million instances in which we find that it is lovely to live somewhere and know people with its current legislation. Hudson is in good company and I urge you not to degrade the current law and only consider strengthening strengthening it. Do not be shortsighted because your model these European cities
94. 1:40:23that is their long view on cultural preservation have banned or severely restricted new Airbnbs in their cities since 2021. Berlin, Munich, Barcelona, the entire country of Portugal, Vienna, Florence, London, Amsterdam, Paris, Shukgart, and Palmer. Um, I could go on forever. I also urge you to take as a model province town Massachusetts which is a city very much or rather a town very much like Hudson in many ways and which struggles um all the time with um lack of housing for yearround populations lack of workforce um no no enrollment in the schools etc etc and so that is my comments >> thank Thank you. Uh just for the record, would you like to indicate whether you're a resident of Hudson and if so, what ward?
95. 1:41:24>> Sure. I'm in the first word. I'm a resident of Hudson. Um Rebecca Bull first. >> Thank you very much. >> Thank you. >> Uh okay. Do we have a motion? >> Okay. Uh who's who are the next ones? >> Ronald has a stand up. I don't know if that's the same. And then Justin has to stand up. Ron, does your question >> I'm sorry, I forgot to lower my hand. I I Okay, so >> so uh Justin Weaver, you have your hand up. >> Yes, thank you. Um I noticed uh you guys just approved the bill and I saw that the mayor's aid is listed on the bills um for almost $500. I'm just curious as to what that's for. Uh, I will have to go back to my notes. I did my notes.
96. 1:42:45Thank you. >> It 500 exactly or 499? >> No, it was it was 400 and something. It was like 470 or 480 something. It said Tiffany Martin. It didn't say Mayor's Aid. >> 489. Yeah. >> Uh yes, this was for um postings. I knew I had that. It was for postings for the uh position of code enforcement effort. It was it was uh job. Okay. Do we have a motion to adjurnn? >> J we have three mo three. So Jason and
97. 1:43:49Henry have second. >> Thank you very much. And so I think slogan we've

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