Common Council, Regular Meeting

1. 0:59Yeah, you're all set.
2. 1:01Okay, great. Uh, so this is the regular meeting for August 25th, 2026 of the common council 97. Please republic for which stands nation. Okay. Sorry. Yeah. Okay. Council President Lawrence here. Council member Hadad
3. 1:44present.
4. 1:45Hagen here.
5. 1:46Romy Star
6. 1:50here.
7. 1:50Foster.
8. 1:52Roberts here. Felton
9. 1:54here.
10. 1:55Here.
11. 1:57Here. Morante
12. 1:58here.
13. 1:59Form presence.
14. 2:00Okay. Uh so may we have a uh motion to dispense with the meeting of the July 14th public hearing in July 28th regular meeting and place them in file. Motion
15. 2:12motion one second car.
16. 2:16Uh all in favor?
17. 2:18I any opposed?
18. 2:20Uh the committee report and department reports have been received and placed on file. They are on the city website. May I have a motion and second to place committee reports on file? Motion roll second Gary. Uh any all in favor?
19. 2:35I opposed. Carry. So this evening we're going to begin with a presentation uh from Peter Frank from Friends of Hudson Youth regarding the Oakdale Park uh specifically in reference to uh some grants. Um this for those of you who are on the council in the last couple of years we had discussion of this there's other funding that was part of a resolution last year and we do have a resolution uh this evening um to approve uh acceptance of these press grants for Oaklair Park. So here to do a
20. 3:15presentation and to answer any questions anyone has around the park. Okay. So hand over to you.
21. 3:21Okay. Hello everyone. As long said, I'm Peter Bryant. I'm representing Friends of Hudson Youth, which is acting as a partner with the city of Pson.
22. 3:31Uh, is there a mic to
23. 3:35you want to take this one?
24. 3:45Is that better?
25. 3:46Yeah, sure. Okay, great. So, I'm Peter Frank. Uh I'm here representing friends of Hudson Youth which is acting as a partner to the city of Hudson and the Oakdale Park improvement projects. Um I think as everyone understands playgrounds are a critical infrastructure uh both for childhood development for community life. And as any parent will tell you Hudson is sorely lacking in decent play spaces for kids. At one time Hudson had playgrounds in every neighborhood but for decades the city hasn't invested in them. And as you'll see, the playground in Oakdale is a disgrace. In the 2018 Oakdale Park
26. 4:24visioning process, the public named a new playground as a top priority, and the need for play spaces keeps coming up loud and clear every time there's public engagement around green spaces. Um, it came up through the Charles Williams Park, community engagement, the comp plan, etc. And for those of you who weren't in my presentation last year, here's a quick review of the project to date. In 2022, the city took a long overdue first step to address this speed when the council unanimously approved an application for a state parks grant which the city was awarded. But progress was initially
27. 4:59slowed. Hudson has limited capacity to manage grants and capital projects. About a year and a half ago, the city asked FOI to take a more active role which was later formalized in an MOU for Oakdale Park improvements. Oh, he then uh partnered with New City Parks, a nonprofit which advises municipalities on park development at no charge, and we began fundraising, including an early grant from the Utopia Foundation, which allowed us to hire local firm Star White House to lead design. Katie Webster, one of the designers, is with us here tonight to answer any questions about the design.
28. 5:36So, next slide, please, Logan. That's where things stood more or less when I presented here a year ago and we were still fundraising to close the funding gap. Now, thanks to the generosity of Assembly Member Di Barrett and Senator Michelle Hinchi, the project is fully funded. Both legislatores both legislators understand the importance of social infrastructure and we're happy to help. The timeline I gave last year was optimistic. Um, so here's an updated one. Right now, we're near the end of the design phase. Bid documents will be
29. 6:08complete by year end, construction starting next spring, and completion by fall 27. Next, please. This map shows the project area on the north side of the park. Oakdale is Hudson's largest park other than the cemetery, and it's one used extensively by both summer campers and the wider community. But the north side area is quite unrealized. The next slide, please. I'm sure most of you are familiar with the park itself. The lake and swimming beach, an urban forest with a half mile hiking trail. Bohei and other community groups have started to improve the park in recent years, but the facilities are still premium.
30. 6:49Next, please. This is the existing playground. It's over 30 years old, and importantly, it was built before modern safety standards existed. Today, every public playground uses impact absorbing surfaces, not jagged gravel and broken, splintered railroad ties. Next, please. Here's a closer look at the service. I want to be clear, you simply could not build a public playground like this today. In fact, a school or child care center could not get a license to operate with a service like this. Every year when the health department does its pre-amp inspection in Oakdale, they flag this service as a problem. This isn't
31. 7:28just deferred maintenance. This is actually a liability for the city of Hudson. Next, please. Beyond the surface, the equipment itself fails modern standards. There's rough edges around the decking, hard edged, exposed hardware, mold, rust, and no modern accessibility features. Next, please. Finally, with this new project, we're going to have a playground that's safe, that's durable, and that's accessible for all ages and all abilities. Yes, please. Here's the project area. Um, and please
32. 8:04this one. Sorry. Yes. Okay. Here's the project area. The design utilizes organic shapes throughout and natural materials to integrate with the wooded setting and it links to a trail through the park's wooded setting. It has a loosely defined border with clear sight lines so it feels open and safe. It will provide shelter from sun and rain and much improved facilities for summer camp. Next, please. Here's a closer look at the playground concept. The plan gives both younger and older kids a range of age appropriate challenges in one connected space to
33. 8:37foster social interaction. It's an engaging, inclusive environment. There are benches for caregivers, a new pavilion, a seasonal bathroom, and extensive new trees and landscaping. And just to be clear, this project isn't just solving a deferred maintenance issue for city government. We're using highquality, sustainable materials that will min minimize future upkeep. We kept the city's maintenance capacity front of mind throughout the design process. For instance, we looked at including a splash pad since the public requested this and cooling features are a wonderful amenity as the planet gets hotter. But water features carry ongoing
34. 9:14maintenance costs that the city couldn't easily absorb. So, we chose more cost-effective alternatives. Next, please. Now, a little more detail on the play elements. Nature play and a sense of outdoor adventure guided the process. Um, wherever possible, we're using materials like black locust, more rock resistant than any treated wood. The major equipment comes from Compan, one of the world's leading playground designers. The Compan Institute has been researching play and childhood development for over 50 years. focusing on risk based fiscal challenge, inclusive design and sustainable materials. Next, please. There'll be a
35. 9:54variety of play structures, scrambles, spilts, uh animals, lily pad steppers, all elements that inspire social emotional interaction and imaginative play. Next, please. And beyond the manufactured equipment were sculpted natural play features, grassy mounds, a willow tunnel, a story circle, and a sensory garden. Next, please. The sensory garden will allow plants to touch and to feel. The garden will be a living learning lab for campers. Next, please. And all the landscaping will feature native pollinator friendly species. Next, of course, there will be swings. Next, please uh
36. 10:38you guys uh so there'll be there'll be uh C types for all ages and for different abilities from toddlers to kids who need extra support. And here's the crucial impact absorbing surface. We're using five bar which unlike mulch knits together to form an impact soft impact absorbing surface but firm enough for wheelchair access on the playground surface. And we'll be salvaging natural timber wherever possible during construction to create seating and um the playground boundary of the seat. Next, this is the new pavilion. This will anchor the re-imagined space and will dramatically increase year- round community use. For those who might not
37. 11:25know this part of the crop, this part of the park, it's a remarkable tranquil spot and it's beautiful all year round. When the trees are bare in winter, you have lake views. So, it's really lovely spot and I think will be used much more often with this new pavilion. And then next, and there'll also be a new bathroom, a huge upgrade. Right now, campers use a port of potting and have no running water. From a health and sanitation perspective, this isn't good. The new structure adds an outdoor sink for handwashing, a water fountain, and a bottle cover. The bathroom was a feature
38. 11:58New York State was particularly glad to see and an important factor in winning the initial grant. So, I'm just back to the concept design again. This is going to be a safe, thoughtfully designed space for the community to gather and for children to grow and a long overdue replacement. We can all be proud of it. And finally, here's the budget. As you'll see, it's not a small budget. We're not cutting corners and we're using high quality materials throughout. The city is contributing just $110,000, less than 9% of the total budget, thanks to generous private funding and public rents. The budget also includes construction management and grant administration. So all the support the city needs is already built in.
39. 12:43Thanks for your time and happy to answer any questions. I did have one. So in the resolution we have um the terms of information. Um who is going to you have the money in here for um your RJ has to be the best that we're looking at moves on to
40. 13:17a professional grant administration firm. We have um the contract hasn't been finalized. Uh we've interviewed one firm who we like very much but we need a second proposal but the the fees for grant administration aren't included in the
41. 13:34grant and all of the treasury no one no one in in the city is going to have to keep track of all the expenditures the filings and so forth.
42. 13:44No it's being amplified by professional grant administers administrators. question.
43. 13:50So, they'll take they'll they'll assemble all of our bills and then submit it to the authorities for reimbursement.
44. 13:59Yes. Yes. Yeah. It's critical for a project like this so that the reimbursements are timely. they'll also be on board early in the process because when those when the documents go out for bid um we have to be certain that the contracts all include you know the any vendor that's awarded it has to acknowledge all of the reporting requirements and commit all the necessary reporting requirements. So the grant administrator has to vet the the bid documents to make sure that all that information is in there properly.
45. 14:40I'm very excited about this project. I want to thank you for the work that you've done on this. Um seeing the renderings very reminiscent of the John Edwards playground that lots of people have great memories on. Um it was safe, it lasted a long time. Um and it was accessible. So, I'm very grateful and I think this is also a perfect example of how private public partnerships can work um from the beginning of the process to now you included community and I remember going to the um workshops at Oakdale and that felt very inclusive.
46. 15:15There were families and there were elected officials um and there were youth staff and youth workers there. So, I just want to commend you. I think this is a great project.
47. 15:24Thank you. Thank you, Peter. This is really great question. A couple questions. So, how many parking spots are going to be could be claimed?
48. 15:33There's uh four parking spots, one handicap spot. uh we feel it's uh you know necessary to have parking there particularly handicapped parking but um you know with the amount of real estate and with its proximity to Oakdale which has a huge amount of mostly unused parking we felt like you know it is it is a short walk to the main parking lot so four parking lots seems sufficient I mean four parking places so I I think though if if the idea A is to walk then
49. 16:08maybe another ADA parking, right? Because obviously someone's not going to walk from the parking lot. So maybe invest in more ADA, you know, two two and two maybe, right? So and it is actually going to be paid for paid parking. They'll be paid. It'll be very much improved over what's there now. Well, yeah, we can look at that because there's there's a handicap space and then there's the what do you call it? space next to the space that's required.
50. 16:37Clearance area. Yeah. So, we could look into having a second handicap space on the other side of the clearance area, right? And what about um obvious, you know, there's going to be a traffic issue and things like what about access to like a crosswalk beacon crosswalk there at that location. um because there's there's limited sidewalk and it's for the walkability because there's a lot of neighbor kids that have needed benefit. So what about any thought on investing in a crosswalk be a crosswalk uh you know there for access to the
51. 17:11park? That's a good point. It's a good point. We'll look at that.
52. 17:16I don't usually have good points but thank you.
53. 17:17You do. Hey Peter, thank you. Um you did a good job and you always do that town. Um my question is is going to be any green energy uses like you know solar panel or something maybe
54. 17:36you know the energy use is going to be so minimal um you know LED lighting in the restroom and and a small tent. Um, we we have considered solar collectors on the roof of the bathroom, but with the shade there wouldn't be great and you know, cutting down trees would not be great to have more sun and the amount of electricity that's honestly going to be used is so very minimal. Um, that the investment in solar energy and and and having to to cut down branches to make it work just didn't seem like a good costbenefit trade-off.
55. 18:13We did look into it. We We're also looking into the possibility of a green roof um for the bathroom, which I think would be nice. Yeah. You know,
56. 18:24Chase, can you
57. 18:25Yeah. Um this restroom, would you picture it to be available similar to the one at the waterfront? So, the time of time of year, amount of daytime, or is there any other
58. 18:36It's going to be seasonal, so it won't be open in the winter.
59. 18:40That's right. similar to what it would be, you know, uh if there's going to be during summer camp or if there's an event there, it would be open. Um, you know, the city doesn't have the capacity to maintain bathrooms 24/7. Unfortunately, I wish we didn't.
60. 18:56I'm not asking 24/7, right? Wanted the waterfront open every day, but sunrise to sunset or something. I I would hope that this would be similar.
61. 19:06Um, I I would hope so, too. I I think it's going to be uh that's going to be a budget, you know, issue with maintaining.
62. 19:16Well, that's I mean that's why we're
63. 19:18Yeah. the water the HPD control that they opened up and we look as a group into I think I think that also opens up a larger topic which is um that the DPW maintains city parks including the waterfront and including that bathroom. But even though Oakdale is a city park, the DPW doesn't maintain it. So this the only maintenance is from the youth department.
64. 19:45So you know we don't the youth department doesn't have staffing on weekends and things like that that the DPW could do.
65. 19:54So it's you know that's that conversation is a larger conversation. Some parts have lots that are like cellier so they you know they have a little chip in it so they're timed so they on and off on a schedule some of the bigger parks
66. 20:13but the idea is you want to make sure it's empty before it gets locked right that's what the water that's why I think HB does the the water but I think the rule is right is it locks when the park closes are that dark right so and it opens when it's light so I mean that's kind of what the schedule probably demand, right? You know, and so I mean there is kind of a scheduleor oriented play because parks being open.
67. 20:40Mhm.
68. 20:40But I I I do agree. I think it's a I remember the one that used to be it doesn't get cleaned. It's not it's not great.
69. 20:49So, you know, it can only be open as much as we can we can appropriately as much as we appropriately staffed. Correct. And I would love that if the city had the capacity to do that, you know, but as I say, that's, you know, that's a a personnel question. It's a budget question, but that comes in if somebody does want to rent it for an event or something and that the cost can be put into for cleaning. Is that fair? Yes, the arrangements could be made.
70. 21:15I just wanted to say I'm sorry um that um it's well overdue for upgrade and thank you so much. I love the concept design. Thank you and everyone who's involved in our work. Thank you. Yeah, I'm going to get rid of some of the hiding spots that I found right when I was little. I can't promise about that.
71. 21:35I mean the bathroom on the side of the bathroom. Does the So the who the bathroom is at all?
72. 21:44Uh the custodian of the main person.
73. 21:47He checks the ports every day.
74. 21:49I'm sorry. Who does? He checks the port. you know, he puts the toilet paper in, he cleans them, you know, he takes care of any accidents. Um, so he would, you know, so he does that now with the quarter body there. He would continue to do it during summer camp, but the capacity to do it, you know, on a larger schedule is not something we can speak to. It's just
75. 22:17any other counties.
76. 22:20I see.
77. 22:21Hang on a second. any other reason. So in terms of the project completion and working through next year for the cash flow, will the city be advancing money that will have to go uh put the city in debt to 110,000? We have an idea how that task force is going to work. Um, yeah. And in fact, in September, Heather, the treasur is going to be submitting two additional resolutions. And Heather, are you online?
78. 22:54No, she's not here.
79. 22:56Oh, okay. Um, I would rather we New City Parks and the mayor's office and the treasure myself have have read about this and and there is a financing strategy that Heather feels good about. Um and then it would be a combination of a fund loan and then bonding next June. um yeah the number
80. 23:21I can't speak to it exactly and frankly I don't know we can ask for next month but I'm not sure she can either because you know uh the budget is the moving target
81. 23:33you know so she would want to borrow as little as possible but not
82. 23:37you know so it's going to depend at at the time it's going to depend I think the resolution is going to be up to a maximum amount but she's hoping not to use the maximum Um but she has a much better handle. Um on the financing I do so for whatever million
83. 23:56the not holding to anything I think unfortunately was supposed to be here this evening but I think she might be
84. 24:07she's unable to attend. Um cuz I'm not really
85. 24:10Yeah, I think you should leave that for discussion with Heather and uh the resolution that we have this evening is focused on um accepting the grants
86. 24:21um which do not have any matching plans associated with them. There's a the grants process has built into it managers which is very very important. Um, so that's I think that conversation can occur when when Heather is available to get into the detail.
87. 24:38Thank you.
88. 24:38Uh, can I is Ronnie online?
89. 24:40Yes, he is.
90. 24:41Yeah. Uh, Ronnie, uh, just can you want to update? Uh, just for the record, Ronnie, can you uh just tell us why you're attending remotely?
91. 24:52Sure. Yeah, I have to work a little bit later today. I was not going to make it.
92. 24:57You had to work a little later.
93. 24:59Okay. obligation. That's fine. Um, so Ronnie, did you have any questions for Peter? Any comments?
94. 25:07Uh, no questions, but thank you, Peter, for all your work. Um, the proposal looks great. I can't wait to see it in person.
95. 25:17Any other questions in the room? Is there any any nouns raised on that? Okay. So, thank you very much. And I just, you know, before I just did want to um acknowledge Katie and Star, you know, everybody is thanking me, but they've been an incredible partner in this that have contributed an enormous amount to this.
96. 25:35So, but I want to make a value adjustment in the agenda. Um before you leave, Peter, um we have we're going to get into our resolutions. Uh the third resolution is authorizing the city to accept the class. So, can you pull that one up? that makes the wage. So we have a motion in a second to vote on the resolution there. Um so this is the
97. 26:20president Morris.
98. 26:22Yes. Council members,
99. 26:24hi
100. 26:25Ernhagen.
101. 26:26Hi
102. 26:27Ro.
103. 26:29Hi
104. 26:33Foster.
105. 26:33Hi
106. 26:34Roberts.
107. 26:35Hi Belton.
108. 26:36I motion carries. Thank you very much.
109. 26:46Thank you. Thank you for your interview. So now
110. 26:52we're going to go back to our regular agenda. Uh so our first resolution um is a uh appointing of commissioner de city. Uh so can I have a motion and a setting for appointing Uh we need a motion second. Um
111. 27:27President Morris, yes.
112. 27:29Council member Hadad.
113. 27:30Hi.
114. 27:31Hagen.
115. 27:32Hi.
116. 27:32Romy.
117. 27:34Hi.
118. 27:36Hi.
119. 27:37Foster.
120. 27:38Hi. Robert. Hi.
121. 27:40Felton.
122. 27:40Hi.
123. 27:42Hi.
124. 27:43President. Hi. Morante.
125. 27:45Hi. Okay. Uh our next resolution is a resolution congratulating the Hudson fire department success. Uh as you saw last week um they won first place for John second place for best appearing at Bravis best appearing with 19 or more appearing in line is marching. Uh so this resolution is just uh congratulating on that success. So may I have a motion motion?
126. 28:21President Morris. Yes.
127. 28:23Council member Hadad.
128. 28:24Hi Arnhagen.
129. 28:26Hi
130. 28:26Ro.
131. 28:27Hi
132. 28:29Star.
133. 28:30Hi
134. 28:31Foster. Hi
135. 28:32Roberts.
136. 28:33Hi.
137. 28:34Hi Bolo.
138. 28:36Hi
139. 28:38Mar.
140. 28:39Hi. Our next resolution is uh authorizing a settlement of article 7 uh proceeding with Steven family we start. Um so if I may have a motion and a second to uh to approve the motion Jason second President Morris. Yes. Council member Hadad.
141. 29:12Hi
142. 29:12Haren.
143. 29:13Hi
144. 29:14Ro.
145. 29:15Hi
146. 29:17Carar.
147. 29:18Hi
148. 29:18Alter.
149. 29:19Hi
150. 29:20Roberts.
151. 29:21Hi
152. 29:21Pelton. Hi
153. 29:23Rolo.
154. 29:24Hi
155. 29:24Cton.
156. 29:25Hi Mare.
157. 29:26Hi.
158. 29:28Um my next resolution is uh authorizing 2026 budget transfer acceptance of increased CBBG uh housing rehab funds. We got the fun shell as an additional 40,000 that can be used to have some additional home. Can I have a motion in the second motion for Jason?
159. 29:56President Norris.
160. 29:57Yes. Council member Hadad.
161. 29:59Hi.
162. 30:00Caragen.
163. 30:01Hi.
164. 30:02Romy.
165. 30:03Hi.
166. 30:05Hi.
167. 30:06Foster. Hi
168. 30:07Roberts.
169. 30:08Hi Felton.
170. 30:09Hi Bolo.
171. 30:11Hi
172. 30:11President Miranda.
173. 30:13Hi.
174. 30:14Motion carried.
175. 30:15Okay. Um our next resolution uh is also a uh settlement um with Ellen Ler. Um again we just found last month. May I have a motion and a second to Jason motion? I start council member.
176. 30:41Hi.
177. 30:43Hi.
178. 30:45Hi.
179. 30:47Hi.
180. 30:48Foster.
181. 30:49Hi.
182. 30:50Roberts.
183. 30:51Hi. Belton.
184. 30:52Hi.
185. 30:53Hi.
186. 30:55Hi.
187. 30:56Mante.
188. 30:56Hi.
189. 30:57Motion carried.
190. 30:59Uh we have a couple of new um resolutions. The first one is a uh budget transfer. Um received this from uh Roaring. Uh this relates to uh I believe it's for stop signs. It is a safety uh issue. Um so this is moving money from branch expense into materials and supplies. So can I have a motion motive in Henry and a role for vote to approve? President Morris.
191. 31:30Yes. Council member had eye.
192. 31:32Hi
193. 31:33Kernhagen.
194. 31:34Hi
195. 31:34Ro.
196. 31:36Hi
197. 31:39Foster.
198. 31:39Hi
199. 31:40Roberts.
200. 31:41Hi Elton.
201. 31:42Hi Bolo.
202. 31:44Hi
203. 31:44Cousin.
204. 31:45Hi Mar.
205. 31:46Hi.
206. 31:47Motion carried. Okay.
207. 31:49Our next is a resolution is is in relation to establishing the charter division commission which we've been discussing some time. We reviewed a version of the law. Last month I made provisions based on feedback. You have all seen your move version. Uh so uh this is a resolution enacting the local law. Um so if I may have a motion and a second
208. 32:12I have a comment before.
209. 32:15Um as I stated previously, I do support charter review. I'm still a little concerned about the appointment structure as it's written. I'm concerned that this draft places too much appointment power in the hands of the common council president for a process this important. Appointments should be a collective decision of the council not concentrated to one person. Um so an amendment that I have been thinking about um would read the seven community members shall be appointed by the common council with at least one representative designated by each ward. No single
210. 32:47officer of the common council shall have sole appointment authority over community members. I'd also like to clarify um what in consultation with the council actually means. Does the council have a meaningful role in approving or selecting these appointments or is the final authority solely with the common council president? I would support language that makes that role explicit rather than leaving it to open interpretation.
211. 33:11Any other comments? Um when will the um appreciating what cla will be released? Uh Once in the event of the council file in both unanimous um I was going to do as you all know I have met with each one of you and reviewed the language of this chart committee and uh following this I was going to go to executive session uh to have that discussion with the council. So that would be part of the problem session which any other comments or questions. When will the public
212. 33:51uh we will be in executive session this evening? Um uh I would assuming the process this evening and we executive session I would post the listing of the commission members tomorrow just a moment. Can we vote on amendment because I happen to be allowed?
213. 34:13Uh we reviewed this in last month. If you want to make a motion to another amendment, you may, but I do not want to go back and revisit this this uh law. Um we put a lot of work into this already and I have consulted with every one of you and I'm planning to have a consultation in the executive session with your council. Sometimes bad magnets happen as a lawyer.
214. 34:38I understand that. I understand that. But the other thing that I want to be very very clear is when I first announced that I wanted the council to have a commission uh I did not solicit people to at the moment. the the in the language for and the comment uh suggests that I personally uh selected who should be on this commission.
215. 35:06So my comment suggests that
216. 35:07yes it did. That is not how this came about. How this came about is that members of the community stepped forward and volunteered to work on this met and discussed talk about what was involved in the work and so forth. Uh and that's how this list of people came about. My comment actually just asks for clarifying language about who has the authority and I feel like we can make it more explicit together with
217. 35:35that's why I proposed the amendments that are proposed because I think we can be more explicit.
218. 35:41So I'm personally not in favor of amending this. Um if any member of the council wishes to put forward a motion to vote on an amendment you may do so. Um, but I am not in that room.
219. 35:55I would make a motion to amend some of the language.
220. 35:59Excuse me.
221. 36:00We don't have an open motion right now.
222. 36:02No, we don't.
223. 36:02That's why.
224. 36:08So, I'm I have a motion on the table now to amend some of the language.
225. 36:17You want second?
226. 36:18I say I'm sectioning.
227. 36:20Yeah. We have all got it again, but I still like to know it. We're going to need to circulate the language and if we're going to amend it, then I'm going to table this for this evening and we will not vote on it and we will receive written suggestions of amendments and that's how this will work. But I'm not going too much time and effort went into drafting this that I am not going to make amendments on the fly that we haven't had time to review.
228. 36:53I think we have had a statement.
229. 36:55Yeah. Starting under and this this is on whether or not the language in this this law needs to go back and be amended.
230. 37:05Do we need to introduce it first before we can do whatever it is?
231. 37:10Yeah, we have to introduce the law. Well, this this law was laid on your desk last week. It has already I don't you don't need to this is this language that is this is leftover language. It's not this is actually a motion to vote on enacting the law.
232. 37:26So what we have now is a motion on the table to revise the language that is in this law. And so um that motion has been seconded by Jenny. And so now we are going to have a vote to say whether or not the language in the law needs to be revised
233. 37:45or you can just re re change your amendment to your motion to amend and table.
234. 37:53Okay. So just a moment because uh Rich has just brought up potentially a separate motion if you want to withdraw your motion which is that we table this and that you then submit whatever revised language you want to. How do you feel about that?
235. 38:09Personally, I would like to enact this and I'd like to move forward with reviewing the charter and start doing the work.
236. 38:15I feel like you would get supportive votes if people could just have clarifying language added to the bill of law. Me and you had a phone for public clarity. I got a poll, wasn't able to take the call. We're supposed to have a followup call. So, I didn't get the information that other council members may have gotten. So, I spent some time with this, read it a couple of different times, and the final time that I read it, this is based on constituent feedback and where, you know, some flags
237. 38:41were raised for me. I'm not against a charter review commission. I think that we can just further clarify where the power lies and, you know, how we're coming up with this um who gets put onto uh the commission. And I want to be clear as to what the council's role is. For the record, I did actually make more than one attempt to read you. So that's fine. That's
238. 39:07neither here. That's not what I'm saying.
239. 39:10The thing is that I don't know exactly the amendments what I would be going out.
240. 39:18Sure. Then I withdraw my motion and I make a motion to table.
241. 39:23Do we have a second? I think.
242. 39:36So, can we have a roll?
243. 39:38President Morris.
244. 39:39No.
245. 39:41Council member Hadad.
246. 39:43No.
247. 39:44Council member Perhagen.
248. 39:46Hi.
249. 39:48Council member Rooney.
250. 39:49Yes.
251. 39:55You're muted. Romney.
252. 40:00Hi.
253. 40:02I'm sorry.
254. 40:05Hi.
255. 40:07Hi.
256. 40:08Table Foster.
257. 40:12No.
258. 40:15Robert.
259. 40:16I No. So those are the motion cards we are taking. Our next
260. 40:42Okay, next one is updating these schedules. Um so the brief word on this far so we reviewed this couple months uh couple of changes uh the only change of the schedule to DPW related to a caller fee um which is currently of $1,000. And last year when we were reviewing this we that we mistakenly were looking at that as bee associated with having a dumpster um at the property. But actually uh the equation of DPW is the fee that the following companies the various private garbage companies pay
261. 41:34the city per year to come into. It's currently a thousand a year. That's why it's an annual fee and uh proper suggested that should remain the same. So since that the only people that were in pre-change that's remain system uh most of the changes um most of these schedule as we've seen before are in um old enforcement and in reviewing this the probably the one that I just want to brought to your attention that's different relates to the uh building uh we had proposed increasing those
262. 42:10rates and then you know on reflection. Uh Nick wanted to simplify this so that currently the minimum is 5250 for up to $1,000 job and then increments of up to uh 50,000 up to 100,000 and so forth. It's 1050 per,000 787 per,000 525 but very kind of complex to go through the whole of America. And so his suggestion comes out, depending on the size of the job, it's not that different in terms of the old dogs. Most of the jobs are going to be in the lower ranges. Uh just make it $60 minimum or
263. 42:52up to $1,000 job and then $10 per $1,000 for larger projects. So that was the main thing that was changed there. Um the other thing was to remove the um renewal fee for the plumbers and he is looking at establishing um a definition of the rousing plumber of basically any plumber in county. So there would not be many people subsidy anyone have any further questions on that. Okay. So can start. Oh yes, sorry. Can we have a motion and a second to vote on the piece? Motion from Henry,
264. 43:39second for Rich.
265. 43:43President Morris.
266. 43:44Yes.
267. 43:45Council member Hadihagen.
268. 43:48Hi.
269. 43:48Hi.
270. 43:51Sar.
271. 43:52Hi Foster.
272. 43:53Hi Roberts.
273. 43:54Hi Felton. Hi Bolo.
274. 43:58Hi Cousin. I
275. 43:59Morante I motion carried for our next uh defer this one over to Gary in a second. Uh last night the public works board uh met and reviewed bids from various contractors for side work improvements projects and selected a uh contractor. The reason I brought this forward tonight prefer not to bring things at the last minute that is time sensitive given that sidewall work is seasonal. Um so uh Gary can answer any question that you have the resolution itself. It details very clearly exactly what the bids were, what decision making was and what um particular uh sidewalk
276. 44:41activity is proposed to be. Bar questions Jason just a quick um just to understand how a lot of ramps include this lean or does it just stretch?
277. 44:55No, this time around it's now uh parcels of sidewalk. Um we've pretty much satisfied um the guidance from the DOJ which really focused on the ramps particularly uh at the uh within the arteries to and from municipal buildings. So, we're continuing that focus and so we uh initially identified eight sidewalk parcels um but because of budget um issues primarily and there's also a technical issue that we want some time on um we reduced it down to six. So, this is well within our budget. It allows us also to pay back $50,000 to the general loan uh that we uh initially
278. 45:43received and also leave enough money for incidentals project management and the oneoff project that we may want to jump on.
279. 45:52They mostly completely dry camera demo and replay
280. 45:59that street one you know I'm sorry
281. 46:01the Columbia Street. Yeah,
282. 46:04you know it's going to be work on Columbia Street. So, what do you think?
283. 46:08We work very closely with Rob Perry and DPW. So, if we're doing work on Colombia, it's because we know that it's it's okay with them. We've put off a lot of work in Colombia because of the upcoming.
284. 46:26Yeah,
285. 46:27it's not Colombia.
286. 46:29Okay. It's all between It's all on Fifth and Sixth Street. All
287. 46:35most of it north of one.
288. 46:39Any other questions?
289. 46:41Any questions from anybody?
290. 46:47Oh, okay. Go ahead.
291. 46:49I'm just wondering, are you allowing comments or questions on any of the resol?
292. 46:53I'm sorry. Can you speak?
293. 46:54Are you allowing questions or comments on any of the new resolutions or just on this? Well, right now we're discussing the sidewalk resolution.
294. 47:02Yeah. You you didn't allow comment on the last one.
295. 47:06Well, did we table the last one? We were we didn't get we didn't actually bring that motion. You talking about in char?
296. 47:13Yeah. So, we didn't bring it forward, but we can come back for that. We didn't bring it forward. We decided to table it. So, it will be coming up again in a future council meeting. So, since it was table, there's not really much to discuss. If there's a time I'd be happy to
297. 47:29I'm sorry I'm reading from under your consideration.
298. 47:35Yes, by all means.
299. 47:37Uh sorry,
300. 47:38you do have one online. I don't know if it's from a previous resolution or not, but from Ronald.
301. 47:44Um Ronald, is this about the sidewalks?
302. 47:50Actually, I also wanted to make a comment about the general process of charter revision. We can come back to that. Right now, I would like to um uh consider the resolution that is currently before us which relates to um the contract work for the sidewalk improvement district project.
303. 48:10Right. That's fine. I just wanted to have my hand raised.
304. 48:13Okay. Okay. That's fine. So, we did we already had a motion, right?
305. 48:18We have a motion for the sidewalks for a second. Jason
306. 48:29just a silly little president Morris.
307. 48:36Yes.
308. 48:37Council member Hadad.
309. 48:38Hi.
310. 48:40Hi
311. 48:41Romy.
312. 48:42Hi.
313. 48:45Hi
314. 48:46Foster. Hi
315. 48:47Roberts.
316. 48:48Hi Felton.
317. 48:49Hi Bolo. Hi
318. 48:54Morante.
319. 48:55Gary again. Good work on this process. I
320. 49:02uh so now I'm going to go back and invite members of the public to comment on the charter.
321. 49:11You in the room you had a you want to comment?
322. 49:15And I'll probably turn this off but if you can speak up that would be very helpful.
323. 49:19Yes. So I'll do my best. Um, I appreciate all the work that Sorry. Can you You could come here. Yeah. Introduce yourself. Yeah.
324. 49:27My name is Kaia Weidman. I'm a resident of the fifth board. Okay. Claire, I've expressed concerns to um my representative in the fifth board and I hope to speak with you as well, Dominic, in reviewing this. I appreciate the the effort that's gone into um creating the conditions for a charter reform commission. Um, and I have concerns about um the having the council president role be the sole decider of who is on that commission. If you look at neighboring um cities and towns that have done something similar like Kingston, they actually did um a a sort
325. 50:07of randomized selection process that was a fair and neutral way to select the people on the commission. There's many examples of how this was done. There's very few examples where they assign all of the authority to one singular individual in the city. And this is nothing against Council President Morris, but this is about setting a precedent for putting all of the power into one one role. And this is a historic generational change you're looking at. We haven't been able to change the charter in a very long time.
326. 50:39And so there's a lot of work that's gone into it, but there's a lot of consideration and care and thoughtfulness that needs to go into who is on this commission and how they are selected and how they are truly representative of our communities. And I think it was the right thing to table it and put that amending language in that Claire proposed. And we encourage you to think about true and fair representation and why would you give up your votes as council members who represent your
327. 51:06constituents and hand that all over to one role. And it's not about individual people. It's about the structure of setting precedents for how power works in the city. So I urge you to make that amendment and comb through it carefully. When I read it, I was very concerned and I expressed my concern to my representative and I would like to express that to all of you. Thank you. Thank you.
328. 51:26Thank you.
329. 51:27Uh any other comments in the room?
330. 51:30Uh yes, go ahead.
331. 51:36So it's very interesting. So this is an opportunity and I think as part of this I think it would be helpful to for the council to decide what kind of a city we want to be. We want to be a city that encourages one another to be good neighbors and help each other. Or is there some way that you know we can include that kind of language into you know the chart itself to bring that tone about or do we want to just you know is
332. 52:06the contrast about just you know the neighborly you know philosophic do we want to be the friendly city or do we want to pretend the land owners the property owners I mean we want to sprint you know enforcement don't not allow to just within the range of the gamut of different, you know, ways the city can actually operate in the charter. You you might want to give some thought what the charter committee might want to give some thought to, you know, really what kind of city we you want to engender.
333. 52:38That's all I have to say.
334. 52:39Thank you. Uh I think Ronald have a comment.
335. 52:43Yeah, I'll go ahead.
336. 52:45Yes. Thank you. Before this uh procedure moves forward, I think it would be useful to have a sense from both the council members and also members of the public of how sweeping a change to the charter uh they think the city might need. I mean, this runs a gamut from correcting, say, obvious errors and anacronisms of the charter to something as farreaching as last year's proposal to bring on a city manager form of government and reduce the number of council members. And some of the changes which might be felt to be necessary may not even require a
337. 53:24fullscale full-blown charter revision commission. So before the procedure moves forward and before a local law is passed, I think again it would be useful to hear get a sense of what council members think, how they feel about this and also had to have a public hearing to give a sense or at least testimony at a council meeting to get a sense of what the public feels.
338. 53:51Matt, sorry, Matt McGee would also like to say something. Thank you. Uh yes. Uh this is Matt McGee. Uh I
339. 54:02Sorry, Matt. Can you get Ruth to
340. 54:05Yes. I'm hoping that the uh council will vet people who are chosen. And I think that is what's going to happen. And I hope that the public will be able to speak on the vetting as well. And I think that that is really in we have a republican form of government and we do want our representatives representing us and I think that also the public has to be involved but I don't think it should be a lottery or anything like that. Thank you.
341. 54:46Thank you. Any other contrast? No. Okay. Any other comments from the room on this topic? Okay. I think so.
342. 54:57I mean, one of the things for that I would like to see the fire reform commission do is the only issue that we had last year budget process was that the uh council was given the budget but we were not as we weren't able to actually amend that budget. We were given like a yay or nay and then that was it. But even then it was even debatable whether or not we even had any sort of hey we don't have like we don't have we don't have them we don't but even if we have yay or nay then what um does it go back to the bea process does
343. 55:30it come back to us all of that is unclear within the charter process so you know that's something that has to be worked out uh that's one thing that I would like to see and I think that people have to realize like there's a lot of administrative like legal stuff that's in charter reform that really has to be worked through. It's um you know that's just one thing that I would like to see address
344. 55:57and that certainly one of my priorities.
345. 55:59Yeah.
346. 55:59Uh any other council members want to comment before we move on to uh I don't have any old business. Do we have any new business?
347. 56:07I think there is some old business.
348. 56:09Oh, sorry. Well, we had asked um Is that our informal we had asked for some things to be?
349. 56:20Yeah. We asked for some advice and uh a reflection and advice on military.
350. 56:27Yes. Um he is unable to join us this evening and so do an attorney flying session with us. Um, I have also linked that to the attorney who did represent him in this lawsuit and uh I'm trying to get him to agree to council on he also was unable to
351. 56:50we're likely to not do anything further with this until
352. 56:56I think we need to wait until we get and I have the authority who is representing us in the case um I would like to as well because um is not involved in whereas uh Mr. Ryan's company is actually representing us. So as as I think council should hear from him and reservations to bring him uh but you know unfortunately
353. 57:27could we ask for a special meeting prior to next inform just in case we can work something out
354. 57:36I think that's fine
355. 57:37maybe two weeks from today
356. 57:38I gave them the dates of our next meeting
357. 57:41um and he had he had something else this evening. So I can connect with him again tomorrow and see if there's some date that that he could do just a remote conference call with us. Um
358. 57:53or even maybe before one of the
359. 57:57committee meetings the next two weeks.
360. 57:59Yeah, that would work. Yeah. Um and you have anything else?
361. 58:03Yeah. Sorry. Thank you for reminding me. I didn't follow up. I just wanted to get done.
362. 58:10Sorry.
363. 58:10I have a comment.
364. 58:11Yeah. on this topic.
365. 58:12No,
366. 58:13let's finish out this topic first.
367. 58:15Um Lloyd, do you have your
368. 58:16handic the No, Frank is not Peter is not here anymore. So that's from now. Um okay, if we're done with this topic, is there any other old business that I have missed? Okay, new business. Sarah, do you have something?
369. 58:40Just a comment. Um, I wanted to acknowledge all the young people in the room. I feel like uh this is probably the most that we've seen in a while. Um, I enjoy participating in Youth Government Day, but I'm curious to see if there could be a follow-up event where we get to hear some of the questions that the young people might have after some of these meetings. Um, I'd love to answer some and maybe more council members could participate in that conversation this go around. I
370. 59:08would love to.
371. 59:09It' be great.
372. 59:10Yeah.
373. 59:13Any other new business?
374. 59:15Do we have a motion to return? Motion. Second from the uh either motion or second, please sign. Thank you all very much. Thank you. Thank you.

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