Common Council Caucus & Regular Meeting

MINUTES OF A REGULAR MEETING MONDAY, NOVEMBER 2, 2020 The Common Council was convened at 7:00p.m. and was called to order by President Ellis. This meeting was held following Governor Cuomo’s executive order 202.1 and it live streamed on Facebook using Zoom as the meeting platform. If we experience any technical difficulties on Facebook, the video will be streamed to YouTube. The roll being called, the following answered to their names: Anane, Balarin, Conti, Fahey, Farrell, Flynn, Frederick, Hoey, Igoe, Johnson, Kimbrough, Love, O’Brien, Robinson and President Ellis. Also present was the following staff: Danielle Gillespie, John-Raphael Pichardo, Brett Williams, and Michele Andre. Council President Ellis led the Pledge of Allegiance. PUBLIC HEARINGS The Clerk read the title of the ordinance for the public hearing: City of Albany 2021 Proposed Budget 1) Marlon Anderson, 214 Lark Street, Albany, NY 12210 There being no further members of the public wishing to speak, President Ellis declared the public hearing on City of Albany 2021 Proposed Budget closed PUBLIC COMMENT PERIOD 1) Marlon Anderson, 214 Lark Street, Albany, NY 12210 (Violence in the City) There being no further speakers, the President declared the Public Comment Period closed. Approval of Minutes President Pro Tem Kimbrough made a motion to approve the minutes of October 19, 2020 meeting of the Council, which was duly seconded, and APPROVED by unanimous voice vote. CONSIDERATION OF LOCAL LAWS: Council Member Farrell on the behalf of Finance, Assessment and Taxation move to amend Local Law K of 2020 as follows, which was held for further consideration: LOCAL LAW K OF 2020 (As Amended 11/02/2020) A LOCAL LAW AMENDING CHAPTER 313 (SOLID WASTE) OF PART II OF THE CODE OF THE CITY OF ALBANY IN RELATION TO BILLING OF THE FEE FOR CURBSIDE COLLECTION OF WASTE BE IT ENACTED by the Common Council of the City of Albany as follows: Section 1. Subsections C, D, E, and G of section 313-3 (Scope) of Article I (Removal of Garbage) of Chapter 313 (Solid Waste) of the Code of the City of Albany are hereby amended to read as follows: § 313-3 Scope C. Bills for curbside collection program fees. Bills for curbside collection program fees shall be prepared and sent to each owner annually[, starting February 1 of each calendar year; provided, however, that for calendar year 2017 and thereafter, bills may be prepared and sent to each owner in the same manner as water and sewer charges are now billed, distributed and collected]. Such bill shall be included with the property tax bill sent to each property owner in January, whenever feasible. D. Penalties for nonpayment.[ After three months of nonpayment, a property owner who fails to pay charges that have been established and imposed for the curbside collection program, a penalty of $50 per unit will be added to the base curbside collection fee] The penalty for late or non-payment of curbside collection program fees in the City of Albany shall be: 4% in the first month or fraction thereof, for any amount of the curbside collection program fee that is not timely received by the City Treasurer, in whole or in part. After the first month of late payment, the penalty shall be an additional 1% in each succeeding month or fraction thereof. E. Exemption from curbside collection program. Property owners are eligible for and may apply for an exemption from curbside collection fees as follows:  (4) If the property is owned and occupied by a person who, because of age or disability [is] qualified for an exemption from City real property taxes based on an enhanced STAR exemption or low-income exemption at any time during the preceding year, such qualification shall constitute an automatic exemption under this subsection; G. All curbside collection program charges, and penalties and interest thereon shall be a lien upon the real property [benefited by the] for which any curbside collection program charge or penalty was not paid, from the date that the fee is due and payable, and such lien shall be prior and superior to every other lien or claim, except the lien of an existing tax or local assessment. The Treasurer shall certify to the Common Council the amount of any such lien which has not been paid at the time and in the manner prescribed, with a description of the real property affected thereby, and the Common Council shall include such amount in the annual tax levy and shall levy the same upon the property in default. Section 2. This local law shall take effect upon public hearing, final passage, and filing with the Secretary of State; provided, however, that the amendments made by this Local Law shall not affect the expiration of, and shall expire at the same time and manner as provided in section 5 of Local Law No. 1-2016 as amended by Local No. 5-2019. President Pro Tem Kimbrough held the remaining Local Laws on the pending agenda. REPORTS OF STANDING COMMITTEES: Finance, Assessment and Taxation: Council Member Farrell reported that the committee met on this evening to review Local Law K of 2020 and Resolution 90.102.20R. The legislation was moved out of committee with a positive recommendation. Committee has upcoming meeting to review the budget and bond ordinances. Public Safety: President Pro Temp reported that the committee will meet on November 5, 2020 to review police reforms legislations (Local H of 2020, Local Law I of 2020, Local Law J of 2020). Humans Resources and Human Rights: Council member Robinson reported that the committee will meet on November 18, 2020 5:30PM to review Ordinance 24.101.20 that increases the requirement that Contractors throughout the project strive to increase to 25% utilization of Minority and Women Labor hours. CONSIDERATION OF ORDINANCES President Pro Tem Kimbrough held the remaining Ordinances on the pending agenda. CONSIDERATION OF RESOLUTIONS Council Member Kimbrough with the Support of President Ellis noticed Resolution 102.111.20R as follows, which was held for further consideration: RESOLUTION NUMBER 102.111.20R A RESOLUTION HONORING THE LIFE AND LEGACY OF EDWIN H. SPERBER AND NAMING A PORTION OF ERIE BOULEVARD AS “EDWIN H. SPERBER WAY” WHEREAS, Edwin H. Sperber, the ubiquitous Albany business presence behind Huck Finn’s Warehouse and other ventures, was also a quietly effective philanthropist who advocated for kidney donations after giving one of his own to his daughter. He was, in his 98 years, more than just a force; and WHEREAS, “He was the force," said his son, Jeffrey. "He impacted so many people, but nobody ever knew he was doing it. . . . He liked helping people that needed it out of the limelight.”; and WHEREAS, the longtime businessman and benefactor died Sunday, July 5, 2020, at age 98 in his Albany home, surrounded by family, after suffering a fall and subsequent decline.; and WHEREAS, Sperber’s life spanned decades and dozens of businesses, both in the Capital Region and beyond. His first, in the 1950s, was the Lansing Brothers china and glass store, which he and his wife, Rhoda, ultimately purchased and developed into a bridal registry shop — one of the first anywhere. In 1963, he and his brother Bob opened the Huck Finn Pottery Store on Western Avenue, naming it with a Mark Twain allusion because the Tom Sawyer Motel stood next door; and WHEREAS, over the years Sperber opened another 25 shops in New York, New Jersey, Massachusetts, and Connecticut, but Huck Finn’s furniture store remained a Capital Region icon — eventually moving into a warehouse on Erie Boulevard with Huck himself, barefoot and straw- hatted, gazing down at visitors; and WHEREAS, the son of Samuel and Elizabeth Sperber, the man known as “Mr. Downtown” served in the army during World War II and made his life with Rhoda, whom he married in 1946; she died in 2005. They had two sons, Jeffrey and Reid, and a daughter, Barbara — who received her father’s kidney in Boston, Jeffrey said, well before the procedure had been attempted in Albany. By 1970, his parents had chartered what is now known as the Northeast Kidney Foundation. The foundation says it was started in 1974 thanks to a philanthropic gift from the Sperbers; and WHEREAS, “This experience taught me the great importance of providing support services to patients and family members living with this illness,” he wrote in a letter to the Times Union. “That is why we founded the local organization.”; and WHEREAS, although news outlets covered his work with the foundation, Sperber never trumpeted his philanthropy. That wasn’t in his nature, his son said. “It sounds funny, but it took his passing for me to have the opportunity to tell the rest of the community about how wonderful he was. . . He would be very humbled by getting the attention and tribute,” Jeffrey Sperber said; and  WHEREAS, from his start as a shop owner, Ed Sperber was active in the city’s business community. After the Harriman state office campus was constructed in the 1960s, sucking workers away from city retailers, he lobbied Mayor Erastus Corning for ways to aid local businesses. ‘That’s how he became ‘Mr. Downtown,’” Jeffrey Sperber said. “He went to the mayor and said, ‘Look at all the businesses that are gonna die down here, and you’re gonna have a big cavity.’”; and WHEREAS, in response, Corning tapped Sperber to assemble and chair a team of businesspeople — “He said, ‘I like your grit’” — and cook up ways to encourage downtown shopping, efforts that included shuttle services and construction of parking garages. Sperber later became involved with the development of the Empire State Plaza; he also served on an abundance of boards, including the Retail Council of New York State, the Albany Parking Authority, and various health and human service organizations; and WHEREAS, five years ago, Huck Finn’s evolved once more as Sperber's sons acquired the old Hoffman’s Playland and moved its amusement-park rides next to the Warehouse on Erie Boulevard. “Mr. Downtown” was then 93 and still heading into the office for an hour or two each day, Jeffrey recalled. “He said, ‘You know, I could never be prouder of you guys. Not only do you have the business acumen but the heart, and you know, the commitment to the community that I tried to live by my whole life.’”; and WHEREAS, after it opened, Sperber headed down each night to get a cone and watch children on the rides. He felt good, his son said, about the “Huck Finn family, as he liked to call it.”; and WHEREAS, Sperber is survived by his children Jeffrey and his wife, Charlotte; Barbara and her husband, Jim Wittorff; Reid and his wife, Susan — plus ten grandchildren, five great- grandchildren and Sperber’s companion of 15 years, Florence Speigel. “Together they made the age of 90 look like 50,” says the obituary provided by Levine Memorial Chapel, which is handling funeral arrangements; and WHEREAS, services and interment at Beth Emeth Cemetery in Loudonville will be private; contributions may be made in his memory to the Northeast Kidney Foundation, 22 Colvin Ave., Albany, NY. 12206. Messages for the family may be posted at levinememorialchapel.com; and WHEREAS, “He just had a really good moral compass. . . . You know, it was just in his blood to be a giver,” said Jeffrey Sperber, reflecting on his father’s contributions. These days, people think of business as “just all about earning money. And he really did go into business to try to earn a living for his family. But once he got into it, he had a greater calling.”; and WHEREAS, after all his hard work and all it brought him, Sperber remained grateful — and determined to keep looking for opportunities to help. “You know the expression ‘pay it forward’?” his son asked. “He was doing that 40 years before anyone said that.”; NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, that the Common Council of the City of Albany recognizes Edwin H. Sperber’s life and contribution to the City of Albany; and BE IT FURTHER, RESOLVED, that Erie Boulevard at the corner of North Ferry Street shall be named “Edwin H. Sperber Way”. President Pro Tem Kimbrough referred Resolution 102.111.20R to the Council Operations and Ethics Committee for further consideration. Council Member Farrell on the behalf of Finance, Assessment and Taxation Committee noticed Resolution 103.111.20R as follows, which was held for further consideration: RESOLUTION NUMBER 103.111.20R A RESOLUTION OF THE COMMON COUNCIL CONSENTING TO THE CREATION OF FIVE FULL TIME POSITIONS, WHICH WILL AFFECT SALARY TOTALS FOR THE 2020 BUDGET (HOUSING AND COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT) WHEREAS, section 603(D)(b) of the Charter of the City of Albany dictates that any transfer of budgeted funds that affects a salary rate or salary total that occurs outside of those described in the duly adopted budget requires the approval of the Common Council; and WHEREAS, the Office of Housing and Community Development has requested the creation of five positions, as follows: Title Salary Budget Line Program Director $55,000 6410.7000 Program Manager $52,000 6410.7000 Risk Assessor (2) $46,900 (each) 6410.7000 Rehab Specialist II $43,865 6410.7000 ; and WHEREAS, the positions will be funded by an Office of Lead Hazard Control and Healthy Homes Fiscal Year 2020 – Lead Based Paint Hazard Reduction Grant from the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development; NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, that the Common Council of the City of Albany consents to the transfer of funds affecting salary totals due to the creation of five grant- funded positions in the Office of Housing and Community Development for the 2020 budget year. President Pro Tem Kimbrough referred Resolution 103.111.20R to the Finance, Assessment and Taxation Committee for further consideration. Council Member Farrell on the behalf of Finance, Assessment and Taxation Committee noticed Resolution 90.102.20R (A RESOLUTION OF THE COMMON COUNCIL CONSENTING TO THE ELIMINATION OF ONE FULL TIME POSITION AND THE CREATION OF ANOTHER, WHICH WILL AFFECT A SALARY TOTAL FOR THE 2020 BUDGET (OFFICE OF THE TREASURER)) as follows, asked passage and a roll call vote thereon: There being no further discussion, President Ellis called for a roll call vote thereon and the motion was ADOPTED: The motion passed by the following vote of all Council Members present voting in favor thereof: Affirmative – Anane, Balarin, Conti, Doesschate, Fahey, Farrell, Flynn, Frederick, Hoey, Igoe, Johnson, Kimbrough, Love, O’Brien, and Robinson Affirmative 15 Negative 0 Abstain 0 President Pro Tem Kimbrough held the pending Resolution on the agenda for further consideration. ADJOURNMENT There being no further business, President Pro Tem Kimbrough made a motion to adjourn, which was duly seconded and adopted by unanimous voice vote. President Ellis declared the meeting adjourned at approximately 7:17pm. MICHELE ANDRE Senior Legislative Aide to the Council