Finance Committee

FINANCE Tuesday, July 8, 2025 – 6:35 p.m. Council Chambers – Olean Municipal Building Present: Members: Chairman McCall, Vice Chairman Crawford, Alderman Bennion, Alderman Robinson, and Alderman Anastasia. Others: Mayor William Aiello; Frank Caputo, City Clerk; Lens Martial, City Auditor; Bridget Marshall, City Attorney; James Sprague, Director of Public Works; Capt. Dave Bauer, Code Enforcement Supervisor, and Tiffany Taylor, Managerial Confidential Administrative Secretary. 1. Roll Call Alderman McCall called the meeting to order at 6:35 p.m. and asked that the record show that all committee members were present except Alderman Forney, who was excused, and explained ward 2 is vacant. 2. Approval of the Minutes of the Previous Committee Meetings (Tuesday, June 24, 2025) A motion to approve the minutes of the June 24, 2025 committee meeting was made by Alderman McCall, seconded by Alderman Anastasia. Voice vote, ayes all. Motion carried. 3. Unfinished Business a. Monthly / Yearly Fees for Food Trucks Mr. Caputo explained he put together a summary with the knowledge he has found. He explained we currently have a $20 per day fee, and vendors usually come in the morning when they want a permit. He explained he recommends a 30 day permit for $250, and a six month option for April through September for $1,250. He explained there are some clarifications regarding parking that should be addressed as well, for example a three space limit and not parking the food truck in its location overnight. Alderman Bennion asked why we don’t offer a one year permit, and Mr. Caputo explained we could do that as well. He explained he did research from other municipalities and feels the prices he is proposing are fair given they include the cost of parking as well. He explained he feels the businesses can pay $250 a month and still make money. Alderman Crawford explained he likes the idea of making it simple, such as $20 a day, $250 a month, $1,250 for six months and $2,000 for a year. He explained this would allow the food truck to open in that time period whenever they wanted to, and he is comfortable moving forward with these cost savings for longer-term options. Alderman Robinson asked about weekend events and having a weekend rate for Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, and Mr. Caputo explained right now a food truck is able to come in and pay for the entire weekend if they choose for $60. Alderman McCall asked what the average number of days a food truck asks for is, and Mr. Caputo explained they generally come in for two weekend days at a time. Alderman McCall explained she would like to see no food trucks on the first or second block of North Union Street unless there is a special event like StrOlean and the food truck has permission. She explained there are a lot of businesses on the 100 and 200 blocks and the parking should be open for customers. Mr. Caputo explained we can include those restrictions. He explained right now we notify food trucks they cannot operate on South Street. Alderman McCall asked what the thoughts are about North Union Street and Mayor Aiello explained we may want to prohibit the food trucks from State Street to the railroad tracks. He explained the only place within there they might park is at JCC and we can work it into the language that they can still park in that area with special permission r for special events. Alderman Crawford explained he is fine with this. Alderman McCall explained they should not be able to operate after 10:00 p.m. without special permission, either. 4. New Referrals for Consideration a. Portable Toilet Contracts Mayor Aiello explained we went out to bid and received two responses. He explained the lowest bid was for three units for $675 per month, with an additional cost of $225 per month if we put a unit in Gargoyle Park. He explained we did the bid late in the season so this money was not included in the budget, so we will need to find the money or take it from contingency. He explained the three units are for Franchot Park, King Street Park, and Boardman Park, and there was one requested at Gargoyle Park due to the disc golf and a lot of people being down there. Alderman McCall asked if we opened restrooms at Gargoyle last year and Mayor Aiello explained we only did when disc golf was there for leagues or tournaments. Alderman McCall explained the monthly cost would be $900 per month including Gargoyle, and Mayor Aiello explained this would be for half of July, August, and September. Alderman Bennion noted in this type of business a month is usually considered 28 days so we should check into that. Alderman Crawford asked if the Mayor has been getting inquiries about this and Mayor Aiello replied he has not. Alderman McCall explained she has talked to people letting them know we wanted the portable toilets to be handicapped accessible this year so they would be available for everyone. She asked Mayor Aiello to send the other bid to the Council for review as well. She explained she would support making this happen whether we use contingency or another line and explained it should be built into the next budget for children and families going to parks where there are currently no bathrooms. Alderman Robinson explained at the end of the season we should consider doing handicapped accessible bathrooms in the parks, whether we do one park a year or all parks at once as a capital project. Alderman Bennion explained there are units that are far more cost-effective, hard shelled units that are plumed into a holding tank or straight into a line. He explained there are really affordable options that can get the job done and are handicapped accessible, that last for years. Alderman McCall explained she is not looking for the Taj Mahal of bathrooms, but moving forward she is looking for functionality where things will not get broken into and if we need to, we can use a hose to wash them out. Alderman Anastasia explained this money is not in the budget and he is not getting calls with requests or complaints, and he has never had a request from a constituent asking for a bathroom in a park. He explained he doesn’t think we can afford to be building bathrooms in parks, especially this year with the tough budget. He explained he doesn’t know how we can consider doing this. He explained when he grew up, they didn’t worry about bathrooms in parks. HE explained we can’t baby people this much and explained he feels this is a total waste of money. He explained this is a lot of money when we paid only $750 last year for the entire summer. Alderman Bennion noted he provided portable toilets last summer that were not handicapped accessible for $750 for the summer, and he lost money doing that. He explained if they were damaged he had to fix them himself since he cannot take more than $750 a year for this service from the City since he’s an Alderman. He explained he can’t provide handicapped accessible portable toilets for $750 for the summer without losing a lot of money. Alderman Anastasia asks who pays for the damages if a portable toilet is damaged while it is being rented. Alderman Bennion explained it would be the City’s responsibility to pay for the damages. Alderman Crawford explained the Council needs to give Mayor Aiello direction so he can determine if we need to transfer funds to move forward with the contract. Alderman McCall explained there was concern about the bathrooms at Franchot being used since it was used for storage, and she explained an option is to move what is being stored and open up those restrooms to save money. Mayor Aiello explained the issue with Franchot is not that it is used for storage but rather there is a big room you walk into before you walk into the two separate restrooms, and this is a big safety issue. Alderman McCall explained she thinks it is a disservice to not have restrooms in parks and Alderman Robinson agreed. He explained he feels the restrooms should be there. Alderman McCall asked Mayor Aiello to put together a PL to transfer the funds for this contract. b. Capital Funds Mr. Martial explained Capital Fund #029, CHIPS, has a negative balance of ($9,663.69) since we did not receive all of the reimbursements last year. He explained Capital Fund #102, Vehicle Replacement Fund, has a balance of $10,766.90 and Capital Fund #103, Police Equipment Replacement, has a balance of $46,504.25. He explained Capital Fund #118, Ambulance Reserve, has a balance of $126,835.42 and explained we increased the contribution to this fund from 8.5% of ambulance revenues to 12% of ambulance revenues last year. Alderman McCall explained there has been discussion to rename this fund and Mr. Martial explained this will be voted on during the regular meeting later in the evening. Mr. Martial explained Capital Fund #119 is the OATS Reserve and the balance of $330,054.05 will be going to Allegany County since they took over the service. He explained Capital Fund #132, Parking Lot Maintenance, has a balance of $39,334.20 and nothing has been used out of this account since he started. Alderman McCall explained a lot of the City’s parking lots are in disrepair so we should look into using this fund. Mr. Martial noted we will be using some of this money to remove meters if we go to QR code parking. Mr. Martial explained Capital Fund #146, Airport Master Plan, has a negative balance of ($112,307.70) and we are waiting for reimbursements from the State and FAA, as well as the County portion of airport projects. Alderman McCall asked if these reimbursements will make the account whole and Mr. Martial explained it will. Mr. Martial explained Capital Fund #150, Sidewalk Improvements, has a balance of $30,283.34 and is for repairing and replacing sidewalks when a complaint is received. He noted the Capital Fund for the Sidewalk Program is Capital Fund #226. Mr. Martial explained Capital Fund #165, the Louis Magnano Fund, has a balance of $130,762.87. Alderman Bennion asked if this is the account that will fund the shade sails for Franchot and Mayor Aiello explained it is. Mr. Martial explained Capital Fund #180, IT Upgrade, has a balance of $91.54. Alderman Bennion asked why it says no Council Resolution/PL, and Mr. Martial explained most funds were opened with a Council PL and Resolution but some were opened without them prior to his time. Alderman Bennion asked if this means those Capital Funds can be dissolved, and Alderman McCall explained she feels there is merit having this account. Alderman McCall asked if the Council can get a list of Capital Funds created without resolutions. Ms. Marshall explained the Council should do a Resolution to formally establish these funds. Mr. Martial explained we have received calls about the Sidewalk Program and explained there is $26,000 in that fund. Alderman McCall explained we should use this funding and explained it is a great program that she tells people about. Alderman Bennion asked if it was discussed last year opening this to commercial businesses rather than just owner occupied properties, and Alderman Crawford explained it was discussed opening this up for rentals. Alderman McCall explained she would be in agreement with this, and Alderman Crawford explained he believes many of those who were interested who have an owner-occupied home replaced their sidewalks earlier in the program. Alderman Bennion explained we should also consider raising the maximum to $1,500 from $1,000 with rising costs, and Alderman McCall explained that would be fair. 5. Committee Reports None 6. Adjournment A motion to adjourn was made by Alderman McCall, seconded by Alderman Crawford. Voice vote, ayes all. Motion carried. Meeting adjourned at approximately 7:20 p.m.