Finance Committee

FINANCE Tuesday, October 7, 2025 – 6:10 p.m. Council Chambers – Olean Municipal Building Present: Members: Chairman McCall, Vice Chairman Crawford, Alderman Bennion, Alderman Keary, Alderman Forney, Alderman Robinson, and Alderman Anastasia. Others: Lens Martial, City Auditor; Brad Camp, Water and Sewer Superintendent, and Tiffany Taylor, Managerial Confidential Administrative Secretary. 1. Roll Call Alderman McCall called the meeting to order and asked that the record show that all committee members were present. 2. Approval of the Minutes of the Previous Committee Meetings (Tuesday, September 2, 2025) A motion to approve the minutes of the September 2, 2025 committee meeting was made by Alderman McCall, seconded by Alderman Keary. Voice vote, ayes all. Motion carried. 3. Unfinished Business a. Capital Funds Mr. Martial explained Capital Fund #192, TNVR Program, has a $5,000 balance and nothing has been used since the fund was created in 2019. Alderman McCall explained if we have funds we need to look into partnering with a local cat program to do something about the feral cats in the City. Alderman Crawford explained it is a great idea, but cat programs don’t exist and volunteers for the program don’t exist. He explained he has tried to push for a full-time animal control officer to set up the TNVR program and trap cats, but the SPCA only has one person who does TNVR. He explai8ned they have helped the City when they could in the past when a colony is in place and traps are set to get the cats to Operation Pets to be fixed and released. He explained we just don’t have the leg work now to continue with this. He explained we can ask the Mayor to look into this more. Alderman McCall explained there is one person she is aware of who does the TNVR and then finds homes for the cats, and she is trying to set up something in Olean but she is unsure if her plans have worked out. She explained $5,000 could go far to help with the cat situation. She explained if anyone knows of anyone who can help out to let the City know. Alderman Bennion explained someone did apply to the ZBA to run a TNVR program out of her home, but the ZBA denied the variance due to a complaint from a neighbor. He explained the resident is trying to find a different place to run the program from. Mr. Martial explained Capital Fund #193, Washington Street Project, was started in 2020 and there is a remaining balance of $137,917. Alderman Bennion asked if the project is done and Mr. Martial explained it is. Alderman McCall explained as we review these capital funds we need to see where unspent dollars are and what is the best benefit for the City of the use of those funds. Mr. Martial explained he4 has reached out to Municipal Solutions about this capital project and he was advised we can use these funds for a different project, but it needs to have the same scope. He explained he would recommend using this to cover the negative $125,000 balance in Capital Fund #225, Laurens Street, because this is an extension of Washington Street. Alderman Bennion asked if the funds can be used for Wayne Street as well, and Mr. Martial explained he can check on this to see if there are any expenses at this time. Mr. Martial explained there is a balance of $203,536 in Capital Fund #195, East State Street, which was funded with grant and BAN funding. Alderman McCall explained we should revisit this fund when Director Sprague is present to see what we need to do with this capital fund. Alderman Bennion asked if we moved funding from South Union Street to this fund for paving, and Ms. Taylor explained change orders for the paving were authorized but funds were not transferred. She explained funding for paving East State Street is still in the South Union Street Capital Fund. Mr. Martial explained he can look into this with Director Sprague when he returns. Alderman Bennion explained if this is leftover funding and the project is done then there may be leftover funding for South Union Street as well. Mr. Martial explained he will look into this. Alderman McCall explained we need to see if East State Street is finished and if we have finished paying for the project. Mr. Marital explained Capital Fund #198 is for the Times Square Entrance. He explained this was funded by the Council beginning in May 2020. He explained the job is not completely done which is why we still have money in the fund. Alderman McCall asked when the rest of the work was done and Alderman Bennion explained it was done about five years ago. He explained there was missing mechanical on the inside of the building and the heat tubes in the concrete are not tied into the mechanical inside the building to operate them. Alderman McCall asked what is needed to complete this, and Alderman Robinson explained the entire City HVAC needs to be replaced. Alderman McCall explained when we are looking at pots of money we should look into opportunities to move funding over for HVAC in the municipal building. She explained we need to have a plan for HVAC in the building and Alderman Crawford explained this could be a discussion in the Strategic Planning committee. Mr. Camp explained the heat tubes could not be tied into the old boilers because they did not have the capacity to run them, but he believes the new boilers may have the ability to. He explained he is unsure how it operates. Alderman Crawford explained it would be beneficial to start putting together a list of high dollar needs in the municipal building, including the HVAC and elevator, and explained this could quickly get up into a 7 figure discussion. Mr. Martial explained Capital Fund #201 is for the North Union Streetscape Project and there is $86,770 in funding remaining from DRI grant funding and a BAN. He explained some of this money was for the lighting issue, but he is not sure where we are on that. Alderman Bennion noted there was also discussion of changing fixtures currently in place to illuminate the street better. Alderman McCall explained that has come up a few times and we should see what can be done to illuminate the street better for safety. Alderman Bennion explained it should be a simple fix to upgrade the fixtures and explained he will add this as a discussion to the Public Safety agenda. b. Capital Project Requests Discussion postponed for 2 weeks for Director Sprague and Mayor Aiello’s returns. 4. New Referrals for Consideration None 5. Committee Reports None 6. Adjournment A motion to adjourn was made by Alderman McCall, seconded by Alderman Forney. Voice vote, ayes all. Motion carried. Meeting adjourned at approximately 6:35 p.m.