Strategic Planning

STRATEGIC PLANNING Tuesday, July 8, 2025 – 7:35 p.m. Council Chambers – Olean Municipal Building Present: Members: Chairman Crawford, Alderman Bennion, Alderman McCall and Alderman Robinson. Others: Alderman Anastasia; 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 Crawford called the meeting to order at 7:35 p.m. and asked that the record show that all committee members were present except Alderman Forney, who was excused. 2. Approval of Minutes of the Previous Committee Meeting (Tuesday, June 24, 2025) A motion to approve the minutes of the June 24, 2025 meeting was made by Alderman Crawford, seconded by Alderman McCall. Voice vote, ayes all. Motion carried. 3. Unfinished Business a. City Garage Long-Term Strategic Plan Alderman Crawford noted this was briefly discussed earlier during the City Operations committee. Director Sprague explained he feels everyone is in agreement that we need to do something sooner rather than later. He explained he would recommend writing an RFP to secure the services of an architect to start with a high-level space planning study, which can even be done in absence of securing a site of where we are going to go next. He explained we need to start by quantifying what we need and what we want, and seeing where this fits in the City. Alderman McCall explained she is in agreement, and explained she would also like to continue to see if there is a partner we can work with to help share this cost. Alderman Crawford explained he agrees, and explained he thinks Director Sprague has a good suggestion. He explained although the Council is not on board to go after grant funding for a recreation program at the mall property, there as a concept, a plan, and a budget that was put together so it was grant-ready. He explained grant programs are looking for shovel-ready proposals and it would benefit to have this study done. Mayor Aiello explained when he first became Mayor, the DPW Director at the time had concept drawings that may be somewhere in the DPW office. He explained there was a plan for where MJ Painting built there new building as well as a plan for a garage by the parking lot of SolEpoxy. HE explained we did have a $500,000 grant at one point for demolition and cleanup of the current garage, but the Council decided to not accept that grant. Alderman Crawford explained at that time we were facing a $5 million to $10 million cost to build the new garage. He asked if Director Sprague can look to see if he can find the drawings that were previously done and Director Sprague explained he will. Alderman Crawford asked that we came back in a couple of weeks to get ideas of what an architect or engineer and design will cost and Director Sprague explained he will, reach out to some of his contacts in the consulting world to get some feedback on how to move forward. 4. New Referrals for Consideration None 5. Committee Reports None 6. Adjournment A motion to adjourn was made by Alderman Crawford, seconded by Alderman McCall. Voice vote, ayes all. Motion carried. Meeting adjourned at approximately 7:40 p.m.