City Council

CITY OF SARATOGA SPRINGS CITY COUNCIL MEETING CITY COUNCIL ROOM TUESDAY, OCTOBER 11, 2005 6:00 P.M. PRESENT: Commissioner Thomas Curley, DPS (arrived 6:15 p.m.) Mayor Michael Lenz Commissioner Matthew McCabe, Finance Commissioner Thomas McTygue, DPW Commissioner Stephen E. Towne, Accounts ABSENT: Phil Klein, Supervisor Anthony Scirocco, Supervisor STAFF PRESENT: Lynn Bachner, Deputy Commissioner, Finance Matthew Dorsey, City Attorney CALL TO ORDER Mayor Michael Lenz called the meeting to order at 6:00 p.m. with the Pledge of Allegiance. PUBLIC COMMENT PERIOD No one spoke. CAPITAL BUDGET WORKSHOP Commissioner Matthew McCabe distributed a review of the proposed 2006 capital budget (Attachment A). Commissioner Matthew McCabe said the only item removed from the Mayor’s recommended capital budget was the Vernon Ice Rink floor system. He said after conversations with Council members, he was comfortable removing this item. Mayor Lenz agreed that the floor for the Vernon Ice Rink was meant as a stop gap measure, however, because the funding for the recreational facility had been included in the proposed capital budget, the floor was no longer necessary. Commissioner Thomas McTygue said along with the proposed floor there was the maintenance issue of putting it down and taking it up. He said if the floor was to be included, those costs need to be considered. He also said that there needs to be a lot of research on what would be the best type of floor. He said there needs to be many conversations between the Council and the Recreation Commission before such a project is funded. Commissioner Stephen Towne said he would like to have a better idea of what types of activities were planned for this proposed floor system. He noted that within the capital budget it appeared that there was an additional $75,000 included for the operational costs of maintaining such a floor. Commissioner Stephen Towne said the capital budget committee did a fine job of prioritizing and ranking the projects. Some items will be funded through revenues, but the bulk is through bonding. He said he wanted to leave open the possibility of still removing items from this budget if the numbers for the overall comprehensive budget are not where Council members would like them. Commissioner Matthew McCabe agreed. Commissioner Stephen Towne said he would like information on the 2005 budget and where the City stands before voting on the 2006 budget. Commissioner Matthew McCabe said that he would do his best to have that information available. Mayor Michael Lenz thanked the capital budget committee for compiling this budget. He said this is the most extensive capital budget to date. He pointed out that mandated and high priority items were funded. The proposed six year capital Page 1 of 2 City of Saratoga Springs City Council Meeting Minutes Tuesday, October 11, 2005 program is a good starting point for future capital budgets. He said he was glad to see the recreation facility added. That is a project that has been around for quite some time. There is more than $300,000 in the 2005 budget to allow for design and initial construction related activities. The entire project will now be funded at $2.2 million. Commissioner Stephen Towne said it appears that the City has about $6 million available to bond within the capital budget. He said that it appears that there is about $3.8 million proposed for bonding through the capital budget and an additional $1.2 million bonding from the open space line. Commissioner Thomas McTygue said that if there is general consensus from Council members on the proposed location of the recreational facility, then they could begin to work towards having an architectural firm do some renderings and the engineering department could do some preliminary work. Mayor Michael Lenz said that there is $335,000 included in the 2005 budget to do some of the initial legwork. He said that architects, landscape architects, surveyors could be hired to begin work. He said it makes sense to move forward on this project. (Commissioner Thomas Curley arrived: 6:15 p.m.) Commissioner Matthew McCabe distributed additional forms for Council members to be used to make further adjustments to the capital budget. PUBLIC COMMENT PERIOD No one spoke. ADJOURNMENT Mayor Michael Lenz moved and Commissioner Thomas McTygue seconded to adjourn the meeting at 6:20 p.m. Ayes all. There being no further business, Mayor Michael Lenz adjourned the meeting at 6:20 p.m. Respectfully submitted, Kathy Moran Clerk Approved: Page 2 of 2