City Council

June 28, 2016 CITY OF SARATOGA SPRINGS City Council Meeting City Council Room 7:00 PM 7:00 PM CALL TO ORDER ROLL CALL SALUTE TO FLAG PUBLIC COMMENT PERIOD / 15 MINUTES CONSENT AGENDA 1. Nothing at this time. MAYOR’S DEPARTMENT 1. Nothing at this time. ACCOUNTS DEPARTMENT 1. Nothing at this time. FINANCE DEPARTMENT 1. Discussion and Vote: Budget Transfers – Contingency for Charter Review Committee 2. Presentation: Schenectady’s Mission Ambassador Program PUBLIC WORKS DEPARTMENT 1. Nothing at this time. PUBLIC SAFETY DEPARTMENT 1. Nothing at this time. SUPERVISORS Matthew Veitch 1. Nothing at this time. Peter Martin 1. Nothing at this time. ADJOURN City Council Meeting 6/28/16 June 28, 2016 CITY OF SARATOGA SPRINGS City Council Meeting City Council Room 7:00 PM PRESENT: Joanne Yepsen, Mayor John Franck, Commissioner of Accounts Michele Madigan, Commissioner of Finance Anthony Scirocco, Commissioner of DPW Christian Mathiesen, Commissioner of DPS STAFF PRESENT: Maire Masterson, Deputy Commissioner, Accounts Eileen Finneran, Deputy Commissioner, DPS EXCUSED: Lynn Bachner, Deputy Commissioner, Finance Tim Cogan, Deputy Commissioner, DPW Vincent DeLeonardis RECORDING OF PROCEEDING The proceedings of this meeting were taped for the benefit of the secretary. Because the minutes are not a verbatim record of the proceedings, the minutes are not a word-for-word transcript. CALL TO ORDER Mayor Yepsen called the meeting to order at 7:04 p.m. PUBLIC COMENT Mayor Yepsen said the public comment period is limited to a total of 15 minutes and individuals are limited to two minutes. Mayor Yepsen opened the public comment period at 7:05 p.m. Barb of Saratoga Springs thanked the Council for having this meeting. She is excited to hear more about it. We need a city mission facility for people to use a locker and take a shower. Darlene McGraw of Saratoga Springs stated we should to the ambassador program here. Mayor Yepsen closed the public comment period at 7:08 p.m. Page 2 of 4 City Council Meeting 6/28/16 FINANCE DEPARTMENT Discussion and Vote: Budget Transfers – Contingency for Charter Review Committee (16-252) Commissioner Madigan advised this is to transfer money to cover expenses for the Charter Review Commission. Commissioner Madigan moved and Commission Mathiesen seconded to approve the 2016 budget transfers – contingency for Charter Review Committee as distributed with the agenda. The current balance is $264,786; there will remain $239,811 after these transfers. Ayes - All Presentation: Schenectady’s Mission Ambassador Program (copy of presentation attached) Commissioner Madigan introduced Michael Saccocio, Executive Director/CEO of the Schenectady Mission, Chris Silipigno, Associate Executive Director of Business and Donor Development; and Jake Bowman, Manager Schenectady Works and oversees the Ambassador Program. Michael Saccocio advised they have a 100 bed homeless shelter for men, women, and children. They felt they should and could be part of the downtown revitalization. This would get people out of the shelter and into the business district. They started by just greeting people and directing where to park and suggesting restaurants. They signed a contract with Proctor’s after a 3 month pilot and Proctor’s paid the people. You need to have businesses in collaboration with you for this to work. Mr. Saccocio advised MetroPlex asked for ambassadors across the city. The ambassadors also have a hotline phone number to maintenance so that if they notice a street light out or a pothole, they call it in and repairs are normally completed within 24 hours. Every year there is a fundraiser for training and extension of downtown ambassadors. Ellen Sax, Vice President of Community Engagement of MVP explained she knew about this program before she joined MVP. This program is all about creating healthy a community. Teddy Foster of Universal Preservation Hall stated they had the ambassadors work at the Hall over the past weekend. They were polite and well received. They are booked through October with them. Ellen Sax stated they supported this program because it is about development skills and these skills are easily transferrable. Michael Saccocio stated one of their challenges is the ambassadors are being hired by the local businesses. That is the right challenge to have. Commissioner Mathiesen stated the downtown in Saratoga Springs is much different than Schenectady’s downtown and there is more they could do in Saratoga Springs. There is a demand for hospitality in our downtown. We need to be sure the visitors want to come back and we take care of them. This could be a win/win in many ways. Mr. Saccocio stated this program has proven to be very flexible. John Safford of Saratoga Springs stated he is familiar with this program. This program does a number of things that are attractive from a business prospective. This is a concierge service that is a win/win in every way. We need the social structure as well as the economic structure. Page 3 of 4 City Council Meeting 6/28/16 Mike Finocchi of Shelters of Saratoga stated he was working in Schenectady when this program started. It is a great program but a work in progress. We have the potential to make it work here. He asked Mike Saccocio to explain the criteria of this program. Mr. Saccocio stated the City Mission graduates are on a 1 year program. They work with other partners in this and the people need to go through a training program. Mark Baker of the City Center stated the business community is interested in this. The convention and tourism industry is interested in this as well as the City Center. It sounds like we need an anchor organization to make this work. He asked what is the budget; how many people are participating in it; who insures the ambassadors; how is liability covered; the hours of operation; how does training and interfacing with police force function; and what have been your biggest challenges. Mr. Saccocio stated the ambassadors are employees of the City Mission so they are covered through their liability insurance. Hours of operation depends upon what is going on in your downtown and what you want. The budget rises and falls – it is about $30,000 per year for Proctor’s alone. MVP has contributed $20,000 of that. There are many challenges as downtowns are fluid - they try to keep the highest standards and work with how to make it better. Mayor Yepsen asked what the county’s involvement through DSS is. Mr. Saccocio stated they support it but haven’t been active with it. That is a way Saratoga could do things differently. ADJOURNMENT There being no further business, Mayor Yepsen adjourned the meeting at 8:04 p.m. Respectfully submitted, Lisa Ribis Clerk Approved: 7/19/16 Vote: 5 - 0 Page 4 of 4