City Council

August 27, 2019 CITY OF SARATOGA SPRINGS City Council Meeting Recreation Center 15 Vanderbilt Avenue 12:00 PM 12:00 PM CALL TO ORDER ROLL CALL SALUTE TO FLAG PUBLIC COMMENT PERIOD / 15 MINUTES EXECUTIVE SESSION 1. Discussions re: Lease or Acquisition of Property When Publicity Would Effect Value MAYOR’S DEPARTMENT 1. Discussion and Vote: Authorization for Mayor to Sign Application for Humanities NY Vision Grant ACCOUNTS DEPARTMENT 1. Nothing at this time. FINANCE DEPARTMENT 1. Nothing at this time. PUBLIC WORKS DEPARTMENT 1. Nothing at this time. PUBLIC SAFETY DEPARTMENT 1. Discussion and Vote: Authorization for Mayor to Sign Contract with the Saratoga Springs City School District 2. Discussion and Vote: Authorization for Mayor to Sign Contract with Walsh Water Blasting SUPERVISORS Nothing at this time. ADJOURN City Council Meeting 8/27/19 August 27, 2019 CITY OF SARATOGA SPRINGS City Council Meeting Recreation Center 15 Vanderbilt Avenue 12:00 PM PRESENT: Meg Kelly, Mayor John Franck, Commissioner of Accounts Anthony Scirocco, Commissioner of DPW Peter Martin, Commissioner of DPS STAFF PRESENT: Lisa Shields, Deputy Mayor Mike Sharp, Deputy Commissioner, Finance Maire Masterson, Deputy Commissioner, Accounts John Daley, Deputy Commissioner, DPS Vincent DeLeonardis EXCUSED: Michele Madigan, Commissioner of Finance Joe O’Neill, Deputy Commissioner, DPW Matthew Veitch, Supervisor Tara Gaston, Supervisor 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 Kelly called the meeting to order at 12:00 p.m. PUBLIC COMMENT Mayor Kelly said the public comment period is limited to a total of 15 minutes and individuals are limited to two minutes. Mayor Kelly opened the public comment period at 12:01 p.m. Joy King of Saratoga Springs stated she is concerned about the removal of benches on Broadway. Page 2 of 5 City Council Meeting 8/27/19 Commissioner Scirocco stated they remove benches at different times to refurbish and clean; then put them back in place. Mayor Kelly asked about the removal of the bench in front of Jos. A. Banks store. Commissioner Scirocco advised that is a privately owned bench not a City owned bench. Mayor Kelly closed the public comment period at 12:04 p.m. MAYOR’S DEPARTMENT Discussion and Vote: Authorization for Mayor to Sign Application for Humanities NY Vision Grant (19-396) Mayor Kelly advised they are looking to apply for a grant in the amount of $1,500 with a match of $1,500. The Planning and Development Department has the match in their budget. If awarded, the grant will be used towards the Saratoga Art Scape Project. Mayor Kelly moved and Commissioner Martin seconded to authorize the mayor to sign an application for Humanities NY Vision Grant as included with this agenda. Aye - All ACCOUNTS DEPARTMENT Nothing at this time. FINANCE DEPARTMENT Nothing at this time. PUBLIC WORKS DEPARTMENT Nothing at this time. PUBLIC SAFETY DEPARTMENT Discussion and vote: Authorization for Mayor to Sign Contract with the Saratoga Springs City School District (19-397) Commissioner Martin advised this agreement is to provide a school resource officer. The school resource officer is well received by the students, administration, and public. The City is reimbursed 65% of the officer’s salary plus overtime incurred on behalf of the school. The Sheriff has assigned one officer to schools outside the City boundaries. The County charges the school district $72,000 per year for that officer. The school has asked the City to have a resource officer every day including the days the original resource officer is on vacation or sick. This will require the City to train more officers to do this. To accommodate that and knowing what the school pays the Sheriff’s Department, they re-negotiated the resource officer contract with the school. Therefore, for the first year, the base pay to the City by the school district will be $65,000 and the second year would be $70,000. They will continue to charge for overtime. Page 3 of 5 City Council Meeting 8/27/19 Commissioner Martin moved and Commissioner Scirocco seconded to authorize the mayor to sign an agreement with Saratoga Springs City School District in the form attached to this agenda for the continuation for the continuation of the school resource officer program through the end of the school year ending June 2021. Mayor Kelly reminded all of the resolution that was unanimously adopted by the Council in November 2018. This is an excellent outcome of the joint efforts. The only thing better would be more than one school resource officer. Deputy Mike Sharp read the following into the record on behalf of Commissioner Madigan: “I am very pleased that the Saratoga Springs School Board has taken the City Council up on our request to utilize additional School Resource Officers via the Saratoga Springs Police Department and funding via the City Finance Department for additional SRO services - exactly what the City Council offered in November of 2018. As a reminder, the City Council Resolution did not support re-arming Grounds Monitors as was incorrectly stated by some people in the community at that time. Per the approved Resolution, the City Council stated our belief that additional School Resource Officers who are trained to support students, parents, and teachers on a variety of school-related issues would be beneficial to all parties. I had hoped that this would have been viewed positively by the broader community and was saddened and disheartened when our November 2018 action was misconstrued. While this first step is appreciated and supported by both the School Board and City Council, it is still my desire to see additional City Police Department-trained SROs dedicated to the Saratoga Springs School District. Additionally, I would note that today we are sending several police officers to begin School Resource Officer Training with funding provided through the 2019 budget process. Thank you, Commissioner Michele Madigan” Commissioner Scirocco stated since it is budget season for the City he would support requesting an additional school resource officer. Ayes – All Discussion and Vote: Authorization for Mayor to Sign Contract with Walsh Water Blasting Commissioner Martin pulled this item from his agenda. SUPERVISORS Nothing at this time. EXECUTIVE SESSION Mayor Kelly moved and Commissioner Scirocco seconded to go into executive session to discuss lease or acquisition of property when publicity would effect value at 12:16 p.m. Ayes - All Council returned at 12:51 p.m. Mayor Kelly advised no decisions were made in executive session to be reported to the public. ADJOURNMENT There being no further business, Mayor Kelly adjourned the meeting at 12:51 p.m. Page 4 of 5 City Council Meeting 8/27/19 Respectfully submitted, Lisa Ribis Clerk Approved: 9/3/19 Vote: 4 - 0 Page 5 of 5