Utica, New York Common Council Meeting Records

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11 results · filtered to Joseph Betrus, Jr..

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Common Council Meeting January 21st, 2026

2 matches
25:58
Yes, and I'm going to let Marcus talk to us. So this is basically just helping our Codes Department to give them some teeth on, uh, problems. So I've been having a lot of issues where people are calling me, uh, one specific area on Riverside Drive where, um, you know, a resident cut a bunch of trees down, has 7 or 8 big large trucks there. And, um, so I, I talked to Marcus every time they send people there, and it's not just this property, it's all over where people are bringing dump trucks home, um, taking— buying a bus. Um, we have a place on, uh, Lorain Ave where a person has a bus that they bought a bus and they're redoing it into a camper. Um, and when we send our codes there, there's nothing in codes. So I've gone to Marcus, uh, he's been extremely helpful. I'll let him— he helped me draw this up and I'll let him speak on this a little bit. And the only thing I do want to say about this, I'd like— we're in the next month or so, we're going to have a lot of stuff going on. To bring this out for a vote tonight, it has to be unanimous. I'd like to, you know, I'd like to get this done and pass it. It's, um, you know, I did my homework, I worked with the Codes Department, and it's something I think it benefits all the residents of the city. The one thing I want to say beforehand, if anybody's listening, you know, we have, we have a code that you have to have 4-foot fencing. There's a lot of people that will come in front of the zoning that they have a 6-foot fence, and if they have a reason, it gets sent that they can, you know, if it's proper, they can put the fence up. The same thing with this. If somebody has a food truck that's parked on the side of their house that is not being, you know, a deterrent to the neighborhood or making things bad, they are able to get a special permit to be able to do that. This is basically to stop, you know, what's going on in a lot of places— people running businesses out of their house with large vehicles. And guess what? All of you guys sitting around here, you all have people in your, in your districts doing the same thing. So I'll let Marcus speak on this, and I have another piece, um, after, um, kind of the same type thing, um, and I'll let him talk on that too.
38:27
Yes. Um, so this is kind of the same type, um, esthetics. Thank you. Just a different type deal. So same type. Uh, I know Councilman Betar has same problem. We've talked about it. This is basically for people who just fill their front yards with— I don't want to say garbage or debris. I'll give you an example. People have garage sale and they have a ton of stuff, and the stuff doesn't go away, and they just move it to their front yard. And it's, you know, I don't want to use the word garbage or trash, but it's just a nuisance to the neighbors who keep their properties in good order. And when we send codes there, I mean, I could send you— if we, uh, you know, if we do have to have a committee meeting, I will bring you pictures in. But, um, it's just, it's just something that it's very uncomfortable to the people who live around that, that have to see that. All the time. And again, I'll let Marques speak on that. And listen, the reason of these two pieces of ordinance, the reason I have them is when I call codes and they agree with me 100% when they go and see the issues, but they tell me there's nothing in the law that they can do to help out. So that's why I've got with Marques and, um, came up with something.

Common Council Meeting with Committee of the Whole Meeting June 17th, 2026

4 matches
7:55
Thank you. Um, so I don't know about all you guys. Well, I do know that some of you's got a lot of calls about dangerous trees that aren't on city property. They keep telling me over and over that Rome has an ordinance, why can't we do it? So I had Marcus print me Rome's ordinance. He talked to the Codes Department out in Rome. I talked to Councilperson, Commissioner Sokolowski about it. And what I want to do in this discussion is to touch on aspects why we can do this, if why we can't do it. Um, I, I also invited Parks Commissioner Short because he is our arborist, but it doesn't look like he's coming. I didn't hear back from him. So, um, I'll just open it up to, um, Marques, if you want to start. We worked on this, so you know more Sure. The positives, and then I'll let legal go in and discuss it and what Mark's done. What I could just tell you about this right off the bat, there's a couple good things that they do right off the bat. Obviously our tree department, I think, what do we have, 2 or 4 guys?
21:55
No, no, no, I got called— people, 3 or 4 people called me and told me about this. Issues. And basically they're in South Utica and they were— Oh, I don't care where they are. I'm just telling you, they called me and I read this article. I, I seen it and I'm just asking about it. The reason I called this meeting was because they're telling me, when I tell them everything you guys say— wait, they're telling me that Rome does it. So all I did, if Rome can do it, let's see what it is. I agree with what you're saying.
2:06:31
—decided to head to Proctor Park to cool off in the water. When they arrived, they found a group of young people already there and noticed a girl in the water struggling. And whereas others watched, the two young men decided to help. They jumped in the water, pulled the girl to safety, and called 911. Their decision to act and bravery in the moment saved the young girl's life and set the standard for what it means to be a neighbor, for all, both young and old. And whereas the type of selflessness is what makes the community in the City of Utica so special and sets it apart from so many other places now, therefore be it proclaimed the Common Council of the City of Utica does hereby recognize and celebrate these two young men for their historic actions and thank them for the service they rendered to our community. Further proclaimed that this resolution inscribed upon the minutes of the Common Council of June 17th, 2026. [APPLAUSE] Yeah, I'm going to let them speak. Okay, you guys— you guys have—

Common Council Meeting January 2nd, 2026

4 matches

Common Council Meeting with Committee of the Whole Meeting February 4th, 2026

1 match
20:24
And the other thing that I talked about last, last time, kind of like when we— when they come in front of the zoning board, 4-foot fence is the minimum. But some people want a 6-foot fence, and they come and give their case. So if there is a complaint, and the guy— let's say, for example, it's summertime, a guy's got a food truck, and there's a complaint, somebody's really complaining, making a big thing— they could come up and we can amend that to give that guy a permit to do that. So again, it's not to try to hurt anybody, it's to try to help these guys. I just got frustrated when you call. And all of you guys probably do the same thing. You call up and they send codes there and you say, what happened? And they say, there's nothing, nothing, it's nothing in there we can do.