Utica, New York Common Council Meeting Records

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

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57:46
I've got a point of order because I've got a serious question that actually relates to the Common Council in regards to legislation tonight. So Miss Aiello sent us a proclamation in regards to Juneteenth. Okay, no problem with that because usually you do proclamations all the time, no problem. She said, hi everyone, attached is a proclamation honoring Utica's role and significance in Juneteenth to be introduced and voted on tonight. Please let me know who would like to have their names added as a sponsor, as a sponsor, and we'll get this ready for tonight's meeting. So I responded to her, I said, dear Councilmembers, I have a genuine question. I promise it is not intended to be sarcastically. Do proclamations simply serve to recognize a month or cause, or does supporting a proclamation also imply support for a related flag raising? I ask because in the past the Pride Month proclamation and flag raising seemed to coincide. And I'm not— and I'm trying to better understand the distinction. If a councilmember supports proclamation recognizing a particular month or group, does that necessarily mean that they also support raising the associated flag, or are those considered separate actions? Thank you for clarifying this for me. And Miss Aiello responded, any and all ordinances, resolutions, or proclamations are deemed city expressions. People and organizations can fill out an application for a flag-raising ceremony for any number of city expressions. Now here's the thing, I mean, you're also now tying this to the flag because again, in that ordinance, it states that you have to have a resolution that supports that in order to have that raised.
3:38:16
The only thing I would offer— I would like to offer an amendment to the proclamation stating that it doesn't relate to the flag ordinance that we passed, and I think that that would make me feel more comfortable voting on the proclamation, that it doesn't tie it to the ordinance, and I would be okay with the proclamation. I mean, that's, that's all it comes down to. If the council doesn't feel okay to offer that motion, but I just don't want it tied to any flag that City Hall is not even open on Friday. And just if you can make a motion to say that it state that the proclamation has no correlation to the ordinance that the council passed, I would be okay with that. So I'd like to offer that motion.
59:30
So what you're trying to say is that now, again, in the ordinance, because it wasn't clarified that the last time that we passed that, because we had zero discussion on it, that now I've got to put a proclamation in in order for another flag to be raised. I don't care what you guys do. You guys are going to do what you want. That's no problem. But please tell me that I'm not putting the city up for liability, that somebody could sue us if I vote for one proclamation, don't vote for another, and the flag's up there. That's all I'm asking, to clarify it. And Mr. Giorgio can explain that. You're not an attorney, Miss Aiello. You have been to court more times than probably our own city attorneys in the last month, and you've won nothing, and I've had enough.
1:29:09
Again, the only issue that I'm asking is that if this ties to the flag raising in regards to this, how could the city fulfill it and what obligation do we have as a city once this proclamation is passed as far as the application goes through, if there's anything else that the council needs to do? Do, because again, this just came before us today, and I, I just, again, like the last proclamation that we passed, I want to make sure that we're consistent on what we do, um, as far as that goes.