Utica, New York Common Council Meeting Records

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

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

28 matches · 12 unidentified
2:55:19
Thank you, Mr. President. Um, there was just a recent letter to the editor, um, that was written about me in regards to my absence of a meeting, and I responded, and I just wanted to read it on the record at the council, on the council floor. So it says, correcting the record on, on the lead, on correcting the— excuse me, correcting Correcting the record on the meeting regarding lead poisoning. In response to recent commentary from a member of the community regarding my absence from a meeting on lead poisoning in Utica, it's important to correct the record. In 2022, I introduced legislation specifically aimed at addressing lead poisoning. That legislation was placed in a committee on February 2nd and discharged from committee on March 3rd. Councilmembers Aiello, Burmaster, Fran Meola, and Moody voted to discharge the legislation rather than to continue the discussion in committee. Myself, along with Councilman— Councilmembers Betrus, Williamson, and DiBrango voted to keep the legislation in committee so the discussion could continue in a meaningful and substantive way before any final action was taken. I have participated in and supported multiple presentations and efforts related to lead poisoning. The appropriate and effective channel for that work is through committee meetings and the presentation of legislation where dialogue and transparency and accountability an impossibility can occur. In this instance, I had a prior obligation to my children and properly informed those organizing the meeting that I was unable to attend the 6 PM meeting, providing sufficient notice for the meeting to be rescheduled so that all interested parties could participate. I did, however, attend the 7 PM meeting where I received the full presentation of materials directly from the same presenter who spoke at the earlier meeting. Rather than acknowledge these facts, the writer who represents the Democratic Women's Party of Oneida County chose to single out a mother honoring a family commitment instead of engaging honestly with the legislative history and process surrounding this issue. This is particularly troubling coming from individuals and organizations that claim to support women. I encourage Heather, who sits next to me, whom the right of clarity supports, and to present the legislation on this issue, perhaps even the same legislation I introduced in 2022, which could be co-sponsored and thoughtfully advanced through the proper proper process. Lead poisoning is a serious issue that deserves more than performative discussion. It deserves sustained legislation, legislative action, and I remain committed to addressing it through the proper channels. I wanted to read that on the floor because I think that it's important to explain my position in the history that's been done by this body. With that said, my my son got Student of the Month today for optimism. Um, it's amazing through all the negativity that I encounter, um, not only as a councilperson but on a day-to-day basis from some people that surround me, that I am fortunate enough to have such— to raise kids with such positive attitudes. So I want to congratulate my son on that, and, uh, that's it. Thank you, Mr. President.
23:24
I know in my area there's a couple that they had to come. That's a good example of this right here. Yeah, but the neighbor's got to be notified. But yeah, the ratification— so initially when we came up with this legislation, and mostly Councilman Betrus, we came up with the legislation, there was an appeal process. Um, we, we ended up turning that appeal process into the council can just pass to allow it because the council is the one that's closest to the people.
Unidentified speaker 30:45
I did hear your own appointment. That's one of the reasons we got the new software. Um, holes that I've seen in the Codes Department that I've, I've expressed in the past, um, and I've, I've had these concerns forever. I don't know if they're willing to say, but the, the, the, the 3 concerns I've had is a lot of people know when we work. And they do construction after we work, especially in scenic and historic districts, because it's more expensive to do scenic and historic districts. So I've asked for overtime to do on weekends. I've never been given overtime. It's because they're union contracts. I have to pay them overtime. I can't just have them do it. And it's frustrating to me because I get calls from— like, there's in every scenic and historic district, there's like 2 or 3 neighbors that really believe in that stuff. And they call and he put up new siding, he put up a new porch. And we weren't there to stop it. And, um, so the weekends are tough. The other thing that's tough is, um, the, the ride-alongs, like, um, with DPW. I'd like to do that, but then I would need overtime to do that, because if somebody improperly disposes of green waste, DPW can't write them a ticket. So they're just picking up their waste if Codes didn't catch it earlier in the day. Um, so that's a lot of people don't flag is put out after 4:30. And so that's— having guys be able to work those shifts, plus they work better sometimes when they're on their own, it's peaceful, it's office, because I think what a lot of council people or administrative people that I talk to don't understand is how many appointments they have every day. My codes officers will have between 5 and 8 appointments per day. So you want, like, everybody on the council and the mayor and and administrative people always want us to patrol the neighborhoods, but like those appointments are their first obligation. So a guy might have to write up 8 cases and be in 8 different apartments in a day, and then you wanted them to catch the neighbor that put their garbage out improperly on top of that, and, and they always don't have that extra time, you know. Um, so those things. And, uh, the other thing is just the volumes that are coming down. I mean, We're going to amend the vacant housing registry and, you know, right now we're one secretary short in the department and we're going to amend the vacant housing registry. They're looking at a permit for chickens. They're looking at other legislation that could require permits and patrols. And then after a while it's kind of like, you know, you send me tools like this, okay, they're doing the same thing, they can react to it. You send me a new permit or legislation, I got to figure out who's going to do that.
33:20
And Marques, I, I, we have a piece of legislation that's in committee that I submitted quite some time ago. I mean, previously when I was a council before I got reelected, is I think that that would be an easier streamline thing to do as far as vacant registries for buildings. And I, I just think that that would be less burden, a lesser burden on you So if you are to amend it, at least take into consideration that piece of legislation. Well, you— we talked about it together. I know, I know.