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

39 matches · 6 unidentified
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.
Unidentified speaker 1:33:40
I guess let me clarify. If tonight we were having a discussion that we want to hang X flag, flag. The council just said, "We want to hang X flag." Nobody approached them, there was no proclamation, there was nothing, and the council said, "We want to resolve to hang X flag and have a proclamation." The council can do that. That is the council choosing that this is the flag that they want to raise. So, the council is free to do that. You don't necessarily need another separate ordinance to do that, because the council, by their authority under the ordinance, has the power to hang flags that are done by proclamation or council resolution.
Unidentified speaker 55:58
And nationality, I believe. So I don't believe there was a request for any third-party flag. So those are the— if you had one of these flags, you filed your application, and we did that. Right now, the application process, again, and you create a chicken and the egg situation because you need, based on this legislation, there's only 3 ways. You need to have a proclamation or resolution, to then request a flag raising. You need to have an official event or a ceremony announced by a proclamation or resolution, and then a flag raising. Or the Mayor can raise a flag for a specific professional sports team. So those are all the things that have to occur before you even do the flag raising. So really, it's not an application. You're basically confirming a date and time to hang the flag. Oneida County Public Works. Once you start allowing for applications, again, the line becomes blurred that is this my application, is it just a yes or no?
56:56
The application, so I updated it, like you guys said, for some reason there was a, you guys said that the application wasn't updated. So I went ahead and updated and added numbers 3 and 4 per legislation. So now this flag application, the process, is identical to what the ordinance says, which is other flags may be displayed in conjunction with official events or ceremonies as announced by mayoral proclamation or Common Council resolution or proclamation. And number 4 is flags of professional sports teams in commemoration of a significant achievement involving the City of Utica, because those were the only 2 updates.
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.