Samantha Colosimo-Testa · Utica Common Council Records

Activity over time

January 2, 2026 June 17, 2026

Talks most about

legislation 28 problem 26 proclamation 26 last 21 garage sale 12 regards 19 still 15 committee 15 talking 14 call 13 resolution 13 passed 12 pass 11 ask 10

Meeting appearances

The bar under each meeting marks when they spoke during it.

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

June 17, 2026 59m 17s speaking 27% of speaking time 237 remarks

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

February 4, 2026 15m 48s speaking 13% of speaking time 102 remarks

Common Council Meeting January 21st, 2026

January 21, 2026 1m 39s speaking 2% of speaking time 11 remarks

Common Council Meeting January 2nd, 2026

January 2, 2026 2m 2s speaking 9% of speaking time 28 remarks

Frequent dialogue partners

Immediate transcript handoffs around Samantha Colosimo-Testa: who speaks next, and who Samantha Colosimo-Testa answers.

They reply Samantha Colosimo-Testa replies

Rocco Giruzzi 120 handoffs · 4 meetings 63 / 57 balanced Katie Aiello 109 handoffs · 3 meetings 54 / 55 balanced Joseph Betar 87 handoffs · 4 meetings 42 / 45 balanced Jack LoMedico 77 handoffs · 4 meetings 42 / 35 balanced Joseph Betrus, Jr. 74 handoffs · 3 meetings 35 / 39 balanced Marques Phillips 73 handoffs · 2 meetings 38 / 35 balanced Venice Ervin 63 handoffs · 1 meeting 33 / 30 balanced Stephanie DiGiorgio 52 handoffs · 3 meetings 23 / 29 balanced

What they said

Samantha Colosimo-Testa 0:00

I'm sorry, I'm sorry. It's okay. I'm sorry. It's okay. I'm sorry, I'm sorry. It's okay. I'm sorry. It's okay. I'm sorry, I'm sorry. It's okay. I'm sorry. It's okay. I'm sorry, I'm sorry. It's okay. I'm sorry. It's okay.

Samantha Colosimo-Testa 2:07

It's okay. I'm sorry, I'm sorry. It's okay. I'm sorry, I'm sorry. It's okay. I'm sorry. It's okay.

Samantha Colosimo-Testa 3:24

It's okay. I'm sorry, I'm sorry. It's okay. I'm sorry, I'm sorry. It's okay. I'm sorry, I'm sorry. It's okay.

Samantha Colosimo-Testa 5:06

It's okay. I'm sorry, I'm sorry. It's okay. I'm sorry, I'm sorry. It's okay. I'm sorry. It's okay. I'm sorry, I'm sorry. It's okay. I'm sorry, I'm sorry. It's okay. I'm sorry. It's okay. I'm sorry, I'm sorry. It's okay. I'm sorry. It's okay.

Samantha Colosimo-Testa 7:39

It's okay.

Samantha Colosimo-Testa 15:16

Besides the neighbor or the person that has the tree.

Samantha Colosimo-Testa 17:26

Yeah.

Samantha Colosimo-Testa 17:38

Those trees, we can have our arborist go say, yeah, it's healthy, or no, it's not healthy.

Samantha Colosimo-Testa 19:48

Correct.

Samantha Colosimo-Testa 20:40

Can I ask a quick question Let me clarify some things. Did we not hire somebody to do a tree inventory on all the city-owned trees? Yeah, we've got—

Samantha Colosimo-Testa 20:49

I understand that. So what I'm saying is that what the city is responsible for is the city's already done and they did tree inventory on. I understand that you're talking about somebody's backyard and stuff like that. And I personally, and you know my feelings on this, like I don't see how the city can go in, they can't even go in somebody's backyard for a codes issue if they have chickens or anything anything like that. So the point to this, and I understand what Joe's saying, and it is a big problem, and I don't know how the City of Rome does it. I thought maybe because it's a bigger city and they might have more land and it's easier to see something on somebody else's property. But I think that the inventory that we have is based on the tree inventory that we did as a city. We hired somebody to do. Anything outside of that scope, I think, is just too much for the city to handle and outside of their scope of—

Samantha Colosimo-Testa 21:34

The inventory that needs to be done on that behalf. I mean, and we've been criticized for taking down trees even with the inventory, so I think that that's another whole other issue that people are making a big deal about. How many calls are you getting that this is coming about now that this is a problem?

Samantha Colosimo-Testa 22:28

In my eyes, as my job and the tree guys going out, or just my DPW guys, there's always a liability of us going on somebody's property.

Samantha Colosimo-Testa 22:47

It's just, this would open up such a can of worms that we would not be able to handle.

Samantha Colosimo-Testa 23:14

It's totally a different abatement than what Marcus is explaining about every day what we do with grass, what we do with garbage, board and secure. It's because that's a hazard, like he said. This, I get it's a hazard, but it's the people's property that they own, that that's their hazard, not ours.

Samantha Colosimo-Testa 24:05

3 people in there that they can handle doing that much.

Samantha Colosimo-Testa 25:00

The city?

Samantha Colosimo-Testa 26:16

it's going to open up where we're going to be doing everything for everybody instead of them doing it for themselves.

Samantha Colosimo-Testa 26:22

Whether it's a hedge or it's snow banks when we do them in the people's driveway.

Samantha Colosimo-Testa 28:06

So, if you don't mind, can I have the floor?

Samantha Colosimo-Testa 28:11

Okay. Very briefly, the only thing that I want to say is the difference from Rome and Utica is that there is a lot of open space in Rome. Rome's a city, right? And they've got fields, they've got this, they got that. If you're trying to tell somebody that lives on, I don't know, any random street in the city that their neighbor's got to take a tree off their fence that's in a backyard, that's when you go into a problem from what I see, the way this legislation is written, from anything that I could understand. Okay. With that said, Rome might be able to do it. I don't see how we can do that in a city our size that's as condensed as it is. So I mean, maybe that's the only way that Rome's able to get away with it, but—

Samantha Colosimo-Testa 28:53

Oh, I think Joe's legislation is actually—

Samantha Colosimo-Testa 29:00

Yeah, but if you were to put it in legislative form, I think Joe's legislation makes sense. I just think that compared to Rome, there's a lot of things that we can do that's comparable to Rome. Just maybe this one's—

Samantha Colosimo-Testa 29:12

We're too— a little condensed compared to Rome as far as square footage and what properties might be able to be taken care of.

Samantha Colosimo-Testa 29:41

I mean, property lines, my department can find them. We have Sean Steads, every property line has a pin from 100 years ago. Half the time they're buried, but they're there.

Samantha Colosimo-Testa 30:12

Right.

Samantha Colosimo-Testa 30:18

Yeah.

Samantha Colosimo-Testa 30:47

Okay.

Samantha Colosimo-Testa 31:21

Right.

Samantha Colosimo-Testa 31:58

It's—

Samantha Colosimo-Testa 32:01

It comes down to what used to happen is that if you couldn't afford a property, You sold it. I mean, and that's really what it comes down to, and you try and make a profit out of it. You don't try and hold on to a property because what ends up happening is now you have people that are living there, you're reimbursed possibly in the long way of taxes being, you know, you're possibly gaining on rent and stuff like that. I mean, it happens all the time, and that's not right either. So, I mean, it's a double-edged sword and what the city's had to deal with and—

Samantha Colosimo-Testa 32:42

And you could even have a tenant that's lived in your— an apartment for 6 months that hasn't paid rent. So maybe you were gaining on having that money come to you, and then it'll pay you, and then you have to take them to court. So imagine what those costs incur because you have somebody that's living in your apartment that should have been evicted and chooses not to be evicted. So now you've got court cases, you've got somebody that hasn't paid rent, and you're still living in that apartment, right? So that's a huge problem too. I mean, we see it all the time. I mean, it's right in front of us and we don't choose to take action.

Samantha Colosimo-Testa 34:02

If it falls, it's on the insurance of the person that it falls on.

Samantha Colosimo-Testa 34:14

Yes. If it's over on your property, over the fence line. So like, that actually happened in my own backyard. Somebody had trees that were on my fence line and it was over my property. We were able to cut them. I mean, we want to talk to the neighbor before we cut them, so that— but it does, it does happen.

Samantha Colosimo-Testa 34:31

So. Anything else?

Samantha Colosimo-Testa 35:10

But the problem is, is that Rome is a different breed than Utica as far as linear footage. So they might be able to get away with this on certain parcels.

Samantha Colosimo-Testa 35:20

I mean, Joe, again, we talk about what you're able to do.

Samantha Colosimo-Testa 35:24

You're not going to find somebody if it's next door to somebody.

Samantha Colosimo-Testa 35:31

Right, exactly. With trees blown over. So, I mean, there is a little difference between— so don't hate on Rome, who's your sister city, and try and benefit Utica from that, because either way, they still deserve what they've gotten, and obviously they've been able to get away with the legislation that they have—

Samantha Colosimo-Testa 35:46

So that's all I wanted to say.

Samantha Colosimo-Testa 17:54

Marques, before you start, can you just tell me the difference between this legislation and what's on the books now and how it helps you kind of alleviate that? Because I think that that's kind of the—

Samantha Colosimo-Testa 19:36

Really quick question, because this, this obviously doesn't pertain to idling trucks.

Samantha Colosimo-Testa 19:42

I remember in North Utica at the Riverside Center, well wherever they had trucks or tractor-trailers that would sit overnight and just stay there, and they would hear the idling components of it, and that was a problem. So I didn't know if this— does this entail that, or is that something totally different, or do we have to include that also?

Samantha Colosimo-Testa 23:49

And Marcus, I think with any piece of legislation that we pass, whether it's through codes, fire, police, whatever, you can use your discretion if you need be when going and understanding a situation. Like, it might look like it's on surface that something's wrong, but if you see, oh, maybe it's not wrong and they might be violating the code You can talk to them, say, hey, you know, it might not be the right thing to do, but I think that this is just a—

Samantha Colosimo-Testa 26:11

The only— the only last question that I have, um, is there anything else that you see in the code that when they pass a zoning code that is not in there that could be a problem to you that, again, I mean, like convenience stores. Now we go into this, that was in the zoning code previously that's not in there now that we might need to address.

Samantha Colosimo-Testa 27:08

Which, which honestly, we went through that before and then it was removed and then you went back through and kind of went through the same thing. So it was kind of like, how did you take that out when it was already on the zoning code?

Samantha Colosimo-Testa 27:28

Okay, that's all.

Samantha Colosimo-Testa 29:53

Katie, did you want to go? I had one more thing that I wanted to piggyback on that.

Samantha Colosimo-Testa 30:01

No, the only thing I wanted to say is, I mean, Marcus, I think that with 6 guys patrolling the whole city and doing what you do, I think it's a lot, especially considering the fact of ticketing sidewalks for not being, you know, shoveled or things like that. So I mean, it is kind of difficult to take in all those tasks in one day. So I mean, is there anything from your standpoint that again goes back to the fact that you think you can— we could help and kind of streamlining, um, any violations through? I mean, I personally, I would like like a system between, hey, if you have the fire department, police department, Codes Department going around and we see something wrong, like I wish there was a system that we had that we could report something to go back on other than that 311 app.

Samantha Colosimo-Testa 30:44

I did hear that.

Samantha Colosimo-Testa 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.

Samantha Colosimo-Testa 35:13

It should have never been passed in place of what it was. And I don't care who sponsored it or who— I didn't vote for it because I knew that there was holes in it. With that said, I still think that it's the easier route to go to that vacant or the, the registry of apartment complexes and so on and so forth to be able to get somebody that's designated to it rather than having to prove all that, because now it puts it on the homeowners or those that own—

Samantha Colosimo-Testa 35:37

Yeah.

Samantha Colosimo-Testa 35:42

Well, we— I mean, we have, but it's been—

Samantha Colosimo-Testa 36:31

And I think that there was like a yearly update and I can't, I mean, we can obviously amend that, but I just, I don't know. That's all I was saying is that it would be easier, I think, to keep a hold of who's in those apartments if we could.

Samantha Colosimo-Testa 37:26

Right.

Samantha Colosimo-Testa 37:50

You found— I found an LLC that went to another LLC that went to another LLC that ended up being like from Michigan. And it's like, like, how is it even humanly possible that somebody's able to get that many LLCs under different names? And fortunately there's a registry that you can look it up, but it's not easy to find out who they were. That's why I said I mean, I remember when we were talking, and maybe not specifically with you, but maybe going to the water board, like somebody's got to pay the water, the water authority.

Samantha Colosimo-Testa 38:37

And that's obviously a state issue too. That's why I kind of—

Samantha Colosimo-Testa 39:02

That's definitely something that we could look at. That's all I got.

Samantha Colosimo-Testa 39:05

Thank you.

Samantha Colosimo-Testa 39:55

I think that the problem that they're facing, and I could be speaking out of turn, but Brian Thomas brought it up that there are more popping up and it's kind of not in the general vicinity of where a billboard should go. But that's why we put the moratorium originally, going back to the fact of how are we going to regulate it as best we can so that it kind of coincides with the district that they're going in.

Samantha Colosimo-Testa 41:13

there's Woods Valley, Macaulay, Macaulay Mountain, Snow Ridge.

Samantha Colosimo-Testa 41:28

No, he's talking about like actual kids that go to school. No, they don't have a physical pass. They have an ID number that they go by. But we— you can't that's not even something close to being able to release publicly.

Samantha Colosimo-Testa 42:13

if you go to Woods—

Samantha Colosimo-Testa 42:15

I know, but, but I'm just saying, if you go to Woods Valley, because there's nothing in our vicinity, it costs about $150 to $170 a day to go. And, and whatever you want to compare those to, I mean, I have no problem adjusting that. I just think that you have to pay for the cost that of who you have patrolling those. And Marques, thank you. I don't know if you're involved in this.

Samantha Colosimo-Testa 42:33

I'm sorry that we jumped in a bunch of topics.

Samantha Colosimo-Testa 42:37

But, you know, so thank you for answering the questions that you have. I mean, we jumped into another topic, so I didn't want to just ignore the fact that you were here and, you know, we're getting into something else. But I think that if you, if you really look at what it costs, um, to have to travel, because there really isn't something in our, in our area um, to be able to, to be able to ski it. I mean, I know that my son— I know my husband and my son are not going anywhere on winter break because they want to go home. They want to stay home and actually ski there because they did it last year and enjoyed themselves. So just to, just to look at the, the total picture of it, I mean, you know, we've got to look at where we're going and how we're getting there. And, and to be able to have something in our backyard, we've got to make it feasible so that we're not running into the the, the, the picture again of not being able to be able to fulfill skiing in a place that we live in. So just, just, just something.

Samantha Colosimo-Testa 43:57

But that's what I'm saying.

Samantha Colosimo-Testa 44:00

And here's the thing again, $58 to go, to go 45 minutes away. Again, I'm not disagreeing with the amounts. I have no problem if you guys— you guys are in the super majority, you can make them $0 if want to. My point is, is that I don't want to get into the point where we can no longer afford to be able to keep the ski lift open and the hard work that we've gotten in order to get it open. So whatever you guys decide, I am— I am no— that, that's on you guys. But here's the thing, what I'm going to say, but Jack, again, it's adult ages 13 to 64 is $58 a day and you have to drive 45 minutes to get there.

Samantha Colosimo-Testa 44:42

it's Woods Valley. It's Woods Valley.

Samantha Colosimo-Testa 44:48

Okay, but like, who's to say that?

Samantha Colosimo-Testa 45:09

So I think that half point of what they're able to do in Woods Valley for 4 hours a day, I mean, we're, we're less than that. Who's to say that people aren't going— I mean, I know I will no longer go to Woods Valley because I can now ski in Utica, New York. Like, and I know a lot of people that feel that way. So again, if you want to add discounted rates or so on and so forth to, to students and things like that, I have no problem doing that.

Samantha Colosimo-Testa 45:38

And, Jake, that's something— or, yeah, Joe, that's something that I have no problem doing. I'm just saying, if you look at the rates across the, across the scale, we're less than— more than half of what other people charge.

Samantha Colosimo-Testa 45:52

I wasn't never arguing with you. I was just kind of proving my point.

Samantha Colosimo-Testa 46:05

Well, we have— we could—

Samantha Colosimo-Testa 46:30

It's for us. That's what I'm saying. You could do a scale of adults, teens, juniors, seniors.

Samantha Colosimo-Testa 46:36

But, Jake, he's not— you don't have to agree with them. This is why it's in front of us, right? And that's all I'm saying is that if you're making my opinion—

Samantha Colosimo-Testa 46:45

I have no problem if you want to go through adults, teens, juniors, seniors, college, and active military, 70 All right, so it's under—

Samantha Colosimo-Testa 46:55

I mean, that's what it's—

Samantha Colosimo-Testa 47:09

Go ahead. I wasn't finished though, and I've got to go, so really quickly, they're, they're, they're doing a soft reopening on February 13th, and that's in time for the kids that are on spring break. So I think that if you guys want to discuss this, you call for a special meeting tomorrow and, and get it to the— yeah, get it going, because we've got to get these rates going so that they know who they can employ, who they have to pay, how much money it's going to bring in. And that's, that's all I have to say. So I would, I would like to call for a special meeting tomorrow at 5:30 or 5 o'clock to get it going on the discussion, but I have to go.

Samantha Colosimo-Testa 1:41:16

I've got nothing. Thank you, Mr. President.

Samantha Colosimo-Testa 1:42:48

Thank you.

Samantha Colosimo-Testa 1:47:15

Um, the only reservation I have on this is I did ask for an updated fund balance balance on the fund balance, and I have yet to receive it. I'll vote for this, but just to put on record and notice that I would like it as soon as possible.

Samantha Colosimo-Testa 1:49:57

5— is there any possibility? Because I actually like to call a public safety meeting, um, to go over some complaints that I've received in regards to, uh, pest complaints and a couple of other things that I think that it needs to be addressed.

Samantha Colosimo-Testa 1:50:17

I called for— I mean, I called for a meeting at for a committee meeting, say again, about a month or two ago for People's First on a separate date. I mean, so if we could do a joint meeting, I don't mind waiting until 5 o'clock the following week. And I would like to invite, um, People First to give us an update on their properties and then hold a public safety committee meeting. What's next? Next week's, uh, yeah, that's fine. I just wanted to give everybody enough time to, to be able to gather it, so I didn't want to call it.

Samantha Colosimo-Testa 1:51:01

yeah, I would like to call the meeting tentatively for, for— I'll do January 28th, and then obviously if they can't come in attendance, then I'll let the council know.

Samantha Colosimo-Testa 1:51:13

Is everybody— 5 o'clock's good for everybody?

Samantha Colosimo-Testa 1:51:25

Um, the only other thing, I mean, Stephanie, we do have that local law, so you're here and you've been here a couple of times in regards to it. So if you want to speak on it tonight, I mean, I have no problem bringing that local law out. I mean, it's, it's been sitting on the table, so we've got you here here, and I don't want to waste your time to come for no reason.

Samantha Colosimo-Testa 1:52:49

I mean, listen, it's— the city could have a little liability, and that's— I don't think holding it off on any longer.

Samantha Colosimo-Testa 1:53:01

I think that we clarified a couple of the things that needed to be adjusted.

Samantha Colosimo-Testa 1:53:18

But it would be local law number 1 of 2026.

Samantha Colosimo-Testa 7:47

Is it going to be the same?

Samantha Colosimo-Testa 8:35

Second.

Samantha Colosimo-Testa 9:20

Second, anyone?

Samantha Colosimo-Testa 9:27

And we actually have to have names on these. They can't just say majority and minority leader because it's got to actually be the person that's the actual sponsor. So it could say— it could say Majority Leader, whoever that is, with the last name, and then Minority Leader with that last name.

Samantha Colosimo-Testa 9:47

No, then we should have did that first. But that's why I just— just, just for future, that's not—

Samantha Colosimo-Testa 10:05

Sorry, they gotta be two separate pieces of legislation.

Samantha Colosimo-Testa 10:08

The majority leader's got to be one and the minority leader's got to be another one. Did we do those in the same one last year? I don't remember doing it the same. I thought there were two separate ones.

Samantha Colosimo-Testa 11:03

Second anyone? I'll second.

Samantha Colosimo-Testa 11:19

Mr. President, I'd like to make a Motion to introduce, um, or propose resolution number 11. Is the rules of order designated? Who said number 11?

Samantha Colosimo-Testa 12:35

Yes, we just put it in the format. Is it just the section of Committee of the Whole?

Samantha Colosimo-Testa 14:09

So that's the best way it works at the South Utica meeting.

Samantha Colosimo-Testa 14:13

Motion open the table for discussion.

Samantha Colosimo-Testa 14:22

I think these rules were based on the recommendation from Councilman LoMedico at the South Utica meeting when he said— stated that the subcommittees work the best. So I think that that's where these originated from.

Samantha Colosimo-Testa 17:16

Right?

Samantha Colosimo-Testa 20:44

Sorry, legislation number 5, resolution number 5 is the same rules of order as last year, right?

Samantha Colosimo-Testa 22:10

That must be the one that's on ECODES. They probably never updated.

Samantha Colosimo-Testa 24:06

they're just doing the roll call.

Samantha Colosimo-Testa 24:29

yeah, thank you.

Samantha Colosimo-Testa 25:13

Thank you so much.

Samantha Colosimo-Testa 25:58

You can do any day, we can amend it. You're going to vote on 12?

Samantha Colosimo-Testa 26:44

5 nays, 6 nays, defeated.

Samantha Colosimo-Testa 27:28

6A is adopted.

Samantha Colosimo-Testa 30:30

I don't want an E&A. Okay, unless you—

Samantha Colosimo-Testa 30:36

Okay, she didn't go anyway, so it didn't make a difference.

Samantha Colosimo-Testa 30:47

So who do you want?

Samantha Colosimo-Testa 31:20

Motion.

Samantha Colosimo-Testa 32:18

Second.

Samantha Colosimo-Testa 34:14

I'd like to make a motion to put resolution number 11 in the committee.