Reorganizational Meeting - Tonawanda



Council Chambers

Tonawanda, New York

December 15, 2020

A Regular Meeting of the Common Council

Present: Council President Koch

Present Councilmember’s: Newman, Kammerdeiner, Rautenstrauch, Mileham

Pledge of Allegiance led by Council President Koch

Prayer provided by Associate Chaplain Rick Oates and read by Council President Koch.

COMMUNICATIONS FROM THE MAYOR

Letter from the Mayor to NYPA regarding the Street Light Conversion Project

Letter from the Mayor appointing Skip Johnson as City Historian with a term that expires on December 31, 2021

COMMUNICATIONS FROM CITY OFFICIALS AND CORRESPONDENCE

Communication from Treasurer – Rev. & Expenditure Report as of November 30, 2020

2020 Overtime YTD Report from the Treasurer thru November 30, 2020

Letter from National Grid regarding the City’s need to register with the National Joint Utilities Notification System

Letter from City Attorney to Bulldog Business Park notifying them that Pollock Holdings is exercising their Right of First Refusal on the property located at 359 Wheeler Street

Board of Appeals November and December 2020 Meeting Minutes

Monthly Activity Report of the Fire Department for November 2020

City Clerk Monthly Report for November 2020

Letter from Dale Kokanovich of the Tonawanda Housing Authority regarding the possible use of the THA Community Room as a resource for Tonawanda Seniors

Email from Treasurer to the Common Council regarding notification from the Office of the State Comptroller that 20% of the state aid has been withheld by the State

Referred to the Committee of the Whole

Ordered filed

COMMENTS BY THE PUBLIC ON RESOLUTIONS

The Tonawanda Common Council, in an effort to conduct business in a timely fashion and maintain an open line of communication with the public, welcomes comments on resolutions and other City business.

• Persons wishing to speak and be recognized by the President of the Common Council are to be courteous, respectful, non-repetitive and brief.

• All questions and/or comments should be addressed to the President of the Common Council.

• Please state your name and address clearly for inclusion in the Common Council minutes. In the event any person wishes a response outside the confines of the Common Council meeting, please leave all necessary contact information with the City Clerk after the meeting.

• Persons may address the Common Council during (2) separate sessions of the meeting for a total of 30 minutes per session. Once prior to the resolutions and also after the resolutions prior to Common Council comments.

• Individuals may speak a total of (3) minutes per speaker per session. The President of the Common Council will adhere to this (3) minute guideline in an effort to allow everyone an opportunity to speak who wishes to do so.

• The President of the Common Council reserves the Council’s right to limit or expand upon these limits as he/she may deem necessary and prudent.

• Usage of cell phones other than for emergency is prohibited during all Council Sessions.

MOTIONS AND RESOLUTIONS

171. By Councilmember Kammerdeiner seconded by Councilmember Newman

Resolved, that the Common Council minutes from December 15, 2020 be accepted as filed.

Ayes: Newman, Kammerdeiner, Rautenstrauch, Mileham, Koch

Nays: None

Resolution declared adopted

172. By Councilmember Mileham seconded by Councilmember Newman

Resolved, that the bills be allowed as audited.

Ayes: Newman, Kammerdeiner, Rautenstrauch, Mileham, Koch

Nays: None

Resolution declared adopted

173. By Councilmember Kammerdeiner seconded by Councilmember Rautenstrauch

Resolved that the following individuals be named Commissioner of Deeds for the City of Tonawanda, term to expire December 31, 2022:

Jason J. Balling, Stephen Bentley, Lynn Burke, Gina Butcher, Amanda L. Butcher, Jamin J. Butcher, Robert I. Clontz, Rickie Davis Jr., Patricia S. Dudek, Eric Foels, Fredric Foels, Kyle J. Gallivan, Charles Gilbert, Thomas C. Harmon, Dawn Kammerdeiner, Joel Kammerdeiner, Kori Kammerdeiner, Adam R. Kirisits, Nicholas Kirkwood, Karen L. Kisloski, Thomas B. Kitson, Phyllis M. Kivler, Jenna Koch, Dale C. Kokanovich, David J. Kraft, Bryan Lavey, David B. Ljiljanich, David Mileham, Marlene Mileham, Thomas A. Newman, Vincent D. Ostrowski, Coleen M. Overholt, Joseph R. Rank II, Sean M. Rautenstrauch, Caitlin Rech, Brian J. Scarpena, Katie M. Schultz, Nathan J. Schultz, Scott A. Sheehan, Lea Stachura, William L. Strassburg II, Kevin A. Ulmer, Amanda Voisinet, Mathew Wark, Steven Warthling, Frank Washburn, Jr., Thomas Will, Jr.

Ayes: Newman, Kammerdeiner, Rautenstrauch, Mileham, Koch

Nays: None

Resolution declared adopted

174. By the Council seconded by the Council

Resolved, that Common Council authorizes the City Treasurer to utilize a portion of the proceeds from the sale of property located within the Spaulding Commerce Park for the rehabilitation of the existing fishing pier, replacement of the floating docks on Ellicott Creek, and installation of new police docks and boat lift.

Funding/Fiscal Impact: Up to $80,000 from Spaulding Commerce Park sale

Ayes: Newman, Kammerdeiner, Rautenstrauch, Mileham, Koch

Nays: None

Resolution declared adopted

175. By Councilmember Kammerdeiner seconded by Councilmember Newman

WHEREAS, the title of this Resolution/Ordinance has been published at least once in a newspaper of general circulation on December 4, 2020, in accordance with Section 2.047 of the City Charter.

NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, that Chapter 62 entitled TRAFFIC AND VEHICLES, Article 5. TRAFFIC SCHEDULES, DIVISION 2. STOPPING, STANDING AND PARKING, Section 62-201. Schedule XXIII: Handicapped parking areas, shall be amended to remove the following:

Name of Street Side Location

Broad Street - In front of 60 Broad Street

AND FURTHER BE IT RESOLVED that Chapter 62 entitled TRAFFIC AND VEHICLES, Article 5. TRAFFIC SCHEDULES, DIVISION 2. STOPPING, STANDING AND PARKING, Section 62-201. Schedule XXIII Handicapped parking areas, of the Tonawanda City Code shall be amended as follows:

Name of Street Side Location

Scott Street - From a point 82 feet to 114 feet

east of the curb line of William Street

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that all other Sections of Said Ordinance shall remain unchanged and in full force and effect; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the above amendments shall take effect upon publication of its title in an official newspaper of the City of Tonawanda.

Ayes: Newman, Kammerdeiner, Rautenstrauch, Mileham, Koch

Nays: None

Resolution declared adopted

176. By the Council seconded by the Council

LOCAL LAW No. 3 - 2020

A Local Law amending Chapter 110 – Taxation “Article 3 Real Property Taxation”, Division 3 – Tax Assessment Procedures, subdivision 3- Board of Assessment Review, Section 110-152 number of members; qualification of members.

BE IT RESOLVED by the Common Council for the City of Tonawanda that proposed Local Law No. 3 for the year 2020, entitled:

A Local Law amending Chapter 110 – Taxation “Article 3 Real Property Taxation”, Division 3 – Tax Assessment Procedures, subdivision 3 – Board of Assessment Review, Section 110-152 number of members; qualification of members.

be and it is hereby introduced before the Common Council of the City of Tonawanda, New York; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that copies of the aforesaid proposed Local Law be laid upon the desk of each member of the Common Council by the City Clerk in accordance with the NYS Municipal Home Rule Law, a copy of said Local Law is attached hereto and made a part hereof.

Local Law No. 3 - 2020

Amend the number of members on the Board of Assessment Review to five members

• Sec. 110-152. - Number of members; qualifications of members shall be amended to read as follow:

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The board of assessment review shall consist of five members appointed by the common council. Each board member shall be subject to the qualification and training requirements set forth in the Real Property Tax Law.

Ayes: Newman, Kammerdeiner, Rautenstrauch, Mileham, Koch

Nays: None

Resolution declared adopted

177. By Council President Koch seconded by Councilmember Kammerdeiner

Resolved, the following City of Tonawanda residents are hereby appointed to serve on the Senior Citizens Committee: Lindsay Dzielski, Norma Kitzmiller, Ronald Pilozzi, Charles Stuart, Dorothy Vaughan and Denise Young.

  Resolved, that the named committee will hereby appoint a chairperson; and 

Resolved, the City Clerk will send appointment letters to each committee person; and 

Be it further resolved, the committee will provide the Common Council with their recommendations no later than April 1, 2021. 

Ayes: Newman, Kammerdeiner, Rautenstrauch, Mileham, Koch

Nays: None

Resolution declared adopted

178. By the Council seconded by the Council

WHEREAS, the City of North Tonawanda has been approved for and is receiving funding from NYSDOT, East Hill Foundation, Ralph C. Wilson Jr. Foundation, and Greenway Fund Committee for a project known as the Bike Path Connection to the Empire State Trail, PIN 5763.51; and

WHEREAS, such funding is allocated for construction of a new paved bike/pedestrian trail between the existing Riverwalk Trail and the Empire State Trail, resurfacing the existing trail from the southern terminus to Gratwick Park, and landscaping enhancements along the entire trail; and

WHEREAS, such treatments shall occur on both City of North Tonawanda and City of Tonawanda rights-of-way, permission from the City of Tonawanda is required to allow the City of North Tonawanda access to City of Tonawanda streets for such construction, which will include the placement of pavement markings; and

WHEREAS, the City of Tonawanda has received a proposed agreement with the City of North Tonawanda entitled Federal-Aid Local Project Inter Municipal Agreement Release to Perform Contract Work on Public Land (the "Agreement"); and

WHEREAS, the City of Tonawanda Common Council has reviewed the proposed Agreement and recommended approval; and

THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, that the City of Tonawanda Common Council does hereby approve the proposed agreement and authorizes the Mayor to execute the Agreement on behalf of the City of Tonawanda; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that this resolution shall take effect immediately but the Agreement is contingent upon approval by the City of North Tonawanda and execution of the Agreement by the representative of the City of North Tonawanda.

Ayes: Newman, Kammerdeiner, Rautenstrauch, Mileham, Koch

Nays: None

Resolution declared adopted

.

COMMENTS BY THE PUBLIC AFTER RESOLUTIONS

No Comments

COMMENTS BY THE COUNCILMEMBERS AFTER RESOLUTIONS

Council Member Newman - Thank you Madam President, all I have to say is 2020 is going to be coming to a close and can’t come soon enough, quite honestly. 2020 has been daunting. I do want to say it has been a pleasure working with you all for the past two years now. You guys all do a great job, we do great work together as a team. Had a lot of hurdles, that’s all I have. I just want to wish everybody a very Merry Christmas, Happy and Healthy New Year and bring on 2021. That’s all I have Madam President.

Council Member Kammerdeiner - Thank you Madam President. First, I would like to start out to say, farewell to Robin Schimminger thank you for your dedicated service to the City for as long as 44 years. Good luck in your new endeavors. I like to say the same thing. From my family to yours, have a happy Healthy Christmas and New Years. You guys are awesome we have had many hurdles this year. Hopefully 2021 will be a little bit better for us, other than that, that’s all I have Madam President.

Council Member Rautenstrauch - Thank you Madam President, I would like to start with Clinton Park, I have been driving by it, and it’s my neighborhood. It looks beautiful, I would like to say great job to our Parks Department. To Mandy for, the amazing job you guys have done with that. It’s unfortunate we were unable to gather around for Santa and see the lightings of the tree like we have in the past. I would like to make note, congratulations to Skip Johnson in regards to being named our City Historian. I am shocked that he wasn’t already our City Historian, so it’s great to see that. Congrats to Skip. Congratulations to Melissa Lang, I heard you are joining Bill Conrad in his department with the new position. Thanks to you, thanks for covering the City of Tonawanda for good or for bad. It’s great to have someone covering our community and doing it fairly and doing a great job. You will be missed, respect what you have done for our City. I mentioned the police survey earlier if you know anyone who sees that and wants to add to it for the police reform community and just have any comments or questions we are still gathering information and to tag on, Congratulations to Robin Schimminger you have done a great job for many years you have serviced our City and our Community. I hope to continue to hear stories of your time at Bishop Turner. I hope to see you again, you have been a great help to me in the time I have been involved in politics. It’s been great getting to know you over the years. Beyond that, I want to wish everyone peace, love and joy and good health as we celebrate the holidays with all of our traditions. Merry Christmas, from my family to yours, to everyone in our community, and everyone watching. Thank you all.

Council Member Mileham - Thank you Madam President. Going forth every week you sound like a broken record. Everybody knows what a challenging year it’s been. Rather than focus on how bad it’s been I think if we take a look at what’s been going on in the City in the last couple of months and a couple of weeks we are heading on an up swing. A very positive note it’s been a pleasure to work with everybody. I would like to wish everybody in the city a Merry Christmas, Happy New Year and whatever holiday you celebrate, if you celebrate, I hope it’s joyous and healthy, especially healthy this year. I would also like to say congratulations to Mr. Schimminger. It struck me when you went to an event with him and he would speak, the vast knowledge he would have about everybody in the room. You never felt like an outsider when he was around. He would include you in an off the cuff speech, he was a very remarkable person who has done more in the 44 years that we could ever, ever even put a speech to cover that. Thank you, I wish you a long and healthy retirement. I’m going to wrap it up there. Take a ride around the City take a look at some of these amazing houses people have gone above and beyond in their decorating. Melissa, I would like to wish you luck in your new endeavor you will be missed greatly. With that, I will turn it over to you. Thank you, Madam President.

Mayor Rick Davis - Thank you Madam President. Like to thank our 3, I call them our Big 3 City Unions over the holidays they really stepped up. Their donation efforts, donated to the VVA, Salvation Army, St. Francis food pantry, National Honor Society, Christmas for Kids. I just want to give them little kiddos for their generous donations during this Pandemic. Robin Schimminger started off in politics before I had a social security number and I always kid him about that. He and my Grandfather use to sit in my Grandfather’s garage, while they use to make the old silk screen cardboard lawn signs that we all, that I enjoyed running through while I was a kid. I can’t say enough good things about the man. He gave me my conspicuous service medal, back in the 90’s. I was home on leave. He has been an immense help of securing many grants for the City not only the time before I was Mayor but my time as Mayor. I believe he was the longest serving member of the Assembly at the time he is going to retire. He is tied for first I think, there is another person in the assembly that has served the same amount of time as he has, but because his last name starts with “S” and the other individual starts with “G” they are higher on the seniority list because of alphabetical order. I wish Robin and his beautiful wife the best of luck and God Speed, in the next chapter in their life. God knows he has earned it. Dave mentioned the lights around the City, life has gotten in the way for me judging a lot of the submittals we have had on our lighting contest. I hope to finish that up by the end of the week. We will post on social media the winners, so everybody can check the out before the lights come down. I would like to take this opportunity not only to thank everybody this Zoom call and the Council but department heads and the city employees for probably the most trying year this City has had. probably since the Pandemic of 1918. Our work isn’t done unfortunately. I like to think psychology flipping the calendar to 2021 is going to make magically things better. I have a feeling that it’s going to be a dark few months to start off 2021. If everybody socially distances and wears masks and gets the vaccine whenever it rolls out. 2021 will end a lot better than 2020 ended. Please remember to wear that mask. Finally, just like to wish everyone Merry Christmas, Happy New Year, Happy Kwanzaa, Happy Festivus, Happy Hanukkah and any other holiday that anybody celebrates at this time of year. Thank you, Madam President.

Council President Koch - Thank you Mayor. Everybody has gone before me the spoke so eloquently it’s hard to believe this is our last Council meeting of the year. It’s been a pleasure working with everybody. I wish you and your families all the best. It saddens be that we are not going to leave City Hall and go to Squires to celebrate. It’s 2020 and I just wish you all well. I want to give a shoot out to our Rockin with Santa crew. It was such a challenging year, but they did an excellent job in providing gifts to families in our community. Thank you to John White, and his crew for putting Rockin with Santa together for another year. It is hard to believe that we did not have a designated City Historian. I think we have all looked to Skip for fun facts about our City, he is certainty well versed in our City’s history. Kiddos to him, there’s nobody better. Certainly, I hope we can get him a name plate for him or some sort of recognition for him. Congratulations to him. I have had the pleasure of knowing Assemblyman Schimminger for quite a while, you could meet him at any function he will tell everybody in the room what your address is. He knows your address by heart. If you only lived in that house for a year, he will know your address prior to that. He has done amazing things for our community. I do wish him and his family well. The cat is out of the bag for Melissa, congratulations to you and your new role. I wish you the utmost success in working with now Assemblyman Bill Conrad. With that said everybody you have done such a great job this year from the Mayor’s office, Department Heads, every single one of us since March recognize that we really need to step up to the plate and combat the Pandemic as best we could. The Department Heads did an incredible job with offering recommendations for cost saving measures so that we could help steer this ship. I agree, I hope 2021, January 1st we can look beyond the Pandemic. The reality is, I think it will be in our fore site for a couple months. With that said, please continue to wear a mask and follow the guidelines. There is light at the end of the tunnel with a vaccine. There have been a lot of efforts that have taken place in order to bring this to our communities. With that said, guys you have done such a remarkable job. I wish you all the best, here’s to 2021. Merry Christmas, Happy Holiday’s, enjoy.

ADJOURNMENT

179. By Council President Koch seconded by Councilmember Rautenstrauch

Resolved, that this Common Council adjourn until January 5, 2021.

Ayes Newman, Kammerdeiner, Rautenstrauch, Mileham, Koch

Nays: None

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City Clerk

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Mayor

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Date Filed

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