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Home My WebLink AboutMN-CLC-2019-06-17PRESEN Commis OTHER Hallett-H EXCUSE Meeting Review in favor Introduc Public A Mural su currently post; ske They did Questio question paint ca consider regardin Caleb fr city attor object; lo of the ap actual m drawing water? C say she currently advised treatmen address favor. Reportin working CO CO NT: Chair ssioners (8) S PRESEN Harris; Dan ED: Byrne g called to and Appro with except ction of mem Art: Alex P ubcommitte y for the site etch attach d receive pu ons: Hillson ns about su n chip may r and what ng safety co om Ithaca M rney to che ooks like a pplied sketc mural; she s . Swayze & Committee wanted the y on the pill members t nt and safe ed – Hillson ng back on group and OMMUN OMMIS r Swayze ): Keeler, S NT: Commo Cogan e, Bakhle C order: 6:0 oval of Min tion of Hall mbers to ne Phillips – P ee provided e of Colum ed to the m ublic comm n stated he urface of pill y not hold m measures oncerns/liab Murals – wo eck on this. crucifix and ch on the im stated in he & Hillson ha doesn’t dec e higher up lar and the that CLC do ty? Provisio n 1st made forming pu d has backg NITY LI SSION M Scriber, Hills on Council Common Co 04 p.m. nutes: May ewly appoin Public Art M recommen bia Street P minutes; equ ments on mu e spoke with lars may ne mural as we of artist to c bility for this orkers com Fleming ha d it may be mage of the r descriptio ad question cide on exa one as les potential of o vote on m onal approv motion with blic art wor ground info IFE MINUTE son, Hall & Liaison: Fle ouncil Liaiso y 20, 2019 nted membe Murals ndation for 2 Pedestrian uipment pro ural and the h former pa eed to be tr ll as a prop condition su s mural and mp exception ad question the ledge a e pillar; mor on that more ns regarding act location ss damage o f graffiti bei mural for ap val of mura h provisiona rking group rmation; gre ES & Keeler eming and on Lewis & Minutes: 1 er Joy Das. 2nd round o Bridge, bel ovided to a ere were no arks commis reated befo perly finishe urface prior d Alex state n as well pe ns on mural at the wate re fish and v e local fish g location o of mural o on the 2nd a ing done in pproval with al as long as al approval p; Keeler ha reat resourc Date: June Time: 6:00 Location: C 3rd Floor, Ci Executive & Hagood 1st Scriber a . of murals – low the brid rtist to pain o negative c ssioner and ore mural ca ed surface; r to painting ed he would er Alex; he l – no ration erfalls, that i various thin species inc on pillar clo n pillar, but and there is future. Ch h two conce s those con l and 2nd Sc as pulled tog ce used wa 17, 2019 PM Common Cou ity Hall Assistant and Das 2nd 1 proposal dge, on the nt this mura comments; d asked an be put o something g; equipme d speak to will talk wit nal grounds is the produ ngs in the cluded in th ser to the t the artist d s graffiti hair Swayze erns: pillar ncerns are criber – all i gether a sm s uncil Chamber d - all l; n; to nt th s to uct he did e in mall rs, Community Life Commission June 17, 2019 2 americanforthe arts website; have bigger ideas from bigger group and use advisors and then smaller group with more detail; 6 are in the group, including Keeler have committed to working group; the next steps prepare report that shows who will be advisors and submit that to the City; after that, then prepare Commission Project Plans from us we want to work on: Public Art Funding possible percent for arts, and these are next two steps. Do we need to vote members of this working group? Commission Project Plan – Keeler creating; will list the working group and have a list of people; and what we want as advisors? What they will be working on and this Commission Project Plan will establish a working group for one year and if needs to be continued can be renewed – purpose and deliverables of working group per Dan Cogan; Chair and Rusty to get together and do Commission Project Plan filled out and ready to go; Dan Cogan, Chief of Staff – City Budget Overview; Power Point presentation of budget process that is now underway - June 2019; Budget has tight timetable and some process constraints; Dan will send pdf of this presentation to Jody; Overall city budget is approximately $75.8 million and comprised of 7 funds that make up the City Budget and biggest is the General Fund and where most of city is paid from it is approximately 79% of budget and where taxes are; other funds: Water fund – paid for out of water fees; Sewer fund - sewer fees; Stormwater fund – fee for service by charging for street cleaning, curbing, etc., Sidewalk fund – all properties in city pay into fund; Solid waste fund – trash tags; Operating pay as we go budget, covers all things we do all year, people, parts, supplies, etc., vs. Capital Budget which is buy now, pay later budget – intended for larger investments (new buildings, garages, etc.) long term benefits to the community; borrow for equipment, vehicles that get replaced each year, repaving roads, etc. Currently the debt limit is 71% (set by state)- compared to other cities it is about average; bond rating is double AA2 second/third highest bond rating. General fund expenditures by department reviewed (2018), overall 72% personnel, 13% debt service and 15% Other expenditures (contracts, maintenance, parts, travel, training, equipment, etc.). Fringe is 30% (retirement, insurance, etc.). Money comes from the different way, one biggest is property tax and Common Council decides each year what this will be. The last several years NYS Tax Cap permanent which limits local governments which tax cap is 2%; $2.1 billion in taxable property, tax exempt property is $2.6 billion. Ithaca has the highest tax exempt property in state. Giving feel for the constraints that City is operating under. Total number of employees for the City rose till 2011-2012 then had to cut drastically. Health insurance costs, salaries, pension costs into NYS Retirement, debt service costs and $130 million currently in debt. State aid has flattened out and has not increased. Capital budget process was discussed, the call that went out to departments for capital project requests, May they are submitted to Planning Department and in June/July goes to Capital Review Committee and they make recommendations for this, the committee consists of: Controller, Superintendent of Public Works, Director of Planning Building & Development and Dan Cogan. This year they received $24 million in requests, they need to get them down to $4-5 million. In August the final recommended list will be released to staff/council. Community Life Commission June 17, 2019 3 Mayor’s Guidelines issued this week, and usually ask for 1.5% increase – In August departments submit their budgets and then Mayor and Dan review in August/September and goes to Common Council October 2nd. Council then has 6 meetings to review the budget and make modifications, there is special meetings that focuses on a specific budget, questions, etc., that will be next week and then they adopt the budget in the November meeting. Deadline for CLC or other commission to make any budget request should be done by May/June, would need to start working on proposal in January/February. Once the Operating Budget is set and Common Council sets tax rate for next year, they cannot change it later. Fiscal year is January – January. Question regarding tax abatement and process; property tax; Shopping Cart remedy by CLC and if Chair put this in August meeting, smaller costs involved should be mentioned then. f there is leveraging issue, if someone matched funds requested or part of the funds, Council could evaluate considering private donation, etc. Get in before August meeting for Mayor’s Recommended Budget and/or Common Council. Questions regarding what size figure of money threshold, around $5,000. Questions regarding grants, and Dan stated that the City doesn’t have big enough grants to have someone that exclusively handles those. Council passed participatory budgeting that was passed a few years ago (2018)? Cornell Follow up - Hillson & Byrne - Byrne excused from meeting, Hillson will report next month – has been gathering documents CLC Shopping Carts – Scriber & Bakhle – Scriber spoke with Ducson today and whether some of the stuff was sent to us and if they wanted new ideas? Bakhle has spoken with Jeanne Grace and gotten more information regarding where the carts are and who has them. What issues? Where are the carts? Scriber has a call in Tompkins Community Action, Titus Towers and Wegmans and trying to get combination of current info and what are different issues/current issues they have? Get a representative group to make this actually work and see if we can find a solution, especially at Titus Towers. https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/anthropology-in-practice/why-dont-people-return- their-shopping-carts/ https://www.heraldnet.com/news/abandoned-shopping-carts-are-a-public-nuisance/ The above two links are information Scriber found online regarding other cities and shopping carts; discussed with Tompkins Community Action and they do offer a service to people to take them to the store and bring them back and this isn’t something Titus Towers can offer/do. City residents call Jeanne Grace’s office to come and remove carts that are left in the City. In the info that Ducson gave us, there is an ordinance already done and Chair suggests that they go back to that with info, not repeat steps and look at what’s already there. Ducson is open to changing the ordinance, but let’s not reinvent the wheel. The idea of charging $50 per cart fee is a little bit too expensive. The Commission Project Plan we should have initial report back for August/ September – November is the final deadline; Scriber away for August meeting; is there a need for more people for this shopping cart research? Bakhle away for summer currently Scriber would like one more person and will check with him; have group meeting before our CLC August meeting; think of issues in your area and report back and create report like Community Life Commission June 17, 2019 4 the flag policy; Scriber to work on with someone else if Bakhle isn’t back by then. Hall volunteered to look at the blogs that Scriber found; Jody to share the links. Next meeting to look at the background info and to dig into info. Hall to assist Scriber to get good sense of some the key issues and what some key people have to say – look at suggestions previously and now. Wegmans and Tops are the biggest and there is also Lowes, Home Depot and Walmart. Maybe schedule general meeting and invite them all for discussion. Wegmans very interested in sitting down and discussing. Maybe we could have Bakhle dig into research and see who are the big players? What about the people that need carts and what will happen when we take shopping carts out of the equation? Is there a way to help those people that need them, like Titus Towers, Northside neighbors or Gadabout for shopping? Maybe contact those businesses to see? Homeless use them to carry all their belongings and basically live in them and take shopping carts for carrying all their belongings or collecting cans. Create some kind of effort through Tompkins Community Action, Titus, etc., as well as those people who get snap payments once a month that cannot ride the bus with large amounts of groceries, not all underlying issues can be addressed – point out what is already in place or make on broader scale or suggestion of what can be worked on. Scriber called the housing person at Titus and what the issues are? Bakhle spoke with Jeanne Grace largest carts are at Titus Towers and Wood Street, which is public housing in the area. Please look over blog, and info and any suggestions from members, please reach out to Scriber; she will see what Bakhle can do not being here. July 15, 2019 - Next meeting more info/research from Byrne & Hillson for Cornell follow up; Commission Project Plan for Art; shopping cart research follow up from Scriber & Bakhle. Chair gave reminder for all members must take the Sexual Harassment Training and the link was emailed to everyone on the Commission and the deadline is September. Joy hasn’t gotten link and needs info for this sexual harassment training. Flag Policy will be presented at CA Mtg; Hall & Chair to present this; advocates buy the flag so it won’t get held up; make sure that the correct size of the flag; 3x5 flag is too small; the flag should be smaller then the American Flag; should be researched and followed up on ASAP. They should reach out to DPW to see what the size of the advocate flags should be or check with Steve Nann. Wednesday is the CA Mtg., Chair & Hall to reach out for the actual size of the advocate flag. 7:47 pm Adjourned Next Meeting: Monday, August 19, 2019, 6:00 p.m., Common Council Chambers, 3rd Floor Adjournment: On a motion, the meeting was adjourned at 7:47 p.m. Respectfully Submitted by, Jody Hallett-Harris, Executive Assistant