FULTON – The Fulton Common Council met for the final time this year and passed the city’s 2022 budget as well as two amendments to the city code.
The meeting began with public comment, when Frank Castiglia Jr. inquired about a few things. He asked about a change in director at the Community Development Agency – Mayor Deana Michaels later said the assistant director is currently the interim director for a 45 day period before a final decision is made.
Castiglia also spoke of the statewide mask mandate. He said while he disagrees with the majority of what comes out of Albany, he does agree with the mask mandate.
“Nobody wants to go back to where everything is shut down, and a mask mandate stops that,” Castiglia said. “I for one do not want to see businesses shut down because we have not followed suit and kept things in check.”
He pointed out that while there is a sign at the front of City Hall requiring a face mask to be worn inside and the meeting is set up to allow for social distancing, he believes the mayor’s views on mandates to be contradictory and can be confusing.
“I do stand by what I said, that I don’t think mandates work and I don’t think that we can enforce it,” Michaels said. “I’m not going to put my police or codes [department] out there to enforce it because it’s not going to work. Mandates don’t work because people are going to do what they choose to do, and no one should have to be forced to try to enforce the masking when they’re going to be met with resistance time and time and time again… We’re going to keep doing our best to keep everyone safe and keep everyone protected and encourage everyone to do the right thing, whatever you deem is the right thing.”
A public hearing on an amendment to the city code on “Signs, Billboards and Banners” was still open from the previous meeting. No one spoke during this time and so it was closed and voted on. The councilors in attendance voted to approve it.
First Ward Councilor Tom Kenyon has been absent for several months and Sixth Ward Councilor Larry Macner was absent from last night’s meeting.
Another public hearing was then opened to discuss an amendment to the city code on “Nuisances.” Mayor Michaels said this policy has been in the works for a year and a half. The council has worked with the police, codes and fire departments and the city’s legal team. She said she did not want to just copy what other cities have done.
Michaels explained that the new policy includes a point system where each violation adds up and if a certain level is reached, then consequences will kick in.
Castiglia inquired further on the policy, specifically what happens.
Michaels pointed out section 435-6 “Civil Remedies” in the new policy (which can be found in the meeting agenda, which include permanent injunction, temporary closing order, temporary restraining order, temporary injunction and civil penalties.
The public hearing closed and the council voted in favor of the resolution.
The final public hearing was for the 2022 budget. This public hearing had been kept open since the last meeting.
Michaels said the budget is coming in at a very slight decrease – 0.0003%. Castiglia, Michaels and City Clerk/Chamberlain Dan O’Brien then discussed taking money out of the fund balance. Michaels said because the city lost about $300,000 from when Attis stopped operating, and to make up for that lost revenue, they either had to raise water, sewer, and refuse rates or use some of the fund balance – not general fund balance – on reserve for water, sanitation and garbage.
“We didn’t think it was fair to those that are paying water, sewer and garbage to raise their rates at this point when we could take some fund balance – there’s no policy, we’re not below any limit that we need to be, and that’s what we chose to do for that,” Michaels said. “For the general fund, we did not have to touch fund balance. There’s a policy that dictates that. We’re within policy. No fund balance was affected at all on the general side.”
Castiglia said if something happens at the sewer plant, etc., there would not be enough money in the fund balance to cover the cost, and would end up needing to bond for it.
O’Brien explained the city does not have a reserve fund. Michaels said she went to a training to create a reserve fund to make larger purchases, but that it is a complicated process.
They then talked about what would happen if sewer and garbage were privatized. Castiglia said he believes the city should, and Michaels disagreed, saying if that were to happen, the city would not have any say in the rates.
“For the record, this is not a false budget,” Michaels said. “Fund balance in the general fund was not affected. We looked at revenue, we looked at expenses, and we looked at taxes. That’s what we used to balance the budget. Water, sanitation, refuse and garbage funds are separate. The end users are not just tax payers. The end users are anyone who receives that service. Taxes do not affect those three budgets.”
The council then voted and approved the General budget, Water budget, Sanitation budget and Refuse & Garbage budget.
The council also approved all other items on the agenda.
- The amount of taxes to be levied in the City of Fulton for the city government purposes of 2022 in the amount of $6,888,452.00
- Minutes from the November 20 and December 7 meetings.
- Write offs for uncollected water, sewer, and garbage charges for two city-owned properties acquired through foreclosure. The amounts are $896.53 and $553.30.
- Tentative agreement with Fulton Police Benevolent Association.
- Shared services agreement with NYSDOT.
Councilor Comments:
Second Ward Councilor Doug Chapman thanked those in attendance for coming and wished everyone a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.
Third Ward Councilor Don Patrick Jr. thanked the mayor, council, department heads, and city clerk/chamberlain for their work in the budget process.
Fourth Ward Councilor John Kenyon, who attended his last meeting last night, said his experience as a councilor was a learning process and that it was never boring. He appreciates the department heads who helped with any issues he had. He said he made some good friends on the council. He also requested Castiglia to write something positive in his published opinion pieces. He wished Ethan Parkhurst luck when he takes over the seat on January 1.
Fifth Ward Councilor/President Audrey Avery said Sixth Ward Councilor Larry Macner asked her to pass along his thanks to the city departments as he is currently in Canada. He also thanked First Ward Councilor Tom Kenyon and Fourth Ward Councilor John Kenyon for their work on the council. Avery said she supports the mayor’s statement on the mask mandate.
Mayor Deana Michaels said the year has had its downs but also had its ups. She thanked councilors John Kenyon and Tom Kenyon.
She also said the city will be revisiting the yard waste policy in the new year. She welcomed Dan Farfaglia (first ward) and Ethan Parkhurst (fourth ward) to the council, and announced the swearing in ceremony will be held January 1 at 4 p.m. by invite and ticket only.
Lastly, she said the city worked with Davis Standard to solve a shoreline issue. The city applied for some grants to stabilize the shoreline along the canal, and was approved to receive just short of $1.2 million for this project. They also received a smaller grant for a study for the wastewater treatment plant. They are waiting to hear back on another larger grant.
“Thank you for being with us all throughout the year, for being supportive, for being constructive, and for being engaged and involved,” Michaels said, wrapping up the last meeting of 2021.
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Politics ahead of public health and safety. Why are we not doing educational/information meeting for our citizens? The mayor says she is not going to enforce the masking mandates that were put in place for the protection of our vaccinated citizens and those children that are not able to be vaccinated at this time. I am guessing that less than 10% of our city employees are vaccinated. Do you want city employees coming in your home spreading the virus? Is the mayor vaccinated? The City of Fulton has had the highest number of confirmed positivity cases in the county. Wake up Mayor and do whats right for the community. Vaccinations save lives!!!
So let’s see the Mayor and the President of CC don’t care if the businesses have to close down. They are going against what the City of Oswego and the County Chairman are doing. They are enforcing the mask mandate in their buildings but not the city of Fulton, they are only asking. If our leaders aren’t leading they are not leaders. It only goes to show that you have to lead by example. Our leaders example is very poor. If the businesses saw our leaders enforcing the mandates in our buildings they would do the same. At Price Chopper it says, “No mask No entry” Thank you Price Chopper for looking out for us. So sad our leaders aren’t doing the same.
The Mayor needs to resign now and save her reputation as a bank manager. She is in over her head. She has made no changes for the good of the city. As a tax payer, no businesses what to come here. The City of Oswego gets another grant. Mayor Barlow can you take over the City of Fulton for us?