FULTON – The Fulton Common Council met yesterday afternoon for a special meeting for a public hearing and to vote in regards to plans of an electronic sign the Fulton Polish Home hopes to install to announce events.
The council also re-voted on items from the previous meeting held on Tuesday, June 15, after realizing they did not officially meet quorum due to the end of COVID-19 restrictions, and therefore being allowed to be virtually present in a council meeting.
Specifically, the public hearing at yesterday’s meeting questioned if the Polish Home would be able to be granted a special use permit to put that proposed sign up as presented, which did not meet the requirements from the codes department.
Public hearing:
Representing the Polish Home, Doug Stevens explained that he decided to work toward getting an electronic sign put up in front of the building to announce upcoming events that they are hosting.
According to Mayor Deana Michaels, the first issue with the sign was that the area was not zoned for a commercial sign since it is a residential zone. The Zoning Board approved to get it zoned and then the process moved on to the codes department to make sure the proposed sign met all of its requirements, and it found that the planned sign would not be in compliance.
The codes department does not allow a sign under eight feet from the crest of the road to the bottom most part of the sign, and the proposed sign would only be four feet above the crest of the road.
What exactly the council would be voting on was whether to allow or not allow the sign to go up even though it did not meet the requirements from the codes department.
If the council decided to vote yes, the Polish Home would be able to go ahead and order that exact sign. If they decided to vote no, the Polish Home would need to go back to the drawing board and work with Tom Trowbridge in the codes department to make sure the sign they propose meets requirements.
Following the public hearing, of which Stevens was the sole speaker, the council voted no. First Ward Councilor Tom Kenyon and Third Ward Councilor Don Patrick Jr. were absent and were not included in the vote.
Sixth Ward Councilor Larry Macner said the council decided to vote it down for liability’s sake.
“We’re setting a precedent forward that we have to do it right,” Michaels said.
Agenda:
In the agenda, the scheduled vote on an amendment to city code Chapter 152-J “Housing Maintenance, Rental Permits,” was removed.
At the last Common Council meeting, Tuesday, June 15, the council approached the issue that they may not have met quorum to officially vote on anything in its agenda due to the ending of COVID-19 restrictions that same day.
First Ward Councilor Tom Kenyon and Sixth Ward Councilor Larry Macner were both absent, and Third Ward Councilor Don Patrick Jr. joined the meeting via video call. It was called into question if the governor’s executive order allowing someone in a public body to join a meeting virtually had also ended that day or not.
“What my recommendation is we move forward with the meeting with the last known information we have, which says it’s still [in effect until] June 24, and recognizing that there may be additional changes to the Executive Order [No. 202.1] that were noted today, but that we’re not privy to that information right now, so we need to further research that,” Michaels said during the June 15 meeting.
The mayor said Councilor Patrick being there via video call did not count, and so the council did not meet the quorum requirement that four out of six councilors be present. No action taken during Tuesday’s meeting counts, and so those items were moved to yesterday’s meeting.
“We made a mistake last time, at the last meeting, June 15,” Michaels said. “Was it intentional? Absolutely not. We understood that we had business to do and we were there to do it… We learned, and that’s what we’re going to continue to do.”
Since the council was unable to vote on the proposal to change rental permits from having a length of five years to three years, there will be another public hearing on the matter Tuesday, July 6, at 7 p.m. in the Municipal Building.
The council officially voted on two items from the last meeting and approved them, which include: an extension of tax payment installment agreements due to COVID-19 until August 31, 2021, and to authorize the public works department to sign a 2021 paving contract with Costello Blacktop Paving in the amount of $939,397.50 for milling and paving various roads in the city this year.
Council Comments:
None of the councilors in attendance wished to speak at this time.
Following the agenda, Mayor Michaels said she and the council have faced hurdles while learning the job they were voted into.
“I have been mayor for a year and a half. I will never claim to know it all and I will never claim to be perfect,” Michaels said. “Fortunately, life allows you to learn, and that’s exactly what we’re doing. False narratives that are put out into the community and information that is incorrect doesn’t help us move forward. And it shines a light on this council and this administration that only makes it more difficult for us to do the job we were elected to do.”
She said she asks the community to take information with a grain of salt because the councilors are working hard, learning, and just want what is best for the community.
The agenda for the June 18 meeting can be found here and the agenda for the June 15 meeting can be found here.
The next scheduled meeting will be Tuesday, July 6, at 7 p.m. in the Municipal Building.
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I have to admit that my statement on Tuesday night wasn’t all correct. The Governor didn’t stop video conferencing of public meetings. But in order to fully comply with executive order 202.1 they had to make the meeting available to all not just one member. That is why the meeting was not a legal meeting to conduct business. The administration was incorrect in using the conference of Mayors as a guide line. They are not the law. The State is, the Open meetings agency is the ruling party.
I must stand corrected, The NYS Conference of Mayors is a good reference and they do offer legal guidance, but if there was any question about their guidance the state is the ans. But you can’t use only one portion of a rule( you can have virtual meeting until ?) you must use all of it. Like the fact that if you are going to have a virtual meeting there must be notification to the public that is going to be virtual and how they may attend virtual.
Fulton remains in the dark ages on code, virtual policy, etc. At what point does the Mayor and Council intend to drag the city from off the bar floor?