Road paving, grass cutting and the payment of a court order related to the acquisition of land for the proposed Centennial Park project are all on hold after members of the Niagara Falls City Council deadlocked on a series of items at a special meeting late Friday afternoon.
Mayor Robert Restaino called the special meeting to address a list of items he said could not wait until city lawmakers’ next regularly scheduled meeting on July 29. Four council members were present for the meeting, with Council Chair Brian Archie (D) excused after a death in his family.
The mayor asked council members to approve contracts for street paving and additional grass cutting on city owned properties, complete the acquisition of land for the proposed Centennial Park project, schedule a public hearing on a zoning code amendment to regulate student housing in residential neighborhoods and award a grant of more than $313,000 from the Niagara River Greenway Commission to Buffalo Niagara Waterkeeper for an environmental study of Gill Creek.
Restaino had previously warned that further delay in awarding the street paving contract would jeopardize the city’s plans to mill and repave between 20 and 25 roads this summer. City Council members voted a week ago to postpone awarding the street paving contract, for $3.9 million, to West Seneca paving firm Occhino Corp., amid a dispute with a Department of Public Works union over the use of an outside contractor.
On Friday, the council refused to even consider and debate the Occhino contract. After Member James Perry (D) moved to approve the contract, Members David Zajac (R), Vincent Cauley (R) and Bridgette Myles (D) all refused to second his motion.
The city has in the past contracted out some of its summer paving work. The full value of the contract would be reimbursed to the city under the New York State CHIPS program.
“The (summer) road work has already been delayed,” Perry said. “It is the council’s fault that it has been delayed with motions to postpone and postpone and postpone. It is a great injustice to (city) residents.”
While city Department of Public Works union leaders are insisting that the proposed contracted paving work should be done only by city workers, the mayor has said that DPW workers told city administrators that a need to complete other asphalt-related paving projects this summer would limit the number of streets that city employees could complete.
The council also deadlocked on a proposal by the mayor to contract with K.J. Smith Enterprises, a Falls landscaper, to provide grass-cutting services on “overgrown/neglected lots/parcels” owned by the city. The contract called for the company to be paid $150 each for parcels of 50 feet by 175 feet, $175 each for parcels 51 feet by 175 feet, and $200 per acre for parcels between 100 to 175 feet by 175 feet.
The contract did not contain a maximum dollar value or indicate a maximum number of lots to be cut. City Administrator Anthony Restaino told council members that the budget line that would fund the contract has a current balance of between $190,000 to $195,000.
“We’re confident we won’t exceed that,” Restaino said.
Without explanation, Cauley and Myles first voted to postpone voting on the contract and then voted against awarding the bid. Zajac and Perry voted to approve the contract, with Perry noting that a further delay “will just lead to higher grass in vacant lots.”
Lawmakers had previously postponed action on approving an expenditure of $4.029 million to acquire land for the proposed Centennial Park project as part of a court-approved settlement of multiple lawsuits with South End property owners Niagara Falls Redevelopment (NFR).
Prior to that vote, Archie said that members were opposed to taking the more than $4 million from the city’s General Fund balance and preferred using money from Tribal Revenue funds.
In a memo to council members, contained in their agenda packet for the special meeting, the city controller wrote that the General Fund balance was a better source.
“From a financial management standpoint, using the city’s fund balance for this land acquisition is the more fiscally responsible option than using Tribal Revenue funds,” the controller wrote.
In response to questions from council members, Restaino said a failure to pay the $4.039 million to NFR, as part of the lawsuit settlement, could lead to a contempt of court order against the city.
“After the (lawsuit settlement) is signed by the judge, without a payment, NFR can move for a contempt order and demand enforcement,” the mayor said.
Myles said that while she supported the city’s actions “to take NFR to court,” she didn’t support spending several million dollars on Centennial Park.
“I think we need to shift focus,” she said. “I’m all for economic development, but I think we should shift our focus now.”
When Myles also said she hadn’t voted for the lawsuit settlement, Zajac said, “I understand you didn’t vote for this. But this has to be paid.”
Cauley, who did vote to approve the settlement, said he wanted to “hear from (the judge)” about what would happen if NFR was not paid.
“My agreement is my word. It’s my bond,” Cauley said. “I said I would go along with the item, but I would like to be in the courtroom and hear from Justice Deborah. I make a motion to postpone.”
That motion to postpone was then defeated on a tie vote with Zajac and Perry opposed to postponing. The move to pay the settlement was defeated on a tie vote with Cauley and Myles opposed to paying it.
The council members did manage to agree to schedule a public hearing to consider a zoning code amendment that would again delay a plan to regulate student housing in residential neighborhoods. Those regulations are designed to spur student housing development along the city’s Main Street corridor.
Cauley opposed scheduling the hearing.
Lawmakers also voted to approve a more than $313,000 grant to Buffalo Niagara Waterkeeper to fund a study tied to the Gill Creek Healthy Waters Plan. The funding comes from the Niagara River Greenway Commission.
Cauley, after first proposing to postpone sending the commission funds to the environmental not-for-profit, then vote against the grant. The funds were approved by Perry, Zajac and Myles.