It's the second week of May, the tulips are in bloom, and here are the meetings happening this week.
- On Monday, May 9, the Common Council holds a special meeting at 5:30 p.m. The stated purpose for the special meeting is to consider the contract for a consulting engineer for the Planning Board. This was one of the agenda items for a special meeting that took place on April 27. At that time, it was decided that the Planning Board did not need Council authorization to retain an engineer. Apparently, the opinion has changed. The meeting will be a hybrid--taking place at City Hall and on Zoom. Click here to join the meeting remotely.
- At 6:00 p.m. on Monday, May 9, the informal meeting of the Common Council takes place. It is expected that Dr. Lisamarie Spindler, superintendent of the Hudson City School District, will be present to talk about the proposed 2022-2023 school budget. Also in the agenda is a resolution authorizing a contract award for the long-awaited improvements to the intersection at Green Street and Fairview Avenue.
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It will be remembered that the City received $200,000 from Stewart's in a host community benefits agreement, as a reward for the City changing its zoning to accommodate the chain's expansion plans. It was expected that the amount would more than cover the cost of safety improvements to the intersection. As it turns out, the project is going to cost more than twice that amount: $419,410.25. The project went out to bid, and only one construction firm responded: A. Colarusso & Sons. The resolution that will be introduced on Monday authorizes entering into a contract with Colarusso for the intersection improvements and using $139,565 in ARPA (American Rescue Plan Act) funds and $79,845.25 from the fund balance to augment the $200,000 from Stewart's to pay for the project. The meeting will be a hybrid--taking place in person at City Hall and on Zoom. Click here to join the meeting remotely.
- On Tuesday, May 10, Hudson Community Development and Planning Agency (HCDPA) meets at noon. Since no decisions have been made, it is likely that the sale of vacant property will again be on the agenda. The meeting takes place virtually. Click here to join remotely.
- At 6:00 p.m. on Tuesday, May 10, the Planning Board holds its monthly meeting. The agenda, which can be found here, includes the continuation of the public hearings on restoration of 702-704 Columbia Street and the proposal from the Galvan Foundation to create a hotel at Warren and Fourth streets. In the category of New Business is a site plan application to restore 508-510 State Street, once part of Phil Gellert's extensive "Northern Empire," and convert it from six residential units to eight residential units. The meeting takes place virtually. Click here to join remotely.
- On Wednesday, May 11, the Common Council Legal Committee meets at 6:00 p.m. No agenda is available for the meeting. The minutes from the committee's April meeting can be viewed here. The meeting will be a hybrid, taking place in person at City Hall and on Zoom. Click here to join the meeting remotely.
- On Friday, May 13, the Historic Preservation Commission holds its first meeting of the month at 10:00 a.m. The meeting will take place virtually. Click here to join.
Informal CC meetings should ONLY consist of department reports and other department related matter. They last too damn long when other things are added. Who wants to attend meetings and be involved with what's going on in our departments when the meetings last for hours? Tom got rid of the individual committee meetings, and now when certain people want to ask questions, it's "make it short, we have a lot to get to tonight." Last month there was "no time" for public comment after HPD's report because "something more important" had to happen. "If Chief Moore sticks around we will get to public comment afterward," Tom said. Guess who didn't stick around? What kind of grown-up, democratic, reasonable, inclusive way is that to hold a public meeting. That would be the Hudson way. Tom Depietro's way. It's like city hall prefers that no residents show up or get involved at meetings in person or online, even to ask difficult questions or be critical of a dept head (good luck with that). And you wonder why things are so screwed up at City Hall. It's like a child's play version of government.
ReplyDeleteThere's only 7 docs on the agenda as of 12:15 am, so it shouldn't be too bad.
DeleteI disagree that the department heads need to make their reports at the Informal. It leads to an overlong meeting and gives Tom, ever the coward, one more excuse for cutting off public participation. The old committee structure was not the problem, and in fact provided new ways for ideas to trickle into the civic discourse.
You are not the only person who has an issue with Tom's meeting management style; he's dropped me and others from Zoom, and quite frankly his dismissive attitude to any form of criticism does no favors to perception of the Council as a body. CC members really should consider amending rules of order to ensure adequate public participation; they have more leverage in this issue than they think, and a responsibility to the community to stand up to Tom's childish antics.
Interesting to see the City doing business with Colarusso in spite of the fact that the company has filed suit against the City twice.
ReplyDeleteInteresting? Yes! Ridiculous? Yes, that too. Colarusso always wins the biannual bids for repaving our streets -- they are the city's GO TO contractor for streets and sidewalks. They did a shit poor job repaving S. 3rd Street 5 years ago and now the city taxpayers are paying to clean up after them. This is apparently not an issue in city hall or at DPW, because Colarusso continues to get huge contracts for work from us, regardless of lawsuits they bring our way or the quality of work they perform.
DeleteAnd, Colarusso is largely responsible for the road damage because of their trucks. They only use the southbound lane and that's the one with the most damage. What a racket.
ReplyDelete