The Common Council held a Committee of the Whole (work session) followed by a regular council meeting on January 26, 2026. The work session focused on the proposed Immigration Enforcement Policy ("Peekskill for All"), with discussion of revisions and a timeline for a public hearing. The regular meeting included unanimous approval of 13 resolutions, department reports, and extensive public comment on the immigration policy, good cause eviction, and housing conditions at Park Place Towers.
Everyone and welcome to our committee of the whole meeting for today, January 26, 2026. We have a light agenda and then executive session for discussion of matters concerning the medical, financial credit or employment history of a particular person, persons, or corporation or matters leading to the appointment, employment, promotion, demotion, discipline, suspension, dismissal, or removal of a particular person, persons or corporations. So at this time I will turn it over to our city manager, Mr. Alexander. Good evening, Mayor and Council. Good evening. Good evening. We only have one item on the agenda for the committee of the whole today, and that is to discuss the ICE immigration policy. And uh Eric has done some work on it. This would still put us in a place where we would follow the same uh schedule as before. We would bring a um a uh resolution on the uh ninth of February to have a public hearing for the 23rd of February. If uh you were in agreement, but this just we're just bringing this to the Cal so that there's more time and more um transparency about what's going on. Eric, do you want to um so the revise so there were some comments at the last meeting regarding some requested revisions um relating to um how citizens could report a alleged violation of the powerhouse your concern regarding actions by um city employees? So we added section 13, um, which provides a procedure for notifying the city manager or for other um other employees making um you know to make reports regarding potential issues regarding the policy. There's also um how what should be done if there is an alleged violation of the policy, um an investigation standard. Um there's also with respect to the uh Peaks Gill Police Department, they would conduct um a review with respect to any violations that occur relating to their standard operating procedure concerning this policy. Um I also think uh I also believe we um in section 12, we also added a provision that there won't will not be any other city policies adopted that contradict or um uh sort of or or in conflict with this policy without first obtaining the consent of the city council. So those are the major ones. We did make sure there was a provision in number five where the city won't use any facilities, funds, personnel, or other resources for um you know, for apprehending individuals based solely on citizenship or immigration status. And we also provided some definitions with respect to some of the or or some of the U.S. code sections that are referenced in this um in this document. Um so uh if the if any council members have any other questions or concerns, certainly willing to discuss them now. So council, any questions? I think the changes, it's Kathy. I I think the changes are good, and um I would be willing to go forward with that. I agree with that also. Thank you. I agree with that. Eric, I want to just thank you for all your quick quick turnaround on this and uh taking this as serious as you have. Uh, and I think we've gotten this in a really great place uh and ready for a public hearing. So thank you so much. I just want to chime in and say I think that you know what's happening nationally is creating a sense of urgency. So I'm really happy you guys turn this around that quickly, and that we're moving forward with a public hearing. And I agree. I think adding the clarifications around what the specific statutes are, and and I think that will help the public as well kind of understand better what the policy does. And I agree with been previously said. Thank you so much. You're welcome. Council, I want to thank you for um taking the time to actually look at this and coming back with questions and putting some more clarification to it. And Eric for going through this, and um, I think we're ready to move forward with the resolution for uh the public hearing. Okay. So the next step for us would be to bring this back to the cow. You would it would be in a memo version as it is now uh that everybody can read and um so uh and then we would just tell you that we were going to attach that to a resolution that would ask the council to approve a public hearing for um February 9th, but the public hearing would be approved for February 23rd, and the public hearing would happen on the 23rd. And um so uh and then we would just tell you that we were going to attach that to a resolution that would ask the council to approve a public hearing for um on February 9th, but the public hearing would be approved for February 23rd, and the public hearing would happen on the 23rd, and at that time the public would get a chance to speak and uh we would look to see if there was agreement on that day to put it into effect. Okay, everybody's clear on that? Good. Okay. Okay, and that is all that we have for this part of the agenda. I do need to ask the council to go into executive after um the council meeting tonight. Okay, so in the meantime, liaison reports starting with uh councilwoman Chang.