OPENPUBLICA · PUBLIC MEETING RECORD
Record of Proceedings

Syracuse City Council Meeting - October 27, 2025

Public MeetingsMonday, October 27, 2025
BodySyracuse, New York
SessionPublic Meetings
DateMonday, October 27, 2025
StatusFILED
Video Record

STREAMING COPY IN PREPARATION — RECORDING AVAILABLE FROM THE ORIGINAL SOURCE

Transcript — Verbatim
7:13

All right.

7:15

I have item number eight, and I am going to withdraw that.

7:20

Councillor Codwell.

7:21

Thank you, Madam President.

7:23

Blessings to all today.

7:24

I have items nine through sixteen.

7:30

And there was a couple at Saisha.

7:44

Oh, come on.

7:44

Oh, Commissioner.

7:46

I'm sorry.

7:48

Good afternoon, Commissioner Park.

7:50

Say Sha Burff.

7:52

Are we all set with number thirteen?

7:55

With everything.

7:59

Thirteen.

8:00

I think so.

8:01

I sat is that the chiller.

8:03

No.

8:04

Oh, that's a okay, QPK.

8:07

Yeah.

8:07

Was there a question?

8:08

There was something you said.

8:10

There was questions about the chill of the killer.

8:12

Yeah.

8:13

And I answered that question.

8:14

It was replaced.

8:17

Twenty yeah, it was about 20 years ago.

8:19

They replaced it with a used one from SUNY PATSAN.

8:23

Okay.

8:24

Are you okay with that?

8:25

I'm fine.

8:26

Okay.

8:26

Other than that, yeah, we're all set.

8:28

Thank you.

8:28

Thank you.

8:30

All righty, Councillor Cromwell.

8:33

Okay.

8:33

Item 17.

8:35

Um thank you, Council.

8:40

Um, yes, this is um offset and ready to.

8:44

This is an honorary sign.

8:46

Um is with myself and Councillor Jones Browser process.

8:51

Oh, and everybody sign now.

8:52

Well, let's go.

8:56

Anybody want to be here today or no?

8:57

We don't have to worry about.

8:58

I don't think so.

8:59

Okay, good.

9:00

I mean, not good, but you know.

9:02

And I'm going to hold Councilman Jeff to the end, and if he's not here, I'll let someone else take it.

9:09

Um Councillor Pani Agua.

9:13

Good good morning, everybody.

9:14

I have items 29 and 30, and they're ready.

9:20

There's any question I didn't ask.

9:23

Nope.

9:23

Okay, okay.

9:24

Councillor gathers.

9:26

Thank you, Madam President.

9:30

There's any questions uh pertaining to water or anything like that.

9:35

Any questions?

9:36

Any questions.

9:40

Councillor Holgan.

9:41

Oh, thank you.

9:42

President Hudson.

9:43

I have a use forty-two through forty-four.

9:46

They are they are ready.

9:48

Counselor is 44 is also ready.

9:52

Um I know you were holding it.

9:54

I wasn't here, but I did have some questions and questions about that.

9:59

Okay.

10:00

Yes, that's ready.

10:01

That would go over the planning board, and they'll they'll bring they'll bring that back to us.

10:05

We're final said it what?

10:07

I said that'll go to the planning board.

10:09

That's just the send it to the planning board according to procedural rules that we have.

10:14

So the planning board will make a decision on it, they'll send it back to us whether they want we want to go ahead with it or not.

10:22

That's correct.

10:24

Joel, I think if you don't ask your question, you can answer.

10:29

I'm just I just have a little concerns about I just thought that we probably I don't know if we wanted to have a conversation with the historical.

10:37

We can have it, we'll have a meeting when it comes back for the planning board.

10:40

So that way we'll have their input in the meeting.

10:42

Okay, all right.

10:45

Counselor Hogan and Gathers.

10:47

Oh thank you.

10:48

Uh Counselor Gathers.

10:50

Items 40 I have items.

10:52

We have items 45 through 49.

10:54

You're all ready.

10:56

Thank you.

10:57

Counselor Williams.

10:59

Thank you.

10:59

Um with the finance committee.

11:03

Um item 50 is ready.

11:06

And on the uh finance agenda, we've got 51 through 57.

11:12

Uh 51 will be held.

11:15

The remainder are ready and we'll be introduced.

11:20

All right, no questions.

11:23

Counselor, um you uh um you all did make the change for the uh sea, right?

11:30

For the full month of November, yeah.

11:32

Counselor William Umro, yeah.

11:36

Yep.

11:44

Counselor Jones Rodgers be to begin November 2nd.

11:47

Are we gonna keep that?

11:48

Or we're no November 1.

11:50

Counselor um Monto, you want to fill them in since you cheered the meeting?

11:53

Yeah, so we're uh we suggested that instead of doing November 3rd through the 21st, we would do November 1st through the 30th, just for the public to see it as uh amnesty month instead of just three weeks.

12:05

Great, thank you.

12:07

Thank you, Madam President.

12:09

Thank you, Counselor Jones Rouser.

12:13

I have items 58 through um 64.

12:17

Oh no, um, no, just 63, sorry.

12:20

Um item 63 will be held.

12:26

Um all items, all other items are ready.

12:30

58 have to be held.

12:31

Um per law, it's not quite ready yet.

12:35

Yeah, 58 work in progress.

12:37

Okay, 58 is being held.

12:39

58 and 63, yes.

12:42

All righty, counselor Monto.

12:46

President Hudson, I have item 64, and I'm gonna call that one ready.

12:50

Thank you.

12:52

Counselor Gathers, thank you, Madam President.

12:54

Item number 65.

12:55

Uh, we'll have some discussion on this.

12:57

Um, if you'd like to come forward.

13:02

There's just some brief concerns about the amount of uh time that we feel like the public has been educated um in regards to the speed zones and things like that, and issuing the fines.

13:14

Yes, we uh I understand how important it is to move push it forward and start collecting the fines.

13:20

So it could be a very good deterrent for people to change their uh driving habits um and speeding in the school zones.

13:26

If there's any other questions um from the council or anything like that that you'd like to talk about, we can do that now.

13:31

Uh thank you, counselor.

13:32

Um, just the administration's stance is that delaying the November 2nd enforcement date would cause confusion among residents, signal that unsafe driving in school zones carries no consequence and ultimately compromise student safety.

13:43

So I would say um safety is number one with everything, right?

13:48

And I think that's why we all agree on this, but to not do due diligence to make sure that we're correctly doing it the right way so that we're not going back and forth with our constituents, making sure the cameras are placed, making sure they're up to date, making sure the community knows, making sure that information was done, not even much as the community knows because the rules are the rules, but also making sure we're doing what we're supposed to do by setting those cameras in the right place is is wrong as a city, not to make sure we're doing it right, right?

14:18

We already are gonna move some, right?

14:20

Right.

14:21

So why would we do all that until we're ready to go?

14:23

Why not set the tone and say this is it and let's go?

14:26

We did uh Amnesty Day, we did Amnesty to teach everyone, but now we're gonna move them again.

14:32

There were some things that we realized that that needs to be fixed and done.

14:35

I think it just gives people time, you know, to make sure that we're we need to fix our part first as the city before I think we start finding people.

14:44

I understand that, counselor.

14:45

We've had a uh 60-day warning period, which is twice as long as the industry standard, and we've mailed out over a hundred thousand warnings to individuals about notifying them of the uh the new enforcement.

14:55

But aren't our cameras gonna be moved?

14:57

We will be uh relocating some cameras as we've discussed.

15:01

Right.

15:02

So until I think, I mean, this is just my opinion.

15:04

I think safety is A number one, but I think if we're gonna still be adjusting things, that is really important to make sure we get them adjusted.

15:14

Sorry, and um just Corey reminded me as we discussed uh last week, counselor, that we're open to a warning period for the new locations as well.

15:23

Thank you very much.

15:24

No, I heard that.

15:26

Uh we also have uh Dr.

15:27

DeFlorio here from the school district uh who had spoken with a number of counselors as well about uh the school district's intention to move forward with enforcement as well.

15:34

So I know I was um with the camera that is being moved on um in front of Elmwood, which I don't know why it was put there anyways because the school's been shut down.

15:46

We knew that for over a year.

15:47

That is gonna be moved when, do you know?

15:50

Um still working with our contract as the chairman of the date, but as a reminder, any uh locations that are potentially looking to be relocated have not been uh issuing warnings.

16:01

So kind of so uh those those locations that the council brought up in our you know informal meeting there you'll like uh they'll be flagged and they'll just be notices and they won't people won't get tickets.

16:15

Uh yep, until we change them.

16:18

So for any location that uh may be adjusted as part of our ongoing implementation of the program, we discussed that we would be open to including a warning period for those relocated locations.

16:29

Open means you're gonna do it.

16:30

We absolutely can, yes.

16:32

Are we or are we can are we?

16:34

Yes, we will.

16:37

I think as long as it's there's an ongoing conversation between the council and the administration.

16:43

Um if it's not written, then it doesn't mean we're gonna do it.

16:46

If it's written saying that we're not, then that's one thing, but are we or are we not?

16:51

That's the word of answer is we will you guys can discuss the y'all gonna have a chance to discuss me.

16:59

We got a whole hour before the next meeting.

17:07

Um public safety.

17:10

Oh, I'm sorry, Nate.

17:12

Oh, okay.

17:13

Okay, I didn't know what I was doing.

17:21

All right, I have items.

17:22

Uh Joe Barry, first assistant.

17:26

Um wondering if it would be wise to go into executive session to talk about the legal implications of delaying the speed zone fines.

17:34

There are some contractual issues potentially.

17:38

Okay.

17:40

Okay.

17:42

Right.

17:43

All right.

17:45

All right, trying to understand it in for counselor Majoke.

17:49

Um yeah, we can counselor has items 18 through 28.

17:55

Um item 18 will be held.

17:58

Um all other items are ready unless there's questions.

18:06

All right, hearing none, I need a motion to go into executive session.

18:10

Second, right?

18:11

All in favor.

18:13

All right.

Discussion Breakdown — Share of Meeting
Procedural█████████████████████████████████████████████59%
Public Safety███████████████████████████████41%
Summary of Proceedings

Syracuse City Council Meeting - October 27, 2025

The Syracuse City Council met on October 27, 2025, to handle routine agenda items and engage in a substantive debate on the enforcement of school zone speed cameras. Key procedural actions included the withdrawal of Item 8 and the holding of Items 58 and 63 for further work. The most significant discussion centered on Item 65, addressing concerns over camera placement, public education, and the start date for issuing fines.

Consent Calendar

  • Multiple items were declared ready for introduction, including Items 9-16 (Councillor Codwell), Items 17 (honorary sign), Items 29-30 (Councillor Paniagua), Items 42-44 (Councillor Holgan), Items 45-49 (Councillor Gathers), Items 50-57 (Finance committee, with Item 51 held), Items 58-63 (Councillor Jones-Rodgers, with Items 58 and 63 held), and Item 64 (Councillor Monto). Items 18-28 (Councillor Majoke) were largely ready, except Item 18 held. The Council also agreed to a full-month amnesty period for parking enforcement from November 1st through November 30th, instead of the originally proposed three-week window.

Discussion Items

  • School Zone Speed Camera Enforcement (Item 65): Councillor Gathers raised concerns about the timing of enforcement, arguing that the city needed to complete due diligence—including proper camera placement and community education—before issuing fines. The administration countered that a 60-day warning period (twice the industry standard) had already been conducted, with over 100,000 warnings mailed to drivers. Administration representatives stated that delaying the November 2nd enforcement date would create public confusion and compromise student safety. They also clarified that cameras slated for relocation (e.g., in front of the closed Elmwood school) had not been issuing warnings and would be adjusted. After discussion, the administration agreed in principle to provide a warning period for any relocated camera locations. Councillor Gathers pressed for a written commitment, and the administration affirmed, “We will.”

Key Outcomes

  • Items 8, 18, 30, 58, and 63 were held or withdrawn as noted; all other introduced items were readied for further action.
  • The Council moved into executive session to discuss legal implications, including potential contractual issues related to delaying the school zone speed fines. No final vote was taken on Item 65 during the public meeting.

Meeting Transcript

All right. I have item number eight, and I am going to withdraw that. Councillor Codwell. Thank you, Madam President. Blessings to all today. I have items nine through sixteen. And there was a couple at Saisha. Oh, come on. Oh, Commissioner. I'm sorry. Good afternoon, Commissioner Park. Say Sha Burff. Are we all set with number thirteen? With everything. Thirteen. I think so. I sat is that the chiller. No. Oh, that's a okay, QPK. Yeah. Was there a question? There was something you said. There was questions about the chill of the killer. Yeah. And I answered that question. It was replaced. Twenty yeah, it was about 20 years ago. They replaced it with a used one from SUNY PATSAN. Okay. Are you okay with that? I'm fine. Okay. Other than that, yeah, we're all set. Thank you. Thank you. All righty, Councillor Cromwell. Okay. Item 17. Um thank you, Council. Um, yes, this is um offset and ready to. This is an honorary sign. Um is with myself and Councillor Jones Browser process. Oh, and everybody sign now. Well, let's go. Anybody want to be here today or no? We don't have to worry about. I don't think so. Okay, good. I mean, not good, but you know. And I'm going to hold Councilman Jeff to the end, and if he's not here, I'll let someone else take it.

SUMMARIZED BY OPENPUBLICA AI
TRANSCRIPT VIA PUBLIC VIDEO
openpublica.com