Syracuse Common Council Meeting - December 3, 2025

The Syracuse Common Council met on December 3, 2025, presided by President Hudson. The council considered a wide range of items including annual agreements, technology contracts, property matters, a county tax levy, and zoning updates. Several items were held for further review.

Routine Approvals

• Annual agreement with Onondaga County to reimburse a portion of payments for the tick and dare management program ($59,046 for the 2024-25 program).
• Annual agreement with Okra for trash disposal; tipping fee increased by $6 per ton (recycling fee unchanged); approximately 33,000 to 35,000 tons of trash processed annually.
• Agreement with routing software vendor for a customer-facing bulky scheduler platform, also providing online access to trash day, recycling, yard waste, and other city service information.
• Lease agreement with New York Susquehanna & Western Railroad for parcels at 115/116 South Gettis Street (north of West Fayette Street) for parking to support the 1153 relocation; $1 per year, one-year lease with renewals.
• Agreement with InBiodin for a mobile slip simulator to train approximately 250 DPW, Parks, and Water employees, addressing the leading cause of workers’ compensation claims (slips, trips, and falls) which has cost over $2 million in the last five years.
• Zone change at 100 Elizabeth Street combining a tiny lot and a larger corner lot to create two buildable lots for two houses.
• Land swap between the Anglers Association and a residential property near Webster’s Pond, shifting property lines to grant the association street frontage on Valley Drive and give the residence a traditional front-to-back lot.
• Correction of an earlier ordinance increasing the annual fee for an environmental monitoring well on Erie Boulevard (New York State DOT right-of-way) from $100 to $200.
• Authorization to hire an appraiser (Brockner Tillett Rossi Cahel Associates) to appraise property at 2176 Erie Boulevard for potential redevelopment.
• Authorization to appraise the Garzones property (after resubdivision) to share value with interested developers; the adjacent floral shop and Save the Rain/watershed areas will remain untouched.
• Memorial street sign for Officer Michael Jensen (Syracuse Police Department), requested by the Tipperary Hill Neighborhood Association.
• Fiber internet connections at Wilson Park (to support the e‑gaming initiative) and at the Sydney Johnson Center (for fire department rigs).
• Payment to Electronic Data Corporation (EDC) for professional services enabling the 2025 parking amnesty program platform; one-time fee for setup and reversal. As of six days prior, $91,000 had been collected, with $50,000 in base fines paid and $41,000 in fees forgiven. The amnesty period has been extended to January.
• Transfer of multiple vacant properties to the Greater Syracuse Land Bank (items 34–41, 43–49, 52, 54).

Discussion Items

• Fire Department EMS Recertification (Item 13): Chief Mine presented an $11,000 agreement with CNY EMS to use the EMS One Academy for recertification of all sworn firefighters (380 personnel). Without the program, firefighters could not maintain required New York State certifications. Council clarified that this is separate from AMR’s civilian EMT training initiative.
• County Tax Levy 2026 (Items 27–29): Finance Commissioner Mike Kennisara reported the county tax levy components: county tax apportionment of $45.8 million (a slight decrease from the prior year), water district tax of $989,000 (increase of $175,000), and sewer rent of $33.7 million (increase of $2.5 million). The city secured a $370,000 reduction in abstract charges by questioning certain costs.
• Zoning Code Update (Item 33): Jake Dish (Deputy Commissioner of Codes and Zoning) updated that the state reviewed the draft amendment on Monday; he expects final word by the end of the week or year’s end. The code has not been amended since 2011. If not finalized by the last meeting of the year, the council may introduce and table it for the new council to take up in January. Council discussed the need for better monitoring of state law changes affecting local ordinances.
• Payroll Modernization (during discussion of Items 26–27): CAO Corey Dunham explained that the current SWC system is hosted on a county server. The planned move to Mosaic’s Pro WFM will be cloud‑based, addressing recent outages. The system was back online at the time of the meeting.

Held Items

• Item 9 (undisclosed) – held.
• Item 26 (payroll/personnel matter) – held for further progress.
• Items 42, 50, 51, and 53 (vacant land transfers to the Land Bank) – held to allow more time for outreach.
• Item 55 – held.

Key Outcomes

• All items not listed as held were approved by the council.
• A public meeting regarding item 18 will be held on Friday, December 5, 2025 at 10:00 AM.
• The zoning code update (Item 33) may be introduced and tabled to carry over to the new council if not completed by the final December meeting.
• Council will monitor the extension of the parking amnesty program; the one‑time EDC fee covers both initiation and conclusion regardless of the extension.