There are resolutions.

Are there?

Yep, they're ready.

Okay, the resolutions approving appointment for various persons.

So they're ready.

Yep.

Okay.

All right.

So um Councillor Calva.

Yeah, thank you, uh Madam President.

This I have items and blessings to all everybody today.

I have items nine through ten, and they're all ready.

Excellent.

Counselor Michael.

I have item 11 and it is ready.

Anybody with questions.

All right, I'll start.

Okay, excellent.

Counselor Aaron Rich.

I have error I have items 12 through 17 with 14 and 15 being withdrawn.

Yes and the others are ready.

Um I do have a concern with 13.

And I um would probably request a committee meeting.

Um if everybody else has any anything, but if not, then I would I'm pushing back on that.

You want to commit uh do you want to hold it so to hold it to next meeting so you could have a c we could have a committee meeting?

I would prefer to have a committee meeting.

Before we vote on it.

I do not want to hold that.

Okay.

So how do we do that?

Well you put it up for vote.

Yes, you put it up for a vote.

Yeah.

So I would just express that um it could still be a committee meeting if there are.

I think we can have the committee.

Yeah, you still can have a committee meeting whether uh counselor wanted or not.

So yeah, y'all y'all want to have a committee meeting.

Well, the concern is um and Commissioner Byrd and we could talk about it.

Some of the concern is at the centers where our children are.

Um that's something that the public has put concern about as well as counselors are concerned about the that going there and not enough research, like what you know what I mean, when it comes to that.

So I think we have um we have Oakra here as well to express more um or explain more information about the kioskes and how they work.

I know they she spoke last meeting as well, but I don't know if you want to.

I I don't think our concern is how the kiosks work is more of the concern of who are you trying to um put this out to.

We're putting it at youth centers and I don't see youth being the individuals to um recycle batteries, although there is potential for education around that.

Um my thought is why not put them at the l public libraries where more adults are and um you know there's more people that can pay attention.

So you have someone sitting right at at the front station all the time who can seemingly man um the kiosk if if needed.

Um so that that's my major concern.

I'm not for it being at a youth center.

Well which with that being said, why don't you guys go on and have the committee meeting since you sound like some folks want it?

You know, we just I would like to present the the article today and I would like Kristen to clarify some things, but I just wanted to say I really appreciate you all have taking the time this weekend and I heard some of your concerns very clearly.

This is an access issue, and it's not just about education, it's about where people can dispose properly of batteries that actually can harm our solid waste management staff.

And our firefighters.

Access is also at public at the um public libraries.

Right.

But Okra has built a partnership with Parks and Rec over recycling information.

And so it's not just youth centers, it's community centers.

This is places where people go on a regular basis.

It makes sense in terms of access to have the kiosks here.

So in terms of the locations of the kiosks, I understand that that has some concerns, although I think the concerns that were voiced last week are not these concerns.

The identified locations are primarily frequent.

There's one location that is one, possibly two, where you have a um frequent, uh a larger number of um adults, primarily one.

That's why I'm saying, like instead of discussing all of this here, we should have a committee meeting.

So but if you want to do it here, we can maybe maybe we should have a committee meeting so that we can uh flush out all of these.

It's better than I reject when it's better than someone just object objecting and holding it anyway, because it sounds like that's probably what it happened.

So you know what I mean.

So just a point of clarification.

This is my first meeting.

Thank you all for being here.

As a point of clarification, I want to be open and listen to responsible responsive to people's concerns.

I believe that I have the votes to carry this motion.

So if I do that, is that we can talk.

Why don't we talk afterwards?

You and I are you and the council.

Okay.

We should have an hour in between.

We can talk a little bit, counselor, afterwards.

Okay.

I just want to comment on respect for our counselor.

Uh it might be possible.

Good cause to um to have a committee meeting, which you would chair.

Do you want to talk about this?

It might be better that we do have a committee meeting, and we would have more of a discussion.

And you could bring your points across that maybe some of us may not have thought about, and where we could work with people from Okra.

And where else can we put these stations?

Uh disposal batteries.

I suggested last week we could do an effort, not just in our libraries, but here at City Hall.

So that's just that's my suggestion.

Okay, and we we can also have a discussion between now and one o'clock.

Yeah, we still have time, but my biggest why she's here and uh Saisha.

One of the things that when we look at the locations, I mean both West Moreland is already a box.

So I don't even know where it could possibly go.

They're already stuffed with just a trash can, right?

And safety, and Kirk Park is already about like so making sure the sites are like that's the other piece, knowing the demographics and who's going in there and the sites like it those two sites don't really make sense.

Basically, because they're they're key youth based, and they're already so little, and uh most of those youth come directly from school, they're not taking batteries to school with them and then bringing them to the center.

And so let's have some discussion right after this meeting, and then we'll flush it all up.

Can I ask one question?

I don't want to wait.

Can you talk to me about the funding for this?

Is it a grant?

And can you just tell me about that so I have that in my head before we go further?

If I could just interject a little bit about that, that's actually a key point that you're bringing up.

Um, as well as access and who is coming to the centers.

Um, this grant is being uh it's established through the Department of Energy, and there are some very specific requirements of where these kiosks must be placed, um, in part to address the fact that there aren't a lot of locations in the community within the city of Syracuse, frankly, Okra has one where residents may receive may drop these items off.

Um so one of the pieces that's essential is this is tied to additional funding that is coming to the city um through the fire departments, and so uh we are we're kind of at the um there's a go-no-go point of the grant uh which is coming up in Q1 of 2026, and if we are not established and have kiosks in place by that point, we will lose all the funding um that encompasses the fire department funding as well as funding for um a battery sorting facility where all these materials will come in the future.

Um, at that Okra is working to build um just outside of the city.

What firefighter grant information?

What is that?

So another facet of this grant, so there's kind of a couple pieces to the grant.

There's this kiosk expansion into the city.

There is also a training um and a distribution of what are called damaged effective and recall battery kits to the city fire departments as well as the county fire departments, and so um to you.

I'm gonna stop you for a minute because this is gonna require discussion.

I mean, so let's let's let's just do this after after we finish.

Thank you.

All right.

Are you are you done?

No.

She didn't even get okay.

Go ahead.

Uh so we have we're holding for now 13 until we come back.

And then 1415 aren't withdrawn.

And is there anything else?

Nothing else for me.

Okay, thank you.

Hey, Councillor Navy.

Thank you, madam president.

I have item 18.

And we're gonna hold this.

Oh, thank you.

Oh, you don't commit it, right?

For committee meeting.

Absolutely.

Councillor Moore.

Thank you, Madam President.

I have items 19 through 22.

Uh 22 is being withdrawn.

Um 19, 20, 21, uh it's ready to go.

Um just a quick I want to thank Chief Man for the numbers that he had sent us.

Um out of the numbers that we got.

What was the cost?

Do we know that?

So we come down to about 48 a year, right?

48 a year.

Yeah, over the last five years.

Um we've had 244 firefighters utilize these services for approximately 49 firefighters per year.

Um what was your question?

But what's the cost?

The cost was um I don't have the price of what the cost was because we're starting this policy.

This legislation in front of you is to start going through Krauss Hell people again.

Uh-huh.

Uh we had this off to the side where the union was paying for it.

Our union was paying for these services because we stopped paying for them as a city.

So these are the numbers that I accumulated that came from Krause help people of the people that have used for those.

I asked I asked that question, Chief, because it you know, you are asking for up to 12,000, right?

12,000.

And then that's 48.

And 48 people going through this.

I I don't know if 12,000 is even enough.

That's why that's why I'm asking.

And I I appreciate this because this is this is yeah, this is a good good going to be a good program.

Just want to make sure that we no, we don't come back later in the year and say, you know what, we uh underestimate when we could have done it first.

I appreciate the concern.

Um, this 12,000 is gonna be enough.

It's gonna be enough from from what I from what I gather from Krause help and uh our negotiations to get this deal.

Okay, okay.

Can you say that again?

I said there's renewal periods with requests with it, so he's if you come back in a year, he's already in the contract.

Okay, okay.

That was all.

Okay, thank you.

Thank you for your support.

Are you okay, Chief?

I'm also I have um oh I'm sorry.

For item 25.

Um we I did request um information on the number of um, wait, but that's council.

Oh, I'm sorry, I thought we're not there yet.

We're not there yet.

But we are uh bound to get there, Councilman Weekens.

Thank you, Madam President.

I've got items 23 through 26.

Uh 23 will be held in 24, 26 so good.

25.

You got a wrong vote?

Well, what are we doing?

Okay, so you were saying.

No, you're uh you are on more.

You talk about one.

You are one right here.

There you go.

Are you understanding?

Are you saying I turned the page back when he was talking about the fire department?

All right.

Uh Commissioner 25.

Parking lot on good.

Good afternoon, I'll Matt OJ Commissioner of Assessment back to parking.

Uh hoping to authorize this lease at 220 South, get us 400 parking spaces for uh public safety employee use for the new facility.

Uh little little question as to space count, snow storage.

Um we've walked the site a number of times, confident that this will accommodate our needs.

Um location is ideal.

Same block is a very good thing.

Ummercial corridor asset, very good thing.

Um broadly positive about this.

The prices right.

How many parking spaces totally do we need?

No, no, just because we we approve couple of them.

We um the train track that that would that was a potential, right?

The train track uh parking space.

That's a longer term that involves clearing grading.

So I guess um so I think this is a multi-layered approach, you know.

We need short-term spaces, right?

Here we've got asphalt.

Um all that we need is to sweep these spaces and essentially move vehicles on midterm, getting a little closer to the building on the train tracks.

We need to clear a grade and pave.

That's not something that can be accomplished, you know, while the snow is flying right now before we move into the building.

Um so this is gonna be you know something of an iterative process.

None of these is a long term deal, but in concert with one another, these will meet our parking needs, we think.

But in concert with one another, these will meet our parking needs, we think.

So the idea won't the train track is is remodeled and paved.

We we can the goal of this and trying to.

We can we can shed some of these yeah, outgoing lease expenses as we reevaluate as we get a sense as to how the space parks and lives.

Okay.

Some um some uh deforestation going on.

It's it looks like very little space.

Um, so I'm not certain what but as far as this one, um, I'm fine with with um moving this forward.

The concern was the number of parking spaces, um, which uh we I did receive feedback.

It was a little less than what was noted here, um, but apparently we won't pay for what we don't get.

Um I just want to make sure that that is um part of the language, and I'm not sure if we entertain having uh um per space pricing.

Yeah, 3750 per month per space.

Okay.

So to the extent that um we were for some reason lose these spaces during striping, we wouldn't be paying for any space that doesn't exist.

Okay, okay.

So thank you, Madam President.

Okayful.

And then um Counselor Jones.

Yes.

Thank you, Madam President.

Okay, I couldn't say maybe we stuck around.

Item 27 through 35.

Um item 27 is continue to be held.

Item 30 is withdrawn.

All other items are ready to go.

Okay.

And uh counselor.

And now we move to uh counselor monte.

Thank you, President Peniagua.

I have items 36 through 39, and also uh item number 40.

36 we will hold.

We will hold uh 39 is ready.

40 is a waiver item for a public hearing advertisement in regards to item 38.

And I am all set.

Wait, I'm sorry, can you say it one more time?

Wait, we're right, you can't know the entire item.

Okay, hold 36, hold 37, hold 38.

39 is ready.

40 is held public hearing uh advertisement.

Or 40's ready, I'm sorry, for uh for the held item 38.

Okay, okay, okay.

All right.

Thank you, President.

Is that anything else?

Oh, so we have time to wing parks back up.

Yeah.

You got you can we can bring them back and do some cards.

Can we bring up Ms.

Christine here?

Okay, yeah, Socra and Kristen.

Why are we why are you bringing them back?

I want to ask a couple questions.

I need to know something.

So for the fire safety piece, you said what is that piece now?

Just concerned about that.

Sure.

So I think it's important to kind of take a look at this as a whole.

So these batteries, as you're noting, have some level of danger to them, right?

However, um, what we're looking to do with these kiosks that we want to put into these community centers is minimize that risk because the risk generally comes from, and I know perhaps they have some fire folks here that can confirm this as well, but when these batteries are compacted, um, which is not what happens when they're you know, in your in your bag, or you know, you're walking around with it.

That often happens when they end up in the back of a city truck where they're being collected in your trash or your recycling.

So excuse me.

By removing them from the trash trucks and the recycling vehicles, you're actually helping improve safety as a whole and minimize risk to the city, as well as your your DPW crews.

Um we are collecting these batteries in a similar type of environment that is completely unmanned.

Um and I I think one of the benefits of the community centers that you have a real um uh unique opportunity to employ is that you will have folks who are on staff there who are interacting with the folks that are coming to the community centers, and that helps that education piece that is so so essential here.

Um I think we are we are looking to make this convenient and accessible to folks in the city, um which historically has been a very suburban drop-off arrangement at the grocery stores.

Could this expand beyond the community centers in the future?

Most definitely.

What we have funding for right now, and what has been specified in the funding is for within the city, and we have been working for many months with your parks department to isolate locations that would be good for them.

Are the libraries a good idea?

Also a great idea.

Is there money written in for park staff?

Because that's most of those sites that you uh that are requested.

There's only two staff in there, and they're predominantly they're already set to working with children.

So people are coming, drop in and off.

So there's money in the budget for the park staff.

Well, we we do not have a specified line item for staff payment, but what is part of the grant is educating the staff and then providing brochures with the kiosk.

The kiosk, as I mentioned, have a host of education about what can go in there, what can't.

Um the brochures are things that can be distributed to folks that are there.

Um they we also have an education component.

Um Oakra does a general education to uh we have a huge section on our website that is curriculum aligned education, and part of that curriculum education to the elementary and middle, and we're working on middle school right now, is um focused on battery safety education and how to properly use them in your home.

Um, because that's actually the first piece of it is helping people understand which there's all kinds of batteries out there, which ones are the ones that are more likely to be dangerous.

Um, not every battery is dangerous.

And so the rechargeable ones are the ones that tend to be a bigger concern, and we are looking to educate on how do you properly charge these at home?

You know, don't charge it under your pillow, don't leave it that way overnight.

Um, to help everyone understand, children, adults alike, that there are safe means that they can handle these batteries at home, but then when they get to a point where they're no longer usable, what's the best way to dispose of them?

And in this case, recycle them, um, which is not at your curb site.

Not to cut you off because I know it's great information, and I know we're gonna have a committee, but have you already been working with the fire department with this project?

Yes, we we've um worked extensively with your fire department as well as the parks folks.

So you already work with them with this project.

Yes.

So there's several things.

I think it's phenomenal, right?

Anything with safety and educate in the community.

The biggest concern I have is you're putting them in community centers where they're already not enough, they only have two so staff.

And it's they're not gonna be staffed, they're not staffing.

We don't shoot it.

They don't know that's not what I'm saying.

You gotta listen to me first.

Sure.

Okay.

So have you ever been in Wilson Park?

Have you ever been in West Moland Park?

It is small already.

There's two people work there with 30 or so kids.

So you're asking more people to come in and out of a site that's already not enough staff and in a lot little space.

So, what I'm asking you guys is to revisit that and think about that, because that is gonna be pulling staff off when people walking in and out of door.

We have safety in these issues.

So those is bigger than that part.

We have to make sure that our um community centers are safe when our children are in there.

So anywhere where it's mainly children, I'm going to have a concern about that because safety is number one.

And that's my thing is that I if it wasn't for the locations, I probably would be fine.

It's the Bob Cecil Center is the only location that I'm okay with.

It's primarily adult centered.

Um, I don't I have a problem with it being centers that have majority youth.

Umly youth.

So we we did actually go through an extensive process.

I mean, we can re-evaluate which locations, but truly, um, this was something that we worked on collaborative collaboratively with the parks to identify what areas we're um they felt was most traffic that would be uh an education point.

And we did actually tour um all four of those locations, and we worked with the staff that was there to ask their insights on where would be the best places for the kiosks.

Um, and they were excited that the folks that we talked to were excited about the idea of having the education themselves to be able to share.

Um so I think you know, we we have I I understand your concerns a hundred percent.

They are they're very important.

Um, I think we've tried very hard to address those ahead of the game so that we could bring it to you at this point fully vetted.

Um, and and we we really did work with your fire folks as well as the parks.

Um I I think from OKRA's perspective, we see this as a way to help reduce safety concerns for your your DPW workers and your equipment.

Um, I know you've already had a fire in one of your recycling trucks.

Um, and this is only something that's starting to show up more and more because these batteries are becoming more prevalent.

Um so we're really looking to try to create a solution.

And and and this could be the first of many.

I'm sorry that I interrupted that I worry a little bit about is um people if they're gonna drop off, they're not gonna be reading anything that's posted there, they're just gonna drop off.

Yes, and we need to figure out a way to completely.

Um, and that's actually one of the other pieces of this grant that if we do not put kiosk into the city in this beginning of Q1, we lose all of the education funding um for the outreach and education that we have planned that is actually going to be targeted.

It's actually a milestone of the grant that we target it to the communities that are receiving the four kiosks such that they are getting it, whether it's um and Tammy could talk at length about this, but we have uh digital outreach already scheduled and planned as well as traditional, as well as our general support that we do for outreach um from a PR perspective, appearing on local media, um, getting out there in different ways so that folks are given this message in many, many different fashions.

And by the way, I'm all for the project.

Yeah, Chief Moms, can you come up for a second?

I think it's probably appropriate that we actually speak for fire instead of guessing, but yeah, but Christian, really quick crazy with the safety piece.

Let it rip.

I I know you're saying that is good, but just so you guys understand our parks department is one of our lowest paying staffs in our whole thing, right?

To add more stuff on where there are already kids are.

Like I said, the Bob Cecil Center, the um the C on Um's community center on Syndicatary where there are adults and other people where it's not bringing children in like that, where they have more of a safety issue.

100%.

But where that other piece is, we are adding more responsibility on a staff that already has or not with very little.

So that's the part that could you guys are getting paid.

I'm saying if there was something in confiscating towards them, then I would say, well, maybe that would make a another fight.

But to say that you guys are getting the money, but you want to add it to a staff, a group of people that already have children that are deal they're only two people.

I hear your point.

I I think the structure that we have currently right now is that this grant was requested three years ago and is just finally now um getting into the ability for us to implement it.

And at that juncture, that level of um compensation was not contemplated.

Um, which is not to say that it isn't something that down the road uh might make sense, but the way the grant is currently structured, we don't currently have a line item for that.

Um, which is I I hear the concern you're raising.

Thank you.

Thanks, Chief.

I just want to know if you have any objections or anything to add.

No, um, our fire prevention team was has been working with them for several months, even I'm not sure how long, almost a year.

And uh there's there's two parts to this.

You know, when you have any devices that have lithium ion batteries, they are fire hazards that come with those before we get to the point where they need to be disposed from overheated charging, um, having chargers that aren't um UL listed that are properly meant meant for that particular device.

But we're talking about at the point where um these devices need to be disposed of.

And so if they're just thrown into the garbage can, they're gonna get picked up with our regular trash, they're gonna be put into the compactors and they're gonna be crushed.

That's when they become more of a hazard instead of going to a kiosk where they can be properly disposed into a kiosk.

So those are two different things.

I just wanted to clarify.

Um they're a hazard when everybody's using them.

Um our scooters that we use, all the different things that use lithium-ion batteries during their useful life, they're a fire hazard.

But once they stop being used in that capacity, when you're looking to dispose of them, throwing them into the regular garbage is not what we would prefer.

And having somewhere to dispose them is the safest way.

Not that saying that that wouldn't have a fire in them, but it's it's uh less of a probability.

Okay.

Thank you.

You're welcome.

Hannah, do you want to add anything to the conversation?

And I mean, we will have a meeting when we sure I would like to add that there's a little girl up at Galasano Hospital who fished a button battery out of the trash five years ago, and she's had multiple surgeries.

Safe disposal of batteries is not just about Okra serving 340,000 people in our community, which we should allow them to do without preventing funding from reaching the state.

I'm just a department of energy grant is not something to lose overnight because it's going to impact solid waste management for the county.

But not against it.

But there's a little girl, and there are more children impacted every year because they take things out of the trash that you think you have properly disposed of.

That is not the case.

We have to have this.

It's only about site location.

Yeah, it's not we're just we want to hold this item because we're saying here.

It's important.

Safety is important for our children.

Yes, and our commissioners are not when it's you have have you ever.

We're gonna have these conversations.

Have I ever been to Wilson Park?

Let me just moral to divert the conversation a little bit.

Let me just ask you a question.

When you put out these kiosks, are they plastic or are they metal?

What what are they?

Sure.

So they're a combination of materials.

You may have seen them.

We have them at all of the area Wegman stores, and there's one in the Civic Center.

They are they have been operating for 20 years with zero incident.

We have not had any battery fires.

There's a small container underneath that is actually a uh there's an entity called Call to Recycle, which is the New York State Battery Management Program.

Um the the organization nationally that recycles rechargeable batteries, they send us a special box that has a special um foam fire protective material in it, and the batteries drop right into that.

So if it so if it can't if it get caught on fire, it can be retained, right?

So I think it is it is hard to say that a lithium ion battery fire couldn't potentially be out of control.

But what the as Chief Mons explained, there is um very little, I mean, we've been doing these kiosks for 20 years, very little concern with someone dropping a rechargeable battery into one of these boxes.

Um it is when there's heavy compaction where it damages the casing of the battery itself, which then exposes the chemicals inside the battery and allows a chemical reaction to take place.

Um but uh these kiosks will have um there's a special material.

Uh there's different materials.

I think the the city uses a material called cell block or pour over.

And essentially, um, if a fire starts and you put this on the battery, or in the case of the kiosk, if the battery burns through the box through into the you know, through the countertop into the box, um this material envelops it and cuts off the oxygen supply, and so it it can put out the fire in that regard.

So uh I'm not saying it's impossible for there to be an incident, but we have put in place these safeguards with our existing kiosks to address the things that you're you're raising very rightly as concerns.

Um, you know, how do we protect people from this?

Um it is no different than having one of these batteries in your home, um, having it sitting on your counter versus sitting in this kiosk.

In fact, it's actually a little safer in the kiosk because of the things we've put in place to make them so.

Okay.

What about the concern of battery leakage?

I don't know if that's something that is I I can talk a little bit about that from Oprah's perspective.

And so let me let me okay.

Let's hold on.

So let's have a committee meeting because this is getting to a very extensive conversation.

That I think it needs a little bit more digging.

So move.

Aye