The Civil Service Committee had dozens of appointments to approve. Some came from the acting mayor’s office, filling his cabinet. These are not subject to the council’s approval, though they do go before the council as a sort of courtesy. The committee received and filed them.

Committee Chair Rasheed Wyatt said he didn’t want to approve so many salaries until he heard an explanation for why, in a budget crunch, the city was filling so many jobs. “At the end of the day,” he said, “everything’s on the table.”

Most of these jobs were for the Dept of Public Works, and Commissioner Nate Marton came to speak about their importance. Marton also explained that it was hard to reduce overtime in the department because they do not have enough equipment. For example, because there are only so many garbage trucks, the department must send out a second shift team in order to collect all the garbage.

A slew of financial matters came in to the Finance Committee for consideration: the monthly cash flow report, an audit report, and many, many bond resolutions. Deputy Comptroller Delano Dowell reported on the city’s receipts from sales and property taxes (both up from last year), as well as the city’s substantial deficit for processing garbage; currently there is a $23 million deficit, which must come out of the General Fund. The city raised garbage fees last year, but that did not come close to covering the cost of dealing with our garbage. Committee Chair Mitch Nowakowski said that everyone should be more clear-eyed about how this happens: “When politicians get behind microphones and they say that they’re holding lines on taxes for 14 years, your response should be, ‘At the expense of whom and what?’” One proposal the Department of Public Works suggested would be going to every-other-week recycling pickup.

Council Member Wyatt reminded the committee that he is still waiting for the report he requested about the city’s American Rescue Plan finances. 

Dowell also reported that the city’s fund balance is out of compliance with the city’s own rules. Our charter requires that we must keep enough money in our fund balance to function for 30 days. If we dip below that level, we have to make a plan to replenish it. Currently, we have only $12 million in our fund balance, Dowell reported, which is $38 million short of what we need. As explanation, the Administration and Finance Department said that “numerous unforeseen factors contributed to appropriation overages and underperforming revenues,” but said that the city was working hard to get back on track. A separate balance, the Emergency Stabilization (“Rainy Day”) Fund, hovers around $50 million. The city began this account in 2007 to provide a safety net.

Commissioner of Assessment and Taxation Jason Shell and Corporation Counsel Cavette Chambers (the city’s head lawyer) came to update council members on the city’s plans to restart the in rem auction. The in rem auction is where the city sells off properties (both homes and land) that are behind on their property taxes or other payments. This last in rem auction was in 2019.

In 2019, the city also changed its process for dealing with “surplus funds.” When a property is auctioned off for more money than what the city is owed, the extra funds are called “surplus funds.” Normally, these funds would go to the former owner. The city’s new process in 2019   took $3.5 million in surplus funds and did not return them to the former owners. For example: one owner owed $4,000 in back taxes and fees. The city took title to his property, sold it for $135,000, and kept the remaining $131,000. A similar process was declared illegal in a Supreme Court decision, Tyler v. Hennepin County. Since then, the city has reverted to their old policy, where auction profits are handed over to the county to hold until the former property owners ask for them back. Chambers told the council that the city couldn’t give the $3.5 million back to the former owners. She said this would be an illegal gift of public funds. Wyatt said that the City Charter, which is headed for an overhaul, should ensure that, in the future, the council should have a say in how these auctions happen.

Majority Leader Halton-Pope reminded listeners of the pending plans for the old Braymiller Market location next to the Central Library. The acting mayor has proposed that the B District police station be located there while their precinct building is rehabbed. The BPD would share the space with a grocer/fresh food provider. At a community meeting last week, residents said they were concerned about an expanded police presence in that location. This plan will be discussed on Thursday March 6th, at 9:30am, at the Buffalo Urban Renewal Agency (BURA) Loan Committee meeting. BURA is located on the ninth floor of City Hall.

In the Legislation Committee, Council Woman Zeneta Everhart spoke about ordinances she has been working on with residents in her district. The product is an updated ordinance about chickens. The committee recommended approving these laws regulating chicken-keeping.

Nowakowski and Halton-Pope proposed a resolution asking the mayor’s administration to create a more accurate estimation of how much the city will earn in taxes from marijuana businesses. Typically, the city’s finance department budgets millions of dollars in revenue from weed sales for the city. But in reality, the city only gets a small fraction of that. This results in severe budget deficits.

Next, Fire Commissioner Jeff Rinaldo and Dr. Joseph Bart, Director of EMS operations for UBMD (University at Buffalo’s Physicians Group) Emergency Medicine came to speak to the council. They discussed a new “nurse navigation” system for the city. This system could be used to address some 911 calls instead of sending an ambulance since many calls to 911 do not require EMTs. This program would direct those calls depending on whether they need immediate, emergency care (e.g. a heart attack) or whether they can be dealt with in some other way (e.g. when someone calls because they can’t open their prescription bottle). Commissioner Rinaldo and Bart said that using the nurse navigation system will not cost the city anything.

The Community Development Committee was presented with five new appointments to the Buffalo Arts Commission. Catherine Gillespie, head of the commission, came to speak about the work they do and to encourage the council members to appoint new members.

The Buffalo Arts Commission is in charge of “maintaining, growing, and curating” city-owned art. They commission new works, like the mural leading into Freedom Park, and repair older ones, like the statue of David in Delaware Park. The commission is tasked with supporting neighborhood arts and community engagement. They’re also meant to promote diversity by seeking out regional artists and artists of color. Currently, Buffalo’s public art inventory has vanishingly few works depicting or created by women or people of color.

Further, the Commission is in charge of running the process for awarding the city’s arts funding: their job includes asking for money in the city’s budget, seeking applications from arts organizations, and granting funds. Currently the Arts Commission does not produce or accept applications, and the city does not distribute this money.