In the Caucus Meeting, members discussed a new rule proposal limiting the clothing residents can wear in council chambers and prescribing the number of public speakers per item. Council members generally disapproved of the speaker limitations, saying that they didn’t want to limit public speakers. However, Majority Leader Halton-Pope explained that she had intended the measure to allow people to speak. These proposed amendments were both received and filed, meaning that they won’t go into effect.
 
Majority Leader Halton-Pope started off the Regular Meeting by asking for a “moment of purpose” to commemorate the victims of the 5/14 Massacre. The victims, she noted, exemplified “love of community, faith, hard work, and kindness.” In recognition, City Hall will be closed for business tomorrow, and organizations throughout the city have organized a day of service.
 
Council members approved an agreement for the memorial, “Seeing Us.” This will be developed by the 5/14 Memorial Foundation (previously known as the Commission).
 
Next week, the Finance Committee will discuss the city’s most recent gap report. The gap report explains the city’s current financial status and how it compares to the planned budget. The police department, for example, is projected to spend $3.8 million over budget. The fire department is expected to go $4.8 million over budget. The council will also talk about the latest report on how well Buffalo is managing to spend the last of the COVID American Rescue Plan funds.
 
The council received and filed a letter complaining about the Civil Service Appeals Board. Resident Matt Austin pointed out that though the city’s charter guarantees former employees a hearing with this board, it doesn’t function right now; it’s not even conducting business. Austin called on the acting mayor to bring it back to life by appointing new members.
 
Council members also filed, without discussion, a petition from resident Alia Williams objecting to the city’s bond creation (that is to say, taking a loan) to pay the construction of a new police training facility. The petition had over 2,300 signatures, but a city lawyer, Lisa Yeager, had said at the Caucus meeting that to rescind an approved bond required a petition with one tenth of the city’s registered voters—9,200 signatures, she said. However, the City had around 150,000 registered voters in 2021, so the number of required signatures would actually be much higher than what she’d cited.
 
Council Member Nowakowski said that he’d been proactive about the police training facility. He’d brought the police to meet with the nearby block club, he said, and between them, they'd ironed out details to respond to the area’s needs. Further, he said, it is a state requirement that police departments be trained with firearms, so there must be a shooting range somewhere. If the city didn’t own the shooting range, it would have to rent a space, which would also cost tax dollars.
 
Members adopted a measure supporting the “City of Buffalo Historic Preservation Act,” a New York State bill introduced by Assembly Member Jon Rivera. The goal of this bill is to allow a receivership program to take over vacant and abandoned buildings to help deal with the city’s housing crisis. 
 
The council also adopted a resolution calling on the Buffalo Public Schools to expand its pilot project offering halal-certified food. This resolution does not have any enforcement powers; this is an example of how sometimes the council will give a recommendation or an opinion on something related to, but outside, the council’s control.