Troy’s new city council met for the first time on Thursday night for its organizational meeting.
Change has come to Troy city politics with the new year. Longtime City Council President Carmella Mantello replaced two-term Democratic Mayor Patrick Madden.
New Council President Sue Steele, a Democrat, is working with a Republican majority. Holding the citywide post, she says she hopes politics do not interfere with policy.
Thomas Casey is the new majority leader and president pro-tem. He says for now, things are moving smoothly with the GOP holding four of seven seats.
“I think everything's gonna be, I would assume, pretty non-controversial,” Casey said. “And as far as working together, it really has been perfect. Which is great for the voters.”
At the meeting, the council discussed and passed one ordinance relating to the bond that covers the City Clerk, Fiscal Officer, and department heads.
The council then passed all 16 resolutions relating to the function of the council. Notably, in an effort to not violate the city’s charter, the council amended time limits for public forums. The amendment increases the time for public comments from four minutes to no more than five minutes for all agenda items and three minutes for other government items.
Steele says she was shot down in prior attempts as a city councilor to change the rules.
For her part, Mantello says the council violated the charter by not establishing committees Thursday.
“I'm on the executive and honestly, they did a great job tonight. And, I'm so proud of our majority, but, you know, they were supposed to establish the committees at the org. meeting,” Mantello said. “So, I don't want to put a checkmark against them. But, you know, it is in the charter, I know that the council president really wants to abide by the charter so, henceI was surprised that they took it off, it was originally on the draft agenda that I saw.”
In a rare move at an organizational meeting, Steele welcomed public comments. Many offered well wishes to the new council, while others critiqued the previous body and outlined their hopes for the new one.
City resident Greg Campbell-Cohen expressed concern about the lack of public comment at workshops. Campbell-Cohen says emerging issues are talked about in workshops, which should be a place for discussion.
“It's a really important time to hear from residents. Like, as they're dealing with something,” Campbell-Cohen.
Steele says public comment periods at workshops are at the discretion of committee chairs.
“I can assure you that we will be using public input whenever possible,” Steele said.
And Jessica Ashley, a Lansingburgh resident, hopes the council will be equitable with funding — saying she hopes the council “thinks of the City of Troy as a city and not a district.”
“At the end of the day, the city belongs to all of us and how this city looks in South Troy in North Troy and North Central is on all of us. My hope and my prayer is that there not be the bias and that you will see that what works for one section of Troy works for all of Troy and all of us are concerned for all areas. I don't have to live in South Troy to be concerned about South Troy, South Troy is part of my city. So please, when monies come, let the monies be dispersed fairly to all of Troy and it should not be the squeaky wheel gets all of the oil. Let's do away with that. Troy is our city, and we're all responsible for it.”
Councilors worked through learning curves in their new positions with respect to how the meetings are run. Steele and Casey say councilors have been supportive of each other as they transition into their new roles.
Steele says she is looking forward to getting to know the new council members and their interests.
“At this point I’m looking forward to working with the administration on the lead issue, that’s huge,” Steele said. “We have a number of confirmation hearings, that will have two new appointees in the administration.”
Mantello campaigned on an ambitious pledge to replace all of the city’s lead service lines in the next four years.
Council meetings are the first Thursday of every month at 7 p.m.
