The Niagara Falls City Council meeting sputtered to an end Wednesday night after Council Chair James Perry (D) sparred with an animal welfare advocate over whether she was speaking “for the good of the community” in remarks to the council members.
Perry cut off advocate Tonya Barone as she began to talk about a FOIL request from the city clerk’s office.
“I’m here to talk about the FOIL request from the city clerk’s office in regards to the dog sheltering contract that we currently have with the Pit Chic,” she said as Perry began to cut her off.This isn’t a personal issue. This is a contractual issue between the city and a vendor,” she said, adding, “This is for the good of the community. This is my tax dollars and everybody in this room’s tax dollars paying for things.”
“That’s it,” Perry said. When Barone replied, “Really?” Perry said, “FOIL requests, that is not for the good of the community. I’m not going to argue with you. Have a seat.”
“This is for the good of the community,” Barone continued. “I’m not attacking anyone. I’m talking about records I received from the city clerk.”When Perry replied, “It’s a foil request. It’s a personal issue,” Councilman Brian Archie replied, “Is that a secret? If there’s a request for information and she wants to share it. What’s the problem? Help me understand.”
Perry asked police to remove Barone from the council chambers.
That sparked an argument between Perry and Myles over Barone’s forced removal.
At which point Councilman Donta Myles said, “If you’re not going to listen to the people that voted you in, then you shouldn’t be up here. Let’s be honestAfter a brief recess, where council members met with Acting City Corporation Counsel Thomas DeBoy in private, the members returned to chambers and Perry announced the meeting was “adjourned because of a lack of consensus.”
Perry said that Barone was barred from speaking because she was engaged in a personal attack on the operator of the city’s dog sheltering vendor.Before the meeting shut down, council members agreed, unanimously and without debate, to settle a pair of claims against the city for more than $1.102 million.
DeBoy asked the council to approve a $1.1 million settlement of a wrongful death lawsuit arising from a medical emergency in the city jail in February 2020. The city is self-insured and will pay $1 million of the settlement. The remainder will be covered by an excess liability insurance policy.Council members also approved DeBoy’s recommendation to pay a $2,822.47 claim for damage done to a vehicle in the 2100 block of North Avenue by a city DPW payloader in May.
The council adopted the Pro-Housing Communities Pledge that commits lawmakers to “endeavor to take” steps to streamline permitting for multi-family housing, affordable housing, accessible housing, accessory dwelling units and supportive housing. The pledge also binds the council to support fair housing and calls for incorporating housing needs in regional planning decisions.City lawmakers voted to amend the city’s ordinances on cannabis sales by adding public youth facilities to the list of locations that must be at least 500 feet away from a pot dispensary.
Items submitted by Mayor Robert Restaino were unanimously approved, including a roughly $32,000 increase in the cost of the Independence Avenue repaving project. The increased cost is the result of the city’s Engineering Department determining that additional excavation, tree removal and topsoil would be required to complete the project.The total cost of the repaving is now expected to be more than $1.37 million.
The council approved a more than $62,000 increase in the cost of the installation of an automatic entry gate and associated work at the Department of Public Works’ headquarters on New Road. The cost increase was a result of changes to the scope of the work and a determination by the Engineering Department that the contractor, Mark Cerrone Inc. was eligible for a “state-permitted adjustment in asphalt costs.”