The Council for the City of Corning, New York held its regular meeting at 6:30 p.m.
at Council Chambers, Civic Center Plaza, Corning, New York. All Councilmembers attended the meeting except for Mayor Boland, Councilmember Coccho, and Councilmember ReSue were absent. Deputy Mayor Hunt presided. Counting City of Corning employees twenty-nine members of the public were in the audience.
New Business – Public Arts Strategy
Seven Corning citizens urged the Council to adopt the Public Arts Strategy. The comments emphasized that the strategy will enhance an already strong sense of
place and will promote the best interests of the City by: it becoming even more designed for those who find their health and wellbeing improved by the presence of
art in the community; by building the economic strength of its businesses; by providing the means and the framework for the preservation of what it already has; by enabling its art to evolve as its residents do; and by promoting the natural by-products of art creation - inclusion and collaboration.
Thereafter, the Council unanimously adopted the Public Arts Strategy prepared by
Designing Local LTD to guide the future direction of public Art within the City.
BACKGROUND:
On November 1, 2021, The City of Corning Public Art Committee was charged to
develop and recommend to the City Council a strategic plan to cultivate and expand
public art in the City of Corning, with the clear aim to enhance and propel the City
of Corning as a city of and for the arts.
On November 9, 2023, the Committee adopted its recommended strategic plan
unanimously. In voting in favor, one Committee member noted: "In true Corning
fashion the center of its path is a public/private partnership .... A model we
understand well in our community. We are good at it. This partnership is very
creative, again reflecting the high level of work involved."
On January 8, 2024, the City Council for the City of Corning held a "workshop" to
hear and examine the results of the Public Arts Strategy developed and adopted by
the Public Art Committee.
What does the process entail? What will it mean for Corning? Here is a synopsis
of the action steps contained in the Strategic plan:
To read the fifty-two-page plan,
which includes implementation steps and "big ideas": click here.
New Business – Transport of Individuals in Police Custody
The Council unanimously authorized the City Manager to sign a contract with Steuben County to transport criminal defendants.
BACKGROUND:
The State of New York has adopted a centralized arraignment plan whereby criminal defendants who are not given an appearance ticket are arraigned at the Steuben County Jail in Bath, New York. The City of Corning does not have adequate personnel to make these transports, so in 2019 it contracted with Steuben County for the Steuben County Sheriff’s Department to transport defendants. This agreement is expiring.
The agreement approved for signature obligates the City of Corning to pay the County $85 per individual transported up to a maximum annual amount of $35,000. Both caps will be adjusted by the CPI-U index for the Northeast Region on the anniversary of the contract, which is for five years, ending February 15, 2029. The contract may be canceled by either party upon ninety days’ notice, or it may be extended by mutual consent, for another five-year term beginning in 2029.
New Business – Public Events
The Council unanimously permitted vendors on Market Street for the following events:
The Council unanimously approved street closings for some of the foregoing events and these additional events:
Wineglass 8K Road Race: May 25, 2024
Wineglass (Storflex) 5K Road Race: October 5, 2024
Guthrie Wineglass Marathon and Wineglass Half-Marathon: October 5 and 6, 2024
Parade of Lights: November 30, 2024
The Council unanimously approved open containers in certain areas and under certain conditions for alcoholic beverages for Harvest Festival and GlassFest.
New Business – Miscellaneous
The Council unanimously approved:
Transferring $26,065 from the Public Works Department’s Equipment Reserve to the Garbage Division’s vehicle expense line to repair the City’s backup garbage vehicle.
An agreement with the New York State Department of Homeland Security and Emergency Services/Office of Fire Prevention and Control, which sets minimum training standards for firefighters, to continue training firefighters employed by the City of Corning at the New York State Academy of Fire Science.
Authorized a refund of sewer charges of $1,498.12 to Amy Comfort for property owned by her at 186 North Franklin Street
New Business – State of the Administration
The City Manager’s “State of the Administration” address was the last item of business. It was lengthy and needed no action by the Council. The Citizen’s Report will publish a separate summary.
The meeting was adjourned at 8:15 p.m.
NOTES
The writer of this report has presented items in an order different than that in which they occurred at the meeting.
The writer has, except as specifically noted, amended, or eliminated comments and attribution for them. Unless quotation marks are used, the comments reported are not verbatim.
For brevity, the writer has not included all items on the agenda of the meeting.
Some material has been added by the writer for context or clarity and where it is extensive, is labeled “Background.”.
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