Current Legislative Term
2026 Troy City Council meetings: summaries, votes, and recordings.
2026 Troy City Council meetings: summaries, votes, and recordings.
The council held back-to-back special sessions to advance Local Law No. 4 of 2026, which would restrict the mayor's emergency declaration power. Both sessions passed Resolution 72 scheduling public hearings, with five members present and two absent. The Special Meeting adjourned four minutes after being called to order.
The council convened for 11 minutes to schedule three public hearings on proposed Local Law No. 4 of 2026, which would amend the city charter's emergency declaration provision. The mayor's Flock Safety camera emergency declaration was in its 85th day. Neither Mayor Mantello nor the corporation counsel attended, despite charter requirements that both be present at all council meetings.
The council honored longtime budget director Joe Mazzarello with a Fifth Avenue street naming, passed a $7.75 million street reconstruction bond, and authorized the $400,000 Little Italy Marketplace capital transfer. Council Member McKee read seven police vehicles' records into the public record after the administration failed to provide them on a FOIL request. A Special Meeting immediately followed to formally adopt the bond resolution and correct the Mazzarello resolution.
The council held the public hearing on Local Law 3 (the ALPR surveillance regulation), then enacted a $2 million fire rescue vehicle bond, summer pool contracts, and resolutions recognizing Juneteenth and Pride Season. The council appointed Ian Silverman as its first independent legislative counsel, giving members a legal resource that doesn't answer to the administration.
The council honored civilians and firefighters who saved lives in a fatal Lansingburgh apartment fire, authorized a $2 million bond to replace a fire rescue vehicle (a 2003 model with 147,000 miles), and advanced the ALPR surveillance regulation. The council also pressed the administration on BESS battery safety permitting.
The City Controller reported surpluses in every operating fund for FY 2025, with $72.2 million in city cash. The Troy Community Land Bank reported $821K net income. The council introduced Local Law 3 to establish standards governing the city's use of ALPR surveillance systems and scheduled a public hearing for June 4.
The Law Committee learned that CSEA had gone nearly four months without a substantive response to a labor contract, the city was $25,000 behind on its Knickerbocker Park lease, and the FOIL officer hadn't filed the required annual compliance report. The Finance Committee passed 15 items unanimously, including a $200K Main Street grant for Lansingburgh.
The council overrode Mayor Mantello's veto of Good Cause Eviction 7-0, making Troy the 20th New York municipality to adopt the law. The council also approved the Frear Park restaurant concession and passed resolutions recognizing the Armenian Genocide, Earth Day, and Autism Acceptance Month.
More than 150 residents testified against the Flock Safety surveillance contract, and the council tabled it 7-0 pending information the administration had not provided. Committees also advanced BESS safety regulations and reviewed lead service line replacement, with only 187 lines completed in 2025 against a stated goal of 1,000.
Council President Steele delivered the annual Legislative Address on housing, climate, and fiscal accountability. The council passed Good Cause Eviction 7-0, enacted remote public participation by videoconferencing, and heard from twelve speakers calling for cancellation of the Flock Safety contract, which had auto-renewed without council approval.
Seventeen speakers testified at the Good Cause Eviction public hearing: seniors on fixed incomes, working families, and housing counselors. The Finance Committee unanimously recommended both Good Cause Eviction and the remote participation law, while Spain-McLaren noted that the mayor had not signed the ICE resolution passed 7-0 on February 5.
The council introduced Good Cause Eviction and remote participation legislation, passed a resolution condemning ICE enforcement 7-0, honored the late Joe Fama, and enacted the six-month BESS moratorium. The council also corrected an error in the Colonie tactical team agreement the administration had submitted with a 2025 date instead of 2026.
The new council's first committee night advanced the BESS moratorium and took up the Frear Park bond rescission; Steele withdrew it after the administration completed the bond sale while the rescission was still pending. The Flock Safety camera controversy drew approximately 150 residents, and the council heard testimony about January 15 state police raids in South Troy.
Twenty-two residents testified at the new council's first public forum on housing, tenant protections, sustainability grants the city hadn't accessed in over a year, police oversight, and ICE cooperation. The mayor and her administration did not attend; Troy Area Labor Council president Sean Collins noted on the record that this was "indicative of what the next two years of your term will be."
The outgoing council passed a $6 million Frear Park bond 5-2 over the objections of Steele and Vera, who noted that no site plan, project documentation, or SEQR analysis had been provided. A resident testified she had called the city clerk at 3:00 PM that day and was told the project plans were not available, a potential violation of the 24-hour public availability requirement.
The outgoing council appropriated $900,000 for the city hall relocation to Proctor's Theater, bringing the total to $1.15 million, over the no votes of incoming council president Steele and District 3's Vera. They had pressed for cost information the administration hadn't volunteered, including whether the $900,000 was a firm ceiling.