General Services, Special Finance & Regular Meeting

Synopsis

The General Services Committee got updates on four projects: Frear Park's new pavilion, on track to open for the 2027 golf season; the Proctors Theatre move-in, still on schedule before January 1; a successful two-week bulk trash pickup that cost far less than budgeted; and the city's temporary animal shelter, built inside a Department of Public Works garage bay after the Hudson Mohawk Humane Society cut ties with the city in the mayor's second week in office in January 2024.

At the Special Finance Meeting, the council formally began the environmental review needed to move the battery storage zoning ordinance forward and passed several ceremonial resolutions. At the Regular Meeting, Local Law 4, tightening the mayor's emergency declaration power, passed its final reading 7-0; the council said it expects a mayoral veto but has not received any specific objections. The council also honored Kevin Prior, the mayor's outgoing director of diversity, opportunity, and outreach, by naming a street after him.

In the post-agenda public forum, a resident's records request for six months of the communications director's text messages with local reporters turned up nothing, which the city called sufficient. Another resident linked the region's high eviction rate to the strain on the animal shelter, and a third said city crews stripped roughly 75% of the tree canopy from a pocket park, far beyond the routine cleanup she had been told to expect.

General Services Committee: Proctors Theatre and New City Hall

The move into the renovated Proctors Theatre building is still on track for before January 1, with substantial completion required by October 30 under the construction contract. Restoration highlights include the historic lobby and arcade plasterwork, terrazzo flooring restored to match its original coloring, three newly cut viewing windows into the old balcony, new HVAC and roofing, a nearly finished sprinkler system, and a new interior hallway connecting the arcade to the wing housing the clerk's office, vital statistics, and elevator access. New building technology, including in-wall cameras and TVs in the assembly hall, is also part of the project. Next month, the Troy Local Development Corporation will consider an "adopt a chair" program letting residents sponsor one of 70 refurbished historic theater seats, with proceeds going toward future historic exhibits and a mural planned for the assembly hall's back wall.

Council Member Campbell-Cohen asked whether the century-old building had turned up any costly surprises, such as asbestos, lead, or mold. Donnelly said no: the building's prior owner, working with the same contractor, BBL, had already handled asbestos abatement years ago, and the current contract is a guaranteed maximum price agreement, meaning BBL, not the city, absorbs the cost of unforeseen issues like a roof section that had to be fully redone.

On records, vital statistics has been digitizing historic documents for about two years, though the effort slowed after the specialist doing that work passed away; Commissioner Donnelly credited supervisor Heather with keeping it going. The new building includes modernized, sprinklered basement storage for records that must be kept, and the planning department has a request for proposals (RFP) out for a vendor to digitize and move project submissions online. Every department that relies heavily on filing cabinets, including the clerk's office, vital statistics, and the assessor's office, had its storage needs accounted for in the new floor plan, and Donnelly said there is enough office space for all current staff plus some anticipated future hires, including a planning commissioner and a possible assistant director position for BIS, the city's technology team.

The city is now hiring a moving company and expects to bring a surplus resolution for old furniture and equipment to the council's September Finance meeting. Moving, furniture, and technology costs, budgeted at roughly $600,000 and already secured in a capital account, will prioritize front-facing offices like the treasurer's and clerk's so services to residents aren't interrupted. Council Member DiLorenzo asked about the long-broken elevator in the adjacent parking garage; Commissioner Mazzariello's team said work on it, along with new signage and lighting, is starting soon, and the administration said it wants a broader, citywide look at parking technology and infrastructure during the upcoming budget process.

General Services Committee: Temporary Animal Shelter

Favreau added the animal shelter to the agenda after hearing concerns from both residents and staff. Mayor Mantello traced the issue back to a 2023 briefing to the prior council, when the Hudson Mohawk Humane Society doubled its rates; the relationship collapsed entirely in the mayor's second week in office in January 2024, when the Humane Society locked its doors to the city's dogs. The city has since built a temporary shelter with epoxy flooring, proper ventilation, and water drainage inside a Department of Public Works (DPW) garage bay, working with the state Department of Agriculture and Markets and a Saratoga County shelter contract.

The shelter holds 22 dogs in secured, bolted-down crates. Dogs are held for five days; an original owner rarely reclaims one, and less than 10%, possibly less than 5%, of dogs picked up are licensed. Saratoga County performs assessments and, when warranted, euthanasia, which Deputy Commissioner Sara McDermott said is based only on health or behavior, never on lack of space. The city relies on a rotating network of rescue partners, including Out of the Pits, Dog House Adoptions, Mount Riley, and Pepper Tree, all of which are similarly overwhelmed with dogs and short on foster placements.

Year-to-date spending in 2026 runs roughly $83,757 in regular pay (including the animal control officer's base salary) and $27,325 in overtime, on pace to land below 2025's full-year totals of $123,334 in regular pay and $21,875 in overtime. Supplies are running about $11,000 so far this year against $17,223 for all of 2025. The city has reimbursed rescue partners for state-required spay and neuter and vaccination costs: $1,200 to Out of the Pits and $6,957 to Dog House Adoptions so far in 2026, and $6,990 to Saratoga County year-to-date, compared with $17,550 paid to Saratoga for all of 2025. By contrast, the city's last contract year with Hudson Mohawk, 2023, cost $91,000; the humane society's successor offer would have charged $750 per dog with no services included.

Council Member Campbell-Cohen pressed for a documented intake procedure, which the administration agreed to send by email, and asked about a volunteer or foster program; staff said the idea has been discussed but needs a conversation with Corporation Counsel about liability first. The city is applying for up to $500,000 from a New York State companion-animal capital grant, usable only for construction, not staffing; comparable grants recently funded a 15-dog shelter in Schenectady and a shelter built inside Albany County's jail. McKee raised succession planning as longtime animal control officer Kevin nears retirement, calling the loss of his institutional knowledge a real risk; the administration said budget planning already includes a proposed full-time position to help build a deeper staffing bench.

Regular Meeting: Public Forum

Called to order at 8:00 p.m. Same roll call and attendance as the Special Finance Meeting above. Meeting adjourned at 9:20 p.m.

Frankie renewed her support for Local Law 4 and said she was glad it would finally end "the inexplicable ongoing state of emergency that was declared by Troy's mayor back in April," calling a months-long, unexplained public safety emergency "an embarrassing episode for Troy." Tyrell Prior of Mechanicville said he felt the mayor was doing an excellent job and that Troy was flourishing.

Regular Meeting: Local Law 4, Final Passage

Local Law 4, which aligns Troy's charter emergency declaration process with New York State Executive Law Article 2-B, passed its final reading 7-0. Council Member Spain-McLaren thanked Council Member Struber, the law's sponsor, for the research behind it and said the council has heard the mayor intends to veto it but has not received any specific objections. "We would have been happy to sit down at the table and work that out," Spain-McLaren said.

Regular Meeting: Post-Agenda Public Forum

Mark DeVit said a Freedom of Information Law (FOIL) request for six months of Communications Director Alex Horton's text messages and electronic communications with CBS6, WNYT, WAMC, and Spectrum News reporters turned up nothing. Corporation Counsel Richard Morrissey denied DeVit's appeal, writing that Horton searched his own devices and "found none," which Morrissey said satisfied the city's diligence obligation. DeVit said that leaves two explanations: Horton, hired in January 2025 specifically for media outreach, either isn't doing that part of his job, or doesn't want the council to know who he's talking to.

Greg Lyons connected the animal shelter discussion to housing instability, saying eviction and pet-abandonment rates in the region track closely together. He cited Rensselaer County as having New York's highest eviction rate, a 41% average five-year rent increase for a two-bedroom apartment in the Albany-Schenectady-Troy area, and said Troy now ranks second in the state for year-over-year homelessness growth. "If we take care of the people, the puppies will follow," he said.

Sylva Menard said the Quality of Life team cut back trees at the pocket park on Old 6th Avenue far beyond what she was told, which was routine cleanup ahead of a basketball tournament. She said roughly 75% of the tree canopy was removed over several hours, some branches torn rather than cut cleanly, raising disease risk, and that a supervisor told a neighbor afterward the branches were dead and "it was about time." She said she would send photos and video to the council and clerk, and warned that removing tree canopy increases neighborhood stress, heating and cooling costs, and, in her view, violence.