The City of Troy experienced highs in 2024 — like receiving federal funding to replace lead contaminated water lines — and lows — such as going without a comptroller for roughly six months. Council President Sue Steele has raised concerns over Mayor Carmella Mantello’s administration’s budgeting, and has celebrated investments in the city's quality of life. Tonight at 7, the Democrat will deliver her second legislative address as council president. WAMC's Samantha Simmons previewed the address with Steele this week.
So, I'll be talking about ongoing financial challenges that we're facing and how we can work to make a better work environment for our employees, of course lead replacement lines. That remains a huge issue going forward. We have the money, but no RFP (Request for Proposal) has been issued so no work is planned for 2025 at this point. It's time to get that together and take advantage of the money that is available to us. We have a goal of replacing every residential lead line in the city – that has been issued by the mayor and it's going to take a herculean an effort to make up for what little has been done in 2024.
And a new home for city hall is something that is about to be announced, the few locations that have been selected by the mayor’s administration, and that's something that you've been an outspoken critic about. So, where do you see that going forward as it gets closer to being a reality?
Well, as we brought forward this week, this administration hasn't even paid the rent for its current location. It owes for 2024 rent. So, I have serious doubts about how this administration can put forth a proposal for a new city hall at the same time that it is putting in a new building a new fire house Building a new Knickerbacker Pool and other projects that are of much more urgency. It’s not just a matter of juggling the responsibilities, it's a matter of the finances as well. I mean, I mentioned RFPs earlier there are so many RFPs that have not been issued. The work is not being done and so why are we taking on yet another project when we can't even pay apparently for the city hall location that we're in?
When I talked to the mayor’s administration about that over the weekend, they said that it's a cleaning fee for the common areas. Are you aware of that?
Yes, yes, I am. It's part of the lease agreement. It's very very clearly stated in the lease that the landlord will be issuing that fee and that it is the responsibility of the tenant to pay it and that lease was signed by the mayor. It was a new lease that they apparently agreed upon at the time of signature, so why have they not paid it?
In your first year of city council president, you were quite concerned over the city’s financials and so said that you want the new comptroller that was just hired a little bit earlier this year to give the council timelier reports. We're just at the close of the first quarter now have you gotten any word on when that first quarter financial will be delivered to you?
We have not Thursday night we will receive a presentation by the auditors on the independent audit that will be very welcome and very telling So, but as far as any communication with the controller, there's been none I'm hoping that he is getting acclimated and will be receptive to our call for more timely and responsive reports.
Is there anything you want to add about your address that I didn't directly ask about?
It's a very humbling responsibility for me and I'm looking forward to sharing it with my colleagues. We accomplished a lot together I think the major Goal that remains is for us to figure out a way that we as elected officials can Be transparent and honest with the electorate and I think that there has to be a better way that we can fulfill our responsibility of a of serving as a check and balance to the administration, but at the same time find opportunities when we can work together on issues and so that remains so a challenge that I look forward to continuing to navigate in the coming year with my colleagues.
WAMC's Samantha Simmons speaking with Troy City Council President Sue Steele. Her annual legislative address is at 7 tonight.
