Council returns Erie Basin Marina contract question to finance pending legal opinion

At a Buffalo City Council meeting, a councilmember moved to return agenda items 13 and 14 — which include follow-up work on a contract for Marina operations at Erie Basin Marina — to the Finance Committee and asked Corporation Counsel to determine whether the council can restrain the Department of Public Works from extending a one-year contract.

The motion to return items 13 and 14 to the Finance Committee was moved by a councilmember and seconded by Councilmember Rivera; the transcript records the motion and second but does not record a roll-call vote on the referral. The sponsor asked Corporation Counsel whether the council has authority to prevent the administration or the Department of Public Works from extending the contract.

Corporation Counsel told the council she was still researching the question. “I'm still actually looking into that. I found some things that are conflicting as to whether, so I don't wanna give you an answer here that is incorrect. So I'll keep looking for you guys, and then I'll have an answer for you next week,” Corporation Counsel said.

Discussion points recorded in the meeting included a request by the moving councilmember that the council seek a definitive legal opinion before the administration acts on any contract extension for Erie Basin Marina. The councilmember asked the Finance Committee to review the matter further; Corporation Counsel said she would continue researching and report back the following week.

No statutory citations or other legal authorities were referenced on the record in the discussion. The transcript records the referral motion and the second; it does not record a final vote or a formal Council determination on whether the extension will be barred pending counsel's opinion.

The item remains pending in the Finance Committee while Corporation Counsel researches whether the council can legally restrain the Department of Public Works from extending the one-year contract. The councilmember who moved the referral noted they had been absent the prior week and that this was a follow-up matter; that personal detail did not affect the council's request for a legal opinion.

Council staff or committee schedules referenced elsewhere in the meeting suggest further committee work will take place on Jan. 14, 2025, but the council did not set a specific new date for Corporation Counsel's report during the public portion of this discussion.