Rome council approves transfer of 19 miles of Griffith Park roads, accepts state grants and greenlights city parcel sale

The Rome City Council approved multiple measures at its meeting, including authorizing the city to accept roughly 19 miles of roadways at Griffith Park from the Griffis Local Development Corporation, accepting three state grants totaling $275,000 for emergency generators, sports-court restorations and community-room furnishings, and approving the sale of a city-owned parcel at 736 West Liberty Street for $50,000.

The road transfer will add about 19 miles of right-of-way to the city's inventory, Commissioner Joe Giuliano said, a process that city officials and the Griffis Local Development Corporation have worked on for about three decades. "This has been something we have been working on for many years," Shauna Papel of the Mohawk Valley EDGE Griffis Local Development Corporation told the council, thanking the administration and council for moving the agreement forward.

Council members were told the final review established which streets the city could feasibly maintain and that incorporating the roads into the state inventory will affect CHIP funding formulas that reimburse municipalities by mileage. "Once the council approves this, we will work on getting these into our state inventory, which turns into dollars and cents for the city because the CHIP's funding is calculated through miles," Commissioner Giuliano said.

Councilors also approved three grant measures introduced as resolutions. Resolution 37 accepts a $125,000 grant from Assemblymember Mary Anne Buttonshaw for purchase, upgrade or repair of generators for firehouses or other public buildings; Councilor Dursley said the primary planned use is for a generator at JFK Arena and a second generator for the city animal-control facility, citing a New York State agricultural law requirement for emergency power at that facility. Resolution 38 authorizes acceptance of a $125,000 grant from the same source to restore city sports courts and fields across several neighborhoods. Resolution 39, originally listed with a drafting error, was amended in the meeting to accept a $25,000 Office of Children and Family Services grant for furniture and IT equipment for a new community room in City Hall.

Councilors moved and passed each resolution by voice vote; the public record did not include a roll-call tally. Resolution 40 authorizes the mayor to enter into agreements with the Griffis Local Development Corporation to accept roadways and lands into the City of Rome. The ordinance authorizing sale of 736 West Liberty Street for $50,000 (Ordinance No. 9,772) also passed by unanimous consent.

Public comment at the meeting included praise for city public works and public-safety staff and criticism of a recently adopted anti-homeless ordinance. Dennis Perfetti, a resident, told the council, "You guys have done a hell of a job keeping this city clean," while also asking for clarification about an unfilled fire-truck order from a prior administration; Councilor Dursley said the truck had not been ordered and that costs had since increased. Another speaker, who identified himself only as John and said he lives in Oneida County, urged the council to reconsider the city's anti-homeless ordinance, calling it "unconstitutional" and saying panhandling is protected speech.

The measures passed at the meeting will move forward for administrative implementation; council members and staff said further administrative steps are required to record the road miles with the state and to execute grant agreements. No additional formal votes were recorded on the public-comment concerns about the anti-homeless ordinance during this session.

Ending: The council adjourned after approving the listed measures; members indicated follow-up administrative work on the road-transfer documentation and grant acceptance would continue.