1 2 CITY COUNCIL 3 CITY OF NEW YORK 4 -------------------------------x 5 THE TRANSCRIPT OF THE MINUTES 6 of the 7 COMMITTEE ON RULES, PRIVILEGES 8 And ELECTIONS 9 -------------------------------x 10 June 25, 2008 11 Start: 12:15 p.m. Recess: 12:27 p.m. 12 City Hall 13 Council Chambers New York, New York 14 15 B E F O R E: 16 DIANA REYNA Chairperson, 17 18 COUNCIL MEMBERS: Joel Rivera Maria Baez 19 Leroy Comrie Erik Dilan 20 21 22 23 24 LEGAL-EASE COURT REPORTING SERVICES, INC. 17 Battery Place - Suite 1308 25 New York, New York 10004 (800) 756-3410 2 1 2 A P P E A R A N C E S 3 COUNCIL MEMBERS (CONTINUED) 4 5 Erik Martin Dilan Lewis Fidler 6 Robert Jackson Melinda Katz 7 Michael McMahon David Weprin 8 Inez Dickens Daniel Garodnick 9 James Oddo Anthony Cuomo 10 Speaker Quinn 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 3 1 RULES, PRIVILEGES AND ELECTIONS 2 CHAIRPERSON REYNA: Good morning. My 3 name is Diana Reyna and I am the Chair on the 4 Committee on Rules, Privileges and Elections. 5 Before we begin, I would like to 6 introduce my colleagues, members of this Committee. 7 I have Maria Baez, from the Bronx. 8 Joel Rivera, from the Bronx. Robert Jackson, from 9 Manhattan. James Oddo, from Staten Island. Lewis 10 Fidler, from Brooklyn. Erik Martin Dilan, from 11 Brooklyn. And Leroy Comrie, from Queens. 12 I'd like to welcome our newest member 13 to this body, Council Member Anthony Cuomo, from 14 Queens. And we are here this morning to consider 15 membership changes to certain standing Committees. 16 There are five additions to standing 17 committees. They are to add our new Council Member 18 from Queens, Anthony Cuomo, to the Committees on 19 Aging, Environmental Protection, Public Safety, 20 Waterfronts, Youth Services. 21 Do any of my colleagues have any 22 questions or comments? 23 I'd like to recognize Council Member 24 Oddo. 25 COUNCIL MEMBER ODDO: Thank you, Madam 4 1 RULES, PRIVILEGES AND ELECTIONS 2 Chair. 3 I just want to say that welcoming 4 Council Member Cuomo and assigning his Committees, I 5 am coming off the Public Safety Committee and I just 6 wanted to publicly state how much I enjoyed that 7 Committee under the leadership of Chair Vallone, who 8 I think is one of the best chairs we have, and say 9 that new Council Member Cuomo is going to be a real 10 asset to that Committee. Having served as an 11 Assistant District Attorney in Queens County, I 12 think he has a very important perspective to that 13 Committee and it's a wonderful addition, and I again 14 thank Peter for being a great chair. Thank you. 15 CHAIRPERSON REYNA: Thank you, Council 16 Member Oddo. 17 Do we have any other comments from 18 any other members? 19 Council Member Leroy Comrie, and I'd 20 like to just recognize Inez Dickens from Manhattan, 21 and Michael McMahon from Staten Island. 22 Council Member Comrie. 23 COUNCIL MEMBER COMRIE: I just want to 24 take this opportunity to formally recognize Anthony 25 Cuomo to the City Council. As head of the Queens 5 1 RULES, PRIVILEGES AND ELECTIONS 2 Council Delegation, I look forward to working with 3 him. I've already reached out to his office to just 4 doublecheck on his budget priorities for the 5 district because we're all here to service people. 6 Regardless of our political affiliation, we're all 7 here to try to make sure our constituents are 8 served, and I can say that I had a great 9 relationship with his predecessor. He was truly a 10 rock of this body and really a person who helped me, 11 and I look forward to the same type of relationship 12 with Anthony Cuomo. All of our Queens members are 13 active people and people that I'm proud of, and I 14 hope to continue that tradition working with you, 15 sir. 16 Thank you. 17 CHAIRPERSON REYNA: Thank you, Council 18 Member Comrie. 19 I, too, want to echo what my 20 colleagues have already mentioned. I know that I had 21 the opportunity to join Anthony, Council Member 22 Cuomo at certain events already, and he's made 23 himself available to our community. Sharing the 24 Ridgewood area gives me great privilege to be able 25 to finally put him to several committees at work. 6 1 RULES, PRIVILEGES AND ELECTIONS 2 And without any further comments or 3 questions, I'd like to call for a vote. 4 COUNCIL CLERK MARTIN: Council Member 5 Reyna. 6 CHAIRPERSON REYNA: I vote aye. 7 COUNCIL CLERK MARTIN: Rivera. 8 COUNCIL MEMBER RIVERA: I vote aye. 9 COUNCIL CLERK MARTIN: Baez. 10 COUNCIL MEMBER BAEZ: I vote aye. 11 COUNCIL CLERK MARTIN: Comrie. 12 COUNCIL MEMBER COMRIE: I vote aye. 13 COUNCIL CLERK MARTIN: Dilan. 14 COUNCIL MEMBER DILAN: I'd like to 15 vote aye. 16 COUNCIL CLERK MARTIN: Fidler. 17 COUNCIL MEMBER FIDLER: Welcome, 18 Council Member Cuomo, to the Youth Services 19 Committee, and I vote aye. 20 COUNCIL CLERK MARTIN: Jackson. 21 COUNCIL MEMBER JACKSON: Aye. 22 COUNCIL CLERK MARTIN: McMahon. 23 COUNCIL MEMBER McMAHON: Aye. 24 COUNCIL CLERK MARTIN: Dickens. 25 COUNCIL MEMBER DICKENS: Welcome, 7 1 RULES, PRIVILEGES AND ELECTIONS 2 Council Member Cuomo. Welcome to a world of work on 3 behalf of the people of the City of New York. And I 4 vote aye. 5 COUNCIL CLERK MARTIN: Oddo. 6 COUNCIL MEMBER ODDO: Yes. 7 COUNCIL CLERK MARTIN: By a vote of 8 ten in the affirmative, zero in the -- do you want 9 to wait? Okay, I'll wait. 10 CHAIRPERSON REYNA: I'd like to give 11 Council Member Cuomo an opportunity to comment, if 12 he wishes to do so. We're waiting for our speaker. 13 Go ahead, Council Member Cuomo. 14 COUNCIL MEMBER CUOMO: Thank you. 15 I just wanted to express my gratitude 16 and appreciation. I know that it's a very busy time 17 for the entire Council at this moment in this week, 18 but I would like to thank each and every member of 19 the delegation, and especially Madam Reyna, for all 20 your help. And I look forward to working with each 21 and every one of you, not only in the Council, but 22 in each individual committee, and it's been a 23 pleasure and an honor, not only to meet each and 24 every one of you individually and to work for the 25 good and benefit and welfare of the entire City, and 8 1 RULES, PRIVILEGES AND ELECTIONS 2 I thank all of you again, and I look forward to 3 working with each and every one of you. Thank you. 4 CHAIRPERSON REYNA: Thank you, Council 5 Member Cuomo. 6 COUNCIL CLERK MARTIN: Council Member 7 Garodnick. 8 COUNCIL MEMBER GARODNICK: Thank you. 9 I vote aye. 10 COUNCIL CLERK MARTIN: Council Member 11 Weprin. 12 COUNCIL MEMBER WEPRIN: Aye. 13 COUNCIL CLERK MARTIN: Council Member 14 Katz. 15 COUNCIL MEMBER KATZ: This is the 16 Rules, the Committee changes. I vote aye. 17 COUNCIL CLERK MARTIN: Speaker Quinn. 18 SPEAKER QUINN: I vote aye. 19 COUNCIL CLERK MARTIN: By a vote of 14 20 in the affirmative, zero in the negative and no 21 abstentions, the item is adopted. Members, please 22 sign the Committee reports. 23 Thank you. Thank you. 24 (Hearing concluded at 12:27 p.m.) 25 9 1 2 CERTIFICATION 3 4 5 STATE OF NEW YORK ) 6 COUNTY OF NEW YORK ) 7 8 9 I, CINDY MILLELOT, a Certified 10 Shorthand Reporter, do hereby certify that the 11 foregoing is a true and accurate transcript of the 12 within proceeding. 13 I further certify that I am not 14 related to any of the parties to this action by 15 blood or marriage, and that I am in no way 16 interested in the outcome of this matter. 17 IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto 18 set my hand this 25th day of June 2008. 19 20 21 22 23 --------------------- 24 CINDY MILLELOT, CSR. 25 10 1 2 C E R T I F I C A T I O N 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 I, CINDY MILLELOT, a Certified Shorthand 10 Reporter and a Notary Public in and for the State of 11 New York, do hereby certify the aforesaid to be a 12 true and accurate copy of the transcription of the 13 audio tapes of this hearing. 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 ----------------------- CINDY MILLELOT, CSR. 25