City Manager’s

Status and Information Update

May 16, 2022

Rescue Equipment Training

The department has been training with new vehicle stabilization equipment that is being carried on
the Rescue truck. The Res-Q-Jack strut system allows fire crews to quickly stabilize a vehicle that
has been in an accident in a manner that is safer for both the occupants of the vehicle and crews
working to treat and extricate them.

Acquired Structure Training

The fire department was recently allowed to train at the Ruby Tuesday building before it was
demolished. Training included forcing doors, wall breaching, wall stabilization (below left), roof
ventilation, large area victim search and victim packaging and removal (below right).
 City Manager’s
Status and Information Update
May 16, 2022

Traffic Control / Work Zone Protection

On April 27th traffic control and work zone protection training was provided to approximately 50
employees from DPW, Water Distribution and Parks and Recreation. A special thanks to
Occupational Safety and Health Specialist Josh Kemp from CSEA for providing this important
training. Numerous other safety trainings will be provided over the next few months with the next
being excavation safety in early May.

De-Escalation Training

On Friday, May13th employees from City Hall and the Library were provided with de-escalation
training by the Watertown Police Department. Providing this training will require that City Hall and
the Library be closed to the public from 10:00am to noon. As the training draws nearer, notice of the
closure will be provided on the City’s website, via a press release, by the City’s public notification
system, and signage will be posted in both locations.

Water Treatment

On April 25th, Distribution Staff assisted Filtration in moving the Dredge. This is the first step in
preparing for summer dredging activities in the settling basin.
 City Manager’s
Status and Information Update
May 16, 2022

WTP Maintenance staff began the upgrade to the water bulk filling station. The new system will
allow for point of sale as well as a pre-pay option. The work is expected to take 2 weeks to complete.

Water Distribution

On May 8th Distribution Crews will begin the annual Hydrant flushing program that will run until
June 30th.
 City Manager’s
Status and Information Update
May 16, 2022

Water Distribution

Water Distribution has continued with Lead Service Replacements. On 4/24/22 the service line for
137 Francis Street was replaced under the Lead Service Replacement program. Additional services
have been marked (DSNY locations) for replacement in the coming weeks.

Wastewater Treatment

Wastewater Treatment staff mounted a new alkalinity analyzer on Primary Digester #2.
 City Manager’s
Status and Information Update
May 16, 2022

Wastewater Treatment

After a long winter of storing the Contractors have started work on

biosolids on the on-site pad, the crew at the Trickling Filter Dome
the Wastewater Treatment Plant are restoration capital project.
loading Class B biosolids to be land
applied to nearby farm fields.

Public Square Traffic Signal Project

A construction meeting for this project was held on 04-29-2022. The construction crew is currently
waiting on controllers to be delivered. Construction will begin once they have arrived.

ARPA Streets Projects

GHD Group and Aubertine and Currier have both meet with the Engineering Department to discuss
their scope of services for their respective projects (Pratt Street and Sherman Street for GHD Group
and Ohio Street and Winslow Street for Aubertine and Currier). GYMO Engineering has been
approved for their 2 projects: East Street Water Main, and Barben Ave/ Holcomb St/ Bugbee Drive
Water Main and Barben Avenue Sewer Extension Projects.
 City Manager’s
Status and Information Update
May 16, 2022

Water Treatment Plant Maintenance Administration Masonry Repointing

This project’s construction could not be started and had to be delayed. This project has just begun
construction on 05-05-2022.
 City Manager’s
Status and Information Update
May 16, 2022

Public Transit

On April 13th, 2022, TCAT – Tompkins Consolidated Area Transit, Inc. hosted CitiBus along with
several other of our area’s public transit agencies. The purpose of our visit was to learn about their
operation and experiences in transitioning to all electric buses. TCAT is one of the earliest adopters of
electric buses in the state. They currently have 7 out of 54 all electric buses in-service. That may seem
like a small percentage of their fleet. However, it represents millions of dollars in the cost of buses
alone Additionally, it has been a major undertaking to even get to this point. Lining up all the pieces
along with the infrastructure planning took well over a year. After all that planning, the lead time for
these buses can also stretch beyond a year.

We can’t thank Scot Vanderpool and his staff at TCAT enough for sharing their insight. This sharing
of their knowledge and experiences, will lend, in us avoiding some of the potholes along the way.
 City Manager’s
Status and Information Update
May 16, 2022

Notable cases from 4/22/2022 – 5/06/2022

Menacing Arrest/MHL

Officers responded to a report of a disorderly subject who activated a fire alarm at a location in the
City of Watertown. The subject ignored attempts by police to engage in a verbal dialog and at one
point, the subject squared off with a police officer while pointing a large knife at the officer. The
subject was sprayed with pepper spray, and they dropped the knife. Several officers struggled with
the subject who resisted arrest and continued to thrash about. At one point during the struggle, the
subject grabbed one of the officer’s firearms and tried to remove it from the holster. The subject was
tasered and was finally handcuffed, taken into custody, and transported to SMC for mental health
evaluation. Criminal charges were lodged for menacing a police officer (a class D felony), criminal
possession of a weapon in the fourth degree (a class A misdemeanor) and resisting arrest (a class A
misdemeanor).

Vehicle Stops/Drugs

In two separate vehicle stops, officers recovered small amounts of illegal drugs. In one stop, officers
recovered cocaine and methamphetamine. In the other stop, they recovered methamphetamine and
psychedelic mushrooms. Both stops resulted in charges of criminal possession of a controlled
substance in the seventh degree (a class A misdemeanor). Additional charges included driving on a
suspended license, suspended registration, fraudulent inspection sticker. One of the subjects was also
arrested on an outstanding bench warrant.

Recruit Officer Training

Our three remaining recruit officers are in their fourth week of supervised field training. The officers
are putting their police academy training to practical use while being guided and assisted by senior
officers who are NY State certified “Field Training Officers” (FTO). During the next ten weeks, they
will gradually take on greater responsibility for their calls and will eventually handle incidents with
no assistance from the FTO.
 City Manager’s
Status and Information Update
May 16, 2022

K-9 UNIT

Officer Mike Maney and Officer Austin Kellogg during a Criminal Justice class at Jefferson
Community College.
 City Manager’s
Status and Information Update
May 16, 2022

Fairgrounds Arena and Baseball Field

The Watertown Wolves won the FPHL Commissioners Cup Championship on Monday, May 2nd at
the Watertown Municipal Arena. This Championship adds to their previous wins in 2018 and 2015.
Congratulations to the Watertown Wolves and everyone involved!

The Parks & Recreation Department

Parks & Recreation crews are working
to remove the ice rink from the arena as
we transition to summer events. Non-
ice events will begin May 6th.
removed the grass infield at Marble
Park, Field #1 and replaced it with clay.
This upgrade will enhance the field of
play and provide another quality field
for teams to utilize during the softball
and baseball seasons.
 City Manager’s
Status and Information Update
May 16, 2022

Downtown Revitalization Initiative

The Jefferson Community College Downtown Revitalization Initiative project is moving forward in
partnership with Neighbors of Watertown. The project has secured property at 126 to 136 Franklin
Street to redevelop. The College will create a hub for entrepreneurship education, providing short-
term training, co-working opportunities, and relocating the Small Business Development Center to
the new space. The conceptual designs will be shared with Council members later this month and
renovations are scheduled to begin in late summer.

Arbor Day

On Friday, April 29th, the City held its 25th Annual Arbor Day observance. This year’s ceremony took
place in front of the Roswell P. Flower Memorial Library.

Rotary Spring Tree Planting Project

On Saturday, April 30th, members of the Watertown Noon Rotary, Tree Watertown, and other
volunteers planted 51 trees in Thompson Park as part of the Annual 2022 Rotary Spring Tree Planting
Project. The sixty-five plus volunteers planted trees in two project areas, 1) adjacent to the West
Entrance Drive over-look as part on-going invasive species mitigation efforts in this area of the park,
and 2) along lower North Entrance Drive adjacent to the Park Circle and Olmsted Dr.

DPW Spring Tree Planting Project

The Department of Public Works Buildings and Grounds Crew planted 71 trees during the last week
at locations throughout the City.