By RICK MILLER
Olean Star
OLEAN — A man who approached the speaker’s podium with silver coins during the public comment portion of the Olean Common Council meeting Tuesday was led from the council chamber by police in handcuffs.
The man, who did not give his name, held two red trays with what appeared to be several rolls of silver coins and put some on the podium before being approached by Olean police officers. He offered the coins to the city to help pay to keep untreated sewage out of the Allegheny River.
It was not clear why the officers approached the man. It did not appear that the man resisted three police officers in their attempt to detain him and lead him from the chamber.
As police were leading the man out of the council chamber, Council President John Crawford, D-Ward 5, declared “The public comment session is over.”
The YouTube video of the incident was taken down along with the rest of the meeting. It’s unclear why the video was removed.
Mayor Bill Aiello told the Olean Star on Wednesday that there was a miscommunication involved in taking down the video, which has since been restored to the city’s YouTube channel.
The city aldermen and Mayor Bill Aiello had been criticized through much of the public comment session for their lack of action to prevent sewage overflows into the Allegheny River. Those comments came from several visitors including two members of the Seneca Nation Tribal Council.
One, Councilor Tina Abrams, said that in meetings with the state’s acting commissioner of the Department of Environmental Conservation earlier this month, Seneca representatives were told funding is available for the city to address the sewage overflows. She also offered grant writing help. “There are many tools you are not utilizing,” she added.
The mayor said he had accepted an invitation from Seneca President J. Conrad Seneca to meet with him in Irving on the Cattaraugus Territory on April 7, to discuss how the Nation could help the city — particularly the sewage overflows.
Aiello agreed that the good news he shared with the aldermen and visitors earlier in the meeting had been overshadowed by the one speaker’s arrest.
The mayor said the man had been given the opportunity to speak, but when he began placing things on the podium, the council president closed the public comment section of the meeting.
As Crawford asked twice where there was “Anyone else” who wished to speak, the man, while holding two trains of rolled coins, commented, “I want to make a donation to the City of Olean.” As he began placing the coins on the podium, Crawford asked him to sit down and added “You’re done sir.” Police moved in as the man walked back to his seat.
The man kept talking and got louder, Aiello said. When he was approached by police, “he gave them a hard time.” He was later charged with creating a disturbance at a public meeting.
He was issued an appearance ticket to answer the charge in City Court at a later date.
“It’s unfortunate people can be more respectful and follow the process,” Aiello told the Olean Star on Wednesday.
The mayor said it was very good news that the Seneca president had invited him to meet to discuss how the Seneca nation can help the city.
Aldermen approved a $50,000 transfer from the Sewer Fund to pay for professional services for evaluation of the capacity of the city’s pumping stations as part of a plan to stop sewage overflows into the Allegheny River.
Aiello was given authority to negotiate a contract with a consultant on pump station capacities.
“Why limit it to the lift stations?” asked Glenn Wahl, an activist and frequent critic of the city and Aiello for not resolving the overflow problems that have resulted in millions of gallons of untreated sewage being diverted to the river during very heavy rains.
Wahl, of Little Valley, said the $50,000 “is a good start,” but the city should look at disconnecting roof drains from the sanitary sewer system and instead divert them onto lawns or to storm drains.
Another Seneca Councilor, Clint Nephew, said, “We extended a hand to try to help you. It is up to you to figure his out.”
Another Seneca speaker, Degawenodas, He Who Thunderz, expressed disappointment in Aiello that more has not been accomplished over the past year he and others have been speaking out over the sewage overflows into the river. “You are dragging your feet.”
IN OTHER ACTION the council:
- Voted to install no parking signs in the 200 block of North 12th Street from 7 a.m.- 5 p.m. weekdays except holidays in a bid to keep the roadway clear during Washington West Elementary School’s opening and closing.
- Authorized the mayor to enter into an agreement with Axon Enterprise Inc., for Olean Police Department body cameras.
- Authorized a private resident on Homer Street to make non-permanent landscape improvements to adjacent property owned by the city.
- Authorized the mayor to enter into an agreement between the and the Cattaraugus County SPCA for services related to cruelty cases and animal control for lost, stray and abandoned dogs within the city.
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All Rights Reserved. Star News LLC. Eric M. Firkel.
