Watertown City Council votes to remove planters; KeyBank area to be redesigned

Sep. 6—WATERTOWN — In a yet another turn of events, Councilman Cliff G. Olney III got to vote to remove two unfinished concrete planters in front of the downtown KeyBank.

On Tuesday night, his vote was the difference to spend $4,060 for the Watertown engineering firm of Barton & Loguidice to redesign that area in front of the bank to add a handicapped parking space.

Last month, interim city attorney H. Todd Bullard said that Roberts Rules of Order prevented Olney and the other council members from reconsidering an earlier decision to keep the planters there, even though the councilman was absent from the meeting because of the death of his father.

But Councilwoman Lisa A. Ruggiero presented an emergency resolution on Tuesday night to take another vote, citing that costs would increase if council members waited to take action at a future council meeting.

"I thought it was wrong that Cliff didn't get to vote," she said Wednesday.

The issue over two concrete planters had been the subject at recent council meetings after building owners Jake Johnson and Robert D. Ferris complained the planters would cause the loss of four parking spots in front of the bank.

Council members spent about an hour debating the issue once again, this time erupting into a heated argument.

Mayor Jeffrey M. Smith decided that it was not an emergency to vote on it. Earlier in the day, Ruggiero got word that concrete was getting poured at the site, although it was not related to the planters but a sidewalk in front of the bank.

Perhaps ironically, it was Bullard who determined that council members should vote on what to do with the planters. He ruled that a majority of council could overrule the mayor's assertion that it wasn't an emergency.

"It wasn't an emergency," Smith said Wednesday. "It was all made up."

Both sides used their interpretation of council rules to get what they wanted with the planters.

Smith said the councilwoman blamed others for not getting to vote on in it on Aug. 21. She accused the mayor of not being transparent and interfering with the vote last time,

Councilman Patrick J. Hickey also voted to remove the planters, while Councilwoman Sarah V. Compo Pierce joined the mayor in voting to keep them.

Initially agreeing to remove them, Compo Pierce said she changed her mind after getting complaints about removing them and wanted to see whether they became a major issue.

On Wednesday, Johnson expressed his thanks that the majority of council decided to remove the planters and add one spot in front of the bank and two others around the corner on Stone Street.

It wasn't a win for him, he insisted. He said it was for his tenants, other businesses, the investors in the purchase of the bank and his partner. But most importantly it was for a bank employee who parked in a handicapped spot for years so she could enter the bank front door and have easier access to the building's elevator, he said.

"I'm proud of Lisa (Ruggiero)," he said. "She stood her ground."

The two 10-foot by 10-foot concrete planters are part of the city's $3.9 million streetscape project designed to make that area of Washington Street safer for pedestrians.

Once the redesign is completed, the council will have to take another vote, next time for a change order from CCI, the general contractor working on the downtown project, that will take into account the new look in front of the bank.

Tuesday's concrete pouring did not have any impact on the decision that council made on Tuesday night, City Manager Kenneth A Mix said.

The changes in front of the bank is just about all of the work remaining on the downtown project along Court Street and other parts of downtown.

It was unclear on Wednesday how long it will take for the redesign. That final bit of the $3.9 million project still needs to be finished. Mix said.