City staff outlined a set of application agreements and funding acceptances the Syracuse City Council will consider, including proposals for youth employment, police equipment and regional bomb-squad upgrades.

The city’s Chief told councilors that item 56 is an application agreement for the “Pell grama,” described in the transcript as a teen-jobs program for 14–19-year-olds lasting six to ten weeks; Councilor Mitchell requested a separate committee meeting on the item rather than placing it on hold for council action. “His secretary will communicate with you,” an unidentified speaker said about scheduling that committee meeting.

On equipment funding, the Chief said item 57 is an application to the U.S. Department of Justice under the Patrick Leahy Bulletproof Vest Partnership for 2025; the program requires a 50% local match and would help defray the cost of body armor. “We generally don't get it, but we want to apply anyway because we're too large of an agency,” the Chief said.

Item 58 was described as a cybersecurity-related acceptance of funds; an unidentified speaker clarified that the item is an acceptance of money rather than a new application, noting the council has handled similar acceptances on an annual basis.

Items 59–61 cover state homeland-security grants. The Chief described item 59 as an application to the New York State Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Services (DHSES) for a tactical-team targeted grant not to exceed $75,000 for the SWAT team, to be used for training, a new SUV and a gas-deployment system for the city’s BearCat vehicle. Item 60 (FY23 bomb squad initiative) was listed with a total grant not to exceed $285,000 to be split three ways with Onondaga County and the village of Endicott; Syracuse’s share was stated at $95,000 for a robot upgrade, training and equipment maintenance. Item 61 (FY24 bomb squad initiative) was stated as a $110,000 total with Syracuse’s share at $36,667 to purchase helmets, body armor and training.

Finally, item 62 is an application for up to $50,000 in DHSES critical-infrastructure funding that would be split with the fire department to purchase a weapons-detection system for the new public-safety building; the Chief described it as “not like a metal detector” and “more friendly, less intrusive.”

No formal votes on these application agreements are recorded in the provided transcript excerpt; council staff described the proposed uses and identified local shares for the multi-jurisdictional grants. The council was also told item 63 would be handled in executive session later in the meeting.

Next steps: councilors signalled scheduling actions (a committee meeting request for item 56) and the body moved to executive session for item 63, so formal votes on the listed grants were not recorded in the public portion of the transcript.