okay good evening everyone welcome to the eong mea Town council meeting of March the 12th 2024 I would ask that we stand for the Pledge of Allegiance I PL aliance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all at this time I would ask that uh we take a moment of silence to reflect on everything that's happening in the world uh both near and far thank you um need to announce that this meeting is being audio and video recorded by elcat and I would ask if there's anyone in the audience recording okay seeing none we will move on uh Jeanie do we have anyone signed up for public comments we do not and Don is there anyone that you see NOP okay um Council comments counselors any any comments Matt raising his hand we will move on um Town manager report Tom you have a report for us yep awesome the wire uh good evening everyone um uh March 5th was the presidential primary election uh I won't steal Genie's Thunder um but again uh I want to thank her and the team once again for uh another great job um something we all have come to expect at this point but I think it's always worth noting that uh the hard work and planning and execution of the day and days leading up to uh is something to behold so Stellar job again uh this Thursday the 14th uh the first meeting of the newly formed Center down Center Town District steering committee uh this committee uh will consist of I guess five members of the public uh ex official members from both Town Council and planning board uh along with uh assistant from Pioneer Valley Planning Commission uh to facilitate discussions with the community regarding uh whatever our goals are for this uh Center Town District uh also pvpc will be presenting at the mar March 19th planning board meeting uh to provide an introduction sort of to the project uh timeline of tasks uh some general benchmarks and and decision points um so public uh we welcome the public to attend this meeting uh to get up to speed again we're we're sort of excite excited about the prospects of uh sort of revitalizing downtown uh the annual report uh for 2023 has been completed uh obviously thanks to everyone another sort of large Endeavor everybody sort of submitting uh quite a lengthy document uh so I I I just want to thank everyone and special thanks to uh my personal favorite uh Deb house uh who I rely on obviously a lot but uh she had sort of the arduous task of compiling everyone's submissions and uh making sure everybody made the Deb line which everyone did except for her boss uh but I was uh I finished shortly thereafter uh so thanks the Deb um obviously things we've been busy with the fi25 budget uh as we work towards our draft the submitting submittal deadline uh few more meetings with department heads um uh to kind of Polish it up uh so that we're ready ready for that uh April 1 so again I sound like I thank everybody in every report but this obviously is a long process and a lot of people making a lot of time uh to meet and sort of discuss uh you know where what we're going to look like next year so uh thanks to everybody for putting up with me um and then finally uh the human resources manager Joan Iowa Nikki resigned from her position position is effective Friday March 8th I want to thank Joan for her service to the town and and wish her luck in her next Endeavor uh in the interim the manager's office will be assisting HR staff uh with the essential functions uh as we begin our search for a replacement uh upcoming events we have the Westcom groundbreaking this Thursday the 14th at 11 uh 6:45 shigan Drive in chiap that's the old Sou their college building uh School building committee meeting on March 28th at 3M at the high school uh again the draft budget middle April 1st um and another uh coffee with the town manager April 3rd uh 10:30 a at the COA uh which have the last few have sort of really been fun and we've gotten a lot of good feedback from those that attend uh and really myself it's nice to sort of answer questions about our town in a semi- relaxed setting uh with a cup of coffee so uh those will those will continue to be the first Wednesday of every month at the at the Council on hent um and that's all I got for tonight thank you councilors any questions comments um Tom I do have one uh I know the the deadline for the initial budget is April 1 yeah um or when it's all prepped and ready are you just going to email that because obviously we don't have a meeting until it's the ninth yeah I I think that's appropriate okay um and that way there gives us a little time before meeting yeah be able to look through it and yeah and if you want uh hard copies at that and that meeting following April 1 then I don't remember what the date was in 10th maybe n9th 9th is it nth um then we can have those sort of furnished okay yeah that's that that's what was in my head might be a large document but we'll uh we'll figure it out I'm sure Kim will find a way to condense it extremely small print for us um and the one other thing I would also like to um uh extend uh to Joan Ian Nikki um you know best of luck on our next Endeavor um like I said every time I had a question show always took care of it and uh definitely appreciated it so so best of luck to her anyone else okay um Communications correspondence and announcements um can we jeie presidential Prim areia thank you Tom for your nice words I appreciate it in fact the support of the Town manager and the Town Council contribute so much to every election I really appreciate that also um Jackie my assistant Sullivan is my right hand on Election Day so I appreciate everything she does and my staff I feel like at the like think no seriously every town Department the schools the custodian staff the police uh the library everybody from the early voting vote by mail and everything it's it's a huge Endeavor by a lot of people so the um election day the turnout total turnout was 23 uh 25% a little over 25% and the uh Joe Biden won the Democratic Party primary and Donald Trump Joe Biden won with um 1,261 votes and Donald Trump won with 1,154 for the Republican Party um vote the the early voting we saw 340 people which was okay I think we've we November we' certainly saw a lot more than that and what's really significant I think is that 14 and a half% of the voters were vote by mail so clearly over half the total votes were early votes and that's the trend I think we're going to see from now on people like it they're getting used to it so the postcards they got from the state the first check box was all elections and most people did that so they'll be getting um vote by mail for all the elections this year um we ended up receiving 2590 applications and then we got back almost 2,000 so over 00 didn't didn't send them back which was fine but it cost the town money to do that send them out the state pays for them to come back so um one down the next one is June our our local election and then um the state primary is September 3rd which is the day after Labor Day and that includes the Saturday in the previous week of early voting and then November 7th is the presidential with the two Saturdays and two full weeks of early voting prior to that so it's going to be a heavy year for us and actually today was the last day to um submit nomination papers for the local election so we've got uh school committee Sarah trulio running for re-election and that's a one you know vote one for one seat uh Town Council we have two seats available Matt voucher and Connor O'Shea are running for re-election and then we have Juliano basil and James Len uh that took out papers and returned them so they'll be on the ballot as well good we're looking forward to that okay thank you um so it's not quite 6:15 so I would entertain a motion to move out of order to 8 um 8A to return at 615 sure I move to move out of order to eight8 of the day a licens matters until 6:15 made in seconded it's a roll call vote because we have a member on Zoom Anna yes Kathy yes I'm a yes Connor yes joh yes and Matt yes thank you okay 8A licensing matters we have a one-day liquor license for St Mark's Episcopal Church is there a motion yes I make a motion to approve a one-day liquor license for St Mark's Episcopal Church for St Patrick's Day dinner on Friday March 15 2024 from 5: to 7:30 p.m. I second okay uh motion made and seconded any discussion on it uh hearing none again a roll call vote Anna yes Kathy yes I am a yes Connor yes John yes and Matt yes thank you um let's move on to 8 A2 um this is a application from East Village Tavern and entertainment license um I will start with a motion and then if it's okay I would ask him uh John to come up and just give us a little bit sure I move to approve a one-day entertainment license for East Village Tavern for the M's performance on March 16 2024 from 4: to 4:30 pm but a second down okay motion made in second in John would you come up and join us suly and uh um I'm giving you the opportunity you basically have an open mic to tell us what's going on and that's I'm ma cro obviously my glasses are down like he's got a little B more hair than I do hey yeah you're right so um just a little bit about the event we're gonna have the Mummers come through name and address oh yes Matt desro uh 37 uh a is revolving fund uh B is Department authorized to spend from fund C is fees charges or other receipts credited to fund D is program or activity expenses payable from fund e is restrictions or conditions on expenses payable from fund f is other requirements in reports and G is the fiscal years um so under the Solid Waste uh Health disposal which Health Department disposal which is number 2805 under category C which is the fees charges or other receipts credited to fund we will be adding the words mattress and Recycling and then under uh F other requirements and reports um we will remove wording annual reconciliation of internal records compared to the general ledger must be provided to the town accountant by July 31st and then we will be replacing that with uh the following language the balance in the revolving fund account shall not exceed the approved expenditure limit set by Town Council vote as outlined by section 6-1 of the Town Charter then moving on to the next section which is the Council of Aging which is fund number 2809 under F which is again the other requirements and reports uh we will be adding the following language uh the balance in the revolving fund account shall not exceed the approved expenditure limit set by Town Council vote as outlined by section 6-1 of the Town Charter and we will remove uh the language annual reconciliation of internal records compared to the general ledger must be provided to the the town accountant by July 31st carryover of unspent rental funds is allowed so that language was removed um the next section is Health Department number 2812 so this entire section will be removed um the health department number 2812 is removed under B Health Department under C uh users of the sharps recycling program d D expenses such as containers and advertisements to provide a Sharps recycling program in the community and f um annual reconciliation of internal records compared to the um general ledger must be provided to the town accountant by July 31st and under G fiscal Years it'll be the fiscal year 2018 and subsequent years so that entire section is being removed that revolve fund is no longer necessary and at this time um this was requested through the town manager and I would ask for just a quick overview of the reasonings for this so uh that uh account uh 282 is it the last one yes it's just not been used for a while and so um there's really no reason for it to be named in the bylaw when it's not in use so that that really as simple as that okay um I would ask uh this is a public hearing so I would ask if anyone in the public has any questions comments or concerns with regards to these amendments and Don is there anyone online with their hands up with it okay so I will bring this back to the board um I would entertain a motion to close uh the public hearing I move to close the public hearing second V having a motion made and seconded any discussion hearing none it's a roll call vote Anna yes Cathy yes I am a yes Connor yes John yes and Matt yes thank you and so I would ask for a motion on the revolving fund sure I move to to approve the proposed bylaw amendment of chapter 97-18 revolving funds as presented I second thank you uh motion again made and seconded is any discussion on it seeing none roll call vote Anna yes Kathy yes I am a yes Connor yes John yes and Matt yes okay that passes and 22 so the next uh public hearing is at 6:30 so I would entertain a motion to move out of order to 8b1 I move to move out of order to starting with 8B and continue until such time it's 6:30 is there a second second motion made and seconded any discussion hearing none Anna yes Kathy yes I am a yes yes John and Matt yes okay um 8b1 uh this is approval of a transfer from free cash to Legal Services is there a motion I make a motion to approve a $30,000 transfer from free cash to Legal Services 01512 d530 41 second motion made in second any discussion yes discuss so I would ask um I mean I'm assuming because of all the different litigation we've had that it's pretty much run the legal services budget that we had set aside down my yes uh it would it's the sort of culmination of four uh contract negotiations or for uh bargaining unit negotiations earlier in the year and then uh litigation uh most specifically 33 Chestnut um has sort of depleted that account uh to the point where I I think I made a transfer out of the reserve transfer fund the other day just to pay an invoice so um this should be uh sufficient to to get us to the end of the year uh assuming uh um nothing unforeseen happens okay any other questions okay having a motion made and seconded it's a roll call vote Anna yes Kathy yes I'm a yes Connor yes John yes and Matt yes thank you thank you okay we will move on to 8 C approval of minutes is there a motion I make a motion to approve the February 13 2024 Open Session minut second motion made in second in any discussion roll call vote Anna yes Kathy yes I'm a yes Connor yes John yes and Matt I abstain Matt abstains okay five more minutes um under uh 8D old business um we had talked uh a few meetings ago about uh life insurance um for elected officials so this was something that I had asked to be put on um what this was was I was asking for an option for elected officials if they so choose to opt into the life insurance for the town and I just thought we should bring it up again um see what the thoughts are on and this is paid for entirely by the um uh counselor yes contribution yeah yeah yes I mean and so basically it gives of yeah what the life insurance is for the payout obviously would be somebody else right and this would be for um during your elected period um the term of the term of exactly um so it's why you're an employee of the Town basically and we're talking roughly 60 cents per paid period um yeah dollar2 a month and it would it would come out of your stien check Council stip exactly and again you don't have to right like I said it's optional right and there's I I called Ralph earlier that there are still a few things that we need to sort of work out because we have we have a HR little we got some stuff going on in HR so um I'm I'm I'm certain that as Town employees you're afforded the opportunity for things that if you want to contribute to but only up to a certain point right so you can't the retirement no right no insurance no but there there I think there's an opportunity for this small con uh contribution for just the life insurance pce so previously under the board of Selectmen um all elected officials could opt into not only health insurance but the life insurance and some did some didn't um and that was removed uh under one of the very last uh administrative decisions of the Board of Selectmen and like I said I can understand the health insurance it's extremely expensive and uh and that was the thought process at the time it was costing 75 to $100,000 to cover the life insurance aspect um but when you look at to cover the health insurance aspect when you look at only the life insurance um all members if they chose to do it you're looking I think we said $380 was the total cost to opt in so um and again we don't have to vote tonight it I just wanted to bring it up for further discussion I said we'd bring it back so um just thought I'd ask the the will of the board what your thoughts do you want to look at it tonight do you want to wait um I have a question question what cost the town anything um is there like an employer and an employ contribution sort of opt no no you just sort of opt in and it's your contribution so just so there's no it's very very modest policy yeah and is it a set amount for the death benefit or is it like five, $5,000 okay yeah it's right yeah get you much floral arrangement Conor yet a question oh just a comment I was going to say I don't personally see the need for it but given that it's like optin and that it would come out of an individual counselor that wants to opt in stien not opposed to it either yeah I think we should give counselors the option but as con said I'm I don't really I don't think I'll opt in but I think other counselors or future counselors down yeah exactly so um I think it would be a very good thing to have just as an option for and it would not cost the taxpayers right it's all it's all elected officials right I mean School commit yes that's the way I had set it up for elected officials yeah I mean if it's not C costing the town anything the tax or anything yeah so I would just say if if you wanted to vote sort of make it contingent on uh you know on the HR being able to yeah like confirm that it is a legal sort of do we want to I think well I think this more gives them direction oh when they Comm to pursue it okay does this also require action from the school comp as well if they're going to be having the option to opt like do they need to do something procedurally as well or would this our vote it's our vote do you need our vote to pursue it no I mean uh you could wait I suppose um but if you voted and it could contingent on it you know all things being legal as soon as I confirm that yeah it just has to be legal yeah well I that's their the health insurance piece wasn't just because they sort of opted out there you don't make enough you don't yeah there's the hourly you don't hit what you're supposed to hit in order to be afforded those benefits so we just they we're still double- checking on if life insurance insurance if that applies to the life life insurance as well so we could slate it for a vote in a month or two you want your acting HR Director to just get that answer before you vote is that is that the direction how about we just take a vote and move it off the agenda I don't think there's any harm in voting to give so would you like to make a motion certainly let me see Conor's usually pretty good at it but he'll second tonight I make a motion that the council uh give the town manager uh approval to pursue uh in his capacity as interim HR Director uh the opportunity for opin life insurance for Town Council Members all elected officials for all elected officials I'm sorry for all elected officials is there a second have a motion made in second and any other discussion hearing none it's a roll call vote Anna yes Kathy yes I am a yes Connor yes John yes and Matt yes thank you we are past 6:30 that was nice that we kept it going so at this time I would suggest that we move back uh to public hearings the 6:30 is also a bylaw Amendment yes um so this is a public hearing for acquired second reading for the proposed bylaw amendment of chapter 310 alcoholic beverages uh council members present are uh Anna Jones Kathy Hill Ralph Paige Conor OA John torsa and Matthew Boucher um I would ask the clerk to read the legal notice into the record Long Meadow Town Council will hold a public hearing on March 12 2024 at 6:30 pm in the media room of the Council on Aging located at 328 North Main Street for the purpose of addressing a proposed bylaw amendment of chapter 310 alcoholic beverages this bylaw Amendment designates the East Long meow Police Department as the enforcing agent of the local licensing Authority the public hearing may also be attended via Zoom webinar with the below link information related to this bylaw is available for public inspect ction at the town clerk's office 60 Center Square to view an electronic version of the proposed amendment please visit the town's website or the council Gene rqu Town Clark Clerk of the council okay at this time I will read uh the second reading for chapter 310 alcoholic beverages for the amendment this is under article one restrictions on public consumption um under subsection [Music] following language the East long metal Police Department shall be the enforcing agent of the local licensing Authority in parentheses lla which shall be the Town Council and it is there and then it follows and continues on duty to arrest any person who violates the provisions of subsection 310 and 310-1 and 310- two and to cause such person to be detained until that person can be taken before a court having jurisdiction for the offense um out of that paragraph um the wording to be removed is it shall be the and of any police officer of the town and then there three subsection the new sentence will read um in addition lla requires the following and that is changed um because we removed the following wording local licensing Authority parentheses L uh which shall be the Town Council and then there is one new section uh that we have added which is subsection 310-10 enforcement uh that reads any police officer of the town is an agent of the lla and authorized to enforce the provisions of this article so was that us that asked for this I think I think we were the requiring so um the reason behind this is we had um adopted the fact that the police or we had voted at that the police would be our agents but we had never memorialized it within the bylaw and that's all this is doing this is actually putting it into the specific location where it should be um so at this time I would open it up to the public and I would ask if anyone in the audience has any questions comments or concerns regarding this bylaw please step forwards seeing none uh don is there anyone via Zoom no okay I would entertain a motion to close the public hearing then move to close the public hearing motion made and seconded any further discussion hearing none roll call vote Anna yes uh Kathy yes I'm a yes Connor yes John yes and Matt yes okay at this time I would entertain a motion then I make a motion to approve the proposed bylaw amendment of chapter 310 alcoholic beverages as presented I'll second that motion made in seced is there any further discussion heing none this is a roll call vote Anna yes Kathy yes I am a yes Connor yes John and Matt yes thank you okay so that catches it [Music] up so next on the agenda is 81 prove the acceptance of Mass General Law chapter 166 section 32A is there a motion I make a motion to accept Massachusetts General Law chapter 166 section 32A ector of wires working as electrician inspection by assistant inspector second okay motion made in secutive further discussion yes I was actually gonna ask Tom to um give us a little explanation of um what we're actually looking at under Mass General law that we're looking to approve so this is um specifically stating that the local in ector the local wiring wiring inspector can work in the town that he works for and perform whatever Services he just can't be the inspector of his work our bylaw pretty much says the same thing uh however it doesn't specifically state that they can work in our town so it basically goes right to the assist or the alternate inspector has to inspect the wire inspector's work if he does it but it never actually says that the wire inspector can do work in town so it's a little bit of a technicality we sort of covered it in the bylaw um but it doesn't actually state in our bylaw that our local Bing wiring inspector can perform electrical work in our town and this this General odd does so it was a sort of a catchall um instead of leaving it up to the bylaw where it's merely implied that this person can do work no that answered it okay so at this time basically what we're saying is uh if we have an electrical inspector in town yeah they're not allowed to do their own jobs or or work within the town explicitly pleas say that so by accepting this they will be able to as long as they realize someone else has to inspect their work correct okay simple enough we did Ralph had brought up an interesting point about the plumbing inspector because you'd assume there there is no sort of Mass General a this is like the 32A so somebody must have there is no there is nothing for the plumber yeah yet uh so we'll we'll sort of allow um IW to sort of govern that and it's the same thing we have an alternate inspector everybody these guys all know each other and Long Meadow helps us and we help Long Meadow and the the people both on the electrical side and the pluming side know that they can't inspect their own work it's sort of it's an Ethics thing really uh so they're sort of governed by law anyway but again to use your word from before this sort of memorializes it for for the elect side anyway okay y any other questions hearing none we have a motion made seconded roll call vote Anna yes Kathy yes I'm a yes Connor yes John yes and Matt yes you thank you um action item do we have any action items for next meeting next meeting is April 9th so one of the things to make sure look for the budget read it memorize it um do we have any we do have a couple items that'll be on reading for the commission on disability okay by law that's just the verbiage changing pretty much that and that was one um where the bylaw Review Committee felt as though they didn't have to look at it because it's just a name change okay so we will move on to number nine um which is a executive session so I would make a motion to move into executive session to consider the purchase exchange taking lease or value of real property for 382 North Main Street if such discussion may have a detrimental effect on the negotiating position of the governmental body and return to open session for the purpose of adjournment and to discuss pending litigation if an open meeting may have a detrimental effect on the bargaining or litigating position of the public body and the chair so declares which I do declare um then return to open session for the purpose of adjournment second motion made and seconded roll call vote Anna yes Kathy yes I'm a yes Connor yes John yes and Matt yes