##VIDEO ID:dGsF-ggq0Zk## this government meeting is brought to you by eastw works and our local cable subscribers good evening welcome to the hton city ccil for Wednesday for meeting Wednesday uh August 7th the meeting tonight is being court and broadcast by media on chatter channel3 and live streaming on their web page Isam media.org cons and participant in this meeting are gathering hybrid on the order extended until March 25 2025 which allow us to do so I remind both the member of the city council and the public participa remote remain mute on the recognized by the city council president also for the members of the public please remove your camera for the direction of the Mee unless you are participating in the public speak time of the public hearing now this meeting is now called to order Connie Denham here Salem Derby Omar Gomez here JP kazinski Tom Peak here brod Riley here Tamara Smith here JT Terrell here oh andar now is the time for the place of delance and the moment silence Place allegiance to the flag flag States of America to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all I take minut [Music] First We Take a motion to approve the minutes of June 25th July 10th and July 15 don't move second I have a motion a seconds to approve the minutes of June 25th July 10th and July 15th any further discussion see none Barbara Connie denim hi Salem OH Omar Gomez JP gazinski I'm Tom Peak hi Brad Riley hi Tamar Smith hi JT Terell hies now is the time for the SW of the two new fir Fighters I said once again thank you chief norres for using this platform and this body to s in the new fire fighters is a way for the community to know them to know the hard work uh the fire departments are doing and we always uh welcome you guys with open arms thank you Mr city council president city council I'm certainly uh mayor lelle um so tonight we're here to swear in two new firefighters and just as a a quick kind of overview of why we're here tonight back uh last fall the fire department applied for received the Federal grant for $1.5 million for a safer grant for hiring four new firefighters based on the call volume that has seen the increase over the last three to four years um that Federal grant pays for the full salaries and benefits for the first three years of those four individuals we've hired one of those four positions already and then tonight we're bringing forward the second and third positions for that safer gr and then we have interviews this coming Tuesday to fill that fourth position eventure down the road as well so that's kind of what we're bringing for before you here tonight um the two firefighters i' actually have them come forward for a moment here we have Danny Ma and rosan lakas um what you'll see in a moment here when the mayor when the mayor swears both these individual Z is we've refined our hiring process over the years and we've really focused on looking at individuals who are going to have a career here for the city Beast Hampton for 30 years and looking at the Quality and such what good people they are um and that's what we're bringing for you tonight we're bringing before you two exceptional individuals that happen to be firefighters and EMT and paramedics um Rosie Rosanna lakis um has background in both fire uh attending the career of fire academy already and has been a paric for a number of years and then Danny ma also has experience already in the fire service and the County Fire program as well as completing his basic EMT program and will be attending permanet school this coming fall so we have some exceptional people that be sworn in here tonight and extremely proud to bring them on our organization and uh looking forward to work working with them over the next few years so thank you mayor you can be there let you know it's a over there so H they can look that way I'm looking this way do they do they have to be so far away no they can be close and they should be okay okay I know better than to cross the president so okay this s of your family and so raise your right hand raise your right hand here why don't you stand right this my apologies to up okay I say your name I Daniel name do solemnly swear do Solly swear that I will faithfully and impartially that I will faithfully and impartially discharge and perform discharge and perform the duties incumbent the duties incumbent upon me upon me as a firefighter As A Firefighter for the city of e sampton for the city of e sampton according to the best according to the best of my knowledge and abilities so best knowledge and ability agreeably to the rules agreeably to the rules and regulations of and regulations of the Constitution the Constitution of the United States of America of the United States of America the laws of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts the laws of Commonwealth of Massachusetts and the City of eastampton and the City of East congratulations [Applause] welcome just sign your name back for you thank you thank you excellent all right raise your right hand I state your name I Rosanna lakas you saw swear do solemnly swear that I will Faithfully that I will faithfully and impartially and impartially discharge and perform discharge and perform the duties incumbent the duties incumbent upon me upon me as firefighter as firefighter for the city of eastampton for the city of eastampton according to the best according to the best of my knowledge and abilities of my knowledge and abilities agreeably agreeably to the rules and regulations to the rules and regulations of the Constitution of the Constitution of the United States of America of the United States of America the laws of the Commonwealth of of Massachusetts the laws of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and the City of eastampton and the City of eastampton congratulations you great you oh thank you thank you thank you Chief thank you everyone [Music] congratulations Poli speak time this is the opportunity to address the counil regarding any topic not least on the public hearing if you're here to talk to the counil uh you have 3 minutes please state your name and address for the record and go to the buing I'm going to start with the people that in person and then with the people that are participating removed good evening it's a pleasure to be here my name is Miriam and Sarah and I live at 359 Main Street Unit 2A and I am here to thank the city of eastampton for being a city of peace and to invite the counselors and the public to a onew woman play Palestine at City space August 17th in April the council voted for a ceasefire in the Middle East with a lot of support from the community we haven't achieved a ceasefire in Gaza yet and the war looks in fact to be escalating but it was an important declaration for peace and the preservation of Life by our community and I'm proud of us with sponsorship and support from almost 20 Community businesses and organizations NAA SED will present her play Palestine to city and City space in the play NAA describes growing up Arab American and Palestinian in the United States she brings us both to laughter and to tears and an image of Arab Americans and Palestinians emerges as the real people we are and also as so greatly similar to all of the other first and second generation in this country and in eastampton we hope you will buy tickets on the city space website we hope also you will go to Galaxy Restaurant to try some of the Palestinian dishes that they will put on the menu during that week and we also hope you will join Carolyn kushin at the library August 14th for a discussion of n's Memoir uh looking for Palestine I also so that's the plague but we really are a city of peace and I want to express how proud I am of us in another way of East Hampton is a city for peace for the I believe it's the third time our mayor Nicole as Chappelle has issued a proclamation rejecting nuclear weapons and honoring the dead of Hiroshima and Nagasaki and the on the anniversary of that horrific Atomic bombing and that that Proclamation was taken to a ceremony yesterday in Springfield eastampton has been a member of mayor for peace for almost 20 years and in 2018 our city council voted for a ban on nuclear weapons it is a moral conviction and also an act of self-preservation as should nuclear weapons be deployed in Europe or in the Middle East youth Campton will suffer from the effects I'm leaving copies here and I given them to the counselors I will also put copies of the play uh poster on the counter here but at any rate I freely thank you mayor Nicole and the East Hampton Council for upholding with honor and conviction the sacredness of all lives the gry of all of us for peace thank you I'm proud to be a resident of East Hampton thank you hi good evening uh my name is Margaret bets and I know some of you in a variety of ways I am a teacher in East Hampton I also my son goes to wellon and spends a lot of time with uh JT trying to find his um various lost athletic equipment um I also am the newly uh elected vice president of the East Hampton Education Association and I'm also serving currently as um the assuming the duties of the president because we are currently have a vacancy not the president we will have an election soon but in the meantime I'm here to speak um as an advocate on behalf of the students of East Hampton and the teachers of East K uh and it's about the Chapter 70 money so I um I'm here to Advocate that the mayor allocate all of the additional uh Chapter 70 money that is coming to East Hampton um by way of the governor's new budget so um in February there was about $45,000 extra of chapter 1 money and that was all budgeted for we now are to receive an additional 116 ,000 thanks to the mta's advocacy and also all of those of us who voted for the um for the millionaires tax all of that money is now supporting Chapter 70 and so many other great programs so the Northampton mayor has already pledged to send all of that money and it is it we are in an unprecedented time because we typically don't get such a windfall but we are also in unprecedented times in schools or maybe precedented honestly because I've never taught um a year where we couldn't use more but right now uh we are uh in negotiations and this would allow us to absolutely settle the contract with lots left over um and additionally one of the things that was part of the budget that is um that was sort of listed as a um no longer needed position was a special education position but as you are probably all aware our special education numbers exceed 20% uh which is outside of the uh State average and so it's a little bit hard to imagine that we don't actually need that position that we needed previously so I I think um in the spirit of compromise the budget was set they got in under 10% we all saw how the sausage was made and it makes perfect sense but with the additional $116,000 we could potentially replace that position settle our contract be able to then move forward in a place of Greater um momentum and also um have a a three-year contract settled and have students who have a great deal of need get more of their needs met than they would have without that $116,000 so it is our request we understand how the rules are but we we beg of you to allow for that money to go to the students of East Hampton um thank you very much for your time thank you thank you for your work thank you thank you amazing he here can you hear me yes hello yeah we can hear you oh okay I'm sorry um I just I I just want to take a moment um to uh address the recent article online article regarding the p uh Parks and Recreation Maintenance building needs um this building has been uh on the park and rock uh wish list for 25 years now and this article brought light to the community regarding our needs um you know some of the things I I want to make sure people know is that the mayor and I have met many times this past six months to discuss replacement potential costs and the effects of disruption of services for uh the park and city park properties um with shutting down a maintenance building you know some of the roadblocks that have delayed this this current year has been staff shortage within city government including the building department and Board of Health as well as free cash certification um the mayor and I met um in early July discuss working out a plan for temporary office space and storage units um for our Park equipment and supplies um and we're looking to do that this fall um so we're minimizing disruption on Services um I definitely want to thank uh City leadership uh city council uh the mayor the community uh past and park recreation Commissioners for their support um on this project uh for our employees and the support they give our department as a whole um and I also want to thank um the park and wreck employees we're always taking pride in the facilities uh we offer our community um and it really shows with with how wonderful our park is um thank you very much thank you John anyone else I will take a motion to open public hearing so much second we have a second to open the bo hearing any further discussion see Barbara Omar Gomez JP kazinski Tom Peak hi Brad Riley hi Tam Smith hi JT Terell hi Tony D I uh motion bazes uh thank you Mr President president so we have two items um for the public hearing for the public this evening um both of them are related to a request to amend chapter 7 section 7-1 17A classification of employment by adding the following two positions uh and I will address each of these individually the first being the sustainability coordinator at uh grade e and just so the public knows our um human resource director Emily Russo is also here which at some point I will defer to her president Gomez so uh just to start so the sustainability coordinator coordinator um as you know we've had a conservation agent and um this position is an intent to draw to pull um some of the responsibilities that the conservation agent had taken on uh to create uh a new position so there was so with this position there's a strong focus on development and implementation of City policies programs and initiatives that promote environmental energy economic and social sustainability they are responsible for overseeing and executing the city climate action plan with departments residents and businesses up until now as I mentioned the conservation agent has been has taken uh on the work of this position however with the passage of the opt-in specialized code um and earning a climate leader design well hopefully I don't know that we've received it yet but the intent is to to earn a climate leader designation uh will open up funding for hiring a a sustainability coordinator um the our conversation included that this position will fall under DT DPW uh and funding would come from the general fund um the coun or the committee the ordinance committee passed it 3 to zero um and that was just kind of an overview of our particular meeting but Mr President with your permission I would like to defer to um director Russo to provide additional information and uh ask answer any questions that or be a part of answering any questions that Council may have Amy yeah um hi everyone so I'm Emily Rus the Human Resources Director um so I feel like Connie kind of hit the nail on the head with the position what we're looking to do and um how the city has grown so much with our sustainability efforts um Cassie who was our conservation agent she really took on a lot of the responsibilities of the sustainability coordinator when she was here um but now she has left to go pursue new adventures and we took that as an opportunity to really break it out into its own position and to kind of revisit our conservation agent position as well so um we really want this position to be a 30 hour per week position that we have tossed back and forth whether it would go between the planning department or DPW um I think in I know here we talked about it going in planning but there is potential for it to end up in the DPW office but and then we're revisiting the conservation agent and the scope of that work because Cassie was doing so much of this so we're taking CPA and we're adding that to the conservation agent position and dropping the hours to 30 hours for that position as as well which will help alleviate some funding for the sustainability coordinator position as well thank you director Russo um at this time I'd be open to entertaining any questions from uh Council or first from um counselors um I'll defer to you have any questions comments see none anyone from the public public have any questions or comments see none them yeah and just one last thing um uh well now it's former uh conservation agent um Cassie trer um sad to be able to have to say that but um she also provide it provided a letter of support which I will uh provide to the uh Council cleric to include in the minutes for mention of that um so um this is a a motion to amend city ordinance chapter 7 section 717a to add the following sustainability coordinator at grade e second I have a motion second to for the request to amend chapter 7 personal section 717a classification employment by adding the the following two position the sustainability coordination coordinator at grade e and the staff engineer this just one sorry for one not two just one the Sy ability coordinator for at grade e any further discussion see none uh JP kazinski hi Tom Peak hi Brad Riley hi tamaron Smith hi JT trell I Connie Denham I Omar Gomez I miones denim yep um and the uh next uh item is to amend city ordinance chapter 7 section 717a to add the following staff engineer at grade f um and to some extent I'm going to defer to um uh director Russo but essentially this is an amendment to the ordinance uh to address a discrepancy uh in the position when our last staff engineer was hired they came in at the same grade in position as the city engineer but in reality the city engineer should be the uh supervisor of the staff engineer um and so I will uh defer to director Russo but the committee uh also passed this uh 3 to zero yeah yeah so this um this is just a formality to make sure you know we have all our ducks in a row and everything lined up in the part uh Department correctly so we recently had um our city engineer move on as well and so again we took this as an opportunity to revisit and just make sure everything was correct in our pay plan um so we moved up our staff engineer to the city engineer position and then we're creating this um staff engineer position one grade lower so they would report to the city engineer and then ultimately the DPW director would be above both of them this isn't any additional funding the funding is already there it's just a matter of um creating the position in pay plan uh Mr President will entertain uh any questions that Council has or public any c I have any questions or comments anyone from the public have any questions or comments see uh first I just want to thank uh director Russo for for being here and um providing context for both of these positions um so this is in the form of a motion uh to amend city ordinance chapter 7 section 717a to add the following staff engineer at grade F second have a mo on second the request to amend chapter 7 personal section 717a classification employment employees by adding the following position staff engineer at grade F any further discussion see none Tom Peak hi Brad Riley hi Tamara Smith hi JT Terell hi Connie Denham hi Omar Gomez JP kazinski hi motion passes I will take a motion to close public hearing so move second I have a motion on a second to close hearings any discussion see none Barbara Brad Riley hi camon Smith hi JT Terell hi Connie danham hi Omar Gomez JP Quin Kinski hi and to PE motion passes public hearing is officially close communication from elected official official Sports and committee any c have anything any Communications say none mayor communication Madame mayor yes uh thank you Mr President um uh first uh we um our external audit for the last fiscal year um has been completed uh it is going to be posted on the website I would um request uh the chair uh the the president chair of the finance committee allowed time on a future finance committee meeting to discuss um the um findings in the audit as well as new policies and procedures that we're putting in place um if if that's possible so the audit's out there to at your discre if that can be put on a finance Comm meeting to just talk through it um the other um piece I have is related a little bit to um the public speak uh I have a proclamation um around um nuclear um Holocaust and um joining my fellow Mayors and uh cities around the world um I've read this a couple of times um I will continue to to read it um the um back from the Brin has made is an organization that has has done a great job internationally bringing all the Mayors together around this um issue of nuclear weapons and that they just must go away and never be used um and unfortunately that's two different things right so um never used um is hard to to promise or say or to Proclaim um if you don't know who has them or wants them or cond them so if they don't exist anywhere um it's a large task but one important um so with that I read whereas a world in which nuclear weapons exist and threaten our community and Humanity's very existence is a deeply unjust World whereas 79 years ago on August 6th and August 9th hundreds of thousands of human beings died many instantly or suffered severe Health consequences in the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki Japan when the United States dropped Atomic bonds for the first and only time in an armed conflict whereas many people and communities within the United States have been and continue to be grievously harmed and suffer severe Health consequences from the testing development and production of nuclear weapons and uranium mining whereas no individual in any Community can be truly safe and secure if they are Hunger hungry lock proper housing education or health care or a regular subject to threat of physical harm gun violence or nuclear war whereas the full cost of US nuclear weapons in 2023 alone including for weapon development testing and maintenance environmental cleanup missile defense and non purfication initiatives was estimated at $90 billion with plans underway to spend an estimated $1.5 trillion by 2046 to replace its entire nuclear Arsenal the bombers missiles submarines that deliver them with more capable more usable versions whereas a US based National groups campaign called back from the brink bringing communities together to abolish nuclear weapons calls on the United States to lead a global effort among all nuclear weapons states to achieve a verifiable time-bound agreement to eliminate all nuclear weapons from the planet and to adopt Common Sense policies to reduce the risks of nuclear war and which has been endorsed by over 465 health environmental academic peace faith and Justice organizations in over 80 US municipality counties and states that have adopted resolutions supporting back from the brink policy Solutions therefore I LEL mayor of eastampton do Proclaim August 6th and August 9th of 2024 to be lifting Community Voices for a world free of nuclear weapons in the city of East Hampton um additionally I there's a um I don't often give book recommendations at city council not sure when I do it again but I will do it today um there um I a lot of push back on this I'm sure I'll get a couple of emails of why a mayor of a town of 16,000 in western Mass would actually care to do this um and and that's really because um we are so close to nuclear war right now and it it would take less than 90 seconds of weapons to be fired from anywhere in the world to end human existence 9 seconds um there's a great book uh by Annie Jacobson um nuclear war a scenario sounds like it would be um a great movie and um it's very compelling except it's real time and and there's um there's okay there's one quote in movie in the I'm making uh in the book that I really think puts a new light on this Proclamation um Andy Jacobson in nuclear war a scenario writes humans are wired to advance humans do whatever it takes and yet nuclear war zeros it all out nuclear weapons reduce human Brilliance Ingenuity Love and Desire empathy and intellect to Ash and that's why I will continue to read this there we go thank you mayor just one second I think I I have a question for you my apologies SM um M mayor just wondering if you have any update that you could share regarding the chapter 70 funds and how those will be allocated yeah so um uh Mar bets and and I had a quick conversation about it um so the additional money I don't know exactly how it will be used what what is treated it 70 and what's called local aidid goes right into our general fund and it comes every year the amount changes you know back and forth so the money the fiscal money will come into the general fund and then um we will look at um not even look at then the school superintendent and Nick berer the business manager take a look at that um one question or or several question what fiscal year does it come in for um but also was there were there services that weren't fulfilled that could be with this money um and I would leave that in the hands of the superintendent uh and business manager uh the actual dollars it's not like the dollar comes in it says Chapter 70 um there's a 6% increase in health insurance for everybody in the city including um including teachers uh and everybody covered by that contract there are other and and we have buffered that increase by taking that on with City dollars happily um and will we need to use some of those Chapter 70 monies for the indirect cost of benefits for those in the union maybe um I I do think that there is I think there's two conversations to have I think one um there's a conversation explanation of when chapter 7 Local Aid comes in when I see those amounts I just look at those amounts and I take them out of my mind for the budget I say that will all go to schools and not just chapter 7 but also Lo eight um with extra money in the past that has come in this is not the first time it's happened um it has come in from the last fiscal year and we have applied it to benefits or sometimes to more um uh the school might have computers or there's something they did not buy in the regular budget um and they do so so I mean it just seems to so this year um we weren't sure what was going to happen chap happen to Chapter 70 money we were a minimum a community we were only get $30 a kid and it was a whole um it's a part of the hole that I filled um I backfield regardless of that we use some Arbor money to fulfill our Capital request from the schools for a new truck to replace the 8 208 truck um you know so you know filling in that and that's off the list and what Nick and the superintendent you know um I don't control the school Community budget there's a whole bunch of things that can happen that extra money is not a scratch toet for the city that will buy a new police depart or or go to a city capital project but I'm not sure where it'll go in the school budget um and and I know negotiations are but there is um yeah it's not like oh we didn't budget for chap this amount of Chapter 70 because it's so much and then it should go for the school it shouldn't go to the schools that's budget we can use it for exing I I just don't know where the cash flow is um negotiations are of how to use those towards a school but it it will go towards it it's school they're School dollars and and maybe Moren and uh superintendent and Nick probably the business manager could give a more but there's there's no blockage from my office or from the auditor's office or treasurers education money has you know I don't want to reind it has a lot of very specific purposes it goes specific things once the school um gets their of money for their year um it's not at all be all um and how they use it is really up to them but yeah this I and and uh have a very nice conversation with Miss that's this isn't about taking money and putting it under the pillow or doing something else with it it'll go to schools but I'll leave the exact to din thank you for the update thank you mayor thank you reports of styling committees Finance cons Peak um thank you Mr President uh we did not meet since our last meeting uh due to some vacation schedules and stuff the next time we're going to meet is going to be August 28th uh at that time uh we'll discuss the uh the business that we uh are going to be uh moving to finance tonight as well excuse me um as well as the uh uh review of salaries uh for elected officials and appointed uh committees uh I don't know that we could get that item onto the that about the audit onto the agenda uh since it's just coming to me now but it's something that I would be interested in in pursuing in early uh September and uh so yeah August 28th 5:30 uh conference from one provided that it's available and th concludes thank you councelor safety coun Riley um thank you Mr President uh the Public Safety Committee has not met since our last meeting um and we do not have one scheduled as of yet um and thus concludes thank you C Ry appointments coun Riley thank you Mr President I don't know if you all saw that um but I kind of got stuck in a little visual Loop yeah there it goes again all right um okay so uh I have a lot to get through here um in the next few moments um and I'm not feeling well so I I would just ask that everybody please uh be patient with me um as I get through this committee report um so the appointment committee has met twice since our last meeting to review several appointees on July 22nd we discussed the city council's reappointment of Barbara labombard to the position of clerk to the city council with a term expiration date of August 31st 2026 um you know so obviously words uh cannot express Barb's dedication to this body and to the city of East Hampton and while our meetings typically discuss qualifications it sort of felt foolish um to do so since she's been our Council clerk uh since the first day that there was a city council um interestingly that's why the clerk term expires on August 31st and not December 31st like the rest of our committees and uh appointees um because the uh first day of the city government for East Hampton began on a September 1st um so instead we asked her about uh what we can do to support her as she moves towards retirement and what we might consider for the next Clerk of the city council um so first as you might imagine um getting materials to her before deadlines so she doesn't have to rush at the last minute to uh amend Council agendas um would be hugely important so much of the clerk's routines are fixed with deadlines and when we don't do our part it makes the job of the clerk unnecessarily difficult um second is that we can write up the minutes of our committee meetings um and get them approved at our very next committee meetings producing minutes for meetings is an essential part of every governing body's duties across the United States and clerks must be diligent in completing this task and uh chairs must ensure um that the clerks are producing them in a timely manner so I'm calling on all of us as a body get your minutes done so that way she can put them up on the website for the public record and then lastly uh the job of the clerk has a fixed stipend um just like the school committee and the City Council um but it isn't regularly considered like the school committee or city council is so um going forward um and I'm happy to hear that we'll be doing this at the next finance committee um that whenever stiens are being considered please also um review the council clerk position at that time um you know I just want to reemphasize this that the council clerk is our employee and uh we should be doing our part uh to be good employers and to take care of the people that we oversee so I'm going to end my Soap Box um for that specific position um next we met with Maxwell swisser um whom the mayor is appointing to the zoning board of appeals with a term expiration date of December 31st 20124 um as a member of the public Max has been an active participant in the political process for much of the last two years um many on the city council the planning board the zoning board and the affordable and fair housing partnership are familiar with his advocacy at our meeting we discussed the duties of the zoning board um A Brief Review of zoning ordinances and other topics such as um how to make dis difficult decisions um in the face of public scrutiny and the ability to collaborate and network across many governmental bodies um also uh we had conversations about this seismic task of the Main Street chapter b40 Housing Development um we all felt uh that he was more than sufficient in meeting the qualifications um the appointment committee voted 30 to recommend both appointees um so I just wanted to pause here for a second to see if any counselors had questions about either appointee does any go I have any questions or comments about these two appointees before you keep moving I I do have a comment and is about of course Barbara um I've been serving as a council president almost for three years and I have to say that my job my job is uh much easier having Barbara next to me um I know that sometimes we give her a really hard time especially like days like today that we have to amend the agenda at the last minute I know a lot of work and I respect hard work um because I know you're doing a great job um this conso is now Theon City cons cannot be is City without you uh you're doing a great job and I hope you never retire I I know that selfish but I I really appreciate what you do and I hope that the next council president have you next to him or her um because that will be the good ad to the next cons president um anyone else CC Riley all right thank you Mr President um so this is the in the form of a motion um I move to appoint Barbara La bombard to Clerk of city council with a term expiration date of August 31st 2026 and Maxwell swisser to the zoning board of appeals with a term expiration date of December 31st 2024 second I have a motion on seconds to approve those two appointments any further discussion see you know Barbara tamber Smith hi JT trell hi Connie Denham yes Omar Gomez JP kazinski resounding yes Tom hi and Brad Riley I motion passes C Riley thank you Mr President um and so then the committee met on August 5th to discuss four appointments um first we met with Steven Coughlin who is being appointed to the Board of Health with a term expiration date of December 31st 2026 um so first you might recall in meetings past the Outreach and recruitment efforts to identify a third member of the Board of Health um for quite some time we've only had two members um and The Business of the city's Public Health has always been a single disagreement away from no progress on important matters um so having a third member secures the business uh of the Board of Health so um Stephens res has extensive experience as a registered nurse um he began his education at Spring field Technical Community College um before going on to get his bachelor in nursing um I do also want to point out that he graduated with a class award for clinical Excellency um and he was the youngest person in the history of the program to um receive that award um he's also provided direct care for the Navajo Nation and for Apache Native American people um and worked as the assistant clinical nurse manager of the kie Dickinson emergency room just to name a few examples that I could could literally go on there's there's about a dozen or so um the committee recommended his appointment um 30 and next we met with Leslie horn button um who is being appointed to the Council on Aging with a term expiration date of December 31st 2024 Leslie has an extensive 40-year career with the UMass um Amorous system um working her way all the way through the library system to eventually become the assistant dean of the library um so we discussed her career um the process of caring for aging parents while also being a person who is actively aging and um her various roles at the Council on Aging um first as a service user um then as a a part-time volunteer and then also recently in her work with the ad hoc building committee um so as you all recall um we are currently looking for uh a new home for uh the Council on Aging a part of her uh work on that ad hoc committee has been visiting senior centers across Western Massachusetts to identify some best practices and programmatic features um the committee also voted 30 to recommend her appointment um so once again I will pause to see if there are any questions about either of these appointees any have comments or questions see R okay thank you Mr President um so I move to appoint Stephen Coughlin to the Board of Health with a term expiration date of December 31st 2026 and Leslie horn button to the Council on Aging with a term expiration date of December 31st 2024 second have a motion and a seconds toon to appoint those two appointees uh any further discussion see you on JT Terell hi Connie denim hi Omar Gomez JP kazinski hi Tom Peak hi Brad Riley hi Tami C Riley thank you Mr President and um so uh the next two appointees um we did not have the ability to meet um so this is um what we are dealing with now is that we are running into the end of the window for appointing uh appointees um this is a common occurrence that happens in the summer when we only meet um for city council one time um per month um to be fair there would still be time to meet with the appointees at the appointment committee on the 19th um however by the time we have our next city council meeting the window uh to appoint them would have already passed and um according to our uh City Charter they they would just automatically be appointed um so as a committee we felt that it was important to give the full Council the opportunity to engage in a dialogue with each of these um appointees um applications if you choose to do so um so the two people that we are talking about right now is Dave Delio who uh would be appointed to edic um and then uh Leslie Tain um who would be appointed to the commission disability so the first thing that I would just like to um call out is that the um Commission on disability has um certain requirements um you know where you would ask questions about people's um disability status and and under normal circumstances these kinds of questions would never be okay but we are Guided by law to have certain requirements um one said requirement is that we should have one appointee on the commission on disability who is the immediate family member of uh people with disabilities and I can confirm uh that Leslie uh meets that criteria so um I am open to however we would like to deliberate on this topic or if you feel that it's even necessary at all um any consors have any concerns see okay thank you Mr President um so I mov to appoint Dave Delio to uh edic and Leslie Tain to the commission on disability both with term expiration dates of December 31st 2024 second I have a motion and a second for the two new appointees any further discussion say you n Barbara Connie denam hi Omar Gomez JP kazinski Tom Peak hi Brad Riley hi Tam hi JT Terrell I motion B coun Riley okay um thank you Mr President and so the uh last motion that I would like to make here today um is to request a 90-day extension on the mayor and city council appointment review process second I have a mo seconds to extend from that 90 days that request to review the process for the mayor and the city council appointments any further discussion see none Barbara Omar Gomez JP kazinski Tom Peak Brad Riley hi Tamara Smith hi JT Terell hi Connie denim hi Moes all right thank Mr President um and then uh in uh just a few moments later on today we'll be moving some appointees um you know into the committee so the appointment committee meeting will next occur August 19th at 6m in conference room 2 behind city council chambers and thus concludes thank you ordinance cons thank you Mr President um our last meeting was on July 17th and we covered the items for the public hearing this evening um our next meeting will be August 20th at 5:00 pm in conference room 1 um and at this time I'd like to make a motion to um extend the request for temporary moratorium on use of sewage ludge fertilizer uh in East Hampton uh for for 90 days second I have a motion seconds to extend that item for 90 days any further discussion see you know Barbara let's see JP gazinski Tom Peak hi Brad Riley hi Tamar Smith hi JT Terell hi Connie Denham I Omar Gomez um and at our next meeting we will um the agricultural commission has done a lot of research on um what um communities are doing around pasas um and they have shared that with me and I will share that information with um the committee at that next meeting and additionally we have some new items uh in new business that we'll be discussing at that time uh and that's everything that our committee has to offer Council this evening thank you property C uh thank you Mr President we have not met uh since our last one so for the report rules and government regulations Kinski thank you Mr Mr President we did have the opportunity to meet and discuss all items of business let me start briefly with the two of the items that rule 5c councelor zarett had recommended that we tighten up the rules to be more transparent and I fully agree and I think the full committee fully agreed with that the question was how best to do it so we're involved in the mechanic of that right now uh actually Consulting with our clerk who uh had the right to go away on vacation and has uh but when when when uh she has the opportunity I'm sure we're going to be able to deal with some of the the specifics that we may be able to actually develop a form that will be helpful is part of the process uh to help the public understand exactly what we're doing when we say we're going to discuss rule five see and uh so that that covers the introduction of business with regard to the other matters the uh uh review of all Council rules we discussed this matter and felt that we should be dealing with each rule individually and if anyone here would like to be able to make any changes to the the rules or any suggestions that they should feel free to De deal with that at any point to come up with an individual recommendation writing up a new rule uh as best as possible and then the committee will be able to discuss and make amendments Etc or changes or say this really isn't what we want to want to do at this time so uh that was how we were going to proceed along with review of Robert's Rule uh which may deal help us to understand the general rules of meetings we have uh the charter we have the uh rule the Robert's Rules we have our own Council rules and each one plays a part in how we conduct our business so there was a a a a packet that we going to be brought up at the next meeting of Robert's Rules it's a condensed version but but it is said to be very helpful in uh bringing up many of the issues uh on the item of business which we've been working on for quite some time uh and that is rank Choice voting for multi-winner races um the committee has met I think about five times we've actually enjoyed a a short 10 or 15 minute video on the subject which our consultant provided us Dan Gilbert who has been instrumental an unpaid consultant but she really an expert in rank Choice voting uh helping to understand us for us to understand the nuances of rank Choice voting the nuances of multi-winner rank Choice voting which is even a bit more complicated than rank Choice voting in many ways so the question is is it worth the tradeoff of having a system that well it's it takes some some education to understand and I think there's every effort that if this moves forward to have that education uh and it it'll be it'll be a process that could take some time uh so that along with the benefits of rank Choice voting and the benefits being that to be more inclusive of all different groups particularly any Fringe groups minority groups those people who don't they're not part of the majority and I think councelor Peak would agree with me that the rank Choice voting helps to bring uh those voices to the table either directly or as part of the of the process of well going around and saying well if I can't be your first vote can I be your second vote uh to make appeals to all the voters that is more inclusive more expansive and I think the what we came down with is yeah we really have to put this forward and come up with some uh a plan to get that education out there so uh we agreed to some terms of which I'd be happy to read uh regarding the proposed special legislation special act that we'll be asking the legislature to approve uh the part of the process was to have the legislature understand that we have this voted on this before albeit to study matter to explore the subject which is different from having the voters decide yes we are going to have rank Choice voting if you approve and that's a matter that we'll be asking the legislature if you approve legislature of our Charter revision then the whole matter of rank Choice voting would then go before the electorate of East stampton for them to decide the matter directly this is a fundamental change there isn't that much that really is fundamental to democracy fundamental to our rights and that's the vote and how that vote is counted if we're going to make alterations to the system that we've had it really should be the the the voters who make that that decision so consequently the uh committee voted three to zero to make this recommendation uh to the full Council that we move forward with the legislature I'd be happy to entertain have further questions should there be any uh any concer have any questions conc PE yeah uh thank you Mr President and thank you uh councelor Kinski for all your hard work on this I know it's been quite a long technical slog same to the other members I really appreciate it um I have one matter I I just want bring to uh people's attention um and I don't I don't anticipate uh getting my way on this but I do think it's important to to at least State uh my reasoning here and have people hear this because I have a suspicion it's going to play out in a certain way and I think it's it's important for people to hear it so um when we had initially proposed this um recommendation uh we felt that the wording of the non-binding public policy question uh was sufficient in its wording to Warrant us to say the voters have already said we should look into this and if we approve it send a legislative act that is the voters have already voted on this now there's two reasons that I've heard from the committee for instead pushing it to require one additional vote um the consequence of that being that it would push implementation back two years from whenever the legislature gets around to passing this now there's two reasons the first one is to say that the the language of the petition or of the original non-binding Act was not sufficiently clear and not that that that the intent of it being yes would be for us to go forward with a legislative petition and thus that it's important that that there might have been people who voted yes on this but who would vote no if it came back you know at a second time I don't personally buy that but it's and it certainly wasn't my intent when I wrote it but um if you feel that my language was was not sufficient then I I don't know what I could do to convince you the the second point and I think that this was the one that was more heavily discussed uh at uh the last meeting uh was that we had received a communication from uh our Uh current state representative rep rep KY saying that the state legislature would not pass this legislative petition if it asked for it to be implemented right away however that they would pass it if all we were asking is for to be to be put on the ballot for second vote and this is awkward because I I'm very I think car's a great guy I think he's very smart I I've been working on this issue as an advocate on the state level for some time and I have I don't know where he's getting that idea because right now there are a number of petitions by other municipalities to enact rank Choice voting that are being held up in committee there's being there's no reason being given for why they are being held up in committee because the state legislature meets behind closed doors and exempts itself from public meeting law um the general thought of all of these committee or all of these cities and towns that includes Northampton that includes ammer um I believe uh Andover and a handful of Brookline I believe a handful of other Eastern Massachusetts communities um their hope is that when Boston asks to um when Boston who's who's currently there this is currently in the works in their city council when they ask to put it on the ballot that since approximately 10% of the legislature represents Boston that there will be a sufficient um waight to clear this Log Jam but if we want to put this forward and say that we're going to do this and hey then it can be on the ballot then in 2025 we can vote on that and implement it in 2027 then I don't agree with that but I will accept it as the committee's determination but I want to warn you right now that I very very heavily believe that unless our next State Rep is some sort of absolute like incredible uh Persuader who can do what currently about a dozen State reps across the state have not been able to do and clear that Log Jam this is going to sit in committee for a while it's quite likely it could sit in committee pass the deadline to get it on our 2025 ballot that means it potentially ending up in a situation where maybe if we're lucky we can vote on it in 2027 implement it in 2029 I just want I just want to bring this up because it it it was an important it sounded when I'm in this meeting like that was an important part of your logic in saying let's do this let's bring this back to East Hampton for a second vote rather than taking that first vote as um as as good reason to move forward um and I just want to say that I don't know what representative K is hearing but there are bills doing exactly what there are legislative petitions that are structured exactly like this that are being held up so the idea that structuring like this is going to keep it from being held up um unless there's something really special about East Hampton I don't think that's true if we get the same treatment as every other city in town that treatment is for this to get get held up until hopefully Boston and clear that Log Jam any other cons cons ring um thank you for that um explanation counselor Peak so what would you suggest then that we do for tonight um also I I guess I can't see the full room is Dan in attendance tonight that he could uh provide some extra uh clarification no he's not but I've I've talked to Dan um okay and he would say what I just said okay so so I I I'm I fully in support of um promoting rank Choice voting I I guess I would just ask what what do you think is the best way forward for us tonight what would be your your professional uh Way Forward what do you think we should do um well there's two choices um if the general feeling of the committee is that the language that we had in the non-binding petition was not sufficient uh and that this will need to come back for a second vote then I think we should just move forward with that I would just say that it's my personal opinion that that we are actually we're okay um if that if the people if these people felt that the initial language was sufficient um then I would suggest that we either amend it back to the beginning or send it back to uh committee if the feeling is that we want to send the thing that would get past the quickest um if people feel that the opin that my experience and Dan's uh Dan Gilbert's experience and the experience of of the the Statewide advocacy group that we've worked with uh is um not as valid as what rep KY might have heard um then I'd suggest you uh you just uh vote on it like normal it kind of comes down to how you view these things yeah understood um yeah I mean you know I I I sort of share the same sentiment as you and and I sort of have some relative experience with uh Beacon Hill that they they do happen to just make decisions without consulting people um and without being able to see the deliberative process so I'm inclined to think that representative Kree is probably telling the truth because somebody in a leadership role probably told him that's the way it was going to be and it's not up for discussion um I don't I don't know what it is about challenging uh conventional governance in Massachusetts but um it it does seem to be a longstanding tradition on Beacon Hill to not allow people to progress in a form of governance that actually represents the people in their communities so you know I I'm inclined to to side with you on this counselor Peak and then maybe it's just you know applying public pressure um and you know having people right in to to advocate for this um to me it sucks that it has to constantly be this way um with the state but um we're not going to change that so I don't know um okay all right thank you I appreciate that yeah I just I'll shut up soon I just want to make this just to put this a little bit in just clarify because I said a lot of things to make it clear Northampton currently has a legislative petition before the state house that is functionally exactly like this except for it also includes single winner they their city council sent it not last year and not the year before it's been there a while and that is all it's doing is asking for the same thing that we asked for in 2019 that they that the the legislature basically approve their special act pending a vote from the population uh they have been denied that vote I think at this point at least one probably two Municipal elections have come and gone um since they submitted it and they have been denied uh that vote ammer passed their uh rank Choice voting in a uh a charter commission which is a whole different special process they were told that they had to actually send it to the legislature they did the legislature has sat on it for years so just to be clear what I'm saying is that until that process gets fixed I do not think that there is any version of this that we are going to send to the legislature that they are going to pass and so I just think that if we're talking about a version that when it eventually gets passed we could quickly implement or a version that when he gets passed we then need to hold an additional special election despite the fact that this has already been on the ballot and was approved by a strong margin and that then from there we have to uh we have to we then get two years and then we can implement it my preference would be the first but if people feel differently on this I will take what I can get I just wanted to put that out there because there seems to have been this understanding on the part of rep carry that if we send it like this it'll get past I'm honestly fine just sending it like this and seeing if they bite but I'm just telling you I don't think they will and so if and if they in fact and and I worry that about just I worry about a lot of stuff I guess is what I'm saying I worry that I worry that some of the the um the Amendments that were made in the final session of this were made under a certain understanding in completely good faith that doesn't conform with what the people that we've paid to that the the group The Statewide group I'm affiliated with um they they've hired lobbyists they've come back with certain things um they've reached out to their own State reps we've discussed this with very active sponsors of these bills and all of that is telling me something that is very different from what I was hearing here so I just I do feel like I need to state that any other com just would like to respond to a couple couple things and I agree with you this this may not go anywhere with the legislature and it may never go anywhere with the legislature or it could I'd like to be sure that we give it its best shot to go forward and the best shot that we're being told by our representative is to have it come back to the people afterwards that happens to be a position with which I agree and all the members of the committee agreed with that's why we had the unanimous recommendation of 3 to Zer because in the end the people will have to make this fundamental Charter change themselves and it's important that they understand that rank Choice voting on a single winner election has its issues but those issues are more pronounced the more multiple winners you have in this case AR our city council has four at large folks elected and the school committee has six folks elected at large so there's all sorts of questions that I think need to be explored and understood by the public and they're like my my my prediction is this will pass at at this at the subsequent vote but that's a prediction could be right could be wrong should it pass from my point today I'd say it should I want to give it its best shot and that's why we're recommending going forward the issue of exploring and the The Binding Vote or non-binding vote well it was listed as a non-binding vote it's possible that people would look at it and say geez that was a non-binding vote I thought the council should study the matter I never meant to vote Yes that it should be something we automatically now do that requires additional thought so what was if you look at the language of the the ballot if successful the city council will explore petitioning the Massachusetts state legislature for a special act to amend the city Charter to to use rank Choice voting for multi- winner races and if you go to the Cambridge Dictionary to explore means to think about to talk about to study something or to experience it in order to find out more about it explore the possibility and that's what we did and that's why we're recommending coming back to the to the public um thank you Mr President please other members of the committee I think it's just important to acknowledge that incumbent candidates in Massachusetts don't want competition right that's the fact and I think that rank Choice voting creates opportunity for more individuals the opportunity to to win a race uh and to participate in the opportunity of governance I don't know what way is the right way or the wrong way or what's going to take the least amount of time at this point we are just receiving recommendation from our State Rep of of a particular Avenue when I was at the meeting I think that's the sheet right there that um president Gomez has and all the um applications or appeals or whatever to have this they've all died in committee and I I think a lot of that has to do with the fact that people aren't interested in competition um particularly at electoral in electoral process um and so I think our representative is saying hey this is the Avenue that I think is going to be the best if we go your Avenue and it doesn't happen then do we go back and end up doing this anyway um and so I just I just think that we need to position oursel in the in the best possible light to be able to to to pass Peak yeah I just want to point out that there is a precedent when we did the Municipal Light PL the Municipal Light plant was a non-binding vote which means that the voters who passed it with 80 something per of the vote said we wanted to do it and then um our city government did not do it you know we we just we we you we looked at the situ situation and for a variety of reasons did not do it but we would have been able to do it and we would have been able to do it without bringing it back for a second vote the question is should the city look into this and and with that the the point is that this entire process the way that this entire thing works is is all it's it's it's based on a section of the home rule act that basically says that the the way you should actually amend your uh your Charter is through a charter commission and here's how you do a charter commission and then right at the end there's a just a i' paraphrase it but there's like a sentence or two say or you can ask the state legislature to change it there's nothing in the state legislature there there's nothing beyond that in there there's no actual requirements that the state legislature has whatsoever about what you have to do the state legislature has has a precedent over time that some legislative petitions they require go going back to the voters for some legislative petitions they don't what we attempted to do here was to say let's go to the voters up front let's ask them up front if this is something we should even pursue because the last time we did a rank Choice voting thing it was immensely uh uh T it took up it was very uh time intensive to work through the charter Review Committee and then to Lobby the state government for months to pass it and so the thought was let's ask the voters up front so that was our logic here ask the voters up front if the voters do agree then we can move forward if the voters that said they weren't interested I wouldn't be going through this process uh it sounds like that idea the logic behind that um is not um uh appealing so we can we can do it this way I I think that what's going to happen is it's going to get held up the same as all the others that are structured like this and I think that um when it finally does pass due to other situations beyond our control uh we're going to ultimately just delay implementation for two years despite the fact that over 60% of the city did ask us to do this I think that's a mistake but I'll still vote for it because I think um moving it Forward uh is better than than not but if we end up sitting on this for um you know a life slate of session and then it gets sent to committee with the rest of them uh I might suggest that we come back and have another conversation about this because I think that I don't think that this is necessarily the uh the path that actually uh gives it a better chance I don't think that the powers that be on Beacon Hill right now and in the situ that they're in have any interest of giving any of these a chance and it's going to take a a lot of more builtup momentum from a lot of other places and a lot of pressure to get them to even consider relenting on that but uh I'm I'm done trying to argue against it thank you coun P coun Riley so um just a point of clarification Mr President um the when we come to this vote voting in the affirmative would be the recommendation of the um committee and voting against would be essentially what councelor Peak was suggesting is that correct no if we say no we're not sending anything okay so this okay and if we say Yes um then the mayor have to agree too to send it to to to the legislators because the mayor can stop it too okay but but but saying yes is to approve it the way that we approve it at the committee right that will be basically sending all the language and telling the legislators that we are if they approve it that we're going to put on the ballot to be binding and after they vote and the the city of the something approve it and and general election then we we adopt it and so to so if if it were my belief that we should put it on the ballot first and let the people decide I would be voting no on this motion is that correct go can you repeat that yeah so if if I believe that we should just send this to the voters first no and have a vote and then send the sent to the voters this we don't have to do a second vote on this uh this time no okay all right okay thank you any other cons I just want to uh say something really quick and then we we will take the motion and cons you can make an amendment if if you want to um I just want to yeah we lose it uh let's see I'll take a five minut break see sorry for technical difficulties but we're back um good job Mr presid Barbara Barbara too um let me all right so I was close to said that I that I feel happy and comfortable voting the way that the um the committer the committee uh recommend to the full Council and I will use two main reasons U the first one is because came of for the recommendation of the uh representative krye and uh based on what we had in our hand in that meeting when that Heber give us the information to the uh all the bills presented all the petition presented to the legislators uh all those bills are dead uh the only one who passed and that was in 2019 2020 section one91 um by the was introduced by Senator hson and stra kry is the S one so he the only one and I I'm pretty sure I'm not going to talk in behalf of representative Carrie but I'm pretty sure he have multiple conversations with the leadership in Boston um and I bet you that one of the recommendation was that like uh um add this the language and that is probably can change um what we can see at the end right U that that's why I I'll be in favor of what we recommend and the second one is um and I know sometimes take time and it could be painful the time they could take um but something that I love about this country is about democracy right and every time that we have to ask the public and the constituents to act for something I'm always okay I'm always okay that's the system that we leave and that's the system that I love because at the end the people have the voice and we have to listen to them um that for the reason I'm I'm okay voting for the recommendation of the committee uh conselor Kosinski I'm ready to present the the motion at Le any other Council have any questions comments Council uh I move the city council request the state legislature approve a special act amending the home Rule Charter of the city of East Hampton as follows I'll read what we've the petition itself in in its entirety an act amending the home World Charter of the city of East stampton Section 1 Section 1 Point 1-7 of article one of the charter of the city of East ampton which is on file in the office of the archist of the Commonwealth pursuant to section chapter of 43b of the general laws uh is hereby amended to by fully replacing the existing definition of rank Choice voting with the following rank Choice voting the words ranked Choice voting in parentheses shall mean an election system in which each voter shall cast a single vote by uh ranking candidates in order of preference indicating the voter's First Choice second choice third choice and so on continuing until the voter has assigned a single numerical ranking to each candidate on the ballot or until the voter chooses to stop ranking definition specific to rank to's voting shall have the following meanings continuing candidate the words continuing candidate shall mean any candidate that has not been declared as elected or defeated concluded ballot the words concluded ballot shall mean any ballot which does not contain a highest ranked continuing candidate proportional value the words proportional value shall mean a persistent decimal number associated with each non concluded ballot every ballot shall have a starting proportional value equal to one winning threshold the words winning threshold shall mean a value equal to the number total number of non-c concluded ballots cast in a race divided by the sum of the number of unelected positions in that race plus one transfer factor the words transfer factor shall mean a value equal to the difference between the total number of votes received by an elected candidate and the current winning threshold divided by the total number of votes received by the elected candidate tabulation process the words tabulation process process shall mean the process of determining the results of an election that uses ranked Choice voting the election shall be tabulated in successive rounds with each round proceeding as follows a count each continuing candidates vote total shall be reset to zero the winning threshold shall be recalculated for the current round each ballot shall be counted by adding its current proportional value to the vote total for the highest ranked continuing candidate on that ballot B declare if any continuing candidate has a vote total that is greater than the current winning threshold that candidate should be declared elected and a transfer value for that candidate shall be calculated if a candidate was elected all ballots that were counted for that candidate shall have their previous proportional value multiplied by the transfer value for that candidate and the result shall be recorded as the new proportional value for that ballot If no candidate was elected then the candidate who has the lowest vote total shall be declared defeated C repeat if the number of elected candidates is equal to the number of positions being elected or if there are no more continuing candidates this is the last round otherwise begin a new round section two article 7 of said chapter is hereby amended by striking out sections 7-1 point1 and 7- 1.2 and by inserting at the end of section 7-1 the following not withstanding any general or special law to the count contrary elections for all elected city offices shall be conducted using rank choice voted as defined in section 1-7 of Article 1 unless the total number of qualified candidates is equal to one in which case plurality voting shall be used section three the president of the city council of the city of eastampton shall appoint an ad hoc committee to revise the existing rank Choice voting ordinance the ad hoc committee shall consist of the city clerk or the city clerk's designate one member of the board of regist of Voters two members of the city council and three registered voters of the city the ad hoc committee shall present its proposed ordinance revisions to the city council for its review and adoption subject to the amendment by which the city council by the city council and the approval of by the mayor pursuant to the procedural requirements for ordinances under the charter of the city of East amton section four section two shall be placed on the ballot for acceptance by the voters of the city of eastampton at the next city election the city solicitor solicitor shall prepare and include a summary of the the question to be printed on the ballot section five sections one and three shall take effect upon acceptance by the voters of section two pursuant to this act but shall not be implemented for an election that may occur within 45 days after approval of any such pallot question need a second second we have seconds to send Theon rightous voting home petition to the legislators and if the discussion cons Kinski I just would like to say I would like to give this a chance I would like to see this uh have the opportunity East ampton was successful before this is the best possible way to get it accepted again in my opinion and in the state rep's opinion any other conselor cons them yeah I want to believe that in a community that is over 90% whites that right choice voting would provide some sort of equable voting process um and like councelor pinski I I would like to see this get ped um um and I'm trying to I don't know the best way all I have is our state rep saying here we go this is the process that I think that we should follow so you know I I I I'm sorry that I might be wrong in that but I'm I'm also making a decision that if we're wrong in the other way then that also slows down a process so I'm I'm hoping that that this gets us across the Finish Line any other gold smash Barbara Tom Peak hi Brad Riley hi Tamara Smith hi JT Terell hi Connie denim hi Omar Gomez JP gazinski hi motion passes kazinski this concludes Mr President Thank you councelor new business we have new aoral appointment celor R uh thank you Mr President um I would would like to make a motion to send I am making a motion to send the following appointees um to the appointment committee we have Bonnie McLoud to the commission on disability Peter fallet to the East Hampton City Arts Patricia and Amelia enri to the Main Street cemetery and James Johnson to the veterans Council second I have a motion on a seconds to send those five appointees to the appointments committee any further discussion see n Barbara joh denam hi Omar Gomez JP kazinski Tom Peak hi Brad Riley hi Tamar Smith hi JG TR I motion passes CPA supplement approvation cons Peak uh all right thank you uh request is here by Mage or um so I'm uh uh sorry I just brand for um I would like to make a motion to send this first reading for the first reading yes yes yes to send this to finance and then to set a public hearing for our next meeting what's September do your first reading first okay requests hereby made for the approval of following appropriation amount requested [Music] $33,500 the amount requested will be used for the following purposes the funding would be used to control invasive plants and remove existing invasive shrubs on lri Community Land uh also included is an expectation that lri will provide education to the public about Native invasive plant and invasive plants and how land owners can support native Wildlife Le is expected to provide quarterly reports and inperson updates twice a year need a second motion and we need a second second I have a motion a seconds uh to send to the finance committee the CPA supplemented appr probation of 33,000 uh $51 and to schedule a public hearing for the September 4th at 6:15 at this Chambers any further discussion Barbara uh Omar Gomez hi JP gazinski hi Tom Peak hi br Riley hi Tamar Smith hi JT Terell hi and Connie denim hi motion passes now thank you Mr President there are two zoning ordinance Amendment proposals um these are in the form of a motion the first one is to amend the sign ordinance section 10.96 B regarding temporary election signage to send to the ordinance committee second have to send that item to the ordinance committee and further discussion see sorry uh JP Kinski Tom Peak hi Brad Riley hi Tamara Smith hi Owen Zar he's not here oh sorry jell hi sorry Connie Denim and Omar Gomez great uh and this is uh also in the form of a motion to amend section 8. 52b regarding the language verification by a surveyor to send to the ordinance committee I have a motion on seconds to send that item to the ordinance committee any further discussion see know Barbara Tom Peak hi Brad Riley hi Tam Smith hi JT trell hi Connie denim hi Omar JP kazinski Moes um we have one last new item and is a resolution that celor den and I uh bring forward to the council I will ask to the counil if everybody's okay to pass it tonight or anyone is against it look everybody's okay with it um C thank you Mr President um as we are as Council and the community is aware um there was an article in um the Sho string um regarding guess conditions of buildings at the um at nauck Park um and there in and as a result of that there was an outcry of um public um support for the park um to address um the issues that are experiencing at the park and so this is a resolution uh basically to affirm um the uh importance of community while also um affirming the right and expectation of city employees to be able to um work in um safe conditions um and so this is a uh resolution to address those two points I just want to add uh a few things too the first one is the um we you know as elect officials um and I'm going to talk in behalf of the council it's important to recognize the hard work and the hard working of the employees of the park uh they do a lot um we I can talk by myself I can I see them in the past I see them uh recently um working I know their hard work I know how why they do and how hard is for them to to work in some conditions uh and dealing with uh with a lot of people on the park and I recognize that they're doing a great job uh with the tools and everything that they have um it's important for the people to know that the console is is 100% support behind city employees and when we talk about city employees we talk about everybody every single employees including Park and wreck and that's why cons Denim and I we decide to this forward now and not put it in the agenda for the next meeting and send it to the committee I think we have to send a strong strong message to the community that we are behind the city employees in all forms and this resolution is is a symbol of that anyone else before cons the I just want to say this is long overdue um before I had the pleasure of being elected city counselor I was on the partner rep commission for couple years um and and that the staff there is really unsung they they they do a phenomenal job um also I have a lot of involvement with the staff through little league in town also and they will do anything that is asked of them and even everything that's not asked of them so I I like I said I think this is long overdue and I strongly support this thank you Riley um thank you Mr President um look so I obviously have no issues um with uh this resolution but um I think the best way that we show support to the Parks and Recreation Department is not with a symbolic document that has no teeth behind it um we can do that with actual money to rebuild a new structure for them so you know fully in support of this I'm going to vote Yes on the resolution but this is not how we solve problems in our government we do it by actually putting action uh behind our statements so you know I'm committed to working with the mayor's office and with the the finance uh committee to look at what it actually takes uh to get a new structure built for the Parks and Recreation Department um not to just emphasize that I think that it's something that we should do and then we don't actually follow through with it so you know resolution and financing uh for a new structure that's all thank you thank you C Riley and by the way we I agree um I think the solution is just a message to send to everybody including the mayor that whatever um came in front of the council that we we're in favor of it right we we're going to be in favor of uh approving money for the park and uh for the employees um I agree with you this resolution don't resolve anything but send a send a really clear message to the community and to the mayor and to the park and to the employees that we are in support and whatever came to the Council we are going to support that too uh C thank you Mr President so to be clear also this is is intended to be an expressed commitment to the parks department to the Parks Commission and to the mayor um that the council is committed to working with all of them to address the concerns uh of uh employees as well as the concerns that have been expressed by the community the public so okay any other consor before we take the motion C Smith um I was wondering if the authors of the resolution could talk a little bit more about the changing demographics of the city that was the one term that I just wanted a little more clarification on sure yep so I think changing demographics I think that we have a large aging population within the community we also have um demographics also in terms of activities that people are particip ating in um those are changing interests are changing um we have kids who are playing uh in in Little League Etc um and so being just being very mindful of the populations of people who are interested in um and what specifically they are interested in when they are looking for amenities within the parks okay thanks I wasn't sure obviously as some someone who studies aging my hopes was changing demographics was the possibility of some um down the road some updated equipment for particularly for older folks so abolutely thanks I appreciate the clarification thank you celor Smith any other celor before we take the motion celor Dan great so this is a motion um in the form of a motion the East hord Parks and Recreations support resolution the eastampton city council recognizes that eastampton public parks and recreation systems are dedicated to enhancing the quality of life for our residents and visitors to our community Through recreational programming Community Building spaces spaces leisure activities and conservation efforts whereas Parks amenities recreation activities and Leisure experiences provide opportunities for young people to live grow and develop into contributing members of society create lifelines and continuous life experience for older members of our community generate opportunities for people to come together and experience a sense of community and pay dividends to East Hampton by promoting physical emotional and mental health and well-being generating Revenue attracting businesses and employment opportunities and increasing housing value whereas abundant and accessible parks and Open Spaces are essential components of healthy and sustainable neighborhoods and Parks and Recreation facilities offer opportunities for physical activity safe places for families and children spaces for social interaction access to Nature and places for mental respit whereas people who live within walking distance of a park or Recreational facility are more likely to engage in physical activity whereas parks and Open Spaces provide people with access to nature which can Prov improve a psychological social emotional and medical health and well-being whereas parks and Open Spaces provide aesthetic and environmental benefits such as Urban cooling storm water management and carbon and pollution sequ sequestration which can mitigate the impacts of pollution and global warming whereas it is necessary to acquire and develop new park and recreational facilities and amenities to serve the new diversifying residential population and to maintain the existing service level therefore be it resolved the East Hampton City Council recognizes the changing demographics of the city and the recreational needs of community members and it is committed to collaborating with the Parks and Recreation committee to develop plans to expand amenities of the parks department in an effort to meet the needs of residents to support their efforts to build and strengthen their communities therefore be it resolved the East Hampton City Council recognizes the hard work of personnel at the park and understand and supports a safe working environment to keep providing these important services to our residents and visitors if you had further resolve the East Hampton City Council fully supports efforts made by the mayor and the Parks and Recreation Department to ensure the safe working conditions of its employees and patrons of our Parks second have second adopt Theon Park and recreational support resolution any further discussion say none Barbara hi Tamara Smith hi JT Terrell hi Connie denim hi homar Gomez JP kazinski hi Town Peak hi motion passes I take a motion to ajour second I have a motion a second to Bar see Tamara Smith hi JT Terell hi Connie denim hi Omar Gomez JP kazinski Tom PE hi Brad Riley hi bu thank you everybody see see you br e e