##VIDEO ID:_ixse6eRZ5Q## the Monday August 5th 2024 meeting of the finance committee will come to order before police call Ro C pres counc mag pres president kinus pres quum is present is anyone here recording today's meeting we'll begin with item number 11359 the measure authorizing the mayor to enter into an intermunicipal agreement between the city of Gardner and the town of Princeton for veteran services for the period of July 1st 2024 through June 30th 2027 Mr Mayor thank you very much Madam president this is a renewal of the existing agreement that we have with the town of Princeton that expired on uh the end of the fiscal year uh this is something that the Veterans office is required to have minimum Staffing levels depending on how many residents are in the total population of all the communities in which that department serves uh so this does represent a 2% increase uh basically to offset the cost and salaries of the additional staff in that department this goes towards covering the um salaries of the administrative coordinator for the Department that's there any questions comments from the committee members the time to approve this as well y thank we've done this before the past he to I think it's a good exle for our neighbors that we motion we recommend adop me to the full councel second councel second by counselor to recommend authorization of council is there discussion on motion all those in favor say I no motion passes item 11360 a measure authorizing the mayor to enter into an intermunicipal agreement between the city of Gardner and the town of Westminster for animal control services for the period of July 1st 2024 through June 30th 2023 Mr Mayor thank you very much Madam president this is a renewal of our existing and Municipal agreement with the town of Westminster for animal control services that expired at the beginning of the fiscal year uh traditionally the animal control contracts had increased by 2 and a half% rather than just a regular 2% uh anal control provides services for Ashman and Westminster hson and Gard uh the other mun Municipal agreements have either already been renewed or are C still in contract uh so this is just getting us so that we're fully up toate across the board communities questions comments from the committee same questions last time W is already on board yes I make a motion to recommend authorization to the full Council second motion by counc councel Ma to recommend authorization council is there discussion on the motion all those in favor I I say no motion passes item 11361 a measure declaring Surplus for the purpose of disposal lease the building located at 62 Waterford Street Mr Mayor thank you very much Madam president uh this is the vote that would officially allow us to go out for bids so that we can lease the spaces in the community center that's at the former Waterford Street school facility uh Governor hey did recently sign the home RO petition that was filed by representative lotnik after the city council voted to send it uh to the state legislature to required uh to allow a change of use in the facility if you remember the original land was purchased to build Wilder field the legislature back in the 1950s voted to remove that use for educational purposes back in the 1950s when the school was constructed and now uh with that change of use now being changed originally from playground use to educational use now it's General Municipal purposes meaning we can use the property however we deem in the best interest of the city uh so this would allow us to go out for those leases uh the minimum lease amount is $16 per square foot the market analysis uh for that is included in the pack as well uh and this is the last step we would need before we can put out the RFP uh to lease out the additional spaces uh the only spaces that would not require RFP process to issue those leases are the CAC uh right now they're under what's called a grant lease agreement that means that the use of the space is given as an inine Grant to the nonprofit so in lie of them paying rent we give them the space for free so long as they provide services uh uh no to little cost the residents of the city that's allowed under the general laws that exemp some from 30bs provisions of a um of having to go out to bid for the space uh the other spaces will be fully out to bid in terms of the kitchen and the two-story Wing the senior center obviously doesn't need to go out to bid as a agency the city uh same thing with the historical commission that'll be setting up an archive over there that also does not need to go out to bid because that is a uh agency of the city itself uh but this will allow to go out and basically get the tenants in the building so that we can activate the community center side of things questions comments so this is the next step in the process to get that building occupied correct yeah it's the same plan that we announced in 2022 and have been doing every step we've needed to do along the way um every update we've given everything like that this is really just a followup to the vote the council took at the April 1st meeting earlier this year uh and again the original plans for the building were announced inob 4 of 2022 with obviously different steps taken in between this is just the next step in that process thank you questions comments motion a motion to recommend passes of the measure to the full Council second motion by councel second by councelor m to recommend pass to full council is there discussion on motion all say I motion pass item 11362 am to claim Surplus for the purpose of disposal sale the land and buildings at 94 Street um thank you very much Madam president this is one that uh hopefully if everything works out the way it's supposed to be it'll be the first time the city receives any funding from this property since 1992 uh this is the building across the street from City Hall that the city took by eminent domain earlier uh in uh in 20 uh 22 uh the city took the building by eminent domain this was confirmed on April 1st of 2024 this year uh this would go have to go out for a request for proposal process just like when we sold building before there several other times we've done that in the last couple years but it get this building off of the city it releases us from the liability of having that building the um just worried about the general upkeep making it so that we're not the next absentee landlord literally across the street from our front steps uh this is something that I don't normally do in requesting that the minimum bid be put at a dollar however I've included a appraisal uh in here by a licensed appraiser who valued the property at $0.0 mainly for the purpose of the building's cake as bestus and there's also several several several signs that it was owned by an absentee landlord who neglected the building for longer than I've been alive the wiring needs to be redone uh most of the rooms are uh not in code the building was operated for several years as an unlicensed rooming house not meeting code there were new bedrooms that were put into the building that we saw when we took the building uh that were not on any plans and quite frankly encapsulate the oil tank that's in the basement uh additionally included in your packet is a uh estimated opinion of probable cost uh from our city alcohol engineering service San bond that said if the building was to be demolished it' be between $350 and $400,000 just for the demolition cost alone so looking into both options of that and the high cost of vote that's why the minimum request is for a dollar uh because there's going to be a a lot more money probably more than the building would be worth um being put into it to do one thing with it either tear it down or fix it up with the other um but I think this is an exception uh compared to what we've traditionally done in the past um because of it being something that we haven't collected a penny on since '92 anyway to begin with too so I think anything to get it back on the tax is beneficial to the city in the end thank you questions comments comme this is the longest standing land court case correct the longest standing land cour case history yeah it is the long of all the records we could yeah let's try to some else break this one glad it's over now I otion uh to recommend passage of the measure to full councel second motion made by councel General second by councel to recommend pass to the full council is there discussion on the motion um just as a note to because the question has been asked how do we make sure that another absolute landlord doesn't come in and we're back in the same cycle all over again that's all evaluated through the RP process where we V you know the individuals who submit the uh proposals and what they want to do with the building the plans they have and the financial backing that they have that's all part of the evaluation process to help prevent that from recycling over again well I was going to say too my on that note like not my um concern would be I mean it's right across from City Hall I mean every property that we would take is important and it's in the city and you want things to be taken care of responsibly but that is directly across the street from City Hall and what what was there before so um knowing that adds a little bit of peace to that worry yeah uh any discussion all in say I I say no motion passes it 113 63 a measure declaring the roof of the water treatment plant located at 100 Haywood Street as Surplus for the purpose of leasing to a solar photo all right you thank you madam president as you're member of the April 14th meeting this year the council voted to declare the roofs of certain buildings in the city as Surplus so that we can put solar panels on them uh this adds the water treatment plant to that project uh there's an update L on the packet that I'll get you a full update at that time uh but this will basically add it so that they can include it in the package for break to review as to the timeline when that could occur uh but they uh the solar Consultants have evaluated the bill and said it's a good candidate for uh this type of array especially with how much electricity is used at that facility itself uh so this is a request to basically put that into the same package of buildings that we approved earlier this year why wasn't it considered virin they hadn't gotten the chance out to go review the building itself questions comments from the committee no that was just my question to that being considered question to recomend passage to the full Council second motion byoun pass discuss on motion [Music] all item 11364 a measure declaring 21 acres of land at the gardener cell lville located at 744 West Street as Surplus for the purpose of leasing to a solar photo volt array thank you madam president uh this one the reason why it wasn't included in the April 14th vote is because there was a lot more research that needed to be done on this one because this is actually the mound of the dump of the former landfill uh on West Street uh the uh previous administration had looked into this back when um mayor Hawk was in office and at the time the grave was too steep for the technology that was there at the time uh technology has advance in a way that is now able to put the solar on that site the cap that's on that landfill has been cleared by the EPA for this use uh and it allows us uh to basically lease out and be able to utilize that portion of the land and actually make ITX Enterprise too so that the city gets money off of that now since the landfill is run by the landfill Enterprise account any fun under the general laws any funding created at that site has to go towards that Enterprise um which would in turn alleviate that $75,000 of free cash that we appropriate into this Enterprise account every year and we're required to do for the next 30 Years this would basically eat some of that up now this is something that would likely be a minimum 24 months from if it was approved today to when the solar panels went on but that's still something that's a revenue driver and if the landfill reaches that closer Mark then all of this would fall to the general fund because it goes to whatever's operating that business at the time um the minimum lease amount that's included in the uh um market analysis report that you have before you is $330,000 per megawatt uh we anticipate this will be a 2 megawatt site so it'll probably be $6,000 a year uh that we be getting from this site once full buildout is done thank you questions comments motion pass full Council second motion by councel second by councel pass of full council is there discussion on the motion all those in favor say I iOS say no motion passes item 11366 a resolution from the city council in support of the city's application to the community change for environmental justice communities grant program by the USA thank you thank you madam president uh in working with our new grant writers that the city's contracted with are certain federal grants that require uh a resolution vote by the city council to show that both branches of the city government are in agreement with the application that's being submitted by the administration uh this application is due November 28th uh but it is a uh 20 million doll grant that goes towards improving facilities in the environmental justice Community zones uh that are federally designated right now our federal uh environmental justice Jone excuse me Environmental Justice Zone covers 51% of the city it's the entirety of South Garder and a small portion in the greater Sherman Jackson playground area uh that uh the application that the city is putting forward includes uh complete streets upgrades uh so that sidewalk infrastruct and Road repair and water and sewer repair uh for Sherman Street and cross street uh upgrades to Jackson playground upgrades to bigford playground in terms of lighting and playground equipment so that people who live in those areas will be able to utilize a full service playground rather than the neglected ones that are there now that we're trying to revamp uh and additional we have to have certain uh number of private sector Partners so this would also go towards the CAC in St Paul's Episcopal Church uh and the community garden space that's out there doubling the space of that and adding fruit trees uh to that neighborhood too so that the CAC can uh utilize those in their food pantry and nothing people uh and also chair City Community Church as they have now recently uh purchased the old Place uh what they'd like to do is convert the first floor into a beastro coffee shop uh and partner with Jem in which gem the garden emergency housing mission is uh operating the upper floors of the carrying place as a transitional housing for individuals who are homeless to get them back on their feet and those individuals are working in the coffee shop so that they get employment skills while they're in their transitional housing period um so all of that put together this cover of the $20 million goes to the streets the playground fixing up the Carrying Place building so that can be done expanding the Community Gardens uh and so on from there so this resolution would be a uh resolution in support of the administration's application to the federal government for this $20 million Grant thank you Mr May question comments no thank you I just didn't understand what a employment based homeless Health that's why thank you for the explanation that that that's a great initiative thank you there is no match for this one just sometimes with a higher numbers you worried about what the match could be but there is no match for thank you uh I'm I'm glad to part of the resolution I think all of that sounds great and I think this is a great partnership to be able to uh support and the Carrying Place Building is an old Haywood building isn't it it's it's like a historical structure I just think that it's fantastic to rec those and keep them as part of you with the city's culture I also should mention the DPW garage is also considered part of the environmental justice zone so this would also cover the full removal of the two underground storage tanks that we have removed by next year by EPA order uh and uh fixing up the roofs at the DPW garage and po storage buildings so that they are um stury enough to hold the solar panels that were previously approved by the council there too rather than us paying for those upgrades or finding another way to pay for those this grant would actually cover a full gr of those buildings so we would get awarded the Grant in enough time to remove those tanks yes okay yes that that's great new because I know the DPW needs to like we could always use money to expand in other areas there that we need because I we need to expand the the sign shop there yeah um and and just to the Caring Place building with the Haywood was the Haywood house and then most recently was this s St Joseph saart Convent for many years before it came to here in place and actually the real estate transactions I think closing the end of August this is my understanding yes other questions comments on the is there a motion motion resolution for full Council second by seconded by councel mat to recommend passage to council there discussion on motion all those say I no motion passes item 11368 a measure accepting the donation of picnic tables to the garden garden farmers market by Mackie Building Supply um this one is pretty straightforward Mr anything you want to add no just we try to submit these once a quarter to the council I'm guessing in the October quarter we're going to have a lot more donations that will send out as a full package as a whole uh to the city council these are the two that we really receiv received this quarter and then we'll get the rest of the next quarter thank you um Mr Mayor these are the only ones at Le for the third Saturday of the month Pharm Market not to be mistaken with the pharmace market that's every Thursday at Park Street correct Street okay thank you you're welome make a motion to recommend pass meas to the councel second motion byc to council discuss motion all those in favor say I I those say no motion passes item 11369 a measure accepting the donation of Flyers to The Gardener farmers market by state bills number 1277 and pretty self-explanatory Mr Mayor same same thing as before Madam president I will say most of the marketing for the for the farmers market was done through the $10,000 State grant that we received uh for marketing of a farmers market uh this was a donation for all the Flyers that were handed out to individuals thank you motion to recomend passage to full councel second motion made by councel second by councel to recommend pass full councel is there a discussion on motion all those in favor say I I those oppos say no item 11370 an ordinance to amend the code of the city of Garder chapter 590 thereof entitled Solid Waste to change the fee for solid waste collections Mr Mayor thank you madam president uh this somewhat of a silly explanation for this one and the one after that uh but the dates when this was being prepared because we were at the end of fiscal 24 beginning of fiscal 25 the Bron years report in place so this one should have had an effective date of 2024 and not 2025 it should have been fiscal year 25 July 1st 2024 and then the schedule down from there uh so this just makes that correction uh moving forward in the scale that's there questions comments from the committee make a recommendation to pass the ordinance local Council we would the first printing sorry that the first printing to the full councel motion coun allow seconded by counsel to send recommend sending into first printing to the full council is there discussion on motion all there are certain things that we can just make scribers errors on and just correct without a vote of the council but where this is an effective date that does require a council vote to change that so just to make that clear even though it was just a it seems minuscule it does require the full process to go forward thank you for the discussion all those in favor say I I supposed be no passes item 11371 and ordinance to amend the code of the city of Gardner chapter 553 thereof entitled sewer rates Mr Mayor thank you very much Madam president uh similar for the last one same exact thing actually uh except if you remember the original date that was put on the first year of this was fiscal 2025 so that was accurate and that those rates didn't start on July 1st 2024 however next year it would have had it start in 6 rather than 2025 uh so this just fixes basically next year Mo for so we stay on schedule with the rate St questions com from the committee make a recommendation to of to First printer coun to recommend pass to I'm sorry to recommend to first printing is there discussion on motion all those in favor say I I oppos say no motion passes item 1 1 372 an ordinance to amend the code of the city of Garder chapter 171 thereof entitled Personnel to amend Schedule E non moving compensation schedule Mr Mayor thank you madam president there was an error in this in that the Human Resources Director position and the special police officer position that runs our traffic details uh did not include the cost of living adjustment so this is correcting those two errors that were made uh by omission and then putting them into the schedule motion to send to recommend First Council motion made by councel General by councel m to recommend item to first printing is there discussion on the motion all those in favor say I iOS say no motion passes item 11373 a communication from the mayor regarding the FY 2024 rebuilding American infrastructure sustainability and Equity raise grants Mr Mayor thank you madam president as I have traditionally done since I've been mayor the August meeting is the update meeting on things that the council has voted on in the past since the council voted to adop resolution and supported the city's raise Grant application that was successful I included a breakdown about what the funding is going towards uh so that you can see everything that's being done this year as we're in the planning phase before we go for the construction Grant next year uh but since the council voted to originally approve the resolution for the grant I think you should also see what the money is going to now that it's been approved and we're actually in the final process of we finalized what we're going to do moving forward with the money that we were awarded so that's what the communication here is for thank you Mr Mayor questions comments from the committee motion that we recommend place the communication on file second by councelor Ma seconded by councelor General to place the communication on file is there discussion on the motion all those in favor say I I oppos say no motion passes item 11374 a communication from the mayor regarding the FY 2024 Massachusetts electric vehicle incentive program M evip Grant Awards Mr Mayor thank you madam president again with the August updates that we have uh with the city council uh voted last year to approve Lake Council Ron cormier's resolution that the city would make a concerted effort to work towards electrifying mer City's Fleet uh the city engineer recently applied for this Grant and was awarded $7,500 um to replace the pickup truck used by the engineering department uh to an electric vehicle uh this is a vehicle that currently is funded out of the general fund the water Enterprise account and the sewer Enterprise account because the city engineer oversees all three uh operations of those this covers the general fund portion of that and then the remaining cost of the truck would be taken out of the sewer Enterprise account and the water Enterprise account and that funding was already included in the budgets that were pass for this fiscal year questions comments from the committee I make a motion that place this communication recommend to place this communication on file second motion made by councelor Max seconded by councel General to recommend to place the communication on file is there discussion on the motion all those in favor say I item 11375 a communication from regarding the FY 2024 Mass Trails Grant Awards Mr Mayor thank you madam president uh again kudos to our city engineer Rob Oliva who wanted to author this uh Grant himself uh the Bri bridge over Route 140 um that was recently pushed back from 2025 to 2027 by the monit the regional Planning Commission who oversees the traffic Improvement plan funding for us here um this is going towards the design of that bridge this is how this normally works is something other than that program page for the design and that program pays for the Full Construction of that uh this will get us so that we can complete the design we're at the 75% stage right now so this will get us the full 100% of that um so that $300,000 goes a lot way in helping us push that project forward and get it going again thank you questions comments from the committee only question about the design part you answer there a motion I make a motion that you make recommendation to place this communication on file second motion made by councelor Max second by Counselor General to place the communication on file is there a discussion on the motion all those in favor say I say no the motion passes item 11376 a communication for the mayor regarding the city's on call grant writing services Mr Mayor thank you m president the city's on call grant writing service kartner is B Gardener in mid June uh met with every department head um actually on schedule it's on the white board here behind you uh to go over the different projects that have Improvement plan that we have and everything like that and this is their initial strategy document that they have so while they certainly will will be looking out for any opportunity and new grants that may arise these are what they gleaned as the main priorities from the department heads who were there and if other priorities come up along the way they'll be added to this working and living document that's there but I wanted you to at least see the initial report that they've come up with and what their plan of attack is as these Federal bodies get released and mo for thank you questions comments from the committee no I make a recommendation that we recommend the placees communication F second motion made by councel Max by councel generals to recommend placing the communication on file is there a discussion on motion all those in favor say I IE say no the motion passes item 11377 a communication from the mayor regarding the City Community Development block app programs Mr Mayor thank you madam president so the city was recently awarded another $925,000 for the Community Development block grant award uh the council had previously approved the resolution for the way that money is going in terms of uh the demolation of School Street School The Garden of CAC food pantry the garden Public Schools Athletic fees uh fee removals uh the gem emergency housing uh Mission and the um voices of Truth to my violence task force um so I included the approval letter that we received so that the council could see because again you approved the resolution that accompanied the grant because this is one of those credal grants that require something like that but where the council had the informal meeting before about these funds I also wanted you to see the full audit report that the state had given that was talked about at that meeting and then the resolution to that audit too so all of that is included in this packet of information here what cause you know what items were raised this concern uh in the review the review was not caused by something these are periodically done by the executive office of housing Lial communi so it was just our turn next on the list and then based off of what they said these items needed Improvement is also included the plan on how we plan to move forward and improve those operations so that we don't end up in the situation again so you have the full picture here of where we started how we're fixing it and where we're going thank you questions coms um I have a question yes so with the corrective action response that you wrote yes is it is it typical that the mayor would respond and not the Community Development Department uh it it is dependent on the city that is on normally it's the the department that over sees it unless we have um I mean this the final application has my signature on it so since the application went out with my signature for the funding I felt it was more appropriate for that to come from me I was I I just I thought it was I mean it was very thorough but I just thought it was question seeing usually that department would oversee it or apply for such grants that you did the response yeah the other thing with that too is that this funding pays for most of the staff in the Community Development Department I think 87% of all staff salaries in that department is paid for with this grant so where that has huge financial implications for the city um it needed to be thorough so it's one of those things that I wanted to step in in and the staff would really helped the staff helped prepare most of it um but it's one of those we just wanted to check all right thank you my understanding with the corrective actions um the city is still getting the money I'll be delayed is that correct yes we got the clearance the clearance letter so the for the money that was delayed is also ad to so we have that money down fix it going forward yes but getting yes thank you I think that was huge really glad that it's done and so thank you for the update on that as well any further questions comments is there a motion yeah I'll make a motion that we recommend to put this communication on file second motion by councel Max to place communication on file is there discussion on the motion all those in favor say I I say no motion passes item 11378 the communication from the mayor regarding the FY 2025 federal budget Congressional ear marks for G thank you m president oh sorry I should thank you madam president uh this is just to notify you that Congressman foran has uh a $850,000 earmark included in the federal budget uh that should be vote should be voted on by Congress before the October 1st end of the federal fiscal year whether that happens or not is a different story of itself but whenever they vote on it it is included in the federal budget baring any other changes uh this was copied over on the Senate side of the budget as well as an additional $1 million earmark for the the uh continuation of the facade Improvement program that we've done with the arpa funds I will say on the house side it's in the budget it's set it's made it through all house vetting in the Senate side we're still waiting for them to release the Senate version of the budget even though the house has already completed their review of the house budget um so the numbers could change on the Senate side uh so the Waterford money is basically definitely in borrowing any large changes at the federal level but again it's the federal level so you never know when those large changes come uh the Senate side we're not sure if the facade money may continue in it just because the um only one was included on the house side of it but as that continues we can move forward I just want to let you know that that was in there so you can keep an eye out on the process too thank you comone that motion I'll make a motion that we uh recommend placing this communication on file second motion made by councelor second by councelor General to place communication on discuss on motion all those in favor say I I say no motion faes item number two referred to finance 11289 an ordinance to amend the code of the city of Gardner part one there of entitled administrated legisl thank you very much Madam president the only update I have on this is actually procedural uh and that based off a feedback that my office has received since this was first submitted uh in terms of the formatting of the ordinance and continuation of formatting throughout in terms of what section one is and subsection two and so on from there within departments and within board and commissions those changes have been made and duplicative language in each section has been moved as a single section at the top um so really at the finance committee level i' be requesting that the new version of it that really the meat of it hasn't changed it's really formatting changed uh be voted as to substitute that in for the proposal and then at the council level because it's still at the finance committee semantically why is it just be more time uh but that's up to uh the what the will of the committee and the councel at that point Thank you questions comments from the committee I had um some feedback on it um a while back I haven't had a chance to review the the document completely yet but appreciate all the work that the you office to which I think recommendation makes sense do we think we need more time we need to know um that is an updated document and that they need to reev it um for the changes that they have reviewed it already um so guess we have more time on this keep it here and replace the make a motion to sub the new document yeah so I think so that information will be added to the new document anyway so we'll keep you in the new we have the review the Council of time to review it so we would want more time is there any objection to more time no okay we will ask for more time thank [Music] you say motion passes meting than you go