##VIDEO ID:O-KSYlhciNo## good evening and welcome to the budget and finance committee meeting today is Wednesday August 14th it is currently this my phone it is currently 7:03 in the evening voting members to my right we have the vice chair councelor Vivian marmel to my left we have councel of District B Wendy lzone pursuant to chapter 20 of the acts of 2022 this meeting of the budget and finance committee committee is being conducted both in person and via remote participation a reminder that persons who would like to listen or view this meeting while in progress May either attend here in the city council chamber or use any of our social media accounts before we rise for the pledge I was informed that a former Lawrence High teacher recently passed Miss uh Mrs Mahia so you can please join me for a moment of silence and to honor Mrs Mahia and now in the pledge iance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all tonight we do not have um the council president here with us uh although he is a member of the budget and finance committee he is currently the intr mayor um so he cannot vote uh tonight all right counselors we do have minutes to approve from our me from our meeting from July 30th 2024 can I have a motion motion has been made to approve there seconded by councelor lzone discussion seeing none all those in favor say I I and the eyes have it all right we're going right into new business the first item is item 387-2479 with7 for the fiscal year 24 safe and/or senior safe Grant brought To Us by our fire tree Mariotti however uh Miss Chief mariati is not here so we have Deputy NATO here um for him um Deputy is is there anything that you would like to say regarding this oh can you um just in case good evening councils good evening can you just um introduce yourself for uh Deputy Chief Matt NATO Lawrence fire department on here on behalf of marence Fire Department chief Mor had a family emergency he had to attend to so thank you Council I do see here um from the email that Chief Mariotti sent to our clerk on July July 16th this grant will be used to teach children and older adults the two high risk groups for of fire safety um basically safety in their home when cooking and if they fall and Etc so this is what this grant is going to be used for do you have any questions or comments for our deputy deput is this the first time we're we're receiving this grant or have you guys uh coun that we receive this grant every year every year so it's uh it's a great thing for our community and for our firefighters okay councilor uh Vice chair marmel um does this grant entail that uh CU I see children um so do you guys visit each school and you have some sort of like educational session um regarding fire safety y so this is geared more for second graders um and it it teaches them the dangers of fires and how to be safe we do class presentations um and then we also do there was a um Smoke House for the the um Playstead and the common and uh it's just it's it's great to reach out to these kids and work with them and teach them safety so and how does it work for uh these teach these teaching sessions for adults um so as far as adults it's a little different we teach them not just fire safety but we teach them like trip and fall uh staying near your food while you're cooking and stuff like that and also we um just be safe stay away from fire and stuff like that so it's just a different teaching for but you guys hold events like is it an informational session are do you guys hold like an event at the library where you're inviting adults like how what does I'm not sure back to the council but uh as far as I'm more of the fire suppression I'm not into fire prevention side of it okay and uh so but we reach out and we do whatever anybody counselors want us to come to their um neighborhood that's what we do and we work with the Comm the Comm Community awesome what was that that they okay any other questions or comments seeing none at this point I'll entertain a motion motion to approve item number 38724 authorizing the expend uh the expenditure Grant funds in the amount of $1,389 70 for fiscal year 24 safe and or senior safe Grant motion to send as a favorable recommendation yes motion has remain proberbly seconded is there uh discussion seeing none all those in favor say I I counselor I and the eyes have it thank you so much we'll see you guys Tuesday I don't think Deputy you guys do you guys don't have any other no I don't no okay perfect all right moving on item 38824 annual fire service charges Slater and Sewer connection fees brought To Us by commissioner William hail Mr commissioner hail welcome back even thank you and the floor is yours um so I made an amendment to um our fees and schedules time for a couple of things and I have to give you a new version that I have right now cuz I added one so this attachment one is is um it's part of our rules and regulations right now so if you were to go on the city website there's a PDF you click and it gives you a list of all our fees but highlighted in red are the changes that I'm proposing to make so this is a draft right here what is a fog permit so the fog permit is fat oils and grease permit okay um the water and sore Department reviews those because that um has an impact um with grease going into the sore so primarily for new rest restaurants or existing restaurants every year they fill out a fog permit um we recently just got those into citizen serve so they're all going to be online but we do have to review them um and then sign off on them okay so we since it went in citizen serve we had I asked um the director of ISD that is there a fee associated with the fog permit there was never one implemented um so I thought it would be a good thing to just get it in writing cuz we did have something similar but I want it to be clear for the fog permit so and I okay so the fog permit prior we have never charged the fee for the application now you're proposing a $35 fee above the fog permit I'm seeing cross connection survey that you're proposing a $40 fee was there a fee Associated before or um we used to charge $25 for that okay um but when we do a survey it typically takes an hour at least depending on the size of the building um so I wanted to bring it up with our current like hourly rate of $40 per hour that we charge which is very reasonable can you briefly describe what is a cross connection survey for those that don't know like me so we would enter the building with the owner's permission and we would start at the water meter and it's anything after the meter that is connected onto the water line um so typically like in a hospital they have like dialysis machines um different different type of medical equipment that has a direct attachment to the water line um if there's a drop in pressure in our system there's a chance that it could back siphon like into the system so it would be a cross connection so we just make sure that every connection like that is protected or eliminated if possible okay and then we see we have here hydrant permit fee um we proposing $200 what was the fee um previously or so we were charging $40 um before and then it would be plus metered usage um it's very low it takes a lot of time to coordinate that um the meters are very expensive we have to document everything um so we think it's best some people keep the meters for a long duration of time upwards of 6 months at a time for a construction project so we think it's reasonable to charge $200 only because when we get the meter back there's really not a a lot of usage on it so we don't you know get money it's like kind of like we're working for free so a lot of people just charge a flat fee and then the water is very cheap so that would just be additional on there so what is okay let me let me go then so the other counselors can all right so the next one is meter or backflow prevent or deposit which here says refundable and the fee is 2,200 per device correct so we provide um like a 3in water meter and a back row device it hooks up to a fire hydrant that's for the construction we typically had a deposit of $1,500 um but with the prices of everything going up you couldn't buy one for $1,500 anymore so that's just a security deposit in case it does go missing then we can repurchase that item okay and then we have the Water and Sewer Service application fee for $80 per application so what is it now so currently we have have zero application okay so um across the board in a lot of water departments they do have a fee again it's a lot of time when they submit blueprints of at you know what they're going to build propose and we have to review everything check the size of the water mains we also go out and Mark water mains water construction projects so there's a lot of time and effort spent on this so I think that's very reasonable to okay and now we have and I purposely left these two for last because they on a different attachment water/ sewer connection fee and the annual fire service fee can you walk us through those two please sure so dating back to around 2014 and prior to that there was wait I'm sorry is this what we're looking at yes we can look at that so it says propos water and seore connection fees yep so I just say from 2014 until now is an easier way it's a better describe it so we were charging $200 per inch diameter so if you were to build a house and you had a 1in copper line coming into your house you would pay $200 to connect to the water M which is extremely low um so as the as the um the diameter of the pipe increases so it'll be typically 2 4 6 8 um 10 12 it depends on if it's an industrial building um it would just be $200 per inch diameter and you times it by that um so we wanted to bring it up um since it's been 10 years since it's been um implemented and we we looked at a lot of different towns and communities and it makes sense that not even be able to tap the water M for less than $1,000 because we've spent when I looked at munus and we looked at like all the contracts that we've invested in the water um system alone it was like $22 million um so for somebody to come in with a brand new house after all the community has paid their water bills for 15 years and they're paying the debt service for all these construction projects it makes sense to have a fee that's at least $11,000 to get into the system that everybody else has paid for okay um and so then as it goes up it'll be basically $400 per inch diameter but it just as you can see it goes 1,200 for the inch and half two um 2 in is 1,400 4 in 16 and then all the way up to a 12 in main at $4,800 okay councelors do you have any questions or comments for commissioner hail um yes Madam chair um the uh I'm going to take you back to the F permit application fee uh what is the amount of time that you guys spend uh reviewing this application cuz there's no visit from the fire department to restaurants to double check um realistically so about 90% of them come back filled out incorrectly so we have to track down the owner of the business and we either drive out to the restaurant and have them fix it or I personally have taken pictures of the tag on the Fox on the um the grease trap itself to get the information but it happened because is a new application and most of the owners were not familiar with uh basically what you were asking because I remember new application well it it for how long we have the application for how long um I would say at least over 10 years I saw it two years ago and I'm a rest owner so I don't know where you were doing uh and it was not at the fire department uh it was part of the inspectional services and uh it was a very not a friendly application so if it doesn't involve um well you said that you guys actually go to the restaurants to double check and I believe there is also lack of um the restaurants owners being familiar with the application so I'm trying to make a case here cuz you guys didn't charge how much did you charge before 0 yeah cuz I don't remember paying thank you so why increasing that from0 to3 5 uh we already have an an I'm speaking on behalf of all all the restaurants owners we already have a lot of permits that that we have to pay and this one specifically is one of your most onf friendly application um that actually needs to be reviewed okay so um just so you that you can to get a better idea of what's involved with it so restaurants that don't properly take care of their grease it's a huge problem in the city so on Common Street for instance we popped a manhole the whole thing is filled with grease so this is very crucial um the whole process of documentation so we the inspectional services can walk into a restaurant any time and ask for um you know where they're disposing of their greas where the food trucks are disposing of their greas it's it cost a lot of money for the sore Department to go and unblock these lines of Greece I and I understand I'm trying to make make my case here uh and I I'm very familiar of how this work how that work um but not charging anything to start charging $35 it's and it seems like it's not a lot of money but it it's it's significant for especially for the ones that are starting for the new entrepreneurs um and um from my own experience and knowing how the process uh cuz I I like I mentioned at the beginning I I'm familiar with the application so from going from zero to $35 um it's concerning and my other question I think you answer but just to make sure for the people that are watching so you compare this prices to other cities are those cities similar to the one we live in yeah they're all in the packet here so we have multiple different [Music] cities I see it here we have haal LEL tberry Andover Methuen I think that's it but what I will caution you with is when you compare to other different towns those other towns may have not invested $100 million in their system so that's that's where the debt service comes into play and that's how why we have to the rates are the way that they are so that's that's the proposal so you know some towns may have you know lower rates but they not might not have as great of a fire system uh fire suppression system in the city or seore system so just to understand what you're uh so the city invested in new equipment I'm saying in general overall not if you're asking specifically for the fog permit yeah well no in general marking for that I can look into it this was just a proposal the I'm sorry the the the uh um permit application it's just an application but I'm asking did the city invested in in and for the watera Department are we raising the prices because we spent a lot of money in new equipment not in equipment so the the entry fees to the system if you want to tie in the water and sore line you're tying in into $100 million of um assets that we have that customers have already paid for in their water rates well so we invested in a new system correct correct okay I and I understand and we appreciate all that you do at at but also we have in front of us uh applications fees that are going to be the people are going to be spending more and um it's concerning but I I I do understand your position um so what I will say is if these fees do not get increased it basically just gets passed out to the customer so these are what we call like cost uh fixed costs these are always going to be there if these rates don't go up our costs are going up we're going to have to add it into the water bill into the rates which then so which then will will Domino affect like the cost of a me and you know they have to make up whatever yep corre um so these are costs um you know that a contractor would pay to tie in the new water and sore services for the house also develop sorry finish your point I'm sorry I interrupted you it's okay um but also people that are planning to build new houses uh well that we don't have a lot of land but um but thank you for explaining that uh so uh that makes it's more clear but I I also going back to the F application permit I don't see the need to increase something from Z to $35 and it might not see a lot of money but it it makes a it a difference so personally I you know I agree with you know trying to lower the prices as much as possible but the thing is is when you have a$0 application fee nobody takes it seriously just like oh it's a piece of paper they write down a couple things they pass it in so a waste of my time it's a waste of the Department's time to be calling and tracking down these incomplete applications so where we do the residents are favor by going out there or the restaurant owners to track them down and get the information I mean if it's incomplete it's we can't do anything with it through you Madame CH so I'm assuming that now uh after filing the application uh members of the water department are going to go and double check the restaurant so that's why you are uh requesting the increase I still think that it it's an increase and un necessarily increase um but I understand your your point of view okay thank you Madame chair any other questions or comments so quickly um I do want to say I am not a restaurant owner I know my colle is but um I'm I'm going to have to slightly disagree with with my colleague because what I'm hearing is we have owners that are not appropriately disposing greas that's costing the city lots of money not taking application seriously it only takes a few group of people to ruin something for the overall um group of of people and business owners I mean it's a perfect example is trash right you don't follow the rules you you get a citation you're not going to you you're going to make sure to follow the rules cuz you don't want another citation so it's kind of like the same the same thing so I'm hoping that this will help but we will see down the line we don't know until we try it and is this something like say if it's not working out is this something that you can come back and be like well we want to change it back to zero or L whatever the case may be is this changeable um I mean I wouldn't change once we go to a fee I wouldn't want to change it to back to zero I mean it's like you know it's just the time and the effort it's not to punish anybody but it's just to show that this is a serious permit that we're giving out here we need time to review this we need all so it goes by the size of the tank how many slop sinks you have there's a lot to it so it's not just like something sign your name and oh yeah they're good to go like we really need to look into it to prevent these grease blockages and and make the sore you know gets a glsd but I'm saying is is there is that an option do you have that as an option worst case scenario best case what whatever whichever not whatever but whichever um I mean we can we can think about it I mean it's not that's not really why the fog permit is not my like no no I know I I know I'm just just I'm just thinking about all options cuz you never us up i' like the table just the fog and then we can move on but the real serious part is the water and sword the water yep cheer awesome um I am going to entertain a motion on this item [Applause] can I just briefly say one thing I'm sorry through you sure on the on the fire Services I just want to make this very clear so what I'm trying to do here is I'm I'm sure you'll appreciate this so for a residential home if they remodeled it um some of the duplexes have like a small um fire service they have a 1- in line we're actually reducing the amount that they pay by $20 and what it does is by using this American Waterworks you in your attachment you have an American Waterworks flow chart yep so a factor based on one I just want this for the record so you understand so a 1-in pipe you would think if you had a 2-in pipe it would be double the capacity but it's actually more so if you look at the thing at the chart it's 3.2 times more so as the pipe gets bigger it's it literally almost triples the amount of water that can flow through it so when you get to these industrialized buildings that have like 8 or 10 in pipes the amount of flow is staggering I mean it goes from you know a 1 in being the factor of one to a 10-in pipe being 46 times more water being able to flow through that pipe so we essentially use the American Waterworks capacity flow chart made the base rate of 55 and then it automatically calculates um based on the higher size so the the bigger size pipes for the fire suppression systems I mean they have maybe a 100 apartment and they have a 10-in line they're going to be paying $2500 for that line okay versus having it like you know all the homeowners paying the same amount based on a per inch diameter the way it was before it just it wasn't fair so we want to give the the lower um size Services a a break and the bigger buildings like commercial buildings should be paying their fair share councel L Madam chair thank you and just for the record if if what I would like to see if the city is charging for a an application uh for a permit I would like to see the department doing their job if this application uh was not working before because was as you explain it it was just a piece of paper I'm assuming that now the the the city the water department is charge the restaurants owners I hope that you do the Step at B so you actually go to the restaurants and you make sure that they doing that that what they're supposed to be doing and uh for the record uh most of the resturant owners that that that we have in the city they do their part if the city is not going out there doing their part is is it's the city uh as the city is full corre so I just hope that that if you're going to charge make sure you do the inspection thank you thank you you got that great thank you counselor all right at this point I will entertain a motion motion to recommendation motion has been made is there a second second by the Vice chair discussion seeing none all those in favor say I I and the eyes have it thank you so much commissioner all right next we have item 390-2498 brought To Us by the congresswoman lorri Trahan Community Project funding and this will go towards the Mario lassis Memorial Bridge and we have our great grant writer Miss Reyes here with us miss Reyes you have the floor good evening C thank you for having me so I believe lessi l l Lui okay L okay thank you re gr Rider which bridge is this so it's the one uh you know where ATO has the um umbrellas now yeah right in front so right before the duck Bridge so you see where there's that black um gated it's kind of like gated now and unfortunately folks are walking on the street M um so it's that's the the the Mario Lui Bridge y okay y y okay um walk us through this grant a little bit so every year congresswoman Trahan uh submits 15 projects she calls it Community Project funding we were one of the 15 projects uh that she submitted uh in Congress they voted for $2 million on this bridge for repairs and so we're here now asking uh for us to use the 2 million to repair this particular Bridge so in particular um just people watching at home yes uh I'm going to read what you the correspondent that you sent to our clerk so this is going to help with the repair of the deck cracking the the honeycomb combing concrete SCA scaling and repair of Hall spells throughout the length of the bridge it is also going to help with the repair of scaled cracks balls of the building Bridge railing back walls breast walls and Wing walls is this correct yes okay am I missing anything from the repairs is that summarizes everything so that's the report that we got from the engineers and that's what they recommended at the time that they did the assessment okay the inspection all right and what is the time frame that you project for all of this to be completed there are a lot of moving Parts um I have here the um acting Deputy directors who are going to be um spearheading the project uh because there are there's the Federal Highway Administration involved as well as well as Mass DOT so we do have uh probably 2 years to do this project but if everyone in the city has seen this bridge and is in dire need of of repair I mean all of our bridges are enti need of repair but we have funding for this one so we really should uh leverage These funds and and at least get rid of that um the black uh gate that it has so that people are not I've seen people walking on the street and it terrifies me okay councelors any questions or comments Madam chair Council lzone so my understanding is the bridge near japu Resturant yes is this a project you mentioned it's two years time frame two years is this going to affect traffic traffic it's possible it's possible um the engineers would be better to answer that question but it is a possibility that it will affect traffic so that's kind of like the tradeoff so we have I think we have a new engineer right city engineer we do what is the inod Theo no that's not it's very real pardon Theo never mind okay um can I mother chair can I finish mine yeah yes sorry um so just make sure just to put it out there that businesses are informed with plenty of time uh it's a bad habit of of DPW to inform uh we have enough time and it's not good for the businesses um and if it's going to block traffic completely I hopefully it doesn't but it it will be affect not only but the few restaurants that we have in the area in that area so just just make sure that work you work very closely with the business owners in their area and make sure that that it does impact then in a negative way and I know a lot of people have been sending have sent uh concern about that specific r as you mentioned people are using the streets to walk by and this is a good thing that is happening but please make sure that you inform of DPW inform the business owners with plenty of time thank you thank you counselor that's a valid point one last thing just want to read for the record and and for people watching um one of the terms and conditions of this of the of the fund is that the period of availability we have an obligation to spend these funds up until September 30th of 2027 if any of the fund is not spent by the end of fiscal year 2027 we will lose Lo the Remain the remaining of of that money but I think we should be good by then right thank you vice president all right thank you um councelors any other questions or comments seeing none I will entertain a motion motion to send item number 3924 to full council with a favorable recommendation motion has there second second seconded by Council lzone discussion um quickly uh Miss bra can you make sure that we have the city engineer you have the city engineer with you um next week so we can get an answer to to how that's going to fact the area please absolutely thank you you're very welcome um any other questions or comments seeing none all those in favor uh Council l oh no no thank you for stopping by I appreciate that thank you absolutely um all those in favor say I I and the eyes have it all right did we skip this one you're I should just can I just stand here the I did Skip One um commissioner I'm going to finish up with with Lily and then I'll go back to you I did Skip One all right uh we have item where am I item 39124 authorization to expend Grant funds in the amount of $100,000 from the Massachusetts Broadband in for digital Equity implementation plan U Miss Reyes can you tell us a bit more about this yes this is a grant to create a a plan for the City of Lawrence so a company is going to come in and identify the areas that lack in Internet services and so it's going to help us increase our our Wi-Fi our broadband and is a good opportunity for us to to utilize These funds to create that that plan so that we can apply for uh funding to implement the plan okay councilors any questions or comments seeing none at this point I will entertain a [Applause] motion motion to send item number 39124 to full council with a favorable recommendation second motion has been B properly seconded discussion Miss B do we have we said that it's for a company to come in do do we have do we know who will be coming in so the Massachusetts Broadband Institute recommended a couple of uh agencies and at the time um the director of OPD selected one of the agencies I can't remember the name of the agency at the top of my head I can I can pull it up if be like I'm sorry I'm going blank here what is OPD again office of Planning and Development thank you I should know that by now right but it's fine um can you also have that ready for us on Tuesday who who they recommended the name of the company that they're recommending please I can pull it up really Qui okay perfect thank you this is an example of why we need this because the Wi-Fi is very slow right now I wish I was more organ I see my colleagues here their papers are all and I'm like so the company the company's called CTC technology and energy CC technology and energy and and they came from a list of companies that the state recommended that Massachusetts Brad Bon Institute recommended okay and and how were they selected do you know it it was a matter of so I do know that the um director at the library is part of the uh digital Equity committee and so I reached out to folks that had some you know prior knowledge on this and they had recommended out of the list this uh company cuz they have worked with this company before all right any other questions or comments seeing none all those in favor say I I and the eyes have it thank you so much we'll see you Tuesday all right going back to commissioner Hill right item three 9-24 payment of Prior year invoices in the amount of $3,377 with 61 cents for Milton for Milton cat cat cat yeah sorry about that good evening again okay um so these these invoices are from fiscal year 22 which I'll take the respons ability for it so at the time I was a construction supervisor I had um our back hole serviced and um we had a wheel assembly ordered and then some miscellaneous Parts um which comes out to the $3,377 61 um there was purchase orders made for those but some somehow other orders got paid on those purchase orders and they lost these invoices they were they weren't sent to us I know that so for a couple years we got away with it and then they brought him back up and said hey by the way you owe this money we verified it um with the cont controller we went through munus and they they were never paid so we're just here to get approval to pay them for this FIS schal year I've also um made sure I I had Milton cat take my email um the supervisor that does the Billings email make sure we're getting the invoices cuz I believe we're the only ones that have you know cat in um DPW so any questions or comments have one question uh councelor marmel so just for clarity um was it nson that dropped the ball in not sending the invoice in time or they sent the invoice and um we just didn't realized that those invoices weren't paid um it was lack of communication on both ends so back then the bilding supervisor was in City Hall I was on Water Street um she received invoices from Milton cat had paid inadvertently different invoices and The Originals weren't paid um and then when we asked Milton cat do we have any outstanding balances we have emails that said no you don't owe anything and then now 2 years later but we did go back and verify them and it looks like just an invoice got paid inadvertently on that purchase order any other questions or comments seeing none I will entertain a motion motion to send item number 39224 to full councel with a favorable recommendation 382 I mean 3 389 389 yes um correction um motion to send item number 38924 uh to full council with a favorable recommendation motion has been made is there a second probably second in discussion see none all those in favor say I I and the eyes have it thank you commissioner all right next item is item 39224 authorization to expend Grant funds in the amount of $814 or 64 for the from the mass dep recycling the dividends program and we have our acting deputy director Rosanna the Rosario here director good evening Ros acting deputy director for Public Works 200 Comm Street Lawrence so this is some extra funding that the mass DP found those eligible for back in September of 2023 I appli for the sustainable material recovery program Grant and I was able to get 14 points that equal to $56,000 so they found us eligible for more funding and they um approved us for $846 with 64 this money we plan to use it to um continue our hazardous waste program that it's being run at the moment at the DPW Yard councelor do you have any questions or comments seeing none I will entertain a [Applause] motion motion to oh oh no no go ahead motion to send item number 39224 to full council with a favorable recommendation motion has been made is there a second second proberbly second in discussion seeing none all those in favor say I I and the eyes have it thank you so much good evening counselors good evening thank you all right next we have item 39324 the authorization to expend Grant funds in the amount of 39,800 5 from the Massachusetts Department of Public Health for the Massachusetts in motion active Transportation safe roots to school and parks and Open Spaces today we have Alicia Miller from our mayor's Health task force you have theor good evening councelor good evening so can you just walk us through um this grant so this grant um we it focuses on um we we have the opportunity to focus on broadly on active on physical activity physical environment um in previous years we also Focus we also did some work around um food access uh we've decided to with everything else that's happening in the city we thought it prudent to move more towards the physical activity physical environment side of things and so this year we're we're continuing our work with mass and motion um we are and also with parks and Open Spaces I'm working with the rec department DPW the Lawrence Police Department and um new to the stage is active Transportation um looking primarily at the Shashi River Trail that connects the Breen the North South Lawrence East and the high schools as as well as some ball fields that are along the area um the state pool and um the soccer field at the cane Council has any questions or comments councelor marmel I think you're going to ask with the question yeah go go right ahead go right ahead is it this it's PR yeah go right ahead um do you mind going into detail as to regarding um under your line items um specifically 5380 under other purchase services do you mind giving detail information as to what does that mean and what does that entail um in addition to um item number 5580 under miscellaneous supplies I have no idea what you're talking about I'm sorry it's part of the budget of the 13985 so I just wanted to make sense as to you know okay I I'm not quite familiar with the codes um can you say those again okay so under expenses we have salaries wages and permanent um which makes sense M um and that is in the amount of $77,200 then we have uh expense uh labeled as other purchase services oh in the amount of $45,000 right and then miscellaneous supplies in the amount of 17,18 okay so I'm just I'm just curious as to the other purchase services and miscellaneous supplies so the other purchase services are the contractors that we'll be working with so we'll be working with um the the health and human services department but more more um directly uh the recreation department um we do fund the program assistant that they have she oversees the the parks and open space work that they're doing for on our behalf um we um merac Valley Planning Commission they're they're going to be help supporting the work that we're doing around active transportation and the work around the shashin river trail and then um and and uh I'm coming give me one second so it's m okay groundwork Lawrence I'm sorry I'm trying to remember all this I'm sorry so groundwork Lawrence is the other contractor that we have and they they they do a lot of work in the environmental space so they they're also going to be guiding the work that we're doing around the the shashing Road River Trail area and then the what was the other one miscellaneous miscellaneous so part of what we have to do is community engagement so anything related to that Communications Flyers marketing um any giveaways that we have any food that we do we we we we do for Community meetings anything like that that falls under that but you do an excellent job with that I may not be in a communitive role you're welcome um for my a full-time job but I still have my personal email um with the Lawrence partnership uh and you are always sending us updates and flyers and and all of that so I I know you're definitely on top top of that mad chair counc can we get a list of the places that this is going to be happening uh for the full Council hopefully um can you clarify what you mean like where you going to be um you you you mentioned the shashin uh River so that's that's what that's that's going to be the primary focus for the active Transportation strategy um for the safe and and it it will it will sort of come come together with the what we're doing with safe roots to school okay for safe roots to school we're we're focusing primarily on the partham we're doing Walk audits with them uh few years ago we got an act um a a a a small Grant from from the from a federal organization and so we use that to create 23 walking roote Maps um for the 23 elements and middle schools that we have in the city um we've been promoting those doing a lot of community engagement meeting with pto's hearing their concerns we want to activate those maps and so we've been doing we don't call them walk audits cuz it sounds so technical we call them Family Walk and talks okay and so what we do We Gather at the school in groups and then we split into smaller groups and each group takes one of the mark route and they walk it so it's a it's the groups the group primarily consists of parents sometimes depending on when we do it the kids the student leaders might get get involved but we've typically had Parents School administrators DPW we've had the police one or two times we've had um council president Rodriguez go out with us for the the one we did at the at the gilmet so it's a it's a combination of folks and what it does is it allows the adults to see what we're proposing for kids to walk to school or where we're proposing for them to walk to school and we talk about things like safety um and particularly with the kids it's been a vibrant conversation cuz you know kids know all the shortcuts um and they're going to tell you why they walked that way instead of the way we want them to walk and we talk about safety it's it's it's a good way to talk about the things that they're not thinking about like safety you need to be seen you need to be in a space where people have eyes on you um where there's a sidewalk that you can walk safely out of traffic um things like that so we've been doing that kind of work and really now wanting to get more into the active part of it so safe roots to school have three Banner days they have uh International walk to school day which is in October they have winter walk to school day which is in February and they have Massachusetts walk to school day which is in May so we want to build activities primarily around that but if schools would like to have more days of walking or rolling the the the frost is interested in Rolling more than they are in Walking um in biking more than they are in Walking we will talk with the the school administrators and the the PTO to see how best to get that going um because in ultimately we would want to see kids walking or rolling to school every day of the week thank you I have a quick question so the if if the goal is to have kids walking more to school M I'm assuming you're also working with DPW about in in the school department making sure that these areas are during the winter so one of the awesome things that have happened over time is that the school department has asked us to help them to help support a safe roots to school task force and on that task force since um the the the capital project person for DPW we sometimes have the engineer come out with him and other members from the DPW team we also have um someone from the lawr Police Department who's connected to school safety come come to the meetings as well as the COO of the Lawrence Public Schools who heads those meetings okay thank you thank you um at this point I'll entertain a motion motion to send item 39324 authorization to expend Grant funds uh 13 39,000 805 uh my department of public he health for ma math in Motion in active transportation in sa to schools and parks and Open Spaces motion to send out with a favorable recommendation to remain is there second seconded by the Vice chair discussion seeing none all those in favor say I I counselor I and the eyes have it thank you you so much I seem to have lost somewhere in my little mess here can I see your agenda thank you the last item is item 39424 authorization to expend funds in the amount of $286,000 from the mvpc EPA revolving Loan Fund this is to demolish the FL Florence Street Garage which is a city-owned property it was put on the agenda by land use planner Dan McCarthy however he is unavailable tonight so we have our project officer Kenny La lamarch Lamar correct Mr Lamar you have the floor hello hello uh hello counselors how are you good how are you good I think is this is this the first time this year this is the first time you've been before us right by myself yes yeah all right well welcome go easy on we'll try uh no we just want um authorization to spend the 200 $186,000 that MC um has granted us from EPA revolving loan for the Florence Street Demolition and I have given you a few copies of some supported documents one of them being the bid for the demolition company that we used which shows it does have a typo but it shows that jdc is the least amount um to let you know who we're going to go with uh we do also have the loan and subran agreement that already signed and ready to go sorry I am just I'm trying to Picture This garage and I can't at the moment so I'm using Google Maps so uh to see if I can get a I don't have any um yeah images I think is it is it this right here with the red correct as a abandoned building I've uh I've sent an email I I had a constituent um concerned about that building and I was advised that it was yes okay so uh Mr Lam March what are we so we're we're demolishing it what's going to happen in that area it's still a city owned property I'm assuming property so what what is the city planning on doing with that area after we get rid of the building so I cannot speak on that uh we still haven't decided what to do with it but the first step of course is have the senior advisor Octavian spanner he's like I'm here for the rescue look at that smile adviser you have the floor yeah good evening um Vice chair Inon and City councilors the the purpose uh is to demolish this long-standing uh building that has been well it's contaminated for many years it has a cross on it uh just to give you more or less an idea is before if you're growing from lawren Stars methu before T tanar Tire Shop there's a a laundromat MH and there's an Alleyway and you go in the back and it's right behind it yeah uh the purpose is that there's a uh this this building is also connected AB buding other City properties that next door um the intent is to uh subdivide the property and um for other uh uh industrial uh or activity industrial activity that falls under uh commercial uses and I2 it's a I2 zoning so all activities that falls under that would become um eligible okay and there is an but it will still remain city property yes correct but yeah eventually that would be to to dispose it okay and so generate income being a city property is not generating any tax revenue for the city well have you proposed I mean have you thought of not proposed I'm looking I'm just looking at the area on Google Maps it's residential I mean and then this property is also amongst other properties within the city that we're trying to get funding uh and grant funding to to um remediate okay because there are well what considered to be also Brown Fields um this is also within the list okay councilors any questions or comments I have a question Council marmel um I'm just trying to see if it's in any of the documents that is provided um so it's $28,000 bid just to demolish yes because it contains if I'm not mistaken the reason why it has an x on it has a the material could be uh ASB bestus okay so it's not only the demo but also the cleanup associated with with the um the contamination um is there any specific dates to which um they're expected to like if this was to be approved um any expected dates uh to start demolishing and how long does it take to complete that project as soon as possible I mean we had the contract already drafted so once if this gets approved and we get the funding send the contract over to get signed uh I don't have a timeline uh we can have that once the the contract is signed once they look far enough um so unfortunately I won't have that information for you but as soon as possible to get this demolished and cleaned I'm seeing here there was a a correction on the contract the first day of August but the year is 2023 we're in 2024 yes so from my understanding we've had this loan and Grant um well we didn't get the we just not starting the process of demolishing can you repeat that I'm sorry that chair we've had the the loan agreement already signed and everything uh correct ready but we weren't ready to demolish until now uh which is why we're going through the right steps so now you're looking to actually use a use the loan correct correct for clarification usually when you have a re remediation project it also requires a remediation plan so that you know it's not as if you're going to the site and demolish or remediate but is uh certain requirements by the state for uh for the cleanup and procedures that needs to be followed okay any other questions or comments seeing none have a question counc Lon your mic um um I I I'm Con well I'm confused not concerned so you got the loan the approval the loan when I'm I know you already asked a question 2023 and you sent for you that the bids went out when the bids went out so the submission date was of this year July 10th so like Octavian said we had to go through some processes have a plan before we went out to bid and start the demolition and the city doesn't have any plan yet for the space uh been stated that they were going to subdivide so yeah the the uh counselor the intent is to demolish first and then obviously to uh for the for us to sell the property dispose of the property so it can be you know generating Revenue uh for the city any other specific plans I don't have any information in regards to that because that hasn't been discussed but in in this case it's not here or there because the property we're getting an opportunity to clean it up um a contaminated site even though if it's a you know enclosed building Anything Can Happen fire next next door uh anything can can cause further cont contamination of the site so it right now what we're looking at is cleaning uh a site that's contaminated is the contaminated or just with garbage there there's two different things no no no it's contaminated the building has a crosses has been identified pre in previous years it's been standing there for I don't know how many years so I'm I'm going to say both I'm going to correct you and say both because they can the the well there is trash the picture that I'm seeing Google Maps right now there's trash everywhere on the parameter but perhaps inside there's contaminations or maybe even outside I don't know but I'm going to say it's both from what I'm seeing by the by the signage and then what I'm seeing on Google Maps well but for the garbage that you yeah but it could be two different uh uh mad chair with your permit permission it could be two different things having a guard garbage in a property doesn't mean that it's contaminated y That's what I was trying to to explain um okay um and do we know who are the owners the city no no not the owner of the property the owner is next to the property so the city owns two lots uh adjacent to the property and Ona owns the one on the left side if you're um forgot her last name you know her first name you don't know her last name yes Madam chair this it's irrelevant theing property it's not irrelevant M it's the other property on the on the side that we don't know who the owner specif they know who the owner is excuse me uh um Octavian uh senior advisor he already gave us the name it's not irrelevant once uh and and I let me make my point and F it's just a question and I wanted an answer because he knows who the owner is he mentioned on that I asked for her last name nothing wrong with that my the people that are watching would like to know you know who the owner is do you know the last name he knows the he doesn't know personally he knows the I mean Madam chair this is irrelevant in regards to the property because uh one property you may have may have the name but the other abing property owner we don't know there's uh one to the right if you get in through the I think there's one or two different I think there's a and you can look at the I'm I'm looking as you're explaining this to me yeah there's a I believe there's a is a multif family that is a buding to your left which is uh so to the left of this building that is going to be demolished and cleaned up there's a other city property right the park the parking lot yes yes and then next to the uh if if I may clarify then next to the city lot there's a um a garage and there's a auto body shop I believe so and there's a multif family um structure C okay I I my here's my concern so the city is investing the money and and demolishing a property and they don't have a plan yet to who what they're going to do there that's my my concern my other concern is that by now you should know who the owners not the other the the city the other owner is so yes that's one cuz once they do that they have to sell Madame chair they have to sell to that person first by law so so this is my concern councelor I have a question for you um I'm sorry madam chair councelor I feel like we're deviating from what the item is before us the item before us is regarding demolishing a property not selling it um it's still a contaminated property and I feel like regardless of who who are the surrounding owners the city needs to respond to that contaminated property it it is our duty to to do something about it and to look for a solution M I'm not I'm not done uh coun um I do have a question question if if I may proceed though um what is the normal process uh from the city's end when a property has been identified to be contaminated um to address that issue so something isard and it's contaminated is there a time frame that the city needs to address it and have that property demolished and the reason why I'm asking is because um the contract is from 2023 and then you know we're we're finally seeing that something's going to be you know hopefully something's going to be done now but I want to know typically what is the normal process when um a property is has been identified as contaminated and what is the time frame that it needs to be addressed okay it it is the response and the the most candid respon is contingent upon funding there's a list of properties that um we like the $2 million that we received uh it depends on on uh the million dollars that we received recently received as well it's going to be uh used as a cleanup for I think other properties so once we receive the funds we have an obligation first of all to present it before city council to accept the uh the grant funding and then for us like in this case to go through a procurement process in and to bid uh for let's say an engineer or uh a uh a contractor to we demolished and if this contaminant uh that needs to be um cleaned and that should be done expeditiously because it is contingent upon the time frame that it's given by the the agency that provides the funding so usually there's a time frame um uh uh Bond to the uh to the funding so you receive a fund is not forever the funds you need to be to you need to ex uh expend the funds within a year or two uh like you have seen tonight and then within that time frame the city needs to identify the properties and say you know when it's going to start and when are we going to do the bidding for the cleanup so if there is no funding then the property stays contaminated well that's the reason why we we are pursuing funding to clean up because the city let's say the city may have uh let's say the cost would be half a million dollars to clean up a property tumber site and the uh and the paper mill projects are good examples so the city May expend funds but it's too much of an expense for us to complete the entire cleanup and there where we go for federal EPA funds or whatever whatever funds are available in this case it's where the Marin MC Valley planning uh convention uh revolving loan Madam chair are you Council Lon um I I'm going to ask well just going to put it this way when the senior advisor refers to the proper as contaminated I I would like to get more specific comparing this site to Tom barello is is you're telling me that you're going to need thousands and thousands of of federal money to to clean that so I would like to know what type of contamination besides the regular garbage that we have in other properties in the city we have there that's one I believe I and I'm I'm speaking senior advisor and I would like to know who is who who the owners that are surrounding the property besides the city and he you understand why I'm asking that that's the two uh I need information on on that so the thank you Madame the the contamination what is it what is the cam what is it you guys should have a record of this it it must be within the uh the scope of services I don't know if this was provided I don't have that information yet mad chair yeah so you don't have a record of why this building is considered contaminated I don't have the yeah I don't have the documents that state exactly what contaminates they have they were tested and they fall under the but you do but you do have that doc documentation not on me not on you but you do there is yes there is I can have search for that Madame chair councelor so how do you send a bit something uh this out for a bit without a specific cuz it's a different amount of money that this companies will require to clean a contaminated site there because we don't know by now because you don't have information in front of you so I'm assuming you guys are not very familiar with the type of contamination that we have in that area it's just garbage or it's other type of contam contamination so there's two different things here for for in response to that uh Madame Lon uh unfortunately mad chair she's Vice chair Vice chair Vice chair the uh we came tonight because Dan uh Mr Dan McCarthy is on vacation um this is I can confirm this is a contaminated St site it does not only demolition but it also has uh most probably hazardous material because it has a cross unidentified uh within the scope of service there must be there must be literature that identifies the scope of service for the contractor to uh perform the work uh if it's not here we can provide it to you um if this is sent to to the city council on Tuesday we can provide you with the information but it must be there Madame chair because we don't have uh in the information requested I suggest we table this item until they come with the information we need that I that I need to vote so I'm making a motion to table this item um Madame chair can I identify to you have this contract was this provided with them you can have this contract which it has the recital which one is can I uh we says agreement contract Mar Valley plan commission says on top yes and it specifically says here um whereas the property under which the remediation work will be performed is not listed or proposed for listing on the national priorities on the US uh protection act so they it has been identified with remediation remediation is a word that is used when you have a property that is under contamination has hazardous material I can be more clear than that um it's within this recital and also the agreement okay councilor I don't think this this should be tabled either way um I do want a list of I do want the document of the test result included um for next week I think we should send this up as as a committee report um and take it from there until we see what the actual contaminants are so that is my we do have a motion on the table is there a second second property seconded no discussion on tabled matters um roll call councelor lzone to table yes Council marmel what's the motion to table motion to table deciem who seconded that motion you did just oh no you ready well I take back my well you're vot you're voting no and the chair votes no motion does not carry can I get uh can I have another motion motion to send uh item number 394 24 as a committee report contingent upon providing the proper documentation uh to demonstrate the the can uh the specific contamination um of this property um Madam chair am I also able to um add um are we able to ask if the city has done their due diligence in not because I do agree with councelor lcon that um the neighboring Property Owners they should uh potentially be notified um is that something that should be considered or you can add add that so is that something um you can add it that's part of the process whenever there's a demolition we have to let the uh abing Property Owners know yeah and because it's residential as well in the alley we can also as whatever the final vote is we can we can add that to the final vote to the full Council okay so I'll just reiterate the um the motion uh motion uh to send item number 39 424 as a committee report contingent upon uh proper documentation demonstrating specifics uh regarding the cont uh the contamination of this property in addition to um requesting that the city is providing some sort of communication to the neighboring Property Owners regarding uh this this uh the demolition of this property motion has been May is there a second second oh wait I no I made a motion so I I will second as I the City attorney did inform us that the chair is able to Second so I second that motion um I'm going to do a roll call for this uh councelor marmel yes councelor lzone no and the vot and the chair votes in the the chair votes yes motion carries so thank you make sure that you guys have that for next week um thank you thank you have a good night as well councelor at this point I will entertain a motion to adjourn so motion B there second oh secondly seconded all those in favor say I I and the eyes have it e --------- ##VIDEO ID:-WacWgbZB7M## e e e e voting members of this committee to my left we have councelor at large Anna Levy and to my right counselor of District a Felina Santiago pursuing to chapter 20 of the acts of 2022 this meeting of the Personnel committee is being conducted both in person and Via vermot participation a reminder that persons who would like to listen or view this meeting while in progress May either attend here in the city council chamber or use any of our um social media Accounts at this point can you please join me in the pledge I pledge alance to the flag of the United States of America and to the rep One Nation God indivisible and justice for all all right before we get into new business counselors um we did we we have a a packet um here that is T that is numbered item 34724 which is a correspondence for the director of project management and development um I did do and I'm going to take this first because we're not we're not going to entertain this tonight um director Owens I did look through our city council of rules and I also called attorney hoen who did not answer my call nor has he returned my call um according to our Council rules the council president is the one that needs to assign items to the committee so this was not brought to us as a a new business item um so I cannot so I don't have it on my agenda at this moment and also to in order to suspend our rules we need a six counselor vote a our Council rules and it's available online on the city website has no language pertaining to um subcommittees um I then called the attorney hoen but like I mentioned he did not answer nor has he called me back yet so that's where we're at with this so if we can please submit an item as a new business um that would be great thank you all right uh and uh Council Levy uh he tomorrow to subit yes yes so you have still so you have until tomorrow until noon time to submitting it'll still be on time and tomor Al noon tomorrow yes thank you thank you thank you all right so straight into new business we have the first item item was a conversation of questions between um one one of these positions being moved from the parking to DPW whether now this is considered a new position or not and the interview process happening again can you please just let us know um from your personal expertise like where we are with that thank you m vice president um so I did speak uh briefly this evening uh just before this meeting with uh coun will uh pres on that matter I don't have enough information right now to speak turn thank excuse me good evening Madam vice president my apologies um Miche Owens personel director for the city um so uh I did have a brief conversation this evening just before this meeting with council president uh on the concern that you just mentioned um I don't have enough information to comment on that tonight I do have to go back and review the the postings that were posted what specifically those postings included um and uh the applicants that applied for those POs for those postings um my understanding is there were these po the positions were posted um and uh there are a number of applicants for those positions and I believe the department is ready to move forward on appointment of uh or appointment of um permanent Personnel to those positions um but the council president did raise those issues to me um so I have to go back and review uh to make to see exactly what was posted and what was applied for um and if these positions weren't properly posted then we'll go back we'll repost them we'll go through the process again but the reason I'm before the um committee tonight is because I want to uh we're requesting that these 90-day appointments be extended for the purpose is to allow the department to continue operations uninterrupted while I can do that review look at those postings and go through whatever process we need to whether that's making permanent offers or whether that's reposting the positions thank you and do you believe that you can have these answers by Tuesday at least some answers yeah I I I'll be able to answer as to what was posted and the necessary steps going forward by Tuesday sure okay councilor do you have any questions you good all right I'm going just um give me one second here you know what I'm not seeing is the duty specifically cuz I know each Deputy DPW director has different duties what I'm not seeing here oh I'm sorry this it all right at this point I'll entertain a motion I'll I'll have this ready for Tuesday see no questions or comments at this point I'll entertain a motion so my motion to send it to the full Council as a committee report pending the information from the cityon motion has been made by councelor Levy property seconded by councelor Santiago discussion Madam vice president may I just clarify one thing um so I I will look into that information but I I I I'm concerned with making these extensions pending that information um because in my eyes those are two separate things um I I'm asking the council to extend these appointments on a temporary basis up to 90 days and then in the meantime I will and I can look before Tuesday to get you information to answer the question at least but in the meantime I'll go through the necessary steps to see what was posted and if we need to repost the positions but I I I want to you know be sure that these extensions are extended in the meantime because I don't want to interrupt DW operations um I have worked closely with both of these deputies in the time that they've been appointed um they um you know they they've been dealing with a number of personnel matters at the department level um and I've worked closely with them there's some crucial Personnel matters that they're involved in that I I think it would be a you know serious Interruption to the to the work that's ongoing um to to lose these deputies in the temporary capacity so I'm I'm just asking that on a temporary basis they be extended and I'll look into the permanent postings in the meantime so we can we can make that adjustment at the full Council level okay yeah um m councelor l so we don't do in here we don't do in here the approval yeah so we are sending as a committee report and the council has to do the the final approval on that but we don't do it approval in here okay and depending on your findings by Tuesday um whether or not I think uh I think I think it should be okay but if if we need to take out that Amendment we you know make another motion and that that'll be figured out at the full Council depending on on how the discussion goes okay all right all those in favor say I I and the eyes have it thank you you're welcome um next item is item 396-2461 de cleared these positions to my understanding were posted just before I took over as Personnel director so I just have to go back to see what was um posted um but either way I'm asking the council for I'm asking the committee for a favorable recommendation to the full Council for approval of the 90-day extension and um I'll look at um what needs to be done for to hire permanent Personnel in the meantime uh director W can you also include for Tuesday sent to to the city clerk we have the correspondence from the former person this is for both positions um from the formal Personnel director of the edits the title change um to the ordinance of the deputy director but I'm looking for just a cleaner version just the the the active ordinance right as of right now and include that um so it can be easier for the counselors to look over the qualifications of the resumés and also the the requirements for our ordinances we'll do thank you um any other questions or comments seeing none at this point I'll entertain a motion motion to send it to the the full Council as a committee report uh pending the information requested by this committee Mo has made by councelor Levy seconded by Council Santiago discussion seeing none all those in favor say I I and the eyes have it thank you so much we'll see you next week um I don't see anything else I just lost my agenda with all these all right all right no all right at this point I entertain a motion to adjourn motion to motion has been made seconded by councelor Levy all those in favor say I in the eyes thank you so much bye