##VIDEO ID:qyRy7wMqrSY## [Music] I don't know I don't know than I wanted to get I'm for you don't good evening and welcome to the regular meeting for the Len city council today's Thursday uh September 5th 2024 this meeting was supposed to start at 7:00 p.m. but du to the fact that um all councelors and members of the administration and the entire Community uh were uh part of of the event that took place in on to in honor of CLE PL uh we we are here a little late we apologize for that uh that matters pursuing to chapter 20 of the act of 2022 this meeting will be hybrid allowing participation both in person and in the city ccil Chambers as well as remotely uh the zoom link for any anybody that requested was um submitted through email anybody that requested through the city clerk was re received this link uh for the zo and this meeting is both conducted in uh through the Facebook laen city council page as well as the YouTube laen city council page Madame CLA roll call please Council Levy is noted as absent Council llant present Council Luzon is noted as absent Council Del Rosario present Council fidelina Santiago is noted as absent councelor marmal present Council Selena Reyes is noted as absent Council vice president Inon present council president Rodriguez present uh many of the councilors are coming um coming in later on during the uh during the night since they were we all together at that uh vigil uh please join me for a moment of silence in honor of copl that a 37 years old mother that pass away tragically please join me for the pledge of allegion I pledge of Al to the flag FL of the United States of America and to the rep stand One Nation indivisible Justice we have no minute to approve tonight and we're going to pursue with public participation we have two names that are signing for public participation if there is anybody else that would like to sign in for public participation um we're going to have enough time please let us know the rules for the public participations are as follow please refer to the council as a whole not to any individual counselors you're going to have two and a half minutes to speak on any item any topic uh and at the 2 minute mark You're going to hear a ring indicating that you still have 30 seconds uh we're going to start public participation with uh H Mali name and address for the record please 53 Chester Street good evening honorable members we the citiz and thankful of this honorable Council and honorable mayor Brian deeno for making history by granting cont track for Lawrence police officers Union Lawrence Police with the impecable leadership by honorable Chief Bonia doing excellent job to protect our citizen we support Lawrence police officers Union seniors officers Union million thanks to our DPW workers for making Lawrence a beautiful city we support our DPW Union and the leadership Lawrence Inspection Department thank you for excellent job we support inspector Department Union leadership we must hire more inspectors Lawrence Public School with impactable leadership honorable ra G moving forward Lawrence teachers thank you for excellent job we support Lawrence teachers union we are grateful to honorable Richard Rodriguez Ada coordinator to create the best accessible in environment for our disabled citizen please bring food and donation every Wednesday to Bley garage to help our homeless we demand the best contract for our awesome firefighters with 3% Color Race and Hazard pay Lawrence always strong Lawrence always unite Lawrence one city under God we are proud to support Lawrence Police Union pray for the safety of all police officers endangering their life every day lawence police officer thank you for making Lawrence a safe City we are united to support Lawrence Police Union and thank you for excellent job the next person that we have is Rich Ros is uh John good evening councilor Richard Russell 34 cross street on the easterly boundary of District D3 first I would like to thank the city for finally getting around to putting Lane mockings directional arrows and cross walks on the newly paved Road surfaces it's a little disconcerting to see newly painted out various utility lines on the newly paved streets shouldn't all of this have been taken care of prior to repaving these streets now the city could figure out how to prevent cars from traveling in the right hand lane approaching L Street then all of a sudden cutting over to continue North on Broadway instead of turning making the proper turn on the Lowel Street I'd be happy when I got my license about 60 years ago I was taught to obey traffic signs and Lane mockings next I have heard through the great find that the Lawrence Police Department may have gunshot detectors debel meters and license plate scanners if they do why aren't they being used to their fullest potential a constant complaint heard at various neighborhood meetings is noise solving the noise complaint issue in Lawrence is is a three-fold problem the Lawrence Police don't have enough Personnel to properly enforce a noise of ordinance the city council doesn't seem too eager to write a noise ordinance with a specific decibel limits in it and finally the third floor of this building seem to have developed an attitude that let them eat cake about the noise last how is this the city coming and recreating the plaques for the mendous Stockton and Tumi monuments where the honores names are supposed to be the most prominent on the plaque money was supposed to be forthcoming in the FY 25 budget for this issue it is also my understanding that the fountain that was buried at Five Corners was dedicated 50 plus years ago to the South to South Lawrence Vietnam veterans why can't a monument and plaque be put on top of that mound that exists at that location commemorate in that fact as always I thank you for the time anybody else from the public that wishes to speak that didn't write the name on their on the list all right thank you so much thank you everybody for coming um with that said we're going to uh close public participation and all these names are going to be submitted for the record the next item on the agenda uh public hearings we have no public hearings tonight and uh there is no communication from the mayor City officials or City attorney committee report we're going to go uh to the top of the agenda with the budget and finance committee reports Madame CLA VI vice vice president infant bug and finance uh for item 41124 thank you can I um through you council president can I actually take something out of order sure um I would like to take item it's under the ordinance committee item 43-24 the dedication of Officer Jacob EC Square it says Stevens Avenue area but we we changed it to the Corbit in Mount Vernon intersection and it's sponsored by myself and Detective Tom C all right I'm going to go to ordinance committee then and uh provide uh the opportunity for the chair of the ordinance to take this item out of order thank you council president so the ordinance committee met on this item document number 40324 dedication of the officer Jacob AC Square this was sent up to the full council with a favorable recommendation and to make that in the form of a motion second uh before we continue Madame CLA please call the role for counselors that are here councel reers and councel D rar councel councelor Felina Santiago councelor Santiago pres councilor Rees pres Council Lan pres all right uh you may continue I made a motion I believe it was seconded second all right there is a motion on the table any discussions on item 403 24 Madame vice president Infante thank you um just quickly briefly as as we presented myself and the detective cui uh last week was a council of plant or two weeks ago ordinance recently recently recently um officer Jacob e e was unfortunately uh violently violently um attacked while on duty as a a Lawrence police officer and this occurred on May 11th 1993 and um well it was a result of the of the injuries that he um got from from that attack um this POS this petition has has already gone through the city council before it was actually an item from former counselor Dave Abdu which I actually got a chance to connect with prior to this meeting and I informed him that this is something that we were moving forward with and um he's 100% % on board I invited him to be here tonight but unfortunately he wasn't available but he will be if this is approved he will be attending the dedication um with us we do know that this was filed through the state house um with the assistance of state representative Frank Moran and it was signed to law by Governor Baker on July 13th 20120 of 2022 um officer e was also his name was also added to the national law enforce enforcement memorial on May 13 2023 and he was also added to the Massachusetts law enforce enforcement memorial on September 27th 2023 um and at this I think I might have stolen detective cu's uh uh Thunder here but uh I would like a moment for detective cudy to speak and we also have officer E's um sisters here with us tonight daughters daughters I'm sorry daughters here today and um and if they would like to say anything I would like them to have an opportunity as well good evening council is Thomas cudy Lawrence Police Department uh as the council vice president uh noted this was uh long overdue and the folks and many of you are here on the home grp petition uh then this is long overdue this you this Council the state legislature certainly the governor um really corrected or wrong that was done many years ago officer e he gave his life for this city uh responding to a domestic violence uh call on Crawford Street in the um Stadium projects He was beaten by the suspect um and he never really regained any kind of quality of life per se after that to his final passing in May of 1993 um his Five Daughters I no father living or dead would have more dedicated children than his Five Daughters two of whom are here uh they were tenacious in getting their father the recognition they deserved along with their mother and you know like I said at the audience committee level Mrs E is getting along in years and we would like to get this done while she's still with us so she can it's kind of the the final leg of of this journey you know from the National Memorial that was no easy task and again that really began at in this chamber with this body then signed by the mayor and carried to the state house to representative Moran and then signed by the governor without your support this would have never made it for the National Monument by virtue of being on the National Monument you are on the state monument at at the state house right next to one ash Burton Place and um and then this is like the Lawrence part of it and as I said to you part of the plans for the new police station is to move our memoral from the bellw cemetery to the front of the police station have a courtyard there so more more public can actually see it and really recognize the officer e and the four other individuals that are listed as in the line of duty death for the Lawrence Police Department so again I thank you for your support way back then those of you that were on the council and I thank the support of the council Council INF fonte certainly former counselor Abdu and all of you that really you you corrected or wrong that people that sat in this chamber did many many years ago and you all should be very very proud of that thank you thank you so much uh with that said any other comments from councilors I Hear No so at this point I will call the questions uh have a question just a quick question where's the where's the site going to be through your council president where's the where's the which square is it going to be it's going to be corv Road corv and Mount Vernon M Veron okay all right um any other questions councelors all right I'll call the question so L fa please say I any names the I have it so now we're going back to the top of the agenda with I item 411 from the budget and finance committee Madame vice president Infante council president if I may I was absent from that meeting and the vice chair councelor Vivian marmel um LED that meeting so I will defer to her sure uh councelor District d b m can you give us the report please item 41124 payment of Prior year prior year bills in the amount of $ 56,7 63 50 cents um was uh approved by the budget and finance committee with a favorable uh recommendation to be sent to the full Council and I submit that in the form of a motion there's a motion on the table can hear second properly second discussion counselors there is no discussion at this point I call the question all fa please say I I the eyes have it next item uh we're going there is no housing committee reports we're going to the top of the agenda with the ordinance committee Mr um uh Council plant the chair of the of the ordinance committee can you please give us the report for item 3824 the committee met on item 3824 handicap parking at 49 Bradford Street Apartment 1 this was sent up to the full council with a recommendation to order a public hearing and make that in the form of a motion second all right uh there is a there is a motion on the table properly second something to clarify from this item very quick I don't know I'm pretty sure that you guys discussed that but just to clarify uh handicap parkings are not for any specific place I'm seeing that they mention an a specific apartment uh and I just want to make sure that we have we have it off of the record that any handicap parking within the City of Lawrence are not destinated to any specific person instead are destinated for the city of as the whole whoever have a pler they can park there at any time any moment uh there is a motion on the table to order public hearings I hear a second any questions all those in favor to order the public hearing please say I I I the I haveit item 13924 parking signs 50 minutes at 395 law street thank you Mr President so this item was sent up to the full Council by the ordinance committee with a favorable recommendation to order a public hearing the hours between 9:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. make that in the form of a motion there's a motion on the table second properly second to public hearings any questions all right at this point I call questions all Us in favor please say I I any names guys have it item 14024 um Mr shair from the ordinance committee thank you very much Mr President 14024 stop sign in Woodland Street corner of East haville Street um the stop sign is to be placed on Woodland Street this was sent up to the full council with a faal recommendation to order public Heen and make that in the form of a motion second there is a motion on the table properly second discussion I hear none all those in favor to order a public hearing please say I I there I have it item 15324 thank you council president so 15324 the ordinance committee sent this up to a full Council a p recommendation order of public hearing and that's a handicap parking 17 Bedford Street um and make that form a motion second there is a motion under table prop please second any questions I Hear n all those in please say I I there guys have it item 3 uh 27824 this is uh handicap parking at 337 Prospect Street this was sent up by the ordinance committee with a favorable recommendation to order a public hearing and that's a motion second second discuss there's a motion on the table properly second discussion Council fidelina Santiago it is my I I went to this address and I I saw [Music] this I went to this address and I saw they have a parking handicap parking already no they have driveway a driveway okay yeah and and the the ordinance say if it they have well they well it's at to discretion of the police department we're going to order the public hearing probably you should contact the police department to see what was behind it all right but thank you for the information and thank you for going over there it is important uh well this motion is to order a public hearing any other questions I Hear No so at this point I call the question all please say I I the I have item 27924 this item is document 279 24 no parking area on 6 Berkeley Street this was sent up by the ordinance committee to this council with a favorable recommendation to order public hearing and that's a motion second uh there is an irem of uh item 27924 no parking area uh on six Berkeley Street uh mad um properly second discussion so CC Lon just quick just quick clarification on that this no parking is just for six BK Street or the entire Street um Cil president um are we are Berkeley Street yeah Island 27924 and I I I would like to ask mad um Madame CL I think it it was not needed uh does we send something to DPW um we're confused I I apologize I thought I had a letter or a memo from the um the the counselor is correct um I'm reading the memo from coun Canó and I'm withdrawing my motion because I'm reviewing this and my my motion now is to withdraw this item second all right motion to withdraw uh properly second um discussion I hear no all to withraw please say I the the eyes have it item 32824 uh 32824 the U ordinance committee met on this item which is handicap parking on 14 and 16 Custer street was sent up to the full council with a recommendation to order public hearing and to make that as a motion second that is a motion on the table to order there's a motion on the table to order a public hearings for location 1416 cluster Street properly second discussion I Hear n all those in favor to order the public hearing please say I any n guys have it item uh 40124 um chair for the ordinance committee uh Council ordinance committee met on this item which is the name of Park located on Canal Street and at Oxford the paper mill now unofficially called Oxford Park as the Julia silvario Park and this was sent up to the full council with a favorable recommendation and to make that in the form of a motion second there's a motion on the table properly second discussion discussion discussion thank you it's not often that I have a chance to um speak on behalf of somebody who I know who I used to serve with on this Council I think was either sitting here or here uh back those years ago and I and I know that um that on her behalf there are people who are in support of this both family and friends who are here uh in eager support um my comments would be brief I hope to save them for a for a ceremony I'll be voting in favor of it um I just I just think it's important that um I mentioned this at the at the ordinance committee meeting I'll be very brief about this when we make a decision as to who we're going to honor it's a personal decision by this Council what one counselor thinks is meritorious or deserving may be completely different from another city council we have no ordinances that are based on who gets what um and it runs the gamut uh um I I feel as I mentioned the or committee I feel a it's a little awkward for me to uh because having seen the breath of uh the breath of dedications throughout the our City's history that we have an un unless it's unusual circumstance we have not provided a a um some tribute like this until someone has passed now will grant you most of the people have gotten it because they have passed in a war they have died in service um and we just did one this just a little while ago for someone who died because of service related injuries as a police officer so um I think and I'll say this I think that there's an opportunity for all of us my calculus if we want to honor someone while they're alive we have ways to do that we have resolutions we have citations the May does we do certain things that while some if it's special and if we just don't hand them out like candy and if it's special then that means something it should mean something have all of us got together to support a resolution for someone um in this particular case um I know this thing is going to pass because I know of all the endearing love and support and admiration that Council Silverio has had through a body of work through her lifetime and it's a a body of work that I think will stand the test of time I think people 20 or 30 years from now when I'm going to suggest as many all of us are not here anymore I'm looking around all of us aren't here anymore um they'll we could look to this park and we could say something like yeah julus lario was deserving of this park and the naming of this park because of the contributions that she made in this city both through her various charitable organizations through her business organizations through her public Civic organizations um I'm probably missing something but her religious affiliations she has she has a because of uh she's not 12 she's not 25 she has a body of work of a lifetime and um and she's accomplished a lot and to see her part of her family here today as well I think is really her lasting Legacy more so than a park because it's her values that she has passed on to her children and to her grandchildren Etc that really going to be the true testimony of who Julia Silvio is so I'll stop there I promise to keep this brief I'll be supporting it this evening I encourage the rest of us too but I ask all of us as we continue to get these as we continue to get these namings for parks and Corners to really stop and think I've yet to be I yet to be on the city council one has been said no to I've yet to be here it's like if you put something on there it's going to be yes cuz nobody wants to offend anybody at some point we have to go on our and say yeah that person doesn't quite Merit and have the ability to say I like the person they did it fantastic they were a good person but I can't say yes to this thank you I'm saying yes to this by the way uh thank you for your comment um I guess councel lant doesn't want anybody to break his record in the in the chamber as a counselor it's like 19 years you say in 30 years you don't want nobody do we here God willing please break the record all right I would like to uh I would like to take this opportunity to open the floor to any family members anybody that is supporting this item uh on the the dedication of that uh um of the unofficially called Oxford Park to Julia Silo so if anybody from the public that wishes to speak um um this is the time time uh to say so so name address for the record [Music] please good evening counselor um Francisco swi economic development director for the City of Lawrence I will Echo a lot of stuff that Council of the plan has mentioned but I will also beiss if I didn't say that her work of has inspired a lot of us that have come after her first Latina Dominican descent that became elected to the City of Lawrence but also the United States if you look at years later my former colleague your former colleague Senator Pano became the first Dominican senator of of of Lawrence in the United States um and we have to start giving flowers to a lot of those people who came before us and broke that glass ceiling that for a lot of us who came here might parents that didn't have somebody that will Champion them we have to give those people those flowers at this particular time while they're above ground while their fames could also celebrate with them for us Ed sorry but she's also my family now um these are the things because I remember as I ran as a candidate I walked up to her office on Essa Street and introduced myself myself I said hi Julia my name is Francisco sillo she said I know who you are let's sit down and let me give you advice um which is the advice I carry to this day which is we represent everybody that is in the city whether they support us whether they don't support us whether they speak the language whether they don't speak the language we are here for the people and she is one of those people very special people that pioneered the way for a lot of us to to where we are now thank you thank you Council thank you through you council president and once again I'm going to I'm going to Echo myself saying that I'm glad that nowadays we actually recognize people that are alive and if you sit on that bench and look this console maybe is where Julia Silverio dream off and she was the first one to sit here and and and being in my district the only thing I regret was that we didn't find in a place near her house or near our district and this receipt but I I agree with it and I agree with Mr uh Mar plan C the plan that some people we need to check if they deserve it but when you say jul in the City of Lawrence people even look and they ask us do she has a street name do she has anything for so much that she has done again if you sit in that bench and look this way this is jul silar you sitting here and we need to honor thank you council president Council vice president thank you through you I want to add to my my colleague statement not only is this juliao but this Council we are six Latina women and three men the US US six Latina counselors that are sitting here today would have would have been able to be here if Julia did not take that risk to run so I'm sure she's she's proud to see this we we all proud counselor um I just want to say one thing when the last time the H come in front of us she she get out of her house came in front of the city council three budgets ago three budget section ago and she actually talk about something that is so important to the community and that was the fund that was uh proposed to be cut for the Adult Learning Center she actually cares so much about that that she actually came over to speak to us to ask us to look the way look around and look and find a way to fund that organization that is so important and vital to the city of lawrens to the community that today is here lawren is a city of immigrant and today are the Latinos before were many others and even though the community sometime um Fight Within communities including different communities back on 1986 84 there was a huge battle between the Latino community and and other Comm and another Community within the City of Lawrence that we should never forget and those those times we would will continue REM remember because that's when actually the community take off and say look we are here and we are going to stay Julia decide to run was elected and from there the rest is history so councelors any other question questions uh in regard to this any of the family member that would like to share some words please come over good evening counselors thank you again for allowing me to speak uh Evan Silverio uh live in Salem New Hampshire now but uh have a small business within Lawrence um when I was first uh told about the idea of my mother uh possibly um a part being named after her I didn't know much of of what to think um and I think it's because um she's always kind of given her heart and soul without wanting anything in return and anytime any Spotlight was ever presented she shied away from it in a sense um and even though I I think a uh a lot of recognition has been given over the years um it was never for her intention um thank you for the kind words that you all had to say because she sat where you guys were sitting and I can't even imagine uh filling in those shoes uh and hearing about the tremendous stories that you guys probably have more uh uh and can and can relate with her more than I can when it comes down to that but what I can tell you is my mother had a very strong personality um and she used it for the good uh for the betterment of this city um she fought hard fights she uh I think um where she felt like she had to go against somebody she would just do it no fear uh she was Fearless in that and she did it in a way that it didn't really create enemies either which is tough to do um why because I think people respected her respected her opinion um but I just want to say thank you again for considering her thank you so much anybody anybody else any any family member thank you for sharing this war with us good evening uh my name is aliali silo belus I am Julia Silo's daughter uh I would like to begin by thanking this Council for your service and for offering us an opportunity to speak I would also thank I like to thank um mayor Brian DEA for uh being so vocal about his consideration of my mother's name as a possibility for this park uh for many of your kind words I remember being a young woman and campaigning for my mother when I was in high school I remember her losing I remember us coming together as a family and her deciding we're going to do this again um I've learned to be strong to be Fearless uh to be an advocate even when I've been afraid and even when it's been hard and I learned that through my mother um so I am I'm I'm just incredibly honored that um this opportunity is being given to her um to know that there would be a park in Lawrence named after a woman whose stories so many in the city can connect with the story of a young woman who arrived to a city that promised opportunity at that time they were just looking for work um but she saw an opportunity every time a door was closed that actually for her was an opportunity to do something not just for her but because of the people that were behind her so many uh jul radio story is one of a commitment to civil service to dedication to the development of this community and advocacy for the Youth of the city and a hope for its future development so many spaces here are named after people who contributed who contributed positively positively to the city many of whom are men and many of whom story is now Antiquated not that it's lesser we just don't know them and many of us cannot connect in the same way that we that people would be able to with Julia's story Julia Silo is a name that would be recognized by current residents and her story is one that young people will remember for Generations for her story is a story that so many of the city's residents will be able to relate to a story of Hope of struggle of dreams and of strength I humbly ask you to approve this proposition and I'm again I'm I'm I'm very grateful that this is even in a consideration thank you thank you anybody else from the public that wish CH to speak on this matter thank you name man for the record please good evening everyone uh my name is Jasmine Paulino and I'm the niece of um fulia sario and I did write something which I'm going to read from uh a park dedicated as a tribute would be a gesture of all the love the aulia has for her City my aunt has worked tired tirelessly to instill values in our community as one of the city's Pioneers she worked hard to lay down some of the ground workor we see today an immigrant who became an entrepreneur most of her work could be described as making decisions and taking action that benefit the well-being of the community of Lawrence she has been an unwavering Advocate supporting local initiatives and always putting the needs of others first she would always say always remember where you came from and embrace the values and culture from your motherland Lawrence is a transient city with the most powerful stories and strong people who can also make an impact please consider this Park thank you thank you anybody from the anybody else from the public that wishes to speak how you doing Ben good evening Council uh thank you for giving us this opportunity to share and support this great cause I know Julia since 1974 before some of you were even born um since I met Julia has been an inspiration to me as an immigrant in this city and always invite me to promote that we all take respons posibility on whatever we do in the city it will show the face of who we are Julia went to the radio station and she always end up the programs that she part participated with me more than 10 years and the program before the end of the program she will say in Spanish respons can you say that in English no you say it we we we have the responsibility we all called to leave when we leave to leave it better than the way we found it and that has been the inspiration for me and my kids to tell them remember what Julia said it's our responsibility to live better than we the way we found it thank you thank you and the Cubans when they came to Lawrence in 19 57 after they left Cuba there was a guy very inspirational for the Cubans immigrants ELO carav and the Italian Community and holy rosary and the 90s came together and say thanks to the Cuban Community forio carav who stood up who went from hospital to immigrations to city hall or to the unemployment office help helping out people to integrate and become part of the Melting Pot Julia is another person who's been inspirational for this generation I think it is important that our generation the Next Generation see the testimony that we're sending today thank you thank you thank anybody else that wishes to speak good evening Conor 32 ad Chief of Staff of the mayor marand pñ uh for me tonight is a dream come true I dream in this night for a long time I stand here before you asking for uh recognize one of the more successful woman business woman in the city one of the most successful uh leader in the city and one of the most successful uh woman who take care to everybody in the city a community leader today I feel very proud to be in front of you delivering the quality of life the Julia have um I'm very grateful for you when they ask me you has to send uh papers to all the consul to talk about what's who's Julia I said I don't want to do that because every single uh uh conselor know jul story in the city you know you being involved in politics you be involved uh in community work you have to recognize that Julia always be there you know taching everybody uh I'm glad to be here tonight and I I really really be happy for Theo family old family thank you thank you anybody else right at this point counselors if there is any other questions from the counselors I just have a quick comment on that last comment I think it's important being someone who's gone through the stack and asked the clerk to go to documents in 1920 and 1930 and the 1900s that there's a written record because this is not going to be around yeah we all know Julia sario yes we get that but there needs to be some documentation for people who are not who are not at this table who may not be around who may be looking back and saying who is this person that we decided to honor and there needs to be a written record that's there that answers that question and yeah there hopefully will be a marker that has a little synopsis and I'll have a little something there and that'll be helpful but I I think we're I think that we need to look in the future when we start talking about people of today thank you council president thank you so much Council Lan uh um with that said I'll call the questions uh to for item 40124 which is the name of the park located on Canal Street at off Oxford Paper Mill unofficially called Oxford Park to Julia Silo and this item was sent out to this councelor to this Council by the mayor Ryan Thea all please say hi hi any n uh the board pass unanimous thank you so much thank you to the family all right we're going to continue with the agenda uh item uh 40524 thank you uh the ordinance committee met on this document 40524 the celebration of the Bible on September 28th to 24 thank you uh 3:30 p.m. to 7 p.m. on camping on common this was sent up to the full council with a favorable recommendation and I just uh make that for motion and I'll follow up second is item item 405 24 which is cele 2024 yes good evening my name is Maria Fernanda via from 308 Lowel Street representation of theia Methodist 42 Park Street Pastor W sentos and we presented this request last Monday the 8 26 um wanting permission to use the camp toown park across the city hall to um gather there and have banners and a speaker to read the Bible in every corner of the park all good idea uh Council BL yeah I'm just double checking we we got the okay from Recreation there's no conflicts on that day correct correct okay thank you let me ask you are you I kind of see something related to a flag racing related flag racing but um they have told me before that we just have to speak to the major and G Rosario was offered to speak to the major about raising a flag on September 12th 2024 I could elaborate on that um they actually submitted or we submitted uh my pastor in combined with their church and we submitted the request and request was granted for uh September 12th uh to celebrate the month of the Bible and also to raise up the uh uh Christian uh flag over the park thank you thank you for doing this this is a little different and uh then the other events that we have uh but thank you any councelor any other councilors councelor Vice pres in thank you um just for I I will be voting in favor of this but I do want to bring to this council's attention I've been receiving um concerns from people around that live around um the common Park about the the loudness of of some of the the um members of the religious community when they use the park I also received uh a a concern via email from a constituent of a a church that we approved to to preach uh on on our sidewalks and it's getting louder and louder now the at least for me I don't know about any other counselors um but I'm starting to get emails and calls about that so I just want you guys to be mindful um I don't know how how you guys are going to do it but also just in general for the people listening at home um that this is I'm starting to to get feedback from from constituents and residents of the community right uh at the ordinance committee there is a recommendation to everybody that is that is asking for this type of mermit to maintain the speaker to then not to the general public is that something that you guys still sure so what we do as a standard operating procedure whether it's this group or any other groups we also as the council vice president stated we remind people there's a noise ordinance we remind people that they need to be a courteous of the people around them and be mindful that that they're not the only thing going on at that time in the area and that may be people living or doing other stuff so so when they're there um to just be aware that the ordinance is is still in effect and that the the volume should be at a a reasonable level that doesn't interfere with other people's activities and we also ask them to make sure that the place is in a in the same shape or better than the way that they found it when they finished their time and that's just a standard comments that we make at the ordinance committee yes thank you uh councelors any any questions at this point I'll call the question Sol and please say hi hi there I have it any n there I have it thank you so much now we're going to go to personal committee we have uh Vice chair uh vice president infant and the chair of the personal committee item 17122 council president I this meeting was also on the same night as the Budget Finance meeting so I'm going to defer to the vice chair of council Lon for this Council Lon the vice chair for the personal committee oh thank we met a uh personal committee La met last week and item 17122 uh we're going to make a motion to withdraw there's a motion to withdraw properly second discussion I hear no so all have it 37424 Amendment Union classification plan director of project management and development uh presented byian spanner senior advisor to Mayor ran depa this was sent to the full council with a committee report the okay uh that is uh can can you hear a motion to accept that as a committee report second no I haven't made the motion can hear motion to accept motion there's a motion to accept this item as a committee report uh can you hear a second second properly second discussion on the committee report I Hear No so at this point I'll call the questions for the committee report all those in favor to accept this as a committee report please say I I the eyes have it uh now we have a committee report in front of us counselor so what's the desire what's the motion before we go that way let's let's get this item 374 24 do we have an underline motion before from this I know he came from ordinance just um know that so councelors there is two focus on this we the first one will be the the item that came out of the ordinance committee and then we refer this item to the Personnel to discuss and um the related change uh pay classification the related the related changes to the pay classification as well as uh as any other uh important issues related to this specific item perhaps that U the posting if it is any posting or anything like that council president Council presid infant I'm going to make a motion to to approve for the purpose of discussion second there is a motion to approve for the purpose of discussion discussion counciling inant thank you um just I quickly looked and on my notes Here says that director Owens will present something that relates to the pay CL classification so I just want to make sure we have that opportunity to go over and um discuss why um discuss anything that we might L good evening Mr President counselors uh Michael Owens personel director for the city um uh we are uh requesting that uh this item be added to the nonunion uh classification plan um that will require uh an amendment to the non-union classification plan under Municipal Code section 2 uh 160 40 um it was determined that this should be uh added to the plan under a grade C uh that would be a salary range of 81,9 to 124 ,800 um that uh is in line with the uh evaluation from the Colin Center report which is say uses to determine uh where position should be placed on that non-union uh salary classification [Music] plan we have uh also submitted um a um ordinance uh update uh for the position itself which I believe uh will have to be referred to the ordinance committee but I'll refer to the Council on that as well all right um councelors we have a couple of things here um the item that went to the ordinance committee the intent was to change the title um and then that came from ordinance and I guess that this Council um didn't make a determination on that and subsequentially there was an ordin created for that the ordinance that was created correct the that was created do we have the language for that yeah the that has been uh following the last meeting uh the city attorney's office drafted that ordinance we did sub we did provide a draft ordinance uh to the city clerk I'm noticing now I don't believe it's on the agenda for referral to committee but um we I did I did so let's let's just start from the Geto I mean we're not changing the title we are actually creating a new ordinance we're updating the ordinance the grand riter ordinance uh to update the position um to the um the new title uh as well as new duties new qualifications so it's an update of the grant wrer position so counselors uh I don't know how you guys feel about these but we have we have a writer in place changing the title to the Grand writer changing the duties to the ground writer to a new position basically and not publishing the position is kind of like I don't know I mean I think like I mean I don't I don't know I mean I I I mean this should be a new position um and then because we're changing the duties we're changing everything the the ordinance itself changing the ordinance changing the dut this the only thing that we're not creating is the posting because we're not posting it am I right um yes but I would slightly disagree this would be considered a reclassification or reorganization of the position and this goes back to if I may Mr President this goes back to what we discussed previously that um you know in a non-union position you can reorganize or reclassify that position and you can you can basically absorb the employee currently holding that position into that new position if you were to um eliminate the grant right a position and create a new position what you would have to do is you'd have to lay off the employee in that current position and you'd have to draft this new position approve the new position post for the new position hire for the new position so eliminating one position adding another versus you just don't eliminate the position you and you post it internally and people apply and if the ground Rider or perhaps any other person from any other department get to that position that person need to resign to the position because they cannot hold two positions sure absolutely Mr President if I may um you can you cannot eliminate the position however there is a need for this position and that's how this came about because there's a need in the city and Mr spanners here can speak a little more specifically to that need um but there is a need for this type of position so we're coming before the council requesting that this position be created an ordinance um it the mayor Mr spanner um believe and they can speak a little bit more directly to this um that uh this you know position would essentially supersede the grant writer position so that's why it would have replace that position there th this new position would be the duties of the grant writer and more it has more responsibility it has more oversight and the the idea is to kind of for this position to um oversee grant writing that occurs in All City departments and to have some some Synergy between those departments in terms of grant writing so before you Mr President hello where oh it was like I thought I was here caneles what me I I have a question how many wrank writing we have in our city one um and this kind of Department uh Council so uh I believe within departments they have different um Personnel that are responsible for grant writing within that department um but within the city my understanding and I would have to double check but my understanding there would be this one grant writer position uh what this proposal would do would be to change that position to have them write grants for the city as they are doing now but also to coordinate with other City departments and the Personnel within those apartments that are writing grants within those apartments to kind of have some you know have some um coordination uh between between them so um for example you know if the if the police department is looking at Grants say for body cameras and the DPW is looking at Grants say for uh you know traff the more responsibility exactly and this person it's responsibility more respon absolutely councel it would be more responsibility um and they they would have um um there' be more accountability right because um you'd have one person that the administration or the council can go to and to say hey what's going on with this Grant and that person can follow up and track those projects those Grant projects within those departments really where this came where this came about how this came about is because there have been um situations in the city where things have fallen through the cracks in terms of grant writing the city has left money on the table if you will or uh grants have um you know we have things that we want to do in terms of maybe body cameras or other initiatives and I'm not saying that's what our intent is on body cameras just to be clear but I'm just giving an example um but the um but you know there there have been situations where um we want to apply for grants and deadlines were missed or things were overlooked and the city wasn't able to go after those opportunities so what this does is this assigns one person with that responsibility to track all of those projects because the person that may be responsible say in the police department for grant writing may also have a lot of other responsibilities so this person their sole duty is to pay attention to Grants that are ongoing throughout all throughout all City departments and they would have the responsibility to track those projects and follow up on those things council president uh thank you so much uh an that ending uh so for my understanding uh we not necessar uh uh do any kind of publication because it's the same person just is only change the title and responsibility with the same person doing this position yes councelor um if I may to the president um this would be a restructuring of a current position so we wouldn't we wouldn't be posting the position we would be going in and we'd be saying hey you do this position we're changing the duties the responsibilities of that position and we can absorb that that employee into that position if we create a new position then you post the position and people would apply to it um thank you for clarification y of course thank you Council council president thank you so before before I get into my question my my questions I you kind of director Owens and I have to say this I have to do my job you kind of did a disservice for this for for a second for this position and the individual by saying that um money uh funding and grants have slipped through the cracks uh when we originally presented when we approved a grant writer's position everything that you stated that the city is lacking is the reason why we introduce a grant writer position this should be this should be be happening right now um but I do understand that um our city is growing our departments are growing um and I understand the need for a a restructure and and a need for for a position what I don't I still don't have the answer to Is these flowcharts that were still um here they're still in our packets and I also would like to know um obviously when when we are PE we're we're calling this a title change but we have a whole job description for for this new position so I'm I'm considering it as a new position the way that's presented to the council um under the duties and responsibilities there are a few items that obviously um these are cultivated by things that are are currently happening in Daily operation so I would like to know aside from the grant writing is first are we using any current external uh assistance for grant writing and Grant Management and secondly this new job description said does says does say that part of the duties and responsibilities is going to work with the L what percentage of daily operations right now is the grant man is the grant writer time being used for the L as well so those are my two questions right now counselor if I may to the president counselor I would uh defer to Mr spanner for those two because he has a little more um understanding of those to answer those questions but I just want to clarify one thing going back to your earlier Point um I just to be clear am not saying that it's the individual that currently holds this position that has caused things to fall through the cracks just to be clear on that I know I know what I'm saying is that uh there are many departments are pursuing many different grants and it has happened where things have fallen to the cracks deadlines have not been met because people in within departments are often handling many other things in addition to grant writing um so this would just allow that oversight I I understand and and I and I said this before and I'm going to say this again I've worked with our grant writer I actually she hosted a meeting in my district yesterday for a grant that we working on to to fix our our railroads so I I know the quality of work that that she provides uh but that's this isn't about her specifically this is about what is presented to the city council at this at this moment understood thank you council president Octavian spanner senior advisor to the mayor councilors good evening can you please repeat the question through the through the chair uh vice president in front you council president my question is are my questions is I'm getting tired now one is um are we using any external resources to help our grant writer um either write or manage any of the city city of Lawrence grants and the second is um if the new the new description here um has an l component is there has has our grandwater been working with the L currently and what percentage of her daily duties is is committed to that I'll I'll start with the the the last question through you Mr chair uh the council president 25% 25% of all city employees uh that are involved in Works uh work with the L um and we don't go beyond that because then it's uh it's counterproductive [Music] the yes the the the other question the second question that you had uh in regards do we have Consultants that work yes um we do have Consultants that are working uh primarily on uh technical stuff like for instance Engineers that are providing services and we do have to work with them because these are uh beyond the knowledge and and also uh area of Competency of of the grant writer basically um there are other uh departments that are involved but I can give you a good example like today um we follow the system what we're trying to request is that we have a different departments that are involved in meetings um number one to understand what the the funding agency is requesting second of all compliance and third of all if there are match requirements or what is it that are basically the city needs to meet um what we're requesting uh and why we are um augmenting the the the responsibilities is basically to ensure that number one that we get more money uh we have future challenges that I I spoke about uh when I first presented that um we have we're going to have challenges in the next 10 10 years period we have two schools we have our commitment with our contracts and looking ahead we need to start pursuing funding and uh it is um it's going to be a lot of work for one individual to not only go after the funding identify work with the different departments that you see in your flowchart uh then third and those are not just to clarify for the public as well for you City councilors this is not requesting addition additional uh positions in other departments but to ensure that once we receive these funds if we are awarded that they are expended uh in a proper proper fashion number two fulfilling all the requirements and that funds are not returned and and for instance during the budget hearing there were questions you know what are the funds in each department those should be one person a focal point within the city that can provide all this information and not be disjointed that let's say you have different silos that Police Department is the only one that knows about the information or HHS is the only one or Community Development but that we have uh a central database and a person that is responsible of and that's the reason why we put in the title project management as well because it's going to be required for us to have that so we currently do not have any person out of the city that do not that controls or manage the the grants but we do work with Consultants uh especially engineering groups and and probably Architects and support that needs to give us the narratives thank you through through you council president going back to the um flowchart and the organizational Matrix comment um so this this position this director position will be working with the with the Departments that are shown here and the organization organ organizational Matrix but it is still from the discussions that we're having tonight it is still one individual working with these departments which is currently the same process that we that we have through the grant writer position um which what I'm hearing is is the issue of they need more help I again I'm going to bring this up I brought this up last time I am seeing titles here of positions of individuals of little icon uh little people here in the organizational Matrix that we do not have positions for Curr currently these are not current positions in the City of Lawrence uh counselor these are individuals there are current city employees that let's say if there's an assignment for a grant assuming that there's a transportation Grant there's individuals within the Departments let's say DPW you have two assistant directors one of them should be in charge I'll give just as an example or whoever the director uh can appoint or assign as one of the titles that you have this is not creating positions within the department but they have the assignment and why number one each department should have a person that is responsible and accountable uh I mean the director is is ultimately the individual that is is uh accountable for for the functioning of the department but that that person should be a person in that department that the director assigns that would be uh knowledgeable that knows the technical jargon or narrative or help in the narrative if the if the grant writer is not capable of of understanding uh certain technical stuff the same applies to the police department there's certain uh I mean we have uh what's her name Rosa um Shepherd that is working that's a perfect they're work they're working perfectly with with the uh with our grant writer in terms of providing information wrting uh helping writing write the Grant and also control the CTO I hear you hi counc pres any any questions last comment I promise I hear you but again your explanation does not reflect the illustration that I'm seeing here I'm going to use the police department as an example Police Department lead for the for the the grants position I see an arrow going to the lead coordinator that's within the circle of the director of project management so I'm seeing the leads within the the the the Department's um of your explanation but I'm still not receiving an answer for the inner circle of leads like the OPD lead coordinator um there's another one that just says lead coordinator I I'm not hearing an explanation for the additional well each one of the Departments each one of the directors if the director is let's say too busy or doing other assignments then the director can appoint let's say a project we have our economic development director he's working on a grant or or the project management development or the grant writer working on a grant but the director is busy that person that director can appoint for instance the uh project officer one or project officer two to be the the lead individual and that lead individual needs to work with uh the grant writer in that case uh the new title not only to write the grant but if you look at the the the job description project management is not included in the current in the current job description thank you thank you councel right um have I just want to C that cast fidelina Santiago I agree with my college vice president Infante I think that one is not really with the person she worked very good I don't have any problem with her but I consider that the new position because change the name change the title and change the duties and the salary what about the salary salary is going to be 88,000 to 124,000 it is changed as well yes yes correct yes and counselor through you um council president we're working not with the same amount of Grants we hired a lot of in the past we have assigned paid and delegated certain responsibility to Consultants they haven't delivered so if we are trying to get more funding there's more responsibilities and there's a lot of work there's a lot of work more than than what we can explain here on a daily basis but we can invite you as a counselor you know if you so wish to see you how it works on a daily basis because it's it's tedious so you pres sure if we if he is no if it's no title or new you said it's not new position but why you don't new create the new position and follow the rule what it is the rule for the new position then because it's going to cost us more money because you're going to have two positions we don't need an extra position what we're doing is changing the title an adding responsibility like our a HR Director just mentioned we're not we're not creating a new position then this means that we need to hire two people and while this coordination can happen within departments good but the money will be changed as well yes but if we have another position then another position it would be two positions two separate positions and and it's going to be more money okay well what uh what she said is like you don't have to hire another person you just hire one I mean you don't have to that's if we have we have many positions that we don't fund many positions that we not necessarily fund that's that's the essentially what it is but before we continue councelors I just want to read the memorandum because the memorandum will be very important to all of us the memorandum was sent out to U the city clerk Alim Bernard and he came from U the mayor's office and uh the senior advisor Octavian ESP spanner EDD read as follow under the mayor under the mayor under mayor Brian depa directive we are instituting the change to the title to the job description to the salary specification of the grand writer within the office of Planning and Development to the budgetary constraint the city the city is aggressively pursuant funding to address Financial gaps ac across the Departments the redefined title of director of project management the project management and development will now overseal all aspect of fund development ensuring proactive pursuant of funding and delivering project in a timely matters during one year of um Recon reconstitution deposition of GW the city secured close to $6 million and approximately $20 million in Project Revenue this position will regly uh monitor funds management to prevent any potential Mis uh mislocation or return of fund to the city of lawence that was the description that was sent uh or the memorandum that was sent to the city council uh there is one specific things here that I would like uh some clarifications on when you said that this position will now overseal all aspect of fund development ensuring proactive pursuing of funding and deliberating project in a timely matters so basically this person is going to be managing the fund as as when they go to different departments is that's what it read on the well project management means that I mean in this context is what we have the funds who follows through with what happens with the funds when does a project start because first is there a plan second of all is it been executed uh according to the the timeline that has been provided to the funding agency has it been executed in what stage of ex implementation is the project and lastly uh the closing of the project in terms of reporting to the funding agency what has happened with with those funds and if the project has been executed so this director now is going to overseed off all aspect of funds developments meaning that this this position is going to be defining where those funds are going to go no that's uh well that's what he says here well it it could be it could be interpreted I understand when uh in terms of overseeing if the funds are being used that nothing is being left over that's not that's not the I mean it's it's in conjunction with the with the director and making sure hey you know you have these funds why have you started implementing the project this project should have started already uh you know sometimes project start departments wait until 6 months before the the the debt line of the of of the reporting of closing of the project and that's not the way to operate we have to make sure that there's someone a focal point a person that is is calling a department and say Department a you have a project when are you going to start are you going to start now the closing the closing of the of the or the reporting uh to the funding agency is in December and now we already in September what's going on and this this uh is also uh remember the mayor is the is the EXE the executive um Branch so the mayor is basically responsible in calling a director and say Hey listen what's going on why have these funds not being used why hasn't the project been started yeah but this position is not going to be under the mayor's office it's going to be under the economic development it responds yes it responds to the director but that's their responsibility to let the director of OPD no listen and if the director doesn't do anything that individual can go directly to the mayor and let the mayor know Hey listen we're going to lose funds or we're not using it you don't have to report to any director if you know something is not functioning as an employee you have accountability to the public as well that's the job of public servant so if if a department head is not being diligent the the subordinates can report that that director that's our democracy that's not how it is that's the reason why you have plan you can call the on subordination through this person right here and then eventually and you call them up that's all the plan hey thanks so um three things um Mr spanner before you sit down I got a question for you before you get too comfortable Mr spanner come back please so um you said something I thought was quite profound and I I don't want to I I didn't fall asleep when you said it we have paid you fell as sleep yes okay you're back we have paid consultants and they have not delivered so I think it's responsible for us as the as the body that does the overview of the budget and the spending of the budget and we do that stuff I don't need to know it tonight because I'm not sure you prepared for that but I would like to know more information who have we paid and who has not produce where's our money been wasted so if you could provide I I can't speak for the council if you send that to me I would love to see that and if all the other councils want to see that too I'm fine with that as well no send it to the full Council so it's a full Council to the full councel and I would like to inform the full Council right now there has been contract and and organizations that have not gone through through procurement that have managed City projects and that's that's that's very concerning so do me a favor if you don't mind that's that's a rabbit hole that I just wanted to tiptoe into but not go into so uh if you could just send that to us what you what your findings are I think it's important that we know that so that we don't repeat mistakes correct all right thank you that's one two but before you before you continue make sure that you go full of spectrum on that not one specific section so so far we do everything thorough uh and we have provided the information we have also been working with uh the different um Regulatory Agencies like for instance the ig's office uh to know Bas based on exemptions and what an organization can do or not do how procurements are followed who has contracts who are the custodians of the contracts that whenever let's say the mayor ask or you yourselves as this Bo body legislative body ask for a documentation like you're doing right now that we can provide you with that information so the second thing is a parliamentary question for the council president are we expecting to be ordering a public hearing on this matter we can't adopt this thing they're changing the ordinances I'm presuming it's a public hearing we need to we need to order public hear this an important clarification and and I I think that we're going to have a more robust discussion then but let me put my ore in the water now so the so the administration can think about this a little bit more as it as it as it reviews tonight's meeting I've got some fundamental concerns or questions regarding the insertion of the L as part of this uh package and responsibilities and the reason why it's something that I've got questions about is because we have an anonomous independent board I'm just wanting to make sure that that board remains and we're not doing all this and I understand the benefits of it by the way I don't want to see too much of this compare um combination of stuff unless the L who's already self-funded organization through the good works of this Council frankly they can cost share and they're going to spend and provide their money um maybe that's the way to do it because I want to see that person whoever it is that's doing the grant writing focus on City issues and when I say City issu I don't mean l because we have to distinguish between the L and the city so I just let's talk about that a little bit more maybe we can have an offline conversation but um I just that's something that's in my head right now especially listening to the council president bring that up as a concern I mean now that I bring it up I would like to know like what are those position that are spending 25% of the employee City employee time on the L what are those positions perhaps uh we have the ground rer it could be they are currently the office of plan plan Planning and Development you have the director the entire office uh no specifically the grant writer the director of Economic Development uh the uh planning director and also in the future now that we getting because you don't only have economic development project but economic Community Development project is tied in into uh Economic Development or development in general do you how many how many time do you spend we put it we put like 25% of the time that is dedicated so you spending your time with the lra it does does not doesn't represent the conflict of interest since you are the director of The L uh council president I think uh you have asked this question many times we' provided that information uh the City attorney can uh give you also an uh answer the the question because I've answered it several times no the reason that I'm asking this specifically one over and over and over is because I went to the L meeting and I hear that the L now is entertaining a possibility of of uh of the city the staff that are that work there looking up for an opportunity or an application to uh get into the retirement uh retirement account that the city of lawence have uh through the LR so having that in mind obviously you're going to have an opportunity to to be a potential retiree from the L as well as the city c as the the city of so that's why you spending 25% of your time at the L being an employee as a director so being an employee there uh so it's like it's it's a situation that is a little tricky Mr President if I may just speak to some of that about the retirement piece um I have no involvement whatsoever with the L they're a separate entity as far as I'm concerned from the city um they're any retirement uh benefits that they're trying to participate in would be you know they could if if it's the will of the L and if they go through the proper channels um to participate in the city's reti uh contributory retirement system um any that would be for the L employees um you would not be able to participate and get the benefit of both as a city employee and as an all employee so it's one that's what I'm saying so see see the the that uh the the director is also City employee that's kind of they concern as of why yeah they wouldn't be able to for lack of a better term double dip you know if it's it's l employees would if like I said if they go through the proper channels and if it's the will of the city and um legislation to allow that to happen and they're you know able to participate in the system then it would only be for the full-time or part-time whatever is allowed um employees of the L um you know employee the city would participate through um the city's fund yeah there that is a I went to the board and I over here that and then that was a question that as why I I thought through um so I mean now you know talking about this position and 25% of this person spended at the at the L and we keep on mention that there is more needs more needs more needs more needs within the city I mean do we have to have this person working for the LR 25% of the time instead of focusing on ground writing since we're pursu so many fonts it's like I don't know it's a situation that is a tricky situation if if I may just um you know the I can't speak for the needs of the L maybe uh Mr spanner can I can't speak for the needs of L but um I can't speak to the need for this position within the city um I think there's a separate conversation that has to happen about allocation of Personnel Resources in the city and the allocation of those resources to the L you know um should that be happening at what percentage you know how should we be using those resources um to assist the L that's I think a a convers something that Personnel the administration uh has to look at and we have to evaluate that and see what's in the best interest of the city um but uh that's obviously a bigger thing for us to look at is you know to answer your question about you know employees doing 25% of their work for the L some employees doing 10% that's something that's a a personnel management issue that we have to look at and we have to see one are there conflicts is that the best use of those employees uh should they be dedicating 100% to their City position um but that's a much bigger evaluation that we have to do um I don't really with all the respect I don't want that to Cloud this position or undermine the need for this position you know and if and if it's the will of the council that this position is passed and this this person you know is is limited um in what they can do for the L then that's a conversation we can yeah we can have um yeah but at the end of the day we we we keep on P we keep you know saying no we need this position but I mean this position is going to be only at the 75% level I mean how that's going to help the city Yeah well yeah and I so I think that if we if this goes the ordinance committee and we can have those discussions about um is that the best use of this position I think it's appropriate I think that's an appropriate conversation to have and during the you know uh discussions about potentially passing this um ordinance change I mean uh Madame CLA is the ordinance that is for that is related to this position was submitted by the at the time that he was uh that he went to the ordinance committee council president no the ordinance that we are looking at was submitted at the Personnel committee meeting it was a request from the city attorney's office at the full council meeting for additional language from the city attorney so in an effort to expedite the process they delivered it right at the Personnel meeting which was within a day or two um so we have met as a body since that request was made so the language that you have in your packages tonight there is a proposed ordinance language we have had it since the Personnel committee meeting but not since the ordinance committee meeting which would have been a meeting cycle before that how long it's going to take you to publish this uh ordinance if you want we could publish it tomorrow if I get into the Tribune tomorrow it will be published on Monday um and then you could have it at the next meeting if you want to do that or you can go one more cycle out it's up to you um I think that you know it will be appropriate to send this this language to the ordinance committee while we also uh potentially order the order the public hearing uh if there is any changes I mean uh something that we can modify by the time that he get here but we still have some time so it will be appropriate to send it to the ordinance committee once we finish the discussion tonight we'll be sending it up to the ordinance committee at the same time that we order the public hearing so we don't delay the process but at least the ordinance committee have an opportunity to to go over the ordinance portion of it uh any other questions regarding to this specific position counselors we have two components of the position we have the ordinance change uh which will change uh the job title uh and the duties of the uh within the ordinance and now and we also have the uh the job descriptions and the salary Arrangement uh that went over to the personal committee um uh the salary will be between 88,000 to 124,000 plus or minus within that um within the uh C uh c section of that U nonunion uh classification any questions councelors on this I'll entertain a motion to um I I'll entertain a motion to order public hearing if this if the council desire or any other motion um any other motions guys so council president I did I I I um I motioned to approve for the the purpose of discussion there was a second do we need to close this motion or do we need we still have we can we can have that as an underline motion I know the motion can be on top of it okay so I motion to to order public hearing on on this as the underlining motion second all right there is a motion U uh the motion is in order to order a public hearing properly second discussions on the order public hearing no discussion I I just a quick discussion when the ordinance committee reviews this just so we're clear we're reviewing in our packet the document that says be it ordained by the city council 270. 280 we're looking at the entire ordinance change everything that's in in there okay everything I mean uh cuz salaries and benefits is in there as well that's part of the ordinance yeah but I mean you will take the recommendation from the Personnel committee that is already have discussed this which is basically the the nonunit classification section c which is anywhere between $88,000 to $134,000 Mr President I just make clarify it's the um the the draft ordinance that' be going to the ordinance commit committee and that's the um updating it's um 2. 7.28 right okay yes uh what we doing we have an order we have a motion to order the public hearing on these while we also have the send time while we're waiting for the public hearing we're going to send it over to that ordinance committee and they're going to analyze the entire ordinance including the the updated version of the ordinance and any proper changes that come up out of that will be U properly uh posted on that that's a that's my question council president you so if we're publish if if this is going to go to print on Monday the ordinance committee meets on Tuesday and let's say that one of my one of the ordinance committee members has this fantastic idea that everybody agrees with it and amends it this thing's already gone to print with an amended product how do we how do we reconcile that so M clear you might clar five the same as you would do um with any public hearing you have the right to make amendments live on the floor at the public hearing so I think the recommendation would be if it's already been published bring the edits back to the public hearing make them at the public hearing where they can either be adopted by the full Council or not but to run the ad as is with the grade C language in it um and then if you guys if the committee on ordinance has recommendations just have those made at the public hearing um well they can be amended anyone interested from the public knows that it can be amended at a public hearing so during the floor time when we have the floor uh in two weeks from today we can make any type of recommendation we'll we'll follow the recommendation from the ordinance committee uh any other questions councelors I hear no questions at this point this item will be going back to the ordinance committee for further for further review uh with the proper update ordinance that was presented to the full Council so thank you or public hearing uh we haven't call the question for the public hearing right public hear all right uh yes we will call the questions for the public hearing and subsequentially I'll send it up to the ordinance committee thank you all those in favor please say I to order the public hearing any n the I have it uh thank you now with at this time this item will be going to the or uh to the ordinance committee for fur the review thank you now we're going back to the top of the agenda we have item 405 40525 24 which is is oh we did this one already sorry sorry sorry never mind um there is no public no Public Safety report not Committee of the whole report uh old business we have no old business counselors do would like to take any any matter from the table matters Cil president C all right we have item we have item 39424 which is the authorization to spend $ 284 $86,000 from mbpc EPA revolving loan funds uh we discussed this before and we have the mcarthy here councelors can we have a motion to mtion remove out of the out of the table matters discussion motion to on table it was second discussion I'm just going to let the council president know that I would be recusing myself for a potential although unlikely conflict of interest all right council plan has recused himself out of this item one two three we have Corum still councelors um can I the was properly second all please say Round Table this matter guys have it so now councelors we have item 39424 uh in front of us we have the economic development director we have the planner the plan the planning department and so far so on so let's discuss this item and uh make appropriate determination the mcarthy umk for the record please um U first I I wish to apologize I wasn't available I was actually I was on a vacation two weeks ago I was Ill last week so I wasn't able to come to the uh prior meetings um the um application that I put on this was a request to uh authorize the expenditure of funds for uh a project um uh it's a demolition project that's being funded through an EPA Grant I do have here with me today um uh Mr Rick Vandenberg who is an LSP uh environmental engineer working for uh the merac valley Planning Commission and he's assisting the city with several projects s and I also have Mr Gerard Whitten who is uh from the mar Valley Planning Commission who can answer questions and explain um the funding source uh that we're in yes go ahead no go ahead go ahead go ahead the uh the project for you currently is um is the demolition of a building which which sits on a city-owned pel of land at 9 to 11 Florence Street the city acquired this property through the uh tax title uh process for delinquent taxes um when the city acquired this property it was extremely um uh dirty it was filled with debris had been used um over the years for people to dispose of tires and other products um for a long time it was an automotive repair Garage in 2015 the city was able to acquire brownfields Grant um and we used that to do conduct first a phase one testing and then later on we did some ground evaluations we removed some underground some storage tanks but there is also we came up in 2018 with a a work plan for the future but at that at that point that brownfields Grant had run out so since 2020 we've been looking for a funding source to uh move forward with this project in 2023 um in conversation with the mar ma Valley Planning Commission we made a um a aware the availability of $286,000 in petroleum cleanup money that was available through the uh the EPA uh revolving Loan Fund the the money in this case uh a portion of that uh money will be in the form of a grant $101,000 in the Grant and the remaining $185,000 would be a a loan it'd be a low interest interest loan we would have to pay it up for for several years and it would be very advantageous to the city um and we we uh entered into negotiations entered into a contract um with mvpc in August of 2023 at the same time we are beginning to look at our next rounds of EPA funding and the fact that the city had negotiated this contract the fact that we had done uh a lot of work on the Mary MAAC paper site demolishing that building uh the fact that we had done cleanup work at Tom Bell had all impressed the EPA and we were fortunate enough to get a million dollars for a uh an area wide Grant which goes to all the entire city but we had already committed this $286,000 towards this project um um Mr Mr um venberg who's here works with cier um assisted the city with writing bid documents we went out to bid we uh have an LSP the documents are all in your file I believe the with the documents so um and that's where we are at the current point we have a uh contractor ready to put under contract but we just need the um City council's approval to expend this money um and again I have Mr um Vandenberg here who's um ready to present you with a um a PowerPoint presentation on the uh contamination on the site before before we go to the contamination portion of it yes um so the funding from EPA yes was never mentioned before that means that we not going to have any loans on these now that we going to is is is the money is the $1 million going to cover the port of the loan that the city was supposed to be responsible about it's not E mark for that we we're going to look at it I think part of the we're going to use some of the money the the the the the the loan is just for the is for strictly for the demolition uh as a uh we did go through the bidding process the low bidder was 208,000 so the first 101,000 is a grant yes and so the remainder if if we don't if all we need is a 28,000 the loan will be 107,000 yeah something like that but I mean is the 1 million dollar going to cover that loan or no we could look we can look for other sources to pay that off rather than go through the loan process but I I don't think um I I I think um Mr um Whitten and Mr CR might be speak more towards the EPA requirements but I don't think EPA would let us take some money to pay off a loan from you know some of their other money because most of the questions were loan the funding yes so going on to the contamination portion of it which is very technical mhm it's not necessarily going to help the compensation if the questions were about funding so probably we should start from with that yeah like as I said the the loan is um is is is very good terms um we don't have to startop making payments on it for for uh up to three years when we do St making payments it's at a very low percentage um and the and the money goes back into like I said into the EPA um part of we've used some of this money in the past to contribute to the Tom Bella cleanup um and again part of part of participating in these programs um puts us in good standing with EPA so that when we go back to EPA they they know that Lawrence is a strong um and dedicated Community when it comes to Environmental Protection and that we and that we when we have these projects when we identify these problems we we we take action to make sure they get uh addressed so I I I think Mr Whit can talk to you maybe more detail about whether or not the funding can be used to compensate that um I know we've discussed this in in the mayor's office about whether we'd use other funding or other Grand money to to cover those costs which we can do I'm just not sure if the EPA will you can cover EPA costs with EPA money that's the issue no the question was about around around the the funding because I mean it's all about it's it's part of the cleanup so if that was that could be clear up I mean that's that would be great because most of the question went around that good evening Rick Vandenberg CR Associates so we're the qualified environmental Professionals for marac plannings commission brownfields program and I can help you with with the uh the funding question that you're asking so the the $286,000 that's been requested in the form of a subgrant a loan cannot be paid off with the million dooll um grant that you got for for the what we refer to as the multi-purpose Grant and the reason is because you can't use one pot of f in this case you can't use direct two two funds from EPA to pay off each other so you can use other federal funds to pay it off for example like arpa or something else but in this case the two EPA things cannot cancel each other out this look that was one of the questions before and if you have any other questions about about about the funding so I think that the one thing I will say about how the this has been viewed is and I'll keep the the contamination stuff not very technical at all there is contamination it's unclear where that contamination goes particularly under the building so the reason for the demolition is first and foremost that the building is about to fall down on itself secondarily it's um we don't know where that contamination goes so EPA will use will allow us to use those funds to take that building down which is also contaminated with lead based paint and some asbestos it will allow those funds to to be used to do that and then at the end of it it'll pay for some additional sampling which in the EPA realm we call additional characterization to understand where that the rest of that contamination is under the building so then the M the rest of the million dollars that you got for the multi-purpose can come in and be used to to pay for the rest of the cleanup that needs to happen there this is just the first step understood questions uh on regard to the funding portion of the project before we go into the contamination portion of it all right I hear no question so let's go straight to the presentation thepop I want to take all the Le first but I mean just start SL great actually right there is fine how do you advance great you canhead advance so the biggest thing is we wanted to um to address the council and to we because we heard from the last meetings that there was some uncertainty about why the why the facility is considered a brownfields what kind of funding's been using and what the nature of the contamination so I basically have quick eight quick slides that that can that can get to the heart of this next slide so what makes this a brownfields is that um the the definition of a brownfields according to EPA is very General on purpose to allow a whole host of sites to be included and the the idea is that it's real property the expansion Redevelopment or reuse of is C is Complicated by the potential presence the presence or potential presence of a hazardous substance pollutant or contaminant so considering that this facility was used for for formerly for auto body and paint use and there are there already contaminates identified it very easily falls into the pot and is considered a Brownfield site so there currently the contaminants that we know about are lead based paint there's some asbestos in the roof materials there's some gasoline constituents in the soil from probably a combination of there were some floor drains in inside the building that probably got had contamination you know disposed to them and then also there were some former tanks there currently also some some partially full tanks inside the building considering the condition you want to bring want to get those that that petroleum out of the tanks there's also some drums on the outside that you want to keep from freezing they haven't released yet so we there's some concern about that there's also in addition to the gasoline soil there's there's um arsenic metal heavy metals Arsenic and Lead that's been detected in the soils the lead probably related to gasoline and the Arsenic probably related to General Urban fill and here's some obviously here's some pictures of the building you you can see that obviously this is at the time we started to do this marac Valley got us involved and we needed we wanted to help the city and we we helped by devising a set of bid documents and doing an what they call an analysis of brownfields cleanup Alternatives that tells how that cleanup should happen and and so uh The Next Step was to just to to now that that's been prepared the city put it out to bid and they selected a at least preliminarily EX you know accepted uh you know a bit you can see from the map there's a there's a red dash line in the center and that red dash line is the last known whereabouts of the soil contamination there's no groundwater contamination at least at the the last time they tested and um that will have to be looked at in the future but from what we see currently you can see it goes underneath the building that that dash line under the building really should have some question marks next to it because we don't know the full extent and that's what will happen once the building comes down and this is uh next to me is Gerard Whitten from marac Valley Planning Commission and he's just going to speak a little bit about the funding ultimately you know there's layers of funding needed and that's the message I think that will present good evening counselors I'm Gerard Whitten I'm with marach Valley Planning Commission I think most of you know we work very closely with City staff on a wide variety of projects but we've also been operating this brownfields program program on a regional basis for more than 20 years and it's all using funding from the United States Environmental Protection Agency so this project really came to our attention as a result of a brownfields road show we did in a number of our communities including Lawrence where we visited different sites that have known history of contamination this was a site that was identified um as a potential for redevelopment and our work was really to bring in experts who are expert in uh hazard IST waste assessment and Remediation that's where Rick and crary come in they are our environmental experts so we're really just uh the folks who apply for the funding to EPA and then make it available for projects across our region and then we bring in folks like Rick to do the actual analysis but we work with you folks and of course the mayor to identify which those properties are that are priorities for the city to start this process of assessment and abatement so um the breakdown that's on the screen is really just uh the money that's associated with the Florence Street property what's been spent to date or what's been allocated to date I said I should say because it's pending your approval not sure if there's anything else you wanted to add to that but happy to answer any questions about how we're involved in the program how the program is structured or anything as it relates to Florence Street uh so we good with the presentation all right great uh counselors I would like to offer opportunity to ask any questions in regard to um what we have seen um as the side and been defined as a Brownfield and identifying potential uh potential contaminants um any questions in regard to this council president Council Lon I I I have a few questions through you consult president and the first one one and for the record um Mr McCarthy um do you had a meeting of uh in regards to this on April 4 at the public library Excuse me yes there was a meeting on April 4 at the public library I don't think you attended yeah they U but you had a and if I did I remember but but they attended they attended okay okay just for the record uh um we mentioned that conso president in the last meeting and we didn't have I mention it I asked advisor spanner about this meeting and didn't have any information in regards to it I knew that no one from the city attended so just for the record my other question is are are you aware of uh that this that that that site uh there's other then site next to it it it's leased by another mechanic so I'm I I am aware that's it's see actually in one of the reports that I drafted um that was a the mechanic was giving a license from a prior Administration to u to par cars on the lot that um that that use was authorized by the environment by EPA so why do I ask to you conso president because if is that s also contaminated we don't have any idea yeah if you if you look from the aerial view of that picture the the there there is a garage which take which which sits on one parel land between that parcel and the parking lot is a street called Florence Place it's an actually a street but it's currently fenced off and and uh We've we've told the automotive um repair they keeping cars off of flly Mar place that's when where he's is a license um for the remainder of that property and I'm I through you consel president I I I mentioned that but there's a possibility of that side also being contaminated I'm not an expert just based on who leads the the side uh it it could that be possible I I I think if if if you actually went through a great portion of Lawrence anywh testing you'd find some form of contamination we currently know that there is significant contamination where this garage is because the prior owners of the property were pouring the oil which they're not supposed to they're supposed to store the oil and and have it taken off sight they are pouring it down the drain and uh that's come up that there's a large bloom underneath this building that we can't test and we can't analyze because because the building sits on top of it um typically we won't be able to use this funding to demolish a building like this the reason we can use this funding is because that oil is under there and they want us to take the billing down so we can see how badly that oil contamination is um thank you for the clarification Mr Mard my concern to you council president is that the amount of money that the city uh is looking to use could be more than that that is just uh one concern um uh another question to you council president and uh when did Mary mcbali uh came across this project can can you uh explain the time frame you mentioned that you choose uh sites uh or sites are referred to you by the mayor's office is that question to uh it's to the organization yeah yeah whoever can answer oh I I mean this project itself was was identified as soon as the pro the city acquired this Pro this building opened up the doors and looked inside we said there is a serious issue here cuz there was oil tanks and and 50 gallon drums of of of fluids everywhere so we knew there was an issue we were able to get a a a br BRS field assessment Grant back in 2015 to study this area and specifically the garage and we did a number of test pits and discovered the bloom of oil beneath the garage um there's also a long history that was done by our engineer at the time there was a company called Nobis engineering so they worked with us for almost 5 years and through this this Grand process to get to 2020 when they filed their final reports with a work plan and they in in the first part of that work plan was to demolish the building and the issue at the time was we didn't have that funding to demolish the building until we uh as I said we we we we met with M PPC and this this petroleum this money that was only to be used for petroleum assessment was discovered and we were able to use that in the contract for that so when to you consult president when did this project became a priority I think one of you mentioned that during the presentation I I think in 2015 that's when we that's when we got a Brownfield Grant to start this project so it's been it's been long going since then for the past 10 years um no more questions cons pres thank you councilors any other questions on regard to to this item Council VI that is within your District yes uh so please bear with me um because any question that I ask I would like the responses to be given to me as if you're explaining this to someone that has no understanding of anything that pertains to demolition contamination or how the city operates when dealing with these type of you know uh set scarios from and then then and if I'm saying something that is incorrect please correct me my understanding is that the city is trying to take out a loan in order for this demolition to take um in order for this demolition to happen is that yes or no it a portion of it is alone with that being said has the city ever have gone this route when it comes to dealing with any other demolitions um within the city not for demolition particular because demolition as I mentioned earlier demolition is in a category typically on in the epa's um budget you know financing they don't usually Finance demolition the only reason in this one occasion we were able to use for demolition was because we couldn't adequately test the soil because the building's on it the building's got a slab of concrete covering the area we have to remove the building to go into the soil and test it so um and again you know please don't judge me um in previous occasions when it comes to demolishing contaminated buildings if we haven't gone through the process of you know having to use a loan to do it why are we doing it with this property we we have used the Loan Fund in the past for environmental projects recently did it on Tom Burell we had received a grant of I believe a half a million dollars to remediate a pro a certain hotspot in the project when the bids came back the the lowest bid was I think $575,000 so we used $500,000 from the EPA funding and then we went to to back to EPA and they gave us a loan through the revolving Loan Fund similar to this one so a portion of that would be a grant and a portion of that would be a loan as I as I mentioned earlier the the the loan conditions are are very favorable c m before you continue let me just just pick it back on what he said um and potentially ask a question um how was what was the social funds that the city used to demo the paper meal the which what's that the paper mill the paper mill um that was used through a master development Grant and that money is actually portion of that money is reimbursable based upon the final um outcome of that project so if the city and what the city hopes to do is develop that project into a very um you know a a good development for the city that we'd like to see and and if it's profitable um we would owe Mass development that $1.5 million or a portion of it depending on there's certain conditions set up it's not it's not dollar for dollar but but yeah so a lot of these these grants are like that um because their Economic Development as much as is environmental okay um looking at the map um I'm able to see Florence Street West Street and I'm able to see the different properties that are adjacent um to to the contaminated site some which say residential some say say say lot um the the five Floren Street says vacant what does that mean that uh is that there nothing on it that that's it's vacant there's this there's a vacant lot there's no building there's no parking lot or anything there's no building yeah is just land yes oh H okay I I I I can't read that but essentially it it it look vacant but when you go there you find a lot of cards a lot of what cards and vehicles and then you see the building on the other side Vehicles AR go into the if if if there's no building on it it's vacant yeah and just to like um have just closing remarks in terms of my concern is um it's the fact that we're potentially opening the door for any future um contaminated sites that the city is working to to remediate um the the resources or the funding that the the city has to take on um in order to to make you know in order for us to successfully um demolish these properties um I'm just trying to make sure that we have a a clear understanding as to what is the city's plan when it comes to demolishing um and is this the future when it comes to any future you know any other properties that are contaminated if is this going to be the normal protocol or does it vary depending on the gravity of the contamination the size of the property in terms of how we plan on funding in order to demolish it I I think those are all good questions I think those are all functions of what we would look in and assessing it um for instance if we had a property small property that if it was clean would be worth $25,000 we wouldn't spend $25 million to clean that to sell it for $ 25,000 if it was a problem that was an environmental issue contaminating the neighborhood and could affect our children then yes then we go after that and like part of the problem when we're funding these projects is the the federal government and the state government they work in in big numbers and in round numbers so we get a grant for $500,000 for Tom Burell well not every project cost exactly $500,000 so sometimes like in the case we have was 575,000 sometimes it's less in this case um the our old engineer had said thought of the de demolition would be about $250,000 was this estimation the bid actually came back at $28,000 so we're actually saving money so that that that's money that we won't have to borrow from um the commission and they said the first 101,000 of that is a grant so um that we that we don't have to pay that um but again yes it's sometimes it's a chore um Mary M paper that the council president brought up we had to use funding from several different sources we have a half a million dollars from EPA for that site that was the maximum Grant they would provide back in 2022 now they they're going up to a million and 2 million but but then we were able to get money from a program called Mass Works um and then we and then we finally able to get a million and a half dollars from the mass development funds for economic development that money was used strictly for the demolition of the building and once the building's down now we you go down to use the EPA funding to clean up the site because there pcbs in that and his oil and that soil so we have to then make an assessment about which we can Target with that money cuz it's still only half a million and the clean up might cost a million or more but we but we're working through that now so those are the type of things we don't know when we take this building down we're not going to know how contaminated it is until our um remediators our our Engineers go in there and start testing it and there could be a large pool of oil down there that's going to cost a lot of money CU all that soil has to be taken out and shipped away or it could be or it could be very minor we don't know that yet and but but that's what the the EPA wants is us to figure that out and and the only way you can figure that out is to take that building down I actually have one other question um and again excuse me if this question is like go ahead question those are great questions let's let's pretend that the the demolition has already happened does any potential developers that want to purchase this property incur the loan fees the balance or a certain portion of what is old councelor sorry councelor marmo uh once we get to that point as we are going to be the in charge of developing the RFP we can actually include portion of those within the condition of the sell of that property I asked that question because I feel like that could make a break you know potentially amongst us counselors that could make a break on how we decide yeah you know that could potentially be the determining Factor on some of us saying yes or no to this project no definitely I mean that's something that is fair I mean we represent the best interest of the city and that's a fair question once we got to that point but but we we are not yet at that point but that's a potential of actually include that as a condition of the sell uh and then we need to develop an RP and and within that RP it's it's going to be a whole process that is going to be in compliant to chapter 30b um that's how it's that's how it is but I mean uh those are this a great question thank you for asking councelor councelor thank you through you and and before I ask the question I I heard that Mr McCarthy said that if the land cost $25,000 we're not going to spend half a million dollars cleaning it so that's that's a good that's a good thing there um question Mr McCarthy so if in 2015 this become a priority what it took so long to get demolished now so in we we I provide you some of the documents in 2015 we hired Novis engineering they did what's called a phase one which is a a background study then they went in and did ground sensor uh testing to see if there's any in and they removed I think they moved at least one US underground storage tank then the the they were able to go uh through a they follow it's called a a quality assurance plan with with d that says in a work plan for how to attack this when you get to what's called a phase two where they went down and sadly testing all the areas to see what the what the scope of the problem was and the scope outside of outside of 9 to 11 the scope didn't appear to be that that bad that the other ones but 9 to 11 appeared to be heavily contaminated at that point they came they they will final work I think was in 2020 and they came up with certain recommendations one of them was the need to demolish this building and at that time we didn't have the funding to demolish it and so the building sat there until we were able to do this 2022 we became available with this with this funding source and we immediately went down and inquired about uh uh getting that and the administration F follow very like say closely on that this was the last remaining petroleum funds that the EPA had for this portion of New England and we were able to acquire that thank you ccil president Council so you said that the city acquired this property but you didn't mention the year 2010 2010 okay do we know the honors from 2010 do we do you know who won n well who won I me let meish we we yeah so who was uh do do you recall who was the owner not the owner of that site the owner around the site I don't you don't I don't um I mean part of it's a street part of it's a public way that we own and then there was dunk condolances in the B and there's a condom on side of it and that there was a vacant lot Mr marari to you consult president tell me that you don't recall who owns the property next to this the property that we are discussing currently I do yes you mind sharing with us Ona aino okay who else who want it before Ona aino City lawers and who else do we know any other name of the owners around that area only Mrs aino there is a automotive garage owned by m Theo there is a 10 unit building owned by I can't think of the person's name um on the uh north side of it there's um a couple of buildings that were developed by uh I think Kenneth D is a construction property um and they might have been sold um then there's a condominium development also to the North and then to the east towards Broadway is the uh Duncan this project and I believe that's own by um Mr depena through you Cil president mayor Brian depa is that what you refer to as Mr depa it is owned by Mr Mayor Brian it is owned by a realy truster LLC uh the the the principle of that I believe is Brian De mayor Brian De yes thank you Mr McCarthy so we clear on that uh any other questions councelors all right we have we have U we have an item in front of us that is that is I'm going to repeat the item again which is the authorization to spend the authorization to spend fund of 286,000 uh mbpc paa revolving Loan Fund demolish Florence Florence Street Garage City own property um you have I have a quick question before we continue so it says that we are authorizing to spend to spend funds uh do we have to authorize the loan first because do we have to excuse me to authorize the loan of for the amount because it's kind of like it's kind of the Waring is tricky we don't have we don't have these funds we don't have the money so we need to ask for for loan authorization to be authorized first of for the amount of the loan I mean procedure wise I'm I'm thinking through I think I mean Mr Whitten probably can speak to that better than I can um you know what I'm saying procedur yeah procedurally I mean we have a grant which is we can authorize to spend that Grant but and then we have a loan which is we need to have a loan authorization for the city to go go ahead and get and proceed with the loan so it's like a little tricky it should be really two portion of the items sure familiar with the city council process um to that extent you might also want to authorize receipt of the Grant from us yeah that's basically what how it when we have a the authorization to spend is because the city received it and then you go to city council and we authorize expenditure of it so that we receive the $1,000 do we have the authorization yes the city have the okay to spend that money the authorization our end but but you've not received the funds no no no we're not going to just the authorization and then the council is the vote in favor of spending that gr got so but with what we have in front of us is a gr and a loan together so when we actually authorize a loan a loan order we need to do a a a what it calls a um resolution to be able to go ahead and and and get those funds and for that we need we need a specific amount of boat we need a to a super majority vote which is six vote to authorize a loan and but for the loan authorization for the grant authori for this the the authorization to spend we only need five V so it's a little tricky so it's like it's a little different right so want to take it in pieces is that I think that to be say if we're going to take a boat today I think that we should be safe and take it as in two portion authorizing the loan authoriz author authorizing the loan and be able to to and then also uh Des spend the funds of for two specific amounts and perhaps receive and that way we save at least um I mean just thinking through the the process am am I right yeah no think it's a good suggestion yeah let's let's yeah let's split it on two and uh and then and then we can go and be safe on both uh counc presid but what would happen if let's say we authorize to spend the Grant and then we deny the loan no the project is not going through so I can address your question uh counselor the way that EPA structures These funds when we apply for them is they mandate that at the end of the day all of our funds have to have a 6040 loan and Grant break down and so any agreement that we enter into with a community to provide funds we try and maintain that 6040 so that's that's why a portion of this will be Grant funds and then a portion would be the loan funds um if the city opted not to take out the loan we wouldn't be able to make the grant happen so it's it's a sort of package deal from EPA does that does that address your question councelor okay uh the the the agreement that we have with mvpc the specific amount is $286,000 am for the excuse me the Grant I believe was 1,000 and there was 85,000 yeah 101,000 is a grant exactly motion to go past 10 second hi hi take council president question um C what will happen if we approve half like we if we approve receiving the grant he just he just actually clarified that so miss it just hav hav't haven't said that sure counselor the way that the program is structured from EPA is is uh any funds that we uh loan out have to be a a 6040 split yeah between loan and Grant so if the council chooses to uh accept the grant portion but not the loan we wouldn't be able to do those funds that's an EPA rule that's not our rule yeah thank thank you for repeating that thank you so much sure right sure so the long authorization we have 1 2 3 four five six okay we have enough counselors the loan authorization for 185,000 which is item 394 B that uh for M mbpc PA Revol loan funds um counselors we just taking this vote just to be safe um and make sure that we we go through so any can get a motion to um to approve item 394 B so move there's a motion on the table prop second any discussions on this uh this is for the loan authorization all please say I hi no uh BR call please councilor Rees yes coun marmal yes Council Santiago no council Del Rosario yes Council Lan no council vice president fonte yes council president I vote Yes uh if it is a long authorization this is uh we need six v v you don't have it we don't have it motion fails uh counselors uh with that said the project is not going to go through it could be a motion to reconsider at any point during this meeting or the next meeting councilors let's go with item 394 B 394a which is 10111 $101,000 uh Grant fund uh can you get a motion to approve item 394 V so move second there's a motion on the table properly second discussion cc to be honest what would be the purpose of Ved on this if we already destroy the project we can reconsider eventually let's let's let's take let's let's do what we actually plan on doing all right any other discussion all those in favor please say I I Ro call please Council Lon no um Council Del Rosario yes Council Santiago yes Council M yes Council Rees yes Council vice president fronte yes council president rodrig yes motion carries what was the count uh 71 61 61 all right councelors at any point during this meeting we can reconsider the vote on the peridan side which is um councelor Lon or councelor um fidelina Santiago to reconsider the vote and for long my vote is St no for GR is yes H your if your vote is no I understand but the gr the project is not going through with the with the with the grant that's what he explained a minute ago and and I I just want to point out that in all the grants that we get the majority of them have what's called a a match which means the city has to come up with a percentage of that project so sometimes it's 20% a lot of them are 50% where we get a 50% Grant from some agency and the city has come with $50,000 out of its own pocket and we have to pay that currently the way most grants work is they're called reimbursement grants so the city has um funding and leverage to expend their own funds and then we're reimbursed by the agency uh when that's done I'd say 90% of our grants are reimbursement types that so that's what when we when we build our streets when we do the schools when we do a lot of these things that's how the projects are run and we go through forward and the city's required to come up with a certain amount of that so that's why I think EPA sets it up with a 6040 balance is so that as as the old saying says you have some skin in the game that the city is is responsible with the fact that it's a very favorable loan at low interest that's not even payable for several years is a great advantage to the city it's actually better than spending some current funds like we could use our arpa fund money maybe to to reinforce this but that money can be used for a better things now rather than on this project so yeah it's it's putting some debt down the road but for the in in the long run on the financial side it's to the benefit of the city uh to take advantage of the loan so I I would strongly encourage to you know to to think about the project um and also it is it is important to recognize that this this property I represent this area for quite some time independently of what the city is going to do with it yeah getting a clean it will be essential for the area I'm sorry I don't interrupt and and more more importantly we have a process for this position in a strong process that we can set up the request for proposal uh having the request for proposal in our hands approving the disposition of this property or the the s L declaration with the intent of U setting that loan as part of the uh disposition process we we might ended up having a situation that developers feel okay with it paying the loan back but I mean at least we have that opportunity CC president Council and I and I just want to point out and I know that several of you you've gone down and seen the site and seen the building there are portions of that building that are collapsing and it's becoming dangerous we've had this long-term problem with the homelessness they look for anywhere they can go into to find some way we've had we've locked this building up tight chains fencing everything they still find ways to get in there so it is really a hazard to the community and the people live in that neighborhood having that building there so it's it's it's it's not just the idea of redeveloping this area it's the the the intent of the city is to remove a dangerous building from that community no and more importantly the amount of homeless that are inside and if the building collapse it could be a tragedy C and and I was going to touch that that you just said Mr McCarthy something could happen in that building can come down but I want my colleagues to know that once we demolish that if we able do we clean it up we still have the power here at the city ccil who we gonna sell that property to it's not going to go automatically to one bidder it's not goingon to automatically to one person it comes to us and we decide who we want to sell it to and how much we sell it for but right now with something happen in that building the city will still have to pay and bring money out of his pocket and also we denying we denying that area to eventually be developed and and still be a a a a ground field if we don't do it but if something happen in that building collapse it's out of our people's money that we're going to have to clean up completely the whole amount of money and uh and president councelor Lon uh you are making valid points uh and I personally I I I understand uh your concerns but why if the city has a project a future project because I know they are thinking of doing something in the future why we don't get the complete plan we getting things by pece by peace I may I may be able to answer that uh cons president may I finish my point if the intention of the city is to Reena developer you can talk about that absolutely but I mean you are you keep bring in this plan Pieces by pieces creating more secrecy I think if you come to us I mean me as a counselor with a plan because we are investing money knowing that you can find more um contaminated side next to it and I know the city is going to be spending more money so if you doing all that at least let us know that you have have a plan of for a developer CU I know you're talking to people about this site so what I'm asking here is for you to have more um transparency that's what I'm asking and and and I'll be I'll be frank with you there there there there's a lot of discussion a lot of people are interested in City properties I get calls every day so there are several people have expressed interest in it the state has a procurement process Rees All City projects to go through this process and it's evaluate any pro project that's that doesn't meet the standards of the state will go to the inspector General's office for review the the the the idea the biggest issue with this project is it's a Brownfield and we don't know how much the cleanup is going to be after the delation is done so that is going to and that's going to take time and we're not going to make any determinations until that assessment is done and we know what the you know the there are certain limitations that the EPA and the DP will come back and tell us if we clean it up to a certain point they may not allow any type of residential development they'll say it has to be commercial you can't make it into a ball field because is unless you cap it so there are are guidelines by D and EPA Who oversee this ENT entire process and again then when the project is clean and we get a a green light from those agencies we then have to go through the state procurement process which is um through you um C which is the chapter 3B we need to we need to we are very very very very uh caution about that when it comes to property being uh dis doing a disposition to a property I have fought I have fight those big time and I'm never going to stop if I see something run what I'm saying is before we get procedurally procedure wise we cannot have any project in front of us we can't even though there is an intent of giving this property to somebody we can't entertain a disc caution at all on any particular property because we don't have an item for this position the first thing we need to do is a surplus declaration and then a disposition and then if it is in a specific restriction based on the on the cleaning portion of it which going to mandate the cleaning portion of it it's going to mandate any type of development there it could be that we desire to have housing or we desire to do any type of other business the cleaning operation is the one that is going to decide eventually what going to go there Cil president I me I I'm I'm very familiar with the process and I understand it I'm familiar what I'm trying to explain I'm saying that I know that the city has plans I'm not I'm not asking to have developers here talking to us so what is the long-term plan of the city for those uh sites cuz we are investing and I know the safety concern that we have that that the conso have some of you have I know that but I I also know that there's more contaminated area there so at least if they can come to us explain uh and and and they can tell us here is a a future plan for the side I don't want to meet the developers I don't want to that I just want to know what is the plan for the site for all the sites that are there and and and and you explain it beautifully uh your explanation but we also know that they're talking to developers so let's be honest here they know what they want they know what they want I don't want to meet developers I want to know what is the plan what is the plan that the city has because it it's not going to be just this side I know there's going to be more contamination next to it based on the history of the people that have leased the space according to Mr McCarthy thank you no I understand exactly what you're coming from uh councelor yes when when they were talking to considering my vote they were was put putting a little pressure about the safety and and and about the the building if it something happen something like that and can you tell me right now what signs said it is really dangerous have the property sign which sign yeah has the the property right now because if it's really danger have to so we have no trespassing signs we we've locked up the building tight um if you if you if you see near the top of the building there's a crack on one portion and bricks are starting to fall out my concern would be more than somebody getting in the building might be um children playing in the area where they shouldn't be and a wall collapses on and hurt some children um more more so than with some the homeless going and something happens it's a liability issue for the city um I was a child growing up in Lawrence and we used to play in the Old Mills as children and these buildings are attractive nuisance as they call them you know they go in there when they shouldn't be in there and they play um we have it locked up as tight as we can fences locks signs do not enter and that's and we do the best we can and we make sure that um the the police department drives down there to make sure nothing's uh going on there on a regular basis the neighbors are all involved in this and they keep us called because they're interested in the property as well a lot of them people who live down there who own homes down there have no parking another they express that so these are issues that we'll look at in total when we know what the property can be used for yes another thing another thing that it is important to recognize that that a lot there is that is interest interest people on this property a lot a lot of people since 2015 that I'm on the council I hear people that want to develop the building the development is going to depend on the contaminants that we have there and the type of contamination that we actually can K in there without actually having uh to remove it right but it is also important to recognize that the chapter 30b when it comes to disposition of a property over $35,000 doesn't call to benefit the bords doesn't call to benefit the bords the bords are going to be just as normal of anybody else they're going to have to bring a proposal that the city will make a determination whether or not they are beneficial for the city and that proposal going to be optimally in compliance with the contaminants that we have in ground that we not able to to remove if we keep on removing things from there we're never going to finish I I deal with that in a daily basis and there is so many things that we that we we can take out a pile of dirt it cost me thousand of dollars to remove out of my project that I'm working currently so it's like it is it is a it is a give give and take when it comes to this type of uh uh to this type of building that are contaminant and the potential development that is going to be in the future so I just want to make sure that we all aware that there is an opportunity here to actually uh demolish this build and and potentially use that partial partial partial font from that $1 million to uh to remove the contaminants on the on the uh on the U on the mitigation of the site we have a a source of fund already secure which is the $1 million that we're going to be treat we're going to be accepting in two weeks and and that's important to also take advantage of for the benefit of the area independently of what's going to happen and and down on the location eventually and to pick it back with that and and to address some of the concern that Council lzone has until we clean it up demolish and clean it up they cannot bring a project in front of us regardless of what they have on their mind and at the end of the day we will take the decision or who is going to build whatever they going to build in there and it's going to have our our in you know we put to put in our condition to comeing with the price so what is going to be build there I mean when it comes to what kind of contamination do we have but until we start this we demolish this building we we don't even know I mean this they cannot bring regardless if they have something in their head they cannot bring us a plan right now without removing that building um it's if it is any any reconsideration of the boat uh for item 394 B for the long authorization of $18,000 uh this is this is the time otherwise are going to move forward are going to move are going to move forward from this item good okay huh president so uh can we table the item uh no before we we we can table it but we need to take a motion to reconsider and then we're going to have this item back like it never happened nothing happened before so if it is a motion to reconsider we can bring it back and potentially table it if if if the Cil deire to so but before the first thing that need to happen uh is a motion turbo consider for the pridan side and in this case the pan side uh is is counselor Lon and counselor uh Santiago if it is a motion to reconsider potentially we can table otherwise U we're not going to have an opportunity to do this project uh council president clear so if we if one of us reconsider the item it doesn't get approved no no motion to reconsider will open the floor again to as we never voted before correct is a motion to Recons yeah you you would have to if there was a motion to reconsider then a second motion to either approve do either approve table denied or whatever whatever that comes to the side it could be a motion to table it that's in order I I mean looking at the current stalemate um rather than go to a vote it be preferable to table of ad than than than have this defeated tonight okay so there is a motion to reconsider or there is any other any other motion I'll move forward consider that this item have die thank you so much can at the next meeting uh we could we could be a possibility that we can reconsider next meeting but for that we're going to have to suspend the rules and uh and do other things all right it on two 42 excuse me just to be clear so the the item was defeated correct at to this point yes the item is defeated there is other things that we can do next meeting but I mean at this point the it is defeated it um it item 42624 which is the authorization to spend Grant oh before we continue any of the councilors that wishes to reconsider the vote for any matters could be done within the same meeting before we adjin it's not at the time of the item it could be before we adjin uh the meeting okay item 42624 which is the authorization to spend $2,500 grant for the wallp point I mean we have an item on the new business counselor that we will like to uh discuss uh if possible tonight and uh due to a couple of a couple of situations that we have in front of us and this is item 42624 which is the authorization to spend $2,500 200 $2,500 grant for the wpoint health insurance other Le gonzale which is the recreation the recreation director is here and the intent is that this money will be used for the purchase of bicycles for the Cobia that is going to take place on the 22nd of this month yep and uh and this is we need for us to be able to do this we need to uh uh take a motion to uh to declare this as an emergency and um and for that we need six vote and then uh um we need to suspend the rules eventually not to refer to a committee and eventually take a vote at this level councelors if we decide to declare this is an emergency this is for the purpose of uh purchasing uh uh bikes for the Cobia and give it out to the kids Cobia the second Cobia date is going to be on September 29 22nd um councilors can if we want to declare this an emergency this is the opportunity so move second there's a motion to declare this item as an emergency properly second discussion on the emergency discussion C councelor La thank you for the Ben for the true benefit of the community clearly um so I just I always ask this question so we're having a meeting on the 17th right we do no this GL on the 22nd they changed the day so if it's coming up but they need to Pure stuff and do all the things tell me the credit card doesn't work after the uh the 18th they need to exchange the check and make the check actually see CL was supposed to be this Sunday so it was supposed to be an emergency meeting to buy the bikes and then transfer the funds so what's happening is wallo is sponsoring the bikes and they were supposed to give us the bikes but they kind of work like us like a city entity so they're going to give us you know we got to send them a W9 that whole process to buy the bike so so are you through you are you suggesting that we if we had the meeting on the 17th that wouldn't give you enough time after that to get this done I know that's my question because you're asking for an emergency which should be an incredibly rare thing which should be it's not but it should be so the question is do we if you if we don't and you go through a normal business we have a meeting on the 17th and we prove it hypothetically would the next day would that give you enough time to get get the stuff done no uh no probably not no let's be safe people uh uh there is a motion to declare this an emergency discussion councelor Santiago yes I don't have any problem with this because it's for the community it's healthy but I enjoy a lot you saw me and but can you explain me why you have to do it twice the yeah want to enjoy [Laughter] it I think that's in one event they supposed to use the the the money but the last time because I went to the I went I haven't participating about eight year I can show you the picture and I saw the difference how it this activity it is changing and I saw a big different the last one I a lot of things missing and a lot of people was asking me about the the three cycle or something like that we didn't have it and something some in a lot of activities and different maybe GI for the community bikes ER different ruffle and you maybe not you but the organization ER separate the activity to make twice and that's why I said why to do twice if you can spend the money in the one time so to answer your question Cobia is actually split in two so the mayor's Health task force ran the first Cobia this second Cobia is ran by the recreation department in the center so it's two different you know entities and two different departments um when it comes to the mayor's Health task force I don't know the budget that they have compared to the budget that the center and the recreation department we put together for that we are bringing the you know the bicycles that you're talking about we are bringing uh carnival games and other things for RC colobia coming up because we have more time to plan and like I said we have a different budget so that's why things seem a little bit different um but usually the goal is to have at least one Cobia like the city council president said it's for the community so every everybody can come to SS Street go to the different businesses have fun walk the whole purpose is to exercise and be active all right yeah well we have a motion to declare this is an emergency any other questions in regard to the emergency portion of it I hear known so all please say hi hi I have it now counselors we need to suspend the r not to send this item to a committee and be able to treat a here can I get a motion to suspend the rules uh to ad voice sending it to a committee so move there is a motion on the table to suspend the rules properly second all any discussion I hear none all please say hi hi the I haveit now councelors will be able to U discuss this item at this level um it's a matter of motion to approve intering a motion uh motion the the motion is in order properly second discussions uh to authorize the expenditure of these $2,500 for that U for that CIA coming up on the 22nd any discussion I Hear No so at this point I call the question so please say guys thank you so much all righty we have we have a couple of things uh we have new business um new business we have Iran for 1224 which is the the extension of the 90 days temporary appointment for the police chief mik Bonia this is going to the personal committee um now we have item 41324 the authorization to spend $1 million EPA multi-purpose Grant funds uh that was what we discussing before the potential funds this is going to the budget and finance committee it on uh 41424 which is the authorization to spend 664 th000 Le service lined inventories and replacement plan grants uh this is going to the B finance committee item 41524 which is the authorization to spend 1,61 840 MVP storm water Reliance Grant this is going to the The Bu finance committee item 416 Surplus Declaration of the city property and M A Street uh this is going to the housing committee item 41724 the removal of handicap parking space ordinal deletions at Florence of this is going to the ordinance committee item 41824 removal of handicap working uh at 400 Bow Street this is going to the ordinance committee 41924 pink Blazer by Linette September 28 2024 from 9:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. and this is going to that the companion commment this is going to the ordinance committee 42 uh 24 CH parking uh signage at 159 High Street this is going to the ordinance committee item 42124 this is s parking signage at 46 Manon Street this is going to the ordinance committee item 4224 okay item 423 um 42324 which is resent parking at trimmer Street and near Hampshire Street uh this is going to the ordinance committee we discuss item 424 uh 42424 item 42524 which is the resident parking on Albin Street uh from Avon to Cil president uh Avon Street coun it it's not entire Street is just uh the it's one side of the street with the street uh end okay so do you want to meet with with the with officer Cano to clarify a little more yes we and then and send that information over to the ordinance committee yes that refer to so this item going to go to the ordinance committee um item 42624 uh we discuss this and and approve so now councilors we need the committee assignments the ordinance committee when it's going to be the ordinance committee Tuesday at 7 T Tuesday at 7 next Tuesday bu and finance committee inant wednes Wednesday at 7 personal committee Wednesday at 6:30 housing once the six Public Safety Public Safety Public Safety so we good on Public Safety huh we good on Public Safety Economic Development Economic Development no meeting for now I mean it's up to you we can plan one up and then or we can have a date well um plan it out for the next next meeting yes all right um so we have all the dates already councelor before we unjoin [Music] any 11 in the morning in the morning yes on September 11 there's always every year a me in um a memorial ceremony at that u l L what L four uh at the South Lawrence firefighter station lot of four so we will be receiving that information we already have it council president the it's from 9 to I have seen it but I mean just don't remember um counselors any anything before I join Council Del Rosario usually makes that motion at this time there's a motion to can I hear a second properly second all in please say hi hi there I have it