##VIDEO ID:Ch_amR4PKZo## good evening and welcome to the December 10th 2024 meeting of the Islam Town Council I'll call the meeting to order and ask that we stand for the allei IED to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all and I would ask that to take a moment of silence to reflect on all of the events going on both here and abroad thank you in accordance with Mass General law this meeting is being recorded by elcat and I would ask if there's anyone else in the audience recording if you could identify yourself Sarah reminder great thank you comments if there any anyone in public that would like to make a comment no one online Jamie okay Council comments any counselor with a comment tonight seeing on Town manager report hi Tom hey good evening H um so uh just our meeting update um I've attached the project reports for November 18th and or the weeks of November 18th and 25th at the high school um still Fontaine Brothers continues to uh make excellent progress um and the project remains on time and budget um there is a school building committee meeting Thursday th um and uh yeah so things are looking good over at the high school um so we had our ratings call uh on November 20th and the town has retained its doublea Plus stable rating um SM S&P reports are attached uh to this um thanks to Kim and Don and Olga and Stephanie um for all the work in prepare preparing for the ratings call there's a lot of uh prep um the questions come over we have to gather a bunch of in said we they put a bunch of stuff together I'm also there Rebecca was there um and and they just there's a lot of work that goes on behind the scenes to to provide that information and keep that rating so um thanks to basically everybody in the finance department um and a special thanks to Abby Jeffers of Hilltop Hilltop Securities um for for sort of helping us through that whole process um we did uh receive bids uh for the ban and the bond we banned uh that's a bond anticipation note uh for 4,665 4, 665,000 246 and the bond of 94 mil 895,000 which was um well over half of the money for the the high school um I've attached those results along with a lot of other documents uh we can talk about in a second um but the the ban results uh show a winning bid uh coupon rate of 4% and the net interest cost of 2.69% um and that's due to the premium of 6,928 um the bond results fairly similar uh coupon rate 4.0 22414 per and a net interest cost of 3.7 uh basically the difference between the the coupon rate and the net interest cost is where we stand as a community so so our financial policies our financial standing our bond rating that gives us the extra points on what the bid number would have come in at um so again uh there's a lot to explain in all that data and I gave all you the data but um if you'd like to have our bond counsil in or have like a a a more elaborate presentation of the results and what they mean uh we're more than happy to do that at a later meeting uh the Cliff's Notes are fabulous obviously um we estimated a 5% when we were talking about the high school and the impact to its residents to our residents um and to come in at 4% and and sort of look at it at 3.7 because of our rating and all this stuff we haven't even bonded all the money yet and we've this is uh equivalent to saving $25 million um which is obviously it's I don't yeah there there's no words for for how huge that is um so again uh I said thanks to the finance committee but really everybody that's had anything to do with the town's finances in the last say decade uh has put us to this point where um you know we went out a little bit earlier than we thought it paid off to the tune of something like 25 million so and again uh we have some more money to borrow as the cash flow happens with the project but um that is no small number and uh you know a lot of people there's a lot of people to thank for that um but it's certainly wonderful news for the community and the project so um again if you if you want more information on all that 40 pages of ban and bond uh information I'd be happy to to to elaborate but that that's the Cliff's Notes uh we also were awarded a almost $48,000 Municipal Ada planning Grant from the mass office on disability um the the grant funding here will benefit the town undertaking a multi-disciplinary review and assessment of our buildings um outdoor spaces and online information resources for ADA compliance um so uh another exciting Grant opportunity for us that uh we'll we'll get working on here soon um another remarkable news uh Mass doot just notified us that phase two of the North Main Street reconstruction project has been approved and deemed eligible for funding um so this is uh phase two will be phase one is from Lombard to uh Lal Street uh right out right outside here and this phase two will be from Lal all the way to Brook Street across Westwood and Maple Shade including that intersection so that that project carries a price price tag of about $15 million uh we put aside the 600,000 I think last year in capital uh to design it which is the uh the first requirement of the community to get on the tip is to put the design money up uh which we've done so uh between the whatever 600 we did for phase one and phase two uh we're going to get about somewhere between 25 and $30 million worth of infrastructure and construction from Lumbard all the way down to Brook oh wow um so that's exciting again there's a timeline here we've been talking about this phase one tip for for three years now and we're still two years out um and this will be another four or five depending on how the money plays out um but again uh to to put up a half a million bucks and get a $155 million project is I mean that's really what it's all about so um great job by DPW again um so that's that's very exciting um and then uh so we have a upcoming events center Town District steering committee meeting this Thursday uh at 6 PM uh right here in the COA uh we'll have a planning board meeting uh Tuesday January 7th the COA and I only bring that up is the uh the Adu uh public hearing was continued to that date um uh and copy with the mount uh Town manager uh Wednesday January 8th at 10:30 at the COA uh come out and say hi there's no meeting on the first Wednesday because that's New Year's Day so we've moved it to the eth we we had I think over a dozen people for the first time ever so it's getting real popular uh so get your tickets early uh uh in all seriousness uh you know this is our last meeting of the year so I want to wish everybody a happy holiday and a Happy New Year and uh looking forward to calendar year 25 thank you does anyone have any questions for Tom R's not here he got me in the he got me at at Tony's Barber Shop on Saturday we're I would just say it just echoing those comments it's a lot of positive news in uh yeah this update especially with the the bonding and the band stuff I remember about a year ago we were talking about interest rates and we were things were going to be five or six% that we were going to be paying so that's quite a significant reduction which is good all right it is only for public hearing so I would entertain a motion to order so moved motion's been made and seconded there any further discussion seeing none all those in favor please say I I Mo to orders of the day licensing matters the first one we have approval of a one-day liquor license for oneway brewing for a holiday Prelude at Hawks Landing if you're how's everybody doing tonight good how are you thank you great thanks for having me ining sir uh my name is Jason tiso and I'm here representing oneway Brewing tonight um for a one- day uh liquor permit um for an event being held at 896 Summers Road the old forbs Garden Mart now the new Hawks Landing hope you guys like it uh and yeah so the event's going to be held from 12:00 to 4: um we're hoping to be able to bring um some beer and some Libations to the site and serving to the public along with the other events going on that day does anyone have any questions I have a question sure I know there the plans are underway you're advertising 12 to five is that correct full to five yes um it's winter what's happening on the property so that where where are where are these people gonna what are you doing what are we doing can I switch seats and go to my Hawk standing um yeah so so our event we're hoping to what we're looking to do really is kind of like a um holiday Prelude so we're going to do crafts um we're gonna have Santa there we're going to have um uh you know s'mores for kids we're going to have um some vendors and kind of just introduce people to the property and kind of what you know um a little idea of what we're going to do um we're still working on our our full plans for the property and you know the building and everything that we're going to put on so um that will soon be to the planing board um we just don't want to be premature on that we want to make sure that we have all our ducks in a row before we kind of launch that but this is kind of like uh just a something that we hope to be the first of many and um you know my my family's been going to the holiday Prelude up in Kenny bunkport for years and it's like one of the best events at Christmas time so we're hoping maybe we can start this year and kind of keep growing it where we can get all the town involved in you know do something pretty cool you know so I don't I don't if that'll happen but you know that's our that's our wish list you know we have a whole bunch for that place um so it's kind of yeah this the the first first go at it thank you okay yeah any other questions okay I'll entertain a motion I make a motion to approve a one-day liquor license for oneway brewing for Holiday Prelude at Hawks Landing 8 96 Summers Road on December 22nd 2024 from 12 to 5: PM second motion's been made and seconded is there any further discussion seeing none all those in favor please say I I any F motion passes thank you thank you guys very much see you beforeand on the 22nd have a nice holiday thank you we will see everybody there still have time so next under licensing matters is the approval of 2025 annual license renewals to his exted a is there any questions there's no questions I'll entertain a motion I think it was they're going to get mad at me but sugarbowl is the only one on here with a restaurant all alcohol and it's a th000 versus 2200 is that right bable one page two I don't know I had it out of order oh I they should yeah maybe page three okay yeah it should be yeah good catch thanks here it's on the third page Genie okay oh I see I didn't update the Quant the amount right thank you oh I see there it is I have um similar to that question if I can sure and it is uh on Trey Olive I you what page is that I can't even find it myself that's the last page the second line I naively thought it is that business was a specialty shop for fine olive oils and stuff they do wine baskets and online ORD okay so thank you enough said Package Store I don't think that's haven't been to that one yet category it's under but they do the wine baskets yeah with the olive oil and very they do any other questions I just want to make a comment that um The Collector went through this whole list to make sure everybody was up to date with any kind of taxes or fines there're only two this year which is pretty good um so I've already contacted those lies telling them they have to uh pay their taxes before they get their licenses so okay great that consense is there a motion uh I make a motion to approve the renewal of the 2025 annual license go contingent upon each license compliance with all Town departments second motion's been made in second in is there any further discussion all those in favor please say I I any opposed now at 6:16 if someone would like to make a motion to return to public well actually the first one will be very quick quick since we're just continuing so if it's the pleasure we can continue down the right agenda and then at 6:30 we can return that okay so we will move to financial matters the first item is we didn't do discussion oh sorry thank you we have discussion of 200 Shaker Road thank you for so uh last month think somewhere towards the middle end of November uh we were alerted that uh there was a issue at 200 Shaker Road which is the same sort of property that beauty time salon and nail spa uh currently operates at and the both the easto police and fire departments were dispatched around 900m for a report of someone who had fallen and was unconscious um upon them responding it appear that that person was intoxicated and there was a different person um in their navigating the property that was also intoxicated um as a result of all of that they found that this wasn't something that was just happening in the front half of the nail salon there was kind of this other entrance at some point down the building with a different door um and there was tables set up in a banquet event sort of facility and there was like a DJ booth and Stage among other things there so at that point that kind of prompted the council being the local licensing authority to investigate and take some action on that since that's not a licensed venue for serving alcohol so on December 4th I sent a letter to the owner of that business which even it's seen in your packet with the corresponding pictures um we also have the both call log and the incident report and stuff from the fire and uh police departments and then in concurrence with that both the fire department and the building department also issued letters to stop essentially yeah CeCe thank you uh so that's kind of where we are tonight um I don't necessarily know that there's anything above and beyond for the council to take just so much as informing everyone of what happened and what could potentially happen in the future um if that sort of thing continues on there was some discussion about licensing especially around like Bob and that sort of thing but as far as I understand it and certainly correct me if I'm wrong Kathy it seems like that sort of BYOB policy wouldn't apply in this situation in that it's different if someone was bringing their own alcohol to in concurrence with getting served um you know paying for a service or a product or something at the business and they were consuming it thems with that but since this was unrelated to the the operation of the licensed business there that wasn't really a a properly Licensed Adventure and if I can add to that part of the um one of the officer responding officers stated that there was in excess of 80 individuals on the property at the time and it was quite a party going on and where the several people um inebriated to the point of being ill and that when of course when you see police respond everybody started to scatter and the folks that they were able to um interview to get statements from there was no consistency in the statement everybody had a different take on it um interestingly enough uh today we uh learned uh that they have a website and they openly uh advertise Bob and the um capacity to have large crowds with DJs and dancing and you can have your catered food brought in and other alcohol I would like to think that um that falls now under the cease and desist order I don't know what Authority we might have to tell the uh owner of that establishment that that that's you really should look differently at your website because you can't do that anymore without um a liquor license and the the one day liquor license and it's exclusively if they were to apply for one exclusively for an event held in the salon it can never be attached to what the police and fire chief is saying is that what is going on there is an illegal use of a building in a um a building um a business Zone it's permitted exclusively for storage they can't use it as a place of assembly and nor would they uh the either Chief approve it so um I would agree with how your letter states that if you wish to have an event you need to take out a one-day liquor license as to how we go forward with policing it literally policing it to make sure that apparently these things happen on Sunday nights the owner was on the property and admits that he has uh you know a lot of friends and they like to get together on Sunday night and there's karaoke and the pictures substantiate that a very elaborate stage and elaborate lighting structure there no small amount of money has gone into uh making this uh a party venue if those are my words um and you can even see tables with a whole lot of alcohol on them so it it's slightly more than by um I don't know how how we should proceed should we be asking as a council that you know we can handle the license piece but we don't want to revisit another incident where a patron is unconscious all the way to the hospital he he came too while when they were arriving and another one wandering on the tree belt inebriated um how's everybody I guess I'd like to hear what any one else's thoughts are on to should we ask the Chiefs to follow through and and have the owner dismantle that it's strictly for storage it used to be the old tailor rental property so that warehouse bin was obviously for the equipment that was available to to rent but was never intended to be a I think that's the minimum should do I think that's the minimum of what we should do right just in my opinion I mean I think this is a pretty clear kind of flagrant violation of the use of that property and it kind of seems outrageous and sort of a you know Thumb in the nose of council basically holding like these I mean this is this isn't like a couple people coming together drinks in the you know the back of the store or something and hanging out I mean this looks like this has been going on for a while and this wasn't the first time and you know I'm I'm just glad nobody got you know accidentally killed and see there to me there 's that danger of Bob that who's on the hook when somebody the gentlemen AR weaving on the U curb could have been hit by a car then who's on the hook for that um because you know sometime I mean we have lights you know street lights but you know you're at night you you know you know you could be driving I've driven there I'm sure everybody on this council's driven Shak a road at night like that like you don't know I mean somebody could just move right into the middle of the road so I don't know I I would I think we need to follow up on this and and really look at this business pretty hard I had a quick question oh sorry oh yeah um where are they advertising what website the beauty website yes on their nails salon site and is it attached to the building like behind the beauty times or they the storefront in front of it think of like yeah yeah it's one big building be a door leads to this what would have been Taylor renil's store room got it storage room H apparently um the owner of the business Mr Chang states that the owner of the building is aware of those events and allegedly that's why I'm saying allegedly has no issue with it uh whether or not that's true or not I think that gentleman needs to be notified too that you know you're the owner of the building something horrible goes wrong you might also be liable for whatever the case could be just to me it's an accident waiting to happen I think we need to do a little more than just acknowledge that we've sent letters well Mar when I looked at the photo all I could think of is it's a club you know there it's it's set up like a club yeah and um you know I'm not against clubs but it needs to the illegal use can we bring them in do we want to bring them in to talk I mean to make sure that they know that we're serious speak here chaping owner of the building um I have spoken with the tenant when we got the notification um yes I knew there were events going on the magnitude that they grew to didn't know of I've spoken with him and with the season assist my understanding he's planning on shutting down that's it no more nothing at all he's like I'm done I think it got out of control even on his end Beyond so it's my understanding I've spoken with the fire inspector that came and stuff and that he's he's saying no more I'm not I'm not doing it again would are you you willing to to follow through on with with the owner of the business say in a few weeks to in fact make sure that he's done that oh absolutely I I talk with them frequently so good we'll continue to monitor it as well okay outside too that's fair as long as you're you know on top of it yeah appreciate that I found out about it from Paul the chief called me and I went to our camera system and said okay didn't know this was this big you know they they do a lot their Vietnamese Community they are if they have an event it's the cousin the brother and but I said it's I think it's gotten out of hand and even he realizes that it's he doesn't want the liability right right it can get dangerous yeah as I know they had other events that they were planning on doing that they've already moved them to other venues so they're pretty much my the impression I'm getting is he's saying I'm uh I'm not doing it here good well thank you for your followup on yeah thank you no no problem then I'm satisfied okay I agree thank you thank you we are at 6:29 so we could entertain a motion to move back to public hearings oh second motion's been made in second any further discussion none all those in favor please say I we're back to public hearings our first one was scheduled for 6:15 pm this was continuing public hearing for proposed zoning bylaw amendments for ground mounted voltaic this was solely because at our last meeting we had technically opened the public hearing and continued it to this meeting but given that the planning matters subcommittee is still reviewing the solar bylaw amendments that this time is ready to undertake that so it's still a public hearing so I'll open it um for public comment at this point but then we will simply just continue it to a future meeting for further discussion so council meeting uh members for this hearing from left to right are Jim Kathy Anna myself Marilyn and John and if Jeanie could lead read the legal notice into the record the East Long Meadow Town Council will hold a public hearing on December 10 2024 at 6:15 p.m. in the media room of the Council on Aging located at 328 North Main Street for the purpose of addressing proposed amendments to the town of East L Meadow zoning bylaw article 10 round mounted photo take installations this is a continuation of the public hearing held on November 12 2024 these amendments would add the definition of a parking canopy installation and add text to the definition of roof mounted installations add the exemption of small scale ground mounted solar photo voltaic installations from the site plan review requirement and remove medium and large scale ground mounted solar photovoltaic installations from the area dimensional and density requirements public hearing may also be attended via Zoom webinar for the council G quag Court of the council thank you Genie at this time uh members the public are welcome to off their input or questions if there's anyone that would like to speak see on I'll close the public input portion of the meeting and counselor that would like to discuss and entertain a motion I just wanted for the council's benefit um first of all I was the chair Anna is now the chair begrudgingly I don't know um I stepped down because of um a tough [Music] schedule but was chair at the last meeting and we are dealing with different formats of the original document that you received the the information doesn't really change we just have to go through it all and figure out which is the best for the town or for the bylaws to to move forward with so I'm not sure how quickly this will fall into place but I wanted you to know that um we're working on it Anna's working on it thank you Maryland thank you any other comments or questions no okay at this time I'll entertain a motion to continue the public hearing sure I'll make a motion to continue the public hearing for the PO zoning diw amendments for ground mounted photoall take installation to January 28th 2025 at 6m second motion's been made in seconded is there any further discussion see none all those in favor please say I I I opposed okay we will continue that to January 28th second public hearing is for 6:30 and it's now 6:33 this public hearing is for the proposed bylaw Amendment for a bylaw Review Committee article 9 section three of the charter for second reading here the council members from left to right are Jim leaden Hill Anna Jones myself Marilyn Richards and torche I read the legal notice into the record The Long Meadow Town Council will hold a public hearing on December 10 2024 6:30 pm in the media room of the Council on Aging located at 328 North Main Street for the purpose of a second reading of a proposed bylaw Amendment for a bylaw Review Committee for article 9 section three of the Charter Public hearing may also be attended via Zoom webinar information relating to this bylaw is available for public inspection at the town clerk's office 60 Center Square or an electronic version on the website for the council g r quagi town clerk clerk of the council right thank you Genie you're welcome uh so since I drafted it I'll just provide the a brief overview of this so This was um a bylaw that was created according to article 9 Section 3 of the Charter which says that we have to establish a bylaw Review Committee in order to undertake the bylaw review that the charter requires every 10 years starting and years ending on a five so 2025 is the first year that we have to undertake our first full 10year uh review of all the town's bylaws so this bylaw Review Committee would establish the essentially the powers and duties the membership the appointment in term Etc uh given that I would ask if there's anyone that would like to read the proposed bylaw into the I can do that sure is it this one um three I think it's three of four yeah I mean the one that has the green and the red definitely and you only have to read the the green part okay we don't have to we don't have to read this all right chapter 178 B Review Committee um subsection 177 D1 Authority to establish a special bylaw Review Committee shall be established as mandated in article 9 Section 3 of the Town Charter subsection 177 D2 when established report the Town Council shall establish the committee no later than July 1 on the year ending in a five the committee shall submit a written report to the Town Council on or before March 15th of the following year subsection 1773 P powers and dut the committee shall review and prepare propos revision or recodification of the general bylaws of the town as described in article 9 Section 3 of the charter subsection 1774 membership the committee shall be comprised of up to seven registered voters of the town with the following restrict restrictions a no more than two members can be current Town councilors C which probably would be B yeah um no more than two members can be employees of the town and see at least two members shall be residents who are not town councilors or town employees section 1775 appointment of members term the Town Council president will appoint committee members under the authority described in Article 2 Section 3 of the charter each appointment shall expire as of the end of the fiscal year in which the committee's report is submitted great at this time if there's anyone in the audience that would like to make a comment provide input for this public hearing I I have a very small one uh I think in the body of it uh it should all be changed to 178 Dash whatever right this is chapter 178 oh good call catch yeah how about that EOD would it P just a quick point the letter references chapter 177 the top reference is 178 and everything else is 177 so I make sure we have the actually right yeah the 177 is the charter Review Committee which exists so I think that was a probably a copy I think that was my typo yeah okay the 178 is vacant yes so that should probably be the there's no one else in the public I'll close the public import portion of this public hearing and the council now has the opportunity to discuss or comments or questions just say me Jim and R had a very productive meeting a few days ago just kind of tighten up a little bit of language but it largely sort of reflected what what you had originally put together um and uh yeah that's straight kind of to the point great further questions or comments he seeing none I'll entertain a motion to public hearing make a motion to close public hearing second motion's been made and seconded to close the public hearing is there any further discussion saying none all those in favor please say I opposed the public hearing is closed is there a motion to approve I make a motion to approve the proposed bylaw Amendment or bylaw Review Committee per article 9 Section 3 of the as presented in including the change of to 178 I'll second motion's been made and seconded is there any further discussion since this is a bylaw we have to do a roll call vote so Jim hi Kathy I'll follow that I I I am an i Marilyn I and John I am a y right the motion classes [Music] you Lord of our 64 public hearing so I'll entertain a motion to move to financial matters so moved second motion's been and seconded any further discussion say none in favor please say I opposed we'll move to 8b1 financial matters our first topic is to appropriate uh $152.99 and remaining arpa funds uh for the tip project Tom would you like to arpa thought we were done uh so this is simply a uh counting sort of cleanup uh there was some money that was encumbered in one of the projects previously funded by arpa that we moved the remaining monies out of already uh so this is just a cleanup there's no appropriation there's no nothing it's just calling this that and this that and then arpa can really be I swear this is it this is the last time any other questions okay there's questions or comments I'll entertain a motion make a motion reappropriate $15,251.86 D DPW truck number 73 $532 4420 L item 5855104861 45295 item 34227 DPW North Main tip hardness Dearborn $828 84 for a total of $152.99 and reappropriate free cash and interest from those projects to 5855104861 special purpose stabilization fund to be named Capital stabilization fund established under the Massachusetts General La chapter 40 section 5B Kathy question yes um I want to uh go back to our last meeting in November the 26th uh when this matter came before the council uh and reiterate a statement that councelor pay made uh because he was uh as as am I part of the um Financial oversight committee that was uh preparing the budget recommendations for the council and um in discussing the town's reserves and capacity to uh fund certain projects uh it was apparent that um as I'm sure every town is in this situation there's never enough money to do all that needs to be done at any given time what we talked about in the committee was that uh in addition to the annual Capital Improvement plan that can run anywhere from $1 to $2 million depending on the the town's uh capacity in any given fiscal year um we needed to come up with a mechanism that would have um a funding Reserve exclusively for buildings in town so that they didn't have to when something went AR that required a fair amount of money um they didn't have to compete with the capital Improvement plan that is reviewed and proposed once a year and then uh approved by the council every May the end of May so that was um that that's the backstory to how the thing got on the agenda in November and again uh I will reiterate uh Mr PA's remarks that uh the spirit of the conversation was around we need a dedicated fund to focus strictly on buildings I'm here tonight to Echo that that my recollection as well being on the committee and that um we have a a a motion before shortly here to establish that fund but the motion um and the financial policy right now is in my mind still a little too broad it doesn't um Define the specific purpose that it should be related to building and I would like to suggest that um if the council has um an agreement about that then we simply U modify the language and tighten it up before we go forward and and set this up in place I'm certainly in favor of doing that I I just think the the wording needs to be tightened up a little with you know a caveat in there about related just to buildings in town There's 16 of them and easily 14 at some point are going to need the attention of the the planners in the town anyone have any I just yeah I remember being uh on the oversight committee earlier this year and remember some of those kind of conversations we're having because we've been obviously talking about buildings between you know moving Town Hall obviously the high school we're going to have though a lot of buildings that we're going to have to sort of put bandaids on because we can't replace every old building all at once um and they still need to obviously perform so I agree I think being able to maybe like tighten things up just a little bit so that we can of take this very unique opportunity I mean it's not every day where we can create a stabilization fund and have uh be able to put immediately you know potentially a million dollars or so into it and then maybe more money uh in then in the the preceding years so um or the future year so I think that would be I think a smart move Spirit of kind of what we saw at that level at the committee level I would just say for myself being on the um the town manager Capital planning committee um that looks both at capital projects from like a building perspective but just other all capital projects I suppose in the town um that we also had a similar recommendation to come up with one but it was less focused on buildings and more just overall large ticket items um so I do think that there's still a need potentially for both I do think that it probably makes more sense to reserve some of that for you know building projects specifically but I I don't necessarily like handcuffing ourselves just to building projects when there could scale Capital items that could come up that we may have to take action on and this would be a place to do it and I think overall The council's Still The appropriating Authority so we still have that control to you know say no we don't want to do that if a project came before us that wasn't related to our building desires but that's just my take on it does anyone have any other comments or questions I tend to agree with cona in terms of not handcuffing ourselves um but at the same time I think compared to what I think both of you have stated a little more tightening up of the language from what I'm reading here this leaves it open really to anything um so maybe a little more tighten but with some remaining flexibility how you do that Tom I don't that's funny I was just gonna ask for suggestions um no I think uh yeah we can certainly sort of fashion the language however we deem necessary right this is why we had the conversation about what our needs look like and and um I do agree that um most of the large ticket items are will be building related just because um that's not to say that I could come up with a bunch of scenarios right now that would not be building Rel that we we potentially could would have a large price tag so um I think it we look at it in terms of planning um we should pick one Andor create both in terms of forecasting and planning for this amount of money and then picking a project off at the right time uh if if that's the wish then that that would be more helpful in terms of making a plan for the Future No I just I'm looking here um between stabilization funds and capital stabilization fund it's my understanding that the stabilization fund is there basically for more catastrophic type of things if we suddenly had a storm blow through and and take a school out or the town hall or something like that that that money would be available for that which is a building I mean I I hear what Kathy's saying and I remember the discussion and I remember how important it is when we talked about 382 North Main Street and all of the issues with other buildings in town and we really needed to start somewhere um as a council I guess no matter what we say if it arose we could probably vote to use the money anyway if we needed it but I understand making a statement about buildings and and the importance of trying to catch up to what's been left for a number of years I think it would be a good thing to rewrite it so that it does at least emphasize that need do you think that there's and no it's fine and do you think that there's a need to say look at the capital planning language again too I mean if we're we're sort of running these concurrent accounts for you know that doesn't disclude um building projects from the capital plan right it's just the larger ones so is it a dollar value because building is still going to be allowed in the capital plan and then what's that threshold when we get to use the other pot of money so now that we're having the conversation I agree that the language could be at such that we can call that out if we want to um you know the the overarching fact is to put this money into a fund that is sort of now a singular purpose where the stabilization fund is like yeah oh crap right right this is more focused towards planning for the future and however we decide that is going to be um sort of semantical um now we're taking this money out of the shortterm pot and putting it in the long-term pot from an investment standpoint so I think not that a month waiting a month is going to make that much of a difference uh but I think if we if if we want to say that it's just buildings or say that it's just something then we can do that uh and then deal with the capital plan on a yearly basis uh knowing full well that some of these larger projects on the capital plan will eventually run into the capital stabilization fund is that what we're sort of that's what you're I like the um suggestion of um defining you know a threshold because um just thinking back to this recent Capital plan there was something in there for the Middle School to uh make some adjustments to the window sills and it only I shouldn't say only but it was like $80,000 y um so that routinely can fit into the annual plan but I agree it should be a a threshold so that um we're not just using the stabilization fund for just to supplement just to supplement the capital plan I I don't that anybody maybe that was a thought but I don't know that that was the overarching no I don't think it was but um there's nothing that um prohibits that no no no it could I mean not again to Maryland's point you can appropriate that money as you see certainly not the of the elected officials and the sitting um managers um but 15 20 years from now we're not all going to be here and it could easily morph into like well we've got this much that we'll raise an appropriate right and then of course over here now we've got this one so we've got double that what we normally use and it it's it's lost its impact of being there as a contingency when when necessary and then that'll those thresholds will just have to move with time too right well yes so um yeah uh I I you can certainly point this description a certain way um I don't know that it matters in term of creating the account and putting the money into it our policy so to speak um doesn't really happen at the council level anyway so um but again I I'd rather be sort of transparent so we all are are speaking the same language here um and if that means waiting till January to to to do the vote to to to move that and create that account until we're more comfortable with the explanation um through the chair whatever whatever you want to do I I we can do we can do whatever I'm I'm good with that yeah I think we have a couple options we could either wait until January and try to come which we could since really the only motion we were undertaking would be to establish the fund but the the financial policy is just something that would kind of be discussed and written if legally we can um take the vote tonight to allocate and set aside that one million yep there and then um in a month or two um word Smith the uh the financial policy and then come comes back for you know some more discussion why don't we action item the policy for for next meeting this is a question do we want to put like a uh a minimum you know I think that'll come through the policy I think have any feedback of or through Tom or like what that would look like half a million million that that appropriate at least for the the preliminary balance of the account right um you know if we add to it every year and it grows through uh uh interest ination and whatnot yeah um right that's probably the number not going to look like well I mean just from from the standpoint of numbers if we're going to hang around 1.2 1.5 whatever in the capital the $600,000 project wipes out Capital yeah I mean gone we can't do what we want to do so that's probably the number uh 500 at least to start and then we kind of see how how it plays out I I I again I I don't anticipate using this account immediately kind of like an emergency sort of situation more of a contingency like oh the scenario I would think gonna have to go back and look yeah well I I guess there's a couple schools like again that that's what the stabilization fund is for to begin with and if this is a Capital One we should really be trying to intersect those $500,000 projects before their 3/4 million or 1.2 because the HVAC came through the roof now we got to do both it's going to take away from XY and Z correct so I think there's a hybrid model in there where where yes if a some emergency related building issue comes up fine but we can also be planning that money and where it intersects a capital project at the right time then then we do that perfect okay I'm that makes sense any other discussion okay is there a motion then I make a motion to approve the creation of a special purpose stabilization fund to be named the capital stabilization fund established under Massachusetts general laws check Section 5 b the effective for the fiscal year beginning on July 1 2024 the specific purpose of funding Capital purchases of the Town under the capital Improvement plan second motion's been made in secutive is there any further discussion see none all those in favor please say I I any opposed motion passes so I'll entertain a motion to go back to public hearings so moved second motions been made in second any further discussion all those in favor please say I I any opposed have our third and final public hearing scheduled for 6:45 it's now 6:58 this is a public hearing for the proposed zoning bylaw amendments related to Commercial kening and a required second reading the council members to WR or Len Kathy Hill Anna Jones myself Conor Rocha Marilyn Richards and John torsa I would ask the clerk to read the legal notice into the record the East L Meadow Town Council will hold a public hearing on December 10 202 4 at 6:45 p.m. in the media room of the Council on Aging located at 328 North Main Street second reading of proposed amendments to the town of East Long Meadow zoning bylaws article 8 special permits article 11 definitions and table 3-1 schedule of use regulations as it pertains to commercial kenneling these amendments would add Animal control officer and Nuance dog to definitions revise the definition of commercial kennel also commercial kennel would be added to special permits public hearing may also be attended via may be attended via Zoom webinar excuse me information relating to the splaw is available for public inspection at the town clerk's office and on the website for the council G quy Town cler Clerk of the council thank you Janie is there someone that would like to volunteer to the bylaw into the record does it all I do oh you no you can do the whole thing it's All or Nothing Jim thanks Anna subsection 45011 point2 ter Animal control officer an appointed officer authorized to enforce chapter 315 of East Long medal General bylaws mgl chapter 140 subsection 136a and 174 F kennel commercial you should read the red okay no you don't have to anymore an establishment Ed for the for the boarding or overnight uh stays of cats and dogs that are not the property the owner of the establishment now which such services are rendered in exchange for consideration and in the absence of the owner of any such cat or dog provided however that the commercial kennel boarding shall not include an animal shelter or animal control facility nuisance dog a dog that one by excessive barking or other disturbance is a source of annoyance a sick person residing in the vicinity or two by excessive barking causing damage or other interference a reasonable person would find such Behavior disruptive to one's quiet and peaceful enjoyment or three as threatened or attacked livestock a domestic animal or a person but such threat or attack was not a grossly disproportionate reaction under all circumstances Pet Day Care and grooming the caring for maintaining grooming training and safekeeping of pets of a domestic nature during normal daytime business hours this does not include overnight kennel services subsection 450 8.16 commercial kenneling the following standards and conditions shall shall apply to commercial kennels as defined in subsection 450-1201 6 the term animal should refer to cats and dogs exclusively four the appropriate facilities enclosures and safety features shall include but are not limited to the following a crates enclosures appropriately sized to allow for an animal to be comfortably uh stand turn around and laid down fully stretched such crates enclosure shall have a raised floor or bedding to keep animals off the bare floor Andor the bottom of a wire crate B floor shall be nonslip or easy to clean C the facility shall have the adequate ventilation and penetration as to prevent humidity and odors from building up while allowing for air circulation D proper drainage to prevent still or standing water from Collective from collecting in any enclosure floor or play areas e facility shall have climate control and be uh habitable all year long F crates enclosure shall have safety features including latches locks Etc to prevent accidental escape and injury G appropriate facility shall be on site for the cleaning of animals H the facility shall have a source of fresh drinking water I outdoor areas dedicated to the free roaming of animals or outdoor play area shall be fenced in at all times J no features of the facility shall present any harm both immediate and long term to animals that are boarded or kept overnight at the facility five if the commercial kennel includes the boarding of dogs the F shall apply a solid walls partitions or covers must be erected in between crates en closures in order to ensure separation both physical and visual mean dogs B staffto Dog ratio should be one staff for every 10 dogs C play group shall exceed no more than 10 dogs and shall consist of dogs are in the same size Group D size group shall be categorized as follows one small dogs up to 25 pounds two medium dogs 26 to 60 pounds three large dogs 61 pounds and above e there shall be separate play areas for each size group F no toys besides toy balls are allowed Within the play groups G no shared feeding area shall exist and dogs must eat separately in order to prevent resource guarding and potential dog fights H facility shall have exterior Green Space to allow for dog potty braks I outdoor play area shall have the following fence height I have so many one at least four feet in height for play groups consisting of small dog two at least six feet in height for play groups consisting of medium or and large dogs J aggressive reactive and or nuisance dog should be isolated from other dogs at all times six the planning board shall include the following conditions a hours of operation B pick up and drop off times they can be staggered C frequency of animal control inspections D total number of animals allowed at the facility e sound proofing of the facility schedule use of regulations one change under bylaw number four commercial K kening see article 8 I uh SP the only one um thing I think on one of the pages was number six there was also F overnight monitoring and overnight Staffing requirements add that came yeah came from our meeting okay so at this time um public hearing is open to the public if anyone would like to offer any questions see no one in the audience of input portion of the meeting do any counselor have any comments questions oh sure all right the planning matter subcommittee met view this bylaw um detail as Jim just read it includes a number of um conditions regard to establishing A kenel in E meow um this use has not been permitted in in our town currently we do not allow kenneling in town we do have one kennel that that is grandfathered um I can't tell you what the reason was that the town chose not to have these except perhaps nuisance issues that's the only thing you know we could think of as a committee discussing this um if this bylaw were approved by the council it would allow um a commercial kennel to exist in the industrial Zone only um it also would require that the um application be under special permit special permit gives the town um the ability to establish special conditions based on the applicant and perhaps the location um as a committee um we found very little very little to change with respect to this proposed bylaw the only thing that was suggested there were a few words that were in quotes and we felt that that these words didn't need to be identified differently than within the text so we took the quotes away and as Connor mentioned under special conditions in the bylaw in the proposed bylaw where it says um the planning board may include the following as conditions and that would be done through the special permit um the addition of overnight monitoring and Staffing requirements we recommend as a committee unanimously to the council that be supported ased thank you Mar there any comments or questions I'll entertain a motion to close the public hearing so moves second motion's been made and seconded is there any further discussion all those in favor please I I opposed and I'll entertain a motion to approve I make a motion to approve the proposed zoning bylaw amendments to commercial kenneling as presented I'll second that than seconded any further discussion being none this will be a roll call vote since it's a bylaw change Jim yes maty yes Anna yes s yes and John yes motion passes thank you you okay we can return to orders of the day financial matters and we are up to number three appropriate free cash in the amount of $1 million to the capital stabilization fund there a motion I make a motion to appropriate free cash in the amount of $1 million to the capital stabilization fund second motion's been made and seconded any further discussion seeing none all those in favor please say I I I any opposed the motion passes next we have appropriate free cash in the amount of $2,512 uh to the general stabilization fund compensated advances and op is there a motion we appropriate free cash in the amount of 2, 512,000 to the following funds 1,857 General stabilization fund 85,000 compensated absences fund 570,000 other post employee benefits OPB fund second motion's been made and seconded is there any further discussion seeing none all those in favor please say I any opposed who passes we are on to approval of minutes motion I make a motion to approve 6 20204 Open Session minutes second motion seconded any further discussion all those in favor please say I I opposed motion passes have no old business so new business we have the approval to submit the agent dementia friendly Islam goals report to AARP the presentation from our Council and aging director thank you for including us on uh your agenda tonight I'm glad you got a lot of um good news to start the meeting with sure um Becky Bash from Pioneer Valley Planning Commission is here with me um and really I'm just here to present the community assessment and action plan for the age and dementia friendly initiative um in East Long Meadow um it's sort of the culmination of something that started in April of 2022 with a dementia friendly initiative here we kicked it off a um a working group and a task force um and then expanded that into age friendly with a Community compact best practices Grant um in the spring or the fall of 2023 and that's when we were able to bring on Valley Planning Commission help us um survey Town residents over we sent out um over a thousand surveys to find out what people's priorities were and then held three different listening sessions which some of you were present for here at the Council on Aging um and so this assessment and action plan is the result of that um you know we put a lot of work into this um we're really excited about the results and I think the timing is really great um with the center of town steering committee that's happening um the digital Equity planning Grant that's that work that's occurring the communication needs assessment um the recent um commission for people with disabilities Ada self- evaluation transition Grant um and the affordable housing act stuff that's all going on it's sort of all in sync and works all together we want to make sure that all of those needs assessments um and plans going forward include people who are aging in town and want to stay in town um as well as those folks who may have memory impairment in their caregivers so um I'm asking for your approval of this um assessment and action plan to submit to the AARP Becky anything else I think you covered it it was it was a great working group um you know made up of of representatives from several Town departments as well as older adults so um really good committee working on this and a lot of participation in the in the survey and the public um the information sessions so um I think we got a lot of great input for this plan and um hope you got a chance to read it and we'd be happy to answer any questions any questions does anyone have any questions nicely done like to be involved in implementing we'll be putting together another work so um please consider did you ask something J I just want to make sure the motion is correct what you need to have to go forward so the motion on the table was to approve the submitt of the age and dementia friendly East lung metal goals report to the AARP is that sufficient that sounds right Becky does that sound right to you from your experience yeah and I I think you already submitted the dementia plan to M mcoa right that went to mcoa yeah okay y that's correct thank you yeah the report was uh very detailed there was a lot of information in there so thank you to everyone who put that together thank you okay if there's no other questions or comments I'll entertain a motion make a motion to approve the submittal of the AG and demential friendly East long metal goals report to the AARP second motion's been made in second any further discussion seeing none all those in favor please say I any opposed passes thank you thank you thank you there action items for our next meeting I have uh from tonight that will the financial policy for the capital stabilization fund language also just calendar next meeting so our next meeting would be January 14th um at that time we'll probably have a orderly financial report we will have a first public hearing for the Adu even though we may not approve it at that meeting but that'll at least start the timeline for us so that we can hopefully get that done before the state deadline encroaches upon us and um hopefully we'll also have a we start the discussion on school funding and the overall upcoming budget yes 14th will be the joint yes that'll hopefully be the plan does anyone have any other action items okay seeing none then I will entertain a motion to return move second any further discussion favor please say I I posted at 7:15 thank you all thank you