##VIDEO ID:dzMbNiHzr-w## all right good evening and welcome to the October 8th 2024 meeting of the East Town Council I'll call the meeting to order and ask that we stand for the Pledge of Allegiance I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the rep for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice then at this time we'll take a brief moment of silence to think about all of those in the paths of the Hurricanes thank you in accordance with Mass General law this meeting is being recorded by elcat and if there's anyone else in the audience if you could identify yourself great see none public comments don't believe we have anyone signed up for public comment is there anyone in the audience that would like to make a public comment right seeing none we will move to council comments any counselors have a comment all right seeing none we will move to the town manager report even ready um well I want to start by uh thanking our legislators for taking the time out of their schedule to come speak to us uh this evening especially the ones that are on time the one um seriously we we all know how hard they work for us and how demanding their job is and so uh that's a testament sort of proven by the fact that they take time to to come speak with us in a meeting like this so uh thanks on behalf of our grateful Community um attached to the report we have uh progress reports for the high school September 16th uh the week of the 16th and the 2 3rd of September um so the last page of the report they're showing the uh Crush Stone that's underneath the footing um so the i i this was a little corny but I wrote it the very Foundation uh of a historic moment in the history of our community obviously um probably the biggest still the biggest project of all time in terms of our town so it's exciting to see the the progress unfold um the uh Council on Aging celebrated uh National senior month in September um they uh take some time out of your schedule to view some testimonials on elcat uh thanks Jamie uh on why people love their senior center um COA also learned they'll be receiving a Ford E350 pair of Transit van through a community transit Grant um so the fleet's uh slowly upgrading uh the uh um Aaron cobbler actually received a community impact award from the Greater Springfield senior services at their annual meeting last Friday um we all know uh you've heard me say it before uh can't say enough about Aaron and everybody that works in this building um how much they do for our community so thank you and congrats to Aaron on that award um we finally have a uh full staff in the HR department after many many many many months um the the new uh addition is uh our HR assistant Heather Wilson um I just want to shout out to uh Mariola Rivera and Megan Emer lasow who basically uh kept the whole department afloat forers department just the two of them for basically the last six months so um thank you to them um and I'm I'm excited about uh where this HR department is going to go uh from a professional standpoint uh the talent in the department now is something that um we've never had and so I'm really excited to to see where we go from here um also we uh attached here is the Strategic plan for the library uh sort of a collaborative effort a lot of folks pitched in on this um to sort of keep the library one of our uh most uh well- visited buildings uh so um thanks to Katie and her staff the board of Library trustees Friends of the eam Met Public Library volunteers programmers um you know uh this will be this sort of ensures that the library kind of stays on track to be the place that everybody wants to be in in in town so thanks to all that uh contributed um we have some I had a late addition here um I met with uh Chief uh Williams and CH and Lieutenant Manning earlier in the week to sort of go over town manager goal number four and in the midst of this we were chatting about some some ideas about uh how to combat crime and and sort of more like a public service announcement kind of thing to to get people um engaged um I received today uh there'll be a joint um meet the detectives they're calling it um detective DEA from long meop PD and detective Dean from Isa metop PD will be um here at the senior center Friday November 15th at 5:00 pm um so they're going to be giving safety tips and insights and things like that um you can put that on silent if you want sir had another event only would but that was that's the rep so two on three all right that ain't bad so it's an update beep I like that um so again it looks like there's gonna be Pizza um sort of an informational kind of thing I I'll I'll update us again um the first meeting in November um upcoming events we got the Rotary Club celebrate El um this Saturday from 11: to 4: at center field uh October Fest at brown farm the 19th uh from 12: to 4 we have our uh Center Town District uh public engagement October 21st from 6:00 to 8 here at the COA obviously election day is the fifth uh coffee with the town manager uh is November 6th at 10:30 here so we'll have plenty to talk about after the election um and uh our Veterans Day ceremony November 11th um at Town Hall um and that's it for tonight thank you happy to answer any questions if you have them have any all right seeing none move the communications correspondence and announcements um the legislative update would you prefer that we minut okay just left JG s Life Care in Long Meadow we had a a presentation for someone there and and I said to him I said he's like are you you you're going I said yeah I'm going I said um he's like are you at the back door and I said I'm inside right now like it's not in town hall it's at the senior center he's almost here yeah we perform our other updates um so we have the asot municipal program so we received update Mass do that we would be slated in fiscal year 2026 have some significant parts of town uh undertake some repavement on Route 83 and Route 186 which we don't know the actual cost of what that program would entail but that would definitely be a significant path forward on our objective as a town of getting some more Road improvements I don't know if you have anything else you want to add to that no we made three or four calls to make sure that this is real uh in fact it is um so we're stoked DPW has already uh started a plan to inspect all the structures on both of those roads um it's we don't have all the details yet but it's our understanding that um it's just going to be uh like Milling Paving striping so any any structure work or anything like that would would would be on our dime but again like like the tip project it's a small investment for for what the payback is going to be um we don't know what the treatment's going to be yet so it's kind of hard to estimate but I mean just the mileage alone we're talking about almost a decade of chapter 90 money so um it's hu I mean it's huge I I I was a little gushy but I did s to thank you note to math coot today um not too gushy a little gushy um but obviously this is a a significant amount of work not um that that's about it with more details to come there's a couple mandatory weinar webinars next week that we're required to attend um and I'm sure we'll have more details and I'll I'll keep you updated but um again um yeah I can't say enough about uh about this sort of opportunity for the town it's it's huge very very huge the chair sure um my workers zero I'm assuming that's the Connecticut line it is and 3 and half miles does that bring us just about to the rotary it is to the rotary yeah so that's a significant stretch of Route 83 and the same would be 186 is Prospect Street yep which I travel lately almost daily and Y um I will say it definitely needs it and I'm assuming the 2.4 miles would also bring you to the rotary that is correct um we we huge yeah there there there'll be a site site walk and things like that so eight years ago we did from the center to Chestnut on Prospect and through four years ago we did from Chestnut to um the church y on Prospect so that we might not rip that new relatively new pavement up I mean that may not make sense um but once we have the details yeah but that I agree that actually we get a lot of comments about that stretch from peas going down the hill out of state uh there's all the subdivisions and all their connections have really just sort of torn the road up so so maybe we could convince them to turn right and go down just throw whatever they say I'm gonna say yes at this point this much work I'm not going to push any buttons but so on top of this though we have the um for North Main Street yep that's being done Elm Street has been done what five years ago now so a lot of the the main roads yep Maple we just rebuilt from the from the rotary basically all the way out of town y um so yeah um the last one will be Shaker um we'll probably have to do some design stuff to get rid of the suicide Lane which isn't really uh I like that lane not really uh in the design anymore but um yeah no we're we're it it does seem like quite a bit yeah yep thank you you're welcome then our next one uh vaccine clinics so we got from the health department and I to share through clinic on Tuesday October 15 and Monday October 21st uh the first one's at the fire department the second one's here at the COA um just go online to register that's encouraged and then there's also a covid-19 and flu vaccine clinic um in person on October 29th as well and then a couple other editions since the agenda was published we have the stuffing the pantry run and walk uh to benefit the Open Pantry community services and that's held on Thursday November 28th for the Thanksgiving 202 and there's also a FEMA meeting Workshop um for relooking at the flood insurance rate Maps October 29th so busy month of events um nothing else unless anyone else has any last minute Communications or updates right we will continue on we have no public hearings orders of the day licensing matters so we have approved the the change of DBA application from Barrera Inc doing business as tooro Mexican restaurant to Barrera Inc doing business as Masson Mexican Grill and Bar at 621 North Main Street so we received the updated application that has the dates filled in as of this afternoon so at this point unless there's any questions I'll entertain a motion to approve I think only if there's something they needed to add question so I think usually we start with the motion anyways and then under additional comments um so I would uh I make a motion to approve a change of DBA application from Barrera Inc DBA toito Mexican restaurant to Barrera Inc DBA Mazon Mexican Grill and Bar 621 North Main Street I'll second that okay motion's been made and seconded is there any further discussion seeing none Jim yes Marilyn yes M yes yes an Ralph yes and John M yes the motion passes so are good once we do the final stuff with the there he is oh a question she no what if you want you can either ask her or you can ask Janie I'm sure she'll be able great at this time entertain a motion to move back to Communications correspondence and announcements for the legislative update so mov I will second that motions been made and seconded any further discussion all those in favor please say I I I post great welcome welcome ex and just for the record it was on my calendar e SL M High School lame staff go everyone I just want to see you all E I see you just want to Echo the comments from Tom so we appreciate you coming in taking the time out of busy schedules to meet with us and provide some updates and answer any questions but he was also appreciative of the person who was on time and still am for the record one Precinct person doesn't happen that often but I was here early right so I'll open the floor to you I don't know if you had any brief updates you wanted or if you then wanted to dive into any the questions that we had provided ahead of time I mean we we're at your disposal to ask any questions that you might have I I will start um just by saying now that you don't need any more chapter 90 funds so we don't need to ask that question Ralph but we're here to kind of answer your question give us love representing this community we try to be present for as much as we can in this community we try to be as respectful as well and it's been great working with Tom uh your Town Administrator here in the community and having 12 cities and towns in my District Two that have a Town Council form a government it's very refreshing uh to work with this body and with a Town Administrator like Tom it's been something that I know each one of us here appreciates that constant communication and if any way which we can be helpful we want to be here to answer your questions and I know that you have a series of them so I'm going to leave it right there if somebody run against you nope I'll just e that is it's great working with you guys Tomy you've done a phenomenal job and what's best about very accessible you know you can call text whatever and and get the answers I gotta tell you I know the question that's on everybody's mind something that's been bugging us we wanted to get to the bottom of is that $50 what we can get for a gift I mean the most yeah and I know why it came up Al been dying to buy me something know he wanted to get me a car or something like that so we'll work on that no but I just yeah just real quick you know Mr President and members of the council certainly thank you for having us here uh it's always you know an honor to come to local communities you know love Esa medal love all the hard work that you guys do and I certainly want to say thank you we are Partners uh but I think as as you know Jake alluded to you know we come from local government right I was on the city council of Springfield for 10 years as well now I've been in the house uh 18 years I don't want to say that too too hard 18 years yeah be the dean of the whole delegation but you know here as partners but we also know and I think we respect is coming from the local level right we don't want to be you know there you know on top and just kind of you know micromanaging so whenever you need us we're obviously here communication is always simple we see Tom and Rebecca at a number of events throughout the town I certainly want to commend them for their hard work and their dedication and again just to thank everybody it's not easy right you guys are the front line we know that uh you know Frontline for you know Town sort of day-to-day operations and what happens here and C your hard work and dedication doesn't go unnoticed and we're here um at the same token to answer any questions and do what we can and I think is you think Brian alluded to the uh that burning question yeah but I guess the other question is what do you want to raise it to that's the other issue but seriously it's great to be here and thank you all Rob just quick if you if you're gonna ask me what I want to raise it to I mean $500 makes sense now I mean it probably does but like some laws we have you get a few who abuse it and it ruins it for everybody else honestly I agree with you that that really just hinders the honest people the people that if if somebody's going to take a bribe they don't care that CH the law or rule I mean not following the law anyway I think through the chair I think my point on my questions is more that we have some uh laws rules on the books that are in my opinion outdated I mean when they were put on 30 40 years ago it made perfect sense for the amounts and like the procurement and stuff and now you go 30 years later I mean no one's gonna be bribed for $50 I I just like I said you can barely get a couple drinks in a year um and I guess the main concern is if someone's watching you and you know you go out with a friend who happens to be coming in you know in six months and buys you dinner and all of a sudden you and I don't want that and again that that's one simple one the procurement was a huge one for me because I look at this as a way to save towns a considerable amount of money I understand when the procurement laws were made you wanted to make sure that three bids were gotten so that you're comparing it all but truthfully now you go online you Google it and you're getting a hundred bids like that um you're right some laws I mean some do get outdated but really like Angela said that's why we we get our cues from you guys we all came from local government we understand it's a frustration of it and being able to work with your state delegation means so much so we appreciate anytime you can bring something up like that that's hindering the business that you do if there's a better way that you know you still stay legal and not doing but I mean if we can do something more efficient and we're really not changing the uh the rules just maybe the way the law is written yeah and we are actually and I'm glad that you also mentioned procurement and some of those thresholds that we have so there is something called the municipal empowerment act that Governor Healey filed this past January working with um Mass Municipal Association and I had most of that bill came to the committee that I chair which is municipalities and Regional government so it gives me kind of a unique perspective to see how our 351 cities and towns operate and it's an Omnibus Bill that includes many Provisions there are tax Provisions which I'll be perfectly honest with with that I think are Deb on arrival coming into the legislature but there are also Provisions having to do with things like procurement and raising the threshold to $100,000 before we trigger that in that's contained within the municipal empowerment act other things that are important for communities you look at East Long Meadow that's going to be building a new high school shortly uh extending and allowing communities the ability to extend a bond out Beyond 30 years to 40 years so it has less of an impact on the taxpayers as you're paying it over 40 years as opposed to 30 um other things about hiring you look at the Town Council Town administrators Town managers extending and allowing contracts Beyond three years to five years because if you have a good Town Administrator you want to keep them around and if you can offer a fiveyear contract I think that's helpful I'm not suggesting Tom to anybody else but these are all things that are contained within this bill it was a late file this session we heard it throughout the springtime it's now sitting in Senate and House Ways and Means respect respectfully and it's something that I think we can pass in an informal session before um we have to start the clock again in January with new bills and even if we do I think there are many Provisions contained within that empowerment act that was um developed by the administration working with Municipal leaders to empower to raise those thresholds that are combersome to how we do business uh things like double polls that are littering communities well we I've actually had so many meetings on double polls like and you see them all around allowing a fine for municipalities to find these companies that are continuing to put double polls around that are a public safety hazard and also something that are eyes soures to a lot of communities that's something we're working on we're trying to bring those stakeholders together but um there are many provision I'm not going to go into all of them now but I think that there's a massive opportunity for us to pass something that's meaningful to give the tools to you folks to do your job in a much more efficient manner and we're interested in doing that this session um but also if we are not next session thank you uh some of the other ones that were mentioned um a couple of my questions were um you know we saw some of the changes like relating to zoning with accessory dwelling units and stuff do you expect to see like future changes maybe in the next cycle or other housing um Direction and improvements I would assume I mean you never know 160 reps 40 Senators people are all taking their cues from their local governments or their their own background so we always see things sometimes they're there could be 10 similar bills that all kind of get to a place but written a little differently some exclude something some add something so things like that always come up so there's a good chance and again if if there's something in there that you say hey we'd really love to see this this would help the way you know would help East Long Meadow we can either look into it or see if there's a bill already out there that has any of that I mean we yeah we do have you know we do hear that you know from some of our other towns but I know our colleagues across the Commonwealth here in the same thing as well so I know we did a housing bill but we can go back and and revisit a lot of stuff we go back and I'm not saying we don't get it right the first time but a lot of times we got to take to change it because something may we may think is going to work work and it and in reality right and once it gets in a practical sense um it may not work the way we want to implement it or there might be a community that's you know straddled with that or some issue not just that issue but other things where we try to kind of work on and and we could sort of uh make it better so um I think as Brian said I mean there's probably you know at the end of this session uh everything clears out so next session everything gets filed against it's probably going to be around six maybe 7,000 bills between all the members of the House and Senate that gets filed again so we go through that whole process every two years so there's bound to be something and you know and like I said once we look at it we can Tinker with it we could you know if it's fine if it doesn't then we could file something on our own you know how we need to address it yeah the 5.1 billion doll Bond bill that we passed this session was the largest Bond bill for housing that we passed in two decades and included so many Provisions to help out not just on the tax side to help develop greater properties and refer Bish Old Mill buildings which is priority of mine in different areas we're also investing $2 billion into our public housing stock already many of our public housing units whether they're locally managed or managed at uh the state level or by some of our providers haven't had that investment in decades and when you look at the ability to have accessible dwellings for people that are really not accessible right now that's what this bill was targeted to do there's a an amendment that I filed to this bill um I will say the Realtors probably didn't like it too much but preventing people from requiring a to wave an an inspection when you're buying a home especially with the crumbling Foundation issues that we have right now to require in order to put a bid on a home that you have to wave an inspection is not good consumer protection issues and we did away with this in this Bond bill that we that we passed this past summer and signed into law adus are another area which allows for tiny homes accessory dwelling units to be located uh within communities as an option particularly for families who have seniors and with a baby boom population growing right now having the ability to have an accessory dwelling unit that's near your property for Mom and Dad who might want to age in place that might need that supervision we wanted to provide that flexibility we also extended a significant amount of tax Provisions within the bill to unlock some of the potential for new growth in housing in the Commonwealth including preserving the housing stock that we already have through some of the historic tax credits that go back to our cities and towns so this bill and I agree with my colleagues um we don't get it right always on the first try and there might be some tweaks later on so as this bill begins to be rolled out and the dollars start flowing out to our communities and to um uh developments we want to make sure that we're responsive to it and if you as local elected officials and in town government see changes that need to be made bring it to our attention we'd be happy to file it but I can't see us doing a bill of this magnitude in the next few sessions because there was a lot packed into it and Mr CH we always have to walk the fine line between protecting as uh Jake mention I filed on the house side about the inspections protecting the consumers protecting our residents as well as having economic drivers moving forward and sometimes you know one might battle against the other so we might file any one of us could file a bill that all agree with but 157 other reps might have different ideas so sometimes you take a couple steps forward on these and you have to take a big step backwards because people amend it people uh put their opinions there so otherwise things would move as smoothly as smoothly as they do on the East Town quick question what does the affordable housing act do to our regional fair share so that's I'm glad you brought up and that's been something that we focused in on and so we know that less danely populated communities that are well outside of 495 128 are is a priority and we include within those bills the bill that we passed ensuring that communities have the tools necessary so one thing that the Boston area doesn't have that we have a lot of out here are aging Mill buildings and we have buildings that could be easily trans transferred into housing units for folks that need it we know that a single family home is not the end all be all for the housing options that we need to meet the demands of the 21st century we want to provide housing options and understanding that we're not not all MBTA communities we're communities that are in Gateway cities or surrounding Gateway cities and within that bill we carve out dollars for our Gateway cities and our Gateway City like communities in order to get dollars that were not unlocked under our current housing laws because they were more focused in on urban areas like the Boston area or some of the Suburban communities so that bill includes many Provisions that help out communities here in Western Massachusetts that we've never had before and I know another question about Regional equity which is a priority of mine when we look at chapter 90 not to go back to it to browse questions that you had even though that $200 million pot of funds hasn't changed in a few decades what has changed is the amount of other pockets of funds for communities like East Long Meadow that were not included and in the last few years were included in our chapter 90 bill so that chapter 90 bill that was you know $200 million for a couple of decades has ballooned up to 375 million it's like 175 grants yes and within that there are pocket of funds for things like culverts that a lot of communities like East Long Meadow has there are funds for small Bridge repairs we have a lot of streams here in Western Massachusetts where we need dollars for small streams there's a pocket of funds for that the other thing that we did is we created a pocket of funds for low densely populated communities so how the chapter 90 funding formula works right now it's based on miles of roadway employment in the community and the population we understand that that hurts western Mass communi so we created a new pot of funds that was solely based on miles of roadway instead of on things like uh employment and population which hurts western Mass communities so there are many areas and bills that we passed this session that focus in on that Regional equ issue and that this delegation um my colleagues in the house and in the Senate are really focused in on because we understand we don't all fall into the Boston area's uh demographics there are unique needs for our regions and that's what we wanted to do with both those bills thank you Hanna did you want to ask yours sure so I think the last time we talked about this was probably a couple years ago I think with um Senator ler and I think back then then the only funding was for for the testing of your foundation and you could submit for reimbursement so I just didn't know if that was still the case if there was anything you know any additional funding and if not like if there's anything we can do for that filed something in both the house and the Senate to cover that um one of the little roadblocks we hit is prior to covid myself and Senator GOI who's no longer Senator we co-chairs of the commission and we we were moving forward and we're trying to mirror it as much that made sense of Connecticut as they were seven eight years ahead of us going through the process then when Co hit it kind of really derailed everything and slowed us down so we have bills we're trying to get you know a 200 million in there a pocket of money which is a lot of money but sadly since this started there's so many more homes it originally started in Long Meadow East Long Meadow area and now we found out it stretches out well into Central Mass and so many other homes and if any body's ever seen it up close you can appreciate how devastating it is and if you haven't it's difficult to really understand it and see the impact if you're just seeing it on paper until you go into someone's home and you can see it just disintegrating them and these people have no options their options are either turn their house over to the bank right or they have to take it you know it's a couple hundred thousand dollars to fix it so we're trying to get to that point where we can have the money and but like anything with that kind of money people outside of our area that don't understand it it takes a little longer for them to get up to speed and to understand the impact that this has on the entire Commonwealth because if it's somebody on your street it impacts you regardless if it's your home because if they do nothing the property values will go down so we are working hard with the house and the Senate we're trying to come I've talked with the uh chairman of ways and means and they're well aware of it and they're I'm confident this coming session um we'll be able to get something done I think yeah just to piggyback on that I think the big thing is it's expanded out Brian was saying right we started in this sort of area I represent part of mson now and you know you're here out there so and I think and it's gone more Central so as more and more sort of communities feel this impact it becomes a little bit easier to bring that to the Forefront I know the pot of money and the needs are going to grow more obviously but at some point obvious we know we got to do something I I do want to commend Brian Brian's really taking a charge on that and he's done a tremendous job um over the course as he alluded to with you know with former Senator goby but really Brian's a leader on that and I I do think we are going to get something done um not this session but next session we should be in pretty good shape to at least get something preliminarily done and to move forward and allow some people to start what that process is going to look like mechanism that's that's the issue I know it's a sticking point but I know it's on the radar screen and again as more and more legislators kind of get involved have somebody talk to them about it you could see it firsthand I've been out there I I didn't see it you know until I saw it right and you can't even imagine to see it all kind of I'm sort of you know you know you know the construction business my family in the plumbing business before but you know until you really see it and you kind of up front see wow how can this possibly be and then to fix it is is is a humongous task right so this is expand already went Rel direct question so we've seen this move out to Central Mass are we attributing the the um defect in the foundation from the original Quarry or do we have other quaries how are we supposed to prevent I mean is there any way for quaries to be tested or is this just natural I mean is this there is ways to tested and the only I guess good thing that it's taken so long is that there's been other ways to investigate how you find this pirti in quaries and located so you don't have to just negate an entire Quarry you can figure out where it is and how you can get around it is this underway yes yeah yeah I thank God there's people much smarter than us that know what they're doing scientists that well that's good has it was it was at first one quy in Connecticut and you realize if you're pouring concrete you have a certain radius that you can go with it before it hardens but then they realize when we started finding homes further and further out in Central Mass that it isn't just this one Quarry so now we have to make sure that we can address this when homes and there's something you can add into the concrete coming forward that may negate the pirti so you don't have to worry about it so that's one of the things that the time has at least done something good right it doesn't solve the problem for all the people's homes who're already disintegrating or businesses I mean we know that we have subdivisions in town that are affected yeah at to what extent remains to be seen but the the towns also are losing tax dollars because they're seeking abatements not I mean I'm not saying that's not a good thing for them but the point is that it's not good for the town to lose ACC but it's in everybody's best interest to move forward on this even though it is a a big ticket item it will hurt everybody in the long run if we do nothing thank you did you have other actually I just on the foundations I mean I know the foundation is the most important but being a landscape cont contractor we have run into it in pools pool patios painting walls um I have to tell you the the taking down of them is extremely simple it saves them on the cost but um but in the long run I mean this is walls that you've put up that you expect to be there forever and literally you're touching them and they're just crumbling and falling and as you said right it could be up for a period of time and then if it gets a crack and moisture gets in there exactly it it impacts it so I mean it's scary and people and I know some people are nervous they don't even it's kind of like going to the doctor they don't want to go because they might find out what's wrong like test yeah thank you thank you does anyone have any other um I know we're getting close to election time and I was interested one of the ballot questions is taking away the mcast requirement so I'm not sure if the legislature at this point has maybe thought of scenarios where the voters decide to go in that direction I know some of your colle colleagues have come out in favor of removing it um what sort of is the option because I would imagine it might not be the best idea to have 351 requirements um I know the administration feels one way and so everybody's sort of come out different but I want to see if there were some maybe ideas that have been formulating already yeah so having spent 12 years on the school committee in llo fought very hard in 2015 working with the federal delegation to remove the high stakes requirement of No Child Left Behind that required a single standardized test for graduation and since Essa the every student succeeds act that was passed in 2015 Massachusetts is only one of eight states that continues to have a single high stakes test as a graduation requirement New York which had the board of regions for many years is actually doing away with it right now because the one thing that we we find out is that what you show by St by a high-stake standardized test is usually the level of wealth of a community and the poverty level rather than actual performance so moving to a model and where you have standards as the Baseline for graduation and I don't think anybody's against you know testing but we want to have meaningful tests we don't want to teach to a test as a son of an educator as someone who is one of those legislators that has canvased uh for question two uh working with my chair on the Senate side of Education Jason Lewis we're already talking about he's planning on filing legislation if this does does pass come January to bolster the standards at the state level that for graduation requirement to give that basine level of competencies that you need to graduate high school in order to give some guidance to our 351 cities and towns and are over 500 school districts in Massachusetts that are under the system right now so I think um if the voters do decide and polling recently shows that it's moving in that direction but we won't know until uh after election day I think the legislature stands ready to bolster those standards to ensure a baseline of competencies but not a single high stakes test that really Praise on I think our most vulnerable populations and doesn't really show the assessment of the value of an education that you've received in a school district it might show how you perform on a single test I think it's sad that like a lot of legislation a lot of things it's great intent but I think too many teachers to spend all their time focusing on getting their kids to pass as opposed to teaching like they normally would teach have classrooms social studies math all these and because if they didn't pass it was you know it was bad for everybody yeah I mean this issue's been filed legislation for years and I think the sort of the impetus of it postco we saw when the test was suspended okay but we do have to Tinker with it I think you know marijuana is a no relation obviously but marijuana is a prime example look it passes on the ballot but then legislation has got to go back and and and rework it right to make it work throughout the Commonwealth and you saw that you know with marijuana before I anticipate I think as Jake alluded to I mean the numbers look like it is going to pass um so I think at some point we're gonna you know very quickly GNA have to deal with it come up with a standard and I do think it's you know the high stakes end of it is U is is is always been is a bone of contention and I think when you look at the overall effectiveness of it teaching to the test and you know having the resources just going in in in in that sort of Direction I think it's been you know you know it served its purpose I think and now we got to revamp it just like we do with the that's out grown it's sort of useful life if you will exactly I couldn't pass it now I can tell you [Laughter] that that's why you're on the East Long mow Town count there you go does anyone have any other questions or comments I would just you know just end by thanking all of you you know all three of us we enjoy representing this community don't hesitate to reach out to us if you know it was nice to be here at the meeting to hear about the 83 project uh you miss that I'll fill you in later um our doors are always open you know where to find us we try to be present in the community if you do have questions that we didn't answer tonight don't hesitate to email our office I will say I'm Municipal Finance the lifeblood of a lot of um communities funding has to do with chapter 78 and I know that communities like East Long Meadow my hometown Al lllo wil Bram hamen Long Meadow a lot of suburban communities didn't see the direct benefit of the student Opportunity Act within the Chapter 70 funding formula I will say that the House and Senate both passed and included in our fy2 budget the ability to crack open that funding formula to look at communities like heong Meadow that didn't see the increases of a Springfield Chickapee Holy Oak some of our Gateway cities to help out we're at I think year six of the student Opportunity Act we have one more year until we fulfill our responsibility of that act and we want to make sure that future funding um benefits all of our communities not just our Gateway cities but communities like eang metal thank you so much for memorize that that's this closing speech via debate but thank you thank you all for being here privilege to be here much for definitely appreciate it take care thank you so much thank you always okay back to business we have financial matters the first item is proving the close remaining balances from completed capital projects totaling $69,500 projects totaling $69,500 five 444 sewer discharge which will go back to the Sewer retained earning $1 15,840 62 account 342003 uh berchin Park uh roof replacement which will go back to general fund 94,95 uh account number 34221 the Council of Aging uh the pointto point van which will go back to the arpa arpa fund of $45,000 account number 34224 a Ford Ranger the money will go back to the arpa fund in the amount of 8,422 count number 34220 one5 uh a Ford Ranger 50% will go back to the water vehicle reserve and 50% the sewer retained earning uh totaling $ 5,731 125 second motion's been made in Saad is there any further discussion I'll just add that uh it's refreshing to see given over the last few years we've seen you know cost escalations over what we could have predicted it's nice to see that some of these projects were able to come in slightly below our added overage that we factored into them so it's hopefully that means they're leveled off gonna continue to go through the RO I'm curious is there a theme or a pattern as to sort of the reason some went down some some didn't just sort of happen not yeah as many products or so all had their own so the the sewer discharge one is is sort of a standard turn back that was like a $500,000 project so 15 grand is is not much right um the buron Park roof was sort of uh some nice work by Bruce um the I think the initial um estimate came back with engineering and all this stuff to be what what was appropriated and as as the project sort of materialized we we sort of cut that part out and and DPW procured it without time Bond so we all know how much that engineering piece adds to a project where most times it's worth doing this was sort of just a roof replacement which we had enough knowledge on staff to sort of do the project without engineering supervision so that that's that's quite a big number that that was saved there um uh the the pointto point van um that was half of a van that we did through Capital last year um and the the grant that Aaron was going through went through uh didn't go through so um as you know the arpa funds have to be um appropriated by December 31st of this year and spent by so we can't take the chance of hoping and losing 45,000 so it's coming back and we're going to appropriate it almost immediately something else yeah yeah um and the Ford Rangers um since we've had difficulties with pricing with vehicles the last four years we've added contingency to all our pricing at this point and and it didn't hit so that hopefully that's a good a good sign for vehicles that that those quotes are going to hold for for six eight months now so great any further discussion seeing none all those in favor please say I great motion passes thank you of our fy2 first quarter budget update Kim mostly Kim um yeah so I think we started last year talking about quarterly updates with the budget so with that 101 page document that jeie sent over is uh all of our general fund uh all the Enterprise funds um basically everything up to date through uh bless you through the first quarter um you know and like last year we I think we had this conversation a lot of them most everything's at 22 to 26% which you'd expect and then there's a lot that are already at 100% And that's we we pay the bill July 1 or the money's encumbered for the entire year um in the first quarter um so uh I don't know if anybody has any specific questions about the budget um there's not much to go over other than the numbers on the page I suppose but um I just wanted to give an update for um for the first quarter um and so there you are if there's any questions we can pick them off I know Ralph oh thank you Conor I I just have a couple um so um account 151 Legal Services yep um it looks like our planning's already gone through almost half of their for legal are we expecting that um some point we're going to be having to add more in or was this ending legal issues right at the beginning of the year and hopefully now it's clear saling or yeah so um this was I know legal issues are always it's hard to tell when yeah um and and I think we had this we had this problem last year and we and we sort of talked about how we broke down all the different line items in the legal fund um I think we transferred money from the general to the planning like two or three times last year um and I think the Hope was that we were going to get to some sort of conclusion um with one of the planning cases in particular um but the land court judge um retired and we've sort of started over again uh which is unfortunate for us in terms of uh the process because I think there'll have to be some more reiteration of things that have already happened um and and we sort of got into that a little bit the other night I don't go into it too far but um yeah so they're they're halfway through um the the it's because a lot of stuff happened this first quarter um with with the new motions and filings and things because of this land Court situation so um but again uh I say that now when I give you the second quarter update we'll see what it looks like but we're this is obviously one of those ones that's um in our office so I have my eye on this more than any other account okay um another question account 241 um it's listed under inspector I'm assuming that's building department because there's multiple people in there um I know currently we don't have a full-time Building Commissioner we have someone that's filling in and I'm just curious if his pay or compensation is coming out of the account for the department head yes because it doesn't look like an extremely large amount of money I mean year to date we've only $10,000 um yeah so that person is not is only working 12 to 15 hours a week so so it is okay so it's accurate it is coming out of the department head for then okay and assuming at some point instead of it saying building inspector I would say building department we we can uh it's funny newness is fun and sometimes it doesn't let you change the labels of things and I think I hate to do the yeah this is the way we've always done it what do what do you think change we're gonna change it there you go I'm like building inspector an inspector that multiple people yeah um yeah that we'll change that everything looked pretty much in order I mean I look through the health and stuff which is encumbered up front so I mean sometimes when you see you've already spent 100% because you paid the whole years so yep I will say I do like that um one of the pages included the projects um for the CPC funds so that was nice to see sometimes we lose track of like we already yeah FL projects that was nice to see the I'll give credit to to CPC on that one they the the new chair and vice chair have sort of gone in and and wiped out projects that have been on the book since 2010 and still on the list um and I I don't I forgot how many are only on the list six or eight now but that list was huge a couple months ago so some some good work by them to sort of pair that down and Genie's help um to get that list to a more manageable uh manageable and accurate list nine of them yeah nine there you go great any other questions we will move on to the free cash certification so I'm Kim you ready yeah well sure if you don't mind um so obviously we talked about this a sco um last time um you guys all got the email and saw um and I just wanted to you know there's a lot that goes on uh in Municipal finance that maybe doesn't get portrayed um yeah it seems like we had a bunch of money and then we didn't spend it and then boom and that's it and that's the end of the story it's not uh a lot goes into this number that we're also happy with um so without further Ado if you want to just go through a little bit and and answer any questions anybody has in terms of the processing okay um so free cash was certified at the end of September which is honestly the the earliest that I think I've ever certified it um and I have to thank Olga for that because was a ton um to help out with schedule a uh free cash certification and the recap um so it was certified at 10,971 177 so it's up 3.3 million from last year when we were at 7.6 and then the year before that I think it was up um close to a million so I think we've talked about it over and over again how when um Money's been turned back from the budget over the past couple years it's been upwards of I think 2.8 million and a lot of that was due to how the budgeting was being done in particular departments and health insurance probably the biggest one so I would say about I think it's about 1.2 million was turned back just for health insurance alone in the past couple years so that's what's really been contributing to the increases in um free cash over the past couple years the other thing is since I started here I've been reviewing all of the special Revenue funds so anything any of the grants that had money lingering around any of the special Revenue funds revolving funds we've transferred that money into the general fund at the end of the year so that's probably accounted for about half a million um or little over half a million over the past couple years the other thing is since we've banned for the school and for the natatorium we've been able to use the cash flow that we don't need right now and we've been able to invest it so this past year I we had about 950,000 investment income as compared to I think half a million last year as compared to only a couple hundred thousand the year before so that's what's really contributing to all this money um going into free cash and it's a really good thing all of our reserves have really pretty much gone up with the exception I think the water fund because we did use um retained earnings to cover some things rather than going out and bonding them and just paying all that interest that we don't really need to so in general um all of our reserves are going in the right direction great anyone have any questions for Ken of course no um I I it's not really a question it's just a note that so basically what you're saying is don't expect in the future that we're going to be getting 1.2 million from health because things are going to be operated differently to where it'll be a lot closer when we're budgeting that is true I mean what I would say is that we are planning to ban um and permanently bond for the school and the auditorium we're almost doubling what we've already banned so that will give us investment income we'll be able to invest that um and there you know there always is something that gets turned back from the from the general fund it's just I wouldn't rely on health insurance no yeah we we talked about that line item quite a bit and and adjusted it accordingly during the budget process this year so that's not that's that won't be a 1 point2 unless something happens with the insurance World between now and then but doubtful it's not going to go down like the Ford Ranger um and so if I remember correctly we also improv the ability to um do more aggressive investing um and I'm assuming that as long as the Market's still good is probably GNA hopefully give us a decent payback on some of the different accounts yeah I mean absolutely when you consider what we've been paying in bands and bonds you're earning more just in interest I mean if we put it in a CD we're earning more so the Ms were definitely doing pretty well good to hear yeah I like good news so a lot of that has to do with obviously the whole financial team don fonty our Treasurer collector um handles most of that um so I like I said I I rather than just say hey 10.9 yay I just wanted to to sort of let everyone know how much work goes into this behind the scenes to sort of take care of our money fiscally responsibly um and efficiently really making it work for us yeah we have to we have to borrow this money because we voted to pay for a school but in the interim we're making that money work for us while while we have it so um I I just thought that was important to mention um along this this this topic nice yeah I just want to add thank you to you Kim and of course the entire Finance team on all of this stuff yeah thank you everyone really I mean when he says don don is moving money whenever she can to take the most interest and to get the best investment income so great yeah absolutely right we can then move on to approval of minutes thanks Kim thanks K need me for want me go I will yeah you don't have to well stay like having you yeah like an audience yeah we do like an audience right so we have the approval of the24 open S I make a motion to approve the September 24th 2024 Open Session minutes second motion made in second in is there any further discussion say none all those in favor please say iion the approval of the executive session minutes is there a motion make a motion to approve the September 24th 2024 executive session minutes I will second motion's been made and seconded any further discussion seeing none all those in favor please say I I I opposed and exception great old business we have the order of taking for 382 North Main Street Tom um so I want to introduce Rebecca tibo um from dor Wallace Pillsbury and Murphy um has been uh not only dealing with my frantic emails and phone calls the last two weeks um has done uh an amazing amount of work on this process uh to get us here uh to this point so uh thank you Rebecca you um so uh at this point you know um the process is fairly simple in terms of where we're at and that's um we've already sort of this this body has already voted to sort of uh complete this transaction if you will the money was appropriated the money was budgeted um basically at this point we're just looking to finish the order of taking um I don't know if there's anything else you want to add or if anybody has questions but of course uh as much as I can uh which is why I brought Rebecca she certainly can so if there's anything you want to know before um before the conversation continues please feel free to ask um May I'll just uh open just with the quick synopsis too in addition to what you said this was the I mean of course for the council but we we know but for the general public watching yeah um this was the continuation of a few years ago of looking and evaluating the space needs of the Town especially at the Town Hall and looking at what do we do do we continue to lease space or find other space of course 382 North Main Street presented itself as an opportunity to acquire then as we found out um given the price to acquire it state law we couldn't buy it as if we were a normal resident purchasing a new home through the what's the word eminent Dom eminent domain process even though we were doing it in a friendly manner cooperating on both sides of the transaction it was still something that we had to legally follow that process so that's what led us to this point this evening does anyone have any questions or comments before we continue okay straightforwards like comments not even from me I'm surprised for hope I know all right so that I will move that in accordance with and under chapter 79 of the Mass general laws and having complied with all preliminary requirements under chapter 7 were taking I move to adopt the order of taking owners improvements and trees located thereon on is 382 North Street in the form reviewed at this meeting and to authorize Thomas D Christian Town manager make carry out all necessary arrangements to uate the taking in accordance with and subject to chapter 79 the agreement of taking in waiver and release of flames and indemnification agreement between the town and the owner dated August 6th 2024 and to execute all documents necessary or incident theto including without limitation directing the recording of the order of taking further to award damages to the owner in connection with the taking in the amount of 5,600,000 plus the amount attributable to estimated taxes and CPA from the date of taking through the end of the current fiscal year second that motion has been made in seconded is there any further discussion seeing none I'll do a roll call vote Jim yes Marilyn yes I a yes Anna yes Ralph yes and John yes passes unanimously thank you simple easier thought now we just got to get through the rest of the week yes well but now it's just you and Tom yeah yeah well and your signatures on oh yes yeah you want my signature if we have if only six voted do we still need all seven is that that's a good question I think we will get all six I just want to check the statute and we don't need a unanimous an unanimous vote anyway and there's only seven members and so I think we're good on the six okay but I'll just double check that all right and you said there was the other option of the clerk certifying the vote so we'll be fine for Friday no matter what awesome great maybe just um one question now that we that out of the way um just for everyone's awareness what do we see as the next steps or timeline look like for the whole so this this one was interesting because it's a friendly taking we kind of lined everything up in advance as if we were doing a closing of a purchase sale and so in a normal taking normal being maybe not a friendly and maybe not according to the agreement that was signed originally uh the August 6th agreement um you would sign in order of taking it gets recorded and then that triggers certain things happening then you have to get the then you have to have the appraisal done and get a figure out what the damages are pay them out deal with parties who may have claims all of that has been dealt with and so between today and Friday we want to record the order of taking on Friday which is the closing date and um between now and then we are um figuring out final adjustments for re for rental payments from the other parties how that gets credited to the town um and getting things like tenant estopa letters to protect you from what the tenants that are in there and so the next step is just just me Tom and the owner Council lining all of that up getting exchanging documents and then the order of taking would be record is planned to be recorded on Friday and that is effectively when the taking um occurs and we will my my firm the town will wire my firm the money my firm holds it and then upon the recording we um give that to the owner so effective generally Friday it's the town of East Long Meadow's property yeah great ready for it yes yes I don't want to I don't want to downplay I thank you for all the assistance um I don't want to embarrass you or get guty again but um thank you for everything uh there was a lot that went into this and I appreciate all of it thank thank you so much thank you so much talk to you tomorrow okay thank you thanks oh do you wanna is there do you want me to sign do you want to wait we only have one more agenda item do you want to wait a sec I'll wait because if I can get the original signatures I i' like walk away with okay okay don't step on it or anything no okay our next item was under old business to an update on the Health Department's recommendation for increasing the mattress disposal fee so if you'll recall this came up under our agenda at the last meeting there were a couple takeaway questions on that and then correct me if I'm wrong Tom but my understanding was we did some calculations and determined that there wasn't going to be a detrimental right impact to our upcoming budget right so we'll just we'll do it we'll we'll plan for this fee in the next budget and we'll change it all then right maybe by then it goes up even more yeah right that we have action items I'm aware of but let me just double check our calendar to make sure missing anything we'll have a uh most likely a tax hearing that first November meeting um and we'll have the election update from yeah you will you will so through the chair sure I know quite a few meetings ago we had talked about the HR department looking in to the life insurance we had voted basically to allow that but then with the HR department yeah being at Bare Bones we decided to spare them so at some point like I said major thank you for reminding me we gonna have I know we discussed two weeks ago the op F talking about um alternative members of the planning board are we doing anything beyond that discussion or um did we looking into like how many cases this has sort of perhaps Quorum has impacted um my time management did not allow me to get to that um we uh we we were concentrated on 382 but that is still on my list and um I I'm hoping to get that data sort of corraled by the next meeting and I do know just previewing the next agenda we have a couple first uh readings to go through as well for November 12th okay great any other action items are we we already did a first reading on the dog c y we schedule any date for that to come back yet I don't believe so through a public hearing and stuff at that point yeah I don't think we'll be in time for that maybe the end of November but probably more December for okay perfect thank you great this time entertain oh entertain a motion to adjourn removed second further all those in favor please say I hi any opposed we returned at 7:15 thank you