##VIDEO ID:CKAaqsQ72Js## this government meeting is brought to you by eastw works and our local cable subscribers the meeting tonight is being recorded and broadcast by emedia on Charter channel 193 and live streaming on their web page eastampton media.org counselors and particip in this meeting are gathered hybrid on the order extended till March 2025 allowing us to do so I remind both the members of the city council and the public participating remotely to remain muted until recognized by the city council president also for members of the public please remove your camera for the duration of the meeting unless you are participating in public speak or the public hearing thank you this meeting is now called to order Maryann Connie Denham here Salem Derby present Felicia jazic here JP quiny here Tom Peak here Brad Riley here Toma Smith here JT Terrell here okay and now we will uh take a a short moment of [Music] silence and please join me for the play of [Music] Allegiance I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible liberty and justice for all I commit to working toward uh and we have uh two sets of minutes here um one from January 15th and January 22nd I would entertain a motion to approve those minutes anybody want to make that motion so moved all right we I make a motion to amend okay so we just need to get the first motion on okay and then so let's get a second for that okay we have a motion in a second and then sounds like we have a motion to to amend the minutes the January 22nd minutes okay um in the first line just would like to offer a correction to my last name there's a SE missing okay so add a c on the first line um and um and so that's in the form of a motion so I would take a second to amend okay we have a motion a second on the motion all those in favor oh wait we should we forget that we have two remote members so we're going to have to roll call this sorry [Music] marann okay Connie denim I Salem Derby I Felicia jansik hi JP Quinsy hi Tom Peak hi Brad Riley hi I Tamara Smith I JT Terrell I okay the um Amendment passes and now we have the original motion uh so any further discussion on the original motion uh as amended uh seeing none wait wait wait sorry I'm just tell me what we're voting for right now so right now we're voting on the amended minutes with the correction adding a see okay I have one more amendment I would like to see John okay can introduce that at this time or is it too late nope you can do that this is the time to do that I do not have my glasses on but in the don't mind oh I'm I just no I just see that it was amended that there's no actual address for um public speakers and I just wanted to make sure that was amended in the record so thank you all right so we have um the original motion as amended uh Maran Salem Derby hi phip Felicia jadik hi JP Quinsy Tom Peak hi Brad Riley hi Tamara Smith I JT Terrell I and motion passes uh thank you uh and so now we have the opportunity for the public uh comment and oh sorry Connie yeah yeah you didn't say my name so I also agree to it oh so pardon me I was trying to do the their Direction okay thank you so now we have uh councelor denim's vote correctly recorded and the motion passes thanks councelor denim um so public comment and this is your opportunity to address the council regarding any topic not listed under the um public hearings uh please address the council and uh a new thing that we are just trying to get across the board is we're asking people to give you don't have to give us your actual address just give your street address um and um uh you have 3 minutes hi my name is era pulin I live on Parson Street uh welcome to the council I'm very happy that you're representing Us in in Precinct to um I'm here tonight to hold space for councelor Smith at the meeting on January 22nd with the last city council meeting councelor Smith correctly acknowledged that some missteps were taken during the appointment process during this past December um I think that this shows uh great humility on councelor Smith's part great leadership and a growth mindset all of which are I Believe essential um qualities that any elected official on local Municipal Federal level um should have so I wanted to take a moment to acknowledge that uh to express my appreciation for you um and to express that uh you have my respect and support moving forward thank you uh anyone else like to address the Council on any issues that are not on the public hearings and if you're online you can raise your virtual hand okay oh yeah absolutely um so we're going to do the people that are in the building first and then we'll go to online so please okay got quite problem I'm Marvin Ward I live in the city Cottage s um s on the old factory building and I'm here because we have had uh my mayor and myself the idea that we should have a Citywide straight speed limit and I've PA back in okay that was two two three four months ago and August I think it's on my paper there and I came in last week because I was told or last month last meeting because I was told that we were going to discuss it from the previous week but we didn't and now last week they said we would be discarding it today well he's but I understand that uh the guy who is the chair of the committee has resigned so I'm a little worried about when we're ever going to get it I live here on this street right here and I see cars and trucks going 40 45 miles an hour all the time from my windows I see it I don't have to go out to look and I really don't like it I we already had some decent people killed there and I'm afraid we're going to have another one I don't want to be one but anyway I you know so I would like to see it got on the thing and distribute and a decision made because it is not any a difficult decision okay um okay and before I take the next one just as a point of information we do have a public hearing coming up for that item on um February 19th February 19th at 65 I will be there okay so let me see stay here tonight too welcome too um do we have any virtual hands oh okay uh Julie and and Julie I don't know if you heard but um we're asking people to give their just for the sake of the minutes or asking people to give their street address then you don't have to give your actual address just so it's consistent across every participant okay oh can we give the precinct um so we're we're uh we're asking people to actually just give their street address as opposed to the precinct yeah okay so six um I'm on Concord um I just Julie from Concord I have a couple of brief things just to mention just very quickly um first I just wanted to say I'm I'm very saddened about the resignation of councelor Owen zaret um he certainly was a voice of his constituents and his positive impact to our committee will be greatly missed um I don't blame him for resigning I think the last city council meeting was extremely toxic in a malicious targeted attack and um even from a sitting city counselor I think that the school committee should be investigated as they certainly went beyond their complaint of his persistence in getting answers and literally attacked him um secondly um I understand that the city council is going to be voting tonight for a president and I just and I don't know if you can answer this question but I didn't see any names on an agenda so I didn't know is it just everybody is in the pool for that or does people have to put their names in to be president of the city council can you answer that for me uh I think I can just give some information which is uh the rules of the city council state uh anybody can be nominated okay so it's just like a nomination okay I just didn't not that process so I was just curious about it um so I will say this from the last meeting a lot of people wanted a female as the president um for the city councelor I will say this as a woman I will say that gender has absolutely nothing to do with selecting the best individual for that position I think in my eyes selecting that best person for the job should be based solely on their qualifications and abilities and choosing a leader based on gender can be a factor in unconscious bias leading to overlooking the most qualified candidate whether male or female um we need a leader who can effectively communicate who can make decisions that are unbiased who can actually build a cohesive team that serves our community they cannot allow their emotions to Define their decisionmaking this is counterproductive and most certainly can lead to bias decisions so I'm asking that when you do choose who is going to be president please ensure it's not due to gender but because the person you choose is actually most qualified thank you okay thank you uh anybody else okay uh looks like we don't have anybody else so we can uh move on we still have about four minutes before our um public hearing so I think we might be able to do um we do have no items for media action we have communications from elected Boards of officials we do have um councelor Z's letter of recommendation which was submitted to me what's that resignation res recommendation oh resignation sorry um which was submitted to me on uh February 4th uh and I forwarded it to the clerk um and has been accepted and I do have just a quick statement um about that so uh first and foremost I want to take a moment to express my best wishes to councelor zarett for his service to our city his dedication hard work and contributions to East Hampton have made a meaningful impact and we appreciate the time and energy he has devoted to this community public service is not easy and it requires a deep commitment to our shared values I'm sure the next chapter will bring him new passions and a place to focus his energy his resignation presents complex challenges that this Council will need to navigate with careful consideration we are committed to addressing these matters in consultation with the school committee and our school and our city solicitor ensuring that we uphold both the Integrity of this body and the trust of the public while attempting to minimize misinformation and accusations as we move forward is it essential that we remember why we are here we are not here for ourselves we are here for the people of East Hampton our responsibility is to work together to listen and to find solutions to the challenges before us this is not a time for division it's a time for Unity honesty and integrity our city is facing real and pressing issues affordable housing the launch of major developing Pro development projects the ongoing need to support our small businesses and the broader difficulties of an increasingly tense National political climate these are not simple problems and they will not be solved by by one voice or one perspective alone they require collaboration transparency and willingness to seek Common Ground the strength of eastampton has always been its people our resilience our passion our commitment to progress but we cannot move forward if we allow personal agendas or disagreements to overshadow our shared Mission when we enter this chamber we must leave those agendas at the door and focus on what truly matters the well-being of our city and its future tonight let us recommit ourselves to the work ahead let us be honest in our discussions act with Integrity in our decisions and embrace the spirit of cooperation East Hampton deserves nothing less um and so I think that that brings us into our public hearing so I guess we have a pretty good timing I would entertain a motion to open the public hearing move to open the public hearing second we have a motion in a second any further discussion okay maryan Felicia jazik sorry what is what are we voting open public yes JP kazinski Tom Peak Brad Riley hi Tamara Smith hi JT Terell hi Connie danam I Salem Derby hi and so we got everybody public hearing is open and I will turn this over to council Peak thank you Mr President um we have two items tonight uh uh FR Finance uh the first one is a interde departmental transfer of $20,000 from the reserve fund to salary um this is to fund uh the salary for a sustainability coordinator position at 34 uh hours per week for the remainder of fiscal year 2025 uh as many of you may remember uh we voted on an ordinance to approve this position um in the fall uh there was some back and forth about what uh Department this position should ultimately be in whether it should be in planning or DPW uh so the position will uh fall within DPW just because of a lot of the energy stuff it just they thought that that made the most sense um and uh now we I think I believe there is a pending offer but we need to actually fund the position so uh uh this the $20,000 would fund the position through the remainder of the fiscal year and then in remaining fiscal years or in future fiscal years it would be part of uh the budget so um not a whole lot else to say there I think we all voted for this when it to to make the position so now we need to pay for it okay uh any counselors have any questions okay does anybody from the public like to make a comment or have a question on this oh mayor please yeah thank thank you to the city council for the support but also I wanted to just take the opportunity um to one thank our conservation agent Ava who uh filled the Gap while we were getting ready to do this and also our past conservation agent uh Cassie Trager who put together the climate action plan and really laid the groundwork for uh this position it uh fills a part of our climate action plan but also uh puts us in line to be a climate leadership community where allows us to um apply for more grants we anticipate within the budget um we will uh have this position in DPW with the expectation that some of it will be offset by Green communities and climate leadership but thank you for the support really important step forward for East Hampton great thank you mayor uh it looks like we have our Human Resources Director Emily did you want to add anything on this I think the mayor did a pretty good job of recapping but yeah we previously had had our conservation agent really filling the gaps with this position and you know it's kind of taken a life of its own and we're excited to see what we can do with it so great thank you okay so unless there's any other comments I will take a motion sure uh so I'll make this request in the form of a motion uh request is hereby made for the approval of the following appropriation amount requested is $20,000 to be transferred from Reserve fund $20,00 ,000 to be transferred to salary $20,000 the amount requested will be used for the following purpose funding for the salary of the sustainability coordinator position at 34 hours per week for the remainder of fiscal year 2025 is second good okay we have a motion in the second do we have any further discussion see none Maran JB quiny hi Tom Peak hi Brad Riley I Tamara Smith I JT Terell hi Connie denim I Salem Derby I Felicia jadik I motion passes uh coun Peak looks like we have a supplemental appr appropriation we do um so the supplemental appropriation uh is uh from the uh Community preservation act uh it is uh $100,000 uh to be appropriated from the CPA fund undesignated fund balance uh and to be appropriated to uh tasty top affordable housing uh this would uh I I'm going to probably end up turning this over uh to Ava at some point but um but but just the the basics of it are uh you know that the de when developers go out for Grants and and uh uh tax credits and things like this uh they uh the the granting agencies frequently like to see that the city uh has some sort of skin in the game uh up to this point I don't believe uh that the tasty top project we we've appropriated money uh towards that project but I guess that actually could be a um impediment to getting some of the grants that could make this happen so um they had requested that we put something in and the $100,000 um even correct me on some of the details but it does come in on a per unit basis uh at a bit quite a bit l Les uh than the uh other um than some of the other affordable housing projects that we funded through CPA so that's a plus uh I will say that the um the finance committee uh voted to to bring this to the fall Council without um without a recommendation the main reason for that is that uh there was some scheduling snafus uh last week uh and as a result uh neither uh our uh CPA uh sort of coordinator or or the developer were at the meeting so there were and while I sit on CPA I was actually uh not at the meeting where I had a professional commitment uh on the night that they voted on this so uh there were a lot of questions Flo floating around that nobody in the room was really equipped to answer so we uh we we moved this to uh the full Council uh and and I I believe that there's someone from the developer here and and a is also here and so uh I I think at this point I'd just turn it over if you're okay doing that yeah so the CPA committee uh voted to appro voted to appropriate the $100,000 um unanimously and this is for phase one the the applicant did make it clear that they would likely be coming back for future phases is of tasty top of the affordable housing at Tasty top um but this is for 36 units uh in Phase 1 which my understanding is that Phase 1 is 37 units so the affordable housing is designed to be built first under this current proposal um and we were presented at CPA committee with a project budget showing uh an $18 million budget um so $100,000 you know was a very small fraction of that uh and just a notable piece from the CPA committee's discussion on this issue was uh former CPA uh Committee Member Jess Allen spoke in strong favor of it um as an affordable housing person in her professional life uh just noting uh like councelor Peak noted the the local commitment being so important to matching the state funds but I do also believe we have someone from the developer team to speak to this so okay and is that maybe Peter that's right yeah I I uh and and I was uh uh heard that um there was a meeting the original meeting at the CPA there was a snafu where we weren't there but we did we were present for uh a presentation at the meeting with which the CPA voted I wasn't sure if that was clear um or if it was another meeting that we didn't know about but um yeah I mean I as far as everybody just summarized it uh well this is a super competitive process to uh get State funds to develop the affordable housing and this uh commitment from the town is viewed really highly by the state um we also have saw uh you know support with on the affordable units where there is a opportunity for the building permit fees to be alloc be reduced for just the affordable units so that's that's another element that can help uh you know articulate the town's support of developing affordable housing in uh in the area great thank you um do any counselors have any questions at this point okay uh councelor denam thank you Mr President um so just a couple [Music] of questions um there seems to be some discrepancy between when you first proposed this that you weren't going to be asking for uh funds from the city so could you just could you I think I understand why but could you just explain uh why it is that you are now coming to the city for uh City funds I don't I don't have record nor would I have advised uh the uh owner developer to say that um so I I personally don't have records of saying that we wouldn't be looking for funds from the city um and and so if that's just uh I I can't really speak to it beyond that but but but I can speak to this the the overarching need as was articulated before to have City and Community Support in the financial way to basically it it it's more than checking the Box because the city has been incredibly supportive of affordable housing through zoning processes and as the mayor has you know made it a aug huge part of her Administration and as you all are are uh are are realizing and seeing now is the is the fruit of that labor though not everybody agrees with it the fact is is there are some fantastic projects on the on the pipeline and the pipeline for the state is incredibly competitive uh to get those State resources yeah great thank you and then the next question that I have is uh we're offering or we're contributing $100,000 can you for the community just help us understand what does that open up in terms of our contribution is uh 100,000 but what what is that opening up for you in terms of additional funds sure yeah no I I I can provide that I apologize I'm going to just I I need to open a quick spreadsheet but I can do that um so the the development of the 36 units which is again this is the first phase of the development um the the state funds that this essentially uh opens up is applying for um $3.2 million worth of uh what the state considers soft Grant or we call soft grants which are only repayable when it's no longer a affordable so it's essentially money that secures the affordability that's 3.2 million it also allows us access to getting $113 Million worth of state and federal tax credit equity and so this is where these all of the affordable housing in the country for the most part is public private Partnerships where the very basics of it are instead of a company who has a tax burden to send their money to Washington or to Beacon Hill they put the money straight into the community into housing and in lie of paying the taxes so that that's what the tax credit program does and this this competitive application uh allows a developer for-profit or nonprofit to secure that allocation which turns into about $13.8 million great thank you it looks like we have a question from councelor Kinski uh thank you I just wanted to say thank you for the explanation about what the $100,000 leverages I appreciate that very much it also uh leads me to ask the following question since there seem to be some concern about whether the there would be any funds and you say that that you would never advise an owner developer to to say that because well gosh how would you get the tax credits Etc I imagine uh if you didn't have a public participation in the process $100,000 36 36 units now uh how many more units and how much more public funds are you thinking about right right so it's a good very good question so one thing that I also and I think Eva got nailed it but maybe the numbers I didn't hear correctly the the development was permitted with a requirement for 37 units of affordable housing out of 206 I believe um and what what we are doing is in this first phase we're building 36 units all will be affordable and as long you know the plan is to well for sure we have to develop the other unit but the plan plan is to do another 36 or or 45 unit phase with um with additional affordable housing so the the project total can be at you know theoretically over the course of the next 10 plus years could develop as many as 200 total uh housing units and what as far as the requests to the CPA are you know while I you know to a certain degree this might set a precedent $100,000 for 36 units I would uh advise that we would we would seek what we either need or the equivalent right you know the uh uh you know $100,000 per 36 units or if the economy or things change and such that it could go up or down I mean we unfortunately are seeing construction costs continue to go up but uh that that would be to be determined thank you thank you uh Council Peak um thanks for all of that uh one question I did have uh because I remember you saying this the CPA presentation but uh I I I wouldn't mind if you restated what is the the basis for the the 100,000 like what when this request came through like how did you get to the 100,000 number right right um I looked at the awards that were given to TCB and home City both groups that I've done work with in the past and I wanted to make sure that we were asking for Less per unit than they were uh and uh and I think that uh there was an averaging of around you know whether it was 12 12,000 a unit or what have you I came up with this as a six figure amount which shows Earnest commitment for the city for the state to see a true commitment of funds and but yet to do it at a at as reasonable level as I thought was going to pass muster with the state okay um yeah thank you president I just would like to go back to a previous point if you don't mind just to clarify for my understanding and for the community's understanding so the 100,000 if if I understand correctly is for the 36 affordable units and then that's out of a total of 37 so if you do come back to us asking for more funding in the future it would just be for one additional unit is that correct well so the the intention has been to develop and and this kind of is a there's an economic uh story here right market rate housing in the community RIT large is is Affordable it's just we don't have enough period right so if um the the the without getting too complicated you have you can have a market rate situation where you've got luxury market rate and can charge lots of money for rent to high you know or wealthier folks or you can charge what the market it bears in this community which qualifies as low income or tax credit eligible housing so the word low income is really a misnomer it really is Workforce housing so a long-winded way of saying our plan is to continue to build qualified affordable housing as defined by the state and the city under 80% area median income and that we would we we owe the city another one unit but we intend to build dozens more of affordable units and so again would that mean we would look at you know if we're doing say a 100 unit phase would it be $100,000 or would it be 110 or 120 you know it would be to be determined I I guess through both Community input and back and forth with where the CPA is and other demands that are on it I would say can I ask a followup question so do you have any sense um even if it's a really broad range of what you might be thinking of coming to us and asking for additional funding in the future no and I think the the I'd say the safe bet from my earlier comment about a precedent is I think it's a 2,800 a little under 2,8 $0000 a unit is what the current request is and you know I think that that is a uh a reasonable request to assume for a further unit that that would be coming online as a baseline does that make sense I mean that's the it's a it's a hard crystal ball to look at but I what we're saying is is we're not looking to take any more than is needed um and but the but the future is unknown as far as many things right thank you okay um do we have any other counselors that have questions and mayor did you want to make a statement before I go online yep please um just um to clarify to so the $100,000 that's before you tonight um is actually a little lower of what we did like compared to the Fairy Street project and one of the reasons is for that is we were able the city was able to obtain an earmark from Congressman Neil's office um for almost $900,000 to address the infrastructure that this project needs um to address to get to the housing so the city's contribution comes in a whole bunch of different ways uh the state looks specifically for some CPA um contribution uh because of the housing uh the specific carve out for housing going forward and to Peter's Point um future requests would be uh made in conjunction with the city because we have uh more state grants that are lined up for this project including massw Works which we've already applied for once and we're told great application but we need to come back with a a timeline um that's a little we're closer than uh shovels on the ground so what the future requests will be balanced um with what other state federal money we are able to get and we have that in our pipeline of applications as well Mass doot has some substantial work plan for that area that would help this project and others um that project's timeline they're in design but that could take years and not um uh line up with this so um just for general information the CPA amounts really um this is what the state and federal government likes to see to get to tax credits and whatnot um the next request will really be balanced with applications uh Grant applications Awards and maybe some more Federal winning mayor just a quick question did that your mark is that why we haven't seen a tiff is um yeah so the um it yes I meant I should have mentioned that um the area of uh because of the zoning in this area and it's an opportunity Zone similar to Ferry Street it is um very desirable to do a tiff which helps the back end of a project become affordable we're you know everything's on the table to get housing in the city but with the ear mark up front um we're holding on that on on the city and and seeing the total package of of funding and and you know really trying to help this uh development to get that first building of affordable housing up front appreciate that thank you um any other questions before I go online okay uh [Music] C can you hear me yes we can thank you counselors um I just my name is k j McQuade uh resident at Jones Drive uh member of the East ampton affordable and Fair Housing Partnership um I just want to express my steadfast support for this project I mean I think we all know that we're in a deep housing crisis um and this money will help them address some of their costs uh like Peter mentioned there's a lot of unknowns right now like Dental tariffs and lots of things that are causing um that are creating barriers for developers so I think we as a community really need to support in this way um and I think that's all I have to say thank you thank [Music] you hi uh Kathy wizinsky Overlook Drive I wanted to ask that the council not approve this funding I sat in on the um original request for a comprehensive permit and during that that process which was long and arduous um one of the things that this the developer did say was that they weren't going to be applying for CPA funds and that was supposed to be a selling point for us um I do not believe that the city should be helping this developer make profit the majority of this development is a huge profit-making Venture and really the only affordable housing or low-income housing that this developer has to put in is these 36 units that word salad that that developers um staff used really talked about the potential for more affordable housing but the likelihood is it will be market rate even if it is Affordable it may not be lwi income um this developer has proven time and time again in other communities that they don't follow the rules and they build to the lowest legal standard and we end up with shoddy developments and this development also is going to be a huge burden on our traffic situation and we're already having significant accidents including one recent death in our community because of the increased traffic I would ask you to vote no on this um allocation thank you anybody else uh from the audience yep up to the podium Carl prawl Tory Street I guess I just had a quick question um developers said that they were proposing affordable rents a lot of talk of affordable housing but then there was a comment that affordable housing would be what the market could bear and I really would like to know what kind of price range we're talking about when we talk affordable housing since we already know low-income members our community which is 45% of our community cannot afford housing rents as it is thank you thank you um I believe number and and if Peter if you want to answer that that would be great I I think you said 80% of median some yes yeah now I I I I'd like I can you know CU it is complicated and confusing and I don't want anybody to leave confused on this so the These funds that we are applying for to the state um which require uh actually it again the 60% of area median income is what the uh rules around tax credit housing have always have been for the last 35 years in recent years they allowed up to 80% which is a defined affordable number 80% of very meian income but the overall project so the 36 units would have to have an average income of 60% Ami so that means that there are there will be uh units that reach down to 30% Ami some units will be at 60% Ami and some are allowed to go up as much as 80% Ami and so it's a a very good question so what what I went meant to uh convey about the market rents is the rent limits for a 60% for today a 60% Ami one bedroom rental that is allowed at 60% is $1,200 a month okay what I was saying is is there's a lot there's such low inventory of one-bedroom apartments currently in the area that you may well find on the market a $1,200 one-bedroom but it wouldn't have you know the latest Green Design elevator bike storage and amenities and be you know a new building so that that's that's where it can be kind of confusing when I mention it's a challenge western Mass faces When developing affordable housing is just that the local market rents for what is available is very close to the 60% Ami rents that the federal government allows us to charge Char whereas if you're in a place like Cambridge or Boston the market rent might be $3500 and the tax credit rent might be [Music] ,200 okay any other questions before we have a motion any looks oh looks like we might have one more and um while we wait let Julie go ahead hi sorry thank thank you Julie again um I just have a question um so we know we talk about CPA it does tax homeowners money okay we're paying we just got got our real estate taxes they went up Skyhigh a lot of us are panicking over this okay so when we give $100,000 that's a lot of money and we need to look at it carefully and but my question is with this $100,000 and with all of this housing building what is the study with the resources that are going to be needed for all of these housing I'm talking government facilities I'm talking First Responders we have never gotten an answer is that money going to be covered by the grants by how how is this how are we going toay pay for this and can you guarantee that the homeowners are not going to be picking up the tab and all of these resources so when we give $100,000 you say oh that's not that much money but it is to a homeowners who could really use that money right now because they're struggling I'm telling you they're struggling out there so we're helping everybody else but what are you going to do for the homeowners what has been done for us to make sure that we don't lose our own houses while we're building houses for other people before we start giving away a lot of money thank you thank you thank you um quick question is 60% St your name and address Darlene or vietto M Street is um 60% Ami the lowest you would charge no the so so in this competitive funding round at the state there's a requirements that you have um I think it's written currently 16% of the units to be below 30% Ami or for what are you know homeless or at risk of homeless folks so that there is again you know there's a lot of different levels of homeless right and there's a there's tremendous you know even family homelessness that are uh that people are facing so there are proposed in this development um rental subsidies both there's there are four units to be set aside for veterans uh and home or homeless veterans and that will be operated and selected and service through Soldier on and then those are funded with a Bash voucher uh which is like a similar to just a Housing Voucher that is focused for veterans and then there is the application includes uh a Massachusetts rental Voucher Program which is another form of subsidy that goes directly to the uh to the tenant to pay the rent okay all right thank you a mix yeah okay so there are other intentions as far as charge what you're going to charge for this unit so um is that laid out anywhere in stone or it seems like there has been a consistent pattern of saying one thing and then doing another saying one thing and then coming back to ask for more and you're you're grinning but I think Julie has a great point and I think that I you know I really think that there should be sort of hammered in there what what really is this going to look like and I don't think you should be given the money at all because I don't think you need help making money um and I wish the CPA Council would consider strongly uh what was presented by Kathy but would ask you but also Julie and it's just um you know if if one thing was said in the past now one thing's being done it just I don't know it just consider that thank you uh and I think that probably does it for public questions uh councelor Peak let's get a motion on the table sure I'll make the following request in the form of a motion request is hereby made for approval of the following appropriation amount requested $100,000 to be appropriated from CPA fund undesignated fund balance $100,000 to be appropriated to Tasty top affordable housing $100,000 the amount requested will be used for the following purpose for the building of 36 affordable housing units in Phase One of a 34 acre mixed use development second okay we have a motion the second any further discussion on the motion and it looks like um counselor Denim and then we'll go to councelor Kinski uh thank you Mr President um I just I I can't I can't speak to the Integrity of the of the company right like they're presenting us with information and I I can only assume good intent that they're going to follow through with the things that they are saying I I will say that I am going to support this be because um the reality is is that we have families in East Hampton right now that um are in housing situations where we have outside buyers coming in and jacking up um rents in this community right now by sometimes 4 % and those individuals are having to uh find other um housing options because they can no longer um afford that and so I'm hoping that with all of these um uh developments that are coming around affordable housing that we can ease some of the tension of people who are feeling housing insecure right now and um you know we have a responsibility to those individuals as well and so um you know I'm going to support this today um because I'm thinking about those individuals and their desire to be able to stay in this community thank you councelor denim any other counselors councelor Kinski uh it certainly gives me pause to think that we have people who need housing and around the streets and it also gives me pause to think that homeowners who are struggling to pay their fair share are struggling to pay their fair share and want to see that every dollar is used to the best of its ability that being said I recognize fully and I hope the public understands the intricate system that we have to develop housing for those who need housing and the funding mechanisms that are in place those mechanisms without those mechanisms there would not be any housing the rates would be even higher they will stay higher and go they're already going high they're going to be higher without that $100,000 leverage to get the state grants and the state and federal tax credits we would have no project none we're looking for I think the lowest possible contribution that looks reasonable to the state and gets the project through I think my fellow counselors would agree with that that's why tonight I'll be voting yes thank you uh Council Riley um thank you Mr President um yeah so you know similar to you know what some other counselors have said um you know I I certainly have my reservations about giving $100,000 of community funding to um a Vel oper that is going to make several million dollars off of this project uh much to the sugrin of the public who didn't want the project to begin with um however this is the best situation uh that we can hope for with the um the current state of the uh Housing Industry um there are so many reforms that need to occur at the federal level and at the state level in order for affordable housing to actually be affordable right so I want to be clear that affordable housing in the context that we're talking about is a legal definition that is a calculation based on the area median income of the Springfield metropolitan area it is not actually affordable in the sense that people can afford to live there for people in East Hampton right these are two things that uh seemingly don't make sense um and it's because HUD uses the term affordable housing as a legal definition it's not affordable people in East Hampton cannot sustain building multiple affordable housing units and expect that people in our community who are poor can live in them because they can't um right now I believe uh unless the numbers have changed it's about $1,800 for uh a one-bedroom apartment right there's no poor person in eath Hampton that can afford to pay $1,800 for a one-bedroom nor could a single parent with two children afford a three-bedroom apartment that's going to be $2,400 a month it's not feasible so re recognizing that right now we have no control over that system this is the best thing that we have at our disposal what I would ask of the community and of our city councilors is to not just accept this as the status quo but to start thinking about creative ways to petition uh this the state of Massachusetts to undo the preemption uh of local rent control I think this is the one thing that absolutely kills our ability to provide affordable housing for people in eastampton is that the state of Massachusetts has laws in place that prevents us from being able to enact actual affordable housing um I think think you know also engaging in the um in the policy process at the federal level to try to encourage HUD to reconsider what their calculations look like for uh area medium income there are systemic issues that need to be addressed and until that happens we have no choice but to give up $1,000 to support affordable housing developments that may not actually be affordable so I I I will support this but I do it reluctantly because the entire system of housing in the United States is broken and it doesn't work anymore um thank you thank you counselor anybody else on the council um so just I would say you know one thing that I think is interesting to think about my first year on the council there was a large project going in um on the Southampton border and we had a proposal in front of us to create a affordable Housing Trust where if a development didn't add affordable housing to the development that they would have to pay into the trust per unit um and myself and Mike tisus were the only people that voted for it uh it did not pass and no affordable units went into that project so I think that we're making progress in the fact that we are at least addressing and increasing our affordable housing stock um you know I think that there are a lot of questions as it relates to like what is going to be next and and I'm hoping that we can say um and we can remember this moment to say that you know we would like if we are going to be adding money to a project like this we need to have um you know significant number of affordable units and if another 35 or something come on I think that would be great um and this is New Growth uh and so as New Growth happens that increases the tax base and as the tax base increases that lowers the burden for everybody um you know and I think that there are situations here where you know there could be strains on traffic but you know there's potential to have you know more school children which we're seeing declining numbers in our school and that could be really helpful um so I think uh this is something we've done multiple times before which is to leverage uh for $100,000 we're leveraging 13 million and that makes a lot of sense um so I will support this councelor peak yeah um one thing I I just want to say um without getting too into the weeds uh which is always a challenge for me is uh we another thing that's important to note here is that there's there's a market mechanism that leads to these rent increases right it's a situation um where there are very few sellers or renters of Housing and there's a lot of buyers are renters of housing you so so you're you're in a situation your landlord raises your rent they raise your rent because they know that if you don't accept that and move out that there's going to be somebody else willing to do it because there's a lot more people who want to live here than there are open units there I am I don't I I try to not Flex this as much as I did in my early years on the council because it's obnoxious but I am an economic researcher that's what I do for a living and there's a good deal of Fairly robust scholarship on this topic that increasing the overall housing Supply does help with affordability by bringing the by reducing the number of bidding wars that prospective renters or buyers find themselves in and so I completely I mean I I agree with with councelor Riley that you know if I could I would take the entire economics the housing system in the United States and gut it and change it from the ground up and like there's so many things that are fundamentally stupid and unjust with this system and as a result we as policy makers and leg local legislators have to contend with a system that is inherently stupid and unjust and that often feels like making moral compromises and we can decide how we want to deal with that with our own consciences but I I do think that fundamentally it's worth saying that the reason why rents have risen so much in East Hampton is because a whole lot of people want to live here and there aren't very many places for them to live so giving more places for them to live is going to maybe that's not going to drop it down so that you're paying the rents that you know I did when I moved here in 207 2008 2007 but I do think that it it it it does potentially slow that process by reducing the number of bidding wars and even if that doesn't fix everything I do think it's worth something I don't I don't I don't think it's worth nothing to take some of that strain off the market when the people who are getting affected by that strain the most are the people who are in the toughest situations so that's me I'll be supporting it anybody else before we call the motion yeah um I was just wondering if the developer um could reiterate the timeline for when these would be available I think we have a motion on the table right then I can't ask that yeah sorry point point of information I think you could answer if we withdrew the Motions Etc if you feel your question is that significant thank you yeah we could do that if if you want to otherwise I would like to okay so um whoever second it would have to uh resend I'll the motion can be withdraw so um councelor Smith uh feel free to ask um the developer yeah I'm just listening with counselor Peak um as following along with everything you you were saying but the one thing that I was really wondering is okay we're in a housing crisis right now and if we were to make this decision in hopes that this would um provide more options in East Hampton I'm wondering if you can tell us the timeline of when that would be available for people to actually try to rent right yeah no it's a it's a good question and unfortunately uh uh I'm I'm actually I was going to look quickly to see to be consistent because I don't want to be inconsistent on what we provided with the CPA application um but I I I'm not going to try to open it right now so what we what we have is an application due at the end of February we people will learn um in the uh middle of the summer whether they were awarded the money or whether you have to wait until the next round next year to go back in to get the money awarded so best case scenario we would learn that you're uh awarded the funds in say July of this year and then it would take about six months to put together the bank financing and select all the equity partners and construction could start as soon as January and then be about 12 to 16 months of construction so that puts you right there it puts you in the middle of 2027 that's the be that's kind of best case honest scenario for what it takes to uh you know and and it it could very easily end up that we aren't awarded and that we go back into either the mini round in the late summer or have to go into the next winter round which would be a year from February a year from now and that process runs its course yeah okay thank you thank you um so I think we could probably re put the motion back have to read the whole thing again okay I will uh I make the following request in the form of a motion request is hereby made for the following appropriation requested $100,000 to be appropriated from CPA fund on designated balance $100,000 to be appropriated to Tasty top affordable housing $100,000 the amount request will be used for the following purpose for the building of 36 affordable units in Phase One of a 34 unit mixed use development good job second we have a motion in a second and I think that probably our disc unless I'm wrong I I just wanted to make one quick point if I may and that was pretty simply it occurred to me as where we're all talking that the $100,000 I think we the community can look at as an investment not only for affordable housing and for people but as an investment that will show a return with the new growth and the future taxes that are going to be paid so consider it an investment would be my recommendation thank you thank you councelor Kinski Maryanne uh Tom Peak hi Brad Riley hi Tamara Smith hi JT Terell hi Connie denim I Salem Derby I Felicia jadik I JP cuisin Tom PE do it again motion passes and I would entertain a motion to close the public hearing so move second we have a motion the second to close the public hearing sorry Maran uh Brad Riley I Tamara Smith hi JT Terell hi conie denim I Salem Derby hi ficia jazik hi JP Kinski hi Tom Peak hi okay motion passes uh the hearing is closing and I am going to go back to um president vice president Communications um I did want to announce um that councelor jazik has been appointed to uh the appointments committee and to the rules and government Relations Committee so welcome to those committees um I also wanted to make an announcement that as we have a vacancy at a um in an at llarge seat um we are now um going to go through the process that we had just similarly gone through for pring 2 counselor um which would involve um people that are interested sending uh an a letter of interest to the clerk um and then those would um potentially have uh special meetings where we get to ask questions of the applicants and then um if anybody was here when we did this um before we did a rank Choice uh voting vote for the applicants um now this timeline has not been set yet we're in the very this just happened yesterday so we're just kind of like but I just wanted to make sure that people knew that this is on the horizon and this is something that we will be um addressing shortly uh and so that concludes uh and my communications uh vice president Communications councilor Kinski uh I am happy to announce that the winter Fest is coming very soon this weekend this Saturday and it for the N the fun a fundraiser to support the health of the nanic pond uh it's February 8th it really is a lot of fun there will be artists and craft vendor show Zing table tennis Juggernaut glass open house uh nature hikes and activities exotic animals and rep exotic animals and reptiles wow uh you get to meet the K9 uh officer of the city uh Gino of the East Anon Police Department uh barbershop quartet mural making I could go on and on boy Eddie Pap Alaric is going to be there to make balloons for kids and for any other one who'd like to be a kid so show up this Saturday at the pond okay thank you councelor Kinski and let's uh move into um reports from standing committees Finance counselor Peak thank you Mr President uh we met last week to discuss the two items that we just discussed in public hearing uh it doesn't look like we have any uh oh we also um uh did uh we also discussed our city council uh budget proposal um so uh I think that that [Applause] is yeah we do we need to do a we don't need to do a public hearing for that right um I think it just goes to the mayor for inclusion in the budget correct yes yeah and I think that that meeting has been set held forward you date for that so so we um we do we but we need to vote on it as a council for it to be our our thing right that's a question it would be we've always voted on our we before yes um I don't know if it needs a public hearing though I don't it'd be like any Department uh I I would believe so that it would be then sub to the mayor [Music] um Council Riley um I just have a question uh but I I would like to let councelor Peak finish his thoughts if uh you could just come to me afterwards Thank You by means I actually need to look something up so if you if you want to ask a question now that wouldd be fine okay sure um so you know I know we have you know a couple of months here before we actually start the um the the city budget process um uh just this last month when I was at the Massachusetts Municipal Association um 550 uh 351 connect event um I was having some conversations with different city councilors across the Commonwealth and um I know we had had this challenge come up before with our committee meetings and having multiple counselors attend um one of the recommendations that was given to us is that because the meeting uh rooms that we typically meet in we all sit at a table that is City councilors and the public will sit at a single table that it can give the appearance of a quorum of City councilors participating in the meeting so I would just ask that as we go through the uh budget process at the finance committee if we could schedule those meetings to be inside city council chambers so that way the committee members sit at the uh City Council and then other City councilors who wish to attend would be sitting in the chairs with the public that way there is a visible delineation between who is running the meeting and who is participating as a member of the public thank you thank you for that thought council did keep in mind um so yeah so I did find it uh I'm somehow I didn't have a print out for this uh so yes the budget that we uh suggested uh in many ways is uh quite similar to the um the budget that we had before so salaries uh we set our Sal or the previous Council set salaries for this Council so that hasn't changed um I most of the changes that we made were recomend all the changes we made were recommendations from uh our city clerk uh a $500 increase from 5,000 to 5,500 for advertising um and uh then the our our legal expense line item would remain the same at 2000 uh Education and Training would increase from 2,160 to 2385 uh I think the the justification for that being that that's what it would cost to send everyone to the mass Municipal Association conference uh obviously not everyone goes but then the additional money could be used for other things that people wanted to do uh excuse me um and uh then the the the our clerical salary uh would also remain uh the same as that's also set by ordinance so really uh it's just the only increases would be a little bit more for advertising and slightly more to uh to $200 more to send people to MMA and $500 more for advertising because the cost of that keeps going up okay um so that uh that's that's the budget as uh as it was recommended uh by our city clerk and uh the is recommended is also unanimously by the city council okay and we can take action on that tonight yes so I would entertain a motion um yeah I would uh make a motion to recommend that this be the uh city council uh budget for uh fiscal year uh 26 second we have a motion in second councelor Kinski uh I think a lot of it's already defined one of the questions that I had had to do with the legal expenses sure and 20 the going rate doesn't go for very many hours and that really doesn't allow for a situation where the council can independently uh do its tasks uh should I guess the other the other process would be that the council has to go to the mayor and ask permission for the use of those funds otherwise we would have no independent f funds to go ahead should there be a difference in the council well how would you begin to override the mayor's vote on the mayor's in a situation how do you begin to get legal I just really question that whole process I am appreciative that there is some money in the budget and some recognition of this issue but I'm just wondering if you could comment on the amount and whether it was sufficient to cover the expenses I can yeah go ahead uh yeah so it has so far been sufficient for this fiscal year uh we we'll see uh how that holds up uh but uh to date uh it has been um now uh I think that it's it's true that it's really easy to foresee a situation where um our legal expenses would uh exceed this particularly if there were some sort of conflict with the mayor um so I your point is well taken uh that being said uh just with all of the uh uncertainty uh currently going on in the world I think we were uh reticent to uh raise anything uh that we didn't really foresee definitely needing to be raised uh even if it is something that like I I agree with you that in in an ideal circumstance like uh if I could structure sure everything myself the the line item for this would be substantially higher and there'd be like a whole we'd probably have our own solicitor and there'd be like a whole different process to things which I you and I have spoken about on this bench a number of times so I completely agree with you there it's just you know I think this is going to be a year we have to make a bunch of tough decisions and I I don't think we were um wanting to go too far out of our way to uh uh to to push this issue at this particular time but I I do take your point and I would agree with what council Peak says I think that that that this is um something that we have talked about in the past I think that it's sufficient for um where we are right now um and I think the mayor's office has been generous with us sharing um the solicitor and not charging our line item for uh opinions that affect the city as a whole so um at least that's been my experience uh it looks like councelor denim thank you Mr President I I don't see this as a particular issue because if we needed additional funds we could just do a supplemental appropriation to cover those expenses so I feel good about the number that's been presented okay thank you uh and so we do have a motion in a second any further discussion uh all oh maryan sorry Tamara Smith hi JT Terell hi Connie denim hi hi Salem Derby hi Felicia jazik hi JP Kinski hi Tom Peak hi Brad Riley I motion passes okay anything else councelor Peak uh no I believe that that uh concludes thank you uh and I will take Public Safety tonight um as you know things have uh changed a little bit um and I will just say that right now we do have two public hearings coming up one is for February 19th which is the Citywide speed limit so that public hearing will be on February 19th at 6:15 in these Chambers so if you're interested in that you can come and speak at that time um and uh and so then there are two other public hearings which would be March 5th and that's to the reversing traffic direction on daily field and removing Brewster AB from oneway streets um and um we will have further updates for Public Safety as we manage the The Filling of um the vacant counselor position so that concludes Public Safety appointments councelor Riley thank you Mr President uh the appointment committee last met this Monday February 3rd to discuss four new mayoral appointments and to officially on board councelor jadik to the committee um we were happy to welcome the following appointees Laura barley to the agricultural commission with with a term expiration date of December 31st 2027 Renee Hill to the bees committee with a term expiration date of December 31st 2025 Jackie brusso Pereira to the East Hampton Housing Authority with a term expiration date of December 31st 2029 and then Jesse English to the zoning board of appeals as an associate member with a term expiration date of December 31st 20126 um so the first update for the council uh is to inform you that Jackie brusso Pereira withdrew her application to serve on the East ampon Housing Authority uh she cited an increase UH responsibilities at work making it difficult to balance the needs of the Housing Authority um she did let the committee know that she communicated uh this withdrawal to the mayor so in the form of a motion I request the city council remove Jackie brusso pereira's appointment to the East Hampton Housing Authority without prejudice a second oh we have a motion in a second uh to remove Jackie bro Pera from the um eastampton Housing Authority without prejudice do we have any further discussion see none Maran JT Terell hi Connie denim hi Salem Derby hi Felicia JZ zic hi J pisinski hi Tom Peak hi Brad Riley hi Tamara Smith hi motion passes okay thank you um and then next is the appointment of Laura barley to the agricultural commission uh just a quick overview Laura has been a resident of Western Mass for 9 years three of which have been in East Hampton she currently works for the State Department of agricultural resources and throughout her career has worked on farms and for organizations that serve farms and Farmers uh she's attended prior meetings and was encouraged to apply by commissioner Megan fer um Laura had Express concerns uh and a willingness to focus on the conversion of Farmland to developments as a challenge for much of Western Massachusetts and um has done extensive work in land inventory to identify and protect Farmland assets uh the committee recommended her appointment 3 to zero and then next we met with Renee Hill who was being appointed to the bees committee she's been a resident of East Hampton for 28 years and raised her children here um as a hobby she became an insect photographer and participate in the local art scene so you can see some of her photos there um this hobby is turned into the studying natural resource Sciences at polio Community College with the intent to transfer to UMass ammer to finish her bachelor's degree um she also noted she's in the process of becoming a certified pollinator Steward and also has started attending meetings um she was encouraged to apply by Committee Member Owen zarett and the appointment committee recommended her with uh a 30 vote as well and then finally we met with Jesse English to be appointed to the zoning Board of appeal as an associate member he's lived in East Hampton for 13 years and his wife is a lifelong resident in his career he's served in the Coast Guard and worked for the city of West Springfield as a project manager and uh both as a project manager and uh director of public works for the town of Lugo um currently he works for the town of Windsor Connecticut where he's worked uh in multiple capacities um as an engineer and operations manager and now as the Director of operations for Public Works um he did say that he spent his career taking care of other people communities and now he wanted to uh take the time to take care of his own and the committee also recommended his appointment 30 um unless there are any questions I move that the full Council appoint Laura barley to the agricultural commission with the term expiration date of December 31st 2027 Renee Hill to the bees committee with a term expiration date of December 31st 2025 and then finally Jesse English to the zoning board of appeals was an associate member with the term expiration date of December 31st 2026 second okay we have a motion in the second any further discussion there uh Connie denim I Salem Derby I Felicia jazik hi JP Kinski hi Tom Peak hi Brad Riley hi Tamara Smith hi JT Terell hi okay motion passes thank you thank you uh anything else Council Riley yes Mr President um I just wanted to notify the council that the committee has no current appointees before us um so I am freeing up the appointment schedule so that way my uh committee members can continue as participants in councilor denim's Municipal Leadership Academy I think it's really important um for our city councils uh members to engage in continuing education I think this is a really important initiative um so the appointment committee is scheduled to meet next on Tuesday March 4th at 6: p.m. in conference room two behind city council chambers um and then as a final um piece of information as the chair of appointments I will be working with the Director of Human Resources and the city council president and vice president to start the interview process for our new Council Clerk and city clerk uh for the last week of February um and thus concludes uh thank you Council Ry you do have new business um which is the request to reorganize the appointment committee would you like to move that yes that's uh thank you um so I move that we send the request to reorganize the appointment committee to the uh to the appointment committee okay we have a motion any a second second okay we have a motion in a second uh to move the reorganization to the appointment committee uh maryan Salem Derby hi IA jazik I JP Kinski Tom Peak hi Brad Riley I Tamara Smith hi JT Terrell hi Connie denim hi motion passes uh and and officially concludes thank you uh ordinance councelor denim I'm actually thank you Mr President I've actually asked I'd actually asked counselor Smith to give this out but I just want to give a point of clarification that the uh Municipal Leadership Academy is in partnership with councelor Smith and representative Gomez so um just want to acknowledge that is a partnership and not okay thank you councelor Smith okay the ordinance subcommittee last last met on January 23rd where we addressed the Shrubbery ordinance and compared our Collective uh notes and photos of areas where we thought that would be considered and so we've now been waiting for feedback from the planning department and the DPW and we're dividing our responsibilities regarding all the other items uh our next meeting is going to be on February 25th at 600 p.m. in conference room 1 and at that meeting we'll be discussing the zoning amendments that were presented by the affordable and Fair Housing Partnership and last I just need to extend for 90 days for the moror mor moratorium moratorium sorry on sewage ludge uh okay so we have uh a motion to extend in how many days 90 days 90 days please um the sewage sludge do we have a second second okay we have a motion to a second um all those I'm sorry Maran uh yes um Salem Derby hi Felicia jazic I JP gizinski hi Tom Peak hi Brad Riley hi Tamar Smith hi JT Terrell I Connie Denham I okay motion passes anything further councelor uh this concludes thank you thank you um and I will take property um as uh similar with Public Safety um you know we will uh as we look to fill this position we will um reorganize and uh uh so right now there is no report for property and that brings us to rules and government relations thank you Mr President uh we have a couple of items uh one was the uh rules review and the rules committee met to do so and came up with changes which were sent to all the counselors uh for review uh essentially they were often times uh grammatical in nature or with regard to changing pronouns which are important to get correct uh there were a few other items that were uh adjusted uh meetings we had had only one meeting in June July and August scheduled however for the past several years we've been having more meetings so maybe it makes sense to put that into the regular schedule so we would then request that all June meeting there' be twice meet we would meet twice regularly in June uh also uh we dealt with an issue of the extending the deadline for notifying uh the clerk of the council about any agenda items from uh 10:00 a.m. to noon so we would have until noon on Thursdays prior to the meeting date to be able to submit items for the agenda uh of course additional items could be submitted with the approval of the president um that generally takes care of the changes except for the issue of the official website uh we were talking about where we publish uh and and we wanted to be able to be sure that there was some question about whether to to have only the website contain publication or uh notifications of public hearings or also keep posting on our Municipal bulletin board it was felt that we should keep those items on the municipal bulletin board because not everybody uses the internet so uh at this time we we would continue the municipal bulletin board there is a bulletin board posted outside the building where where we can uh see those items the council uh the sub the committee voted 3 to zero for the new recommendations I will note that anytime a counselor has any rule proposed rule changes this is not definitive the only time we do rules changes it is throughout the entire year at any time you can do so so if you have better ideas we'll consider them thank you so much uh at this time I'd like entertain any further discussion on the matters I moveed to approve the rules changing is as described second okay we have a motion in a second any further discussion okay uh looks like Council D thank you Mr President I just want to acknowledge the significance and the importance of the language change around pronouns um I think we live in an incredibly divisive period of time right now and this is an opportunity for um the city council um to uh affirm and support uh transgendered members of our community and gender nonconforming individuals um I think this is an important um uh affirmation and allows for uh access and Equity into our rules and process thank you councelor denam uh any other discussion I would I would just uh Echo councelor denim's um comments and I we this is something that we have done for the ordinance um and and I think it's something that we should talk to our state rep about looking at mgl because if you look at Mass General law it is really really um full of gendered language um and so that could be potential recommendation from us in the future appreciate that uh any further discussion uh Maran okay Felicia aik I JP Quinsy hi Tom Peak hi Brad Riley I Tamara Smith hi JT Terell hi Connie Denham I Salem Derby hi okay motion passes uh Council krinski the home rule TR to Amendment request for uh defining when the community or the council can approve any increases to the mayor's salary it was also recommended at that time at the at the sub at the committee level that we discuss any possible reductions in the mayor's salary since that is not addressed in the current Charter it would be appropriate I think to not make any changes once the salary is set and the mayor is uh going forward to do so the committee agreed on the language we would like to submit it to the City attorney we've gotten our permission from uh the president to do so and I hope to be able to report that back later so that we can get that to the legislature thank you uh regarding our other matter on the agenda the school committee requests for censure of councelor Owen zarrett I for one am very saddened uh to lose the services of someone who was as committed to the council as councilor zarett I also am saddened not to be able to have the opportunity to hear his responses to the uh on the merits of the subject uh and so I I'm sorry to say that I will not I will be removing requesting a removal of the item from our agenda uh at this time so in the form of a motion motion without yeah and we have a we have a motion in a second any for the discussion I just wanted to add that since there's no counselor there's no reason to uh intertain any further discussion about a centure at this time or that's the purpose of the removal okay uh Maran JP Kinski hi Tom Peak hi Brad Riley hi Tamara Smith hi JT Terrell I Connie denim I Salem Derby I Felicia jazik I uh motion passes uh and it looks like while we're still on on on basically the subject I wanted to say if I may make a comment about our last meeting I wanted to thank the counselors who spoke up and we're all human we all make mistakes the it happens I heard counselor Smith apologize for a mistake I heard councelor Riley make an apology at our last meeting and I heard councelor Peak and I am impressed I am so grateful that folks are able to make mistakes talk about it and share it I think that can Bond us together as we recognize our Humanity so I tip my hat to those who look to themselves and say hey I made a mistake thank you so much and I hope that helps to heal this Council Kinski we just have the open meeting law complaint to move into rules government relations yes well we have an open meeting complaint at this time I'd like to move that to rules in government relations we have a motion we have a second second okay we have a motion in the second name for discussion Maran Tom Peak hi Brad Riley hi Tamar Smith hi JT Terell I Connie Denham I Salem Derby I Felicia jazik I JP Kinski hi motion passes uh and we've taken care we don't have any old business we've taken care of new business which brings us uh to the final piece of our agenda which is election of the city council president um and so I would entertain a uh nomination if anybody with Council Peak I'll do it I would nominate uh acting president Salem Derby to be our president going forward I think you've stepped into this situation admirably and you have a lot of experience uh and a lot of perspective and uh a good temper for resolving the uh conflicts that inevitably uh Sprout up on on this body so uh I will make that motion do we have I will second their motion okay uh is there anybody are there any other nominations I would just like to say I think that Council Derby has been around the block as always uh proceeded with a level head and that's what we need here we need someone who is well balanced and with a level head to be able to take us into the future and I look forward to that appreciate that any further discussion seeing none maryan Connie denim I Salem Derby I Felicia jazik I JP Kinski hi Tom Peak hi Brad Riley hi Tamara Smith hi JT Terell hi um motion passes here I am thank you and I think that we are going to do a swearing in really quickly and then I'm going to swear in the vice president and if you you guys are going to hate me you're not going to want to vote for me again but I have just a brief statement to say so I I apologize in advance for that so wear let's do the swearing apologize I've taken I've taken responsibility okay repeat after me I state your name do solemnly swear I Salem Derby do solemnly swear that I will faithfully and impartially that I will faithfully and impartially discharge and perform the duties of city council president discharge and perform the duties of city council president according to the best of my knowledge and ability according to the best of my knowledge and ability in accordance with the Constitution of the United States of America in accordance with the Constitution of the United States of America the laws of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts the laws of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and the City of East Ham in the city of East Hampton congratulations thank you thank and now all right councelor Kinski um so let's see if I haven't done this before so hey good job uh so I I state your name do solemnly swear I James JP Kinski do solemnly swear that I will faithfully and partially that I will faithfully and impartially discharge and perform the duties of city council vice president discharge and perform the duties of city council vice president according to the best of my knowledge and ability according to my best of my knowledge and abilities in accordance with the Constitution of the United States of America in accordance with the Constitution of the United States of America the laws of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts the laws of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and the City of East ampton and the City of East ampton congratulations thank you a it's good to have you here thank you now before we conclude before I I'll I'll read this quickly but I felt I felt like I did want to make a statement because you know being on the council since 2004 um I I never really wanted to be president and until I realized that it might make sense so I'm deeply honored and humbled to accept the role of president of the East Hampton City Council serving the city has been a significant part of my adult life and I stand here today with immense gratitude for the trust you placed in me East Hampton's trans transformation over the past two decades has been nothing short of remark able through a shared Vision hard work and collaboration we built a city that is thriving one that people seek out invest in and are proud to call home today as we look around at what we've accomplished we know that East Hampton is a destination our journey has been one of perseverance passion and partnership we work to bring new restaurants to our city us utilizing over quota licenses to foster a diverse and vibrant dining scene we've seen the mill District come alive thanks to collaboration with Mill owners the city and the state transforming what was once underutilized space into safe thriving Corridor we connected and illuminated the bike path and wo together the historic and modern elements of East Hampton and then there's Cottage Street once a sleepy underused commercial area I remember walking its quiet streets imagining what it could be today it's a hub of energy and creativity any night of the week you'll struggle to find a place to park my journey to this moment has not been an easy one Public Service comes with sacrifice I've missed many family events my daughter's playing basketball tonight I'm missing that my kids games and performances I've given thousands of hours to this City because I felt a strong pull to serve that calling was shaped in part by my mentor and role model Bob borcher a Vietnam veteran and recipient of the Silver Star in purple heart and a man who lived on Golf Street Bob helped me see East Hampton's potential through a different lens as a child I visited him often growing a fondness for what was a rundown part of town I saw something else I saw a cool Vaudeville theater a beautiful Pond and an area waiting to thrive again I've been so fortunate to be part of East Hampton's Renaissance I was proud to help connect Kyle and Cassandra of audible Productions with our Parks and Rec director and the mayor to facilitate the use of millside park for large music festivals which gave us milpond live Arts and Music are not just entertainment they're the heart of East Hampton's Revival but while we celebrate our achievements we must also look ahead our work is far from over we must continue to address the challenges of a growing thriving City ensuring pedestrian safety finding traffic calming measures fostering smart growth and making affordable housing reality while maintaining our open space and recreational areas just to name a few almost done uh East Hampton's success has never been about one person it's always been about us working together listening compromising and pushing forward a city that works together thrives together so tonight as I accept this role I do so with a renewed commitment to the city and to each of you let's continue to build a community that welcomes all that honors its past while embracing its future and that remains a place where people want to live work and create thank you and let's get to work and with that I would uh accept a motion to adjourn so moved second second we have a motion and a second Maran Salem Derby Felicia jazic hi JP Kinski hi Tom P hi Brad Riley hi Tamara Smith hi JT Terrell hi Connie denim hi pass motion passes thank you everybody see you next time thank you yeah when I made my book just before I made it I did an exhibit a permanent [Music] exhibit e