##VIDEO ID:TQSmh8LmhpQ## this government meeting is brought to you by eastworks and our local cable subscribers good evening welcome to the samton city council meeting for Wednesday October 23rd the meeting tonight is being record record and broadcast by edia on shutter channel 193 and live streaming on the web page Isam media.org cons participant in this meeting are gathering hybrid on the order order extended until March 2025 which allow us to do so remind both the member of the city council and the public participating remote remain mute until recognized by the city council president also for the member of the public please remove your camera for the duration of the meeting unless you are participating in the public speak time of public hearing thank you this meeting is now called to order Barbara Cony Denham here Salem Derby Omar Gomez JB gazinski Tom Peak Brad Riley Tamar Smith here JT Terell here Owen Zer here please join us for a moment in silence thank you pleasure ofing of the United States of America stand one nation under God indivisible with liy andice for all [Music] work we don't have any uh minutes to approve tonight that those minutes are going to be available as soon as possible uh public speak time public comments this is the opportunity to address the conso regarding any Topic in no list under the public hearing I will give you 3 minutes please go to the podium state your name and address for the record and please address all your comments to the conso how are you John Mason Parks and Recreation director um just a couple of things for public speak this evening uh the rag Shack parade is next Tuesday we step off at 6:30 from Maple Street School we'll come down through here onto Wilston we end at the high school um kind of coordinating with the uni Street Paving too so uh that's good that that project's going to be wrapping up um so maybe we'll get back to the old Route uh eventually um so we have that we'll um weather looks good um Harvest Fest we kind of got bit by the weather this year unfortunately but rag shag looks good if we have a rain date it would be the next evening um also we have a new City open house um coming this Saturday between 10 and 12 and we're looking at the park and playground areas so the park uh in front Parsons and linol Street uh parcel out back we have um our design team is going to be there um our Consultants there'll be City staff myself and other folks um so we encourage people to come out um we really want to develop a a wonderful neighborhood uh Park uh for that area so we're really excited about uh having that um the the preliminary work that the design team has done it's going to be a fun interactive thing for folks um for kids and for families as well so um we hope for a big turn out for that um so we can get U folks's input and then I'll be back up for uh 6:15 thank you you anyone else no comment anyone else participating remote ly well the comments are done um we don't have nothing to vote for tonight communication for elected official Sports and committee we receive uh the letter from the planning board this just for information but uh if anyone want to take a look about the proposal changing from the ordinance committee they send that they have a joint committee meeting with the planning Mo and they already vote and they send the letter back um any corres sponses we don't have any president vice president communication we don't have any major communication we don't have any um let's go to the committee report Finance cons PE thank you Mr President um we met uh last week to discuss a couple items uh that were before us uh so one of those was uh the uh $60,000 that will be talking about in a few minutes uh during the public hearing uh so I'll save that for then uh but we also did uh discuss uh a request uh from councelor Gomez and councelor Denham to increase the senior tax uh workof program abatement uh from uh $15,000 to $2,000 a year 1500 oh my God why do I keep doing this uh, 1500 that would be crazy 15 00 to two $1,500 to $2,000 a year um and so uh the idea behind that is that uh in passing this it would it would enable the uh the mayor's office to offer uh an abatement of that uh level which uh the folks from the City Finance team indicated they they they'd explore doing but it doesn't necessarily you know depending on how the budget comes out that that may or may not um happen uh in any case the the way that it would work is that it would it would be um since uh we are paying these basically these people are working in certain number of hours and then uh they receive an abatement uh for uh you know the hours that they worked it would basically allow uh the city to employ those individuals for more hours as part of this program so that's uh how that would uh all go um so the council did vote uh 3 to Z to approve this recommendation and again uh it this would allow the mayor's office to make this uh change but it does not necessarily bind the mayor's office to making that change depending on uh sort of our fiscal Outlook in this next year uh so at this time I I would be prepared to to make a motion of that effect unless there's anything I'll make the motion and then we can discuss it okay uh so I move to recommend that the mayor increase the senior tax workof abatement from $1,500 to $2,000 second I have a motion on a second to request to increase the senior tax work of program abatement from 1500 to 2,000 any further discussion cons Riley thank you Mr President um you know I've spoken on this topic um in the past I know we recently um reauthorized it for um uh Beyond its pilot program I just wanted to say thank you to all of you on the council um who have participated in making this program successful um I know this started way back when I first became a city councelor um with councelor Kinski um doing some work to to make it work and it seemed like it's a very successful program um I'm very proud of it and I'm very proud of the work that you all have done that's all I wanted to say thanks thank you con s just to clarify so if we vote in the affirmative it's an it's basically an advisory and we have to wait and see if there's room in the budget to do this is that correct do you want to answer sure uh it's it's not exactly advisory because I don't think that the mayor is empowered to do this without our recommendation like we like the mayor could not unilaterally raise this to 2,000 we have to take this step but us doing the step does not automatically make it happen it then also requires uh the mayor to uh you know to to to put into the budget uh that that level of abatement yeah yes voting on this basically is U telling the mayor if you want to go to to 2000 we the cons we okay with it mhm uh but without this vote the mayor is not allowed to increase to 2,000 okay thank any other councelors uh sorry no that's fine thank you Mr President I just I just wanted to acknowledge that that councelor Kinski was also a part of this um motion to or not motion excuse me um the request to to increase that and also I recognize councelor Bradley just acknowledged that his work but I just want to make make a point of of also uh U pointing out that he he was a part of this request as well um and the other thing I'd like to say is that this is really about um thanking our seniors for the work that they do in this community part of the reason why I was a part of asking for this increase I had met with some seniors at the Council on Aging and they had indicated that they did feel welcomed in East Hampton they didn't feel like they were wanted here Etc and I believe that this is an affirmation uh to our seniors that they are appreciated um their contribution to this community is um fully recognized and uh acknowledged and just uh want to to make a point that you know this is really again an affirmation to our commitment to our senior community thank you and before taking the vote I just want to encourage the community if any anyone have a question please call uh the city especially HR and the HR will guide you to what to do to apply for any position open for the seniors any other councelors celor quiny thank you uh I just wanted to say I thank the council also very much for their support in this matter without which this never would have gotten off the ground uh the group that got together were were great people who put this together and it was not just a few of us there were there was there was a group and the state has allowed this to occur in without the state legislation this would not be able we wouldn't be here voting on it because the state had a limit of $1,500 that our program started I think around 10 eight or 10 years ago so may maybe not quite that long but we were talking about it today or 10 years ago that's what it was we were talking about it anyway that figure had been in effect at least for 10 years on the state level I think a lot longer they had started when they had started it was a lot smaller it's slowly gone up this enables us to do the right thing by our employees uh and keep the program rolling so I I hope the mayor finds it available the money available in the future so thank you thank you any any other councelors Barbara Connie Dam hi tum Derby hi Omar Gomez JP gazinski Tom Peak hi Brad Riley hi Tamar Smith hi JT Terell hi Owen Zer hi uh thanks everybody uh the uh one other thing uh is we our conversations about uh the uh Charter required review of salaries and elected official uh salaries for elected officials and appointed committees is ongoing and I uh just continue to encourage anybody who has any uh thoughts on all of that to uh please uh email me just uh any sort of uh information about what people would like to see out of that uh would just be helpful as we uh uh work to put together something uh for the council thank you and next meeting uh next meeting is uh week 5:30 5:30 R number one I guess right mhm thank you cons PE public safety cons thank you Mr President we have not met since our last meeting we will be meeting November 12th at 6: p.m. in room 1 just confirming that I just gave you the right date that is correct uh we will be discussing in this specific order first the proposal to reverse the traffic direction daily field road then we will um have a meaningful discussion about recommendations uh that brought forward and potential edits to the traffic rules in order and then if we have time uh we'll get into the um the request uh for the Citywide speed limit um again that's November 12th at 6 PM Room 1 um I don't see anything to extend so that's concludes oh perfect appointments C Riley um thank you Mr President uh the appointments committee has not met since our last meeting um and I see that we do not have any new business as well so um we will not be uh meeting in the uh fored able future um I do have a question um I don't need the request to review the um mayoral and city council appointment agenda item anymore can I make a motion to remove that or I just let it expire y perfect thank you um so in the form of a motion I would like to remove the request to review process mayor and city council appointments from the appointment committee agenda second have second to remove the request review process mayor and City conso appointments any further discussion just as a point of process I would only I would suggest if you want to remove it without prejudice so you could bring it back if you wanted to sooner than later right because is it is it how many months six six six months if you want to bring it back so okay so then may I amend my easier to remove the motion the motion and then make a new Mo yes okay so I'd like to uh remove the original motion a second second okay um and the new motion is to request to uh excuse me to remove the request to review process mayor and city council appointments without prejudice second I have a motion on second to remove without prejudice the request to review process mayor and city council appointments any further discussion see not Barbara Salem Derby hi Omar Gomez hi JP kazinski hi Tom Peak hi Brad Riley hi Tamar Smith hi JT Terell hi Owen Zer hi Connie denam all right and then now that it is wait we're still waiting for Connie Connie hi sorry theemotion passes Riley um and now that is 6:15 there is no other business uh thank you thank you I will take a motion to open the public hearing I have a motion on a second to open open the public hearing any further discussion see no bar Omar Gomez JP kazinski Tom Peak Brad Riley Tamar Smith hi JT Terell hi Owen Zer hi Connie denam hi Salem Derby hi thank you Mr President um we have one uh item uh before us for public hearing it is a $660,000 supplemental appropriation from General stabilization uh to park site Improvement um John Mason is with us he he was not able to uh make it to our uh meetings so I I'll defer to him a little bit for the the big details but broadly I think we're all aware that there's um some of the working conditions uh for our Parks and Rec Department are are very substandard and um this would uh pay for some temporary uh working facilities and storage facilities and also uh for a uh Grant to further study sort of what a viable long-term uh solution would be uh if I'm wrong about any of that I would encourage director Mason to correct me Mr Mason John Mason Parks and Recreation now time you did a good job um kind of summarizing that up so 30,000 of this will be towards a study of the overall needs and life expectancy of uh future uh buildings and usage for the park maintenance um and the overall storage areas um we have a Tobacco Barn that it's called um that you know has seen better days but they don't they only use it for storage so they don't work out of it so it's not a um and it's wide open so it's not a um an issue for health or anything like that or safety it is structurally sound um but that's part of it the other part is um funding to remove the maintenance building um current one to take it down um we received pricing um they do all the permitting removal Soup To Nuts uh they take care of everything that's needed um regarding that uh we would purchase two containers um this is something where we talked about with the mayor DPW myself about having storage containers the rental cost would have been close to what it was to purchase um so it was smart to purchase we would keep one um we always need storage and DPW was all aboard for keeping the other they uh they definitely need um storage containers keeping stuff out of the elements um is very important so um this would help both departments by purchasing them and then the last piece is the the office space um work space for the maintenance um folks throughout the winter and into um spring and and next year um so they actually have a space to put their stuff away work out of you know do whatever they uh have to do to be out of the elements um you know have lunch in it things like that so um and that's a rental so that would not be a uh a purchase um so we would we would turn that back at the end of uh the usage for the city thank you any cons have any questions or comments none anyone from the public have any questions or comments about this appropiation see none cons Peak right uh um so uh I'm going to make the following request in the form of a motion uh request is hereby made for the approval of the following appropriation amount requested $60,000 to be transferred from General stabilization $60,000 to be transfer to park site Improvement $660,000 the amount requested will be used for the following purpose Parks and Recreation facilities upgrade uh proposal to upgrade to the parks and recreations departments 7s second I have a motion a second for the supplemental approvation of 60,000 to upgrade Park Recreation Department facilities any further discussion see on Barbara JP kazinski hi Tom Peak hi Brad Riley hi Tamar Smith hi JT Terell hi Owen zeret hi Connie denam hi Salem Derby hi Omar Gomez hi motion passes we take a motion to close public hearing so moved second I have a motion on a second to close the public hearing any further discussion see on Barbara Tom Peak hi Brad Riley hi Tam Smith hi JT Terell hi Owen Zer hi Connie Denham hi Salem Derby hi Omar Gomez JP kazinski hi motion passes public hearing is officially closed continuing with the reports of committee ordinance cons denim thank you Mr President um uh we're still waiting for the um agricultural commission uh around their discussion regarding the temporary moratorium um so they're meeting in December so I'll be discussing this with them then um we met on the uh October 15th and we discussed the um addition of new section uh 8-26 East have the Trevy ordinance um we approved that 3 to0 and we've sent that on to the um city solicitor and we're just waiting for um their assessment of that um additionally um we discussed had a very thoughtful conversation about uh making amendments to section two um on the Council on Aging um we met with um board member uh Tom Brown um about that we had some various questions uh regarding that and he's going back to the board to have those conversations and I just want to acknowledge uh councelor Smith's uh really thoughtful questions and advocacy uh for the the um the community and and the senior community um around making sure what representation look like on um that particular board so want to acknowledge that additionally uh we met on on October 15th with the zoning uh or I'm sorry not The Zing the the planning board board to discuss amending section 10 uh 96b regarding temporary election signage and they uh voted to um approve the Amendments um and I apologize the the the audio was a little garble did you say president Gomez that they had had approved it and sent the letter back yes yes yes okay um so what I will need to do is um set a public hearing for I'd like to make a motion to set a public hearing for November 6th um to discuss that with the uh Council for both items oh yep sorry yes um yes also we uh they address the amending the adding the definition of surveyor um as well so I'd like to make a motion to add both of those items to the public hearing for November 6th second I have a motion on a second to schedule a public Hearing in November 6 at 6:15 of these Chambers for those two items any further discussion see on bar Brad Riley hi Tamara Smith hi JT Terell hi Owen Zer hi Connie Denham hi Salem Derby Omar Gomez JP kazinski hi Tom Peak hi motion passes and that's everything that our committee has to offer Council this evening we need to extend those two items too yes sorry I I just saw that I'd like to make a motion to extend uh by 30 days both of those um items regarding the temporary election signage and definition of surveyor second I have a motion on a seconds to extend those two items for 30 days any further discussion see you n Barbara Tamara Smith hi JT Terell hi Owen zarett hi Connie denim hi Salem Derby hi Omar Gomez JP kazinski Tom PE hi r i motion passes C uh that's everything that we have this evening Mr President thank you councelor property celor s they report thank you councelor rules celinski uh thank you Mr President uh we have an extension for the request to amend Council rule 5c I would request 60 days on that matter second I have a motion on a seconds for extending the request to amend conso rule 5c for 60 days any further discussion see n Barbara JT Terell hi Owen Zar um I Connie Denham hi Salem Derby hi Omar Gomez JP kazinski Tom Peak hi Brad Riley hi Tamar Smith hi motion passes Kinski Mr President we're continuing our review of the rules regarding Council meetings uh making some progress I do expect that we'll have a meeting not sure if it will come before the the election or after the election given that we have the election coming up very shortly but this concludes okay thank you celor Che new business conselor Peak oh yes uh I will uh make uh the first reading of uh the following request uh and uh move it to uh the finance committee to move this finance committee for review and to set a public hearing for this for November 6th November 6th at 6:15 in these Chambers request is hereby made for approval of the following appropriation amount requested $346,500 to be transferred from Capital stabilization $346,500 to be transferred to uh FY 25 Western Star plow truck 34653 the amount requested will be used for the following purpose this appropriation will fund the replacement of Highway division truck number 62 this truck was a uh 2000 International 2554 heavy duty truck uh that has been removed from Service uh last year due to mechan IAL and safety issues second I have a motion and a seconds to move this item to the supplement appropriation to the finance committee and to schedule a public hearing November 6 at 6:15 at the chambers any further discussion see Barbara Owen Zar hi Connie denim hi Salem Derby hi Omar Gomez JP gazinski hi Tom Peak hi Brad Riley hi Tamar Smith hi JT Terrell hi motion passes I move that wej second have what second to adjourn uh Barbara con Dam hi Sal Derby Omar Gomez JP kazinski Tom Peak BR Riley Tam Smith hi JT hi wish bues have a great evening see you bye e