##VIDEO ID:UShijsXLK-I## this government meeting is brought to you by eastw works and our local cable subscribers he uh good evening welcome to the East Hampton City council meeting for Wednesday January 8th 2025 happy New Year the meeting tonight is being recorded and broadcast by emedia on channel a Charter channel 193 live streaming on their web page eastampton media.org councilors and participants in this meeting are gathering hybrid on the order extended until March 2025 allowing us to do so I remind both the members of the city council and the public participating remotely to remain muted till recognized by the city council president also for the members of the public please remove your camera for the duration of the meeting unless you are participating in public speak time or the public hearing thank you this meeting is now called to order Barbara Connie denam here Salem Derby JP kazinski Tom PE here Brad Riley here camon Smith here JT Terell on President okay let's stand Forge of Legion leg the flag of the United States America to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all and we're going to take a short moment of silence okay thank you um we do have minutes from our December 18th meeting I would entertain a motion moved second okay we have a motion in a second any further discussion okay all those in favor all and anybody against abstaining no okay um all right we have public speak time so now is time to address the Council on any topic that is not on the public hearing agenda um just remember to address your comments to the council uh keep it to 3 minutes and let us know your name and address for the record anybody is interested please St to the podium or raise your virtual hand I wanted here following up on something that way you can everybody can hear you if you [Music] can hi I'm Marvin Ward I live at 515s um colge straet apartment number 31 413 of course I'm part of the you know starting of that I'm wanting to call about any progress with the uh state state town city town city speed limit because I was part of that and and I haven't heard any news about anything happening so have you started working on it or what I don't know who's in charge but I what I can say is that during public speak time the counselors because of open meeting law we can't respond to but I think um you know if you'd be willing to I'm sure we have your email we can just shoot you an email or we can talk to you after the meeting and let you know the progress and what committee went okay and a question that I also have is that when I was here then there was just an interim police chief and I want to know if that's still the case or if there's somebody new it's still the same person no not the same person okay all right well I I also have a problem with e with this Cottage Square scottage Street and that is the noise there nobody is doing anything to keep Mufflers down where they belong or motorcycles and last night at about 2:00 in the morning I heard a big crash and it sounded like something fell off my wall or on ceiling or something and it wasn't it was something outdoors and I wish we could do something something you put uh some kind of thing signs up saying this is a residential area it's not as busy another indry anymore and that need we needs to have quiet because people are trying to sleep okay okay thank you well thank you anybody else like to address the council [Music] hello Carolyn Cushing Main Street District 4 oops my remarks up here um I'm come as a member of the public who's been observing the council over the past seven years to speak to what has been named as toxic culture on the city council uh what I observed at the last meeting and I've also seen in years prior is that when critique is raised there is often deflection of the issue minimizing of the concern Andor turning blame for the problem back on the persons or groups raising the concern receiving critique is not comfortable but most critique does come from a place of wanting to make things better and as an expression of wanting to be involved in making that happen since we are messy imperfect people we don't always express it perfectly occasionally critique offered by an individual is unfounded or unhelpful but when there is a pattern that's what I see a pattern of defensive response to critique offered by multiple individuals over years this unhelpfully maintains the status quo including of systems and institutions that have their roots and oppressions of All Sorts racism sexism it's a long list the roots are deep so we can't always see them and be aware of what they are operating we often react especially when we're stressed uncomfortable out of unconscious bias I know that white supremacy lives in me as a white person and even sexism and male Supremacy shape my Consciousness as a woman I'm always trying to shake myself free of these my personal Identity or even history of activism on these issues doesn't mean that I don't mess up don't need to integrate feedback about how to do better in the December Council meetings I saw this pattern play out with a deflection minimizing and blame sh in around sexism especially during the discussion of stien raises and overriding the mayor's veto I I'm naming this now I'm here saying this as an invitation for positive change going forward I hope to see critique that is offered being reflected upon and for behaviors to change I hope to see male counselors supporting women counselors if those raising critique are criticized and blamed this will not be acceptable behavior we the public are watching thank you anybody else hello um Aaron Sullivan 17 Mayor Street um I'm here to address some unexpected and disappointing defensiveness from counselors during the last two meetings while discussing gender inequality related to the proposed increase to the mayoral salary um a proposed salary increase generally looks bad while we're in a deficit and it looks especially bad when the current mayor who is a woman is leaving office and we're suddenly talking about an additional $30,000 in compensation for the role over time but still um I've heard that several men are exploring running but it sounds like they would not admit to more at this point um gender pay inequality better known as the gender wage gap or gender pay Gap is not unique to East Hampton in fact it is a very thoroughly evidenced and well documented phenomenon consistently seen across Industries and spanning the globe the studies also show that the disparity is often due to unconscious bias not explicit discrimination it's built into our society at this point knowing this anyone in power should use their influence and authority to interrupt and make things right um some self-reflection on why it didn't occur to anyone to increase the M mayor salary pay for the position not the person in a similar incremental way prior to any elections before this one may be a worthwhile exercise and if it just never occurred then that is also part of how this all works um it's never easy to hear that you may have unintentionally supported A system that disenfranchises certain groups but it's your responsibility when presented with this information to listen and use this knowledge to do better moving forward I would encourage counselors to not hear critiques of systems as personal attacks and instead view them as invitations to work together that's the type of culture that's going to get you more diverse members and I do believe this committee or excuse me this council is capable of that thank you anyone [Music] else anybody online okay seeing none we are at 609 so it looks like we can go to Communications from elected uh officials boards and commissions does anybody have uh councelor there uh just really quickly uh the bees committee um it's the biodiversity environment and ecological sustainability committee is sponsoring a winter seed sewing Workshop next Saturday not this coming Saturday but the next Saturday after that the 18th at 1: p.m. at bouquet of the valley that's a new uh newish business on Cottage Street um it will teach people how to properly sew and prepare seeds for the winter and it is being uh led by a very knowledgeable native plant enthusiast hmer Smith um so um I can provide if people want to email me um I'm also on the bees committee ozar eastampton ma.gov I can provide you with information to sign up as Ken councelor Smith as well uh thank you for participating um and again that's the 18th at 1 p.m. at bouquet of the valley they also have information if you want to stop into their store and I think that's it okay uh councelor down uh thank you Mr President um I just want to one um just want to acknowledge the loss of life in town um tragic uh loss of life so I just want to was thinking about that during our moment of silence um so just want to share those condolences um and also uh just want to uh make folks aware we had our first Municipal Leadership Academy on uh Monday it was great uh we have nine participants um gave an overview of the budget and we're going to start the process now of meeting with all of the department heads uh well most of the department many of the department heads um so uh folks were excited to be there uh excited to learn Le about uh East Hampton governance um and many of them were very interested in learning about how they can get involved in many of our committees and and commissions Etc so uh I think this is an opportunity uh Municipal Academy really provides that uh foundational um Baseline understanding of governance to really uh encourage um confidence in people to to join the various committees so um yeah so very excited about that and I hope that it continues to grow uh in the future but just want to give that update thank you councelor denim councelor Kinski I may I ask a question yes please yeah for point point just kind of a point of information we're mentioning the municipal uh uh Academy is it possible for someone to join late or would you recommend waiting till the next yeah I would recommend waiting till the next one yeah cuz I just don't want people to get into the habit of showing up or this not going to the next but they they get the to the habit of uh it's a it's a 9we uh uh uh program um and so I think the more that we can encourage people to stay committed to those nine weeks I think the better okay thank you anybody else councelor Smith I wanted to add two things um first I'll talk about the municipal Academy because I really appreciated being a part of that and I just wanted to publicly acknowledge um the work of you councelor Denham to really put that together also just wanted to thank the participants and the mayor and um our finance department for staying and really explaining that to everybody and it's it's just really great to have and the second thing I just wanted to explain a little bit about the whole flowers thing um anyone who knows me in E Hampton knows that for the last couple years I've really been into flowers and um so through our local buy nothing group I had asked local gardeners to donate any seeds that they had and they went over to different yards and I collected all the seeds and we've sorted all of the seeds so we have an immense um collection of local pollinator Northeast plants that are local to eastampton that would be redistributed in East Hampton to really create more of a pollinator hubs so if you've never done that kind of gardening before and if you've never done winter sewing I really encourage you to come it's fun it's community building it's great to have your hands in the dirt in the middle of the winter and just feels good to be doing something for the Earth for very little cost and very little energy so just wanted to give that plug I'm really proud of this work and I'm really excited for the workshop thank you thank you so much and that puts us at 6:14 we have less than 10 seconds so I think in that 10 seconds I could entertain a motion to open the public hearing so much second okay we have a motion in a second all those in favor I okay nobody's against nobody abstains public hearing is open and I this is a interde departmental transfer that I will transfer to councelor Pete thank you Mr President uh so yes we've got an interde departmental transfer here for $39,375 uh to fund retro pay and supplemental payments for the rest of this fiscal year uh for our asme Union employees uh who just completed a collective bargaining agreement uh so for those who don't know like uh we have a a number of city hall employees here uh who uh were not previously unionized uh and they did unionize recently uh and the asks me the uh American Federation of State M and Municipal Employees is the union that they chose to go with um and so uh for those uh since they uh started bargaining they uh they're going to be getting some retro pay uh retroactive to when the the bargaining started I believe and then also uh in some cases their their wages will be somewhat higher than what they were in uh our F1 y uh 25 budget and so uh this $39,000 just covers the difference between what was budgeted for and uh what they will get uh with their new uh newly agreed upon contracts okay and I know that we have the mayor available so I'll turn it over to you m May uh yeah uh HR Director Emily Russo had a conflict so I'm here in herstead um the request for retro is is how we approach all uh collective bargaining agreements that are um you know don't uh aren't signed right on the beginning of the fiscal year we don't pre-plan and then we come here and ask for retro um this is a particularly exciting uh collective bargaining agreement because it is the first um in this building and uh before organizing this group of employees um had waited almost 8 years um up until 2017 to get any kind of a raise or Cola because they were not um organized so this is super exciting um and uh they're excited and yeah just so I don't know if there are any questions but Emily uh wanted somebody here to ask those or answer those anybody Council done thanks uh so I know that Emily talked about just for the for the sake of the community so RoR can you just give those dates so that you know people are kind of aware of you know what we're talking about I know we're retro and end of fisical gear yeah to the end of the fiscal year so um we had aou signed uh and we typically do this before the whole contract is ratified we do a memorandum of understanding so we can get the wages going um and we you know like a contract you have to have a contract before the money is released um that was signed we calculated retro back to the beginning of theou when it was signed and I don't know have the exact from now until the end of the year for clarity um the amount of this collective bargaining agreement is already in next fiscal Year's budget so it's not that we would have to on July 1st we're not coming back uh for additional funds it's um you know we we like to use the reserve as sparingly and as to the penny as as we have to um and we never know when a contract is going to settle so this is uh what we do and and it's already it's it's across this building and across maybe four or five departments um so you'll see the it's not a hunk of an increase but it'll be distributed through the Departments continue uh this is really just a statement so I just appreciate the work that that your office and and and Emily had done to work with the employees I think the the employees of this community are the backbone of of the services and everything that we provide to our residents and things like that so I'm very happy that they're happy that um they were able to to to have this increase in in um in Pay U particularly given the fact that we are living in uncertain Financial Times and so I think for us to be able to do that and to use the funds that we have within the city budget uh to be able to pay our city employees uh more funds I think that that's something that I wholeheartedly support and and appreciate your work and Emily's work and I'm sure hles had some so everybody had hand in it right and so just just um very proud to to be able to to vote for this today the um I wanted to mention too so the major the large majority the super majority of these employees are women um which and and they are um folks who live uh work in mostly a you know I think before Co it was like oh those are those are the women who have the calculators um of Co hits and they are the backbone of all of us getting paid in health insurance and making sure minute meeting so it was a real pleasure um we would have liked to uh also include department heads in it for which is a longer discussion and we it just really didn't make sense um under labor laws but that's kind of the next is either personal contracts or a separate Union um for department heads because we pay them as employees and they don't get salaries it's all on hourly so that hopefully is the next step in the next year or two um but thank you for the support and hearing this out again this is the third Union that has come into existence since I have been a mayor really proud of it but super proud of the employees who've all come to the table I think we ended up with three really fair um whole uh agreements for everybody around the table great any other counselors have any questions anybody from the public have any statements can see anybody online have any comments okay seeing none all right make a motion I'll make this uh request in the form of a motion uh request is hereby made for approval of the following appropriation amount requested $39,375 and supplemental payments for the rest of the fiscal year 2025 for asme Union employees per the completed collective bargaining agreements okay we have a motion in a second any further discussion all those in favor I anybody against orain motion passes and that brings us to the next one which is a CPA supplemental appropriation councilor Peak thank you Mr President uh acting president I don't know what to say right now um so uh okay anyway uh the uh uh yes so this is is an item from uh the CPA uh it specifically refers to the CPA account reserved for open space it's $75,000 appropriation that would fund the uh design and construction of two additional pickle ball courts in nonok park uh These funds come in addition to um a the number currently excuse me a five figure sum of M that was raised uh by the uh eastampton uh friends of pickle ball uh privately uh to help fund this as well so there's two courts right now uh from the testimonies of the very large group of people who came to our uh CPA meeting to talk about this uh my understanding is that it is actually quite difficult right now to get Court time on those courts uh there's a lot of interest and a lot of people wanting to do this at the same same time um just for whatever this worth that really was one of the largest uh crowds I've seen uh come for any sort of appropriation uh we've gotten some ordinances that have been uh contentious we've got some resolutions I don't think for appropriation I've ever seen that many people in a room and so it's clear that the demand is here uh and I uh and and and I think you know the funds are available um so I think um this was uh voted on unanimously uh by both the CPA committee uh and the finance committee to approve this appropriation uh so I I didn't I don't know I was actually sort of shocked that there's not like a 100 people here right now but um um maybe we didn't do a good enough job publicizing this was tonight and it is quite cold um but in any case uh I think that that's all about all I have to say about it I think that the idea is that the the Court's construction would begin uh you know in the spring as soon as you know Municipal construction uh could begin but hopefully uh with any luck they uh the pickle all enthusiasts would be able to use uh these courts sometime this uh calendar year great is there any counselors have any questions councel I just actually I wonder if I could ask a question about the the fund so um I know that uh chair Peak alluded to it but could you for the sake of the community could you just uh let us know the community's contribution to this um just so we're and Ava could you just say yeah my name is Ava Grist I'm the CPA coordinator um I'm a city employee um so at the time of application the total matching funds from the community was $25,800 and that was raised by the friends of pickle ball um in a series of private and and uh business donations so the total cost then is $100,000 for for the two courts yeah and can you share with the community what's the balance of the CPA fund yeah so the CPA uh balance for open space is currently um so with this current budget cycle $110,000 was appropriated into the balance for open space and then there was a previous appropriation of 33,000 and then this appropriation is 7 5,000 so after this if this appropriation is passed by city council it will leave $1,949 in the open space account but there's the undesignated account there was there's the reserve fund there's several other accounts that other open space or Recreation projects can be funded out of Y perfect thank you very much and also just echoing chair Peaks uh very excited for the community to to have this and to expand that I know is someone who dabbles in pickle ball um you know I often play when it's 105 degrees and then there's nobody on the courts but um but it is uh it's really great it's a it's I think a point of community building and I think it's really wonderful to see the amount of people out there so I'm I'm really happy that uh that the council is is able to support this and the work with you and the CPA and and all of that so I think it's a really nice um Community project to be able to help build community thank you any other councelors councelor Smith I would just like to add one of the things that I really like about the pickle ball uh court is that this is a sport that's really widely marketed towards older folks and so when you look at a lot of past CPA fund uses a lot of them um you know have been really to supplement our Our Youth Sports and our youth spaces so it's just really nice to see this one that's very intergenerational I know they started teaching pickle ball in school um and there's just a lot of different just as a gerontologist it's really nice to see and I just wanted to make sure that's noted MH Council Kinski I just wanted to say that I appreciate all the work on on this project and one who dabbles even less than the counselor at my side here in pickle ball but enjoys a game or two on occasion uh I've come to to Really find this to be a great a great resource and I appreciate that the older folks and the younger folks everyone can really take advantage of this so This has broad base and it has support and I appreciate having there there be a community contribution in addition to the CPA contribution that always gets us very excited to here on the council so thank you Council Zar yeah this is very exciting to see and for uh the variety of reasons that were already mentioned by my colleagues but um one thing that we've been talking about a lot more recently but what we saw when these first courts were built was the utilization of nuk to expand access to um non-traditional Sports and non- team sports whereas for the most part these were athletic fields you know soccer baseball Etc and some Pavilions in a swimming pool and some playgrounds um really with the Advent and the building of those original pickle ball courts I that was in the modern era the first expansion of something that was more accessible to really anybody and um I certainly would give some credit to previous counselor um uh McCoy uh for his involvement and um the people that showed up in those CPA hearings when we built the first courts and really raised a racket um about this like the physically raised record they weren't making a lot of noise in the room um and so it's exciting to have seen that really catch on and to councelor peak's point that there's there's no court availability So Not only was that project successful we really build on the success and expand and that we're able to find ongoing support in the community and fortunately money for it so I think it's really exemplary of what we've been doing finding you new utilization not at HCK Park and now with other discussions such as a dog park there and the skate park but also really thinking we've had these conversations about reimagining the use of that park I think this is just kind of the tip of the iceberg so um this is exciting obviously I support it but um just seeing expanded uses is great too any other counselors I guess I can say that um you know someone who's lucky enough to get to teach the Next Generation to play pickle ball it's exciting to see more pickle ball courts going up and I and know I look forward to councelor Denim beating me again on these new courts as she has on the old courts as well so pretty exciting what was the score I don't even remember it was flop sided so I I look forward to the next round uh anybody from the public have any comments um about these ble ball courts all right okay anybody oh looks like we have an online hand so it looks like John Mason welcome to the meeting you can unmute yourself can you hear me John looks like we lost them uh okay uh well maybe John will join us again uh and he's the parks and recre director but it looks like we have another one Carolyn Anderson you can unmute yourself and uh let us know your thoughts on this hi Carolyn Anderson I live at 29 Bayberry Drive and I'm also one of the um East Hampton parks and commissioner and the co- applicant on the CPA Grant application along with the parks department John uh and I just want to thank you all for the kind words that you said and for um supporting um supporting pickle ball and the expansion of pickle ball access in East Hamp and um we're really excited as as someone who's been in very close contact with the friends of East Hampton kop um there's a lot of energy and a lot of gratitude towards the city for the support so thank you thank you and John I see we have you back would you like to make a can you hear me now yes we can okay great um yeah I just want to thank um CPA city council and and the friends of pickle ball for really um taking on the challenge of raising the funds uh for this project when we designed the original two um they were designed for expansion um if if needed and um through the years it it's definitely been warranted so um I want to you know definitely thank them and um it is uh you get there on a Saturday morning it is it is quite packed down there so thank you to to all who support the pro all right thanks John and does anybody else have any comments before we have the motion uh seeing none Council Peak all right I'll make this request in the form of a motion request is hereby made for the approval of the following appropriation amount requested $75,000 to be appropriated from uh CPA reserved for Open Space 7 $5,000 to be appropriated to nonto pickle ball court expansion $75,000 the amount requested will be used for the following purpose for the design and construction of two additional pickle ball Courts at nuk Park check okay we have a motion in the second any further discussion okay see none all those in favor any NOS or abstentions all right motion passes uh and I wouldent the public hearing second okay motion a second any further discussion all those in favor okay uh public hearing is closed um and we've done our Communications I don't have any Communications mayor do you have anything you'd like to share with us and the mayor communication no the brevity love it all that okay uh so let's move to committee reports Finance councilor PE thank you Mr President uh so we met uh last week to discuss the two items that we just had uh public hearings for um I believe we'll be meeting next week although I think there's I I'm not uh I haven't exactly figured well is there sorry I just saw I just saw your email yeah so we're going to have to figure out when but I do think we'll be meeting next week okay it will be posted it'll be post Ed all right we just need to remember yeah I just need to get in touch with JT and figure out what's going to work for everybody um so uh yes and uh other than that a new business yes um do we sorry I don't have the appropriation uh got it I can there you go thank you uh there's one new appropriation that will move to finance now uh so I'll make this uh request in the form of a motion and I'll also request that we set a public hearing uh for this item for uh January 22nd at 6:15 in these Chambers uh so request is hereby made for approval of the following appropriation amount requested $1,344 to be transferred from Highway professional services1 $344 to be transferred to Highway Professional Services $1,344 the amount requested will be used for the following purpose prior fiscal uh year bill for police detail okay so we have a a motion to uh send the $1,345 highway departmental Bill to finance and a public hearing for the 22nd at 6:15 um and we have a second okay all those in favor okay any extensions or NOS seeing none it is there uh does that conclude uh th concludes yes all right thank you councelor p uh Public Safety councelor Zar thank you uh we have not met since our last meeting we will be meeting uh next Tuesday the 14th at 6 p.m. in room 1 um uh we will be uh discussing I think and I'm just looking here the West Street thing still yeah we'll be discussing the daily field um item um I did put some a call out for public input and alerted the public uh through social media uh to give their input there and then the intention is to I will also bring language to that meeting uh for the traffic rules in order and then we'll plan to set a public hearing at the uh for um at our next meeting we'll set up then make a request for a public hearing likely we will also continue to discuss the CI the request for a Citywide speed limit that has been in our um that has been uh in discussion in that um committee and I'll bring language for that as well um there was um some Communications from some residents about concerns at the West Street loudville um Glendale intersection and I encouraged those individuals to come uh for public speak at under roadway infrastructure and pedestrian safety items um and I'll be reaching out to members of police and DPW to be present at the meeting so they can uh comment um to the members of the committee uh and we'll review the language of the traffic at rules in order assuming that we have time um again that's an ongoing non-pressing issue um I thought I did this last time so I apologize that I did not but um I'll make a uh motion at this time to extend the review of TR the language of the traffic rules in order the the request to consider a Citywide speed limit and the proposal reverse traffic direction on daily field road 90 days for each of those please second okay so we have a motion in the second to uh extend those three items by 90 days all those in favor I any abstentions or NOS okay motion passes and as always please drive safely yes this concludes oh I do yes I'm sorry I please drive safely and I have a new business to move have new business um let me just um let me just pull that up one second please let's see right there you're saying it's down here wait yeah one moment talk on yourselves uh sorry farther down yeah mhm okay so uh we have a uh proposal uh for removal of Brewster it's Brewster Court Breer oh it is Brewster Avenue for rville Brewster Avenue from the list of oneway streets um to as a uh this will um uh be a traffic rules and Order Amendment U not for immediate consideration uh the proposal is to uh amend traffic rules in order uh uh article 6 section 1-4 4 one uh and the proposal is uh to remove Brewster Avenue from the list of oneway streets since no longer public way I'd like to move that to Public Safety in the form of a motion a second okay we have a motion in a second all those in favor I any abstentions or NOS okay motion passes and thus concludes there we go thank you counciler uh Council Riley um thank you Mr President um the appointment committee last met on January 6 2020 to discuss the appointments of Holden sparacino to the manhan rail trail committee and Heather lore to the Conservation Commission both who had expiration dates of December 31st 2026 um just to give you some brief background Holden is a lifelong bike Advocate who bought a house in East Hampton 5 years ago um he mentioned that the manhand rail trail was one of the major selling points for buying a house here in East Hampton he currently works for the division of ecological restoration and um I know he sees it this way and I felt the same way that ecological restoration and bike advocacy go hand inand which I think makes him uh and his experience as a natural fit for the committee um he has been to four meetings so far and he also received um a stamp of approval from Barbara labombard who is the chair of that committee so I think that's pretty good um Heather has been a resident since 2004 um she currently works for the center for food Agriculture and the environment at UMass amest in the research and extension planning and Reporting Department um she wanted to get involved in local government and serve our community now that her daughter is full grown and she saw that the conservation committee needed somebody um to do uh work with them um she did report that she had a series of conversations with uh Eva gersal our uh conservation agent and then also started attending meetings um the last thing that I will say is that she also uses self-guided education to learn more about conservation as a personal value so that's an ongoing process for her um the committee voted 20 to recommend Holden and Heather um so unless there are any questions I move to appoint Holden sparacino to the manhand rail trail committee and Heather lore to the conservation committee both with term expiration dates of December 31st 2026 second okay we have a motion the second any further discussion all those in favor any against or abstain motion passes all right thank you um and then next on my report I have an expiring agenda item so in the form of a motion I'd like a 90-day extension for the ongoing agenda item request for recruitment of board and committee vacancies second okay motion to the second any further discussion all those in favor any against orain motion passes all right and then um the next item on my report is to move some new business items to committee um so in the form of a motion I move to send four mayoral appointments to the appointment committee second second okay motion the second any further discussion all those in favor I I any against or abstain motion passes all right and then next uh I don't like doing this it makes me sad but um I am moving the retirement letter of the city clerk and the council clerk to the appointment committee to start the recruitment and appointment process for a new city clerk I know we need a second for that possible to abstain we we need a second and and we'll make it difference out of Mercy for Barb I will second okay yes we have a motion in the second any further discussion okay all those in favor I any abstain or against I knowly that was difficult for all of us okay all right and then thank you Mr President um the last piece is that the appointment committee will meet next on Tuesday January 21st at 6 p.m. in conference room 2 we normally meet on Mondays that's Martin Luther King Junior Day so City Hall will be closed um that's going to be conference room two here behind city council chambers and thus concludes thank you councelor uh ordinance councelor denim uh thank you Mr President um we haven't met since our last uh um meeting um but there are a couple of just want to remind folks um in terms of the review of the um affordable and Fair Housing Partnership zoning ordinance recommendations that uh was worked on with them uh we are just waiting for for their uh meeting um for them to kind of provide us some information about their availability and who will be participating uh in a in a in a work grou group um so I just want to acknowledge that and then um really the only other uh well two other pieces just to kind of bring people up to speed the amend chapter 8 to add new section uh 8-6 eastampton Trevy ordinance we are working with um the um DPW director uh director nlman uh to identify some spaces that each of us uh can take some photographs of and also review um um and have discussion about kind of what are we looking at we've also invited I've also invited um the new uh uh city planner there as well to participate in that conversation so that will be happening um in in the next week so that we can prepare for our next meeting which will be um I had it uh the 21st um at 530 so I will work with Barbara to set a room for that um so that will be our next meeting but I do need to set a public uh hearing uh to um amend separate sections of chapter 2 division three Council on Aging um for so in in the form of a motion uh set a public hearing for January 22nd uh at 6:15 to amend sepal sections of chapter 2 Division 3 Council and agent second okay so we have a motion the second to amend several sections of chapter 2 Division 3 Council of aging any further discussion all those in favor I any against orb stain seeing none motion passes great and that's everything that our committee has to offer Council this evening okay thank you counselor uh property councelor Zar uh thank you we will be meeting um this coming Monday um uh the 13th at 6 p.m. in room 1 uh that is just to discuss uh the utility poll request on Everett Street um and um I would like to set a public hearing for that item um for uh the January 22nd meeting at 6:15 in these Chambers second okay so we have a motion a second uh any further discussion all those in favor I any against or abstain see motion passes uh our other um agenda item with the city ordinance request uh regarding flags on public property um still trying to um figure out appropriate time to plan that and give it the space that it probably needs for the community so um I'll update you at our our next meeting um both of these have plenty of time thus concludes thank you councelor uh rules and government relations councelor ginski thank you Mr acting president this uh the rules and government Relations Committee uh has lost a member Omar Gomez with the resignation but we will be getting together I expect on January 29th at 6: p.m. that's a tenative schedule where we'll be discussing both items on the agenda both the uh review of the rules and I do expect that we'll be able to report that out at our next meeting after that and then uh the uh Charter Amendment request on the mayor's compensation dates for how when the the uh Council can take the matter up yep two and I'd like to request an extension on for 60 days on the rules review of the rules okay second we have a motion in a second to uh do a 60-day extension on the review of the rules any further discussion all those in favor any extensions or NOS see none motion pass and concludes um uh we don't have any old business and our new business has been taken care of but I do have an announcement um that I want to help clarify um we had the rules committee had suggested that we set two meetings to review candidates to fill uh Council Gomez's position um since then we've received one um person who was interested so I don't think we're going to need to have both of those special meetings so the Monday the 13th meeting is going to we're not going to hold we're going to hold the Wednesday meeting where we can meet the candidate ask questions and um you know vote them in uh and hopefully even do a swearing in as well uh and I think Barbara had made a suggestion because that was the my original plan was to have um the leadership uh reorganization at that meeting as well Barbara suggested that we wait till the next meeting so the new counselor has a chance to kind of things out and and I feel fine with that um so I would take questions counselor denim did you have your hand up that was my concern but um proper brought that up so that was great yeah great councilor kazinski uh I did have one quick note we had had a discussion earlier about the switching dates and we only had if we only get one application how do we handle it and as I sit here another thought came to mind uh and and that was we had designed that there' be two meetings one on the the 13th and the other on on the 15th I believe uh to allow time for the public to give input we set a process where the applications had to be in we received one application we're grateful to have one uh but we don't have won't have any time for public input after the candidate presents themselves to the council and I wanted just to reflect on that for a moment moment since it's always good to have transparency and this is a process we're talking about not any specific individual but it might be nice if there be a few days between the time the person comes to talk to us and the time we vote on the matter for the public to give some input into the process so I guess our choices at that time would be to go back to the drawing board or to move forward but I just wanted to point that out since I appreciate that point of clarification I think in order to stay within the bounds of open meeting law I think that you know what we should do is um if people are interested in meeting the the person who is applied um there uh her letter of interest is on file with the clerk um and I think her contact information as well um and so I think that that would be probably the correct route not to have a special second special meeting um and that way members of the public can still have uh their opportunity to um find out why they're interested and and ask questions um at the meeting when um she is here presenting on the 15th um so and and I think that probably again in order to like maintain our open meeting laws uh we should probably just leave it at that um so I I just clarify CL understand the process so that we leave it open someone could come in view the the documents in the city clerk's office have a telephone number to call uh meet request a meeting with the person whatever uh but then there would be a presumably a presentation before the Council on the 15th yeah at were you suggesting that I hear you say correctly that at that time anyone from the public could ask questions at that point and that would then allow us to have the benefit of the questions the presentation before the vote I was planning on putting public speak time on the agenda at at that meeting after the presentation uh I I mean I guess that that's to be determined um but I I think that um I guess we'll we'll have to see I I I think again it would be at the discretion of the president to decide where the agenda it would lie I think precedent is that we do it generally before um but I I think that we might be overthinking this um and that you know we probably as long as there's an opportunity for people to be able to speak to the candidate um that will be doing right by the candidate um so I I I that will that is to be determined and I guess at my prerogative but um I I do want the public to have an opportunity to be able to speak so yeah thank you Council D well I now have a question about um by rule we're supposed to elect the vice president by the end of the second meeting so does a special meeting count as a we did talk about that and it apparently it doesn't so it would just be a regular meeting so that's why if we push it one more meeting we'll still be within the rules okay I just want to make sure y okay uh that's everything on the agenda I would entertain a motion to so second we have a motion to Second all those in favor I any against or abstaining that concludes thank you everybody e