##VIDEO ID:fSwA7uRCgPk## this government meeting is brought to you by East works and our local cable subscribers pass by edia on Charter channel 193 and live streaming on their web page ismon media.org consor participants in this meeting are gathering hybrid and the order extended until March 2025 which allow us to do so I remind both the member of the city council and the public participating REM remain mute until 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 the public speak time or the public hearing thank you this meeting is now called to order Barbara Connie Denham I'm sort of here Salem Derby pres Omar Gomez JP kazinski Tom Peak here Brad Riley here Tamar Smith here JT Terell here Owen Zer here moment of silence thank you the pledge of delance plge of delance to the flag United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation godis indivisible with liberty and justice for all I will take a motion to approve the minutes of October 9th and the 23rd move I have a motion on a second to approve those two minutes any further discussion see none for those one in favor any against abstention I just laugh I smiled because I going to say Barbara but we have to do roll call I know um public comments is anyone here have any this is the opportunity to to address anything to the council regarding any topic listed under the public hearing is anyone from the public they want to address any comments to the city Cil this is the time I will give you three minutes please stay your name and address for the record and we don't have any in person anyone participating remote the want to say something to the Cil Lindsay yes good evening Lindsay sakula East Hampton resident um I just wanted to take a minute and congratulate our own council president Omar on his well-deserved victory in securing his position as state representative um it's been a pleasure working alongside of you and having you as a council member and council president and I am very proud of you and just wanted to congratulate you on your new adventure thank you thank you lindsy anyone else see none we don't have anything for tonight for immediate attention communication from elected official board committee con Riley um thank you Mr President um like Lindsay um first I want to extend my congratulations on your election to the Massachusetts General Court um I've learned so much from your leadership and though we have publicly disagreed twice on highly controversial issues I've always seen you as an ally and a friend um I think that the city of eastampton is better for your time on the council and that I'm a better counselor because of your leadership so I wanted to say thank you for that thank you while I celebrate your achievement I'm also left with a sense of Anguish for the working conditions that you're about to enter on Beacon Hill um I've worked in several capacities at the state level over the last four years and what I've seen heard and continue to hear is a little disturbing here are a couple of things that we know categorically to be true three of the last four speakers of the house went to prison for crimes such as extor tax evasion obstruction of justice conspiracy and fraud and we also know that they are one of four legislative bodies in the country that exempts themselves from public records laws and I just want to take a moment and pause and for us to imagine if this city council and the mayor just simply ignored the public and refused to Grant the public access to our emails our phone calls and our meetings I I'm left with a question of wondering like does that feel like democracy and why is it that 351 municipalities across the Commonwealth are held to a more transparent and accountable standard than our own state it sounds like rules for thee and not for me what some of you might not know is that public meetings like the budget process aren't actual real dialogues at the state level they are scripted for the Public's consumption to make it look like there's a democratic process involved before the budget uh gets passed the speaker of the house and the Senate President tell members of Congress who gets what and who gets to say what the of time and that a failure to get in line when the cameras is rolled results in political and economic punishments if you speak truth to Justice they'll make uh they'll remove line items to fund your community's food shelves or remove committe assignments making you appear ineffective to your district and it's not implied either they'll tell you to your face exactly what it is that they're going to do and they will follow through if you don't do it all of our representatives and Senators have experienced this manipulation to varying degrees it's Democrats Republicans and independents that have experienced this and it's not a partisan Behavior it's just simply that absolute power corrupts absolutely in the leadup to the election Congressional leadership tried to convince the public that Diana daglio has a vendetta against them and that she's incapable of doing her job objectively I'm here to tell you that I have spoken to current and for former members of Congress public servants in the executive branch a former Governor staffers and interns my experiences are the same as theirs and theirs are the same as Diana Dago's the challenge is that there's no records to obtain because they self- exempt themselves from being accountable to the public they pick and choose what they want the public to have access to and it's probably Massachusetts worst kept secret but without public oversight it's all just anecdotes and sec secrets so when Karen spilka and Ron Mariano say quote trust us we can audit ourselves you shouldn't believe that they're capable of doing it in an ethical and moral way now with respect to calling them out by name I want to say that they didn't create a system of corruption within the general court but they haven't done anything to fix it either think of them less like architects of the institution of corruption and more like property managers the good news is last night 72 % of Voters across the Commonwealth voted to grant our state auditor the authority to audit the general court it's rare in politics today that the people share in bipartisan agreement on anything but when it comes to this issue resoundingly the people agreed unfortunately leadership on Beacon Hill including our own Attorney General have indicated that they intend to file lawsuits and circumvent the will of the people instead of finding a politically appropriate Way Forward that creates transparency and accountability while also respecting the separation of power it seems they're more content with quashing the authority altogether again sounds like rules for thee not for me so in closing I just want to emphasize how unified a win this was for the auditor's office neither of our leaders in the last two elections have come close to 72% of the vote never the president the governor are United States members of Congress or the Attorney General I implore them when I say this that when the public is speaking you need to listen to them thank you thank you cons denim uh thank you Mr President I also wanted to extend my congratulations to you um it certainly has been a privilege and a pleasure to serve with you over the last 3 years I know that as one of the few women on this Council uh and the only woman who served on ccil last year uh you were the one true Ally that I had on this Council and um that will be missed greatly um I have um Beed witness to the Discrimination that you have faced in these Chambers as well as the comments that have been made to you in public um and I want you to know that you handled all of that with a great deal of Grace and humility in some instances um but I know that you are going to do right by your constituents um I know that you bring a considerable amount of Integrity to the work that you're going to be doing and I know that all of your constituents including the constituents that you've served here in East Hampton they have an advocate in you and an ally um the other thing I want to mention is uh we are accepting um applications for uh the municipal Leadership Academy um and we'll be collecting those through uh December um the application is up on um the website we do have received a couple of them and we'll put make be making some flyers and things like that for people to be able to um to be able to download those and everything it was a great um experience for residents they were really pleased with it uh I think it was a a positive experience for um uh for staff we obviously had a few hiccups with time changes and things like that but uh by and large I think it was a meaningful experience and so I just want to encourage people to um sign up for that thank you any other councelors see none I will start with a communication from president or vice president Mr Vice President you have any I don't have any anything maor communication she's not here um let's start with uh commit report Finance cons thank you Mr President uh so we met last week uh to discuss uh the uh appropriation that we will be discussing in uh 4 minutes uh in uh public hearing uh in addition to that we uh discussed the charter required review of salaries for elected officials and appointed committees um what we ended up voting uh as a committee to do uh would would be to recommend to this Council that we make no change to the uh salaries or stiens for uh any elected or appointed officials except for the mayor and that the the mayor going forward into whoever the next mayor is into their next four-year term receive a $3,000 raise per year over that 4year period um so in the interest of uh getting that onto a packet and allowing uh time for the public to to digest it uh it's been suggested to me that we set a public hearing for that for uh December 4th at 6:15 uh in these Chambers uh and I will do so in the form of motion second I have a motion seconds to schedule public hearing for the chat review require review of salaries for elected official appointees committee for December 4th uh 6:15 and the chamers any further discussion see none of those are in favor any against extension motion passes Peak uh in addition at that meeting uh we did receive word from uh the uh assessor office that they will be ready uh next week at our next meeting which is uh the 20th yeah 20th at uh no no at the next uh oh for you guys for the so the 13th I guess uh uh at 5:30 uh they're ready to uh talk to us about their recommendations for uh the classification so I would also like to make a motion to set a public hearing uh for the tax classification uh for November 20th at 6:15 in these Chambers second I have a motion on a seconds to schedule a public hearing hearing about the S fiscal year 25 tax classification public hearing request for November 20th 6:15 of this chamber any further discussion seeing none those want in favor any against abstention motion passes th concludes see you in 1 minute thank you Public Safety Council Authority uh no report uh we are meeting next week uh the 12th at 6 p.m in room one uh we will discuss the proposal uh from Mr Mason to reverse the traffic direction on daily field uh we will uh get into the traffic rules uh in order uh conversation and possibly discuss some other items to include but not limited to uh C CI the citizen request which has been sponsored by uh as a city council uh agenda item now for the Citywide speed limit and that is again next week uh next Tuesday at 6 p.m. in room 1 um and thus concludes and I'd like to make a motion to open the public hearing second I have a motion and a second to open the public hearing any further discussion see no those one in favor any against extenstion motion passes public hearing is open conselor Peak thank you Mr President uh so we have one supplemental appropriation tonight it's for $345,500 from Capital stabilization uh to fund the replacement of Highway uh division truck uh number 62 uh so uh there was a uh uh one of our uh trucks that's used for snow plowing in addition to theoretically some other things over the course of the rest of the year uh was uh removed from the fleet due to Mechanical and State uh safety issues it was a uh the truck was at 2,000 International heavy duty so give you a sense that's a 203 it was taken out last year so it's a 23y old truck pretty good run I would say um but it is time probably long pass time to replace it so uh you know these are expensive pieces of equipment but they can last a long time and we need them so the committee voted three to Z to approve this appropriation any counil have any questions or comments um Mr nman do you want to add something good evening everyone councelor P pretty much covered it uh but that uh truck 62 was dedicated to um coil Street and Mountain Road most of its life during uh snow and ice events so it was um exposed to a little more salt than some of other trucks in the fleet and just last year it got so Rusty we couldn't it was just beyond repair so we really need to get this one uh here and in service so that we are uh ready for winter whenever it decides to finally get here CU I'm sure it's going to come eventually eventually eventually it means uh soon in a couple months or eventually a couple years oh the truck could be here hopefully within a couple of months but the uh I mean winter the weather it's amazing how warm it stay all right all right uh any have any question cons uh Derby uh Greg I actually have a question for you um so it sounds like this is replacing a truck that does a lot of heavy lifting on the mountain in Holio Street and that potentially leads to its early demise or like more wear and te um is there any things that we could do to be proactive about protecting this new truck whether it be painting it with rust proof paint or getting some sort of coating that would help prevent it from rusting out uh the way this yeah so all of our all of our vehicles now we coat them with a um coding called fluid film to really help keep the rust off I mean nothing's going to make them last forever but um the vehicles they get a full cating with that now but that uh technology wasn't really available um in the early 2000s or when that truck went into service so if you if you don't do it right from when they're new they it just doesn't it it won't really have the effect so um everything now we don't really they do get the sections get rusty and rotted but we're we're able to I think get a lot more life out of them now that we're able to purchase that fluid film coding and keep everything um coded than that we do it each truck once a year so great thank you answers my question thank you cons good evening uh Greg uh I know I asked this at the finance meeting but just for public information can you just let us know other than snow plowing what else this truck is going to be used for the other eight or nine months of the year just for public information yep yeah we buy them with we buy vehicles of this type with an allseason body on them they actually have a plate in the U that can go into the floor of the of the of the dump body so that we can use it for uh really a variety of just Public Works uh jobs but uh for the most part this truck would would really be dedicated to snow as we have older vehicles in the fleet that we can that we kind of put through the um a little bit more harsh work like using on um for black top or things like that so but yes it does have an allseason body and can be used across the city for a variety of things so thr trailers things of things like that thank you any other cons anyone from the public have any questions or comments about this appreciation see none conso Peak as a hoio street resident who will benefit from this uh I yourself is that what you no I think it's okay I think it's all right um I uh I will make the following request in the form of a motion uh request is hereby made for the approval of the following appropriation amount requested $346,500 to be transferred from Capital stabilization $346,500 to be transferred to fy2 Western Star plow truck 346,000 $583 the amount requested will be used for the following purpose this appropriation will fund the replacement of Highway division truck number 62 this vehicle was a 2000 International 2554 heavy duty truck that has been removed from service last year due to Mechanical and safety issues second sorry just for the public I just want to make a comment the agenda have a typo uh say 34 5 but it's 346 I just want to clear that with everybody the right number is 346,000 okay uh we I have a I have a motion on a second for the supplemental appropriation of $ 34655 183 from Capital stabilization to fund the replacement of Highway division truck 62 any further discussion cons Kinski uh I just wanted to say Mr President that uh Greg I know I've been here a few years and during that time Council Derby has seen also none of our vehicles that I recall ever replacing did not have high mileage and significant use and therefore our city I think is handling this matter as best as it possibly can when it comes to seeing almost $400,000 for a vehicle kind of chokes you up a little bit and you say oh my gosh what what are we doing but you know 23 years is a great run 24 years every vehicle that I recall in the police department has been long mileage long mileage and long Service uh so I think we're doing something right so thank you very much I yeah we're trying we try you know we really try to get the years out of them it's uh it is amazing how much these vehicles cost now when I uh I came across some of the paperwork from truck from truck 62 which we're replacing and that one was it was right around or just over 100,000 um back in uh in 99 or 2000 when that truck was ordered so thank you GRE um any other celor for those who are in favor I any against exstension motion passes thank you uh Sony ordinance Amendment cons denam uh thank you Mr President thank sorry yep um the ordinance committee met on October 15th with the well we had two meetings that day but the first meeting um we uh met with October 15th we met with the uh planning board for a joint meeting and at that meeting we discussed uh two items first item being amendment to section 10.09 6B uh temporary election signage um and essentially it was a unanimous vote to um amend make an amendment uh to that ordinance because um currently there is a a basically a time limit on when sence uh election signs can go up and when they have to be uh taken down but in reality that's a violation of um People's First Amendment rights uh freedom of speech um and so the um both uh unanimously voted to uh change uh the language to read election signs uh political signs are allowed at any time of the year no permit is required um and so that uh like I said past um I don't know if anyone has any questions regarding that I it was pretty straightforward but let's finish that one and then we can start with the other one any con have any that's why I st comment or questions about these amendments anyone from the public have any questions or comments about these amendments I see I just want to make a quick comment um ACLU um communicate to us about this particular issue in our community they being going to different communities because some of the community have similar restrictions and they uh believe and after talking to our city Sol solicitor um he believed to there is a violation of the First Amendment and that's what we do in this cons mhm uh the second item was uh to add the following definition for surveyor to section 2. one as follows um surveyor a surveyor registered in Massachusetts by the board of registration of Professional Engineers and land surveyors with a current license um and the reason why we moved to this particular language is in the zoning ordinances um surveyor is mentioned a few different times throughout the um the ordinance is uh but there's actually no definition of what that is and surveyor could be from a different state uh it could be someone who isn't licensed uh Etc and so this uh change in or U this addition to the definition actually will then um Define what surveyor means for anyone who is um looking at the ordinance or who needs to be doing survey work uh within the city thank you any coun have any questions or comments see none anyone from the public have any questions or comments about this uh Second Amendment see n con no and And in regards to the um just want to add to the surveyor uh definition that was brought to us by a member of the community and so just want to acknowledge that at individual's um concern um and so through that action and their action of bringing this forward um uh we have made uh well hopefully within M moments we will have made a change to our ordinance so appreciate that Community participation so in the form of a motion um would like to uh amend uh section 10.09 6B uh temporary election signage uh to read as follows as I said uh election science political science are allowed at any time of the year no permit is required additionally adding the following definition of surveyor to section 2.1 to read as follows surveyor a surveyor registered Massachusetts by the board of registration of Professional Engineers and land surveyors with a current license second I have a motion on a second to amend section 10.69 any further um any further discussion do you have both yeah we said both but you just said 10.0 69 it's 10.96 B oh it just typ 96 oh I have it's it's 96 96 in the ordinance section yeah but it's in the public hearing it's 69 all right is another Tyle I I think it was because it was right before the election no worries no worries Barbara don't worry totally understand bar not a big deal I'm sorry can you repeat again the uh the motion again just to follow the numbers are yep so uh in the form of a motion amend um section 10 096 B temporary election signage um to read as previously or to to read as previously followed and to add the following definition for surveyor to section 2.1 to read as previously read mrct presid cinski may speak yeah uh I don't want to throw any water on this I think we've done well we we have a a rousing crowd here of folks who are interested in this subject I think we should get run this by an attorney to check whether or not it's acceptable to make a change as we're as we're making the change without there being notification in that's properly labeled as to the number of the ordinance it's a really technical matter but I just from saying I I I would feel more comfortable voting for this or postponing and asking for the attorney's opinion uh we could I don't think there's an great urgency to do this tonight uh just wanted to throw that out the table I just want to finish that I never say that I have a motion on a second I have a motion on a seconds to amend section 10.96 B and to amend section 2 2.1 of the definition any for the discussion hear you uh coun Peak yeah I I appreciate um in respect what councelor Kinski is saying but we do have the number correct elsewhere in the packet and we also do State uh specifically what section we are talking about in plain text so I think in in my view while I understand what you're saying and and and uh appreciate your your diligence on these things I I I do think that we probably are uh I think that a member of the public who was paying attention and wanted to know what we were voting about could reasonably uh surmise that it was a typo any other conselor yes sir Council derby um I would agree with councelor Peak I I just want to remind other councilors that this went through the the proper channels of changing um a zoning uh ordinance so that means we had a joint public hearing with the planning board um um so it would that public hearing was advertised as well uh there was discussion at the committee level before we went to the Joint public hearing at the Joint public hearing after the joint public hearing um and uh we did have the um planning board's recommendation with the correct number and it is listed in uh as the correct number in under our uh docket so I feel like we're probably bases covered thank you councelor any other counselor I don't have any issues voting tonight because I do agree with uh uh the vice president I I got the letter from the planning board um and it's pretty clear I will um take responsibility of the mistake in the agenda because at the end of the day is my agenda um but I know Barbara was really busy um we we had a really important election that happened yesterday and we are humans um so mistake happens and it happens um but based on the information that that we got in front of us um if you go to the ordinance items on the agenda is correct if we go to the letter that we receive from the planning board is correct and that was just I think in my opinion it was just a simple mistake for those reason I U for those who in favor I I any against uh exstension I will obain motion passes with one abstention I will take a motion to close public hearing so moved second I have a motion and a second to close the public hearing any further discussion seeing none for those one in favor any against abstention motion passes public the hearing is officially closed uh we're going to continue in with um committee reports appointments Riley we don't have anything in appointment no report tonight thank you cons Smith and or cons benam uh thank you Mr President U so we just addressed the zoning ordinance um items um I'm meeting with uh the agricultural Commission on December 11th uh to discuss the moratorium on the use of a sewage ledge fertilizer um they have um been discussing it amongst themselves so they don't meet regularly um and so this is their their first meeting that I'll be able to kind of have that discussion and they will have had some time to to think about it um so I will um address that uh we are still waiting to my knowledge uh for um uh information from the uh city solicitor regarding amendments due chapter 8 to add a new section 8-26 uh East Hampton shy ordinance so um uh when we get that we will uh uh address that um and finally we had uh again another very thoughtful uh conversation on amending uh various sections of chapter 2 uh division three uh the Council on Aging um and once we uh we've got some additional information regarding whether or not to add to allow for one member or three members uh to be non East residents uh which does provide U um uh for individuals who don't why they don't live here they do have a connection because they work in East Hampton um so just giving some more thought to that um there are advantages either way to address that uh uh matter so we are just um kind of sitting on that a little bit and thinking about it um so hopefully uh for our next meeting will be able to or in in the next a couple of meetings we'll be able to have uh an answer for that um one last thing I do need to ask for probably a 90d 90day extension to the request for temporary moratorium uh on the use for sewer sludge and fertilizer and that's in the form of a motion second I have a motion on a second to extend for 90 days the request of temporary moratorium of use of s SLO uh in M Hampton any further discussion see none for those on in favor any against exstension motion passes councelor denim this's conclude that's everything we have for Council today thank you property and rules cinski Mr President I just have a housekeeping matter uh in speaking with various members of the council who have been interested in the subject of introduction to council business rule 5c all those issues have been dealt with that item can be removed from the agenda and I would make a motion to do so at this time second I have a motion seconds to remove the request to amend uh Council rule number 5c any further discussion see n for those one in favor I any against exstension motion passes this concludes thank you councelor and look like U we do everything we have in our agenda we take a toour have mtion a second to journ those in favor against abens motion passes have a great evening everybody he slow wasn't my [Music] fa oh no