this government meeting is brought to you by eastw works and our local cable subscribers good evening welcome to the east ampton city council meeting for Wednesday February 19 2025 the meeting tonight is being recorded and broadcast by edia on
Charter channel 193 and live streaming on their web page eastampton media.org councilors and participants in this meeting are gathering hybrid we're Gathering hybrid yes on the order extended until March 25th allowing
us to do so I remind both members of the city council and the public participating remotely to remain muted 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 in the public hearing thank you this meeting is now called to order barbar Connie Denham Salem Derby Alicia jik here JP gazinski here Tom Peak here Brad
Riley here Tamara Smith here JT Terell here I'd ask for a moment of silence and the Pledge of Allegiance I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with
liberty and Justice for All I will work [Music] toward before we begin this evening I wanted to make a short announcement with the absence of our president Salem Derby I have moved up in the world to become
your acting Vice acting president this evening and with the absence of the mayor from the city for a period of time uh I will be AC mayor in East Hampton so given that uh I
uh would like to read the following powers of acting mayor so that we can be clear about something the acting mayor shall only have those Powers as Mayors may be necessary to conduct the business of the city and this is quoted from Charter section 3.8 b uh in an orderly and efficient manner
which may not be delayed the acting mayor shall have no authority to make any permanent appointment and removal of City un service unless the disability of Mayor shall extend beyond 60 days she'll be back way before then I hope and nor shall the acting mayor approve or disapprove of any measure adopted by the
city council unless the time within which the mayor must act would expire before the return of the mayor this is the really critical part during any period in which any member of the city council is serving as acting mayor such counselors shall not vote as a member of
the council so I will not be voting tonight I see five individuals here uh all five must agree to pass anything tonight I will so if there's one to sent it fails that being
said uh we have minutes from the February 5th meeting [Music] 2025 I would entertain a motion so move second with a motion and a second uh any
discussion barbar oh all in favor we're all here right so we do that all those in favor I'm not voting so [Music] passes uh public
comment anyone who would like to speak to the council and to the city please feel free to do so you will have up to three minutes to speak uh on any topic of your choosing please identify ify yourself and your street address at the minimum
do I have to give my street address can I just say Precinct well we ask for your street address that's our request okay Peg con of Precinct one good evening counselors thank you for entertaining the reaffirmation that
the mayor has put before you of the welcoming commun Community Trust ordinance uh it's important I think tonight but also especially in these times that we're in that are rapidly changing and difficult this ordinance
has been in place since July of 2019 I have a certain pride in being part of the council at that time where we pass this particular ordinance uh we are currently in what seems like the 31st year of this
Administration but it's only the 31st day um and the pace of change is staggering and troubling particularly on the subject of immigration the misinformation cruelty and ignorance of this Administration is purposeful we have been led to believe
that undocumented IM immigrants are the scourge of this country the reality is that most are here and have been here working for years most work in our communities send their kids to school pay taxes which by the way fund a lot of
services they can never access like like food stamps and Medicaid those who live in eastampton are your neighbors your co-workers and your children and their children play together daily this ordinance ensures that
eastampton resources will not be used to do the work of the federal government in the absence of a criminal warrant being undocumented is a civil problem there is no need for the police or other city workers to provide information to ice on
any individual who is undocumented merely because they are undocumented I am reminded of the parable of the starfish which I'm sure you all know after a storm thousands of St starfish washed up on the shore a
small child walked along the beach picking up starfish after starfish throwing them back in the ocean when asked why they're doing this that it cannot possibly make a difference that there's just too many starfish to save the child leaned over picked up a
starfish threw it in the ocean and said it made a difference to that one in reaffirming the welcoming Community Trust ordinance we have the opportunity to make the lives of our neighbors of our friends make a difference in the lives of our neighbors and our friends
and we should embrace that now more than ever on a side note and I don't know if any of you have the answer part of the ordinance was to provide annual reports on the number of ice interactions the
city has had and when we first did this ordinance I believe the former police chief uh Bob alberty said zero um I'm hoping that's still true but at some point not tonight but at some point if you could make it clear if that's been
an ongoing process we're supposed to do it annually and if not what what's the latest numbers at some point Thank you thank you [Music] as uh we always do at uh public speak the council is not at Liberty to respond
directly to specific questions in that fashion so none of the members will be doing so however uh at any time please feel free to reach out to any or all of us to if your questions are ever not answered or you have any
questions okay good evening my name is Leslie sh I'm I have lived in the Pleasant View Apartments on nanic street for 11 years when my husband turned 76 we decided that we could not maintain our property in New Salem on Eagleville
Pond any longer so we went looking and we fell in love with an apartment in eastampton and with East Hampton we went from Eagleville Pond to nanic Pond we still look out our back windows and all we see are Woods and Water it's
wonderful and as East Hampton sure has a lot more to offer than the New Salem General Store when the complex was sold to the prior owners we were never presented with the lease we were month to month
and in the last year the new people got leases but not the long-term people in mid November after the complex had been sold again this time to an outof State LLC we were presented with a lease in
mid November until there would be a 44% rent increase effective February 1st now the former owners had given us a rent increase in Spring 2024 my rent check between
2024 and February 2025 is 51% higher and there is absolutely nothing anyone can do about it because Massachusetts ended rent control in
1994 the United States Housing and Urban Development says on average in Massachusetts you need to make 93,6 a year to afford a two-bedroom apartment there's a movement on Beacon Hill for a new more realistic rent
control rent stabilization Act than the one that they threw out it's known as SD 1084 and HD 251 I'm here to ask you our city council
to let John vus and Omar Gomez know that you support rent control or rent stabilization we do not need another predatory outof State LLC buying more privately owned apartments in East
Hampton and raising rents higher and making people homeless thank you very [Music] much good afternoon my name is Destin Germany I am a staff attorney uh at Central West Justice Center I am uh
piloting a community Laing project there and I'm here to speak on uh behalf the organization and we want to reiterate that we believe that housing is a human right um and we are concerned about rent increases and the displacement of tenants in Massachusetts abroad but
particularly here in western Mass we support tennis rights to organize globally uh and also more specifically here in East Hampton with the Pleasant View residents and we encourage um East Hampton City Council to do what you can to ensure that rents are affordable and
that tenants are not displaced thank you so much hi my name is Mercedes um I'm a community organizer with uh Springfield no one leaves um Massachusetts is in the midst of a severe affordable housing crisis rents continue to rise with no
end in sight making it harder for Working Families seniors and young professionals to stay in the communities they call home we have the second highest cost of living in the nation and more than half of our residents spend over a third of their income just to keep a roof over their head this is unsustainable people are leaving
Massachusetts cuz they simply can't afford to live here anymore specifically Pleasant View apartment residents just got bought out by an outof State LLC and they were issued a 40% rental increase with the threat of 50% if they didn't agree to it within 10 days and it was
during the holidays that's unacceptable uh housing is a human rate we need real solutions to protect our communities from these outof control rent hikes that's why I ask you guys to support um the state Bill uh HD 2501 and Senate Bill SD
1084 um it's an act that would enable cities and towns to stabilize rent and protect tenants from unfair increases one key provision would cap rent hikes at no more than 5% per year which would prevent price gouging that pushes residents out enough is enough we must stand up for renters keep our
communities together and demand action contact your local state reps and senators in the Massachusetts state house and tell them to support house Bill HD 2501 and Senate Bill SD 1084 to bring fairness and stability to Massachusetts rental market hello carollyn Cushing Main
Street precinct 4 and I'm following my more eloquent compatriots um number one um and uh P con laid out the case for the city council reaffirming this welcoming Community Trust ordinance that was so supported by the community we've
spent many years working on it and it was great when we finally had um then counselor knif and uh gomez2 be Champions and um it's really important that we give this message that immigrants are are welcome and safe they
don't feel safe in places across the state people I know and have talked to and so for us publicly to affirm that our neighbors the people who work in our community are friends parents of children we know that
um they're as safe as can be in Massachusetts in in East Hampton and um then second on the the the the rent I just um to say that yes please
communicate to uh Senator villis and representative Gomez the support for these uh this legislation that would make rent more um sustainable potentially I was on a call last night with a dozen community
members and we were talking about this very problem and how to support leg find ways to have this legislation supported and um I'm lucky enough to own my own home I do have an attached apartment I'm a landlord and I support this kind of
control so that people can live and thrive in our communities that's it thank you so much oh and thank you to all the counselors who were on the council when we passed the ordinance so I'm looking forward to it just being affirmed again uh
councelor Pak and kazinski and who was on then so and uh councelor Derby and was Council Conan Council Gomez so thank you very [Music]
much um this will be the last speaker from the audience if you'd like to say something more further we have public hearings coming up and everyone who is here remotely will have the opportunity after the public hearings please Kathy wizinsky Overlook
Drive I want to First note that I'm being told that there are people waiting in the waiting room and not able to get in uh everyone that we have admitted I apologize but everyone who was here just the text I'm getting everyone is with us
okay according to this screen here great thank you I wanted to talk about two things first the welcoming city ordinance I do not believe it is appropriate for East Hampton to ignore any ice
detainers and I hope that that is not happening I do believe we risk Federal funding if that does occur illegal aliens should not be staying in our communities they should not be using our resources and they should be heading
back to their own communities we support immigrants who come here legally and do it the way that all of our um predecessors have um with sponsors and coming in Legally it's important
that we continue to support that and not allow illegal aliens to continue to um invade our communities secondly there are better solutions to managing rents than putting
in rent control why are rents going so high in large part because overregulation in this state and overregulation in the city and increases in taxes and fees that are pressing homeowners and landlords to have to
raise money in order to just make ends meet um there's not only one solution to this problem it's important for us to consider all solutions and not just blame landlords for regulatory overburden by the
government thank you thank you we have public hearings this evening uh at this time I would take a motion to open the public hearings so moved second any discussion all those in favor I not
voting [Music] again public hearings are open uh councelor Riley yes uh thank you Mr acting president acting mayor interesting to say that out
loud um yes so I just wanted to provide a little bit of background um behind the public hearing uh tonight so since September of 2024 um the Public Safety Committee has been having ongoing dialogues with residents on West Street to discuss
safety concerns with how quickly people drive down their street and the lack of pedestrian infrastructure to minimize um speed and to prevent residents from West Street from having uh to be so close to the road when walking um you know throughout our committee meetings we
were able to find some relatively quick fixes for the residents um you know two examples we're having DPW put white lines on West Street to create visual markers um for drivers and then to also have the police department report out on some speed limit metrics um obviously
more need to be done so serendipitously in November the council received a public request with support from the mayor to consider a broad policy approach that would lower the city city-wide speed limit to 25 milph so the public hearing tonight is
to consider amending appendix a of the traffic rules and Order uh first to add two definitions um which I will read into the record right now the first being a business district defined as the
downtown business Highway business neighborhood Business Industrial or Mill industrial districts as defined in the East Hampton zoning ordinance and then the second definition to add is thickly settled which is
defined as areas in the city where homes are less than 200 fet apart on an average for a qu mile of or more so um councelor Kinski would you prefer that we discuss this in two pieces or
would you like me to present all of it at once uh I would uh be happy to have discuss it in two pieces okay perfect you would mind yeah so so then that would be the the first order of business before us to you know talk about what
these definitions are if the language needs to be changed what any thoughts any of you have on on that coun Peak Just one thought and it's sort of procedural um Mr acting president acting mayor uh I I would wonder if you
would consider looking at this entire thing as a single item and the reason for that is that um let's just say theoretically that the second item were to not pass then the first item would be a little bit silly
to pass you know what I mean like the first item is is is putting some some some business districts in or some some definitions in place that only make sense to be in place if we're going to be putting uh if
we're going to be amending article 7 so just for that reason I think uh I mean I have no objection to the district and frankly I I I don't I don't foresee either of these things is not passing but just to avoid I just given that we
literally need everyone's votes right now I'm wondering if it might make sense to consider this entire thing as a sort of binary package I would entertain that sure okay all right so with those two
definitions in mind the next piece of the amendment would be to amend traffic rules and Order ERS um article 7 operations of vehicles by adding a new section 1-69 25 mph Citywide speed limit the
language that would be added in would say the city shall observe a 25 mph speed limit in business districts and in thickly settled areas in accordance with Mass general laws chapter 90 section 17
C with the amendment taking effect 6 months after the date of approval MH MH okay now that we've read both into the record any discussions or thoughts on this
subject I have a question um I support this I I think theoretically this this is this is safety wise a very good thing what if anything are we looking at for fiscal responsibilities as far as signage or or or that up front and where is that where those monies going to come
from yeah so we had actually had some conversations about um what would make the most fiscal sense and this is actually the the the most affordable um policy approach so ideally
what we would need to do um in this situation is um if there are areas that do not qualify as business district or thickly settled and that's very few um I don't know the totality of the map but I
I looked across the city of East Hampton and there are very few spaces where thickly settled does not apply um and so it would either be to leave the speed limits as they are in those
areas um and then you don't need to do anything but then if there are areas where the speed limit is being reduced down to 25 M an hour you don't actually have to put up signs everywhere you can take down the old signs because the the broad state would be that throughout the
city it's 25 mph unless otherwise posted right unless otherwise posted that's correct yeah and you know and and the thoughts as well for the um for having the six months uh before it takes effect so you know we recognize at the
committee level that um this is going to take a lot of public education and Outreach and time for messaging not just to uh residents in East Hampton but to also communities outside of East Hampton that travel through or visit you know
for our restaurants um you know or other cultural events so yeah you can so if assuming this passes would we would things be posted would this be posted at the city limits Lake on the Southampton line and Northampton landine on the o o line I I
believe that's the intent yes um and I I know there are strategic areas throughout the city where um DPW does this kind of advertisement so you know as an example when you are coming down Mount Tom Road um right next to Joy win's house there's usually a sign there
that has some sort of messaging um you know whether it's construction that's coming up or whatever the case may be um another one that's very strategic is um the rotary right across from the new library um right in the center of town so yes there there are strategic places
where we could provide that sort of messaging um and and I think this would give us plenty of time to be able to do that um Outreach and education um and then you know I I I won't speak on behalf of the
police department but I think there's also um an openness to a grace period right when it goes into effect that it is not just a 100% enforcement right if people are like let's say as an example they're adhering to the old speed limit
that they knew was there it's entirely possible people don't get the messaging on time so um that's my understanding um but I would have to um the police department would have to
say for sure what their intent was yeah thank you C Jassie in addition to the signage which I appreciate you explaining how we could take down signs instead of having to replace all of them has the committee looked into any additional traffic
calming strategies to be implemented in conjunction with a new speed limit not just having it be signed in education but bumps or you mentioned painting lines things like that yeah so you know we did have some conversations about that and I you know this is just
it's a Confluence of multiple challenges um so first is you know that we um we have prevailing wages um in Massachusetts so when we have people who are doing the types of construction for those things they are naturally going to
get paid more um to do the work and one of the reasons for that is um there's a recognition that people who are doing you know Construction Blue Collar work there's an actual tax on their body that that lessens the longevity of their
careers so you pay them a fair livable wage up front with the understanding that they're not going to be able to do this kind of work into their 50s and 60s right so it costs more to pay people to do this type of work the second is that just building uh these types of
resources is uh money that East Hampton doesn't really have right now um I I want to say if I remember the number correctly from director nutman that it would be about $90,000 to implement a a speed bump or
some variation of something like that so you know when you start to think about the broader community and where you might want to put these in um the question becomes do we try to find the places that need it most but then what happens to the
members of the community that think well why them and not us and you know what I mean and it it can get very expensive very fast and it becomes an issue of equity um and then the last piece that I'll point on that is that just with the way inflation
has been uh recently um doing any sort of DPW construction projects are much more expensive than they used to be so councelor Peak so um I think I'm in favor of this uh for a couple reasons uh
I appreciate that came from the community and uh I appreciate the my colleagues put the work in and and I'm I'm I'm interested to see the results uh but I just I want to just say for the record
as we go in I'm I'm not super optimistic that this is going to slow a lot of people down um if it slows a few people down and maybe prevents a couple fatal crashes then maybe it's worth it but um
I just think uh just I've i' I'm not an expert on this at all but it's something I've read a good deal about um because when I became a city councelor I wanted to read a lot about cities and and how they work and I think that there's a prevailing attitude that seems to be
there among a lot of people that people don't for the most part people don't they're not often actually paying a lot of attention to their speedometers where they're driving they're driving as fast as they feel safe driving if you have people
driving if you have streets like Holy Oak Street where I live that's very wide Lanes it's very flat it's very straight everything's set back from the road it's designed somewhat like a race car track people drive on it like it's a race car
track because they feel safe doing so they don't even realize how fast they're going they're just driving at the speed that they feel safe when they get to Cottage Street they slow down not because the speed limit drops but because the tightness the cars everything about it makes them no longer
feel safe operating a vehicle at that speed so from that sort of General thought about traffic planning and things I do think that traffic calming measures like the type that counselor jck was suggesting are probably going to
continue to be um necessary uh for like expensive though they may be uh I think that those sorts of things are going to be necessary if you want a lot of people to drive slower because I simply don't like like I
simply don't think that most people are checking their speedometers a lot when they're driving they paying attention to the car in front of them and they're paying attention to whether they feel safe so psychologically I just don't know if saying hey guess what it's 25 miles per they might note that going in
when they're driving around a thickly settled neighborhood are they going to note it I'm not I'm skeptical like I'm now being skeptical is not the same as saying I'm going to vote against it because uh again if if it gets a couple people to alter their behavior and be
safer then Super and um and maybe I'm wrong and actually we have some of the most obedient and law-abiding citizens in the world and when they see this at the city's Edge they will immediately stop driving in a way that is helpful
and we do we are seeing Nationwide a huge increase in traffic fatalities in part because a large group of our citizens insist on driving cars that look like small tanks despite not needing them for anything um so for all
those reasons I think any it's worth a shot and so I'll I'll back it on it being worth a shot but I just I don't I want to register this concern going in because if this happens and we're not actually seeing any statistical benefits
from it like uh I won't be shocked all right uh councelor Smith since you haven't had a chance to speak okay then I'd like to try to open it up to the public for their reaction and then come back to us okay okay if that's
well first I want to I want to just acknowledge that we have had pedestrian deaths in our city and there has been a lot of call from the public asking us to do something about the speed limit as a result and so I think any time that
people have died as a result of not having um something in place I know we have speed limits in place but the consistency is not in place having said that I live out in the plains and Precinct 5 it's a pretty long straight
road to get there and I cannot imagine people driving 25 that hallway it's kind of the same thing as the other Street um in my family I have new drivers and I have one particular new driver that absolutely will not go over the speed
limit and I cannot tell you how many times I have been in the passenger seat with him driving people lay on their horn and follow us for a mile all the way home and they do not let off of that horn um it's it's not intimidating enough to my
kid to not do that but I just want to also acknowledge that there may be increased incidences of road rage and that's my biggest concern with lowering the speed limit that's all I have to
say thank you mhm anyone here in the hall who would like to speak this is your chance come on up Leslie Shar nanic Street I have been
followed down up Cottage well I've been fall actually started on Union Street to Cottage to hoo Street been going 25 miles an hour on Union 25 miles
on Cottage 30 miles on hoyo and I've had this stupid jerk laying on the horn the whole way down I've also been passed twice on hoo
Street one time somebody almost hit a kid I would like to see the speed lowered but like Tom I don't think anything's going to happen and I have talked to Dennis scrier about it and he doesn't have the money to
patrol and that's what he's told me you know I I've also complained about being in the flashing light pedestrian Crossing and having to stop and wave my hand so that people will stop as I
cross we need more safety patrols as well as lower speed limits in my opinion thank thank you anyone else Kathy wizinsky Overlook Drive I think that a 25 mph Citywide
speed limit is probably Overkill I can see that in the business district in some of the more heavy populated areas in the center of town a 25 mph might make sense we are looking at a problem of over congestion and the unfettered building
and high density building that is being allowed by the city committees is causing an increase in traffic which is causing an increase in safety issues 8,000 new cars are likely to be
added to our roads in the next few years because of the high density building we are p pushing cars out into the neighborhoods because of the foolishness that's being done in the center of town people are
avoiding the center of town because they don't want to deal with being backed up by CVS and other places for 10 20 minutes at a time and so they're going out into the neighborhoods because of the over congestion that's being caused
by unused bike passs and other issues safety table those speed tables those are great they don't slow down traffic so much that people are frustrated trying to get home after a hard days
work I think a 25 mph speed limit is Citywide is not is not um it's not something that's going to going to work thank you anyone else I am stupski I'm from 18 mineral Street in
eastampton and I've lived here for probably close to 50 years a little shy of that really but but not a lot um I I think 25 mil an hour driving anywhere is
unreasonable it's just it's just it's just you look at you go through the the town and the the speed limits is 25 miles hour you look at your speedometer and you're going 35 miles an hour and it's just uncomfortable to drive 25
miles an hour it's just with the the cars they built today uh and uh it's just not not uh a smart idea it's like creating a law that that nobody can keep
can can can keeping the and then the the higher ups will have the discrection to to stop them or not but but I I came in late I I really was coming in to speak against the welcoming
City I think that's a terrible idea if I that was the time at beginning of the public he of the but this is the public hearing section you're welcome to speak and continue to speak on the subject if you'd like okay Jimmy the the reason the reason that that I was late today is
because I was working out of town and I to drive down 141 onto Cottage Street and and is it was a gridlock I couldn't the cars weren't moving and I was I was 10 minutes late to this
meeting and that had a lot to do with it thank you I will say that we will continue to have public hearing the public speak Mr nski we we will be continuing public speak after this so you would still have a chance to speak
again on that subject I didn't want mean to say you couldn't speak about it anytime we still have public hearing open or public speak open public hearing time now thank you thank you anyone else
here um lind's Lindy how do we do this oh she can just speak you can just tell uh I see Lindsay would you like to unmute your yourself hi Lindsay suula mutter Street
resident um speeding concerns have been uh heavy on my mind lately uh living in a residential neighborhood where I regularly see cars speeding down my street um and I don't have the solutions but I appreciate um Council Riley's
comments on Equity issues when we're talking about speed bumps um I of course would love a speed bump on my street but then we we certainly can't afford to provide them for everyone who wants them either so my thoughts um offered to the council would be or my suggestion would
be that we wait to take any action on this until we hire our new police chief which is in the process and allow a new Chief to come on board and um be a part of this discussion and work with our current
administration at mayor on possible solutions for going out for an RFP to hire a consulting company to do a Citywide assessment with the new police chief and our DPW director On what streets um have the most accidents what streets are most utilized and go from
there so I just think there needs to be more of a process in place with the leadership that would ultimately handle the enforcement thank you thank you Liz Perry you may unmute yourself and have up to three
minutes um hi I'm Liz Perry I'm a resident on Orchard Street and uh living on Orchard Street i' I've had a lot of near misses trying to take a left onto Cottage Street so um you know I
appreciate the idea of a 25 mile speed limit if that's what uh the town thinks is best um I am definitely willing to slow down in um and order to allow more cars on the road if that's also what it
takes um whatever it is I would like to see a a speed limit or something more than uh police patrolling I don't think we should be adding any more budget money to the police department to fix this solution um I do like Lindsay's
idea of perhaps getting an assessor to figure out a plan um but yeah uh I'm willing to slow down though and allow more cars on the road for new residents that come with the new building that's going to be here soon thank
you thank you is there anyone else in the uh remote section that would like to comment on the subject seeing no one I just at the last
second uh Michael Owens you may unmute yourself good evening counselor is Micha Owens Northampton Street I think the uh I just want to say a couple quick things I I think that uh if this passes tonight you're basically
city council is basically giving an unfunded mandate to the city uh you're saying it's going to cost a lot of money to do these signs uh where is the money to get it done I know there's a six-month delay uh I I don't know it just seems
seems a little bit ridiculous uh secondly I think uh 25 mph Citywide speed limit will uh cause a lot of additional road rage uh former speakers have talked about that I travel the speed limit in
town and people tailgate me inches off my bumper uh and and it's it's crazy it's crazy how fast people go out on on our roads I just want to suggest you that you think out of the box on this a little bit there was a 30 mph speed
limit sign out in front of my house or actually close to my house that speed Zone goes for about 2 2 and 1/2 miles I'm going to suggest that that speed zone should be 27 mph now that does two things no one ever sees a 27 M
mph speed sign so it catches people's attention and then people in their cars immediately look at their speedometer and they say boy I'm going 33 and the sign says it's 27 maybe I'll slow down to 30 so this this is a valid way to get
people's attention to to to to focus on the speed that they're going and the uh the lawful speed set for that particular roadway so I just want to throw that out there and uh thanks very much thank
you Amy Amy gger you may unmute yourself wait a minute no it's an admit sorry my apologies Amy you can you hear me now were you here for public speak if you were you may unmute yourself not not for
public speak but rather for uh the public speak of the hearing regarding the amending of traffic rules and ordinances I see someone who is identifying themselves as prevent PA you are up hi yeah my name is Darlene
orto um sorry I haven't used this platform in a while so I didn't realize um so I have a neighbor on mutter Street who has for years now sped down Cherry Street and of course we were told with
the whole Cherry Street um reconstruction mess that um speeding would would be controlled because it's a thorough fair that people use from Clark and of course that wasn't true um people still speed down to every street I very
politely asked him if he would slow down to just think about kids and and pets and now he curses at me every time he sees me so um I really think that people are going to ignore this I think it's going to put undue stress on the
community I think it's going to put put undue Financial strain on the community definitely Overkill it's not going to make a difference it's going to put stress on the police station um police Sports and um I think you should just um
like um Michael said think outside the box and I I love his idea of putting something up that will actually make people you know think twice look twice and um be more conscious of how they're behaving on the road thank
you thank you anyone else in the the remote section seeing none come the rler yes so I just wanted to address uh a lot of points and questions that were brought up both from
the council um and from the public so you know what we're actually talking about here is the difference between people dying and not dying um the 25 mph speed limit number was not
made up arbitrarily um during the um Public Safety Committee meetings we spoke with people that work in the emergency room and 25 M an hour versus 30 m an hour is
the difference between dying on impact at 30 m an hour or being hospitalized and requiring surgery but you're still alive right that's the difference the 5 mile difference between 25 and 30 is the difference between whether somebody in
our family or our community or our neighbors dies on impact and is left on the street until somebody can come and remove their body and we know that this is true because it's happened there are people in our
community who have died in our streets because somebody was going 30 m an hour and I I hear what everybody is saying not everyone is going to follow the rules that's true of every policy
if I I don't think anybody here should be under the illusion that whenever we create an ordinance that it's going to have a 100% uptake that's just not how Society works but when you craft policies and this is this is what you're
trained when you um work in public policy and administration one of the policy Alternatives that you always consider is the status quo which is what I'm heing a lot of people suggesting right now the status quo is better but the status quo means that people die on our
streets and to recall what former councelor conif was talking about earlier with the the uh parable of the uh star the starfish to to the two people that died outside of McDonald's I bet this would
have actually everything for them the the the opportunity to maybe survive a collision and to be able to to be with their families right that's that's actually what we're talking about here so you know I'm I'm not trying to
minimize people's concerns but when when I hear people saying I don't want to deal with the inconvenience of going slow through East Hampton or I don't think other people are going to follow the rules so we shouldn't try to me that's a dishonor to the people that have died in our streets that we
haven't done anything to address this and I I I get what some have suggested we certainly do need to do more than just the speed limit we can do other things we can apply for Grants we can find money in future budgets to be
able to install architecture in our streets that makes it more safe but right now this is the one thing that we have at our disposal and and I just I don't know I I as a as a human
being I can't reconcile the inconvenience of being honked at or or having to take a little bit longer to get through the town in order to save somebody's life um that's where I stand and that that was sort of
the behind the conversations that happen in the Public Safety Committee what we're talking about is the difference between people dying on impact and not um so you know to um uh Lindsay cula's
point I I would be open to doing what she she suggested which is to find uh or to release an RFP to have somebody come in and do an assessment to make sure that we're doing things right
I think that's fair and I think that's due process and I think that's good govern to be able to suggest doing something like that but we cannot rely on I don't think people are going to follow the rules or inconveniences as a reason to excuse people dying in our
streets I just the magnitude of the loss that those families have been under I think merits us being a little inconvenienced to save somebody's life that's just how I feel um I'm I'm happy to
on behalf of the Public Safety Committee if the city council feels that what uh Miss Zula is suggesting would be better I'm I'm happy to do that too we have to do something the status quo doesn't work
um so I'm happy to hear what anybody else has to say or their thoughts on on moving forward with an RFP whatever the case may be so if if I'm hearing you correctly what what I I think you're saying just to clarify is
that you would be amable should it be the council's will to bring this matter back to committee to yeah absolutely for further review if you would like I mean if that if that's the will or to vote on it this evening if that's the will but
yeah I I I am fine with either way for for me personally I would vote Yes on this tonight I but I also recognize that I've been talking about this issue at the committee level since September so I have a lot you know what I mean I've had a long time to digest this
um but yes if that is the will of the council I I would be more than happy to return it back to the committee and and follow up with with you know the the next chief of police when that person is hired I saw counselor Peak sure
um yes uh so I uh just just a couple things and and I apologize here because I uh I I should have probably paid more attention to this as it was being discussed as it is something that kind
of interests me um uh in committee but uh I'm just curious how much did we engage with sort of the professional and Technical uh expertise of the city in terms of like we we have engineering staff in the DPW like have they were they consulted on this have they signed
off on this uh well I signed off is probably I don't want to say yes to signed off because I think that could imply different things than what it actually means but yes they were a part of the conversations DPW was there the
police department participated in these conversations um so you know they agreed that if that was something that we wanted to do they would make it happen the caveat of course is if the city council tells
people that work in the city government they have to do things I mean they have to so you know what I mean I don't want to I don't want to say one way or the other um that they're 100% on board because I think their stance was if this is what the council passes then we'll
make it work yeah could you mind if I ask a followup question please um I I guess I'm specifically interested in like the in Personnel um sort of the engineering Personnel in the city and you know I know that there's
people who who have some background in traffic design and and traffic engineering and whatnot who we we do employ um was was there were they involved like I'm sure that there's folks saying from the police and DPW saying we'll put up
the signs we'll pull people over we'll do that sort of stuff I guess I'm I'm more wondering from like a from people who have like sort of a professional experience like what to what extent were they involved in this whole thing you know I I can't say for
sure you know I I want to recognize also that I'm I'm leading this conversation tonight with a lot of lost institutional knowledge on the topic um so I don't know if those conversations occurred with the former chair of Public Safety
so I can't I can't say one way or the other okay yeah I had just some thoughts if I may I share them just so this could be a possibility in addition to the
possibility of removal of the item from the current uh public hearing and going to committee with a discussion in possible RFP is there another possible solution and I'm just tossing this out it would
require splitting up some of the matter it if there was the same feeling about the entire subject or any different feeling about what occurs in our business district uh as opposed to what's going on in the thickly settled area just
wanted to give some consideration as to that I didn't know if there was uniformity of opinion on uh 25 M an hour within the business district and and maybe uh reserving a review or another
at another discussion so they throw that out as another possible way of getting through this material and seeing that the will of the people are is done councelor Smith if it was split up between the two
I would be more amendable to it and I hear what you say but I also feel that we risk the potential of other people being harmed by road rage if we unnecessarily put it down in places of the city that are going to Garner more
frustration in my neighborhood it's going to Garner more frustration because we have some real quick roads my road Strong Street right through the middle of it is a great example of that over the years we've had multiple cars that crash right at the bend which is right where my house is so I'm not saying that
there's not a problem here I do think there's a problem here but I'm not convinced that this is the the best way forward for where my precinct is way out from the inner city part I mean my you know Precinct 5
is almost entirely residential so it would be entirely this thickly settled and that would be for the purpose of just the neighborhood and I understand everything they're saying about um the possibility of someone getting hit and all of that but I also think that
because of because of how far out my precinct is from the rest of it I just think that I just know that the majority of people in my neighborhood driving that slow all the way in like if you go down to 20 at Willison Northampton oh my
gosh people do not like that at all so to imagine only going five miles higher than that and having someone going all the way back I think we need to address those types of of issues before that and so for that reason I would make a motion
to uh remove this without prejudice so that it can be considered more um fully at that point is there a second I'll second it we have a second I'll entertain discussion
on the amendment a motion hasn't been made you're good point so might be premature to have are we making an okay I can withdraw the um motion request no although your motion
was to remove without prejudice without prejudice the entire subject from the agenda send back to committee yes because I I think it still needs to be worked on so removing it without REM from the agenda it it it the public
hearing is removed from the agenda and returned back and the item is s sent back to committee is that what you're saying yeah the the the part where we're saying to amend the traffic rules in ERS and I would like some more opportunity
to have further dialogue with the key stakeholders that have been named here tonight and I would also like to see more about alternative ways to slow traffic and some of them haven't worked and have actually been um really
frustrating and I'm aware of that but I agree with what everyone has said about the I understand in certain places in the city the 25 mph absolutely and I understand that but equally I worry about the residents that live out a
little further how that will create that and I I just don't think this is at the point yet that it meets everybody's needs not a motion on the yes made have a motion on the
Flor yes okay so the motion on the floor is to remove from the public hearing and return to to the Public Safety Committee MH I will entertain any discussion on that [Music] subject C PE um I'm in favor of it uh I
think that uh well for for no other reason than uh well for maybe maybe a couple other reasons but for the main reason that I have found in my time on the city council that when we start talking about uh technical specifications of like what if we split
this up into two things what if we did this or that in public hearing it almost always doesn't go well like I I feel like that that has just been my my experience that like you know sometimes there's small amendments that that can be productively made but in general if
like if if we're not sure on the general Spirit of this uh thing or if there's like there's big changes that need to be made it's generally best to send it back to committee and I also think uh given the fact that this would need everyone here to support it and there seems to be
some things like that probably you know the the best thing for this measure's long-term health is probably to get it back and have some of those conversations in committee Council gantic thank you um I also appreciate
what everyone has said and I appreciate um Council Riley's point about stepping into this position of reporting out from the Public Safety Committee in this interim or new role and I think that sending it back to committee will allow
us to also perhaps dig into some of this more institutional knowledge that may have been you know with past counselors so I agree with what counselor Smith has said and what others have said too is I think this is not a bad idea at all I
think it's a good idea and there are multiple truths at play here we don't want people to die and we also want to make sure that we don't create a whole new set of problems by not taking the time to think through this at leisure and I say at leisure not saying that
we're you know wasting time but I think this is a very serious thing that will have impact and whether it's business or residential or Citywide or not I think there just needs a little bit more time spent on understanding what the ramifications are and what the
opportunities are as well anyone else just that I I also agree with what counselor Peak said um I have been in several of those sorts of discussions that he has called out and and it is
true if if we hold the vote and it fails tonight then then it is moved and I I would prefer with that framing that it definitely go back to committee um for future consideration so without
prejudice yes without prejudice so I just want I also uh as a a last thought I wanted to thank the public and to thank all of you for thoughtfully engaging in the process um like councelor jadik said this is
this is really important stuff so um thank you all for your thoughts um when we get a new counselor and the committee is full I will bring all of this feedback back to the committee to be able to have this conversation [Music]
further I would like to thank everyone who participated in the discussion including the members of the public I hope you uh uh enjoy seeing the process at work with your comments being considered I think this is a very healthy thing for the
city and I look forward to more of it and further discussion yeah there is a motion on the floor uh I would uh seeing no further discuss no further qu uh comments uh call for a
vote just do a Voice vote we're all here I keep at look at looking for that Voice vote V all those in favor of returning back to committee without I
abstain and the reason for my abstaining again is is acting me I'm not allowed to vote per Charter 3.8 um it will be returned back toe I entertain a motion to close the public hearing so move
second all in favor I I None opposed public hearing is closed Communications from uh actually back to I'm sorry opportunities for further public speak anyone in the audience with general public speak about
any matter at [Music] all we had one member who wanted to so we return back to the open speak time okay anyone entering
this country please if you could re identify yourself oh I'm Sten I'm from 18 mineral Street on W one it's off Al lville Road up there thank you yeah okay in the northwest corner of East
Hampton um anyone entering this country illegally is breaking the law and anyone who who AIDS and abets illegals is breaking the law wh why why does
eastampton want to be a welcoming City for for these for these people uh coming in here uh violent criminals aliens especially gang members we want them to be welcoming to
these people that it's ridiculous it's going to affect our aid from the uh government and and and it's it's not a good idea thank you anyone
else those who are here remotely anyone care to speak on anything on your mind one person I see Liz Perry you're up if you would unmute
yourself hi again um that's Liz Perry from Orchard Street uh just FYI uh entering the country illegally is a civil offense not a criminal one and also FYI um the statistics show that
immigrants in this country commit far less crime than the people that are born here um sta statistically speaking I am more likely to be raped and murdered by a man that was born in this country than
a man who was not and if I have to live in this country with men who are born here then I think I'm okay with living with men who weren't born here who will be less likely to harm me thank you thank
you prevent PA if you would un mute yourself yeah hi barene orto um civil or criminal uh I believe that we should follow the law and I think that we shouldn't put citizens at risk
for losing funding for things that are important to our livelihoods and our well-being and our safety and I think that it's um just I think there's a lot of ignorance
as to the vast amount of funding that has been kept from citizens throughout the country uh and put towards uh illegal aliens um people
freak out just over the term which I think is incredibly immature um I I just I think that there's obviously a lot of Education that's needed and uh most people aren't getting it because they're uh watching mainstream bought
out media and I really think that um East Hampton needs as a city needs to follow the law thank you thank you Cam jamrog
McQuade counselors um my name is k j McQuade I'm a resident in 8 Jones Drive um I just wanted to express my support for the welcoming city ordinance um I feel very strongly about this as resident of the city as a life resident of the city um these people are our
neighbors our community members um even if people outside the city um I think that's important for us to send a message to combat the fear that they're feel feeling right now um so thank you to this Council um for affirming that
message thank you is there anyone else for public speak now it's your chance going once going twice this closes public speak thank [Music]
you Communications from elected officials boards and commissions we did receive a letter from the contributory Retirement Board discussing the cola the cost of living adjustments for retirees notification of 3% will be the retirement the East amp
retirement boards uh move to recommend a 3% Cola [Music] adjustment is there [Music] uh% be with me a second
[Music] next we did have an issue of uh an open meeting law complaint against the city council uh brought by Mr Eric pulin and there has been this meeting of the uh
rules and government Relations Committee where it was voted 3 to nothing to recommend that the matter is not an his complaint wasn't an equal uh uh U open meeting law uh violation uh there was a
discussion with the council president who drafted the following letter and I'd like to put that into the record if I [Music] may uh Dear Mr pulin I am writing in response to an open meeting on complaint
received in the city council's February 5th packet regarding an alleged violation of the open meeting Law related to me meetings held on December 18 and January 22nd the city council takes all open meeting law concerns seriously and appreciates the opportunity to address
this matter response to allegations the complaint asserts that your appointment to the Parks and Recreation Commission was deemed denied a favorable recommendation to the full Council due to four Anonymous complaints as a point of clarification the role of the
appointment committee is solely to recommend or not recommend an appointment to the full Council it does not have the authority to block lock an appointment as was stated in the complaint after thoroughly reviewing the allegations we've determined that no violation of the open meeting law occurred compliance with Section 940 CMR
2905 and whistleblower protections your complaint references section 2905 as a basis for an open meeting law violation this section describes the complaint process in general and not some act or action in which and of itself violates the open meeting law to the extent you
are referencing 940 CMR 29051 this section States a public body need not and the Attorney General will not investigate or address Anonymous complaints a public body need not address a complaint that is not signed by the complaintant a public body need
not address a complaint that is not filed using the Attorney General's Complaint Form This provision applies specifically to the filing of Anonymous open meeting law complaints not the acceptance of anonymous concerns regarding appointments
accepting Anonymous complaints ensures that individuals can report concerns without fear of retaliation given that the Parks and Recreation Commission interact with both public employees and the general public it's important to provide a safe Avenue for individuals to voice concerns without fear of
Retribution currently neither Council rules nor state laws prohibit the acceptance of anonymous complaints eamp city council remains committed to upholding transparency and compliance with the mass its open meeting law definition of an open meeting law
violation under Mass law an open meeting law violation occurs when the public body fails to adhere to legal requirements governing meetings common violations include a failure to post meeting notices in advance holding discussions or deliberations outside of a properly noticed meeting improperly
entering an executive session without fining the the uh without following required procedures failure failing to provide Public Access or adequate meeting records after reviewing the complaint including the provision cited
the East Hamp city council determined that no violations of the open meeting law occurred as it is and is not in violation of 940 CMR 2905 for a counselor to discuss matters with third parties who are not also counselors outside a public hearing and there's no
requirement that a counselor disclosed with whom her or she discuss such matters next steps these city council remains committed to complying with all local and state laws we understand that you feel m misrepresented in the appointment process and we acknowledge
your concerns moving forward the council will review the appointment process to ensure a fair and transparent experience both for the appointees and for those who wish to raise concerns but may not feel safe or comfortable speaking publicly if you have any further
questions or require additional documentation please feel free to reach out thank you for bringing this matter to our our intentions sincerely Salem Derby president of the East Camp city council since this is a matter of the for the council to resolve I would ask
for an endorsement of the letter and I would entertain such a motion so moved second second with there being a motion in a second any further discussion seeing none I'm just wondering how the vote
would go for this cuz I feel like I should abstain since it was an action that I was involved in and this ruling is but I feel like if I abstain from the vote then we won't have enough people for it I I would I would feel your
obligations as a counselor would override okay your position okay so in my opinion you would vote on the matter or could not be voted on tonight okay so I would ask you to vote on the matter one way or the
other so that being said all those in favor I I oppos abstain motion passes [Music] [Music]
Mr the mayor vice president vice pres commun we do have a [Music] vacancy with the resignation of councelor zarett we have a vacancy with the council that is an at large position
according to the city Charter the matter must be dealt with within 30 days or we have must schedule a meeting to vote since no one has the required number of votes received the required number of votes according to Charter uh from the
last election that being said a proposal was made by Salem Derby uh council president uh for the following schedule the timeline February 19th will announce the filling the vacancy in the timeline
that's tonight February 24th that's Monday if I'm not mistaken Monday the 24th application letter is due to the city clerk by 12:00 [Music] noon and two days later uh there would
be a special meeting on the six on the 26th at 6:00 p.m. to meet the applicants and vote if that schedule meets with the approval of these members we shall move it forward
I would ask for a motion so moved second Motion in a second any further discussion all those in favor I opposed motion [Music]
passes the mayor's communication [Music] before counselor I mean councelor before mayor L Chappelle uh went away she had asked that this matter be moved forward to the full Council and that was the
matter of an affirmation of the welcoming City trust ordinance we do have an ordinance on the books and so I am now taking off the hat of council acting Vice or Council acting president and putting on the hat of
uh acting mayor and bringing to you the mayor's communication as mayor I reaffirm the city's steadfast commitment to protecting the rights safety and dignity of all eastampton residents and
employees especially newcomers immigrant families and unfairly targeted communities east ampton is a community that actively upholds the values inclusion of inclusion diversity and the well-being
of everyone who lives or works here these values are codified in the city ordinance chapter 13 Article 1 welcoming City trust ordinance which directs all departments to build trust and fairness between our local government and its residents employees
and visitors under this ordinance no part of our city government including police can be federalized these these commitments are embedded in a city-wide policy than codes of conduct
the East stampton Police Department policy and training protocols both attached to this memo specifically address the non-f federalization of local police our City's leadership continues to monitor state and federal
developments we are working closely with state agencies including the governors and the Attorney General's offices and the department of secondary and Elementary education to ensure our actions and policies reflect our legal obligations and core
[Music] values thus concludes the mayor's communication I would ask that we Ponder on the matter think about it these are important questions we have an
ordinance we will follow it Council Communications announcements and standing committee reports Council Communications is there anyone here who has Communications I see counselor Peak um yeah it's a little late because the folks left but just just for the
record um I try hard don't usually I I'm disgusted by what's happening across the street from me with my constituents who are having their rents backed up by an predatory out ofate landlord I wish that we had some local uh lever that we could
pull to do anything about it we don't so I hope that the state uh finds the courage to do anything about it uh I I don't have much more to say other than just that I think it's completely disgusting and reprehensible that that's happening to [Music]
people counc Riley um thank you so it is uh that time of year again um where Mrs Browns We the People students have won the Statewide competition um in Massachusetts this is officially eight years in a row that
they have been state champions and like past years uh it's time to fund raise for the national competition in Washington DC um so to give you an idea of what is needed for our students to engage in this
competition the cost to send one of the students to the We the People Nationals is $1,400 this covers everything from transportation for meals um everything that they need so it's $1,400 per student and there are 30 students that
are going this year so you can do the math it's a pretty sizable amount of money um I have donated my February city council stiped I'm not asking anybody else to do that this is just something that I I do every year this is a very
important cause for me um if anybody in the public or the council wants to donate money to help these students out you can either contact me directly my email address is B Riley eastampton ma.gov I'll get you all the links that
you need um or you can reach out to Miss Brown directly her email address is K Brown epsd.us thank you thank you and anyone else I will say we are
lucky here in East ampton to have the We the People yeah uh folks yeah it this is just many times so so unusual so so unique so so powerful
and we do need to do everything we possibly can to support the group and the good work that goes on with further knowledge coun I'd like to speak to that um Direct directly because I have had a child that
has participated in we the people and one of the things that I really love about our city and our public school is that allows our students these types of participation that are in addition to our Sports and so it's much more
inclusive that a lot more students will participate in it and I just want to talk about that $1,400 because I know that in my child's experience when it came to college
admissions and when it came to interviews that was the most valuable thing that all of the admissions um teams in asking um my child questions about their experiences and and their
Readiness for college they all went back to we the people so I really can't express enough how instrumental this program has been for my child success uccess I also want to say that I really appreciate that Miss Brown also does not
pressure students to do this um I have three other children who there's no way they would have wanted to get in front of that microphone under high pressure to talk about the Constitution and so I just want to make sure that everyone knows that that it's not every person in
every social studies class but anybody who wants to join regardless of whether or not they're um you know in thetion National Honor Society or anything else that we would normally see as a as a really a gatekeeping um methodology um
this doesn't happen in this program and so I just really I don't think a lot of people see that part of it and I just wanted to bring that to the public front thank [Music] you on to uh finance and reports from
the standing committees thank you Mr acting president SL acting mayor um so sorry I just I got to get that in every time I can um so uh we have
um really just we we we haven't met uh since our last meeting but we do have one item the city sent up uh for immediate consideration it's very rare that a financial item be sent up for immediate consideration but I I think it generally understand why uh so uh it is
an intra Department Al transfer and intad departmental transfers also rarely come to city council because the department usually can can just do them and there's a department head uh what makes this one interesting is that the transfer is about a CPA appropriation uh
specifically uh our CPA appropriation to the Old Town Hall renovation project essentially there is about $25,000 a little less than $25,000 uh in funds uh that need to be spent but in order
for them to be spent uh just because of the nature of where the project is and the timeline and and how things have gone uh for this particular money to be spent it needs to be transferred from the account titled Old Town Hall second floor design reserved to the account
titled Old Town Hall second floor construction project um and this is just they're they're working on the financials behind the scenes uh and our brilliant auditor has come to the determination that they're not actually going to be able to move this money out of the account just because of
the the place that it's in at the moment so they asked us to to move this um it's going to the exact same project so it's I don't see why any reason why anyone would have an objection to this it's kind of just a bookkeeping thing but because the money is a CPA project and
there's uh just just sort of the the structure of the administration administrative nature of it we have to sign off on this so um so I would acknowledge that if any counselor
has any objection to the matter this matter will be referred to the finance committee yes for review if not uh I would be happy to proceed is there anyone here who believes that they have an objection at this
time thank you okay I had to thing about if if there was an objection it would just make things slightly a bigger pain in Michael Owen's butt but like I don't think it's like it wouldn't be the end of the world but this would be the easiest thing for uh everyone so with that in mind uh I will make the
following request in the form of a motion request is hereby made for the following appropriation amount requested $4,690 47 to be transferred to be transferred from Old
Town Hall second floor design reserved $4,690 47 to be transferred to Old Town Hall second floor construction project $4,690 47 the amount requested uh will
be used for the following purpose for construction Phase 2 of an ADA accessible elevator second Motion in a second uh any further discussion all those in favor I opposed motion passes
super thanks Finance um the other thing uh we are uh we'll be we have two uh items that I'd like to make a first reading on but before I do that uh yeah we'd be meeting
uh Wednesday at 5:00 p.m because we've got a 600 p.m. is that okay because we got 6 p.m. uh City Council me to do the special stuff so we'll be meeting Wednesday at 5:00 p.m. uh to discuss these two Appropriations um so with that in mind
I'll make the following uh requests in the form of a motion and uh these would I would also be setting a public hearing for these for our next regular business meeting which uh March March 5th March
5th um get old calendar up here okay so with that said um at at 6:15 these Chambers uh okay request is hereby made for the following appropriation amount requested uh two uh
2,000 sorry $286,100 to be transferred from Capital stabilization to be transferred to fy2 Western Star dump truck the amount requested will be used for the following purpose this appropriation will fund the
replacement of truck 33 the vehicle was in 199 five International 490 or 4900 heavyduty truck uh that has been removed from service in 2023 due to extensive rotten safety issues uh we are
requesting uh $286,100 to be transferred from Capital stabilization to fund this expenditure and then the second one um request is hereby made for a following appropriation amount requested
106,7 $99 to be transferred from Capital stabilization $16,779.23 FY 25 fire electric hybrid vehicle $14,500 FY 25 admin electric hybrid
vehicle $3,000 the amount request will be used for the following purpose uh the Department of Public Works has been working with move EV and Enterprise Fleet Service uh services to further the city's transition away from gas powered light duty vehicles in favor of electric
and hybrid Alternatives in coordination with the police fire and parks department we have developed a list of 10 vehicles that can be acquired in this initial round of leasing agreements leasing these 10 Vehicles will allow for older gas-powered vehicles to be removed from service and represents a major step
forward towards uh achieving the goals outlined in East Hampton's climate action plan so that was all a motion I'll take a second okay there being a motion and a second on the aformentioned items any further
discussion I have a uh point of clarification uh if if you would can we ask any questions about this or is this only to move it to committee this is to move it to committee y okay perfect then I have no
question all in favor I oppos no no takers obstain motion motion pass so we have public hearing set for March 5th for the two items um at
6:15 and that concludes that concludes okay good Public Safety thank you Mr President um so the Public Safety Committee has not met since our last meeting um as the current
acting chair and being down one member I felt it was best to wait until we've appointed a new city C counselor um and to re-evaluate committee assignments um so for Public Safety Committee thus concludes thank you appointment counc
right inter up again all right um so yeah the appointment committee has also not met since our last meeting um if you recall at our last meeting I mentioned that I was going to um move the schedule around a little bit so that way councelors jadik and councelor Smith
could finish their participation in the municipal Leadership Academy um I I said it then before and I I'll say it again this is a very important initiative and I'm happy to see um City councilors engaging in the process um that being
said there is two uh two new mayor rooll appointments and a city council appointment um that will be at our next meeting which will be holding on Tuesday March 4th at 6: p.m. and for scheduling
reasons it will be in the basement in the the conference room in the basement so typically we meet here behind city council chambers because we're meeting on a Tuesday scheduling reasons we needed to be downstairs in the B I didn't catch the time Sor uh 6 p.m. you may have said it yeah 6: p.m. Tuesday
for the mayoral appointments that's correct uh would you and I can move those move them to uh perfect committee um so I move to send two mayoral appointments and one city council ointment to the appointment
committee do you have the happen to have the named individuals uh yes I do so um the position yes so the city council appointment is for the be's committee so recall when we set the committee up one
of the positions on that committee is an ex officio member which is a member of city council that position belonged to former councelor zarett um and uh Council president Derby has recommended
councelor denim to be the ex official member uh serving on the bees committee so that's the city council um appointment and then I have right here let me just scroll past a couple of pages I apologize I want to get the names of the Committees
[Music] correct okay here we go um and the uh the two mayoral appointments uh Emily Russo who is our HR Director to be appointed to the eastampton Retirement Board and then Samantha Mater who is the mayoral appointment for the Board of
Health um so I move that all three of those aformentioned people be sent to the appointment committee second second we have a motion in a second to move two mayoral appointments and one city council appointment any further discussion all
those in favor I opposed oops all right thank you and thus concludes concludes ordinance counselor denim guys are not here this evening so I guess you're on councelor Smith thank you
councelor quiny um ordinance has not met since our last full council meeting so I have no ongoing report um however we do have our next Council ordinance committee meeting on Tuesday February
26th at 6:00 where we will be reviewing the affordable and Fair Housing Partnership zoning ordinance recommendations and no the other thing I I just wanted to request a 90-day extension for the ordinance review
committee's final report item second motion is second to uh extend for 90 days the ordinance review committee's final report all those in any further discussion all those in favor I opposed
I have itain okay thus concludes thus concludes thank you very much thanks uh property uh I'll take that briefly uh the property committee has not met we uh
are awaiting further uh election of the council so we'll be meeting in the future this concludes thank you rules rules rules relations oh I'm up again uh We've dealt with the issue at hand they so I have no report no further
report on that old business pending no mayoral appointments done city council appointment B's electric wow I think we're there is there anything else I will take a motion to adjourn so
move second all in favor I I unanimous all right thank you everybody thank you so much this concludes e