e good evening this is an informal meeting of the gardener City Council on Monday May 6 2024 I'd like to ask the clerk to please call the role Council Brooks pres counc P pres counc D pres Council hard pres Council Heath pres counc pres counc M pres Council tunos pres counc tone present Council tyros pres present there's a quum present is anyone here recording tonight's meeting no one okay um for the public watching this evening we are meeting informally tonight regarding agenda items number 11232 a measure to adopt local option room occupancy excise rate increase under Mass Journal law 64g section 3A item 11233 a measure to adopt local option sales tax on meals under Mass General law 64l section 2A and 11234 a resolution to review the city's zoning map for accuracy um um these items were referred to the committee the whole by the city council on April 1st and we will um take up each item individually uh item 11232 and 11233 um have similarities about the L that they're presented but we will take them up individually these were um submitted to the city council by councel Paul ton and I would like to give you an opportunity first to go ahead um if you have anything you like to speak about these councel to Sony um absolutely uh well first off thank you um with measure 11232 uh the local option uh room occupancy excise tax I as a council I I think that we need to have the ability to look at different opportunities for us to bring Revenue into into the City and and um being in the restaurant industry and in in the hospitality industry for years and Tra been through my traveling I I noticed these taxes that um are implemented um throughout this state locally um um surrounded communities and as well as you know when you when I go to either New York or New Jersey or so such and I just think it gives us an opportunity to bring in some extra revenue from people visiting the city um and it's not a huge impact so I'll use the example um at Cumberland Farms when the coffee was 99 Cents um you go you walk into a Cumberland Farms here in Garder the total was $15 of tax when you went to Templeton or um templon right next door it was a do six it's a penny uh it's it's something that has a Min minimal impact now I I get it a bigger Bill bigger impact but we have we want to continue to drive people into the City and this is an opportunity for us to capture um the uh tax that and leverage that as um as city of Gardner so that's pretty much why I brought this before the council and had discussions with the mayor about thank you counselor uh mayor Nicholson also presented some information and um his feeling on the matter and I'd like to give him the opportunity to speak on it Mr Mayor thank you very much Madam president and uh Council tone for the opportunity to speak on these matters uh this is not the first time that these items have been brought up here in Garder uh in fact earlier uh last year about Jan January of over a year ago uh the late councel Ron Cormier actually approached me about these uh looking for ways to look at covering things like the interest on the new school that was coming up things like uh the increased costs for uh different contracts that the city was entering into with not just our unions but also with our uh construction contracts that we enter into uh because we knew that the interest was going to come in high the Massachusetts school building authority actually dictates when you can take the loan out when build a new school there's a certain amount that you can take out when you go to design and a certain amount you cannot take off until you reach a certain percentage of your construction uh in the way to put this into perspective when we went out for uh the loan for the design of the school interest rates were around 2 2 and a half% when we took out the loan for the remaining portion of the school we had to wait for a certain amount of construction to be done inflation was hitting us right after the pandemic so our interest rate on the new school is between 5 and 8% I don't have the number right off the top of my head so on a $90 million loan you can imagine that that's quite a big uh hit that we took now that was only $40,000 of that 90 that we did uh excuse me $40 million of that $90 million School uh that we had that loan taken out for but $40 million is nothing to Snuff at with a 8% interest rate I included in the uh correspondence that I gave you a listing of the historical interest rates that we had uh for the city budgeted for in our operating budget and you can see the increase of about $750,000 uh in interest payments and that's mainly because of the new school itself uh so one of the things that you know when councelor ton approached me and asked you know what would was this something the administration would be in favor of and what would this money go towards uh it would really help us right now not limit city services to cover the cost of the other projects that we have ongoing we needed that new school there's no question in my mind there's no doubt about it but it was an expensive need that we had because by by the time we pulled the trigger on it it was something that had gotten to the point where it was that much of a need and now we just have to find ways to make it work within our means without over tax burdening uh so I understand uh for the first one since you want to take them in order Madam president 11232 uh uh relates to the local option room occupancy tax uh the hotel's tax if you will this is something that the city actually adopted already in 1991 uh at 3% and moved forward again to amend this in 1992 to a 4% tax increase uh excuse me 4% tax rate uh on the Hotels St this is not something that the hotels themselves directly pay it's added to the bills of those who are staying at the hotel uh to put this into perspective uh as to what this Revenue means uh the city auditor did a deep dive into this after the counselor's request came through uh just to see what would this increase of a 2% on the room occupancy tax mean for the city of Garder uh well doing the math based off the last three-year projections removing the years that we had the pandemic where you could not stay in a hotel uh it looks like it's about a 50 uh $50,000 increase for our local receipts uh If This Were to go through uh when you put that into perspective of what we have here that's you know several minor projects that we have that's more than some of our clerical staff make here in salaries uh it's things like that that really help boost the city's um offerings what we have for our employees and for the members of the public here in Garder uh but it's also we doing it in a way that's the least regressive way possible Garder has relied heavily if not solely on property taxes uh and Gardener and the one number one call that we get in the mayor's office is about property taxes and them going up each year and valuations going up each year and going after uh the valuations because you have to go back to how real estate sales were doing two years ago and if you look at the real estate market across the United States 2 years ago the housing stock is down so prices sared up within the last 10 years uh G average home valuation has increased by 53% which means taxes have also gone up uh by quite a substantial amount so I went back and I did the research as to when this tax was first adopted by the city what did that mean in terms of a financial relationship so in 1992 when the 4% tax rate was adopted Gardener's tax rate was at $126 and the average home value was $2,326 making an average tax bill for a single family home in the city of gardener1 , 265 to put this into perspective now currently in 2024 we have a tax rate of $14.99 an average single family home value of $326,900 for an average tax bill for a single family home of $ 4,892 that's a 287 increase in property taxes for the average property tax bill that we have in the city but the world has changed so we understand you might have to adjust that for inflation when you adjust that for inflation the average tax bill in 1992 in today's dollars would be about $2,812 which would still make that a 75% increase in what we're relying on on solely property taxes uh in the budget proposal that I just submitted to the city council you'll see property taxes and garden make up 48% of the revenue that we collect to fund the annual operating budget so anything that we can do to bring in Revenue so that we're alleviating the burden that we're putting on our homeowners and our businesses in gardener on the property tax side of things does nothing but help us in the long run to to really make it so that people can continue to afford to live here and do something to try to come up with a way to curb the costs of housing the cost of trying to live here the cost of trying to own a business here um so even if just on the hotels tax side of things increasing that already existing tax from 4% to 2% for the first time in almost 30 years uh would uh in bring in about $50,000 and again that's 10 homes worth of property taxes uh that's when you put that into perspective right there so um the administration is in support of this measure that the council are put forward um for all of the reasons that are listed there uh it's just one of those things that we can't keep relying solely on property taxes and then continue to say that we have a place that's affordable to live here and it's something that you know this isn't the only prong that in the approach that we have to take uh there's things that we have to do to increase our housing stock there's things that we have to do to make sure that we have Smart Housing Development that's here but if we don't also look at trying to bring in new Revenue sources to the city we're really um tying up what we can accomplish overall thank you m thank you Mr Mayor um so to be clear the a vote on this to go from 4% to 6% as you had said there was there had been an error in your your letter from earlier and you sent it today so I just want to be sure that this information is clear to everyone um the city auditor had a decimal point issue in his formula and notified me today that the uh almost $3,000 was $50,000 and he we can provide the math if you'd like to see this so to put it in perspective the vot if the vote were taken and it passed the vote would increase the amount that the city takes in each year from around $150,000 to $200,000 and this is only on this particular item which um is the lodging or hotel tax so we would go in $50,000 more dollars and but currently total we take in 150,000 we'd go to 200,000 correct yes if you take out the years in the pandemic the average that we have for the Last 5 Years going back to make up for those two years is $150,000 a year question questions comments from the committee thank you Mr Mayor thank you Council Brooks yes thank you um I guess I'm going to speak to to both uh the room occupancy tax and the local option meals tax can we do a meals tax first and then do you want to make your comment or well what I have to say applies to both okay I think when we're you know we just received the budget from the mayor um it's a tight budget and when we're looking at budgets there there are two ways to go with a budget you can either reduce expenses to make things balanc or you increase revenue and I think we're in a situation where we we're it's going to be very hard for us to reduce expenses things are already tight and we're much better off to be seeing if we can find places to generate more Revenue uh these two proposals are strong proposals for that um I can say from experience that when uh whether it's the city of Garden or previous when I was with pitchburg would begin to talk with people in Boston about additional assistance from the state to help with meeting our expenses the first question would they would ask is have you maxed out your uh room occupancy tax local option and the second question is do you have a local option meals tax and you answered no to both which was the case in Fitchburg case in Garder and they say well then you're leaving money on the table why should we give you money and so I think this is this is is a piece where where it helps with Revenue it'll help loosen things on the budget and ex me give us a better standing going into Boston it's not going to solve all of our problems because I think we've got a budget situation that's going to be tight and have to be carefully managed for about and I said this I think the last meeting about the next 10 years given what our debt is and given what our uh pension liability is so I think we have to continue to watch things carefully but this this I would be I am in favor of both of these thank you thank you counselor further questions comments from the committee councelor tyros thank you madam president my only question relates to this lodging one is just to reiterate to make sure that we have the fact straight that for 30 years he spent 4% correct in City Gally kept that way in the Tri City area your letter states to promote uh drawing new hotels to the north central Massachusetts region which are been in the past 30 years corre and that this tax would be paid by customers of hotels not the business thank you very much Mr Mayor um did you have something after councel Brooks I'm sorry is there something else you want to add or to council tyros thank you very much Madam president if I may um so council tyros is correct this is something that um has been stagnant for the past 40 years and it actually relates to the comment I want to say following Council Brooks's item is that I do want to remind the council too that this is something that is capped by State Statute um um property taxes can go up by 2 and a half% each and every year however uh cities and towns can legally not go any higher than this 6% that is set by state law um any proposals that may come down the line any laws that may change that down the line that increase that would require an additional vote of the city council so that's not an automatic change that's not something that automatically goes through uh so I do want to just make that clear that there is a ceiling uh and this isn't something that we'd be continuously coming back for uh asking for increases or any of that nature additionally like councelor tyros pointed out in my correspondence um originally when this was adopted back in the 1990s garden and linger met together and said that they were you know going to stay at that 4% rather than going up to that 6% to try to see if we could bring in more tourism into the north central Massachusetts region in the Tri City area try to see if we could bring in more hotels however um since 1997 hotels have changed hands but no new hotels have opened here in the North Central Mass region lemonster increased from 4% to 6% in 2017 in Fitchburg just last month increased from 4% to 6% so this isn't something that we'd be doing in as Silo this is something that the you know all of us in the region have adopted on a city basis in the Tri City area and how many municipalities do you know in the in the state have adopted this do you know for adopted a any type of rooming tax um C tus may my letter real quick thank you I just want to make sure I have accurate numbers here for you I don't want to say them off the top of my head uh as of the date of uh that the set was written last Thursday 171 communities in Massachusetts have a 6% uh local option room tax and 39 have a 4% on top of that thank you further questions comments from the council councelor heglin thank you madam president um this will be for the mayor again and there might have a couple follow-ups for you um so it sounds like you know certainly we have the debt and the the you know um from the school um some other issues have been raised with the 13 million you mentioned cutting from the entire budget yes um was that Cityside City and school City and school City and school um and so have we at this point already cut services or is that level to last year it's pretty level to last year there's certain things that we should be looking to work toward that we can get by if we need to uh $71,000 I can tell you off my top of my head was cut from the School's transportation budget that would have added an additional bus to get students to the elementary school we can fit the number of students right now legally on a bus that doesn't mean it's comfortably on a bus uh when you're having four students to a bench on a bus it's a little much that way um there's if you one of the things I mentioned in the cover letter uh for the budget this year is you know we're currently down 14 staff members in the Department of Public Works the budget budgets for those 14 additional positions but one of the things to look at is even if we get those 14 additional positions back is that where we should be for a city with a population this size the police department and the fire department have National standards through the FBI and the Fire Marshals off office that say based on this population and based on the number of buildings in your community this is how many police officers and firefighters you should be looking to get towards we are currently budgeted for 33 officers in the garden Police Department FBI standard said that number should be closer to 47 so we are fully staffed in terms of our budget but we are not meeting that what the National Standard should be same thing when you get to the firefighters side of things uh we should be at an additional eight firefighters based on Fire Marshall standards but we are fully staffed for what our budget is at so those are all things that I uh you know we're part of that 13 million that were cut was where do we need to be working and where can we be in the revenue that we have right now um thank you so it is it fair to say of the of the 13 million we didn't get to include so far um those are things you think the city should be striving for yes striving for but we can get away with what we have right now with the oper it's almost a level Services budget this the best way to put it okay thank you thank you counselor thank you Mr Mayor further coun cor so you had given an example on the the meals tax U bill as far as an increase on the hotel tax uh I believe the colonial being our primary Hotel uh has an average rate of about $230 we'd be talking about $4.60 per night about that much again not just the colonial Hunter Farm vacation rental say would still be a part of this as well any place that has a short-term room rental would fit into this Council generals Mr Mar you mentioned the Lem switch I us of 2017 I believe do you know if they saw any effect from the change no let me I me as Council for stated that the price changes beenal on s00 s00 room um but I expected expected be minim minimal if we looked into it um I know in your letters um you mentioned budget increases in the future Council Brooks as well um and during the school committees excuse me schools U presentation on the budget they talked about the um bus contract coming up and that's going to be a substantial increase Alone um so there are many items we talked about that that is one of them I wanted to highlight as well that is going to be an increase uh coming down the line Thank you thank you counselor further questions comments from the council okay we're going to move on to item number 11233 a measure to adopt local option sales tax on meals under masteral law 64 L section 2A councelor just uh I'm good with I I pretty much spoke to the first two when I first vot so at this point I'll open it up the questions or the the mayor has something to say uh Mr Mayor thank you very much Madam president Council ton did approach my office to ask again the administration opinion on this proposal that he submitted to the city council uh this is something that the administration is in favor uh of there is already a 6.25% uh state tax on these meals uh and this is a Again State Statute capped at 0.75% of the most that we could do here uh on a city level uh again we can't go higher than that any proposals that come down any laws that come down any votes that come down from the state that change that would require an additional vote by the city council to do so but we need to see what this would bring in and the only way to do that would be to contact the State's Department of Revenue uh so my office did reach out to the director of the Department of revenues uh division of local Services uh who did let us know based on what the state has collected on the past 5 years average on their 6.25% meals tax taking out the covid years that are the outlier this would take in between $400 and $500,000 a year for the city uh so this is quite large uh for us as a city of Garder this is a very menial tax uh for every $100 spent at a res at a restaurant 75 would come back to the city uh and it wouldn't be that we can raise that anymore or do anymore it has to be that for every $100 you get 75 uh and that of course does break down further than that uh because the question was asked earlier I'll uh anticipate that by saying that currently in Massachusetts of the 351 communities 253 have adopted a 0.75 5% meals tax uh this is again something that's paid it this one is paid by our residents who go out to our local restaurants or to any restaurants in the city uh but it is something that those visiting our city also would share in the costs of it's something that again is less regressive than property taxes that we just keep relying on and keep leaning on and eventually something's going to break at some point if we keep trying to rely on these items um without trying to find another way to at least balance that flow uh the items that are covered by a local option meals tax or anytime you go out to get food at a restaurant or anytime you go to another location and get a prepared food item so you go to Cumberland Farms and get a coffee you go to Cumberland Farms and get a hot dog you go to Price Chopper and get a pre-cooked rotisserie chicken those are all things that it's in these company systems uh as to what gets you know taxed on the local option and what doesn't that doesn't put the tax on the whole bill just those items that are taxable uh and how this is done is uh similar to the hotel's tax when tax day comes and these companies file their taxes with the state the state then takes a portion of the money that they receive the state collects all of this and then gives us our portion back in our cherry sheet when the budget gets adopted eventually uh by the state legislature so there's no exchange of money between the restaurants and the city directly the states have passed through for both of these um and again so this is all done through the Massachusetts Department of Revenue they're the ones who provided us these figures and uh these estimates uh but again when when we're looking at things to better plan for our future and to better build our Revenue sources to be able to provide the services here without putting on overburdensome um an overburdensome budget request each and every year on the backs of our homeowners and our businesses finding another way to bring in Revenue especially half a million dollars to fund the operations that we have in the city and get back to where we need to be on our Capital Improvement plan um one of the items that I mentioned is uh we normally budget $150,000 a year in Paving funds in the annual operating budget and then come back when free cash is certified and put an additional amount of free cash into that we're going to have to hope that we have enough in free cash this year because in order to balance the budget with all the needs that we had and the price increases and just inflation right now uh we cut that $150,000 of Paving out of the budget this year so things like that that we have to go when you're debating are you Paving a road or do you have a firefighter are you Paving a road or do you have um you know the the teacher in the school or the learning specialist and things like that prices increase greatly uh one of the things that Council General La pointed out was that the school budget the school contract for school buses that we have currently was a 5-year contract that was negotiated in 2019 that expires at the end of this upcoming fiscal year with the way the world has changed and fuel prices have changed since 2019 we can anticipate a quite of a large increase in school bus costs alone uh then you get the out of District placements that's another item on the council's agenda later on you can see that flu to it greatly because there are times that we don't know when we have to send a special need Student out of the district but they still deserve the the education that they deserve but the increase this year was close to $800,000 in the school alone just to send that one student to that out of District placement so when we come up with different ways to increase our Revenue we help at least better insulate ourselves uh from those outside forces that come up to that really make it so that we can't um keep up the services that we're doing because we have to fund these mandatory costs that come up along the way and it really hinders us from being able to move forward as a city as a whole thank you thank you Mr Mayor questions comments from the council um thank you Mr Mayor for the additional info um you know seeing that there are over 230 other municipalities that have this you know we constantly want to bring businesses into the City and just my feeling on this is that um if there's 234 of the 351 in the state of Massachusetts who've done this um it seems to me like places would have to look they'd have to look a lot um they' have a small options of places to look to go do business just based off of this alone if we adopted it um you know School busing is the biggest cost of the school department is that I mean I think that's a fair statement to make and it is going to go up um with all the costs that have gone up anyways and US kind of you know really looking at this now I think it to me it just makes sense and I would support both of these m measures um because of kind of where we're at what makes sense now at this time um and all of the information that we have to consider so I would be in favor of those I just wanted to make that known um in this meeting mostly because I don't I could step down the next meeting but since we're talking about it now I'd love to give my opinion on something councelor tyros thank you madam president the um in your letter you had said the funding would be used to come the cost of interest and also work to build up Capital Improvement funds would we be able to take action to coordinance or other special action to spe specify where funds from this tax would go to ensure that they Capital Improvements under the provisions of the generals right now by ordinance no by policy yes um included in the budget proposal this year is the city's Financial policies uh that were adopted by the city in 2017 um those have to be amended anyway depending on how certain other votes that are on the agenda and tonight and maybe you know whatever the council chooses in upcoming meetings and things of that that nature um that don't exist in those financial policies uh things looking at the specialized stabilization accounts that we have the other items that are going forward with uh different items there when you look at those there those would have to that be added to that policy um so by those financial policies we can certainly say x% of this will go towards this the revenue from this could go should go towards this the caveat with that is by the general laws those um those policies are not binding policies but they're guiding policies and there are public documents uh so it's one of those things that we'll make every best effort but the state does that because one by State Statute any Revenue that comes in Must Fall to the general fund unless it's in a very very specific exception which this does not fall um but also the state wants to make sure that you don't policy yourself into bankruptcy where you say you know this can only fund this and this can only fund that and this can only fund that that you really build a budget that's not sustainable in the long run thank youor thank you Mr Mayor further questions comments from Council okay we'll move on to item 112 34 uh a resolution to review the city's zoning map for accuracy counc toy yes Madam president I I simply want to bring this before the council and I've spoken uh to this at the public service meeting um where we had uh a business and I we had Fitness Concepts on West Broadway um where they have um massage therapy inside those businesses and um one of the licenses came up and um they went to renew the license and we said and I'm and Mary you probably can say this better than I we said um your zoned industrial to um and you're not supposed to have this business inside your business and you can't for future growth or such and so I called the building inspector I called the I called the zoning board of appeals and and the business owner stated that he was commercial too and but on our zoning map it stated it was industrial too and so after days of or few days of research I think the city uh clerk found that 21 years ago um the council passed um this the change to commercial 2 but it was never posted um so I thought to to myself I'm like well if this happen happened once I mean how many other times could it possibly happened hopefully it's not a bunch but I just wanted to bring this up before the committee just to get us to realize you know that's that's a burden from a business owner who has you know 60 plus employees and thinking that you know I can't expand or um offer the service that I've offered you know for years past so I just wanted to bring this before the council just for us to have conversation about it get us to think that you know just because the map says thing it may not be exactly accurate or right um so that's pretty much what I I had I don't know if the mayor wants to speak to it at all thank you counselor um seeing as it is 7:30 I'm going to recess this meeting and then I'm going to call a regular meeting to order because it's 7:30 and then I'm going to recess that meeting and then I'm going to call this meeting back to order so right now this meeting is recessed like the Monday May 6 regular meeting of the gardener city council will come to order the clerk will please call the r pres pres pres presc mayor pres pres CC presc tyros pres pres pres we will take a brief recess going to call the informal meeting of the garden of city council back to order um councelor Matt yes thank you m president um I I just want to concur with um councelor t comments um last year in June um the community development director did a presentation on some District maps of gger and there was some inaccuracies I believe in um some of the um open land spaces and whatnot and I I don't want to speak for him but I believe councelor Heath was the first one to bring it to the council's attention um and you know ask that it be corrected and before presentation to the council and it wasn't um but I do believe that all of the um zoning Maps um and District Maps should be AC it at all times so things like this don't occur so thank you thank you counselor further questions comments from the council Mr Mayor thank you very much Madam president uh just to give background of the story that councelor ton said earlier um so he uh you know as he stated Fitness Concepts reached out to the counselor into my office to say that they were interested in adding a second massage therapist to their services over at Fitness conerts they've already had one there that's been so successful they're looking at adding a second one there um when they approach the Building Commissioner by filling out their letter of intent that's the review looked at the map that's online and the ordinances that are published in the city code that said that that area was uh industrial one zoning and not commercial zoning in which case it could only be done through either a zoning change or a use variant um but this business has had this sub business there again for the past 21 years uh so it just caus some questions because the land owner and the business owner both thought how is this possible when we have specific documentation that says or a specific memory of having to go before the city council on this in the past uh the city clerk did some digging and the vote that was taken by the city council that was properly published in the paper that was properly voted on by the council was simply put in the wrong manila folder because we didn't have a city computer system back then in 2001 and then it was put in the vault with the uh Department's receipts rather than the vote to the city council so that one was just a some just human error made it so that this business almost couldn't open now the maps have been corrected that business is now open um but I'll say um that I'd be in support of this in my inaugural address that I gave early this year I already talked about needing to look at our zoning ordinances as a comprehensive picture of a whole the maps and the zoning ordinances themselves to see what needs to be done and where a gardener could be improving and what is just inaccurate in some ways but also where could be do we be doing better uh the administration is looking for grant funding that's available right now through the Commonwealth uh to look at a consultant like we did a couple years ago when we did the zoning rewrite to see if that this is something that we should you know be looking at undertaking a consultant for zoning over uh zoning review and potential rewrite is going to cost the city right now based on the five quotes that we've received around $150,000 that's why we're looking at grant funding rather than city funding for that but I think it's something that we need to do because if we don't stay up with the times on our zoning to make sure that we're accurate in one and two doing everything we can on the other side um we're really selling the city short and we're not business friendly we're not um you know encouraging Gardener to move forward in the way that that we should be doing so I'd be fully in support of the council's proposal and I thank the council for asking for the administration's input on all of these three items thank you thank you Mr Mayor further councelor heckin thank you madam president um and this might be actually be a a question for the mayor or if someone else on the council knows I think just to clarify so it sounds like this would be an outside consultant that we'd have to bring in and pay for it wouldn't be our department heads just knowing that department heads are strained with a lot of other things on their plates some of our departments are low on staff um you what would the process be how practical is it um cost associated with it so thank you counselor from the council Mr Mayor thank you very much Madam president the resolution the way it's written before the council right now that the council has submitted is just to request us to review how that process goes uh I can tell you how Gardener's done it in the past and how uh most cities and towns have done it and has actually outlined as best practices uh in the common weals Department of uh executive office of Economic Development and the executive office of housing livable communities is to hire that outside consultant because it's just so much work um when you look into yes you can change a zoning ordinance but you also have to realize the consequences of that change of that zoning ordinance with it too so that's why uh hiring an outside firm is usually the case with that um but the way that at least my interpretation of the resolution that's put forward if passed by the city council right night was basically to request that the administration look into how this is done to come up with the plan to present to the city council on how to move forward thank you thank you counselor thank you Mr Mayor further questions comments from the council councelor Kei thank you madam president um I just want to thank councelor tone for going ahead and bringing this up as you know I I I brought this up early fall and um you know I'm obviously I'm in favor of this um I think it's something that we need especially as I found out in the fall that if you're looking at trying to find ways to bring in new businesses making sure that we can put them in the right spots is very important um that is all thank you thank you counselor further questions comments from the council councelor tyros thank you madam president it's just a a comment rather than a question that I'd like to emphasize the mayor statement that accuracy is very important but also properness of our zoning because zoning uh ordinances have been done decades in the past the city looks vastly different than it did maybe when the ordinance was passed so it's good to hear that not only accuracy but properness would be looked at by a consultant is pass thank you counselor further questions comments from the council does anyone have anything further to comment or any further questions on the topic of the meeting Madam president if I could just clarify um the city is applying for these Grant funds we do not have the grant funds yet uh so this isn't the city's undertaking $150,000 project right now this is the city's looking into how we figure out how to get this project off the ground no matter what the cost in the budget is in the end I just want to clarify that that you know applications may be in place but that doesn't mean that they're awarded so while we'll you know if this resolution is adopted we'll look for ways to come up for it and present the final plan once it's ready to the council at that time but again this is all in the application stage for getting a consultant doing a review things of that nature um it's not something that's set in stone right now nor is the process set in stone right now thank you anything further on the topic of the meeting from the council okay um hearing nothing further the meeting stand to and e City please rise Aly God we thank you for bringing us together this evening Inspire us to worthy deeds and sound decisions and direct us toward the attainment of good City we pray thee to bless and protect all the people of our city and to so guide and Inspire us that we may delate in unity and Harmony amen I Ali to the flag of the United States of America and to the repblic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liy and justice for all open meeting recording notice any person may make a video or audio recording of an open session of a meeting or may transmit the meeting through any medium subject to reasonable requirements of the chair as to the number placement and operation of equipment used so as not to interfere with the conduct of the meeting any person intending to make such recording shall notify the chair forth withth all documents and Exhibits used or referenced at the meeting must be submitted in duplicate to the chair as they become part of the meeting minutes pursuant to General Law chapter 38 subsection 20 is anyone here recording tonight's meeting we'll begin with the reading and approval of the minutes of the February 20th 2024 regular meeting March 4th 2024 informal meeting and March 25th 2024 informal meeting Council Mac I make a motion that we approve uh we wave the reading of the minutes and approve them as presented second motion made by councelor Max second by councelor ton to wave the reading of the minutes and accept them as presented is there discussion on the motion all those in favor say I I those oppos say no motion passes public hearings we do have a public hearing this evening item 11086 an ordinance to amend the code of the city of Garder chapter 600 entitled vehicles and traffic section 24 entitled parking prohibited on certain streets Comey Street the public hearing is now open the public hearing notice reads as follows notice and other interested parties notice is hereby given that the city council will conduct a public hearing on Monday May 6 2024 at 7:30 p.m. in the city council chamber room 219 City Hall 95 Pleasant Street Garden Massachusetts regarding item 11086 an ordinance to amend the code of the city of Garder chapter 600 entitled vehicles and traffic section 24 entitled parking prohibited on certain streets Comey Street persons interested in this matter are encouraged to attend and to offer testimony City Council of gardener Titi San City CL does anyone wish to speak in favor come on up please come to the podium state your name and your address or the company you represent uh Nick from Garder Police Department on the deputy chief and chair of the traffic commission thank you so this came to us uh we did a 60-day trial uh was from Neighbors and people that live on Comey Street saying it was making it very difficult with vehicles parked on both sides of the roadway uh myself and the DPW superintendent we did measure the roadway it's only 26 ft uh we would need to have 36 ft to have parking on both sides uh technically we shouldn't even have parking on either side but we wanted to just eliminate one side to see if that helped um to alleviate a bottleneck and making it safe for all vehicles as well as emergency vehicles fire apparatuses in the event of any type of emergency um we did the 60-day trial uh we have not received any complaints from uh any of the people that live in homey Street area or from anybody at this matter we haven't had any further parking issues up there um we had also moved the no parking from the stop sign from 15 ft to 30 ft as it was creating obstruction for people turning off of Comey on the Pearl Street um like you've talked in this meeting about updating ordinances and whatnot um because things have changed vehicles are getting bigger our roadways are not um so we do have to take these into consideration and as they come to the commission uh we do look at them we do go out and take the measurements we talk about them in our meetings uh we've been doing the 60-day trials to see if it works uh and this one has been working thank you is there anyone else present in favor please come to the podium state your name your address good evening Madam president my name is James Walsh I live at 34 Court Road in Gardner a short distance from the Comey Street area and uh was a war I counselor when this in this initiative was first brought to the council uh just by way of explanation to those who may not be familiar with Comey street is relatively short street that runs between Pearl Street and uh edil Street uh as it intersects lawence Street uh there are as deputy chief indicated it is 26 feet wide there are no sidewalks on either side uh there are residences on both sides of the street only on the east side of uh Comey Street are there uh residences that front Lawrence Street on the west side there are residences that uh abut the uh Comey Street all of these residences have off street parking so there isn't a necessity as there is in some areas of the city that there is no off Street parking available other than on uh to accommodate people who actually live there in this case there are uh there as the chief indicated there were problems when cars parked on both sides of the street even when cars have their their wheels right to the curb it is narrow passageway through those to get through if anybody is not parked properly or isn't right on the curb he can't get through it all and that's happened on numerous occasions to me it's a road that I use right and I've witnessed it myself so uh I'm hopeful that this is something that the council adopts and will be helpful to uh the traveling public as well as to the residents in the area thank you thank you is there anyone else present in favor just one more time is there anyone else present in favor okay is there anyone present in opposition is there anyone present in opposition is there anyone present in opposition okay the public hearing is now closed Communications from the mayor Communications item 11257 a measure authorizing a 5-year contract period for general office and janitorial supplies violation processing and emergency notification systems councel General out thank you madam president um the finance committee met on this uh item it is just allowing uh the mayor to negotiate a 5-year contract instead of a three-year contract this will allow for uh better pricing um and contract management the finance committee was unanimously in favor and I move to authorize the measure second motion made by councelor D seconded by councelor Mack to authorize the measure is there discussion on the motion all those in favor say I I those oppos say no the motion passes item 11258 a memorandum from mayor Nicholson regarding the FY 2025 City budget councilor General outs move to place this item on file second motion made by councelor General out second by councelor tyros to place the memorandum on files there discussion on the motion all those in favor say I iOS say no motion passes item 11259 a communication from the mayor regarding existing non-union Personnel ordinances and current collective bargaining agreements councel General L I move to place this item on file second motion made by councelor General out seconded by councelor tyus to place the communication on file is there a discussion on the motion all those in favor say I I post say no motion passes item 11260 notification from the mayor regarding the submission of the FY 2025 school department budget councelor General thank you madam president I refer I would like to make a motion refer this to the council as a committee of the whole second motion made by councelor General second by councelor tyros to refer the notification to the council as a committee of the whole is there discussion on the motion all those in favor say I I those suppos say no motion passes item 11272 a measure establishing a special purpose schools Reserve stabilization fund under Mass General Law chapter 40 section 5B councelor General Al thank you madam president i' like to make a motion to refer this to the finance committee second motion made by councelor General out second by councelor Ma to refer the item to the finance committee is there a discussion on the motion all those in favor say I iOS say no the motion passes item 11273 a measure to establish a special purpose capital projects Reserve stabilization account under master on Law chapter 40 section 5B councelor General owt I'd i' like to make a motion to refer this item to the finance committee for further study and Report second motion made by councelor General second by councelor Ma to refer the item to the finance committee is there a discussion on the motion all those in favor say I I those oppos say no motion passes orders item 11261 a measure authorizing FY 2025 revolving funds for the city pursuant to Massachusetts general laws chapter 44 section 53e and a half Council allow thank you madam president as long as there's no objection I'd like to refer items 11261 11262 11263 11264 112 11265 11266 11267 11268 and 11269 to a uh to the council as a committee of a whole motion made by councelor D lowitz to refer the following items to the council as a committee the whole item 11261 item 11262 in order to raise and appropriate the sum of 13,665 [Music] 4144550608 J 1st 2024 and ending June 30th 2025 item 11264 in order appropriating the sum of 34 milli2 12,22 for the school department budget for the fiscal year beginning July 1st 2024 and ending June 30th 2025 item 11265 in order appropriating the sum of $1,162 73 from available funds cable commission fees reserved to Cable commission budget for the fiscal year beginning July 1st 2024 and ending June 30th 2025 item 11266 an order appropriating the sum of 10,898 from available Enterprise funds various receipts reserved to various Enterprise accounts for the fiscal year beginning July 1st 2024 and ending June 30th 2025 item 11267 an order appropriating the sum of $170,000 from available funds Bond proceeds reserved to interest outside debt for the fiscal year beginning July 1st 2024 and ending June 30th 2025 item 11268 an order authorizing a transfer of the sum of $322,700 from sewer retain earnings Surplus to fund the FY 2025 Revenue budget and item 11269 in order authorizing the transfer of the sum of $93,600 this is a motion to refer all of those items the council is a committed to whole is there a second second motion made by councelor darot second by councelor mck to refer all of those items to the council as a committee of the whole is there discussion on the motion all those in favor say I I those supposed to say no motion passes item 11270 in order transferring $10,000 from city clerk Department salaries and wages to election and registration Professional Services operating expenditures councelor General LTZ I'd like to make a motion to refer this item to the finance committee for further study and Report second motion made by councelor General app second by Council act to refer the item to the finance committee for further studying report is there discussion on the motion all those in favor say I I those oppos to say no motion passes item 11271 in order transferring $16,200 from Human Resources salaries and wages to opening to operating expenditures Council MC I'd like to make a motion that we refer this to the finance committee for further study and Report second motion made by councelor Ma seconded by councelor Heath to refer the item to the finance committee is there a discussion on the motion all those in favor say I I those oppos say no motion passes item 11277 an order transferring $3,000 from mayor Department executive Aid salaries to Mayor unclassified Department operating expenditures councelor Mac um I'd like to make a motion to refer this to the finance committee for a further study and Report second motion made by councelor Max second by councelor DNA lawitz to refer the item to the finance committee for further study and report is there discussion on the motion all those in favor say I iOS say no motion passes item 11281 in order transferring $99,500 from Health Department salaries and wages to Health Department operating expenditures councelor M um I'd like to refer this to the finance committee for a further study and Report second motion made by counselor Max second by councelor General to refer the item to the finance committee is there a discussion on the motion all those in favor say I I say no motion passes ordinances item 11274 an ordinance to amend the code of the city of Gardner chapter 171 thereof entitled Personnel to change the compensation schedule exhibit e non-union Personnel councelor general make a motion to remove this item from the calendar second motion made by councelor D seconded by councelor Tyrus to remove the item from the calendar is there discussion on the m councel D thank you madam president as we're waiting further information I think it's appropriate just to have it removed from our calendar at this time and resubmit it at a later date thank you thank you councel further discussion all those in favor say I I those oppos say no motion passes item 11275 an ordinance to amend the code of the city of Gardner chapter 560 thereof entitled Solid Waste to change the fee for solid waste collection councel J Mo to refer this to the finance committee for further study and Report second motion made by councelor General L seconded by counselor ma to refer the item to the finance committee as there a discussion on the motion all those in favor say I iOS say no motion passes item 11276 an ordinance to amend section four of chapter 182 of the code of the city of Garder thereof entitled zoning board of appeals to increase the number of members from three to five councelor Matt um I make a motion to refer this to the welfare committee for further study and Report second motion made by councelor Ma second by counc General I to refer the item to the public welfare committee is there discussion on the motion all those in favor say I I those oppos say no motion passes petitions applications Communications Etc item 11256 a resolution to rename the city council chamber the Ronald F Cormier Council chamber councelor Matt um Madame President I at this time I would like to request to refer this to the finance committee for further stud and Report second motion made by councelor Max second by councelor tyros to refer the it to the finance committee for further study and report is there discussion on the motion all those in favor say I I those oppos say no motion passes item 11278 a petition by National Grid Parker Street to install duck bank across Parker Street from 29 Parker Street to two Parker Street councelor tone yes Madam president I'm sorry I'd like to refer this to uh the public service uh committee for further start study and Report second motion made by councel ton second and by councel Tyrus to refer the item to the public service committee for further study and report is there a discussion on the motion councelor Brooks uh just clarification do we also have to uh ask for a public hearing or is that automatic in the motion yes um we you would want a motion to schedule public hearing as well would you like to amend make that Amendment to the motion so the motion is amended to refer the item to the public service committee and schedule a public hearing correct second second by councelor motion made by councelor just second by councelor Tio Munos is there a discussion on the motion as amended all those in favor say I I I those oppos say no motion passes as amended item 11279 a resolution relating to the future of Stonefield councelor heglin thank you madam president uh through you to the members so with a little bit of background and context I had previously submitted a resolution uh for and may solder I had separated these um so I think for many of us not only they are they two very different Parcels but I think there's very different memories associated with Stonefield uh and so I wanted it to be treated separately as such um and so while I don't necessarily fore Stone field leaving the city's control I think it it's pertinent for us to where it's already been under utilized um these recent years and and upkeep hasn't been what it used to be uh to start looking into possible uses for this space I know some residents have spoken they've mentioned to me with other counselors It's come up to me as well and so that was sort of my impetus uh for this and the way it's structured is that if we pass this um and I'm leading to a motion that we will set up an ad hoc committee well the mayor and the city council president would set up an ad hoc committee to look into these options um so community members City officials the pertinent people to come up with the best options for that space um and how to maintain it uh going forward so with that I would like to move to pass this resolution as presented second motion made by councel heglin seconded by councel tuno to pass the resolution as presented is there a discussion on the councelor M um I just want to applaud councelor heglin um you know Stonefield is still a value for feut of property you know for the city um and it has a lot of memories for people um whether you went to the high school or you there to Junior Olympics growing up or you played um Garden highight baseball um but in the past last few years it has been not not been maintained um unfortunately with the passing of Steve Zak it was his it was his love and um if you go by right now it's it's awful you can't even tell where Third Base was um and it's it's it's really no fault to anybody I mean the DPW is very um down in Staffing and stuff but there has to become come up we have to come up with a plan because it's it it is not looking good you know trees are falling down um and it's becoming you know a detriment to the neighborhood um so I do applaud um councelor Hein because something a plan does have to um be put to effect um so it doesn't get any Works um so I thank him for that and I am in favor of this resolution thank you madam president thank you councel further discussion councel tyros I too just want to uh applaud the initiative by Council heglin I think this is a important piece of land to keep in use and I look forward to seeing what the sad hop committee comes up with for options thank thank you counselor further discussion all those in favor say I I those post say no motion passes item 11280 a ruling from the attorney general rela relative to an open meeting law complaint filed by Paul Deo regarding executive session meeting minutes councel councel General lawitz thank you Madame President I move to place this ruling on file second motion made by councelor General seconded by councelor tyros to place it on file as there discussion on the motion councelor General thank you madam president I just wanted to quickly point out that the the complaint the items listed in the complaint were not was found to be in violation um there was a finding that uh we failed to review the minutes uh in a reasonable uh reasonable interval which is how was stated in the mass uh general laws even the attorney general has difficulty it seems defining what a reasonable interval is in their ruling at one point they say it's a certain set of months then another point they say a different amount um I think it reality could possibly turn on what the executive meeting executive session was about um but that being said um we will follow the the guidance from the attorney general and um do this as they prescrib going forward thank you thank you counselor further discussion all those in favor say I I those opposed say no motion passes reports of standing committees appointments committee item 11139 a measure confirming the mayor's appointment of Robert VZ to the position of planing board member for term expiring January 4th 2027 councelor tyros thank you madam president I'd like to take item 11139 11114 0 11141 and 11255 and respectfully request more time second if there's no objection the committee will be granted more time for items 11139 11140 a measuring confirming the mayor's appointment of Robert Schwarz to the position of planning board member for term expiring January 4th 2027 item 1141 a measure confirming the mayor's appointment of Steven Cormier to the position of planning board member for term expiring January 4th 2027 and item 11255 measure confirming the mayor's appointment of Vincent piter to the position of assistant city solicitor for term expiring January 1st 20125 is there any objection to more time seeing as there's no objection the committee will be granted more time Safety Committee item 1186 an ordinance to amend the code of the city of Garder chapter 600 entitled vehicles and traffic section 24 entitled parking prohibited on certain streets Comey Street we did have a public hear hearing earlier in the meeting this evening um on this item councelor Corner uh thank you madam president uh in light that we have had a 60 trial in this ordinance uh and we have only received positive feedback from one resident as well as the deputy chief uh I move the ordinance to first printing second motion made by councelor Cormier seconded by counselor dnel lawitz to send the item to first printing is there discussion on the Mo all those in favor say I I those oppos say no motion passes item 11115 an ordinance to amend the code of the city of Garder chapter 600 entitled vehicles and traffic section 24 entitled parking prohibited on certain streets Douglas Road Council cor thank you madam president on items 11115 and 11204 I've received word from the DPW that they intend to uh enact a 60-day trial on both uh this week I believe uh therefore I ask for more time on both items if there is no objection the committee will be granted more time on items 11115 and 11204 an ordinance to amend the code of the city of gardener chapter 600 entitled vehicles and traffic section 24 entitled parking prohibit on certain streets edel street from Elm Street to Lawrence Street seeing as there is no objection the committee will be granted more time item 11254 an ordinance to amend men the code of the city of Garder chapter 600 entitled vehicles and traffic section 24 entitled parking prohibited on certain streets Central Street councelor cor thank you madam president as a reminder this was uh the one space to one side of the crosswalk across from Mok uh where traffic was blind and was recommended by the traffic commission uh we've already passed to first printing and I therefore move to send the item to Second and final printing second motion made by counselor Cormier seconded by counselor tboos to send the item to Second and final printing is there discussion on the motion all those in favor say I I those oppos say no motion passes welfare committee item 11211 an ordinance to amend the code of the city of Gardner to add a new chapter 15 to be entitled agricultural commission councelor M yes um we are awaiting some input from a few department heads on this item so we respectfully ask for more time if there is no objection the committee will be granted more time the committee will be granted more time Council seconded I did you'll definitely be granted more time Committee of the whole item 11220 a communication from the mayor regarding the nonunion salary study councelor Matt yes um as this is uh we're still waiting information um I think it's appropriate that we remove it from our calendar until we the study is complete and then we can bring it back when once it to the committee as a whole for a presentation once the the um the the salary study is is finished is that a motion a motion yes thank you motion motion made by councelor Max second by councelor JN owitz to remove the item from the calendar is there a discussion on the motion all those in favor say I I I those opposed say no motion passes committee I'm sorry item 11232 a measure to adopt local option room occupancy excise rate increase under Mass General law 6 4 G section 3A Madam president T I'd like to make a motion to adopt the measure second motion made by councelor Don seconded by councelor Mack to adopt the measure is there discussion on the motion councel tyos thank you madam president as we had an informal meeting earlier this evening on this and the following items um anytime we look or talk at we look at or talk about tax rate increases it is not pleasurable however um I think Council Brooks had made a good point earlier this evening that uh we need to find ways that are least burdensome to our taxpayers and residents to increase revenues for the city to pay for services for the city so um for this item uh I will be supporting um the reoccupy excise rate increase thank you thank you Council Tyrus further discussion we will do a roll call vote the clerk will please call the RO councelor Brooks yes councelor Craig Cormier yes councel General lawitz yes Council harder yes councelor Heath yes Council heglin yes Council yes Council TBO Munos yes Council tone yes Council tyros yes and president yes 11 11 y the motion passes item 11233 a measure to adopt local option sales tax on meals under Mass General law 64 L section 2A counc again we did meet on this earlier discuss as the committee of the whole um I'm fully supportive of this and uh would like to make a motion to adopt the measure second motion made by councelor Tone seconded by councelor Ma to adopt the measure is there a discussion on the motion councelor tyros thank you madam president just briefly I with great reluctance I think you know this this vote is necessary we have uh you know as a member of the Capital Improvements committee uh numerous Capital Improvements projects in the city that need to be funded and prioritized uh the upwards of half million dollar that this tax uh would bring in uh would be critical in helping us fund that um it it is while you know stated an insignificant amount it is still an amount that I think we need to be judicious about but um we'll be joining a vast majority of the Commonwealth cities and towns uh that have this tax in place thank you thank you counselor further discussion councel Brooks at at the informal meeting it was asked about whether restrictions could be placed on this or if this These funds could be directed and the mayor said no and that's my understanding this becomes part of the general fund it does behoove us to make sure that we don't Fritter away this extra money that it be used for uh things that that we need to do and not stuff that we might feel like doing and I think that that uh my colleague was just talking about Capital needs I think that's very important and so it is important for us as we go forward to make sure that we know how this extra money is is being directed within the budget and it's going toward things that uh help us out in the long term so I will be supporting it thank you thank you counselor for the discussion councelor m i I will be supporting this because I think the few pennies it's going to cost on the dollar are extremely important to the city um but I've always said you know as Council Brooks how we spend this money I think we need to maintain what we have um before in you know what we spend on what we need not necessarily what we want and we have to prioritize right now in these budget times and be very careful with our spending thank you madam president thank you counselor further discussion councelor Heath thank you madam president um I would just like to go ahead and thank uh councelor tone for even bringing this aboard you know I'm all about anything that could bring something out of nothing and I feel like this is nothing um you know it's it's small money but it can definitely do something so thank you that is all thank you counselor further discussion we'll take a roll call vote on this one also the clerk will please call the rooll council Brooks yes Council Craig Kier yes Council General lawitz yes Council harder yes Council Heath yes Council heglin no council Mack yes Council TBO Munos yes Council tone yes Council tyros yes president cinus yes 10 y 10 y 1 no the motion passes item 11234 a resolution to review the city zoning map for accuracy councel T yes Madam president I would like to uh adopt the make a motion to U adopt the resolution uh to review the city's M zoning map for accuracy second motion made by councelor Don second by councelor General owitz to adopt the resolution is there discussion on the motion all those in favor say I I I those opposed say no motion passes there is no unfinished business in matters for reconsideration there's no new Business Council comments and remarks are there any Council comments and remarks councilor he thank you madam president um it's the month of May and um it's mental health awareness month and I just want to go ahead and remind those of the public that it's okay to go check on your mental being it's definitely needed I do it all the time I know how to control my mental so I just want to go ahead and go say you know mental health is definitely important and um this is the month that we observe it that's it thank you thank you counselor further Council comments and remarks councelor Brooks uh yes I believe I have two things first I would just like to recognize and acknowledge all the people that came out to do the uh nip bottle pickup over uh on Saturday morning uh there was quite a turnout uh I don't know what the numbers were someone else here knows better than me how many nips we picked up but it's amazing to I I did a section on Route 68 from the Whitney Street down to the hubson Town Line and was amazed at how many how much trash there was and how many bottles there were uh with the nip bottles it was kind of like picking Dan Lions I'd go along and pick them all up and then I turned around there were more bottles that i' stepped over I missed I don't know how but it it it was good uh di in the blank is the one that or neon is the one who's who's spearheading it does a phenomenal job and the volunteers that that do that work and and I think certainly appreciate the support that get from the city uh as well uh second thing I just want to comment on uh I was a little confused a couple weeks ago there was some uh signs that sprung up in my neighborhood that said uh roundabout construction and I was trying to figure out what they were talking about roundabout where roundabout here roundabout there what was going on and somebody informed me that a roundabout is actually the English word for rotary and this had to do with the construction at the Uptown rotary uh I thought okay that's fine then I got a little nervous that that because it was being called a roundabout not a rotary does that mean we're going to be going clockwise around the circle instead of counterclockwise but I've been assured that the direction is going to be the same um so I'm just hoping that that uh when the project is done that that it will still be the Uptown rotary not the Uptown roundabout Uptown rotary I know uh a lot of people are still having trouble uh remembering that searstown is now the ball at Whitney hill Whitney Field and I know I have a problem when I'm told that uh my granddaughter has uh soccer game at the high school fields and I have to stop and say oh the new High School thank you thank you councelor further Council comments and remarks councelor Heath I just want to clarify it's it's football not soccer thank you thank you counselor further Council comments and remarks I will entertain a motion on the floor to adjourn after the closing prayer so second second motion May by couny second by C all those in favor say I say no motion passes Almighty father who over all as we we thank you for the opportunity of joint delation and action witness during the course of this meeting bless Lord all are here and the representes we are do thend to our common until next meting amen meeting stands adjured thank you everyone for