##VIDEO ID:dHKlUnOY5YE## e the Monday October 21st 2024 regular meeting of the gardener city council will come to order the clerk will please call the role councelor Brooks present councelor Craig Cormier present Council General lawitz present Council harder pres Council Heath presid Council heglin pres councilor ma councilor tone pres Council tibo Munos present Council tyros present and president kinus present please rise to recite the opening prayer and pay the Pledge of Allegiance almighty God we thank thee for bringing us together this evening Inspire us to worthy deeds and sound ision and direct us toward the attainment of good city government we pray the to bless and protect all the people of our city and to so guide and Inspire us that we may deliberate in unity and Harmony amen I pled aliance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liy and justice for all announcement of open meeting recordings 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 for 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 with all documents and Exhibits used to reference at the meeting must be submitted in duplicate to the chair as they become part of the meeting minutes pursuing to General Law chapter 30A subsection 20 is anyone here recording tonight's meeting okay we'll begin with the reading and approval of the June 3rd 2024 regular meeting minutes and June 17th 2024 regular meeting minutes is there a motion councelor General iwit can I make a motion to wave the reading of the minutes and accept the minut presented second motion made by councelor General second by councelor Kei to wave the reading of the minutes and accept them as presented is there a discussion on the motion the clerk will please call the rooll Council Brooks yes Council K Cormier yes Council dur lawitz yes Council harder yes councilor Heath yes Council heglin yes Council tone yeah Council Council tibo MOS yes Council tyros yes and president yes oh 10 sorry 10 y motion passes there will be a roll call vote on all motions this evening as we have two counselors calling into to the meeting this evening we're going to begin with public hearings item 11326 a petition by National Grid Elm Street and cross street relocate poll one so own pole approximately 15 ft uh Madam president counselor uh I need to recuse myself from this matter uh these polls are across the street from my home and I have received a notification as an a thank you counselor thank you the public hearing is now open the public hearing notice to AB Butters reads as follows October 8th 2024 to abutters and other interested parties pursuant to the provisions of Mass General Law chapter 166 subsection 22 you are hereby notified that a public hearing will be conducted on Monday October 21st 2024 at 7:30 p.m. on the petition of Massachusetts electric company doing business as national grid for permission to erect and maintain poles and wires to be placed thereon together with such sustaining and protecting fixtures as said companies May deem necessary in the public ways way or ways here and after referred to as requested a petition of said companies Elm Street item 11326 a petition by National Grid to relocate one solely owned pole on Elm Street begin at a point approximately excuse me one second okay Elm Street item 11326 a petition by National Grid to relocate one solely owned pole on Elm Street beginning at a point approximately 360 ft southeast of the central line of the intersection of Elm Street and cross street National Grid proposes to relocate pole 7 approximately 15 ft with anchor and guide a sketch of the proposed poll location is attached for your edification City Council of Gardner by TT San city clerk does anyone wish to speak in favor of the petition come on up to the microphone and say your name or ad name and address or um place of business uh Colton Marshall I'm a representative from National Grid thank you and uh so this poll is a relocation of an existing pole location there's a road widening project that's going to occur so it's basically just moving it uh off of where the road will be expanded thank you does anyone wish to speak in favor of the petition Mr Mayor thank you very much Madam president uh this poll moving is part of the safe Roots School grant program that the city got through one of our principals we to do with Garden Public Schools a couple years back uh it is some safety improvements roadway W uh widenings uh parking improvements and stuff like that for vehicles parking on Elm Street uh so this is all part of this uh project that the city's working on with the Massachusetts Department of Transportation and Department of Elementary and secondary education um as part of the sidewalk improvements that are there so that's why the polls need to be moved thank you thank you Mr Mayor does anyone else wish to speak in favor of the petition one more time anyone in favor of the petition is there anyone in opposition of the petition is there anyone in opposition of the petition is there anyone in opposition of the petition the public hearing is now closed Communications from the mayor orders item 11 1404 in order to raise sorry can I speak to the petition sorry um I mean the the can I make a statement to to follow up with the Forum the public hearings now closed but when it item comes up later on the agenda you can certainly speak during discussion okay thank you Communications from the mayor orders item 1144 in order to raise and appropriate $157,900 service department for operating expenditure budget for the fiscal year beginning July 1st 2024 to June 30th 2025 I would like to ask the mayor to speak on this item at this time to give us a little bit more information Mr Mayor thank you very much Madam president and uh to the counselors here as well uh this is our annual supplemental budget uh that the administration uh submits to the city council based off of Revenue projections that we have mid year uh it is a little lower this year just because we're trying to play it safe with how things in the market are going uh but what this is uh what this is made up of is $329512 5,000 in new meals tax revenue when the budget was originally voted on by the city council in June our Revenue projections were New Growth were at $250,000 uh the new growth came in certified by the Department of Revenue at an amount uh $32,950 higher than that so that's appropriating that Surplus that we have in that and we also did not have any any uh meals tax appr uh set in the revenue projections for the fy2 budget so all of that is new revenue for US based off of the projections that we have from the Massachusetts Department of Revenue that oversees their state sales tax meals tax uh we are anticipated to get between $250 to $300,000 worth of meals tax revenue this year however since this is the first year that we have this new uh Revenue source for the city I wanted to just play it safe and do a lower amount so that's why the $125,000 is there about half of what we're projected to get so we're still in that conservative range there too if we get anything over than that it falls to free cash at the end of the year uh but with this does here is appropriate it into the budget that was already passed uh the supplemental budget is something that by Statute needs to be done by uh the end of the fiscal excuse me by the end of the calendar year before the tax rate is set so the full budget of ter Appropriations need to be done before the tax rate can be uh Set uh by the Commonwealth and we can't send out the actual uh tax bill for the January and April quarters until all of that is done so all of that needs to be completed by December 31st and we can't have the tax classification hearing or set the tax rate until the uh supplemental budget is done so that's the next step in the process that's there uh so this is appropriating it into the city's Debt Service uh Department while we're being conservative and careful not only with where we are uh with the amount of this Revenue that we're using we're also using it in a way that helps us in our financial planning for the long term by uh requesting that all of this money be appropriated Into The Debt Service budget to pay off some of the debt that the city has uh currently in the fiscal year 2025 budget about $1.5 million is budgeted in principal uh for debt for the city and 36837 is budgeted for interest on that debt uh this would go towards helping to pay some of that down uh excuse me go to increasing that to pay off some of the debt that the city has in total right now on our statement of indebtedness the city has nine projects uh that are considered inside debt inside debt are projects that fall to the general fund related to Services of the general fund or Capital Improvement projects related to the general fund that don't fall into certain exclusions those exclusions can be things like the new school where the msba is the one who's uh helping Finance some of that that is considered outside of the city's debt limit uh same thing with any debt taken out from the Enterprise accounts since the Enterprise funds are paying off that debt that's something that is also considered outside debt so anything that's not Enterprise funds or related to a specific program that's excluded like the new school is considered inside debt those nine projects total about $13 million uh that we have on our statement of indebtedness in the city so again this appropriation just goes to paying down that so we get down quicker than that it's a small drop in the bucket it may seem but it's uh a substantial increase in what we're at least able to pay off right now so in the long term we can get some of that off of the city's uh books and in the F uh the work towards uh paying that off off in a more timely manner so that is what uh the administration is requesting for the supplemental budget uh this evening as part of that appropriation that's there uh again once this is voted on and if it is passed by the city council we'll be able to move forward with the tax classification with the setting of the tax rate and getting ready for the uh actual tax bill portion of the fiscal year and I'm happy to answer any questions that the council may have uh related to any of these uh processes projects or anything like that thank you thank you Mr Mayor um um so I've already read the item as there a motion Council General thank you madam president U the finance committee did me with the mayor on this as well um he had all the points I had in my notes already um what he said and then some uh finance committee was in favor and I moved to uh pass the order second motion made by councelor General out second by councelor tyros to adopt the order is there a discussion on the motion the clerk will please call the rooll council Brooks yes Council C cor yes Council General lawitz yes Council harder yes Council Heath yes Council heglin yes Council tone yes Council tibo M yes Council tyros yes and president yes 10 10 the motion passes item 11405 in order authorizing $1 16,666 186 payment of Prior year expenditures for public building utilities report from the finance committee councelor General lard thank you madam president uh this orders in regard to utility bills old uh the majority of which are related to the old um Waterford Street School building uh as if these are from a previous fiscal year it does require Council approval um finance committee was in favor and it was noted that going forward um the future tenants of the building would be covering these costs authorize the order second a motion made by councelor dur second by counselor tyos to authorize the order as there discussion on the motion Council Brooks thank you madam president U I am in favor of this I just want to say that I'm a little disappointed that there has not been better communication between departments to make sure that the department receiving the bills are sending them to the department that has to ultimately pay the bill I think we can do better thank you thank you counselor further discussion the clerk will please call the role councel Brooks yes councel Craig Cormier yes yes Council D lawitz yes Council harder yes councilor Heath yes Council hgin yes coun tone yeah counc tibo Munos yes counc tyros yes and president kinus yes 10 10 y the motion passes Communications item 11 146 a communication from the mayor requesting the scheduling of the FY 2025 tax classif classification hearing to determine and set the residential factor for Real Estate taxation is there a motion Council DARS thank you m president I move to place the communication on file and schedule the tax classification classification hearing second motion made by councelor General seconded by councelor tyos to please communication on file and schedule the hearing is there a discussion on the motion the clerk will please call a roll Council Brooks yes councelor Craig Cormier yes Council D lawitz yes Council harder yes councilor Heath yes Council heglin yes Council tone yes counc tunos yes Council tyros yes and president kazin yes 10 the motion passes item 11407 A measure authorizing a 5-year contract for school transportation services counc Tyrus thank you madam president I'd just like to uh place this communic move to place this communication on file counselor this is a measure authorizing a fiveyear CL oh my gosh I'm so sorry I'm in the wrong spot thank you that's okay counselor journ all it I would move to refer this to the finance committee for further study and Report second um I'm going to take a a brief recess for e call the meeting back to order on item 11407 A measure authorizing a 5-year contract for school transportation services motion by by councelor D lawitz to refer the item to the finance committee for further starting report is there a second second second made by councelor Heath is is there a discussion on the motion if clerk will please call a roll Council Brooks yes councilor Craig Cormier yes councel D LTZ yes Council harder yes Council Heath yes coun heglin yeah coun tone yes Council T Munos yes Council tyros yes and president kazin yes 10 10 motion passes item 11408 in order accepting the provisions of section 5n of chapter 59 of the general laws to establish a veteran property tax workof program councelor General a motion to refer this to finance for the study and Report second motion made by councelor D second by councelor Heath to refer the item to the finance committee for further study and report is there a discussion on the motion the clerk will please call a roll Council Brooks yes Council Craig Cormier yes Council D LTZ yes Council harder yes Council Heath yes Council heglin yes Council ton yeah Council T Munos yes Council tyros yes and president kazus yes the motion passes item 11 1409 and communication from the mayor regarding the certification of FY 2024 free cash Council general make a motion to refer this to the finance committee for further study and Report second motion made by councelor General L second by councelor Heath to refer the item to the finance committee for further sting report is there a discussion on the motion Mr Mayor thank you very much Madam president uh free cash was certified at $2,636 168 uh that the Massachusetts Department of Revenue invest practices say that your free cash certification annually uh should be within 3% to 5% of your operating budget uh with uh with the included supplemental budget that puts us at 3.14% of our FY 2025 operating budget appropriation so we're just within that guideline that's there uh free cash for those uh who may not be familiar with that is any Revenue that came in over budget in the previous fiscal year or expenses that came in under budget in the previous fiscal year that's all added together by uh the city auditor uh sent to the Department of Revenue they deduct that from any outstanding liabilities that we still have on our books uh and then that's how much we can use for this one-time funding source for the upcoming fiscal year um I personally prefer the term used for the Enterprise accounts of a uh Surplus or retained earnings rather than the term free cash but that's the legal definition that the statute States uh but uh we are pretty much in line with where we have seen free cash over the past at least 10 years that we have with that $2.6 million uh we did have a rather uh low year in 2018 in free cash that was mainly because there was a high insurance payment that we weren't expecting uh during that fiscal year that we didn't receive reimbursement for by the time the books were closed by our insurance company so that took a hit as a liability on our books and free cash and 18 that's why FIS year 19's money if you look at the graph on the following page looks so much higher than the previous years because that money came back in and then we had a a large bump in 2021 that was mainly because fy20 there was a lot of school expenses that weren't paid during the um covid-19 shutdown where the students weren't in the schools themselves uh so aside from those couple outliers that are there we're actually pretty on par with where we've seen free cash been uh over the past several years uh there are free cash appropriation requests that the administration's preparing for later Council meetings at the recommendation of the Department of Revenue um at the Commonwealth we're holding back on submitting those to the city council until after the tax rate is set uh just because the auditor does have to fill out a form every time a free cash appropriation is done before that tax rate is set so just to make things cleaner and smoother uh those are six Appropriations that we're waiting on most of them are related to the city's Financial policies for the stabilization account the other poost employee benefits account uh road paving the landfill closure account and then there's two requests uh one to uh continue with the city's on call grant writing service and one for It software and Hardware upgrades for the city uh those six uh orders are going to Total about $691,000 of which 40% of that's paid um so that's all coming down the pike but we're going to wait till after the tax P tax rate is set and that process is completed before those six orders get submitted uh but that's where we are uh we do budget certain things at the beginning of the fiscal year for free cash throughout the fiscal year uh that we probably won't be submitting too much between now and April after those six are passed uh we budget about $500,000 a year in snow and ice expenses because we don't know what's going to fall out of the sky so we normally fill that Gap any uh uh deficits that are there out of the free cash for the snow and ice account we know insurance is going to be higher this year with the new rate increases that we have where the city pays 7525 so we're going to be a little more careful in terms of planning uh for free cash not that we aren't usually it's just probably going to be further later on in the year rather than earlier than we normally would uh for free cash expenditures after those initial ones that we have there but that's what our overall free cash picture looks like for the current fiscal year all of this funding does need to be used by the end of the fiscal year um otherwise it we you know it falls back to free cash and we can't use it again until the next certified free cash is put forward um and then the other thing that may change with free cash is there are certain things that uh do deducts as liabilities if those come off the books before the end of the calendar year we can actually recoup that again uh and have that added back to our free cash uh so if that happens at some point to we can uh may see an increase uh in that but uh we'll play that and see how things go but that's the free cash picture for the fiscal year and I'm just wanted to make sure you're aware of that as we start planning uh for the 2026 budget because the department heads are going to be getting that request request probably within the next 3 weeks to start planning for their next round of budgets so uh just want to make sure everything was as clear and transparent as possible thank you thank you Mr Mayor further discussion the clerk will please call the rooll council Brooks yes councilor Craig Kier yes councelor General owitz yes councilor harder yes counc Heath yes Council hylin yes Council tone yes Council tunos yes Council tyros yes president kazin yes 10 y 10 y the motion passes item 11410 a communication from the mayor regarding the cerification of FY 2024 Enterprise fund retained earnings councelor durt I'd like to make a motion to refer this to the finance committee for further study and Report motion made by Council General second by councelor Heath to a further communication to the finance committee is there a discussion on the motion okay Mr Mayor no no discussion the clerk will please call a ro councelor Brooks yes councelor Craig Cormier yes councel General lawitz yes councelor harder yes Council Heath yes Council heglin yes Council son yes Council TBO Munos yes Council tyros yes and president yes 10 10 y the motion passes item 11 1411 a communication from the mayor regarding the updated final budget and assessment for the monitech school district is there move to place it on file motion made by councel Brooks second seconded by councel Cormier to place the communication on file is there a discussion the motion the clerk will please call the rooll council Brooks yes Council Craig cor yes Council D lards yes Council harder yes Council Heath yes Council heglin yes counc ton yes coun TBO Munos yes Council tyros yes and president kazin yes 10 10 the motion passes item 11 1412 a communication from the mayor regarding the demolition of 73 Stewart Street councel general lawi make a motion to place the communication on file second is there there motion made by councelor General second by councelor corme to place a communication on file is there a discussion on the motion Mr Mayor thank you madam president the building is down uh since the writing of this letter uh the property came down today uh it's going to be cleaned over the next couple of weeks uh in my letter I referenced that at the previous at a previous meeting the council voted to declare the property Surplus uh when that Surplus Declaration was done we went with the provisions of the general laws in chapter 3B that say if there's a public good and a documented reason uh why you didn't go with the assessed value at that declaration uh that has to be the reason why you don't go with either the assessed or the appraised value that public good at the time that we put that out was the demolition of the property for safety reasons and uh blight removal we tore down the building so that reason no longer exists uh so at uh another council meeting the administration is going to be submitting an order to um amend that Surplus declaration from $177,000 to $77,400 which is the value of the land itself at appraised value right now um but uh the cleanup is going to take a couple weeks uh from there but just getting ahead of that with the you know making sure that once the property is fully cleaned we can put it back out to market for sale uh it's zoned residential in that area and there's going to be some other construction work that's being done there is the new playground equipment for over thease playground set to arrive this Thursday uh so there's going to be some activity in the area so just making sure the residents were all aware of all of those things that were going on over there thank you thank you Mr Mayor any further discussion the clerk will please call the RO Council Brooks yes Council Craig Kier yes Council D LTZ yes Council harder yes Council Heath yes Council heglin yes Council tone yeah Council tunos yes Council tyros yes and president cons yes 10 10 the motion passes item 11 1413 a communication from the mayor regarding demographic of gardener Public Schools population councel tyros thank you madam president I would now like to make a motion to place this communication on file second motion made by councelor Tyra second by councelor General to place the communication on file is there a discussion on the motion Mr Mayor thank you very much Madam president this is something that the administration actually reviews on an annual basis but in talking with the superintendent's office uh where we're hitting the 25 year mark of the new century just taking a look back of how how things have gone over the past 25 years uh we do this across all AG sector demographics in the city on an annual basis but this year you know just getting more information out there for transparency sake and seeing how the city's gone and where the city may be headed based off of projections that we have uh this does relate to Garden Public Schools uh aged uh population in the city right now the biggest demographic age that the city has is between the age of 18 and 65 uh so uh this is not the largest demographic that we have but it's a way that we use this information to plan as we uh move forward in terms of where the city may be in 10 20 years uh from this population getting older uh Garden public schools in the last 25 years has had a decrease of about 20 and 3/4 of a percent uh since 2000 a lot of things have attributed to that in terms of the city's whole population decreasing since then um but the school the percentage of school-aged children has been pretty consistent in fact increasing ining a little bit when you compare that to size of our school age population versus population of the city as a whole uh the largest uh couple of the data points that stood out the most is the largest increase in population of our students came from our Hispanic students that in 2000 uh represented about 8% of our student population to now about 29% of our student population that's a 26 uh 270% increase uh students in our elementary school and high school tend to make up the bulk of our students at Gardener public schools and both have increasing populations based on the trends that we're seeing and seeing that continue um when the msba the massachusett school building authority did the demographic study for us with the new school they projected at this time we'd have about uh 950 students in Gardner Elementary School we're at 1,200 students in Gardner elementary school right now a lot of that's attributed to new families moving to Gardner from Eastern uh the Greater Boston metropolitan area out to this area uh so we have already seen a large increase in the last four or five years at Gardener elementary schools level uh than the other schools that are there with the high school is uh growing higher uh and our overall school age population right now is about where we were in 2014 we saw a large dip in 2015 16 17 and we've come back and built that up so we're at 2014 levels and we're projected to go up um we're planning on about 100 students a year for the next three or four years uh based on trends that we're seeing right now so I just wanted to share that information with the council again it's something that we normally track at the administrative level something that we normally track uh with the school committee maybe but it's never really made it to the the city council level so just in the interest of transparency and information sake I included all the data that we normally track here for your viewing and if there's any questions and anything like that the uh my office is always available for those thank you okay Mr Mayor further discussion kelter Brooks uh thank you madam president I also serve on the monitech school committee and the committee is under the Gunna bit on admissions policies and fairness and Equity diversity in the way it's perceived uh there have been proposals to do lotteries instead of uh merit-based admissions those kinds of things so this I find this information interesting and and will certainly help me understand what my community is and how I need to approach things with W Tech so thank you thank you counselor forther discussion the clerk will please call the rooll councel Brooks yes councilor Craig Cormier yes Council Don lawitz yes councilor harder yes Council Heath yes Council heglin yes Council tone yes Council TBO Munos yes Council tyros yes and president yes 10 y the motion passes appointments item 11414 a measure confirming the mayor's appointment of Paul Gage to the position of historical commission member for term expiring October 16th 2027 councelor tyros thank you madam president I move to refer this item to the appointments committee for study and Report second motion made by councel Tyro second by councel Heath to refer the item to the appointment committee for further study and report is there a discussion on the motion the clerk will please call the rooll council Brooks yes councelor Craig cor yes Council General lawitz yes councel harder yes councelor heat yes Council heglin yes counc ton yeah Council tboos yes counc tyros yes and president kinus yes 10 years 10 years the motion passes ordinances item 11 1415 an ordinance to amend the code of the city of Gardner chapter 477 there are entitled mobile homes and trailers Council Cormier uh yes I'd like to refer the it to Public Safety for a further studying report motion made by councel Cormier second by councelor Harden to refer the item to the Public Safety Committee for further study and report is there a discussion on the motion the clerk will please call the RO councilor Brooks yes councelor Craig Cormier yes Council General LTZ yes councel harder yes Council Heath yes Council heglin yes Council ton yes Council tibo MOS yes Council tyros yes and pres kinus yes 10 10 days the motion passes item 1416 an ordinance to amend the code of the city of Gardner chapter 600 thereof entitled vehicles and traffic to add a new section 21 to be entitled parking meter fees waved councelor Cormier yes I move to refer the item to Public Safety Committee for study and Report second motion made by councelor Cormier second by councelor Harden to refer the item to Public Safety Committee is there a discussion on the motion the clerk will please call the rooll councel Brooks yes councel Craig Cormier yes councel D lawitz yes councel harder yes Council Heath yes Council heglin yes Council tone yeah Council TBO MOS yes Council tyros yes and president kinus yes 10 the motion passes petitions applications Communications Etc item 11417 a petition by National Grid City Hall Avenue to install underground facilities install one pad-mounted Transformer and ax o imately 20 ft of conduit in the parking lot off Main Street and Pleasant Street garer Mass councelor tyus thank you madam president I moveed to refer this item for the public service committee and that a public hearing be scheduled second motion made by councelor tyer second by councelor JNS to refer the item of Public Service committee and schedule a public hearing is there a discussion on the motion the clerk will please call the role Council Brooks yes Council Craig Cormier yes Council dontz yes Council harder yes councelor Heath yes councilor heglin yes councelor tone yes Council Tio Munos yes Council tyros yes and president kinus yes 10 years 10 years the motion passes reports of standing committees finance committee item 11289 an ordinance to amend the code of the city of Garder part one thereof entitled administrative legislation councel General lawitz thank you madam president this ordinance amendment has been with the council for quite some time now at this point I believe we're on version six of it uh which is printed in front of everyone here um for your review uh this version includes a Redline edit of the current ordinance what the Corde would look like if passed as well as the latest version of the ordinance um presented for passage the finance committee agreed that um we need all need more time to review this um current version um so we humbly ask for more time if there is no objection the committee will be granted more time the committee will be granted more time and it is version seven seven Sorry Seven 6.1 reports of standing committees finance committee oh no we already did that I'm sorry item 11402 an or an order authorizing the city to enter into a 5year contract for grant writing and government Outreach Services councel General Lots thank you madam president this is in regards to to the third party contracts we have um two groups um have been working to get apply for Grants um so at this point they've got about $20 million back in Grants um this order will allow the city to negotiate a longer than a three-year agreement five um agreement with three years that has options for fourth and fifth year um this will allow the city to get better pricing um and be a better position to negotiate a new deal for a grant service writer finance committee believes this was a great investment um we've got a lot of return for the money amount of money we spent um and I moved authorize the order second motion made by councel General second by councelor tyros to authorize the order is there discussion on the motion councelor Brooks uh yes thank you I am in favor of this I I just want to express the concern that we don't generate orphan grants which would be money for a project that no one in the city will oversee or wants uh example I would use is the safe roots to school grant that was on Elm Street that was done by a school administrator who subsequently left and the project has kind of bounced along uh since since that time so I would encourage folks who are pursuing grants to make sure that there is Buy in from the Department that would be overseeing or benefiting from the grant thank you thank you counselor for the discussion councelor General WT just further detail too about the um the contract itself this is just allowing the city to negotiate up to 5 years for contract the contract itself will be back in front of us for review if and when one is negotiated which at time um hopefully those questions will be answered as well thank you thank you counselor forther discussion the clerk will please call the role Council Brooks yes councelor CL homeier yes Council General lawitz yes Council harder yes Council Heath yes Council heglin yes T yeah c TBO MOS yes Council tyros yes and president yes 10 ten the motion passes Safety Committee item 11 1204 an ordinance to amend the code of the city of Garder chapter 600 entitled vehicle to traffic section 24 entitled packing prohibit on certain streets edel street from Elm Street to Lawrence Street councelor cor uh yes Madam president I'd like to move the item to first printing so that we can have a discussion on it and vote second motion made by councel cor seconded by councel Harden to send the item to first printing is there a discussion on the motion councel tunos um thank you madam president I wanted to let my colleagues on the council know that I plan to vote uh no on this uh continuation of no parking on one side of edel street restriction and why I plan to vote that way first there was a public forum a few weeks ago surrounding this topic four residents attended three spoke against of the new parking restriction no one who attended spoke spoke in favor of it second myself uh one resident who attended the traffic commission uh with me uh uh to see if there was some middle ground that could be reached there wasn't uh Dane Arnold actually stated uh that it wasn't required and Council had final say he also stated that dozens of streets in the city are uh similarly narrow uh to edel uh the chief and Deputy Chief of Police are also not particularly concerned with the ability of emergency vehicles being able to to get through edel last uh the same resident I mentioned uh and I went door too last Sunday on edel Street together um most residents were neutral um in fact it was 13 uh neutral or not home um uh but the majority stated that the number of no parking signs on the street is excessive and an eyesore uh there were 10 against the new parking restrictions and five in favor um in any case I plan to vote no on this item and I urge my colleagues on the council to do the same thank you thank you counselor further discussion Council Cormier uh yes thank you uh councelor Tio Munos gave a pretty good summary of the events that have occurred this item has been in a trial since I believe July um we had a public safety once we had some the chance to have that trial to get some feedback um everyone that reached out shout to us or spoke to us was against the item or had issues with all the signs placed on their lawns um again we had a public safety meeting last week and as uh counselor intimated uh we spoke to both Chief Maven and chief legoy uh neither of them had issues with the road having two-sided parking as far as a safety concern uh because of the open on both ends and there are cross streets um so seeing as most of the residents are not in favor of this item um and we are not obligated to uh pass this item or to enact this this ordinance I will be voting no uh on this item um so if there's any other questions uh Public Safety is happy to answer to the chair thank you counselor further discussion Council tyros thank you madam president I just have a a through you to the chair of the uh Public Safety Committee I I watched the hearing and it sounded like there was a lot of concern uh with the the signs more than the parking um so factors that weigh into my decision on this voter uh I know you said that both chiefs were kind of here nor there uh was were they leaning one way towards the no parking versus reverting it back to the way that it was councel uh chief M said he was perfectly happy to uh defer to the preference of the the residents in this case as he felt there was no safety issues involved requiring one-sided parking in this case thank you counselor counselor thank you madam president I think uh that's helpful information to have uh because as uh previous counselor had mentioned the DPW director is correct in reporting that a lot of our roads are non-compliance with the code uh it's kind of a case-by case basis as we work through them and understanding for how long this item was in our Council and how long the test was going uh I have no issues um voting uh against this item to uh revert revert it back to the way it was thank you counselors for your comments thank you counselor for the discussion so again this vote is to send the item to first printing is there disc any further discussion the clerk will please callable Council Brooks no council Craig corer no council General LTZ no council harder no Council Heath no council heglin no council tone no council tibo MOS no council tyros no president kinus no no Y and 10 y zero yays 10 NOS the item does not pass the motion does not pass service committee item 11326 a petition by National Grid Elm Street and cross street relocate poll one solely owned poll approximately 15 ft councelor tyros thank you mad president I'll be EXC exuse it myself thank you counselor councelor teros thank you madam president reporting on behalf of the service committee uh this item is uh what we had a public hearing on earlier this evening where we heard from National Grid uh notice was proberly given to a Butters we letter uh sorry and this is leading to a motion we have a letter from the city engineer who has no comments on this matter uh and as the mayor reported this uh action is part of the safe Roots school program that the city is implementing um the public service committee voted unanimously to recommend therefore I move to Grant the petition uh by National Grid Elm Street and cross street relocate poll one single pole approximately 15 ft second motion made by councelor Tyra second by councelor jtz to Grant the petition is there discussion on the motion councel tunos thank you madam president first I want to thank uh the PO School administrator that Council Brooks was uh had mentioned earlier uh who submitted the uh Grant and and the city for uh uh implementing that because the safe road School uh sounds like a great plan for uh uh for Elm Street in the area um I also I wanted to uh not make a statement directly related to moving this particular poll but but that is related as it relates to National Grids removal of double poles something that the company is required to do by state law within 90 days of the installation of a new pole uh the issue of double poles has been brought to me on several occasions within just a short period of time that I've been on the council um as some of the polls that remain present uh present a nuisance and some cases safety hazard to drivers there are more than 20 double polls Citywide uh but the two that I'm most concerned about currently as a w one counselor are the two on Betty Spring Road one near Pearl Street uh which has been that way for over a year uh and another near Saunders uh which was uh recently hit uh but a month ago uh I do want to uh take a moment to thank city engineer uh Rob Oliva for continuing to follow with National Grid surrounding this issue um and last I want to thank I want to let residents know that we are listening and uh to their concerns and that we plan uh to cross departmentally in city and state levels to see that this issue is resolved and that doesn't continue to be an issue thank you thank you counselor further discussion the clerk will please call the role councelor Craig homeier yes councelor D lawitz yes Council Harter yes Council heat yes Council heglin yes yes Council tone yeah Council TBO Munos yes Council tyros yes and president cin yes n y and one reuse nine y the motion passes item 11385 a measure to Grant National Grid and easement to install a Transformer at 95 Pleasant Street councilor tyros thank you M president uh reporting on behalf of the finance committee and leading to a motion uh sorry not the finance committee the public service committee it's it's I'm there um we have met on this item uh and we voted unanimously to recommend this uh this work is associated with installing a new Transformer near Perry Auditorium as part of the nlon street EV charger project uh 10 additional Chargers will be installed and significant reductions to the Future cost of upgrading the city hall electrical service are associated with this work um therefore I move to Grant a measure to national grid for an easen to install a Transformer at 95 plus stre second motion made by councelor chro seconded by councelor General iwit to um to approve to Grant the easement is there discussion on the motion the clerk will please call a roll Council Brooks yes Council K Cormier yes councilor D LTZ yes counc H yes councilor Heath yes Council heglin yes Council tone yes ccbo M yes counc tyros yes and president kazin yes ten the 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 councelor Brooks thank you madam president during the last meeting being a former assistant registar of Voters I encourage voters who would like to learn more about the voting process to go to the city clerk's office and apply for a job as an election worker for those who cannot commit that much time but still want to see what is going on they can be an observer on Election Day each Precinct has a few Chairs set aside for observers who are allowed to sit quietly and observe the proceedings if you are interested upon arrival at the polling Precinct you should speak to the warden who is the person person in charge of Precinct about where to sit as you are observing you are expected to be quiet and unobtrusive however if you have a concern or question about what is going on you may quietly direct your inquiry to the warden and they will respond as you sit there what you will observe is a process that is thorough and tedious tedious being the operative word a better description might be boring ing however it is a process that produces fair and honest election results if you are unable to vote on Election Day or would just like to be done with voting I would encourage you to go to early voting during this week and next early voting is behind being held in Perry Auditorium and is open Monday through Thursday 8 to 4:30 Friday 8 to 1 and this coming Saturday from 9: to 5: your vote will be counted fairly and accurately thank you thank you counselor further counselor comments and remarks any further Council comments and remarks okay with that I will entertain a motion on the floor to adjourn after the closing prayer so move second motion made by councelor heat seconded by councelor Cormier the clerk will please call the rooll councelor Brooks yes councelor Craig Cormier yes councelor General lards yes yes Council harder yes Council Heath yes Council hegan yeah Council tone yes Council T mos yes Council tyros yes and president kazin yes ten motion passes Almighty father over all as we we thank thee for the opportunity of joint deliberation and action witness for the course of this meeting bless Lord all here and the people represent we are and do attend to our common welf until our next meeting amen meeting stands adjourned thank you everyone