Wednesday May 1st 2024 meeting of the uh finance committee to order the clerk will please call the role councel La pres Council pres president kazus present is anyone here recording the meeting okay um we're going to begin with the review and approval of the meeting minutes of April 1st 2024 move to wave the reading of the minutes and accept them as presented second motion made by councelor doural second by counselor Mac to W the reading of and accept them as presented as their discussion all those in favor say I I supposed say no motion passes um we're going to begin with department head updates and this is something that um at the beginning of the previous year I'm sorry the end of the previous um term the finance committee had discussed and so now that we have our full finance committee we are going to move forward uh each meeting and have department head updates from the Departments that we oversee as a as a standing committee the city council um and we will begin with the city clerk come on over good morning everyone good morning clerk here um so just update of the clerk's office um so we had Don Oliver the previous assistant City Clark and fifth Glover who both retired John retired in June 2023 uh fa retired this year March 2024 and and then I have um appointed Liz Dorian which is the new assistant clerk um she's done an excellent job you know just hit the gr ground running um she's training right now and coming with me to all the meetings and running on the ins and outs of city councils and the office and it's done a great job um I also have another new Administrative Assistant not administrative coordinator Jane Kumar also who works in the office helping with the um daily duties of the office um he was kind of just thrown into the fire in the middle of a election season does an excellent job I know between Liz and Jay you brainstorming of how to make things more efficient and faster and just organizing the office a lot better not better but you know really well um last year we had two dual elections as you aware um we had one for the in October one in November for for the local elections the primary and the special State primary for the um special State elections for the senator General Court who um resigned and we had to fill that vacancy that was my first dual election um it was a quite a challenge but I learned a lot on that U then we had obviously the presidential primary in March and included early voting and inperson and vote by mail um the mandatory vote by mail and in in person it's it's it's a lot of work more work on our office to do having to process them mailing things out receiving them opening them and you know put them through the computers um you know absentee ballot as well U keeps us pretty busy and then currently right now we are working on the 2024 census that's come through usually they're done mailed out in January the beginning of the year but because because of the March election it was delayed till November I not sorry March because if we had gotten if I had sent it out in January it would have messed up the voting list for the March election so but so far like it's been going well we've been processing them as they come out come in and you know it's just doing a good on track with everything I I thought sending it out in March would be chaos but it wasn't it's we've going through the piles like not bad um and then we also have dog licenses out right now and so far um they usually do March 31st but we've since they sent out the dog license like we've had the tax since January um people have been coming in on their own and just registering their dogs and they due March 31st but the month of April I kind of just weigh the $10 late fee because we have a new program now um our previous one just went bankrupt and it just wasn't efficient so now we're on the same platform as everyone else's City Hall which is open go so anyone that has an open go account can also register their dogs they can get their electrical permits building permits and health permits all on the same platform which is great feedback so far on that program then we have the regular daily vitals you know issuance of birth death and marriages marriage intentions that's always a revolving door people coming in out of the office um um and as far as city council business um I'm having Liz trained on obviously learning the ins and out with city council um minutes I'm going to start having um the staff take over some of the subcommittee meetings for me doing the agendas and doing the minutes CU it's just too much for me to do all the city councils in the subcommittee so once they're more accountable they're going to start doing the subcommittee meeting meetings for me and the agendas and then as of right now we're in the middle of season as you aware of um that's about it for the clerk's office any questions questions comments on the committee I I just have to say I've worked all three of you I think Jay and Liz have been a welcome addition to your office definely um I I they are very quick to respond to emails or to to request for things and um I just think just with more time it's just going to become a better well oiled machine and I commend the three of you for for you know the hard work that you to I Echo the councelor sentiments uh you know as council president we work very closely together and we share many phone calls throughout the day sometime um but I have to say I'm I'm excited for the the full Staffing um you know with well-deserved retirements absolutely and um with any type of change in an office there's challenges that come along with that um I know since Co when um we had our special election and we had a lot of the new things that were put in place since then that didn't really receive any support um in terms of new funding or um anything there was a lot put on Clerk's offices throughout the whole state and um those people I don't sometimes think realize those are still in place and so that work is still required of all of your elections um and the way that you process things and so um I think the changing with the office and you clearly being through that before you came back to Gardener um kind of understand what those staffing needs are and I think that's going to be really important moving forward so kind of looking forward to the to the team moving forward um and I'm glad to see that it's the staff is there uh and the elections you know went well that's a huge challenge um as well and I think you manage the election staff really well too so um thank you for the update have you I just do want to thank the clerk's office in general as you both said for always being so helpful um responsive to any questions or concerns that we have getting information quickly um questions about Council business are um obviously part of the job and you take it seriously um and just thank you thank you okay thank you CL next on the agenda is register and Y goe okay so we have our three regist Marcel Corman who's currently the chair pat Darby Patric Darby and Mario gray um so they help me out during the election times they come at um usually at the nighttime to help collect the card and help me with um any ukas or RC vote um bows to come in after the election ping the elections um they also come in the office routinely for nomination papers so right now we have nomination papers out for the September elections so we receive the nomination papers and then we certify the signatures and then the regs need to come in and sign off on their end as well to um verify what we are um certified and then sign off to it and then give it to the candidates to pick up so they're busy in that at the moment so I appreciate them and they stick around too to help us with any uh daily election related stuff like voter registrations processing those um cards that come in I know some of them come will help us with registering um online voters or the rmvs because now with the new laws with the R&V automatic voter registration so they're automatic when someone goes to the RMV they're automatically registered to vote then we see it and then we have to process all those so our registrars come in and help us and do that and then there's also the last day to register to vote which we have to St open until 5:00 depending 10 days before an election so they take turns coming in to um sit around to see if anyone wants register to to vote till 5:00 and the weekends too so but I appreciate them that's all I got for them thank you questions comments or committee I just thank them I think they've been consistent um serving the city for quite a while so I think they're a well matched team and and they they know what they're doing so I thank them for their service yeah I think they're they're very valuable for sure definitely nothing more to add for me okay thank you clerk s we're going to move on to board of assessors we have Chris Kumar here our assessor good morning good morning all right so I'm going to start um with an update with the ATB the appell at Tax Board um in fiscal year 2013 there were four cases for the ATB uh two of them I was able to get dismissed uh because there were late payments made with interest so those were kind of no-brainers that was nice um and then two we had um for two Parker Street Properties that uh the hearings were in March and we just heard on April 3rd that um chairman D Francisco voted in our not voted but decided in our favor so fiscal year 23 ATB closed out um for fiscal year 24 so far we don't have any filings um we had 10 real estate abatement applications that were received of those three were approved and total taxes abated were over $10,000 of those denied three um the increase in value was solely on the land so that's why we denied those um the other three were commercial and after review the board um did deny those and those are the three that we think could possibly go to ATB but they were denied in February so technically they have 90 days so we're looking at around May 19th as the deadline to file so fingers crossed uh we also had uh three personal property abatements that were received all three were approved and the total taxes abated were about $6,700 so pretty reasonable values overall that were abated um for motor vehicle abatements I don't have a dollar amount abated but since January 1st we've um basically processed 257 which yeah it's a lot um we have bulk mailings that we've done income and expense forms and forms of list um the in go to our commercial and Industrial um and they aid in valuation um so we usually get about a third of those back we mailed 535 and we've got about 200 backs so far so that's pretty good uh the forms of list get mailed to our personal property accounts and we mailed out 556 and we've received 284 back so that's really good um very happy about that uh this time of year is when I do map updates and those are based on plant that were recorded in the previous calendar year so for 2023 um those have been done there there weren't many they get sent over to Jonathan who's the gis person and he updates the map side of things I do the vision side um on the state level I I've started um sending forms in through gate the Gateway portal um I've sent in the veterans exemptions form the motor vehicle exemptions form and mdm1 which is for the personal exemptions the veterans elderly blind Etc um so far actually I just had one it was the motor vehicle approved yesterday so as as they go in they look at them and we'll approve them um just to throw in there too um we get reimbursed for certain exemptions of those so the the blind veterans um some other ones there too and that's included in the budget packet this year's a breakdown of what we get reimbursed for that but we don't get that reimbursement if those forms aren't submitted so she helps us out a lot with that so those actually um the deadline was April 30th so they were all in on time and we should be good there then for moving on to fiscal year 25 um inspection have started uh building permit inspections that basically um help to close out the permits as well as gather new growth which as we know is important um to the bottom line we I just spoke with uh the gentleman who assists us Patrick heing and he thinks that by the end of next week they should be done with those inspections and data entered um so we're trying to get things done earlier this year I don't know how much earlier will be but we're giving it giving it a shot um and then Vision has also started um assisting with the review of the 20123 sales that go into calculating the fiscal year 25 values um again they're aware we want to try to get things done a little bit earlier so they're on board with that CU that makes it easier for them in the end and uh ownership updates basically newly recorded Deeds um I check at least once a week um so ownership is as current as possible for when we have to run an extract from vision for billing um so we should be right up as updated as possible by the time Jen needs the billing information um and the only other thing really coming up um the personal exemptions again the um veterans elderly blind we mail those applications to people who've received them in the past and throughout the year I so anyone who comes into the office if they think they might be eligible for the coming year I add them to my spreadsheet so we'll mail those out um by the end of July and that's pretty much it thank you questions comments from the committee those exemptions when we appli for those um the money back in the state that you're talking about that was due yesterday the applications is it a percentage of the abatement or the entire payment does depend on the the type of exemption it's actually a little bit convoluted yeah it it depends on the exemption it does okay it depends on the exemption and when we first um you know approved as a city what what types of exemptions and how many there were it's pretty convol I know we just adopted the additional veteran one just fairly recently yeah so I don't think that would come into what we're receiving in 25 because what it is is the applications that she's submitting now we get reimburse for the following fiscal year as part of our cherry sheet uh right so that funding that we receive gotcha okay I just I just always had a question on the um filing for Real Estate abatement y um is it within the rules of the board of assessors or why um is it that if a resident files an abatement for their water or sewage they can go before the public service committee and present their case but why is it for real estate tax I did it years ago and the you know presented all the information but you can't present it to the board and you get a response with zero explanation and I just it's always bothered me that residences CU that's a very different abatement than uh you know $200 sewer bill um why citizens can't um present their case better and you know it just seems like they there should be more of an interactive process I I try to make it interactive it it is isn't part of the process as as far as filing like you said and then coming before the board I try to talk to people as they're filing we have a discussion what you know what is the issue what do you think let's look through the property record card let's see if there are mistakes um I actually had a person that came in for this current fiscal year and we found mistakes on the property card so she did file we fixed those but but sometimes if you talk to people up front and and again I like to be as transparent with people as possible this is the process this is what we can try to do um sometimes you can even work it out without them even filing true so I try to have a discussion right up front and we also tell people and it not to for it to be a deterrent because I would never advise someone not to file but we make them aware if you file we will schedule an appointment to come and inspect in and out just you know like you know and a lot of people at that point well okay you know we never hear from them again but I I like to speak to people up front right yeah I'm just going back to I mean we've ha have the same Board of Assessors for I'm going back 25 years not even recently and having other people in your position not even you um and you get a letter in there's still no explanation and I just think within the process sometimes people become comfortable with the way they do things and I just I just think that sometimes you know the process has to be looked at and people deserve a little bit more than just saying it did not yeah and and I do and I do talk to people and I I just think that I mean this is a very important process and I think agree you know deserve a little bit more so that's just my two cents worth as a counselor that I just think that you know sometimes it's it's it shouldn't be as cut and dried yeah as as it is we are bound by the process of course that the state dicts dictates to us but again and it does come kind of down to personalities and the positions and how we handle things I worked for an assessor in another town who was very good about when we did a letter you know a denial do a cover letter that did explain why so you know that's a double-edged sword but I I also do do that when I do a cover letter I do explain why thank you yeah further questions comments from the counselors thank you very much thank you thank you and our next update is from our purchasing director Josh Cormier civil C enforcement and good morning good morning uh so just before I start I just want to just say uh you know I've been with the city for a bit I just want to mention that I just love working with this financial team um John Chris Jen and their teams are just we all work together and uh through the mayor's leadership and I just think it's it's a wonderful team to work with and I just want to mention that before I start Chris you can move now um so I'll start with purchasing um so the process you know purchasing has a lot of uh aspects to it one of them is the purchase order process so basically anything that the city purchases that's more than $1,000 requires a purchase order uh the school side it's any dollar amount so it could be a penny uh they have to do a purchase order uh the purchase order process is a different workflow for everybody it all ends up coming to our department where Amy my uh Financial admin will uh inspect it first and then it gets to me and then I convert it to a purchase order and then uh Amy will distribute it as requested uh at this point I'm the only person that can convert a purchase order in the city um so the process is is dependent on on me um doing that uh currently in the fiscal year we we've processed 2,129 purchase orders uh with a total amount of 30, 318,000 [Music] some of them had further paper so um this year just purchase orders wise uh We've saved 2,227 total pieces of paper um a box of paper is about $90 and it has about 5,000 so uh we it's small money but in the purchasing department we're protecting the dollar so we look at small money too we're also saving on Space yeah oh yeah saving on Space big time yeah uh the second thing is contracts so so far this year we've done 59 total contracts uh for amount of 2,3 32,2 18119 uh once again uh similarly uh I'm the only one that can generate contracts um contracts are signed by six people it's usually the vendor uh goes to the vendor the department head me city city solicitor City auditor and then to the mayor sign um we did go to a docu sign process during Co which we've kept because it's hugely um efficient um we can we can process a contract now and if everybody's by their phone probably 5 minutes uh it used to be we would send out three copies they would send us back then we would have to hand deliver them to everybody and it could take up to week it could take a couple weeks uh once again we're saving paper there I can't tell you how many pieces of paper but quite a bit we still have the large contracts uh that we have to do typically your larger projects like the transmission main project project or any other construction projects we do have to use paper still um but this saves us a heck of a lot of time and a lot of paper um next up simly we're also in the renewal process so June 30th uh typically means a lot of renewals a lot of expiration of contracts uh this year we started with 43 contracts expiring before uh June 30th of 2024 some of those uh can be renewed so they have uh basically you'll see as the item comes up masteral law allows 3 years for a contract um unless we've requested otherwise um so again some can be renewed others need a new process we got to follow and there's three major laws that I follow in our department uh Master joural laws uh 30b which is supplies and services uh 149 which is construction and 339m which is basically flat construction it's like uh parking lots and Roads and things like that um again docu signed for most of the renewals can be done in days but if we have to do that process it could take six weeks um based on advertisement bidding and and all that stuff so um on March 1st I notified all department heads of their of their expiring contracts um we're down to 36 uh which doesn't seem like a lot but it is so I have in my office is a whiteboard where I mark down um what what has gone away uh so right now I have 12 that need to be renewed those will be done sometime in the next couple of weeks don't want to do them too early but also I'm just preparing because again if I don't know it takes 6 weeks um again uh that's our renewal process um and if you guys have any questions just stop me because I'm going through some categories here uh bids again some are resel the renewals uh but just to keep you updated on a few we recently open the transmission main um bid uh We've contacted DPW and they wait we're waiting on the signatures so it's with the with the DPW to get signatures on their contracts uh currently out we have the nature trail connector shared path from the Community Development Department which is due uh May 8th at 1 uh the fire department has their debt collection for ambulance services uh that comes in May 9th at one uh just going live today is the violation processing uh through the PD which is basically our parking ticket violations are processed through a company so uh connect with the DMV they also will provide us with electronic uh database so that we can verify um tickets that are issued uh and then going live I think uh Monday uh in due uh May 24th is the office and janitorial supplies um that one is uh WB Mason has the contract right now it's basically how we order our paper and water and things like that um also working on the basic excavation work which is through the DPW and I hope to have that out this week and do by the end of May so I've tried to stagger them so we're not opening one every day but it does get pretty busy and each one of these invol uh requires me to maintain an email database on who's uh pulling the plans uh through Comm and then communicating doing amendments so they get pretty hefty um and then uh next just next up is the end of year process uh typically we put deadlines in place for purchase orders credit card purchases all that stuff and we'll be communicating that in the next two weeks typically John uh the auditor and I work on a a process on his dates and my dates and things like that um before I go into civil enforcement I just want to bring up U Department structure um because it's something I keep preaching and the mayor knows I'm talking about it too much but I want to bring up uh so I I came in uh to that position five years ago and I've had three Financial admins since uh the last one I lost to an assistant director position in lemonster I was lucky I I you know I've been blessed to have Amy in the office uh who's done a tremendous amount of work who stepped up uh to do things that maybe hasn't been done in the past uh she earned her mcppo designation which is what is required of uh in the purchasing department um she's also taken steps to take some projects on that maybe maybe people haven't done in the past she's become more involved with the Rockwell process attending meetings um which I've attended one but in the 5 years uh those are the only two times we've attended uh uh she's also developed some training documents to to easy the to to easy the process on purchase orders and she's made it more visual um and then as you know counselor she's uh taken a leadership role for my department in the flower pot uh process which I think she's very excited about um and I think it's cool because you know um we all go to work and we all leave something that we you know work and I think it's cool to have something that you're passionate about uh I've been lucky enough to kind of do something on the side involving film uh that the city's kind of embraced uh and I think this is something that she's um found to to be beneficial to her as an employee as well so I totally support it and celebrate it I think it's great so that's purchasing I don't know if you have questions on purchasing or if you want me to hit civil enforcement because they're two completely different um aspects of the job I'd like to check in if that's okay Madam president um Josh a good job explaining what he did but I think he undersold certain things of what he does the previous two purchasing directors we've had before Josh I think sold maybe two City properties we undertook last year to sell almost 10 um the I'll get to the Civil for enforcement stuff later on but the hearings he's had has been almost a 5:1 ratio when you look at previous directors that have been here the uh docu sign has been tremendous because not only does that make it so that we get the contracts done quicker and it's less on my desk to sign but getting those contracts signed is also what starts those projects from happening and getting that timeline so every second that we save on getting the contracts done and put together is a second that's added to that project timeline starting sooner and all of those things have come together to really make it so that we've had the busy and just general I guess happenings in the city that we've had to make things continue to move and not just sit and wait until so your key continuous cycle of hurry up and wait we're just getting things done now too and that's because of the Innovation and just the ideas on how to make City efforts more efficient that Josh has brought to the table and I'm really happy to have him in the position I think he's been a really good asset for us to have here um who's taken on a lot more work than a lot of other people in his position have had with just moving on with the times and just having different circumstances to deal with but the same processes um so really nothing on his part that's changed that caused the fur action to be taken by his department but he just does it and he does it really well um and he is right we are working on a trying to come up with a plan so that Josh doesn't have to work on every vacation he takes because it is true that we can't get certain bills paid if he doesn't if he is not the one who processes the purchase orders of those contracts um but he earns vacation time just like any other employee and should be able to take at vacation time uh so that is again a a plan that we're trying to figure out how to address right now because it is something that we need to fix and I don't think it's something that was just ever brought to the attention of any of the uh the previous administrations or the council or any of the budget discussions beforehand uh that it was brought up that way so it's something that we're working on moving forward but we're really lucky to have Josh and I think he's doing a good job was my question was the you mentioned processing the purchase orders and generating contracts is just you and what happens if you you're not around and I'm glad to hear that's something that's on the table that's being led out I've taken two f weeks off since I was hred one was when I got Co and was forced off and the other one was last year and I had to work on the Wednesday of vacation in the Saturday of vacation so to process purchase orders cuz I also picked the wrong week to be honest with you I mean the family we picked the week it was the end of June which is the end of our fiscal year so you know I just I mean we have laptops so it's a blessing in a curse we can do things that we couldn't do before when we're at you know and it's a different kind of work when sitting at a lake than when you're sitting in the office so it's not entirely um awful but it's still kind of it's still kind of terrible to know I've been there as well with myop on vacation at a campground trying to use the Wi-Fi um to get things done but yes yeah and I I I just think it's you know uh with with uh with the way things uh become more efficient more as expected so um again that's kind of the way it works but you know if apprciate if a bus was to hit me as I'm walking home today then the city's going to be in trouble cuz both ways please yeah I mean because the Mas Jal law can be overseen by Amy because she's mcpo designated but it's not really part of our job description but lack of redundancy that isn't there yeah um further questions comments and and how long have you been in this position with the city since October 2019 okay so that speaks well you have a family and you should be able to take your vacation and uh disconnect like anybody else the the fun thing was I came in October of 2019 started to learn the job and then the pandemic hit so it changed the job completely yeah and then and then you know just there hasn't been a and as the other department heads will tell you there probably hasn't been a I I don't know if we've had backtack typical years like there's always been something that's come up and uh and I think that's part of the interesting fact facet of aspect of working for a municipality as well but but yeah you're right I mean I just think it's it's just a structural thing and I don't know how we fix it you know well I have a proposal but I just I just think it's something that people should think about and uh uh anyway so I bring that up but uh the mayor leads me into civil enforcement pretty well uh because Municipal hearings uh so I start with not U I'm also as a civil enforcement director I'm in the traffic commission rep so I won't talk too much about that but that's just something I wanted to throw there I'll start with non-p parking stuff the city uh the Civil enforcement department maintains a database for all civil violations related to those issued by Health fire building PD um we use this when applications come before us like somebody does a building permit we have to review those uh that's something that's done on a I think open gov sends it either or to me and Amy so we kind of split them um I also serve as the city's Municipal hearings officer so if you're keeping track that's uh purchasing director Municipal hearings officer civil enforcement director I'll have seven by the time I'm done just kidding uh Municipal hearings is is a tough situation because we only get trained by the fire academy once a year and it's the same training every year uh the building department um I I hear Municipal hearings for the building department as well but I've never received training so I'm basically serving as as a magistrate when somebody appeals a a decision so hypothetically well actually I'll give you a real life we've held one Hearing in 2023 it was a building code violation issued um Building Commissioner issues the violation the appellant appeals it I hear the the hearing and then I have to write a written decision within um 21 days um so again that was a pretty large hearing I think prior to me there was maybe one hearing held in 15 years um we've held uh I think six since 2020 so it's not like it's not incredible but there have been some tough ones um there have been some emotional ones uh because this is not something that's easy for people uh there's significantly large violations that are appealed sometimes um so anyway that's the municipal hearing process U it's all governed by Mass General law uh 148a is the fire side I think but uh as the city clerk mentioned uh we do have a part in the dog license process our part becomes uh uh more um important when a dog license late fee a dog license isn't done and then a late fee is issued and then it's still not licensed and then it becomes a civil violation and then we have to we have to receive payment on that so we've also been a conduit for virtual Court hearings up in our office so that the Animal Control Office will have a place to to be um Now parking related I also serve as the city's Parking Clerk um so if a parking violation is issued uh we do receive appeals so we can receive those paperwise we can receive those electronically mostly these are snowband related um but over the last year we've seen a lot more of people uh incorrectly or improperly parking and handicap um areas uh so that's been an eye openening situation uh we've received quite a few uh but again mostly snowband uh it also has uh as part of the traffic commission part of this has also caused us to look at some of the things that we have related to the snowband that hasn't been updated signage and parking lots still refer to the old parking van uh the dates you know from November to to to April April right and then the timing so we need to do something with a signage we're going to have to do something with ordinance so traffic commission is looking at that as well uh the proposed ordinance change that has to be put up is that right now the on street parking B was amended to allow for the mayor to call a parking ban at any time dependent on weather however the uh parking lot version of the ordinance was not adop adop uh amended with the on Street ban so therefore you have conflicting ordinances with each other that say a parking van can be called at any time however the parking lots now only overlap with the last 2 hours of the existing ban where or from 7:00 a.m. to 9 or whatever it's listed right there too so basically you could have a moment right now under the ordinances where you have an on Street Band and a parking lot ban overlapping each other at the same time there's no place to park so which part of the ordinance gets recognized and which one basically gets ignored by our enforcers uh so that's something that we're going to have to put forward within the next probably month or two just to get it fixed so that when we get to Winter this coming year it's already taken care of and the proper signage put in place yeah and on the flip side too there are times where if we don't do the parking van say we end the parking band at 600 but we still need to clear a parking lot then the parking band doesn't exist in the parking lot so this just some language that needs to be done it's just um stuff that needs to be cleaned up so um I just also want to update you on uh what we used to call mapm I don't know if we're using that as as a name so it's basically the parking meter update so um we have looked at the parking meters uh back 5 years ago I believe it was we did a full RFP process um to select to seek vendors uh this time we've tried to do something a little bit more unique uh We've looked at a plan to take what we believe we can do is we can keep the housing that the parking meters so you have the pole you have the housing we believe we can take the the guts from the middle of it pull it out and we can put in new guts that will only be coin operated and then we'll have to get new domes and then we can put um signage on the domes that'll allow we will'll use a parking uh app so that if you still want to use a credit card or you want to use venmo or something that's now being used what you'll do is you'll you'll look at the sticker you you'll download the app or you'll go to a website and you'll be able to pay via credit card that way so what it'll do is it'll allow us to get rid of this solar um battery issue because what's happening is they're just dying solar isn't lasting to upgrade them it's hundreds of dollars to upgrade uh each one plus the battery is I think it's close to $100 to replace East each so what we're looking at is an idea that again we'll take the guts out we'll put in new guts that won't require us to have a solar battery I think this I think it's a 9vt battery that actually goes in there so easy to replace um we're working with um Brad fusile who's the uh parking parking meter technician parking meter technician uh so Brad is counting what we have uh I've also done an initial count but we want to double check uh just the math so we're checking how many meters we have have how many meters we need and then we have some old meters that we think we can take the outside structure and repl and use those we might even be able to replace them with a full meter in places that we don't have a lot of activities on the meter a lot of activity on the meter so again we're just trying to use our money effectively and efficiently so that's the plan we hope to have something uh ready in the next you know few weeks maybe um to kind of come up with a concrete plan we'll present it to the mapm committee which is made up of a few department heads and a few uh business owners downtown mayor's ad hoc parking meter advisory committee that's what the previous administration came up for the name so we just kept it when we Reed position again and it's cool to same map back I guess is this something that we think that could be put into effect fairly shortly I mean you know because it's been a real mess downtown yeah you know I think it's going to take some annual Labor uh we're going to have to purchase the inside guts I think the ones that we don't have to replace the guts with and I keep using that term cuz I don't know what else it's there's a technical thing to it I assumed it was a technical term so yeah yeah it's an acon right it's stand yeah yeah there's a technical term for it I don't know what it is but uh the inside yeah it's the Machinery inside so I mean Brad's going to have to go out he's going to have to pull out everyone put him in we are still going to have to order we think we're going to have to order domes the domes are the top part with the glass some of them we can replace but some of them have yellowed so just through old age um so yeah do I think it could be yeah it's going to but it's Brad He's one person I don't know if he works 12 hours a week too yeah I don't know if it's something that we I I don't know if it'll be part of the money that that's spent I don't know that's kind of what we're looking at now um I just think there's some higher traffic areas that I think be focused on first 100% I think that as well like the maintenance moving forward like you know history not repeating your on this let's just let's do this cuz people ask I know counter people ask about meters all the time I'm sure your office gets a lot of questions I know the police do like it's just you're working on it I think that's that's great you know to hear but I think moving forward let's like let's just keep going with having to not do this again few years yeah I just want to add I think the maintenance going forward will be easier too because instead of replacing a $100 battery and worrying about the solar because some of the some of the meters just don't get enough Sun you're replacing them numerous times a 9vt to pull out and put in I think it's going to be less maintenance I mean there are mechanic mechanics inside that might take a little bit uh but we're getting we'll be buying the newer ones too so and people will be using the app which fingers crossed you pick one of the nine I already have yeah um one of the things that we got from as a suggestion for people was oh just a QR code we can scan we were advised to stay away from that because what happens is we found our found reports of other locations where scammers are printing their own stickers QR codes and putting that over the QR code on the meter and so you think you're paying the meter but you're actually paying into someone else's bank account uh so that's why we just have to reference like spot number on this app or something like that to make sure that we're avoiding something like that happening and I I think it goes hand in hand too it's many Mees we can fix and have accurately working it goes with the enforcement too we have to have both yeah CU we do we do get we do receive complaints in the office about parking that does doesn't involve parking tickets it involves you know so and so this vehicle is parked here for 12 hours why can't you do something about it and I have to even though I'm civil enforcement I'm not issuing violations I'm answering appeals but it is it's a it's a mechanism for turnover as well and uh uh the other thing just to add um we have looked at all options too we we've talked about kiosk we've talked about and it doesn't make sense for the way the structure the way the setup of downtown is because it's like 14 spots per kiosk so you think about a kiosk on the corner by Priscilla is would would take you all the way to the Blue Moon Diner so if you want to go to Blue Moon you'd have to pay at a kiosk at Priscilla to go back down just the the setup of downtown doesn't fit at kiosk so we have discussed all types of options it just happens to be that this is probably the best um the only other thing I'd say about my department is I also serve as the tax title custodian which involves uh um when real estate property um is is put up uh in 2019 when I first came in we auctioned a bunch of properties off and I had to sit and give the okay a thumbs up or a thumbs down if the money was accepted um also the affirmative action officer which involves U minority and women and business Enterprise when it comes to our bids uh those are just U those are less um active of roles so and then I just say the last thing is that the department is focused on ensuring the dollars are expended efficiently with as much savings as possible to the taxpayers that's our job uh we follow Mass Journal l in the city Charter and all things and um you know I hope we do a well so thank you any further questions comments thank thank you very much before you go on to the item can I just do one thing and it's kind of unorthodox but I used to sit in your positions and I know you got people that listen to you I just think it's ironic that you invited me in on May 1st I just want to mention that it is mental health awareness month and I think that people out there listening may need to hear that um a a quote that has come to my heart recently is all lights turned off can be turned on and uh you're not alone so I just want to remind people it's mental health awareness month and thank you for letting me say that thank and I'll sit around for the next item because I'm here for that too don't move yeah thank you very much for the update Mr Mayor just with regard to the department updates Madam president president um I hope it adds to uh the when the budget gets submitted tomorrow uh you'll see that each department head has actually written a full narrative for their Department's request uh that's why the budget binders look a lot thicker this year than they have in years's past um and I also gave you just the balances in all our accounts like the parking meter account so you can see where we are in those matters uh but just to help explain the behind the numbers and what's going on with the Departments a little more each department has actually written their own um narrative for their budget and their full Department update included with that too so I hope that helps with your considerations within the next month as well thank you and I'd also add that as a city counselor for eight years and as a department head for five that's the first time it's ever been done so I think it's extremely uh cool and great for department heads to be able to voice in a narrative rather than so I just I thank the mayor for that so thank you um yeah I'm glad we're doing these I think just with the transparency just at a comment like with the city uh I know of other standing committees do updates regularly it's just the way those standing committees have always been structured and I think bringing them into other committees and know Public Welfare is doing it and Council General allow to suggest for us to do it and as I said that this is really for the public this is another effort transparency on the council's part in the city because it's something that we um do really well in Garder and I completely biased opinion um but I think it's just another way to do it to give you give it a public platform of opportunity so if we can do it during our standing committees I I just you know I think it's a great idea that councel Jour alls had suggested for us as well um so thank you for your time on that thank you opportunity for each department had to highlight what their department does people know at home you know what are what are these roles what are these roles what do they do and I think they'll be shorter in the future it's just this is the first time so I think it's it's an opportunity for us to talk a little longer and I I always want to H talk Chris you did okay moving on to item 11257 a measure authorized a 5-year contract period for general office and janitorial supplies violation processing and emergency notification system um I think that pretty much sums up what this item is along with your two cover letters but um if you'd like to go ahead into the item I just Master General Law requires that if we go out for a anything more than 3 years we require Council approval uh traditionally we've gotten a lot better pricing on a 5-year deal because people understand that they're vested in a full timeline rather than having to basically start a contract having a year and then renew the contract there's more uh opportunity there and then get a better value for it and that in turn comes back to the city and a better cost on those contracts too so we're requesting that the council will vote to approve uh for those three um topic areas uh us to enter into a 5-year contract once those go out to bid and the bids get awarded okay anything yeah the only other thing I would add is I talked about office supply and violation processing the emergency notification system is code red Just Master General Law requires this to do it this one didn't require a public bid process given the the amount so we've we I've sought uh multiple quotes on this and uh we'll be able to award a contract once this is approved thank you questions comments to the council no motion we recommend passes to the full Council second motion made by councelor General out second by councelor Ma to recommend pass to the full councel is there a discussion on the motion all those in favor say I supposed to say no motion passes I'll entertain motion to adour second motion by councelor Max second by councelor to all those in favor say I I CL say no motion passes meeting stands and J thank you thanks guys thank you