the Wednesday May 15th meeting of the gardener city council finance committee will come to order the clerk will please call the r is anyone here recording this morning's meeting begin with the FY 2025 budget hearings for the public watching the purpose of the budget hearings is to give each City Department the opportunity to present their budget to the city council standing committee that is associated with their Department answer any questions entertain any comments from the committee the departments at today's meeting are associated with the finance committee mayor Nicholson presented the city council with his City budget recommendations on Wednesday May 1st his proposed budget also became available to the public that day on the city's website thank you to the department heads and the mayor for being here at today's meeting the FY 2025 budget hearing of the Garder city council finance committee is now open we will go through each department as they are listed on our agenda and uh we did get a different format this year of all of the budget items from the mayor office um so given that there was much more information um from each different department we do have um some explanation of some of the budget that we had in the past um which um a side comment I found very helpful um because I went through and had questions and I went through and got them answered after so that was good uh we will begin with the Department of the city council which is the city clerk come on over and we'll also do Clerk and elections sure um start city council though city council pretty much everything is level funded any questions comments from the committee anything else am for comment no anything thank you madam president you'll note the increase in counselor's salaries is reflective of the vote that was taken at the end of the following term to add the step scale in for this term uh for this year and F fiscal 25 and fiso 24 because those votes had to take place prior to the beginning of the term so that is what that increase is reflective of thank you anything further I just had a question on professional development and travel um the actual as of this year seems uh a lot less than budgeted uh mayor did you see to think that we needed to budget as much for fy2 25 just in case there was a need it was just in case there was a need um the mass Municipal Association is offering new trainings this coming year so I didn't know if any of the counselors would like to participate in those uh as the city is a member of the Massachusetts Municipal Association every counselor is also a member of the Massachusetts Counselors Association as a result uh so if anyone ever wants to go to attend those meetings we do reimburse for gas at the IRS rate uh and uh if any counselors also wanted to attend the annual meeting of the mass municipal associ a uh that's also something that would be covered in that account so we budget in case anyone wants to traditionally no one has except for you know a handful of trainings here and there or a handful of uh reimbursements for gas to different events and different locations of you know meetings that have taken place um so I just did not want to limit the other branch of the city's government from being able to do anything like that in the budget proposal thank you f questions comments that's historically how it's been it's it really hasn't had much expended out of that account in the past several years thank you moving on to city clerk budget um pretty much the only thing difference is probably like the Staffing um from two assistants to one assistance like to have three people in there so one assistant and two admins to help I need the bodies more people in there to help with the um all the election stuff and vital stuff and early voting um that's about it's okay I my only questions were going to be about the equipment and Communications but those are addressed within um the supplemental information that you had um provided are there any questions comments from the counselors I I just had a question upon the retirements you chose to take two positions to one correct right and now you're i' rather have one assistant and two admins in there I need more bodies in there it's demoting a position to a clerical staff instead of a assistant department head further questions comments with the additional Staffing that we have now obviously see the overtime in your budget was zero and the mayor's budget was 4,000 we're going to see that flatten because we don't have the turnover correct for the overtime budget right okay thank you further questions coms okay you want to cover election sort of covered elections in there anything further with elections as well no few elections next fisal year than last year we had a lot last year this one we only have two so we should be good than anything from from the council thank you m cour um I am going to take just one out of order um because direct beard has another commitment so you come onard and we will do Community Development and planning Dr be anything you want to go over with your bu that was included or anything you want to highlight not really other than the uh you know proposed increases in salary everything is pretty much level funded or are small decreases but those items are fairly small budget items anyways thank you comments with counselors no not in the budget now Mr Mayor no across the board I should have said this earlier to uh all non-union staff members have a 3% cost of living adjustment we've traditionally done two uh but this is a way to try to get us up a little higher and more to a marketable rate with all of our positions uh once the salary survey is fully completed we'll hopefully be able to work towards a um a better goal and funding plan on how to get to where we need to be for these positions uh however uh before all that work is finalized just looking to make as much of an effort as we could uh we are still in negotiations with some of the unions as is uh shown in the budget packet that I received you and that's also included on the city's website most have since settled and either entered into their full Union contract with the city or we've finished negotiations and have entered into the memorandum of understanding and the contract is being uh negotiated currently in the community development planning office there's only one Union member and that's the uh executive coordinator uh and that's in the uh the asme union everyone else is non-union in the department uh so uh Chris fusel is controlled by the Union contract she did just get a promotion from Administrative Assistant to Executive coordinator uh because of the work that she does for the planning board the Community Development Department and the other sub departments that she works for everyone else is the 3% cost of living adjustment thank you and Miss salary study do you have um like a a timeline on that or uh we did get delayed a little bit just because the school dep depart took a little longer for us to get some information there I'm hoping I'm going to say a government September that means I'm hoping it could be sooner but I'm going to say September just because it's uh how things tend to work here thank you uh anything further thank you director thank you we're going to back to the order on our agenda so we're going to do mayor and mayor's are classified Mr Mayor thank you very much Madam president uh in the executive Department's uh budget uh you'll see the 3% cost of living adjustment for the executive Aid and the uh executive assistance salary wages the temp salary and wages is flat that's if we have an intern in the mayor's office uh that's what's paid for out of that that funds two interns technically um the mayor's pay is based off of the vote of the city council that was taken last year uh other than that things are pretty much flatlined except for the mayor's portrait we had been putting money aside to uh try to see if we could either scan or come up with ways to preserve the older mayoral portraits that are downstairs because those are the only copies of those pictures that we have uh similar to what former clerk Elli was looking to do in this room here with the old Council pictures where before he left he had uh ultraviolet protection glass installed on all the pictures to make sure they don't fade the company that did that is no longer uh operating uh and we can't seem to find a company that uh can scan a picture as big of those yet for a reasonable price uh so we are still working on those we can encumber that money right now so just as a way to help cut some pennies to save for the next fiscal year I cut that line item out of the my budget this year and the mayor's unclassified section uh termination leave is traditionally lower than what we anticipate for that um and sometimes we've had to you know transfer money into that as well uh but basically it is is if we have someone who retires resigns uh any of those type of things if they have a crude benefit time it's paid for out of that line item so we transfer from the termination leing the mayor's and classified line out into that Department's account to pay out that person there but that way when we ask for the budget we ask if there's any anticipated retirements in the upcoming year uh so those numbers are based off of what we anticipate could be people who are retiring this year to pay out their benefit time if you were hired before 1994 you have certain sick time buyback opportunities that don't exist for someone who was hired after 1994 and then any other acred benefit time is paid out of that line item if someone leaves thank you um I have two questions the just because these kind of jumped out um just we were looking at it but the building demolition yes um so that was 50,000 minute it wasn't anything and then the water from 19 to 14 if you just want to so the building demolition account is a new account that I put in place when I was elected mayor that was when we were dealing with the uh centino old Furnishing Factory on West Street and we wanted to come up with a plan that if we had another situation like that how would we be able to immediately address the safety hazard and concern that was there without having to go through the longer process that we had uh so we put $50,000 in the budget uh to try to make it so that we had some type of seed money that we could respond to emergency situations um that is basically cut to help level uh level out the budget and get us back into the uh so if something like that were to come up again uh it probably be a free cash expenditure or something that would come before the council for just like we did with that finishing Factory uh and as for water that was based on trends that we were seeing in expenses thank questions comments from the counselors with the energy um expenses I see that dropping um my assumption is the loss of the schools of having toal in those put those at home and um with the telephone um I believe there was a bigger expenditure which we made have in our packet later on I see that dropping is the were phones upgraded is that correct the the phones were upgraded um Bob we can probably talk about that later when he gets up here um because he he oversaw that project and it's it's a very I enjoy the system I think it's a lot better than what we had before um there's a lot more functions that our employees and department heads can utilize uh with these new phone systems um but when Bob gets up we can talk about that more but yeah we have a new contract from who we used to have it with just you can see new the ANS but for people at home the actual dropping significantly from 24 to 25 budget for 25 are significantly so thank you and can you just explain the increase in the capital Improvement plan research yes so the capital Improvement plan um has traditionally been budgeted at 50,000 you'll see the actuals have been about 34 for the past couple years um a lot of the capital projects that we've been undertaking have been greater than the 50,000 so we've reserved this for the smaller ones that come up here and there um I think that the as of is going to be closer to the $50,000 this year uh just because of some repairs and maintenance that we've had to make uh but that's really the if we need to hire a consultant for certain projects if there's a smaller Capital project that you know we can eat that way those have been some of the things that have been funded out of that further questions comments okay thank you Mr Mayor thank you uh next we have assessor Christin Kumar is here good morning good morning level funded pretty much not a lot going on the same um anything else you wanted to add though regarding your budget um no it's it's just the salaries um we had a couple very small increases from our vendors um beyond that we're level funded thank you questions comments from the counselors I forgot to say this with my department my department is exempt from the union because the confidential information Clause uh in the assessor Department the department head is non-union and the clerical staff is a member of the asme Union so it's split 50/50 further questions comments thank you thank you good job quick and easy contributory Retirement Board I don't see Cheryl here this morning John take that one too aor rich so basically the salaries are um the same as far as well the um yeah the board and admin is the same um but the administrator um that's just contract rate and that's negotiated by the uh the board the Retirement Board Retirement Board um and then the contribution retirement assessment that's already established lished um we basically review the schedule and then um we see what we look at analyze what the best way or what can the the uh uh City afford um and again on that hopefully we're going to be fully funded in 2031 and that's based off of the reports that our actuaries do and submit to the city every year and the plan has to be adopted by the Retirement Board uh at their vote and it's a publicly posted meeting where that happens too so that's where that all comes from and then the contract for the Retirement Board uh administrator that's done under state law that they vote to set that contract with that employee thank you anything further questions comments from thank you and um we will go to auditor since we have the auditor go ahead on that one is basically um obviously we got the 3% and salaries um and then as far as up earning expenses um the only thing that really want is Professional Services that's our auditing uh firm outside auditing firm um we did get three quotes um they were within probably $100 each actually Markham the one we use right now uh was the lowest um also that includes the Actuarial report um we use Stony on that one um and their their rate was it's comparable I I got three quotes and they were the lowest um we did uh decrease our office supplies cuz mostly our my department is uh paperless um mostly I mean we don't print anything which is a very recent development thank you John y um else that's it uh questions comments from the council both of the staff members are non-union thank you y i um my only um question was just what the outside auditing firm do you do you switch firms like do we keep the firm all through time um um when I got here we were using actually um Lan and Heath um we've been using them they actually uh got bought out by Markham um so I I brought I put it out to bid we have a good relationship uh with milans and Heath now Markham um if like I said if another firm would come in cheaper I would definitely go with them um I just we we really have a good relationship and their system is is basically everything's B um um I upload it to they have a website and everything that's fully secured um and I mean they do come on um at our location for three or 4 days um but I'm very happy with them um but again if if another firm came in lower I would definitely switch um but at least I I do quote it out thank you nice any further okay thank you y good job okay we will go back up to order here we will do purchasing and civil enforcement do cor here good morning morning okay anything you'd like to add or say about your budget or well you have the narrative that I submitted I'll just pick purchasing first U most of the uh line items on the on the lower half either stay level or they were reduced and that's perfectly fine um again the two things that I requested that were not uh given were uh this idea I think it was last year I said it too the idea of communications right now when we do a bid if it's a say Department of Public Works we have to do an advertisement in the garden news that bill comes into us we have to send it to the DPW they have to pay it in in lie of that we'd like to streamline that make it so the purchasing department handles all that so the bill comes in we pay it nobody has to do it obviously that's um that doesn't um that doesn't go with grants if there's a grant the grant will pay for it and that's a different story the other thing as I noted uh two weeks ago when I was here I'm the opposite of the city clerk's office my department doesn't need more bodies but we need the bodies to work the way they need to um currently the financial admin is limited in what she can do uh and I can say she because it's been she since I've been here uh that position is limited though um it really needs to uh to be a position that allows for the director to not be here every minute of the day and to do the uh every every conversion of a PO every contract every bid uh to be honest with you I'm a little overwhelmed right now it's at the end of the at the end of the fiscal year um again working on 50 uh renewals and last week I said 43 there was 12 more that I have to do for on Call trades person uh there's four live bids there's um three bids that I have to write this week uh third one just came in this morning so um and I think my predecessors will say the same thing that it just gets busy at the end of the fiscal year uh this is an essential financial department uh this is something that U conversions need to happen we did 52 purchase orders yesterday uh that's 52 purchases that don't get done going timely manner because the only person that converted is is me uh so anyway I I I just stress that there um uh you know uh I'm sure everybody that works for the city uh feels that there's times where they work too much um or work more than they should I'm not saying that but I'm just saying it would be nice to be able to enjoy a few days off in a row and uh not have to carry over 200 hours of vacation time every year uh so I'm not crying I love the job I I love the team that I work with as I said last time but I just think whether it's me or it's somebody that follows me that that department is has to be structured differently um for that reason so that's and and actually that leads into civil enforcement too because um there's a lot of time that's taken away because of the Civil enforcement piece of it um having an assistant director in that position would allow for that time to be managed more efficiently but other than that that was requested and obviously I understand for Budget reasons that um you know but I hope it's a plan that continues to get talked about and then as civil enforcement uh it's level funded and we reduce the Professional Services which is the fee that um we pay for parking ticket processing we are going through the parking ticket paret parking ticket processing uh RFQ right now uh it's due on Thursday it's due tomorrow so we'll know so you have the actuals here in front of you that was traditionally budgeted at $5,000 so that's what the decrease is the $4,500 that you in front of you for the budget for next year um the department head is nonunion the clerical staff in there is a member of the union we are looking to see if we can work towards an assistant director position that would have to be negotiated with the Union uh to remove that position from the union just like we did with the assistant auditor a couple years ago um but it is a plan that we are working on seeing if we can get towards because like Josh said he should be able to take a vacation without worrying about checking in on his laptop not just his email but his actual work uh every day that he's on vacation uh other than that uh one of the thing that I do want to note with this too is that with the recent Supreme Court decision and Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court decisions to um modify or come up with new rulings on the tax title process right now if we take a property by tax title uh it's uh called the home equity theft law uh it's to crack down on municipalities taking a home when they owed like $1,000 or $2,000 and selling the home for $500,000 in pocketing the profit uh the new regulations that have been put out as a result of these cases is that if we take a property that's in AAR and taxes uh and we sell the property for more than what we took the property for we can only keep up to what the property had in back taxes and then we owe a check to the previous owner for the extra amount that we sold the property for uh so if we took a property for 5,000 sold it for 500 we'd owe the former property owner $495,000 so we're still working through those processes right now so the sales that we did a couple years ago those have all been declared fine because those were either tax takings for well over what the value of the property was or city-owned properties that we sold however if we move forward with any other tax takings or land sales or stuff like that we have to navigate those regulations so that'll be probably a little slower in the upcoming fiscal year um but that's something that was done through uh this the purchasing department as well to uh at a rate that again his predecessors have not had seen that many sales of properties that many appeals on civil enforcement inside so the work in this department has increased and the need is there uh it's just finding a way to get to that plan thank you questions comments the counselors my only comment is I I really hope that that will happen um there's so much great need in that farm for assistant director I hope the union will work with you and it's for $9 to $10,000 it would be money more than well spent thank you so then I keep looking both ways when I walk thank you anything else thank you uh Information Technology director o good morning is there any comments you have about your budget um budget's almost identical to last year it's a less than a half a percent difference anything from the counselors my only question was on the information information technology line and I just I don't know if I didn't if I missed it from the supplemental stuff but it like it has 81,82 50 and then it goes back down to the 37 that was in the budget which is closer to the other years so I'm just confused by that all right uh when the budget was first prepared by my department this uh Council and the mayor had not yet approved the free cash transfer for the cyber security products that we did a few months ago um so because of that we were able to reduce my request okay there are some recurring costs that'll be there associated with that um but we just the council approved funding for a three-year contract so the full cost of the three years was recently approved uh you'll notice later on in the agenda there's a request for a special projects um stabil special stabilization account um something that we're looking to do is put aside a little bit every year so that when we have those recurring costs or we have a bigger Capital cost come up uh we'll be able to take the money out of that so it wouldn't be something that hits the budget at a big point every year rather than budgeting in the operating budget and continuing to basically have an escrow or encumbered budget where we budget what we know we're not going to spend just to save it up and build up a bank account so that when the hits we have that money in place set it aside in an actual different account for itself so it's not throwing off the actual operations side of the budget that and painting a clearer picture of what's actually being spent year to year thank you questions comments from the counselor got mine counselor another one too about the software also dropping about 30,000 software service license renewals is there something we're not getting or something we it's need yeah it's not that not that something is uh been removed it's all related to that free cash transfer one of the big chunks of the new cyber security product is it also includes backing up all our servers therefore the line item which was software we used to have the annual backup software we're able to pull back up gotcha thank you thank you question comments on the counselors there was an earlier question about telephones yes y do you want to bring that back up now sure what was the question I'm sorry the new phone system just the details of the new phone system oh okay uh the current phone system we have is a Voiceover IP system it's Voiceover IP both internal and external so we're no longer using Verizon lines to send calls out or receive calls in uh the system is designed so that if another pandemic should ever happen a and the mayor and the council wanted staff to be able to work from a different location whether it be home or somewhere else all of these phones are portable you take this phone home plug it into your home network or you can even attach it to the Wi-Fi network in your home so you wouldn't even need cables and your phone extension works at that location the same as it did at City Hall um so that was one of the major reasons uh of new features being put into it the basically a little computer in the inside that you can transport anywhere and if I dial a certain extension on my desk it would ring to that person's house just as if they were right here in City Hall and there's also call forwarding to cell phones if a department had wanted to do that as well and several other features yep so some location for example the senior center now is on the same system as City Hall and the fire department so we all have four-digit calling between three buildings eventually that'll be likely Citywide thank you one of the things I just want to point out too if I uh May Madam president so the fiber grant that we got a couple years ago Bob has been overseeing that um just to give him give an update on some other projects he's working on since they're all funded from this budget or grants that he was able to get as a result of what's in the budget right now um so that fiber project should be working soon to run the fiber down to the Waterford Community Center began yesterday okay so see soon um Waterford it was yep it's going to connect uh the city Network which right now is the senior center police fire in City Hall so to that Waterford will be connecting also the high school which means the entire School complex um one of the items that was requested with the new elementary school was to give police access to the camer so we're finally going to be completing that piece because now they'll be connected to each other through that and then the other thing that did you get over to Monument Park yesterday no well one of the things we're working on right now is installing um starlink Wi-Fi connectors on the Bandstand at Monument Park that would provide free public Wi-Fi uh to everyone who's attending events over at Monument Park as well uh looking at seeing if we can expand that to certain other areas of the city like the pool and some other locations too so Bob's been the one who's been spe heading that project and making really great progress on that as soon as I see a couple days without rain yeah maybe next week anything further from the counselors thank youate okay we're going to move to Human Resources good morning welcome thank you but you just know that she's new day three I will be covering the budget as this is this is a learning moment Mr Mayor thank you very much Madame President so the department head uh this office is exempt from the Union as well uh due to the confidential nature of the information that's processed through the HR department uh so you'll see a uh cost of living adjustment for the department head and the two clerical staff members that are there budgeted in this budget is a clerical and a half uh because one of the clerical staff positions is half budgeted through the golf Department uh we have to keep those separate since the golf department is an Enterprise fund uh and that's funded mainly through memberships and other Revenue that the golf course takes in itself um the other items that are here are pretty much level funded uh the medical exams uh when down significantly uh there are certain things that are changing the school department has reduced the type of physicals uh that need to be done over there and has uh no longer doing drug tests for uh applicants who are over there uh but kept in the contract that if there's any suspicion or something like that randoms can be done at certain moments but not a pre-employment um aspect to those type of things uh that was uh done by the school committee uh the is that um um is that common with other School departments did most School most school districts have gone away with that uh based on votes of the school committe most municipalities have not uh most municipalities no longer test for marijuana since that has now been legalized uh we still do hear and that's something that we're looking at seeing if we still test for on our city city non-school side of things uh which is pretty common again in most municipalities but most school districts have gone away from that mainly because of the shortage of applicant who are applying um we have not I will say too we haven't had any issues since the school committee decided to make that decision back at the beginning of this current school year thank you um the volunteer incentive program for seniors the VIPs program that is the uh senior tax write-off uh that we have seniors can work up to uh a up to a certain number of hours earning minimum wage in L of a paycheck we deduct their property taxes as a result uh that's the processing cost of those uh and then we just take $1,000 off of their uh property taxes through the city assessor's office once they've completed their maximum number of hours or if they didn't get to that maximum whatever amount they earned again at the minimum wage rate uh other than that things are pretty much the same on the human resources side of things on the employee benefits a lot of this is done contractually uh through the different uh contracts that we have for our insurances for our 111f claims that's the public safety version of workers comp um the work is compensation contract that we have unemployment insurance Medicare life insurance uh we do offer a $10,000 life insurance policy to all of our city employees uh health insurance is based off of uh the work that we do we are self-funded and self-insured uh however we do contract with Blue Cross Blue Shield through Cooking Company our insurance brokers uh to basically set our rates and manage our account with us with our city treasurer and our city auditor and uh like I said most of that is set by some type of Actuarial study or contract or uh recommendations by the Consultants that we have uh working with the city thank you questions comments on the counselors about human resources or employee it I just I just had a question about the medical exams now the school actually has a school doctor still do they still have a school doctor that they use for students I yes yes they do okay do so they don't use her for any type of employee exams or anything like that not that I'm aware of but I'd have to check on that to would be a cost saving measure just to use her you know and pay her a stien for that yeah um if you know however it would be U just to reduce the cost of no I get yeah uh typically with the medical I'm sorry M president interrupt you uh typically with the medical exams too they cost a lot more for firefighters a police officers because we have to send them through a full physical aptitude training test um on top of where a clerical staff memb is not going to go through something that a police officer will have to go through um so those cost more we are fully staffed over at the police department uh at least with this upcoming hire that we'll be making uh we're down two right now at the fire department so we know that there'll be some Pats coming up uh but we'll monitor that as it goes forward further questions comments from the council thank you thank you okay next is treasure collector Debt Service and insurance Jennifer is here good morning anything you'd like to add or about your budget no I think it's pretty much uh level funded we I did have some cuts to the um uh my request for postage because postage costs keep going up and we do handle postage for the entire city for all mailings and then a cut to the uh parking meter maintenance but that was uh not an issue because I believe we're looking into getting new meters so maintenance with me my only question was about parking meters and you explained it in your in your um supplement so yeah so other than that there's um other than say my request for longevity of 680 was obviously a typo yeah so the math doesn't even work to get to that number but everything else is um uh based on what estimates were for like going into the property insurance and then for uh The Debt Service we have the schedules so we we pretty much know what our uh budget's going to be from year to year thank you questions comments from the counselors um no other than with with all the postage I know that there's you know been a lot of inquiries about um um doing more online for billing and I know we've been able to do it for some things um has the city been looking more so for you know for paying for water sewage getting doing more online we would like to get the water and sewer bills online but there's a problem with the way munus is creating the bills and how UniBank is um reading them so there's an error and they can't compute that way but I do think that everybody would still need to get a paper copy regardless of I know a lot of people are going to emails for things but I'm not sure that that's legal for us to to go in that full Direction yeah correct yeah that would be a state law change that has to be made for that and postage seems like it's going to go up soon again so it always does I mean we're trying to cut down on what we're doing we're trying to implement um EFT payments for accounts payable to cut down on the number of checks that are getting mailed um we've run into a couple of roadblocks but we're we're trying regularly to get that done thank you further questions comments from the counselors not this time no Mr Mayor anything to add the uh email direct deposit slips are going very well at least in my opinion as someone who receives one um but uh thank you very much for the funding that you did with that because again it just cuts down on the cost in some way shape or form it might not be postage but it's time cost cost of Labor it's the less printing that needs to be done on it um and even if we save a Rema paper a year that's still a Rema paper we didn't have to pay for and is that across all city employees including schools schools are mandatory direct deposit I mean um email advices and email W2s uh we've had the majority of people sign up for email direct deposit advices so that cuts back on having to print um we just print the remaining ones on regular pap paper as opposed to using the forms we were purchasing so there'll be a cost savings uh overall for that and of course envelopes because they're delivered electronically we cut down on our usage of envelopes significantly and because every week an employee we got an envelope and they slip so it's just sometimes they get return but most of the time they don't yeah I it was a lot of waste yes yes anything further those are exempt from public record too because there are deductions and other stuff on there too so even if an employee uses their City email for those they're actually exempt if we get our public records request so just to make that clear for everyone too okay thank you very much thank you and the final Department's Law Department um Mr Mayor you're taking one yes I'll be taking that one Madam president was pretty much level funded from last year's request uh aside from the 3 % cost of living adjustment uh most things are the same if not some minor reductions that were based off of trends that we had in legal research outside Council uh in arbitration uh a lot of those were lower compared to uh what we did the increase in the office supplies uh as we we're finding that a lot of the office supplies that are being used by the Law Department right now still have uh attorney colney an attorney um priya's name still on them so we're crossing them out with pens and sending them out so just to update that with attorney Peter's uh information if his apartment goes through or um get more up to dat with how we're doing things uh in terms of connecting with the city and the Law Department thank you questions comments from the council um I actually I'm back on I'm going to go back to office supplies um because uh to be honest I mean there's a lot of things especially depending on how long the assistant city solicitor if it's going to be a temporary appointment yeah um you don't need to have Prince stationary there something they can create there's definitely room in that line there really needs to be there um because I mean let's face it it's a law firm that only does some so much work for the city so how much of their office supplies is really just being used for the City versus for the rest of the law fir that's a very I mean that's that's a line that's very hard to to track I agree um and I think compared to every other department in this building that's a huge line item for office supplies where everybody else here is in the hundreds of dollars and they're in the thousands and I think that's something that I think there's plenty of wer room if there's cuts that need to be made I wouldn't be opposed to it I think that that's something that needs that definitely needs to be addressed further questions comments from the council okay thank you Mr Mayor okay we're going to move um to the remainder of our agenda from the budget here any further questions or comments from the committee regarding the F 2025 budget anything else want to thank the mayor for and his office for all the work putting these packets together as well as all the department heads for the time they took and writing the narratives which answered a lot of questions that we would normally have so um thank you to everyone I would certainly Echo that I mean I found this to be we've split it up in committees the May's done a little bit different you know each year that you've done the process I always found it to be helpful to get our committees separate um I really felt found the narratives that I kind of alluded to earlier as you said they just helped so much having that supplemental information answered a lot of questions and I would encourage any members of the public as well to go on and check it out online because it really does address a lot of it and you can see that this isn't the way this is done in every city our our town it's the way that we we've kind of developed to do it here and I think that we've learned from year to year and I think that you know when you have something as important as your almost $90 million City budget you should be as thorough as possible and I find this to be pretty much close to that so um I certainly appreciated that that new format um but I did want to say thank you to the department heads as well as the mayor for being here this morning anything further no the amount of work that went into this was very evident um and it it did make it a lot um user friendly and easy to go through so I appreciate that I appreciate it when you get to the bigger budgets bigger binders and I'll talk about those at the the full Council informal meeting um one of the things that was never included in the budgets before was an explanation of the revenue and where the revenue is coming from and what was actually getting paid for um so I hope that that section was also just informative in terms of trying to figure out yes we we've always talked about where the money is being spent but not where the money is being coming from really except for a page that the auditor would put in uh that a lot of times the administration would forget was even in the packet um so so hopefully all of that was at least painted a more full picture of what our financial standing is in the city thank you anything further I just want to commend the department heads because doing something like that the narrative it's the first time so it's very difficult but it become second nature yeah no they were there were no issues in getting those narratives from the department heads either most just understood it and just went with it and knew the reason behind it and I learned a lot on my side of it uh from Reading those narratives too so it was I thank you to all of them for me too thank you thank you anything further okay the FY 2025 budget hearings are now closed and we will go on to r two first time on the agenda item 11282 a communication from the mayor regarding item number 11232 a resolution relating to the future of Helen may soer school and item number 11279 resolution relating to the future of Stone field um we did get a letter from the mayor but I will let you go ahead thank you madam president just as a followup because the city council voted to you know request that I uh the administration look into these two properties uh we did start looking into the process of if we were to sell Helen may solder we'd need to subdivide that land out uh because right now it's on a big parcel that connects Elm Street Helen may the chair Stonefield and the playground um while the surveyor was making that anr plan uh he noticed that there was a uh restriction in the original handwritten 1895 D that is included in your packet that states that the property shall forever be used for school purposes under the offices of the garden school committee uh so the law department has requested that the school committee obtain outside Council to verify his thoughts that that is not something that is able to be removed unless we find every heir of the property the school committee has entered into uh an agreement with attorney Christine tree who is a land use uh expert attorney uh to see if we can uh come up with a way to verify that information provided by the city's Law Department or and also if there is a way around it what is that way around it and how can we move forward with that property because the property is just sitting there and we don't want it to be the next rotting property the next School Street School especially on Elm Street uh there is a deed for the Lucy Stonehouse next D Elm Street School that shows that that was originally part of the property that was deeded by Mr Derby to the city and in the 1920s uh there was a deed release signed by Mr Derby's grandson that said that that restriction was no longer required for that portion of the property and that's how they were able to sell that to build the house that is now the Lucy Stone House uh so there are some ways that have been done in the past we're just still reviewing that but while there may be more information coming later on where this just came up I just wanted to make sure the council was informed of it at this time so you knew at least what our plan was going forward from here thank you um it's just a comment it's know um you know attorney Tre she's I found this on the we that would be my sorry about that I was like go does sound like attorney tree um attorney tree she's she's come before to council the zoning board I mean she's very very experienced in Municipal um issues so um you know I'm confident in that choice um but I do appreciate this this update on this and that is ongoing with both Zone field and hen May and the research that's going into what we can do with those areas any um questions comments from the committee no I just when I first read all this that I knew that there would be some lengthy research because um eventually I mean it's all there are some legal options but it's going to just take some time exactly unless somebody knows any descendant of the Derby family um which you never know yeah that might be out there that all it takes is one air to be able to give Rob permission yeah I mean there's a lot of lot to look into here some concerned with the letter from solicitor flick um in his comment that the school committee should consult with the Rome legal counsel um I'm wondering why he feels he's not there legal council but he can address that um at some point would' be great certainly can request that in a memo from him to the council further questions comments is there a motion uh I move to recommend placing the communication on file to the full councel second motion made by Council General second by counc Mac to please recommend speci communication on files there discussion on the motion all those in favor say I I those say no motion passes item 11283 a measure authorizing an intermunicipal agreement between the city of Garder and the town of Princeton and Veterans for veteran services FY 2025 to FY 2027 Mr Mayor thank you very much madam president the uh current contract we have with the town of Princeton for regional veteran services expires at the end of this fiscal year this represents a 2% increase for each fiscal year for the three years of the contract thank you questions comments from the committee um I would just be interested and I'm sure the veterans department and director would have this um I know we have the intermunicipal agreements with Ashan Westminster Ashby and Princeton the amount of services that they do offer for each of these communities I think that um the veterans department is very overwhelmed and they get a lot of services probably for the the the amount that they receive um I think we already know for the part of our salary survey that our veterans director is extremely underpaid if not the most underpaid employee in the city um so I think this is something eventually we're going to have to look at because I think they're getting um a lot of bang for their Buck um and if that's one way we're going to you know look at to increase salary um but um I am in agreement with this there a motion I didn't know if you had promise uh these agreements seem to be going well um they um provide centralized services for all these towns um it we do need to as councelor ma said look into the compensation of of the department though um I would um like to make a motion though to recommend authorization to the full councel second motion by Counselor General second by counselor to recommend authorization to the full Council um Echo I Echo the coun is there a discussion on the motion I Echo the uh the comments of the counselors and I'm glad that we do these I think it's a really good model for other communities to be able to be a good neighbor especially when it comes to a veteran services um we are a hub for that in Garder quite frankly in the greater Gardener area not to mention the North Central Mass region and I'm glad that we can um you know have a a good model for any other communities or anyone else in Massachusetts who might um look to be doing doing similar things cuz not only does it help the town on their services uh it also helps City use the full capacity of their services which should be compensated um appropriately and um I'm glad that we're able to do that especially for um for Veterans as well the uh the these agreements actually set the minimum Staffing Levels by law for that department at the general laws actually have a grid that says based on full population of community not veteran population of a community if you add another town and that increase the full District population to this then you need this many full-time assistants this many full-time clerical staff this many full-time in these different positions and it's broken out there and I'm happy to get that to the council too as well just for supplemental information purposes um but yeah the director of veteran services is the lowest paid department head we have in the city in the low to mid 60s um so it is something that we do need to look at in the future as was evident from the salary survey preliminary information that was released um but it's something that we'll again we'll build a a plan toward once that surveys is completed thank you Mr Mayor uh further discussion all those in favor say I I pleas close say no motion passes item 11284 a measure authorizing intermunicipal agreement between the city of Garder and the town of asham for animal control services FY 2025 FY 2027 this is similar to what we do with veteran services Mr Mayor same thing but for animal control services we do animal control for hon asham and Westminster uh this represents a 2% increase each year for animal control services for the the town of asham we already renewed with htson and Westminster earlier this year thank you Mr Mayor is there any questions comments from Council is there a motion I make a motion that we uh pass this on to the full Council for for approval second motion made by councelor Max second by counselor D alls to recommend authorization both councils there discussion on a motion all those in favor say I I supposed say no motion passes item 11285 an order appropriating $5,000 from free cash to the Council on agent repairs and maintenance expense account this is for um various um maintenance and repairs that needs to be done to the uh Council on agent building um Mr Mayor thank you very much Madam president this is for the mcken building over on Pleasant Street um back in the early 2000s there were holes cut into the walls for air conditioning uh and the walls were sheet rocked on the inside but not covered up on the outside for those holes so they were some Sheetrock replacement due to some uh weathering issues there were some bird nests that had to be removed as a result as well from certain aspects within the walls uh so it's fully covering up those holes rather than putting a piece of plywood and hoping it stayed up uh and making the building fully recovered from the new air conditioning system that we have now we have many split systems in there now rather than having to have a window air conditioning unit in a hole that was cut in the wall so it fixed up all of those Legacy issues that we've had in that building thank you Mr May question comments from the council uh and the mayor you continue to you plan to continue usage of the building for some city services yes once okay yes no other have questions thank you make a motion to recommend passage to the PO Council second motion by councelor second by councelor mat to recommend passage to the full council is there discussion on the motion all those in favor say I those oppos say no motion passes item 11286 in order appropriating $330,000 from free cash to the mayor's unclassified s grades versus City lawsuit expense account Mr Mayor thank you very much Madam president uh this is for the expenses that have been incurred in the ongoing lawsuit with the Attorney General's office in the city that uh attorney Graves has filed against both uh this is progressing forward uh yesterday I did receive a request to get a breakdown and provide the bills as has been done before with this I'll be sure to get that to the council before Monday's council meeting uh as a breakdown to what the funds are here uh it is still in the uh hearings preliminary trial hearing stages um with the judge uh different motions have been filed and things of that so we aren't at Discovery for it yet but this is where um the cost of everything that's been done so far with attorney petrin uh for representing the city on this side of things thank you Mr Mayor and the breakdown that you're going provideed to council before the meeting is that going to be for this 30,000 or for all 84,000 we can do all 84 if that's what the council wishes to I would appreciate that full breakdown thank you further question com from the counsel so this is the preliminary um lawsuit going to original trial or going to we we aren't at the trial stage yet we aren't even at the appeal stage we haven't you can't get to appeal until you've done the trial so this is all pre-trial uh work that's being done with uh the judge in terms of motions and preliminary hearings and things of that nature so we haven't even hit Discovery for this yet and and there's no idea of any type of time frame so this the amount that has been allocated thus far could just continue to increase it could yes and we can certainly ask the Law Department to provide an update on this in an executive session to the council as we've done in the past to whenever the council wishes and would there be any is there any way we can get this money back if down the road like I are we I don't know if you can speak on that but I'm just saying like if I'm just going to comment that if we could um try to you know this this huge cost and if there's ever a possibility depending on how this goes um might be something to entertain further um questions comments from the council no I just appreciate the the budget breakdown and um it's the cost that we've incurred that we had to pay so make a motion we recommend passage to the full Council second motion made by councelor General out second by councelor mat recommend passage to the full council is there a discussion on the motion I just can't believe that we continue to spend this much money um as much as I hate to vote for it um it seems that we have no choice um in this city needs funds for so many other things that it just kills me to literally I just it's it's it's it's such a waste of city tax dollars in um that could be used for so so many other areas um that are desperately needed um but we've been put in a horrible position um but we seem to have no choice thank you thank you counselor forther discussion all those in favor say I as say no motion passes item 11 1287 an order to amend the code of the city of Garder chapter 171 thereof entitled Personnel to change the compensation schedule exhibit e non-union Personnel Mr Mayor thank you madam president this was previously on the council's agenda before the last meeting and then we removed from the agenda because uh the letter was not supposed to be in the stack of documents that were given to the city clerk's office for the last meeting uh because the ordinance itself had not been written yet the ordinance document is now attached this is associated with the uh fiscal 25 budget uh so all of those numbers are contingent on the FY 25 budget being adopted by the city council uh in terms of at least the salary bo uh votes there uh but that would be the ordinance change that would have to go into effect to do the 3% cost of living adjustment so we'll we'll keep this on our agenda we'll have more time because we have to wait till the budget is passed before we can on this if there's no objection we'll be granted more time on this on our agenda for me time okay any questions comments on the item no okay item so item 11287 will remain on our agenda 11288 a measure to create a special projects gift account uh we did receive an email forwarded to us um from the mayor that was from aor Richard um requesting to um weend the special project gift order from this agenda um as he had determined that this isn't needed for the account to be set up unless we intend to use it in a special circumstance um and he's offered that we can talk about that further if we have questions about that um but and there's other options for that as well but the request was to remove this because it is no longer needed is that a fair assessment of chice make I make a motion to remove the it second motion made by Counselor General second that to remove the item from the calendar and um to the clerk I just have the email audit R's email if we can just include this in the minute thank okay F numeral three referred to finance item 11272 a [Music] measure establishing a special purpose schools Reserve stabilization fund under masteral Law chapter 40 section 5B um I don't know if the auditor wants to come up to or sure John I just it's this is really um here this is something that uh several school districts and municipalities have been doing across the Commonwealth uh basically when you set up a special purpose stabilization account it's meant to put money aside that if you have un unanticipated larger increases in certain things uh you have a separate basically savings account for that purpose uh the money that goes any money being put into this account or being taken out of this account do have to be approved by the city council by a simple majority now that the supplemental budget for the Commonwealth was adopted in December it changed the money to take out of it from an eight vote to a six vote um but when you look at the outer District placement costs that the city's incurred recently those fluctuate tremendously depending on what's Happening you'll see in the supplement supplemental information that I gave you we had almost a$ 7,00 $700,000 uh increase in out of District placements in this year alone due to a special education student who required certain Services we are required to pay for those like any other school choice out a district placement that we have but we're required to play that pay that at the rate of the services that that student receives uh we do try to keep every student that we can inh house and Dr pelo will present that at the upcoming school budget uh presentation um but when it gets to a point that we just simply cannot provide those Services we have to find uh that student those services that they deserve additionally we know that Transportation costs are going to be increasing for the city the current School busing contract was a 5-year contract that was negotiated in 2019 before the pandemic before inflation before anything like that so we know cost like that will go up so this is just creating a special purpose stabilization account for us so that we can have something built up where if we have an unanticipated cost at least lessens it it probably won't cover the full amount that's there but at least makes it so that we can take less of that hit uh up front and smooth out those costs uh in some way shape or form the city's Financial policies say that we'll put 1% of certified free cash into our special stabilization accounts uh again those are not binding policies but they're guiding policies um and that's not that much but at least it starts us on a path that we can build up something to get to where we need to be uh and not have everything hit us at once uh because that increase that we had in the school side right now just in this year alone in that out of District special education Transportation uh hit of $700,000 then we add on the increase that we had in the interest on the new school this year that went up almost $850,000 that's one that's almost $2 million that could have been used for other city services but it's almost like we're subsidizing the school department from the city side of things because of these un unanticipated expenditures that come up where we need to start coming a plan where we can equalize and get everything back to an equ equilibrius state of finances thank you Mr Mayor um I appreciate the explanation and you know your letter and also including the information from the division of local Services I that's really helpful to just show what principles this is based off of um I any questions or comments from the counselors so the city would put in from free cash so for example um I know the school department requested an additional bus yep and there wasn't the money so this is something that you could have if there had been money you could have funded out of here yep we would brought it up in the city council yeah the the school department would have to request that of the city council make their case to the city they needed it and why they wanted it from exactly thank you further questions comments from the coun we've created these before for other purposes I think this makes a lot of sense both this one um and the next one so I'd like to make a motion to recommend passes to the full councel second motion made by councel J second by councelor m to recommend passage to the full council is there discussion on the motion all those in favor say I I opposed say no motion passes item 11273 a measure to establish special purpose capital projects Reserve stabilization account under master Law chapter 40 section B Mr Mayor thank you madam president I talked a little bit about this earlier this is just again building up a savings account we have a vehicle stabilization account uh right now that's one of our other special stabilization accounts that we have that we can that we put money into so that we can purchase vehicles and not have the full cost of the vehicle hit us like we just had with the uh ladder truck for the fire department but we haven't done the other non-vehicle capital projects that continue to stay on our Capital Improvement list that come up up uh that are last minute repairs that need to be done uh so this again is just making it so that we can build up and make a plan on we may not be for a couple years before we can afford something just at the rates that we have that we normally put into these but it sets us on a path that we can at least work towards being able to fund projects out of these so that we're not constantly getting hit by these emergency repairs that cost us an arm and a leg and really hinders what we can do financially as a city but have a plan to come forward that we you know maybe we can use a little bit of this to pay for that and then the rest come from free cash or we can make it so that we don't have to continue using operating funds to fund capital projects and find ways to even things out a little bit so this is the same process where we put funding into it and also funding coming out of it there needs to be a vot of the council correct same questions comments from the counselors make a motion to recommend passes to the full Council second motion made by councelor General out second by councelor m to recommend passage to the full council is there discussion on the motion all those in favor say I I say no passes item 1127 than and item 11270 in order transferring $10,000 from City cler Department salaries and wages to election registration Professional Services operating expenditures um this item um well I'll let you go ahead Mr thank you very much mad president uh this is made from the vacancies that we have in the positions right now we've only had one assistant city clerk currently L uh where we're funded for two in this current fiscal year uh so there's excess salaries in that so it's going to cover the cost of just extra elections that we had this year thank you questions comments from the counselors make a motion to recommend passage to the full Council second motion made by councelor General second by counselor M to recommend passes to full council is there discussion on the motion all those in favor say I I those say no motion passes item 11271 an order transferring $16,200 from Human Resources salaries and wages to operating expenditures um so this is to um this is to cover the cost for the part-time on call consulting services in this department as we had a vacancy which has now been filled um but to be sure that those Services could continue uninterrupted um and so this is requesting for that funding to be transferred to the a small portion of that the majority is actually going toward our flexible spending account Consultants that oversee our flex spending optional insurance that we have I think of the um $16,200 the breakdown uh that the auditor put forward that's in your packet I believe 6,000 for the Consulting and the flexible service fees were 10,000 10,000 thank you um the this is something that we've done the consultant work is something that's been done whenever we transition out of the department head position former city treasurer Charlene dagel had an agreement that came in uh to get things until the new treasure was hired and then train the new department head on certain aspects um so uh that was done with the treasurer that was done with former auditor now counselor Brooks with auditor Richard um clerk's office has had that happen as well um when we haven't played musical chairs with the department heads in City Hall then it's just the other department heads coming to help out and train that way um so it is just a matter of getting us so that things don't fall too far behind while a vacancy exists and then training the new department head uh after hours on how uh the processes work um and so those are all just separate agreements that are entered into with those former uh department heads to come back on a Consulting basis uh to do that the flexible spending account again that's an optional insurance that we provide to our employees there are certain fees that are associated with those Services uh we are probably going to be shopping around for a different consultant next year just because we're getting to the end of that contract and the fees are a little much and building up uh so seeing what we can do on a more longer term plan for the flexible spending as well than you have anything to add no um as far as the uh HR director's position um if as you know it's an essential position so by have not having somebody in that se I mean it's basically the gas pedal to the city um for hiring and and tons of tasks that need to be done so that's the only thing I can say is I'm glad we have a consultant helping us thank you um the contract rates $100 an hour that was my question yes and does that include what's already has been done I have to because we didn't allocate any money prior no there was some in the Professional Service is basically that line item there was some funding in there so the the $6,000 would cover basically most of that but there is some that that was in that line item can I ask who negotiated the $100 an hour uh that's the rate that we have for Consultants right now okay I can uh you know what I one of the things that might be helpful is providing these contracts to the council when they get negotiated and signed to so if that's something that the council will be interested in F so you negotiate it with the person yes okay that's an extremely high rate of amor I have to say yeah I mean even with four college degrees in 32 years in the city I did not make $100 an hour so that's an extremely high amount of money yeah but I mean most of the work she's doing is off hours so she's working her 40 hours and it's it's still a lot of money thank you I just want to go on record it's still a lot of money y thank you K any further when you and I just want to say when you look at what we're paying pay other city employees and everything and you have DPW workers making $15 an hour that's a lot of money it is a lot of money but to be fair Consulting fees are not the same rate as employees fees they are significantly higher um so I I it's a temporary thing um hopefully it's you know now we have a director in place um I had a quick question about those service fees that's something that's the the salary stuff for the Consulting fees are not permanent the fees are is that properly funded in the budget going forward that's actually it's not permanent because we we switched companies and okay that was not expected a surprise yeah exactly so that's where we're going to be shopping around perfect thank you like to make a motion to recommend passage to the full Council second Mo by councel J second by councelor m to recommend passage to the full council is there a discussion on motion all those in favor say I I I do it opposed to say no and passes item 1127 7 in order transferring $30,000 from mayor Department executive Aid salaries to Mayor unclassified Department open expenditure um I think they had to do with a vacancy in the uh executive Aid position Mr May yes uh Colin Smith left my office in early December Katherine jablonsky starts on June 3rd uh so you'll meet her at the council meeting on her first day uh but we've had that six-month period where we didn't have someone in that so looking at reallocating some of the salary funds to cover uh some of the expenses that we have coming up with the new phone system system the installation of that project uh and then uh some just putting it away in the capital fund so that it can be encumbered into next year because you cannot encumber salaries but excuse me you can encumber expenses that aren't uh utilized from year to year so that'll again build up that fund and hopefully we'll be able to uh come up with a way if we come up with the if the special stabilization account is approved then we don't have to do this process where we have to move money into an account and then hope it gets encumbered at the end of the fiscal year and then it just moves forward on from there it's actually it cleans things up and makes things a lot more transparent I guess in terms of the bookkeeping uh side of things that are there uh this is does put enough money remaining in the account to cover Katie's salary for the remainder of the fiscal year because she starts in June so we still have to pay her for the month of June uh I will say that um I'm looking forward to having someone back into that role again I've been undertaking a lot of the roles that you know Rachel Roberts in my office and I have been uh covering a lot of what was done there uh but one of the things that I said and I think I said this when I informed the council that I offered her the job is that I'd rather have the right person in the job than the quickest person who could take that job uh that's what done was done for me when I was hired in that position under the previous administration uh I was offered in December and took over when I graduated with my masters in May uh in that position so it's it's a little poetic too to have a mirror situation happen uh on this side of the bench but uh that's where this funding is coming from was from that vacancy that's been there uh going towards again the capital cost of installing the new phone system that we have and um putting a the seed money into capital projects that we could have happen in the city thank you Mr R uh any questions from the counselors I make a motion that we recommend this to the full Council second Mo be by counselor Max by counsel General to recommend passage to the council um any discussion on the motion only thing I was going to say was um before you had said that was I'm glad to see that the position is filled I know it adds significant amount of work on to you and on to uh Rachel Roberts and you know we barely see a hiccup in that from our end but having done that position just part- time and knowing I could have done it full-time at the time and then as you've also been in that position it it takes a lot of work um and it certainly is is uh is Justified being filled um but thank you for that and um you know I think it's also important to hire the person who you know can do the job um to get in there so that's just my my comment on that um any further discussion all those in the favor say I I I is say now motion passes item 11281 in order transferring $99,500 from Health Department salaries and wages to Health Department operating expenditures Mr Mayor thank you very much Madam president this is just a close up for the end of the fiscal year there was a vacancy in the food inspector position for a couple months uh so there was excess salary in the food inspector position uh so that uh is just using to cover the overages that have been done for the Department thank you is there a motion questions comments make a motion to recommend pass pass to the full Council second motion made by councel General seconded by councel Matt to recommend passage to the full council is there discussion on the motion all those in favor say I I I oppose say no motion passes item 11275 an ordinance to amend the code of the city of Gardner chapter 560 thereof entitled Solid Waste to change the fee for solid waste collection Mr Mayor thank you very much Madam president this is at the recommendation of the health director uh the city auditor and the Department of Public Works and the reason why the Department of Public Works is that it's a water sewer and trash bill so we have to find a way to put them all together this represents a $15 increase per year for the next uh 3 years uh that follows the schedule based off of the um solid waste collection contract that the city end to with entered into with elel Harvey so that we can have enough money coming in to pay that contract uh this is something that we planned for uh and smooth it out rather than putting a big increase up front smooth it out over the course of the series of the schedule that you have in front of you uh and it's also in the ordinance here under a quarterly basis because the math wasn't adding up before when you had a year-long rate but the bills are going out quarterly then where you round in certain things like that and it actually made a little bit of a difference in the revenue that we had for the Enterprise uh so that's what this ordinance here is uh represented in being put forward for thank you Mr Mayor questions comments from the councilors I make a motion that we um commend this to the full Council for pass it second motion made by councelor Ma second by councelor General recomend pass the council is there a discussion on the motion I just want to say that I I know for our residents $15 over a year may seem like a law but I think that compared to what other local municipalities pay for private traffic that we still um are well underneath what they pay any further questions comment any further discussion all those in favor say I I those close say no motion passes item 11256 a resolution to rename the city council chamber the Ronald F Cormier Council chamber counc uh uh president kinus I think um you know we received a lot more information from what I provided of things named after um fellow counselors and other former mayors and local citizens as well as information from Council of Brooks um so I think it's appropriate this time to just uh ask for uh for more time on this item if there is no objection we will keep it our agenda and have more time we will have more time I entertain move second