##VIDEO ID:pKcCGhN-afY## okay the Friday November 15th 2024 regular meeting of the gardener Fin City Council finance committee will come to order CL will please call the rooll Pres is anyone recording today's meeting okay we'll begin with uh the reading and approval of the August 5th 2024 September 16th 2024 meeting minutes I make a motion that we wave the reading in the minutes and approve them as presented second motion made by councelor Max second by councel General to wave the reading of the minutes and accept them as presented is there a discussion on the motion all motion passes department head update uh here we will'll begin with the updates we have Community Development and planning and information technology on the agenda um it's my understand we're getting both of these um I'm sorry we're getting the information technology update um sent to us that's going to be a written update sorry oh this is went to that's the7 okay so this we have received um today our meeting supposed to be in the meeting minutes um and then we have um a update from the Community Development and planing department so if you just want to go nice to meet everybody I'm Evan I'm the assistant director Community Development Trevor's out sick today so I'll be giving some updates for the whole department um welcome Evan thank you yeah of course I'll start with the list that he gave me um so for the rear main Phase 2 north um the $ 3.64 million project is under construction right now um the rear main Phase 2 South uh is 3.5 million uh housing Works grant that was recently awarded to the city um and he has it's entering into a state contract and projected to start in 2025 uh moving on the bike trail nature trail um construction is continuing the layout of the trail and the subbase material is complete the uh Crossings are installed um and the contractor is working on finalizing the agreements with uh New England power um the pathway should be complete this year and uh Landscaping is to be complete in the spring thank you uh moving on the list he has a couple more uh Mackie Park uh the city's engineering firm time bond has submitted two options to consider for addressing the uh accessibility um and we are currently waiting for the Building Commissioner to recommend the best option and the city will uh have to identify the funding source um to meet the ADA requirements for this okay I just have a question on that so it was submitted to the billing commissioner if that's when they say it was submitted after y yeah so they're waiting yes waiting on um him to recommend the best option I guess to move forward my question is do we know what the cost of the options is we do um the there's one that's for around 30,000 one that's for around 50,000 uh we do have some funds available in uh projects that came in under budget that were also cdbg funded so we're looking at seeing if we can get some of those funds to cover it over there um but we should be able to uh move forward with at least one of the options for sure I know the city the council had um you know we've have an investigation for the issues and the problems that went on over there so we'll have more information in the future and I know that a lot will be covered in there um but this whole project this was a cdbg was it it was the project cdbg funded I mean I know there was Federal funding there's other funding in there right yeah it was partial cdbg partial American Rescue plan act funding and then a very small portion of the project overall also came from free cash at the council appropriated thank you any other questions on that very small being relative to the full cost of the project what not small terms in terms of dollar amount but yeah all right uh just moving along here on the list uh Industrial Park uh study the city's engineering firm uh fuss O'Neal is currently developing uh concept plans for a potential buildout of proposed site based on Wetland and topographic data data uh once complete uh market analysis will be developed and the location of land is south of Route 140 from Route 101 to Matthew Street um just continue oh sorry okay no no is that um is that city land not yet no so the city need to purchase the land yes so the the way that that Grant was structured for us it's conducting a feasibility study to see that um what whether or not that would be a location that's suitable for the city the city to purchase the land in order to construct a new um Industrial Park site the industrial parks that we have now all spots are filled except the one remaining one over on sou Lane uh so that's why we started looking at the feasibility as to whether or not we need to add a third or fourth excuse me because we have the uh Gardener industrial park on fet Wilkins we have the um North Garder industrial park over on Linus Elan Avenue and we have the suffk industrial park over on suffk Lane uh so this would be adding a fourth one um the study looked at both the area north of 140 and south of 140 and deemed that for a business park like this the area on the south side of 140 by Matthew Street and the Govern courthouse uh would be a more suitable location so what this study that we got the funding for is doing is seeing is this truly a suitable site for this is this the most appropriate site for it and if so what's the process in getting to there like um so it's still very early on we're not looking at purchasing any land right now it's just a in the future is this the spot that we look at thank you further questions go ahead all right thank you uh moving on the list of Master Plan um the request for qualifications is due on November 19th um so uh I know Trevor and uh City personnel will continue to work on that um Hazard mitigation plan uh contract for the cities being signed with success bidder Weston and Samson Incorporated um the initial meeting is to be held in December um and then the final thing Trevor Has on the list is uh planning board currently has uh proposed a Compass Lane definitive subdivision proposal in front of them uh the project consists of 16 lot subdivisions or 16 lot subdivision on a 900 linear foot culdesac off of West Broadway near the Templeton Town Line and the public hearing was open this past Tuesday and is continued uh to their next meeting on December 10th thank you any questions comments with Council not this time great thank you for the update yeah no problem and then um if I was just going to give some um Community Development blocker updates as well to project updates quick ones for the council um so just I'll go kind of through my list quickly briefly um for the FY 2223 current open project uh the Greenwood pool demolition um so the contractor has completed the site survey um the Crystal Lake del delineation testing and the hazard materials testing is complete so now the contract is working on finishing the um sketches for the plan and hopes to have that done by the end of the year and then um given with swim season um in mind um demolition will be done probably um late winter early spring at at most but um making progress with that project um any questions on the Greenwood pool at all so the projected demo if is late winter early spring is what you're saying so that we can like be functioning for like yeah obviously that's the plan as of now I think things hiccups can come up this is my first time kind of with one of these demolition projects but to my understanding it's yeah it's quite the first demolition project for you to have a long waited one yeah um but it's it's um that's I'm really glad to get an update on that for sure yeah good yeah all right moving along uh 205 213 Main Street demolition so uh the old Rome building across from the police station um the bids were opened yesterday um we had a good turnout we had about five contractors bid on the project um so I'm just waiting from confirmation from the purchasing director in regards to kind of having to do his process and um you know awarding the the winning contractor so we need to just wait for that and then the city will look to begin the project following um you know awarding the bid uh to the winning contractor signing the contract so hopeful for the demolition to start um mid to late December um any questions on that at all that project is it update to the lighting system part that in the works as well that be a phase two so just cleaning up the intersection knew was going to happen with the demo but I didn't know what the when Phase 2 would occur as time table on that once the demo was done or that's just in the works in the works so okay thank you can is there is there phases for that is it like there I just don't remember I just need to be refresh is it like a phase one phase two like for that whole area over there yeah it's really just getting the building down so we can approve sight lines and then the phase two would be eventually looking to see if there's some grant funding out there that we can improve the intersection itself with okay um so lighting fixtures if the the corners cut back a little bit more so people can actually take that left hand turn if you're coming from Willow on Main Street and like with no building there would be yeah I know just the sidelines in general even taking a right will be much better once the building's down so it will be improved the building being but thank you any other questions on the Main Street Building okay uhu moving along um so downtown phase 4 uh for fy22 23 is complete so the intersection of Parker Street West Street Oak Street and Nicholls Street uh we did a pavement and sidewalk um uh redid the payment and sidewalk redid uh to meet Ada guidelines uh there's added some wheelchair ramps on the crosswalks and uh lighting improvements as well in the area so that was complete about a couple weeks ago um and that project is closed out great thank you mhm um and then social service projects for FY 2223 um gamma has received their check for their award um and I am currently working with the Boys and Girls Club of Greater Fitchburg and lemonster who I believe was awarded that in 2223 and the Garder athletic director on getting invoices and reports so we can award them their 22 23 Awards so that's still in the works um but that's all I really have for 2223 current open projects if nobody has any questions I can move on to 24 this is like so the 22 23 like that timeline for awarding like the boys and girls club and is that is that timeline going to be different moving forward like it would be quicker or is this just how it normally yeah so because this is a previous year it's basically we're W working as a reimbursement for that year like that program what they did so it's and they're very busy over there right now with the person who runs the grants and um kind of who I have to work with on this so um it's been a process but um there's we have until I want to say July 2025 to have these funds like fully expended so I don't see that being an issue okay thank you m any other questions on this okay I'll uh just move on to FY 24 and 25 these will be fairly quicker um so the city has received clearance for special conditions um from the state um so the next step for me is to submit a notice of intent uh regarding the environment Al review needed for the FY 24 projects um going be posting that in the local um Garder news um within sometime next week um and then we'll be sending the appropriate documents and publishings to the state and then following this um the city once the city gets the approval from the state um we can commit the funds to the fy2 24 project so um looking to have that complete definitely by the end of this year and then we can start looking at the again expanding towards fy2 24 okay any questions comments fromit just thank you for the updates anything to add yes if I could just add um since we don't normally get the assistant directors up here too often um assistant director Cudmore has been very good with us here in City Hall I've been really impressed with his couple have you hit a year yet uh it's been about eight months about eight months here with the city um jumping in and learning not only how the cdvg pro program works because that's the main portion of his job as overseeing and managing the cdbg projects um but the reporting structure going through the uh review and audit that we had of the cdbg right when he got hired into the position going through everything that was uh associated with all of those different projects and then just getting to know Gardner as part of it all too so that that can relate in there too I remember when you first started I was like oh the Rome building and you looked at me you're like which one is that um but now it's just second nature too um I've been really happy with the performance he's been doing in that department and I just wanted to throw that out there uh while he's here with us that he's been doing a really good job just kind of learning on the spot but also not just learning but succeeding on the spot too thank you I appreciate that thank you anything further great thank you so much thank you so much I appreciate it thank you everybody you don't have okay we'll go to item 11 1431 a communication from the mayor regarding the certification of the fy2 25 tax rate tax will and tax recapitulation Mr Mayor thank you very much Madam president a lot of credit for this goes to our auditor John Richard uh who did a tremendous job getting the city through this process our tax rate was set just a hair lower uh than we expected when we did that big presentation so it's $14.3 not $14.37 uh attached to your packet is the full breakdown of what a average single family home tax bill should be uh in the city of Garder um and what that compares to and it's still about 110 is between 104 and 110 I don't have the document in front of me as we speak uh difference between what the tax bills were in October versus what they'll be in January uh so people should see that see that reduction there but uh all of these different tax anything insert W here form that had to be certified by the department of revenue for them to be able to set that rate for us uh auditor Richard did a ton of work behind the scenes on so I really can't thank him enough for that um but that's just so you have all that information updated and included with you as to what the final documents are so we can move forward with the current risk Le thank you um any questions EXC me comments from the committee I have a quick comment I was to say AUD Richard if you want to come up come on and have a seat I just prepar you also say say the uh assessor had a uh just as much work to do on uh setting the tax rate we worked well together um and um this is like the earliest we've ever got it set which helps us get the billing out um because we can pre pre plan everything and stuff like that so kudos to the ssrl yeah thank you sorry should have mentioned that um if I may add Madam president too uh you'll see attached to it is a list of communities that have already set their tax rate we were the 39th community at a 351 uh to set their tax rates um and I yeah I think this is the earliest we've ever come even close to getting to this point um so yeah the EMA from the assessor I'm very excited about how it was done before Thanksgiving so yes it makes life a lot easier for all of the financial Offices here to get the tax bills out for January I have no further questions I have no further questions I was really pleased with you know just having the information like I said each year I think we've kind of improved upon the way that we've done this at least on the council side of it um I think the work that you guys have done has always been great and thorough and the same but it's just having a longer timeline and being able to get it done having not having to do double work because tax rate was set after you've done certain things you know it just this is how it's supposed to work in my opinion and this is really really important and it's one of these things that people might not really know it's one of these processes they mostly think about budget when they think of financial things but they certainly pay attention to their tax bills right so there's this whole process that goes into it and it takes multiple departments an activ the count you know um the um the mayor's office you know working with the the department heads and then there's guidelines that we have to follow by the state so this is like a full circle and then not only do they get down to the charge of collector's office where they need to issue bills and do a lot of administrative work on that and too which then gets out to the community so I think just this was all really helpful having this all together kind of at the end to see why we why it was important to do it this way and it's sets the precedent I think for the future to do it this way and get it done you know earlier as we can as we kind of done it each year a little bit earlier but this year being much earlier it's possible and we can do it and as long as everybody's on the same page so I I appreciate all that I have no questions about the content don't if there's any questions ready I make a motion to recommendation on file second motion by councel General second by councelor m to place the communication on file is there a discussion on the motion all those in favor say I IED say no motion passes item number 11424 an order appropriating $131,800 n from the free from free cash to the city stabilization account mayor Nicholson thank you madam president now that the tax rate has been set and certified we're moving forward with a free cash Appropriations this is something that's in the city's administrative Financial policies uh to put I believe it's 5% of certified free cash into the uh stabilization account uh so that is what's included in the policy here um as I've said previously when we talked about when free cash was originally certified uh one of the things that uh we'll be doing this year is seeing if we can put a little more into it at the end of the year just to help replenish from the salt shed um but for now where you know things are a little financially observant and we want to make sure that while we're okay now we stay okay throughout the rest of the fiscal year uh with all the different changes coming up the different economic trends that are happening trends that happen whenever we have transitions in the federal government that end up affecting the market and some some way shape or form in the long term um we're going to hold off on doing any more than what's in the policy for now and see about that when we get back so I don't after after this meeting um barring any exceptions uh that would have to fit certain very specific instances I don't see us putting up any more free cash until about the April time frame um just to make sure that we have that cushion there to get it at least through snow and ice questions comments from the committee no as you said this is part of um we get these free cash Appropriations from the administrative policies that come to us every year this one I think the next three after as well are part of the same thing so um this is just normal course for this one um for the stabilization of count I know there's a goal to get to a certain percentage I believe of the city's budget um stabilization account um it's between like five and seven or something s like that yeah it's like five and seven okay um so I know we're not there yet but continue to try and move forward to that so that's good to good to see yeah thank you I questions comment I make a motion that we U approve the item for passage to the full Council second motion made by councelor Ma seconded by councelor General to recommend passage to the full council is there discussion on the motion all those in favor say I I those oppos say no the motion passes item 11425 in order appropriating $263,600 account Mr Mayor thank you madam president this is also part of our annual administrative Financial policies that go forward when free cash is certified this is 10% of certified free cash going to the road resurfacing account um in the past four years since I've been mayor we paav 25% of the city's roads um so we made a more concerted effort to go through a lot of that was because of the water project um and the loans that we took out for the water project in order to pay the roads that we were putting in the new pipes for um so we're ticking away at that list but it's one of those lists that you never really catch up to because of how the roads are going especially uh you know after the winter time uh this should get us uh at least another portion of uh some of the streets in Garder right now we're looking at State grant funding for some of the state numbered roads looking at some of the roads that currently have construction on them because of the Uptown rotary project being finished the transmission line being put through and stuff like that but this is just part of our annual Paving program that we put forward thank you questions comments from the committee no questions make a motion to recommend f the order to the full councel second motion made by councelor General owt seconded by councelor Mac to recommend passage to the full councel is there a discussion on the motion all those in favor say I I those oppos say no the motion passes item 11426 in order appropriating $ 26,36 from free cash to the city's other post employee benefit HB stabilization account Mr Mayor thank you madam president the opv account is probably the bane of my financial existence but uh it's one of those things that if we don't put something into our Auditors actually ding us on our bond uh Bond ratings uh for not putting something into this this is a law that was passed a couple years ago by an Actuarial study that the state was doing saying that if basically we cease to exist at least we can pay certain benefits that are due to our former employees that aren't related to the pensions um it's something that when we put the money in there it's really just tied up in there and there's other stuff that's more important to spend things on so this goes with our financial policies we only putting in 1% of certified free cash so that we can say we did something but it's not too much that it's taking away from the different things that we need to be financially prioritized into at the same time so with OPB can you just explain like when would we ever take anything out of this it's only at it's only when we don't exist yeah it's a savings account for if if we don't exist we have money to pay for um benefits and stuff like that we would that ever happen that's I just want to make that clear there's any public watching like that is what cuz it's you know When you mention something that has to do with retirements you know things like that we certainly take care of our current you know we have all of that in line This Is Something That We're required to do if and you know if that should ever happen but it's very unlikely that it would that's just kind of what I wanted to do yeah it's one of those things that we have to carry it but this money is never going to see the line of day thank you on with do um I have no other questions or comments make a motion to recommend passage second motion made by councelor out second by councelor m to recommend passage to the full councel discussion on motion all of you favor say I iOS say no motion passes item 11427 in order appropriating $75,000 from free cash to landfill closure Mr Mayor thank you madam president this is the last one that comes with the financial policies of the city when the landfill was closed and required 30 years of monitoring this pays for that monitoring that goes there through we have a schedule that's included in your packet uh of when that monitoring can be done and how that funding schedule goes moving forward uh so that's going to be uh what we'll basically be putting forward with this just to make sure that the uh environmental work being done at the landfill is done the correct way monitoring the methane levels in particular uh through the Torches that are on the site and everything else that has to do with that so that's what this appropriate annual appropriation request is for thank you questions comments from the committee is there a motion a motion to recommend passes to the full Council second motion made by counselor d seconded by counselor at Mac to recommend passage to the full council is there discussion on the motion all those in favor say I I supposed to say no motion passes item 11428 in order appropriating $100,000 from free cash should mayor on classified Professional Services Grant rating expense account Mr Mayor thank you madam president uh this is not an annual appropriation but has come up as an annual appropriation recently we are looking at other ways that we can fund this in the future but for now at least for this fiscal year because of the tremendous work that our grant writers have been doing for the city uh continuing that contract a couple weeks ago the city council approved an authorization to go out to bid for a 5-year contract for grant writing and Lobby services that RFP closes on December 2nd uh so we'll be able to word a contract at this time but this would be the funding included for at least the first year and a bit uh for that uh contract that gets awarded so we're at least set with that one um the uh grant writers I think we've all seen the benefit for that and I talked a lot about that when we had the 5-year contract request uh come up a couple meetings ago um but even with the change in administration there's still a lot of funding that has been pre-authorized for the next 3 to 5 years whether or not Congress decides to CL some of that back that doesn't mean the state funding isn't there too and there isn't still other Grand opportunities in the state federal and private sector uh areas that they go after too and it's not just that but included in the RFP was also assisting with the reporting that's associated with all of those it also takes away time that our internal employees would have to use to do all that when they could be doing the other aspects of their job too so it is something that I find very helpful and I think that the city's seen at least a 20 fold return on the Investments that we've done each and every year so that's why I'm putting this forward thank you Mr Mayor I have to say if we ever saw that there was wasn't as much grant funding available this if this wasn't this is you know we have these contracts and and it's worth it right now right now that's why we get to review this and all of a sudden you know there wasn't as much grant funding available and it wasn't worth us our time like we would just look at it again and we either do the contract again or we don't and I think that's important for the public to know too is like this is in this case this is like $75,000 you know in the past for 20 million that we've received over 20 million that we've received Grant so um I appreciate you knowledgement of like right now this works but if it doesn't this is not forever this is something we look at all the time and we've made this adjustment the last few years because it makes sense for us to do so so that our departments can do the work you know for the city that needs to be done for the people that we serve here uh so I I I think this is great and I'm going support of it questions comments from the committee and I I think that it's important for people to know is just because you get awarded a grant doesn't mean you get all the money all at once and the followup that comes with getting a grant is enormous and so um and we we learn that making sure that those things are done in a timely manner is extremely important um the fiduciary responsibility that the city has um to make sure that the funds are being um allocated and spent correctly so this is money very well spent thank you we as you said you already talked about signing the contract and approved a 5year one um it's just the next step to be able to do it as you everyone talked about we have a great return on investment and if there are um less grants available having a team on our side going to be more competition to get the grants out there so having a group in place to advocate for us um is going to be a benefit so um I think it could be I think it will be um something we need to way thank you thank you other questions comments I'll just add that when the contract gets written to it does have a line in it that says that the contract is um subject to annual appropriation so even if it's a three-year contract if for some reason the appropriation does not get approved by the city council then that voids the contract at that time so that's going to be another check and balance that we have that if there's not as much out there if we don't see the return that we're getting right now or something like that that allows us to have that flexibility uh even with the contract that we're signing thank you moving further think a motion a motion to recommend passage to the full councel second motion made by councelor General L second by councelor m to recommend passage of the order to the full council is there a discussion on the motion all those in favor say I I those post say no motion passes item 11429 in order of appropriating $95,000 from free cash to the information technology equipment expense account Mr Mayor thank you very much Madam president um director o'keef is the one who suggested this item he's out visiting his new grandchild so he wasn't able to be here with us today um but uh along the basically what this is here too when he had some of the Full project covered by grant funding there was about $50,000 he's already gotten a grant to cover uh portions of this project is is he's undertaken a study of us in City Hall and see where can we do more efficient gencies where are we leaving more room for human error where are we doing different things that are leaving us vulnerable uh director O'Keefe you've seen in his written report that he submitted here too actually just did a um had someone come and evaluate his performance on a cyber security standpoint uh and the city scored quite well out of not only our communities but several communities across the Commonwealth um but there were still some stuff that they said we could do better um so portions of this funding is going towards an a new munis system now Unice is our financial reporting software that we've used just for accounting purposes uh in the city they've launched a new uh time sheet software too uh because right now if an employee wants to uh each Monday uh an employee submits a time sheet to their uh supervisor on a spreadsheet that supervisor then refills out a full Department spreadsheet that is then printed and then handed to the HR department who then puts it in a master spreadsheet and then sends it off to the different payroll departments on a different spreadsheet who then upload it to a different spreadsheet so there's about seven different spreadsheets and different papers and different things like that that currently happen when we do payroll here uh this allows it to just be direct inputed onto the computer system and it uploads immediately to everyone who's there so it's the same uh stuff that's going across there too and should substantially make our payroll system a lot easier a lot more efficient a lot more effective too without any room for mistakes and human era that's associated with that too um it also helps us that if we you know up uh onboard employee or offboard an employee if they choose to leave employment with us everything's already all in the system too and it's a lot less paperwork changing hands and again just less room for human era there too uh however the bulk of this uh funding is going towards just strengthening our cloud-based server systems and making a new server for us here at City Hall um right now we have a server and a backup this would just make sure that we have Cloud backups for all of those and uh one of the servers that we have is just old and just needs updating uh so all of that is what's included in this $95,000 here uh the $50,000 went towards more cyber security upgrades and that was the grant that we were able to reduce this free cash amount for us to get to this $ 95,000 because it was originally $100 something, uh but with that $50,000 Grant we were able to do the cyber security upgrades that way and this is everything else that's associated with it thank you questions comments from Council I just have a question the Muna software is it's a buy you're buying the software it's not an annual subscription correct for this amount yes it's a there probably some fees but I don't know yeah it's probably a nominal fee but it's a new module that we're onboarding on and the bulk of this cost is the onboarding the city and constructing it into the cities so any any annual fees will be become part of his budget yes exactly okay thank you um my question would be just a break there two different items in here um and then also the grant as well yeah can we get a breakdown of the cost of each each the item the servers and the M software and where the Grant fit there other than that um there seems to be upgrades that are needed and um we make reporting and uh payable much more efficient do we know when there was the last time we had some type of upgrade or new purchase of this system or any you know what I mean like for the immun system for the server mun well munus munus I mean we've added different modules to it recently um we've had munus for as long as I can remember um then we've just chosen they we we've never used the full capability of the system CU there are a lot of different modules that munus is allowed to do but you have to pay for those different modules being added to your package um so we've added a couple different things we we did the latest full upgrade of the full system probably two three years ago when we went to the online system for it um but in terms of adding another module this is probably the first time since we went with a new billing module and that was probably in 2018 yeah even before that yeah thank you further questions comments I just I just did we voted something more recently though for an update for cyber security or yeah so that was the cyber security system the system yes yeah this is for the server itself okay uh I'll make a motion um with the breakdown of of individual expenses we um pass uh approved this with passes to the full Council second motion by counselor Max second by councelor General to recommend passage order to the full council is there a discussion on motion all those in favor say I I I to say no motion passes item 11430 in order appropriating $77,000 from golf retained earnings to golf new vehicles account Mr Mayor thank you very much Madam president uh this is uh a request for retained earnings from the golf commission uh retained earnings is an Enterprise accounts version of free cash uh so so this is what they've closed out at the end of the year uh they have an existing uh vehicle that has a plow uh attachment to it cuz they plow the uh parking lots at the golf course themselves uh they're looking at purchasing a new one-ton pickup truck with a plow attachment and that's what this uh cost as Associated for thank you questions comments from the committee uh yesterday we had a welfare subcommittee meeting and this was presented to us so we were expecting this expenditure thank you anything further the the golf commission I'm going to abstain for voting on this thank you I will recommend passage of this item to the council FF full approval second motion made by councelor Max seconded by councel kazus to recommend pass to appr council is there discussion on the motion all those in favor say I I as suppos say no motion [Applause] passes okay item 11419 a measure authorizing the city to enter into a contract for up to 5 years for Police Department body camera cloud storage Mr Mayor thank you madam president uh this has already been negotiated with the Union so it's already in their Union contract uh the chief and deputy chief are currently working with our grant writers to um get body cams for the police department we've got a lot of instances where uh especially after the creation of the post commission um there's concerns not instances is the wrong word for it but raising concerns that if you get to a situation where it's a he said she said situation how do you confirm how do you verify when all of those instances go directly to the uh post Review Committee uh for officer certification on an annual basis so this is something that we're looking at doing for the protection of our officers and to make sure that those investigations go as accurately as possible in the long term too uh so the uh Grant is still currently pending uh however the authorization to enter into the contract allows us that once we U it's a non-competitive grant it's just one of those that we fill in the application they provide us the funding for through the Department of Justice uh so it's just waiting for that processing to go through so this will allow us that once that does uh hit our books we're able to just move forward and uh go out for solicitation for the cloud storage of the camera material which is what this 5-year contract is obviously once the cameras are purchased they're purchased and they RS um the purchase of the cameras themselves is about $30,000 and that's what the grant is for uh what this is for is a continued um storage of those materials uh there's a company that's on a state contract that we're working with the purchasing department on going right now that not only stores those but also if we get a public records request for those videos uh they'll actually go through find the videos for you redact any uh redactions that need to be made from the videos send those to the chief so that it's ready for just sending to the requester at the time at that point too so uh having these long-term contracts get us these extra benefits too of not just the storage but also the services of whenever we need any piece of footage that's in there too okay and so any of these instances like in the past what has been done like we don't have body cameras right but like so what do they you can't do anything so no correct so this would just this basically stops any you know questions like you just said but like there's nothing that could have been done for there's nothing that could have been offered it was like he said he said she said situation correct is is there a time limit that you're required to keep the footage seven years seven years so we can't go more than 5 years by state law okay you do we I'm assuming this contract will come back to us once it's negotiated do we have any idea what the pricing is for that uh uh I don't know yet because we need the authorization before we go out to bid for it okay so no idea what other communities are paying this I mean because it's all dependent on your number of officers the type of cameras how big because the a more HD camera is going to have a higher gigabyte storage than a standard definition camera uh so it's one of those we kind of need the full picture that all really know the full cost of it okay I mean at this point with a city of our size and a police department of our size and what they cover I just don't see why we wouldn't do have some like this to me is just like the next step like we should be doing this so um I'm in favor of it yeah the officers the chief and the deputy chief are all asking for this too I'm in in favor as wellous what the the price will look like I think it's something that's necessary um for the safety of our officers um um and the public will have the um the cameras in place so I'm glad to to have it here and make a motion to recommend uh authorization to the full Council second motion by councelor General second by councelor m to recommend authorization to the full council is there a discussion on the motion counselor mayor Nicholson thank you madam president just to add to that too this is just the authorization for the contract so we can go out to bid if the costs come in too high and the Appropriations not there then none of this moves forward but this is just getting us to the so that we can move forward okay good thank you further discussion all those in favor say I I say no motion passes item 11420 a measure declaring Surplus for the purpose of disposal of land and buildings at 73 SE Street Mr Mayor uh the I guess it's more land than buildings uh but this is the former Factory site at 73 Stewart Street the demolition is now completed uh the city went out to sell the property before we only got one one bid for 177,000 which is what the council had previously appro uh approved for the minimum bid amount um but the reason why it was 177,000 is we had a public benefit of removing blight so whoever bought the property was going to have to tear the property down so we in consideration of the cost of demolition we lowered the price from what it was assessed at now that public benefit is no longer there because we tore the building down ourselves uh so this is bringing it up to its current assess value so I'm asking that the council uh basically vote to increase the minimum sale amount for from what we had it at before at 177,000 to the actual uh assessed value of the property that way we can get the full value of it thank you I have no questions or comments anything from the committee I make a motion that we recommend to the council for approval second motion made by councel Max second by councelor General to recommend passage to the full council is there a discussion on the motion all those in favor say I I I those CL say no motion passes I will entertain motion second motion made by counc Ma second by councel General to adourn all those in favor say I I say no motion passes meeting stands than