##VIDEO ID:e_w4gcFgRyo## 8:30 on Thursday December 12th I'll call the public welfare subcommittee meeting to order if the clerk will please call the role councelor Mack present councelor Brooks present councelor J wtz present our first item on our agenda is the reading of the minutes of Prior meetings November 14th 2024 make a motion to wave the reading of the minutes and accept them as presented second is there any discussion on the motion all those in favor I so moved um the next item is for this meeting is Department updates um we will start with the veterans department director hasselman good morning morning all set yeah go for it my my my first one so I wasn't exactly sure what to bring um so I have some information from July 1st up until today so we have requested $224,700 benefits for Gardener residents uh right now we have 50 clients for Gardener um as a district we have had 1,148 interactions um 478 have been guard confirmed Garden of residence uh some of those interactions we don't get their actual City because it's real quick interaction but uh 478 confirmed to be Gardener we have 217 claims in process uh 74 of which are Gardener residents um we do have a couple that are snowbirds so in the system they show up as Florida but they're technically G residents as well so it's more like 80 we hired Nolan in um August as our assistant director he's doing great he is up and running uh him and I both just Reser Ed with the executive office of veteran services to be vsos we also got accredited through them um to continue to do VA claims so our office will continue running as as it has um we just renewed our VA work study um which the VA will pay um a veteran student to come in and work in our office we are currently taking applications for that um let's see Nolan was appointed on to the governor student veteran committee u i was appointed president of the Wester County Veteran service officers uh and the first Junior Vice of Massachusetts veteran service officers um and uh our team has been to 17 Outreach events since July 1st so a lot of Engagement in the community questions I don't have any okay so how many guid clients do you have uh right now we have 50 and that that last month we had 52 so there could be a couple that are medical only we just haven't got bills for for this month yet I we when I I think when I left here it was around more so that's all right yeah well um in total we have about 90 but 50 of which are just Gardener yeah say 80 was Garder oh really yeah all right yeah unfortunately the uh we have a lot of issues with the way the budget is for that the state has set um the 200% poverty line nowadays is not quite what it used to be that's that's a issue that we're running into a lot people make $50 over and you have to kind of see what we can do to help them yeah okay absolutely so a vetan has to um qualify for the monthly income correct to receive service that is set by the state set by the state and right now the maximum is the 200% poverty line uh for a single individual is 2405 and for a family of two is 342 I believe um and that's also for surviving spouse Widow that comes out to our benefits as well so if they are over that income unfortunately we can't um off that chapter 115 um sometimes you can deduct like their medical premiums and stuff to work with that number a little bit but it is unfortunately not as high as Massachusetts veteran service office would believe it should be due to current cost of living but well I still think it's important services that you Department offers and we're very fortunate um to have you and your and your staff not only Gardener but the surrounding communities and um all we can do is continue to promote for the veterans in the community to reach out to your office if they even if they just need anything they may not need that income deadline but uh cut off but there's a lot of things that you can help and guide them with and um and I I just don't want them to shy away from asking questions and seeking help because there are a lot of resources yeah we we never uh say no we we just say here's another option um and and that's a philosophy that I've tried to give to the team and that I was taught by Lynette beforehand um if even if they're over that guideline let's do VA claim let's get you set up with uh the Mones to better Outreach Center or something maybe there's more resources to be had so and I don't think an effect realiz what the VA hospital is going to absolutely and that's you know whether it's um for Eye Care hair needs you know other assistance that they could need prescriptions with their with medical needs um that they may qualify for even if they don't qualify for um the funding absolutely thank you one question AB in the past there was talk about a car program Outreach of the veterans talking to local businesses is that still ongoing or is that um it's kind of on the back burner right now um we do have the resources and stuff unfortunately when we reach out to a lot of the businesses either they just did not get back to us or um it was something that they were already offering through their you know if you're a veteran you get anyhow um so it wasn't specific to our district and community so it's just kind of falling on the back burner right now um but it is definitely something that we have the resources to to um to re-engage at some point okay thank you um and just final just because I know in January after January 1st we're going to be doing the parking meters and the list of veterans plates that they can have that we receive it you know maybe if it it I hope it gets posted on the city website so people know are on the veterans under your department because there's quite a list and a lot of people wouldn't know which one's qualified yep um so as um councelor M just said the veterans license ples will be waved starting January 1st and then we also just started the the VIPs program as well which is the tax incentive program as well that me Amanda and the assessors have have been pushing for so have you gotten any interest in that program yet uh not just yet we haven't posted the application for it just yet um that is definitely coming soon though so yeah thank you so much for your time than Youk thank you not here so I'm going to skip over go to the historic commission Mr Le I don't know how I got bumped up but I'll take good morning good morning um the first thing we're working on is the um documentation of City artifacts um in in City Hall especially we're going to be taking pictures and um locations of plaques pictures clocks uh the city's weights and measures that are down in a hallway uh because some stuff tends to disappear ends up in someone's mantown that's sarcasm but um so we'll be doing that coordinating that coordinating that with the mayor's office uh when we're going to start and um that's it on that um the historical markers throughout the city um we're going to be doing that also again plaques um monuments that that kind of thing uh locations and this is all going to be put on the City website um to Jump Ahead we are going to do a website for the historical Commission on the city website so people can jump on and look at U things that they're interested in you know fire stations and just history type of thing um we are for the old burial ground behind the the Congregational Church I don't know if they call it that now but um we are going to be going in there's some damage not so much um vandalism but just years of you know the stones are 100 years old so there's about 22 25 of the stones that are down and we're going to document that and get quotes on repair also submit to the city for in our budget for that because a lot of our original veterans the 61 gentlemen that signed the proclamation to become a town are buried in there so we want to we want to preserve that Cemetery it's something that the um Municipal grounds doesn't do I don't know why but um they they don't really take care of it they cut it and they clean it but they don't a stone's down like I'm I'm from South bro the stone got knocked down it was put it was put back up and repaired these these go unrepaired and according to the mayor I guess it falls under us that that that particular Cemetery so um will be uh working on that uh the Helen Mada School U we have a letter in process to ask the mayor for emergency funds to repair the roof because it's leaking into the third floor which has created a lot of damage and just to just to temporarily fix it until the city decides what they want to do with the school you know the architecture the design on the inside you know we want we don't want to see it torn down which has been mentioned before so we're working on that uh also in the school Street school before the demolition we are taking out some of the artifacts old deaths again pictures clocks on the wall that kind of thing and they'll be going to the gardener Museum when we're when we're done we've also been working on the uh the pool before that gets torn down um with the city with the planning board and there's some artifacts uh some kpas on top a couple of U uh cement spheres that will be taken down and other artifacts and be incorporated into the Pavilion that they're going to be building whether they're going to go on because those cpers weigh about 500 lb each um plus were they going to be going on the Pavilion or an entrance way to the Pavilion that they're going to build down uh once the once that pool comes down that's that's what they're talking about about anyways is putting a pavilion on the grounds where the pool is and that's that's about that's all I have what we're working on right now I have any questions I just I just think it's an amazing the amount of work that you're doing that we as a council or as a public don't know because I I saw the mayor's pictures down downstairs on the first floor of City Hall and I've heard Rumblings of of how active you've been um as a a commission but I I just think it's great all the things that you're trying to restore and and maintain and protect um I I was just curious so I would I would I'm just about the cemetery behind the former Congregational Church why that still went follow under the cemeteries Commission in the city in the city it does um we've talked to the commission a couple times you know it it I hate to bring it up but yeah Perpetual care yeah exactly yeah well and the thing about Perpetual care is of course it's the the repair of the stones would never you know for the cost of what Perpetual care was but I think the city still has the cemetery commission needs to it needs to be a collaborative effort is what I'm just say Brooks no I was just going to say I think the issue is with the stones themselves they they they belong to the the family right that of the person in the ground and therefore it's not the C resp responsibility on the Stones it's the families the municipal grounds will do the mowing basic maintenance there's very few families left um I understand saying I think that's that's the approach I got a call from a lady on a Sunday uh from out in Arizona and said that my aunt's or great aunt's stone is down what are you going to do about it okay so we talked to the mayor and talked to the mpal grounds and they wouldn't send anybody over so out of our budget we paid a gardener Memorial um and he came over with a guy and it was like $250 and they repaired it and they put it back up it was the nean sisters yeah that were murdered 150 years ago so um she appreciated that but I can't on the budget that we have I can't keep doing that and as a family I mean she wanted it fixed but you know what I mean but it as councilor Brooks is saying as a family member it was technically her monetary responsibility that's I'm thinking to probably have it fixed if it was a family headstone you know what I mean it was nice that you did that but it you know it was if she wanted to fix it should have actually probably been their responsibility but we also know that many of those people who are buried there there is no family left in this area I mean there's probably descendant but they're just probably not in Gardener right and the same thing you could say for up at many stones up the Crystal Lake Cemetery as well true that are not to take away from them right that are are just due to age are a very poor condition of broken um but I think you know as I said I I just think you know sometimes it has to be instead of hands off it has to be more of a a collaborative effort to get things resolved yeah I going to say it's worth a it's worth a figuring out okay this is what we're doing Ines is the old burial ground treated differently from uh Crystal Lake or green bar right because of the age of the stones and the what what that is relative in the historical value I exactly you know there's revolutionary war vets in there there's civil war vets and everybody's represented with with a uh a flag and a marker so you know okay you're from the Revolutionary War so and like I said a lot of the guys who signed the petition for gner to become a town um are buried there so that that is a historical Cemetery yeah again not to take away from someone who's buried in Crystal Lake or somewhere else so but that's all that's all I have is there a sign up at the old burial ground to say if there's is there a contact number up there for families to reach out to anybody yeah it's City Hall's number the City Hall number cuz I had actually Express that too for you know crystalite because there's a lot of and and green B which is is pretty full there's a lot of empty lots up there and there are a lot you know a lot of families that could still turn over lots to back to the city and stuff and I just think it you know it would get a conversation going at least getting connection with a descendant and some of his family so but I I think it's it's wonderful what you're doing and and there there are a lot of different city artifacts and just people who maybe watch this update um they know where they're you know can reach out to the hore commission if they have you know City artifacts that they want to also we get that once in a while an old book or or something and I I guess under um we we can have property and I don't mean yeah you can have we can have property we can have uh someone can donate a desk or a book or whatever we don't have any place to put it so you know we would um donate to the Garden of Museum thank you thank you very much thank you thank you work um airport commission director Davis good morning good morning gentlemen would you like to sit up here with you're welcome to us commission members um thank you for having us you're welcome um I just wanted to talk about uh we have appointments coming up in January and February and so I just wanted to um relay some some issues and and some things that we're having uh problems operationally that I think we should probably talk about as you know the airport is a great asset for the city of Gardner um some people that I've talked to don't even know that it's there because it's up on the hill and they don't go over there but it could be a big Revenue generator for the city of Garder um actually but it takes time and effort to do that uh the this airport is part of the federal transportation system which is a big deal and it's one of mass Do's State airports uh we've taken FAA Federal money to improve the airport and as such we are re required to have it open to the public um I've done that when I got here by unlocking and opening the building to the public after it was locked down for many many years uh the tenants uh complained that they couldn't even use the building's rest restroom now it's open to the public the public and the tenants can enjoy the building um and we've now you know moved on from the way it was before uh along those lines uh since we have some upcoming appointments to the commission I would like to remove some uh I don't know how else to say it dead wood if you will from the airport commission um you know a couple people there they have no input they don't speak um sometimes they don't even come to the meetings um and they used to at some point you know back in time they've been on the commission for probably 30 years uh you know it just it they're not engaged is what I'm saying they're not engaged with the commission so uh for instance uh we have um John LaVoy he's been there a very long time I think he's retired he used to do ex yeah I I I don't this is not an appropriate place to discuss the commission members and appointments that's a discussion you would have directly with the mayor okay okay all right fine thank you all right um okay so uh we just wanted to be a little more Progressive and see if we can you know Spruce things up more by maybe having some uh additional people on the um on the committee and I have sent uh those um recommendations to the mayor so he can see that uh we would like to have some new new people on there um also uh we're continuing with to improve the airport and I'm working hard doing that but it it is challenging and I have some recent concerns and I don't know if this is a place for those either um you can voice your concerns absolutely that's what we're here for okay um but I also would encourage you if there is more that you feel that we need to hear from the airport commission I mean this is an update on the airport that the commission hold a meeting and and invite us to you meeting okay so the whole commission the commissions there as a whole so we can hear from from from everybody okay um and and I think that would be a valuable um tool to use okay all right I recently received an email from Chris Kumar saying that uh no fiser who was a tenant at the airport had said that I had resigned which is I called him and asked him who had told him that and um sorry Jim to bring this up but he said said the commission chair told him that I had resigned I've never talked to no uh he sending me an email or any communication whatsoever uh this and this is may not be the appropriate place to to discuss that either where would I that would be again with the mayor okay I mean this is to discuss the update of your concerns for the airport and the propy airports may be right okay though so the progress the airport is making we have made significant um inroads to bring it back to the public but I have these concerns and I know we have mentioned this before the good old boys from the you know from prior Years and we're trying to be Progressive and move forward and you know continue to do that since we have taken Federal money from the air from the federal government we need to do things and we need to um be Progressive and uh you know come into the the new year and M and so those are my concerns I just feel like you know there could be you know other people added who would help help at the airport who would be you know that's that's all my concern excellent thank you and I think that I think you work with closely with the mayor with suggestions and um as commission you know he would entertain that and that would go through if the people are interested he would go through the Appo appointments committee and then they would come come to the council um but I appreciate the fact that I mean you know you're you're trying to and you've done a great job on the building when I was down there I was down there a lot this summer as I kept flowers and the hanger down there back and forth um you know trying to bring it up to that next level and trying to bring the public in you've had some events down there um and and I and I personally see that but I also um I I understand the frustration I can hear in your voice that it's it's probably not happening in the timeline that you want in your your you might still come up with barriers which um that need to be overcome yes yes we do also have um lots of new things going on mass do is interested in what we're doing they fly in their helicopter and come visit us frequently MIT continues to use our airport for their testing uh we have frequently had MIT here at the airport many many times to do uh to their testing and their testing for m Co and we're extremely happy to have them there and we have opened it up for them and they can come whenever they want and they're very gracious they uh they're they're um careful when they come and uh they like they like being there so what is testing they they're testing drones because um the new airspace uh the FAA is going to allow drones however they could conflict with other airplanes in the in their area so what MIT is developing is an adsb out onto the Drone instead of onto the airplane looking at the traffic the adsb uh technology puts it on the Drone which so the Drone can see if there's any traffic in the area so when they come into an airspace the Drone can see traffic and the airplane can see traffic and so they're both equipped to avoid each other before the Drone was kind of a dumb machine and it wasn't uh but now Mass do is implementing uh adsb out which shows them traffic and MIT is the one that's devel developing it for them so it's very exciting and they they're there uh also doing other drone testing but it's super secret and it's it's for them and I don't know who they would sell it to or or whatnot but it's it's confidential I was just curious you know they're doing testing what are we testing it's very interesting yeah and as this moves forward drones will become apparent you may see them up in the airspace you may see Amazon delivering New Jersey that yeah and Dallas and some other places you may get your package from Amazon delivered by a drone right to your front door so it is kind of exciting but it it does uh make the space the air space congested and so therefore uh Mass do is right out in front of that and they're implementing the technology they have actually have a whole department that does that now I have been down there a couple times with the helicopter down there seeing it take off and land and and and the gentleman down there um has he traffic at the airport increased uh not right now since it's the winter time it's mostly really when the weather is good the weather has not been good for the past six weeks because it's been very windy and Pilots do not like to it's just not comfortable to fly when it's extremely windy so the last 6 weeks have not been good weather and now we're into snow and slush and sleep so that's also but normally spring summer fall are great and we have had we have had some more amp Lanes we've had an increase in fuel sales because uh fitzburg nsha um lots of other places their fuel is quite a bit higher than ours and the mayor would like to keep it at a reasonable rat so we're not gouging people so our fuel is $5.98 for instance nashaa is $710 very expensive and for Smith is $8 that's expensive if you have a small airplane you just want so they come here they get their fuel and they use the restroom get a cup coffee and they fly fly away and also Sterling does not have a fuel tank anymore so some of those people come up to um Gardener to get their fuel a lot a lot of them do and also Fitchburg has uh a training school that comes from Fitchburg over to Gardener and the students train and you can tell that the airplanes that the students are training in because they bounce when they're they bounce when they're landing and they come around and they bounce some more and then they go away but that's their practice they come over and practice several Landings and takeoffs and then they go back to pitchburg eventually I'd like to get a a flight school in as well because that brings the young people it brings lots of activity and uh when we had fburg flight school here when their Runway was closed it was wonderful they um we opened it up for them and they had a great time they brought all their airplanes they had five or six airplanes based here while Fitchburg was closed and they really appreciated Us opening it up to them there is also a company down the cap that does shuttle uh designing a shuttle uh drone but on a large scale it was using the airport for testing and develop of their new U drone that was kind of cool to see we just we just completed the runway rebuild which is been was 5.3 million which was 90% paid federally 10% or 5% n uh State and then us so we have we have subserviant to many rules and regulations Federal all the way down to local uh we do get an annual supposedly unencumbered but it has rules around at 150,000 a year to fund all the projects and because of the runway rebuild they narrowed the runway from 60 to 50 uh 75 to 60 ft it triggered an airport survey which is very detailed and that's in the process of being done we have uh we've requested several Wildlife survey we have to do let's say Wildlife environmental um stor water this storm water which has been added new regulations and uh they're doing a have done a flight check for the approaches obstru all of these obstruction survey and all of the all of this stuff has to be done so that they can certify the new Runway as being what it is and it also helps us we trying to lower some of the approaches our hazard lights have been out for 2 years uh on the hills around the airport there's three of them some of them have been out for 20 years but uh it's FAA and the state usually don't pay for any maintenance so all the maintenance gets done by the either the commission members or Isabelle and she's the only one that gets paid the rest of us don't so that we we volunteer at time and we've got just got authorization that these um easements on the Beacon lights uh can go back to the owners we have to may have to take the beacon lights down we're engineering uh some of the how much it's going to cost and that's going to be we're trying to use either there's uh we're working on three different uh two different programs here airport Improvement plan uh Capital Improvement C CIP the uh there's an airport Improvement type plan and a 20-year plan we have to the 20-year plan comes due in 26 so we've been stepping through the process of getting all the engineering but we have to do these surveys in order to qualify for federal funds and so we use some of our money we can use this 150,000 we can stock pilot for up to 4 years but the problem is we are using lot have funds to fund other things to keep us going um because our budget is very small compared to all the other departments and uh maintenance is is the biggest issue we have right now and the local and the local fund share as you know is always trouble is always hard to come up with there although the the mayor did I did mention that to him and he said if one of those things that are required for us to step forward we could possibly use some of the fuel profits for a couple of months just to come up with the small local share so that we didn't have to ask for it or take it from out from something else so that's at least something that we could do some of the other B Money I caution against some of that because of the volatility of fuel um the price is are low right now um um we're fortunate um Fitchburg is actually low us on price at 5.95 but uh they did that to compete with us um I have friends around who you have programs you can buy into to at other airports that uh are competitive with that and so um when I buy I usually try buying three uh the 2,000 m or 3,000 it's a 6,000 gon tank so we try to I weigh it against who's going to be they come in a lot more in the spring and fall summer and fall than in the winter so I try to have enough to carry me through the winter so that I can get the fuel if it I kind of watch try and watch the prices and see what other airports are doing so that we can buy fuel at the lowest possible price because we'd never know the price of the fuel until after delivered because the shipping costs come in and they add to the price so we have to um buy enough to get us through so that when I'm incurring it and I share the load with other airports and that helps if they can come out of either New York or Portland with full loads and uh 8 or 9,000 yon tankers and so we we do that with other it's I try and give them a window of two or 3 weeks to come and that has worked out very good for us because our price has been dropped way down uh the the other uh areas that uh we have a what they call the the by um spending Bill the Govern bipartisan spending bill in aviation is part of Aviation was a big part of it there they wanted to Aid and expand airports which was kind of a contradiction when they went from 75 ft down to 60 but the it has with it a lot of caveats and for the next two years we are uh the FAA is going to fund 95% and we are going to have state is going to drop to 2 and A2 or maybe they may keep it at 5 if they do it'll be no cost for some of these qualifying programs and that's what we try and take advantage of otherwise the state may drop the 2 and a half and we'll be two and a half but that's still a bu and I've mentioned that to the mayor so he knows so that we're uh environmental assessment can the mass environmental impact may or may not cost us anything the obstruction analysis and the vegetation management plan and that's the other big thing that's coming it was probably 20 years ago that are that was the last time we did it and it goes out 4 miles from the airport on the approach end for sure on each end so we're looking at four miles and any objects that come up into that any trees that have grown up into it either have to be topped or cut down and on Airport property that's not a problem but we're looking at four miles going out and it's a 1 to 20 ratio for every 20 ft F feet it's one foot so and they start at the end of that Runway looking out and it goes out in kind of a widening pattern and in the four miles we have the the documentation that we've seen so far is from 2018 and we're waiting for the survey which has been completed to highlight the areas that we have to go to and then we have to start approaching the owners and all that and that is funded by the FAA uh partially here again it's that whatever year we fall in whether it's the 90% which is going to rever back to in 27 or if we can get it done in before that so we're working hard to get that done we're just waiting now for the aerial surveys and all this stuff coming up the they will go out and offer these people most of the time last time it was done talking to Kenny bong when he he was around when that happened he said they were very Cooperative especially the people close to the airport yeah um and they said no problem come on in top the trees if you need to and all that sort of stuff and I'm sure we're going to have to people close by but when we get start getting out if you look stand at the airport look South we have the swamp on the other side of the swamp there's trees growing that's in hubon so we we have to approach the owner of the property over there to find out if we can either top or cut down the trees so that we have clear approaches uh we're trying to get the approaches lowered cuz some of the pilots are very active their instrument rated right now they can't go below 800 ft above the property and above the airport touchdown Zone uh that is restricted because of the hill and all that but the hill is would come up everybody has GPS now so all this moving maps and stuff show all this stuff so that's why we don't need the lights anymore but there have been uh and the deputy chairs is working on the obstruction lights but the um the approvals have come down now it's just a matter of getting the engineering in place so we've got to get the uh that done there's other projects around on the airport property they're all working to try and get we've got a lot of outside stuff to be done all the way around the equipment is I try to maintain as much of it as I can uh we have some of the other volunteers at the airport that are tenants that are helping with that a lot too which is good but it's uh a lot of it's just you know y work and Mowing and stuff like that it's uh when I plowed this week I I discovered an oil leak on one of the trucks and so we're investigating that but uh we're going to uh get that fixed before the next storm cuz it was I spent 6 hours plowing and can I ask the hazard lights so have you looked into the that's you're looking into the cost repair and how much it's going to be so what's going on with the hazard lights is that's been a project that I've been working on for the last few years with FAA and uh our team we finally got the word down that they're no longer needed so when we have a meeting in January one of my things that I was going to represent is that we can go to uh each owner look at how big the easan is get a price of what that easan is worth and say to the owner uh if you'd like this piece of property you need to pay for it and you can have it back and then we would be responsible to remove the cell tower my idea which I'll we bring to the committee is that uh since this has been on their properties for over 20 years is that if you want the property you can have it but the tell cell I mean the U signal Tower will be your responsibility to take down because or you can pay for the property and then we take it down so I already know one one of the gentlemen that has a self out he's going to take a St and we just P mow the thing down the other two pieces of property I don't know them personally so I don't know what their reaction will be but I know the one that we've had the most problems with he won't even let us on his land so he will be very happy to and probably have a party when he takes that power now because it was on his father's property and then his father passed and he then took over the property so I'm not worried about one so we have two of them that we need to deal with um so again we have two options we either pay to take down the to the the towers or we can tell the land owners you can have your land but there is paperwork that needs to be filed with gardener and FAA and the state so I am working with them on getting all the correct paperwork the literature the wording of it all to be done but I'm going to try to get this done at no cost to the T um and go from there because once they do get their property back needs to say they'll need to be paying taxes on that that easement where they haven't been before so there is a lot of litigation that needs to go on um but at least we finally took it's been at least over three years or more to finally get the word that they're not needed so um yeah and I I would advise that go through the solicitor's office as well to make sure things the uh doesn't qualify according to the FAA the airport Improvement handbook is not eligible for FAA funding assistance however uh the state is possible we might be able to get a grant the estimated cost is $150,000 and uh that would be all ours if we can't find any Grand money I know the state is looking to they they do things like that on a on a Asian but we can use uh I'm not sure if we can use any of this $150,000 that they have because that's one of the regulations you can't use it for uh I don't know there's restrictions on it I still don't understand I'm still learning every week on how much stuff uh the uh I've got a list of the engineering company on on our chapter 7 that we're working on on the 20year plan has a list of all the projects that we are working on and uh that are part of that plan and we're trying to get as much of it involved so that we go after these we you know if the state has money that they're willing to do this and uh talking to them they will come up and say uh that's how we got the pavement of the apron they were they were looking around on the airport when they did the run away and taxi away and all the the lights and he said oh this ramp doesn't look good I tell you what we'll repay the main apron and make it look good and they did it at no cost for us so that was great um you know and it does happen so we just keep working with them I'm going to ask H do you have any questions or concerns at this point not at this point a lot of information so thank you all yeah I think it would be advantageous though for us to probably have a separate meeting with the airport Mission at some point in over some of the things in more detail um and you know um and let you have maybe a it' be helpful for me to have more of a visual presentation as well sure meet down at the a exactly we would be more than preferably in the warmer weather coun Brook do you have I that thank you thank you one of the things I don't think the city council realizes how many hours that are put in at the airport by uh the chair the the chair people of the of it as well as the other volunteers that come there so Le to say hundreds and hundreds of hours between mowing plowing maintaining is all done by volunteers I I personally realize that the airport wouldn't exist without the volunteer hours but it does never hurts to remind us and the citizens of the amount of work that you put in I think it's it's you know um you know it's it doesn't go unappreciated but it's it's I I I don't think you could clock your hours I mean it's it's so it's so much that you do so OB I you know and I you know the airports is so entity and I think a lot of people as you said forget it's it's there they don't even know or know it's there but um us garden rights know it's there and we're you know at least I do and and you know and um you know I just um I I think it's it's it's a valuable asset to the city and people need to realize that the I would rather I think that a person flying in even in a small airplane which granted a brand new small airplane is approaching $750,000 per for buying them but you can buy them all the way down to the price of a used luxury car and there are a lot of people who appreciate it Garden has used a lot for training of students because we always have a crosswind and that is very valuable training and we have some uniqueness with the hill that's right side of us that uh gives them very interesting winds but uh a lot of people from is flight instructors from keing haford Fitchburg uh I've talked to all of them as they are flying in they stop use the bathroom and uh the it's it's I there is a system we have called the guard system which Ro loads radio conversations and that can be um it records everything and puts a identified k Mark on it the difficulty comes with the average airplane coming into Gardner makes three phone calls or four depending on the direction that they come from before they land and it records every single one so you take the total number of the calls divided by two or three depending on for for that to get our approximation um not everybody flies we have people who don't even have radios in the airplane no electrical system uh based there that fly you never know um there are a lot of rules most people that fly either the uh model airplanes or the drones are very are licensed and have to be licensed with the FAA now uh there are it has to weigh more than I forget there's like a 10 lbs or something like that that they is a weight threshold your brother for instance has as a drone that he's licensed by but they restricted to certain altitudes and it's when people don't play by the rules and that's what they're trying to identify now and MIT has been working on some of that stuff too it's uh they will getting ready to go out to Mojave and they're going to be running tests on doing the same program that we were doing but they were developing the program with us and it's very uh entertaining and interesting it's very interesting a lot of our commissioners were MIT employees um which was very interesting because they had an in but uh it's extremely helpful having these knowledgeable people about the air air space system well we look forward in the in the spring and the warmer weather although you know I don't mind wearing a heavy coat that we would like to meet with you again so how do we go about getting the city council to have a live meeting at the airport what do the it's not the city council it would be it would be the uh subcommittee of the public Ware all you have to do is not ask me that's all you have to do all right through the city clerk that you'd like to have a meeting we have had our subcommittee meeting at the airport previously to see your building and we had a couple other department heads here held it there so we could see the improvements there um but all you have to do is just reach out and we'll consult our schedules and we'd be happy to schedule one yeah and I want sure we thank Isabelle and Jim for all their hard work absolutely um Isabelle has definitely been an asset to Gardener airport and getting a lot of things done that the Commissioners could not have time to do thank you I appr thank you and and when you do plan it I would love to have a majority of the commission available before you reach out to us because it that that's the whole purpose thank you we do I've had regular meetings for the three years that I've been on the commission the first Wednesday of every month and they're all recorded and uh I go through and do my own minutes and everything posted so no we'd be happy to attend all right thank you thank you senior senator Council [Applause] good morning counselors how are you good I apologize for the mask if I'm too muffled let me know I'll take it off but I have a cold and I don't want to share that with you unless you want it to be shared then I'm happy I never heard M right yeah I don't Mumble um thank you for letting me be here today if you have not been engaged or no there's a lot of stuff going on at the senior center and I'm going to Rattle through very quickly um for fiscal year 24 we had 26,000 100 individual swipes so that's that's about 2,000 people who participated in 26,000 programs Now understand you know every week we have four yoga classes so how that breaks down is different we had 584 volunteers um who were logged a lot of our volunteers don't log log in they don't sign in so that's vastly understated um and those volunteers performed over 15,000 hours of volunteer work through the Gardner Senior Center um which are stunning numbers so much so by the way that the assistant Secretary of the eoea um sent out a request to come and see our Center and what we're doing and just uh come and and and be able to observe the the great stuff that's happening there this past year here um by the way just to put something in perspective I said about 2,000 Unique Individuals city of Garner has about 5500 seniors age 60 years of age and older so we're hitting just under half um which makes sense because a lot of seniors who are 60 61 62 65 67 are still working and don't generally have the opportunity to get out of work to come and be part of a program during the day which is why we've added a number of night programs as a way to try to um get those folks involved and engaged it is there it's not a lot of programs and we're just starting this understand that when we open at night it takes a toll on the staff the staff do that they open the building they close the building they have to be there and supervise the building so we don't have the opportunity to open another 6 or8 hours at night but we're doing it we have new programs like a writing club we have more support groups including a memory dementia Cafe uh women support group we do dance lessons on Monday night which are awesome we have a drumming circle now using Kajun cun drums a ukulele group just starting up in January we do we've expanded yoga today today last Thursday I apologize last Thursday was our first Tai Chi class at the Garden senior center more craft programs than we've ever had before we did about 125 230 people's taxes last year through the gardener Senior Center where other centers weren't able to provide that service we have had a lot of luck recruiting new volunteers to do the tax aid program and this year we had the same success we're able to recruit four people two completed their training so they'll be deployed to other senior centers with the expectation that they're going to come back to our senior center when that volunteer group um you know changes and rotates uh Thanksgiving meals so uh we did 320 Thanksgiving meals 190 drive-thru meals 120 people um inside plus volunteers staff uh we did trays of food for police and fire and EMS so the reality is our total food uh outlay that day was probably close to 375 380 meals we cooked 30 25 lb turkeys you do the math it's about 800 lb of turkey that's a lot of turkey if people feel like they're turkeyed out they should have seen what uh our volunteers did it and that was driven entirely by volunteers and donors we wouldn't be able to do this without the support of the community the Elks Club provides enormous support they a great partner that we've collaborated with for the last I don't know 30 years easy easy 30 years um they bring their volunteers together they do all the cooking and all the preparation the week up they start on Monday peeling 150 lb of potatoes for that event um if you've ever had to peel 5 lb you know what 150 lb could do to your knuckles and your hands pretty amazing stuff um so so grateful for the volunteers from the Lions Club the Elks Club our senior center the community at large a lot of folks just call and say hey we want to participate what can we do and they come and set up we had about 30 volunteers out in the street and you may say why do you need that many because we're doing drive-thru meals so controlling traffic is really important Thanksgiving day was a rainy horrendous cold day um and we had 10 volunteers years out in the rain in the street all morning from 8:00 to about 12:30 um serving meals so they were pretty pretty drench but it shows the level of commitment and dedication that the volunteers have and I'm so grateful for them um just aside not our staff worked Thanksgiving Day and our staff worked the day after Thanksgiving we're part of the city hall grouping we're not DPW we're not police and our fire so we give that those staff additional days off in Li of pay so we are closed the day after Christmas and the Friday after which are actually two half days and our full days to make up for the time that they worked on Thanksgiving and Friday cleaning up Christmas meal we're looking at about 300 people for the Christmas drive-through Meal which will be held on Monday the 23rd in the parking lot of the senior center it's a pretty cool event um it's a little chaotic but it's organized chaos it's a lot of fun there's a lot of energy um and we get a ton of support from other City departments for that as well lines and signes I can't say enough about Doug Monroe and DPW for allowing us the access to trucks and trailers and stuff like that to move things around it's incredibly helpful the police department doing the traffic the hills fire providing additional support and um assistance um but it does go back to our donors and we have more donors this year if you think about the two meals 300 people what the cost is we spend about $2,000 on Turkey Alone um and then you add in the other was probably another $1,000 our donors almost covered completely the cost of our Thanksgiving Christmas dinner we have a tech Grant oh um before we also have three VIPs volunteers we have um three folks to come and work with us for the, um dollar write off 75 hours they are awesome tremendous people who really know and understand the processes in the office now we're so grateful that the city council the mayor um have made the VIPs program available it is a huge support to us doing very specific detailed administrative work um and other volunteer work in our Center we provide a lot of support to other City departments I just talked about their support to us but we provided especially places like um Police Department the Board of Health National Night Out the senior center I heard Cory talk about tabling events we started tabling events for the first time in our history a year ago we decided you know rather than just tell people to come to us we should go to them and tell them what our services are so we do almost every major Community event we're at National Night Out um we were at healthy Harvest 5K usually we do the uh October fast but that weekend happened to conflict and I can't when I say we do it it's staff driven um we didn't have staff capacity we got an $85,000 roughly Tech Grant from the executive office in environmental Affairs for the purpose of providing more connection to isolated and um unconnected seniors and they may be unconnected for a lot of reasons mobility issues Transportation issues financial reasons whatever that is our hope is to be able to provide our programs in a dynamic way VIA like a zoom or team meeting so they can participate in things like fun and fitness and um line dancing or yoga understanding the tech if we use owl or a neat board that's static Tech and it doesn't bode well in a dynamic type of setting like again uh in any kind of activity so we've expanded the tech Grant to provide us with some cameras couple cameras to uh pan on the audience and the instructor with joystick controls remote very low Tech easy to use so we can train our volunteers um we're excited about we bought 20 Chromebooks 10 Chromebooks will be deployed to The Gardener Senior Center 10 through the Temperon Senior Center by that 85,000 is split between Gardner and Templeton we decided to do a joint program so we could collaborate on programs and offer what's happening at the gardener Senior Center to Templeton seniors and offer what's happening at the Templeton senior to Gardener seniors um those Chromebooks that I just mentioned 10 and 10 are part of a lending library we're going to U lend them out to seniors who don't have Tech or need to understand Tech a little bit better we're providing training at the senior center for folks to understand how to use the Chromebooks and other technology and access uh the web and zoom meetings and hopefully our plan is that through that experience they will be comfortable enough buying and using their own Tech it's a lending library it's not a permanent um uh kind of program so it is limited in terms of how long they have it our connection we we've adopted a a model this year connection and purpose to really help our folks know that everything we do is for the purpose of bringing people together it's really not about making uh chocolate bar snowmen it's about having you know folks that who may not otherwise be able to connect with people who may be struggling with isolation and loneliness to come to the center and it's really worked it's our engagements are way up um when I started we did, 1500 newsletters black and white six pages eight pages I apologize because of our support and donors our circulation is now 2, newsletters full color that there's a cost associated with that and that entire cost is being picked up by advertisers and donors that support our newsletter not a single dime of the cost of those newsletters monthly we produce them every month by way produce staff produce those content 12 Pages um is paid by the senior center that's all picked up by the community really uh so appreciative we do email blasts we've expanded our capacity on email we've added everything City official I'm hoping you're getting our email uh notices and dynamic content from Constant Contact and copies of our newsletter via email um every department head every city official every uh elected person that represents the city of Garder is on that mailing list our mailing list started when four years ago with 25 people we had emails in our system 25 people we now send out 1,900 emails um twice once to twice a month which really again shows how much first of all our senior community has embraced technology but how many people trust us um our Facebook page we had a um recent post that had 1862 active click on links on our one of our most recent Facebooks so I only pulled one up just to see and we have 862 followers four years ago we had none so again I think we're going in the right direction um from a time management perspective using email uh Robo calls and other electronic communication is really important to us we used to make like personal calls to folks we don't have the capacity and it's not it's not because we don't want to um and I would invite and encourage you by the way when you get that email find a program and come and see us you'll have fun no doubt about it you'll have a good time you'll be great people um and I apologize that I can't give you you know kind of the personal call and invitation um for those of you who don't know me I'm OCD and uh I work a lot of hours I work a lot of hours but I love what I do I was telling the seniors yesterday every day I get up excited to get to the senior center because every day is a new day and it's a new challenge but I also have to understand my limitations great Clint Ewood uh common our um we have a social worker we have a social worker who's an intern we've had interns now for two semesters we have another one next semester they've already contacted us they're interested in doing again they're not licensed but they come and help us do case management and our case management has blown up we do a ton of stuff for folks as it relates to housing especially homeless seniors and you know I could I could tell you three stories out of turn right now of how indicative homelessness is on a a very large group of seniors in our community well all across the country it's not Gardener Gardener is not doing anything wrong it's just the reality of um society as we now we do so we do housing case management and case management is assisting people with applications responding getting documentation getting through the process it's not just about you know giving them a resource and patting them on the back and say call this person medical um same thing we we do referrals and get practitioners and and um you know doctors and Clin conditions for seniors that are looking for those kinds of services and are frustrated not able to navigate that transportation services medical transportation to appointments for folks that certainly have limited Mobility or might be concerned about driving in the winter and also uh transportation to and from you know local services so going to the the uh you know convenience store Supermarket or Pharmacy uh we provide and partner with uh our neighbors on hous on heeding fuel assistance The Good Neighbor energy fund mock uh Mach energy is uh they take they have office hours at the senior C we also do nutrition so we do uh twice a week snap and hip appointments so folks that need some additional nutrition assistance and need support on that we case manage them so they can get through the staff and hip application um provide the documentation to either be approved or denied but hopefully we work it well enough that they get approved we do food pantry a senior food pantry a senior bean bag we do congregate meals three times a week for folks that are looking for a hot meal um just a lot of stuff going on and the reason I'm telling you all this is all of these programs have expanded we don't have a single program that we've eliminated because of lack of participation we've added more because there's demand for it um and the last two things I'll leave you with first of all there's a survey I was really um so proud loud and pleased at a recent survey that was done by five members of our board Council on agent went out and they interviewed folks from all different aspects that that have relationships with the senior center including our vendors our contractors our employees um peers end users direct reports other department heads and the 360 eval results were out of this world they were out of this world and I think what the reason that I wanted to do that is geez we may be doing something really well for one particular constituency but but do a terrible job for the others we really wanted to see how people perceived the work that we did and the numbers were off the charts I'm happy to share with you with you that the results of that survey personally if you're interested at some point in time but I thought it was pretty good have four issues space right we all know space we're we're absolutely uh bursting at the schams parking we had 110 people at our Christmas party on Monday um 110 people in that room was packed it was packed and that wasn't the problem the problem is where did we park them on so we hired a company to provide shuttle service from mission of graes church that we have aou with to use their parking lot and the police station so they did a circuit folks parked it we drove them back and then at the end of the day we did the same thing bringing them back uh Personnel is still an issue understand that everything we do is with three people there's a director there's an administrator assistant coordinator and we have a facilities person facilities person you can imagine is really focused on facilities setting up and taking down rooms doing that kind of maintenan stuff that has to happen we really have two program people and one of those program people the vast majority of the job is Administrative so um if not for the volunteers we'd be dead in the water it just it couldn't couldn't happen and even now we're pretty stressed and strained uh and then maintenance maintenance it's an old building continues to be a a challenge for us as we're preparing for opening up the heating system this year none of the none of the heating system worked we couldn't get a single baseboard to throw heat and it was because it was air binding up the system it has loops and channels and Junctions and unions um and it cost us a pretty penny to get the heating system working and now that it's working we have to remind our seniors you can't shut it off so when people coming into line dancing and they're doing a lot of activity we have to keep the heat at 66 which isn't hot but it is when you're doing you know active exercise if we shut it off then we'll have to drain and bleed the system again so we can't do it that's pretty much it a lot going on um I'm excited about what's happening at the gardener Senior Center and really appreciate honestly the support that I get from the city council from the mayor and from other elected officials it's important at least from a um P perception um but it's way more important that you're so engaged and I appreciate your engagement thank you I don't have any questions now no questions there's a lot of information well okay so you're talking about space and parking that I'm assuming will be alleviated when make a move to the Waterford Community Center thank you I'm assuming as well I I don't really have any any information updates on Waterford but yeah I'm I'm super optimistic and Uber excited about the prospect of being there Uber excited Uber excited it's going to be great it'll be great for our seniors be great for the community I just think it's I when I went down and I saw where the area is going to be and all the separate rooms you're going to have for your different events I just I think it's going to be it's going to be fabulous it's going to be great I mean uh one level and um I think it's ex you know parking's going to be an isue wherever you are because of the amount of participants you have which is a wonderful problem to have um but I think at least you're going to have a nice nicer spot there especially you can arrange the parking with your control with those big food events and you know where the food service is going to be I just think it's going to I I agree I I'll just share we have 32 parking spaces yeah at 294 Pleasant Street put the staff in there Volunteers in there on any given day maybe we have 18 available parking spaces now street parking sh there are 140 marked spaces at Waterford Street yeah and if if all goes well and I'm I'm just throwing this out because I really don't have the prerogative to speak about this this is the mayor's um the mayor's gig but with think in another 40 spaces along the side of the building between the junior high and the annex yeah I mean not the junior high the elementary school anex that right now is just a driveway playground area so 180 spaces it's a lot better than we right now yeah it's going to be awesome plus the parking garage that's going to be no no no parking garage both just kidding there's no cool um I just I look forward to getting a newsletter email every month I go through and I'm excited about the amount of programs that you have um you know I get the Sign Up Genius and the mornings are easier for me but I can't get near a bread and pastry raffle because to sign up because they're taken right away um so it's just yeah the volunteers you have and the people who support you um you're right they're the they're the heart of the senior center because they keep everything going uh besides your staff and I I just it's very exciting everything going on there I know one lady who um joined one of the knitting groups and or crafts groups or quilting groups and she's you know she never would have gone to anything like that she absolutely loves it and she's met some nice really nice people and has gotten her out of the house um so I just you know and I I've seen the emails from the Lions Club getting ready for the Christmas dinner and what time to be there and stuff so the community support is is you know is really important but um but the limited staff you have really um you know should be um applauded for what they do to make that work every single day thank you for that I don't you know I don't know that everybody understands that the senior center isn't just you know cotton candy and rainbows that especially like the case management side it's it's emotionally very hard to work with a 73 most recently an 83-year-old man um who's worked his whole life lived in Templeton winon again not necessarily A gardener problem but who's homeless living in his car um in the environment in which he's living in how bad that is and that that that's hard that's hard um and it's hard for not only me it's hard for the other staff to to really try to navigate and at the end of the day like not take that home um so we do a lot more than just you know be sit around and drink coffee and eat Bon bonss it's a it's a hardworking crew and I give our staff a a lot of kudos for being patient and being hardworking and being flexible um working for me has got to be hard because we will add a program if I think it's going to help we'll add a program but that has a toll on staff right so that means changing the room or flipping the room or understanding how the Dynamics in the senior center change when we add programs or services and we'll have five folks in the center doing appointments um well five different agencies do an appointments it's a space issue where do we put them we're using kitchenet and conference rooms and libraries because our seniors need connection to those Services we can't not provide it so um so on the record thank you to Nancy thank you to Burman um to our chairman Ron Dara who is unbelievably engaged and has engaged our Council in Aging in ways that we have never seen before I I really appreciate them and leadership and work that they do in that kindness and compassion generosity of heart and I just want to encourage people you know no matter what they're the seniors you know what if they need support and resources to reach out you know because uh I I I know you're very busy but you have the ability to direct them in other areas whether it be the veterans department here um you know um especially last spring when we found out how many homeless seniors there were during the winter um but please you know reach out don't rate and you know there there are resources available and there are people to help thank you yeah thank you for that all right thank you very much director Mor how are you good how are you good um we received your minutes on the disability commission yes is there any update on did you meet yesterday um so we did not meet so we had an unexpected the chair resigned um effective me immediately on Tu on Monday or Tuesday I don't recall the date off the top of my head um So currently we have three members since the beginning there's been four total with the chair in three three members um one being myself um and sent me some um articles yesterday we need a minimum of five members of the Commission in order to run um so we do need a new chair and more members in order to keep the commission going um we do have one party interested in um he's attended a couple of meetings I think that's I think he's going to join um and then we need to start recruiting I I would like to say at least eight people because in any given month not every single person is going to be able to attend and then obviously that affects us being able to meet okay um so that's really the only updates I have is is we we really need some um Community involvement any questions on disability no okay Greenwood pool any updates I do not have any updates on that um no I I don't so like swim lessons that kind of stuff um I'm coordinating that but as far as anything to do with like the pool status um any work any repairs anything like that I do not know any of that uh my only thing about the pool which I I have voiced um a few times is as we prefer for next summer especially with the inconsistency of dun Park and the availability to um our residents um that I would like to see the pool open on Sunday Saturday and Sunday even if it meant closing it on like a Monday okay um for for families because a lot of families can only bring their children on the weekends and um if it becomes a staffing issue that's something I I've mentioned a couple of times to the mayor but I think it's a very important Ser it's an asset it's a service that we offer our families and um another thing is to see to go to some maybe have offered online payment and Apple pay yes I heard from people or even a summer pass um I you know I just think whatever we can do to encourage usage of the pool um is is you know as well as the maintenance I mean um there was in the works of the outside building repairs and maybe a different storage area for chemicals and stuff like that but um I just I don't want that to fall off anybody's radar because we've learned from past experience we just we've got to maintain what we have and we've got to we've got to make it look better um and uh so that's that's just where I stand on on on the outside pool um the you know the Pavilion and everything that will will um transpire next spring as our update was hopefully everything will be happened before the outdoors pool season okay yeah I don't have any updates on that I will say I am all in favor of any electronic payment um whether it's a QR I'm not sure system wise if we have anything there's there's definitely options um I am going cashless for swim lessons um Pool passes all of that that's in the works um so that I'm definitely all for that there would be no cash not in not in my office for swim lessons or but if somebody shows up swim they can pay cash um yes correct yep just just for the swim lessons um just because it was it one more thing to track and um you know there were some issues last year so I just I want to make sure every everything's accounted for it's a smooth process for everyone we'll have um a site on open goov where they can do their registrations they can pay online it'll come directly to me um but that is I absolutely think there's so much technology that can be used that's not um and I will definitely um pass along the hours The Saturdays and Sundays I agree there's been many times where I would like to take my children swimming on the weekend and you know when they're closed on a Sunday yeah you know there's no option so ab and that's that's okay being being a little bit technology deficient in my footb uh I think it's important that that that somehow there's a catch option absolutely going to a football game Mia football game right got into high school and you're supposed to pay online it's like I can't so that's by choice and I understand that but I also believe that there are people out there that just don't have that access and and what have to be would um I had gone there and walked around and i' asked the I said the biggest things they have a lot of people they get there and they want to know if they take Apple pay CU they don't have cash on and they said no you know they and stuff so I I just I think it's you know but even you know a summer pass would be just great because you have families that consistently use it during the summer and um you know I mean I and I I just make it as simple as user friendly that sign department on the outside fence it should be a bigger sign this say Greenwood pool with the hours you know no glass including glass goggles which shut it down yeah last summer you know what I mean but there's there's we just need to do more to make it attractive to people um because it's not right now and that's I I always you know when you drive up and stuff because it is again just like you know we have an airport we have a golf course the swimming pool is a great asset and we need to we need to make sure we we promote it and maintain it I agree and the splash park will be open this year so they worked on it all year and it was just one little thing after another but the ordering and getting somebody to get there so that is 100% on the list that will be open with the pool this year one of my questions with this I know there's on a summer pass there's like a strip of ticket like a discounted version of like get so many passes for a certain rate correct yeah so if you get I believe 10 visits you ultimately end up getting two for free or some something along those lines but there is yes a pass correct yeah I don't think we have anything right now of pay one price and get unlimited visits but there is if you purchase x amount of tickets you get a discount on them yeah something like that you know what I mean but I just you know and and one other thing when when I get on the console in the spring you're doing or is for pace and the question came up about pace for Life pars and I think it was a question as to whether it was sufficient I don't know that we changed it I think it was left but I bring that to your attention I think it is important I know uh in working with pitchburg um it was they had a pool and it was always trying to figure out what the state was doing and and right the the rate we were Fitchburg was offering was dependent on what everybody else was doing MH in order to a track I understand that and I just hope that this year I realize you'll have more time out of your belt going into this thank to just make sure that when when that those changes come up that that that's been looked at because I I think it's important to have good staff I agree and Jess has been amazing at you know retaining her staff um she's she's she's been great with them so hopefully she gets the same same staff and they they seem to come back for her um but we definitely need it especially if we expand hours um that that's going to be an obstacle that I think we need to well I think they come back for her and they're dedicated to her in Greenwood and um we been and that's been for years that's happened and we've been you know even the previous you know um pool superintendent um and we've been very fortunate about that but we can't depend on that and the reason before there a couple of counselors decided myself who have brought this up is because we had to wait till other Union contractors were negotiated because we couldn't have the lifeguards making more than other people city employees right um but on the other hand what they do is very important it's you know it's it's an for a 16 17 18-year-old it's enormous responsibility um and we we can't it's a seasonal position so we have to budget for that I mean it's not something that's longterm um and you know it doesn't include benefits um but so I I think that has you know when you look at the state but also the state we have a state park that hasn't been able to open so um so we we have to we have to find that out then you know even if financially we can't to add the weekend hours we have to you know cut out a day then that's what we have to do you know what I mean um that's that's how how I look at it we have to do what we can to offer the best Services I agree for our constituents and our citizens and I just um you know as I just think that um yeah it's it's it's been an ongoing thing that we you know with the pay of the lifeguards but we we we finally have I agree we we have to we have to do do something because um it's going to come to a point you're if we can't we can't open you know we can have all the hours of the road but if we can't St right then we're not open y absolutely anything else I have nothing else thank you thank you very much for your time and and um for coming down to speak to us of course and we'll probably have a more up to date in the spring we have another welfare public welfare I'll have lots of information for you thank you um any other counselors questions concerns none I have none I'll entertain a motion make second all those in favor I I thank you