hello welcome to our February council meeting we're all excited to be here with all the ice and snow I know huge turnout tonight so thank you all for being here um and for the folks who are here
remotely this meeting is being recorded by the city council and gctv 9 if any other persons present are doing the same you must notify the chairperson at this time okay we have our media friend
recording what you ask no I know who you are I said we have our friend from the media from the recorder Anthony recording all right so our um first order of business is a roll call of members you also need
to no okay and councelor Gordon is here remote um which we can't see their box right now so they are they are on so we have to do roll calls for everything this evening councelor golb here councelor
Gordon here councelor Master dataro here councelor bottomley here councelor bulock is absent councelor Gilmore not attending yet councelor
Perry here uh councelor hey has let us know that he will be late to the meeting but he will also be attending remotely he is not here as of now councelor brown here vice president Garrett here
councelor minhas being weird here thank you councelor Toronto I'm here as well president wosi here Madame President you have a quorum fantastic so first thing we'll do is the
voluntary Pledge of Allegiance thank you our first order of business is to suspend the rules of procedure can I have somebody read the order on page five sure okay um the city council move that it be ordered that the Greenfield city
council wave as rules of procedure eight order and disposition of business to allow the agenda items to be taken out of order majority vote required I'll second that any discussion fantastic let's move to a
vote councelor golb yes councelor Gordon yes councelor master Taro yes councelor bottomley
yes councelor Perry yes I don't believe councelor Healey has joined not yet councelor Brown yes vice president
Garrett yes councelor Minos yes councelor toronzo yep does the president wish to vote yes and yes the motion to wave the rules has passed great so the first item that
we're going to take out of order is to go into executive session so I'm going to read this so that we get it all right in the open meeting law and I apologize to you all we'll try not to be an executive session long but annually we
review the minutes that can be released and it's just how it is so I also apologize for the guests who are here to speak um we'll try and move this along as quickly as we can so that the city Greenfield city council will enter into executive session for reason number
three to discuss strategy with respect to collective bargaining or litigation if an open meeting may have a detrimental effect on the bargaining or litigating position of the public body and the chair so declares summary listing of the item to be
discussed is federal court case of SE um Woodbridge at all city of Greenfield docket number CA number 323 CV 30009 3- MGM and reason number seven to comply
with or act under the authority of any general or special law or federal grants in Aid requirements to approve and review for the release of the city council subcommittee executive session minutes for the following dates February 4th
2008 ordinance committee executive reason number one February 15 2012 Ways and Means Committee executive Reason 3 and four October 27 2015 appointments and ordinance committee executive session reason was
not provided at time September 20th 2017 executive reason number one March 21st 2018 executive reason for May 16 2018 executive reason three
July 26 2018 executive reason number one September 19th 2018 executive reason three June 19th 2019 executive reason number three October 16 2019 executive reason number three May 16 2022
executive reason number three August 16 2023 executive reason number three August 21st 2024 executive reason number 7 October 16 2024 executive reason number one the chair stated that the public
body will reconvene in open session after the executive session concludes so we will be back once this concludes and councelor bottomly can I have you read the motion on page 13 it's the next page it's page
number page 13 is what you need to read yes it's exceptionally similar oh different so the council moves it be ordered the Greenfield city council votes to enter executive session for
reason number three to discuss strategy with respect to collective bargaining or litigation if an open meeting may have a detrimental effect on the bargaining or litigating position of the public body and the chair so declares the following is a summary listing of the item to be discussed fredell court case of s
Woodbridge at all versus city of Greenfield docket number CA number 3-23-20 n3-- MGM and reason number seven to comply with or act under the authority of any general or special law or Federal grant
and aid requirements to approve and review for the release of the city council subcommittee executive session minutes for the following dates February 4th 2008 ordinance committee executive reason number one February 15 2012 Ways and Means Committee executive reasons
number three and number four October 27th 2015 appointments and ordinance committee executive reason was not provided at time September 20th 2017 executive reason number one March 21st 2018 executive reason number four
May 16 2018 executive reason number three July 26 2018 executive reason number one September 19th 2018 executive reason number three June 19th 2019 executive reason number three October 16
2029 executive reason number three May 16th 2022 executive reason number three August 16th 2023 executive reason number three August 21st 2024 executive reason number 7 October 16th 2024 executive
reason number one roll call majority vote required do we have a second second any discussion okay we'll call the vote councelor golb Yes councelor Gordon
Yes councelor master tataro yes councelor bottomley yes counselor Harry yes councelor Healey not attending at the moment
Council Brown yes vice president Garrett yes councelor minhas yes councelor toronzo yep does the president wish to vote yes and yes uh the motion passes it is 642 to
adjourning to Executive session good evening we're back so calling back into our Open session is councelor Gordon back in our Zoom yes I'm here right thank you so much so going
back to our regular order um our next order of business is approving the January 7th 2025 city council meeting minutes on page six do I have a motion for that so
moved second and any comments all right let's move to a vote councelor Golab yes councelor Gordon Yes councelor master
tataro yes councelor bottomley yes councelor Perry yes I don't think councelor Healey has joined I'm here oh hello um on the minutes councelor
Healey yes thank you Council Brown yes vice president Garrett yes councelor minhas yes councelor torono yep and does the president wish to vote yes and yes motion passes
unanimously great so now we will welcome uh I I I don't know if the superintendent's on but I I do see the chair Johnson mad so we'll get Communications from the
schools thank you so much president and uh Andy pette is here as well our business manager the superintendent is on a well-earned uh break right now um uh first I'd like to uh thank councelor Brown and councelor Perry for attending
our um tour of the school buildings um it was on a Friday due to um the availability of the buildings because it was a professional development day um we are aware that was maybe not the best timing for everyone the superintendent wanted you all to know that if you want
to schedule another time on a weekend for example to visit the schools she would love to have you but we really appreciate uh councelor Perry and councelor brown for attending um also uh we recognized Rachel hog at our last um
school committee meeting for uh winning the Green Spoon award um for excellence in teaching and uh Shane Tumi um a Greenfield High School student was the recipient of a $1,000 scholarship from the National Association of student councils it was extremely competitive
and we're really proud of him he he serves as our uh one of our student reps on the committee and uh we have started to have um student representative reports um so different students are coming to us to present different aspects of life in the
schools to us and we were really pleased for our first presenter it was uh senior Devon Brown who's the co-founder of the students of Color Group at Greenfield High School and he uh shared with us um the curriculum that they've been using in the middle schools and things they
are doing to try to address um racial equity and racial discrimination in our schools so it was a really and we were really uh PL pleased to have him join us and really impressed with his courage coming and talking to all these adults about the work that that he's been
doing and with that I'll be happy to answer any questions thank you and I also just want to recognize and thank you to the school committee for inviting members of our ways and means to come to your meeting
about the school budget we really appreciate the opportunity so thank you for starting more collaboration between our two bodies and with that any questions from the council councelor Garrett I just wanted to Echo what uh
president wias who just said about being grateful to be able to participate in your Finance committee's meeting I know that there's going to be your budget presentation is I think the 24th and so looking forward to seeing kind of what comes forward through that and um you know as we move forward throughout the
fiscal year the work of the city council to make sure that you know through our ways and Mains committee and our overall budget process that we are spending our tax dollars in the most efficient way possible I'm grateful again that your leadership is intending to make us
partners rather than just people talking past each other so thank you absolutely thank you and uh really want to appreciate um our member Martini who is the chair of the budget committee and has made such enormous efforts to
engage not just with you all but also with the community in general with many many different um hearings and forums and opportunities for people to participate in the process say we're really proud of of the work uh she's leading this year councelor
trono um I would like to say that I Echo councelor Garrett's uh vice president Garrett's um uh thoughts on that I um I'm gonna come from a different angle uh I I appreciated the invite to begin with um
as uh I had heard at your school committee meeting uh we were deemed as less than respectful uh in the fact that we asking questions is what we what was being asked and pointing out that presentations from the schools being the
largest budget that comes through almost half of the entire City's budget and wanting more explanation is now deemed as less than respectful um I believe what is less than respectful is the response of the school committee to the
superintendent overall the job of the school committee is to represent the students the citizens that elected those folks and the thing that I have seen sorry turn a phrase there's been a whole bunch
of bootlicking and I don't I don't believe that that is appropriate when presenting a budget and I certainly don't appreciate the comments that were made at the school committee meeting simply because we're asking questions to get the specific
and we are have the right to ask those and if that's the way that the collaboration is applauded um then that's a collaboration that I don't think is going to be effective going forward I'm certainly
not going to do it next year I mean I won't be here next year which is great but um I wouldn't I wouldn't attend that again it was I I felt immediately put on the spot uh in the the sense that
the the Committee Member of that moved around and sat right next to me like I was in interrogation and blindsided by the questioning that was asked when it was supposed to be some sort
of opportunity of how we would discuss budgets prior to the um the submission to the mayor uh so we could have effective communication and that didn't happen at all and um I will stand by
what I said at that meeting that the schools presentation in the three years that I've been here has been the weakest budget presentation of any single Department even the small departments do a better job
justifying what they're spending why they're spending it and do not give us the blowback that the schools have in in the last three years that I've been here and we have fought hard to try to defend the
schools asks even when the May the previous administration cut we we went out of our way to fund two years ago we fully funded it last year and then got thrown through the mud afterwards saying we didn't which was
absolute BS and if there's not going to be some sort of realistic collaboration in the future then there's no then there's no point there's absolutely no point every other department head that we ask to provide us with information
with backup to what their asks are we don't get any blowback in the same way that we do from the superintendent and then after that the school committee which certainly should be on our side for it you are the legislative body if
you will to the executive I put in quotes if you can't see it being the superintendent the same way we are supposed to ask questions as a legislative body to the mayor that is your function that is our function and to be shot down at every ask that we
have had is that is less than respectful president may I respond you may thank you um president I I guess I am in a in a tough
spot here I find it difficult to respond to that I I think that it may seem that my concerns are about councelor tono's comments and the characterization
of boot licking implying that someone told him that he couldn't ask questions that's just simply not true but I think the bigger question is for you overall as a council whether this is really the
kind of the kind of comment you want to to have happened or there people on this Council who don't like the way that we are spoken to sometimes here I don't find it respectful at all and I honestly do think we've made enormous efforts to
be responsive and respectful and then we come here and we get characterized as bootlicking and trying to suppress questions I just I I just I'm curious president what your personal take on that is and if there are other
counselors here who don't think this is the the kind of communication you want to have with us if you would please speak up so I we can't see your face which is makes it
really hard uh chair Johnson but our counselors came in good faith they were asked to come to the table and address and they did and so to an open meeting I think characterize us as being
disrespectful without maybe even talking to me first or someone else first um but going into to public so I'd like to see how we can tone this down
and restart this this uh relationship um because I feel for councelor toronzo um again came to the meeting was asked to come and ask questions and when he did
was then characterized as later as being disrespectful um so now he's reacting to that he uses strong language it's not the language I would use but he and I are not the same that's why we have a diverse Council um and I don't I don't think
this is the right exchange for having this back and forth but maybe you and I can sit down and have coffee I would really appreciate that and I I will say that you know I've heard that kind of argument before that
it's a diverse Council and somehow um because there are like I I even heard one counselor say here at a meeting that you know there are essentially a lot of people who are in our community who um don't speak
very respectfully and that somehow the city council represents that but I honestly think there's there's a higher standard um that that should be honored by us as representatives and I I do think it makes sense to choose language
care carefully I mean there's nothing like saying boot lick licking in in any way is a helpful contribution to this discussion so I I would look forward to having coffee with you president thank you very much for that offer okay
councelor Bley I feel like I have to address since I was council president last year my feeling was the schools were not responsive we were asked not to ask questions and after watching that meeting I believe the exact words used
were stay in your lane and that's where there are problems because again our primary function is to ask questions because we are I heard the word stakeholders used a lot and somehow I didn't get the feeling like we as City
counselors were considered stakeholders and we are and it's our fiscal responsibility to review this we obviously we don't run anything we can't make line item decisions but we can certainly question it and there was no budget book presented I believe at that
meeting there were no numbers talked about at that meeting um and so I guess I just feel it's hard to have a collaboration when we're told not to ask questions we're not given information and we hear that even school committee members are not given information after multiple times requesting so if we're
going to start a new relationship I would hope in this budget cycle the information will become forthcoming so we can make real decisions and productive decisions for the city thank you councelor councelor menh house um I just
wanted to ask if there because I know we're getting around that time again um and last year this was very uh we had a robust discussion about this has there been any discuss on the school committee or between yourself and superintendent about kind
of Shifting the trend that we have of a topheavy budget and kind of paying our teachers adequately because that's what I would um has there been any discussion about that um I think we we're aware of the
council's concerns about the top heaviness of our budget what we've tried to communicate is that there are a number of items that are really State mandated that contribute to an uh an Administration heavy budget and I know
that's very difficult but for example every teacher in our schools must be evaluated every year they need someone needs to go and attend in their classroom watch them present and PR provide a report there are all types of
regulations we have to comply with and should comp comply with around um people with disabilities and students you know who are English language Learners we've had multiple times this year when the Department of Education our number has just come up and they they have
different types of reviews that we suddenly come need to comply with requiring you know them coming and visiting the schools for multiple days at a time um so I guess what I'm saying
is that it's very it would be very difficult for us to meet those um requirements without uh without having the administration Staffing that we have we see our our everyone in our
Administration working extremely hard and doing all the things that are mandatory and and having success at turning around our student outcomes we are seeing um improvements um in many different areas uh around that
and so um I stand behind uh our current level of a funding for administration any other U vice president Garrett and then I think I'm gonna close this discussion because we yeah just really quickly um
chairman Johnson our you know again I just we all again communicate differently on city council we all have different measurements of what we con what constitutes respect or not but I think you know and I'm not trying to speak for everybody on the council but I suspect that everyone
here in part you know is on the city council because they want the best outcomes for the city as a whole and the students in our city are absolutely vital for that the structure of government that councelor toronzo outlined where you're the legislative branch to the executive branch
administrative branch of the superintendent office is absolutely spoton and we're trying to help you is ultimately my main message our attempts to communicate with the school committee
what you're hearing right now the push back that you may find to be difficult is the kind of push back that you have to hear if you're going to get a full understanding of all the stakeholders in the city and again we want to make you know budget season's coming up and members of the city council are going to
have to argue about the Top Line you know or bottom line I guess is the language of your budget and so you know in the future if there are conversations that could be had over coffee with President wendowski I would love to see that as an outcome rather
than us getting to the point where there's frustration being played out on the city council floor and so you know again our goal is to help you and I look forward to that collaboration that we're all hoping to develop growing in the future thank you for that and I I just would
like to emphasize that um I'm very happy to have your questions your concerns about the budgets and so on it's not the content that is of concern to me it is the mischaracterization of certain statements and it's the characterization
using you know um shall we say robust language that I don't think is really appropriate and and doesn't contribute to a respectful um relationship so noted um the last comment I'm just going to make is when when the
counselors were asking about certain questions about the budget it's because most of the city Department budgets give us that information and so if we're if we're looking at that together it looks like an outlier so we want to make sure
that we're evaluating you all in the same way so that we can make the best case for what putting forward if that if that makes sense so that that that's my last comment and thank you so much for being here and I look forward to continuing the
conversation thank you I'll just I'll just if I if I may president just to say that um we really look forward to um our budget hearing when um that you know really was not the intention of that meeting to replace the budget hearing
and there is budget detail available in the superintendent's office as was noted in the um the notice that went in the recorder so it is available to you thank you right perfect thank you so next up is the mayor City
officers and employees so first up um we have the mayor so welcome mayor hi there everybody um just couple of things um we're already talking about budget that's our Prim my primary focus right
now um we've been actively meeting with department heads to get out a well balanced budget thanks to the capital committee um they've met several times in January and developed the recommendations which we're going to get those off to you what was voted on and
at some point I'll be putting forward some more Capital requests but um it's very going to be a very detailed oriented um mindset on that budget um I've reached out to the MMA for guidance um just this
week uh due to the concerns that we all have probably about uh Federal funding cuts and uh also spoke with somebody from the do today as well so we're seeking as much guidance as we can as we go into this year's
budget um City Hall uh we aren't having any more water and sewer problems so that's a good thing we have had a few problems with the heat um it's pretty hard for the Mini Splits to keep up with the heat on these bitterly cold days but
we're continuing to watch that we we're going to be rotating some of our offices in the near future including opening an office downstairs that hasn't been utilized for a couple of years and I'll be sure to announce these changes before they take place or as soon as they take
place um the winter carnival well I just want to take a moment to thank Christy Moore and the wonderful Recreation team for the 103d winter carnival which was a great success despite some
significant um weather challenges and many departments helped out with that um fire police DPW um made a everybody working together to make sure that that was that that the place was safe um
beautiful ice sculpures and a um it was a fantastic way to bring the community together during these bitterly cold month um additionally um s the community preservation
um is we'll be reviewing um 12 projects uh there'll be a meeting Thursday February 27th those are all on the website and they actually really seek citizen input on these projects to see what the people here
would like to be funded so I would suggest that you review some of that on the website and make your uh make your opinions known if you're sitting here as a council member or in the audience or watching this later on television that
is how the community preservation committee makes their decisions so that's about it um if you have any questions vice president Garrett this is more of a comment but the community preservation committee if that's a busy
day and um I know I won't be able to attend so I may make written comments and I would just like to speak to the vast public that is watching this meeting and encourage them to do the same thank you any other questions uh councelor Gob did I miss the the Downtown parking
configuration improvements is on the list but I you didn't you did not miss that was very observant of you and I don't have that with me that little piece where I was going to talk about that and I was not going to try to add lib because it's as you well know it's
not my best thing that's good we can talk about that at another time thank you counil Golab I appreciate not add living I don't see any other questions for the mayor so thank you okay thank
you so next we have um Chief Strahan so something that we're trying to do is plan out ahead so it's not just random City departments that show up so each month you'll see a
different topic and I'll be encouraging through the committee chairs to also recommend if there are committees that you are part departments that you all want to hear from so that we're getting you can get your ideas questions
ahead of time um instead of just on the fly so thank you Chief Str uh thank you very much for the invite I guess I'm the first department head to uh have five minutes to just give an update about the fire uh about my department the fire department um and
uh I thank you all for allowing me to speak for a couple minutes um I could go on for hour hours about the fire department but I'll keep it very brief um uh as you all know we moved into our fire the new Fire Station over a year ago uh it is a great location a
beautiful building we are very fortunate to be there um couple things that have not occurred yet that will occur um the museum uh is still in the process of being designed that was not part of the project the building the space for the
museum was part of the project the museum itself was not part of the project and it was funded through donations and fundraising and we have a curator that's helping us design it so we want to do it right so it's been pushed off a little bit uh with that a
uh local resident in town uh wanted to do something special for the fire department they had um family members in the past that had served on the fire department and so they have donated to the fire department and authorized the
building uh and creating of a sculpture Monument for outside of the firehouse which should be here sometime in the spring we are really grateful for the U Anonymous donation that we received and uh uh there'll be more coming on that we
uh applied for and received a Federal grant uh to replace all the thermal imaging cameras uh in the in the fire station they were getting to be 10 15 plus years old uh having multiple failures with them so uh we are going to
be adding 13 new thermal imaging cameras to our Fleet which uh makes a huge difference and we don't have to ask for in capital um on a more somber note uh a couple
weeks ago um we had a tragic incident within the city um our thoughts and our and our prayers go out to the family that was affected by that but I did want to talk a little bit about it um for 30 seconds or so to say how proud I am of
being the fire chief for the city of Greenfield and the response of the fire department uh but it goes beyond that as well our Police Department our DPW uh residents businesses uh all stepped up in this um time of need uh
where it was probably one of the most dangerous uh challenging uh incidents that I've been on and I've been on a lot in my career uh and everybody did admirable uh and the risk um um that our
responders police fire our ambulance uh they took to try to save this individual uh is nothing short of heroic um and I couldn't be prouder of our Public Safety entities in this town uh
it's very difficult um now the challenge is is that uh this was something that could come back and haunt um some of our responders mentally down the road so our it's our mission right now is to keep an eye on our Our First Responders and make
sure that their um their mental health is taken care of with with with a tragic incident like this um we uh wrapped up uh an assessment center for the deputy Chief's position
yesterday uh I hope to have an announcement uh by next week's Public Safety Commission on who uh the candidate that will be recommended going forward so we are super excited for those that don't know uh we have not had
a deputy chief in the department since um probably nine years now uh it has been very challenging from an administrative standpoint not having a deputy um uh so we are excited to finally get that position back uh it has
been my priority to make sure that we build our staff um on the four up before we would even consider another administrative position uh it is not a new position it is an upgrade to a an officer's position and I'll talk more
about that in our budget hearings I'm sure there'll be some questions about that going forward um our call volume as as was stated it's uh it uh that I stated publicly has gone up significantly um in
the last five five years uh last year being our busiest year uh we did about 3600 emergency calls about 62% of them of a rescue type nature most of them being medical calls um our fire calls uh
are up as well uh we did about, 1300 fire calls um so overall the the the um call volume within the fire department is just going up and up and I'll give you an example uh Sitting Waiting for yall to return
from your executive uh committee meeting I ran the numbers for today uh and today alone they have responded on 18 emergency calls um when I first started we were lucky to have 18 in a week uh and they did that today and that's the
new Norm um so the the fire station is or the firefighters are incredibly busy uh they stand ready to respond on on on whatever the need is but uh um we are getting busy and I'm super proud of the effort that the
firefighters have uh and so that's my update uh unless you want me to go into the ask for tonight um does anybody have any additional questions before we talk about fire trucks ccor
Gob I'm just curious why are the calls going up like that that's a great question uh and we we try to analyze that and we look at the responses um and we try to we try to do
Trends and we try to see where the why the calls are actually increasing the medical calls are simple we we've gotten involved in the last 10 years with running an ambulance service and our ambulance service is getting
busier and busier um daily um uh so that's a big part of it I think part of that EMS um delivery that we provide is we have an aging population um and we have a lot of needs for medical um
concerns within the community uh and so um we're not the only ones that are seeing a dramatic increase in the medical calls our primary provider which is AMR uh they are seeing a dramatic increase in the in the amount of calls as well so it's affecting everybody I
think as a County uh if you listen to the radio at all you'll you'll hear that every ambulance in the county is is seems to be crazy busy um so we're still looking at the trends I don't have a definitive answer on that but that's what I could attribute it to uh on the
fire side uh we do a lot more Mutual a um uh not only out but but receiving in just because the the volume of volunteer firefighters is is not there anymore um including for our department
we used to have have um 30 active call Firefighters we have two um and we try we try to put on call Firefighters we just the the level of training the commitment the time commitment and everything else is is is very
challenging for volunteers nowadays I do want to caveat something that I missed in my report talking about why we're seeing some changes and I and I do want to highlight a little bit of a change that I've saw this year um I don't know if you all are aware but we had some
pretty significant um Wildland fires throughout the Commonwealth um uh a lot in western Mass that our department assisted with we were part of Statewide Fire Mo mobilization and and we responded to it the reason why I bring this up is
because I don't want to be an alarmist but I am a realist and the fire activity that I saw was fire activity I haven't seen in my 30 years of firefighting when it comes to wild fires and urban interface and um some of the fire
activity that I saw in mson in great barington um was just absolutely um crazy and it's stuff that you don't see around here and I think that's the trend that's going to continue um I'm only highlighting this because the only
difference between those fires being real disasters and and the large fires that they were the only difference that we saw was that with the end of November and the temperatures were about 50° if we had another 20 degrees on these fires
or 30 degrees hotter which you would typically see in August September um in October when you see fall fires these fires would have been disastrous um and so uh I highlight that because I think you're going to see more and more um
natural disasters affecting uh what we do in emergency services I one question sure councelor Perry Chief can retired firefighters uh volunteer as on call and volunteer so first it would it would um
uh could hamper their um um pensions the the other thing is is that there's a mandatory out uh age for firefighters Public Safety is um 62 is mandatory [Music]
out so I don't want to get the cart too far be for the horse on this but if if you want to just briefly outline the need for the new ladder truck um and then we'll come back to it when we come back to that motion
but um yeah I'd be happy to uh I'll keep it real brief uh we highlighted it last night at way and means um um here's here's the bottom line with the when it comes to the ladder truck I'm very sensitive to the fact that the fire department um has had a lot of capital
asks that have been fulfilled over the years um and uh you know it was not an easy decision to uh come back and ask for this ladder uh the ladder was approved a year ago with capital Improvement so it was in under normal
circumstance it would have gone through the council last year year for for approval but because of some changes you're getting it now so this had gone through the approval process um before now um before the fire station was even
um a real uh realistic um uh I started talking about the replacement of this ladder when I first took over as Chief as a matter of fact um um um Maria Burge which is one of the previous counselors reminded me tonight that I remember when
you came to way me 10 years ago and told us that you got to prepare for the ladder truck so everything that we did with our Fleet we did and I was very clear from day one over a decade ago every time I talked about it we're
making these changes to pave the way for today uh and what I mean by that is we redid our Fleet we reduced um three trucks and put them into two trucks uh saving a little bit over a million dollars and every time we made changes
like that I would say this is in preparing for the big purchase right and the big purchase is a ladder truck at the time when I first started talking about this the truck we wanted was about $1.4 million um we talked about refurbing the
truck uh before it hit the 20year mark we talked about different options and they just never came um came to um uh reality uh but I kept saying that we've got to prepare for the ladder and we're doing our part uh financially to try to
get us in that position fast forward to today um the original ask was $2.5 Million uh $2.5 million replaces basically the fire Tru that we have now with an identical um uh
type of truck with a platform on it unfortunately funding is a little shy um and the mayor um uh with her um strategy which I applaud uh is we're not borrowing money for it if we were to
borrow a capital expense for this truck we're looking at 5% over the life of 10 or 20 years which is hundreds of thousands of dollars on this project the Mayor found somehow uh the ability to come with some money for this project um
but it it's it's a little short it's it's about1 uh6 million so 300,000 is going to come out of the ambulance revenue account which still gets us to about 1.9 what that does is it buys a different
truck than we're used to um it won't have the platform on the front of it the platform's a working platform for the firefighters this will be a straight ladder now that my firefighters are used to working off a platform so they have a little reservation about working off a
ladder there are two people in the fire department that remember working off a ladder it is safe to do it is efficient to do yes it's harder to work off a ladder but we work off of ground ladders all the time and this is just an extension of a ground ladder it's a bigger ladder with a more stable
platform uh uh ladder way to work off of what it does do though is it changes our ability to respond differently with this piece of equipment the ladder truck we have right now primarily F functions as what we call in the fire service a truck company which means it's ladder work and
that's all it does um this new truck by being a um it's got a shorter wheelbase it's about the size of an engine it's got more of a reach 107 foot it's got a pump on it with more water we can actually use and press this truck into
Service as a as a backup pumper um uh if we have a failure of mechanical failure of a truck or it can fill that role it also is more maneuverable we can get it to more areas and it gives us some advantages it does have some disadvantages over the ladder over the
platform um but this is the truck we can afford um uh and uh working with the mayor working with a finance director looking at the projection moving forward for finances with the city on big capital projects and also recognizing
that there are many departments in this city that have important Capital needs as well um I agonized over um whether or not this was the right route and came up with the decision it is a the appropriate truck at the appropriate
cost um it is efficient it's effective and we will do our mission um just as well with this truck as we would with a platform so all right thank you so much I should mention that's the
financial part of it the need part of it is um not only is the obvious need if you you need a ladder truck to perform a rescue uh of somebody on a higher floor at a structure fire you want that ladder truck immediately available and you do not want to count on your neighbors or
somebody else to bring it into your town that's the human piece of it the other piece of it is is that ISO which governs everybody's insurance rate for their houses but specifically more import just as importantly uh the commercial properties uh that's how your insurance
rate is is um set one of the requirements from the fire protection standpoint is that if you have um buildings that are three or more stories and you have more than four of them you have to have your own ladder um by ISO
ratings look downtown we have well more than than three um building or four buildings that have more than three stories um we have a lot um so it is a critical it is a vital piece of equipment our current truck is 25 years old
uh it should have been replaced um in um 5 years ago um but this happens uh in any City in any town where we have to push things back I'm very concerned over what the cost increases we're going to see as we move forward the typical fire
apparatus manufacturer right now is seeing anywhere between uh two and 4% increases a quarter um so um I think this is the the appropriate time in the most coste effective way and
uh I don't think you're ever going to be in a position um to have this um I don't want to say inexpensive because I don't take that lately $1.9 million is not inexpensive but um we wait another three to five years it's
going to be close to $3 million at that point so um I hope I can I answered everybody's questions uh I appreciate the uh dialogue we had last night at way mean some great questions I really uh appreciate the questions uh this is not
an item that anybody should be taking lightly uh including myself when I bring it forward so I'm gonna go to celer Gob and then vice president Garrett hey appreciate the work that you've done I I had the question of do
we need to be that expensive and I hear that you you and the mayor have worked hard to lower the lower the costs and I appreciate the sacrifice that you're making with this and I also appreciate you not being alarmist but you being a
realist and bringing up the very real concerns about fire uh and that we're that we're facing that we've never faced before and so I don't expect a comprehensive answer right now um but I I am curious about what work is being
done to I mean if if there are wildfires a lad truck will be supportive but I'm sure we'll need much more than that and what we can do as a community to protect ourselves to the best of our ability I imagine this is a CommunityWide effort
and I'm curious what's being done around that and and again that may be a future conversation but I really am grateful to you bringing up that conversation and I and I welcome us all being part of it because it's it's incredibly important
yeah so I'll absolutely be happy to dive into that down the road I will tell you some initial um uh activities that we've done as as as the fire department in Franklin County is we've seen this need um starting to evolve so Franklin County
uh developed what we called a um District nine which is Franklin County uh hand crew which is specially trained Wildland firefighters that um departments have three or four individuals that are specifically trained to do firefighting uh Wildland
firefighting and we're not talking um the simple go out and put water on on a fire these are high-end activities where they they can do backfiring of fires for containment they they um dig fire line
um we have four members uh four or five members on the team um made up of all Franklin County they went all all fall season working fires um and uh uh we're the first one in the Commonwealth to do
that we are now part of the uh Statewide Fire mode plan and um there are multiple counties trying to mirror um our team that we put together so that was our first step and I'm pretty proud of
that I'm gonna go to councelor Healey Who's online and then back to vice president Garrett thank you um I was just wondering if a lease purchase option was looked at as that would allow us to break this over a couple fisal
years great question counselor I appreciate that um yes every Avenue of Finance was looked at this um we have been successful uh with doing lease purchase of vehicles uh we are uh currently about halfway through the
lease purchase of the uh engine three our newest fire engine that was under a lease that is in my operating budget I think it's about 65,000 we pay pay a year on that um the increase in the
rates um since we did that have put that um really not uh not wise to do that at this time uh the rate increases have I think put that out of out of that contention the other part of that is um whether you lease a vehicle you Bond a
vehicle or whatever borrowing method that you have you are you are increasing what you owe for um debt uh and uh talking with the mayor she's very concerned over uh the amount of debt
that the city has um and does not want to take on any debt in any form including the lease agreement which by the way doesn't make a lot of sense financially at this time thank you vice president
Garrett thank you um you mentioned the home insurance rates and commercial real estate rates would go up if we didn't have a ladder truck insurance rates across the board not real estate y do you have any sort of sense I know you're not a you know insurance adjuster of
roughly what that would look like for individuals in the city you know would it be like a 10% increase you have no you don't know I I don't I I know when we when we try to improve our insurance rating every time we get um graded every five years uh we've been un successful
in doing that uh we were um uh we were a three uh over about 15 years ago we went up to a four um for the average homeowner it's not it's not a lot on your insurance um um it's very small
amount it's the businesses the commercial businesses that actually see uh the savings I I am fortunately don't have that information it would not be reasonable to expect you to but thank you for trying thanks councilor Perry I just want to
repeat what I said last night publicly the presentation you presided presented Us in writing was outstanding I want to thank you for all the research and and that you pulled together to present a
because I I was so cynical when I first saw the thing come across but then when I read your report and you went line by by line subject by subject and you answered every possible question I just want to thank you and let you know how appreciative we are of the work you put into this so thank you very much thank
you we uh it's been a a 10-year report in the making so he's had a little time to work on it all right thank you so much for and I know we're due for a break can we do the public comment first because I also
aware that we made these folks wait for an hour so and it's not that many cool all right so we're going to move to the public comments and I know you'll be in the audience should we have questions when
we come back thank you very much thank you is addressed in here sorry so the first person for public comment is Sid St John I'd like you to come up um just introduce your name where you live and each person is going
to have three minutes and we do have a timer and we're going to cut you off and we're not being jerks uh hi I'm sit St John I'm on Highland Avenue here in Greenfield and uh you might have heard me making a little bit of noise recently about um I
was supposed to go to a public hearing for a special permit tomorrow uh for the operation of a cut flower farm at my house on Highland Avenue um and so I'm here for two reasons is one I wanted to let you all know that that application has been withdrawn and so please don't come to the meeting if you had comments
um I'm happy to receive them via email or social media um and happy to answer any and all questions that uh folks have for me regarding that um and number two is the reason why that application has been withdrawn is because after
conversation with uh Mr Eric tarog and Mr Mark snow um we were able to determine that assuming that I can reach financial goals with the cut flower farm um I actually will fall under Massachusetts state law which will
protect uh which will basically grant me the same uh privileges that Farms over 5 acres are protected in Greenfield um so I just you know thank you to all of the support that I've received and all of the really great questions that I've
already received about that and uh I'm really looking forward to hearing if anybody anybody watching or anybody watching later has any further questions um my email is really really easy to find about that farm I don't know if I'm like allowed to
plug it here but uh that's what I've got thank you thank you a thanks that that's so amazing so thank you than get that that off so thank you great all right thank you very
much so the next up I have and I apologize Arman margos okay you plan to do it together because we have both of your names on the list all right he he' likes to sit with me it's okay and then he he'll speak after I speak okay he's gonna have his own
three minutes my solidarity oh gosh anyway I know he's a good guy he's a good guy um my name is arm I live at 186 Petty Plane Road and for the past three years I've
been withstanding a lot of noise um ambient noise is usually between 60 and 70 DB um I've had a professional decibel meter reading at my house of 110 DB so um I have
had very high readings I've had to put up it's it's affected my health and um and so when when um since almost about a year
ago I started attending the licensing board meetings because the police kept telling me that they couldn't do anything about the noise that I had to go to the licensing board well I've been attending the licensing board every single month I think except
yesterday um but I've been attending every single month now in January um because of that really cold weather I attended um via Zoom um I waited to speak I had my hand raised and
when I was called upon I spoke for less than a minute and um the the mayor's proxy CH the chief of staff Aaron anhalt was there and she um she silenced me she
says it's enough with you and um it's you know you you just be quiet and I hadn't even spoken for a minute I urge you all to go and look at that recording because if it's an open meeting and I'm allowed to have three minutes to
speak then I deserve that I deserve to be respected I I deserve not to be bullied by the mayor and her staff and I am I'm suffering and so I'm trying to have I'm advocating for
myself and so I expect that he to be respectful of me and also that that I'm taking time every month to attend that meeting I take notes and I have been very meticulous about how I how I
discuss what is going on Mike Nelson uh the president of the fairgrounds is um having all these events there that are um you know the the the licensing board just keeps praising him for you know
even when things happen that are wrong he doesn't have to experience it he and his family are not having to experience that level of noise and the disruption to their lives and so it's like they can always they always say oh it's so wonderful Mike that you recognize post
the event that something's gone wrong well I had to live through that nobody's saying to me I'm sorry you had to go through that nobody apologizes to me and nobody ever respects me for what I have to bring to the table and it's
enough thank you thank you do you want me to stay you want me to Jo my name is Ted Hinman I am armon's husband as you would all know by now I assume you're at the same address yes thank
you just rules P yeah we live on the same address 186 Petty plane road I was going to say that and well the other thing I might add too is
that when armony was trying to speak up about her concerns she was told that oh I hear this thing every single time and the reason why Armon is speaking up is because she's not being heard heard she's being ignored and just like armony
described it and I think that if something is really hurting or harming us then we have to speak up until it's heard otherwise they're just if we don't speak up then who
will and I also want to mention something about wormtown I know that with wormtown there has been it's very clear that they've been uh dealing and using illegal drugs
over there and then there's also a lot of this uh lwd and lascivious Behavior out in the open in front of everybody and I find out and seeing pictures that
there are little kids there and if all this lwd and lascivious behavior is going on then the kids are going to be traumatized by it and it's just not acceptable and I would
also add too that with the drugs I know some of these uh psychedelic drugs come in the form of candy or cannabis or whatever and then a kid picks it up and eats it and then what do you think's going to happen
and also it's like this worm toown has just been supported by the authorities and the question I'd have to ask is let's say the ultimate date comes in which
uh somebody dies of an overdose on drugs and it turns out to be a child or what about with all this LW and lascivious Behavior somebody gets raped or some unwanted moves on
them are you going to say oh well oops I'm sorry or is that going to motivate people to do something about it and I
just have to say what has to be said this is not it shouldn't be a free for-all and I think wormtown specifically it's very clear that there's all this stuff going on thank
you thank you for sharing next on the list I have Pamela Goodwin good evening counselors my name is Pamela Goodwin I live at 54 High street over at the welen um it occurs to me that I believe
um former president John bottomley was out of the area when we did our reorganization I just wanted to take a moment to thank both he as the president of the former um Council and also Sheila and recognize all their great hard work
so thank you so much for that and I'm thrilled at our new people that we have um I wanted to take of the opportunity to say that this has been one heck of a winter that I think we've all been experiencing and it certainly isn't over
yet I want to um praise the DPW because I've been out in these streets in all kinds of weather day and night they've been a bit of a challenge but I find that they've done an excellent job of keeping the streets clean as best as
they can in addition to that I know that the big mountains of snow are are big sheets of ice now and they cannot be removed um and I know it's difficult to park downtown and I was down there
recently and um I believe that if there is any ticketing at all whatsoever I was told that it would be just a warning because it's kind of dangerous to climb yourself up to these uh slippery mountains to try to reach the meters so I just wanted to let the public know
that um I'm also a volunteer at the womaning center over at the Salvation Army on a pretty steady basis I want people to know that I am very struck at what a community of unhoused people we
have they take care of each other they're helping each other I have had no incidents what soever as one of the two people volunteering to stay with them and most of the shifts I were or 7 to 11: but occasionally I've done 11:00
p.m. to 3:00 a.m. and I find them a bit challenging if they're in a different type of mood um but otherwise I just love those group and I go over regularly even when I'm
not there from time to time and just check in or bring extra coffee or say hi to them um and I welcome anybody else who would like to volunteer I know we've opened up again um and you don't have to have any special qualifications you
always have another person there occasionally the police stop in and check on you you're often working with either a dispatcher or an EMT person or somebody from the fire department so I just wanted to say I find that a very rewarding
opportunity and I think and I have heard U from shandal Diaz that it's rare to have so many different agencies and organizations will their sources and be able to keep this up and running successfully so I want to say that's an
amazing feat on behalf of the mayor and all of the agencies that have pulled together there must be at least six or eight different agencies pour pouring into that thank you thank you the last we have online is Stephanie
Duos hi Stephanie Duos Chapman Street precinct um I actually want to touch upon a couple things on the agenda um there is uh some changes to the Charter I have some concerns about that
are more than just um errors in um uh family and employee as uh kind of highlighted in the agenda packet um there's an addition on uh section H I am concerned about um it says the
commission shall apply the principle of progressive discipline except for those instances where more severe punishment is warranted um there's some changes in the days of that um someone may come and be
a commissioner some of the ways that they are um striking out seems as if they are taking away the public safety commissions um being stripped of its authority of their oversight of the police and the uh fire
departments um the the agenda items I was referring to it's on number 10 motions three and four also it says there's a scribers error on the mayor section but an entire
section of that is missing so I have questions as to whether or not that is you're only modifying that and you and that it was intent or if it was intentionally left out of the agenda packet as it's going to be eliminated and I think being in a charter review uh
year um I think the stakeholders of the commissions that you're changing or some of these votes um should be tabled also um I'm really uh disheartened by uh what we've got going on in the school
committee um not working with or the the school uh it's hard to figure out which one it is that's not working with our city council especially seeing how the qualifications to gradu wa now are D minus so I'm wondering if there's any oversight at all I mean if it's all going to
Administration um I'd be equally uh upset if I was an elected official and I was asking questions about our budget um I think those answers you guys represent us so I think those uh questions need to be answered for the people who putot the
bill um I also wanted to make note that the pl the recommendation coming from the planning board um that meeting was in violation of open meeting law didn't have Public Access I have filed an open meeting law violation on that it should have never continued I had requested
three times to have that uh calendar link corrected they continued uh with the meeting uh the vice chair uh Jeff saucer was in charge so I don't blame George who did at the prior meeting shut it down because of the exact same issue
without having public access to that meeting and we just changed that in our Charter so I'm asking that some of these things get tabled U we do have a charter review um Year and that uh it's very
important not to Omit or add language to our Charter without it going through ano and the proper channels and to make sure that um a proper discussion can happen thank you thank you Stephanie
and I don't see any other online so this concludes our public comment thank you everybody who showed up and made your feelings known to the council we really appreciate you especially on a cold Icy night a little
bit hard to do can we take a five minute break thank you okay I know we all want to be here till midnight so I'm looking forward to that all right so okay if we go past 11
drinks are on Catherine thank you fantastic back at 907 ask if if we say it in public is it true ask if councelor Gordon and do we have counselor Gordon back online
yes I'm here and councelor Healey I'm here thank you so now we're moving to the public hearing and second reading so that is on page 12 of our packets in accordance with home Rule
Charter the Greenfield city council will hold a public hearing on Wednesday February 19th 2025 at 6:30 p.m. at the johnzon community center 35 Pleasant Street and zoom and I'm not going to read all those letters and numbers
um and the public hearing is for the purpose of transferring 8,000 from veterans department ordinary benefits to veterans department Monument account repurpose $ 53,486 from high school capital building account to replace and upgrade boilers
at Greenfield High School and purchase a fire department ladder truck for an amount not to exceed $1,900,000 with $1,600,000 to be paid from Capital stabilization and $300,000
to be paid from the ambulance revolving account the city council may consider the same on Wednesday February 19th at 6:30 at Johns on community center and I do not have anybody signed up for public
hearing does anybody want to step up and we are opening this at 9:09 p.m. second reading can I ask councilor toronzo to read the second reading sure thanks for doing the first one that's great I'm just giving you a
break because I know it's happening in a month or two that's true um transfer Second City Council second reading uh transfer $8,000 from veterans department ordinary benefits veteranarian Department Monument account repurpose $ 53,486 from high school
capital building account to replace and upgrade boilers at Greenfield High School purchase a fire department ladder truck for an amount not to exceed $1,900,000 with $1,600,000 to be paid from Capital stabilization and $300,000 to be paid from ambulance revolving
account all right we are at 910 and we are closing the public public hearing all right now we're moving into motions orders and resolutions um we've already done the executive session so we will be going to
number two which is release of confidential legal opinion which is on page 14 do I have someone who can read that for me please I can do that thank you um the city council moveed that be ordered that the Greenfield city council votes to
release the legal opinion requested by the council from City attorney Gordon Quinn dated January 13 2025 regarding a proposed zoning Amendment submitted by citizens petition pertaining to section 200 d718 accessory dwelling units majority
vote required i' second that thank you any discussion uh no that was councelor torono seeing none let's vote please councelor golb yes councelor
Gordon Yes councelor master Taro yes councelor bottomley yes councelor Perry yes councelor he yes councelor Brown
yes vice president Garrett yes councilor Minos yes councelor toronzo absolutely does the president wish to vote yes and yes motion passes unanimously great uh moving to the
amendment to the Charter can I have uh councelor go read that please order number fiscal year 25044 the city council move that it be ordered that the Greenfield City Charter article 3 executive branch section
38 temporary absence of the mayor subsection a acting mayor be amended as indicated below with bold texts to be added section 38 temporary absence of the mayor a acting
mayor the mayor shall by a letter filed with the city council and a copy filed with the city clerk designate a qualified City officer or in city employee to exercise the powers and perform the duties of the office during
the temporary absence of the mayor for periods of less than 15 business days and to serve only when the needs of the city require and only to the extent necessary under the then circumstances and that the city council
further instructs the city clerk to submit the approved vote to the legislature of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and request said legislature to amend the city Charter majority vote required a second then any discussion and if you have
contexts I would be appreciated oh well this oh yeah this I don't this was not um if you're asking me for context I believe that we discussed this at committee chairs this did not um come to
ano at least not while I not this month um but I do have two of have a question and a point one there was concern um from the public about whether this was amending further parts of the
charter and I just want to point out that this says in the first phrase that this is amending article 3 sub section A so hopefully that'll assuage concerns and then the second question that I had is that when I looked at the
charter and this first paragraph of subsection a the word employee is already there but it appears to me that the piece that's being changed is that it's being changed from 10 business days to 15 business days and so I don't know
that it matters that what word is bolded but just for us to understand understand it seems like that's the intent of this change is that accurate can I ask clerk Scott to expand on this for us
please so during the previous Charter review not ordinance review Charter review there were recommendations that came from the charter Review Committee to the council they were voted on by the
council they were approved by the then executive body forwarded to the legislature for review and Governor's approval and I'm really shortening this when it came back
from the governor there were two words missing one of the words was Employee the other word is in the next order
any changes to section 38 were previously approved by the council this order is correcting the omission of the word employee that happened at some point during the legislative review scri there
we all make them so this just corrects that one word the 15 business days was previously approved for amendment by the council
and was signed off by the governor vice president Garrett clear Scott would you mind just defining what a scribner's error is for folks it's a typo thanks so basically they left out the word employee and we're putting it back
can right counc Toronto um just for a quick reference because it was in our backup documents that on page 17 it's even highlighted um so if anybody wants to look at the agenda to see what is under question um it it kind of spells
it out pretty pretty clearly that nothing else is changing as clerk Scott indicated nothing is changing we're just putting the word back in that should have been there councelor do also just want to take this opportunity to make clear to that there
is no Charter review happening this this year that the city council will be undergoing an review of all the ordinances but the ordinances and the charter different are distinct and for everyone listening just welcoming input
about the ordinance review but no Charter review this year thank you for the clarification so and given that we're going to vote on the next typo um same rules apply are we ready to go to a
vote okay great councelor golb yes councelor Gordon Yes councelor master tataro yes councelor bottomley yes councelor Perry yes councelor Healey
yes councelor Brown yes Vice president Garrett yes Council Minos yes councelor toronzo yep does the president wish to vote yes and yes the motion passes
unanimously okay so now we're moving to Amendment to the Greenfield City Charter article six would you like to read that one as well yeah order number fiscal year 25045 the city council and I'm going
going to not read what's stri what's stried out and I will read what's bold the city council move that it be ordered that the Greenfield City Charter article 6 administrative organization section
611 Public Safety commission subsection e be amended as indicated below with striketh through text to be removed and bold text to be added section 611 Public Safety Commission e the commission shall review
written complaints made by the public concerning the operation of the public safety departments and the conduct of employees of both those departments all all written complaints received shall be forwarded to the chief
of the department to which they relate and the chief shall investigate or cause to be investigated said complaints and submit his finding and recommendations in connection therewith that he deems
appropriate the commission shall adopt such rules and regulations consistent with this ordinance the Civil Service statute and the police and fire collective bargaining agreements as it deems necessary to establish procedures
to be followed in filing of written complaints by the public investigating complaints and holding hearings concerning complaints made to it regarding the operation of the police or fire department and the conduct and officers and employees of
each department citizen complaints shall be considered part of the employees personal file the commission shall apply the principle of progressive discipline except those instances where more severe punishment
is warranted h no member of the commission shall be a me shall be an employee of the police department or fire department nor shall any member of the commission of the commission member's family be an employee or retired member
of the police or fire department within 36 months of the commission member's retirement date family member shall mean father mother spouse child stepchild grandchild brother sister brother-in-law sister-in-law nephew niece and
grandparent and that the city council further instructs the city clerk to submit the approved vote to the legislature of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and requests said legislature to amend the city Charter majority vote
required second typo must be a spr just a typo here and not in our Charter so who was the second sorry sorry was that a real comment councelor
Toronto did no what else see bother-in-law not brother I hope that that's just on ours and not actually in our chair that's why we will look at that okay thank
you I a father-in-law I'm sure let me see where any other discussion is that your hand up counselor go yes um I there were a couple of words that I got stuck on and I may note but then I
don't know where they were I can we amend a couple of kind of typo errors that are in this still does that disrupt the whole process or is that simple
substan I think that depends on if it's a substantive change or just word Smith the only change that feels substantive is um amending his to their that feels substantive the others I realize that there was like an of and
an in missing as I was reading but I can sort of give that answer uh clerk Scott can answer that so I was looking and I'm unable to find
it in the moment there is a section of our Charter um that says if the reference to a person is a gender reference that it
means it's not specific to gender it's just filling a space however um um there could be a suggestion and I don't think it it couldn't be done at this moment
to make documents gender neutral in their terms if someone wanted to consider that in the future but you couldn't do it right now as a global Amendment to the Charter or the
ordinances what would that sound like are you I I'm I don't 100% understand what that would sound like yet so for example can you s can you say what would that sound like like I move to amend the
entire Charter to to make turn any gender his or her into their into a gender neutral language something it would be something of that sort yes okay but any Amendment like that would have
to go through a public hearing um before it could be voted on by the council so so I'm wondering if for the just the for both time and because this is a bigger issue maybe
set that aside because I I probably guess that there's lots of problems um with gender non-neutral language throughout the charter that this isn't the only instance this is not the only so maybe that's a future thing uh
councelor Mr Toro I I have to agree with clerk uh Scott I've read it in the charter somewhere as well where um there
overrules any gender specific reference in the charter it's there I've read it I can't tell you where it is though so it's there
um I mean we could at some point just change everything I don't think tonight's the time to do it but um but it is covered in the charter yes you may so just because it's
cover in the charter doesn't mean that's the way it should be I think the correction uh a global correction to the gender neutral terms would be the best way to go but not
tonight great I will bring this forward at another time very soon yeah that sounds good we'll see um one more comment from clerk Scott so the bother-in-law is a
typo by my office if you look on page 17 it does say brother yeah we will correct that although I'm sure that's what I'm GNA
start calling we're all gonna be bothering laws now so we have a motion in a second so we have a motion and a second so let's vote please councelor Gob yes councelor
Gordon Yes councelor master Taro yes councelor bottomley yes councelor Perry yes councelor Healey yes councelor Brown yes vice president Garrett yes councelor
Minos yes councelor bother-in-law um toronzo yes absolutely thank you for that I I couldn't not president wandalowski yes and yes the motion passes unanimously all right so we made it
through the typos and we're going to appointments so back to councelor gallb Okay order number fiscal year 25043 the city council mooved that it be ordered that the Greenfield City city
council pursuant to Charter section 210 affirms the following appointments by the mayor elderly and disabled taxation fund committee Mandy Whitten term to expire December 31st 2028 Human Rights Commission Linda
Goldstein Paul jablon both terms to expire December 31st 2028 Public Safety commission Kelly Dixon term to expire December 31st 2027
replacing Amy McMahon for remainder of term majority vote required do I have a second thank you and and how did this come out of AO unanimous positive recommendation thank you any
discussion so I want to again thank the folks who are willing to serve in our city um it it's really important that we continue to have more voices and not all the same people on every single Commission in the
city so thank you to these folks and it's time to vote councelor golb Yes councelor Gordon Yes councelor master tataro yes councelor bottomley yes councelor
Perry yes councelor Healey yes Council Brown yes vice president Garrett yes councel Minos yes councelor toronzo yep does the president wish to vote yes and yes the motion
passes unly so now we're at Ways and Means orders so transfer 8,000 and uh if you could read this councelor torono sure order number FY 25037 the city council upon recommendation of mayor's orderer an
order to transfer $8,000 from veterans department ordinary benefits to the veterans department Monument account move that it be ordered that the city council approves a transfer of the sum of $88,000 from veterans department ordinary benefits to the veterans department Monument account to fund Monument purchase majority vote
required do we have a second second and what was the decision out of committee uh that was unanimous positive any comments all right let's move to a
vote councilor golb yes councelor Gordon Yes councelor master Taro yes councelor bottomley yes councelor Perry yes councelor Healey yes councelor Brown yes vice president Garrett yes councelor
Minos yes councelor toronzo yep does the president wish to vote yes and yes the motion passes unanimously okay to the high school boilers uh order number FY 25041 the city council upon recommendation of Mayor dorer an order to repurpose funds
from the high school capital building account to replace and upgrade boilers at Greenville High School in the amount of $ 53,486 move that it be ordered that the city council repurpose funds from the high school capital building account to replace and upgrade boilers at Greenfield High School in the amount of $53,900
majority vote required second uh unanimous positive out of committee any questions or comments okay move to a vote councelor golum Yes councelor
Gordon Yes councelor master tar yes councelor bottomley yes councelor Perry yes councelor Healey yes councelor Brown yes vice president Garrett yes councilor Minos yes councilor torono yep president
wosi do you wish to vote yes and yes the motion passes unanimously all right last but not least fire trucks uh order number FY 25042 the city council upon recommendation of Mayor dorer and order to purchase fire department ladder truck
for an amount not to exceed $1.9 million with 1.6 million to be paid from Capital stabilization account and 300,000 to be paid from the ambulance revolving account move that it be ordered that the city council purchase a fire department ladder truck for an amount not to exceed 1.9 million with 1.6 million to be paid
from Capital stabilization account and 300,000 to be paid from the ambulance revolving account majority vote required unanimous positive recommendation from committee did I hear a second oh sorry second okay let's open it to
discussion c m um I mean it's kind of a large amount but uh like the Chief came up and explain I think it's something that's important and it would benefit the city as a whole so and I think we're ready to
vote councilor Gob yes councelor Gordon Yes councelor master Taro yes councelor bottomley yes councelor Perry yes councelor Healey yes councilor Brown yes
vice president Garrett yes councelor minus yes councelor toronzo yep does the president wish to vote yes and yes the motion passes unanimously all right so we have petitions which we have none
report of committees at no committee reports at this time um no unfinished business no old business but we do have new business so we have notice of a zoning Amendment
proposals and we don't usually EDC chair which is usually read by the EDC chair um councelor are you able to do that thank you yeah so the following zoning Amendment proposals have been submitted to the Greenfield city council for
consideration zoning Amendment section 20-14 Central commercial District CC 2-48 mixed residential business use is table of dimensional requirements submitted by councelor Michael mastero on January 29th 2025 and Zoning
amendments to sections 20056 accessory dwelling units 20061 site plan review and approval submitted by the planning board on February 14 2025 um do you want me to go into the specifics on each zoning amendment in
this meeting or give an update on where we're at uh no that's not necessary okay [Laughter] perfect there will be more to come later for sure I'll say there's a joint public
hearing on March 6 about these topics okay any motions for reconsideration and I want to I I want that to be no uh thank you all and we need to vote on adjourning so do
I have a motion to adjourn second all right let's vote on that councelor Gollum yes councelor Gordon Yes councelor master councelor bottomley yes councelor
Perry yes councelor Healey yes councelor Brown yes vice president Garrett yes councelor Minos absolutely councelor toronzo yep councilor president walosi yes Greenfield city council is adjourned
at 9:36 pm thank you all [Music]