e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e Wendy is she when the she's supposed to be here 18 she hasn't she she did not contact me saying that she's not coming yeah in the it's in my I like what did I do with the no no no get [Music] good evening and welcome to the budget and finance committee meeting today is Wednesday May 15th it is currently 6:16 p.m. here in the council chamber I have to my right your left councelor of District d d May a marmel and council president um javanni Rodriguez pursuant to the chapter pursuant to chapter 20 of the act of 2020 this meeting of the budget and finance committee is being conducted both in person and Via remote participation a reminder is that persons who would like to view or listen to this meeting while in progress May either attend here at the city council chamber or can view it through our YouTube channel um our Facebook account still is not uh active at the moment so but at this point can you please join me in the pledge of allegiance to flag of the United States of America and to the Republic [Music] indivisible andice councilors can I have a motion to approve minutes from our meeting from February 28 of 2024 March 27th of 2024 April 10th of 2024 and April 24th of 2024 so Move Motion made by um Vice chair U marmel is there a second seconded by council president discussion seeing none all those in favor say I I and the eyes have it all right we're going straight into the First new business number four item 437- 23er PPA and leas contracts with SCT electric for 5 years City Pro that includes City properties three schools and two City buildings and this is from Anil Naval theer advisor to Mayor Brian depena Mr advisor no it says five years five years thank you five City properties I'm sorry five yep you were five City properties which includes three schools and two buildings Mr thank you very much for the opportunity good evening everyone good evening gentlemen good evening all councilors uh I want to start of frame the thing right now that the we had five properties originally post the three of them had some issues that we wanted to sort out with National Grade and some structural issues so only two properties are going ahead based on the clearances we got it is the city hall and Arlington school those are the two properties that we are going to head with I will I have chat here to explain what we have changed we also have Walter from our options online do you need your laptop to be connected are you okay sorry to interrupt you there's something are you oh I'm sorry we usually have it in front of us too so it's not there anymore sorry continue no that's we should we shut the lights off a little bit do we have somebody somebody's waiting on a uh Zoom so can you let him in uh I think I'm inil hi I don't know if you can hear me Walter gr all right so y so Walter is from power options the previous with this whole thing I just give context we went through the whole three meeting sequence and we were asked to come back again uh with the new counselors uh we arranged a meeting to explain some of the previous misunderstanding about procurement process uh unfortunately uh the counselors were busy at that time and we couldn't make it but we still have the expertise available today that can explain some of these things we had extensive communication with uh Janel the our procurement officer uh she's comfortable with the process We are following and for the full council meeting we are going to request her to actually come in person today she had issues with her child care so she couldn't make it so she so but but we have the expertise available online B in case you have any questions from Walter from power options and we also have uh uh here our uh select director for for for for this whole uh project so he will present uh briefly the presentation and then we can continue any questions and answers okay thank you all right thank you um Chad coocher from select energy thank you for having me back I appreciate it um I have a few slides I'll make it um brief I'd like to touch on again power options you are a member of that organization and Walter Gray will speak to um the procurement model um and their relationship with my company select energy who builds the Solar projects for the power options members when they decide to move forward with projects um I do have a very brief uh project summary in terms of financials savings over the 20-year term uh I hope you'll agree that the savings are you know sufficient enough to um have the projects move forward um touch a little bit on some of the experience that we've had with other local uh cities towns organizations and then I do have one slide and some specific asks on um next steps so my company briefly we're located locally well hopkington Massachusetts we have two employees at this point we've been around in the Solar business since 2009 um we handle solar energy storage batteries EV charging um all types of things to generate power and save money for all types of organizations including uh public entities we're a full um TurnKey design build firm we do everything in house we don't Outsource uh anything we've built 750 projects in Massachusetts um that's commercial industrial Municipal higher ed uh we have projects at Harvard and MIT Stonehill UMass um and 80 or so cities towns school districts around the state uh we are decam certified we have our own in-house Service uh division to take care of all of our arrays and I guess most importantly um we are the power options RFP winner uh we competed with other solar companies in the state and the area uh for their U uh I guess the their business and and the ability to contract directly with their 550 so members um so power options handles all of the procurement uh Contracting all of that and we are the company that comes in after the fact uh builds the arrays and takes care of them uh for the 20-year term so I'm going to hand it over to Walter Gray who is here on Zoom um have him just touch on power options who I understand is already doing um business with the city through uh third party energy Supply procurement and we're just looking to take it to the next level and move to some on-site uh solar on some of the uh City properties W that's right Chad hi everybody um sorry I couldn't be there in person tonight similarly to janvi child care um you know that's what we have going on um I'm Walter Gray I'm a program manager at power options uh power options is a nonprofit energy buying Consortium so we were created originally by the Commonwealth in 199 98 to aggregate the buying power of specifically State agencies and go out to bid as a Consortium for electricity and natural gas logic was that we could achieve some economies scale by procuring as group um and also power options was intended to serve as a shared resource so members had a nonprofit to um assist them with energy procurement um and didn't have to maintain their own in house expertise to do that so we've since spun off into an independent nonprofit um we've grown to over 500 members in addition to serving uh state agencies we also serve a lot of municipalities um school districts housing authorities as well as all manner of private nonprofits including Healthcare higher education houses of worship Etc um as described our model is to go up to bid on a on a programmatic basis so what we do is go out to bid for program supplier um in this case we chose select energy for Soler for our Municipal members and and other members um City Lawrence as Chad described is a current power options member so um you're part of the Consortium uh we we that that's part of the the appeal to developers and program suppliers like select who get to serve the power options Consortium and just enjoy a streamlined transaction and um uh access to our members but in order to do that they have to win the RFP which is very competitive uh next slide please uh so we've been doing solar for a long time we started this 11 years ago and uh consequence of our members being routinely solicited by solar companies and then call us and ask us what what they should do so we decided it would be good to set up a program around this for for our members so starts with competitive procurement um we evaluate on a best value basis consistent with OMB um procurement guidelines so it's not obviously price is a big factor but it's also based on experience and um our evaluation of the the company's ability to competently serve our members um what we get out of the procurement are two main things one is we get a pricing model so we we do a lot of projects under our program they're all different and priced individually but it's all in accordance with our competitively procured pricing model so we negotiated this with select for example for your projects what they do is um financially model the projects and solve for a power purchase agreement rate that's the rate that they sell power to you at at um and it has to comply with our program rules with select and they owe me a populated spread sheet showing exactly how they calculated that so the power options can verify it's in accordance with our our program rules from the competitive procurement other thing we get is a contract template so we invest the money up front in consultants and attorneys and spend the time negotiating the contract with select um goal is to just uh make things efficient for our members we we can spend the money up front do it once and amortise the cost over a lot of projects that benefit our members so they don't have to incur those costs themselves for every project um big consideration here is our enabling statute we operate under mgl chapter 164 section 137 um this is something that I have discussed with Janel v um there's a bit of a belt in Spenders approach here this is how how we operate um for all manner of public entities um in Massachusetts but there's also the 30b approach this is something that that um you know we're we're working out um how how procurement wants to view this but um 164 137 this is a well trodden path at this point we've done this with um probably over 60 different municipalities school districts um with this exact same model um bringing our power purchase agreement offers with our competitively procured developer uh without the public entity doing their own RFP um next slide please so little snapshot of our our relationship our work with select energy we've been working with them since 2015 they've actually won three rfps since then um and they've grown significantly since we we met them um in 2015 when they originally served our small solar program and then eventually um won the the RFP for the bigger program as well um already covered the selection process a little bit it's captured in a full memo explaining the statutory Authority and framework for our program as well as our procurement process and why we picked select um so that's been shared uh with the city I'm sure that's available if you have any detailed questions um we yeah I think that's what we want to cover on that one um so I think it's back to Chad to talk about the um contract structure and review project financials sure thanks Walter so um real briefly on this slide just to be clear there's no costs at all to the city under this program in fact we've done a significant amount of work um so far and I can get into the details of that later if you'd like um but what we do is we offer a fixed power purchase agreement so under power options it was required per the RFP that if were're to do business with a city or a town we give them a rate today we do not raise that rate for 20 years while the utility continues to raise the rates on all of their customers we would not normally offer that in a open market scenario but as a power options member um that's something that's included in the program and we'll do a 20-year uh lock in on a rooftop a 25-year lock in on a parking canopy um those are becoming more popular lately um just to reiterate power options is your adviser you're their member they are on your side of the table I guess you could say um they check all of our work inspect all of our pricing make sure it's um compliant with the original competitive procurement we handle all the financing we put the bill for the project we ensure it if required we pay property taxes on it um we monitor it we maintain it out of hopkington um we've got two do service techs that handle about 750 arrays across the state um we do obviously comply with the pre-negotiated power purchase agreement and uh lease document which has been reviewed by the city's um uh legal department and I guess they had confirmed that um that it was acceptable um and then uh we do support you in other ways as well too we can connect you with Energy Efficiency companies help you with with EV charging and things like that um Chad I'm going to interrupt you for just a a second when was the power um purchase agreement sent to the city o um when was the power purchase agreement sent to the city or to to our City attorney um do you remember when when it was sent to last year that's when did the city council rece is this the first cop is this the first time we're receiving this no team has already approved the whole I'm sorry our City attorney has already approved the whole contract the contract it was sent to him way back when September October time frame May November so here so so here's the thing the City attorney is didn't even here tonight this is the first time we're seeing this contract and it's a very lengthy contract it wasn't even emailed to us prior to this meeting I don't feel comfortable moving forward with this item until the counselors until the this committee has has an opportunity to fully to review this contract yeah but it I as I said this went through three rounds first it went through all that and then it was stabled again to be brought back so at that time we presented the whole packet it went to three meetings it was presented because it was City attorney first looked at at it it went through the whole review process for three time and the last time last the third time that it was referred to the whole c meeting there was some recruitment issues that was why we bring it back but it has already gone through that review before but if you I don't I will do what you think is the right thing to do but I think we did follow the process in I do what you think I I'll open up if any counselors have any c but it's the same country year agoy I believe it was last fall it was presented to the city council that's why it's uh the item number is 327 uh so around that time frame and that that contract was uh uh was submitted to the council back then uh so it's the same contract you're seeing today hasn't changed the issue was I think uh the there was some uh uh some conation on the council concern on the council as was this properly procured and that's why we we came back uh and explained the procurement process okay council president uh essentially uh thank you for for that clarification um so we we have two properties not three is the contract in include all the five properties so what we have is a contract template that's approved by power options and as we come across new properties we update exhibits to that that standard template so the contract will never change only the exhibits showing the properties the pricing and all that so it's it's intended to be reused over and over and over again um and it I believe we I was here in I think October and Anil had printed out you know the standard template and and believe distributed on it was like 800 Pages or something like that it was was also went to cityy himself you look at and and if I could just speak to the it was five now two um we were given originally 40 or so buildings to look at a lot of them had older roofs um a few of them failed structural um evaluations by a a PE a professional engineer this first group of projects All That Shook out was the Arlington school and the City Hall of what passed a structural evaluation and what National Grid said uh was okay to build right now so 3/4 of the city of vence um if you wanted to do every building I couldn't build them because National Grid would keep us from doing that so I think what we're talking about with these two projects is National Grid has approved them we have that in writing um we have a structural affidavit from a third party independent structural uh engineer we have the financing um like you had said uh legal had approved the document I think what we're asking for is just acknowledgement and agreement on the procurement model itself um it's being used widely across across the state and then we haven't gotten to the slide yet but um acknowledgement and agreement on the the savings that we'll provide which is the real benefit to the city okay you may continue with your presentation thank you um I'm going to skip over this uh there are plenty of incentives for solar that we can incorporate um here you know what I'll skip right to the uh Financial summary so what you have here is an overhead view of City Hall and the Arlington school um we had done the design and Engineering work um all the regulatory paperwork's been completed um literally it's sitting there on the one yard line um we could go build this in 3 weeks if uh you know if we were given the approval um there is one I I put it in bold up there if we could just focus on that for a second Arlington school is a much larger project than the city hall um that part of the city has some older grid infrastructure National Grid in writing uh sent us a notice saying that they require $56,000 to connect to the grid all solar arrays are connected directly to the grid not Standalone so um we incorporated that fee um into our pricing and adjusted it and updated the savings model to reflect it so again the city is not paying that we pay it out of our development dollars as part of the project price uh but those are the two projects that we have sized out right now and the only two that are fully approved at this time but we hope to hope to get more approved soon I fully realized that's a bit of an an ey chart there but let me just walk you through it briefly I'm not going to go through every single line um but the system size is the upper leand corner it's a 75 kilowatt system um based on your most recent electric bill you're paying 17.69% that's all in for supply and electric that's locked in for 20 years um over the term you're looking at $86,000 in savings over 20 years um that is relatively modest but the the roof on this building is relatively small um but it's still savings to the city and no cost out of pocket um this also assumes U well the the system would be property tax exempt based on the usage in the building so I didn't incorporate that in there um the much larger project that's having much more significant impact and I think it speaks to this is just one school if we can go around and do more schools and more buildings this is going to be millions and millions of dollars in savings over the next 20 years um this is almost a 300 kwatt system call it um 650 or so solar panels producing 340,000 kwatt hours a year of clean clean energy for the city um the school electric rate right now for supply and delivery is 16.58% fee we have to pay the National Grid um we're able to get the PPA rate which power options approved power options uh approved the power purchase agreement I should say at 11.75 locked in for 20 years um I'm sorry say that again president um you're currently paying 16 . 58 we were able to get it down to 11.75 and lock it for 20 years um if you take a look in the lower right hand corner of the slide here you'll see that the cumulative savings over time is over $600,000 just for that one school and you know there's a lot of things that you could do with $600,000 besides pay National Grid and we hope that you know the sum of all these projects frees up a lot of money that you can implement it in other areas I will um stop there at the end of the financial part to see if there's any questions on the calculations or anything any questions councilors yes council president so through you through you man sh I'm seeing that the rate that you lack in in for 20 years they're not significantly low not even average it's not what I'm sorry the average the rate that you're locking in for the city hall are 15.9 cents per kilowatt uh it it is not a a significantly low uh rate when it comes to solo panel compared to the National Grid is only two cents yeah for that size system it's it's a it's a very small system um that's the rate that is calculated and that's what it solves so like the larger the system if we did the high school it'd be below 10 cents so the bigger you build a project we achieve some economies of scale and we can you know achieve some efficiencies and the lower the rate goes so the bigger the project the lower the rate yeah that's obviously because you putting more P You're producing more energy uh but does the city have looking to actually have our own solo pels and actually have a bigger saving than yeah I I can address we spoke about that as an alternative model because there is some incentives coming from the federal government that will cover 30% of the project that's not come into the that's going to you no um so if you own it you could get a direct payment from the treasury in lie of a tax credit for 30% of the project so if you have a million doll project you're still on the hook for the other 700,000 where you know where to come up with that money how to finance it um but it also becomes your responsibility in terms of monitoring it maintaining it um I think we used the water department as an example where a few years ago the city was given a grant um solar was purchased some turnover may have happened in that department and no one was paying attention to it and it was actually down I think for 3 years three years so you had a a big paper weight really like sitting at the water department not doing anything and no one knew where if we own it we're responsible for monitoring and maintaining it if today an inverter went down it would notify our office and we'd have a tech out either same day or the following day right yeah but they still not responding my question and there would be much more savings if you owned it um but there would also be additional responsibilities and and cost where here there is zero cost and just for one school I I mean I I we shouldn't be saying that it's zero cost it is not zero cost because we paying energy for energy that we produce that is not zero cost it is a cost of 15 cents 15 15.9 cents per kilowatts so that's that's the that's the cost it is not zero cost so we should eliminate that portion of it so so yeah if if you let me just yeah if you clarify yeah I should have said zero cost to build for construction so what we're off there's zero cost to build it we we've already paid the application fees the engineering fees the structural evaluation we will never ask the city for any money related to the construction of the project but we do expect that you would buy the power from it at a fixed rate for a 20-year period we need to be able to recoup our investment the the no it's understandable it's understandable then but but that what I my question is more related to how the system might work better for the city um because even the $56,000 to connect to the to the to the National Grid it is buil built in the project and therefore the saving went down uh and now this it's only $81,000 over 20 years about uh that's if we put it in perspective that's about $4,000 a year something like that yeah so what I'm saying is like having having to have the responsibility of getting solo panels giving out our rates uh or our uh um perhaps the the city's opportunity to get uh partially uh partially payments for our own system or re re or refunds from the feather government and state government uh it's kind of like you know it's like we need to analyze is every number not just well we get we're going to get $4,000 saving a year and you know it's like I don't know I mean it's still 50 50 15.9 cents kilowatt rate it's not quite I mean because if you chop around you might get it without having to do anything any of this you might get this rate I mean especially on the uh on the the uh the program that we are getting into uh which is we just approved a few months ago that they're going to negotiate on behalf of the city so we don't know if that rate might come up cheaper than 59 because I thought I was going to be more like you know something close to the 10 or something like that I mean that way we can look at the savings you want to yeah so uh I did I I try to do the same math that what you I think what you're referring to that if we buy the thing how much how much money do we make out of pocket and how much we take ownership of the problems that come with it and the price that you will get the savings I could not justify that it was substantial enough for us to take the the whole headache of maintaining the system making sure that everything works okay so that ultimately even if you own the system you'll have to create a maintenance contract you have to give it to somebody like them so and I mean in fact B options actually have two options buy the system this is the cost PPA this is the cost so can we get can we get that price it's not it's not going to come from so for because I mean you guys are you are in business of renting not selling oh no we um we have I would say 750 arrays and out there most of them are sales to Commercial and Industrial what is the percentage your companies do do in terms of selling I bet you 200 projects we own and 7 out of the 750 that we built so you guys own uh you guys sell about 550 projects Y and then own 200 projects and that's we typically own them when the host of the project can't take the tax benefits and doesn't have the funds or the ability to finance I think that we should at least look at those numbers before I make a decision and that way we can actually see because we went through we have gone through different project when it comes to uh different energy saving project I'll give you a good example we just purchased or we just took ownership of all the street lights of the City of Lawrence because we were going to have some savings over the year so and we took that responsibility but that was because we have the number and we take that determination and we we we actually um allow the council and the and the administration everybody to look at the real numbers as of how the savings are going to be but presenting an $81,000 saving over 20 years not even on a single home you're going to you probably going to have more than that on a single family home over 20 years saving it's like I don't know this is a big project with that being said please continue with your presentation sure um no I appreciate that and I would agree that um um when I initially talked to the mayor's office about this this was not putting solar here um was never going to save a ton of money it was more about having clean energy for the city on top of City Hall um the big money savings are at all the big roofs at the schools and the new schools that are coming um and we were at the time looking at it as an aggregate where across all these buildings it was a significant amount of savings for not having any responsibility on your part for maintenance and and monitoring um so I can talk to Anil we can put some pricing together run it by power options for purchase option um and then we can put out a proposal and lay out all the things that are involved in that um if you were to own it okay great please continue so I have uh just um let me just skip down here this is not working here so I'll just touch on this last slide I'll let you know what we've accomplished so far and what we're asking for in the future um last year we executed a letter of intent with the mayor's office it obligated the city literally to nothing except it did authorize us to start working with National Grid um we did all the electrical engineering we did all the utility applications the state incentive applications through clear res and the Massachusetts Department of energy resources um we were able to get the city hall and Arlington school approved by National Grid um we got the incentives locked in uh we finalized our pricing recently after the interconnections came back and we became aware of the fee to connect to the grid for the Arlington school um that in red up there I put that specifically because that payment National Grid is requiring 60 business days after we got the project approved so if we don't pay them $56,000 by call it early July they will literally cancel the pro project and make a start over um through engineering and group studies and things like that it will extend the project quite a long time um so we haven't yet signed a PPA or a lease I don't think we're quite uh there yet um the alternative is a purchase and installation agreement we have done all the structural engineering um and you know NE Neil thought it'd be a good idea if I talked a little bit about some of the value ads that we can add um should we do business um we do have quite a bit of webbased monitor ing software you could throw a uh display in the lobby and see your system produce in real time we've got quite a bit of educational programming and events that we've done Fitchburg school I think we met with 80 uh fourth graders and taught them about solar energy and becoming electricians and that the trades were um you know the way to go in the future and it was it was a great event we've got a whole marketing department uh press releases uh drone videos you want to put on the website it really is a a long-term partnership we build these and then we continue to work with our customers for an extended period of time um and I wanted to also mention you know we're making efforts in working with local communities um we're trying to recruit kids out of tech schools bring them on board internships um hire them train apprentices electrical apprentices um we made some some strides there and we're definitely looking to do more of that as we become busier and busier so um that's really all I have for today I appreciate all the time that you gave me and if you have any questions be happy to answer them add the local part that you mentioned I'm already taken appointment with suzan almano we are going to bring them to suzan almano from l l technical school so that they have creating an apprenticeship program so I want to see how we can combine that with our efforts here so thank you for the presentation I have a few comments so my issue with all of this is one I I understand that this whole the presentation the contract everything is from last year but 50% of my committee are new members that have never seen any of this before secondly I and I now I'm only speaking for myself as an individual counselor I do not like when the city comes and presents something to us with a time frame that if we don't do it by x amount of days we can't you know we can't move forward this is going to happen when weeks and weeks have been going by and this is the first time that like we're re reeing this at least a contract um that's something that I it gets under my skin because say if we have questions or or if like I I want to see the National Grid letter I want to see the legal approval that was none of that was included in our pockets so if we if we ask for additional documentation or anything and if we table this now it's like oh the council is delaying it so that is my that that's my concern right now and that's all I have to say about this U any questions or comments councilors I have one question council president um I'm I'm looking I'm looking at the contract here and I find something uh that I would like to clarify or some clarifications on it uh what is can you go through the contract and and uh and and actually look into the liquidated damage and explain to me the section please Walter are you still uh on the phone or on Zoom yeah but I am so I don't have um that agreement in front of me but I'm I guess I'll defer to you on the uh liquidated damages sure so uh I don't have it in front of me either I could probably pull it up uh the intent here is to compensate you for lost production and delayed production um once you sign these they're um the contract's pretty tight on time frames select has to build the project and get it turned on because um you know and as you mentioned in the case the city hall it's um you know not a lot of lot of financial benefit but um as a aggregation of projects or for the Arlington school there is significant um Financial benefit that you're going to be budgeting on and counting on um if the projects delayed if the project does not produce the guaranteed amount of production um and you're thereby compelled to buy the power from National Grid at a higher price than the PPA rate um the antenas that you're made hold for that so two things that I would like to see before I move forward with my V I'm a single boat here so um and I just want to make sure that we have clear we clear on this um I want to see me personally I want to see the the difference between owning a a a project and natur leasing it we recommending everybody within the city of lence that at least project is less convenience than owning a project uh and that's a single family home if we doing that to people and telling people like it is worth it to own it I think that we should live by sample so and if we have the funds and if we have the possibility of doing it based on savings not based on we want to own a project obviously uh that should be considered when you guys present this to me I don't want to hear the problems problems is going to be subject to whoever is in power and whoever is on the third floor if they don't pay attention to it is their fault but we shouldn't be making decision based on we're going to have a bunch of problems because nobody going to pay attention to it guess what that shouldn't be an issue because right now we actually approve a position that deal with energy and energy saving within the city of lawence that position is in place so if we have somebody that is that we paying every every week and salaries go well that should be that should be a one less problem that we should we should be aware of so I don't want to see I don't want to hear problems problem problem I want to be I want to hear the project and then based on that I'm going to analyze it and and I going to I going to make my my decision based on based on different information that I have in front of me another thing that I wanted to uh that I wanted to know um we move forward as as as the city with an an aggregation project if that aggregation Project work well and everything goes well through the U uh through the massachusett utilities um commission and and we got lower rate than having a solo partner lower than 15.9 cents I mean wouldn't make much sense to have solar when we're producing energy and selling it to to to the grid so it's like because essentially that's what happened you producing energy selling it to the grid the grid give us a credit and then we pay uh we pay based on that we we we pay you guys based on the lack rate that we have and if we own it we produce energy sell it to the gra any excess amount of energy to an a specific rate and they sell it to every any any anyone else so kind of like you know I want to I want to see those Those portions because if we locked in a Tity hole a 15 15.9 and the aggregation come out at 15.1 we're losing money through the solo through the solo project and it shouldn't yeah I agree 100% And just just if I could clarify so the aggregation program can I address this one Chad please go ahead um sure so we actually work with the city to um help lock in contracts for electricity Supply so the the rate if if I'm following you you're looking it a Community Choice aggregation is that correct for Lawrence residents yeah right so um that's uh those that's an option um we we locked you in as a at a contract for 10.86 cents per kilowatt hour um but that's only the supply portion if you look at your bill then there are um both distinctly Supply charges and then transmission and delivery charges so that 10cent figure is just for the supply um these solar projects are interconnected behind the meter so it offsets the supply as well as the delivery charges so even though you're looking at a 10 cish Supply rate um when you factor in the transmission and delivery that's how it builds up to that um 165 Cent avoided cost right and whether we own it or whether you own it the utility cannot charge you for delivery of something that wasn't delivered so you're you're producing it right up on your own um roofs and and I will commit to get you some pricing on what it would look like to own the project for City Hall um and for Arlington school um and also I just would like to make a comment on on the timeline that I threw out there um that is not a select energy timeline that's a a National Grid timeline that is written into the interconnection Tariff that the Massachusetts Department of energy resources approved so like we're subject to that same timeline that our customers are and they just they say this is the date we need something and we either do it or we don't and uh so I just wanted to say that that's not our timeline yeah that's not I mean I understand completely what you're coming from that's that's not that's not that's that's that's somebody's issue that is not a city issue that's for sure I mean uh if it is a city issue timelines we we we discussing this it's like if we deny it it wouldn't be it's it's not an issue it's not a city issue actually we want to expedite things for having to have having to have to rush things around is not a good thing just because we have the timeline and we understand that probably we should start talking to National gr about the process on how things get approved or not approved for the city ccil so they can probably well they're pretty aware of that because we have them most of the agenda that we have the full council is dealing with national g so they're pretty aware that we at least need to move things alone from committee from uh full Council and stuff like that and it it will take twice on time so they know that we we have have National Grade with 50 items at the time here at the our agenda so any other any other questions or comments at this point I will entertain a motion motion to table second motion has been made by council president seconded by Council marmal discussion oh yeah I keep forgetting that I'm going to do a roll call council president yes councelor marmo yes councilor lzone obain stay and I the chair votes in in the affirmative so we will table this for now um please get us the information from leasing to own and include the National Grid lid um ladder and also the attorney letter for us please can I can I ask question so you want uh two options one is ownership versus PPA presented yeah and you want the national grades uh approval process presented to you so that you can take that into consideration and move forward is that correct correct yep and there we can come back as soon as we have the data yeah and and and advisor and as soon as you have that you can even send it to you don't have to wait for them like send it to us as soon as possible so then we can have ample time to review it and everything and and we can keep this moving along so we don't have to you know just so you know I mean we have really tried hard to follow all the process that you have given it to us through various meetings so we will expedite this as much as possible I myself went through this ownership versus this model myself but but I would more than happy to present you have you're right about that you need to see that yourself so that you get feel comfortable and also council president sure through you m also uh when you present those to those options of ownership um get done obviously because they here but also get another vendor so we can have different uh different options to look to look at the prices for ownership I will go to YouTube and listen to what you just said because right that's fine but I I I no we want we want to see I don't think we'd go to another vendor Council only because that's why we joined the power options this is the best deal we're going to get I mean that's why we're not going out to bid ourselves we're not going to look for somebody we're not in the energy business they are so in other words to ask another another Solar Company I don't think that's practical I don't know how I don't know how to do it true so to enable to continue to move forward with this item please get us the the the numbers for Le leasing or owning through this company we have we have a contract we have um everything set the letter of recommendation by the City attorney the letter from National Grid get get that to us as soon as possible um and and we'll we'll determine our decision from that thank you all right thank you all right counselors um at this point I'm I'm going to move up item 231- 24 the Lawrence Police Superior Union Lawrence Police Superior officers Union collective bargaining agreement and fund transfer approval in the amount of 500 $540,000 and it's brought To Us by our CLE Mr Mark [Music] ayelo good evening counselors uh this is the uh uh Lawrence uh Superior officer contract we came to an agreement uh in your packet you have a cover letter uh from from me uh which indicates we need u a uh a free cash transfer to fund this uh contract the the request is to transfer 540,000 from free cash to the police appropriation account so we can pay out there uh the benefits uh from this collective bargaining agreement so that's explained in my cover letter this is a three-year contract uh the current contract expired uh 63022 so this contract takes us through 63025 uh attached is my cafo certification uh in a letter my cafo certification according to Chapter 58 uh and there's a qualifying paragraph uh um as as you've seen in my other uh uh CFO memos uh that this agreement will require uh us to go beyond the limits of uh prop two and a half to fund it um and then attached is a brief synopsis of the uh of the contract and what we've um uh come to terms with so just highlights of it so again it's just a three-year contract uh the there's a change to overtime uh there's a civil rights Civil Service rights Clause uh that we could um a civil service I me rights Clause so if the union and the city agree to uh terminate uh civil service we have to come back to the baring table and figure out how to do it uh there's an education incentive here this is a big big uh uh what's referred to as the Quinn bill um so for employees hired um before 912 or hired after 91209 they were not eligible for the Quinn bill so this contract provides a Quinn bill for those employees hired after 91 2009 uh there's also a holiday added a holiday for juneth uh there's a post commission uh uh post commmission payment uh I don't want to call it a stien it's a post commmission payment uh to reflect the that the post commission uh since the post commission was uh was in place there's an additional responsibility uh for the police officers to comply with that post commission so in recognition of that extra uh uh compliance if you will uh we recognize that uh for fy20 for effective 7123 there will be a 1.75 to two and a quarter perc pay raise based on whether you're 20 years or more and then in 7124 there's another payment of the same amount uh added to their base pay which should be paid in perpetuity um let's see there's uh uh just on the next page uh health insurance opt out uh that we've offered to all other unions the same language uh people do not join our health insurance they get a cash payment uh and then the and then this contract calls for cost of living increase uh 7122 23 and 24 of 3% each year and then attached is the uh actual mou that was signed between the city and the uh and the union for reflecting these changes that I just outlined thank you thank you kafo at this point I would like to hear from the superior officers Union as well good evening Madam chair thank you for having us uh fellow couns and first of all my name is s Mike smar I'm the president of the lpsa I'm here with Lieutenant Jim Razzo also a member and Captain morce agulara we appreciate the support from the city council we know you uh support Public Safety we also appreciate the hard work that Mr aelo and his team of um um Eric McKenna from bdh and our attorney on moving us forward and getting this contract done after after to you know it did stall for a short time but but I appreciate the work that uh the city did to to help move us forward and and I feel that we are and it's a step in the right direction so um as the numbers that he he represented were were accurate um we voted on it as a as a union 36 members and uh the majority ruled and uh so that's why we ratified that contract so uh again it's a move in the right direction and and we appreciate the support that we get here and I'm I'm I can answer any questions you may have any questions to either um Sergeant Samar or to our C council president thank you M sherff for um quick question um I don't know if I hear this this right but I mean U people who's going to be um eligible for the for the uh for the Quin bill they going to have to be hired after uh 2009 that was that was what you what you were saying I can clarify uh employees hired after after 2009 were not elig police officers hired after 2009 were not eligible for the Quinn Bill back in you know the Quinn Bill U originally was funded 100% by the state and then the state kind of took the funding away so sometime back in uh 2009 I suspect uh uh and that was probably right before or right around the city was probably in financial trouble I wasn't here Mike may know uh but you know they must have negotiated with the Union uh that hey uh the Bill the state's not funding the Quinn bill so we're going to have to take it away for new employees but we'll grandfather the the existing employees which was a tremendous uh you know benefit but uh for new employees they weren't eligible for it and that that's how we've uh uh where we've been for the last uh since 2009 so now we put that back in So now all it's actually in the patrol Union and the superior officer Union all officers are eligible for the Quinn bill so those who maybe did not go after a uh an Associates or bachelor's degree uh they certainly have an incentive to do so now thank you so now it's everybody's going to beig that's right yes because it was like you brought that that date it was like in the middle was like okay yes um Mr President so it's it's more of an education uh incentive which I think that um most municipalities are covering that cost that the state wasn't back in 2009 what they're saying is that we appreciate educated police officer so it's very important the financial impact on our Union is only four members that don't have currently didn't have that Quin bill so now we do so um you know uh that's a a great move on the city's part to recognize that education is important with Public Safety so I have seen that you mad share I have seen that there is other contracts that not only refer to associate degree Bachelors or Masters but in a specific uh areas of Education is this bill is this contract is the same sorry there I don't have it's in the language it it requires you to have a a you know uh certain degrees related to law enforcement in accordance with the original Quinn bill so this contract that requires the same uh degrees you can't have a degree in history for example that wouldn't really help us out it's it's somewhere on the contract right so yes so so for the record it states here in page two of the actual contract um eligible degrees in criminal justice criminal science legal JD associates degree bachelor's degree Master's of Law and those in those two areas and I'm assuming any other um related areas and you'll see some cities now that are offering an additional incentive for uh officers with their mental health um degree so I'm hoping to see that in the future because of all the issues that we have so awesome okay all right thank you m more question any other questions or comments seeing none at this time I'll entertain a motion motion to send it to the full council with a fav recommendation motion has been made by council president seconded by the Vice chair discussion seeing none all those in favor say I I and the I have it thank you so much we'll see you at the next council meeting thank you for your support appreciate okay now back to the top of of the agenda item 76 a-24 resolution amending and resining the reimbursement requirement for the creating of thriving Lawrence Grant awardees in the amount of 400,000 to the FED Inc we do have the new president of the feder missz uh miss perz you have the floor hi my name is s pz I'm actually the executive director executive director sorry pleas I've been for a while our board president was Wendy and she resigned last week um okay so the reason why we here is because theci do not have the money to reimburse so like we don't have the money to spend and then come to the city and ask for the reimbursement the reason being um we don't have any money it's because um we don't have any expenses right now like we don't have any overhead expenses we don't have anybody that get paid like I've been working for the Federation for over almost six years now and I have never seen a PNY we do it all for love and um this money will be good for the business owners but again for the Federation to hire somebody that do this work full-time because I can't I can't do it full- time I've been volunteer in my office my time and we need we need to grow as a as a federation thank you counselors any questions or comments all three council president the intent will be to hire somebody as well as you just mentioned or no no that's not the only intent intent is to but I I know that's not the only but we need yeah we need to hire somebody full-time we apply for some grants from the state as well and I think we got an okay for a couple, so the idea is to hire somebody to do a full-time cuz we need somebody full-time to come and help us and help all the business owners we've been doing it like I've been taking my own time a lot of people volunteering and and it's a lot of work um like I said we don't have any overhead expenses I've been using my office so we don't have any office space that we paying rent we don't have anybody that is getting salary um and that's why we don't have any expenses to show to get reimburse support uh to you are you all set council president you still you you okay Council Lon yes um Madame chair if we can ask um uh the executive director s pis to explain that this money will be um the intent of this money is for the business owners uh it will not be used for anything else she did so so to clarify at least how I heard it you did say that these these will be going to business owners but aside from that there also there also is a need within the organization itself to be able to expand so I'm what I'm hearing is that there's going to be an application from both sides for for this funding exactly hear correct yes most of the money is going to be going to towards the grant to give to the business owners and we created an assessment tool a survey that we ask very specific questions about the business because we running out of like we short time now so we don't have time to open an application process couple of months because we we don't have the time so what we we've been doing is doing this assessment that tell the Federation exactly um everything about the business so I know this grant is for a specific business in Lawrence and business has been around less than three years so on the three-year business um so how we going to make sure that these are the people that get the applications when we get this assessment that they answer all the questions we we know exactly Which business has been here that have been here less than three years and those are the ones are going to get the applications for this gr thank you Council lozon uh will to you Madame chair will any members that uh U member of the executive director that recing resign will be able to uh apply for this grant or any member of the executive committee no board member or the relatives are allowed to apply no city employees as either or the relatives through you m thank um give me one second so um um councelor I'm glad that you asked that because I did get a concern from a counselor that's not with that's not in this committee regarding um a council a councel participation and I'm glad that you both just clarified that there are set ground rules for whom is eligible and whom is not um for this grant council president are you all set Council lzone um no I just wanted that to be uh oud five on the record uh that no member uh of the executive committee and that was not it's not nothing new according to what I I'm aware uh no member of the ex ex cutive committee or no member of the executive committee is allowed to resign and uh to be able to uh applyed for this grant I just want that on the record thank you madam chair council president M mad chair actually if if it's okay with you council president um I saw that councelor marmal had her hand up and she has not spoken at all are you upet I have question I I want to make sure council president I just want to make sure M mad chair that um you read the letter of resignation from Council for the record so everybody that have questions about that Yep they're going to up have on the record well so I do have the letter of re resonation from councilor lzone who was the the former president of the board of directors for the feder um the so I'm going to read this for the record um oh the dat dear dear board members through this letter I hereby resign as board president of the feder effective immediately on May 8th 2024 I want to express my sincere gratitude for the opportunity to serve over the past 3 years during my tenture we have been able to strengthen relationships with local and state organization expand the Federation with hundreds of new members and develop Ed educational workshops although my time as president has come to an end I have full confidence in the leadership of our executive director sah Perez and the current board of directors to continue advancing advancing this federation's missions and objectives there is still much much work to be done and I am confident that under their Guidance the Federation will continue to grow and Thrive I am available to assist in the transition process and ensure a smooth succession in the presidency of the Federation with warm regards Wendy lzo thank you um there's a history behind her resignation um she's part of this board um this this bill um has been around since February and for I think this is the fourth occasion that we talking about this here on this committee and we haven't been able to get a vote um last week when we um you guys tried to put it up and the general meeting and it didn't go through I was sitting right there when I asked um Wendy to resign I asked Wendy I need you to resign because I need you to be able to vote and for for everybody like we we need a vote so she was she she agreed with that I do want to um be transparent I I spoke with the mayor today about this um and I explained to him the situation of what occurred I did publicly State the situation that occurred during the um the the full council meeting I did not include counselors names if anyone wants to figure that out they can go watch the meeting but respectfully I did not do that but I did inform the mayor of who and what and everything that happened um cuz I was being questioned like what's going on you know this and that so and I wanted everyone to be on the same page of what actually happened and we all are on the same page now um so that is that is understood thank you and appreciate what when he did for the thank you any other further questions or comments Council marmel okay um thank you madam chair um I have I've been having questions in regards to I don't have in front of me but in looking at the like the rubric of how you guys are going to manage this process um it mentions and I'm probably going to get the numbers incorrect but it says three or maybe approximately three members [Music] of are going to partake in like the subcommittee level and then is it one or two members of the community that you guys are going to have um going to like appoint we have three me I mean nobody's getting paid to do this so it's hard to get somebody to review a 100 applications so I've been asking people to um from the community to be partless so we have three community members and we have two board members and I'm I'm going to be the facilitator so I'm not going to be I don't I don't want to vote who's going to get the money I'm going to just be the facilitator bring them any paperwork any questions they have um so it's going to be two board members and three city um three people from the city okay no city employees I mean three community members and um what is the process of of you know appointing this volunteer like do they are they required to have any experience or to have an understanding as to how you guys are going to yes okay so one of even though it's oh my God even though it's a volunteer it's I I believe it's an important process because they're they're going to be tasked with selecting someone that's going to receive you know a grant m um so I just I want to make sure that I'm understanding you know what is the selection process of these community members okay so about one of the person that had chosen to be um to be in charge or to be in this Co sub committee um was a person that help us put the plan together that help us with the grant um she's a fellow from another organization and she help us put the grant together I don't have her authority to say her name so that's why I haven't but I can send you the information on everybody um I have another um another person that is not a current business owner in the city but I have a lot of experience um with business working with business he's another volunteer um and the the other the volunteer it's a business owner that is not going to get it's not looking to get any money from the grand but knows a lot of people in the area and like I said our job would be much easier because we have we have this assessment that it's so clear by the time we got the list of everybody that apply will it be easy to see who's been here Less Than 3 years um who lives in Lawrence and the kind of business we have business that are not going to be able to apply and we got business that will be able to apply um and and it will be it be a shorter process to pick the people that going to apply for this grant because we're going to have this assessment with all these questions that well I's say 100 people do the assessment and 30 of them are on the three years those are the 30 people are going to get the applications okay um has fhc done this before have you guys done this no no never okay um so what like what model or whose organization are you guys modeling from in order to gain an understanding of how to how to be able to manage this process there is some this we have organ a that do this type of thing around here um we are not Bank the Federation is not a bank so that's why we switch it from being um a loan to a grant because we're not going to be able to go chasing people to pay us back a loan or interest or anything like that um and like I said like this other person that I have from another organization does have the experience of giving up grants out and she's going to be essential for this process as well can you tell us what organization she's from um I will say your name because I haven't like I don't I don't know if because she belongs to this organization I don't I haven't got the okay from her to say publicly but I can send you I can send you the information on her you know her everybody knows her okay any other questions yeah councelor um through you uh Madam chair how many current members do you have and um are you able to list like are you able to say who who are the current members oh we have a lot we have over 180 members really we have a lot of members and we've been around since 2018 um we help people we help business owners and Lawrence with a PPP we help people with the MC MCC um grants mgcc grants like we've been helping people we've been working um quietly but we've been doing working here in the community those are the true heroes that work quietly without without needing the recognition no pictures no shows councelor Marvel and just to get clarity did you say that the person that's going to be managing this process you you still you have to hire somebody no no not for this process oh no that we would like to have somebody that work for us full-time in order to help all the business owners because you ask the business owner what do you need they're going to say money but sometimes it's not money sometimes they need to manage um their the the the goods or manage the the services or something else and that's why we need a full-time person that we'll get this assessment and we say Okay money it's good but you need to do this other thing so so is it safe to say that you will be managing this process I'll be the facilitator for the grant facilitator means that I will pull the list and if anything that they ask any questions on I'll be the one I'm not want to vote I'm not want to have a writing to vote only those five people are going to be able to vote through you madam president counc councelor was on hold on councelor are you Council marel Council loone just to clarify uh this money is not going to uh go to the Federation without having the city asking for um reports so it the city is going to be involved like any other money that the city is giving out through the arpa funds so just to put it out there they will have to report back to the city and report back to the city this is not a journey that the feder is going to take alone and also just keep in mind that this funds the funds where are a um who suggested this amount of money was uh the mayor DEA mayor DEA so uh with the Community Development with someone with Community Development the Federation is going to have to work uh side by side and I also going to take this opportunity to say uh thank you to S pis she has been working for free for the feder Comm for over how many years almost six years almost six years yes so this is a a woman that is doing this for free and the city and all the business owners that uh have received assistant from the Federation um we have to say thank you sah for what that you do for the city thank you okay at this point I will entertain a motion at this point I I have to keep moving no I mean I have questions you have more questions no I actually released oh that's right that's right council president yes council president go ahead so um Miss Perez to be honest with you looking forward to how the Federation might might um might look like in the future if you if the if if the Federation actually at some point somehow one way or another do not develop language to allow board members to actually take benefit of the Federation you're not going to grow M because at the end of the day people that are part of the Federation they also business owner and they taking a a a a huge hit by actually being a member and a board member by actually being a board member and not getting any type of benefit from the organization Madam chair that's not accurate council is on council president has the floor so if they not if the board members are not getting benefit out of this $400,000 as you stated before essentially board members are going to nobody want to join the organization because they might be afraid of not being able to apply for any type of benefit in the future do you know what I'm saying I know what you're saying and being part of so it's like you got to develop language somehow one way or another allow board members to take benefit as well so right now you might not have that language but I encourage you to look into it to see how uh board members also they're business owners might take advantage of it how I don't know I'm not on a journey but because you're discouraging people to to join the board well I've been part of many boards in this commun Community I was I was on the Lawrence Community Works board for 7 years I have never received any benefits I never received a payment so when you work in a board or when you use a volunteer job we can create maybe a stiping later on like just for the time but as a board member on any organization you shouldn't be taking advantage of taking because it's like inside trading at that point yeah you know yeah I I understand that but I mean just think think it through like you're looking for the for looking to grow you're looking for an organization that is actually a valuable organization so I just saying you know somehow you guys need to look into this probably at this point you you might say board member might say you know what it is not worth it but there is not many people like you that wanted to spend time as a volunteer not be able to apply for any type of benefit that the organization is caring is getting so somehow I don't know I mean like I said before I've been board member in many organizations YMCA YC a bunch of organizations and you are not allowed to take benefits from the organization that you serving in the board because it's a service I have been on boards as well and you are accurate on on that statement oh and and I have too that's the reason why we want to hire somebody for time to goow the organization we cannot ask a person that is volunteering the time as a board member to come and do um Outreach to call and make calls to to go reach for people I can ask them to do that they only be allowed to meet a couple of times a month and that's part of being no no because I'm I'm not I'm not I'm not saying that you know don't hire anybody I'm not saying that I'm saying hire somebody hiring somebody hire somebody by all means but what I'm saying is like you know so some point if you don't work this out remember those are business owners that they also um looking to to be a beneficiary of benefit that the organizations might have I understand I've been a board member for many organizations and true you don't get you don't get a benefit different than the this organization is that board members most likely are also business owner yes we are business own sometime you part of organizations that you not you're not you don't you know you don't perhaps I'm being part of boards that I have nothing to do with the board but or with the organization perhaps but I have some experience that I can help the organization move forward but usually the board members you have they're also business owners okay to keep this this meeting moving forward I believe the council president has made his point clear there something that that you can look into or maybe perhaps in the future you get board members who have very established businesses that don't need little cuz this is not a lot of money for bus let's let's be real for established business this is not a lot for for small businesses it is but uh it's worth looking into and I'm sure you will do do your due diligence to do that at this point I will entertain a motion motion to send it the full council with a favor recommendation motion has been made by the council president there a second second by Council lzone discussion seeing none all those in favor say I I and the eyes have it thank you so much we'll see you next week next week right next it um I'm going to leave this one for last I'm going to skip over the next item and go to item 22924 transfers of capital reserves Fund in the amount of 1,243 n910 brought To Us by our C Mr aelo Mr aelo you have the floor good evening counselors this is uh uh as noted my my memo we're required by chapter uh 58 to put uh uh 1 and a half% of our uh prior year tax levy in a in a reserve fund and then come back to the council take it out of the reserve fund and fund particular project so uh this proposal uh is uh it's a milion 243 910 uh 498,000 is going to go to DPW uh another 200,000 is go to DPW for recycling bins uh there's 150,000 for it to do computer system upgrades and replacement of equipment uh the fire department has uh automated CPR devices and turn out gear they're looking to purchase for com combination of both of those 195,000 and the police uh Department requested uh 200,000 to replace uh equipment purchases and uh replacement of equipment uh such as uh guns rifles and things like that uh and so that that's the total transfer of 1,243 10 uh and just briefly this money was appropriated in the f24 budget uh we'll be submitting it the budget for FY 25 we have a similar number in that budget for next year it goes up slightly because of the uh calculation of the net tax levy careful um specifically for the recycling bins these are to purchase additional recycling bins to to hand out to Residents correct yeah I believe we had we had this in last year's capital reserve fund approximately 200,000 was allocated as well okay so the DPW requested another 200 so I have an issue with that process that occurred last year um I received phone calls um from my constituents and from other people that live out outside of my district um some unfortunately it was an election year some um counselors it appeared that they were using the whole the the Distributing recy bins as a campaign thing and those people that they brought to DPW were prioritized over people that requested recycling bins like way before um I myself took a very long time to get one and um and I know I'm glad that rosan is here because I'm I'm sure she can clarify what I've heard but I did receive many calls many upset people so if if we have any any light on this I would greatly appreciate it good evening counselors um Rosario um acting direct deputy director for DPW um so in the light of the recycling beins I understand the frustration you're not alone you're not the only one unfortunately we were only able to allocate around 3,000 containers and the process was not made correctly and I I'm going I'm going to apologize because of that um this process the way we will work is that we will prioritize the people that is already recycling that needs a recycling container because they have a bunch of small containers that we need to replace those and give them a brand new bigger one that's going to be the focus number one I'm not going to lie to you I'll probably get calls from many employees many officials that will say can you accommodate this can you accommodate that we will try to accommodate but we are also working on getting some more funds so that we can accomplish the whole city because the goal is to reduce Solid Waste by providing not only one container per household but a single container per family per um apartment and I know we haven't been able to do that because we just started getting some funds little by little to accomplish this goal awesome and are we going to I know there are some people that and you did you did admit that the process a little messed up which things happen um things happen and and that's how we improve do we have a list of the people that perhaps I don't know if we have people still waiting on recycling B do you have a list of that are and if so are those people also going to be included in the we still have people that call I have not been getting any addresses because of the same problem because the problem was I provided a list and the menpower that was in charge of Distributing just randomly like kind of pick and shoes the addresses or like the the order of where how that those addresses were going to be delivered and it should have it should have been done that way it should have been done by whoever requested it first because I started getting addresses for these containers like two months prior we were supposed to get them in August by June I already had a list right so I started to get these addresses and unfortunately the first addresses I got some of them are still waiting so I hope to keep my promise to the residents and to to everyone that first they will get a container but the process is going to be done definitely differently as it was Prior well I'm glad thank you for clarifying that that mistake was not on your end and and you did just say you know I I there was a list I gave them the list they picked and choose the addresses you guys found out about it after so that kind of does um shed some truth to to the calls that I I was getting now to the extent I don't know but I'm glad that at least you you um identified the issues you you know you're you're apologizing and you're you're improving it and we're going to move forward and that's and that's all we want for the community we just want to continue moving forward thank you um counselors any questions or comments council president thank you madam chair I have a few questions for the recycling beam project um essentially you you if if things are not done right you will get emails from everybody all get saying look can you prioritize that and then everything become a priority and you you you probably don't have the main power to actually priortize everything we got that but that's that's a as a as a result of some mistake that people identifyed and then try to kind of like you know okay if they doing that I should be getting mine my recycling bin so that's basically why you probably get a lot of emails to look into into something because at the end of the day not every one of us have the same leverage within the distribution um and and uh and that's that's a fat that's that's a reality um but when it comes to the uh the the recycling beans this new system that you're going to develop um you're going to be looking into people's uh recycling U priorities and then give them a a bean or they going to have to uh request it or are you going to allow people to request it through through in a specific form or something I mean or you you got at your discrepancy you're going to be looking at things and say look this these need one give it to them so now we do have a better idea of how we should do how we should do it because we work as a team with the company that picks up our recyclables so they know the addresses that are doing their job when it comes to recycling so it'll be a lot easier for us to replace the small containers or like all the material that people usually put outside without a proper container and replace that we will be probably working like a like dual system there's going to be people that may not need to request a container because we will go by their addresses and replace whatever they have and just grab those small containers or whatever that doesn't look nice and neat or something that is not closed and we will replace it with a new one however once people start seeing the DPW truck with containers I know there's going to be phone calls I know we have a bunch of people still waiting and and it's probably going to be easier for us to also gather some addresses and and say okay so I have this list deliver these containers and while you are delivering these containers if you see an address next door just go ahead and Bre proactive and deliver an a a new container instead of waiting for someone to call and get the address and and kind of slow the process at the end of the day the goal is for every single household in Lawrence to have a 95 gallon recycling container yeah and that's going to U that generate my following question um and that was something that I suggest back then last year um throughout the discussion and conversations with different people why don't we allow somebody to picked up their containers because part of the problem was the Manpower that that it was not available to actually deliver all the containers at the time and that's when that's when question start generating like okay but this is kind of like you know not not not a good process because people are being more it's been big and choosing and we got it I don't want to get into that details that's that's that's done I'm moving forward from there but the my question was around like why if you already have somebody like uh Juan P from uh uh from 99x that is requesting a a a recycling bin why don't allow Juan P to go to the DPW with their identifications and scratch one p from there from the list of somewhere some point here to City Hall and scratch ju P from the list and and ask Frank Juan to go and pick up the the the container or have some container here something like and that way they don't waigh because people are willing to move alone and get it and that's the most common sense thing but I mean that was not allow but on other hands we have people we have you probably saying us telling us like we don't have the menow to distribute it kind of like you know that kind of like eliminate that there yeah the problem with having residents going to our DPW Yard to pick up their recycling containers I mean it was a noo from the higher ends the director did not agree with that and I also understand why um we have a bunch of people that have been using these containers even for the Run purpose we have to be go like we have had to go outside and get containers from people because they haven't just put in trash on them or put in construction materials so we rather have the actual the actual res and the actual household CU it was better for us to keep track of it we have we have been taking away containers because people has been filling them out with trash unfortunately this is something that we would like to give out to the residents that are willing to reduce their trash by recycling they're not mandated to do it they're not obligated to do so yet but that's how we're trying to play for now once we have our ordinance for recycling then that is that's going to be another another another topic for another day when it comes to having everyone mandated to recycle now moving on moving forward the process is going to be different the process is going to be better again we will only get again an a limited amount of containers but I am working on some other funding sources so that we can have these containers coming back to us so that we don't run out of them until we have the whole city um equi it with one container per per household yeah one last question um something that going to keep on hitting the same the same button the main power the main power you have is not allowing you to distribute all these containers you going we're going to run into the same problem eventually of not having people distribute it and then having people have have having people waiting uh on the list because of not being able to deliver something that didn't work last year was you know only having one or two people Distributing this and if we keep the send then and expect a different result I mean we might change the system around but still if we're not allowing people to pick up their container under an specific controls that we establish and then we're going to keep on having people waiting and frustrated if people sees The Neighbor Next Door with a container they're going to start questioning they're going to start making phone calls and they're going to start doing this and then we counselors we cannot take that pressure we're going to release that pressure through a b what's the B an email I mean I I mean I think we got okay yeah we'll be working on some plans there's also I would like to do a educational Fair on the city for trash and recycling and one of the incentives is going to be one of the containers if people would like to inquire them right they're in there we also have our hazardous waste collection days that are happening now on Saturdays I'm not going to say that they there wasn't there was not an option to go into the city yard or like get a container I did give out myself containers from the city hall to Residents that will call and I say if you have a truck just come by and pick it up but that was a little bit more organized but at the beginning was difficult was tough I mean once the news got out there that we had containers for recycling this was something that was done for the first time in our city so we got to understand that obviously things were not going to go as plann because there was no plan right um the the original plan was to have containers distributed Citywide but unfortunately we didn't have the funds to do so so we had to do it little by little thank you and I believe um the the main point of from from from this this conversation with the council president is that there is going to be need you're going to need a plan with with the Manpower as we continue to get containers that's something to definitely look F further into councilor lzo uh through you Madame chair um you mentioned at the beginning man then share there was complaints about using the containers for political um reasons political campaigns and we we didn't hear any answer from uh what's her title again the acting so we um acting deputy director so we did acting deputy director we we did we we did get an answer um so th those were the reasons that were given to me um that doesn't mean that it's 100% truthful I'm I'm just stating out there what I heard to be completely transparent um she did stay uh acting deputy director Del Rosario did state that they had the addresses um when she got back that the the documents or or the sheets she did notice that some addresses they were picking and choosing addresses that when they were out on the streets she had no control she until she saw it so she she did answer now what I'm saying is I'm not I did not say that it was for political like 100% for political reasons but that that was what I was receiving as a as a counselor from concerned constituents how they were portraying it so I did want to bring that to the light and um we we got an answer about of of the overall operation and from that it sounds like there are going to be some improvements made for the next um distribution how can we uh and I know R uh she has spoke about uh creating a plan but hopefully well they didn't have a plan so hopefully in their new plan um we can uh take that as a consideration to avoid any political uh Y and she did mention that as well um they're going to prioritize households that they that are already known and proven by both the city and and our recycling trash company that are currently Recycling and it's going to be what from what I understand correct me if if anyone understood differently but what I understand is the first come Fromm served is going to be enforced strictly enforced that I understand correctly that is correct okay does that answer your question Council yeah I also would like hopefully uh if possible maybe when she uh puts together a plan that um that she can share that with us cuz right now there's no plan and I also want to say that uh um I myself have one of the containers one was uh stolen and it was replaced uh uh and it's reducing yes yeah it happens she didn't mention that but you should mention that that some of the containers they they stole it they yeah so it's something that you need to keep in mind because it's it's not that thank you we have to put that into the plan because it's it's I mean she's losing containers and and she doesn't know how to track it she gave a great advice uh to my family but I mean I don't know if that advice um other residents are aware of that but yes they are stealing those containers unfortunately is that accurate saying yes yes and just for clarification um consone we do take away containers as well so sometimes people call and they believe or they think that it got stolen it did not got stolen we repost them we take them away because right now keep it you keep you keep a list yes yes because right now we have that's like liquid gold you know City and it does the work it's very beneficial and if if we don't have them and we have one that people have been using for trash then we relocate that one into someone that has been waiting for a recycling container awesome one last question before before I go to the council president Council of marmal do you have anything no all right this um the final question on this item council president just for the sake of transparency are you willing to make a make a a a a a Google sheet document and make it as view only and share it with the counselors with the list of people that actually requested and whoever get delivery Crush that can highl uh on top and then you see like is going through in order that's transparent because we're going to see who is been delivered to to if we want to and then if it is you know number 10 haven't been delivered but number 20 was delivered it's like oh you should go to number 10 and obviously people might tend not to kind of cheat on the address council president in in in the in the heart of full transparency we are that is going into daily operations that the council does not have jurisdiction over um I'm sure there's something that can be figured out perhaps that can be included in in the corly reports or something I don't know but I'm sure there's a there's a way to figure that out but uh we do need to be careful on on things like that end of the day what I'm trying to say malan Sher is that you know there there was a lot of questioning yeah about being used as political benefit and and people don't actually didn't talk a a lot about this but we we saw it and uh and we we were witness of it I mean we didn't make a big deal out of it but it was happening so essentially what I'm saying is like just to make sure that you know we're not going through the same situation of picking and choosing addresses when those addresses get delivered it gets scrash and we be able to see it not to say or do this address or do the other address if whoever chooses to open that Google sheet they're going to be able to see who have been delivered and who have not uh and who have been benefit the benefit of delivery that is on the on the on the bottom of the list it's like and I'm pretty sure that if that happen and that's available that people might be able to see it at least some people whoever is doing the delivery going to be like can't do the delivery there first I need to do this one and they need to follow the that that it's not like going the day today operation it's like just to us to witness who has been delivered to right uh you know what I mean last question Council marmel and then we're taking a we're doing a motion um through you madam chair knowing that there is a list of people that have already called in um wanting to be part of the list is there a current like announcement that you guys roll out for those that missed out in the first time you know the first round um but now that we're doing this all over again like do you guys have something in place where it's notifying the residents if they want to participate and want to receive a bin that they need to contact your department by such deadline or I'm not sure if there an application process or it's just a simple phone call so they could requested by colinos when we got when we received the first containers I did myself send an email to it was Citywide city councelor city employees um at Public Schools everyone that if they needed a container to send us the addresses and and we were going to move forward and deliver the containers to them something that I did discuss with our it Department was to create a signing sheet automatic so that they could probably go in online in our in our in our online page and request it um that may may be something that we could also add um but it's important to keep in mind as well we will run out of these containers again we serve right now about 20,000 households for trash and we're we're going to receive a second round of only 30,600 so containers so it will happen but we'll probably be here again asking for more funds to continue buying them awesome okay are you all set M at this point I'll entertain a motion motion to send the motion to send it to the council with a fav recommendation motion has made by the council president is there a second second seconded by the Vice chair Vice chair marmal discussion CH seeing N I think that we that clear seeing done all those in favor say I I and the eyes have it thank you so much see you next week okay now we have item 230-4 the authorization for compliance with the Massachusetts clean Waters act project brought To Us by our water and sewer commissioner Mr William hail commissioner Hae good evening counselors sorry to keep you so late it's okay good evening Madam chair um so I'm here tonight to um request that the council take a formal vote um so the mayor would be authorized to sign um for our water and sore loans as well as the grants um currently in the package if you see the document that states it's a certifying statement um the top paragraph of that statement um is acknowledging that the mayor has authorization to sign on behalf of the city um to apply for these loans or grants it's a blanket document the one that I provided is a current one that we're um putting in for it's um a lead service sign inventory um that's actually a grant um and in the memo that was attached it gives you um a brief description of it it's $664,000 um with no match so the city won't be responsible for any of that it'll be 100% funded by the state um so we would like to just have um a formal vote um so anytime that we get the a loan application together that the mayor can sign it in a timely manner um you would already approve the loans through the loan order um and then as well as like the grants so um this would just be like after the fact because all the loans um and projects will be included in that loan order okay councils any questions or comments council president um I have a question for U for the kaf yep so essentially we have we're going to have have two two opportunities to look into these grants before before anything right this Al this uh this gr this authorization to the mayor or this vote to authorize the mayor to actually sign the grant the the loan and the actual loan before ahead of time right I'm not familiar this must be something new that the Clean Water trust wants the mayor has historically always sign these things I don't remember ever coming to the council before for permission it's I statute he signs for loans yeah him a treasur yeah but I mean we we authorized any loan and then all loans have to be authorized by the city C exactly and then he goes to the mayor and Stu and this is something new I guess right so just to clarify that the the Clean Water trust sponsors uh uh we have many loans through the Clean Water trust we still have to sell the bonds but uh but they guarantee the interest rate at 2% uh and then there's usually a City match and then we have to borrow that at the open market Market ourselves projects but so essentially we're going to see it anyway before ahead of time and then the mayor okay I got you so iy this is just for the application motion to send it to the full counc with a for recommendation wow the fastest motion ever lucky you commissioner motion has been made by the council president secretary by Council lzone discussion seeing none all those in favor say I I and the eyes have it you should come more often I I'll take you first next time all right motion to I this there's a motion to a Jour is there a second second seconded by the Vice chair Vivian marmel discussion see and none all those in favor say I I and the eyes have it have a great night counselors e e