good evening thank you for joining us for this night's June 13th 2024's 25 fiscal year budget meeting can you please join us in saluting the flag Madam clerk roll call of the members roll call of the members councel agenzio here here councelor Kelly here here Council noeli here Council zambuto absent and chairman sylvestri here here km is present first Department up for tonight is going to be the Human Rights Commission good evening Steve thanks for joining us good evening um just to let you know the Human Rights Commission comprised of eight voting members and the executive director uh who I am um their goals is to do community outreach education and just to Foster an environment of inclusivity um the budget itself is $1,000 historically the Human Rights Commission has received $0 so it would be appreciative on our end if you approve the budget um they take the initiatives of doing training on their own um driving to and from locations and historically like I said they've received nothing so they paid everything out of pocket so okay thank you do we have have any questions from the council just um Steve is does the money will it go back to them directly or does some each one get a stip in or is it for like supplies what will that money be used so it would be for supplies expenses to from if they decide to have a little uh trading event or an Outreach event excellent thank you very much have a great night next up is public health initiatives hi everyone I'm Lauren Buck I'm representing the public health department good evening Lauren thanks um just quickly our mission is to promote protect preserve the health safety and well-being of the residents workers and visitors to accomplish this we Champion Health Equity prevent mitigate and monitor illness encourage healthy behavior and Foster Health resiliency a few of our accomplishments um our big accomplishment this year was related to housing we developed and implemented a multi-level housing support program this um includes implementing a $90,000 arpa contract with housing families to focus on tenant landlord issues eviction issues notice AC quits notice quit they've been able to secure over $100,000 of raft uh funding for our Rivier residents in need we also have intensive case housing case management support and we've been able to secure permanent housing for nine previously unhoused individuals this year we also strengthen Capac by implementing a new standardized case management software is called apricot it houses all of our case management programs so we can have streamlined uh reporting um and it's a really uh it's a good tool that we can all document in at the same time another highlight um we had a a mobile produce market in the summer at Sandler Square um we've been continuing to do food for free programming here at City Hall we've also created a food working group um which is a monthly meeting of community members uh in food access and Justice space through the mass and motion grant our child childhood immunization program is expanding each year this year we delivered approximately a th000 school age mandatory vaccines to rever public school students that's a collaboration between us and the School nurses um we hosted another year of the warming Center um we expanded the length of the contract and uh we serviced approximately 100 Unique Individuals over three months finally um we grew the resiliency of the city's uh Health resiliency by completing a full replacement of all AED machines and City buildings and we've trained Municipal staff on AED and um Naran delivery our goals for next fiscal year um I'll just quickly go through four goals we we want to create and Implement a long-term spending plan for the opiate abatement funds with guidance from the opiate abatement working group solidify a working partnership with the hos Wellness Center to ensure that Wellness programming is available for those in recovery or struggling with addiction we want to expand both the mobile market and the farmers market program programs through increasing nonprofit Partnerships um and Resident uptake of snap and hip and finally organized and standardized public health emergency preparedness protocols things like a one-pager mou and um inventories and workflows and that's it for my mission accomplishments and goals thank you Lauren any questions from the council councilor jenu thank you uh Mr chairman thank you uh Miss Buck for coming uh you run an excellent Department you're a great department head I enjoyed working with you when I was a superintendent uh and you do fabulous work I just have a few questions the um total salary other is about 400,000 is that through some Grant or Opa uh yeah it's it represents multiple different grants we have a lot of grants that come through uh the public health department things like mass and motion arpa um uh we have a revolving fund okay um we have multiple other small grants that could we kind of piece together but yeah it's a it's a combination of all those things all right bless you um the emergency preparedness manager I see that's only funded for half half a year is that job going uh January 1st I'll let Rich take that one yes that's one of the um again anoba fund the position that uh we have to uh we're going to begin attrition it out in uh Distributing those duties between uh members of the uh Public Health Department okay uh I noticed there's seven nurses in last year's budget there were nine is that uh uh do you want me to speak on this Rich so uh yes so remember there's two kind of buckets of School nurses the city side and the school side so we've really tried to hire under the school side Desi certified nurses this year which I think is actually a big accomplishment to try to um streamline kind of the way that we do school nursing so you'll see that um the School nurses that we tried to maintain our Cityside nurses but hire more on the school side okay thank you and I noticed there's no a no har reduction uh person isn't mentioned here in the budget it was last is someone else doing those duties so we have we have two amazing Outreach workers that we contract with so we still have 35 hours of uh Outreach support it's through a contract though so they're not um not an employee but contracted out correct okay and does your office still do the mosquito spraying and mosquito control yes so anyone in need of that would contact your office yep yep it's the same process as it has been for the last couple of years we can give them the contact information for Northeast mosquito and we also submit weekly um like public spraying uh for the city uh City Fields and parks that need to be sprayed we are also there we'll be doing a reverse sign one one soon to do uh two alerts in the beginning of the summer and at the end of the summer right before the school year to be spraying on the school property okay uh so residents might see a reverse 911 about that it's just because of state regulations we have to notify people when we're spraying schools okay thank you very much I'm all set Mr chairman thank you councelor councelor Kelly thank you um thank you for being here tonight I just have one question just for clarification I noticed um a line item for Pest and rodent control I think under the DPW but I'm noticing one here too so is there a difference or yeah um maybe Rich can speak specifically but I can tell you that so the public health department manages the um kind of like the resident side of pest and Rod and control so if people are want to have their house evaluated by an exterminator we do have a program where we can send an exterminator exterminator out free of charge to have six treatments and so between us and the 311 and Community liaison Department that's the program that we run it's more resident facing than potentially the DPW program thank you all set thank you councelor Council Zam buo uh thank you Mr chairman um thanks for coming Lauren um I talked to a lot of people and a lot of different agencies and a lot of uh nonprofits and so forth and you're well respected I have to say that you are you really are everybody I talk to speaks highly of you we haven't had a lot of contact you and I but I had an issue and uh you addressed it uh the way I think it should have been addressed and and so I'm happy with that but uh I want you to just keep up the good work and uh uh good luck thank you thank you councelor thank you Lauren um I just got a couple questions so um with the abatement money we you be doing or or has the office done A needs assessment like exact since or when was the last one done and were you thinking about doing stuff like that with the a b m uh so yeah so a community needs assessment is conducted every I think it's every two years um through the public health um collaborative that we're part of which is Rivier Chelsea and Winthrop it has General Health questions but it does focus on um substance use but the uh the specifically for the OPI de batment money we've created and just finalized our community survey which is about 10 questions um that will be on our website and also our Outreach workers are going to be um you going when they're doing Outreach doing um survey you know surveying questions with people that they come into contact at that time kind of in person um and that will be and then focus group so the one of the questions on the community survey is Will You Are interested in joining a focus group so that will be kind of our population that we pull from as well as the OPI abatement working group um and just um people that are Outreach worker in sudd office know so if someone wanted to get in involved in that how would they how would they go about doing that sure actually we love to have more members to the op abatement working group so um you can always reach out to the sui office and we have meetings every month um they're typically the third or fourth um Wednesday of each month and they're they start at 6:00 p.m. they're held in our office and we would welcome any anyone to join awesome and last question um this is more uh so I'm sure you've seen this the stats that came out so residents it rier residence overall went down overdoses rever itself went up a little bit but um the bipar uh population in the city and throughout the state has has seen an increase in overdoses are we doing anything to reach out to the that Community yeah it's a really good point um one of the things that I really hope for next year is I have a grant written and I haven't heard yet to increase our Outreach worker capacity to specifically focus on language capacity and a bipac you know representative in that field I totally agree with you um you know the the public health department in general has a lot of diversity within it but I think we recognize that even in the the work that I have with the dhu and the studio Department we all recognize that I think it's talking about substance use can be more Taboo in in the bipack population so it can be something that we need to really tackle so I think representation is always the first way to get to go about that so um I'm hopeful that we'll be able to expand to have representation in our Outreach worker Workforce okay thank you very much thank you next up is Elder Affairs thank you councelor sylvestri and happy birthday thank you Deb have a great day and thanks um counselors um for allowing me to present the Elder Affairs budget um the seniors make up 20% of the riv population that's one in five people are seniors um I want to thank this Council on behalf of our seniors for number one just recently um increasing the amount of money and the number of um seniors who will be able to take advantage of the real estate workof program it means a lot uh one of the biggest problems is paying taxes for seniors so it it meant a great deal to them and they appreciate when you remember them um this is more than a job for me as you all know and my staff and we are here to deliver quality programs information advice and access to resources so um with that being said I won't go over accomplishments you guys have all seen it you've been there um which I appreciate it and one of the first goals we have is to introduce more music and art programs at the senior center hopefully more art um and that what we found with that is that it does help Elders with uh cognitive function memory self-esteem so we're helping to um see more of that the second goal was to use the OPA funds that we've been granted for U building a new uh accessible ramp in the front of the senior center we that has gone out to bid it came back that we didn't have any biders that were under what it should have been so I believe it's going to go out again um it's necessary it's needed so um we're hoping to the money has to be spent I believe Rich will confirm this money has to be spent by the end of the year so um we got to get this done third uh we want to secure a mass. Community Grant um uh to purchase a new van for the senior center and hire a van driver to provide rever seniors and vet V transportation to medical appointments outside r as you know our vans only go inside R um I'm happy to say that that van was purchased three years later um it's at the senior center today we hired the van driver and hopefully we will begin in July to take seniors that need it um and we'll see how many need it to go into the Mass General to the VA to uh it's just too hard for them to drive into Boston it's hard for them to park so I'm really hoping that this will um assist our seniors once again we're here to do whatever is best for them and I would hope that you guys will let me know what I can do if you hear from them thank you so much thank you you do amazing work any questions from the council councelor agenzio thank you Mr chairman and thank you Miss uh Peta for the work you do down there you have have a great staff I've been going to the uh celebrations and parties there really are a good time um yeah we thank you for your support C oh you're welcome uh I just have one question the van driver uh it comes from other salaries uh do you know what pays that the van driver the new van driver we just hire well the first van driver is a full-time one and that comes from the state Grant okay thank you that 40,000 is the state Grant oh and is there a charge for these seniors to do these trips no no no councilor Jen it was um the mayor Prime mayor Rigo that um and I have to say um that agreed I believe the council too that agreed that we should not be taking money oh no I I totally agree that's great yeah thank you I'm all set Mr chairman thank you councelor any other questions councel zambo thank you Mr chairman uh Deb I know you know how much I respect you and the job you do with the seniors and they love you down there and and for for good reason uh you take good care of them and you really care about them and you you said it when you started here tonight that this is a passion for you it's not a job we know your history and where you came from and all that and I appreciate what you do and I just want to say thank you thank you counselor we appreciate your support thank you councilor Council noi thank you uh have I don't know you get all kinds of Kudos and I'm going to add to them and got you do you've since you've taken over and the staff you have is the ultimate best that I've ever seen you know I know you've had good people here in the past you lost Robert H counselor H uh to another job but you filled it in properly with Anna and uh Susan marelli took over and she's working out great and you know I do what I can for you you know and I you do and and thank you for pointing that out councel because I do want to say I have the best staff in the city I I really firmly believe I have the best staff in the city I hope they're all watching because um I really firmly believe that they work so hard and our passion is the seniors and you guys we we really appreciate it when you bring um and Mark knows because he's worked for the with the Veterans as well when you bring their them to the table and you ask them what they need and you respond it it makes us we're all going to be there right and not and not may I say not only your staff the Mystic Valley folks your volunteers that you have coming in they love going there at not only for lunch but just for the activities and now that you have the building basically to to yourself um you can utilize more things for them to do and I appreciate appreciate that you know being a member there and and dealing with all the folks that I've been going there for years and I just love it and I appreciate everything you do and how much they appreciate you thank you so much thank you I appreciate that thank you Mr chairman thank you counselor Deb thank you very much for coming up tonight did a great job you do a great job amazing work down there with the seniors you really stepped the whole program up and thank you for your service thanks next up is Veterans Affairs good afternoon Council Mr chairman um Isaac MC Danel director of veteran services good evening Isaac uh really quick Mr councilman I like to bring up what we've done in the past in the past we've had um one I've had large choose to to try attempt to fill um but nonetheless over the last couple of U months I've given a go with my dedicated team a couple accomplishments we've had have been um have been one and one of the largest is the food bank the Distributing food to the veterans of Riv who are in need uh this is an estimate of two excuse me 450 we do monthly and that includes fresh um fresh and stable shelf uh fish uh excuse me um fresh uh groceries and then uh another highlight we have is our our chapter um 115 that we have an estimated of we projected 454 this year but going back we were around um when was it at 80 we're at 40 as of this moment um that's with open cases and nonetheless the fining of VA claims uh going forward what we like to do is we like to expand what we are currently doing not only um do as much that's needed but also focus on an Outreach uh as taking this position I understand the veterans that we are serving but understanding that majority of those uh individuals are around the age of 50 plus which means that from the legal age to join the military which is 17 to those serving at least four years will pck them at an age around 23 to that 50 meaning that we have a release on 60% of individuals we haven't tapped into and by doing this we're having to step up our Outreach the legal way would be doing by um really not only um banking on connections that that we have but building those relationships with uh local military units with uh with those service members really allowing um others to know that the vso uh exactly what it is but the benefits that we provide which is at zero cost to uh to our veterans and the and so pending any questions I I ask that this uh that this be approved great job Isaac thank you no one touches veterans budgets thank you any questions from the council Council CL Andro thank you Mr chairman um Isaac this probably isn't a question for you more towards Mr Vis um one of the the assistant of the director when looking up previous years of over the budget to do comparisons I noticed that the service date on this year's budget is September 1st 2011 but in fiscal year 22 23 and 24 the assistant to the director's service date is June 7th 2001 uh and I just wanted to know if there was reasoning for that why the date changed or maybe it was wrong or I don't know I think some of it has to do with full-time versus part-time status so um believe the rep the date representativ is the the amount of full-time pension mly is there but I will follow up and make sure that's correct thank you and Isaac you do doing a great job man thanks sir keep up the good work thank you Mr President councilor Areno thank you Mr chairman and thank you Mr McDaniels I met you just not too long ago and you're very impressive and you have a great staff and and I wish you a lot of luck uh just to uh kind of elaborate on uh president C leandro's question the assistant of the director uh this year's salary is $200 less than it was last year uh everybody in the budget seems to have enjoyed a three three and a half% raise I was wondering why that went down $200 I can hello um councelor I think that um is a um an error in in trans uh we did have some uh out of grade pay going on and I believe when we brought the assistant director back we may have um took it from the previous year so um there may need to be adjustment on that and I will uh follow up I think you or someone else already brought that up but um we'll try to make that adjustment and see if we can um amend that on the four for uh final budget vote thank you very much and the veterans benefits the $75,000 that's the pays that or is that does that come from the state or well that we H I'm the quote is in the mail okay we we um we budget the 75,000 every year to pay for those veterans benefits uh most all of those benefits uh get reimbursed at 75% reimbursement through cherry sheet offsets there are certain benefits that are actually 100% reimbursable And Then There are also some uh benefits that are paid out that aren't eligible but that's the pool of money we use to uh pay for all veterans benefits and uh we get reimbursed on on the Cherry she for most most all that re uh appropriation thank you very much all set Mr chairman thank you counselor councelor novaski thank you Mr chairman uh Isaac welcome aboard thank you you're the you're rookie in the team right now and but you have a great staff I do thank you Don Donna's been there and she's been you I think believe you're the third vsso that she's been working with uh starting with Nick bua and then with Mark and now yourself but um one thing that's kind of sticks out to me on um the disability payments to rever Veterans uh projected for 2024 is $59,000 but projected for 2025 is $9 154,00 and 23 was 763 how come there's some big such a big difference in those numbers and it's VA disabilities could we uh where exactly you looking at right there I want to make sure I give Isaac assistance he's a little new so I'll I'll help with that it's on it's on the sheet that you gave us rich through you to the council um so I I might be able to clarify a little on that so you have any you have any experience on this sir I I do little bit so um what I believe you're looking at is the Veterans claims so how they sent into the city yearly is that is that where he's getting that on the back on the back of the sheet that gave us on the bottom there's a chart measurement performance VA disability payments to rever Veterans yes so so each year there's a uh a cheat that's sent out from the VA that breaks down how many payments come to Veterans of the City by ZIP code when that's sent to us we get it so if veterans pass away or our veterans get accepted on claims you're going to see a fluctuation in numbers so it's money that comes from the VA federally to Veterans of the city of Rivier so I.E a veteran with a disability 20 10% is included in that anyone with a 100 anyone with a percentage of a rating that receives a check from the VA is included in those numbers you see today you $450,000 worth there was probably approved in this year would have been that b yes okay no you know fine you know I I was just it just stuck out such a big number I was I was questioning it uh but you know overall you know your department is great you take care of all of us that are needed and uh the things that are done with the food bank and other things with the with the memorial poles and the food in the food uh for the uh troops overseas come Christmas time it's just overwhelming and I congratulate you for your future and dealing with Donna and uh and your other staff and Julia thank you sir once again thank you and uh uh touching just linking that last question you had to me something that the office has currently been working on as um upgrading or resubmitting claims for a higher percentage not claims that was started in the vsso office but those who chose to go elsewhere now understanding that River has such a strong postured vso office um they're they're coming back around and they're under not that they're coming back around but um we're able to we're submitting new claims and resubmitting claims for a higher percentage that's increasing our money yeah okay and Mr chairman if I may throw something at you uh that came up last night about the uh Veteran Memorial signs uh um I was very surprised that the new signs are not having gold stars you know that you're just doing the red white and blue stripes news to me news to a lot of people never knew it was coming I don't know why it was stopped and even the replacement signs you know I was told that they're not putting the gold stars on which I I disagree with you know if the replacement person had a gold star on it they should be getting the gold star back you know if the new ones weren't killed in action and if that's you know what you know what the reason is uh I can kind of understand that cuz a lot of the vets that have passed away weren't killed in combat you know from old age and you know and we're doing one tomorrow uh for Elliot Schwartz and he's got a red white and blue one um uh stripes and uh like I said if I didn't see when we did it last year there was a gold star on the on the sign that we did but now there isn't and I was kind of upset at that but and I think you know the 20 signs that are missing that have that have and I mentioned this last night that have been missing since 1978 since the Blizzard of 78 probably before your time a little yeah uh but you know I've been trying to get those replaced and I've asked for money to be put in the in the uh budget for it and I was told that there's are enough money to do what we looking for and it's still not done so hopefully with the new new staff that we have in the sign Department we'll be able to get those hopefully fixed this year I'm not looking for dedications for each one just to replace the ones that the families want to remember their loved ones sir let me catch up for you I definitely appreciate you bringing up the the concern but I'm even happier to bring you up the solution and just take the little time to give you the the reason why so so the moving from from the gold star which uh in a larger Spectrum represents Goldstar family a family who's lost a a father brother son daughter and so you're absolutely correct when you mentioned not each of those individuals were um were killed in action or killed overseas or even killed here at State side which would still make their family a gold star family with that being said um the the proposal that I I pushed up U today this is in the background is um we're going to continue to go ahead with the with the blue white and red representing our our nation's colors removing the gold star and honoring the gold star families and so we understand that um that not each family or each uh I understand the perspective of a star even if it was Silver Star but as as you well aware of a silver star is a metal and so sometimes from the outside we may see a gold stars missing for me I understand that belongs to a family a silver star is distinguished uh a Bronze Star is is one one with valer is also dignified and all the stars are dignified and so being able to determine um for for those who aren't aware what the purpose of the star was for it was a quick switch but it brought Comfort to um it was my first week that I that I came I was able to attend the Capitol Hill with the with the Govern with the governor and there I met with gold star families and it wasn't just them that brought up the um our gold stars is it why are where are the rest of the gold both our families and it was a little tweak that little tweak brought more sincerity it showed that we were listening and that we were really wanting to make a difference and so uh I thank you and I pray you for for bringing it up and say say those I believe you said 27 or 17 flags that were missing uh about a decade before I was born uh the signs yes thank you I'm glad that you brought that up to me because I'm not only uh am I aware of it now but as of now we have a plan going forward on how to get those uh how to get those Memorial POS up Memorial signs so if I come back asking for a little bit more resources we understand that there are good works and happening and I appreciate yeah and you know I asked for the more money to have it done you know I'm not looking to change any that are on there now sure but and be honest with you you know I've been involved with this thing for 25 years and uh never ever until just recently with that gold star issue ever described there was a person that was Kia back then you know and everybody that got a a a plaque a black sign got a star because they were in the service sure you know and this is new with the gold star families and the silver star that was never ever ever brought up in all my years dealing with seven or eight different Vos uh you know so I was kind of upset that I learned that not being told about it you know and that's one of the things that I I stress is communication I agree with you sir you know and you know I know Mark's been involved with it for many years and he's tried to tweak different things and you know I'm not like I said I'm not looking for a dedication or you know some kind of something that's a ceremony for a lot of these the one tomorrow yes deserves it uh but uh just in general I just want these other ones replaced CU all the families they don't live in Rivier anymore but they were brought up here and they they contact me where's my father's plaque where you know it was up there it's missing you know it's never been put back and you know I I think we ought to make an exerted effort to replace everyone that's been that's missing and correct some of them that uh have been taken down or knocked down and the star not replaced and Sir once again um we're fully I speak for not only for myself but the entire office and to say the veterans will rever we honor those um past present and those future and so it's not a question of um giving honor back to those that honors do to say those Memorial polls will be up now I'm careful to say that they will as in uh hopefully I don't have to make that sign because we may see Crayolas and um a cardboard sign but nonetheless I do assure you that those uh those boards excuse me those Memorial po will be um reestablished and and replaced and if you need more money just come to us that some for something like that I'm I guarantee that every single counselor up here will not say no once again sir I I think you consider it done thank you thanks thank you councelor councelor Zano thank you Mr chairman Isaac uh welcome you're still new in my eyes and uh uh you know I certainly am impressed with your resume and I voted for you on the appointments committee and uh I'm happy I did uh but you're on a honeymoon here now so uh there are some protocols that uh some of us like to continue I happen to disagree with my colleague on the ghost star because I over the years have heard from many families that they were uh disgusted that we were putting gold stars on everybody's uh Memorial because they are for uh gar families so uh I I'd be in favor of having having a just for ghost star families have the gar that means changing a lot of signs and I I don't know how we go about doing that but it's that's that's something I would uh I would want to do and it's not I've heard from former uh vsos and and people that say why are you doing this this shouldn't be and uh so I I know my my colleague might not have heard that but I've heard it from a lot of people um so that's one thing the other thing is that you know I consider Donna Dre like a foundation stone in that vso office and I think a lot of us up here do and uh I heard some rumas that her pay was being cut and I was upset with it but I I didn't confirm that uh so I I you know I'll take that up with the CFO if that's the case uh he doesn't want any part of it okay sir uh to say this when it was brought to when I saw it I I questioned what I what was before me as well too given the it's okay given the explanation um that was was given to me I I I questioned it um I'd had a conversation with all of our staff and understanding really I say the the money that I'm that I'm requesting is exactly what we're what we're looking for um to say perhaps it's even quite shy when I was mentioning uh earlier to to Mr chairman on going out to to other communities what we're what what's happening is great what we could be doing or should be doing is more so I I agree with um one the the the pay for the staff not only that understanding that sometimes there are things that need to be done and um not to say that we're exactly that we can't do it because I'm a United States soldier and I will get it done but nonetheless um the support that you are providing to us is extremely extremely valuable it's viable without it we can continue doing what we're doing and I understand this small part on um understanding um perhaps being being young as um Mr Ira mentioned I say yes the idea of um bringing someone in with um with fresh blood having understanding having uh strategic uh approach to certain situations gives me the The Leverage of seeing that uh that was good but this can be better and the immediate effect isn't for the right now but for the uh for the years to come and with that benefit uh I'm willing to sometimes I'm tuck my chin and say what may be contrary to the way as you mentioned things have been done in Riv once again that the not bad but if there's if I seek and see a room for a little bit of improvement once again I tuck my chin understanding that I'm speaking for those who are no longer here those who are present and those who are will to come so well I you know I think that you'll you'll never get more support then you'll get from this city council and and you know you're running the you're the vs so now and and and uh you know we're going to follow what you do and and I like the approach you're Tak and except like I said there's a few issues that we can talk about in private but uh uh you're doing a great job I know you're going to do a great job in the future and and and you have uh you have the right vision and you have the right attitude that you're you're fresh blood you're in here with new ideas and and uh respecting the old you want you're going to but you're also going to keep you know know the tradition of uh so I'm you know I'm I'm thrilled with you and uh I know you do a good job but you also have to protect the uh the things around you down there correct thank you sir thank you thank you Council Council C Andro thank you for the leeway Mr chairman um four years ago I started this the food truck and I want to bring it back up I know you mentioned it Isaac and the counselors to my left did as well and four years ago I was given a title by the former vsso which was is the CEO of the veteran food bank which stands for chief emptying officer and I have emptied that food truck and I'm only bringing this up because I am putting everybody on the spot and I inviting everyone in the city council and anybody who wants to to give back to the veterans come and that is a great way to do it empty that truck bag that food pass it out you will never get more gratification thank you thank you sir thank you Mr thank you counselor um rich thank you uh Mr chairman uh just to clarify I did get a a response from my assistant on the assistant to the director and um her her position had been upgraded on the salary chart and there happen to be two uh lines with assistant director on uh the salary chart and she happened to take the the wrong one so um I would expect on the 24th I may have a small amendment to this budget to make her whole and I apologize for the error that's great news thank you thank you rich Isaac welcome to the club Bud thank you sir thank you I I just want to say keep doing a great job man shine like you are brother and bring bring your own Chevy and put it on top man do you thank you thank you Commission on disabilities good evening how are you good evening happy birthday they beat me to the punch thanks Mr chairman welcome um and fellow counselors uh Ralph too um R Commission on disabilities uh I know that you all got the packet U so I don't have to go through the mission statement but uh briefly wanted to read out for the uh for the public the uh uh 2024 um accomplishments uh We've constantly been updating and modifying the disability page and the city websites with important information for disabled residents and families one question that I did get Tonight Tonight from Council novas selski is um in relation tips to uh resources that we put if we could we put specific companies for for different services but we don't like to put specific companies uh because we don't want to do play any favoritism for any companies to do any type of um work related on any equipment so what we do do and what I do on there as I put agencies that they can contact that they get the resources from um because you do not want to do when you're in a public entity like the city you do not want to favor any specific companies for that but you can give an agency what resources such as Boston Center for Independent Living uh they would be able to give those resources because that's what they're there for uh not a municipality so I just wanted to clarify that um also um we received a $21,000 Grant to evaluate the judge V colola Community Center regarding accessibility issues and the needs um just basically uh trying to finish up on that uh of course uh some of the work that that we wanted to get done there was in regards to the accessibility for the pool the chairlift but as everyone knows trying to get contractors to come and do the work is like trying to pull teeth on your own unless you really want to be in pain so um I've been battling for like two and a half months to get the contractors there the pots have been ordered to go and do that um so it's now the end of the fiscal year the money's already been appropriated but it's very difficult to get them to telling you they're going to go there one day and then they don't go and then takes about another month to get them to get back to with another explanation why they weren't there but that is in the process um also uh through this uh the Rev city council we were be able we were uh able to create a revolving fund uh after passing and adopting mgl 40 section 22g which states that any city of town which has accepted the provisions of section 8j is here bu authorized to allocate uh funds received from fines assess for violations of handicap packing to the commission of disability funds now received into this count would be used for programs projects or equipment for a disabled community so that has been established and that that is a tremendous help and as you can see um located in the chart as of um April and I haven't gotten the updated one there was at that time $99,500 was already in there um so that money could be used for that as for our fiscal year uh 2025 goals uh and objections OB objectives this is one goal that I've put in there for numerous years since I started revamp the commission of disabilities that the commission and Disability should just be more than just a commission it should be a full-time Department uh whether that was me or someone else because it's it's a department that's necessary um and uh the objectives to be able to continue providing this every time and resources for the disabled residents of Rivier um another goal for 2025 was to pursue grant opportunities to establish an all abilities day out at Riv Beach for our for our residents with physical and intellectual disabilities uh as uh an example the um city of East Boston at Constitution Beach does uh does a program like this through triangle uh I'm happy to say that I did receive a grant and we are having one this year August 17th uh at Riv Beach I know there's another very big event that day called root to rier but um this is the day that I was able to do because I'm trying to uh utilize equipment that's coming from the dcr's universal access equipment uh universal access program the week before because they be coming down with a truck load of uh accessibility Beach Mobility wheelchairs accessible mats so I'm trying to do it in conjunction because it comes from the West State west of Massachusetts so I'm trying to make it easier for them so they don't have to bring the truck back and uh so we'll be doing that and having DJs there going to be registration it's going to be a free event uh so we will be doing that and I'm hoping that that can be done yearly after that because it's going to be a great day and we'll pray for no no rain and great weather um so that's that's one thing another another goal is to establish a permanent policy within the city of Rivier that all publicly run city meetings and Boards have live stream hyrid capabilities both online and through Rivia TV uh the objective this would allow people of all ability ities languages ages and schedules to be able to take part and have a voice at all public meetings live translations would also be then capable do the technology the commission on disabilities is looking to Pilot an ASL interpreter program at our monthly Zoom meetings with the hope that's expanding to all city meetings I've also testified at public at the State House for hybrid meetings um back uh several months ago and that is in the uh it's going to be coming up again in the state legislation in July uh to see if they can finally try and get some final approval for cities and towns uh as I've mentioned several times um when cities and towns state that finan that's a is a financial barrier to have a hybrid aspect to meetings that is not um that's not a barrier that's not a barrier a barrier talk to somebody who has a disability that's a bar a barrier money is not a a barrier so there should not be a financial barrier to that um number four uh the last goal uh that I have on here was to create a living working Ada plan for the city capital Improvement plan as outlined in the city Rea transition plan that was done by EMG engineering this would allow the city to make a schedule of ADA improvements to municipal buildings outlined and the fully detailed documents and assessments done by EMG a plan should be created so that each year the city can update this document and make sure work is being done so that our buildings meet the requirements not only for our residents but also for our employees uh I have actually been starting doing that and the uh the sign department is actually preliminary is trying to get some more signage around the building here at City Hall to let uh residents and anyone visiting the city know where our accessible entrances are from the outside of the building uh this I've been working on this for a couple of months now so they' be trying to get that along with inside the building with more signage um there's a proposal out there right now to get uh accessible signage at all the city Department offices including inra um which is part that was was outlined in this transition plan um secondly I've also just completed for fi25 um for Ada uh mod uh Ada Municipal grants that we know we have work that's on the horizon for a couple of the uh Department offices downstairs so I've just applied for about $140,000 in Grants for FY 25 that we hopefully may be able to get so what I did instead of lumping them in as one Grant I did them as four separate grants to hopefully allow us to a better shot if if we at least get we don't have to get one um there's four different grants total there thank you Ralph any questions from the council Council noeli thank you Mr chairman it's not basically a question but it's just a little history on the commission disability uh I believe that uh the very first director we had was Steven rich and then we had Cindy tatelman after that and they both did a wonderful job like Ralph is doing now getting uh getting uh grant money and doing things in the city you know it it took us almost 12 years to get the uh the ramp done at the American Legion building which is everybody knows is a city building and the only thing we need now is uh restroom facilities upgraded but uh it took us a long time to do that and uh I'm still working on getting Steven's sign at the corner of true Street you know put put back I saw the old one behind the McKinley School laying in the trash so uh we'll still work on that but uh thank you for all the work you're doing and continuing from their memories thank of what they were doing because they work real hot at it so thank you very much thank you Council coun zambo thank you Mr Mr chairman and thank you Ralph and um you know I I told uh Deb the director of Elder services that uh uh about her passion uh for her job and I got to say the same about you we don't always agree in a lot of issues but uh the one thing I know is that you have tremendous passion for what you do and you really help a lot of people with disabilities and I appreciate that thank you thank you thank you thank you Council Areno uh thank you Mr Deo I've worked with you uh over the years and for a lot of years and echoing what councelor Zen buo just said very passionate you really take your job serious and you're uh advocacy for the handicapped and and disabled Community is is outstanding thank you thank you thank you thank you counselor Ralph great job um I got to say you you know here in the states we're a little bit further behind with with Ada and and Ada activities um we're we're far behind a lot of other countries so I'm glad that you're coming up with these ideas Beach days and in dcan to take that move towards them to get Ada in in people with disabilities to to beaches and and doing things that we can so keep up the good work man great job thank you on to culture and recreation a library good evening good evening I'm Diana Luongo the director at the library I have two and a half pages of accomplishments so I will not sit here and read them all um I have several goals and one of them is to complete our newly created space for a uh media room which is in the works for a make a space program and another is to create a program around citizenship I'm also working on that and trying to receive a grant for that um also trying to just increase our Outreach hopefully our bookmobile will be here in this fiscal year and we could utilize the bookmobile to further um accomplish that goal and we are looking to continue to look for ways to increase our cultural programs and resources and lastly um we we are planning to partner with the Chamber of Commerce to promote local businesses and advertise the resources that the library has to offer for um the city and the patrons of Rivia so if you have any questions thank you director Lango any questions from the council councilor candra thank you Mr chairman um thank you for being here Diana so just a few questions you mentioned the building of the media room and I'm looking at that $260,000 hike is that one of the reasons that we have the the part of the safety and Facilities improvements throughout the building we so uh adopted in 24 was 40,000 uh oh I'm sorry you know what my apologies the mayor did not request that so cultural Council funding last year there was supposed to be a vote on some funding for the library I don't know if that ever went through did you guys receive that there was funding that had to be released through the cultural Council I remember because we had to do some emergency appointments to make sure there was a quorum to vote for it so no you never received that no how do you know the amount off the top of your head that it was supposed to be I do not okay okay and the last question um you guys have a ton of programming you guys are doing doing a phenomenal job do you keep track of how many people go to each or how many children go to each program and what is the difference between the younger children and teenagers could you just elaborate a little bit on that yeah so we keep track of pretty much every single thing that exists in the library between walking in the building sitting at the computers everything is tracked statistically for state and federal funding which we we have to uh report every year in August so it's budget season uh for that and it everything we do matters I have I think uh the very first accomplishment I kind of give a brief description of 4,122 patrons for the year um that number isn't made up we do keep track of every single thing we do so um pretty much every program we have is successful at the library that's wonderful thank you very much thank you councelor councilor lizan buo thank you Mr chairman uh thank you for coming and uh you you do a terrific job and you know I don't have a lot I don't have a lot to do with the library because I'm an old guy now and I uh I get my I get my stuff online uh but you know all I've heard about you since you took over is good things you're doing it on very little resources and uh I would just ask you to keep up the good work thank you thank you councilor Council noski thank you Mr chairman uh Diana thank you you know I know you work hard you have a lot of great staff a lot of volunteers that Co come into the library and uh unfortunately the library is at the bottom of the list of totem pole and one thing I know maybe about 14 15 years ago there was a request for the city council to put in like $7 million for new a new a new library or an addition because I know we're not going to get rid of the old kege building because it's historical but adding on to it was a thought back then but unfortunately it was a matching Grant and back then we couldn't afford it uh but you know I still say we ought to pursue something and work with the uh Immaculate church about going over the parking area so we don't they don't lose any parking we can do it on on piles on stilts and do a couple floors of new library add it on to the old building to try and expand it I know it's a huge huge huge project but I think it's something that you know if we got grant writers to look into this if you know anybody that can look into it I I think they they were talking maybe $10 million for a whole new addition onto that for two floors was and uh because they want to try and make it still look historical so you still got to kind of uh mended in with what's there now and again we don't want to hurt the uh Church uh even though we gave them the land for the new church you know through the city and I think you know if we talk to the new folks you know that are there now and try and work something out with them or even think about it for the future uh that you know hopefully we can I know we got a high school we have to pay for but if we look into the future on it and see what we can get and how much it's going to cost to do an addition because I I think it's really really needed for the amount of people that come through there and what's you know what you want to do with it so you know I look forward if anybody can come up with something you know I'm there for you so I say good luck thank you counselor can I respond to that actually yes so thank you very much I don't think we're at the bottom of the totem pole but um so for a um grant for new buildings you have to have a strategic plan um on the books and I don't I haven't been I've qualified full certified not qualified certified director for more than a year um and you had to be a certified director in order to create a strategic plan so we have a committee we just formed the um we me and the Board of Trustees and we will be reaching out to other stakeholders within the city so maybe you'd want to be one of those stakeholders to be part of that and once you have a strategic plan in place you are allowed to uh request grant money for such things is building a new library and that is on the top of our list um realistically we know there's a high school being built so that would be something that we look forward to but the Strategic plan needs to be in place first and it is something we're working on good glad to hear thank you councelor thank you thank you director Longo doing an amazing job you're you've you've grown the libraries um Recreation plans and and ideas uh tremendously so just keep up the great work thank you thank you happy birthday next up is Parks and Recreation good evening Mr he how are you I'm well I'm well um good evening everybody U Michael HOSA director of Parks and Recreation uh if you don't mind I'll start off with a little statement um just a mission statement Parks and Recreation Department is committed to enhancing the quality of life for all citizens of the city of river by providing active recreational educational cultural programming services for all age groups and it is our objective to provide Parks and Recreation facilities that are safe accessible and aesthetically pleasing to the entire Community sorry I need my glasses uh our goal is to provide a multiple of offerings for all ages and by the sheet that I just handed out to you we are succeeding very nicely um we provide hundreds of programs while interacting with thousands of residents our department has grown significantly over the last 12 years since I took over the position not only in Personnel but in programming and responsibility in addition to the the programming that we offer we facilitate all rentals of our of our athletic facilities and share in the maintenance of said facilities furthermore a department relaunches George V George V kalala Community Center which includes one of the largest programs that we offer core Aquatics we currently are servicing hundreds of swimmers in addition we have launched new programs such as volleyball pickleball and ukulele classes over at um the kala Community Center um not to mention a lot more programming but those are just some of the new ones and lastly our largest Endeavor to date the opening of the Robert Jass Junior Health and Wellness Center which I'm sure you have a couple of questions on um that's just a very quick overview of what my department does um and I would just like to add one thing as a little bit of competition but oh I think Deb just left but I do I do think I have the best staff in the city H so yes little competition um that's what I have sure we have some questions thank you Michael any questions from the councilor cand thank you Mr chairman Mike thank you for being here and I just want to publicly take an opportunity to thank you for how much you've helped uh my family and my business when we were in a rough spot uh last year so thank you very much for everything you did for us um I am going to ask some questions about the wellness center um I uh so right now what are the operational costs per year uh to run the facility with payroll you know Maintenance Cleaning me to answer that yeah um well you can see uh the next budget after Parx and Recreation is the health and want the center estimated cost to run that facility would be 1,50,000 round numbers thank you and how many I understand what it takes to build up a client-based business so I'm just curious about the numbers where we are now as far as enrollment where we need to be and a timeline of when you think we'll get there I can give you an exact number yeah let's do it as of 5:00 we have 771 members I can I getting into the second part of that question and um I've been um giving some information to council agenzio and Aro about um fiscal year 2025 and Beyond um as everybody's well aware we did use some of our oper recovery money to open the Health and Wellness Center to um promote Wellness in in the in the city especially for city employees that we hope will use the facility and uh stay in good health which will certainly offset the cost of our health insurance which is self-insured um we are hoping that by fiscal year 2026 it is a uh full cost recovery operation we're working on uh cash flow income and expense Pro former reports and it at preliminary right now I'm not ready to turn it face forward cuz I want to uh audit it a little more and check it out but we think somewhere between 188 102,000 members will allow us to be a full cost recovery for all operating expenses and employees so um I think we're up to set like Michael said 780 members right now and um it it it may be uh a challenge but I think it's uh certainly attainable I know some of the uh uh competition uh just raised their prices for their membership I think we offer a more robust uh program a lot of people have a a great um affection toward uh the old uh Nautilus or whatever you want to call it Joe gym it's been a million different things I remember I remember it as Wheels Plus but that was a long time ago but um anyway we really hope that we can uh keep this going and sustain for for a long time coming absolutely and I you know I have a membership there I'm doing my part uh whether I go or not is a different story um but I've been to the facility it's really beautiful and um I I'm really crossed my fingers and hoping to get that enrollment up and keep it open for the foreseeable future thank you very much thank you thank you Mr President Council jenio thank you Mr chairman and uh thank you Mr hoser you do a great job at the recreation center you have a great staff and congratulations on your umpiring uh achievements oh thank you thank you you're welcome uh just a few questions um on your staff at the recreation center I noticed the assistant director has been removed and the travel and tourism uh duties have been went to work force development is that correct y okay that is correct okay Council um now there's two new positions there they're not marked as new but it's activities program coordinator which is vacant and fitness liaison they're not marked as new employees but they're uh they didn't appear in the budget last year is that that that's that's us trying to uh begin to assimilate these jobs into the parking wreck from the uh heal Wellness Center we start off with uh six full-time employees budget in there and we're uh trying to slowly get towards Again full cost recovery okay and I noticed they come those two salaries come from other sources is that APPA funds or the uh one of them is APPA funds and I'm sorry the other position is um is paid from the rec revolving account and the uh Aquatics manager is paid from that revolving fund for the G field pool okay thank you very much uh you use two software programs to uh conduct business at the parks department is that correct it is now correct yes okay we're we're phasing one of them out okay um cuz I had asked for some information a while ago and it it took like seven week uh a little over s weeks to obtain is that piece of software is that Antiquated will you be replacing that or uh no no no no we we so I I think that the the requests came through rich didn't come through me so that's what I would say is that I've provided that information as the requests came in okay um they may have put it into Excel or whatever but that's okay so in the future that that information could uh come a little bit quicker Council I think um to answer your question we um we we first provided the the request we we provided information and then when you drill wanted to some drilled down information we um worked with Michael to actually get access to that software and now the AUD Department actually does have access and we're getting more familiar with uh the types of reports that were requested so apologize for the delays but uh that's more on my office than Michaels thank you very much uh the Health and Wellness Center um I know at the Inception the idea was was to use Opa funds for salaries for equipment for upgrades and then as the APPA funds were expended the revenue would would take over and hopefully it would become a self-sustaining building do we do we know how much APPA funds were spent there uh we committed $2.1 million of APPA funds to a the house Health and Wellness Center and that's the money we continue to draw down on and that is um that's that's the that's the total amount we haven't spent the 2.1 million but that's the amount that we have allocated for that program okay and then I noticed there was some money spent out of the um revolving account for the uh Health and Wellness Center and also the an account at the DPW uh for uh uh repairs to City buildings some money was spent out of that also that's correct you're correct yes I was waiting for you to finish s okay do you think the bulk of the spending has been done yet or yeah the spending Parts pretty much come to a the spending part has pretty much come to an end I mean there is a piece of equipment here or a piece of equipment there um my guess is that our spin classes as an example are pretty full every class um we could probably fit three more bikes into the room um so I could see us purchasing you know one bike at a time just to continue with demand as our clientele continues to grow so but the major spending is over you would say the major spending is over I we have did I went down last week and took a tour of the uh uh facility it is beautiful I it really came out nice I have to say it's it's a very nice facility and it's it's gorgeous thank you I mean I I and not to interrupt but I I do think that we do have a very good business plan and a very good model of of what we're offering MH um um and I think what we have found in in off of that 770 is that we're we're not losing anybody MH um and we in the month of June which is typically a slow month anyways once the weather gets warm um I think we're up 71 members in the month of June I mean we're we're in that June 13th so uh we're still averaging well over you know 100 members a month that we're adding so we're we're we're pretty confident that our business model and our plan uh will succeed okay and the the business model that I read when at the Inception and the havit school of government uh they seem to allude to like 2500 members or 2800 members to keep the place uh I we those numbers were just plug andplay numbers we were talking about you know memberships and there was a basic $10 membership okay maybe to compete with Planet Fitness at that time um our basic membership is at $20 so the the numbers had changed that we may not need 2500 members to to get to our number um based upon the numbers and I don't want to I Know Rich is ready to jump in but uh based upon just growing those numbers to 1,800 uh for fiscal year 25 we're we're break even so um Council just to add to that we taken the 780 members we have now there's three types of membership I think it's a $20 $30 $40 so we took that um we we took that ratio of the 780 members and we applied uh adding members every month at that apportionment and again right around 1,800 to 2,000 members depending on how you split it up looks like where we be at a a break even point and honestly that doesn't include some things like um bringing in more um vending machines for drinks I think we sell wat for a dollar a piece now but I think there's uh other than the memberships I I believe there's other Revenue uh producing opportunities down there and we're going to continue to explore those but um we're we're certainly committed to try to make this something that is fully self- sustainable and not not need uh general fund Appropriations okay and and to date you've you've uh collected about $110,000 is that close okay and I I think we've actually collected more than that but some of that money is um has again the money that we generate from that we're able to uh used to to put back into the sener so I think that might be the uh the net revenue but I can I can double check that number I thought we were close to 200,000 but I cannot double check that okay uh the information that you had sent me had had said 108 so D dues collected through this week is $10,700 something doll okay and um okay and then the revenue every month from the monthly memberships is is that about6 or $177,000 now yes okay so so the budget as as presented um there's funding from several sources appropriated money appropriated money in DPW for utilities you're going to be spending some money out of the revolving account and and then the rest is revenue and that revenue forecast is that based on about 100 new members a month exactly uh we have it as a plug in place so we we can we set it up so that we can put in different scenarios and it's going to spit out different results but so if you add 100 members a month this this budget then becomes viable so again preliminarily yes I don't want to go too public with that but I um guess I'm public going enough on TV but there there's there's certainly some we we as early as this morning we were working on it and and refining that document so um we we you know within two weeks by the 24th we may even have that more refined with a deliverable to to to check out okay thank you and that report that you sent me I think Mr parella generates it if you could add me to that uh month that monthly email list and anyone else that maybe is interested happy to do so all right thank you and good luck and you know I hope the memberships come uh they're coming you know that you anticipate thank you thank you councelor Council Kelly well thank you for being here councelor aeno was very thorough so he asked mostly all my questions but I just wanted some a little clarification um the 2.1 million in Opera funds so have they been extinguished or are they still being used do you antic you know are you using them all and kind of I just want some clarification on that yeah we we used uh most of them we do uh we are funding employees from that right now but most of the uh I'll call it fixed costs have been expended we did use that to pay for the lease and uh some of the operating costs but again as we generate Revenue the idea is I mean we haven't appropriate any more than 2.1 million so the any funds that we may need to to uh subsidize that would come from uh Appropriations from this body that's all thank you thank you councelor Council noeli thank you Mr chairman uh Mike and Richie I'm not going to go beyond the H Center at this point you know I think we've heard enough you know it's whether it's I don't want to say believable or not but it's you know it's something that you're working on and I'm going to leave it at that but just in general you know talking about you and your department you say you've been here with 12 years I remember when you came on wood and what you had then was this small and now you have this large block of activities and Personnel to deal with which you have done an outstanding job with and all your staff is great like all the other staff and I'm not saying that yours is the best or the worst or the middle but they are great great people and they go beyond their jobs let me say you know it's not that you're a clerk you're a clerk plus you're a work A Plus everybody does what they're asked and that's what I was brought up that way and I appreciate that the one question I have to you is when we did um critis park over we talked about utilizing it as a soccer field Y and it's been done for almost five years if not more and I haven't I don't even see a net down there and I don't see any markings that it's ever been used for soccer and you've always professed soccer soccer soccer and here we have a field it's not used all the time for baseball and it's smaller for baseball yeah so it's really a a lights issue you know we don't have we don't have a lot of lights you know we're we're trying to keep it as an active passive place to go down and play um and keeping the Green Space so we do have a few places like that you know in the city of Riv um and I know we talked about this before but I can I could certainly line it um but our grass fields are very difficult to maintain um and when once they be have become heavy use Fields especially wrapped around soccer it tear them up pretty good um so we we've we've been discussing um other turf field or synthetic field options to have more soccer opportunities including lights so I don't know if that answered your question it did I'm not totally pleased with it you know I can understand what you're saying but you would think that other there's something other than baseball and passive because the only time it's used passively is with the school right you know during the school year yeah you know during the summer there very very little baseball down there yeah yeah just just the weekend so you know I I think the field is is it's wasted okay by not being utilized for at least something else you know sure we uh whether it be softball is another thing but at least it could be used during the summertime for other things okay and you I still haven't seen the the uh the uh scoreboard even turn on since we built yeah just just for baseball um and the other reason is that we lost our JV team so the high school did not have a JV program um so they were not using the scoreboard I mean that's where they played all their home games last year so and I don't even know if the Field's big enough even JV now with the way no it is it is yeah it's the right it's the right age group get in you know but down down the road I would like to see a mural put on that back wall okay um you know if we can you know you and uh Planning and Development can work on uh see what it would cost the dip you know even if they put you know a similar uh uh three monster Red Sox Scoreboard on there like they have uh behind uh yeah one of the businesses on on uh ocean a you see the back it has the Red Sox scoreboard back there and plus some other sports that maybe know there something with soccer Nets some kind of design with sports on it it's a good idea I'll go with El Baker it's a big wall to do I know she and I talked about it you know when she was doing the basketball court which really didn't turn out that well but uh as far as uh the mural is concerned but I you know people have asked me about that back wall you know about doing something and make it presentable other than what it is now yeah got it okay but I wish you luck I think you've been doing a great job as I said and keep up the good work thank you thank you councelor councilor zambo uh thank you Mr chairman um Michael uh I think you do a wonderful job I I think that you were mayor Rizzo's best hire thank you uh and and my colleague said when you took over you had this little mini organization uh it wasn't really a mini but compared to what you have now it was a joke and uh what you what you've done with uh at at a lot of times with not much resource uh you've you've done great stuff for the Youth of the city and and and I appreciate it and now that I'm throwing all these bouquet at you uh here comes the dagger all right well not the dagger but you know that if anything I'm a pessimist when it comes to finances you know and uh I'm very very skeptical of the business model I I pray to God you people are right you're going to have 2,000 members uh soon and and and it's going to pay for itself I mean you know I'm I'm skeptical because of the expenses to run the place um it it it's a stretch I hope I you know uh at least I feel better about you achieving that goal than the other goal that I've voting against and talking about uh since day one up here that taking a billion dollars off the tax roll and build in high school I I'll you'll never convince me that's going to work but we'll see you know we've got projections that are that are at at best skeptical I think you have a better sh of making your goal here at the house center uh than than the other project uh so uh I got my fingers crossed but but uh aside from all that I am grateful for you and I hope you want to stay here a long time thank you thank you C and I I just to to quickly summarize the house health and wellness and I know we all have some some questions about it um you know we're 5 and a half months in closing in on 800 members um if you have spent any time down there you'll realize what kind of pro um product that we are that we are offering um you know it it was difficult back when to you know to have 25,000 ft of recreational space and you know we needed a revenue Source um you know based upon lease payments and stuff like that so um we were certainly a little slow starting uh there's no doubt about that um I think mayor Keef got us right on the on the on the track of and FASTT tracking it to to where we are now um but I would highly suggest that if you guys came down there at you know 6:00 a.m. you know you're going to see 100 people in there working out being very happy and coming out of the spin room soak and wet or coming out of the boot camp um so um that's all I would say I mean I just you know it a little bit more difficult to to say sit here but I would come down and visit and I think that you'd be very impressed at at what we have going on and and I think we'd be able to convince you in about 12 minutes well I need more than convincing I need to see the revenue I need I need to see 2,000 members and I need to see it self- sustaining but listen I I know it's a great facility I I I was there for the opening I I've heard that it's fantastic from people and and I'm listen I'm a Cheerleader I want you to succeed but uh I'm a little skeptical but said there's a project that I'm much more skeptical about and it's not the has Center thank you thank you thank you councelor Mike thanks for being up here I just got a couple quick questions um so my first question is I'm going to bring up the health center I'm sorry um but is do we have a a date um like is there a time that we say Okay past this date if we're not there like do we do are we looking at that or or or no my my biggest concern is the sale of that building and are we protected in any way from that happening to us that's a it's a great question counselor we um we know we're getting close to the end of the threee lease and um I know that the mayor has reached out to the owner of the building and and we're talking a about a lot of different options um you know councelor renzio had some concerns about signing anything more than a a one-year lease and and I do think that um again while I'm cautiously optimistic here on full cost recovery um if it doesn't take a uh year to become full cost recovery I guess we really have a decision to make because we've put a lot of um capital A lot of hard work into this so um I know the former mayor had always um said that he's he's not a he's not opposed to having this subsidized by Appropriations I don't think the the current mayor is of that mind but um yeah we we we're going to be actively uh looking at all of our options with the center I know we're trying to uh negotiate a lease that's actually less than what we paid before um I will say again that we did get a great opportunity with the $30 million from Opa funds and and yeah I'd love to say we were 100% on every single thing we did with those dolls and it was effective but I do think that it was a tremendous opportunity for us to start this well in the center and um I kind of think of it myself personally as an extension of the the Park and Recreation Center so um you know maybe we come more diverse with that Center and use it for multiple things but um it was very frustrating the beginning trying to get some direction on what what what the facility was going to look like but uh when may Keef came in we uh we really got to the point of just opening up a Health and Wellness Center it wasn't going to be a a daycare center or a juice power or anything else so we're uh I feel like we got good good momentum here but um I wish I could answer that question a little clearer but uh we're working towards trying to make sure that's fully sustainable and whether it's through negotiations different uh activities that such down there we're going to uh do our best to make sure it's successful Thank you Rich and and Mike my last question um and and um I'm sure I I know you have an amazing staff and everyone has their own little niche and specialization um I know we we we're losing our assistant director and big portion of his was was planning Recreation programming do you see that having an impact on the recreation um no no I I currently don't um we were um a little over a year and a half without an assistant director so maybe maybe a year and three qus um so it shouldn't affect the you know it'll be the trickle down effect of of programming so nothing had stopped prior to that nothing will stop now awesome thank you keep doing a good job keep giving your staff Kudos and uh thanks for coming up Mr chairman I have one more question sorry councelor Jil uh the turf field behind the high school yes I I know um a few years ago you were ready to replace that you had the funding in place and then the high school became convoluted uh is that back on the uh so yes 100% um we have a purchase order for the turf already okay and I think on Monday you will see the bid go out Monday or Tuesday and and there's money for that was that Opa funds uh no it's actually um we um are working with the school department to uh we we did have uh funds for the uh the purchase of the turf itself and now um depending on what the price comes in on the installation of that Turf we should have it uh full full um fully paid for through um uh reconciliation of our schedule 19 with the schools being that they hired 100 extra teachers with the um student Opportunity Act money they actually owed us some money for health care so we're um we're just using that toward it um putting that tur field okay thank you very much thank you councelor and thank you Mike have a good day thanks J thank you and lastly is historical and cultural resources got my historical culture resource add on thank you Council Rich visis CFO um this budget is uh very basic uh several years back we were um approached by the members of the um historical um commission there at at the building at the bottom of the street here and uh having trouble paying their utility bills so um we appropriate $110,000 and that $10,000 every year is basically we don't we don't pay bills directly from it but we uh at the end of the year we just just transfer that money over there to reimburse them for the cost of utility so um we've appropriated $10,000 the last couple years and essentially it's just to help offset the cost of utilities for the building thank you Mr V any questions from the council Council noski thank you Mr chairman uh rich I can understand I was going to ask about the 10,000 so thanks for that clarification is there any chance we can get some kind of personnel there to operate the building more often than what is done with the volunteers now I mean I think the short answer is yes but I will uh I would defer it to to my boss the mayor on on what the future plans of that is but and we we certainly anything's possible but um I don't know that we have a master plan on what that would entail but I I know it's been talked about a bit here but right now I know they're pretty um um involved with uh rewiring that whole building so I'm not sure if we're ready for that at this point but I I would uh I would defer to the mayor on exactly answering that question that project's almost done because the kids are coming to the end of their school year so I would hope that you know we do consider it that because the building should be open more often we just don't have enough volunteers to do it I think I think you make a great Point counselor and I will uh I will try to get you more information on that for I appreciate that and I know and I know the commission and the people that take care of the building would appreciate that very yeah know I think it's a great building I think there's a lot of opportunities down there and I um I'm I'm sure we'll hear more about it but right now I think we're addressing Capital needs down there and trying to get it ready for for more uh public use yep thank you thank you any other questions no thank you Mr viske thank you everyone thank you for uh all these meetings and all your great questions and uh look forward to seeing you on the 24th Mr chairman point of personal privilege speak your point Thank you Mr chairman uh just a reminder that this budget is going to be sent to the committee of the whole uh which will meet at 5:00 p.m. on June 24th and I also just want to congratulate councilor sylvestri on running some great budget meetings this year great job thank you have a great night and we'll see you Monday June 24th and birthday e