what good evening everyone welcome to the June 24th regular city council meeting please rise to salute the flag rooll Club of the members councelor agenzio here here councelor janino here here councelor greo SAA here here councelor H here here councelor hero here here councelor Kelly here here councelor McKenna here here Council noeli here here councel sylvestri here here Council zambuto here here and council president cogliandro here here Quorum is present approval of the Journal of the regular meeting of June 3rd so move Mr President councelor McKenna could I have a point of personal privilege please St your point councelor uh this past Saturday the city lost a rever icon Tony Mata Tony and his family love Rivier and have a and have deep roots to the city Tony's father was the assistant superintendent of Riv Public Schools his brother Mark taught for 38 years his brother Christopher nephew Mike and Son Maxwell are currently teachers in the system still Tony was the husband of Denise Kelli Mattia the father of three children Alexis Maxwell and Jenna the grandfather of Caleb and Ethan he was a brother a teacher in Rivier public schools for 32 years a coach and just recently got elected to the Rivier school committee his beautiful Legacy will live on for over 36 years Tony was a talented comper and you probably and he probably did work for you at some point Tony was my dear friend and a good friend to many we will miss him deeply could we please stand for a moment of silence in honor of Tony Mattia thank you thank you calendar item number three Keith amalan of National Grid will appear before the city council to discuss double polls specifically thirdparty attachments which currently are holding up 29 I'm sorry 21 double polls in the process good evening sir name and address for the record please good evening my name is Keith amalan my address is 27 Wilson Street in Worcester Massachusetts 01604 okay all right um so I know I was invited here to talk about double poles in the city of R um specifically we do have a lot of non-participating members in the engines database which we utilize uh along with Verizon telephone to notify attachers on our distribution polls that they need to complete transfers once new polls are set um in doing a little digging um there are a couple things that I wanted to bring up with the city and just try and figure out how to uh move forward best practice um there are locations around the city where there are street signs where there be no parking um speed limit signs so on and so forth that uh are holding up Verizon from removing those double Woods um and I know right now with rier we do have one member code uh for the fire department for all their fire alarm wire they have been going through those and getting those transferred there are still a handful that do need to be completed um before other third parties can uh progress in regards to street signs does a city I guess I'm not sure what the city would plan on doing to get those transferred to the newly set polls whether it be DPW or utilizing a contractor that the fire department utilizes um but that certainly is going to be helpful in US sending notification to that department when the situation arises where they do need to get those street signs transferred so I'm not sure what entity that would be um I'm certainly willing to work with them to get them established in our engines database with a primary contact that we can notify in those situations um so that was one thing there are a few other situations where we do have uh traffic signals that um have risers on our poles that are owned by the city that will also need to get transferred as well similar situation right now we don't have a contact to specifically notify about those directly um so those do kind of get uh stuck in the cycle um lastly I do see record of Verizon going out and identifying that there's Municipal wire or Municipal fiber that's owned by the city that needs to be transferred um same situation not sure who the entity would be the responsible for handling those transfers uh if we have that available again we are more than willing to work with them to get that uh notification system in place so that they are aware and can get them uh taken care of in a timely manner um outside of that we do have two major cable companies uh Comcast and RCN which now goes by a stound Broadband I believe um they have been notified about the transfers they need to complete within the city and we'll be working over the next few weeks to get those completed in a timely manner um additionally there are locations in rier where National Grid is the joint owner uh or is the sole owner of distribution polls and transfers have been completed um we are working on developing a better way to kind of notify our operations uh Crews uh in the city that when we are up to remove the double Woods that uh we get those done in a timely manner um I have spoken to the operation supervisor who covers uh R and he will be working over the next two weeks to get anything that is ready to be remove removed so they can get cleaned up um lastly I know that we do um it looks like at some point in time um and I wasn't able to get further clarification before I came tonight but we do have street lights where at one point I think there was confusion on whether or not the city owned street lights I don't believe that's the case right now so there are a decent amount of street lights that I think we actually need to go back out and transfer to the newly set poles um I have notified operations about that as well so in addition to any double Woods any street light transfers we do need to make we'll be done within the next two weeks um outside of that really I think my goal would be to try and work with the city for any Municipal fiber street signs and any kind of traffic light risers that need to be transferred um who the contact would be getting them in touch with with the um the rep for engines which is Angie Weaver and she will help set up a code for them kind of walk them through the process and make sure we have proper contacts in there so that they are notified and can get those addressed in a timely manner so double Woods not continue to sit so that was what I wanted to talk about tonight thank you sir uh city council Council noeli thank you Mr President uh welcome and thank you for coming up um we've coming into uh Lion's Den all right and uh every everybody's looking to beat up the lamb but uh I've been I've been working with uh Elena aleris okay in your office yes and um she's been very good but let me let me say first of all as far as the signs are concerned because I'm I'm deeply involved in that stuff our DPW okay department does uh all the signs and when I see it in my area I have the Shirley ab area okay so when I see that they have a double pole up there send a request to our sign Department to remove it from the old Pole to the new pole okay in some cases they do it right away some cases takes a little time but I know it takes time to move the everything on the on the pole anyways um you and there's one location at 190 Campbell AV that there was a fire there about 11 years ago okay and nothing's been done in that pole C so but I told Elena run it and she was going to get her Ops folks on it but you know in general it is frustrating and I know it's not always you and we try to get the other agencies here that the same time but they you know they haven't been you know coming but you know at least we got you here finally yes um but in in general I I keep a list of every request that I send in for you guys okay I know down in Garfield they have it took it took took about three months to get three sets of polls adjusted to new uh lights repaired yes yep moving a a on a double pole a flood lamp Okay to the new pole that hasn't been done you know in maybe six months okay so this is the stuff now did you give us this list last month um so yeah I did provide Miss melck with an updated list before I came tonight yeah I know this this list is not doesn't work for us all it gives it doesn't give the poll number or the actually the street address exactly so yeah so on my new list that I did provide which um if I have if I get your contact information I can certainly forward that along to you as well that would be great you know I double check and I send things in to you guys as much as possible but for sure you know and I have cards as well that I can share with you all so you can reach out to me directly too that that would be great if you can give us your information that would be great so thank you I I just wish you good luck and you know keep moving moving ahead thank you perfect thank you counselor councelor Gino SAA hi Keith thank you for coming um I do have four new locations that need to be addressed um I wrote them all down for you so you can just take this and then there's also an electrical box that's hanging off of Rivier Street it was picked up um but it's back down it's about 7 ft off the ground and it's hanging off of uh Rivia street across from 308 that needs to be taken care of uh before then after yep for sure I will definitely take a look at that thank you and I'll just give you this not a problem yep electrical boxes my assumption is that we really don't have anything below yeah or that low on the pole it it might be a power supply box that's owned by either one of the cable companies um I'm not sure if there's a small cell antenna on the top of that pole but they do have uh like shrouds which is basically another form of a power supply box to power the antenna so I I will double check to see what that it's really low to the ground so it really needs to be put back up sure um is there like are you looking for a specific height to get that reattached at usually we try and do 8 ft plus no it's it's a lot lower than that no it's hanging it's like literally hanging off of one of the wires okay all right yep I will certainly get that looked at thank you thank you councelor councelor sylvestri thank you Mr President and um Keith thank you for coming up tonight um Keith when when other utility companies uh put lines off your poll cable company or whatever do do they pay National Grid any type of fee or anything like that to use your polls yes they pay annual rental rate for each they attach to okay so that's great to know um the reason I ask is because it seems like and and I don't think it's any fault of your own but it always seems like every time we get someone to come up from National Grid we get the same exact Spiel over and over again why it takes so long the other companies and sour so I just think if if they're paying you a fee and National Grids making money off this fee there has to be some sort of way that you can enforce these companies to come out and move faster than they are because it always seems that we're bringing the same polls back in to do the same thing because this telephone company didn't show up or didn't take their stuff off or this telephone company didn't do theirs and and it doesn't seem like there's any type of oversight or way for anyone to step in and get them to do it faster so I think if they're paying National Grid that they should be able to respond in a manner that helps us remove these poles in a faster way yep and I 100% agree um one thing we are doing is we are creating a role uh within my department for basically an engines oversight uh manager so basically for the state they'll be looking at um both our internal jobs where we have uh new construction for new Services um any kind of uh um reliability jobs that we might do reconductoring um a lot of the times my focus is more on look looking at Double Woods specific to New Third parties trying to get attached um the big reason we push on that specifically from my group is that new company once we complete our work Verizon telephone who is also a joint owner in majority of the polls that we have won't issue the license to that new third party until all the transfers are completed um so with Verizon it's not uh while they do have people go out and kind of monitor progression They Don't Really push as much as we would like so in an effort to try and combat as many double PS as we do have now we are uh going to start interviewing shortly um to fill that new position and have someone pay more attention to like aging double Woods to reduce the amount we have and and get them pulled faster so that is a plan moving forward for us to uh put in place thank you and however we can help in the city to to facilitate any type of signs that need to come down please don't hesitate to reach out excellent thank you thank you counselor councelor McKenna thank you Mr President I have two questions for you um first of all your jurisdiction um win Parkway in Rivier um I believe so yes we have two polls down the cars hit and they're laying on the ground and we have a box that has all wires coming up okay that if a kid was walking cuz that's a great Pathway to the beach if if a little kid was walking and touch these I don't know if they're live or not but that should be taken care of and that's been like this for a month um and the other the other question I have so if you could take care of those two poles and the poles are laying on the sidewalk so they're still there no one's removed the poles and this has been about 2 weeks now were there new poles that have been set there or or no the poles were hit by C right so they weren't taken away they're still on the sidewalk did National G come out and install new poles no okay so they're still just broken they're broken and and there's a box with wires coming out of it that might be live and could be uh a safety concern for uh body for sure I age so um I think that should be done right away I agree um the other thing is I want to know do you know off hand how many polls we have that the city um you know the city has signs on do you have a number I don't have a record myself um I mean I could tell you based on engines tickets that we have and I could query back and and give you an idea but I couldn't tell you overall so once those polls are done and the signs are taken off then those polls will be removed correct and that would be Verizon telephone remove all the polls all right thank you very much yes thank you if you could just get me those locations I will certainly get that escalated for you thank you thank you counselor councelor zambo uh thank you Mr President uh thanks for coming here tonight Keith you're welcome I I don't know how you drew the uh Short Straw but good luck to you uh but I I am encouraged I have to say you know I've been here a long time everybody knows that I keep telling everybody that but uh I so I remember when we didn't have a system at all we do have a system now I just heard something tonight that makes me encourages me that you're going to put a person in a position of authority to oversee these people that are slacking to put it in layman's terms CU that's what it is it's a you know Verizon isn't doing its deal when it should be and everybody's got priorities and double polls have just not been priorities but I'm very encouraged with this new position I think that uh you're going to oversee this and you're going to help us uh solve some of these problems so thank you again thanks for coming and I don't know who you stepped on at National Grid but somebody somebody's paying I sign up for I'm only teasing I'm only teasing but I'm glad they did send you thank you very much you're very welcome thank you thank you counselor councelor H thank you Mr President Keith thank so much for being here tonight um I just want to let you know not a double poll issue but we have a poll that's leaning in my neck of the woods on MAR Street 2701 so I added it to council's checklist if you don't mind checking that that one will thank you yeah you're very welcome thank you councelor councelor janino key thanks for coming tonight y as far as um the city stuff is concerned I have no problem being a go between between your company in the city as far as the signs and the fire alarm and that that kind of stuff y so I mean that that's that's a another subject on it right so is one one of the top five calls I get during the course of a week for people call up with the polls over and over again okay as far as facilitating it a no problem being a go between right so I I think the issue at hand is from what I heard earlier um it seems like you are getting stuff transferred but in the engines database that we use we have someone assigned to basically check off that it's been completed um so I know that Verizon every now and then will go around and kind of do a a spot check on Open tickets and um update things accordingly um I think the list I sent where the our street signs still left Verizon hasn't come back to verify whether or not there they they're still attached um I think if somehow we could set something up with the DPW to either just show them hey here's a list of all the times that you are up next to transfer the sign and you can just click complete that notify Verizon everything's done and they'll go out and actually remove the poll so it might just be a case of people haven't got back around to those specific locations the street signs might be transferred and Verizon just might not know yet because the system's still telling them hey there's something here before it's your turn so yeah I can certainly work with someone to within the DPW just to send me emails directly saying hey we got these and I'll kind of I can monitor on your behalf and make sure those get progressed accordingly so that that's not a problem for me um but I think that's going to be kind of the reason why wi Verizon probably hasn't pulled polls where street signs have actually been already removed all right thank you yeah yep thank you counselor permission to speak from the chair Keith thank you for being here engines oversight manager it's the best thing I've heard from National Grid in a long time it's going to be good uh it's been hell we call one utility we're not ready to move on the poll well who is oh I don't know then we have to call around so I'm very happy to hear that um Tammy has been our direct contact for this council is that still the best contact for us Tammy sarito yes yep any chance I can have your number I I like the way I have cards that I can give to everyone with it wonderful that would be great y um any other counselors have any other questions sir thank you very much for your time tonight I'll grab cards right now excellent thank you all right place on file calendar item number four public hearings hearing called dis ordered on order in the amount of $3 million for phase 15 construction project number 16729 for Pump Station and drainage improvements this is a public hearing I'm going to open it to proponents First anyone in favor Mr viske good evening Mr President Rich Riske CFO too on Broadway I'm here to speak in fav favor of the $3 million loan order for continued efforts um with our consent decree um as you may notice this amount is much less than we've had in the previous years uh we're hoping that we can keep this uh amount low as we uh phase out of this uh consent decree we weren't even going to come to the council and ask for uh Bond authorization this year however um we do have some previous Bond authorizations that we're going to resend and by um doing new Bond orders for fiscal year 2025 we will have the ability to get some uh principal relief through some of the OPA funds that the trust is receiving so uh we thought it would be a better idea to come up here and get a new Bond authorization where we can get some principal relief and then res resend some of the PRI bonds for these projects so um I am in favor of this uh Bond and thank you if you have any questions please let me know thank you Mr Vis any other o proponents anyone else speak in favor closing that side any opponents anyone opposed hearing and seeing none close that side of the hearing City councilors councelor Gino sa I am definitely a pro opponent for the pumpin station um they're essential in managing the flood waters and storage during heavy rains with the pumping stations um they're there to prevent the water from from damaging the homes and I have to tell you you in the point of Pines they changed the pumping station they they put in a brand new pump and it has been absolutely phenomenal the water has not hit my home and it used to come right up to the steps and now with with the new pumping station it it it works incredible and I am 100% for redoing all the pumping stations that we have in the city of river and and I think our pumping station um expert who we had which was Donnie Cham at the time and now we have Chris who is following in Dad's footsteps thank you any other counselors councelor McKenna I thank you Mr President I think pumping stations are great but we have to open them so and a lot of times when there are storms they're not opened to take care of the flooding so I think that and and they're under they're not some of them are are not under the city so I just you know some of them are DCR so I just think we need manpower to just open them and take care of uh the flooding thank you thank you counselor any other counselors so we're going to have two roll call votes tonight Madam clerk call the r on the first shall the city council approve a loan order in the amount of $3 million for fa phase 15 construction project number 16729 for Pump Station and drainage improvements councelor jio yes yes councel janino yes yes councel Gino SAA yes yes councelor H yes yes councel hero yes yes councelor Kelly yes yes councel McKenna yes yes councel noeli yes yes councelor sylvestri yes yes Council zambuto yes yes and council president cogliandro yes yes the loan order has been approved and onto the resolution shall the city council approve the resolution relative to the phase 15 construction project number 16729 councel agenzio yes yes councel janino yes yes councelor greo SAA yes yes councelor H yes yes councelor hero yes yes councelor Kelly yes yes councelor McKenna yes yes councel noveli yes yes Council sylvestri yes yes Council zambuto yes yes and council president Cog Leandro yes yes the resolution has been approved calendar item number five hearing called disordered on ordinance requiring the publication of certain records of the police department this is a public hearing do we have any proponents anyone in favor seeing and hearing none any opponents anyone not in favor seeing and hearing none we move to City councilors Mr President oh councelor Kelly thank you Mr President uh Mr President we had a lengthy discussion in Health and Human Services subcommittee regarding this motion and two amendments were passed um therefore this evening I would request that this motion be added to the agenda of the next legislative um Affair subcommittee meeting thank you thank you councelor councelor yarmo Mr President um thanks for uh to my colleague um Council Kelly for proposing this I just want to reiterate some of the conversation that we had in that subcommittee meeting in Health and Human Services about the importance of uring harm reduction and Trauma informed uh work from the police department and and all our public Communications uh as we know our city has been ravaged by a substance use pandemic epidemic and uh since the covid-19 pandemic uh a rise in mental health issues has caused a great deal of uh what would otherwise be defined as crime um so to that end I'm going to introduce an amendment to this motion um that reads after section c um D directs the city's Office of Public Health and the crisis center clinici within the police department to create public policy recommendations that rule this ordinance and are trauma informed and in the best interest of harm the reduction and mental health and E that this this ordinance go into effect 30 days after said recommendations have been submitted to the mayor's office and city clerk and that said recommendations are placed on file with the city clerk and the mayor's office any other counselors could Mr President resp to that thank you Mr President um I I um understand Council Hero's um Amendment however I do believe that the language in the amendment that was passed in the Health and Human Services subcommittee section a uh does speak to that and therefore no other language is necessary thank you may I respond Mr President yes last one then we're going to vote on the uh Mr Pres president through you to the colleagues here at the Das and to the public uh that as far as I'm my knowledge uh none of us here are mental health clinicians or substance use clinicians uh or doctors um and that I would or public health professionals and that recommendations from these folks are necessary to ensure that we're not stigmatizing a population within our city that is already historically marginalized ized uh I understand I don't understand the app apprehension to have a truly academically informed professionally informed Public public policy decision- making process with that I close thank you counselor so there's a a motion on the floor to refer this to legislative affairs all in favor all opposed so Ed next up is the climate sustainability and Workforce subcommittee report from June 17th councelor Yu uh Mr President uh we ordered this to a public hearing um this is a motion to establish a pilot program for a composting uh uh composting pilot program whereas uh we can allocate the mitigation funds from our traditional waste program and allow alternative uh measures of composting of U of waste disposal uh composting has uh great deal of benefits in addition to the financial potential benefits that it it could provide the city and its uh waste disposal program uh it has other benefits that deal with uh with land erosion and uh soil erosion climate castal resiliency uh Greenhouse emissions Etc uh to that end I know that our our residents in the point of Pines area and really from the information that I've received from the professionals uh scientists and climate activists in our city uh we have heard at length about how certain practices of traditional waste uh produce quite a bit of uh pollution in our air which travels up to 20 mi in radius which means the entire city of the of of river is within that catch base B uh composting uh could help deviate up to 30% of that waste that ends up in uh set facilities uh from [Laughter] the uh from the uh from set facilities and reduce henceforth the amount of pollution um I hope that this is passed thank you councelor councelor zanuto thank you Mr President I I don't have any problem with this going to a uh public hearing however we're a long way from implementing something like this I want to know what it's going to cost I want to know how it's going to remove the waste from the stream it there's there's all kinds of Pie in the Sky ideas but this is a serious undertaking that will cost a lot of money will not save a lot of money and and I want to see the facts and figures thank you thank you counselor councelor Kelly she's a co-sponsor um my my apologies councelor Kelly I didn't realize councelor Gina SAA was the co-sponsor do you mind if she goes thank you very much counselor thank you Mr President um waste management is so important in the protection of the environment but will'll also save the ca too reduce expenses for the disposal it saves the environment from toxic effects of inorganic and biodegradable or compostable material that's present in waste so if waste is not managed properly it can cause water contam contamination soil erosion and air contamination polluting The Fragile ecosystem that's part of Romney Marsh a waste management plan will serve as a comprehensive strategy guiding us towards sustainable ecofriendly practices waste reduction and it will help us stay compliant and in the long term saving us millions of dollars I know it may cost a little bit of money now to start it but in the long run it will save the city millions and millions of dollars thank you thank you councelor councelor Kelly thank you Mr President um I do agree with this motion and I think it's a I think it's a great idea but I would like to make a motion to send this to Ways and Means subcommittee just so that we can get a little bit better of a handle on what would be looking at for cost what that we would be looking at in terms of savings and just you know get that um information a little bit more detailed thank you we have a motion on the floor to put this into the ways and means subcommittee prior to a public hearing all in favor all opposed all right we have councelor a roll call Mr President uh if you wish uh absolutely let's take a roll call instead Madam CL on the motion to send this to ways and means councelor agenzio no no councelor janino yes yes councelor greo SAA no no councelor h no no councelor hero no no councelor Kelly yes yes councelor McKenna yes yes Council noeli yes yes councilor sylvestri yes yes councilor zambuto yes yes and council president Cog Leandro yes the motion will be sent to Ways and Means calro number seven this is the Parks and Recreation subcommittee report from June 17th councilor Kelly I'm sorry Mr President um we had a lengthy discussion um in subcommittee and it was the will of the subcommittee that this motion remain in subcommittee for further discussion thank you very good thank you Mr President sorry point of personal privilege here State your appoint counselor sorry before the motion was presented I'd asked to speak on the prior thing i' just like to clear up that uh and maybe go through this ordinance for folks who uh didn't have enough time with it so $25,000 of the money for this motion uh on the compost is coming directly from the mitigation funds that we're getting from our traditional um composting program and this is only a pilot program this is not a Citywide implemented program um so I would if possible uh have a vote on Rec consideration bringing this out of subcommittee so what councelor Yar would like to do is you would have to suspend rules and then ask for reconsideration on the vote uh so on the motion to suspend the rules all in favor all opposed let's take a roll call on the roll call to suspend rules of order councel agenzio yes yes councel janino no no councel greo SAA yes yes councelor H yes yes councelor Haro yes yes councelor Kelly no no no councelor McKenna no no councel noeli no no councel sylvestri no no councel zambuto no no and councel president C Leandro no no suspension of rules fails thank you Mr President next up is the report of the committee of the whole permission to speak from the chair today we met at the committee of the whole to discuss the or have the final discussion about the budget and uh if there's any comments that need to be made or any questions or any cut proposals uh now would be the time and what we're going to do is go Department by Department I'll ask if anyone has any comments or questions or cuts for each uh and otherwise we're going to take votes on each individual line or not line item but on this page the payroll and non-payroll does anyone have any questions before we begin Council zambuto I I just want to reiterate what I said at the committee as a whole that uh I think this is a responsible budget I I don't see any reason to cut anything from this budget but my fear is the next budget and the budgets after that that that's when we are really uh at risk but uh this particular budget I think is responsible uh I I have no intention of cutting anything from this budget and uh I'm I I think my colleagues feel the same way thank you thank you councelor councelor novaski Mr President with all due respect the thank you um we had a committee a whole prior to this meeting and there wasn't one counselor that had any cuts any discussions on it and we' had all last week we had public hearings and meetings for people to come and discuss there wasn't one comment on a negative of cutting anything in this budget and instead of going through each item that you want to go through I would like to move at this point that we vote on this right now and ask for a roll call you want to vote on the entire our budget all at once yes right now yes is that something we can do he just there's a there is a motion on the floor and a roll call has been called we're going to take a roll call right now to decide if we're voting on the entire budget as is we're not going to go Department by Department that's what the the motion is so Madam we are going to decide through this roll call if we are going to then take a roll call to vote on the entire budget as a whole Mr President could I have a point of clarification State your point counselor I need to recuse myself from the inspectional services payroll so I I'll be happy to vote for the uh budget as a whole just as long as that's on record that I'm recusing myself from the inspectional service payroll thank you councelor councelor H thank you Mr President like councelor our genio I also have to recuse myself um but from the parks and rec budget thank you Madame clerk we have a motion on the floor and a roll call please shall the city council move to take up the fy2 budget as a whole as opposed to going through Department by Department councelor agenzio yes yes councelor janino yes yes councelor Gino SAA yes yes councelor H yes yes councelor hero no no councelor Kelly yes yes Council McKenna yes yes councel noeli yes yes councel sylvestri yes yes Council zambuto yes yes and council president Cog Leandro yes yes the budget will be taken up Al together is this the first time that's happened no sir think so no we've I think we've done it before we've done it before we've gone all the whole budget all at one time at the night that we're supposed to vote on it all the discussion was done before at the public at the uh meetings see some gift cards coming your way for saving some time counselor under under $50 I'll take I hope they're com I hope they're coming from you sir Madam clerk uh on the entire budget please call the rule whereas pursuant to Mass General laws chapter 44 section 32 the mayor submitted a proposed budget for fiscal year 25 to the city council on June 3rd 24 and whereas the city council held adverti public hearings to consider the proposed budget on June 10th and any other dates necessary and whereas upon motion the city council accepted the budget as submitted by the mayor after reductions otherwise separately voted if any there were none now therefore be it voted by the city council of the city of Rivier that the city council of the city of Rivier hereby adopts and approves the budget for fy2 the sum of $274,400 435 which shall be which sum shall be appropriated and raised by taxation and other sources as listed in the approving budget as provided by the city auditor councel agenzio yes yes Council janino yes yes councelor greo SAA yes yes councelor H yes yes councelor hero yes yes councelor Kelly yes yes councelor McKenna yes yes councel noeli yes yes councel sylvestri yes yes councelor zambuto yes yes and council president Cog Leandro yes yes the FY 25 budget has been approved [Applause] to let's take a short recess oh one one moment before the recess oh Mr viske uh I just want to thank all the councilors especially all the new counselors for uh having the faith and trust to vote that budget as it uh submitted and uh thank you again have a nice night thank you Mr viske great job two-minute [Applause] recess e e e e e e e e e e thank you all for your patience let's resume the meeting calendar item number nine communication from the mayor relative to the appointment of Danielle nordenberg to the public art commission referred to [Music] oh she's here tonight councelor McKenna this is your subcommittee and I believe it's they're asking to vote this out tonight instead of sending it yes that's okay with you okay good evening would you please state your name and address of the record hi push the button hello um I am Danielle nordenberg and I live at 14 Walnut place um Rivier okay does anyone have any questions um councelor McKenna thank you uh I am the commissioner of the uh uh public arts and uh right now we're on sabatical because uh we've had a couple of uh well a few people uh leave um so we're going to start up again in September but can you tell me about your your background and what you have to offer uh the public Arts sure um I have a varied professional background um I've worked as a gallery assistant um I've worked in digital preservation um essentially digitizing microfilm and fish and editing um that film to be legible um I've had a little bit um of experience in film as well um and I maintain an active and ongoing art practice um and I work out of my Studio at Joy Street Studios in Somerville um I am a painter um I have been painting regularly and committedly for about 5 to six years now um and during that time have exhibited in several galleries including um shockbox Gallery in LA and Midway artist studios in Seaport um I am very passionate and dedicated to the Arts and I really hope to have the opportunity to activate some spaces in great you sound like a great fit I'll we'll be in contact if you can leave your um email address and your phone number for me um before you leave I would really appreciate that so we can get in contact with you we'll do thank you very much thank you counselor councilor sylvestri thank you Mr President um thank you for coming tonight it's exciting to have you on board and to have you here in the city and and helping us really Kickstart an art culture that we're we're really looking looking forward to so thank you good luck and welcome thank you thank you councelor councelor zambo thank you Mr President uh thank you very much for coming and I'm very impressed with your background I know you're going to do a great job under the leadership of Miss M so thank you very much thank you counselor councelor noeli thank you Mr President uh Danielle uh having having uh living in my ward right now and me being your city councelor and you being my constituent you do have a great resume thank you I really appreciate it and think you you'll do a good job on the committee thank you good luck thank you for coming Mr President oh thank you councelor Council yo thank you for coming I really appreciate uh you coming here and of course uh look forward to seeing you serve in this capacity for our city as you know the Arts uh has always been a good a great way to highlight some of the more urgent crisises in in society and uh we need people with bold visions and I'm sure you'll bring that of course our most urgent CL uh crisis right now is the climate crisis and as you could tell today we're still dragging our feet on that uh as it relates to Solutions and so you know I welcome you your leadership as it relates to Art uh so that we can Inspire our folks to take bold action quickly because we've had a two week Heatwave and uh it's so important that um we're capturing every single part especially where you live in an area of environmental justice uh you know and a place where the Arts have really come together and and folks are really uh having a a fruitful uh Renaissance right there's a Renaissance going down the Shirley a neighborhood uh that I grew up in uh and I'm just so proud of uh everything that that you stand thank you counselor on the appointments all in favor all opposed so ordered and the words of council McKenna do a good job for the city thank you Cal calendar item number 10 communication from the mayor relative to a residency waiver for Anthony galizia as assistant superintendent water and sore good evening ma'am good evening members of the council Cloud Cora from the mayor's office um here before you to ask for a residency waiver for Anthony gesia as assistant superintendent for the water insur department um Anthony has been with the city for good number of years now and he has uh the privileged of actually work he has actually the experien working on the three divisions of the water and seore Department which is water drain and sewage so um he also had showed a lot of leadership in his department and um we also he actually was the best candidate and um we definitely wanted to promote within the department so um he's here to answer any questions you may have thank you miss kareah any City councilors wishing to speak councelor Areno thank you Mr President I've known Anthony U since he was a teenager he started down the City ad uh as summer help uh I've known him for a lot of years uh he's excellent at what he does uh one of the main things he has a class 4 water distribution license those are hard to come by and the city is fortunate to have somebody with that license and I I know personally working with uh Mr galizia you know he's an excellent candidate thank you thank you counselor councelor sylvestri thank you Mr President Anthony I just want to say congratulations look forward to working with you in the future and good job thank you thank you counselor councelor janino thank you Anthony I'm a full this waiver also I watch anything grow up in my neighborhood over the years and I'm full support of it thank you councelor counselor H thank you Mr President Anthony congratulations look forward to working with you I thought it was kind of cool you started out as a uh as a sports journalist much like I did many years ago a little before y before your time but uh congratulations thank you thank you thank you councelor councelor McKennon thank you Mr President Anthony congratulations uh please I'm not going to ask you any questions cuz I think she already answered all of them for you so I'm just going to say do a good job for the city thank you course thank you thank you councilor Council novas selski thank you Mr President once again I just want to wish Anthony good luck uh I know we do need uh couple engineers in the department and to work on it because we have no one right now and I look forward to having you you have a great resume I love what I see and um look forward to working with you in the public works and water s up thank you thank you counselor councelor Gino SAA Anthony I just want to congratulate you and just do a good job for the city thank you thank you counselor permission to speak from the chair thank you Anthony congratulations this is a no-brainer for me uh and if I didn't know anything about you just the fact that your name's Anthony um so it means amazing things are GNA I think it translates to amazing things happen something like that right on the communication all in favor all opposed I so wed congratulations thank you no calendar item number 11 communication from the chief of planning and Community Development relative to an act authorizing the city of Riviera to Grant up to two additional licenses for the sale of all alcoholic beverages not to be drunk on the premises good evening ma'am name and address of the record please Claren zerillo solicitor's office 281 Broadway I'm obviously not Tom he is on vacation a much deserved one um I'm here tonight through council president candra to you all to urge your support for the approval of the submitted home rule petition which would expand liquor licenses here in our city I'll be brief because I know it's been a long night uh the special legislation before you this evening represents a collaboration led by Tom uh between John Festa and the planning department the licensing office as well as my office uh the requested language would allow R to surpass the quotas that are established in section 17 chapter 138 which is our governing law for all the liquor license activity that uh municipalities undergo uh many municipalities submit home R petitions every year to go a couple over the quota when business calls for it uh if enacted our licensing commission and rev would be able to consider not automatically Grant but consider applications for two applicants within the suffect Downs uh development for licenses of the sale of all alcoholic beverages not to be drunk on the premises which is a package store license um I can assure this Council that these applicants have to meet the same stringent regulatory requirements that our current license holders have to meet and the change that we're here before you today for is warranted because we want to encourage the economic growth and kind of that community engagement and Buzz that we're all really eagerly awaiting from this development um and given the limited summer schedule of both our city council and the state delegation that we have up there I'm respectfully requesting that this Council consider a vote this evening on a suspension of rules to show a good faith effort on behalf of the city of Rivier to move along the contract negotiations that are between hym and the lucrative tenants that we're seeking State represent resentative Jessica gianino has already graciously provided her review of the legislation before you the results of which you have right now I'm happy to answer any questions about the language of the act and John Fest is also present if you have more business related questions he can handle those thank you very much councelor McKenna thank you Mr President I'm the wad counselor on this and got calls from uh Mr fester and uh Tom and I don't have a problem with this I don't think the planning when they were planning this they didn't know uh the commercial entity of what was coming into suff Downs I think they have like out of nine places that they have they have seven commitments and two of them uh a serving alcohol so I don't have a problem with this as long I want to see suffix Downs flourish and I think this is the best way we can do it so thank you you have my support thank you counselor thank you counselor councelor thank you Mr President um CLA did you say these were Package Store licenses that's colloquially what we call them that's how they're most offered in the city but any kind of retail store it doesn't have to be solely alcohol like Woodies for example it can also be a combination you know we have grocery stores that sell alcohol think of Trader Joe's down at assembly row things like that so how would this be different for for restaurants that came into the development but we have to offer separate licenses in that's an on premise license and I don't know the exact number for our quotas but that would be a separate license that's not covered by the special act uh C Council Sylvester the um full service licenses we're not at a cap yet uh I believe there's still plenty of capacity for restaurants to operate at suffk Downs if at some point in time we get to a need uh we would probably have to come back but I want to say there's 11 uh full service liquor licenses available in the city still and of course the suff D does intend on having most of these lifestyle centers like assembly row like Marketplace they tend to attract a lot of restaurant tours so we we hope to get to a point in time where we have to come back uh but we don't think that that's going to be uh anytime real soon but um from a leasing standpoint they have a lot they have had a lot of inquiries specifically the Trader Joe's model she mentioned um Trader Joe's operates a a nice high-end grocery store but part of their model is to have um P off off premise alcohol so they would not be able to sign a lease uh if they weren't able to uh bring on uh Ser uh oper offering alcoholic beverages and those are the types of businesses we're trying to attract strange okay thank you thank you counselor counselor Kelly thank you Mr President um you said we are at our quota right now for this type of license are we have we already surpassed that have we is this the first time that we're going over that quarter or I believe it changes based on the population so as our population grows our ratio of licenses to population count grows also so it's been increasing but we are at the quota as of right now and um I I do like the Trader Joe's um analogy or a similarity I think that would be great however this is for in all alcoholic beverages right and and Trader Joe's doesn't sell hard liquor and things like that it's just limited to wine so do we have any assurances one that this would this obviously was is not going to be limited to Wine correct correct that would be the just the beer and wine The Malt um license which is separate from an all alcohol license okay so this is more along the lines then of a package store if you're looking for all types of liquor it would be I think a lot of these major corporations they like to just get whatever the most encompassing is I'm pretty sure the Trader Joe's has the all alcohol sale license at assembly row but if you also know to use assembly row again as an example cuz I work there for a long time uh they have a high high-end liquor store offering you know vodka tequila the works so it would apply to whichever of the two that the hym is able to negotiate with would we have any assurances if we voted favorably on this as to what kind of controls we could have in place regarding exactly what type of establishments would be there because I I think I'm fine with the higher end you know cheese and wine shop and trade of Joe's model with selling wine and all of that I think is great but I think there's a big difference between those types of establishments and just a corner you know package store so what assurances would we have in place along those lines I'm going to let the mayor speak and also this is something that the licensing commission has almost full authority over so if there is any concern for any applicant that goes before them we as a city and as employees and representatives are more than welcome at those meetings to voice our concerns for things like that counselor uh these are the types of questions that I had uh directly with the leasing office and uh with the ownership at hm uh we want to we want to make sure that they're fulfilling their role of of attracting National Brands an elevated brand uh without uh um you know eliminating the opportunity for local uh um um businesses to come into the the plaza but they very much are if you look at the developments that they've they've already had in seeing you're seeing these types of national Brands Total Wine for example uh it's a full service liquor store uh that is it's an elevated brand and it's it's highly sought uh because it it offers a really good value uh they they have high high frequency of visits and people tend to really enjoy them highend uh wine shops like lucil or I'm just going to use some of the names that are out there uh these are the types that are contacting hym to try to get into that property there is a lot of inquiries so they are going to be able to pick and choose from the best and the brightest and that's what we want that's what we want to be able to offer that uh that elevated experience over at hm thank you Mr President um I I understand that that's the intent and the intentions are good and I I I appreciate that however maybe it's the lawyer in me but I would feel more confident if we had some Assurance in writing or with the License Commission when these licenses are issued if that would be possible right well as an attorney you probably would know the you can't discriminate against a certain type of business uh so that would never happen and I know that you're not suggesting that so to guarantee uh what what brand would come in there we couldn't say that but we do have full operating control on granting licenses well not necessarily A brand but I mean then maybe there's a restriction on the license in terms of all alcoholic beverages to limit to Wine I don't I don't know we haven't I was going to say yeah we don't have that license yet um most of the most of the incre hym are not just for beer and wine these folks they want to sell everything or just not be limited to beer and wine and so if if you think about you know I'm I'm sure folks are thinking about maybe competition with some of the smaller mom and pop like convenience stores that are in that area and I as a r resident I live very close to Cappies up on Route One and even though it's closer to me I still drive to blanchards because it's familiar to me I know the prices I know what they have so with that concern of who's going to be going into the development it's going to be trying to attract tourists and trying to get people to spend money not necessarily someone like me who's going to drive down the street to a really convenient and familiar store that I know I can get good prices at thank you counselor councilor Zan buo thank you Mr President uh I support this uh obviously uh I think that uh someone like uh Tom O'Brien and hm are looking for a wedman and you they're not there's no um you know there's no Rinky Dink uh U op operation going to go in that uh development that's going to be a high-end development from start to finish I'm completely confident in that and if this is helping them uh put uh some leases together I'm all for it thank you thank you counselor councelor novas seli thank you Mr President uh through you mayor Mr Mayor did you say we had 11 licenses available in the city now so I got to go back on my emails cuz I had requested uh Maggie haey our license commissioner to uh get me the update on Full Service uh licenses for in for restaurants full service in in in in store U consumption and I want to say there was about 11 uh remaining we do have a few malt uh in in store operations available as well a beer and wine uh for a store that a restaurant that may want to only offer that and then then there are zero available uh full service package licenses available so the we would need to increase that so is zero all alcoholic licenses off for off- premise package stores right so liquor store so liquor store this you know and and I'm I'm for hm and I don't mind working with them but you know I I have a concern about this right here going now because I don't know through you to the uh to the clerk do we have to have a public hearing on this there's no public hearing but by the city council Rules of Order special legislation shall first go to the legislative affairs subcommittee okay uh so you know that that's what I would want to discuss in legislative affairs and let me say this if it does go in there by the time we have our next meeting and I believe it's in July yes July 2 um the legislature is going off until after the first of the year and we know that nobody's going to be ready for an alcoholic license by then so I I think this is rushing it just just seems like it's an all alcoholic license similar to what we've had all around and you know when it happens it happens and I don't think I don't think there's a big rush on it right now I I hear your concerns and we're not looking to rush anything at the state level because we know they're at a session counselor not counselor representative ganino was nice enough to already provide a full review so it's all good to go once they are back in session the main purpose of getting a vote on it tonight would be to show a good faith effort so that those letters of intent can turn into leases and we can know for sure who those uh tenants are going to be and report back to the council well you know through you Mr President uh you know I think we've shown our good faith to hm and suffk downs quite a bit over the last 15 years you know and holding off on this and wait and see what happens you know I have a feeling we I I think we should wait a little if you have questions for legislative affairs I'd love to get them now so that we can be prepared for that meeting okay thank you counselor Al councelor sylvestri thank you Mr President for the leeway and Mr Mayor and CLA thank you for staying up um it I got to say my main concern this body just approved the expans of the Domino liquor store that's going to be directly across the street from this development and I get it that one's a mom and pop in a small business and one is going to be a total entity that we're we're trying to aim at but there's no guarantee in that and and I believe that supporting our small businesses as well and not impacting them which is going to be across the street is is something that we got to think about and and to know what would be going there or what's going to be going after this license would would help us really help to pass this um because I I'd hate to see just a a liquor store go there that's selling even even an up brand of alcohol um I don't think it's something that we need more of in the city currently I think it's a chicken and an egg situation you know like I wish we could tell you who's going in there and who's going to get the licenses but unfortunately without Assurance from the city that we would Grant two licenses we're not probably going to move quickly uh and securing a lease from those taxpaying businesses in order to tell you who they're going to be so we're kind of stuck between a rock and a hard place how many licenses would this bring us to two no no no total Maggie do you know the total if approved with two 15 15 okay per Maggie thank you counselor councelor zambo thank thank you for the leeway uh Mr President uh I think these two licenses are are are a small thing that will help a big thing and I'd like to vote on this tonight I think this is important to send a message to the major developer the best development we're ever going to have in this city to let them go forward and let them lease their property and and I believe this hinges on these licenses so I want to vote on this tonight and I hope my colleagues agree with me thank you councelor councelor Gino saan I agree with councilor zambuto I think this is this is something so small I don't understand what the what the thinking is to just approve two more liquor licenses I I think is it's something very little and if you're looking at the big picture this is going to help us raise the money that we need to build a high school I I I just don't I don't understand what the thought is the thought process with this council tonight over this it's just El legalizing it's not a big deal I'd also just like to flag with your vote tonight this wouldn't be an automatic granting or approval of those two licenses to these mysterious figureheads this would just be approval to send it to the state delegation if they have a big problem with it which I don't think they will because Jessica janino reviewed it for us they would definitely consult back with us but this isn't automatic 100% we're granting them that's up to the licensing commission once those two applicants receive permission from the state through our special legislation to apply for these two extra ones so we're not automatically granting it to two mysterious business owners tonight we would just be voting to send it to the state which as someone on this side pointed out I forget uh they're not in session right now so it's not going to happen right away it's just going to be able to turn those letters of intent into secured leases and then we'd be able to know who those tenants are and then if you have qualms with either of them we can speak to the LIC LIC commission about what the concerns are thank you permission to speak from the chair thank you how many residential units are going into suffect Downs so the rier side is looking to be approximately one completion 2500 and uh Boston has had ideas of somewhere between 7500 so you're talking about close to 10,000 residents between Rivier and Boston so my only question is is two enough do we need to do more well the Boston side will might may may want to go after some of that as well but you know we do we do think we and again I hope to come to you at some point in time for full service restaurant licenses um but we do think that this was going to be suffice we didn't want to have it to be uh alcohol alley down there we think that I I can't you know in with some confidentiality I can't sit there and say what I am thinking is going to happen but I'll just say that some of those other complexes that you know you know of have uh these types of stores that you want and rever and uh we do have the control because it does still have to go through the city council uh I'm sorry the the uh licensing board to be approved and of course you know the conversations I've had with hym have been you know we're looking to add to the community we're not looking to create a direct conflict with a neighboring uh package store and they heard me loud and clear thank you I I just you know I feel like this is going to provide a service to what's going to be built out as a mini city of its own um and I completely agree with councelor Gino SAA you know this is going to generate revenue for us that we sorely need from from the suffk Downs development um and also I just want to state that you know I don't foresee something like a a liquor store that is also a Keno parlor going into suff Downs um and I have full faith in in Rob covich our our license chair and the License Commission to do the right thing and if anybody watches those meetings they are very thorough with every license that comes through them especially when it comes to liquor so I am also in favor of voting for this tonight uh councelor jeromeo Mr President uh you know thank you Claire for bringing this up and John Festa and mayor for working on this uh you know this this I I work my 9-to-5 is doing legislative work this is uh a wonderful piece of legisl um we all know that R janino is a seasoned legislator who was also at this dis at some point so I'm going to motion to suspend the rules and take a vote on this today we have a motion on the floor to suspend the rules all who's saying no councelor all in favor all opposed so ordered Council noas selski reported as no madame clerk let's take a roll call shall the city council approve an act authorizing the city of Rivier to Grant up to two additional licenses for the sale of all alcoholic beverages not to be drunk on premises councel agenzio yes yes councel janino yes yes councel Gino SAA yes yes councelor H yes yes councelor Haro yes yes councelor Kelly present voting present councel McKenna yes yes Council noeli present voting present councilor sylvestri yes yes councilor zambuto yes yes and council president Cog Leandro yes yes the special act has been approved back to regular order of business thank you counselors calendar item number 12 communication from the city auditor relative to the FY 24 retained earnings closeout transfer to the water and sore stabilization fund Mr visc thank you Council Richard viske 21 Broadway City CFO um as we close out fiscal year 2025 what you have before you is the remaining certified retained earnings of the water and Enterprise fund what I'm proposing here is to appropriate all available retained ears into the water St Source stabilization fund for use during fiscal year 2025 um as you know during my uh budget presentation uh the fiscal year 2025 water sore rates have been set by this Council through a three-year rate setting process we did in 2023 however those rates will need to be um supplemented by some retained earnings in order to keep that threeyear rate structure so uh just want to put these dollars aside to help uh alleviate that appropriation when when it comes up next year happy to answer any questions thank you Mr viske any counselors let's take the role Madam clerk shall the city council approve a transfer from the water and sore retained earnings account to the water and sore stabilization Fund in the amount of $241,600 councelor agenzio yes yes councelor janino yes yes councelor greo SAA yes yes councelor H yes yes councelor hero yes yes councelor Kelly yes yes councelor Mna yes yes councel noeli yes yes councelor sylvest yes yes councelor zudo yes yes and council president cogliandro yes yes the transfer has been approved uh calendar item number 13 communication from the city auditor requesting various freec Cas transfers to close out fy2 24 does anyone have any questions Council novski uh through you to Mr vesque small repairs for $260,000 at the City ad no um just to clarify thanks for the question uh counselor uh through you Mr chairman that appropriation is going into our account that we use to do small repairs throughout City buildings um I think the way that account was written up makes it appear that that's just for DPW but that's it's controlled by the DPW facilities department for doing small repairs on the fire station police station City Hall Etc so we didn't um we held off on doing a full Capital plan as we went through the high school uh Bond vote so we'll be doing a capital plan over the summer to present to you but in the mean time we've depleted our funds that uh do small repairs so this is an order to keep uh repairs going over the summer and such thank you for the clarification you're welcome thank you counselor any other counselors Madame clerk please call the RO shall the city council approve the following transfers from free cash to the following accounts 425,000 to Solid Waste deficits 350,000 to Street lighting 260,000 to DPW all IAL buildings and $339,100 to the estate of George rundo councelor agenzio yes yes councelor janino yes yes councelor Gino SAA yes yes councelor H yes yes councelor Haro yes yes counc Kelly yes yes councelor McKenna yes yes councel noveli yes yes councelor sylvestri yes yes Council zambuto yes yes and council president Cog Leandro yes yes the free cash transfers have been approved calendar item number 14 motion presented by councilor McKenna that the city council take the appointment of Diana aala to the library Board of Trustees from the appointment subcommittee and move to confirm set appointment councelor McKenna thank you Mr President Diana welcome uh can you just give us a little um brief history about your um experience in you want to be in the library Board of Trustees good evening I have a extension experience I'm so I'm so sorry ma'am just state your name and address of the record please I'm sorry that's my fault I should have asked my name Isa living in n m app thank you I have experience with the community all Community uh as a community of Rich also an a preschool teacher and pre teacher and now I'm working with the elders so I cover all community and I can I can give you more my experience as a teacher actually actually I'm reading now my tell story for kids my own story I also a writ WR singer so the artistic things and I think we have to approach the Childs and the young people to the libraries again because they are on the phone all the time so we have to create new techniques to come to the library and make you more um creative in this area and with all experience I have with the kids I think I can help you in that area thank you it sounds wonderful any other counselors Mr President goe go ahead mad Mna um I just want to say congratulations and and good luck I look forward to seeing what you have to offer and and bring to this city thank you thank you and also know all there new generation speak more than one language and I can also give you my my first language in the community in helping them to appro to the English language because that's where we live so I think we have to work as a team and help the kids to grow up we are a creative for natur so we have to encourage kids and JS to be created in this new world Council Yu hi what a pleasure to see you here and very excited that uh you've getting this appointment and uh you know for those of us who have been able to witness your music and your career and uh your friendship um just really excited that you're getting appointed to this uh and hope that our colleagues will join me in voting in favor of your appointment thank you Council oh Council Gina s Diana I just like to say welcome and congratulations thank you very much thank you counselor all in favor all opposed so ordered do a good job for the city thank you very much good evening caler item number 15 motion presented by council president cogliandro that the mayor Chief of Police and DPW superintendent appear before the city council to discuss the growing problem with vehicles speeding throughout the city enforcement of traffic laws issuance of violations and speed comom measures such as speed tables permission to speak from the chair I believe I can speak for every single counselor past present and probably future that this is one of the phone calls we receive more than any other type of phone call uh this motion was submitted on a day that I received eight phone calls from different areas of my ward alone and I think it's time that we all have a conversation with all the people involved in public so that we can all understand what the issues are how we're going to rectify any and what we're going to do to make our street safer because there's a lot of people scared out there I do want to state that I did speak to Mayor Keefe I believe we are going to have this presentation or this this meeting uh at our next meeting on July 22nd so we're looking forward to seeing the chief the uh super the DPW and the mayor to have a conversation with all of us is there any councelor sylvestri yes thank you Mr President and this is a a great motion um I truly believe that we need a a a full all handson deck approach and I I think the only way to really C of this is is I hate to say it but enforcement um because the lack of of people that want to obey traffic lights and signals and even bus stops when the bus stop sign goes out people just don't want to stop today and and it's getting to be out of control and and until someone gets hurt i' hate to see that what it takes so thank you for filing this motion thank you councelor councel noeli thank you Mr President and I say thank thank you thank you thank you thank you I got three calls this week on three different streets and I'll mention Franklin Avenue where the children playing in the vicinity on a regular basis Campbell Avenue again and Standish Road leading to the gothfield school and uh also let me say that's four cuz I got Walnut Avenue at the 50 Walnut a where the senior citizens are crossing on a regular basis and people are flying down that street and I think it's time we get these additional speed bumps put in I don't care what it costs it's safety we have to protect our people so I say thank you again it was great timing thank you thank you councelor councelor Kelly thank you Mr President um I just want to commend you on this motion I think it's a great motion I think we need to have a serious discussion about this um I know there were problems all around the city I know that Squire Road in particular we had a horrible accident not too long ago there um so people are getting hurt and um I I will Echo what councelor sylvestri said in terms of enforcement I I really hate to see the city become too or overly prevalent with speed tables although I know they are a measure to try to curb this Behavior but um I really think we need to see some enforcement measures as well thank you I agree Council thank you councelor councelor yo thanks for filing Mr President this is um great and I hope to have a robust uh discussion with the Professionals in this field thank you councel time and if I just maybe granted a little leeway I just you know I I agree with councelor Kelly I don't want to become a city of speed bumps or speed tables uh but I do know that you know where we are still trying to fill positions in the police department those are essentially a 247 speed deterrent um even if it slows a car down for two seconds it slows them down for two seconds and again don't want them all over the city but if we strategically place them I think they could be very valuable to our Public Safety and and uh as it was stated definitely looking forward to a conversation about this with everybody on the motion all in favor all opposed so ordered calendar item number 16 motion presented by council president cogliandro that the mayor direct the police chief to provide the city council with quarterly reports relative to traffic stops on all sectors speaks for itself all in favor all opposed so Ed calendar item number 17 motion presented by councelor agenzio that the city Council order to a public hearing an ordinance amending metered rates of the revised ordinances of the city of Riv councelor Areno thank you Mr President I'm offering this motion uh for four F four five and six family homes uh they are currently being charged the commercial water rate uh for their buildings I'd like to provide some relief for uh owner occupied four five and six family homes I know we're always struggling with absentee landlords uh they live out of the city they live out of the state and they're just interested in collecting checks uh and this gives a little relief and a little appreciation to owner occupied 45 and six family homes um and and I think we appreciate them living in the these homes watching out for them and um that's the reason for the motion thank you thank you counselor any other counselors uh we do have a member of the audience that would like to speak good evening sir name and address for the record good evening sir my name is Ira novas salski I live at 53d H Home Street and uh I am a recusing myself from this motion as I am affected by it and I thank councilor renzio for putting this in we try to do this uh in the last uh session we had and uh it got uh caught in rule 23 so what's happening is here a lot of four five and six family homes that have senior citizens that own them and living there uh I were affected by this rule that was put in in 2018 and just put into effect in 2022 so um when uh we all got caught up on it it uh it's cost in approximately 47 different homes in the city that are affected by this and uh many of them are senior citizens uh so they have asked that you know we work on this and try and get get a reverse back down to residential rates for these uh four five and six family homes and it's costing all these senior citizens and others of course a few others um approxim an extra $2,000 a year just on water and what they've had to do is over this last two years is actually raise the rent to make up the difference you know to pay for these so I you know I hope we can have this public hearing and I have some of these folks come up and say their peace uh to everybody and hopefully get this pass for uh before the end of the year thank you very much thank you councelor councelor sylvestri thank you Mr President and um Mr President I I think you know I believe it was two years ago maybe last year that we had a long discussion about this that that we came to the agreement that it was it was going to we were going to agree on four and then five and six was you know how many of these are home owner occupied how does this impact um seniors that are are getting the rate and does it impact them as well uh how does it impact overall uh the cities um water and soore rates these are the things that I I think we need to have more of a Clarity on um and I'd just like to know if we could get the numbers on how many owner occupied are in these numbers counselor if I may I know this is going to go to a public hearing and then to Ways and Means so we're definitely going to have opportunities for a lot of information uh thank you counselor councelor Zan buo uh thank you Mr President I'd like to see to go to Ways and Means before it goes to a public hearing any objection on on the motion to send this to Ways and Means prior to a public hearing Mr Council if I may just so you know there are 47 homes in the city that are affected by this and uh approximately 75% are senior citizens uh but it is owner occupied and that's what the difference is it's not an investor that someone has a six Family Home and wants to make money off it you know they should be paying the commercial rate if they don't live there so um I would hope that we could you know the public hearing won't happen till July anyways and then even if it goes into uh uh Ways and Means afterwards it's still a discussion that has to be brought up so I would hope that uh it have the I think I have a motion on the floor yes I was also given the floor counselor I before the motion acting as a citizen aren't you are you trying to act as a excuse me gentlemen I granted Council noeli leeway there is a motion on the floor which we are going to take up now with the motion on the floor is to send this to Ways and Means subcommittee prior to a public hearing would we like a roll call or can we roll call Madam clerk roll call to send the motion to Ways and Means councelor agenzio yes yes councelor janino yes yes councelor greo SAA yes yes councelor H yes yes councelor Haro yes yes councelor Kelly yes yes councelor McKenna yes yes councel noeli is recused councelor sylvestri yes yes Council zambo yes yes and council president cogliandro yes yes the motion will be sent to Ways and Means calendar item number 18 motion presented by Council zambuto that the city council established by Rule of Order the following criteria for the installation of City councilor portraits in the council chamber portraits must be of City councilors who have passed away two two the individual must have made notable contributions to the city or represents a significant milestone in the history of the city council three the city council shall designate a subcommittee to review nominations based on the contributions or Milestone four nominations for portrait display shall be submitted by City councilors only five once a nomination is approved a highquality portrait will be selected from existing digital photographs six portraits will be displayed in designated space in the council chamber approved by the selection committee Mr President may I put a motion on the floor I'm going to I was going to allow but uh council is in budo but if you're going to put a substitute motion that would Trump that so go ahead I would like to put a motion on the floor that we add George rotondo's portrait to the council chambers I I don't believe that would be that's that would be another that's separate from this motion counselor um this we don't want to add that to this is being added to the council Rules of Order we don't want to add a a single councel to The Rules of Order uh if you'd like to put that on the floor right after we're done with this we can absolutely do that thank you you got it councilor isan buo thank you thank you Mr President this this truly really speaks for itself uh with all due respect to my colleague from wad five I think that that would go into this motion and the select committee would decide and and I'm sure they probably my guesses they would find he had the criteria to be in there so um but this is to clean up some stuff that's gone on in the past and and uh simply uh I think a lot of us know this is a good idea and and uh uh so I put it for forward so I could take the heat thank you counselor any other counselors wishing to speak councelor oeno uh so this uh motion wouldn't remove any existing portraits no okay very good any other counselors it's up to you so we can either put this on the table or refer this to the committee of the whole do we have a motion for either just a point of clarity I I thought it automatically was tabled any rule change I but maybe I'm maybe I'm not it's like seven days notice prior to oh okay yeah listen I will never question our city clerk I'm going to motion to put this to table this till the next meeting Okay calendar item number 19 motion presented by councilors Haro and McKenna and greo SAA whereas budget hearings only provide for particip of the Ways and Means Committee members and whereas the city council is committed to budget transparency and accountability that the mayor be requested to direct all department heads to be present at the June 24th city council meeting to address any questions of the full city council relative to the fy2 budget councilor yo Mr President speaks for itself but well uh Council M guino sa and myself have uh conferred a little bit and uh decided that we will resend this motion however if they would like to speak I would yield my time to them councelor McKenna all set councilor Gino SAA this is withdrawn council president may I make that motion now absolutely okay I would like to put in a motion that George Rondo's portrait we put in the chambers George was an a a very big advocate for the people and he deserves a spot in the chambers he served I think for 14 years on the city council and five of five years was at uh five terms as a counselor at lodge and four terms as a counselor ofo four um George was a person who wasn't afraid to voice his opinion on difficult issues and I think he deserves a spot in our chamber thank you thank you counselor we have a motion on the floor would anyone else like to speak uh counc sylvestri thank you Mr President and although I I think this is a great motion um I think the the committee process that Council zambo brought up was was the appropriate um venue and way to do this um I I think that avoids the uh just nominations and and motions to go up and and council is not feeling comfortable having to vote Yes or No it gives the a private section to to vote on on people that'll go up on the wall so I guess my my question is I'm trying to just ask the the clerk if we have to create a subcommittee for portraits uh I don't know the way that we're going to form this committee I agree with you counselor that and I I also agree with councelor uh Gino SAA that I would love George Rend rundo picture in these chamber one of the smartest people I ever knew um so I think we should keep that motion maybe table that motion for now until the next meeting until we can figure out the process of creating a portrait committee uh and then we'll go from there does that sound good to everybody this motion will be tabled calendar item number 20 motion presented by councelor greo SAA that the mayor request the DPW to repave in repair Hasting Street this roadway is completely deteriorated and is in desperate need of revitalization councelor Gino SAA I'm going to send this over to traffic commission please thank you counselor all due respect I don't think this is belongs in traffic this is a work request I does any other counselors want to want to speak on this I let just well being this is a work request this truthfully things like this we all go through 311 and we all contact the the Departments themselves I don't think that traffic would have the authority to vote on where we repave or repair they they handle traffic Mr President counselor the potholes that are on that street are like crevices they're huge they're big craters and what happens is the water forms when there's a rainstorm and the cars are getting ruined all their tires of uh of flattening and stuff so that's why I actually brought it in front of the council because it's this is an issue that actually has to get addressed immediately it's not something that can wait till next year if we have money in the budget it just needs to get addressed that's why I brought it in front of the council uh whatever committee that the council sees fit to send it to that's where I'll send it thank you Mr I appreciate the advocacy on on the issue I I just feel like this should be placed on file personally and then we should the the DPW should be contacted uh councelor McKenna thank you Mr President and that's what I was just going to say I mean it the DPW is doing a fine job a really good job and I I call all the time and and it takes just it takes a while but you know it might take a week it might take three days it might they might be able to do it right then and there but if you call them if you call Billy guaso uh he'll make sure that you know um everything gets done so you have to see winre AV and what they've done to Wi Bev they've fixed all the potholes so councelor Gino sa is there a current work order in for this already uh yes they should be at 311 okay I'm I'll call tomorrow I'll call Bill tomorrow okay I just you know we we do have rules of order this would fall under rule 37 feel free to look it up um but if it's okay I'd like to place this on file so that we can contact the DPW place on file calendar item number 21 motion presented by council president C Leandro that the mayor direct the DPW to research pricing and if reasonable in order for signage stating autistic person area uh these should be hung in hight trffic areas with autistic residents I this is also a work request for the DPW I was notifi of but uh I think that this should be something we consider heavily um we have a a a lot of children who are on the Spectrum and especially that you know they don't they don't understand the dangers of traffic they don't understand the the common things that we understand so if we can alert drivers and save a life I'm all for it I don't know if anyone else has anything to say uh otherwise this is going to get placed on file thank you calendar item number 22 motion presented by councelor McKenna that the mayor requests constituent services to issue a reverse 911 call to all residents reminding them that fireworks are illegal and that fireworks are a hazard due to the close proximity of homes in the city councelor McKenna thank you Mr President I'd like to put my colleague um councilor Kelly on this motion um so I would like to say that this motion came came from former councelor Sereno from last year after the 4th of July he asked if we could uh do a reverse 911 to show uh because he was inundated and so wasn't I but the city was inundated with fireworks and then they left their debris behind so he was uh but it never really went anywhere so that's why I'm putting it in not only are fireworks illegal but they are dangerous especially in a neighborhood like Beachmont my house was built in 1864 it's all wood one little Spock it's gone um so the fire is the number one concerned and where the houses are so close together it's it's it's really scary I'm out there on my porch every single uh July 4th but light lighting off fireworks are not the only safety concern for the neighborhood they are D detrimental to Veterans and animals and should be banned across the country I have a a um an Iraq war Marine veteran that lives in my house that has a really hard time with noise and this is it's a really special um uh motion for me because I see what he goes through uh every 4th of July or every time a firework goes off so I'm asking the May to put out a call to inform residents that this this city um to not light uh fireworks for these main reasons that I have stated and remind them that the the fireworks are illegal in the city thank you thank you counselor councelor Kelly thank you Mr President um I agree with everything that councelor McKenna said and I'm really happy that she brought this motion I'm a little mad at myself that I didn't think of it um and I would also in addition to this maybe we don't have the time this year but next year to try to implement any um informational campaign that we can to to get the word out that fireworks are illegal and that we you know we don't want them being mishandled in our city and used and all of this and all of the uh safety concerns that they bring up so um yeah thank you Mr Council McKenna thank you Mr President thank you counselor any other counselors on the motion all in favor oh sorry do you would you like to say something something sir name and address for the record sir my name is Anthony cantino and I received a letter on a request that I had made to speak before the city council it came from Ashley E mil or whatever is this in regards to fireworks well I I'm going to request to speak I'm not on the agenda you can deny me to file a communication I'll put it to my ward counselor and he'll bring it in before you if a counselor brings a motion it will be heard but well he should have brought it in for me months ago okay you're excused you can have a seat thank Mr cantino calm down or you're going to be asked to leave end the story thank you very much we're in agreement on something finally I guess that classifies as fireworks on the motion all in favor all opposed so ordered calendar item number 23 motion presented by Council noeli that the mayor request the traffic commission to approve the installation of a speed bump on Walnut Avenue in the interest of Public Safety for the senior residents of 50 Walnut AV councelor novas selski thank you Mr President although it's self-explanatory it's just a a an extension of what we spoke about before because I was already on top of it and uh you I know we're looking for some safety around here thank you all in favor all opposed so Ed coun item number 24 motion presented by Council veli that the mayor request the traffic commission to consider a no left turn on Northshore road to Cove Street during school hours uh unless you are a resident of Cove Street the traffic congestion is out of control and dangerous Vehicles block the intersection make illegal u-turns and incessantly beep horns while students are trying to cross the street Standish Road can handle the traffic flow much better than Cove Street councelor noeli thank you m president again self-explanatory and we want to refer this to the traffic commission for discussion thank you thank you counselor this is going to be referred to traffic calend item number 25 motion presented by councel nelski that the mayor request the DCR commissioner to authorize DCR staff to order and install LED flashing crosswalk lights at all crosswalks on Ocean Avenue from Shirley Avenue to Rivier Street in the interest of Public Safety for all pedestrians utilizing Ocean Avenue and Rivier Beach Boulevard councilor noveli thank you Mr President Mr President this was uh put in uh in 2022 and was never reacted to so I want to uh reinstitute it and see if we can get the new commissioner to get it done for us thank you thank you counselor on the motion all in favor oh sorry councelor sylvestri thank you Mr President um and if the the maker of the motion wouldn't mind I'd like to present this from the whole Council to the DCR commissioner because I think it's a great motion I think we need more of these on our qualk walks at the beach and in pedestrian safety is important down there thank you counselor any opposition if we could please add the entire city council to the motion on the motion all in favor all opposed so wed calendar item number 26 motion presented by councelor Haro that the city council approve the attached resolution congratulating the Boston Celtics on its 18th NBA championship Council J well Mr President what a momentous uh last couple of weeks we've had here in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and uh why not celebrate a little bit and I I'm going to ask councilor nasaska to add himself to this motion if at all possible um but of course nonetheless I'll will read it for the people's edification here uh where the whereas the Boston Celtics basketball team the Celtics is the professional basketball team of the Commonwealth Massachusetts that plays in the National Basketball Association whereas the Celtics are representative of the grit hard work determination of the people of Rivier Boston and the entire State whereas on Monday June 17th 2024 the Celtics closed a best of seven series winning four of seven games by beating the Dallas Mavericks basketball team in a game f five of the series by a score of 106 to 88 whereas Joe moula the coach of the Celtics became the youngest coach to win an NBA championship at the age of 35 uh about the same age as Ira whereas Al Horford the power forward SL center of the Celtics became the second oldest player to win an NBA championship at the age of 38 about the same age as anyway uh where is Jaylen Brown the Celtic shooting guard small forward won the NBA uh NBA Finals Most Valuable Player trophy whereas with this win the Celtics will raise its 18 Championship Banner the most in NBA history breaking the tide has held with the Los Angeles basketball team so resolved that the city council of the city of Rivier on behalf of the residents of Rivier congratulates the Celtics on its extraordinary achievement and further resolve that this resolution be communicated by the clerk of the city of Rivier to the Celtics organization serve as an invitation to bring the two 2024 Larry O'Brien championship trophy to the the River City Council chamber for River residents to appreciate and to take a picture of and with in celebration of such great achievement and that's it thank you very much counselor on the motion all in favor all opposed so ordered calendar item number 27 motion presented by councelor H that the mayor requests planning and Community Development to assess a proper location for the installation of a splash pad and to further investigate grant opportunities to fund said installation councelor H thank you Mr President so this is something I think is long overdue um you look at uh neighboring cities in towns Everett Arlington Medford um a number of the surrounding cities have splash pads or mini splash pads that offer residents and young families a chance to cool off stay active and um get exercise and build a sense of community and I know we have the beach and everyone says oh a residents can just travel to the beach and some people don't have transportation they can rely on and sometimes traffic is an issue for young families so my hope is that we could get a splash pad somewhere centrally Lo located maybe located um Off Broadway or maybe just somewhere where it's not as close to the beach as we have heard um previous ones that were in the works were mentioned too um but thank thank you thank you counselor any other counselors coun Gina sa I love this motion by counselor H um splash pads are really a lot of fun for kids as a past teacher um the kids enjoyed running through the water and it's it's a safe way of them being in the water with no risk of drowning and um they allow the kids to it's environmentally friendly and they allow the kids to actually um they encourage interactivity between them and what happens is they they help with their their gross motor movement skills like jumping and running and and and trying to dodge the water and stuff like that so I think this is an amazing motion and I'm 100% for it thank you thank you councelor councelor sylvestri thank you Mr President and thank you Council H for putting this Motion in I think it's much overdue in the city across the city I think we need several of them and and it gives an opportunity for um handicapped children with Ada issues an opportunity to to ra experience a play setting and cool off uh without the dangers of as coun said drowning so great motion fully in support and hopefully we can get it done soon I totally agree and I would definitely be on board with seven of them thank you councelor councelor McKenna thank you uh councelor H this was a great is a great motion but if we do get to two or three I think one should be on the beach because I think kids are afraid some you know with with everything that's going on with shocks and this and that tidal waves it would be safer for the kids to to go in a a splash pad and what a great place to have it in between maybe one of the the buildings so I mean I think this would be this is a great motion but if we do get two or three or four I think Rivier Beach would be a wonderful place for it to uh be yeah one in each Ward perfect thank you councelor Council Mr President uh this is a great motion I'd like to highlight the importance of this motion again we've been talking a little bit about climate um resiliency and of course as days get hotter Summers get longer uh these are going to be such critical infrastructure for our city uh these splash pads um you know I've mentioned we're we're an we're an environmental justice Community uh environmental justice communities like ours black shade uh more so than other communities more so than more fluent communities uh and so making sure that uh the public has access to this as we enter a critical Tipping Point in the climate crisis is so important so I commend U my colleague uh counselor H for this motion uh and hope that the mayor will uh will do a good job at ensuring that we can place this infrastructure thank you counselor on the motion all in favor I'll oppos so Ed Mr President counselor I'd like a point of personal privilege State your point on June 14th I attended a ceremony at the State House along with my wife state representative Jeff turko State Representative Jessica janino and councelor H Sally Verano can't hear you of the Parks and Recreation Department was given The Unsung heroin award for her work with the Parks and Recreation Department miss Sally as she aect is affectionately known is the Cornerstone of that department her work with the youngest of children has touched hundreds of lives Sally has become a second mother to these children and it was a great um opportunity and it was a great honor for me to participate in that ceremony so congratulations to miss Sally thank you Mr President I have a um kind of an announcement to let everybody know that July 7th the concerts begin at mcmacken Memorial Park at 249 Broadway on again July 7th Sunday at 6 PM for six weeks so I hope everybody will uh come down and enjoy and uh the American Legion Post 61 will have its uh weekly barbecue during that uh time so they can come down and eat at the same time and there will be a beer garden so thank you very much councelor Kelly just like to wish everyone a happy 4th of July thank you thank you there is no further business the meeting is adjourned we will reconvene on Monday July 22nd everybody have a good evening e --------- good evening everyone welcome to the June 24th Committee of the whole subcommittee please rise to salute the flag IED Al to the flag the United States of America the it stands Nation God indivisible Li Justice for All roll call of the members councelor agenzio here here councel janino here here councelor Gino SAA here here councelor H here here councelor Haro is absent councelor Kelly here here councelor McKenna here here councel noeli here here councel sylvestri here here Council zambuto here here and council president Cog Leandro here here qum is present one item on this evening's Committee of the whole agenda is the fy2 budget thank you madam clerk uh we moved this out of ways and means to the committee of the whole that we could have one final conversation uh with all of the city council um so I guess I'll I'll open it up to Mr Vis if I don't know if you want to start us off today yes good evening uh Mr President City Council um I don't have any presentation for you this evening but um happy to be here with most all the department heads to answer any questions you have um like I said in the beginning we uh we think we have a responsible balanced budget and we encourage you to uh vote it as submitted but happy to answer any questions you have thank you very much thank you Mr Vis open it up to any City councilors that have questions for any of the Departments Council noeli thank you Mr President uh Mr President through you the mayor I guess or or Richie uh one thing I've been getting from uh some department heads is that things cost a lot of money and I understand that but when we at the council ask for something you know I don't want to hear after the fact it costs too much money we're the ones that pass the budget you know and specifically I'm going to talk about the crosswalk signs the the portable ones you know when I hear they cost too much money or we don't have enough and nobody's controlling it I have a problem with that so you know I want to make sure that there's something in the budget this time that allows us to have re money for replacement ones you know I'm not saying buy 50 more to do the whole city but you know get 105 so somebody's going to control I I don't even know who controls it anymore you know I know know uh parking kind of mentioned it and and police don't want to have anything to do with it and you know I'm just tired of stuff like that you know I don't want to hear that uh flashing signs crosswalk signs that we've been asking for for years cost too much money we put motions in for this stuff to be put in the budget and if we put a motion in the budget for it you should be putting it in the budget so we can pass it and there's money to put those things up the public safety is issues for the kids so I throw that at you just for a couple of things thank you uh Mr Mayor Mr President thank you u m Council noveli I I I don't uh certainly don't want any department heads to respond with things cost money that's not a that's not a reasonable response uh we we want to make sure that we're honoring requests through the council uh specifically if they're done through motions uh there is purchasing procurement uh timelines that we do want to make sure that we're we're making common sense decisions and of course buying at the right time um but when it comes to some of those portable uh crosswalk signs or and I know even when councelor agendio was when was the superintendent uh we had talked about buying a few more for few different schools via request from crossing guard so we'll continue to invest in those departments if you're seeing roadblocks uh sometimes it's a defense mechanism to give an excuse and sometimes there there's a good ration so just uh don't hesitate to let us know and let the mayor's office know and and we'll help help find it uh and or make sure that we we put it in the the appropriate line items for for budgetary request we we want to accommodate and I know you have reasonable requests and sometimes when they're not you'll accept that reasonable response and answer like we' love to pave every street we know that that can't always happen we' love to put uh certain amounts of you know uh public safety measures out there but there's always that delicate balance so I understand you heard loud and clear thank you just showing my frustration sir thank you councelor Areno thank you Mr President I don't have any questions just a statement um I read this uh budget thoroughly and compared it to last year's I think it's a very solid budget I want to commend the mayor and his financial staff uh Mr Vis and and the auditing Department uh well presented I want to thank the department heads for their very professional uh presentations um I I don't have any uh cuts that I personally will be uh putting forward if anyone else does and has a compelling argument I'll certainly consider it but I think it's a solid budget and thank you very much thank you councelor councelor McKenna thank you Mr President um I just want I have two concerns uh one I'm afraid um going down the road that we're having we're getting we're spending $500 million for new high school I'm afraid that the infrastructure uh will we have to tighten our belt and and some of these things that we really need to do like pave roads and stuff like that are not going to get done um that's a big concern of mine the other concern of mine is um the you know how I brought up CDM Smith um I would like to uh Put It Forward maybe I know they're asking for another um I don't know uh job but I'd like to go maybe after the next year to remove them because we have a capable um infrastructure uh leader here in water DPW thank you uh water and sewer they can do everything now 20 years ago no but now they can so I I would say let's go in-house thank you Mr Mayor Mr President through you to council McKenna uh it's that's a very valid request and concern uh when it comes to the oversight work for uh water and sewer uh infrastructure but uh more specifically the uh consent Cree work uh so I've I've shared that same frustration with you as a counselor and now uh as the mayor uh with my engineering department and of course uh uh our new superintendent we have decided that we will be sending that scope work out for uh for bid uh for the first time in sometime so it will at least lend itself to some um some competition and and I think it gives everyone an opportunity to get a second set of eyes on it uh it has been awarded to CDM Smith without a bidding process over the last few years because you know there for the cost um a lot of people and outside uh entities have Su said that they do a very good job and I don't think that they do a bad job but I definitely want to see uh some competition when it comes to how much the we we pay them and um and I think that after 10 years of process it's not a bad idea to maybe get someone else in to take a take a look and see what's going on in the city to make sure that we have that verification process so it'll go out through a a bid process we'll be able to get other companies out there like the Weston and samsons and other large uh contractors that to take a look at the scope of work and then offer what they'd like to do uh per with their fee base and see if they can they can do the work better maybe even more efficiently and uh at a at a better price so we will be doing that uh soon uh and then when it comes to just doing more infrastructure we're going to continue to invest in our infrastructure we have in the last 12 14 years done more with our roads underground utilities everything more than we have in the last 50 and we're going to continue to do that we do have water and sewer Enterprise funding that of course the taxpayers do pay for they have been paying for for many years um that we're going to continue to do just like the Water Project we're doing over in your neighborhood su su area um that's a $4.5 million project which believe it or not came in under bid which was really nice so it gave us capacity to continue to do more and grow that scope of work but we're going to continue to invest and we're going to continue to protect us from all of the outside factors the internal factors we're going to hold uh future developers um accountable to making sure that they put the inline storage in that they need to and they're they're putting the infrastructure that they should and then taking care of the areas that they should and uh we're going to we're going to continue to build Rivier the as the one of the best cities in the the Greater Boston era so I have you sounds wonderful thank you very much thank you councelor councelor zambuto thank you Mr Mr President uh I think this is a responsible budget I'm I'm afraid this will be the last year we'll have a responsible budget and I don't want to be a one trick pony everybody knows the reason uh We've we've extended our debt service out belong beyond what I believe we're going to be able to fill and that means that the low percentage es of raising departments are really going to be cuts and uh because if if we're going to raise Public Safety 4% and inflation is 6% well we've effectively cut Public Safety I don't want to get into all this I do think this is a responsible budget this year I'm not going to make any trivial cuts for the sake of making Cuts because it's it's it's done responsibly good luck next year with the budget because it's going to be a lot more difficult I think we all know that if we're if we're being honest with ourselves um God knows what's coming on the horizon and we won't talk about it because we know we're told when we can't talk about these these boogey men that are out there but we know they're out there so uh all I can say is I I've said uh publicly that I think we have one of the best if not the best SE fos in in the State uh I respect him immensely um I I know he was put in a tough position by you and others to make this high school work uh work on paper I still don't believe it but we're going to leave it at that so uh again I'm not worried about this year's budget this is going to be nice and clean it's the future that I worry about thank you Mr President thank you councelor councelor sylvestri thank you councelor um Mr Mayor I want to just congratulate you this is a solid budget um I I think you put a lot of hard work into it with your team um and and as the oversight um committee is is the city council um we're also here to to support you and help move the city forward and that's what we need to do together and I think we will and I think we'll continue to produce strong budgets and and and figure this out but now is time we have to get creative and figure out other ways to bring in some money into the city um and I look forward to helping you get there so thank you and congratulations thank you councelor councelor H thank you Mr President uh I'd like to thank the mayor and our Mr visc for putting this together everything was laid out nicely um felt like I was reading Moby Dick a couple times but everything was right there so it was great I did have one one comment um I was a little surprised to hear that the emergency preparedness manager was no longer included in the fiscal year 25 budget um you know you know me personally I hate to see the city lose great committed people people that are committed to all our residents and um go above and beyond so I was just wondering if Mr may you could comment on a little bit on how the city plans to respond to things like floods fires without um their current manager thank you thank you Mr President through you to councelor H uh so the preparedness manager as we talked about earlier we have a responsibility with Opa funed positions to try to uh find ways to fund them post 2025 fiscal year so we were only able to uh we have now we are now uh only budgeting N9 and a half positions for the fiscal year 2025 and that uh exhaust lost our Opa funding that we've allocated toward its Personnel um if we are able to secure other grants that will help pay for these processes and Personnel we will be happy to allocate that uh if there's other uh found money we would certainly be able to do that uh and then also it might give us an opportunity to create the job at a role that's more commensurate with the amount of funding this that we have uh but what I will say is we we have been able to manage these types of emergencies prior to having the position uh which was it's only been created for the last two plus years and that doesn't undermine the value of that position because I I too agree that it's a valued asset to our city uh we want to make sure that we're able to find the role and make sure that we can fill it with the right people and and do it with the the the fiscally cons uh conservative mindset so we we have definitely taken uh some of those uh conversations offline and we'll we'll look at it what happens Beyond December 31st of 2025 and see if there's a way ways to fund uh that type of position it may need to be funded differently and there may have may be an opportunity that we come to the council uh for an adjustment and that's something that we we'll definitely take into consideration over the next six months but thank you Mr House thank you and I sorry I had one more thing I was curious if the cities ever provided funding for the police activities league in the past I think it was a small amount and I know they've lost of a good deal of funding you know from the state and um how they operated in the past great question so you know I'm going back years but there were many years where the palal the pal and other some of those um uh adverse policing me methods were funded to the tune of upwards of $250,000 with state grants those grants have whittel down to almost zero up maybe $225,000 recently but the city's still committed to supporting those programs and they have and they will so they're going to continue to thrive uh through city funding we've allocated uh uh money and we will continue we'll continue to fund our Behavioral Health Unit which again is mostly Grant funded but we recognize the need for that so the pal program will not be going anywhere we'll continue to uh help and hold it up as best as possible and they do a very good job of uh getting some outside funding through fundraisers I know each of you likes to contribute I do as well uh so I I feel very strongly I was a um a proud um uh participant of a palik program as a as a youth it was a we had the deare program when we were younger and I I enjoyed that very much and I looked up to the offices that supported those programs and so I know that rier needs it they do a very good job we will continue to support it in different ways for sure and if you can help me on the state house with some of your friends we'd be happy to uh take you a task on that might have to recuse himself Mr he may thank you I won't hold you to that thank you councelor counselor Kelly thank you Mr President um I really just have a comment I just really wanted to thank the mayor and also especially um Mr visque I asked for quite a bit of detailed information over the last week and he responded to me promptly and gave me all the information I was looking for so I just wanted to say thanks to both of you thank you councelor councelor Gino SAA I'm going to echo on what councelor Kelly just said Mr Mayor and Mr VC thank you for a fiscally sound budget and I'm really um happy with it I appreciate all you for the city thank you councelor councelor janino thank you Mr Mayor I looked at the budget compared with last years and I think it's pretty sound I my only concern is is the future going forward streets and sidewalks like to see some money be put aside for that a little more for that in the future that's one of the biggest complaints I'm getting right now and also the police and fire increasing otherwise I'm pretty good thank you counselor any other counselors wishing to speak speak permission to speak from the chair thank you very much I just have one question about the the issue that was brought up with the uh assistant to the director of Veteran Affairs did we ever look into the the time and the pay uh Mr President thank you uh that thanks for bringing that to our attention I believe that there was there was a calculation error on the uh step as far as the time of employment uh that would go based on uh whenever the that employee became a full-time employee of the city uh and it it'll be it'll be 100% accurate to whatever the standard should be but uh we we there was a calculation error on what the pay level was and that has been adjusted do you happen to have the starting date and the salary offand uh Mr President I I I don't have it with me handy right now but um there are a couple of little minor things in this budget that we got a tweak there was a stiping left off for one of the boards and we have this issue here but um as opposed to coming in here with modified appropriation orders and making a uh a mess of of of what we got here that looks clean we will uh certainly adjust that for the 25 schedule and I'll follow up with you on that information thank you so I'm I'm just concerned if we vote on this tonight that that change isn't going to go into play um I would like to to get those numbers as soon as possible but other than that I have no no other questions for all good thank you um any and go ahead Mr Mayor Mr President thank you very much and I just wanted to uh kind of reiterate but also respond to council jino uh in Council zambuto uh we the streets and sidewalks were continuing to be pretty aggressive uh believe it or not we you've been you will be the recipient of a very fortunate amount of money that's being spent on Washington AV as you know we're doing a really beautiful project on Washington AV we're doing a complete streets program uh getting uh uh wonderful Curbing and sidewalks for a very large stretch of roadway so that did eat up a lot of those smaller like small streets we were able to do but um I've worked with Nick rrom our engineer and as you know we did have some turnover on the engineering department this year uh but we do have the streets that will be upcoming for uh what comes after July uh first and then we'll we'll go we'll go off of that that short list I know couple a couple of them off the top of my head I don't want to say them on camera but you know Crest stav and there's a few other small ones that we're going to be taken care of and then we'll go back into the normal SK SCH of doing some streets uh like we do four to six to eight streets every single year uh we may not be able to Do complete streets sometimes when it comes to the Granite curbing in sidewalk that eats up a big amount of the funding that you know when you have $700,000 or so coming from chapter 90 money and you're doing one large stretch of roadway for a million dollars that money gets taken taken uh down really quickly so we will be responsible uh police and fire contracts are up this year as well as DPW uh we're already in uh in and uh initial negotiations and we feel really good about that we've pitched the PEC and we've come to a good agreement that's going to be hopefully decided on the next week or two and then just just for the long-term forecast and financing uh Council sylvestri Council zamuro talked about it you know we want to make sure that we're able to uh have good growth good steady growth and then I work on the expense side to make sure that that Delta is shortened every single year and I look forward to the financial uh exercise that we're going to go through I really do uh I think that any large entity no matter if it's a City a state or if it's a large business can take a look at their financial um uh expenses and there's always going to be savings there's always going to be somewhere to find uh waste and redundancy and they you know Mike Mike uh down in purchasing talked about just our copier program this is just such a small level program we had nine or so different contracts throughout the city and we're going to go down to one contract one company one copy of brand and that's what it's going to be so when you run out of toner and he has extra toner you share and you're using one vendor and we're already seeing small uh savings on the redundancy there and if you maximize that across the city on all of the types of things we we buy and use use of Technology when it comes to maybe reducing paper waste when you're mailing out uh all of these uh Flyers when you're mailing out paper checks we still get paper checks even though we all have direct deposit uh it's waste and those are the small things that add up that I look forward to continuing to grow and and and and Elevate U our uh Financial awareness as a city and we do have one of the best you know he's very good he's a bit of a pain but he's very good A bit thank you appreciate it Go councelor H thank you Mr President Mr Mayor I know you touched on it and we talked about this in the past um regarding paper checks is that something that's going to be phased out and um everything will be done electronically so we'll have some sort of savings there correct thank you councelor and I just have one one more question since you brought up Paving and sidewalks when can we expect a list of the roads that are scheduled to be paved this year and how much wiggle rumors are the ward counselors going to have uh with maybe potentially choosing a street that we feel needs to be paved um I don't have the full schedule in front of me we'll take a look at that and then what I'll do is I guess I'll send out invites and we'll meet with each counselor that wants to over the specific streets and uh if there's a pitch and if we can get that done in this F this Paving season if not we can always put it onto the first priority list for the next next year's Paving season and again it's always a good discussion which where where are the priorities we still have Street scan we still have some opportunities to make sure that we're doing the right thing and it's not always reactionary but I will work with each of you because I know how important that is and I know how much I was able to um you know uh really rally to get certain streets done um uh councelor McKenna thank you Mr President um mayor um I know that um National Grid helps with uh the paving and there are streets in I know in Beachmont that uh haven't been done that National Grid should have been uh should have done two three years ago so I think we need to hold them to the fire and just say okay we need it now so um you know the city doesn't have to pay for it because that's what I get get from residents well my city got dug up and it's still like this for 3 years and it's National Grid so we have to hold them to the fire thank you I agree and a lot of you may know thank you Mr President uh to you to miss Council McKenna when National Grid just so this is also for the viewing audience when National Grid does a trench work uh typically they're responsible for curb to about 6 feet out and they will repave that area where they do a trench once everything's settled what we what we often do is we actually schedule where we say Hey listen you did the gas lines we want to make sure that the U underground water and sewer is already done and then we'll repave the whole street so sometimes what we do is we accept uh a partial payment from them so let's just say they give us $70,000 for a certain Street we put that into an account that is uh reserved for that street so then when we we do the rest of the underground uh utility then we'll go and do a full Paving so there are some projects like that that are in um still in hold waiting for the city to do water and seore uh and we'll again I'm I'm I'm right there with you we want to make sure that we're always getting that money from National Grid and all the work done one or the other they have they're required to do it and they do as but like anything sometimes if you don't stay on top of them they try to get away with it anyone else at this time if anyone would like to propose Cuts or have any additional question questions you may do that now or you can also do it during the uh regular city council meeting I just want to remind everyone if you have family working in a department you should be recusing yourself from those votes okay seeing and hearing none that concludes the committee of the whole meeting we are adjourned until 6 pm. thank you w for coming e