1.10.2023 Fall River City Council

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thank you

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finance will come to order the clerk will call the roll Carlos kadim Dion Kilby yeah the Liberty here hell is here yeah Herrera here raposo here Washington here and president Camara here soon to the open meeting law any person may make an audio or video recording of this public meeting or may transmit this meeting to any medium attendees are therefore advised that such recordings

or Transmissions are being made whether perceived or unperceived by those present and not deemed acknowledged and permissible before we begin I do want to say uh I got a text message from councilor Dion saying that she won't be able to attend today due to an illness um and I'm sure council kadim is probably on his way we have two individuals that are signed up for Citizens input time first we have Bob Barlow

subject matter Fall River come on down please you have three minutes

I want to just say hats off to Forever PD for their arrests this week and my big concern is Public Safety and this city council should be held definitely should be held to the fire to get this done these cops need more money they shouldn't have to pay 10 grand for their training that's absurd I think where the only city around here that does that to him and that's just absurd

really absurd the other thing I want to bring up is this blank check with this oppa money that the sixth floor has we can't get no information where it's going how it's being spent nothing lasting I'm a firm believer we should bring Wards back so we can hold each and every city council responsible in their own wood have one at Large but I'm a firm believe it I in that and term limits

I believe you should do two and go 30 is 20. well congratulations Leo Linda you guys served the city well hats off to you but that's what I got to say we really need to fix this public safety matter because I think it's going to get a lot worse before it gets any better and I've heard from a few of them that it is so I hope you guys really get

get them pens down and find money to give this Police Department every one of them deserve a raise 16 hour shifts too many that's too much no days off that's way way too much you guys got a hard enough job as it is and I feel that you know the sixth floor I don't feel he's about to stand behind the police department at all at all at all this man's like blank he's lying

to people I mean it's enough is enough really we can hold him responsible in next election and I believe somehow we should bring Wards back I really do we should hope everybody's feet to the fire they should be responsible for the neighborhoods they live in firm believer and term limits thank you thank you next week I have a comment okay hold on Council C4 um Mr Barlow we do have a list of what

the Opera funds have been spent on so far if you give your email to the clerk I'd be happy to email it to you I know some of them we have a list of everything that's been spent so far how about everything that's voted on

thank you anyone else have a comment thank you next we have Nelson Vasquez subject matter Fall River

I uh Nelson Vasquez 210 Sunset Hill Fall River um you know as we know there's been a lot of talk about Opera funding and this you know what's being talked about playing in the uh the meetings but we don't know everything that's going on within those meetings uh because if that was the case you know those meetings would be held to the public but we don't know but I just want to make something

perfectly clear because the Department of Treasury back on May 10th of 2021 put out these requirements that all governments have to adhere to and here they are reporting and record-keeping requirements treasury will establish reporting and record keeping requirements including enhanced reporting requirements for certain uses for certain types of expenditures the IFR also includes public disclosure requirements

in addition to ensuring These funds are used on eligible expenditures it's also critical for all governments to identify track and adhere to the required reporting and public disclosure requirements and here's the other one funds are subject to single Audits and this is what they're saying beware be aware that these funds are subject to the provisions of the uniform guidance to CFR part 200 and therefore a single

audit is required when total expenditures equal or exceed 750 000 in a given fiscal year fiscal year so at any time an audit can happen so my thing is is that we don't know all the details we really don't know and then in regards to the police department given what was told during a Morning Show uh yesterday on the day of national law enforcement Appreciation Day you know former uh Council Christopher

Beckham informed the uh Paul during one of those meetings to use apple money for a lateral transfers that is eligible to be used with apple money and it was said that quote I'm gonna quote him he doesn't believe that the union will go for that end quote who in their right mind will think that the police Union will turn down assistance to keep up that Staffing levels up you have other

towns using Urban money for retention and other matters you have 30 seconds yes Mr President and you know and one town has you know all transparency we don't know nothing but for him to just say outright that the union will not go for that it's just you cannot operate in that fashion and honestly given what's came out during those meetings and that one especially just just goes to show he does not

appreciate the our police and they deserve a raise and they just deserve a hell lot more of investment thank you Mr Vasquez item number two loan order of two million seven hundred thousand dollars for the construction and renovation of buildings to be used by the Emergency Medical Service Department it was it was referred on December 27 2022. do you want to come down please

I want to give it a brief overview of the loan order and then if counselors have any questions we can get right to them sure good evening it's good to be in front of you this evening um Seth Aiken City administrator with Bridget Allman CFO um so as you are likely aware last March of 2021 there was a loan order authorized for 2.7 million dollars for EMS to construct what was characterized

in the loan order as a metal building um since then there's been some significant changes not the least of which uh is significant increase in the cost of construction um so even before EMS was taken out of the fire department um the site that EMS had originally identified for its uh proposed building was deemed unsuitable it was in the front sort of left corner if you're facing the fire headquarters of the fire

headquarters up on Commerce by the industrial park um it was determined for environmental reasons they couldn't do that they started looking for other sites on that same piece of property none of which were really ideal for what they wanted to build and um shortly thereafter found out that in order to build what they really needed or wanted would be closer to five million dollars as opposed to the 2.7 so

EMS started looking for other options one of those is to satisfy some of their needs by contributing to the rehabilitation of the center fire station now the center fire station is also subject to a community preservation Grant of approximately just over 600 thousand dollars uh it's going to include some air conditioning as well as some extreme exterior Renovations and improvements in addition

to that EMS intends to use a million plus from this 2.7 million dollar loan order to contribute to Renovations inside that would bring the facility up to a facility that would be able to house many of their rescue vehicles as well as a number of personnel the reason why this amendment is important is that first it speaks to a single metal building and second EMS no longer is interested in building a metal bullet

third thing I'd like you to know is that there was a letter that went down in November that referenced use of a school building that was premature there were conversations about a school building as well as other possible sites and uses um really it was a brainstorming session and kind of a due diligence session where EMS was looking at a lot of different options and they're still

looking at those options the only option that is for sure is the Improvement of the center fire station which they anticipate is is maybe about a million dollars of investment from this 2.7 everything else at this point is still on the table because I think there's a reevaluation of what EMS needs where they expect to go in both growth and operations and where the best site would be whether that's a new building

which right now might be cost prohibitive or the use of existing buildings in the city that might be rehabilitated or remodeled in order to suit their purposes um so what I would ask the the council to do is disregard the mention of the school building until we have more information and EMS has a better sense of of what they might want to do with the balance of the funds but approve

this amendment to the loan order so that they're not limited just to the construction of a middle a metal building and allows them to have the flexibility to do what they need to do to create the facilities they need going forward um that's my summary and uh subject to any of your questions all right thank you Council C seven Council proposal so actually my question was around the

school and and now I guess I'm going to change my question of why is that not an option well it is an option but until we can say uh officially that this is something we're looking at I think there's a lot of inquiry that needs to be done to make sure that it's that the cost would yield the result um so as you're all aware um what was mentioned is the old Durfee

Auditorium all right now in order for that to happen that needs school committee approval um we need to make sure that all the aspects of that are sound as well as the other uses that the school department might have for that building are also satisfied so there's a lot of moving Parts um and essentially a lot of conversation that needs to happen before I think a firm plan uh can be made and we can

propose to this Council what it is the EMS wants to do if EMS finds in its preliminary inquiry um that that building is not really the ideal space for what they want to do there's other things they there they might be looking at at this point it's not that it's not an option it's that the say it publicly is premature and so I can say that it's something that is being talked about and looked at very

seriously but until until the due diligence is done uh it wouldn't be appropriate to propose it to this Council so at any point when this letter was released in November was there any conversation with the school committee about this possibility so this letter came from Chief Oliveira at that point we said hey um Chief let's pull the letter back you know we're jumping the gun because we got to talk to a lot of folks

um you know as I think frequently happens you know Chief Oliveira who is an exceptional leader of EMS maybe wasn't aware of all the different steps that needed to be taken in order for a building that serves one purpose to be transformed into a different purpose um we asked that to be pulled back it ended up going forward inadvertently um and so there have been a number of informal conversations but nothing that

uh that has been presented to the school committee at large okay and of the 2.7 million that's proposed in Law and Order how much approximately is going to be put towards Central about a million dollars about a million so we don't know for sure right now what the other 1.7 would go to because correct me if I'm wrong there is not a plan as of right now other than fixing Central fire station that's correct

there's a number of plans being discussed but none that I would characterize as as a firm plan that we can say this is what we want to do so I I'm reading between the lines here is the idea that we want to get started on fixing Central and then as the plans formulate to then reconvene and look at what the other plan might be yes there's nothing that that EMS would move forward

and do without advising this Council of its plan uh it's certainly important for the council to know the direction that its Public Safety departments uh plan to go in so we'll make sure that the council is advised of whatever plan gets put in place but right now it's all purely speculation and conversation so I guess my last question too I know a lot of the conversation I know I had was

around storage of some of these vehicles and obviously with the high school the old high school being pulled out of this what is the immediate plan to store that spare apparatus so right now there are no apparatus that are that are not being adequately stored in different stations um so they're where I believe uh two pieces of apparatus fire apparatus that were moved as part of the move to Central

um and a number of rescues that were spare rescues that I believe were up at Commerce near the headquarters that are now uh either going to be moved or have been moved to Central um so there's been some shuffling of apparatus but no apparatus that are out in the cold so to speak okay and then lastly is there any as far as a timetable of a a plan outside of that one million there's any

any idea of when you possibly would have a plan for the rest of it I would expect in the next uh 60 to 90 days we'll have a very good idea of where we want to go um there's no good reason to to prolong this I think time is of the essence uh to make sure that not just EMS but all of our Public Safety have the best possible facilities and this is part of that

thank you I yield thank you Council councilman seat six Council vice president Pearl so you already took out a loan order for the 2.7 but you want to make changes to that loan order is that what I'm understanding go forward so there was a loan authorized for the 2.7 yes so we just want to amend the use of that so it's not just strictly a metal building so that that loan was not uh there was no

funds actually borrowed against that last year so we're looking we're going out to bond now okay so we want to be able to have that on the February offering and be able to utilize it to obviously use for Central and then be able to come back with another plan for the remainder okay well I'm the central fire station um you say a million but through Community preservation there was another

600 000 yes so it would be 1.6 that we'd be spending there uh yes in total yeah in total but that's where we're combining right you know but we would only be putting in a million so that would still leave the 1.7 current Table to do additional work when you said if they don't use I know if they use the um Auditorium there there would be no automobiles packed there because of what the letter

said was that they would use that specifically for administration so does that mean that Administration is going to stay on Commerce Way for now for now okay yes and there there are some sort of operational Administration not really administrative offices but you know that are in the center but the majority of administration stays on Commerce until we know uh where they want to go going forward and the other

question that I would have is um you said that if they don't go to a school building that there's other existing buildings that they could look at what other existing buildings do we have in the city so there's been conversation about uh buildings that are privately owned but but not occupied and not being used and I don't want to I mean there's only so so many of those that have the kind of

room that we're talking about so I don't want to sort of expose uh you know any of those conversations um okay so it's private building there are some private buildings so it has buildings there are buildings where the city is involved uh but they're not specifically City buildings that have been discussed okay all right with that I yield I mean is the rate low to go out and buy not for

the whole 2.7 or should we just do the one you know the one million for now and then when you have a plan come back is it going to take too long to get the loan audit done to do that yeah you know what I'm saying it's so we've been working on the on this loan order since November so that's why you need the whole two points we want the bill the ability to

at least ban the amount I mean I imagine we plan on having something done with EMS within the year yeah I mean we're not looking to push this off to the following February okay an EMS I mean I was pretty amazed at the number of runs that they do throughout the day I was really pretty shocked at how many times our ambulances are out there and again it's an Enterprise fund so they would be paying

for it themselves right so it's not coming out of our general fund yeah well they'd be paying for it by all the people that use them correct yeah the insurance companies pay and that's how we get the Enterprise fund that's fine yeah with that ideal thank you three cuts of Kobe my question has been answered all right come to CD Council Washington so I'm thrilled thank you Mr President

I'm thrilled um that you're looking to preserve the integrity and history of that Center Street Building I know that that they've come down and putting heat in air conditioning fixing all of that for those men and women down there will be huge is the CPA funding is 600 000 the max that you could go for with the CPA funding for that building I think that it's a little bit more than 600 but that's what's been dedicated

that's what's been authorized um so it's not necessarily that we would go forward or requested but that's just that's what's been set aside uh yeah for that building could you go for more you don't know what that's what they're saying that they I mean you can't go for for more right now right now because the loan I mean the CP um Community preservation Society Society already approved that like they

have their own committee and then that's already been authorized to bond but it's not a one and done thing so I mean you could go back next year and ask for other but uh I mean so that funding is doing exterior work it's not doing internal work per se that was my next so it's going to be like I think it's the doors the so there's uh well the doors

are actually I believe being paid for by EMS directly like that's a that's something that we had put in place a number of months ago even before this was contemplated um the CPA funding is mostly exterior work but also the Mini Splits and the uh so the CPA will pay for many splits yes oh that's fantastic um so then the EMS funding would go toward uh ventilation so all of the Bays

can be used so there's nine bays in that building um and I believe it's split four and five and right now not all of them can be used for apparatus because they don't have sufficient ventilation so that's a significant part of the initial costs it would make the building much uh much you know more usable for operational apparatus because it's a massive building massive it's a massive

massive building a massive undertaking um maybe you know maybe you don't when was the last time any work has been done in that building if you know so we um uh at the request of uh Chief St Martin uh there was some uh suspected lead remediation and painting um so there's been a there's been a number of small projects that have been done in that building recently but none on the scale that we're talking about

I'm gonna need ice or any thing done in that building I think that that's huge for the City without a yield Mr President any further questions to come to C5 County yeah you know a partner had to believe that it was satisfied with a metal building and everything is in the works and all of a sudden it's not good enough I mean uh do you guys or the administration have a place that maybe

they want to buy is that the case uh you know now you say maybe the main station is going to use that that would use that is that what they want to do so the there's already a number of paramedics and a number of rescues at the main station um in a in the process of sort of re-visualizing how we use that station it's going to be more of an EMS headquarters

and so they want to use that because it's Central because they believe that they can get their response time where it needs to be from there with the majority of their apparatus um so that's part of their plan it's not necessarily that they change their mind about the metal building it's more that the farther they got down the design process the more they realize that what they needed was much more than a metal

building and it would cost five million dollars to build so they realized they had to sort of change their expectations and maybe split things up a little bit which is what really this is so when are they gonna decide whether that is suitable or not which which is suitable the the main fire station so the center station they know is suitable for the purpose they want to use it for which is to have a

number of EMS personnel as well as a number of EMS Vehicles operating out of there what they're trying to figure out now is the administration and training piece um where that should be located um because that that's sort of the other piece of what they do so much of their work includes billing Medicare and billing insurance and and sort of processing all of the patient paperwork and that's very different than almost

any other department that we have and they do it all in-house and independently the administration piece is really important so trying to figure out where they're going to house that is the next question and they're looking at that right now so we're looking for two buildings is that what we're looking for or looking for uh the use of two spaces so two existing spaces as opposed to building a

brand new one which is cost prohibitive I don't know it just don't sound right to me I mean if if this place works well let it work maybe we gotta know the bottom line how much the money they're going to spend but now you're saying that you need another place for training or whatever they want to do I mean it's crazy you know 2.7 then you've got a million plus the

the other monies that you're getting in uh so what goes on with the other place the training and all that stuff so the the idea would be that we're going to invest in the center fire station because that Center fire station just has needed a lot of work for a long time so we're going to bring that up to you know where sort of its original Glory theoretically that's the idea both

exterior and interior we're going to make it suitable for a public safety force that has uh more females than it has males in most of these places when they were originally designed 100 years ago really only thought about mostly male personnel and the facilities necessary for a male and female Force are very different so there's a lot of changes that are necessary in the center fire station to accommodate the the mix

of people that EMS has it's going to allow EMS to have kind of an operational headquarters where they have a lot of their rescues a lot of their personnel but the second part of this is the administration the reason they need a different Administration space other than what they have now up at the fire headquarters is that they're growing so quickly that they have essentially outgrown the facilities they've already

had if you look at 15 years ago the number of rescues have just about doubled that are on the road the ones that are actually operating on a daily basis the number of personnel have grown there's actually a waiting list to become a paramedic so they're looking at growth financially operationally in every other way so they're just trying to look for the space they need to do that and in order to build a brand new

building it would take a lot of time and be much much more money than I think they want to spend so we're looking at utilizing existing spaces well I just think uh you guys are using the back door to have another building if they use the main fire station or not and even though you go out and there's a piece of property that uh that you want or that fits suitable we're going to pay for

you know if if this works on Memphis Street or well good let's say it may work but they need another building I mean how big is the building and and what are we going to spend in that they never said we're going to put another building on no and I don't think that's the plan I think the plan is to try to use an existing building another building an old school or something possible all

the schools have gone I think if there's if there's a private building that's in tax title or that the city has some control over that's a possibility if it's a school building there's a lot of things being talked about let me tell you you guys should know already if they've got a building or not I mean he's been up there for a while you've been there for a while and we know

what's going on I mean do we have a building on that you know they're going to back door us and say you're going to spend 1.7 but we're going to need another building what's it going to cost where are we going to put it I mean it doesn't make sense to me more money more money is more tax monies and you try to put it under one roof is it suitable on bedroom street they say yeah

the building metal build was suitable now it's not suitable it just doesn't make any sense to me doesn't make any sense and to say that we already voted for the loan order and actually right now we don't know what we're getting what are we getting we don't know you guys are still looking we don't know which way to go left or right we don't know we're going to use that building

and we need another building in whatever case may be I'm in a predicament with this I don't like the way it was set up uh you know say one thing you come in with something else and then you go after something else well with respect counselor I really object and I'm kind of offended by your characterization I don't say one thing and do something else I'm telling you what we know we're

going to do well they wanted the steel buildings it wasn't your idea they wanted to see a boon and a steel building is no longer feasible well yeah you know they didn't do their homework I guess it was you know it was suitable then it's not suitable now it doesn't make any sense to me you can object to whatever you want I don't care but I'm just saying what I feel and what's going

on and what may happen what may happen I don't know what's going to happen if you're looking for another building oh we need some more money for this and some more money for that it's not right taxpayers money that's the way I feel I respect I'm sorry if I hurt your feelings uh yeah feelings it was just defensive yeah to be something for you to suggest that I'm I'm lying or trying

to mislead the council I think I've been in front of you enough for you to know that I don't do that well listen nobody's been looking nobody said anything about another building or another spot or a place that we have that's paid for versus a place maybe that we have to have to purchase that's my concern so we'll leave it set just the way it is the administration will say what they're going to say bring

it back to us I got a job to do and if it doesn't make sense then you know I get other colleagues I think it makes sense oh well good give it to give them everything given the steel building the brown bear given the given the fire station police station there you go that's a good spot I think we're going to get that back too as well I yield thank you councilor just curious um

the steel metal building did they come up with that idea was it our idea who came up with that idea I do not know I know that that was what was allowed I think that may have been the plan at the time what I would speculate is that um the steel building was probably the suggestion of either an architect or some original advice that EMS was given that they could make it affordable

structure using a metal building but as the design process evolved it became very clear that even a metal building would be much much more expensive than 2.7 million dollars and that it wouldn't satisfy their needs at this point the center fire station is not big enough for everything that EMS needs but will satisfy their operational needs and the administrative space is at this point the the one thing

that's in question just curious how many administrators do they have that need space we're talking 10 15 20. so it's it's not so that there's a there's a Command Staff that does like Community medicine goes out deals with hospitals and nursing homes and all the other sort of non-emergency 911 calls so there are four to five captains lieutenants there are is the Deputy Chief and the chief I

believe there are three clerks so there are probably a dozen to 15 non-911 paramedics that that do that sort of work uh and then under them there's some EMTs and other paramedics uh within that Command Staff so it might be as many as 20.

right because the council does bring up some good concerns and I'm just curious we can't find any space for the administrative people in any City in this building or police station any other location at all so I think Mr President if if we take the staff as it is and don't anticipate any sort of growth or any sort of new uh operations uh you know it would probably be one thing to find space for them but

I think the the issue is that there's a number of of plans on the horizon that EMS is looking at um associated with uh Recruitment and Retention I think they're looking at okay how do we you know can we begin training EMS can we sort of create a farm system uh where we're training uh paramedics that would then become Fall River EMTs what other operations are they going to need to do as they grow

there's a number of conversations with different medical organizations in the area that would possibly result in EMS needing more staff and more Personnel there's ongoing conversations with the Union about additional quirks to do billing and that sort of thing so so many of the conversations with EMS have to do with growth and projections where they're growing significantly year over

year and so I think the idea here is is that we don't want to plan for now we want to plan for the future in giving them a space for the administration that is going to be able to house all the different operations they expect to be doing two five ten years from now as opposed to exactly what they're doing right now I think is the goal if we were just

going to house them for what they do right now you know they could probably stay in the headquarters which I think is what they're going to do until we until we figure out what the next step is but I think you know as the council frequently urges us to do they're trying to put together a very intentional and well thought out plan for the future and that includes growth that includes

sustained success like they've already had over the last number of years all right thank you come to see one kind of screen thank you Mr President so Seth you and I had a conversation tonight early on and I told you I didn't support the steel building when it was proposed to us because I think it was a little short-sighted um and I know it wasn't this Administration that that put it forth

but you know there was discussion about what are we going to do with uh Central fire Stanley Street um is there something because I do want to support what we need to to do to move forward but uh to council pelletier's point you know I think what he's looking for is is just a I guess for a lack of better word a strategic plan in terms of like what you said not planning for now but planning

for the future so that we know whatever money we're investing it's it's going to fit and not within a year or two years or even when they move in it's it's they're going to outgrow it immediately right so is that something you can do within even we've got a meeting in two weeks to try to support this and get you what you need but come back to the council in two weeks uh with something

that talks about what the fire department's Capital needs are from just building and space need and then put that along and I guess include that with the EMS as to what they need is that something you can do within two weeks without a real I mean high level not I I'm not looking for you know architectural services to come in but just so that we can have those conversations as to what we want to see

moving forward in terms of of repairs because I know we've talked about a number of repairs I got to go on with the other fire stations But Central Station alone needs to be completely renovated right yes what are we talking about that and I think you know Council Washington and Council Pereira talked about you know the CPA monies and if we've got to do a better job of of advocating for additional monies uh

coming out of that committee because it is taxpayer money um I don't we don't necessarily see a whole lot of um you know City projects that are being funded through that it's it's more private private projects and when you go to other communities it's a lot of uh town or Municipal projects that are being funded so I'd like to see us utilize a little bit more money of that uh I guess leverage some of that money

because you know we talked about what's coming down with the debt schedule we got Diamond we've got Durfee there's a lot coming on so I think we're just going to leverage a little bit more of this this money and I know when we talk about EMS we keep saying it's a separate entity it's an Enterprise fund that's being subsidized by the rates and things of that nature but it's still it's still

City money so I just want to be able to figure out how we can kind of get together with with a plan and figure out what what is the real need for flyer and EMS so I think part of the issue is timing so it's it's a obviously it's a it's a a reasonable request um and um the I think the issue is is the kind of bifurcated approach um create some timing challenges so part

of this is we're trying to go to bond um obviously you know we're trying to do a lot of that work in February which means getting a lot of this together now um so the initial investment here of the million thereabouts in the center fire station um I think I know the EMS is looking to do that immediately because they already have some folks operating out of there they already are trying to utilize as

much of that facility as possible um and so the remediation of that building and getting it to where it needs to be is critically important yeah on the other hand it's almost the opposite for the second piece which is that I don't think they want to rush into what they don't know because there was this sense of this is what we thought we needed and now there's no way we can afford what we were even talking

about so what are our other options and what do we need for the future so that's why I think they're looking at other facilities and the balance of that money would go towards that project because of course EMS also has some cash on hand um so there's a number of different things that will come together to pay for I think next phases of whatever project they do but right now it's I

mean it's not that anyone's trying to back door anybody um but rather that they're trying to make a thoughtful decision about what the other piece EMS needs is and where it's going to go yeah yeah I guess what I'm trying and I know you know what I'm trying to say but in terms of the Central Station right if we're gonna if we're going to throw a million dollars in there right how much is it really

going to cost us to to really do what we need to do and I'm sure a million dollars is not going to get us a whole lot of money and it's it's probably five six six million dollars at least uh just scratching the surface for the for renovations in that building but I guess I would like to know what what it is that they need um and we've got competing interests

that I think that's what it comes down to but you had mentioned just to shift gears a little bit uh training so what are they looking to do are they looking to get become a a certified School in terms of for like paramedics where folks that want to become paramedics would would take classes there is that that's yeah so they're already doing that to some extent so so the their there's kind

of a next step to that uh where um rather than you know adults that are looking for change they want to compare Medics or maybe they're EMT Basics and they want to get their paramedic the EMT basic piece is that next feeder thing where you could partner with high schools and partner with junior colleges and colleges and really do it start to finish so there's ongoing conversations

about how feasible that that is and what that looks like so they're already doing a significant amount of training so the question is how do you leverage that knowledge base and that um you know in those sort of certifications and and equipment and all those things to to make it a comprehensive EMT to Paramedic program so paramedic you're including paramedic so getting them to the point where

they're able to sit for the national tests and things of that nature that's part of the part of the conversation and we're trying to figure out if that's feasible or not uh because frankly it would be a significant help not only to Fall River but the surrounding communities could be a revenue generator there's a lot of different benefits that could come from it but we just want to make sure that

um you know that you dot all the eyes and cross the t's so again not not a certain plan but certainly something that's that's born a lot of Converse so do you think I mean just again backtracking I'm sorry I start in the beginning but go to the end go back to the middle so we'll try to get to the finish line now uh do you think you can put together a conceptual plan within

the next two weeks which does that hold up the timing so is that I so for me from a concept standpoint I would say yes but what I I'm not sure about is the timing financially so I'll defer to so I mean that we're actually finalizing the offering they're actually waiting on this amendment to wrap up to publish the offering okay um nobody's looking to spend the money just you know I mean they're looking to

we already know they've already identified the renovations they want to do at Central Station so that would be those funds and nobody's like going to start just spending the other balance just you know with no plan right so I mean I think it's feasible we could come back to you with the plan but we just need the amendment so it's not strictly a metal building yeah listen and I'd be okay with that if we I guess

got some at least a commitment to say yeah we're not going to move forward until we get at least a conceptual plan and talk about really where we want to go but be able to have that money obviously available yes so that I mean that's what I'm looking for is at least have the amendment done and approved and I don't have a problem I don't think stuff does either okay listen I'm trying

I'm trying to work with the administration but you know my colleague brings up a very valid point which is the same concern that I have is is really looking at what the what's the end goal right so you know we too often forever has this mentality where we just we'll do a project here we'll do a project here but there's no there's no long-term planning that comes with it and so piecemealing these projects end

up costing us more money and it doesn't make sense so I I have to say I think the commitment of the administration now and Seth and myself and Al Oliveira and even that's something that we have looked at how things have been done in the past and that's why we're not just trying to come back to you and spend and try to build a metal building we're trying to use spaces that are existing

and be cost effective and mitigate you know I mean you know as well as everyone else knows the cost of new construction has gone it's crazy so we're trying to be thoughtful and proactive in spending money okay with that I yield thank you councilor Council T4 Council Liberty thank you um I agree with councilor Pelletier and part of what councilor Ryan seat one said as well I do have an issue with approving this

and I understand you're saying you wouldn't spend it with no plan but unfortunately I don't necessarily believe that if there are overages which are likely when did they estimate what needed to be fixed and identify what that million dollars would be used for in Center in the last two to three months they've been talking about this and trying to figure out the ventilation about it or

they've had estimates done they have a designer they have had folks look at the ventilation they've had an architect come in looking at what needs to be done in the interior um there's actually been quite a bit of planning that's gone into trying to figure out what it would cost to get Center to a place where it's it's usable and it's you know it's a it's a fully operational building uh you

know so you're seeing the Administration has hard numbers for a million dollars on what they'd like to fix estimates yes estimates from people that know what they're talking about um that's important um so I I would agree to changing this but with a caveat that it's the million and and not the whole thing you you we're back up against a wall again there's a time limit so you want

us to approve this but we can't get a full plan on on what the rest of the money would be for this is this loan order was adopted almost two years ago and it was this Administration it was 2021 it wasn't the prior Administration so I understand that that building is not going to be feasible for them anymore but I also believe that once they move into this that's not going to

be feasible for them either it's not going to fit everything that they want it'll be nice that the building gets know somewhat fixed I don't think a million or even a million six the CPA funds are doing the outside of the building um is even really going to scratch the surface we had asked for in public safety this Administration to do an estimate a feasibility study on that station which was never done we the last

one we had was from 2018 and at that time we sat in a in a public safety meeting myself Council kadiman councilor Beckham and the current chief didn't even tell us that they were going out for CPA funds while we're sitting there asking for a feasibility study on the entire building and when I spoke to the mayor about this last year it was like there's people that aren't communicating so hopefully everybody is

communicating now but I I would support this with that caveat on there because I unfortunately I think that the next thing that would come down was well it was it cost us way more than the million or maybe it cost a million five or a million three or a million seven not that I don't want to see that building fixed but I want to see a plan for EMS with that I yield

thank you Council vice president uh the question I had was about this training facility because right now I mean New Bedford has training facility Stockton does and people go there and train so if we're going to spend money getting equipment and having a National Training Center here to train throughout do we know what numbers of people we would get to attend that are we spending

all this money and people are going to be trained elsewhere again it's that was the concern that I had it's an ongoing um study in conversation uh within EMS and you know the the question becomes uh not just what is next but when it happens if they're going to get Central and fix up Central I agree a million dollars isn't fixing it up because that fire station needs a lot more work than

a million dollars but also I I think I heard you tell Council penalty or maybe Council penalty told you it's this and two other buildings or was I confused it's this and one other building that one other building would be a building for administration as well as training so it's this plus one other space one another and that space has not been determined at this point okay

the cost of building was vastly different and in two years the escalate so I don't know that it was that it wasn't good enough for them anymore it's that we can't afford to build it right now so I think so now that that's what forced them to then get you know we had to start thinking outside the box and being creative and I think that's what we did and I mean again there's a

commitment to we're not going to just go spend the other million in a seven without obviously making you aware or discussing it with you I mean we're also looking at combining Grant funds with this so we we're trying to find as many funding sources that are not taxpayer funding sources as possible well and in this venue the money that is the loan order that is taken out is paid by their

Enterprise fund which is a good thing and I do realize that from last year to this year the cost of building materials has skyrocketed and metal has skyrocketed I know you know I waited almost 15 weeks to get a piece of equipment for for an automobile because everything was backwatered and the price of it was astronomical because it was metal so I know that that would have changed I would just like to see them

close together too I wouldn't want to see Central fire station have anything and then the other end of the city having something else there's no way to put an addition on that to make that building bigger Do We own land behind there um Central I know the wallpaper Place went out of business I don't know if that's sold or not but to have it you know in one area but then again you have

to think about parking and blocking me is really not that great but did you have something else to say I'm sorry well I think so the chief was actually mentioning to me about a week ago that he has parking he's had conversations in his then parking with has been opened up and offered to them around that area oh so he's got some better parking availability well we did have that parking lot across the street from the

fire station but then the city sold it to sell it but they did sell it and I think now uh the Postal Service that parks there or something so right Leo yeah we remember that with that I yield thank you thank you I think I think this conversation I have more questions and I have answers at this point so I'm going to make a motion to table this and have the administration revisit in two weeks with

some more details of what we're going to do with this so I'm just going to let you know that that now puts this any of this work being done until at least May or June because then we'd have to come back and go I'm just letting you know okay so the alternative the alternative would be that we could get some more information to answer some of the plans you have for Central what are some of

the things that are going to be fixed if you have numbers then present it to us so I just I'm sitting here and we're we're talking a lot about what is in conversations and we have numbers but we don't have any of that information in front of us so we can I can put forward the motion of the table or if you have that information you can share with us then share with us

we don't have that we don't have what you're asking for okay it's not that we don't have what I see is sufficient information to move forward in good faith on a portion of this project but we don't have what you're asking for okay and then as far as to my earlier question about another plan as far as not the high school but something else that is also not in play

as well it's not that it's not in play it's just not decided yet no I think you know with respect what what we're suggesting is really not a whole lot more detailed than what was authorized you know in March of 2021 which is a metal building right there's not a lot of detail there as to what that entails or what that includes uh and so what we're saying is is that the plan now is

um in many ways a little more detailed uh it has a little more Focus than it did back then when it was authorized by this Council um it's just that it's taken shape in a way that's different than what was contemplated then for a number of factors that are outside of the control of EMS to the administration uh and so we're trying to move forward but if the council's uh Pleasures that we don't

move forward I understand and don't get me wrong I mean as far as the metal building that's not even my concern my biggest thing is that as we have this discussion we're talking about fixing Central fire the only thing we know right now is a million dollars things will be fixed we don't know what's going to be fixed and we have no details to justify it am I am I wrong in that statement

because I don't I don't have anything to say with that million what are you going to do we've talked about HVAC that's that's all I've heard thus far indoors what else are we going to do that's that's what I'm looking for so um because I'll tell you before this conversation I was okay with this but as we sit here and discuss this more and more there's more questions and answers of what exactly we're doing just within

Central okay and that's just for the million what's the rest and that's and that's the answer I'm looking for and my position sitting here is if to council kadeem's point do we come back in two weeks can you give us some more information to say this is the plan and at least at least we can meet you halfway and say okay that makes sense and then there are more plans to come that will take more time

I will do my best to satisfy your I mean we made a commitment to not like activate and spend the money and come back to you we just wanted the amendment so that it gives us the ability with no plan no there's a plan it's just not as specific as you want and I understand that I'll get you more specifics fair enough Council city council Washington I made a motion Mr President

motion the table as we made in second there's no discussion roll call

the motion to table counselors Kadeem yes Dion Kilby yeah the Liberty yes Pelletier yes Pereira yeah proposal yes Washington no and president Camaro yes

motion to adjourn Finance second motion to John Francis mean second is on favor all right any opposed motion carries

go right into the regular city council meeting unless someone wants to take a recess

city council come to order Colorado 's kidding here Dion Kilby here the Liberty yeah Pelletier yeah Pereira here raposo yep Washington yeah president Camaro here want to please rise for a moment of Silent prayer

please remain standing for salute to the flag I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty into Justice world

pursuant to the open meeting law any person may make an audio or video recording of this public meeting or may transmit this meeting to any medium attendees are therefore advised that such recordings or Transmissions are being made whether perceived or unperceived by those present and not deemed acknowledged and permissible Madam Clerk the first item before years of communication from the mayor and

notification of the historical commission's vote for Richard Mancini to serve as the historical commission's representative to the community preservation committee motion

congratulations Mr Mancini he's really good well she carries item number two is a communication from the board of election Commissioners and orders authorizing the preliminary election on September 19th and the municipal election on November 7th and the order designating polling place in places for such elections motion to adopt said motions to accept and place our file communication adapter yours has

remaining circuited and the motion counted seat six kinds of Vice President I just have a question a comment to make on this many people complain about the polling places that we have and the availability to park I know Letourneau school last year had a major issue and I would just hope that the election commission would make sure that parking is available at all of the election locations

because it gets kind of tight that's jelly we can relay that to them motion has been second all in favor aye any opposed and Carries worst Community organizations such as the Creative Arts Network Viva Fall River and others have put on many different exciting events in 2022 and whereas many of these events were well attended and enjoyed by all and whereas these efforts should continue to be

supported and highlighted now therefore be it resolved at the committee on Economic Development and Tourism invite these Community organizations to discuss their 2022 year in review share ideas for plans in 2023 and how we can further support their efforts to benefit the residents of the city committee an economic development tourism and tourism has been made and seconded any discussion

constitute seven cultural proposal yeah just as the final of the resolution I you know there's a lot of good things that happened in 2022 in Fall River and a lot of the public events that I know many of us saw um and residents attended so I'd love to see more of these Community organizations come forward come down to the subcommittee present what they've done and then essentially how we can

Advocate on on their behalfs as part of the city council to continue this good success going forward I yield thank you Council counseling to see six Council vice president the only thing that I'd suggest because this goes to my committee is how we can further support the efforts to benefit the residents and I hope that they're not coming to that and asking us for money because my committee doesn't have the ability to

give money but if that's the case then we would refer it to finance but there's many um a lot of the churches have several of CFC organizations standing together Frac private organizations the Art Association Library Narrows there's many more than just the two there so we may split it up and have a few organizations come in at different times to see what everybody's doing and how we can get it

on our computer but I think it's a good resolution with that I yield thank you hands up again yes just just to clarify my colleague's comment no it's less than looking for money more just using our platform to share that positive information with everybody I yield thank you I mean there are an awful lot of people that have done events this year so it's going to be a pretty big meeting

well we do a show every other Monday uh councilor Washington and myself on BCC and we always talk about the upcoming events throughout the city as a way to let people know and I know Patty has constantly putting it on Facebook and we were hoping that with the new computer system that things would get out there as well because there was a lot of things going on there are a lot of good

things going on absolutely with that idea thank you thank you remaining second all in favor aye any pose motion carries item four is an application for the renewal of an auto repair shop license at 2147 Pleasant Street motion to approve all in favor aye any opposed motion countries have the police chief report on licenses second motion to adopt the police Chiefs report on licenses has been made in

seconded all in favor aye any opposed motion carries um item number six is the order scheduling the next two meetings of the city council

Mr President I'm just curious where the rest of the dates are they will be coming soon I expect to have them all this second and fourth Tuesday as always um I think I have an issue with this last week in February I'll find out next week if that's an issue for me or not um and I was hoping to just change that one meeting except for July and August there's usually one meeting per month

other than that it's going to remain the same as it always has so we anticipate um a schedule probably the next meeting absolutely thank you thank you councilor motion hasn't made it seconded all in favor aye aye any opposed motion carries I have a number of claims motion cooperation Council second motion for the Corporation Council has an amazing seconded all in favor aye any opposed motion carries

whereas many residents have questions and concerns regarding real estate taxes and whereas there are various exemptions available to senior citizens veterans and others and whereas preliminary tax bills also create various questions now therefore be resolved that the committee on finance convened with the chair of the board of assessors and the city administrator to provide information to

residents on the billing process and available exemptions most refer to finance motion to adopt and further Finance as it is universal State and resolution Hazard made and seconded on the resolution Council in seat six Council vice president I've gotten so many calls from people regarding the tax bill I think that people need to understand what the first and second quarter and the third and fourth quarter look like

because the first and second are estimates and the third and fourth and people think that their taxes are going to go up that much people have had questions um you know about their taxes but there are a lot of exemptions if you go in for an abatement the state isn't going to supplement us on abatements but if you go in for an exemption the state gives us back that money a hundred percent so

people that are widowed people that are over 70 veterans people that are blind I don't think that people know all of the exemptions that exist and if we could just get Mr Gonzales down to go over that and maybe people hearing that will know what the deadline is putting in for exemptions offer abatements and people will get a better sense of what is available to them because I know for

some people it's getting difficult so with that I yield thank you Council come to see one council could I just uh quickly so one of the exemptions is the abatements which if somebody wants to question the tax bill that's February 1st is the deadline so we're incorrect coming up on that so if anybody wants to file an abatement February 1st is the deadline the other one I think is April 1st yeah

well some people may want hopefully they'll watch the meeting and get a better understanding but there's always there's an issue this time of year when people get their estimated bills and it's it causes a lot of Chaos motion after meeting seconded all in favor aye any opposed motion carries that's all we have Mr President motion to adjourn motion to adjourn hasn't made in second as a second second on favor

aye any opposed motion carries good night everyone foreign