1.17.2023 City Council - Committee on Human Services, Housing, Youth & Elder Affairs

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committee on Human Services housing Youth and Elder fails we call to order Madam clerk call the roll please here pursuant to the open meeting law any person may make an audio video recording of this public meeting or may transmit the meeting through any medium attendees are therefore advised that such recordings or Transmissions are being made whether perceived or unperceived by those present and are deemed

acknowledged and permissible first item on the agenda is the minutes for the May 17 20.

I'm sorry I lied first item is Citizens input we have any since input I'll go with no so with that said second item is the minutes for May 17 2022.

um there is a amendment that needs to happen so I'm going to ask for a motion it's to amend item four paragraph two to strike out the word every and insert the word many and also make Department plural to reflect departments okay motion to adopt is amended first by Council Kadeem second by Council of Liberty all in favor aye opposed there we have it all right next on our agenda is a resolution for discussion on the

American Disabilities Act needs and improvements which was tabled on 517 2022 need a motion to lift from the table motion made by Council Kadeem second by Council Libby all in favor so we have on the phone here at the table Mr pacelli from the disability commission here as well to discuss our Ada needs and we're also going to call down Mr Oliveira to join us regarding this

and Council of Prayer sure come on down

Okay so just for the Public's knowledge I'll read off the resolution then we can start a discussion it was filed by Council Pereira whereas upgrades are being made to Government Center to address barriers and they to accessibility and whereas the city of Fall River received the municipal Ada Improvement Grant to fund these Capital Improvements and whereas more improvements are needed throughout the

city of Fall River now therefore be it resolved the Community Committee on Human Services housing Youth and Elder Affairs convene with the chair of the commission on disability to discuss upgrades and improvements that are needed throughout the city and be a further resolve that the city council president consider appointing a city council liaison to the commission on disability and again this was tabled back on

517-22 at that time we had discussed some of the improvements that were made but now we're here to revisit that so Mr Oliveira if you would like to give us some thoughts so this is a great volume that has been put together now we have to act on this we we're currently working on the the vet center um there's some low-lying fruit that we're trying to take care of the painting on the stripes that's already

been taken care of we have some ramp issues we have some restroom issues but for the most part that's what we're tackling on at this point there's been some upgrades here at Government Center and we're going to continue following this volume as close as possible okay Council Burr yeah I just think that um the commission on disability was a commission that I had put together and got voted in by the council several

years ago but I was concerned with when Mr pacelli came to a council meeting and some of the issues that he spoke of was different lights in the city and crossing paths that sometimes when it beeps that it should be a specific beat it shouldn't be like a bird tweeting because then somebody would think it was a bird and some of the ramps especially in the downtown area and a lot of people that have scooters

um you know I see them going like towards the Stop and Shop from Tecumseh Mills and there's a lot of trucks around there and you don't even see the scooter like you know maybe if we bought a lot of flags to stick a flag on it so people could see it but it just seems in Danny robillard who comes frequently has also had concerns that he got hit once because he was driving in the street

because there's not enough curb Cuts along the way and if we have a cement crew maybe they could be doing some of that work in-house and I don't know if Apple money would be available but all of the handicap fines that money all goes to the commission for disability that's how it was laid out and I just don't feel that they have anybody from the council it's kind of hooked and work

with them on things even when they're doing building projects and that Commission of disability is never pulled in to hear what they have to say um and that was my thoughts on it that's all I have to say thank you thank you Council Burke Mr Oliver I have I have a few questions um in regards to what council fire just said as far as for example when curb Cuts happen how does the commission of

disability get pulled into that conversation to make sure that those curb cuts are then accessible for those maybe in a wheelchair or those who need that assistance is there any process that's involved this is my third week but I will get that answer for you okay um I would imagine the city engineer would be highly involved with that and obviously a PCM would be part of that if we're doing any work in-house

this gen just typically if it's a if it's a new repair to the sidewalk you have to file follow ADA compliance so um as long as it's not Patchwork you know the ADA compliance would require all this all the stuff that's going to be needed by the disability commission so good um the other question and actually we have commissioner Ferrara here if you want to come down as well because I think a part of this

conversation as well as not only within buildings is also what we discussed in audible pedestrian signals which is also a concern Mr pacelli yep I'm here if if you could can you can you explain a little bit um regarding the audible pedestrian signals and what we what maybe the commission would be looking to try to accomplish um some of the needs that you've identified um to give everyone here some idea Miss

German can I just add as well I think the last time we met Mr faceli was actually going out that week to I think South Main Street or I believe it was South Main Street just to listen to the signals to make sure that they were adequate so if we can get an update on that yes absolutely Mr pacelli thank you um the corner of South Michigan

and I I and our Ada were a group of the commission have been working very closely um with a gentleman named Christopher Hathaway RPD signaling division which we didn't know existed um time ago but we started working with him on it and found out that there are more streets in the city where there are he had provided me with a list on October 25th 2022 of a list of places where signals are being are being installed

um and and in some cases intersections and um what these are are these are audible pedestrian signals where you a person who's blind or low vision can um push a button and when the light is red you it will it will it will give a variety of signals depending on which signal system you devise what you've signal system you put in um there are problems with the voice activated system because of traffic

the more traffic you get the more difficult it is to listen to the audible signal of voice activated signal so you know you can install like we did in Framingham and Natick we installed um it's not a chirping one but it's a kind of a beeping one you push the button it also vibrates which is very good for someone who's both blind and deaf so what we have here in Fall River

are the voice activated ones and again um you just have to be aware that the volume of traffic is going to impact the quality of the sound of the audible of the voice activated system so I don't remember the exact number but there are quite a few number I guess that have already been installed the cost averages anywhere from 1200 for one button if it's an intersection it goes up to 2400 so it's double

to install these so I don't know if I'm if I'm hitting you know if I'm answering your questions but um that's where we are we've been told that we we could qualify for Opera money because one of the categories is safety I guess so um the last time I I left this discussion some time ago with the city administrator um it was we were looking into possibly using some Opera dollars for that as

well to install more of them I think whenever you install new lights I think it's a good idea to have these audible pedestrian signals as well so I think that's where we are I think there's been a period of transition and I'm eager to um and our work group is eager to contract contact and work with Mr Oliver aloe vera um you know to continue on this project thank you Mr basilic Mrs Ferrar do you

want to add anything to that conversation uh yes um you were questioning the handicap ramps um I know throughout the city if it is a contractor under the state law as Sean tadine was saying they do have to put handicap ramps and that's one thing we always check make sure they're ADA Compliant they just finished doing Robeson they're going to be doing New Boston Road they're going to be doing

all new sidewalks with all handicap accessible so it fits them doing it we automatically handicap have handicap rings I know that DCM repairs a lot of sidewalks that's something that we need to look into to see if they're going to get to a section where there is an intersection can we ourselves put in handicap ramps we're going to be there anyway so I don't know if that's a possibility you know because you have to

do the cost you have to buy the pads that go on it with the bumps so that's something that we should also look into because that that's an activity that's been going on quite a bit since last year putting in all new sidewalks um other than that this year I know that we installed one on Highland Avenue at French and um it's you have to push the button you're going to hear the beep

um the light turns red so it tells cars to stop so that pedestrians can cross we put one there recently um I don't know if any other location we do have the one on Diwali but the state put those up when they did vivera School so the one on high and lavender was working really well I just worked with Jane before she left and we're hoping to get a grant to get and the only thing is

we can only get two because they're really expensive so we're going to look for a location in the city where we can put that as well which is pushing the button and you'll hear the beep and then the light would turn red and allow people to cross my my colleagues have anything to add my only my only request would be would it be possible to get a general good list together of what intersections

would be priorities maybe working with the commission to get an idea of what what that may be this way we can start tackling them piece by piece yeah and see the ones that we may need to do sooner rather than later and then go from there Mr pacelli do you have anything else to add no I do have a list that um you have to wait provided me on October

2022 which I'd be happy to provide about what streets have and what streets are still being worked on in terms of audible pedestrian signals excellent I'm also concerned that there'd be some kind of consistency um in the signals that are being installed I mean I heard um I thought I heard a commissioner forever say that there were some beeping ones being installed so I'm a little

concerned about consistency but that's think that's something we can work on with our work fair enough so I think in the light of this there's still some more answers we're going to need so I I would put out there that we table this for another meeting and then from there we can get an update from Mr Oliveira once you have a better sense of where we're at with things and then we can

revisit The Pedestrian signals in a little while so moved motion of table made Council Kadeem second by Council of Liberty all in favor aye all post the eyes have it thank you folks right item number four in our agenda is a resolution to discuss on accessing to housing and homelessness with local community organizations this was adopted on 927 2022.

and I have Mr Dion come on down come join us and friends as well and I'll read the resolution it's for the publics so they understand what's going on it was filed by myself whereas within our community there's an increased concern of the access to housing in the city whereas if left on a dress can lead to increased homelessness and are the life-changing circumstances whereas Community organizations provide many

supports and services to the community and whereas these organizations would like to would like to educate the public on these important topics now therefore be a result of the committee on Human Services housing and youth and Elder Affairs meet with local community organizations to provide information and guidance to the Greater Community on this important issue before we begin I will say that back in October late

October of 2022 there was a meeting put together by representative Fiola and brought all these different organizations together both Community local government I believe both of you were there as well for that meeting and Raphael and her team is putting together a resource guide of all the different organizations that we can then get out to the city residents for those who may need it so that is forthcoming Viola

said it should be done shortly so as soon as yes your names and titles and for the record please Mike Dion director of Community Development for the city Kevin spadell our executive director Fall River Housing Authority so I think we'll start Mr Dion if you want to give us a a general overview of how things are going I know we've talked recently about homelessness and access to housing so

maybe you can shed some light on some of those topics well under the home under the housing um the Community Development agency as you're well aware of provides low interest loans to outside developers and also homeowners to rehab their house we've had some great projects we've brought about 32 new units over the last year we've had some big projects we did the Redevelopment of um 64 Durfee Street which brought in 11

units of affordable housing a total 45 units of market rate we've also brought in curtain Lofts Fall River knitting Mills and we're currently working on um another 28 unit building on South Main Street and several three family uh four families throughout the city so what we do is we provide low interest loans and in turn we get a affordable housing restriction on the property and what

that affordable housing restriction does is it requires the landlord to rent to a certain income level and that landlord can only charge so much rent currently in preparation for this meeting CDA has about don't quote me on this about 550 units in their portfolio right now with landlords chotos which are Community Development housing organizations throughout the city that also includes permanent Supportive Housing

what we've done uh over the last several administrations and we've kept it going under the Coogan Administration is to make sure that we stay above that 10 threshold for 40b and what we've been doing is adding uh affordable units to market rate developments also we don't uh we work very closely with the investors um we're not housing developers but we provide services and and funding to get

them to develop these properties so um if you look at an example 64 Durfee Street you know 45 units 11 11 of them were affordable so you're talking about a 22 percent affordability to that project alone so we try to keep above that 10 which we've been successful at um and we'll continue to do that we do already have just so you know some resource guides here um I didn't bring a whole bunch of them

for the committee but the first resource guide that she has was put together by the Coogan Administration in his office which gives you all of the apartment complexes in the city contact information do they take subsidized non-subsidized waiting lists stuff like that the other is a resource guide for all kinds of different housing and homelessness needs from soup kitchens all the way to the Emergency Shelters um

to CFC uh you know utility allowances and and all of that um on the uh on the homelessness issue side we've done a considerable amount of work on my 26 27 years here this is probably the most we've ever done for homelessness in the city we right now have a state-of-the-art shelter that was built uh four or five years ago which is the first step in takes 50 beds for homeless individuals

males and females currently that shelter is at capacity right now in the past We've ran a overflow shelter that moved every two weeks over different churches throughout the city it's very very difficult for transportation needs for feeding food needs so what we did was with American Rescue plan money we invested in a additional shelter in the city which is at um Spindle City Church former former

Solomon's porch which is on Bay Street that shelter has 30 beds available to it 20 male and 10 female currently that shelter is not at capacity right now we've done extensive work with Street Outreach we've hired two different street Outreach coordinators one that works directly in stepping stone and one that works directly for the city we've also purchased a van to to go out and and bring the homeless

into Services instead of bringing the services to the homeless people um we've also worked very closely with um the Housing Authority what we're seeing is a backlog with homelessness people come into the shelter the next part would be to try to get them housing one of the one of the main objects is to get them into what we call permanent Supportive Housing which is housing with supports we've worked with the housing

authority and we just brought on a new program called moving on and you you probably could discuss it better than I can but it's an additional 20 vouchers that will will take some of that uh and make some vacancies in our permanent Supportive Housing to move people out of the shelter into Supportive Housing uh HUD did away a long time ago with what we call transitional housing they went with a

housing first model which means get them housed they're okay great move on but we've seen that doesn't work um it doesn't work because they need stability and and you just can't do that by just giving a home we've done a lot of work in the encampments through this Administration we've worked and we've had some great great strides we've closed down the encampment behind um on Plymouth Avenue behind near Tokyo

Steakhouse we're working commonly right now on getting people off the rail trail but we're doing it the right way we're not going out and just pulling down tents and and Wrecking people's homes and what we're doing is asking them to get into services trying to find beds for them in detox if somebody wants to leave the community and wants to go back home we've bought some bus passes we bought some train passes

we're working every day and like I said we're being you know we are successful we just recently you know just as an example husband and wife in an encampment he was a mechanic got involved into drugs we got him into detox he detox he's back working as a mechanic making good money and we've able been able to set him up with an apartment very close to his work so he

can he can uh walk to work doesn't need Transportation so you know we take each individual case individually um each one's different so we've done a lot of work um we're putting together a homeless drop-in center that's going to open on April 1. it's going to be down at um uh Solomon's porch the spindle City homeless are going to be able to go down there they're going to be able to wash

their clothes take showers they're going to be able to access job uh opportunities we're looking to put together a work group for the summer of about 10 to 15 homeless get them in the van and get them out there working and paying them a stipend on a daily basis so there's different different things that we're doing but I've never seen such a concerted effort um in the in these last couple years

that I've that I've seen previously do you have a sense of how many homeless we currently have in the city we're going to be doing our point in time count HUD requires us to do a point in time count once a year it's usually the last week in January so we're going to be doing it in the next um a couple weeks the last point in time comp that we had had 108 individuals living on the

streets now that number is I believe is a little skewed because when we did that we also had like an open house at stepping stone where we gave all kinds of services out and we know that some people that did come to that opportunity presented themselves as homeless where they're really not homeless so we're going to get a better count this year we're not doing the Outreach we're going

to move that Outreach to August where we do uh um uh our Continuum of Care does a daily one once a year at BCC will we provide all kinds of services to the homeless community so we're doing it a little different this year do you want to add anything to that can I turn the microphone over good evening uh yes we've had some Communications with uh Mr Dion and the mayor on the current uh homeless situation

unfortunately at the Housing Authority we have about 2400 units state and federal 15 the state portfolio 85 percent Federal our federal occupancy rate is just under 99 and the state is just over 99 the Housing Authority has never had that but with the with the homeless with the real estate market it's it's caused these these numbers to rise uh we've been in Communications as I said with Mr Dion and the mayor

about the possibility of using a couple of high-rise buildings the community Halls as an overflow homeless shelter unfortunately with that there are some liability issues so when we acquired with our insurance carrier we have to have some sort of agreement with the homeless shelter organizations because our carriers don't cover us as a homeless shelter so we're continuing to try to work that out if

there is a need so we can do our part in the community on that end but as far as the vacancies there's just not that many when they do when we do get them we have a a diligent facilities Department that tries to flip them to get to the next person on the list unfortunately it's never as fast as the person that's waiting enough but we're all working very hard

try to curtail some of these issues as best we can through these Roundtable meetings and communication with Mike so that's where we're at right now Council of Liberty

case-by-case basis I've reached out to Mike and also to Nikki Fontaine about all individual people in individual situations nights weekends holidays they've always responded and always done everything they could to take care of people on an individual basis depending on what they had going on I know one of the issues is if it is a female or if there is a child involved they have to call that home number

and that home number is not available on weekends they work Monday through Friday is that the the um the city does not provide homelessness uh shelter Services for Families that's that's through um the state correct um to access any kind of homelessness services in the city uh we developed what you call a coordinated entry system it's called a call that's run by Catholic Social Services so there's a

number that you need to call now my understanding is that there are people on weekends I'll check into that but supposed to be 24 7.

um if you are homeless um and you need emergency shelter you can bypass that number and go directly to um first step in with no our shelters our shelters do not take families the first step in doesn't take families and um the Overflow doesn't what will happen usually is if there's a family and there's a and it's on a weekend or if it's during the day and they can't get into the services that

they need we'll put them up in a hotel or a motel for a certain number of days that we also do that a lot with people who test positive for covid and and different um we test all of our clients for coven when they go into the shelter but um yeah there's there's usually family homelessness is handled by dhcd there's a hotline number that they need to call but again if they don't if they if they

present themselves at two o'clock in the afternoon or one o'clock in the afternoon it's very difficult to get that started until the next day so we'll we'll um we'll put them up I don't want anybody homeless we'll make arrangements to figure out anything for anybody um we do sometimes have problems we had just recently last week where a hospital out of this area sent somebody down to

one of our shelters we sent them back you know we we have a lot to take care of our own um and to do that without any planning and without any calling to our shelters we're not going to accept that so I will definitely check it out I'll get back to you but I believe that number is 24 7 supposed to be for the Catholic Social Center yes yes that was

it was a Friday night and I know Nikki ended up taking care of it as she always does but there was a child involved so that was the one pickup and I know um the other thing that when our um are people that we have out on the street going out for the almost one thing you said that's important is that they don't take down the encampments I know I don't know if you saw the article

but just recently I think it might have been one socket they had gone in and just pulled everything out a homeless camp but that's their homes and everything that they have and I know that Fall River is very mindful not to do that and to work with them the cougar Administration has been having like bi-weekly meetings they have a group of us that work very closely Nikki Stephanie Perry from the hospitals the

Thrive people Beth fonts there's a group of us that meet and you know since we since we started looking at these encampments you know it's been known at the table that we are not to disrupt until we find other locations where they they can go for services we will not you know tear the tear the property down we even had the Corporation Council come and tell us you know he looked at court cases and

said that it would be not right for us to do that that we could get there would be liability to it so we're very cognitive of individual feelings when it comes to homelessness and working with them I agree and the only other um that was put together on sometime in August September so um you know we kind of guess we're going to look at it usually once a year or

twice a year to see what uh additions or subtractions we can I suggest an additional column for us if they accept pets because we always get asked them thank you thank you Council Council thank you Mr chairman uh Mr Dion thank you for number one everything that you do especially with all the funding that comes from uh you know federal government and putting it into the right places to to make this happen and just

the oversight with the investment on the on the projects you had mentioned earlier uh medium income in the rents do you know do you know what the medium income is for affordable housing it it um I know I know it fluctuates I'm just curious to to see where it stands in this house I'll leave you with this too okay um an example is um when we do a rental unit that if that rental unit

does not have anybody in it they're required to be 60 or below the area median income so if you're doing a family of four that would be fifty eight thousand twenty dollars um if you're doing a first-time home buyer loan that would be 80 of the area median income which is for a four person would be 77 000 350.

um if somebody already resides in the unit prior to rehab it's 50 of the area median income which is um 48 350 for a four person so you guys can have I got a couple of those what's the uh what's the rent is that right the rents the rents change prayer per the unit size um the if you're if you are um a three-bedroom without utilities would be twelve hundred and forty dollars a

with utilities would be fifteen hundred and twenty five dollars and that's that's why I asked for it because it you'll you'll see that on the on the same page that you have on the lowest section right when folks hear a photo affordable housing they I think they have a different understanding of what it is and when you stop looking at what the rent is allowable under affordable housing it's

not really that affordable you know twelve hundred dollars I mean that's just um it's high for somebody that's making good money right if you get if you get a you know even if you get into uh somebody with a four family or whatever the case may be it's just it's exhaust it's really really high and right now as we're starting to see it um you know you go back to just 2008 2010 when the the

right before the market crashed you know you've seen the rents at a thousand dollars for a three bedroom now they're getting up to almost two thousand dollars three thousand dollars and and quite frankly that's that's a mortgage right so I don't I don't know um from an affordable affordability standpoint we've had this conversation how we can kind of address that and what we can do as as a as a city and as a

city council with the legislative body to try to provide additional services and funding to kind of help offset that for for folks that need it yeah what I'm what I'm seeing a lot right now is people that are on fixed incomes who are on SSI SSDI they're making a thousand twelve hundred dollars a month even fifteen hundred dollars a month they've been living in a unit that was 750 for

the longest time and now somebody bought the the property and the rent is now going to 1200 to 1500 a month and they're getting priced out I mean I've seen units on Flint Street for Seventeen hundred dollars for a two bedroom right so um my position is there's a real need for subsidies for those individuals um we can we can pay we have a program with Catholic Social Services where we

pay first months last month's security and we can also provide some short-term uh three to six months but it's just not enough I mean after the three to six months it's not sustainable so those those individuals need access to some kind of subsidy there's no other way of affording it because you can't find an apartment in the city of Baltimore for 800 a month and with I mean we haven't even gotten

the the train down right so assuming that the train comes down you've got folks that are potentially looking to relocate in the city I mean that's also going to drive the market a little bit more and you're going to see rental units go even higher how do we stabilize that it's already stunning because I've heard on several occasions people who are really interested in properties that are selling

Main Street area because it's close near the near the um near the train so um what I'm seeing is a lot of investors coming from Boston and New York City I've seen it and um the three Family House in Fall River that's five hundred thousand dollars is you know a million dollars in Cambridge so they're getting a more bigger bank for their Buck down here I don't know how to solve I don't know how to solve

the issue um and I don't think it's going to get any better I mean I really don't think so I think the the market is going to go down probably a little bit but I don't see the rents changing because people are buying these three family houses at you know 500 550 they need that fifteen hundred dollars per unit to pay the mortgage the taxes and the water and all

the expenses that go along with it so I I mean I don't know really what the future is going to bring and how do you how do you fix it other than you know bringing more subsidies in that's it's the only way you know I think market rate is going to market rate has helped I think to a certain extent where I think some people lived in affordable housing that we are able

to move into maybe a market rate unit that opens up a uh affordable unit um the other problem we have is the vacancies um we really don't have any vacancies it is really difficult to find an apartment for somebody in the city I have I used to be able to call one or two people say hey I got a client that might want to look at renting an apartment you know

they had four or five of them open I'm calling eight to ten people and I still can't find the unit you know available so it's I don't know the answer to the question no and and I and I get that I was just trying to see hopefully that maybe there was something there that we could kind of latch on to and really kind of build on this is a nationwide

issue and and you know for us at least this is definitely a Statewide issue that that needs to be addressed just because when you look at the numbers 12 1200 three bedroom there's no way a family of four with the income of 58 000 can afford it right so you know you just look at the cost of living you know just eggs alone I mean going up heat electric it's just I don't know how

folks get sustain it at that that truly you know that was that was a mortgage if you were purchased a house a couple of years ago right so um if you're in the market now obviously that's not that's not your mortgage now but if you purchased you know twelve hundred dollars that's a that's definitely a mortgage so I'm just trying to figure out I know this was more about educating with the um

services that are that are offered by the different organizations and things of that nature so I appreciate it but I I did want to get that out there I know I'm talking to Mayor Coogan you know that was one of the topics that he really wanted to address uh with Governor Healy coming in to really kind of focus in on how do we how do we really address this not only for city of

Fall River but for the state but when we're I think for us here we can't just look at forever I think we need to kind of look at it regionally whether it's New Bedford time in Fall River and try to figure out how we can best impact the South Coast um the best way to do it is obviously a team up and try to think outside the box I just don't know what the answer is

yeah I think education also plays a role in it and I'm going to get this wrong but I believe we're the only Courthouse housing co-op in the state of Massachusetts that doesn't have um a like legal rights component to it so when we deal with a lot when I deal with a lot of people they don't know what their rates are when it comes to housing and eviction process and what do

I do and you know and I people leave their apartment just leave say see you later I'm gone and the best thing to do is stay in that apartment until until you unless you own it yeah saving that apartment until you can until you can figure out you know the process and what's best for you it's all right I think that's one of the issues where you could stop I think another issue is

again having them maybe provide more money to the housing authorities to get um more vouchers and more more assistance um I think our homeless prevention and Rapid re-housing I know the mayor's talked to um I can call us a lot concerning you know getting us more money down here for homeless prevention and Rapid re-housing the sad part of it is is the government usually gives you money and then once

the money is gone you don't get anymore so we've made a tremendous amount of strides over the last and it's not because of me it's the whole Community it's you guys it's it's the city council it's the man's office it's our non-profit providers excellent people but on September 30th all our money goes away so our street Outreach teams unless we find other funding for this our street Outreach teams will no longer exist

that's going to you know if you don't have the money we get a very small amount of money on a yearly basis to run our shelter 125 903 to be exact ly that's what we get and I don't know how you run a shelter and an overflow shelter with just Staffing online you cheer so those are a couple of things I don't need to keep talking but those are a couple things that could be done with

the state delegation in our federal delegation to say hey we need more resources now I just want to Echo I think you do a great job especially using you know home funds to try to kind of turn around some of these vacant properties and get them in chotos and try to get them to an affordable state but I just think you know the bigger conversation needs to take place

at the state level and I think we should be part of that and really pushing the new Administration at the state level to kind of kind of really focus in on how do we address this especially with the income levels that that we have uh and you know I know you you said the homeless count back in January uh you thought was a little high I would tell you that I think it's a little low just

um you know having gone over to Brooklyn Park and and watched my daughter and son play uh soccer over there you'll you'll see folks camped out in their in their cause and it multiplies it started at one goes to two three I think by the this time the season ended there was at least four individuals that were in their cars that's not even going into the to the trail right so you know you

start to see those folks and and you know we can only do so much they would they obviously want to have to have they want to have to help themselves and there's a lot that goes into it to the services that you talked about whether it's substance abuse or mental health um I think that's another aspect that we really need to kind of focus in on and I know you folks get that but um for the

folks at home to truly understand it's not just you know getting rid of of these panhandlers and stuff there's a lot more that goes into it if they don't want to help themselves it's difficult for us to to be able to do that so I know you probably run into a lot of folks that you're trying to get relocated and they just refuse to leave that's what they know that's what they

uh like and yeah we we have a lot of people who um like right now like I said the Overflow shelter does have vacancies and anybody has the opportunity to go into those vacancies yeah and the Outreach teams have been pushing them you know to get out of the encampments to get into the shelters um because you once you're in the system if you're not in the system you're never

going to get a lot of help you've got to get into the system and start moving along and that's just the might it's sad it might take a couple years but you get into the Overflow what usually happens at the end of the Overflow season all of those people from the Overflow go directly to the first step in and have a bed there so you know it moves along you know into

maybe an SRO or to a Supportive Housing situation so um you know there are some hardcore homeless that do not like to live in shelters do not like rules um do not like regulations uh but you know something you could work with them 10 times down on that 11th time you might be successful so the Outreach people don't give up on them they just keep working and I guess a final statement is that

we've really got to make sure we're you know I guess banging on the state door not the federal door because you know the federal money's coming in it's going to be limited I mean you just need to all you need to do is turn to the West Coast and you see the disaster that's taking place in you know California and um you know Oregon and things like that I mean the homeless people are literally

on the sidewalks um it is unbelievable the services are not being provided you know Police Department is not assisting with anything the cities are not assisting with anything so we need to make sure that whatever is whatever we're doing needs to be done at the state level we can't just wait for the federal government to kind of bail us out but we still need to knock on the federal door

as well to make sure that the monies and we can keep advocating for it but we've got to figure something out at the local levels definitely to make sure that we're not going to turn into the uh to the West Coast I just want you to know that and it's not because of me but you have a great many great organizations in the city there's a lot of meanings that are happening we're tackling this thing

head on are we going to be successful hopefully we are but we we've made a lot a lot of strides and it's all been positive and I know that it's one of the main priorities of the administration yeah and I know the police department's also involved helping you guys with I think it's the fast team that they yeah we developed we applied for the far camera Grant which is a a four-year grant that

puts clinicians and Recovery assistance in police cars so we have three or four recovery coaches right now we just brought on a clinician we have a dedicated Fall River Police Officer so what we're trying to do now is trying to get out there and work with people who have either overdosed I heard a number the other day and don't quote me on this but I heard something about our overdoses have gone over gone under uh

since we've had this program about in the hundreds so hopefully I think it is working it's a good program and we're going to keep running it and you know and hopefully we can sustain it after the full years thank you with that ideals thank you councilor kadim Council of Liberty I just

site yes and they don't have to just up and leave there are resources available we always Point them to South Coast Counties Legal yeah um the legal representation thank you thank you Council anything else okay thank you gentlemen appreciate it em number five is a resolution Administration provide information regarding homelessness in the city of Fall River this was filed referred on 11 8 22.

7 do you want do you want to do a grant leave to withdraw on item number four um yeah I believe so okay I think that should be fine I'll make a motion uh for a grant leave to withdraw on item number four second second motion Grant leech withdraw made by Council deem second by Council of Liberty all in favor aye any posts you guys haven't item number five resolution it reads as the following

whereas the winter months are approaching and whereas the city council should be concerned about homelessness in the city now for therefore be it resolved that the administration provide an update on the estimated number of homeless individuals in the city and be a further result the administration provide the amount of funding received by the U.S Department of Housing and Urban Development to address this matter

and what steps are being taken to address this issue I think in many ways I think we just took care of that so I'll entertain a motion Grant leaves a draw so moved second

okay Council of Pelletier if you'd like to come down and share some thoughts some um what's wrong sure we'll draw the grant leaves withdrawal motion invite Council appellate at the table throwing curveballs Leo good evening sir my name is Leo Pelletier if anybody cares but you know I get a call this week and you're coming off from 90 195. going to Brighton Avenue no one's complaining of all the junk

that's there I see some uh Brown barrels down there the Tent City I know you guys must have seen it and uh and then she complaining up the road there's all kinds of papers and everything else and it all ties into something that I brought up some time ago about barrels and getting barrels out with it they made it so difficult you know I want to battle them but they want to say I want

a specific battle that's not so he never got it he never come back with any answers but that particular property I don't know I understand the state property you know the the capital of Providence Adam all in front of their place they got rid of them I mean there should be something we can do to get rid of these guys I mean uh it's nice to find a place for them and they don't want to go

you know it's you're coming in from another part of the state or New York and they take that exit and they see that it really doesn't look good so I don't know uh you know if the mayor has the power to do anything with this uh you know Mr Dion nice presentation but we're still stuck with them people there and what do we do with them what does the city doing is there anything to be

done and that's all I got to say you guys think about it and uh I'm bringing up the complaint because I got the complaint if I get the complaint somebody else has got the complaint as well so with that idea thank you thank you Council peltia any further discussion Council Liberty do you maybe want to table this one because he's asking for a number and I know they do their count at

the end of January sure I understand the motion well we were on five five yep I'm on a table motion to table made by Council Liberty so uh second second by Council I could email in favor aye any oops the ice habit all right next is item six I'm actually going to ask for a motion to take six and seven together something second oh shouldn't take six and seven Together made by Council Liberty second by

Council look at email in favor aye all post you guys have it I'll read both resolutions item number six is a resolution to discuss budgetary recommendations to improve city parks within the administration refer it on 11 8 2022 written by Council Washington whereas city parks provide an increased quality of life and enjoyment of the city for residents and visitors and whereas many city parks are currently in disrepair

and being underutilized by local sports teams and residents and whereas new additions to city parks such as skate parks and Renovations of existing playgrounds and baseball fields will improve the city overall therefore be a result of the city administrator can be when the city council committee on finance to discuss the planned budgetary recommendations to improve the Parks and Recreation Division and this was

referred to this committee on November 8th and then item number seven is a resolution Administration prepare presentation address the needs of city parks and leaks and it says whereas city parks are in need of repair and whereas baseball leagues are all independent and do fundraising on their own therefore be resolved the administration prepare a presentation to address the needs of

city parks and the needs of leaks and be further resolved of the administration and Park Board be invited to a future meeting of the committee on finance to present a plan to improve our city parks and baseball fields as well as bring forward in conjunction with the baseball leagues any immediate Capital needs for our city parks and be a further resolve that bids be obtained in a cost provided

to the city council for a strategic master plan for all parks and that it be researched with our open space and recreational grant funding is available for these improvements referred to us on October 25th we have Mr Perino here you want to come down you have a presentation to provide to us

yeah yeah um commissioner Smith will join us she's at a currently another meeting and I just wanted to share for the record of the city administrator you're sick today that is why Mr Aiken is not here with us oh hmm ing um Mr Brian will tell us try to get this up and running as quickly as possible here for you to provide a paper cops here at the table

all right so not waste any time I think I can just yes sir so in 2015 the city had Blount Bennett Architects dual Capital Improvement plan through our Park cemeteries and other Open Spaces they identified a number of priority items and ranked them one through five for the city um so those priority rankings are listed here on the that second slide as of this year we've completed roughly

50 percent of the nearly two about 204 priority items so I'll go through and provide an update on the parks as well as different items that we have slated um Mr Prime just want to get the PowerPoint up and running before we continue so the public can also follow along here okay there we go thank you sir all right so Kennedy Park uh the completed projects include the repair of a retaining wall on Bradford Avenue

funded through CPC they paid for Design Services and the structural repairs to the maintenance building as well to the tune of twenty five thousand dollars the basketball courts were also rehabilitated through a park Grant from the Commonwealth ongoing projects include a new tennis and pickleball court at the lower part of Kennedy Park the budget is 565 thousand dollars and comes

from a combination of different funding sources including the operating budget CDA and a park Grant there is a sixty thousand dollar award from arpa to do a feasibility and design study for new splash pads which would include benches picnic tables and shade structures the renovation potentially of the existing pool building based off of what the Architects are able to determined from their study

they will look at the use of the existing Fountain and Basin floor for a potential outdoor ice rink they are evaluating upgrades and repairs to the existing gazebo and overlooked building as well as the park office and um looking at the cost of new walkways a multi-purpose sport fields and electrical work at the Gazebo to support different community events and this is also funded through arpa

we are in the design process for the Kennedy Park overlook which is off of Club Street heading towards the condos there we were funded through CPC to the tune of 183 thousand dollars we're under contract with the designer right now just before the holiday they were doing some surveying work and once we have that return to us we'll start the design process the image here is what a potential Concourse Overlook of the

Taunton River might look like future through CDA Paul poulis Memorial Park was rehabilitated as well as renamed that funding was 291 thousand dollars the Kathy Assad totlot was completed in 2022 again a mixture of funding from the park Grant from the state and CDA CDA is a big partner for a lot of these Park projects that require a local match Damaris playground again completely

rehabilitated through CDA funding about 280 thousand dollars Abbott Court we are scheduled to do a new skate park there funded through arpa by July of this year and CDA is looking at putting in a new playground in 2024 Columbus Park in 21 we did some park bench and signage Replacements through CDA and again in 2024 we're looking at new playground equipment through CDA Lafayette Park one and a half million

dollars of arpa funding has been approved for a new skate park and we have a pending application to the Mass Land and Water Conservation fund to to do some other repairs which include the pathways benches lighting and the basketball court Griffin Park was redone in 2018 through CDA North Park in 2016 we received an lwcf grant funding and a match from CDA to do an inclusion playground

the park budget contributed some money to that pro project as well CPC funded the grandstand removal in 2021.

through an earmark secured by representative phiola we were able to do some ice rink repairs and tree planting and Vista pruning on the sidewalks on President Ave were also redone and the Comfort station was demolished again through arpa a new skate park will be installed by August of 2024.

Maplewood Park saw new playground equipment in 2018 through a donation from Robert Kraft and the New England Patriots and in 2021 along with Stafford Road Park Drive was repaved the Maplewood baseball league secured CPC funding to do repairs and replace lighting for their ball fields true Park received CDA funding in 2020 to do a new backstop benches fencing for dugouts and rehabilitated bleachers

Father Kelly received recently some funding for their lighting as well they're in the design phase and they have four hundred thousand dollars to complete the project Ruggles Park in 2016 received 31 000 dollars from CDA to do a new basketball court and replace the hoops and uh stands the junital Tot Lot was rehabbed in 2019 again through CDA Bicentennial Park there's this was done before we slate it where

the outdoor fitness equipment will finally rest at britland Park but Bicentennial is getting new tennis court lighting um the work has been assigned to to a vendor via the park Department budget there were some projects that occurred over multiple Parks so in 2016 a park Grant and the CDA funding match repaired basketball courts at Kennedy Park Ruggles Maplewood Abbott Court and North Park

ball field Renovations were completed at Maplewood Kennedy and Abbott Court again through Park funding and CDA Pathways were improved at Ruggles and Father Kelly again another Park Grant and CDA match funding tree plantings have occurred in multiple Parks including Pulaski Park that was funded through our tree division budget Turner Park and Lafayette were funded through a greeting the Gateway

communities Grant from the state and 13 trees were planted at North Park again from earmark from representative Fiola 2018 saw Pulaski and true Park receive new spray pads again Park funding and CDA match funding cemeteries through CPC we received 271 000 to repair the Gatehouse um the I think the repairs came out quite nicely and we do we submitted another CPA funding application to repair

the vehicular gate the pillars and the iron work Oak Grove Cemetery saw the archway rehabilitated in 2017.

CDA funding for new picnic tables and signage the bowenville green also received some CDA funding for landscaping and benches and the Jerry Lawton Plaza is in the design phase funded through arpa we have about three hundred thousand dollars to do the design and construction we anticipate receiving construction documents in the next month or so to be able to put that work out to bid

arpa has funded a 1.2 million dollar tree planting and stump removal program we will be removing all the stumps throughout the city both on the street in the street layout and Parks we'll do some related sidewalk repairs plants hopefully about 350 trees in our streets and parks some of this will include some tree filter boxes to help with storm water runoff and piloting a two-year front yard tree

planting program where residents and business owners can have a tree planted on their property within 20 feet of the road layout the Alima quickashan River Rail Trail we are in the early construction phases of phase four funded through arpa to the tune of four million dollars additionally we're doing the Westport extension we are in the construction phases and permitting through Mass trails and CPC

funding totaling 370 thousand dollars and then in summary this chart shows that the parks that have completed projects projects underway or are in planning and feasibility phases the past two years we've spent over three million dollars in Parks we have just shy of eight million dollars funded and we anticipate spending another 4.2 in the near future oh no one we need um so thank you I think the

presentation was great can you just bring up that that last slide though um because I think this touches based on what I was really going to try to articulate um you know I think the city does a great job of trying to leverage um Monies to make improvements however my concern here is when you went through all these slides the amount of money so total spent three million dollars funded

improvements almost eight million dollars so that's not City money that's either you know State money coming in CPC money Opera money coming in and my biggest concern and the concern that I've had for a number of years is that our operating budget does not reflect maintenance on any of these projects right so we continue to add which I think is a great thing right to recreational and open space but what we

fail to do is budget for the maintenance and care of these properties right so you want to just go back to britland park I think El Alvaro was here when we went out to do the turf field so maybe I think you might have been on that project the lead so that was over 10 years ago that that needs to be at least resurfaced and maybe not the complete field but that needs to be done

you start looking at uh basketball courts which I frequent with my my kids Highland Ave and then also next to uh Martin school there's cracks in them paint's starting to fade so that there's maintenance and when we start to see some of these new projects while they're they beautify the city if we don't have a budget to maintain this they're just going to fall to the Wayside and I know we can't constantly

go back to CPC or CDA or Park grants to continuously renovate it so my concern is is making sure that when we as a city council approve a budget that we have a budget that's adequate to make sure that all the Investments that are being put in and this is all taxpayer money whether it's Opera money CP CPA money Park grants it's all taxpayer money that um you know we're looking at a return on

our investment and we're maintaining them to to the standard that we need so whether that's um you know making sure that we have enough staff to go through and I know you know this uh you know being in charge of the cemeteries but if you don't have the staff to maintain it becomes is very very difficult and we just constantly are playing catch up so I just want to figure out you know what

does with all these improvements that we're looking at the eight million dollars that we've invested since 2020 um what does an operational budget for parks and recs truly look like and I think we need to capture that and we need to make sure that we understand how many man hours is needed for each Park to maintain it I mean you just look at the Overlook for Kennedy Park I mean to

try to maintain that is going to take you know at least a week right to be to do it right if you can do all of Kennedy Park okay and you just multiply that by the number of of parks that we in open space that we currently have I just want to see where that number is and how many man hours we have so that as a city council we can make sure that we're

supporting open space and Recreation for for the community so that's my concern um I appreciate the investment I like what we're doing in terms of the beautification of everything but I think we also need to make sure it's sustainable because to have it you know all these new projects and then two years three years see them kind of fall off and need significant repair when we can have that preventative maintenance

on these on these properties I think we need to make sure that we're doing that that's all that with that I yield thank you Council Council of Liberty thank you thank you for the presentation I have a question on the priority ratings I know in the book um each thing is is listed as a priority rating as you go through but is there like a master list of priority rating one projects or is it

do you just have to go through I went through it and found each one pulled them out from each of the parks and they do have it organized by Park so okay that would be the list thank you for doing that sorry you had to do that um and then I just had a couple questions on a few things that you said on Kennedy I know when I met with the

mayor a few months back about the splash pad they were talking about putting the splash pad where the current ice rink is um in and around where the current ice rink is they actually had a beautiful design for it and on here I see that it's back to maybe talking about the existing pool building do you know also I don't think there's an update on that I don't know if a location has been um

finalized at this point from the conversations I've had they're looking at both the parking issue making sure that if we provide a space splash pads and other Recreation tools down there that there is enough parking for people who want to enjoy them so they were I think the last discussion I heard was around the pool area so that way there'd be parking there's new parking going in with the

tennis courts as well okay and my my only comment on that is when we had it it seemed like it was a great idea to move it up because the the park building is there the bathrooms are there the playground's there if you're a parent and you're bringing kids to you know go to the splash pad and the playground like you can see them kind of at both places and

if one's down the hill which I know was the the original intent um it's something I had worked on years ago it just makes more sense from a parent's perspective if if they're you know in sight view from each other but I understand there's other things that that need to be considered as far as the Overlook I know you said there was in the design for 183 thousand I believe that there was already a

design done for the Overlook going back maybe 10 years and this isn't a criticism on this I think with the turnover in in departments and administrations designs get done and paid for and then they're get they get left somewhere we just saw it with um you know the central fire station that was done we had plans done and estimates back in 2018 those aren't up to date anymore so now we have to send money to

do them again so um I don't know who keeps all of the old designs I just hate to see the city pay money to do design plans over and over again especially at that amount and one other question going through here and then just a statement on North Park for the skate park there's a dollar amount here two million 250 000 but it doesn't say what the funding source is

and is that just for an escape park for the skate park yes and that's through arpa that is and that's just for the one skate park correct and are all the skate parks being redone I think there's three so there's uh North Park Lafayette and I'm blanking on the third there's three I know Avid court so the three are are a total package we broke down the the numbers as best we could

so is the two million just for Northwest just for North Park okay and then I noticed as we were going through there was a lot of um funding that rep Viola had put in for it and secured for different areas in her District I know that we have two other state reps that represent the other areas of the city do you know if if there's been any communication with either of them or if there's any funding

that they've put in for for parks in work in their districts um I know representative Sylvia secured some money to do some Vista pruning and shrub removal at cook Pond and we do anticipate some more funding coming down for that as well to improve the visibility and potential access to the pond moving forward for the South End neighborhoods okay and then I know um Mrs Smith is still down

in the other meeting but I would Echo what counselor Kadeem said as far as the maintenance we put a lot of money into Parks but we we really need to be able to maintain them and I know every time she's come before us at at budget time we speak about how little is in her budget for maintenance so that's something we we want to be very mindful of as we go

into sure they're already working on the budget we are in this budget process already this year for department heads putting together our proposals to the administration I know that there has been conversations at least on my ends and I'm sure miss Smith has with Mr Oliveira as well about operational changes we can make to become more efficient with the Staffing numbers that we currently have and making some small

changes to find those improvements so can share those those operational changes with you as we develop them and then obviously our budget proposals when we get uh I know you have the Council of support to you know you ask for additional funding for well at least speaking for myself for maintenance of all of these Parks because that always ends up we have a lot of rain and everything goes Sky High

at the same time and everyone starts complaining and you guys can only get to you know take care of so many things at a time so definitely have my support as far as increasing the budget for maintenance for all the parks that I yield thank you Council I just want to add more one question than I want to make a statement on that last chart Mr Brando the um there are a

few of them that are not indicated as far as anything is going on for example Dumont Dumont field Dumont Park is it just not a priority at the current moment I I wouldn't say it's rationale not a priority um where does it land basically so these the the information presented here is again what's underway and what's already been funded it doesn't mean that the administration hasn't been looking at other opportunities

um like I said Lafayette Park um recently we had the the state released the lcwf funding availability so that was one we were able to add to this planning and feasibility slide again as grant opportunities become available we've got a good grant writing team Administration that makes sure that we are pursuing these different funding options and we've been quite successful in securing those funds and CPA CDA

plays a big role in that making sure that we can provide the match so I don't think this says that we're not focused on making improvements in those areas this is just where we are with the funding that we have right now the Silva dog park for example doesn't have anything checked off there but I do know that in-house the parks department has been making some small improvements nothing you know terribly glamorous but

putting in benches from other parks that had benches replaced that are still in good condition we're relocated to the dog park to at least provide some seating so we're looking at those those options as well one thing that I'm growing more concerned about is some of the parks that are I think very much underutilized and may need an opportunity for re-envision you know for you know I use

the example growing up as a kid I played baseball and I always used to drive by Columbus Park and now the baseball field in Columbus Park in many ways is not much going not much is going on there I think the league is the league fell through some years ago so I'm wondering how do we try to re-envision some of the use of these Parks these fields and then maybe solicit public

input to see what can be done to change those things certainly I think you see some of that happening already with the pickleball installations that are happening that's a new trend hopefully it's it's one that'll last a while but when the city does its open space and Recreation plan that requires and solicits public feedback when we did the Lafayette Park we submitted what we released we had a public hearing as well

as a survey that we were soliciting some feedback of of you know what priorities we should have in those repairs so as as funding becomes available as we're looking at these Parks we certainly want public input to make sure we're capturing the trends and and reinvigorating the parks and bringing life back to them I think some of the Community Partners we have have also bringing been bringing back life to the

parks Kennedy Park had some Christmas lighting this year for the first time in quite some time so it's really a joint effort I think from all the different interested parties in the community I mean I use father gervaso's Park as the perfect example of a big piece of grass that's completely underutilized um you know I think it was a beautiful project I witnessed it because it was in my literally in my backyard at the

school that I'm at um but you have a very large field with lights that could be done so much more with and then of course the conversation with cervasses always becomes the zone of parking so you could beautify the field but then there's no really no place to park along that along that area um but but I really I really want to think I know we're looking at the plans

they they close up at 2024 so I would imagine that after 24 there's going to be another process looking at our Parks but I would really want to hear and I think this is going to go back to the resolution from the park board as well of what are some of the things they're hearing some of the requests they're receiving and what can we do in the immediate future to maybe re-envision

some of these fields and how people can use them to the you know to the best of their ability because I think there are a lot of up and coming leagues that are looking for use but need a little help and I think it's just going to bring a lot of positivity to all of especially among our kids I mean that's that's the biggest thing if our kids have the opportunity

um but we need to give them the field to play on and I think right now some places we have them some places we don't I think we need to do a little better on that I can tell you from attending Park board meetings for the last almost five years on a regular basis um the public that does show up and provide feedback it's heard we did get a lot of

feedback in the in the recent past for pickleball so I think that's part of the reason why we're seeing that being implemented and built out in our parks Council of Liberty I know Council for did you want to speak

all right so I think we'll do some post citizens input after we address this item and then we'll invite the gentleman down to speak um and I'll echo my colleagues excellent presentation Mr Primo appreciate it I think it gives us a better than a 400 page document that we're all flipping through today to try to figure out where we're at and I think this gives us a better idea of where we stand and

there's been a lot of good work done and I think the good work is just continuing but I'll echo my colleagues you know and I think in my support as well that the budget for the parks department is is hurting and you can't we have so many beautiful things but nothing to maintain it with so I think we do need to Advocate on their behalf to to help that out so

would you just make sure this came from the committee and finance that the rest of the council gets a copy of this so just back to the resolution I know the resolution states that the administration Park Board be invited to a future meeting in the committee on finance I'm wondering if that would be a helpful process to hear exactly what are some of their struggles and how can we Advocate on their behalf going forward

as Mr perrano said budget season is you know the start of the process so I wonder if we can get some more information I know Mrs Smith is still stuck downstairs in a meeting so I'm wondering if we want to refer this to the community on finance and then schedule that joint conversation six and seven uh it would be seven because we took them together seven seven states the uh looking for that future meeting

my colleagues have any thoughts on that I'll make a motion motion refer to finance committee second okay motion to refer to finance first by Council Kadeem second by Council Libby all in favor aye my opposed you guys have it thank you thank you thank you Mr perrino yeah okay so with that said we'll have some post-sys input sir if you want to come down of course

come on down just your name and address for the record please my name is Anthony Comer I live at 397 Belmont Street here in Fall River um I own and coach the semi-pro team here Detroit City Titans we've had the team for about four years now and the struggle that we have had is the fields in the city we've been kicked off of every field in the city because nobody wants football on the

field unfortunately there is a ton of kids that play football in the city and they look back as to the cities that the city doesn't care about them we've got gang kids on their team to lay down their colors because we have strict rules and it's more of an outlet for for a lot of these kids um I hate would hate to see what's happen to leave because we can't play

but you know we found a couple resolutions like we actually had our practice field at father tavaso but for us it wasn't it wasn't big enough for us personally long enough so one of the things where we reach out we're looking for like Brooklyn but unfortunately we were told you know we couldn't play Britain because it was packed with soccer you know two hours once a week is all we were trying to put in for

um we play our home games at Durfee but unfortunately we're there for being tore up we have nowhere to play and unfortunately with a lot of these kids I can't control all of them you know and and it's a struggle to keep them all come so one of the big issues that we need we need a feel you know like North Park for instance at the bottom of where I live

that field would have been perfect for us but we were kicked off because they said it's only strictly for baseball so that's really the issue that we've come up and like I said it's been four years we've been struggling with this you know find a time to sneak here and leave in the city we don't want to leave the city we love this place try to do everything I own a business here in the

city trying to keep everything here and forward that's my input for the night just if I could I mean I agree with everything he's saying which is why you know I think we have these conversations to make sure the master plan I know we've got a master plan um but North Park in particular right I think you've got a baseball field that's not being utilized right so now it's just being wasted

I think we just need to stop looking at and I'm glad I'm glad I heard this pickleball being looked into for some of the tennis courts and things of that nature but we also need to to not just focus on you know baseball and soccer but this this football this football this basketball and I think we need to make sure that the facilities whatever the facilities are that we know number

one we can maintain them and I think a large part of that is is you don't necessarily have an issue with football going on as long as you've got a another sport that's going you know in the in the opposite direction of where they're they're playing so that the um you know the ground doesn't get ruined and there's ways to maintain that but I think it comes back down to everything

that we just stated that in the operational budget we need to see some additional monies and then we need to have a plan for all our leagues you know and I think we've run to the same same issue with the softball leagues where you've got one League that really kind of uh dominates um you know a couple of fields and then you've got other other organizations that are trying to get in

that they can't get into right so I think we've got to find that balance and figure out the approach that needs to be taken but I think it comes back down to funding and understanding what the uh the needs are and I think that is part of the plan and um you know I think we need to have those conversations internally with the administration as to what we want to see

but I got to be honest we have these conversations year after year after year when it comes down to budget so you know as counselors I think we just need to put our foot down and say this is what we need we've got flash pads and I know I'm repeating myself but splash pads that are being um you know built some that are currently in operation but there's no budget to maintain the splash pads right

we've we've got these fields that are going in I'm telling you right now we've got beautiful basketball courts where if you go down um in your neck of the woods um you know next to Highland Park in North Park that they are absolutely packed but it's wear and tear already right so at some point they're just gonna look like they need to be repaired and then you're going to have uh you know whoever's going there

is going to have a less appreciation for for the facility and it's just going to go downhill so I think we need to just do a little bit better job because there's a there's a ton of money that's being invested into the community which is a great thing but we just need to make sure it's sustainable we also offered to uh raise our own money to put portable Foo Gold Plus

because like I said we're going to lose Durfee this year because they're going to cheer up the field and not going to be ready we have teams that come in from you know out of state to come play us you know so I'll give an example if we were to play where else better to play behind the police station the safest places you can be but with the amenities that are around the teams

that are out of state I have to send them all the places to go because we don't have her here in the city so you get a team that comes up from Connecticut you know I made a deal with you know the hotel and the forward for them to stay in for x amount of dollars for nights they have to drive home well now because we're not playing you know we will go to Somerset or somewhere

farther away and take the money away from them in the city you know and all we're trying to do is just provide a happy space listen I'd advocate for a second to our field to be honest with you I know some some folks question the safety of it but I think the longevity and the maintenance uh for tar Fields I think if we can if we can number one the the top

layer at britland needs to be repaired so I think we need to stop talking about that and I know we don't have a say on that um that definitely needs to be repaired and then we should be looking at a a second site that would have um a turf field that that provides an additional amenities for for other sports in the combination right because I think even soccer I mean that Field's in in

high demand so I think we need to have some type of location there and we just need to figure it out so youth Council oh yeah I do sorry council's a little bit I know you've been having this issue for a long time and I assume you've been in front of the park board asking for a location and days and times to practice um could we edit item seven and ask that we include

football on here as well just so we know that it gets uh talked about and discussed so that his concerns don't here at citizens input nine o'clock can we do that I've already voted to send it to finance but can we amend item seven specifically I know we have baseball fields but can we add football as well second so we have a motion to amend uh the resolution that we're going to send to the community Finance

we have the motion made by Council Liberty second by Council kadim all in favor aye napos you guys have it all right I want to let you know when that's going to be on the committee of financing thank you thank you sir okay nothing else I'm sorry I'm adjourned yep no business front of us you have a motion to adjourn second first by Council Liberty second by Council in favor aye

the eyes have it thank you very much folks the meeting is adjourned