1.8.2025 Community Preservation Committee

uh welcome to the community preservation committee meeting tonight uh we're at City uh Council hearing room one government center uh it's uh January 8th 2025 6 o' uh pursuing to any open meeting laws any person may make an audio or video recording of this public meeting or may transmit the meeting through any mediums attendees are therefore advised that such recording or Transmissions are

being made whether perceived or unperceived by those present in our team acknowledg and permissible we'll start with roll call to my left uh Michael FAS Alexander Silva Chris Benes Kristen Cantera Olivera John brt James Hornsby Rick manini BJ McDonald and then we have uh Joanne Bentley on Zoom can you just uh can you hear us Joanne Jan can you hear us

okay I don't think she can hear okay I don't think she jo Bentley okay thank you all right uh I don't see we don't have any citizen input for tonight yes I can hear you okay thanks uh can you hear me we can hear you yes do it does it delay I can yes she's answering your old question okay all righty uh can I have a motion for approval of the minutes from November

18th I'll make a motion that we accept the minutes of the meeting second okay roll call vote left uh Michael Ferris yes Alex Silva yes Chris Benavides yes Christen can Oliver yes John Brent yes James hsby Yes Rick Mancini yes BJ McDonald yes Joan there's a lag so you to give her a minute okay all right next is our Jo yes okay yes that is a Joan just so you hear this eventually you're on

like a probably 20 second lag from us so you'll be delaying uh delayed to us she'll hear that in like 30 seconds time all right uh we'll open the funding hearing up uh first Project tonight is the uh nightow uh they're under a historic preservation uh looking for 228 319 exterior repairs restoration sorry uh do you think it'd be a good idea to maybe explain what the funding hearings are for the new members

before we start yeah um I think we did that last last time but tonight's funding hearing what we're going to do is uh for the new F guys um ladies uh we're going to be asking questions about the projects so any question you have regarding uh a project whether it's open to the public does it meet a taxpayer's need um is it historic or open space any of those questions you want to ask

tonight is the time you answer we're got we're not going to be doing any voting tonight but in the back of your head want to kind of keep the score of what this project would uh look like and uh next week when we do deliberations that's one as a group we'll discuss um the projects again and you'll get a better idea of where the project stands if you don't understand something we can

talk about it then so any questions feel free tonight to to ask and if you don't because a lot of the questions are going to be asked probably two three times before you so don't feel that you you need to have the you know all right okay so the night ow uh there uh project description is interior repairs restoration of the existing stainless steel cladding and uh iconic Night Owl sign uh restored to its

uh more mening original appearance the two neon signs will be recreated to match the original interior restoration of the existing counter stools damaged Windows lighting the entire electrical and plumbing system will be replaced kitchen missing Sunburst modified stainless steel wall panels will be provided a new floor access hatch will be needed kitchen floor includes tzo floors and will be maintained handicap

uh assistant bathroom will be provided at an additional to the existing Diner um just a few notes on my part um in the 30 years of CPC they've never done a uh a diner like this so if we did we'd be one of the first to um do a project like this um then also uh we can only do the outside of the uh the diner oh Tony would you guys like to come up is there

someone here from the yeah I forgot to invite them up by just state your name Tony and uh

Tony Das 492 Jun Street could you speak in on the microphone please just pull that up Joseph ready um like I said uh a project like this has not been done and uh uh the couple questions like uh I have is like it's it's not open uh so that's like a if if we if we do this will it uh have a tenant uh will the lights stay on I mean there's a lot

of ifs for us putting in that kind of money um uh I didn't see no maintenance budget uh you guys did have a historical commission letter which was good uh but my opinion this looks more like a restaurant rehab which I don't think is something our board has never done uh you are a historic you are a um um Diner but uh I don't know if you know that's just my thoughts and I'll let the board

uh ask questions from here um I yeah I have a list of uh questions here as well and one of the questions I have uh first and foremost this is an iconic Landmark uh type of uh building again it almost serves as uh the Eastern Gateway onto Pleasant uh Pleasant Street and I know there's U Been work done up and down there with you know um uh Spectrum Theater which is just a block down on

the left hand side lot a lot of that funding was privatized there are also some other projects that are um slated on this docket as well uh again I think you know my my one question would be is um you know this could help to revitalize uh the the Flint neighborhood and serve as the Gateway uh to the Eastern side of it my question would be is um are you looking at any Tiff money

associated with this that makes basically deferment of taxes because again what John had mentioned uh if this is going to be another viable business um you know again that's that's money on to the books for the city of Fall River um if it's a project where um you know do you guys have a business plan do you plan on opening this type of scenario then something of this nature would be a viable um for the historical

component of it because it is historical and and it is a uh I think a prominent um unfortunately a prominent eyesa right now but I could see it being a prominent Gateway uh if uh if it becomes a viable business in the near future we weren't looking at the tips uh um at all uh if anything U we're in the process through the historical commission Massachusetts historical commission and we've had

discussions with the historical tax credits so that would be 30% on on the investment on the project that including other costs that my client would put in there so we're not looking for any additional sitting F sitting funding at the moment other than the CPA Massachusetts historical tax credits and and in association with the business itself though what what we'd hate to see is you know I've seen this before where

we've gone through is putting funds not in this particular committee but other ones and all of a sudden you've up the value of that property and then there's a for salees sign as soon as it's done and I know there's some terms and limits to uh pay back if you guys decide to do something of this nature but I'm just wondering if you know is there an actual business plan for this once it gets

renovated and up and operational do you plan on doing that or leasing it what what is the long-term goal of this so the the long-term goal and it was very clear even when we had our initial historical commission meetings is that um first and foremost we want to make sure that the night owl um doesn't get demolished gets torn down if the property was to be sold um my client is in

retirement he would prefer the business to open under his management but he's also willing to sell the property and the property is not just the night owl uh the property includes the other businesses the hers uh the donut shop so there have been folks that have requested to purchase the diner alone that's never been part of the equation uh it it's the whole thing and and the reason is the whole thing is uh my

client wants to preserve the diner exactly where it is as an important uh historical landmark of the Flint neighborhood of which there are other projects and I guess all the Pleasant Street is being uh looked that at the moment so um and it's also important you know to to mention you know why has it been closed so long um a lot of it has to do with you know my client went before the building department looking

for a building permit to open it a number of years ago and the roadblocks came up uh roadblocks being in what came up Sir something came up I couldn't hear it I'm sorry um the building department wouldn't allow the business to open up without a handicap uh bathroom being handicap accessible uh Plumbing upgrades per code electrical upgrades for code so all of those things put up road blocks

for all of these years um I got involved in a project uh to indicate to to Mr uh nisara that through CPA we can help you just get over that little hurdle yes you are going to have a financial burden that you're going that he's going to have to provide but CPA can help you just get over that hurdle that the building department put in front of you and that's why it's been closed for so

long and we want my client wants to lease it out first to somebody and I personally have been contacted by many people who want to open it up but you'll see in the application that we don't identify the kitchen equipment and we don't identify the kitchen equipment because we don't know who the user is going to be so we wouldn't be uh putting in equipment and then the leaf seat comes in yeah that's not the equipment

that I want I I want a sushi place versus a hot dog Hamburger Stand you know but those costs will be my clients once he works out at lease agreement but the important thing is once that renovation starts people will see that we will have the people who are ready to come in and leasa and open up the business I hope that answers your question good go how much has been invested to date to

the repairs or any or any repairs it's been close since the building apartment said that they needed to make all of these upgrades okay so but since they said that which you you said it was a number of years ago there's been nothing done to the I don't believe anything's been done on the property s okay so then my followup would be what happens if you don't get these funds is the is the plan

to still move forward with the night owl and repair it and do all of the the necessary work you expect So the plan is again the the property would be available to be for sale but one of the things that we want to do is we want to put a preservation restriction on the night owl itself so we want to make sure that that piece remains so regardless of you proving

zero y the goal would be for you to approve at least $1 so that there's a preservation restriction I see um the building remains there okay and whatever happens to the property the building remains there a good example is the bank Street Armory it hasn't been torn down because there's a preservation restriction on it so that that's the great thing about CPS okay all right that makes sense okay thank

you Tony is is there any financing in place at this point I believe it's all personal financing or you know we'll probably probably have to go uh to a bank for a construction loan has any of that been put in place at this point so the idea would be let's say that we get approval for some amount of money we will take that letter to the bank saying we have

CPA funds uh approved for us we need a construction loan for this amount in addition to potentially what CPA would give so for example you give a dollar the construction cost is $100,000 we would say we would go to the bank and say we need a construction loan for $99,999 plus we have a prom promise note from CPA for a dollar but nothing has been talked with the bank at this point so

you have not negotiated or talk to a bank about this or a financial all not yet but could be done because there is not much mortgage on it on the property so we can do that and I never thought of asking that question to be fair maybe that's my fault I I've never heard that as being part of this process that's all right it's okay my fault yeah I've been

away for a while just nice to know if there's Financial backing available you know well you know um I'd say a lot of these CPA projects uh you could ask the same question I think you're going to get the same answer then I have a sorry repeat question on this one in your form here you have your CPA funds of

$228,300 total $586,500

hypothetical fund so in the application our2 development has put their proposal together yep and what I did was from their proposal of I believe total in $586,500

and something, um what I would like to request is to make a change here one of the items I have highlighted as looking for CPA the fund is the night owl neon signs for 4998 I'd like to replace that with the first two bottom items of that first page which is the plumbing and the mechanical systems I think it's more important to get the building structure up and running than

to get the neon sign up we can't do mechanical inside no we can't do that so um and I heard that the last time and so what I did was I went through uh this is the DLS which is the document uh that the state created to uh do CPA which references m chairman law 44b and this document is quite clear of what types of projects are approved and which are not and I'll leave this

document here um with regard to Mechanical Electrical Plumbing Ada um this document only refers to Restoration um things of that nature so it does tell you to go Mass General law 44b and just to make it nice and easy what they approve is the Secretary of interior standards so here I have preservation brief number 18 having to do with the rehabilitation of Interiors of historical buildings you have a copy

of that for us I'll leave all this here for you preservation no that's not what I asked do you have a copy that you could give me yeah I I can give you a copy for all of us I I can I can send an email yeah that Sandy can make copies and Sandy can do it um I have all 51 preservation briefs but I figured these were the important ones number 24 is

having to do with heating ventilation and cooling of historical buildings uh number 32 is having to do with the handicap accessibility code um they do talk about elevators in particular the old elevators that are not working and they do reference new elevators that are part of additions so when elevators have been rejected in the past it has been due to the fact that they have detrimentally worked against historical

preservation of the building but when it's done as an addition and it's per their guidelines it's approved so I have all of these documents I'll leave this here for you but my interpretation is that CPA does allow it and the other thing that I did do is I went into the community preservation um committee online and you still see many towns and cities approving elevators mechanical

electrical Plumbing Systems even as of last year so I'll just throw that out there um I brought this because we had a discussion I'm not trying to be combed for anything um but this Mass general laws I'll print that document also and they'll send the S okay Alex hello um so uh we request that uh each applicant submits three bids um I think he only submitted one was any other bids solicited for the scope of work

or one so the the problem that I found um is that a lot of contractors don't have experience with stainless steel buildings basically let's call it an RV without wheels um and the majority of them didn't want to have anything to do with the bids so first I was very lucky to get this one bid in here um the other thing that I'd like to mention ition is when we originally started CPA a long time

ago we had a problem with multiple bids so typically every bid in Joanne can confirm this or not is really only good for 30 days and what occurs is when you have multiple bids and then you come back to your low bidder and say Hey you know I'm I'm picking you to do this project he's now had an opportunity to look at his competition where those numbers were and because his application is only good for

30 days he's now coming up and saying you know what um I'm sorry about uh there's been an increased in interest rates or whatever and I need to change my number and it becomes a problem where CPA or us would have to come back hey we we got a different number now um I I know when I was part of this board I had requests by many of the contractors to

block out their numbers or the important things on their application because it's a public record so your initial question was I able to get three uh bids no um I am a licensed contractor uh I did not put a bid but I could look at this and I'm hoping Joe W can look at these numbers and confirm that yes they're within the range of being acceptable so okay I just wanted to know

if you attempted or not um uh and then I think you already answered this question I just want to make sure so uh as far as other funding for this project nothing has been committed so far this is essentially the first step for your funding plan it is the first step okay um and then the last question I had um uh is uh are you as the owner willing as

part of the deed restriction to put um a requirement that the property stays within Municipal boundaries since um I think people are aware that diners tendency uh when sold have a tendency to move locations uh that's absolutely going to be in any um sale condition that it remains within the city of Fall River okay not necessarily the site because we've had conversations with folks who

thought about maybe relocating it I've heard down to the ble chip Cove area I've heard Airport Road area potentially and that's not what my client was looking for this moment okay yeah I think New Bedford just lost one to Texas if I believe remember that was the Indian um okay that's it thank but would that be put in the deed restrictions written in I know you you said you'd

make that a point but would you put that in the deed restrictions yes um so so I understand that one CPA is approved that uh the owner has seven or 14 days to register in the registry of deeds so once that's at the registry of deeds regardless of sale to anybody it's not going to be undone questions um yeah H so in the um in one of the uh pricings that you have circled it says

demo what is it that needs to be demoed I'm just it was 2600 for demo so I'm just curious It's partial demo for so for example there's the exterior steps leading to the doors they're in very poor condition okay that's going to be demolished there's excuse me a bunch of Mechanical plumbing especially in the basement um this contractor didn't break it out he just put it in a demo number

so the risk demo not the stainless steel historical structure okay so part of what I had to do with mass historical commission was photograph everything put it in a plan for them um so none of the historical components are being demolished okay and one other question you said you wanted to switch um one for the other so you said Plumbing a mechanical what what part of the mechanical is it like it's

24,800 so what is that mechanical so the existing mechanical system um part of it is in the basement so what you so you see the stainless steel Night Owl but the basement is much wider than the night owl itself and down there is a lot of equipment um and part of that equipment is for the prep kitchen so they had another kitchen downstairs that they would prepare the food and then that

would be brought up to the night owl and they reheat it finish it you you'll see the pictures at the very end of the basement and I even identified that they have a bathroom down there and stuff um so the only way that you can get to the basement is within the kitchen area there is a hatch that opens up to a ship's ladder that takes you down there within the space or

you go outside to the front of a and there's your metal uh bulkhead bulkhead yeah thank you um that typically uh the delivery trucks would use that okay one more question so you're basically going to and I want to make sure I get this correct uh line item with the sign restoration of the owl at the amount of $49,988 75 that would be removed I I want to remove it from the application those

costs and instead pick up the plumbing and the mechanical costs so there would be a Delta If I subtract and add a Delta of $668 so my new CPA request instead of the 228,000 it would be 235,000 so so my question to you would be if hypothetically this you go and restore this Diner eliminate this iconic sign all the things that everybody sees and then the mechanical stuff that's in the basement

and it goes to Battleship Cove or wherever else you're going to have to redo all of that stuff anyway so do do you see what I'm saying like if if hypothetically you sell the land and that has to go all the mechanical equipment everything else is wasted money at least if you had done the 49,000 on the outer exterior of the building and they up and move that you're taking that with it do you see do

you see my point I see a question um so the current owl as it is right now has been modified so um the the current owl that you see out there uh they've changed it over the years yeah this application was to to restore it back to its original so regardless of Us opening it up not touching that sign we are going to put in new electrical wires to make the

existing sign work it's just for not making it the more menacing and I tried to describe that in the application where uh the original owl was this dark brownish owl and it had all of the the neon eyebrows and the claws you know that's what we were restoring uh there's the owl sign on the chimney smoke sack we were restoring that and then we found through our research that there are three other neon signs that are

completely missing you know so CPA wouldn't pay for those because that's not historical but we don't need to add those in order to get the building up and going so my focus with change from the 49,000 of a historically accurate neon sign I feel it's more important that the money goes towards the the structure to make sure that it gets open as soon as possible and then can focus on getting the neon

sign back to its original iconic menacing look okay Jim oh I have a couple questions question one um you have um could you in about 30 words tell me what so it all gets restored okay in five years that's my guess okay because we're just starting right um what are you going to do with the night ow the gold is to lease it to a business is to run it as either a hot dog

hamburger stand or whatever other business could you speak into the microphone fairly clearly I am hard at hearing but I'm not that hard I I have hearing as I understand um the goal is to have it open up with a lease so someone would come in to run the business so an outside entity would come in and sell hamburgers hot dogs if that's what they wanted fine thank you that's what I wanted to know it wasn't

and it could be there it could be on the waterf front the goal list to keep it exactly where it is okay but the only way it's ever going to move is if it gets sold and the new owner decides to move it but it would have to remain in Fall River okay uh second question um I think we established last when you were here for the application that

um the home had been th hour had been purchased by the current owner more than 20 years ago about is that a close yeah yes how come it's falling apart if I had a night owl I would fix it so to answer your question um The Last Tenant that was there um once they left and my client was looking to open up the business again the building department said because you have a new

business coming in we require a handicap ramp a handicapped bathroom upgrades of uh Plumbing Electrical Codes and all of that at the time was too expensive for my client to put money into it this is before CPA ever existed right okay that's your that's your answer yes thank you most of the questions have been answered the only one I probably have left left and I I think you've partially

answered this you have no interested party in this property at this point either to operate it or purchase you have no interested party at this point interested in purchasing nor operating a business there do you no none no okay strictly speculation at this point other than I can confirm a number of individuals that have reached out to me uh interested in leasing the space or buying it but I had to inform them that

it's not just the diner it's the entire triangle property all of it right and once I mentioned that that was the end of the conversation okay Dan do you have any questions one go ahead take one more I forgot I didn't look at my note here um the request is for about $230,000 roughly um how much of that is going for inside stuff and stuff that I would call outside stuff meaning if I looked at it

and um so Jim I I haven't broken out interior or exterior but in your application on the R2 development they list out exterior lighting interior lighting so they have it broken out pretty good I'd like to see it broken out even further but for I think for right now I think that this is fine but this will show you the items and I put a box around the items that I was interested in CPA

funding what you're not going to see in this application is I assume about $100,000 of kitchen equipment so that will only be known once the Le C is decided upon right so one of the problems with commercial kitchen equipment is it cannot be sitting around for any amount of period uh what happens is the um pilot becomes faulty and it becomes a hazardous condition where you can go wait for the

night the pilot goes out the space fills up with gas and this potentially for explosion so in kitchen renovations you never purchase the kitchen and just have it sit in the space waiting for someone to come in and use it we have to buy it and install it when we know who the user is okay any other further questions we can I think Joanne had one Joan do you

have a question I'll wait a minute I do I do um I see the overall ask is for 500 8 the overall proposal was $586,000 1118 and you're asking CPA for 228 if CPA can only partially fund um the request will you still go forward with the project if I heard this correctly John um so just do partial project so what's going to happen and I explained this misss is that he's going to have to go

for a construction loan okay part of that construction loan will have a let's call it a promisory CPA note as part of the funding he is not going to see a penny of CPA money until that work is done that's when you all will come in and say yeah the the mechanical on this item the plumbing on the that is done now we can release the funds so he has

to come up with all of that funding however he does whichever way he decides and I I guess that's the best way that I can answer what we would do is we would pick out what we were going to fund so that would be and then that would go in on the deed restriction that we would uh set up but to to just to confirm my client would not get a penny

until that work is done so he has to get those funds however he does before or you even write the check why not start there I'm sorry why not start with trying to figure out where to get the the initial funding request from say another type of a loan or a vendor so I guess why start here to get your money I understand it's a promisory note you're trying to go and tell people

hey look this is less risky because there's funding behind it but generally speaking my understanding is that most of these loans are are relative ly riskier because you're thinking about opening up a restaurant which is a tough it's a tough loan to to give so I understand why I think I understand if that's accurate why you're doing it this way but you understand the potential part parting of these numbers I

understand the question I appreciate your question um the one thing that I've discovered with diners is that they bring folks from all over not just our state uh people make it a point to travel to go e Diner it's it's an Americana iconic thing to do so can you can you provide that information I I guess it's part of some of the packets that you have here I'd love to see the data on it I can

provide that so part of us going through the mass historical commission and being listed on the state's uh diners is that document has for example the almax Steiner in it and all that information is written right there so I'll forward that to Sandy so that she can get it so that you can also read that document Y and that's a document that mass historical commission indicated that

they want to include us in that that'd be perfect okay yep thank you so yes I agree with you on restaurants yes it's a tough business but because this is a diner it's kind of its own separate entity understood well the other thing correct me if I'm wrong but in going for CPC funds would also be for the deed restriction correct I so for for me when I was on this committee the most

important thing was the deed restriction uh I I put that as the most important thing um secondly is obviously um when I was a chair of the historical commission and the CPA was on the ballot we went to all of the neighborhoods to to sell that you know this was an opportunity to preserve our historical structures first secondly it was an economic development driver uh for our city especially in the harder hit

neighborhoods but thirdly it was a way to help the small business owner just be able to go over that hurdle to get that project done and that's the one thing that we kept selling to all of the neighborhoods and luckily we we had CPA approved yeah I hope that answered that all right so I guess we're done with questions thank Tomy and we'll be deliberating next week and then we vote

at the end of the month great you have any questions we'll reach out and and if you do have more questions after tomorrow's meeting I'm more than happy to give that and bring it to you but I will get that y that that' be great appreciate that perfect thank you thank you thank you thanks if uh St ANS can come up next on the uh uh funding round is St an's preservation Society it's a histor

preservation uh towards the remaining 300,000 in capital needed the final phase of the building exterior restoration reappointing of St an's original Vermont maple exterior walls renewal of the mot joints they're looking for 100,000 and you do have a letter from the historic commission and I was glad to see that you had a fiveyear uh maintenance plan in there most people do not give us a a

maintenance plan on how they're going to take care of what we do so I like that um so we'll open it up to questions I was Jo you first yes I didn't think I uh hi thanks for calling um I think I sent these questions to like I sent tried to send questions to everyone so everyone was prepared so you should probably know what I'm going to ask um can you uh describe any plans or

efforts you've had to establish a dedicated fund for uh future maintenance of the property like going forward um I know in the application you put some numbers and I think it was driven primarily by like donations and gift shop sales um is that um like you know 10 20 years for forward when you know stuff will have to start being buttoned up again is that the plan going forward or are you planning like larger

fundraising or or any kinds of drives for that yeah well my name is Bob Gavin I'm the vice president I'm uh retired Chief Financial Officer from Rex cup products in the industrial park and uh this is Jeff Mony he is the president uh now and uh he is retired from Road Road uh retired from Rhode Island energy as a project manager so so he kind of handle he kind of handles all

the the building stuff and I of the finance um answer your question uh no we don't have any any money set aside uh what we do you know we have uh we have donations we have candle sales sore sale store sales we have fundraisers uh we have Capital campaign uh going and um uh what we do is uh pretty much the candles pay for the heat which is a lot of money

because we have to heat upstairs ceilings um and uh the insurance which is a lot of money and um um the the regular Main and we have like a regular maintenance thing like the elevator and things like that but Jeff and his his group really um have laid out you know all the things that have to get done we just recently we just replaced the storm windows um you know in just in time for the L

so uh so we're doing we're constantly doing doing everything but we have on our building committee we have three uh one person's a mechanical engineer Jeff uh and somebody else is a contractor so we we pretty much know what the regular maintenance is uh but we don't have a a separate fund fund for that because all of our money our money from the store sales really goes to pay for the uh

utilities and things but the um the the the capital all our Capital Money it goes towards fixing the building and we um we actually have we're in a situation and I'll talk about the we talk about if you want to talk about the money um you know we're looking at $345,000 now and uh we're going to uh we have somebody who uh uh in there a will in the state left us

$100,000 so we're going to use your 100,000 that 100,000 and then we're going to pay we've got the money to pay $145,000 to finish this this this part of it um to get all all repointed on the on the outside walls done Jeff do you want to say anything go um right uh thank you Bob so um we're looking at 345,000 to to repoint the building that gets me all

the way around the building um we were voted some dollars to rebuild buttresses on the north side of the building and also on the south side near the parking lot um and U where there was some moisture um infiltration it was on the transcept wall and so we've identified that that's why we jumped up to that it's 345 that we had originally mentioned 300 um and so um that gets

us around the building um with the motor work with the exception of the two towers but the two towers were um less less of a priority right now um there structurally safe but there was some water joints up there that um at some point will need you know repointing uh but for right now as Bob mentioned um we're seeking you know if we can get the 100K here um we have 100k

we we have 100K either from um these Wills that have been left to us that are that are in Probate and we also have other U fundraising going on right now to to take care of the of of the pointing yeah and I just want to point out um when we first took over the building uh the boiler was not in good shape um and um we had them come in and

we paid they pulled the whole thing apart and cleaned it placed all the all the worn Parts uh because if that boiler goes down and like like now uh it's a real problem so every single year we're cleaning cleaning the boiler so we're we're keeping up with a regular maintenance we also uh cleaned out all the like the with the sewers uh you know the drains where the water gets away

we've we cleaned all that out too so um I don't think add anything to that answer you a question well so I guess my follow-up question is after say you know in a perfect world all the repairs are done and the envelope and everything is buttoned up and all your exterior work is done is the plan or do you plan on then putting funds aside for the future for like a capital Improvement plan you

know for future work yeah I can I can yeah I can take that b so so yes um so right now I won't I won't call it hand to mouth but you know every dollar that we get now we're we're putting it into the building but but yes um we'll continue to fund raise and we'll have a fund that we can use and what we typically do is um we invest

it short-term bonds and CDs and stuff like that while it's sitting there and then and and that way that way it's always available to us at least like within three months so we typically know what's coming up and hopefully hopefully after we're done with the building it'll take a while for things to wear out but it is an old building and things always pop up but to your point um yes that is

that is our long-term goal right now every every dollar we get we're utili yes um I have a couple more questions um and then I think I heard this from your answers but it sounds like you've already uh attained most of the remaining funding for the project the 350 so the other 250 you said 100 was secured and then I think you said another 140 was also secured is so is is

this like the last remaining piece to be um allocated sort of speaking we um it's a the the U it was a Mr Boule who L us 100,000 and um I think it's it's been in Probate for a little while so I'm assuming that money is going to come available fairly soon and and and also with the 2027 one somebody else just left us about about $100,000 um they left us 133% of their

estate so we figured that's about 100,000 so for 2027 we'll be looking at that and also I don't know if uh Brad Paul is on um on the uh Zoom he'd be on the side of something yeah I don't think he is okay uh he's from San Francisco and he's kind of a national person trying to get money um not Nationwide so uh he's he's put together a plan to try raise about

$100,000 uh out in San Francisco uh and then my last question is um what is your organization or I guess also the dases plan for the building after your lease expires in 2029 is there a plan already going forward or just what are your thoughts on that want me answer okay um we don't know um but they're very happy with us uh you know they and I think they understand now that we've taken over I

think they understand the historic significance of the church uh Bishop dunia you know was from Brazil and you know he wasn't from Paul River and uh when they when they they closed it and they they ran it as a parish whereas we're running we're running it as a shrine we're open 10 to four every day during the week and uh 12 to four uh on weekends so um so it's that that's a lot

different so I think we're actually in the process of applying for status as a a shrine of the dases uh because we're late people running a running running a shrine so it's a little bit different and historically it's very important because um I don't if you go around the city if even in New Bedford um you know I believe President Taff uh was on the steps of St ANS in 1911 when they had

the cotton Centennial so had a president um also we've had uh St Andre bassette uh in the early 1900s um came down from Montreal he had um he had U he came from a family of like 11 kids and uh three of his brothers and sisters lived in for River so when he came down St an's all the masses were in French so he came down so we've had a saint and a president at the

at the church add on to that back add on to that as well um as Bob said you know we don't know however when we've had Bishop dunia say masses at The Shrine um he has communicated that he hopes that the shrine is successful for many many years to come so even though you know we lease it from the dicese you know and that has an end date on it we're hoping that it does get um

renewed and um as a group um we're looking at Next Generation folks to to operate it as well and um so we're constantly adding to the ranks different volunteers and some people are just volunteers some people are leaders and so we need both leaders and um volunteers to actually you know take care of the building yeah I just want to add I think I I said this the last time I was here that um Providence College

paid to have the where the priests are buried um and that's almost done and and uh they're going to be coming down and having a mass actually in the and uh we're trying to get we're trying to develop a relationship with provin college because they were they were they were Dominicans and that's who started the church I've got actually a few questions magnetic I guess um first of

all I'd like to commend you guys uh it's amazing the work that you're doing um and again I know you've spoken about the um uh within the state in the community and neighboring um States but this actually spreads even more to uh Canada as well as I said um I vacation up in Canada uh yearly and when I say that I'm from Boston I get chirps at church when I say that I'm from Fall

River people want to line up because they come down here and they celebrate for the St an's feast and and such not and uh one of the things that inspired us uh two Winters ago we went to the cathedral up in Montreal and so one of the questions I have for you is again you're doing this it's going to 2029 is going to come around put all this money this effort

into this is there any type of business plan you know again you're thinking about the future the next Generations you two disappear how does it sustain itself business wise again I know up in the cathedral up in Montreal uh they did this beautiful um religious kind of uh annotation of uh music and light show and such not still have a a complete part of the church that's strictly for

ceremonial purposes but um they've been able to pay for all of the Reconstruction on that on uh the tourism on that of Christmas of last year was phenomenal sold out events but again it's something that you once you do this and you put all this money into this how does it sustain itself and do you have a commitment from the church in the dicese to do that because eventually in another

100 years you're going to be in the same situation and so has that ever been addressed with the dases or have you guys thought about like how do we when you start opening the upper Cathedral and I pray that this opens up I've I've been blessed to seeing this my kids have seen it at a young age um how do you sustain that so it doesn't deteriorate or two

how do you kind of build a business plan that sustainable and stays on for Generation after generation similar to what the cathedral was up in uh Montreal I want you to answer that so I I've thought about all of that my myself as well um we are planning is this on we are planning um on having more events um they typically have to be Catholic events uh we couldn't have you know like a rock show or

something like that but um those those type of events are I'm I'm really looking at 2025 as a year of expansion for us on really right across the board as far as maintenance as far as lurgical events as far as um getting more folks to support us um internally so that we can have tours and pilgrimages and stuff like this and the more we do we're seeing the more money is coming in

because I think people are finally they may have been skeptical in the beginning like who are these eight people um and will they be successful but now that we are we're actually doing it and people see the staging on the building and they see the photos of the C proper going up um we are getting more and more donations our our events are more well attended and um lost my track of thought a little bit

there that's okay but um there was another point I wanted to make yeah let me chime in a little bit uh we are trying to get younger people yes um we are trying to get younger people and would like to I mean I haven't spoken to the for River um Symphony Orchestra but I would like to have them that that be their home upstairs uh where they can have concerts you know uh in the upper

Church um I haven't talked to them so don't don't quote me on that but once it once it's open I'm definitely going to call them to see if that's something they would do and and we could have concerts um I always in my back of my mind I've always wanted to ask uh think about uh living and Taylor uh come and do a concert and things like that so you know upstairs fits 2,000 people so it's

a pretty significant space and so we are we are looking forward but we got to get the upstairs open first before we can start start doing something like that I would highly recommend that um you take a look at this Cathedral and uh they have a very um religious based business plan associated with it in order to help pay for that but it's also one of those uh scenarios where I saw

just as many young people and uh people in their 20s and 30s going to this um again every every show was was sold out and it all had a religious theme to it it wasn't a u a rock concert or anything of that nature but um obviously uh they came up with a good parallel of the two um again I'm I'm Catholic and I understand uh the numbers are are disappointing um but the reality of it

is anything that you can do to reach out maybe the dases would be uh receptive of that in order to uh get a sustainable type of a business plan associated with keeping this uh movement moving along not only for the building but also for the religious aspects of it so that's it Jim respond to your comment your comment about uh hoping to host concerts I can tell you that the greater Fall River

Symphony Orchestra is looking for a place to possibly a new site to perform particularly the the spring concert which would include just because you want a religious program uh I would think that the grahs requium Mass would qualify as a as a religious program and do get in touch with if if you think you're ready for it soon as we open upstairs what as soon as we open upstairs we're going to put

the call in which goes to my second question I must confess that I was skeptical I have purchased a lot of acetaminophen over the last 50 or 60 years years trying to keep St Luke's Church uh intact and I think I'm failing but that's that's another issue of of you were talking about restoring both the top and the bottom yes on the shrine is it will that will everyone have access to that I mean there isn't

any you don't have to be Catholic to to go in oh yeah no right yeah would you do you have Services there healing Services perhaps yeah we have once a month we have uh the dases do those have to be Catholic well it's a mass um and then after not I just just think about that I don't expect you to answer that one today but one of our issues is Community

Access and um it would be I would just rather than stand next to my old friend pi oh yeah I would love and what and uh read a lesson while he celebrates I would love to celebrate in St an's Shrine and I think many of our people who are not Catholic might come end of comments okay yeah I just want obviously I'm supportive we we have we have a healing the dases games a

chaplain and we have uh father Murphy comes and does a healing mask once a month the third Thursday of every mon youve answered the question yes okay all right good anybody else followup questions Joan all right guys just one question you you were talking about the additional work and we're in the winter months is is the uh the contracted uh fee is that sort of locked in for you or

in the spring is that going to be a question or you're going to need more money you you you stated about 345,000 you know we're entering we're just entering the new year uh it's four months away before you really start getting back into pointing a building so is that cont contract good for four more months I mean it's um we don't have a signed contract for the for that 300,000 that that

300,000 was based on um quotations that we had received um but how I feel about it is that you know we have money in our account as well so um you know like like someone said here um you know copper Copper's going up um what went up uh quite a bit this year surprisingly was was the the solder the silver solder that they were using up there so those those prices do fluctuate um we have the

ability to to absorb that um and what we do is is when we get the money we do a phase but we don't do it until we have money in hand so that's how we've been approaching it okay um yeah okay thanks all right so we're done uh we'll get back to you uh we do have voting and uh at the end of the month so okay if anybody wants to come visit us R open t

four let us know we might be giv you some calls yeah thank thank you and have a good have a prosperous new year thank you I've been here quite a bit I'm not Catholic but I go to the shrine nice theine all right next is the uh you guys can come on up here next is the Narrows gay help repair uh for Waterworks complex uh number 15 uh repair The Narrows Gate House Number 15 as

inflicted from a area of uh National Registry historic places inventory entered uh 127 1981 the gate house replaced the one burnt in 1908 and designed the same rosan goth Gothic style as original 1873 Waterworks pump house uh sand pipe Tower and intake house uh uh it's historic and they're looking for 250,000 yes thank you very much uh you guys have uh some very tough decisions to make this year a lot of great

projects in front of in front of this committee um we're here for uh tonight Paul furland the administrator of community utilities for the city of Fall River I also have Mike leosia here with me uh Forester and project manager for the water department um within the city um the Bild the project that we have in front of you is uh for some restoration work on our Narrows gate house um the

gate house is located uh if you're driving on Route 195 uh westbound uh and you're taking the 24 Northbound exit uh it's directly off to the off the side of the highway uh at that point um inside of the gate house is uh some gates that we operate uh and those are the only connection between the northw Tupper Pond and the southw Tupper Pond uh most of the time those gates are closed uh unless the

north Tupper Pond becomes too high and we need to drain water from the north into the South uh sometimes occurs in the spring uh so it does serve this building does serve a functional purpose uh for our water system um you know protecting the northw tppa a from the south with Tupper uh and then also being able to uh relay water back and forth uh so the interior of the building the uh

dams we've we had uh mechanically uh repaired uh and replaced uh probably about 8 years ago probably 10 years ago now um and uh the exterior of the building is the one thing that uh we're looking to uh spruce up here it's kind of right as you come into Fall River anybody heading on 195 westbound uh we'll see it off to the side of the road there uh the original uh style of the

building matches all of historic buildings the 1873 Pump Station as well as the towel with the gothic Granite clock style uh copper flashing um so what we're looking to do is to uh stabilize the roof as well as all the Soph and faces that uh that go around the building um and uh redo that uh redo that to be able to have it there for another uh 100 plus years um for the

operation of it mik have anything um to well technically that's it and I really don't have much to add but when you think of the Narrows and you think of the hundreds of years really that people have and all the changes that have occurred on the Narrows from a point 150 years ago when there was just a um a rail a railway and uh you know a route uh Pleasant Street really before there

was Route Six um Everybody remembers the ice houses not that we remember seeing them but we you know we know of the ice houses and the and the just the thriving businesses and whatnot that were in the Narrows this is really one of the last vestages of the original what you saw you know in the early 20th century and it's a permanent part of the architectural statement that the Waterworks uh buildings represents uh

and it's one uh you know thousands of people see every day it really it kind of speaks to the uh uh to the to the water service that we provide and um this is sort of that um uh that that storefront appear here is that we really like to look uh really rehabit and and take care of the uh the uh the classic architectural aspects of it and I think it'll reflect really well on the

department and the city and its care for its uh most important asset which is the water okay so unless you would be uh looking to uh rep point the the Brick we do the roof and the uh copper gutter gutters yes and then uh front windows you would repair those for they be uh so the would be kind of repairing them in the style of that uh I see you

have the glass block block in the back that would be that style there too yeah we'd be doing that just for security of the building um you know we did a different style it would be be worried about somebody vandalism to them so all right um question open up to questions is the are the fixes purely cosmetic or are there any structural fixes that need to be considered here uh so the structure of

the roof is in good condition again so the as you go around with the facade and stuff there will be some but not major structural issues but there'll be supporting issues of that of that the roof um you know the there'll be some roof planking that needs replacing and stuff um but not any major structural Replacements on the building or the roof okay that's helpful thank you Alex yeah no one else I have a

couple hi um thanks for coming uh I sent over I think most of these questions earlier um in the last month um could generally we are hesitant to uh award new CPC grants uh to applicants who have ongoing projects but I understand your department is very kind of wide ranging so you have a lot of different projects could you just give us an update on the current status of the CPC Pro projects that are ongoing uh

yeah the so current projects that we have ongoing within CPC um one of them would be the architectural uh design of the the uh 1873 Pump Station uh that's still ongoing that's that's a uh that's an older project uh the seaw walls have been uh we've been granted for a um an assessment of the seaw walls that's through around the north wupa which about this building uh that's an ongoing

project we're looking to uh procure uh architect a um consultant to come in to to do that work uh with the mass procurement guidelines uh times it takes some time to go through that process uh some of the other projects well so the the most recent one that we actually completed uh I've been more my more more of my specialty has been the land Acquisitions um which we've had a number

over the last few years but uh most recently we closed on the promised land Parcels which you might remember a few months ago we had an extension uh it was it was there were legal uh elements to it because it was there was some foreclosed um Parcels but we closed on the 30 uh 28 Acres of uh in the bread and cheese Brook uh we close on it we're working with the buzzes Bay coalition to

uh uh draft and and record a conservation restriction which we've done for all the parcels we bought you know with CPA funds um and the um we're in the process of working on the the um historic documents that the city has going back 150 years uh digitizing and um uh and actually making duplicat so we'll be able to more freely handle and you know do research in that um and then

finally um the um the Barnabas Blossom uh shed which is on not shed it's it's a workshop on on Blossom Road at reservation headquarters uh is also in progress and we're hoping to be able to uh Diamond has been a great partner with us for at least eight years and so parts of that project are awaiting the Gap in their schedule they they have a busy you know 24 25 uh semester but we're hoping

to line up uh some assistance with that in the in the fall and one that we complet one that we completed as well was the uh Discovery Center oh yeah elephant in the room yeah the buo reserve Discovery yeah where where the CPA CPC uh granted um funds to buy uh the seven uh seven of the nine acres which will have a per which which now actually does have a permanent conservation restriction held by the

trustees of reservations and we're in the process of the other part of the pro the property which has the buildings is uh we're working with an architect to have uh uh and and actually we're about to put out to bid some some work to uh um create a an education space in the barn yeah so we went out to bid we'll be rebidding that project because it came over the funding that we had so bring

this SC back to so I understand the question because it's an embarrassment of riches but like you said we the the department is a really unique uh Department within the city with with with you know 5,000 plus acres of land um a lot of use a lot of recreation use you know it supplies the water um and we're blessed to have these great old buildings which were built at a time

where you built buildings like this and um they're not they're not all uh you know dynamically being used but for the most part they're in pretty good shape and um to get them over the top like um for this application for example it it needs some TLC on the outside and in keeping with the uh you know the the character of that was that was built that you just you don't see too often

these days so so as far as the incomplete projects there's no problems that we haven't heard of or anything yet like nothing holding up like the seaw wall procurement or anything it's just kind of Manpower resources yeah no there hasn't been any problems you know again it's just uh with the with our staffing being able to you know that's being able to work on all those projects as well as

everything else okay I was just curious um and so uh how does the department currently care for um the gate house right now and what what kind of goes into that I guess I know you mentioned the interior Dam repair and placement which is good cuz I hadn't heard that um you said that was 8 years ago like how often would that like when would that have to be done next sort of thing I

guess yeah so that was uh you know that was part of a uh a loan authorization that was approved by the city council for uh a number of dams so the city owns seven dams throughout the region uh and normal maintenance of those dams uh uh is within our yearly operational budget um this being one of those dams even though it's just the gate house we're talking about here um but uh so we have

you know money within our operational budget for the standard maintenance uh of those facilities Capital Improvements typically need a larger funding source and uh the improvements that went into the pace of this were part of a loan authorization that was approved by city council uh back in 20 uh 2017 I believe M um so that uh excuse me not 2017 2007 which was a number of years ago but that

authorization uh was to improve five of the dams this being one of them so um and the the loans for those uh for that borrow gets paid from the water depit uh operational budget okay um and then this question kind of doubles for both projects but you could probably do one answer now uh so no cost estimates were provided and I understand kind of the reasoning why um so how did the

department kind of come to these figures I was just wondering if it was like an estimate given by the city's contracted House doctor architect or like where did you get these numbers from uh so these were numbers that that were required um you know myself and Mike are looking at it uh I my uh I'm a licensed contractor uh an e within the state of Massachusetts and we regularly do uh construction on these municipal

buildings Paul could you talking yep sorry uh so we regularly do construction on these types of municipal buildings so I pulled together some other projects that we're working on looked at the scope of these and scaled it for this size building um are you pursuing any other grants for I know you do this with a lot of the land Acquisitions are you pursuing any other grants to help fund these types of

projects like any historic preservation grants or anything like that on on this particular project no we don't we don't have any there is uh I believe we had a small match which was coming from uh our operational our the water department operation I think it was like I think it was like the contingency or something um uh so you already answered I guess how often is the that damn maintenance have

to be done um is it like once in a really long time or is it once every so yeah so the overall the dam maintenance that was done and and it's tough so the actual Dam if you think about the dam itself uh as per it's a registered Dam with the state of Massachusetts um this is just the gate house that allows order to move back and forth but the dam is

really 195 and R 6 um that's what's classified as the dam so that whole entire length cuz that's what divides up the North and the South with t a pond uh so we do regular inspections uh we do monthly inspections of the dam inhouse uh since this is a high classified as a high Hazard Dam through uh the office of dam safety every two years we have to have a PE go out and do a full

inspection of the dam and we submit a a uh rep to the office of dam safety on that uh and then Capital Improvements that need to be made um you know come up as needed again the uh The Replacements of the gates within this uh within this um you know would have a life expectancy of 50 plus years okay and then um I don't think there's so in in the event this uh application moves forward and

this project is funded and so forth um I don't believe there's any like exterior lighting on this structure but would that be in consideration if you know it was fully restored so would kind of enhance the public benefit from Nighttime or is that viewed as like somewhat of a distraction on the highway I am one of those people who are concerned of like a trailer going off the highway and ramming into it like cuz

anything can happen so I don't know if that has ever been considered you know if we fund it and then an accident happens or something like that I don't know if there's any road barriers in place down there to prevent that or could you just kind of elaborate on that maybe yeah so so this building is uh behind a god rail except for one section that's just beyond the building that

allows us uh access to the building uh there is no electricity within this building um and there's there's none out to that site or that area accessible if there was anything um but before we made any changes like that I would have to consult with do as it is so close uh in relation to uh to a highway you know again I I look at this building this is you know we're building a beautiful

entrance Gateway everybody comes right leaving the cape coming through full River to be able to see that so um you know to be able to uh illuminate that I think would be nice but again it would have to be a safety concern that would uh that would involve to on on their decision because it's almost like putting a bill board on the side of the highway you know if if we did light it

up so okay and then my last question it's kind of probably the more loaded question um that I'll just throw at you it's question I have gotten a couple times um cuz I know when your you usually put that uh these types of applications help the rate payers of the City by you know um helping fund projects that they don't end up having to pay for somewhat um so how since you

know rates keep going up for the water um how would you describe this as helping rate payers so again so other funding options if we if we didn't get Grant fundings to do this work uh it would be a direct burden onto the water rate pay as you know as you alluded to so uh if we were to do a project like this we would have to either use it from our operational budget which would be

the $250,000 um applied one year from our operational budget uh that would roughly be um give me one second tell you

so that would roughly be uh $1 added on to the rate if we did it within uh no excuse me uh 10 cents added on to the rate if we did it within within a one-year period uh if we bonded it out for uh you know for a 10-year period you'd be talking about a half a cent per year on the water rate sorry one other question is there anything uh is there any amount from the

operating budget now that is kind of put aside for these types of projects even if it's you know not with the intent of fully funding them but at least contributing um in some more substantial way to the total project costs when it comes before like our committee for example so I can tell you within the water operational budget um the uh Capital Improvement portion that we carry for the uh water operational

budget is $250,000 that's what's in fy2 um prior years prior to this uh fy4 was 80,000 uh FY 23 was 100,000 so that's Capital Improvements um that would include anything from uh purchasing a vehicle for the water department uh rep replacing any of our large pumps um you know certain other types of uh operational you know expenses So within our operational budget the capital line item is very

slim for what we're doing and we do that to minimize any of the any of the impact to the rate payers so thank you just to follow up on that presuming you've ear marked that already for other projects this year within the FY 25 buet yes okay got it just have two comments um the first comment I agree with you uh The Narrows Gate House is bit of a Gateway especially when you're driving West on

195 and going north on 24 um I do know that area pretty well I do know that there's a a guard rail there and then basically there's a break in it and there's a small road in front of that it looks to me like there's a lot of vandalism I don't know how the hell anybody gets there but it happens and so one of the things I was I was just

looking at this and I agree I think this is a very uh uh would be a good candidate CU people do see this it's visually seen uh by many in the community and visiting the city um one you know how would you go about U making sure you replicate what's out there right now especially like if you look at the door that's off its hinge and you look at where the windows are uh

or they used to be Windows now they're brick and then also just that city of Fall River sign I know you have one here you have one north of northw Tua Pond um it's one of those things that uh perhaps maybe that could be you know uh brought up to a better aesthetic quality um I understand it has a purpose and a point uh but when you go and do this historical um have you thought about

those aspects of that and um and just how you how would you kind of vision the process of of getting this thing built uh to its historical Glory yeah no without a doubt and that's you know I think us myself and Mike talking about this project um uh kind of came up um a little bit just before the original application uh um for the uh eligibility round came up um and it was really I was

out there with Mike and I was looking at it and we were I was actually out there doing an inspection on the gates and just looking at it with the sign and stuff like that and you know how much it how much more it could be coming into the city to be able to uh let people know you know again uh once we get it back to a a manageable state

um you know on a lot of our other properties uh once we get it and Mike always talks about it once you get it back to a baseline manageable state it makes it that much easier to be able to maintain in the future going forward so I think that's one of the things that this project would help do with this property too bring it back to that Baseline and then it makes it easier for

us to be able to maintain it with our own staff moving forward yeah and and if you don't mind I'll just add something to that because I I think we also recog recogniz the aesthetic of it and he's an engineer I'm a Forester we know we're not artist but I I really think that you know we do try hard we we've had a partnership for example with Roger Williams um and they've got a lot of

great you know architectural uh design uh Studios um in the past we've had a partnership with UMass actually and they designed our bio Reserve logos and also the wupa reservation so like you know coming up with some kind of um you know maybe maybe using some of the artwork we already have or or maybe even you know seeking seeking additional um kind of input from from outside with with more

of an eye toward the Aesthetics um but I think you know first first for us is function and and the gate house is over 100 years old and it's going to go another hundred and and so the the Mechanicals inside are great and they've been redone um we spruce up the outside and then I think the the bow on it would be yeah if we could if we could work you know collaborate with this the city's

you know art artistic you know roots are are really growing I'm I'm sure at some point we're going to have a partnership that may uh be able to address that a little a little finer I got a few one of the questions is already answered I was going to ask about the valve that's got to be manual because there's no electricity you gave it away so uh that's all manually

operated which is good yep and then we so there is a solar panel on the side of the building that powers a battery system because that's actually where we get our uh Pond levels for the North and South with up Pond that read back to our sker system at our water treatment plan which brings me to another Point solar lighting is very inexpensive these days and you could highlight that structure

you're dealing with that question at this point very very well with remote uh solar fixtures at a very minimal cost uh without a doubt so that was the thought it you know again the safety issue would be have to be something we talk to dot about but if we did that would be how we wouldn't light up the surrounding area you light the building so you just tilt the lights down on the building which

which would not affect or be a hazard to any driver at all right uh so those those questions are fine um the other question is if if this project got partially funded would you still complete the project uh if it got partially funded I think we'd look what we'd be able to fit within that scope of of funding that was allowed it um you know so if it was uh if it was working uh you know

stabilizing the roof to a point where we're able to come back in the future and uh readdress it again right now um Capital within our operational budget or other uh authorizations or anything we don't have allocated for for this project so all right the third question would be is there any in-house labor that going to be or can be attributed to this repair so as Mike said a great partner

that we've had uh is Diamond um how they would you know whether they'd be willing to we haven't talked to them specifically about this project but they're always uh and other vocational schools as well you know we've uh we've had uh Bristol AGI they actually rebuilt the transmission on a tractor for us last year uh so we try to uh reach out to any of those uh any of those organizations or any of those schools

that could potentially uh provide US savings uh on on the labor so uh that's one thing that we do you know they've uh they've been great Partners at Mike's facility right across the street from City Hall here at the Fourth Street gate house we just had diamonds electrical students out there rewiring the whole entire Gate House putting a new service in there um at uh at no cost to the city

besides materials so that would be something that would be look to do mhm actually one of the things they did there was install exterior lighting yeah right across the street from City Hall here other questions I so I guess my one concern is it really doesn't give much as far as it just says complete major and minor repairs to the interior and exterior it doesn't give a breakdown

really of what's being done there's no design that shows exactly what you're going to do just says like later in the like timeline for repair schematic design construction design and development I would have liked to have seen what the design is going to look like because it's a historic building and and I have some concerns about what exactly is going to be done to the building and what it's going to look

like yeah and again the tough thing so part part of this funding would go to procure an architect um to be able to do those plans again again so when we go you know it's we don't have anybody in house or on staff to be able to do those schematic plans or schematic designs um we would you know that would be something that we would have to procure out and uh and have somebody to again

put in you know they they do that the initial schematic designs they'd go and they do the full bid documents if we if we were going out to B with this project so uh again our uh our vision is is to what's there pretty much redo what's there so the copper gutters copper roof caps uh and and and sides I believe this has a um you know same material type for

the roof um is what we're doing and then the uh Windows which we' be looking to redo would be the block uh uh a uh you know see-through block so the the one where the big board the wooden board it is that's going to be glass block yeah okay so I thought the city had an architect on staff no they not not I it's a house doctor contract for some departments

yeah cuz I thought he's been here before for other historic projects in the city I think um the city has a house doctor contract but it's not it might not be for their department but I I don't know fully with the water and F Department being an Enterprise sometimes we don't have the same okay I wasn't sure I know they've used I think it's is it Rodney rney Stark Architects

yeah possibly and I I thought that he he was sort of contracted with the city but if you were a different okay with an Enterprise fund we different funding every so appreciate that thank you I would uh I'd suggest that maybe uh we discuss with the historical commission about changing out the windows or what's going to be done there you're going to remove the brick but let's maybe talk

about what would sort of fit uh the building nothing elaborate but something that would fit in there rather than just a glass block yeah no again if we want if you know if I don't know what type of stipulation it's going to be put but once we get an architect on board we could work with the Historical Society the excuse me the historical commission make sure that they uh that they approve

the uh the pl moving forward but Rick wasn't it glass block cuz if you see the one the back it should still be glass block well that's what was there no that's what's there now yeah someone put that in it doesn't necessarily say we have to put it in here you didn't have this type of glass block a 100 years ago this glass block was added who knows maybe when the

building burnt do you have the plans from the original when they rebuilt it after the 1908 fire we don't have original PLS that I've ever seen for this structure we have them for the 1873 P station but no could use the windows in those plan maybe I mean if it's feasible like something yeah again the only thing that you know again we'd be concerned about seeing this is a very remote location

just security that's what I mean by if it's feasible I don't mean like a giant glass window cuz that's never going to fly you're going to have people break it and go in there I mean that's that's why the glass block is stop from breaking the North Main Street Cemetery so out there on the highway constantly get yeah but glass block will catch a stone easily also but there are do it's not

going to be as easy for somebody to break in there with glass block windows yeah there there are methods so we can when you're ready and you get an architect if you could contact the historical commission sit down get some suggestions and go from there yeah I think that's the right Spirit of the project we don't know what we don't know there again this not my specialty but I wouldn't be surprised if there's you

know elements and and materials and techniques that could you know other people would and concessions can be made that are more in style with the architectural nature of the building you know maybe not true uh replic of what was in there originally but you know make some sort of adjustments to to meet everyone's needs yeah without a doubt will to work with you yeah sure okay thank you just one additional question

on a followup here um related to sort of the categorization of the three major fixes the copper gutters the brick the roof could is it possible to sort of separate the 250 you've estimated into each of those buckets just so we can kind of see again I know it's general just I know you're kind of going off of what you think it might look like which is totally fine but is that possible to

kind of categorize the 250 and lay it out a little bit more transparently for each of those fixes again generally speaking Yeah if you would like I can I can do a breakdown based on the on the roof you know and the roof in the sage and stuff in the gun is kind of go one sure and then if we wanted to break out the windows I I could provide a

breakdown of those estimat that would be fantastic great thank you okay Joan any questions no I have no questions okay uh I'll and the suggestion uh guys is not to replace the glass block that's in the back of the building because that's not seen I was just involved in the two that are up in the front that are visible yeah nobody's on a boote on that all right just for the record I

like glass block but yeah uh next uh is the for Waterworks complex repair shed 12 uh repair exterior of the uh criteria 1930s air repair shed number 12 as figed on the form a area submitted to the National Registry of historic places uh 127 1981 this is a historic preservation uh it's on 1620 bford Street for 450,000 so um this project is uh our old uh what we call the uh garage facility

for the water uh maintenance area uh it's directly adjacent to our 1875 water tower um we did use this as a mechanics garage and storage garage um up we constructed our new water maintenance facility across the street at 1620 Bedford Street uh we're now using this as a cold storage building so it's still going to house uh equipment and stuff like that that the water department has

keep it out of the weather uh but it's not going to be heated uh or anything like that moving forward uh the building uh structurally around the building is in um it's in okay condition but it's kind of at that point where the roof is leaking uh and you know as water infiltrates it it definitely uh degrades the uh the building structure uh and stuff like that so uh what we're looking

to do is to replace the the roof it is a rubber roof uh with a gentle slope um from the uh front of the building to the back where the garage doors are uh so replace that and uh redo the uh fascia surrounding the building um and uh we looked initially to try to have Diamond uh work with us on that project because it's a very nice one they wanted to stay

away from the roof just because of Any hazardous materials in relation to Roofing and also the height of the building uh we have had discussions with diamond uh on doing the windows and door work around the building uh so that's how hope that we'll be able to fit it within their schedule uh and that's why some of the cost of these uh of that work uh is is a little bit lower um than

uh if we were to have to go through uh full Mass procur procurement and hire a uh contractor um so um we'd be looking to uh restore the Windows restore the doors uh and then replace the uh garage doors uh around the uh building and then also do some uh brick work and pointing to areas that have been affected by water infiltration I was looking at this and uh uh whereas your other project the 250

might not be as easy to start and finish next year with this project maybe we could break it into two two parts doing the roof securing the roof up with your permission we kind of did that homework for you okay fig this would be get the windows the roof the building secur tight yeah exactly no that that was definitely you know again uh the way that we looked at it the roof and and the facial going

around thank you while he's passing that out question I'm trying to picture where this is on the property like if I'm if I'm looking at the big tower yep where is this building so if you're standing facing the front door of the tower y just to the left of it so the long red brick building so on the right hand side you have the two big water tanks okay on the left hand side is

the so as you drive in bfit street it's just past the tower same side of the road up up on the hill a little bit um so yeah we did break this down and again uh a primary concern would would be the roof and the and the if you're doing the roof you kind of have to do the fa of since since they're all involved in one that would be the primary um to be able

to uh to stabilize the exterior of the building uh then in the subsequent years or subsequent projects we could uh do the doors windows uh and garage doors at that time and that's how we've broken it down kind of as a uh uh as a you know multi-year or um alaka as you would uh style project so uh does the board have questions I have one okay go ahead

um I been there um I just point out to you that I point out to you that you and your esteemed mayor have either asked for or strongly recommended more money than we have that does not include any other Grant applications are you um I will probably ask Mr Dion the same question are you aware of any other funding possibly ARA funding that's not being used or anything like this that might so other funding sources within

the city um not for not for this particular project um some of the other projects that the next two projects will discuss we've actually um you know as we're not ready with those projects uh so those will be pulled from the from the docet um from the commission's docket the uh with this project as far as arpa funds go um there was a deadline of commitment by uh December 31st of uh 24 uh all arpa funds

that were granted to the city have been uh have been committed um and uh you know that was uh a lot of that funding did come to Water and Sewer uh as well as a lot of other departments as well um as always you know us and uh you know we've done it in the past uh we always try to match of funding uh with other grants whenever possible um as it comes

to this particular project it's a tough one cuz it really doesn't um you know it doesn't really fit in any type of particular category um whether it be um you know okay whe whether it would be so I don't think there's another bucket out there that this would fit into at this time um so you know I can tell you the funding you know uh through the Water and Sewer Department we've gotten probably uh

775 million in uh in grant funding and Alternate funding sources over the past six years um which CP CPC has provided us a number of uh those dollars as well so we are always searching for uh other funding saour is just not a bucket for this one Alex uh hi uh just I was wondering if you could detail what kind of assets you I guess currently store or wood store uh

in this garage yeah so currently right now we're storing uh equipment for what we call the green crew uh which is a uh staff of uh three water department uh water department staff members uh they maintain different uh different areas around the city um whether it be storm water assets so the uh rain Garden that goes down Middle Street or the swes and Industrial Park um they also assist with

other projects out in the reservation uh with Mike's reservation crew um so they'd be storing any you know I think inside right now they have their lawn mowers and Equipment uh one of the track is our Flail Mower which is uh the launch mower with the arm that reaches off to the side I believe that stored inside here uh do you know what else they have in there um when you start to

think about all the small stuff we have um uh it's mostly equipment but we also have the traffic the traffic uh cones materials that we'll be using that are seasonal U which is a dozen different kind of mowers and Cutters um uh vehicles uh as as needed and maintenance I think uses at least one of the Bays as well yes and there's I think it's the two bays down the end so we have like

Arrow board signs in there Message Board signs to get them out of the weather when when they're not in use and stuff like that so stuff we really don't need to keep in the heated garage across the street that's been mostly LOD of trucks and stuff like that so this is uh like we said we turn this into a cold storage just to get it out of the weather um and

then just my last question cuz I kind of covered the others in the previous uh application um uh in your applications you mentioned kind of the Su the success of the open houses that you always uh have and I feel like they grow more and more popular each year um and since it's kind of the best way or one of the best ways I feel like your department is able

to you know kind of give back to the community and and offer um them a chance to know see some of the more historic uh structures and stuff that sometimes we fund that they aren't usually privy to um would you consider uh you know maybe running a second tour like two tours a year instead of one since um they're kind of growing maybe unseemly size without a doubt you know

um in this past year we had two great tours we had the one in the spring that that included this property uh that people flocked to and then we had the one uh on inog in uh this past fall which uh uh we estimated over 750 people attended it was it was just a phenomenal day um and we've already actually you know me and Mike just talked about it early today we've already booked the

dates for the spring walk on this facility as well as the other one uh and uh I would I would be more than have you know um I want to try to get to our different assets around the city so I'm already talking um about having an open house even though it's not the most glamorous place but the way water treatment plan um you know that's one of our one of my other assets maybe not as

many people might not come to that one but it is one of our critical pieces of infrastructure but um you know definitely if uh if you know if we wanted to we could definitely uh have more than one and it's something I'd be willing to in interest in talking you know it does take a fair amount of man power uh Staffing to be able to host these uh events um but uh I think it is

a crucial part for outreach to the community for our department thanks that's it for me I just I have um one so I get on the on the other project it's a little easier to to picture what's going to be done as far as historically um but I know as far as in keeping with secretary interior standards which has to be done because it's historic preservation um when the garage doors are

redone who's like when you have an architect it's going to be somebody obviously that understands what Secretary of interior standards are do you do you have any idea of what the doors would look like on that um or maybe anything but white yeah well cuz I'm looking at him and I'm like well that's not really um if you're going for yeah the funding and it's going to have to go to secretary

and I'm looking at that and saying well that's that's definitely not going to yeah no those those are a very commercialized looking type door but um the same type of uh same type of material and stuff now uh and I just put garage doors on one of my garage I looking through all the booklets and stuff like that and you can definitely get some with a be Carriage style still with the steel panel wood graen and

stuff like that in a different color that would definitely be uh match the structure more how that feels with the Department of interior you know that up to the Architects to make sure that that it falls within those guidelines but I think rather than just a straight you know steel front with the over Windows there could be something a little bit different again Paul if you you could

probably uh look and see what the uh Central fire stations using because it had to be modified because it has to be quicker up time but it's going to look historic but couple different changes to it so nice I see what they're doing that way it kind of match I know you don't have to go red but yeah again I I recommend that you stop by the historic commission meeting and and uh introduce

yourself again with your with your architect when you're ready to do these buildings all of these historic properties should come before the board just to get a little bit of input yep so that we're all heading in the right direction and we can maintain the Integrity you know and and the historic nature of these buildings for the city I mean it's people are starting to get involved now with historic uh

replication in the city so you know we maintain that it be good yeah do you know offand if in the um the book that was done for a historic preservation they there must be a section on garage doors I would assume uh uh right yeah well it it it deals with it um because it has commercial buildings in it has no no no nothing on nothing on commercial no very very slight I thought that was

it's a small commercial section I don't remember specifically about garage doors I I don't remember and I was just looking at that today and I I didn't see any doors well there are guidelines preservation guidelines and I mean it's there for anybody to use so that also might be a resource to but we we have some right that we can recommend or or at least discuss when you're getting

with this you know this is very nice but you know a gallon of paint and a brush Brown be one to the front of that building yeah I had the same thought I have extra brown paint if church right any any other questions going Prim Joan any questions no questions okay I think that'll do it you're going to get us some information on the uh Pump House yep the break down for

the pump we're deliberating next next uh Wednesday so if you get that for us 14 that'd be great and thank you for your swag estimate here not a problem thank you gentlemen problem because we don't have the Samson parcel we withdraw the uh FKS know that does everyone know that say it for the public maybe uh the hener parcel acquisition was withdrawn um they might pop up in the future so yeah without a doubt and you

know we thank the commission for taking us uh and looking at him during the eligibility round um naturally uh we just wen at a point right now where we could move forward with those Acquisitions so uh we're still talking to the property owners uh in uh you know good discussions with them but we're just not ready at this time so thank you though for consideration we changed our what we call emergency funding land

acquisition is now considered uh because we realized that land you can't come in in September and plan for it that sometimes it just pops up so that would be available if something comes up good good to know do appreciate that all right uh any new business okay have a good to De guys me too nope no okay can I have a motion to adjourn I'll make a motion okay roll call Michael ferrish yes Alex Silva yes

Chris Benavides yes Christen can oler yes John Brent yes J Yes Rick man yes BJ McDonald yes all right Joan Bentley yes Joanne forget you up there yes