1.9.2024 Fall River City Council

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over hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey

hey come

city council public H will come to order CL will call the RO council is kadine Dion Hart here Kilby here Herrera here Pony here Roso here Samson here president C here pursuant to the open meeting law any person may make an audio or video recording of this public meeting or may transmit this meeting through any medium attendees are therefore advised that such recordings or Transmissions are being made whether

perceived or un perceived by those present and not deemed acknowledged and permissible motion open the public hearing second motion open the public hearing has been made in seconded all in favor I any opposed motion carries item number one Paul amarello 78 Koffman Road Tian Rhode Island doing business as raiseed auto sales for a license to operate an order repair shop at 707 Brighton Avenue on lot f-7 D15 assesses

plan are there any proponents to this public hearing any proponents at all are there any opponents to this public hearing any opponents hearing none we move on to the next one for curb removal Charles and Jennifer Lorn 125 re reff Street for the removal of the curb as follows at 125 Ratcliff Street the existing opening is 16 ft curb to removed to be removed is 11 feet there is no curb to be added the

combined opening proposed after alteration is 27 ft the pel is currently serviced by a 16t curb opening SL driveway the applicant proposes to extend the existing driveway in additional 11 ft the total opening for the location will be 27 ft are there any proponents to this public hearing any proponents you want to come down and state your name and case any address for the record and just don't

know you can just have a seat right here please and speak into the microphone thank you so much it's probably not necessary but it's okay we just bought the house on rat clip Street it's a really skinny street it's hard to pull out we already have parking for three cars so we'd like to not have to curve to get out that's all thanks for coming in thank you thank you congratulations as well are there any other

proponents any proponents are there any opponents seeing none we'll move on to item number three k abdad 975 Plymouth Avenue apartment one for the removal of curbing as follows at 2089 BL Road existing opening is 18 plus or minus unpaved curb to removed is 18 ft curb to be added is 18 ft plus or minus unpaved combined opening proposed after alteration is 18 ft the p is currently serviced by an 18t plus or minus curb

opening SLG gravel driveway the applicant proposes to close the grav that gravel opening and construct two 9 foot paved openings the total opening for the location will be 18 ft are there any proponents to this public hearing any proponents are there any opponents to this public hearing any opponents motion to close the public none I'll a motion to close the public hearing which is

made and seconded all in favor I I any opposed motion carries public hearing is now closed we'll go right into committee on finance

nobody there's no one that's signed up for S time and there's no for finance so do we need to open the meeting just to close the meeting city council committee on finance will come to order cler will call the RO councilor kadim here Dion har here Kilby here Herrera here py hereos here Samson here president C here pursuing to the open meeting law any person may make an audio or video

recording of this public meeting or may transmit this meeting through any medium attendees are therefore advised that such recordings or Transmissions are being made whether perceived or un perceived by those present and not deemed acknowledged and permissible there is no item in finance and there are no there is no one who signed up for ass input second so I'll make a motion to close you you want to

speak counc I have a question counc seat 7 counc the second quot of budget report when do we expect that was that supposed to be this meeting or is that supposed to be in two weeks this meting next meeting is this not the considered the second meeting of the month of January uh not officially councelor okay it was a second and fourth that was a ceremonial that's what I wanted to ask yeah thank you thank you

counc any other questions Mr President that's just just as a point of information seat s Council pon thank you um it's been Tradition at least for my time here a long time ago that the first meeting before the city council after the inauguration would be the quarterly update I did have a conversation yesterday with the city administrator and the mayor and we had that conversation and they also forgot that

the inauguration is a city council meeting the city Charter does say the second meeting in January which essentially would be this meeting so hopefully going forward in January the mayor and the City administrator at least acknowledged to me that next January we'll have that at the second meeting so this is actually the second meeting because the inauguration is the first so correct officially it is the

second meeting but there were no items on the meeting other than to pick the President and Vice yeah no I I I get that I'm not trying to be argumentative here it's just like we have an hour here this this is the second meeting yeah and we have an hour here we're not going to resume till 7 o'clock and it would probably would have an ideal to have that discussion tonight so but it's fine

no problem I yield thank you Mr President yeah listen with a little bit of luck we'll get it for the next meeting the way it's been going so we'll see if it comes to us now I don't understand I'm sorry what it routinely we've been delayed in getting those so we'll we'll push together for the next meeting yeah should been for this meeting I'm sure you will I mean this the charter is pretty clear I'm not

trying to be argumentative back here but I mean making this com my my my comments are the city Charter is clear when we have these quarterly updates it's not up to the administration when they decide that we're going to have it come down when they feel it's necessary I understand okay we share your frustration Council all right thanks we'll make sure that we get it at the next meeting thank you Mr President

thank you anything else a motion to close motion to adjourn Finance has been made in second all in favor I any opposed city council committee Finance nowour regular city council me begin at 7

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over City Cil come to order CL call the council is kadim here Dion Hart here Kilby here Herrera here P here Roso here Samson here president here will everyone in the council chair please rise for more silent prayer at the time please keep uh Michael Dion in your

prayers please remain remain standed for salute to the flag to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all pursu to the open meeting law any person may make an audio or video recording of this public meeting or may transmit this 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 per mam clerk the first item before you is the mayor's request for the appointment of Stephanie MacArthur as Parking Clerk director of traffic motion to confirm second motion to confirm has been made and seconded on the motion Council seat 7 Council vice president py I mean

Council py uh thank you Mr President I just want to take this opportunity to congratulate Stephanie on this appointment um this is a perfect example of an individual who's worked in the city for many years worked in several different departments and has been elevated uh to uh running a department now um and that goes to show that where we have people that are in city government that are working in specific

departments can have the opportunity to to now run their own department and uh I congratulate her I wish her the best in this and I think this is a fine appointment for this position so with thata c c CC C7 CC proposal just a quick question um as far as the position is concerned are they merging the position now that it's parking clerk SL director of traffic and parking are the two

positions being mered that is the title it's always okay so is the position Parking Clerk going to be filled later on or is that not going to happen anymore it's been one of the same oh it's been one of the same okay thank you I don't think the title changed hasn't changed okay I just clarify thank you further questions roll call just I don't know if I said that a motion to adopt hasn't made and second

all in favor vo vo vo sorry on the confirmation council is kadim yes Dion Hart yes Kilby yes herera yes ponti yes Roso yes Samson yes president CRA yes can you come down so people can that congratulations congratulations conratulations

mam clerk item two is the mayor's request for the confirmation of the appointment of Steven long to the Housing Authority motion to confirm second motion the rules for the city administrator to come down I have a question on the appointment second motion of w rules has made and seconded all in favor any opposed motion

carries um Mr aen I I I spoke with the mayor uh this morning um first off before I get into my question to you I I I I think very highly of former councel along who's being appointed by the mayor for this position and most likely going to be in favor of the vote to support him but I just want to go over a couple of quick housekeeping items first off obviously there's no hesitation here or

shyness that the the person up for this appointment is cousins with the mayor so I wanted to just make sure that there's no State ethic issues when it comes to this in terms of State ethic law that you can can elaborate on sure um so I'm sure everyone on the council knows this but just for anyone watching at home uh what you're referring to is is uh Massachusetts uh 268a section 23 in this

case subsection three which is the kinship uh section uh it prohibits a conflict of interest where you have an immediate family member which is a spouse or a child and uh suggests that where you have kinship which is a family member outside of that immediate uh that there needs to be a disclosure to the ethics Commission uh so in this case both uh former counselor long as well as the mayor have

made disclosures to the ethics Commission in addition um uh pursuant to the uh statute um they sought an opinion uh that was given today from the ethics commission regarding whether or not this appointment would be prohibited and um subsection three uh of section 23 does say that an appointment of this kind is not prohibited so long uh as a full written disclosure is made and in this

case it's being made by both sides um so I can say categorically unequivocally uh that the ethics commission is aware um of all of the circumstances surrounding this appointment uh that there is no ethical uh problem with this appointment and that all of the necessary disclosures have been made okay and did you file the um conflict of interest disclosure with the city clerk's office

as well I believe that it's either going to be filed or has been filed just know um the CL clarify that they've both been filed actually I have it right here so it has the stamp on it so it's been filed okay and that was done what today it was done today okay um in terms of um the term of this position now I remember vividly uh under mayor Suter um when he

was here that he appointed an individual to the housing board in the middle of somebody else's term causing there to be somewhat of a staggered term for lack of better terms so if appointed by the council how long is Council a Long's term and if you don't know this I I defer to the city clerk is is is he if approved by the council going to be um finishing up Mrs sahadi's term or is he

have a fresh fiveyear term or four-year term so Mrs sahi's term uh technically expired on July 12th of 2023 therefore um subject to city ordinance there was a six-month period where she was allowed to remain in that position it was not an extension of the term but rather um under the ordinance she was allowed to remain in the position with full voting rights for a period of six months which

would expire this Friday um January 12th of 2024 so my understanding is that the appointment is going to um happen from the end of that six-month additional I don't want to say an extension but but a term of service for a period of 5 years so 5 years from now so is that is that for sure I mean you're you I don't mean to be too critical on my first meeting here but

you said you think so is it a five-year term a four-year term or is it a three-year six-month term do we know for sure I I mean I think it's appropriate for the council to know when his term expires if approved Adam through the president to the clerk for clarification on this it's a fiveyear term it's a fiveyear term the previous appointment has expired he is not filling an unexpired term he's appointed effective

January 4th of 24 he will expire January 4th of 29 got it okay um my only other comment and I appreciate you coming down to clarify it because the perception of conflict of interest is obviously concerning um I I think very highly of of former councel along he was a great counselor I think he's going to make a great addition to the board I just wanted clarification that we're we as a

council are not not going to be involved in any possible conflict of interest disclosure uh or conflict of interest more so the mayor appointing his cousin to the housing board which is fine putting that aside um I also wanted because I got a couple phone calls on this this week um Mrs sahadi Ser uh served about 25 26 years I believe on this housing board uh and she didn't resign she's being a new person's being

appointed correct yes sir okay so the mayor has decided regardless of her term he's replacing Mrs sah whether it's Mr long or it's somebody else she's getting replaced correct I wouldn't agree not to make a fine put a fine point on it but I wouldn't agree to your characterization of regardless of her term her term expired um so this is an expired term um Mr long is being appointed to an open

position okay and that's fine and just so she hasn't resigned because there was some confusion out there Mr President over the last couple of days that Mrs sahadi was resigned from her position but she's getting a a new person is getting possibly appointed to this job and I just want the respect out of somebody and her and I we've had our battles when I was here on the council

for a long long time but I I just want to at least make sure that she has the mutual respect somebody who served on a board for 26 years whether we had political differences or not I think needs to be acknowledged and I'm hoping that there's at least some kind of acknowledgement from the administration and this Council going forward for somebody who is being replaced by another individual but served 26 years

on a body that has had a lot of work to do so I I just want to state that for the record so um I don't have any further questions you've clarified my points but um I yield thank you Mr President thank you coun anyone else C PR can you come up for a minute just set the set we don't thank you I don't think

she's

council president Camara thank you I just want to make my position very clear on this um I I know both individuals very well I served with Council along he's a great guy I I like him a lot I think he's going to do a fine job if he does get the appointment here but I won't be supporting this today because I have too much respect for Mary Sahar and what she's done and what she's

accomplished on as a housing chairperson um she served she was at a meeting yesterday and I believe she was reappointed as the chairperson of the housing board so I think that having her served this community for so long there's no reason I don't see a reason not to um keep her on that board but the mayor has made a decision and he wants to replace her and whether it's Council long or someone else I'm sure he's

probably going to find someone to replace her I just uh don't agree with it I think that too many times we ask people to serve and they serve and they do a good job and then once there's a disagreement with the administration or something just they don't they Clash that person's being ask you know this just no longer needed I don't think it's right I understand how it works and I'm

not saying I you know I I I I get it but I just can't sit here and not support someone that I have an awful lot of faith in trust in and know has done a good job um I just and and wants to stay on uh my understanding is she does want to stay on and she would stay on if she was reappointed so as far as someone

saying she resigned no no no one told me she resigned or I haven't even heard that she resigned and no she didn't so with that being said it's not nothing to do with councelor former councelor long he and I serve together we uh did a great job together and I have tremendous of respect for him I just cannot support this tonight so with that I just want to make it perfectly clear I actually wish

he'd come back as a work in the city in know whole capacity but it's neither for here near there thank you councelor Sam I just want to um make a statement too I don't think I think the what's before us is not Mrs sahade I don't think it's a reflection on how good that she was or how bad that she was she has done a wonderful job to the city but it's not

in our authority to appoint anybody it's our authority to you know up or down the motion if it's not former councelor along and Mr is not going to be put back on that board um so it's going to be someone else so we can kick that can down the road but um it's not in our authority to um you know put people on these boards just to vote what we have

here and so um I just want to say I think Council long would be great I will be supporting this but that's not a reflection on not you know grateful for the wonderful job Mrs sahadi did she's no longer on that board she has not you know her six months ago her term has expired she's been gracious enough to sit there for the past six months but it's not in our authority to appoint

just to approve the position that's come before us so with that I yield council president thank you councelor there being no further questions motion to adopt has been made in secondary I believe roll call roll call on confirmation of the appointment councilor kadim yes councelor Dion councel Hart yes councelor Kilby yes counc Pereira yes councelor pany yes counc reposo yes councilor Samson yes president

no congratulations Mr Steve on if you want

yeah

Madam clerk item three is the mayor's request for the confirmation of the appointment of Gregory brilliant Esquire to the licensing motion to confirm motion to confirm has been made and seconded Council seat one Council kadim thank you just uh in terms of the documentation that we received so we've got all the effective dates and the expirations but for this one um the effect of dat is January 5th 2024 but

the expiration is not available do we is there not an expiration there's not an expiration so they just serve at the will okay thank you I Y thank you councilor motion to us made seconded might as well do a vot call on confirmation of the appointment Council Kim yes Dion har yes Kilby yes Perera yes Pony yes Roso yes Samson yes president yes congratulations conations so we started a

TR CL item item four is the mayor's request for the confirmation of the reappointment of Victor faras as the Veteran's Graves officer motion confirm seconded the Madam clerk has a letter she like to read yeah if you want to vote okay motion has been made and seconded all in favor I any opposed motion carries now you can read this letter so he left a note this afternoon um to the council members I would like

to thank our vsso Michelle Hamilton mayor Paul Coogan and all the members of the council for reappointing me for the FL of a grave and flag officer it is a great honor that I take pride in making sure all the brave men and women that lay to rest here in our great City never be forgotten thank you Victor varas thank

you item five is a request from the mayor in orders accepting grants the first grant in the amount of $25,000 from Bloomberg philanth philanthropies for an Asphalt art initiative motion to adopt second motion to adopt has been made in seconded all in favor on a motion sorry on a motion thank you Mr President on on these or at least this one specifically are these matching grants do we know do

we have to match them or are they just grants to be accepted do we know Mr President it's the the documentation we have from the grant writer says there is no minimum match required no okay thank you thank you C C5 C vice president per yeah I did speak to the grant writer today about this um but one of the things that and I did speak with the mayor that I'm concerned with is you have this

$25,000 Grant uh from Bloomberg philanthropy to do um an asphalt art on uh Broadway um and I just think it it it went to one of our art associations this one went to frack and the person that's going to be doing this is a firm out of Boston we have so many artists in the city you have Viva you have people that did the mural Sue Wilkinson has a great

group of of kids that I was there uh last week and now councelor Samson and I um took a ride by there they had four computers going with three students at every computer looking at they're going to be painting a lobby at the soo building which is the one that's on Globe Street owned by Alan Amaro you know I I just I have questions about this how do we get these grants and why

does one group get it and not the other you know we have either we have Frack we have this other group we have the dentistes we have other op people what do we do to get everybody to work work together you know uh and I think if we have students here and youth here that have the ability to do this kind of work then why are we not promoting our own I

mean um I believe Council Pont just talked about that with the traffic you're promoting somebody who's been there so if we have kids in the city and and adults in the city who are arest why not we promoting their work I I really would like a little bit more information on this before I take a vote on this um and I know it's a grant it's money that we're going to get but I just want to

know how the grant money that we got how it's going to be used and dispersed and dispersed fairly with that a thank you counc counc C4 counc kby yes I would just suggest we we accept the grant um and who's the chairman of the Chone committee the new chairman Council Samson no that's uh I think it's me counc I think so yeah so it's in Council P wheelhouse and I think U we have a

file a resolution we can have an explanation to all of the questions we can have the grant write it down here we can have organizations here but I don't think we should hold up the acceptance of a grant and it's not a matching Grant so no it's not um so I think can get our information through the subcommittee I you thank you counc I agree the council bres up some good points and I think

that's the best way to handle it Council SE six counc party yeah thanks I mean I agree and I have no problem referring it to a committee if you want to do that but I mean it's Financial questions that we have it's grants that we need to accept I mean I I we can sit it can sit in a subcommittee subcommittee can have a meeting then it can get referred back

to the council or we can just refer this whole matter to the committee on finance have all these people come down and have a Frank discussion about where we're at so to my colleagues Point um unless there's a dire need to accept this today it's going to you know do we have do is there a deadline like we don't accept it today that you know we can't get the

money anything like that do we know I I C I'm not sure but I think we the safest bet as Council kby pointed out would be to accept the grant today and then have those have a mean figure out how we got to this point why did we pick someone out of Boston instead of someone locally there might be legitimate reasons for why that happened so just we'll file a resolution he said and we'll just figure

out why it is that we're doing it the way we're doing it um but just I I don't want to jeopardize losing the grant yeah I don't either but Mr President with all due respect the the grant says that we're going to be giving $25,000 to Bloomberg philanthropies it doesn't say we're going to send $25,000 to Frack so is there is there a clarification that we need if we take the 25,000 can we reappropriate that

$25,000 so um we can do what we want but you know I'll defer to my colleagues I yeld thank you Council CD Council Samson so I I maybe I can make a little clar so I think it's the grant is from Bloomberg philanthropies it's they they're the grant Hub that went to frack and then Frack is proposing to put it to a Boston firm so and I do I councelor vice president um Pereira is absolutely right

there's a problem with communication with some of these art programs there's no way around it how you know one firm is getting it and the other is not I mean it's amazing what some of these young kids are doing but I also agree with Council Kelby that we should probably accept them there is probably a deadline with this but with that being said I don't I don't know if we could

put a caveat to that that you know they come down before us once the money is accepted to find out um are the young people going to be able to work on this is it but there is definitely uh a problem thaton there's a disconnect there's a huge disconnect um with some of these op programs that they need to start working together and everybody it needs to be inclusive and it's not at

this point but I don't want to um hold up funding but there is a problem there so with that I yield com thank you counc se s Council propos on yeah I just want to highlight the press release that was released on December 7th that talks about this Grant and what exactly Frack role is in it uh they're P they're the primary responsibility over project management oversight then it highlights

who the professional muralist who's going to be who is Boston based um but the press release kind of lays everything out exactly what this Grant's all about thank you counc counc C3 counc H thank you Mr President um so yeah I agree with what everybody's saying here and I and through to the the president to uh my colleague next to me here on the left did he did was that a

mo did you make the motion yet no suggest okay I mean I I would be in favor of that of that motion if it's made which is to accept to accept to accept the Grant and then and I agree with I agree with yeah I agree with Council aony to rather than have it at at a subcommittee maybe have finance and have everybody come down so we won't accept the grant then no no I accept I

I'd make a motion to what M Mr Kilby U made the motion to accept the grant um and and then may have have the parties come down and whether it's Finance or whether it's Mr pont's subcommittee okay that be the rle of the council I'm fine you y councelor I do thank you councelor C 5 Council PR no my understanding is the city's the one that app applied for the grant and then they

needed somebody to follow it through that's where I get the sticking point if the city followed it through and decided to give it to Frack or any other organiz how is it going to be that that it goes from one organization to another when grants and things like this come in I don't have a problem accepting the money but the problem that I have and it shouldn't be in my oping it at Finance

it's what are the rules that we're going to make around how money goes um so I mean I think it should go to tourism and they can talk about and try to bring these groups together because they are all tourism related and economically development related um I don't think it needs to go to finance Finance is y 25,000 bom we've got the money it's in nothing to do with money anymore but

more to do with how it's going to be dispersed you yield councelor I yield thank you mam cler do we know if there's a timeline or a deadline that we have to accept this today or maybe we could just hold off and just um according to this chart there's just a duration on the grant um to December 24 the year of 2024 Mo away of the rules Mr President I you can um

but I don't think Seth has any information on it he's already he does oh he do I'm sorry I apologize okay can we just let one other Council make a point before you counc C1 council do you have your hand up uh I I did um so I I guess I would let the administrator speak to this but typically when you're writing a grant if you've already got a partnership or an entity that's um

involved that's written in the grant so that's number one so if we're going to accept the grant the Grant's accepted we're not going to change it so I don't know why we' want to call everybody back once we've already accepted so well just to go for my suggestion was to go forward for the next figure why it is disc if we want Folks at the table then I would say and we potentially want to

make changes then I wouldn't accept the grant but I don't know how much changes can be made since it's already been submitted and written specifically that I'm I'm assuming I don't need him to come down but I'm sure he's going to tell us that it was already written to include that partnership in how the funding SCE because you don't write a grant and then unilaterally make decisions on how it's going to be

executed because there are there are Grant requirements that are tied to specific grants as to how it's dispersed who can disperse the funds uh reporting requirements things of that nature so I'm sure all of that has been followed but I just wanted to clarify that so um I'm okay with accepting the grant as submitted to us it's not a it's not a matching Grant um I guess what I would

say is is that if we do have hopp bur though and we want to bring folks down that I I would suggest that we don't approve the grant that that's so that i y That's what I said motion to wave the rules good uh my esteemed colleague answered my question yes there you go that's why we let everybody speak counc C5 coun councilor Kadeem is absolutely right when you write out the grant you

have to have who's going to implement the grant Etc but my question is why does one get picked out to be the the carrier of this Grant and not other people it's not fair so Council to your point as Council Kilby had indicated maybe we should try to draft up a resolution and have them come down whether DET Terence committee or Finance I don't doesn't matter to me have him

come down explain how it is that this is done and find out why there is a disconnect with the audience and how we can get them more involved going forward I think it's overdue yeah all right so what's the motion folks the motion on the table AC grants motion to accept the grant as it made and seconded all in favor I any opposed motion carries C C1 just quickly this is more of a statement

I I I think we stop looking at these grants I think the administration is doing a phenomenal job in the organizations uh that we have the multiple organizations that we have when we start looking at the and the murals and and trying to beautify U the city of FL River I think you've seen the progress I think we need more of that and I just I just want to make sure that

we're not shortsighted about you know what we're doing and and I agree that we want to have that Equity to make sure that all organizations have the opportunity to to be able to have funding um but also I want to make sure that we're still moving forward with the uh beautification and and including the Arts and that diversification throughout the towns and like I said earlier there might be great reasons why this was

chosen It Was Written this way so but I mean it's wouldn't hurt to have the conversation but I do agree the administration is doing a great job with all these type of murals CL item 5c is is a grant in the amount of 1,342 365 from the Massachusetts Executive Office of Public Safety and Security for the municipal Public Safety Staffing initiative motion to adopt motion to adopt second motion to adopt as a made

and seconded all in favor I any opposed motion carries and the third Grant which is item 5c is the amount of 63,9 7325 from the Massachusetts Executive Office of Public Safety and Security for the Charles E Shannon Jr Community safety initiative just point point of information I I think 5c was mentioned for the last one which should have been 5B yeah so just for the record just to clarify it for the minutes I think

everybody understood where we're going motion to adopt motion to adopt 5c has been made and seconded all in favor any opposed motion carries have the request from the mayor and a proposal for Bristol County arpa funding in the amount of $116,000 to the care fund at Bristol Community College to help offset short-term financial needs of Fall River students to adop second to adopt has a

Mee in seconded all in favor I any opposed motion carries have a communication from the mayor and proposal for the Bristol County arpa funding in the amount of $699,500 to purchase police vehicles crime cameras and traffic lights to adopt seconded all in favor I any opposed motion carries item eight is the mayor's communication and proposal for Bristol County Opera funding in the amount of

$38,500 to purchase a passenger van for the office of veteran services motion to adop second motion to adopt has remain second Council proposal you want to make it do you have your hands up or not yeah I had just a question on you like the halfwave you like up in sorry I didn't move fast enough apparently uh just a question on seven if I could um there's a statement at the end about um Ada accessibility

and the intersections in which these these um signals are going to go do we know exactly where those are only reason I asked is past two years I've been working with commission disability about this topic exactly so I'm just curious um if it's something that's been brought up before about areas that we've brought up as a concern are those going to be addressed is there a list of where they're going

yet would be my question I I haven't seen a list but there probably is I'm assuming there would be would it be possible to get a a list or an idea of where they may be going once goes through yep definitely was just here thank you I yield no problem thank you Council we'll get that to you thank you motion has been made and seconded to adopt item eight all in favor I any opposed motion

carries item nine is a communication from the mayor in a deed for 138 Hartwell Street motion to adopt seconded motion to adopt as a made and seconded on a motion cons one cons uh just a question as to why I guess the property is being deed over to us is is that the Harwell School Soviet the former Soviet schol school yes do we know why that's I don't I don't think I think that was heer

yeah is it the the entire property or is it just the I believe it's the entire property because it looks like when so when you put up 187 it looks like the old Sylvia school but then you got the uh old um there's multiple buildings so there is it's the entire my understanding is as it is I'm not positive though but i i y Council C five did you have your hand up yeah I I

believe we're going to get some money in back taxes too okay on that okay according to Mr Thomas I saw him today with a thank you Council Council C6 Council py yeah thanks Mr President I mean this is uh uh indicative of what I mean I think I was on the council when we sold the school to him this is indicative on how municipalities sell real estate it's it's it's it's terrible um we have to

RFP people are buying things for $5,000 or a dollar it's it's crazy to me um I would like to start exploring maybe as an initiative as we go forward RFP real estate brokerages maybe commercial brokerages that specify in these kind of things because I don't want this building and I hear there's other buildings coming down Pike too by the mayor in the next couple of meetings that we're going to just sit on these

things and let these things deteriorate I mean we have we are professionals as a city of holding on to real estate and letting it deteriorate and so uh you know maybe I'll file a resolution at the next meeting to have a discussion on the process I know you know there's there's only so much you can do as a municipality in terms of how you liquidate real estate and whatnot but we're going to be taking this building

back and I don't know if anybody here knows what the plan is going to be when it comes to this building are we going to put an RFP out are we going to be sending bids out are we going to put it up for sale what are we going to do I just don't want it sitting here so um just wanted to point that out I can communicate my thoughts to the city

Administration but I again I don't want to hold on to this for long because it will be a disaster so how you he thank you Mr thank you that's why we have agenc like the Redevelopment Authority that takes build at this and redevelop them and I'm not sure why or what the plan is maybe we'll turn it over to them I'm not sure what the plan is for that maybe we have to receive it first then

turn it over but that's what's in place for buildings like this that just the city has no way of maintaining it and no use for it that's that's why we sold it to begin with um but yeah know a lot of good points we can explore them we can actually maybe send a resolution have the Redevelopment Authority come down and see what their plans are what they think on if they're even interested

sometimes they get to pick and choose what they want and maybe we should just say listen this is what you're getting redevelop it that' be proactive at this point yeah instead of being reactive for once I agree but that's the use of those agencies motion has been made in second it all in favor I any opposed motion carries have a communication from the mayor and proposed ordinance amendments

to section to various Personnel sections of the code regarding Emergency Medical Services and the cooperation Council position refer ordinance second second motion for committee on ORD legislation has been made in seconded all in favor I any opposed motion carries I have a communication from the mayor and proposed ordinance amending the mattress disposal fee motion to refer to ordinance second motion refer

the committee on ORD leg ordinance since and legislation has been made and seconded all in favor I cck item 12 is the mayor's Communication in an order declaring four damaged police vehicles as Surplus property motion to adopt second motion to adopt has a made in second on the motion Council seat five Council vice president per yeah the question I have is in the right up here it says that we're going

to have these four vehicles as Surplus um so and they're authorized to salvage them well if you're going to salvage it maybe if you go out and have an auction and bid on these four vehicles you might have people that are willing to buy them and you know fix them up that way I mean which which is going to give us more money I don't know how much does a

surplus vehicle go for if we go uh to the scrap yard and want to get rid of it are we going to get 100 200 500 I don't know not much more than that is that what we're going to get if you scrap them you're lucky to get I just think let's see where we can get the best I agree thing for a buck you have you you have the auction first then with that

doesn't sell goes to Scrapyard right well when we had those old stoves that were glenwoods or Whatever Manufacturing it on they sold it online for like $300 are you kidding me we could have kept that and had it here in the city so it bothers me when they just get rid of things thinking everything's trash you I tend to hold on to stuff but with that IA thank you CC SE seven C proposal

yeah me I guess to the point of the letter it says that major drivetrain Parts have been salvaged and repurposed so if it's a essentially a body of a car it's not really correct that much so I yield good point councelor there's nothing much to sell no counc C1 counc K uh just more of a general uh question in terms of and I don't know if if the Administration has

an answer to this so just give me the knot if you do or don't so before I make the motion to wave the rules um so typically we we usually do a we'll declare Surplus property for like a large lot and then we once a year right the purchasing agent would go out and then we do bids and people come through I'm just curious are we planning on doing that is this the only you know

declared Surplus that we have and then I guess the second part to it is that the order reads that the purchasing agent uh be the individual do we have an off purchasing agent no no so I I I think I can we we do I can speak to both oh I'm sorry okay yeah motion to wave the rules motion to wave the rules has been made and seconded all in favor any

opposed motion carries come on down

please okay welcome good to be back um so I'm going to take the questions in Reverse at this point we do not have an official appointed purchasing agent uh we do have at least three people in the city right now who are purchasing certified um we have several more in different departments who are going to the training so we can um ensure that the the procurement process is being followed across dep

departments even when those departments are not in Government Center um at this point uh pursuant to the mayor's Authority in the charter he's appointed me to sign as purchasing agent but I only do so in consultation with the folks that are purchasing certified and I will be certified in the next six months so that's the long-winded answer so you're getting State you're getting designated as at the state level so

you're submitting the delegation form and stuff is that for the position okay I I just want to make sure that we didn't have to amend the order since okay uh and then the answer to uh the question of what's going to happen with these vehicles uh these are all uh significantly cannibalized already uh I believe one was the uh as councilor reposo correctly pointed out uh these have been pars cars for a long time uh

three of the Cruisers were in serious accidents or had been subject to serious damage one of them I believe was the uh animal control vehicle uh that is also in a extremely significant state of disrepair I believe part of the appropriation under Bristol County arpa includes a new vehicle for animal control so these while there is value to them the collective value is under $10,000 uh is the estimate that we're

getting but we're certainly going to go through the process and then finally you asked uh are these part of a larger lot that larger lot has been being worked on probably for the better part of the last year fire trucks rescues uh City Vehicles those have been sold at auction as much as they can be uh all the ones that have value have been sold at auction the rest uh we're looking at you

know a couple last Stitch efforts to sell them at auction and then possibly scrap these are very likely going to go that way but they are not part of a bigger lot um and it's because of their condition okay all right um I do have some I guess purchasing agent questions but probably not appropriate for this time so I'll just file a resolution to discuss that in finance great idea thank you you a

coun I do I'm sorry okay Seth I have a question you said someone Soler auction do we have a yearly auction we usually do it once a year the council would get a list of everything on the order on on the chopping block and then we go down to um the incinerator and they'd have a big auction there do we do you say we had an auction or when was the last time

we had an auction so the auctions have been ongoing so we don't do the auction in person anymore it's all online there's municipal auction sites uh where we've been disposing of uh the vehicles at least as they come along we don't piece by piece as they come along yeah okay there was a a significant glut of items that had been declared Surplus that were sitting in the lot behind DCM

um as of two years ago uh one of the first things uh that I remember um hearing about when I came on as City administrator was getting those online for auction and selling them and you feel that's working better than no I haven't checked uh in the last several months uh but every time I did talk to uh the DCM folks and then Tammy mintino when she was year it was uh it was

moving uh the property pretty uh consistently I mean I don't not sure how many people even know about that I don't I know I didn't know about it and but that's all right as long as we're advertising that we're going to be doing and give people advanced notice and where they can go and look at this stuff I think it probably work other than that I think they used to be quite a bit of

turnout in the olden days when everyone would show up once a year to dis disperse of all the objects that were no longer in use did you have a followup question councelor I do CC one you can of just brought up another question that I had through your line of questioning I guess through the city clerk I and I don't know if you recall this so maybe council president you do in the past

have we just given authorization to the administration to declare Surplus yes because I don't I don't think we've had specific line items like this to say that it's five trucks or whatever in the past we would get all the Surplus and we'd have to declare them Surplus and ready to be sent for an auction so we would get like an inventory list yes inventory list estimated values what

they were detail list there was a cting you could go see them prior to the auction um it was people came from all over no I recognize I remember the the auction process but I I wasn't sure if it was just a blanket authorization to either the uh purchasing department to say okay we're giving you authority to declare Surplus property and then go through it with item specific okay each

department was asked yearly what do you want to get rid of whether it's a printer copier a vehicle you name it and it'd be all on a list it'd be dispersed everyone would see it if any other shared with all the other departments somebody needed something it was in working condition they would take it they would use it if it wasn't in working condition it would be so you can't replace it pots no longer

available whatever the case would was and then we would have one auction with fire vehicles and police veh cruises whatever was not um needed anymore and they'd have one auction and I think they did both I think they might have started doing it in person and online at the same time to see what the bid is were but you know people have been asking me about it and I don't I don't think they

do it anymore they just scrap it all out and sometimes in this case as Council proposer pointed out is you couldn't sell them the best use is to scrap it I thank you Council any further questions counc C5 counc they started I think they started to do it online when Co came you might be right and they didn't have that but a lot of the things that were sold on line I don't remember it coming

before us to deem it as Surplus I know never came before as I'm really M CL do you want to weigh in on this as well we've we've received lists from the purchasing agent in the past but we have not had one in I'm gonna call you tomorrow because we never receiv received the list on those stoves I can let you know when the last one was and they were beautiful and in mint

condition and we have stuff you have tops that go on roofs with all brass that's at the Armory you've got all kinds of stuff downstairs you've got about I don't know 200 300 Christmas reats sell those things let people decorate the city with them there's so much stuff that you have there so if you're going to do an auction I think that I prefer to have it like we used to

where people can come can see it it gets put online too because you're going to make more money that way I don't know and I know Tammy tried to do her best but right now there may be a bunch of people doing this but I think it's the collector treasurer's office that are doing working with the purchasing and the clerk that's there and you're going to get your certification in what six months is that

what you said or did I misund understand you so yeah so my my certification will be in six months attorney hum is certified now uh is getting the paperwork but she's gone through the training uh Al ala um Rebecca in uh the treasurer's office assistant treasur um who else I think it might have been one or two short when I mentioned but we we've been training a number of people

in order to to have a a comprehensive purchasing department to do some of the things that weren't getting done before it seems like we just hey if you can do this you're going to do that too you're going to do that kind like have a purchasing agent to be honest with you there is a plan um and uh I think that um on closer inspection there were certain things that weren't happening in

exactly the right way so um this plan is moving towards a much more comprehensive and strict approach to purchasing well we did have a good purchasing agent and the one before that was very good too um so it moves both smoothly hopefully we can get back to that with that I Y thank you g thank you Seth no further questions thank you so much clarifying that so I don't even remember the motion

has been made in seconded did we vote on it all in favor I any opposed motion car M CL it 13 is the traffic commission recommending amendments to the ORD ref to ordinance and legislation motion forther commit legislation has been made and seconded all in favor I any opposed motion carries where as Government Center provides services permits and Vital Records to the people in Fall River in

the surrounding areas and whereas the public does not always know the specific phone numbers or locations of the Departments they need to contact and whereas providing this information is an important Municipal service to Residents business owners and visitors of Fall River now therefore be it resolved that the telephone operative position located at the information desk in the lobby of

government center be maintained within the municipal budget to allow questions about office locations phone numbers and Municipal services within the building to be answered promptly and accurately and be it further resolved that the administration research ways to update the resources for this position going forward is there a motion motion to adopt seconded all in favor I any opposed motion carries CK item 15 is a

citation for Lawrence barola motion to adopt motion to adopt the citation has been made and seconded all in favor I any opposed motion carries the order granting permission to operate an auto repe care shop um on behalf of Paul amarello at 707 Brion Avenue mtion to adopt motion to adopt second all in favor I any opposed motion carries have the order granting permission um for the removal of curbing at 125 Ratcliff

Street for Charles and Jennifer leorn motion to adopt motion to adopt has a made and seconded all in favor I any opposed motion carries have an order granting permission for the removal of curbing at 89 Blossom Road for caros Abad motion to adopt second motion to adopt as seconded all in favor any opposed motion carries have the police chief's report on licenses motion to adopt motion to adopt report

on licenses has been made and seconded all in favor I any opposed motion carries item 20 are applications for the renewal of auto body shop licenses for Paul Paulo carvalo at 402nd Street David saber at 231 bed Street in David Del Rosario at 751 Eastern Avenue motion to adopt motion to adopt has been made and seconded all in favor any opposed motion carries item 21 are applications for the

renewal of auto repair shop licenses for Henry place at 55 Murray Street Joseph Zuko at 456 Rodman Street and Steven nassi at 771 Rod motion to adopt motion to adopt has a made and seconded all in favor I any opposed motion counties item 22 is an application for the transfer of an auto repair shop license at two at excuse me at ad Williams canning Boulevard from John matd Jr to David

Rosenberg motion to adopt adop motion to adopt has I made and seconded all in favor I any opposed motion carries item 23 Council SE five Council sorry the next one okay sorry madam CL city council meeting schedule for 2024 and entertain a motion first motion to motion to adopt is there a second second on the motion Council and seat five Council vient pero just two of them in November and December December is the

24th which is Christmas Eve and November is the Tuesday before Thanksgiving so those two we can change them Council you had a suggestion on changing those I want to present to the council whereas it's in the ch a second to fourth week and then if anyone wanted to make that change we would make it but we obviously weren't going to meet Christmas Eve um and we not going to meet the for

Thanksgiving as well as much as we like each other we're not going to be sharing gifts that's too bad it is well you Santa hat so we have a we can do the second and third or we can do the week after well uh the one is November 26th that's going to be changed so if you did November 5th and 19th and then the third and the 17th you still have two weeks between if that be

the will of the council that was I was going to do a draft one of those but I figured that would work for for me and everyone else I'm sure is that is there a motion to do that to change them to those dates second let's just get it correct we're going to go from November 12th to the 5th yep the 5th and the 19th and the 19th so scratch November 12th and

November 26th and replacing with November 5th and November 19th and and then November thir and 17th in December excuse me November 3rd December December December December 3rd and 17 17 okay is that in form of a motion I'm I'm fine with that make a motion the third and the 17th okay councila made a motion for the exchanges Madam cler you have them correct is there a second on second are there any other conflicts

anybody else so what will the so the appropriate dates would be if you look at November and December we're basically going to move them up a week it'll be the first and the 3 of November which is the 1 uh November 5th and November 19th and then we're going to go to December and make it the first week in December which is the 3D and December 17th which is the first week and the

third week instead of the second week and the fourth week as pres City chter okay motion has been made and there was a second I believe all in favor I any opposed motion carries and if any councelor has any wants to make any changes in the future if something pops up we can always vote on it as well to change it particular day Madam clerk any oppos to that those changes seeing none motion carries Madam

clerk item 24 are claims motion for Corporation councel motion for the Corporation Council has a made in seconded all in favor I any opposed motion carries we have uh ter act providing the fy2 appropriation on file motion accept and placed on file has been made and seconded all in favor I any opposed motion carries item 26 is cooperation council's response to an open meeting more complaint accept on file motion to

accept and place on file has a me and seconded all in favor I any opposed motion carries 27 is another response from Corporation Council uh excuse me assistant Corporation Council um to the an open meeting law complaint filed against the city council motion accept please on file motion accept and place the file has been made and seconded all in favor I any opposed motion carries we

have minutes of the public hearing held on December 12 motion to approve second is there a motion to take 28 through 23r together motion subm motion to take 28 through 30 has been made in second all in favor I I any opposed motion carries motion to approve 28 through 30 as in made in second all in favor I any opposed motion carries M just want to read out the dates and what they were

please have the public hearing held on December 12th committee on finance held on December 12th and the regular meeting on December 12th okay thank you clerk item 31 is a a notice from the Department of Public Utilities um regarding the petition of national grid for approval of a general increase in base distribution rates for electric service motion to accept place on file seconded motion to accept and place on

file has a made and seconded all in favor I any opposed motion carries that's all we have motion to adjourn motion to adjourn has been made and seconded all in favor I any opposed motion carries city council meeting is now adjin good night everyone over hey hey hey heyy hey hey hey hey

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