The Committee on Ordinances and Legislation convened on October 15, 2024, with Councilors Hart, Reposo, and Chair Perea present. Councilor Kadeem was running late, and Councilor Samson was absent. The committee approved the minutes from its September 19th meeting. They then addressed two proposed traffic ordinances. The first, concerning new handicap parking spaces on County Street North, Man Street North, Montgomery Street South, and Washington Street West, passed through an emergency preamble and all readings and enrollment unanimously. The second, a miscellaneous traffic ordinance, which included parking prohibitions on Snell Street, a loading zone on Hotwell Street, and the removal of several handicap parking spaces across various streets, passed its first reading unanimously. The primary discussion revolved around a proposed ordinance to designate the Director of the Office of Election Commissioners chairperson as a contract position, which had been tabled on September 9, 2024. City Administrator Seth Aken and Director of Human Resources Nick Molini explained that the current ordinance caps the position's salary at $65,000, while the incumbent, Ryan Lyons, is at $61,000. They noted that counterparts in similarly sized cities like New Bedford and Taunton earn between $95,000 and $105,000 for contract positions. The administration argued that election reform has significantly increased the job's responsibilities, making a contract position necessary for flexibility and retention. Councilor Reposo expressed concerns about potential conflicts of interest and requested a budget impact analysis, while Chair Perea supported the contract designation due to the increased workload and the department's effective changes. Seth Aken estimated a maximum annual budget impact of $40,000. The motion to pass this ordinance for its first reading passed with a 2-1 vote, with Councilors Hart and Perea voting yes and Councilor Reposo voting no. The meeting concluded with a motion to adjourn.
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committee on ordinances and legislation if the cour could call the role coun kadim councel Hart here councel reposo here chair perea here pursuant of the open meeting law any person can make a video or or an audio 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
0:26perceived or UNP perceived by those present and are deemed acknowledged and permissible item number one anyone sign up for citizen input no item number two the minutes of the September 19th meeting motion to approve second it there's a motion to approve in a second all in favor I uh also councelor Samson uh said she couldn't be here today she's away and councelor Kadeem um is running
0:55a little bit late uh hopefully he will show up but we do have a quum for the committee to hold its meeting item number three proposed ordinance traffic handicap it was referred on October the 8th County Street North one 50 feet west of gr G Street man Street North 360 feet west of Plymouth Avenue Montgomery Street South 111 ft east of Robison Street Washington Street West 172 ft south of Columbia
1:27Street we have a motion for emergency Preamble motion for emergency Preamble second second roll call councel kadine councelor Hart yes councel reposal yes councel Samson chair per yes motion to pass through all readings in ordination seconded passor all force all readings and enrollment motion and a second all in favor I item number four proposed ordinance traffic miscellaneous parking
1:59prohibited un certain hours from Snell Street South 41 ft east of DOA Street for a distance of 155 ft easterly Monday through Friday 7 a.m. to 400 p.m. we takeing them all together do you want to take them all together yeah one one ordinance yeah section two loading uh service for passenger Zone this is on Hotwell Street West 265 ft south of Fifth Street for a distance of 47 ft Souther
2:30Monday through Friday 700 a.m. to 400 p.m. section three is handicap parking removals Alden Street West 823 ft north of East Warren Street Cherry Street North 240 ft east of North Main Street Harrison Street West 484 ft north of Alden Street Hunter Street East 127 ft south of Hope Street John Street West 76 ft north of Rodman Street Morton Street West 20 ft south of Brightman Street M Street West of
3:10152 feet north of Cambridge Street Oswell Street North 285 ft west of Stafford Road Pine Street North 57 feet west of Winter Street Pitman Street East 114 ft north of Harrison Street rainy Street North 118 ft east of County Street and Treemont Street West 488 ft north of Bedford Street motion to pass through first reading seconded okay there's a motion and a second all in favor I I item number five proposed
3:45ordinance designation that the board of election Commissioners director of office of election chairperson as a contract position that was tabled on 9924 motion to lift item five from the table M to lift and a second all in favor I on the ordinance anyone have any questions on the ordinance we'll call the admin Administration down if we could
4:23sure just state your name for those who don't know who you are Seth Aken City administrator mck molini Director of Human Resources So currently this position um is in is capped in ordinance um and the uh current uh chairperson of the board of election Commissioners and the director of the elections Department Mr Ryan Lions um is right up against that cap um so that cap I believe is right at 60 65
5:0265,000 I believe right now he's at 61 and change um uh the issue becomes that his counterparts in other cities of the same size uh well there there's two major issues uh other cities of the same size um New Bedford and Taunton are being uh paid uh between 95,000 and 105,000 respectively it is certainly not our intent to try to get into an arms race with other cities that's not the point
5:29but the point point is that um when there are cities that are paying um you know 50% more than what we're paying it becomes hard to uh recruit and retain good people and Mr Lions really does an excellent job uh and has since he took over from the former uh head of the uh Board of election Commissioners perhaps even more important uh I think a lot of people don't realize that since uh election
5:53reform in the last uh 3 to 5 years the number of requirements in am I working doesn't sound like your mic how's this one do you the same thing yeah I will hold off maybe two microphones will do it she's G to check in the back quiet or or we're just not hearing ourselves let's see are we good M check hold on a second yours is off not even on hello is it
6:36better M check one too there we go oh yeah yours is good catch ju just to verify the people at home were able to hear us this entire time okay thank you okay that's good because I don't remember a lot of what I said so basically you said with the you were going into with the reform the Ed reform the early voting the mailing V that's exactly right early voting mail
7:04and voting uh census this year there are so many more requirements uh for somebody in that position so the job itself has um has multiplied significantly uh it has grown uh and so for that reason we are looking to have some flexibility uh by putting this into contract um and not having it cap by ordinance uh in the alternative if the council is not comfortable with with allowing the relative freedom of a
7:30contract um the ordinance itself right now I think is insufficient um at that level uh there's a few um positions listed right now in ordinance that I think are in similarly situated uh but for the purposes of this request I would ask that you take it out of ordinance and allow it to go into contract um just so we can have a little bit of Freedom uh to move on that and do
7:54what we can to retain Mr lions and any future uh chairman of the board of el Commissioners thank you just real quick are the um the other cities that have our size um in those positions are those contract positions as well in in those other cities yes they're contract positions uh and and all of at least the two that I'm I mentioned and then others that are uh similarly situated um have
8:19staff positions that pay right around what we pay our chairman so their clerks are are in the 60s okay thank you do Yi Council reposa so my question is to you Nick is about the actual position itself regardless of the individual my concern is presented the idea that you have the elections commissioner in a contracted position that needs to be approved by the administration and then the council
8:43to me I find that to be a little bit of a conflict so have you vetted that theory at all in the sense that that could present a conflict that the person who would give the contract to the individual would be the mayor essentially and then the people approving them would be the city council all elected positions just thinking out loud I'm not sure the change to contract changes that I mean right now he'd be
9:08recommended by the mayor the mayor would be the appointing authority as a division head he would still come down Fort Council I believe so I'm not sure that going to contract really changes that drastically okay I mean my position right now is I would rather see the ordinance amended versus a contract that's just my position but it the will of the council to determine what they want to do with it so with that I
9:31yield I don't have a problem with it being a contract position because it's still going to come down and be voted on so that's that's a position that I come from uh and I I agree that the salary that uh the election commissioner would have given all the changes made to the election Division and you know the absentee voting that we've had but it seems that we've had a lot more there's
9:56a lot more mailing going on we've had a lot more people in the election office helping out around election time to get things out plus um attorney Akens brought up the fact that it's census and that the election office uh is the one that handles that and then we have the early voting downstairs in City Hall um so again we need all those people and I think some of the things that that um
10:18I've seen the election division do with making it easier for people to vote and changing voting locations to consolidate um a little bit of some of the polling areas and make sure sure that there's adequate parking like the uh the church um up on South Main Street good sheeper church that was a good location plenty of parking St Anthony of the desert was another really good location ample parking um BCC there I
10:44know there was some Kinks there to get rid of but they even have golf carts bringing people back and forth uh which I thought was was a good thing so I think that that department has really done Yan's work considering all the changes that have come to be but Council yeah and just to follow regardless of what happens if it goes to contract or not I guess my concern is how is that
11:05now going to affect that Department's budget because if you're probably looking at a a decent increase I I don't want to throw out a number I'm going say decent increase you're essentially goingon to have to add sure to that budget so we're talking about a budget that's already kind of cash strapped how is that going to play into this you know we're going to shift more resources to
11:25the department head and less than the department itself how is that going to play out so I think the the idea would be that um if there is a significant increase we would probably try to look at that in conjunction with a new fiscal year um there might be some you know we' have to look at the budget and find some small opportunity if they exist uh if there's going to be an increase in you
11:47know from now until you know whatever seven you know months or so till the the ne eight months of the next fiscal year um so you're absolutely right that's you know that requires some planning um you know we're we're past July so we didn't neily plan for it here but I think the increase that you're talking about if you look at it being only half a year you know you're probably you're not
12:09talking about a huge amount of dollars to cover half a year and increase you know whatever percentage I don't I certainly don't think it would be a 50% increase do you have a sense of what that I don't uh those conversations happen between the department head and the mayor um that's something the mayor uh I think works really hard to deal with each department head uh try to understand the needs and the and the
12:32request um and so that's something I don't really get that involved in okay fair enough um do you yield yeah for now I do I yield yeah I don't I don't have much more to say on this I I mean um I'm just curious Seth uh what was the um why wasn't this dealt with prior to to that to before like why hasn't it always been a I'm just surprised it's never been I
13:00know it's in um ordinance but sure it just makes sense to make it a contract position I I you know I kind of agree with Andrew but um I don't think that I'm looking at it like from his perspective clearly but um and I again I don't have a problem uh I'm just curious why this hasn't been taken care of before I think so I mean it's it's kind of a tragic set of circumstances right
13:26so our former chairman of the board of elections passed away sure um at that point her assistant Mr Lian stepped up uh I think you know he was being paid consistent with you know what a nine or 11 maybe uh in asme you know so that's a 40 you know $5,000 position um and at that point there was concern about you know well you know all of the sudden that was right in the midst of
13:53this really crazy arms race between cities and towns of of pay pay has gone up Dr all over the state uh I think in part because it's hard to find people that want to work in government um and so these these salaries in that $100,000 range I think are a new thing um so it was just never really um you know that big of a deal plus um a lot of a lot of
14:17towns didn't even really have a robust elections Department because the need wasn't there like you have an election you know twice a year you know there's no pre voting there's no mailin voting there's no you know our our elections office just prepared and you know with all the tracking and everything goes with it 10,000 ballots that were just sent out last week that will all come back and
14:39then they're going to need to record them I mean it's just it's an unbelievable task before you even get to in person yep it's gotten a lot more busy so that's that's the biggest thing is that the job has gotten so different that I don't think there was a need to address it because this wasn't the state of things and in the last couple years it has been and at the same time we had
14:57a brand new commissioner are coming in under really difficult circumstances uh I think everyone thought he was absolutely up to the job but no one was really sure he turns out he's been that and then some absolutely um and so now the question is how do we make sure we we uh we can keep this guy and compensate him for the kind of work he does no I I agree I I'll make a
15:17motion to pass for first reading there's a motion for first reading there a second second question sure would it be possible again I'm I'm stuck on the budget piece of this too as well would it be possible to get some sort of analysis see what that could possibly impact if we go to a contract in an estimated idea of what that what that budget may look like going forward if we
15:42go to a contract position or actually I'll double down on it regardless if it's contract or not if you then go with an ordinance what are we looking at for an increase in that budget so I mean now now I'm kind of you're asking me to speak for the mayor right I want you to I would like you to come back with up something some additional information I know you can't
16:05answer it now because you don't have that information but would it be possible because obviously if this passes it has to go to the full Council anyway yep so if you get some more information on how that could impact that particular budget that just wouldn't want to ask the mayor to negotiate with somebody and then not have that be what could actually come into which correct I mean I guess if if you if you
16:26deal with the absolute maximum right which is which is not where we're going but the you know and you say you go from 60,000 to 990,000 right or 100,000 whatever there's a $40,000 swing the impact for the rest of this fiscal year would be $20,000 right the impact going forward would be approximately $40,000 a year um at the highest level at the highest level um which frankly I don't
16:52see happening it's just not what we do we're not a wealthy City we don't pay people a ton of money um I would argue that just about every department head and then all the folks that work under them um are working at a little bit of a HomeTown discount um and I appreciate it because they you know pretty much uh to a person do a incredible job uh but it
17:13is the reality of of coming to work in Fall River um you know there's certainly other benefits right incredibly civilized place to work um really good uh work culture in my view um most folks get to go home at 4:00 and be with their families and it's a great place to live and and work and be that said um you know what you're talking about at the absolute highest level is a $40,000
17:35swing that we'd have to find in the budget um you know I don't I don't see that as an insurmountable issue um in large part because you know when we're talking about Collective baring agreements you know when we talk about 1% so whether you so let's imagine in so so every Collective bargain agreement is up this year all right we're going to start bargaining them now all right so
18:04imagining that um I um and Nick and the mayor and the groups you know got together and we said okay it's going to be 2% for asme and 2% across Public Safety whoever's listening that's not what I'm I'm not promising that but just just for the sake of that every 1% you add on to that is about a half a million dollars mhm okay so if it's 3% and 2%
18:31that we just went up a half a million if it's 3% and 3% we just went up a million 4% and 3% was went up 1.5 from that two and two um so when those are the numbers you're talking about I think a you know $220,000 swing over six months $40,000 swing over a year at the absolute Max which is not what it would be um is is very manageable so that's my best pitch
18:56on that okay oh yeah the other thing is once it goes into ordinance it's up to so much you can't pay over this amount but then it seems that with the trend of economy and everything shifting every we just did a whole bunch of positions with increasing them um because they were way out of whack so I think if it's a contract at least it's going to come before is if we
19:23don't agree with that we can vote no um if we think it's something that's uh not manageable I yield thank you thank you so we there's a motion and second on the floor there's a motion to pass the first reading for contract position uh contracts for elections commission first reading do you have any questions I don't you don't do you want to give it a second no I'm good you're good okay
19:50there's a motion I made a second oh I'm sorry I think do I want to take a second no do you to make a second a second okay so there's a motion and a second roll call roll call yes yes no yes motion to adjourn second motion to adjourn a second all in favor I I