10.22.2024 City Council - Health And Environment

good afternoon this is the city council committee on health and environmental Affairs will we call to order can the clerk call the role please councelor Dion here uh vice president Perera chair reposa here just a quick note councelor vice president PR is running late she'll be here when she is able to get here pursuant to the open meeting law any person may make an audio video recording of this public meeting

or may transmit the meeting through any medium attendees are therefore advised that such recordings or Transmissions are being made with perceived or unperceived by those present and are deemed acknowledged and permissible first item on the agenda this evening is Citizens input clerk do we have any CI input we do not with that said we will move to item two which is the minutes for the July 15 2024

meeting motion to approve motion to approve is made I will second all in favor I the oppose the eyes have it item number three is a resolution to convene with a represent of the board of Park Commissioners the city administrator and a representative of the for of police department to discuss concerns regarding unauthorized use of public parks which was adopted 108 2024 can I have members from the park

board police department and City Administration come forward please and when you come down if you could identify yourself name and title would be greatly appreciated Sergeant Brandon wixon forward Police Department BJ McDonald chairman of the park board Amber Burns Vice chair of the park board Seth Aken City administrator good afternoon to everyone thank you for being here um so just to get the public

up to speed here um a resolution was filed by myself um regarding a concern that we had in one of our city parks I I'll read the resolution for the public whereas numerous residents of the city of f River have expressed concern regarding unauthorized use of city parks for parties barbecues and other outdoor events to the board of Park Commissioners and whereas though who are those who are using the public parks for

large Gatherings must obtain authorization from the board of Park Commissioners in accordance with Section 5455 of the city code which relates to control of recreational facilities cemeteries trees and shrubs on public ways in accordance to master general laws part one title 7 part chapter 45 subsection 5 which relates to powers and duties of the board of Park Commissioners and whereas individuals

who partake in these events are often consuming alcohol Beverages and public parks in violation of section 469 of the code which relates to consumption of Aloha beverages on public property consumption on private property without permission and whereas Public Safety in these Parks is of the most utmost concern as these unauthorized events result in unsanitary conditions Within These public recreational areas due to

littering and improper disposal of garbage and violation of section 2632 of the code which relates to littering prohibited therefore be it resolved the committee on health environmental affairs convened with a representative of the board of Park commissioners the city administrator and a representative of the for of police department to discuss these concerns regarding unauthorized events being held in public

parks that jeopardize public health and environmental cleanliness and to seek appropriate action to remedy the matter by achieving consistent enforcement of all related city ordinances and Mass general laws with all that said um how this came to be is a conversation took place at one of the park board meetings which I'll let chair McDonald ALU um explain a little bit more and then came

forward to us through a letter from the city residents concerned about what was going on in the public parks which then resulted in this meeting so chair McDonald I'll refer to you um if you want to give us some background on the situation as we stand sure so it came we um received a for a lack of a betterware complaint prior to our October meeting the first time we were made aware of the

situation and it was taking place at pusy Park so it was one isolated Park which is a neighborhood Park parking is difficult down there um and it was in the tennis courts that are not probably in the best shape so they're not being utilized for tennis right now and this group of people has kind of taken it upon themselves to use it for volleyball which is fine if that's a complaint then

we don't really have you know much to um refute if you're just playing volleyball down there but it was not and the complaint that came forward they had pictures they had documentation they had everything where where this particular group of people um they were taking over the neighborhood the parking was they were blocking driveways they were there was alcohol there was tents there was

selling and um according to them it had been happening for a long time and it had been gone unaddressed when it came to the park board we worked with the police department um notified them of what was going on the suggestion with the administration was to lock down that tennis court area because because there are no tennis Nets there and it's not in great shape so we secured that place

that area of the park um spoke with the police department let them know that this particular group of people does not have any permits they do not have any permission from us to have tents to be doing any of this stuff um and apparently there have not been any issues at puski Park since then um and that's kind of where we stand as of now um there the park board did I miss anything

to the officer if you want to add your piece in as far as any calls responses to the issues that were identified certainly so over the summer uh we received reports from the community groups of uh very few far between sort of isolated incidents uh we monitored it over the course of um the month of October it quickly grew out of control um some of the same complaints that he was talking about in response there's an

officer assigned to that neighborhood the Maplewood area uh he went down there uh this group is predominantly Spanish speaking we had a Spanish speaking officer as well came down there advised them of uh we had like a four-page summary um internally of all the the rules regarding the parks and rcks um advised them of that they were very uh understanding they've since moved to Kennedy Park which has proper volleyball

facilities and since then we have not received any complaints from palaski Park um there was one call for some sort of argument when we got there officers didn't find anything so since then it seems have been addressed and we haven't had any further issues okay so I guess my only question here um would be now that it's moved from palaski to Kennedy are we still having issues regarding

selling alcohol consumption blocking of driveways um behavior that wouldn't be necessarily allowed in a public park are we having any of those issues currently we haven't heard we haven't gotten any complaint so my officers did kind of monitor the same issue um it seemed to be quite honest that this group was not aware that that was a violation of anything okay um since then we have not

received or seen any complaints or any of the same behaviors okay excellent Council Dion have either one of you or any of you actually I'm sorry um received any complaints about people sleeping in Kennedy Park I've had numerous phone calls from Neighbors who live in the area no um that they've had people sleeping overnight in the park within the park itself I have not okay so I guess the answer to that is when

they see it call the department absolutely and you'll address the situation yeah that Park's well posted um the people that generally engage in that behavior are well aware and uh we can certainly address that and that's typically when we get complaints too it's kind of like you know we meet once a month so as things are happening by the time it comes to us it's unless it's an ongoing issue like was happening at P

it's we kind of defer them to the police department and you know with this particular case they were super helpful with opening the lines of communication and just saying like this is what's going on this is what's being reported and they had the photos we've shared the photos and you know so um it's it's too late by the time it comes to us for us to actively do anything right right and I'm sure many

times it's been remedied before it gets to you as well all right thank you that's all I have I you City administrator want to add anything to this or nothing to add good did a great job so I I think as of right now it seems like this the problem has been rectified at least for the time being um I would ask the clerk just to reach out to the city resident um from that

neighborhood near peski Park just to check in um and just advise the resident if there's any further issues to let us know and then we'll work with the team here to uh to continue to monitor but other than that I think we've satisfied the resolution as was written I guess the only other thing I would add is just that um when we give out permits we always advise that they have them in

hand so if the police are called you know and they have things that they're not supposed to have the permit would outline exactly what they are permitted to have for their particular event so in the instance or anybody that's listening that has a complaint or you know when the police are called the anybody that's given a permit from the park Department should have it in hand in the park when they're utilizing City

facilities understood so what I'm I'm going to ask if we could just table this table I'll make a motion to table thank you um motion is made to table I'll second it all in favor I un oppose the eyes have it thank you folks appreciate it very much for your time thank

you item number four on today's agenda is a resolution to convene with representatives from the gates of Hope Incorporated and a representative from the city Administration to discuss options to help Gates of Hope Incorporated continue their work for the citizens of the Flint neighborhood adopted 108 2024 G I have a representative from Gates of Hope come down please and attorney aen is already here with

us good evening good evening if you can address your name and address for the record please uh Faith Bon joovy 168 quick aan street thank you so the resolution for this evening was filed by myself and it reads whereas the Deval School building will be transferred back to the city from the Flint neighborhood association whereas Within in the building Gates of Hope Incorporated was serving the local neighborhood with a

food pantry along with clothing and other needs and whereas without this service many in the neighborhood will go without basic needs and whereas the organization is in need of a location to continue this good work now therefore be it resolved that the committee on health and environmental Affairs convene with a representative from Gates of Hope and a representative from the city

Administration discuss options to help this organization continue its work for the citizens of the Flint neighborhood so I file this resolution simply because I've worked in the Flint neighborhood for over a 11 years I was first bornn in the foot neighborhood so I'm very very well aware of the neighborhood that it is I'm very well aware of the citizens that need the help that this

organization provides now I was clear at the last full city council meeting that um the displacing of gates of Hope is in result of the issue with the The Vault School building my concern that I bring forward here today is that you have an organization that is very much needed in this neighborhood um the resources they provide are critical to the people that live in the Flint neighborhood and now

we have a situation where they have nowhere to go with an unsure timeline of when they have to leave the building so to the city administrator I want to go to you first I I recognize the fact that the the building is probably going to be taken back by the city my question is what can we do to help this organization continue to do the work they're doing what options do we have available to us

what can we do so um important to note that um about a year ago um the Mayor Mike Dion some other folks did meet with Gates of Hope um indicated that it was very likely that they would be ultimately displaced from that building um regardless of whether there was a plan um uh you know I'm I'm hearing and this is the first time I've ever heard of this was the last meeting but there's

there's rumor that there was some plan in place for the Flint neighborhood association to sell that building um and I'm telling you that if if the building does go to the city um the uh city is going to put an RFP and sell the building U either way there was going to be displacement of the organization um and so at that time there was a meeting with Gates of Hope to indicate that there would be

displacement to understand what the needs were uh and to let them know that if they found a location they should let the city know and if there was a way that we could help we would um I believe there might have been one further discussion with Mike Dion um I don't know but there there was never uh a second contact with Gates of hope that coming back saying yeah we found

someplace or we look someplace or we're having trouble with this um and you know I don't know you know and not to be callous about it but I you know the city wants to help where it can but I don't know that it's the city's job to you know we have a lot of nonprofits in the city to pursue a group and say you know you know we we met we asked how we could

help we haven't heard anything how can we help right um that's just not that's not the job of the city uh we're glad to help when somebody approaches us and and try to figure out Solutions uh but in this case uh we were not contacted again uh so there has not been any uh additional um uh efforts made on this um I will say that the efforts that the city is already

making you know in aggregate around um you know trying to help groups meet needs and homelessness and opioid crisis and you know all the different things that sort of factor into to different needs in the city uh is pretty robust and we're going to talk about that um I think in the finance committee meeting we have a whole presentation a whole um kind of stack of documents that were put

together with numbers and things like that uh so I don't know that there are more resources existing right now to put toward this because I would suggest the city's already putting a lot of resources towards trying to meet different needs in the city uh and becomes kind of a triage um you know I think it's it would be sort of easy for somebody to say well you know City administrator said they're not going to

help Gates a hope so they don't care about food pantries well there are 15 of those in the city or I think more actually uh there are soup kitchens there are resources there are things that we are investing in and supporting um and you know because one is being displaced that is a very difficult situation no question about it but I don't know that we have resources immediately that we could put towards

that because they're already being put toward other efforts so and I'll I'll turn to miss Bon Joey here for a second other than that conversation from a year prior has there been any other conversations with the city in looking for any sort of guidance or assistance to a relocation no there there was myself and some other um people on our team that did meet with Mike Dion and the mayor and another

lawyer um we were told that there was no resources available no funding available um one of and and he didn't sign up and he's not a resident but one of the people is here tonight that actually did reach out to the mayor's office again and reached out to Mike Dion's office never had a phone call returned or an email return and it wasn't to say that we found anything because we didn't but

it was just to see if there was any followup on the city's end we never had a phone call returned or anything I did not make the call but the gentleman who did is here tonight um we did look a year ago a year and a half ago for places and there's plenty of places if you got the money you know if you got 3500 and up you know yeah that you can

find a place to rent you can even find a building to buy but unfortunately even though we've you know tried to raise money and and reach out to different you know groups and um not necessarily the city for funding but just you know fundraises on our own and and you know local churches and and individuals we raised $155,000 but that doesn't go far today so um that's where we're at we're

still looking we would have left when we heard you know a year and a half Africa we didn't want to drag this out um so I mean that's I wish I had a better update but I don't and I guess my question to to the city administrator if if the building ends up getting taken over by the city my conversations with Miss bonjovi is that the timeline of when they have to leave is unclear that's

true so would reasonable people agree that if the city were to take back the building that a reasonable timeline is given to when she may have to relocate to an alternate place or or is there a reasonable timeline now there's no reasonable timeline now uh because the you know obviously the question is um how long does it take to put together an RFP you know what the what's the deadline for receiving responses to the

RFB proposals um and then what is the timeline that you know a buyer whatever purpose they're going to um uh use for that building and there are going to be some criteria in the RFP for for affordability components and other things so it's likely going to be housing I think there's a need there and having an affordability component in the housing is is is a you know it's a deal

breaker um has to happen um so I would imagine that that Builder uh or developer whoever it is in their proposal is going to identify a timeline at that point we'll have a timeline for uh the start of work so by the time you get there you're already 30 to 45 days in uh by the time we have responses is and the RFP is out maybe even longer um and by the time you know somebody starts

work now you're in the winter um so there's a there's a good chance there's you know there's two to three months at least um before anything really happens there and maybe longer so but that's speculation of course let me ask a more direct question if the city were to take over the building assuming the city council approves the what's on the agenda is that mean an immediate exit of

the organization from the building or then if it's approved a timeline would be given to them to say we need you out by this certain date yeah I mean like it would be inappropriate and probably illegal to evict somebody immediately of course that just doesn't work that way um so yeah we would we would have a conversation about a timeline and uh try to make it work for everybody okay

Council Dion All right so I'd like to point out a few um things first and then I'm going to ask a question so you're right we don't know what's going to happen the vote was going to take place tonight I have no idea how anybody's voting um what anybody's thoughts are from my point of view so I have a copy of the it's referred to as um notice of claim and right of R verta

Clause um which they call it put a cloud on the sale of the building I have a copy of that so this was filed May 30th 2023 correct well over a year ago yes but yet the city took no action that was the action beyond that there no in other words you didn't come to the city council and say we want to take the building back will you vote to take the

property back that's what I mean by no further action yes you filed this yeah so so we we started the legal process um the Flyn neighborhood association got an attorney we negotiated with the attorney um and then ultimately it was voluntarily signed over to the city at which point we brought it to the city council for a vote so there wasn't really anything for the city council to vote on until we actually had the the

building to be accepted which is now yeah right okay insation of no action I just wanted to make sure that that no no I meant no further action Beyond filing this where we are today okay it took this long to get to the table today is that fair to say that is fair to say okay so in terms of rumors it's not rumors uh there is a buyer for this building I have a copy of

the purchase and sales agreement here um and I would like to read if I may portion of a letter that was sent to me by the purchaser um I'm not going to read the whole thing but a 2023 purchaser or a current purchaser no current this purchase and sales agreement was signed uh let's see this was August 14th 2024 there is no purchase for the building it can't be purchased it has to

be subject to an RP I I have never seen a purchase and sale agreement for that building and I'm not aware of any purchaser this paper that was filed at the registry blocks the sale that's correct but there is a purchase and sales agreement um signed by someone from the city why would it have to be signed by somebody for the city you hadn't taken possession back yet but a purchase and sale agreement

oh between the Flint neighborhood association and somebody else correct oh so all so what you're saying is that you the Flint neighborhood association has a buyer for the building I understand yes okay so and then the first that we heard of this action being taken was after it came to light that there was a purchase of the building I'm just putting it chronologically the way I it came to me

and the way I've heard it but you'd agree that that action was taken many months before May 30th 2023 yep and that was signed in August to 2024 correct okay so in this letter it states to date we have successfully purchased the lodge dilapidated buildings at 1270 to 1288 in the 1616 Pleasant Street 1270 12 to 1288 Pleasant Street built in 1891 known historically as the greeny building was purchased on

82923 um the other one purchased on 53124 these properties have been vacant hazards to the neighborhood for many years um and in the case of 1616 significant back taxes were owed those taxes were paid upon sale both of these properties now have committed active and invested ownership as the city has been working on a reev revitalization plan for the Pleasant Street Corridor we did request

and receive a meeting with the city this past spring so that our development plans with the properties work in tandem with what the city envisions as the future of the Flint neighborhood they've completed the architecture props etc etc so now I'm going to jump to uh which brings us to the Deval school this past August Ron and I met with caros Caesar of the Flint neighborhood association and toured the

Deval School while this building is significant in its own right being built in 1892 and added to the National register of historic places in 1983 the proximity to 1270 Pleasant also gives the possibility of additional parking in the event that those future businesses and or residents need it while the association was saddened to H of having to sell the school their biggest and immediate priority was that

the gates of Hope food pantry which operates out of the building would be able to continue to serve the Flint Community we did negotiate the sale of the school purchase and sale dated 81424 with the agreement that the food pantry could continue to run out of this location for one year after purchase with no rental fee to that end our immediate priority would be to install a new roof on the building so that they

have a safe and dry space to operate from we also did give our word that we would work with them over the course of the year to find them a suitable new home our purchase and sale would also honor any current agreements that the association had with neighbors who rent off street parking on a monthly basis on upon upon review of the title for the property it was discovered that the city

did file a notice of claim and right of reverter clause with the registry of deeds May 31st 2023 at that time we did let Mr cesa know that there is a cloud the title we would not be able to close on the school shortly after I did speak briefly with mayor Coogan about Our intention to purchase the school and he did confirm that the city was in the process of

taking it back I did let both Mr Caesar and Mr hugan know that if anything were to change we are absolutely still committed to the purchase so what arises out of this is so the city ultimately wants to take the property back they're there going to be an RFP you're going to sell the building so we have an individual who is already committed to rehabbing this building um they they he's taken on a

significant uh challenge doing the two large buildings in the Flint um they're talking Mark market market rate affordable um businesses on the first floors everything that would help in the neighborhood so I guess my one question is in the event that the city council voted not to take the property back this sale ultimately could go through and did go through that would also give you the

financial backing to find a new home and put you on a a financial footing moving forward that was the understanding I was given yes that I yield here add anything to that unfortunately we have a purch salers agreement in a letter from somebody I have no idea who that is I haven't heard anything about that this is a unfortunately all too common occurrence down here which is you know a gotcha that I could have been

notified of uh just to take a look at it and you know review it with the mayor there's an allegation of a conversation with the mayor that I'm not sure I happened um so I have real concerns about this so I'm not going to respond to it because I've never seen it I don't know that it's a real thing um and uh and I just find it really concerning that we're hearing about it for the very

first time when this has been on the agenda for quite some time so let me let me redirect the question here um as far as a further conversation with Mr Dion about any help that could happen or could take place did a conversation take place PRI after a year ago has any other further conversations taken place with the organization at all I don't know my my sense is that there has not been uh

but Mr DM might be able to tell me different okay I mean I I met with Mr Dion and the mayor this morning and we talked about this we talked about uh the homeless issue um all the the different issues that would implicate him um and the extent of his um knowledge and involvement in this from what I understand is that single meeting after May when we fil the notice understood Council Deion so I

don't think I would call this a Guta moment first time that discussion this building came up was at the last city council meeting and we sent it to finance so we were all well aware that a conversation was going to take place so am I to understand that you have never ever heard of olivea investment Incorporated nope I've never I've never seen that person sale so you don't know that Olive investment Incorporated is

also buying those two large buildings on Pleasant Street they may I'm not involved in that but I've never heard their name associated with anything that I've been involved in and no one in preparation for this meeting is told me anything about them it may very well be something that there are people in the city that know about but I haven't heard a word in ordinarily where this is you know this

is well known to be on the uh agenda for this meeting I I think I would have heard about it but it clearly did not understood so I have no reason to doubt if this individual states that they spoke with the mayor I have no reason to doubt that they didn't so maybe you don't know but the mayor does then well I mean I've talked to the mayor pretty extensively about this

so do you yield Council I yield okay so me again I want to reiterate the fact that I understand that the building is kind of in a loop right now but essentially again my concern continues to be a nonprofit that serves the community that will now be displaced and possibly could not be serving that community so my request to this point is to probably table this for the time being because depending on what happens next

with this Deval School building could then decide what happens with this resolution going forward um and we can't tell the future but we'll have to figure that out when we go but I do want to express to yourself and to the city and to the mayor as well that if there is anything we can do to help support this organization like we would support any other organization that would need help

if the resources are available or at least the guidance is available it would be my request on behalf of those who get served in that neighborhood that we do our best to try to help them out as much as possible that's my simple request I think it's a reasonable one as well so motion to table motion to table has been made I will second all in favor I and the eyes have it thank you very much

to both of you all right with that said item number five is a resolution to convene quarterly to review and discuss water supply and Water Filtration plant it was tabled on 71524 I will entertain a motion to lift from the table motion to lift from the table motion to lift from the table has been made I will second all in favor I any oppos the eyes have it can I have representatives

from the water department here if you could gentlemen good afternoon good evening please introduce yourselves the committee thank you very much Paul furland uh administrator of community utilities for the city of fall rivo excellent Jim Tero president to a water board excellent thank you Mr ter for being here Mr frand as well as always so um last time we discussed at the last um

subcommittee meeting we just had a brief discussion on where we stood with um the water supply we had Mr Jacob Mr uh Pella come down as well um which they provided some excellent presentations and I kudos to to you Mr fand for bringing them down um very well educated and what's going on with the water treatment um so I'll open the floor to you if you have any updates um regarding where we stand for

example with lead lead service removal um situation with the water department anything that should be uh brought to light because again this resolution is meant to quarterly update uh the residents on our water situation so Mr fand to you please yeah no definitely thank you very much uh for having us here tonight um so since you brought it up is one of the things uh that you summarized On Again David peer the

director of treatment and resources was here at the last meeting and Brian Jacob they did an excellent job in front of this committee and they do an excellent job for the Department every day as to uh most of our all of our staff throughout the whole entire division so uh big Thanks goes out to uh all those staff members that uh that are out there every day to provide everybody clean

Safe Drinking Water uh just a brief update on uh lead service program so lead service program uh lead service replacement program is still ongoing uh as of our last quarterly report that we provided to d uh we were at 889 lead Services removed so far to date uh over the two years that we've uh been fully replacing lead Services uh from the main all the way into the meter inside the house uh

at no cost to the homeowner uh We've inspected over 6,000 properties uh to identify their service material type uh one of the uh one of the big Milestones that we just hit as of October uh 15th was uh the implementation of the revised lead in Copper rule uh which was uh probated by EPA adopted by D and went into effect uh two days before that the revised Le and cop rule improved was

probated by EPA uh which uh took out some of the requirements of the revised Leon cop the first revised Leon coper rule um and it has a 2ear probation till it takes effect in uh 2026 so uh some of those will stay in place but some of the Milestones that we need to needed to reach was uh full service inventory submitted to uh D so all of our service lines uh throughout the whole entire

city uh whether it's uh it's a known material or an unknown material we provided all of that uh to uh d uh L service replacement plan which is something that we've been working on and already had in place for a number of years already so that was uh that was an easy one to provide them so those are the things that we needed to provide to them uh for that deadline uh coming up

by not November 15th we're going to be sending out mailers to all of the residents that are either uh possible lead service identified through our records asled service that we haven't been able to contact yet or unknown services that are possibly LED we will be uh providing all of those which is a total of about 7,000 uh service customers uh with a notification notifying them uh that they either have

an unknown service that's possibly Leed or they have a service that by our records is identified as lead um there'll be information in there for them to uh uh look up safety uh precautions that they can take uh also uh um there'll be a link for self-identification for the customer to do it themselves plus then also as always they can call the water department to be able to uh have us come

out or one of our contractors inspect their service material uh to find out whether it's lead or whether we need to potentially uh test pit to see what the material is under the ground so little bit of a long winded there but that's a lead service where we are um you know uh a lot of other things going on in the in the department as always uh on a regular dayto day uh but that's one

of the big things that we uh that we currently still have going on uh one of the things and uh president of the wupa water board is here uh Mr Terio and uh you know he has an extensive background with uh with the water department and uh with our uh reservation area 4,500 Acres on the other side of the North wupa Pond as well as our protected area uh that's

on this uh this side of the North wupa Pond uh so over the past year uh Mr Tero as well as our forest have noticed uh some change in that Forest cover that hasn't only happened in our area but throughout the whole entire region and if you want I can let Mr ter speak a little bit um approximately 20% of our forest in the reservation as Mr furland says approximately 4,500 acres and indom bioreserve

20% of that Upland wood is American Beach the American Beach is under assault from a leaf blight as well as a bark fungi blight the estimates from national forests Comm Al the mass our own expert Michael laasia is we're going to lose 20 % of our Upland wood um many of the states throughout the Appalachian chain um they're making estimates that are pretty scary Vermont for instance is talking

somewhere in the vicinity of losing 30% of their hardwood um this is very similar uh counil Dion may remember uh the Dutch Elm um this city as well as many other cities had well I I mean but um Elms um in the late 50s and 60s we began to lose all of the Elms they by the mid-60s they were gone same thing's going to happen with the beach to that we are looking at which

way to go obviously we want to see something replace them right now black bir is um a real good ch Choice it's it's a tree that goes right through the canopy it likes the sunlight um we're looking at several different things one of them is the American chestnut uh Mr laasia was able to attend the quarterly meeting of the American chestnut tree group um and he and some others are um exchanging Chestnut seed as

you're probably aware Chestnut trees once were very common it was the hardwood of choice throughout the Appalachian chain as well as east of the Appalachian chain um they were mostly decimated by the 1920 they were gone um there is a new blight resistant tree um and blight resistant Chestnut that we're looking at and perhaps where this is just being fleshed out brainstormed if you will we're

looking at the potential of planting our own seedlings getting Chestnut Spore and seedlings and um doing something along those lines if I were to take you on a ride through the fire Lanes um you'd come along and see a very healthy land landscape beautiful landscape and then all of a sudden there'd be nothing and that's what's happening to the beach if you drive around the city and you see

the ornamental Beach the red you'll notice the leaes are cupping we're going to lose all of them how long no more than 10 Years it'll all be gone so um from my end of it out there in the woods a lot that's one of the things that um we're working on right now and with the purchase of the Adera farm and again we're just fleshing this idea out it might be a a wonderful

opportunity to do some Forest re generation especially of chestnuts involves school kids it it we're just tossing some ideas around of that's a great opportunity to use that facility if we plant Chestnut now it would be 35 years before we'd have mature upwood U Upland wood but it it's well worth investigating um right after World War II the water board planted White Pine they planted almost 15,000

White Pine out there and that's why you see that prior to that it was the oak um we lost the Red Oak to hardwood rot White Oaks are quite strong very very strong Acorn crop this year so our deer and our turkeys are very happy but um I did want to um I asked Mr furland um I said I'd really like to bring up the uh the beach because it's it's sad to see

it going um and you know over the last well in my 45 years I I've seen it you know dense far forest and now it's they're trees 24 36 in diameter trees are coming down they're just falling right over it's a sad event however um you know we'll due due diligence um the black Birch is very strong they're coming back uh and we'll do some um Innovative replanting it would be u a

very interesting Legacy for us to leave the future um so that's the story on on that um what are we about three inches below full pond we're in a semi drought I was over copicut the other day it's in beautiful condition um I've done a tremendous job over there uh North Pond is full that's an excellent point to be entering the fall I your environment is in good shape it's good

yeah to to Mr Fillin you know him and I took a tour around the the water um facility on at bford Street we went all the way deep in the woods as well and got that inter that uh experience he also made me do a lot of exercise going all the way up the tower that was a good time um yeah that my legs hurt for three days um but the reality is and I agree

what you're saying and this subcommittee will be supportive of that it's kind of our purview enironmental Affairs so uh as that conversation evolves let us know if there's anything we can do to support Advocate anything yeah we would very much like that and if any of the members of the council would ever like to take a tour of that area um it's it's referred to as a bridal path it come goes from

interlock into Wilson Road um it's a little bumpy but it you can get a really good idea of the health of your Watershed as long as Mr furland drives that's fine perfect for me excellent so one thing I just want to make clear so people don't go the blo does not affect the drinking water there is no effect to the drinking water it does not no I'm sorry if I yeah

I just want to make sure it wasn't implied but somebody could imply that so I just wanted to make sure that's clear you know and this just goes to show one of the many things that we do everybody thinks that you know they turn on their foret the water comes out but this is one of the many things that the water department Su Department Community utilities that we have to do and deal

with on a daily basis to be able to continue to to provide uh Clean safe drinking water to everybody um so just uh um one other thing that I wanted to mention I want to provide these to the counselors uh this weekend on Saturday we're doing a if you want to give them to all the counselors later on as well uh we're doing a uh tour out on Inogen we're opening up the Inogen area uh so

where the old ice house is uh as well as all the way up to the uh Colonel Jefferson board in M excuse me Colonel Spencer board in uh mansion out at the end of into Lin um the entrance will be off of uh Meridian Street right across from Hannah Street uh into the back gate of the uh Water Department property over in that area uh we'll have parking there and then uh overflow parking will be on

Meridian Street and old Meridian Street so um if anybody wants to come out it'll be 10 to 1 uh they'll be able to walk all the way in uh we'll have a couple of different uh historians with the displays set up to talk about the ice house to talk about the mansion and things like that for the public to do the foliage out there is perfect at this time so beautiful right excellent

Council Dan do you have anything I'm set okay I just have a few followup questions for you Mr furland again more or less to the last um quarterly update we had about the water department at the last meeting the discussion took place regarding the building at the watering Department which is was for storage of I believe it was a side building off to the side it was concerns about the roof

and the overall quality of that building we have any update on the plans for that at all yeah so that's the old garage uh which is over next to the 1875 Tower uh so we do have a CPC uh application submitted for uh work on that building I believe we submitted for about $250,000 to redo the roof uh we're going to work with diamond to do Sage doors uh windows and things like that to uh to

have the uh Vocational School restore all that uh that did make it through the eligibility round within CPC and we are preparing the final application to submit excellent uh second was the conversation about a new roof at the water treatment plant yes and you and I had discussed this as well so where does that stand sorry yeah so uh again that is something that is on our list to do uh the

expectations which the cost done that roof is that will be coming uh to the administration and the council for a uh for an authorization for a loan for that so I expect that within uh probably within the next couple of months okay um last time we spoke regarding open positions you stated there were about six what do we stand with that currently yeah so uh currently we've uh reduced

now to uh five overall throughout uh all uh divisions uh except Community utilities we still have one open project manager position as well so um within the water department though we have one open position uh at treatment uh Watchman attendance position second shift which will be just getting out to adverti first shift left second shift uh staff member transferred to first shift and we'll be advertising the second

shift coming up and we do still have a couple of open positions within the uh water maintenance division okay and then lastly um you mentioned the last meeting the goal uh for lead service inspections is 10,000 inspection um now I wasn't sure if that was in the fiscal year or in the physical year into December um you mentioned you're about 6,000 in so is there anything that is presenting a challenge for you to get to

that goal that you're anticipating to hit so the requirement for lead service replacement is 1,000 by the end of the calendar year okay uh at our quarterly report that was due um that we uh submitted starting uh October um up to the beginning of October we're at 8800 89 we're currently on track to be able to meet that, by the end of the calendar year uh for the requirement of our ACO

um the inspections again uh we've done over 6,000 of them we probably have 7,000 uh unknowns left to be able to inspect um but the uh those inspections are um returning probably about a 10% uh 10% of the services are actually LED um so the concern that we have right now is uh for next calendar year being able to find enough lead services to uh meet the required Replacements um but uh we are

going to push on uh we currently have a contractor that's doing inspections we expect to be able to put out another inspection only contract here in the near future to get a group of uh lead services to to another lead service replacement contract so again one thing that hinders us with being able to do that uh is people not returning our calls again we have uh staff that are calling after hours uh we go to public

events we went to the feast uh the uh feast in Kennedy Park the Feast of the Holy Ghost we had a table set up there with our staff uh to talk to people to try to uh get information or schedule appointments to come out to inspect their homes uh at this event that we're holding this weekend we'll have a table set up uh for any residents to come over find out if we know the material of

their service if they'll be able to uh they'll be able to schedule appointment um you know we just uh we just uh finalized an agreement with uh EPA through the galow initiative get the let out uh which is a uh a grant it's a technical assistance grant they call it so they don't provide us money they provide us uh a contractor to be able to assist us uh with door knocking and education of the public and

things like that so that will be rolling out within the next couple of months as well excellent Council di anything else all right I'll entertain I'll entertain a motion to table this I know it's rare but yeah I would make a motion to table motion made to table seconded by myself all in favor I the eyes have it thank you gentlemen appreciate itk you have a good night you too so item number six is

a resolution to discuss strategies to discre decrease Solid Waste and Recycling costs however we were notified after the agenda was produced that um the invitees were not would not be able to attend tonight's meeting so at this time I'm just going to remain leave that tabled and we will discuss it at a future meeting so at this point we have nothing else on our agenda motion to adjourn is made I will second all in

favor I the eyes have it the committee on health and environmental Affairs is now adjourned