The Fall River City Council's Committee on Ordinances & Legislation met on November 1, 2022, addressing several traffic-related ordinances, amendments to the graffiti ordinance, and a salary adjustment for the Director of Emergency Management. The meeting began with citizen input, where Sean Simpson, Principal of Latino Elementary School, expressed support for making Anthony Street a one-way street. The minutes from August 29, 2022, were approved unanimously. Key actions included the unanimous approval of proposed handicap parking ordinances for Bates, Birch, Dwelly, Haverford, Locust, and Bay Streets. A comprehensive set of miscellaneous traffic ordinances, covering left turn restrictions, stop intersections, one-way streets, parking prohibitions, and handicap parking removals, also passed its first reading unanimously. The committee then discussed and unanimously approved amendments to the graffiti ordinance, extending the property owner's response time from 48 hours to two weeks and allowing the city to remove graffiti at the owner's cost, with provisions for cost recovery. Councilors Washington and Dion raised concerns about the impact on residential property owners and the city's ability to address graffiti on state property. Finally, a proposed ordinance to increase the salary of Director Aguiar, Director of the Fall River Emergency Management Agency, from $22,500 to $25,000, retroactive to July 1, was discussed and unanimously approved. Council Dion voiced his opinion that even with the increase, the salary was insufficient given the director's responsibilities and compared it unfavorably to other political appointments. The meeting concluded with all motions passing unanimously.
AI-generated summary. May contain errors. Watch the video to verify.
Council
City Officials
Public Safety
Education
Public / Other
maybe on the ordinance and legislation will now come to ornamental clerk will you call the roll
0:12yeah charity here um before I make the statement so uh Council Dion is running a little bit late she will be joining us and then Council of Liberty is um out sick so it'll be the three of us and then once Michelle gets back who'll be four pursuant to the open meeting law any person may make an audio or video recording of this public meeting or may transmit the meeting through any medium
0:34attendees are therefore advised that such recordings or Transmissions are being made whether perceived or unperceived by those present and are deemed acknowledgeable and permissible first item on the agenda is citizen input are there any citizens wishing to speak seeing now the second item oh I'm sorry yep if you could just uh state your name and address of the record Sean Simpson 323 Anthony Street
1:08River Nets great the principal of the Latino Elementary School which is here on behalf of the internal committee I know one of the ordinances that is up for tonight is uh to make Anthony Street a one-way down to lamp four I just want to thank publicly all the folks that were involved in presenting this and uh as the head of the literal School Community um just want to say that you know we're
1:31all in favor for this thanks for the opportunity great I drive that neighborhood sorry I catch some of that traffic so I I can feel the pain are there any more individuals who'd like to speak seeing that item number two is minutes from August 29th 2022. motion to approve motion approved made by council reposo is our second by Council Washington discussion seeing none all those in favor aye opposed so vote of motion
1:58carries unanimously item number three is proposed ordinances uh traffic handicap parking was referred to the committee on September 13th and October 11th 2022 handicap handicap parking for Bates Street Birch Street dwelly Street Haverford Street Locust Street and Bay Street is there a motion for emergency Preamble motion submit motion motion was made by Council reposal second by Council Washington uh roll call
2:35s them yes councilor Washington yes chair cadine yes is there any discussion do we need down discuss anyone no is there a motion to approve motion so mate second motion made by Council proposal second by Council Washington all those in favor aye opposed so vote in motion carries item number four we've got uh proposed ordinances there's going to be traffic miscellaneous referred uh these items
3:01are referred to the committee on September 3rd I'm sorry September 13th September 27th and then October 11th section one is a left turn prohibited or restricted as certain intersections from Lamport Street to Newark Street two left turn only intersections Anthony Street Westerly Northbound drivers exiting Eternal School Section 3 stop intersection designated that's going to be striking out Anthony Street eastbound
3:32at the intersection of Stafford Road North Farley Street northbounds and intersection of Locust Street section four is the stop intersections designated Newark Street southbound at the intersection of Anthony Street North Varley Street southbound at the intersection of Pine Street section five we have one-way streets designated striking out north Varley Street Northerly from Pine Street to Locust Street
4:00and then we have section six one-way streets designated Anthony Street Westerly from Stafford Road to lampore Street North Raleigh Street southerly from Locust Street to Pine Street section seven we have parking prohibited at all times Lamport Street East Side from the corner of Anthony Street for a distance of 40 feet Northerly we have Lampard Street West Side from the corner of Anthony Street for the
4:31distance of 40 feet Northerly Newark Street East Side from the corner of Anthony Street for a distance of 40 feet Northerly Newark Street West Side from the corner of Anthony Street for a distance of 40 feet normally and then we have section 8 handicap parking removals for Third Street Grove Street and North Main Street any discussion on any of these items seeing none is there a promotion to approve
5:04motion to approve second motion to approve was made for first reading was made by Council proposal second by Council Washington discussion seeing that all those in favor aye opposed so vote of motion carries unanimously item number five is a resolution committee on ordinance and legislation meet to discuss current graffiti ordinance this was referred to the committee on June 14th of 2022 I'll ask
5:34the administration to come down
5:47I'll turn it over to the filer of the resolution counselor raposo thank you madam chairman so we're just here to discuss soon it's the orange um so we're here to discuss the current graffiti ordinance and what we can do to change it a little bit with the pending um arrival of the graffiti machines that we purchased using the personal kind of arpa money City administrator hello hello sir how are you nice to see you so
6:27we we have a set of post changes and they're not they're not massive um Seth I don't know if you want to explain kind of the rationale a little bit behind it because we did work together on this sure so uh thank you for having me um so as you know uh chapter 46 section 15 of the ordinances already has a graffiti ordinance uh in place um Council or uh raposo
6:55took note of the fact that um there are aspects of the ordinance that really just aren't as effective as they could be some things really give a property owner too little time to respond um if the I think the idea being that if we're going to hold a property owner responsible for removing graffiti we should give them adequate time to do that and then also give the city um kind of a an automatic license after
7:24such time has elapsed to be able to take action and use our resources to remove that graffiti if the property owner refuses to do so so the significant additions here are that it's a change in subsection C paragraph I'm sorry subsection D paragraph one gives a private property owner two weeks rather than the original 48 hours to remove graffiti and then the Department of inspectional Services and that could be
7:55building inspector as well as um minimum housing could cite a private property owner for not removing graffiti within two weeks after sufficient notice and in the event that after sufficient notice in the two weeks and monitoring reports of graffiti needing to be removed if it doesn't happen that graffiti can be removed by the city at the cost of the property owner without the city
8:25incurring liability as it stands right now there are certainly a number of privately owned buildings where there is graffiti it would be in the interest of the city to be able to and frankly the interests of the the neighbors and the neighborhoods to be able to remove that graffiti but obviously going on private property without notice and without consent certainly opens the city to to liability
8:51and it amounts to a trespass so this creates an Avenue by which the city can remove graffiti after appropriate notice and opportunity for the property owner to do so and then finally in the final change also subsection deep this time paragraph C um I'm sorry it's actually it's a it's a sub paragraph um that um the the cost of removal should be based on the actual cost of material labor and
9:24other terms which will be charged according to the current collective bargaining agreement so it basically allows us to charge based upon who does the work uh within Community maintenance based upon how they're paid under the collective bargaining agreement so the idea here is that we can recoup our costs hold Pro private property owners accountable for removing graffiti and I think it strengthens the ordinance
9:46considerably thank you any discussion I have a question is this for commercial private owners and residential or both so the ordinance as it stands right now and also with the changes is kind of Silent as to whether or not that's residential or commercial um in terms of the city's right uh to remove graffiti obviously on our own buildings we have not only a right but responsibility to maintain those
10:15buildings and remove those with regard to private property I'm not sure that it really matters whether it's commercial resolution so I guess my only thought is that like so some of the like Residential Properties that get tagged like maybe their garage or something that gets tagged oh I just wonder about the costs associated with that if like what if they can't afford in two weeks
10:33time to remove that you know does the city prepare to how long does it take they'll remove it for them and give them a substantial amount of time to like pay that back or you know not to get fined have to find out to find if someone tagged their property they've owned that property for a long time and it's not their fault but they don't have the mean so I I'm just thinking about that
10:52instead of like you know these big companies that own these big buildings that can afford and pay that right out so I I think the tough part and obviously you know defer I mean it's I'm not the legislative body right I'm just you know we're the administration so in terms of enforcement which would be where it would fall to us um I think that uh you know we're you're really going to see this ordinance come
11:13into play is is buildings in highly visible areas which sort of amounts to commercial buildings likely more than residential um I think in in general there's a lot of areas in the city where um the onus does fall on a residential owner or an owner of a residential property to do certain things and I think the city always tries to work with people okay um you know and I think the best example of that is trash
11:40um you know when folks don't necessarily separate or do whatever it is that we need them to do in order to reduce our contamination and all the things that we need to do to you know we try to work with folks um you know there's warnings there's opportunities to to uh you know to do what needs to be done I think this would be very similar and we can certainly write something in that that
11:58gives some level of Grace to residential um owners I think that's awesome in that you know owned an elderly couple that's owned it for a long time they can't get out there you know just actually I apologize I volunteered that we could make changes again not the legislative body but I'd be I could certainly see uh if this uh body were to want to make a change they would add in uh the
12:21opportunity for uh residential folks to either have more time or uh interesting time I think my thought is like a waiver or something some type of waiver like I you know they're on a fixed income they own this property they can't get out there I I'm just kind of thinking about properties down the Columbia Street area um that have been probably tagged and I just can't afford to take care of it you
12:43know so but then I think that you know that does raise the question of you know what about you know absentee landlords you know where right yeah because like I know you're right it brings it opens up I just think about our little poor little people that you know can't help you know so I'll yields just my thoughts I'll leave yield too Council down yeah I just have one question I know normally we have no
13:04jurisdiction or ability to do anything with state property but what we'd be able to use these feeding machines on overpasses and things like that so um just like you know cleaning uh debris off the side of State Property I mean there's a process we go through to try to get permission to do what we need to do I think this would be very similar um you know if there is uh graffiti on
13:27overpasses and it's you know clearly you know an eyesore to the residents that live there and the state may not even know about it we would go through a process to get permission to remove that and then go forward and do it yeah because yeah obviously not only is it an eyesore but that's the first thing somebody sees when they enter the city not a good way to enter the city right
13:46with that I yield thank you Council proposal yeah just to counselor Washington's point I think the intention of this was to if mainly of the commercial buildings because that's what we normally see I use Pleasant Street as a perfect example you know all down those storefronts um Lafayette Park the little pot there in the in the middle of the field is tagged with everything so I think the idea was to try to
14:09deal with those situations more but I don't disagree with you in the sense of what do we do with a residential property you know we could possibly look at some language or you know either more time or again I think yeah I think the intention and Seth and I talked about this was to try to build a relationship and a collaboration between the property owner of the city because if a property
14:28owner doesn't have the ability to do it other than stop some paint on it the city has the resources to then remedy it but then there'd have to be some sort of agreement of how we pay for that yeah but I think working together is is kind of what we're aiming for for this where if you look at the ordinance as it stands currently you know 48 hours is a very very short period of time
14:48especially if it just happened to you and I think the deputy chief is here as well so in the situation of a person who does it and then is caught that that changes the situation a little bit of you know person tags the building gets arrested for it how is that compensation going to be taking place essentially be the person who did it would have to maybe you can elaborate on that a little
15:12bit more yes I mean I think the island CEO talks about uh the person who did the graffiti being responsible for gaming and I can tell you that I've done several graffiti investigations as a patrolman and the court does all their restitution the property owners I would also say that anecdotally uh and obviously not a guarantee but in most cases will we find graffiti being left is on the commercial buildings generally
15:35residents homeowners um you know they want to go on because it's an eyesore they take care of it so obviously no more cases but I think that might alleviate some concerns and they totally the majority of the lingering graffiti is on absolutely properties and Commercial properties so thank you thank you so the only question I have is just um I guess in section three so I don't know if section B speaks to it um but
16:04not familiar with 139 section 3A but the costs that are going to be if the city is doing the work uh the charges that are going to be charged off to you the uh the commercial owner of the residential loaner is it going to leans if they don't pay for it so it's going to be part of their tax lien theoretically it could I mean really anything an ordinance that creates a financial obligation for the homeowner
16:31could be leaned I think my preference would be to try to work with a homeowner yeah I guess I'm just getting to a point if they refuse to pay after we've gone we've gone out and and if it's especially if we get a commercial property that's got significant graffiti right so I think if you're looking at one tag or if you're looking at a you know the entire side of the building
16:50that could be a lot of Manpower and hours associated with that so yeah there's certainly the opportunity to do that okay because you know as as long as this is an ordinance then then you know it carries with it that that ability is there any other discussion is there a motion on the table motion to approve was made by consecutions second by Council proposal all those in favor aye opposed so vote of motion carries
17:20folks thank you thank you thank you thank you item number six is a proposed ordinance salary schedule for the director of Fall River Emergency Management agency referred on September 27th to is there any discussion um do you want to just quickly speak or uh director aguiar uh who's the director of Emergency Management as we know it was a really exceptional job he does the job that many communities
17:51um pay a full-time person much much more than than we uh pay directory aguiar um and and frankly I think that the volunteer group that he's put together and that he trains and then he maintains the equipment that he gets mostly through grants uh really Stacks up pretty well against pretty much any Community the reason why this increase could not have gone through when we were doing this previously is that his
18:16position and his work falls under an entirely different chapter and so while the positions that were either out of ordinance and that we were trying to to bring either within ordinance or make per contract they all fell within the same section of our ordinances directory director aguiar was was separate I don't think we realized that in times this is a way to correct that and and get him paid um
18:46certainly more than he's getting paid now and probably less than he deserves so um we're just looking to go from 22.5 to 25 000. it's a it's a small jump but at this point we're capped by ordinance uh Council down so what would we need to do to put this on in the under the EMS Department it doesn't seem to me to make sense to have it separate I mean the work they do
19:14um I mean they show up to all the fires all the disasters um somehow it doesn't make sense to me that it falls in the category that it's in so that would be my first question secondly roughly how many hours do you does he work because I mean I get it's uh sometimes this many sometimes that many but it I mean if we could uh because I believe he puts in
19:39more hours and people realize he puts in no doubt about it yep um and I guess what I'm getting at I know of all people on the last one and I don't say it often I don't think this is even enough for what he does and what he's done and and what he's turned this uh Emergency Management agency into um now it's funny that it's would be out of ordinance to increase it uh maybe that's
20:08something that needs to be worked on um so basically those are my first two initial comments sure uh to answer the first question um which I think was uh why is it the way it is part of it is that he doesn't just serve the fire department or just serve EMS you know in a mass casualty or or you know Decon event or something like that he has equipment that he would
20:30use that would support EMS he has other equipment he would use it would support fire obviously the majority of his work is is with fire um part of uh the director's time is also spent within fire uh doing other special services work apart from the EMA so his job and his pay is kind of bifurcated um but the way it's set up I I you know not that this is how it's always been is
20:56ever a good answer but that's why it is what it is and we can certainly look at if there's better ways to to orient um his position in his uh in his team of volunteers as well as his resources we could certainly look at that it's just it's not something we looked at recently yeah um because I mean everybody knows I've been I've been a strong advocate for political appointments and how much
21:22money they make and whether there should be a cap or not be a cap I find it interesting that he falls in a category of a schedule for political appointments and board committees people who have positions that are political appointments don't fall under this um I just kind of have a hard time with that um you know you have and it's not again not the person because I don't care who the person is I
21:53truly don't they come and go with every mayor I don't care who the person is but we have you know people in political position making forty thousand dollars in this man-made is going to make at best 25 000. again I go back to I don't think it's fair it's uh it's not the inequity it just bothers me when I see this kind of thing and with that I'll yield discussion Council proposal just quick question I
22:18know it's dated seven one so it's gonna be retroactive if this goes through yes okay I yield thank you any other discussion seeing that is there a motion motion approved was made by Council Dion second by councilman Bozo all those in favor aye opposed so vote in motion carries unanimously thank you uh seeing no other business before us there ocean adjourn made by Council proposal Washington all those in
22:45favor aye aye opposed so voter motion carries committee on ordinance and legislation is not adjourned