The Fall River City Council meeting on December 12, 2023, began with a public hearing regarding National Grid's proposal to install a new pole on Penn Street to service Gold Medal Bakery, which was approved. The Finance Committee then discussed an amended loan order for the Robert Madas Resiliency Preparatory Academy renovation project, which was referred to the full Council. A significant discussion revolved around the transfer of $2,500,000 from the stabilization fund to cover firefighters' salaries, which, combined with ARPA funds and budgeted raises, would fully fund their contract. This transfer was also referred to the full Council and later adopted with a 9-0 vote on the Memorandum of Agreement and a unanimous vote for the transfer. A substantial portion of the meeting was dedicated to heartfelt farewells and recognitions. Councilor Pamela La Liberty was honored for her eight years of service, and Inez Lee was recognized for becoming a Certified Municipal Clerk. The longest-serving elected official, Councilor Leo Peler, received multiple citations and gifts for his 36+ years of dedication, delivering a lengthy and personal farewell speech reflecting on his career and city projects. Citizen input included concerns about proposed changes to voting places, particularly for seniors at George Cotell Apartments. In other business, the Council referred an order concerning election dates and polling place changes to the Board of Election Commissioners for recommendation due to transparency concerns. A resolution to expand ADA-accessible transportation by amending taxi license ordinances was referred to the Committee on Ordinances and Legislation. The Council also approved various license renewals for auto body and repair shops, drain layers, and adopted the Police Chief's report. Two open meeting law complaints were referred to Corporation Council. The $8,101,636 loan order for the Robert Madas Resiliency Preparatory Academy renovation project was ultimately adopted.
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5:18city council public he will come to order clerk will call the RO councelor kadim here Dion here Kilby here La Liberty here P here perrera here proposal here Washington here president 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 to any medium attendees are therefore advised that such recordings or Transmissions are
5:44being made whether perceived or unperceived by those present and not deemed acknowledged and permissible motion open the public hearing second motion over public hearing has been made in seconded all in favor any oppos motion carries item number number one Massachusetts electric company doing business as national grid for one solely owned pole locating as follows on pen Street install one solely owned pole on
6:10Penn Street National Grid is proposing to install one new 45 foot pole 45 foot solely owned pole approximately 15 feet east of the existing pole 24 on Penn Street this pole will allow National Grid to extend a three-phase overhead conductor from poll 24 to proposed poll 4-1 to allow for the installation of the pole mounted three-phase Transformer Bank this Transformer bank will feed a
6:36new service for gold medal Bakery in the trailer parking lot at 1397 Bay Street in accordance with plan number 3086 1726 are there any proponents to this proposal any proponents at all you want to come down and just state your name and address for the record and my name is Rebecca Marx I'm from The Hope Dale National Grid office I'm here to represent National Grid pretty straightforward um gold M uh gold
7:13medal Bakery is in need of a new service for their trailer park uh we need to install a new pole with three-phase Transformer Bank on it um that's pretty much it than you thank you thank you are there any opponents to this public hearing any opponents at all seeing none the public hearing motion has been made in seconded all in favor any opposed public hearing is now
7:51closed city council committee on finance will please come to order the clerk will call the RO Council kadim here Dion here Kilby here here Liberty here peler Pereira here propo here Washington here president here pursuing to the open meeting law any person may make an audio or video recording of This Finance meeting or may transmit this meeting through any medium attendees are therefore advised that such recordings
8:17or Transmissions are being made whether perceived or unperceived by those present and now deemed acknowledged and permissible we have number of students who have signed up one is actually GNA speak before and one will speak after Finance first we have Cliff Ponte um sure okay all right so they'll both speak after Finance item number two in finance amended law order regard for School
8:48departments proposed to the massachusett school building authority for the Robert madas resiliency Preparatory Academy renovation project referred on 11 28 2023 we'll have a discussion want to come down
9:28please just state your name address for the record and then Seth aen City administrator Bridget Alman uh director of financial services counc C6 CC vice president per um this is on item number two correct so explain what happened what was missing on the original um authorization uh was to seek uh mofa approv approval so the only thing that's changing is there was additional language that we needed to add in order
10:04to get mob approval which would allow us which allows the city to then borrow at the state's um like borrowing which gives us a lower interest rate so because that's a newer language that had to get added in order to go for that inob approval we needed to add this language so that's strictly the only thing that's changing on that's the only thing that's the only thing but we legally needed approval okay with that I
10:29thank you Council Council seat number one did you have your hand up Council kadem no it's I got the question answered thank you Mo full councel motion refer to F Council for action oh that any other questions motion for has been made is there a second second all in favor I any opposed no motion carries get it once item number three is in transfer appropriation in accordance with the provisions of
11:02chapter 44 section 32 of the Massachusetts general laws I recommend the follow appropriation to your honorable body that the sum of 2,500,000 be and the same is hereby transferred to the fire salaries from the stabilization fund full Council second we're just going to hold hold a discussion if you have any but it's already there's no need to refer it's in full Council I didn't think anyone had
11:29that's fine Council motion has second on the motion counc C2 Council Dion yes so this $2.5 million transfer will fully fund the contract no so the 2 and half million is transfering from stabilization we had reserved five I think that's about 522,000 of arpa for retro so we're utilizing that money and with the vacancies and the 6% raise that was already budgeted we feel that this will
11:54it's it'll cover the contract so 500,000 I thought when I read the jlmc um paperwork that you stated that the city had put aside 800,000 the 830 no the 830,000 the city had put aside 500,000 for the firefighters it was about so I don't know where that's I'd have to look and see where that says that yeah that was in the uh paperwork we got from the jlmc so on page 20 it says um funding in
12:31free cash that's that's actually an error on page 20 that 830,000 is free cash that was certified to use to help towards pay the diamond interest and the arpa money there's an error because it's 4 and a half million that was budgeted not 4.3 okay but that I yield thank you just curious when did you notice that there was an error in there I just noticed that tonight I apologize and if it didn't come up we
13:01weren't going to know I mean we should have been told that before the meeting when you knew it that there was an error and these numbers just need to change I understand you just know just did tonight but Bridget did you know before tonight well this was this isn't based on cost of the contract this is just on page 20 is stated numbers out of the right directly out of the budget
13:20yeah no my question is when did you know it was an errow did you pick up this error who who found the error I mean I picked up the error when I was reading this tonight again all right just like it if councils know of such mistakes before we sit down and someone has to ask a question about the numbers and we find out that the numbers that were being given is not accurate
13:41it's just just something that we should be told that what the real numbers are CC six CC PR so in other words if we don't approve um the 2.5 out of stabilization then the five frus contract is not fully funded it's fully it's funded with whatever money you got from Opa Etc but so you can't approve one without approving the other they both have to be approved at the same time am I
14:09correct I'm not sure how to answer that question so first of all obviously we we do support the award uh we support the arbitrator award um unconditionally if the council votes not to fund the 2.5 uh it would essentially return to the bargaining table uh but without the 2.5 appropriation we could not fund the arbitration award that's correct but I've been here a while Mr Akin and when Administration and unions
14:39can't come to an agreement and it goes to arbitration we always go with the arbitrators award I mean that's what you sign up for if we can't come with a decision you know we can't negotiate it it's going to go to an arbitrator and the first thing the arbitrator does is look at the city's ability to pay so obviously they had to think that the city had the ability to pay but if we
15:01don't vote for the 2.5 you're saying then we go back to negotiation is that what you're saying yes okay thank you yeld councel that I yield thank you Council C1 Council K thank you so the I mean the role of the legislative body is to provide an appropriation right for the contract so that's what what we're doing but I think the initial question that was asked was this isn't the total funding for the
15:27contract we're just looking for retro in I guess year two of the contract is that what we're looking at soent year three pools of money so there's the money that was budgeted that's already in the budget uh that essentially guessed uh at what the increase would be there is the money that was set aside for retro uh out of arpa money uh and then there is this um pool of money that we're asking the
15:50council to vote on tonight which is the 2.5 million those three things together will fully fund the arbitrators award oh I'm sorry right so fiscal year 22 23 24 so the typically when we get a contract before us it's usually the first year that we're looking to appropriate for for the collect bargain agreements so the total amount is 3.5 million so you're saying two and a half coming from
16:13stabilization account and then you've got the other money's budgeted is that what's being said there is some money already in the budget uh and then there's the Retro that was that was ARA money how does this line up with the police department I know we're asking for updated numbers I'm just I'm just curious because these numbers tend to look a little higher than what we were presented with the police so you know
16:34fiscal year 22 for the fire 62,000 uh just under 1.3 in FY 23 and then 1.6 in 24 and just looking at the Police contract that you had given us for the initial appropriation we were looking at 1.9 million total for police with those numbers accurate that you gave us or yeah and actually those numbers are looking that they're coming in um that looks like it's higher because we've had some people leaving
17:07and leaving at a higher step and hiring younger step plus we have a still significant there's I think 24 vacancies in the police department and Patrol so given the conditions that were in place at the time we provided that uh Financial impact statement those numbers are correct given uh some unforeseen circumstances with people some retirements and some folks leaving or not completing the academy uh at this
17:32point the then it's coming in a little bit a little bit different than what we projected that doesn't that doesn't make sense to me um so whether people are making the I guess passing the academy or retiring that those numbers don't change right so we budget for amount of employees yeah we budget actuals the actual I I thought you had asked for the actual cost the actual expense well I I
17:55I was looking for the actual cost in terms of what it was was but including the vacancies okay including then I can include the vacancies okay um so I'm going to be supporting the uh the jlmc award that that came down I think the you know the firefighters deserve it and quite frankly I think the the arbitration award is going to be based on the Police contract itself anyway so I think that's what the arbitrator is
18:17going to be looking at in terms of an affordability and and all that other stuff so I've got no issue with this and and I'll be supporting it in full council with that I thank you Council Council C3 Council kobby yes um Echo the same comments as Council and C1 I'll definitely be be uh supporting the U this contract even though it's it's some onetime money we're using but it is
18:37an arbitrator award I think um even going into this process I realize that if one public sa safety entity like the police and another public sa safety entity like the fire department which is invaluable to both invaluable to the city there's going to be a very similar a similar award so um thoroughly read through the the arbitrator's decision I think we have an an obligation um we would see a unfair
19:10Labor practice if I think if we we did not support this so not only do I support it um in my heart um hopefully the fundability is going to be there moving on and it it speaks to um of course we get a piece of one time money here but it it speaks to me to the question of uh the bank jet Armory and there other things uh that are before us
19:36that are going to cost onetime money so um I think you know over the next couple of years I think I'll yeah I will be sitting here along with many others um there's definitely probably going to be some hard decisions to make um but for me this is um a vote that would all conscience I think the rank and file at a fire apartment deserve it um and I could see City administrator's uh
20:02passion for this I think um I think we both agree it's not safe to use one time money um when it comes to Collective BG it's a reoccurring expense expense um so I think there's going to be some planning strategies going forward for the city and this Council so mayel you want to reply to that mistak no thank you you support the I you thank you thank you councilor any further comments or questions refer to full
20:31Council second refer to full Council it's already there made second all in favor I any opposed motion carries due to the fact that a number of two individuals want to speak when Council p is here we are not going to Joint Finance we're just going to take a recess and we re reconvene at let's say 10 of seven make sense so okay City counc Community finance will reconvene we have two individuals who
21:07have signed up a citizen's input time first we have Cliff Pony subject matter Council Leo P I'm G to try to keep it to three minutes I don't want to get councilor Kadeem upset Mr President Madame vice president members of the city council today marks an emotional moment as we come together to say goodbye to a figure in our community the Beloved City councelor Leo peler Leo peler has been an essential
21:41part of our Council for an impressive 36 years a duration surpassing a lifespan on Mo most smartphones one might also Envision Leo still having that flip phone I so got it they say wisdom grows with age and after navigating the complexities of council debates and City matters for 36 years it's fair to say Leo did give Yoda a run for his money Leo your impact has been as enduring as the Strategic
22:15maneuvering observed in the series of the West wingk however unlike the Intrigue depicted in that show your dedication and genuine care for our community remained unwavering showcasing an honor hble essence of your political involvement your humor Leo has been the secret ingredient in our Council meetings your witty remarks has transformed tense deliberations into moments of laughter if there was an
22:43award for turning a mundane city council meeting into a comedy show you'd win that award on a deeper level your unwavering loyalty to our city your tireless commitment to progress progress and your dedication have made a lasting impact on this community I remember vividly my early days running for city council president visiting your home your loyalty and your support met no bounds
23:13you were a true man of your word as you bid farewell to this Council Leo your absence will be deeply felt but take silence in knowing that your stories and your wisdom will reverberate in these Chambers for years to come perhaps will even honor your Legacy by naming a street after you and who could forget Leo's iconic iconic van a symbol in our city Leo's van proudly displaying his name on one
23:41side and Deb's on the other side seems to have transported enough Chowan sandwiches to feed a small army in the last 36 years your tenure has been so extensive that I'm certain these very seats that you're all sitting in tonight were were new 36 years ago your approach your jokes your style was a seasoning that added flare to even the dullest discussions without your humor a meetings might have rised turn rised
24:11risked turning into a collective snoozefest in the midst of your laughter Leo you have been a passionate advocate for Progress your Visionary leadership and unweaving commitment have shaped policies that have significantly improved countless lives in our city many folks don't know your health concerns over the past few years but you've kept at it you showed up for as many meetings as you can and you still
24:36did the job to the best of your ability as we bid farewell to you today a mix of sorrow and gratitude fills the air your dedication your hard work your Keen passion will be etched in the history of our city for generations to come Leo your 36-year tenure on this Council isn't just a statistic it is a legacy woven into the heartbeat of our community your dedication your service and unwavering passion has been
25:05a Guiding Light for our City's progress your jokes weren't just punchlines they were they were stitches that mended the fry edged in the heartbeat of debate your humor a treasure of Joy has left an everlasting Mark in our hearts The Echoes of your laughter will resonate through these Chambers reminding us of the warmth and comaraderie you brought to every discussion but it's not just your wit
25:33that we miss Leo it's your unwavering dedication your tireless efforts your willingness to listen to every Citizen's concern you've been a steadfast anchor in the storm of change providing stability and reassurance to our City's aspirations your Legacy isn't just the policies you've crafted or the votes you've cast it's the lives you've touched the dreams you've nurtured and the hope you've instilled in all of us
25:58councelor peler your departure leaves a void impossible to fill your name will be engraved in the fabric of our city a lasting Testament to the service and dedication that you brought to this community your exit marks the conclusion of an era but it's also the introduction to the countless Tales of your selfless commitment to endure for Generations in your absence the Legacy you've built
26:22will endure as we say so long to you for now Leo we will not more just your departure we'll celebrate the remarkable Journey you've LED you've been the guardian of our City's aspirations and for that we will be forever grateful thank you Leo for your immeasurable service your tireless dedication and the proud profound impact you've had on all of us farewell Council appeler your legacy will be forever Etch in our
26:50hearts and in the soul of our beloved city thank you guys for your time thank you appreciate it very very well done my friend soon to be the city councilor again what seat you going to sit in uh I think it's going to be seat six Linda get the seat in my seat I mean SE in my sit in my seat move the chair good luck than you I appreciate it thank you free breakfast
27:16tomorrow at Al Max din right next we have Danny Road subject matter councilor Leo pelan
27:43members of the council president camarra I speak only for myself tonight as a resident and not on behalf of any board or commission I serve on how do I follow the last speech well let me Begin by saying I met Council pel here when I was about seven he was playing in a charity softball game in which he suffered an injury right uh long before I ever became politically active in this
28:17community but when I got here it was very clear that Council Leo peler was a staple in this chamber as I've watched Council uh countless meetings and thought about what it would be to be a city counselor there's two things the vote you take but we ow real Legacy to me in this chamber is based on constituent service that is the Hallmark of his career that has has made him the
28:53fabric he is the every person counselor it doesn't matter whether you're up here or you're down here we all deals with everybody in the same Fashion Fair he's willing to listen and but the constituent service is the Hallmark of his 36 year career his phone must ring more than any counil in the history of for River and I bet that's going to continue because people know when you called Leo it got done some may in the
29:33past didn't like it it didn't stop willo willo did his job he did it well we didn't always his agree but I can tell you this chamber is not going to be the same without the presence of council will pel here and I D say there will never be another city council that will uh will make the mark As far as constituent Services go for the people of for River well done
30:06counil take care thank you very much apprciate nice job uh you remember that uh softball that softball I I just tell the story I'm playing softball I don't play sports I was short stop and the ball's coming I'm ready to catch it hit me right here and they thinking about this much and uh my friend told debie he says listen Leo got hurt pretty bad he said when you see
30:36him expect it when she come in the room she almost passed out for it was really out there took six months to heal I oh my God I look at it and lose my eye yeah but it was a good cause so thank you appreciate it I didn't know you were athletic yeah true story I saw Leo play basketball at a fundraiser oh we did two stor yes yes he played yeah I think he
31:10was a short stop there too he's short stop his whole life next we have Carlo Caesar uh subject matter places good evening for disclosure Mr Pon speech I write it very good uh um thank you beler coun paler um I think this time you for real you tried this you tried this twice I remember about eight years ago we got the plaques your house must be full of plaques already I do I do have two
31:57every time that you bail a new wall you say it's time for retirement so that I can get more more plaques well but anyway I wasn't on a b this you know I'm good that's it Debbie's going to retire January third fourth or I don't know yet every comes a nice CR just in time when I'm going to relax she going to retire what are you do now Chase around the
32:17house well I I have to say it too because you were very famous here she's very famous downstairs that's why I call her the first lady for ear I call her the first lady because it's the first lady I see when I walk in that's right so I always say how you doing first lady that's right time come always smiling so um the reason I'm here today is because
32:40um I got a call this morning about um some places that are being proposed to be um moved for voting places and I have my concerns because everybody knows the story about votings on the city it's get it's getting lower and lower and lower so um we have and and I had heard both sides and I understand both sides but at the end of the day is um and like the George cotel they're probably going to
33:13hear for the first time tonight that they probably they thinking about taking the the voting place from there if I'm driving uh it doesn't matter to me where I'm going to vote if I'm going to vote here or if I'm going to vote there I already put my effort to go out and vote now what we about to to lose probably is those seniors that live on those apartments because most of them
33:41don't have families so they cannot move uh they cannot go out to to vote another place a lot of them uh they barely walk they have walkers and stuff and it's so much easier uh to vote just going downstairs by the elevator my mother used to say it's better one bird in your hand than two flying on the sky those votes we know though that people is committed to come down every voting day and
34:13vote and I think it's going to be a mistake um so that's why I'm saying and I know the council is going to hear this for the first time it's a lot of work you're going to put into it and you're going to need a another lot of information but you probably will be surprised just just like I was this morning that um we need to make it easier for people to vote not um the
34:38other way around and another excuse that I heard is well but we're going to we want to create more um male voting I don't believe those people going to vote by mail they will not vote by mail they vote they've been doing that for years uh and I think think that's what the only way they're going to vote and makes no sense even even at I heard too that they're going to pay
35:05Transportation or they're going to have transportation even if the transportation is for free okay I don't
35:25think there we go I thought I I was off my three minutes um you are which I am but um so like I was saying even if they provide free Transportation I don't think this person is going to get out of their apartment when they should go and vote downstairs just to get herself in a van or himself in a van and go to vote to another place so let's uh U get more information and
35:54and see if we don't don't get the uh start getting the votes away from them and and versus help them to and get more people out to vote so um I'm here to support um I'm I'm here against moving the voting Place specially from the George catel Apartments okay thank you thank you thank you congratulations Leo thank you there you no further speak a motion toj Finance motion toj Finance to Jes
36:27meeting second all in favor I any oppos city council committee Finance is now J we'll go right into the regular meeting city council please come to order clerk will call the RO council is kadim here Dion here Kilby here La Liberty here peler here Herrera here proposal here Washington yeah president C here L of the council please rise for a moment of Silent prayer
37:06please remain standing 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
37:33being made whether they perceived or unperceived by those present and not deemed acknowledged and permissible I'm CLK at this time I entertain a motion to take the meeting out of order motion to take second citations out of order second second motion has made in second all in favor I any opposed motion carries this time I'll call councelor proposer to come up please and present the citation CC can join
38:09him so I will keep this short sweet um so this citation is going to be presented to Council of Liberty um and thank you Council Dion for supporting this along with me um I want to just personally say thank you for me to you um when I got elected and I was the only newbie joining the crew two two years ago you were council president and I made a call to you and you took me right
38:36under your wing you know I had a lot of questions walking into this whole new thing um and you were always very kind very helpful to help me navigate what this was um your efforts do not go unnoticed your effort to this community your effort to this Council in the variety of roles and positions you've held here um is is greatly appreciated and I know speaking upon myself I thank
38:59you for supporting me and where I sit today um and long and short of it I wish you the best of luck going forward in your Many Adventures I'm sure your kids are here where are they smile hello hi kids nice to see you um thank you thank you for everything you've done for this community and on behalf of all of us thank you thank you thank you I would like to Echo some of what Andrew
39:32said um four years ago there were three new people on the council I was one of them and at that time Pam did the same thing for us along with Cliff they were President and Vice President they got budget books gave them to us said look these over these are the things you need to learn these are the things you're going to need to know walked us through it made us feel comfortable um that's
39:59just something that she's done with people all along uh always kept us informed um you know you can't that you can't put a price on those things also constituent Services Pam has helped many many many people because she never talked about it didn't mean she wasn't doing it and wasn't helping people all the time and I can tell you as an elected official um eight years may not seem a
40:31lot compared to 36 but eight years is a long time um it's not an easy thing to put yourself out there it's not an easy job if people even though some people think it is and for that thank you and good luck we also have mayor kougan under a citation he's going to present as well to council excellent so our our citation is official resolution be resolved the city council hereby extend its accommodation
41:04to Pamela Liberty in recognition for over eight years of dedicated Service as an elected official to the city of Fall River be refer the resolve of the for OFA city council extend best wishes for your continued success and this resolution be enter to the records of the city council adopted December 12th 20123 and um as the mayor of the city of Fall River I have to have known Pam for a
41:33long time she's done a lot of great great work in the community and I of course wish her nothing but the best um and of course an honor and recognition of her eight years of dedicated service to the city of Fall River and its residents um again going forward we hope everything gets just the way you want it to be and good luck with the kids and everything else
42:02thank you all so much I have never been one for long speeches and I'm not going to start now this will be two minute stops and I wrote it down because I'm not good at speeches even after eight years um in the last eight years I have served under two administrations four years each and I have been through every emotion in this position happiness sadness frustration disbelief those were
42:26the Jazel years I've laughed I've cried I've learned I've learned this position is not easy I've learned this city has the biggest heart the people who live here and the people who work here and I've learned that while the role of the council is legislative that has never stopped counselors for helping wherever and whenever they can and I've learned when someone is down or tragedy strikes this city steps up like no
42:50other while I've learned I also hope that I've set an example especially for my children who are here tonight tonight not to be afraid to speak up for what you believe in not everyone will agree with you and that's okay you can disagree respectfully not everyone will like you don't take it personally I've been called every name in the book criticized for every type of thing that have nothing to do with this job my
43:14clothes my hair my shoes which are fabulous I've had people pick it in front of my work also the Jazel years you need a thick skin and a healthy sense of humor to do this job then same people who don't like you will reach out to you when they need help help them if you can not everything is black and white there are often two three four seven eight sides to a story and sometimes
43:37it's okay to remain quiet to keep your peace and let people be wrong about you people have asked me if I'm sad to leave in the next two years my son Jameson is going to finish middle school and start high school and my daughters Paige and hope are going to be in their Junior and senior years at dery high school and I'm not going to miss a minute of it am I
43:56sad will I miss serving absolutely the good of this position has always outweighed the bad but it doesn't compare to what I'm going to gain thank you thank you I also have a couple of citations to give out one I think we know who it's for the other one I don't think she realized she's going to be getting a citation today but inz can you come up here please sorry to bring it on
44:40you um Iz recently was certified as a municipal clerk by The International Institute of Municipal clerks congratulations we gave the citation we were going to give it to her at the last city council meeting but she was sick and didn't even show up to the meeting that we had AIT for you well one of the very few meetings that she has Miss she's been a clerk and let me just tell you something about these three
45:01individuals here they make all of us look a lot better than we really are I think they wrote Cliff speech to be honest with you but that's okay it was a great speech Cliff um they do a phenomenal job we're very lucky in the city to have three clerks uh Allison buad Lauren valkor and an asle that do a wonderful job and they're tremendous asset to this community with that being
45:25said an official resolution be it resed that the city council hereby extends its accommodation to inz Lee in recognition of your achievement of being awarded the designation of certified municipal clerk by the institution International institution of Municipal clerks be it further resolved that the for of city council extends best wishes for continued success and that this resolution be entered into the records
45:48of the city council it is proposed by the entire city council signed by myself and attested to by Alison buad the clerk congratulations very well deserved keep it
46:24up councel you want to make your way up here or you want to just stay there I'm not that old I don't have the
46:50wheelchair so let me just state that um I I met Leo I mean when I ran back in 1995 we did a lot of Campaign together and things were a lot different back then um it was amazing I went to one of Leo's fundraisers once and I didn't even know what he was talking about because Leo said to the crowd what we need to do in the city is burn the trash bury the
47:15Ash and keep the cash and I'm like what is he talking about and it's back then we had an incinerator and we had a landfill and that's what we used to do for Revenue we used to burn the trash bury the Ash and keep the cash and that was Leo's slogan they got him elected over and over remember that one or whatever the case may be all well and good me but listen
47:38as CLI said as many other people said um when it comes to constituent Service as Danny roblot pointed out there's no one that does it better than Leo when I need something done I'll let you know I call Leo see can you take care of this for me he does it all the time just kidding but no he's a wonderful man he actually is been of breath of freshh air some of the
47:58stuff that he has come up with on this Council makes absolute sense and it's so common sense it's just sometimes you say Common Sense isn't that common anymore until Leo speaks and bring it all back home to where we should be doing um he's been the leader on this Council even though he was never the council president a lot of council presidents refer to Leo and talk to Leo for advice
48:17because as one counselor knows Leo knows what's cooking he's always had his finger on the pulse he knows what the community is thinking and he always fights for their behalf so I don't want to go on too much Council but thank you very much for what you've done personally from one Council to another on the years that I've served with you you're a tremendous individual this is an official
48:40resolution from the entire city council be res that the city council extends hereby extends its accommodations to Leo o peler city councelor in recognition of over 36 years of dedicated Service as an elected official to the city of for River started in 1982 through 1987 then it was a absence then he started again in 1990 through 1991 then 1994 through 2011 then 2014 to 20123 so be further resolved that the forward
49:17city council extends best wishes for continued success and that this resolution be entered into the records of the city council adopted today December 12 2023 proposed by the entire city council signed by myself and attested to by Allison buad city clerk Leo congratulations thank you for your service we appreciate it thank you say a few words now say a few words I'm going to say a few words in a few minutes take
49:41sit down and relax now we'll open it up you do whatever you want my friend got your lottery tickets win thank you that was from thank you I a million hope you do should be this is one of those PLS to add to your wall a Leo o pela I'm glad you got the O in there I did Oscar isn't it askar there you go in sincere appreciation and gratitude for your 30
50:25six plus years of service to the citizens of for River may you be proud of the work you have done the person you are and the difference you have made in the lives of so many and I'm going to miss sitting near you we kind of take care of each other that's right and this is from me because you couldn't leave without this please open it oh boy not a toy might be a hangry
51:00you see what I sit here keep your hands on the desk oh Jee box CH me box CH me you always gave us charmain and I want to give you charmain on your way out
51:33May cougan is going to citation as well councel you Mr Mayor he's getting tired Mr Mayor you're going to miss me I am going to you're going to miss me you're got to miss my votes that's what you got to miss my votes it goes Way Beyond your votes all one of them um I do want to say that I have known Leo forever I went to a ton of his
51:56uh chain festivals out at the Liberal Club and he's been a fixture in the city for a long time and he does a lot of great things to help a lot of different people and he's uh he's going to be sorely sorely missed on this uh Council I'm not going to try to repeat the speeches that have gone before me because I I'm not gonna do that join the club um so for city council Leo o
52:20peler in honor and recognition of his 36 years of dedicated service to the city of Fall River and its residents um I want you to know I appreciate everything you did personally um I say this but I still think I'm going to run into you at Bobby's garage or at the IPC or somewhere out and about so you're going to be around you're just changing your seat we also have another special gift a
52:43key to the city oh but you don't need it open the vault no it won't Vault it won't open the vault but because you don't need it because the city's on a combination lock so thank you very much Leo I'm going to miss you good luck to everything in the future you and Debbie both hang on hang on a minute whoa Mr Mayor you know you know Mr Mayor I asked you for
53:12something somebody asked me for it and I talked to one of your helpers and three weeks went by and they didn't do it and I come to you I said Mr Mayor you know we got a building next to the pond at Kennedy Park uh where we parked the the the trucks to cut the grass and all that stuff and I say to you Mr Mayor that building is awful I don't know if you
53:41can't see whatever the case may be it would take Mr Mayor three gallons of paint to paint that little building the little building then you got it done in two weeks I'm so proud of you so proud of you the highl I was going to give you a citation but you know I said I better not they're going to think I'm under to taker something I don't know but it
54:04looks good thank you for that and even the side got a mural on it oh got a mural not mine's I hope okay who who's got the mic now yeah this is a clock so that you know what time it is to watch the meetings because going to call us and criticize or compliment I don't know which okay oh we got your clock going to give this to your away all right thank you all right
54:26I know you want to speak later counc Council C3 Council Kilby I'm sure others might to say something Council Kilby yes really quick uh Council Kamar you you um we both entered uh politics at the same time 1995 and just a couple of funny stories my father and my mother love Leo they they're very very good friends with the Marx family and um I remember just a quick story when we both ran for the
54:52first time and I after my father voted right holding a sign on the corner of tany my mother they said yeah of course I said you vote yeah we voted I voted for you Leo peler and Joe cerra so um but a lot of stories everyone loves you I I could go on and on and on with all the stories but except for the canceling the Holy Ghost Face maybe not so many people in
55:26oh Leo I don't know what to say I'm going to miss you so much 36 years I've married 36 years thank God not to me where the hell am I going from from SARS the Holy Ghost Face from sitting on ballots that's right right yeah chuck oh my God sitting on ballots with Chuck Gregory God Rest his soul yeah and the first time I met you I was 22 years old old going to the old lizes
55:56down there you know trying to get meet a girl and you walk in I didn't know who you were and I said to myself who the heck is this guy oh I'm I am I'm so happy to be able to serve with you I have so many warm feelings for you and your family and love you very much so I'm I'm I'm going to miss you thank thank you appreciate it oh God bless
56:28okay for now God go back to your seat Council I we got a meeting to finish Council hurry up okay oh and may I um Council Kam while I'm on a rooll here I also want to say thank you to council laau council laau is a wonderful wonderful giving person she actually is from the cape so can you imagine being born up the cape then coming to Fall River and it's not your
57:00hometown but Council Bo got so involved with her organization the St ANS neighborhood association the the the partk for the handicapped children that she built there uh with with the help of others but she coordinated all of that and and she through hard work and dedication got elected as an anot tooner and for River's always been pero you know it's it's difficult when you're running outside coming in and planting
57:29your roots and and and achieving elective office so very happy to have served with you and of course we don't always agree on things but that's fine and um I wish you well and I'm going to miss you too thank you how you thank you coun mam CLK C you want to speak now or yes what am I allowed to you can speak now then we'll adopt the citations afterwards first of all you have three
58:04minutes C huh you have three minutes three minutes I could do a lot of damage in three minutes you know that oh yeah I'd like to thank my family uh tonight for being here and also all the firemen they didn't know I was leaving today I'm glad you come by but you're on you're on a ballot I mean you're on a schedule a and you got my vote you guys are good with
58:31me I'll tell you that that's for sure uh I'd like to introduce my family uh if you could stand up that'd be nice uh start off with my wife The Smiling blonde downstairs she get up wa say up my my daughter Lisa and Timmy Haley my granddaughter her boyfriend Drew my son Joey and his wife Christie and uh Bri that goes out with uh my grandson he's not here tonight
59:12he's going to college I don't know what he's taking up but it's all right Emily Emily part of the family Emy stand up maybe see a few cute guys here you know and we got uh my sister-in-law Joanne Joan and my sister-in-law brother-in-law Eddie F Pat fter and my the Run of my family we nine is Mikey Mike get up and his wife madlin I want to make sure I didn't miss
59:44anybody okay I didn't miss anybody when you came in first place so many times and also you know uh uh any robot touchdown cons service and you'd be surprised where people get a hold of me to talk to me you never know where but we have a place um the garage uh Peckham Street Garage a lot of people know and they go there they want something they go if I'm not there to
1:00:14tell them just come back you'll be here past 7 till about quarter n we have the coffee run we have a coffee we talk we have a good time and there's always somebody coming in uh once a week maybe or whatever and we try to guide them in the right way and that's it but whatever they ask me and if the the city hall is open and and I always if something I can
1:00:37do right there while they're there I just pick up the phone yeah uh the bill inspector please this guy's got a problem and everything else could you could you talk to them you straighten them out could you tell them what to do and then I'm all done my job's all done so it it's a easy easy easy thing to do but you never know where where you're going to see the people I come come out
1:01:01of church uh two weeks ago and I called Lauren up and says you know I got sto in church today I got a couple of things I got to put in one was a light on and and I forgot what the other one was but any we we got it done uh and you know even you go to men's room they they're going to tell me can you wait till I get out please I
1:01:22gu and when I get out said you wash your hands he wants to shake my hands I Pat him in the back but you never never know and I try to I do take care of people I don't care they got money no money I had a guy to robbed my house and he got in trouble and I helped him out well that's it you robbed my house that's it stole
1:01:44my bracelet stole my diamond ring and I know the guy who bought it but I I let everything go that's the way it is you know uh you know in 36 years you know you done a lot for the city I had councel along sitting next to me uh I think four years and he said I don't know how you do it I really don't know how you do it how can you take this that
1:02:14was just for him he left and it's a stress stressful job it is because what they ask you for you try to do it you try to do it and if you if you succeed it's okay I done stuff that I didn't think I could do uh in uh and I done it but not advertised it but I got it done not that it was illegal it just you know we've
1:02:37done it that's it you're all set you know I don't need no envelopes no nothing once in a while they'll bring me a box of chocolate they don't know I got sugars I don't need it then I quit drinking they give me a bottle of CC well I give it to the next raffle here take this and raffle L off I quit drinking you know what I mean so many years ago I think uh Mr
1:03:01Raposa uh Council reposa I think he was as diap as then but I was coun I was I wasn't even born yet councelor he wasn't born I was born in 1991 so I was still in the heavens oh you're still in the heaven well anyway uh we had a little meeting about the bridge Somerset the Four River the Memorial Bridge there so I went over see what's what's going on and you know whatever I know looks
1:03:24beautiful to me you got the bridge you can off ramp here off ramp there it opens up and that's it's all good so what do you think hey whatever you need of course I'm going to go for it whatever you need you got my vote and that's it and it took a long time but the bridge is up now and we use it so that's how things go new police station heaven forbid that thing falls
1:03:47down and maybe should fall down that thing was gone the police station was open uh we alloc ated money maybe about a year ago for Windows and and the air condition at least we're spending money in one building and you got the other building the Armory you ain't doing nothing with it it's a pit that's what it is and it and it's going to go and if the city takes that
1:04:11building they just can't keep it up they just can't keep it up uh that's why I was hoping I didn't miss them two meetings I came in and I sent a letter and figured that would work but you know I don't write letters like Ponty does you know what I mean if I use the verbage I can't use his words they too damn long I use the little words that's
1:04:31it you know and anytime there was a problem we had a problem and you guys know the city of FL River we had rats rats all over the place and this guy on East Main Street that was shooting him with BB guns well they was they were pretty healthy healthy rats there was a bakery there and at the end of the night you throw all the stuff in in the
1:04:53barrels don't put a cover on so them rats are real good they they would shoot them so uh what did we do the city said well we got to do something you know let the Flint they're all over the place I get the calls all the time I gotta call F fiori hey F I got rat problem I got a rap problem in there always took care of me so what do we do the city looked
1:05:16around and they see other community with these beautiful barrels right here them barrels there I think the first money we spent was about $6 and5 million on it let me tell you as long as I've been on a council we had them barrels at one that the cover broke then I seen another one that had a split in it and he had to use a hammer on it because I didn't see
1:05:39any of them barrels so that was a good thing so now the people don't have to use the covers they got that so that was a good thing for the city of for River uh you talk about the fire station and we built the Flint went up but down the north then me and the mayor were at it a little bit and the mayor wanted to spend a million dollars on a
1:06:06piece of property and he had a piece of property there so I said Mr Mayor I says you got a piece of property you want to pay a million dollars for she says yeah you got a piece there I says I will agree to that only if you tell the people of for River that you want to spend a million dollars instead of using land that you got he kicked it in he
1:06:31says counselor you're right they built it they built a training center there they've done a very good job and uh that's I felt real good that I turned it around and I don't know if you guys work up there beautiful place beautiful place always try to take care of fireman uh all the schools I mean we built schools we built nine schools on my watch nine schools and most of them were 80%
1:07:03reimbursable from uh the school the massachusett school building authority I mean come on that's fantastic the problem was after we had to get rid of the old school so some went for th000 one 5,000 one 30,000 whatever the case may be but it's nice that we got no new schools and dery school was the only one that come in at 63% reimbursable and of course we' got to pay for that and now I think the best
1:07:37school the city should have is the diamond but I don't know if the city can afford it but we definitely need a trade school here in a city of for River you got a lot of kids that don't get educated but they good with their hands and if they got a place they can learn they can learn to trade and and their life much easier you got somebody that don't go to school and then they hang
1:08:04around and they they become you know thieves and breaking cars and everything else so I think it's a good thing for the city and I'm hoping my colleagues keep that in mind when it comes up uh uh for the money and and and the only other thing I got to say is East Main Street they built that thing and covered it up it looked like hell and I'm not a guy who Rose T but I
1:08:36there's something wrong here so had a little investigation I had the guys come down inspector sh up not enough TI here not enough TI here spit in the middle all the way down so I said hey uh you guys are going to redo it of course they didn't want to redo it I said well you're going have to do something so they decided they come in with the grinder start grinding all the corners
1:08:59all the way down East Main Street and putting maybe 25t 25 ft all the way and took the middle but I was watching him and I wasn't going to let them get away with it I didn't have to but I did I mean the taxpayers good money they pay good money for it let's get what we deserve and and and that's the way I felt and uh uh also I just like to
1:09:26mention uh a good friend of mine and uh two threee uh we got uh Cindy Cy here tonight and uh her husband died about two months ago and uh we went out every day eat a cup of coffee maybe a sandwich he helped me on my campaign we actually Partners in one of one of a business between me and him uh we didn't last long but it's all right but uh uh he
1:09:55passed away and I just wanted to say how much he helped me and I appreciate it and then we had another guy I don't know if you guys knew Henry servant anybody know Henry servant Henry servant a nice guy he helped us out uh anyone of my parties you could see him at the corner of the bar drinking the screwdriver that was Henry and then when he fell off the
1:10:15stool we took him home so and then the other one is Herman madas real real nice guy uh but you know life goes on 1982 to 2023 and I worked with the bests I worked with City Clerks Joe Doren a gentleman a gentleman and I I started with him I worked with him uh one a hell of a guy Carol vort City Clerk Carol vcot assistant CL Carol uh vcot City Council secretary and city council
1:11:03senior Clerk and typus she got more titles than I got to hear you know but she was she was a nice a nice woman as well Alison buad there she is liveing in color today with pink you look good assistant City CL and Council senior Clerk and typus assistant city clerk God Rest of Soul Charlotte kitchen and assistant City CL inish Elite assistant City cler now I got a trouble with with enish she got
1:11:41that enish and it's tough for me to pronounce it when I first because it's got I in and they got a little e on with a cat what the hell do a cat mean I don't know where's a cat there a Cole I got to have a cat I don't but I say I get a I can't remember that name so I used to call her Danish hey Danish
1:12:02Danish till I learn how to say yish so now we know that your name ain't Danish it's yish but she's a good worker and congratulations uh and then we got the secretaries Cherry tulan she called me up a couple of months ago I was very surprised she's up in Swansea she heard I was sick and call me up nice nice lady and she worked as a secretary Claudette mon tour a City Council secretary and
1:12:32Senior Clerk and typus now she was almost related to me because her dad used to go out with my mother when she was 90 of course you're always worried because you know safe sex is the best but I you know I'm going to tell them you know you got you got to be careful you're 90 years old what are you doing you just going out for dinner or you fooling around who knows you all
1:13:01right almost there oh God Kleen Taylor very nice girl we're tired here and I appreciate everything she's done for me Lauren Val of and coming of and coming I can't believe I had to research something the other day and she had it all research and I called her up and she started reading it yeah I didn't call you for that I call you for something else oh oh all right
1:13:30what do you want so I told her what I wanted and that was it but she read the whole thing on you're not going to read it at the end don't worry about it um City council's Senior clerks and typus and principal clerks uh Christy calvero did I say that right I practiced I think I screwed it up Laura gordet Le Point Katy a Howard uh siarra Aria Jameson Chase now these people here all work for
1:14:01the council and they all left and you know we train them and they leave and I said it before we don't pay enough money they leave they find something else God bless them maybe they got a better job but we have to do a better job make sure we take care of our people who work for the city because they do an outstanding job and with that let me see
1:14:28got got more paper I think that's about it so I'm gonna I'm gonna feel a lot better tonight when I leave here because I know I'm all done but it is a stressful job a stressful job and uh I'm glad I I done it I don't know I done it so long I'll tell you five months ago they gave a speech here I kind of Rocky but uh I'm feeling better uh I wasn't
1:14:57sleeping at night they took a medicine off me it took 8 to nine weeks to kick in so now I'm sleeping at night so that's a good thing so maybe I'm on a men uh being retired uh having Debbie there at the house to aggravate me but I mean take care of me uh will be a good thing I think I hope so with that I think I I my three minutes up
1:15:24you got 2 minutes and 59 seconds left okay and that's all I got to say and and and thank you everybody uh and if I hurt anybody I apologize I know we had a few rounds with different guys here sometimes you say things and it'll come out right but it's okay I made the 35 years and that's it God bless you all and thank you very much
1:16:09at this time I'll entertain a motion to adopt the citations motion to adopt motion adopt has made a second second all in favor any opposed motion motion carries we will take a two minute recess only so that the camera crew can come here we have a two-minute video on Council pelet that we're going to show as well they're just going to come and turn the TVs on city council will reconvene in about two three
1:16:52minutes
1:19:31city council will reconvene show a quick little video is battling health issues he's undergone multiple heart procedures shortly after his release from the hospital in May 2023 he returned to chair five to announce that he will not seek reelection Thursday before the operation I told my wife that's it that's I can't take this take my wallet take my keys putress and call 911 so went to R school and they uh
1:20:23said I did have a heart attack around like 28 or 29 and uh I went for calization that next Monday and uh they found two Sten that were prw clothes they put two more stance in and they kep working on me and I couldn't get the other one open but after the operation they come over and they told me make sure you take it easy after 40 years in office Leo describes himself as a diligent public
1:21:07servant a budget cruncher who reviews finances line by line yeah when it first started the first four or five meetings and one one person in the audience say there with this guy is a fish out of water well maybe I was but you learn and you get better and you get better and I was going to say something I didn't say it because I told the other guy said the same thing I was going to
1:21:37say what the hell I can't be that wrong Leo left school after ninth grade to assist his mother a Canadian immigrant he and his wife Debbie have been together 40 years and own a beautiful updated apartment building on pekam Street yeah this look at this look at the job this gu but everybody remembers the bus all the bus is oh my God Leo ran each campaign similarly door too and shaking hands he misses old style
1:22:08politics of personal conversations at Coffee hours and chow main dinners a lot of the highrises they would go in feed them they only feed maybe 30 40 people but they go in there and then they get to know them and and that's it but they don't do that anymore as well they don't do it every family vacation was planned to accommodate his Civic responsibilities and he Prides himself on brevity you can have an issue that
1:22:37would take this guy 15 20 minutes I can do it in four and a half five minutes get to the point here is what we're going to do here's what we should do and and that's it and you ain't going to change my mind I mean nobody's going to tell me how to vote Leo says he's his own guy even if that means confronting City officials and the 11 elected and acting Mayors he's worked
1:23:03alongside I'm in predicament with this I don't like the way it was set up uh you know say one thing you come in with something else and then you go after something else well with respect councelor I I really object and I'm kind of offended by your characterization I don't say one thing and do something else I'm telling you what we know we're going to do well they wanted the steel
1:23:23building it wasn't your idea they wanted the steel building and a steel building is no longer feasible well you you know they didn't do their homework I guess it you know was suitable then it's not suitable now it it doesn't make any sense to me you can object to whatever you want I don't care I'm just saying what I feel and what's going on and what may happen what may happen I don't know
1:23:46what's going to happen you're looking for another building oh we need some more money for this and some more money for that it's not right taxpayers money that's the way I feel I respect I'm sorry if I hurt your feelings no you hurt my feelings it was just offensive yeah to be suggest for you to suggest that I'm I'm lying or trying to mislead the council I think I've been in front
1:24:03of you enough for you to know that I don't do that well listen nobody's been looking nobody said anything about another building or another spot or a place that we have that's paid for versus a place maybe that we have to have to purchase that's my concern so we'll leave it set just the way it is the administration will say what they going to say Leo is the longest serving elected official in Fall
1:24:30River recognized Beyond City boundaries he's boisterous quick-witted and compassionate so the word is I'm stay and uh we're going to take it from meeting to meeting and with that I appreciate you guys listening thank you
1:25:21all set Madam Clerk the first item on the agenda is a communication from the mayor excuse me in two orders the first is the memorandum of agreement between the fall of firefighters local 1314 International Association of firefighters in the city of motion to adop Second moot to adopt as made and seconded all in favor or do we need to roll comment yep Roll Roll Call on item 1A uh motion is to adopt
1:25:57councilor kadim yes Dion yes Kilby yes La Liberty yes peler yes Perera yes Roso yes Washington yes president Comm yes item 1B is the order transferring the sum of 2.5 million from the stabilization fund to fire salaries fund motion adopts second motion to adopt has been made and seconded all in favor I any opposed motion carries quick items 2 a through H are the mayor's request for the reappointment
1:26:40confirmation of the reappointments to the uh Library trustees the uh 2 A is for Ronald Kaplan 2 B is for Katherine Clarkin 2 C is for Joyce Coello 2D for James Gibney 2 e for Asia Grace 2f Sharon Quinn 2 G Fran racklin and 2 H Amy rocket SP motion to confirm second second motion to confirm has been made in second it all in favor I any opposed motion carries item three is a communication
1:27:17from the board of election Commissioners and orders authorizing the presidential primary election for Tuesday March 5th 2024 the state primary election on Tuesday September 3rd 2024 and the banial state election on Tuesday November 5th 2024 the order also um to designate polling places and changes to those polling places some of motion to refer to finance um but I'd also like to include
1:27:46in that that it be sent to the board of election Commissioners um I don't believe believe that there was a meeting I don't believe there's been an opportunity for public input um it's a significant change though we have a low voter turnout it still affects thousands of people um in the name of transparency I think uh the board of election Commissioners having a public meeting and and voting on this prior to bringing
1:28:15it back to us and finance would be in order with that I yield second there was a motion to refer there a second motion to refer there was a second to finance and send it to the Board of Elections motion has been made in seconded all in favor motion I'm sorry on a motion counc c one can I just get clarification So when you say refer to the uh Board of Election Commission are
1:28:42you looking for a recommendation from them okay just want to clarify I'm sorry I should what if we do if they don't make a recommendation though well that's I guess that's what I'm just trying I just want to make sure to take a vote on it um I think by it not going to the board first it circumvents the board c i I have no problem sending it to the board
1:29:04I we're all going to vote to Senate there but we can't force them to have an election and take a vote on it if they do that's fine if they don't it's going to come back to us you said and that's that's fine I was just asking the question because I just want to make sure that we're clear on what that we're looking for their recommendation that's the only thing
1:29:19yeah I it see if they if they you know if they're willing to take the vote on it and give us um you know give us some background on this some some you know reasonings um is there going to be uh any net is it Net Zero cost are there increased costs are they going to save money we we know nothing about I agree with I think it's good they have a
1:29:40discussion I just want to make sure that we're not forcing them to take a vote they might not want to take I think you said vote on it and come back with a vote but that's fine as long as we we s yeah backwards and you know if we can get some s sort of a plan and some expl and some explanations do you want to send them a letter or we're going to refer the is
1:29:57item to them once we refer it to them it's not in I would like to refer it to them finance and then it no she I think the motion you made was refer to finance and also send it to them correct so how do so what should we do just say refer it to them how how how do you want to refer it to the board and for their recommendation okay would be my
1:30:17suggestion refer to the board for their recommendation when it returns you please it back on your agenda that's fine I'll make that motion okay motion is to refer to the Board of Elections second is a second second second all in favor I any opposed motion carries whereas concerned members of the public recently spoke about Americans with Disabilities Act accessibility with public transportation and whereas these
1:30:44residents experience difficulty securing means of transportation in the city and whereas they are seeking assistance and how this can be resolved D and how the city can address this issue now therefore be it resolved that the committee on ordinances and legislation meet with interested parties Corporation Council and representatives of local taxi companies to discuss ways to expand accessibility of Transportation by
1:31:07amending the current taxi license ordinances motion to refer the committee on ordinances legation motion to refer the committee on ORD legation has been made there second second second on the motion C CC vice president per yeah the only thing that I want to add to this is we have had um discussions previously with taxi cabs and I believe Town Taxi got a van that was handicap accessible
1:31:31but the cost of the insurance and how often people call to use it wasn't uh feasible but one of the problems is that now um taxi cabs are also not running at night and there is something in the regulations committee that's been there since May about Ubers and lyts and them having to pay more so I think if you kind of put them all together um so that it's a a
1:32:01wider discussion um I know that um Freddy yum had talked to council pill here about it as well that there was a problem but if the city you know paid the insurance I think that it could be workable um because then they were on on demand or something but I think both of them should be brought together so maybe if regulations has a meeting they can send that piece to ordinance to discuss
1:32:28the you know the medallions and all that that Uber doesn't have to have so it would help without taxic caps just throwing it out there it can go here but I I just want people to know there's something in regulations do you that I y c seveno yeah so so you know I I can't understand Freddy needs you call Meo he had his hand up first oh all right there no problem I'll defer to
1:32:54council pel no no no no go ahead go ahead gentleman first oh jeez I'm sorry cant C5 Council P you know I just don't understand the cab companies they they work hard uh they got to get medallions and pay everything you got Ubers running around uh don't need anything they could pick them up anywhere this one here and then they got uh other people independent I mean how do we protect the
1:33:19guy we should be protecting our people people that are picking up our people in the city for then you got these Uber running around making all kinds of money and not paying their fair share as far as I'm concerned I think it's a it's a lousy deal and there should be something done uh they wanted to buy some medallions he can't sell the company because he got nothing to sell that's
1:33:42the problem and you know if you give the medallions you bought them mallion you got something to sell so uh that's the way I feel about I he's got Short Change change our Yi thank you thank you yeah thank you um so the idea really behind this resolution is to not necessarily I think you know did some did some research in the history of this conversation and I'm I'm not exactly in
1:34:07the same vein as prior resolutions in my years past that I wasn't here for um but really just to bring the people to the table to see that how can we expand the accessibility to those in the ada8 community less about sticking it to the cab company companes and while I recognize the Ubers and lifts of the world which are very much unregulated to this point um how can we again we're
1:34:28looking at helping our people more than anything else so how can we expand accessibility to our people that need that transportation we know that Serta offers a service it's not 24 hours I know taxi companies don't offer it's 24 hours not looking for any of that I'm looking to how can we broaden the reach for our people to get more people where they need to go um and you know those
1:34:50with disabilities it's it's it's it's a harder harder stretch to get there so we want to make sure that we can help all those who need Transportation that's kind of the idea of bringing uh everybody together than you thank you that's fine Council I mean as Council prayer pointed out those meetings have been had in the past and for one obstacle or another just wasn't feasible for the taxi Camp Drive uh people to do
1:35:10it at that time but maybe things have changed and maybe there's other Solutions and that's that's what looking let's have the meeting I agree motion is made seconded coun seat five Council pel you have something you want to say yes my wife seems to be yawning and she's getting tired get out of here I'd like to be excused you need to take care of as Elvis says Elvis left the building Leo was leaving the
1:35:33building is that permissible with you yes it is Mr President you can do whatever you like coun okay thank you very much everybody thank you God bless you all God bless you and and God bless your wife oh is that yours the fan no that's a don't forget the key to the
1:36:03city motion has been made in seconded all in favor I any opposed motion carries Madam clerk item seven is in order granting permission to Massachusetts electric company doing business as national grid for one new pole on Penn Street motion to adopt motion to remain in seconded all in favor I any opposed motion carries have the police Chiefs report on licenses motion adopt second motion adopt Chief's report on
1:36:33licenses has been made and seconded all in favor I I any opposed motion carries item nine are applications for the renewal of auto body shop licenses for Nicholas fagioli on 633 lton Street Ronald Pedro at 753 Pleasant Street and Dylan jar at 232 lapam Street M to ad motion to adopt as a remain in seconded all in favor I any opposed motion carries item 10 are a number of auto repair shop license application renewal
1:37:04applications for Nicholas fagioli at 633 lton fad rashman at 260 Linden Street John maderis at 9698 Alden Street Eli boria at 3293 North Main Street Ronald peard 35 Grove Avenue Francis May 156 Pleasant Street Vincent Nanny 1426 Plymouth Avenue Dylan jarc 232 lapam Street jinto Silva 70 Williams Street Rodrigo Tash 192 C 18th Street and IO unz 1082 North Main Street motion to adopt second motion to adopt made second
1:37:44all in favor I any opposed motion carries I 11 is a request for a light order on lighting survey on on Emory Street motion to adopt second motion to adopt the light survey and has we made in seconded all in favor I I any opposed motion carries we have a number of claims motion to for a corporation councel motion to for a corporation councel has been made second seconded all in favor I any opposed motion
1:38:08carries item 13 is a communication from the Mass Department of Public Safety and Licensing regarding the issuance of a license to Chris Jacobs Stay Ready boxing for a boxing event at pal on December 16th Place on file second motion accept and place on file has a made and seconded all in favor I any opposed motion carries item 14 is a request for a structure on a public way this is for a business to place two 10-
1:38:35foot tables um against their U business I guess um five days a week from 8:00 am to 8:00 P p.m motion to approve second on the sidewalk on the sidewalk against their building uh where they operate their business 5 days a week eight to eight got a question motion has been made in second on the motion Conant C to counc how how oh I'm sorry who said I'm gonna be Leo now
1:39:14apologize yeah my question would be how wide are these tables and are people going to be able to get by on the sidewalk in a if somebody has a a wheelchair or some yeah motorized vehicle how much how what's the width of the tables versus they don't have a width it just 10 it says 10 foot tables yeah but that would be my question are they going to take up too much of the
1:39:36sidewalk that people are going to have to go into the street and then back up on the sidewalk with that I yield CC C1 CC K she has the same questions so motion I I would refer to motion of regulations yeah I would make that motion motion fur the commit regulations has been made and seconded all in favor I any opposed motion carries items item 15 is an open meeting well complaint filed at the last meeting
1:40:06um alleging a violation on November 28th Mo refer to Corporation Council second motion refer to Corporation Council has a made in second all in favor I I any opposed motion carries and item 16 is another open meeting while motion ref motion for the Corporation Council has been made and seconded all in favor any opposed motion carries have an application for Parry heavy equipment
1:40:30services for drain layers license motion to approve motion to approve as in made and seconded all in favor I any opposed motion carries and item 17 is um another drain lay application for solamini excavation and utility motion to approve second motion to approve that made in second all in favor I any opposed motion carries motion to take 18 to 23 together second motion to take items 18 through
1:40:5823 City Council meetings has been made and seconded all in favor I any opposed okay is there a motion to approve 18 through 23 motion to approve second motion to approve has been made and seconded all Madam collector want to just read them sure the dates please sure we have um meetings of uh public hearings committee on finance and the regular meeting for November 14th and public hearing committee on finance and
1:41:23regular meeting on November 28th motion to adopt has been made approved has been made and seconded all in favor I any opposed motion carries and lastly we have the committee on finance at a meeting held on December 12th voted unanimously to recommend that the attached loan order be referred to the full Council for action with Council appeler absent and not voting this is the 8,1 101,
1:41:49636 loan order for the Robert madus resiliency Prep Academy renov motion to adopt the loan order second as made in second roll call I needed all in favor I I any opposed motion carries that's all we have motion to adjourn second motion to adjourn has been made and seconded all in favor I I any opposed city council meeting is now adjourned over
1:42:41overy
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