2.14.2023 Fall River City Council

foreign

foreign

foreign will come to order clerk will call the Road Council is kadim here Dion here Kilby Liberty here Pelletier yeah Pereira here proposal here Washington here president Camara here soon to the open meeting law any person may make an audio or video recording of this public meeting or may translate this meaning through any medium attendees are therefore advised such recordings or Transmissions are being

made whether perceived or unperceived by those present and not deemed acknowledged and permissible motion open the public hearing entertain emotional foreign back at Council Washington all in favor aye any opposed all public hearings are now open item number one Massachusetts electric company for new solely owned poll location as follows star Street and Eclipse Street five new pole locations

petitioner is proposing to install the isolation of five new solely own poles three new anchors and two push braces beginning approximately 20 feet south from the center line of intersection of bait Street and star Street and continuing approximately 350 feet easterly the purpose of this work of this work is due to a solely owned National Grid poll that is located in the right of way

adjacent to zero star Street and 15 star Street the owner of this property plans to build on the lot eliminating access to existing old sex the petition is a result of national Goods need to reroute overhead wires in accordance with the plan number 30697758 dated January 30th 2023 are there any proponents to this public hearing are there any opponents to this public hearing seeing none will move on to item number two

pole location and underground conduit Massachusetts electric company for a new solely owned pole location and underground conduit as follows High Street one new pole location store one so pole on High Street beginning at a point approximately 70 feet north of the center line of the intersection of High Street and Lincoln Avenue and continuing approximately 85 feet in the South Direction install

underground facilities on High Street and Lincoln Avenue National Grid to install new solely owned pole location pole dead team and anchor located on the 775 feet south of existing pole 14th and High Street the anchor to be installed 10 feet south of the proposed Pole 15. from the base of pole 13 National Grid will dig under the roadway approximately 85 feet to existing manhole 2 located in the

intersection of high and Lincoln two to four inch conduit will be installed in this trench for new secondary cable the purpose of this work is to convert the loads of the homes on High Street and Lincoln Avenue that are currently fed from existing underground to the new cables that will be installed from pole 13 to manhole 2. in accordance with plan number 3070 434 are there any proponents to this public hearing

Mr President I believe that the gentleman over there is from National Grid maybe he doesn't know that he do you want to come down and explain to this and I think I read pretty much exactly what you said about this one

just want to point out that there's a condition on this our roadways will be restored curb to curb through the work area Aaron Roy 1250 brain Point Road Somerset uh representing National Grid um High Street nice job um our existing facilities that that feed High Street and Rock Street and as well as Belmont Street um are fed underground from submersible Transformers which are Transformers located in manholes which

we don't uh we're trying to get away from and not install anymore and these Transformers are completely overloaded we had an issue Last Summer where one of the Transformers submersible Transformers blew up in one of the manholes because they were completely overloaded so the purpose of this project is to add a poll on High Street and a poll on Belmont Street overhead Transformers and feed underground to the existing

manholes to take the load off thus immersible Transformers that are completely overloaded that's pretty much just like a basic rundown on what the purpose of this project is okay okay I mean proponents seeing none are there any opponents it's public hearing seeing none will move on to item number three Massachusetts electric company for a new solely owned pro-location and underground conduit as follows Belmont

Street one new poll location installed one solely owned pole on Belmont Street beginning at a point approximately 90 feet north of the center line of the intersection of Belmont Street and Lincoln Avenue and continuing approximately 105 feet in the South Direction and install underground facilities on Belmont Street and Lincoln Avenue National Grid to install one new solely owned pole and one anchor the

purpose the proposed pole 2 to be located 35 feet south of existing poultry Belmont Street the anchor to be located 10 feet south of the proposed pole tune from the base of pole two National Grid will dig under the roadway approximately 105 feet to existing electrical manhole 4 located in the intersection of Belmont and Lincoln two to four inch conduit will be installed in this trench for the new

secondary cable the purpose of this work is to convert the loads from the homes on Belmont Street and Lincoln Ave that are currently fed from the existing underground to new secondary cables that will be installed from proposed pole 2 to manhole form in accordance with plan 3070-9434 condition on this one is all roadway shall be restored curved to curb through the work area are there any proponents to this public

area seeing none are there any opponents seeing none other things motion to close the opening for the public hearing has been made and seconded all in favor aye any opposed public hearing is now closed being six o'clock we'll move right into finance committee

city council committee and finance will come to order final clerk please call the roll council is Kadeem here Dion here Kilby here by Liberty here Pelletier yeah Herrera here proposal here Washington here president Camaro 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 at such

recordings or Transmissions are being made whether proceeds or unperceived by those present and not deemed acknowledged and permissible we have one individual who sign up for since input time item 19.

yeah good evening councilors you have three minutes I'm sorry so you have three minutes yes um happy Valentine's Day I see everyone wearing red uh article on number 19 is a request for a service contract with ameresco and the contract will be fully funded through the school department so what I'm asking tonight is that it's if possible to be taken up tonight because I do have some time constraints

that have built around this project and the sooner I get this contract in the hands of the signatures I will be able to get the work started it's a 15 million dollar project that's funded through the esa Grant on the school department side and we're ready to stop work in five of our buildings thank you thank you just have one moment does anyone have any questions about that item now because we're not it's not

in finance we're interested for time if you have any questions I think that Mr particles be it to answer them now we cut some seats six consequences I wouldn't say that I have any questions but amaresco has done work for the city before they're very reputable and they've done a really good job so I wouldn't see a problem in them doing work over in the school department side with that I yield thank you because I

come to C2 cassidian hi hi the only question I have is um your back being up against the wall like right now two years my back is against the wall with it with a a Cinderella date of of September 24th because of the east of money needs to be expended by then so we the sooner we get started on the work yep the better our chances are to hit the date and and a

lot of a lot of the equipment that we're going to be purchasing has long lead times 20 weeks 40 weeks 80 weeks it's it's really uh crazy with some of the equipment so the sooner we get ink on a on a contract the faster we can get started okay that's reasonable thank you thank you

I know he didn't sign up for citizenship of time but I'm going to ask Mr uh the city administrator to come down and explain just real briefly some of the changes that are occurring Route 79 because they're going to take place relatively quick and he's only going to take three or three or four minutes to explain so the public is well aware of the changes are going to take place can

you come down please and just let us know briefly what is going on and what the most of the changes on route 79.

good evening so all of you have a copy of the presentation that was made at the informational meeting that was held on January 18th I know that some folks were not able to make that there was a number of people from the city there so I just wanted to almost as a public service announcement make sure that everyone realizes that Route 79 closes essentially Forever on February 28th um davell Street will still be open as

essentially the alternate route so it's the raised portion of that mile long Route 79 section that will be closed that will ultimately be demolished and brought to ground level but Dave Wall Street in both directions North and South will remain open through the construction through 2026 when it's projected to be done so I just wanted to make sure that if there were any questions about that residents and the

council knew that this presentation and a considerable amount of additional information is available on the mass.gov website if you go to mass.gov and just put in Route 79 or Dave all Street this presentation as well as a lot of other information about the timeline for the project will come up and be available we'll answer really almost any question I spent a lot of time on it today just to

kind of test what sort of questions people might have about this and it goes through the timeline it goes through the process this really started in 2014 when the study was completed so it's been a long time coming and will ultimately conclude in 2026 but the key is that 79 closes uh two weeks from now and I just wanted to make sure people were aware of that now I just think also it's important to

let people know that it begins at the Veterans Memorial Bridge and that that U-turn will no longer exist either um because I think it's just one people to realize that that the what that mile means where it starts where it ends and and how it's going to affect them thank you that's right thank you what's that date again February 28th thank you very much thank you there's also nine uh copies of this

behind me for members of the public that would like one uh it's also available for download on the mass.gov website thank you thank you so much next item number two resolution with the administration prepared presentation to address the needs of city parks and leagues including football and baseball fields do you want to come down please I know we're going to have a joint meeting but as a

Representatives didn't have a quorum but you can still come down the administration and any member of the board and uh director want to come down as well to discuss the resolution that was proposed by the council

Mr President if I may while everyone's coming down um we have tonight uh Chris perano uh who is our assistant planner we have two members of the park board Al Oliveira who is our director of City operations Nancy Smith who's director of parks each of them is prepared to offer different parts of this and so I guess at the council's pleasure we can start however you'd like Mr Pronto is prepared to do

the 20-minute or so presentation that he did for Council proposals committee uh several weeks ago that goes into Investments that have been made in the Parks and are intended to be made over the next year I could have Mr Oliveira speak on plans uh that are right now in the midst of of being made around a strategic plan for the parks and open space which is essentially the extension

of the open space plan that expires in 24 as well as maintenance efforts that he's putting in place along with um Ms Smith or we could go right to the park board members whatever your pleasure is so I just wanted to set that forth I think counterposal this is so do you want are you satisfied if they I mean I don't expect I would take a 20-minute presentation at the table

but if you if you have any questions you want to it was actually I think it was a request some of my colleagues to have the presentation done it was done in our subcommittee but I think for the pleasure of the whole Council they'd like to see exactly what what has been invested in and that's I think that's what I'll eat a lot of the questions that some of my colleagues may have

so if I had known I would have put the presentation up on the screen so everybody in your arms can see it I don't know do you have it that way TV's on okay so should we say maybe uh turn the TVs on and they're going to turn on or we have to tell when the technicians in the back come out and turn the TVs on or does the court do it from the table

perfect if the Celtics are playing we're not going to put on the Celtics Channel we want to watch the presentation

TVs are on okay so this presentation I think gives a good context into what has been done and what is planned in the Parks um so this is based off of um a 2015 Capital Improvement plan that the city engaged Blount Bennett Architects to perform in their report they came out with a number of priority items that should have been addressed in our Parks they rated them one through five with one being the most urgent and

five being less urgent the others to date we've completed about 50 percent of those items and we'll go through the different parks and what has been completed and what is scheduled to be completed moving forward so the first part is Kennedy Park a number of the projects that have been completed include a retaining wall repair on Bradford Avenue this was funded through the CPC to the tune of

twenty eight thousand dollars we've done some design service and structural repairs to the maintenance building I'm coming out of the facilities budget for 25 000 and the basketball courts were repaired through a park Grant some ongoing projects down towards the Bay Street section of Kennedy Park they're installing a new tennis and pickleball courts so this was in response to the growing you know

you know trend of pickleball this is funded through a multitude of sources including a park Grant CDA funding and our operating budget total cost is 565 thousand dollars there is also an ongoing design contract funded through arpa we estimate the report to be done in July of this year the intent is to do a feasibility and design of a new splash pad that former pool building evaluations for

upgrades and repairs to the existing gazebo and overlook again looking at the park office New walkways a multi-purpose sport field and electrical work throughout throughout the park to support different community events and construction of any of these projects would potentially be funded through arpa additionally we are in design for the Kennedy Park overlook funded again through CPC about 183 thousand dollars

um the most recent update we have from the designers is that they have finished the surveying work and are coming up with some different schematic designs this is the part off of Club Street Paul poulis Memorial Park underwent a complete rebuild in October of 2020 this was through CDA funding of 291 thousand dollars the Kathy Assad totlot also went under a complete remake through Park

grant funding and CDA total cost of 560 thousand dollars Damaris playground received CDA funding in the fall of 2021 about 280 thousand dollars was spent there to upgrade the Park equipment walkways and fencing Abbott Court is funded to receive a new skate park costing 345 thousand dollars and CDA is planning to install a new playground sometime in 2024.

Columbus Park receives CDA funding to play some park benches signage and new playground equipment about 126 thousand dollars will be spent at Columbus Park rather by 2024.

Lafayette Park there is 1.5 million dollars of funding to rehab the skate park and we have as a city submitted an application to the Massachusetts land and water conservation fund to redo Pathways benches lighting and the basketball court and we are also working on Greening the Gateway communities grant that would allow us to plant new trees in the park as well Griffin Park saw some upgrades in 2018

about seventy five thousand dollars for a new playset and uh the sport courts here North Park in 2016 an inclusion playground was installed costing 527 thousand dollars Grant was secured through the state and then CDA funding provided the necessary match grandstands were removed through CPC funding ice rink repairs were made by uh through an airmark from representative Fiola and we also did some tree planting and

Vista pruning through that same Grant from representative phiola the sidewalks on President Ave and Highland Ave were repaired and the conversation was demolished upcoming projects include a two and a quarter million dollar skate park by August of 2024.

Maplewood Park threw a donation from the rap from Robert Kraft and the New England Patriots purchased new play equipment and the Park Drive was repaved in 2021 as part of Stafford Road repairs Maplewood has also received CPC funding of almost five hundred thousand dollars to um upgrade the ball field lighting true Park was funded through CDA for new backstop fencing benches dugouts and rehabbed bleachers

Father Kelly softball field also received CPC funding this year they're in the design phase to replace and upgrade their lighting costs you about four hundred thousand dollars Ruggles park 2016 31 000 investment was made for a new basketball court and equipment June to totlot also went through a rebuild through CDA of 127 thousand dollars the fitness center is not going to buy a

Centennial Park any longer I'm sorry for not correcting this it's going to britland park that is arpa funding of 165 000 expected to be completed in June of 2023 Bicentennial court is also having some repairs done to the tennis court lighting through the parks department budget there were some projects that tackled the same type of features across multiple Parks so in 2016 Kennedy

Ruggles Maplewood Abbott Court and North Park had their basketball courts redone again through a combination of Park grants and CTA funding totaling 378 thousand dollars ball field Renovations were made in 2017 to Maplewood Kennedy and Abbott Court again a park Grant and CDA funding pathway improvements were made at Ruggles and Father Kelly in 2019 costing 273 thousand dollars again another Grant and CDA funding

tree plantings have occurred in 2021 and 2022 at Pulaski Turner North Park Eastern Ave and Lafayette Park coming from the Green in the Gateway communities grant our tree division operating budget and an earmark from representative Fiola spray pads were installed in 2018 at Pulaski and chew Park costing 310 000 again Park funding and CTA grants cemeteries have also seen some work CPC funded Gatehouse restoration

Oak Grove had the gates fixed as well a million dollar expansion and some columbariums other Open Spaces the City Pier was developed and open through RDA in the city family picnic Grove receives so CDA funding for the new picnic tables and signage and received a lot of community support and volunteerism to complete bowenville green received twenty thousand dollars in CDA funding for some Landscaping benches as well

Jerry Lawton Plaza is in the design phase we're at about 90 construction documents costing about three hundred thousand dollars for the design and construction funded through arpa and it's expected to be completed by July of this year um we're doing some aggressive tree planting and stump removal funded through arpa all the stumps should be removed we're planting about 300 trees and we are piloting a front yard tree

planting program in Residence and business properties the Aluma Al Lima quickashan River Rail Trail is receiving significant investment phase four costing uh four million dollars is funded through arpa will provide additional connections to Brooklyn Park and father travassos and we're also doing the Westport rail extension through a mass trails and CPC funding uh to to summarize from 2020 to 2022 the

city has spent about three million dollars to upgrade its Parks we have additional funding of almost eight million dollars scheduled to be completed and we are projecting another 4.2 million to be spent in the next year or so on other projects and this just shows you quickly visually the parks that have been invested in are currently being invested in and those that are are planned for some Investments thank you

concert today Council Washington first of all this is excellent thank you for this outline the City Pier I have a question on the City Pier what are they doing with that it's an open space are there plans to put vendors down there it's just uh open area right now it's great it's beautiful and they're going to tie boats up to it it's just like this beautiful area what are we going to do

with it so there's there's a lot of plans that are kind of in the offering right now with the City Pier um a lot of conversations about in the summer events whether it's concerts other public events uh food trucks that sort of thing and those things are coming together still kind of in the planning um but there's a number of similar type events uh being talked about in cooperation with local businesses I know

the Narrows is in conversation but at this point nothing is is certain there's also docs that are in the planning process and installation would be coming spring and summer in order for boats to be able to pull off so um even though the City Pier peers in some Advanced stage of completion with the lights in the grass and it looks beautiful there's a lot more to be done in terms of looking at utilization

making sure that that we have a plan not just to use it but to maintain it and to make sure that it stays in beautiful condition and people can enjoy it and use it both from the water and from the land and then of course you know with Dave all in 79 happening nearby there's a question of access and and we're looking at that as well so I think you'll hear probably in the next uh

probably six weeks more information about how City Pier is going to be used in the near term and also looking for input on how it might be used uh going forward so I'm glad to hear that it's just not going to be a plot of land in your forward thinking on that I would recommend it maybe you have the New Bedford City Pier is they're doing an amazing job down there I know Mr objour

in the New Bedford area so you're pretty familiar with them but their City Pier is I think they're updating it again they have um in the Clam Shacks down there and I think our City Pier is um more beautiful so um maybe we can get some recommendation from them on what they did but um I'm glad to hear that you're moving forward and thinking outside the box and bigger so with that

I yield thank you councilman Council seat six Council prayer is the City Pier under the park Department no CDP is not okay when we talked about Parks I thought maybe they had transferred it from Redevelopment to the parks I think Nancy's got enough Parks additional Parks have been built poolless Park and some others that have been cleaned up but I think we need to look at that that the way that they did

those pox was through Community Development money or through grants so you can't have the same number of people working for the pot department and expect them to maintain everything that everybody else has put up money for so I think that is something that the administration should look at when preparing the next budget the question I have is I know people who play softball Brian

Bishop who does a lot with the city big softball advocate he goes away to different communities because they have traveling teams we don't have a decent softball field here where we can be part of that traveling team where people can come here stay here eat our food shop here that's Economic Development volleyball cheap sport all you need is one ball gets kids out gets kids healthy but I

was at a park board meeting in some of the volleyball nets that were put up by people weren't put up appropriately and they were taken down but obviously if people want to play volleyball then why don't we look at some parks that we can put some volleyball nets a lot of people forever years ago was very much known for its Saka and there is a lot of groups in the city that play soccer

how many soccer fields do we have and what other fields that we have that are empty that are not being used and then you look at football I mean we have the Falcons that have played and they were playing I believe down at Henry Lord um I think that's where they were playing last um but then you have the Titan football team that's a semi-professional team right here in the city and they have

taken kids out of gangs you can't play if you're wearing colors they have helped kids where is their football fields where can they play you know the one soccer field at Brooklyn Park people were there and they said oh no this is private we're the only ones that can use this and it's locked and can't be that way if we need another soccer field then let's do that but to

me the purpose of a park department is to look at outdoor recreational activity for the community so those are four things that I would encourage the park Department to look at volleyball softball soccer football get some of those feels up and running maybe some can be Dual Purpose fields but you need to have those and I know that there's a lot of people that kids used to play in a lot of the little

leagues I think the Little League Market is over at Maplewood a lot of people you know kids aren't playing little league because you can't get coaches you don't have the coaches to get these kids involved or the cost of families what have you I wish that we had more kids involved in Youth Sports but if you can't get the coaches you can't have that but those are my concerns that if we had things like that

I mean my granddaughters were on a traveling basketball team and boy when I went to Danvers and saw the setup they had there indoors with everything several communities why can't we have that here I mean I like that we're fixing up playgrounds but we've got to do more than that and I don't know how to impress upon people to do that but when I sit at a park board meeting and hear the volleyball nets

were taken down because they weren't put up right but that's just a signal like people like to play volleyball if we've had too volleyball in that somewhere so what do we do to address that that was my purpose of having the PAC board wanting the popcorn to come before us what can we do here to help the park board to get money to do those kinds of things because those things especially

traveling teams that brings in money that brings in money people come to the city I mean there were many trophies at the academic Club fasaka britland Park was first named after someone who was an avid soccer player forever who was known for that and there are traveling teams you get all that land down by the the picnic area that the water department knows all that open land plenty of parking nobody's down

there you can make noise utilize it how many parks do you have that aren't doing anything now anymore I know Loa Kennedy is into it what other Parks do you know if I make counselor so Mr Olvera and Ms Smith actually um are very prepared to talk about both usage and planning for maintenance so if we can turn it over to them I think they could actually answer everything how many how many uh Parks aren't being

utilized or what we can do to get them utilized thank you sure with that I yield thank you councilor so in regard to utilization that's cyclical um so right now the board of Park commission is is accepting um requests for the playing fields for this season so what we will do is once we receive those I we usually give a deadline of much for us we sometimes extend that another week or two if we

need additional information what we will do is we'll compile that information and see what type of leagues are now still getting the um the groups in we've also discussed with Mr Oliveira a different way to perhaps a lot the feels because when when you say an underutilized field the leagues request these fields in blocks of time and we can't duplicate those blocks of time I think I've said this at a previous

meeting we can't duplicate those blocks of time so we've now requested that the leagues provide us game times practice times separate so that we can better utilize the timing to accommodate more groups as you said with the especially with the soccer and the football to say which fields are not utilized that's a slippery slope because right now we have many schools that are looking to utilize our Fields because

there's construction going to be going on at Diamond and there's construction at Durfee and those groups come to us to utilize our Fields once I receive this information I would be able to give you a better picture of what parks will not or won't see as much um activity that would probably be the best thing just a point of classification is there a fee to use the field there's absolutely no fear

is there a limit as to what how much time one League can take we do not okay thank you I don't believe it do you want every talk again Council yeah I don't even know if it's like there's some I'm at Meridian Street there's one field there but basically Meridian Street only uses that that area but if people are coming in and they want to play how many of those are from Fall River

you know we do ask for rosters with names and addresses I think that's important to ask because we have collected and other places you you can go and the fee is nominal just like we have a very nominal fee yeah but I think it's great that you're looking at you know what are the times that people are going to use so that other people know and can use it to just come in and say

we're having this all day Saturday and that that leaves other people out I'm particularly more concerned with the football field than the soccer well and I am concerned with all four of them because I've gotten calls from you know it's like if you have a volleyball net up anybody can go at any time you might go and there may be other people there that you can get into a scrimmage with or what have you like

just to go the the kid at the gas station where I gas up him and his friends all like to play soccer where do we go to play soccer like it's not like a team it's just like if we want to do this on a Thursday night or a Wednesday night or where are the fields to go to if all the fields are tied up there's none that are just like open for first

you know first come first serve kind of thing oh we don't have enough for that but we do um I I'm not going to say we do basically what we're looking to do is exactly that and the other thing that we've discussed is possibly making Premier Fields or feels that there are charges for so that there are Open Fields so these are we have had multiple conversations lately with the administration with Mr Oliver

as to what can we do to better utilize what we have within the constraints that we have to use them we have multiple like you said soccer youth leagues adult Leagues football leagues I have reached out to a contractor regarding the travassos park area we do have to consider the Neighbors in that area as to the times that they can be used so there are constraints as to times that they can be used and

I'm waiting for a price back from the contract to see what exactly is going to be necessary and with that I will input that into my um I know behind behind britland Park where we have the astro turf a week behind that there's another big big area I don't know what that was before if that was that was proposed as just a practice area where you it didn't need to be a full-scale

soccer area it was so that teams could warm up behind that area teams could youth teams could play there so it's always been a proposed practice so people could use that whenever and that one there I like the idea Premier feels because if you have some Premier fields that are really going to be taken care of those are the fields that after you can have traveling teams go to those fields and that would bring

Revenue into the city quite honestly how long do you think you're going to take I know that we're you know in February now and sometimes Springtime is coming how long Mr Oliveira do you think that these plans will be to figure this all out you're 100 right counselor one of the main things that we want to focus on is making sure that we identify the locations of the fields that we want to

make the premier Fields uh Premier Fields is going to be a great uh asset to the city folks can come on in and just like as you mentioned Economic Development you bring in different groups but there's a cost to that so we have to determine which Fields we're going to select and from that point on we'll we'll have a better idea the key component as as well as everything else is as the council has mentioned before

having having the locations to play and maintaining those are our key asset so that's some of the things that I'll be focused on as well fixing the the issues right away within a reasonable time before so everyone else can start playing and getting back to normalcy Mr Akins is Opera money available to do help out with some of these Premier fields I know that there is an out outdoor component to offer

so I think that given the amount of arpa money that's already been committed to the parks we'd have to take a look at what our plan is going forward you know there may be some some infrastructure needs that that we need to deal with first Lewis and Street comes to mind um but I certainly think that there is Arbor money available uh the premier field could be a revenue generator and

Premier fields for different sports uh could be an outstanding thing um before we I think nail that down coming up with a plan is probably the essential thing a plan both to identify those fields to prioritize where we're going to do work first what work is critically important needs to be done now um how we're going to budget that and then most importantly how we're going to maintain the work we've already done

into the future so we're not just tearing things out and rebuilding it as some people complain that we've done in the past um and uh somebody said to me earlier today that CDA money can't be used to repair can only be used to replace uh and that's unfortunate um but regardless of where that money is coming from and not wanting always to rely on CDA money we need to become better at maintenance so there's a lot

of moving parts to the question you just asked I would say yes there is Arbor money available for the premier Fields but I think the arbor money also might need to be available for other things like the planning like the extension of the open space plan prioritization of some of these maintenance needs maintenance contracts that would actually actually help us maintain some of the things that

are more specialty items that we don't necessarily have the expertise in-house to do and I think Mr Oliveira can actually speak a little bit more to that if that's okay sure I mean one of the things that we talked about is the maintenance right we have a plan right away to start initiating the inspection of all the playgrounds for our children's safety uh once we once we pull that out we'll uh put that out to

bid as an ifb that'll be going out very shortly and we'll have a vendor to do an inspection and then we'll have a vendor at the same time making sure that all the swings all the slides everything is is repaired expeditiously hopefully we can get a lot of the warranty items corrected with any of the equipment right away but the plan is going into effect I've asked Nancy to carry the

funds in her budget for that and we're we're excited about that it is a proven it is a proven plan I I initiated that in New Bedford schools shortly a few months ago and it's and it's doing wonders at this point I wish that that was initiated before because what they put up in Father travasso's Park that gated area that skate rink or whatever doesn't even meet the end the mat doesn't even meet the

end of where the walls are so why wasn't that of it taking care of those things like that really get me uh you know for Mr Aikens when you say that you know a premier Park could be a generator no they will be a generator and sometimes I just get frustrated with how long it takes to get something done we'll talk about where we're going to do this and this

and this and this and before you know it the summer is going to come and go and we're going to be here next year saying well we're going to do this and things just take longer than I'm the kind of person said and done let's go move do it do it get it done so I'd like to have you come back you know in a couple of months and tell

us where you're at with some of these fields and and what you're going to do because I think it is a money generator I think a lot of the Opera money that's being used where's the return on our investment in the Opera money something like this we're going to get return on the Apple dollars that we spend because you're going to have people pay to play and come into the City and stay here and eat

here and Shop here while they're here for the weekend for this event they're going to generate income so that's that's what I'd like to see with a lot of this Alpha money some of that frankly I don't see as we I was getting a return on our investment but I'm not on that committee so with that I've vented enough and I yield Mr President thank you very much thank you Council vice president Council

forecast Liberty thank you thank you all for being here um Mrs Smith do we have enough space for everybody that puts in requests for Park usage all the different leaks uh we have usually we have to turn soccer away because everyone but everyone wants to go to Brooklyn Park okay and what's the alternate to Portland Park well we have put leagues we've put the Titans we've put another

football league I mean another soccer league at travassos they've used travassos in the past but it's not it's for practice it's not games so when they need space for our games what do they do well they usually either have to reschedule or play away games so um I know that some of the gentlemen from the Titans are here and they were at our last meeting I don't know if they've

ever been in front of the park board I've heard that they haven't and they haven't but has there been a request for space or is there space for them they have for the last two years used travasso's Park okay for their practice just with practice but we don't have a spot for games for them but they've never really requested games from us is that space available for games I don't believe travassos I don't know if it's

um it's not lined or mocked that's something that we did discuss as I said I've spoken with a contractor might be up and running is the what exactly were you asking for the contractor did you do at travazos I asked for him to determine whether it had enough space for an additional soccer field because of the measurements for a soccer field are wider or if not a soccer field if it was a possibility of

becoming a football field when they did travassos they re-configured that back area so some of what was grass is no longer grass so it made it narrowed the field area so that's what I have a contractor um looking do you know when you can have those answers um I did speak to him a couple of weeks ago I can reach out again um so probably within the next I would hope within the next month or so

so if it's something that we want to move forward with or at least try to move that forward in this fiscal year I can bring that back to the council once I get that information from him okay it's going to be a ballpark of course because that would have to go up for bid and then um just a question about the volleyball nets were those the volleyball nets at Maplewood that where

they play It's My counseling seats they have been at Maplewood they've been at um polisky as well and they put them up I know they're there all the time playing on the weekend so did we take those down we took them down because they were being erected in a very dangerous way so is there a way for the city to put up volleyball nets or something that they can attach their Nets to we have spoken

about volleyball areas proposed volleyball areas as well so that's again something that we're looking to see if we can accommodate that in this spring or summer season but that's something that again we were asked to discuss what we were able to do and I brought those items forward to the administration to see just what we're able to do now and and down the road thank you I yield thank you Council

come to C3 comes to Kobe yes just to pick back some of the questions and answers uh tonight um the main one that jumps in my head is similar with Council Pereira said in terms of bringing up the Meridian Street Park could you honestly tell me if it is that used at all and for what reasons Davis is are we talking about Davis Street yes um I'll go over my experiences with with

that part after you answer no we have we do not permit out that park because of the proximity to all the backyards of the the neighborhood and we were asked we used to have people incorporated or supervised youth groups go there we have not had a permit there so proxy is probably um on on the watapa side it's Woods then you have the the pathway that goes up with a basketball court which potentially could

be used for parking and then you have I can't tell you how many acres you've been there more than I have I think how many acres going all the way down almost near the curve at Old Meridian Street so presently there's a sample space to utilize that and if you're telling me that soccer is turned away also over the years um I can't tell you how many requests I've received uh for not only soccer but

Pop Warner football practices uh Youth Soccer when the new North Elementary Schools built it was I'll use the word ridiculous in terms of not in my backyard you know I was getting almost debt threats like I was a escaped from the house of correction you know I walk up there and I feel like German Shepherds can be let out of the yard and there are people on their deck

swearing at me so I get it not my backyard but there are not that many homes that border that Park all the way down so maybe eight to ten yeah so are you are you counselor asking me to look into permitting Meridian strong wind hit but it's frustrated in terms of over the years when I see nice pristine open space that could be utilized when we're obviously it's how many people being

turned away for recreational they've never requested Davis though I've never had a request for Davis Bach that we've turned away all right is a protocol or a ruling place where well it's so it's not being used we're cutting the grass but we haven't gotten a request so it's an extension of individuals backyards and when it's it's an extension of private property to public property and Durant

could follow the citizens can't use it so I have no problem if this council is telling me to look into that property to see if that's something that can be done there I have no problem to look into that property um because you might get rocks thrown at your friends so guys are just just it's it's makes total sense just be clear that the Park is open to the public but when

Smith says she's not permitting it not permitting but permanent like you know well if it seems to respect um no if it's open to the public yes but it can't be used for permanent purposes for organizations to utilize so really it's not no no understood um but I would respectfully disagree that if people aren't asking if if leagues aren't asking to use the park is it possible that over time they just

got used to not and so if we were to say Hey you know this could be used and we publicize that I think that's a different story than than us than the narrative that we're prohibiting use okay so this one doesn't sound like you are but I think we can certainly try to encourage you well could we rocks and all could we in this season you said the application process is

still going on and that and that is not that space is not even open to any discussion with regard to groups using that space so is it too late to include that on the list and I don't think it really has made much work up there for uh I mean soccer you need to uh gosh you could probably put for youth soccer or you could probably put uh at least four or five four Fields easy

um I know you we're gonna get I'm gonna get sacked you know this I do pretty well in 9A as Joe Council Camaro does because president Camaro does but what's right is right made to look into that area to see what can be done there okay I was more than happy to do that I'll follow up with you okay and finally I guess it's a little uh it's a little aggravating to me because

I just remember many years ago with the northern and North End Elementary Sylvia school was built how much static that that many of us receives and look how it's turned out it's turned out wonderful even I had one I'm talking to a chair I had one neighbor say if a soccer ball comes in my yard I'm keeping it okay so but I mean look at it it's wonderful

as I said we have not had a request I think as Mr Aiken said people have just gotten used to it over the years because of just the controversy that had gone along with it in the neighborhood but if you're looking for me to do that I will be more than happy sir I think it should be open to uh it's open to the public if someone requests it as a permit the

board of pot Commissioners will is here they will entertain it as a permit if that's what you're asking and what restricted hours obviously weekends I mean Mr President point of clarification has the study ever been done on Davis Park at all how many acres please four minimum I mean it looks like more but it's encroached Upon A lot of it is encroached upon and it does have some obstacles yeah I want you to think I'm

being that would have to be confrontation I think it's an important piece that's not being used at all uh and as as individuals there like I said who think that this extension of their property I yield thank you thank you Nancy I just want to make one thing clear the council is going to tell you exactly where to go I think that's your job and everyone else's table job to find out and let us

know what the availability is in these other parks that such as cost of Kilby and there's other parks that that's possibly where people could go to so if you're turning people away for one Park maybe you can recommend them to use another box we do okay we do um and that's something that we have in particular the Davis Park we've stayed away from first whatever reasons but we do refer them to other locations but

there's only so much that we can move forward to constancy three consequently do yield Council yes thank you thank you counselor come to see one concert team thank you Mr President uh so just I guess a statement and then a question to the administration so as I had mentioned during the I I've mentioned this several times during budget meetings and then also through our subcommittee uh the

presentation which was put forth by Mr Brown which was excellent presentation the very last slide indicates how much money has been spent on improvements which I think is important to get out there to the uh to the residents and to the public to know just how much of an investment is being made to our our Parks absolutely great um close to eight million dollars uh funded improvements uh three million

dollars spent and then projected 4.2 million dollars but my concern again is the budget as I always mentioned every budget here so when we look at everything that we have and I've gone through the open space and Recreation plan which is set to expire in 2024 and then this large document which I think is the parks and cemeteries Capital Improvement plan that was put together by BBA in 2015 which is a little outdated

we have 165 Acres 33 Parks when we look at the total budgeted just expenses for parks and recs we have 519 thousand dollars for set aside for expenses 48 of that 519 000 is just for a CSO water charge right so we've got to take roughly 50 right off the top uh so when you start to do that plus some heat and electric cost that really doesn't go towards the maintenance of our Parks

we're looking at 155 000 that are set aside to maintain 165 acres in 33 Parks so I've I've maintained for a very long time that we need to see increased budget in that um part of the presentation we're seeing that there's additional space that's coming online which is great again but with that what we're not seeing as a legislative body is a request for additional funding to maintain the field so let's just talk

about the boardwalk let's talk about the Kennedy Park overlook that's cost associated with trying to maintain this so man hours maintenance costs as well as improvements so I first question I think I heard Al Mr Oliveira I apologize state that we're going to start to see an increase in the budget because FY 22 we had an expense budget of 479 dollars add all these improvements FY 23 519

000 for expenses again 50 is set aside just for stormwater charges so we're going to see more of an increase for the expense budget for FY 24 to cover all these I guess Investments which by the way all this investment is not really any City money right so we're looking at all these grants so park oppa money so we haven't really invested granted they're all taxpayer money but we haven't

actually invested City money into these Parks so we've we've been the beneficiary of going out being very aggressive with grants at some point though I would assume you know our potential runs out to go back to the well to get grants to to try to repair this and I just you know one only needs to look at britland Park which I had mentioned before I think Mr Oliveira was here during that time when that project

was going on for the turf field so that's over 10 years so the turf fields usually typically lasts about 10 years before you have to replace the actual top layer of the field we haven't had any discussion about that the use for soccer is is great there so my concern and I guess the reason for this is really just to start having that initial conversation about how much money are we

going to start to see for an increase in the expense budget to cover all this investment that we're put in fourth so that's I guess the first question before I get into the second question about the the plan and use for fields answer this you want me to answer it so the Administration has reviewed the parks budget we have identified some areas that we need to add to the budget

one being the uh the equipment for the playgrounds uh the other is some asphalt work that needs to happen some basketball uh upgrades so we are in a process of upgrading some of the items that we that you're referring to we don't have numbers right now I that's what we're we're in the middle of them okay so just just as one counselor I'd like to see if we can and I'm and I know

we're not going to get a plan that's going to get fully funded in the first year but if we get a five-year plan that speaks to man hours just on how many man hours it would require it would require to I mean just Kennedy Park overlook right so if you're going to have grass if you're going to have maintenance and things like that you know I would think that you would need at least one

individual to maintain that on a weekly basis or bi-weekly basis right so given the Staffing level trying to figure out from a man-hour standpoint where what's the ideal um I guess ftes to have for the Department versus where we really Stack Up and what can we afford and what's sustainable right so I don't want to add on staff just to lay off in other departments or even to lay off in in the

parks department later on so it's got to be sustainable from my standpoint but we I think we need to know that when we're putting either CPC money in we're accepting grants as we accept this money we need to recognize that there's a cost associated with this and I want to make sure that we're starting to plan for that because we've been very good of taking this money and ignoring the part that there

is required maintenance you know moving forward so that's that's the big component that I'm looking for so I think the the tentative plan right now is that you're going to see for fy24 some increases those increases really represent two things one is a recognition that there is more Park facilities that just need to be covered but the more concrete uh use is the immediate critical needs and whether that's

um there's parking lots and pavement and paths uh throughout the parks that are in terrible disrepair that just really represent a hazard they look terrible they are terrible and need to be repaired immediately there's basketball courts there's there's things where the the need is undeniable and immediate and that would be at fy24 expense I think you're going to see the more significant increase in fy25 and

the reason why uh it would happen then is by that time we'll have had the opportunity to extend the park and open space plan uh right now we're preparing to go to bid on that and um you know that could be as much as a quarter million dollar investment actually do a comprehensive plan but that plan and part of the criteria we're going to put in that uh RF or RFQ is going to be maintenance and

Manpower projections um so I think in 25 you're actually going to see a very deliberate and sort of much more intentional approach to maintenance and Manpower than we've done in the past because it's going to be directed by the plan that we hope to have done in FY 24. that's the idea yeah and I appreciate that and I can I can live with that because I think we need a

plan and I and I grant granted the you know the open space and Recreation plan which was done in 2017 and again set to expire in 2024 um seems like a canned report and I'm not trying to you know ding anybody in terms of who the effort that was put into it I think some of the goals are just lacking I mean it's to improve our Parks when you start looking at Urban facilities I

mean they were very specific in terms of goals and objectives and action items for open space but they didn't really necessarily identify the true action items that needed to be brought actually executed for you know the parks and recreational facilities so if we can do that and I think at that point usually there's a system input or public input that's uh involved so hopefully all the recreational teams and

organizations will have an opportunity to put forth uh what their desire and their demand is for the sport so that we can identify and actually start to build a plan moving forward so I can support that the other piece though is the capital Improvement items and maybe this does fall more in line with the open space and Recreation plan but when I look at the plan it has the park amenities

I know you don't have a copy in front of you but on page five it lists the parks and playgrounds and then across it will say the amenities and I guess how many facilities are located at that particular Park so what I've noticed it goes to baseball fields basketball courts uh Little League field playground skate parks soccer fields softball fields um spray park so I'm assuming that's splash pads

tennis courts and then deck cocky uh I I guess in this this kind of really Falls in line with what the resolution is to talk about how do we improve you know park and rec facilities for leagues not just baseball soccer but football football flag football Ultimate Frisbee whatever it is have we started to look at what I guess what amenities are needed for each Park so that we can

kind of diversify the use of the parks you know counselor C3 brings up a good point with Davis Park I think part of the problem is there's a good portion of the community probably doesn't even realize Davis Park is there right because it's so far up north so a lot of people right well I I think there's there's a lot of people that might know that but I'll tell you that

some people from the South End will if you tell them Davis Park they will have no idea what Davis Park is right nor how to get there so um I guess what are we doing to really kind of highlight our our parks and then diversify the use of the park so that they're not solely for you know the typical baseball leagues and and soccer leagues but there is other opportunities for either football or flag football or

Ultimate Frisbee or pickleball whatever the case may be so again the information that we're gathering at this point with these requests will tell us where we stand right now we have discussed repurposing a couple of areas that may be underutilized if they continue to be I mean we had to make sure that this was not just a seasonal thing or a coveted thing so that's how now we will look at these

with the information coming in we'll look at these and maybe repurpose some baseball fields Maybe you know if they're not something that we can use we reconstruct or put in something for it to be a football field so yes it we have heard exactly what you're saying and we have discussed those amongst ourselves here as to see how can we move forward with the particular plan that we plan to to get

they will also give us information so we'll get an outside perspective as well to see how they feel we should move forward as well with the Manpower that we have how we can sustain that so I think we're making the taking the baby steps at this point because it's not going to happen like you said right away so we are looking at repurposing some of that but the information that we gather

with the request for the permit so it's important for people that you know want to request or have spoken to counselors about a request go to the city's website see how to to request these fields and request what what you believe you're going to need for your particular organization because it's that information that we're going to use going forward to determine some of these improvements that the council is asking

us to look into and if I could just jump in real quick here so following the conversation we had at the committee meeting some weeks ago we've started drafting a scope of work for some outside Advisory Group to help us with updating our open space and Recreation plan but being more intentional with the goals so as you mentioned the open space and Recreation plan is some broad goals

that are important but it doesn't really narrow down on some objectives that we have to follow through on so in the scope of work we're working through and developing you know we would look at those broad goals but then how do we actually fulfill those goals how do we engage the community in in understanding the needs and desires for what our Parks should offer and then going from there

developing some conceptual ideas of where that could be located respecting the history of the parks the neighborhoods and everything else and then following up with you know okay if we make these Investments what do the ftes need to look like what are the budgets need to look like and having that full comprehensive look rather than just kind of a broad open space Recreation plan and I

appreciate that and I and I do want to again kind of repeat myself in terms of the fact that I recognize um that the planning aspect is a very challenging aspect of this but we I think if it's done effectively I don't expect it to take place within the next year maybe two years would be more of a realistic time period to get there but I I do want to just say that I think it's

important for for us and as a legislative body to make sure that we're involved in this right so just to be having this conversation and talking about it and then when it comes time to to go to these meetings for the open space and recreational plan you know as a legislative body we need to be there or have at least a representative uh during these conversations because what tends to happen which is and I'm not and

don't I'm not trying to offend anybody at the table so if you read this plan God bless you um but I I tend what tends to happen is once you get these open space Recreation plan it's almost like a checklist you know you check the box off the checklist you to do is done so we've got we've got this open space Recreation plan that sits on the Shelf we never refer to it

again you got the master plan the master plan is a very similar document but I think there's a lot of important information that goes into those plans that I think should be used at any during any time of planning and budgeting so that as as a legislative body we can go back and say okay we've got a budget before us so you're requesting for some additional funds how does that fit into a master plan how

does that fit into the open space plan how's that fitting to our Capital plans and it just allows us to make more informed decisions in terms of you know allocating funds especially if it's limited right because at the end of the day I I think we're all hearing from from our residents that everybody is struggling and obviously taxes are increasing and things of that nature so we've we've got to be

cognizant of the fact uh that you know we have to be able to provide the services that they expect but in an efficient manner and I think sometimes we just need to really kind of make sure that the priorities are where they need to be and the only way to do that is through proper planning so I just want to make sure that we we're doing that I want to make sure that the

park board's included in that and it's a partnership and it's not just you know the city council trying to go in One Direction you know the park director trying to go in a different direction the board trying to go in a another Direction I just want to make sure we're all in the same boat rolling in the same direction that so we can make sure that this is moving forward but more importantly that we're

providing the funding that's needed to maintain this so that there's that sustainability aspect of it so that we're not going back trying to do the catch-up that we're doing that we're currently doing on all our facilities so just don't want to lose sight of the fact that as we bring more facilities on on board that we also need to make sure that we're maintaining the ones that we currently have so

I'll look forward and wait to the for the budget I know that's going to be coming down within the next couple of months so we'll have further conversations about the funding for parks and recs so if I made one one brief thing in terms of making sure that the administration specifically the parks department knows about needs that that may not be the the ordinary run-of-the-mill needs that you know we

already know there's baseball and soccer and that sort of thing but you know pickleball who would have thought 10 years ago the pickleball was was a big thing um and I think one of the reasons why we may not always be aware of the things that as counselors you find out about from constituents is that you know the way in which people find their way through the city sort of almost looks

like one of those old Family Circus cartoons where the kid would take the path through the yard you know some people go to a counselor some people go to the mayor some people go to the park board as long if everyone tried to follow the same process so it all gets funneled through the same thing they should go through the mayor's office that's not true but I appreciate that confidence I really truly do executive

branch versus legislative we just provide money if everyone if you know if you get a call from a group or a team or a league and they say how do we do this I think the answer from all of us if I may and I don't mean to tell anyone what to do but it it should be go through the park board go through Ms Smith because that way there is a single point of

contact that that is recording where these needs are and is able to better meet them uh because I know there's folks that that you're very aware of that may have actually never been before the park board but found their way through by by going through other channels it's just not as effective yeah so hey Yale thank you thank you Council Council team five Council thank you and you look at everything that's coming

it looks very good time consumer a lot of money get money from here and there and everywhere but you know you're going to bring more people to Fall River and nobody address this thing that in the Parks uh they played ball for three hours two hours uh conversation not then what do they do I mean you got all these people coming in where do they go where they go they don't have enough

trees you need a couple of places to go so I mean uh I never heard anybody say anything about it you know you're in a neighborhood and if they got to go I don't know anybody go on the guy's yard or whatever the case may be many years ago we had a few facilities Lafayette Park park and we had uh the park Department the pot so we don't have them today well here we

go we got all these parks are coming like you all the parks to cover all the grass to cover uh you got a big job big job now you know the police department got their Roots I mean I'm sure somewhere along the line you're going to have trouble with one of the parks or tour Parks because there's always something happening all the kids are not great kids you got a few guys today that like

to break the rules break the windows break somebody's bones and that's it everybody's got a phone and they'll call up right away they'll call the police department and he'll put them on the camera everything goes wrong they got the video but is there a plan besides saying bring them all in and do what you want what are you going to use for a bathroom you tell me foreign

so a couple years they'll be taller okay well we know we no longer have the Comfort stations in the Parks we do not we do not have them we have very few parks and perhaps I mean you don't have to come to the park for four hours you can come to but what what when we discuss the premier facilities when you're going to pay for a premier facility you would we would be

able to possibly have that Premier facility at a location for example Brooklyn Park is probably right now our most premier facility that we have it's a turf soccer field it does have the availability we can't leave them open so they have a choice of you'd have to have a fee which would include bathrooms lighting a Personnel to accommodate that that's what we're talking about with the premier facility

it comes with all of those amenities regular visits to the park might not come with those amenities well you know I think the big games and uh you know they get porta johns and I think you guys should make them say hey you're coming in you got a big crowd we do the leagues do have portageons okay

okay but you know to put Porta Johnson Here There and Everywhere it's not very attractive no I ain't saying but I'm just saying you know if I go play uh ball for three hours I'd probably die but I if I gotta go to the toilet I gotta go to the toilet you know what I mean and that's it but uh the leagues do the leagues do get porta johns most of them yes

all right and then we won't is there any I heard Kennedy black pot would open up the the facilities say are they open them for event we open them for events right now um that's something that can be discussed they cannot be left unattended that's that's the issue with bathrooms bathrooms cannot be opened and left unattended it just it just is not a very good combination they need to be supervised

unfortunately like I said you know we're spending money here and we just don't see some of the problems that will arise and that's it you know I go for it but everything is good is good it's good it's just that don't have sometimes the right facilities and I said enough on that topic I hear thank you Council counseling seat eight Council Washington I just want to um thank you council

president I just want to piggyback uh Council in seat three with Davis Park I'm going to respectfully disagree with you that people know about that Park I didn't even know about that Park I'm 41 years old grew up in this city not until a year and a half ago that I moved up to the Meridian Street area that I was like what is this mythical magical secret Park I actually had to call the mayor's

off and say am I allowed here because it's like Fort Knox I was like I guarantee you that once I permit out Davis Park oh listen you have you have guys right here that are going to see you probably after this but I mean it's almost insulting to say that it's not permitted out people because the lots are so close to the neighbors my brothers grew up playing at Pulaski Park softball they were cracking Windows

because literally the softball house is here and the tenants are here so I mean there's tons of land separating the houses from that field so we definitely could use that field it needs to be utilized better and I will also say I don't even know if it's up to code the playground material up there I took my kids up there once I found out I could go on there that property that was gated and

like the swings are very old from like 1982 the slide is like the one that you'll like get third degree burns when you go down it like it was I'm like don't go down there we'll be in the hospital but so I would take a look at that but it's a beautiful a beautiful piece of property probably one of I think one of the most beautiful parks in the city but it's locked you keep

there's nowhere to park because you like do you park on the grass you park on the street so and I did no no in your defense I am a South End girl we're up in the South End so that's like a whole nother world when I was younger up at Meridian Street but I think it's underutilized and I uh so I definitely say backward counselor so I am another counselor who would like to see that

opened up and uh you know more people would be able to use it so with that I yields council president thank you thank you Council I I want a piggy pack on Console pelletia's point and I know firsthand and I've spoken to Nancy all too many times with all the Terrace Park um when we were fortunate enough to open father travasso's there um in the first year the splash pad was

a bloody nightmare for my life because I probably picked up more diapers from thrown over the fence than I've ever done in my lifetime and I don't even have kids the need for bathrooms is beyond just this idea of going to the corner and peeing in a bush um it there's this literally at father travasa is a school next door that I'm a principal of and I've witnessed all too many times out the second floor window

watching people use the bathroom on the tree and there's five things wrong with that we need to have a better plan so I would like you Nancy if you could when you have that conversation with the contractor and you considering a field and all that where bathrooms play a role in this because again I I know what council penalty has said and he brings up a good point but in all seriousness it's a it's

a problem that needs to be addressed and then like we've talked about before the man hours that require to support those bathrooms and make sure they're clean and they're open and closed and all that like we're talking about budget those things need to be considered because we can have all these beautiful Parks but we don't have the basic necessities to use them correctly this this is the problem with that and

again I can witness it firsthand because I've done it I've had to pick up those things and it's just not ideal for anybody at all um the only thing I want to know as of last year how many permits did the park board give out roughly and Maine and mainly of what areas 30 permits What fields Maplewood um britland travasso's Lafayette Dumont those are multiple Fields as that's how you're going to reach that number

the top of my head I would say the only ones that didn't get seasonal permits Ruggles because the softball disband lower Kennedy because that disband um Columbus Columbus is used by Maplewood yes any particular Park that you you because I would probably be able to let you know that way more than try to Rattle them yeah that's fine I was just curious of how many how many were permitted last year

that's all I yield thank you thank you Nancy I have a question a premium pot the lighting there is that is that how old is that lighting can it get updated because I heard it was very dark it wasn't as strong as some of the other box that is um in the process Mr Bishop is uh has a purchase order to do something there so there is work that will be done there

he's waiting for a particular part um but that there's two lights two poles and those two particular poles are slated to be repaired so there'll be adequate lighting once that's done according to Mr Bishop yes thank you so much um any other questions thank all of you accountable yeah just so I'm curious I know we discussed that maybe in a in a few months we could have a another conversation about where we

stand with some of these things that we've discussed so I'm wondering if we can refer this back to my subcommittee for further discussions once we have some more facts if that's an option if you want to make that form of a motion Council I'd like to have it referred back to the entire Council like today we can table it here and we can just bring it up when you're ready to come back second

also tells me and seconded all in favor aye have you posed portion carries item is now tabled in finance thank you very much for coming down we have a couple of trans a few transfers and Appropriations first one being the man and Order transferring to some of one million three hundred thousand to the stabilization fund from fiscal year 22 Surplus Revenue are there any questions is there a motion

motion refer to full Council was it there already second it is in full Council already just for discussion purposes motion has been made in second all in favor aye the next one is the May order transferring the sum of 366 000 69.80 to the o p e b fund from fiscal year 22 surplus funds questions none this break these are all I need Jennifer discussion purposes most refreshment Second Law in favor any opposed

motion carries and the third one is the mayor in order to transferring the sum of fifty thousand dollars to the Health and Human Service Department expenses from the opioid settlement receipts stabilization fund motion to refer thank you for first million seconds moving codes no idea council president yes Council C5 because brother I thought we were going to try to get Kenny pachico out here so we

yeah that's in the city council meeting this is finance we have to go to the finals it's up to you people stop asking questions I'm going to support it so he doesn't have to stay as far as I'm concerned it's it yeah and look at the support itself when you start the city council meeting we will take that out of water Council okay thank you appreciate it you're welcome thank you the next is discussion Auto appropriate

55 000 from the CPA undesigned funds undesignated funds from the CPA open space outdoor recreation motion referral Council second on favor aye any opposed pushing counties motion to address Finance motion to a joint Finance has been made and seconded all in favor any pose Finance is now adjourned I feel comforting Council want to take a one minute to win the break in case you need to use the restroom

it's an important thing to do go for it you'll look for a tree works for me

so you're ready yes okay city council Community will come to order Colorado here Dion here Kilby Liberty yeah Pelletier yeah Pereira here proposal Washington yeah president Camaro here well everyone in the council champ please rise for a moment of Silent prayer

please remain standing for salute to the flag pledge allegiance 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 soon to the open meeting law any person may make an audio or video recording of this public meeting or may translate the screening to any meeting attendees are therefore advised that such recordings

or Transmissions are being made whether perceived or unperceived by those present and not deemed acknowledged and permissible one quart the first item before you is a communication from the mayor and a request for the extension to submit the quarter to budget report which was objected to at our last meeting on January 24th you would need a motion to lift this matter from the table so it should be left from the table

accept the place on file s is there a second second what's your second all in favor aye any opposed motion carries item 19 out of order please any opposed item number 19. yes

yes you have to come down yeah it's coming down okay euroscept ions item number 19 is the mayor's Communications right now oh right after thank you item number 19 is a communication from the mayor and in order um the order states that the city of Fall River hereby authorizes the attached Energy Services agreement to be entered into between the city of Fall River Public Schools in ameresco Incorporated

motion to adaptation remaining seconded all in favor no all in favor aye any opposed motion carries thank you thank you would you take out in 1500 voters mostly take item number 15 out of order has we made it in a second second second all in favor aye any opposed item number 15 please item number 15 is a communication from the mayor and we have two Tiff agreements and a tie agreement the first Tiff agreement

is for Bank five at 79 North Main Street the second is a tiff agreement for 37 Park Street llc at 37 Park Street and the third is a tie agreement for Hyde Park Development LLC at 439 Pine Street

um all in favor aye unanimous all in favor aye any opposed C2 opposed

Mr President motion carries Mr President the reason I agreed to take item 15 out was because I know that um Mr Fiola became a grandparent for the second time yesterday to a bouncing eight pound 15 ounce baby boy congratulations congratulations so congratulations to the Fiola family item number two is the FY 23 Quarter Two budget report of Finance and finance has made it seconded all in favor aye any opposed

motion counties item three is the mayor's request for the confirmation of the appointment of Michelle Hamilton as the city's veterans agent to adopt second motion to adopt hasn't made consecutive roll call wouldn't be motion and confirmed motion to confirm the adoption would lead to confirmed confirmation level

only if you want one I don't know it's not required in that case all in favor aye any opposed no motion carries congratulations no thank you thank you thank you

item four is the mayor's request for the confirmation of the appointment of Daniel R Lane as the administrative assistant to the board of assessors motion to confirm just want to clarify one thing for the record that this is actually the assessment's position it's not the assistant to assess it's actually the Assessor Mr Akins just made it clear to me you know okay so I just want to make sure

everyone knows we're not hiring a court right that's well needed for sure okay motion to confirm motion to confirm motion confirms remain seconded all in favor aye any opposed motion counties congratulations

thank you very much buddy thanks we need it right yeah thank you oh my gosh

come quick item five is the mayor's request for two appointments to the Council on Aging the first is for Joan Lord in the second for Mary E Hargraves motion to confirm that motion to confirm has been seconded all in favor aye any opposed motion Carriage as well item six is the mayor's request for the confirmation of two reappointments to the commission on disability one is for Daniel robillard and the second is for

Dennis pacelli which is confirmary appointments remaining seconded all in favor aye any opposed motion carries item seven is the mayor's request for the reappointments of Ann Keane and John Erickson to the Redevelopment Authority motion I confirm motion confirm has it made and seconded all in favor aye any opposed motion counts item eight is the mayor's request for the confirmation of the appointment of

Michael D Faris to the planning board motion to confirm second motion to confirm hasn't made in second all in favor aye any opposed motion carries item nine is the mayor's um notification and Order requesting the acceptance of a gift of a framed picture of President Abraham Lincoln with his Abraham Lincoln's signature from the fall of the library second motion would be to adopt has it

made and seconded on the motion counter C3 really quickly Mr President thank you I would uh this is quite a gift um so I would ask that uh we send this individual letter on a part of the entire Council thanking him I haven't seen the picture but that's quite a thing when uh especially I'm sure it's an original signature to donate to make a donation like that so um it's definitely a treasure by yield

that's a good point Council it really is thank you Moshe has remaining seconded all in favor aye any opposed motion counties item number 10 is the mayor's request for the acceptance of Grants the first is the amount of 539 865 dollars for the mass eops to fund overtime costs for police officers in the uniform division the second the amount of 800 2 500 for Mass eops to fund overtime costs for firefighters to maintain

optimal Staffing levels in fire suppression units to be assigned as needed the third is sixty thousand five hundred dollars for mod to complete projects to improve accessibility in the Veterans Center the fourth is twenty nine thousand two hundred seventy six dollars for Mass eops to purchase Community Support equipment and the fifth nine hundred nine thousand four hundred fifty eight dollars for

Mass eops to teach Fire and Life Safety to children in schools and seniors at home a motion to adopt has made by Council for a second second second account proposal all in favor aye any opposed promotional carry item 11 is a communication from the mayor in an order transferring the sum of one million three hundred thousand dollars to the stabilization fund from the FY 22 Surplus Revenue all in favor aye any opposed

motion carries item 12 is a communication from the mayor and in order transferring the sum of 366 069.80 to the opeb fund from the FY 22 Surplus Revenue second and seconded all in favor all right any opposed motion carries item 13 is a communication from the mayor and in order transferring the sum of fifty thousand dollars to the Health and Human Services Department expenses from the opioid settlement receipt

stabilization fund motion to adopt motion to adopt has amazed one second and seconded all in favor aye any opposed ocean counties item 14 is a communication from the mayor in an order appropriating fifty five thousand dollars from the CPA undesignated fund for CPA open space outdoor recreation for ballpark lights at Maplewood Park motion to adopt a second motion to adopt hasn't been seconded all in favor

aye aye any opposed motion carries have the five-year Financial forecast that's been submitted motion to afraid of Committee of Finance motion has been made second second and seconded all in favor aye any opposed motion carries item 17 is the notification from Mass DOR and the of available funds of FY 23 free cash certification motion to adopt the playstop file has a meeting seconded all in favor aye any

opposed motion counts item 18 is a communication from the mayor and councilor raposo's proposal for Bristol County arpa funding in the amount of 173 thousand dollars for Fall River artist culture Coalition artist recovery program motion to approve motion to approve has been made in a second and seconded by constipated all in favor aye any opposed constant seat six opposed I just have

questions on it um this is going through Frac from what I read we gave them 199 000 of Opera money then we gave the chamber 670 thousand dollars worth of Apple money and now 173 for this uh Arch Coalition on my understanding is this is to help artists establish the business and how um how to pay taxes and how to get a business isn't that something that the chamber has done for people who want to

start a business that the chamber comes in and does that I mean at this point we would have given tourism and Frack and arts one point some million dollars over a million dollars I just honestly I was away and I came home I wasn't feeling well I read this yesterday and I really have some questions on it so I would make a motion at this be table till I get some of my questions answered so I

make a motion to table we have a motion on the floor to no discussion on emotional table roll call I don't know

on the motion to table counselors Kadeem no no Dion yes Kilby yeah well liberty no pellets here yes Pereira yes proposal no Washington yes and president Clara yes that matter is tabled the committee on ordinances and legislation at a meeting held on January 31st voted unanimously to recommend that the accompanying proposed ordinance accompanied by an emergency Preamble be passed through first reading second

reading has to be enrolled and passed to be ordained with Council of Liberty absent and not voting this was a handicapped parking ordinance which will adopt Merchant Preamble motion to adopt the Music Sacramento hasn't made and seconded all in favor aye any opposed register funeral processes we need a roll column emergency plan roll call sorry man on the emergency Preamble council's kadim yes Dion yes Kilby yes

well Liberty yes Pelletier yes Herrera yes proposal yes Washington yes president yes second motion to adopt hasn't made in secondary all in favor aye any opposed motion carries committee on ordinances and legislation at a meeting held on January 31st voted unanimously to recommend that the accompanying proposed ordinance be passed through first reading as amended with Council of Liberty absent and not

voting this is a miscellaneous traffic ordinance to approve second Ed aye any opposed motion carries item 22 is the order granting permission to Mass Electric for five new polls on Star Street and Eclipse Street motion of proof motion to adopt has an amazing in a second second and seconded all in favor aye any opposed motion carries item 23 is an order granting permission to Mass Electric for a pull

one new poll and 85 feet of underground conduit on High Street motion to adopt motion and secondive all in favor aye any opposed motion codes next we have an auto granting permission to Mass Electric for one new poll and 105 feet of underground conduit on Belmont Street motion to adapt push to adapt has been made second and seconded all in favor aye any opposed motion carries we have two applications for auto repair

shop license renewals it's all moved second second motion to adopt the application is being seconded all in favor aye any opposed the police Chiefs report on licenses police Chiefs report on license has been seconded all in favor aye aye opposed motion carries you have a number of frames report a Corporation Council second motion refer to Corporation Council hasn't made in secondary all in favor aye opposed

I have a thank you card from Colleen Taylor except the place on files second motion accept the place that file hasn't made second all in favor aye any opposed question carries item 29 is a letter from Austin Fang regarding the creation of a zoning ordinance for short-term rentals motion referred to ordinance committee appropriate refer to claimboy first planning we can um

opposed motions referred book item 30 is the assistant cooperation council's response to the recent open meeting law complaint filed by Patrick Higgins regarding January 3rd violation should accept that place on fire would be appropriate motion still made motion has been made and seconded all in favor aye any opposed motion carries item 31 is the assistant Corporation council's response to an open meeting

law complaint filed by Patrick Higgins regarding the January 10th violation of the council place and seconded all in favor aye aye any opposed motion cam item 32 is a 2022 year-end report from the commissioners of the southeastern regional planning and economic development District promotion accepting place that file hasn't made is that a second second second all in favor and opposed motion counties

have a drain layer application motion approved motion approved application has been made and seconded all in favor aye any opposed motion cams minutes of the zoning board of appeals accept the place on file second motion accepted place on file has a main detected all in favor aye any opposed two cavities second what would you take items 35 to 38 has been made and seconded all in favor

aye any opposed motion carries motion to approve man anyone we have minutes of the public hearing held on January 24th the committee on finance held on January 24th city council held on January 24th and the special meeting of the city council held on January 31st approve has been made second and seconded all in favor aye any opposed motion Counties have a quick question for the clerk what is the Guinness

book world record for most open law complaints Patrick Higgins by far more than anyone else can we call Guinness Book of World Record and see what the ultimate law violation complaints proposed by one person is just out of curiosity and it's every meeting it's just it's a violent open meeting welcome play on you yeah you might just go right there motion to adjourn hasn't made and

seconded all in favor any opposed motion carries Happy Valentine's day everyone thank you