2.28.2023 Fall River City Council

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Pereira here proposal here Washington here president Camara 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 through any medium 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

motion open the public hearing emotions made to open the public reading a hearing has been made and seconded all in favor any pose motion carries item one new Singular Wireless PCS LLC as a t to construct and maintain telecommunications wires and apparentus including Fiber Optic Cables equipment cabinets remote nodes and a poll top antenna to be attached to an existing National Grid

utility Pole located upon the locate located upon and along the public way as follows it's on Bedford Street one poll location at 583 Bedford Street poll number 26. and according to project number CRA n frvr09 are there any proponents to this public hearing one any proponents at all your proponent you don't have to I just if you if you want to you're able to you don't have to speak if you don't want to I reserve the

right to comment question arises um sure I'll call you down if need be uh there being only one proponent we're just having to write the question if a location applies itself um are there any opponents seeing closed here I was gonna do the other one as well but that's fine if you want I have a question all right could you come down please um do you need it for the proponent for

the open well he can come down he's from the company correct please state your name on that just for the record when you get to it when you get to the microphone please yes any way you're comfortable yes good evening my name is Joseph jamarco g-i-a-m-m-a-r-c-o I am with the firm of brown Rudnick LLP with the office in Providence Rhode Island here representing a new Singular Wireless PCS thank you Council has a

question the question that I have on this it's at 583 Bedford Street which is near Taco it's on the corner of Bedford and um Rodman for uh Robeson but I have a picture on my phone because there's a poll and then there's another poll and the poll that's attached there was all wood underneath so that second pole would be higher that poll is off of all the wood and it's leaning forward that

if we have a heavy wood wind storm or something that pool is going to fall so now are you taking that pole out of there to connect everything to National Grids Pole or are you going to put yet another poll no no it's my understanding that the old pole that sistered up to the existing pole is going to be removed and that the antenna will be placed on the National Grid pool

that new really needs to be removed and I don't know if it's your company that has them all the way up Bedford Street but several of them when there's two poles together the wood that was on the bottom of the second pole it rots away and you know those two poles I don't like them I don't think we should have two poles anywhere in the city after I've seen well I believe the

dispensation on the plans that were submitted saying that the sistered pole would be removed from this it would be removed yes okay then I'm ready to vote on it happy to get that removed because it is a hazard so safety has it thank you thank you for your uh I know it's not your fault I'm just sharing with you my concerns but thank you very much appreciate your time thank you I yield Mr President thank you

councilman next we have the five-year Capital Improvement plan are there any proponents to The Five-Year Capital Improvement plan seeing none are there any opponents to The Five-Year Capital Improvement plan well seeing none on the entertain emotions close public here emotional codes has been made and seconded all in favor aye any opposed motion carries public hearing is not closed

city council Community finals will come to order clerk will please call the road council is Kadeem Dion here Kilby here La Liberty here Pelletier yeah Pereira 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 perceived or unperceived by those present and not deemed acknowledged and permissible time is now conferences and input time we have Nelson classcast subject matter Fall River come down please Nelson do one of the counselors know that chipper Camara has informed me that he is on his way here he does want to speak to him since his input time so if he

does not get here we can go into finance and doing Finance we can just have him speak during Finance give them his three minutes go ahead Nelson um Fall River well reality has set in with this love of favorite market rate housing because what I have here is according to rent Cafe the average monthly rent in fall river is 1771 with an average apartment size of just a mere 934 square feet

you'll have to earn 408 dollars a week after taxes just to have a small apartment in Fall River and it's been broken down into some neighborhoods here so Bank Street Highlands North End Fall River steep Brook right now the average rent in those areas is 1904 dollars lower Highlands 1868.

Sandy Beach 1861 Northwood top Reservoir 1800 dollars and 49 there Oak Grove 1830 in both kokiro and Niagara is one thousand five hundred and seventy five dollars and just two years ago according to the census the average rent median gross rent was just a mere 918 dollars and just two years ago myself and many City residents have been advocating against these overflow of market rate housing and was seeing this

grow out of proportion and just recently he told the local media channel 10 that some people are going to experience a negative impact some people but according to the low-income housing Coalition National okay this is the the breakdown in Massachusetts all the lower household renters Working Families disabled and seniors seniors by the way are 30 of this pie here you know the list goes on this this

paper right here is not just some people in Fall River because these numbers are higher if nothing is done to equalize what's going on into put a balance to these market rate developers coming in and and overflowing the market increasing the cost of living our residents are going to be priced out like it's it's happening faster and faster and for him to tell the local media 30 seconds yes council president

and for him to say to hear it again residents voicing their opinions they're gonna get priced out it's like he's living in his own reality in his own reality and uh I think it's time that the residents of Fall River reclaim your city before it gets taken even more before it's too late and put a stop to this because this is absurd and our seniors are going to feel a better

prompt of this and everyone in our in our city don't deserve to be priced out because they're not going to move forward they're gonna have to move out and that's a shame thank you maybe no one else has signed up except for Chipotle till he gets here okay we'll now go into the first transfer and appropriation that the sum of one million seventy one thousand nine hundred and fifty nine dollars be and

the same as hereby appropriated to the school appropriation from fiscal year 22 Surplus Revenue any questions or no question one moves up item number two fiscal year to 2023 quarterly two budget report referred on February 14 2023.

all right so we can come down please

welcome I know everyone knows who you are but please just take your name and what department you represent please uh Bridget Allman director of financial services South Aiken City administrator good evening thank you constitute good evening so my first question is under the tab of uh Quarter Two actuals I want to point your attention to information systems and personnel and training salaries

so this we have 302 779 for personal training and salaries so my question is and I know there was a big discussion about upgrading uh our our systems and there's a lot of issues with cyber security Etc so my question is why did the city of Fall River not put in for the grant for your Municipal cyber security awareness grant program I have five pages of communities some very affluent who put in for their grant

that person I will be trained at the state level it was offered by Governor the new governor why did Fall River not apply for this grant so councilor um I can take a look at the Grant I haven't you know had the benefit of looking at what's in your hand I'm glad to take a look at that and and come back to you with an answer uh if I can

get a couple days to do that I will say that um the cyber security piece here isn't necessarily all just the cost of doing cyber security but rather there's also cyber security insurance and a number of other pieces that were not in place more than a year ago that we discovered uh when I came in and Ms almond came in and our new IT director came in uh discovered that the

city did not have the benefit of cyber security Insurance to our surprise and shock that has now been remedied and I do know that some of the cyber security contracts that we do have in place are multi-year contracts so one of the reasons it might be and I'm speculating without like I said having seen that that we're already in contracts that once those are set to be renewed or changed we might actually be

looking at Grants and other opportunities to pay for that again speculating I'm gonna have to look at that and get you a hard a firm answer but that's just my um you know the initial office well this was it was free training that that was offered um training salaries because that's the human resource not just like no no I understand that but the point is we do have we do do training in that department don't we

am I the the um Information Systems Department there is some training um certainly um but I guess my question is why wouldn't we want free training and especially for something so important basically it's a great question I'd be glad to look at it and I'll certainly get you an answer so that was my first question my second question under Community Maintenance undesignated Department salaries uh we've spent 104 000

so what are undesignated Department salaries so I I mean I'll have to look at the detail of what makes that up and like who's in that I mean it's a budgeted line it made me it may need a new description to be more accurate but I will take a look at that for you on the next page Harbor Master and police expense well let's start with the Harbor Master so the hopper Master makes twenty five

hundred dollars a year um we have a high overtime uh in the police department we've been short-handed police have been hit over and over for overtime one of the things that they're a little upset about because the overtime has been really crazy because we have a shortage of police so my question is why are we using a police officer who gets a police office salary to be the Harbor Master instead of

hiring a Harbor Master at twenty five hundred dollars a year like we traditionally have so as you recall December 31st 2021 law enforcement reform was put into place by Governor Baker one of the things that mandated is any official with police Powers had to be post certified so the the police officer training sort of body for the state that authorizes all certified police officers

also had oversight of anybody that would have any sort of arrest or police Powers so unfortunately what happened is that we had the opportunity for years and years to have a Harbor Master who was a civilian was under the supervision of the police but didn't have to comply with any of the the police standards that changed and so when our Harbor last Master left his position we had to fill

that position with a police detective who on a temporary basis did it for the summer and through most of the Fall we'll probably do it again in that capacity what you'll be seeing I think in the next budget that's going to come before you in the next few months is a change in how we're paying for the Harbor Master because no longer can we have a civilian that does this kind of quasi-part-time position

under the the change in the law so so that was kind of the issue it was really out of our control we have to have a police officer in that position the police officer I'm sorry the harbor Masters assistance don't necessarily need to be certified police officers but the Harbor Master does and so that's the the change we had to make and of course you can't do that for the 2500 so it

changed how we had to pay them made that change and still have have not changed their Harbor Masters and their Harbor Masters are not police officers so I don't know what the um disconnect is there that why we have to have a police officer but they don't that be something that I think would be worth looking into sure I'll check it out to find out if that information is correct um from my

understanding uh if you have a Harbor Master the Harbor Master uh if that harpmaster has police Powers they have to be a certified police officer if there's some other details that were missing with the other towns I'll be glad to find out and I'll let you know and along that line under expenses on page 17.

we had budgeted amount of one million two hundred thirty five thousand seven seven three if you add all the columns for overtime for the police department and we exceeded that by a quarter of a million dollars well that's what will happen because they're filling it with overtime and there's vacancies which again is why it concerns me that we're also using an officer as a hopper Master

when you look at these kind of numbers and I get it's not their fault they're short-handed you have to you have to fill in the uh the hours do we traditionally have reimbursement the SRO overtime I'm assuming we don't because there was no budget for it it was uh expended but it was not budgeted that would be on that same page on page 16 I'm sorry no that's fine I appreciate that um so I'm

I'm not sure about the SRO overtime I can tell you that I believe right now and I think this was reported what a couple weeks ago when uh the police were down before the council um 18 to 20 something spots vacant depending how you count um uh with regard to patrol and then other uh open spots uh in special units um we just started an academy which I believe started with 11 has 10 officers

in the academy now being down that many officers uh has an effect on overtime uh unfortunately so I think that what you'll see is by the time those officers come on board you're going to see the overtime costs go down significantly but it's unfortunately a reality that that most communities around the state are facing it's it's hard to recruit and retain police officers some of that hopefully will uh we'll uh

remedy uh at least in part tonight but that said the the overtime really comes down to a significant number of vacancies from retirements uh transfers and just open spots so on that note um and I wouldn't have said anything but seeing you brought it up on that note I did through the assistance of Representative Alan Sylvia submit a bill to the St the state house um a retention bill for emergency

Personnel fire police EMT across the state for all Gateway communities I'm hoping there's going to be a lot of support for it and that that bill will pass and that will significantly help us as well that'd be great any help is is definitely needed thank you councilman and did we only have one on the next page 17 we only had one retirement buyout in the second quarter yeah um I think that's it for now with that

ideal thank you thank you Council Seth I just want to point out Somerset across the river has a hobbit master was not a police officer okay that's right I have a master for quite some time concert seat constancy one Council codeine thank you Mr President um I guess just staying on the same topic that Council Diana was just talking about with got the police so the overtime is going up are you going to

have savings and salary to offset that overtime cost right because it should make it vacant positions yeah it really is a little bit of a wash until you get those people from the academy and so I meet with um the police department in the fire department because they're the higher overtime users I meet with them at least quarterly and we have been discussing this with the chief routinely okay uh

so just a question on the first tab the first page when you get to revenue so local receipts um the numbers seem to be slightly below so 43.4 I recognize uh motor vehicle that sizes well probably the largest portion of the local receipts that are coming in and your big commitment doesn't hit well hit in February so I recognize that that's not in there yep um but marijuana excise tax the um so

budgeted revised budget is 1.2 uh I guess so is that is that a revised budget so is the percentage off no so the re so that that's the marijuana that the bill that the the law changed after we did our budget so the three percent local the impact fees yep so I expect we're not going to get any more right now on the impact on the impact yes so that's that three percent for the

local on like Recreation and medical that I don't know if you remember that you know was it July or August it was right after we did our budget they went and changed the law yep so no I reckon that and then the 38.5 is really on the original budget right the one six not the one that's really on the one two no it's on the revive it should be on the

revised the sixth we've gotten 634 000 which was we got roughly half right in July yeah and we've received no more okay just it just seems that would that percentage should be 50 closer to 50 yeah 38.5 take a look at it yeah um then the other one is other departmental what's a 20.5 percent what's I guess what's driving that you see that is it in receipt in local receipts I'm sorry local receipts yep

still on the local other department about Midway or I should probably uh I would say the third way from the bottom oh the um so 1.2 we revise the budget to 600 600 11 000 yeah again I can look at the detail of what's driving that that's a lot of different like departmental fees between building and traffic and then go in several pages um so it's not numbered page one two for the fourth page purchasing salaries

so you've got purchasing salaries at 75 of what was budgeted so that was the realignment where um Channing matino was in a small portion of that so we need to realign the budget with salaries um now that some a good majority most of the contracts are not settled which we'll be doing in the next meeting or two okay which and so we need to increase the salary on that department but it shifted from some others

all right and then uh the only other question I believe I had was just EMS so the Enterprise fund the expenses uh so expenses Direct 89.5 as they were concerned about being close to 90 with that so I I think it's more of a timing Revenue timing um from them because I did talk to again I meet with them quarterly as well and at this point there wasn't a concern it

was just seemed to be more of a billing timing thing okay Mr President thank you uh constant C2 yeah to ask in terms of the academy uh did has the administration made a determination or move forward with the nine thousand dollars that that the expense that these uh people incur by applying for the job and going to the academy yes so this Academy that started a few weeks ago it's the first class

that uh doesn't have any uh Financial costs to uh to entering um ends up being about yeah close to nine thousand eighty seven hundred or something like that uh that's the cost of the academy plus equipment um everyone made an agreement with the city that they would stay for five years if they leave prior to five years then there's a payment plan they repay that if they stay longer than five years it's

forgiven no payments or anything due during those first five years unless they leave so that started um I think we're we're pretty excited about this first small step in in terms of recruitment retention uh hopefully it it uh it works out I think it will um and actually one more thing about the Harbormaster you might remember that in in prior to January of 22. sometime between uh sometime in

the summer I believe of of um of 21. our Harbor Master resigned the position notwithstanding post so what I'm going to look at is whether or not existing Harbor Masters who have been there for a long time are grandfathered in and whether we're placing Harbor Master we're then susceptible to the post-regulations which is what we had to do in that next summer so that could be part of it as well so because he left on

his own um you know there was some controversy around the departure and then we had to fill the spot with somebody else and we were told it had to be a police officer so it's possible that existing Harbor Masters are grandfathered in I'll check on it I'll get you an answer okay thank you and I'm very glad to hear that that agreement was made that that the city absorbs that rub that round about nine thousand and

uh that you get the five-year commitment thank you without a yield thank you Council seat six conservations I just have one question uh Mrs almond how much money is in uh is forecasted to spend on abandoned properties including them up through the building department what's the amount of money that we have no I don't know that off the top of my head I can discuss that with the building

department that's fine could you let me know because I I find that there's some abandoned properties around the city and when nothing gets done and the Grass Grows and rodents form and neighbors are being affected that we have to do a better job of that if you could just call me let me know thank you with that I yield thank you Council let me know further questions yep move on to item number four

five year Financial forecast we've heard on February 14 2023 I have any questions yep being no further business before Finance counseling seat says Council for vice president to be honest I find doing a financial forecast now without having a bunch of other information it's like I don't know maybe Mrs almond can discuss this further but it's almost like looking at a crystal ball and guessing

because you don't have all the information to do this maybe we need to have a financial Outlook done Financial forecast done at another time where it makes more sense and we know what more figures we have just a suggestion that's a good point uh that's it with that I yield thank you Council see on page one of the five year forecast American Rescue plan act it's there are zero dollars but on the last

page of the forecast it states the administration uh arpa funding will be used primarily to invest in long-term Investments um do you have a dollar amount what type of Investments how is Opera money going to be used so as you know I mean the offer money is being dedicated to long-term things that have a useful life of over a year so that's been the intent so far and to the best we can that's

what we're trying to maintain I mean that's why so much money has been put into sewer water and sewer um we're trying to buy equipment that is more than you know a one-year piece of equipment so the investment of that is considered more Capital items and not really operational okay so by alleviating that off of your operational budget um in the same vein as counseling C six there are also knowns

as a just like there are unknowns or also dollar amounts that we definitely know um so my question is Diamond Regional debt assessment we have a dollar amount across the bottom of the page is that factored in to The Five-Year Plan it is and that was provided by Diamond we did not come up with those numbers so it's it's in these it's in here okay um the mou that we're going to be voting

on tonight are those numbers reflected in this forecast so those numbers are reflected as best we could in the forecast um we'll have a tighter like because there's overtime too that's I wouldn't know exactly but it's reflected as best we can in there but you do have some solid numbers that could be reflected and you that's right that's all reflected in this uh Durfee is going from 2.2 to 5.2 I

believe is that what it was so last year um well the current year we're in the mayor alleviated by going with using half of the Durfee for the debt exclusion this forecast takes into account we would be using all of it now that doesn't mean that this is necessarily happening again this is a forecast so it's an estimated subject to change it's already changed this week when the cherry sheet came out

let's see I was looking at the abatements um abatements the so the numbers that you have in the abatements are they based on making no changes to the present abatement amount you know we had that discussion that we wanted to see a change in either income or that does not account for any changes in that okay that okay so that analysis is being done by the Assessor's Office okay and that's something that's going

to come back to us yes so what is the deadline for people who want to file for an abatement this year yeah I think yeah I think it already happened the very first it's already come and gone yeah so so now the soonest that we can help people's next year I thought that was the intent anyways for the next budget

uh let's one more question under Appropriations the administration is working on a waste strategic plan yes so one of the pieces to that is is we have a couple different contracts that they're not imminently expiring but they're they're short um both disposal and um pickup and so the question is where do those go from here are there ways that we can save money or ways that we can utilize education and other tools to

increase the effectiveness of our recycling program decrease the cost of recycling which would then decrease the cost of our overall disposal removal of solid waste so there's a lot of different pieces that we're we're looking at we're actually working with uh with some of the different contractors that are party to those contracts looking at commercial solid waste so there's kind of some ongoing

conversations I think very soon it'll start including maybe a committee that would include a council or members of the community to really work through some of the different solutions there another one well well the committee that already exists but just sort of re-uh restarting that because I think that input is really important um but the uh the work that's being done so far is trying to look at the fact

that that Solid Waste is is a huge problem everywhere that there are fewer Solutions in Massachusetts because of the restrictions on burning and other things and so how do we move forward in the future knowing that we're not just going to have an ever increasing burden of of trash and I think there's some ways to do that and we'll be talking about those in a more public way pretty soon yeah unfortunately we've had a

zillion talks and uh I mean it business trash was supposed to stop like two years ago it is a significant number um any appetite yet to step up and do that there's definitely an appetite to step up uh and do a number of different things uh and I think you're going to start I don't want to you know talk out of school and uh you know uh talk about something that isn't imminently ready to

happen uh but I think that uh we're going to be sharing with the council very soon some thoughts to be looking for the council's feedback uh because if we're going to do this I think it takes a collective uh difficult choice to move forward and try to fix trash both for the council and for the administration and we want a partnership on that okay with that I yield thank you

Mr President so I guess I disagree with my colleague that made the statement that you know the financial forecast isn't beneficial and there's a lot of unknowns so I would say that it's important for us to get it no matter where we push it out you're always going to have the unknown so I don't know that it corrects the unknowns right so I think it's just a planning tool to make

sure that we put as much accurate information that we currently have now with assumptions to see exactly where we're going to be so just along those lines I guess I just have questions when we look at the just the bottom line so fy24 looks to be balanced which I guess at this point would would make sense since you're going through the budget process and working on that and then you know 25 through 28 all those

years out it seems like it's really the diamond uh assessment because of the new school that's really kind of driving the um I guess this deficits that we're seeing however so I I guess the question I have for you is is the assumptions that we use to bill this so one I know you've captured Chapter 70 going up and that's really the big increase that we're going to stop seeing

with the uh the increase in the local Aid that's coming in for schools and then the city's local contribution coming in right so that's going to drive an additional cost so outside of that those costs there and I know it's hard to determine what net School spending is going to be but that's the Assumption for those years out is 100 in that school spending so that that's the assumption but I mean again so I didn't

have um an estimate from the schools yet so I did the best I could be based based on percentages okay and that the goal is 100 yeah um again diamond is a huge driving factor and I mean we're limited to prop two and a half estimated New Growth is pretty conservative in this and you can't raise revenues fast enough and then lose you know and now we're fine you know we're losing cannabis Revenue

we're losing other things so yes the diamond is a is it's a big factor it's a big I mean as you can see I shared that with you a few weeks ago I mean a six and a half million dollars in two years is a significant blow to a budget no and I appreciate that and I and I as I go through the expenditures I it seems like all the other departments a flat line

too we were pretty yeah it was pretty modest because I mean I don't know how else I mean no no I I can't get so so I I think I just want to highlight that even though it looks like it's uh you know a reasonable uh balanced budget it also shows that there's not a whole lot of um increase in you know budgets for General government administrative services financial services um you know facility maintenance sees a

little bit more of an increase in the other departments uh Community maintenance as well but I think if we start talking about some of these other things that you know parks and RX that we were talking about to try to build those I think if we start to build that you're going to see a the Surplus you know deficit increase right compared to the to the revenue so I just you know I just want to caution

the fact that it while it may look like diamond Regional is is really the driving factor that if we actually added some additional stuff that we would want to sell in departments um it would really kind of Skyrocket yeah and that's the thing is so right now I I mean this demonstrates that if we're extremely conservative and we kind of keep going status quo then this is where we're at if we actually Implement

what everybody wants to implement without finding grant money or other resources I don't I mean there's there's only so much money you know the pot is this big and yep there's going to be some hard decisions that are going to have to be made right because I mean year over year just taking General government you know you're going from you're doing about 40 you know forty thousand dollars uh year

over year right so that to me you know we need more than that right so yeah we're going to build a budget I think you know we just got to be cognizant of the fact that you know these numbers are really really conservative uh in terms of not really having significant increases that these departments would need so again I mean so the net School spending so if you look at what that's increasing because of the student

Opportunity Act we are looking at do about a two and a half million dollar increase every year in our local appropriation and then you add diamond and then you know you add inflation I mean again this is a this was a very conservative forecast all right thank you with that I yield thank you councilor Debbie no further questions entertainment welcome to adjourn Finance motion to adjourn Finance any opposed

finances now adjourned the regular city council meeting will begin at seven o'clock

thank you

thank you

city council please come to order Clerk or call the road counselor yeah yeah Dion here Kilby yeah well Liberty here Pelletier here Pereira here proposal yep Washington yeah president Camaro here well everyone in the council Channel please rise for a moment of Silent prayer

please remain standing for us food 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 your justice for all pursuant to the open meeting law any person may make an audio or video recording of this public meeting May transmit this meeting to any medium 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 Madam Clerk the first item is a communication from the Mr President where may we take item five motion to take item five out of order has been made by counter in seat six Council Vice Presidential Prayer seconded by constant C4 on favor aye any opposed motion cast members please item five is a communication from

the mayor and a member random of agreement between the city of Fall River and the Fall River Police Association Mass cop local 1854. motion to adopt as negotiated second sure

Council has a motion and seconded all in favor aye any opposed please come down

hmm

contact thank you Mr President so contrary to what I've been hearing on it can't always listen to rumors but I know we got a packed house so I do want to make a statement number one that um you know there's comments that I'm trying to sabotage the Police contract things of that nature so that's absolutely not the case so for those folks that um want to go around and make those statements go right ahead

I for one have been a huge proponent for Public Safety I've said that from day one both police Fire EMS I'll continue to do that whether you know Union groups want to support me or not it doesn't really matter at the end of the day I think this contracts uh is about affordability and not what individuals deserve because quite frankly I tell you right now that I think there's police department deserves

a lot more than what's in this mou right and I think all the all the councils here which would say the exact same thing when you start looking at the profession um from the standpoint that we've seen over the last couple of years with police reform uh the way that process has played out just in Massachusetts alone from my standpoint is just wasn't the right approach you look at post there's

no representation from law enforcement that's on on post I think there was a rush to implement changes that needed to take place throughout the country but when you look at Massachusetts we were ahead of the curve we weren't training to choke holds we weren't doing any of the things that we're seeing throughout the country and not to suggest that we don't need reform but I think you know

politicians and those in power rushed you know the process so with that I think it's had an impact which we've talked uh with the police Union in the last couple of weeks about retention also hiring of folks to come into this profession and I often talk to just even my department when we're doing interviews trying to look at some of the candidates that are coming before us and the lack of

quality candidates coming for the position and and trying to compete with other communities to you know hire folks and retain them but there was there was a time folks used to be Korea test takers just to get in the profession you don't see that anymore there's no planning there's no studying for the test um some of the young folks that are coming into the profession that to them it's just I'll try it out

it's not about policing it's not about Public Safety uh there isn't a story anymore to why they're getting into the profession it was either family history there was a personal experience that kind of drove them into that career we're not seeing that anymore so I recognize and appreciate everything that the folks that behind me on the side of me what they do on a day-to-day basis so I would support it

um however I've got questions and and it comes back down to not whether the department deserves it but as we had mentioned the affordability so we did receive a an email or a letter a letter that came through an email from from my standpoint from the police Union and the the actual letter said that in the Union in the discussion with the um that they had in many of their discussions uh with the city

Administration we've then assured that the city has the capacity to absorb the financial impact of these mousse so I guess that's the first question that I I would have and I would I would assume that this wouldn't be presented to the city council if we felt like we could not afford it um and and my line of question is going to go a little bit beyond just the affordability of this

contract or the impact that it has on the supervisor's contract as well as other Public Safety departments so that's where I'm going to go so the first question I guess I would like to get answered is um is this an affordable contract yes sustainable long term I believe it is and we have costed out the implications and things of that nature when you when you say that you feel like it's affordable

yes so we know the full implications for that we do um and if I can answer that a little more in depth than just a yes first of all let me just agree that um you know you and I have talked as a fellow city manager City administrator um you've been nothing but supportive and insightful into how we uh navigate uh the need to recruit and recur and retain uh the very best public safety

officials in um I have never felt for a minute that you um uh were not in support of uh doing the best that we can for police so if anyone has any doubt about that I just want you know what that wasn't directed I know it wasn't no but I just want to make sure that anyone in the room and anyone watching knows that they're they're individuals that circle around

talking about that and that's just so I I just want to be frank the only the only person that I've actually had a conversation was was Council Dion and that was um I believe a couple days ago and that was the only thing and I actually just reviewed and Folks at the table know that because I requested documentation to review what was before us but you know it's just it's just frustrating to hear you know

get calls and text messages and when it's not even accurate I can imagine so I want to throw it out there because I just wanted somebody come up to me number one to ask me to support them I did receive an email quite frankly you know the room was filled I walked outside that that chamber and quite frankly I usually go back the back way so I walked out walked through folks

nobody acknowledged me nobody asked any questions I'll have conversations Frank conversations whether you agree with me or disagree with me about where it is but you know strong words like trying to sabotage I mean it's one thing to vote down a contract but to suggest that I'm trying to sabotage the contract I'm not quite sure where that comes from but you know folks can feel free to give me a

call or reach out to me to have those conversations and it is what it is but at the end of the day it's just going to play out here so I'm gonna ask the questions so I just wanted to say that I've never felt you know that way and for anybody who's listening or watching you've been incredibly helpful in trying to figure out how we do this um with regard to the sustainability and affordability over time

um let me say I acknowledge that this is a lot of money there's no question about it um but the the flip side of this is that if you don't have Public Safety you really have nothing if the residents of Fall River can't be safe in their homes and on the streets and at their work then I don't really know where we go from here now that said said this is not a you

know oh my gosh what other choice do we have we have to do this but you know we really can't afford it we can afford this um it's not that you know we can afford this without giving some serious thought into how and we have there's been a lot of conversations about how we do that um and I think going forward we're going to have to be very mindful of the fact

that we have done a contract that does the right thing for our Public Safety uh for our police officers and that it's not always the easy thing to do the right thing but in this regard I believe it's sustainable and affordable so just on the sheet that you presented to us though the fiscal impact statement so the only thing I've got a question on with regards to what was presented is

that one of the numbers just doesn't make sense to me and and maybe it's accurate but so when I look at and I'm assuming it's fiscal year we'll call it fiscal year 22 right so very front page 1.5 percent increase so so the financial impact is 439 000 on a 1.5 percent increase um fiscal year 23 you get a one percent increase and you'll see 444 000 increase and I'm rounding up

so that makes sense right it's obviously you gotta compound the 1.5 the one percent and then when you get to the restructure uh you got a 10.8 percent and it's only 492 000. that number to me seems low right unless that number should be a 1.8 percent so again like we don't know what overtime is so the restructure is with the intent of your overtime would be coming down your double time I don't

know if you can hear me and you're double time so really you're 20 21 and 22 we know what those are they've already been calculated and then your 22 and 23 has got some overtime factored in and really your restructure year doesn't have overtime factored into that that is just straight contract based on you know known Staffing levels which would if you have Staffing levels where they're

supposed to be the overtime will decrease so so did you level fund over time it just I mean it really I listen if I was looking at it I would I would expect and then but you also have lower I mean there's a younger police force coming in you've got we've had some retirees we've had people no I I recognize that and I recognize wool consolidating 11 steps going down to to I believe three steps

whatever the case may be but even even at that right you would you would think TOP Step your top step folks have to make or be have to make money right so that so when you go to all those steps is not I would assume that there's nobody in the bargaining unit that is currently losing money on the restructure is that a safe that's true so that's a safe assessment

so I would say if you're looking at a restructuring a 10.8 percent even without overtime and just over time being level funded I I would think that you'd have to be at least six seven hundred thousand well so I mean we can look at these and I just throw those numbers out I don't know what that is we can review this again but I so this went we went through this with um the person

who does the payroll in the police department and the auditor's office both did this together so I mean I feel confident I mean again I can we can review it again but we had two people um and the person that did it with from the police department I mean that's what she does all you know okay and maybe listen and I could be wrong but I would just think that you see a 1.5 or 1 and

then even the following year is a two percent that's 500 000 right so if you're seeing a 10.8 it's got to be a much higher than you know the 500 000 or the 444 it's the temporary it's not a straight 10.8 it's just that's just the average between because the steps are consolidating and there's a couple other things going on here um and actually one of them speaks

to uh one of the benefits to the city uh with regard to this contract uh and it's a significant change in how we deal with compact um so comp time uh as everyone probably here knows and I'll just say it for whoever's watching or might be in the room um has been for a long time not just an unfunded liability but a very unpredictable unfunded liability because if you imagine that an officer that gets

comp time will get the time and a half plus the day right and that day ends up essentially getting paid to the officer at the end of their career when they um they will go off duty but continue to be on the books for who knows how long and there are some guys uh that are and I don't mean to use a gender specific uh pronoun I apologize for that there's

some officers who might be on the books for two years uh just on comp time right and if you imagine that they incur that comp time at some point you know in the middle of their career but don't actually take it until you know 10 12 15 years later the actual value of that day has actually gone up significantly from what it was when it was originally awarded um so the unfunded liability becomes

absolutely enormous and totally unpredictable um so instead what we're changing to is essentially a double time and a half standard that doesn't then get thrown 15 years in the future and allows us to pay now rather than paying significantly more later so in terms of the non-pensionable I think ordinarily under the current structure that would probably go up much more than it is in

this case on a 10.8 percent that's at least part of it um and I know this isn't your question but just while we're on the subject of what the the city is getting as far the value in this contract we're also getting bodyguers and rather than fighting about uh what the the right way to implement body cameras is and that's part of this contract the the police Union superiors I've worked hard to come

to a policy uh for the the use and the the application of body cameras um and how those are going to factor in in privacy issues and all the other things that that need to be considered before you use something like that I think it is going to protect police as well as the residents hopefully equally that's the intent and that's part of this contract as well the comp time the

body cameras are the two big things I wanted you to know about and I think comp time to some extent may actually factor to that sort of unusual calculation in the third year had already approved so retro will be paid with arpa funding that was already approved like several months ago um I guess so some of my unpopular comments because you know you know me I've always got to throw in popular comments out there so

um just in terms of comp I understand the language um quite frankly and again it's not my position to negotiate my my position here as a as a legislative body is to appropriate funding for the for the contract um I don't feel like it was enough I I know it was movement but when you're making significant restructuring things like that I think we should have gotten a little bit more from comp time again I

I get we got a cap now I understand that uh probably roughly six months 480 hours or whatever whatever it was that was in here but I also think there were some other some other categories that are eligible for uh cashable that's true there still are some that wasn't that wasn't allowed previously so you know that that's just one statement body cams uh body cameras I I support body cameras but I will say

if we're looking at comps throughout the Commonwealth it's no secret that it's going to happen no matter what so I don't know what you put for percentages in terms of that so I you know from from what I'm seeing and then I've run the cops um and quite frankly have tried to negotiate body cameras and have refused some of the requests that have come in because looking at comps you're getting

personal days things of that nature you're not necessarily getting percentages I think there's only a hand couple of communities that are actually given percentages for cameras but that's neither here nor there because I don't know what was going through negotiation so so I would have I would have hoped we would have seen a little bit more uh from the comp time which has created a major concern from the city

from a financial standpoint especially as you mentioned uh is a significant unfunded liability especially when we have folks retiring they're still on the books for two to three years I know that kind of mitigates that I'm not sure how quickly that gets us in terms of you know folks who are about to retire on the books for two years before we backfill or having to to backfill before you know

they they run out their entire comp time so that's just one statement I think the uh the real piece and the piece that I really want to talk about um as it stands right now I will not support this contract unless I can get some guarantees from the uh from the administration one of the things that I have a significant issue with is the differential for supervisors so that is the biggest piece so unless the

administration is prepared to tell me that they're going to reopen the supervisors and get that differential back to where it was I will not support this and I support what they're getting but to go from a 15 differential when you're going from Patrol uh to a sergeant to now having that differential at 0.8 percent I can't support um and I support the supervisors doing their negotiation and you know coming to

an agreement with the the administration but when you look at and if we're going to have a Frank conversation about comps and we're going to really use that we've got to apply it across the board so that comes back to you know comps on salaries benefits that are offered but also also differential um differential pay and I just can't see the discrepancy that's going to be there so I'll ask the question is there an

intent from the administration to open up negotiations to get that differential back to maybe not 15 maybe 10 but there's got to be a differential that's greater than 0.8 I just I don't understand that that part so there is absolutely unequivocally an intent to open up that contract and in fact it's already started so we've met um a couple times with the superior e-board um we have resolved a couple outstanding

issues that are not wage related already and just just so everyone knows just so we're all kind of on the same page um traditionally since the the two unions were split there was about a 15 percent pay differential between Patrol and Sergeant 15 from Sergeant until 10 it's 15 from Lieutenant to Captain um beginning I believe this past fiscal year that 15 under the existing um contract went up to 16.5 percent and

then as of July 2023 would go another one and a half to 18 um so what it was uh currently a 16.5 percent pay differential uh for patrol the superiors and or Patrol the sergeant sergeant lieutenant Lieutenant the captain was compressed in fact 2.8 so um uh I agree that that is um not only a problem but it's it's really an unacceptable change to the conditions under which the superiors are working

um as a guy who's had soldiers work for him in terrible terrible situations you can't have the person that you're ordering into Harm's Way um you know only make twenty dollars less than you do it's uh it's unsustainable and it's just not the way that rank is supposed to work uh so we have to we have to fix that um so far uh the superiors have actually been uh incredibly thoughtful in looking

at different ways to resolve that you know whether that's all at once or incrementally there's absolutely an apathy to do that so and I'm going to ask you a nice opinion I know you can't give it to me but gonna take a leap of faith here right so you're telling me that you've opened up negotiations is that something we can you know barring any unforeseen issues with negotiations that we would have

something before the end of the fiscal year to address that that gather that's a look of no no no no no um there's so many variables there um my desire and my intent is for that to happen before the end of the fiscal year okay uh because if this uh Patrol contract goes into effect I do not want there to be really any time at all where you have to have a sergeant working at

point eight percent above Patrol that rank needs to stay in effect rank is incredibly important um and so my desire and hope is to get it done before the fiscal year I can't make any promises because there's a lot of stuff outside of our control but we will absolutely do everything we can really no matter how much time it takes uh to try to get to a deal with superiors that remedies this okay and uh

what I will say is uh you know in terms of rank for the detectives that are out there you know I would have pushed for a 10 uh differential but that's just me so um like I said I don't I don't negotiate so if and then I walked in here saying that you know I I didn't like the disparity between supervisors so if I've got that commitment um then I can I can support the

contracts uh knowing that that's what it is and you folks tell me that it's a sustainable contract moving forward the other question I would have though is what's the impact to other Public Safety groups so Fire EMS I know EMS just got a significant increase a couple couple years back but where are we with fire so actually the the EMS I think we're still in the first year of that new contract is that right

um and that would have started at year one we were not in arrears on EMS so um EMS we've talked to their leadership uh I think that that contract uh is going to end up being very much there's going to be parity between that and uh and Patrol um fire uh is is a little bit more difficult because we're we're moving towards arbitration with fire as it stands we've made a number of offers and

there's been a lot of conversation uh but I can't really speak to an ongoing negotiation there uh because we we're working towards a deal My Hope Is that we have one I think Mr Burns on the Fireside feels the same way uh but I I can't really speak to what I think is going to happen there no and I I think we need to recognize that obviously the comps have to be compared to other fire

departments right but one I think one thing that we were we were faced with or at least I was I was hearing is that we had police officers that were jumping ship to go over on the Fireside for our own right same Community right so there's there's a paid differential and hopefully this this corrects it to to keep folks um you know that are police officers to to still work on the police side so

um recognizing that I just want to make sure that we are at least you know we just talked about The Five-Year Plan that um obviously with that there's going to be some additional negotiation as they're always choices right and you've got to put the two aside of the separate entities and things of that nature but the the requests are going to be the same right so you're gonna you're gonna

see percentages coming in the same and I just want to make sure that we've anticipated that on top of it when we talk about our affordability knowing full well that the other Public Safety groups right right behind them are following in line and that's all factored into this five-year forecast is what I guess where I'm going with that so I'll defer to Ms almond but I I don't think the fire necessarily was has

been factored in as well as we'd like because because that's that's a little bit of a question mark um you know when you're moving towards arbitration the sides you know at least up until now have been pretty far apart uh that's a tougher one uh I think with regard to what we can do with superiors I think we have a better sense of what that could look like and I think both

sides have a real interest in working together to to get to an agreement um if let's just try to stay focused on this contract no but it's all I know it's it's related but if we're talking about sustainability we're talking about affordability you can't you can't ignore the fact that you've got a significant increase in a contract that is just gonna I know trickle down and it's going

to have an impact been there done that and I just want to make sure that we're cognizant of it and again I don't know where the comps are in terms of you know the Fire Department salaries and versus where police was and things of that nature um but when we're talking about the affordability aspect it's significant so I just want to make sure that in that five-year forecast I did not go and consolidate fire to the

same manner and and keep that in they have a there's a you know a reasonable based on existing information now I didn't go do a complete what if yep that would be you know not appropriate no I guess what I'm saying is is just trying to get it comparable to listen it's not a secret right so if you know Patrol gets three percent fire is coming in for three percent you know government centers coming in

for clerks clericals coming in for three percent everybody's gonna know what everybody negotiated right so that's just the barometer of where you are unless you can obviously say hey we gave three percent we've got comp time back we've got body cameras things of that nature so you're bringing it back down all I'm asking is is if we've got we if we know it's a three percent or a ten

percent or a five percent have we built that in for the other the other groups that's it that's all yeah there's been something built in but the exact same no no listen restructuring of this was certainly not taken into consideration when that was done right and again this wasn't even completely finalized when that five-year projection was done as I said it's like already changing

okay with that yields thank you Council Council C2 um I concur with counselor in seat one in terms of everybody supports Public Safety nobody wants an unsafe City and I get it you have to have the police you have to have the man the police power however you want to phrase it so we're not uh being gender specific here um so if I look at this and the way the steps are now

it's been reduced to three steps so essentially everybody starts at step four now because it's one to four years so everybody's essentially starting at what used to be step four yeah so that'll be the Baseline so anyone who's um one year through four years would start at step one under the new compression uh and then step five would be step two would be your five year so five through

year nine and then ten years I know it's five through nine and one through four but before you would start at step one with this much on in the second year you'd get more the third year more the fourth year more so is it accurate to say that everybody is essentially starting at step four at this point in time yes okay and then the next one they start that they jump to step nine

so at a minimum they will come in anybody who's in the five year five six seven uh six seven eight or nine is jumping to nine they will be in that new five-year step right then when they hit their 10th year they'll hit that 10-year step that's the last step so how many

um under the new steps we'll have 42 that are under that step one 34 under that step five and then 79 under that step 10.

okay and the financial impact of that well it should be this because it's going to be and then in the next because the financial impact is only the difference right from so that's so like you take what you have existing now and then this is only so this impact is the change in that it's not the entire cost of what that would be because you've already got the cost base built in for your base

so this is the financial impact as we know it so in your opinion this is sustainable and the City of Fort Worth is going to be able to afford this I don't think the city of Fall River has a choice I mean because if you want to it's my understanding to be comparable and we've built this in so we're going to take this this is what we're going to build our budget around so as we're

building the 24 budget we're building it with these numbers so it's we're making it sustainable because that's what we're working with so the city of Fall River doesn't have a choice so if I'm a taxpayer and I make twenty five thousand dollars a year and I already can't afford to live in the city of Fall River how do you make that work how does somebody dig deeper into their pocket

because we have people earning 25 and 30 000 a year and I always fight about that we're not increasing your budget the budget for that we're building the budget with that and and taking that into consideration so it's sustainable by that but we I mean all I hear about is police retention I mean that's we've all talked about that so we have to be competitive and so this is competitive

and I understand that and I'm not and I'm not against I I agree with the counselor in seat one you know do they deserve the money absolutely that's not there's no argument there they absolutely deserve it they put their life on the line every day I they absolutely deserve it but again as he said it's affordability uh you know we have diamond we have Durfee we have the two and a half percent we have the

assessments uh you know a couple of weeks ago you sat here and hesitated when when counselor said for abatements they wanted the income level to be raised and uh their assets to be raised and it was like whoa whoa whoa let's only do the salaries we don't want to give away that much money that's not what there's a discount because there's an unknown with that this is a known we're building the budget with this so

that makes it sustainable because this is how we're building the budget with these numbers included I understand that but it's still a bigger budget correct it's it's going to be a bigger budget right anyways yeah so to make it sustainable what has to be increased and what are you going to do to meet that budget when it's already been said that the revenue is on even in line already without and

that's why the administration is looking at other measures to reduce and be more efficient in other areas okay so that's telling me that at this moment in time the money's not there you're still trying to figure out how to pay the bill we're going to be figuring out how to pay the bills two and three years down the road as other things come up so we're always going to be like looking to

find efficiencies what I'm saying is is we're building the budget we've built this and taken this into account to make it sustainable so it's sustainable because that's how we're we're building it so again we're looking at other things how we're using Opera funding to help alleviate other areas that we would have to take into account we're using arpa funding to do more long-term things so

that we're taking that off of this and we're able to put this in and in the third year when the brunt of this kicks in the Opera funding won't exist anymore no but we would have made Investments that were really more long term like two or three six ten year out equipment so that we won't have to do that so by alleviating and doing long-term Investments you're alleviating that budget for the next few years

on the operational side which makes room for this with that I yield thank you cousins vice president pereiro um I think that what they have done as far as comp time is good um item 12 is one that I'm interested in to incorporate the body cameras but then 12C the union would retain the right to come back and impact Bogan over modification policies and procedures to body cameras I know that they did body

cameras for senior officers I think there was a pilot program that they did for three months or six months but we never got from Administration anything from that what you know what did we get out of that was it you know was it good was it bad did it work did it not we never heard anything so I'm interested in the the pilot program there because I think when you look at an entire department wearing body

cameras and then you know storing all of the film um who's going to look at it is it going to be an in-camera inspection our copy is going to be made of certain um you know certain stops or certain film do attorneys come in for that can the public at lodge get that I think you know that's that's going to be something that we really need to focus in on after

um it's sad that we've come down to cameras all over the world I mean we all have security cameras we everybody's got cameras all over the place other than that I think that the contract is pretty good I I agree that officer should get more money it's a dangerous job it's not the same world that we live in but I also agree that clerks here should get more money and unfortunately the

city only has so much money to go around and we do the best that we can do with what we have I know we have administration at the table to talk about this and I'm wondering if we could have a representation from the union to here their side of the contract is that can we waive the rules to do that just to have a balanced view maybe there's something that they want to share with us

it's up to the council do you know that there is Council are you just asking no I'm just asking because you know we have Administration here we're talking about a contract and we also have union members here let's hear what they have to say um you know some rationale for some of what's in here what you know what do they feel about the comp time I like what they have too about court time

Court time that would spend a lot of money on stuff on a clarification please there was a vote taken on the contract right yeah there was but I'm just what was the tally a hundred and something to four okay so I mean I think that speaks volumes right there so I'd rather just proceed and uh have the council do their job and talk about the contract instead of opening up negotiations again

I yield I wasn't thinking of opening up negotiations I'm just feeling they're here if they want something if they want to say something to us that they'd be given that opportunity I understand that's my own thing but the council doesn't want that that's fine I'm ready to vote on this yeah the only thing I mentioned the cops because I had spoken to them and I guess you have as well and

everyone else they didn't seem to want to say and it's they're here as everyone else is to watch us do our job and I don't think there's something that they want to add if it is they let me know make a motion wave the rules is there a second I object I don't understand my way when have we ever told the union to come down during any contract the situations not only that right listen if we're

going to do that then let's negotiate perfect I'm good with that but I'm not going to disagree with you I do it right in fact the matter is why we wave the route to bring the administration down is beyond me as well this is a city council meeting right now you have to be elected to participate the city council meeting unless you want to clarify something will you ask the administration come down to make a

clarification like you did on certain things about the contract other than that if we're going to have everybody come down and do our job then maybe they should run for office and we shouldn't I don't have an issue but I was told that they would like to address the council that's fine line from my standpoint because I understand your point it's just it's just I don't think it's necessary it's culture 3.0 the vote was

overwhelming um it's not like it was so I think you made a motion I did not see a second I hear a second that's fine I have no problem with that I'm ready to like I said I'm ready to vote but when they said they would like to address this because we still have the floor I would do that Council vice president prayer do you solve the floor but that's it with that I yields and I'm

ready to take a vote thank you Council Debbie any further questions nope uh so I I thought I was comfortable uh up until Council Tian asked her line of question and getting some responses so I need to I guess get clarification on the affordability piece right because I I need to be a 100 certain that this is Affordable um the question that was asked and I understand your and appreciate your response I truly do um

and I think your response was that we're going to use this as a priority for budgeting purposes right so this is going to be a priority so I think we acknowledge that there's some questions with regard to it however with the impacts um and my concern is is you know we get one bite at the Apple right so once we approve this contract and we provide funding for the first year of

the contract the city is on the hook to fund the contract for all those years how you do that is up to the administration as long as you maintain the terms of this agreement so if it becomes unaffordable and this is what my concern is if it becomes uninformed unaffordable we still have to have all the terms of the contract you know the restructuring things of that nature but if we can't afford it that

means there are layoffs right so I from my standpoint when I talk about affordability sustainability I do not want to be in a position where we're approving a contract 1.8 million over four years or if it's higher if that third year is is a higher amount to then have you know the department go from what do we budget at 232 whatever the case may be down to 200 or because again

you know and then I got to be honest I mean we've had conversations and we were um had the conversation with the mayor and and the administrator um and I I had talked about my concern with the you know obviously the differential between sergeants and I think at that during that conversation there was concerned about the affordability of getting the percentage for the supervisors I'm hearing

something different which is fine and again I'm not part of the day-to-day operations but when I heard the the question from counselor in C2 it just it creates and I understand you're trying to preface your statements um and there was nothing meant by you know we have to afford it right that's we have no other option I recognize that if we if we want to have police and we want need to be

competitive what I will say and I've said this before and whether people want to listen to me or not there are communities right now that are in order to be competitive are bankrupting their Community because they can't afford what they're putting forward at some point just like everything else that we deal with there's going to be a fiscal cliff okay so when we hit that fiscal cliff and

we've talked about it before whether that's two years or three years from now this room that we see here is going to be double when we start talking about layoff of 50 officers or whatever the case may be so I'm just I need to know with a 100 certainty that the contract that's before us and the potential contracts uh to get that differential because that's all I care about from my standpoint whether whether you guys

Entertain You Folks entertain anything else with the super supervisors outside my purview the differential is what again outside my purview anyways but that's where my concern is to get that differential back to where it needs to be is that affordable if we vote on this contract is there any anticipation for layoffs in the future years if if obviously we're using a lot of one-time monies we're not

having the Apple money coming back you know you have the marijuana impact fees that are that are coming off the table outside of the revenue I know the revenue is just not up not standing up to where our expenses are in terms of increases right we've got a we've got a discussion before us and on a couple of a couple of items down is is the pension going to five percent that's an impact

you know to our our pension coming forward right and I would I would think that a lot of us want to support a three percent to five percent for retirees these These are significant cost increases that are coming down down the road right so we've we've got Diamond we've got Durfee I just need to know that there are no layoffs from any Department coming forward I don't think that's not in a conversation that's even

happened with me at all what I am going to tell you is is that with this and there's been we've alleviated some positions as we talked about comp time so there have been some positions in the police department that have now come off the books per se and in given room in that budget so we're not paying them out another year so there has been some room there that has has you know alleviated

some of this to open up room for that so and there's again we had some some police officers that were staying on the books because of comp time who are now we've you know they've been bought out they're not on the books anymore it's a leviated room in the budget and I know so let me ask Matt ask another question so assuming you you've got six million dollars and we've had conversation about trying to get the

legislature to change uh for school transportation so we've got 10 million 11 million dollars on on the books right to get that to be allowable for net School spending so that would obviously free up 10 to 11 million dollars if that does not happen because I know you folks have been working behind the scenes to try to push that moving forward through the legislature if that does not happen are you concerned about

the affordability moving forward does that change the discussions we're not counting on that happening I mean it would be great if it did I I think there's actually a very good argument for why it should uh you know right now the idea that Desi has is that every dollar of net School spending should go to the classroom and I think there's a reasonable argument that transportation and food and other things

are just as much a part of Education as what happens in the classroom so that's the argument um but again we're not counting on that that would be speculation I think it would be irresponsible so it's still affordable because I don't want to go down the road of you know school funding and things of that nature but assume you're not taking that into consideration for the Assumption of affordability on this contract no

thank you Debbie no further questions thank you for coming down thank you thank you explaining those answers we have a motion to accept the communication and adopt the uart before us and has been seconded exactly foreign favor aye any opposed seat two opposed motion counties Mr President maybe we pick the citations out of the voter I think I might be a family citation out of order has been made by

Council account proposal all in favor aye aye any opposed no motion carries well could you do the citation next please

have a citation for Donna Johnson for her retirement I think councilor proposal would like to say a few words Council post you come down please and just at the table just grab one of the mics at the table

must have been a form of DJ I don't know about that um I just wanna first uh recognize former counsel Chris Peckham for bringing this to my attention I think it's a well-deserved honor in front of us today is Miss Donna Johnson she spent 28 years is that correct 28 years in management at McDonald's here in Plymouth Avenue in the city um but what's more significant to her contributions is the opportunities she

gave to the Youth of our city for for many of the youth that came through her door it was an opportunity to teach responsibility worth ethic respect and again an opportunity to begin their lives and really make something of themselves and not only that from my understanding and from what I've learned about Mrs Johnson is that she also played a very much of a mother role to a lot of the

kids who came in through her door giving them guidance and what they needed so I want to present to you a citation on behalf of the city council will share what it reads it's a official resolution be a result of the city council hereby extends its accommodation to Donna Johnson in recognition of her retirement after 28 years of community engagement and assisting in the employment of young

residents in Fall River be a further result of the Four River City Council extend Beth wish best wishes for continued success and this resolution be entered into the records of the city council adopted February 28 2023 on behalf of my colleagues and everyone here I want to thank you for your all your help here in the city foreign

thank you I'm going to induce the second citation is there a motion to adopt the citation motion made second motion has been made in second at all in favor any opposed motion carries and the second citation was for William Bill Feeney of fnf Incorporated and staff is there a motion hi motion carries any opposed well she carries let me begin with item number one now item number one was the mayor's

communication and in order to accept the provisions of Mass General Lord chapter 200a section 9A and to ratify all actions previously taken pursuant to said section regarding disposition of abandoned funds second motion accepts communication adopt has been made and seconded all in favor any opposed motion codes item two is a communication from the mayor in the financial order transferring the sum of one million

seventy one thousand nine hundred fifty nine dollars to the school appropriation from FY 22 Surplus Revenue motion to adopt motion accept communication adoption and seconded all in favor aye any opposed motion carries item three is a communication from the mayor in a grant order to accept and expend a grant in the amount of seventy one thousand dollars from Liberty Utilities for sediment remediation

Projects South potapa Pond motion to adopt motion to adopt has been made insect and seconded on the motion content seat six Council vice president yeah I have a question on this because in the priority matters it talks about sediment remediation of the South what upon but in the um write-up that came with it it was also talking about Mount Hope Bay so I'm not sure we've already sent money uh spent money

for South watapa Pond um I know that the water department has I'm just a little confused about what that was for um somebody could explain it I don't know if it's both or just one if anyone knows or maybe we just refer it to we'll let the council counselor whatever you want to you want to refer or you want to just I'd refer it to finance and see what this it's really

not financed they're giving us a grant maybe one of the subcommittees they're going to give us a grant why would we not I'm not support them right now I'm just a little concerned like what exactly is they are they remediating and if they're doing Mount Hope Bay did that have anything to do with whatever was there and things being thrown into the wall I'm just not sure why um they would do that

and explain it real quick how about uh putting it in the order actually because the order actually says a portion of Mount Hope Bay including water and sediment quality evaluations in Southwest right you know but in the beginning it didn't maybe uh somebody knows um maybe I can clarify I'm just assuming here it's a grant and the the waterways with the pond and the quality of Maine interconnected

so I'm that's probably the reason for that for that language because we already did one we already did and received money to do the Southwest up upon I mean it's unbelievable you do the what up a pond and you're spending money so we don't have algae bloom but you're spending money to clean it but it's almost like the same thing with CSO we got hooked on you know paying for all of that and the

South what's up what about Westport Tiverton that are all on there and you know their fertilizers are contaminating the water it just just seems to be a circle I don't know if Mr Aikens just got up if he has something to come down just to make a point of clarification what it involves real quick okay is there emotional wave the rules motion away second on the motion all in favor

aye any opposed can you come downstairs real quick and just clarify that for Council prayer

so I made some notes on this just this will be very quick just like I guess that's right um so this funding the 71 000 is actually a result of of mitigation that was ordered by the Department of Environmental Protection and the Army Corps of Engineers that Liberty Utilities pays for its dredging in Mount Hope Bay um apparently the dep provided and there was a number of options provided

as to how to use this money and the shellfish mitigation team and DEP uh urged toward this one uh in order to analyze settlement build a balanced treatment regimen uh allowing us to Monitor and quantify the flow coming into the Southwest up upon from outside sources in order to actually undergo treatment of South watapa we need multiple years of monitoring and this will be three years of monitoring so it

gets us closer to a possible treatment apparently this funding that was ordered by dep from Liberty could have gone to a number of neighboring communities including Westport anyone bordering in that area we actually advocated for it Mr Ferlin was able to get it secured it and it's going to hopefully get us to the point in order to recommend an actual treatment regimen for South

watapa so it is a grant but it's a grant that's associated with the mitigation order the dep in the Corps of Engineers ordered Liberty to give and apparently was kind of up for grabs and and we got it but there was only limited things it could go toward so that's why it's going towards the South watapa study okay we already have a study going on there so this will just study it a little

further from what I understand this is the sediment thing is is different than just the algae bloom uh the algae boom is is its own study that actually I guess happens out in the water whereas the sediment studies the sediment at the bottom that has more to do with some of the concerns that you raise counselor of um you know pesticides and other things draining off from nearby property into

the water that ends up settling in the settlement sediment over years right settling in the sediment over years there we go thank you I just wanted a little clarification thank you very much thank you but that I yield thank you Seth any posed motion carries it's the president because I am um involved in number four I have to abstain from conversation according to the ethics Commission um

nm4 is a communication from the mayor and in order to approve an increase for Fall River contributory Retirement Board cost of living adjustment for the FY 2023 up to five percent of the base amount specified pursuant to Mass General Law chapter 32 section 103.

all in favor aye any opposed motion carries

committee on Economic Development and Tourism at a meeting held on February 21st voted unanimously to recommend that the accompanying resolution be granted leave to withdraw this is a resolution that dealt with the Southeastern Massachusetts bioreve trails motion to adopt the commission report has been made is there a second second all in favor aye aye any opposed motion carries committee on Economic Development and

Tourism at a meeting held on February 21st voted unanimously to recommend that the accompanying resolution be granted leave to withdraw this resolution dealt with the public art policy motion has been made second and seconded all in favor aye can we take eight and nine together we'll make that motion next any opposed no motion carries now you can make the recommendation Council is there a motion to take 89 together

motion is there a second out of motion second all in favor aye any opposed motion cows is there a motion to adopt eight and nine motion to adopt eight nine Dr news report as in May is there a second all in favor aye any opposed motion carries did the clerk read them first Mr President eight and nine are committee reports uh the first was to Grant leave to withdraw to a communication from one South Coast

chamber regarding the Fall River arts and culture plan vivofall River and the second was the committee's report requesting that the resolution to discuss future events and past events with Community organizations began to leave to withdrawal thank you item number 10 is a proposed ordinance miscellaneous traffic ordinance for Passage through second reading and enrollment as amended abortion adopt

second reading in enrollment and seconded as amended all in favor aye any opposed motion passes out whereas there have been many safety concerns expressed by residents regarding the illegal and dangerous operation of motorized street bikes ATVs and dirt bikes on public roads and whereas the Fall River Police Department has been working tirelessly to impound the vehicles and stop this dangerous

activity and whereas there is currently no ordinance that would allow the police to prevent these illegal vehicles from ever being sold or purchased again once impounded now therefore be resolve at the committee on ordinances and legislation convened with the police chief and Corporation Council to discuss the creation of an ordinance that gives the city permission to confiscate and Destroy impounded non-street legal

vehicles that are a nuisance to others motion to refer to this can be our Hornets at motion hasn't made to refer the resolution committee unknown is there a second second second on the motion sponsors resolution city council and seat six vice president pereiro uh counselor proposer and I were at a meeting with neighborhood individuals and police and this came up um and I know that some towing companies have gotten

ATVs or dirt bikes that were confiscated placed in there on their lot and then people broke in busted a fence to go in and to remove them um so that's happened to two people that I know of and they're kind of upset by it like you know we're not going to be taking these and then they come in and Rob them it just doesn't seem to be enough teeth in the ordinance but

perhaps the chief of police and Corporation Council with ordinance can come up with something and um that's what councilor a reposer myself said that we would put an ordinance and a resolution in for an ordinance thank you good job come to see seven Council proposal yeah I just echo my colleague and the idea that we know the springtime's right around the corner and we know we're going to have these issues

again and you know kudos to the police department for working hard on cracking down on them but I think we need to give them a little more help to to Really stamp out the problem so I yield thank you thank you motion Hazard made and seconded all in favor aye any opposed motion carries whereas many types of public events include business that provide food art and or goods for sale by traveling to

the city from different areas and whereas the revised ordinances of the city of Fall River Which chapter relates excuse me two businesses are article eight Hawkers and Peddlers has not been reviewed or updated since 2012. excuse me emotional waved reading yeah take your time and whereas in the past three years the demand for outdoor activities within the community has increased now therefore be a resolved

that the committee on ordinances and legislation convene with cooperation Council to determine if updates or revisions can be made to the existing ordinances Which chapter relate to businesses article 8 Hawkers and Peddlers to encourage small businesses to participate in City events motion to refer to committee on ordinances promotions legislation has been made and seconded all in favor

aye any opposed promotion carries

it resolved that the attached Capital Improvement plan is hereby approved by the city council motion motion to adopt has it made and seconded all in favor aye any opposed motion carries item 16 is the order granting permission to new Singular Wireless for one new poll on Bedford Street hasn't made and seconded all in favor aye any opposed motion carries we have applications for the renewal of

an auto body shop license at 26 Burns Street motion to approve motion to adopt the application hasn't made and seconded all in favor any opposed motion carries have two applications for renewal of auto repair shop licenses at 26 Burns Street and 461 Global approve second motion to adopt has been made and seconded all in favor aye aye any opposed reporting carries we have the police Chiefs report on licenses

set up to teach support on licenses Main and seconded all in favor aye opposed motion carries I have a number of claims most should afford a Corporation Council most refer to claims to cooperation Council hasn't made as a second seconded all in favor aye aye motion carries we have minutes of the planning board yeah file has been made and seconded all in favor aye any opposed motion counties

have Min minutes of the public hearing of the city council held on February 14th motion to prove motion the minutes hasn't made and seconded all in favor aye aye any opposed motion carries minutes of the committee on finance held on February 14th motion to approve motion to approve community and finance means 14th has been made and seconded all in favor any opposed motion carries and minutes of the city

council meeting held on February 14th motion to approve motion to approve has it made second and seconded all in favor aye any opposed emotional forecast Mr President can you have a brief uh a brief recess to have the ordinance assigned

foreign thank you

foreign

traffic ordinance for Passage through final ordination motion soulmate motion has made the passive through final ordination is there a second second second all in favor aye any opposed motion carries motion to adjourn motion to adjourn has been made in seconded all in favor any opposed motion codes good night everyone good job thank you foreign