The meeting was a joint session of the Fall River City Council and School Committee, primarily featuring Mayor Paul Coogan's 2022 State of the City Address. Mayor Coogan highlighted the city's strong economic future, significant infrastructure improvements, and investments in public safety and community well-being. He detailed progress on the waterfront, including the South Coast Rail project expected by late 2023, the Route 79 highway elimination project (estimated $1 billion investment, construction 2023-2026), and the City Pier opening in summer 2022. He also mentioned the Mayflower Wind offshore wind project and the near-capacity industrial park. Downtown revitalization efforts were noted, such as transforming the Bank Street Armory into an event center and the former BCC building into the "Creative Class Building." The Mayor reported over $1 million in building permit revenue and a reduction in abandoned properties. Key infrastructure projects included an $8 million ARPA investment for water main replacement and street reconstruction, as well as improvements to parks like Kennedy Park and new playgrounds. Public safety initiatives included a decrease in crime, plans for new fire trucks, and a $2 million federal SAMHSA grant to expand outreach workers and provide mental health/Narcan training. ARPA funds were allocated for a new ambulance, police equipment, the Fall River Holiday Parade, a $4 million expansion of the Alfred J. Lima Quequechan River Rail Trail, and a $3.25 million small business grant program. The city's financial position was described as strong, with over $7.1 million in the stabilization fund and a solid A3 Moody's credit rating. Following the address, Mike and Gail Borden were recognized by the Mayor, City Council, and State House of Representatives for 25 years of their "calling all elves" program, which provided thousands of wrapped gifts to children in need during the holiday season. The City Council adopted a resolution commending the Bordens, and the House of Representatives presented a citation. The meeting concluded with the adjournment of both the School Committee and City Council.
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joint meeting of the city council and school committee will now come to order madam clerk counselors kadeem here camara dion here kilby here lee here pelletier yeah pereira here proposal here and president here madam clerk mr again here mr bailey here here ms larabee miss pereira miss roderick para coogan pursuant to the open meeting law any person may make an audio or video recording of this public meeting or may
0:40transmit the meeting through any medium attendees are therefore advised that such recordings or transmissions are being made whether perceived or unperceived by those present and are deemed acknowledged and permissible if everyone in the chamber would please rise for a moment of silent prayer president can we leave the people of ukraine in our thoughts as we uh have this moment of silence please absolutely
1:06please remain standing for a salute to the flag
1:24and now it is my honor to introduce mayor paul coogan to give his state of the city address
1:47isn't this great first of all i want to thank everyone for coming out tonight this is going to be a very special night for the city of fall river and i appreciate everybody coming it means a lot good evening honorable members of the council school committee and members of our legislative delegation it is an honor to be with you as i deliver the 2022 state of the city address thank you to the residents who are
2:13joining us either here today or tuning in from home as we celebrate another important day for fall river this is the third time i've delivered my state of the city address and each one has been different my first address planned for march 13th of 2020 was cancelled through the beginning of the pandemic i recorded a speech in november in my office without any spectators for my second state of the city address
2:39last march i was able to be in the council chambers but still no residents were allowed the timing of this speech feels more hopeful while i learned a long time ago to never be too optimistic or speak too soon it seems as though we are slowly returning to normal i'm here in a moment of hope as we look towards the future i'm here to tell you that despite all we have endured as a community fall river
3:06has never stopped growing and working towards its very full potential the last two years have shown the power of what can be accomplished when we work together i began my time in office over two years ago and i've been fortunate to work with the team who show up work hard and stay focused on improving fall river some of those people are in the room tonight with me i'd like to recognize our city council
3:33our school committee our state delegation senator michael roderick and representatives carol fiola alan sylvia paul schmidt and of course our hard-working city employees and while they are not here tonight i must also thank our advocates in washington representative austin kloss and keating and senators markey and warren in last year we also said farewell to some key members of the team and
4:00welcomed in a new group of leaders we have two new chiefs with us tonight fire chief roger saint martin and interim police chief paul garvin we have brought on a new superintendent who has served fall river schools for many many years maria ponce and we have recently brought in multiple new department heads and filled several vacancies i welcome tonight city administrator seth aiken
4:24city planner caitlin young city engineer dan aguiar and head of human resources nick mcelini to their new roles when you combine these new faces and our existing leadership there is a renewed energy vision and focus in city government that is exciting and full of promise on a personal note i want to thank all the my supporters my family and of course my wife judy who's with us tonight she puts up
5:04she is my partner and don't ask me how but i still love her it takes all levels of government to get things done and when we look around fall river the waterfront is a perfect example of public and private investment working in tandem progress on the waterfront is being made thanks to a collaboration of municipal state and federal agencies along with a number of our own private developers
5:29in several years fall river's waterfront area will look and feel very different and we are confident that will become a major economic engine for our city i must thank the baker polito administration who have been tremendous supporters of many of our waterfront revitalization efforts and progress is also well underway with south coast rail just drive down to wall street to watch the construction of the depot or the
5:55layover station at weaver's cove as of now construction is on pace with its originally scheduled start date so by the end of 2023 we'll be able to see trains coming in and out of the station in full river we will soon see the elimination of the complete elevated route 79 highway along duval street the project will improve pedestrian and vehicle access to the existing waterfront attractions while creating a
6:24new waterfront boulevard this project will open up 1.1 million square feet for the development of market rate housing retail office and restaurants it will be advertised for bid early this fall and construction will begin in 2023 and it should be completed in late 25 or early 26.
6:44true progress on our waterfront and rda has also been hard at work overseeing the construction of the city pier construction on the pier is well underway and it will be a fantastic green space for sunset concerts food truck festivals family recreation and this should all be open later this summer these investments are being reflected in the private sector properties along the wall street are
7:10being transformed into mixed-use housing and retail developments the 79 project alone is expected to bring to fall river over one billion dollars of investment and it's hard not to get excited about the future of our waterfront my goal moving into this next term is to continue the development of the waterfront and to improve parking access which is going to be critical to the area's growth
7:37we are in the early stages of our plan to relocate the state's salt sheds which are under the braggart bridge to the u.s betting facility which was formerly sam's club on breaking avenue and i have to thank jake austin claus for his support on this project as he's been advocating for funding for this one in dc for a long time our waterfront is not only a magnet for tourism and new development it is soon
8:00to be the site of a bustling new industry in fall river in december mayflower wynn was awarded a 400 megawatt power purchase agreement by the commonwealth of massachusetts allowing them to build an operation and maintenance base at the former borden remington complex with this comes tremendous investment in training education and long-term job growth in a new economic sector while many think fall river has an
8:29industrial pass we also have a very strong industrial present and future industrial park is near capacity hosting a well-rounded group of tenants ranging from textile manufacturing to pharmaceutical development to cold storage for seafood and in the future as we know covert changed the way people purchase goods more online shopping means more distribution facilities the demand for industrial property has dramatically
8:58increased leaving our remaining parcels in the technology park in high demand we are taking advantage of this unique moment in time and can expect several exciting new tenants in the industrial park in the coming years bringing more high-paying jobs along with them on a smaller scale exciting franchises and entrepreneurs and private investors are also all choosing fall river we are
9:25working with the developer to transform the vacant bank street armory into an event center after sitting unoccupied for almost 23 years the former bcc building on durfee street will soon be rebranded as the creative class building a mixed-use project with both market rate housing and affordable artist lofts similar developments can be found along south main street 4th street and even 3rd street including
9:53the women's garment workers union building right across the street from government center which will soon have market rate housing these are just a few examples of the wide scale revitalization that is happening right now in downtown where historic long abandoned properties are being redeveloped for mixed use housing and retail this will bring in a much needed influx of new and old residents with more
10:19spending power which is key to the strength of our small businesses in the coming years residents should expect new life being breathed into main street and surrounding areas residents and investors alike are transforming our housing stock from projects as small as single-family homes to renovations of our largest mills since my time in office began the city has generated over a million dollars in
10:45revenue just from building permits and our inventory of abandoned properties has been significantly reduced that's a plus for fall river and this is all symbolic of one major fact fall river is poised for a great economic future and i have to thank the amazing group of local business leaders and developers who are behind many of these projects as mayor i will continue to do all i can
11:12to bring new and existing business owners and investors to the table so we can continue this momentum another goal of ours is to translate more of this success into the flint and pleasant street areas as we all know the pleasant street corridor struggles with a high number of vacant and blighted storefronts under the guidance of the redevelopment authority we recently began work on an urban renewal plan for the flint
11:45which will allow us to make consistent long-term plans we began this process last month at espirito santo where we brought together a group of stakeholders including neighborhood leaders area business owners local developers and city officials we're working with emily ennis who's worked with the city on two previous urban renewal plans and her team of consultants to identify strategies to
12:12stabilize and improve that neighborhood and whether it's downtown the flint or the waterfront we are consistently working as a city to make sure that our small business owners developers and entrepreneurs know fall river is open for business and part of our growth in economic development means making major infrastructure improvements that have been put off for far too long we have and will continue to make huge
12:39investments into streets sidewalks and major roadways like robeson president avenue stafford road broadway have all been transformed however we have a long way to go presentable streets free of litter and potholes have been and will continue to be one of my top priorities and we're repairing a number of streets through a major water department project that we have funded with arpa through an
13:06initial investment of over 8 million dollars the water department will replace 17 000 feet of water main dozens of lead services before reconstructing the affected streets and sidewalks in all corners of fall river our parks and recreational areas have had massive improvements we've repaired sidewalks at north and kennedy we have new program new playgrounds i'm sorry that have opened at demaris park and the paul
13:35poulos park on edmond street through grant funding we are beginning renovations right now on the kathy assad tot lot off pleasant street in the flint and we're making major repairs to north park plans are underway to repair the tennis courts at kennedy and my goal is to complete other projects at kennedy including a splash pad and renovations to the skating rink which we brought back to life during the
13:59coldest days of just this winter residents of all ages deserve safe respectable spaces where they can get active and enjoy themselves and today i'm also pleased to announce two more allocations from our opera advisory panel that will benefit our parks first we will be dedicating sixty thousand dollars over the next two years to begin the kennedy park renovation project and we recently allocated forty four
14:26thousand to carry out renovations to the skate parks at lafayette abbott court and north park these facilities are overdue for repair and we'll be excited to see them usable to our residents again of course the infrastructure and economic development mean nothing if our residents needs are not met that's why i'm proud to work with an outstanding public safety team including our new fire chief roger saint martin
14:54and our acting police chief paul gordon to make continued investment in emergency services despite the national trends of staffing shortages and high crime rates fall river has seen a decrease in many areas of crime i will continue to do all i can to ensure our first responders have the tools required to meet our community's needs specifically we plan to soon boost our inventory of fire trucks with new pieces through
15:23grant funding and we will continue to strategize the use of opera funds to invest in police fire and emergency service departments we have worked with police fire ems and a number of service providers to take a well-rounded approach to addiction and homelessness we have now have full-time street outreach outreach workers embedded in the police department and our fire stations are all safe stations where
15:51those battling addiction can get the help they need going into this next term as we grapple with the impact of the pandemic on mental health addiction homelessness we will continue to work together as a community to pursue innovative solutions fall river is now leading this fight on a national scale through a federal samsa grant this two million dollar grant has allowed us to expand the work of our
16:20outreach workers while providing crucial training on mental health and narcan use to police fire ems and fall river and surrounding communities we will soon have three more outreach worker outreach workers in the police department to address these types of issues another priority of mine has been and will continue to be expanding resources for our veteran population over the last two years we have made
16:48substantial investments in housing and job training programs for veterans we must continue to support our veteran community for without them we would not be here
17:05one of the highlights of my first term was the dedication ceremony at the vietnam veterans memorial wall it was tremendous and i must commend the committee who made that park and wall come to life this project was the perfect example of a collaborative effort brought to fall river by a truly remarkable group of residents another key to strengthening our community has been working with a diverse group of citizens and
17:32organizations to bring positive events and activities back to our city and this summer is going to be loaded i am so proud of how the community came together in 2021 to provide residents with accessible events programs including for you sports leagues drive-in movies and live music in our parks and i look forward to bringing these events back expanding them adding new ones and finding other
17:57ways to improve the quality of life in our neighborhoods and one way we've done that is we recently purchased the bookmobile which will be a mobile library which will bring books and programming directly directly to our senior living facilities and our neighborhood parks and more and a few minutes ago i mentioned two new opera allocations related to the parks last week we also approved another
18:20our project related to recreation and supporting our youth we will be investing in a pilot program to place a social worker in the farva boys and girls club with the help which will help the children and their families and it will also help them to access the support and services they may need as our youth emerge from this pandemic it is more important than ever to have positive outlets in our community
18:46of course that work is first done in our schools i am proud of the four republic schools the community for their response to the pandemic their work expanded from just teaching to also ensuring the students had the resources they needed to succeed like computers wi-fi and even meals i want to take a moment to thank all the city's educators who have done so much for our students and their families
19:21and we began this year in education on a high note with the opening of our brand new state-of-the-art derfy now our focus must be on addressing the educational and social emotional needs of our students after a challenging few years we must continue our focus on strengthening and standardizing our curriculum so that it matches the high quality we have now in our buildings and facilities
19:46additional funding through the student opportunity act gives us an unprecedented opportunity to invest in more counselors teachers support staff and resources for our students beyond forum of public schools diamond is also taking the first steps to pursue a new facility to better educate our vocational workforce and i am very very honored to serve fall river at this truly pivotal time in our
20:11history we now have a once in a lifetime opportunity which came at an extremely high cost to address the major quality of life issues through arpa funding upon learning of the funding we assembled an advisory panel made up of community members business leaders non-profits and city officials we held public forums where residents provided thoughtful input onto how to utilize these opera funds in late
20:36october we announced our first round of opera allocations we invested in the massive water main replacement project that i discussed a little earlier and we also allocated nearly half a million dollars to the police department for increased manpower and new equipment including 50 security cameras 20 radar speed displays and of course some new police cruisers we also provided funding for the fall of
21:02a holiday parade to mitigate their fundraising challenges and ensure that the parade which draws many people to the area could continue in 2021.
21:13a few months ago we announced our second round for the allocation as with the first round of funding we made significant investments to public safety we're investing three hundred thousand into a new ambulance for the ems department nearly six hundred thousand is going to the police department for crime prevention training and equipment and a significant piece of the funding will go towards much needed computer and
21:35printer systems for our police vehicles another major project will be the four million dollar investment to complete the next phase of the alfred j lima quickesthand rail trail this project will expand the trail which has become a hub for walkers bikers and families looking for outdoor recreation with arpa funding we have the perfect opportunity to invest in one-time projects that will benefit residents for
22:02decades to come another project through the planning department will be the rehabilitation of the jerry lawton plaza on south main street which will impact downtown development and improve walkability in the area last but certainly not least we recently rolled out a small business grant assistance program providing over three and a quarter million dollars to four rivers small businesses financially
22:27impacted by covet 19.
22:30small businesses are still the backbone of our community and this grant program gives us another tool to help them withstand the economic strain put on them by the pandemic arpa aside fall river is in a very strong financial position as i mentioned the pace of investment and development in fall river was moving quickly before the pandemic and it's hardly slowed down with or without this added federal
22:57funding we've been on track for a solid economic future we currently have over 7.1 million dollars in our stabilization fund and over 1.6 million in our surplus revenue or free cash account our moody's credit rating is solid at 83 our enhanced rating backed by the commonwealth is aa2 we predict that revenue and credit ratings will remain at this level for the foreseeable future this is due to the careful planning and
23:27hard work of our finance team over the last several years looking to the future i look forward to working with the city council and the school committee to ensure that we shaped a solid city bid budget for fiscal year 2023 our unified goal will be to craft a budget that provided residents the service they deserve and adequately funds public safety as we face national trends of inflation
23:54and shortages it is our obligation to keep the burden of rising costs of off of our residents as best we can so that hard family members in fall river can continue to thrive i will finish this speech with one final message fall river still has a host of serious challenges and we will continue to work hard every single day and often on nights and weekends to fix them however the state of our city is very
24:26very strong we opposed poised for a renaissance new businesses industries and investors are choosing fall river to put down their roots bringing well-paying jobs that will sustain our residents for years to come our streets and recreational spaces are one by one being improved so that we may all live in a city we are proud of our economic recovery from decades of economic trouble and the
24:56impact of the pandemic is happening right before our eyes i urge all of you to trust in a bright tomorrow for fall river and to treat others with dignity and respect as we go forward i once again promise everyone that i will continue to work hard act out of my deep love for the city and commit my administration to integrity and transparency i am truly honored to lead the city of fall river at this
25:25historic point in time i look forward to another year of growth and progress in fall river good night and god bless the city of fall river
25:47so
25:56now now we have a lot a lot of duty i'm sorry now we have a little duty to do together which is probably way better than that speech so you want to call him up huh uh right now i want to bring up two good friends of mine uh mike and gail borden
26:22um i think it was a few years ago that uh the city council president um put out this first bomb on facebook saying calling all elves calling all elves so i didn't think i was an elves so i didn't have to respond until she said to me get down to northcom we're going to start doing packages and rap gifts so i showed up and i was so pleased to see
26:48the number of people that came out that day to help people in the city of fall river if you never saw it live it is really a uh it's a conveyor belt of gift wrapping and presents for kids in forever need and the person behind this is my good friend mike borton so in honor and recognition of your 25 years of dedication and commitment to the children of fall river fall river thanks
27:13you for your lovely work on the holiday season
27:25i'd like to invite rep viola as well as the delegation and mayor coogan is right i have for the past 10 years put out a call for elves to help wrap thousands of gifts the mayor has been there judy has been there carol has been there council pereira has been there um i apologize if i miss anyone uh school commitment agyar has been there we at that time started at a little
28:00building on bedford street the old uh the union hall and grew uh to norcomb and then to blessed trinity am i saying that right father rob's church at which we uh took over and i'll just tell one little funny story and you can see how amazing what they do and what they have done over the last 25 years is this is way out of mike's allowance because he has never wanted
28:31any public attention no media no photos no nothing and in the last couple years he's he's softened on that a little bit so i'm going to take advantage of that for one second so we were wrapping gifts one year at norcom and the system was the police and fire and probation would bring the bags in one door everybody would wrap and then they'd go out the other door but it was so under the radar
28:53no one knew about except the people that were volunteering and they all talked to the families behind the scenes and it was a very well run operation but it was never public until that day it ended up on the fall river scanner talk page because they thought the building was being raided because they police were bringing in and out giant black bags which must have been some kind of contraband that
29:17norcom had in their building so that and just thousands and thousands and thousands of gifts and hundreds of children and families have been helped by yourself and your team over the last 25 years and he just announced that he is going to be retiring from that venture and i just want to say how much how much i know that you have meant to the children and families of the cities of fall river and i have a
29:47i have a resolution for you as well to mike and gail borden be it resolved that the city council here by its extends its commendation in recognition of 25 years of compassion and support to the children and families of fall river before the resolve the fall river city council extends best wishes for continued success and that this resolution be entered in the records of the city council adopted today march 8 2022
30:22you madam president mayor uh i think there are probably a few people in this room that have not somehow participated whether you were at the mesa 21 and made a donation whether you showed up to wrap gifts or you donated in some other fashion and you didn't even realize it it was for the organization the very informal non-named and 25-year long organization that benefited thousands not just
30:48hundreds not to correct madam president but thousands of follower children in very great need that were identified in advance by probation police schools community leaders who knew the children who needed this the most and if you didn't know every child every child received not a gift not two gifts but something that they probably had never experienced before a bag full of wrapped gifts tailored for them
31:26if it gives you shivers to think about it i've been blessed mike and gail are constituents and friends of mine i've gotten the chance to participate in this for many years along the way my colleagues and i were so honored to be able to be invited here today because we talk about this community this wonderful speech of positive stuff that the mayor gave us tonight but we talk about this
31:49all the time we say they should do this and i get a call and they say they should do this in fall river but guess who they is there is michael and gail borden they stepped up they unified hundreds of people to do really great things so my colleagues and i wanted to present this citation to you it's it's the least we can do for this for you and your efforts through 25 years um
32:16house of representatives here by known to all that we offer our sincerest congratulations to michael and gail borden in recognition of your devotion and passion to providing christmas magic for thousands of fall over children for 25 years our community is eternally grateful signed by myself carol fiola representative paul schmid representative alan silvia speaker of the house ron mariana on on
32:43this eighth day of march and we are so grateful for what you've done thank you
33:05what
33:16so
33:33okay
34:08the school committee would like to adjourn their meeting a special meeting is there a motion to adjourn is there a second okay roll call please dragon yes mr bailey yeah yes yes robert yes do you have a motion adjourned for the city council promotion promotion made by councilman seconded by council kilby all those in favor aye aye so voted motion to turn meeting adjourned thank you
36:19you