4.11.2023 Fall River City Council

another one thank you

and the school committee the clerk will call the roll counselors Kadeem here Dion here Kilby here by Liberty Pelletier Herrera here raposo here Washington here and president Camaro you call the roll um the call to order the Tuesday April 11th joint meeting of the Florida school committee in Florida City Council deputies callable Mr agile Mr Bailey here here miss Laramie here miss Pereira here miss Roderick here

mayor Kruger here we go you want me to read the wait Madam vice president Madam vice president I think before we begin the overall meeting we should make a comment on the absences with regard to um oh I figured we could do that later tomorrow just so that everyone knows Council of Liberty is out ill and as is Council palette he's doing much better and unfortunately council president Joe

Camara lost his mom last night so keep him in your thoughts and prayers thank you thank you mayor Coogan do you want to read um Council vice president pursuant to the open meeting law any person may make an audio or video recording of this public meeting or may transmit the meeting through any medium 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 could everyone rise for a salute to the flag the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God individual with Liberty mayakugan do you have from the school department a slideshow we do uh one other quick thing uh Council if any citizens input for the joint meeting

no the citizen the only citizen input we have is football Council okay I like to call down um Kevin Almeida and Maria Ponce along with um Bridget Allman and Seth Aiken to do the presentations uh for the joint meeting

about the school committee and the city council have PowerPoint presentations and the school committee will go first

thank you good evening everyone mayor Coogan Madam vice president members of the city council members of our school committee as well as members of the public tonight we present to you from the Fall River Public Schools our draft annual budget um just wanted to frame it before I turn it over to Kevin who's really going to get to the technical side of it our budget is uh as a moral document that

tells us what we value and what we fund it's really used as a planning tool for US based on our priorities it's uh we actually have had a collaborative process where we've surveyed our principals our department heads senior staff in regards to what to prioritize our budget is based on that what you will see is actually that the the priorities have really every year we're not going

to present new priorities because what we're doing is deepening the world work so we are building on last year's work all of our work is rooted in raising student achievement and we have a responsibility to present a budget that's intentional and that is actually a responsibility to put the tools and the resources in the hands of our student of our teachers and staff so that we can raise student achievements

certainly we know that we are not where we need to be and we need to really make sure that our investments reflect what we're saying we value right it's really what you will see in our budget is that we are focused on what is closest to the classroom last year we prioritized uh paraprofessionals in every kindergarten class as well as every first grade class in addition to support staff throughout

the the best part is that we've had funds available and throughout the year we've made some major investments in SEL supporting the needs of our students we've added additional School adjustment counselors we've added 17 21 actually what we call scl Liaisons there that triage to triage student behavior and support the school adjustment Council so that they can provide the counseling

services so that is something that a position that's growing that you'll see in a in our budget we're adding and we are also adding some more um teachers instructional staff so that could be instructional coaches that could be interventionists and in some cases we have especially at the high school where our enrollment has increased so we had to add a team of teachers so you'll see

what we've done is we've added a math teacher an Ela teacher a science social studies Etc so all of our investments are in supporting our students and supporting student growth we have some administrative positions as you will see and really we've had a we are investing in reorganizing our facilities in our operations department so you will some of those positions are administrative

because we are dividing that department and have different divisions and we need some people to oversee each of those divisions so we have not we have been intentional about not padding the budget with administrative salaries that are going to that are not close to the trenches if you will the work needs to be done in the classroom in raising student achievements so and that's been our

focused it's a student-centered budget it's about deepening our work it we would not put a budget before you that wasn't sustainable it's something that we have worked hard and we're proud to do to make sure that we move our district forward I think every single person in this room wants to see our district be successful and we have a responsibility to do that that's why we're here so with that I'm going to

hand it over to Kevin and have him walk us through thank you good evening everybody thank you for having me so this slide just shows you the frps student enrollment and it provides you with how our student enrollment has grown by 179 students within the past year the student Opportunity Act it was signed into law into the fall of 2019 and what it did was it realized that it brought in true costs for specific areas

of our budget and so um it realized that it was underfunding specific areas specifically around low-income students special ed students the funding was low on the health care side and ell students so what the student Opportunity Act is meant to do is it's meant to bring the funding for the schools back in line within a seven year time frame but of note the first year was that funding funded of the student

Opportunity Act so it will be funded over six years and fy24 will represent the third year of funding Madam president just a point of order are we going to wait are we just going to wait to the end of the presentations or if we have questions do you want us it's the choice of the council if you want to wait till I guess I would ask them folks presenting how do you prefer um

if we I guess if we could just I've gotta if we can just go back to the enrollment I mean maybe it's not a simple question it's a simple question I don't know the response is going to be simple but just in terms of the enrollment so I think it was your second slide house idea title um I believe it was the 579 additional students this year yes so looking at

pre-k obviously we see the the increase on the 64 students K to five uh plus two I guess can you do we know what the reason is for the decrease in students between middle school and I guess that always tends to be a concern for for parents um in a is it um I guess how do we address those concerns or issues of if we know what they are if they're tangible and if you

know are we providing the resources that are needed I know just in talking to uh folks you know going to K to five there's always that fear of going to the middle schools and maybe they go back to the uh to private schools and then I you know it makes sense that when you start to see ninth and 12th grade you've got a lot of students coming from the private

schools going to to Durfee so that that to me makes sense I think the the number of 83 students you know I think overall is probably a small number but it's still a significant number just looking at it I'm just trying to see if we've even began to analyze the root cause for that and if there's anything that you need from us in terms of you know resources or additional funding

to really try to address that that concern and with that cohort of grade six to eight it's a it's a valid question Mr Kadeem certainly uh we can the answer is not easy so we're going to have to go by school and look at that data to see if it's coming from one particular school or um because I would say probably is coming from the traditional middle schools but I I don't want to answer

that and say that that's exactly how it's happening however we will do a data dive into that tomorrow we'll look at where the students have exited from and we'll provide you that information I I guess I don't I don't necessarily need it for tomorrow so please don't no but we'll we'll get that information I appreciate that thank you yes so the only question I had tonight Kadeem opened it up the question so

councilor Kadeem um we had we had a drastic change in student population over the last two years so what are we doing to recruit teachers that mirror are student population I believe I I talked to attorney Greg brilliant today in former school committee man and he was one of uh I shared with him years ago oh gosh it must have been 24 years ago and that was a concern back then is what

what we we have to get teachers I think I'm not talking about affirmative action or I don't know maybe in a fashion I am but we need a population of Educators that make our schools inviting make them feel welcome and I don't you know um I remember Pat Foley God Rest his soul he made a comment saying there's too many people I mean again I want to seem like it's taking people to take this wrong

way but there's too many employees that look just like me so and I know it's probably supply and demand and it's a it's a tough question to ask you but what what are we doing to recruit well teachers that kind of mirror our population in the school department and I know it's a complex question but yeah um certainly we are not any different than what we're seeing across the the country there's a staffing shortage

um but um I could not agree more our kids need to be see adults that look like them that just makes it more makes it more inviting and more comfortable even right down to the parents I mean well it's really I agree it's relatability school should be and and it is I'm not saying we're floundering on that in terms of the elementary schools but it we stopped losing that that Bond

a little bit I think when the kids go to middle school and high school and it goes a long way to have a you know a big guy like Paul hot in there and just um mentoring so to speak other students that culturally they feel comfortable with right I felt that way for a long long time I agree we we have um actually um have had rolling um recruitment events

um uh both at the district level I know that tomorrow there's one um there's also going to be one next week in Boston that we're attending we are also reaching out through networks that our principals are part of we have one that we're planning at the end of April in um for on a Saturday for district-wide so we are making efforts to recruit um it's not an easy time but I I agree

that that's work that's ongoing we have increased the numbers of staff that look like our children and can relate to our it's more about our staff our students our families all being able to relate to one another speaking the language you're going to take away some barriers right so if a parent wants to go speak to a teacher or to an administrator it you know they don't speak English we

have a responsibility to support them in that way so we are we have been working on that we are we are not anywhere near where we need to be and we need to continue to work on that and recruiting and retaining uh uh uh staff that that our kids that look like our kids and our kids can relate to yeah so I'll lend with us just a comment that I think

again it's not about me I kind of have a unique experience in terms of my wife's a fifth grade teacher and she's excellent what she does and obviously couples talk we sit down and there's wonderful things going on um so that said um I was a member of the school committee for 10 years and it's just her recurring issue in terms of you know all the things I was taught by when I was a

teacher for a while then all the things that I was taught in school and I learned on the school committee and I I saw her at Jeffy working with mayor Coogan and others that uh it's it's really important very very important so um we could probably obviously I don't care if it takes a couple of weeks or a month but I'd like to see like the percentage of our population to work directly with kids and um

a reflection of what that looks like inter in comparison to a student population okay so I'm sorry about that but I don't want to say I'm sorry but it's it's something that's been on my mind and uh no getting a call from a colleague a friend a former school committee person I think it's a it's an important question to ask so I yields thank you Council proposal thank you madam superintendent I'm just curious on the

overall enrollment of the district as we stand today ten thousand four hundred and forty seven and across those grade brands do you have the breakdown I do not but I can get you that okay here on this computer so my only question goes back to pre-k and I know that the district opened up additional space at the old Montessori School and if I listened to the meeting correctly there's plans to do additional

so the next year the plan is you're going to continue the lease of the Montessori the old Montessori School to continue that program is there a plan for an additional building going into next year to increase that Pre-K enrollment well we are working on spacing we we are working with uh the city and and looking for space so that we can acquire and expand so that is in the in the works okay

yeah we also have our own we have a property on Globe Street the Old Stone school that we are um exploring on and and putting some units there so we do have a plan for expansion okay cool now if you can just give me those breakdowns that'd be great yield thank you Mr Almeda and continue so this slide just shows you what the Chapter 70 funding has looked like from

2019 to 2023 and it shows you for 2024 the proposed Chapter 70 funding is 188 000 100 million twenty four thousand four hundred seventy seven dollars in the governor's budget which represents an increase of just over 19 million dollars uh 11.6 increase from last year as you can see from this slide uh 2022 I'm sorry 2022 was the first year 2023 is the second year and 2024 is the

third year as I had mentioned previously so that's what this is where you're seeing the increases of the student opportunity and it's coming into play could I just someone's tell me would you say that student opportunity experts are going 2027 yeah there okay um so just another I guess Global question that I have and it's really in the next slide I kind of jumped the gun a little bit but it all revolves around the

Chapter 70 and then the minimum contribution so I guess my question globally is have we begun to have discussion on that by we I mean the administration's you know the city and the school department in terms of the sustainability and affordability uh for the increase especially when it comes to the local contribution just when you're looking at obviously 23 a six percent increase so it's two million

dollars uh 24 uh two percent and shame on me I don't even know what the two and a half generates I should probably know that I I know it in my community but it's probably pretty close right two and a half percent is pretty close to that 2.1 million 2.2 million dollars so right off the bat you know going to the two and a half Levy um really is going into the

contributions from the city have have there been any discussions in terms of how we can approach that moving forward from an affordability standpoint I don't know that we've had specific discussions that way but we've discussed the budget and what it looks like going forward for for both I guess yeah we're we've actually been um looking at like the indirect costs and Kevin and I have been

getting together we've had emails going back and forth and we're taking a deep dive into the indirects and the actual expenditures because nobody wants to get that letter saying that you know we have to send over another million two million okay so and and do we know I know there was in the governor's number there is she's I forgot how much it was set aside but um for the local contribution relief

I think it was 10 million dollars I don't know maybe that's a little light but I think that's what was out there on the budget do we know how much of that is coming down to either the city or the the additional relief I mean no they've been talking about it but we haven't seen concrete numbers okay so we don't know what the breakdown would be for if that gets moved through the budget what four

of his contribution would be I don't know exactly what I haven't seen anything concrete that's in black and white that says what fall River's amount will be okay all right thank you councilor Kadeem hey dude I'm sorry sure so as you can see from this slide this is the required local contribution and what it's from 2019 to 2023 um 2024 proposed under the governor's budget is 38 million five twenty four

Forty Nine which is nearly a 2.2 million dollar increase from last year um so you know in regards to the Chapter 70 required local contribution the split proposed in the governor's budget is 83 7 83 percent Chapter 70 17 required local contribution and historically it's been around 80 20.

so you know transitioned a little bit over the years slide is the net School spending slide so as you can see from 2019 net School spending at that time was 100 just about 150 million dollars in the FY 24 budget it's proposed to be under the governor's budget 226 million 544 926 which is just under a 22 million dollar increase or a 10.6 increase from last year foreign So speaking on the indirect cost

agreement so the indirect cost agreement is the agreement between the city and the schools and it just outlines what the costs are that are on the city side that are going to be placed on the end of the airport and if it went a discrepancy occurs um and it can't the agreement can be modified through an agreement with the city or by bringing in the desc as the final operator

this slide just shows you what the cost the current costs are that are eligible for net School spending that I reported um on the end of the airport through the indirect cost agreement health insurance retirement assessments for special ed school choice and the charter schools property and liability insurance they're all listed up there so these costs here are the costs that are reported on the end of the report

but that are not eligible for net School spending and that those costs specifically are the cost associated with debt principal interest the bond anticipation notes school crossing guards Regional assessments for diamond and Bristol Aggie purchase of land and buildings and Equipment over 150 000 dollars Transportation so from 2019 to 2022 I've included the costs here for transportation and what they've been

back in 2019 costs were about 9.2 million and in 2022 there are 11.4 million so but you can see the transition from 19 to 20 to 21 to 22 and the reason the cost decreased was that was during the Coba times and not having schools so that's why the transition from the 9.2 down and again transportation is not eligible for net School spending better vice president Council proposal Mr Almeda out of

curiosity where do you feel the 23 fiscal years looking for for transportation so they took the total 23 23 for this year uh it's probably going to cost just over just over 12 million dollars okay so not jumping ahead but one of your later slides is the proposed Transportation budget of 10 million so why the decrease so I I put in the budget to fund 12 point it was 12.8 million dollars in

total is what I put in the budget and in the budget I propose that 1.5 million is funded through circuit breaker I proposed that 800 000 is funded through Esser um the sr3 accounts and for pre-k transportation and 500 000 to be funded from the mckinney-vento homeless account is sr2 funds eligible for that as well it is so but sr2 ends in September on September 30th so so we can't charge

anything you know after September field so that's why I proposed session three thank you I yield thank you so this slide is the health insurance line as you can see the health insurance has been you know relatively you know the same over the last several years we haven't seen any major drastic increases um last year it was in 22 it increased a little bit from 21 but the insurance has been pretty stable

so I'm not going to read this slide but this this Mass General law is job 7168 is the law around the maintenance of building and the fact that maintaining buildings lies on the city Side so any costs that are over 150 000 are you know per the law to be funded by the city but with that said um the slide shows you over the last several years the Investments that we

have made on the school side for costs over the 150 000 specifically the Durfee field house for 1.1 million The Talbot drainage or parking lot for almost 1.1 million the Pace Building for just over 500 000. uh the green school we proposed three playgrounds to cost 500 000.

and reload the construction of the egress Road cost us 491 thousand dollars the Pace Building the trailer installation was four hundred and nineteen thousand dollars the darn playground is estimated to be two hundred and five thousand dollars and to date for the Durfee athletic fields we've put in nearly 3.6 million and we are going uh we are going to move forward we're going to move forward to

the school committee to propose to fund the phase three which is the final phase of the Durfee athletic fields for 1.5 million dollars so as you can see we've put in significant uh amounts of money on the capital side from our budget you know to to help to help the city and to maintain our schools in addition to that wouldn't and I didn't include here on the slide through Esser funds we have

put in for 17 million dollars worth of HVAC work across the school district so you know for various schools so um foreign yeah just a quick comment on the um on the high school and the campus um I drive by there literally daily and um it's just wonderful you know Wonderful um so we're on time when on budget yes okay I had some conversations with Mr Pacheco a couple of weeks ago

and um I guess you're planning to do a a Droid a video of the campus Because it's it's it's like uh it's now like Stone Hill College it's like it's it is truly almost like it is a college campus and it's I'm very very happy and pride and I swell up a pride when I say all that that activity and um and maybe getting back a little bit to what I asked a superintendent about

if you give a reason for students to stay at the campus after school hours participating in in some type of activity like that that it's it's it's total it's very very important so I just want to say kudos to not only look the councils here who voted for that to appropriate the money but the school committee as well and all the wonderful work it's unprecedented really um and it's just you know like I said it

swells me up with pride when I say all that great activity up there so thank you are you strong meter the slide just as a net School spending compliance slide you can see from 18 to 2022 where funding has has been when the end of the airport has been filed so you can see that we've been anywhere from 98.7 percent through 100 percent um when filing the end of the airport

uh thank you madam vice president so just on that that slide so what's the significance to the common amount which says the amounts include prepaid tuition of one point so I've reduced the amount um so for example on FY 20 where it's a short 1.3 million the report that came back to us from the desc was the 1.3 million plus the 1.7 million and the reason I have it at the 1.3 million is

because in essence the funding does come from that year so we're funding an expense that's the first quarter of the phone so we're funding it from the previous budget so that's the reason why it's reflected that way okay so so I guess that would lead to my question so if we're short in the previous year why haven't we spent that money is it just due to the timing of the money coming back so we're so so

I've only included this slide just as a representation to show you what's happened over the years but the city each and every time that the DSC has come back to us and said you know you owe us a million dollars the city has given us the money to make up these shift Falls yeah so so I guess I I appreciate that so I guess from our from the city council standpoint we should be

looking to make sure that number one obviously we're budgeting 100 of that school spending right which is required by the law so if we're not obviously we need to get you that funding in advance so you have enough opportunity to actually spend it down if not you just again essentially sitting on 1.7 million dollars in FY 19 rolling it into 20 with Prepaid in 1.8 and 20 going into 21 right so so a timing mechanism so

um when when do we typically get notification in terms of not meeting net School spending and then you know what's I guess what should be the expected turnaround time from the city council standpoint to make sure that we're at least asking the question as to have we made the appropriate allocations over to the school to make sure that we're at a 100 in those School spending so typically the process is the end of the

airport the deadline for the end of the airport is September 30th um I typically report out to the school committee in the October time frame to let them know what I've submitted to the state the desc does not typically certify it until it all depends changes over the years but typically it's around February vacation is when we get the official certification from the desc and they let

us know at that time what it represents and and a lot of times what happens is what we have submitted previously changes because of other different factors you know and so we've historically waited until the certification to then come to the city to come come back for the month to say hey this is what the desc is certified and this is what we're looking in order to meet the required but when you're

year-end reporters do so October you you have a good handle on where you think the number is going to be right so absolutely so we could probably be having those conversations assuming that we have a funding mechanism to appropriate whatever we think it is and then if there's any additional monies then we can deal with it when that's released by the by Desi in February right so at least you're dealing with

October November trying to spend down if it's close to a million dollars or on average you know just call it one 1.6 million um and I didn't do math so don't test me on that um all right absolutely okay Miss ramita this is the Essa slide so uh we we got through we received three allocations for Esser uh sr1 was 4.7 million that Grant has already been fully spent the grant ended 9 30 22.

um sr2 uh the grant was just over 17 is for just over 17 million the grant ends September 30th and at this time there's about five million dollars in the account and we have various expenses that will happen between now and September 30th and all the funds will be spent um sr3 was for just over 30 just over 39 million dollars for that Grant we have until 9 30 24 to spend down the funds

and to date we've spent the funds on Pre-K expansion uh community facilitative physicians paraprofessionals we gave money to the private schools we did things during covid for the covet rooms professional developments technology transportation and the HVAC work as I had previously mentioned so this is our budget for 2024 our proposed School operating budget is 163 million 920 197.

that represents 100 of the governor's budget and as previously mentioned the transportation Budget on the operating side is proposed to be 10 million dollars but total cost is 12 million total cost is 12.8 million that's 12. that's what the total cost is yes foreign sure so in this new budget we are proposing to add 166 positions out of the operating budget and that includes 70 uh teachers

70.5 teachers and and I will say that some of those teachers are ESL coaches as we grow our strands in in schools regular classroom teachers special Educators we also have paraprofessionals last year we had a focus on kindergarten and first grade this year many of our pairs are for Pre-K and special ed inclusion classrooms as well as any sub separate classrooms where we had one pair and we're adding a second pair to

the classroom we also are expanding our scl Liaisons student support Specialists as I said at the beginning of the presentation we our school committee actually worked with us creating this new position that was is between a counselor is somebody that's on track to probably become a counselor and they are working closely with our school adjustment counselors they are um it's been a tremendous position uh

the model for instance at a middle school might be they have uh four uh or three School adjustment councils because they do many teams so uh by grade level so they would be a Sac a school adjustment counselor assigned to that grade level as well as a an essay liaison the vice principal and the guidance counselor so and those have been a tremendous asset to our schools and we're expanding those by 12 and we

also have director supervisors as I said in the beginning where restructuring our facilities and organization facilities department so we have some supervisors positions there we're adding some custodians additional five safety officers I don't think anybody can argue with the priority of safety across the district and our goal is to have a safety officer in every Elementary School now we don't have one in every

single Elementary School school we have them at the middle and high and we want to make sure we have a couple of them spread throughout the district but we need to have a safety officer in every school and we are also proposing to add four additional groundskeepers cluster coordinators and special ed departments um two Vice principals we have at cusp we have three Vice principals one per

grade level we want to replicate that model at Morton and Talbot to so we're adding two Vice principals there we're adding two guidance counselors also department heads two department heads as you notice across we have some positions coming from Grants so in one case we are converting a coach Spencer board and for instance they have English language arts department head but they have a math

coach and that principle is requested to convert that position to a math coach a math department head also and that's comparable to the rest of our schools we're adding a nurse as well as technology out in one position there the finance department another position an admin assistant um Clerk and we have an athletic trainer we have a full-time athletic trainer and a part-time athletic trainer currently

positioned the part-time we haven't been able to fill that the need is there we want to add a 0.5 to make that a full-time and hopefully recruit somebody so as you can see all of these positions are really to support what's going on in the school in the classroom as we aim to support our staff Council reposa thank you madam vice president the does this include the reorganization that was discussed last night yes okay

so that is that under the director supervisors yes portion okay and then the other question is in comparison to last year's new positions and now are there any positions that were not filled and are rolled over for this year yes um I'm sure there are because we we currently as I said before we're currently in a position where we're struggling to hire we've been hiring all year long so we still have some para

positions that may not have been filled Etc so yes so what's the net difference between last year's and this year's as far as additional positions I know that we have currently 63 teaching positions open still spread out across the district and that could be interventionists classroom teacher or special educate I will say special Educators and ESL teachers are a priority and that's something that

people are struggling with to fill so the positions that were unfilled last year are being rolled over again this year in hopes they can be filled essentially well there are kids in the classroom yeah so I understand that yeah for sure I get that point okay thank you sounds like a team uh thank you I had questions similar to that along those lines that Council proposal had discussed

last year we we had roughly the same amount right like about 166 new positions coming in so and I'm sure a school committee has asked this question so I my own notification that at what point do we level off in terms of where we are for positions and I know it's on any given year you'll always have one or two positions that you know looking at um new trends things of that nature

you'll have to make some adjustments but overall that we're not seeing like 166 or or 100 new positions coming in when do we really kind of level off of plateau I I mean I would like to say um because I think that question was asked last year also because we want to make sure that the budget's sustainable and we're not we don't want to add positions just for the sake of adding

positions right we also know that we're a district in need High needs District that our teachers need support so uh we're not performing where we need to perform so we need to put the supports in place in the classroom until we see that we are getting to where we need to you know we are raising student achievements so I hope that uh we're not here next year and I'm sick because Kevin and I had

this discussion I said I think we were at just about the same number last year um I hope that I'm not here next year saying we're going to add another 170 positions because you're right at some point we're going to outgrow space for the adults right um so we it does have to stabilize but we need to stabilize our kids our you know are still um uh lacking right they're coming in they're struggling academically they're

struggling socially and emotionally and we have a responsibility to do whatever we need to do to support them so um we're going to add the positions if that's what needs to be done and when we don't need it I won't be here asking you for them no I yeah I appreciate that I think just as an administrator personally that at some point you do an analysis and say okay

we can only throw so much money and so much bodies into a problem right so then if it's not working we've got to figure out another solution and figure out why it's not working so I was just trying to kind of figure you know where do we see our Benchmark you know we had our Benchmark with these those 166. I know the uh City probably has a lot of hop around when they see uh some additional

bodies coming in so um and then my second question was uh which was really kind of in Terms along the lines of uh Council proposal is just your ability to fill the positions and I know it's been challenging um I was just on a bond rating call with uh standing in Poor's and this is the first year they've ever asked the question about um a municipali's ability to attract employees

I found kind of astonishing but there is a trend in municipal government and the analysts that I was dealing with deals with the uh the whole east coast and it's been a problem the entire East Coast I'm sure it's issues in the public sector across the country but um what are we doing and you said you've got about 60 positions 60 teacher positions that are open and then you're asking for another 70s so that you know

you obviously uh talking about significant uh open positions so what are you doing or what's the school district doing to to try to attract uh teachers and I know it's been a challenge to begin with because obviously um being in an urban setting that that's a challenge in itself so you get to bring in some some teachers who are who are new to the profession and they you know they get their feet wet and they're

moving on to other communities that are a little bit more easier that are also paying uh better salaries so I'm just kind of trying to figure out where you stand on that and then I guess my second question to that part is where are we with Collective bargain agreements so because I'm trying to figure out the impacts that we could potentially see because I know there's also discussion about especially in with the mass

teachers a lot of major movement and push for salaries so if we're already not competitive in the district and then we're starting to look at these new collective bargaining agreements that are being um you know worked on in other communities we're going to just struggle even more so I'm just curious about that I'll start with a collective bargaining piece we actually will be starting that

process again in January we we made some significant progress with the last contract and closing some gaps we still have gaps to close we are losing people to our neighboring Community communities yours being one of them you know that um so um we that is a big that is a big concern for us it's all about the administrator right right I'm just kidding Seth but that but that's just that's a real

um struggle uh we are we are being proactive uh I think that we are like tomorrow there's a uh um a recruitment fair at Bridgewater we are going to the sources partnering with our neighboring communities and some of the colleges to try to recruit um uh staff before they even graduate try to get them in there um where um uh posting some um student teachers to try to um have them you know stay with us

um but that's you know that's something that's in everybody that everybody's mind because we're all vying for the same uh people and the pool is shrinking Nationwide right it's tough to be a teacher today um so I do think that some of it is going to the new contract is going to have to um probably be aggressive so that we can attract people to the city and we need to continue to be proactive and and

really step up our recruitment and and probably even look at what we're doing to retain our staff so that they're not going right retention's the big key so in terms of the budgeting standpoint sorry you're budging 100 of the salaries are you doing 90 would 100 100 so so you right off the bat you know there's probably Surplus in there depending on movement and things of that nature and

these are you're doing a full year higher rate like no mid-year hires or anything like that for budgeting purposes it's a full year yeah correct yes and just and just to go back to your original comment counselor um as far as the budgeting goes with positions and um you know the superintendent and I have had a lot of discussions about you know the potential fund that Cliff when this

is all said and done and what happens and you know just as just to put it out there next year um the Easter funds go away and we do have 100 106 positions that are currently budgeted for in the Easter Grant and so those those positions are all going to roll into the budget for FY 25. so we already know that we've already planned for that but that's you know the first big thing that's coming

out of all this and we have to do and we have to work with the negotiations so um that's all going to come into play for the fiscal year 25. so that was going to be my next question in terms of the grant but so the yes or money so how many how many positions are being paid out of that so right as of right now budgeted is 106. we do have some unfold

positions but budgeted six positions that are in the operating budget or outside that are outside the operating that need to be rolled in and so we'll look at all those positions and determine whether or not some of our federal grants can take those positions on potentially and try to bring that number down a little bit but that'll work that work will happen now just in terms of since we're it's a joint

meeting uh so layoffs so unemployment costs things of that nature you folks and remind me do you folks pick up unemployment or is this we we do we do you pick up your portion yeah all right thank you does the uh is the city oh sorry that's okay yeah just one final question is you could tend to pop in your head here and there um during the discussion so um How structurally Sound

um how old is Middle School is Talbot so briefly I don't need Mr Pacheco to come down or anything like that so is there a lot of structural needs we continue to work I will say that um we have made some significant progress there as well as that some Henry Lord where we're embarking on replacing the windows Etc so I think that we are in a better place than we've ever been before

we are trying to make sure that we take care of our buildings right so uh Talbot looks different but needs still we need to continue to invest in it we've made some progress towards it and and we'll continue uh principal proposal is very good about advocating for his building absolutely so he's on us okay I'll accept that and if I have any other questions I can call you privately

so thank you madam vice president thank you no other questions no no stop and are you sure

so while we're setting up just a brief introduction um so while we're going to see is is essentially an overview um it is the result of what started with individual meetings with every Department in division head uh with the financial team I was at the majority of those as well um as a preliminary step we went through the proposed budget that each department had looked for places where there might be

questions there might be differences between our expectations and what the department head is looking for and asking for basically tried to create accountability and the ability for every Department had to explain their budget to understand their budget and I'll say that with the munis upgrade that we just did our reporting software these budgets are now for the first time all in munis

which I think is going to streamline this process going forward but then once those initial meetings happened there were additional meetings with the financial team and then meetings with the mayor and the division head and the financial team so there's been a tremendous amount of vetting that's gone through this and I think as part of that there's been a great deal of professional development that's happened

because we do have a number of younger department heads and division heads and assistants so I think that the the overall effect of what CFO almond has done with the division department heads in building the budget has been a really beneficial process for the city and for leadership in the city going forward and with that I'll turn it over to the CFO so I think Seth pretty much Carrie

followed through with what this slide represents and we did it's it was very much a collaboration between all of the department heads then with the uh directors and then along with myself and the administrator the rest of the administration I just want to comment that we are still going through the budget um you know everybody puts in like their wish list and what they really want and

their needs and then unfortunately there's only so much money and the funds and we have to make cuts and make decisions and that's what we've we've done and we're still reviewing the expenditures and the revenues and I will say that the guiding principles around a lot of those decisions uh have really been set forth by this Council over the last several months we've talked a lot about

maintaining the assets that we have making sure that we're taking care of our facilities our equipment our property and so that's really been the focus is making sure that we're good stewards of the things that we have before we start talking about buying new things and so that's been a real focus of this process uh and I would just I want to make sure that the council is aware that those priorities really come

from what has been set forth here in this chamber for the priorities of the council and making sure that we're we're accountable that we're practicing reasonable uh responsible stewardship with the assets we have in the city because you know arpa money goes away and we need to make sure that we're planning for the future and I think that's what this budget represents so I just want to um bring point to the

fact that we know that there's a lot of financial pressures and we take that into account we know this High inflation and that there's two and a half percent on the tax levy we also know that we want to maintain our current city services we want to enhance the services to better represent and serve the taxpayers and we know that we're realigning priorities as we go through and you know maybe funds are provided to

one Department this year and the next year we have to you know we know that another department it's their turn to make an improvement just because again as only the funds are only go so far we also are putting us an emphasis on that we are customer service provider like we are providing a customer service experience and all of our employees we want to represent the city and that comes right down from the top um again

Mr Aiken said the city city assets we want to maintain what we have we don't want to see you know we invest in dollars and then just let it fall apart so we're also looking at our borrowing needs versus our operating budget and short-term and long-term borrowing and not having to rely on as much borrowing we don't want to continue to do that we want to build up uh stability so the priorities in this budget are

having a government that's responsive to our residents and businesses we intend to Ed to fund education at 100 of net School spending we want Public Safety providing a city that is safe to live learn work and play as well as providing a relief to the taxpayers and only implementing half of the debt exclusion continuing to develop long-term strategies that provide sustainability

and we're investing in infrastructure to keep Pace with growth and improve services as with any everyone public and private having a stable Workforce retaining employees training reducing turnover and maintaining maintaining continue at continuity is important and it's hard to make it's hard to attract employees in every aspect in every Department we're also evaluating historical processes for improvement

for improvement opportunities to implement efficiencies and we're eliminating waste and time and materials we've been along with The Muse upgrade we've been making some other technological upgrades that will help us with having reduced Staffing just to get things that we just don't have staff to do and we don't want to waste we want to reduce errors so the pressures on US are as everyone

knows the inflation there's a very strong competitive market we have openings the school department has openings there's a shortage of qualified workers our interest rates on borrowing is increasing there's Rising pension costs increasing Health costs and the significant increase in local appropriation for education and assessments building a stabilization fund a rainy day for strategic future

so that we're not relying on this just for their operating budget we're reducing our needs to rely on debt for recurring expenditures of capital items and we're monitoring current market trends as it that's going on in the banking industry as well so the assumptions that we made right now are that are we're estimating a 352 million dollars in revenues and expenditures this is a roughly an eight percent increase from

23 and I just want to emphasize that we're not final this is not a final budget presentation our budget includes 50 of the Durfee debt exclusion for the high school totaling 2.6 million and other Revenue sources include a significant increase in chapter 78 of approximately 19 million salaries and weight wages may include filling vacancies that were eliminated in 21 and unfilled in 23 due to many

uncertainties and our expenses will include the operating needs of the Departments to provide the citizens of the city the best services that we can the budget will include funding School operations at 100 of net School spending and we have negotiations between the city Administration and just one remaining collective bargaining agreement bargaining unit and the city will continue to review all

capital items on an ongoing basis to evaluate which one-time purchases that we can use arpa funding for we want to use these for Investments that provide long-term relief on the operating budget Capital expenditures have not been budgeted in the general fund at this time we're again utilizing that strategy of investing Arbor funds in long term the city will continue to vigorously

seek out grants and earmarks or support and invest in local needs to ease the burden on our taxpayers so our funds in the budget 51 go to education 13 to Public Safety Retirement and benefits are 21 and Debt Service is another 3.9 percent I just wanted to cut you know our free cash certification we had a significant certification in the last couple years due to the pandemic and covet and arpa

money that has eased the burden and our stabilization fund we're continuing to grow this and I just wanted to show the years from 2013 to 2022.

this represents a draft of what our projected revenues are they are not finalized um right now we're looking at a small increase in what the governor has recommended just from conversations that are happening but again we're waiting for the Senate and the house to come out with their versions to give us a better idea of where we're going and right now this is our proposed draft of what our general fund expenditures

will be and I don't know if anyone has any questions just one question I know it's uh it's always an issue with regard to getting the state and the Senate and the House of Representatives final numbers so we're approaching May right the budgets do for us June no the intent is to get the budget down to around the first second no late in the second week of May generally those I

mean last year the Senate and how the numbers came out right at the end of April beginning of May I'm sure you're on the phone quite often with the state delegations a powerful son of Mike Roderick so any idea I will say that the the mayor actually is is taking a direct hand in making sure that he's communicating to the delegation how important it is as soon as possible as soon as possible I

think everyone knows that the the governor herself had an extension to submit hers and so everything kind of uh flows from that uh that said uh I think that we'll wind up getting our final numbers uh at the end of April I think we'll be able to deliver this to the council in that first or second week in May um and you know there's there's so many things that we can do in-house to to

finalize and and polish uh while we're waiting on that I I think you're making projections like you're doing and then begins them I mean we were meeting right up until this will come in and hot and I had a conversation a couple of days ago about that issue and so I wanted I wanted to ask that question go ahead I mean we were meeting with our director of City operations today and going

through and fine-tuning areas in his budget as well so I mean it's ongoing every day no further questions thank you madam vice president so I just had a question so the slide when we talk about borrowing versus operating debit can you just elaborate a little bit more like what do you mean by that so are we going to leverage borrowing more no so I don't want to the the intent is to not

have to rely on borrowing I mean as we you did the s p call we did Moody's um we'd we want to not have to rely on borrowing and be able to build up you know our stabilization fund where we utilize that to fund projects obviously not you know building a whole new bill the whole new school or anything but like I don't want to have to rely on borrowing for

vehicles or things that we should be able to build into an operational budget and with knowing what's coming down over the next few years we have to ease the burden in the budget and I have to look at areas and that's an area that we we need to try to ease up on so would you I don't disagree but so would you then because you're rolling in we've got about 10 to 11 million dollars rolled

into the operating budget for debt right so you would just be reallocating to specific departments so we're not going out to borrow so the intent is because of the the new schools and how much that's lever I mean they most of the borrowing is schools that's the significant portion of our borrowing um the intent is is to we're actively going after grants we're going after um as again as uh

Mr Aikens pointed out the mayor's on the phone all the time like trying to get earmarks and trying to get funds so we can ease that burden on the taxpayers because we still have other areas that we have needs for but I mean as you know we don't have a lot of room in our budget and I I understand that I guess I was I was thinking more along the lines

for the uh smaller Capital items right so just police vehicles maybe fire vehicles um where you get you get a little bit more bang for your buck if you borrow because you can get some immediate um you know more Vehicles than you can actually build in if you're going to pay for the entire amounts right so you might be only be able to get three police cruises in one year if you're

building into the operating budget but if you leverage a borrowing you might be able to get five or six so double it if there's an immediate need that's that's all well that's some of that's more like like short-term like least to purchase items those aren't off the table I'm just you're talking I'm just talking overall big picture okay all right with that I yield I'll have more questions obviously when the

budget's finalized we have one more from Council reposa thank you Mr Aiken I'm just curious on the reorg that happens to go now we have the some plans in the projected budget going forward of some of those changes that the director of operations was planning on making that will hopefully reduce some some issues here is there an idea with that going forward so I think what you're you're

referencing is is there is a proposal that's really an ongoing conversation with Mr Oliveira the new director of City operations um to reorganize City operations a little bit which is which includes Community maintenance parks and trees and cemeteries and Facilities um so this budget does reflect uh some of those changes but I will say that the way in which the changes might be happening um is essentially uh it has a

essentially neutral effect on the budget so we're not looking on it to add positions we're not looking to um throw a whole bunch of money at a department uh simply to change the way it does things this should be Revenue neutral it should be expense neutral however you want to look at it um and uh and that's the goal and that's actually I think part of the the meetings that we've been having with

City operations to make sure that they can have the people in the right spots to do what they need to do without uh creating a budget increase that is basically gonna you know it's two steps forward three steps back we don't want to do that um and so that's been the conversation I think you're going to see some some reallocation of uh Personnel but I don't think it's going to result in any sort

of budget change so budget neutral but as far as from a customer service perspective a better experience oh my gosh absolutely yeah no I I think that the way in which um City operations is already looking at how we maintain our facilities our equipment and how we take care of our people with an eye towards how all of those things come together to take care of the residents um they've already made I think some

significant changes that are resulting in um you know things that people are noticing uh and um I think you're you're absolutely going to see our ability to respond more quickly um you know you're going to start seeing the graffiti machine out in the next couple weeks and months which I'm excited about I think that's going to make a very immediate impact uh on the city you're going to start to see some

of the the benefits of some of the arpa money once we get in the new infrared machine in terms of Paving in terms of concrete and the way we're allocating resources to staff those teams I think the the residents of Fall River are going to be able to see that very quickly especially as the weather gets warmer thank you I yield thank you no further questions Mr Mayor if you want to call for adjournment

there's a motion oh Council uh school committee that's okay you can ask questions related to the school budget we've asked the questions a lot of the councils are asking about how how are we going to maintain and sustain all of the positions so we have done that due diligence on that and Mrs ponson have provided us with documents that I'm sure they could share with you relative to the student Opportunity Act

projections of how much revenue was going to come to the schools and that would actually continue beyond the six or seven years because it's it's reset the amount of money that we're going to receive so I think we're in pretty good shape as far as that's concerned being prepared so when we talk about the asset positions that are going to fall off this 106 positions fifty thousand

dollars a position roughly you're five you're talking five million dollars it's got to get you know buried within in addition to all of the increases that we have so it might seem on the front like we have a lot of Revenue you know a lot of money to play with here but we really don't so we I believe have to be careful with how we go about um budgeting going forward to the council

kadeem's point that at some point it has to level off and we're going to be paying for the increases you know within the operating budget but I do want to say that I think we've been prepared you know for the one of the things that when we talk about the indirect cost agreement I I've been an advocate for open reopening that but it's it's basically been going on for seven or eight months since the you

know July time frame and really we it shouldn't take that long to look at an agreement and we go back and forth with you know putting funds in we're going to pay for this we're going to pay for that so I just think it's high time that we actually get to an actual agreement the agreement that we're operating on is four or five years old so I've asked it for we opened the

school committee voted back in July for that to be open and here we are in April and we still don't have an agreement but we're going to talk about well we might do this we might change it a little bit well why are we waiting all this time we don't need actual fees we need actual to have a plan where we can try to work together as far as I'm concerned

one of the issues on the those slides on real quick and we don't have copies of them so I can't go back to it but um when you look at expense forecasts around the city I think we'd be remiss if we're going to have this joint meeting and we don't talk about how we're going to fund Diamond going forward I haven't seen one slide or one information about that and that's the

biggest issue facing our schools right our city right now in the finances and the purpose and the agenda of this meeting said it was for its Financial condition expense forecast that's the biggest issue facing us and we haven't even talked about it here at the meeting so I personally was looking forward to just try to figure out what is the plan going forward to see how we can fund

that and I know we have the Durfee debt exclusion that is there but the diamond doesn't have that so I think that's a major issue as far as the revenue for the and the expenses for the for the city so I do think that the city pays the 100 at one point they always get to the 100 but I want to just reiterate that the city is not giving one cent beyond the hundred percent to

the schools so no matter what expenses this school department and school committee comes up with or the city for raises for new positions for any kind of any increases it's not coming one red Cent out of the city side of the budget it's all going to be coming out of the school budget every single penny so that going forward is not going to change I don't think the city's in a position to give more than

what they have to by by law but at the same time all of that money is within the schools there's not it's not coming out of anywhere else of the city taxpayer so I just think we should have talked about a few other things but that's just me and I think that's a major issue that needs to be addressed I'm sorry um so the meeting's not over I mean he

brings up two valid point points so I think we can still talk about them right so I think the indirect cost Agreements are I don't know if you folks want to respond to um why we haven't been able to and I listen this is the first time I didn't know you guys were you folks were talking about indirect cost agreements I know it's come up in the past but obviously the school committee is

familiar with it so just why hasn't gotten done that's all and I would just like to ask a question um do we have copies of the Powerpoints from members of the school committee I I didn't realize that they didn't get a copy they should have been given a copy as well Madam vice president I think they're missing the city's presentation

oh you did get yours oh okay I thought Mr agya said he didn't get anything no no they didn't get the video I mean Kevin's got better Vision than me so he just wanted like a copy of different reasons do we have we have copies yeah yeah please make sure the school committee members can get you know a copy thank you Mr kadim continue oh no no I was just I mean I'll leave it

to Mr I get yes yes two valid questions so I think we should while we're here get some responses so just to respond to the indirect cost of school we we have met we've had a couple meetings and we have had several emails but we are going over various items in the agreement so um you know we're trying to get there we're not there we're not quite there yet

um but as soon as we have some concrete stuff you know back and forth and stuff that we agree on we will we will bring It Forward is there a timeline have we put together a I guess a a goal that we would kind of meet to to an agreement on uh indirect cost agreements or changes to it no so no we have not had we don't have a timeline

but um you know sooner the better and um you know the agreements so we do still have an agreement we just we have an agreement that's in place currently that we've been using for the last several years and yes it should it is being looked at as we speak I guess let me uh let me ask this question is there a reason why is there any changes we don't want to see is it

what what's I guess what's the hold up I think the whole concern I think the holdup is that there's a lot to it um I mean so I it would be easy to say geez you know the indirect cost you know agreement just you know there's it's these five things and it's you know fairly easy to hash out based upon either increase or decrease of costs but it's actually a lot more than that um

you know one of the things that that we're talking about is you know if uh if the the city uh is asking the school to pay for X what is X actually entail uh is it just um you know somebody's salaries the benefits and and you know how far does you know who does that extend to so there's a lot of nuance a lot of legal Nuance I think to uh that indirect cost

agreement and we're just trying to be careful and thoughtful about how we do it so um during the the presentation about um I think the school's presentation there was a question of you know have you talked about how you're going to pay for net School spending going forward and uh Mr aguiar's response was um I'm sorry Mr latest response was I'm getting confused with Kevin's all right

um was that we have it and that's a true statement because really what we've had is a series of smaller conversations about certain aspects of it so I think with with both the indirect costs and net School spending we're trying to unpack all the different parts and there's a lot of parts and go through the things one by one and it's probably taken longer than expected so it's not a

great explanation but I that's how I see how it's taking place and it's also taken time to get information from other outside third parties you know that's that's like perak and yeah okay um so I guess you know just in terms of diamond I know we've had conversations offline with regard to Diamond but I don't know if you folks want to just talk a little bit about that and then

I'll yield to that because I think we've had a meeting yes sorry we had a meeting yesterday in the mayor's office Kevin and I've been going back and forth for months we're going to get together to hash out things next week because now that we've gotten some information from outside like from perak and a few others and the methodology um and that's really what it was it was like digging through and looking over

like the last 20 years of net School spending and indirect costs and the change in methodology but I was talking about dining diamonds so um our city engineer and Community utilities heads attended a meeting with the diamond folks recently the mayor was also at a meeting with Don folks recently um and I think everyone's just trying to get a handle on where that process is and what the time frame actually is

going to look like because as everyone knows construction right now is one of the most unwieldy things that you can do especially on that scale so I think when we were all here what was it last summer um you know the initial vote it feels like a while longer ago but I think it was only last summer um you know there was a timeline and I think that time that's when US city

still got stolen that's right it used to be right over there that was made by Diamond they took it back on us and I voted for it I supported it so I'm just throwing that out there just a clarification the reason they took the city sale back was because they wanted to make the lettering Docker so that it would show up it should be

I just uh I just hope that one day I can earn that seal that um but uh that's but where do we stand with and then I'm sorry I'm joking but where do we stand with the diamond project do we know where they are they in construction documents they still doing design development where where along in that like we're in that process are they they're doing right so they're they're still value engineering the building

um so the actual scope of the project is is changing um so we actually have some meetings uh scheduled imminently uh in the next week in uh week or so um where I think we're going to get some much firmer answers on where they are and what the time frame is right now we have a sense that um there's an initial bond for construction documents and design um that would have the city incur a

certain amount of debt not close to the uh projected six million dollars a year um but starting next year but at this point that's a little bit on hold because I think that timeline could be changing that's your next next fiscal year the next fiscal year um and that's just you know that's not based upon any hard data that I have it just you hear different things and so that's why the meeting is scheduled to

actually get some surreal uh answers come to a meeting of the minds on what the city should expect how much it's going to be where they are but the value engineering I think is where they're at right now well obviously there's I mean the discussions we've had was the concern about making those payments with the fact that there's no debt exclusion certain right but you've in the forecast that you have

given to us that was were those can you remind me where those numbers included they were so they were included based on what was provided now it looks like there might be a little bit of a delay I mean right now there's a ban out there so and that's been you know I was provided numbers around 600 000 that band ended up coming in over you know about 800 000 when I received the assessment from diamond

um now you know they may not be ready to go to fully move forward and and be on the same timeline where they would be rolling in like you know two and a half million and 25 and then six and a half million and 26. it looks like it may get pushed out another year or so um but yes my projection did show that and it showed that as a deficit that

we're going to have to address I yield thank you any other questions so one of the things on when I was talking about the dedics uh the indirect cost agreement so there's things that I believe we should have been doing all year for instance the school committee in one of our early meetings back with the budget we looked at it and said that the sergeant and the SRO division was

coming out of the city side of the budget so we all took a vote unanimously and the mayor included to say that we were going to fund that this year almost immediately we would just address it right away so that therefore was a hundred thousand dollar savings in the police budget by one action in one meeting right on the floor so since that meeting it's been six or seven months where we haven't addressed

the back and forth so my only Point bringing it up is that I think we if we're going to say we're going to try to work together and say what is an expense and what is legitimate for you know for that I talked about the crossing guys as one member of the committee the crossing guards out not in net School spending eligible but you could logically say that they're actually an expense for

schools because they're Crossing children to go to school logical expense 350 000 or something like that we could have immediately if we did this agreement while we're still looking for figures from the state and on the power rack and all that stuff we could have addressed that earlier so that we could say we would pick that up potentially either in the vote of the committee I'd said I

would be in favor of that because it's a logical expense for education but we didn't do that so now we're at the budget time and we have these controversies over the transportation and all that all I'm asking is that I I think together we need to get these agreements earlier and if we say we're going to reopen it every year that's fine when we get the numbers from Fair rack and these

other places but there's things that we could do to try to to help make sure that we're doing things that are logical and sound one of the things that bothers me and I've been said this I think at every meeting that we've ever had a joint meeting is about the trash so for four years now we've been coming back to this committee this meeting and when we had the city had budget trouble

and and the like and said well we're gonna if we did business trash and all that stuff it would be 250 000 a year four years later that's a million dollars that has been left on the table because we can't address it however and that's not in my Fairview but what isn't my preview is to know that the schools are built three over three hundred thousand dollars for our trash so the schools build on the indirect

cost agreement net School spending whatever so 350 000 or so for trash so we get built but how is that okay so they they take a credit for that on the school so I think that's just a major issue that every year this keeps coming up and I think it's we're leaving some money on the table for that but every time I see our bill come in and we say

that they're charging us for the trash I wonder what's so different about the schools than all the other businesses nonprofits and whoever that doesn't have to pay the tax it's just an equity thing and the only reason why I bring it up is we don't have a chance to talk typically together as a group but I for one think it's a good time to talk about things to try to get things on the table and

hopefully we can get this agreement in place and have a long-term couple hundred thousand dollars that we pick up potentially and it's going to save you money you know going forward the diamond question that was asked we talked about Mr Almeda having five million dollar projection three years from now how are we going to pay for it that's a legitimate concern of in my opinion for the it should be for the city and the

council and in the taxpayers so that's why I brought it up is I think it it just keeps getting you know passed over but it's going to become at some point a major problem and if we're having trouble already with funding transportation in the schools and like what are we going to do then so I just raise it as a concern thank you thank you adjourn public meeting cool committee first motion yes really yes yes

side you made a motion all in favor aye thank you thank you all for coming um at this time before everybody leaves um you can if you want to but at this time we'd like to call down all of the members of the auxiliary police department that are here this evening and we do have deputy chief Cullen with us and mayor Coogan is also here

they can come right down around the table the volunteer Auxiliary Police Department began in Fall River in 1950 and they served for 72 years due to legislation the unit was disbanded on July 7th of 2022.

deputy chief Charles J Cullen was the commanding officer of the auxiliary police unit from June 22nd of 1997 until it disbanded in July 7th and I reached out I thought these people men and women need to be thanked for all of the service that they provided us so I reached out to former Chiefs and there was some lettuce here from the former Chiefs that I'll read to you Council vice president May interrupt you

I apologize we probably should open up the regular meeting I really want to get this done because I told them okay I'm just I'm not trying to be overly technical but that's fine they're not going to take long thank you I'd like to express the service provided by the Fall River Police auxiliary during numerous annual events that contributed to our ability to provide safe and enjoyable events this service

and volunteerism has been provided for many years by the men and women of this unit at no cost to the city of Fall River during my service as chief of police it was a pleasure to serve with them providing these service and to now participate in honoring this unit and this is from retired police chief Francis McDonald I'm writing to support and to regret that the Fall River Police Department

auxiliary policing unit has been disbanded due to an active legislation I first learned of the auxiliary policing some 46 years ago when I was a young student of Criminal Justice I became a member of that unit although my duties were limited to assisting and costing patrons on Sunday morning masses the experience of wearing the uniform inspired me to strive to one day join the Fall River Police Department little

did I know at that time that I would one day rise to the level of chief of police back in those days the volunteers wore old old uniforms discarded they were hand-me-downs they were cleaned refurbished retrofitted with a patch and although we wore what we could fit into the unit was nevertheless proud to wear that uniform and dedicate time in assisting the Fall River Police Department in events from crowd control

to Traffic Control to establishing Presence at City events many years later when I came to depend on the unit as chief of police I found a professional modernized well-disciplined unit under the very dedicated command have now retired Deputy Chief of Police Charles Jay Cullen the unit had been outfitted with brand new uniforms met regularly training had dedicated volunteers some

who had served nearly 30 years and their duties had greatly expanded these men and women who dedicated a minimum of four hours a week but often exceeded that we leave the department of assisting offices and special events traffic control Etc Doreen my nearly 10 years as chief of police these volunteers not only performed exceptionally at all assignments but saved the city of Fall River a

considerable amount of money for what would have been an overtime expenditure and they did it without a complaint from the officers Union who had grown to respect each of these individuals I extend this sincere thanks and gratitude to all of the who have dedicated their time over the many years in the existence of the auxiliary policing unit and in particular deputy chief Cullen for his dedication to

assuring that professionalism although legislation was unfortunately resulted in the disbanding of the unit there are many hours of volunteerism over the years it deserved the recognition that they were received from the city of Fall River tonight I extend my personal thank you to all who have served selflessly as a volunteer your service was greatly appreciated and that was from

chief of police Jack Souza The Honorable city council had been asked to submit a letter in support of the Fall River auxiliary police Council Pereira is known to have the pulse on the community and this endeavor bears that she is quite correct and recognized in the efforts of the men and women of the Fall River auxiliary police and their command the commanding officer deputy chief Cullen the auxiliary are the unsung

heroes of the Fall River PD and the City of Fall River and they have served us through thick and thin weather in blizzards a hurricane a fire and countless parades and festivals they have been there to support the citizens and citizenry they have been a professional and vital part of the former police department and our community always on time and on post whenever and wherever needed and I have

the pleasure of swearing many of them in presenting them with the Fall River Police Department unit award at our Awards brunch ceremony in 2015. they earned the award that makes no mistakes I would be remiss not to recognize deputy chief Cullen the auxiliary police was successful not by accident or Miracle but by being led by deputy chief Cullen he spent hundreds of hours training and

Drilling and like them he received no compensation the auxiliary police and deputy chief Cullen volunteered that time and they missed family events they spent hours and days in the sun and the cold and the snow not for fame of Fortune For the Love of the community we all owe a debt of gratitude to the men and women of the Fall River Police Department auxiliary division they have served the community with pride honor

and distinction thank you all so much I miss you all God bless former Chief Dan Racine the last one is brief but I think it deserves time to thank people properly thank you for offering me an opportunity to recognize the Fall River Police auxiliary unit more than 50 years these volunteers dedicate their time and serve the city of fall River's Community with professionalism and pride they were well

trained worked long hours directing traffic providing crowd control and often in poor weather conditions I recall in my early years at the forever PD being grateful for the auxiliary office and then the coverage that they provided at City events their presence allowed me to continue with assignments on patrol and they very much contributed to our overall team effort much later when I had the privilege to serve as

Chief I again appreciated the auxiliary unit for their dedication and and their willingness to help in a moment's notice they provide valuable Public Service while also betting benefiting the city financially they have saved us millions of dollars the contributions of deputy chief child Cullen for his lengthy leadership to the auxiliary police unit cannot go unnoticed under his tenure the

unit was prepared and always conducted themselves in a professional manner deputy chief Cullen was a strong advocate of the Union unit his commitment to their success is worthy of recognition to all the men and women of the auxiliary police Union thank you thank you for your years of selfless service you provided valuable support to the Fall River Police Department and you did so in a positive manner and you also

have my utmost gratitude respect and appreciation former Chief Jeffrey Cardoza so from the city council we have citations for all of you and Mr Mayor you'd like to thank you I have obviously seen the work of the Fall River auxiliary police for a number of years at every Festival on every street corner they always took the time to help people make sure people were safe and uh saying thank you like this is probably

not enough for the work these gentlemen did and these and this young lady and we really appreciate all they did for the city um going forward I always thought we were going to be able to get them back in one form another and we're not done working on that because we know what they do to make this city safe and to move forward and forward so I really appreciate their work and I'm glad

councilor Pereira invited me here tonight to extend a thank you to these gentlemen

and unfortunately two individuals since they disbanded in July two individuals have passed away but their family members are here to receive it in their honor David thank you so much

Dennis Farley thank you elementary school he would come tonight the class oh really oh God 50 years or something that's a good teacher over 15 years

okay thank you so much

thank you I remember this guy

should deputy chief Charles Cullen for all the work that he has done and um blacks that were made that everyone has they were also made by Roxanne whose father was a form of a police officer so we figured you deserved a citation and we did a little plaque thank you all so very much Mr Cullen's going to take a picture of you all together oh you want to take a picture here

oh I was going to have you guys take a picture well take a picture near the council yeah I'll take a picture of you remember when I was in high school you pulled me over yeah yeah I do

I just make believe before you leave oh John and Mom my name is sorry all right that's not my off all right all right cheese full River or whatever you want to say auxiliary got it

thank you all very much I know that was a little bit out of order but I believe that it was well deserved thank you oh extremely the city council meeting public hearings come to order yeah public hearings come to order the clerk can call the roll counselors Kadeem here Dion here Kilby La Liberty Bell solitaire proposal here Washington here yeah president Camara I'm here and vice president Pereira

pursuant to the open meeting law any person may make an audio or video recording of a public meeting or may transmit 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 motion open the public hearing second all in favor aye first item

Jeremy corvo 146 Elizabeth Street for removal of the curbing as follows uh existing opening of 12.7 feet curbing to be removed eight feet curbing to be added none combined opening proposed 20.7 feet the Apostle is currently serviced by a 12.7 pave driveway the property owner is proposing to extend the opening an additional eight feet for total opening of 20.7 feet the applicant has received site

plan review approval and shall be required to repair any and all shoulder sidewalk roadway cribbing effect by this construction Activity thank you are there any proponents no proponents are there any opponents foreign

sorry no it's okay okay the next uh we're closing no opponents no proponents motion of close thank you there was second second all in favor hi next one is an auto repair Joseph Demello 317 Middle Road Acushnet Mass doing business as JDM and Son Incorporated for license to operate an auto repair shop on 1262 Brighton Avenue Lot J 24 2 assessors plan any proponents any opponents motion open

sorry second call in favor any opponents no proponents no opponents motion close they're a second second all in favor aye motion adjourn second second all in favor aye

do we want to take a break no let's keep going please okay um the city council committee on Finance meeting there is nothing in finance want to do citizen input there are the roll call please for finance committee council's kadim here Dion here Kilby yeah la Liberty Pelletier proposal here Washington here president Camara vice president

603 3rd Street subject matter veterans and Robert geinen 258 Savoy Street subject matter veterans

good evening good evening um good evening my name is Robert geining I have um where I hear from the War veterans Council uh Commander Charles demy and uh the we motion before the concert was to limit the amount of veterans organization can request and or receive uh to be no amount of fifty thousand dollars a year the uh about I have a letter which I'm going to read from uh Commander the forever what

console bettering to our Council Representatives uh 16 veteran organizations 13 of which are based in Forever express our appreciation to the Florida city council for addressing the issue of funding for a veterans organizations often referred to as the quarters of the Lawrence but we do not in favor of the proposal that is being considered by the city council to limit the amount of funds

that the veteran organizations can request or receive fifty thousand dollars per year from the city or other funding organizations such such as a RPA funds there are two major reasons for this opposition first and foremost the amount of funds that the city or town can allow to the veterans organization has already been determined by Massachusetts state law Title VII chapter 40 it specifies a

formula that determines the amount of funding that can be allocated based on the city Town Total Property evaluation the form of a total overall value is nine million eight eight I'm sorry nine billion 800 million uh dollars uh Massachusetts state allows a minimum of ten thousand dollars by every one million dollars of validation to determine the amount of funds limited to Veterans organization of Fall River can

receive following the statue which we recommended of the mayor and approval of the city council on two-thirds majority vote of the city council uh about cities veteran organizations may receive up to eight hundred thousand per year for quarters of substances of substance secondly since our veterans organizations were displaced from the veterans Armory on Bank Street we have struggled to find

new quarters some are using garages While others are using some city-owned property but the majority of our 13 veteran organizations do not have a permanent headquarters and are forced to rent or otherwise borrow meeting place space while we await the veterans Armory being repaired and reopened to us it is also important to note that our veterans organizations do not receive

any state funding and together have received no more than ten thousand dollars a year from the city to be divided among our 16 veteran organizations last year mayor Paul Coogan to the veterans service officer was able to provide a total of a hundred and thousand dollars that was divided among our organizations for this we are grateful but other than that one-time funding each veteran organization that is part

of the Fall River War veterans council is self self-funding surviving and having quarters only through our fundraisers and individual donations and as we all know during the covet we could not have anything so there was a Tavares 30 seconds fundraiser it has become motion clear rules jacket all in favor hi it has become clear that the city does not intend to repair the Armory so that means that we

will not be able to return to our initial headquarters previously provided by the city each of our organizations now host fundraisers to provide quarters scholarships and Civic Services Etc if the city council limits the amount of funds that the veterans organizations can request or receive would be unfair especially since other organizations like the Arts have received over a million dollars each

we support that each veterans organization requests for funds should be made on its own Merit and in accordance with the Mass state law and city ordinances following the established guidelines that determine the amount of funds to be awarded and the eligibility of the organization to request assistance we thank you for your attention and consideration in this matter and we welcome you to join Fall River veterans

and all veterans organizations in the upcoming Memorial Day Parade on Sunday May 28th thank you thank you Council Dion good evening good evening if I'm incorrect correct me I assume your comments are in regard to my resolution that's going to be heard tonight and if they are I would like to clarify that is not what the resolution is that is not what the resolution States this resolution is designed to give the

veterans groups more money not limit money as you said you've got ten thousand each from the administration this would give you the ability to get fifty thousand more excuse me we only got ten thousand dollars for 16 organizations oh okay so you only got ten thousand for sixteen my resolution is trying to give you 500 000 for 16 organizations it's not to limit how much money you can have or change any rules

and I know there are some veterans groups who have fewer members some have more some require more funding some require less depending on what it is your organizations do in the event that people would apply for up to the 50 000 and not all of it was used there would be nothing stopping if the ones who need more from a second bite at the Apple however I'm trying to give you an additional five hundred thousand dollars

not limit you to fifty thousand dollars with that I yield thank you Council Washington I think we need to wait for this motion to come up because that's not at all how her resolution was wrote so maybe we can amend it because it's 500 000 amongst 13 groups which is a fifty thousand dollar cap each group so maybe we should wait to look and talk about it when it's on the floor so we

can amend her resolution so it's an unlimited amount do you yield I yield thank you gentlemen thank you thank you before I call up the next person I know you have to read the um open meeting law between everything and I didn't it's been a very crazy day and I'm really not feeling well myself but pursuing to the open meeting where any person can make an audio a video recording of a public meeting or may

Transit the meeting through any medium attendees are therefore advised that such recordings and Transmissions are being made whether perceived or unperceived by those present and not deemed acknowledgable and permissible the next person to speak is Nelson Vasquez and accountability hi Nelson thank you

hello members of the city council um two diamonds point I was reported last year that the cause is going to be not only the 6.5 but an extra 69 approximately 69 area for every hundred thousand dollars on home value and that's on the horizon but when the proposal to cut education by 11 million dollars came up which is ridiculous it just alluded to the fact that money is running dry and he needs money and

what's striking to me is that through through all of this is that it's becoming clear as day so and before anyone tries to say that I'm lying and I'm going to disregard what I'm saying the next time I sit here okay it's going to be proven again that he has has been deceitful and he's stealing from the pockets of the people knowingly and purposely because he needs money there is no red

line that was stopping from Crossing well the next time I come here I'm going to purposely give each and every one of you this packet here live in front of the camera because that's how we have to do things around here because everything gets buried behind the curtain and that's not even beneficial to the community you see he made a promise two years ago that if he was found to be doing

anything illegal he would walk out that door well that time has come for him to live up to that promise because that promise should not be hard to keep and it should be a coming incumbent upon this console because the city is going to be watching what his next move is going to be and to see what he does because if he does not leave office and resign he had broke he

has broke his oath of office now I don't know who's running for reelection here but the thing is you all have a job to do call him out because if he does not leave he has broken the law and that is just it's not called for us it's not how you do things in the city especially reaching into the pockets of the people like that knowingly embracing me and this right here is going to be given

to each and every single one of you so the cities of me watching what happens next and that day is coming very soon so it's it's going to be truly truly groundbreaking when you have actual numbers showing what it is and him putting down this budget knowing that he normally lied and stole from the people and that my friends is illegal think of your time thank you Mr Square next first of Allo and it's on um

Joe is it easy for you to sit there because those mics alive I guess you can stay right there okay yeah just you're welcome

um Joseph Cavallo 400 Columbia Street here in the city so on March the 7th of this year in a victory for free speech rights and core democratic principles the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court ruled that government officials cannot silence members of the public based on the substance of their input during quote public comment end quote periods of government meetings specifically the state's highest Court

ruled that quote Civility and quote codes that limit criticism of public officials are contrary to multiple provisions of our state constitution which provide quote robust protection of public criticism of government officials end quote Carol Rose the executive director of the American civil liberties Union of Massachusetts of which I'm a card-carrying member for decades stated quote our state constitution

protects our right to make our voices heard including by expressing criticism to and about public officials that freedom goes to the heart of what separates us from repressive regimes thank you thank you Mr Cavallo the next person to speak Carlos Caesar Frost Street

thank you again Carlos Caesar 367 Frost Street thank you Joe I think you spoke for everybody that sits on this table and facing this Council and all over the state um clarification is my citizens input gratification for some of counselors but information for the public for years I sit on this table and I talk about the mayor's job not the person the job which we elected for and because of the timing

I have retaliation why I say I have retaliation because every time that I sit on the stable I can go away for a year calls never happen I said on this table less than 24 hours we got a call so this time with somebody that don't even live on the city with interest why we were not filing when I say we I'm talking about the organization the president the fleet neighborhood Association Incorporated

why we were not filing our income taxes since 2015.

well and I said it's it's coming from this Council because of the connections without mentioning names but moving forward the call was done to my Treasurer which is going from a difficult time now being sick and in and out of the hospital just when everybody has my number had my Facebook could very well called but they wanted to to talk to my Treasury treasure and it's amazing how people don't stop

to think for a little bit how could we be without filing our income taxes revenues since 2015. everybody on this room knows that we were involved two just two years ago okay that we had to provide not just minutes but Financial proves too so how could we if we were doing something wrong okay definitely had to be ratified or were you even could be in trouble but besides that we have something that

we have to provide early every year remember we own a property that's tax-free which we have to provide that we are a non-profit organization established every year to be a sense of paying taxes that's number one and after that when I clarified that I took pictures of all my text files and I said if you have more information if you want more information please call cgc CJ Ferry he's been the one filing for a

couple of years because my treasure cannot do it okay so um after that I still got a call now with the question of the Duval school I don't know how many times I have 20 minutes um Mr Caesar I don't know how many times I have to say nobody in this room of this city wants to develop the Vault School more than me every time every time that I have something new I will let the public

know the first thing you want to help me number one call my my uh architect to see if he moves faster number two some councils love to give money away give me some money it's a good project you know the building you know the project we do for the city help me three minutes Mr Caesar so what that what that said everybody has my number don't be afraid I don't bite

you have questions ask me I have no problem you want copies you want papers we have everything fine every year every month are uh statement bank statements are filed if you attend every meeting like Mr raposo attends every our meetings our treasury report is done every single month with all the accounts Penny by penny so with that being said again I'm here maybe I will get another friendly call

tomorrow God knows but it's not I've been this for a long time and I'm not sitting on that side so um it's nothing new for me but just for the people out there we are fire we are update 2022 got filed February 28th because January January was closed it could not fail but January February 28th I have the copy of the receipt I will share with you thank you thank you is their motion to adjourn

finance committee all in favor you want to break uh nope keep moving yep regular meeting of the city council the clerk will call the roll

here Liberty Herrera yeah Pelletier raposo Washington yeah president Camaro will stand for a moment of Silent prayer and if we can keep president Kamara and his family in our prayers for after the loss of his mom and vice president if we could also keep Jeffrey Sylvia in our prayers his wake and funeral today it's the week today funeral tomorrow uh dedicated person to the city of Fall River and also to our

youth of our city thank you and also Bobby rozicki who was very instrumental with the school department as well we're losing good people

salute to the flag I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all pursuant to the open meaning 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 are deemed acknowledged and permissible Adam cluck first item before you is the mayor's request for the confirmation of the reappointments of reappointment of Ryan Lyons to the election commission is there a second second all those in PayPal do I need a roll call I think they're all lows in favor all those in favor all right

item 1B is the mayor's request for the confirmation of the reappointment of Lisa robitile to the board of Election Commission motion to proof second all those in favor all right item two for the confirmation of the appointment of Michael Pereira to the licensing board motion to approve second there's a motion in a second all in favor aye

aye item number three is the mayor's communication regarding the school committee's input relating to the compensation adjustments unfortunately accept the place on file check it motion to accept place on file second all in favor item number four is the mayor's communication and proposed fy24 EMS budget motion for finance second motion to be friends we made a second all in favor item number five is the mayor's

communication and Council of Washington's proposal for the Bristol County Opera funding in the amount of fifty thousand dollars for the veterans kitchen of Fall River question two Dot second motion to adopt then the second all in favor all right councilor reposa I had asked Council Washington earlier and and Cara is on vacation this week would be possibly a copy of the application filed for this

because we the only thing we have is a one-pager and I asked yesterday and that's still all we have so I wonder if there's when camera comes back we get that copy of that application if possible okay that's why do you have a copy of that Madam Clerk I do not I just have you yelled Council reposa Council Washington so any questions that I could ask to my colleague and that I didn't answer earlier about the

application that you would like for the vet's kitchen I just want to read the application that's all okay thank you so there's a motion to have proven there's a second roll call counselor Dion um through the chair to my colleague in C7 so I'm not even trying to ask the question uh so is this something that you would want to table until you see an application what what exactly are you meaning by I mean

if you're going to look at the application after it's approved it's almost a mute point so I'm just curious as to what his intention is with that I yield roll call roll call I guess Madam president if we could just through you to the counselor if we can just get a responsive yeah I mean I I think when reviewing this and very much like other other proposals we put forward we've had an application to review so

the one pager is fine and I understand what a conversation my point is I just like more information to understand what exactly the funding is going to and I'm sure Council Washington could address it but I just want like to dot the eyes across the t's per se to make sure that if this is able to go forward and it can be supported for the Bristol County arpa then we won't approve it and then it doesn't

happen is my concern that's all do you yeah thank you Council Washington so I understand that so this is to continue to be able to feed veterans they are the only non-profit veterans group that does not receive any funding any quarters it's for operational sustainability to be able to continue to provide food for the veterans that come they are in need of supplies they don't receive quarters they're paying all

their own electricity they're paying for rent they're paying for all of their own food they are increasingly getting numbers of veterans and their families but I understand if you want to wait and get an application that's not good enough I use council president vice president yes counts the Kilby not just for the record if there's a motion a table I'm not I'm not going to support it I mean this is not a lot of money

and it's going to a very very worthy course I don't need to see an application as long as I know that this fifty thousand dollars is going for the purpose that is being articulated by Council Washington so a lot of respect for her and her intention that's it for me so I yield councilman to my colleague it's not a question of intentions or not I would just like more information exactly how far is this

fifty thousand dollars gonna go well I understand that counselor but it's still it's still a question to ask you know I'm here to do my due diligence that's all so I again I would just like some more additional information on this and again food is fine I'm curious about supplies I'd like to see the fifty thousand dollars do a good work that's all and that's that's what I'm here to ask it's it's really not

a complicated question that's all I yield thank you yield Council Washington I really feel like it's not a complicated ass fifty thousand dollars to continue to feed veterans I would recommend that any of my colleagues go down there and see the amount of veterans that go down there I mean this is a small ask fifty thousand dollars is peanuts as to what they're doing and they're only one group

I yield Council vice president okay so there's a motion on the floor yeah um Madam vice president just quickly I mean I support the kitchen um just you know I I recognize that my my counsel wants to see the application so just to make sure that we've done our due diligence uh I'm assuming that they still have enough to to make it through to the unless there's something different but to the next meeting which

is in two weeks so I would just ask that you know we just table it let the counselor get his information you know one of the things is it's unfortunate because the council this isn't the first time that the counselor has asked for this information prior so you know I I think you know we need to make sure that the information that we've requested to be able to make educated decisions and

votes is just an unpacket that's all so you're making a motion to table concept I wouldn't make a motion yes there a second second roll call there's a motion on the floor two table counselors Kadeem yes Dion yes Kilby no well Liberty Pelletier Ferreira no proposal yes Washington no president Camaro the motion Ty doesn't pass next item on the agenda that we have vote to adopt well it was a it was the

split so it didn't pass motion to table didn't pass right motion to approve and there was a second do you wanna all in favor well we can do a roll call do a roll call there's a motion to adopt and there was a second correct roll call s Kadeem thank you next item on the agenda vice president can I just ask clarifying question has an application been filed there's no comment after object

can't discuss that Council represent oh we we I mean we technically can I mean it's still still a gender item I mean but you objected so usually when you know talk about it further yeah so the next item on the agenda he wasn't talking about the emotion though right so it's not the objection application yeah I'll I'll ask after that Council Washington go ahead can you answer councilor poses question yes you've met

with yes the application has been filed and it just needed to be asked for by attorney Kara home and you would have been given that prior to this meeting I yield thank you next item on the agenda the communication from the mayor in the in the community development agency's year four annual action plan motion to refer to finance all in favor aye item seven is the mayor's communication

and a resolution to adopt the city of fall River's Hazard mitigation Plan update motion to adopt is there a second second all in favor aye

item eight is a communication from the mayor and a request to amend fees for the planning board schedule a fees and these zoning boards scheduled motion refer to ordinance is there a second second all in favor all right

the committee on finance at a meeting held on March 28th voted unanimously to recommend that the accompanying budgets be referred to the full Council for action with Council of Pelletier absent and not voting these are the FY 24 budgets for water and sewer divisions the motion motion to adopt is there a second second all in favor opposed seat two opposed

the committee on ordinances and legislation at a meeting held on March 27th voted unanimously to recommend that the accompanying resolution be adopted this was a resolution regarding the creation of an ordinance regarding compensation of future school committee members City councilors and Mayors I should read the resolution because this was was drafted by the committee and the council has not been afforded um

they have not been able to read this as of yet so I will read the resolution whereas elected officials are dedicated members of the community who devote their time and efforts to the residents students and business owners of Fall River and whereas there has been dissimilar compensation from members of the school committee for over 20 years in contrast to many other local municipalities and whereas there have

been no Consumer Price Index adjustments for the mayor City councilors or school committee members salaries for over a decade and whereas residents may be limited in their ability to run for public office due to the lack of present day cost of living increases now therefore be it resolved that potential adjustments be discussed regarding creation of an ordinance to address the compensation of future school committee

members City councilors and Mayors with the stipulation that such increases will not be applied retroactively legislation well I would I would suggest um well first of all I think you have to relinquish the the podium on this one right my name's vice president I suggest I have Council again Jupiter conflict uh it's not inordinate we're not voting on anything okay forgive me then no yeah

and she she wouldn't technically have a conflict because we don't know who the it's for future okay future members no offense I'm just trying to protect you that's okay thank you I have my disclosures in and spoke to ethics but thank you Council Kobe I appreciate that so is the motion to refer to ordinance and legislation second their second all in favor

thank you item number 11 is the proposed ordinance amending the name of the standing committee which is currently um named the committee on Human Services housing Youth and Elder Affairs will be renamed committee on Human Services housing youth Elder and Veterans Affairs motion to adopt second I all in favor Council Washington I don't know if this is appropriate I gotta I got a question and information um

who where we put the veterans is very important of where they're going to be taken care of who chairs that committee I believe Council repos the chairs that committee okay your yield I yields thank you so there's a motion to adopt there was a second all in favor opposed pardon I pose that seat eight opposed Lauren do you have that

it's item 11 actually was a proposed ordinance so that should be referred to the ordinance committee okay item number 12 is the proposed ordinance relating to miscellaneous traffic for Passage through second reading and enrollment motion soulmate second all in favor

item 13 is a miscellaneous traffic ordinance from Passage through second reading and enrollment motion to pass through second reading enrollment and items items motion is second all in favor all right

where's the parks division of the Department of Community maintenance has worked tirelessly to keep city parks clean and safe and whereas the residents and visitors of the city benefit greatly from Rehabilitation efforts to improve public spaces and whereas local teams and organizations pay fees to use certain Fields within city parks and those payments are placed in the general

fund and I'll therefore be a resolved at the committee on finance convene with the administration to discuss redirecting the revenue from those fees from the general fund into the park divisions budget to assist with funding repairs and routine maintenance of city parks motion to adopt resolution second all in favor aye foreign

item 17 is the order granting permission to Jeremy corvo for the removal of curbing at 146 Elizabeth Street motion adopt second all in favor aye item 18 auto repair shop at 1262 Brighton Avenue motion adopt six seconds all in favor aye item 19 is the application for the renewal of an auto repair shop license for Brian Vieira at 88 Earl Street motion to adopt second all in favor aye and licenses

motion adopt second all in favor all right 21 are claims proportion referred Corporation Council second all in favor aye item 22 is a letter from a resident regarding neighborhood noise from a business refer to committee on regulations second motion referred committee and regulations uh motion there's a second all in favor aye licenses promotion to approve second to the proof second all in favor aye

24 minutes of the Zoning Board of appeal from January's meeting accept some place on file second all in favor aye 25 or minutes of the zoning board of appeals from their February meeting accepting place on file thank you all in favor bye you have minutes of these City Council meetings motion take items 26 28 together second all in favor motion to approve second all in favor um before we get to the items after the

agenda uh Madam clerk could you check I know that councilor Kadeem objected to the 50 000 resolution for the uh that's kitchen but that had already been before the council this is the second time that we've talked about it you can only object when it comes on once yeah I don't disagree that this is the first time that I knew about it so yeah I could be wrong it did come up before

we had talked about the the meeting before that am I correct or am I point of information the first time that it was put on the agenda was to see if there was going to be support when the application was filed it wasn't a vote on the application at that time she's correct Madam clerk could you clarify that because it was discussed and that's why I don't know if it can be

I don't believe the objected to after yeah I'm sorry I didn't hear you I don't believe the Opera request was has been before you okay all right I just wanted to double check thank you so much next time on the agenda just for them excuse me the only reason I objected is because it was going to be a 3-3 vote again it was just going to fall off the table so with

an objection is coming back if you come back item number 15 eh Madam Clerk getting a coffee whereas according to the most recent census Fall River is home to over 4 000 veterans and whereas many of our veterans and their families struggle due to the cost of living and unprecedented increase in rent property taxes and the cost of food and where is the need and demand for assistance from multiple fall

river-based veterans groups has also improved increased now therefore be resolved the city council set up a program dedicating five hundred thousand dollars of Bristol County Opera funding with a cap of fifty thousand dollars to which all veterans groups May apply for assistance and be it further resolved that the city council send a letter to the administration requesting support in this endeavor Dion yeah

um so clearly this is just to help all the veterans groups it says nothing to do with capping or anything else um I don't know I don't have a crystal ball my assumption was not all would ask for or qualify necessarily for fifty thousand that's why I said it at fifty thousand if you'd like to increase the dollar amount to 6 650 000 so all thirteen can get fifty thousand I have

no problem amending the dollar amount with that I yield thank you Council Washington so I spoke with the veterans groups I actually met with them after this came out because I didn't I was not approving of this but I didn't want it to be my opinion so what I did was I talked to the commanders of the veterans group and I met um in particularly with the war council who was commander who

was not able to be here tonight and the executive director of the Bristol County who both said that this it clearly is a cap of fifty thousand dollars so some of the veterans groups um let me just read this um the um dedicating 500 000 of Bristol County Opera funding with the cap of 50 000 for each group so there is a cap so some of the groups need more than

50 000 for their needs that um would need time to apply their needs are vastly different so we're talking about some of these veterans groups that like could and don't quote me on the numbers I don't want to get in trouble for the numbers but some of these groups have hundreds of um veterans in those groups and some may have two or three and some are just getting established their needs are

greatly different some need buildings some need food they're all different so to put a cap like I I'm not understanding why on Earth would we single out a group and say we're going to put a cap we're going to set aside so much money you're going to get some and you're going to get some but as I have this letter from one of the war groups said hey you're giving art groups

unprecedented amount of money yes which we want to do there's like seven a group six or seven different groups we gave one of those odd groups almost four hundred thousand dollars but for our veterans that served our country where I cannot support a fifty thousand dollar cap or capping any money let them come and let Opera I mean we can put whatever we want but the Opera people that give the money are

going to approve or disapprove but these are the men and women that served our country with the needs I met with them their needs are vastly different I have been down there I have seen it's it's it is I'm sorry it is what it is I can't support capping this not from my opinion from the opinion of the war council from the opinion of those groups that I went out and met with it's almost

insulting that we would pick a group to cap I am sure that this was done in good faith by counselor Dion but it should not we should be very careful about capping any veterans group I don't care if there was a hundred groups out there if there were two groups those men and women should be able to come before us in any group and apply for as much money as they need and

we will do fit so I particularly cannot support this by the information that I received from those veterans groups with that I yield thank you Council Kilby yeah well once again it's a I think we went over this before it's a resolution a resolution is an expression of the intent of the city council to take certain action and I listened to the gentleman that spoke intently I listened to him intently

um I I am I'm not going to vote against something that is going to support veterans I think we all we want that and whether this needs to be tweaked or reformed or changed in some manner we have a committee now that is oh the advisory committee we have the committee that is chaired by Council proposal and he can call I don't know if there's a different varying opinions within a veterans community in terms of

supporting this resolution or not supporting the resolution but I think it's such an important issue that I think it needs to be discussed in that committee and we'll get the committee's recommendation and then when we have a full Council we're missing three members here for for good reasons um then it'll come back so I uh I'll make a motion that this gets refer to the uh the the committee on Veterans and

new Health and Human Services it's a resolution okay there's emotion on the floor uh councilor Dion let me attempt to clarify again we're not talking City Opera funding which is millions and millions of dollars we're talking Bristol County Opera funding of which I believe we only have approximately two million dollars left so I would love to give them all hundreds of thousands of dollars

again this is to help all veterans groups not pick one group to help but help them all including the one that we were speaking of earlier tonight you know if you have five hundred thousand dollars and you divide it between 13 people it's going to be less than 50 000. it's called it's a cap only based on a dollar a figure not capping any group does that make sense I mean five hundred thousand dollars it

goes only so far with 13 groups maybe they won't even all apply you want to increase it to a million increase it to a million you want to give all the rest of the Bristol County Opera funding I'm happy to change it to two million dollars this is about helping all veterans groups now about cutting anybody's throat not about limiting we can only give what we can give we only have what we have and you can't

give more than what's in your pocket you want to change it that we're going to send it to the Fall River Opera committee and say give us 13 million of Fall River Opera funding and they're all entitled to a million I'm on board and with that I yield thank you Council Washington councilor uh oh excuse me point of information I also spoke with the executive director for Bristol County

and and he fully understood after we spoke and he has no objection to this anymore well so that's not the conversation that I had or the other groups so you um there was a conversation started off by there I don't have a crystal ball you don't have to have a crystal ball because I reached out to these groups and the needs of these groups are different and So based on the information that I have I don't

understand why we work why we are putting a dollar amount to any group we haven't put a dollar amount to again I go back to because the Arts people were just here we did not put a dollar amount to the Arts people group but yet we're going to come down here and put a dollar amount to the veterans group that's crazy they should be able to come down here and ask for any amount of money

just like any other group that would want to in the city point of information wait a minute wait hold on go ahead finish so we should they should be able to come to us for whatever dollar amount I cannot support capping anything any group any group that comes to us any youth group any veterans group we have not done that so I am talking about I cannot support that as for the

information that I received from the veterans groups that I met with so there is no crystal ball that's needing that was told to me so with that I yield Coincidence of clarification there is a group that has been capped they were capped by the Fall River City Opera funds at 50 000 for non-profits so yes groups have been capped with that I yield can I make a suggestion there is a veterans there is a veterans Advisory

board that was formed and perhaps that's the best place because every group would be able to come and tell you what their needs are great and then we would have a better understanding of what groups need what I mean some of them I listened to the gentleman today when they talked about they don't have quarters anymore because the armor is gone they were always promised to go back there uh I think it's a great idea

and that's why I've said they want the void Center they need to go to commitment and maybe it'll come back to us in terms of removing that cap and yeah we have to approve it anyway it's good for groups specifically applies it removes a cat make a motion to uh there it is a motion to send it to the fairs and there was a second point of information I thought did was

not going to ordinance before we change that pardon me we haven't changed that yet that's got to go to ordinance so it doesn't have to go to ordinance and the resolution I requested it the motion was made to send it to counselor in seat seven point of information from uh city clerk does not have to go to ordinances title is not officially changed right I didn't hear back here I'm sorry

the title is not officially changed until it changes in the ordinance point of information though the title of a committee does it doesn't really matter what we sell I mean we can send financial information right it's just whether or not we support it going to that committee all groups well into Human Services well if that committee hasn't been deformed we just voted on that today to

form that committee so what the clerk is saying that committee adding veterans has not yet been formed the title of the committee has not has changed right but you can you can it's still with the difference send it to whatever committee you want to send it to but the title is not officially changed until the ordinance changes that's fine I just want to make sure that we're not sending it to the

veterans committee that's we have a veterans committee that's been established so we're not sending it there we're going to send it to councilor poso's group is that what's that's the committee the committee okay okay so there's a motion on the floor that it is going to be referred to the um committee on Health Human Services and Veteran Affairs which would then counselor Kilby yeah I just I

don't want to be too demonstrative but everyone who's in this room if you support veterans raise your hand everyone raised their hand so we'll revisit this the second I'll second counselor okay so there's a motion there's a second all in favor foreign

River does not have a veterans tax work-off program and whereas Mass General law part one Title Nine chapter 59 section 5n allows for the city council of a municipality to establish a program to allow veterans to volunteer and provide services in exchange for a reduction on the veterans tax bills and whereas many veterans struggle financially and could greatly be assisted with a reduction of up to

fifteen hundred dollars now therefore be resolved that the committee on ordinances and legislation convened to research and discuss the implementation of such a program motion refer the committee our ordinances legislation they're a second second all in favor all right three more proposed ordinances we need to refresh resign ordinance to sign in thank you all and I put in a resolution before about

veterans and seniors getting uh Jacks right off yeah I know and that went up to Mr Gonzo so you might want to have him at the audience you're right I know you did but as they differ a tad and I made a few phone calls and we have a senior tax workbook program in the city already I guess it's been here a number of years it just hasn't been utilized in

quite some time but it's all been it's set up through the uh HR department I think that's great so I just wanted to set up one up for the veterans as well I think that's right Lauren and I did speak about your resolution in essence it just added to it

I put you as a friend on Facebook

foreign

foreign

foreign

ly we have for Passage through final ordination miscellaneous traffic ordinance so moved okay second all in favor um another miscellaneous traffic ordinance this is this would be related to Granite Street motion second all in favor aye and finally for Passage through final ordination the water and sewer so moved all in favor I I see two opposed motion there's a motion to adjourn second

all in favor thank you very much I know I have a miserable cold and sound real raspy thank you for your patience this evening

of the camera

me