4.23.2024 Fall River City Council

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city council committee on finance will come to order clerk will call the RO council is kadim here Dion here Hart here Kilby here Ferrera here Pony raposo here Samson and president CRA here just want to know uh councilor Samson had let me know that she can't make it tonight she's going to be she has a prior commitment she'll be out of town for this evening so she won't be able to make tonight's

meeting pursuant to the open meeting law any person may make an audio or video recording of this public meeting or may transmit this meeting to any medium attendees are therefore advised that such recordings or Transmissions are being made whether perceived or unperceived by those present and not deemed acknowledged and permissible we have I don't believe there's anyone that signed up for s for

time so Council K would like to come up and present a couple of citations yes

there was something uh written I believe in the um newf standard times there was an article good an amateur try again just get to it hello Okay um there was an article written which uh spirited me to put this resolution on behalf of the council and if Miss Brett can read into the record I think it's important um that uh the summarization of what occurred um is better articulated than what I can

say two Fall River police officers who saved a man's life while on a ski trip together were honored by the Boston Celtics recently officers Garrett Nelson and Guy Fado received an ovation from the crowd as they stood in the center of the TV Garden's famous parquet floor as part of the Celtics Heroes Among Us program in January Nelson and Fado were skiing at OKO mountain resort in Vermont

making their final run of the day down a black diamond Trail to meet friends at the lodge on their way they met a man in distress William pen Jr of Manchester Connecticut his son Nathan pen had collapsed while making a run the officers determined that Nathan wasn't breathing and had no pulse Nelson called 9 911 and worked on getting the Mountain Rescue Team to Nathan's location while

Fado started doing chest compressions directing PS and on giving Nathan breaths by the time paramedics arrived 10 minutes later Nathan was still un revived but their actions helped get paramedics find Nathan and his father and get the two to a hospital excuse me to a medical helicopter and to safety Nathan was later brought back to life and is making a recovery he and his father traveled to full River in

February to thank the officers in person Nelson and Fado were guests of the Celtics for their April 14th home game against the Washington Wizards which the Celtics won 132 to 20 122 the heroes Among Us program was established in 1997 as a way for the Celtics to honor people at every home game Who through their unique commitment and humanitarian Spirit have made exceptional and Lasting

contributions to our community according to nba.com absolutely wonderful uh will you please come down

officer um officer Bellow um couldn't be here I'm I'm sorry officer Fado I know I'm sorry I apologize I I've never met you before so um this is Officer Nelson um who was there that was okay I'm sorry so none of the gentlemen here all right so on behalf you're here on behalf of the for Police Department yes all right should have done my homework a little more and said hello to you okay

so unbelievable these two individuals uh I'm sure they're at work we have uh officer Fado and Officer Nelson and it hearkens back to another event that happened it was a massive snowstorm I believe and it was an Duty firefighter who went above and beyond and uh and actually evacuated the home um or assisted evacuating the home so these two police officers I think um it's so deserving and you know they're not here

from my understand because they're working so there's an expression I don't know who to quote um you know individuals do who become Heroes and and do wonderful things want to go unrecognized and that's the truth it it it happens by happen stance and um and we we are so lucky and fortunate that the city of Fall River our Police Department was recognized by people throughout the Massachusetts if not New England um at a

Boston Selix game for saving a life so I want to present on behalf of the former police department uh we have once again officer Garrett Nelson officer guy Fado um in recognition of your life-saving response um for the injured and the pride you bring to the city of f River for your actions so thank you so much for coming down you can deliver that to thank you thank you

item number two Community Development agency 5-year annual action plan referred on April 9th 24 Mr President I'm going to abstain from this vote uh or this discussion um just for the purposes of being a real estate broker uh and if any of my agents go get a grant through his office I don't want to be a part of that so I'll step out for this thank you coun my name is Michael Dion I'm the uh

executive director Chief Financial Officer of the for Community Development agency I just have a prepared statement that I uh would like to read in honorable council president Kamara vice president Perera and the city councilors and residents of the city of Fall River it is a pleasure to be here with you this evening uh to adopt a resolution uh to allow the Community Development agency to submit its year five annual

action plan uh on May 15 to the Department of us uh Housing and Urban Development uh the 5-year plan addresses the Community Development block grant home investment ship partnership Grant and the emergency Solutions uh Grant and it strives to meet the three objectives of Hud to provide decent affordable housing to create suitable living environments and to create economic opportunities uh

fcda uh will approximately receive about 2.6 million in Community Development funding 1.1 million in CD home investment funding and 242,000 in ESG Solutions grant for the program beginning July 1 20124 the fcda will continue to prioritize infrastructure improvements like Street and sidewalk improvements um Park improvements job creation and retention activities and public service programs like

recreational Child Care senior dropin centers and crime awareness programs fcda will continue to offer first-time home buyer uh and homeowner and investor Rehabilitation loans and grants and through our emergency Solutions Grant uh fcda will continue to provide funding for the homeless to first step in our sister's place in Catholic Social Services the for of Community Development agency and the cougan

Administration has worked diligently to prioritize funding to the programs that will help city the city meet Hud's objectives um the 5-year plan was submitted to each counselor and I'm here this even evening to answer any of your questions counc to good evening how are you good how you doing good thank you on um page 84 under the affordable housing um let me

see so so the FR CDA will continue to offer the following housing initiatives to help residents Access housing units that are safe decent and affordable and then two of the line items one is to continue to partner with the Massachusetts Attorney General affordable housing initiative to work with the receivers to rehabilitate nuisance properties can you expand on that a little bit please and and how I

me do we have any idea of how many properties and that's the building box program um what we've done uh and I know councelor kadim is uh um knows about this program because I think it was brought about during the uh planning Administration and then um brought back during the uh cougan Administration um it's going out and looking and doing receivership program for properties that

are abandoned and vacant throughout the city um we do not have many vacant properties in the city we're not like New Bedford um I believe they have 300 um we've been working we've made a priority um we probably have about 15 um properties in the receivership program right now at different stages um we do three per month in terms of inspection warrants uh it takes a little bit of time uh to do that but um we're

looking hopefully to do about um 36 of those per year um and we go through and we kind of force the homeowner through the receivership program to do to bring the property up to code okay um sometimes that does not happen uh sometimes it's foreclosed property sometimes it's prop uh that's not owned by uh a resident of the city so um we we really really uh put the pressure on them to do those

improvements if they don't do the improvements we'll go in with the receiver and do the improvements ourselves at the end what'll happen is either um we own the property the the property is is uh sold back if if they want to the landlord if they want the property um but usually we take the property we foreclose on the property and we put that in our affordable housing inventory so when you put it in in the

um affordable housing that would be for someone else to purchase either someone else to purchase or some of our chodos with which are community housing development organizations will keep those properties and rent those properties out to income eligible people and um the F FR uh yeah the CDA will continue to assist individuals and families at risk of homelessness by providing rental assistance through

emergency Solutions grant program what type of rental assistance and is it an ongoing is it a one-time um it's an ongoing program that's uh uh run through the Catholic Charities um on Bay Street we provide um first month's last month security deposit we also provide rental assistance for rental of reage so if people or landlords have pass due rent and they don't want to force an eviction

on those people um those people can go to Catholic Social Services apply it is income eligible you have to meet certain guidelines but it's there to provide um uh people with the ability to pay their rent so that they're not evicted um we've had a tremendous tremendous need in that program yeah we've had a significant number of evictions and unfortunately once the eviction happens it becomes a a

much more complicated process and much more difficult for those people correct correct I I tell people to stay put in and work through the eviction process go through all different means before you give up your unit on the uh homeless and other special needs a uh Pages 87 and 88 I just had two questions so I recently was recently um realized that the Tomato Center is now closed yeah it it is the Tomato Center

is run by a nonprofit agency and um you know we can we can uh work with that agency to try to keep them open but if you know like anything else if they want to close they can close um they were funded with KES act funding um and they knew that they were funded from March uh of 2023 to September of 20 23 and then their mon funding would go away okay the city ended up picking

up all the way till March of 2024 with Opa funding okay so we we kept them open for about a year I personally gave those individuals um a listing of Foundations and grant opportunities that that we could apply for um the the as as you can tell there was um the the center is now closed um but I don't think it will be closed for long um I think we need to look at it and

change the system I don't think we put an onus on the homeless individuals that went went to that um I think you've seen an increase in encampments around the area because of that and that's my fault nobody else's um uh we we need to have them buy into a mental health issue uh um uh job skills and job training program um not just a drop incentive so I think you will

probably see an RFP go in to the opiate abuse uh money for some funding of the Tomato Center um I don't believe that we should fund the whole entire thing I think we should fund it for a piece of it and let them go out and find other programs and other grants um but I don't see that place remaining closed for long that's my opinion yeah cuz it's listed

in here with you know in terms of number of beds and different things so I was curious what you think how significant the impact the emergency shelter grant will not be be closing they are in charge of the Overflow system okay they have 30 beds there during the winter months which we have 50 beds at our our uh um shelter and I know that the mayor and myself are working very closely with

stepping stone to increase their capacity okay they have a huge building so we want increase that capacity the Overflow shelter is not going anywhere it's staying there okay the Tomato Center was something that was totally different from the um from the Overflow shelter um and then my last question is um under homeless and other special needs activities um the city has reviewed revised and updated its plan to

end homelessness under the scrutiny of the homeless service providers Coalition May's task force and homelessness of the F FRC um how many people have been helped with that initiative um what advancements have been made and do we at this point feel like we're finally heading in a Direction Where We can truly impact the homelessness situation or are we still mired down in the legalities uh surrounding it I can't

talk about the legalities I mean you don't have to talk to the Corporation Council um I can tell you that um we have a lot a lot of people working on the system um the Tomato Center is just a small part of it um we probably have at our Continuum of Care uh meetings um 30 30 to 40 people that are associated with that um we you know homelessness is a problem

throughout the country um Fall River in my opinion does not have it as bad as we've seen in other parts of the country um all I know is is that I've put together a step and a plan with the mayor um and with his administration and we're following that plan and I I think we're we've been successful to a certain point um but it's not going away um the rents out there are not cheaper anymore

um the the deal of $ 850 900,000 if you go look the rents are 14 15 18 and they're going up quite considerably really quickly so we're seeing more homeless than what we've seen in the past but each homeless individual has their own set of circumstances so my thing is is to deal with people on a one-on-one basis to try to make their lives you'll always have the people that are homeless that don't want assistance

I mean we have a lot of people who refuse to go to the firststep in they they they're fine with the Overflow shelter as soon as the Overflow shelter closes which it has to at some point they go back to the streets they don't want assistance they don't want help but you never know that person might want help one day if we can be there with an Outreach team with a fast team that

we've put in place if we can help th help a person um we're we're looking at getting some beds hopefully through star um uh we're we're doing I think we're doing everything we can possibly do okay thank you I yield thank you Council any further questions counc C4 counc kby just by way of comment um I'm very sorry your recent loss thank you and um I know the last year 18 months

two years has been a difficult time yet you continue to uh put in the hard work and dedication that you're required to put in and that I mean kudos to you Mr Dion for just a wonderful job that you do notwithstanding setbacks which happen in life so I've been very lucky I've been a very lucky person um people have it worse than I have and a lot of Kudos goes to those people right there I know

there's only three there tonight but um there's six other people with Community Development and when I was out and I was down they they uh took over and uh you couldn't ask for better people to work with you couldn't ask for better friends one thing as I really got to know you over the is it's um you you're you're um so care you're what's the term careless thought you help not careless

meaning you're responsible but you care so much about other people it's just a wonderful quality that you have and um it doesn't go unrecognizable City's very very very fortunate to have someone like you serving where you serve I appreciate it that's the job thank you thank you Mr President thank you coun there no further questions I thank you Mr di again thank you so much thoughts

for your loss been a lot good job Mr Dion next item number three communication regarding fiscal year 2023 Financial audit uh prepared by roselli clar and Associates hold discussion come down please just

good evening um honorable council president Kamara vice president Pereira members of the city council ladies and gentlemen my name is terenzio velli I'm a certified public accountant representing the firm of roselli Clark and Associates certified public accountants with offices in wubber and Hopedale Massachusetts as described more fully in our engagement letter dated December 8 of 2023 we were engaged to perform a

financial statement audit of the city's basic financial statements for the fiscal year ended June 30th of 2023 this was the final year of our multi-year engagement the objective of a financial statement audit is just that to audit the fairness of the financial figures contained in the city's basic annual financial statements a financial statement audit is not a forensic audit we refer to you our to our we refer you

to our engagement letter for more complete and comprehensive discussion of ours and your responsibilities under financial statement audit each of you were probably provided with a two-page document or I'm sorry four-page document was referred to as our required Communications letter uh we provide that at the conclusion of our audits to those in charge of governance which would be this body um I won't go

through the whole letter but I will touch upon a couple of the key points management which includes the folks in this room is responsible for the selection and and the employment of the appropriate accounting practices and policies accounting estimates are an integral part to the uh financial statements as well as their disclosures the most sensitive accounting estimates pertain to the determination of your

total pension liability which is actuar determined as of December 31st of 2022 which is Incorporated in your June 30th of 2023 financial statements according to your actuary the total pension liability was roughly $742 million and we subtract the net position which is essentially the assets of the um of the retirement system they were $357 million that results in a $385 million net pension

liability the city's proportion of that is roughly 91% housing would be roughly 7% the diamond is two and the RDA has a small sliver 7100s of a per. at December 31st of 2022 your actuary had estimated that your pension system was roughly 48% funded um I would expect that in December 31st of 2023 which that audit will be coming up shortly um that funding percentage is likely to increase

because you're currently at what's referred to uh as a discount rate of 7% which is the median within the state um and you had roughly 11% asset increase in fiscal 2023 based on your asset composition thank you is that better the next significant accounting estimate is the determination of the total opav liability that too is actuar determined and that is as of June 30th of 2023 your actuary had estimated that it

was roughly $499 million liability less you $ 1.8 million of assets that were put aside has a net opep liability of $497 million the city is roughly 0.4% funded in that area finally Management's estimates of the allowance for delal accounts is another significant estimate and for which there are significant reserves uh primarily in the uh way of the CDA loans uh parking ticket programs excise tax

receivables some property taxes um ambulance receivables as well as a modest half a million dollars in the sewer and water Enterprise funds I'm happy to say that we did not encounter any significant difficulties in completing the 23 audit and we didn't have any significant disagreements with Management on accounting reporting or auditing matters moving on to the financial statements

themselves the city's 2023 financial statements were issued on March 11th of 2024 with an unmodified opinion that's essentially a clean audit opinion the city's financial statements include the financial position and results of operations of the Fall River Redevelopment Authority which is presented as a discreetly presented component unit in accordance with accounting principles generally accepted in the

United States of America the rda's financial statements are audited by another accountant for which we rely on their report for the city's financial statements we take a look at this 70-page document on the financial statements there are several key sections we have what's referred to as the government-wide financial statements and that presents the city's financial statements on a full acrel basis as if

it was a private entity similar to say a Bank of America or a Ron then there's what's referred to as the fund financial statements those are based on modified acrel and those most closely resemble your internal financial statements we have what's referred to as proprietary financial statements those are for your water sewer and your um um EMS Services uh those are also on full acral there's another section for the

fiduciary financial statements that has your OPB trust your retirement system and you have some modest private purpose trusts primarily in the form of scholarships we have the notes to the financial statements and then what's referred to as required supplementary information which discusses uh rather has a bunch of tables on pension OPB budget to actuals as well as the Management's discussion analysis which

precedes all of these the city's general fund as reported in the audited financial statements which varies from internal Accounting in that primarily the stabilization funds are are reported in the general fund for Gap purposes reported an increase in fund balance of over $19.4 million in 2023 that's very favorable compared to a 22 increase of 0.6 million and 6.3 million in 2021 as a percentage of general fund

expenditures the city's unassigned fund balance in its General funds exceeds 8.1% in 2023 once again pretty favorable compared to 22 at 4.9% and 4.7% in 2021 in terms of budgetary performance on a statutory basis actual 23 general fund revenues exceeded budget by over 5.3 million while actual 2023 expenditures were nearly 9.8 million less than budget that positive variance is the primary

contributor to the increase in the general funds balance of over $19.4 million in 2023 revenues in the city's general fund are primarily concentrated in intergovernmental revenues which are roughly 60% and property taxes 33% those ratios were very consistent between 22 and 2021 expenditures in the uh the general fund are primarily in the form of Education Personnel benefits and Public Safety those three expenditure

categories generally represent about 80% of your total General funds expenditures over the past three years once again quite consistent the city began reported its reporting its arpa Grant fund as a major governmental Fund in 2021 and at June 30th of 2023 the arpa grant fund had over $59 million in funds it had received that was deferred into fiscal year 2024 as previously noted to this Council

as well as to management those Opa funds must be fully obligated by December 31st of 2024 and fully expended by December 31st of 2026 the city has a dedicated resource managing this grant the dery high school project was completed in a prior fiscal year accordingly the city no longer presented that as a major governmental Fund in 2023 the non- major funds consist primarily of state and federal grants

your community preservation fund as well as a number of other revolving funds and that balance increased over $6.7 million in 20123 that's primarily a function of the timing of receipts versus expenditures when we move over to long-term liabilities the city reports some significant long-term liabilities with respects to its debt General obligation debt as well as Personnel related

obligations such as compensated absences opep and pensions and it's governmental activity so that's going to exclude your water your sewer and your EMS those liabilities exceeded 992 million at June 30th of 2023 for which 484 million represented your net opep liability and 328 represented your net pension liability that's roughly 82% of your numbers are related to these non-cash um uh recently

adopted accounting principles surrounding post employment benefits at June 30th of 2023 the city's long-term debt exceeded $351 million for which $163 million was in its General Obligations and the remainder was within its water sewer uh funds and those are going to be funded through the rate payers Moody's continues to assign the credit store of A3 to the city's long-term debt um this signifies that

Moody believes the city has a strong capacity to meet its Financial commitments but maybe somewhat more susceptible to adverse effects of changes in economic circumstances than other higher rated organizations as previously stated the city's long u net opep liability continues to be its largest long-term liability um it exceeded $484 million um for the entire city it's $498 million and its net pension liability

approached $326 million um in the general operations 350 million when we look at the uh water and sewer and EMS funds so the city reported a 48% funded ratio at U December 31st of 2022 um as previously mentioned I would expect that that ratio would improve in 2023 uh which was flows into fiscal 2024 because you had a a pretty good return for the year uh finally the city enters fiscal

24 with a number of financial reserves its General stabilization fund exceeded $10.3 million and he had certified free cash of nearly $15.6 million so some significant reserves coming into the year that essentially concludes the formal portion of my presentation um if there's any questions or concerns I may uh address those at this time thank you Council C Council kby um really the only

question I have it's the long-term debt so um as you probably know we have um a new Regional High School coming on board and the city's responsible for over 70% um it's a Regional School popular it's per pupil expenditure um and the the enrollment um which triggers what we have to pay so that's the big one I believe that everyone is is talking about so the question is um looking towards our long-term

debt can we sustain ourself as a city over the next five six years with the resources and the ability we have to raise taxes by 2 and a half and increases and and uh you know B the things that we look at when we we balance budgets so in your opinion if is is our budget projected over the next five six years is it sustainable or and if it's not then what steps would you

recommend as a a firm that B that gives us a report on the the the financial stability of our city what advice would you give us well councelor Kilby the um the debt that the regional school is going to take on will not go on your books what'll happen is is your annual assessments will simply increase proportionately over the next what 30 years that they're going to borrow that

money can you speak microphone please so everyone can hear you um so so yeah so so that will actually be part hold on one second please what was the comment that you made just so it's probably going to be over about 28 years because they've been doing some shortterm borrowing which then reduces the how long you can do the longterm for thank you so stuff will be coming off the books no you saying

they'll so they so essentially they're taking out like a short term where they're only paying the interest when you do that it reduces the longterm how long you can longterm it for so now you're cutting down by when you ban it so then it'll be the long it'll be condensed down to the payments for principal and interest will be in like shorter years and the 30 years okay but we're we're it's being

talked about panted around that we're going to have a ballot question in November with regard to a uh debt exclusion for that project so so I'm I'm just asking um with that hopefully being approved you know I mean what's what's the uh the options if it's not approved well I think that's a question that's a question I I thank you Bret for of let me narrow the question I wanted

to ask thank you I think he's asking I mean well I've legitimate question yeah I mean I've been very clear that the the budget um as is without some kind of exclusion it's I there's impossible to fit this into the current budget the way it is without there would be massive Cuts so what what what if God forbid what if that uh the the question does not pass then we have a lot of very

difficult decisions to make Mr President I think this is a point of order this auditor is not here to talk about debt exclusion I agree C or what we're going to do I think I want to he what the auditor has to say that's a good point suggestions he may say on auditing principles well question he's not the mayor of the city it's not his role to say what we're going to do in

case we run into that situation yeah I I I went my question was Broad in scope initially and it was about long-term debt and affordability going forward and then I get a little too specific sorry Council per in terms of what will happen so um I apologize for that but I I think maybe uh I overextended my question to make people uncomfortable no just to get a question thank you it was a good

question though do you y counselor yes thank you any further questions Council C 6 Council party thank you uh thank you for your presentation two things uh on my side um specific no councel councel council C6 has the floor please specific to the audit um in your presentation that you have it didn't get lost on me your comment under economic factors where it says inflation is expected to

affect the city in several areas including increase Capital acquisition costs higher borrowing costs and higher operational expenses so can you elaborate a little bit on that for me please or well that was simply a commentary that uh we've seen some pretty record uh inflation over the last several years and that affects all of these areas the cost to buy computer paper is significantly higher than it

was three years ago sure fuel costs these are all these are all things that are significant energy costs um if you want to go uh uh construct a new school um that cost is going up considerably uh due to inflation as well as just just the general economic market so this was simply to point out that inflation is something that that that does affect sure the uh the city and you

know it just it would be remiss if we didn't indicate but there was nothing glaring in your opinion in terms of the city's finances um that had any impact on our budget that we need to pay better attention to as we go forward when it okay um last question I have is when I go back to the June 30th 2022 report that your firm did I know you you didn't make that presentation today but there

was two findings in that report um that spoke uh and I didn't notice they were talked about in this audit um and the first one was um a uh the use of oper funds for covid-19 I'm not sure if uh you remember this or not are you referring to the single audit I am the same firm completed it yes yeah so that's it's two different things that's that's a that's

a separate um that's a separate part of our audit and um I did not prepare to discuss a 2022 um single audit apologies when when was that presented to the city council was that two last year uh this I don't believe there was a presentation it was provided to the city council it was just given and okay that that tends to be the way the I guess I guess my question is there were findings

in that audit by the same firm with the use of arer money has that been addressed it has been addressed and actually we're wrapping up the single audit for this the same year and that is a item that's been marked as resolved resolved meaning the transfers already occurred that the council already approved the transfers or was that done internally that was um it wasn't a transfer per se it was a an

item that was charged to arpa that should not have been okay because there was um just for everybody's edification the city projected a report overstated by $275,000 on one side and then the next one was the use of $455,000 of an opera Grant through the general fund so that's nothing specific obviously to this audit but it was a finding in the 2022 audit that just raised yeah so that I I came

in after that year at the end of that year and was working on that audit to complete it and that is when the finding was found and we rectified that okay will that will that be a followup in the next audit that it was marked resolved in the following single audit yes it will be very good okay thank you I have no further questions i y thank you counc to the council's point when is a single

audit could to be completed uh within the next week happy to say that a draft is in the hands of the city when is the due date when was it supposed to be presented to the council is there a deadline for to present the single order to the city March 31st usually March March March 3 1 is the deadline so we're already behind the deadline this significant percentage of the state

that's behind the deadline it's not um not speak into the microphone sorry there's a significant portion of the state that is behind that deadline it's um a function of significant Federal monies that have been coming in um a a number of communities that had never had single audits are now having single audits so that's really stretching thin this indust affecting us to do our single audit because other communties

have never had it have to do theirs no you you know you folks have always had to have have yours done and to be frank I don't think it's ever been filed before March 31st in the last uh seven or eight years really it's been it's been um after that deadline it's a it's a significant project we used to get a B so we expected to get what the next

meeting or so or two weeks three weeks yeah we received um the city received the draft and we were reviewing it we actually had a meeting today with the partner from um jeno's firm that does that single audit and we're just fine tuning a couple of questions all right thank you C C1 Mr President just just for I guess point of information I know you know we're talking about the financial audit and then there was

mentioned of the single audit can you just explain the difference between the financial and single audit um I think most of us here know about it but just for the folks at home who are listening to this conversation that might not be familiar with the fact that the single audit has to do with the federal funds and yes yes that's excellent question so the financial statement audit uh is an

audit of the F Well the financial statements of of the city are the numbers your cash balances your receivable balances whatnot are those fairly presented in all material aspects when we move over to the single audit that is a specific audit that has to do with Federal programs so uh currently if a organization I say an organization because it's not just a city or town it's also private entities that may be

receiving Federal money currently if they ex expend more than $750,000 per year they're subject to what's called a single audit and that's a compliance audit that um set based on what's referred to as the uniform guidance um and there's a number I think is uh I think it's 12 attributes that is generally tested is it is an allowable cost is it an appropriate cost have you followed procurement um the vendors that

you're using have they been suspended or debarred there's a whole series of transactions internal controls that are that are audited um or are part of that audit so it it is it is very is very much it's interwoven with this audit um but it does have a different Focus does have a different objective um does that help it it no it it does and I I think the uh I guess the

Benchmark for the triggering the sing Single audit is 750,000 which I think is important obviously the city of Fall River always has year-over-year but there are a number of communities who do not get to that level of 700 fortunately that level was just increased to a million dollars y a thanks is that a council you y i y thank you thank you any further questions no oh thank you very much for coming down

the presentation was very good thank you thank you for having me excellent questions thank you to finance motion to adjourn Finance has been made in seconded all in favor oppose Finance is now adjourned regular city council meeting will begin in 7 o'clock the accountant hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey

hey hey m

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for City C please come to order cour will call the RO Council kadim here Dion here har here Kilby here Herrera here Pony here raposo here Samson president CRA Here Lady Council chair please rise for moment silent prayer and at this moment like to acknowledge the passing of Vivian Dion our thoughts and prayers are with her and her family she's the mother of Michael Dion that was early Community Development block grant

director

please remain standing for to the flag Al to the flag of the United States of America and to the repblic for it stands one nation God indivisible liy and justice for all pursuant to the open meeting law any person may make an audio or video recording of this public meeting or may transmit this meeting through any medium attendees are therefore advised that such recordings or trans misss are being

made whether perceived or unperceived by those present and not deemed acknowledged and permissible before we begin I'm going to present the citations that were read earlier and presented one of the police officers by the clerk and presented by councelor Kilby we now have the police officer one of them here uh gar n will you please come down

G thanks for coming down I just want to um bring everyone up to speed a little bit earlier at the finance meeting councilor Kil was making a presentation although Officer Nelson was not able to be here but now with the regular city council meeting at 7 o'clock he's here and this is for his courageous efforts when he was skiing in in Vermont back in January he found someone in distress and him and his

fellow officer guy Fado came to the rescue that individual so I think it was very courageous of them they they practically saved his life um and I think it's wonderful I also want to point out too that I've known G since he was in preschool with my oldest daughter Rachel and goes back a long time it's great to see him in his hometown providing US service Community with a wonderful service thank you very much

Garrett I'm going to read it it's an official resolution be resolved at the city council hereby extend his accommodation to officer Garrett Nelson and officer guy Fado in recognition of your life saving response to assist in the rescue of an injured skier and the pride you bring to the city of for River for your actions be it further resolved that the for River City Council extends best wishes for continued

success and that this resolution be entered into the records of the city council was adopted April 23rd 2024 signed by myself presented by office uh by Council Brad Kilby and the rest of the entire city council G thank you so much for being here thank you for what you do every single day for all of us in this community it's an honor for you thank you awesome thank you so much

thank you would you please give officer Fado citation this as well thank you so much keep up the good work nice to see you very proud okay hold

on very proud of I'm you're welcome

congrats how was that Celtics game better than the Bruin I know the feel were you inside the money Bowl thank you you're welcome Madam clerk the first item is the mayor's request for the confirmation of the appointment of officer sir Jose Barbosa as the city's Harbor Master motion to confirm second motion to confirm has been made and seconded all in favor I I any oppos motion carries item number two is a

communication from the mayor and an order appropriating 1,771 482 from the community preservation act funds for the fy2 community project motion to adopt has a made and seconded all in favor I I on the motion yeah I just want a shout out to the community preservation act they have done great job a job with providing money um to various organizations in the city and they've done a lot of good work

it's just unfortunate that this year this coming year we don't have the amount of money that we normally get from the state that the governor cut some of the money that we'd get because of uh housing issues ETC and it's unfortunate I wish we had more money to do more things but this year we didn't get all that money that we got in previous years I just want people to

know that I kind of feel bad about it with that I Y there you C4 c k you yep uh just really quick um Kudos exactly they do great work I hope next year um that I'm going to have the pleasure to see uh an allocation for the bank Street Armory here looking forward to hopefully seeing that I did uh read the news today with regard to the mayor um expending

35 $50,000 to button the building up which I think is important so um you know I one you know during that whole discussion um some of us are up opposite ends but I think we all really want to see that building repaired and um I just hope if a message I hope on behalf of the entire Council that um that's on your priority list to hopefully allocate some funds there and um and make we'll

make it happen so thank you are thank you coun motion has remain seconded all in favor I any opposed motion carries I have a communication from the mayor and a resolution authorizing submission of cda's year five annual action plan motion to adopt to adopt has been made is that a second second second roll call roll call on adoption council is kadim yes yes Dion yes Hart yes Kilby yes Herrera yes fonte

abstain proposal yes Samson and president yes I just want to point out while we're here and for those that attended the meeting late the regular council meeting Council Samson is out of town and unfortunately can't make this meeting tonight she has a prior commitment just want let the viewers at home know that M clerk item four is the FY 24 three budget report motion to refer to finance Finance motion to refer

to committee on finance has a made in seconded all in favor I any opposed motion carries have the traffic commission making recommendations to amend the ordinances motion refer to ordinances second second motion forther committee and or of legislation has been made and seconded all in favor I any opposed motion carries have the planning board's report regarding the proposed zoning map

Amendment for the Waterfront Transit Transit oriented development district and an amendment to the ordinances motion to refer to the committee on ordinance and legislation has been made in seconded all in favor I any opposed motion carries the committee on finance at a meeting held on April 9th voted unanimously to recommend that the accompanying budget be referred to the full Council for action with councilor

reposo absent and not voting this is the fy2 budget for the EMS division motion to adopt second motion to adopt has remain in second favor I I and opposed motion carries the committee on ordinances and legislation at a meeting held on April 16th voted unanimously to recommend that the accompanying proposed ordinance accompanied by an emergency Preamble be passed through first reading second

reading pass to be enrolled and passed to be ordained Visa handicap parking ordinances motion so made motion to adopt emergency Preamble has been made and seconded second on adoption of the emergency Preamble councilor kadim yes Dion yes Hart yes Kilby yes fera yes Pony yes Roso yes Samson and president CRA yes motion to pass through all readings motion to pass through all readings has been made second second

second all all in favor I any opposed I motion carries committee on ordinances and legislation at a meeting held on April 16th voted unanimously to recommend that the accompanying proposed ordinance be passed through first reading this is a miscellaneous traffic motion pass through first reading motion pass through first reading has a meeting second it all in favor I any opposed motion

carries the committee on ordinances and legislation had a meeting held on April 16th voted unanimously to recommend that the accompanying resolution be referred to the cooperation Council for preparation of a proposed ordinance within 30 days of this referral this relates to the Amendments regarding the omary commission motion so second motion so made as as made seconded all in favor I any opposed motion

carries the committee on ordinances and legislation at a meeting held on April 16th voted five years to recommend the accompanying resolution be referred to cooporation council for preparation of a proposed ordinance within 30 days of this referral this this ordinance would relate to amendments regarding city- owned historic building demolition delays motion so second motion has been made and seconded

all in favor I any opposed motion carries the committee on ordinances and legislation at a meeting held on April 16th voted unanimously to recommend the accompanying order be adopted this was the order recommending the approval from the board of assessors regarding Mass General Law chapter 59 Section 5 Clause 41st C that relates to um exemptions for um elderly motion exemptions second motion to adopt as

made and seconded um should refer to the I'm sorry motion to adopt second all in favor I any opposed motion carries the committee on ordinances and legislation at a meeting held on April 16th voted unanimously to recommend that the accompanying resolution be granted leave to withdraw this resolution related to a cannabis review commission motion Grant leave withdraw second motion to Grant leave to withdraw has

been made and second all in favor I any opposed motion carries item 14 is an order for second reading and enrollment that relates to miscellaneous traffic motion to pass second reading enrollment seconded motion to pass a second reading and enrollment has been made in seconded all in favor I I any opposed motion carries item 15 is a proposed ordinance for Passage through second reading and

enrollment and relates to the FY 25 sewer rates motion to pass second reading and enrollment motion to pass for second reading and enrollment has been made and seconded roll call roll call for Passage through second reading and enrollment councilors kadim yes Dion no har yes Kilby yes Pereira no ponti no Roso yes Samson and president carara yes motion carries motion carries yes item 16 is a proposed ordinance

regarding the FY 25 water rates for Passage through second reading and enrollment as aend amended motion to pass second reading enrollment as amended motion to pass for second reading and enrollment as amended is a second second second roll call for second reading and enrollment as amended council is kadim yes Dion no Hart yes Kilby yes Pereira no PTI no raposo yes Samson and president CRA yes

item 17 are citations for the FL of Alliance Club peace portrait winners motion to adopt motion to adopt the citations of the main second all in favor I I any opposed motion carries item 18 are citations for police officers Garrett Nelson and guy ferado for their heroic actions motion to adopt motion to adopt citations has been made and seconded all in favor I any opposed motion carries complete police chief's

report on licenses motion to adopt motion to adopt police report on licenses has been made and seconded all in favor I any opposed motion carries item 20 are applications for the renewal of order repair shop licenses one of those licenses for caros jacs at 182 Stafford Road we did receive a request from Mr jacqu asking that the restrictions on his license be lifted uh refer to committee on

regulations just that item as a point of information right let's separate take a vote on the other on is there a motion to separate so motion so second motion to separate as a made second it all in favor I I'm can you take it out M we can vote on the other ones y sure so the other two remaining would be Jeffrey Brisbane at 2524 North Main and Sammy SB at

2322 South Main Street motion to adopt second motion to adopt as a made in seconded all in favor any oppose those two individuals motion carries item 21 was there a motion uh for the referral of reg to regulations for not yet we're going to do that right now we're going to take the other one separate mam cler okay the other one was for caros jacs correct at 182 Stafford Road cor motion to refer to regulations

Mo to committee and regulations has remain seconded all in favor all any opposed motion carries item 21 is a request for the revocation of a permit for storage of inflammables um on behalf of the wastewater treatment plant um apparently the tanks have been removed motion to adopt motion to adopt has been made is there a second second second all in favor I any opposed motion carries have

a number of claims motion refer to Corporation Council motion refer to claims to Corporation Council has a made and second it all in favor I any opposed motion carries have the Attorney General response to a recent open meeting law complaint um filed against the committee on ordinances and legislation I will say that the Attorney General's office um has stated that the committee did not violate the open

meeting law thank you accept file second motion accept and place on file has a made and seconded all in favor I I any opposed motion carries have a number of applications for drain layer licenses motion to approve second motion to approve the drain layers licenses has been made and seconded all in favor I any opposed motion carries motion to take 25 through 30 together second second motion to take items 25 through

30 has a made and second it all in favor I I any opposed motion carries mam can you read number 25 through 36 have fun we have minutes of the committee on finance held on March 26th meeting of the city council on March 26th and on April 9th joint meeting of the city council and school committee public hearings committee on finance and the regular meeting of the city council motion to approve motion to approve item

25 through item 30 has a made second second second all in favor I any opposed motion carries can we recess for two minutes to sign ordinances city council will recess for two minutes

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city council will reconvene cour we have for Passage through final ordination miscellaneous traffic ordinance motion to pass to be ordained motion pass to be ordained has a meeting seconded all in favor I any opposed motion carries we have water water rates for Passage through final ordination motion rates 15 or we have I have both but I have the water rates right now so this would be as to pass be ordained as

amended item 16 further yes motion to pass the as amended has been made is there a second second second all in favor roll call roll call on Passage through ordination as amended council is kadim yes Dion no Hart yes Kilby yes Pereira no ponti no raposo yes Samson and president CRA yes item number 15 and then item number 15 would be the sewer rates for Passage through final ordination motion so

second motion is made and seconded roll call on passage to ordained councilor is kadim yes Dion no Hart yes Kilby y yes Pereira no h no propo yes Samson and president yes that's all we have Mr to motion to has made and seconded all in favor I oppos motion Car City me is now good night everybody good job over

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