4.25.2023 Fall River City Council

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Council committee Financial come to order pursue it to the open meeting law any person may make an audio or video recording of this public meeting or may transmit this meeting to any medium attendees are therefore advised at such recordings or Transmissions are being made where they're perceived or unperceived by those present and not deemed acknowledged and permissible there's one individual that sent in um

since it didn't put time sent in a letter and quote will you please read the letter identified individual I'm sorry can we call the roll please first counselors Kadeem Dion here Kilby here while Liberty Pelletier Pereira proposal here Washington here and president Camaro here that Madam could you just identify who the individual was I sent in the letter and please read it this is the only person that said

something no one signed emphasis is a good time yes yes honorable counsel I'm writing to express my concern over an elected official holding a job for what appears to be three years before applying for special Municipal Employee status we see Behavior like this all the time for this school Committee Member to hold a job in the private sector that is funded with school department funds without the

required disclosure is unacceptable the council should not encourage support or endorse such alleged unethical and potentially illegal actions by the school Committee Member I would like to suggest that the city council deny the request for special Municipal Employee status as granting it would serve to reward this individual for their alleged improper behavior in action I know that

with the park board at one time two members were supposed to be special Municipal Employees and that has never been taken up I guess corruption is in its many forms seems to be running rampant in the city of Fall River and I would hope that this Council stops it in its tracks respectfully CJ Ferry thank you item number two in finance we have a proposed fiscal year 2024 Emergency Medical Service budget it was referred

on 4 11 2023 could you please come down any questions

or should I ask first are there any questions or do you want to refer to the full body to the it might be there but I'll make a motion of her counsel for action and appropriation is there a second to the motion okay second all in favor all right any opposed no questions okay you can have a seat thank you manage referred to the full body City Council item number three Community Development

agency uh year four annual action plan it was also referred on April 11 2023 do you want to come down please

do you want to give us a brief description of what's included in there just to pull up points and then if there's any questions we can go from there please just identify yourself for the record please Michael Dion director of Community Development for the city of Fall River um I got a little just prepared statement here um it's a pleasure to be with you here this evening to submit the year 4

annual action plan it must be submitted sometime around May 15th of 2023 the development of this plan was completed using the citizens participation plan in December the citizens guide in public hearing aids and proposals and performance was advertised in The Herald news and other media Avenues on January 4th a public hearing was held to discuss the needs and proposals February 28th

the year 4 annual action plan summary was published and a public hearing was held on March 8th and the public comment period for the plan commenced on February 28th and ended on March 29th the year for annual action plan strives to meet the three objectives of Hud which is to provide decent affordable housing create suitable living environments and to create economic opportunities

uh next year we will be receiving two million 631 721 in Community Development block grant funding one million one sixty four seven fifty nine and home investment partnership funding and 242 767 in emergency Solutions grant funding uh the program is going to be getting the program year begins July 1 2023. the cdbg grant was reduced by over uh three hundred and fifty thousand dollars over the last two years the CD

home program was reduced by uh forty two thousand dollars this year and the ESG program was reduced by seven thousand dollars uh the uh Community Development will continue prioritize infrastructure improvements like sidewalk improvements and park improvements uh Economic Development activities and public service programs like recreational programs the senior drop in centers and

the LMI neighborhood policing program uh CDA will continue to offer first time home buyer loans and homeowner and investment Rehabilitation loans and grants and the emergency solution grant program will continue to provide funding for our homeless Services throughout the city that are taken up by the first step in our sisters place and also Catholic Social Services I'm here tonight uh the the year 4

annual action plan was submitted to each of you councilors on April 4th of 2023 and I'm here this evening to answer any questions you have uh concerning the plan the plan that you have in front of you really is basically a continuation of this year there isn't much change in programs that we're funding at all I don't even think there is changes yes just really quickly I just want to

say thank you for what you do thank you you've been with the city a long time and it's a job well done by you so thank you the second thing is you answered the question with regards to the level of funding um which has dropped a little bit so that was the first question yeah I'm a little disappointed with uh you know all the flow of federal money that was going

on but yes what happened was new entitlement communities came on so instead of servicing you know a thousand entitlement communities there might be 1100 now so the total Pockets less divided by by almost um uh entitlement communities so yeah um it wasn't really a reduction in funding from the total uh it's just more communities are going after the money interesting and the the other question

is uh your public hearing was it well attended no usually unfortunately in the in the last couple years our public hearings are never attended well um this year I don't think we had anybody attend our public hearings yeah it's so so important I remember we uh when we'd have the school department budget even in the city we have public hearings on the city side and it's uh it's really an

opportunity for citizens to voice their opinion in terms of what they want to see yeah we have one more year plan and then we'll be going into another five year plan where we do a ton of Outreach surveys all kinds of stuff so um I hope to get more people at the public hearings than what we've had in the past couple years thanks Mr Dion thank you thank you any further questions thank you

next item number four transfer Appropriations mayor and Order appropriating 253 491.33 from the operating Reserve fund to the police salaries this is collective bargaining agreement are there any questions no questions motion referral full Council that you know okay we'll be there it's already in the full

will begin at seven o'clock please please thank you foreign

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Council please come to order clerk will call the roll council is King Dion here Kilby here by Liberty Pelletier Herrera here proposal here Washington here president Kamara come here before we begin I just want to mention that councilor Kadeem Council Liberty and Council Pelletier um one has a prior commitment and the other two aren't feeling well so they won't be attending tonight's meeting

well everyone in the council chair please rise for a moment of Silent prayer

please remain standing for food to the flag allegiance to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God council president may we have a moment of silence for your for your mother do it again you're a wonderful lady

thank you Council pursuing to the open meeting law any person may make an audio or video recording of this public meeting or may transmit this video to any medium attendees are therefore advise the touch recordings all transmissions are being made where they perceived or unconceived by their present and not deemed acknowledged and permissible Adam Clark the first item before you is a

communication from the mayor this is the proposal for Bristol County arpa funding in the amount of fifty thousand dollars for the veterans kitchen of Fall River which was also sponsored by Council Washington we would need a motion to lift this up from the table and seconded or in favor aye emotional job any opposed motion the item is now lifted and seconded all in favor aye any opposed motion carries foreign

item two is the mayor's communication and in order to accept and expend the mass call 3 substance substance misuse prevention Grant from the Mass Department of Public Health and the revised amount of 875 thousand dollars motion to adopt second on the motion Constitution you know what's that okay the correct one should be accept communication placed on file and adopt the item all in favor aye any opposed motion

carries real quick item number three is the mayor's communication and in order to accept and expendit Grant from the U.S Environmental Protection agencies clean School Bus rebate program in the amount of three million eight hundred sixty thousand dollars motion to accept the grant a motion to be a motion to amend I believe we have an increase in that it's my understanding we have a two million dollar increase

the motion would be to amend a two million dollar increase yes please there's a second out of motion second what's your job is amended motion to adopt the order as amended to accept the communication placed on file adopt as amended hasn't made and seconded any discussion all in favor aye any opposed motion carries item number four is a communication from the mayor and an order appropriating one

million seven hundred seventy one thousand six hundred eight dollars from the community preservation act funds for the fiscal year 2024 Community projects promotion to adopt the yada second motion to accept place of our adoption has made and seconded all in favor the question and the question Council seat yeah if we if we could if we could just have the representative from CPC just

give a brief explanation on it for the Public's understanding and knowledge sure you could also refer to the finance committee for discussion if you like console I don't think it needs discussion okay more just a presentation um could you come down please

first of all I need a motion to wave the rules the rules seconded all in favor any opposed motion carries just identify yourselves please name and addresses for the record so we'll know sure uh John Brandt the CPC uh chairman uh 116 Rock Street Fall River Alexander Silva uh Denver clerk 148 Purchase Street uh thanks for calling us down uh our committee works all year putting this

stuff together so uh sometimes it's nice to let the public know what we voted on too some of the good projects we had this year was uh the land acquisition at the Adirondack Farms which is seven 14 acres all together and then they're going to have three houses one they're going to be used for uh um AMC rail trail they'll meet there they're going to have training for kids Wildlife all that so uh that's a nice

addition uh and they actually came in with quite a bit of money and our and was uh 141 934.

um then some other local projects we do have uh the St John's Baptist up here uh the church we're doing mostly just outside Renovations there to that old church which will really add to preserving it we have the greater Art Association up here we're doing a handicap for them for the public can get in and see the artwork and all that and we do have uh one nice project is the uh what's up a rowing

Center which I just got done talking to the gentleman they had the first um scholarship uh the lady is going to be going to BC for Rowan so I thought wow that's pretty nice and uh we funded that for uh six Lanes they're going to be it's free to forward kids to go learn row so I think that's a a nice addition that was a 135 000.

um then on the city side which helps out is the north with top of pond sea wall it's a condition assessment but it's in sad shape and it is our water supply but having this study done will enable the water department to go out for federal grants that kind of stuff so it's beginning stages of getting more money for Fall River those are our highlights for finished up with Dr fist house this

round so the whole house there the Underground Railroad will be finished and the rest if you have any questions or College coming yeah just more of a comment I guess it's a it's probably one of the nicest things that the voters approved um in in this community and just listen to these projects I think it's the the deliberation was done by your committing and we had a conversation John Mr Brandt earlier yeah not many

people realized that the South were tough upon is the third or fourth largest lake in Massachusetts yeah yeah and um and the sea wall is that at the Narrows or is it at the North what's up upon near the ice house it's all of the sea walls in Northwest four separate sites including the Narrows and by the ice house that's good to hear okay thank you thank you yeah I just have one question in terms

of the water department and and future uh funding what types of funding can they look for that they wouldn't be able to look for without this well I guess without the study they wouldn't have the scope of work needed so this kind of like narrows it down so it gives them a hand up when they I guess gotta put in bids that part we don't get into but they did say that it would uh greatly

because uh to us just went back to when we did the uh quicker Shan Rail Trail uh we needed a study done before the federal government would finish the project so this kind of plays in the same uh the seminal vein yeah okay that's great thank you there are you I'm sorry sorry there aren't as many funding sources for things like conditions assessments as there are for the actual you know work right right

yeah I really don't have any questions I often talk with Mr Brandt so I kind of know some of what's going on and what things that they're working on or with um with Sandy Dennis as well um I just want to commend you I think that that committee does a great job um with even taking out money and paying it little by little every year and you know that you have to spend so much on

outdoor projects and historic projects that it's divided I just think you run a really good program I'm excited with the row Center because there are opportunities for scholarships for many children what disappoints me is that there's not a lot of Youth in Fall River and I don't know how to get the word out I know that Kim has tried contacting different schools and getting them going

but since you're down here just for people at home to know it's for free yeah the whole program is for free and it is so beneficial it teaches kids teamwork and you know gets them out and the opportunity is a limitless and not everybody you know everybody has different knacks for different sports so there might be lots of children out there who would like to get out on the

water and learn how to row and um so I would hope that they would push that a little bit more get kids to know what it's about it's kind of a hidden treasure in Fall River yeah so I'm glad that we're doing these Lanes when they had their Regatta here last summer the summer before there had to be thousands of people who showed up and lined all around the watchapa to watch the Regatta races

um people were all over the picnic area they were cooking it was it was really good to see yeah so but kudos to you and to the entire committee I never thought it would get this far from my first meeting several years ago with Al Lima God Rest his soul at his house to talk about CPA and how we were missing out on that where other communities were taking the money and we weren't getting any

so he always had good ideas the rail trail I kind of I miss him but thank you for all the work that you do yeah appreciate it I mean we I can't say enough about my committee I mean we're well-rounded everybody looks at a project and we want to make sure benefits the citizens of Fall River because they're they're paying for this right and so are we because we pay taxes

too so we don't want to misuse the money we want to make sure it goes back into the public I mean we're putting kids down to bio Reserve now they can be underwater so it's it's expanding and I think the good thing is that people working together can accomplish so much more with everything that was done with the trails up in the reservation the Bristol County the Joe Marshall Vet Center they've adopted a

portion of that to maintain that and um so they're you know working together that has come out to be a you know a really a great project some of the work that you've done with other historical buildings like the Armory repairing the roof part of it repairing the chimney that was all CPA money so thank you with that I yield Mr President there you go Mr I also want to thank you and your

committee for what you do thank you that row program not only is it free but you provide all the life vests and all the safety equipment as well correct yes yes I'm sure you do because I'm not going to put kids in the boat without having to live oh okay I don't have to play around my face oh safety is there yes yeah I just want to make sure that's accurate so people don't have to make

any investment at all and it's a it's a great program I was there when they first had the initiation a few years back and it was really remarkable and there are a lot of schools are picking it up now even while high schools are picking up Rowan more and more so maybe we should start a little slogan to the elementary schools row row row your boat yeah let them know that they can do it

in the southwest thank you for coming down motion has been made and seconded all in favor aye any opposed motion carries item five is the a communication from the mayor in a resolution authorizing submission of the Community Development agency's year four annual action plan second motion has been made to accept the communication placed on file adopt the order and seconded all in favor aye any opposed motion carries

yeah the FY 23 quarter three budget report refer to committee on finance second Moshe has made a refer to committee on finance and seconded it all in favor any opposed motion carries item three is the Disclosure by special Municipal Employee Mimi larabee motion number pre-appropriate motion to approve ment to authorize this motion has made a second to the motion second second all in favor aye any opposed

the motion carries Mr President yes before we move on I know that there was uh a citizen input that referred to uh miss laravey being on the school committee for three years and only now coming through with the disclosure and Corruption or what have you sometimes I wish that people would get all of the information and unfortunately I think that that somehow misses people sometimes but the reason

that this is being requested is because Mrs Miss laravee has a new job and that's why it's being her her former job for 30 plus years at the Boys and Girls Club wouldn't have impacted this at all but this is a new position where she supervises people who are at a certain program in the city that's why a disclosure is done and I think that shows transparency not corruption transparency you file disclosures you

called the ethics commission I've done it myself because my daughter serves on the school committee I've had to put in disclosure I've talked to the ethics Commission because you want to make sure you being transparent so I you know I congratulate her for being transparent and filing a disclosure just wanted to put that out there because sometimes I think they think we do things

underhanded and we really don't I agree and it's just it sometimes it gets frustrating and I had a discussion Ms larva and just for the record I want to make sure it's perfectly clear that she has not held this position for the last three years as stated in the letter that was sent to the council she began this job in March of this year which is a little over a month ago so thank you for

clarifying that counselor because it's right sometimes it's unfortunate but people who believe certain things want to say things and the information isn't always accurate but at the end of the day people know the truth and thanks to you the truth is being known now that she has not worked there for the past three years she started this job back in March and now we're in April just a

month ago good job Council thank you whereas within the code of the city of Fall River Chapter 70 section 319 there's a standing ordinance regarding the Restriction of all night parking of commercial vehicles that weigh over two tons or more to no longer than one hour between the hours of 11 pm and 7 A.M of any day or anytime on Sunday except that such vehicle or trailer may be parked for periods in

excess of this restriction while actually being loaded or unloaded and whereas there have been numerous complaints from residents that many commercial vehicles have been utilizing public streets for overnight parking and where is this ordinance violation affects the quality of life of residents as well as the ability for emergency vehicles to safely travel on streets overnight now therefore be it resolved

at the committee on ordinances and legislation convened with the police chief to discuss enforcement and or necessary amendments to this existing ordinance motion referred ordinances

I think it going to the ordinance committee um what I requested because if we have ordinances on the books but we're not enforcing them why have them and I've gotten several complaints from people tied uh parking around the city is pretty tight with um you know today one family mom might have a car Dad might have a car kids have a car years ago that wasn't the case but people are

having difficulty parking and there's a lot of these business trucks that are not supposed to be a lot of these commercial vehicles are not supposed to be around so I think and I know that there's issues in the police department with being shortstopped but maybe it needs to be brought to the chief's attention some of the regular sized pickup trucks like an F-350 is I believe Beyond two

tons in weight and you're going to be taking a lot more cars with commercial plates off the streets where they're really not as big as these other vehicles I think you're talking about um it's big vehicles or yeah so let's try to get the tonnage right because and that way they they would know an ordinance I agree Council we truly want to take a pickup truck and it's a heavier load capacity off the

streets if it's you know because that's commercial plates yeah but I agree with you with the bigger trucks absolutely motion Hazard made and seconded all in favor all right any opposed motion carries whereas the bank Street Armory also known as the municipal Veterans Memorial was built in 1897 and was transferred from the Commonwealth to the city of Fall River in 1976 and whereas this

structure has provided benefits to the community such as being a functional supplemental military Armory and later redeveloped as the former location of the greater Fall River Recreation organization and whereas this building has fallen into drastic disrepair and needs a significant amount of restoration in order to return it to its former glory and where is there have been numerous residents and business

owners who have expressed concern regarding the future of the bank Street Armory now therefore be a resolve at the committee on real estate convene with representatives from the administration to discuss the revitalization of this prominent historic location refer to the committee on real estate motion referred to communities has been made second and seconded on the motion for the Community

Real Estate Council and seat six Council vice president sponsor's resolution I put this in because honestly what I'm hearing from the community at large they do not want the Bank Armory to be sold there are deed restrictions on here there was a whole study done on what needs to be fixed there um that happened as well uh the chimney was one of the issues that has been repaired the roof was another Edition

a part of that roof has been repaired there's certain things that need to be fixed right now and there's other things that can be fixed at a later date the city of Fall River has a habit of selling everything imagine if we had the Durfee theater it would make this Syrian theater look like nothing compared to what we had why do we constantly get rid of things you have all this Opera money

you know part of it can be used for something like this I think we need to put our heads together and do something you need a location for youth that place could make you money renting it out the veterans could have a home again they could have their quarters there like it was just selling off things I I really feel that if you if you pulled the community you'd see that more people

want to keep it I don't know if people have looked at Facebook have gotten calls from other people as I have but I think this is worth looking into yeah I agree with everything conserency six just said I think the problem is this it was two two and a half years ago that this Council transferred ownership of the Armory to the RDA the RDA owns the Armory at this point in time however

there was a timeline associated with it um it was supposed to be purchased by a gentleman who does event centers he was supposed to purchase it in a timely manner start the purchase and sales agreement was supposed to be within say six months I I don't remember the timelines I do know there were timelines for everything there was a revert a clause in that that we've never called in on so at this point I don't know

who it should go to to to to to put that reverted Clause into effect to take it back because we can it's just we've sat here I mean we should have acted on this like a year or a year and a half ago and unfortunately all this time has gone by when we the city could have taken it back the city could have done something with it the city could have moved forward and one

more time didn't um then with that I yield thank you for a prayer well my colleague in seat number two is partially correct it was transferred to the RDA the RDA was meeting with the gentleman who was going to have it as a Civic event place a location however with that person procrastinating the RDA never ever took it over we should have been made aware of that from the administration or

someone that the RDA never took ownership of it that was never signed so it didn't so we transferred it but they never took ownership that's right and I believe that um uh Miss Valcourt has the paperwork that was on that we had researched at um on when the RDA had taken out uh when we had ordered it to the youth transferred it to the RDA but then I spoke to Sarah from the RDA and she

explained that they never took it because the man was not meeting with them or whatever so they they never took ownership of it so it really it still belongs to the city well your real estate committee meeting will clarify those things I'm sure yeah yeah I I hope you write in that and I'm not and I'm not arguing the point but part of the reason that they had to have ownership was they were changing

the designation of that Armory so that uh and I can't um I don't remember what it was that they had that they were changing the designation I'll have to go back and pull the packet from back then and the only way that they could do that and and do that with through the state was for them to have ownership of it so there's something awry here there's no doubt there's something awry

um that we need to get to the bottom of because I agree the best thing is to take it back and let the city make something of it but obvious something somewhere and I don't know if we would make a motion wave the rules if if the city administrator can help us on this that's going to go the motion response of the resolution we send it to real estate and we can have our debate there

I just don't know if he knew where the ownership lies I don't know there's definitely something all right but I will yield I will make a suggestion um I have the paperwork at home that I had received of when it was transferred I can certainly email that to you get that to you for you to see but I would encourage you to call uh Sarah page who runs you know with the clerk for the

Redevelopment Authority and she will tell you I also had a conversation with Mr Marshall about it but he was no longer on the committee um he ended up giving up that position and I guess spending more time on the golf course guy God love him he's not good for him but yeah but um yeah they ended up not taking it for whatever motion carries real quick you have the police Chiefs report and licenses is she

okay second motion has been seconded all in favor any opposed ocean carries I have a number of claims motion refer to Corporation Council motion refer to Corporation Council has a new and seconded all in favor aye carries any opposed motion carries 12 a B and C are the Attorney General's responses to three open meeting law complaints motion to accept in place on file motion accepting place so far has been

made and seconded or in favor all right any opposed motion carries item 13 is in order asking that the city engineer prepare plans for the acceptance of merrier street from North Main Street to a dead end

any opposed motion carries item 14 is a an application for a structure on an over a public way on behalf of salon 812.

for a lemonade stand is there a motion to approve motion Summit motion to approve his remains a second all in favor any opposed motion carries

uh item 15 is a letter from David de Souza of hood street regarding trash parking concerns and suspicious activities at Cardinal moderas Towers motion to adopt and place on file and also a copy of the letter to a chief chief government please the acceptance place on file hasn't made and the Senate I'll let the chief Corvin second and seconded on the motion concert 66 you have you end up we did

receive an email from Mr D'Souza we've been in communication uh Mr spadella did meet with Mr D'Souza and has worked with the chief to address some of the concerns there but he Mr spadella did physically go over and meet with um Mr Jesus and I I was pretty impressed with that you know if somebody has a concern uh Mr spadella seems to be right on top of it and the um the housing board so

kudos to them without a yield well that's getting results ah I'm glad that's getting resolved yeah it is it's getting resolved well it's a waste of paper for the the letter then so but whatever you are Detroit emotions we'll leave it like it is please motions made in second it all in favor aye any opposed ocean counties item 16 is an anonymous letter that we received um regarding taxicab companies

motion refer to committee on regulations second motion for New York the committee on regulations have been seconded all in favor aye any opposed working codes item 17 are applications for drain layer licenses motion to approve the Dream League advisors has been made is there a second second second all in favor aye any opposed motion carries we have minutes of the February 8th planning board meeting motion to take 18

and 19 together second Ary to take items 18 and 19 together and seconded all in favor aye any opposed or who carries is there a motion to for actually accepting places second on favor all right can you post Russian carries foreign item 20 are minutes of the joint meeting uh with the school committee which was held on April 11th motion motion take 20 through 23 together motion Hazard made to take items 22-23 and

together has been made is this it's a second all in favor aye any opposed motion I'll entertain a motion to approve item 20 to 20 20 through 23 has remain executive all in favor aye any opposed what it goes the committee on finance at a meeting held on April 25th voted unanimously to recommend the accompanying appropriation order if you refer to the full Council for action with counselors Kadeem the

Liberty Pelletier Emperor absent in that voting this was the EMS fy24 appropriation order second motion to adopt hasn't made and seconded all in favor all right any opposed motion carries and we have the communication from the mayor and an order appropriating 253 491.33 from the operating Reserve fund to the police salaries motion to adopt second motion will be accepted communication placed on file an adopt

the order has been made and seconded all in favor aye aye any opposed motion carries we have an um a second police chief's report on licenses for applications that came in after the deadline it would be another order of chiefs report on licenses motion to adopt motion to adopt has a need and seconded all in favor aye any opposed no motion carries we have an application for a structure

on an over public way on behalf of Point signs for a freestanding sign on Pleasant Street yep motion to approve second motion to approve has remained inside of it all in favor any opposed motion carries and we have a thank you letter um from president Tamara and his family motion to accept the place on file protected motion accept and placed on files of meeting second and all in favor

aye any opposed motion carries motion to adjourn before we join I just want to say I want to thank my colleagues for the beautiful flowers you sent and thank you for your very kind words um all of your thoughts and prayers on my family's behalf we thank you very very much all the residents as well in the community and the city Administration and everyone in the building that showed

up thank you very much thank you motion to adjourn has made it seconded all in favor aye any opposed city council meeting is now adjourned please please