The Community Preservation Committee held its annual meeting on Monday, April 28th, 2025, at 6:00 PM in the City Council Hearing Room One, Fall River. Following a roll call, which noted the absence of Joanne Bentley, the committee proceeded without citizen input. A key discussion involved the financial statement, which was postponed to the May meeting due to the new financial officer, Emily Arpek, needing more time to compile data. The committee unanimously voted to move the financial report. A partial financial update was provided, indicating $1,816,443 collected, an existing unreserved fund balance of $2,373,078, and total available funds of $3,842,92 for the previous fiscal year, with $249,150 allocated to community housing and $2,750 to open space. Emergency funding for the Christ the Rock Church was also noted. The chair read a letter summarizing the year's achievements, including the recommendation of over 120 projects in historic preservation, open space, recreation, and community housing, and thanked committee members, the community, Sandy Dennis, and family members. The committee then unanimously voted to retain all existing officers. The annual meeting concluded with a unanimous vote to adjourn, with the regular meeting scheduled to resume at 6:30 PM.
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Welcome to the community preservation committee meeting. Uh this is our annual meeting at uh city council hearing room one government center fall river. Um it's Monday, April 28th, 2025 6:00.
0:16Uh pursuant to the open meeting laws, any person may make an audio or video recording of this public meeting or may transmit the meeting through any medium.
0:24Dannies are therefore advised that such recordings or transmissions are being made whether perceived or unpersceived by those present and deemed acknowledged and permissible. We'll start with roll call to my left. Michael Farius here.
0:38Chris Benvites here. Alexander Silva here. Kristen Canara Olivera here. John Brand here. James Hornsby here. Rick Mancini here. BJ McDonald here. And we are missing Joanne Bentley from uh housing.
0:55Um, I see uh no citizen input tonight.
0:59Okay. We were supposed to start out with a financial statement. Um, I won't read the whole email that uh uh Emily Arpek sent us, but uh uh the basis of it is uh she's only been in for eight weeks. So, with the the new budget season coming up, uh she didn't quite have all of our data information.
1:21So, she wanted to have a financial meeting in uh May. So, uh she'll be reporting to us uh at the May meeting instead of uh tonight. That way, it'll give her a little more time to get the information together.
1:36Um so, so I'll make a motion to move the financial report to the May meeting.
1:43Okay, I second that. Roll call. Michael Faras, yes. Chris Benvites, yes.
1:49Alexander Sylvia, yes. Kristen Caner Oliver. Yes. John Brandt. Yes. Yes.
1:55Rick Manseni. Yes. BJ McDonald. Yes.
1:59We do have uh our financial report. I can read what she did give us. Uh we collected uh uh 1,816,443. Our existing fund balance unreserved was uh 2373 no 2 million two 2,373,78 uh less we had bonds of uh 32,250 administrative cost was 45,000 uh total available funds this year was uh $3,842,92.
2:42uh we didn't have any um community housing, so we put 249,150 to that and we still had an open space 2,750. Um I'd like to just make a note that uh we did an emergency funding for uh the Christ the Rock Church. That'll go on this year. Okay. Thank you. Mhm.
3:13Uh then next uh shouldn't we I just have a question on that something I don't understand I had thought that we had not given any money for open space or land acquisition that's just for financials last year not everything that we did this year would you define last year or this year what's the time this is uh this is And we were we just did FY26 is what we just voted on. So this is the previous
3:45fiscal year which ends July 30th of the year. So July June July to June is the fiscal year, right? Yeah. But so she doesn't have this one done yet, but 2024. Yeah. Real real year.
4:02Uh we'll set on that one.
4:05Okay. And then um and actually it might be worth noting that the total uh projected for FY26 that 1 uh 816 million 18.1% of that was the state's matching funds. So that was just money that the city got from the state to match it.
4:27Okay. All righty. Then uh I do have a a letter uh for the end of our year. As the chair of our comm uh committee is both a honor and a pleasure to reflect the remarkable achievements we've collectively accomplished this year.
4:43Each of you have brought exceptionally dedication, commitment and passion to our mission and has not gone unnoticed.
4:50I want to extend my deepest gratitude to each of you. Your hard work, collaboration, unwavering commitment to our goals have made all the difference and made a pitiful achieving these accomplishments. This year, we have achieved significant milestones from having a full nine-member board representing this committee to successfully recommending quality projects to the city council in a timely
5:12manner. This committee has recommended over 120 projects that included historic preservation, open space, recreation, and community housing that have been made really difference improving forward parks, restoring and preserving our historic buildings and assets, protecting, preserving our pre precious open space and creating affordable housing units. Our involvement in this uh committee is an example of the value
5:36we contribute and the incredibly unique opportunity of giving back to our community. It would remiss me if I didn't thank the community for their continued support and belief that the work we do does make a difference in our community. Um, and I also like to uh uh thank Sandy Dennis who we uh sometimes forget to mention. Without her hard work and dedication would make our job a lot
6:03harder. And I especially want to thank her because she makes my job very easy.
6:09And uh also like to thank our our family members because a few of us are on multiple boards and it does take some times especially in February when we're meeting three or four times a month. So I thank the families out there for letting us uh uh do what we enjoy doing.
6:29Um so that's it for that. Uh next we have election of officers.
6:36I'd like to make a motion that we keep all the existing offices in place.
6:41Second.
6:43Okay. Um, roll call. Michael Farius, yes. Chris, yes. Alexander Sully, yes.
6:51Kristen Canara Oliver, yes. John Brandt, yes. James Hley, yes. Rick Mancini, yes.
6:57BJ McDonald, yes. Okay. Uh, that includes our um annual meeting. We do have some refreshments out there. Uh so enjoy. Um then I need a motion to adjurnn. I'll make a motion to adjurnn.
7:14Second. Roll call. Michael Ferris. Yes.
7:18Chris Benvites. Yes. Alexander Silva.
7:20Yes. Kristen Canara. Yes. John Brandt.
7:23Yes. Yes. James 23. Rick Mani. Yes. BJ McDonald. Yes. And uh we'll resume the regular meeting at 6:30. Uh, so up yourself to some refreshments out