5.14.2024 Fall River City Council

over hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey

hey

m

hey hey he

city council please come to order the C call the road councilor kadim here Dion here Hart here Kilby here Pereira here Hunty raposo here Samson here and president CRA here will everyone in the council chair please rise from war side in

prayer please remain standing for salute to the flag I pledge ALG to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all pursuant to the open 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 Transmissions are being made whether perceived or unperceived by those present and are deemed acknowledged and permissible Madam clerk Mr President can I make a motion to take 24a out of order please motion to take 24a out of order second second all in favor I any opposed motion carries motion is there a motion on item 24 motion to adopt motion to adopt second as remain and seconded all in favor I

any opposed motion carries Council you want to come up and present the

citations so this evening we're presenting a city council citation to the veterans association of Bristol County if we could have Ken and his team whoever wants to come down and join us

please so it's important to highlight the the work that many of our veterans organizations do across the city of fall R and here's one particularly to represent tonight um I've had the pleasure of spending some time with Ken over the time I've been on the city council to um see the work that they're doing and I've been down to Pine Street many of times to see what going on and I've been very impressed with the work

that all of you do and seeing the amount of people that come in and out of the building and the support that you provide to them um and even most recently you we'd work together to help another veteran out which was a great experience um it's just nice to see when a team comes together and does some great work um and I look forward to your continued work that you do for all of

our veterans in the community I think it's a good educational lesson um a side note recently uh my kids at the school we did a collection as a school to benefit the vabc and more the veterans that attend there um and the kids were just amazed that a what was donated and B how far these items would go we're talking about you know simple things I think we take for granted socks um

toothpaste deodorant shampoo among other things and the Bounty was just so plentiful and they they were so appreciative of the work they did and both Kim and Ken came down to pick up the items and they were just they took the opportunity to talk to them about how far their impact would go um so I think this is a small little token of appreciation of them of all of us and

the community of what you do so with that said a official city council resolution be resolved that the city council hereby extends its commodation to the veterans association of Bristol County in recognition of its remarkable support that it's provided in the greater forward area for both veterans and their family members be it further resolved the fora city council extend best wishes for continued success and

the resolution be entered in the records of the city council adopted May 14 2024 proposed by myself and signed by President Joseph camarra congratulations all of you thank you very much for your workk you Joe a few words I I have to say K I went by today I went by today I went by St an's Hospital see Manny cavalo who's in the hospital and on my way home I drove by um by Pine Street

and the number of people that I saw coming out with baskets and carts full of food uh was very impressive at how many people were being serviced so thank you for that can you want to say a few words go ahead goe thank you so much uh yeah the I this validates what we do each day not the reason why we do it though so um I ju I thank everybody we love what we do

and and I think it shows um we we go in each day with a great attitude U an amazing team we got Holly Kim Steve on top of a small army of volunteers that help out each day uh so without you guys without everybody it wouldn't happen um and we're just very grateful for all of you and all of the support that we get so thank you

good job thank you so much good job app no we appreciate thank you

okay the first item before you is the mayor's request for confirmation of the appointment of Nicholas Cecilio to the board of Park Commissioners motion to confirm second motion to confirm has remain in seconded all in favor Mr President question on a motion to confirm coun seat seven proposal I'm just curious who is this individual replacing on the board of Park Commissioners um the chair the chair

resigned the chair resigned effective one uh about two months ago Council will you let the clerk answer please you can speak recognized three or four weeks ago yeah okay and I'm assuming there'll be a new chair appointed at some point or they have appointed a new chair they have appointed and who might that be is that official yet C seats 5 they McDonald is now the new chair McDonald Bernie McDonald ber

McDonald okay I appreciate that thank you I yield thank you councelor I'm C item two is the mayor's request for a confirmation of the reappointment hold on hold on yes we I don't think we took the vote motion to confirm has second we have discussion all in favor I any opposed motion carries item two is request for the confirmation of the reappointment of nursia Pereira to the Council on agent

motion to confirm second motion confirm Mr may seconded all in favor I I any opposed motion carries item three is the mayor's request for a confirmation of the reappointment of Victor faras to the board of Park commissioner motion to confirm second motion to confirm has been made and seconded all in favor I any opposed motion carries item four is the May's request for a confirmation of the reappointment

of Bernard McDonald to the board of par motion to confirm second motion to confirm has been made in second all in favor I any opposed motion carries item five is a request from the mayor um to resend the Bristol County AR proposal regarding public service and safety equipment which was adopted on January 9th motion so made second motion sent made in second all in favor I any opposed motion

carries item six is a communication from the mayor and a proposal for Bristol County arpa funding in the amount of $700,000 to purchase equipment to increase Public Service saf programs in capacity this is the Lafayette Skate Park Rehabilitation project seconded motion to approve has been made in seconded on the motion con C to so I know what I'm going to say isn't going to be popular however this is not

something that I can support um we have three skate parks three or four skate parks all in need of repair rehab whatever the case may be um I know the operador she is here can we wave the rules to have it's up to you Council director come down please to make a motion for us I'm making a motion wave the rul motion has been made in second all in favor I oppos motion carries come on down

please even good evening car good evening so Opa contract 13 was uh $ 44,1 35 that number was increased to $ 61,69 to look at Abbot Court North Park and Lafayette correct um this is basically saying that we can't afford to do all three what did those numbers come in at and does this mean that Abbot court and North Park those skate par Parks will no longer be in use

so the the number the exact number I do not recall and I'm not sure that I have that in front of me right now and so I apologize um I'm just double checking it was North Park was because of the square footage to redo that area was an astronomical amount of money we tried to steer away and try some other equipment that you could do more like that metal framing and stuff and it just wasn't the

same kind of quality um so uh we felt like Lafayette there're we're still hoping to do something at the other Parks not necessarily skate parks but re redo them in a way that's usable for the residents of the Fall River but Lafayette we thought was um more centrally located um as far as arpa it fit into the um zones the environment Justice neighborhoods adjacent to the Flint centrally located in a census

track that allowed us to it was 7,000 square feet so to do a really we felt like instead of doing kind of like half the job at three to do a nicer one at one and we felt like the demand to do three different ones maybe wasn't the best use of our arpa funds um at this time um just that one would doing a one better one centrally located just seem

better for everyone so my comments would be um number one I don't I don't I get the census track but I don't consider Lafayette Park to be centrally located I consider it to be in the easterly portion of the city number one so part of the logic was um we you know we have obviously uh lowincome people children who this is going to give them accessibility because of where they live but now we have have

also low income in the North End of the city the south end of the city who are not going to have access to that park because Abbott Court is in the western portion of the city the well the Western portion Southwest um and I don't know that skate parks are utilized the way they used to be so I think my biggest concern is we're talking $700,000 very significant number we have

probably 8 to 10 basketball courts that need to be repped we have tennis courts that need to be repped people are always saying for is not any good at maintaining what they own well having 8 to 10 basketball courts that need to be maintained um that have cracks in them that might have the Hoops ripped down etc etc for my part those Parks those uh basketball courts tennis courts are all

over the city which gives everybody access to it children adults does your income M your income level doesn't matter uh the basketball courts we have refurbished have people at them all the time I drive by Kennedy Park in a regular basis the tennis courts the pickle courts the basketball courts constantly have people you go up President Avenue the park there that b the basketball courts always being

utilized um I just feel we can get a bigger bang for our buck that we should be taking care of what we own because obviously we haven't taken care of these skate par properly or we wouldn't be where we are so I feel like we're going to we're going to kick two to the curb invest this uh uh significant amount of money to not maintain this either and down the road is there's going to be an

issue um go ahead can I just respond to aou absolutely so you hit a couple things first of all I'm a big basketball fan so I run a big leag in my town um so I totally understand that I think though when you're looking at an entire city you're also trying to look at different interests right so you're trying to we have done um the basketball Park the basketball courts at britland we're

talking still about redoing some of the other ones but you um you've kind of like that's one niche of kids and adults that are using that and then there's a whole another group of people who enjoy skateboarding and so the condition of those three parks and I did go there with um Mike Dion and the mayor um to check them all out uh they're I mean they're actually dangerous the way some

of them are cracking and so we've really got to come up with some ideas and we actually discussed it today of what we can do up there with North Park um Abbot's pretty small um it's not actually a great location if for for skateboarders who want to really like it's just it's not the square footage that really is ideal and so all of them really do need some help just because I

think a lot of them are just dangerous as is but so I think the idea is that when you put money into something um we we are going to maintain it I think these are just very old um and I think that something we have to try to like we've got the volleyball courts we've done um some slash pads we've done uh basketball courts pickle ball you know all these different things but I think

we have to like and in basketball too but I think you have to kind of look at there's different like kids adults there's different interests and by addressing and making sure that at least there's one spot in the city for skateboarders so I that that would be my response I think I I think I understand your position I but I do think we're trying to make sure we're not just

focusing on one set of group of kids in their interests but trying to sort of distribute across the city different ways that people can partake in outdoor recreational activities well and and and I also think that my comment ments are directed more at the fact that we have basketball courts we have tennis courts that need to be rehabed we have not taken care of them and that was the

second part sorry thank you for bringing that up um so the good news is is that we are I've been spending the past three weeks kind of going back through um our city and Bristol County funds to try to see where we may have some surpluses or um and close out some of the projects that are completed um and bring those balances back into into sort of um the area where we can disperse them and so

that's one thing we were talking about today is what can we what's left to do like what are some priority projects and those were actually some things that I talked about um you know doing a splash pad at Kennedy because we had talked about that originally fixing up some of the um the courts there's another the court at Lafayette behind the skateboard park what can we do with North Park um

so I think you know if you have some ideas we would definitely be interested in entertaining those because we're trying to figure out you know what what can we do with those spaces as well and then my other questions would be have there been discussions with the park board have there been discussions with the park division do they have the cap so how how is this going to be maintained moving uh moving forward is

it going to be in the budget is we going to be are we going to budget just to maintain this skateboard the state of the art uh skateboard park um because the the park Department certainly does not have the the proper amount of funding to maintain what we have already that's proven that's a fact we can't there's no disputing that um so I don't know if there's been discussions with

any of them um if they have the capacity to take care of it the way it should be taken care of and then so I don't know if you want to address that first I got one more thing to throw out I would just say I I'm not I'm not part of budget meetings or I'll address it I'll address it coun it's up to us to maintain it and fund it fund the maintenance of it not

someone in her position no I understand that but her she made a statement saying it is going to be maintained so that leads me to how's it going to be maintained right so that I would I would think that she statement was it's up to us to maintain it as we have it's up to us to maintain everything else and we should provide the funding to maintaining it not a department head yes

we should but we don't sh basketball courts courts the list goes on and on the Armory we have a long list of bad choices and then the last thing is uh chapter 54 132 Parks article for parks and trees notice of proposed changes in parks at least 14 days prior to any vote by the board of Park Commissioners authorizing a major change to a public park the board shall hold a public hearing at

which the proposed change shall be presented to the public and members of the public should be given an opportunity to comment on the proposal that's a b notice of the public hearing required by subsection a shall be given in the same manner and to the same parties and interest as required for notices of public hearings under the zoning act mglc 40a um as amended from time to time C

for the purposes of this article the term major change to a public park shall mean any change involving an expenditure of more than $10,000 whether such expenditure is made by the city or by others so my last question is have we met met all of these requirements have we had these conversations so all I know is I mean I I I would as an attorney that that is it's not a major change because it's an

existing um it's I mean I understand your the definition there but that it's an existing this is an ordinance right but I'm just saying it's it is an existing skate park that we're enhancing so but I would say that in um grin line skate park um sent us on May 2nd their uh proposal and in that proposal they do the public meetings as part of that so there's several public meetings um as

part of their different um sort of like as they move through the project as they like their site visit then they do a public meeting number one and they do another public meeting as well so I don't know if that you know that this is a little out of my perview I don't sure I don't that understand I understand all of that but I do know that in their proposal there are public meetings built into that

um so those are my comments and and I just and believe me not that I don't want to see a state-of-the-art skateboard park don't get me wrong not that I don't think it's a great idea I just I just feel that we can do more with our money for more people and have things that are easier to maintain and should be maintained and so with that I yield thank you

so as somebody who spends a lot of time in the Flint I can rationalize why this is something that would be done my concern is I think you know and and this is from just my own youthful experience of spending a lot of time at Lafayette Park as a kid um I think Lafayette Park has not had as much traffic as it probably should have over the number of years for a variety of reasons um the

baseball um League that was there is no longer um it's you have a nice beautiful baseball field that's under utilized um I remember growing up the skate park that is currently there being used and kind of being beaten up over the years so I approach this in a sense of I know the proposal is design and construction can you answer a few questions for me in regards to what is the cost of the

design um and sorry I got this after the um preliminary design looks like it's $8,000 um that's an approximate $855 and the rest is the construction um I would assume so it looks like equipment and construction yeah so like it looks like there's a sorry and I I misspoke so the total so there's a preliminary design which includes like um project startup site visit first open housee geotechnical survey existing

condition survey preliminary design development final conceptual design sorry that is all

52765637 assume that the I the the design that is put together sticks to it that's what the price tag would essentially be okay correct me if I'm wrong I think it was maybe a year ago was when the mayor did some sort of neighborhood like walk through and talk to Youth and residents about this particular skate park it was prior to me being here but I believe yes okay because I I recall reading a lot

about some some feedback about that skatepark particularly as far as I don't know if you don't have a design yet this is going to be the process to design it I'm wondering if because I I think about travasos that I see every day and how it's kind of enclosed and encompassed and obviously it's a dead end Street where it is what is the idea of keeping this skate to counil deon's point keeping this

skate park enclosed taken care of lit is one of the things I think about because you know I'm sure a lot of kids will be there during the day but is there going to be lighting that's to be made available to be used at night because I think a lot of a lot of the different uh Parks like the basketball courts and Tennis Courts have lights is this skat Park going to have that ability to have

lights is that an idea part of the design and so I I can't answer that only but I think that that is probably from the synopsis that they say on the public meeting number one it's public input on I think those very things like should this be enclosed should there be lighting you know what sort of like I think a lot of the skateboard Community will come out I know the mayor has been

in touch with a couple of those lead skate park individuals in the city mik Deion has as well um about their interests what they you know they're more of the experts in this you know seeing what they need what they think needs to be fulfilled okay and then as far as I don't know the actual size of it but what is currently there is that 700 Square F feet so I you know what I

didn't measure it when I was there and I don't know if it's G to I I think it's going to get a little bit bigger from what I from looking at it um I don't know I don't know the answer to that though okay because I'm I'm thinking that it's going to be bigger than what's currently there I think so I think that was part of like the idea of not I

remember I don't remember the toal I just remember it was a million there was like a couple million dollars I believe to do three different parks and so this seemed like a much more financially Sound Investment to do one yeah um I would also I know it wasn't specifically you that said this um but you did mention like keeping like these things you know the the basketball courts and

maintaining and stuff but I think it's like that's part of what this arpa funds the this is onetime money and the reason we haven't been able to do that over over the years right is maybe we haven't prioritized it but we also haven't had the funding to do that and so this is the very purpose of the arpa funds right is to fix these things that over time year after year we just can't get into

the budget um and so to me I'm like I think all of your points are very valid but that's what this money is for is to do those to do those things and we can do them now I'm not I'm not against it I I think I think it's a good idea considering the park that we're talking about my biggest concern is obviously in this what you mentioned the design phase

and having the public input cuz I don't think any of us sitting here have a clue what skateboarders go through and and what is needed to be a successful skateboarder maybe Tony Hawk does I don't know I like your light Point too yeah point but but I think about you know a lot of the Parks have lights and you know even if we get down to the point where that skate park if it

state-of-the-art is permitted you need lights to do anything there and it's a perfect area where there's a lot of open space to do an event if there's a skateboarding event whatever it may be um that that would be enhanced if it's just going to be state of the art during the day it's going to be complicated so my my only ask is as the design is going forward could lights be considered

because it could be a good for everybody B it could be permitted out for any sort of League or event what have you I think it's a win-win all the way around um but my other concern is just the security of the area um I know I have I've spoken to Administration about the graffiti that's been going on at Lafayette Park it's been cleaned it comes back it cleaned it comes back the fence around the Outfield

of Lafayette Park is still a mess and it's been a mess since I was a teenager um so with all that said you know do we consider cameras do we consider any sort of security to make sure that what we invest is watched and taken care of to avoid back to your point we do something nice it falls apart and then 10 years down the road doing this again we do

have those nice graffiti uh removal yes they're great aren't they great so a perfect opportunity yes they they are great but I again I'm GNA see a reality where this skate park is going to be taged yeah for sure so my my only thing is to make sure that it stays the way as beautiful as it can be so my only request through you would be I don't have a pen but I yeah lights security um

maybe cameras to make sure that we can keep it for the community and then obviously just that public input is hugely important for that I yield thank you thank you come to see thank you so I guess I share the uh same concerns as Council Dion uh so I'm fully supportive of the 700,000 going to uh parks and and but my only I guess my only question and concern when I think

of skate parks and she had mentioned it is just the use of skat Parks um everyone I drive by is just doesn't seem like it's being utilized so you you kind of touched a little bit about this in terms of the demands can you speak a little bit more of that in terms of the Demand on for a skate park uh in terms of need versus other and I know we've

got the basketball courts I know we got the pickle ball court um we've got the tennis courts but how did we come up with and I think somebody mentioned the mayor you doing a walkthrough so was that part of what he heard in terms of I'm I don't I'm not sure this was I don't know if I should defer point of clarification can can the city administrator allude on any of this we

are in a city council un the only way he can come down is if someone makes a motion way of the rules and have him come down that's can you allude to this if that's if that's no okay never mind he can't allude to this I don't have thank you so I I will say this councilors and and and I've heard a couple of things that the Parx are being underutilized skate Parx what I was one

of the councilors I was here I believe counc prayer maybe Council kill was here when we first brought skate parks to North Park and we hadn't had a skate park in the city period skate parks the lifespan of skate park is less than other Parks because take abuse from the skateboards and everything that goes on there it's concrete deteriorates the skate boards damage them if they're not safe no one's going

to use them extremely underutilized I will not take a skateboard to a skate park which got cracks so I'm going to fall go I can't go down a ramp because I'm going to get hurt so that's why they're want utiliz if we fix them trust me when I tell you they're going to come from all over because the first time we put a skateboard in park uh in North Park people came from everywhere and

they us utilize them all the time so if we can have a nice skate park it will be utilized there are a lot of kids that buy skateboards and use them I guess I don't disagree but I but I think like when you when you look at skateboarding there was there's a trend right there's a trend with all sports I mean we we saw it with baseball baseball kind of died

out it's starting to come back now it was soccer and then it was basketball so I you know there's a cyclical part to any type of activity that we put out there I I'm just saying right now we've got $700,000 to your point onetime money we're not going to see this again what I'm seeing and it's not just in the city of forer I mean I I I was just telling

Council Dion I dropped my daughter off off for basketball practice in new Beford I've got to drive by a huge soccer field that has a skate park attached to it and there are hundreds of people that are in this park there are zero people in the skat Park and it's a brand new skate park so I guess what I'm trying to say is is if we're going to leverage this money I

just want to know what the demand is and make sure that we've actually looked at the demand and if if we've got something saying that maybe it's not the same demand that would be for pickle ball reports and we've already got that and it's a little bit less but okay there's a demand there then I would say okay let's move forward with the the skate park if not if it's you know outdoor

exercise units I rather see something like that and it doesn't need to be the basketball courts it doesn't need to be the pickle ball courts but I I do agree with you we have to have some diversity in terms of recreational activities that we have um maybe a feel for Ultimate Frisbee like I I don't know what it is we we talk about uh playing facilities uh surfaces for football flag football I

mean there's a there's a post of things that that run through my mind um but I'm I'm just curious in terms of just the demand itself specifically for you know the skate park and I and I get get the concept if you build it they will come you know I just don't want it to be okay we spent $700,000 it's there we've got some demand for about a month and then

nobody's utilizing it right and I just can't I don't I I could find out I just I don't know I I think if these conversations all happened prior to my arrival okay I can I can appreciate that I know it was one of the counselors that mentioned the uh I guess the walkthrough of the neighborhoods whether it was during the election or just a a neighborhood meet and greet with the with the mayor in

terms of you know potentially that coming out of that that neighborhood then if there is some documentation to suggest that that's where that came from then I'm okay with that and I'll support it if it's coming from the neighborhood and that's what they want to want to see but I just haven't seen anything in terms of why you know why the skate parks other than that they're already

there and it might need to be improved but whether or not the demand is there for it I just don't know but I'm just on the fence for for that purpose so I can certainly find out first thing tomorrow morning with that I yield there you go Cy to is um Stark Architects are they the still are the ones that involved in the design project so they did the initial ones and um and my understanding

is because the price and what so they need to almost Outsource to someone who's an expert in this which and so this came up about because we couldn't afford to do all three of them and so we had researched and found another um I think it was Mike Dion had researched and found another company that specializes in this um that could do the whole thing from like ground you know

from the beginning to the end um for a more for a better price so the original

um let me

just those were they were they were expended the 61 and 655 that was completed um and I we so we do have those designs for Abbot North and Lafayette but I I think with this grid line it was using a different kind of equip I think it was too my and I it was too expensive to do what they wanted to do um and so that's why they went for to another alternative um that

was supposed to be less expensive and none of it could be modified to be able to still continue to utilize at least two if not the three when I did my walk through of the three PL I mean it was like crumbling I mean as um president CRA said I mean it was broken crumbling I mean we were we like we inquired with um Stark if we we could you know even just like repurpose them

like just kind of re surface um which was not an option um so that we sort of just pivoted because it just it I mean it's hard squeezing 700,000 on you guys for one I mean I can't imagine if I came in here with asking for over two million and and that did seem um like I mean that just seemed ridiculous to us um as well that that that was too much money

for maybe something that was wasn't going to be used you know in three different locations by as many people so um I don't think does that answer your it question it does um and I guess my last question would be um when you read this in one part in one sentence it states rehab and the next sentence it states creates we're creating a park is it a combination is it a rehab is it a

tear out and we're actually rebuilding so exactly yeah so I think we're we're rehabbing it in the sense of like we're we're we're creating a new place like we're rehab we're making this a better this existing space a better um a better Park but I think they're going to have to my my gu this is a guess but they're going to have to rip that out I mean it's just I don't know that I don't know

that you could ever do anything I think we're kind of starting from scratch putting down new cement putting down new equipment um redesigning it all of that all righty well like I say I feel bad that uh apparently it wasn't properly maintained to be end up in in the uh Condition it's in I don't have faith moving forward um but thank you and with that I yield thank you Council counc seat Council seat 8 Council Samson

thank you um so I submitted this proposal for all the reasons stated above um when we learned that we um were not going to be able to pay for the public safety police cars and all of that my fear was that we were going to lose a project on the other end that was very important and this being probably not on the tier of importance for that and I am going to speak for the skaters

and the kids as far as diversity and inclusion is because we always I feel are looking at baseball fields softball fields basketball fields and our skate boox I am a mother of a son who rode skateboard forever and ever and I'll tell you skateboarding is VE really big right now I was just a New Bedford not far from my office a brand new skate shop was opened up it's a huge thing

right now and unfortunately we have let the skate parks go in for R it's a shame the what the skate parks look like and I would like to fix all three of them because it is true there is skaters in Fall River but they don't get a voice they really really don't and they are last because they're not your popular basketball player your baseball player pickle ball I don't think we did a a

service to see how many people want to play pickle ball but we want to do a survey to see how many kids skateboard they're there it's a huge popular spot right now but Fall River has done an injustice to our young kids so I feel like we're going to take off the table now because we got to move some money around that our young kids are going to lose a park you're right um counselor

Dion you are absolutely right there is a you stated there is a long list of bad choices that were made that these Parks weren't but we have a chance to write that wrong right here for these young people and at least have the opportunity to fix one of the parks so they can skate and maybe they're on the other of the city but these skateboarders you can can't imagine they will skate far they

will skate to the other Park and we can at least start somewhere and then we have the eyes to make sure that they maintain it like they're maintaining the park at true Park Andrew's down there all the time he lets us know when something's wrong there's a new you know graffiti thing the light out he's always on top of that so we can be on top of that but we have a chance to write a

wrong and I'm afraid that these kids that are are are maybe not the the the popular ones of basketball players and baseball are going to get swept under the rug it is important to make sure that every diverse group is represented in what we are able to do here with that youth initiative we were looking at it today I mean we got kids playing ukuleles with that stuff and we got kids

throwing on boxing gloves and we're making a movement here so I just don't want to take something that was in the works for our young people to now be taken off we have a a chance here to write a wrong that's been happening and so I just ask that we look at it like that and take this opportunity to maybe write the wrong and so that's why I put this in I think it's really important I

I do wish we could do all three pox and and and they haven't been maintained but we have a chance to fix one of them and so with that council president I yield thank you CC counc counc Port yeah I just I just want to add to you in the sense of I work with kids all day long so I think it's important to highlight opportunities for young people and everything that Council Washton

mentioned is is pretty essentially a team sport you know I think this is an opportunity where this is something that you can do recreationally as a kid without having to be good bad or indiff you can just do it and enjoy it um and I think that's when you look at the diversity of giving kids an option that's one of those things and and I'll just highlight again I think it's

important as we move forward when we look at the parks plans and what have you that it's the youth that are using these Parks it's you know against against what people believe that kids don't get outside and sit in front of the computers all day long that's not that's not necessarily true a lot of kids who spend a lot of time outside during the summer we all see it driving through the city of people at the

basketball courts and whatever but I think this is an opportunity too that you give an opportunity to a kid who doesn't necessarily play a team sport maybe they're just to themselves and they want something they can work at without anybody getting on their head about it and just be successful and enjoy it um and it's not something we have a lot of currently and I agree with you with your point about the popularity

of I think there is a niche for it there is an interest and like they say with baseball fields you build it they will come so I think it's it's a good idea to give these kids another option we need to give our kids more options we don't have enough unfortunately so I yield than you nope no questions okay thank you for coming down thank you thank you cara do we have a motion Mr President we

did have a motion second motion to approve and it was a second okay motion to that's right we had discussion it was a motion to approve and second all in favor I I'm sorry counc K yeah just one quick comment popped into my head being being an elected official for many years as you have Mr President and Council Hart and others Council PR I just uh just reminds it of the fact that that

let's not forget this is a good thing this is a good thing for children okay as uh M Council proposal stated and I in the past I found that really nothing gets done if you listen to the argument well we're doing that we need this or we need this or we can't do that because we need this this and this nothing gets done so we're doing this and mind making sense nothing gets

done if you look at the entire picture and all the needs we're focusing on one thing and I think it's a good thing and I'll be supporting it so I hope uh I made sense what I just said but that that memory just hit me that um if you think about the whole picture doesn't get done if you have if you have a home uh you need a you you

know you want a nice swimming pool you want a nice deck but you need a roof you don't do the S I mean it's just um it can go I think we get to focus more on doing um one part one focus on the positive of one project so thank you than c c you said this is for the kids are you saying people like me can't use the skap park I never went to skap park

in my life I probably wouldn't uh have a neck right now thank you to see one comad no I guess I just along those lines listen I I respect the fact that it's you know for the children and and not just the children for the community because I don't I don't think skating has an age or you know councelor councelor in C7 mentioned Hawk I mean he's a he's 40 50 I I don't know how old

he is a lot of moneyo and he's got a lot of money right so there's no limit into the age I you know I what I'm saying and and I'm going to be voting no because I I just from my standpoint we've we've been talking about this and it's it's not that just this issue right there's a number of issues that we've talked about uh in terms of having a strategic plan

right and we've talked about a master plan for our recreational um parks and wrecks and part of that and it's not just a survey I understand you know what what councel Cate is is saying and and I wasn't necessarily suggesting that we needed a survey but it's just what you know at some point we need to know what what the plan is and part of that plan needs to be input from the community and

residents saying that this is what they want to see in terms of their Parks um and the recreational um components that they want to you know see in our neighborhoods and and part of that is just making forever a better place to live but part part of that discussion is is talking talking about you know the demand and the need um you know councelor Cate put that great initiative with the with the money for youth

services that you mentioned about you know folks you know kids having the opportunity to go to uh learn instruments you know go to boxing we we just had the uh you know the softball league that's that's taking place now at Dumont field I mean you drive by you know 24 and you see you see those three baseball fields being utilized at softball fields it's it's an amazing situation and I guess that's where I was

going and that's why I'm I'm voting against this right now it's because I I just want to make sure that we've got this opportunity with $700,000 whatever that is for whatever group we're talking about and I want to be as inclusive as possible I just want to know that this is the right thing to do um in terms of you know okay so we've got we've got three skate parks are we

going to you know abandon the other two two parks and and Council Deion isn't wrong when we talked about it I I've been hopping on this this conversation every budget year when we start talking about and breaking down the expenses and and dividing it by the number of parks it's less than $1,000 $2,000 per Pock you can't do anything with that um and we keep saying that it's our opportunity

to fund it we don't build budgets and I'm not suggesting that you know the administration come down and and put millions and millions of dollars in into the park Department because I understand there are other needs that go into the to the budget and we have limited revenue and resources for that but at the same same point it's it's been over 10 years that we've we've been talking about increasing you know the park

Department coming up with a master plan uh trying to get the you know um Park uh commission to come before us and and really kind of have uh a more uh thorough discussion you know a partnership a joint conversation about what they want to see the parks and and the type of improvements that have taken place so so that's all where I'm going and I and I and I don't disagree that

the initiatives that have been put forth by you know individual members and the administration for the use of the OPA money for recreational uh opportunities for our youth in particular um as well as our residents is is amazing I just want to make sure that you know we're not putting something in that's not going to be used uh that that's the only thing so with that I yield than you C5 C

Vice I really I really wasn't going to um speak on this because I'm in favor of fixing um that skate park because I do live in the Flint and I see numbers of kids there using it and you're right it gets worn out by people using it if nobody was using it we wouldn't need to repair it because it wouldn't be worn out but I think what we have here tonight is two issues one attorney hum

is here basically to talk about Opa funding for this one project I agree with councilor Dion wishing that the two other skate parks in the city were also fixed but we don't have the money to repair that and when we look at money I think what we need to do is what my colleague in seat number one has been saying for a while we need to look at what we're doing with the park so I

would suggest that the Health and Human Service committee health and youth that you get together with the park Department because I'll give you an example diamond is now being built they cannot use their baseball field so they are using a field and I don't know if it's Somerset or Swansea Swansea to the tune of $30,000 when Lafayette Park is within walking distance to Diamond and why they

didn't use that field and pay us that'd be $330,000 or maybe 20,000 because we got to take care of the field for them but that would be money that we get you know we need to look at the Grand picture of many people want soccer fields we don't have enough soccer fields but people will pay to use soccer fields that will give money to the park Department to do the repairs it's not

just taking tax money out of taxpayers in the city but it's looking at ways to generate Revenue I mean I say it all the time softball those leagues go all over the place Brian Bishop one of our best electric iCal Partners in the city he travels all over why can't we get people to come here and that would be tourism and economic development for us they'd eat at our restaurants they'd stay

overnight so I think maybe having a meeting with the park Department we have some new members tonight going on or a new member going on the Park Board maybe they can look at that what do we do and how much is it going to cost that we can put in even if it's oppa money to put in to get the ball rolling on changing some of these pox that then they can be

utilized and people will pay to use them now you have your money to do the repairs but I just figured I was one of the few that didn't say anything I had to just chime in on that so I thank you so much for listening and with that I yield thank you yeah just real quick Mr President thank you um I I do I get both sides here um but I am going to support

it because I remember back when I think councilor uh president camar and I first got elected to the uh city council we met with a lot of neighbors and the children uh they wanted a skateboard park and we put put it in the north north end on North Park and that was I think maybe one of the first ones so it was popular then and it's it's more than popular now so I do understand that um

that it's it's like a niche sport but it's a very popular one and I think by doing this and repairing making the repairs at Lafayette it's just going to in I think increase uh you know the usage there so I think it's all it's it's a good one for all of us here to vote Yes on I understand people not voting voting no on it because we I do think that we we do not

uh you know maintain properly uh but that's might be other reasons without money not having budget budgeted well or not having the money to budget it but um I think this is a good idea to do I think we should uh definitely support it so I yeld thank you i y new to ad C SE seven C po of course um and I think it's important to highlight when you look at the Capital

Park Capital Improvement report Lafayette Park among the lists is one of those parks that has the highest priority rating improvements that are needed and I think you know when you look at a lot of the par a lot of the Parks have had improvements where Lafayette hasn't had so many improvements and if you look at the photo from that document of the current skate park I mean and this was 2016

um it's not much of a skate park it's a few ramps and kind of beat up so I mean again I'm going to advocate for the fact that it's a good opportunity to give more opportunity to our kids that's all thank you my y thank you councelor motion has been made and it was seconded and seconded to approve to approve all in favor I I any opposed I I seat one and seat two opposed

item seven is the mayor's request for a proposed ordinance um to amend permit fees for the engineering department motion to refer to ordance seconded motion refer to committee on ordinance and legislation has been made in seconded all in favor I any opposed motion carries item eight is the mayor's request for an ordinance um that would amend the minimum house the um organizational structure that relates

to minimum housing motion refer second second motion for committee on ordinance and legislation has been meting seconded all in favor I any opposed motion carries have the item nine is the mayor's request to transfer three Parcels of vacant land um that are currently held as tax possessions to the water board motion to adopt motion to adopt has on the motion I have a question on what size Lots these pels

are are they buildable Lots are they not buildable Lots the water department is you know in that area they want to protect the watershed area I get it but they've got a lot of aples that I think that they could sell and I don't feel like I want to give them more unless I know a little bit more about this refer to the real estate committee counc if you feel can make a

recommendation refer it to the real estate committee yes I'd make a motion to refer to real estate we have a meet uh we have a meeting scheduled for the 28th I'll make sure it's on there okay motion toer the committee on real estate has been made has seconded all in favor I any opposed motion carries item 10 is the mayor's request um for the approval of a Thai agreement for inen

pharmaceuticals in Madison FF properties motion to adopt to adopt has made second it all in favor I any opposed motion carries opposed proceed to

opposed what item 11a is the financial order that the sum of $189,300

6 36,800 from fiscal year to 2023 Surplus Revenue motion to adopt seconded motion to adopt as a made seconded all in favor I I any opposed motion carries and the third order that the sum of $179,800 being the same as here by transfer to sewer fiscal year 2024 operational budget from the sewer stabilization fund to cover prior year deficits motion to adopt second motion to adopt has a me seconded all in favor

I I any opposed motion carries item 12 is the mayor's request to adopt a quick claim deed conveying assessor lot I 6-22 it's this is a vacant lot at the corner of Columbia and Canal streets motion to adopt motion to adopt has made seconded and seconded and I would send a letter to the Bishop thanking him for the gift Mo on the motion Council seat 7even Council on Mr President I'm just going to abstain from

this vote simply because I work for the dasy so I'm going to abstain from the vote thank you no problem councelor motion to adopt has a made and seconded all in favor I I any opposed and one abstention one extension counc seat seven item 13 is an order from the mayor um requesting approval of a 10-year contract for the operation maintenance and management of the wastewater treatment facilities and collection

system motion to return to refer to finance second motion refer the committee on finance has a made and seconded all in favor I any opposed motion carries traffic commission making recommendations to the ordinances motion refer to committee on ordinance second motion to refer to committee on ordinance and legislation has seconded all in favor I any opposed motion carries the committee on health and

environment Al Affairs at a meeting held on April 23rd voted unanimously to recommend that the accompanying resolution be granted leave to withdraw this relates to The ston Haven Road neighborhood motion so made second motion motion to Grant leave to withraw as remain seconded all in favor I I any opposed motion carries Madam president can I just a quick question on um item 13 I know we referred it could I just

request through you to the uh City clerk can we just get verification from cooperation councel so it says that the request is for an approval of a 10-year contract and I know I'm just mincing words but is it I think the legislative body is only authorizing the mayor to sign a 10-year contract I don't think we authorize the contract can we just can we just confirm that because I mean

there's a little bit of a difference because I know it's getting sent to to finance committee if we're not approving the contract that you know I think it limits our line of questioning in terms of what appears in that contract that's all thank you thank you councel CL 14 we did 14 15 16 16 committee on health and environmental Affairs at a meeting held on April 23rd voted unanimously to

recommend that the accompanying resolution be granted leave to withdraw this relates to geothermal energy motion Grant Le to withdraw motion to Grant Le to withdraw has made and seconded all in favor I any opposed motion carries committee on regulations at a meeting held on April 29th voted unanimously to recommend that the accompanying order be adopted pending the presentation of the city collector's

receipt of payment to the city clerk um I can tell the council that this afternoon uh probably about 4 pm the treasurer did advise that um the gentleman was in made payment and a also a payment motion to adoption motion to adopt has been made and seconded all in favor I I any opposed motion carries the commit on regulations at a meeting held on April 29th voted unanimously to recommend that the

accompanying order be adopted pending presentation of the city collector's receipt of payment to the city clerk this is the same Mr Sanchez on um Shavon Street motion to adopt motion to adopt has in made and second it all in favor I any opposed motion carries committee on regulations at a meeting held on April 29th voted unanimously to recommend that the accompanying order be adopted as

amended this is an order repair shop um at 182 Stafford Road motion to adopt as amended motion to adopt as amended has been made and seconded all in favor I any opposed motion passes as amended Committee on Public Safety at a meeting held on April 29th voted unanimously to recommend that the accompanying resolution be granted leave to withdraw with councilor Deon absent and not voting this uh resolution

related to the fire station building Capital plan motion Grant to withdraw motion to Grant Lea to withdraw has been made and seconded all in favor I any opposed motion carries the Committee on Public Safety at a meeting held on April 29th voted unanimously to recommend that the accompanying resolution be granted leave to withdraw with councilor Deon absent and not voting this resolution related

to fire hydrant testing motion Grant leav to withdraw motion to Grant Le to draw has been made and seconded all in favor I any opposed motion carries Committee on Public Safety at a meeting held on April 29th voted unanimously to recommend that the accompanying resolution be granted leave to withdrawal with councilor Dion absent and not voting this resolution related to smoke and carbon monoxide detectors

motion Grant leave to withdraw motion to Grant leave to withdraw has remain in seconded all in favor I any opposed I'm opposed seat five opposed I just think that people have a right to know that smoke detectors now have to have carbon monoxide and they have to have um voice activated as well and if people don't know this and then when they go to sell a home there's a big problem with them

having to do that so there's got to be some way for the fire department to let people know that and I thought putting in this resolution would do that but I guess it was Grant leave to withdraw so with that I yield than you con three do you have a question yeah just real quick quickly um they actually do do that they are um when the when the fire department does

go in there when they sell every home and make sure that all those right but they only do that when they sell a home there's been no Public Announcement made to people that now this is what the state requires so you don't know until you go to sell a home and we have a lot of multifamilies you know in the city that if their voice activated and people could buy them now when you go to

replace one you would at least replace it with what the state requires now yeah I've had some people call about on but I'm pretty sure that um that that that that was covered there at the meeting yeah I'm pretty sure it was I and I'll go back maybe tomorrow with Lauren on the minutes and just read it and get back to your coun thanks I'd appreciate that does and just add it's um it's not

within the purview of the F dep it's the billing depart so that's one of the reasons we gave a leave to withdraw because it's the believe it or not cuz I thought it was a fire department as well and I must say the chief the new Chief did a wonderful job at that meeting yeah and um it's within the purview of the building department so that's again the language said fire and it's not fire but

Al but I'll follow up with you Council about that I'll get the minutes and I'll Al also even get to the building as well to talk to them thank you and I think Chief bacon is doing an awesome job I've done a great job working with him very thank Youk so motion motion to give lead to withdraw has been made and seconded all in favor I any opposed motion carries I'll go with it have a

miscellaneous traffic ordinance for Passage through second reading and enrollment motion to made second reading and enrollment motion has made second second motion second has been made to pass for second reading and enrollment has made and second it all in favor I any opposed motion carries whereas Emergency Medical Services is a vital public service and whereas the members of Emergency Medical

Services teams are ready to provide life-saving care to those in need 24 hours a day 7 days a week whereas access to Quality Emergency Care dramatically improves the survival and recovery rate of those who experience sudden illness or injury and whereas Emergency Medical Services has grown to fill a gap by providing important out of hospital care including preventative medicine follow-up care and access to Tele

medicine and where is the Emergency Medical Services System consists of First Responders emergency medical technicians paramedics emergency medical dispatchers firefighters police officers Educators administrators prehospital nurses emergency nurses emergency physicians trained members of the public and other out of Hospital medical care providers and whereas the members of Emergency Medical Services teams whether

career or volunteer engage in thousands of hours of specialized training in continuing education to enhance their life-saving skills and whereas it is appropriate to recognize the value and the accomplishments of Emergency Medical Services providers by designating the Emergency Medical Services week now therefore be it resolved that the city council does hereby proclaim the week of May 19th through May 24th 2024 as

Emergency Medical Services week and encourages the community to observe this week with appropriate programs ceremonies and activities motion to adopt second motion to adopt has remain seconded all in favor any opposed motion carries have the police chief's report on licenses motion to adopt second to adopt please Chief report has a made in seconded all in favor I any opposed motion cares have an application for the

renewal of an auto body shop license at 39 11th Street motion to adopt seconded motion to adopt made in seconded all in favor I any opposed motion carries item 27 is a request for the transfer of an auto repair shop license located at 753 Pleasant Street motion to adopt motion to adopt has made all in favor I any opposed motion carries I have an application for the renewal of an auto

repair shop license located at 1904 Bay Street motion to adopt motion to adopt as been made and seconded all in favor I any opposed motion carries item 29 is in order requesting that the city engineer prepare plans for the acceptance of Draper Street from Globe Mills Avenue to Atlantic Boulevard motion to refer the planning board motion refer to the planning board has been made is there a second second and

second it all in favor I I any opposed motion carries have a number of claims motion refer to Corporation councel motion refer to Corporation Council has been made is there a second second second all in favor I I opposed motion carries item 31 is a request on behalf of stepping stone um to place a banner at between 111 and 134 dery Street motion to approve to approve made in second all in favor any opposed motion

carries item 32 is a request on behalf of the full River Masonic Associates Incorporated for placement of a reflective road signs on Columbus Drive in Meridian Street motion to approve second to approve made and seconded all in favor I any opposed motion cares item 33 is the city Engineers request for Street opening on a street less than 5 years uh at Pine and purchase streets motion to

approve motion to approve has made and seconded all in favor I any opposed motion carries have a number of drain layers motion to approve second motion to approve the drain layers licenses has been made and seconded all in favor I any opposed motion carries 35a and B are minutes of the planning board from February 14th and March 13th motion to accept place on file motion to accept

the minutes in place on file has remain and seconded all in favor I I any opposed motion motion to take 36 and 37 together motion to take 36 and 37 have been made and seconded all in favor I I on any opposed motion carries no on item 36 and 37 is there a motion motion to approve both motion to approve has been made and seconded all in favor I read 36 we have minutes of the committee

on finance held on April 23rd and the regular meeting of the city council held on April 23rd to adopt motion to adopt second all in favor I any opposed motion carries aess we take a recess trff for for minutes sorry this just for an educational point so you don't take emotions

mam click we have the miscellaneous traffic ordinance for Passage through its final ordination motion so made second motion pass through ordination has been made seconded all in favor I I any opposed motion carries the committee on ordinances and legislation at a meeting held on May 14th voted unanimously to recommend the accompany proposed ordinance be passed through first reading this is a miscellaneous

traffic ordinance motion so made second motion have made and seconded all in favor I I any opposed motion carries committee on ordinances and legislation at a meeting held on May 14th voted unanimously to recommend that the accompanying proposed ordinance be passed through first reading this is the zoning map Amendment motion so made second motion made in second to passor First reading all in favor any opposed

motion Carries On and legislation at a meeting held on May 14th voted unanimously to recommend Council we're still in the meeting can you put that down please we're still taking vot ask me a question but it's okay we're almost we're almost done take care after the meeting please thank you I appreciate that Madam cler committee on ordinances and legislation at a meeting held on May

14th voted unanimously to recommend that the accompanying resolution be granted leave to withdraw this relates to commercial vehicle parking motion so made seconded motion has been made in seconded all in favor I any opposed motion CES that's all we have motion to adjourn motion to adour Second good night everybody has made second all in favor opposed I feel like I'm back to Middle School con motion CES good job

everybody good night good night hey hey hey hey hey hey

hey