6.2.2026 Fall River City Council

As far as the City Council meeting will now be called to order. Madam Clerk, roll call please. Councillor Skiddean? Here. Camara? Here. Canuel? Here. Dion? Here. Hart?

Here. Peckham? Pereira? Here. Raposo? - President Conte. - Here, pursuant to the open meeting law, any person may make an audio or video recording of this public meeting or may transmit the meeting through any medium. Attendees are therefore advised that such recordings or transmissions are being made, whether perceived or unperceived by those present, and they're deemed acknowledged

and permissible. First item on our agenda this evening is the public hearing and notice is hereby given in accordance with provisions of section 6-4A of the city charter that a public hearing will be called or held by the City Council on June 2nd, 2026 at 6:00 PM in the City Council Chamber here at Government Center to hear all persons interested and wishing to be heard on the fiscal year 2027

municipal budget. This proposed operating budget is available for the public inspection at the Fall River Public Library, the Main Branch and the Office of the City Clerk or the Fall River website at FallRiverMA.gov. That is the notice that has been read into the record. At this time it would be appropriate to open the public hearings. Motion made by Councillor Raposo, seconded by Councillor Kadim. All those in

favor? Opposed? The ayes have it. Calling all proponents wishing to speak on this item. Calling all proponents. Hearing none. Calling all opponents wishing to speak. First person to sign up under opponents is Colin Dyess, 560 Ray Street, Fall River.

Thank you, Council President. Just to be clear, is a three-minute timer for a public hearing as well? Yes. Okay. So, thank you, Collin Dyes, 560 Ray Street. I am here in my individual capacity as a member of the Fall River School Committee. And the reason I'm here today is just some... I have a question for this council and unfortunately I wasn't able to attend or watch the city council meeting yesterday so

I know very little of what was said by our school department but I do plan on watching it today however my question is this so the CFO let me actually go backwards so this school committee approved a budget in April we sent it over to the city in April mid-May the city sends down their budget and how is it that the CFO in the administration of this city can

just change the numbers of the school department of the school department budget both transportation and our operating budget in does not inform our own CFO, our superintendent, our deputy superintendent, our operations at the time that the budget was submitted. And I know that because that's what was told by them to members of this committee. If you're asking me, that's not collaborative government, that

is not good government, and that is not transparent government. So if I'm on this council, I'd be asking how is that appropriate to put together a budget and then change that department, the budget for that department, change their numbers going into a new fiscal year without even informing them as such. I think if I'm on this council, that's the question I'd be asking. I think as a council, I think

we need to be asking tougher questions to this administration. And this one end on one last point. I know I'm counselor Peckham and the council president are pushing to lower the taxes, the property taxes in the city. I want to commend them both for that effort and I hope other counselors join along and ask pertinent tough questions on this budget. Thank you. Thank you. Mr. Dias calling all other opponents wishing

to speak or be heard on this item calling all opponents. Hearing no further proponents or opponents, is there a motion to close the hearing? Motion has been made by Councilor Raposo, seconded by Councilor Peckham. All those in favor? Opposed? The ayes have it.

We'll be adjourning our public hearing and opening our Committee on Finance. Is there a motion? We need a motion to adjourn. You can. A motion to adjourn our public hearings has been made by Councilor Raposo, seconded by Councilor Canuel. All those in favor?

Opposed? The ayes have it. 605. 605?

605. There's four of a city council committee on finance will now be called to order at 605. Madam Clerk, roll call please. Councilor Skiddeen. Here.

Here pursuant to the open meeting Lauren a person make an audio or video recording of this public meeting or may transmit the meeting through any medium attendees are therefore advised such recordings or transmissions and be being made, whether perceived or unperceived by those present, and are deemed acknowledged and permissible. 605, or now it's 606, citizens input is the first item on our agenda this

evening. There's one person who signed up to speak. It is Andre Lopes of 64 Hunter Street, and the subject matter is this city. Three minutes, please. Good evening, counsel. Good evening. Good afternoon. My name's Andre Lopes, 64 Hunter Street. I have something written here. I'm very nervous, so excuse me.

Every time I watch one of these meetings, I leave with more questions than answers.

I know I ain't the only one. This ain't really for me, but it's the people sitting there. This is for the people sitting at home, the people watching on Facebook, the people paying the taxes and the bills. The people trying to keep their heads above water while City Hall keeps coming back asking for more money. More taxes,

more fees, more borrowing, more spending. Now it's another almost $30 million for Bishop Conley.

Maybe it's a good idea, maybe it ain't. But if you're asking taxpayers to pay another $29.8 million debt with another tax increase, answer the questions. How much is the building? How much are the renovations? How much more are we going to spend after we buy it? Because people are tired of being told to trust us. The truth is a lot of people won't trust Coogan and this administration anymore. Not because somebody

told them not to, because they've watched the decisions, they've watched the controversies, they've watched the explanations, and they keep walking away with more questions than answers. Every time Coogan makes a decision, Rumsey seems to be standing right on the side of him, telling everyone why it's fine. Maybe it is, maybe it isn't. Before a lot of residents

are sitting, it feels like Coogan makes a call and Rumsey explains why nobody should question it. And that's a problem. Let's be real. Every budget season, we hear the same thing. We don't do it for the money. It's not about the salaries. We don't get paid a lot to do this. Okay. then prove it, cut some salaries, cut some positions, trim some fat from City Hall. Because somehow there's always money for

another administrator, another position, another project, another loan. By all means, cut me off when my three minutes is done. But when taxpayers are hurting, suddenly everybody's hands are tied.

That don't make sense. Regular people cut back when the money gets tight, and even more when every year taxes go up. City Hall should too. And before hiring more people, maybe make sure that the people already collecting the paycheck are actually producing results.

Before adding positions, make sure the positions we already got are needed. And before asking taxpayers to pay for more officers, maybe deal with the concerns residents already have about accountability and public confidence. And it ain't just about money. People got questions about the warrant situation. People got questions about the investigations. People got questions about accountability. Because the

one government power... Excuse me. when government power gets used against citizens people aren't supposed to ask questions 15 seconds i'll end it with that thank you thank you councilman c6 council pegum andre i just want to say i follow you on facebook and i like your presence right i like people that get involved and come down and speak so i just wanted to say that thank you for coming down keep doing

what you're doing keep spreading your word on facebook and keep staying involved I appreciate it. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you very much. Next item on our agenda this evening is to continue our deliberations. Motion to lift the item from the table. The budget from the table has been made by Councillor Raposo, seconded by Councillor Kadim. All those in favor? Aye. Opposed? The ayes have it. Next item is going to be

the department's -- there was no carryover from the other night. So the next item in the next department is going to be public safety. We're going to begin with police. Please come down to the table, members of the administration and chief. The police department will begin on page 119, 120 in our budget books. Is Ms. Harpke here? She did. Okay, very good. As we await, if you can just please state your name and your

role for the record. JT Hoare, provisional chief of police for the police department. Sergeant Peter DeLuz, administrative assistant to the chief of police.

Interim city administrator. Thank you. Councilor in seat eight, councilor Raposo. Good evening. Good evening.

Welcome. Thank you. Just a few questions. Should be really, I think, quick questions. The officers that were sworn in first, congratulations to the new class. I was fortunate to be there. It was an excellent moment there. Are those new officers reflected in this book? Yes, they're carried in the budget. They're already in there. Correct. Okay, excellent. Five

are still remaining in field training and the rest have already been integrated into the patrol bureau. Okay, so the four vacancies that are currently in the 209 personnel are still vacant. Correct, so we have 13 that are in the process now and they're gonna be starting on June 22nd at the Plymouth Police Academy. I just met with our command staff and our hiring coordinator to determine a number Right now, we're

looking at eight more to be added to the 13. I'm looking at increasing that because we're projecting not as many retirements that we've had over the last few years, but I kind of want to get ahead of the curve because not only retirements affect us at the police officer level, but promotions. So, we have some terminal leave into retirement situations that are occurring. So, I will see, you know, some of the

officers that are on the sergeant's list potentially potentially up to six kind of move up to the next rank and it kind of goes up from there. So we want to prepare accordingly. And so that additional eight may turn into a larger number.

Chief, I can just ask you to hold on for a second. Ms. Arpachee, just introduce yourself for the record, please. Emily Arpachee, CFO. - Councilor, sorry about that. - No, no worries. So with that said, and the additional police coming on, when you look at the overall overtime situation, do you feel going forward that we're gonna see a reduction in that a little bit? It seems like there's a little bit of

that indicated already in this budget. What are your overall feelings on that? So I will say that collectively with both of the collective bargaining units within our agency that we're working on some measures for better overtime control. But inherently when you have a newer workforce in 2025 we hired almost 50 new police officers. With that comes obviously

inexperience, but also those that don't have as much vacation time. So you'll have more people at work. So inherently the backfill over time will go down. But we're looking at better control mechanisms as it relates to what creates overtime. And we're also in negotiations right now with the patrol union as well as the superior officers union. And

in those conversations I can't really speak to, but they're open for suggestions and willing to work with us. Awesome. If we can just go to the actual expenses for one second. The other professional services, which we'll find ourselves about the midway point of page 121. I think it's been a general question we've asked about as far as what other professional services are deemed as, but can you touch

on a little bit what that increase is proposed for? So we have money that's budgeted in there for potential promotional assessment centers. This past couple weeks ago, we did do an assessment center for the ranks of lieutenant and captain. We also have money budgeted for any type of outside investigations that we may need to contract for. Okay. And then a few lines down is other communications. Can you elaborate on

what other communications? So other communications is a line that we're kind of revising the contents of. It's really focusing on the flock technology, the cameras that you guys have helped invest in and the ones that we currently have. And we're looking at expanding our partnership with flock. So those will be reflected in that line. Okay. And then

just one more question. I thought it odd that we would cut the gasoline budget expense line item for the police department considering... We need that. So is there-- can we just, Emily, if we could explain why that may be the case? It's been historically budgeted at the $250 per year, and they haven't hit $250 a year ever. So it is still an increase from what they're actually looking at. This year,

we are on track for that $205. So the $230 is still an increase with the increased costs, but it's not-- necessarily going to need to be up to 250 for that. - Okay, so to the Chief I'll ask, with new officers coming on, do you envision more vehicles being on the road at this point? - So we're looking at some adjustments that we're gonna make in how we deploy our resources. I

think innovation doesn't always speak to buying something new, it speaks to how we can use the resources we currently have. It may result in maybe doubling up cars because we're reaching a point where manpower is reaching the ability to be able to do that. So I don't see an expansion of vehicles. I mean, we all know what the price of the pump is right now. Obviously, we have a contract price, so

we're monitoring it closely as it has been elevating over the last couple of months.

I was just speaking with Sergeant DeLuz on that, but I don't anticipate it. a huge increase in vehicles based on more personnel. I think what you'll see is the resources just being deployed a little differently. If we do expand, it would only be by less than a handful of vehicles. - Correct. And just, you mentioned that contract price for the gasoline. Has there been any changes with that with the current gas

prices that are going on? So it is always a changing price. So there's obviously some level of contracted rate, but it is a constantly changing rate. So across the board between police and also with DCM, the last rate that I was given was 270 a gallon for the regular gas. So it's definitely up from what it had been. I think the previous rate was closer to an average of like 250. So

the 270 is definitely an increase, but it's still, it's not what people see at the pumps in that sense. Understood. That's all I got. Thank you, gentlemen. Appreciate it.

Thank you. Thank you. Councilman C3, Councilman Canuel. Thank you. I have some questions. It looks like there's some money shifting with streetlights and the traffic signal replacements. I think streetlights, FY26 projected spend is $93,000, but we're back down to the budget 50 for that. But then when I head down, I don't know if they're related, but... the

line item for traffic signal replacements. We've spent $150,000 in FI25, $165,026, but we're only budgeting $30,027 for that. - So that's part of the movement with Chris Hathaway to DCM. We have the signal division that still exists in the police department, which has always been kind of an awkward part of our organizational chart

because he would manage the streetlights and signals. Those budgetary items are related to projects that chris had ongoing and we'll move with them to dcm so speaking specifically to the traffic signal replacements portion um there's only about 30 000 that's historically been in there for actual replacement parts more maintenance within those the rest of it is usually

a set intersection to be completely replaced so that's a much bigger cost what was kind of in here was even bigger than a normal one and we've been talking about it through the capital process. So that's why there isn't any actual intersections necessarily scheduled in this at this point in time. So that's the decrease in that. - Okay, I didn't think we put any of the reorg stuff into the budget. -

We didn't. So he was just saying that the person to really speak to all of that would be Chris. But in the sense of the replacements, that's not what's moving around. It's because of the So it's traffic signal replacements. So there's no whole replacement in this budget this year that there have been in the past years. This year it's just the parts, just due to what is needed right now at some

of these intersections that he has. Councillor, historically the replacements would be if there was a downed traffic signal by a car accident. And I know firsthand that Mr. Hathaway has done a great job with insurance claims and getting insurance companies to pay for those replacements. So as far as why it's budgeted, where it's at, it would be Mr. Hathaway, Doug could expand upon more on that. - Okay. My colleague

in CDE asked a couple of my questions around professional services and communications, but I do have a question on the communications lines and equipment. This is a $60,000 increase over what we've spent and budgeted for in FY26.

- So those are for the cameras that were paid for by ARPA? - Yeah, so there was a public safety committee meeting that we discussed legal dumping and the council moved to get us some funding for some extra cameras. That got us one year of a contract and now we have to assume that into our budget. So that's what that increases. - And that's related to the fog cameras on the other

communications line item? Yes, so there's a software service, but then there's actual cameras that also have like a I'm gonna say like a lease on them Correct. The cameras are not owned by us They're leased which has a benefit of if there's any issues with it But the communications lines and equipment would be for anything related to

the surveillance pole cameras which we discussed the other professional services is the line that we discussed around monies for external investigations, the promotional assessment center cost if we decide to do that again. And then there was some miscellaneous stuff related to some training tracker software that we're going to speak with MIS as far as moving that into

their containers in the future budget. But it's something we're assuming this year. Okay. Other purchase services, this line item is doubling to $29,745 from where we're at right now.

Just kind of wanted, again, a vague bucket, just a little more information. So that contains the car wash and decontamination annual services that we have for our vehicle fleet.

It also contains other items that, again, are going to be conversations that we have with MIS and how this is assumed in our budget or potentially theirs. It's related to the subscriptions for all traffic solutions, which is the sign boards that you see out there and the speed boards that we have. They're all cloud-based, so they collect

data, and there's a maintenance contract with that. So those -- that's reflected there. So I think that's where you see the increases. That's where those items have been assumed in the budget. We also have crash data retrieval software, so we've expanded our ability in our motor vehicle and enforcement unit to do more investigative things with crash reconstruction

and the ability to pull black box data from newer vehicles. And then there's a miscellaneous item in there around police identification cards. Inherently, we have to do identification cards for police officers when they get hired. And they're basically state configured. So there's a $1,200 amount in that line that is specifically for that. Okay. The council recently approved the capital

purchase for the replacement of the police guns. Part of that detail was that this would hopefully lead to a savings in ammunition costs. I was just wondering when those might be purchased and whether or not we will see any benefit of a savings in fiscal 27 or whether that will be beyond that. - So we just went ahead and finalized the ammunition purchase, but with the 40 caliber amount. So we're procuring,

we're getting the 40 caliber ammunition at that price. As I discussed in the last time we talked about this topic, it's about a 90 to $100 per case saving.

So we have qualifications coming up in October, which we're really hoping to have the new firearms ahead of the October, so that we can issue the new firearms and then start to use the different ammunition. We've already had interim conversations with the supplier and they're willing to give us a 90 to $100 credit per box. So it would be a one-to-one trade. I can't tell you how that looks as far as

savings 'cause it's all in the timing of if we get the guns before October.

If we don't get the new guns before October, then we'll be qualifying with the 40 calibers that we currently have. We can't delay that process because it's a timing mechanism with police certification and the in-service training requirements for the state. - Two more questions. Office furniture. In equipment, this line item is rising $13,000 over the last year, or this fiscal year, I should say. I just kind

of want to understand. It looks like we're investing heavily in office furniture. So we've got some really aging furniture in the building as far as chairs are concerned. So from administrative functions, whether it be in our record room, or administrative functions within the police officers that work inside the building chairs need to be replaced as well as

in the dispatch center so we have desks that need to be replaced as well so there's been some renovations that we've done through facilities but some of the replacement of the chairs and furniture is going to come out of this line and that's why it's reflected there my final question perhaps - Sergeant DeLuz can answer it. I think just as I was going through the stipends budget, your stipend is 16,472 and

I was just looking for information what that's related to. Is it in the performance of your duties or how that works? I didn't find anybody else with that type of stipend. - So that's something that goes back for several decades. It was a contractual agreement that the officer that serves as the executive assistant to the chief received

that stipend. thank you that concludes my questions thank you mike council thank you counselor and c7 council of perera question i have is on the six patrolmen that you are vacant now and you said that all the new hires Are you looking at many retirements? Are you looking at six retirements over the years? Because you said there's eight more going in. So I have about 15 people that are either

about five are looking at truly retiring. Okay. Ten are on some long-term leave, either looking at some type of retirement because of disability. And others are out. We still have some officers out from the shooting that occurred in February. So those will be If they come back, they'll be plus two our numbers. So that 15 block is

essentially a moving target a little bit, but truly I'm looking at five retirements within the next fiscal year. And how about dispatchers? Now you have 32 people in dispatch, but there are seven vacancies. Correct. In dispatch. Are you looking to hire those seven individuals? Are you looking at anybody leaving dispatch? So we had one resignation actually today.

We'll be doing a post on our Facebook page and a hiring sweep again to try to bolster our numbers there. The problem being is our capacity for training. We run into the same issue with police officers. So for many years, everyone's saying, "Well, just splash in and hire 30 officers at one time. Is that achievable?" Yes, but the issue is, is how do we train them? So our sweet spot for hiring

is anywhere from 10 to 15 officers at a time. With the amount of trainers we have for the dispatch center, obviously a whole different format and training in there.

I think the capacity we're looking at is three to four at one time when we're at full capacity. So to do the hiring, we would have to do two batches of four in order to do that. So I did have a conversation with the command staff today, and we'll be launching a hiring campaign this week. Another question or another statement that I'd like to make, I like the initiative where you said

we have more officers and the number of vehicles we have to put two officers in one vehicle. I think that makes a lot of sense because even if the police are responding to a domestic violence, you have to wait till you're ever until someone else arrives before you can even enter that home so i think having two offices together in a car is is a good thing that people will get a

quicker response i think you're absolutely right and i think because we've been working so long with less resources we're just used to running one-man vehicles so i think when we're reaching that point it's not only uh an awareness of it by making some data-driven decisions. So we had a meeting with our crime analyst. We're looking at certain

hotspots in the city that we can get away from the traditional sector-driven response model and looking at where citizens' problems are and then doubling up a cruiser in that area because then that gives us a little bit more flexibility. I remember being out to respond and having a police officer there where we had to wait for another

officer to come for everybody's safety. Correct. And I don't know if this question is pertinent to you or to Emily. When we do the civil service, we're in the process of doing civil service, if we go statewide or we go citywide, but if we go statewide, we have to pay $1,000 for each person who's taking the exam.

Does that come out of the police budget or out of the city's budget?

So in other words, if you want to do a test and you open it statewide and you get 50 people that applied, the city is on the hook for charging $1,000 apiece for people to take that exam. Is that correct? So I ran the Captain and Lieutenant Assessment Center for the Police Department. So as far as how that works is... The Civil Service Department of the State does not have the modality

to do that. So you have to do a delegated agreement with a third party company. On the fire side, they do have the ability to do assessment centers that are just like the written test, they proctor it. So when you do a third party company, the average cost for any candidate that takes an assessment center is about $1,000. So we had approximately 15 people that were involved in the captain and the

lieutenant's rank, so it cost us $15,000 out of our budget to cover that assessment center. So your math is correct. If you open it statewide and you set that standard, then it's $1,000 per person that signs up. You can charge, I believe, up to $250 per person that signs up for that test to kind of offset it, but you're still going to assume a $750 estimate. cost for each person that

takes and that would come out of your budget that's the decision what would it come out of the city's budget we've never had a chief of police assessment Center so I don't know where you would budget that from does anybody know we have not had that conversation as to where it would come from no because then if you go statewide and you have 50 people that's 50 grand or if people want

to pay $250, I know the proctor exam costs money. The other thing I'm looking at is the Harbormaster. I think they do a decent job, but I'm wondering to get more for the community, if you have more docks or wherever people can hook up, would that be the police department getting the money into the Harbormaster's budget? - So the Harbormaster stands alone on

the revenues that it achieves. So even though the Harbormaster is a police officer now because of police-- - The change in law. - Exactly. So Officer Oliveira does a great job out there. He's looking at increasing his civilian staff. Officer Katz is actually going to come back. He was going to retire, but he's coming back to help us out. So he might have a change and may stay, so we'll be able

to have two officers in there. I hope that he decides to do that. But with that said, the revenues and the budget is a separate entity from the police, so it doesn't come to us. So there's other funding outside of what you see in the general fund that fund the work within the Harbor Master that isn't reflected here. So there is additional funds that are being utilized. Well, like pump-outs and things

like that that people pay for, that funding should go back to the harbormaster. It does in a different fund is what's happening. So that's why you don't see it operating in the general fund in that sense. I'd like to see if that increased or decreased. If you could just get that information from me. I'm just curious to see if it increased or decreased. And I think the harbormaster does a great job.

And Paulie Silver, who's out there too, helping all the time. Really, they work so well together. But I think like, you know, putting a raft out for people to be able to get a kayak into the pond or whatever. Those are services for our community. And I don't know where that money would come from other than money that they generate. - So there is an anticipated expansion of the mooring field. I

know that we just reviewed that with the RDA a few months ago. So there is expansion going on out there with the ability for us. - I talk to them every year about that. - I bet you do. - We'll see. And let me ask you this. I think basically for the public to know. How much do we have in grants this year that have come in or federal grants that we're

using? I don't know if Chief Hoare or Mr. DeLue, if anybody could respond to that. So we have several different grants that come in and outside funding. One of the ones that we're really striving to take advantage of is a hiring or intention grant that came from the federal government through COPS. $2.375 million, that's an expansion grant.

Similar terms as like the safer grant where you can grow. - The bio grant.

- Depending if there's a collective bargaining agreement adjustment that occurs, we could fund potentially 18 to 19 more positions with that on top of what's budgeted here. I spoke at the graduation ceremony of the swearing in that we could potentially reach numbers that we haven't seen since 2009. That's the nitro booster right there is if we can reach that number by getting these 13 and 8 in, then we would be able

to start moving in the direction to start hitting that federal grant money. Thank you.

What do we have now? 181, 187? So total police officers is 218. 218 now?

Correct. 218 sworn. That's being paid out of the budget. We're funded at 224. When we get these 13 and 8, we'll probably be in the 230 range. Ideally, I'd like to be... When we can get things really going in a great direction is when we're getting the 240, 250 range. That's when we start to get a lot more flexibility. You're going to see two, three, four man, four two-man cars, and we

can start to really do a lot more creative things. Well, I think the interdepartmental conversation now is a plus. Yes. Where people are sharing information with one another. I see good things happening there. But thank you very much for your hard work and to the men and women in your department. Thank you. With that, I yield, Mr.

President. Thank you, Councillor. Councilman Seat 1, Councillor Gadeen. Thank you, Mr. President. Just several questions. So the first question I have is buyouts. You mentioned that there are five retirements. Correct. So, I guess to either you or to the CFO, why didn't we budget the employee buyback? So, the employee buyouts. I mean, sorry, buyouts. We historically haven't been in this department. We've only

been doing that employee buyout budgeting within FIRE. My understanding and reviewing the actuals is because of the staffing levels. And then the way the turnover is taking place there really hasn't been a need there's been enough vacancy savings within the department to cover it I know we're now talking about I'm gonna say not being in that range anymore But to be honest with you because we don't fully

know yet I think the plan is to get through this year see what that really looks like for the police department and then Most likely in FY 28 moving forward if if we are able to maintain the staffing we'll start budgeting for it But it's it's such an unknown um amount that we'd really need at this point i recognize that but he he's he's got the five employees that he anticipates are

going to be retiring so you would be able to pull that out so you you're telling me the 560 566 000 that you did in fy 25 and then the 477 000 that was projected you covered all that within the salaries correct That's how it's been. I know right now the projection is a little bit off, but some of the overtime is also off with the storm, so it's not quite reflecting

the same way at this point in time. And then some of the projections, you know, I'm not, obviously we're not 100% sure if any of the overtime is going to change, but historically looking back, there's not only been enough to cover, but there's still been turn back within their salaries each year. So that's been kind of the basis. And again, I know that we're talking about that changing, but because it's not...

We don't know exactly what that'll look like and so to just make a decision to start budgeting for it for an amount that we may not actually need felt unwise at this point. We also do have that reserve set up still for the employee benefits that would be able to be tapped into if we are running short.

So I guess where are we with vacancies this year? It seems like we're pretty caught up, right, on the vacancies. So around, I think the total number right now is six. One of them is not reflected in this budget because we just had a promotion a couple weeks ago. So six, but then obviously the expansion will happen with the five that are retiring and then the ability to start using that COPS

grant. The other part of it too is when somebody retires, they're usually being then filled at a much lower level between either new ranking officers coming in or even just filling in a patrolman that's at a higher year as a service to a new one. So there ends up being, even if there's not necessarily a vacancy savings, there's that turnover savings that kind of naturally also happens. So between all of those

things, it ends up covering more than you would expect it to. Mr. Kadeem, just so for your edification, I'm aware of that and I'm interested in like what the cost is like when someone retires. So I understand the salaries line has absorbed it, but obviously looking at superannuation and what benefits they're entitled to, I want to build out something so that we can see and engage that. I think there's some mechanisms

in place through the last collective bargaining agreement where comp time is capped at 480.

That's something that is in there. So as far as That being budgeted, we've got a ceiling on that. I know that's been the unfunded liability conversation has been a big one over the last decade, but that's kind of sealed. The average amount of cashable comp time that an employee has in our building right now is about 100 hours. So the biggest buyout that they have is based on their vacation time.

Right. And I recognize that. I just feel like we're no longer in the, I guess, the levels where we have the number of vacancies that we've had, right? So I think you're actually increasing, right? More so and so. I know you're not necessarily at full capacity. It's almost impossible to get to full capacity. But you budget at 224, you're at 218, you're looking to get potentially to 230, 240. I just, from

my standpoint, I'd like to know what the buyout portion is. I mean... We're just relying on a lot of turnbacks that are coming in through the salaries. And then if it's not there, we're coming back and we're just looking for transfers either from somewhere else or free cash. So I just think when you're looking at an operating budget, if you know you've got a cost associated with retirement buyouts, you've got

to buy them out. Why would we budget it? And I hear what you're saying in terms of, you know, you've got to balance the budget, but then at that point, we've got to find from some other line item, right? I mean, because my thing is, logic would tell you that if you're not filling the positions, we've got retirements coming in, then that means there's more overtime, right? So you've got the buyouts,

you've got the overtime that's coming in, so there's more costs associated with it. So I'm just, from my standpoint, I mean, I know I can't change it, but I'd like to see it. We know we had $566,000 last year, $477,000 projected this year.

You know, it's just kind of truth in advertisement in terms of what we're looking at. And, you know, when the general public... goes and looks at this budget, we should be able to show that there's retirements. We know that there are retirements. I'll just move on. So in terms of the body cameras, the contract that we currently have, is that rolling off? No, it's still valid. I believe we have another year

and a half left on that. So that would be a topic for the next budget. Okay. And then I know there's a lot of communities that are currently dealing with IMC. kind of going end of life. Are we looking at replacing that system? - So part of the capital improvement plan, it was in that capital improvement plan in fiscal '28 to start to embark on that. We have been looking at

the successor to IMC, which Central Square, purpose as being is data migration. I've been in touch with several agencies that have made the jump to it. There's only a couple that are using it. They like it. Obviously it has a lot more features.

But we've ran into this problem before with IMC where they say end of life, end of life, and they try to position their customers to move, and they don't move, so then they keep extending it. But we have it in our capital improvement plan, and we're already in conversations with them over the last two years. Perfect. The Bulletproof Vest line, is that just to offset the – grant that's coming in so

you don't run deficits with the the grant or what's the 10 000. so if you notice in last year we did start to zero it out because it is typically fully covered um there was some additional amounts that are being requested for yes uh council good in regards to that line um the grant allows us to recoup uh the vest per officer every five years. There are occasions where something occurs

where an officer is otherwise ineligible to be reimbursed. So that $10,000 allows us in those particular cases where we can't get reimbursement from the grants, where we have something to draw from to make a purchase for that officer. Perfect. And then my final question is, about a quarter of the way down the work is compensation. Can you just explain that? Is that work is

comp? Is that 111F? That's question one. Question two, if it is work is comp or even 111F, why is it not captured with the under insurance and other where we have the work is comp line item for $365,000? So on the sheet I have here for workers' compensation, it breaks out for a couple of other costs associated with that, which is drug testing, psychological

exams, IOD medical claims, and then we have a medical claim services contract with Guardian, and then it's our FSA employee assistance program with FSA that's in that line as well. So it's a little misleading in terms of the title. Yeah, probably. Yep. Okay. We can add that to the list of things to retitle. And then you don't, so what you have in terms of for the insurance

line item for workers' comp, that doesn't include any of the 111F stuff for police or fire? I guess I'm looking for that. I taught you, Emily. Okay. Yeah, but I am -- you're saying in the base wages or you're talking about the -- so the wages are, I think, still captured within the wages at that point. This is for the actual costs of the medical expenses. Yeah, so you don't -- there

are other expenses for workers' comp, too. So what's in the insurance? You've got to split out. You mean in the back of the book. So it's for the non-insurance?

Police department ones those are the workers comp is more about the legal fees the actual processing of some of those payments for the general government employees and the school department employees outside of obviously police and fire and But those are more for the actual-- No, no, I recognize that. So you're capturing all the workers comp for the

rest of the departments in a specific general insurance and other category. And I'm asking, we've got 111F, some workers comp, both in police and fire. Why wouldn't that be consolidated in that other account? I mean, this is the way it's always been broken out. We can obviously move it over. It's really just a reallocation of it, though.

It's still the same services, whether it's broken out between them or not, but we can look at that. Right. I guess who's managing the 111Fs? Will that not be coming from HR? Is HR or the law department not dealing with workers' comp and 111F? You folks are? You're talking about paying the bills? No, just managing. If an officer goes out— The department head for each agency manages it. Noted. - Thank

you. - With that, I yield. - Thank you, Councilor Insight. To Councilor Camara. - Thank you. Much of what I was interested in has already been said, but I do have one question, Chief. I know you talk about doing different things and initiatives.

We had the library person in front of us last week, and I mentioned substation.

any possible chances that there could be anything going on with the substation in that general area if not the four-row public library or nearby? Is that something that you would -- So I spoke to some business owners on South Main Street as well because obviously we've had some issues down there and, you know, they want some more presence. It would be a great idea to have two. I'm up for any of

those ideas. We'd have to look at how we're gonna staff that model and how we do it. I know there's other agencies in the area that have it and then it's the presence of it and then engaging our officers to do it. But I think it's a good idea just from the presence of it being there and giving our officers another place maybe to stop and do a report or use the

facilities there, what have you. - Yeah, no, I agree. I think in areas like the South End where there's been some trouble areas and for Library of the North End, I think it would be a great idea A couple ideas I've been throwing out with our rank and file too is we're going to start having some roll calls in some of the city parks and have the officers meet in a park

and we'll just do our roll calls out there and then deploy from there just to kind of change it up and give a different look. Visibility is huge in police protection. 100%. Yeah, I think you're doing a great job since you've been there and good luck to you and your crew and I know you guys do a wonderful job. Thank you. With that I yield. Thank you. Thank you, Councillor. In seat

six, Councillor Peck. Good evening. Good evening. I'm going to echo my concerns with the employee buyouts. I do have this. It was an original question of mine, so I do have concerns when Councilor Kadim walking beats. What are we doing with that? I know there's been some discussion. So there's some line item that has... for additional walking

and then kind of change the model and speak with our command staff on what realistically we can do to build it into an officer shift potentially where a couple of hours is dedicated to getting out of the cruiser, putting themselves out on a short-term mission. Code 20 and go out there and walk around and make some engagements.

I think that's a huge thing, especially I think you saw in our swearing-in ceremony.

We have a lot of people that were not born in Fall River that are now living here. So I think it's huge for them to get out there and understand the heritage and the community of Fall River. So we're looking at some of those innovative ideas to kind of change it up a little. Okay. Yeah, I appreciate that, Chief. Thank you. - That's all I have. I had an overtime question, but

councilor Raposo would ask this. So I appreciate you guys. Thank you. - Thank you, councilor C5, councilor Hart. - Thank you, Mr. President. Good evening. Chief, I was gonna comment on the walking beats. Is six budgeted right now? - So that's, you're talking about walking beats through the CDA. So those walking beats are basically what we call

our neighborhood engagement enforcement team. So they were the traditional walking beats through CDA. They go out and do their thing based on their their roles and responsibilities I'm looking at expanding that because I think the patrol bureau that's the boots on the ground 24/7 365 So it's not just a neat team issue. I think it's a police department issue So if we can get out there and be more visible not just

with driving by with cars But getting out and walking and talking that's something that I'm a big proponent of. Yeah, no question about it I think that's a major part integral part of what you guys do as far and as far as getting into the neighborhoods, it's it's key, you know, going into, I know you guys attend the neighborhood meetings. Yes. But I think as well with the, with the, with the

walking beats, I think by, you know, going into areas that you normally don't go, I think that's something, and that's what I would, what I would like to see was maybe have more walking beats. And also too, there was, it was mentioned about the, the harbormaster and, and, You know, and I know you have a plan ready and you're working on it. But the increase in the waterfront coming with the harbormaster,

you said that you're looking to hire more people or he is looking to hire more people. We're going to need to hire a lot of people for the harbormaster and the chief of fire as well to do that. And I think having walked the walking beat down there, is there like a major plan? You've got something to plan, but what do you foresee down there? well it's just breaking down the way

it's always been and how the thought process is is that we're just stuck in the same lane so encouraging our command staff to think outside of the box and come up with innovative ways to use the resources we already have so um you know sometimes we just get into the function of you know counselor peckham knows he worked in our building there's 12 sectors and they get driven to the sectors, we

can break down those walls and just say, "All right, the area we want to focus on is down on the waterfront, spin through." And that's kind of what we've been doing with some of these hotspots is it goes on the clipboard, if you will, and we say, "Listen, it doesn't matter if you're working in the north end or the south end, everybody's going to pass by this area and take a look

at what's going on because you never know when you might be working in the sector that patrols that area." So it's a familiarity with the city, first and foremost, but also the engagement with the community. I'm a big proponent of that, especially like I spoke as a lot of new officers here that are eager, but they just don't know much about forever because they haven't been here for long. So in order

to do that, they have to get out into the community both personally and professionally.

And I see in the budget as well the Quinn pay. And I know I've mentioned this before but back when we first started on the council We got together with me a lamb and a few other police officers about the Quinn bill. They implemented it 10% for associates 20 for bachelors 25 for masters correct And it's obviously from the state. It's been slashed. Yes. It's no longer like 50/50 What does it

look like now? I see what it's budgeted here, but that looks pretty low. So that's just somebody that's still getting a semi-annual Quinn payment. So Quinn is obviously, we've had the wake and the funeral for Quinn. I think a lot of the agencies in Massachusetts have moved towards an education incentive and kind of broadened the thing. So we're in talks with the unions on how we can do certain things to also

innovate how we we pay that incentive and build it into some type of retention piece too. So we don't want to give the bank away right up in front.

Like if you stay with us, then there's steps to that. These are things that we're actively discussing in negotiations. - All right, that's fine. And that's gotta be bargained with the-- - 100%. - Okay. All right, that's pretty much all I have right now. But I do like the idea of what you just said as well, the roll calls in the parks. I think that would be very, you know, something very

good. - Yeah, why not? - And I appreciate what you're doing. So far, so good. Off to a right step and keep it up. - Thank you. - All right, thank you. I yield. - Thank you, Councillor. And seat seven, Councillor Pereira. - Just one thing I wanna ask about the details. Some of the officers will work a detail, some won't, some have to be forced in. What work is being done

on that? - We have a sergeant that's full-time that oversees it. That's something we implemented several months ago. It's a voluntary basis thing. So we have competing interests. There's a lot of infrastructure work going on both from the city as well as from the Liberty Utilities National Grid. I think the citizens can tell. I know, I'm frustrated.

It's almost like every street in the city is opened up on a daily basis.

So there are certain days there are more guys available to work than not, but it's a voluntary basis thing. So I know I've been working with Mr. Aguiar from the planning department department around the work on Columbia Street, making sure that's properly staffed.

But from a collective bargaining agreement and policy standpoint, I can't force somebody to work details. I think there's some things in place with where we may be going with our collective bargaining and how we schedule our resources and our officers and patrol bureau that would get more officers available to work details. But let me ask you, for

officers who've retired, if you've gone through your list of volunteers of officers, but there's still details, what is the age criteria for officers who've retired? So they age out at 70 because of the home rule petition that we did back in 2020 when we went through 2021 when police reform went into effect. So I've had several conversations

with some retirees that are over 70 that are interpreting the law in a different way. The Post Commission actually had a hearing a few weeks ago where they dedicated some time to speak on it. The only way around allowing someone to work beyond the age of 70 with police powers, meaning carrying a gun and being presented as a police officer, is if they maintain their certification. But after 70, the officers based

on a home rule petition don't. So in order for them to be able to work details, They would have to be kind of like a community service officer that doesn't carry a gun, that doesn't have police powers, but that's a collective bargaining issue.

So the patrol union would have to negotiate almost a tier for those type of people. And then from an administration standpoint, I need a policy that governs that. Just wondered I know some that are over 70 that have said I could still do it and I'm sure that they could but sure and the other thing when you're talking about innovation and things that You're doing at the police department. I know we

have bike patrols but these e-bikes and mopeds We've got to get a handle on that and I don't know what other communities are doing or what? initiatives your department would come up with and So we're working on expanding our partnership with the flock technology, which will help us with being able to identify certain vehicles, whether it be a moped or a car or a person. So I think that type of surveillance

will help. Chasing these individuals around is high risk. It puts the city at high risk. It puts our officers at risk. As far as our own bike patrols, we have several more e-bikes of our own on order. We have several officers that are signed up to get the actual training associated with operating a police bicycle and the laws associated with it. I also think you see the governor taking a stance on

the e-bikes because you're seeing young children that get these e-bikes and modify them and take the governor off, and it goes faster than some of the mopeds that have an actual gasoline engine. So it's a problem we're aware of, and we'll look at the data to drive where we're seeing this happen. But again, I'm not gonna endorse chasing them around 'cause we're gonna end up with some type of tragedy. I think

it's more so from a surveillance standpoint and then doing our best to do the traffic enforcement associated with it. - I know that there was some on the purchases of e-bikes for some of the police officers which, which is good, but if they're out there, they see what's going on and may have some suggestions. So I think that that's good that we look to the entire department to come up with what

are you seeing, what do you think will work? I think working collaboratively with your entire force is beneficial. And it makes everybody feel like they're important and they're part of solving problems. But those are the two things that I wanted to check on.

With that, I yield. Thank you. Thank you, Councillor. Thank you. Councillor Cadeen. Thank you, Mr. President. So some of the responses I get are unbelievable. I can actually hear my brain rebooting, so I forget to actually finish up my questioning. So I'm going to go back to the final question that I had. You had talked about staffing 218 to 224 and then potentially 230 to 240 or 250. Have we had a

conversation, and I mean we, the administration and the police department in terms of what that staffing looks like, is it sustainable moving forward? What's the plan over a five-year period to get to I guess whatever number we're saying? I know you said you're saying we can do a lot of a lot of things with the 240 and 250 I'm just trying to figure out what that really looks like in the budget

So my goal is to get to that that cops grant and that cops grant the money And speaking with sergeant DeLuz and looking at the grant ourselves We already got an extension on that So we haven't used it. It was a three year period. So we only have about two years left. My goal is it's hard to ask for an extension if you're not even using it yet. So we're putting the

pedal to the metal to get there and then we can reach out to get that extended. And that kind of works to your point, like the safer grant. It's gonna get us the jumpstart, but how do we absorb that in the budget? I've spoken with Emily and the mayor and the city administrator regarding that. We just have to create that problem first. We're not there yet. We keep getting almost there and

we drop down and it's been happening for the last two years. But I'm pretty confident within this fiscal year we'll be able to start tapping into it. - Well, and I think you'll always be there, right? Where you get budgeted but you never really kind of get to the full complement 'cause of that. - Correct. - I just want to make sure that we're looking at it and it fits into the

budget, that's all. So I just want to go back to the 111F and the workers' comp. Do we have a company, whether it's Gowery Group for 111F or Mega for workers' comp, we don't have a company that actually does that? We use Guardian for 111F. So you use Guardian. Guardian Services does all the... The workers' comp we do internally. Okay. So we don't have... So we have... So how many folks do

you have on 111F? Right now, I believe three. I guess I'll ask the fire department when they come down. I just... I guess I'm shocked that police and fire are doing 111F. I mean, if it's not a full-time job, it's a part-time job.

I know you've got Guardian or whatever company, but if you're not staying on top of them, you could have, when we start talking about staffing levels, you could have...

folks out on injury for years, right? Not following up with the, whatever the third party vendor is to make sure that the medical exams are coming in or if we're filing disability retirement or anything like that that's tying up real positions. So I guess I'm a little confused why police and fire are handling that and not either human resources or the law department. That to me is the biggest thing. So I

can only answer to what we've done as an agency for the police department. Sergeant DeLuz played a huge part in this because he recognized that gap and it's a full-time job in doing all the claims and what's eligible, what's not eligible, the pricing.

For the entire time that I can look back, the police department was always involved in doing that. With Guardian now, it's a much cleaner process, 'cause we had complaints from our officers, like, "Hey, I got hurt on the job. "I went to the doctor, they need a claim number." That's all streamlined now, and we worked with the patrol union. It's something that we kind of have a side agreement right now. Obviously,

we have unlimited sick time, but there's parameters to that and we're very stringent on it. So over the last year, we've moved to superannuate people if they would've been hanging around, 'cause for a while it was abused. They were out for long term.

Right now, I can tell you it's a very short list and that we don't have exorbitant amount of long-term people and we have fitness for duties that are happening at a three-month mark once that they're I appreciate this and it's not it's not targeted to you I'm just talking from an administrative standpoint it I don't know why,

there should be a liaison, somebody that's responsible for that, but overseeing it with either somebody from a law department or from HR, because the amount of time, like you folks, I'm sure there are better things for you folks to be doing, right? So then you get into the legalities of things, and it's a human resource standpoint, and again, like I said, I know you got a third-party vendor that's coming in, but

you also need to stay on top of that, and just the paperwork, the follow-up, filing for, you know, disability retirement, involuntary disability retirement, if that's the route you need to go, I mean, that's all time consuming. I mean, I've seen the reports. I've had to sign off the reports. I mean, some of those reports are hundreds of

pages for one individual, right? And one individual can take you anywhere from, you know, 40 to 60 hours a week just to get a follow-up to make sure that they're going for medical examinations or following up with a physician or reading what the physician is putting down. So I don't quite understand why You've got staff handling this stuff, but we can talk about when the fire comes down. I don't know. From

my standpoint, from a financial standpoint, I think it should be captured in one location, and the duties need to be, in my opinion, not that I've got any control or say of how it's handled, should really be reevaluated. So with that, I yield.

Thank you. Councilman C2, Councilman Kamara. Thank you, Mr. President. I forgot to ask a question about the Hobbymaster project. And I know he's looking to hire more people. Does that have to be a police officer for that position? Is that something that- Because we looked into this numerous times, and most communities have moved to having it be

falling under the law enforcement branch of their government because of the police powers that come with it. I'm okay with that. I'm just curious, because someone was asking me if it's a state law or is it not a state law? So this is the product of the legislation that was pushed across the finish line for police reform, and anything with police powers that is carrying a firearm there are certain communities that

have animal control officers that carry firearms for the purposes of euthanasia for a disabled animal depending on what they're using it for and what type of powers they have in ordinance if there's police powers associated with it you have to go through police certification so In years past, Harbormasters went to like a reserve police academy, and then,

because we had police powers, and Ora was a retired police officer. Here, it's considered an active police position because they can't- It was or was not? It was. So in the past, it was just kind of, I guess you could say- Taboo they didn't really talk about it like all right you went to a reserve police academy Most of them were not police correct the only time I can tell you that

it always was a sore point for our agency because I was heavily involved in the accreditation process so when you have a forward-facing person in a uniform that falls on your organizational chart that carries guns in a cuff and It looks like a cop, talks like a cop, it's a cop, it needs to go through police training.

And that's why it became, we were ahead of the curve when we were going in that route. But yeah, a lot of communities are still scurrying to try to figure out that anomaly. So it's not a state law, but most... Depending on if the ordinance gives that harbor master police powers. So it's locally that it's... Correct. Okay.

Roland Prew. and things like that collecting fees and those don't have to be Those don't have to be no, but they wouldn't be able to write citations or anything like that getting back to the grant that we haven't taken advantage of how big is that grant how many plus so it's about 2.1 million dollars So you would divide that by how much the collective bargaining agreement is for that position?

So the math right now is about 19 positions. Yeah, yeah up for three years so we're up in 2028 is it yeah 2028 is when that would have been done um so we got the approval to to continue to use it even though we didn't get it in on the first year we had it so only have two years left of that money my intention is once we can start to use

it then I can I can argue a case that can you give us till 30. so how many people how many police officers would you be able to hire with the ticket ranges that grant did you say 19 19. okay and then we just have to find years from now when the grant runs out. - Well that's I think what Mr. King's point is, you can jump start but then you gotta

be able to absorb it. - I think our initial conversations have been that once we get to that threshold, we're not gonna just jump it in higher, 18 or 19. We would start in a way that is sustainable and make sure that, you know, like he said we've been i mean we had a conversation a big sit down on this a year ago yeah i mean to my conscious point we haven't

gotten there so yeah so we we've been trying to plan but without it coming to fruition that plan just keeps needing to be adjusted so we've kind of just stayed in communication and once we're able to move forward we'll we'll start taking it you know steps at a time and make sure that we're doing in a sustainable way i think that's i want to say what's the number one priority you know

for all of us at this point is that we're not hiring people just to lay them off i agree and to the point of security if you do quick math i have six vacancies right now with five retirements pending in the next few months so i'm gonna have 11 vacancies so that 13 iron in june is a drop in the bucket yeah that's good with that thank you thank you and just

for everybody's edification 111 f is the heart bill so if a i'm not sure if a lot of people know what What did you say, 111F? That's the heart bill, correct? No, injured on duty. Injured on duty. Separate? It's 111F. If a police officer or firefighter gets injured on duty, it's called 111F. If somebody who is not in public safety gets injured, it's work as comp. Got it. I'm sorry. A lot

of people don't know what that is. I apologize. It's not a heart attack. It's not a heart attack. Thank you. Anything further on police council in seat seven council?

I'm just a little confused. Miss Apke just gave a whole dissertation about what's going to happen when we get this grant. But I'd like to hear from Miss O'Neill.

Has this been discussed? And is there a decision that they're going to hire less or hire more? Because depending on if you have people that are retiring, you could absorb more. I mean, I'm gonna say with myself, i've not been very involved since march with this i'm going to imagine that um the former chief and uh deputy chief or well acting chief or no excuse me and emily have had those conversations

but yeah i mean it has you haven't had any okay not since with that i yield thank you thank you hearing nothing further on police and harbor masters no questions on the harbor master because it's essentially in that department correct all right thank you very much thank you for being here thank you for your work chief uh next fire fire fire

- Begins on page 131 of your budget books. - Thanks, Mr. DeLuz. Nice seeing you. - Chief, introduce yourself for the record, please. - Jeffrey Bacon, Chief of Fire. - Barrett Castro, Executive Assistant to the Chief. - Counselor in seat three, Counselor Cagnuol. - Thank you. First question is around overtime.

Looks like we were around $2 million this year in overtime. I think that was driven up, I think, right after the first of the fiscal year, I believe, when you added some staffing. Is that correct? Yeah, so after the Gabriel House fire, three weeks into the fiscal year, we increased our staffing by three daily, which drove that.

And it was all done with overtime. Still, a lot of it is being absorbed by overtime. So that's why that's an outlier number. When we look down to where we are coming up for the next fiscal year, we're looking at about a million, which is still about $400,000 higher than what we were originally anticipating for last year.

So just looking to get an understanding, is that continued kind of residual from that?

Do you remember when the governor came down and announced that they were giving us money? That was an early payment on the MPSS, the Massachusetts Public Safety and Staffing Grant that we receive every year. They gave that to us in October, and that should have been for January 26th to December of 26th. We had spent it all before January 1. - So we didn't get any extra money from the governor? -

No. - It wasn't extra money. It was this year's money early. So because of that, we needed to budget significantly more overtime to cover for that grant that we've already expended. MOVING OVER TO EXPENSES, PREVENTIVE MAINTENANCE. THE REVISED BUDGET FOR FY26 IS 7,000. DOESN'T LOOK LIKE WE'VE SPENT ANYTHING IN THIS CATEGORY. WE ARE LOOKING TO INCREASE THAT TO 14,000 IN THIS UPCOMING BUDGET. AND IT'S KIND OF

PREVENTIVE MAINTENANCE OBVIOUSLY SOUNDS REALLY GOOD AS A GOOD THING TO DO. IF YOU LOOK AT PREVENTATIVE MAINTENANCE AND OTHER PROFESSIONAL SERVICES, BECAUSE I KNOW THAT'S THE - That's the other one that we're focusing in on. Those are both related to the Keltron system, which is the Wi-Fi mesh system that connects commercial properties with what we

call box alarms to our dispatch center. And those two line items to pay for an annual service contract to maintain the system and to pay for parts. So what Emily did this year where she rolled them into based on what we've spent you'll see that the other professional services isn't budgeted and But the preventative maintenance went up to 14,000. So that's going to be 7,000 for the service contract. And

based on what we've spent in the last few years on parts for those repairs, the 7,000 is what we were comfortable putting in there. And it neatly puts it all into one line item instead of having that other professional services that's kind of like, what is it? It's a catch-all. So we eliminate that. Okay. moving down to parts and accessories and line under firefighting supplies um the parts and accessories

up fifty thousand dollars from where we're spending this year and the firefighting supplies also up notably uh thirty thousand just looking for understanding on those increases absolutely so parts and accessories is um for our trucks um i would anticipate actually we may need more than that this year right as our fleet ages They become more expensive to repair. Yeah, and we just found

out that we have an engine that needs replacing on one of our apparatus. So we know that that's probably going to be more. The 375 gives us a little more cushion than what we had this year. And then the firefighting supplies is equipment.

We're looking at our thermal imagers that we bring into fires to locate the fire, to locate victims. Look at Jerome. A drone? No, a thermal imager.

So it's essentially the camera that just detects heat differences. So those are aging. And so we want to be able to purchase some new technology in that. That's why we increased that line. Dudes and Memberships was going up notably, I think, When we look at the revised budget for fiscal 26 it was only $5,900 but we spent $20,000 this year and we're also

asking now almost $26,000. That was a subscription that was in the dues and memberships line but should have been in the subscription line for PS tracks it's called. Okay. I think just generally I was looking to understand I think last year we had applied for a safer grant and were denied and I think we have Five positions we're looking to fill in this year's budget and I just

kind of wanted to understand You know what was the city going to go again for the safer grant to try and get this, you know? get that program to absorb the cost and alleviate the burden on residents and Yeah, so last year we applied for five positions through Safer and FEMA came and met with us six months ago or so, and explained to us that the reason we weren't selected for

SAFER was because we only put in for five positions. So the goal of SAFER is to increase your compliance on NFPA 1710, which is your department's ability to assemble an effective firefighting force for different occupancy types in certain amounts of times. It creates benchmarks. So when we looked at it, when we applied for, when we hire five people, all that does is it gives me one person per shift,

and that will not increase that NFPA 1710. It does not give me, it doesn't help me go from 17 to 25 on a fire scene, right? It gets me 17 to 18. So it doesn't move that needle enough for FEMA to justify giving us the grant. And so in our discussion, we had a meeting two weeks ago, for this year's Safer Grant, which is open now. And really, for me to be

comfortable putting in for Safer, we would need to put in for 20 positions. That's the number that I believe that we would need to get that positive impact and to be moved along the process and be awarded the grant. So similar to what we just heard with the police department and their grant. Correct. I don't know about their grant, but Safer comes with a 25-25-65 match, and it locks you into that

number for three years. And I genuinely am happy with the way things are going.

We've added 15 positions. We've added three daily manpower positions in the last year. And I think we're doing it sustainably, and I think we're doing it responsibly. And I am leaning towards continuing that process. Once we get staffed to 199 we'll be able to add one more to our daily manpower and that's something that we can look down the line and say we can continue to be staffed at 199 the truth

is for us when you look back at the history of the Fall River Fire Department We've hired vast number of firefighters on safer grants and when they've run out we've been forced to lay people off and I don't want to get into that I got I I've got six years left and I want to leave the department in a sustainable, better position than when I found it. So we haven't been at

200 since 2009. I'll probably beg to get to 200 sometime in the next year or two so that we can get to that. That's a big benchmark for us.

And I just am more comfortable moving in the direction this way rather than hiring 30 and then who knows what it looks like a year or two from now if we can sustain that. And to be clear, once we put some of those positions in and once we agreed to hire those additional positions to increase this manpower, we can't apply for those positions to be covered with SAFER. They have to be

new outside of what is in here now. So it's not like we could get the grant to cover what we have already agreed to. So that's one of the other, I'm going to say, problems with applying for the grant now. Thank you. I yield. Councilman Cede, Councilor Raposo. Thank you, Mr. President. Hi, Chief. How are you? I'm doing well. How are you? Good. Thank you, sir. So talking about

staffing, FY26, the book had 187.5. You're now at 204.5. Correct. But within the book indicates five vacancies. Is that still accurate as of today? Yes. So we're at 194 right now sworn firefighters, including me. 199 will be sworn firefighters, including me, and the other positions are clerk and the maintenance shop.

- Okay, and how many do you have out on workman's comp disability? - IOD? - Yeah. - We have four right now on IOD. - What is your plan I think you mentioned that we have some firefighters coming down the road here. When is that happening? So we have nine that are more than halfway through the academy that we're running at our headquarters. They're going to

hit the company. Their graduation is July 2nd at Durfee High School. And they will hit the company 4th of July week. They'll be in the company for our highest vacation months. And then we're going to pull them back out in the fall to train them to EMT. So they will be, they'll impact us. And then the goal is the five that we need to hire, we'll do EMT with these nine in

the fall and then start the fire academy immediately after. Okay. And then immediately after this class, is there another plans for more coming down the road? I want to be in a constant state of hiring between three and five. The city's been great with allowing us to hire based on anticipated retirements. So if we can project that we have three retiring in January, we can start the hiring process for those three

so that hopefully we can get them in the company within a month or two of that impact, of that retirement impact. Okay. Can you clarify, just more from my understanding, the whole column of what is total additional pay? That whole column equates to 1.3 million. Can you clarify what exactly that, what does that include, sir? So that's sworn firefighters holiday pay. Okay.

Along with the three shop mechanics uniform. So if you look at the page, the last page of the salaries.

it's page 137. 137 there you go um you'll see that 900 900 900 yeah that's the shop uniform everything above that is the fire sworn fire holiday and everyone gets that and it's generally it does just increase based on seniority it's based on their rate of pay right oh it's based on radio and actually that's all i got thanks chief thank you thank you concert in seat

six consular peckham good evening gentlemen good evening Employee buyouts. Yeah. By 50. What do you got for retirements coming up? We have seven anticipated retirements between now and January 1st. Okay. And we got five vacancies.

- Now vacation buyback and employee buyouts. Is the vacation buyback where if you don't use, if you have five weeks, you don't use one, you carry it over to the next? - Yeah, so we actually narrowed the scope on that a little more to make it during our busiest season, the summer season. So if you have a vacation in June, July, August, and the beginning of September, and you would prefer to

sell it back, then you work that week and we pay you your straight pay.

It saves us the half that we would pay in the overtime, the time and a half. Okay. Just my last question, fire boat maintenance. Do we have a dry dock for that yet, the fire boat? Oh, a dry dock for it to sit at? During the winter. Oh, during the winter, it actually works out great. So it's at O'Connell's Boatyard. We pay them for storage. They keep it on the sling. So

if we do need it, it's not ideal where they can just drop it in the water, but it can go in the water relatively quickly. Okay. This is for the in- term city administrator. I know we've had conversations about 79 with the fire, possibly putting a fire station with a TIF or a tie. I'd like that to be included there so we could just have our own and take the boat out

of the water in the winter and it's just more, it's convenience. You get there, you don't have to go to Somerset to get your boat or whatever the case may be. So if you can in the future have that discussion, I'd appreciate it.

With that, I yield. Thank you. Thank you. Anything further? Councilor Cittu, Councilor Kamara. Where's that boat docked all summer long? Isn't it docked in the... It's docked at the boat house at Heritage State Park where they do the sailing classes. Right. So I don't understand. He's asking about winter storage. Sorry. I apologize. Without a deal. Thank you.

Anything further? Councilman C4, Council Vice President Deer. I'm doing well. How are you? Sorry. I'm well, thank you. Preferred personal days. It's up 100,000. What are preferred personal days? So by CBA, each member is guaranteed one day off a year, one personal day that they can use regardless of manpower levels. Their other personal days are all dependent upon manpower levels. So you can put in for on July 1, you

can put in for December 17th off and you're guaranteed to get it. So we budget that. as if everybody on the department puts in for it. Okay. So traditionally not everybody does? Correct. Is that what you're saying? Correct. And then it allows us the flexibility towards the end of the year to move those to either offer extra preferred personal days to people that might want to take them to get unfunded liability

off the book or to move it towards overtime that we're already over on. So that's what you have. So you always budget higher and then it looks like the projected and the actual always comes in substantially lower. Yep. It always gets spent, though.

I promise you that. Now, if I'm looking at this correctly, so there's 204 and a half employees in the fire department. You have one administrative assistant. One clerk. I have my executive assistant and I have a clerk, yeah. Okay. And what are their duties? The clerk.

Okay. You want to explain Barrett overseas? Yes, she does all the AR, AP, helps with the 111F, helps with the IOD claim, sends them to Guardian, and files, does all that type of clerical office work. So anything that would be expected of an administrative clerk or administrative assistant? I guess I'm only asking that question because we had

a bit of a conversation last night about an administrative assistant who gets $13,000 above and beyond for... We haven't figured out what yet. So this is a demonstration of your job is your job. She was originally classified as a head administrative clerk. And when they did the reclass, that's when she became the administrative assistant. They changed the title. But the same duties. And she receives one salary.

And it's all encompassing. Correct. - Okay, thank you, that I yield. - Thank you, Councilman C2, Councilor Camaro. - Yeah, if I made, through the chair, my colleague in 66, I don't understand the reasoning, maybe I missed it, about why the boat should be docked not in the fore of the storage facility. - Councilman C6, can you?

- Not where? - I think you want to move the storage or dock for the-- - No, I thought that, where did you say the boat was stored? - O'Connell's. - Oh, my apologies, I misunderstood where you said-- - O'Connell's Boat Yard. - Oh. - In four of them. - Yeah. - On a sling, so if they need something, they can put it in the water right away. - Yes.

- So I'm not asking to have it stored in Somerset. - Listen, I misunderstood where he said that the boat was stored. - I understand. Okay, with that, I'll take it. - Thank you, Consul. - I do as well. - Anything further for fire? Hearing none, thank you very much, Chief. - Thank you.

- Last but not least, EMS, Emergency Management Agency. That's gonna be on page 143. 143? - I just didn't know where it's off. - I'm gonna do it in a second. I'm sorry, this is emergency. Hold on one second, I'm getting this confused. One second, please. - I'm gonna EMA. - EMA, EMA, EMA. - I'm gonna come back for you. - Yeah, EMA, just Strygar coming up. Does anybody

have any questions for Strygar or EMA? - I actually don't, I would-- - You don't, no questions for EMA? Very good, thank you. - Complimenting, he does a great job. - Take care, chief. - I was gonna say evacuation room. - Sorry about that. - They mean it this time.

- All right. - Councilor in seat eight, Councilor Raposo. Chief, just introduce yourself for the record, please.

- Chief Quartz, Chief of Emergency Medical Services. - Hey, Chief, how are you? - Good evening, sir.

- So last year's budget, 106 FTEs, you're up to 110, though your salaries projected are lower than last year. Overtime is up from last year. So just give me a general sense of where things stand in EMS as far as staffing is concerned. So the FTEs, we brought on another billing clerk. We brought on a fire mechanic, and we put in two float positions to help

defer some of the overtime. Mm-hmm. You saw the salaries go down and that's part of the FLSA. The FLSA is if they work 24 hours in a week, they get paid for 24. So it fluctuates. Some of their hours are paid at straight time and some of them are paid at overtime if they go over the 40 according to the law. So there are two overtime lines. I do want to

point that out. There's an overtime, so it says salaries and wages, comma, overtime. And then if you look further down under the non-employee specific pay, there is another overtime line. So we are working to essentially-- we're going to call it scheduled overtime. So when their regular schedule of the 24 and 48s require it to be overtime we're

gonna try and delineate those so it does reduce the base pay obviously because sometimes they're getting you know rather than an equal spread of hours so that is the difference we were we're trying to make it more clear so but those amounts are also put into their base wages on the backup sheets that show the detail it is part of their base salary because we do know what they're scheduled and we

know what their rate of pay is so it is included in that in that way the way other overtime typically is not, obviously, detailed out by employee.

Okay. Same thing I asked FIRE, I'll ask you. As far as the total additional pay for the positions, is that the same situation like FIRE?

So it's, yeah. On the list, it's the holiday pay, the uniform allowance, and then the on-call stipend. So it's all the same thing there? Yeah.

Okay. To the MIH reimbursement line, let me just find where I can have it. There we go. Page 144. Okay. So MIH reimbursement, proposed budget is 450,000. - The MIH reimbursement is the home visit program that we have. We just entered into an agreement for someone to reimburse us for providing those services because there is no insurance mechanism for those reimbursements. That 450,000 makes that MIH

division at zero cost to the city. - Excellent.

And on the rental and leases line item, it's obviously a little bit up, but I guess my general question is within that line item is the building, correct? - Correct. - Okay. Is there, where do we stand with that? Is there-- - So the last discussion I had with the mayor, that we have to, because there's 366 days and it falls in the middle, so we're gonna make the

payment for this current year and then enter into the purchase agreement for, so it won't be included in the '28 budget. - Okay. - The rentals and leases won't be included in the '28 budget is what she's saying. - Yeah, no, I understand that. And then as far as the funding to buy the building is coming from?

It would come out of our budget. However, that would probably be paid with that depending on what the purchase price is and what the amount of I'm going to say savings that exists in EMS at that point in time. So it's not a finalized plan. We obviously need to take steps forward to kind of go out to for an RFP to buy a building. And then once we get a purchase price

back, we would come down to you with a plan to fund it. Okay. Emily on the indirect charges on page 146 it looks like the massive change there is the retirement contributions can I speak to that so I think we talked a lot last year between water and sewer and EMS but just kind of getting back to the indirect calculation way because it was the first year it kind of worked with

what was there and some of those small increases but this year we did move back to that calculation format and so from the time that The positions were last done in EMS. There's been a big increase in the employees added between FY 24 to now So we're finally kind of making up that increase. I think in FY 24 You were below 80. Is that correct? I How many employees you had back

in 20? Yeah, we were at 84. Yeah, so it was about 84. So, I mean, there's been a huge increase, obviously, in employees, so it's going to reflect in there finally. Okay. Chief Fonce, do you have any current vacancies in your department? I have one vacancy right now. Which is for what? A paramedic on the front line.

We have been advertising and we're interviewing for that position currently. Okay, and any current vacancies? positions that are all on leave medical or anything? I actually have, uh, I've actually had it, um, a year that's been kind of, uh, difficult in some sense. I have two longterm, um, IOD. Um, I've had a couple of short term out IOD and, um, I've had three or four maternity leaves this

year. Um, we handle our, as, um, - Councilor Kadim said we handle it pretty diligently with guardian claims. Once we hit the eight week mark, we get them into a work hardening program and we try to get them back to work. I have one that's in for superannuation right now. I'm waiting for them to get onto the retirement board agenda. So we try to handle

them consistently and as reasonably as we can. - I appreciate it. I yield, thank you. - Councilor in seat three, Councilor Canymel. - Thank you. I know we don't rely heavily on program revenue, but when I looked at the EMT school and the EMC sorry, EMS vaccine program. We're estimating $75,000 in each of those line items in terms of revenue. When we look at the actuals in '25, they've actually fallen

into '26 compared to where we were, and we're still trying to hit that target.

So I just, it looks like we're falling short of that number. Is there a plan to get there, or do we think we might need to scale back this projection? - If you look at the expense to the revenue, at the end it'll equal out. We found that this year that less people took the COVID vaccine, but when we go out to purchase it, we do it through the contract. So we

get reimbursed for some of those vaccines. We do get a vaccine payment late in the year, like in the middle to end of June. So we should receive one more payment towards that vaccine line. The EMT school, we had planned on trying to increase our school to an advanced program. We still want to try to do that, but as you see that the EMT school, the expense line versus what we're bringing

in is equal. We do have all of the firefighters go through our EMT school.

They pay for the books, but they don't pay the tuition, so that may look like it offsets some of that cost. - There's a new, on the expenses, there's a new item, $5,000 for lab processing this year. - That's for the MIH program. That's included in that total reimbursement. - Okay, and then a colleague at CDA asked about the rentals and leases. My final question, just around the

data processing, just to understand what's contained within that, and then just, we had a budget of $55,000 for this year. We're $94,000 over on that. - So what I did was, A lot of the programs I went through and I itemized them out, I don't know the detailed line, I think where we were paying things were not necessarily all consistently in the same spot. We actually have a data processing

program that's new to us for our education, we have a scheduling program. We actually have increased some of our data processing. What I did was some of it was initiated, initial cost that we incurred, and it'll go, it's actually, you'll see it's more condensed this year. I actually brought the line item back in. That's all I have.

Thank you, Mayor. Thank you. Thank you, Councillor. In seat six, Councillor Peckham. Good evening.

Good evening. I'm going to go back to your MAH reimbursement. It's a big jump.

It's from 57057 to 4. 450. So we just entered into that contract in January.

So we've only received two payments towards that we owed to so we will at the end of this fiscal year by June 30. We've notified the person we entered into the contract with that June 30 was the closing of our fiscal year. So we're that'll be at like 200,000 by the end of fiscal year. We're just waiting for the payment. So it'd be about 200,000 at FY 26. Correct. It's about 9000

and change payment per month. Okay. So Ms. Arpke, if it's, I'm just, simple questions. In FY26, if we're expecting 200, why is it 450 for 27? Because it was only, 200 was for halfway through the year. So it'll be a full year next year. Yeah, we only signed the contract in January, so you're only going to see half year. All right. Are you comfortable with 450? Because it makes

a difference. - That's the agreement. So 450,000 is the contracted price and we are due in January. We have the opportunity to renegotiate that contract. So if we find that our expenses are exceeding what we anticipated them to exceed, then we can go back and renegotiate that contract for a higher figure. - 450 is the contract. We will receive that. That's a guaranteed reimbursement. - Okay. - But we

can go back in January and renegotiate for a higher cost if we feel that we've undercut ourself, it's the first contract. - Okay, thank you. The PCG reimbursement. - PCG reimbursement is MassHealth. MassHealth pays us 275 for an ambulance trip plus $7 a mile. At the end of the year, When the state has money left in the kitty, what they do is they divide that up by a

calculation of expenses versus, it's almost like a grant application. At the end of the year, they give us a reimbursement. It's anywhere from 1.2 to sometimes 2.3 to $2.4 million. Okay, because for FY26, it's at one and a half, and then you have projected 1.9 million for FY26. I think last year we received 1.8. 1.8.

Okay, miss. Are you is there a way to get a breakdown of where this reimbursement like as we get it where it's we don't we get it once at the end of the year we don't get anything until it's a one-time one lump sum payment, so It's an unfortunate time when I mean we get it before fiscal year closed technically speaking But we won't have that receipt until if we're lucky July

1 I can tell you exactly what the amount is and So the other thing, too, is that the reimbursement was 2.3 or 2.4, I think, last year. And what we do is we pay the fire department a fee for service out of that for the run volume. So that comes out of that before it's even – that's not in this figure that you see in our revenues. Okay. And that line is

in the general fund as a receipt. I can give you the page if you want it. With that I yield, thank you. Hearing nothing further, our council in seat four, Council Vice President Dion. Yeah, just two questions. In terms of, on page 146, in terms of the health insurance and the retirement contributions, health insurance is up half a million dollars. Retirement contributions is just about doubled from

1.1%. Yeah, 1.146 to 2.202. What's driving that? Is it the additional-- - Employees. - Excuse me? - The additional employees is a big part of it. The biggest part of it is what I'll say. - So how many employees have been taken on to drive that? So I think we had talked about this. It was one of the first questions that was asked that we were talking about it. So the numbers,

we kind of got back to the indirect cost calculation format that the document that I had found from several years ago that had been used here, it was one that We used the same form I think Mary had shared between New Bedford and Fall River. So I was kind of getting back to that. So last year there wasn't a big adjustment when there was a significant number of employees between FY24 to

now. They've added on almost 35 employees, I believe the number is. And we hadn't adjusted those rates. You can see between 25 and 26, and if you even look back at 24, that indirect amount had gone up, you know, nominal less than 100,000 when we've added on over 35 employees. So part of that is from the employee increase. And then obviously we've talked about the healthcare increases each year. So the other

part of it is the healthcare cost increase with it. But the bigger part is the number of employees that have been added on. Have a full calculation sheet we can share this with you that breaks down exactly how it's all calculated But there is a very I'm gonna say formal calculation process for it. Yeah, I would appreciate getting that so My mind is still trying to process what you said because you

like went zoom. Sorry. No, that's okay. It's okay But I'm just still so in what it so you took on 35 additional Staff members, we'll call them. Over two fiscal years. Over two fiscal years. And the first fiscal year. I think it's been like a dribble, right? Yeah. We haven't done like a mass hiring. Right. It's been over the year. We've gone from about 84, like 90 employees, I think, to now

we're at 110. Correct. And that started in what fiscal year? Just after COVID. Right.

Yeah, so I thought in FY24 the budgeted number was 84. Maybe. Yeah, and then so by now, now we're up to 110. So we made no... So I guess what I'm hearing, and I could be wrong, is we made no adjustments for it until two fiscal years... No, there was like a $200,000 increase I think each year, but it didn't cover what they thought. It was going up by, so every year

our assessment goes up, I think it's 7% for pensions. So we've been increasing that number by the 7%. But also the part of that retirement is based on the number of employees. So we hadn't quite adjusted for the number of employees. We'd only adjusted the base number by the base increase rather than factoring in the fact that we have more employees, so we should have been here before we add on that

small factor increase. Right. 7% should have been on the high number, not the low number. Correct. So we kind of tried to readjust to get back on to where the base employees are and then you could now, moving forward, you should be able to, in theory, say, obviously if the employee count, I'm going to say it's relatively the same, you should now be able to increase the health insurance by the health

insurance cost increase each year. But we just weren't there. We hadn't fully factored in the change of employees that had taken place. Right, because the 8.4% increase in health insurance should be on the totality for FY27. Correct. All right, with that I yield. Thank you. Thank you. The last councilor to speak is Councilor Pereira. She just stepped out. Councilor? Here she is.

Councilor in seat 7, Councilor Pereira. The only thing I'd like to add is that... Last week, we went to the legislative brunch that they had in Brown, the old St. Ann's, and the mayor and I were there, a couple of the state reps, and they spoke very well of your program. Thank you. And what a difference it has made to the hospital so that people don't have to stay

in the hospital. They can return home. You do wound care and that.

But it was spoken to everyone how satisfied they were. So I wanted to share that compliment with you. Thank you. I don't have any questions with that. They work really hard. I yield. Thank you, Councillor. Is there anything further? Is there a motion?

Motion of table. Motion of table has been made by Councilor Raposo, seconded by Councilor Hart. All those in favor? Aye. Opposed? The ayes have it. Tomorrow we will be here for insurance and other, and then we have a full council meeting scheduled for the council to act on the municipal budget. Madam Clerk? confirming that for me. Yep, very good. 6 o'clock. And the council will then be able to do what it

needs to do. Motion to adjourn. Motion to adjourn. Finance has been made by Councillor Raposo, seconded by Councillor Peckham. All those in favor? Opposed? The ayes have it. Good night.