The Fall River Redevelopment Authority held its meeting on June 24, 2026, where it approved several items and received project updates. The board unanimously approved the open session minutes from May 19 and June 3, 2026, and the June warrant totaling $41,074.72. Project Manager Karen Martin reported that the final phase of the Northfield Point site improvements would begin on July 13, with a target completion of October 1. This phase, funded by a $440,067 Seaport Economic Council grant, includes an aggregate walkway, solar lighting, landscaping, an outdoor classroom, and an osprey nest. Martin also outlined the bid process for a new dinghy dock and 15 moorings at City Pier, with bids due July 16 and a completion date of December 1, noting potential manufacturing delays. The Authority approved an application from Bay Coast Bank to hold a public concert at City Pier on August 8, 2026, to celebrate its 175th anniversary; the vote passed with one abstention. A proposal for a one-year warranty inspection of the pier's cathodic protection system, at a cost not to exceed $15,000, was also unanimously approved. Executive Director Sarah Page provided an update on the Pleasant Street Flint Herb Urban Renewal Plan, announcing a breakthrough with state officials that allows them to file a "notice of project change" instead of a full Environmental Impact Report. The board then unanimously voted to accept a $200,000 MTTA grant for preliminary streetscape design on Pleasant Street. The meeting concluded with updates on the Neighborhood Mill Arts (NMA) initiative and a successful motion to enter an executive session to discuss real estate matters.
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City Officials
Public / Other
Okay. Welcome to the June 24th, 2026 meeting of the Fall River Redevelopment Authority. First one of the open meeting law. Any person may make an audio or video recording this public meeting or may transmit the meeting through any medium. Attendees are therefore advised that such recording or transmission are being made whether perceived or unpersceived by those present are deemed acknowledged and permissible.
0:22Uh first item is our roll call. Uh John Ericson, Ron Rousen, Fle Medeiros Ke.
0:30Thank you. Also joining us are Sarah Page, executive director, Ken Fola, administrative consultant. Karen Martin, project manager, and Tracy Barbosa from Frack. What does the last two C's stand for?
0:43Culture Coalition.
0:44Culture Coalition. Thank you. Um, first item is approval of our open session minutes from May 19th. Uh, if there's no comments on that, I'll entertain a motion to accept those.
0:59A motion approved May 19th, 2022.
1:0226 open session minutes.
1:04Second.
1:06John, yes.
1:07Ron Ren, yes.
1:08Fleber, yes.
1:09Medeiros, yes. Gain, yes.
1:12Uh, okay. Hey, we also need to um approve those um open session minutes from our brief uh June 3rd meeting. I'll entertain a motion to accept those.
1:24Motion approved June 3rd, 2026 open session minutes.
1:28Second.
1:28Do I have to say on Zoom? Should I say on Zoom?
1:32No, you don't need to say that.
1:33I'll say okay.
1:34Second.
1:35John, yes.
1:36Ron Ren, yes.
1:37Dberg, yes.
1:38John, yes.
1:39Ke, yes.
1:40Thank you. uh the June warrant which totals $41,74.72 which Joan has reviewed. Um if there aren't any questions on that that warrant. I'll accept a motion to approve those.
1:59Motion to approve June warrant in the amount of $41,74.72.
2:04Second.
2:05Second.
2:06John Ericson. Yes.
2:07Ron Ren. Yes.
2:09Yes.
2:10Yes. Yes.
2:12Thanks, guys. Um Karen is going to uh give us a little update on the Northfield Point work.
2:19Yes, the Northfield Point site improvements, which is the final phase of work out at our favorite spit of land. Um that is going to start on July 13th. Um Tim's going to be mobilized for that. And then we are going to have a pre-construction meeting the next day on the 14th at 10:00 a.m. Tim's um currently in the submittal process and the invasive Crawford um land management was out there last week and they did a
2:48full site walk through and did um a an herbicide treatment on the um uh any emerging invasives. and they'll be out again um in July for another um walkth through and treat accordingly. So, we should um Tim's going to also make sure Tim Dilva is going to make sure that the fence is all really um tightened up for the 4th of July so that hopefully we can keep people to a minimum.
3:18Yeah, he's going to get out there and fix that. And then um I've also um talked to the um the cops who are going to be out on the 4th of July and they're going to be mindful too of um trying to keep people off that pro that part of the um property. So hopefully um everyone will just celebrate accordingly and have fun.
3:36Yeah. Just um maybe for the people at home, we know what the improvements are, but maybe just go over them one more time. Oh, so um the improvements are the aggregate walkway that's going to go all around the um it's going to go down the center of the um the spit and then it's going to go along the um perimeter of that kind of triangle area and then there'll be um solar ballards along the
3:59path. They will be um landscaping um and where um all the granite that's going to be used for benches and seat and seating along kind of the pathway and around the the outdoor classroom area is already on site. Um and it's all repurposed um Fall River granite. So that's cool. And then um in the center of that triangle area, there is going to be a a grass area that
4:25we're kind of referring to as a um open outdoor classroom and there'll be some benches along the perimeter of that and we're hoping that um Mass Audabon trustes of the reservation will do some you know outdoor class stuff out there.
4:39So um that is um all the work that's going to clean up that portion. Contract cost for that was 440 and that was 67 that was funded how seapport economic council Karen we we are doing the osprey nest right yes the osprey yep osprey nest as well yes and actually Tim found a guy exactly across the river Pierce and Engineering he's going to submit from that guy who makes the Osprey nest so um and he said
5:11it's a great site for it so he's got a proposal from him so it's a local guy who needs them. So, and completion date completion date um we have set for October 1st, I believe.
5:26Excellent.
5:27Is that including the bigies or dingy?
5:29No, that's a separate that's a separate contract. That's my next topic of conversation.
5:36So, do we shut that down after October that area or they can use it all year round?
5:41It'll be No, it'll be able to be accessed year round. So, um, um, that'll be the first time.
5:49The question is when we actually open it to the public because we have to see how established plants are and stuff and things like that. So, we'll have to play that. Um, we should be we should be planting at the preferred time of the year and getting, you know, grasses done at the preferred time of the year, too.
6:04So, hopefully that will all um allow for um a good growth.
6:11I think that's the first time that's going to be accessed in 20 years.
6:16Oh, I bet you more than that.
6:17More than that.
6:19I'm going to say more than that.
6:2020 plus years. So section of that waterfront's going completely closed off to the public.
6:25Yeah.
6:25So now the public Y has to be we got to get some exposure on that.
6:33Maybe I'm have a groundbreaking or something.
6:37Yeah, we need to think about a ground breaking. see what council down or whomever and you just a little ceremony.
6:43I think it's just important that the public's aware of it.
6:46Yeah. And what we're doing. Yeah. Yeah.
6:47Exactly.
6:50Goes hand in hand with everything else going on.
6:53Yeah.
6:53Might be a tough time of the year with on vacations and stuff, but for those who can make it.
6:59Yeah.
7:02Karen, did you say that was the 14th the meeting for construction? Yes. At 10:00.
7:11Um, you going to talk about dingy docks?
7:13Yeah, moorings in the dinghyd dock. So, um, that is uh getting ready to go to to hit the streets. Um, the bid package should be to us hopefully shortly, very soon today. Um, the bid is going to be open to the public July 1st. The bids are due July 16th at 2 PM and um we'll be bringing it to the July board meeting, the lowest responsible bidder and that's to put the new dinghy dock
7:41and transition piece um at the existing um docks at uh city pier and then we'll also be putting in 15 moorings between the three moing fields that are out there. So we do have a concern. We're showing the completion date for that job of December 1st. We're concerned that the timing of the bid for this is when most dock manufacturing is at its peak and this really isn't a big chunk of
8:12dock to have someone really kind of fit into a schedule. So, we may be at the mercy of some of the manufacturers um for this. So, we're going to um hopefully um hear more about it. When I had um talked to um a gentleman actually it was for the previous bid um for the for the Northfield point the highest bidder had somehow included in his bid the dock work and so when the guy called and had
8:41questions about the docks I'm like this job doesn't have any docks and so anyway but I told him I said so I have you on the phone I said how are you guys running if we wanted to put a 60 x10 foot dock in when would you see when would um how long would it take to do that? He's like, "Oh, six months." And I said "Oh okay."
9:00But he was from California.
9:01He was He was from Washington State, actually. But I mean, it's also too, I mean, they say that until you can actually put on a purchase order is when you really get these guys down and dirty. Yeah.
9:10I think the the real I don't think the pilings are the issue. I think No, the pilings aren't because I actually there's um there's some known sources in the area that I mean, we only need three. So, um it's more going to be the um the manufacturing of the dock.
9:27So hopefully the other ones from Canada structure. Yeah. The Yeah. So, we can't this is this is a federal grant. So, we have to do the the Baba. So, we're going to have um the the the project spec is written around Structure Marine, but um they're Canadian firm.
9:48Did you say that December 1st was the completion?
9:50Yeah.
9:51I mean, we would probably get based on the um the lowest responsible bidder that we're going to bring to the July meeting, we would do a notice to proceed right away after that.
10:01So, the only thing I'm thinking if there's a long lead time with the manufactured dock and you wanted to take advantage of it this fall, maybe have a project change order for a wooden dock, a temporary wooden dock. I think it's all we're all going to just have to see what happens as as it's not that big but 16 feet.
10:21It's 60 by 10.
10:2360 I mean 60. So it's not that big. You can you can easily construct a temporary one if necessary.
10:30But the way this is going in, people really aren't going to be using it this boating season.
10:39Well, you could if it if there's the if the pylons are ready. You drive the pylons and you just attach the dock.
10:47Yeah. But we're not even getting the answer to July meeting. So no way. I mean, you may get them in in August if you're lucky. September is probably a better chance.
10:57Voting season goes through.
10:59Yeah. October 15th, but a temporary one for a month and a half doesn't make sense.
11:04I don't like that. I'm not wasting that money.
11:06Shot change, but whatever.
11:09Yeah. I mean, you know, we were just kind of at the mercy of when we got the contract from them. So, I mean, it's, you know, ultimately this would have been great to have started September, October last year, but we're not there.
11:21Um, so the So, I'll keep you posted on that.
11:25Do you want to talk about the Bay Coast event?
11:28Uh, yes. So, I was just going to give you an event update. So, we had our first big private event out there, the South Coast Health um 30-year gala. Um, it everybody, according to South Coast Health and the people who were there, they thought it was great. I have a debriefing meeting tomorrow with their um their event coordinator just to kind of go through the process like how they
11:50thought everything went, what could have been better, what you know what could we have done better, what could they have done better. There were some you know tight permitting issues at the end where I don't think they in trying to coordinate some of the final things that they really understood that who had to be where and who had to get what permit. So, um, that might be something that, you know, needs to get
12:13more clarified, I guess. Um, and then, uh, we had kite night on June 18th, which, um, started off okay, but, I didn't go, but I there was very windy and they had to shut it down because the kite material because, you know, you build your own little kite and that was kind of getting kind of blown all over the place. So, they shut it down a little early, but I guess it was well
12:36attended. We didn't shut kite night down.
12:39No, you just shut the kite down.
12:40Shut down making kites.
12:42Yes.
12:42Yeah.
12:43So, um and now um Bay Coast Bank wants to um have their 175 year celebration of community banking on August 8th. Um the application was in your um uh board package. It is um going to be it's going to be pretty much identical to the Narrows concert that's out there because um Patrick from the Narrows is getting the band. He's doing all the logistics for the setup and everything. So, I'm
13:16not even really too concerned about the setup out there. Um the layout was part of the application and it's a public event, so we don't have to worry about um uh it's already being advertised. Yeah.
13:32Yeah. That's that's that's Patrick.
13:35You may not want to reject the application.
13:39Um in fact, Rebecca called me today to ask if it was approved. She's from the bank and I said, "Well, I have our board meeting tonight." Um the only thing on the layout that I did um point out to her was they show this VIP section in the middle of the walkways and I told her that again, no walkways can be blocked during the event. She said, "No, no, no." She says, "We'll make sure to
13:59accommodate that." So, um they did um they did confirm that they have police set aside to be out there and the police did confirm that they do have the police out there. They haven't started down their total permit process yet just because, you know, they want to know that the events approved. So, um so then, um their layout is pretty much identical to the Narrows concert that they have every year. So,
14:27um there's nothing that's um of concern and I'll have the irrigation guy out to um flag all the um heads and everything.
14:36So, we should be in good shape with that.
14:38So, Karen, this says um they anticipate 2,000 people. Do we know I missed I was away when the um South Coast went. Do we know how many people came to that?
14:49Um they were anticipating I think not 2,000.
14:53No, no, no. They they was it was a private event. I think they were saying 450.
14:57Yeah. $300 a ticket.
15:00350.
15:01350.
15:02350. Yeah. So I think it and I think they had sold that many tickets. I'm not actually sure how many showed up in comparison.
15:11Capacity for that area. Is there a capacity?
15:13I don't know if they're really for the entire pier. You could easily fit 2,000 people.
15:20Oh god. Yeah.
15:20It's like four acres I think. Yeah.
15:22Yeah. So isn't it's not like it's inside we can only have so many people per thing.
15:27Outside it's kind of like less open.
15:30A lot of people bring their chairs.
15:31They'll sit they don't have to sit directly in front of the stage. They can sit off to the to the southern pier as well.
15:38So South Coast left a good and this one sounds like they stop. They set up at 4 and take down at 11 like seven.
15:43Well they do Pat Patrick is Patrick set up and take down is impressive. They set up for one day.
15:50They have a thing for one day and they took it down for one They like they had tents. That was a big tent.
15:55Their biggest thing, too, was all the decor decorative stuff they had to get up. Yeah. So, um and um their tent was a complicated tent. It was a structured tent as opposed to just, you know, post and um which you can't stake. So, it's weight. So, he brought out big huge concrete blocks with um um pull hook on it and it was pretty impressive. But um one night two days later there was an
16:20orange flag in the middle of the thing.
16:22Something go wrong or something? Did something break?
16:24Orange flag in the middle like like a little like a little golf flag about this big with a big orange flag on it. As I drove by meant to go back there.
16:30Was it one of the irrigation head flags?
16:33It could have been I don't know. I was going by myself.
16:35They were orange. So I mean it could have just been that. It was just for the irrigation.
16:39I just wonder if something happened and that's why they No, actually everything just you just flattened. I was pleasantly surprised that nothing happened because they were driving all over the heads.
16:50Yeah. Okay.
16:51Karen, do you do you collect the certificates of insurance from vendors that are um I don't collect this. I should take the the certificate of insurance from the event um uh the event applicant and then when they get the permits the vendors do that with the city.
17:09So for like the liquor liability for an event like this falls on the event. It falls on the event. Um are they naming the Fall River redevelopment as additional?
17:20Yes. Yes, they are.
17:22Yep.
17:23Are they going to be doing liquor for this one?
17:25Yes. I think it's um uh Primo and Primo. So Primo usually carries that one of those universal catering licenses that for one day he can use sadly as his own liability.
17:43It's Primo Katy. Yeah, it's not Troy City. It's Kant Heat.
17:48Same thing with Kante.
17:52Um and they have a rain date of August 9th, which shouldn't be there's nothing that backs up against that. So, if that was the case, that should work out.
18:03Do we know who the Entertainment is?
18:05Uh I do not. It is a band that Patrick Do you know who it is, Johnny? By any chance?
18:10Forgot their name. I I do not know who the band is. They did not list the band.
18:15Patrick's had him for a while though.
18:17So Patrick is doing with Big Coast.
18:20Yeah.
18:20Okay. I thought I thought Big Coast was doing one and Patrick was doing one.
18:23Well, Patrick is still doing one. He's doing another one on August 24th.
18:27Something bring it to the river down by the river.
18:29Take me to the river to the river. It's the one he's done every Yeah.
18:33I think it's the 26th 24th.
18:3524th.
18:38So this application, yes, which you guys have, you have a um motion to uh motion to approve the event application form Bay Coast Bank for the community concert celebrating 175 years of community banking to be held on August 9th 2026 or ring date of August 9th at the Norton City Pier to authorize the chair or the executive director to sign a license agreement.
19:07Second.
19:08Second.
19:09John Ericson. Yes.
19:11Anderson. Yes.
19:12Yes.
19:13John. Yes. I need to abstain from that vote.
19:18Okay.
19:19Um Okay. So, next Oh, Cathotic Protection.
19:24We're at our one year, believe it or not.
19:26Yes. Our one-year warranty ends on July 31st. So, um, this is kind of an not an odd situation, but since everything is underwater, we can't really verify that.
19:37You can't just say, "Oh, looks good." I mean you can but um so uh what I've done is I've talked to FA Engineering and we have um got a proposal to have the cathotic engineer go out and um do his um all his measures and everything to check show to ensure that the connectivity is all still there and that it's doing its job. Um, and then we've got the underwater inspection by um, uh,
20:08Ward and his crew that, um, did the, um, punch list inspection. So, it's the same guys that are going out and they're going to, uh, make sure that all the anodess are still in place and, um, that uh, there hasn't been too much degra.
20:23He'll take some random measures to make sure there hasn't been too much degradation in a year. Um, and the Carlos will be the top guy. The engineer will be the top guy while the divers's down low. I'm going to also reach out to Kavanaaugh to see if they want to be there at the same time. They're the ones who installed them. I mean, you can see like if you're out at the um armpit
20:45at the pier, you can like in the U at like a low enough tide, you can see them that they're all pretty much there. And you can see them along if you walk the dock, you can see that they're all pretty much still there. you can't see it on the south side and out at the tips. Um so I'm fairly confident that they're all going to be there, but um we
21:02just want to make sure. And then um we'll probably have to do it's recommended to do these similar inspections like every five years. So I'm actually working on a kind of an overall maintenance plan to kind of have these triggers put in. It'll be a bulkhead inspection, an anon inspection, and a a cathotic continuity inspection.
21:24So, so, so they'll probably just bring that that like dive barge out there again and um go off of that or Wade um uh when he came out with his crew, they went right off the dock. The barge was Kavanaaugh, right?
21:38Yeah. Um and so I mean he may change it up, but last time when he was out there, they went off the dock.
21:45Isra infrastructure infrastructure and environmental LLC two different companies. No.
21:54Oh, they're the same company. Some like this and like two different companies.
21:58So, the total cost is 15,000.
22:00Yeah. Not to exceed because um you know they put in some admin hours and they'll just bill them out but the cost will not exceed 15,000 and this the cost will be covered by the EDI grant that the whole cathotic protection was covered by.
22:13So does what does our warranty cover?
22:16So basically any defects within the anodes.
22:20So if they pick and if it's not and if the con if the connectivity is not there, we'd have to then start looking at the welds and things like that. Have to go back.
22:28Who was the GC for that?
22:29Um cabin on marine.
22:31Okay.
22:33All right. Motion to No. Yeah. Motion to approve the warranty inspection scope report from Far Infrastructure and Environment LLC date 62726 for a cost not to exceed 15,000 and to authorize the chair or the executive director to sign the amendment number three to the original agreement.
22:52Second John yes.
22:55Ron Ren, yes.
22:57Yes.
22:58John Mader, yes, yes.
23:00Thank you. Uh let's see what we talk about now. Oh. Um Sarah's going to talk about Pleasant Street Flint Herb.
23:10Well, I'll start with um a nice update about the community garden. The community gardeners are so appreciative of the water line and having water. And some of the older women who were out there every day told me that last year they put buckets of um or bottles of water into a grocery cart and dragged it from the senior housing which is a bit of a way down over to the garden. And
23:43even then they struggled at the end of the year to keep everything looking alive. And so I was out there the other day. They have all these um they put uh metal the young Marines have been helping them do this garden. So they have wooden boxes and they have metal boxes and they're just all filled with um lettuce and kale and they just have all different plants. And so they have
24:12some community bins and then people have their own and um they the young marine group put uh the water line into a little cabinet so that they can kind of lock up the water at night. They now have a shed. They have a a fence around it. So a lot of different groups have been uh donating and out there doing work. And so it's really bringing lots of people together and that's the
24:44primary well a key goal is to kind of build community there. So they I just wanted to pass their appreciation on to you. So, do they winterize it somehow or they'll um it'll they'll pull the meter and then they drain the line back.
25:04And they've got a nice hose and it's really wonderful to see. So, I have good news on the uh urban renewal plan front. I had a meeting today with Tori Kim that was facilitated by um Doug Gutro who had come out and met with Ken and I and taken a tour around Fall River and he's often on the conference calls with Mass Inc. that we do the Gateway City uh developers network that I do every
25:38month. And so he had always said if you have problems with permitting and licensing, that's his role to help you through problems. So he set up this meeting with Tori Kim and she said that um we can apply. So so there were all these different options that had been laid out for us. And so now it's clear that what we do is a notice of project change. And in the notice of project
26:11change, you can ask to resend the scope of work that had been outlined in your certificate for an environmental impact report. And so what I've been trying to do is make sure we didn't have to do a full environmental impact report and spend about $20,000 on consultants to do that. And um so we had money set aside by Mass Housing through a grant that we have that we could have used to do that, but
26:48it was supposed to be used to implement the urban renewal plan and the work we want to do. So um so the um that EIR the environmental impact report was extremely detailed and wanted all kinds of analysis and information.
27:09And so even in the notice of project change, she had said that she wants us to do a good faith effort of addressing a lot of the scope that they outlined for the EIR. And so we talked through that and I told her that some of the scope, you know, we we couldn't I really reminded her this is a 20-year plan and some of the detail they wanted we can't possibly give them. So, it's clear that
27:46I can do most of it, pull in the consultants to help with some pieces, but primarily I'm going to say we can't answer that question because, you know, the city doesn't know when Stafford Square $50 million will be raised. And, you know, there are just lots of things that I think we can answer really simply. So, we're asking to resin the scope of the EIR, but we still have to
28:14address a lot of their questions. And I I feel it's a reasonable solution. Um, I think she's open to our calling her staff or her if we have questions and we'll just move through this in the next few weeks and get it done and be done with that and be able to get our urban renewal plan done. So, that was a big relief.
28:42Um, so that's good.
28:45It is.
28:46That's real good.
28:50Um, so then the other thing that uh was in your packet is that we got and I know I wrote board members when we got this $200,000 grant, we were notified that um uh we would get a municipal tribal technical assistance grant, MTTA, for um design of a preliminary minary design of streetscape for Pleasant Street. And so this is really good news because um the city's going to put a lot of money into
29:31the um construction of Pleasant Street and we have the 1.7 million in federal money. And because we had gotten federal money, we qualified for this kind of new technical assistance program. And so I just want um a vote that we're accepting this grant and I'll be signing a docu sign form to um sign the contract and we'll move forward.
30:04Okay. So, we have a motion to accept a $200,000 MTA grant for hiring consultant to provide pre-construction services for streetscape infrastructure along Pleasant Street and have our executive director sign a contract.
30:19Second, second Ericson. Yes.
30:23Ren, yes.
30:24Yes.
30:25Governor Harris, yes.
30:26And Keen, yes.
30:27Thank you. Uh Sarah's going to talk about uh NMA updates.
30:34So, um, we have a jazz festival coming up that the Bristol Oh dear, I'm sorry.
30:44that the Bristol Black Collective is um sponsoring at um the Purchase Street Plaza. That is um part of their Junth celebration for the month and um something that NMA had really encouraged them to do. And it was originally envisioned to be a bit bigger, but they have a nice band and it sounds like they do a variety of jazz um and blues, I think. And so it's a little um festival
31:21on the plaza and um I'm sending this.
31:26It starts at 5, right?
31:27Starts at 5.
31:28What day?
31:29Uh Saturday night.
31:30This Saturday night.
31:31Yep.
31:31Okay.
31:32When we say the plaza, is that the parking lot for the Eagle or Oh, I'm sorry. Um, Joseph Holderman uh took an old parking lot that was part of a bank drive up window and turned it into a plaza. You must have seen it.
31:51It's He's got parking around it.
31:53Yeah.
31:54And then that's where the uh cultural not the cultural lives that's considered the plaza right there.
32:01Okay.
32:02We called that the purchase street plaza. Has foon lighting at night and fire pits and um seating. And so that's where a variety of things happen.
32:16Now that changes a different company there now. There's a girl there now, right?
32:19Yeah. It's um it's really a vintage store.
32:22Vintage. Yeah. Yeah.
32:24Yeah. And she has been doing interesting fashion for years. And so she kind of has interesting uh fashions that are um they're unique.
32:40They're based on taking uh existing fabrics and clothes and repurposing them. For example, she had one that was um a lot of shirts that had been reputed together. And um she has models model them. They're kind of cool.
32:59So, and but she has all kinds of she's calling it Miltown Market and she's celebrating the history of Fall River Mills. And so, she's had some really unique things in there like um old uh um journals from some of the mills that someone found. And, you know, she just has really interesting things. And there's a wonderful spirit in there. She got a big leather sofa so you can go in
33:34and sit on her leather leather leather sofa. She has a little um uh refrigerator and gives you free water and it's um and then you look out on the plaza. So, it's kind of a nice relaxing place and I think it really adds to the feeling of downtown being a place you want to go and you can take your coffee over to the plaza. You know, you can go to all the restaurants and bring your
34:05food over there and there are tables um to you know, picnic table kind of tables. Is that building connected to where uh what's the coffee shop over there in Baloa?
34:17All one connection.
34:18Yeah, it's one building. Yeah, it's owned by Well, they're kind of different buildings.
34:23Buildings.
34:23Yeah, they're different buildings.
34:24Baloa is 10 purchase street, but the back side of that building is actually the United Way building at 30, right?
34:35The United Way building.
34:37So, those are detached.
34:40They used to drive through a bank of four who was in the front which was 30.
34:44Okay.
34:45So what connects them is they're owned by the same person and there's hardly any space between them. They're very close together.
34:57Um, so the other good news is that we'd been looking for a fiscal sponsor for NMA and um, we had thought we were going to use the Bristol Black Collective. Um, but their administrative fee, which we understand was a little higher than we wanted to have taken out of the funds that we raise. And so it turned out that we had an offer from uh the first congregational church and their
35:29minister, Reverend Andy Stinson, and he considers himself part of NMA and the church in the NMA district. And so he said, "I would love to be your fiscal sponsor. We won't charge anything. I've done this a lot with a lot of different groups. We have a fund set up for it."
35:48And so um so we're going to um go ahead and use that as our fiscal sponsor. And we're um next, you know, we're starting to get the steering committee or organized. It's getting more and more organized. Um we'll be voting on a mission statement.
36:11um and we're kind of working toward John Coughlin who's offered to help us um to put together a nonprofit and get that uh incorporated in the state and then we'll have to think about do we become a 501c3 or do we just keep using a fiscal sponsor for a while which is kind of typical.
36:36So, I think that's um Oh, and then we're we have a opportunity with the Southeast Visitors Bureau, the South Coast Visitors Bureau to um they've set aside $4,000 for NMA to use in marketing and we have to match it with $6,000 and we have people who've offered to donate that, but we're really in a quandry at the moment of do we really need $10,000 for um marketing over this next year? And um
37:25you know, we've already had some events that could have been marketed better. Um we're putting everything on Facebook and that works pretty well. So, that's what we're having to decide over the next uh week or two because it all has to be tied up by the end of the state fiscal year.
37:48And so we have a num NMA has a number of events coming up um like Thanksm there's a night market there's a harvest market and oh and also there's a horror festival is that what it's called um there in October there's a group bringing films to have a film festival for Halloween and it will be in a number of places. One being the police athletic league building will have some the plaza
38:26will have some outdoors and um so so the question is how much money do we want to set aside for marketing and that will um determine how much we get contributed by the Southeast Visitors Bureau. Do those events qualify as PSAs?
38:52What do you mean public service announcements?
38:54Oh, do they qualify for them?
38:57Yeah.
38:57Because that's free, right?
38:59Right. So, I don't know.
39:02I don't know if they qualify. I think they would because they're community oriented.
39:05Yeah.
39:06Right.
39:07So, you probably can get radio, maybe some cable, maybe some uh hell and maybe like maybe channel 10 or 12. They usually have like community events or something like that.
39:18Yeah. I think the key there is we've got to get people organized to get it out to all of those.
39:23Yeah, that's pretty easy.
39:25Yeah.
39:25Yeah. Somebody somebody's just got to reach put some together and reach out to them.
39:29Right.
39:33So that's the NMA update.
39:38Okay. Uh if there's no further matters for the open session, the chair makes finding that open session would have a detrimental effect on negotiating position of the public body. The purpose of the executive session is to approve the executive session minutes for May 19th, 2026 and discuss strategy with respect to potential real estate transactions for properties located at 45 Anowan Street, Fall River, and the
39:57Dval Street Corridor, Fall River. I'll entertain a motion to enter into executive session and we will not return to open session.
40:06Motion to enter executive session and we will not return to open session.
40:10Second John Anderson.
40:12Yes.
40:12Ron, yes.
40:16Thanks everybody.