6.25.2024 City Council

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public come to order quick we call the RO coun kadim here Dion here C here Kilby here Herrera here Pony here Roso here Samson here president here pursuant to the open meeting law any person may make an audio or video recording of this public meeting or may transmit this meeting through any medium attendees are therefore advised such recordings or Transmissions are being made whether perceived or unperceived by

those present and not deemed to acknowledged and permissible motion to open the public hearing motion to open the public hearing has made in second it all in favor I any opposed public hearing is now open we have one item Massachusetts electric company doing business as National Grid and Verizon New England Inc for three new jointly owned pole locations as follows on Robin Street

three new jointly owned pole locations and one new jointly owned uh owned anchor Massachusetts electric company doing business as National GD proposing to install three jointly owned poles and one jointly owned anchor along the west side of Robin Street beginning at a point approximately 175 ft north of the center line of the intersection of Robin Street and Dickerson Street and continuing approximately 245 ft

Northerly proposed poll number three will be set approximately 85 ft north of existing poll number two to service one21 Robin Street poll number four poll number five and the anchor will be set another 80 feet apart continuing nor northernly to service an undeveloped Lot 2 parcel number D- 05- 0035 assesses plan in the future in accordance with plan number 30 9 74496 are there any proponents to this

public hearing any proponents at all please come down state your name and what company you represent for the record I appreciate

it Aaron Roy 1250 Brighton Point Road Somerset representing National Grid good evening Mr President in city council good evening I'm just as you said uh National Grid is requesting three jointly owned polls along the west side of Robin Street and one jointly owned anchor um for the first house being built at 121 Robin Street um polls three will be located on the property line of um 155

and 121 polls four and five and the jointly owned anchor uh will be set um in the future uh for when lot to is developed um these polls will be approximately 80 to 85 ft uh apart from each other uh only with secondaries run no primaries but that concludes thank you very much thank you are there any other proponents seeing none I'll call for any opponents are there any opponents to this public

hearing seeing none motion to close the public hearing St a motion to close the public hearing has been made second and seconded all in favor I any opposed public hearing is now closed go right into Finance city council committee on finance will not come to order the clerk will call the role council is kadim here Dion here har here Hilby here Perera here ponti here Roso here Samson here

president C here pursuant to the open meeting law any person may make an audio or video recording of this public meeting or may transmit this meeting through any medium attendees are there therefore advised that such recordings or Transmissions are being made whether perceived or unperceived by those present and not deemed acknowledged and permissible before we begin to public hearing item number one we have since

this input time we have one individual who signed up prior to Citizens uh prior to the finance and two others who will speak when Finance is over first we have Renee Brown subject matter Public Service I might have signed up for the wrong time anyways my name is Reena Brown of 105 I want to remind everyone we have three minutes Mr Brown three minutes give it two and a half thank you

I just wanted to thank councilwoman Washington and the rest of the counselors for you can see and make yourself comfortable awarding a citation to Christopher Sylvia of uh Christophers um I just want to say that um uh I love Fall River and it's obvious that uh Chris Christopher and Nate love Fall River um he has managed to reinvigorate civic pride by a number of projects and I know him personally and professionally

I don't think he does it to get his name in the paper or to be popular he truly is a humble individual he'll be here later on tonight to receive it and I can tell you he's nervous and excited at the same time but he has done things like has a free library outside of his place of business he organizes volunteers to clean and beautify a is of Fall River and he's invigorated people in the

community to get out there and clean their doorway weed their streets I mean we have a fantastic DPW and they do the best job they can with what they have but it's wonderful to see individuals uh citiz other citizens of Fall River express the same love for Fall River that I can say all of us have and I don't think uh there are many people as deserving as Christopher and R of this

citation and again I want to thank the council for recognizing his ability to engage the community in this make Fall River beautiful again kind of campaign that he's embarked on thank you well said Thank you next we have item number two interviews of the firms provided by the director of financial services regarding quotes for annual independent audit from the following so uh to my colleagues I

think we were we reached out to the three firms and told them if they could make a 15 to 20 minute presentation um I think we should hear all three presentations and then if councilors have questions we can have them come down and answer questions rather than get into questions and you know go on and it'll it'll be quicker that way all right let's hear all three presentations and then the councils have additional

questions we can have everybody come to the table and we can ask them questions accordingly if there's any or you want to refer first I'd like to call up the Markham LLP just state your name please and your address and I think we know where the company is and then just you can begin your presentation and please speak directly into the microphone you can pull it closer to you if need be thank

you hi good afternoon uh we are um representing Mar MP we are uh 100 Westminster Street Street in Providence for Island um my name is Kyle Connor I'm an audit partner out of our Providence office uh having spent the last 15 years of my career dedicated to Municipal auditing uh auditing various cities uh towns school districts utility districts um which is the constructs of the city's

financials um I lived in Fall River for about 10 years I owned a home over by Diamond so I'm very familiar um with the city I live across the bridge now in Somerset so um local to uh the city um very easy access to uh to be on site with you thank you good evening I'm Jim Wilkinson I'm a order partner with Markham again I in the same office as Kyle 100 Westminster Street in

Providence I lead our New England governmental Assurance practice um in that practice within New England we have about a 100 individuals now uh over 400 clients um certainly when Kyle and I put the proposal together we did study the city's finances the scope of the job we you know prepared our proposal accordingly based on the number of hours we anticipated that the engagement would

require uh we did not prepare a formal presentation tonight I our our thought was just to have more question and answer period so I guess our presentation will be rather brief uh and if you do have questions on the proposal which I know you've all seen uh we' be happy to answer those after the other initial presentations thank you thank you next we'll have ha and Sahari and Company

good evening city council uh my name is Andrew Lima I'm here with Megan uh Highland we're here to represent heges atian company um we'll do a brief introduction of the team and um we will then get into a a introduction of the firm U but thank you for the opportunity tonight we're we're pleased to be here um I have 17 years experience in the field um for municipal Finance um performing audits for cities towns

Special Districts um school districts Etc um I hold a uh certification of governmental Finance as well um that I of mained back in 2017 um my role with the team is uh I'm responsible for the uh management of the water work plan the procedures over the financial statement at the field workor level um the compliance testing single audit procedures and the overview of the review of the city's internal controls

which are also done in conjunction with the team uh Megan here has 12 years of experience um some with our firm some with a firm in Providence um um she's a licensed CPA in Massachusetts uh her role is similar to mine in that of the audit um we're both the team leaders as as we put it um we have two staff members um who work for us as well Robert Russell and nilson Trinidad um

Robert has seven years experience um he's since been promoted from senior to supervisor U Megan was promoted as well your proposal indicates otherwise as it's dated of April uh Nelson has three years um with our firm um Mary the partner Mary sahti uh over 40 years experience um she uh has the role of ensuring that the firm system of quality control is in place um she reviews our

workpapers um the financial reports all the um documentation behind the scenes that are acquired um based on the audit standards um and I think it's important to to note that our team performs most of the transaction testing um Mary doesn't come out and do any of that it's it's a very high level review um if there were to be any findings recommendations Etc that they're going to come from our team um from the field

level um we're located right down the right down the road uh 126 President Avenue um our firm currently has 17 employees 10 of those are audit staff um the rest are tax and legal um we anticipate staff and for individuals to the city's audit or should we be awarded the contract um as I mentioned earlier our specialty is uh government Finance governmental audits um I'd say 95% of our time is is spent in that

field we do have a few for-profit audits Etc um but this team is predominantly uh Municipal only and um my team is beyond that predominantly Massachusetts only with the exception of a few um clients um we're the current Auditors for the city in Bedford also the city of adoro um as well as the town of SE gunk in the town of Middleboro um we also have uh extensive experience with assisting our clients to

prepare for the uh submission of the annual comprehensive financial report um and for those of you that are not familiar that's a uh technical award certification that um you present your financial statements on front of of board similar to yourself and um it is graded um for technical Excellence uh according to the gfoa so that's the uh body that runs the award process the government finance officer Association

uh for fiscal year 2022 only uh 1,855 awards were earned Nationwide um for those municipalities with a population under 300,000 residen um one of those 1855 uh was the city of New bford which W in 2022 which is uh one of the audits that we assist with um 47 across the Commonwealth were awarded um that obviously excludes Boston because their population is higher than 300,000 um for further details regarding

our experience and and our references those are on page 31 of our technical proposal uh we consider ourselves to be leader in servicing governmental organizations and we feel like we're the most qualified firm to perform the city's audit um we're going to go through a basic guid line of the audit objectives in the audit process and work plan um I'm going to start off and then we'll we'll hand it off to Megan

um the audit of the city's financials will be conducted in accordance with uh US government uh excuse me uh generally accepted auditing standards uh it will also be conducted um with those standards applicable to the governmental auditing standards and also the standards with respect to the single audit that are in uniform guidance um our audit objectiv is for the purpose of expressing an opinion on

the fair presentation of the city's financials in accordance with gap or generally accepted accounting principles um audits do not make a detailed examination of all transactions only those that are deemed material which is left up to our professional judgment um based on our risk assessment um for example in the first year audit we'll only be looking at the transactions from July 2023 to uh June

2024 um prior transactions will have already been audited so you know including your grants so your arpa your Esser Community Development clean water uh grants anything like that you might have um we'll also evaluate the city's internal control systems and we'll identify any findings we might have or other recommendations and we'll communicate those to you um we're also available to provide any

other technical assistance the city requires as requested um typically in the municipal setting uh the audit firm assists with the drafting of the financial statements and the city um has to designate someone who has the skill knowledge and experience in uh signing off and and um ensuring that those non- audit services are performed correctly and that they understand them um uh anytime the city uh needed help with

the preparation of the schedule of expenditures of federal Awards we could we could provide that service as well um and we have also assisted with free cash certifications in the past that again are um signed off on by the city um early in the audit process uh the city will be provided with an engagement letter and it's going to outline the services uh to be performed um such items that'll be on there are

the audit scope and objectives auditor responsibility the audit procedures over internal controls the audit procedures over compliance with laws and regulations Grant agreements Etc uh other services to be provided should those be the non-audit services that I mentioned earlier um Management's responsibility with respect to the financial statements in the single audit um the engagement

Administration and fees so you know uh the fee for the audit how it will be built Etc um and also the issuance of what reports we're going to issue at the end of the audit um we request that both management and governance so typically the city council president sign off on that letter to acknowledge that they've that they've seen it and that they understand it um after that audit engagement letter is signed the city

will be provided with the general audit request listing um which list the major items needed to get the audit going um for example the listing will contain requests for the city's trial balance reports both in summary and detail format uh Capital asset and depreciation schedules that are typically prepped by the city um the Actuarial valuations over pension and opem uh City and school

Grant documents uh among other items that's usually a 100 Point list or more for a city of this size um as we progress through the detailed testing obviously we'll request other detailed transaction uh listings and City management will provide those and and we'll go from there um so I'm going to turn over the presentation now to Megan Megan's going to talk uh with you about the audit work plan and the audit

approach and also the reports that we issue at the end of the audit uh thank you um so our audit work plan or audit approach will be organized in five phases which are further detailed in the technical proposal starting on page 15 uh number one planning and risk assessment um establishing an overall audit strategy calculating materiality obtaining knowledge of the internal control system in the control

environment um we'll review policy and procedure manuals um meeting minutes um number two system evaluation and tested controls we will perform tested controls in order to place Reliance on those controls or for the purpose of other instances where substantive procedures cannot produce sufficient appropriate audit evidence number three fieldwork or substantive procedures which include analytical

procedures and tested details of the city's trial balances um that will include uh our proposals of audit adjustments where necessary uh complet and number four completion final analytics and followup um evaluating the sufficient sufficiency and appropriateness of the audit evidence collect collecting additional evidence where necessary uh determine final materiality and evaluate any

misstatements identified we will propose any other audit adjustments necessary and we'll begin to summarize any findings number five reporting and presentation includes a technical review of the workpapers and draft drafting reports and obtaining a formal management response to the final draft reports upon completion of the audit the reports that'll be issued which are anticipated to be filed no later than

February 28th of it of each year um further details on that are also in the technical proposal starting on page 10 uh the independent Auditor's opinion on whether the financial statements present fairly the respective financial position of the city as of each June 30th an independent audit auditor report on the city's compliance on internal control over financial reporting based on an

audit of the financial statement ments performed in accordance with government auditing standards this report will communicate any significant deficiencies or material weaknesses identified during the audit uh an Auditor's report on the city's compliance for each major federal program on internal control over compliance and also on the schedule of expenditures of federal Awards a management letter which would include

other comments and recommendations Beyond those included on the reports in the reports on internal control and compliance um two retirement reports uh one uh an independent audit report over the financial statements of the Fall River uh retirement system and an independent audit report over the schedule of employer allocations and schedule of pension amounts by employer of the follow over uh contributor sorry s it's

okay retirement system um and then there's two agreed upon procedures reports um for fall R school district one is the end of year report and the other is um for Student Activity funds and we will also be available to make a formal presentation of the results of the audit to the finance committee and city council at the conclusion of all audits thank you thank you thank you very

much next we'll have roselli clock and Associates

those cheap microphones uh good evening honorable members of the uh Fall River City Council um you would have been provided a uh very brief uh PowerPoint presentation um I'm going to quickly go through a lot of this um sounds like the question and answer section is really going to be have to speak up and give us your names put the microphone closer to my name is terenzio velli and this is argano we represent

the firm of roselli Clark and Associates certified public accountants with offices in wuber Massachusetts and Hopedale Massachusetts um again the PowerPoint presentation that you have is a um only about 10 pages long um a little firm snapshot The Firm was founded in 1988 under the name of tuci and roselli so it's about 35 years old uh our current client base represents nearly a quarter

of all Massachusetts cities and towns we're engaged in Auditors for 80 City Massachusetts cities and towns and over 82 other Municipal districts entities um school districts and pension systems approximately 90% of the firm's revenues are in the form of governmental services and it's managed by four CPAs with a combined experience of 127 years um the average is 32 years uh both Paul

and myself uh are celebrating our 29th anniversary in the industry this year congratulations thank you um there's about 20 professional staff in the firm and 11 of them are CPAs and we stress quality service with a personalized approach um you can see in the next section how we divide the municipal division we have what we refer to as our a for reporting unit um municipal Consulting accounting and audit um as

well as the single audit in uh school end of the year reports on the next slide you can see the our growth um in 2008 we had about 17 Massachusetts cities and towns and we've grown to over 80 um cities and towns at this point that's a compound annual growth rate of 10.9% um The Firm has been um growing at Leaps and Bounds uh we're all members of the American uh Institute of certified public

accountants uh the gak Q the Massachusetts Society of certified public accountants uh in fact we chair the um uh governmental accounting and audit group uh this year and actually last year also um we do acur reviews and acur um as Mr Lima had explained to you is a um uh essentially reporting uh award system we're members of the Massachusetts Municipal Association and we subscribe to Thompson Reuters

practitioners public uh practitioners publishing companies or PPC um as I mentioned uh we are active in the mscpa the mass Society of certified public accountants with governmental accounting and auditing committee currently Tony roselli our managing partner and Don Pat a senior manager in our firm uh chair that committee we currently hold five seats on that committee and this committee

meets once a month um along with all the other CPA firms and uh within the state and we talk about what what's the hot topics of the day um new accounting pronouncements what's happening at the OMB what's happening at uh desie what's happening at the Department of Revenue Deb Wagner the um head of division of local Services is a regular attendee as is Jay sulliv from the Desi uh we

discuss policy initiatives and positions um and and essentially work these new developments before they they come into effect the next page we just talk about some of the discussion topics that we've LED over the uh last several years won't bore you with a lot of this um but uh some of them refer to uh fraud OPB how to read your financial statements guide to improving Bond ratings Student Activities um and single

audit the three Partners assigned to this firm Are myself I a lead client service partner Paul Gargano uh manages the single audit and Tony roselli does the um concurring review um more detailed um resumés and biographies are included in the full response to your RFP uh but these are some of the the highlights again uh both Paul and I are 95 graduates and uh started our careers

um uh with with several different public companies um public accounting firms uh Tony started in 1984 uh with deoe in tution is then founded this firm so we have a significant experience in this area as I mentioned we have 162 current Municipal audit clients that's six cities 74 towns and there's 82 other Municipal districts and entities and since our Inception we've issued approximately a thousand single audits

over the last 35 years um the next slide just shows some of the representative clients that are somewhat similar to the city of uh Fall River we do Fall River Chelsea Malden Medford n Tucket malbro Falmouth and Gloucester and then finally there's a um a graphic on the back uh just some things to think about in evaluation criteria you know what is the municipal experience of your firm

that uh that you're working with again um we're looking at about 32 years per audit partner um similar experiences with Community types we have a lot of uh cities that we work with within Massachusetts um the experience of the assigned staff the staff that has been assigned to the city's audit uh is rather senior um is seasoned obviously there are new staff that brought in every year um but I spent about 80% of

the field work here myself um so you have a high degree of partner involvement um related technical experience again with thought leaders uh lead a lot of the U the mscpa uh conferences and discussions um we have a commitment to meeting deadlines um what's our problem solving skills and then our commitment to Excellence which I think um I'd like to think that uh we do quite well in that

area again Mr Lima touched upon in his presentation all the aspects of a financial statement on it they're pretty much the same for every single firm we have to follow a set um guidelines thank you all right thank you so at this point I'll ask the other two people other two groups that come down now and you can all set the table together and then open up the questions for my colleagues and you can answer

them as they're addressed to your particular company if you don't mind the can move those

CH counc C counc Samson I believe you had your hand up first I just um have some thank you council president I just have um a comment and then some questions for um ha and sah so um first of all let me just come out the gate and say Mary sahadi one of the partners on your firm is an extremely intelligent and capable individual I admire her in fact I'd love

to see her come back as uh our CFO someday she's amazing um with that being said I do believe that she was the one who hired um roselli and Clark um prior to being here she is brilliant um my concern is there are some concerns that I have with that and I'm wondering what you think about that under your own CPA um ethical guidelines and the code of conduct under Section integrity and

objectivity um you know when I read that I I have some concern there because it talks about um auditing of a practice that you've seen and not just a person not the auditing but even an agency so when I read that language in there I think that there may be um some our own code of ethic violation for CPA and so that that's a problem for me what does that look like on the

broader Community I understand and respect first of all I love my for of people you'll write down the street I you know I would love nothing more but um I trust Mary sahadi's judgment in the fact where she um has put in uh roselli and Clark that came before us I questioned the own CPA code of conduct I don't know I'm sure you've read that and it's been brought to your attention and

and you may disagree I have some concern there um so in no way shape or form does that reflect on my thoughts about Mary sahadi's capability at all but um that coupled with the fact that it wasn't the lowest bitter um you know I just have some really concerns there with what that looks like um for the community at large for her overseeing that and from my vote there you know there's a lot of

other votes so with that council president I will yield but thank you point of information Mr President um with all due respect to my colleague in SE 8 I think she asked Hagen sahi's firm a question and they never answered it I don't have the right answer I would like to hear the answer because she they let him answer it oh okay would you like me to answer yes yes

okay um so uh based on the conversation that I had with Mary um she's looked into to the ethical uh standards that you've mentioned um she's called the ethics board and they said that there shouldn't be an issue um I know she's been removed from City Hall for a number of years um again as I tried to make a point when we were making a presentation um you know the transactions under audit are those

transactions from fiscal 24 um and there shouldn't be any issues at this point um based on that um while we do look at the beginning balances um you know those were audited by oreli and Clark so you know we trust the fact that they're they're likely very accurate and you know we'll just take it from there we're award the contract does that answer your question that answer I I disagree the the the the

and can I answer can I re I the the there shouldn't be a problem that that's that's my reputation here there shouldn't be you know so I understand what you're saying that's just might there there is you know eight other votes here but that's just kind of where I stand but I with that I highly respect your organization but I I have some problem there so I coun I think the

point he's trying to make is that you they're going to these these one of these three groups will audit the in um do an audit of last year's budget which Mary had no participation in or the prior year or the prior year to that know I understand that but if you there is some funding that could be down with some of the Opera funding that they're looking at and it does say um

objectivity even she's not she doesn't even have her hands in on it but in their own ethical guideline it does state that um an agency if it's your agency and so it's just the the perception of that how that looks it just doesn't sit right with me but that's just myself and um in no way shape or form on uh what I think about Mary sah again I think she's fantastic

and make a great CFO for the CFL Riv I just have one question so I understand everyone realizes who Mary Sahari is and her relationship to this firm but how do any of us know with any of these other companies has someone who worked in the government Central well is now working for that firm as well so and because they're auditing the books as was starting from last year and Mary had no

involvement in any of those prior years up until the time she left it's that's what to being audited that's the only Point yeah Council I we disagree yeah we disagree on it respectfully thank you Council T4 Council kobby yes I don't want to put word words and counselor Aid's mouth but I think she she's just going with her instincts a little you know yeah we all do that's a good thing

so um but that's clear up for me that I was going to ask a question and I withdrew it the council president um allowed me to do that and I was going to ask how back how far back you go and you answer the question so you don't go back when she was here so correct we only have to do like a an opening balance audit um and then it's it's right into

the so that's split up for me right so um a full disclosure for me um as well I'm sure everyone's gonna say that Mary Mary Saudi is a small person I I I like her very very much manactor partner is my backyard neighbor funny story his golden retriever snuck in my house last year okay so but that's not going to not going to gear my decision here okay um I

think councelor in SE one made a great point about the lowest bid here um and I'm showing my hand okay U maybe the dog won't come over anymore I don't know but uh um I'm looking at this gentlemen these people gentl the 25% of your workload is other communities in the state 25% of cities and the 365 City and towns or what close num close 36 it's like 2% 23% yeah 80 to 80 into 35 I

think that's important doing doing comparables and I'm not an uder but comparing that whole workload that you have with the city of Fall River and I see other Gateway cities here as well and your bid was the lowest bid was it yes I believe it was I believe it was I don't know how much by how much but I Council I think made a great point and that's I think we have

to do here so how long have you been doing the audits for the city right now uh councilman Kilby we've completed our fifth audit okay and I have no complaints about about uh your performance that would be a reason for me to change I'm being resp that would be my reason to change if there was some compl every time you come in here you answer our questions very professionally very eth eth

ethically and I've learned something today that uh the the base that you have throughout the state is is wonderful and that's important I know you haven't St yet um that's very important to me so um I wasn't really going to ask any questions because quite frankly I made my decision prior to this um and um um the final question okay percentage wise the bid was lower the second one as I see you do

our retirement system as well that is correct is that separate is that a separate request for proposal no that's included within this uh proposal it is a separate engagement there a separate uh engagement letter but it is the pricing is all included in here it's an all- end price does any other firm at this table do both our audit and a retirement system in our city we do that for the City of New

Bedford but not forward obviously not forward yes okay so that that's significant for me too that we have you doing your firm doing both and you've been consistent over the last 5 years and your bid's the lowest so I could easily say I'm voting for my neighbor I could easily say I'm going to vote for uh Miss Miss Sahar who I do have respect for as well but I I don't

think I'd be comfortable doing that so you have my support you have my vote thanks for coming down and um I'm I'm actually glad that we're having these interviews because it it just solidifies why I'm making the choice I'm making that's the only reasons there's no other reason okay I you thank you councelor that's why we have him councilor C1 Council kadim thank you Mr President uh can I just make a uncomfortable

situation a little bit more uncomfortable and ask the administration to come down to the table sure I don't care who it is no just don't want you to miss out on the fun you can move those chairs to the end of the table thank

you Council Kadeem you have the floor thank you Mr President uh so as I mentioned before my line of question is not necessarily I don't know how we got all intertangled with Mary sahadi and this audit has become about Mary sahadi so I want to make sure it's not about Mary sahadi and it's about just doing the Performing the financial audits for the city um so as I mentioned when we when

this first came before us and we referred it to finance committee um that this was exempt from 30b so we followed even though it's exempt we don't need to go through a procurement process but we chose to still go through with the procurement process and and from my understanding that the inspector General if you if you have a conversation with the inspector General and you ask the

question with regards to going through a procurement process even though it's exempt they would highly recommend that you continue to follow uh the procrea as if it were required so that being said I know you refer to it as an RFQ but for 30b it's it's an RFP process so part of that um so the council is is tasked with making a decision here but in terms of the bid that went out and I probably

should have asked you this before but it truly just came to me now so I apologize was there is there any other evaluation criteria that was established in the RFP that these firms need to be evaluated on or is it solely just going to be price so the evaluation criteria in the RFP um well I mean there there was more or less a rubric that everyone um followed in their submission

uh which is why the submissions are are somewhat similar um they answered the questions that were posed in the RFP and it really did come down to price um while this is exempt from 30b our ordinance does suggest that the council follows a competitive bid process and then by putting out an RFP uh I think we're sort of following the same guidance from the IG which is that once

you put it on RFP you really are now on track to be following 30b guidelines um and so at this point even though I think you know not that my opinion really matters in this particular situation while these interviews may be helpful they're certainly outside of the the scope of the RFB so there wasn't any criteria in terms of uh number of years who's going to be part of the staff um

number of cities or anything like that that were that was highlighted to be either advantageous not advantageous and that wasn't defined in the RFP right you know I don't have the RF I mean it's been a while since I've seen the RFP um bri can answer that question yeah it was that was not defined it was not okay so I I just cuz I want to make sure that if

if that's if that was one of the criteria that was established in the RFP then obviously as a as a council we need to follow that and so I just want to make sure that that's being followed that's that's the only reason I asked that because I know people are having discussion about Instinct and everything along those lines I guess what I would would say is is that everybody's going to have to follow you know generally

accepted accounting practices anyways right so all three firms um all three firms um have a great reputation have performed audits within the uh Commonwealth um also in Rhode Island so from my standpoint to me I I I would assume and this is just my own personal opinion that if there is no evaluation criteria for us to be able to which has been established prior to you know the RFP

going out then it comes down to price right so from from my standpoint anything outside of that um I I think you know could potentially have a a protest not suggesting that any of firms would would protest so I don't necessarily have any particular questions uh for the firms I think they're all reputable um I'm I'm happy that we had three qualified firms that that came before us I guess what I will will say and we'll

we'll take a vote but you know comes back down to the financial policies that we we have discussed because I know some some of my colleagues do have some concerns which are um legitimate questions uh about the number of years um you know an audit firm should should be conducted an audit for for a community I think part of our financial policies should establish whether that's six years eight years nine years 12

years um I I think it would just make a lot easier for the city council to be able to make these types of decision I don't I don't necessarily believe that we should be um moving on from a from an audit firm after six years because I know how much work it takes for the initial contract uh establishing that that first year and then just having the work that's put in for year two and

three that it makes more sense to at least have a two-year contract so at a minimum I think six years is where we should be now whether that goes to 9 or or 12 years I I think think somewhere along the line that needs to be mutually agreed upon by you know the administration and if it's our responsibility to make the uh the decision on the audit firm then I I

think the council should have some input but I think if we had that in place then it would alleviate some of this discussion that's before us um so that's all I'll say I don't necessarily have any particular questions for the firms so I thank you Council Council seat six Council P thank you Mr President um so just a couple of questions for um our current firm uh um roselli Clarken Associates first off

um I I want to make sure that in your current um scope that you're currently performing for the city council by way of the city of Fall River because the council pays for this audit I just want to make everybody aware of that this isn't necessarily an audit that is on the city this is the city council's responsibility by the charter to make sure that we're conducting an independent audit of the city's finances

okay so that's that's my first comment have your audits all been with the exception of the covid year been submitted to the administration on time the financial statements have been presented within 270 uh 270 days of year end which is required for your continuing disclosures each and every year is that by Charter or is that by uh Municipal law uh that's um you need have the 270 days that's for um the

continuing disclosures that are submitted to the um as part of your uh fundraising going out to the public with uh your general obligation bonds okay all right I was just asking so you so they have submitted them timely yeah okay um I was just asking um I don't know when it comes to rfps or rfqs if change orders are a possibility have you ever in your experiences seen uh an audit firm their scope of work

tend to increase uh and a change order would be uh possible through the purchasing RFP RFQ process so before there's a response and those responses are open you can certainly have amendments uh but once there are responsive bids to the RFP executing a change order really kind of moves the goalpost right I that's not something you would ordinarily see okay so that answered my question as well um

look I I um I can count so um I don't want to sit here and belabor the point uh I can count to five still um that hasn't changed um but one thing I want to look back at and recognize is that I did initially object to just moving on from the lowest bidder um due to the fact that this is a five-year contract it's almost a million dollar and I wanted as one counselor wanted to

hear from all of the firms that submitted their RFP to the the city council so I could hear what their scope you know more about their firm and about their scope some some some of my colleagues and I who I respect very much want to make this about a former CFO who was here that's not what I was looking for I was looking for more of an honest debate about where we're going as a as a

city council because this is our audit and I wanted to make sure that we heard it loud and clear about what these firms are going to do for the city Council and the taxpayers um so I I I just I just want to make it that I I feel that regardless of the city council's vote tonight that um we did our job tonight by hearing the firms that are submitting over a million

dollar almost a million dollar RFQ uh to the city council and and I think that needs to be a practice that we have going forward when this contract is up after the votes are culated here tonight in terms of where everybody's going um so I I I'm hopeful that that could be a process that the council can adopt going forward because I think this is important um to my colleague in C1

who commented and I know a couple of others have also commented that all three of these all three of the firms before us are reputable respected and honorable firms so any comments given by any of the uh colleagues tonight that were may have been directed at an individual person I want to just have the record reflect from my standpoint that all of the firms are reputable the people in the firms are reputable the

people in the firms hold CPA licenses and have code of ethics that they need to adhere to for their own license so um I just want to state that as well so um for now I'll yield thank you Mr pres thank you coun I don't think any councel was trying to downplay one fir better than the other I just think there was question that they were concerned with I only have one qu C C5 Council vice

president pero y the only um question that I would have and I agree that every firm is very reputable the question that I would would have is I do have family members that are Auditors and friends um and one of the questions that they said was do you know if all these firms I guess there's something called a yellow book where everyone who audits needs to have 80 hours every two years does every

single person in these three firms have that just questioning that yeah so our team we have to do the the 8 hours every two years um every individual who works on the audit and a certain number of those hours actually has to be focused on um uh Municipal Finance they have to have that y Mr relli same for our firm as well and your firm yes we uh require

the same CPE as the other firms do um from a staffing perspective everyone in our firm who supervisor above would be a certain by public accountant that was basically the only question I had um and over the past five years since roselan clar has been doing here I have called to ask a question and um people at that firm were very responsive to the questions that I had and and I

appreciate it and I thank you for that um to my colleague to my left who talked about you know uh maybe we should do this more often every five years when we're looking for an audit perhaps the council should be charged with doing the RFP is there something else of the RFP that maybe the council would want um that's just a Sugg suggestion for the future that might work

but I think that myself I have to go with the lowest bid because every single one of you is going to do the same job that the city needs to have done and I haven't had an issue with the auditing firm that we have so that's all I have to say and thank you all I think you all do a wonderful job and I don't think that I would ever want to be an auditor

because that's like too focused for me so I thank you that you have the ability to stay focused and do that with that I yield thank you thank you Council I just have one question for our three firms and just throw the number out there you don't have to mention what municipalities or towns it is but how many municipalities or towns you currently do the audits for now do you currently do the order four now just

just curious to all three is it 10 cities in town 15 20 25 uh answering for relli Clark Associates we do 80 cities and towns in Massachusetts thank you the next group please from Mar including ourth practice and governmental units it's over 5 okay thank you next uh H Haiti um including cities towns Special Districts Etc we're at 40 entities a year thank you very much con2 did you have your

hand up yes uh basically I only have one comment of course as usual it's me so according to the Charter right here City Charter um at least every 5 years the city council shall conduct a competitive procurement process to retain these auditing Services the city council did not perform the the the city council did not do that the administration did so do we have a problem with that I'll yield thank you

question for another day I I want to thank all three Firs for coming down and I think your presentations were very professional and respectful and uh I want to thank you all for coming down thank you there's no thank

you do the and thank you motion or refer the item to full Council second just motion to refer to full Council has been made and seconded all in favor I any opposed C4 counc kby all set yeah um I would ask that we take that item first I think we have h two counselors one that is not feeling well and another had medical emergency we can we can make the

motion when the council me just to take it out of order that's fine okay all right motion has been made and second it all in favor I any opposed motion carries

next move on to item number three we have an appro transfer that the sum of 100,000 being the same as hereby transfer to opioid settlement revolving fund from op opioid stabilization fund any questions no motion full Council already there it's already in Council Council that's just discussion item number six on the agenda next transfer in accordance with provision of chapter 44

section 32 of Massachusetts general laws I recommend the F appropriation to your honorable body that the sum of 6, 400,000 be and the same as hereby transferred and to the stabilization fund from the fiscal year 23 Surplus Revenue con seat six consy thank you Mr President can the administration come down for this clarify explain what this is 6.4 million transation

Miss Alman could you explain um what this is $6.4 million transfer is for the public and for the council so the 6.4 million is the balance remaining of the free cash that was cert certified for this year and so we're moving it to our stabilization fund that we need to do that before June 30th okay I I understand that with curiosity how was it that um which is good budget

practicing I can add um that we were able to have 6.4 million of free cash in FY 23 so what that's that's a that's a high number so if I may counc just for point of clarification I think the amount was higher than that this is what's left correct this is the balance that's left yes could you tell us what the entire B the it was 15.9 or around it was over just over 15

million thank you is is that in your experience is that high to see almost $16 million in free cash so it's not typical of Prior years but it's typical of what's been going on in in Massachusetts currently so there was many municipalities and I wasn't prepared but I do have that that had um significantly High free cash certifications this year what and what's what's the what's the main reason for

that your experience and what you've seen well so there was a lot of arpa money that was being put into cities and towns so there was a lot of um we personally had investment income a significantly High investment income so our revenues came in higher than budgeted and we also had some turn backs in our on our expense side due to there was a lot of vacancies that weren't filled are you expecting that kind of a

surplus going into the in the year that was just passed by the council I mean we're the year that was just passed yeah the budget that was just passed it starts July 1st um that's a little premature to to know that at this point okay all right I thank you thank you m I do have a question on the Investments that we were able to generate thank God that the interest rates you know are

where they are are we going to continue that type of aggressive inv investments in or not should say aggressive are we going to continue that do we have the ability to do that again or was that something that just the Opera money allowed us to do it do we so the oper money allowed us to to put a significant amount of um cash into to work for the city we

as the oper money is being spent and we're monitoring those cash flows uh we do expect that to start to off yeah but we are we're we're monitoring cash flows on projects so that we're not um expending out the city's money um so that we can continue to make the the money work I mean the the plan is to keep growing the stabilization fund so that we can have investment

income that we can use yearly to then do like you know buy police cars and do those those Capital purchases and and we're trying to move away from just borrowing or those kinds of things yeah no I get it I I I think it's a good plan if it can make it work and if we don't have to break the backs of all the residents in the meantime but I I you

know I'm I'm glad that we were able to invest that money I give you kudos for that invest the money and when the interest rates are high yeah let's invest it and get it and take advantage of that oper money that wasn't being used um how much more how much oper money is there left that we can use to continue to invest U I think we have over 30 million invested of our

money still and when do we have to spend the Opera money by next year or this well the cash has to be spent by 2026 okay so the obligation is is December 31st they yeah okay thank you so much any further questions counc C1 counc Kim thank you Mr President um so just in terms of the opioid stabilization fund so taking $100,000 into the revolving fund so did we already establish the

revolving fund it's in your packet to establish tonight oh okay so what's the um spending limits you that we're looking it's um 500,000 that we it's in the you should have it in your packet apparently haven't looked at it um so we talking to um the health department and along with the uh opioid stabiliz um the committee that's formed and the the rest of the administration they believe 500,000 um

would be a good I mean we if we have to spend more we' come back so I guess my my question would be that you know obviously the opio stabilization fund has very specific restrictions right it's going to require 2/3 vote to come out why wouldn't we just put the $2 million into the revolving fund just and obviously there's a limit for how much can be spent on a year but then that

then you don't need to come back to the to the council for any type of transfers or anything like that see so if you move it all into the revolving fund then um you also can't use the stabilization investment so by having some of it in having it in the stabilization fund we're investing that we're trying to you know y all right without a yel thank you thank you councelor D you no further

questions thank you very much unless you want to stay case one for the next for the appropriation it's up to you move on to item 7A in accordance with the provisions of chapter 44 section 32 Master external laws I Rec the following appropriation to The Honorable body that the sum of $551,000 75 being the same as hereby appropriated to EMS salaries in the amount of 297,000 and EMS health insurance in the amount of

$253,500 for the sum for the EMS fund free cash any questions no entertain a motion that's Council motion to me in second all in favor I okay let care Appropriations and the transfers last we have two more individuals that signed up Caesar Carlo Caesar subject matter proposition two and a half

override Mr President um City councils good night I'm so happy for the good news that we taxpayer got over taxed $6 million $16 million I'm so happy for that I'm here tonight as for River resident taxpayer and neighborhood leader to oppose not only the proposed placing of a ballot question considering uh proposing to over or two and a half override but any consideration of additional increasement

in new taxes until our government can get its financials house in order until there is a full accountability transparency and fiscal restraint not one more Penny of our money should be spent this Administration has in two plus terms never made any meanful attempt to control spending even the slighted attempted to control spending tight belt or be transparent about any of our financial

liabilities has been invoid like the pled the threat to people's to public saf is unbelievable and is obvious that this Administration likes to threat the city council and the people do we know how much we pay for dery or how much we pay in lawsuits and anything in between all this and more weans hiring from the taxpayers whose money is paying the bills and now you want us to give you

more and if you don't you will try to say that it's our fault because we didn't give you more money to hide until you as our um body legislative body stop robbing stamping the mayor's taxes and spending without accountability will never stop this things as such contracts without insurance we have the ability to pay without knowing if we have the ability to pay this things and I quote we are

looking at some Investments down the road and quote and admitting that the fact that we could be laying off personal down the road yet you still vote to spend money we don't have this is exactly what brought us over here to a place where would uh will now again Ask the taxpayers and the citizens of for River to pay bills again you have 15 seconds asking us to vote at override

for a project that you didn't even allow us to vote in the first place the only investment that will save forever is investing in people of for River not to those who hope will someday leave here or to who or those take their Propet try to wrap it up Mr Caesar or those to take the prophets away from our city thank you city ccil thank you thank you thank you I just just I just can't

um go without making a comment of what his open statement was that the residents of for over tax $15 million Council seat 6 asked the question to the CFO how did we come up with the Surplus money and she clearly stated a large part of that money was money that we invested the Opera money and gained an huge amount of Interest so it wasn't over tax it was money that was generated

through an investment that they made a large part of that now we can ask the administration at some point in time to break down how many vacancies would return back and also put into the budget savings but it was not $15 million what people were over taxed and we sat right there and heard when she said she gave an honest answer to an honest question I don't want anyone to come down here and

misc conscrew that into something else because it's not fair to the residents that are watching this thinking they were over taxed by $15 million next no no no clapping please I I I didn't do that for cluse I just wanted to make a clear statement next we have Nelson Vasquez subject matter for

River good evening council president and uh good evening city city councilors you know when when jel left office I think his last budget stood at I think what 13 million around the golf and I looked at the recent budget that passed and I I believe was a little over 400 million $430 something million and we are basically I think $64 million or close to that to crossing the threshold of

$500 million half almost half of a billion doar for a municipal budget coming soon because it appears that this government does not have the desire to reain in the spending and tying the belt because if you continue operating in this fashion you're going to continue squeezing the tax pay and that has a human toll and look I'm not a homeowner yet but you don't need to be a homeowner to stand up for homeowners that

squeezing the tax pay causes a lot of economic hardship on them and pretty soon it's going to price them out out of their homes that they've paid for Through Blood Through Blood Sweat and Tears and it's just sad when you see numerous homeowners put their tax bills online in full disclosure to show the obscene increases just in two years I an 84 year-old who's on Social Security is

saying that she can't even bother to fom to pay the bills that ever increasing including Water and Sewer SE rates and now the city is attempting to place a another question on the ballot that I believe the city did not follow the proper procedures for the dery vote because the ballot clearly explains the how the city didn't follow the procedures there and now this so you're talking about two schools all the tax

increases two and a half the question is when is he enough going to be enough and and and when is there going to be a strive to tighten the belt because sooner or later you know the homeowners they're not ATM machines they don't have unlimited funds pretty soon they're going to be so constrained and and quite frankly big government comes at a cost and that just cannot be sustained but I

I'll end with this you know all this stuff talk talking about um you know property taxes and stuff going up it appears to me that this city is assigning very questionable property assessments and to me I looked that one you know you have a property here luxury building uh this one is I believe is over 20,000 Square ft beautiful bu seconds now sir yes sir um so since I

don't have the time but uh in the coming months uh this information will come out because I believe that this that the taxpayers are getting disrespected and uh this type of practice cannot continue at all and it is an absolute disgrace as to the n as to the numbers that I just just seen just now thank you thank you very much thank you Nelson thank

you there be no further business for finance motion what's that oh I'm sorry clerk is informed that she did receive a letter from someone who wants to have his requested so she will read since put time was written to sent to the office mam CL can you also identify who it was city council president members of the city council my name is CJ Ferry and I reside at 300 Buffington Street and am a property

owner and follow of a taxpayer over the past couple of years the city with the consent of the city council has increased the city budget in the spending of the authoritarian government on the sixth floor the resulting taxes and fees are bankrupting our property owners and is resulting in higher and higher rents which increase homelessness when this Administration gets a no from the city council or any other body they

continue to press with representing the same requests in hopes that you will give in before you tonight is a request to place on the ballot a proposition two and a half override to be presented to the voters this is unacceptable and the fact that the city council president would allow items such as this proposition two and a half override be presented again is unacceptable and shows a lack of fortitude or as it is

known in the r world no backbone the city council president should recall that he was the lead in not supporting a debt exclusion or proposition to and a half override and the council denied this request before any claims that the school will not be built or it is for the children are false as the school is already under construction and will be built regardless of how the city pays

for it the taxpayers have lost faith in the council and already feel overtaxed because of the excessive spending of the administration the fall r a taxpayer still does not know how much they're paying for the debt exclusion as it still does not appear on our tax bills where is the transparency before the city council or the administration starts to look at more taxes to feed its excess excessive spending a good hard

look at the number of positions and pay increases that have been given by the administration we saw in the budget hearings that the administration hires people for positions not in ordinance and when a city counselor tried to eliminate that line item that councelor was guilted into leaving the item in places as they would not receive a paycheck the fact that the illegal hiring was going to no longer receive a

paycheck from the city is the fault of the authoritarian Administration how many people were hired with arpa funds and are now being put into the budget which the city cannot afford I would suggest that you review the minutes of the full River Retirement Board where the CFO for the city said that they the city cannot afford its retirement contributions and the city is asking for concessions from collective bargaining

un units no concessions have been requested fora can no longer afford excess Taxation and threats to Public Safety need to stop if the administration desires to cut Public Safety that is his choice but remember you are not holding him accountable I ask that you not consider the request for a prop 2 and a half override and table it or deny it outright I know that there are at least three bobbleheads

that will vote for it because it's proposed by the administration it is obvious that they have forgotten who they represent the people I will remind you what Joseph CRA said when it came before the council before we built all those new schools without a debt exclusion until dery is time to take control of the taxes and not allow the increase by an apparent authoritarian leader respectfully CJ fery thank you I

stand by what I said we did build all the schools without that exclusion I have one question please Council C4 Council Kilby um we I I don't know maybe this a question for another time the for Corporation councel or assistant Corporation councel I don't want him to come down now but we've always had citizens input we had individuals show up and then that changed because of covid so I I

understand um in terms of some people who maybe can't physically come but we really don't know we have a we have a name but and an address and a letter but we really have no verification who it came from right you could have wrote that letter put his name to it yeah any I could put CH uh Charlie choa in there yeah so it's just something to be discussed especially when things are

inflammator said I agree and and it's like send it an email or pass it a note in high school and and you're not here to say point I agree it's easy to ridicule someone and not be here I think there was a time sense former Corporation Council May made a judgment that letters formally written were to be addressed by the C I'm not sure was it point I don't want

to but it's a question for another day I wasn't here during Co I was actually still here how you thank you thank you councel motion1 counc yeah so I mean if we're going to ask the question to the corporation councel I think there's an ADA standpoint from that I believe right it's true so if anybody has any type of handicap they have the authority to submit the the letter so I mean I don't

I don't think we sit there and and you know ask for doctor's notes in terms of somebody's disability so I think the assumption would be that there probably may be a a handicap that's just right and individual probably fits that I thank you councelor motion to adjourn Finance second motion to adjourn Finance has a remain seconded all in favor and the opposed city council Community Finance is now

jened guys want to take a one two minute recess you want we're good let's go okay I have it your

way regular city council meeting will begin CL will call the RO council is kadim here Dion here Hart here Kilby here herera here Pony here raposo s son here and president CRA here will everyone in the council chair please rise for a moment of Silent

prayer please remain standing for a salute to the flag Ali to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible liy and justice for all M clerk Mr President can we take um number 10 one second one second one second pursu to the open meeting law any person may make an audio or video recording of this public meeting or may transmit this

meeting through any medium attendees are therefore advised such recordings or Transmissions are being made whether perceived or unperceived by those present and not deemed acknowledged and permissible thank you madam clerk counc seat five Council per you want to take one just to ask that we would take item 10 the citation out of order for indivual take item 10 out of order has been made and seconded all in favor and

also um the item that was referred from Finance with regard to the audit let's do one at a time Council please okay I just want to get it item motion to refer item 10 out of order as made in second all in favor I any oppos item is now out of order M click and the item before you is a citation um from the city council for Christopher Sylvia and recognition of community engagement and Outreach

motion to adopt motion to adop citation as a made and seconded on a motion counc seat seven eight Council Samson want to I want to speak on this for a minute um you want to make a presentation you can come up mic you can come down if you like the recipient is I'd love for Christopher to come down because this is mind-boggling to me and I know to many of my colleagues what has what

you have been able to accomplish and a movement that you've started in the community Christopher Silva owns Christopher on South Main Street and he has and his Husband Nate um who has single-handedly been able to move a community as a constituent I have never seen so many community members Community leaders for former council members so many people just come together to beautify the community under your

leadership under what the movement that you've started if you've seen what he's done people are reaching out to you you're planting flowers in neighborhoods you have now moved from the south end you've moved your movement to the uh other part of the Flint section you are beautifying the Flint neighborhood things that have never been done that I have ever seen in my community and it is a real movement and hundreds and

hundreds of people are reaching out to you and I know that I wanted to acknowledge you my colleagues my colleagues that live in the South End what we see you doing is amazing and so we um want to recognize you and Nate For Your Excellence and providing community service assisting the needs and motivating others to work and improve the city you don't get paid for it people are following you you are

energizing people you are what this community needs you are a true Community leader and I should say the biggest toy drive in this city has ever seen was done by you you filled up your place four times and got recognition for it so I am grateful to have you as a fellow Community member thank you for all of you've done and this is welld deserved thank you great job awesome that's awesome I'll tell you

M clerk Council you want to take the next one out of order yes please the uh the item referred from Finance regarding the a the committee on finance at a meeting held on June 25th voted unanimously to recommend that the accompanying order be referred to the full Council for Action um so this would be the order um that selects the independent auditing Services of a particular firm

so motion to go with the existing order roselli motion has made to stay with the existing order roselli made seconded just a sorry on the motion con one have your hand up oh just a question so what number is that it's after the C the item from Finance it's the committee report oh it's on the committee reports can I just um can I make a motion just to wave the rules so I can have the

administrator come down just my colleague in C2 did I think it was more of a statement than a question in terms of what the charter how the charter read um so we did not get response but I I don't want to leave that statement at least UN undiscussed in terms of whether or not we're violating the charter so the can you there's a motion to wave the rules has been made and second all in

favor any opposed motion carries Corporation Council I'm if he's here can left Seth plays an attorney on TV anyway got prepare for a case fin good job um so just in terms I so I think the question was do we have a problem no we don't and here's why um there's a practical answer and there's also a legal answer the Practical answer is that uh there's a number of things that the council uh even though it

certainly you know there's a a bunch of incredibly accomplished smart people on the council just doesn't have the um the experience or the personnel to do right and one of those things is that even though um the ordinance says and actually if you read the if you read the whole paragraph it it says three different things really um you know shall provide for is the first sentence and then it says uh at the very end

shall conduct a competitive bid process and then in the middle uh it says shall choose and I would argue that those are all three different things at different points in the competitive bid process all that said uh is that um this is something where there's a function within the city to send out an RFP and conduct a competitive bid process that we did on behalf of the council and

what's important about that is that the RFP itself does say on behalf of the city council this is what you're being asked to bid on um and um so that's sort of the the legal answer is that it was couched in the context of it was on behalf of the council um the Practical answer is that if the council were to conduct their own competitive grid process I don't know that without some

consultation with the folks that do our purchasing work here they would be in a position to send out a valid RFP and actually get bids back um not through anybody's fault that's just it's just a you know it's a difficult kind of you know it's a complex process I mean I know uh counselor Samson has done a lot of procurement uh I know councelor credum is on procurement different folks

have interacted with it in different ways but to actually get an RFP out I think would have been a difficult thing so we did it thank you I'm good with that I Y thank you coun thank you any further questions thank you very much for coming down expl that thank you Seth motion to adopt roselli has been made and seconded roll call roll

call on the order which would select roselli Clark and Associates to provide independent Financial audit services um council's kadim yes Dion no Hart yes Kilby yes Pereira yes Pony no Roso no Samson yes president C no the motion carries CL I number one on your agenda is the mayor's request for the confirmation of the appointment of tallos Ferris as the city's veterans motion to confirm second

second motion confirm as we made and seconded all in favor I any opposed he come down so sure this is the new vso congratulations congratulations

congratulations motion to lift item two from the table motion to lift item number two from the table has been made in seconded all in favor I any opposed no motion to confirm second motion to confirm has been made and seconded David under Hill yeah I'm sorry on the motion coun one uh no Mr President at the last meeting I just asked that this be tabled just to to confirm that the vote was taken by

the residents to reappoint David Underhill I had just heard that that wasn't the case um after having a conversation with the administration they did confirm that the residents did did vote for the um reappointment or confirmation of the reappointment for David under Hill so I'll be supporting it thank you councelor motion to confirm has been made and seconded all in favor I I any opposed motion

carries item three is a communication from the mayor and an order accepting a vehicle donation from Jennifer ggel of a 2006 Nissan Ultima for the fire department motion to adopt second motion to adopt has made in seconded all in favor any opposed motion carries item number four is a communication from the mayor in an order establishing a revolving fund within the health and human services department um

this would be um for the opioid settlement revolving fund motion to adopt second motion to adopt has a made and seconded all in favor I any opposed motion counts item five is a communication from the mayor and an order transferring one 00,000 to the opioid settlement revolving fund from the opioid stabilization fund motion to adopt second motion to adopt has been made and seconded all in favor any opposed motion

carries item six is the mayor's Communication in an order that the sum of $6,400 th000 be and the same as hereby transferred to the stabilization fund from the FY 23 Surplus Revenue motion to adopt motion to adopt has made in second all in favor I any opposed motion carries item number seven is a communication from the mayor and in order um and resolution with the drafted ballot question relative to the new

diamond Vocational Technical High School motion to adopt second motion to adopt has been made and seconded roll call on the motion counc C2 counc di yeah I just want to make a couple of comments um honestly I've gone back and forth back and forth on this and um way in the beginning I wanted this to go to the voters that they should have had the decision whether the school would be

built wouldn't be built if they wanted to fund it fast forward to today essentially that decision was taken out of their hands and at this point the only decision is now do you want to reach into your pocket and pay more money um so I find myself now on the opposite side of that for that reason um they should have they sh to me they always should have had the choice of yes

they want to build it yes we want to fund it they only got half of that only half of that was awarded to them which is do you want to pay for it and um and I do have to agree that when the debt exclusion for uh dery um they everybody was told it was going to be on your tax bill it was going to be in your tax bill you would

know how much driffy was costing you you would know how much your taxes were increased that's never happened and people complain about that all the time that nobody knows how much they're paying on their tax bill strictly for dery and I think the same thing is going to happen with diamond and I don't think that's fair as a taxpayer and as people represented taxpayers I don't think it's

fair that people don't know what these things ultimately cost them um each year so with that I yield motion to refer to finance motion to prer the commune Finance has been made is there a second second second second the only question I have is there some type of timeline that we're dealing with here oh regard to getting it on a ballot and is there motion away the rule the election

commissioner is here second motion to wave the rules of remain in second all in favor I any opposed motion carries Brian can you come down please give the answer if there's a timeline that he needs it

by is please your name please know we know who you are Ryan please state your name for record sure the only question I've sure Ryan Lions chairman and director of The Board of Elections thank you yes I have to submit the order to secretary Galvin by August 7th thank you okay thank you very much time I second the motion motion for it's already been it's already been seconded motion to refer to

finance has a made and seconded all in favor any opposed no the ballot question correct no we're good to refer correct to finance okay okay and my re reasoning for um second council's motion um it already passed Mr President may I just make a quick comment please have tolerance for me um I know it's make your point councel I'll I'll wait for finance I just had a question with regard to the specificity

of the question that's all can wait perfect can I just just a point of order um so item number four we approved to establish the um sorry revolving funds but in the letter before us there's a spending limit we was the motion including the spending limit of 500,000 yes okay the order includes the okay perfect thank you I just want to make sure that that the case good Point CC all right let's make it official

motion remain second all in favor any opposed oh for two motion carries as it did the first time M clerk whereas the Massachusetts bay transit authority commuter rail trail tracks will soon be operational for locomotive testing within the city of Fall River and whereas train tracks are often challenging to access for large emergency vehicles such as ambulances and fire engine trucks and whereas the

public safety of the commuters on the train pedestrians around the area of the train tracks and all First Responders are of utmost importance during the development and the future regular operation of the MBTA Commuter Rail trains now therefore be it resolved that the Committee on Public Safety convene with the police chief fire chief of representative from Massachusetts bay transit authority and any other

interested parties to discuss ongoing resp Bond training in relation to the new rail system information that should be provided to the general public regarding safety around locomotives both on foot and in vehicles and plans to increase security for all who use reside near or commute within the area of the new MBTA Commuter ra zones motion to adopt second motion to adopt the resolution has a made in second and all

in favor I I any opposed motion carries item nine is a citation um celebrating the 90th birthday of Lenny nicolan to ADT motion to adopt the citation as a made in seconded all in favor I any opposed motion carries the order granting permission to um Mass Electric doing business as national grid for the three new jointly owned pole locations and one new jointly owned anchor on Robin Street motion to adopt

motion to adopt has a made and seconded is there a second second second all in favor I any opposed motion carries the police chief's report and licenses motion to adopt motion to adopt Chief's report on licenses has been made is there second second all in favor I any opposed motion carries have a number of claims motion refer to Corporation councel motion for the Corporation Council has been made and seconded all

in favor I any opposed motion carries have minutes of the uh joint planning board meeting with the city council motion to accept place on file motion to accept minut to place on file as made and seconded all in favor opposed motion carries motion takes items 15 through 22 together Mo take items 15 through 22 together is there a motion to take them together yep second is there a second all in favor I any

opposed M cler can you read items 15 through 22 please sure we have minutes of the public hearing um held on June 3rd public hearings held on June 11th committee on finance meetings held on June 3rd June 4th June 5th June 10th June 11th and the city council meeting of June 11th motion to approve all minutes motion to approve is made in seconded all in favor I any opposed motion carries for items that were presented

after the agenda deadline we have the appropriation order in the amount of $551,000 75 appropriated from the EMS Enterprise fund FY 23 free cash um $297,900 to EMS salaries

$253,500 been made in seconded all in favor I any opposed motion carries have an open meeting while complaint motion accept place on file seconded motion accept and place on file has been made and seconded all in favor I I any opposed motion carries the committee on ordinances and legislation at a meeting held on June 25th 2024 voted unanimously to recommend that the accompanying proposed ordinance

accompanied by an emergency Preamble be passed through first reading second reading pass to be enrolled and pass to be ordained with councelor Hart absent and not voting motion to adop emergency Preamble motion to adopt emergency Preamble has been made in second second second roll call on emergency Preamble on the emergency Preamble councelor kadim sorry yesion yes Hart yes Kilby yes Herrera

yes Hunty yes reposo yes Samson yes and president CRA yes motion to pass through all readings motion pass for all read second as a me and seconded all in favor I any opposed motion car Mr Mr President okay you entertain a motion to go back to the open meeting law complaint we just can't accept it and place on file refer to Corporation Council we have to get a response to that so a motion to

reconsider made has been made is a second all in favor I motion Corporation councel motion of the corporation councel has been made is that second second second all in favor I any opposed on a motion Council counc seats six yeah I I have a comment we all received a letter on our desks tonight regarding uh a petition to council members um for the national movement underway to cut back on quality of life po policing

methods such as making arrest for vandalism littering loitering vagrant Etc uh as a registered voter I urge you to maintain the quality of life policing method methods and vigorously defend these methods uh Etc could this be referred to the Committee on Public Safety or does it do I have to put it in the form of a resolution hasn't been formally formally presented to us so yes oh it said the 25th who not on the

agenda and it was not formally it's not on tonight's agenda so the 16th we'll take it up I just hate that somebody you know a list of citizens safer to file a resolution councel based on the letter you received you want me to do a resolution anyone can do it okay all right all right it's safer thank you for you presented to the council thank you Council you thank you anything else

that's all we have motion to adjourn motion to adjourn seconded all in favor any opposed next meeting is July 16th thank you good job everybody city council meeting is now done overcome

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