David Burns Details Traffic and Sign Issues on Progress Street
Gerald Montigny and Saima Beer Raise School Parking and Trash Complaints
Interim Superintendent Kathleen Smith Apologizes to Progress Street Neighbors
Ken Pacheco Explores Market Basket Parking Option for Letourneau School
Principal Sean Simpson Pledges Stricter Rules and Reviews Staff Parking Shortage
City and School Officials Target School Parking and Traffic Issues
The Fall River City Council's Committee on Public Safety met to discuss traffic issues, downtown lighting, and fire department equipment. The meeting began with public input from several residents of Progress Street, including David Burns, Gerald Montigny, and Saima Beer, who detailed significant problems with traffic, parking, littering, and public nuisances related to the Letourneau Elementary School. They cited issues with both parents and school staff monopolizing parking, blocking access, and engaging in smoking and alleged marijuana use on the street. The committee then addressed these concerns with school and city officials. Interim Superintendent Dr. Kathleen Smith apologized and committed to addressing the behavior of school staff. School officials, including COO Ken Pacheco, presented a new traffic flow plan for the school to be implemented on the first day of the new school year. Long-term solutions, such as leasing parking space from the nearby Market Basket, were also discussed. The committee, along with Police Sergeant Thomas Ferris and Traffic Director Stephanie MacArthur, agreed to increase police and parking control presence during the first few weeks of school to enforce the new plan. The matter was tabled for future review. The committee also received an update on downtown lighting from City Administrator Ann O'Neil-Souza and Director of Community Maintenance Chris Hathaway. A plan to replace 58 lights on South Main Street is in the capital improvement plan, with $200,000 in free cash allocated for fiscal year 2027. Finally, Fire Chief Jeffrey Bacon updated the committee on the acquisition of new PFAS-free turnout gear. He explained that the department is carefully trialing gear from different manufacturers to ensure firefighter safety and comfort before making a large purchase. The administration has committed to funding the new gear once a selection is made, with a plan to phase the purchases over several years.
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Council
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Public Safety
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Public safety meeting dated August 25th, 2026 at 15— I'm sorry, 5:15 PM.
0:06Madam Clerk, call the roll.
0:09Here.
0:10Here.
0:11Here.
0:12Pursuant to the open meeting law, any person may make an audio or video recording of this public meeting or may transmit the meeting through any medium.
0:18Attendees, attendees are therefore advised that such recordings or transmissions are being made whether perceived or unperceived by those present and are deemed acknowledged and permissible.
0:31First item on the agenda, uh, citizens input.
0:34I have a David Burns, 146 Progress Street, subject school parking and signs.
0:43Stand up.
0:43No, come over here, sir.
0:45Grab a seat at the table.
0:45Come on, come on down.
0:52How you doing, Mr. Burns?
1:00Good.
1:00Good.
1:003 minutes.
1:01Uh, David Burns.
1:02Uh, I live on Progress Street.
1:05Um, hear about the, the parking from the school, which is kind of like at, you know, school hours in the morning dropping off kids and picking kids up at night.
1:16The Stafford Road area there is really atrocious.
1:20Uh, I know they're working on it and stuff, but we have a sign at the top of the street, one of the signs that says no parking here to corner.
1:28This— the sign is actually— it came down when they were retiring the street, and when they put the sign back up, they really put it anywhere.
1:36It's not back far enough that stops a car from parking there, that the car parks halfway, a stick nose sticking in.
1:46So if there's a car wants to turn in And you have to pull to the right to, to let the car turn in.
1:53There's no parking on both sides.
1:55On, on the, uh, south side of the street is fine.
1:58The north side of the street, the sign is too far forward.
2:02Okay, that sign needs to come back about 6 feet.
2:07And now across the street where the school side is, the back way coming out of the school, you guys put— they put signs up Uh, over there it says, uh, photo enforcement, violators subject to towing, uh, maximum fines $25 to $200, no parking this side of the street Monday through Friday, 7 to 9 AM and 2 to 4 AM— 2 to 4 PM.
2:36Those are the— those are the times that they drop kids off at that school.
2:41So the people who live on that side of the street the west side of Progress Street, they have to take their cars and move them down to our side of the street.
2:51And they leave them there.
2:53Teachers leave their cars there.
2:55And there's some teachers now— I noticed at the end of the year last year when they did— guys did this, they put the signs up— teachers are still parking there on that side of the street, whereas the people who live on that side of the street can't park there.
3:09They have to move their cars between those times.
3:11But if they— what they do is they just bring them on the other side of Paragler Street and they just leave the cars there all day long.
3:18Now when the kids are picking— picked up from school, parents are just parking there on that side of the street.
3:25The crossing guard can't do anything about it.
3:28And I've seen officers there too, parked there, and people still park there and pick their kids up and stuff.
3:36You know, it's kind of a— you know, it's kind of a hectic area.
3:38You guys turned Anthony Street into a one-way most of the way down, you know, and you could only come up so far from the bottom, from the avenue side, up to as far as Lamphere.
3:50So that all got changed.
3:52I mean, they park on Anthony Street on the Fire Bond side, the old Fire Bond side, halfway, 3/4 of the way down the street.
3:59It's kind of a mess over there, you know.
4:03Like I said, the teachers are parking there.
4:04They come in in the morning.
4:06They're parking there, they're really filling up the street.
4:09So I, you know, I know it's kind of a, it's kind of a tough thing, but— well, that— so your 3 minutes just, uh, just hit.
4:16So that's why I was trying to talk fast.
4:18Yeah, no worries.
4:19I can tell you that this is on the agenda item number 3, Progress Street, to discuss, so we can get, um, conversation going down.
4:26I'll walk them around, you know, like you can come to the corner down there and look at the signs and stuff like that.
4:32They have parking enforcement that does come down.
4:35Sometimes cars are parked, uh, where they should be parking facing down the street.
4:40They're parking facing up the street on that side of the street because I live at the bottom on a cul-de-sac.
4:45So they all come down, they park all down and around and stuff.
4:48It's really, you know, I went to that school.
4:52So years ago, that's, that's that street.
4:55There was always a fence there.
4:56Used to be the play yard till they built the new school.
4:59And then they built a new school and there's really no parking, you know.
5:04And when those houses on the corner of Anthony and, and, uh, where the school is, they— when those things went up for sale, the city should have bought those things and turned them into parking lots, eminent domain or something, you know.
5:17But that's really where I'm going.
5:20So, Councilor Raposo.
5:21Mr. Burns, what, what is the address of your house, please?
5:24146 Progress.
5:25Yeah, thank you.
5:28Thank you, Councilor.
5:29Thank you, Mr.
5:29I'm the guy on the bottom of the street.
5:31Gotcha.
5:31I get everybody that comes down.
5:33They double park down here to pick up kids.
5:35Supposed to be a cul-de-sac, supposed to be clean.
5:37They park completely around and then they double park around.
5:41Gotcha.
5:41Thank you, sir.
5:42Okay, thank you.
5:45Next for citizens input, Gerald— is it Montigny?
5:52You said it right.
5:54Oh, I cut my hat.
5:58Let me get my— let me grab my hat.
6:00Jerry, you— sorry.
6:05Thank you.
6:13Okay, Gerald, what's the last name?
6:16I'm sorry.
6:17Montigny.
6:18Now, do you— I can't read this, the last name either.
6:19Were you invited together?
6:23To come together?
6:27Um, we submitted a letter.
6:28Okay, who else is here for citizens input?
6:30What's your last name?
6:31I'm sorry.
6:33Okay, uh, do you want to speak at the same time or would you rather speak separately?
6:38You can come on down.
6:41What's their addresses?
6:44Okay.
6:48Fair enough.
6:51Need the address, please.
6:5398 Progress for Gerald Montigny and 84 Progress for Miss Beer.
6:59Thank you, Mr. Montigny and, uh, Miss Beer.
7:04Thank you for coming down.
7:04Just state your name for the record, please, and your address.
7:08Gerald Montigny, 98 Progress Street.
7:10Thank you, sir.
7:11Saima Beer, 84 Progress Street.
7:13Thank you, ma'am.
7:14So what's going on?
7:15Well, one of the issues, big issues, is the school— that I don't know if the teachers, paras, or both— they're, uh, monopolizing the parking on Progress Street.
7:28They can't— they're not supposed to park down the West End, but I was told there's ample parking for the employees.
7:35But they take breaks, they come up on their breaks, and they're smoking They're vaping.
7:42It's, it's like a party.
7:44They take over the whole street.
7:46And I mean, they're school employees.
7:51I don't understand why they have to take up the— monopolize the whole street.
7:54Also, since they put those signs up on the west end, people that live on that street can't even park in front of their own houses.
8:02And there's a man that works nights, he says, I have to park down this end because I go to sleep And they'll just tag my car.
8:10How do you keep a taxpayer and a resident from parking in front of their own house?
8:16That's what I don't understand.
8:18I mean, those— some of those houses were there long before that school was even thought of being there.
8:25It's, uh, it's a real mess.
8:27And I mean, it's a mess when school gets out, and, uh, but at least that is alleviated within a couple of hours.
8:36But during the day, the course of the day, school staff has monopolized that whole street.
8:43Yeah, I've seen the pictures.
8:44We just— I just saw some pictures for the first time, um, just now before the meeting.
8:48It does seem to be an issue that needs rectification.
8:51And like I had told Mr. Burns, item number 3 does address Progress Street.
8:55The people on the West End, I mean, they should at least have parking permits to I mean, if you want to limit parking on the West End because of the school, so be it, but at least give the people, the residents there, the right to park in front of their own house.
9:10One man, he's an elderly man, he said he brought his wife to the hospital, he went to come back home, they wouldn't even let him down the street to go to his house.
9:18It's hard for residents to even come in and out of their house.
9:21I mean, my kid goes to that school, but if I'm coming back home from wherever, it's sometimes it's hard.
9:26I used to have a bigger truck before.
9:28I couldn't even get into my street because there's cars parked on both sides of the streets.
9:34So I mean, living there, like, what are you supposed to do?
9:36I understand.
9:37I have a driveway, 2-car driveway, but still, like, I can't even get in my driveway.
9:42Okay, Council.
9:44Well, we appreciate you guys, and like I said, we're gonna, we're gonna discuss this and see what we can do for you.
9:51It's not even only the parking, parents, trash everywhere in our yard.
9:57I love it.
9:57Something I was going to bring up today because I did receive some complaints last school year due to trash over there.
10:02Trash, bottle nips, Dunkin' Donuts trash, you name it, all over our yard.
10:07Like every day my kid is picking up trash at the end of the day from the yard and throwing it out.
10:11I did— I spoke to a gentleman last year, um, the end of the school year, and I said that I would look into this and it's on the agenda, but I— the complaints that I got initially weren't so much the trash.
10:22Yeah, it was the— on their lunch breaks, they go over to their cars and hang out, and cigarette butts in the street and trash outside the cars.
10:30I was told that as well, some marijuana use.
10:32But the superintendent is here.
10:34I see her in the audience with the deputy superintendent.
10:36So these are things that, especially the latter of that, that we are definitely going to address because we cannot have that around the school building.
10:43Right.
10:43So, um, we are going to work on this and, and try to alleviate your issues.
10:48So I appreciate you coming down.
10:49Thank you.
10:50Thank you.
10:57That's it for citizens' input.
10:59Uh, item number— sorry, number 2 on the agenda is the minutes from July 30th, 2026.
11:04Motion to approve has been made and seconded.
11:06All those in favor?
11:06Aye.
11:07Aye.
11:08I said it.
11:08Item number 3, communications.
11:10City resident regarding traffic and parking conditions.
11:13On Progress Street.
11:14This was referred on June 20th— 23rd of 2026.
11:19All involved parties in regards to Progress Street.
11:44Saj, how are you?
11:50Good, and you?
11:50Doing well, thank you.
12:04Imagine if we were in a hearing room.
12:07If we were in a hearing room, you know.
12:10I do want to touch base with you.
12:11I did just speak to the deputy about, um, the call center over any of the needs in the area.
12:15We'll touch base afterwards.
12:18Perfect.
12:33Hey, how are you?
12:36Doing well, thank you.
13:02Good afternoon, everybody.
13:03Afternoon.
13:04So you hear the concerns, and I, like I said last year, I received some complaints, and the initial complaints were the congregating out on the side streets during the lunch break, smoking, vaping.
13:17I did receive complaints of marijuana use from one, one person that had called.
13:23Obviously those are issues that we can't have happen right out in front of the school and in front of people's residences.
13:28And then I see these pictures and I start to look into the traffic problem and seems like we have a few issues to address.
13:35So who— yeah, we're gonna go around the table here.
13:38Mr. Pacheco, if you don't mind, we'll start with you.
13:39Name and title for the record.
13:41Ken Pacheco, Chief Operating Officer, Public Public Schools.
13:48Liz Legault, Deputy Superintendent, Fall River Public Schools.
13:52Kathleen Smith, Interim Superintendent, Fall River Public Schools.
13:56Thomas Ferris, Fall River Police Sergeant, Motor Vehicle Enforcement Unit.
13:59Sean Sipson, Principal, Letourneau Elementary School.
14:02Stephanie MacArthur, Director of Traffic and Parking.
14:06Thank you, guys.
14:08So to piggyback off of what I just said, who wants to start?
14:12Madam Superintendent, I'll start with you.
14:14Well, you know, thank you for having us.
14:16And again, I want to apologize.
14:18You know, we want to be good neighbors, and certainly I've heard sitting here some of the concerns.
14:25I assure you we will address it with our teachers, our staff, our unions, our employees to understand, you know, not just being a good neighbor, but, you know, certainly in a school that would be unacceptable.
14:39So, you know, we will address that.
14:41Tonight, I know Deputy Superintendent Liz Legault and again Ken Pacheco, our principal Sean Simpson have spent a lot of time obviously understanding how difficult it is.
14:55I've been to the school, difficult to park.
14:57You know, you built beautiful schools and sometimes it's not a very large footprint.
15:01So we're happy to be here this evening.
15:03I know they've done a lot of work and I'd like to hand that over, you know, to the team to address any concerns you have.
15:10So, uh, to echo the superintendent's and to backpack on what she's saying is, is that we do want to be good neighbors, and we do understand what it's like in the morning, in the afternoon, to get students in and out of the school areas and in and off the streets where our neighbors live.
15:30And so that's something we would like to discuss.
15:33I did we worked on other schools as well, and we wanted to hand them to let you know that we don't think this is an isolated problem.
15:41We know that this is an issue that the, uh, the department has, the school department has, and that we're going to work with the city and the police.
15:49And Steph has been great.
15:50She came, um, over to the district office, um, twice now, and, and we've had conversations about this.
15:57And so I think we've got some plans, and we'd like to work with everybody and make sure that they are what you're looking for.
16:03We did— I did talk to the school committee at one point.
16:06I brought up— or not to the school committee, but to the facilities committee— that I have heard of other districts, and possibly maybe our district at some point, looking at parking, ask people who have long driveways or extra parking spaces at their homes, would they be willing to rent parking spaces to the district or to a teacher?
16:27Some people do have big areas in back of their homes.
16:30We've driven around, there was a couple of parking areas that I even identified and brought back and talked to Mr. Pacheco about that are different areas, not at Letourneau.
16:40I know that Market Basket, I believe, is out in back and down the hill from Letourneau.
16:47Is that something that we could look into and speak to that retail space if there was parking out in back?
16:53And how would we get— if we were to park teachers down there, how would we get teachers up to the building?
16:58And how would we actually access— would we have accessibility to a bus or a trolley in the morning to bring our teachers up, drop them off, and down?
17:09Or would there be something?
17:10So we are looking at not just one way of getting teachers to where to park and parents to drop off and pick up, but we also were looking at other innovative ideas and thinking outside the box at this time for parking and moving some of our cars.
17:29But I'm— obviously Mr. Pacheco knows the streets better than I do.
17:36We did the work on putting this, the map together in your packet if you go to the Laterno School traffic flow.
17:43Sean worked with us on this, talking about where he could put his staff, his administrators that he has in the morning and afternoon, our SROs that will be working with us.
17:55Also, for the first 3 weeks of school, we'll be having SROs at all of the buildings, and they will help us in the morning.
18:01Afternoon and to get us through that, that first, that first time of dropping your son or daughter off if you're just, you're starting that process, or those that have been in line before and are getting a little antsy and not stopping in front of our neighbors' homes.
18:21So, Deputy, this is the plan for day 1, this right here?
18:25We would like to be if we can.
18:27Madam Clerk, is there a way to get a copy of this for the 3 people that came to citizens input so I can— I'm gonna give them a copy.
18:35Um, Mr., uh, Councilman Peckerman, I, I met, um, all 3 of them.
18:39I introduced myself to citizens input this evening.
18:42I also took down their addresses, okay, and I asked, um, if I could come to see them tomorrow.
18:47I'm going to go out at 11:30 to Progress Street.
18:50I'm going to bring my card, and I will bring them all a packet.
18:52Excellent.
18:53So that they can see this and they can— we can talk even more then.
18:57Yeah, I appreciate that.
18:58Thank you.
18:58It's just better when they see it in person and they know that it's, it's coming to fruition rather than saying it, you know.
19:03So I appreciate that, Deputy.
19:04Thank you.
19:06Um, if I could just— some of the comments I would echo.
19:10We are looking at 5 to 6 buildings, uh, where we've had issues.
19:16Uh, Laterno is one of them, and, and we spent some time last year with city departments, with engineering and traffic to try and figure out the best method at Progress and, and not looking at it through just our lens, obviously, uh, the neighbors, um, you know, and, and what they have to endure in that morning drop-off and also afternoons.
19:38Um, I, I know Progress is a, is a dead end with the cul-de-sac, but I, you know, the, the thought pattern is, is would it be worth a try to stop cars from going down Progress at all during the school hours, not the— not all day long, but would be— we'd stop them from going down the street for picks up, pick up and drop off, parking, and then leaving.
20:02I know your problems are bigger than that because they are, um, parking— people parking in front of their houses.
20:09And it was a good point that we didn't realize when we made no parking that we were going to have people from Progress parking on the other part of Progress because they couldn't park in front of their own houses.
20:19So that I know I didn't, you know, think of that when that— when we were talking about that.
20:23So this progress does have a unique problem because it's dead ends on both sides, and it makes it difficult for us to, to solve this.
20:33We do, we, we do have another possibility, and that is the Market Basket parking area right on the side of Letourneau.
20:46So it's kind of an area that they don't use.
20:48It's kind of like a, a jut out.
20:51And if we could make that accessible with a walkway, some stairs, maybe our teachers would park there.
20:58And then that would get 20 or 30 cars out of the whole area.
21:03And for them, it would be close to the building.
21:07And that might be a possibility.
21:09So that would be one item that we would look at.
21:12Wasn't that the original plan?
21:13I thought there was supposed to be stairs.
21:14So in the original plan on the building, um, I— when I started in 2006, these buildings were already designed, um, and ready to go.
21:24But, um, there was a street.
21:27So when you, when you go into Locust and you drive in that particular road, you can follow this road all the way to, um, Far River Ford, First Ford.
21:37It actually makes it all the way down there, and that's city property.
21:40Going all the way down the back here.
21:42So it is, it is a— at that time, it would have been a good idea to dump out in one of the dead ends.
21:48Okay, right.
21:49You might not be able to get all the way to Plymouth Avenue, but you could get down to one of those dead ends that dead end into that particular property, and that would be another outlet.
21:57It could be used by us to get a bus out of there.
22:00So for instance, we could loop within our own property, go right down that street, or if the street was wide enough, we could use that as parking all the way down on one side.
22:09So those are the— some of the things that, that are in the, in the works right now.
22:14And I'm going to tell you that some of these have been looked at quickly, and some we haven't explored at all, that we will be exploring now.
22:24While we're all sitting here, and before we move on, just because it's on my mind, Green School falls into the same type of situation, correct?
22:32In, in your packet Same.
22:34Yeah, we have it there.
22:35So, all right, it's nobody's fault that sitting here we dump mega schools into little neighborhoods.
22:41So whoever was involved in that back then, that's, that's on them.
22:43And then we decided, like I say at every meeting, it goes back to we increased our population significantly and the traffic is obviously going to be intense in these small neighborhoods.
22:53So I applaud anybody that can sit here and, you know, help us out with rectification for this problem because again, we didn't cause it, but we have to We have to solve it.
23:01So I thank you guys.
23:03I'm sorry, your name again, sir?
23:06Sean Simpson.
23:07Nice to meet you, Mr. Simpson.
23:08So I want to touch upon the marijuana use and the tobacco use on the side streets.
23:14Is that something we can address day one?
23:16Absolutely.
23:16And it will not be tolerated?
23:19Yeah.
23:19So I mean, the one thing I can do, and obviously on behalf of the Laternal community, I apologize for the inconvenience, and that will never happen again.
23:27That's unacceptable.
23:29I will be able to communicate day one to my staff you know, what's acceptable, what is not, and that's obviously not acceptable.
23:37The other thing I just wanted to name in terms of traffic is we're opening our doors at 8:30.
23:43We start at 8:50.
23:44So we're hoping if we have 20 minutes prior to school, we can stagger the traffic that can support with this flow to support our neighbors to make sure That'll solve, I think, the arrival component.
24:01I think, obviously, the parking component is a different challenge, obviously.
24:06And I think I've been involved in this work for 6 years now.
24:10You solve one problem on one side of the street, and it's a little bit of a whack-a-mole.
24:16So, obviously, we want to support the whole neighborhood around Letourneau.
24:20So, I look forward to, I think, civil engineers or traffic studies so that we can— I mean, my staff needs to park somewhere, you know, and many of them are taxpaying Fall River citizens.
24:32They'd be happy to come up here and say the same thing, you know.
24:34So they feel like, well, where am I to park when I'm, you know, I'm trying to serve the city and to work?
24:41So, you know, I look forward to exploring some of these ideas as well.
24:46We want to obviously support our neighbors, make sure that, you know, they're safe, they're not inconvenienced.
24:51But at the same time, I want to make sure I can support my staff to be able to come to work and serve the kids of Fall River.
24:56Understandable.
24:57I just thought about that trolley that doesn't get much use.
25:00If we had a place for these people to park, we could trolley them in and get our money's worth.
25:04Councilor Raposo.
25:05Thank you, Mr.
25:06Chair.
25:06Uh, Mr. Simpson, I'm just curious, on this map here, how many, how many staff do you have and how many parking spaces do you have on the property?
25:13Do you know?
25:14So we have more staff than we have parking spaces.
25:17How many staff you have currently?
25:18Um, if I include nutrition, custodial staff, let's say 90.
25:23Okay.
25:24And how many spaces on the property do you have?
25:26Let's, let's say 30 to 40.
25:29Okay.
25:30So really, you don't have enough parking, period?
25:32No, I mean, it's, uh, you have to, you have to get there early if you want a spot, you know, primarily motivation.
25:40Yep, exactly.
25:41And then when they come, based on this map, when they come in on Anthony Street How many entrances, point of entrance, do you have for the kids?
25:47Is it just the main doors on what is Progress Street in front of the building, or is there other entry points that kids come in the building?
25:54We have multiple entry points, and it's based on grade level.
25:59So the concept obviously is do not park, just drop off, go to that grade level door, and then, you know, progress through.
26:08We have some students that need hand-to-hand support, so we have a special space in the roundabout on the Progress side that they can pull over if they need an adult to support them to get out of the vehicle into the building, and it won't impede the flow of traffic.
26:22I think the other component is the ability to have sawhorses and push the traffic to right turn only will obviously support— if then cars are trying to make that left turn onto Stafford, it's going to slow the traffic down in arrival.
26:36Got it.
26:37Sergeant Ferris, so this plan is new.
26:40So there were not— were there not sawhorses in the past here?
26:43The same one?
26:44Yeah.
26:45Okay.
26:48There was a meeting that we had with the, I believe, former principal, former superintendent, and the engineering— in the— we had a meeting several months back with the former principal and the director of engineering.
27:03They Um, he had suggested possibly purchasing some land for parking.
27:07Um, at that— also at that meeting, the SRO sergeant assigned one of his officers to be there in the morning with a sawhorse, and he was pretty much moving it and directing the control of traffic to, uh, to allow for people to keep moving in and out of there.
27:24That might have been one of the issues where, um, I— one of the gentlemen had mentioned that he couldn't get into his house after coming home from the hospital.
27:31But I do know that the SRO sergeant was controlling some of the traffic.
27:35One of his officers was assigned there in the morning and afternoon to control some of the parking and some of the buildup.
27:42I believe the issue might have been a lot worse than what it is now.
27:44But still, as we approach the school season, that's certainly going to have to be something that an SRO is going to have to be assigned there in the morning and in the afternoon until we can come to a complete complete plan and hopefully rectify a lot of what's going on there.
27:58Okay.
28:00Madam Superintendent, just educate me because I just don't know the answer to this.
28:05They don't have— you don't have SROs in all the elementaries at this point, is it?
28:08It's on a rotational basis.
28:11Okay, so, so I guess I'm concerned.
28:14I appreciate the idea and the plan.
28:15But the reality is, if there's no one there to enforce that ending, How are we going to make that work?
28:22Because I mean, I think, I think a person who's desperate enough is going to move the thing and get past it.
28:27So how is the best way to address that?
28:30I think the best way we can address it is see how it works in those first 3 weeks of school.
28:35And because we've identified, you know, these 5 schools as major issues and some of the other schools as, you know, there are always issues around a school at pickup drop-off.
28:49If we can look at this, then we can identify to ourselves as a district and then sit down with our SROs and say these are problem areas, we don't want them to be problem areas.
28:59So if this is a high-risk point, we would, we would recommend, we would want as a district to have them out.
29:05We have a great relationship with the SROs and the chief, so I would believe that we could come to some type of solution and resolution that if this would be an area and this is what if we could do this.
29:16I mean, it's 15 minutes, really.
29:18I mean, it's just high volume for 15 minutes and then it's, then it's over.
29:22So if we could do that, but maybe the SRO is at another elementary school throughout the day making sure the presence is seen at a couple, and then at the end, at the end of the day, or they'll be going in the morning, they would be at these areas.
29:32Yeah, which, which I, I understand the traffic flow and the congestion, but I guess I'm just concerned that the idea is good.
29:38However, if there's no presence Yeah, people know there's not going to be a presence if there's no incentive to follow what is being put forth.
29:46Yeah, and then the residents are the ones who are going to suffer the consequences for it.
29:49So, all right, thank you very much.
29:52Thank you, Councilor.
29:53Um, if I may, what are the odds again— instead of seeing what happens over the first 3 weeks, what's the odds of getting the motor vehicle unit there to try to— or one motor vehicle guy just to see if we can get this off the ground from day one?
30:06I would rather have this pattern in place and working the first few weeks rather than just waiting to see, you know, because then we're letting them form bad habits if we don't have anybody there.
30:16What time do we start in the morning there?
30:19We start the arrival process at 8:30, and school officially opens at 8:50.
30:24So there's certainly a chance to get a motor vehicle unit down there.
30:28Okay.
30:28At least an officer down there until we can try to square some things away, I guess, until we see what the schedule for the SRO is.
30:37Yeah.
30:37I do have that, and I, and I apologize I didn't bring it to this meeting, but I do have where they are located.
30:42Okay, I have that whole, um, we just made them up, uh, ready to go.
30:47I just have them, we just had to change some of the principals' names, but they're ready to go.
30:52Thank you.
30:52Yep, I appreciate you so much.
30:55Thank you.
30:56Thank you.
30:59So just as, uh, Councilor Raposo asked a couple of questions, um, so I could figure out what the gap is Particularly with the employees.
31:07Mr. Pacheco, you mentioned that maybe the Market Basket lot or something might be available.
31:12I think that's— when I look at it, and I don't know if I'm looking at the same lot, but adjacent between the school parking lot and Empire Ford, there seems to be a lot there behind the— I guess it's more Picture Show, but there's about 75 spots in that lot.
31:29Exactly.
31:30So that's the area we're looking at.
31:32The problem is, is that there's a drop from our property to that property.
31:36It's about 25 feet.
31:39And I obviously would make a long stairwell to get up there.
31:42So we would have to engineer something that would allow that to be a walkable, you know, way in and out of there, something that would be, you know, well built to take the weather.
31:53But that spot is most of the time unused.
31:56It seems to get more used in the wintertime, unfortunately, where they put the equipment.
32:01But I'm sure if we could strike a, you know, some kind of agreement with Market Basket, that would, you know, that would be an ideal spot.
32:10This area much better than the other area where they would gladly let us use because they don't use it much.
32:16But that area, the walk is much longer and down up the hill and then down, you know, Stafford Road.
32:22So this would be ideal if we could pull that off.
32:26I, after looking at it, my initial thought was that I could possibly make a driveway into it.
32:33That was— we might be able to get them down, but we won't be able to get them back up, you know what I'm saying?
32:38So I think that led me, you know, to do a little more work around here.
32:42Maybe I can piggyback with the, with the firm possibly that's doing the traffic study.
32:48They're an engineering firm, so we can have them take a look at it.
32:51And, um, you know, and give us an idea.
32:53The other part of it is, if you, if you look at that photo, this dead end here, this— I'm not quite sure if this is a street, but I think it is.
33:02It's only this, right?
33:03So if this street, if we were able to make the street come into this parking lot, and we could secure that parking lot so that this wouldn't be another entrance in, you know what I'm saying?
33:14Who owns this strip of land in between?
33:16This is our But this would be city property because it's paved.
33:19And then this end would— my guess is with this end, like any other, it's probably an unlisted street.
33:28So it, again, it could be city property, which would not be an issue.
33:32It's just whether or not we can make this slope doable and then get the lease agreement with Market Basket.
33:40So it's all things that we would we would definitely look at.
33:44And how long would that take, do you think?
33:46Yeah, I think the conversations, to be totally honest, are quick.
33:49Um, I think the, the engineering piece might take a little longer, but the hope would be that we could get this done in a couple of months.
33:58Um, and we're going to know whether or not we can do it right out of the gate, whether or not they're willing to do this.
34:03And I'm sure we could type up some agreement for, you know, indemnity you know, to them with us using the lot.
34:10So do they own that grassy portion as well?
34:12You know, I think they own it all.
34:14But if you look at, um, if, if you, if you widen this view, this particular area comes— you'll see it goes right by here.
34:23This is all wooded all the way up to Market— to, um, Fore River Ford.
34:29Am I dating myself?
34:30Fore River Ford?
34:31Yeah.
34:31Okay, so right, it comes all the way up and it actually ends right into their parking lot.
34:36And I think that this is a side street also, a little dead end here.
34:40Um, so there are options there, Mr. Weller.
34:43That would be a much more expensive route out, but it is level with our property.
34:49So the other question I have is around the north side of the building.
34:53Um, there seem— there's like a little road there.
34:55I don't know if that's just strictly fire lane.
34:57It doesn't look like it.
34:58There's any lines for parking.
35:00I didn't know if there was opportunity to squeeze.
35:02So it is, it is a fire lane.
35:04And the problem is, is that now we use it for parking.
35:08So we line up, there's probably 15 cars, teachers that park along that, they back in and they're facing out.
35:16It also gets really close as it turns to our little playground for the littles right here.
35:24This is a very tight corner.
35:26It's, it's a— it was made to be a fire lane right from, um, the original design, and then this curb cut is here.
35:33Um, so it would definitely be an in and an out if that could possibly happen, but I'm not quite sure that helps us because it dumps us more into progress than away from progress.
35:46So, okay, I don't have any further questions.
35:49Thank you, Councilor.
35:51Uh, I don't have anything else to ask on to put forth on this matter is, Miss MacArthur, traffic-wise, your PCOs, they spend a lot of time down there, correct?
36:03Yep.
36:03So they do, they do go to Letourneau probably 2 to 3 times a week.
36:07I do know last year we were having more of a difficult time was in the afternoon, but unfortunately with the hours, the parking control officers do have to be back here by a certain time, so they weren't able to spend as much time in the afternoon as they do in the morning.
36:21The photos that I provided to you counselors is actually what prompted the prohibited parking on the west side that the residents are concerned about.
36:31What was happening were, as you can see in the photos, parents were showing up, getting there early, and making Progress Street a parking lot.
36:40So that initial request had come to the traffic board, and that's what prompted the prohibited parking during those during those hours.
36:49I assure you, I don't believe it's just the staff that's the problem when it comes to parking.
36:53I believe the parents are a big problem as well.
36:57It doesn't matter the signs that are up, they don't care.
37:00They're gonna park there if they want to pick up their children.
37:02They want to be close to the building, and they're gonna, they're gonna park wherever they, wherever they want.
37:07Okay, well, we're gonna stop that.
37:11Is there a way that you could work with Sergeant Farris, and maybe the first couple of weeks we'll send some PCOs down there.
37:17Absolutely.
37:18Motor vehicle guys.
37:18And we'll just send the message that we don't tolerate this.
37:21No, it's the only way that I feel that we need to tackle an issue like this.
37:24And the school department as well, they've reached out to the parents.
37:26They send out notification to inform them, you know, let's be good neighbors, park legally.
37:31Parking control does go down there and they do enforce it.
37:34Okay.
37:34My parking control officers were having some issues with parents, hence the photo enforcement.
37:40So the officers are going, taking the pictures, and they are receiving those violations in the mail.
37:45Okay.
37:45Now one other thing that I have, um, Madam Superintendent, is it also possible maybe send out a letter to the parents stating that the tobacco use and marijuana use will not be tolerated around the school since it has become an issue?
37:59So again, we're, we're talking parents you think are the issue with that, or we're just going to notify everybody because it could be parents, it could be staff.
38:07We don't have any pictures.
38:08I have resident or constituents in the audience shaking their head that it is parents.
38:12So just to cover all bases, we have a parent that parks 2 hours before school dismissal right at the corner where the sign is supposed to be before the stop sign.
38:24There's a grand— I think it was a grandmother.
38:26All right, thank you.
38:28Thank you.
38:29So just to cover all bases, maybe we can notify the parents and the staff.
38:33That way everybody's notified.
38:35I'll make sure I work with the principal so we can get something out, certainly to the staff.
38:40And yeah, I can do that district-wide, making sure people understand what's acceptable, you know, on school to our employees.
38:49Yeah, we could definitely notify parents though, right?
38:51That we can't— there's no tobacco or marijuana use around the school.
38:54Absolutely.
38:55That's something I can also communicate with all the families through our ParentSquare, and then obviously working with with the neighbors if they see anything.
39:01I can work with, uh, absolutely.
39:04Yeah, information is always helpful.
39:06So go ahead, Councilor.
39:08Just, Mr. Vacheco, is this a no-busing school at this point, or is there buses?
39:12We do have— we do have buses there.
39:14Okay, we do.
39:16And, and just out of curiosity, where do the buses go in this whole— so the buses in, in, um, will enter through Anthony Street, but they are going to go in this portion of the parking lot where there's no vehicles so they can drop off and not have to queue up through the entire— and that's same thing for pickup and drop-off, that all happens there?
39:40Correct.
39:40Okay, thank you.
39:41I yield.
39:42Thank you.
39:43Anything else?
39:43All right, well, I appreciate your time, and obviously we are going to take care of this, so maybe some communication right around the first day of school as to how it's working out, how the plan— and I'll touch base with you, Saj, and Miss McArthur about the first day of school and come up with a plan.
40:02So I appreciate you guys.
40:02Thank you.
40:03Motion to table.
40:03Motion table has been made and seconded.
40:05All those in favor?
40:08Aye.
40:08Aye.
40:08Thank you, folks.
40:13Thank you.
40:15Thank you.
40:41I appreciate you.
40:46Thank you.
40:47Have a great night.
40:54Item number 4 on the agenda: resolution convene with the administration, the director of city operations, and a representative of the Forver Police Department to discuss improving lighting downtown.
41:02If we can keep it down in the audience, please.
41:08Mr. Burns, Mr. Montaigne, just— thank you.
41:12Oh, no worries.
41:18Good evening.
41:20State your name and title for the record, please.
41:21Chris Hathaway, Director of Community Maintenance.
41:23Ian O'Neill-Souza, City Administrator.
41:27So I filed this resolution, um, and my, my concern at the time when I filed this was the Waterplace West building So I was coming out of, um, the Brew House and I just happened to notice that it was, it was dark.
41:40And you have a lot of elderly that hang out on right there with Bottom Place West.
41:44They happen to be outside when I was out there.
41:47And I know you have a plan in place and you had one going for North Main Street, I believe, at the time.
41:52So I figured I would file this and they could kind of— they correlate.
41:56So, you know, so I'd like to hear what you have to say about the, uh, the lighting here.
42:00So on North Main Street, we replaced all those.
42:02There was 22 fixtures.
42:04Those were funded and taken care of.
42:06The— I think it's 58 along South Main from the TA restaurant down to City Hall.
42:13There's 58 lights, not including the ones on Sullivan, Rodman, as well as Borden.
42:20With those included, it's like 75 lights.
42:24Those are all in the capital improvement plan.
42:26Okay, there is also— we applied for a grant.
42:29I'm not sure if we're going to get it yet, but there is a plan in place to replace those.
42:34Okay, does Purchase Street fall within this plan?
42:37No, Purchase Street, those lights were done in 2017.
42:42Okay, um, so those lights, there's like a 15-year life expectancy.
42:47All right, yeah, I, I had asked that question because there was another issue that had popped up, so Um, what do we have going forward for South Main Street?
42:57For South Main Street, it's in the capital improvement plan currently.
43:01Um, at the time I did it when I was working over at the police station, so it's still in that.
43:06There's no funding source for it currently, correct?
43:09Um, in the capital improvement plan for the $200,000 that shows free cash for 2027 allocated.
43:18Now, are those lights— are they dimmable?
43:22Or are they just one set?
43:23One set, that style.
43:26All right.
43:27So, and there's about a 6-month lead time to those.
43:31So the day of order, it takes about 6 months to get them in.
43:34So as far as anything happening soon, they're not likely.
43:40Once, once we order them, it all depends on the manufacturer because they're built per order.
43:45So it depends on how much of a backlog.
43:48The one I did North Main Street, the first order of North Main was 6 months, the second order was maybe like 4 months.
43:54Okay.
43:55So it varies depending on their workload.
44:01Even if it's a year, I'm happy because it's getting done.
44:05There'll be a plan in place instead of just sitting on it and waiting for something to happen.
44:10Councils, anything?
44:12Councilor Raposo.
44:13Yeah, I guess to the city administrator, I guess is there any appetite to move on that capital improvement line item with free cash if we need to?
44:22That's how it was funded through the capital improvement plan.
44:24So yes.
44:25Okay.
44:25Yep.
44:26All right.
44:28Tony, thank you.
44:29I have nothing else.
44:30Motion to table.
44:32Motion to table has been made.
44:33Second.
44:33Seconded.
44:34All those in favor?
44:35Aye.
44:35Aye.
44:35The ayes have it.
44:37Thank you.
44:37Thank you, guys.
44:42Item number 5 on the agenda is a resolution convened to discuss turnout gear used by the Fall River Fire Department.
44:46This was adopted on May 12th, '26.
44:51Chief, how are you?
44:52Doing well.
44:53How you doing?
44:54I'm all right.
44:54I'm okay.
44:55Thanks.
44:56Jeffrey Bacon, Fire Chief.
44:57Thank you, sir.
44:58Yep.
44:59So this is in regards to the turnout gear.
45:00Where are we at with that?
45:02So we applied for the Assistance of Firefighters grant in June for— to replace any sets that were 10 years old or would be 10 years old during the course of the grant's life period.
45:18So I believe that was 38 sets that we're hoping to get replaced through the grant.
45:24We also have the capital funding to replace sets of gear.
45:27So Um, my training division has been working hard with the manufacturers to try to come up with the right set of gear, the right specs.
45:36We've had some gear out in the companies with different individuals to, to try it out to see how they liked it.
45:43We've had some complaints about how some gear is hot.
45:46It's not breathing as much as the other gear.
45:48So I think I've said a couple times in the past that I don't want to trade cancer prevention for heart attacks because people are overheating.
45:56So we're trying to be as cautious as we can with this product because it's the second or third year, second generation of this PFAS-free inner liner.
46:04They're still working out some of the kinks with it.
46:06So I'm confident now that we're going to move forward with, I believe it's 40 more sets of, from a different manufacturer that we've had somebody trialing for a couple months now.
46:20So as soon as my training chief is back next week from vacation, He's going to coordinate fitting, and we're going to start purchasing those sets.
46:30As soon as those sets are in, the nice thing with this manufacturer is they're promising us a 30-day turnaround.
46:35So we'll get those sets hopefully within 2 months on the backs of the firefighters, and we'll be able to get a really good feel for, for the quality and, and how well those are going to perform for us.
46:46So my goal would be as soon as those sets are in and we give them a month or 2 of, of wear trial, then, um, we can order a larger batch if we're comfortable with it, or, you know, maybe switch to one of the other sets of gear.
47:02Councilor Raposo.
47:02Yeah, I just want to— I want to appreciate this response to the letter that you wrote, um, not only regarding turnout gear but other things that the committee had asked for.
47:10So I guess my— you know, when you and I had a conversation, because originally when I filed the resolution I talked about the amendment of the capital improvement plan and getting it all straight away.
47:18But I also understand what you're trying to do and testing and all that.
47:21And I appreciate that.
47:22I guess my only question back to the original resolution is, if you go through the fittings and everything works out well, you have the green light to get what is needed to fit your entire, entire department?
47:33I haven't gotten that green light from the administration yet.
47:35But based on the recommendation here, I believe that's where we're headed.
47:37Yeah.
47:38To the city administrator.
47:39Do we— does the mayor have a commitment to green light the purchase of the equipment once everything's said and done?
47:44We had that discussion with the chief, and that was his biggest concern.
47:48I mean, because of the gear and the manufacturers and different types and things, until they gave it a trial period.
47:54But there's a commitment from the administration to fund it and get it done.
47:57Yes, that's excellent.
47:59What I want to hear.
48:00Yeah, and I think the other benefit, obvious, is not buying 200 sets of gear right off the rip, because then in 10 years you're on the hook for 200 more sets of gear.
48:07So I think that spacing it out over the next year or two to to get everybody primary and backup gear would be a more prudent way to go about it.
48:16I appreciate the thought process.
48:17And as long as, you know, the funding is there to support it, as well as doing the, the research to make sure the equipment is adequate and safe for the firefighters, that's, that's what I'm looking for.
48:28So I appreciate the work you did.
48:29I appreciate your support on this.
48:30Thank you.
48:30I really think all 3 of you appreciate this, this committee's support on this.
48:34I don't know that it would have moved in the direction it did without you.
48:36So thank you very much.
48:38I yield, Chairman.
48:40Nothing?
48:41I have nothing else.
48:43I like that.
48:43So, uh, a 2-year time frame for— you could see that coming to fruition, getting you guys done if we were in 2 years, both sets of gear?
48:52Yeah, I mean, if, if that's the route that we go, I think that it might be more prudent once we— everyone gets that first set of gear, they're not in the second set that often, right?
49:00So they'll only be in the second set if they have a fire for the few hours that the gear is taking to wash and dry and clean.
49:08It might be more prudent to make this a 5-year plan so that— I was just gonna— so that we're not looking at replacing 200 sets of gear again, right, over a 2-year period, because it's only going to get more expensive.
49:17Right now you're looking at almost a million-dollar investment for 200 sets of gear.
49:21So, um, so I think it would probably not— it won't be me, but I don't want to burden the next fire chief and the next administration with having to deal with that in 10 years.
49:33Thank you.
49:34My only request is when you do get a green light on moving forward with whatever equipment you pick, if you could just notify the committee.
49:41I'd like to be— I think all of us, speaking for both gentlemen here, I think we'd like to be up to date on how it's progressing to make sure we're in the know of what's going on with it.
49:51Actually, what I'll do is when we do schedule the fitting at our headquarters, the manufacturer will be there all day fitting different firefighters.
49:58I'll let you know when that's happening if you want to come down and actually put eyes and hands on it.
50:01That would be awesome.
50:02I'd appreciate that.
50:03Absolutely.
50:03Thank you.
50:05That's all I have.
50:07I think the resolution's been satisfied, so I have no further concerns with it.
50:10Okay, we need a motion, Councilor.
50:14Motion to adjourn.
50:15Motion to adjourn has been made.
50:16Second.
50:17Seconded.
50:18All those in favor?
50:18Aye.
50:19Aye.
50:19No nays.
50:19Have a good night, everybody.