9.26.2023 Fall River City Council

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City College Community of financial please come to order clerk will call the roll counselor Dion here Kilby yeah my Liberty that was here Herrera yeah proposal yep Washington here president Camaro here soon to the open meeting law any person may make an audio or video recording of this public meeting or may transmit this meeting to any medium attendees are therefore advised at such recordings or

Transmissions are being made whether perceived or unperceived by those present and that are and I deemed acknowledged and permissible there are a number of people who signed up to speak for since it's simple time first we have an Android subject matter Trail homeless issue come down please to the microphone you can have a seat we have three minutes

you have three minutes thank you good afternoon hi uh again my name is Cameron Andrade I live at 593 Rodman Street I'm sitting here before you because uh I've been a resident of the city for almost 20 years the issue in front of the quickest hand Trail has gotten to the point where it's it's un unbelievable at this point I've got patrons my family owns Rosario's Diner we have patrons

that are actually scared to come to our restaurant now they've been harassed they've been they've been chased going back to their vehicles uh there's limited parking there if anybody knows Rodman Street it's getting aggressive with the with the I guess the tenets of the quickest hand Trail now the homeless um you know I've been in contact with the police department we've had calls

and I know that they're doing what the best that they can but they need your help because at this point it's getting out of control they're getting to be very aggressive my sis has been assaulted my mother has been chased back into our building I find him on my doorstep I find them in front of our building they're aggressive to our toward normal people there's other residents here that have joined it is

getting to the point where it's it's going to be difficult so I need your help whether it be an audience in the park From Dusk Till Dawn to move them away from there anything that you guys can do to help because at this point it's out of precipice we can't we can't continue to do this people are you know we pay taxes we work we have a business has to thrive

for 20 years now we're losing that business because of the simple fact it's we have homeless coming into our building being aggressive with our staff we've given our staff pepper spray at this point it's just out of control my daughter was her car was surrounded by three of them not three days ago again make a phone call to the police department get it they have other things to do right now

you know there's other you know more oppressing matters in this city but it's getting to the point where whether a resident be around there trying to protect their own or a client or a customer is is getting to be impossible I don't want to have to hire a detail to serve breakfast we don't even serve alcohol so that's the point it's at again we've done everything we've asked the police

department asked no trespassing no panhandling we've asked them nicely we have we have customers that sit outside this kid to sit outside now let's get to sit in the cars this is getting out of control I had one come across the street to me and tell me that congratulations this is no longer yours this is ours because you guys can't do anything and that is coming from a homeless

person I get you guys are trying to help them by sending over Health First to take care of their wounds somebody goes there daily to feed them all that's doing is like a stray cat outside of a door you keep feeding it you keep giving them those options they're not going to go anywhere I'm not heartless I understand this they have a sickness or an illness but again all the patron of pays taxes

like everybody else thank you so much thank you thank you next we have John Sylvia subject matter bag ordinance

hello um I've watched a couple of the audience meetings about the trash ordinance and I just want to say I'm not anti-environment I've been a part of a non-profit for over 10 years has tried to improve the Aesthetics of Fall River what I'm concerned about is that in this day and age now we do things to make us feel good and when something's done it doesn't work we can't revert back so there are a

few things I wanted to bring up with this if you get rid of the trash bags or these bags in the store it's been proven in other communities that it affects people that are elderly in the low income because a lot of them don't have cars so them walking with a paper bag it just messes it all up so what's happening now stop and shop now has paperbacks and they charge you 10

cents for so you have Aldi you have um price right they all charge people for bags what I don't want to see is we do something again to make people feel good and then it hurts people so those trash bags I mean those bags from Shaw's are used for for dog waste and they're used for people for the bathrooms the waste packets waste baskets there and what has been proven is that it really doesn't

slow down the trash bags people now buy these little trash bags for their dog so what do we what are we trying to do are we trying to decrease this so what I would ask and I know this thing has been out there since 2019 what I would ask is go look at their surrounding communities and I don't mean Dartmouth and Somerset I mean you Bedford Brockton uh Taunton see what they're doing because I've seen

this happen before on the news that people don't know what's going on and then it happens and then they'll walk in with these trash bags I mean these bags that are wet and it's just a big disaster so it's kind of saving you all time to go out there and see what what does this look like because I I watched the ordinance meeting and there's maybe one person person in the audience one

suggestion would be the city website put a question out there say hey are you in a favor of this just to kind of see what the atmosphere is with that um so with that I just wish before we go through with this and put it in just let's do some research to see it fits to what we want to do here thanks a lot thank you Mr President can I just say something yes counseling

seats I just want to add to it Mr Sylvia I did receive a call from a couple of people but one of the calls that I received was that in several communities when they put in a bag ordinance that a lot of the banks other stores they buy the Disposable bags and give them to people it's a way of advertising their own company and also a way of helping people by giving them the Disposable bags which

it's a good thing but I agree with you say because I've had calls about the small bags being used for other things and the concerning thing is that if you get me at a deli that plastic is okay you know if you go to the dry cleaners and it comes in a plastic bag that's okay so what are we doing just you know plastic bags at grocery stores I mean so yeah I've learned a lot about

it with that I yield thank you Mr President actually Sherry and tail subject matter President Avenue Construction

good evening Mr President good evening members of the council my name is sharian Tello I am a president a resident of President Avenue um I came before you two weeks ago on September 12th expressing my grave concerns about the construction project and the damages that my neighbors and I have incurred I was told that a special meeting would be held and that someone would be in touch with me two weeks

later I've not heard from anyone I would like us to plan a date and time today so that I can properly notify my neighbors that would wish to attend this meeting President Avenue is still not complete I bring more photo evidence of what I'm about to speak of right now on Friday morning I heard jackhammering right outside as I'm working and I thought oh great the ends in sight somebody's here they're doing something

and then all of a sudden the construction work went quiet I went outside to look and saw that manhole covers again had been dug up around and the pipes are exposed and this wasn't just in front of my house it's all the way down President Avenue cones and barrels were put up on top of these holes and no one was around starting to look it's 2 30 now okay school's going to get out in about 15

minutes Spencer Borden's right there and I'm seeing the size of these holes and it was an absolute Danger I went out to get my mail and checked again looked around to see if there's anybody there no construction workers in sight and a Truck comes and hits the barrel and knocks the barrel onto the sidewalk now this hole is exposed and it's about this deep if a car had driven into that hole they would have popped

the tire most definitely probably broken an axle somebody would have been hurt called the mayor's office luckily Ann called me back within a few minutes and she asked me if there was any construction workers around like I'm saying somebody has to get here now someone is going to be her I could picture a car breaking their axle and somebody rolling that car into my living room who would be the first responder on a

scene if somebody get hurt on President Avenue it would be me because I would go out to help I didn't want to see that happen I said Ann it's going to rain these if these things are not filled in this is going to be a big puddle somebody's not going to see these holes someone's going to get hurt I was told oh it's not going to rain much we all know what happened it rained for four

days straight right now but luckily I reached out to vice president Pereira she did make some phone calls somebody came with a cement truck and filled these holes in now again I've talked about this one pipe in front of my house that's been hit repeatedly during this construction I have pictures today to show now once they excavated around that pipe the pipe is bent it goes directly to a fire

hydrant I'm really hoping that pipe Works someday if we ever anyone near me needs that fire hydrant like that water is going to come out we don't even know and again here we are so yesterday I had a flyer in my mailbox saying that the Milling work would begin on the 28th great so excited there'll be further road closures weather permitting Paving will begin on Saturday the 30th starting at 4am

4 a.m we're going to Pavey Road I understand it's that's a heavily transited street during the school season during the week would be a nightmare I fully understand that this project should have been done before the beginning of school so I'm disappointed that no one's reached out to me in the past two weeks again my ask tonight is to commit to a meeting date and time as as we had

discussed on September 12th we need to have a comprehensive conversation about the damage to our homes and what is the plan for repair thank you so much um yes I'm the chair of the committee that will be hearing your issue it didn't your citizen but did not fall on deaf ears we have been trying diligently to schedule that meeting there's multiple subcommittee meetings that are being scheduled all at the same time

um we have people that work full-time we have people who are ill we logistically there's a lot of people involved that have to show up to the meeting we do have it scheduled it's scheduled for October 16th at 4 pm you haven't been notified yet just because it was still far out so you will be getting the notification but yes that meeting has been scheduled we did not forget about you great thank you

thank you so much thank you thank you thanks for Kelly Buchanan subject matter illegal encampments foreign we will officially notify you about that meeting as well thank you

good evening I'm here tonight to follow up on the progress concerning my grievance regarding the legal encampments within our city limits specifically the encampment located just below Kennedy Park please advise on all the status reports improvements and abatement products progress where warranted in addition I am also available to help this Quorum with assistance if requested by this Council by

providing additional documentation as needed concerning the illegal encampments grow in population swelling inhumane conditions sewage sludge deposits and increased rat Harbor issues thank you again for your consideration and attention to this matter and I'm just going to yield the rest of my time back to you guys I know it's on the Farm tonight so I'm hoping to get some answers on the progress on what we're

doing thank you thank you next we have Brandy Pasquale subject matter homeless no that's why I spoke earlier she signed up for assistance put time and she wanted to just touch base on what the gentleman from Rodman Street was talking about same type of issues with the homeless and the neighborhood and you know just paying it to our attention thank you Mr President come to c66 we have had

enough people come before this Council talking about these encampments I mean the last time we discussed uh the panhandlers and and homeless population and they were talking about getting free IDs coming in getting a free birth certificate to get things but our law abiding taxpayers or our people in the city who are having financial difficulties can't come to City Hall and get a free birth certificate this has to

be addressed with Administration so it is not just something the council can do we have the ordinance on panhandling in the ordinance committee but we don't have anything about encampments in the ordinance committee so you know I think that we as a counselor should address the mayor we want the mayor and City administrator is here tonight to come up with a plan if people are trespassing in

the park they're trespassing they need to be arrested they're trespassing I'm sorry but something's got to give maybe we should follow resolution Council and adjust it that way well I'll file a resolution now the man needs to sit with members to put a few members of the Council on a committee come up with a plan my heart breaks for people that are homeless but gosh we know the services that we're providing people to

help them and if they don't want the help they can't be obstructing a beautiful path that we built for people to get outdoor activity they can't be infringing upon a residence where people all pay their taxes take pride in their property they certainly can't be obstructing a business it's not fair just enough I'll put it in resolution when we break to have a meeting with them yeah thank you with that I yield

item number two Law and Order regards foreign school department proposal for Massachusetts school building authority for the rabbit Medeiros resiliency Preparatory Academy renovation project referred on 9 12 23.

I do want to say at this time I had spoken to both I mean spoken to council Pelletier and he was um he had a rough go a couple of last couple of days he was in the hospital I'm not sure if he's still there if he was released so he's not here tonight and Council Liberty had mentioned earlier that this was one of the days that she could not make it I

think was a few months back when she's tried to get the main change and I guess the council didn't support that change but this was meaning that she could not attend she had a prior engagement this one where people know why they're not here

um if you have a request before you from the school department through the mayor to fund accelerated repair project that has been approved by msba but it is the last project at Fall River will receive from this program that's currently been shut down basically because msba is trying to fund the whole bunch of projects that are coming in well over budget so we were we were lucky enough to get in

under the wire this is an 8.1 million dollar ask of which 20 percent um is the city's portion of that particular project on an average um ARP projects accelerated repair projects stay within that guideline of funding unlike core projects where there are a lot of ineligible costs most of the ARP projects stay within the eligibility range on the items that we're asking for this is a window and door replacement at

290 Rock Street which is the Robert L Medeiros resiliency Prep Academy and it's the last piece with the exception of some masonry work to close that building in tight we've done all the envelope work billing has a new roof an mspa project it has new boilers another mspa project that the city funded for a 6.1 million dollars and this is the final piece of what msba would fund for a project like this um I the um

Council clerk passed out a spreadsheet that is big enough to read and the other one was kind of tiny print but it basically lays out what is covered but is eligible what is ineligible and then this has soft and hard costs meaning the construction costs are in here also architectural owners project manager costs and a certain amount of contingency is built into the project to cover unforeseen items

I would also ask and again it's not in in the request but I do believe that there were residual funds left from the last RPA project um I I don't know the exact amount it's about three hundred thousand I would ask that that um add another request to the council if we could um use those as a contingency for this project just in case we had extras that money is already borrowed and it was

left unsafe from the last project thank you six guys Mr pachico the only question I have I know this is the Windows Doors and Etc to wrap up this building but a question I have I didn't see anything in here about Horus man I'm just wondering where the Horace man what that's looking like in the auditorium so obviously the the they are protected now with the brand new roof right and

all the work that we did on the original RPA uh ARP project that we did um about two years ago we do have um a project that we're going to digitize some of those because we want to bring some of that art in a digitized form to the high school and maybe to other schools so that's where we stand right now but the goal um the school Department's goal is to do

a feasibility study at some point I'm not sure if it's um if it's going to be coming up on an agenda item on the near future but to do a feasibility study in the RPA building so that we can see what we need to do and how we can utilize more of that building the building is the only swing space we have left in the district of a sizable um

classroom space so that we if we needed to if we had an emergency in a school we could move students in but it's not shape yet for that to happen so the RPA has a lot of Promise we've done quite a bit of work along with the city to including this would be about 14 million dollars of work that's been done in the last five years and the intention is to do work we've

been refinishing floors a lot of painting work stairwells ceiling lighting but there was there is a lot of work left to do in that building but it is um it is the intent of the school department to continue to rehab that building possibly get that Auditorium to a point and a building to a point where we could have public events there and showcase the uh the mules good no they do have very large classrooms when

I got out of college with my teaching degree I taught there for a bit and although one of the teachers thought I was a student because I was very young but um it and I love the flooring there they have beautiful hardwood for it you can't put those in again so nice to hear we're saving as much of the building as we can thank you Mr Pacheco thank you Mr President good evening good evening

um I recognize that we need to maintain our buildings I recognize that we need to repair our buildings but I have a little bit of an issue with the process this time um the superintendent signed off February 8th the mayor signed off June 22nd the Project Director signed off June 23rd it was presented to the S msba on the 30th and the council didn't get it till September 12th and now here we

are at the 26th I feel like I mean it's been presented I assume it's been accepted and it almost like it was just assumed it's all going to be fine and everybody's going to say yes and I just have a issue with the process so we came here for the for the SOI because we need the signatures so when we presented the SOI to msba we have that process that we have to do

um the school committee signed off on it and then the second part of that is the feasibility side where they the school department paid for the hundred and want to say about 120 000 worth of expenses to have them do the feasibility side um and then it went to a full vote of the school committee to actually present it here and we have a certain amount of days to get it back to mspa with an

approval from this body and the special vote language so there is vote language that has to go along with this in the process and we followed what msba asked us to do in order to get to this point I I didn't mean the I hope there was no flight or if there was it was never meant to be um to this body the school department cannot operate without this body in any

way shape or form and that's well known whether we were funding a project or not we still need the support of of this committee as you know um all of these projects have to be fully funded and then the reimbursements come between 15 and 45 days later and keep throughout the project those funds keep flowing back to the city so most of the time the projects don't have to be um the

borrowing doesn't have to be fully you have to approve the borrowing as a whole 8.1 but we normally wouldn't get to that point especially on an ARP project because the money would flow back into the into the city relatively quickly it's not like the old days when we would borrow and wait a couple of years for an audit so this money flows back to the city relatively quickly and it is 20 cents on the dollar

as I said it's about one point between 1.4 and 1.6 million dollars is the end cost to the city for this sum for this project okay thank you thank you thank you Mr President so um I guess just to Echo my colleague in c2's line of questioning and I fully understand the uh msba how they have that timeline for the statement of Interest which would require the school committee and then the executive

branch to sign off um can we just I guess in the future given the fact that we're essentially identifying that we are interested in various projects whether or not we proceed I mean there's a feasibility process for for the SOI and things of that nature but at that point if we can just get notifications so it just doesn't feel like at that point it's a rubber stamp after the feasibility goes through that we know

potentially which which projects are in the pipeline with with msba because I think that would make it a little bit easier for us to to kind of get behind and feel like it's just not rubber stamping moving forward um so I I think you just answered the question because I was a little confused so the language that we have here the loan order so the loan are just generic in the sense that it's got the 80

because that's the cap from the msba but we're only going to get a 20 reimbursement so the 80 is the cap of Mo we couldn't get more reimbursement than that right and then 20 is is um assumed the city's portion 20 is our portion is up yeah 80 so it is an 80 reimbursement it is okay so I misunderstood yeah it's the opposite okay so it's an 80 reimbursement 20 percent okay

um so in terms of the 8.1 these the budget that we have in front of us what's what's that reflect then so the budget that you have if you look at the last page it includes all soft all the hard costs and soft costs so if you look at the bottom total facilities Grant total project budget 8.101 the difference is the city's portion very last line on the authorization

yeah so I was just looking if I look at the first one you've got construction budget oh it's it's not a subtotal it's just a subtotal for the construction budget then you've got the Architects engineer okay yes I was trying okay I was just trying to pull on that bottom right I was just trying to reconcile the the difference between the 6.8 but that's just construction costs not all the additional costs exactly

okay with that I yield Mr chairman I mean Mr President my own information to the public why um maybe you already answered the question we're getting 80 on this one um why substantially more reimbursement from the state than the other schools so we've done recently the scope of the work is a lot different than for instance building a high school so the Durfee reimbursement was about 63

because it was so in so many ineligible costs swimming pool the amount of square footage that's reimbursed from mspa as opposed to the actual cost Durfee was around 439 dollars a square campus the exterior the exterior campus price on the square footage of how much they will pay for on all of site work so both of those items start chipping away at your percentage Durfee is an 80 20 school to start off

with but when you finish with all of those different ineligibles it brought it down to that 63 percent coming from msba and the remainder coming to the city for the tax rule okay I thought maybe it was because it's a resiliency program they'd be a high every University but but you explained it and it's also it's also kind of the ARP program is very specific in what we're doing so we're touching windows and doors

they're not touching anything else there will be some items that are unforeseen you pull out a window there may be some some masonry work that needs that needs correcting there may be some vents that are connected to that window that would need you know repair but by and large most of the ARP programs are very specific in nature on purpose so that it will stay within those guidelines

yeah I never really understood why uh the entire project was the rationale why the entire Project's not reimbursable and excluding um you know the outdoors and because it's part of the educational experience with uh but I appreciate your explanation and thank you for clarifying out for me thank you Mr President thank you councilman any further questions thank you Mr Chico entertain a motion to

Ultra full Council vertical Council for action second motion is made and second all in favor

item number three Bank Street Omni Proposal review and recommendations table 8 15 23.

um table hasn't made second and seconded all in favor aye Council has it made in second we are before we refer we're going to come to palette which now has a bloody Legacy and Clark would you please read Council palettes later

dear council president Camara in honorable city councilors city council is responsible for acting in the best interest of the residents and business owners of Fall River even when we may personally disagree with the decision I'm writing to you to emphasize that the acceptance of the bank Street Armory proposal would benefit the city of Fall River excuse me after four hundred thousand dollars was

invested invested by the city for remodeling the location has been unoccupied and unused for over eight years there have been multiple discussions regarding a potential investment of over six million dollars to repair this site for recreational use even though housing and housing costs are the main concern of our residents we need to act on the disrepair and vacancy by embracing this

Redevelopment opportunity it is our responsibility to avoid another unused eyesore in this city the former police station is a reflection of what the bank Street armory's future may be with no action Alan maccumber of Main Street projects is the only bidder on the project in his team of Architects are experienced in the Redevelopment of vacant infrastructure in this city they have

remodeled the Bradford Durfee textile school and have future plans for post office garage structured nearby the bank Street Armory Mr Matt cumber has invested time investment and knowledge into this proposal and understands the need for Housing Development twenty percent of this proposed development would provide low-income housing units in addition this property would become taxable and benefit the city's tax rules

Fall River needs Redevelopment Fall River needs housing full River needs investment while the bank Street armories passed holds a remarkable Legacy the only way to allow this location to survive and grow is for this proposal to move forward I respectfully ask that my colleagues take action on this item tonight and vote the approval of this project is in the best interest of those who rely on us to make the

right decision so sincerely Council Leo Pelletier thank you motion hasn't made to full Council and second all in favor aye any opposed motion counties

and before we have a transfer and appropriation and according to the provisions of chapter 44 section 32 of the Massachusetts general laws I recommend the final appropriation to your honorable body that the sum of 49 999 dollars be in the same is hereby appropriated to the Health and Human Service Department expenses transferred from opioid settlement receipt receipts stabilization fund

for Council second motion for the full Council has made executive all in favor aye any opposed motion carries more furniture and finance we have one more item one will counselor attachment Community preservation committee to appropriate emergency funding for the Fall River Historic Society electrical work of constitution yes um in full disclosure I recently became a member of the Historical Society

therefore I placed a call to the ethics Commission in Boston and as a result I will be recusing myself from the conversation and the vote thank you handsome counter seat seven I have joined Council Dion in the same thing I've joined the Historical Society myself way before this uh took place so I have to do the same song I just got a question is it historical society that we're talking about

let's focuses electrical work in the amount any logical work and social Historical Society yeah I I guess I recognize that so everybody that donates 25 to become a member is gonna Stan listen I I donate too I just don't know donate money because I get it all right I just want to make sure that's not the president because I remember we're running a little uh one two three four five Pickens you know

I just I just want to clarify that I get it I want to put it out there that I have donated and I am a member of the you know historical and you support them and I support them as we all all right tax piece fight request for Community preservation committee to appropriate emergency funding for the foreign historical societies electrical work in the amount of 236 374.40 and 29 cents full body

Mr made in second it all in favor aye any opposed let's send a motion to the Judgment second Finance to adren Francis remain seconded all in favor aye any opposed city council violets is now adjourned regular city council minute will begin at seven o'clock

Overcomers

regular city council meeting will please come to order call the road council is kadim here Dion here Kilby here by Liberty Pelletier Pereira here raposo here Washington here president Camaro here will everyone in the council chair please rise for moment of Silent prayer foreign

or video recording of this public meeting or may transmit this meeting 20 million attendees are therefore advised that such recordings or Transmissions are being made whether perceived or perceived by those present and not deemed acknowledged and permissible Madam cork presented the first item be for you is the mayor's request for confirmation of the appointment of Cedric Souza as the

city auditor motion confirm motion to confirm has remained and seconded um what is it motion to confirm hasn't made in seconded yes do you want to roll call on Roll Call

on the confirmation councilman yes Dion yes Kilby yes Pelletier Pereira yes proposal yes Washington yes president Camaro yes congratulations congratulations

congratulations entertain a motion take the meaning Out of Water Council Kilby has some citations you'd like to present motion has remain second all in favor aye the opposed motion carries come to Kobe

for many of us in the community of course on the council we we know we suffered a loss of fire loss on uh on Brighton Street and that's the motivation for this uh this these three citations I mean I could put uh 50 60 100 citations in for everyone who was involved in in fighting that uh that fire but again the motivation was simply because a homeowner who has a house seven feet

behind or on the side of where the fire occurred suffered little or no damage I believe it was just water damage um so after thinking it over I thought it'd be very fitting to uh of course to acknowledge the uh the head of our fire department our chief um the deputy chief who was in command of uh that area during the fire Mr Flannery and obviously the president uh the rank

and file of a fire department uh Mr Burns so I would ask you to come down please Council can I just add that the fire department knows all of the vacant buildings that we have in Fall River I learned and they already have strategized if any one of those buildings go up in smoke what was the quickest way how they would uh you know attack that fire and I think that

is showing the proactiveness of our fire department so kudos to the chief absolutely thank you you're welcome um so anyway uh conversations I have with these three gentlemen over the you know subsequent to the uh to the fire the chief was uh kind enough to put in an executive order so you know at first I was born in executive order um what does that mean an order from the chief that means you're asking someone

to do something I was assumed I would assume but I look at it as a recognition of everyone who battled that place that day um and obviously to think you know I have to choose someone to be here Mr Flannery Mr Burns and uh I just thought it was very fitting that the chief yourself like I said was it commanded a fire and young men um did an awesome job so I asked the

chief to please read the order I'm set me going on long-winded here the order that he wrote I would really like him to to read that tonight because it just summarizes how Regional with the cooperation of other departments um potentially um you know halted a potentially neighborhood event there's no doubt about it in a tight area like that so chief I guess I could stand up okay I'm taking this opportunity to

praise the efforts of all the on duty and recall firefighters officers and chief officers mutually communities that sent apparatus and Manpower and fighting a good fight thereby saving a neighborhood I thank you all for your persistence and perseverance this praise is not just from this office but also from neighborhood residents the local legislative contingent and the mayor's office so losing a

building is never an intended result it took a Herculean effort to stop this fire from advancing to expose buildings in a densely populated neighborhood with limited access to the expansive fire building as previously mentioned the Fall River fire department's efforts were supported with on-sea mutual Aid by Swansea and Somerset fire promise as well as Tiverton Westport and Freetown fire

pilots who responded to numerous fire and EMS related calls during the firefighting operations the frfd efforts would not have been or would have been more challenging and not as successful successful without the assistance and support of the Fall River fire dispatchers Fall River special services Fall River Police Department Fall River EMS forward building department and the Red Cross

it was reported to investigators that there may have been a delay in reporting the fire as much as one and a half hours as a passerby noted a snell is smoking area approximately 1500 but saw no smoke or Fire coming from the building it was a heavy body of fire inside the building upon arrival the initial Crews attempted an exterior attack interior attack but with a vacant questionable structure and heavy body of

fire The Incident Commander District Chief Scott Flannery decided on a defensive attack to keep the fire from involved in the exposed structures one of which was seven feet from the fire building there was a recall of personnel immediately upon notification of a third alarm twelve members answered this call and responded forth with staff to reserve engine companies and responded to the scene at the height of

fire all 10 Fall River fire fighting apparatus Frontline apparatus and two Reserve companies were operating at this incident either hooked up to a hydrant feeding elevated waterways supplying hand lines or operating elevated Master streams all the recall members maintained firewatch overnight EMS led by incentive router set of a triage treated and transporting a 405 pilot member special services Personnel

led by Captain Chris Karen set up lighting rehab and arranged shelter for this place mechanic fertado addressed apparatus issues and fueled Vehicles the fort police department again I'm not sure who the sergeant was but uh I know officer Riley was there assisted who has seen security and moving vehicles for apparatus placement while fire alarm monitored and supported the operation with unmatched professionalism Bravo

zululu to the personal entities noted above for your efforts and support of this incident and firefighting effort thank you all for your dedication to your respective departments the citizens of Fort River means good good job at the Marine Corps in the uh and the Navy sorry

just an honor to be here with you and certainly to represent the 405 Fighters it is fantastic to be honored here by you guys today recognition of the dangers that we face on a daily basis and uh we just appreciate being recognized and you know it's uh you know I'm grateful to represent the members and they're all thankful for this so thank you I just want to say it was a group effort

everybody did an outstanding job four of a fire the police were awesome helped us Evacuate the buildings and everybody there uh EMS the EMA all volunteers showed up and he was water and set up their shelters and it was a group effort for Mutual Aid and it worked out very well because everybody worked well together initial told initially told councilor Kirby it wasn't accepting award because

because it is a group effort and um so he said we'll accept it on behalf of everybody you mentioned in your paper so that's what I'm doing to the police department to the special services the dispatchers I'll accept it on their behalf okay you did say that and so did Mr Flannery sort of Mr Burns so you're not in you know it's uh it's amazing how what a proud group we have and how professional

our group we have so the psych but I'll say this it's important for the community to know that's the reason for these citations it's important for the people watching this to to see how important it is and how valuable the fire department is so um the language is the same uh from my friend council president Camaro and myself and obviously from the attack I mean even those who can't be here

for exemplary reactions to protect both the lives and properties of the residents residents and business owners of a densely populated populated area in response to the September 19 2023 fire Mr St Pierre that's for you Mr Chief Leonard and Jason that's for you congratulations thank you thank you thank you

sir well we're on an entertaining motion to adopt the citations all in favor any opposed citations are adopted Madam quick the next item is the mayor's Communication in a financial order that the sum of 49 999 dollars be and the same as here by transferred to the Health and Human Services Department expenses from the opioid settlement receipts stabilization fund any opposed motion carries

item three is the mayor's communication appropriating 236 374.29 from Community preservation act undesignated fund for CPA historic resources preservation projects motion to adopt promotion second motion 2008 seconds all in favor aye any opposed India stain to abstain two abstentions Council C2 comes to C7 real quick I have a communication from the mayor in an order amending the Fall River

Waterfront urban renewal plan to allow inclusion of lots oh 22-9 in o23-4 as properties for acquisition disposition and Redevelopment motion to adopt most refer to community Finance motion Affairs remain second all in favor aye aye any opposed motion carries item five is a mayor's communication and a request to establish an ordinance creating the position of a Finance Management and compliance analyst to the

financial services department motion to refer to the committee on ordinances registration has been made all in favor aye any opposed motion carries committee on finance at a meeting held on September 12th voted unanimously to recommend the accompanying resolution be granted leave to withdraw with counselors Pelletier on Washington absent and not voting this resolution was to discuss strategies to decrease

homeless encampments within the city motion Grant please six Council prayer I had put in this resolution it was given leave to withdraw because of the last finance committee meeting we talked about um the panhandlers and we also talked about this but I think that giving it leave to withdraw perhaps we should amend it to request that the administration report to the Council on what strategies

have been made regarding homeless encampments so are you saying we don't give leads to a drug we have Linda instead right I would just amend it that the administration let the council know what steps they're taking regarding the homeless encampments and the effect that they're having on our residents and businesses alike right it's a form of emotions on the amendment all in favor aye any opposed

motion carries on adoption as amended accountancy too yeah I just want to comment that the comments that my colleague made earlier I agree with with her sentiment um you know when people start infringing upon other people's rights when people start um affecting the quality of life of you know law abiding citizens and people who have worked hard to to have their properties and and do the right things

um is definitely you have to get to the point where you put your foot down and say something has to be done um you just it just can't it just can't go on forever and I mean it it keeps snowballing and snowballing and snowballing and um yeah something has to be done we have to take some action find a way to take action well with that I yield motion hasn't amended Mr President if I

made the resolution itself asks that the committee convened with the administration to discuss strategies in funding being utilized to decrease homelessness and homeless encampments within the city so in essence it's doing what you've what you're asking for so perhaps the resolution should just be referred to the mayor that's fine if you feel that that's I that's fine okay so the new motion would be to refer

Ence that resolution to the man's office second second what should I mean seconded all in favor aye any opposed motion carries very good we have a proposed ordinance uh miscellaneous traffic ordinance for second reading and enrollment motion so made exactly which is the password second reading every Roman has it made and seconded all in favor aye any opposed motion counties have a proposed ordinance that relates

to the registered and certified mail notification requirements for Passage through second reading and enrollment motion soulmate second pass the second reading and enrollment has made a second at all in favor aye any opposed motion carries and item nine is the thin film plastic bags proposed ordinance for Passage through second reading and enrollment so moved motion to pass the second reading

in the moment as we made it in a second second second on the second final motion Council seat six Council vice president Pearl I just have a concern about this I have received calls from um citizens who explained that they were seniors and they used these bags for varied things um and also with uh Mr Sylvia's comments this evening I think there's more to look at on this uh it's gotten to the

ordinance committee and it's in second reading I would just ask for a roll call um I think I personally would like to get a little more information on it because I've reached out to other communities to see what they what problems they were having um I won't be supporting this but I mean there's been a motion on the floor to adopt and there was a second so I would just request a roll call vote

eventually I yield thank you cousin CA Council Washington yeah I have to second that because since that ordinance meeting that I was in there there's just been emails conflicting emails of um is it good for the environment is it not good for the environment and I just can't seem I don't think that me personally have enough information to vote um on this so I couldn't support it at this

moment I like a roll call too I yelled council president courtesy one comes clean I respect everybody's opinion I I just want to say for the record that this is over three years worth of time um members were at the table they asked questions we went back and forth there were no more questions the only question that was left after the discussion was had about this ordinance was the enforcement portion of that

that's why it was tabled then it was tabled for I don't know close to it to a year again uh we brought it back to the to the table and we were told by Corporation Council that we did not need to have a specific department for enforcement so I'm not sure what bringing it sending it back to Orange committee is going to do because we're going to have the same exact information

and I recognized that but I think um if if we're not looking to support it then let's just kill it I don't suggest that we bring it back to ordinance to have the same conversations that we had for the last three years to then just come back before us that's the only thing I'm I'm sitting with that I yields thank you Council I agree with my colleague in seat number one we had

discussed it before and it was that along with the balloon ordinance and that fell apart because there's no way to enforce it so why are we putting ordinances on the books that we cannot enforce and I agree that there's been time to look at this but over that year spanned or two year span a lot of other information has come up so I'm not um I'm not saying to re to send it back to

ordinance I just think take a vote on it and if it's gonna fly it flies if it doesn't we'll kill it with that I yield thank you did you ever hand them yeah my vote is gonna is gonna stay consistent from the ordinance subcommittee I voted no on it I see some inconsistencies between some of the language at the state level versus this so I'm gonna stick with my novel time being until

um you know we can proceed forward but that's where I'm going to stand up the motion on the floor is to approve Mr President and there was a second oceans to adopt I believe to adopt with a second okay so there's a roll call correct this would be for a Passage through second reading and enrollment counselors Kadeem yes Dion no Kilby yes well Liberty Pelletier Ferreira no proposal nope Washington no

president Camaro yes

where is the city is frequently experienced devastating flooding related to Heavy Rain poor Drainage Systems in general geography and whereas funding to remedy this issue has exceeded six million dollars and whereas shrubs have been planted in high flood risk areas such as the street Median on Middle Street to help retain soil and prevent more flood damage but have not received regular maintenance are significantly

overgrown and in eyesore and whereas these plants negatively affect the Landscaping of Kennedy Park which attracts hundreds of visitors who use the baseball fields basketball courts softball fields pickleball court and playground and whereas fall River's municipal code in section 26-40 requires Property Owners to control the growth of any wild plants or the existence of any obstruction so as

not to interfere with the general view of the people now therefore be resolved that the administration and any related departments address this shrub overgrowth to ensure the city is maintaining its own property with the same requirements that are expected of all property owners and to help improve the quality of life in cityscape of Kennedy Park second motions being second I'm the

motion constitutes discounts I did speak to councilor Pelletier about this who filed this resolution um because we had gotten a number of calls if you drive past Saint Anne's Hospital and you're going from South Main down to Broadway that island in the middle has weeds that are taller than me um and we have called different individuals to make sure that that's cut and it hasn't been cut

another one is the beautiful uh plaque of stone work that's at the Heritage State with at the Veterans Memorial Park again and now I see all flags on Eastern Avenue Meridian and I see a bunch of trees that are at the cemetery Department there on Bullock Street they're going to be planting all of those it's great to plant trees where is the manpower to take care of these trees after that kind of excuse me I mean

we're beautifying the City by doing that that's wonderful we have one arborist how many people do we have in the tree Department two just I I think the administration needs to look at that and see what we can do but I I'd support this resolution with that I yield thank you thank you motion to adopt has made and seconded all in favor aye any opposed motion carries every police Chiefs report

please check it out in favor aye aye any opposed yes have applications for renewal of auto repair shop licenses on behalf of Michael Kamara at 1148 Duval Street and Jewel Syed at 714 Globe Street second motion motion to adopt has an amazing second all in favor any opposed motion carries item 14 is a request for the transfer of an auto repair shop license located at 127 Eastern Avenue from Ziad El Corey to

Antonio Garcia motion to adopt second motion to adopts as a meeting second is all in favor aye any opposed motion carries you have a number of claims motion referred Corporation Council motion Corporation Council hasn't made in second at all in favor aye any opposed motion carries have a communication from the commander of the disabled American veterans regarding the disabled American veterans

William S Green Chapter 9 withdrawing from the Fall River War veterans Council motion to accept and place on file second we should accept and place our fathers are made and seconded all in favor aye any opposed ocean carries item 17 is a communication from Pauline Lewis regarding municipal government Improvement project and Community utilities water replacement project also be accepting place on file second

has remain seconded on the motion Council seat system I I agree with them accepting and placing on file but also that here's a woman that's writing and saying that the work on President Avenue that they have done that she's witnessed diligency of the workers on that street in 90 degree weather Etc that they do get notices so you had one person uh complaining about the way things were

done and we have one person that's writing and saying that rehearse wherever she lives her section that she's grateful to the work that's being done so I just think we we give all views and this is a positive so just to share it maybe they're not going to her house and smashing the concrete maybe not so well she lives on President Avenue as well so might be a difference to the meeting

motion to adopt has Remain the most accepting place so far has amazing seconded all in favor aye any opposed motion counties have the city Engineers request to open the street less than five years old on Purchase Street between Bedford and granite motion to approve motion to adopt approve has been made and seconded all in favor aye any opposed ocean carries have a request for a structure on a

public way on behalf of the Tomato Center motion to adopt second motion to approve has been made and seconded on favor aye any opposed motion carries of the planning board minutes of August 9th motion to acceptance acceptance 24 minutes on August 9th has an amazing second it all in favor aye any opposed motion carries both should take 21 23 together seconded all in favor aye any opposed motion carries

uh click could you read items 21 22 and 23. sure these would be minutes of the city council public hearings committee on finance and regular meeting all held on September 12th motion promotional minutes second and second all in favor aye any opposed abortion counties communication for Mass dep this is a notice of a new regulatory reporting requirement relating to medium and heavy duty vehicles that are operated and

dispatched in Massachusetts motion to accept and place on fire most accepting Place how far has a million seconded all in favor aye any opposed motion carries hey the committee on finance at a meeting held on September 26th voted unanimously to recommend the attached loan order be referred to the full Council for action with counselors lullaby and Pelletier absent and not voting this is the loan

order in the amount of 8 million one hundred one thousand six hundred thirty six dollars for the Robert Medeiros resilience each Prep Academy renovation project any opposed motion carriers committee on finance at a meeting held on September 26th voted unanimously to recommend that the attached order be referred to the full Council for action with counselors the liberty and Pelletier absent in not voting this is

the bank Street Armory Proposal review and recommendation proposal second motion to adopt the proposal has remain in second did on the motion

on the motion to adopt the loan order council is kadim yes Dion yes Kilby yes Liberty Pelletier Carrera no proposal yes Washington yes and president Camaro no option carries foreign will take a two-minute recess

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thank you

so you got to reconvene the motion to reconsider the boat on the bank Street Armory when we heard loan order we thought we were on the school didn't realize it was the Armory I'd like to make a motion to reconsider the vote second Mortuary consider has a million seconds an emotion you can speak constant you know I know that this is a tough decision because if we give away the Armory or sell the Armory

whatever I shouldn't say give away there'll be more houses built that's fine more apartments and that we're building all over the city but if they have children we're paying for those children to be in school which really kind of negates this is when they did the other building every time somebody comes in and does something they get money from the city too I don't know if they get over a million dollars

the last project or what have you um and I I you know I think it's good that the city chips in but this is the last piece of history that this city has and you're just gonna let it be sold I'm not saying you have to fix it in a year but over the span of Time start fixing it up the veterans have their home to go back to you can have events there we

have a city event planner letter be housed there not in City Hall you have tourism you spent over a million dollars in Opera money to give to people to do tourism put them down there you know do something there have events there they can do it in other communities and we can't do it here Mr Brandt was in front of us two weeks ago said CPA they had about five million they could give but

they met with the mayor to see what his proposal was he didn't give him a proposal come to the council I'll give him a proposal of what we can do there to have events have a place for kids to go how do you say in Fall River you care about kids but we can't save this one building sure they can go to schools and this and that but they're not going to

do that this is one Central Hub that did a lot of things and you can rent that space out you can have boxing matches basketball games there's so much you can do get these kids off the street get them doing something getting feeling a part of that building but why do we sell every piece of History we have what do we have in the city we don't have the dirty theater

that's gone we don't have the Old City Hall that's gone right we don't have the melon Hotel everything gets knocked down for highways for this or that I don't know I mean anybody I don't push my colleagues to vote any way that they want to vote but I've heard from a lot of people that want to keep this and I'm not saying you have to fix it right away but it's been like that for years and

nobody's done anything and they did spend a whole bunch of money fixing the roof and and doing some repairs so now beautiful hardwood floors are being destroyed we're using it for storage that's that's just my opinion and I will gladly accept counselor in seat number two's request for reconsideration with that I yield thank you yeah and then the other part of my argument has been that 390 932 dollars

of taxpayer dollars have gone into this building and we're not even recuperating it um I asked about whether there would be reimbursement um it was said that unless it's five years or less since a loan they don't normally get reimbursed however fifty thousand dollars was put into urgent masonry repairs and removal of vegetation in 2021 that's only two years ago I haven't heard any mention that 50

000 is going back to the CPA which at the least it should be where it was only two years ago with that I yield thank you all in favor um roll call on the reconsideration we'll call them into consideration the motion to reconsider councils yes Dion yes Kilby yes yes yes La Liberty Pelletier Pereira yes proposal yes Washington yes president Camaro yes executive on a motion roll call

on a motion to adopt the order for the bank Street Armory Proposal review and recommendation council is Kadeem yes no Kilby yes well Liberty Pelletier Pereira no proposal yes Washington yes and president Camaro no those are still counts

and lastly we have the miscellaneous traffic ordinance for Passage through final ordination motion so made second motion has been made executive all in favor aye any opposed motion codes and the proposed ordinance for Passage through final ordination this is the ordinance that relates to the notification by registered and certified mail motion soulmate second motion to pass doesn't mean second door in favor

aye any opposed motion carries and the last one yes second motion to adjust a million seconds all in favor aye any opposed well if you guys good at everybody thank you thank you

good evening

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