9.30.2026 Redevelopment Authority

Okay, welcome to the September 30th, 2026 meeting of the Fall River Redevelopment Authority.

Pursuant to the Open Meeting Law, any person may make an audio or video recording of this public meeting or may transmit the meeting through any medium.

Attendees are therefore advised that such recording or transmission are being made, whether perceived or unperceived, by those present and are deemed acknowledged and permissible.

First item is roll call.

John Erickson.

Joan Medeiros here.

Ann Keane here.

We have Ben Feidelberg.

Ben Feidelberg, who looks like he's on his way to Mars in a spaceship.

Ron— I wish I was, Johnny.

Feet are on the ground, though.

Ron Russo can't be with us tonight.

We have Sarah Page, Executive Director, John Coffman, Legal Counsel, Ken Fiola, Administrative Consultant, and Karen Martin, Project Manager.

First item is approval of the open session minutes from August 26th.

If there's no comments on those, I'll entertain a motion to approve those.

A motion to approve the August 26th, 2026 open session minutes.

Second.

Second.

John Erickson, yes.

Joan Medeiros, yes.

Ann Keane, yes.

Ben Feidelberg, yes.

Thank you.

September warrant which you guys have— where's my other one— which Joan has reviewed, and that warrant totals $324,932.59.

If everybody's cool with that, I'll entertain a motion to approve that warrant.

Motion to approve the September warrant in the amount of $324,932.59.

Second.

Second.

Jen Erickson, yes.

Joan Medeiros, yes.

Dan Keen, yes.

Thank you.

Ben Fadelberg, yes.

Oh, keep forgetting about that.

Karen's going to update us on the 2025 audit.

So the— I had submitted all the initial information into the auditor's portal by the end of August.

And they have started as of the end of last week, started to go through everything and have now started to send me back requests for specific information, which I'm going to start plowing through in the next couple of days.

I did actually meet with the gentleman who's actually grinding through the audit for our lead contact, and he's actually really quite a nice guy.

And so I think we're well on our way.

And as usual, we're going to be waiting for the PRAC report from the Retirement Board before we can finalize everything.

But according to Mike at the Retirement Board, it should not be delayed this year.

There's no surprises coming or any issues.

So hopefully, maybe by November, we'll have that and be able to wrap it up.

So that's our goal.

Good.

Northfield Point.

Northfield Point.

Lots going on over Yeah, so schedule-wise, he pulled out last Wednesday because of the storm, because we're at the point where he was mowing and going to be seeding.

And obviously that wasn't going to be a good idea prior to a nor'easter with all the rain and potential wind and everything washing away into the ocean or the river.

So he ended up back out there today.

All our plants survived.

The only thing that took a bit of a hit was the fence kind of blew into the job site, which is better than having it blow onto the boardwalk.

So that was good.

But he's out there today.

And we're hoping to— he was working on the lawn today, he'll be bringing in some more lawn tomorrow.

He's hoping to be seeding on Friday.

And he's got all the, you know, appurtenances like the bollards, the bike racks, barrels, bottle fill station, all of that.

He'll probably start placing those next week.

He wanted to get the hydroseeding in so he didn't hydroseed all over everything.

The camera installation is scheduled for next week.

And we're hoping really by the end of next week to be in decent shape out there.

He'll be placing the sod the first part of next week also.

So by the end of next week, early week after, because it does look like there's a couple of days of rain next week.

We should be in pretty good shape out there.

And one of the things that we are going to do, it'll probably be at some point next week, we're going to be— that temporary fence that's there, he's going to take that down.

And he's going to put all barrels in front of the site with caution tape through it.

And because that way, because the project totally butts the boardwalk edge.

So in order to clean that whole area, we got to kind of impinge a bit on the boardwalk.

And I think the barrels are a better way to do it than the trip hazards of that temporary fence with how it sticks out at the bottom.

So, and then I've got on order a few little lawn signs that we're going to put that say What was my crafty wording?

Native plant restoration in progress, please stay on the path.

So people aren't tempted to walk into the mown and planted areas.

So I'm hoping to get— sorry, I'm sorry, Tim.

Sorry, it looks like will probably have substantial completion that week just before Columbus Day weekend.

So it should— it's looking— it looks really nice.

I don't know if anyone's been over there, but it does look really nice.

People walk by and they love it.

Do we have lighting?

The bollards are going to go in next week.

Those are the solar sprinklers.

And I know we ran the water line.

Yeah, the water lines there.

And he's got— I believe he didn't put the— he was— to be honest, I'm not sure if he got the heads in before we left last week or not, but he'll put them in.

Before he puts the sod down on Monday.

So, and the electricals all run.

Is there an overflow for those?

Or no?

How does that work?

An overflow for sprinklers?

No, no, because it's not the heavy duty system like over at City Pier.

He's just got the smaller rotors closer to like the system at Bicentennial Park.

So, so that's the schedule update.

So So, um, Karen, I did see a, um, I think it was Rhode Island PBS, there's a shortage of ospreys.

Shortage of ospreys?

Yeah, so we may end up with that turkey vulture we were talking about.

Shortage of ospreys?

Really?

I hadn't heard that.

Seemed like they were around.

Yeah, yeah, they were around.

They were around by me this summer, I'll tell you.

They fly over my yard all the time.

Oh, hopefully eagles That'd be even better.

Bald eagle.

There are eagles.

I think they prefer to be in treetop nests.

So I don't know.

I'm not a real expert.

Falcons.

Somebody, somebody will move in there.

Yeah.

Somebody will move in there.

Seagulls.

A couple seagulls.

And one other thing that DW White has been given a change order to update all the driveway entrances along the Duval Street corridor so that they are ADA acceptable.

And they're putting— so they'll be working in our entryway, just so everybody knows.

They're putting in the pads so that, you know, if you're blind, you know, you're coming to an intersection.

And they're putting in bollards along each side of the shared use path to discourage drivers from going down the shared use path.

And so they'll be doing that work.

They've already saw cut in front at our driveway.

They'll be doing that middle end next week, probably.

So a little coordination with Tim on making sure his truck access isn't impaired.

But we talked about that last week with DW White.

So that should, that should be okay.

And then I think we talked about that change order already last year.

Yeah, I just said the final numbers.

We've got the final numbers here.

And so the final number for that change order for bringing material in, bringing material, additional material in, additional material out, and then doing some granite work for grading was $44,700.

So that needs to be approved.

So I need a motion to Approve change order number 2.

A motion to approve the change order number 2 in the amount of $44,700 to DaSilva Landscaping and Construction for the additional work at Northfield Point associated with bringing additional gravel to the site, removing unsuitable material from the site, and additional groundwork for grading, and to authorize the chair or executive director to sign change order number 2 to DaSilva's contract for this work.

Second.

John Erickson, yes.

Joanie Medeiros, yes.

Ann Keane, yes.

Ben Feidelberg, yes.

Thank you.

I have one more thing.

So one thing that came up kind of last— not last minute today, but the, the way that everything has laid out with the plantings and the paths And there's a few areas where we're concerned that people are going to, as they walk, shall we say, kind of cut the edge or like kind of skirt.

It's kind of a windy path.

But there's some areas where you can just see that people will naturally kind of cut the curb because we're just going to have the low grasses there.

So one of the things that the engineer and Tim had talked about today with me was that they want to see if we can approve plantings with a cost not to exceed for labor and material of $2,500 to just clip.

It's about 15 plantings.

And we're going to think about putting like a low type of ground cover or shrub just to keep them honest on the paths.

And so it'd be an additional $2,500 for that.

And then The other thing that Tim had contacted the engineer about was the— so along North Field Point, we have 2 different seed types.

You'll notice that as you're walking along the path, there's going to be a lower grass closer to the path.

And then say like halfway between that path edge and the revetment or whatever is on the other there is going to be a taller, higher native grass with perennials and everything in it.

That last strip that goes along the edge of the revetment, revetment in particular, has a longer germination time, and the perennials that are in that mix won't really germinate this season.

They will germinate in the spring.

So what he wants to do is add some ryegrass seed to the mix, and the ryegrass will actually take and germinate probably within 3 to 4 days of applying it.

So that will act to anchor everything kind of in place while the longer germinating grasses germinate, and then keep— make sure the seed for the perennials that will fully germinate and grow in the spring stable and not wash away.

So that's another $500 just to add that to the seed mix that they've got.

So that would be an additional cost not to exceed $3,000 in total for those few things.

So I personally think they're worth it because you're just going to end up with maintenance issues along those edges.

And I think that this will— you know, Mother Nature can throw some weird storms like we've seen at us and could do some washout if we don't really try to stabilize that seat in that, in that higher back area.

So, so that would be across $103,000.

So, okay, so, so I'll entertain a motion for a change order not to exceed $3,000 for those items.

Motion to approve a cost not to exceed $3,000 for Da Silva Landscaping and Construction to install up to 15 additional plants in areas chosen by the landscape engineer.

Oh, there's a word missing— to help with pedestrian— to help with pedestrian flow along the path at the Northfield Point, and to approve the chair or executive director to sign the change order for this work.

Second, John Erickson.

Yes.

Joan Medeiros.

And Keen, yes.

Ben Fuddleburg, yes.

Thank you.

Just one last question on that.

Not on that, but on the field point.

So the walkways are going to be stone dust or gravel?

That's what's there now?

Yeah, they're there.

It's a special aggregate.

Okay.

Yeah.

Okay.

It's actually pretty nice.

I saw it.

So did this— did the storm damage that stuff?

No, it held up perfect.

It held up.

I haven't gone out there.

I'm gonna go out there tomorrow morning.

I didn't want to futz with the fence.

So that's why I didn't go out there.

So, so Tim went out today, but I just didn't have time to get over there.

But I talked to him and he said it held up great.

Yeah.

And so in the winter, is that plowable or shovelable?

You'll have to, you'll have to like treat it like a sidewalk.

Okay.

Yeah.

So you could— yes, like shovel, snow blow is what they prefer.

Yeah.

With the same type of rubber edge like you do like a concrete Yeah, looks nice.

It almost looks like concrete.

Like, it looks like either concrete, almost looks like concrete, or like a really, really light asphalt.

I can't figure out which I think it is.

But it's, it's pretty solid.

Anything new on the mooring fields?

Yeah, so the only thing that's— well, I shouldn't say the only thing.

But so all the mooring materials have been approved.

Approved.

And we are now waiting for the dock shop drawings.

And the guy who's doing this decided to take some time off and get married.

So okay.

He— so he's back at it.

We're hoping to get the drawings by the end of this week.

And then so that will get submitted into beta.

And once Kavanaugh gets those approved.

He says it's going to take him 2 days to fabricate the dock.

And, uh, what his plan is, is once the dock is fabricated, he's going to load the dock, all the mooring stuff, onto his boat barge.

It's kind of a combo thing.

And he's going to bring it over to City Pier.

He's going to set the dock in the gangway.

They're going to drive the pot— he's going to anchor those down, and they're going to drive the piles after the, um, the dinghy dock's actually in place, just for accuracy.

And, um, and then they'll be doing the moorings off of that same boat out in the field.

So we're hoping that we can get it, um, that— I mean, I'm hoping that the drawings will get approved on the first pass, but we'll see.

Um, he's having them stamped, and he spent a lot of time matching up the existing dock.

They've been out there a few times looking at all the pieces and everything.

So, and we've got the components of the dock have been approved.

So now it's just a matter of the structure, getting that approved.

So hoping to get that active and done by hopefully maybe end of the month, middle of November.

So that will be good.

So that doesn't have anything to do with the— was it alewives that we had the issue with?

It's the winter flounder.

It's a spawning location for the winter flounder.

That's not going to interfere?

No, because that doesn't start until January 15th.

Oh, they're very specific on when they start spawning.

Smart workers.

So, Annawand Street parking lot.

Yes.

So in your board package, you got the final layout of the parking lot.

We've now been able to— the demo has been completed of all the little pedestals that were in there and all the things that was sticking up.

So that's all done.

We've repaved in the areas that need to be repaved.

And I've got a striper on board for next week.

He's going to call me Friday morning with the date.

And then I'm going to have talked to Chris and the city street sweeper and the back truck will go out before that and get that all cleaned up.

Once it's striped next week, I'm— we're going to use the— pick out the city curbing to put his wheel stops against the building.

So there's about 18 pieces I think I have to get.

So that'll be— and even if the plow hits it, they're easier to put back in place than the things that get screwed in the ground and they break and you got to replace them.

So since it's temporary, this is what we figured would be the best way to go.

And then I've got all the kind of parking lot accessories, I guess you want to say, like the flex post for the handicap the handicap signs, the no overnight parking signs, and all that are on order.

And they— I believe he said they should be ready next week.

So, and I've got help from the city to install all that stuff on site.

So, I'm hoping within the next 2 weeks, we get the temporary parking open.

So, Karen, for the, for the plowing in the winter, what do we need to do?

Does that have to go out to bid?

Or plowing does not have to go out to bid.

But we use the silver down at— right.

Yeah.

So it makes sense.

It'd probably be just as easy to keep him to come to— Karen, can I make one suggestion on this parking?

Yes.

Because this is something that I address a lot these days.

I see the 6 handicap spots that are basically all on the Anawan Street side.

Would it be possible to move 2 of them on the Water Street side?

It's right next to where the pedestrian in and out— I see 2.

Yeah, I was gonna ask about that too.

Like, where can you go get in and out from the parking lot?

I see the entrance in, but there's no handicap.

So that's the driving in and out.

And then the pedestrian walkway is at the other side of Building 1.

Where all the hash marks are, and then that's the pedestrian walkway.

So there's only that one walkway to get out?

Yeah.

Okay, because we're not using the gate on Adam Street.

So the walkway out goes to Water Street?

You know, it goes— yeah, Water Street.

Yeah, yeah.

But so the entrance in comes in from Water Street.

Yeah.

So there's no handicap parking if heading over to the gates of the city is my point.

Yes, we could probably take the 2 in the second room.

Yeah, those 2, and put one along the, um, grassy area and then maybe one by that hatch area in front of the building.

Yes, on the, um, uh, just by the entrance there, right on either So on either side, right?

Yeah, we can do that.

Right.

Yeah, that way there's a couple of handicap spots for people who may be going over to the gates of the city as well.

That's good.

Okay.

Yeah, that's a good idea.

Okay.

All right.

So I'll move.

I think you still have to go out to Water Street because I think there's a fence there, right?

Well, right, you're still gonna have to go down to the sidewalk, but you're not gonna— if you're heading to the gates of the city, You don't have to— right, exactly.

Right.

But you'll have to be very careful because that's the entrance and exit for cars.

Right.

Either way, if you're heading to the gates of the city, you're going to have to navigate that anyway.

True.

Right.

So you thinking that the 2 that are in like the second row, moving those 2 over?

Yes.

Okay.

Yeah.

Is there a sidewalk there now?

Are they walking through the parking lot?

Sidewalk?

Where?

In the parking lot?

Yeah, there's no sidewalk.

There's no— so, so you're going to exit your car and you'd be in the parking lot.

That's how you'd exit the entrance, right?

I have signs that are going to go up that say walkway, pedestrian walkway, with arrows.

Good.

And this is subject to change later on.

Well, this is the temporary layout.

Yeah, this is a temporary— yeah.

So, Karen, do we end up using the striper from Taunton?

Was it?

Yeah.

Okay.

He actually, he actually striped this block for Liberty, come to find out.

I said, well, you know, it's different striping.

He said, yes, I know.

Okay, next item is property insurance.

Oh, there was 2 other things I wanted to say about in the parking lot.

So, we met with the gentleman from Liberty, and who handles all the emergency response teams.

And, we met with their maintenance man, Brian, that we've had a pretty good relationship with.

And we, we showed him the layout of the parking lot.

We showed— we talked to him about having that access to the, to their gas area off of Pond Street.

He said that they're amenable to that, that's not a problem.

And then the only other thing that he wanted was to have the hash lines in like where his gate is currently in front of the gas field to extend all the way in front of his gate.

So that I will have to add that for the— is that in the back of the property?

Yeah, that's in the back.

It's right here.

Right, because this is their access to their field there.

How do they access that?

It's a rolling gate over here.

Yeah.

And he'll put the same gate once we know we can access Pond Street, he'll put the same similar gate on the Pond Street side too.

So they were, they were very easygoing.

We have all their contact information.

They get in there probably 4 or 5 times a year for maintenance.

And he said the biggest thing they ever have to do on emergency is if they ever have to go and shut down valves to certain areas of the city in an emergency situation.

And that's mostly what they need to do.

So they were, they were, they really no big issues with what we're doing there or anything.

So that's good.

And then the other thing was we did a walkthrough of the site with the fire chief and a few of the key members of the fire department.

And they're asking that we put in some type of fire protection in the, in each of the buildings that call back to an alarm box, which then calls back to the city.

It's, it's a little more than what was there originally.

Only 2 of the buildings had alarms, Building 3 and Building 4.

So I'm going to try to get some pricing and see if we can work with the fire department and come up with, come up with a reasonable approach to all of that.

So more to come on that.

I know we talked about it a long time ago, but are those, um, solar collectors still functional?

They are still functioning, and I'm having a really hard time connecting with the solar guy.

He sent me this form to complete, and it doesn't make any— it's not that it doesn't make any sense, but I don't understand it.

It says that all of a sudden we're this producer and we get all these credits.

And I'm like, well, how does this all work?

And how much, uh, you know, are they, are they really producing anything?

What are they producing?

What happens if we, you know, decide to demolish a building?

You know, I have a thousand questions for the gentleman, and he is very hard to get a hold of, apparently.

So, um, and he's the one, and I don't even know if there's other people we can go to.

I don't know if he's the only one that can handle the credits or not.

So I'm hoping— I emailed him again, say Wednesday, Monday, so hopefully I'll hear from him shortly.

I'm going to try again tomorrow, see where we're at.

So hopefully I'll have some more information on those by the next meeting also.

Just one question on this diagram again.

Is this a walkway?

It says pedestrian walkway.

Is that going to be activated?

Yeah, that's how people are going to go in.

That's good.

So they don't have to go in through the driveway?

No, they don't have to go into the driveway.

Correct.

Perfect.

Trying to keep the public safe.

Yep, I gotcha.

Is that, is that, is that passable right now?

It is, it is.

It's, it's decently passable.

Yes.

Asphalt is Actually, it's fairly new asphalt most of the way down.

And then there's concrete and there's a few cracks with some grasses growing up through.

I'll probably— I think it's going to be one of those kind of keep an eye on it and deal with it as it is needed.

And lighting.

So there's a camera that's out there right now.

And one of the things I was going to do is probably after the this meeting today, because it will be dark, um, is take a ride over there and see how dark it is over there, because there is some lighting on the corner of that building.

So on the corner of Building 1?

Yes, not the Marie Museum.

Well, there were— so there is some on the Marie Museum, but I don't understand what's going on with the Marie Museum.

Are they open, closed?

Lights working?

Yeah, so, um, that I'm going to check out, but, um, I had talked to Jay that he could throw a light up there pretty easily if we need one.

And we had to— are there poles here?

Poles?

Meaning poles?

I have a light pole here.

There's lighting off of the buildings too.

And then there's a power pole over here.

I just wanted to— I've got bollards.

I have it well lit.

That's all I'm saying.

Yeah.

And I've got bollards being installed to protect those poles too from people backing up into those poles.

Are you thinking that the lights from the Maritime might light the walkway, or do we need to pop something out of Building 1?

I'm not confirmed on that yet.

I'm going to check that tonight after this meeting.

Okay.

So, is the insurance the next thing, Karen?

Yes, it is.

So we have a— we were able to finally get a proposal for property insurance, meaning coverage for the vacant buildings.

It is a policy that has an annual premium of $7,300.

$14.

It is for cash value only.

And they've assigned a value to each of the 5 buildings based on square footage.

I will say that the numbers are higher than the buildings are assessed on the city assessor's site.

And there's a $10,000 deductible, and it is for loss only.

There's no money to rebuilt or anything like that.

You will get— so the idea is, is that if the building was to burn down, if it's a total loss, like Building 1 is valued at $500,000.

If it's determined to be a total loss, we would get $500,000 less a $10,000 deductible.

If it's a partial loss, then Ben can probably talk to this.

They go through some crazy equations about what percentage you're due, and still the deductible applies and all of that.

So I don't think that one has any wood in it.

So I don't think we have anything to worry about.

So, so I guess it is a question as to they are aware that there's a parking lot going in around the buildings.

And I guess it's a question whether we think it is of value, and they will not give us a discount if we do install the fire protection that the fire chief is looking for.

Do any of these buildings have active sprinklers?

No.

No.

So there's no water on the site at all?

No water outside.

Okay.

And there's no dry systems?

No dry systems.

Yeah, I did take a quick look at the quotes that you had sent over for the property insurance.

I mean, there are a few items that I personally would address.

You mentioned the actual cash value, which I'm not sure how in-depth you want to get here, but That's basically the replacement cost of the dwelling itself, of the building, minus its depreciation.

So where that could potentially get tricky is that there's something— again, this is kind of pretty in-depth— but there's something called coinsurance.

And the way that I like to describe it is it's essentially the insurance company saying, we'll give you the same handshake you give us, right?

So if you have a building for $1 million, but you want to insure it for $500,000 because of course the, the value is lower, the premium is going to be lower.

In the event of a total loss, the insurance company will reimburse you half of that loss, right?

So they'll basically give you half of what you're insuring it for.

So again, to use that example, if you have a million-dollar building, you insure it for $500,000, total loss, the insurance company is giving you $250,000.

To rebuild that building.

I don't think that's too— I don't think that applies here, right?

Because I think we could potentially— I think the plan could be to potentially turn this into a parking lot, as we've previously discussed.

So I don't know if that's a huge concern, but again, my job as a broker, I like to be as fully transparent with the parties I'm talking to.

Another item that I would personally address So the affidavit, I think it's the last document that you had sent over to me, does reflect that they are vacant buildings.

And the affidavit is basically a signature that the Redevelopment Authority would apply to the document saying, we understand that this is a surplus lines policy, meaning it's kind of like the, the option of last resort.

And what the surplus lines market does is— sorry, I have some background music going here.

Basically, there's no government reimbursement if the insurance company were to go bankrupt.

So, the surplus lines AM Best rating is that it's A-rated, meaning it's financially strong.

Again, not a concern, but something to be mindful of.

But because the affidavit on the last page, which you have to sign, saying that I know that this is a surplus lines policy, shows that it is a vacant building, but there is an endorsement on the quote that you had sent over showing an exclusion for vacant buildings.

So again, there's just— personally, I would look at that and it confuses me, so I would just run it by your broker to make sure the insurance company is fully aware that all of these dwellings are completely vacant, there's nothing in them, because those 2 documents kind of contradict each other.

There is also a note on the quote that shows that there's no plans for demolition, right?

And if that's the case, then, you know, you of course would have to notify the insurance company and the policy would be canceled effectively, you know, right away.

But, um, they're kind of just going over my notes here, but those were the few things that I did want to bring up to the board.

Just something to be mindful of.

All in all, I think this is a, you know, you're getting what you pay for.

This is a policy that would apply to the dwelling itself and nothing other than that.

There are a few other exclusions.

Copper theft, if there is any copper in the building, would be excluded.

Roof damage is excluded from the policy.

Asbestos is excluded.

So there are a few talking points to go over again with your agent.

Just to make sure you're all on the same page.

But this is a relatively inexpensive policy for 5 policy— for, excuse me, 5 buildings that have coastal exposure, have historical exposure, are vacant.

Again, if you, if you ask me, I think you did ask me months ago what to estimate for that kind of exposure, conservatively, I would have said $100,000.

So I think this is far under that and kind of low money, but there are exclusions to be mindful of when binding this policy.

It is Paul Burke, isn't it?

Yes.

Can I ask more about that coinsurance?

Because I was going to talk with our broker about it.

So, so the $500,000 that we're We're insuring a building that they're valuing at $500,000.

If that building burns, we only get $250,000?

No, so the actual cash value is what the building is rated on.

So, the best property policy that you could potentially get would be replacement costs, right?

That's gonna replace the building to build it like new.

Whereas actual cash value, it would be a concern for me because it's replacement cost minus depreciation.

This location has, what, 5 or 6 buildings that are heavily depreciated?

So again, the, the transparency thing comes into play here with the agent and the insurance company making sure that the values that you have for these buildings, they reflect what the actual cash value of the buildings are, right?

So that— so once, if there is a claim, in the event of a claim, there's no guessing.

You know exactly, this is, this is the value that we have.

Everyone's fully aware of this value, and that's what the claim payout would be less your deductible.

Coinsurance, basically the insurance company— you'll see it says 80% on the quote.

Yeah, the insurance company doesn't expect you to be perfect, but they want you to be in the ballpark of that, the value of the building.

So, they want you to be within 80% of the actual cash value of that building.

How would we determine the actual cash value?

Is there an assessment that's been done by either the city, an appraiser?

I mean, now insurance companies— I don't know if a surplus lines carrier would do it, but insurance companies can definitely do an inspection prior to binding to tell you what the value is.

Inspection prior to binding.

But these values are higher than the assessed value on the, on the city system.

Yeah, so I mean, you should be safe there.

I mean, that would inflate the cost if that was the case.

They gave you those values?

This is what they— I asked, I asked Felicia where they got these values.

And she said they based it off of whatever They took a square footage of the buildings, which is also on the site, and they assigned a rate to it.

Okay.

But they did it each building, right?

Individually?

Yeah.

It sounds like we're covered.

Yeah, this is definitely a policy that's going to cover exactly what you're buying it for.

There's no bells and whistles to the policy.

There aren't many coverage enhancements.

There are a few exclusions, again, that the board should be mindful of.

But this is a policy that would protect the dwelling itself and nothing short of that.

You just hope that at the end of the day, if there's a fire, that whatever monies you receive is enough to offset the demolition costs.

Right.

And that's a good point, Ken.

That's another exclusion for debris removal.

So if you were to dem all these buildings due to a covered loss, that debris removal is not going to be picked up in this policy, which again, that, that could be, that could be costly.

But I don't think that's really the concern of the board.

It also drives the premium down, right?

So it's one less building.

If they decide to renew it, sure.

Once they make a big payout, I'm not much as they'll renew it.

The potential, uh, of a fire leaving a lot of debris and remaining structure to demolish is a big concern.

And so I thought— Karen and I talked about the demolition exclusion, believing that if they give you cash value, then, you know, say for Building 1, if the total thing burned, you'd at least have $500,000.

And you might have to pay more for demolition and removal, but at least you covered a chunk of it.

So that's how we were looking at it.

Yep, that's correct, Sarah.

So that the coverage of this policy is for the dwelling itself.

Again, that the debris removal, like I mentioned, the bells and whistles, there is no coverage for that.

But for the value that is assessed for these buildings, and that's reflected on the policy, that is what the claim would be paid out on.

The worst-case scenario we imagine is that half the building burns.

Would they decide that it wasn't a full loss?

Yeah, that's So you're saying that you have one building that burns partially?

Yeah, but it's useless.

I mean, you know, it's— if it burned, um, you know, like the building at the corner of Rodman and South Main, a bunch of walls were still there, but I guess that would have been considered a total loss.

Yeah, but the building inspector said it has to come down tomorrow.

So, um, but you know, if half of Building 1 burned and the other half didn't, the chance you'd be able to rehab the other half is really unlikely.

So if you only got $250,000, it wouldn't be great.

Yes.

All right.

Yep.

That's correct.

That's the risk.

That's the risk.

That's the risk.

You can create a lot of different scenarios.

That's still $250,000 we don't have.

Yeah.

You have to roll the dice.

It's not a thrilling policy for $7,000, but they looked and looked and looked.

It's the best we can get.

Is it $7,000 for the entire policy?

Yeah.

That would be the entire policy.

I would sign that tomorrow.

We got to do that quick.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah.

He said $100 grand.

He's made a lot of good points.

Points.

So I think just click get clarification on those points.

Yeah, that seems to be a good price, I would say.

Yeah, I would, I would think so.

No coverage at all.

That's correct.

Yeah, that— it's, it's definitely short money.

Um, and, and Johnny, to your point, it is something that, you know, again, to reiterate myself, the, the coastal exposure, the vacant building, the, um, yeah, you don't have sprinklers, you don't have a security system, or didn't at the time.

Those are all components that go into the underwriting algorithm.

And if you said, quote, 6 buildings with that kind of situation and give me a price, that's— I would stand by that.

So, um, yeah, this is definitely a short money policy that I think would do exactly what the Redevelopment Authority intends for this policy to do.

Over $1,000 a building.

Yeah.

Yeah.

I also have a comfort level too, because of who it is.

And they're local people.

And I know them and they're reputable.

So, you got the building policy?

What about the— Oh, we've already got all the liability.

Liability for— And we got an umbrella liability.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Okay.

That we got before we owned it.

Yeah, yeah.

Right.

Yeah.

I'll make sure.

Karen, what was the liability?

Carrier that you place coverage with?

Was it Scottsdale or Evanston?

Scottsdale.

Scottsdale?

Yeah, the one that didn't exclude the firearm assault and battery.

Yeah, understood.

And then the umbrellas with a different company— oh no, the umbrellas with Scottsdale too.

Does the gas company have insurance on us?

Yeah, yeah, they sent us a certificate.

Yeah.

And we're named as additional insured.

Karen, do you have a copy of the umbrella policy or a binder?

I know you just bound it, so they might not have policy up there.

Not with me.

Not with me.

I can get it to you though.

Yeah.

Just, just something to take a look at.

You want to make sure that, again, this is getting pretty in-depth, but that it's follow form, meaning that the umbrella follows exactly the language within the general liability policy.

That way you do have that buffer.

I think— didn't he bring that up before?

You looked at it.

Yeah, I think you brought that up before.

Okay, right.

Consistency.

But we'll, we'll send it to you.

But we really appreciated how much you looked at the general liability and the umbrella and made us feel secure with that.

Yeah, happy to do it.

Thank you.

Okay.

Thank you.

Thank you.

So I need a motion to authorize the executive director to buy the proposed property insurance for buildings at 45 Anawan Street, Bay Coast Insurance, for $7,314 annually.

Okay, so motion to authorize the executive director to buy the proposed property insurance after checking on those things that Ben has mentioned for the buildings at 45 Anawan Street as quoted by Bay Coast Insurance for the annual premium amount of $7,314.

Second.

Second.

Jackson, yes.

Joan Medeiros, yes.

Dan Keane, yes.

Ben Farber, yes.

Thanks, guys.

Next item is going to be the Flint ERP.

Yep.

So the— we worked through some additional changes to the urban renewal plan, uh, after getting, um, the housing department's, uh, input and looking at, um, some more buildings that have actually been renovated, and we wanted to pull those off the acquisition list.

So there were a few more changes there.

Um, we did the notice of project change I worked back and forth with Innes Associates.

It's pretty much done.

We're waiting for just a review by Ty and Bond to see if anything jumps out at them, and then we'll send that into NEPA.

In the meantime, we learned that the reviewer, or the director of NEPA, is leaving in October.

So, uh, so the person who's been really scrutinizing it isn't going to be getting it, and we're not sure what the implications of that are, but we're going to follow that carefully so that it gets approved.

So that's all I really have to report on that, but we were glad that we got those documents done from our end, at least.

Okay.

So the GCG proposal, which is covered by grants, we need a motion to— that's this one, guys, that you have.

To enter into that agreement.

Do you want me to talk about it at all?

Yeah, in case anybody didn't read it.

So these are the— we've got 3 proposals: GCG Beta and Niche Engineering.

And this is for all the pre-construction activity on the Pleasant Street corridor that corresponds with our urban renewal plan for the area.

It's from East Avenue right down to Stafford Square.

We reviewed all 3 proposals with Dan, so Sarah, myself, and Dan Aguiar reviewed them, and given price and scope, we determined that GCG was going to be the best fit, and this will all be covered by that MTTA grant.

And so we'd like you to— you'll see approval go ahead with that.

We might say that it's under the grant, so yes, it would allow us if we want to do some more analysis, for example, where in the world you could put trees on Pleasant Street, which is really a challenge.

We could hire another specialized consultant if we wanted to within the funding that we have.

So this is, so this is for all 4 phases, including, are we committing to all 4 phases?

Yes.

And the contract, so what are they actually, for contract documents, what are they actually going to be?

So we're doing, we're starting with an existing conditions survey.

So it's all the infrastructure along, because we got that money from Otjen Kloss to do the construction of it.

Correct.

So we applied for this grant to do the, you know, take it from existing conditions to basically bid documents.

That just— okay.

It seems low, right?

It does seem low.

Yeah, seems real low.

Dan works with this a lot.

And I would defer to Dan because he knows this much better than I do.

But my initial— the other, the other 2 proposals were higher, but it seems like they all have the scope.

Okay.

Yeah, maybe.

Okay.

Maybe they sharpen their pencils.

Okay.

And they're a much smaller firm too than the other 2.

And we got, we got a— you got other projects that they worked on?

Yes.

Yeah.

Yes.

That's what gives Dan a lot of security that They did Bedford Street, they did some other streets.

He's worked with them, they know the city.

I defer to Dan, he knows this stuff better than I do.

I just— so my concern is if you look at Beta's proposal, they're looking at streetscapes and imagining different landscape architecture things, which, you know, was attractive to Karen and me, but Dan's right that sometimes it's overkill.

Yeah, it may be overkill.

We may be paying for something that really is unrealistic for Pleasant Street because the city doesn't want bump-outs, and you know, there's so little ability to make the sidewalks wheelchair accessible and still get the road and the parking.

And so So that's why I was saying that I feel comfortable that if we get a plan that feels like it doesn't have as many aesthetic qualities that we might want, that we could hire a landscape architect to come and think about other ways to make it a more attractive environment.

And Dan agreed that that would be a reasonable way to go.

Okay.

So I need a motion to enter into that agreement for $139,000.

Motion to approve entering into an agreement with GCG Associates in the amount of $139,555 for the preconstruction activities noted in their proposal dated August 5th, 2026, and to authorize the chair or the executive director to sign the agreement.

Second.

Karen Anderson, yes.

Joan Medeiros, yes.

Ann Keene, yes.

Ben Feidelberg, yes.

Thank you.

Next item is NOMA.

Well, we got good news today that we got a $40,000 grant for planning and design work to improve the streetscape along North Main and Purchase Street.

We applied for $150,000 and we got $40,000, but $40,000 will go a long way.

Where we started was more like a $40,000 project.

We started with the idea that that we wanted to put more fun lighting to make it a more fun environment.

And we talked about catenary lighting, which would put the lights on strong wires.

There are challenges on that street to do that.

And so we have, you know, creative design work to be done to really make it the kind of environment for all these night markets and, you know, events that we're having at night out there.

So, um, uh, there's also, for example, we looked at putting banners on, um, the fences.

The one of the challenges is that one side of Purchase Street is almost entirely parking lots.

And Bank 5 is excited about the idea of getting mesh banners that go across the entire chain-link fence.

And a lot of colleges use those.

And restaurants when there's construction where you just have this big kind of screen against the fence.

So, so they're helping think about creative solutions to make it a nicer environment.

And so those are the kind of things we'll be thinking through and planning.

And what we'll be working toward is getting the contract now done, getting the money probably first thing in 2027, and trying to do that, and probably putting it out to bid.

If we won't even need to probably put it out to bid because it's architecture and engineering, but, um, my goal will be to have the plans done time for us to go in with the One-Stop for next year because this is planning and it— the program's designed to then follow your plan with implementation.

So we'll want to speed through our designs so that we'll be ready to apply in early June in the One-Stop.

Didn't they do some planters today?

Oh yeah, we did planters today.

Today.

So this was kind of a, um, press conference.

The only press who showed up was, uh, the, um, Fall River Reporter, but they did, uh, videos and all kinds of things.

And, um, they're, they've been covering the events and having kind of influencers be out there saying how exciting the food is and And that's been helpful.

So the planters came from the person, Stephanie Enro, who runs the Farmers and Artisans Market, got some donation to buy these planters that have trellises on them.

And so we planted them.

The trellises now have some greenery on them, but it also was part of the Brick and Brush Festival that was supposed to happen during the nor'easter.

So that was canceled, and it's now being combined with the Harvest Market, which is Saturday, October 17th.

So that's going to be a really special event because we're of all these artists doing demonstrations, putting their artwork up on these trellises, and there would be all kinds of vendors and food and things.

So the— there were already a couple of these trellises and planters that Joseph Holdeman had in the plaza, and we just replicated those those.

And there were 2 in front of Tequila Lime and 2 on the side of the building, uh, where kind of Pink Bean was, um, going near St. James.

So, um, City Councilor Linda Pereira came out and did them with us, and we were really into screwing all these little bolts in and everything because it was all just little parts.

And I didn't get the picture.

I really wanted to, but Linda Pereira and some of the owners of the restaurants and a whole bunch of volunteers from the Y were all pushing the— they're on rollers, and so they were pushing these down Purchase Street.

So that was good.

Another kind of feel good event in that neighborhood.

And so let's see.

Oh, the other thing that we got since our last board meeting is I had been talking with the city about being able to put banners on North Main Street.

We can't put them on light poles on Purchase Street because the light poles are not strong enough.

But they're good strong light poles with hanging systems on them on North Main.

And the bank would really like to participate, and the city has agreed.

And the agreement is that NOMA pays to have them put up and maintained.

So if one rips, we have a company that will come and replace it.

Because the city's problem with banners is that people expected them to put the banners up and basically maintain them.

So I said that we would have an MOU with the city— that NOMA would have an MOU with the city to put them up and maintain them.

And Linda Baker of Baker Signs is interested.

Did, and there's another company that we can get a quote from that does that, maintains them over time.

And so we're going to start fundraising for it.

People in Noma have already committed to some extent some of what we need.

It'll be about 20 banners, and we thought we would fundraise and put them up in the spring.

You know, there's a few there now, like, by the— that are kind of tattered, they'll be going in the same, replacing them.

Yeah.

Okay.

Yeah, they're horrible.

Right across the street from John.

Yeah, they've been there for a long time.

Nobody maintains.

That's the challenge with bandits.

Yeah, it is.

They get forgotten.

But that's why we're going to have a contract so that— so there's no one going to have a contract?

There's no of fees financially, financially sound to enter into a contract for maintenance?

We're still working on our structure and getting incorporated.

We'll probably be incorporated by the spring.

I'm just saying, you just— if nobody's going to enter into an MOU, you want to make sure that they have the capacity, right, to perform Yeah, right.

Well, I think what we should do is have that backing up the MOU, we should have a reserve fund for however it is.

Yeah, you just got to have something there.

Right?

If you got somebody who's going to go out and start replacing banners, it's the cost of the banners, the labor, it's the trucks, it's everything that's associated with that.

Right.

Last item is the Consultant services RFP.

Sarah's going to update us on that.

We'll come find you, Ken.

Yeah.

Okay, great.

So just to give background, Redevelopment Authority had a contract for administrative services for many years.

And then when this board was formed, and I came on board, we put the administrative services RFP out to bid, and we got bids and chose one, and it was a 3-year contract with the option to renew for another 3 years.

So we're now coming to the end of our 6 years, and we want to put it out to bid again.

And so I have I've been working with John and with Karen on, um, and ran it by, uh, Johnny and Joan.

And so we have a scope of work Karen got from the, um, city, the latest version of, uh, all the purchasing documents and legal documents.

So we'll put all that together.

Our goal is to get it out to bid hitting the street on October 12th.

We'll receive bids by November 7th, which is just after our next board meeting, so we won't hit that.

And then we'll bring a recommendation to the board in December.

And it's a 3-year duration, a 3-year, and with another option to extend.

And you all were sent drafts of what we're thinking about.

And we're going to make a few, few more tweaks and edits to it.

But it's pretty much ready to go.

Please make sure we see that final version.

I think this is it, right?

Well, I— we're— one of the things that we got feedback, and I think Um, was that it really included our detailed work plan.

And so we're going to generalize that a bit more so it's not this specific kind of building, but buildings that we might want to take down and things like that.

So yeah, I will, um, get that to you so that you have time to react before we're putting out to bid.

And then that has to be put into the city's bid package, right?

Yeah.

Yeah.

They don't use OpenGov anymore.

They use something else.

No, we're back to the old system.

So that at the end of the day, there'll be a whole RFP package with everything in it.

Yeah.

So she got the package from the city.

And now I'm filling in blanks.

And we'll— do you all want to see the whole package with all the forms and everything?

So far, you've just seen the— I mean, that's all the boilerplate stuff.

I don't know.

I just— I just wrote this.

We can't change the rest of it.

Right?

Do they do it by mail now?

Or is it electronic?

Or they just— No, they do it like they did before.

So basically, it's advertised that if you want the package, you got to call.

And I think it all gets emailed.

Okay.

And then can they email their proposal in or they have to still bring in— physical hard copy.

Well, they can mail it, they can open, they can handle it.

But it's a physical delivery.

It's physical.

Yeah.

Because they went to steps back, not steps forward.

When's the meeting in December?

What's our meeting in December?

December 16th.

Yes, that gives us time because the current ones go through the end of December.

Okay.

16th, is it?

December?

Yes.

Ben, are you good with all this?

I am, yep.

Okay, so if there's no further matters for the open session, chair makes a finding that open session would have a detrimental effect on them.

Tell him he's fired.

To quote the president, I love to tease him about that.

If there's no further matters for the open session, chair makes a finding an open session would have a detrimental effect on the negotiating position of the public body.

Purpose of the executive session is to approve the executive session minutes from August 26th, 2026, and discuss strategy with respect to potential real estate transactions for properties located at 45 Anawan Street, Fall River.

I'll entertain a motion to enter into executive session, and we will not return to open session.

Motion to enter into executive session and we will not return to open session.

Second.

John Erickson, yes.

Yes.

And Keene, yes.

Ben Feidelberg, yes.

Thanks, everybody.