11.20.2024 Revelopment Authority

welcome to the November 20th 2024 meeting of the Fall River Redevelopment Authority person went to the open meeting L 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 a transmission are being made whether perceived or unperceived by those present and are deemed acknowledged and permissible

um John Ericson present yeah an Keen here also attending on the phone over here to my left is Ron rusen that only the camera microphone's on so we're not sure oh switch with not working right oh so that would be Clos to oh okay these and then Ron can hear you better so you want to sit here oh I'll sit yeah cuz you're going to have to talk probably more than I Ron can you still hear

us I can still hear you yes okay good uh all right back to where we were than attendance tonight this myself John Erikson an Kean an Kean Ron rusen remotely on this phone right here and uh Sarah paage executive director John cin legal counsil Kent administrative consultant and Martin project manager first item is approval of our open season open season open session he's doing something uh

from October 23rd 24 there's any comments on the uh me minutes otherwise I'll entertain a motion to approve those minutes so moved second second second John Erikson yes and Keen yes Ron yes Ron R yes thank you uh financial report the folks have the warrant which um I have one comment on the warrant I made a little boo boo I made mistake um is there should have been if you look in the warrant there's a blank

number under PNG irrigation it should have been another invoice for 44350 and um so what I want to do is I cut the check and it's in with the checks to um be signed and then I'll add it on to the December warrant so we will show record of it being voted on and approved tonight and then again in the warrant we'll see it um in the totals in

December so it's not the 425 is that um it's so it's not 10191 1386 the total with the with the check for 44370 44350 is um 102 35736 but the total you can vote on the total of 101 9993 1386 and then this that invoice will show on the December one but I'm going to have you sign it tonight yeah gotcha okay um and um Joan has reviewed this yes she's reviewed an improvy if there's no

questions I'll entertain a motion to approve this warrant for a total of well $101 9386 plus the uh minor change that Karen's referencing motion to approve Warren for October for $1,938 and in November we'll do the other $456 she was talking about second second John Ericson yes ke yes oh did Ron vote did Ron vote I think Ron yes yes thank you Ron um next item is fiscal year 202 three audit update which Karen's going

to speak to uh yeah this is just a brief update on the audit we still have the outstanding issue as to how we are going to um view 2501 sou Main Street property in the audit um we're still waiting to get with Joan Joan um was doing some traveling so we're hoping to get that resolved in the next couple of days so once we get that resolved we should be able to finalize the audit and hopefully

I'll be able to sa the next meeting it's done so um that should hopefully resolve that and then we'll get it off to the city okay um next item um in the board package was a letter of support regarding excuse me regarding the board and light Marine expansion um Ken's going to speak briefly to that thank you um so in your board package you have a draft letter um that's being recommended

to be signed by uh John Erikson as the chair of the red Redevelopment Authority as it pertains to a variance request that's going to the state so as to allow for the development of a marina um at 52 Ferry Street uh 52 Ferry Street is the location currently where you have um the pier 52 restaurant uh you also have uh boat storage that occurs there for a 12- month period but primarily uh the majority of the

boat storage is from October through through the end of may you also have some non-water dependent uses there in the form of the brewery which is a wholesale wholesale and Retail facility as well as a distribution facility there for a private company um the variance request that will be submitted to the state uh request a variance so as to allow uh the construction of a 90 plus slip Marina it also allows for the

construction of a public fishing pier it also allows for a construction of an Overlook uh enhance public accessibility to the site via improved sidewalks uh throughout the area um as well as um specific chapter 91 uh water dependent uses in the form of transient dockage uh commercial uh boat utilization uh the location for the uh the Water Taxi will be there as well as a proposed dinner boat will be operating

on there because the land is in a designated Port area as determined by um by state law uh te technically the only activity and allowable uses that are supposed to take place there are industrial uh related Marine dependent uses um obviously the uses that are being proposed there why they are marine or water related they're not industrial related and that's why I was seeking a variance for for this particular

location um the site itself is just about 3.2 acres and the overall designated PT acreage throughout the U throughout the the uh Mount Hope Bay is approximately 925 Acres I believe so this represents a DI Minimus portion of the of the DPA and utilization of the site for the proposed uses will have no negative impact upon uh the uses that take place at the abing boarding light uh excuse me the abing boarding

Remington facility nor the state Pier which are within the DPA as well so we're hoping that the Redevelopment Authority will um support this letter uh so that it can be included as part of a variance request uh being submitted by 52 LL Street to the uh Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection I'll be happy to answer any questions good thanks Ken uh so uh after hearing

that I'll entertain a motion to have the chair to sign this support letter for 52 fer LLC Ron entertain a motion and motion for the chair to sign sorry I was I was on I was on mute uh motion to approve to have the president sign the letter for 52l f 52 fa2 f LLC F thank you second second jnon yes an Keem yes yes thank you um okay next item folks is 191 Commerce

Drive Sarah's going to speak to that yes so um we wrote a letter to um the um eohc executive office of Housing and Community um livable communities and um we asked that the um they wave the requirement that um the property be uh sold at exactly the appraised value and we explained the reasons and I got a call from Maggie at eohc and explained the fact that wetlands are in the middle of the site

making it very difficult to be developed and that had it had been on the market for years and she totally understood that and we received this letter uh approving the sale and so uh now we want to um have a vote to close on this piece of property which will be a good success for uh us and the buyer and the um Commerce Park okay uh so uh Ron hopefully you can hear me okay uh I'll

entertain a motion to authorize the chair to execute the deed and all Associated closing documents for the sale of 191 Commerce Drive Fall River ask the poor cousins Bakery in accordance with the terms and conditions of a land disposition agreement between the parties dated September 3rd 20124 and Ron I'm going to ask um an to motion that because it's a lot for you to remember I was going to say so

moved entertain a motion to authorize the chair to execute the deed and all Associated closing documents sale 191 second Drive Fall River to four cousins baking LLC in accordance with the terms and conditions of a land disposition agreement between the parties dated September 3rd 2024 BR second thank you John Ericson yes an Keen yes Ron R yes okay okay thank you next item is uh Norton City

Pier Karen's going to speak to that uh so City Pier is pretty much put the seat for the winter we um turned off the water um shortly after our last meeting the sprinkler uh subcontractors out there he blew out the lines and he has um closed the taken out the back flow preventor and so that is all closed up uh Tim D Silva and his crew were out there this week and they cut back all

the grasses and the perennials he thinks he'll probably have one more trip to blow the leaves off um probably closer to early December but other than that it's pretty much um closed up for the winter um still a lot of people out there walking but um it is uh it is it's it's all set um the only other thing that we have to talk about as we are approaching winter is the snow removal

and deicing um Tim has a contract with us that we could option another year um actually two more years so he is holding his price the same as last year so we've decided to option that second year at the same price and I've included an amendment in the board package that shows that um that uh extension to his contract okay um yes so you guys have this um I just need a motion to uh approve

the amendment to uh the Silva for snow removal for this season did you say it was the same price Kon yes it is the same price Ron okay perfect okay motion to move the same snow remover for this year second second John Erikson yes an Keane yes Ron R yes thank you um environmental close out for Norton Pier that is so the final edits have gone to Joe M at beta and he is um

hoping to have the final permanent solution uh submitted hopefully by Thanksgiving to mass cathartic um cathoic protection we um since our last meeting they have done the field they've finalized the the too study and they've got all the results back and I've submitted those to the cathartic protection subcontractor they also did all the um site inspection work they had the diver

in the water and then they stationed off everything up top and and took all their notes and observations the rough um findings were sent to the cathartic uh the cathartic protection subcontractor and um we had a an update meeting this afternoon and the the formal more you know pretty results um will be sent to him by the end of this week we are still on um schedule to get the first pass at the cathod protection

design system by the end of December and they were having their first meeting this afternoon to start with the permitting which is basically concom and army Corp of engineer notices so everything looks like it's on track there so I will keep you posted thank you um Northfield Point um Northfield point so sadly Ron you might miss um the the visuals on this but um I just wanted to bring um uh some visuals to go over

with everybody as to where we kind of are with the design work and and um what our next steps are just want to make sure that you guys are in agreement with um what we're laying out and how we're hoping to proceed so basically we um uh this is going to be a little hard to see and a little cramp to see um but basically we have the point which is

right which is consists of this work right here the dark edges a wear of vment work will be taking place and that will be building up on the shores and I'm just going to pass this out to everybody just so you have an idea of what the shores look like and what the plan is so revetment work is going to consist of new armor Stone generally around the property but in

varying degrees of size and depth and it will end up looking very similar to what's in this picture on point Gloria side we're going to reuse as much of the stone as we can and um with the larger Stone requirements being further out on the spit and the small spit that's a reference that Johnny uses um and then the the smaller Stone would be in like where we have this salt marsh area here

and as you're in a more protected area it is a much smaller space and the smaller size Stone will be able to be used we had originally been talking about doing this work off of um like a barge or some type of a of a large boat but um in in looking over the work the subcontractor in beta field that we can really get our best bang for the buck

actually doing all the work from land so that will probably um work in our favor hopefully and um this is all going to be considered Ed maintenance work um so that's how our permitting approach is going to be um and then also what we've done here is we've designed um the walkway this here is the existing City boardwalk and we're coming off at one point going out to the end of the spit

where we have a wider area to gather sit look around um the two pine trees at the end of the spit we are going going to retain as they have meaning to the point Glory people they were planted by um some special people at Point Glory so they've asked we keep these okay um and then the walkway then will come in to the triangle area right here as you get

closer to our docks um beta wants you know they would love to see in the future for us to do a mirror image of this walk onto the other side of the boardwalk we have no commitment to do that work we want our goal here is to get people as close to the water and enjoy the views as possible so I had him actually sketch out a different path where you actually do reach and get to

that point a lot closer I personally like this approach better than the other one cuz it Doesn't Really utilize all the space that's available here um but we can talk about that and then the idea is is that between all the work with the revetment um all the um work to remove the invasives that are here um we will need to be doing some more plantings and this is an idea of what they were

talking about doing some plantings with some deciduous trees and um proposed Evergreen one of the things that we are going to be doing in the near future is meeting with mass aabon and also the um groundwork South Coast to have them their input in their review of what um plantings and um containment of invasives also so we'll be reviewing that with them um this is just kind of a schematic of what is there now at the

bottom and what it might look like when it's done just to give you kind of a you know an idea of what your the beautiful walk that it's going to be it does show um that we're using Granite blocks for some benches out here solar lighting out on the pony Point as opposed to having to bring electrical down we do show over here in this triangle area along the walkway

here that we're adding um a couple of pole lights um we haven't decided whether they're going to be matching the city existing ones or be more like City Pier with the down lights that's still to be determined I think um and then that's kind of the general consensus does anyone have any questions about the general work power on the point so the only variation is the on the bottom you're talking about

extending it out to that elbow a little bit Yeah so see how in this this right here it just kind of goes out more it gets you more to the point yeah oh yeah that looks nice yeah okay I mean I don't necessarily think it has to have all the Curves in it but you know they got to do their job um and then the other part of the project is

the moing fields and the dingy dock so these drawings are going to be a little hard to see cuz they're dark but I can kind of walk you through them so there's three moing fields we had talked about um uh utilizing uh this is the moing field number one which is between the Cove Restaurant and City Pier proper and these there's roughly 3 six 10 um Moorings that can fit in this

area and they'll accommodate boats of like 30 30 ft and more so for the there there it's a bigger field here this moing area too which is between City Pier and North Field we have four boats four moing um points right here there is a third oh just for information purposes too what limits how many you can get in is obviously you have to have a swing on your boat and then this line right here

represents the Deep channel that you can't really impede you can't put a moring field in that's against the um the rules and then the third moing area is over by the um existing boat ramp it's over by where um barretts is Comm off landing and we've shown here 1 2 3 4 5 six with three larger um Moorings and three smaller Wars um the largest boat that you're going to typically get on a moing

is roughly 50t in length just because anything bigger than that is is um you're not going to be able to accommodate on more you need a slip for that and then the proposed location for the dingy dot they've shown it coming off in like an L A 90° from the existing um the do the existing docks and they show it coming off at like a 90° angle and it's showing currently showing now three

three um small moing piles that would need to be put in and there's a little um 4x6 ramp to get from the existing dock to the new dingy dock so it's kind of right at the end of the yeah and this would accommodate in theory those three moing Fields so just got a question is there no Moorings in between the transient dockage in Northfield Point uh this four but that's all the think

I there's four right here okay 1 2 3 four okay okay and um so our plan now is you know unless is to continue in this vein unless there was any big concerns with how we've got it laid out um we've started to get budget numbers from beta to actually get the work done uh and now Sarah and I are going to need to sit down and review our grant options um um

we do think the Cort Grant is going to open up um early in 2025 so we can apply for some money there we're also going to be reaching out to coastal zone management to see about um what they might be able to um we might qualify with them they have up to $2 million potentially on a coastal res resiliency Grant so we will see if um they think this would be a viable project for that

um and then there's a couple of smaller grants um so we're just going to kind of have to see where the money comes from the other thing that will be interesting is is that we don't want to miss a planting season either so we won't find out about some of this grant money until later in the summer so we may end up missing the planting season of 2025 it may go into 2026 to do

any type of planting and you know soil you know uh work like that so we have to kind of gauge some of that as we as we um press on so um that's where we're at and the walkway is going to be stone dust or what the Yeah it's going to be um they call it an aggregate so it'll be yeah okay I would it looks great um the only thing I'd say is we probably want

to get you may have to phase this depending that's what we're figuring out I have to think that that rip wrap is going to be well they've only they've priced a Rip r at roughly 250,000 for the for the whole perimeter really yeah which is way that's less than I thought it's way less than what I thought if that's the case then that's good yeah the um the actual um site improvement

work and the invasive management is is like 1.3 to 1.5 million which yeah that's that's heavy yeah that's that's up there yeah but I mean I can you can kind of see it too because doing some of the revetment work the true revent work they're counting in the stone but as you're kind of destroying the top you're also helping inside improvement work because you're not just scraping everything back they're already kind of

running all over it and everything again to put in some temporary roadways so there's a bunch of things that you got to kind of consider preferably that we're starting to starting to talk through now but I mean that's the general gist and as long as we can get some money from a couple of different funding sources I think we'll be able to at least get this started in 2025 and we'll see where we go for completion

potentially in 2026 is that one to also contain that new walkway yes okay not the not the dotted line one the one it contains it's everything west of the existing Boardwalk right so that so that that walkway right there this here yeah yes okay yes so that could be potentially phased if you had to do that yes right cuz you have a walkway that goes there and it connects yeah so we could do so

depending so you so we might be able to get revent walkway you know get the skeleton of the whole project done and then do all the plantings in the spring or something like that so we're just GNA kind of have to see um how we can to shake that all out too yeah the other thing is I don't know did you say you you had lights so were you were they're

planning right now for solar along the um along the spit and then in here there's um we're going to there's existing existing lights yeah and we the plan is to pull them back potentially along here and maybe or plus or minus add one or two somewhere too okay that's only if you do that walkway at this point yes and the the other thing to keep in mind is all those lights along

the ball street that are existing those are all going to be changed they're going yeah they're going to look the same but they're all new yes but we can reuse some of those existing light that's what I'm saying you can probably use some of those existing lights we do already have a high Hosey on that they already know that we're looking to potentially reuse them High Hosey mean that yeah what's I don't

know that I don't know what a high hose is we put a claim in for heard that ter before um the so I've let DCM know that um we may need a couple of them okay yeah looks great I think opening up that area will be you the last piece of that Waterfront yeah development and make it that much more enjoyable for the uh for the public so Karen why can we not use

use solar lights along the elbow area the way we're using them out to the point we could potentially and that is a question that we could um we can ask but I think the thought was is to kind of keep it like like because the pro so the problem is is that if you have those big lights there they'll drown out the solar lights you know what I mean like so if you have

a big that so if that big light is on it's almost like sunlight on a solar light so the solar light May not go on oh yeah oh okay that Mak sense what oh yeah so that so that that's a concern so you'd have to really worry about placement and everything more so and uh beta folks thought that we should use the same lights that we used on CD Pier so it's all

consistent but yeah but they're going to look different than what's along that will be remaining on the boardwalk so it's way to cev I don't know I mean we have down lights at night you got free lights it's probably better than well that's what I'm saying is is that if we can get the the um but the free lights are more expensive to maintain to change the light bulbs correct if we have to yes I think

I think they're LED I have not confirmed that led I don't have to change yeah so you can put LED into it would think you could so I don't have all those details but you were told by um the facilities they were more concerned about the Globes getting broken himself okay yeah yeah it was more the Globes getting broken which has happened along the Waterfront so that could happen that

could happen to any L yeah yeah so um so we uh know the only other thing is moving forward somewhere in that plan you may want to um extend your camera range um that is on my list of things that we want to add cameras trash cans um you know dog doggy waste disposal stations um but yeah and we can do the solar cam over there too like we're doing on the

dock and and our current system is expandable to that so um we could add on cuz that'll also give you um I think that helps tremendously and you put out a sign saying you know yeah site is under know it's I check it all the time it's very clear and we could also get camera coverage a little bit more of that water body between the two between the yes yep the southern the northern side of the

city pier and spit itself so yep so the next steps are going to be we're going to try to meet with coastal zone management to see if they think this is a project that would um meet their guidelines for for a grant we're going to try to get a meeting with um mass aond and groundwork South Coast to talk more about um the invasives and and um plantings and um continue forward

with um the design and then we're almost to the point where we can start permitting uh Laura from Vader is probably going to talk to Dan about the concom permit and um we can startop moving for just one so the dock the transient boat dock um is that going to be the same material as the transient dock the dingy dock you talking I mean the dingy dock sorry the dingy um the plan is to keep

it like that yes the challeng is well one challenge is if we get the grant um the Federal grant then we have to buy American products and um we may not be able to use the um Canadian company that did the Ducks that we have you can make a you can you can make you can if there's a if there's a reason that you feel you you can't do

that you can ask for we should be able to even if it's even if it's similar you know long as it's similar in texture and style and guarantee and warranty I think we're okay but you're saying we could get you can you can if it's a hardship or if you feel like there's like an issue with either a delivery issue or say I don't know like anything else you

can always say that you know to go with this you know we we we can't meet that requirement but we can go with this because it's better for that's not more than what 24t maybe is that how long it is uh to be honest I can't remember how long it is do you remember no I don't I can't remember it's not it's three piles it's probably like 8 16 24 so I think

there's like maybe it might be at tops 40 ft you know what I mean well I I'm just saying between with I was thinking of the distance between the the um pilings but that would be like a Max it might probably not that long so that's like right at the bottom of the gang way it goes out 90° you had a picture of yeah it's right

here so this is the existing transient docks here's the Harm's boat drawn in for effect and um this is the proposed new dingy dock so You' come down the the um the the gang way and then hard rate and then you'd go right out there or you'd tie up your Dy and then come up and out so we're so we're not looking so this is part of the Northfield plane project it was

all part of the same design yeah we did apply for that Federal big one grant for the moing uh for the Moorings and the um okay so that's separate so SE potentially separate funding source pot yeah separate fun Source whether we let that work go separate or do it all as a package is yet to be determined it probably depends on funding availability if it comes in now we won't know that

until June okay but even in June right cuz I don't know when we're going to be you know when what the cycle the cot is and how much money you're trying to get a $1. million Grant from the cot so we got a match that's what 25 30% there it's 25 25 25 I think yeah so you know so you're looking at least 250,000 if not a little bit more and that includes

the doct or that doesn't and we have to match the federal money right too yeah so that's what I'm saying so then whatever that cycle is I then we got to get um so Northfield Point as it stands Now doesn't appear that we're going to need any permits other than Conservation Commission permit so that's good right so that saves Lot C and we do need I think we need to put a notice in with

the army cour with the Army C right that's just main right and then on the other one for the transient dockets the question is and I'm not sure you know I know that there's probably a reason I'm not sure why it can't be pile I mean anchor supported as p as opposed to pile supported because if you do pile supports that means that's going to kick you into I believe the chapter 91 right

permitting but that's cons that's part of the engineering bid that we have so it's not going to add to uh the expense it'll add to the expense of the piles themselves if you went if you went anchor supported doc you don't need to go through chapter 91 nor pay for the pilings themselves and the driving of the piles right yeah so it's just a question of you could make the argument too that

you could use some of the other piles that were approved for the rest of I'm not sure that's that's a f that's a fuz argument because we looked at that right yeah I don't think we can yeah so I think you know just keeping it's I think it's another option just to keep on the table maybe pile cuz if you look at other Marines as especially for a short run you can pile support them the other

thing out for the winter and for storms okay no that's prot that's a very protected area there if it was elsewhere maybe but here it's so protect that's probably one of the best that's probably the one of the best if not the best locations along the entire river right along the shore yeah right you're right along the shore and you got natural brake Waters right there right we have both the North and South break water

there so the fetch is not going to be bad the other thing too is if if we do think that this is going to be a strong project to match with coastal zone management grant program they can give you up to 2 million with only a 10% match okay so that's you know that could be um hugely helpful so we'll keep you posted the only disappointment I have is that by

bringing all the Machinery out to do all the revetment work from Land we're really they're thinking that most of the existing soil and vegetation will be disturbed and will be pulling out a lot of the existing soil or scraping it back no we won't well well we' be scrap they said they would scrap so doing their event work you wouldn't be scraping it back but but what you'd be doing is

helping with invasive removals you'd be like riding over the top of everything um because they and part of getting rid of all that thick thatch and invasive that's out there there will have to be a certain amount of scraping back in areas especially we're going to do plantings and the walkway and everything else so um so yeah and I think you know you can also take a look at how much planting

you actually want to do out there right right seems like you got to cover all the right but I'm just saying yeah but I'm just saying that's a lot of planting so you have that's like the Rolls-Royce yeah they're focusing like the big plantings like on the planting schedule here more so down in this area here right yeah which is with some shap trees where people will probably be sitting

and things like that they don't really have any big plantings out on the spit itself it's more just this is a um what they call a restoration mix for dry sites it's like Meadow grasses and stuff and there'll be some probably um a few paren like you know like blackeyed Susans like that that seem to be thriving over at City Pier out there too that seem to like do well and spread

and stuff so and no no irrigation no irrigation the only that we did talk I will say that we did I did have a long conversation with Bill about that today one of the things we may want to do because we do need to get water out there to establish everything um we may want to consider just running a line down and putting a yard hydrant in so you could attach hoses to it initially

and that does give a water source further down um it's we talked about it yeah it's usually the responsibility of the uh contractor to guarantee their plants for a year anyway right but then you got to think that they're going to be having to bring in trucks and if you put it as part of the contract that's all prevailing wage

work I don't know about that could now if it's considered a maintenance issue that's the problem is we'd have to figure out if we can actually do that within the scope of the project anything else on Northfield that's all I got any anyone have any big concerns with that are we everyone's happy with the direction we're going in okay good okay um little change in the lineup R is now with us in the flesh

Tyron everybody s Le no no problem I think I was thinking it was next week I don't know why I got that well usually it would be but we move um Sarah's going to talk about the her at uh flint and Pleasant Street can I can before we do that is it possible from Petry stpo I know already took the boat on the 52 par Ferry Street but there was one important component I left

approved and also by the state itself so the ju the position of that area is within that comprehensive plan and gives G greater credibility to the fact that it conforms with one of the criteria of a variance that it comports to a comprehensive planning um Initiative for both local as well as Regional and State so I just want to get on record with that thank you we don't have that a motion do we I

don't think so no it's just sign that's all in the letters yeah it's all in the letters but the Public's not doesn't have the letter so just okay so Pleasant Street um so the ongoing saga that you've been hearing about is figuring out how to respond to mea's response to our um uh our filings with meepa and um so we have a phone call tomorrow with tyan Bond and Emily inis to talk

about kind of the approach that I described at the last meeting where we would remove the neighborhood um revitalization blueprint document and um that removes a lot of well that removes a number of things that Meo was questioning and wanting information on and the idea that we remove some of the city projects that are mentioned so that we don't have to be working with the city to respond to those issues and so

we're not sure that's what we're going to do I think we are sure that we'll want to remove the neighborhood blueprint but um we're going to talk about what our best strategy is what it might cost um since the last meeting Emily and I each independently have talked with Paul McMorrow um at Mass housing who um is in charge of the Hub grant that is funding some of our work in the Flint um and and

the planning work specifically and he was very surprised by the mea response and so I'll be talking with him about whether they're willing to use more of their funds toward um toward this additional work that tyen Bond and Emily will need to um uh need to do or whether he wants to help us with this response to meepa that says these are you know expensive requests so we'll be working on that

we'll let you know kind of what we figured out at the December meeting um if we come up with a good uh strategy I'd like to have people um start working on that I think that there's still funding that um we have in their in the tiin bond contract but I might use um the uh the provision that the board has voted on that I could um uh contract with a consultant up to

$10,000 as long as I check it with the chair and um the treasurer if we think that we've got a really good solution and um you know we can start that work but I'm not I have no Clarity on that yet so um so that's the meepa update and um then uh the other kind of piece of news is that I may have told you that the city was granted a love your block

grant through the uh and love your block is funded by Bloomberg philanthropies and it funds um the city being able to hire a fellow to work in the neighborhood and uh also hire a Vista member which is very hard to find and um they would together work on um the program love your block has which is to raise a lot of volunteers from a neighborhood and have them do projects in the neighborhood like cleanups and

plantings and sometimes they help people who are having trouble um on you know work on their porch they could help residents who are needing some help in their on their property um so this the GR assumed that you would hire this fellow um around April and the city has worked and worked on trying to find um a fellow and the fellow has to speak Spanish and there's some room to move there they could speak Portuguese and

not Spanish but they have to be bilingual so and the love your block program has to approve them and so the mayor and Mike Deon thought they had a candidate and uh the love your block program said she didn't qualify and um they didn't allow them to hire that person so I have for a while said that I would help them get ads up on uh College websites and onto indeed and onto

idealist and you know help with the Recruitment and so they kept saying oh we think we have somebody we think we have somebody but now they're just really frustrated and said that they would appreciate help getting it advertised so that's what um we're going to be working on a bit over the next month trying to find someone because you know the work in the Flint will make will make much more progress on

implementing our blueprint if we have people on the ground there engag in residents and um and working together um yeah what's a fellow in a Vista I don't understand the difference between those two um so a fellow is just what their the love your block program is calling it it's comparable to the um transformative development initiative Mass uh developments program that we've had we've had a fellow working in the

downtown and now we have a new fellow and it's just uh kind of a term that Grant sources sometimes use because it implies their short term so uh the fellow for um the Flint would be a 2-year position it's not an employee of the city it's this hybrid type of role and so that's why it's called a fellow now a Vista is a federal program that um allows you to um basically give a living

allowance to someone so they make very little money and they would have to live in our area and their role would would be to be out in the Flint finding people who want to do these projects and helping the fellow make these things happen now V I had Vistas in Springfield field do work with us usually you recruit them when the semester has ended and you're looking typically for people

who've just graduated from college the ones that I had that were really successful were trying to figure out if they wanted to go to a graduate program what they wanted to do next and they wanted to kind of test out what it was like to work in the neighborhood and um one of them you know loved it one on and became a city planner and so that's ideally the kind of person you're

looking for is someone who's willing to invest a year make very you know barely enough money to survive and yet they're getting experience and they're being able to serve a neighborhood and um that's what you're looking for so whether we're able to find a Vista you know know someone who's willing to do that is a question and um similarly the city has thought they had found people

and the people ended up not taking it so so what I'm really focused on is finding the fellow and you know you're looking for someone who has a ba who's a bilingual who's willing to really be out in the neighborhood finding people wanting to work on projects why wasn't she qualified they tell you why yeah I think the person um didn't I think maybe they didn't have a ba they were a local

person who was bilingual so um the city wasn't sure that they really needed to have the level of qualifications that the love your block program was requiring what's the salary for that position it's around 60,000 should find somebody for 60,000 yeah we should be able to that's you rent in a Po River if you to rent in full River and have a life 60,000 like just about making it too mhm

if you're just coming out of college and you're trying to figure out what you're going to do it's a good person yeah first job right yeah good experience good experience so you're willing to take a little bit of a discount to get something on your resume good for grad school or for whatever you're so doesn't sound like the qualifications are high besides the ba and just being bilingual

you shouldn't be how to find that person I'm thinking it's a it's a specific skill set though you got to be able to organize you got to be able to put together a plan you got to be able to follow through so it's not an e that's not an easy thing to do no it isn't and you got to introduce yourself to everybody that's there you got to be a people person you got to gain their

trust you there there's a whole host of things you got to do there so you got to have the social skills the academic skills the organizational skills you that necessary and the reporting skills I'm sure there's reports report it yeah I'm sure there reports right yeah the job description is pretty comprehensive I can send you all the job description you might know somebody who would um could be

interested and it's a full-time position right yes no benefits or no benefits I think there are benefits okay um I think the city is providing benefits that's another important part especially coming out of school mhm y off your parents plan after 23 we were till 26 yeah I know so I think that's the Flint neighborhood something you said before you were talking about uh the neighborhood plan and the uh City plan

if you take them out it's going to make less of the of the work that has to be done is that what you're thinking I don't understand why why we take it out is it going to H Us in another way I'm asking no okay no so the thing is that meepa is a regulatory Agency for environmental concerns so when they look at an urban renewal plan in an environmental justice community and this

is a whole new level of requirement that came from legislation that was looking at Environ enironmental Justice communities and just about all of Fall River is an environmental justice area and so they they took the requirement meepa always had to just review an urban renewal plan to this much higher level so meepa is looking at um for example for Stafford square and we need to clarify this but I

think that the engineer is designing Stafford Square for climate change levels in 2050 and NEPA says they should be in 2070 now we're not doing Stafford Square that's a city project and we don't think meepa really the Water and Sewer Department doesn't think that they would have even been needing to go to meepa for their project so all of a sudden our plan is implying a different level of requirement

than the city may be um needing to do and it's a misunderstanding for meepa to say well we're now going to suggest what the city does with their project so we think we we never wanted to include Stafford square and how it was being done in our urban renewal plan but the meepa requirements are that you have a project that you run through this software program that Engineers use that look at all these

um uh all these criteria for how it meets um climate change and how it um all these criteria that are kind of um set by Energy Efficiency and um so they were looking at you know it's an area that floods and that's why they're working on it and we put it in our plan because um so it it's uh it's in our plans because lots of residents say get of the

flooding in Stafford square and it makes total sense and the city is doing it but we never when we put it in our plan never expected meepa to then you know require all this significant information and so the question is should we have projects that are really City projects in our plan that meepa is now um expecting all kinds of information about and so we could simplify our plan and it doesn't mean

that we won't the city won't do these things and that we won't do things but it doesn't it could mean that meepa wouldn't have to review this level of complexity and then require us to take it to another level and explain lots of things cuz the city could do those projects with or without a right yeah they could that project tomorrow and they are doing them so um so that's what we're

exploring and the pros and cons of doing that I mean I would rather just leave them all in there but um we'll we'll see how we deal with that you want to talk about the Wall Street y so um stantech our consultant firm is uh finishing our master plan we have a few more pieces to review and they have to finalize and give us the final plan in the format that is um uh part of

their contract and um so we're working Along on that once we get a final plan we assume that we'll get our um advisory groups together to look at with the plan and um have a final Advisory Group meeting and um that's kind of where we are you know that the letter has gone um into the governor and we're um working on the issues of um land disposition how long do she have to

answer that letter does she have to answer that letter or no noide the statut is no anything else on that okay if there's no further matters for the Open Session the chair makes a finding that an open session will have a detrimental effect on the negotiating position of the public body the purpose of the executive session is to approve the executive session minutes from October 2324 discuss strategy with

respect to potential real estate transactions for properties located at assessor map 22 lot 9 on Deval street at the corner of Turner Street and 251 South Main Street and at the 45 And1 Street property I'll entertain a motion to enter into executive session and we will return to open session motion to go into executive session and we will be returning to open session second than you John Erikson yes yes thank you I'm

guide okay we're good right yes we're good okay great all right welcome back um I'll entertain a motion to approve the amendment and authorize the chair to execute the amendment to the lease for 2501 South Main Street okay motion to approve the amendment to and to authorize the chair to execute the amendment to lease for 2501 South Main Street thank you second second John Ericson yes and King yes Ron Ren yes

thank you uh I'll also entertain a motion to have the chair execute the quick claim deed for 2501 South Main Street motion to have the chair execute the quick claim deed for 21 2501 South Main Street second second John Ericson yes and ke yes Ron Ren yes thank you uh zero Deval street I'll enter entertain a motion to authorize the chair to execute the deed and all Associated closing documents for the

sale of City excuse me for the sale of the city of Fall River assessor map 0229 corner of Deval and Turner Street Fall River Mass to

577-6904 since he said I can to say so moved right so moved second second Johan Ericson yes an Kean yes Ron R yes took the job thank you no other further business I'll entertain a motion to adjourn motion to adjourn second thank you John Ericson yes an keing yes Ron R yes thanks everybody