Finance Committee - Regular Meeting

yep now okay I will call the February 26 2025 meeting of the Gardner city council finance committee to order the clerk will please call the role councelor D present councelor heglin present councelor Mack present announcement of open meeting recordings the open meeting recording notice is posted over there is anyone here recording today's meeting other than staff hearing none uh moving on to the reading of uh the reading approval of the meeting minutes uh we'll begin the reading approval of the meeting minutes from January 29th 2025 is there a motion before I make a motion that we wave the reading of the minutes and accept them as presented seconded motion by councelor Ma seconded by councelor he heglin to wave the reading of the minutes and accept them as presented is there any discussion on the motion hearing none all those in favor say I I those opposed motion passes on to the items on our agenda uh first time on the agenda item 11502 a communication from the mayor regarding the certification of the city's fy4 la19 Mr May thank you very much Mr chairman uh this is one of the documents that gets certified by the Department of Revenue division of local Services every year we've had the several laas that have been certified this is the uh assess value versus market value ratio certification that we have uh the department of revenues uh guidelines suggested a city or town uh try to get as close to 95% as possible for all classifications of property except for personal property which should be as close to 100% as possible uh that's basically what our assessed values of a property are versus if that property were to go on the market in that Trend that's there and again this is a three-year look back uh by the way uh that the statutes run uh our certification came in at exactly 95% on all classifications of property except

personal property that came in at 100% uh so just uh to uh City Assessor Christine Kumar uh for the work that she's doing getting us right on the Benchmark uh for that this is the last of the LA's for the fiscal year um so we've gotten everything certified and buttoned up by do for at least the current fiscal year until we have to close it out um but we're on power for where we need to be at this time questions from no I just commend the City Assessor for the work that she does in getting this report done and reaching the assessment ratios ratios that we needed to thank you thank you back of the same thanks for the hard work to the assessor stain a motion move to uh recommended the council as a whole that the communication be placed on file second motion to recommend the communication be placed on file to the full Council made by councelor Hein seconded by councelor Mack is there any discussion on the motion hearing none all those in favor say I I opposed motion passes next item item 11503 in order of taking for the easement temporary indor permanent by eminent domain for the purpose of the safe roots to school project with various properties located on Elm Street in the area between Temple Street and Cherry Street Mr Mayor thank you very much Mr chairman this is a project that has come before the Council on several occasions uh this is the last step needed before we can really get the construction ready to go um or get the preconstruction items fully prepared ready to go and everything like that this is part of the requirements that mass do has for these types of projects to move forward there's a uh various iterations of temporary and permanent easements that need to be obtained uh in the event that a piece of construction material needs to be stored on someone's you know 2 feet of someone's lawn or something like that along the area this is identical to what we did exactly with the Uptown rotary project uh and this is just doing it for this project here both being Mass DOT processes they have the same process that we have to go through um the

majority of these are temporary uh with I think maybe one or two uh permanent easements but a lot of those were the ones that were donated by School District that the council recently voted to accept uh that order of taking is also in here uh the Appropriations for these are found in the city's real estate uh account uh that can be used for either items related to real estate or other uh very restricted item uh other items that are there uh so this is just the next step in the process and the various easements that we need to have in order for the project to go underway the dollar amount for each individual easement is listed in the packet as well each one of these has already been negotiated with the the property owner and has been agreed upon to the said price in our packet yes so this is just agreeing to the funding that in order to complete this project project itself um save fruits can you explain how that was funded as well uh yes so that was funded through a grant through the Commonwealth that was obtained several years ago uh and there was just various iterations and check boxes that had to get done and that was delayed with covid and the changing to the new school uh where Elm Street School is still used as a school for Gardener academy uh as well the Boys and Girls Club being in the lower level and the superintendent's office that are there uh it does still qualify uh we did confirm with mass do that the entire section of Elm Street does also still qualify even though Helen may solder is no longer being used as a school uh so this was all being funded the majority in part by a grant by the Commonwealth north of a million dollars uh to do the work and then uh this is the again the actual orders of taking so it's the easements themselves being uh granted it'll be signed if the council passes this uh of the easements will be signed and registered with the registry of deeds and the um timetable on the project uh don't know specifically um they'll probably start giving this uh put it out to bid after everything goes through with the city so um I can update the council specifically but I would assume um probably in the springtime

feasible for this year yeah okay thank you any further questions from the the committee I too quick but you I have two quick ones were any of the uh Property Owners um against this being were they objecting they property be used at all nobody sent any notifications into the city or came in uh we did send notification letters about the project um I myself met with a couple residents as well kind of explaining the projects um let them know if they had any questions I think a lot of the residents talked amongst themselves too about the project so nobody came into city hall or contacted me kind of going against it okay and my second question is is this going to create bike Lanes on this area of Elm Street I don't part of this because I know that was in the plans at one time I I'll check the fin I just want to make sure possess it I just don't want to see anything mhm narrow yeah couldn't double check as well the traffic there anyways cuz it is you know it's a very populous dtive Ro but I remember one time there was discussion of do putting in I believe bike Lanes on Elm Street we we'll double check the design I I I may I I might be going back a few years but I thought that was in the work at one point yeah we'll double check and up Council of course um there was one easement that's being donated as well from one of the property owners yeah I did see that thank you um that value is that based on like a square footage of yard that's expected um and then was there a reason 209 the church was in there twice with two different amounts 209 Lauren Street Northshore properties 675 and 795 that could be uh just a typo um we'll make that Amendment obviously before the council um but it's just the 795 out I believe for the 209 so that's just a duplicate and just an error so can remove that apologies thank you anything further I'll make a motion to um bring

item 11503 for approval to the full Council second motion made by councelor Max second by councel heglin to recommend adoption of the order by the full council is there any further discussion just like to thank the uh member of the the community and presid Calvin Brooks for the donation of the of the property for this project um any other discussion you have something um hearing none all those in favor say I ioun thank you next item uh in subcommittee item 11477 discussions regarding to the internal working groups review of the salary study um I personally don't have any questions I don't know if there are any questions from the council or any updates from the mayor at this time I assume that's still just in process yes there's nothing further I just recommend leaving on the the calendar for yeah curious though is there do we know what we should expect at this point are we getting like a product is this something that'll be in the budget or is there we know there'll be something but if any changes there'll be in the budget proposal I I will say that I I did have the opportunity to meet with the um salary study uh three members of the group um and I have seen the spreadsheet um um which I unless you know since in the couple of weeks since I've met with him would still greatly consider a draft and it's you know something that still definitely needs to be work on and um it you know my understanding it is part of their budget but something um that I still think needs to be worked on before it needs to be presented to the council because um there there are some things there I think the mayor needs to go through and make his suggestions and possibly cuts and um it needs you know to me it needs to come to the council with the uh you know full approval of

the mayor for us to consider it thank you great thank you as well want something things before us we can discuss it further and it will be I assume at at some point in the near future but until then um said unless there's an objection I'm going to keep this on our our calendar to as a placeholder forward um onto the next item item 11482 discussions regarding the City's health insurance payment and trust fund um I know the mayor had an update during the meeting last time in regards to additional funding come in I don't know if you want to elaborate all on that anymore what our turn current total is Mr auditor no yeah last the uh we did get that additional stoploss payment that we talked about at the last council meeting um but haven't calculated that that hasn't been calculated okay normally an end of the month process we'll soon but that good to hear that did come in so that's good news I have no further questions unless there's any further questions one quick one cuz I know John you had mentioned there was a task reminder possibility but did you find if there's a way to do it automated instead of manual still looking or I'm still looking on that with mun thank you but I got it on my Outlook so it hits me right in the head yeah no thank you counil back no I would just like to see this item continue to be on our agenda for for updates I agree as well we'll leave it here um so uh that be the end of our calendar I'd entertain a motion to adjourn so second motion made by councel Hegman seconded by councelor Mack to adjourn all those in favor say I I all those opposed the meeting stands Jour thank you thank you