City Council - Regular Meeting

Good evening. I'm going to call this meeting of the Keen City Council to order. Uh, this meeting is being broadcast live on the city of Keen YouTube channel and Spectrum channel 1302. The video is also streamed on the city's website and is posted by the end of the next business day, barring any technical difficulties. If you would like to receive an electronic city council packet to reference while viewing future broadcasts, please contact the city clerk's office during business hours or go to the city's website and subscribe to the city meetings email list. The agenda is also accessible from any mobile device. I'd like to ask the clerk to please call the role.

Randy Elilio here. Michelle A. Chalice here. Katherine I Workman. Brian J. here. Jacob R. Favalis here. Laura E. Tobin here. Robert C. Williams here. Philip M. Jones present. Chris E. Roberts here. Betina H. Chadworn. Edward J. Hos here. Laura E. Rutle Miller here. Molly V. Ellis here. Thomas F. Powers here. Mitchell H. Greenwald here. Thank you. Uh like to ask councelor Greenwald for No, I don't want to do that yet. Like to ask councelor Favalis, would you please lead us in the pledge of allegiance

to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for it stands one nation indivisible with liberty and justice for all. Now I'd like to recognize councelor Greenwall for a motion to adopt the minutes of our previous meeting. Move to adopt the minutes of the March 1920 26 meeting as presented. Second. Seconded by councelor Powers. Uh would this clerk please call the role? We will do this then as a show of hands. We'll do this with a show of hands.

Yes. All those in favor of accepting the minutes of last meeting, the motion carries 14 to nothing. Thank you. Uh now for some updates of interest. Uh that uh a few highlights in the month of April. Uh I think you might recall these from the last uh meeting that April is sexual assault prevention month. So wearing a teal ribbon signifies your awareness and support for survivors. Uh we are entering a holiday week. Uh the holiday of Passover to some said Pesak uh had began last night and will continue for eight days. Uh the holiday of Good Friday is coming up tomorrow and it's Easter Sunday this week. Uh so to all of those in our community who celebrate these days, uh we wish you a joyous and uh good holiday. Uh the next week is New Hampshire Energy Week. Uh and I'll have an announcement uh related to that. Actually, why not hit that? Um so we last meeting took up uh our support for Senate Bill 538. I communicated uh 538, you may recall, is a bill before the legislature that's critical to enabling municipalities to invest in clean energy through a stable 20-year net metering term. Uh I communicated that uh motion, which passed unanimously by the council of our support uh to Clean Energy New Hampshire, and they appreciated that. I'm now on their mailing list. Uh so there are several other bills that they would like us also

to be considering uh this week. Uh Senate Bill 449, which you might want to note, and Senate Bill 540. They are both aiming to lower energy costs and expand access to clean energy. The public hearings on these will be held on April 6th. And I'd encourage counselors to uh and the public to participate in that process by either contacting their state representatives or signing in to support these bills through the New Hampshire House. Uh and you can do that through their sign in remotely uh system. Uh just select the hearing date which is April 6th. the committee uh which is energy uh and the bill numbers and indicate your support. Uh so even a brief message or a sign in can make a meaningful impact. Uh and on Monday evening when we do our legislative uh delegation meeting uh you also can uh jawbone with some legislators. Um, another announcement uh relative to the wastewater treatment plant. It's hosting an open house on Thursday, April 16th from 10:00 a.m. to 6:00 p p.m. at the end of Airport Road in Swansea. Uh, a rain date is set for uh, Friday, April 17th, same hours. Uh and the public as well as our council uh is invited to attend uh that open house which is very interesting to see uh how they uh take waste and turn it into clear water. Uh which is disposed. Uh

so come Monday night, uh the city council is hosting the legislative delegation meeting. Uh it begins at 6 pm in the county delegation hall across uh central square. Uh there are over 50 RSVPs that have so people planning to attend. uh including uh members of the Cheshire County state legislators, uh town managers and administrators, elected school board members, and key individuals involved in legislative matters. Uh Keen's full delegation uh from both the House and State Senator Donovan Fenton will be present. Uh, executive counselor Karen Leo Hill uh is uh accompanying uh the commissioner, newly named commissioner of the state's department of business and economic affairs, Lucy Lang, uh who will be present. Uh so this is uh uh interesting that we've attracted this much attention for our event which is annual. Uh so light refreshments will begin at 6 uh with a presentation by the New Hampshire Municipal Association beginning at 6:30. And I want to extend our thank you to the county uh which has generously offered to host the meeting at their facility on the second floor in delegation hall. Um it was pointed out uh by somebody this week. Uh one more reminder on the council break which will be in August. It's planned between uh uh after it begins after our August 6th meeting. Uh with uh committee meetings canled on August 20th and September 3rd. All standing committees in August are are cancelled and uh we will pick back up with regular meetings that will resume

on September 9th with uh the planning, licenses and development committee and then with our finance operations and personnel committee on September 10th. And that concludes my announcements. Uh we've got a couple of presentations tonight. You might say this is Keen State College night. Uh but some remarkable achievements uh and recognitions that are in order. Uh so I'd uh like to ask the uh King State College basketball team and Marty uh Testo to join me up at the microphone here. I'll move the microphone a little bit.

These aren't a bunch of high school kids. Mhm.

Uh I've been around these guys a little bit. Uh, and the 13th

being vertically challenged myself, I feel a little bit more secure. Uh, anyway, uh, I I I wish that Steve Enright uh, had chosen to be here with us tonight, but he took the the the other choice, which was to go to the NCAA tournament and be with a bunch of basketball coaches from around the country. Tough choice, I know. Uh, and I I I I think he's probably watching uh uh because we're online tonight and he's got the link. Uh, so greetings, uh, Coach Enright. Um, I want to do a quick recap of the 2025 season, uh, which was supposed to be a rebuilding year, uh, following the Keen State College basketball men's basketball team's division three final 16 appearance uh, in the 24-25 season. And with the loss of uh two of the leading players of that team, uh one was Octavio Bridto and you may recall the story about Octavio which uh hit national news. He was the division three player of the year uh last year. Uh and one of his teammates, Wesley Odiasi, uh was uh also key member of that team last year. So, this was supposed to be that rebuilding year without those two uh leading players. Uh but nonetheless, the 2526 team finished with a record of 20 and 11, battling their way to the Little East Championship game and ultimately winning the Eastern College Athletic Conference Championship. And they won this championship without playing the three seniors on the team with the designed intent that they were the the

goal was to give the underassmen that would be returning in the coming year uh the opportunity to compete for a championship. And lo and behold, you guys pulled through.

Hey. Hey. So, that was great. The last five games were playoff games uh at Keen State. One wasn't, but anyway, they they they swept all five of those last games. It was it was really thrilling. It was a great uh as one of your citizen fans, uh community fans, it was a great opportunity to see a really high level of basketball. Thank you. Um, this 25 26 season marks the fifth straight 20 win season for the King State College men's basketball team. Um, so, uh, Jordan, you right here. Um, so I want to introduce you to Jordan Cooper from Goldsboro, North Carolina. Uh, he had what's called a breakout season for the uh, Keen State Owls this year. Jordan was named uh to the first team all Little East Conference and the second team all region uh teams at the end of the year and he had a dunk which I got to see against Rhode Island College on February 25th in an uh Little East Conference quarterfinal win. Uh, and that dunk uh wound up being on Sports Cent's top 10 plays of the day and ranked number five. Give me a good rising. Um, also a a player that I got to watch for a couple of years is senior forward Leo Chaken. And Leo, which side are you on? He's back behind me. But uh Leo uh uh was just had a a great second half of the season uh that I got to witness. He was the name to the second team all Little

East Conference. Uh and uh as a senior just got to wish you all the best uh in the coming year, Leo. Uh also want to uh recognize uh and I I I will in a moment. Ryan, don't worry. I'll give you this the stool. Uh the uh so other highlights in the season uh our sophomore center Dennis Wana uh a native of Nshawa, New Hampshire uh was named the Little East Conference defensive player of the year. You won't have any trouble picking out Dennis there. Yes. Uh uh but Dennis uh was he finished the season with 109 blocked shots, the second most in the United States this year. He shattered the single season record uh of block shots at Keen State College basketball set by Jeff Hunter in just a couple of years ago and that was at 83 block shots. So uh quite an accomplishment, Dennis, good job. Okay. So, I I want you to feel more comfortable.

There we go. This is what I'll talk about. Yeah. Um, so, three players this last year eclipsed 1,000 points over their course of uh their collegiate playing. Uh, one is Mitch Shuttles. Mitch,

Mitch is from Mitch is from New Albany, Mississippi. Uh, and had a couple of great years at Kinsay College and really enjoyed watching your outside shots. Uh, senior guard Ryan Blakeley standing next to me from O'keefee, that's an easy one to say, Maryland. Uh, and Ryan is stand besides his thousand points which he had both uh from as a guard both uh for driving layups and outside shooting. U but Ryan's remarkable for his pregame warm-up which includes his loud voice which pumps up the team does a great job at it. And then also want to recognize uh junior guard uh Jordan Cooper again uh who also eclipsed the 1,00 point mark this year. Uh and so uh to uh Mitch Shtles and to Ryan uh best wishes as you guys graduate from Keen State College. We'll miss you.

Thank you. Thank you. You can have just have to let them see.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Thank you. Um so this team uh had a combined uh record home record this last year of 13 and3 uh and their home record since the year 2000 has been 69 and n to the greater Keen community I I want us all to be taking pride in being the sixth man on the court spurring the Owls men's basketball team to that remarkable homec court record. Uh, I thank you, uh, Coach Steve Enright and your team for your dedication, for sharing the best show in town, carrying Keen area basketball fans through our brutal winter season. Uh, you almost make me wish for winter of 27, but I'm not there yet. Uh, so, thank you all. Thanks for being here tonight. Congratulations on a great season. and uh I know they'll be uh looking forward to the season ahead. Thanks a lot, guys.

You want to do one more? Yeah. Sorry. Look. We're looking. Oh, I want to offer you Mike uh the mic, too. Wait a second. Yeah. Yeah. Now you're Yeah. Come to the other side. Get in front. Get in. Thank you.

Thank you. Thank you so much. Yeah. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you, sir. Yeah. Great. Great. Great to see you, Ben. Marty. Yeah. Say something. You want the stool?

I was saying if Blakey Blakey, if you were that tall on that stool, you might have had 1,250 points. Come on now. Uh it's great to see a bunch of familiar faces. Jay, thank you for this opportunity. What that basketball team has accomplished um is tremendous, not only this year, but in previous years. But I the bigger story is what our athletic department as a whole has been able to accomplish. Um we've had four champions this year, multiple four all-ameans, multiple regional champions, regional coaches of the year. All those accolades are great. Um and and our coaches do a great job of bringing um high level athletes in to achieve those awards. I think the things that go unnoticed are that um let's see, we had 84 athletes in a fall have a 4.0 GPA.

We've done over 27 God that's it's awesome. We've had we've done over 27 thou 2700 hours of community service which equates to about $80,000 of service financially in a community. Um, those are the things that I think people don't realize that these athletes do. The day in the life of a student athlete is not just practicing for a couple hours. They go to class, they study, some work, some commute. So, it's it's a big commitment to what these gentlemen do and the rest of our 500 student athletes, which is a fifth of our campus today, right? 20 uh 17 to 20% we're at 500. So, I mean, I think athletics is a huge piece of the community, a huge piece of our um our classroom and our college, but I also think that um it wouldn't be what it is today, any of our teams, without the support of the community. So, thank you and uh continue to come watch our athletes because uh they are special and uh it's the cheapest show in town. Thanks, I'd like to ask Dr. Leo Amed. Uh Leo, could you please join me?

If you haven't guessed, he's got some students in the audience.

I know. I just had him them some of them yesterday in class. So, uh, it's an honor, Leo, to recognize you as a 2026 New Hampshire Union Leader 40 under 40 honore for your outstanding contributions to education, innovation, and to the Keen community. Uh, so let me tell you a bit more about how Leo is distinguished among his peers. Uh, and as you can tell, he's a very personable person. He's very approachable and uh uh I I can see he'd be a great influence on your students. But uh Dr. Amit is a tenure associate professor at Keen State College who brings a rich interdisciplinary background to occupational safety and health combining academic rigor pract practical experience and expertise in ergonomics. He holds a doctor of health sciences in public health specializing in ergonomics and a master's of science in occupational health both from Deu Catholic University in South Korea. In addition, Dr. Amit holds a master of arts in science science education from Christ the King College and a bachelor's of science in secondary education majoring in biology from Northwest Samir State University in the Philippines. He's currently pursuing a master's of public health at Dartmouth College as a Dartmouth scholar and he is certified as a safety professional, an instructional trainer, an associate safety professional, and a licensed professional teacher at Keen State College. Dr. Amit teaches a wide range of occupational safety and health courses while working to make a bigger

impact by supporting and mentoring first generation college students. He's dedicated to developing a strong research culture among students, actively involving them in discussion, inquiry, hands-on activities, conference presentations, and research projects, including a not so uh distant past research trip to Berlin, Germany with students as his co-authors. His research interests include mus muscularkeeletal disorders, uh, workplace hazards and innovative occupational biomechanics, uh, solutions such as wearable technologies, specifically shoulder assisted devices designed to improve worker safety and performance. I I actually got to witness one of those in his office. Beyond the classroom, Dr. Emit is an active member of St. Bernard's Church where he participates in the folk music choir. Uh and in recognition of Dr. Amit's professional leadership and community involvement, he deservedly was named a 2026 New Hampshire Union Leader 40 under 40. Congratulations, Dr. Emit, on this well-deserved recognition. And the mic is yours. Congratulations.

Oh my god. I don't know how to react to attention and I also don't know how to react to accolades but I try my best. So uh I came to Kin State and to America in uh you know during the height of the pandemic and it was quite a very very strange time. We all know that. But when I step in uh in the city of Keen at Kin State College, I felt the welcome. I felt the warmth. I felt like I found a new home. And I still feel the same way today. So I am very proud of being of becoming a part of or or being a part of a community that supports you know not just uh progress in terms of economic uh impact but also uh an avenue for students to actually become you know uh to to realize their potentials. We are part of you know Kin State the basketball team here a few of my students are here. Uh we we experience resilience every day. We witness resilience every day despite of the fact that you know we we come I mean we have challenges that you know come across our way uh in in in many many different ways. However, what I am proud about is that you know there is so much love around okay there is so much support and there is so much sense of community that you would feel in the city of Keen and also at Keen State College. And I couldn't be more proud to be part of this community and I thank you everybody. Mayor Jay Khan as well as the council for this honor tonight and I do hope that I continue to be given the opportunity to be impactful not just to my students, not just the Kin State community, but to the Keen community as a whole. So, thank you and have a good evening everybody. That was great.

Okay, we have a couple confirmations that we'll move on to. You're welcome to stay and we won't be insulted if you leave for other other Thursday night activities.

But Isaac, you might Isaac, you might want to stay. Isaac wants to run.

Thank you. I don't know Ryan well. Nice guy. Yeah, that was really nice. Okay, let's uh move on to confirmations.

And this evening we have uh two confirmations. The first is to the Energy and Climate Committee. It is Claire Owler. Uh he is being reappointed to serve as a regular voting member in slot eight slot eight for a term to expire December 31, 2028. Our second is to the library board of trustees and this is Susan Matthews who's being appointed as a regular member in slot five for a term to June 30th 2029. Like to recognize council Greenwald for a motion. Thank you your honor. I move to confirm the nominations. Second. Any comments or questions on nominations? Uh all those no. We'll call a roll on this.

Councelor Filio. Yes. Councelor Chalice, yes. Councelor Lake, yes. Councelor Favalis, yes. Councelor Tobin, yes. Councelor Williams, yes. Councelor Jones, yes. Councelor Roberts, yes. Councelor Chadborn, yes. Councelor Hos, yes. Councelor Rule Miller, yes. Councelor Ellis, yes. Councelor Powers, yes. Councelor Greenwall, yes. Motion carries unanimously. Thank you. Uh, we have some communications this evening. Uh and yes recognize these read them into the record.

I certainly will. Our first two communications uh are related to licenses. The first is from Janelle Sartorio from Pathways for Keen. They're requesting the annual license for the four on the fourth road race that occurs July 4th, 2026. Uh the second is from Adam Ter of Keen Pride and they too are asking for their annual license to use downtown city property on September 20th, 2026 for the Keen Pride Festival. And we'll refer both of those letters to the planning licenses and development committee.

And our next communication is from Britney Williams. Uh, Miss Williams has uh submitted a letter relaying concerns about congestion of vehicles on Royal Avenue during uh the Keen High School student uh uh pickup time and we'll refer that letter to Municipal Services Facilities and Infrastructure Committee.

And our next communication has been submitted by councilors Filio Jones and Hos. This relates to a uh request that the council review recent amendments to the land development code that were codified with the adoption of ordinance o 202515A. We'll refer that uh letter to planning licenses and development committee as well. Our next communication is from councelor Williams and this is a request uh for consideration of an ordinance amendment that would allow leashed dogs in Woodland Cemetery

and that letter will be referred to the municipal services facilities and infrastructure committee. Uh we have one more communication uh that is important to take up with uh the next uh motion that will be introduced. Uh yes. Um so we have uh communication from Rick McMillan. He's letting us know that uh he would like to withdraw his request for a public art display for a temporary sculpture installation which was the subject of an MSFI committee uh agenda uh last cycle.

So with that, we'll move on to the committee reports. I'd like to recognize councelor Greenwald to make the motion. Thank you, your honor. With regret, I move to accept the withdrawal of the request for the public art display as submitted by Rick McMillan. Second. Uh second by councelor Tobin. Uh and I think self-evident where this is going. So uh all those in favor of uh accepting the withdrawal. Motion carries unanimously. Thank you. On to item D2.

Yes. Item D2 is a municipal services facilities and infrastructure committee report uh relating to an Eversource access across cityowned land in the town of Swansea. Not on a vote of 5-0. The municipal services facilities in infrastructure committee recommends the city manager be authorized to negotiate and execute a revocable license and admification agreement with public service company of New Hampshire DVA Eversource for the use of city-owned land located near the Dant Hopkins airport in Swansea for access to its transmission lines. That recognizes council. Thank you. Move to carry out the intent of the committee report. Second

seconded by councelor Tobin. Thank you. Uh what this is uh it's mostly a legal issue. We've already granted uh the the use of this uh uh what was it? An easement that we called it uh to cross from our road onto where their facility is. So the city attorney has recommended that we change the terminology uh to a license. Ever source is in agreement. City attorneys in agreement and so is the committee.

Thank you. Any uh comments? Uh seeing none, all those in favor? That motion carries unanimously. Okay. On to D3. And D3 is anformational report from the municipal services facilities and infrastructure committee and it is related to the fire department strategic plan

and councelor Greenwald. Uh no this is aformational item. Uh we will file it asformational. Thank you. And we have item D4 next which is another uhformational item from the municipal services facilities and infrastructure committee and it is related to a res presentation regarding red pine scale dins woods maple avenue harvest.

Uh this too was uh anformational item so it will be filed as such. And I want to recognize for the counselors that uh you have a fact sheet about Red Pine Scale uh at your desks and there's uh information at the parks uh and recreation website uh should the public wish to uh find out more uh that is where more information exists. I on the previous item, I just wanted to say too about the the fire department strategic plan. Uh uh it it is informative if folks want to go back and look at the uh fin the the uh uh MSFI agenda to to pick up the presentation. Uh I think the department went through a pretty thorough review of its activities, prioritized things that are important to them. Uh and thank you chief for sharing the that that report

also on the website and managers reminds me that that too is on the department's website. Fire department. Thank you councelor Tobin. Go ahead. I just thank you. I just want to mention real quick the date that's on here. I think it says 410. It should be 411. It's on page two of the red scale fact sheet. This is on D3 or four It's on. Oh, on the fact sheet. Okay. Oh, sorry. Thank you. Can I page one or two or under further education and information bottom of the page?

Yeah. Got it. Got it. So, it's related to the date. Yeah. the walk. It's on Say that again now because we've got a date. It's on April 11th, Friday. Yeah, this says 410. It's at 411 on Saturday. Yeah. 4:11 and 3:00 if people want to walk the the woods. Yes.

Uh the arborist that has been uh support to parks and recreation uh on this matter uh the public is is invited to join the walk. Yeah. Yes. Stealing my thunder. Thank you, counselor. Can I Yeah. Uh yes.

I'd just like to say thank you to Cara. This is extremely thorough. I I um have been through a situation like this and the public can be really upset by these types of things. So, I really appreciate this information that I can keep right on hand. You even got a 30 second uh response here. I I hope that Carrie, you might have the opportunity to go on the radio um with our local folks to be able to have a conversation and go over this information as well. I I really appreciate the time that was spent on this. Thank you. Okay. U councelor Greenwell,

a lot of discussion on anformational report. This is going to be a very very I say brutal cutting

and if the public reacts to this as they typically do. I didn't know. Well, please read this report and if the media is here listening, please report on this. This is not just being done willy-nilly. This is a serious uh disease that is affecting the trees that will spread. And this is not the only uh example where this will be. There are other red uh red pine uh scale issues in other forests around the city. That's going to be we're taking this very seriously and we it hurts. It really hurts. It's a beautiful look looking forest. As you drive down Maple Avenue, it's going to be gone. So take one more walk if you like. But it has to be done. And it has to be done now so that there's some marketable value and so the disease won't spread.

Good points. Thank you all. Okay. Item D5 and this is aformational report from municipal services facilities and infrastructure committee and it relates to a presentation on the transfer station assessment report and we'll file this report as recommended as informational. And we have anotherformational report from the municipal services facilities and infrastructure committee. This one is a pres related to a presentation on management of the emerald ashbor infested trees. And this too will be filed asformational

and anotherformational report from the municipal services facilities and infrastructure committee. and this relates to a presentation outlining the role of contractors and consultants. The report will be filed asformational as recommended and I believe Thank you, counselor.

I I'm I'm looking at councelor Favalis who brought this to our attention and uh I I thank the public works department for uh answering the questions as uh the committee presented them. Thank you. And I think this is our final uhformational report coming out of the municipal services facility and infrastructure committee and this relates to the downtown infrastructure project update. I' uh and this too will be filed asformational. Thank you. Okay. Moving on to D9 reports from the finance operations and personnel committee.

Yes. Our first report from the Finance Organization and Personnel Committee relates to an FY25 Department of Justice Burn Justice Assistance Grant Award. And on a vote of 5 to zero, the finance organization and personnel committee recommends that the city manager be authorized to do all things necessary to co-apply with the county of Cheshure, New Hampshire, and to accept and expend the US Department of Justice FY25 burn JAG in the amount allocated to the city of $5,51. Recognize councelor Powers for the motion. Thank you, honor. Move to carry out the intent of the committee report. Second. second by councelor Lake.

So annually together with the with Chester County that administers this particular grant, but the the two users of the King Police Department and the Chesure County Sheriff's Office. Um $5,5001. That's our half um of this award. It's been going on for about 15 years. It's really it's a small amount but it's a pretty important part of the mechanism we use because uh it handles a lot of IT things in the car uh at the crime scene with just a a small phone you can do a lot of things um that you could never do before but you need some funds to be able to get the air cards get the connection. So, this is what vital to what we do every day and it's pretty nice that we can do this together with the sheriff and not do all the paperwork and both of us yield some great results. Recommend that you pass this also. Thank you.

Any comments or questions? Seeing none, uh, all those in favor? Motion carries unanimously. Move on to D11. Our first item, our item right before D11 is a finance organization and personnel committee report uh recommending accepting asformational the written public comments proposed uh related to the proposed capital improvement program. Right? Which that report will be filed asformational. Now we will move on to D11

and this is a finance organization and personnel committee report relative to the proposed capital improvement program for FY 2027 through 2033 and on a vote of 5 to zero the finance organization and personnel committee recommends the adoption of the capital improvement program for fiscal year 2027 through 2023. Recognize councelor Powers for the motion. Thank you, your honor. Move to carry out the intent of the committee report. Second. Seconded by councelor Chadborn and councelor Powers for the committee.

Thank you, your honor. We don't have much of an audience, but I'm sure there are folks watching us. CIP, this is the six-year plan, and this in this year is the year that we go through page by page or project by project with the FOP and those who want to watch. So tonight, we're going to act on this CIP. It's a six-year plan that outlines projects and programs the city needs to address. It creates a plan. It's an annual exercise to address this. And the exercise really is done to bring us to the fiscal impact for the budget, which is our next project that we'll all be sitting on in the next few months. Uh this this year it included that full all six-year review. A public hearing. Written comments were sent to the council through the city clerk's office. We all received phone calls, comments, grocery store comments. And at the third meeting of the FOP where along with the rest of the U agenda items, we again as a FOP reviewed the CIP and it was considerable amount of discussion. Um and the funding for the downtown project was one of the discussions that we had. was a review to explain once again so everybody understood where the economics of that project come together in the CIP. We talked quite a bit about road repairs and we also talked about the downtown bathrooms. Now the downtown bathrooms just to make it clear so everybody that's watching really understands that's not proposed to be handled financially in the plan starting July 1st. That's the next year. So with that,

we had had as I said discussion about the roads roads being in the condition they are because it's been a tough winter to be understood. The finance committee ultimately approved unanimously to approve the CIP as presented. Made no changes. So what you what you see passed unanimously once again it's a plan doesn't necessarily mean that we're going to be able to do every single thing but those planned in the near years are the ones that are most important to us. The rest of it will be handled at the uh the budget process. Want to say thanks to everybody who had some part to play in this plan. There's a lot of work, lots of work by others than the five of us up at the council, but we all get an opportunity to discuss it and see it come forward. So with that, in an effort to address the concerns about the impact of this winter, I move to amend the CIP to amend the FY2733 CIP by shifting $500,000 from FY28 road preservation and rehabilitate rehabilitation program to FY27. For those that are watching, those that may have a book, that's on page 102. So, just to simplistically say, we're sliding it on that page over. It does not change the economic impact of the CIP that the FOP passed last week.

Second. Oh, I was gonna Thank you. Thank you. I have no more to say. Yeah. So, we have a motion and a an amendment on the floor. Uh, like to recognize Councelor Lake.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Um, hope everyone got to tune in to the CIP discussion. Uh, we had we had a lot of lot of good constructive uh discussion around uh this particular topic. So, I'll try and keep this fairly fairly brief, but uh as councelor Powers mentioned, you know, we had a pretty pretty rough uh rough winter and with the downtown project going on the next couple of years, we're likely at the as the CIP's written going to be putting all of our funding in road rehabilitation towards the downtown project. That means we're going to be taking a couple seasons off from actually doing these full repaves as actual rehab to these roads that need it. So what uh this motion is doing is helping to address that by getting some of that road rehab in next year so that we're not going those two full seasons uh without doing so. Um so I I think was mentioned too this isn't going to be a big financial impact. If the city manager would entertain us for just a moment just to uh maybe just talk about how we usually actually pay for the road rehab because I believe it's by bonding rather than by um the taxes that year. Um, so I because I think that's an important piece. Us just moving $500,000 into one year from another sounds like it could be a big impact, but um

yeah, thank you.

You are absolutely correct. Um so each year we typically bond about 1.4 1.6 million for road work um throughout the city. And because of the increased cost in the downtown project, those funds have been allocated to the downtown project to mit mitigate some of that impact. Um, switching 500,000 or shifting 500,000 from fiscal 28 to 27 has no impact on the overall cost of the CIP, but it does put additional costs on the operating budget coming up for fiscal 27. But like you said, it's not a $500,000 impact. It's the impact of a bond payment for $500,000. And what we talked about at FOP is that we won't really know until we get into the operating budget whether or not that's something you're going to want to do still at that time because of fiscal constraints. So, this really creates more of a placeholder to let the public works department know that we may in fact be undertaking road work um in fiscal 27. Um, and that's helpful, but you will again make this decision once you're ready to adopt the the operating budget in June.

But again, it it's not a $500,000 operating budget. It's just the incremental bond payment uh that otherwise would be what it is. And I'll just add one additional thing. Typically, the bond payment starts in the following year. So once we bond a project, the first payment is usually in the next fiscal year typically. Uh councelor Ruddle Miller,

thank you. Um I guess I'll stand. Uh I just wanted to say to uh being new to this process and being new to budget cycles with the city and everything, I've always been on the outside looking in and now I'm on the inside looking out and seeing how all of this works and the things that kind of get latched on to. Um, so one would think that this was a 200page book about a bathroom. Um, and I just wanted to encourage the public to um, ask additional questions. Like there are a lot of a lot of a lot of budget items in here that aren't just that. And I understand this is how things get out. There's one exciting thing. The news latches on and people latch on and there's a lot of conversation. Um, I'm not saying that it is bad that that conversation has taken place. I'm glad that it is because that means people are paying attention. But there are so much more to pay attention to and there are a lot of other interesting and really beneficial things for our city. Um, so I just wanted to get that out there and I understand that the news can't cover every single thing and that's kind of how people get this information. But all of this information is also available for free without a payw wall on the city government website. So if anyone has any questions, please reach out to any of us and ask them.

Thank you, Councelor Chalice. uh onto things as you mentioned that people latch on to. I'm wondering if our new um finance person could have on our website an explanation of what a municipal bond is. I'm sorry. I have We're tossing out of Oh, I'm appropriate. Oh. Oh, I'm sorry. Okay. I recognize recognize the manager. Um if you could just ask questions directly to me and not to the staff in the in the room. Oh, okay. Excuse me. Sounds like it's a easy request. Yeah. Yes, absolutely.

Uh okay. Any we we are on the amendment as proposed. Uh are there any more comments on the amendment to shift some dollars from fiscal 28 to fiscal 27 relative to road improvements? Okay. Seeing none, uh we show hands. All those in favor. Okay, that motion carries unanimously. Thank you. Uh, and we are on to the main Oh, Councelor Jones. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Uh, just a question on, uh, can you turn on your microphone, please?

Sorry, that was the delay I was doing. Uh,

on page 97, the Brian Treatment Program. Um, it's a wonderful program. I've been thinking we should should have done this years ago. I I'm glad we're using uh magnesium chloride uh instead of calcium chloride or uh all the other typical things that are out there. Um, but does this need to be in the CIP? We're not paying for the equipment. We're getting the equipment. We're just paying for the brine. Wouldn't that just be a line item right right where salt is on on the operating budget and not in the CIP? So we do have items in the CIP that are programs. So ongoing programs like replacement of radios for police and fire. And I'm not sure what page was the if you could

It's 97. 97. 97. So just want to double check if it's a program or a project. Um I'm just asking. Isn't it just like buying salt? Wouldn't we put it in the operating budget? I don't think. No. So, I think there's more to that. There's um when the public works did a presentation on this initiative, there's some additional work that we would have to do to our vehicles in order to make this happen. Then I understand. Thank you.

Okay. Uh any further questions? It's an important document. Uh I I just is before we uh do the show of hands on this I want to thank uh the departments for bringing these forward. I know that this process uh first off I respect the way that our departments are looking towards the future and wanting to plan the kinds of improvements that are necessary to to stay ahead of uh where they are today and anticipating where they need to be six years from now. And I know that with the creativity that they have and that forward look uh which I think is contagious among all of you uh is uh that that the city manager and preparing this final document works with each of the departments to try to focus this and narrow it down. It seems voluminous and costly, but it could have been a whole lot more costly had you really addressed all the issues that you could anticipate in the near-term future. Um, so I I really respect that part of the process before it ever gets to us. I appreciate the kind of leadership councelor Powers and the finance, operations, and personnel committee provided uh with the the workshops, the the hearings, we all city councilors, we all had an opportunity to raise questions. Uh the public had an opportunity to be present both for the workshop and for the the presentations. Uh it's very thorough. Uh as the manager has said before, this is a plan. Uh all things in the future still need to come back before us. Uh and we'll have opportunities to to talk about some things that uh maybe need further conversation. But I I really appreciate

the amendment that was offered tonight uh because I think it uh it reassures the public that uh the public works department can exercise good judgment. uh to get some things done that need to get done around the city beyond just the downtown project. So, thank you all. Uh there no further comments. Show of hands. All those in favor? Motion carries unanimously. Thank you. So, we move on now to the manager's report.

Thank you. So, I also want to um just recognize our finance director, Carrie Chamberlain, in the audience this evening. It is definitely a team effort to put this document together, but Carrie has been single-handedly um handling a lot of it in the finance department and um she's done a fabulous job. So, I really want to thank her for that. Even when she's not feeling well, she's still working on it. Um so and I do uh I do think it's a really important effort that we go through every other year. We go through the entire document and then on that off year we just look at that one year for the operating budget and we update it and things will change. You know grants may become available something may happen in the city hopefully not that requires more urgent attention. And so it is a financial plan for us as we move forward. But it does help us to plan for our grant applications and how we time our projects so that we can have projects across the organization coordinated together across multiple funds. And so thank you all for your continued support and I look forward to the budget process. Now with that I wanted to talk just a little bit about the winter shelter. Um, I want to recognize the partners who helped make this winter's overnight warming shelter possible. Through the collaboration with Hundred Nights, Southwestern Community Services, and the United Church of Christ, our community was able to provide a safe, warm place for individuals during the coldest months of the year. The shelter operated overnight throughout the winter and recently closed at the end of March. This effort require required a great deal of coordination and commitment and I want to thank the staff and volunteers from those organizations as well as our human services department who helped make it

possible. The city supported this effort with $50,000 from the human services budget to assist 100 nights with staffing the overnight shelter. That investment ensured that individuals in our community that are both visitors and residents had a safe option for severe winter months. Later this month, I will be convening a meeting with all of the partners involved so we can begin discussing plans for next winter. I don't want to be in the position of um coming up with a plan in January. So our goal is to continue improving coordination and develop a predictable approach for our community's cold weather emergency response moving forward and the mayor has been very helpful in in that effort as well. So the budget process I have just finished meeting with all of the departments and reviewing their submissions. So right now while while our finance director was working on the CIP, she was also entering budget information and we were handling both things at once. So my budget proposal is due to the city council by May 1st. Your city council meeting after that is May 7th. So we will place the budget books in your mailboxes on Friday, May 1st. The budget review process will begin at FOP on May 12th. And note again, just like during the capital process review process, several of those meetings are earlier. They start at 5:30. Um I did put a copy of the schedule on your desk. It says tentative, but that is the um final schedule that was approved. The public hearing will take place on June 4th at 7 p.m. during a full city council meeting. And the council is scheduled to vote on the budget on June 18th and the fiscal year begins July 1st. There's not a lot of time in between. You have already talked

a lot about Dinsmore Woods tonight. I was going to also remind everybody about the walk. So, and on April 11th, so we've done that. So, that's great. Hopefully, we get lots of people. Also, I saw today public works put out a notice about an overnight parking ban from 11:00 p.m. tonight to 7:00 a.m. And this is for maintenance. So, blowing of leaves, cleaning of the streets, and that sort of thing. And um I also just wanted to mention the mayor mentioned that the um the red pine scale information is on our website um and we do have other information on there as well. Please keep an eye on the fire department, their strategic plan, and um and and our parks and recck director is always putting additional information up there. We've asked to move the red pine scale to the front homepage so that people can find it easily. Um and we'll continue to update that as we move forward. That's it.

Great. Yeah, great to see the department's adding these recent reports to the for public access. Great. And do note uh you've got a handout on budget schedule at your desks and we can move on to uh our more time report. We have one more time report this evening uh from the municipal service facilities and infrastructure committee and it's uh related to Terry Bishop's letter with concerns with parking on Malboro Street and enforcement measures

and more time is granted for that matter uh and we have an ordinance for first reading. We do. This ordinance is coming from our human resources director and it relates to personnel. uh she is requesting that this ordinance 0202606 an ordinance relating to personnel be referred to the finance organization and personnel committee and we will do that. We'll refer that to the FOP committee. Okay, we are on to our ordinance for second reading and would the clerk please read that?

Sure. Our final item for this evening is a municipal services, facilities and infrastructure committee report along with ordinance 0202603. Um the report is recommending on a vote of 5 to zero uh that the uh ordin adoption of ordinance 0202603 and we have in front of us ordinance O202603 an ordinance relating to updates to section 94-321 stop signs of the city code. Recognize councelor Greenwald for the motion. Thank you your honor. Move for the adoption of ordinance 02026-03. Second. Second by councelor Tobin. Councelor Greenwald.

Thank you, your honor. What this ordinance uh will accomplish is that it will make the language more consistent. Uh not really a big thing, no change, just saying the same thing for each one of the stop signs. Uh, it also brought about the review of several requests for stop signs. Stop signs must meet criteria. It's called a warrant. And if they don't meet all the criteria, there's no stop sign. For example, there was a request for a stop sign at Lincoln and Roxbury Street. It had the volume, but it did not have the other criteria. So, that is not part of this discussion. There was a request for a stop sign at Winter and School Street that met the criteria and that is part of the ordinance. So therefore, the committee recommends the adoption of the ordinance as submitted.

Thank you, councelor. There questions? Yes, councelor Lake. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Uh, just a quick question for the city manager actually. Um, I think in in committee it was said that the Winter Street School Street was for northbound traffic, but I see in the uh in the notes here it says for westbound traffic. I just want to make sure it's a stop sign for the traffic that's coming from Winter that wants to merge onto School Street. Is that correct? That is correct. That was in the uh committee descript the minutes. Yeah. Not not Yes. So, no no changes. Uh, good clarification. Thank you.

Okay. Councelor Williams. Uh, just with respect to this sign at um Roxberry and and Lincoln, uh, I probably have some different opinions as to far as the uh, visibility of that stop sign, but I I understand it was not accepted. Um, I do appreciate that the city has put up signs on the existing two-way stop signs that says traffic on Roxberry Street does not stop because um, boy, cars coming down Roxberry Street, they haul. So, uh, hopefully that'll make uh, the difference that we're looking for. Good point, Council.

Uh, anything else, folks? Councelor Tobin, thank you. One thing I'll just mention too that came up during this discussion was um the roadway safety plan and how this is sort of chipping away at those things. Um so our public works director mentioned that he's going to work on making those updates available to the public. So and to for us to see that listed. Very good. Okay. Seeing no more comments, uh, would the clerk please call the role on ordinance 2026-03? Councelor Filio, yes. Councelor Chalice, yes. Councelor Lake, yes. Councelor Favalis, yes. Councelor Tobin,

yes. Councelor Williams, yes. Councelor Jones, Councelor Roberts, yes. Councelor Chadborn, yes. Councelor Hos, yes. Councelor Rule Miller, yes. Councelor Ellis, yes. Councelor Powers, yes. Councelor Greenwall, yes. Motion carries unanimously. Seeing no more business in front of us for this evening, meeting is adjourned. Thank you.