City Council - Regular Meeting

I'll see you How are you? Nice. Sorry. I love the name of the world. Thank you.

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You're welcome. Go there. Mommy. LOL City Council meeting May 12th, 2026 come to order. City prayer. Dear God, today as this session opens, we pray that your presence will be before us and everyone who serves in the decision-making process of our city. We pray for direction which will lead our city to be strong and unified. May we continue the legacy of our founders. May we be granted this day the wisdom to

make decisions which will be for the good of our city. We also pray for your special blessing on all those who are working to transform our city and make it a better place to live and work. Amen. Prayer. Pledge allegiance. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Roll call. Mr. Clerk. Councilor Noon here. Council Robinson here. Council Rock here. Council Scott here. Council Chow here. Council Dakota here. Mayor Gia here. Council Jiren here. Council Leang

here. Council Mcdana here. Council Mercier here. 11 present.

Thank you, Mr. Cler. Any moment of silences? Seeing none, we'll move on to mayor's business. Two 2.1 communication remote zoom participation motion motion to accept and place on file by councelor Charles, seconded by councelor doto. All in favor signify say I. Any opposed? So ordered 2.2 proclamation brain tumor awareness month. the city of lol in the comwalth of Massachusetts by his honor Eric Argia mayor a proclamation proclamation brain tumor awareness month whereas brain tumor awareness month serves as an opportunity to raise public awareness about the signs symptoms and impact of brain tumors while supporting those currently battling this disease in honoring the memory of those we have lost now therefore I mayor Eric R gets chair of the city of l do hereby proclaim the month of May 2026 6 as brain tumor awareness month in the city of lol and encourage all residents to join in raising awareness supporting patients and families and pro promoting efforts towards research advocacy and hope motion to accept and place on file by councelor Scott seconded by councel rook all in favor

signify by saying I any opposed so ordered three city clerk 3.1 minutes of the nonprofit organization subcommittee May 5th city council regular meeting May 5th for acceptance motion to accept and place on file by councelor Robinson seconded by councel noon all in favor signify by saying I any opposed so ordered 3.2 to vote amend council meeting 616 2026 and 6:30 2026 wave full reading and second reading by title vote to amend the council meeting in June to be held on the 3rd and fifth Tuesday of the month. Motion to adopt by councel Mercier, seconded by council Mcdana. Roll call, Mr. Clerk.

Mr. Mayor, sorry. Yeah, councel R. Maybe I missed Mr. Mayor. thought when we when you and I spoke uh it was going to be the first and third of the month. Um that that could have been my mistake. Um but um I won't be here for for one of the two meetings. So just want to make that I had thought originally that we doing the third uh the first and third. So thank you. Anyone else? Council work. I apologize if that was I thought I said to everyone it was going to be the third and fifth because the first we're leaving open just in case there were any budget hearing stuff that would transfer over. Roll call. Mr. Clerk. Councelor New.

Yes. Council Robinson. Yes. Councelor Ror. Yes. Councelor Scott. Yes. Councilor Chow. Yes. Councelor Dakota. Yes. Mayor Gia. Yes. Council Jiren, yes. Council Leang, yes. Council Mcdana, yes. Council Mercia, yes. Leven, thank you, Mr. Clerk. Four, city council motions 4.1. Councelor Noon, request the city manager provide the city council with an update on the rise bridge projects. Raisebridge projects, seconded by council Robinson. Councelor,

thank you, Mr. Mayor. So um I learned a little bit about the uh the raised bridge uh project uh tonight uh that uh we now at the uh design stage and that after that is going to go to mass dot uh for approval. Uh so please give us more information that including the timeline for it. Thanks so much. All in favor signify by saying I. Any opposed? So ordered. 4.2 2. Council non request the city manager work with the owner project manager to provide the city council with an update on the firehouse project. Seconded by councelor Mcdana. Councelor no.

Uh thank you uh Mr. Mayor. Again I know that some of the fire house has been really deplorable condition has been for some time and I know that recently that managers and his team has selected or having owner project manager. um those firehouse that need to be done um you know we should really proceed as fast as we can. I'd like to see also give us a timeline of the project uh you know and also which time uh uh firehouse going to be starting first and or are they all going to start at the same time? Thank you.

Thank you councelor Noon. All in favor signify by saying I. Any opposed? So ordered. 4.3 Council Leang request the city council adopt the following motions approved by the nonprofit organization subcommittee motion by council mercy is seconded by council McDana to request the city manager provide a report to the council outlining concrete efforts by the city to assist nonprofits with grant applications to ensure compliance with the new federal standards and regulations. Two, motion by council Mcdana, seconded by council mercia to have the city manager provide a report outlining recent grant application review by the city regarding the process including all communications involved with the city and nonprofits. Seconded by councelor Mcdana, Council Leang,

there is a registered speaker, Mr. Mayor. Rebecca Lavino.

Hi Can you hear me? Okay. Hi, Rebecca Levino, 52 Lawrence Drive, Lel. Um, I just came real quick. I don't have a lot to say. We had a wonderful meeting. Thank you, councilors Mercier, Leang, and Councelor Mcdana u for convening the nonprofit subcommittee. I just want to let the council know at large real quick that this was um after a couple of months of work and collaboration among many of the nonprofits across LOL just in terms it started off as uh wondering about the CDBG funding and specifically some of the new restrictive federal language um that all granties including the city of LOL and many nonprofits would have to u comply with in order to be eligible for uh federal funding. And we're just hoping to continue starting with these motions, but to continue the conversation with the nonprofit subcommittee and the council at large about um how we can work together understanding the city doesn't have extra cash lying around to hand over to us. um but how we can kind of work the systems and mechanisms in place to ensure that we're able to we the nonprofit civil um are able to serve the people and and serve our mission um while not putting anyone at risk for punishment or any vindictive actions from the federal government. Uh so that's just sort of a little background on the conversation. uh and no the nonprofit alliance of LOL will be kind of continuing to convene these nonprofits and come back to you all with more more information. Um but I'm also happy to answer any questions. Thank you.

Thank you, Council Yang.

Thank you. Uh thank you, Mr. Mayor. And um thank you, Rebecca. Um so we really had a really nice meeting uh uh the other day, but the the the idea behind the motion is to how can we sustain some of the work especially with all the instruction from the federal government um you know about DEI and everything else. how can we work with the nonprofit organization and uh somehow uh get some funding for them in a way collaborating with the city and uh sustain the program. Um I'm not sure how that work, but uh there should be a way that the nonprofit organization work with the city and continue to improve this partnership um throughout the city because they're they're doing a lot of good work in the community and uh during time like these um there should be additional uh resources for them. I know it's very restrictive with CDBG, but maybe some other resources that could be available for them. Um these motion it's one by councel Mercy and the other one is by um councelor Mcdana. So I'll I'll through you Mr. Manager uh and u uh Mr. Mayor to see if they can go ahead.

Um councel and councel Mercia. Thank you Mr. Mayor. Since we're talking on this subject, maybe it would be wise if uh chairman made the report as a report of progress right now. Could put it all together in one uh lump sum here. You want to do that? Uh I I can um I was going to summarize the report, but I can just go if you want. Motion to suspend the rules by councelor Mercier to take 10.1 right out of order. That's right. Seconded by councelor Mcdana. All those in favor signify by saying I. Any opposed? So ordered.

Councel Yang, if you would like to do 10.1 the uh nonprofit organization subcommittee May 5th, 2026 report.

Thank you. Um so we began the meeting by um having the nonprofit alliance and Low House authority know the importance of funding in serving the community. Um she requests to have monthly meetings um and a concrete plan regarding assistant by the city. Um Deb Kerie from the Marmac Valley Food Bank outline outlined the many programs they provided in support of city. She noted the recent denial of application for funding due to language contained in the website. Uh Michael from the riverbend noted that the urgent needs for CDBG funding and recent denial without full review by the federal government. He indicated that the language in the mission statement is compliance in Massachusetts association of the blind commented on meeting to review the application focused on the new regulation. She noted that the action of the application focused on the new regulation. She noted that the action of the council block funding was concerned with future funding while Satia from CMAA noted that the changing guideline are affecting the federal and stating funding. Council Mercier noted surprises as she was under impression that city would assist with review of the new regulation regarding the federal funding and that should be happening. Cond councelor McDonald noted that the changes are frustrating and question the action of the city. Um Mrs. Callerie noted that the city did provide that guidance and her issues was failing to remove the language from two years ago.

Uh in the mission statement um Mr. Espatia noted that the organization concerned and described output to them as city needs to ensure that all are in compliance with federal regulation. Uh Mr. Espatia also noted plan to meet with middle in the middle regarding use of languages of organization to meet federal standard. Mr. Jafar noted changes to the action plan to adjust to the new regulation and the federal government is monitoring this. Mr. Espatia also noted the need to work with the organization toward compliance. While I know that short funding this year will hurt a lot of people. Councelor McDonald note the organization said they were blindsided that indicates a total failure by city wasting times and money. Motion by councelor Mercier, second by councelor Mcdana to request city manager provide report to the council outline concrete effort by the city to assist nonprofit with grants application to ensures compliant with the new federal standard and regulation adopted roll call. Um so this another motion that will also mentioned by um Mr. Mayor, also in closing, uh Rebecca also mentioned that uh stressed the important of funding to provide public support uh and the need to work together between the city and the uh nonprofit organization. Thank you.

Thank you, Council Lang. On the report, Council Mia.

Yes. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Now, we did have the nonprofit subcommittee and uh we had the the place packed with nonprofits, maybe eight different nonprofit groups came before us and they said something that shocked me that of although the guidelines were changed and new rules were put in place, made it a lot harder to follow uh the guidelines to and we simply asked if the city could help the nonprofits. So, be that as it may, we sat here and I apologize because the my two colleagues were not on the previous subcommittee as I was. So, I had a little bit of more knowledge than they did. I knew this was coming and maybe it was a surprise to the new people on the council. They didn't know that. So, of course, I apologized and then we learned that there were some uh different things happening that some had applied late and some had things on their website that shouldn't have been on there and we didn't know that. But all in all, we made the motion, as you can see, a very important motion because maybe I can go home and eat a good meal, but there's a lot of people in the city that can't. And we can't as a city fund money to to help people that are having a hard time or whatever. But nonprofits pick up that slack and they do a yman's job to try to feed the people that need the help the most. And I commend them for that. But when I listened to the radio the next day and heard a person

say, "Oh, we want to Oh, Rita Mercier, she's crying for the nonprofits. Give all the money to them." That was very cruel. Nowhere in this motion is that saying that. What my motion is saying is simply have the city that knows more than I do assist the nonprofits to go over their uh application to make sure that they dotted their eyes and crossed their tees and didn't leave anything out. Take that off your website. Do this or that. That's all we're asking for. They needed help with people that are professional so that they don't get denied. And then the person that suffers is the person that needs the help the most. And I say, "No wonder people don't want to run for office. You do what you think is right and you get your head kicked in, but I can take it. But I don't like people that are having a hard time h making ends meet to be out in the cold. I don't like it." So, um, all in all, I hope my colleagues support this because it says, could we get on the same page next time? That's all I'm asking. They're not asking for much, but they they do need some help to oversee it so that they can not be disqualified because what's riding on them is a is a hungry family. And I'm upset when people are hungry. That's the end of that. Thank you. Thank you, council me. Does anybody else have anything to add to the report that was just reported? We're going going to go back to the motion in a minute.

Council Rook.

Uh, thank you, Mr. Mayor. I did watch the uh the subcommittee um and I no problem with the with the motions. Um, you know, I I was surprised but by the incredible amount of misinformation um that was spoken at that meeting. Um, so I would like to go to uh our assistant DPD uh director and uh and ask him directly. uh what did the city do uh from the start because at the time when this uh did come out um you know I was the mayor and um you know I had asked that the the city manager and his team uh reach out and meet with these um nonprofits that uh we're going to apply uh for these grants. Um I followed up with u Mr. Mr. Espartier afterwards just to double check. Um, so I'd like to go to him and ask him just to uh do a brief brief. I know there's a motion that here, but um, you know, just the the subcommittee report we got tonight um, you know, had some very um, wrong things uh, that were in it uh, spoken. So I'd like to go to Mr. Espatia for uh, for his recollection. Mr. Mayor,

assistant city manager.

Thank you, councelor, through you, Mr. Mayor, Mr. Manager. Um so yes, first and foremost we want to recognize that we also understand the importance of the organizations that we work with. We have worked with them for decades and this is the very first time that we found ourselves in a very unfortunate situation in dealing with uh restrictions that were out of our hands. Um I wanted to clarify though that we did uh work diligently for a period of I don't know 10 months with the organizations walking them through what this process meant what were the new regulations and within that period of time we also found ourselves in the government shutdown which prevented us from accessing more guidance from hot and to this day um um the the application guidelines are somewhat clear and I I've shared that documentation with some of the um uh body what's not clear is uh is the auditing process and uh um reporting process and it comes and often it includes communications with organizations including emails in which according to the new regulations and that's that's the concern that it might be up to interpretation if they find things in an email things like pronouns or something that addresses DEI those organizations might be deemed ineligible for the funding and so part of the concern was if we proceed with these applications that may look good in our review, they might hurt the organizations in the long run. So, I just want to clarify that. The second one is we did provide a period of pre-review uh so allow them to submit the applications to DPD uh for uh before the deadline to review and make any updates and and recommendations as need be. And unfortunately, we didn't receive many applications in that pre pre-review period. Um I think also somebody mentioned that we had sent an email approving uh the application. That's not how the process worked this year and that's not how it works. The regulations call for the ultimately body that sends

the recommendations to the voting uh body is the city manager's office uh town managers, town administrators or mayors in some of the cities. What we do is send the recommendations to the manager's office and then we discuss it with them. In discussing those uh organizations where the applications looked good in paper as a as an application on its own, we discussed the concerns that we had that we recommended to the manager that those were things in the back of our head that could hurt us in the long run. Things in the reporting process, in the auditing process, in the review process, and the reporting back to the federal government um and I think that uh unfortunately this came at a at a at a rough time, you know, in two fronts. one, the conversations that we're having right now in terms of finances for the city. Um, and two, the timing that it took precisely because it was so compressed the amount of meetings that we had to have, the amount of pre-review processes that we went through, the amount of reviews with the city manager's office that by the time we needed to put it on the vote because we need to abide by strict guidelines and deadlines from the federal government that maybe those communications went too fast and it seemed like we were not communicative with them. But we we did work with the organizations as hard as we could. I want to commend the team because this was all the community development team that worked extremely hard with making sure that the organizations got the guidance that we pro could provide it. Again, I want to clarify that it uh we need a lot of guidance from the federal government and we haven't received that and part of that came with the several months that the government was shut down and also with the reduction of personnel from the office that is supposed to help us. So that might have been part of the challenge but it was never ill intended that we would not be funding organizations. We don't want to be part of a group that would remove food from the tables of children's of law. We love these organizations. We agree with what they're doing. We cherish what they do and we have worked with them in the past. Um, and we want to keep working

with them. As far as the future, we do plan to spend the summer with some techn technical assistance to find ways in which we can go around some of the things that we have concerns about. Maybe we can work together with different organizations. Maybe one organization is the lead applicant while others are embedded in that application process. So, we don't know fully yet how that's going to work out. It will be part of the technical assistance. We do want to keep working with organizations. We want to make sure that next year hopefully we are more clear about what the instructions are from the federal government and we can uh fund them again in the upcoming years. Council work.

Uh thank you Mr. May. You know maybe a suggestion would be Mr. Manager you know can we reach out to our Congress uh woman and and our senators um you know as um comm stated that you know he has not we the DPD has not received any response to the concerns that the city had. Um, obviously I think that would be beneficial in the future for the next application process. Um, but I'm just I'm glad that um, you know, he had a chance to explain um, you know, what the city uh, has done, what currently is doing and what hopes to do in the future. You know, that may have been beneficial to ask that question of him at the subcommittee meeting. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. McDonald.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Um, m Mr. Mr. Mayor, I I think if we're going to talk about um misinformation or or being surprised, I I appreciate councelor Mercier apologizing on everybody's behalf at the subcommittee meeting, but I but I also think it's important uh right now and it was talked about at the subcommittee meeting and and perhaps that informs some of the comments that were made by members of the subcommittee. um you had a number of nonprofits and unfortunately now we're in a position where somebody is misrepresenting and I'm not going to point a finger and say who right now but somebody's misrepresenting because we had nonprofit leaders stand up um we had several stand up and say that they received provisional they received preliminary approval only for it to be taken away a week or two later. We had other nonprofits say, you know, they went to the mandatory workshops, they went, they applied early, they did all of the things that they thought they were supposed to do. I was not on the council yet, but I was at that subcommittee meeting in December when uh Mr. Mayor, at that point, I think you were the chairperson of that subcommittee and a discussion was had exactly uh to the point that councelor Mercier just made, Mr. mayor um around the city working with nonprofits in order to help them through a confusing and troubling process. And there was an expectation that some nonprofits might not be able to meet those standards that some might choose not to to remain true to a mission statement or or whatever. And that was my impression leaving that meeting is that everybody was on the same page there. When I look at the vote that we took, and this is what I apologized for at the subcommittee meeting because I we voted on it. We voted on it. What I apologized for is that when you look at the CDBG allocation for this year, it's one thing I'm glad you know, Mr. Espatia and the DPD, the mandatory work, the the

workshops in the editing was great and I'm glad that you guys did it. However, when we got to the end of the process, not one not one nonprofit in the city of LOL could could receive that money. Not one. Not one. And so we can we can pat ourselves on the back that we did it. And I'm glad that your department tried. Something went something went wrong. Yeah.

Something went wrong. If not one, not a single nonprofit was able to get there. And I am still confused how, and I'm going to I'm going to say it again, how we got to a point where we had leaders of of local nonprofits standing at that podium and telling us they received I and if they if they're lying and they don't have the email, so be it, right? But they're standing there and they're telling us they received preliminary approval from the city and then we as a council took a vote that didn't have that on there. Oh, you're approved pending council vote and then our council vote doesn't have their award and we're told nobody qualified. I that that's where I'm confused and that's I'm not I'm not trying to say Mr. Espatia, you know, you were anyone was malicious. I'm not. But I think we can we can say that the city tried, the DPD tried and we can also acknowledge that that something did go wrong if we hit a point where not one nonprofit received a a CDBG award other than for the for the ESG. I want to so I get that the ESG money is there. I'm talking about the rest of CDBG. So that that's all I have, Mr. Mayor, and it it's not a question. Thank you,

Council Scott. Thank you, Council Mc.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Um, I guess my my question in response to that is how many applications did we get uh for the CDBG funding? And I guess how many of them qualified or or were there reasons they didn't qualify? Um, I guess my understanding was that there were very few applications, which I actually commend the nonprofits for. Um, they basically decided they didn't want to go against their mission, you know, and and follow the rules that are that are being, you know, required by the federal government. Um unfortunately that would put the cities, you know, the owners on us to fund them anyways and take the financial risk um the taxpayers would have to back that risk up. And it was my understanding we chose not to do that. Um we really can't. I mean, if you look at our financial situation right now, we can't do that. Um so I I kind of feel like this this, you know, little miscommunication here. Um where, you know, again, they I commend them. They didn't want to change their mission. I think they're going to find this when they also, you know, apply for other federal grants going forward that they're going to run into issues. Um, so, so I feel like we're kind of just keep talking about this, but we've made the decision not to take the risk.

There's a question, how many people applied from Council Scott? That's who she's asking. So, if we could pass it on to DPD, could you answer that question, please? Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Through you, uh, counselor. Uh we had on the social services we had three applications. Um one of them was the dwelling holes of hope uh for 100,000 law association for the blind for 50 and S. Paul's food bank for 50 again um with with the caveat that you know at the end the reporting process would not have guaranteed that we could actually get reimbured for those funds. But those there were three obligations on the social services part. Council Scott.

Sorry. And my my question around the funding for those three, why that were they not eligible? That's no no that's the the three applications that look good on paper that went through the next phase which is the city manager's vetting and uh um editing of the list and that's probably the three organizations that we told the application looks good on paper as a preliminary step not as an approved application. Did did that answer the question? Okay, thank you. Thank you. Thank you, Council Scott. Council Mcdana.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. I just wanted to say to Councelor Scott that I actually fully agree with you and it's why I was so caught off guard at that nonprofit subcommittee meeting. My understanding was that we didn't get a applications that nonprofits said they didn't want the money. And so then when we were presented with both the nonprofit alliance at Greater LOL and then also representatives from all three of those groups in addition to a whole slew of other nonprofits in the chamber who said, you know, actually no, we did go through an application process and and try to get this money. I was it was confusing. That's that's I guess where the the the miscommunication or the question comes is I I agree with you. Prior to this nonprofit subcommittee meeting, I was telling people, I'm really proud of all the nonprofits in the city. They said, "We're true to our mission statement. We're not going to apply for the money." So then to have one of them, the LOL Association for the Blind, to have the LOL Association for the Blind standing at the podium and say, you know, we applied for this money. We scrubbed. We went to the workshop. We did all the things we were going to do. We got a preliminary approval and then nothing. I'm sorry you don't get the money. And I just I felt that that's all that's all I have. So sorry, uh, Vice Mayor N. Thank you.

Thank you, M. Mr. Mayor. Go ahead. Thank you, Mr. Vice Mayor. Um, I just have a question to DPD. When was the application actually due, the final application due to your office that needed to be submitted? Thank you, counselor. Uh, I I don't remember, but I do have the director of the community development team that can answer that. Um, Elliot, yeah, perfect. You want to call on the mic? Uh,

please come to the podium. Um, please. Um it was the so basically what the process was was the last two it was the last Friday of January I forget what the date was was when the drop date uh the final um deadline was but then the week prior we basically told organizations that they could apply uh send their um applications in the that previous week so we could check it. So that's whatever that date was in J in January. I'm not really sure what date that was off the top of my head, but maybe the 29th or something like that.

30th. The 30th. The 30th. So that's when the final deadline was. Okay. Thank you. Um so on the 23rd, did you review everybody, all three of the applicants that applied? So there were some applications at that point we got about four or five. There were some applications that weren't approved. The ones we got two of the applications that were that were eligible at that point and then the third one uh came after the deadline. Okay. So you had an opportunity to review them all. Correct.

Did any of the ones that you reviewed get okayed at your in at your process? Yes, there were two the two of them that eventually um made it to the next I the next round if that's what we want to call it um through the process were eligible to go there. There wasn't any um there was wasn't any issues. There was one of the organizations was missing some documentation um but nothing with regards to the federal guidelines that were an issue. So that means you went through their websites, you went through everything and at that point everything was okay. Correct. So then how did we find the mistake afterwards?

So one of the organizations we did let them know um that there was a ch an issue. So they actually sent us documentation um after they made the change that they've mistakenly put in there. It was not their website. was actually one of their um job descriptions that they had that wasn't necessarily on the website, but they added in to by mistaken. And at that point, we weren't ne we weren't able to um basically let them know because it wouldn't be fair to the other organizations as well um after that original deadline.

So, did you find the problem or did they submit the problem afterwards? after the deadline. That's what's confusing to me. If you went through everything and everything was clear, how did we find it afterwards and deny them? Who found that and why?

So, it was they provided the documentation, one of the documentations after after we told them originally that they needed to edit something on their application. It was just unfortunately mistakenly they added the document by mistake when they scanned it over. Okay. So, they added something at the end. Why didn't we just remove it from it at that point before the application process was finished? That that's I guess the point. When we met as a nonprofit subcommittee on December 15th, um all of us were in the same place. We wanted to make sure anybody, as Council Scott said, that wanted to apply had the opportunity to apply and we would outline and help them and we would scrub everything before it went out to make sure it all met the right place. and and I believe Elliot, you were there.

Yes, correct.

Yeah. So that that was the purpose of the whole subcommittee and we were going to meet in between December 15th and the deadline to make sure everything was on Pat. We never met in between and we were under the understanding I think it was councelor Non, myself, councelor Mercier and counselor Robinson who were part of that subcommittee and wanted to make sure no matter what DPD was going to scrub every single thing and make sure that anybody who wanted to apply would meet the qualifications. I think that's what everybody's point was before we left there. And if something came in before the deadline was going to be sent, why wouldn't we have just move removed it and helped them with the application process? And why did we deny them after the fact? That's really the hard part to look at. We if we're going to do this, why do we meet at all if we were just going to look and say, "Hey, you know what? You didn't meet the qualifications." The sole purpose of that meeting, I believe, was to try to help anybody who actually wanted to apply. The others, I agree with Councelor Scott. I agree with them. If you if you didn't want to apply and that's your mission, then that's fine. But we were here to try to make sure everybody's application, everybody's website, all the job descriptions, everything was in line with the application process. And the least amount of numbers that you got would make it easier for us to scrub it. And I thought and and one of the people who are on that committee can correct me if I'm wrong. That's why we did it a month in advance. We were all You can review the tapes. I don't understand how somebody came back and said that something didn't meet the qualifications after the deadline when we reviewed it before the deadlines and then we're the ones who reviewed it after the deadlines. So that that's my only take on the whole thing is it seems like we didn't really help anybody. They could have just left everything the way it was. Why did we put them through all that work? Why did we make them go see seminars and everything if we weren't going to be the people to help them? And

I thought that's what we were talking about. I'm not sitting here crying. I'm not sitting here saying anything. I'm just saying I thought that's what we were here for. But I I think um you have

any answers to council through you mayor. Thank you so much. So yes that there is a process of the application where we can tamper the applications. We can simply modify them at our will to submit the band to HUD. Uh the other thing is that um I think in in through this process in finding that there's so there were some documentation in some of these applications and finding that in some of the hidden parts of their website or in any other publication that they may have that we could have found these things. That's when we thought this looks good in in the application process. We went through the city manager's office for them. But we didn't know if ultimately if we kept digging, we were going to find these things that would deem them ineligible. Again, we did this with for two reasons. To avoid the city being liable for this funding if it not if it's not reimbursible and ultimately maybe even the organizations themselves because we might run into these agreements with them. But if it's something that the the federal government finds on their website on a communication that we did not dig further, they may not be eligible for the reimbursement. We all understood that on that night, okay? Let's not kid anybody. Tamper with applications. We were here asking you to review the applications. If there was a problem on December 15th with anybody helping anybody, what you call tampering, I call helping. But if you're saying you're going to tamper with it, why wasn't it said that night that we can't help you with the application? I don't understand what tampering means. If it's before a deadline when you say, "Hey, look, something came in. This doesn't make sense. Change it." We were never told on December 15th you couldn't review an application and not tell someone to make a change

and now we're calling it tampering after somebody got disqualified from it. I just don't think the process was fear is we outlined it in that nonprofit subcommittee and you can review the tapes. If we weren't going to help, we should have just said, "Hey, look, we can't help you with the application. Here's the regulations. We're out of here." But that wasn't what we did. We said we were going to help you right up to the deadline and look at everything with you. Mr. Elliot, was that your understanding of the whole thing?

Yeah, I mean we in in fairness, unfortunately because of the whole lack of um guidance from Hard and that and that we need to get the annual action plan. I mean it was a little bit of a rush process but um for all we also did give the organizations a deadline of um January 23rd to submit it because after that point um if they submitted it on the 30th we wouldn't have had the um opportunity to review it. So all the applications that we would have received by the 23rd we did um review it. Unfortunately, that one organization um submitted something after we reviewed it. But

was was after you review it before the 23rd deadline? No, it was after the 23rd deadline. Okay. So, if that was said up front, then there's your answer. Somebody submitted it after the deadline. It was never included in the deadline, right? If it's after the 23rd was the deadline, then Cor I had to say yes. Correct.

Thank you. counc I can give you an example to do with the city um you know when I I was the mayor um the alternative house um approached me um asking to sign on to a a grant of a half a million dollars um and uh you know after calling ethics and uh getting the okay uh through my day job uh the bass probation service signed on to it as well uh we had two different legal teams uh look at the application uh to HUD um sent it in and it was denied within 24 hours. So um you know it's what we're dealing with currently um with the federal government and um you know hopefully in the future uh we can get some you know some guidance back um but you know $100,000 can mean a lot to a to a to a nonprofit but you know half a million dollars and if you if you had Maria here from alternative house she would tell you how that decimated their nonprofit um you know over the course of almost 18 months now. So this is not um you know just to the to the city of l but um it's what we're dealing with. Thank you.

Thank you councelor councel noon.

Thank you Mr. Mayor. At the December last year meeting subcommittee um we know that this year CDBG is going to be really a restrictive from the federal government. We know, we know that that's coming. At that meeting, we urge DPD to work with the nonprofit help them those who want to still apply and those who's not, you know, really as councelor Scott said, there are those who are firm in their mission mission statement and usually the bigger organization, they said, I'm not going to change my value my mission. So they didn't bother apply but those who are choose to apply because a small organization do they do need that money we tell DPD at the time that please work with those organization to meet the requirement I know it's challenge not just for the organization the nonprofit but for DBD itself because this is the first time that a restrictive or directive from the federal government said look this is the language this is some of the things that we do not want to see we from a nonprofit if they have any of that then tell them forget about applying but Bob the be is the mayor mentions that you know there's there are those who are after first stage they move on to the second stage and then just about the stage to Okay, the application and we said nope, forget about it.

I hope I I'm not sure if anything we can do about it now. Now that we already approve those who already get those grants, I hope that we learn something. I hope that in the future that we do a better job in helping working with those nonprofit because truly they are our partner. We we can't exist all by oursel. We need everyone around us to make us to make our city a better city. Serve all the people that need those service. That's all I want to say. Thank you.

Thank you, Council New Council Yang. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Um, we all have to also understand that these applications takes a lot of manpower and times and resources putting our head together into designing programs and coming up with budgets and uh uh and ultimately at the end it's the people that uh need the services. So, uh Mr. Espatia mentioned that there was three um that was potentially that uh could go or went to the second round. Um so my question is um to the city managers um has this three ever reached your desk or you know what happened or has it gone into another level?

Manager Golden. Thank you. councelor through you, Mr. Man, through you, Mr. Mayor. Um, maybe I'm not Are you asking if they reached out after the fact? No, no. You said there was three applications that passed these criteria, right? The first round and go into the next round, correct? Um, so who was deciding this next round looking at this application and ultimately said, uh, the final you don't make it. That's the the city maner's office with our with our counseling. Meola.

Uh thank you very much Mr. Mayor through to the council. Um thank you councel. We were looking at the ESG money that we could give out and the liability on the other monies. Um we've talked about the liability portion of it. Uh could we have done a little bit more? Possibly. But I think that uh as Mr. Yaffford stated earlier, we're working under a time constraint within this. Um it's it's very possible that we we may have been able to fund these things, but it's also may it's very possible that we would have been held liable at the end of the day. So uh we did uh in in my recollection um we eroded on the side of caution on this uh in in the future. Um you know CDBG monies we've we've looked at in this chamber as trying to put more money into some of the programs here in the city. uh but also the caution about what uh the potential liability with what is going on with the federal government that we it probably could have went e either way counselor if if that's the the best question and we chose uh well I chose to to go a more conservative route on that.

Thank you councel councel Robinson. Thank you. Um through you to the manager. When the council voted to approve the CDBG funding, um I remember the conversations and and there was some optimism that the way the CDBG was voted in that potentially we'd be able to work with some of them and find other ways to help assist in in the efforts that they're providing the resources to the community. Um, is that still an option? Uh, that the three applicants that were in compliance pretty much hopefully will there be some mechanism that the city will be able to creatively come up with to assist at at the very least the ones that we found were right there on the cusp of compliance.

Uh, thank you Mr. Mayor through to the council. We have not closed the door on any of those potential opportunities at this time. Uh we've you know be quite frank with you. Uh Mr. Y has been looking to meet with us. We just been a little uh tied up with with the budget and stuff like that, but we have not closed any opportunities for the future of CDBG monies and and that will be possibly for for this fiscal year that there could be some kind of that would be my hope. That'd be correct. All right. Thank you. Thank you, Councelor Robinson. Council Jan.

Well, thank you very much, Mr. Mayor. I think this is a tough position all around because we're dealing with the uncertainty of the what the federal government might how they might interpret anything that could be way hidden down in people's websites. I think the uh challenge of trying to scrub everything for the organizations or for the reviewers is almost impossible. Um and I view that from my position as someone who's rather riskaverse. So I I can appreciate that. Um I would love and but I also understand that organizations have moved through the process with the expectation that there'd be a at least the possibility of a positive outcome. So, it's a a a tough situation. I watched the um subcommittee meeting twice to try to really understand everything that was going on and and the various perspectives. Um that said, one thing that would be helpful, not necessarily to guide us, but to just give us some insights is how are other gateway cities, that is communities without a lot of money, interpreting the HUD guidelines? because um they're dealing with the same issues as we are. And not that I'm saying we should, you know, follow the leader uh or go down a particular path, but if ev if it were the case that everybody else is, you know, going forward without any concern, that would be an important data point to consider. If others are taking different positions, that's important to think about. So I that would be helpful to for me to understand. Thank you.

Thank you, Councelor Direan. Motion to accept the report as a report of progress by councelor Leang, seconded by councelor Jan. All in favor signify by saying I. Any opposed? So, Mr. Mayor, we have two motions here and I would like to request the roll call. Let me just You want a roll call on this one? Mhm. On the report of progress or you want it on the motion? Okay. Okay. So, we're on the report of progress. You suspended to go there. So, let's finish that, then we'll go back. All right. Thank you. Motion to accept. We already did that. All in favor signify by saying I. Any opposed? So, ordered.

Going back to 4.3. Um, Council Mercy, we'd like a roll call on 4.3. And what's what's the sec what's the second motion that was on this? Well, council, both motions. Yeah. Two motions. Yeah. It's just a roll call on 4.3. 4.3 is on there. So, it's not on both motions. It would just be on 4.3 as advertised. So, y it'll be it'll cover both motions. So, roll call. Yes. Councelor New? Yes. Council Robinson? Yes. Council Ror, yes. Councelor Scott, yes. Council Chow, yes. Council Dakota, yes. Mayor Gia, yes. Council Guran, yes. Council Leang, yes. Council Mcdana, yes. Council Mercia,

yes. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Clerk 4.4 Council Scar request the city manager have DPD hold a community forum for residents to provide input around data center zoning seconded by councelor Robinson. Councelor Scott.

Thank you Mr. Mayor. Um we did incredible work I I believe around the moratorum putting a pause on this so that we can have you know discussions around proper planning and the zoning. Um I just want to see that work begin. I don't want a year to go by us not to have things that we know we should have proper setbacks, landscaping requirements, etc. Um, and most importantly, the residents, they they feel like they weren't listened to in the past. So, I think it's a first step is for us to hold this community forum and to hear what their concerns are. Thank you,

Council Mcdana. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Um, I was just going to ask I I know I I'd asked you, Mr. mayor kind of on the phone at one point, but I'll kick the the question out again at a public meeting. Um, does the mayor or the council, I guess, broadly I I appreciate councelor Scott's motion. I think DPD would be great to hold a community form. Do do we think that like an ad hoc subcommittee or some it it's a one-year moratorum. It's been several months. We are on a ticking clock. There's a little there there's a component of the council having a responsibility here in and kind of crafting and approving whatever this final regulation winds up being. Just a suggestion.

Council's c. Oh, we do have a zoning subcommittee so that would be an option for that discussion but okay. So, council Mcdana. Thank you. That's true. Um, I think my my thought on ad hoc verse on zoning was that zoning currently has the the overall zoning review and audit and that there is a a really significant amount of public care on the data center issue and neighborhood neighborhood

neighbor there's a neighborhood subcommittee there's a zoning subcommittee at the end of the day it's going to wind up going in the zoning code. So, I could see the zoning subcommittee being appropriate. I think I was trying kind of to give the opportunity to counselors who maybe aren't on the zoning subcommittee, but might care a good deal about this one particular issue where there seems to be a good number of meetings that will be coming up focused entirely on the data center piece. That was really my only thought, but I I'm open to anything. Thank you, Council Mcdana. Council Duran.

Uh, thank you very much, Mr. Mayor. So, back on March 24th, um, councelor Scott and I put on a motion to ask the city manager to have the appropriate departments provide a draft plan for fulfilling the requirements um, regarding the work to be done during the data center moratorum and to share updates at least every two months. So, we're not quite at the two-month point, but we're getting there. Um, and so I would expect to see a report by the 26th of May. Um, I also my my only concern about having an subcommittee is it's hard enough to schedule any subcommittees right now and especially as we go into the summer, it's going to be even harder. So, I would just be cautious about that. Although, I don't know how we're going to manage though the community input either. So, confused.

Thank you, Council Jiren. Councelor Chow. Uh, thank you, Mr. Mayor, um I commend Councelor Scott for putting this motion forward and all her work um to get the neighborhood voice uh heard. I was uh wondering also there's a state component to this a mass D component to this and whether this go through a subcommittee or definitely the the neighborhood um meeting. I wonder uh through you Mr. Mayor to the city manager if it be possible to invite a member of the master D um to come to attend the meeting as well. Um there is a state component to this that um they're involved in addition to the city permitting and so forth if that would be possible. Manager Coen. Yes. Thank you.

Thank you. Thank you councel Chow. Councelor Rook. I guess my suggestion Mr. Mayor would just be have it at the Butler school the one of the monthly meetings more people could show up. It'd be easy to get there. I mean it doesn't make sense. Thank you. Any other questions? All in favor signify by saying I. Any opposed? Motion passes. 4.5 Council SCR requests the city mayor to have the law department prepare the necessary steps to allow driveway curb cuts beyond the current 15t maximum allowed in the traditional single family zones. Seconded by councilor, council Scott.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. So, right now you can have a 15 foot wide curb cut in traditional single family. You can have a 20 foot wide curb cut in suburban single family. So in some neighborhoods you can have even if your zoning is larger in a traditional single family your frontage, it's still limited to the 15t curb cut. So um I would ask that it either goes to 20 across the board or that um they base it on I guess the frontage maybe of the property, you know, take some consideration for that. Um, what we're seeing throughout my neighborhood are 15 foot curb cuts uh fanning out to four car wide driveways, but people aren't using the driveway because you can't cut park two cars side by side. So, people have to leave for work in the morning, you have four vehicles, they're parking out in the street. So, I I think this is a solution at least a bare minimum to look at whether or not it could be allowed for properties that have enough square footage. So, thank you.

Thank you, Council Scott. Councelor Duran.

Uh, thank you very much. I appreciate um councelor Scott's um explanation of the reason for it because I was curious about it. Um I and the question I had was because this affects districts throughout the city um because most many of them have traditional single family within them. Um you know how would it impact parking? So we know how it impacts parking for those who um are now parking on the street but what will it do generally? Um so I just think as we think about this the parking implications you know on the street in the driveway wherever need to be considered um so that it shouldn't be an assumption that it should be expanded but we should just think about which is the best approach um throughout the city. Thank you.

All in favor signify by saying I. Any opposed? So ordered. 4.6 Six. Council Scott request the city manager provide anformational update on the Barika and Wen Street Calvet replacement. Seconded by councelor Newton. Council Scott. Thank you. The motion speaks for itself.

All in favor signify by saying I. Any oppose? So ordered. 4.7 Councelor Jirean request the city manager have MIS department provide information on the major enhancements completed over the last two years and plan for the next two years to public-f facing IT systems including low GIS 311 and other systems and how such enhancements and plans are communicated to the public including when functionally functionality is reduced seconded by councelor Dakota councelor Jiren.

Uh thank you very much Mr. Mayor. So the city has made significant strides in moving forward with the 311 system and other tools and people residents are starting to use those tools and have been using them and um some residents are really expert users and find that they can do a lot of analysis with the information but then suddenly some of the information disappears and so far that that disappearance at least as it's been communicated to me um you know has all been reverted. there were probably things going on behind the scenes that needed something some software to be taken down temporarily. Um I know that was true in the 311 system with someone who was looking for at some point for rat activity but it's now back. Um, I ran into it with the GIS system where the maps were were unavailable one day but they were available later and um I and I think it's great that the you know systems are being enhanced but I think it would be helpful to know what's coming down the pike and certainly if things are being removed to even temporarily if there could be some notice other than well um I forget the cute little bot that's on there but that other than something that just says, you know, you've gone to a bad place. Um, that would be helpful in terms of customer service. I I think it is great that people are using the system so much. And um, it took me though a while. It took me actually one of the residents to show me how to run the filters on the 311 system. And I have used computers for a number of years. Um so um I think uh thinking about um you know the user interface and the ease of use and andor ways that we can help communicate um to people how best to use the systems would be great. Um, and finally, I think the 311 system itself could have additional

categories of concerns like how you might improve the 311 system might be in and of itself a um, you know, uh, an issue that could be added. So, um, again, I think lots of progress has been made. So, it' be good to hear about it and good to hear what the plans are. Again, generally, I'm not trying to allow uh cyber attacks with that, but just general information, but also uh trying to convey that the ease of use and user interface is important to keep in mind. Thank you.

Thank you, Councelor Juran. All in favor signify by saying I. Any opposed? So ordered. 4.8. Council of Guran request the city manager have the parking department provide information about the rules regarding residency based parking plets including how issued, what happens when one is lost, how enforced, how replaced if lost, etc. Seconded by councelor Mercia, councel.

Thank you very much, Mr. Mayor. Um, so I have found that I think parking is the second biggest issue compared to paving of streets. Um and um residents including me have various questions about the residential parking placards. Um I know for instance I was shopping in Back Central and there was a an expired placard on a house where there was a perfect spot right out front but I don't feel comfortable parking there because I think the resident probably feels entitled to that space even though they really aren't legally entitled and they're no longer paying for it. Um, I also have run into residents who have lost a placard. It's just disappeared um from their home. And so they need to understand how to go uh get a new one and what they have to pay for it and and whether it's whether they're required to pay the entire fee again and whether that's fair or not when the loss was out of their control. Um, it actually raised the question as to whether people are stealing placards from one home and sticking them on another um just to get a free parking space. I'm hoping that doesn't happen and I probably shouldn't have suggested it to anybody. Um but I think everybody um would benefit from understanding the processes and um you know back in March we got a detailed flowchart about how deep the city thinks about paving streets etc and maintaining streets. Um, I'm not necessarily asking for a similar flowchart, but again, any kind of information about how the processes work, especially one that it can be conveyed to residents who then might either find ways to um, improve it, um, or clarify it, I think would be great. Um, and one thought that came up was that maybe there could be a map or a

database that just lists the address of each of the placards. Not information about who lives there or anything else, but just which ones are valid um so that people could find um you know out if they're allowed to really park there or not, especially if an expired one is there. Um so just thinking about how we can improve you know parking generally and particularly around placards uh is my topic today. Thank you. Thank you Councel Direan. Councelor Dakota.

Thank you Mr. Mayor. Appreciate Councelor Duran's uh motion. Um I do want to applaud the administration though because what uh assistant city manager Kam uh Mashado is um with his community walks in the reports that we were getting that they've taken a lot of the expired uh uh blackers away from the the porches and I think that's a good start but I do agree with councelor Direan's other comments. Thank you. Thank you councelor Dakota. It's councelor Mcdana.

Thank you. Uh and I also thank councelor Duran for the the motion. Um I guess Mr. Mayor threw you to the manager, my or perhaps councelor Duran. We'll find out. Um my my add-on request for this motion kind of informally is um I'm really looking forward to the council getting these rules and it going into an agenda packet and then it being very difficult to ever find uh for a member of the public by clicking through and getting to a packet and getting the link and finally seeing it. Um, I I know a number of people that live uh the three examples off the top of my head are all actually in Lower Centerville. Um, who have tried to get a parking placard and they think, you know, they look at the city website quickly. They think they have everything they need. They go down to the parking department and they find out, nope, sorry, that's actually the wrong version of the form. You need form B. And I'm not faulting anybody. It's annoying. It's how bureaucracy works and checking boxes to make sure we get forms and we all have to do it. Um, but if we could I know a couple of people that have gone to the they've had to go to the parking office three or four times in order to try and get the Oh, no. We need this water bill. Okay. Nope. That's the wrong month. We need this one. Just a way on the city website, ideally on the parking website before we're getting to the parking office to make sure you know you do actually have all of the forms in order and can get that placard. Maybe we need to expand the list of accepted documents. I'm not sure. But that that's all I got. So otherwise, thank you.

Thank you, Council McDenna. Councelor Scott. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Um, just in response to that, I I did ask in the past about us um having the availability of getting these permits or these stickers online to order them. Um, I don't think we ever got a response on it. You should be able to upload the documents and do it. I mean, to everybody that has these across the city to go every year to the parking office, it's just that's a lot to ask. I think I think this should be an easy process done online every year. We'd probably get a lot more of them, you know, renewing as well, a lot more revenue. Thank you. Thank you, Council Scott. Council Yang.

Yes, I do. I do agree with that. I mean, especially when you have to renew and bring all the paperwork again and again. Uh, thank you, Council Janette, for this motion. Um I do agree for especially for me as well where the two most pressing issues are potholes and parking. So uh I I do agree with that. But I I also um uh thank u assistant uh manager Mashado for doing the the the placket um you know taking away. But I disagree with um outlining places where people can look into and park. That would be create creating chaotic issues in the community where um you know, you just go online, you would say, "Hey, that house has a parking spot where I can just go and park because it's expired." uh that that might be a little bit um too extreme in a way but I I I do agree that uh it it it need to be more simplified and uh so that the resident can understand and and in the process of getting these plackets shouldn't be that uh difficult you know going downtown if you can just do it uh you know online that would be much easier to do so thank you

thank you council Leang all in favor signify by saying I any opposed so ordered 4.9 Council Jiren requests the city manager have the property department provide an update on any planned closings of Douglas Road for electric work to be to the flood relief tank and how residents will be notified of any detours seconded by councelor Chow Councel Durant.

Uh thank you Mr. Mayor. Um in March we approved easements across Douglas Road for National Grid to do electrical work for Collie Stadium. So, I assume that at some point uh for that or maybe other reasons, Douglas Road will need to be closed and residents um who would like to just be given notice ahead of time. Um and there are a lot of people who use that road anyway. So, it will be uh it's an important thoroughare. So, that would be helpful. Thank you.

Thank you, Council Direan. All in favor signify by saying I. Any opposed? So ordered. 4.10 10 council McDonald request the city manager have the appropriate department provide an update on canal bridge and walkway repairs especially the sidewalks at the intersection of market and Dutton the canal bridge on Broadway over weston canal and the canal walkway through the HCI seconded by councelor non councelor Mcdana

uh thank you Mr. Mayor, and I would also like to add uh as councelor Dakota pointed out at the beginning of the meeting, uh Bridge Street over by Arthur's Diner has also had some concrete barriers up for longer than I care to count. Um this is not in any way a a knock or even a really big question. It's just something that I am asked about constantly and I ask myself quite often on walks as well. I know uh Mr. Mayor through you to the manager. I I know that there's been an ongoing issue with market in Dutton Street and there's been I think issues around steel pricing and no maybe I don't know there's been a there's been a big issue with that particular bridge. Um one of my my two biggest concerns and I know someone in downtown will be mad at me because they care very passionately about the Market and Dutton Street Bridge and I do too. Um is the holes in the fences on the canal walkways and the bridges. uh as somebody with a almost two-year-old who walks to Market Basket, that bridge uh over Western Canal has a piece of plywood that is now peeling off. Um I I don't know if it got hit with a snow removal equipment or what, but I mean it's a it's a full-on little 5-year-old sized hole. Um, and then additionally, I I know there might be issues of ownership because the national park and the state have some land around HCID, but we have the spot where the car unfortunately went in uh in HC. The car went into the canal. Person lost their life. Um, there is a hole in the fence over there as well. I don't actually even know who owns that fence, but I think an update from from you would help assuage some residents and and know that we're moving in the right direction. So, thank you,

Manager Golden.

Uh, thank you very much, uh, Council, if it's okay with you. Some of this is going to over overlap with 4.1 council at noon as well. Uh we have asked the delegation to look at Bridge Street as well in front of Arthur's Diner to see if that could be next. But this is u 4.10 and 4.1 are kind of overlapping as far as um some of the I believe it's 2 uh 2.1 excuse me 21 million raise bridge. So if we can kind of bring those together and we'll try to get your full accounting of everything that's happening with our bridge work. That's okay. Thank you, Manager Golden. All in favor signify by saying I. Any oppose? So ordered. 4.1. Council Mcdana request the city manager have the property department look into the feasibility of enhancing safety features such as road markings andor signage in the area of Martin Sparks in Riverside Street. Seconded by Council Leang. Council McDonald.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Um, this was something that came up uh when I was doornocking during the campaign. I don't actually spend all that much time uh on Martin and Sparks, but um something that was, you know, really good news to both sides of of Beaverbrook um when it came online is that Beaver that the bridge over Beaverbrook, which is phenomenal. Um the kind of unintended consequence uh in that part of the city is that uh the university has a very large parking lot that is dominated by commuter students on because that's not a residential campus and many have now learned about the magic of the Beaverbrook Bridge. And so what used to be a fairly quiet street and a fairly quiet intersection because the only option if you were going to leave the city of LOL was to turn left, get on Riverside and leave. you can now turn right and really let it rip. Uh that I I don't know how else to phrase what I saw as I tried to walk along the side of that road. Um and so just I'm very happy the bridge is there. I think everyone's happy the bridge is there. I think just now that people know it's a cutthrough. Um taking another look at some safety features over there may help. I'm not looking necessarily for speed bumps or anything. It's just it's an un it's an unlined road. there's not a whole lot of stop signs. The other piece is the intersection of Martin and Sparks. Uh partially due to the increased traffic. So as Martin comes up, there's kind of a triangle intersection. Um and because the traffic has now increased with kids late to class letting it rip uh all the way into the that parking lot, there's increased kind of unease, I'll I'll say, and I think the traffic engineer is very good at finding out if the unease is justified or not. Um there's increased unease um with the nature of that intersection where the stop is. There's some sighteline questions. People stop in all sorts of

fun places between at the stop sign to 10 ft in front of the stop sign. That that's all. So thank you.

Thank you councelor Mcdana. All in favor signify by saying I. Any oppose? So ordered. 4.12. Councelor Ror councelor Roberts request the city councel remove the following items from the table. Wire inspector report. One, Boston Gas request permission to replace existing cast iron gas man at 24 to 360 Gorm Street. Two, Boston Gas request permission to replace existing cast iron gas man at 67 to 94 Kinsman Street. And three, National Grid request permission to install underground electric conduit at 50 Draper Street. Motion removed from the table by council Robinson, seconded by councel Ror. Roll call.

Councelor New? No. Council Robinson? Yes. Council Ror, yes. Council Scott. Council Chow, yes. Council Dakota, yes. Mayor Gia, no. Council Jiren, no. Council Leang, yes. Council Mcdana, yes. Council Mercia, yes. Motion, underlying motion to accept and adopt the accompanying order. Mr. May, now on the motion, um, since there's two people, we don't need a second on the motion. And Council Rock, you made the motion. Just know if we now take the

Yeah, we're going to take the regular thing up now. Council Rook. Awesome. Thanks. Thank you. Council Robinson. Council.

Mr. Mayor, we were clear a couple meetings ago and this council everyone's okay to send a message to National Grid Boston gas and say this that any future matter coming before the board before this council Maybe they have the answer, but we want them to explain to us as to why they chose to replace it instead of repair it. That's all we want to know. The reason we want to know is this. They going to put it on rate payer tax. I mean those people who paying will increase the cost to our resident. And that's why I'm asking as simple as that. And I know that they say they're going to come before us. Let them come before us. But we still want an explanation. I'm not going to have them get away with it. Why is so difficult to explain to us in simple term on why they want to replace instead of repair maybe because it you know is in really bad shape. Okay, if that's so I understand but explain to us send that information to the Y inspector. Maybe it's so many page but the wire inspector can summarize to this council.

Why they recommend approval? It's that difficult. It shouldn't be. I'm not here to look out for national grid or Boston gas. I'm here to look out for rate payer for this resident of the city. I don't give a rat ass about the company making money and keep on making money on taxpayer on our resident and that's why I'm asking for that council. Thank you councel non.

Thank you Mr. Mayor. When we took the vote to send it to the wire inspector, the rep from National Grid was here. She answered questions and she also stated that this would not cost the rateayer anything extra. Not. Yeah, I think her I think her line was not a penny. Um, so the rep was here. She did answer questions. Um, I think there were multiple questions asked of of the representative uh from National Grid. You know, she again she was here in person. Uh, we made the vote to send it to the wire inspector and alls we were doing is just um, you know, sending it to the wire inspector for approval. uh which it came back to us and you know I mean these are projects here that you know I mean the the Gorm Street one um you know it's a very busy uh intersection area um you know then you have the the Gan Doc school that's going to be you know for special uh needs um kids um so you know again the rep was here she did answer questions and and the reason why she would need to be here for for the wire inspector report, but just my comments. Thank you.

Thank you, Council Rook. Councelor Mcdana. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. I I share Councelor Nun's frustration. Um why why I voted to take this from the table and

I I understand being frustrated with National Grid and Colonial Gas. I even understand if we wanted to vote no on the gas main replacement. But there's also uh item number three which is uh underground electric conduit which is necessary to get the gene dark school open. So I mean I don't even know if procedurally this is something we can do but can we would it satisfy counselor noon if we could separate this out so we can approve the electric conduit and then come what may on on on the vote on the gas replacement. I think the issue is they have the vote to pass already. So if you go to this, they're going to vote no. So we're going to be in the same predicament. So the votes there to pass it so right now. So

that's true. Yeah. But I want to vote no to cast. That's my problem. You can make a motion if you like. It's fine. Thank you, Council Mcdana. Council Robinson.

Thank you. Um let's be clear for the people at home. As my colleague stated, and you can go back and watch LTC, these specific repairs, not a penny to the taxpayer. I think it was a grant the rep from National Grid is covering these repairs. Not to mention, we're holding back progress on moving forward on a school that we desperately need because once that becomes online, again, it opens up and frees up funding amongst many other things for local public schools. We've been waiting for quite some time for the electrical piece and I don't know how comfortable people feel playing Russian roulette with cast iron aging gas means. This is a zerocost replacement provided by national grid. Zero cost to the residents and they want to play roulette with gas mains. And then we want to start picking choosing well I don't like gas so I want to separate this out. I like electricity. I want to separate this out. I mean, we need to get this work done. I understand the the push for, you know, clean fuel and all of this stuff, but realistically an agent cast iron gas mane that's going to be zero cost to the taxpayer or rateayer because this is funded completely separately. As the rep from National Grid came and said, I think us playing the game to try to get more information, I'm all for providing as much information as possible, but I also hope the people that are pushing for this additional information, I hope they're experts in the field because when they present these 300page reports on the condition of the pipe that they're moving to to want to replace, I hope there's some good professionals out there that going to be able to analyze these reports when they come back. But as far as these projects specifically, zero cost to the

residents, two aging cast iron gas mains, and one electrical uh piece that's being worked on to to forward progress, a school that we've been trying to get online with partners with law public schools. Thank you. Thank you, Councelor Robinson. Councelor Durant.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. So, I am definitely not an expert on this, but I have not become an expert either in the last four months because we have gotten very little information from National Grid and Boston Gas except at one meeting. We have asked since we have in fact a motion response coming up. Um because we have asked since midFebruary for um reports and meetings with National Grid in particular um and also Boston GR gas in um April to understand the process better so that we as counselors can do our job about approving these requests given that we don't have the expertise. So until we get that kind of better understanding, it is hard. All we're doing is just rubber stamping. And I appreciate that some people actually do know this better than I, but until I get more information, I just don't feel like I can move forward with these requests. Thank you.

Thank you, Council Jiren. Council Mcdana. Thank you. As my colleague pointed out, uh, we are holding up a school project and I guess if that's what we're so passionate about, then I will put the motion in. Uh, so I would like to make a motion to separate the vote on the Jeark school electrical conduit from the two na the two gas mains. Is there a second? Seconded by Council Leang on Council Mcdana's substitute motion. Councelor Ro,

what are we looking for? the the representative was here. She answered questions from the council on all three projects like so what do you want to do? Put it off to have it come back again into answer the same questions. I I like you know read your packet. I don't I mean you know I don't else to say Mr. Thank you. Roll call on council Mcdana's motion. Council Council Noon. No. Council Mercia. Uh, I thought I was voting last. Sorry. Council Noon. Council Robinson. No. Council Rock. No. Council Scott. No. Council Chow. No. Council Dakota.

No. Uh, Mayor Gia. No. Council Durant. No. Council Leang. Yes. Council Mcdana. Sure. Council Mcdana, someday you council merc. No. Someday. Motion feels uh council at noon. If vice mayor, if you come up for a minute,

Mr. Mayor, it's a very interesting take. I I agree with both councelor Rook and councelor Jirean. Since I've been on the city council, we have asked National Grid many a times to come in and give us more information in writing and writing and writing. Council Rook is not wrong. We had an opportunity with the representative here to ask questions and the question is always national grid doesn't want to provide anything and they come in here for a five minute sit down boom gone. But we really have nothing to reference for the questions beforehand. And even in the packet, it's just a pretty brief boom. Here's a short piece of paper that says nothing except location, bang, done. Um, and and I I I agree, Council Rook, that having 300 pages for each one would would put us over the edge because we're going to kill a lot of trees, and it it's counterproductive to what we're trying to do, save the earth on the other end. So, we're going to kill trees to save the earth in the other end. I don't want to see Lawrence here. So, as we start pushing off a lot of these problems with gas manes, Lawrence had a major problem with a gas man when they were down there. I don't want to see that either. And I don't want someone standing up to this microphone telling us how much they are an expert with gas mains who's never actually been an engineer or even engineered any of this. So, I like the information piece like council jurian said, but I think that main replacement is a must right now unless tomorrow morning we're going to say we're all done with gas manes and we're not going to allow any gas in the city. Are we really going to take a chance on not replacing these mains and having something happen at the same time on a repair? I've done water work my entire life. You go out, you put a band-aid on something and two weeks later down the street the same water mane breaks and you got the same problem and then you're

just chasing. And in our city we have major problems with them even coming back at times and the manager has pushed that for all the way through on the moratoriums and everything and trying to get them to help. So they're here right now and it's hard to watch. I do agree that they keep pushing off information and we need the information. As Vice Mayor Non has said, it seems like we just get slapped in the face. All we're asking for is the information. I will vote yes on this only because of the schools attached to it. We need to get that school up and running. But I hope National Grid is getting the feeling that we're not just going to keep doing this with them. They need to be held accountable. They do it with our road work. The trenches are awful that they leave. If you go on Middle Sex Street, the road work is awful. And it's their patches. And in my opinion, anytime they cut a road, they should be responsible until that road is fully replaced because they put the patch there. Not a five-year case on a moratorum or anything. It should be we should be starting to put policies in place. They cut in a road. They're responsible for the road just like we are when we pave it. And that's just my opinion because we don't know what they're undermining all the way through. We need to get that in an ordinance here. If they're going to come to the city and they're going to do work, then they should be responsible for that patch until we replace that road. And that's fair. But um I'm going to support this only because I agree with with Council Rook. At some point, we're kicking this can down the road. But um Vice Mayor Non, I I do agree that they keep slapping us in the face and telling us the way they're going to do it. Thank you. Anyone else on the motion? Roll call.

Councelor Newon. Nope. Councelor Robinson. Yes. Councelor Rook. Yes. Council Scott. Yes. Councilor Chow. Yes. Councelor Dakota. Yes. Mayor Kitia, yes. Council Jirean, no. Council Leang, no. Council Mcdana, nope. Council Mercia, yes. 78 is best.

Thank you, Mr. Clerk. 4.13. Councelor Robinson request the city manager have the property department review and provide any recommendations on carving out potential local regulations similar or in line with Senate Bill S77 and act to enhance safe use of micromobility devices. seconded by councel Rook. Councelor Robinson,

thank you. Um, again, this is there's no policy carved out yet. I know this has hit the council discussion quite a quite a bit and it's it's governing more the ebikes and and all those things. Um, hopefully they come up with some kind of policy that's realistic and and enforceable. um just to kind of put some kind of regulations in place because again I've seen great safe usage and I've seen some not so safe usage so anything will help something to watch. Thank you.

Thank you councelor Robinson. All in favor signify by saying I. Any opposed? So ordered. 4.14 councelor Robinson request the city manager have the proper department provide an update on the cemetery garage project. Seconded by councelor Mercia. Council Robinson. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Um, the pretty much motion speaks for itself. I know it's something that's been in the pipeline for for a bit, so I'll look back for the update. Thank you, Council Robinson. All in favor signify by saying I. Any oppose? So, ordered. Oh, I'm sorry, Council Scott.

Oh, no. I was just going to ask if we could take uh suspend the rules and take 5.1B out of order. Motion by councelor Scott to take 5.1B out of order. Seconded by councelor Dakota. All in favor signify by saying I. Any opposed? So ordered. Motion response. Boot hydro rellicensing FERC. Council Scott. It's actually council Durant. Oh, I'm sorry. Council Durant. Yep. Oh, you took it out of

Thank you. Um, I thank you for the motion response. Um, and just wanting to understand a bit more about the city's role in the process. It sounds like we're engaged, but I wanted to make sure because the outcome of this will matter a lot to our canals in particular as I know the city manager knows. Um, so canal water level and maintenance are key to the canal safety and and structure. Um, so I wanted to understand it sounds like they might be 18 months before the ne next step of reports are done and um, what happens in the meantime and then and then what happens after the 18 months? I mean, are we in a holding pattern in the meantime? What happens to the canals in the meantime? What is Boot's obligation?

Manager Golden.

Uh, thank you very much, Mr. Mayor. Three to the council. uh councelor um we have never really had a the city in general has never had this great relationship with Enel or Boot or whomever it may be but Mr. French is here from our um law department and he is actually in charge. He's the lead attorney on this um having these discussions, but um I'm going to let him speak in a moment, but what we've what we've tend to do is um I speak with the superintendent over at National Parks on a very regular basis about this matter and uh we like to stay pretty much in lock step uh trying to hold their feet to the fire. FK is uh quite frankly um partially maybe sometimes interested in what we have to say, but uh Mr. French if you could uh uh oh absolutely

bring forward what what you know and what has been happening I'd appreciate it

through you Mr. So, uh, the federal sorry, Boot Hydro has, uh, been working on this application since 2021. Um, right now they have submitted or this month they're supposed to submit that they are ready for environmental review. At that point, the, uh, FK will review it. Um, it will be open up for comment. Um and the city will have an opportunity to be involved in that process along with the other um stakeholders. Generally speaking, uh it'll take 12 months to 18 months for the FK to come out with their environmental analysis. um assuming that they have a finding of no significant um outcome then they'll issue a pro will have an opportunity to comment again before they finally submit the license um parallel with this they are also have to deal with mass D um and mass D has required them to have various plans historical plans um they have a canal operation maintenance plan which hit four major points. Um those are the canal water elevation, the flow, the trash and the vegetation. And right now Boot's proposed plan is that they will have a yearly meeting with uh stakeholders including the city UMass LOL the national parks and that will allow the city to point out any issues that they have. Um there's going to be yearly visual inspections in the spring to look at vegetation, in the fall to look at trash. Um and their proposed plan has a 10-year uh period after which we'll all parties will sit down and uh propose any amendments.

Council Durant. And so for instance in the annual uh if the annual meetings and review of trash and everything and canal flow and water flow and elevation happen and we find that we're not they're not it isn't appropriate that the level is too low the flow isn't strong enough etc. What will happen? I mean so we'll have an annual meeting but do we have to sue them to get them to do anything? Is there an obligation contractually which still might require a suit, but something what like how will we how will we be enforcing that the city gets what it needs to keep our canals in goodstead

right so this plan is part of their lensure and um it's a requirement from FK it's a requirement from mass D so we could be leaning on those agencies to help us enforce these should boot hydro not live up to its expect expectations Um, now I don't want to say, "Yep, we're going to assume right away." Um, what we're going to do is have open dialogue with them. We're going to point out issues and we're going to try to work with them to make sure everybody's happy and that they've met their obligation.

Okay, that doesn't give me a whole lot of comfort. I I'm very worried. Thank you. Thank you, Councelor Direan. Any other questions? Thank you, Attorney French. Thank you very much.

Motion to accept and place on file by Council Duran. Seconded by Council Dakota. All in favor signified by saying I. Any opposed? So ordered. Go back to the regular portion of the meeting. 4.15 Council Robinson request the city manager work with the proper department and provide the council with a report on any means our first responders could voluntary donate a day pay that could be transferred to assist the recovery of firefighter Nick Spanelli in town seconded by council council Robinson.

Thank you Mr. Mayor. Um, I reached out to the manager briefly on this and and looking to create a vehicle if the first responders would like to do this, give up a day's pay, still be required to come into work and and perform. And it would just be to assist in any deductions. But um I also think we need to take a hard look at uh a letter of support to any legislation that might may have been filed urging the state to do what they should do with the themies and provide that insurance or or the or the coverage that's required because uh it is not fair to to to put that burden on local communities that good enough to allow their employees to go out and perform training on state sanctioned training facilities for other first responders. and now this s a situation like this happens. So I mean I think if there's any legislation that's been filed to try to encourage the state to act on this I think uh a letter of support as well would be greatly appreciated. So if I could amend this motion to include that as as well as sign off send off a letter of support to any legislation local legislation that's been filed.

Thank you Council Robinson and Council Rook. Okay. All in favor signify by saying I. Any opposed? So ordered. 4.16 Council Robinson request the city manager work with the proper department to examine and report back to the council on the existing injury coverage policies surrounding our first responders and engagement at training facilities as well as any recommendations. Seconded by councelor Mercia. Councelor Robinson. Motion speaks for itself.

All in favor signify by saying I. Any opposed? So ordered. 4.17. Mayor Ger request the city manager report back to the city council on the status of the solar panels at LI High School. Seconded by council Robinson. Motion speaks for itself. All in favor signify by saying I. Any opposed? So ordered. Council Chow. You notice I always look over at you when I say that. I didn't forget. Um five communications for the city manager 5.1 motion response motion response a cctci council Robinson like that.

Thank you very much Mr. Mayor and uh thank you m Mr. Espazita and uh DPD for this report. Greatly appreciated. Um you know anything we can do in this area I think is is going to be vital. um looking at different funding pools and and seeing how many funding pools are either drying up or or being shifted to more of a burden on on our residents. So greatly appreciated and thank you very much for this uh this report.

Motion accept and place on file by councelor Ror, seconded by councelor Scott. All in favor signified by saying I. Any opposed? So ordered. 5.1 motion response C. National Grid appear in person installations of poles. Councelor Non.

Thank you uh Mr. Mayor. I think the next motion respond is there's a subcommittee technology and utility subcommittee. They're coming on May 26. So, you know, and we can making sure that in the future any pooling uh polling are coming before the council. Um you know, so I'm fine with it. May 26 is the budget hearing. May 26. I see that in the report. Yeah. Next motion respond if you looked at it. We may have to move them. Oh, okay. Well, you know, you know, I'm happy. Oh, subcommittee. I'm sorry. Subcommittee. I'm sorry. Yeah, the subcommittee. I mean, yeah. Yeah. Okay. So, said here in the next motion respond, Mr.

Yep. So, yeah, we can have we can have that discussion there. Motion accept and place on file by council Mercia, seconded by council Mcdana. All in favor signify by saying I. Any oppose? So ordered. Motion response D. National grid presentation to subcommittee. Councelor Jirean Leang. Noon. Yeah. Anybody? They're coming. Councelor Leang. They're coming. That's right. I mean the the meeting will stand. Subcommittee meeting uh May 26 5:30. Thank

Sounded like the British were coming. Motion to accept and place on file by councelor Ror, seconded by councelor Dakota. All in favor signify by saying I. Any oppose? So ordered. 5.2 informationational reports. Informational report mass mills. Mr. Manager.

Uh thank you very much, Mr. Mayor. Um as folks can can see here from Mullen's company, uh Massachusetts Mills Riverwalk and Brick Repair. They have been moving. We have been trying to hold them accountable. I know that um assistant city manager uh Bayzro and I know that um they've been they've been holding them accountable, but hopefully people can see on page two the breakdown as to what they've been doing in their time frames. Um this is not make anyone exactly happy. This is taking a lot of time, but some of these buildings are um I wouldn't want anyone walking by there at this point in time uh getting themselves hurt, but uh we will continue to hold them accountable. I know we can get into insuranceances and everything else that is happening in that area, but uh Mr. Mullins quite frankly has taken on a building that as I recall over my uh 55 years of living here, it it's been a challenge. Uh he has committed to me uh in the past that um he will not be going anywhere until he finishes the the entire complex. So um that's a you know one heck of a commitment con compared to what I remember what how that looked in the 80s and the '9s. Uh they have done a lot of work but we should still hold them accountable. I hope that the theformational is uh is enough but if anybody has any questions that I need to bring back to those folks please let me know.

Thank you Mr. Manager Council Mcdana.

Thank you Mr. Mayor. Thank you Mr. manager and for getting the letter and and also I I do want to just of say publicly um I I had a a very long uh thanks to the mayor for giving somebody my contact information. I had a very long conversation with uh Miss Lesson and and had the privilege of getting inside some of those old buildings which are very cool. Uh I will say if you want me on your side on something, you bring me inside an old building and show me a a real rundown water boiler. it goes wonders. Um, but but in addition to what's outlined in the report, just kind of for the edification of the rest of the council, also the public who's going to kick the crap out of me at the next neighborhood meeting for saying anything nice about Mullins right now, but I'm going to anyway. Um, they are doing a lot of work. Um, there's a lot of those buildings are are awful. Um, it's honestly it is incredible that anybody wants to turn them into anything. Uh there's a lot of moving parts. Uh for people at home who don't realize this, um the between the national park, the state, and the city, the the layers of red tape on what can and can't be built, what can and can't be knocked down. Um when something can be knocked down, we can't you can't put any bracing because it's immediately on a river. There's a reason we don't let people build that close to rivers anymore, but those buildings are old. Um and so I would just say that, you know, there is a there's a whole lot in place. the plan uh as outlined as well as the emergency plan and the second emergency plan for uh getting the Riverwalk open again and the timelines, they make a lot of sense to me. I I'm glad to hear that if funding falls through for them and they're not able to get their 30 units of housing on the inside, they do have contingencies in place to repair the facade so the Riverwalk can be open with a pretty hard timeline. So, I I think that's really great to see. So, thank you to the the manager for for what you've done. Thank you to the mayor for getting me in touch with Miss Leon. And publicly, thank you to Miss Lesson and the the rest of the team at Mullins who

really is trying their best with a pretty crap building. Thank you, Council Mcdana. Motion to accept and place on file by councel Direan, seconded by Councelor Chow. All in favor signify by saying I. Any opposed? So ordered. 5.2formational report, Aubra Day Foundation Award, April 1st, 2026. Mr. Manager.

Uh, thank you very much, Mr. Mayor. Once again through to the council council is this was a a pleasant surprise. I know that um this council has been very excited in working with the tree canopies and and heat islands and things that we've been going forward especially with uh the tree committee that I know will be coming to us uh fairly soon. So the fact that we were notified just in the beginning of April that the Arbor Day Foundation is something that you know is is seeing us as a leader. I think that in in in years to come with our tree committee uh coming like I said in just a few weeks um next year it'll even be better. So I think it's important to be recognized by outside uh folks at the Arbor Day Foundation and uh this continues a positive momentum here for the city of LOL. Uh if there's any questions, we can absolutely call them. But I I would hope that uh 2020 in the future, the 2026 uh the TREUSA recognition from Aubberday Foundation will even be uh won't won't even be with in question considering what we're we're trying to accomplish. So congratulations to the council for pushing this.

Thank you, Mr. Manager. Council Dan.

Uh thank you very much. Um I looked at the Arbor Day website and uh LOL has received the Tree City award for 28 years. Uh and it has received the growth award for two years which means that it has demonstrated a higher level of tree care and community engagement than other cities. Um 252 trees were planted in the city according to the Arbaday uh site. Um, and so we're uh in goodstead among the 3,600 tree cities in the US. Um, I think a press release about this would be great marketing um for the city because we have so many things to celebrate. Front runner city and learning city and now and Tree City again apparently. So thank you.

Thank you Council Dian Council Mercia.

Thank you Mr. Mayor. I remember Jane Calvin would have the 2000 for the year 2000 trees for the year 2000. But let me just add a little something here because to me there's nothing more beautiful than a tree. And I remember going in grammar school when we learned a very nice poem by Joyce Kilmer. Joyce Kilmer is a man, although the name is Joyce, and he wrote, "I think that I shall never see a poem as lovely as a tree, a tree that may in summer wear a nest of robins in her hair." And it and I could go on, but I won't. But it says at the end, "Poems are made by fools like me, but only God can make a tree." And I thought that was so beautiful. Let me tell you about this Joyce Kilmer who wrote that beautiful tree poem. He was a journalist and a soldier. He fought in World War I in 1918 and he was killed at at 31 years old. I just thought I would add that. So he did write a beautiful poem. Thank you.

Thank Thank you, Council Mercia. Jane Kelvin has done amazing work in the city and and um I can't thank her enough. This body has pushed for this tree committee for some time and it's almost here so at the speed of government. Council Robinson. Thank you. And and this is going to also be incorporated into as we begin to put back the pieces over in our lower Sunville with that CSO work. Correct. whatever designs and bumpouts that have been in the plans, we'll be planting again. Okay. Thank you.

Thank you, Councelor Robinson, and thank you, manager Golden and your staff for continuing to push this motion to accept and place on file by councelor Noon, seconded by councel Robinson. All those in favor signify by saying I. Any opposed? So ordered. Six votes from the city manager. 6.1 vote accept timely submission of the budget. Wave four reading and second reading by title vote pursuant to mass general law chapter 44 section 32. The city council of the city of l ack acknowledges timely receipt of the city manager on May 12th 2026 of the recommended budget for the city of ll for fiscal year 2027. Motion to adopt by councelor Scott seconded by councelor rook. Roll call. Mr. Clerk.

Councelor Noon. Yes. Council Robinson. Yes. Councilor Rock. Yes. Council Scott. Yes. Councilor Chowo. Yes. Councilor Dakota. Yes. Mayor Gia. Yes. Councilor Juran. Yes. Councilor Leang. Yes. Councilor Mcdana. Yes. Council Mercia. Yes. We put the last four. We have a registered speaker. So, sorry. Uh 6.2 vote FY2027 budget approval appropriation order. Give first reading. Motion to refer to public hearing on May 26th, 2026. at 7 p.m. by council noon, seconded by council Mcdana. There is a registered speaker, Mr. Mayor.

Um, Monica Lundberg. Please go to a public hearing.

Good evening. My name is Monica Lundberg. I'm a Lel homeowner at 12 Alyssa Drive and a parent of a Lel public school student. I am here again to urge you to fund our schools equitably. I understand that budgets are tight. It's the conversation every year, isn't it? Costs increase faster than revenue. I'm not here to ask you to work miracles. I'm here to remind you that a budget is a moral document. We fund what we value. I spent a great deal of time over the last several weeks going through Lowel's budgets over the last decade. And the picture that has emerged has me asking, does Lel still value public education? Most of our school funding comes from state aid, but LOL's required to contribute general funds as well. Let's look at that. This graph shows LOL general fund education spending from fiscal year 200 uh 2015 through fiscal year 27. The blue line shows the minimum required local contribution. What the state says that is the bare minimum LL must spend to meet our students constitutional right to an education. Notice that since fiscal year 2021, Lel has not spent much more than the minimum. What happened then? The pandemic of course, but also the implementation of the student opportunity act. The S SOA was supposed to give our students more opportunities. From where I stand, it looks like Lel has taken that boost in chapter 70 funds as an excuse to contribute less of our own funds to the schools. Now, last year, I came before this body and said basically the same thing, just without the graph. I'd like to address some of the arguments I've heard about why we can't give the schools more cash funding.

First is the argument that because fixed costs continue to rise, other city departments need their budgets to increase. I would like to point out again that that is also true of the school department. All departments have contracts they are beholden to, but only one department is asked to maintain those with so little investment from our city. Of the largest departments by expenditures in the city, only one has received less investment from the city cumulatively, and that's our public schools. The public schools, city cash is this line here, police, fire, uh, DPW, the two orange ones are the city manager. one um because there's been changes in which categories are included in that. Um and then those are some of the others. For time, I will not go through every single one. Um look at the difference between the cuts the school department has endured compared to the police department. And I also have one that shows of the top six by expenditures departments the difference in year-to-year percent change. Look how many cuts the school department has. Colors are the same as the other one. This is police. This is fire. DPW MIS. City manager.

Miss Lunberg. You're at your three minutes. All right. Um, I have more if you'd like to talk to me later. Um, and I will also say just quickly that, um, I know that probably most of you have an argument forming right now about what about chargebacks? Um, and if I can just show this briefly, that green line, that's our chargebacks. All those are different desi categories for the chargebacks in net school spending. The green line is the one that includes charter schools. Now I met with my legislators last week and showed them that graph and they said they haven't heard from any of you about education funding. So I'm here to ask you a few things. Number one, get in touch with the legislature. use your pull on Beacon Hill and advocate for charter school funding reform and more funds for our schools so that that's not such a huge burden. Number two, look at how we're funding different departments. Look at the equity because right now I'm not seeing it. Thank you.

Thank you. All in favor signify by saying I. Any opposed? So ordered. 6.3 vote accept expend $467,917 criminal justice response program grant LPD wave full reading and second reading by title vote authorize the city manager on behalf of the city of l to accept and expend a grant from the office on violence against women regarding the FY2025 improving criminal justice response to domestic violence dating violence sexual assault and stalking grant program awarded in the amount amount of $467,917 over the three-year period for the use by the L City of L Police Department.

Motion to adopt. Motion to adopt by councelor Ror. Seconded by councelor Non. Roll call. Councelor Non. Yes. Council Robinson. Yes. Council Rook. Yes. Councilor Scott. Yes. Uh Council Chow. Yes. Council Dakota. Yes. Mayor Gia. Yes. Council Durant. Yes. Council Leang. Yes. Council Mcdana. Yes. Council Mercier. Yes. 11 days. 6.4 vote. Approve amend to amendment to special permit. Give first reading. Motion to refer to the public hearing on June 16th, 2026 at 7 p.m. All in favor signify by saying I. Opposed. So awarded. Oh,

a motion. I'm sorry. Council Robinson, Council Noon.

All in favor signify by saying I. Any opposed? So ordered 6.5 vote declare 9 mil street court surplus in available for sale. Wave full reading and second reading by title vote declaring surplus property located at 9 mil street mil street court lass in authorizing the city manager to seek proposals under the yard sale program adopted by the city council on June 9th 1998 for 9 mil street lass. Uh motion to adopt by councelor Dakota seconded by councelor Direan. Roll call. Council new. Yes. Council Robinson. Yes.

Council Rock. Yes. Council Scott. Yes. Council Chow. Yes. Council Dakota. Yes. Mayor Gia. Yes. Council Jirean. Yes. Council Leang. Yes. Council Mcdana. Yes. Council Moria. Yes. Thank you, Mr. Clerk. Seven. Orders from the city manager. 7.1 Order 2027 capital plan loan order. Give first reading. Motion to refer to public hearing on May 26, 20 26 at 700 p.m. by councelor Dakota, seconded by councelor Mcdana. All in favor signify by saying I. Any oppose? So ordered. I. 7.2. Mr. Mayor. Yep. Um I just have a quick question through you to the manager. Um

on the park open space improvements 220k for athletic field irrigation system replacement. Which park's that? Callie alumni. Mr. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Threw you to the council. Um, that is to shed an alumni. Okay. Thank you.

Thank you. Thank you. 7.2 order. Parking capital improvement loan order. Give first reading. Motion refer to public hearing on May 2020 May 26th, 2026 at 7 p.m. by councelor Mercier, seconded by councelor Chow. All in favor signify by saying I. Any oppose? So ordered. Eight. Ordinances from the city manager 8.1 ordinance amend chapter 50 and 81 water and sewer give first reading. Motion to refer to a public hearing on May 26th, 2026 at 700 p.m. by councelor Noon, seconded by councelor Scott. All in favor signify by saying I. Any opposed? So ordered. 8.2 ordinance amend sewer rate FY27 give first reading. Motion to refer it to public hearing on May 26, 2026 at 7 p.m. by councelor Scott, seconded by councelor Rook. All in favor signified by saying I. Any opposed? So ordered. 8.3 Ordinance amend water rate FY27 give first reading. Motion to refer to a public hearing on May 26th, 2026 at 7 p.m. by Council Mcdana, seconded by Council Leang. All in favor signify by saying I. Any opposed? So ordered. Nine. Constipable Bonds 9.1 communication city manager request approval of Robert Hearn Jr. Constable Bond motion to adopt by councelor Jirean seconded by councelor Mcdana roll call.

Council new. Yes. Council Robinson. Yes. Council Rock. Yes. Council Scott. Yes. Council Chow. Yes. Council Dakota. Yes. Mayor Gia. Yes. Council Jirean. Yes. Council Leang. Yes. Council Mcdana. Yes. Councilor Mercia. Yes. 11. 10 reports. 10.2. Auditor clerk oversight and personal subcommittee May 12th, 2026. Council Jiren, you want to hold off till next week? Uh, that's fine. Yeah.

Thank you. 11 petitions 11.1 miscellaneous. Amigos Con convenience store Samuel Carllo request installation of 15minute parking sign at 994 Central Street. Motion refer to transportation engineer for report and recommendation by councelor Robinson count seconded by councelor noon. All in favor signified by saying I. Any opposed? So ordered. 11.2 miscellaneous Nancy Valdez. Request installation of a handicap parking sign at 168 High Street. Motion refer to transportation engineer for report and recommendation by councelor Rook. Seconded by councelor Mcdana. All in favor signify by saying I. Any opposed? So ordered. Announcements. Councelor Scott.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Um, unfortunately, the ribbon cutting that was scheduled for Monday, May 18th, has been postponed for the O'Donnell Park. Um, and the playground is also closed. There are outstanding issues that arose that require additional review and follow-up work. So, they'll be in touch to reschedule that when we're completed. Thank you, Councelor Scott. Uh, Council Dren,

thank you, Mr. Mayor. Um the uh Pard Memorial Library Foundation holds an Eleanor Lipman award for writing each year and uh the deadline for submissions is May 30th. Um uh so LOL residents or current students at UMass LOL or Middle Sex Community College are um able to submit um they should look at LOL.org for more information, but I just wanted to let them know because the deadline is coming up. Thank you. Thank you, Council Durant. Councelor Chow.

Uh, thank you, Mr. Mayor. Just, uh, a quick announcement. Um, we're going to have a meeting and, uh, Ruben cutting ceremony at the Calorie Park Saturday, May 16. It's this Saturday, actually, from noon to 3:00.

Thank you, Council Chow. Council Mcdana. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Uh, on the 15th, uh, the happy to chat bench. I'm very happy uh to chat on the 15th, which is this week. Uh the happy to chat bench is officially la uh launching at the Leo Roy Garage. I know the folks over at the Council on Aging and the several other groups with acronyms affiliated with trying to make this get this thing across the finish line. Uh you know, thanks to them. Thank you to you and your team and uh hopefully we'll see uh some of you guys at the Leo Roy at 11:00 a.m. on the 15th for uh launching this bench. I'm excited. Thank you, Council Mcdana. motion.

Mr. Mayor, could we get a Could we get a list of all the things that are happening? I like she has something this I don't know. There's something going on on Saturday here at 9:00 in the mayor's reception room as well, right? A picture of something. A there's a picture of all the past and current um elected officials in the city on Saturday at 9:30 a.m. in future. Future past and future. If you want to be in, you're in current. Past and current. Oh, current. Okay. I thought you said future. I'm hope I'm hoping you're going to be a future one. Councelor Rock.

Uh thank you, Mr. Mayor. I unfortunately won't be here Saturday. Um, my daughter Haley is graduating, getting her masters from Salem State in education. So, very proud about that. And, uh, I think u, my wife April got the best gift uh, a birthday gift tonight. Today's her birthday and uh, I was not there at the house to celebrate. So, uh, happy birthday to uh, to my wife April. And, uh, Mr. Mayor, I wish you would have caught our conversation right before the meeting tonight. Thank you very much, Mr. Mayor. Councelor Rook, we could talk about it after with the manager. Um, motion to adjurnn by councelor Direan, seconded by councelor Mercy. All in favor? Oh, I'm sorry, councelor Scott.

I was just gonna I'll I'll be in trouble if I don't say it now that he just did. My daughter's graduating from college with her bachelor's degree from Simmons on Friday. So, congratulations to Aaron. Wow. My my wish for all of you is that you don't have heavy bills with this. Um, manager Golden, I can only imagine what those bills are like. Mary Golden. Mr. Mayor, thank you very much. After 16 long years of paying for my daughter, she'll be graduating. You met us a little nursing. So, we're very excited about that as well. And uh my apologies if anybody heard me just yell a moment ago. Council Robinson, I just poked myself with a pin and I'm bleeding. So, maybe the nurse could help me out. So, I apologize if anybody heard.

Council Scott, the one two one thing that those two have in common is look at their hair. Better than motion to adjurnn. doing better than seconded by council mercy. All in favor signify by saying I. Any oppose? So ordered. I didn't see him.