City Council - Regular Meeting

Good evening. Today is October 5th and we are starting the public speak out portion of our city council meeting. I would like to welcome our councillors that's here in person. Councillor Martin, Councillor Govan, Councillor Walsh, Councillor Delgado, Councillor Click-Bruce, and online we have Councillor Davila. So I just want to thank you all for coming to participate in the public speak out. And the first person on the agenda is Stephen Howard. Is Stephen Howard here? I saw him earlier. Stephen Howard, you have three minutes. Please state your name and address for the record.

Next, we have Erica Cruz, who is online. But before that, I would like to welcome Councillor Hearst, who is here in person and online, Councillor Fenton and Councillor Perez that joined us. Next, we have Erica Cruz, who is also online to speak. Erica, please state your name and address for the record.

Thank you, Erica. Next, we have Nathan Albright. Is Nathan here? All right. Nathan, please state your name and address for the record. And you have three minutes.

Thank you, Nathan. Next we have Terry Owens regarding flock cameras. Please state your name and address for the record.

Council goes on are you working on the ordinance. For the flat cameras. The council goes on is the point person working on an ordinance for a flat camera so maybe you'll have an opportunity to talk to them. Next we have little guilty. Please state your name and address for the record.

No, I was timing. Okay. Tell us the two points.

Thank you, Liz. Counselor Edwards is here. He's listening from the back. Just wanted to welcome him Next, Matthew Ferry. Matthew Ferry. All right. Oh, he can't make it. Okay. Charles Stokes. I don't see Charles. Kenneth Everett. Everett. Everett. You tell me. Averitt. Averitt. Name and address for the record, Mr. Averitt.

Thank you very much, Miss Kathleen. Louis Sacco? Is Louis here? Louis is not here. I want to thank all of you who came out today. Are you from a particular organization? Deflock Springfield Holyoke. Okay. Well, thank you for coming to Springfield to deflock the flock cameras. We're glad that you took the time to stand up for what you believe in. We need more of that. And we just appreciate you making the signs and everything. And I want to just give Councilor Govan a minute to speak.

Yes, thank you, Madam President. And I also want to thank you all for coming out here, especially the Leave the Leaves. I was looking forward to that. But regarding the flock cameras, I had a conversation with a sergeant earlier and I did write an ordinance and just Councilor Hurst is going to be helping me with that. And I believe we're going to be hearing it on our October 19th meeting. So I would encourage you all to come back and hear the conversation that day. Because I agree that we have to find a happy medium between our privacy and public safety. Historically in this city, as we know i

Thank you, Councilor Govan. I do want to thank all of the participants that spoke today. This is how you advocate. A lot of times we don't know some of the issues that's going on because we don't know everything. And most of the time when we create ordinances, it's because someone else brought the issue or the solution to our attention. And then we just go to work and putting actions in place. People like you all even write the ordinances and we send them to law just to make sure everything we're saying meets the codes and the mass general laws in our Springfield ordinances. So advocacy is imp

Good evening. Today is Monday, October 5th. It is 635, and we will start the regular meeting agenda for the City Council. Madam Clerk, will you please call the roll?

Can someone please turn off the mic on the podium for me? Thank you, Sarah. Will councillors and our guests please stand for a moment of silence? Please remain standing for the Pledge of Allegiance. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands, one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Are there any reports of committee? Councillor Walsh.

Thank you, Madam President. The Elder Affairs Committee met last week in person where myself, Detective McCain, who's the go-to person on the police force for elder scams, Nikki Brookin from the Raymond Jordan Center. We also had many people who represent different senior centers, Ariel Mendez, Angela Trueheart from Clota Concepcion, Allie Haag from Hungry Hill. In attendance also were Consul Santanello, Davila, and yourself. At this meeting, the detective really spoke to the committee about the various scams affecting senior citizens. And he gave a lot of advice to them on what they should be

Thank you. And Detective McCain is here. We appreciate all the information. It blew my mind, the scams that they are doing out there. And I look forward to the no soliciting ordinance coming back. I think that will help. But thank you, Detective. Any other reports of committee? Council Govan.

Thank you, Madam. Thank you, Madam President. The Finance Committee met on September 28th, and we discussed the parking authority item that was on the agenda previously. The parking authority, Tim Sheehan, yourself. COUNCILOR WALSH, COUNCILOR HURST, COUNCILOR DAVILA, COUNCILOR, OH, WAIT, NO, THEY WEREN'T THERE. I WAS GOING TO SAY, ALL THOSE PEOPLE WERE THERE. COUNCILOR DAVILA AND COUNCILOR BRUCE, MYSELF, WERE THERE. AND WE HAD A GOOD MEETING AND A GOOD DISCUSSION ABOUT THE PARKING AUTHORITY AND WE LEARNED A LOT. SO I BELIEVE THAT'S GOING TO BE COMING FOR US SOME TIME IN THE FUTURE. THANK YOU,

Thank you, Councilor Govan. I think it's the 19th as well. Any other reports of committee? Councilor Martin.

Thank you, Madam President. On September 24th, Councilor Santanello and I had a joint subcommittee meeting of Public Safety and Health and Human Services talking about the recent ban of Kratom. It was a follow-up meeting. specifically the confiscation thereof. The state and Governor Healy's office stated that we aren't allowed to confiscate it from the stores that are currently selling them. They are scheduled A1, and as you guys all got in the letters, people have overdosed from it. There's some... scary side effects. So I was just talking with the law department attorney, um, Danielle Downin

NEW SPEAKER THANK YOU, COUNSEL MURRAN. COUNSEL SANCINELLA, DID YOU WANT TO ADD TO THAT?

NEW SPEAKER YEAH, I JUST WANT TO SAY THAT I CAN'T UNDERSTAND, I THINK WE, AS A STATE, I think we rushed into this without having a plan behind it. Here we have a class one substance now in the class of heroin, and we can't take it away from people. We can't confiscate, which makes absolutely no sense, because if you can't confiscate it, somebody's going to overdose on that stuff in those stores. So I just don't get it, but I want to see if the city can pass their own ordinance. Thank you.

Thank you, Councilor Santanello. Madam Clerk, please recognize Councillor in Seat 9.

Thank you. Are there any more reports of committee? Councillor Davila.

Thank you, Madam President. The Environmental Committee met on September 24th. Unfortunately, I was the only member present. At that time, Madam President, we... We merit to continue the review of the proposed woodland ordinance. We reviewed the last draft with the representative from the Law Department, SCAS, and the City Forestry Division. The proposed ordinance is intended to address the three canopy laws associated with development while balancing impacts on homeowners and city operation. The draft generally applies to parcels of at least 5,000 square feet that may meet additional true can

Thank you. Thank you, Councillor Davila. Any other reports of committee?

Councillor Govan. I'm sorry, Madam President. I forgot that the Finance Committee just met previous to this meeting, and Councillor Perez was there, and we discussed the financial orders that's on our agenda today. Thank you.

Thank you, Councillor Govan. Any others? Seeing none, Madam Clerk, please call the roll on the reports of committee.

I did our report, so I apologize. I could do it later, though, but yes. No, I could do it later. It's on the agenda. I can do it later. Yes, thank you.

Yes, item approved. I thought he was going to say no because he forgot his report. All right. Madam Clerk, please call the first item on the agenda.

Oh, 2027, okay. You have the floor. Please state your name and address for the record.

I just want to find out what caused those surpluses, and if we had surpluses, why didn't we apply that to the taxpayers on their homeowners, on their taxes?

Can you repeat the surplus? Sorry, Counselor. Can you repeat the surplus numbers one more time?

The surplus amount on the expenditure side was five point four million dollars Madam president Yeah, how much how much did we put towards the I know the city put some money towards reducing the tax rate last year How much was that?

Okay. So can we earmark, because I know that the council president has repeatedly said that people are hurting out there, which we know, and they're barely able to cling to their homes, we know. So is it fair to say that we can put the majority or the brunt of that cash that rolls into the new year towards that tax bill?

Thank you. Thank you, Madam President. Thank you so much.

Thank you, Councilor Santanello. So that was just the 2026?

Any questions from councillors? Councillor Dobbin.

Thank You madam president But good to see you. I just want to make sure So we have a surplus and that's coming from motor vehicles, correct part of it Yes, that was approximately 2.9 million dollars right now. Is that because we have more cars or we are collecting?

I understand. So I know we're projecting, might be projecting too far out, but are we expecting, so we're in 2026, we're going to be in 2027, 28, are we expecting the same amount roughly on motor vehicle tax, do you think? Or we're going to be anywhere between 13, 14? Yeah, I...

Now, Patrick, the last, the only thing that caught my eye was the penalties, and it appears that my iPod is acting up here. So how much of penalties did we go up, like half a million?

Penalties. My iPod is acting up, but how much in penalties are we getting more? Is it half a million more? Penalties.

It's on the report. It's one, two, three, the fourth line down. Penalties, interest, and other taxes.

Okay. Are they keeping up on those payments, correct? Okay. All right, Patrick, thank you for your thoroughness. Thank you, Madam President.

Thank you, Councilor Davila. Any, Councilor Fenton?

Thank you, Madam President. It's a little off topic, so I'll be really brief. But because Councillor Santanello was mentioning the tax burden of residents, and I know Councillor Govan has recently been scheduling some upcoming meetings on that. I JUST WANTED TO INFORM THE COUNCIL THAT THE SPECIAL COMMITTEE ON TARGETED TAX RELIEF HAS BEEN MEETING REGULARLY, AND WE'RE GOING TO RELEASE LATER THIS WEEK THE APPLICATION TERMS FOR TAXPAYERS TO BE ELIGIBLE FOR THAT TAX RELIEF THIS YEAR. THE APPLICATIONS WILL BE AVAILABLE STARTING NEXT WEEK. THAT WILL BE IN A FULL RELEASE THAT COMES FROM THE CITY, AND

Can you tell us a little bit more about that fund, like how it got started and how this committee got started?

Sure. So I think it was two years ago that this body expressed a desire for targeted tax relief for people who have the most financial need after some of the testimony that we heard. And so the targeted tax relief committee was formed in order to come up with the parameters for what the application would look like, who's eligible, and how ultimately the money will be handed out to residents based on the appropriation that we originally got for $1 million. It was also sent out on tax bills to allow people to check a box and contribute some additional money. To the fund unfortunately that has no

I know it's not a topic as well, but I just want to put it on the record. I would love for us to figure out what we are doing with the marijuana funds, coming up with a process and possibly doing something to target tax relief for those that we have dispensaries in the area. So I just want to put it on the record for us to look at that as well. Madam chair, I'll go by with the finance committee. Thank you.

Thank you. I believe councillor Govan has a meeting scheduled Do you remember the day I?

Would have to look at my calendar book. I'll ask the staff to send it out again.

Okay. Thank you I remember seeing it Thank You councillor Thank You councillor All right anything else Seeing none madam clerk, please call the roll on items one and two

Yes, items approved. Madam Clerk, please call the next item.

Any questions or comments from counselors?

Yeah, I'm just requesting that the staff send the information via email so we could spread it out in the community. Thank you.

Councilor Martin, can you ask staff to send this to counselors? Thank you. All right, thank you, Councilor Perez. Getting that over to you. Any other questions or comments?

Thank you, Madam Clerk. Madam Clerk, please call the roll. Councilor Hurst.

I noticed that you have two Saturday dates at Greenleaf and then two dates during the week at the Raymond Jordan Senior Center. Was there any reason as to why we didn't do one Saturday at Greenleaf, one Saturday at the Raymond Jordan Senior Center, and then switch around the days during the week at Eastside?

If you're doing it based off of research, I would love to know and have that data.

Thank you, Councillor. One moment, Councillor Dyer. Madam Clerk, please recognize Councillor in seat number four.

Councillor Brown, I see that you are muted, but we still can't hear you, so... We'll come back to you. Councillor Donnell.

Thank you, Madam President. Madam Clerk, just a quick observation, if I may, just a humble suggestion, if I may. I did notice that the Ray Jordan Senior Center, they're going to be open Wednesday, October 21st, and Thursday, October 29th, from 9 to 3. May I suggest that perhaps we should increase it up to 4 to keep it apart with Greenleaf? And I'm sure that the data... told you that that's the times, but I will encourage you, go back, see if it's possible to add that extra hour on both days.

I would encourage you to do so. I mean, go back, look at your data, as you say, of course. I am not the election commissioner. It's just an observation that I made. So is it basically the Ray Jordan Senior Center is more in line to target the population, which is the elderly? Correct, yes, OK. Although anybody could go and vote correct and they do right. Thank you, Madam Clerk. Thank you, Madam President.

Thank you, counselor. Any other comments or questions, concerns? Seeing none, Madam Clerk, please call the roll.

Yes. Item approved. Yes. Madam Clerk, Items 4 and 5 are under the $100,000 threshold. We can call the roll on those two unless anyone has any discussion questions on the two items. Madam Clerk, please call the rolls on items one and two, I mean four and five.

Yes. Items approved. Madam Clerk, please call the next item on the agenda.

Please state your name and address for the record.

No, we discussed these items in the Finance Committee, and I think these are, especially number seven, the one that's coming up next is the one with the BHN, which I think we all are aware of, and the training grant, of course. We want our officers to be more trained. Thank you, Madam President.

Thank you. Thank you, Councilor. Madam Clerk, please call the roll on item number six.

Yes, item approved. Madam Clerk, please call the next item.

Thank you, Madam President. Lieutenant, good to see you again. As I've said in the past, I'm a big proponent of this program. It works. I've seen it firsthand. But I have to ask the same question that I ask every year. Are we keeping these clinicians to Springfield only? Okay. I believe that was the same case last year. So I know there was a time in which we were sharing the clinicians with area communities, and that speaks to my ears that they're dedicated for Springfield. With that being said, good job on this program. Thank you. Thank you.

Thank you, Councillor. Any other councillors? Councillor Walsh.

Thank you, Madam President. Thank you for your presentation. Ma'am. I think this is a wonderful program. I'm just wondering, are there any statistics or feedback on how effective it is?

Thank you, Councillor Walsh. Councillor Click-Bruce.

Thank you, Madam President. Good to see you, Lieutenant Elliott, again. Councillor. Some questions. Did the amount increase from last year? Modestly. Okay. And then I know we go through this every year. Are you looking to add any of the partnerships other than BHN? And if so, what would that process look like or are you comfortable with BHN moving forward or you're not?

What was that? Oh, yeah. Sorry. I'm like, what, a big punch? All right. No, I got you. Thank you, Lieutenant. Thank you, Madam President. Counselor.

Thank you, Counselor. Any other? Counselor Hurst.

Just really quickly, Lieutenant Elliott, how many clinicians do you think we need here in Springfield?

Have we asked the mayor for any additional clinicians to be funded? IN THE BUDGET? I DO NOT BELIEVE WE HAVE, NO, SIR. THANK YOU.

THANK YOU, COUNCIL HURST. COUNCIL PEREZ?

MY QUESTION IS BASED ON THE NEED AND WHAT YOU JUST SAID, WHAT HAPPENED TO THOSE THAT ARE IN NEED OF THE SERVICE AND WHAT PLAN IS IN PLACE IF THEY CANNOT REACH THEM?

Thank you, Counselor. Any others? Counselor Govan.

Thank you, Madam President. As a social worker, I am aware of the crisis calls that are made and how they're made, so it's really helpful sometimes when you have a police officer present because of the risk that it could happen because there's potential for You know people going out of control So it's really helpful and to the question that counselor Perez asked about what happens when there's not a clinician available a lot of times That gives me pause because you know, you guys aren't trained to do the crisis assessment But I know that when that does happen you guys have an ambulance and a p

Maybe some advocacy to DMH. Yeah. All right. Any others? Madam Clerk, please call the roll on the item.

Yes. Item approved. Madam Clerk, please call the next item. Thank you very much. You're welcome. Have a good evening.

Any questions from councillors? Okay, Madam Clerk, please call the roll on the $48 bill of a prior year.

YES. KATHY COMING IN HERE BREAKING THE BANK. MADAM CLERK, PLEASE CALL THE NEXT ITEM.

KATHY. This is a hundred dollar donation from Barbara Garvey for the Indian Orchard branch Thank You miss Garvey any questions comments Madam clerk, please call the roll on acceptance an acceptance councillor Santanello.

Yes, item approved. Madam Clerk, please call the next item.

Chris, please state your name and address for the record, but I also want to tell you thank you for sending that 100-page document ahead of time for us to read about the vehicles and the plan. It wasn't really 100 pages, but it felt like it.

Thank you, Chris. Councilman Martin, do you know what the enterprise vehicles are?

Thank you, Chris. I wasn't calling you out. That's for anybody who didn't know what Enterprise was. But as a new counselor, sometimes we don't know those terms. So thank you for the explanation for the trash, trucks, and vehicles in the Enterprise Fund. Chris, any other questions, comments? Counselor Click-Bruce.

Thank you, Madam President. I also want to speak on this item as a report, and I apologize not getting it out, but we did meet on the 29th with Chris Signoli, Lindsay Hackett, Councilor Davila, Councilor Perez, and Kathy. So he already gave the overview. I just want to commend the city for listening to the city council and other members. us advocating to come up with a comprehensive plan, and this is something that is needed. We didn't make a recommendation, but we did. I know he brought it to the Finance Committee for Monday, so I just want the report on that. So thank you, Madam President.

Thank you, Counselor Click-Bruce, for holding that meeting. Any other counselors? Seeing none, Madam Clerk, please call the roll on the item.

Yes. Item approved. Thank you, Councillors. Thank you, Chris.

Thank you. I'm going to ask Vice President Delgado to swap with me since this is my resolution. And Councilor, huh? Huh? Oh, no, it's 14. Did anyone want to take any of these unfinished business?

Because it's under unfinished business? A counselor? Huh? Oh, on mine it says 14. It is? Oh, see? 14 on mine? I don't know. Okay. Well, item number 11, then we're in good shape. Please call item number 11. That's why I was wondering why it was all the way at 14. But that's what it is on mine. We still need you.

To this resolution, because we were together when Senator Jake Oliveira approached us and asked us to bring this resolution forward, for the Springfield Head Start and all Head Starts. The federal government is looking to slash the funding for the Head Start programs. And there is public testimony that is available for anyone to comment on and it's open until tomorrow. And so we wanted to try to get this resolution passed and sent out. to the Honorable Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, and add it to the record. FOR PUBLIC TESTIMONY. I'M JUST

One page. So I just wanted to see if Councilor Click-Bruce wanted to say anything, and then... Oh, you want me? Okay.

And then... All right, Councilor Click-Bruce. Thank you, Madam President. Thank you for the resolution and taking the lead on that. I'm a firm believer in early education. My mom was an educator. at Early Childhood Center. So I know firsthand what early child education can do to our young families and not only in the city of Springfield, but across the Commonwealth. So I'm happy to support this. It's something that we need to advocate for more of. So thank you again, Council President, for taking the lead on this. And I do remember that now. So yes, I look for hopefully our colleagues to suppo

Thank you, Councillor Cligg-Bruce. Anybody else want to speak?

I would like to be added to the resolution.

Is there anybody that does not want to be added to the resolution? If not, Madam Clerk, can you add all the councillors to the resolution? If I'm hearing any other... Oh, Councillor Fenton.

And I just want to echo the statements that were made. I'm happy to support it and be a co-sponsor. I think it's a really worthy initiative and thank the council president for bringing it forward. I do have one friendly edit, if it's okay. He is the secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services, but if it's at all possible not to call him honorable. I would like to strike that. That's a, you know, we don't have to use that word, and I would prefer not to use that word to describe that particular person. But otherwise, I'm really very much in support of it. Okay. Otherwise, very happ

So, Madam Clerk, you got that in notes to strike that? Yeah. I think we're good. You want to vote on it? All right, so then you made a motion and seconded it by Madam President. Any questions on the motion? All right, Madam Clerk, can we call the roll on the amendment?

Listen, please include my name. Thank you.

All right, motion passes. Madam Clerk, can we put a, can we vote on the resolution?

Yes. Thank you, Councilors. Resolution passes. Madam Clerk, is there any other items on the agenda? There's not. Thank you. That concludes this meeting. Our next meeting is October 19th for a regular city council's meeting. But, councillors, please keep in mind that we are starting the tax rate setting meetings. And the first one will be October 20th at 5 o'clock. Please try to make it virtually or in person.