City Council - Regular Meeting

You know, they're getting real good at it. They look like an official.

And I was like, yes.

All right, there we go.

Let me, I got this echo going. Perfect. All right, good evening everybody. Welcome to Springfield City Hall. We have a 6.30 regular meeting, but just before that, we're going to have our public speak out. But before we go any further, all right. George, I'm getting a double.

Go to the audio. Go to audio.

I appreciate you. Go to audio.

You see it at the bottom, at the bottom?

Auto settings?

Yep, auto settings.

Yep.

And then when you click it, it should be a link that says mute it. Mute the audio settings. You see it? No. It's like an audio button. Like a mic. Yeah, there he is. He can do it.

How about now? Yeah. You're the man, George. Sorry about the technical difficulties. Let's start that over. Welcome everybody to Springfield City Hall. We are gonna be starting our public speak out. And today we have 10 speakers. Each speaker will have three minutes to talk to us and then we'll go from there. So first speaker we have is Elizabeth Ogilvie. Is Elizabeth on? All right, we'll come back to Ms. Ogilvie. Second speaker we have registered is Ms. Mary Johnson. Welcome, Ms. Johnson. Yeah, you got to turn the little icon, there you go.

It's on, wonderful. Thank you, Mr. Vice President Delgado, thank you. Good evening. My name is Attorney Mary Johnson. I'm a resident of Springfield. And, of course, another school year has started. And while this week has been a little bit bumpy, I'm not here to talk about the cyber attacks, although shout out to everyone working so hard on that. all throughout this weekend and today. Across the city, students are trying to get to school on time, whether it be by bus, walking, being dropped off by car, by bicycle. At Washington Street School in Forest Park, staff and families are working very hard to do just that, but the roadways around Washington Street School are working against them. In a Pioneer Valley Planning Commission study released just this past month, it's right here, the issues of getting to Washington Street School safely are documented in detail with photographs, drone images, numbered of parked cars, numbers of vulnerable pedestrians. It's a thorough and extensive study. Now, school-aged children are crossing Washington Street outside of crosswalks, across two lanes of traffic, and parked cars on both sides. Those parked cars are also all over the surrounding streets of Itondale Street, Meredith Street, Eldridge Street. And now all of this congestion makes it very difficult for local residents who have to struggle with this on a weekly basis, residents who live near a Springfield school, should feel proud to be near some of the greatest students and teachers in our Commonwealth, not frustrated that they have to contend with congestion two times a day between September and June. I've spoken to some of these residents, and they recognize that the real issue here is student safety, but we shouldn't wait until a tragedy happens to fix this. What we need and what is outlined in this study is a parking lane painted on Washington Street and bike lanes painted on Washington Street. Page 25 of the report, which I'll send around to all of the counselors, has a great picture of what this would look like. A parking lane on the south side closest to the school would allow families to park and drop their kids off safely without the kids having to cross the busy two lanes of Washington Street. It would also mean that through traffic can flow more smoothly and safely. And it would mean that the young children who do have to cross Washington Street with guardians get to school being more easily seen without parked cars on both sides. There are also a few dozen cyclists who drop off during drop off and pick up times every day. And bike lanes between the sidewalk and the parked cars on the south side would make these children much safer as well. There are also several other long-term and short-term projects outlined in this really excellent study. Let's not wait for a tragedy to happen before we take action. Let's take action now. Get safe parking and bike lanes on Washington Street. Thank you.

Thank you, Mrs. Johnson. All right.

May I make a comment?

Go ahead, Council Walsh.

Mary, the way that that's usually done and can be done is through the Traffic Commission. So I think it would be appropriate if you and the people who are affected by this contact the Traffic Commission and appear for their next meeting. That's usually where it starts, and then it would come to us.

Thank you so much.

All right. Thank you, Councilor Walsh. Next speaker we have on here is Erica Cruz. Ms. Erica Cruz. All right. Moving on to the next one. Our next speaker, Mr. Steven Howard.

Thank you, Mr. VP. Evening, everyone. Recently, Holyoke voted against a data center being put up in their community, so I don't think it will be long before they try to establish a data center here in Springfield. So I'm gonna make two connections. When we hear the word gentrification, we pity luxury apartments and high-priced coffee shops designed to attract tourism and high-salary tech careers, usually leaving long-term residents out of the mix. Data centers do not usually create permanent living wages nor career opportunities for local residents as promoted for employment challenge communities. Data centers create an average of 500 to 1,500 positions, usually for out-of-state specialized workers during construction. However, data centers only create 30 to 50 temporary or low-wage local positions, such as security guards. Governments shower these tech giants with huge tax breaks while raising property taxes and increasing utility rates for all residents to subsidize who are usually priced out of their homes. Developers buy these homes, acres of land, and occupied buildings, which decreases potential... affordable housing opportunities. Developers target struggling homeowners offering to buy historically designated homes at unbelievable prices, enticing especially fixed-income residents to sell. When attempting to relocate to desired communities, these individuals find that they can't afford to move. Utilities spend millions overhauling grid infrastructure. Data center grids capacity tightens, then data center expenditures are passed on to local residents electric rates, which spike by an average of 15% to 30% annually. A single data center facility consumes 1 million gallons to 5 million gallons of water a day, lowering reservoir tables and drying up local wells, thereby creating water shortages and water price increases. These millions of gallons of toxic waste water, which are used to cool these data centers, are dumped into local waterways, causing pollution that destroys aquatic ecosystems, especially for those living downstream, such as Connecticut, where some of these very high-tech contractors who are imported to build these data centers end up contributing to polluting their own water and ecosystem, which their communities depend on. To address these public health contaminated runoffs, local municipalities increase public water and sewer rates by 10 to 15% on top of the additional increase annually. Data centers generate continuous fan noise and airborne toxic particles emissions caused by massive backup diesel generators in places like Springfield, which was named the number one asthma capital in the nation by the Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America from 2018 to 2019, and currently ranks 12th nationwide. Data centers add heavy airborne industrial pollutants, increase asthma attacks, cardiovascular illness, and increases long-term cancer risk. Nationwide, public resistance is increasing. More communities are filing lawsuits, and states like our neighbor, New York, have enacted moratoriums to halt new construction while assessing the potential damages and risk and health risk. Without very strict local zoning laws, water mandates, and financial corporate accountability, our beloved city of Springfield may be next on line to be paying for the price for these toxic centers if and when they are built here for generations to come. Mr. VP, thank you. Counselors, thank you everyone. Thanks for listening to me. Appreciate it. Thank you, Mr. Howard.

All right, next speaker we have on our list is Mrs. Rhonda Latney. Ms. Latney. All right, move on. Next speaker is Kirsten Helmer. Kirsten Helmer.

Yes, I'm online.

Oh, you're online. All right, thank you.

I am online, yes.

All right, you can't see this, but you've got three minutes, so I will do my best to regulate that. All right.

Thank you. So good evening. My name is Kirsten Helmer. I live in Ward 2, and this statement is also endorsed by Rise Up Western Mass Indivisible, of which I am a group member. First, elections. I thank Clerk Oyola-Lopez, who answered nine of the 21 questions I submitted this morning. I was wrong about the dropbox and the early voting sites. She corrected me. But honestly, her answer surfaced something worse. My son mailed his voter registration postmarked August 21st, one day before the deadline. It reached City Hall on September 4th, three days after the primary. So 14 days in the mail inside our city. On primary day, he went to his polling place and asked for a provisional ballot and he was not given one. He was told to go to city hall. Now chapter 54, section 76c says that he was entitled to a provisional ballot right there at his own precinct. And my son asked, he was sent away. His postmark was timely and a provisional ballot is exactly the mechanism for a case like this, but he never got to cast one. And so I'm asking how many Springfield voters were turned away like this on September 1st? What will happen on November 3rd? Will every poll worker be retrained before November 3rd? And that same night, I tried to collect end-of-day numbers in Ward 2, precincts A through C. One printed the receipt on the door. In the second, workers would not let me photograph it, and the warden didn't know how to announce the numbers. In the third, the workers were simply gone. So three precincts, three answers. And I'm asking, what will the election office do to better train every poll worker to one standard before the November elections. And then second, surveillance cameras reporting this August found Springfield police among at least 10 Western Mass Departments using flock cameras. When in Midland, Texas police searched thousands of flock networks nationwide, including Holyoke's. The reason they entered was to assist ICE. So on the record, Who signed these contracts? What do they cost? Out of what budget? How long is the data kept? Who has access? And is it shared out of state? Is any city office monitoring people at protests? I have filed three public records requests and I'm looking forward to getting the answer to all of the questions I posed there. And I'm asking this council to cancel these camera contracts. Thank you.

Thank you, Mrs. Homer. All right. Next speaker we have, sorry if I'm messing up your first name, is it Kira Holmes? Kira Holmes? Kyra? All right. Next speaker we have on is Miss Denise Hudson, Indian Orchard Conservation. Denise? Denise? All right, next speaker we have is Ms. Christina Beauregard regarding the Bass Pond.

Hello, City Council. My name is Christina Beauregard and I am the co-president of the Bass Pond Club located in 16 acres in Springfield. I am here on behalf of the Bass Pond Club, the Paddle Club, the surrounding neighbors and community members who use and love bass ponds in regards to the Bass Pond Fountain Annihilation Project. For those of you who are not familiar with Bass Pond, Bass Pond is a 12 acre pond located in 16 acres. It is 60% of privately owned tax paying owners and the remainder of the pond, the remainder 40% is owned by the city of Springfield. The pond's also used by community organizations and programs such as Camp Wilder and Emma's Place. Over the past few years, the pond has really been struggling with algae and cyanobacteria, which if you are not familiar with cyanobacteria, it is incredibly harmful bacteria that puts all of our families at risk and all of our Springfield residents that utilize the pond. at risk. There's a lot to be done in this pond, but for right now we are very excited and very grateful to be working with the City of Springfield as well as with our local civic association, all of the abutting families that live on the pond as well as the membership for both of the local clubs that reside on the ponds to be able to get this project underway. Bass Pond Club is very happy to be able to donate the $3,000. Oh, it's actually a little more than that. I don't have the actual number. $3,000. 847, yeah, to contribute with the additional funds that are being provided by all of our other community members and civic associations. So we do want to just jump in and say thank you so much for that consideration. and just to let everyone know that our community really has done everything to just be a part of this solution. This pond means a lot to a lot of people. I can just speak for our club and the paddle club who's been around for 70 and 90 years. We provide just safe, good, old-fashioned fun for the families of 16 acres, and we want to make sure that this club and this pond is here for years to come. And I know I will be doing everything to make sure that that happens. So thank you so much for your consideration in this project.

Thank you, Ms. Beauregard. And the last speaker I have listed on here is Ms. Abigail, I'm going to butcher the last name, Michalak? Is there Abigail? All right. I will go back towards the names before. I don't see Elizabeth Ogilvy. Not online. Erica Cruz. Rhonda Latney. Kira Holmes. Denise Hudson. And Ms. Abigail Michalak. All right. Well, that is the conclusion of the public speak out. Council will go into a nine minute recess. Thank you.

Recording in progress

All right, perfect. All right, good evening, everyone. I hope everybody enjoyed their Labor Day weekend. Welcome to the Springfield City Council Chambers. Here we go again with the audio. Excuse me one second. George, what was the... Getting the feedback. Twice in a row. I think we're good.

No.

I think I solved it on my own. Thank you, George. All right, sorry about that folks, technical difficulties. So welcome to the Springfield City Council Chambers. This is our regular meeting of the Springfield City Council. What else? So we're gonna call this meeting into order. All right, Madam Clerk, can we call the roll?

Councillor Santanello. Present. Present, Councillor Martin. Absent, Councillor Perez. Present. Present, Councillor Brown. Absent, Councillor Govan. Present. Present, Councillor Walsh. Present. Present, Councillor Hurst.

Present.

Present, Councillor Davila. Present. Present, Councillor Fenton.

Present.

Present, Councillor Whitfield. absent councillor president Oh president Councillor click Bruce president president councillor Edwards president president councillor Delgado president Can we get um president councillor Martin?

President thank you very much. If you're able to can you please stand for a moment of silence? I Thank you, and 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. Thank you. First item, are there any reports of committee? Councilor Davila.

Thank you, Mr. Vice President. Good evening to everybody. The Environmental Committee met on August 4th, and present was myself, Mr. Frank Ryan, Dennis Caputo, Jay LaTorre. We assume was the City Forester, Alex Sherman, Councilor Govan, and Attorney Lachey. On this meeting, we will continue to have a discussion on the Woodland Ordinance. At the time, we made some revisions to the Woodland Ordinance. including the result of a field study evaluating how the proposed ordinance could be applied to both small and large wood parcels. The law department indicated the summary document was comprehensive and will be used to prepare a draft ordinance for commission for committee review. It is my hope, Mr. Vice President, that within the next two weeks I'm going to have a subsequent meeting and by the By the end of the year, for sure, we're going to have some sort of ordinance for the consideration of the entire body. We met again, Mr. Vice President, on August 3rd at 4.45. I was in person. Attorney Shea, Counselor Jerry Martin was also attending. Corey Duran was a constituent, the press, and John Magus. Virtually was Mike McCloskey, Hailey Thomas from the News, Tom McCarthy, Keith O'Connor, Mike Jacob, Councilor Sally Govan, Councilor Walsh, and Steve Dissoulet. This was a discussion on illegal dumping. This came about as a result of the Orleans situation a couple of months ago back in the summer. We review enforcement practices, communications among city departments and the city's fine structure for legal dumping and code violations. Department representatives outline the roles of court enforcement, housing, public works, and the law department in addressing violations and pursuing compliance. We discussed enforcement and challenges involving repeat offenders, which we do have quite a few here in the city. And I must say also, Mr. Vice President, as well, we do have quite a few repeat offenders from outside the city as well. We talked about the impact of absentee property owners here in the city and the unpaid fines that still remain out there. The committee members request additional information on illegal dumping, fines, and collection dates. Sorry, it keeps hitting the microphone. And the committee agreed to continue reviewing the city enforcement process and schedule a follow-up meeting to examine potential improvement further. I also intend, Mr. Vice President, to hold a meeting on this so that we can have one comprehensive approach to legal dumping and good communication throughout the city because this is an issue that has been going on for far too long. And I also have to say that we made contact with the mayor, Mayor Sarnock, Chair, Councilor Maria, and myself. We met with the mayor, and the mayor is fully on board and extremely supportive on these efforts. That's my report. Thank you, Mr. Vice President.

Thank you, Councilor Davila. Any other reports? Councilor Caban?

Thank you, Mr. Vice President. We had a finance committee meeting on July 27th. President were myself, Council Perez, and Councilor Whitfield. We discussed the finance agenda items for the meeting that day, and we reviewed the May revenue and expenditure report. And there was no deliberation, not that much deliberation. Thank you, Mr. Vice President.

Thank you. Councilor Martin.

THANK YOU, MR. VICE PRESIDENT. HAD A COUPLE MEETINGS OF PUBLIC SAFETY OVER THE SUMMER. ONE WAS JUST KIND OF LIKE A GENERAL UPDATE IN REGARDS TO JUST LIKE PUBLIC SAFETY CONCERNS THROUGHOUT THE WHOLE CITY. I WAS JOINED IN PERSON WITH COUNSELOR DAVILA, CAPTAIN BRIAN Bellaviv, can't pronounce last name, excuse me, Dave Robillette, Sergeant Dave Robillette, Sergeant Daniel Johnson, Erica Swallows, and then Nazir Islam. AND VIRTUALLY WE WERE JOINED BY COUNSELOR BROWN, COUNCIL PRESIDENT WHITFIELD, ERICA CRUZ AND SHIRLEY. IT WAS A REALLY INFORMATIVE MEETING ABOUT DATA COLLECTION, INFORMATION AND JUST GENERAL PUBLIC SAFETY UPDATES AND HOW WE HAVE ACTUALLY BEEN ON A DOWNWARD TICK THE LAST FEW YEARS IN TERMS OF GUN VIOLENCE AND HOMICIDE AND SPRINGFIELD HAS BECOME A LITTLE SAFER THESE LAST FEW YEARS. A LOT SAFER ACCORDING TO THE STATS. Then I had a public safety meeting in regards to Vibra Hospital. As we know earlier, this year there's been fires, people breaking in, so on. I was joined by President Whitfield, Counselor Brown, Attorney Shea, Jorge Perez, And, yeah, just talked about, you know, with the law department, you know, what are some exercises to ensure that property owners can maintain the property and that they're staying true to the city of Springfield. And then last week, there was a joint meeting with Councilor Santanello in the Health and Human Services about the ban of Kratom, how there's a new statewide ban. It's now scheduled a Schedule 1 drug ban. But the state, for some reason, said that they were not allowed to confiscate it off store shelves, but it is banned. So we're hoping to have a follow-up meeting on that as well as the Vibra Hospital. So with that, I'm done.

Thank you, Councilor Martin. Any other reports from my colleagues?

Mr. President?

Councilor Santanello?

Yeah, I just want to follow up on that joint meeting that I had with Councilor Martin. I'm kind of stunned. that it's a class one in the same class as heroin. And yet we were instructed, uh, our, our, uh, health and human services director was instructed not to confiscate. Um, and it's also going to be in effect for one year and that's going to be revisited after a year. So we're going to have a followup meeting, uh, the two committees in about two weeks. Um, and, uh, we're going to be calling in, um, all these officials and find out where we're headed with this. Because how can you not confiscate a drug that now is in the same class as heroin? And I wanna find out what the penalties might be if you are caught down the road with this, either dealing it or taking it, what have you. So we'll have a meeting in two weeks and address these issues that we all have in committee meeting. Thank you.

Thank you, Councilor Santonello. Are there any other reports? Hearing none, Madam Clerk, can you call the roll on acceptance of the reports?

On acceptance, Councillor Santanello.

Yes.

Yes, Councillor Martin.

Yes.

Yes, Councillor Perez. Yes. Yes, Councillor Brown. Absent, Councillor Govan.

Yes.

Yes, Councillor Walsh. Yes. Yes, Councillor Hurst.

Yes.

Yes, Councillor Davila. Yes. Yes, Councillor Fenton.

Yes.

Yes, Councillor Whitfield. Yes. Yes, Councillor Click-Bruce.

Yes.

Yes, Councillor Edwards.

Yes.

Yes, Councillor Delgado.

Yes. Reports are accepted. Madam Clerk. Can we, for the zone change referral, amending zoning articles two, four, five, seven, nine, we're just reading them into the record. This has been referred to planning and there's no vote necessary at the moment, so. Can we get with the first item, Madam Clerk?

The first item is the July revenue versus expenditure report.

Mr. Pat Burns, welcome.

Thank you, Mr. Vice President. Tonight you have the July revenue versus expenditure report. This represents the first month of fiscal year 2027. As you can see, our expenditures are outpacing our revenue by $84.1 million. The driving factor behind this is the city made their annual pension appropriation payment on July 1st as dictated by our funding schedule. That payment totaled $116.5 million, of which $80.6 million was on the city side and $35.9 million was on the school side.

Perfect. Any questions or comments from my colleagues? Hearing none, Madam Clerk, can we call the roll? Acceptance of the report?

You have Counselor... Excuse me.

Counselor Whitfield.

I'm sorry, Councilor Santanello raised his hand.

Yeah. I just have a question for Pat on the future increases in interest rates, how that impacts the pension fund. If, in fact, the interest rates go up, how is that going to impact the future payments and appropriations for that fund?

The city has adopted, or actually the Retirement Board adopted a funding schedule back in April which assumes a 7% interest effective rate or a discount rate. If we exceed that interest rate, which fortunately we have been, that would have a beneficial effect on future payments. Payments wouldn't have to increase at such a high rate. Right now, they're increasing at 9.2%. This would allow us to reduce that. Then on the other side, unfortunately, if the interest rate doesn't reach that 7%, that could result in future higher payments with a larger percentage increase.

Thank you, Pat.

Can I piggyback off of that question, Mr. President?

Go ahead, Councilor Whitfield. You're a little low.

I don't know if on our end. Hold on. Let me see. Is that any better?

Yes.

Okay. I had to turn it up. First, I want to apologize for not being in person. I had a minor surgery. So thank you, Councillor Delgado, for being able to step in and preside over the meeting. Pat, you said we had some of an increase over the past few years. How many years?

The funding schedule that's been adopted by the board for the last several years has a 9.2% increase. We recently... adopted a new funding schedule, which will begin in fiscal year 2028, and that is an 8% increase. So we were able to knock down the increase.

Oh, that's great. Is this the same funding schedule that was scheduled to pay up the pension so that we're whole in the pension?

Yes, the funding schedule that was adopted has full funding in fiscal year 2034.

2034, yeah, that's what I was looking for. Thank you, Pat. You're welcome.

Thank you, President Whitfield, and I hope that recovery is going great for you.

As great as can be expected.

All right, well, we're all sending best wishes. All right, any other questions on the expenditures report? Madam Clerk, can we call the roll?

An acceptance counselor, Santanello. Yes, yes, Councilor Martin. Yes, yes, Councilor Perez. Yes, yes, Councilor Brown. Absent, Councilor Govan. Yes, yes, Councilor Walsh. Yes, yes, Councilor Hurst. Yes, yes, Councilor Davila. Yes, yes, Councilor Fenton. Yes, yes, Councilor Whitfield. Yes, yes, Councilor Click Bruce. Yes, yes, Councilor Edwards.

Yes.

Yes, Councillor Delgado.

Yes, item passes. If there are no objections, Madam Clerk, items two and three, can we take those together since they're under the threshold?

On approval of item two, which is FY27 libraries cash donation, $15, and item three is the Bass Pond Club aeration project donation in the amount of $3,847. Councillor Santanello.

Yes.

Yes, Councilor Martin.

Yes.

Yes, Councilor Perez. Yes. Yes, Councilor Brown. Absent, Councilor Walsh.

Yes.

Yes, Councilor Hurst.

Oh, I didn't vote.

Yes. Yes, Councilor Govan.

Yes.

Yes, Councilor Hurst. My apologies, Councilor Govan. Councilor Davila. Yes. Yes, Councilor Fenton. yes yes counselor delgado yes my apologies counselor whitfield that's okay yes yes counselor click bruce yes yes counselor edwards yes yes counselor delgado again yes thank you yes item passes or both items pass madam clerk can we take item number four Item 4 is FY27 TJO grant increase no match required in the amount of $100,000. All right.

Do we have anybody speaking on the TJO grant? Yes.

Yep, good evening. My name is Heather Kaline. I'm the director at TJO. This particular grant is our yearly grant from the Foundation for TJO Animals. It supports funding, it supports salaries for our veterinary staff, as well as extraordinary veterinary care, lab imaging, x-rays, medications, extraordinary surgery, and anything else that animals might need medically in our care.

Thank you, Heather. Any questions, comments from my colleagues? Hearing none, can we call the roll on item number four?

On approval, Councillor Santanello.

Yes.

Yes, Councillor Martin. Yes. Yes, Councillor Perez.

Yes.

Yes, Councillor Brown absent. Councillor Govan.

Yes.

Yes, Councillor Walsh.

Yes.

Yes, Councillor Hurst.

Yes.

Yes, Councillor Dabula. Yes. Yes, Councillor Fenton.

Yes.

Yes, Councillor Whitfield. Yes. Yes, Councillor Click-Proof.

Yes.

Yes, Councillor Edwards.

Yes.

Yes, Councillor Delgado.

Yes. Item passes. Madam Clerk, item number five, please.

Item five is a TJO FY27 grant, no match required, in the amount of $225,000.

So our additional grant this year is meant to support a veterinary initiative with the MSPCA. As you may remember, we haven't had a full-time veterinarian on staff in two and a half years, which has a very big impact on operations and continuity of care and our ability to help animals in the community. So the foundation has helped to provide money so we can partner with the MSPCA to provide veterinary oversight. And beginning in October, we will have full-time veterinary coverage.

All right. Any questions or comments from my colleagues? Hearing none, Madam Clerk, can we call the roll on number five?

On acceptance, Councillor Centinello.

Yes.

Yes, Councillor Martin.

Yes.

Yes, Councillor Perez. Yes. Yes, Councillor Brown. Absent, Councillor Govan.

Yes.

Yes, Councillor Walsh. Yes. Yes, Councillor Hurst.

Yes.

Yes, Councillor Davila. Yes. Yes, Councillor Fenton.

Yes.

Yes, Councillor Whitfield. I have raised my hand. I just wanted to say great job, Heather, and thank you for securing that funding because two and a half years is a long time without a veterinarian.

You're telling me. Thank you.

Yes, Madam Clerk, yes.

Thank you, yes. Councillor Clique-Bruce. Yes. Yes, Councillor Edwards. Yes. Yes, Councillor Delgado.

Yes, item passes. And my apologies, President Winfield, I didn't see the hand come up, so I'm gonna do a better job looking in this screen. Madam Clerk, can we call item number six?

Item six is an FY27 CSEP grant in-kind match required in the amount of $490,523. How you doing, Commissioner?

I am well, and how are you? Very well.

Good evening, Councillors and Mr. Vice President. This is our senior aid grant. Our senior aid grant is funded through a federal program and we administer it at the Department of Elder Affairs. It provides elder or older adults with employment opportunities so that they have the option of gaining some new skills. We currently have 24 participants in the program. We can fund up to 34 and so this is a program that Elder Affairs has had for a good number of years, and we're always excited to assist our elders.

Awesome. Any questions from my colleagues? Make sure I look on TV land.

Councillor Martin. Thank you, Vice President Delgado. I just want to ask for your apologies, Commissioner. I don't think I noted you in my report earlier. So I want to say thank you for the hard work that you do. It is very much appreciated by this body and the work that Mr. Goodman does. He does a great job for our elders. So I don't know if you hired him, but you picked a great gentleman. And thank you for your hard work.

Thank you very much for that compliment, and yes, Mr. Goodman does an excellent job, so thank you for saying that.

Thank you, Councilor Martin. Anyone else? Seeing none, Madam Clerk, can we call the roll on item number six?

On acceptance, Councilor Santanello.

Yes.

Yes, Councilor Martin.

Yes.

Yes, Councilor Perez. Yes. Yes. Counselor Brown absent. Counselor Govan. Yes. Yes. Counselor Walsh. Yes. Yes. Counselor Hurst.

Yes.

Yes. Counselor Davila.

Yes.

Yes. Counselor Fenton.

Yes.

Yes. Counselor Whitfield.

Yes.

Yes. Counselor Click-Bruce.

Yes.

Yes. Counselor Edwards.

Yes.

Yes. Counselor Delgado.

Yes. More or less sufficient. Madam Clerk, item number seven.

Item 7 is FY27 Municipal Community Mitigation Fund, no match required, in the amount of $765,803.05. How you doing, Mr. Connors?

I've been neglecting to tell people name and address for the record, so can you please start with that?

Well, I think you know my address, but it's not far from you. 274 Springfield Street, Brian Connors, Economic Development Office. This grant is the Community Mitigation Fund under the Mass Gaming Commission. So this is for casino impacts. We apply in partnership with multiple departments in the city for this funding on an annual basis. This year the funding is in the amount of $765,000, and we'll fund projects in economic development, in the construction of the new parking garage on Willow Street, as well as projects in the health department for gambling and gaming harm, and with the police department for traffic mitigation and overtime expenses related to casino impacts. The commissioner, as you've seen, is here, as well as Lieutenant Elliott from the police department, if there are any questions on those projects.

Thank you, Mr. Connors. Oh, you were quick. Counselor Santanello. Thank you so much.

Thank you so much. How serious is the... senior gambling in the city of Springfield, in the greater Springfield area. How bad is that problem? And is MGM kicking any money into this too?

I can answer the second part. I don't know if Commissioner wants to answer the elder impacts on casino gaming. The fund, the Mass Gaming Community Mitigation Fund is entirely funded by casino, the casino fees that they put into the fund. So the answer is yes, MGM does contribute.

In what amount?

I can get that to you. I don't know offhand. It's a formula based on the taxation on gaming.

And the second part is how serious is the problem with seniors?

Thank you for the question, Councilor Santanello. The Department of Health and Human Services does have a problem gambling coordinator. It is her job to work with residents in the city, youth, and elders around problem gambling. And yes, we have witnessed elders who are challenged by problem gambling, and we have programs and information and a hotline that's available to hopefully mitigate that challenge.

Thank you.

Councilor Santanello, I can't give you an exact number if that's what you were looking for, so I apologize for that. I just wanted you to know that we do do prevention and intervention with elders as well as you, so thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

President Whitfield?

Thank you, Mr. Vice President. Brian, Willow Street parking garage, you said?

Yes.

Is that open to the public?

I'm sorry, I didn't catch that last part.

Is that open to the public?

It just started construction, so it will be a public parking garage, yes, when it's complete.

A paid public parking garage?

Correct.

Okay, thank you.

Thank you. Any other questions? Councilor Govan, and followed by Councilor Walsh.

Thank you, Mr. Vice President. I know we also had a finance committee earlier today where we reviewed these items. And Brian if I remember correctly this Money is to be used for around MGM Yeah, the funding the grant applications each have to show an impact from the casino Okay, and so the police is going to use it Around MGM just like the parking garage. I know Commissioner COLTON HARRIS USES THAT MONEY FOR GAMBLING IMPACT, WHICH HAS BEEN VERY HELPFUL. WE'RE ACTUALLY USING SOME MONEY THAT THE PUBLIC HEALTH INSTITUTE ACTUALLY GAVE US FOR YOUTH GAMBLING PREVENTION, WHICH HAS BEEN VERY HELPFUL AND I THINK VERY EFFECTIVE. SO THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR APPLYING FOR THE GRANT, FOR GETTING THE GRANT. THANK YOU, MR. VICE PRESIDENT.

THANK YOU. COUNSELOR GOVAN, COUNSELOR WALSH.

Thank you, Mr. Vice President. I would just like to ask Brian about the amount of the grant, and is it more or less than you usually get, or is it the same?

That's an excellent point, Counselor. It is much less than usual. So the Community Mitigation Fund had been getting phased out. due to the state budget over the last couple of years. So this was supposed to be the last year. However, I guess by our surprise of it, it was included in this year's budget. So it will be coming back, which we're very happy about. It's done a lot of good here. But this is, I would say this is about a third, a third of what we usually get.

Well, that's a big difference. Thank you.

Thank you, Councillor Walsh. Councillor Davila.

Thank you, Mr. Vice President. Good evening, Mr. Connors. I just want to make sure that I heard you correctly. Did you say this was supposed to be phased out? I know you said this is one-third of what we usually get. When you say phased out, are we expecting this to end anytime soon?

Yeah, so it was the fund had collected a certain amount of money at the state level. And the last couple of years, rather than putting the funding directly that was being generated by the casinos back into the fund, it was being put into the state budget. So the Gaming Commission was working off of funds it had remaining, and this was the last year of those funds. But again, it has been put back into the budget, so we are expecting to be able to apply next year as well.

So we're expecting to get some money back?

Yes.

But we don't know when this is going to dry up?

We don't know at this point, yeah.

What kind of plan B and C are we creating to fill the gap in between, if you can speak to that?

To fill a gap for?

The money.

Yeah, I mean, these are, I mean, we will have to, There are certainly identified impacts, casino harm, certainly the police impacts are things that if we don't find money through this program, those impacts don't go away. So the city would need to address those in another way.

All right. Thank you, Mr. Connors. Thank you, Mr. Vice President.

Thank you, Councillor Davila. Anyone else? Seeing none, Madam Clerk, can we call the roll on item number seven?

On approval, Councillor Santanello.

Yes.

Yes, Councillor Martin. Yes. Yes, Councillor Perez. Yes. Yes, Councillor Brown absent. Councillor Govan. Yes. Yes, Councillor Walsh.

Yes.

Yes, Councillor Hurst.

Yes.

Yes, Councillor Davila. Yes. Yes, Councillor Fenton.

Yes.

Yes, Councillor Whitfield. Yes. Yes, Councillor Klick-Bruce.

Yes.

Yes, Councillor Edwards.

Yes.

Yes, Councillor Delgado.

Yes, grant passes. Madam Clerk, please call on item number eight.

Item eight is FY27 HOPWA grant, no match required in the amount of $827,432. Thank you. How you doing, Jerry? Good.

Can you give your name and address for the record, please?

Good evening. Jerry McCafferty, Director of Housing 114 Francis Street.

Thank you.

This grant is a housing opportunity for persons with AIDS. It's a federal entitlement grant. The city of Springfield receives it on behalf of Hamden, Hampshire, and Franklin counties. It funds two main areas. One, it's housing funding for persons with AIDS, but one piece of it is prevention. So it's short-term rental, mortgage, or utility payments. And then the other piece is ongoing tenant rental support. This grant funds New North Citizens Council and A Positive Place, which is a program of Cooley Dickinson Hospital, to provide these services. One change to this grant is this has been an entitlement grant that has come to the city, but because the formula has changed, it's now going to the state, but the state is passing the entire amount on to the city, so we're getting the same amount of money, but there's another step involved in getting it.

All right. Thank you, Ms. McCafferty. Any questions or comments? Councillor Hurst?

Can you tell me a little bit more about what this grant is being used for?

Yes.

And who's it going to again?

Yes. There's two... subrecipients, New North Citizens Council, and A Positive Place, which is a program of Cooley Dickinson Hospital. There are two components. One is it funds ongoing rental assistance for persons with AIDS. The concept is that by giving people stable housing, they're more likely to engage with healthcare and have ongoing medication. So it supports 30-something people who get their disability pays their rent every month. There's some supportive services, there's a case manager that works with them as well. The second piece is it funds people who are at risk of eviction, foreclosure, or utility shutoffs, and it makes short-term payments to prevent those things from happening and keep someone stable in their housing. Again, it's targeted to people who have HIV or AIDS.

And how much is going to each organization?

I actually don't have that off the top of my head right now. I apologize.

OK. And how do they apply for this money through the city?

We release requests for proposals once every three years, and they apply for it. I will say over the last 15 years, there have been three organizations that have applied, the two that I listed, and then River Valley Counseling Center. This year, River Valley Counseling Center decided They were merged with another agency, and they decided they didn't want the funding anymore, and that funding has instead gone to New North Citizens Council.

Okay, if you could give me a breakdown of those numbers, it'd be greatly appreciated. Thank you.

I would be happy to. I also, during the finance committee meeting today, Councilor Whitfield, President Whitfield asked about an annual report. There is an annual report that goes to HUD, and we just submitted the annual report, so I will also share that. It shows exactly where the funds were spent last year, and then I'll give you the numbers for this upcoming year.

Thank you. Thank you, Councilor. Madam President Whitfield, your hand is up.

I was going to say that I asked Jerry for those numbers, but I wanted to ask when the next round of RFPs are scheduled?

Because of the change to the formula and the change that's happening, we are not certain if we will be doing a request for proposals next year. The state may decide to do that themselves and seek subrecipients. This was, as I said, this was Because of sort of a change from HUD, change from Congress and HUD, it was sort of last minute at the end of last year. We worked to continue the existing services, but the state has indicated they may they will have their own, they will have the funding for the entire state, and they may do a request for proposals themselves next year. If they do not, if they continue to give it all to us, we would typically do a request for proposals in the early spring, late winter, early spring, the same time we do community development block grant, emergency solutions grant, and those other HUD entitlement grants.

But would it be 2027? Because you said every three years.

So this is the last of the years that we know what will happen. And after this, so this is the year that goes through June 30th of 2028, 27, I'm sorry. After this, it's in the state's hands to make a decision how they will handle it. And they haven't told us yet.

Understood. What is the... How many years have these, um, two organizations been awarded? Is the Hooley Dickinson a new one?

No. Uh, it's been three organizations the entire time I have been at the city. So, uh, 20 or so years, it has been three organizations. This year, River Valley Counseling Center stopped existing, essentially, so they went away. Cooley-Dickinson, just so you know, the idea is because this grant serves all the way up to Franklin County, so while New North serves Hamden County, Cooley-Dickinson serves Hamden, Hampshire, and Franklin Counties.

Okay, so it was all three over to 15.

And River Valley Counseling Center, just so I was also in Hamden County. So the money that had been going to River Valley has gone to New North.

Gotcha. Thank you.

Thank you. Councilor Walsh?

Thank you, Mr. Vice President. I'm okay with the grant, but I wanted to take a minute to recognize Jerry and her staff for all the hard work they've been doing, gathering housing data, having seminars and meetings all across the city. I hope it's been successful. And you have so many charts. I hope you're going to be able to condense it all one sheet. so we can get an idea of what's happening with all the research that you've done. Thanks for all your hard work.

Thank you, Councilor Walsh. There is a draft in the works, and I expect there'll be a plan released within the next month.

Awesome. Thank you for that. Any other comments from my colleagues?

Just one more, Jerry. I sent the email. The mayor responded that you or Tim would be getting back to me, so I'm just waiting on that.

Thanks for the reminder.

Thank you. All right, Madam Clerk, can we call the roll on item number eight?

On acceptance, Councilor Santanello.

Yes.

Yes, Councilor Martin. Awake. Yes. Councilor Perez. Recuse. Recuse. Councilor Brown. Absent. Councilor Govan.

Yes.

Yes, Councilor Walsh. Yes. Yes, Councilor Hurst.

No.

No, Councillor Davila?

Yes.

Yes, Councillor Fenton?

Yes.

Yes, Councillor Whitfield? Yes. Yes, Councillor Klick-Bruce?

Yes.

Yes, Councillor Edwards?

Yes.

Yes, Councillor Delgado?

Yes. Item number eight passes. Madam Clerk, item number nine, please.

Item 9 is a 2026 RAP funds, no match required in the amount of $1,176,843.41. Awesome. Name and address for the record, sir? I'm the deputy director of operations and maintenance at the DPW.

Address is 218 Arcadia Boulevard in Springfield.

So what we have before you today is the 2026 RAP funds in the amount of $1,176,843.41. The RAP funding is better known as the Winter Recovery Assistance Program. It's a $100 million program that's administered by the Massachusetts Department of Transportation. The first $80 million is determined by a locally owned lane mile formula, very similar to how we are determined how much we get through our Chapter 90 funding. So that's where that dollar amount comes from. The other $20 million that's a part of that program is a part of an application process. And we put an application in for that as well. Currently, we're still in the process of determining the scope of work for the amount of funding that we're here to accept. And by doing that, we're analyzing all the 311 pothole complaints that have come through since December 1st. So we're really trying to identify areas based on that data. Just some that come to mind that we've You know, at the beginning, at the end of the winter season, we've kind of, before that we knew the funding was coming, we've kind of pivoted our road program. So we made some tweaks, you know, Sumner Ave extension and Allen Street extension from Harkness and Bradley were a couple, was a road that we knew that needed to be taken care of. Parker Street from... uh north branch parkway to boston road so we've kind of pivoted our chapter 90 funding that we had in place for fy 26 um so we're looking at um you know what we're going to do with this uh funding here before you today they could answer any uh questions any counselors have thank you mr mignot counselor martin followed by counselor davila

I just want to take a moment to reiterate what I had spoken with you earlier, Mr. Mineo, and say thank you so much, all the hard work he does. In DPW, he's been my go-to guy, solved so many issues on a personal constituent basis, so impressed. If I was the mayor, I'd give him a raise. That's just me. Thank you, Councillor Martin.

Councillor Davila.

Thank you, Mr. Vice President, Mr. Minio. Thank you for joining us and for your presentation. Can you give me a little bit more details? I know you say that the money is used in two parts, basically, but can you tell me more about winter? What does that look like?

So pretty much the money that we're here to accept is just for, you know, to restore some roads. It goes into our general Chapter 90 funding. The thing to note about the RAP money is that it actually has an expiration date of June 30th, 2027. So I want to say that we had a $4.2 million road program that we just started. And at the same time, we actually made known that we were receiving this additional funding. The thought process from the director is that we would spend this initial, you know, $1,176,843.41 up front, and we'll earmark the same amount from our, you know, the Chapter 90 we have for FY26, just so we can avoid, you know, getting close to that expiration date.

Right. Mr. Minio, but I'm still not clear. What are you going to use it for during winter? What's that? You did say winter, right?

Yes, so it's the winter.

So what are you going to use it for during winter? That's what I'm looking for.

Yeah, the money is to restore roads that were damaged from the winter of 25 to 26. So, I mean, in the winter, we'll have our general DPW operations with salt, sand, potholes. It's really not meant to be used for winter. It's to restore roads that were damaged from the last winter season.

To restore, okay, okay. So does that mean we're gonna be seeing a more active winter pothole patches? I think it's called cold patches, maybe?

That's standard operation. We do that every year. It's in our budget annually for that. What actually you're going to see is I think we had a little over $6 million that was awarded by the state through our original FY26 Chapter 90. With this extra million plus dollars, we're in $7 million worth of work. Our estimated $6 million bid that went out for our FY26 road program came in at $4.2 million. So it came in really low. So we actually have a lot of extra money to make a lot of additional improvements to the roads in Springfield.

Right, right, right. And so I realize that, Mr. Minio, and I know that a lot of times this is chasing on tail with winter and the salt and the potholes. But it is my hope that we can figure something out to... prevent the potholes to be as severe by the time spring comes around. This year, people were up in uproar with the potholes. I know in my own district, Sumner Avenue, that's going to be done with the X project. We're going to have a brand shiny street. but that's like two years away still. And so I don't run DPW, I don't pretend to know everything about DPW, but I can tell you what I have observed, what I experienced, and what my constituents are telling me and my colleagues. I will indulge you, my good sir, and beg of you to see if you guys can come up with a better solution with the Paul Hall situation. And I know this money is not necessarily used for that, but I'm sure you guys can be very creative accordingly within the frames of the law. Other than that, I joined my colleague, Councilman Martin. You guys do a great work. And thank you for everything you do, Mr. Medio. Thank you. Yeah, no problem.

And just to let you know, I think one section of roadway that we're looking at, too, is the eastbound lane on Sumner Ave from Long Hill up until the X limit. So that would be done, I would say, this year. You know, in regards to the potholes, it's kind of like you're chasing your own tail. I think we had 1700 plus that came from December 1st, the middle of May. You know, we're constantly looking at the data, but we do the best we can to make sure that they get filled.

Thank you, Mr. Munoz. Thank you, Mr. Vice President.

Thank you, Councilor Davila. Any other comments from my colleagues? Hearing none, Madam Clerk, can we call the roll on item number nine?

On item nine, Councillor Santanello. Councillor Santanello? Away, Councillor Martin. Yes. Yes, Councillor Perez. Yes. Yes, Councillor Brown absent. Councillor Govan. Yes. Yes, Councillor Walsh. Yes. Yes, Councillor Hurst.

Yes.

Yes, Councillor Davila. Yes. Yes, Councillor Fenton.

Yes.

Yes, Councillor Whitfield. Yes. Yes, Councillor Click-Bruce. Yes. Yes, Councillor Edwards.

Yes.

Yes, Councillor Delgado.

Yes. Grant passes.

Yeah, I'd like to be recorded as yes, please. Thank you.

Yes, Councillor Santanello.

Yes. Grant passes. Councillor Walsh, were you going to? We're all done with the grants. Your microphone.

When we're done with the grants, I'd like to take item 16 out of order with no objection.

Okay.

Thank you.

Any objection to taking item 16 out of order? Hearing none, Madam Clerk, can you call item 16?

Item 16 is a resolution supporting the creation and sustaining of the Springfield Central Cultural District.

Thank you, Mr. Vice President, and Karen Finn is here from the organization, and I'd like to ask her to come to the podium because she's much more knowledgeable about what this resolution is for and how important it is.

Name and address for the record.

Yes, Karen Finn, and we're located at 127 State Street.

And before you start explaining this, in order for the Spreak Mill Cultural Center to have designation, they have to have a resolution that's passed by the entire city council. It's a state requirement and they need our support tonight. But if you would kind of go through some of the important reasons why we need to do this, it would be appreciated.

Yes, so thank you for having Callie and myself here tonight. We're excited, the Springfield Central Cultural District was formed in 2014, and so 12 years old this year, which is exciting. We are one of 54 cultural districts throughout Massachusetts. We're the only cultural district that is a 501c3 and does not fall under the purview of the municipality, which allows us to fundraise for monies that are available to nonprofits. And so this past year, for instance, and we have just installed six huge sound sculptures in Tower Square Park. If you have not played them, please go play them. We celebrated the nonprofit's 10th anniversary. We held in Tower Square, we did a pop-up civic space where we hosted community-led initiatives. There were 50, no, 73 in a 54-open day span, showing the need, integrating arts and cultural activities, our artists, into issues, civic issues, that are important to our residents. We also have the privilege of working with places like the health department and their GARI project, which is gambling mitigation, and they used art to do that, tobacco cessation projects, hiring artists, paying them for their work, tell public health messaging to our residents. And so it's important work. A lot of what we do is visible. Even more of what we do is invisible because we're conveners, we're a membership organization, and we're connectors. We also did artists at work program where we were able to hire for a year through a grant for artists to be paid with benefits for a year and we embedded them in social justice organizations around Springfield. So we really appreciate this support. It allows us to maintain designation so we can continue to do the work.

Thank you. Any questions from my colleagues?

I'd like to acknowledge that I am a member of the Springfield Cultural Committee, so I'm honored to bring this forward. They do a great job. What I like is how much they encourage young artists and get young people started with a stipend for their artwork involved. So I think all of us have probably been to some of their events and have an idea of how important culture is for the city. and for business, so I'm gonna make a motion that we support the application for state designation that the Springfield Cultural Council needs.

Motion made by Councilor Walsh.

Second.

I think I heard Councilor Govan first.

Second.

What is the motion on the floor?

OH, I'M SORRY.

I TURNED MY MIC OFF BECAUSE IT WAS A THING. WE GOT TO INCREASE THE MICROPHONE TO FOUR. THAT'S IT. ALL RIGHT. WE HAVE A MOTION BY COUNSELOR WALSH TO ACCEPT THIS SECONDED BY COUNSELOR GOVON. ARE THERE ANY QUESTIONS OR COMMENTS ON THE MOTION? COUNSELOR PEREZ.

You know what? You will be having my support 100%. Being a wife of an artist, one of the most important things that you have said tonight is the benefits. As I know, it's hard when you're an artist and you don't qualify in any qualifications when it comes to the benefits. And since the music school to now, all this, and I know your collaboration in the community is very transparent. You connect with the most difficult children, and I know that for a fact personally, and you change their life around when it comes to the cultural. So you have my support 100%, thank you.

Thank you, Councilor Perez.

Thank you, Councilor Perez.

Anyone else on the motion?

All right. Madam Clerk, can you call the roll on item number 16?

Councillor Santanello.

Yes.

Yes, Councillor Martin.

Yes.

Yes, Councillor Perez.

Yes.

Yes, Councillor Brown absent. Councillor Govan. Yes. Yes, Councillor Walsh. Yes. Yes, Councillor Hurst.

Yes.

Yes, Councillor Davila. Yes. Yes, Councillor Fenton.

Yes.

Yes, Councillor Whitfield.

Just for clarification, are we just approving the resolution and not a motion right now?

It's supporting the creation of the and sustaining of the Springfield Central Cultural District. That's the motion? That's the motion. Correct, Councillor Walsh? Yes.

Okay, so this isn't a resolution we're looking at?

It's a resolution.

It is a resolution. Okay, because I got confused by the motion part, but yes. Yes.

Counselor, click this.

Yes.

Yes, Counselor Edwards.

Yes.

Yes, Counselor Delgado.

Yes, resolution passes. Madam Clerk, can we go back to item number 10?

Item 10 is for bills of prior year, various departments for $810.22.

Name and address for the record.

Kathy Bono, Ocala Road, Springfield. Counselors, I'm asking your approval to pay three prior year bills with current year funds. They are from the assessor's department and two are from the TJO. All right.

Any questions or comments from counsel? Seeing none, Madam Clerk, can you call the roll on item number 10?

On approval, Councillor Santanello.

Yes.

Yes, Councillor Martin.

Yes.

Yes, Councillor Perez.

Yes.

Yes, Councillor Brown absent. Councillor Govan. Yes. Yes, Councillor Walsh. Yes. Yes, Councillor Hurst.

Yes.

Yes, Councillor Davila. Yes. Yes, Councillor Fenton.

Yes.

Yes, Councillor Whitfield. Yes. Yes, Councillor Quick-Bruce. Yes. Yes, Councillor Edwards.

Yes.

Yes, Councillor Degasso.

Yes. Item passes. Number 11, Madam Clerk.

The next item is the cable peg access account Comcast franchise fee in the amount of $116,466.08.

Me again. This is the money the city receives from Comcast as the quarterly payment. These funds are then turned over to Focus Springfield.

Any questions? Councilor Davila.

Thank you, Ms. Vice President. Kathy, good to see you. Kathy, I just keep looking at these numbers. Are these numbers continuing to shrink?

Yes.

But how much did we shrink from last time?

From fiscal 25 to 26, the number went down 56,000, and we're anticipating it to keep going down.

Is this a four times a year allocation, or is it one time allocation a year?

This is in total, it went down 56,000.

No, I know, but do we get this money four times a year?

Yes, we get it quarterly. Yes, Councillor. Okay.

Because I just feel like this number keeps going down every time we see it. It does. Yeah, I am concerned with this, and I know there's many explanations for this. Let us not forget that this right now, people are watching at home, is funded through this. AND NOT TO MENTION ALL THE WONDERFUL WORK THAT FOCUS SPRINGFIELD DOES. YOU KNOW, I'M A LITTLE CONCERNED THIS KEEPS GOING DOWN, BUT, WELL, THANK YOU, GUYS. THANK YOU.

THANK YOU, MR. VICE PRESIDENT. NEW SPEAKER THANK YOU, COUNCILOR DAVILA. ANY OTHER QUESTIONS? NEW SPEAKER YEAH. NEW SPEAKER COUNCILOR SANTANELLO.

NEW SPEAKER I THINK I HAVE MY HAND RAISED BEFORE COUNCILOR SANTANELLO. SORRY.

NEW SPEAKER ALL RIGHT. I'M GOING TO LET YOU JUMP IN ON THAT ONE THEN. LADIES FIRST.

NEW SPEAKER THANK YOU. I agree with councilor Davila, and this is something that I brought up last year, cause I seen the numbers kept decreasing. And I asked last year what we were gonna do budget wise, because focus Springfield is a vital service to the city council, to other city government meetings, along with what they provide in the community. And so I just wanna make sure when budget season comes up in January, that this is put on the table to just address how we're going to continue to fund Focus Springfield or at least look for grants that we're going to provide. Well, since they lost funding last year, I don't want to say better service because they do a great job, but additional services that they may have had to give up or may have had to get interns in for because they didn't have enough for paid positions. But I want to make sure, Kathy, that I'm putting it out there for another year, because I know I said it last year, but to make sure that this is looked at during budget time.

We do look at it, Counselor, and I've reached out to Focus Springfield and members of their board continuously and asked them the effect it has and the implications, and I have gotten nothing back. So I will attempt it again.

Okay, thank you, Kathy. And we will also attempt to have conversations with Focus Springfield to make sure you get that information because as it continues to decrease, they're not going to be able to continue the same level of service. Thank you. I agree. Thank you, Kathy.

Thank you. Councilor Santanello?

Yeah, I'd like to know under what, this was the initial contract when Comcast came in. This was an agreement to provide this benefit like Focus Springfield to the city of Springfield, Kathy?

It was an agreement. The city received 2% of Comcast's quarterly revenue. And then these funds go on, are used for public education, government, PEG access, and cable related purposes. So we had an agreement. We turned these funds over to Focus Springfield.

Okay. So Focus Springfield now is running up against competition in the city of Springfield for cable services. So as this competition grows and gets larger Where do they come in to provide some services to the city of Springfield?

Does who come in to provide services?

I'm sorry I miss that the competition They're digging into the revenue.

I don't know if you're getting competition from cable. I think it's streaming services, et cetera, and people cutting their cable and only using streaming services. And I don't really think any of those streaming services are going to turn over money to us.

What I'm saying is the competition is coming in and replacing cable. With new services. They're dropping cable and they're going over to the new services.

The new services are streaming. There isn't another cable company that's coming into Springfield.

There's not?

That I'm aware of, no. There's another internet, but there's no cable that I'm aware of, Counselor.

Okay. Thank you.

Thank you, Counselor Santonello. Anyone else? All right. Madam Clerk, can we call the roll on item number 11?

On approval, Councillor Santanello.

Yes.

Yes, Councillor Martin.

Yes.

Yes, Councillor Perez. Yes. Yes, Councillor Brown. Absent, Councillor Govan. Yes. Yes, Councillor Walsh. Yes. Yes, Councillor Hurst.

Yes.

Yes, Councillor Davila. Yes. Yes, Councillor Fenton. Yes.

Yes.

Yes, Councillor Whitfield. Yes. Yes, Councillor Click-Bruce.

Yes.

Yes, Councillor Edwards.

Yes.

Yes, Councillor Delgado.

Yes, order passes. Madam Clerk, can you call item number 12?

Item 12 is an order authorizing approval of intergovernmental agreement with the Springfield Business Improvement District.

Welcome back, Mr. Connors. Thank you, Mr. Vice President. Brian Connors, Economic Development Office, 274 Springfield Street. This is a new three-year memorandum of understanding with the Springfield Business Improvement District. We put this in front of the council every three years. It codifies the roles and responsibilities between the city and the bid for the management of the downtown district.

Thank you. Any comments or questions from my colleagues? Seeing none, Madam Clerk, can you call the roll on item 12?

On approval, Councillor Centinello.

Yes.

Yes, Councillor Martin.

Yes.

Yes, Councillor Perez. Yes. Yes, Councillor Brown absent. Councillor Govan. Yes. Yes, Councillor Walsh. Yes. Yes, Councillor Hurst.

Yes.

Yes, Councillor Davila. Yes. Yes, Councillor Fenton.

Yes.

Yes, Councillor Woodfield. Yes. Yes, Councillor Click-Bruce. Yes, yes, counselor Edwards.

Yes.

Yes, counselor Delgado Yes item passes Madam clerk item number 13 item 13 is amended ordinance chapter 279 door-to-door sales counselor Martin Okay Thank You mr. Vice President

I JUST WANT TO FIRST OFF THANK MY COLLEAGUE COUNSELOR HURST FOR WORKING ALONG WITH ME ON THIS ORDINANCE. WE HAD BOTH BEEN WORKING ON IT INDEPENDENTLY AND ONCE WE REALIZED THAT WE DECIDED TO COME TOGETHER AND COME UP WITH THE BEST SOLUTION FOR THE RESIDENTS. This is essentially something that we're mimicking with other communities. Chicopee, West Springfield have adopted stricter ordinances for door-to-door sales, peddlers, particularly like the solar panels. I'm sure everybody has either had run-ins with them. or have heard people who've had run-ins with them. They've become much more predatory lately. They keep coming back after people have said no. They're asking to view their bills. They're asking to come into their homes. It's become quite a disturbance for a lot of people and their quiet enjoyment of their homes. So this new adopted ordinance would shorten the window from 9 a.m., 6 p.m., It would require people who do the door-to-door sales to have a license present with them, visible people to view. And once they are told no, they are told to leave. So this, again, is to protect our seniors, our residents, and to just have the right to quiet enjoyment in our homes. So hope you'll consider joining me in keeping the solar panel people away from our homes. So thank you.

Thank you, Councilor Martin. Councilor Hurst.

So I appreciate Councilor Martin and working with myself on this particular ordinance. A few months ago, I had an individual come to my door and they were selling solar panels. I was not there. My wife was there and she told him no repeatedly. Um, and he refused to take no for an answer almost to the point where he was getting belligerent. Um, and you know, my wife ended up calling me. Finally, the individual left, uh, and shortly thereafter, the following, actually the next day, um, cause I saw the individual leaving as I was pulling in, uh, he returns back, uh, be, uh, because he wouldn't take no for an answer. And so at that point in time, you know, I was home. And so I got to address the individual. And even then, it was difficult to get the individual off the property. And so I could only imagine what would happen if this particular individual was at a door where there was a senior. And I can only imagine, you know, the anxiety that that particular individual would would go through I can only imagine if there was a minor at the door and you know at some point in time, you know, no has to mean no and we ought to be able to identify who these individuals are immediately and they ought to come at reasonable hours like Council of Martin highlight shortly after the incident I did see West Springfield. Straighten their ordinance and so it just seemed to make sense that you know we would get this to the law department and ask them to do a comparison between our ordinance and west springfield's newly adopted ordinance when we did that it was very clear that we needed to step our own game up uh here in the city of springfield and so While I understand we'll have some more discussions, our plan is to take this to various neighborhood councils, also have some meetings in the general government committee. On this issue, I think it's important to send the right message today in past first step. Few of the things that I think Council Martin you know did not didn't highlight is that you know the the this ordinance now expressly prohibits aggressive and harassing and threatening behavior and deceptive practices and when like you did highlight when they say when a resident says no. The expectation is that they leave. And if they don't leave, then because now they're wearing a lanyard with their ID and who they work for, that the individual resident will be able to reach out to the police department who they will be registered with. and report this individual. And so while we only had $50 fines for an infraction, this particular amendment increases those fines to $300 for an infraction. And so, you know, we're not prohibiting any free speech or religious speech, although we hope that they'll certainly comply with the or political speech for that matter. I'm sure my colleagues will welcome that. But you know, we hope that they also will comply with the timing in which folks can go, you know, solicit and go door to door as well, even though this particular amendment doesn't apply to them. So we're not looking to restrict free speech or religious speech through this. We're merely looking to just strengthen an ordinance that is already on the books. And we'll be meeting with the Superintendent Akers or certainly someone or his designee and having further conversation on this, hopefully, when we pass first step. Thank you.

Thank you, Councilor Hurst. Any other comments?

Councilor Edwards. Yes. Thank you, Mr. President. I look forward to supporting this and actually would like to inject the possibility of the fine being attached to the company because the individual may get a fine only if he's wearing the lanyard, only if you can see the lanyard. But if we can attach the fine to the company who's paying the gentleman, the gentleman is not out there working for himself. So somebody's at least paying him with the anticipation he's going to get an increase. At the same time that you're looking at this issue, many years ago, my colleague, Counselor Fenton, and our other colleagues, we worked on something to address the number of flyers that are put on trees, telephone poles, and things of that nature many, many years ago. It comes down to an issue of enforcement, but it's also... Not only is it an issue of litter, but it is illegal and it's not good for these trees to be having nails or staples put in them anyway. Um, but as we start to look at ordinances, the common denominator comes back to enforcement and how do we import and power some individual entity representing the city to be able to address these types of concerns on a more consistent basis. But I do applaud the work of counselor Martin. and Councilor Hurst and their intentions to try to address what is a very annoying situation. And I'm surprised, I'd be surprised if many of you have not experienced it. I know I have, but generally, I'm not very courteous when I'm asking them to leave, so they don't usually argue with me. But thank you very much, my colleagues, for putting this forward.

Thank you, Councilor Edwards. I think I heard Councilor Santanello. Do you want to say?

Yeah, just a clarification on the violations. It says violations are subject to a non-criminal fine of up to $300 per day, per violation per day. What does that mean?

Councilor Hurst or Martin, can you hear that?

I mean, I read it as it being $300 per violation per infraction per day. So if they are reported to the police department and they are fined and they decide to do it again the very next day, then they will get an additional $300 infraction.

And what, Counselor, if I may ask, what happens if they don't pay the fine?

My hope is that they'll be taken off the registry. I'm not 100% sure if we've identified that in the ordinance. Certainly will look to it. We can have that discussion in committee, but my hope is that they will be taken off the registry and be prohibited from going door to door at all until they pay.

Thank you, Councilor. Thank you.

Thank you, Councilor Santanello. Councilor Walsh.

Thank you, Mr. Vice President. So a lot of good things in here, but I just want to be clear. Your intention is that this will be going to the law department?

This has already been to the law department. They actually were the ones that drafted the ways in which our ordinance could be more strict and be more in line with West Springfield.

Is also your intention to have more discussion from people who would be impacted before we go to the next step?

Absolutely.

And I want to be clear, we're not talking about kids and schools and things like that. I'm like, nobody can come to my house and sell me candy bars anymore. I can't support all the high schools. So you're targeting a specific group?

Yeah, it's pretty much like commercial vendors. You know, in the ordinance, it particularly protects You know, religious affiliates, charitable organizations, political candidates. I know I'd be out of a job. I mean, I knocked on everybody's door three times. So it does have those protections in there, Counselor Walsh.

Okay, so people will still have the opportunity to do it, but they would have to do it within a certain time frame. Is that correct?

No, particularly the commercial vendors. The commercial vendors would be 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. So if you were, you know, the pest control or the solar panels or those notorious industries, you would fall subject to that ordinance in that time frame.

And the law department has already vetted it and we're ready to go? And religious organizations are included?

Excluded from it.

Okay. All right. Thank you.

Thank you.

Councillor Fenton. Thank you, Mr. Vice President. Just a couple of questions. I think the first thing is it would be helpful if we had some kind of red line so we could see what the changes are to the existing ordinance. I'm looking at what's proposed here, but I don't know which of this is what's new and what's already on the books um so if we could please get something like that before the committee meeting that would be helpful um and then just two things i think council hearst did you say something about our limitations on soliciting did i hear that right six o'clock nine o'clock to six okay because i just i mean maybe i missed it but i skimmed it and i didn't see anything in the one that's attached to the um to the minute track that included any type of limitation on hours. But we can look more closely at that in committee. And then the other thing I just want to call attention to, again, that we can discuss further in committee is it does involve background checks and I'd be interested to know what types of backgrounds would be eliminated from participating in these types of activities. I mean obviously we don't want to be discriminating against folks who have history in the justice involved community or having interacted with law enforcement previously. So I think those are issues that we can vet in committee and look forward to doing that. And hopefully if we get a red line, that'll help us focus some of those energies. Thank you.

Thank you, Councilor Fenton. Councilor Davila.

Thank you, Mr. President. I'll be brief. First of all, kudos to Councilor Hurst and Martin for this ordinance. Mr. Vice President, first, I would like to say to the people watching at home that if you feel uncomfortable with somebody at your door, don't open the door. Just don't open the door. That's one. We have heard in the past of this tact is being used to commit crime. So this is definitely a public safety issue. I do have to tell you that we all have been impacted one way or the other. Mr. Vice President, I had somebody that came up to my door not too long ago and says, let me see your gas bill. And please forgive my French, Mr. Vice President. I looked at this person. I said, who the hell are you? Who the hell are you asking me? God, let me hear your gospel. Get the heck out of here. But anyway, that didn't happen. They're that blunt. And so just two quick questions. Is this going to be, I can't open the video track here, so I'm unable to see it, but is this excluding Sundays as well? Is this only Monday through Saturday? Or are they going to be allowed? Because I think Sunday should be completely off limits. Somebody needs to rest on Sunday.

Any of you two want to answer that? TO MY KNOWLEDGE, COUNSELOR, WE DID NOT INCORPORATE ANY PROVISIONS ON SUNDAYS.

MAYBE WE'LL HAVE A COMMUNITY MEETING. I HAVE HAD PEOPLE KNOCK ON MY DOORS ON SUNDAY, BELIEVE IT OR NOT, SELLING STUFF. THAT WOULD BE MY BIG THING. ALSO, DO WE HAVE A, LIKE, ARE THEY SUPPOSED TO, WERE YOU GUYS CALLING FOR THEM TO NOTIFY LOCAL POLICE WHEN THEY'RE GOING TO BE IN THE AREA? Because I know that in particularly sector H meetings, that's been brought up before. A lot of people coming in, didn't know who it is. They started getting calls, suspicious people walking around. And that's taking resources away from the police department to go investigate suspicious activity who may or may not be appropriate and legal at the time. So is there anything in there that either one of you can speak to?

sorry counselor it's not that they have to notify ahead of time it's that if they do if they are persistent if they are using these predatory tactics to notify ideally an ordinance officer and then you know we do implement the fines and I do believe there was a provision if they don't pay the fines or if they keep racking them up that we could revoke the license or the police department could revoke that license your mic

Thank you. I'm sure we can further discuss this later, but I have a complaint that, you know, cops keep going out to investigate suspicious activity. I was taking away the cops from other things. So, but with that, great work. And thank you, Mr. Vice President.

Thank you. Not seeing any more hands. Actually, no, I see Council Whitfield. Sorry.

Thank you, Mr. Vice President. I want to say thank you to counselors Martin and Hurst for bringing this ordinance forward. I truly appreciate it. I must be on one of the most solicited streets in the city of Springfield because someone knocks at my door, at least on a weekly basis. So this is very helpful. And if you say I don't have time right now, they will come back multiple times a day. And say, do you have time now? No, I don't. I'll let you know. Give me your number. So this is so helpful. The time and place restriction is on page three in the section B. It says time and place restriction, hours, commercial soliciting at any residence is prohibited outside of hours of nine to six. So it's in this copy. But I would agree that we need some days off in here because it is overwhelming at times. And I also like the fact that they will have ID cards and hopefully the ID cards have to say who they work for. in big letters with some type of ID number so we can ID them to make sure they even work for the company that they say they work for. But this is great and I intend on supporting it. Thank you, counselors.

Could you give that reference for the time and place restriction again, Madam President? Because that's, again, that's not in my version. Where did you see that?

On page three, well, when I scroll down in the system, it shows on page three, section B. Yeah, it says time restriction. And then it says hours nine to six.

I see it now. Okay, thank you.

You're welcome. But I would like a red line copy too. That would be helpful because I have no idea what changed and I don't want to read from one to the other to figure that out like that. But thank you.

Thank you. Any comments and questions? So reminder that this is would be going for first step for everyone. So thank you guys. No questions. Madam Clerk, can you call the roll on item 13?

On first steps, Councillor Santonello.

Yes.

Yes. Councillor Martin.

Yes.

Yes. Councillor Perez. Yes. Yes. Councillor Brown absent. Councillor Govan. Yes. Yes. Councillor Walsh. Yes. Yes, Councilor Hurst.

Yes.

Yes, Councilor Davila. Yes. Yes, Councilor Fenton.

Yes.

Yes, Councilor Whitfield. Yes. Yes, Councilor Klick-Bruce.

Yes.

Yes, Councilor Edwards.

Yes.

Yes, Councilor Delgado.

Yes. Item passes first step. And you guys are going to be putting that to the general government? Not right. Thank you. Madam Clerk, item 14.

Item 14 is amended Ordinance Chapter 279, Article 8, food trucks.

Thank you. Councilor Click-Bruce.

Thank you, Vice President Delgado. I'd like to table this item as we would like to give more time to the, I know the food truck organizations were looking to form a committee, so I'll be reaching out to them I was kind of giving them some time to get through the festivals and other activities throughout the summer. So I'll look to have a meeting sometime in the near future to get some of their findings and some of their requests and then bring all of us together to have another meeting. to hopefully put this to rest prior to going into next year. That is my hope, but willing to take how much time as we need. But that's where we're at, so I'd like to table this item to a date to be determined. Thank you.

Thank you, Councilor Click-Bruce. Do we need a second for that table? Second.

Second.

All right, I think I heard Councilor Perez. Madam Clerk, can you call the roll? Actually, are there any questions on the tabling? Hearing none.

Yeah, no, I thought that we had made some adjustments to this ordinance already. I thought we had put some things forward. Did that not happen? No, because then we say we're going to extend the time of when this goes into effect and we were going to change the time. Then we vote in class.

Yeah, I do recall that.

Councilors, at the July 27th meeting, the two motions that passed were one to table to this meeting, to 9-8, and the other one was the 120-day moratorium while the item was being discussed in committee. So the moratorium was effective that day, Madam Clerk? That was my understanding what the two motions were in the last meeting. I was not at that meeting, but I did watch it.

Because I didn't know if the moratorium was 120 days from when we approved the ordinance or from that date. Can we get clarification on that?

Yeah. Ken back there. Can Ken give us some clarification? Attorney Shea? Madam President, can you restate your question for Attorney Shea?

We had two items that we voted on. Gladys, can you just repeat the second one?

So the second one was 120-day. I believe the terminology that was used in the meeting wasn't moratorium. It was a pause on enforcement of the ordinance we had already approved, right?

Correct. okay so it wasn't on the new changes it was 120 days from that date which would bring us into november correct and so i think this is going to cause another problem because then the ordinance is going to go into effect in november which is a couple months from now um and we still are looking at making changes. I think some of the suggested changes was to the time, to the feet away from the truck. So hopefully we can get through, I mean, feet away from other businesses. I hope we can get some community meetings, the food truck people at the table sooner than later, because if not, then the 120-day pause is going to be up in November, and we're going to be back at the drawing board with complaints and things like that. So I'm just hoping that that can be done. I'm not opposed to tabling this until future meetings, but I just want the future meetings to be sooner than later.

All right. Any questions for Attorney Shea? No? All right.

Not really. Not anymore, Attorney Shea. Thank you. Figured it out. Figured it out in my head.

Oh, yeah. Oh, wait, don't go too far. Before we go to, uh, Councilor Davila, Councilor Perez, I saw you first.

So for point of clarification, my understanding, the 120 days was to cease, leave the activities as it was. Correct. That was my understanding of the meeting and then come back into committee. and go over what was presented after we thought we had it correct, correct? So that was my understanding from the last meeting. So we are tailing and going back into committee in order to discuss those issues that came in front of us after we thought we had it right, correct? Just for point of clarification, that's what we did. But 120 days was because of the activity, and we were in the middle of the summer and all that, so to come back to the table. That was my understanding of why the 120 days to come back. We're coming back to the table and address what it was addressed after we had thought that we had it correct. Thank you, just for my implementation. Thank you, Councillor Perez. Councillor Davila.

Thank you, Mr. Vice Chair. I do recall this a little differently. My understanding was that, if I recall correctly, to create a moratorium slash pause, or whatever it is we're going to call it, that we needed two votes. Because there was discussion about that, significant discussion about that, at the meeting. So that's my question to you, Attorney Shea. Do we need two votes to pass this, or where are we with that?