Town Council - Regular Meeting

COUNCIL MEETING FOR TUESDAY, JULY 21, 2026. I CALL THIS MEETING TO ORDER. THIS MEETING IS AVAILABLE ON ZOOM. MEETING ID IS 82066827964. PASS CODE 509355 AND THE PHONE NUMBER 1309205335.

Council Gostigan?

Here.

Council Tassinari? Here. Council Malak? Here. Council Dimes? Present. Council Romano?

Here.

Council Reardon?

Here.

Council Finn?

Here.

Vice President Spoke? Here. President Letary?

Here. inspired generations of young Winthrop children to go in the medical field. Arielle Sharkey was just born to be a teacher. She was an incredible person. She taught for many decades in Winthrop at different schools. She taught at St. John's. She taught at Winthrop Middle School, the junior high, the old Winthrop Junior High. She was also a member of the school committee. She was president of the WTA. inspiration to be around, incredibly passionate and just a wonderful woman. Joe Clark also had a brief stint with the police department back many years ago, but was a Winter firefighter, retired I believe in the mid-80s as a lieutenant. He was the president and CEO of the Winter Federal Credit Union that his father was a Another incredible man that gave a lot and volunteered a ton of his time, worked with the chamber, was a town meeting member, was also a member of the school committee, also a member of the winter housing authority. So just three wonderful people who gave back to our town and please ask for more insights. I would just note that on public comment the second one it says Jennifer and James. I think it's Jennifer Jones, but As amended, I'll ask for a roll call for all motions tonight.

Council Costigan?

Yes.

Council Tassinari? Yes. Council Malach? Yes. Council Dimes? Yes. Council Romano? Yes. Council Reardon? Yes. Council Finn? Yes. Vice President Swope? Yes. President Letary?

Yes. Motion is passed. A couple of hearings. We have four at this evening. First public hearing we will open as town council appropriate 1.666 million dollars cost of water store rehabilitation on Winthrop Street and others identified. Public hearing is open. I will pass.

Thank you, Council President. This is a borrowing authorization motion submitted by Town Manager Marino. motion reads i move that the winthrop town council adopt the following order order that the town appropriates the sum of one million six hundred sixty six thousand dollars pay the cost of a sewer main rehabilitation and with retreat and other areas in town as identified by ms4 monitoring requirements including costs incidental or related there to that to meet this appropriation and treasurer with the approval of the town managers authorized to borrow set amount under pursuant under pursuant to MGL chapter 44 section seven, subsection one and or section eight section 14 are pursuant to any other enabling authority and to issue bonds on notes of the town, therefore that the treasurer with the approval of the town manager is authorized to borrow all or a portion of such amount from the Massachusetts Water Resource Authority and in connection therewith to enter into a loan agreement and or financial assistance agreement with the authority and otherwise to contract with the authority with respect to such loan and for any grants or aid available for the project or for the financing thereof that the town manager is authorized to accept and expend any grants or aid available for the project or for the financing thereof, provided that the amount of the authorized borrowing for the project shall be reduced by any amount of any such grants or aid payments received prior to the issuance of such bonds or notes, and that the town manager is authorized to take any other action necessary or convenient to carry out this project. The amount of the borrowing is $1.666 million, and that is for a new water sewer capital project for inflow Do you want me to give a little explanation as to what this borrowing is about, or should we turn it over to Director Callahan?

Yeah, you can ask Director Callahan.

I'll turn it over to Director Callahan. Sure. So the borrowing is for sewer main rehabilitation that's been identified as failing through our MS4 monitoring program. This particular funding will address issues on Wytham Street, which is in the phase Again, the borrowing is for 1.66, but we can pay back 25% to a 10-year zero interest loan. 75% of that is grant. We don't have to pay that. It's a lot smaller payback than the actual authorization.

Thank you very much. So the MWRA, the rule is to authorize the full borrowing. The realization is we are responsible for 25%, which is roughly $415,000, which is 0% loan, so roughly $41,000 a year for 10 years. And the other, roughly $1.2 change million dollars will be paid for the grant. And this did come out with positive recommendation, but I will ask anyone from the public if they have anything to say on this as a component.

Just as you said, Council President, this came out of a committee with a positive recommendation. Two yeses and one abstention. The only thing I would want to add is that during our discussion, we discussed what impact this would be to ratepayers. It is going to be about 10 cents additional to the 100 cubic feet of water. So it would be 10 cents more on our rate. for this borrowing. The importance of it is to replace cracked or otherwise aged sewer systems so we can avoid any infiltration of sewerage into the regular ground that we all live on. In my opinion, it's an important project to continue to improve the infrastructure around town. It makes the town livable and place people want to stay.

So, and again, as Constance and Eric said, this would start, the borrowing would start in July of next year, July of 2027, fiscal 28, roughly a 10% increase in the water store rate, which is roughly the equivalent of a half, 10%, 20%.

I got the tail end of the finance committee. The number of 35 cents was put up there. 35 cents is a different. Is it a different category? It's coming next. All right.

Okay. Thank you. All right. Second time by Councillor Romano, second by Councillor Dimes. All those in favor call please.

Councillor Costigan.

Abstain.

Councillor Tassinari.

Yes.

Councillor Millar. Yes. Councillor Dimes. Abstain. Councillor Romano. Yes. Councillor Reardon. Yes. Councillor Fenn.

Abstain.

Vice President Swope. Yes. President Letary.

yes um so now there's a motion on the table for the bottom of 1.666 million dollars as red uh any discussion on the market seeing none no call please council costigan upstate council tassanary yes council milan yes council dimes abstain council romano yes council raven yes council fenn i'm saying vice president swope president letarian

public airing for 1.5 million dollars cost of water store replacement one foot street public airing is open council of tassinari thank you council president this is another motion for bar and authorization from manager merino submitted the council june 25 to 26. motion reads i move that The Wytham Town Council adopt the following order. Order that the town appropriates the sum of $1,500,000 to pay costs of water main replacements at Wytham Street, including costs incidental or related thereto. That to meet this appropriation, the treasurer, with the approval of the town manager, is authorized to borrow a set amount pursuant to MGL Chapter 44, Section 8 of Section 5, or pursuant to any other enabling authority. The issue bonds and notes the town therefore and the treasurer with the approval of the town manager is authorized to borrow all or a portion of such amount to massachusetts water resource authority and the connection therewith to enter into a loan agreement into a financial assistance agreement with the authority and otherwise to contract with the authority with respect to a sectional for any grants are available for the project or for the financing thereof, that the town manager is authorized to accept and expend any grants or aid available for the project, or for the financing thereof, provided that the amount of the authorized borrowing for the project shall be reduced by the amount of any such grants or aid payments received prior to the issuance of such bonds or notes, and that the town manager is authorized to take any other action necessary or convenient to carry out DIFFERENT M2RA BORROWING FOR $1.5 MILLION. THIS IS FROM THE LWSA PROGRAM, WHICH I'M GOING TO HAVE TO ASK DIRECTOR CALLAS TO EXPLAIN. AND IT'S FOR THE WATER MEANS OF WINTERSTREET BASEBALL.

ALL RIGHT. DIRECTOR CALLAS. SURE, YEAH. SO IT IS. IT'S THE LWSAP PROGRAM, WHICH STANDS FOR LOCAL WATER ASSISTANCE. LOCAL WATER ASSISTANCE program. I'm missing a word, but it's for water main rehabilitation and replacement. The payback terms are a little different. It's a 10-year, zero-winter slum, and it would be to replace the water main on Winthrop Street between the east corner and Metcalfe Square, which we've titled Phase 1. Phase 2 will come at a later date. We've had Numerous water main breaks in this leg of the system. And as we know, those water main breaks add up very quickly. So it's money well spent. It's certainly going to help the hydraulics of the system. It's a very worthwhile project.

Thank you. The public hearing is open. So anyone in the audience? What's the increase on this? The increase on this is $0.35 on your water bill, which would be, again, this would start fiscal 28, so start next July, be the equivalent of a 1.345% increase in addition to the rate. There are also projects coming off. Right, and that was my next question.

So the projects that are coming off in 29, we actually see a, Stabilization of our rate at that point or maybe a drop in our rate If it's a dollar coming off, it's gonna have 45 cents.

What is coming off? No roughly in the end of 28 you'll be seeing the center price Okay, so, you know, you add 45 cents, reduce a dollar is also going to be potentially an increase of 1 or 2% or 25 cents or 50 cents, depending on what the water commission directs us to do. So, depending on our situation and the rate of reserves that would affect.

based on the timing of these increases in the timing that mr powell's home was on for the senate business district falling off it's going to be about a year with both of them on right so then you'll see about a dollar reduction on your rate in july 2028 so like at that time it might feel like it's mean what else no one loves paying their water bill but we all need water we all need to and we don't want it to just sit under our feet i didn't say that but i know that i'm just you know i'm saying i i'm saying that personally i know that's just back and forth anybody else from the vice president i have a question for you who's doing what

We haven't had any work done.

Different projects get awarded to different contractors. What particular project? I can tell you. For instance, Bartlett Road in Waterman was done by Deep Freeze Construction. Walden Street project, which is contract three, was done by a company called Codillo. Codillo and Son set a business project. It was done by Geoso Corporation. So it's whoever the low bidder is.

OK, so you go out for low bidder. And you are the one who authorizes it? I'm the one who oversees the money. You authorize it. And you also agree on the cost and whatever?

No, we take a little bit. I don't have any choice on the cost. It's awarded a little bit.

So you actually have something to say about the qualifications of the persons that's doing the work.

When we put the project on the bid, we list criteria. Right. And if the bidder meets those criteria, they become a qualified bidder. If you reject the qualified bidder, you go probably in front of the attorney general and have to explain why.

All right. And if anything goes wrong on this project, what happens then?

If anything goes wrong on it, the contract is liable for faulty work.

And then we sue?

Well, we would revenue, right? We would ask them to make it right. All right. If they chose not to make it right, then, yeah, it would be good for us. We've never had that happen in 20 years.

Okay. Has that not happened in your experience? Thank you very much.

Constantine.

Chair DeCalfe, if you don't mind, could you just explain to us all that phase one, phase two, how it's going to roll out and what your timeline is? Sure.

So phase one is the section of Winthrop Street between McGee's Corner and Metcalfe Square. We're hoping as long as this funding is approved. And again, this is a supplemental funding source for the project. We put the project out to bid. IT AWARDED AND HOPEFULLY HAVE THE CONTRACT IMMOBILIZED IN SEPTEMBER. WELL, WE WORK UNTIL NOVEMBER THIS YEAR AND THEN THE PROJECT, YOU KNOW, SPRING, SUMMER, FALL, YOU'LL PROBABLY BE DONE WITH THE PROJECT LATE SUMMER, EARLY FALL OF NEXT YEAR. AND AT THAT TIME, THE SECOND PHASE IS IN THE CAPITAL PLAN. IT'S BEEN LISTED IN THE CAPITAL PLAN NOW FOR SEVERAL YEARS. AGAIN, IF WE CAN IDENTIFY FUNDING AND YOU ALL APPROVE IT, WE'LL GO ON TO PHASE TWO.

Anyone else? All right. Our closing public hearing is a motion by Councilor Romano to suspend Councilor Rose and take this out of order. Is there a second? Second by Councilor Dimes. Roll call, please.

Councilor Costigan.

Abstain.

Councilor Chastaneri. Yes. Councilor Malab. Yes. Councilor Dimes. Abstain. Councilor Romano. Yes. Councilor Reardon. Yes. Councilor Finn.

Abstain.

Vice President Swope. Yes. President Letary.

I was going to, but I'm just going to get a way to ask him for waiting a second time by constantly on the second by constant times. Any discussion on the waving of the reading? Seeing none, roll call please.

That's the cost again. Yes, it has an area. Yes, that's a lot. Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes.

For the motion as read previously by Councilor Tassinari is on the table. This came out of committee with a positive recommendation. Any discussion on the motion? Seeing none, roll call please.

Councilor Costigan.

Abstain.

Councilor Tassinari. Yes. Councilor Malau. Yes. Councilor Dimes. Abstain. Councilor Romano. Yes. Councilor Reardon. Yes. Councilor Finn.

Abstain.

Vice President Swope.

Yes, motion is passed. We will open up another public hearing on quick bike and motorized scooter ordinance. Pass on the lap, please.

So this originally came out of the Charter Ordinance Review Committee. It was brought to the Rules and So, in summary, what this is going to be. and sidewalks. We did get feedback from the public on this to include protective equipment for awareness. And this also goes in conjunction with mass criminal laws. So we've seen across town where safety risks proposed. So what it does not do is prohibit any ADA compliant vehicles that need to be utilized and there will be the town manager can permit or the parks and recs director can permit certain vehicles to be on parkland when needed and necessary. So that is the Parkland that should be preserved and utilized by everyone without worry.

Thank you.

Anyone from the audience wish to be heard? I know you said it complies with master and the laws, but I know the fact that state houses hearing has hearings going on presently on this subject. Is that an alignment? Is this an alignment with those discussions as well? This is, they're going to be more stringent on what's coming out of that. So my question then would be, because you included Mass General Laws, will that then become your standard as far as Mass General Law is concerned? Sweet.

Would you have to re-vote on this? outside we do have purview in our town to be more stringent and more we can put in implement the ordinance to be specific to our park lands it doesn't have the state law and what our park lands are kind of laws that pertain to the list of what those are. And each city and town has the right to

One question. Yes, that's fantastic. Thank you. This is .

this item we have a second by council of dimes any discussion see none roll call please council costigan yes council tassinari yes council malam yes council dimes yes council romano yes council reardon yes council fenn yes vice president's vote yes and i'll say yes one choice

out of order. We would so the motion is to amend ordinance amending the code on a winter title health and safety. It's a long motion. Yes, it is.

So I move that the town council adopt the following policy Whereas town parks and natural service trails are intended to provide safe, quiet, environmentally sustainable recreational opportunities for pedestrians, hikers, runners, and non-motorized users. And electric bicycles and bikes. unimproved paths. And the operation of motorized vehicles on natural surfaces can cause soil erosion, trail widening, vegetation damage, and degradation of sensitive habitats. And many park users, including children, seniors, and individuals with disabilities, reasonably expect a low-speed, low-noise environment in parks and on natural surface trails. by the town. We do have definitions in here. What is the purpose of the section? Defining the electric bicycle means a bicycle equipped with an electric motor that provides assistance or propulsion. Motorized scooter means a device designed to transport one person with handlebars, a standing or seated platform, and powered by an electric or other motor.

Natural surface trail means anything

Exemptions. This prohibition shall not apply to mobility devices used by individuals with disabilities as defined under the Americans with Disabilities Act. Town emergency or maintenance vehicles operating in the course of official duties and the enforcement. The violation shall be enforced as a civil infraction subject to fines or penalties established by ordinance and may include warnings during an initial education period. Signage and public Number six is the effective date. This policy shall take effect, which we would need to set the date on this once approved. All in adoption. Thank you.

I can have a committee with a positive recommendation. Discussion.

So it talks about fines that are set by ordinance. Does the council set those fines? Are we going to do that now? Is that done at a later time? How does that work?

think we would set a date probably for us. I don't think we'll set it tonight. But yes, before it goes into effect, you would definitely want your enforcement set in science. Here's the time. Any other discussion? I have no problem with an effective date. I'm just not sure what the time frame would be to get signs ordered and installed. We have the DW director here. We could ask what the time might be to have signs made, noticing the residents that there's a prohibition on motorized scooters and park vans. I don't know how many you would have to make and how long it would take to install them.

That would be my question. I mean, do we have a list of locations, how many you want? Having the signs made, I mean, depending on, you know, 10 or less signs, probably have them made in a week or two. But again, it's all days. I would need to, you know, have an idea of exact language for the signs, how many you want, and where you want them placed. So I would say that.

making language for those signs and establishing where they should be.

If I direct it to you, I'd be happy to help with this. Well, welcome to the committee. Yes. I'll pass it. The motion that Ox and Mark would decide where they would be posted. Yes, Ox and Mark will decide where they're posted. The committee will decide on the language, and it will be approved by the council.

Okay, so we just I think the timing of this is important. Right. So we should have some kind of time on that. So it's 30 days to me.

We're just saying that October 1 would be when something would happen to make sure that we set secure and then we can help your director and box back enough time to look at locations or to the sides.

See that we can do that. Yes, actually that would go under different portion of ordinances where all the signs are listed.

Yes, so we're talking about, I know we just do our November 1st with September 1st via Bible day. Is that too soon? Does anyone have any objections to that sooner than later?

I think it would be great to get done before school opens. I just want to make sure we have ample time. I guess we're also being informed that we should have ample time. Keep everything moving. Can I make a motion to amend that? To amend the motion to include the date of starting this as September 1st, 2026.

That might be too soon if we have to have, if we have to have, or the Rules and Ordinance Committee meet and decide on language that's gonna go on the sign. Would that be a better, would it be a better use of the town solicitor to have him recommend the language that goes on the sign so that it's not, it covers all of our bases in terms of the MGL in our town ordinances, as opposed to having the committee deliberate it again

this question for the town manager and for the council president i have no problem with the president that's fine we can get the town attorney to recommend the language council yeah and i'm jumping off council test series point i think that's a very good idea and i'd prefer also if we go down that road you know just say council finn

YES, IT WOULD INCLUDE ALL PARKS. THANK YOU. COUNCILOR DUNN.

I am concerned about the September 1st deadline. I'm concerned about how long it takes for the signs to be made and installed. I think that's an unrealistic date. I just want to state that. Also concerned with the procurement. Do we know what the cost of the signs are? Do we need to go into a bidding process? Or no, it's under the threshold. So that saves time. But September 1st, can we... I think we can go with September 1st.

And if, obviously, if there were no signs up, there would be no fines imposed.

Okay. All right. Okay.

So I think that's, you know, going to be pushed sometimes to make sure it gets out.

Okay. Thank you.

Any other discussion? Second on the amendment for the day. Second. Second by Councilor Costigan. Any discussion on the amendments? Seeing none, roll call on the amendment.

Councilor Costigan. Yes. Councilor Tassinari.

Yes.

Councilor Malab. Yes. Councilor Dimes. Yes. Councilor Romano. Yes. Councilor Reardon.

Yes.

Councilor Finn.

Yes.

Vice President Swope. Yes. President Letary.

Yes. The amendment is passed. And now we roll call on the motion as amended.

Councilor Costigan?

Yes.

Councilor Tassinari?

Yes.

Councilor Millard? Yes. Councilor Dimes? Yes. Councilor Romano? Yes. Councilor Reardon? Yes. Councilor Finn?

Yes.

Vice President Swope? Yes. President Letary?

Yes. Motion is passed. We'll open a public hearing on taxi fares. I'm asking the Councilor Clerk if we have all the information we need to go forward with this.

The only thing is Sean wanted to be here and he's out of the country. So he's not here to discuss the fears, which he did want to discuss them. And he's unavailable by phone also. So that's the only question.

Yes. Yes. Yes.

Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes.

Yes, ma'am.

Hi, Marcy Hamilton, Precinct 2. I am grateful for the presentation of the engineering team for the Tyleston Girlstone range work, and I look forward to the August 11th presentation for the community. I want to remind the council of the promise you made to complete the Just for your own information, I had to check tonight to see if the pump was in place because it was pouring in as I was coming around. The pump is in place and I'm thankful for that. My yard was filling up. Let me just say one more thing that climate change is real. It is happening all over our community where 1.6 miles of of climate change water is rising. And I would like our town's infrastructure to move forward because of this. Our infrastructure and drainage work is failing and I need this work. We all need this work done. 145 or Pleasant Street used to be an evacuation route. Now we all know to shelter in place because there is no evacuation in this town because of the tides and our infrastructure. I'd like you to stay the course. Please reinstate the Climate Commission and its phased project works. Thank you.

Thank you. Ms. Bach. Bach, Senate Precinct 2. Just four subjects at the top. I was driving past the new firehouse location, and I noticed there's a water line from the hydrant to the project. I'm kind of wondering, because you know how I feel about unaccountable water, why isn't there a meter on that? That's their project. They own that project for now. They should be paying for that water, not us. Okay, so that water should be metered, and they should be paying for that water that they're using on that site. I don't care that we own the project. They own the project right now. They should be paying for that water. It's unmetered, and we're all the rate payers are paying for it. You're telling us we're going to get a 45 cent increase on our water bill. Well, they need to pay their part. Secondly, my brother-in-law came over and visited me the other day, and he was all scraped up, bruised up, and again, Last meeting. Sidewalks. Okay?

I said, what the heck happened?

He's 73 years old. He said, oh, I tripped on a sidewalk that was raised from a tree root. Again, you're setting yourselves up for failure here. You're going to have a lawsuit eventually. I know there was somebody on Marshall that sued the town and won over this kind of stuff. It's got to stop. We've got to address it. Okay? Then, Jim, I sent you an email. I got no response. It was a safety issue thing to do with the trucking at the firehouse site. You know, simple acknowledgement would go a long way. Got it. I'll look into it. But nothing. I guess, you know, because I'm on the naughty list with you, I don't get a response. And then let's just address the elephant in the room. The Rules and Ordinance Committee, that piece that's circulating on the internet, that was despicable. Violating his First Amendment rights to record at any given time in a public place is unacceptable, and the behavior of Counselor Dimes was unacceptable. In no way, shape, or form, you can't violate somebody's rights just because your feelings are hurt. You're not the feelings police. So, honestly, the other point of this is, you called 911. There was no emergency here. There was no emergency here whatsoever. That's an abuse of 911. All right? You shouldn't be calling 911. 846-1212 would have done. All right? And at the end of the day, you're... Personally, you're unhinged. You're unqualified. You should resign.

Absolutely.

Point of order. That's my First Amendment right. Point of order. No. You should resign because you're totally unqualified for the job.

Just um do we have any mechanism like a 3-1-1 or just kind of reporting in right so instead of people not instead of in addition to people reaching out to the council as a whole or their individual precinct if there's somebody who sees something like a displaced tree root or something like that is there a mechanism that we have in place we can put in place just to kind of report these things and make sure say it again

That would probably be a good mechanism to use to get more of a response.

And what's kind of the turnaround time on that? Do we know roughly? Pretty quick. Our ticket numbers? Yes, they are.

All right. Thank you.

Jacked out at Precinct 4. My friend at Pennyworth asked me to tell everybody that I know I'm having a clearance sale. I'm down here today, and it really is a clearance sale. So if anybody's interested, Pennyworth and Lynn, it's a great deal. Everything's on the sidewalk. It's a clearance. They want to get rid of everything so they can bring their new lines on. So it's a good deal. I bought a few of them. Ingleside Park. I've been an advocate for open space since everybody's known me.

Just had some talk about open space and stuff. Parkland.

Ingleside Park was done over by a grant writer, General Wilder, about 20 years ago. Money she got from the state was to build passive parkland. Passive parkland. It's anything but that now. Skateboard parks, football, softball, baseball, everything under the sun. So everybody wants to be careful about electric bikes and scooters and stuff like that. What about all the other activity? Hockey pucks, tennis balls, paddle balls, Everything concerning. You can get hurt by a bike, but you can also get hurt by a baseball, softball, hockey puck, skateboard puck. It seems to me the skateboard puck is not being used. Maybe that should turn into green space, which it's supposed to. Now, as far as Ingleside Park is concerned, now we're building a firehouse on Ingleside Park. The land that the town owned was 141 Pauline Street, or 1.18 acres at the corner of Waldemar and Pauline Street. That is going to turn into a parking lot. So that's not green space now. It's all the design. Now you're building a firehouse on parkland. So when we talk about parking on open space, I envision, when you tear the buildings down, that it should turn into green space. And I see about 200 square feet of grass on that plan that's been submitted to the town. The pathway between the two buildings is being paved. It's not even going to be green grass. So there's no green grass being proposed for the site. It's supposed to be green grass. I went against Article 97, disposition of land, by building the firehouse on our plan. Somebody's going to say something about it. From what I understand, a budget for that firehouse needs to be increased. So I'd like to know, there hasn't been a meeting of the firehouse group in a couple of months. So is this firehouse on schedule and on budget? That should be answered. So I'd like to hear the answer to that as soon as possible.

Thank you.

I was in the meeting yesterday that some other people brought up today. Prior to the meeting beginning, I was sitting over there conversing with another member who was sitting here. Councilor Millar and Councilor Dimes were over there setting up for the meeting, discussing. They weren't sure if Councilor Romano was coming. I was in a conversation talking about where I live and how old the house is. Just a random conversation. And then somebody noticed that another member that was sitting out here was recording. This was all prior to the meeting starting. And when they noticed that they said something to him and the outcome wasn't great. Okay. What is the, where is the maintaining of the ability to people engage in civic things in a safe manner when people are not following the rules. Nobody is enforcing what those rules are. Nobody is standing up when people are out of line here. I don't see, I generally don't see any of the counselors saying anything when that's happening. But so like how, what are we supposed to do in those moments? Do we just sit here and watch it? Like, What are you guys gonna do about it? It's not okay. Last year, with the previous council, if, oh my goodness, I can't remember his name, Precinct 5, the old Precinct 5, made a little bit of a face. Oh my God, everyone would start yelling and that was okay. But now nothing? Hold people accountable for the things they're doing. on the council and in the public because it's ridiculous.

Thank you. Thank you. Yes, online.

Rob DeMarco.

Can you hear me? We can hear you. All right. How's everybody doing? Listen, I just wanted to say for the three people who abstained,

Councilor Dimes, Councilor Finn, and Councilor Costigan, great job. That's what you had to do in the moment. So thank you for doing that. In the meantime, when it comes to motorized scooters and motorized bikes, I'll be honest with you, I hate them. I absolutely hate them. And my daughter, who's 13, drives a motorized scooter that goes 22 miles per hour. So I completely agree with limiting these on power lines. So I'm completely for them. That's all I got. And I hope you guys have a great week. It's great to see everyone. Thank you, Bob.

Yes, Mr. Chair.

Yeah. Tom DeDarian, Precinct 3, and your fellow tree warden. We had a meeting last Wednesday here hosted by Councilman Swope addressing the problem that's been mentioned with the sidewalks and the sidewalks and trees and tree roots pushing up the sidewalks and sidewalks with utility poles and biohydrants and street signs. But I was heartened in the meeting that Councilor Reardon and Councilor Finn had done some research in how other communities address that kind of problem. And it's complicated. And there is progress being made in that direction. But as Director Calla said at that meeting, if we were designing our town from the beginning, we would have eight foot wide sidewalks. So we've got to address each one individually. There's progress in that direction and that's heartening. Another heartening thing is that the Winthrop Foundation has given the town a grant for $2,000 for trees. I'm happy about that. We have some other grants. So we have some money to buy trees to plant in the fall. What I don't know is what we have beyond that. And there is certainly a lot to do. And for that, I would like to urge our council members to vote a compliance to 3A. So we would qualify for the Cool Corridors grant for $100,000 that we had applied for and were about to get last year under the hard work of our assistant town manager, Cheryl McCormick, with cooperation from Steve Callahan and the tree committee and the planning committee. A lot of work was done, and it's a lot of money. $100,000 worth of help us solve a lot of the problems, get more trees and take care of the trees and maybe do things like take care of raised sidewalks and do those kind of things. So I urge you to join the leadership of Council President and vote to comply with 3A. Karen.

Karen Chavez, Precinct 2. our last meeting was Tuesday July 7th at 4 30 in this room we were on zoom and our next meeting is Monday August 10th at 4 30 we will be on zoom in this meeting and as of July 7th we are on budget discussion on increasing the budget has not been talked about and We are meeting. We've had regular meetings. It's not months and months.

Thank you.

Correspondence.

Yes, we have a few correspondence actually in reference to a motion about the removal of the rules and ordinance. We had Carrie Woodhouse Lenore Foley, Scott Mulroney-Wright, Marcy Hamilton, Donna Segretti-Riley, Captain Capuccio, and Marcia Shulman against that. Then Aaron Barcella had wrote an email about a critical housing issue in our town to the town council.

That's it. Thank you. Committee reports. Councilor Tess Knapp. Finance Committee met tonight.

We had moved forward the two motions that we just had public hearings on with the federal recommendations. We didn't touch on anything for the taxi fares. We were still waiting. When we met jointly with Rules and Ordinances, we referred back to Cole Council, and that's why we're continuing that public hearing, waiting for the representative of the taxi company to present their argument. That's all from the Finance Committee. Thank you. Council Malak.

Rules and Ordinance met last night. And then we did not make any modifications to what we previously discussed in the meeting before. We went on to Section 5 to 7 to review those. There was some grammar that needed to be corrected. It was presented from the previous Rules and Ordinance Committee. We did not vote on any of those matters. So they will be on the next agenda also so we can have a full committee to actually discuss those to finalize completely and see if we're done with those sections. We also quickly touched upon

We could not make any determination on this.

We did feel that for policymaking, applying for a resume would be important, not so much on non-policymaking. And then for having the discussion of having in-person, the town council requiring the

What did you say?

That's everything on the agenda. Discussed. All right. By House Building Committee, Councilor Dunn.

Thank you, Town Council President. Just as Karen Chavez said, our last meeting was July 7th. Our next meeting is August 10th at 430 in the Harbin Hearing Room. The project is on budget and on schedule as of our last meeting. Suitable material has been BEING MOVED IN, PLACED AND COMPACTED IN LIPS STRATEGICALLY. CONSTRUCTION WILL BEGIN EARLY SEPTEMBER. PRE-BID WALK THROUGH TOOK PLACE ON JULY 7TH. SUBCONTRACTOR BIDS ARE DUE JULY 29TH. AND GENERAL CONTRACTOR BIDS ARE DUE AUGUST 12TH. THANK YOU.

NEW. VICE PRESIDENT SCHROEDER.

WE HAD A MEETING OF THE PUBLIC HEALTH SAFETY AND PUBLIC LIPS COMMITTEE. And we focus on that complex issue of sidewalk safety and tree preservation in Winthrop. The committee discussed the historic context of street trees, current challenges such as tree roots affecting sewer laterals of trees obstructing sidewalks, and the need for a balanced policy that considers both tree preservation and property development. going to face there. We did look at comparisons that were made with ordinances from Newton, Somerville. And we highlighted differences. There were some differences in what those towns have done in approaches to tree removal, replacement, mitigation fees. and the cost associated with this. It's not so easy, actually. The cost is expensive to take down a tree and take down the roots. But we discussed that, as well as the challenge of relocating trees. So we need also a policy on private trees, we discussed. Because if we clear cut a set of a whole swath of trees private settings, we'll never be able to continue to replace enough trees to have a tree cap be here. And we are already in a heat issue. I thank you for some of the comments that Scott and Hoyne Wright sent to me and other people have sent to me about these trees, and I put that into the record. The financial constraints and the need to prioritize projects within the capital budget were acknowledged. We're not going to be able to do this. all of them right away. So we're going to have to work with Tony in that capital budget to figure out how we can manage this. I've already sent a proposal to Cipolletta on trees, preservation of trees, and sidewalk safety, and to see if that ordinance meets the standards legally and what we can do with that. We also discussed briefly the court decision regarding the Somerset tree. It's noted that the decision was made the Somerset tree stands if we can build a walk around on that tree, but there was no need to take down that tree. So removal was not required. We're going to have another meeting on this. We'll have another several meetings on this. And I'll wait for Cipolletta's response to what I sent to him on the ordinance to see if that seems to work and talk with Tony more about whether we can come to an understanding about how we manage this issue. It's not simple. I got it. I mean, certainly the safety issue is an issue. The tree issue is an issue. We're working on it.

Thank you. School department report. School department, we met last week ago yesterday. It was a summer meeting, relatively brief. The only discussion was on a couple of warrants that had to be passed and just talking about potential employment opportunities that were out on the school's website for people to apply. Update on policy making committees. Board of Appeals meeting is July 30th at 6.30 p.m. has been canceled due to no quorum. 17 Winthrop Street has not been heard yet due to no quorum of the BOA. The applicant seeks a permit to demolish and construct a two and a half story single family in the same footprint. The structure is proposed to be constructed on a lot that consists of 24,714 square feet. Conservation Committee. Next meeting is August 5th at 7 p.m. 252 Court Road, Notice of Intent for Proposed Work in a Resource Area, One Task Ave, Request for Determination of Aquatic Quality for Proposed Work in a Resource Area, and Sail Harbor Request for a Certificate of Compliance for a Seawall Revetment.

what do you mean i'm not sure what you mean i just might not understand what is this on the c1 no the other one what is this proposed work what is it on tafs av yeah what is it i'm not sure like i can speak to that time council president

They are requesting a request for determination of applicability. So they're asking the Conservation Commission to look at whether or not they need to do a notice of intent to go in there, do some mowing, and lay down gravel for parking area on 1 Tap South.

So why would they need to?

Because it's in a primary coastal area. So would gravel be up? I can't answer to any of that. They're asking for whether or not they need to move forward with a notice of intent. So the first process is a request of determination of applicability. And so the Conservation Commission will do a site walk, look at the plans, look at what they want to do, and make that decision whether or not they need to move forward with a notice of intent, which would be a public hearing, notification of letters, et cetera.

OK. And the only reason I mention that is because when I read your . Yeah. sent me because there was a whole notion, a whole recommendation, that we should not put in any more cement that's not . So I'm just wondering if we have that understanding about the whole town. And I don't know how we get that.

I'm confident that they are on the same page, the Conservation Commission.

Yes. Now, is the board of appeals on the same page? I guess. Yeah, because that seems to be what your issue is right now.

It's 10 minutes before it circulated, but only a few minutes and then.

Well, thank you. Certainly a busy 3 weeks. Thanks everybody for all the help for all the events we had. Unfortunately, we had that sad news last week. We thought we'd get a little break last weekend, but then we had the adolescent humpback whale come up on the shores of Washington Ave. That took up most of the weekend for a lot of people, including lots of Zoom meetings with DCR and WDC, which I didn't realize that the Whale and Dolphin Commission, I believe, I didn't realize that commission existed, but a lot to do with that. Ultimately, we ended up where the suggestion was in the beginning, and we could not bury it in any of our... looking at recreational beaches and burying it and a lot of other things, but ultimately we ended up on Sunday towing it up to sea, about 30 miles off the coast of Cape Cod, and that's where they sunk it, and, you know, Mother Nature takes its course, obviously, animals. care of the carcass at that point so that's where we stood the fish rather than the sharks and things like that but that's it was sad news and I guess everybody helped out I mean we said an adolescent whale but it was about 33 feet and 35,000 pounds so it's not a small thing to you know just getting it out from under the dock was challenging and we ended up taking it out on Sunday. Other than that, I will say, and I don't want to comment on these things with Facebook and whatnot, but I will say, I know it was out there and I saw the video earlier, while Councilor Dimes may have said that she was going to call 911, what I can say for a fact is she stepped out and called me. I did not call 911 and ask, you know, what to do. And I let her know that, you know, while you may be disturbed by it, it's not illegal. I mean, we deal with it all the time with the First Amendment folks that come in and Sticking, you know, cameras in front of our employees and record them at their desk for anything. Space is open to the public. I've dealt with it in all the towns I've worked in. They come everywhere and they roam around. If you're in a public space like this room, you know, they are allowed to record you. They told you. I mean, I will say most of the person and folks let us know when they're recording us. But, you know, I go to the office and I invite them in my office. I have them sit them down, talk to them, let them record me all they want. But, you know, that's if you're in a public space and you're doing public work, whether it's before a meeting or after, it is not illegal to record. Maybe unsettling for some people, and they certainly understand that, but it's not. That's why I let council times down and then I need to assume she received the meeting, but I just wanted to say, for the record. I know she didn't call on when she called me. And that's certainly open to answer any questions.

I'll just start by asking on the paving.

When smooth last night, but unfortunately, with the rain tonight, they called it off. So they'll pick it up hopefully tomorrow night, but.

the calendar spoke this morning there is a small chance for thunderstorms again tomorrow night so we'll see right now it's on the schedule for wednesday thursday to finish up so thank you council president uh town manager marino thanks so much for uh those great couple weekends that we had in town uh the two people celebration was that was unbelievable made it a lot more accessible to everybody in town i know that i my daughter and i used the shuttle service to get get there early in the morning check out everything and um and then the fourth and the parade of sales was all everything everything all at once running at the other end sorry to get a break last weekend and your folks were all engaged in the removal of that wheel that's very sad news very I wanted to thank you, your whole team, Director Calla, Chief Kuhn, Chief Palandro, everybody for a great couple weekends in celebration of the United States of America.

Thank you.

Councilor Dunn.

Thank you, Town Council President. Thank you, Town Manager Marino, for an excellent manager's report. I second what Councilor Testaneri, what an amazing couple weeks for Winthrop, July 3rd, Celebration. What a success. Then the 4th of July, amazing as usual. And then July 11, Tall Ships. Thank you to everyone that showed up and had fun. And thank you to everyone that made these events possible. They were legendary.

First, I'd like to hear a little bit about the trash fee increase. If you can give like a minute or two on that.

Sure. We have an increase, like I said, in the notice that's coming out with the trash bill, so let people know as well. As we said during the budget cycle, we had an increase in the trash fee. We had an increase in the increase in expenses around $200,000 plus this year between the tipping fees and the 5% increase in the contract and other incidental expenses that went up. We did increase the amount we funded out of the general fund budget. I mean, certainly could have justified a larger amount, but we realized we raised it last year, so we were trying to minimize that a little bit. So we increased the amount coming out of the town budget from $400,000 to $480,000, and then we took out the rest by increasing the trash fee by $20. So there's a whole description of the increases and what the barrel fees are and how they're broken down and whatnot, and that's in the one-pager that we put together to put in with the trash bill that'll go up.

And I would also like to add on thanking you and your team and all the people in town who put together the Great America 250 events and the Tall Ship. I participated in those events. I thought it was great success. I want to thank you for that. I'd also like to thank you for your responsiveness. I know I've been asked you a lot of questions recently about a lot of different issues, and I appreciate you getting back to me on those. One of the things I would like to touch on further, I know it's not in the report, but We did have a conversation about mass support in the window program. If you could say anything about that.

Sure. As you saw, they gave an update on where they're at.

I think it was seven or nine houses.

I forget. You can probably read it off of Michael Badalaro's email. Yeah, seven. Yeah, seven houses that were done this year. They've got, I think, 20-something in them. to steal his thunder because he is coming next meeting to give an update.

And that's the other thing. I just wanted to be known. August 4th, yeah, he's coming in. There will be, yeah. So if anyone's interested, especially in my precinct, precinct three, but about the mass window replacement program, that's the name, right? Please attend that meeting. They'll be here at the next meeting to give an update. Yeah, just want to make sure that gets out. Okay. Thank you very much.

Councilor Fenn. Yes. Thank you, President.

I Again, I don't want to sound like a broken record, but Mr. Town Manager Marino, I appreciate what you did for the 450th anniversary of this country on the 3rd. It was tremendous. As well as the shuttle service you provided us with, the town with, everything went great. And I just want to thank you so much for that. And I think it's the oldest thing that happened is it went up.

and let's hope for more events like that.

Thank you. Vice President Short? Hi. Thanks again for the . I did have a question about a grant. It came up about three weeks ago, and it was a grant that you were going to apply for. And actually, I'm sorry, I don't remember which one it was.

Do you remember what it was? I don't.

I didn't check with Carolyn.

We've got a bunch that have come in. I talked to Cheryl because she was going to apply for it. And I don't know. We think we should probably get a list of what we've applied for, if we didn't get it, or what we did get. In addition to that, all the issues that have been brought up by members of the town and what we're doing about it. I know we started that list.

We have in the budget book, yeah, and I can update that. The budget's active online, so we can swap those pages out as we apply for them.

I think that would be great, because then we can keep track of what we've done and how much it costs us to do it.

Yes.

Thank you so much.

And also, you know, you've been giving a lot of thank yous. I do thank you for that, but I also want to thank, I know, and there are other people involved in the 250th, but Council of Dimes and former Council of Belchers did an incredible job helping you out there, but it was really a team effort, and, you know, the fireworks were great in a lot of towns, that fireworks, but you talk about the Hogwarts parade, and that's something that a lot of towns don't do, but a few towns have, and it's amazing to see an event where, you know, you talk to grandparents who say, I was in this when I was a kid in the parents' room, The meeting was well, the talk shows were fantastic, so that's some good news.

It was really shining on the talk show today. A lot of positive comments from people that were bussing around, were really enjoying Winthrop and loved the town. It was a really great event.

Old business. already done item one item two item three the reappointments in policy making and non-policy making there are none tonight taxi fares are still on being continued electric prices were done uh residential parking stickers council in the lab anything on that um i think that was that's probably still a committee that was um probably concerning that commercial place And new business town council appropriate $1.1 million water meter and valve replacement project year three.

We will refer to finance.

Council vote to adopt hazard mitigation plan. I'll ask Tony just to give.

Yeah, we sent that document out to all 280 pages of ourselves. He sent out the active link and I'm downloading it and getting it. So we make sure our procedure is kind of clear, put it up on the website and we sent out the link to everybody so you can have access. So hopefully it's a little easier to get it and print it out. You know, we can obviously print it if you need it. But that is something we've been working on for the last year or so. We finally got it to this point where it's ready to go. Certainly set in draft versions that were out there beforehand, but we have the final that you look at now. It's on the website. And this is basically an update of a plan that was already in place. We just needed to refresh it. So we need to get this grant in place because it's one of the requirements, a lot of the requirements for the federal and state grants that we apply for. So it happens it has a mitigation plan in place. So what about $30,000? Obviously, other plans can sort of dial down deeper into that, like our emergency management plan, things like that. But this is for the whole town. It just is issues that are coming up, things we're working on, things we've accomplished. And it was really well done. So, I mean, take a look at it. Let me know if you have any questions. But I would suggest, I mean, if you want to, Council President, I think that we talked about referring it to a committee and then maybe bringing it

I only got to page 74 because somehow my thing, as I told you, got cut off, but I will read the rest of it. But off to page 74, I did have a few questions. It said on page 45, it said the road to Deer Island is prone to flooding during larger storms. It seems to me that the road to Deer Island is where it goes. Does Deer Island help us in terms of anything about flooding? I know we have a plan that they give us money, but I'm just asking specifically about the issue of flooding.

Like I said, we don't have a set plan in place to address that section yet. So, I mean, that's certainly right now we're focused on, you know, Towson and Girdlestone and Morton and Banks. And that certainly was identified by the Climate Commission. And like I said in the beginning, this is the 30,000. So this identifies all the areas of vulnerability that we have. And that way it's things we have to work on. But until we actually have a plan in place, you know, I'm certainly we could ask MWRA and New Orleans for that. But I mean, we don't have a plan yet to address that.

Since I have, these are small questions and I have a ton of them. So I'll send them to you. Sure, absolutely. And I'll feel free to document it. And then when I read the rest of the plan this week, I can find it. Because I think there are a lot of issues in this plan that I have questions about. I actually am trying to find funding from other sources.

We always are as well.

I know. Thank you.

But if it goes to which committee is it going to?

only one i could really go to right now but there's one that seems to be abundantly busy thank you for all the hard work and time that went into updating the hazard mitigation plan by all parties involved the plan certainly strengthens the community resilience and reduces risks

It protects residents, businesses, and our public infrastructure, and it really reflects the town's commitment to preparedness and sustainable planning and coordinated response efforts. I would like to recommend, if at all possible, that some of the members of the Climate Commission attend the upcoming meeting that Vice President Swope will be having, and maybe they can answer some questions and just pipe in, if they're willing, regarding.

has a mitigation plan.

Council vote, move election polling locations. And we're gonna try to go back to what we did last year and go to the precincts 123, five and six, go to the old middle school gym. And precinct four will stay gold it seemed to work out well with the town clerk and staff polling location i think it's a convenient spot so this is new business if you would like to take that up now so i'm going to take up now okay uh it's a motion to take that up now there's new business as a second Council Costigan? Yes.

Council Tassinari?

Yes.

Council Malau? Yes. Council Dimes? Yes. Council Romano? Yes. Council Reardon? Yes. Council Fink?

Yes.

Vice president spoke. Yes. Present the chair. Yes.

So there's a motion that the town council vote to move polling locations precincts one, two, three, five, six, currently in Winthrop high school at 400 main street, back to the old Winthrop middle school gym at 151 Pauline street for all future elections. Precinct four will remain at 35 golden drive. I'll take any other action relative there too. There's a second by council Romano discussion on this motion.

Thank you. It just makes it easier for everybody, I believe.

The times will be the same.

Everything will stay the same, just the location is changing.

And everything will be on our website. And I'll ask Tom Henshaw, we feel confident with that. All right, seeing no further discussion, we'll call it a day.

Council Costigan? Yes. Council Tassinari? Yes. Council Malab? Yes. Council Dimes? Yes. Council Romano? Yes. Council Reardon? Yes. Council Finn?

Yes.

Vice President Swope? Yes. President Letary? Yes. Thank you.

All right. I'm going to put me in. I know Council Malab talked about this too, but just the Town Council would like to request that Town Manager receive proposals and funding opportunities for comprehensive parking and traffic study, if you can get us some. Yeah, that's fine.

The only other question I would have is just under motion number one, which says comprehensive channel-wide parking and traffic study. I would just say maybe put the word two after that, but then a reference of, you know, two, three, and four, things that would be included in the study, and we have reason now that we want to do two, three, and four without trying to find ourselves to do that.

Gotcha.

Other than that, it looks good. All right. Vice President Schwartz?

Okay, I rewrote some of it only because I thought it needed. So it's a friendly amendment to what has been already.

Absolutely. plan or anything else but going through the rest august it's every other you know we have a meeting in two weeks and then every other week i think through I guess there will be a change. So August would be the 18th. We could go September the 8th and 22nd. And then it would go to every other again until the end of December. So I guess I'll ask for a motion to suspend council rules and to change September's meeting calendar to go from the 1st and the 15th to the 8th and the Council Romano, second by Council Dimes. Any discussion? Seeing none, roll call vote, please.

Council Costigan? Yes. Council Tessinari?

Yes.

Council Laab? Yes. Council Dimes? Yes. Council Romano?

Yes.

Council Reardon?

Yes.

Council Fenn? Yes. Vice President Swope? Yes. President LeCherry?

Yes. Motion is passed.

I'd also just like to ask, when is the statewide elections? Because the first is the primaries, right?

Yeah, and the statewide would also probably be November.

November right now is the third in the 17th. The third will be election day.

but we could we could wait to see how our calendar works okay that's awesome council president so i you know but i was looking at several other cities and towns and looking at uh council and select board meetings and and One of the items I did see in a handful of towns, and we get a lot of comments on this, is public comment. And it's frustrating at times because people will ask a relatively simple question and answer. So I'd like to look at the possibility, and we can send this to leaders or whatever, of having an agenda item that states public comment issues. asked or potentially at the next meeting or whenever this was to pass was to pass we could just give a brief you know it also gives me time or town manager on the council to you know there were some questions that were proposed tonight that i'm like i couldn't answer that one right now but something i could but uh this would give us an opportunity to address it's two weeks later but and it and it gives us the opportunity not to forget things that are sometimes talked about But just a reason it gives the town collect something more to do to write down all the questions that were asked. So it gives me the opportunity to go through them and get input from the council. So that would be something I would ask. It would just be a change in the council rules to add a gender item. Feel free to look at it and get rid of it. But no, so just saying that. All right.

That's that. Did you want us to comment on that or just?

Yeah, you can call me. No, no, no, you can call me.

Well, I do think, you know, I mean, sometimes it would just be helpful to have some time to think about the question and address it in the next meeting. But there are some times when you know, or many of you know the answer already, and that if we could say it right away, if you're willing to do that, without it being a problem. I think that would make a better interaction in the room.

There was a question tonight that I could answer right away, but it gets into a back and forth, which I don't want as public comment unless we want to change the topic and just try to do a public question and answer. But where do you stop and where do you draw the line? I think two weeks stinks to wait two weeks for an answer. And I'm sure in some of them we could ask for email addresses or whatever and get back to them, that specific person, within a day or two. But still bring it up for the public to understand, to know. But I personally would not want to get into a back and forth. I think these meetings are longer than they need to be now, to be quite honest. Not for any specific reason, but... You know, but I think that. There are times tonight there was a handful of questions that could have been answered and some of them, and it would have been easy, but there are other times where that's next to impossible too. So, I think we're trying to be more. Okay, but I do think this is a step in the right direction. And there was. There's a request to put on the agenda from Councilor Kosygin on a couple of items. I could summarize it, but I'll ask Councilor Kosygin. But the majority was to eliminate rules and ordinance. And my thought was to increase the participants and other subcommittees from three to five. But I'll give Councilor Kosygin the floor. Thank you, Tom, Council President.

I'll read the motion here.

of course uh the motion is uh thus i vote for move for the rules and ordinance committee to be dissolved and for the town council rules and procedure rule eight say the following to reflect this change at the organization of the town council the president may appoint members standing council committees first named member of each committee shall be the committee's chair each committee SHALL HAVE FIVE MEMBERS. STANDING COMMITTEES SHALL BE A, FINANCE, B, PUBLIC HEALTH, SAFETY, AND WORKS COMMITTEE, C, CAPITAL, ASSETS, ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT, APPOINTMENTS, COMMISSION, AND COMMITTEES. THERE SHALL BE ONLY TOWN COUNCIL STANDING COMMITTEES. THE COUNCIL MAY ESTABLISH ADDITIONAL COMMITTEES AS IT DEEMS IT NECESSARY OR DESIRABLE. AS PER WINTHROP TOWN CHARTER SECTION 2-6, VI 6. And again, for reference only at the bottom, it outlines Section 2-6. Exercise of powers. Quorum rules. See state's rules and procedures. The town council shall, from time to time, adopt rules regulating its procedures, which shall be in addition to the following. VI committees. The Town Council shall establish such committees as it deems to be necessary or desirable to enable it to study and evaluate the matters which come before the Town Council. In establishing committees, the Town Council may provide that some of the members of at least some of the committees need not be members of the Town Council.

Okay, so that was the reasoning for that, and that will get sent to RULES, which is basically in RULES now, because RULES is working on looking at all council rules and policies, so that could be a suggestion that is out there at work now.

Councilor Romano? Before you send this to RULES in Ornette, I brought off some of my reasons for why I put this motion, like to give a chance to give it to all the councillors and adjourn into the public record. I don't have to necessarily read it, but I would just think it would be a good thing for the councillors to have now while we're all here. I want to mention... I'll just use my council privilege and put this off to the next meeting. Then you have a chance to give a summary of that.

But thank you. And thank you, Councillor Costner.

Jim, if you remember correctly, last meeting, I asked that very thing of this council about getting questions answered by the council when they're asked in this forum. I asked for that very same thing. We need to answer the people. These questions cannot go and wither on a vine. They're important to us to ask, so I think it's important for all of you to answer them. And I think whoever is representing the person asking the questions, find the answer it's maybe a lot of times has to find the answer and get back to me i just think that you should they need to answer the questions in a timely fashion anyone else i've been to maybe three rules and ordinance

And it seemed to be getting more complex by the minute here in this room. All of a sudden, there was a phone call, and then there wasn't a phone call. I'll get that information out front. I will ask for that information. Part of the meeting that I videotaped, of course, was very controversial. something illegal. I was told to be quiet. I was told that the police were going to be called on me. Very intimidating. And now, where is this going to end, this rules and ordinance committee? Right now, I don't think I've seen a YouTube, a Zoom YouTube meeting. All the meetings are supposed to be on YouTube within 72 hours. I think that rule was passed by you. So I haven't seen one yet. So all the people are supposed to keep up with the rhetoric that we're hearing from the Rules and Ordinance Committee if we don't actually have a video of it. So I'd like to see that all committees Commission's warmest talking with the Firehouse Committee. Why isn't that on YouTube so everybody in the town can understand what's happening with that project? When is that going to start? I asked WCAT, Mike Grabell, what his input is. He said he doesn't have any input into that. It has to come from the town hall. So I said, Will you instruct them how to get these YouTube videos on YouTube? He said, that's not my job. So somebody is not doing their job. Chairman of the committees, of the town council, when is this going to start that we're able to see meetings on YouTube within the 72-hour time frame that you voted on to have. When is it going to stop? Maybe I'll get an answer in a couple of years. That's the way it usually works when I suggest something. Take it up about two years later on many occasions. So I'd like to know when it's going to stop. Thank you.

i guess i'm looking forward to the next meeting when i hear a little bit more from council across again and other proponents of the um of the motion to um committee um i guess i i've alluded to this before in this forum and in this building that the integrity of the work that happens here at town council and in this building is probably of the utmost importance right to make sure that whatever you feel about whatever decision, which way it goes to make sure that it's done with the utmost transparency and integrity. And so minimizing a check and balance seems concerning to me, especially when a lot of motions that have happened recently at this table have been to hasten process and to some degree, potentially the expense of community engagement and transparency. So yeah, I guess I'd like to hear more and I'd like to hear probably a deep dive on critical thinking of anybody that supports it. Thank you.

Joe Romano, Precinct 3. I am a proponent of the idea of eliminating new proponents. I have this right up in front of me. I'm going to hand it out to all the councillors, and I'll send it to the town clerk, put it in the public record if anyone would like to request it. I know this is going to be a long conversation. I have a lot of points to make. If anyone wants to send me an email, I'm more than willing to explain them. I just want to get this to the councillor. Thank you, Fred. Any other? Oh.

All right. Erin Barsalas, Precinct 5. Bear with me, because I'm going to read, and I don't do that well out loud. So just some grace, please. So this is just part of the email that I sent earlier. So recently, there's been a lot of public attention consumed by procedural disputes, zoning controversies. This ongoing friction is harming civic engagement. When meetings are dominated by drama rather than productive discussion, residents get discouraged, stop volunteering, and lose faith in their voices mattering. We must move past the internal disagreements and prioritize the following five areas. Economic development. need a proactive plan to revitalize cbd fill vacant storefronts expand commercial tax base to relieve the burden on the homeowners and renters infrastructure we must ensure efficient oversights on roads road repairs drainage sewer upgrades especially as multiple neighborhoods face severe storm flooding fiscal transparency following recent tax increases Residents deserve a clear long-term financial plan and transparency regarding the use of stabilization funds. Climate resilience. As a coastal community, we cannot fall behind on flood mitigation. If grants like MVP are unavailable, what is the alternative funding strategy and how will it impact taxpayers? Efficient governance. Delays in appointing RESIDENTS TO VOLUNTEER BOARDS AND COMMITTEES TO SLOW DOWN IMPORTANT COMMUNITY WORK. FILLING THESE VACANCIES MUST BE A PRIORITY. MOVING FORWARD, WHAT SPECIFIC MEASURABLE STEPS DOES THE COUNCIL PLAN TO TAKE TO ADDRESS THESE ISSUES? HOW CAN RESIDENTS HELP REBUILD COLLABORATIVE RELATIONSHIPS WITH THE TOWN LEADERSHIP? WHETHER THAT IS BEST WHEN THE LOCAL LEADERS AND RESIDENTS WORK TOGETHER.

I just wanted to mention Robin's Nest, because I know she's leaving, and I know that that's closing.

and her cooperation with the town trying to figure out what the town wants and get a business like that. I noticed how many people came up to her and said, you've done such a great job and we really do miss you. And I'm not sure we always said that earlier on, but I'm hoping, I wish her well. And because I always went there for any kind of morning I could give to the kids. And I'll miss her. I'll miss her. She's done a great job for the community. So anytime, if you go there before the end of the month, she's leaving at the end of the month. And wish her well and come on. We appreciate it. Thank you.

Thank you. Um, August 11th, as we stated earlier, we're having a public meeting at 5 30 PM with, um, for the discussion on tiles and goes on drainage project. Um, August 29th, dear Island, 12 to three accessible adventures commission on disability.

Um, if I could just real quick, um, I know attorney simple letter sent out a memo earlier regarding, um, uh, signing of the FY 27 budget bill of chapter 48 amendments. and whatnot. I know some people have some hard time finding it or maybe didn't get the email. I have paper copies there for everyone if anybody wants one. So if anybody needs paper copy, have it.

Yeah.

Just pass them on.

August 29th. What time? Location.

August 29th. It's 12 to 3. The location of the house in Goldstone.

Thank you.

Excuse me. What was that date again? August 11th, 530. Right, seeing no further