Okay. Good evening and welcome to the September 23rd, 2025 meeting of the East Meadow Town Council. I'll call the meeting to order and ask that we stand for the pledge of allegiance. 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. So I would ask that we take a brief moment of silence to reflect on all of the recent events. Thank you. In accordance with Mass
General Law, this meeting is being recorded by ELCAT. And if there's anyone else in the audience recording, if you could identify yourself. Sorry. Reminder publishing. Thank you, Sarah. What comments? We have one so far.
Whoa. Hi everyone. Hi. Uh through the chair. My name is Don Starks, 28 Elm Street, and I am here representing the Rotary Club of East Long Meadow. I will make this short and sweet. I have two invitations for you. I
know everyone's busy, but hopefully you could maybe make a little time in your day on Saturday. Um, first is our uh it's become a traditional fall kickoff event and that is celebrate eel. It's
held in the center field. um family focused, a lot of children's events, a lot of businesses as well as some of our town departments have um booths there and it's a great event. Um so that will
run from 10:00 a.m. till 300 p.m. and I believe we have music. Don't quote me on. Mhm. Um the second event that is being held somewhat concurrently and conveniently in the same area is called the our our
meals of hope event. So at the congregational church we are having a production line and we are looking for volunteers if you would like to. It runs from 8:15 to 11:15 and
we are part of the Rotary Clubs of New England who are planning on packaging around 20,000 meals for the homeless. And we're not doing 20,000 ourselves, but I'm not
part I'd really be having going quickly. But um and we are donating those to local food pantries because there's a huge need for this. And um this is part of our community service. And if you want
any additional information, you can go to our Facebook page and if you want to sign up and you can just walk in the door, too. We'll take anyone we can to help. Um, you can sign up at, of course,
uh, celebrate eel@gmail.com. So, those are both happening in the center of town and, uh, we hope to see someone here. I'm sure we will. It's a great thing. So, we really would appreciate any kind of support.
Thank you. Thank you, Don. Thanks, Don. Is there anyone else that wishes to make a public comment this evening? Okay, seeing none, council comments. Okay, seeing none, town manager report. Hi, Tom.
Oh, welcome back. Uh, good evening everyone. Um, so attached to the report are our, uh, project reports for the weeks of September 1st, excuse me, September 1st and September 8th uh, for the high
school natitorium. Uh the masons are installing brick on the outside. Partitions and drywall are up on individual classrooms. Um plumbing, electrical is done on the pool. That's going to get uh poured early next week. Uh I I was fortunate to
take a tour last week with our our building committee chair Steve Crucial and and some of the members of Fontaine, and you really don't even need a set of plans anymore to see what you're looking at. It's it's we can't you can't imagine uh how far we've come. Um so uh just
again continued thanks to our project uh manager Scansa the design team uh Jones Wits at architects and SMMA uh Fontaine brothers and all the trade workers and everybody for all their hard work. It's uh quite a quite a milestone of a project. I mean uh and it keeps getting
better every day. Um, I also want to acknowledge uh Isome Fire Department for hosting another uh well attended and heartfelt uh September 11th candlelight vigil. Um, special thanks to Senator Alivera, State Representatives Puplo and
Ash, uh, Town Council, um, Islam Police Department, American Legion Post 293, and everyone uh, who took the time out of their schedule to to come to the event. Uh, never forget and always remember. Um, pleased to announce that the new wet
Westcom operations center on Shuinan Drive in Chikabe had officially been brought online. Um, again, worldclass facility. I think you've heard me brag about it before, but uh, so at 12:15 uh, on September 16th, Westcom answered its
first 911 call in their new home. Um, and uh, the future is definitely bright for Westcom. So, congrats to the whole team. Um, and after a brief hiatus, I want to continue to insert uh and showcase our hardworking department heads into the uh manager report portion
of the evening. Um, tonight I want to welcome our health director, Tammy Spencer Spencer, to uh give us some updates on public health. Hi, Tammy. Hello, everybody. Hi, Tammy. No, thought you wanted me to start. Let her rip. Floor is yours.
Um, well, at first I thought this was like a real, you know, you want a real long report. So, the highlights to things that maybe you're not going to get on uh Facebook or the website, kind of the things that we're finding exciting that are kind of
quiet and or behind the scenes. Um our first one would be that um we have applied and now have received an engagement contract for the expansion of public health excellence grant for shared services and this is a shared services grant um where we would take
the lead um with the towns of Awam, Westfield and West Springfield. I know there might be some people who've been here before when the town tried to previously do this. It looks completely different. It's not at all the kind of grant that was applied for in the past.
It is a 100% shared grant. Um nothing that we have here um will be shared with other communities and nothing that the other communities have will be shared with us. Um it's a modernization grant that will allow us to um live up to the
foundations of public health which are um a set of essential services that all local public health should have. And this is actually a national standard not just a standard that um was adopted um by the state. So, um, SAFE 2.0 is the
newest version of the modernization act. Um, and this, um, that program funds it and it's funded until, um, 2033, which is really cool. Uh, so the first part of the award for the fiscal year 26 and 27,
um, will be up to $600,000. And that could allow us to do a lot of different things. So in the beginning what we'll be doing is a cap a capacity assessment with the other towns to kind of find out what are the things that we really need. Are they positions they
contractors? Are they consultants? Um some of the other things that it will do is it will allow our employees to obtain the accreditation and the training um that isn't currently in specific jobs descriptions we have but are in ones that the performance standards that the
state have. Um, so that's really exciting because that actually that actually could be quite a um hefty fund that we won't have to be paying out of our pocket. Um, and the lovely part about it is that the town gets um 15% off it. So that means $45,000 a year can
come back to the town depending on accounting and everybody else will figure out how that goes. Um, so that's really exciting. Um it's really neat to be able to kind of take our services um beyond an inspection and disease
response like we can actually start looking at for chronic disease and injury um maternal uh maternal child and family and also access and um access to health care and access to healthare needs. That's and that's been something
that's come up quite a bit especially um with populations who might not be savvy um with technology how to access um tellahalth and things like that. So we're really excited. There'll be lots more to come. Um and I I can can't wait
for that. So that's sort of the big thing. If there's any questions and always, you know, feel free to stop by the health department too. can give you an even longer um like so that's really exciting. Um another uh while smaller grant that we
received um but I think just as exciting is um got a silly name. It's called the reduced reuse and repurpose um mini grant through the Massachusetts uh um reduce reuse repair micro grant through Mass D. Um and we applied for that uh on
behalf of East Long Meadow Public Schools uh to help reduce um food waste cafeterias and we're deciding uh Lori Paul the food director um could use um reusable utensils because people got
used to using a lot of non-reusables during COVID and some of the equipment gets older. So, we're going to be purchasing um actual forks and knives and trays and um replacing a fridge because they get a lot of food donations that that becomes waste when you can't
actually store it properly. So, we'll be able to do that. So, that's really exciting. It's been really busy couple of months trash and recycling wise. We've been doing a lot of um direct contact with our businesses um to make sure that not only the businesses are,
you know, recycling and doing trash that their haulers that provide them services are are upholding to state um the state regulations and our local regulations. And one of those is really that they have to require both trash and recycling pickup as part of their bundling
services. And we uh what I really love is when people, especially the businesses, start calling and they're like, "But I don't know what to do about this." And well, it's great. You call the right place because we actually have people who will help you figure out how to throw away anything. Um if you're a
business or you're a resident, call us up. Do you not know how to get rid of the carpet? I guarantee you our recycling coordinator, Liz Bone, will be able to figure out how to do that for you. Um, so I feel like uh lately we've been doing a lot of outreach that way, a lot of outreach with the composting. Um,
if you want to learn how to compost at home or if you want to be put up with a commercial company that will come pick it up, uh, give us a call at the health department. Um, we brought back hazardous waste this year and I think it was really success successful and we already have it
scheduled for August 22nd um, of next summer. So that will be really great. And we've um amped up our lithium battery cycling recycling program with the fire department um because we've had a um a lot of calls in the last year about um smoking trash cans that had
lithium batteries in it and uh the our trash collection trucks. Uh so we partnered with fire department and having a safe way to um store them while uh waiting for disposal. So that's really cool.
Let's see. And I think one of the big things that was uh a little bit different this year and I feel like has actually showed um paid off is uh in for 2025 we decided to change up the way that we look at our mosquito control
program. Um in the past we have been a part of the Pioneer Valley Mosquito Control District which uh which supplies uh surveillance for the town. They basically put the test um traps around and test the mosquitoes. Um, but we decided to also utilize them for um,
mosquito abatement, which has been really great because they can figure out where the traps are and they can figure out um, where to treat areas of town based off of that. Um, and the upside of this over a commercial is because the
Pioneer Valley Mosquito Control District falls under state reclamation board, um, and is part of the Massachusetts Department of Agriculture, uh, they can actually treat areas close to and in wet lands if needed. Um, which is where our mosquitoes are generated. Um, and
actually this year, uh, the only only two weeks out of the entire summer so far have we had, um, positive pools for West Nile virus traps, which I'm guessing, um, it might be because we're being a little more strategic, uh, a little more purposeful with our
treatment and our, um, um, surveillance. So, I mean, fingers are crossed. It is still only September and now we're starting to see more cases pop up in humans. Hopefully, we will have none in town. Um, but still, you know, staying diligent. Knock over those containers of
uh of water in your backyard. Keep keep mowing and always wear spray. Um, and also, we brought back the tick report. So, um, if you do find a tick and your doctor's office doesn't want to test it, um, you can send it to the tick
report for $10. They will give you um they will test it and give you a response. And it's also great because it's a surveillance method for the state to figure out where they're seeing ticks with particular diseases. And the last thing, if actually I said no, nothing that's on Facebook or the
website. Um I'm just want to promote we have our drive-th through food clinic, our two clinics, one at the fire station and one at the um senior center uh on the 9th and the 10th. And then we will have two indoor clinics for people who don't want to do it in your car um on
the 15th at the library and November 4th at back here at the senior center. And it is flu shots for anybody five and up and co shots for anyone 12 and up. And we um urge everybody to get both this year.
Thank you. I know that's probably a lot more. Thank you, Tammy. Thank you guys. Thanks. Good. So, there we go. Incomparable Tammy Spencer. Um, we have
some upcoming events. Uh, celebrate EL is this Saturday. The aforementioned. Uh, it is a great event. We do have a lot of um department heads that do have booths and there's plenty. We go every year. It's it's a it's a great time. Um, we have our uh center town district uh
meeting. Uh Jeff Speck will be here at the senior center on September 30th at 6 PM uh for for a presentation. Um coffee with the town manager October 1st here at uh 10:30 at the senior center and then October Fest uh October 18th uh at
noon at Brown Farm. Um and that is uh the report for this evening. And any any questions for Tammy or myself or happy to answer Thanks. All right. Thank you, Tammy.
Thanks, Tammy. Okay. So, we have communications, correspondence, and announcements. Tammy already mentioned the uh blue clinics. So, that was the first one that I had. And then the second one was the school committee had also recently approved and
adopted their uh timeline for the search of a new superintendent. So if anyone in the public is interested in that, that's should be available on the school website on the town page. Okay. We have no public hearings. Orders
of the day. We have our first licensing matter for approving a change of DBA. Uh for a Toz Food Mart LLC doing business as Zane Smoke Shop to A's Smoke Shop at 61 North Main Street.
I believe he's in the audience on Zoom. to follow an ali. Hello. Good evening. Good evening. Oh, this is Hi Allie. Thank you for coming. if you wouldn't mind if you could just provide
a brief um overview of your request before us this evening for the change of doing business as Yes. So uh uh right now uh my business it uh it was is uh Zen smoke shop and
right now we just switching name is uh smoke shop because uh the last owners who sold me in the store so he request me uh get the name because he was opening a new shop and uh he have to use
that name because that's his family name and uh he want me like you know give him that name. So that's why my new name uh DB I would like to change to is smoke shop. Okay, great. Does anyone have any
questions for the applicant? There's no questions. I will entertain a motion then. I make a motion to approve a change of DBA application for A2Z Food Bark LLC DBA Zane Smoke Shop to Am Smoke
Shop 611 North Main Street. Second. Motion's been made and seconded. Is there any further discussion? Seeing none, all those in favor, please say I. I. Any opposed? Motion passes. Thank you. Thank Thank you everyone. Thank you.
Thank you. Okay. Next under licensing matters, we have an update from licensing committee. Would you mind providing? That's me, too. Thank you. It's a few weeks back, the uh licensing
subcommittee met uh to discuss a new provision in Mass General Law that Governor Healey um put into law on June the 30th, uh which it's part of MGL um chapter 138
section 12D, which permits local boards to allow um on premises wine and malt be beverage licenses license holders to trade in that license
if they so desire for a nontransferable um all alcohol license. In order for that to happen, the local licensing authority must accept that provision of the law. um which
ultimately the subcommittee recommended that the council go forward this evening and and consider that. Um essentially what the this new section which they refer simply to as 12D um allows
uh the license holder who already is permitted to serve um wine and malt in their establishment to convert to all alcohol. If they do that it does not change our
quota of licenses. It just allows the license holder the latitude to change to all alcohol. The caveat there is that license is not transferable should the license holder
uh decide down the road he he or she wants to sell their establishment. Uh were that to be the case, the establishment um the new owners could apply for the wine and malt and once that's established could down the road
do the same thing, but it does not transfer as part of any transaction of of sale. Um if the lency who takes advantage of the al alcohol down the road has second
thoughts they can revert back to just wine and malt. Um that's essentially the provisions of it. It um it sounds a little um there was not really any rationale in the
governor's uh directive as to why this is in in place now in our town. We only have two uh establishments. Jeie, just remind me. Yeah, we have our quota is five and in Malt on premise and two of those are
taken. So there's three available. Okay. So mine um shortly after the license meeting, Jeanie sent out a letter to all license holders uh and attached the actual language of the law just to as a
courtesy to let them know and certainly for the two uh holders in the wine and malt category to uh make sure they were aware that should they choose they could apply to convert Do we know if either of those two
establishments have reached out? I haven't heard from anybody that Okay. So, letter that said, um, first of all, they even if they had reached out, it still has to wait till this body takes a vote, um,
which I assume we can do at some point uh, this evening. Are there any questions about what I just enumerated? Well, it's not so much a question. It's u more of a comment, I guess. Um when
you're we have the latitude to do that. Um if we've used up all of our all alcoholic licenses and a new restaurant comes into town, who would really like to benefit from having that opportunity, they could start with the beer. Correct. Correct. Instead of not do anything.
Correct. Is there a downside? I you know, I can't think of one. I I can't either. I mean that that wasn't something the committee actually discussed. The fact that of the five that we could offer in our quota of 17
various types of licenses and again for the public that is dictated by the most recent uh population in the state. And the metrics is that for every thousand people, Jim,
we get licensed formula. Yes, it is. It's worse than algebra 2. It really is. But the bottom line is this community based on its population of approximately 17,000. The federal census every 10 years they
reook at it. So, we're functioning off of the 2020 census and we were issued one more all alcoholic license based on the 2020. We used to have 16 in the last whatever how many years it's been moved to 17. But not sure there's a downside. It is
an a a pathway for a an individual that has an est or has an establishment to get an all alcohol. They just have to be patient and go through the motions and
uh the steps and apply first for malt and um beer and malt or wine and malt and then ultimately so there's an existing application of the ABCC for change of category if somebody wanted to convert their license
and there was one available um beer shop did it a while ago. So, if we had a beer and wine that wanted to convert to all alcohol, they'd have to still go through that change of category, public hearing, final approval through
the ABCC. So, it's not just like we'd okay it based on the adoption of that new 12D. Right. Right. Yeah, that was going to be the point that I was going to add is it's not like they just write a check for a different amount automatically. They're coming before us. All approved.
No other questions. Have we seen like an increase in people that might be interested in this since it kind of got promagated by the state or has there been too much? I don't think from an east perspective. I think at a state level some of the legislators last session were looking at
alternatives or the whole quota formula, but I mean we technically have one open all alcohol license slot available plus three additional wine and malt on premise. So, we already have some availability, but it could help us in
the next few years, depending on what happens, like with the center town district, if there's some different development or restaurants or something that might want to come into town. There's more options than what we have available to us at the moment. I would think right now, um, this is
just my thoughts. Um the provisions in in this uh law would benefit large cities where certain establishments only had wine and malt and wanted to, you know, make a step up
in their offering. Yeah, I don't think that this would make a immediate change for any business in town at the at the moment, but it would just allow us to be proactive for what might come in the next couple years. Are we able to I would assume we are
able to um if we ran into some issues reverse the vote. Um I don't know we can reverse the vote. What you can do with someone that is uh not being appropriate with their
license is through the ABC. You know you go through the uh consequence phase like we do now, right? and then if it were egregious enough, the ABCC could pull it or
recommend that we take a look at it. Okay. Thank you. We've had next to zero um inappropriate activity with alcohol licenses in this community. Knock on wood. Um so that
incidence probably isn't something that we'd have to look at, but never say never. Thank you for the Thank you. So, um that said, if we uh move to accept it, then should one of those two
folks come to Genie, then she has the green light to move them along in the process. We'd have to entertain that motion tonight. A motion tonight. Yeah. Any other questions or We can do you want to do it now?
We certainly can if folks are open to it. Are we open to it? Okay. Recommendation for the licensing. I'd like to make a motion, please. Great. Thank you. Um, I move that we adopt Massachusetts General Law Chapter
138, Section 12D, allowing wines and malt beverages on premises license holders to trade in their license for a non-transferable all alcoholic beverage license. I'll second that. Motion has been made and seconded. Is there any further
discussion? Seeing none, all those in favor, please say I. I. Any opposed? Motion passes. Thank you all. Okay, next up for financial matters we have first up is the FY25 status
projects. Hey Tom, more than a magnifying you don't have an 11 by7. Oh yeah. Um I did forward I did give you our total sheet uh all the um capital projects
some of which have been um since posting we've sort of been looking around. This is a sort of a fluid document that we look at almost weekly as you can imagine. Projects are done and then they come off and we uh Olga is always making
sure uh projects are getting closed out and and you know money is getting put back where it's supposed to get put if the there's any balance left. Um yeah, some of that I mean most of I know the the I guess I'll start with FI25
projects because that's what the agenda says. uh all all but the delivery of the pickup truck uh have been completed and and if there's balances that those are or encumbrances
um I guess I'll start by saying uh FY25 start with 3422 and then you'll notice if you go down the page that they start starting with 3426. So now they've been coded so that the fiscal year projects
will have the fiscal year in front of them. Um, and this has been uh I know when I started there were projects on the capital plan from like 03. Um, and so we've been constantly trying to close these things out. um
consolidate project numbers so that uh for instance the roadway stuff uh the sidewalk stuff uh Allen Street Landfill most recently we we we're putting money into these projects that are sort of ongoing every year and so rather than
have four projects open on the capital list we're trying to figure out a way to to to sort of consolidate everything and make it more streamlined. So, um, yeah, FY25, uh, the obviously the Maple Shade roof is still ongoing. Um, you'll see that,
uh, on the capital sheet, we have past projects that are still on here with an available balance that were already bonded. These are the ones that are highlighted in that orange color. Um so because we are we bonded for those projects and there's a balance we can
apply that balance to a like project which a school project these are all school projects that had a balance. So I think that number uh got tweaked a bit since the posting and it's up over 800,000 now. So that's that that's nice.
Again we've bonded and we're paying for so we might as well use on another project. Um uh the there's not really much out of line here other than the the as I said we we keep looking at the sheet everything in red uh the numbers that
are in red were were banned and that ban is uh maturing in December. So we need to decide um whether we're banning this stuff again uh which in all likelihood will happen because we'll have to ban money for the high school
and if we're banning anyway we'll just do it. Um or uh in the case of some of the sewer projects uh we'll end up paying down those bands and uh with retained earnings from rather than borrow money in the amount of $63,000
when the retained earnings in sewer is projected to be at 1.1 projected Kim. I know nothing's certified yet. I get it. Um, so we're we're constantly thinking why borrow money if we don't have to,
right? Um, also last year we started and we continue to borrow money from ourselves because our reserves are in such good shape. We just borrow the money from our reserve, right? Instead of paying interest to someone else. Um, which has
worked out great last year and we'll continue to do that as it's appropriate. Um FYI26 capital obviously is only a few months old. Some of those projects have been done, but most of them are still ongoing and will remain on this list until
they're closed out. Um but I don't know if anybody had any specific questions on where we're at, but like I said, I was running through the the capital list for 25. Um most of the projects including uh the grant projects with the exception of Maple
Said roof um and the storm water projects which we elected not to start the the dam uh because we were going to try to get a grant which we didn't get and the spade and culvert which we tried to get a grant and didn't get uh sort of
got got pushed off. um those projects were a little bit too expensive for our uh early stages are our young stormwater account that doesn't have the retained earnings of a water or a sewer account. Um
and like I said the and the the last big pot of money that's out there is the roadway improvements. That's 500,000 that was for FY25 that has been earmarked for Pleasant Street uh for next year. Uh but with our uptick in money, as we'll see a little bit down
the agenda, we might not we might be able to add something else to the project next spring. Uh but it was thought that with you know it's like a mile of roadway which we should be budgeting for a full depth reclamation uh or constru reconstruction of that
road because it's in pretty rough shape. Uh would would have been up over a million bucks. So, uh, with the 580 that we usually get from chapter 90 plus this 500, that's why that money has not been touched yet because it's been earmarked for Pleasant and we won't know the design of that until Mark gets the data
back from all their um, yes, Pleasant Street's been blocked. What are they what's happening there right now? So, the gas company is uh, in the process of getting their work done before we pave. Got it. Good idea. Same. Yeah, same as with Maple. So, uh,
we meet with the gas companies every year to give them our list of upcoming projects and let them know that they better be done and out of our way when we when it comes time to Same. We did the same on Maple Street. Um, so just part of that coordination so that we're
not spending money and then having a gas company tell us that they have an emergency, which we have to allow them to do because it's gas uh, after the fact. So, they've been they've actually been really good about replacing their facilities ahead of our schedule. So, that's what they're doing on
Pleasant. Now, uh we did get a couple of uh emails and again, it's not our project, but it is our town and our jurisdiction about the detours and I think they've been doing a much better job lately uh letting people know that if the roads closed, this is the way you're supposed to go to get back on
track. uh when they had started, we got more than a few calls of people ending up in Connecticut and not knowing how to get to Fenway Golf. Uh so, which if you're not from around here necessarily and somebody takes you off track, uh can
happen pretty easily, I would imagine. Buses were all going over. Yeah. Yeah. Um so, I don't know if anybody has any, uh questions specifically about any capital projects. Um, but I'm here to answer them all and Kim's here and Rebecca's here and we're
all here. If you have any police or fire questions, it's a it's a full house tonight. Gluttony of department heads tonight. I pulled out all the stops. Uh, the only two that I had was first. I mean, thanks for the list. It's nice to
see them all in in one sheet instead of trying to remember what we've done years. Um but then the second and you had sort of alluded to it um from FY25 all but the pickup truck. Is there any reason why that hasn't been done yet since it's quite some time? I believe we're just waiting for the
delivery, right? The upfit is Yeah. So we're just waiting. It's all I think the money's all been paid andor encumbered and we're just waiting for the upfit to finish and delivery and that's that. Okay. Does anyone else have any other questions or comments?
Thank you for that update. Okay. Yeah, no worries. And the second financial matter update was the balances of stabiliz stabilization and reserves word.
Yeah. So I I sort of just um bored this is along for your information. Um, uh, I I guess I just want to keep reiterating how we're making our money sort of work for us. Um, and give more props to the whole financial team, the treasurer's
office, uh, Flynn Financial. Um, there's a lot of people taking really good care of our money and, uh, this is just one more sheet that shows that. Great. Yeah, it's nice to see those numbers for sure. Any questions on that?
All right. Then next we had accepting donations from the last quarter. We have donations totaling overall $38,65027. Almost almost two quarters. The manager got a little behind on that.
Motion. Yes. Sure. Um, I make a motion to accept the following donations totaling $38,65027 per Massachusetts General Law Chapter 44 section 35A. Uh, $10,43727 27 from the Council on Aging, $26,270
from the library, and $1,943 from the fire department. Second water. Um, she said section 45 and section 53. Oh, okay. Good catch. Made and seconded for section 53A.
Is there any further discussion? The only thing I would add is just thank you to all of those people that made donations. That's a significant amount of money. Your discussion. Seeing none, all those in favor, please say I. I. Any opposed? The motion passes.
Okay. Next, we have accepting chapter 90 aortionments uh from the rural rural roadway funding program, the fair share aortionment and the supplemental aortionment. Uh this was something that we had I guess we
didn't realize that we needed to do it. I think this year in the past we always accept chapter 90 funding as part of our overall motions acceptance in our uh mayor June public hearings for accepting the budget but because we received additional money from these other state things there's additional motions we
needed to make this I think I mentioned when we did that motion that we were waiting for the word letters which never came so um they're all posted on the website these numbers are all correct so I think the backup information is there but so Uh I
was sort of waiting for the letters and when they come in then that's when they come in front of you and they just didn't they don't we're saving paper. I mean I don't need a letter. Uh so yeah that that that's why these are sort of after the fact but also because we don't
usually get all this. So right and as part of that too I think I had sent you all that we're that puts us at 60% of the way through the tax rate setting process. So this will get us further along once we complete this. Yep. On a gray track.
Absolutely. So, is there a motion? I make a motion to accept the following. Chapter 90 aortionments to be expended under the jurisdiction of the Department of Public Works and said some to be reimbursed by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts,
$28,75.25 25 from the rural roadway funding program, $129,.99 from the fair share aortionment, and $245,826.95 from supplemental aortionment.
I'll second it. Motion has been made and seconded. Is there any further discussion? Seeing none, all those in favor, please say I. I. Any oppose? Motion passes. Okay. Next, we have approval of our
September 9th meeting minutes. There a motion. I make a motion to approve the September 9th, 2025 meeting minutes. Second. Motion's been made and seconded. Is there any further discussion? Seeing none, all those in favor, please say I. I. I. Any opposed?
Passes. Okay, we have no old business. Under new business, our only item is the FY25 metrics from the police and fire departments. This was something I had asked from uh Tom to work since our
last meeting. Yeah, they can come forward. Yeah, it looked like they were ready to move. Get some badges up here. In previous previous years, we had um had some reports about this been a little while since we've had an update. So, I figured
it would be good to see if there's any changes, if there's anything that would be notable, worth sharing that might not be aware of or if there's just any other general updates from the department. And the floor is yours if you have any
senior guys. senior. Nice work. Thank you, Chief Beer. Um, yes, I don't think there's any uh real big updates from the police department. Our are uh you know, overall crime numbers are uh you know, what you see
here is just you know, straight up numbers of certain criminal charges that uh have been entered into our our record system in FY25. Um, I don't think though I didn't do a comparison, a long look back to prior
years, at least in my tenure here, our numbers have been slightly trending down. And I don't say that in a way like that's just that's happening regionally and nationally. Thank you. It's it um you know this uh and and just so in case there's any confusion on this, I apologize for the appearance of this
report, but it's just the limitations of both your police chief and the records management system we work with. It's a It's a 1990s era program that stopped developing right after it was born. Um I'm I'm looking forward to a new system
in a year or so where hopefully things can be produced that are a little bit more aesthetically pleasing and easier to understand. But just so you understand all the numbers you see in here, uh if you can get past all those zeros, uh they're all just reflective of a crime that was entered onto a police
report over that year. So it does not mean necessarily that we that somebody was arrested and charged with that crime. This is just reflective of any sort of reports we we've received. Um in terms of the the crimes we see that are highest uh in terms of uh frequency you
know our property related crimes uh you know breaking entering in motor vehicles and you know uh things like that. Um those sometimes get solved but often don't. They're very challenging. Uh in terms of the crimes we see where we most often are making arrests in this town,
it's uh typically shoplifting and domestic violence. Um those are and that's been steady since I've been here. uh we we have pretty aggressive loss prevention uh people working right now up in the uh shopping clauses and and uh
so our our shoplifting activity has I though like again I haven't compared I feel like that's been increasing uh in terms of the number of arrests or uh criminal complaints we've been taking out on that. Any other questions? Yes, counselor.
Okay. We're seeing a lot of unregistered dirt bikes on public ways. Yes. Is this a crime or is it similar to a bicycle on a on a public way? This just happens to have a motor. No, there are there are separate, you
know, that is a crime. Um, again, a very highly challenging enforcement uh level type of thing to deal with. Um there is a task force that's uh working with Springfield PD to try to you know target the activity in the city um and other
cities around it. I don't East Long Meadow is not part of that collective. I think we get a little bit of the the spillover. I think that also some of the activity particularly that you're seeing probably are are from Enfield area um coming over the border from Connecticut. Um
well they're in our development all the time. Yes. I spoke to two of them yesterday and they were very polite. I just said, "Look, we're private, but while you're here, I hope you're respectful, right?" They were. No,
I mean, I can't do anything with them, right? Yeah. Private property is private property. It's, you know, once they get on the roadways, that's when, you know, we can try to get involved, but as you can imagine, and some get more excited about that than others, right?
Yeah. the uh the uh uh the pursuit of anything motor vehicle much less motorcycle with likely a juvenile on it is really discouraged in our industry at this point and reserved for really high-risisk situations. Gotcha. Thank you,
Chief. Do you um just as a followup to to Maryland's uh in a case where you would approach a a young person on that if they were literally uh breaking the
law, do you take possession of the the vehicle? Uh if we're taking custody of the person or Yeah, we can we can seize the vehicle, but um that's uh case by we can't case by case and can't necessarily hold it. Yep. Um until there's a law change, that's
that's going to continue to be a challenge. Is there crime connected with these some of these vehicles that get to you know that it's hard to catch them, right? Are they doing bad things? Some of them. I'm not personally or professionally
aware of like a crime syndicate that's tied to people escaping on the dirt bikes or anything like uh like that. I think my at least my perception is most most of the nuisance and and the you know the the community disturbance is related to the you know the riding
itself and and the unsafe operation and um you know weaving in and out of traffic and and I'm sure you've seen it in other places not just here. I've certainly seen it when I've been in Springfield and experienced it firsthand. Um it's it's yes I'm hoping
that something can change there. Am I right to uh assume based on the format of the report that even though some of the totals there, you know, might look high for a particular category, it may almost be double counting because these could be
things like from one police report that may have had like five things listed on it like each of these five categories for example, right? One one incident could have five different charges and and also you'll see some of these charges seem to repeat themselves. Um and that that has to do
with um uh our just our management system and uh things that we need to fix uh in terms of a lot of charge are charges within the system that officers can select are in there multiple times and it makes it hard to run reports like this when they can go to multiple
places. So that's that's bigger things that we're working on. That's kind of out of somewhat out of our control but doing my best. No, that's fine. I just wanted just for the public's benefit just because the numbers may look there it doesn't mean that you know there were thousands of
necessarily arrested it just means there could have been few number of crimes we had I believe 109 physical arrests in that time period um and uh uh you know I don't have the numbers but another of criminal
complaints uh you know some assisted court or application for arrest warrants which aren't counted amongst Great. Thank you for that. Thank you. I hear I hear Chief and he needs new software. I feel like he this opportunity to plug some
new software. Well, thank the state 911 department in Westcom that is that is in process. So, thank you. Thanks. Um well, the opposite of my counterpart, our calls are trending upwards. Um,
you know, obviously, um, I I did a three-year comparison. Our calls have trended every year, not just these three fiscal years, but every year they've trended upward. We increase, um, everything has increased. Uh, transports have increased. Um, calls in general for
up until FY24, we've always run, which is very typical in the fire service. It has, uh, EMS attached to it. It's about 20% fire and it's about 80% EMS, which is where we were uh in FY24 and 23. You
can see in FY25 um we've gone about 16% fire now to 84% EMS. And that's probably where we're going to end up per FY26 as well, looking at just two months worth of numbers. This was our busiest August. Uh August was our busiest month on record since we started doing EMS. We
did 446 calls last month, which is Wow. um an amazing amount. Uh we had I know we're averaging about 13 calls per day, but we had four days in August where we were 20 or to 22 calls a day. Um it's a tremendous effort that our
members are um shouldering. They're doing a great job with it. Um they're all obviously very dedicated to what they're doing. Um and it shows in the in the care that we provide for for our our residents. Um biggest increase I can see is um out of the group homes we're
seeing an increase uh between FY24 and FY25 about a 20 21% increase in cost to group homes. Um that's like a 71% increase from FY23. And I think um Chief Williams can probably attest to it. A lot of this has to do with um the mental health crisis.
It's not just uh you know in big cities and it's here as well. um it's it's proven by the amount of responses we make to these group homes which um you know obviously cater to to um to folks with mental health uh challenges. So um I expect that to increase looking at our
numbers again for FY26 even just a two-month snapshot we're definitely trending in that direction again. So but yeah calls are definitely up um and transports are also up as well. If I may add, Chief Beecher said
something that reminded me of something I wanted to say. Um, I would just remind the council and the public that uh, police work is much more than law enforcement. What you see here is more of the law enforcement piece and and our officers are um, while crime numbers may be down somewhat. certainly calls for
service and the types of calls were going on particularly around mental health uh and the group homes and and and other things uh our officers do get involved in a wide variety of other activities that aren't tracked in this type of report at all. Um which is a
benefit of working in Islam because I'd much rather be working in a place where a lot of what we do can't be tracked on a sheet like this and and really is a serviceoriented part of our job. No, that's a great point. Um cuz I think as you just said like you guys are often
responding to some of the calls that fire is going on as well. So we work together a lot. Yeah. I well work well together. Yeah. Most of those calls to um the group home facilities. It's almost always a fire and a police response. So almost always
Chris your mutual aid. Yeah. You have 40 calls for this particular report. Mhm. Um is there a pattern or that called to certain communities more than other
areas? And is it because they need our equipment? Um I think it's just uh we probably do more mutual aid to Long Meadow just based on our proximity. Okay. Um we share a radio frequency with them. So, it's very often when we hear them
call for a mutual aid ambulance before it's even dispatched, we will just kind of preempt WestCOM and tell them that we can take that call. Okay? Because it's usually um just like us, we have a heavy call volume in our nursing home facilities. They also do, which are
centered right around Converse Street towards our town line. So, it just um we're just able to access it quicker than an AWAM would, which is their first go-to for mutual aid for an ambulance or Enfield EMS, which again is a pretty good distance from the town line. So,
there was a period of time, and this was before most of you, but when we had a we had a ladder and other communities did not. So, as soon as there was a structure fire, we were called because we had the ladder, right? And I was just wondering if if that's improved that if they everyone
basically has their own complement of equipment. Uh yeah, all of our surrounding communities with the exception of Summers um has uh similar equipment that we do. Uh we have a mutual aid agreement, an automatic agreement with own agreement and I'm not challenging.
No, no, no. But yeah, right now we're all pretty much like I said with the exception of Summers um we all have uh we all have engines, ladders. Um perfect. Yeah. And EMS as well. So great. Thank you. We finally caught up to everybody and they've kind of all caught up there. It
works out well. But um yeah, Long Metal is probably our biggest mutual aid partner for fire and EMS. Yeah, I think the numbers obviously even though as you both said the numbers don't capture everything that the departments do and are responding to all the time. Um just when you take the numbers and divide it by the number of
days in a year, there's a lot of activity going on every day in town. So, it's nice to have you, your team's working hard on that. So, thank you. Thank you. Other questions or comments? No, just thank you. Thank you.
The combined program you had not too long ago, police and fire. It was in in lie of um night out. You all did a great job. Thank you. Great job. That was a lot of fun. It was a pretty successful night that kind of really got put together in a very short amount of
time. It did. It did. It was a very successful. You know, it's nice to see the men that and women which, you know, we years ago we used to interview. We knew who they were and we don't know anymore. So, well, it should come as no surprise that
um just like everybody every other department in town, we have uh an enormity of talent and character. Absolutely. With the police and fire department. Thank you very much for Thank you. Thanks. You both. Thank you. Thanks for staying up late.
Connor, just before you move on, and I guess we're probably getting to action items, anybody? But anyway, but I kind of wanted I I liked this suggestion and I um kind of reached out to DPW and building and planning uh for for a similar kind of update and in terms of
work orders and how like there's a lot of stuff that happens and I think a lot of times we we we close the books on the budget and then we talk about the next budget and we we forget about all the work that gets done. So, if it's okay with you, at some point in October, uh, we'll have a report from DPW and
planning and building and whoever else wants to sort of put out their stats in terms of all the stuff that got done in FY25. Great. Sounds good. Thank you, Tom. Which leading into that action items for our next meeting, uh, one of the other things I had requested from Tom was the
new radar signs that we put throughout town, getting some data on that. And so they're in the progress of trying to make that uh decipherable for us. We'll have the quarterly financial report. Um I think as Tom mentioned in his report,
we have the center town district meeting uh September 30th and then we'll have those either the first or second meeting. Those metrics from some of the other town departments or anything else that I'm missing? uh we certify in free cash
on the 14th maybe we we should be able to I've sent um I submitted it the questions they usually have a bunch of questions um I've submitted the answers to those questions so my hope is within a week or so that they'll certify and we don't you don't meet till the
14th right because of the calendar okay I think last year we got like a email randomly on the 11th or something for our meeting so all right we'll see all It's a possibility. I I'll keep you posted. That's good. Great. I have nothing else. So, if
there's no other comments, I'll entertain a motion to adjurnn. So, move second. Motion's been made and seconded to adjurnn. Any other discussion? Favor, please say I. I. Any oppose?
At 7:01. Thank you.