This government meeting is brought to you by Eastworks and our local cable subscribers. Welcome to the East City Council meeting for Wednesday, October 8th, 2025. The meeting tonight is being recorded and broadcast by E Media on Charter Channel
193 and live streaming on their web page, eastampton media.org. I'll try to speak a little louder. Councilors and participants in this meeting are gathering hybrid on the order extended until June 30, 2027,
allowing us to do so. I remind both the members of the city council and the public participating remotely to remain muted until they are recognized by the city council president. Also, for the members of the public, please remove your camera for the entire duration of
the meeting unless you are participating in public speak or for the public hearing. Thank you. This meeting is now called to order. Maryanne Peg Coniff here. Connie Denim here. Salem Derby pres. Felicia Jadik here. JP K Quazinski
here. Tom P here. Brad Riley here. Tamara Smith here. JT Terrell here. I would like to take just a moment of silence if we may to reflect. and to stand for the pledge of
allegiance. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. I commit to work for it.
Thank you. Do we have minutes? Yes, we do. We have minutes from September 3rd and September 17. I would entertain a motion. So moved. Second motion in a second. All those in favor? I opposed.
Abstain. One abstension. Councelor Riley. Motion passes. At this time, we enter the public comment phase of our meeting. And I would ask anyone who's interested in
speaking to us, not about items on our agenda for public hearing, but for there will be time to discuss the public hearing issues later, but on anything that's on your mind, uh you have up to a maximum of three minutes. I would ask
you to be as brief as possible, as clear as possible, and I thank you for participating. If uh you should know rather that there is norm no response from the council regarding public speak
items uh so we do not respond. I would appreciate personally, however, and I think each and I speak for every counselor here, if you'd like to have a call back, to have a question answered or an issue to please leave it with the
mayor, our our clerk, uh, feel free to do so, your telephone number or your email or however best to get in touch with you and we'll do our best to get see that any questions that you have are answered, but we do not engage the public at this time directly. That being
said, please identify yourself, your name, address, and tell us what's on your mind. Good evening. My name is Kathy Wisinski. I live on Overlook Drive. I wanted to speak tonight about an interaction that I had with my city councelor following
the last city council meeting. After the last city meeting, Tamara approached me while I was sitting in my car preparing to leave. She graciously congratulated me on making it on the ballot and then she proceeded to have a discussion about running a clean
campaign, asking me to agree to run a clean campaign because her children needed to be safe. It took me several days to figure out why this bothered me so much. The conclusion that I came to was that I would have never
it would never have occurred to me to ask her this. My belief is that Tamar is a kind person that cares deeply about her community despite any differences we might have politically. However, it appears that she is making this request in making
this request has assumed because I disagree with her that I pose some risk to her children. That is not only ridiculous, it's offensive. It does however remind us of a point I have made before that members of this city council have dismissed the input of
many members of this community because you disagree with them. In fact, you have often demonized political opponents in many ways with no more factual basis than Tamara has in her assumptions about me.
I think that your behavior is frequently divisive and detrimental to this community. And in terms of safety, I was not the one that followed tomorrow home at a previous city council meeting. This is ridiculous and it should never have
occurred. Thank you. Hello. My name is Anne Stangle. I live at 17 Adam Street, apartment 2. Um, I am speaking on behalf of one of my fellow neighbors, Eileen Rosman. Apartment,
same address, 17 Adam Street. She's resides at apartment 8. And I'm reading her statement because she last minute was unable to make it here. Since we started organizing and pushing back against hurricane properties, we
have gotten some concessions, including a halt on rent increases and new appliances such as a washer and dryer. A great victory, but not the full both. Recently, we've been working with Ryan Griffin of the health department to address code violations in and around
the building. Hurricane's maintenance staff misinterpreted his initial report, showed up one day without sufficient notice, and took personal belongings from residents that they were not supposed to.
They're also making cheap, quick fixes that will create more problems later. Also, in his report, Ryan noted that Hurricane doesn't have a 24-hour contact emergency number posted in a common area for us.
We don't have a local number to call should an emergency arise in our apartment. Throughout this whole process, every wind has been hard fought and we still feel uncertain and vulnerable at this time.
I'm not sure people really understand what it's like to live under these kinds of property ownership. You have to completely change your conception of what a landlord is. This is not a person who owns a property or even a large real estate company that
owns many properties. There is no identifiable owner. There is a layered LLC structure with little to no trans transparency and ownership is spread over hundreds and maybe even thousands of investors.
Private equity firms aren't in the residential property business. They're moving. They're in moving money around and business. The properties in their portfolio might as well be widgets and tenants are merely necessary annoyances with bank accounts.
This is a corporate structure that isn't set up for actual human interaction. Profits are deposited into the investor's accounts automatically. Meanwhile, US tenants are kept in the dark and when communication it happens,
it's unclear, misleading, and couched in fake AI generated courtesy text messages. Any request for clarity is met with resistance, push back, or complaint
and is seen as obstruction or sabotage. You have about 10 seconds to go. Okay. and is about takes a lot of explaining to get our messages across. The only real solution is to keep rent residential properties out of the hands of private equity firms. One way to do
this is to establish a community land trust and buy properties. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you, Darlene Orvier. Mutter Street. Um yes, divisive uh JP resolution very divisive. Uh I've
continually welcomed you folks with um opinions that you think you have to apply to the entire city to behind the podium, but uh I guess your ego prevents you from doing that. I also want to address Nathan Marky, head of Democratic Communist Committee in East Hampton. um
as he uh like to comment about um um the last that meeting where apparently um Brad Riley felt it was important to email the entire police force of which five on duty, three were here for five people in the room. I'd invite you to
call them again or email, but I see Chad is here. So even though they can't protect children is at least he's here for for adults. Maybe maybe they work better that way. Anyway, um, intimidation tactics. No, no, not intimidation tactics. Your audio was
horrible. I had to keep getting up to try and hear the people on the screen, if you recall. Okay. I do apologize if I was um very upset about the resolution. However, that's okay. That's my First Amendment right. Okay. Feelings are not
violence. I'm sure the police understand that as well. I don't think Brad does, but regardless. Um, hopefully the audio is improving. Um, yeah. So, that was the pacing. It was cuz I couldn't hear. Uh, you did,
however, make me laugh and I almost spit out my water when you um eliminated Patty Cavala from the screen. So, that was disruptive and I apologize. However, I would like to remind you of something I emailed several to you and I want you all to hear. It's constitutional case
law. United States Supreme Court 1964 New York Times versus Sullivan. This nation is founded on the profound national commitment to debate on public issues and it shall be uninhibited, robust and wide open and
may well include vehement, costic and sometimes unpleasant, sharp attacks on government and public officials. So, I hope you understand that if you can't deal with you create a lot of
divisiveness, but if you can't deal with strong opinions of those that don't agree with you, you don't belong there. And just uh finally, I just want to add in I'm sure maybe maybe some of you haven't heard because you most of you probably watch legacy media that lies to
all of you. Jay Jones, who's running for attorney general in Virginia, came out and straight away said on a text that was revealed that he wants seconds, please that he wants children, GOP children and leaders dead. Not one Democrat who
endorsed him withdrew their endorsement. We have a problem. Thank you. Same in this city. Hi folks, I'm Nelly Taylor. I um am a May I interrupt for just one second. This will be the last person since we have a a we're going to continue public
hear public speak after the public hearing because we have an an announced time of public speak of public hearing being posted. So we have to start at 6:15. Please. Hi folks. You may sit down.
I'm will be called. Can I go start the timer, please? Thank you. Thanks, JP. Um, I'm Neilie Taylor. I'm a um member of the professional staff union at UMass Ammerst and I'm also a grassroots organizer with the Massachusetts Teachers Association. I
represent a lot of MTA members who live here in East Hampton. Um, as you know, access to high quality higher education drives economic and social mobility in this country. Um, the Massachusetts economy relies on having a highly educated workforce. And um since free
community college has been announced in Massachusetts, enrollment is up in not just community colleges, but actually in every sector of comm of public higher education in Massachusetts, including increases in students of color and students over age 25. Um 78% of students
graduating from public colleges and universities stay in Massachusetts and that benefits all of our communities um sustaining that highly educated workforce. So um there have been threats of cuts and actual cuts to a lot of
research funding um going to higher education universities um colleges and universities both public and private um in uh across the nation but especially here in Massachusetts and there are folks in Massachusetts who are um receiving layoff notices because of some
of those cuts at this time. Um there's a solution though and um Governor Healey has proposed it. The Drive Act would make Massachusetts the first state in the nation to directly address this manufactured politically motivated crisis in higher education. Um so
tonight we're asking you um to hear a resolution for support of higher education which has four components. The first is to voice your support for Massachusetts public community colleges, state universities, and the UMass system. The second component is to urge the state legislature to pass the drive
act with an amendment that includes funding to support student services and staff. That's essential, especially with the increased enrollments that we're seeing. Um, we also are asking that you urge the governor and the legislature to strategically increase funding for
public colleges and universities to lessen the reliance on grants, privatization, and especially student tuition and fees. The fees that students experience at um some of our universities depending on department are excruciating and they end up financing
those over almost a lifetime instead of the public um government taking responsibility for capital improvements which is what needs to happen. Um and we have the money for that from the fair share fund. We also the fourth component of this is to support Massachusetts
having public colleges and universities that students can attend without incurring any debt and provide salaries and benefits to attract and retain the staff that we need and the faculty that we need to keep the quality of education that our state deserves. So I urge you
to uh approve the resolution tonight on higher education. Thank you. Thank you again. We will continue our uh public comment period and though for those folks online who wish to speak, we will continue that period. For anyone who's interested in the public hearing, stay
tuned. We're about to go to public hearings. Entertain a motion to open public hearings. Second. We have a motion and a second. All those in favor. I opposed. Uh abstain. Motion passes.
First public hearing on our agenda. Oh, it's finance. Yeah, we've got a bit of finance, don't we? Um, a bit of finance. Okay. So, uh, we've got two supplemental appropriations, a interdep departmental transfer and a city action request. I'll just take them in order unless there's any other preference.
Please do. Okay. Um uh the first one that we have is a $5,830 uh appropriation from the reserve fund uh to uh be transferred to the auditor's salary.
Uh basically what's going on here is that uh there's been some changes in the number of hours that the auditor is working. The auditor's back to working 40 hours. The budget did not cover that. So, um, this would, uh, fund the auditor's hours through the end of this
calendar year, at which point I think we'd have to talk about it again. But, um, uh, so that that's that's essentially what this is. Uh, I think that this, uh, this passed the finance committee 3 to zero. Um, I don't know
how much more I have to say about it other than that I think it's a good idea. Mhm. Any questions from counselors? Anyone from the public either online or in person care to comment on this
subject? This for the auditor. This is for the auditor. I'm sorry. This is for the auditor. The reserve fund to where the auditor salary to transfer. Seeing none.
Mr. I just want to say would you are you speaking as a counselor or as a mayor? You're welcome to speak as either. I mean you have to define who you're speaking as I'll be the mayor. I shall ask you. All right. Um but I do want to speak to this. So
thank you. Okay. Salem Derby inter mayor. Uh so I just want to say for the record that this is something that I think is not only um important but it's deserved. Uh our auditor works really hard for the
city and it's a really important position. Um and as you all know the city council has a quasi oversight role. Um you hire the auditor. Um but in technicality uh the mayor is in charge of the
day-to-day. Um and our auditor has gone through a decent amount of um tumult in the last year I would say. And I just want to, you know, put it on the record that it's really important for us to support our auditor um because the work
that she's doing right now and helping straighten out the budget with the lack of treasurer for over a year um is is critical. And so this is just reinstating hours that were taken um I believe three different times um and
then reinstated and then taken. And so I'm hoping that this one will stick because we need her to be working. Thank you. I will say from my own perspective that I've seen the workload and I shudder to
think the amount of work and responsibilities and the care with which this uh position has to exercise their responsibilities. They're the our stop. They're the one who has to say no to various departments. They're the one
who uh has to take the time to be sure of every issue. So, I uh am fully in support of this. Counselor Khan, please. And I just want to add that I think that at least since I've been here this
second time that I am certain that she is working more hours than she's paid and I have seen her in the evening and working and I have heard her talk about the hours she spends even on the weekends. So I welcome this and uh
heartily approve it. Councelor Peak. Yeah. Just uh something you said reminded me of of a big bigger point that I I just think might not be obvious to everyone who's not on the council or on the finance committee, which is we talk
a lot about sort of uh the financial uh stability of the city. And a lot of what we're talking about there is balances of accounts. You know, do we have enough money to do this? Are we bringing in enough money? Are we spending money slowly enough? Um, but one thing that I think I've really learned over the last
few years and and particularly maybe in this term is is how important just having a financial team who is complete and uh uh like has the resources that they need
and have like a a decent work life balance and have like the the the the things that they need to succeed. and the the time that they need to succeed um and the perspectives that they need to succeed like a lot of that it's personnel stuff and so it doesn't often
really come before the council because a lot of those decisions are made somewhat unilaterally by the mayor but it really is important and I think you really you start to see a lot of times when that personnel stuff starts to slip then
suddenly it's really hard to get a a quick answer on the balance of a fund for example. Um and so I think that one of the reasons that this is really important is that we make a lot of requests of that financial team and I
think that holding up our side of that bargain, we need to make sure that that financial team has the resources they need to actually complete all of the tasks that are expected of them. And uh this is just one very small thing towards that broader goal. I think
anyone else your comment brings another thought to my mind and that is that the city is very grateful and indebted to Michael Owens the procurement officer for stepping into the role of treasurer during the time the long period of time
we did not have a treasurer. Uh so that puts us in at and it puts the auditor's position that much more u a cumbersome cumbersome task I'll say uh because they have to balance all the
accounts and keep everything in order. So I give kudos to that. That being said I will entertain a mot uh sure the motion. I'll make the motion. So I'll make this request in the form of a motion. Um
request is hereby made for approval of the following appropriation. Amount requested $5,830 to be transferred from reserve fund $5,830 to be transferred to auditor salary $5,830.
The amount requested will be used for the following purpose. uh to request an appropriation to support uh temporary increase in the auditor's working hours by five five hours a week until December 31st, 2025. This additional time would
be dedicated to addressing the current backlog. Second. I have a motion and a second. Is there any further discussion? If not, all those in favor? I opposed abstain. Eyes have it. Motion passes.
Okay. Um the next appropriation that we have is a $15,91859 appropriation from general stabilization uh that will make whole some in uh expenses that we incurred uh around this uh public safety
complex generator repairs. I'll let the acting mayor uh go over the story with more details, but very broadly, the generator at the public safety building broke and fixing it was very expensive. So, yeah, this is not something we
wanted to do. Um, so during routine testing where we take the um, basically the power offline to see if the generators work, we found out that our generator at public safety was not working. Um, and so that became a a
serious issue because we need since dispatch is at public safety, we need to make sure that it has power at all times. So we had to bring in an emergency generator which is expensive. Um, and they had to take the generator completely apart and replace many of the
pieces. Um, I guess one of the the bright spots of this is our panel was really outdated and so we were able to upgrade the panel during this procedure which um saved us a little money. Um, but this was not something we were
planning on doing. It was not something that was expected. Um, but we you know it's just one of those things that happens and you you have to fix it. I'd be happy to take any questions. Councelor Schmid, is there a warranty on the
generator at this point? That that is a question I think that we would have to ask uh our DPW director. I know that um the one that was there because the building is over 20 years old did not have a warranty. I imagine the new one has a warranty, but I don't
know the um the extent of that warranty. Uh, I imagine it would probably not be 20 years. Okay. So, it helps to know it was 20 years old. Yeah. Okay. Thank you.
Anyone else? Any member of the public care to speak on the subject of the public safety complex generator? If so, please come to the podium and do so now. How about uh
anyone online care to speak to the subject of the public safety complex generator? This is your chance. Going once, going twice. I see no one raised hand although that may be for public speak. I
do see one before uh that was up before, but KC is feel free to unmute yourself if you'd care to speak on this subject.
Councelor Connor, I just want to add to what um Intram mayor Derby said that although we did find that the generator I believe was faulty, it hadn't been faulty for a long time
because they which was my concern that it was down and we didn't know it. It's tested every week. So, we were a couple of days away from retesting it and finding out that it didn't work. So, it hasn't been down for like six months and we just discovered it because we were replacing another part.
Thank you for sharing that. Just wanted to let everyone knowing to know that it hadn't been down for like ever. That's comforting to know. Um, very good. Seeing no one, I'll make the following requests in the form of a motion. Request is hereby made
for approval of the following appropriation. Amount requested $15,91859 to be transferred from general stabilization $15,00091859 to be transferred to FY26 Safety Complex
Generator Repairs $15,91859. The amount requested will be used for the following purpose. This appropriation will be used to fund repairs to the public safety complex backup power unit, including generator end unit removal and overhaul, control
unit upgrade, and backup rental power cost associated with this work. Is there a second? Second. I have a motion in a second. Any further discussion? All those in favor? Opposed?
Stain. Motion passes. Okay. Uh the next thing we have is an interdep departmental uh transfer. Uh it's $16,250. It's coming from contributo retirement,
which some of you might recall was overbudgeted in the last budget. Um and it's going to uh five different accounts. Uh this is related to a matter that some of you might recall from the um the budget hearing and subsequent
conversations that there there's been there was a number of of staff members who had their hours uh reduced in the early part of this calendar year. Um and the the uh the funds here would uh bring those would fund those hours being
increased back to their uh previous levels. So I see the mayor, please. And I do want to speak to this. So this was obviously something that predated my arrival um to the office and and we I think as a council made it pretty clear
what we thought about this. Um so when I when I started uh my tenure, this was one of the first things that I looked at. Uh and really I wanted to do my due diligence. So I did reach out to all the department heads to ask them for rationale of reinstating the hours. And
I just wanted to this is one piece I think that is worth repeating uh which is as I read those rationale it became extremely clear how important these employees are to their departments and how damaging it was to kind of have
these arbitrary cuts um hoisted upon a very small number of employees. And um as I read these, I realized that it wasn't just about reinstating hours. It was also about, you know, reinstating confidence and and morale. And you know,
for a pretty small amount of money, this is going to have a pretty significant impact on the morale of multiple departments. Um and you know, one of the the sad pieces of this little kind of side adventure here is that we
lost a really important employee um who had to move on. So, I just want to acknowledge that because I think that's an important piece. Um, and as we, you know, move forward, I think different departments have different needs and different departments have um they're
not homogeneous and we need to look at them like the diverse group of of individuals that they are. And some might need more hours and some might need less. So I think it's important for us to to recognize that and um enable
the the ability to get the money was um one of the things that we had to figure out and thankfully there was a an account that we um when the budget was passed got overfunded and we were able to take the small amount of money from that and reinstate these hours. So um the other piece was there was union
negotiations as we had talked about this. Um, so one of the things that I did with the HR director was um draft a side letter and negotiate with our uh employment attorney and the HR um to make sure that we could reinstate these hours in the correct way. And so that
has been done and once this get passed there should be a memo sent to them first thing in the morning. Thanks. Any questions for the mayor? Um I just wanted to say thank you. Um, I know when this issue first came up, there were a lot of pretty tense
feelings in the public and on the council and within departments about what this looks like. And when I left that meeting, I felt like there was at least a unified agreement that
somehow we would figure it out. Um, and so I just wanted to say thank you for doing that and and following through. Um, I know that you you sort of inherited it inherited this uh situation. Um, so to sort of pick up
those pieces and put everything in order uh to do justice by the employees I I think is really meaningful and um, you know, I I do believe the loss of one of our employees who left. I wish that they could have found a way to to
stick it out. Um but that you know that's besides the point. Um and you know I just I I want this to sort of be a message to the community that even when there are financial constraints involved.
The government of East Hampton has always tried to do the best that it can by people with compassion and empathy. Um sometimes it takes a little time to get this work done. Um but that we always have folks within the government who are resolved to get it done. So, um, thank you for that and thank you to all
of you who behind the scenes played a part in, um, making this come to fruition. I really appreciate it. It was the right thing to do. I also wanted to extend my appreciation to the mayor. I know uh several times this council had mentioned it to you and
asked you pointed questions during our regular meetings and you responded and fulfilled uh uh I think the obligation of the sitting mayor. So, thank you so much for doing that. We appreciate it. That being said, any member of the
public care to comment on this matter that is the reinstatement of the hours and the contributo retirement fund transfer. Anyone here? Anyone online?
Seeing none. Uh, going once, going twice. Okay. All right. I'll make the following request in the form of a motion. Uh, request is hereby made for approval of the following appropriation. Amount
requested. $16,250 to be transferred from contributo retirement. $66,250 to be transferred to police clerical $8,190 fire clerical $4,640
technology assistant $1,300 Council on Aging Outreach Worker $1,110. Council on Aging Clerical $1,10. The amount requested will be used for the following purpose to fund reinstated
hours for ASME union positions. Second. I have a motion and a second. All those in any further discussion? All those in favor? I opposed. Abstain.
The eyes have it. Motion passes. Moving on to the city council action request to adopt chapter 329 of the acts of 1987. Councelor Peak. Thank you, Mr. President. Um I always dread it when
counselors pull out a statement and it's more than a piece of paper. But it's only two and it's a bunch of really small paragraphs so I don't lose my place. So it probably could even be like one if I was really dense. Um
there's just a lot I wanted to say about this. So here's a few remarks. So uh accepting this mass general law if the council were to do so uh would change our process so that if the school committee recommended it and twothirds
of us agreed uh we could vote to increase the school department budget during our budget process. Um the budget would still need to be balanced. So if we wanted to do that, we would make need to make a cut from somewhere else. Uh
the school budget is our largest uh departmental budget. Uh so even if we identified cuts uh that we were comfortable making, um they might not meet the needs of the schools. You know, something's better than nothing, but it
might not be enough. Um, and if we have a bad fiscal year and school department is hurting, uh, there's a pretty good chance that other departments are also hurting. So, it often might be the case that the school committee might come to
us and, uh, we'd have to tell them that there isn't really anywhere that we're comfortable making a cut. Um, so if all of the caveats that I just put down are true, then why
have I proposed this? Um, there's a couple reasons. Uh, the first is that there could be a situation where it does come up. And if it did, it would be nice to have that power. Um there could be a situation where the there's obvious needs that the school department has and
there's things that are funded in the budget that twothirds of the council did believe were higher than they needed to be and if we right now we couldn't do anything about this. This would give us the ability to do something with that.
Um second and this is an important one even though it's a little abstract. Um, my hope is that the very existence of this MGL in the city could inspire whoever our future mayor is. We're going
to find out in a few weeks um to take a more collaborative approach uh to working with the school committee on the school budget. Um that has not always been our history um as a city. You know, ideally the way it's laid out in our
charter, uh, our mayor is a member of the school committee and should be fully involved in the school committee budget process and so that that back and forth should be there. And by the time that that budget leaves the school committee, maybe not everyone agrees, but everyone
should at least understand each other. But that hasn't always been how it has actually worked out. And I think that's led to some discourse uh down the or discord down the line discord and also discourse um but that uh I think has
maybe uh been uh a problem in our budgetary process. So, my hope is that just the very fact that this could happen, I I hope would would maybe just be enough to to motivate um all the future mayors that East
Hampton may ever hypothetically have to maybe just be more involved in that process so that we all understand each other a little bit better. Um the third, and this I just want to make it clear like the the school committee did approach me as as finance
chair about this. I'm not in in in this part speaking at all for the finance committee. I'm speaking exclusively for myself. Um I see it as a step in the right direction towards a council that has more power and influence over our budget
beyond just either rubber stamping it or threatening not to pass it. Um not everyone thinks the council should have that power. Um, not everyone has faith that we would use that power wisely, but I personally think that we should have
it. I think that there's been enough cases over the last few years where it's come up that I've I don't know if I even always believed this, but I do currently very much believe it. we should have a little bit more of an ability to amend rather than just either
passing it and all giving each other a round of applause or threatening to blow up the entire process and cause some massive financial crisis that like we need there needs to be an option in between those. There currently is not. Um
so that's one reason I I do think this is a step towards that direction. Um I've heard critiques that I think are fair to some extent that uh this addresses only the school budget and not the budgets of other departments and this is true. Uh the reason for that is
that there is a mass general law uh that allows us that to adopt this for the school department by a vote of the council. Adopting this sort of reform for any other departments would require a charter amendment, which is a longer
process. For what it's worth, I'm in favor of doing that. But as a veteran of the last charter review committee, I can say that doing so will take several years. We can do this this year if we want. Um, which is why I brought it up
now. Um I bring this up because I understand that this proposal has created some anxiety uh particularly among other department heads and to the extent that I'm responsible for that I really am sorry. Uh I never conceived of
this as something that would put uh the schools and other departments in conflict with one another. Maybe that makes me naive. Uh but the reason why I never conceived of it is because I always saw this as the first step in the right direction towards a more
comprehensive solution. So I just you don't have to agree with that or whatever, but I I just need you to understand where I'm where I'm coming from when I'm talking about this is not schools should get this ability and everyone else shouldn't. It's schools can get this
ability right now and everyone else should also get this ability, but doing that is going to take a process that we're going to need to commit to if we want to do that. Um, finally, I just want to say a couple things about the timeline because I've
gotten some feedback on this. Um, I introduced this in the last few months precisely because we had an interim mayor. Uh my reason for doing that is that I believe that this conversation could be a lot more healthy while we don't know who the next mayor would be.
Um in my experience, when we have a sitting mayor, conversations about how much power the mayor should or shouldn't have don't tend to go very far. Uh, the mayor of East Hampton has right now under our home rule charter a lot of
power and it's hard to get anything done as a counselor if the mayor doesn't want you to get a lot done. So there's a lot of reasons to always want to say that of course the mayor has appropriate amount
of power. Maybe they don't even have enough power, right? Because you don't want to make the mayor mad. Like that's just it's it's it's I I hate to say it but it's it's a reality of of working in in these administrations. It also because it becomes incredibly personal
like if you say right now I I don't think that the mayor should have I think that the council should have more power somewhat at the expense of the mayor. Right? People say, "Well, why do you hate the mayor?" Well, I don't hate the mayor and I didn't hate the last mayor and I'm not going to hate the next mayor, but I think that the position has
a lot of power and I kind of think that the council should have a little bit more of a check on that power. That's my opinion. Um, I can say that right now in a way that is it's less personal. Um, I have no
idea who the mayor will be in a month. Um, but I do know that they will be entrusted with a level of power that regardless of my opinion of them as an individual or a civil servant, um, I will find somewhat unsettling. They have the ability to put forward a budget and just really say take it or leave it. And
there's really no, the only thing you can do at that point to debate that if you think that the allocations are in some way unjust, even if you've got a room full of people for it, is you can either threaten to blow up the entire process or you can rubber stamp it. are
kind of your options. Um, I've spoken to people who are broadly supportive of this reform, but feel like it is inappropriate that we try to pass it uh when it would be an interim rather than an elected mayor who would be
tasked uh with choosing whether to veto it or let it go into effect. Um, and I respect that sentiment. So, um, if the will of, uh, my colleagues is that we extend this, uh, past the election, uh, I'll I respect I completely respect
that. Um, my goal here though is that we have at least this public hearing now so that we can talk about this and we can talk about what whether a council should have this power right now before before we know who the next mayor is so that it
can be a little bit less personal because I do think that personal nature has made these conversations tricky sometimes. Uh, so we can contemplate this amendment in a more abstract case. Now, um I don't uh want to discuss whether the
council should be able to um amend the budget of any particular individual. I want to discuss whether the council should be able to amend the budget of any future mayor. And I think that right now is a good time to have
this conversation. So, I apologize for that very long rant, but I just kind of wanted to lay that out there because I I think in finance I didn't do a good job putting that all down. So, uh that's basically all I have to say for now.
That's all. Sorry to disappoint. I I I I think you've you've done well to summarize. I was very close in throughout the entire process and I think your summarization was well described and I hope the public begins
to understand the complexities and I believe this council's desire to have public input on the process during this time. So that's why we're having this at this time. Uh we appreciate the input
and look forward to it. And is there any other comments from counselors before we open up to the public because we're all ears? Councelor Riley. Thank you, Mr. President. Um, yeah. So, you know, Tom, uh, excuse me, councelor
Peak had sort of touched on this a little bit, but I'm sure it comes as no surprise to everybody in this room that uh, elected officials have a tendency to what we call engage in personalities with one another. That is when some of
us have egos or sensitive feelings about specific policy areas and we have a tendency to take things pretty personal. That is not a reflection of East Hampton. That is a reflection of human beings. That whenever we talk about
things that are deeply personal to us, things get really personal. And I want to go back to a specific moment when I was a city council. I don't recall which year it was, but our former mayor and
the former superintendent of the school system were regularly engaging in what we would call personalities with one another, and that resulted in the budget being less than what the school was hoping for.
So, we had this conversation at the council level for the budget and one of the tradeoffs was that if we did not agree with the mayor's budget, we could shut the government down or like councelor Peak said, we had to
rubber stamp it. And rubber stamping meant that we were going to be cutting funding to students who have um English as a second language. And I sat at this bench and I implored everybody to think about what it is that
we were doing. The narrative was we'll figure it out after the budget happens. We'll figure it out. We'll get to it. And it didn't happen. We lost some educators and we lost some services specifically for
students who are the most locked out of society in our community. That's what the tradeoff was because we had people who were engaging in personalities with one another. And I could give dozens of examples
um over my tenure as a city councelor. I've done it myself. Believe me, I have done it myself. Um, so why I'm in favor of voting for this is that it puts at least some semblance
of checks and balances in place if and when people in the future have their feelings hurt and decide to take it out on other people at the expense of people within our community. Do I wish that we could do this for
every single department? I do um I I don't like the idea that a single person can control the totality of a department's funding, but we don't have that at our disposal. The only thing that we have at our disposal right now
is to do this for our school. And the last piece that I I want to touch on um is to say that we asked the community some years ago to bond almost $100 million to build an
incredible school system. And to let one person be able to determine whether or not the beautiful thing that overlooks the mountain gets to have stuff inside of it doesn't sit well with me. Um, yes, it's fantastic that we have such a
beautiful school, but the stuff that actually makes our school special is our teachers. Um, it's our parent educators. It's the people that clean the building, right? These are all of the things that we talk about when we're funding the school system.
And that whole system together is what we are viewed as as being the the thing that we do the best um in our region. So why wouldn't we take advantage of an opportunity
to say one person doesn't get to have a say over how we fund this building? Um I want to be able to do this on behalf of the public for every single taxpayer that's paying for that school. Um, I just, you know, that's just how I
feel. I I I can't imagine that we would take away or or give up the opportunity to have a policy lever at our disposal just because we don't have it for everybody else. Um, so
and and the closing thought is that we are as a body, no matter who sits in these seats, we're never not going to engage in personalities with one another. And if we have a policy lever at our disposal that helps interrupt that, then we should do it. That's all. Thank you.
Thank you, Councelor Denim. You want to go first? I'm I councelor Smith. I'm not sure. Sorry. Council Smith had her hand up first. I Thank you. I didn't see your hand, otherwise I would have called on you first.
Okay. I have a slightly different um view on this from the views that I've heard so far. And the first question I have is for clarification. If this was to become an action request
and the city council and the school committee said, "We demand that this gets increased." Who has the right to balance where that gets increased from? May I answer that, Mr.
Go for uh Yeah, that would have to be us. We'd have to make a cut somewhere else, which is an authority we already have. We already have the power to make cuts, but if we make cuts right now, that money basically goes to free cash. This would allow us to reallocate that
money somewhere else. So, what most concerns me is that we are about to go into a time where almost all the community services that are available to senior citizens are about
to disappear. And usually when it comes to balancing the budget in things like this, senior citizens are the ones that most often get hurt from it. And I am really concerned. We have an upcoming
dementia wave that we have never experienced as a society before. We have 22% of the residents in East Hampton already over the age of 55. We have aging in place which means this is going to become a much bigger issue. And I
have a really hard time only looking at how the schools are going to be affected. And I have raised five kids through the schools and I sat out for all of the two and a half overrides. I understand how overwhelming that is, but
I feel like this can cause a really quick, invisible defunding of the seniors, and because of that, I'm really weary of that. Thank you, Councelor D.
Thank you, Mr. President. Um, I don't I'm not even sure where to begin to be perfectly honest because there's been so many things said that I feel are um
really problematic. Um, but I'm going to start with the fact that for 30 years I personally have been adi advocating for increased funding for public education, both K through 12 and um, higher
education. Um, in fact, tonight we have supported a resolution supporting public higher education. I think in the last four years, everything that's come regarding education has come from myself uh or in co-sponsorship with somebody
else. But this matter is not about funding of schools. This is an issue of governance and how this body governs. And what we are doing is we are pitting
departments against departments. And I have heard repeatedly that this is about the debacle of 2022 because two people didn't get along and our responsibility within that
context was to sit to listen and to maintain a level of certainty for the city so that when that happened we could sit
here. We could hear it. We could listen to it and we could do our due diligence of saying you need to continue to discuss. In fact, councelor Peak, good on you. You were a part of the negotiations for that and we sent it
back again that this was something that we needed to do for the community in order to be able to give them the opportunity to discuss that so that we could make that decision. But this particular process we are now inserting ourselves into that
particular process and we are going to meddle quite frankly in a process that we should be external to. Now you're saying that this is about power. Well, this is about power, but at the same time, you're admitting to the fact that,
hey, we're gonna uh cut, we're going to give it to them, and if they if the mayor doesn't cut from something else, then we're going to have to do that. So, in reality, you have no more power than you did whether or not you just we sat externally to that and gave some
sort of confidence to the community of being able to do that. Now, Councelor Riley just said that uh when this happened, the big personalities blah blah blah uh there were cuts to uh uh uh
uh support for uh language learners. That is actually factually inaccurate. That was not in relation to that at all. And I know that because former President Gomez and I were the ones who were sitting across the table from school
committee members who were the ones who were saying that we're going to cut this and we don't want to support it. We literally sat there and begged them to come for an appropriation and we would give it to them and they said nope, we don't want to do that. So that cut to the services to those students came from
the school committee. It did not come from the relationship between the mayor and the superintendent. So there's that. Also, my understanding is that we are required by law and I've asked the superintendent to be here that
if if I'm inaccurate, please step up and let me know. But my understanding is legally we are supposed to fund our schools 100% of their budget. Now, are schools underfunded? Yes, absolutely. No
one is disputing that. which is why earlier this year we put forward a resolution in support of a change in funding to support that. And if nobody here has called their legislature to advocate for that, well
then that's also a problem. Now this council is talking about checks and balances. Okay, great. Wonderful. Three weeks ago, we passed a resolution in support of the Constitution. Well, a
major principle of the Constitution is the separation of power. Sorry, that's the way that it is. There's an executive branch, there's a legislative branch, and there's a judicial branch. But right now, we're talking about the legislative and the executive.
and they she ha or they he whoever has the ability to set that particular budget and we have a duty and a due diligence to the community to respond to that. Sometimes the majority of the time I sit
in finance meetings and I hear well makes sense to me. We don't dig deep. We don't question it. we often just pass along and that's how we have created that particular process.
Now I absolutely agree that I am I am let me say I am not in favor of this right I am not in favor of changing a law but what I am in favor of and I think that you alluded to this I am committed to a change of culture in this building. I think the way that things
have happened have been uh a bit chaotic at times. I will admit that. But I think that we have a responsibility to work with our department heads in order to be able to
solve the financial issues that we are dealing with. But I do not think that they come from we're going to support one department over another department. I just think that that sends the wrong message to our department heads. I think that people are going to uh quite
frankly lose faith in this particular body because why why should they believe that? Because you're saying that you're going to favor this one particular budget which means that once you do that then that opens up my budget to be cut and
that creates a level of uncertainty. At the same time, I think that for our department heads, right, they work incredibly hard and they should have faith in this. But I
think that it is imperative that as a body we give a level of confidence to our department heads to be able to help them to solve problems. I believe that our our
responsibility lies in also meeting with our uh auditor on a regular basis. It means meeting with our treasurer on a weekly b on a on a regular basis and I think that those are the ways that
we are able to build confidence in being able to solve the financial problems that we have. I agree that there's a lot of unknown things that are coming right now and to have to do this where we're choosing one department over another. I just I feel like that creates even more uncertainty.
I think it fuels uh discord between department heads. I think other departments are gonna begin to to look for outside opportunities for funding or taking from funding that goes to the general uh the general fund and away
from that. Now I think that this body has a responsibility to protect its own integrity and I think that this just opens up the opportunity for there to be too much uh
too much questioning of where allegiances lie and I think that it just sends the wrong message to our community. So I desent I like you please. We're going to hear from the public in a moment.
Uh I if you wanted to go to the public first that's fine but I do. Please do. This will be the last person from the council at this time. Yeah, just a couple quick things. Um I I
I just want to make one thing, a couple things just super clear. The first is what's being proposed right now would give the city council with a twothird vote the option to make a cut at some other place in the
budget and to to move that money. It does not get us give us the obligation to do that. Right. I think that in in many years you would be hardpressed to find a cut that twothirds of us would be on board with particularly
any cut that would be affecting some other vulnerable population but I I do like I I understand the anxiety but I just think that it's important to say that that giving us a to use uh councelor Riley's term like a lever that we have the option to pull does not obli
does not obligate us to pull that lever, but it does mean that if twothirds of us agree that there is an amendment that does feel appropriate that we could make it. Um, and just on the point of checks and balances, like that that really is kind of what this is all about. You
know, checks and balances exist in every governing body. They're different at the federal level, they're different at the state level, they're different between states, and then within Massachusetts, they're different between communities. There are communities right now in Massachusetts where the council does have this power. There are communities
where the council has substantially more power. There are very few communities where the council has less power than East Hampton. Um, but that's a choice that we made in the '90s responding to the situation at the time. And that's fine.
I'm not suggesting that we dispose of the concept of checks and balances. What I'm suggesting is should we consider a possibility of of a different set of checks and balances where we get what I would refer to as
like one additional check on mayoral power. That's that's what I am just proposing here. So that's all. Thank you. Thank you. Now we're all ears from the anyone in the audience who'd
like to speak to this question. Please identify yourself. You have up to three minutes. Uh my name is Eric Guyad. I live on Deerfield Drive. Um little louder and closer to the mic. Full disclosure, I am a member of the school committee. Um but I'm also a
father of two students at Mountain View. I'm just here to express my support in amending our charter to include the omitted mass general law chapter 329 text that would allow twothirds majority of the city council to vote to pass a school committee budget in amount higher than the proposed mayor's bud budget.
Um, I I'm a teacher as well and I've taught, we've it's been mentioned, I'll keep going quicker, but, uh, checks and balances, having balance of power. Uh, lessening the power of one individual, a mayor in this case, uh, and allowing a larger body of elected officials to
discuss and possible need for a larger school budget seems reasonable to me. Um, as mentioned by some, there's other places where money is needed outside of our school. I understand that completely. But adding this to our charter does not mean a larger budget gets passed. It just means that there is
an opportunity for the city council to vote to pass this budget. It could be voted and the budget remains the same if twothirds vote against it. Um I think passing it now is wise with an interim mayor because it's an ideal time uh to put this in place for any and all future
mayors who will be elected. Um, and passing this uh motion will provide a way for the school committee and city council to work together uh in a transparent way out in the open um in order to try and fund our schools as as best pos possible. So, thank you for your time. Thank you for your work for
our community. Thank you. My name is Diane Kelly. I'd actually had come here to speak about something else that was actually life and death for my family. But listening here, it's clear that this
is not the group that can play together. That's probably why I don't get any answers from this town of the situation. And yes, I am familiar with councils and committees because I have done this. I used to work for the Head Start in East Hampton and when the new beautiful big
school came, of course, there was no room for that one classroom. Um, and it it's really sad to have come here tonight for something that is life and death for my family and hearing a power struggle. There's no help here and
you guys, you just showed me that. So, thank you for your time and thank you for showing me. You mentioned on the elders and that's exactly it. There's nowhere for us to go elderly and disabled. Thank you.
Good evening everybody. Uh my name is Sam Hunter. I'm a school committee member and I am the parent of a nine-year-old at Mountain View School and I uh live on 8 Mayor Street um right off of Holio Street. I'm here to support the full adoption of the MGL language and I'm going to begin with some constructive feedback that I think is uh
important for this evening. Um in East Hampton, our department heads do an excellent job of advocating for the needs of their department and staff as they should. The department head of the East Hampton Public Schools is not the superintendent as is commonly assumed. It is the school committee. We receive ongoing training and professional
development around school finances as a part of our jobs and all of us are able to answer questions publicly regarding our school department finances. Councelor Denim voted against this measure in committee and of course different opinions are a necessary part of democracy. What is not acceptable is
that councelor Denim approached members of our school administration without the knowledge of anyone on school committee and asked that they attend this meeting tonight to answer questions in their official capacity about the finances of the school district. Counselor Denim is not their supervisor and she is as she is neither a superintendent nor a person
elected by the people to serve on school committee. As such, she did not follow appropriate channels of authority or chain of command and created confusion among the administrators she contacted, both of whom are qu highly qualified and experienced, but only joined our district this summer. Our superintendent
has graciously decided to respond to questions anyway. In the future, any request of our district administrators needs to also be communicated to school committee. We on the school committee don't call the head of the DPW to school committee to answer questions in public about why a driveway wasn't plowed in time for school to open in the morning
because we have respect for their expertise and for their ability to do their jobs. There is a big difference between oversight and micromanaging. The type of micromanaging by city councilors that we've been discussing tonight has led to resignations of good people from our district in the past. We must defend
our employees against this kind of behavior because they need to focus solely on their jobs, which are supporting our children and running our schools. Counselor Denim was also the only no vote on the school budget this year. She opposed a staffing reduction in a different department, actually the one that um the mayor talked about
tonight that had nothing to do with the schools. As a protest and as a way of making her voice heard on the issue, she voted against the school budget and most, but not all of the other budgets presented. But resolutions and protest votes do not pay the bills and uh for
our kids schooling. Money does. Voting yes or no to fund public schools isn't a statement or a protest to me and it shouldn't be for any of you either. This is not performance art. This is a workplace and we have work to do here. One of the arguments against the MGL uh the full MGL is that it could create a
situation in which money must be taken from one department to fund the school department. Um that's certainly uh that can only happen if the school committee on which the mayor is a member passes a budget separate from the mayor's budget and twothirds of the city council votes for that budget. This incentivizes the
mayor to work in good faith with school committee when developing a budget as intended by Massachusetts law. There are good policy arguments for and against this specific provision, but based on my experience in this specific city with our municipal history on this issue, this is something that we need here. As
of today, we still live in a democracy. In a democracy, decisions are not always unanimous. People sometimes are put into awkward positions. Resolutions are followed by concrete actions to make change. People with different perspectives share their thoughts and create policy that works better for everyone. Thank you.
Uh please uh remember to vote November 4th. Nathan Marque, 37 Holio Street. Um I am not member of the school committee. Um, I also want to clarify the counselor from precincts f five's name is Tamara,
not Tamura. Um, I've heard a lot of opinions around the board today. I respect many of your opinions and I know there's some conflicting arguments about this. I thought that Tom Counselor Peak's um, message was well thought out. I heard
Brad Riley, I hear Tamara Smith, and I heard Connie. And I think that everybody had valid points around this issue. My only concern is something that councelor Peak had brought up earlier. We're about to have elections in the city. The people are going to make their voices heard and we potentially will have a new
mayor. I think that this motion should be tabled until the elections are over. I think that'd be the most appropriate time to do it would be at the beginning of the next mayor's term. In concept, I am somewhat support this measure, but I
don't know enough about it at this point, but I would prefer that this be tabled until the new city council and mayor is sat. Thank you. I'm Linda Marquee. I live at 37 Holio Street. I am a member of uh the current school committee and I stand here
tonight because um I believe that this is an important issue for us to consider. I think that I think school funding as we know is the largest piece of our budget. I think it's very important that we educate. I think public education is truly the most
important thing we do. That being said, um I understand the reluctance and the and the feelings that we don't want to have other services cut. I'm a senior. I'm aging in place and I um also am a strong advocate
though for passing this resolution. I feel that this is not telling you that you have to come back with a different budget. I agree with what my colleagues have said in terms of this gives the mayor when he's when he or she or they
sit in the school committee, but as we work through I'm a member of finance committee as we work through those budget items. This gives them the opportunity to be and really the incentive to be a part of that process to come out with a budget that will not
require the council to pass a two by a twothirds to change anything there because we will have come through with a budget that I think will be better for everyone. So with that being said, I am in favor of
changing this and adopting this. Thank you. Good evening. Point of order. Sorry. I just want to I just want to make sure that four of you have now spoken. Is that quorum for you all in a public meeting?
Yeah. I mean, you're participating. So, I'm just trying to point. Please ask the question of Yeah. I'll wait. Yeah. Yeah. Sorry. So, four people from school committee are present and they're talking about an issue. Does that
constitute a quorum for them? They're not in their public. They're they are in a public session before us. And I believe as individuals as I as I believe as individuals, everyone has a right to their
opportunity to speak to a subject. Uh this is the public hearing of the city council of the city of East Stampton and therefore I believe that they have every right to continue. Council Khan,
would it only be a quorum if this was on your agenda? Is this is something that you discuss on your agenda? So to be clear, we would be procluded from meeting in a majority which constitutes a quorum to deliberate actions before us or actions expected to be before us. My
argument would be that we're not deliberating. We're addressing this. This is not something that you will be discussing as a council. Okay. Yeah. I'm just asking for clarification, councelor Riley, just the point of order. Yes. Okay. Thank you. We're still trying to
resolve that. Yes, take your time. The only other thing that I would just add to that is um that in order to become a school committee member, you need to be elected, which means you need to live in East Hampton. And yes, they have
the position of being school committee members, but they are also members of the community and we are their city councilors. They have the right to in my opinion they have the right to address us because the decision that we make not only impacts what they do as a school
committee but also as residents and taxpayers of the community. I think that there are times where we feel that as elected officials we have to somehow give up our additional
voice as being residents within the community. Right? So, you know, Tom Peak is my precinct counselor. So, if I were to ever have issues with what's going on in my precinct, though I'm a city counselor, I should still have the right
to be able to address him, you know, in the in a public uh speak capacity. Um, so I just I just want to put that out there. They're all members of the community and be being an elected official does not erase your right to address your local government. Thank
you. Another opinion. Councelor Pete, do you need it or have you already reached a conclusion? I don't want to just talk for the sake of hearing my own voice. I have not been swayed from my original opinion. However, please. Yeah, it's to my understanding it's not on their agenda and I don't think that
there's anything that says that a quorum of the committee can't come and speak publicly about something that is not on their agenda. I think we would be limiting them severely in their constitutional rights to speak at a public hearing
if we did so. So I rule that is not out of order. Yeah. I'm I'm asking for clarification. Yeah. Good. And leave it to you. Thank you so much. Laura Scott, uh 19 Plain Street. I'm also the chair of the East Hampton School Committee. Just want to start with a couple points of
clarification. Um, there might be some misunderstanding on the part of councelor Denim about what we're required to spend. There is absolutely no law that requires us to level service or to even level fund. Level fund is a term of art. That means if you spend $10
million in year A, you spend $10 million in year B, that's level funding. level service would be if you offered X curricula with X staffing in year A and the cost to provide that same service in year B increases you increase your cost and you don't expand the service that
would be level service the only requirement in Massachusetts law for funding is a minimum spend that if you are not meeting you are extraordinarily derelictked in your duty you're immediately put under stewardship of the state and you face legal threat we have not thankfully nor do I expect we will
be in that position and That isn't those aren't the services that our committee has historically argued for through three separate administrations and through uh countless trials and tribulations. We've all made reference to what happened in 2022. That wasn't the first time. I don't expect it to be
the last. um where a mayor had the option to uh not participate in the building of the budget and there and then just you know be immune immunize themselves from any sort of political power when it comes um to the city council's part in that because their
only option at that point is to sink the entire budget that the mayor then institutes in July 31 and the only result is your bond rating sinks. So we're all very well verssed in finance. We get specialized training in this which is why uh our department is not better or worse than any other department. It is different and distinct
and we want to say for the record it was never our intention. It continues to not be our intention and I have several times in the past few weeks had to go to other department heads to assure them that we are not coming for their funding to assure them that we want to continue to work collaboratively in good faith. I resent any implications otherwise that
this very simple ask to make a full adoption of the Massachusetts general law is somehow a power grab or an attempt to take out firefighters and DPW or to harm the elder services. Um that's it. This meeting is getting a little hot more tired, but I just wanted to clarify
some of those facts. I hope you'll consider it. If maybe you don't feel comfortable making a decision tonight, I hope you don't kill it. I hope you table it and really think it through. Thank you for your consideration. Thank you. Not seeing anyone. Oh, I do.
Good evening. Chris Norse, fire chief, city of East Hampton. Um over the last couple weeks I've had the opportunity to speak with uh different representatives of the school department and we had great conversations and as I let off my
email that all of you received a couple weeks ago, the school department needs more funding as do all the other city departments. And this is a a challenging time for everyone. And the example I'll use again
for all of you and for the public, if the school department comes forward requesting $500,000 more. And with that twothirds vote from the school committee, it comes to you. Then with a twothird vote from this
committee here, who again all of you will not be in those positions 10, 15 years from now, most of you. So to say that you would make those cuts doesn't mean other counselors won't. If you if if that city council at that time
chooses to approve that additional $500,000 in funding, the way the city charter is structured and based on our past historical expenditures, if that's to come from the reserves, that needs to be initiated by the mayor.
I can't believe any mayor who said this is what the budget's going to be to the school will then allow and approve an initiation of funds from reserves. So what that would mean is from cuts from other department. So just like the school committee here is advocating for
theirs, I'm advocating for mine. That's going to be cut from our departments, police and DPW. That's how the system's set up right now. So to say that it's not going to cut other departments, it absolutely will.
All of you probably won't be in those positions when and if that ever happens. There'll be other counselors as turnover occurs. And I guess lastly, I completely understand the master law and it only gives the ability for this to happen to the school departments. Well, municipal
financing laws allow otherwise. And if this passes, it's basically given the schools another mechanism to fund their budget. So if this passes, I'm going to put forward a request to set up an EMS
reserve receipt account and $1.6 million that currently goes to the general fund. I hope this council would support the establishment of that to give fire and EMS another mechanism to fund our budget. Thank you.
Thank you. I see in the public uh online Leah Ewing, please if you would unmute yourself and hi, can you hear me? Ah, beautiful. We can hear you and see
you. Can everyone hear? You may need to speak up as much as you can. However, I'm a parent of an eighth grader and a sixth grader at Mountain View School. Um, I live at 69 Brick Street, East
Hampton, Massachusetts. And I'm here to speak up for adopting the resolution or doing whatever you can to better fund our schools. Um, East Hampton, if you're not
familiar, has a reputation for paying teachers, one of the lowest salaries in the area. Um, my kids in the middle school do not have access to foreign language classes. We have to pay out of our pockets to supplement busing. I got
a bill for $500 this summer um before school year started for busing. um when I've tried to push a school to offer a more challenging and rigorous uh
coursework option for my eighth grader teachers. Excuse me one second. I would ask those in the room to either leave the room. I'm having a hard time hearing the person speak. Thank you. I apologize for the interruption. Please don't count any time. Yeah, I'm giving.
Good. Good. Continue. Okay. I've been told by teachers within the system, our system, we don't have the capacity for that. It would be in your best interest to choice your child
out of this system or send your kid to private school, which I found kind of offensive because I cannot afford a private school for my kid. Um, so I have worked hard to push the school to make
changes, but I also understand that the school doesn't seem to have the money. And I don't think there's an easy way to get there. And I hear what everyone's saying, but I also agree that passing
this resolution doesn't make it an obligation. It it creates an option for us. And I would like to see our government make more student centered student supporting decisions. They seem very sometimes it seems very adult
focused and we need to be creating options for all of our kids to succeed. And I don't think we can honestly say we're doing that. the number of kids that have left the system for supposedly better options. It's painful for my
kids, especially in middle school, and it's painful to be a parent seeing that. And I just want our government to do a better job. And I know you guys are all uh working hard representing us. I don't
want to cut that short, but I just really want to encourage you to at least consider this or table it. And yeah, let's let's make some changes that make some more things possible for our public school teachers and more
importantly our students. It really matters. Um, thank you for considering. Thank you. Um, if you could lower your hand, please. Leia. Yeah. Thank you. And Megan Harvey.
You're up. If you could unmute yourself. Hi. Thank you for um holding this public hearing tonight. I'm Megan Harvey. I have three kids who are in our public school system. I'm also a school committee member. Uh, and on the school committee, I'm the chair of the finance committee. Um, I live on Button Road and
so clearly am an East Hampton resident. Um, I'm really glad we're having this conversation tonight. I have to say though, I'm really surprised by the tone that this conversation has taken. Um, I think that there's plenty of room in our city for respectful discussion about
this and to insi for any anyone from any, you know, uh, point of view here to insinuate that there's a power grab or an attempt to take money from other departments is frankly not helpful and divisive for all of us. No one in the school department wants to cut funding
anywhere else and I know that no other departments want to cut funding from school. So I think just a reminder that we are all in this together. Um and that we can assume good intentions of each other I think is a really important message. Um and I you know just a few a
few points here. One I want to make is that you are as um you pointed out there's a lot of school committee members here tonight. That's because we're trained on this and we have seen what has happened and what is possible. Right? We are your school committee members coming here asking you not to
give us power, not to request power for ourselves, but to request that you consider taking the power out of the hands of one person and giving it to a twothirds majority of the city council. We are not asking for power. We are asking for you all to take power, the
ability to have this check out that is written already into mass general law. We did not write this. The random citizen of ECM did not write this. This is mass general law and it is well within your purview to exercise this option as mass general law. I would love
to be able to say it's not necessary and we've all referred to happened in 2022 and so we won't go back into that. I will say um there were a number of inaccuracies about what happened in 2022. I would be happy to discuss that budget season at length including any
cuts to language learning or how the budget process happened or the degree of trans transparency that happened. We did solve that that year and it happened primarily behind closed doors and I know that because I was behind the closed doors. That is not how a transparent city government works and how our
schools should be funded. The bottom line is we have seen in this city the actual direct real threat of one person the mayor deciding to underfund a school. It's not a potential harm. It's not something that could possibly happen. We
have seen it right here. Right. And we all sat in this room and talked to each other about and rang our hands about how city council had no ability at all to do anything about it other than again everyone making deals kind of inside meetings and behind closed doors. That
is not the way to run our government, right? That is not how we want to do things. We've been calling for transparency. Yes, please. Transparency out on the floor. Uh and just final thoughts, it makes moral, ethical, and fiscal fiscally
responsible sense to pass and adopt this aspect of mass general law, which again is not any one of our personal writings or splitting ideas. This is a aspect of mass general law, right? This is something that every district, every community has the option to enact. Uh we
still have a lot of work to do. Wrong way. I'm not sure you heard me. you your time is there so let's because of one person let's make sure that we are all in this together and that a two-thirds majority shares the comfort thank you finally there there are future mayors
voting tonight so just note that or candidates for mayor we are watching how uh those who might rise to power I see someone online more people online Kira Hanninger if you could unmute yourself, please.
Thank you. Speak loudly. Hi, my name is Kira Heninger. Um, I am a parent of two seventh graders at Mountain View School. Um, and I live on Maple Street, uh, Ward 3. Um, I'm here to request that the city council adopt
chapter 329 of the acts of 1987, which would allow the city council by a twothirds vote and following a twothirds vote uh of the school committee to increase the total amount appropriated in support of the school district. Um, I have followed the budget very closely
since my kids have attended um, first Maple Street School and now Mountain View. Um, I also work as a school employee in the Northampton Public School District. This is also a conversation that has been um, widely discussed um, in their government um, as
well and I've heard both sides of it. Um, the simple fact is this is just voting to approve um, the potential for an opportunity. Uh, there is nothing that says that if you opt into this um, that you are required to um, access that
vote. you do not have to. Uh but if you don't opt in now, you won't have that opportunity. Um I actually witnessed it in Northampton when they voted it down. And then at a later city council meeting, one of the counselors was like,
well, the gift that we got from Smith College, how about I don't want to split it like the mayor is suggesting over three years. I think we should only do it for two. and then that city council was informed, you actually have no say because you did not vote in favor to opt
in to have any say in the budget that was proposed. Um, so I've seen it in action where a city and community did not opt in and it actually hurt them in the end. Um, I will echo a lot of what Leah said. Um, I'm on the school council
and have been for three years. I have attended many budget meetings around um the schools. I listened um to many parents at the superintendence listening session um recently and parents had a lot to say about how our schools are
viewed in other communities and in our own community. Um and that it's not a place to send your students. If you want high rigor, if you want them to go to um a high rigor college, if you want them to be successful, East Hampton schools
are not where you should send your children. And that is kind of what is the uh gossip in the communities. And we are really hopeful that we can shift that narrative because one, it's not true. And two, um, we need to actively
try and be equal with other communities such as offering foreign language options and having electives and having advanced courses, having opportunities um, for our students to have similar opportunities in the same communities
that are surrounding us. Um, so I am full in favor of you could ramp up your thought. Yep. I would just be in favor of you opting in as it gives you the option and takes the power away from just one person and distribute it distributes it
more evenly uh in our democracy. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Cayam Jamarag McUade, you're up if you could unmute yourself. Good evening, counselors. Um I apologize if I'm a little horse. I'm feeling under the weather tonight. Um but I'm calling
in um speaking in support of this adoption of MGL chapter 2 uh 329. Um I strongly feel that this is a smart reform toward making the city budget uh budget process a more democratic process. Um our schools have a whole elected body of people responsible for stewarding one of our most valuable
public resources. Um they receive special training and they should be able to collaborate directly with city council to make sure our schools have the funding they need. um which is why the state has explicitly allowed it as part of MGL without needing charter review. I also agree with um the point um
councelor Peak u made about this being sort of a pressure release valve that could help the negotiation process uh become more healthy. Um, we also have examples of this uh being a challenge in the past. And I think that this reform would give our democratically elected leaders on uh both the school committee
and the city council more tools to address the mismatch between the uh budget and our community priorities, providing a much needed check on the substantial discretionary power of the mayor's office and our budget. I also think that this should be the first step towards increasing democratic input on more areas of the city budget. As
mentioned, please vote in support. Thank you. Thank you. Anyone else uh online? I see. I don't see anyone else online. We'll go to the public. You're up.
Thank you. Uh Jonathan Schmidt, 442 East Street. Um first of all, I really appreciate hearing uh all the different perspectives here. Um, it's given me a lot to to think about and I I really appreciate these opportunities to kind of um reflect on my ideas and and
opinions in real time. Um, I especially really appreciate hearing from uh another department head here on this issue here tonight. Uh, that being said, I would like to speak in favor of adopting this action. Um, as a former member of the school committee and member of the finance subcommittee, uh,
I have memories of sitting at the table, um, going through the budget knowing that we have trimmed as much as we could, uh, and feeling no confidence in the city council, knowing that there was nothing that they could do when we
inevitably got the budget that was not going to meet our needs. Uh, and so, um, I think that what I would like to see, uh, come out of of this particular vote, should you all decide to vote on it, um,
is that this is actually a signal to other department heads, not that they are pitted against one another, but that the city council is committed to looking at ways to um, give them um, more opportunities uh, in the budgeting
process. us uh to um to have their department's needs met as well. Um I think it's been made clear that this is not the end of the conversation. This is the beginning of the conversation and that is just one thing that we can do now to um to give uh the city council um
another check on the mayor's office. Um it does not affect the balance of the powers. uh it just um it just gives one more uh opportunity to uh have additional people uh weigh in on uh matters that ultimately affect the
entire city. Um and the the more voices that we can have uh on those particular issues, I think the better. Um so um again, I encourage you to uh to hold a vote on it, to to vote in favor of it. Uh and thank you for your time here.
Thank you. Megan Kelly Bag online, you're up. If you could unmute yourself, I see you. Can you unmute? Others have been able to. Is there something we should advise? Looks like it's frozen.
Oh, it looks like we're frozen there. Is everybody frozen or just I see that it looks like everyone's frozen. Interesting. We're still We're still live. We're not frozen. We're not frozen, but everyone
It's just a delay. Responsible. Okay. Delay. I do not see. Okay. Yeah. I think it's just Megan that's frozen. Megan is frozen. Megan, could you turn your camera off
and that may help to leave and come back? You might need to leave and come back. I apologize. We will take you right back if that's the case. I'm not sure you can hear me. Yeah, you left. We're going to give Megan a
moment to sign back in. Meanwhile, I just would like to say how very grateful I am to everyone who's spoken and appreciative because this is a very important public discussion and I'm so glad that we're having it now. Uh
it has been very frustrating for me personally being a member of the council observing the various budgets and feeling that there wasn't authority to do anything uh to affect the budget in it in order
to increase the amounts we could only cut and that left us with very little opportunities. So I was in very much in favor of having this discussion. Uh I do not see I think so
anyone asking to come in so I see no one else at this time. Uh I'll continue. Uh I'm concerned that because this is a we clearly have the authority first of all
to do this. It is within the general law. It is something that gives us additional opportunities. I see Megan's here. Hold that thought. Did you I let her in. All right. Did you want to
go? Megan, you're up. If you could unmate unmute yourself. All right. Sorry about that. I don't know. Good. We hear you. I would like to um also support the fact that um city council should adopt the
chapter 329. Sorry, this kind of threw me off, but I'm not really a public speaker. I am a school teacher and a parent uh at MVS. And I will say that um we just generally are not we don't have all the resources
we need. There are not enough paras at our school. We um we actually did not get a raise this year due to a health insurance uh cost going up. We do not receive overtime unlike um police and fire. And so I think that the fact that
we are just asking for you to pass the resolution to have the option to increase the budget is very important. This is not a power grab. We are struggling. Grosses groceries are expensive. Cost of living is going up. we do not we as teachers are not getting
the cost of living raised that we deserve. And so I think this um gives us opportunity to really take a look at that. And we have very high highly qualified teachers at our school and the fact that kids are leaving because we're
not providing services and education that they deserve is not fair to our community. And um yeah, that's all I have to say. Thank you. I don't see anyone else. I will continue my thoughts
so that it becomes very important for us to hear from the entire community and I'm so grateful that it is this time of year that the subject is coming to us because we have an election coming right up. It is here. It is for the public to
really weigh in on this subject. It gives an opportunity for the candidates who are in contested positions particularly to be able to make their comments about the subject.
So I am very much looking forward to how this will be handled by the various candidates. What are their thoughts? Is it in line with the voters?
And I think it may very well be prudent, among other reasons, to give uh the public that opportunity and to continue this hearing. Councelor Peak, I'm I'm open to that. As I stated in the beginning, I think that there's a lot to think over here and
some people might have some further questions and um just beyond that, I I I would be wary of sort of the opt I think I' I've seen some things that made me worry about the optics of of passing this in the interim, even though I I I
think I explained why my thinking about it in the beginning, but I I just I'd want to avoid that. So, um if that's uh a direction that people would want to go to to table this until um November or December back when we have a full
council and a new elected uh mayor. Uh I I have no objection and and and would be open to that sort of uh thing. Mr. If I have comments, do you want me to comment from here or there? Which would you prefer? Are you
commenting as you're you're welcome to comment on anything as a counselor or as a mayor? I shall leave that to your choice. You know what? I need And if you're going to stretch your legs, I need to stretch my legs. Um Yeah.
Okay. Uh perspective means everything, doesn't it? Uh because when I'm sitting there, I have one perspective. When I'm standing here, I have a very different perspective. And I just want to I feel like it's important for me to verbalize this because you know this is a really
important subject and um I want to just be really clear like I'm a teacher. I've been a high school teacher for the last 20 years and I'm a third generation teacher. Both of my parents were teachers and I've thoroughly enjoyed my time on the East Hampton School
Committee where the mayor is a member. It's been really enjoyable. They're a professional body and they there is no question that they have the best interests of the students in the district in mind. And I said the other day in our meeting, we have a great new superintendent. We have two beautiful
schools. We have amazing staff. We have amazing teachers. And I said, this is like putting us on the map. Like East Hampton is going to going to and potent has the potential to become an education destination. And so like I thoroughly believe that and I think I think that my
fellow school committee members believe that too. And so when we look at this we you know it's it's really hard to make this kind of this weight of of financial um distribution and to and to look at
that and say yeah schools don't have enough money. And I think Chief Norris is 100% correct. The the it's not about how we're allocating resources. It's about how the resources are coming to the city. We're not getting enough resources and the fact that, you know, a lot of the school's funding is based on
property tax and is, you know, is a little bit regressive in my opinion. But I think, you know, as I as I stand here, I I see something that I think is even more important to recognize, which is the ability for people to collaborate and to work together towards something
that is really important. And I think one of the reasons why we're here is because that broke down. And and I think it's also important to recognize that that breakdown doesn't just happen between the council and mayors. It happens between departments, too. And I
think one of the things that really gave me pause about this was from this end of the table is to see the impact that it had on the department heads and the the insecurity that it it did give department heads. I think it's important
to recognize that and I mean and a lot of that insecurity is valid and you know the school school budget is 64% of our budget and you know I think that it's really um easy to imagine a situation where something gets cut and reallocated
and we're you know there's going to have to be deep cuts to departments and when we look at that we have to take into account the the idea of morale and we need to make sure that a good mayor is balancing department heads and the you
know largest part of the percentage of the budget and finding a way to kind of marry those two things to find something that's equitable something that's fair and something that works for the city and I think that is really important and I think that's a piece that we need to like say out loud because yeah there is
an election coming up and so we need to be really mindful of who we put in a position are they capable of doing that and so you know I think that's just one thing that needs to be said. And as far as like the timing of this, I I I'm not going to ask you to take this off the
docket, but I do think it does just for public perception, it it does make sense to wait until after the election because there's going to be shift on all of the boards and there's going to potentially be a shift at the the captain of the
ship. And really, it's not fair for me to say, "Oh, well, the next person is in this position is gonna have to live with something that I think is a good idea or not." Um, and and so I I would, you know, be a staunch advocate to say, "Let's table this until after the election, see how things shake out and
make a more educated determination then because there's no rush." Like, this doesn't necessarily have to be passed. I mean, granted, budget season's going to start very shortly after the election, but not immediately. So, you know, taking some time to take a breath to
make sure all the department heads are heard and to make sure that the concerns of the school committee are heard, I think is um a prudent choice. And so, that's all I wanted to say. Thanks. Thank you for your comments.
I will say it's heartening to hear a mayor speak to the comment to the issue in the way that you did. You have uh it's refreshing. We wouldn't be here
if it had occurred that way in the past. I will venture to say that. uh if if we had had that level of communication, I don't think this question would be on the table, but that it is it is for the
public really to do their input. And I would definitely recommend that we continue the public hearing uh until a time in Nove in in November or December. But that's uh I see someone else who has
joined us trying to join while we're still while we're still in public speak and we haven't closed public speak. So please Eric, you're he wants to speak. He just wanted in the meeting.
He wanted in the meeting. I appreciate that. Okay, good. No one else has raised their hand. Thank you, Council Pete. Seeing this feedback, um, I'd be willing to make a mot. I don't actually have our
calendar ahead in front of me. Uh, if somebody could tell me if we were to table it, would maybe like the second meeting in November, the first meeting in December make sense. I would like to do it before the end of the calendar year so that there's an un
if it passes there's an understanding going into our next you know into the the regular budget season but um November 19th November 19th December 3rd is the first is there a preference between because I can make a motion I'm just wondering if there's a preference at all between
those dates December 3rd I believe if you make it the 19th and there's more room after there's more needed okay sure that's a great point Um I think Brand I'm going to I'm going to recognize councelor Riley first.
Um I'm fine with either either avenue that we take. The the only suggestion that I have is that I what I heard from some of you is that we are so close to an election that perhaps it's best for
the folks who are elected to weigh in on this. If we if we just do this in November, it's still going to be us. Well, with respect to councelor Khan who um you know, but I
hope but you know you know what I mean. So what what I'm saying is that the fundamentally this body is going to remain the same. Yeah. Um so if the if it is the wish of the council to to wait until those who
are elected will be dealing with the budget uh the new dynamics with the budget then I would just say wait until maybe the first week in in the first meeting in January or second meeting in January. I I'm fine either way, but if that was the
the cons uh the feelings that some folks had, doing this in November doesn't change much fundamentally about who it is that's making the decision, except that we get to hear the candidates, all the candidates speak to the subject, give their opinions. We're all aware of the opinions of the of the
candidates and that we can weigh that and that it would appear certainly that one or more counselors may may not be in not because they're not good people but because uh they were
uh according to the charter the process is that according to the election the position held by councelor Khan should be filled uh shortly after the election when the candidate are qualified and whether or
not another person wins there may be another position open so uh there will be new counselors counselor please thank you Mr. president. Um, so what I you touched upon it, but what
I really think is important is that while interim Mayor Derby was given an ample amount of time at the podium to give us his feelings, I absolutely agree the other candidates for mayor should have that same opportunity because the
fact that he is where he is gives him a larger microphone at a time when he is running for office. And I don't want that podium to become a campaign place when everyone should have the opportunity to give their feelings about
this whether they are currently interim mayor or whether they are a candidate for it and thus I would agree that we should wait until after the election. Fortunately, we we do have a debate coming up. When when is it? Monday. Monday. Monday.
I would also just recognize that Thursday and Friday. I'm sorry for a free public announcement here on the on the debate 13th 14th um but 13th 14th I would say that I see that Lindsay is
on and JT is here so if public speak is still open if public speak is still open so if this is the anyone who wanted to speak to you you're welcome to level the playing field I think they'll have ample time I I think there is ample time so that
being and councelor Peterson who wants to talk councelor I I was going to make a motion of councelor J if you're not making a motion then I would recognize you um thank you Mr. President, I would just
like to say I think that I agree we should have ample time for everyone to speak. My feelings hearing everything tonight and I'll be quite honest like I'm really torn with this. I think there's very valid arguments on both sides and it's a really difficult decision. It's not actually very simple.
The 2022 situation everyone's alluding to is before my time. So, I can't speak to that personally. However, I do have a question about that and I'd like to not address that right now. But my question I'd like to just put out there is if this was so important because of that
2022 situation, why is it 2025 and we are now dealing with this? So that's something I I am curious about. With that in mind, I don't think there's a heightened sense of urgency here. So I do think that we have time to be able to speak to this and deliberate
further. And given everything else with the dynamics that we've been speaking about with the election season, I would like to encourage the public to submit questions to these mayoral forums. So that at least in those forums and then there are also city council forums coming up as well and school committee
forums coming up. Unfortunately, I'm not part of any of those, but I'll be happy to chat with folks separately. But I think there are a lot of opportunities coming up in the next few weeks for the public to continue to hear directly from candidates on this. and we don't have an urgent need to settle this tonight. So,
I am in favor of supporting what I think is going to be an imminent motion to push this out. Thank you. I thank you for your suggestions. Thank you, Councelor Pe. Uh thank you, Mr. President. I uh move that we continue this public hearing
until Wednesday, November 19th at 6:15 in these chambers. Second. I have a motion in a second. Is there any other discussion about continuing this public
hearing to November 19th, Wednesday, at 6:15? No further discussion. All those in favor? I opposed. Excuse me. Is that meeting is over? No.
No, we have other things. No, we have You said yes. No, there were no nos. I heard any abstensions. No. Uh the motion passes. This meeting, this uh hearing is
continued until Wednesday, November 19th at 6:15 p.m. in these chambers. Uh I have two other things. First of all, I think I'd like to make a motion to close the public hearing. Close the other public hearing. They're the portion of the public the greater public hearing. And I would
also request respectfully request a fivem minute recess if that's okay. May I say something before? Sorry. Uh I give you the opportunity to speak. Please do. Yes. Yes. Thank you very much. So um it was mentioned this evening that I
disrespected our superintendent. Uh and I own that I reached out to ask a question and I asked for her presence here to get more clarification for that. Um, I did not understand that I was not within my right to do that. I think in previous meetings we've when we've
needed information, we've asked people. So, I want to publicly apologize to Superintendent Balch. That is a mistake that will not be made again. Thank you. Thank you for the apology. I have a request for a fivem minute
recess and to close the public hearing. Well, can we close the public hearing? We close the public hearing. We motion to close the public hearing. Second for the remainder of the public hearing section. Any further discussion? All those in
favor? I opposed. The public hearing is closed for the other items that were on our agenda and again continued for the school funding issue. That being said,
I'll entertain a motion for recess. Second. Second. Uh, all those in favor? I I 5 minute recess. We'll be back. All of my bones just cracked as I stood up.
Bring the meeting back to order. What is the Are we trying to get. Yeah, reactions aren't available. I'm not sure that the This is turned on again for closed captions. No, it's on. It's on.
You're still on. Okay, good. Thank you. We now are returning to the meeting. Apologize to be a little extra delay. Captions. Captions are off. See if hit that mute button. See if Yeah, it's muted. Yeah.
Oh, it's muted. Yeah. There we go. Thank you. All the microphones back on. Good. All right. Continuing on items for immediate. Oh, I'm sorry. My apologies. Public comment.
Back to the public. Everybody has their opportunity to speak. We're going to the general public comment. Should there anyone who'd like to come to the microphone, we're here to listen. Please do so at this time. State your name. Oh yeah.
Hi. Some of you are aware that my name is James Kan. I live at 322 Main Street in East Hampton. I have been a resident for 20 years and I consider this place home more than any other I've ever been in. I came from Long Meadow to Springfield to Chapi.
None of them were good fits for me. Northampton, too, but that's another story. A little bit about me real quick because it goes directly to my concerns with respect to conditions including the cost of housing. I am basically one of those people that pretty much did things
on my own path. I have been removed from a lot of the typical um expectations of society and basically have tried as much as possible to be an information resource to help people as I saw able.
Um for over 50 years I've intensely examined the natural science. I consider myself an independent theoretical physicist not solelettered. 25 years of customer service including a Fortune 500 company that uh had two
consecutive years of a billion gross. Um to get back to the salient point, I think the problem more than anything else with respect to a lot of these landlords/propy owners is the fundamental inability to recognize the value to them and also at large as
society being able to recognize value unconditionally. I hear a lot about being successful. We all have our own ideas as to what value and success is that are very important to us and we require the ability to maintain our
state however much we accept the limitations of them. I think I can speak for everybody here in the same situation as me that we have great value that we can offer to the city. We want to offer to the city. In fact, I have tried to be somewhat
proactive in terms of affecting real improvements with respect to protections against being in just this position. We need them. We need them badly. We are in a situation. I'm aware of challenges that are daunting like none ever before.
And that conversation needs to start. I have agonized about trying to start it. But the bottom line is that there have got to be some protections from us being on the street. There are going to be hundreds of people in the city disenfranchised if this process is allowed to continue where landlords can
pretty much raise their rents. Mortgages continue to go up, property assessments. This is a race to the bottom and Northampton is experiencing it profoundly right now. Saw it coming in the past. We have got to definitely recognize the need for
if you could wrap up your thought. 15 seconds. All right. We have got to focus upon simplifying people's lives because they've been made incredibly complex, difficult to navigate, and I welcome the opportunity to speak further about all
these concerns. Thank you all. Thank you. I would ask that there no be no clapping. Just ask. Thank you. It gives everyone a chance to speak. Okay. Please. Yeah. Hi, my name's J O'Brien. I live at
14 Ward Avenue. I've lived there for six years now. I love living there. I work part-time at Big E three days a week. My main source of income is social security. Can't live on social security alone. Um,
what's happened in my situation is I underwent shoulder surgery at the end of July. I haven't worked for 10 weeks now, hoping to get back soon. But in the meantime, while I was recuperating, I came home and took only to find my rent
increase. I was expecting a rent increase this year. It went up $50 a month last year. When I opened it, I found out it was going up 30%. Well, my social security is not going up 30%. I'm not getting any kind of wage
increase from Big E. As much as I enjoy working there, it's still a minimum wage job. I find out I'm not alone. Uh we've been up and down Ward Avenue. We sent our landlords, Pine Valley Realy, uh a letter simply requesting a meeting so
that we could discuss and perhaps negotiate a more reasonable rent. They sent back the their response was very nice and polite and also telling me that as of October 1st uh I had to vacate the
premises because I'm I'm paying my old rent. I can't afford the 30% increase. Uh that's my situation. The 15 16 other people who signed that letter have their own situations.
And I you know I I grew up in Hoyok. I have applications in the Hoya Housing Authority and Okonnell Senior Living, including uh Orchard View here in East Hampton. I've been told that the waiting lists can be two, three, even four
years. So, I've not I don't have a lot of options at this point. And I'm hoping because the landlords are local that there'll be enough public pressure, feedback, whatever to at least them to bring them to negotiating table. Like I
said, I expected a rent increase. I didn't expect a 30% increase. So, thank you. Thank you. Hello, my name is Monachedi. I live at 115 Northampton Street, Ward One. Um I am here uh along with my neighbor Jay. I
am also a tenant of Pine Valley Realy and in August I was informed that my rent was going up 30% and I had one month to decide whether I would stay or go. I work two jobs. You see me looking like this. I work in sales Monday through Thursday. Come Friday, I work in
manual labor. It is not uncommon for me in the high season to work 74 to 80 hours and I can barely make ends meet. So when that happens, the logic starts going to, well, maybe I could do a third job part-time, maybe at night. What about a
fourth one? Because if I got a fourth one, then I could actually save money. If I get the third one, then I could actually make ends meet. We asked our landlord as well, Pine Valley Realy, for a negotiation, and we were declined. And if you think my situation sounds brutal,
um, you don't know my neighbors who are on pension, disability, social security, or a combination of those, they can't go out and get a job. They can't go out and get two jobs or three jobs. They are terrified. We have a crisis on our hands. And what
I wanted to do was um first say that there are people on this council who have been with us from day one. You know who you are. And I want to have give a sincere thank you for showing up and literally holding our hands through this. And for those of you who we haven't seen, I want this to be an invitation to you. Uh there are
homeowners and landlords who do support us, but a lot of homeowners don't know that this is the situation that it is. And um I think it's a matter of folks not knowing the severity of it or maybe not knowing how to plug in and help us. And so we're going to be reaching out and we're going to be looking to all of
you to address this problem creatively, collaboratively, and with care as a community. Because what we're looking at right now, and if you're a homeowner, you can kind of think of us as tenants as as a canary in the the gold mine. What happens to us happens to you. What happens to you happens to us because we
live here together. Um I have neighbors and that are fighting corporate out of town landlords. Our landlord is a local landlord. And what we're seeing is that the um corporate landlords buying up swaths of East Hampton is actually providing local
landlords with a weapon to raise our rent. We were told, "Well, if I don't raise the rent, I might have to sell to a corporate landlord." Do you know that corporate landlords are ruining East Hampton? So, we are here to basically tell you that we love living here. We
love being neighbors to each other and we love being part of this community. But right now, we have to make a decision as to whether East Hampton is going to stay the town that we love or become a gated community and whether the people that get to live here are the ones that love living here and want to be part of this vibrant community and be
those great neighbors to each other or because they have the correct bank account. Thank you very much for taking time. We'll see you later. Thank you. Hi, my name is Kelly Hutchkins. I live at 115 Park Street. Um,
I was born and raised in East Hampton. I have lived at my apartment for 15 years. My rent went up 51 and a half%. My income doesn't go up that much. That's 51 12%.
How am I supposed to afford to live here? It's not fair that and I also rent from the same people as they mentioned um Valley Valley Realy. They own many
properties in East Hampton. So I'm not the only one that the rent has gone up but it's not affordable. It's not affordable 51 and a half%. I just don't know what else to say. I've lived here all my life. And if I
can't afford my rent, where do I go? 51 and a half%. Um, hello. My name is uh Light Shiovanas. Most people call me Don. I am a veteran, Vietnam veteran. Um, I suffer from PTSD.
Um, so it was kind of hard for me to find a place to stay and live. And I found that East Hampton was that place and I didn't know that. It was very peaceful and quiet and this was the place I wanted to be. But it kind of shocked me when all of a sudden I'm
paying $925 one month, the next month I'm paying 1,500. So that's quite an increase. Now, I know that these landlords could have this ability to do that because there's
nothing there to stop them. And you know what? All we have the only people we really can can turn to is the council. You know, you I'm hoping that you you're the voice of the people, you know, cuz it's just kind of tough to see people
have um rent go up so high. Now, I know there's always going to be an increase. I can anticipate that. But I think I got what from from $925 to 1,500 the next month. That's quite an increase. So I'm
hoping that it is something that can be done to help the tenants um have some type of protection because right now we don't have that. So that's all. And this, by the way, this is my first time coming to one of these meetings, so I can get crazy
sometimes. Thank you. Thank you. Hey, my name is Jeff Coin. I live at 345 East Street. Um, I am speaking today on behalf of Nancy Dorian, who was just here, but presumably had to leave because of work. Um, Nancy lives at 22
Nashawanik Street and I'm going to read a statement from her um entitled Why I'm Fighting for Rent Control. My rent was $150 when the Sherban Brothers bought our apartment complex. They immediately raised the rent $400 in a threatening letter at the end of 2024. The rent has
doubled in 8 months. So, it went from $150 in November 2024 to 22.95 a month. within eight months. Their private equity real estate firm in New York City, Rowan Capital, specializes in getting these kinds of returns for their investors.
My rent is now 42% of my income. I work two jobs and collect social security to barely make ends meet. They have invited me to go somewhere else if I don't like it. Elderly housing weight lists are 10 years long. Rents continue to rise because of predatory landlords like these. They put their profit above
people. Housing is a human right. So, that's the end of NY's statement. Um, I've been canvasing for rent control probably like 20 hours a week recently for the past several weeks. I was at River Valley Co-op today and I go to the farmers market. I go to various places
and like what we're hearing anecdotally from everyone like all the tenants is that we're seeing rent increases aside from some small landlords. We're seeing 30, 40, 50% rent increases for people who work at local businesses, our local favorite small businesses who don't make
enough wages to be able to like afford these rent increases. Um, someone couldn't correct me on this, but like some statistics I've seen from 2023 to 2024 is there's like a 50% increase in homelessness in Massachusetts. Um, so like the math isn't mathing. You know,
we need to do something. So, I would want to encourage any city council members who are supporting it. I want to thank anyone who supported this to keep supporting this. Um, and then anyone who hasn't supported organizing that's been done by tenants to to to step up and and
really support that organizing. Um, yeah, I think that's all. Thanks. Thank you. Hello, members of city council. My name is Destiny. I'm an attorney at Central West Justice Center. We provide legal
services to uh low-income individuals across Western Massachusetts. That would include the elderly and those on fixed income and those who are disabled, those who spoken before you. Um, as you may know or may not know, in civil matters, right, there is no right to an attorney
and oftent times tenants are in court alone uh against attorneys who are there every day, right? So as you can presume it is not uh typically a winning fight. Um you know so we are essentially here
today to provide um some organizational support to those uh who are fighting u to essentially negotiate for better rents and for you know better housing conditions. Um
and we encourage those of you who are um supporting them to continue doing so. Uh, and we also encourage the council to use your your powers at B or your reverence um to ask landlords to come to the table um and negotiate with tenants.
Thank you. Thank you. So, hello Mariam and Sarah, 359 Main Street. Uh, I want to say that I have a lived experience of rent control.
Uh, and I'm actually a homeowner and I'm speaking about this as a homeowner who understands what it means to live in a um community that is not driven by
speculation and greed. I lived in Cambridge for 30some years and we lived very happily with rent control. It kept down housing for everybody. It kept down the price of of um homeownership. It
kept down the price of rent. And it was a system whereby if you knew what you were doing, a land could lord could get their their property fixed. They could get their increases and they still could afford to provide reasonable rents. It took the entire state of Massachusetts
to get rid of rent control in Cambridge. We 95% of us voted to keep it. And what happened when we lost it? Well, all the speculators who had been buying up property that they couldn't themselves live in because we had a law that if you
weren't living in a condo, you you Anyway, it was complicated. But what happened was they then moved in like vultures. So did well, my daughter used to call them uh young professionals with practice children known as the dogs. all
of a sudden you couldn't find parking on the street because everybody had two and three cars and our neighbors and I have to say Cambridge there's a part of Cambridge that yes it's the universities and then there's the rest of us workingclass Cambridge
or what was workingclass Cambridge and what happened was that our schools began to lose students everybody had to move out nobody could afford to live there anymore for and speculation just went
unchecked and all of a sudden we were seeing the ruination of what had been a a community that was cohesive in much the way that that East Hampton is. And so I wanted and in fact I had to move out here for economic reasons
because it's what I could afford. So now me and the bank own a lovely home in East Hampton. I'm very happy to be here. But people have to keep in mind that rent control is about controlling speculation. It's about homes as a place
for people, not for profit. It's not an investment. And I'm almost 82 years old and I can remember when that was the case. You bought a home, not an investment. And you raised your families and then your children could afford to live in the same neighborhood and on and
on it went. And yes, newcomers came in and they fit right in. Thank you. Thank you. Online KC, if you could unmute yourself, I see you
have your hand up. KC, hey everybody. Ah, KC, I recognize you. Yeah. Hi, K Collins for Carol, East Hampton. Um, so I wanted to Sorry about
that. I just stood up for the first time. Um, I wanted to just speak up in favor also of rent um of rent mitigation. I mean, some of the stories we're hearing here echo the stories of
folks that I know as well, um, that are a really important part of the vibrant community that we all share who are being priced out of East Hampton in in rather shocking ways. Um, we all know that prices are going up while salaries
are staying stable. we have all done work and sat in on meetings where we've talked about ways to try to help people age in place in this community. Um, you know, and I think that that there's been a lot of conversations about how do we
get more participation in some of these meetings and some of these conversations. Um, even I didn't know that there was going to be an ad hoc rent committee study until I was reading the minutes for the agenda today before I logged on to this meeting. Um, you
know, just just listening into what everybody's been saying in this meeting and in prior meetings, I do think, you know, we've got the study that just came out about Western Mass Housing to leverage. We've got um all of the data that's going to be coming out about the
impact of increases in health insurance and the fact that folks are going to be getting kicked off of their health insurance benefit and droves which is going to be causing um a lot of impact in what folks can afford to pay for rent. Um and that's something we want to
make sure that we're keeping an eye on as well. That's going to be causing a lot more income disparity. I work in the financial sector. Um, so I I'm pretty conversations that folks are having around Social Security, their worries around Social Security and Medicaid, uh,
Medicare benefits and how loss of healthcare is going to impact their ability to to survive, to retire, to live off the income that they've saved. Um, you know, that is something that's going to be an ongoing problem. Um, so
how do we how do we get more voices in the room for this? Um, you know, are we going to be able to seat a series of meetings that the community has full access to um in the coming months to make sure that we're getting more
participation in this because I do fully agree that that we have have to have more conversation and more participation from the folks that are direct stakeholders in this conversation. Please. What's that? JP, you have 15 seconds, so I wanted you to
wrap up your thoughts and know you have 50. Thank you. Thank you, JP. Um, yeah. Anyway, I think that that that the folks that live here are are a vibrant part of this community and a 50% rent increase um in this particular time, in this particular
economy is just unsustainable for the people that make this city what it is. Thank you. Thank you. Cayam Jr. Mcuade. Thank you, counselors. Um, I don't have as powerful of a personal story to share
tonight, but I wanted to just restate something that I think you guys have been aware of for years. We've been saying for years coming from the Affordable Care Housing Partnership, um, we're in a housing crisis. Um ACS data from 2023 suggests over four in 10
renters are paying more than 30% of their income on housing costs. Um with more than one in 10 paying greater than 50%. Um that's before uh the current economic situation that we're in. That's before the actions of our federal government. That's before we started
seeing this increasing predatory investment in our housing market. um with 30 40 50% increases um at once. Um it's it's unacceptable. Um and the city should be doing everything it can um to
protect these tenants, protect people um being able to stay in the city. Um and there is things that we can do. Um this council has already supported a resolution um lifting statewide ban on rent control. Um we're in the process um
of we created a rent study committee um with what I think should be the purpose of um continuing the process towards getting a home rule petition passed for rent control and the model of the city of Boston buyin from the community. Um there's more we can do in terms of
emergency rental assistance for people. Um, I think that uh the idea of looking re uh visiting the idea of a community land trust is a great thing to look into right now. Um, I think that we need all hands on deck.
Um, this is a crisis and we need every voice, every microphone, every megaphone um, speaking about this. It's foundational. Um, housing is how people connect to the community. It determines who is in our community. Um,
so thank you. Thank you. Um, Connie Denim. Um, briefing forward. Um, I, uh, in full disclosure, I sit on city council. Um,
and I am not running for mayor. Um I uh I'm standing here because I can't respond from over there. Um but um as a as a resident, I just want to say everything that I heard tonight. I am I am heartbroken for the experiences
that people have described this evening. Um East Hampton is a working-class community. Um, and I'm going to do uh everything that I can uh to continue to support your rights to housing. If you could direct your comments to us
and yeah, I'm just looking down. I know. Okay. Thank you. I just wanted to make that clear. Our our procedure is such that we ask that folks direct their comments to us and I saw you drifting in that direction. I'm trying to look. You remind We're reminded of that. I'm trying not to look.
Thank you. Please adjust the time. Um, so I am just uh reaffirming my commitment to all of you um to continue to work uh on finding a solution to this. Thank you. Thank you. And then actually
I'm going to go as well. Oh, we need a new timer. Yeah. Set the timer for 3 minutes and 3 minutes counting down. I' I've got it. All right. Thank you. Um Brad Riley, um
precinct 311 Irving Street. Um, so I just wanted to talk to the council tonight um, in my official capacity as an intergovernmental researcher and a scholar of um, state preeemption over local government specifically around minimum wage and um, rent control. Um,
so you know, as I was hearing what folks were saying tonight, what I feel may be happening is that there is a movement among landlord associations that we have the potential to put a 5%
cap on rent increases in Massachusetts in the next election. And that they are taking this opportunity to raise rents from what we're hearing, 30%, 50%. Right? They're saying, "I'm going to get 10 years of what I want upfront before
the law changes because I won't be able to do it then." Um, as uh Miriam and Sara had alluded, this was something that started back in 1994, um, specifically in Cambridge. And when
the population of Massachusetts was given information about what it means to prevent and preempt rent control, it was an orchestrated narrative attempt from special interest groups and elite groups, landlords associations, realtors
to make sure that they could have a deregulated market that would benefit themselves. The people were lied to and they voted for it and now we see what the consequences are. I would encourage all of you to at least inquire with the
state about whether or not the landlords who are engaging in this kind of rent increase may potentially be doing so because they're trying to circumvent the potential will of the people to weigh in on this issue. Um, I don't know that there's anything illegal that's happening, but I do think it's worth a
query at the state level um to make sure that there is not an orchestrated narrative attempt within these special groups to raise rents on our neighbors and myself. I'm also a renter here in East Hampton. Um, when I moved here 12 years ago, my rent was $800 a month and
now I pay over $2,000 a month. Um, I also live in the uh neighborhood across from St. Bridget's Cemetery. I'm thankful that my place has recently been renovated, but for much of my time here in East Hampton, I had actual animals
living in my property, and this is true for everybody in my neighborhood. So, the idea that we would be paying thousands of dollars a month for rent and having birds and squirrels and raccoons living in our buildings um
doesn't make any sense. It's wrong. Um and I I just think we need to do what we can within the limits that are given to us as a local government. Um I know this is a state issue, but we can at least advocate for it from our
physicians and city counselors. Thank you. Thank you. [Music] Hello everybody. Um my name is Evan Leo. I live at 17 Everett Street, Precinct 3. Um and I've been so moved by everyone's
stories here tonight that I thought I'd share my own. I was born and raised here in East Hampton. This is my favorite city. There's nowhere else I'd rather live. But 3 years ago, I moved to Holio
because at the time it was the only place where I could find an apartment that I could afford. After living there for about 2 and 1/2 years, I realized just how unaffordable it was even with a very well-paying job
and in fact a part-time job on top of that. So, and I realized that when I didn't think of myself as having food insecurities until the credit cards I was buying my
groceries on began to max out. And I looked at my budget and I saw how much was going to rent and going to internet and heat. And that was in Holio where it's holio gas and electric and
let me tell you the rates are a lot better on the other side of the mountain. Um so I made the hard choice to move out of a place that I loved and and moved back to my parents' home. And let me just say
thank goodness I had that ability to have that safety net under me. Um, but you know, I'm wanting this to be the town I live in. This is the town I want to be able to grow up and continue to grow up in and have a family in. And my
family's been living here since the 1800s. One of my great great-grandfathers was the first blacksmith in East Stampton. You know, I'm old East Stampton. love this town and I want to continue my family here, but unless we find ways that younger
people can rent and then be able to save to be able to buy homes cuz the housing market too is outrageous in our community that I know this is much bigger problems than what a city council
can handle, but you know, I just wanted to share my voice too and what I've heard over and over is we love this town. We want to be here, but we have to look to our city government to help us find ways,
creative avenues for us to be able to stay here. Thank you. Thank you. I think this uh not seeing anyone else in online uh this concludes today's
public comment section. I wanted to be sure I personally thanked everyone who came and shared their stories. We appreciated speaking on behalf of the counselors and definitely for myself.
Moving on. We have an item for immediate attention. The request was councelor Denim. Uh thank you uh Mr. President. Um could you tell us about it? Yeah, I'm going to mention that. So uh
before us we've been working with um members of um the MTA uh to address the um excuse me. to address the um crisis that's
happening uh with regard to higher education funding. Um we've heard some comments today regarding this and so uh myself, councelor Jadzik and councelor Smith have put forward a um resolution
uh to in support of the um drive initiative as well as the drive act um to uh increase uh funding for um uh some higher ed uh initiatives. Um I don't want to go too into it. I've asked
councelor Smith uh if she would be willing to uh read the resolution, but I know that obviously it has to be approved by the rest of council before that. I'd be happy to entertain a reading should there be any objection. However,
we would uh send this to committee and discuss it at a at a later date. Not seeing any objections. Councelor Smith. Okay. This is the East Hampton City Council resolution in support of public higher
education to address federal attacks and funding cuts. The East Hampton City Council recognizes the value of the drive, discovery, research, and innovation for a vibrant economy initiative to sustain the
Commonwealth research and innovation economy during a time of unprecedented assault by the federal government against public universities. Oh, I'm sorry. um against public higher education by cancelling or freezing
billions of dollars in grant funding at universities and research institutions. This council also recognizes the need to expand funding for public higher education to support such initiatives as free college scholarships and
affordability. Whereas community colleges, state universities, and UMass play an integral role in fostering the public good in Massachusetts. Whereas public colleges and universities provide the necessary education and career training to allow
for social and economic mobility necessary for creating greater equality among our residents. Whereas public colleges and universities across the state are major employers and the students attending public colleges and universities generate significant
economic activity. Whereas public education provides a highly trained and highly educated workforce for businesses and industries based in Massachusetts. Whereas public colleges and universities
in Massachusetts are conducting research and studies that benefit people all around the world. Whereas public colleges and universities have a responsibility to ensure costs to students are not prohibitive or require
going into debilitating debt. Whereas public colleges and universities are experiencing severe disruptions in funding of federal grants that pay for research that benefit society as a whole and supports academic pursuits are being
paused and cancelled. Whereas the federal budget under consideration is proposing severe reductions in funding for PEL grant students PEL grants students can use to pay for college. Whereas Massachusetts voters approved
the fair share sir tax on income above 1 million to generate revenue specifically for public education and transportation. Be it resolved that the East Hampton City Council voices its support for Massachusetts's community colleges,
state universities, and UMass. Be it further resolved that this council urges the state legislature to pass the drive act with an amendment to cover student supports and other cuts beyond the research grants as a first step toward public higher education funding that
adequately supports students, faculty, and staff. Be it further resolved that this council urges the state legislature and governor to strategically increase funding for public colleges and universities to lessen their reliance on
grants, privatization, and student tuition and fees. Therefore, be it further resolved that the East Hampton City Council supports Massachusetts having public colleges and universities that students can attend without incurring debt, and that provide
the salaries and benefits necessary to retain and attract the faculty and staff needed to maintain the quality of education our state deserves. In the form of a motion. Second. In the form of a motion. I have a second.
I am moved to say a few words about this if I may. I normally reserve until after everyone else has spoken, but this is a huge important issue for every
student, every faculty and staff member and every citizen who lives in our region of the world. It is the economy that we live on, that we survive on, and it's primarily driven
by the public education process. What does that mean? I remember the time when folks said, "I'm the first one to go to college in my family."
And I've heard that long time ago, more recently, and very recently. To me, that warms my heart and gives me the understanding that this is a way of self-esteem. This is a
way of growth. This is a way of participating in the economic society, of raising themselves up where folks can make a difference in the world. they get the tools. And it isn't
just for the elite because what's going to happen is it'll be the only the elite that go to school. If students have to go and face funding that puts them in debt for 10, 20,
or more years just to pay for an education that is to give them a leg up. That isn't right. That's not what we're about as a society and we all need to support this in my opinion. I'll take
any other comments. Council Denim. Thank you, Mr. President. Just very briefly, I just want to acknowledge that we have a number of um young people in our community that rely heavily on um our local universities,
public universities. And so um you know this is an important um item that we need to consider to make college accessible and at the same time there's a number of people who live uh in East Hampton who work at our uh
public universities and so this is of significance to their um ability to to live um and and receive a living wage. uh to be able to continue to to live in this community. Um and
we've heard a number of people today struggling to um remain in this community just with rent, but there's a number of people who there's a lot of uncertainty that if people lost their jobs, they wouldn't be able to live here either. And so it's it's paramount
concern that um that this be supported. I mean, UMass, um, Westfield State, um, Holio Community College, um, you know, they are huge drivers of of our economy. Um, and, um,
I hope that everyone will support this. Councelor Peak. Yeah. Um, thanks for everyone who put this forward. I totally support it. I'll be really really quick, but just on a personal level, public higher education has completely transformed my life. I'm
a alumni of Springfield Technical Community College, class of 2010 in UMass Ammerst, class of 2013. I've worked at UMass Ammerst for the last 11 years, and I'm currently a grad student at UMass Ammerst. If anything were to happen to my position at UMass Ammerst,
you would need to find a new precinct 3 city counselor because I can't make my mortgage payments without that. So like and I don't think there's really a lot of other jobs in the valley for for people like me. So in a lot of it's just it's really the the the scale of the economic impact that these institutions
have on our valley is uh I think difficult for most people to really wrap their heads around until you actually see the numbers. It's pretty staggering. So um even for people who did not attend those schools, never intend to attend those schools, never intend to send
their kids to those schools, like there's if you own a small business, people are buying goods from your small business who are drawing their salaries from those schools or who are drawing their salaries from a job that they were able to get because they were educated
at those schools. So it's it's just really really it's so unbelievably critical. Yeah, that's all. Thanks, Councelor Smith. Uh, thank you. My my comment on this um in full disclosure, we all know I work
at a public university. Um, 85% of our graduates stay in Massachusetts to stay and work and they stay in Western Massachusetts. Um, we have a real problem with attracting workers and attracting
educators to western Massachusetts because the eastern part of the state feels we are very rural and very just everything that they're not. And so I want to just bring forth some of the
things that I'm seeing. um the public universities are creating education in the carework field that are essential essential to our hospitals to be re reigning open. Um all of our our um I
wouldn't call them internships but all of our work for our students we have partnerships with our local hospitals that are really important to the local hospitals to keep keep going. So, I just want to say that this all links together
in in that way because we do have a care crisis on our hands. It's not going to get any better. And um from a labor perspective, having more students that are aware of the needs of
the aging population and the poor health that they are in are really important factors that are being taught right now. and to not have that education will directly impact the quality of care you can receive. Thank you.
Anyone else? That being said, we have a motion on the floor. All those in favor opposed. Motion carries. Thank you very much for the introduction of that motion.
Uh we have another matter before us that I'm going to ask for immediate attention. Uh it was placed elsewhere on the agenda I believe erroneously because that was before we had the immediate attention sec anyway. This has been done
immediately before in the past. Uh it has to do with the election coming up and our scheduling that election. It is very important to the clerk's office to be able to get move this forward. So, I am going to ask that you give me the
indulgence and we place it on the ballot and create create this matter at this meeting. Uh, it has to do with setting the ballot. Uh, so I'll read the the question in mind. It's entitled the city of East Stampial City Election November
4, 2025. In the name of the Commonwealth, you are hereby directed to notify the inhabitants of the city of East Stanton qualified to vote in elections to meet at their respective polling places in said city on Tuesday, the 4th day of November, 2025 from 7:00
a.m. to 8:00 p.m. for the following purposes. To cast their votes for the offices of mayor, one for a term of four years. Counselor, city councilors at large, four for a term of two years. Precinct counselors five, one from each precinct for a term of two years and
school committee members six for a term of two years. The polling place for all precincts one through five will be the east at East Hampton High School, 70 Williston Avenue. It is hereby directed that an attested copy of this warrant be posted in a public place at the Eastam
Municipal Building 50 Pac at least 7 days prior to the date of said election in the form of a motion. Okay. And a second. I see no immediate objections to this. So, all those in favor?
I opposed. Nobody. Thank you. Uh, and no abstensions. This motion passes. Maryanne. Thank you. It's now in your hands. Thank you. And by the way, we need everyone to sign
afterwards. Okay. uh communications from elected boards uh officials and commissions. I see none. Oh, I do see one. One. Councelor Ben. Uh thank you, Mr. President. So, um, Councelor Jadzik and Councelor Smith and
I, we are in the process of putting together an application and schedule for the municipal leadership academy, which we will uh promote shortly to encourage all of the residents who are here presently in the room uh to participate
um uh hopefully. So, we will get that out as quickly as possible and we will work with the department heads to um schedule um those events. It's been uh incredibly positive. Um I know that I see uh
director Nuttleman there. Um you know as one example he has uh taken uh residents and uh given a session at the water department um and a tour of the water department and um you know as as well as
all the other department heads who have given tours of the police department and the fire department etc. But it um is it certainly was a very uh positive experience and um I look forward to and I hope that the department heads will uh continue to want to be a part of that.
So, that will be coming um hopefully this week. Uh we're just uh reviewing it and um we'll send that out shortly. Uh may I ask you a clarifying question? Were there specific dates you were thinking of organizing this? Is it with
the new term? Is this something? So, it would begin in January, but we need to send the application and get applications in for the next two and a half months. It isn't just for anybody who is attending in this room. No, it's open for anything. It's open for I was making a point that it's late
entire community and and I see that well seeing that there we have three people in the audience now. I was concerned about that. I was trying to be open to everybody trying to recruit. Uh thank you so much. Anybody else?
Uh correspondents. Don't see any comments. President and vice president communications. I have nothing specific at this point to add uh mayor or communications and I do have a request but I'll hold that further report from
the mayor quick I promise a long day. Um, so student long day. Um, I just wanted to make sure everybody received the email from Director Nuttleman about the
odiferous smell at the wastewater treatment plant and that they are working on it. Um, I just want to just remind people that it looks like they're going to be changing more airators starting next week, the 13th, but they are doing some preventative mitigating measures to try to try to help with the
odor. Um, they're working on it. they're aware of it. And I know I want to thank councelor Jazzik for um talking to uh Director Nullman and um and working um to help people understand that this process is a process. Um so that is
important. Um and I just wanted to draw people's attention to the fact that there is going to be um starting tomorrow some extra parking downtown. So, um, if people are coming to, um, visit the Cottage Street businesses,
they will be able to access the back of Maple Street School from Chapel Street. Um, and there should be signage there tomorrow. So, I just want to make sure people are aware of that. Uh, and John Mason did ask me to just announce that Harvest Fest is coming up on Sunday,
October 12th, um, at Natuk Park, and it's going to be from 1:00 to 5:00. And then at 6:00 there's going to well they're going to have from 5:00 to 6:00 it's going to be a bonfire. So that's kind of exciting. And also um the rag shack parade which is really fun um is
going to be on the 28th and it's going to start at Maple School. Um and the rain date is the 29th. And unless anybody has any questions, I will Oh, uh, if I may, I did ask at this time, if you don't mind, to have, having received
a nice letter from DPW Director Nutman, I did ask him to be present. I don't know if he still is. It's been a long meeting to give us a report directly since this was a very serious concern, the sewage treatment plant odor. We the
I and I feel felt that the update was very important. I would appreciate it if he could elaborate if you would grant him that. I I I think um I I don't have a problem with that. Um with the last time I talked to him, he said that there was no further update, but I will let him
I think to discuss the letter. Sure. I think would be helpful I think he is unmuted. So unmute. No, he is. It looks like he's unmuted. I'm Yep, there he is. Good evening everyone. Yeah, I'm here. Director
Director. Yeah. You're up. Sorry, J. Uh, Councelor Kinsky, I think you spoke over me. I didn't hear what you said. I I said you're up. Yeah. Unfortunately, I don't really have much much else to offer. I wanted to get that information out to um all of you on
Friday just so everyone had the same information. It sounded like there may be some information out there that wasn't entirely accurate. So, um that was why I wanted to get that out there. I do think we've gotten our our processes at the plant, you know, well back to around their normal ranges. And
um I don't I'm optimistic as we do the um additional airators next week. I don't think we'll have the um odor issues that we experienced when we did the two earlier as we've been able to remove a lot of solids from the plant process over the last several weeks. So, um I did meet at the plant yesterday
with a a a fresh engineering firm, I would say, to put some fresh eyes on on all of our processes and operations down there to see what else we might be able to do to help um mitigate odors, even not only um as part of this project, but just in ongoing operations. Um so,
they're I'm kind of awaiting a a review and proposal from them uh for some suggestions. Um, but one of them did mention to me that we were the third plant he's been asked to visit uh over the past few weeks due to uh Synagrow, our sludge uh processing vendor's uh
inability to take their normal amount of sludge from from plants uh in the region. So, um, it's not a problem that's really been completely unique to East Hampton. U, although I think ours was, I think we all know ours was exacerbated by the, uh, uh, area replacement project happening at the same time of all this additional sludge
needing to be, um, stored at the plant. So, um, like I said, we are ahead of that and I think, uh, we'll be in very good shape as we do the others next week. I thank you. Now, about how long will it take for the aiators to be in place and is there kind of a shakeddown period?
Uh, two are in place now, two of the new ones. Um, probably about four to five days for them to swap the other two in. Um, that's not really something anyone would would notice as the plant will kind of operate as normal uh with with with the two in place.
That's good to hear, especially the two new ones. So, Right. Right. Right. Thank you so much. And I appreciate your your taking the time to be with us to share this with the public council. Yeah, no problem. I wish I had more information. It's just these projects kind of tend to move slowly. We're at a lot of um a lot of different forces at
work that that necessarily help to move quick. So, it reminded me the other part was you had laid out a procedure with phone numbers to call should there be a problem and I could take this opportunity to reiterate that for the public.
Yeah, I mean we encourage people to, you know, if it's just an odor complaint, please contact the DPW office. We want to know where those are coming in and at what times. Um, and then you know if it's an emergency where you need somebody to get out there, it's best to uh you can always call the DPW office during business hours, but it's best to
call public safety dispatch. They can get in touch with our on call personnel to get somebody out there to assist you as soon as possible. So, thank you. I appreciate that. A lot of people are depending on you, Councelor Riley. Uh, thank you, Director Nelman. Um, so the question that I have for you should
be pretty simple. If you could just, you know, put this on the public record. um the the two air raators that are going to be replaced next, are they in the the same location as the previous two? Um so is this, you know, specific to precinct
2 or, you know, is this going to be in a different part of um you know, one of our neighborhoods? Um anything like that? I I I know also that you know the smell travels with the air so everybody is experiencing it to some extent but if you could just give me an idea of where
exactly um these will be replaced. So at at the wastewater plant on Goslin Drive there's an arrangement of four aators. We refer to them as the east and west side aation basins. Um but they are really right next to each other kind of in in in one section of the plant ground. So really it's this it's really
would be experienced as from outside the plan. It really be would be experienced as the same um in the same area. Everything's localized to our plan on Gosling Drive. Yep. Okay. Perfect. Thank you for clarifying that. I appreciate it. Thank you. And with no other questions, I appreciate that opportunity. Thank
you, Mayor. Thank you, everyone. Moving on to council reports, finance. Um thank you, Mr. President. Uh so finance met last week uh to discuss the items that were on the public hearing. Uh we
will be meeting next week at our regular time to discuss the new business that is going to be coming up. And thus concludes Thank you. Um public safety. I'll try to be as quick. Thank you, Mr.
President. Um we have not met since our last meeting. I'm looking to have a meeting next Wednesday the 15th if if schedules align. I do have one quick update, however, with the four-way stop that we had approved at West Loudville Comro and Glendale. I spoke with
Director Nuttleman um just to get an update on that earlier this week and hopefully, knock on wood, the signs will be the signs from the state will be shipped to us hopefully within the next week or so. Um and as soon as we get those, Director Nuttleman um assured me that they can get going on their end.
So, that is in process. I just wanted to get a little update on that because I know there hasn't been much visibly happening since we approved that. So, I just wanted to give people a little update. Thank you. This concludes appointments. Councelor Smith, thank you.
We have the longest time we have ever made an appointment. Um, nominee wait. So, I just wanted to say thank you very quickly. Um, and I want to Is it okay if I go out of order so we can speak to the person that's here for?
Please do. Okay. Um, so thank you. The Sorry, the appointment subcommittee last met on October 8th at 6:00 to review four four appointments that came across.
Um, one of these appointments is a very um important one for the board of assessors. And so we had the opportunity to interview Roxanne Mariana Prawl for the position and I just wanted to tell
you a little bit about um about about you. Um you know at this at this meeting we were talking about okay what what made you want to be on this committee? And so I just really liked that you um had come
to a lot of the committee meetings at the at the ordinance level to talk a lot about rentals um and our what is that called short-term rentals and long-term rentals. And so through that process um
became interested in serving on a boarding committee and s found that this one was actually available. And so we talked a lot about what the expectations on the committee would be and just that you were really interested in doing so.
Um, and you know, I am on ordinance, so I can certainly speak to that. I've seen Roxanne repeatedly at these meetings and she has been very engaged at them. Um so with that our our meeting voted 220
to move um Roxan Mariana Crawl's name forward to the full council. So I'll make that in the form of a motion. Second. Motion and a second. Any further discussion? I thank you for your indulgence tonight
and waiting all this time. We hope your stay on should you be approved won't be as as long waiting. So thank you so much with that. No further discussion. Uh all those in favor I opposed.
Seeing none, no abstensions. Motion passes. Thank you. Thank you. Does that mean on that step? You're in. You're you're appointed. You can't you can't back out now. Congratulations. Point of order. Point of order.
So point of order. Just just so you understand, first you have to be sworn in by the mayor. You can attend the meetings. You can't vote on any agenda items until the swearing in process happens. So reach out the clerk's office. Yeah, the clerk's office. Thank you of the
All right. Thank you. Thank you. You too. Thanks. Thanks for hanging. Thank you for the point of order, Councelor Smith. Okay. Let me get back to my appointments. Um, okay. Here.
Okay. We also spoke with Gilson Hogan, um, who was applying for a position on the board of public works. Um, Gillson is actually a civil engineer engineer who works for the city of Springfield
um, in their water department. So, it was pretty clear that he had the experience and the education necessary to take on this role. So, um, we are very comfortable with a two to zero vote to move Gillson Hogan's name to the full
council for consideration. So, I'm making that in the form of a motion. Second. Motion in a second. Any further discussion? All those in favor? I opposed extensions. Motion passes.
And the last two uh nominees were not at the meeting. So I wanted to at least talk about them and what their um what their roles would be. So Matt Kaiser is going to be serving is applying to be on
the commission on disability with a term expiration of 123127. And Charles Duffy is going to to be is I'm sorry. Charles Duffy is wanting to
be appointed to the Veterans Council at 12 the term expiration at 12:3127. I forgot my reading glasses today. Sorry about that. Yeah, I can just put it higher, but
it's good. And so that's my last motion to move forward Matt Kaiser and Charles Duffy um to the full council for consideration. And I'm making that in the form of a motion. Second. Motion and second. Uh any further discussion? Councelor Riley. Yep. Just um just so that way we're
clear. Um, typically I would say that we would need to meet with um, folks from the Commission on Disability um, specifically because there is a requirement for that commission to have um, a certain number of individuals who have
disabilities and it would be standard practice in one of these appointment processes to ask the individual if they selfidentify with having a disability. That being said, we are well above the threshold that we need uh to to be in
compliance with our our rules. So whether this individual selfidentifies with a disability or not does not put us in any violation of the forming of the commission. So um just wanted to put that out on the record as well that I I think it is okay to move forward without
having to get that information on record. I thank you for the point of order and the extra information. That's helpful. Is there a motion on the table? Oh, second. Motion on the table. All those in favor? Opposed?
Stain. Motion passes. And this concludes concludes. Thank you for your report ordinance. Thank you, Mr. President. Um uh we had a meeting yesterday
um where we discussed um with it was a joint hearing, excuse me, with the uh planning board uh to address the um uh uh the request for short-term rental zoning ordinance amendments in the
definitions in the table of use. um which it was unanimously passed by both the um planning board and the um council or ordinance committee. Um and so at a
later date I will set a public hearing for that. Um it was a good discussion. Um but uh just to be just to be clear um it it only addressed the zoning piece of it. uh and it did not address the uh
general ordinance which is what this council will um address also at a later date. Um we have a couple of and the reason the original intent was to have this for October 22nd but uh we have a couple of housekeeping things that we
need to address. Uh and then at our next meeting you will set back bless you. Uh we will set that public hearing. Um the review of affordable and fair housing partnership zoning ordinance recommendation. Um they have made
multiple attempts to communicate with the aquifer commission or um aquifer uh protection commission um and have not received communication back. Uh so we are now moving forward um with th those
recommendations and um at a soon date we will bring back some recommendations for here that we will then forward on to the um planning board uh for approval. Uh last night we also discussed the amend uh to
amend exhibit A classification of employees to add the position of public safety dispatch director. Um it was a good conversation. We had uh our director of human resources there or personnel as well as the uh chief of
police um to provide all the necessary information that uh we needed to answer questions. Um uh a couple counselors or counselors uh requested that they have more time to
think over um the item. So at our next meeting hopefully they will have had opportunity to speak to the people that they would like uh and then we will move forward with bringing back uh our recommendation to this council. Um, one
item we also discussed was the proposal um, prohibiting the application of bioolids on municipal property. Um, we uh, uh, approved that particular language and we need to set a I'd like
to make a motion to set a public hearing for um, November 5th uh, at 6:15 in these chambers. Second again. Motion in a second to set a public hearing on the application prohibiting
bioolids on municipal property. Any further discussion? Seeing none, all those in favor? Any opposed? Abstain. Motion carries. Uh one final item because we are moving forward with the application for bio or
prohibiting the application of bioolids on his property. We are we have removed uh from our agenda without prejudice the request for temporary moratorium on the use of sewage sludge fertilizer in East
Hampton. Uh so in the form of a motion um we would like to do the same in this with this body. I'll second second motion and a second to remove without prejudice
uh the uh temporary moratorium on the use of sewage sludge fertilizer any stampton any further discussion all those in favor opposed abstain motion carries okay um the other items there we will continue to to work on um as we move
some of these larger uh pieces off um and that's everything that our committee has to offer. for council this evening. Property uh property has not met since our last uh meeting, but we should probably schedule a meeting soon. Um even if
maybe not all of our members like that. But uh yeah, uh thus concludes. If you have it after November 4th, I won't be that may not be entirely true. So bear with me.
Excuse me. Oh, we must have a qualified candidate, a qualified person. Just as a matter of clarification, I think we're speaking about the election and the freedom that conflict kind of would be enterprise. I'm not running. I understand.
I will not be on the council after you November. Let's just be really clear. Let's not use big words. Thank you. I'm not going to be. That being said, rules and government relations. Uh, no report this evening. Old business, new business. Sorry. Could I ask a question? Yes.
Of the chair. Yes. Um, and I I actually I wasn't at the last meeting, so I I I missed what happened with this agenda item um for the um the request for
uh code of conduct for appointees that was at the last meeting should have been moved to committee. I I was unsure if ordinance or rules would have been the appropriate place and I don't see it on the agenda under appointments. Um, so, okay, that's okay. So, never
mind. I'll I'll reintroduce it to send it. Um, we sent to appointments. We sent it to appointments. We sent it to appointments. Oh, okay. So, it's supposed to go to rules or government relations or but it went it went to the any any committee can take an item and it was sent by the by the council. Okay. I'll I'll follow up because
there's a very specific process that needs to take place, but I'll I'll do that at a later date. Thank you. Okay. Thank you. I have new business as well. I just need to read in new business mayoral appointments.
Okay. I have nine um nine names and boards and committees and term expirations to read into the record. And I'm going to read the names and then make this all in the form of one motion.
Thank you. Okay. Um, I moved that we move the following nine individuals to the appointment subcommittee for consideration. Caroline White for the 911 committee
with a term expiration of 123128. Mike Tausnik for the 911 committee 1231-28. Selmaker Commission on Disability 122526. Bonnie Mloud,
sorry. Uh, Bonnie Mloud for the cultural council for a term expiration of three years from the appointment and Bonnie Mloud for the ECA for a term expiration of 123126.
Um, Mia for the TNGI committee with a term expiration of 123128. Keith Aeron for the TNGI committee with a term expiration of 123128. Hunter Freight Tag for the TNGI
committee with a term expiration of 123128. And Mona Huntley for the TNGI committee with a term expiration of 123128. Second. Motion in a second to move the aformentioned names to appointments.
Any further discussion? All those in favor? I opposed. Abstain. Motion carries. Thank you. Supplemental appropriations. Councelor Pete. Okay, we got a couple small ones. I'll try and do them fast cuz we're all
tired. Uh I'm going to make the following uh requests in the form of a motion and simultaneous in the same motion. I will I request that we set a public hearing for uh whatever two weeks is from today.
uh 22nd. Thank you. Um it's 6:15 in these chambers. Uh so first one supplemental appropriation request is hereby made for approval of the following appropriation amount requested $598 to be transferred from software
yearly maintenance $598 to be transferred to software yearly maintenance $598. description. The this invoice will be uh there was an invoice that was missed because of the vendor's billing department did not send in a uh
send it in a timely manner um to an active email address. Uh they continue to attempt to email a former staff member and it only now reached current staff members. Uh we have requested the vendor update their records and send all
future emails to the correct address. uh this account will continue to be monitored even with staff turnover allow payment for the FY25 invoice from FY26 budget. So that's the first one.
Second one uh also a supplemental appropriation request is hereby made for approval of the following uh FY25 expense to be paid in FY26. Amount requested $3504
to be transferred from miscellaneous and professional technical services. Uh so legal advertisement uh uh $279.58 printing $7046
for a total of $3504 to be transferred to miscellaneous professional and technical services. The amount requested will be used for the following purpose. uh payment processing of two vendor payments uh an FY25 legal
ad expense and an FY25 uh printing expense. Second motion and a second to move the two items aformentioned to finance. All those in favor opposed.
Motion carries. We did the warrant. Councelor Denim, would you tell us about the sandwich sign board signs, please? I'm going to try because it's very blue. Um, uh, so I'd like to make a motion to move
the request to re review sandwich board signs in city and zoning ordinance to the ordinance committee. Uh, motion and a second to move the ordinance review for sandwich boards to ordinance
committee. All those in favor? Opposed? Abstain. Motion carries. This concludes our agenda for the evening and I wanted to personally thank each one of you for your indulgence and
your careful listening to the public. I think it was all very important. It's important to have a process where folks get to have their say and we're the ones who have been chosen to listen. So I wanted to thank you from the bottom of
my heart for your indulgence. I know it's late. You can go home and have lunch dinner. Motion to adjurnn. Second. I will motion. Second. I all those in favor. All opposed. Motion carries. Don't leave. We
have same things to sign with Maryanne.