this government meeting is brought to you by eastworks and our local cable subscribers good evening welcome to the East Hampton City council meeting for Wednesday March 19th 2025 the meeting tonight is being recorded and broadcast by edia on Charter channel 193 live
streaming on your web eastampton media.org ccors and participants in this meeting are gathering hybrid on the order extended until March 2025 allowing us to do so uh I remind both members of the city council and the public participating our help to remain meeting until recognized by the city council
president also for the members of the public please remove your camera for the duration of the meeting and L participating public speak time thank you this meting is nowby Ja J kazinski Tom PE here Brad Riley Tam Smith here and JT Trill here
okay if everybody would join me in a brief moment of silence okay 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 will work to okay we have uh one set of minutes from March 5th to approve uh I would entertain a motion so moved second okay we have a motion in a second any further discussion on the March 5th minutes
seeing none all those in favor I I any against or abstentions motion passes uh so uh now it seems that we have uh Chief Norris is here and I know that we have a presentation on the hazard mitigation plan I'm going to see
if we can find the consultant to it and it might Robin or Elizabeth okay I see Robin shaking your head so let me see if I can um add Robin as
co-host and I have done so hopefully that has worked yes so Robin you should be able to share your screen all right Robin good evening Robin can you hear us [Music]
okay uh very very quietly yeah your audio is low yeah is it on here yeah you look in the bottom right hand corner see how it's like all the way down this one yeah y all right Robin try that again
how about now oh perfect thanks beautiful wow you making he's going to share her screen uh sure thing Elizabeth thank you yep and you should be a co-host now as
well all right so uh thank you everyone number one for allowing to do a quick brief presentation tonight um as they're pulling the screen up just get people a brief overview um tonight we're here to um engage the community and do a presentation on the Citywide Hazard
mitigation plan um this Hazard mitigation plan is supposed to be updated every 5 years for every municipality across the state um one of the reason one of the many reasons that this is required at the federal level is for all of your federal reimbursements
for Grants hinge upon the Community having this updated plan that's done every 5 years in addition to that Financial component um the all the purpose of this Hazard mitigation plan is to identify any vulnerabilities throughout the community um resources
that are needed um and things of that nature to help prepare you to be a more resilient Community uh in the event your community is faced with any natural manmade disasters so that's kind of that broad 30,000 for overview as to the purpose of this plan and um certainly
tonight we want to give you that brief overview let people understand what it's about and um we'll leave you contact information to provide feedback as we move this forward through the process so um if you are you guys all set to present
that okay so thumbs up all right I'm going to step away and I'll have you take it over all right can you guys see the screen with the presentation yes yes okay amazing thank you so hi I'm Elizabeth sufa I'm a resiliency planner with Weston and
Samson Robin I don't know if you want to introduce yourself real quick yeah hi everybody U my name is Robin cidel I'm the resiliency team leader at Weston Samson I also worked on your climate action plan for the city great thanks and yeah tonight we're
here just to talk about the natural Hazard mitigation plan and just kind of give a brief overview of what that process looks like um Okay so the agenda really just we already did our brief introductions and now we're just going to go into that
overview so first we're going to talk about what is Hazard mitigation and that's really just reducing impacts from natural hazards through planning different project projects Services um Etc um and
then what is the value of Hazard mitigation plan what's the point of it so it really brings a lot of great benefits for communities it allows a community to be eligible for certain grants it allows for more Equitable outcomes um it allows the city just to
be prepared in general um we're building consensus for different actions and different implementation of Hazard mitigation planning and it really just protects health and safety for all the graphic on the screen shows that every $1 spent on mitigation saves $6 on
disaster recovery so you're really making an investment now for your community to hopefully not face a lot of um destruction if a natural Hazard event were to occur and so what does this plan do um
so we really just look at different natural hazards such as wildfires tornadoes Etc um we determine the risk so what does that look like for the community how to wildfires if do they impact East Hampton for example and then
um we look at what could the potential impacts from those hazards be and then we develop goals and strategies to basically reduce long-term risk or vulnerability based on the prior assessment of the hazards and the
vulnerability and in 20123 FEMA came out with new requirements for hazard mitigation planning so that includes ensuring participation in the pl planning process um now there's a consideration of climate change which we'll see a little bit later when we
talk talk about hazards um recognizing the role of adopting and enforcing building land use and development code so really looking at zoning how does future development of the community impact their vulnerability to different hazards and then facilitating stronger
alignment with aema mitigation programs and who is involved in this process the city is obviously involved um we have a city representative Chief Norris who's kind of in charge of moving this process along and providing lots of feedback um and making some of the final
planning decisions um there's also an Hazard mitigation planning Community which consists of a variety of stakeholders um from different backgrounds it could be a community uh it could be City departments or it could be Community organizations just
different groups so that we can really get the full scope of what the hazards are and get feedback on different actions and then the public is also involved in this process um one way that the public is involved is through education such as this meeting but
there's also a public survey which we'll talk about a little bit later and then also the public um Can comment on the draft which well um once it's finalized which we'll talk about a little bit later as well so this um next slide really shows
the process of the hazard mitigation plan and what chapters you can expect to see in the plan so we start with an introduction then we talk about a little bit about the planning process such as when the meetings occurred who's been involved um we go we look at different Community assets and we look at the
hazards and then we look at you know the different um capabilities that the city has to move Hazard mitigation planning along um so example what plans can support Hazard mitigation um what are the staff capabilities Etc um and then we look at
then we kind of go into mitigation goals and actions and then after that we look at is the plan going to be maintained how is it going to be implemented who's in charge of that and then we look at um adopting there will be a plan adoption chapter um which is really important at
the end um and then an appendix that we'll have more information and so to talk a little bit more about what the hazard profiles look like here on the screen there's about 12 hazards listed um and really this is just the full scope of what type of
Hazard um East Hampton potentially face there may be some that you know aren't really um they're very unlikely um but there are some that will have greater impacts than others and so when we look at these different hazards which are also seen in
the state Hazard mitigation plan we really take a focus on connecting it with that um we look at where each Hazard might affect the planning area so that could be what areas of the city face flooding um extend potential
intensities so how bad is that can this Hazard be so for for example a hurricane is it a category 4 hurricane um Category 2 previous occurrences you know where where has flooding occurred how many times have hurricanes happened in the
past and then future probability How likely are these to occur in the future and that's kind of where that climate change component comes in and then there are two new hazards to consider from the brilient mass plan which is um the state Hazard mitigation
plan that's changes in groundwater and other severe weather changes groundwater really just looks at increases in groundwater levels groundwater resource depletion and contamination of groundwater which really affects people's drinking water potentially um
and then um other severe weather is really just kind of high winds thunderstorms you're more kind of basic um storm that you would see prob on a day-to-day basis that include a lot of rain um and those were in the 2016 h&p
they're just kind of under a new category now and so earlier I um briefly mentioned that there was a um a community survey we've gotten um 53 responses so far and which is awesome
and so you can see in the word cloud you know some of I think some pretty typical concerns flooding tornadoes power um and then the top hazards that we identified from that survey so far just changes in groundwater drought flooding
from participation and extreme temperatures so I really think those are pretty fairly common concerns and so another step is to look at the community assets we kind of group these into five categories people which
include underserved communities um we look at structures which are buildings critical assets um systems which include water Waste Water Systems um cultural historic and natural
assets we're talking about Parks um any historic buildings and um also we look at economic assets as well and activities that really just um have value to the community and those can Al can also be
just kind of like oh there's a there's a farmers market that's important to the community and so the vulnerability assessment um this is kind of where the M the mitigation actions address the vulnerability so we look at hazards
times the assets so looking at what is affected and how it might be affected by different hazards at different levels and then we also look at the town's capabilities or these capabilities so we look at planning mechanisms funding mechanisms
administrative capacity so kind of like staff capacity um staff training education and Outreach how does the city reach the community and um during times of disaster and existing mitigation measures um usually ones that were in
the past hmp as well um and then some of the mitigate we also look at you know what can be improved like how can capabilities be expanded upon and then that really leads us into the mitigation actions so these can be
part of a different like a wide variety of different types of categories they can be technical political legal bunch of different types and but there the one caveat is there has to be at least one mitigation action for each of the natural Hazard so there has to be one
that addresses invasive species there has to be one that addresses drought Etc and then earlier I also um mentioned that there will be a public review of the tra draft and this will just like a public um a draft top will be posted on
the website for public comment there'll probably be a survey you can look at different parts um of the draft and just see what you decide you want to um comment on and then after that comment period the drop plan will be finalized
which is important for the next step where we send it to MIMA and FEMA for approval so after the draft plan is done we submit it to MIMA and then Mima will um respond with comments we address those comments and then we submit to FEMA for approval sometimes there may be
comments sometimes there won't hopefully there won't be and then um then the town or the city can adopt it um after FEMA approves it and that's this is a really important step that the plan is adopted and approved so that um the city can be
approved for funding and so yeah that was just our brief overview of Hazard mitigation planning um Robin please feel free to add anything that you think I might have missed and there's still time to take the survey um that we mentioned earlier
so there's a QR code and a link on the screen and then um yeah Robin sorry no that's it I was going to like further enforce we're still looking for folks to participate in the survey and then if you have ideas of projects please reach
out and email Chief Norris and he'll get those to us for us to consider in the plan thank you everyone really appreciate your time thank you thank you no and again on behalf of E camp thank you for your work so far in presenting that tonight and again the purpose of tonight was just to provide another
venue for the public to number one understand the process start to understand the plan and certainly provide any feedback as you heard um two surveys have already been submitted to the community uming for more input and we wanted to do this Public Presentation
tonight as just another method to get the information out there so I be respectful everyone's time and it was a huge agenda tonight um is there any questions I can answer as we close this up I just have one which is um do you know if the survey is currently on the eastampton website and if not is that
something that we can do before it closes so we can get more week after tonight we can go and put it back up on the city okay yeah I think that' be good so any other questions comments okay you all for everyone's time appreciate it thank you thank you uh and so uh it is
uh 616 so I would entertain a motion to open the public hearing and what we'll we'll do public speak after the um public hearing because we scheduled at 6 615 y second we have motion the second any further discussion all those in favor I okay against abstain we are open
Council peek thank you Mr President uh this should be a short one uh as you all know we quarterly need to uh approve an appropriation uh of the uh money coming from the peg access account so that the money uh that
uh the city receives from uh cable TV fees uh from Spectrum uh can then go to eastampton Media we do this every quarter uh it's just a procedural thing that we have to do uh this time it's uh$
46,2 34 um I maybe there's someone from the public who's is curious about the process but we do this quarterly so I don't really have much else to report on it any councilors have any questions anybody from the public have any questions or comments about
this okay seeing none Council Peak okay I'll make the following uh request the form of motion a request is hereby made uh for approval of the following appropriation amount requested $46,200 the amount requested will be used for the following purpose to give approval
to spend from the peg axis receipts reserved account for cable related purposes consistent with the franchise agreement second okay we have a motion in the second any further discussion okay all those in favor I uh extensions
are against motion passes I would any motion to close public hearing second motion the second all those in favor I I okay uh so that brings us to public comment so tonight's public comment um please if you have anything that you would like to address to the council um
you can step to the podium as long as it's not about our legendary city clerk you're going to have to wait till later for that but if you have anything else that you would like to to speak to please step to the podium you'll have three minutes just state your name and address for the record uh and address
the counselors y Freedman you hear that Freedman something I just talk loud de fredman n Chapman have um I I'm just I'm just want to give a a very quick uh support and I have to read this thing
it's long um for the uh resolution that has been proposed to in support of an act enabling cities and towns to stabilize rents protect tenants which as I understand it means um uh to reverse
the the B basically preemption of of rent rent controls and and and so on that was put into effect in 1994 um with a uh it was a referendum and it won by 51 to 49 so not by a whole
lot 30 years ago and things have changed since then and we all know I I know everyone here knows about the housing crisis nationally and in East Hampton particularly and um there's no reason there's no reason
not to revisit this and and to make this more um more useful to e Hampton residents um and uh I I I I really encourage you to to vote on this tonight and and get this passed so that um I
mean what what what we have have now are are the the private Equity is has moved in everywhere and we're suffering from that and we need to do something about it so please please support this thank you thank you
next just say your name and address for the record okay thank you uh my name is Jackie schir and I live in the Pleasant View Apartments on NAIC Street um I have lived here for almost 2 and 1/2 years I moved in with my son's father and and I separated he also lives in eastampton
and it was important for me to live close to him as we share custody of our son who is only five right before Thanksgiving some of my neighbors and I received a notice tape to our doors from a bway property management informing us of a $400 rent increase to start February 1st my rent was going to go
from 1150 to 1550 and if I didn't sign the lease by December 4 it would have been an increase of $600 making that $1750 I signed the lease under duress since the holiday season is the busiest time of the year at the post office where I
work full-time I would have had to move out by January 1st when my lease was up or be evicted and I couldn't imagine finding another affordable place to live I have had to take a good look at my finances and make changes in my life in order to barely afford this current rent
increase I recently completed a firsttime home buyer course and was hoping to be able to save money for a home however a $400 more a month $400 more a month on rent is making that dream a very hard reality and if I'm still living here when my
lease is up I am afraid of another drastic rent increase because then I would not be able to afford to live here I am here to ask that the city council take positive action on the proposed resolution regarding rent stabilization House Bill 2501 and Senate Bill 1084
this bill would allow cities and towns to enforce fair and predictable maximum rent increases it would make Massachusetts and eastampton less vulnerable to profit-seeking investors and prevent profit driving disos thank
[Applause] you hi there good evening my name is Nancy Dorian and I also reside at 22 nanic Street um on November 17th our complex was bought by an outof State buyer an
LLC on November 18th right before the holidays and in the debt of Winter the new management company A Better Way taped a letter to our doors informing us of a rental increase of
35% $400 with 12 business days at this time of year to sign if the if it wasn't signed before or on December 4th a notice to quit
would be issued with an invitation to sign at a higher rate of 50% $600 obviously I signed under duress the new management company has repeatedly proven
incapable of handling snow removal in a safe and timely manner often times not showing up until 24 hours after the storm leaving us with frozen slush because it
freezes several of us have already fallen I am one of them we're a mix of elderly working adults and folks with kids who deserve a safe and affordable place to live I myself am an artist and
I grew my business here over the last 20 years I was at eastworks and many stores around the Main Street area that is an attraction I helped to make this town a
more desirable place to live and now I'm getting squeezed out this is a clear example why East Hampton needs rent stabilization to keep rents in line with inflation just inflation a 5% cap would go a long way
to keeping our community a beautiful place to live for all of us not just the welltoo thank you for considering this thank [Applause] [Music]
you uh good evening everyone uh my name is Patrick Mahi excuse me uh I've been resident of Beast Hampton for the past 10 years I Curr live on ever street with my wife Mary summer uh I'm here today because I wanted to discuss the removal
of the RAS receptacles on Cottage Street um it's created my opinion a real mess uh and I don't think anyone here looks seeing trash overflowing um or blowing down the street or just dumped on the sidewalk and um it hurts our businesses
it's bad for our environment um and it makes these hampon look like we don't care um I think we should care I care I think most of you care about our time that's why we're all here today um and I understand there were probably reasons about ones why they got removed maybe
they were overflowing maybe the maintenance was an issue maybe there was pests maybe all of the above but taking them away entirely feels like a miss and not the solution that any of us were hoping for um so I'm not just here to complain without a
solution I'm proposing a solution um that we fix it with uh solar compactors in particularly ones that were uh designed and built here in Massachusetts by a company called Pig belly uh you probably seen these in larger cities but they're also in smaller municipalities
and universities uh each one can hold the equivalent between five and 10 pins um so that means less frequent pickups which would save money and resources and reduces The Strain and or time uh they're not just trash cans these are smart benss that have recycling
components uh they can be hooked up to cloud-based software that can tell the level of them so you don't have to constantly check how full they are you can just check it uh remotely um and you know essentially this would result in cleaner streets
less waste more efficient pickups we're supporting a regional based business uh so it feels like a pretty great solution and I actually took the liberty of reaching out to Big B today in between uh work uh you know just trying to get a hold of someone to get a little more
information so I was able to speak with their Western M rep uh Drew Dixon who I can link up whoever would be the Dr here for this and I'll be happy to give you his uh email and phone number but essentially the units I'm talking about are $4,200 a piece uh the cloud software
is $550 for a 5year subscription anybody that knows software prices that's extremely cheap uh and if we can find it in our budget to at least 10 electric vehicles for the police and fire department for $106,000 and purchase a dump truck for over A4 million dollar I don't really
see a reason why the city cannot allocate funds necessary to implement this project and in closing we need the trash cans back but we need to do it in the right way we need a solution that works for everyone and I'm confident that this is the right solution so let's make Cottage Street clean and welcome again
let's make eastampton proud thank you hello Carol fishing Main Street precinct 4 and I am coming here today to support the resolution for rent stabilization and protection tenants I um I've been coming to uh meetings for
many years and we've been talking about what a problem it is and the resolution lays out many of the wonderful not wonderful clearly making the case um that we need it and um I'm also I'm coming here I'm a landlord I have a
tenant I could raise their rent to anything I wanted uh that I could get with the market and that's not fair I the government has a role to play in helping us as a community and a group of
people negotiate and maneuver how we live together and the constraints that we have and it's a critical issue to have affordable housing to have a healthy community and people able to live here and so and we know this you
all talking about it and working on Solutions and so I hope you would just pass this quickly tonight on and communicate to our legislators some of Home are here getting the message thank you hi um my name is Mercedes I'm a
community organizer with Springfield no one leaves um Massachusetts is facing a severe affordable housing crisis with skyrocketing rents for some families seniors and young professionals out of their communities um more than half of residents spend over a third of their
income on housing and many are priced out entirely recently um Pleasant View Apartments were bought by an outof State LLC uh resulting in rent hikes of up to 50% and that's like a clear example of the urgent need for Action uh housing is
a human right and that's why we need um House Bill HD 2501 and Senate bill sd104 which would allow cities and towns to stabilize rents and cap annual increases at 5% uh this is a crucial step in preventing predatory rent hikes that
displace res uh we urge you to support the resolution backing these bills uh let's stand up for renters and bring fairness and stability to Massachusetts House of [Applause] par hi everybody Omar Gomez 14 Clark
Avenue um I just want to probably make your job a little easier tonight uh I already co-sponsored that bill 2501 um that bill it will give you the opportunity to opt in to that uh to run
control um if we pass it at the state level then it's coming back and then you have to up in it's not that it's going to be affected uh immediately uh and one of the option is that you can ask the voters to to do it that's part of the bill you're going to have different
different ways um to implement this at the city level on top of that um the city have to do a report every year it's it's not the is going to implement it and the state is not going to follow up we're going to make it super simple
that resolution is supposed to send it to me I'm already co-sponsor of that bill so maybe that will make your decision easier tonight thank you hi everybody my name is Donna Chapo I'm at 116 Pleasant Street I'm also a
member of the affordable and Fair Housing Partnership although I'm here in my personal capacity tonight and I'm here in support of HD 2501 and SD 1084 I'm not going to repeat but I agree with um all the things that have
previously been said in support of of this measure um and as I listen to the stories I found them to be quite heartbreaking um my story is a little bit different uh I lived in Boston for 13 years in a rented apartment and my
rent was actually stable it never went up until um 13 years when my kids had already graduated from high school and were well into college that um stabilization gave myself my husband and
my family um some uh economic um security that we could count on in order to plan our finances to be able to afford the things that we needed for our family to stay in the home that we had and make it our home um and be able to plan for our children's future in terms
of colleges and being able to support them um so I think that this is an important initiative um I hope that you will support it and send this resolution to the state thank you very much hi my name is Joel Feldman um I live in Northampton and I'm an attorney
in Springfield who represents low and moderate income tenants um I've been working with some of the tenants over a view uh and I just want to say when I first started working with them the question was they can't do that right they can't raise my rent 40 or 50% and
unfortunately as you all know the answer is yes you can and right now although the governor's uh housing bill with an amazing bill that passed with lots of money that's years down the road and the question is what are we going to do now when you have um out ofate investors the same thing happened in Springfield with
a very large company that bought a thousand Apartments and then also did a 40% rent increase the um asking tenants to sort of meet after 5:00 every day uh after they're working all day to try to figure out how to navigate this is not
fair and so I think the city has a real opportunity here to tell the legislature that we really believe that tenants should have some tools in the toolbox that are not just you know have a second job to try to uh entice an owner to reduce rats so I really strongly uh urge
you to support this these tenants have been amazing at doing what they can and we're hoping that the city council will also add to that thank you thank [Applause] you hello everyone uh I am my name is Liz Pluff I'm your community social
worker here in the public health department uh here at 50 bacin and I am typically located in the basement um I am also the newly elected board representative for Hampshire County for the three County Continuum of Care which is um an organization dedicated to
ending homelessness in Berkshire Franklin and Hampshire County um I don't actually feel like you need to hear from me because you've already heard from all of these wonderful people um but I did just want to say um as the community social worker I received calls from community members weekly sometimes daily
regarding need for support around housing um rents are increasing evictions are increasing housing instability and homelessness are ongoing challenges and I think sometimes we fail to recognize that this is happening here in our community um so I just wanted to note these are growing challenges and
concerns impacting individuals and families of all ages um and this resolution highlights the importance of protecting our tenants stabilizing rents and supporting community members which is a responsibility that falls on all of us so thank you for your work on this thank you for keeping it on the table um
and thank you to everyone who has spoken before me in suppor of it I think it's great thank you thank you anybody else in the room before I go online okay uh and I'm just going to go in order it looks like uh Leslie sh you are
the next speaker and you're muted it looks like can I unmute I don't know if I can unmute let me try to unmute you I cannot unmute you okay try to figure it out
we'll go we'll go to the next one Donovan Lee hello my name is Donovan Lee and I'm a resident of eastampton I just wanted to speak in support of the resolution uh for rent stabilization and to send the
resolution to our Representatives at the State House to pass their bills um I know multiple seniors in eastampton that are currently being priced out of their rental situations due to incre large rent hikes like we've heard so many
describe earlier today I'm also a builder that works in this area and if my rent keeps getting hiked the way that it is I'm not going to be able to afford to stay in eastampton um so we really need to have some some form of rent stabilization and you know uh tenants
being able to organize if you want you know workers and seniors to be able to continue to live in this city uh I'd also just like to say um you know you could also go back to the
um model of switching in between online and inperson commentary it's a lot of disabled people use uh the virtual participation to be part of these meetings and to just disregard them to the end like it's not important is
pretty ableist thank you okay uh see if I can ready oh oh Leslie yeah go go for it Leslie I'm technologically challenged you got it my name is Les Char and I live as you
know in the Pleasant View Apartments on nanic Street precinct 3 but I need to say first it's good to see p comth up again and thank you for stepping up anyway as some of you may recall I was
here a few weeks weeks ago giving you my story and requesting that you ask re Gomez and Senator beis to support and push hard to get HD 2501 and SD 1084 on the
books those are the that's the rent stabilization act that we've been talking about after I spoke to you my city councelor Tom Peak contacted me and said he would be writing a proposed resolution for the council to consider
and I found out last week that re Gomez had asked Connie D to write one and she and Tom are collaborating on it and I want to thank you both for undertaking this it goes without saying I'm asking you to approve the resolution and
forward it to the Reps on Beacon Hill you could give it to homar tonight and he can hand carry it not not all of us want to live in a house anymore my husband and I are elderly we can't live in our own house
anymore and keep it up but it's still important that we have a place to live and not have to worry about being priced out of it the proposed bill would limit the amount of the increase we could expect and it would give us peace of
mind thank you so much for your consideration thank you Leslie and it looks like next is Janelle that right hi hi can you hear me okay yep we can okay my name is Janelle uh I live at 13 Louise Avenue and I'm
here in support of HD 2501 and SD 1084 I've lived in East Hampton for 2 and a half years and in this area for five without family support or generational wealth A Stroke of Luck meant that my partner and me had the privilege of buying a house here in East Hampton in 2022 before that I had been a lifelong
renter and imagined being a lifelong renter and I'm proud to live here and have met incredible organizers leaders are artist and workers in this town but I've also had many difficult conversations recently with people who were born and raised in East Hampton yet are being priced out of their Hometown and have been forced to move farther and
farther away from the city center I wholeheartedly support the resolutions in support of Statewide efforts which would enable cities and towns across Massachusetts to stabilize friends as someone with a background in housing studies at Public Health I have studied the rise in homelessness there has been an increase of 35% Nationwide in just
the last 3 years if Massachusetts does not act as support tenants by restricting predatory corporations and landlords we will face a similar and preventable crisis we must care for all those who have made East Hampton what it is including our elders and those working individuals and families who are
burdened by housing costs thank you to all those who drafted support and spoke in support of hd21 and SD 1084 and thank you for taking on this important issue thank you uh C thank you counselors um my name is k
I'm J mcqu A Jones Drive um I sit on the affordable and Fair Housing Partnership and also coordinate the cented Housing Coalition um I'm here tonight to speak in strong support of the resolution calling for local authority to enact R civilization and eviction protections and I think the counselors for bringing
it Forward um over the past decade we have seen rent New sampon Skyrocket with median rent Rising by 21% in just the Last 5 Years according to the cus ACS this is pushing longtime residents out of our community nearly half of these samton renters are housing c burdened um
paying uh at least 30% of their income on rent um while they're also paying for the more expensive food utilities and other Essentials due to inflation um some are forced into unsafe or unstable housing situations While others are forced to leave altogether because they simply can't afford to stay
here um we have heard powerful stories from the Pleasant View residents of the Pleasant View Apartments um recently facing the egregious red Heights um without many options for where to go um the data Backes up as um as of February of this year 3% of all Residential Properties in the city are
owned by corporations or llc's um and nearly half of those are purchased since 2020 um so this is a very alarming Trend um that we need to address as the community um this resolution doesn't impose rent control it just calls on the state to restore our ability to make local decisions that reflect the needs
of our community cities and towns across Massachusetts are facing similar crises and we deserve the right to choose policies uh that protect the Vitality of our community sh is a basic human need without bold Statewide and local actions more of our neighbors seniors Working
Families essential workers will be pushed out East Hampton should be a place where people can put down roots and build families not just an asset for investors looking to extract wealth from our residence I urge the city council to pass this resolution tonight and send a clear message to the legislature that
Eon demands the right to protect the economic Vitality of our community thank you again for considering such an important and needed action thank you and I believe that concludes public speak uh last chance all right uh let's
close public speak and and who uh the next item on our agenda is um immediate attention to the resolution and support of run stabilization who's going to take it councilor denim P Smith who would like councilor denim I'll do that uh thank you Mr President
um we've heard a lot of individuals tonight who have been impacted the by this and I don't think my words can do justice to what has been said but this was something that a resolution that was brought forward by uh councelor jadik uh
myself councelor Peak and councelor Smith uh this is a growing concern amongst uh a number of our constituents and just a community at large in regards to uh the uh predatory increases in rent
that are impacting our residents and forcing many of them them to either um uh take increases uh to their rent um or they are forced to leave our community and as was articulated um some of those
individuals have lived here their entire life um and they are um being forced to to to move out of their Community um but they've known their entire life um the other thing I think that is of particular importance to this
as has been articulated regarding uh Pleasant View Apartments we have a lot of um llc's private investors who are coming into the community and purchasing property um they have no connection to this community whatsoever um and they are um uh creating uh not
only instability but displacement and we have a responsibility to protect our residents I know as my for myself as someone who lived [Music] um in a in a lwi income situation I often rented myself and similarly you
know if I had not um earned or not earned if I had not received a small um uh um you know a small benefactor of of of
of my from my mother I wouldn't have been able to to live in the house that that we live in currently and I often as someone who works at UMass my partner and I we often provide rentree um housing to
students um who are experiencing homelessness um and I'm not saying by any means that other people have to do those things Etc but but this this crisis is real for a lot of people and we have a responsibility to um to
address that um and I'm encouraging um council tonight to um allow this resolution to move forward um so that we can send it on uh to uh to the state uh uh the House of Representatives as well
as to um the the Senate um I think that this is this is a crisis that is um before us right now that we really need to to get a handle on before it continues to just be Out Of
Reach um and and I think as long as no counselors have any objection to moving forward with this tonight I'm fine with allowing this to move forward seeing none Council D great so this is the uh East hampon city council resolution in support of an act enabling
cities and towns to stabilize rents and protect tenets um over the last decade the East Hampton City Council has borne witness to an explosive rise in housing costs in an environment where demand for both owner occupied and Rental housing
far out strips Supply landlords have disproportionate Market power over their tenants as a result of this dynamic as a result of this Dynamic many eastampton renters have reported to this Council that they have been victims of
predatory rental market practices which involve landlords exploiting tenants through unfair rental agreements abrupt red hikes negle neglect of repairs and unfair eviction tactics all of these
practices have led to financial hardship and housing instability for East Hampton's renters have left many of our long-term renters displaced and have put some East Hampton renters in the position of choosing rents over food and utilities whereas the East Hampton City
Council is calling on the Commonwealth to pass HD 2501 and SD 1084 an act enabling cities and towns to stabilize rents and protect tenants sponsored by Senators Patricia jallen representative
David Rogers and representatives representative Samantha Montano to repeal rent control preemptions enabling cities to enact rent stabilization and just cause eviction protections for tenants while
building in exemptions fit for the local context and whereas according to US Census Bureau American Community survey ECS estimates over 21 million renter households spent more than 30% of their
income on housing cost in 2023 representing nearly half 49.7% of the 42.5 million renters renter households in the United States for whom rent burden is calculated and whereas a 2020 report
published by the US government accountability office ga-20 D4 33 found that every $100 increase in median rent is associated with a 9% increase in homelessness and whereas according to
the US sensor bu Census Bureau ACS estimates in East Hampton median rent has increased by $29 21% between 2018 and 2023 and whereas in 20123 26% of East
Hampton households earned less than $25,000 a year year and and 133% 16% and 17% of households were are extremely low very low and low income respectively meaning that 46% of all households in
East Hampton qualify for federal and state affordable housing programs based on household income and whereas in 2023 43% of East Hampton venters were housing cost burden spending 30% or more of their income on housing cost and 11%
were severely cost burdened paying 50% or more and whereas rents in East Hampton are rising causing the city to become increasingly unaffordable for its residents including low and fixed income individuals service and essential
workers workingclass households as well as other marginalized members of the community including but not limited to people with accessibility needs LGBT plus people of the global majority immigrants and
seniors leading to housing displacement lack of housing stability and sometimes into unhoused situations creating a growing affordability and Rental crisis in the community and whereas the population of
East Hampton is aging with 24% of East Hampton residents age 65 or older in 2023 an increase of 5% from 2018 and the rising cost of living across the Commonwealth has been felt acutely in
our community especially for our lowincome and Senior populations and whereas stable rental environments with familiar neighborhoods are essential conditions for informal unpaid caregivers caregiving networks for older
persons who wish to remain embedded within our community and whereas predatory investors are increasingly buying properties in East Hampton in the hopes of profiting from the high demand and rental market with 3% of Residential Properties being owned by corporations
or llc's as of February 2025 46% of which are purchased since 2020 and whereas the loss of affordable housing in East Hampton is a crisis that deeply impacts the lives of our neighbors colleagues and friends and whereas the housing market should
provide provide much needed housing for the city not to be used as as an asset for outside invest to extract wealth from the eastampton East Hampton Community and whereas the goal of rent stabilization is to address a city's
affordable housing crisis by setting the maximum amount that a landlord can raise rent every year either a fair fix percentage or tied to the rate of inflation and whereas the current Massachusetts statute currently
prohibits rent control so that East Hampton cannot address this problem without legislative action on the state level and therefore be it resolved the East Hampton City Council supports Bill HD 2501 and SD 1084 calling for the
repeal of Statewide rent control preemptions allowing cities and towns to Institute rent stabilization measures and Implement tenant protections and a copy of this resolution will be sent to state representative Omar Gomez and state Senator John
muis was that a motion that was a motion second in the form of a motion okay we have a motion in a second uh do we have any further discussion uh councelor Kinski I uh heard the issues of folks who had
predatory L uh uh landlords come in and I was appalled this isn't the first time it's happened in East an it's actually I know that the rents were raised on Cottage Street uh in that in in in that community
well beyond what they should have been raised on nanic street it's [Music] appalling these were done to large land by land large land owners these are not small
apartment complexes of eight units or less they're large ones the current bill before the legislature calls for uh units that are own occupied four units and under but they must be on
or occupied I take a bit of pause I'm a landlord I have one four Family House our rents are probably 30 to 40% below Market I know I'm not alone in having
rents 25 to 40% 30% below Market but these are real tenants people people who are in the building and across East stampton that's the case with low rents what's going to happen with an
impending rent control will landlords who want to renovate the unit someday in the future or have money to do certain repairs when the boiler breaks are they going to go ahead to their tenants and and now look
at I I I have to raise the rents to Market that's a horrible situation for people throughout the entire city especially those who are in four units or less so I have pause about doing a broad
stroke across the board restriction then you see things like uh a president who puts a tariff on Canada of
25% threatens going to 200% what's going to happen to the cost of lumber Canadians provide the lumber for the United States Market anyone who's doing repairs or Renovations or building new
construction is going to be affected by that if they're under a rent controlled situation or the situation is is such that cost of living adjustments can be made that makes it tough they can't do the renovations they
can't do the repairs I know in New York City there are tens of thousands of vacant units because there's rent control tens of thousands and there's a housing crisis in in New York City but landlords can't make it work to do the
renovations and they're leaving the properties vacant that doesn't help the housing market housing vouchers I think are a way to Target those people who need the money most in order to live in safely in the apartments that they
have so I'll be voting no to the resolution not because I'm not against predatory lending not lending predatory landlords but because I wanted to have a fair system that's good for everybody thank
okay Council PE um so I think that when it comes to this one thing that's important to remember is that like with all of our resolutions passing them does not Implement a policy in the very if we get very very lucky in my opinion perhaps unlucky and other people's opinion the the best thing could
possibly happen is that this would pass through the state government and then they would come back to us and it would give us an opportunity to work on figuring out what the policy would be that would be most appropriate for East Hampton for addressing some of the concerns that Council Kinski brought up
um I just want to say regarding a lot of that just a little bit about how I found myself at this place because I am a professional economic researcher and traditionally the economics field has been opposed to to rent control um I think that we have reached a point where
we need to reconsider that um when you look at the situation in the market right now it is you can look at it fairly simply as and demand right there's a whole lot more people who would like to live in eastampton than there are places for them to live and so if you're a landlord on you know if
you're some new New York landlord buying up properties on nashwan Street you can say hey the tenants there maybe they can't afford $1,500 a month but somebody can right somebody can so and then there's more people out there who want to live here in East Hampton than then
there are places to live so I'm going to jack up these rents and if if it can't if these folks can't afford it well find someone who can that's the consequence of having a lot more demand than there is Supply so there's a question that comes up should we be getting involved in this market we have been involved in
this market if you look at our 300 and something page zoning ordinance right what is that it's us being involved in that market it's us saying here are the places that you can build here are the places you can't build so you've got all these people willing to pay good money
to live in eastampton and yet the houses aren't being built housing units are not being built at the rate that's sufficient to house them all why is that in part it's because of the rules that we set and that our predecessors many of whom are in the room right now set um and so I think that there's that's just
like a truth to it it's like the the one of the reasons that there's lower Supply than there is demand is because we have consciously set rules to restrict Supply sometimes for good reasons Aqua for protection or sometimes people really care about the character of a certain neighborhood or or preserving a certain
piece of of wild L there's good reasons why sometimes you do want to restrict Supply but one of the consequences of that is it means that there's less units available on the market for people who want to live there and it allows for the situation beyond that frankly this might be a little bit controversial to some
people we also increased Demand right we made a lot of investments in this community to make it a more desirable place to live I don't think that that was a wrong thing to do I think it was the right thing to do but one of the consequences of that is it does mean that there are more people who want to live here than there would have been if
we had not taken those actions if we had not built our beautiful new school right there would probably be less families wanting to send their kids have their kids educated in it and there would be less competition for those markets so what we doing these folks who are coming in these predatory landlords they're
shooting fish in a barrel and we built the barrel for them right and so now we're just in the situation um where we need to figure out whether or not we're going to do something about it now candidly I am not optimistic that the state house will pass this bill because
as much as I appreciate the hard work of our state representative I don't necessarily feel the way about a lot of his colleagues so I am I sure that this is going to work no it doesn't but I do believe that we have a responsibility to try right to at least say to our state
reps that we through our public policy decisions through the state's public policy decisions through the federal government's public policy decisions have created a market environment where demand massively outstrips Supply and
that has led to our most vulnerable citizens including a lot of the people who built this beautiful city being badly hurt I think we have a responsibility to try and fix this situation which is why despite me almost never ever getting involved in
resolutions I did get involved in this one so that's all I got to say thank you for your time any other coun any other counselors uh councelor d y this is actually just a first step so um the the
counselors who who worked on this are also going to be working on um a a call for the um both the council and the mayor to work together to create uh an adhoc committee to look at stabilization
so this is just the first because more than anything what we want is we want more input from the community um to be involved in those conversations so that um hopefully we can get to um a uh uh
additional actions to uh bring attention to this issue that is as um my uh colleague uh to the right very passionately said right we have created in many ways a dire situation for our
own residents and we need to we need to fix that Cel Conor so I also want to Echo what councelor Peak said so eloquently and passionately I don't think I've ever seen you quite as excited about
something but um I I agree that this is this is non-binding and it's it's just a message that we're sending to uh the state house but I think and I agree Connie with what you said councelor denim that um we need to work with the
mayor I think we need to do everything we can take every tool from our toolbox to make it very uncomfortable for landlords to raise rents to even buy properties here so that they can raise rents I think we just need to make it very clear we're paying attention we're
watching and we're going to do everything we can for the town not to let these predatory landlords take over thank you done all right anybody else okay um I would just say I I think that my colleagues have have said it very
well and and I appreciate councelor Kinski your point of view and and I would encourage you to talk to councilor Gomez and the other um sponsors of this bill to have your concerns heard there around small landlords um but I think that this is a piece of a puzzle um that
we're currently working on you know I I think uh if anybody that's interested in this issue should know that the ordinance committee is currently working on a a total kind of look at zoning as it relates to affordable housing and
creating a a pretty significant change in the fish Barrel um and so I think that's important to to recognize that this is you know this is just one piece of multiple pieces that are being worked on and and I think it's our responsibility to make sure that we have all those pieces working in conjunction
together so they're coherent and they make sense um and that being said uh we have a motion in a second uh all those in favor any against or abstentions and that's a a no no we have one no motion
passes uh thank you and before we get to our other piece of business here do do any counselors have any Communications that they would like to okay see uh oh yeah Council denam uh thank you Mr President I just wanted to
um acknowledge that on Monday we finished our um second round of the municipal Leadership Academy um which was uh organized by councelor Smith myself and representative Gomez uh we
had nine uh participants um all of whom stayed the whole nine weeks um and uh you know we got positive feedback at the end of people who were very appreciative um of the experience um they hop that
more people would participate in in uh future municipals but overall it was just a really positive experience for people to both understand how the City Works uh meet um the uh directors of
department heads um get an understanding of the challenges the budget you know everything that they are uh kind of going with or working with and and really was an opportunity to to humanize the employees of our city um and for
people to understand just the amount of work that our city employees do for the residents of of this community so overall it was just a really positive experience okay anybody else uh okay we don't have any correspondents so that brings us to President and Vice
President Communications and tonight is a special President and Vice President Communications um and you know I think for me there's a good chance I would not be here right now if it wasn't for the legendary clerk to the council sitting
to my right and and I see that we have a room filled with um people that might want to have something to say about this last meeting for our city council clerk Barbara Le bombard um so I will yield my time and I would till the end you we
should wait till the end just wait till the end if hey if you would like listen I'm just wait till the end we can do that we can do that so sorry I tried to get I tried to get it done now but again I will I will yield to our let's so let's get it I we'll come back to this
in charge still in charge still in charge still in charge yeah so all right so let's get through these because it is short we do have a really kind of short rest of our agenda here so we'll get right to it um it won't be long and yeah so let's get to um uh reports from uh
committees uh Finance councilor Peak thank you Mr President uh we met last week to discuss the peg axis thing that we voted on tonight we're going to meet next week at 5:30 in conference room 1 to uh discuss uh an appropriation that I'll do a first reading of in a second
uh and uh I guess there's not much else to report on so I uh what I'd like to do is I'd like to do a first reading of this and set a uh public hearing in for it for 6:15 uh in two weeks what was that April
2 April 2nd cool uh in uh in these Chambers uh so I'll make this in the form of a motion request is hereby made for approval of the following appropriation amount requested $1,168 128 to be transferred from
Capital St stabilization uh to be transferred to fy2 voting equipment the amount requested will be used for the following purpose the funding would be used to upgrade the city's voting equipment image cast Precinct tabulators
gen one icps to uh the next generation of tabulators ICP 2 uh the new equipment is faster than the current tabulators and the purchase includes a Year's warranty training and area coverage for the first election that being the
November 2025 city election second okay we have a motion in the second uh any further discussion all those in favor okay motion passes I have a question yeah sure I'm assuming you're done with everything yes
uh just for kind of a housekeeping uh do we have the dates for the um Finance meetings for the budget uh I have them I don't have them in my head I will send them to you okay great I thought I did so apologies if I didn't
yeah no that would be great and also I think it'd be good to share that with the community so if there's anyone who wants to participate that would be great sounds good uh Public Safety uh Public Safety has not met since our last meeting we we meet we will be meeting tomorrow at 6:00 in conference room one
downstairs I would however like to uh request to move an item of new business to public to the Public Safety Committee the request um to review daily field road traffic flow on surrounding streets okay the following motion do we have a second second okay we have a motion the
second any forur the discussion all those in favor I okay against or obain none motion passes thus concludes oh thank you councelor trell uh appointments councelor Smith uh thank you appointments have not met since our
last city council meeting so we will be meeting next on Monday the 31st at 6:00 p.m. in meeting room one and I'd also like to take this opportunity to move a few new maril appointments forward for
our appointments to consider so I'd like to make this in a form of a motion that we move Maran Giza for the position of city clerk and again Maran Giza for the position of clerk to the city council with a term expiration date for city
clerk being April 1st 2028 and the term expiration for the clerk to the city council as April 1st 2027 and I would also like to move marleene um m mski to the Parks and Recreation
committee with a term expiration of 12312 and also to the charity funds committee with a term expiration of 12 3127 second okay we have a motion in the second any further discussion see none all those in favor I any abstentions or
against motion passes okay is that all that's it concludes thank you ordinance councilor Den uh thank you Mr President so we actually have uh we've had a busy couple of weeks um so just to give an update on a couple of
things uh one in terms of the uh to amend chapter 8 to add a new section 8-26 East Hampton shy ordinance that has been moved back to review of uh our attorney
um after uh discussion with our uh director of DPW and uh city engineer um they made a couple of one small revision and so that's gone back to the uh to the city solicitor to to address that and so once we have that we'll be able to to
move forward with that um also the council or the committee um in regards to the special Municipal Employee status um we uh voted 3 to Zer to um assign
special uh Municipal Employee status to all of our Uh current um um current uh committees boards uh uh commissions Etc on for those of you who are unfamiliar with special Municipal Employee status
essentially it is a status uh that is assigned by city council as it relates to conflict of interest uh law GLC 268a for our um members of boards commissions uh
committies Etc it's for um unpaid uh part-time positions um for uh employees who uh do not work more than 800 hours uh or haven't worked more than 800 hours in
the preceding uh year um and it um allows for these individuals um to represent private parties that are not uh in conflict or not coincide with their various appointments um whereas
city employees cannot represent um uh third parties or private parties uh when dealing with the city the special um Municipal Employee status allows that when there's no conflict of of interest there um and so um in the
form of a motion um I'd like to assign a special Municipal Employee status to the following boards committees and positions affordable and Fair Housing Partnership agricultural commission aquer protection committee Barnes aquer committee Board of assessors Board of
Health Board of Public Works board of register registers of Voters the burial agent caretakers of Soldiers and Sailors Graves um charity funds income distribution committee Commission on disability
Community preservation act committee Community Relations Committee Conservation Commission uh contributory contributory Retirement Board Council on Aging East Hampton City Arts ECA Grant committee Economic Development and Industrial Commission electrical
inspector energy advisory committee historical commission Housing Authority licensing board Main Street semetary commission manhan Trail manhan rail trail committee Nation Pond committee and Recreation Commission planning board plumbing and gas inspector school
building well that doesn't either uh sealer of weights and measures telecommunications advisory committee tree Warden veterans Council zoning board of appeals second okay we have a motion the second any further discussion all those in favor I I any extenstions
of no motion passes great thank you Mr President um uh just as a the request for for temporary moratorium on use of sewage Sledge fertilizer East Hampton this has been an ongoing conversation we are waiting for
um a statement to come from our um agricultural commission they did meet to discuss this and so we're just waiting for them to put out kind of their perspective on this so that we can move forward with that um we did have a
meeting uh regarding the review of affordable and fair housing Partnerships zoning ordinance recommendation we just started that process uh we had a very a good conversation um we have nothing to we voted on nothing right now but we are
kind of getting into that conversation um our next meeting uh for that conversation and only that conversation oh no that conversation and other items will be April 1st 6: [Music]
p.m and um we also um the request to review zoning ordinance amendments regarding short-term rentals um also had a very good conversation with uh particularly
with um landlords uh home owners Etc um to go over uh the recom or the proposals that had been presented um got a lot of input from individuals I had the opportunity to meet with the
uh members of the uh uh the planning department um we made some amendments to that which we will present back to the committee um unfortunately I did that individually
because of um com not conf uh because of um Quorum uh we couldn't all meet with them at the same time so we just went over a few uh simple changes to to bring that forward to the rest of the group um and additionally I'll be meeting on
Saturday with some homeowners um uh of the landlords who are um and interested and again in expressing some of their concerns and having a dialogue with them so that will also be happening um that I'll be doing but our next meeting regarding
short-term rentals will be March 25th from 5: to 7:00 p.m. and we will um have a conversation there there about those things um and that's everything that committee has to offer Council proceeding I just I just
one I think it's important to note that um the the mayor and the city have suspended the um ceas and assist letters um and and so and I think that that meeting probably was Catalyst for that in some way yes I think that was helpful
yes okay and that concludes yep uh so property councelor Kinski since you're the senior member of that of that Committee of that commit well we've added a new member so thank you very much Mr President uh and we'd like to schedule an organizational
meeting for next Thursday at 5:00 p.m. I do expect it to be a brief meeting uh it won't last very long we we have some other events that that evening that we definitely need to attend to I I think somebody's official last day I
think but uh yeah so that'll be the time for the property meeting and we may set up a schedule on how we want to deal with any items that are on the the agenda at that time or not uh but that's a possible
topic okay that concludes property with and rules and government Rel rules and government relations we have the home R Charter Amendment request for the mayor of compensation and how to how to time when the council works on that subject so uh we're now going back a little with
the attorney with a proposal that we've given to the attorney and making some changes we'll probably meet again to finalize that and bring it to the committee that concludes great thank you and we don't have any older pending business so that brings us back to president vice president Communications
I again yield my time so please step to the podium with me oh you want to say you want to start oh never mind I'm going to yield to Barbara Barbara we're going to start with you all right state your name and
address all right okay so I do have some things to say and hopefully it's not too long or boring and I hope I can make it through so I have written it down so to begin with no one in high school or college thinks I want to be a town or
city clerk when I grow up nobody uh years ago at a conference a fellow clerk called being a town clerk The Accidental profession and it is the absolute truth and it's what's happened to me so here's the story of my journey in The
Accidental profession it All Began on January 18th 1983 after moving from New York state in 1981 and after a not so wonderful year as a newspaper reporter in hoolio Phil Campbell hired me as his assistant and I
moved as I've often said from one side of the counter to the other Phil got me situated with a brand new IBM selectric typewriter in our office at the Town Hall at that time East Hampton had a three- member Board of Selectmen and a
representative town meeting we counted ballots by hand and Phil and I were paid respectively $400 and $100 a year to handle the selectman's meetings in 1986 we changed forms of government to a five member Board of
selectman Town Administrator and still representative town meeting during those years there were times when Phil took on other responsibilities that meant he wasn't always in the office he served as acting Town Administrator and then was president of the Mass town clerks
Association um when he left eastampton for other employment in 1994 I easily moved up to the position of town clerk being elected for the one and only time in 1995 I was appointed after that it was during that time uh we had
one town meeting on October 18th 1995 that brought in big changes for me money was voted to purchase the rail bed to build the manhand rail trail and funding was approved to purchase Optical scan boating equipment both of those votes made big
changes in my life that I'm still thankful for and I'm still thankful for town meeting support some 31 years later going forward from 1995 things really be began changing in East Hampton it was in 1996 that voters approved a new home
Rule Charter creating a mayor and a Town Council a city form of government the new city known as the town of East Hampton is Morgan Mitchell still here as a new city we had to start things from scratch developing new
processes for everything many of which remain in place today it was by special act in 1997 that our name was changed from a town to a city the years have flown by I've worked at and administered 100
elections I've worked worked with 14 town/city councils three Mayors and have performed 770 weddings as a Justice of the Peace at least one of those couples is sitting right there and the other one is not here at the meeting tonight but
uh we moved offices from the town hall to 50 Pac Avenue we built a new Public Safety comp Public Safety complex a new high school and a new Elementary in Middle School we've gone from hand counting ballots until the we hours of the morning to optic scan voting
equipment and being one of only two Massachusetts communities that use rank Choice voting I won't say anything more about that from flipping through paper voting list at the polls to electronic check-in poll pads thank you peg you're great on those thank from elections being a
mostly a one-day event to elections that last for a month with by mail voting early voting in person Advanced processing a ballot and finally election day do being there in 2004 when Massachusetts became the first state to allow same-sex marriages from birth and
death certificates being typed unto forums to Statewide computer generation from an IBM selectric typewriter to three computer screens on my desk through Co and the Ed andless Zoom Council meetings to hybrid meetings so
many many changes over 42 plus years but eastampton has been very good to me I've made many friends and worked with all sorts of people over the years I've come to know where all the bodies are buried literally and
figurative i s I leave as the longest serving clerk in the history of East Hampton as the longest and as the longest currently serving employee in the city how can that be there have been times of stress for sure I'm ready to forget 2020 in the
five elections we held that year with by mail voting for the first time but overall it's always been an adventure things are always changing depending on the year and the time of the year I think overall though it's been the people and those challenges that have
made the years go by so quickly elections are tough and I'm always glad when election day is over and done with but then again they are also challenging in a good way and ultimately very rewarding I have always felt honored to have played a part in democracy and
action there are so many people I owe my success to too many to name but please know you are all important to me a few however stand out first to Phil Campbell thank you for seeing my potential and for bringing me
on board as your assistant to Maryann who has quietly worked aside me for almost 31 years I wish you the best of luck as you step into my shoes to all my faithful election workers especially to those who I've called upon and sometimes begged to help
with early voting mailing of ballots and advanced ballot processing I couldn't have done elections without your willingness to help to all my fellow employees over the years and boy have I seen a lot come and go to Mike Karen and Nicole my three Mayors who have for the
most part let me do my own thing and and have supported me when I've had some projects in mind from purchasing new voting equipment as on tonight's agenda to archives management to all City councilors I've worked with and I'm so happy to see so many of you some who
have been more challenging than others but all who have shown vision and love for their Community saying that I won't miss the long meetings and I hope to never take minutes again to my huge community of fellow City and town clerks across the state I
wouldn't be where I am today without you all without a doubt one of the highlights of my career was being chosen as the 2024 Massachusetts clerk of the year there are so many other clerks who are worthy of this award and I was humbled and very honored to have been chosen to receive it and finally to my
husband Rich who is right I'm all business all the time maybe not always meant as a compliment but oh so very true I know you'll be glad to not have to always listen to me talk shop about elections
and early voting and advanced processing and dog licenses and City Council meetings to name a you thank you for putting up with my work Obsession all these years I don't know what my next adventure will be but I doubt I'll ever be that far away I not may not be an
eastampton native but after 42 years I think I'm close thank you everyone for your support your cooperation and your friendship I will miss you all each day at 50 pacon but I'm not disappearing and I hope to see you soon the first time
being next Thursday night 5:00 a building Brewery please stop by and say hi thank [Applause] you so Omar you ready
okay Dan R former city counselor I hope I'm not on the challenged counselor list no I think he left we know who you're talking about being a counselor for 27 years I think I can attest to the incredible
help Barbera has been to every counselor and especially Council leadership Barb is far from just a clerk would be easy to find the job and limit it to the mundane of City business and Council paperwork not Barbara she made it clear
from the very beginning that she had to know how our new government works she studied our Charter in and out and both of the charter review committees I led her contributions were extra insightful and enormously helpful Barbara made a
point of knowing our ordinances and at every and at the very least where to find answer when we asked I marveled at the speed at which she was able to respond to questions especially finding zoning answers and procedures and with the open meeting law directing our
meetings she stayed on top of it knowing the law and Advising on its intricacies as president and I believe all our presidents can safely say that without Barbara we'd all be lost in the swamp and complexities of city government
crying out for guidance we all knew could give us that answer or advice underpaid as most government staff are in small cities she still worked TIR tirelessly to help us all alas I fear my
words seriously understate the eloquence of Barber's commitment to moving East Hampton forward enjoy retirement you've earned it thanks and I would invite anybody else that would like to speak to come to want to
go first see how not difficult you are Dan well Barb I was I was going to say this till the end of the month but I'll just give you a piece of what I think I'm going to have to talk more
about I met you when you were reporting yep and I was on a volunteer commission probably the Conservation Commission and I'm just so pleased to have known you for all that time and you've been
wonderful to work with and I want to say that I appreciate the city council's decision to replace Barbara to to provide Sue with the opportunity to take Barbara's position I've known five
clerks every time the assistant to over from janic to Dragon to Campbell to Rich La bombard and ares so I appreciate that thought I've always believed that the
best thing any organization could do is to promote from within and I've not seen a lot of that here in E stting and I'm happy to see it see you Thursday I was going to do this for those who don't know me I'm
Phil Campbell the ghost that she to spoke about um Barbara and I we we were not employer and employee we were colleagues friends um we shared everything and I've been trying my darnest to think if we
ever had a disagreement in the 10 years we worked together and and I we haven't um she's one of a kind I will say to you that U I did move on those you who don't know I did move on to government larger government outside of DC and in my 30
years there I went through five assistant clerks so that tells you something about bar so I'm pleased to be able to say that on my hometown of East Hampton that is still my hometown um I'm glad to say that I was part of having
her there and I will go one step further because Maryanne also worked for me as a part-time person and then when I left to move on to the the bigger the bigger World um Barbara kept her on so I think between not counting my 30 years we were
gone but there's just under 100 years between the three of us having served the town of East Hampton and in my retirement I left DC couldn't quite come back to East Hampton guys because I'd end up being sitting there and I don't want to do that so but um I do work for
the election Department in my little Hometown new HomeTown in Connecticut and uh was recently appointed to the Retirement Board in East Hampton so I guess I'm back so Barbara I love you dearly congratulations to you best of luck Maran you have two great people I
know one great person another one just follow yellow Road okay thank you [Applause] Barbara um I was a city council meeting member elected for the very first
election when we became a city Town known as but I also worked with Barbara when I was a town meeting member before I was elected to the city council so we go back but the one important thing that I want
to say here tonight is thank you Barbara because for the longest time it was just me and you and the guys and um it was great it was fine I never had a problem with any of the guys
they can all attest to that um but I always had a kinship with Barbara and I want to say thank you and uh um you were always the person that we could always go to to I always had the answer and if you didn't you were willing to go the
extra length to help us find those answers so congratulations welcome to the retirement club we can get together for coffee once a month and talk about the future because we have lots of years
left [Applause] congratulations there he is good evening Morgan Mitchell another former city counselor and that's what we should all be former I just want to tell one quick story about Barbara and what you're
losing very first election Barbara get the final vote in the account is that I came in as a last at large counselor by just about 25 votes we did a Recon she ran it again
checking it it's down to about 12 guy beat said I'm going to do a recount I'm asking for one Barbara says I don't make mistakes the count is correct barar no problem that's how I
got in thank you Barbara I'm not sure how many went underneath the table but I'm very happy about congratulations [Applause] hi I'm Ed Sparco and uh I used to sit at that table too back from 90 in '96 but
the thing is is that I'm not going to be a politician today I'm not going to talk long [Applause] congratulations talks are getting shorter and shorter as it gets later and later um there's so much already been said so there's not much more to add I'm so glad you talked a little about your
resume because that's thing about everything you did you did outstanding I mean even as far as your recognition from the the city I mean from the state clerks is just such a such an exemplary career I'm so proud to have worked with you and I know at least one person who
is already working in stagging you for a board so I'm sure it'll be a big demand thank you [Applause] again he Barbara
because I want to start saying thank you why thank you um two occasions the first meeting as a counselor I was so nervous on my first meeting as a council
president I was really nervous and I feel really really comfortable having you next to me that make that job much easier thank you for everything you do for the the counil thank you for everything you did for me uh because I
would said maybe that's one of the reason that today I'm a steria uh I gain confidence having you next to me uh don't feel afraid to ask and you you part of what you create this is this is
part of it um you guys are losing a great not just a great clerk you're losing a great person uh and I hope Barbara I love coffee I hope you invite me to coffee one day because I want to hear so many stories about what what happened in 41
years here in in this building uh what I said you can't be retired um so in behalf of the House of repres Representative and someone else because
I have to give it a credit to the mayor she contact our office to reach out to the Secretary of State and as soon we contact the Secretary of State our office uh talk to him and he do a citation they're really
surprised that you being retired because they love you it's 351 communities in massachusett and they know barar definitely they know barar so I'm going to read my citation and are you're
going to let uh bonica from from my office to read the citation from uh the Secretary of State because I think I mean this is this this one is great but that one is awesome um so here it is the Commonwealth of massachusett the House
of Representative be it hereby note to all that the massachusett House of Representative offer a sincere congratulation to Barbara laar in recognition of your 41 years of that dedicate an incredible service to
the hton city clerk the entire the entire membership extend is very best wishes and express the hope for Future Good Fortune and continued success in our endeavors this being signed by the uh Speaker of the
House Ron Mariano and myself Veron to State and if he'll indulge me a little bit Omar already stole my story but when I did go to the Secretary of State's office um they said who are you where are you from and I said representative Gomez's office and they went oh oh the
Hampshire District who's retiring not Barbara and I was like yes so as Omar said out of 351 clerks Barbara you are noticed and recognized and your dedication professionalism and warmth have left an
impression in East Hampton but also thr State thank you the Commonwealth of Massachusetts William Francis Galvin Secretary of the Commonwealth it is with great pride and appreciation that I William Francis Galvin Secretary of the Commonwealth do hereby congratulate Barbara L bombard in
recognition of your 41 years of dedicated and incredible Service as the East city clerk I also extend my most sincere wishes for the Future Good Fortune and continuing success in all Endeavors given this 31st day of March 2025 at the State House Boston Massachusetts by William Francis gin
Secretary of the Commonwealth [Applause] [Music] congratulations go around [Music]
[Applause] front Okay anybody else anybody from the front table councilor Kinski thank you Mr
President it isn't every day you get this opportunity backed out of everyone here no one's had this opportunity bar with you my gosh you've been here so darn long go home and retire and enjoy your life please we want you to enjoy it
Barbara rich labombard a person who dedicated themselves to Excellence whose calm and evenhanded manner guided us and assisted us each
and every time for each and every one of us your unfailing and unflappable manner adapted to each of our personali ities you made us better you made us
stronger you're the culate professional as a symbol of our appreciation we'd like to share with you a symbol of our community barbar had requested no plaques please please yet we wanted to share with you a symbol
of our city do we give her a gavel here's an image for your walls we hope that over time as you see this symbol and reflect you'll reflect on the ways you contributed to your
community cuz there isn't a day you haven't contributed to East ampton to the people of East ampton to those who came to your office for [Music] help you've given us the best and because you were
here we're a better place so here's to a career well done Barbara would you step around front please [Music] for
screen [Laughter] IBM this is a symbol of our community and we hope you'll think of it and think of the things you've done for us all as you look [Applause]
at presenting the past and all the things you've done thank [Applause] you very nice councelor denim did I see your hand
yeah just I I just want to be uh brief um you know I only have the pleasure of working with Barbara for 3 years um also the only woman on council at that time working um so I often um looked to
Barbara for um guidance support um and you know like everyone has said um you know the the the speed at which you did things the knowledge at which you brought um the support that you gave um
you know one thing that that stood out to me more than anything and and I can't speak to um you know all business but what I did see was a whole lot of integrity and I appreciated that a lot
and um I think sometimes it's really hard uh in this when you trying to please a lot of people but you treated everybody fairly and you did it like I said with a whole lot of integrity and and I really have a lot of appreciation for you and and what you brought to your
[Applause] work El Conor I have no prepared statements um so you'll be happy about that because it'll be short but um as somebody mentioned earlier about covid and having
to deal with the council and I was fortunately unfortunate to be the president at that time and you I don't know how any of us could have gotten through that um as a councel as a person who was living
through that uh you were the Steady Hand if and to this day if I have a question you can practically go to the file and go it's right here within like 2 minutes um and I I appreciate that you made my
job so much easier cuz it was very difficult and you made it a pleasant for a while um um but I also wanted to say that as a
duly retired person Never Say Never cuz things change and you may come back we don't know um but um I love you I think you have done a phenomenal job and I could not
have been more grateful to have worked with you during my tenure here thank you than you thank you pig thank you counc Peak I went back and forth about saying something about you brought up the you know all of the different things of the rank Choice voting thing
and it reminded me of something that I told Kelsey my wife a little while back um my wife who you married us as you mentioned so um uh that I I I I mentioned to her a story about that
situation um and I just I wanted to relate that when when I start when we started that me and some other people started this push was saying let's get a local option thing and get get rank Choice voting and he's tamped and you were like opposed to it from day one and
for reasons that make so much sense because your job is to administer elections and I was just going to make your job a little bit harder and I thought and I still think that it was that there's reasons for that that are good and and that at the end of the day it's a good thing that we did it but it there's just no getting around the fact
that like the implementation will fall to your office with very little you know additional resources and and that was going to be hard and I think that through the whole thing of implementing it after it passed during Co you know on zoom in the
evenings working on this implementation committee I I I said something to to uh to to Kelsey which is that I've never been in a meeting with somebody who I could just tell just wanted to strangle me and yes that I couldn't that that
meeting I came out of it every single one admiring and respecting you more despite that fact and that's I'm in plenty of meetings where people I'm pretty sure want to strangle me but most of them I come out liking that person less that was never the case I I always
always more because just your professionalism and your thoughtfulness and your patience with us it was just astounding and it never stopped astounding me so I'm going to miss you so much uh as as our clerk but just
thank you for everything you've done for me and for this Council over all of these years that I don't even know where I would really start thanks so any other counselors okay oh you want to oh you wanted to share something really I just
wanted to oh jeez look at that go I just wanted to share Barb's last day too there is a photograph here of Barbara from 1996 that will be available on that table over here Al along with some
refreshments uh that will be brought out shortly so I wanted to be sure everyone who came knew about that and you're welcome to join in please do okay and I I I need to say because I I started this whole thing off saying that I probably would not be here without Barbara and
and that is so multi-layered because you know a when I was looking for a place to live 27 years ago one of the things that Drew me to eastampton was the bike path and you know that was something that you had put so much time and effort into helping make happen and
supporting over the years um but then there was me as like a kid I feel like I was a little kid when I first started on the city council and um and you know I had someone there that was kind and supportive and that kind of walked me
through um how things worked and and that was amazing I mean you were able to handle all like how many counselors have come through the the chambers whether it was at the white broke middle school music room or here um I mean you were able to manage all of us and and that's
that's you know a testament in itself but you know the other piece of that was you know going out and getting signatures you were on top of me I think there were some times I might have I mean I well I've submitted papers 11 times I think to you and there was some times when I gave them to you like on
the last day and more than once and you still certified them and again I would not be here without you um and so you know I think that uh as I stepped into the the role of President I felt like I stepped into a tornado um it was you
know I like Peg I I think like we might have and you probably had a little harder but I mean mine was crazy too I'll give you that and I never and I never felt uh alone I always felt supported and I was like there's no way Barber's going to answer this email
right now and sure enough it didn't matter because whether it was Sunday at like 11:00 at night I would get a response and you know I think that's a testament to maybe the all business piece but but there was it was it's more than all business there's like there's a human component a a a relationship you
know your ability to interact with people interpersonally and like understand listen and support and it's been such over this last 21 years it's been such an amazing um
example for me to see as not just a clerk but as someone who I would consider to be you know a a a shadow counselor who is just like operating um the guide on the side you know and how
many I swear to God I saw you go like this to about 100 different presidents and and if you were president you know what I'm talking about um and you know so I think you're going to be uh sorely missed and um but I really hope that you and Rich get to do some amazing things
now that you're not tethered here so we appreciate you thank you thank you Barbara and I think that we could probably entertain motion to adj to we have a motion in a second any further discussion all those in
favor all right thank you everybody thank you for coming we have we have to sign oh and we're going to get we're going to sign e