This government meeting is brought to you by Eastworks and our local cable subscribers. Uh good evening. Welcome to the East Hampton City Council meeting for Wednesday, July 9th, 2025. The meeting tonight is being recorded and broadcast by E Media on Charter Channel 193 and
live streaming on the web page eastampton media.org. Sorry. Uh counselors and participants in this meeting are gathering hybrid on the order extended until June 30th, 2027, allowing us to do so. I remind both the members of the city council and the public participating remotely to remain muted until recognized by the city
council president. Also for the members of the public, please remove your camera for the duration of the meeting unless you are participating in public speak time or the public hearing. Thank you. This meeting is now called to order. Maryanne Peg Coniff here. Connie Denim here. Salem Derby present. Felicia Jazzik here.
JP Kuisinski here. Tom Peak here. Brad Riley here. Tamara Smith here. JT Terrell here. Okay. At this time you can join us for a moment of silence for the pledge of allegiance. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the
United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. I will continue. Okay. Um, and we have uh do we have the
June 4th? Okay, we have June 4th minutes. So, I would accept a motion to approve the June 4th. Okay, we have a motion to second. Any further discussion on the June 4th minutes? Uh, seeing none. All those in favor? I. Any extensions or nos? Motion. We have
an extension. Sounds good. Thank you. Um, now it's time for public comment. This is the opportunity to address the council on uh any since we don't have any public hearings on any topic. Uh, please keep your remarks to 3 minutes and address the council and um name and
address for the record. Thank you. Darlene Orviet Mutter Street. My dad used to say there was a time when we could have different political views without hate. I know when I tell you that I voted for Trump the past three
elections. You don't like me very much. In 2020, I put my sign out for one night and my neighbor who was becoming my friend turned on me and every time I walked outside, she would start screaming at me. I've lost two 13-year friendships because I have supported our
current administration. No conversation. I was just deleted. As far as I understand, the city council is also my city council. I'm a citizen here. Yet, I have heard the city council make derogatory statements towards our administration instead of staying by
staying neutral, which translates to not even taking a moment to consider the diversity of those before you. My trust in this council has been damaged. Seeing people like myself ignored, looked down upon, it's unprofessional, and I would like it to change. Emotional
intelligence is needed. Yes, even here. And I thought we were inclusive, welcoming city. The truth is differences in viewpoint are not welcomed or respected. My other point, I believe in being a good human being, treating all with love and respect the way I would
like to be treated. Have I aired? Yes. On inflammatory social media or when attacked elsewhere, reacting instead of responding. I'm learning to forgive, to respond rather than react. I would never treat a trans person or anyone else for that matter poorly because I don't agree
with how they live their life. But I am not protrans sanctuary. It's obstruction of federal law and I am heartbroken with the damage done to our girls in the sports arena. I will never agree with enabling adults who see no problem with abusing children. Transitioning a child
is child abuse. We live in a town where it's already safe to live the way we want. People are not persecuted for the way they live. Do not translate what you don't like about our current administration to being treated poorly here at home. You're not. When the city council supports something like a trans
sanctuary, it is my strong stance that you are saying we support the abuse of women and children. And specifically to councelor Riley, I hope soon your eyes are opened. The huge devastation of CO as the world was deceived and poisoned far outweighs any
damage by Elon Musk. Your statement was ignorant. I believe it should be recanted. We don't need your personal opinion from behind that desk. But if you would like to share, I welcome you to the podium and your statements on my YouTube channel, Massachusetts Corruption
Exposed. Hello, my name is Eileen Royman. I live at 17 Adam Street. I've talked here before about high rent increases. Now, we want everyone to be on alert that Hurricane Properties conducts business without any concern for the safety of tenants. In fact, they put us at risk.
Last Tuesday at 6:20 p.m., all the tenants got a text saying that there would be a mandatory fire alarm system inspection and test on Wednesday. This wasn't 24 hours notice, and some of us texted back to point this out. In the morning, they responded, "The notice was sent yesterday providing the required
24-hour advanced notice. We texted again noting that 24 hours would put the inspection at 6:20 p.m. or later. They responded, "The 24-hour requirement is generally understood as providing notice of at least one calendar day in advance, which we did. That didn't cut it either,
but no matter." The person doing the so-called inspection showed up in a black van with no identifying information. There was a Trump 2028 sticker in one window. Personal politics aside, that doesn't belong on a business vehicle. One tenant suggested calling
the fire department to see if they knew about a test. I called, explaining that we were having trouble with the new property owners. We didn't have clear information and we felt uneasy about this person coming into our house. The fireman said they hadn't been informed and told me to call dispatch to start a
paper trail. A patrol car pulled up. The officer asked the guy what he was doing. He said he was doing a fire inspection and the officer drove off. The guy was there for 4 hours. He never tested the alarms. Without any notice, he showed up again the next day. When a tenant asked him what he was doing, he said he was an
electrician upgrading the system for wireless communication, which is in fact a requirement of National Fire Alarm and Signaling Code 72. The tenant found out that his company is not listed in the National Fire Protection Association certification directory and may not even
be a legitimate business anymore, and he didn't seem to have the correct license for the work he was supposedly doing. We texted our concerns to the local maintenance people and got a scathing response from the property manager, who's in Florida, by the way. She accused us of obstruction and said,
"These acts of sabotage will not be tolerated. No one was obstructing or sabotaging. All we wanted was accurate information about what was going on and verification of the person's credentials. When the alarm system was tested on the previous under the previous owner, the tenants and the fire
department were properly notified and the property manager accompanied the person doing the test, which took about half an hour. This guy was there for several hours by himself. For convenience, Hurricane's maintenance manager keeps a key to our front door in a lock box on the doororknob. They can
give the code to whoever they want, and we won't know. Those people could share the code with others, and we won't know. So on top of not communicating clearly and not giving proper notice, they're granting entry to our home to strangers. How can we feel safe if anyone can come
in at any time without our knowledge or permission? The reality is that this is no longer about individual bad or greedy landlords. This is about cold, careless corporate takeover of the housing market by hedge funds and private equity firms.
That's what's driving up costs. It's been happening all over the country and now it's happening here. If we don't stop it, it will tear apart the fabric of our community and make living here unaffordable for most people. Thank you. Clarifying question.
We um councelor Quizency just has a clarifying question. I have a clarifying question for the person just so I can understand what you've said. Would you mind? Normally, we don't do any interaction and I'm not doing any interaction. I'm just I want to be sure I heard correctly that it was
a municipal officer of the fire department that was doing the inspection. You're saying no, this was the state fire marsh. No, this was a private company. Yes. Thank you so much for the clarification. I appreciate that. Thank you. Helps me to understand.
For more clarification, uh my name is Anne Stangle. I'm from 17 Adam Street. just like Eileen. Um, their business is actually listed by the Better Business Bureau as being out of business. That's the company they sent, Chickpe
Electronics. Um, I even called the Better Business Bureau and asked them and they were confused why someone who was listed out of business was showing up to do a fire inspection at my apartment. I hope that clarifies.
Anyways, so what I have to say is we have several tenants that wish to remain anonymous. So I'm just going to read their statements. Um so these are not my personal statements. These are theirs. Tenant one. My experience moving into
the property over two years ago was subpar. The landlord failed to uphold his terms of the lease on move in day. From that day on, it was compromise after compromise and truly unacceptable, which required me to do the maintenance
myself without reimbursement. The same story continues after the building recently changed ownership to Hurricane Properties, which is who Eileen mentioned. My apartment did not receive any repairs or upgrades, but my rent was raised by
$245 a month. Due to the pressure of being a self-employed single trans man, I accepted the new terms of the agreement and the rent increase. Ultimately, upgrades and repairs were still my
responsibility in order to have a basic standard of living, but still things still remain subpar, including part of my apartment that is not fully insulated and not suitable during the winter times.
Outlets are not usable, and I also still have a broken window. All told, a move was not financially feasible for me. This area is a safe for my personhood. So, I chose to stay. I support the tenants of the building, but could not
personally take the risk of not signing the new lease and risking my housing and my safety. Although the new rent could be considered market value, our spaces are truly very small and humble.
Some tenants have occupied this building for many years or on fixed incomes. In this day and age, I was happy I wasn't asked to vacate for complete renovations without an option to stay. It's interesting how optimism and counting
our blessings can spin a bad situation better, but that doesn't make it right. 10 and two. 17 Adam Street has been my home for more than 11 years. I am a 50-year-old woman living in a one-bedroom apartment with
my dog who is also my emotional support dog. I cannot work because I am on disability and therefore I my only income is the social disability insurance. Although money is tight, it has been
worth it to live in a safe place, quiet, close to my family and to my medical providers and also to the parks and nature trails that I enjoy with my emotional support dog. Making ends meet has been particularly
difficult since co because costs have been rising exponentially ever since then. Since 2014, my rent has increased only by 4% annually as written in my month-to-month lease per the previous
landlords. Based on this rate of increase, I have known that at some point I will need to move out of this apartment. I cannot afford this on disability alone. Um, but that has given me the freedom of knowing that I have it for at least a
couple of years. Well, due to the new landlords that came in, they have increased my rent by $470 a month.
That is a 50% increase for someone living on disability that cannot have a job. There is no way she can possibly pay this.
She writes, "I am terrified of being evicted and left homeless before I'm able to find another place within my budget. I have always been a good tenant, paid my rent on time. This is outrageous. I want to continue living here under my
original lease terms until I can at least find another situation where I can go to one which is reasonably close to East Hampton and Northampton, the community where I have resided my whole life.
So that is her statement and I must say as a tenant of 17 Adam Street myself for 13 years my rent has gone up 30% and this is affecting all of us as a community. We would love to stay in this community.
This has been my community for 13 years. I was born and raised in Hadley. So please let us stay and stand with us. And before Nathan, before you come up, I have someone on I'm going to try to mix
it up so we're not just being preferential to people that are here. It looks like um Jennifer Peterson. Do you have your hand up? Yes. Um thank you very much. My name is Jennifer Peterson. I'm the executive director of Mass Waterworks Association and I'm here to speak in support of the
resolution before you to support the act relative to retirement reclassification of licensed drinking water operators. Um be happy to answer any questions that the council has about the particular bill, but it is filed by my organization, Mass Waterworks
Association. We are a statewide organization of drinking water professionals. It is designed to provide 5 years earlier retirement to our essential licensed drinking water operators. Um these are the folks who make sure our public water systems are
running 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year. they are considered critical infrastructure workers um by the federal government especially during COVID when they were there and making sure that we had um clean safe drinking water and we think they should be
afforded um a similar classification to other public safety professionals. So this bill would move them from uh group one status to group two status and just you know for ease of explanation it would allow them to retire say at the
age of 60 instead of 65 with the appropriate years of service. Um so as I said I'm happy to answer any questions but really appreciate that the council is entertaining this resolution. The bill has not yet been heard by the joint committee on public safety and we are um
obviously going to be testifying in front of the legislature in support of this bill as well. So, thank you very much for your time and I do hope that you will support the uh resolution and I I thank Councelor Denim for bringing it forward. Thank you. Thanks.
Okay, Nathan Nathan Marquee, 37 Holy Oaks Street, precinct 3. Um, I just want to say that I'm outraged by ISIS kidnapping of I believe three community members um, undocumented, undocumented or not, and without
contacting the police or the mayor. I know the city council has a limited ability to do much against the federal agency, but it should explore any and all options to protect um, citizens of the comm community.
I believe in punching up not down in society and the speaking truth to power. We have due process and a court of law in this country to deal with immigration violations and issues and I and I consider an organization is not beholden to the court akin to Gustapo. Also on
another note, trans rights are human rights and I applaud the committee on on the committee on passing the resolution. Thank you. Thank you. Okay. Uh looks like uh we have another one online
and let me see uh Mary Brown. Yes. Hi. Um my name is Mary Brown. I live at 9 Road and I just wanted to give my support um to uh let me hold on one second. the dep the um director of
public works who um is requesting to convert Lville Road, West Street and Glennville uh Glendale Street and Pomeray Meadow Road to an all-way stop control. Well, we have a pretty large group of people who um are also in
support of this and we all know how many accidents there's been there and we're really excited to see this happen. So, thank you so much for considering it. Okay, thank you. Okay, let me just get my timer.
Come on up. Hi, folks. Uh, Jonathan Schmidt, 442 East Street. Um, I'd like to echo Nathan's sentiment expressing my grave concern uh about the abduction of these individuals from our city. Um, last I saw, I heard five uh in two
different incidents. uh and the thought of people coming into um our city uh without um expressing any knowledge of that to uh city officials. Um coupled with what we are hearing about
uh perhaps um people being hired uh to come in and perform inspections in unmarked vehicles by outside players. uh all leads me to feel a fair bit of uh concern and and just kind of
skepticism about uh what's going on uh in the world around us. I think that uh it seems pretty evident that um our city is not safe from outside influence and from decisions that are
being made beyond the city. uh despite what uh we may feel with our privilege here in this room. Um and uh and so I hope um that you know this the city council does what it can to uh support
the mayor in uh her efforts to get information about what happened and about the well-being of these individuals. Um my understanding is she is in contact with the AG and our uh uh federal uh delegation and um I would
hope that that you uh weigh in how you can. Uh and I would also um tie that back into the decisions that were made uh recently to um to protect individuals
in our community. I think we uh understand that it does not likely stop where it is that uh the people who uh were abducted recently uh are just the current targets. And um I believe that taking the stance that you did uh in
support of uh trans individuals is uh important in preparing ourselves for uh future inevitabilities as um the hatred continues to spread. And so thank you for your time. So, thank you.
Good evening. Kathy Wisinski, Overlook Drive. Um, I want to again express my frustration with the city council not adequately advertising the
the plan for last um city council meeting in that resolution. I think it was it appears to be deliberate to limit oppositional voices and people that might disagree with what was done by the city council and it is not a good look
for the city council to stifle people's differing opinions even if you don't agree with it. Um, it is really disappointing to see that happen. And the fact that you all use the city
council platform to present your own personal opinions is getting really disturbing and it is your responsibility to represent all of your constituents and just not the
people who disagree with you. Thank you. Thanks. And I don't unless there's anybody else in the room. I don't see any other people online. There's one online. Julia Ryan. Yep.
How am I not see? Oh, there we go. Oh, Julia Ryan. Um, hi. Um, it's actually Julia Key. It's just still my Google says Ryan, but K E A Y. Um, so I live at seven Loudville
Road and just at the intersection of Glendale and Loudville and West Street and I also just wanted to voice my support for um, Greg Middleman's request to convert the intersection to a four-way stop sign. Um, I've been here
for 15 years and probably witnessed or heard more accidents at the intersection than I can panel. um including a death that occurred in 2023 and a school bus getting hit last fall at the
intersection. Um so yeah, just want to strongly voice my support to convert the intersection to a four-way. Thank you. Okay, thank you. Okay, before I make any proclamations here, is there anybody else for public speak?
Okay, seeing none, uh we'll move down uh which brings us to um the resolution is supportive of water operator retirement reclassification. Councelor Denim, do you want to take this one? Uh yeah, thank you, Mr. President. Sorry, just one second.
Um so this particular resolution, you'll just give a little bit of background with um councelor Smith and councelor Jadzik. Um you know as was uh mentioned um our water operators
um have been on the front lines uh particularly during uh COVID and before monitoring public safety uh public health uh to make sure that we uh maintain clean uh drinkable water. Um
and also, you know, these individuals um have to be available 24/7, 365 days a year uh to uh to address any um breaks in lines or or anything of that
nature. And so this particular resolution um is uh an effort to um acknowledge um the work that they do, but also um acknowledge that uh a lot of
these individuals as they age uh this is extremely difficult work. Um and so to provide them um an opportunity to to retire um because options for other work in which they are trained and licensed for um becomes increasingly limited. Um
so there's not other opportunities or desk jobs or things like that that they can move into. And so it's also to to kind of maintain their uh health and and safety. So, this resolution is uh intended to support
um bill, let me just look here, uh House Bill 3000 and Senate Bill 1834. Um and I can answer any questions if people have questions. And also, um uh Jennifer Peterson is also here as well
as um Auditor Patel I believe is also online. People have questions. Does anybody have any questions? Um I do. Yeah. Yeah. Uh so uh one of the things um when I
started looking into this that seemed to be a little bit um I wouldn't say glaring, but it started to put its head out a little bit is our unfunded retirement mandate. Mhm. and um and seems like this
particular issue could potentially uh increase that number by about 12 to 18%. Is that your understanding as well? Um I'm actually Hel Patel uh Auditor Patel is on online
um to be able to answer uh some of this. Uh Auditor Patel, do you want to speak to that? And also um Auditor Patel sits on the retirement retirement board. Yeah.
So after um I heard this resolution from the from councelor Dunham, I reached out um along with mayor's office to the Purak who is our state retirement um group.
The person who responded, he does our actuary study, his name is John Borak. and um he sent me a detail of this whole legal bill which is in front of one of the committees. According to him, it
seems like estimating 12 to 25% in the liability once it passes, but until it doesn't pass, we every community is different. So, we'll find out the actual impact on our city.
And Haydel, just one question. Um do you know did you get a sense that this would be retroactive um to retirees? Uh it all depends how this bill passes at the state level. Then per is going to
um evaluate the um the calculations or how it's going to affect municipalities and then it will go to the uh retirement board and then further it will come to the either city council depending how
the the state handles this and ex adopts it as a as a bill. So it it I I don't have enough information on that yet. Okay. Appreciate it. Yep. And this is just a support of bill recognizing that work. So it's not a
passage of that or an adoption of that. Uh as auditor Patel said, it has to go to the retirement board and they would make that decision etc. of of how they wanted to move forward. Right. And it's still in front of the ledger. It hasn't made out of committee. Yes.
Um do do we have an idea of when that is going to be heard in committee? uh our speaker Jennifer Peterson. Do you have since you've been working on this, do you have a sense of when this will come before the committee?
Um I don't have a date. The legislature has um um set up new rules and so those rules do require them to act sooner than last session. So I think it is the legislaturator's desire to get all bills out of committee by December.
Mhm. Cool. Yeah. And so I think one piece of this it really is for on on in the interest or perspective of um city council. I think
it's affirming the the work and commitment that our city employees have to the city and the the risk that they take for their health and safety uh in the same respect of of police and fire. Right. I think our water worker our
water operators uh also makes significant sacrifice. And do we I'm sorry, follow up. Um do we are police and fire are they uh class two like where where they get to retire at 60? Mhm. Um because it's hazardous
five but yeah. Okay, good to know. Any other questions? Any other thoughts? Uh sorry to adolf police and fire can uh I think police
can retire at the age of 55 and if I remember correctly they are part of group four. I don't think group two is on the books as of right now but I don't quote me on this as a person
for our retainment board. Yeah. Any other thoughts? Just a clarification there. We're not sure, but we believe there's no group two here in East Hampton. Is that correct? I think that's what uh
I just want to be clear. Yeah. Yeah. I can do a followup email to you, uh, Councelor Kinski, on this one. Um, I am pretty sure we don't have group two honorable folks at this point and we're not sure, but I can follow up. And we're not sure with the legislation
exactly how many people in our city would be it would apply to over time, but presumably there would be several people that it could apply to. I I it all depends how committee accepts
this or passes, right? um if it's a retroactive because there are more to it if it's before 2012 versus after 2012. It also varies with the number of years of services that individual uh employee has given to the
city or over the course of time multiple um served in multiple municipalities. So it's not like um street calculation. It all varies by with the age, number of years of um services in um in the
municipality, right? Uh the other question I had was the it would require the city if this were to pass the legislature in some form of which we don't know what exactly that form is or
what the expense would be but there would be an unfunded mandate if I understand this correctly and that would mean some amount of money would have to set aside by the city each year to be
sure that by the time the folks retired there would be sufficient funds in the the the account to be a in the retirement account which the city funds annually to to the tune of how much money now
so what's going to happen is our retirement gets evaluated every two years and if I remember correctly 2032 will be fully funded. But if state decides that
they're going to adopt this bill, what's going to happen is they also have to look into extending the uh unfunded liability deadline by the legislation. So again until it's not all clear from
here at we can't say how it's going to affect and if they adopted that effective 2026 this is what's going to happen then it's a different story versus if it goes retroactive when originally this bill was presented uh to
the legislation. I would like to be able to affirm the the hard work and the work of the and the risk of the individuals. I would also like to be assured that the city's financial stability is understood and its implications for
the city is understood. So I guess I'm a little reluctant to move in one session this matter which is typically referred to a committee. Uh I don't know how the rest
of the members might feel about that subject. Um I guess um council Denim. Yeah. Again this is just uh support for the bill. So if if we hypothetically uh if we pass this, it still has to be
passed by the legislature and it still has to go through the process that Auditor Patel said. So it has to go all the way down to uh the um uh I want to say licensing board, the retirement board, and then it would have to come
back to city council for approval at that particular time. Council P just uh I just want to make sure I understood sentence process correctly. So in in the case that this bill uh were to pass, it would give us sort of a local option
to do to to do this reclassification, it would not be an automatic reclassification from the state. Um, so my understanding again from Auditor Patel and either Auditor Patel or Jennifer Peterson, you can uh chime
in, but uh in my conversation today uh it would have to go through PR uh right it would to to figure out the numbers etc. And then from there it
would then eventually end up at the uh retirement board and then they would have to adopt that and then it would come to city council for approval. Okay. So then yeah so the bill would allow us to do that if we wanted. It would not require us to do that. So it
seems like any I guess then what I would say is I don't even know the extent to which the state legislature is influenced by our resolutions. But if we pretend for a moment that they deeply care and that the state legislature is a
very responsive and transparent body that deeply cares about what people say. Um then so let's let's work on that for a second and that this does in fact help it pass. It seems like the the fiscal consequences that you're concerned
about, councelor Kwisinski, would be things that we would have a time and a place to address at that time, right? Like the saying we support this bill does not actually necessarily tie our hands to take any particular action
going forward without further study. where at the same time um I think that any further study at this time might be impractical just because I don't think we have all the facts about what the um what the what the impact would even be
until such time as we're able as they actually pass the law and say what the parameters are. Um, you certainly obviously have the right, as all of us do, to prevent something from passing, uh, and with immediate consideration, but I do think
that for just my personal view on it is that I don't necessarily see the harm of I I I support this in principle and so I don't uh see the harm in stating to the legislature that we
support this and if that somehow does influence their decision in any way and this becomes an option available to us, then obviously at that time finance would have um the duty to sit down and and carefully consider the fiscal impacts and our current fiscal health
before deciding whether or not to act on them. Okay, just my thought. Um any other thoughts? I think the only I I would say the only thing to consider is if if you have you know in order for this to actually get sent it needs to be
signed by the mayor. Mhm. Um and if you've consulted with the mayor at all. Uh I have uh I think that given well given today's uh uh circumstance
um there is also the question of um the unknown and what that would mean for the next legislature. Right? So, uh I think that she is would be inclined um
perhaps not to support this because there is unknown and that would leave that to the next administration to have to address. Right. But again, I think this is in the purview of city council and the affirmation of um
uh our our recognition of the sacrifice that water operators have made uh to to the city and uh the sacrifices um to their personal health and safety uh for making
sure that the residents of East Hampton are um uh re remain safe. I I and I don't disagree with that. I think that that's a you know a solid thought. I I think my stance on it would
be it might make sense for this to go to rules for one meeting and then come back to us for the next meeting which could change the dynamic of whether this gets sent. So I just want to put that out there. if you feel really strongly about that,
then that might be a a good strategy and path. Um, and and I don't think if it's if it's if we're talking about potential December timeline, I don't it's not this is not a you know, if we don't pass it tonight, it doesn't hurt anybody. I think if it went to committee maybe
there was like some investigation on some of the questions that were asked like and just had like a little bit more information couldn't hurt but it also would potentially would change the dynamic of whether this actually made it to its destination. So I just wanted to throw that out there. Mhm.
So um you know I like I'd be willing to entertain a motion on either side. I I don't um so like I'd be happy to have somebody send it to uh rules for one meeting. Um, I'd be happy to, you know, put our chips on the table and see see
where the cards fall. Um, so, you know, I guess I would leave that to the sponsors to, you know, make a decision one way or another. All I was going to say was I think given this conversation, the due diligence of sending this to a committee is clear. Y
and I think we should do that. I think this is has great merit and if we did it tonight, I'd probably vote for it. But I do think that there's enough question marks that it's not going to hurt to send it to committee. So I would I would entertain a motion or I would make a motion to send it to I forgot
send it to the uh rules committee. Yeah. Second. So we have a motion in a second and so if that's okay with the the you know sponsors. Okay. So we do have a motion in a second to send this to rules. Um any further discussion? Okay. All those in favor? I
any nos or abstensions? Motion passes. Thank you. Thank you. That was easy. Um okay. Uh now we have communications from elected boards and officials. Uh does anybody have any announcements they'd like to make? Yep. Council Johnson. Um I just like to say that this Saturday
the East Hampton Cultural Council is doing a mural dedication. So, um, folks may remember or recognize there's a really large mural on the back of East Hampton feed along the bike trail that just a little bit of, uh, context and history that mural was painted a few
years ago, but with COVID and a lot of other things going on with that council, they were never able to formally dedicate it and sort of present it to the community. So, at 10:00 a.m. there will be a dedication with the artist Pria Green and members of the cultural council. I'll be there as well. So, I'd
like to just invite and encourage anyone who is able to come to um celebrate something that makes our community really um unique and artistic. Thank you. Okay. Thank you. I saw some more hands. I know. How's it now? Yeah. Uh the folks that were here to
talk about uh rent increases. There's going to be a renters rally um on uh July 16th. 5:00 pm is the rally and then 6 pm they uh want to have a meeting in this uh in this building.
Good. Any other announcements or thoughts from um okay that I guess that brings us uh we do have some correspondence. It's not on the agenda, but I think it's worth mentioning um that we did receive a email today at
3:09 from the mayor uh expressing her um last day as being the 16th or the 15th 15th of July, which is in uh next
six days. Um, so that that um obviously is a pretty significant dynamic change for the city. Um, so I just wanted to acknowledge that. Uh, and so we all I think all of the leadership team, all of the city councilors, all city employees
got that email today. So I just wanted to make sure that we mentioned that. As far as um logistics around that, I think uh there are many paths that um can be taken here. Uh uh and so one of those
paths is by charter uh the city council vice president or president um would become the acting mayor for the uh until November. Um and so that was uh presented to me this morning. Um which
was a little Did you have any time to think about it? Uh so there you know no decisions have been made. There are other pathways. um including, you know, choosing a member from this body. Um the and if that member was chosen, their seat would not
necessarily need to be filled the way that we've been filling it. We would just have a a vacancy for 2 months um until the November election. Uh I just got that verified by the city attorney about half an hour ago. Um and so uh
that that is another pathway that potentially could be taken. Um and so we'll, you know, I myself um council Kisinski and others will be um I'm going to be making my decision here shortly um which I have
not made cuz it's a big one for me. So uh I I I can fairly say that I'm not going to uh resign from my career to fill an interim position. Um you know so that you know I just want to be pretty clear about that. Um
so that means uh whoever runs in November probably will be signed in d you know pretty soon after that um election because it will be filling basically a vacancy. So they will get a little extra on their term. Um so I just
wanted to make sure that everybody was aware of that everybody knew what the process is. Um and unfortunately right now the process is waiting for me. I'll try to be quick. Um, I did have one other um announcement. Uh, you know, I've been working diligently to try to
fill the the rent committee. Um, and it's been a little bit of a challenge to find uh landlords that were because there's a groups of people listed. Uh, it's not a lot of people want to just give up their time uh for no money. So, uh, that is a little bit challenging.
Um, I know I I talked to councelor Denim about potentially finding some people and I think probably what I'm going to do is within the next couple days um contact all the people um and you know get the committee formed even if it doesn't have a full nine members and maybe you know one of the things that the committee can do is to try to
recruit some some members so we can get that rolling. So I just wanted to make give people an update on that. I'm not sleeping on it and I do feel that it's important. Yeah. Councelor General, I do just have an update. I can chat with you after this, but I did I do have one uh landlord who interested in s on that. Perfect. That's good news. Great news.
Uh councelor Kisinski, do you have any communications? Well, it's hard to top that one. But so following that we have one other thing that is equally I mean just very disturbing and
that is the masked marauders who came to our city this week and we did not identify themselves to anybody that we're aware of. Did not display
identification name badges or num agencies and numbers that anyone could say, "Well, oh jeez, that that that's the number. That's the person. We can track what's going on." Without that kind of information, I it makes it hard for the public to be able
to distinguish between legitimate governmental enforcement at any level, federal, state, local, and a crime being committed. How does one know that a crime that
human trafficking isn't involved? How does one know that we're just not kidnapping someone off the streets? You don't know. That is deeply disturbing to me.
And I'm sure I I'm not alone in this. How do we make those the the the kind of a process be understood? Well, one, you don't wear masks to make rest would be my recommendation. Two, you have identification badges as a
requirement of any individual involved in conducting an operation at any government agency. Otherwise, we just don't know who's doing what, where. Well, let's talk about what,
where, and when, and who. Okay. There's no postings that are made by our federal government that I'm aware of and I've inquired since I've learned of this uh this uh arrest parent arrest
that you can say okay well well who was involved? Who who who was the person arrested? Who did the the the arrest? Who who who removed them? And where did they go? When did it happen? Were they residents of our city? Was it
someone coming through? It could be the worst person on the planet that we want to be, but we still want to know who was arrested, when they were arrested, where they were arrested, and who did the arresting.
I I I'm very serious about taking whatever steps this council can take to move that forward. I understand that there may very well be legislation on the federal level to have a requirement similar to the ones I've I I I've
proposed. It's appalling. We need to stand true and with everyone for anyone in our community regardless of their position, condition, it doesn't
matter. Thank you. All right. Thank you, Councelor Kazinski. Uh the mayor is not on the call as far as I can see. So, um I think what we'll do is we'll skip mayor communications and we'll go down to uh reports from standing
committees. Finance Council Peak. Thank you, Mr. President. Uh we have not met since our last meeting. Um I did want to just note on our agenda. I think that there's one item on here that I believe we did vote on last time. Uh
that being the correct me if I'm wrong. We voted on the mindfulness thing, right? The donation. Yeah. Yes. Okay. So, we can cross that off. We already voted on it. Um Yeah. So, we're going to meet next week and the circumstances around this are a little
unusual. So, I just want to uh for on the off chance that there's some sort of fiscal watchdog in the city that really wants to know about this like uh we've got to close out some year-end expenses uh because the fiscal year happened and
you know there there's just there's always a thing where you know there's a few things that happen at the very very end of the fiscal year. So this this does happen um from time to time. They're usually relatively small, but not always. Um, and so it goes to
finance to just close out these final appropriations. Unfortunately, this isn't the first time this has happened, although I think it only has happened twice, and I hope this is the last time it does. Um, we don't know what those expenses are yet
because, uh, I don't know who and I don't care and I'm not looking to blame anybody, but one way or another, they have not landed on our desk yet. So, we're going to be meeting at on Monday at 5:30 to be reviewing expenses to be
determined. Um and basically uh they're going to be added uh to the agenda at basically the last minute for immediate consideration for immediate consideration. Uh so in order to do that uh I think and this is
all sort of coming to me sort of late. I would like to make a motion to suspend our rules that would normally require us to go through this process of sending things uh to committees from the full council in order to allow us to hear uh
an item an agenda item that has not yet uh found its way to us. So I would make uh that motion now. Second. We have a motion and a second. Uh does anybody have any further discussion on this? Council, I just wanted to say that it would not
normally be the case that I would support something like this. Uh this is this is highly irregular, highly unusual and we need to get as much notice as possible. I understand in this case that there are there was just no way to get
us the information. We'll be getting the information as soon as it develops within the administration within the city. Uh we are trying our best to give adequate notice to everyone who has a concern about the fiscal resources of
the city. Please take note. We're going to be meeting if we pass this suspend the rules to move forward on having a meeting without a posting of what we're the amount of money exactly that we're meeting about. If that if I'm understanding this, that's correct.
If you do show up and discuss a mystery amount of money with us, you're welcome to do so. Um it's I sorry I'm not sure that we have any other choice given the physical to get it done is my point. So my question is why is it a mystery?
Like where is this dollar amount coming from? So it is working on it right now. Okay. Literally as we speak and I see her taking her camera off. There she is. Um, and she is and and I believe she can answer this better, but I believe these are expenditures that have come in from different departments
and that need to be and the paperwork from the last year's budget. Is that the deal? Yes. Hel, do you want to weigh in on this one? Yes, I can. Um what happens is as per the DR regulation we have between July
1st to July 15th to pay any bills which didn't come by June 30th or the last warrant of the fisc year. So we have 15 days as an auditor accountant finance directors across the state has 15 days to pay all of those bills including
salaries. Sometimes what happens there's always like a rounding difference. Some grant we expected that it's going to be reimbursed and didn't end up get reimbursed small amount of uh transfers which needed to be taken care and it was slipped through
50 $60 million budget. Um all those things gets tied out at the end of the fiscal year between July 1st to July 15th. So this this particular week my department and treasury department is dealing with uh split payroll. So there
is a payroll which started on June 20 20 sorry uh it was June 20 22nd to July 4 July 5th and it's a split payroll because
everything which is as of June 30th gets charged to prior fiscal year and everything after July 1st to July 5th gets charged to the new fiscal year. All of those charges get back charged to the fiscal year along with all the warrants
which gets posted which charged with those schedules gets posted and even after that departments have a X dollar amount which they placed an order for goods by June 30th goods and services
but they either have to receive the invoices or goods or services. So that needs to be part of the incumbrances which are also known as holdovers needs to be carried forward from prior fiscal year to this fiscal year. So this is what's happening this week between my
office and treasuring office is once this gets tied out if there is a need for a end of the year transfer that's what's going to come to in front of city council. So Hayd there is there
is a possibility nothing would come before us because it just wasn't required or yes I'm really hoping that I don't have to come and ask and is it possible that if we do need to do this if we're going to meet on is that a
Monday Tuesday Tuesday if we're meeting on Tuesday is there any likelihood we would know by this Friday to give at least some notice Um, I can't. So, I have I'm uh at this point
my assistant is on medical leave, so I'm trying to do my best to get my portion done and her portion done. Yep. I am planning to send it as soon as possible, but I might be my might need
till end of Saturday to get this done. Okay. Thank you. Okay. But I will try my best to send it as soon as I can. I know you. Thank you, Adel. Appreciate that, Council Peak. And I just want to reiterate, I'm not blaming any individual person or or
department or anything for this all going down. Things get weird like this. But just as a city councelor, it's a little bit uncomfortable to tell the public we're meeting to discuss an amount of money to be determined at a point in the future. So um that's just I
think we can you know once the dust is settled on this it's a discussion we can have about the workflow there and if there's anything we can do to make it more transparent going forward but for now that is what we are going to be doing on Monday
Monday for Monday for finance Tuesday for the whole thing and so we do have a motion on the table oh yeah yeah we and and um and that's why and we do have and it has been seconded And so that was our further discussion. Does anybody have any further further discussion? And if not, all those in
favor? I. Any abstensions or nos? Motion passes. Okay. So, we have suspended the rules. So, now we're I think we're we're good to go. So, we're going to discuss that thing. I don't have anything to move, but we're going to be discussing a thing on Monday. Um the other thing uh that we
have is uh an item of new business to also move to finance. Um, and that's a borrowing and bonding authorization that looks like it has the same sort of first reading language that we normally get for an appropriation. So, I'll do that now. Okay.
So, this is the first reading. Um, actually, just real quick, is there So, should I be setting a public hearing for this for August or Sure. Would that be the idea to do that? I think it would be fine to do Uh yeah. So yeah, I would then I'm going to make
a motion to uh you know send this to rules, read the first reading and to set a public hearing for our August meeting. I don't recall which date that is but we only have one August 6th um at 6:15 or sorry finance uh 6:15 these chambers you know perfect
um okay so this is the first reading and a motion to set the public hearing. Yes. requests here by made for the following uh amount requested. $3 million to be funded by borrowing or
bonding to be borrowed or bonded for the demolition of the existing structures at 11 Ferry Street and the construction of infrastructure improvements including public utility services, public parking, emergency vehicle access and multi- uh
use and a multi-use path to connect Ferry Street to the northern section of the Manhattan Rail Trail as provided for in the Ferry Street District improvement financing development program. Great. And do you want to do the um the
borrowing authorization for the city space as well or do you want to do that in a separate one? Um the borrowing authorization rescending of the borrowing authorization. We can do it separately. It's fine. Uh yeah, I I don't have uh Well, yeah, let me do that because I don't have a
motion for that one, but I'll So, we have a motion. Does anybody second? Okay, we have a motion and a second. Any further discussion on the um the diff uh for the Ferry Street project? Seeing none. All those in favor? I. Any abstensions or nos? All right. Goes to finance.
And then I'd also move to move the rescending of borrowing authorizations for city space restoration and Honeywell energy conservation project to finance. Perfect. Second. We have a motion in a second. Any further discussion? All those in favor?
Any abstensions or nos? Perfect. Thank you, councelor Peak. Yeah, councelor Quizens. Before we leave finance, I think you should announce the special meeting. Oh, that's a good point. Uh, so we um in conjunction with
so if we do if we do get paperwork and there there are transfers at the end of the year that um we have scheduled a special city council meeting which is not going to be in this space. It's going to be in conference room one. Right. Yeah. Uh we're going to be in conference room one. It's going to be a short meeting.
only thing we will be discussing um is uh these end of the year um thing and that'll be on that uh Tuesday July 16th July 6 July July 15th 15th in room one
yeah at 6 in room one at 6:00 the and it may not be I mean go ahead I was going to say given the information from the mayor her last day is the 15th we have to pick a mayor before the 16th.
So, so it it's predicated on your decision not to put this all on you. You got to put it on you. Is there are we then going to amend that meeting to include the vote? If you say no, which you may come back and tell us yes, and that would be great,
but if if it turns out that we have to do a special vote, we have to do it the night of the 15th. So, it would go on that agenda as well. So, I did think about that. And so and if we did get into a crunch like that, I think what I would do is I would accept the position in a temporary way to allow us to have another meeting. Okay. Which would then allow us to choose
somebody. Okay. So So we that I could I I did think of that and I was like that is not enough time. You don't want to do it on the same day? No. So So I did think of that and there is a pathway forward from that. So I just wanted to make sure that Yeah.
Um Okay. Any other thoughts on this? I don't remember where I am. I think we have emotions on the table. say thus concludes. Oh, okay. I guess we don't have to. Thank you. If that concludes council, we good to go. All right. Uh, public safety. Sorry, I just have a clarifying
question. You do. I apologize. No, that's fine. Please. You has there been a conversation with the city solicitor about accepting something for a short term to
a week? Yeah. Because if you accept that you're over the 60-day and if you accept the mayor position, then you you relinquish your seat. So I don't think there's anything in the charter to
I I will I'll I'll ask him. So I'm in conversations with him now, but that that is a question that I could ask. I mean like with the my discussion with him this morning, it seemed like that was probably a possibility at least like that was the thought, right? Um so um but I'll double check.
Okay. Yeah, cuz I I helped put that together. So I know that there's a 60-day, right? kind. Yeah. So, yep. Okay. Uh, public safety councelor Terrell. Thank you, Mr. President. Uh, we met last night where, uh, Director Nuttleman
uh, requested that we convert Loudville Road, West Street, Glendale Street, and Palmer Metal Road to an all-way stop. Um, we voted to support that 3 to zero. The public safety committee, I think it's a fantastic idea. As a resident very near to that intersection, I think
this is a a great step forward. um that always has been a daunting intersection and we did some modifications a handful of years ago um that didn't seem to quell the accidents. So hopefully this implementation of the four-way stop will
will help minimize um future accidents. Um I would like to make a motion to set a public hearing for this on on in these chambers on August 6th at 6:15. Second. All right, we have a motion and a second to set a public hearing for the
four-way stop. Any further discussion? All those in favor? I. Any abstensions or nos? Motion passes. I have one. I'd like to request a 90-day extension for the review of language and traffic rules and orders. Okay. Second. We have a motion to second. Any further discussion? All those in favor?
I extensions nos. Motion passes. Thus concludes. Thank you. Uh appointments councelor Smith. Uh thank you, Mr. President. appointments on Monday night to discuss four mail appointments. Um the first one I'm going to go oops
I do not like technology during the meetings. Um give me just one second while I get back to that. But I'd like to go through the different um oh sorry the different candidates quickly um and just explain the board
that they are being considered for. And for two of them, there are some special terms I'd like to mention really quick. So the first one is Leslie Button, and she is the mayoral appointment for the board of registars with a term expiration at 12:3125.
Um the board of registars needs to have at least one Democrat and one uh Republican on it. So with a Democrat resignation, Leslie Button would be filling the Democrat seat for the board of registars and she is an active Democrat on the Democratic committee within town.
So the second nomination that I wanted to bring forth to consider is Deb Peavey for the Council on Aging with again a term expiration of 123125. Um, this is an interesting nomination
simply because this is the first nominee in the Council of Aging that actually does not live in the city of East Hampton, but we have over the last several months been talking and actually implemented the action to be able to have someone from outside of the city of East Hampton sit on this committee. So
the Council on Aging um Deb Peavey's role in the Council on Aging, she's a dementia specialist with Kulie Dick and the region. And so the numbers of of upcoming cases of
dementia are astounding combined with fewer caregivers to be able to provide that care to them. So, I can't stress enough how important having um Deb Peavey on this position really is. It's a real important asset for the city. So,
I'm very happy to see her name there. Um the third nominee that I'd like to talk about is Elizabeth CJ um Moody for the East Hampton Cultural Council with a term expiration of 6328.
Um CJ is an entrepreneur within the city. She just they just opened up a um what is that called? The Oh, Felicia, I know you know alcoholic beverage store. Dry humor. Dry humor. Thank you. Dry humor. And she
they're also very involved in the arts community already in East Hampton and thought this would be a good fit as their business just opened. Um so that's the third nominee. And the fourth one is Wendy Taylor uh Jordane for the planning
board of 123125. And what I wanted to bring up about this particular nomination um and actually three nominations is that they're obviously filling somebody else's position um midway through as you can see with the term expirations of 2025.
um Wendy Taylor Jordane would be filling a full planning board committee seat rather than associate member seat for that time period. So I just wanted to make sure um that was stated and clear to the counselors present. So those four
nominees I would and like to Gosh now you got me going. Um, I would like to make a motion to move the four these four names to the full council for consideration. Second. Okay. We have a motion in a second. Any further discussion to move these four
names? Two appointments. Two appointments. Yeah. Yeah. No, no, no. They already understand. Two appointments. Vote. Yes. Okay. All right. Any further discussion?
Yeah. All those in favor. Any against or abstaining? Motion passes. Thank you, councelor Smith. Okay. And we have no to appoint. So this concludes great uh ordinance. Councelor D. Thank you, Mr. President. Uh we haven't met since our last meeting. Um but we uh
are going to meet on uh July 17th at 5:00 p.m. in uh uh conference room B. Um, so we will be uh there uh to talk about items on the
uh agenda uh in particular those items related to the short-term rental uh and the short-term rental zoning ordinance amendment. Um uh we did get um some information from the um agricultural commission regarding the
temporary moratorium and uh there is movement at the state level to write some regulation uh somewhere between what's happened in Maine and what's happened in Connecticut. Uh I have been in
communication with uh councelor Kuisinski uh because it was his original um item uh to discuss uh how he would like to move forward with that. Um and I'm giving him time to to think about
that uh cuz he's wanted to follow up as well. So um at some point in the near future hopefully we will have some uh information uh regarding that. And again just to um reiterate uh from last meeting uh the affordable and fair
housing partnership zoning ordinance recommendation uh there is uh the uh housing partnership and the aquafer protection committee uh they are having a meeting uh to discuss uh
concerns uh and ways forward with uh items that the the aquifer commission is working on uh and uh the recommendations from the housing partnership. So um I uh the committee our committee has kind of
put it to them at this time to um to uh have discussion about about that. Um there is a new item that I would like to um I'm I'm making a motion uh to send
the um item to create a an ordinance to establish a committee to develop a permanent 911 tribute uh to ordinance. Second. Okay, we have a motion and a second. Any further discussion? All those in favor? I. Any abstensions or nos? Motion passes. Great. And that's everything that our
committee has to offer council this evening. Okay. Thank you, Council Den. Property Council Peak. Thank you, Mr. President. Um, we haven't met since our last meeting. Uh, I'd like to meet at some point in July. I just need to confer with uh membership about when. Um, I did notice that our uh one
of our items uh is going to expire before our August meeting. I want to get that out of the way, but I would request a 30-day extension on the town lo town lodging house referral for disposition. Second. Okay. Move a motion and a second uh for the extension. Any further discussion?
All those in favor. Any extensions or nos? Motion passes. Thank you, Chris. Okay. Thank you. Uh in rules and government relations, Council Pasinski. Uh we were going to meet uh and there was a medical emergency so we were unable to meet uh regarding uh the matters before us and that will be
rescheduled shortly. Uh the only thing I would like to do is I thought the rent study committee was in my hands. So that should be removed from agenda from your agenda. Remove that from the agenda without prejudice. Without prejudice. Yep.
I think that would be fine. Second. We have a motion in the second to remove that from the agenda without prejudice. All those in favor? I. Any abstensions or nos? Motion passes. Uh thank you. We do not have any old business. We have taken care of all of our new business. I would entertain a motion to adjourn. Second.
Good. We have a motion in a second. All in favor? I. Any extensions? No. Thank you everybody. Appreciate it. Thank you.