This government meeting is brought to you by Eastworks and our local cable subscribers and welcome to the East Hampton City Council meeting of Wednesday, May 7th. Um, this meeting is being uh recorded and is being held hybrid uh on the order by the governor
extended to 2027. Um, I guess Oh, thank you. Uh, uh, I remind both 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 Con here. Connie Denim here. Salem Derby present. Felicia Janzik here. JP Kisinski Tom Peak. Brad Riley here. Tamara Smith here. JT
Terrell here. Okay. Thank you. Um and you can either join us for the pledge of allegiance or take a moment of silence. 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. And it looks it looks like we have um minutes from April 2nd and April 16th. Um so I would entertain a motion to approve those minutes. So move second. Okay. We have a motion and a second. Any
further discussion on the approval of the April 2nd and 16th minutes? Seeing none. All those in favor? I. Any abstensions or nos? Motion passes. Um, and now is the opportunity for anybody from the public that would like to address the council um on any matter
that is not being uh discussed at the public hearing. Um, so if you would like to talk about any of our uh CPA um or the amendments to ordinances, uh that will be later. Anything else? Please step to the podium. You have three minutes to state your name and address
for the record and address the council. And is anybody online? I don't see any hands. There's a hand. Is there a hand? Director Mason. John Mason. Where is John Mason? Right in the middle in the lower. Oh, there we go. John, sorry. Go ahead.
No problem. Uh, thank you. John Mason, Parks and Recreation. I just want to make an announcement um that this year is our 100th anniversary of Daily Field. Um, and we are going to be doing a celebration on June 21st from noon to
5:00. Um, we're going to have live music, inflatables, games for the kids, food trucks, um, a commemorative baseball game, and a lot of other activities. Um, so I just kind of want to get that on the calendar, and we're going to have more details in the
upcoming weeks as we get closer to that event. But once again, we're going to be celebrating it on Daily Field on the 21st from noon to 5:00 for our 100th anniversary of Daily Field. Wow. Very impressive. Uh thank you, John. Uh anybody else for public
speak. Okay. All right. Um seeing none, I will close public speak. Uh and we have a little time. So, um we do have a request for media action which has been on the agenda for two meetings now, so it's not that immediate. Um, but it is a resolution in support of the healthy
incentives program. And I'm not sure if people are familiar with that, but it's basically anybody that's receives SNAP benefits um can use this as a reimbursement to buy um fresh local um fruits and vegetables. Um so being able to use it at the farmers market and this
was cut. Um and so I feel like this is an important thing for us. I was uh the impetus for this was the director of the food bank of Western Mass had reached out to the mayor and myself um and so uh had asked us to join other cities in the
area to um support the healthy incentives program. Um so I will read this and then we can make a motion and discuss it. Okay. Uh a resolution calling for full support of the healthy incentives program. Whereas in Massachusetts, the healthy incentives program, HIPP, automatically applies to
anyone who receives SNAP supplemental nutrition assistance program benefits and allows them to receive limited reimbursement when they purchase locally grown fruits and vegetables. And whereas on December 1st, 2024, the Department of Transitional Assistance, DTA, cut HIP monthly benefits by at least 50% to $20
per household per month, regardless of household size from a variable $40 to $80 based on household size. And whereas HIPP serves as a critical tool for nutritional well-being and in the fight against food insecurity and hunger, which is pronounced among low-income
residents of East Hampton and the Commonwealth, including children, families, seniors, and people with disabilities and chronic illness. And whereas in 2024, nearly 200,000 households in the Commonwealth and 10% of households in Hampshire County benefited from HIPP through an increase in their access to healthy local farm
foods. And nearly 300 Massachusetts farmers increased their income through HIP sales. And whereas HIPP serves to decrease the estimated 2.4 billion in avoidable costs related to food insecurity and hunger in Massachusetts by increasing access to healthy foods. And whereas the result of this cut to
HIP funding, families across Massachusetts are reporting increased food insecurity. And whereas vendors at East Hampton's farmers market and farm stands rely on the sales that they receive with the support of programs like SNAP and HIPP to sustain themselves. And since the cut to the hip
began, farmers from across Massachusetts have reported a 60% drop in hip sales, compelling them to lay off staff and change their business plans to adjust for lowered sales. Whereas hip participation is up 19% as compared to last year. And the need for state and local governments to support their residents, nutritional security is
likely to increase if federal support dries up. And whereas the East Hampton City Council recognizes its duty to advocate on behalf of our constituents grappling with food and nutritional insecurity who rely on these critical state funed programs. Now therefore, be it resolved that the city of East Hampton uh City Council of East Hampton
calls upon Governor Moore Healey, Senate President Karen um Spla Spila Spilka, sorry. Um, Speaker of the House, Ron Mariano, House Committee on Ways and Means, and support an additional 10 million in supplemental budget to fully
fund uh the healthy incentives program to ensure food and nutritional security for the people of the Commonwealth, to allocate 25 million to fully fund HIPP in the coming fiscal year's budget, and to support the passage of state Senate Bill SD829, an act relative to an
agricultural healthy incentives program to make HIPP a permanent program. Be it further resolved, the clerk of the city council forward copies of this resolution to each individual and office named above as well as East Hampton Mayor Nicole Lash Chappelle, State Representative Omar Gomez, and Senator John Visas.
That was in the form of a motion. Second. Okay, we have a motion and a second. Does anybody have any discussion on this? Okay, all those in favor? I. Any abstensions or no votes? Motion passes. Thank you, everybody. Um, and we do have
some time before our um, public hearing starts. So, do does any counselor have anything that they would like to announce? And I saw councelor Trell first and then councelor Den. I just have a few things. Uh, first I would like to thank everybody who came out for the citywide cleanup on Sunday
even though it was of course a rainy day as we've had many of in the last two or three weeks. Um, I just thought it was great. Thanks to Owens there at the Trashmaster who headed it up and and organized the whole event. Um it certainly benefits the city and it's something I would I would like to see
actually happen more than once a year. Um because I I really think it it's a great thing. Couple hours volunteering time and it really does a lot. Um I would also like to thank everybody who showed up for Little League opening day on Saturday. We had a fantastic opening day after uh postponing it a week due to
due to of course the weather again. Um, so the parade went well. I want to thank the fire department and the police department for uh heading our parade, which the kids I think are think it's the best part of the day is the police cars and the fire truck. So just want to thank everybody who came out for that. Great. Thanks and counselor Denim. Uh,
great. Thanks. Um the planning department um you can visit their the planning department website to purchase your rain barrel um courtesy of the great American rain barrel company. Place your order by May 11th and then you can pick it up at the
uh East Tampa Highway Division on May 22nd. So just want people to know that. And then the other thing um actually just since we're talking about food insecurity um this is just something that I have requested of the mayor's
office to actually um make residents in the community aware of cuts federally um because not only are we dealing with cuts for regarding food insecurity but also there's been uh large cuts to um
fuel assist and other um kind of assistance programs. So, I've requested that the mayor's office um uh put something on the website to actually begin to outline some of those cuts and how they're impacting the community. And so, I think that people need to be aware of that. Um I think people were quite
shocked when they saw that they had lost some of their um uh uh fuel um uh support. So, um, so it's just, uh, working with, uh, that office to, uh, to make, uh, residents aware of some of the cuts that they may be experiencing as
well as making residents aware of the fact that, um, the city is entering into challenging those legally. Um, and so I think it's important for residents to know that the city is in fact fighting for those, um, benefits as
well. So, um, yeah, just want I think people need to know that. Okay. Thank you. Any other councilors have any announcements? Okay. Uh seeing none, uh we don't have any correspondents. Uh councelor Kisinski, do you have anything for president or vice president?
Specific communication. I don't either. We still have 5 minutes. I don't see the mayor for mayor communications. Um it looks like we have a memo regarding the um referral for disposition of the town lodging house. Um and so maybe if the mayor joins us uh later, she can uh talk
about that. Um, but I think at this time we could probably get through a couple of committee uh reports and councelor Khan, I hate to put you on the hot seat here, but I know you're filling in for councelor Peak for finance. Would you like to take a swing at it? Oh, I'm doing that, too.
Oh, were you not? I thought I was just doing the Oh, was it Connie doing that? The public hearing is You're taking the public hearing? Yeah. Um, well, either one of you can take the report. There's really um the only other thing is um the quarterly fiscal reports from the city
auditor which we are still awaiting um and my understanding is that that is due to some reconciliation of what the auditors have already done before we can see those uh reports. I think that it's fair to say the finance committee is a
little anxious to get those and we've been waiting a long time. So hopefully we'll be getting those very shortly. Great. And do you guys have a a meeting set for in your next meeting. Next Wednesday. Is it next Wednesday? Next Wednesday. Sure. Let's say it's next Wednesday. May 13th for budgets. Oh, May 12th and 13th for
budgets. Next 12th. Next week. Budget hearing. Yep. May 20th. I only hear. So 12th, 13th for budgets, 19th and 20th. Perfect. All right. Uh, councelor and do you want me to move the new business? Yeah,
actually hearing. Um, so we have Do I have those in front of me? Do you want me to do I think councelor Denim has them. So Oh, do you want to put those? Yeah, I'll take them. Um so the first one is um first reading of this is a
request to hereby um request is hereby made for approval of the following interdep departmental transfer amount requested $822.77 to be transferred from professional services
$822.77 to be transferred to uh tax refund interest $822.77 cents. The amount requested will be used for the following purpose. Payment processing for FY24 credit card charges in the amount of
$822.77. And the second item is a supplemental appropriation, but I just want to note that this is dated April 9th uh 2024. Okay. Um so just acknowledging that it should read this
year. Yes. Um, so this is a request hereby made for approval of the following appropriation amount requested. $41,916 to be transferred from capital stabilization. $41,916 to be transferred to Mass Trails
Grant Program revenue uh $41,916. The amount requested will be used for the following purpose. This funding will cover a shortfall between the grant funding amount, prior appropriation, friends of the rail trail
donation, and the total project construction cost for the Manhattan rail trail pavement restoration and repair project. And both of those um are in the form of a motion to move this to the finance comm. Okay, we have a second uh to move both of those items to the
finance committee. All those in favor? Any extensions or nos? Motion passes. And I see the I'd like to also set a public hearing for these two on uh May 21st. Okay. And in the Do we need to do a motion on that? Yes. Okay. In the form of a
motion. Second. Okay. We have a motion and a second to set the public hearing for May 22nd. 21st. 21st. Sorry. 21st. Um any further discussion? All those in favor? I. Any abstensions or nos? Motion passes. Thank you, councelor Conor.
Thank you, Councelor Denim. Mayor, I see that we have you here. We have one minute. Do you have anything you'd like to say about the um uh the town lodging house um before we open up our public hearing? Um just quickly, um the town lodging
house, as we got further and further into it, um the cost really went up. We got a letter from the Mass Historical um Commission that said we would have to do extensive uh pre-esign work um around the house with no guarantee that we
would be able to add units. So, the unit cost went over $800,000 because the project would be pulled out another four as long as four years. Um so, we went back to HLC.
um uh housing livable communities and um uh said this is why it's not going to work out. They gave us an opportunity to reassign the money. We're in the process of that. Valley CDC um said that the project wasn't feasible at this point. There is another group that is
interested um and uh uh councelor Kisinski has been on that group email. So because it's it should be disposed of um we sent it back to property um on advice of um attorney Tanner who said he could be available for a property
committee if he wanted to walk through that process or um have questions just about but um yeah the project just got caught up at the wrong time in the wrong place and um we did not expect Mass
Historical Commission to come back with the request that they had and tying it to additional units. It was unusual for them to do it because we already had their permission to go forward with design. Interesting. Okay. Thank you. Appreciate that. Um so at this point
it's 6:15. Uh I would entertain a motion to open the public hearing. So we have a lot of motions in a second. All those in favor? I Okay, motion passes. Uh and we're going to start with um the CPA uh committee supplemental
appropriation request. Council Connor. Thank you. So, we discussed uh both of these um requests in our last meeting and um I don't know if Alexis is on
remotely. Uh but that's okay. She may join in a second. We can start with the other one first. She's not there. I don't see anybody. Right. Lexis is in with this is Donna Cabana with Valley Community Development.
So, she's there. No, she is not. This is Donna Cabana with Valley Community Development. Okay. Okay. Perfect. All right. So, are so are you
speaking to this issue or you're just letting us know she's not here? um she's not here and I'm here if there's any questions regarding the project. Got it. Thank you. Um so why don't we start with that? There is a um
an appropriation for $21,875 to the Valley CDC mortgage subsidy financial literacy project. And uh we discussed that with Alexis. She walked us through the various where the
money is going to go. There are three mortgage subsidies that they are going to be um funding $50,000 each and then financial literacy which talks to first-time home buyer classes, housing counseling and so forth. That is
$51,875. And then was there more? Did I miss the dollar amount? Uh there might have um two. Is that is that your recollection K or am I reading the wrong thing? No, you
read off 101. Yeah. So there's other I know and I don't have that in my notes so I'm trying to figure it out. But actually if the CDC would like to go ahead and um talk to what the numbers are so that uh we can make sure we have
all of the numbers represented. Okay. So, it is 201,000 and in and there is some funds approximately 35,000 being rolled from the last program from the last program that we ended on February 15th that
we've had already been approved for in the in a previous round. Um, so it is four $50,000 mortgage subsidies going directly to firsttime home buyers and then administrative costs.
And is that the 51,000? Well, no. Two. So four $50,000 mortgage subsidies would be 200,000. Yes. And then around 36,000 in
administrative education, um, you know, first-time home buyer education, education for folks around, you know, financial literacy, reducing debt, improving credit, finding affordable housing if they're if they're
rent burdened, a lot of different activities. It would even include working with some homeowners who are struggling. Okay. So I can see we have Please um I'm Ava Gristl. I'm the CPA coordinator. Uh so there's three
$50,000 uh grant/loans which I'm sure Donna can explain the specifics on that. And then there's $51,875 that are that is part of that administrative cost and financial literacy for a total of 2018. Exactly. Okay. Thank you for and Donna
referred to some funds that are being rolled over. Um the CPA committee is is planning on uh retrieving those funds at the end of the fiscal year after I imagine this appropriation goes through if it if it goes through. Um but it they are this is going forward as it as its
own appropriation and then the the roll back of the funds from a previous project would occur separately but simultaneously. Okay. Thank you. My apologies. I was asked last minute to attend this meeting tonight and I was asked last minute to represent
it. So, we're in the same boat, but thank you very much. I appreciate your help. Thank you, Eva. Okay. Um, so that is that one. Do you want to do we we can do that one first and then we'll move to the next one. Does anybody have Do I need to read this or um Well, we we'll
ask questions and then we'll get um Yeah. Any counselors have any questions on this one? Councelor Kisinski. Thank you. Uh, sounds great. Uh, it looks like that you said three mortgage subsidies. So, three individuals or three groups of
people would get a $50,000 subsidy to lower their interest rate. Is that what it would be for? Donna, do you want to take this one? It will reduce the cost of the housing to make it more affordable for low moderate
income households below 100% AMI which has been extremely challenging since co for group for folks below 100% AMI to purchase housing in the area and in East Hampton in particular. So there'll be
three awards. Yes, there there's some educational component but then there is an administrative component. I'm curious, how much is the administrative fee for making three awards of $50,000 and
managing an educational program. I'm not sure how extensive how many times you meet. So, sure. So we intend, you know, we intend to work with around 35 to 40 households and these households will be
in various stages of the process and they are going to need help with things like reducing debt, reducing debt, improving credit, creating creating savings plans, working on their household budgets for affordability
reasons. So, so there is a lot of staff time involved in getting a person ready to be able to purchase a home. I understand that that I was just asking like like do you have like classes every week for 6 weeks, 8 weeks, 10 weeks?
It's a um Well, they're done through individual counseling sessions, but yes, we do have monthly classes that buyers will be required to attend. And we do the we we do this mainly through individual sessions oneon-one because
everyone is in a different place and has different needs. Okay. And how much was the administrative fee for this service? You said there were administrative costs. Are you looking for the total breakdown? So there's three $50,000
awards and then 51,875. That is the overall financial literacy program. That's the component of this. Okay. And there's no administrative fee for Valley CDC in this process then. I'm not sure I'm fully understanding
administrative fee. Generally there's an overhead charge or a charge for for administration and I I just was what what percentage we would all time we would allocate time you know that time spent on the program with East Hampton
residents and we would bill quarterly so time for service. Okay. Good. All right. So it's a variable. Yeah. It's not all $51,000 necessarily. Is that correct? Right. Thank you. Correct.
That's great. Sounds good. Okay. It looks like Councelor Riley has a question. Thank you, Mr. President. Um it's actually it's more of a comment. Um so, first I just wanted to say um hello to you, Donna. I don't know if you recall, but um some years ago, councelor
Denim and I were on the affordable and fair housing partnership when we actually um went through a previous round of uh supporting this um literacy program. So, um it was well before some
of us were even on city council, but uh it's it's possible y'all don't remember because it was so many years ago, but this is we've done this multiple times before. Um, and it's a very successful program. Um, one of the primary reasons why I started
to get involved with the city was through this advocacy at city council meetings. Um, fact that we were all still on Zoom. So, um, I I just wanted to put my support behind this. Um, these types of programs have demonstrated
track records of supporting people who are below 100% area median income. um not just in East Hampton but a across the region, even in New England. Um you know, when I used to live in Vermont, it was a very standard practice for
organizations like Valley CDC to offer financial literacy programs. Um I just wanted to say I'm in full support of this and um that it it's been a long time coming uh as a public servant um starting
advocating for something like this and to see it come back. So, I'm I'm very happy, Donna, that you're putting this forward. Um, and I I intend to vote yes on it. Okay. Thank you. Uh, council councelor D. Um, yeah, you know, purchasing a house is not it's not an
easy process. There's a lot of unknowns. And so, u, my partner and I went through a first-time home buyer class because we didn't know, you know, I'd never purchased a house before. And so programs like these are are really
crucial for um residents. And I think that there's just a lot of laws and rules and you know all sorts of things and and when you add in kind of the financial financial literacy piece of that I think it becomes even more complicated and um there's just a lot of things to pay attention to. So I
really appreciate that there are programs out there. I think this is a a great benefit to our residents, particularly given the fact that we live in an economically diverse community. Um, you know, I'm going to support this um, you know, in support of of residents
and families who are looking looking to to own a home. So, I appreciate the work you all are doing and thank you to Ava for the work. Thank you. Any other counselors? Uh, anybody from the public that would like to comment on this?
Um, okay. Seeing none, councelor Connor, now you can read the motion. I'm a little rusty. Can you tell? Yeah, it's fine. In the form of a motion, request is hereby made for approval of the following appropriation. amount requested $21,875 to be appropriated from CPA
reserved for affordable housing $200,913 and CPA undesated fund $962 to be appropriated to the valley CDC mortgage subsidy financial literacy account. The amounts requested will be used for the following purpose. provides
low to moderate income households with financial literacy, education, housing, counseling service services and three down payment assistant grants. Second. Okay, we have a motion and a second. Any further discussion? Councelor Quisinski. I just wanted to
say that uh it is a very complicated process as councelor Denim has said to purchase a home. It is especially daunting for those who haven't had a lot of experience in the business world and are moving up and making their first
purchase. I am entirely supportive and glad to see that we have a home buyer program supported. So this is great. Sounds good. Any other thoughts? I I would just say that I wish we could do more because I think a lot of people could really use this and with the price
of housing, it's uh almost a necessity. So, I appreciate this. Okay. Thank you. Yep. Uh all those in favor. Any nos or abstension? Motion passes. And that brings us to the second. Okay. Council Connor. Second one is for um
$69,382 to Ley community for invasive plant removal. And I'm going to ask um Barbara Wolford to come up and explain the project, where they are in the project, and what these funds will be used for. Thank you. I am Barbara Walford. I am a
resident of East of the Northampton campus. I used to be a resident of the East Hampton campus of the Lacer community. Joining me is our CEO Patrick Arwin, CEO of both campuses. It's all
one. And we have come before the CPC before to ask for a fund a funding of three a three-year project. A collaborative came
Leup, the Kestrel Land Trust and the two cities, East Hampton and Northampton, because our two campuses are on both cities. And we asked for this uh grant
in order to remove invasive plants from 110 acres of land that Ley owns, including some landscaped acres, but mostly acres 103 acres that are in conservation
restriction permanent. And essentially our grant is about birds. Out there now are lots and lots and lots of birds building their nests and trying to raise their young.
An example which applies to almost all terrestrial birds is that a pair of birds to raise one nest full of young needs up to 6,000 insects. Pollen and nectar alone won't
do it. They need protein and fat. And most of those insects are caterpillars. That is the larve of butterflies and moths and other insects. A larvae is a nice fat clump of protein
and fat that you can easily stuff into a little m. Perfect. Nature's perfect response. Most caterpillars, 90% can only eat one or two species of
plants, almost entirely native plants. When plants come in from alien lands, they may become invasive because they have left behind their enemies and their competitors in their native Asia or
Europe or wherever and they can run a muck as we see all around us in East Hampton. And what we're trying to do at le 103 acres which are connected to other conserved land in the Parkill
area so that long swatches of land can be preserved. What we're trying to do is to create a safe place for birds, for pollinators, and for all of the creatures that depend on them. That's
what this grant is about. It's not just about removing bad plants. It's not just about landscaping the outdoors. It's really about preserving the wildlife upon which we and all the creatures that inhabit this land
depend. So, what we intend in this three-year project is to hire contractors and use our own resident volunteers to remove invasive plants from the 103 acres of CR land. That's total uh north and east, but 78 of of
those acres are East Hampton acres. And the CR is held by the Castro Land Trust, which means they police that we didn't put a golf course on it or more buildings. So that is the main thrust of
this grant. And then there are two other parts. One part is that within the landscaped area, we are removing invasive shrubs and replacing them with natives. Because if you have a invasive shrub on your
lawn, guess what? It moves into the woods. It's all one ecosystem. And a sec another part is public education. So we hold one public program per year about our work and in
addition to that we maintain a website um and we uh publicize internally with with signs on our land about our work. So that's the project. The project came before the CPC
in 2023 and they granted us the first third $33,000 and we were going to use it in fall of 2024, but because of staffing difficulties in East Hampton, the the paperwork was never
completed and we simply couldn't get the machinery in place in time for the contractor to do this work in the fall. So, that money is still sitting there. We have plans for it. We have a contractor all lined up and we did
everything that the grant promised in 2024. We did everything that the grant promised except the 78 acres for which the East Hampton money was to be spent. So we did the public program and we did the land. We did the invasives removal
that the uh LERP itself paid for including $27,000 donated by Lethre residents as well as inind services from Leup management and we did all the Northampton work cuz I hate to say this
but the city of Northampton gave us the whole shot all three years right from the beginning. So we did their part of the year one work. So what we're asking for now is the full hunk to complete the
three years of funding, $69,000 and something. And we will combine that with the $33,000 which was awarded but still not spent. And we will be able then to aortion these funds over the coming
three years in the way that makes most sense for the work to be done. Because when you are removing invasive plants, year one is usually the most cost and labor intensive because you're getting out all the all the big ones and all the
swoop of them and then after that you come back and you get the ones that resp sprouted or the came up again. So uh this aortionment if you give us the full money now for all three years we will be able to make much more efficient
use of the total sum of money. We will of course report back to you. We began this project with a thorough professional assessment of our land in which Land Stewardship Inc. sent
its people to walk our land foot by foot, literally, and map out every area where the invasives were, which invasives there were, how dense they were on a scale. They mapped it all out. That's our starting point. And that was
the basis for our plan for this three-year project to bring our land up to a much higher level of consistent control of invasive plants. If a land, this is the science,
a land that it has, it is dominated by invasive plants may lose up to 75% of its wildlife. and we're not going to let that happen to our laser blend.
Any questions? So, thank you so much for that very thorough um explanation and uh I'm sorry that we weren't able to make that happen last time. So, you know, I'm hoping that we can make it happen this time. Uh and I would open it up to any counselors
that have any questions. Yep. Go ahead, Council Riley. Um so, I just wanted to say first of all, thank you for your remarks. Um it is very rare um when people come before us to make presentations that they are able to tell
the story of a policy in the way that you've just told it to us. Um and that also sometimes when people give presentations to us sometimes the language is lost for the public, right? We have a general
understanding. We get materials beforehand. we can we can follow along with what people are typically presenting. But the way that you're able to do that tonight, I think really explains to the public exactly what this money is meant to do. Um, in a way that
everybody understands and I I just I think that's a very rare skill set to have. Um, and I just wanted to say thank you for doing that. and um and to the LER community. I mean, this is a fantastic asset to have at your disposal. Um I have no questions. I'm
I'm 100% in support of this. Um other than I maybe if I could put a pitch, I don't know if you've considered this specifically. Um but, uh East Hampton in general has a very um large problem with
black swallow war. um is that have you been finding ways to actively deal with that? Um have you been successful? Because I I mean I go into my garden year after year to constantly pluck these things before they actually can
seed and spread and to me it feels like an impossibly long process. I don't know if you've had any success with that that you would be able to share anecdotally. We do have black swallow. were just starting. Our our contractor found it in one of our
fields. But that's part of a larger problem which is that the nature of invasive plants is that they are very persistent and they have left behind their competitors and enemies and they have often very extensive root systems. So they come back and they come back and
they come back. However, at Ly, we have been at the business of controlling our invasive plants for more than 10 years, and we have records and we have photographs. So we know that when you can stay on top of invasives removal
year after year after year as they come back and come back, if you can stay on top of it and um uh the motto is early uh uh early finding um and rapid action,
early detection, rapid action. And so that's what we're trying to get. This uh study by the uh contractor showed that our control of invasives is near 100%. On some of our
acres, but it's between 25 and 50% um on some of our acres. And so one of the goals here is to bring the whole thing up to if we can reach it 90% control of invasives. And then you have to keep at it. But it's much easier to
get the little the little respouts and I do sympathize with your black swallow efforts go. Okay. Uh so um councelor Denim and then councelor Smith and then councelor Kazinski. Um first thing I want to do is
I want to thank you and your community for your commitment to the land. Thank you. We have a number of um Lith residents online as you see. Yeah, we have a large committee of more than 30 residents and we work very closely with
our management who is and board who are totally online with this. Yeah, I appreciate your your commitment. Um, I asked you this in the meeting, but I'm wondering if you could just share again. What is the uh what opportunities do do East Hampton residents have for
accessing the land uh on at the playthrough campus? Yes, at the trail head is a sign that says visitors welcome, dawn to dusk, no vehicles beyond this
point. And we do have residents who take advantage of our trails. That said, this is not a public trail system because we maintain it ourselves. Resident volunteers do much of the work
of trail maintenance. So we are out there 70 year olds 80 year olds um trimming branches off the trails. They are they are just dirt trails and so they're not equipped to handle the kind
of traffic that you would expect on a publicly maintained public trail system. So the the basic good to the community of this project is not to provide a place where you would take your kids for a walk on
Sunday. It is to provide uh a refuge for wildlife so that there are birds and there are butterflies for your kids to see and enjoy. Yeah. And then the the next point that I wanted to make, I think that the work
that you're doing around kind of eradicating invasive species, you know, the bees committee uh of East Hampton that I we've Ava put you in touch with, you know, I hope that there is some real opportunity for partnership there. We have been in touch. Thank you for
putting me onto that. Absolutely. That that's a fabulous thing that the city has done now to set up this this committee. Yeah. So, I'm very excited. I think there's some real opportunity for um the city and the Lther community to
actually work together and I think there's some real great opportunity. Absolutely. We will be collaborating. Thank you. And I believe I said councelor Smith. Okay. I had a few few questions, a few comments. The first one I just wanted to
say for the residents who have put their personal um funding to this. I just think that's a really thoughtful legacy gift that you're all leaving to East Hampton that will be here for a very long time and I just recognize the significance of that. So I just wanted
to acknowledge that and I appreciate Leip community um also matching those funds. Um, the second thing that I was gonna say is that I would love to see pictures from the invasive plants that
you took that was going to be taken care of last year but had to wait a year. I would love to see how much further that has come this year just so we can have a better um story to be able to tell because I think for example with what you were
just talking about the black swallow award like that can take off really. Yeah. And so I I would love to be able to just document that with the with the photo footage just to be able to show how invasive it is and to explain that.
Um we have some photos from last year. Mhm. Uh or from the time when Land Stewardship Inc. did our analysis. Um and what we could do would be to take photos now this year before the work for
this year starts and see what kinds of um progress the invasives have made. Oh, you're delayed. Oh, yeah. Exactly. And um the other thing I was going to mention uh before councelor Denim had
said anything about the bees committee was that this past winter we did a native pollinator winter sewing uh workshop with the bees committee and we had 40 people come to it was held in Bouques of the valley um downtown. And
so if there's ever a date where we could have a community seed harvesting day where we could start to build up the library of native pollinator seeds, I think there would be a lot of movement around that um idea. Yes, our fall
program last year uh which Kestrel Land Trust uh and Le collaborated to bring um was a guy who is a professor of environmental scientist science at uh Ohio State University, Peter
Curtis, who talked to us about the Leup work on invasives in the context of invasives work and basically uh restoration of native habitat. that in the valley as a whole. It was a fascinating fascinated program and we
had both residents and members of the community there. Thank you. Uh, councelor Kazinski. Uh, I'd like to just tell you how grateful I am for your presentation and the level of detail and the ability
for I'm going to say for me to understand because I'm sure there are others who aren't experts in the in the fields that you're talking about and yet we as citizens can begin to appreciate the work you're doing. So, I'm very
grateful for that. Thank you so much. Thank you. Uh, I wanted to say that I'm also glad to hear about the trail head visitors welcome. I know you're not looking for a ton of visitors and the intensive use, but that you're open to
the public's viewing. You mentioned the number of birds that are out there at this time of year, the hungry birds. Well, we're stopping our feeding for the winter season, and I we counted at our house 36 different types of species of birds. I am sure and that's in a
residential in a residential neighborhood. You have the opportunity to help. Yeah. Wildlife and birds unbelievably. So, thank you so much. It you helped to make that clear to us. I would hope that your presentation you
might be able to consider a presentation to us in five or 10 minutes, 7 minutes next year perhaps showing us the progress you've made to achieve your goals. Yes. and uh to uh of of this specific project. So yes, I would I
would welcome that for this council to hear. So I hope you might consider that. Absolutely. Part of the commitment that we made in in the grant was to was for a regular schedule of reports by by Le to
the CPC. We would also be happy to do it to the council. Right. Thank you so much. Uh any other counselors? Councelor Jatik. Um, thank you Barbara and thank you Lyre again. Um, it is sad to hear that it was a paperwork snap through that held up our part of this this
project which is unfortunate but I am confident we'll be able to move forward. I just want to mention really quickly that um I personally been in touch with several members of the bees committee as well as um just East Hampton residents who are interested in starting a more
grassroots campaign to combat invasives in just our neighborhoods and backyards to your point councelor Riley. And so, um, I just like to mention that because I do think that the work that Lethre is doing is commendable and it can't just
be one area because as you mentioned, these things spread very quickly and I'm sure all of us can see that in our backyards and you mentioned black swallow work, council Riley, and one of the major issues, as some of us may know, is that it's so similar to milkweed, but it will really have a very
detrimental effect on the monarch butterfly caterpillars And I can speak from personal experience that not on in my own backyard, but immediately behind me on city property, there is what I like to call oceans of black swallower every summer that I personally try to go
out and and handpick. And so just wanted to put that out there because I think that there can really be um both the work that you all are doing at le um grassroots communal work as well. And I think each of us here listening can do
our part to pluck what we see. And if we don't know what it looks like, we can also do our part to educate ourselves. And hopefully there's resources that you mentioned as well to understand what garlic mustard looks like or what black swallow work looks like as well. So just wanted to mention that also. Thank you.
Thank you. Uh any other counselors? Uh anybody from the public like to comment on this? Okay, seeing none, councelor Connor. Okay. Um, I wanted to just mention that the CPA unanimously approved this
request as did the finance committee. In the form of a motion, the request is hereby made for approval of the following appropriation. The amount requested $69,382 to be appropriated from CPA reserved for o open space
$1,948 CPA undesated fund $67,434 to be for a total of $69382,000 to be appropriated to leip years 2 and three invasive removal $69,382. The amounts requested will be
used for the following purpose. The funding would be used to control invasive vegetation on Lyre community land and educate the public about invasive species. Second. Okay, we have a motion and a second. Any further discussion from counselors?
Seeing none, all those in favor? I. Any nos or abstension? Motion passes. Thank you, councelor Khan. Thank you. Um, and so the next thing we have is a city ordinance amendment uh to traffic rules and orders and also an adoption to um
MGL. Uh, so I'll pass that over to councelor Terrell. Yes, this is something we've discussed at at our public safety meetings uh last few and also was in front of the council once before to adopt a 25 mph citywide speed limit. Um, I'm going to defer to
councelor Derby who was on the public safety committee when this first came up. he has a little more uh knowledge of the history. So, thank you, Council Trout. And I do and I wanted to start the interactive um portion of this program tonight. So, I'm the way I'm going to do that is I'm going to ask two
questions. So, question number one is um does anybody know what the citywide speed limit in Holio is? 25. It's 25. That's correct. Yeah. Now, hold on, hold on, hold on. Um who knows what the citywide speed limit in East Hampton is?
30. Okay. Shh. Yeah. And if you ask that question to nine out of 10 people in the city or you ask it to 10 people, nine out of those 10 will not know that we already have a minimum or you know speed limit uh not minimum but uh citywide
speed limit and the the correct answer is 30. Um but it's not posted anywhere. So, if you're driving through a very if you're driving through a very congested neighborhood and the speed limit is not posted, most people don't know what the speed limit is on that street. And I
think that's a really important point as we discuss this because everybody knows that the citywide speed limit in Holio's 25 because those signs are posted at the gateways and we've all seen them a 100 times and we all know that Holio's citywide speed limit is 25. Um, but most
people don't know that East Hampton already has a city-wide speed limit. It just happens to be 30. And so what this is and and I would say, you know, really, I'll backtrack and I'll I'll I'll pull the the historical card here, which is I've been on public safety for
many a decade. Um, and one of the constants in public safety is traffic, speeding, and pedestrian safety. It's just one of the things that we deal with. And I would say since co we've dealt with this significantly more. And
I say if we look at the historical just within the last um year and a half of of you know pedestrian versus car accidents in the city, you know, this is not painting a pretty picture for us. And the more awareness that we can create
about speed and about speed limits and about um safe driving and about pedestrian safety in East Hampton, the more beneficial just in like on its face things will be because there will be a broader awareness. And
um if we have signs at the main entrances to the city of East Hampton that say that there is a city-wide speed limit, there is no excuse for people to be going 40 m hour in a thickly settled area. But as of today, going 40 m an hour in a thickly set settled area is an
acceptable thing. And the reason I say that, not because you're not breaking the law, but because many people find that if they travel within the 10 mile buffer of the speed limit that they will be safe. And I would say that might be
correct in some respects depending on the situation. However, it's not safe for the people in that neighborhood. Um and and so, you know, as someone who's been dealing with these issues for many years, I think that it's us doing our due
diligence is um important here. And and I think our due diligence here is to help people understand that speeding in thickly settled areas is dangerous and that we care about that, that this council cares, that the city cares, that we care about the people that have lost
their lives in traffic accidents, and that we're going to stand up and do something about that. Um, and you know, and I apologize because the last time this came in front of the council, I know we were short staffed. I wasn't here. Um and and so we got sent back to committee which is fine because we were
able to refine you know what we understood about this topic and you know so as we bring this forward I think you know really what this is is this is our us doing our due diligence and and and fulfilling our responsibility to our constituents who are coming to us on a
weekly basis bi-weekly basis coming to every single public safety meeting and complaining about traffic in the city. Um, I don't think there's been one public safety committee meeting that we've I've been to in the last, you know, year where we haven't had a
community member come in and express their concern. Um, and so, you know, basically what this is, it's it's relatively simple. Um, this would be us adapting an MGL that would create a citywide, it would change the citywide
speed limit from 30 to 25 um, unless otherwise posted. So, if a street is already posted because a lot of people are like, "Well, I you know, 25 is too slow to go down um you know, Northampton Street and Well, that's correct. Streets are posted as as we sit here and those
those speed limits would not be affected by this. It would only be in thickly settled areas that are currently not posted." And so, I think that is really the the um the important piece to understand about this. doesn't impact any other roads that are already posted.
Um so if we adopt this MGL um then we would add two definitions um which would be thickly settled and it would be um you know business district or let me get it right so I don't say the wrong thing. Um thickly uh so business district. Yep.
So and that would basically add that to our traffic rules and order definitions. And then um we would add this to the 25 mph citywide speed limit to our traffic rules and orders. So there's three things that would happen here. Um and
you know some people would um maybe bo at the potential cost to the city um because the city is responsible for um putting up gateway signs. Now there is nothing that says that we have to put these signs at every point the city crosses into um Southampton, Holio,
Northampton. We don't. The the main thorough affairs and as we sat in committee, we identified five different spots and um we asked uh Greg Nettleman, our DPW director, how much he felt like that would cost the city. And so what he felt comfortable putting forward was it
would cost in total about $1,500. So, as I as I think about this, I think the raising of awareness, the com the the solidifying of our commitment towards pedestrian safety and traffic safety, $1,500 seems like a small price
to pay. Um, and I know that uh at the last meeting some people were concerned that if you were driving 25 m hour in a thickly settled area that someone might road rage on you. Well, I will say there's nothing we can do to stop people from speeding. There really isn't. But
we can raise awareness and we are not going to be able to get someone who is a road rager to stop road raging. Um, and they're probably going to find a reason to road rage whether you're going 25 or 30. Um, and if they're following you and beeping their horn and being aggressive,
um, I have I asked this question to our, um, our about to be new police chief, and he assured me that if we called in to the East Hampton Police, if someone was driving like that on your tail and doing that to you, that they would respond to that and that they would take
it very seriously. So, I just want to make sure that that piece people don't feel like they would have to be intimidated for following the rules. Um, our police would support us in that. Um, and so I'd be happy to take any questions. Um, I would be happy to see
if I could hopefully answer it for you. Um, councelor Den. Thank you, Mr. President. So, I have a question. Um, if streets have postings of 30 mph, but they have a problem with speeding.
Yes. Um, can they request petition to have the sign taken down, so it becomes 25 mph? So, it would be um so yes, that would be a two-part um process. So the first part would be to amend traffic rules in order um to adjust the speed
limit uh of that section if it's within there. Um and then the second part and and sometimes um you know one of the things if it's not a state road then we have the perview to change the speed limits. Um and so and then once that was changed then we could um have the DPW
remove the sign and then it would be 25. And you could also potentially request if they have any a 25 mph speed limit sign so it would be posted so people would know as well if it was a real problem area. Um because we do have areas in the city that are posted 25 and
so those would not change at all either. And and the reason why I ask is Brian Avenue um it's the same road as the high school and it took forever to get a 30 mph post there. people go 40. People go people go faster
than that. Um and so if 30 is not doing the trick, right? Like maybe a 20. I mean, I don't know that it's going to help, but 30 it just encourages 35, right? 40,
45, 55, right, at times. And so, um, you know, I I know that there's a lot of kids on that street now. Um, and In full disclosure, I live on that street, right? And I'm often like telling people to like slow down. Um,
but I know that there are uh and Taft Avenue, you know, etc. And so, um, I know that I think people would be interested in seeing that come down. Absolutely. And and there is a process for that. And and I I would encourage um you to uh bring that
forward. Um and and I I was I'm remissed that I didn't have uh councilor Riley or councelor Trell chime in um if you had anything to add. Um no, honestly I I think anything that I would have said you you essentially cover. Um just that I would say this is
not something that is brand new. um more than 30% of all communities in Massachusetts have opted into the 25 mph um citywide speed limit um with very little issues to report. I
think that the primary issue that people had was just the money for the science, which is really it's not I say, you know, $1,500 to potentially save somebody's life, even if it's just the one time
ever. I would be more than happy if the city spent $1,500 and it saved my spouse's life from being killed by a car. You know what I mean? So I and I I think even if we just did it the one time, we only saved one life, that's worth the $1,500. Um so
yeah, I'm I'm in full support of this. Thank you. And council, I just want to say to coail councelor Riley, um $1,500 is is is not a lot, you know, and and to be a devil's advocate, people on the other side might say, well, you know, what's it going to do? People who are going to speed are going to speed. But with the implement implementation and
proper education and awareness, these signs could make people think, you know. So $1,500 worth of signs at five different entries to the city, somebody sees that, it's going to make them think. They might not stop what they're doing or keep them from doing what they might do anyway, but it's going to make them think. And I think that's a step in
the right direction. I I think it's it's our responsibility to do that. Absolutely. Council Jadzik, I'm curious about beyond the $1,500 cost for the gateway signs at the five different locations. What's the plan for
additional education? Because I think that for a big change like this, we're not going to want to rely on simply having signage up. And to your point, Councelor Terrell, people who are going to speed are going to speed. However, I
didn't know that our citywide limit was 30 mph and I've been living here for 4 years. Now, I know that's not as long as a lot of other folks here, but still four years is 4 years. I didn't know that till just now. So, I'm curious about the education plan. And I'm also curious about um if there is a plan to
coordinate with the police department around stationing cruisers to monitor at these perhaps these five different locations or other key spots in a certain period of time after those signs get installed if if that is in the works
or not. If I could answer that really quickly and then I'll get to council con. Um, so as far as education goes, you know, we're uh the council is not a other than what we can state and we can use social media. Um, you know, we're not a great educational conduit. Um, but
what is a really good educational conduit is um I was just talking to our um almost chief uh and you know I think this is a great opportunity to give the East Hampton Police a little bit of leeway um in when
they're doing traffic um patrols to be able to stop somebody who might be going 35 and not necessarily give them a ticket but let them know, hey, you know, school just got out. This is a pretty thickly settled area. Did you know the
speed limit's 25 in this area, even though it's not posted? And I think that was that's one of the ways that East Hampton Police Department wants to kind of transition into this is not being punitive, but being kind of uh educational in their approach. Um, obviously there's going to be some, you know, if someone's doing something
egregious, they're going to get a ticket, but that's not the point. I don't think that they're trying to, you know, you know, slap people across the wrist saying, "Oh, you're going two miles over the speed limit. Now we can get you." That's not the point. I think they want to help people understand in
these areas there is a safe speed and you know those stops could be um a really educational way because once you get stopped and you and a police officer tells you, "Hey, you were going too fast." you might tell some other people, "Oh man, I just got pulled over and this
like you know that word word spreads quickly and it probably is going to make it on social media." Um and so you know I think that that piece is important. Now the to the second part of your question is are they going to put patrols? So I know that there's um you know we're trying to add a full-time
patrol uh position. Um and so I think once that happens there's going to be a dedicated officer to do enforcement around the city. I don't think it would happen near where the gateway signs are because generally those gateway signs are signs are places where traffic is moving pretty quick. Um so we would
probably be in neighborhoods like Brian um that are you know close to schools and and are potentially an issue I know you know street but it's yeah right and it's going to be you know streets that aren't necessarily posted I think would be the places that they would be trying
to help people understand this new piece. I know you had a followup so I'll Oh no that was it. I just wanted to make sure we had appropriate staffing in place because I know that's been an issue in the past. Correct. Correct. And council Kiff, I think you were next. Yep. Uh thank you, Mr. President. Um I completely agree with councelor Jezik.
That was actually um a concern of mine as well. um the education of the change and uh spoiler alert I only knew those two miles per hour for those two places because
of then lieutenant now chief elect uh Alexander and when I was coming to the city council that was one of the issues I wanted to get up to speed on and I met with Dennis Scribner and the uh Alexander brothers and um we kind of
walked through all of this and um um then assistant chief in chief in waiting. I don't know what we would call Dennis, but um he he mentioned there are gateway signs and I went, "What are you talking about?" And he brought up a
picture of the one in Holio. I said, "My entire life I've never seen that. I don't know where it is. I don't know what it says. I've never seen it." So, I agree that it's great that we're putting them up, but we need to have a little fanfare around that. Sure. Because I it
I've been here 13 years, never saw that sign, and I'm sure I've passed it 10,000 times. So, we need to really make sure that this is out there and that people are aware. Um, you know, and I think over time it'll probably work its way
out. But, um, yeah, I mean, I that's my only concern that it may just we may go through this grand uh operation and then the signs go up and nothing changes cuz people are like, "What? I didn't know there was a new sign." So, let's try to focus on that in some way. Even if it's
not a council thing, we can certainly encourage it. And I like the idea of having uh the people on patrol just mentioning it without ticketing. I think we need to keep the tickets maybe down and the education up. Exactly. Uh, any other counselors? Council Krosinski,
I was wondering specifically what was the opinion of the ex the the law enforcement experts, the police on this subject? What were their recommendations? What did they refer to any particular studies? Uh
I don't know if anyone here is prepared to speak to the subject tonight, but uh if not, perhaps you could let us know what you found out. I mean, at the meeting, uh the two officers that were in attendance were supportive of the
idea. Um you know, that we didn't uh reference any research. I don't know if any research exists. I think um uh you know at the end of the day you know one of the like we can do this and I think council Konov is right
we can do this but it's not necessarily going to stop everybody from driving over 25 mph in these areas. Um, I think really what this is about is is about um making a statement and and
putting a policy in place that's going to give the police flexibility to be able to pull people over if they need to because this lowers the threshold by 5 miles an hour which then gives them more flexibility to pull people over. Um and I think that part is very important
because if they are able to pull people over um then they can be educated about the fact that why is it dangerous to speed in this thickly settled area with kids running around and you know people walking home from school and riding
bikes and all the things that happen. Um so and and I that's a great segue for me to say that um the public safety committee did vote to support this 3 to zero. Is there any component
that any consideration given to the a a data study or an assessment of the data and what we would look for to see if this is having the impact that we think it will have the I'm wondering if they have an an average speed of tickets.
Listen, when we stop someone, this is the average amount. The speed is 38 m or five miles over, 10 miles over, 15 miles over, and we had 700 cases of uh of those violations. Is there something that we
could point to and say, you know, geez, the average went down. You know, it looks like maybe folks are driving 5 miles an hour less than they had been before. They're still speeding, but it's 5 miles. Great. I'd say that this sounds terrific. Is there some sort of study
component? Yeah. Um, so that's a really good question. Um, and and I should say the short answer is that information doesn't exist yet. So here's why. So for the amount of time between when communities were allowed to opt into
this also sort of unneatly and chaotically overlaps with the pandemic. So when you do a lot of studies, particularly over the last 5 years, you have to take into consideration that data that you're getting may not actually be accurate or representative
of of what is really going on because the pandemic disrupted so much stuff that you can't actually point to that as saying this is valid data. Um, so with that being said, I have spoken to other
um, city councilors in different communities in Western Massachusetts. They are starting to measure this, but there isn't anything to concretely put out yet. It's been too soon. You know what I mean? This is I
think if we go 3 years into the future then we can look back at you know the last 3 to four years and say has this actually been uh measured to be successful. That being said
anecdotally nobody this hasn't been an issue for any of the communities that I've talked to. There hasn't been any outcries. There haven't been increases in road rage that anybody's noticed. doesn't seem to have changed anything including the amount of ticketing hasn't
increased as well. So, you know, I say that with a few caveats that anecdotally isn't scientific research. Um, but that we still need time as a state to be able to collect that data and to be able to say
definitively what it actually is or isn't doing. So that's the kind of research uh perspective that the pandemic sort of muddied everybody's research over the last you know 5 years or so. So that
that's really kind of where we're at. I'm hoping perspectively for East Stampton we can have a project that will identify in a year and two years hence. Yes. I'm looking over there at our Lieutenant Alexander who is the expert
in pulling data I think in our community. Yeah. And we we we we really put our thinking caps on to make that happen because I I I would like to truly see the impact that otherwise if it's only going to create more law breakers.
I'm not sure that this is the way we want to proceed. Right. Right. And we should take a little bit of pause on that because we don't want to condition people to be breaking the law more often. Yeah. But rather obeying and
respecting the driving. So just the last thought if I could. Yeah. Thank you. Um, just to say that in my experience over the last four years, um, whenever the public safety committee has asked for data to be tracked or to to be reported
out, um, both the police department and the fire department do an exceptional job at relaying that information. We we need to get back on a regular um, cycle of having departments come in and, you know, sort of give like either quarterly
or um, semiannual updates. the last, you know, so many months with changes on the council has sort of disrupted that process. Um, but you know, we regularly hear from uh DPW, the fire department, and the police department, and it's
honestly incredible when you ask for data what they can produce for you. So I I would say 100% we can ask that this type of stuff get tracked and we can also look at what other communities are are tracking to find out what are the
metrics that actually make the most sense and what do we want to know. Then all we need to do is just make sure that when data is reported from traffic violations or traffic stops or whatever that it's disagregated enough that we
can actually point to something and say we know that this is working because X or the things that we were worried about here's the trends. Um it just it takes a little time um but it's 100% doable. Thank you. Yeah. Okay. Councelor Den.
Thank you Mr. President. So, I'm all supportive of data and I look forward to working with the new chief, whoever that's going to be in regards to um you know addressing this issue within the city. Um, I think
in terms of also data, we do have a we do have a speed problem in the city. And when we have residents who say, uh, I don't have a problem with the potholes because it makes people drive slower, I think that's a that's a telling kind of
issue that we have, right? Um and I also so you know I I I just think that we have to be proactive and we have to start somewhere and this feels like a very logical place to start particularly when we have uh departments who are going to be supportive of that and being
able to provide us that information and um you know educating the community right I think that's certainly very important and the other thing that I think is really important to acknowledge is the work of Marvin um I think that he has been very persistent in coming to this body and asking for this to be
addressed for I think a year now to be honest if not more to to no not quite but not quite but I haven't been thinking about it because I walk all the time yeah absolutely you see it every day right and I think that's more data right that that we see those um that we
see those issues or we have people who have been here and said that they walk out into the middle of the street telling people to slow you know that's that's our residents taking their life into their lives into their hands to like tell people to like be safe, right? And and we have a
responsibility to to not put people in that situation and and and for them to have trust in this body to to create solutions uh that are going to keep them safe, but also keep other people on the road safe. So, I support this, but you know, a a
big reason for supporting this really in in many ways is uh Marvin, your commitment to this issue and your persistence to this to this body. And um if no other counselor is having, I'll open it up to the public. Do you have something to say, Marvin? Well, thank you. Sure. So, come on up to
the podium and Okay. Yeah. So, that way everybody can hear you. You might wonder I have just remember to state your name and address for the record. Okay. I'm Marvin Ward. I live across the street from here
in the fourth college fourth floor 413 uh apartment in the city hall. city u sorry they call it college square. Mhm. That was what the
people put it on it and I I re there and I watch it every day. I I live in the front so I see what goes on on the street all the time. And there is a straight a part of right up here in on County High Street at the
other end there's a 25 street sign but people don't pay attention to it. So I've seen people going what I would judge as being 45 or 50 miles an hour right down here. And I've talked
with him about the the have putting a flea speed table to that's the only way it's going to stop down. I watch every day because I live right where it is and I
see them come down and then they spit up and then they had to and most of it. That's nonsense. What are you gaming? What are you gaining? Okay. Well, anyway, thank you for considering me what I what I feel
about. I walked I my father died before I was six and no one in my my family had a driver's license until I got mine when I was 16 at the end of my senior year in high school. I didn't have a car then,
but that's what I got. That's it. Nobody had a license even. So I walked all the time and so did everyone else. Well, anyway, thank you for putting up with my things because I really really
am so thrilled that you're going to do it. Thank you. Um, anybody else from the public? Nathan Marquee, Precinct 337 Holio Street. I'm just here to back up my boy Marvin. I've seen him at meetings all the time and he's my council viewing
buddy now. Um and I applaud the council for um lowering the city well when it becomes lowered in the very soon to near future. Applaud them for um for um taking up this issue. In fact,
Cottage Street, I don't even know why it's 25 miles an hour. I've never even been able to make 20 m an hour on Cottage Street. Um, but I drive a tank, too. Um, but yeah. Um, I wish we had
cities designed about around walking, but with the advent of the automobile, cities are no longer designed that way. In fact, they've been torn apart and redesigned because of vehicles um and stuff. But East Hampton could
potentially be a very very walkable downtown area and um any creative solutions in the future. So on you thank you. Thank you. Uh anybody else? Yeah. And if you're online you can raise your
hand if you are interested in speaking your digital hand. Carl PL 15 Tori. I just want to you know acknowledge that this is a problem. Thank you very much for taking it on. I think 25 is a great start, but to echo counselor Denim's
uh words, like this has to just be a start. And I don't know if it's a lack of roads, if we have too many people driving, if we need more mass transit options. So many parts of the city are unwalkable. I regularly drive down Glendale Dudeville, seeing kids trying
to walk down to the bridge to fish there, and there's no place to walk, people ripping by. I I I'm really just curious why our community why our neighborhoods don't have more sidewalks, why our streets are maybe a little narrower, why we're tearing out the
trees by the roads to, you know, have a little shade while you're walking to the market. I think we really need to look into how to make our city more walkable as driving becomes more dangerous, more expensive, and just out of reach for a
lot of people. Thank you. Thank you. Uh, okay. Anybody online? Okay. Uh, seeing none, I I think I can I can start I can do the the motions. Um, and so the first motion would be a very simple motion to have the city of East
Hampton uh adopt MGL um chapter 90 section 17C. I would state that in the form of a motion. Second. Okay, we have a motion and a second. Any further discussion on adopting the citywide 25 mph speed limit? All those in favor? I any abstensions or nos? Okay, seeing
none, motion passes. And now the second piece of that is just housekeeping um which and that housekeeping is is very simple. We just need to adopt these two um uh one is uh definitions and this goes to traffic rules and order. So I would move that we adopt article one and
general section 1-1 definitions by adding the following two definitions. business district, the downtown business, highway business, neighborhood business, industrial or millindustrial districts as defined by East Hampton zoning ordinance thickly settled uh areas in the city where homes are less than 200 ft apart on average for a/4
mile or more. Um and in that motion, I would also like to um add uh the amending of article 7 operation of vehicles by adding a new section 1-69 25 mph citywide speed limit. The
city shall observe a 25 mph speed limit in business districts in thickly settled areas in accordance with Mass General Laws chapter 90 section 17C. This section shall take effect 6 months after the date of approval and that's in the form of a motion. Okay, we have any
further discussion? All those in favor? I. Any abstensions or nos? Motions pass. Thank you everybody. And I would uh entertain a motion to close the public hearing. So move. Okay. We have a motion and a second. Any further discussion? All those in favor? I. Okay. Um, public
hearing is closed. And at this point, what I'd like to do is I'd like to invite the mayor back up and I'd like to reopen mayor communications. Um, because I think the mayor is bringing us something, a gift. You should have it in your email. Yes. And it should be on the
website as well. Yep. Um, so I am presenting um my uh fiscal year 26 uh budget tonight. Um, and I have comments so I don't get to say anything. Um, so per
East Hampton's home rural charter, the mayor must propose an annual expense budget to the city council. Please accept this overview and the emailed budget book found on the website with hard copies to be placed at the city clerk's office, the council on aging,
the library, and the mayor's office as of tomorrow morning at about 9:00 a.m. Um, my budget guidance to the city departments had two very clear directives. Um, they received it in late January and that was to reduce no wages
or positions and to add 4% to the expense side of their budget. So that's um top half is personnel expense and then the bottom are operational expenses. These directives allow for an applesto apples comparison across departments. I then met with each
department to review requested expenditures unique to their operations and considered their obligated uh payroll expenses. As a result, the department increases are equitable for operations but are not equal in percentage.
This proposed expense budget reflects the spending of general fund dollars from local receipts, excluding onetime grant funds revolving accounts or specific purpose funds that support a department's budget. As of December 24,
our retirement system fund balance was $81,659,44863. This is a $6.1 million increase from the prior le uh year and we remain on track to be fully funded by 2032. Our debt ratios are well within our policy and our reserves are healthy.
Our bond rating remains double A+. The fiscal reset initiated in 2021 continues to produce results, positioning East Hampton to grow a resilient local economy, expand and diversify public services, and prevent a return to past
structural deficits. The topline goal remains maintain fiscal flexibility to create options in the face of the unknown. My fiscal year 26 budget assumptions follow past practices with some
deviations based on local needs and current regional economic conditions. A reminder that the department expenditures when you look at this budget um are as of January 1 of 2025. So the budget book will not
reflect what the departments have spent to date in your budget book, but updates will be available at the individual department hearings. We have benchmarked our fiscal year 26 expenditures to the Massachusetts Senate, a proposed budget that just came out because it had a
truer figure of what we could expect. Um local aid including chapter 70 and chapter 90 right now is projected to be lower than last year's actuals but this is in flux because of fair share amendment um uh negotiations going back
and forth. Uh special education tuition and transportation remain underfunded. There are a couple of legislative proposals that will fully fund and our fingers are crossed. Um the Mountain View School short-term debt uh will roll into a long-term bond in summer
2025. We had 18% rise in our healthc care expenses and our insurance. Our OPED, which is the postmployment benefits, our liability is growing as our workforce gets older. and we fund our OPED account. It's a special set
aside account um at a a relatively conservative um amount. It is a um a policy around OPED is very fluid as far as what a city should be putting towards it or not. We make a commitment to to
put at least um uh some money towards it. It's usually about 10% of um what we're what we're putting into retirement. Um we do have reduced retirement contributions doing due to our demographics and the cost of living.
Um our rising energy delivery charges is flattening parts of our budget. Um and price volatility on goods and services driven by federal trade and tariff uncertainty. Um I think every year I've done a budget. I've wanted to take that
bullet point out. Um price volatility and there's unfortunately something always to put after it that is beyond um normal expectation. Um important to note that property values continue to grow and we have new
growth but we expect that to slow in both housing and commercial sectors after fiscal year 26. These assumptions shape a budget built on informed benchmarks, updated financial policies that guide East Hampton's long-term
stability. Resilience also means consistently funding pension and postemployment obligations, even as regulations and mandates increase because keeping our promises to employees is both fiscally and ethically non-negotiable.
This past fiscal year, grant focus areas include cyber security and public infrastructure, both capital intensive structure sectors that reduce long-term costs by avoiding breakdowns of outdated systems. Our shift to leasing city vehicles based on projected needs
instead of market whims is another example of this strategic um approach. Additionally, a new regional dispatch agreement supports critical upgrades. the $10 million permanent federal outfall authorization will save 30% on
our integrated storm water management plan and that authorization is still in in place still in place. We did not lose it. Uh the water and technology departments also secured partial grants to upgrade our SCADA system or water
measuring system and that will improve water usage tracking and also protecting against cyber threats. Traditionally, my expense budget is based on the governor's proposed budget, and that's where we started. This year, both the House and State and Senate
Budgets were passed um more quickly, allowing me to get updated um estimates using the Senate budget. As a result, my proposed uh fiscal year 2026 expense budget is 61,980,82.64. This reflects an 8.44 44
increase over fiscal year 25's approved expense budget of 57 million155,667.14. While this is an expense budget, I provide a revenue summary. You will see a version of that revenue summary in the budget book as
well. The last city revenue category includes various special funds available for appropriation from prior years. Other sources of available funds in fiscal year 26 include special revenue offsets within departmental budgets such
as $17,000 from the sale of summary cemetery lots for the cemetery department, $9,000 from parket ticket revenues that are used for ADA improvements as well as um uh
traffic car fulltime traffic officer. Traffic officer. Thank you. Um the city worked um with the department of local services which is a division of the department of revenue for Massachusetts to update our financial policies. This
is very exciting for me. Um we use both the DLS dashboards which you're used to seeing in your budget book. Um that shows what we have done, what we are doing in key financial indicators. Um it is an amazing tool for past performance and how we predict the future. Key
indicators um include everything from uh debt levy um from levy limit to debt to free cash. These policies based on those past performances in DLS uh data uh basically our playbook for what prudent
fiscal management looks like in East Hampton. From this project, a major policy update is our financial reserve strategy which finally accomplishes the longstanding goal of right serving right sizing our reserve
levels. Um I'm disappointed councelor Peak is not here because this he and I worked very hard on how to do this. Um what this means right sizing uh reserve levels is it allows greater latitude in general fund spending to address new growth and evolving service demands as
we expect them to grow um you know i.e. a growth need in uh park and recreation services um is a good example uh public health and not relying or crossing our fingers that we will have enough in reserves or in a high stabilization
account. So, as a result, we are um shifting for fiscal year 26, we are shifting $4 million from our general stabilization fund into the general fund while remaining in line with our new policy targets. That sounds
a little dramatic, but basically what we're doing is that we have oversaved very purposely for a number of years to get to the point where we could basically rightsize our budget and and stop saving in the in case and start forecasting um and being a little more
sure of what our general fund would look like. In other communities, this plays out with a lastm minute deficit or the inability to add or subtract services from one budget to another. we will still have ample um stabilization funds across all of our stabilization funds
and you'll see that in the budget book. The percent or targets of what we want each one of those stabilization funds are set with guidance from the department of revenue and the department of local services. We also have additional revenue sources this year as we've done in the past with
$100,000 from the tax rate stabilization fund as well as our excess overlay account for 100,000. Excess uh overlay account is something that the board of assessors oversees. It tracks uh we put aside money every year in case we have
to give money back to a taxpayer from a lawsuit because we did not assess their property. Um the recommended amount in that account is about 200,000. We have 600,000. So we're going to take 400,000 um and bring it back into the budget. As
well, we will reserve another $4,000 um in the coming budget. you'll be looking at um because we know we have increased debatements through the Heroes Act as well as um uh building projects that have not
happened didn't come conclusion they might come back and and ask for a refund because they're not doing the project free cash will continue to replenish our stabilization accounts to policy recommended levels based on annual December evaluations conducted by the city's internal fiscal team and reviewed
in consultation with the city's these fiscal adviserss. This budget is no different from prior years. In one key way, it reflects it reflects the values of East Hampton driven by engaged residents, dedicated municipal
staff, thoughtful public service, appointed officials. Sorry, my last budget. So, emotional. Yeah. Like, yes, it's done, but also it's been years. So um in summary um I look forward to the um
committee uh hearings by each department. Um the changes in fiscal policies which are a part of the budget book. Um I I know you will but I will encourage you to take um a really strong look at them because they really put in guidelines that walks us through the
next 10 years. Um and and we're trying to avoid now having all that extra cash in our stabilization. It's nice to have interest, but um we need to spend it in the budget and we need to do it in a planful way. So, thank you. Thank you so much. And I would entertain a motion to
move the mayor's budget to finance. So, second. Okay. All those in favor? I Okay, motion passes. And I think that puts us um Well, actually, mayor, would you like to do the um police chief or do are we doing that tonight or we just sending that?
Since you're here. Yeah. Yeah. Um yes. Um thank you. So, um, putting forward, um, after a really rigorous, uh, process, hats off to our HR director, Emily Russo, for putting together a truly third-party,
um, assessment center and evaluation process for our police chief candidates. Um, uh, we I was presented with two finalists, uh, one external, one internal. Um, they were asked the same questions. There were a lot of um very
objective data, assessment questions, scenarios um and then I was presented a rubric of how everyone scored. Um and then had inter individual interviews. Um I I will say that there was some back and forth in the beginning of the process about
not just going with an internal uh candidate or chain of command. Um I felt that the full external search was really important. I wanted anybody and everybody who was applying to really want it and not assume they were going to get it or they had to take it. And it played out very well. Um so uh last week
uh we made an offer contingent on confirmation as well as contract negotiations to Chad Alexander um who accepted the offer uh and has been actually already a working partner with deputy chief um uh Scrier on
command stuff. I, you know, he's probably very familiar to you all. Um, and I I will say about um Mr. Alexander's presentation and um questions. I was surprised um that uh with the um the research and
depth of his questions, his answers to the assessment center were really um uh well thought out, but also I I would expect as an internal candidate them to be very focused on the operations here in East Hampton. and they were really based on industry standards. Um so he
has a lot of um community support. We did provide some of that community support um letters that people had chimed in on um with and and I think you you know would note that they come from a wide range of members of our community
um across all of the precincts. So, I um very proudly would like to put his name forward um uh to be considered by this body for our next uh police chief. Thank you very much, mayor. Um I would love to entertain a motion to move this uh mayoral appointment for the chief of
police. So move second to appointments and we have a motion in a second. Uh all those in favor? I I Okay. Any abstensions or nos? Motion passes. Okay. Um, so that brings us back to committee reports and um I believe we uh left off
uh with finance and so I believe we're at public safety. Council Terrell. Yes, public safety. We had a meeting yesterday which largely involved the discussion of the proposed 25 mph speed limit. Um we also still are dealing with pedestrian safety aims like um President Derby alluded to. Every meeting we hear
a different scenario of something that's happened to a resident in town that was um uh related to pedestrian safety. Um so it was nice to see that speed limit get passed this evening. We do not have a a date set for our next meeting. Um and
that that concludes. Thank you very much. And that brings us to appointments. Councelor Smith. Okay. Thank you, Mr. President. We have um we've not met since our last city council meeting. Um so I have three
items for our next meeting. Two of them which I will have to move forward tonight. Um well actually we just did one. So I have one additional um to move forward tonight which is Samantha Mater um is back for the board of health for a
term expiration of 1231 uh25. Okay. We have a motion to Okay, we have a motion and a second. Any further discussion? All those in favor? I Any obstentions or nos? Motion passes. Okay. And our other other um two appointees
that we'll be looking at will be uh Chad Alexander for the police chief position and also the assistant city clerk appointment. Um, the one thing I wanted to make sure that we note is that this
might need a a large room. And because of that, um, both with having the police chief appointment and having the, um, finance budget meetings going on in the same week. decided that I need to just
check in with Maryanne to make sure that we have a day um that has a room that's large enough with also having a camera in it. So, um be doing that and then uh to be determined. Great. Thank you, Councelor Smith. And uh ordinance
councelor Den. Well, thank you, Mr. President. And uh we last met on April 28th to discuss the um zoning ordinance recommendations brought to us by the affordable and fair housing partnership. Um continue to move through the um
recommendations, the committee asked questions, etc. Um, our next meeting will be June 10th um at 5:00 p.m. in conference room 1. And at that meeting, we're going to
continue that conversation regarding the zoning ordinance recommendations. and we're going to have the aquafer protection um committee chair there to uh answer any questions
um or to ask us any questions that he concerns that he may have regarding the recommendation. So, he will be there at that particular meeting. Um we are waiting for um input from the city solicitor regarding the short-term rental um
ordinance. Um and so once we have that, we'll be able to um move forward with that discussion. The other items uh we haven't gotten to because we've been busy with these other things, but they are
um at the forefront. Uh and we will be moving forward with those once we get some of farther along with some of these other items. Um I do uh in the form of a motion want to extend the um date for the request for temporary moratorium on
use of sewage sludge fertilizer in East Hampton by 90 days. Okay. We have a motion and a second to extend the sewer sludge fertilizer in East Hampton 90 days. Any further discussion? All those in favor? Any abstensions or nos? Motion passes. Great. Uh again, so the next
meeting will be June 10th, 5 PM, conference room 1, and we will discuss the um zoning ordinance recommendations. Um and with that, that's everything that the committee has to offer this evening. And all right, thank you councelor Denim and property. And why am I blanking on
this? Councelor Conan because we changed it recently. I knew there was something. I got the short straw on this. Thank you, Council Conor. So uh we have had two meetings largely one was uh public speak essentially and then the second
one was where we kind of um I was tasked with kind of putting something together that we could react to which I did. Um and so we kind of got to a place where uh because of um this I
think made it to these um council's agenda in December. Then we had some turnover. Then we had to reorg. We got to a place where we were like, you know, we're coming up on zero hour to have this flag or not have this flag and to do an ordinance. And so in talking with
the mayor and in the city attorney um an agreement has been reached where a couple things are going to happen in the short run for this year. One uh the pond committee is going to take over kind of
the installation of a flag. Um the mayor has agreed. We met Monday night with the pond committee. Um and the mayor was there and she uh has requested that for 2025 uh if if the flag is to go up, there are
two things that need to be met by the pond committee, which is um ensure that they have liability coverage for the side of the flag that is on private property and that that private property owner have liability coverage and proof
of that they can present to the city. and second that there will be a licensing um uh requirement wherein in order to use public property and it's no different than cultural chaos I think and some other things where you're going
to use public property you have to kind of get a license and so the mayor provided all of that paperwork in terms of what they need to fill out they seemed very amanable to doing that but at this point we're not in an ordinance phase there's nothing for this council
to approve or disapprove. It's kind of between the pawn committee now and the mayor for this year only like her ex I don't even know if you want to call it an executive order is going to end in 2025 and then there will still by this
committee the property committee need to create an ordinance for the go forward of flags banners throughout the city particularly the pond but also there are some other places we need to codify some things so that will be ongoing but this timeline is kind of now in the hands of
the mayor and the planning committee and we can now put more thought into something going forward. Thank you. I appreciate the hard work the committee put into that. I know there was some some tense moments and some of the so and and it was not something that you all created. So, and nice job handling
that. So, appreciate that. Uh and thank you for the report and rules and government relations councilinski. Uh just would like to report that we're going to have a meeting on Thursday, next Thursday, May 15th at 5:00 p.m. uh
of the rules committee. Great. Um that concludes. Thank you, Councelor Kisinski. And I believe we took care of all of our new business. So I would entertain a motion to adjurnn. So moved. Second. All those in favor? No discussion on that one. Thanks everybody. Appreciate
it. Okay.