This government meeting is brought to you by Eastworks and our local cable subscribers. Welcome to the East Hampton City Council meeting for Wednesday. I believe it's June 4th. The meeting tonight is being recorded and broadcast by e media on charter channel 193 and live streaming on the web page
eastampton media.org. Counselors and participants in this meeting are gathering hybrid on the order extended until June 30th, 2027, allowing us to do so. I remind both the members of the city council and the public participating remotely to remain muted until recognized by the city council president. Also for the members of the public, please remove your camera for
the duration of the meeting unless you are participating in public speak time or public hearing. Thank you. This meeting is now called to order. Maryannne, Peg Coniff here, Connie Denham here. Salem Derby present. Felicia
Jazzic here. JP Guazinski. Tom Peak here. Brad Riley here. Tamara Smith here. JT Terrell. Okay. Uh, thank you. You can uh join us for a moment of silence or the pledge of allegiance.
Pledge of Allegiance. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all work toward. Okay. Uh it looks like we have two sets of minutes.
Is that correct, Marian? Yes. Um 7th and 21st. Uh I would entertain a motion to approve the minutes from May 7th and May 21st unless anybody has any objections. Okay, we have a motion in the second. Any further discussion on the minutes of May 7th and 21st? Uh, see none. Uh,
Maryannne roll call. Yes. Is she ready? Okay. Peg Con if um I approved the May 7th, but I abstain from May 21. Okay. Connie Denim.
I for both. Salem Derby. I. Felicia Jadik. I. JP Kazinski, I for both. Tom Peak, I'm gonna have to abstain from May 7th, but I'll vote I on the other one. Brad Riley, I for both. Tamara Smith, I for
both. JT Terrell. Okay. Um, so now is the time for the public to uh address the council on any matter that's not on our public hearing. Um, you will have three minutes and address the council. Please state your name and address for the record so we can record that. I can do my three
minutes. Thank you. I have 22 seconds. 23 over 20%. I wanted to just Thank you. That's better. I just wanted to make a quick announcement. We're going to do a
honor the flag ceremony on Wednesday the 11th um in front of the pond at 6 o'clock. And I was hoping everybody would join us. Thank you. Thank you. Hello. Um, Thomas Trout, KDY Street, East Hampton. Uh, before I begin, I just
want to thank all of you on the city council for doing what you do. Um, coming in here after long hours of work, probably at another job or whatever, and having to deal with those people in the public. Um, thank you for all the work you do. Um, we have a worldclass rail trail
system that runs through East Hampton that is used by thousands of people weekly and it's a main transportation and recreation system for those who live here and it's about to get longer which will bring more bicyclists into town into downtown. Bicyclists in this area depend
on the rail trail system for transportation, recreation, and healthy activity. It's our Interstate 91. And for that reason, it's important to maintain the trail and I fully support the temporary closures as is happening now to do the work. But I'm
here to talk about how that closure happens. This closure has offered zero alternative routes or detour support whatsoever. Imagine if you shut down Route 10 and offered no detour for people using it. All the people using
the rail trail have offered have been offered no alternative route options like we don't even exist. How was this decision made? Both both major sections were closed at once. There's one whole section that hasn't it hasn't had no
work over two weeks. Um this is inconvenience a lot of a lot of people and there's been no plan for any other alternative routes. Bicycles are traffic. There is zero mention of bicycles in the East
Hampton East Hampton traffic rules and orders document. Bicycles exist in another document, an 179page city ordinances sitting there like a lost sock in the laundry room. Bicycles are traffic. Please migrate the section on
bicycles and city ordinances to traffic rules and orders because when you do that, it's the beginning of taking complete streets policies and bicyclists seriously and respectfully. Thank you. Thank you. Hello, my name is Eileen Royman and I
live at 17 Adam Street. I moved here from Ammerst in August of 2021 because I couldn't afford to live there anymore. The rental market was already getting tight and I was about to accept a friend's offer to move into her house temporarily when I found a tiny quirky apartment on the third floor of an old
house. Even though I had to get rid of a lot of stuff because it wouldn't fit, I felt very fortunate to find an affordable place, especially since my daughter lives in East Hampton and I wanted to be close to her. At that time, the building was in the process of being sold from one individual to another. The
new owner seemed to be a decent person and over the next three years his rent increases were minimal. However, he was incapable of properly managing the building. And last fall, a few tenants found out in a roundabout way that he was selling to Hurricane Properties, an outofstate real estate investment
company whose sole purpose is to maximize profit for investors. Around the time of that transition, some of us talked about forming a tenants association. And when the new owners took over in April, we stepped up our efforts. After a flurry of repairs in April and May, Hurricane notified all
the tenants that rent would increase starting July 1st and offered month-to-month leases. For most of us, the increase is around 30% and for one tenant, it's more than 50%. As the tenants association, we responded with a letter requesting negotiation and in
response they said they would stagger the increase between July 1st and January 1st, still totaling the same unreasonable amount. A few of the tenants can handle such an increase reluctantly. But for some tenants, this will mean not being able to eat or pay
other bills or it will force them out potentially by eviction. This is a small 8-unit building with only 10 tenants. A couple of tenants are disabled. One is a single parent with a young child. As I'm sure everyone here knows, this is not the only building in East Hampton that's
been purchased by a predatory property investment company. And we're not the only tenants facing exorbitant rent increases. As we all know, there's a housing crisis here and everywhere. The situation is stressful and disruptive. It seriously affects people's quality of
life and damages community cohesiveness. As residents, we are invested in this community. We work here. We shop here. We have family and social connections here. The companies buying properties are not investing in the community. They are taking advantage of a tight housing
market to line their own pockets. It should go without saying, but I'll say it anyway. Housing is a basic human right. Making a profit is not. I'm asking the city council to pay attention to the needs of residents and put protections in place so that we can
afford to live here and maintain our community. Thank you. Thank you. Hi there. I'm Nancy Dorian and I live at 22 Nashuanic Street. I was here when you guys voted on the resolution to pass the cap on rents to send it up to the state
and I really appreciate that. I just recently spoke at an event that got in front of a lot of the legislators to also ask for that. Um, just wanted to update you a little bit um about what's going on with us. We were able to get our landlords to come down $100 and we
asked for some other things like going back to our original rent and then maybe only doing 4% increases over the next four years. We want to be able to keep our cats, you know, things like this basic stuff. have a real maintenance company, which we don't have right now.
It's very dangerous in the winter. And they came back saying we could have our cats and no to everything else. So, we're still fighting. $100 is not enough. We had a 35% increase. Mine was $400. Now, they're advertising them.
They were advertising them for 15 now then 18. Now they're they have it at 20, you know, 2020 200 $2,000. You know, I was originally at 1150. So, same thing with my new neighbors. It's happening again. And
I've heard of another place that's local that's happening. And so we're just hoping to all get together and get some attention here and um maybe form a tenants union uh union like East Hampton
um tenants association cuz it's really needed and we really appreciate you backing us up on this. So um I'll be here backing up other people that this is happening to. Thank you. Thank you. Um, hi. My name is Bri Ross. I also live
on 17 Adam Street in the same building as Eileen. Um, I'm the tenant she was talking about that won't be able to afford to eat or pay my bills um with this rent increase. Um, I already work with around um $100 a week to be able to
eat and my rent is going to go up around 260. And I on top of that, I suffer from PTSD. I've been living in East Hampton. Um, this is the first time I've been able to live alone and afford it and be able to heal from a lot of the stuff that I've had to deal with. And, uh,
this has been really destabilizing. And uh I really think that people shouldn't be having to worry about if they can eat whenever they live in um in their home in some place that's been their home for such a long time.
And uh thank you. That's all. Thank you. Anybody else for public speaking? Anybody online? Okay. Um, seeing none, we still have about 3 minutes um before we open up our public hearing. So, um, we don't have any items for immediate attention.
Do any counselors have any announcements they would like to make? Um, I think councelor Jetik. Thank you, Mr. President. Um, I just wanted to let everyone know that this Saturday is going to be the June Art Walk in East Hampton. And the East
Hampton City Arts Group is also premiering a new event called Art in the Garden, which will be featuring um a number of different garden spaces in the city along with Art and Music. So, I encourage everyone to come out for that this Saturday.
Thank you. And Council Kazinski, Council Jet, thank you. Uh I was just going to add the only uh to the art in the garden. It's a 2 to 5 2 to 5:00 p.m. event and uh so that is this Saturday 2:00 to 5 and there is a that the art
walk is 4 to 7 and there is a band that's playing in the prominade at Nashwanic Pond from 3 to 6. So, those are great events. And I also normally don't plug another community, but I'm going to today. Uh, so please bear with
me. Hadley is having their asparagus festival this weekend, and I think that's a great event. We all, uh, well, many of us love asparagus here in the valley. It is the best in the world, uh, as far as we're concerned, and we'd like to promote that, and I think it's just
great. So, in the afternoon, uh, on Saturday in Hadley at the Hadley Town Commons, Okay, thank you councelor Kinski. Anybody else? Uh, I would just say um especially in lie of the comments around rent, I am putting together the um rent
control ad hoc committee um we're starting to fill up the spaces. I would say if you are interested, especially tenants um sending me an email sder derby eastampton ma.gov uh would be the best way to put your name on that list and we should have a full committee I'm
thinking potentially by our next meeting. So, uh, thank you for all the people that have volunteered so far. And I think with that, we're in a good shape to, uh, get this public hearing started. Councelor Peak, you want to open it for us? Uh, sure. I would make a motion to
open the public hearing. So move. Okay, we have a motion to second. Any further discussion? Uh, Maryanne. Connie Denim. I. Salem Derby. Hi. Felicia Jadik. I. JP Quisinski pass.
Tom Peak I Brad Riley I Tamara Smith hi JT Terrell come back Ed Coniff you can come back and I'll abstain abstain JP Kazinski abain. Okay. Okay. Uh so our
public hearing is now open at 6:15 and I will pass the torch to councelor Peak. Thank you. Thank you Mr. Person. So, um we met last week to uh take our final
votes on the budget. Uh we uh voted to approve this budget uh 2 to1. Um it's a uh normally I've sometimes had like a long statement to say about the budget
and I I I don't know that I necessarily have a a lot to say. It's um it's a it's a pretty large uh budget, but I in terms of just a growth percent compared to a lot of what we're used to. Um but if you
actually look through it, uh there's not a lot of what I would describe as um you know, discretionary spending. Um nearly all of the increases that we're seeing on the salary uh side are a
result of uh contractually obligated salary increases uh due to our various union contracts. So that's not really something that we're in a position to negotiate. Um when it comes to the the non-sary items, most of the things that have
increased in cost have increased as a result of inflation. So again, uh it's not clear to me that there is a lot of places where we can make cuts. Um one thing that uh sparked a a good deal of uh
conversation in the course of our uh meeting was that uh there is a pretty large amount of money uh $4 million that's being moved from general stabilization into the budget. Um, I think
that it's uh I I hope that maybe folks have had a chance to because that it's uh sort of recapping this entire conversation is a little bit tricky. It's complicated stuff, but but you know, the short version of it is that um the mayor and the mayor's finance team are are making a move uh to try and uh
move us sort of into a place where um our reserves are sort of more in line with what the department of local services of part of the uh the state treasury department uh is is wanting to see. We have a lot more reserves than
most places. um and also is looking to move us into a place uh where perhaps the starting year budgets are a bit more robust. Um and so we have less year-end
sort of free cash requests. Um but we also have less year-end free cash. Um which is something that I've advocated for and I know that some of you have as well. So I think that um that in a lot of ways makes sense.
Uh the uh we we uh let me see where do we go from there. Uh I think one of the other points of of uh of contention that we'll we'll have to discuss is that um there are a number
of of uh of part-time workers who have had their um there are their their hours reduced. um that was something that had happened prior to this budget, but this budget sort of budgets that amount for those
people going forward, which is something um that we we discussed uh at length. Um, I believe that one thing that we'll at some point have to discuss is that we did receive an email from some of those
employees asking us to continue this uh hearing until uh the next meeting uh because they believe that there's a chance of them finding some solution, but that might lead to slightly different budget numbers.
Um just as a reminder to everybody, uh as um frustrating as this can sometimes be, uh we as a city council in our very very strong mayor form of city government do not have the ability to
reallocate funds. We can pressure the city to to make certain choices, but uh at the end of the day, we can only cut. Uh and where we cut, we do not get to choose where those cuts
go. They just end up uh in the sort of general fund. Um that's not the way it is in every city, but that is the way that it is uh in East Hampton. We all may have our own feelings about that, but that is just how the charter currently works.
Um, and so I think that the big thing that I took away from this budget is that although um there there's the I think just having
been through years of having large quantities of reserves, the idea of moving into a different structure does make I think me and probably some other people a little bit nervous. service. Uh the only way to deal with that would be to
uh make some substantial cuts and it was not clear to me that there are places to make said cuts. So, um I think that in light of
that what we had voted 2 to1 to do was to move forward with this budget with the knowledge that um you know if the city continues its current level of sort of strength and revenue
then it we're probably fine. But if we um if we do hit like a recession that affects our revenues in a major way, um we maybe won't have as much uh cushion to deal with that as uh we potentially
would have. But um yeah, I think that's that's where I would start with that and see if people I would say the other thing is that if anyone has any cuts they would like to propose um now is unless we continue the hearing
now is sort of your last opportunity to propose them. So that's my initial statement. Thanks Councelor Peak. And uh I'll go to other councilors now and council Riley since you have your hand up and then I'll go to members of finance. Yeah, perfect. Okay. Yeah. Um, so you know, my question
I I know typically we we wait to hear about um committee reports at the end of the meeting, but because this is connected to the budget, um would the person who voted no on moving the budget
forward, would they be comfortable right now offering a um sort of dissenting analysis of why they voted no? I'm I'm sure that we would get we'll get there. It looks like councelor Koniff has her hand up first and then
councelor Denim, would you like to follow up after that? Okay, perfect. Okay. Uh, councelor Kiff. So, um, I I along with councelor Peak approved the budget as presented. Um,
but the the email that we received today relative to uh ongoing union discussions with the part-time employees who had their hours cut is exactly what should happen for that group. And I'm glad to
see that that is ongoing and happening because that's how this gets resolved. Um, we can we can worry about it and and feel bad about it forever, but we are illquipped to add money to that budget.
Um, and I I'm very heartened to see the union stepping up and working with those employees. And if that is the direction that they are going in, I am I am all for delaying this vote until uh two weeks when we can get the answer to
that, the resolution to that and any reconfiguring of budget money that may be the result of the change to that. I just think that is going to always be a problem if we don't give them the chance right now to continue to uh review it. Thank you, Councelor Khan. Uh, Councelor
Denim. Uh, thank you, Mr. President. Actually, I um I I did want to spend quite a bit of time today talking about um kind of my concerns about this budget and the rationale
for the the various cuts to those individuals. And in fact, I actually invited several of the or all of the um uh department heads to come. I actually can't see in the room, so I'm
I'm not sure that they're if they're here. I see our veterans um um uh coordinator here, Thomas Garrick, but I don't know if other people are in the room. Yes, we've got a
lot of them. Yeah, they are. So, you know, if it's okay, I I would still like to uh invite some of the individual uh uh department heads to to come forward because I I do have some questions for them because I think that this is not
just these cuts to salary of time to individuals has a larger impact um for the city and I think it also has an impact on who we are as a as a community and
and what we as a council stand for. So, if if it's okay with you, Mr. President, I would like to to invite a couple of the um directors up to to speak. That that is that is okay with me. Point of order. I just wanted to ask everyone, can you hear the folks online very
clearly? Okay, good. Thank you. So, I have no problem with that. Be sure you were heard, councelor Denim. Okay, great. So some of the rationale for the cuts was to rightsize um uh uh departments and kind of pull
into line kind of the amount of hours that people are working so there's some more consistency. But um so that was one of the um the kind of the rationale that was provided and and that's completely fair. But is is chief is Chief Norris in
the room? Yes, he is. I believe. Yep. Yeah. And he's making his way to the podium. Awesome. Good evening. Hi, Chief Norris. Thank you so much. Uh, first thing I want to say is just I I
want to acknowledge that um I appreciate everything that you do for the the city uh and everything that your department does. And um so I want to just acknowledge that. Um in terms of you have an
employee who um has had her hours reduced. Is that correct? Yes. Yes. Um and can you share with us what uh her role is for your department?
Yeah. So um our office manager um oversees a lot of the day-to-day oversight of the administrative administrative operations of the department. Um, a lot of it includes um setting up the procurement of supplies for both fire and EMS. Um, it involves
scheduling tasks for fire prevention activities for both East Hampton and the town of Southampton now that we have the joint uh inspector positions. It involves uh oversight of the EMS budget in and villain uh both for the city of
East Hampton, the contract we have with the town of West Hampton. Um that all comes through the regional dispatch center as well. And then obviously one of the um day-to-day functions of scheduling and payroll um checking the day-to-day payroll, making sure all the
codes are correct and making sure um all the contractual obligations are met for um payment for employees are some of the highlights. Great. And um does this does this individual
um is the the aotted time currently that she has is that more than is that too much time that she has or will this cut in um or will this cut actually impact her ability to be efficient in her job
and and be able to get all the work done? Currently, that employee actually stays over hours to meet some of the deadline and tasks associated with the responsibilities that I just outlined. Okay, great. Thank you very much. And
you know, I know that the fire department and your staff, you're a pretty tight-knit crew, right? Is this the only individual who is having their hours decreased? This is the only individual in our organization that is having a reduction in hours.
And do you think that will have an impact on morale? Um, I don't want to speak for the entire personnel of the of our organization. Um, surely in terms of the day-to-day oversight and operations, um, it's going
to have a negative impact trying to meet the current demand on all the responsibilities I outlined earlier. Great. Thank you very much for your time. I appreciate you. Uh, Chief Norris, you're welcome. Yeah. Um, is is uh Chief Alexander in
the room? He is. He's making his way to the podium. Awesome. Evening counselors. Evening councelor Dunham. Hi, Chief Alexander. Good to see you again. I just want to start out by saying I appreciate everything you do
for the city and um I appreciate everything your department does. Um, you also have an employee who has their hours being reduced. Is that correct? Yes. I'm not 100% sure, but I believe it's the largest cut in hours of of all
the uh eight employees. Right. And I think that amount actually is around $12,000 of income that that one individual is losing. Um, can you tell me a little bit about what uh she does for your department? So,
essentially our office office manager is like the office manager of the fire department in a sense. She does the job of three people. She is accounts receivable, accounts payable, all detail billing goes through her. uh and especially over the last I'd say year
and a half um our dispatch center regionalized with Southampton and is now in charge of essentially four uh separate departments, two police, two fire and with that is a large amount luckily comes from grant funding. Um,
and our office manager, she spends so much time between uh keeping up to make sure everything's in line with the grant to uh any billing and oversight of that. Um, it it's quite a large list of uh tasks that
she's taken on, especially in the last couple years. Mhm. And if if she had a reduction in hours, is that going to impact um the efficiency of your office in your
department? Without a doubt. Like I had said, I mean, she really does the job of three individuals. Um she really should have an assistant. Um like the fire chief said, she works late hours. I get calls on the weekends that she's working from home just to keep up with what's
already on her plate. Okay, great. And um would you say and I know that that Chief Norris didn't want to speak for everybody, but do you think that this would have her reduction in in hours would have an impact on morale of
your department? So again, without speaking for individual officers, absolutely it would. Uh, one of her main uh, priorities is detail billing and making sure our officers are paid on time. And trust me, if if our officers
are seeing their pay being messed with, then absolutely that's going to hurt morale. Sure. And do you also have a social worker that works in your department? Yes. Uh, we have a co-responder uh, that is full-time with our department.
Yep. And how many hours does she work? Do you know? Well, she's a full-time employee. Um, but again, like uh like like our office manager, our officers 24/7 if we are we've woken her up in the middle of the night uh to ask her questions or or seek
guidance, whether it be for a community member or after a critical event that we felt our officers needed to uh talk to her to uh you know, decompress from a certain call. Um she is without a doubt
on call with us 24/7 uh and works much more than 40 hours she's allotted. Great. So is full-time. Is that 40 hours or 37.5? Um so I know she's present at least 40
hours a week. I am not 100% sure on what she is actually paid. Um but she is at a minimum present for 40 hours a week. Okay, great. Thank you very much. I appreciate your time. Thank you.
Is our is our health director here? Yes. Great. Good evening, counselors. Hello. Good evening, counselor. Hi. Good to see you. Sorry the I the
screen takes a little bit of time to to transfer, so I didn't even realize you were standing. Um, again, just want you to know how much I appreciate you and and everything that you do for the city. I know that you are new in this role. Um, and um, yeah, just want to acknowledge that, you know, I appreciate
you. Um, you have an employee who has uh, hours reduced, the social or social worker for the city. Correct. Correct. Correct. And do you know what her new hours are? I believe it is from 36- which it is
currently down to 34. 34. Great. And how many um how many positions are in your office you oversee? I oversee or that are budgeted for.
Thank you. Five. Five. And do you have any open positions at this time? We do. Yes. Yeah. And how many positions are open? There are currently two open positions.
Great. So, a reduction of her hours plus having two open positions that would have an impact on the efficiency of the the services that you could provide to the city. Correct. You are correct. Yes. Yep. All right. Great. Thank you so much. I appreciate your time. Thank you,
counselor. Great. Thank you. Um, our veterans, uh, Tom, are you available? Are you there? He's on. He's online. He's online. He's online. Yep. No, I see he's online.
But, uh, Tom, can you hear me? He is muted. You can tell. Tom, if you can hear us, can you unmute? It might not be
okay. I do see it's yellow and not something else. Uh, okay. Great. Um, is our um, director of DPW in the room? Yes. Awesome.
[Music] community councilors. Councelor Don, great. Hi, Director Netherland. How are you today? Well, good. Good. Good to see you again. Like everything, appreciate all the work that you do for the city and appreciate your time uh this evening. Uh quick question
for you. Um, one of the things that we had talked about was um, uh, the the pay raise that you had received for the city and part of that uh, I think had to do with the amount of
work that you're taking on etc. Would you say that's correct? Yeah, I'm Yeah, it is correct. Yep. Right. So you you've taken on some more responsibilities and therefore you have um uh been compensated accordingly.
Um and have any of your office responsibilities, not yours per se, but your department's responsibilities shifted to the um the oh actually sorry one second. So those responsibilities that you have
taken on can you tell me what those responsibilities are? We've added uh one about one and a half full-time employees to the DPW. We've taken on the management of the transition to fleet uh enterprise fleet for electric and hybrid
vehicles. We're taking on the maintenance of the rail trail as that comes to the DPW over in kind of in stages over the next couple fiscal years. Good. And the rail trail, did that come from another department or was that just
that just maintenance of the trail has previously been handled by the friends of the rail trail committee that as the trail has aged, it's beginning to require a higher amount of maintenance and is a uh real driver for the city. So, I'm actually I'm really looking forward to that coming to DPW so we can kind of Yeah, that's great. take care of
it in a little bit of a strong And sorry, you were just a little bit garbled for me. Um did who did you say that came from? The friends of the rail trail committee. Okay. Friends of the committee. Great. Um, perfect. And can you uh tell me did
any responsibilities that were in your department move to the collections? In what fiscal year? Uh, for this coming fiscal year or for the last fiscal year? No.
So your office did not shift responsibility of ticketing to collections. Ticketing, what kind of ticketing would you be referring to? We don't issue any tickets. Um, so my understanding was responsibility for tickets from the
police department, etc. were moved to collections. Is that correct? No, we've never I've in my tenure as director since 2020, I've never dealt with any type of citation or anything being issued by the police department being paid in the Department of Public Works.
Great. So that's confusing. So during the finance meeting, it was brought up that the collections is now responsible for that and it came from DPW. Is that accurate? My knowledge, no. Came from the treasurer's office. Okay. Treasurer.
We have Thank you very much. Yep. Great. Thank you. Thank you so much for your time. You want to make that clarification? Appreciate it. Is our uh collections department head in the room? No. Sorry. It doesn't look like it, but
it looks like um Mike Owens. Mike Owens is coming up. Councilors, good evening. Council Don. Michael Owens here. Uh, hi. How are you? Is Lori not here today? I don't see Lori here in the room, but I can clarify the situation you were uh discussing with
Greg. Perfect. Thank you so much. Can you clarify what I was just asking? Uh, assistant director, assistant treasurer, the person that works with me and uh primarily does online banking and payroll, was also responsible for
processing parking tickets. Uh we've we've both taken on additional responsibilities because the treasurer's position is vacant at this time. Mhm. And the processing of those parking
tickets went to the collector's office. Okay. They did go to the collector's office. Yes. Great. The assistant treasurer does no longer handle those. They went from uh assistant treasurer across the hall to collector. Okay. Great. Thank you. So she has assumed more responsibility and the
collector has also uh taken a pay decrease. Okay, great. Thank you very much. Okay, thanks. Great. Great. No, no, no one's taking a Sorry. No one's taking a pay decrease. Not so not a pay a uh reduction of
hours. No, that's not right. Wrong position. The assistant the assistant treasurer is not getting a reduction in hours. Uh part of her duties was to process parking tickets. When people came into the into this building 50 paces and and
wanted to pay a parking ticket, they would go see the assistant treasurer. Uh both the assistant treasurer and uh myself have taken on additional duties because the treasurer's uh position is vacant. Uh it made made a
lot of sense for this to go across the hall to the collector uh folks that regularly collect cash or payments on behalf of the city. Mayor, would you like to Yep. Yes. First of all, I believe that we're violating open meeting law and I will be filing
filing a cease and desist with ask me as they're bringing department heads who are on management side and they are being questioned if not interrogated without prior notice to the collector who is is now a department
head and when she was assistant collector until when she made uh she got the job for tax collector received an increase of over $10,000. She is a salary department head
and often works more than a typical employee who is in the union. Now I can't say any I cannot say anything more because I am at a negotiation table and I find this insulting with respect to councelor
Denim but we have now spent quite a few times the these questions are not directed to individual departments as their departments are being reviewed under budget process. There was no suspension of the rules to carry out this public hearing the way it is and
none of my department heads had any heads up of this. They also are not in right now negotiations but very well could be in negotiations as we go further. Impact bargaining requires three negotiation sessions. We are in
one. We have two more sessions um scheduled on the 11th but there is a chance that the union organizer cannot be there. So, the second would be on the 18th. The third will be after the 18th. I I really thank um Council Riley for
just quickly mentioning, you know, that this might happen and I understand it is the right of city council to do this. But the matter, this matter is clearly worthy of an open meeting law violation. And also under our own charter and
rules, if there are specific questions such as these that are going to be asked by city council to department heads, there is a 7day period to give them the ability to prepare and answer the questions. And I maintain that the level
of questioning here is beyond the budget hearing, public hearing that is happening. Not saying that they can't be asked. I'm not trying to like move anything but you know I mean the DPW direct director does not know what
happens on the financial side of the house and would have no idea of how responsibilities have changed between tax collector assistant treasurer with the assistant treasurer and the procurement officer having a side agreement with the union for those extra
responsibilities as would be for any member of that union a side agreement on top of their base work schedule as negotiated if there were additional responsibilities and there is no and now
I can't say another word about it because I'm going back to the negotiation table in in good faith clean hands and I have to look across the table to members of the union who I just don't know what to
Okay. And then I want to bring in one of the department heads to help figure this all out after this happened. You want to talk about morale? I'm I'm just I do I asked the city will be pursuing a cease and
desist on at the negotiation table and we'll file an open meeting law regulation to have the AG review this. I I feel it's totally inappropriate. Thank you. Thank you. Um Councelor Dunham, I think if um before you respond, um I
think that in the spirit of us being able to to move forward here, I think it makes sense. If you have, um a statement that you would like to make around the reduction in hours, uh etc. I think that's perfectly acceptable. I think that probably if you have questions
specifically around budgetary items again I think that's perfectly acceptable. I think um but we should be careful about you know using our our power of questioning to veer off of the topic at hand to make sure that we stay
within the confines. Um and and so uh you know I I think that that's probably the direction we should we should start moving. Um but I I'm sure absolutely I Yep. Absolutely. I requested that um the directors be invited to this and I was
given the okay. Um you know I am not asking anything that was not said or mentioned in the meeting and I was just asking for clarification. So everything that I am asking was at some point brought up or discussed in those meetings where I asked for that
clarification. So this is nothing new. Okay. This is absolutely nothing new. Now in terms of the situation with the particular budget and why I am opposed to this um I do believe that our uh ask
me uh employees were in fact uh un are being unfairly treated and we have what um in the um unclassified um budget We have an
overage of $64,000. Now, the individuals who were cut, the ask me workers who were cut amounts to $24,000 roughly dollars that they were cut. Now, if you look at the amount of
money that our directors who rightfully rightfully received, I'm not disputing that, rightfully received between three and 4% increases to their bud to their
salaries. Now, that total, if my math is correct, equals about $27,000. Now, this is a transfer of wealth from our lowest paid employees to our highest
employ paid employees. And I think that is incredibly problematic. And everything that I have asked today was was information that was presented at the budget hearing meetings. And so, I'm not asking anything that was not already
asked. And this was just merely a a point of clarification. So, I do not support this. I think that we should um not be voting on this this evening and I think that we should allow the the process to move forward with
them to do those things. But I wanted to highlight the points that came up in those meetings that I think that there are members of our um that members of our uh staff who have been unfairly treated and I don't think this is okay.
This has been transfer of wealth from one group of people to another and it's unacceptable. Okay. Do uh any other counselors want to wait? Councelor Kazinski. Thank you. You're welcome. I think first I should speak to our
ability to hold our meetings and our hearing according to our rules, according to our situation, and ask whatever questions are appropriate. What I'm hearing is that a counselor brought
a subject up, asked department heads questions uh before the public questions in fact that about issues that have were addressed at the finance committee meeting. Um, I understand. So,
basically, we're following our regular rules and our proceedings. Although the administration is certainly free to file whatever questions they have, I don't think they should be interfering with the council
process. This is a council. It is our process. It is the public's business. I think we should proceed to deal with the public's business. So, I'm very comfortable proceeding under our normal regular
process. I would hope to be able to work with the administration on whatever questions and issues and with our unions and with the respect of our citizens because I think we all respect our employees and the hard effort that
the people who work for this city provide everyone including our mayor. So, let's work together as best we can to resolve whatever there is to deal with. I, for one, am not prepared to
vote on any budget while there are questions like these before us. And I would ask my fellow counselors to consider that as they give give thought to the matter. Council Riley. Um, you know, I I
agree with Councelor Kisinski that I think this warrants uh suspending the vote on the budget until the next meeting until the 18th. Um what I do want to caution
um the city on and and just you know for the public is whatever this solution looks like it needs to be done by the 18th. We can't do this every year where we come up to
the final minute and then there is some sort of contentious issue that happens at a budget hearing. um these things should have been talked about and resolved long before uh you know receiving an email about
this issue the morning of the vote. Um I obviously am in support of union negotiations and I want to find an amicable way forward. With that being said, the mayor has the ultimate
decision on what that final number looks like and and and that's final. Um, you know, I don't think any of us are in the position where we're suggesting a reduction in the budget and in fact, we would want to if anything increase it to
make sure that everybody gets paid what they're deserved. But if the mayor does not agree to that, then then that that is what it is and we have to we have to be okay with that. Um, you know, the other piece is, you know, that there is just a
troubling trend in the United States where levels of government just haphazardly don't engage in the bud budget process exactly as it's supposed to be engaged in. And this is out of
control at the federal level to the point that people have lost their jobs that there are entire sections of the government that are closing down. And we even see conversations at the state level now in Massachusetts and across the country where states are not getting
the job done when it's supposed to be done. That being said, it is very clear in our governmental rules that the budget needs to be passed before the end of June every single year. And that's a full stop. There's no
questions about it. There's no continuing resolutions. We can't just print money like the federal government does and just say that the problems go away. We have very real financial problems in East Hampton that need to be dealt with and that need to be done
before the end of June every year. If we don't do that, then the government shuts down and everybody goes home. I don't want to see that happen. And I just feel my entire time on this council has been marred by these sorts of controversies that pop up at the last minute. Whether
that's political or not, I'm not going to to say just that we need to get this done by the 18th. What I don't want is the 18th comes around and everybody says we're not quite there yet and then we're scheduling a meeting on June 30th to
pass the budget. That's not that's not good. We need to be the wall of accountability and transparency within the United States that says that local governments will do what they are constitutionally
required to do within the time frame that they are required to do it. If we don't do that as a standard practice, then we might as well just flush the entire democratic system down the toilet because that's it. It's it's literally
us. There's nobody else above us that is going to engage in accountability and transparency and decency at the state level. And it's even worse when you go up higher. So, I understand what the mayor is saying. I understand what councelor
Denim is saying, but we need to do this the correct way. I will not vote on anything past the 18th. So the 18th is the deadline. I am prepared to vote on
the budget on the 18th. If we don't have a solution, then then I'm not voting to make any more extensions because on principle alone, we need to be fiscally responsible and get things done when we're supposed to. So, I know that that is
um tough medicine coming from me where I'm usually wanting to do the most humane thing and do whatever it takes to make sure that everybody's needs are met, but I have to separate who I am as a human being and the level of empathy
that I have with the actual job of a city councelor in the most important thing that we do when we run for office is pass the budget. um everything else is relative. We can do resolutions, we can do ordinances, we can be flexible in
the types of ways that we want to govern our community. The budget is not one of those processes. So, um I apologize for being stern and sort of dystopian with the way that the world is, but it it is what it is.
And I I want to see this get done the correct way. So, um, please to all of the stakeholders involved, be decent to one another, listen, engage in the process, and let's get this done by the 18th,
please. Thank you. Thank you, Council Riley. Councelor Dunham, I see your hand. Great. Um, thank you for those comments, um, Council Riley, and I believe that this is all about decency. Um, I think this
is about how we as a city treat our employees. Um and I don't think it's fair that eight employee six employees eight employees to there's two department heads as well um who have had their um
hours reduced and um if this is about financial kind of fiscal responsibility then I don't think that that responsibility falls on eight people to take a reduction in in pay or reduction
in time which impacts their livelihood, which impacts their retirement um etc. And this is not out of the norm for us. We stood up for the um school uh teachers just a few years ago and we went to bat for them and I
think that this is not anything that is any different. Um and I think this is about us as a community saying that if we are going to be fiscally responsible then we do that collectively and if in the future there has to be reductions or
cuts or things like that then that's across the board and we take that on together and it's not eight people who have to feel that pain and feel that suffering. Um and so I I am right there. I completely agree that this shouldn't
have happened last minute. This shouldn't have happened in an email and that you know we have a responsibility to take care of everyone in the city and taking care of everybody also includes having to uh make reductions but this is
going to result in a cut in services to our residents and that is our priority as well. Uh, thank you, Council. Council Peak. Yeah, thanks everybody. Um, thanks, Mr. President. Um, yeah, so I'm okay with
the idea out of respect for the employees that asked us to uh to continue this until uh the next meeting. I'm okay with continuing it um to the 18th. I I do think that um I I mean I
I'm I'm hopeful that that's that it works. And if if there's not a resolution, but they come to a resolution later, I I this council like I'd be comfortable uh talking about an appropriation later to uh to to uh to
correct that if that was a conclusion that the administration, the unions were able to come to. Um, I am with Councelor Riley on the fact that on the 18th I'll be voting for some budget.
Like I we're going to need to pass something if if there's a way that we can come to an agreement. Um, that would make me happy. I don't want to see anyone uh put in a worse situation. Um, but just one way or another, we're going
to have to vote for something. Um, and I I'm just that that's sort of where I am. Um, I do there one thing that councelor Riley, you said that I just want to slightly push back on in a in polite way is that uh you're saying that this
shouldn't have happened until the last minute and I don't fully think that it did. You know, we were aware of these reductions a while ago and they were a topic of of conversation uh throughout our uh deliberations. uh they were the reason why we had a a
2:1 vote and that was a thing that we were able to have a respectful dialogue about. Um and and that's where we landed. Um I think that what happened is that we received an email saying would this council be willing to uh continue this because we are in the middle of a
conversation. We're hoping that in two weeks we're going to be in a different place. And I think that I' just to be respectful to our union workers, I I' I'd be happy to do that. and and I hope that they come to some sort of resolution that at least some folks can
feel happy about. Um, but I don't think that this happened all of a sudden. It was it's something that we've been discussing. It's something that's been on our radar and they've come forward to say, could we use a we could use a little bit more time? We have a little bit more time. We don't have a lot more time, but we have a couple weeks. So, I
don't have an I don't have any opposition to that. Um, just one thing I would like to say is that before we take uh any motion to continue, which does seem to be, if I'm reading the room right, the way that this council wants to uh go, I I want to
just say, is anyone proposing any sort of cuts? Nope. Okay. Um All right. Then because just if there was something that we were to discuss, it would be better to hear about it now than in in two weeks where
suddenly somebody brings something up and somebody has a question and we don't if we're going to have these two weeks, we should use them, right? If anyone's thinking about doing any any budget stuff, use these two weeks to think it through and ask the appropriate questions because we don't want to be here in two weeks being like, "Oh, wait.
We can't come to a conclusion tonight." Um, that being said, unless there's anything that anyone else Sure. I I just would like to kind of have like a wrap-up statement before you Yeah. And also since we are in a public hearing, I should allow the public a
chance to speak as well. Um, but I think, you know, I'd like to address two things here. I think number one is the the accusation of an open meeting law violation, uh, which I disagree with. I think that this was um all of the budget hearings that we've had so far advertised the exact same way tonight's
public hearing was advertised and we had the same discussions at all four of those meetings. Um and so I think that that you know a counselor asking department heads about staffing cuts that are part of their budget. Um, you know, this is related to, you know, the
the knowledge that we have that $65,000 was overbudgeted for the retirement and that, you know, that that money is going to sit where it is until it becomes free cash and then transferred over into free cash and then, you know, it's like the counselor is making a suggestion that maybe some of that money could be used
for this. So, I think it's all within the purview of um and and I would also suggest that the money that you know we're going to have to uh spend talking to lawyers about an open meeting law violation would be much better used giving to our employees um and and
allowing them to maybe potentially um you make up some of this difference because that honestly is just money wasted. We don't need any more wasted money in this budget or in any budget. Uh we need more pragmatic approach and more collaborative approach. So, I I disagree with that piece. Um, and we'll
see what happens with that. Uh, as far as the continuation, I'm fine with the continuation. I just want to a couple logistical things. We need to make sure that we have all hands on deck. Some of these votes require a two-thirds majority. We need to make sure that we have, you know, counselors that are going to be available for this next
meeting and that we don't have any, you know, I feel like we should have all hands on deck for that. Uh, and then we also have to acknowledge we're going to have to buckle our seat belts because this is not going to be a short meeting. Um, we have a lot of supplemental appropriations. It is going to be a long night. So, just everybody be prepared
for that, which I think is, you know, it's good to psychologically prepare ourselves for that. Make sure you eat dinner before you come. Um, but that being said, you know, I think those are uh just a couple of the things that I wanted to say before we um wrap this up. But I I do, if I am reading the room, I
think that this is going to be um you know, a continuation of the public hearing until our next meeting 6:15. Um, and I'll allow Councelor Peak to make that motion, but I do feel like it's important for anybody in the public that would like to speak to this um, in any way, shape, or form um, related to the
budget. Um, you you please you can step to the podium. You can have three minutes. Uh, you would just need to state your name and address for the record. Nicole Ashappelle, 123 East Street, East Hampton, Massachusetts. I will politely disagree with the president on open meeting law and any legal fees that will
go along with that. In fact, when we're talking about a public process, it deserves and needs to be fully vetted and that the legal fees are what they are. And I don't think it's in the public interest to decide not to file a complaint or or dismiss a complaint
because of legal fees. This is an open meeting law violation as I see it. I have a right to file it as does any member of the public and the city one way or another will have to defend it. Maybe it involves legal fees, maybe it doesn't. A second issue I'd like to
bring forward is that the matters that were discussed tonight and the type of questions that were asked of department heads are clearly those to be asked at the table of negotiation in good faith. And I feel that the questions that were answered and the way I mean the
questions that as they were asked were to make a case for an issue this council has no control over which are one negotiations and two spending of money and I find that that will be also we will be filing. I also am worried
about what in negotiations they are confidential as they are ongoing and I have serious questions about the other side of this table and asked me if that was broken that confidentiality when they came and made their case. We have
worked with other unions. They have come and made their case and they have been very specific and mindful of that confidentiality clause under the National Labor Relations Board. And I remind that as far as
negotiations, we have known about this issue and have gone back and forth with this union for some time. This is not new. Which also concerns me of what the union is doing as they're talking outside of the confidentiality as we get
closer to budget time to make a case while they are waiting for us to clearly go by three our impact bargaining sessions. any delay, cease and desist, was on both sides as far as getting the union organizer as well as our legal counsel
to the table to do those negotiations. This is not a last minute thing and it has nothing to do with our my proposed budget or our pro our joint um budget procedures as they are laid out in the
home riddle charter as well as the city council rules and the process that are in our financial policies. And I I feel again not personal, but it is very difficult to sit here as a member of the public, but also the mayor to just sit
here with with no ability to respond at all as a part of the budget process and I am even questioning the words I've said so far, but feel that the department heads and quite honestly the employees
deserve a full public vetting. I disagree with the way this council approached. Thank you. Thank you. Anybody else from the public? Kathy Wisinski, Overlook Drive. I wanted to thank the counselor for bringing the attention to the discrepancies in the
budget and the problem of our lowest paid staff or some of our lower paid staff getting such reductions. I also had a question that seems really confusing to me and maybe um it's because I'm having a blonde moment, but we have a mayor's
office that has an FTE of two but has a personnel line of 182,000. The mayor's salary is only about 90,000. So, we have a secretary that doesn't work 40 hours a week that makes $92,000 a year. That seems excessive given that she's now
getting a $3,000 raise. Um, I think it's inappropriate that other staff are receiving cuts. Um, I know last year when we were having the budget discussions, I raised the concern about some of our lowest paid staff in the sewer department not having appropriate
salaries. I think that is still an issue. Um, and I really appreciate the public discussion about these concerns. Thank you. Thank you. Uh, anybody else from the public? Uh, anybody online? Uh, okay. Councelor Peak, I
think we could probably Sure. Uh, yes. I will make a motion to continue this hearing uh until our next uh meeting. That'll be June 18th at 6:15 in these chambers. Second. Okay. We have a motion and a second. Any further discussion?
Uh, Maryanne. Salem Derby. I. Felicia Jadik. I. JPinski. Hi. Tom Peak. I. Brad Riley. I. Tamara Smith. Hi. JT Terrell. Peg Conneiff.
I. Connie Denim. I. Okay. Motion passes. Um, so this uh public hearing will be continued until our next meeting. Uh, I would entertain a motion to close the public hearings. So move second.
Alicia Jazzik. Hi. JP Kazinski. I Tom Peak. I Brad Riley. I Tamara Smith. Hi. JT Terrell. Peg Conneiff. Hi. Connie Denim. Hi. Salem Derby. Hi. I
have a question. Point of point of order. Councelor Krosinski, it seems contradictory to be closing the public hearings when we continued it. So, we've continued it. Should we have a vote on closing? We're closing this this particular section of
the public hearing, I think, is this section. Yeah, that's probably a better way of saying it. I just wanted to be sure we didn't make any open any violations of protocol. Let's hope that and we are to the point of our uh agenda where it is mayor communications. I don't know mayor if you have anything
else to I communicated. You have communicated. Thank you. Um and so that brings us to uh reports from standing committees. Uh councelor Peak I think you might have a couple things to I do have a couple things. Um so we met Did you bring your long voice today? I sure
hope we did. Last year when we did this I had terrible allergies and I thought I was going to die by the end. This year I took my flow. I think I'm in a good position to do it. So we met last week uh to discuss the budget which we just discussed. Uh we'll be meeting next week
at uh 5:30 in conference room 1 to discuss a whole lot of appropriations uh which I'm about to read uh in first reading. So uh if somebody sees me do
something wrong uh let me know. But otherwise, bring your shoulder. Yeah. Um, I'm going to do this as one motion because we've got three people online. If we do this as a roll call vote for all like 20 of these, we're going to be here till like 10 at night. So, this
will be a single motion to uh move these appropriations uh to the finance uh committee uh do the first reading and to schedule a public
hearing for all of them for 6:15 in these chambers on June 18th, which is going to be a real doozy of a meeting. All right, let's get started. Um request is hereby made for approval of the following appropriation amount
requested $136,000 to be transferred from enterprise retained earnings to be transferred to FY25 water SCADA program. The amount requested will be used for the following purpose. This appropriation will fund the design and
installation of upgrades for the water department SCADA system. city uh IT department has successfully secured $147,000 in grant funding from the community compact IT grant program
towards the total project cost of $283,000. The current system is approximately 30 years old, obsolete, and in need of replacement. Okay. Request is hereby made for the approval of the following appropriation amount requested.
$128,000 to be transferred from uh Enterprise Retain earnings to be transferred to FY25 wastewater treatment plant RA pumps. Uh the amount requested will be used for the following purpose. This appropriation will fund the
installation of the new return and waste pumps and associated valving at the wastewater treatment plant. Uh this work will be completed as part of the upcoming aator replacement project uh which results in a significant cost
savings. That's good. Request is hereby made for approval of the following appropriation. amount requested $37,000 to be transferred from Enterprise Retained earnings $37,000 to be transferred to FY25 Lovefield pump
station Improvements. The amount requested will be used for the following purpose. Uh this appropriation will fund the construction and repair of upgrades at the Lovefield Street wastewater pumping station. Uh the construction
will include replacement of the discharge piping release valve and installation of a bypass pumping connection uh to allow for a larger uh rehabilitation to be completed on this station in the
future. Other supplemental appropriation request is hereby made for the following appropriation. Amount requested $2,400,000 to be transferred from free cash $2,400,000 to be transferred um to uh
fund 84 general stabilization 1,81,800,000. Fund 85 general stabiliz or capital stabilization $500,000. Fund8 tax rate stabilization $100,000. The amount requested will be used for the following purpose. To fund
general stabilization to provide stability in the current environment to fund capital stabilization to meet capital needs and to fund the tax rate stabilization to reduce the impact of debt exclusions on the tax rate. Request is hereby made for the
following appropriation. amount requested uh $19,3960 to be transferred from free cash to be transferred to fund 87 cannabis stabilization. The amount requested will be used for the following purpose to
fund cannabis stabilization to cover deficit. Request is hereby made for the following appropriation. Amount requested $44,845 to be transferred from PEG access account to be transferred to PEG access account. The amount requested
will be used for the following this is an interdep departmental transfer by the way. The amount uh requested will be used for the following uh purpose to give approval to spend from the PEG access receipts reserved account for cable related purposes consistent with the franchise
agreement. Supplemental appropriation request is hereby made for the approval of the following appropriation. Amount requested $9,12 to be transferred from school workers comp
$4,551 city workers comp4 $4,551 to be transferred to school workers comp $4,551. City workers comp $4,551. The amount requested will be used for the following purpose. Uh vote
to pay prior fiscal year bill out of FY25 budget covers workers comp audit adjustment invoice for prior fiscal year FY24 policy period July 1st 2023 to June 30th 2024.
MIA insurance supplemental appropriation requests hereby made for approval of the following appropriation amount requested $270,000 to be transferred from free cash $270,000 to be transferred to
um 32B health and dental insurance and then there's a number of accounts account I'm not going to read the numbers, but they're all for it's for 60,000 67,500 each um
to these various uh unnamed numbered accounts. Um the amount requested will be used for the following purpose uh to cover the remaining health and dental insurance
premiums for May, June, and July FY2025. Uh supplemental appropriation request is hereby made for approval of the following appropriation. Amount requested $20,945 to be transferred from school liability
$10,855. City liability $10,90 to be transferred to school liability $10,855. City liability $10,90. The amount requested will be used for the following purpose. Vote to
pay prior fiscal year bills out of FY25 budget. Uh covers liability adjustment and deductible invoices for prior fiscal year FY2024. Policy period July 1st, 2023 to
June 30th, 2024. MIA insurance uh supplemental appropriation request is hereby made for approval of the following appropriation. Amount requested $15,000 to be transferred from free cash to be transferred to IOD
uh fire medical expenses. The amount requested will be used for the following purpose. covering remaining fire department injured on duty medical expenses for FY2023 uh billing incurred after fiscal year closing.
Uh okay, this is a supplemental appropriation. Um there we go. Request is hereby made for approval of the following appropriation. Amount requested $113,010.114 to be transferred from uh
police base pay $8,5614 police overtime $57,000 police sick time $31,67585 police unused vacation $10,2732025 uh oh police.
Uh I guess this is um huh um police auto expenses uh 5 $500. Um oh no, so it's be transferred from free cash to those things. Sorry, the
formattings on this one is a little bit different. Um, sorry. The amount requested will be used for the following purpose. to cover the contractual payout of for retirement of Staff Sergeant Brian Ross, to cover
the shortfall in the FY25 overtime as a result of one officer on maternity leave, three officers on paid parental leave, one officer that attended 12 weeks of K9 training, one officer on military deployment for 9 months, two officers with monthly weekend military
training, one officer assigned to field training and minimal special officers available due to police reform bill and post requirements as well as a new hire that may need to attend the police academy uh to cover the cost of anticipated uh auto supply repair
expenses for the remainder of FY205. Um then that's just [Applause] that request is hereby made this is a supplemental appropriation request is hereby made for approval of the
following appropriation amount requested uh $321,23045 to be transferred from free cash $321,23045 to be transferred to snow snow overtime time $20,17683. Rentals
$95,59.73. Snow Chemical uh $32,9314. Salt $133,632.85. Snow uh school plowing $36,550. Travel/meals $2,430. The amount requested will be used for the following purpose. Uh the Department
of Public Works has experienced a shortfall of $321,23045 in the snow and ice removal budget for FY25. We are requesting funds to be transferred from free cash to cover this deficiency.
Um, here's another uh police one. Uh, supplemental appropriation. Uh, request is hereby made for approval of the following appropriation. Amount requested, $2,000 to be transferred from free cash to be transferred to animal control
professional services. The amount requested will be used for the following purposes. to cover shortfalls in the FY25 acco professional services as a result of increased cost to share animal control animal shelter services with the city of Westfield. The monthly fee has
increased to $1322 effective uh November 18th, 2024. Uh there are also additional monthly fees which can include uh boarding and medical fees, costs per uh call of
service, rabies testing and associated shipping costs, kennel inspection fees, etc. All right, got a supplemental appropriation. Um request is hereby made for approval of the following appropriation amount requested. $14,930 to be transferred from free cash
$14,930 to be transferred to ambulance supplies $11,500 miscellaneous and professional technical miscellaneous professional and technical services $3,430. The amount requested will be used for the following purposes. uh
cover costs of EMS supplies for remainder of the year and costs for fire, police, and dispatch on peer support network fee. Request is hereby made for approval of the following appropriation. Amount requested, $40,000 to be transferred
from free cash, $40,000 to be transferred to fire medical $2,000. Vehicle repairs, $25,000. Fire equipment, $7,000. Fire education and training, $3,000. Building equipment, $3,000. The
amount requested will be used for the following purpose. Uh fire medical cost of onboarding two new firefighters for medical evaluations. Vehicle repairs costs for unanticipated repairs uh for on fire apparatus. Fire equipment cost
for annual service on host testing $5,500 and extraction equipment $1,500. Uh fire education training. uh contractual requirements for reimbursement, personnel for tuition, uh
building equipment, annual uh service on exhaust removal systems, 1500, and vision 21 systems, 1500. Request is hereby made uh for approval of the following appropriation.
Amount requested $28,000 uh to be transferred from free cash $28,000 to be transferred to uh two accounts. They both start 0019121. They uh first one ends
5601 and the second one ends 5744. Um they're both for $14,000. Uh amount requested will be used for the following purpose. funding school and city Medicare expenses for FY
2025. Request is hereby made for the following appropriation. Amount requested $300,000 to be transferred from free cash $300,000 to be transferred to school intergovernmental $300,000. The amount requested will be
used for the following purpose. To cover deficits in the school department for unanticipated special education, tuition and transportation expense accounts. Second. We've got a second. Can you repeat the
third one? Um, we we have a motion and a second. Any further discussion? I'm moving those to finance. Councelor Pete, I just want to say for the benefit of any public watching that might have seemed really confusing. We just got our free cash uh
certified which came back to a substantial surplus. So now we have to decide uh how if at all to spend that money and various departments have various cost overruns or unex unanticipated expenses that they've incurred over the course of the fiscal
year. So now they come to us to uh present those ideas on how we could spend down some of the surplus and anything that doesn't get spent will probably just get sent to stabilization. And and I also would add that and thank you for that explanation that um this budget that we continued our hearing on
um it would be a budget that would have these expenses upfront budgeted and we wouldn't necessarily have end of the year appropriations like this um with the the newer kind of version of the budget. That's my hope. Um,
so I think that's one of the points. Yes. Yeah. It's not just for me, right? Yeah. Thanks, Councelor Peak. Um, Maryanne, JB Kuisinski, hi. Tom Peak, I Brad Riley, hi. Tamara Smith, hi. JD
Terrell, Connor, I Connie Denim, I Salem Derby. Hi, Felicia Jadik. I Okay, motion passes. Um I believe there is uh one more uh finance uh piece of
new business. It's the request from the police department for creation of a donation account uh supporting mindfulness and meditation in PD and FD. So you could just move that to finance if you feel so inclined. Yes, absolutely. I will also uh I don't know audience. I'll move that to finance as
well. Good. We have a motion in the second. Uh, Maryanne Tom Peak. I Brad Riley. Hi, Tamara Smith. Hi, JT Terrell. Peg Conneith. I Connie Denim. I Salem Derby. Hi, Felicia Jadik.
I JP Kazinski. Okay, motion passes. And so that Thank you, Council Peak. That concludes. Yes. Yes. Um and uh so councelor Terrell is not here from public safety. So I will just say that uh we have no report this evening. Um and appointments. Councelor
Smith. No report this evening. Thank you. Councelor Smith. Ordinance. Councelor Denim. Thank you, Mr. President. I have nothing new to report. Um but we do have two upcoming meetings.
uh one for uh June 9th at 6 PM in conference room 1 and we'll be discussing the um short-term rental ordinance and June 10th um at 5:00 p.m.
We will continue the conversation um regarding the uh housing partnerships uh zoning um proposals. Um I don't sorry I I'm on my iPad so I don't have the agenda in
front of me but I believe we have a couple of um dates that we need to extend by 90 days. I can I can read them for you if you'd like. Yeah, that I would appreciate that. Uh so the review uh request to review residency requirements
for memberships on committees. Uh 90-day extension. Um review of affordable fair housing partnership zoning ordinance recommendations 90-day extension. And request to review zoning ordinance amendments short-term rentals. Again, 90-day extension. Uh we can just put
that in the form of a motion. Second. Okay, we have a motion in a second. Any further discussion? I got them. All right. Okay, Mary Brad Riley. Hi Tamara Smith. Hi JT Terrell. Peg Coniff.
Hi Connie Denham. Hi Salem Derby. Hi Felicia Jadik. I JPinski Tom Peak. Hi. Any other updates council D?
That's everything we have to offer council this evening. Uh thank you. And as I review this, I'm just going to uh take responsibility for the fact that I neglected to ask for an extension for traffic and pedestrian safety and public safety. So I would in the form of a motion request a 90day extension on that
item. Second. Okay, we have a motion in the second. Marian. Okay. Tamara Smith. I. JT Terrell. Peg Conneiff. I. Connie Denim. Hi. Salem Derby. Hi. Felicia
Jadik. I JP Quisinski Tom Peak. Hi, Rad Riley. I Okay, thank you. Uh, property council peak. Thank you, Mr. President. Uh, property is not met and uh I think we probably won't meet until the new next
fiscal year at which point we're going to pick up this uh issue around uh uh flags on public property which will need a 90-day extension. So, I will make a request for that now in the form of a motion. Second. Okay, we have a motion in a
second. Uh, Maryannne, Peg Coniff, I Connie Denham, I Salem Derby, I Felicia Jadik, I, JPinski, hi. Tom Peak, I Brad Riley,
I Tamara Smith, I JT Terrell, okay, motion passes. Um, and I believe is that it, councelor? Okay, perfect. So, rules and government relations. Uh, yep. Oh, we do have a piece of new business for property. Oh, we do. I'm
sorry. No problem. Uh it's um right at the top. Oh, yes. Oh, yes. So, I will also move uh the I would make a motion to uh move the request from the conservation commission for a conservation restriction on uh 385 Main
Street, Kestrel Land uh Trust, Inc. Uh to new business. Second to property. To property. To property. Okay, we have a motion in the second. Maryann. Uh Tamara Smith. Hi. Brad Riley. Hi. Tom
Peak. Hi. JP Kazinski. Hi. Felicia Jadik. Hi. Salem Derby. Hi. Connie Denim. Hi. Peg Con. JT Terrell. Hi. Thank you. Okay. Oh, and one more thing. Um, it actually did occur to me the
conservation agent did reach out saying that this item, now that you mention it, is a little bit timesensitive. So, we should probably meet next week. Um, I'll be in I I think would Would Tuesday work for you,
councelor? Sure. Would that work for you, Councelor Kiff? What date is that? Tuesday the uh I don't know, six days from now. The 10th. attempt. Yep. Choose the attempt. Ordinance meeting then? Yep. Or we have
an ordinance meeting. Uh, sure. Okay. Yep. Let's do 5:30. Okay. Yeah. Sorry to do that on the fly. Uh, it's okay. Just you did it nicely today. It is time sensitive. So, thank you. Good job. Yes. Um, okay. Uh, rules and government relations, councelor
Kazinski, we did not meet. Uh, I just wanted to be sure, Maryanne, that we had the extension on the mayor's compensation matter. That was one of the I Okay. All the all the ones I believe that councelor Derby had mentioned. If that's the case, then we're covered. No
further report. Okay, perfect. Um, well, that takes care of our new business, old business. Uh, I would entertain a motion to adjurnn. So moved. Second. Motion in a second. All those. Oh, I'm sorry. Marianne,
that happens. Coniffy. Good. Hi, Connie. Denim. Hi, Salem. Derby. Hi, Felicia Jadik. I JP Quisinski. Hi, Tom Peak. I Brad Riley, I Tamara Smith, I JT Terrell.
Okay, motion passes. Thank you everybody. Appreciate it. Thank you.