##VIDEO ID:ix6x3Sv_Yos## city council please come to order cler call the RO please here here here [Applause] this is a public hearing for the municipal electrical aggregation plan uh are there any propon proponents to this proposal that would like to be heard please come for [Applause] good evening members of the council um we are here this evening to uh complete another step in the process for uh Municipal electricity aggregation uh the council has already um allowed the community move forward with this program uh you've already actually approved uh the plan necessary so we're here this evening as part of the uh public Outreach reach process to make sure that the residents of Fall River are aware of the program and have every opportunity to understand the significance of that program uh just by way of of a quick recap uh Fall River through the Southeast Regional planning and economic development District uh did come together with 15 other communities um including New Bedford which of course is of comparable size and we decided to band together to go into the market to to purchase uh electricity Supply and that savings uh that bulk purchasing power is going to be put to use to allow our residential and small business customers within Fall River to see some uh significant savings within their electric utility bills um here with me this evening is Philip Carr and he is the business development director for good energy he'll spend a little bit of time just advising you as to where we are in the process and hopefully provide some additional information that'll be helpful to our residents um we we're excited about the program we believe that the savings to the average uh residential homeowner could be as much as $120 to $130 per year and given the rising cost we've seen with electricity charges um it'd be nice to think that as opposed to a large increase in utility costs they're actually um likely to to see a decrease in those costs by virtue of this this bulk purchasing power and our effort to regionalize an effort that is going to be in the best interest of our community so I'll turn it over to Mr Carr turn your mic on please okay hello that's right all good evening Mr chairman uh and council members uh and uh and those who came to uh hear more about the uh Municipal aggregation program um so I just sort i' give you a quick update um this is a good time and it'll descriptor so uh so first thing um uh this has been a pretty horrendous season for electricity bills um uh when you're paying 16 cents uh just for the uh commodity before you add in all the delivery charges um that's about the second or third highest rate in in in the country and and you know that's vacation money um so so um the first thing IID point out is that those rates have just come down to 9 cents as as of May okay approximately 9 cents uh part of the uh nature of the market is that they will then uh the rates will reset again in November okay historically the rates go up uh in November so what we're trying to accomplish here is is is uh is find a a safe port in the storm for for all the residents and the businesses of of Fall River because uh what's happening right now is is is affecting the pocketbooks of your of of your businesses and your households so just to just to let you know I'll give you a little bit of just advice right now um uh for for all those who are listening um really really be very very very diligent when you get an offer from someone okay uh just make sure that um the the offer that you sign up for um check the termination fees okay that's a very important thing uh many people get hit by really high termination fees okay so if you're if you've been feeling the pain uh be aware that the rates just came down so if someone's going to hit try and sell you an 11 Cent 12 cent rate it comes down to 9 it's down at 9 now okay so don't don't think that what you've been paying the last few months is is where is where it's at now that's important okay so just that in mind for all those of you um here and at home um and uh uh and also when you're when you're looking at at another offer um you know make sure it's a fixed offer that's not going to change it's not going to be fixed for one month and then Spike up if you follow those three rules then you know you you know you're GNA you're going to save yourself 80% of the pitfalls all right so so we're now in the situation of doing something very exciting which is Municipal aggregation municipal aggregation um is the bulk purchasing of electricity uh the reason we can do better than National Grid uh principally is because we can buy when we want to buy okay it's quick refresher here uh National Grid has to buy on certain days of the year okay one of the reasons the rates were so high this winner was because they purchased power in the middle of the if you recall the March polar vortex 2014 they bought right then at the the market okay so so what we can do is we can actually help you buy power at a at a time when the market is favorable and in bul so you get the best of both worlds uh where we're at right now in the process is that uh the municipal aggregation plan uh is with uh the department of energy resources um full River is is combined with uh about 16 other communities and and you have a very significant buying group it's it's many communities uh including New Bedford uh Farah Haven Dartmouth uh the majority of the communities in the Southeast Regional planning and economic development District are part of this program and also some other communities uh further north as well um the plan has been moving a little bit slowly through do quite frankly and and as a result we um have seen um uh some some uh letters and information being uh moved up to senior elected officials to see if they can accelerate that process um we have a consultation uh on full rivers plan set for May 20th with doe uh we would hope to get a consultation consultation that are from doar shortly after that and then um the plan for for Riv will be sent to uh the dpu uh we uh have been speaking to the Department of Public Utilities and um giving them as much information as possible so that they can hopefully move this plan through as quickly as possible our deadline is to get your approval for your plan by August 31st that's our goal so we can go out to bid in September and get all of your resident businesses moved onto one fixed rate that's not going to change by the the November rate change that's our goal and that's what we're working towards uh we've met with senior elector officials in the Commonwealth um I went to a breakfast meeting where uh lien govern Governor Palo was speaking uh about a month ago um I was at a breakfast meeting in Worcester where secretary Beaton uh was speaking two weeks ago uh they are aware of what we're trying to accomplish okay so we're working hard to make everybody aware that we need these approvals as quickly as possible now when this kicks in uh in September uh we'll have a bid uh just refresher full River does not have to sign if they don't like the price you have that optionality uh however if you move forward this the protocol is that all the residents and businesses uh will get sent an opt-out letter which explains uh the rate uh and and the term of the offer how long it is whether it's for two years or three years it be one fixed rate that will not change um we are as a consultant will be running a marketing campaign in the runup to that okay the letter that is sent out to the households in the event of a successful bid will be uh visibly seen to be coming from the city that's a very important Point okay so there's no confusion so there'll be markings to do with the city of full River or logo or something um so that you will know that that is the electric offer that is the city's offer okay so there can be no confusion um so we'll do an extensive marketing Outreach around that time time um so that people are aware of what's coming um you will have 30 days to opt out of the program if you don't want to participate and after that um you can leave the program whenever you want no one is ever locked into this program uh if they don't want to be in it there's no termination fee okay so you know when this program's uh up and running essentially it's like you've got an energy consultant uh for every household and business in the city I'm going to leave a bunch of business cards behind here any anybody can take them they can call me anytime uh you know prefering not 12:00 and 6:00 in the morning but you know apart from that it's good um so I've given a brief overview there um if there's any questions at all this is a great time coun in seat six Council pelich yes sir thank you I didn't catch your name oh sorry sir Philip Carr from good energy okay you know at my house and I would imagine everybody else's house that weting calls flooded with calls hey I'm going to give you uh 12 cents I'll give you 16 cents sign up for two years sign up for three years we don't know where we're going get five six calls a week you sign I signed up for two years I signed up for 11 now you're told me I probably get it for nine how do I get out of that contract how do anybody get out of that contract in the next question what took you so long to get here we're getting calls from everybody yeah all of a sudden you're in front of us and I don't know how many people here decided to switch or sign off yeah uh I think it's it's a good deal I think uh you know from all the calls that I'm getting and I get to the point where I just look I'm all set I don't need I'm all set but you know for the other people they must get confused what is happening yes sir so I'm glad to see you here and I think maybe this is the way to go so let's say someone like me me says okay now we can buy it through the city right or through you yes sir and I got a two-year contract I got to pay some kind of fee I I I think it was $200 for termination and I don't know how many of these people here and the people of for River got tied up with this type of contract and now is it's legal and binding right so yeah so when the program becomes active um yeah you need to check your early termination fees um that that that is the key thing so and and I also notice when they call if you decided that you were going to take that particular proposal then they put you on to another phone uh explaining that you're on tape and this is a contract and everything else so you say okay is this true is this where you live is this what you want to do then two days later you get another call you're all set because you know you may have to pay if you leave early a couple $100 and they want to sign me up for three years they sign me up for two years how many other people in for River in the same situation right because a lot of people take advantage of people yeah I'm going to be cheaper but we don't know what came down the road with you right so you know I I think uh some of us may be in a dilemma and I'm hoping that you know maybe I can get out of it I just hope nobody else got stuck with the same problem that I have with that I thank you thank you councelor in C2 councelor kareah thank you chairman uh great to see you guys back here I think this is a a good program overall I would agree with councelor pelet here that's going to be a big problem and did I hear you cor correctly that there's going to be an opt out right just because you're automatically opted in yes sir it's run as an opt out that's how you get the buying power Okay now what's that opt out process look like for the average citizen right so so there'll be a letter that is sent to every household and business that is on with basic service okay at the moment as in that is not already elected another supplier um that letter will um outline the details of the offer what the rate will be and how long it will be for and we'll also have a postcard inside a stamped addressed which can be mailed back if you do want to opt out so that's the people that do have another service do not do not those are the people people who do for the people who do they will not be mailed that offer however we'll be doing publicity around around what the offer is and anybody can call can call us good energy uh or they can call the winning supplier who will also be advertised and they will advise them to check their early termination fees first that's the first thing yeah because of if it's going to cost you 200 and you're only saving 132 this year you might as well not get out of it and this is a public hearing so we want toly make sure that the public is aware of that yes exactly right you do have to check the termination fees doesn't make sense don't do it corre that has to be acknowledged yes sir so if I could just interject to though counselor good energy is going to be here to be able to help people work through that so even if there's an early termination depending upon the rate that you bought in at if you're looking at our program being a two or threee term it may still be worth your while to opt out but they can help you um look at the that you've got look at what the termination fee is and then look at the likelihood that even with that termination fee you may be wise to uh to cancel and to move into the other program but they're going to be a great resource and and when we were selecting the consultant in question we wanted a lot of services provided to our consumer and so they're going to be there to help now as um Mr KH mentioned they won't be getting the initial notification but there will be a lot of publicity and notifications surrounding that and there'll be numbers for them to call so that individually they can take a look at what they have so if you are like counsil peler and he's opted into another program he wouldn't get that initial letter but he could contact you if he so CH chose yes AB absolutely and and and to be quite clear uh we really mean what we say when you say any householder can call us we take that very seriously whenever I get a call from a householder I stop everything I'm doing uh and and deal with that you know and the reason being is first off the hard real is not that many people call okay so I know it's not it's not everybody who calls but for those people who do call we resolve their problem quickly they are the best advocates for the program because they'll go back and say good you gave me the time of day they they they solved my problem they made me realize it it was good idea for me to move and point out the risks or they point out the fact that maybe I should wait until my my contracts expired and then start we take that very very seriously now do you already know at this point in time how many people have not opted into another service yes sir we it's um the migration data gets updated regularly by National Grid uh we believe it's about uh 76% who have not uh 76% of households and businesses yes but I haven't seen the data for the last two months so okay so you happen to know how much how many kilowatts that is that represents kilowatt hours proba is it in the megawatts yeah I I I don't want to give you an inaccurate number I I I can email you that we do we do we do actually have that data because we have to repair it so that we can get it ready for a bit down the line okay and then what are you are you expecting a price are you expecting it to be around 9 cents is it going to be higher than that um here's the thing and this is this a good question actually um I don't know what the price will be right now um two things I would point out though firstly is when that price comes out okay you've got to Benchmark your savings annually okay because those rates are always going to come down a bit in the summer and they're going to go up in the winter just there's several benefits to the program um one is is you going to get that price stability so clearly if you're lock in at a 10 cent rate and it's 9 cents in the summer and 13 in the winter or 12 in the winter you're winning so that's that's an important point you got to realize because what you're doing is suddenly you have instead of being a bit wild west where you know you're getting hit by these crazy volatility by the utility or you're being hit by crazy offers over the phone you suddenly have a plan you have a strategy someone is looking after your energy bill period so that's how you know we feed our families we we based on the success we have and to give you uh what we do as good energy we're the industry leaders in Municipal aggregation okay um we uh have uh about uh one and a half million people out in the midwest we buy buy Power Force so we're very experienced at doing this uh and we've saving them about $120 million so far and and the bid that we run for um for River will be put out to biid with the most competitive suppliers and the biggest suppliers in the country so no estimation on Range 9 to 11 yeah I've learned a long time ago not not to give out estimation no problem now that rate though when we do get that rate is that going to be with delivery as well delivery charge it's just the just the generation be the generation portion okay so people do have to take that into account as well now what is that going to do to people that have solar currently on their household are they opted in are they opted out automatically right okay so um they if they haven't elected a third party supplier for for for for um at this stage then there'll be some op out letter but it's only the portion of electricity that they're using mhm uh which will be subject to the new rate okay so those what about the people with solar energy though so well if they have a net metering situation so it's only so if if they're completely on solar then they're fine but if they're taking some portion of power from National Grid then just that portion of power will be at the new rate so they'll get knocked out if if they're on with if they're still on with basic service for the for their main provider okay right because with most solar the normally at least 25% still comes from from the utility even if they have 75% we're talking rooftop solar yeah yeah normally it's it's normally about 25% still needs to be drawn from the utility so that 25% will be on at the um will be in the the optin automatic op yes ex okay the 25% if they haven't chosen on Supply yes sir right I'm just curious on and do do you do Market res search on how it affects communities that are going Sol like more more homes that might go solar uh that's a really great question I just came back from a main and Street conference last week um and there's a lot of conversation about solar and a lot of people lot of lot of lot of solar companies are interested in aggregation programs for for actually developing and rolling out um Solar Products so so the answer to that is uh it might have an impact in encouraging solar in an area that's possible okay yeah I'd be curious to know that Council you also made a good point that I'd like to stress since it is a hearing um what if the residents that that opt in uh they're still going to get their bill from National Grid National Grid continues to be their uh their conduit so it's still it's still getting the electricity to their homes uh so the bill won't change the billing data will not change really the only thing that changes is on the back of the bill there's a section where it shows supplier obviously that'll be a different number but uh residents do not need to anticipate there's going to be a huge change in how they how they're build and um who's available National Grid is also available to feel their calls should they have any problems with their service so virtually all aspects of the delivery system will stay exactly the same okay interesting uh is the city getting any benefit from this program we are not uh counselor and there has been conversation about the possibility that the city could take a piece of that those savings and utilize those savings uh to advance a solar project um solar energy person actually um as I understand it this is uh something recent that one of the other communities did get authorization to use a portion of those funds to hire uh a person to do solar work within their Community um at the at the present time uh our our effort is to get all of the possible savings directly to the residents and the small businesses and not to divert any of those funds feeling I meant like when we buy our power for this building schools okay that's all right no actually Fall River is U purchasing as as a bulk purchase through a regional initiative what's our current rate uh I believe it's 9 cents under contract okay good um so we're all set and this kind of a program wouldn't be something that a municipality would participate in in largeot because we do have contracts for the the bulk purchasing of our so it's specifically geared for residents and small businesses and and as I indicated um the feeling was um certainly You Know M set is a strong proponent of the program as is the council you've been very supportive to try to get as much of the savings as possible directed to the residential consumer and small businesses and that's that's our OB AG with that last question um I know there talks last time you were hear about the percentage of the type of energy we would be purchasing would it be coal would it be solar would it be wind and what is where are we at with that were there any more discussions or so so we'll we'll present um a variety of options on the day at the bed so you've got a choice of just taking um you know the the RPS renewable portfolio standard um or um um we will offer um a 50% or 100% uh potentially um of uh renewable energy now what the have you seen in the marketplace I just be curious because I know the cost has come pretty close now with solar and wind and everything and hydro um has there been a significant upcharge for those in other communities to opt in completely 100% yes so now here's the thing there there it depends what kind of renewable energy product and it's it's it gives in a in a in a quite a detailed conversation uh if you're going for a truly local renewable energy product uh that is something that that that that we can um accomplish um you you pay you pay a bit more for that but then that's something that that is is very much close to home and provides additionality uh you know in the state and um if you want something that's more of a national product then um that's going to be less expensive um so it it it it can get quite detailed when it comes to the kind of renewable that that people want okay thank you very much I appreciate your time thank thank you um I know there are a couple of other counil want to speak but Council this is something we've already voted on this is the public hearing to hear the proponents and the opponents of this project it's already put in place it's already been voted on by this Council so it's not a question and answer thing it's a it's a public hearing um therefore if anyone had an additional questions you can call the administrator or the company itself directly but I don't think tonight is the time that we're going to get back and undo something that we've already done well with that being said I believe uh Council today Council Rego you have questions you have no I actually got a statement just want every sing one of my colleagues to know that this presentation right now is uh a it's a good presentation but we did have other energy companies that came before us and did a presentation and they weren't even allowed to do their presentation along with yourself councelor if I could well I'm not done yet kathan okay I know that we have other other companies like Colonial energy merged in with global energy that can give us a better deal than what you can if my colleagues recall the last time that we had this in front of us this company was handpicked by the prior Administration and I don't feel that that is right the right thing that should have been done which should have been done that these energy companies would go to my uh uh councelor Mayo's committee on environment on environment and do a presentation and that wasn't done so here we are again doing the same thing as the purple bags handpicking one company when other companies are ready to put a roof on this building for free I just don't see it right I don't like it and I tell you if I could object I would to public heing C Mr you want to respond yeah thank you Mr President um with all due respect counselor uh as we explained previously and I'll explain it again because you've you've made a a serious allegation this is true the sured the regional Economic Development District handled this process we all had Representatives participating in the process the companies that you mentioned did submit proposals there was an evaluations process the member communities all voted they all had input those folks were involved in making presentation and we voted the 16 member communities voted to select this energy consultant so to suggest that that it was handpicked by the former Administration that's that's not accurate to suggest that these other companies were not afforded an opportunity to participate is an unfair statement and we did have Mr Perry from seret here at a former meeting who explained that whole process so um we believe that it was a very fair open competitive process and candidly the uh we did it in two sections we did the quality proposals first and then we did the bid price second second L and I can tell you when we opened the bid envelopes all of the companies had exactly the same rate structure there was no differential so we made the selection of good energy based on the quality of their presentation their experience and again we feel that Fall River along with uh our other neighboring communities are well served by this consultant thank you Mr Fon I just want to add that that was also unanimously adopted by this Council on March 24th of this year counselor so like I said this is a public hearing for people who are opposed of it in general public that want to come and tell us why or people who are in favor to come down and tell us why um any questions and answer anyone has you can call the administration and talk to them at some other point in time but I don't see the point nothing will change it's just a public hearing um and and that's it do you you councelor I wish people would go back and look at the tapes of that meeting I yield thank you councelor uh counc C3 councelor DEA thank you Mr President quick question uh so let's say we sign in we go in what is it uh just a August September time frame uh let's say when they want to opt out I know they're going to be giving a piece of um they're going to get some mail with if they're just a basic fixed and they're not on a third party supplier but let's say they lose that or whatever it is what is the way that they would opt out right good question um yes exactly so if they you know they throw it away by or whatever yeah they can they can call they can call good energy they can call uh the supplier uh they might call the city we we try to if if they do call the city the city can put them straight on to us and and they'll be out just like that these are very public programs um the suppliers who win these bids they want to keep your business for a long time and that's only going to happen if the if all the media coverage around is positive so we've got a lot of experience run these programs we do everything we can and they will do everything they can to make sure that everybody gets to where they want to get to okay so they can just make a phone call and they can get out and and there's absolutely no charge in at any time if you want to leave the program thank you um you talk about you we have with the working with sered they chose your company what other uh large uh metropolitan areas do do you also uh Supply electric to I guess um So currently we we Supply electric to uh the the Peoria metropolen area out in central home of caterpillar out there um we we basically buy Power for um about uh 450 500,000 households we've been we have the city of Aurora Illinois which is um is a little bit bigger than than full River we' got a lot of experience and also dealing with different multilanguage groups as well um so the marketing we do will cover different we'll we sit down with with the city manager and we will do um our targeted mailings based on language groups we'll break that up okay well that's really other questions I had with that ieve thank you okay thank you counc counc thank you Mr President just two quick questions welcome Mrs R nice to see you again Mr Carr uh I know this is a public Outreach um hearing tonight is there going to be other any others or is this at do does the administration plan on having any others because we did talk about having multiple hearings for the public and given that this may not launch until September May behoove us to have additional uh so is there any plan to do that or any thought about that definitely and and one thing I would say is is the the the we're looking to run the bid in September but the actual um the marketing after the bid will probably be October time that's if we get our approvals I mean every you know we're pushing hard for those approvals at the end of August um so yes we will do um we'll do we'll do whatever the city would like us to do um so particularly we found that the best time to do marketing is in the runup to the opt out period um because uh if we do it too early it kind of gets lost so our idea is we'll sort of Blitz it about six weeks before so and we'll do um we can do public hearings like this one which is great because you get out on on on on the television um we will uh work with the press to to get them to do articles uh we can do uh mailings uh in different languages we can uh meet with influential stakeholders whether it's a rotary club lunch or um we uh we'll do absolutely you know whatever it takes to make sure that people are are well informed yes sir and those a lot of great suggestions and I would suggest that absolutely coun we follow up on those where is the good energy offices is located okay so we have um the head office is in New York City um I have an office in in Connecticut um we just opened a sort of holding Place office in Boston um we uh we basically are in the process of looking for office space that's where my question's going any opportunity to locate in Fall River yeah no we we would ultimately like to get somewhere in in in this area yes and and full River would be would be would be a great location for that um it's something we we spoke about previously um you know full disclosure it's been it's been such a run to to to get everything moving and to get all the bids approved I would say we haven't quite you know identified appropriate office space uh in this area but I think that would be a good place to have an office and I would suggest that uh Mrs VZ put you in touch with Mr Fiola from frad Ab see what we can do about getting uh you folks located in the city yeld Mr President thank you Council thank you thank you very much um for coming down and being a o of this project are there any opponents to this open meeting opponent please come down stage in good evening um my name is Paul Lindo um I'm kind of curious about this proposal and I think there was a little bit uh that was alluded to when uh Kathy and brought up the fact that they were looking at possibly using a little bit of it to kind of pass on the savings and maybe hold some back to help with the city is there anything the plan that's going to prevent the city from looking at it as something where they can up it a little bit and start to use it as a form of funding to generate towards the city is there anything in the plan that prevents it allows it caps it and at what point in time could it be triggered that that's a concern to me and if if there's allotments in there where we're starting to save the city some money and the um citizens some money but now they can tack a little bit on because the city has a little bit of a pinch and Tack a little more on because it's a pinch and then there's this kind of overall glaze of oh the city's just using some of the money same thing with garbage bags same thing with a lot of other items where we're getting nickel and dime on so many different directions so I'm not for the plan thank you there any other opponents to this project seeing no one else the I'll make a motion to adjourn the public hearing before we do that c I just want to read the uh open meeting law that wasn't read earlier the cler informed me that we just want to make sure we have to read this during this open meeting pursuant to the open meeting law any person may make an audio or video recording of this public meeting or may transmit this meeting through any medium attendees are therefore advised that such recordings or Transmissions are being made whether perceived or unperceived by those present and are deemed acknowledged and permissible just for the record councel make a motion to close the public hearing motion motion is closed seconded all in favor I this public hearing is now closed uh before we get to Citizens input time councelor D Sila you want to make a present the citation thank you Mr President I'd like to present a citation to a gentleman by the name of uh Jeremy Lin if you want to just make your way down down Jeremy so basically uh the story behind this is uh recently in The Herald News there was an article uh that Mr L and his company they uh cleaned the headstone for Lizzie bordon and we all know uh back in 1892 the uh what happened here in the city and it's it's etched in Forest history with that being said he uh he had heard that the uh The Headstone was defaced and he took it upon himself he did contact Mr uh Eaton I believe from the city and asked him if he would clean if he could clean it for free and what what was amazing is that uh Mr Larin while he was there and with the article that was put in the paper is that basically um there was people there from outside the community that saw while he was cleaning it but it was it was the face so who knows to say how many days it was like that before he actually cleaned it so I just wanted to give him a citation and I'll read it and then I can present it to him be resolved that the city council hereby extends its commodation to Jeremy lockin owner of blastoff surface Restoration in recognition of cleaning the graffiti on the bordon family Monument the resting place of Lizzie bordon located at Oak Rove cemetery and for your pride and commitment to making the the city of fora a better place be it further resolved that the fora city council extends best wishes for continued success and this resolution be entered in the records of the city council it was adopted on uh April 21st and signed by uh president CRA and uh city clerk Bard thank you so would you like to say a few words I would just like to say um thank you um it's an honor and U you know anything I could do to help the city out you know I love this city uh born and raised in the city and uh I don't like seeing graffiti in the city at all and uh anything I could do to help um I'm here thank you appreciate it thank you thank you thank you for your generosity you before we begin Finance our a number of people have signed up to speak again um time limit is three minutes um subject matter should pertain to the city and I would ask everyone to be respectful of all individuals in the room first we have William groski subject matter trashed yard waste point of order council president Council pal I don't know if uh Allison spoke to you briefly councelor not in depth down she told me you and I were going to speak but we never did well I wanted to speak before these individuals did come down tonight I was not aware of that sorry councel I I didn't know that was the case let them go now yeah um Mr V can you just leave the table for a second and I'll call you down in one second please when the council's done sorry councel I I I thank you very much uh council president and and you know we're here and we do what we got to do it's unusual tonight for counselors to asked to speak uh like a three minute input time I guess sometimes we put resolutions in to speak on different items and tonight I've been bothered for some time with everything that's happening here in this council chambers how people react to people speaking at that table that interrupt everybody and the disrespect that some people have for some of my colleagues is atrocious I've watched the ordinance meeting last week I didn't want to come down and it's a good thing I didn't come down but totally totally out of order when you got the people in the audience addressing one of my colleagues in seat number eight just HED at him what do you talking we don't like your playing all this back and forth no way uh J did hit the gavel all well and good it kept going on five or six M minutes later another outburst with Mr Mitchell same thing and I talked to the chief yesterday I say Chief I was you know I wasn't at the meeting but these people are totally out of line why why didn't the police officers escort these people out counselor here's the way it goes you're in charge Mr camar is in charge I'm in charge the real estate committee he's in charge of the ordinance he's in charge of safety whatever happens in your meeting it's up to the individual to say hey you're out of order keep quiet or you're getting out of here officers come on down get these guys out of here Mr President you have shown some of that and you threw out at least three or four people already but still it's not working we have to make sure these people know if you're going to act up going out the door because like I told I'm up to here with the whole thing it's not right you had a lady sitting here the other day addressing us you had somebody in the audience Heckler back and forth should have been thrown out you got another guy that you chew out he was back here two weeks later jumping from one side to the other side to the other side cranking everybody up it's not right disrespect now I did get a communication through a computer of course I've got someone that lets me know what's happening with the computer so be it I won't say if it's a woman it's if it's a kid or if it's a male but it states here Mr peler I'm sorry to bother you however I want you to be aware in unfortunate situation you may or may not remember me but I have taken the opportunity to speak at public input on a few occasions many of my neighbors would also like to voice their concern about impendent Cuts in the city budget shortfall this is unfortunate part the women are afraid to go to the council chambers they have been watching Council and Council meetings on cable and online they do not want to risk confrontation with many of the men and women who constantly yell out and generally behave in anger in disrespectful manner I don't know if you can do anything to change this as everyone has the right to free speech it would be nice to be able to attend the meeting without feeling you may need a bodyguard to exit safely from the council meeting and I think that's a shame that this is going to come out like this Mr President and I'm hoping that you would be a just a little more considerate to us that we have to listen to this stuff and it's upon you I believe to set up a new president saying we're not going to take this anymore you act up you say one more thing the police department is going to put you out and the chief says if they don't want to get out they'll get arrested so I think I said enough you know way I I stand I think it's something that had to be said and let's turn over a new Leaf guys please please everybody that wants to come up and express their feelings then so be it don't attack us Council Casey took an attack doing the audiance committee it was shameful shameful it's not right that's the reason I speak thank you for the time Mr President thank you with that councel I just want to um council with that I just want to add one one small thing is that we we all are frustrated as people are frustrated depending on what issues are before us it's not an easy job it's not it's they're difficult times but one thing I just want to point out I know you're saying that it all falls on the chairman of the committee at any point in time any one of the nine counselors whether you're in a committee or in a regular council meeting or in finance can also make the motion point of order and say that what is going on needs to stop and it doesn't have to be the president by himself it doesn't have to be the chairperson if any counselor at any point in time feels uncomfortable with what they're seeing or hearing or don't like it they can call a point of order that will bring it to the chairperson's attention myself or anyone else if we don't do it before you do it but and it's been done in the past the problem is that sometimes we do it sometimes we don't the problem is sometimes we wave the rules sometimes we don't and that's all based on the council's choice and the council's decision so I agree with you but I think honestly counselor the way I look at this whole thing is 99.9% of the residents of this community are extremely well behaved and come down here and talk in a caal manner and don't do anything wrong and every once in a while when we have someone that is just not going to be respectful as you put it and decides to go to the extreme then we need to take care of that individual but I don't think people should be afraid to come to this council chambers no one's ever been hurt in the years I've been here no one's ever got in trouble I've never seen a fight in the council chambers um so I mean it's not a a scary place to be some people tell me that it turns into to be a comical place they come here for the entertainment of it um and maybe that's why people do it because they think it's funny to me honestly I don't think it's funny at all on some occasions people do say stuff and we chuckle and laugh at some of the things that's being done it's not in a degrading or or a bad manner but it's something that we have to control as well and quite honestly C I've been told by people what you've been told but I've also been told that sometimes some of us myself included get out of control and we need to calm it down and tone it down and not be so you know and not be so vocal and loud as well so I think the shame the blame goes around with everyone ourselves included we're only human they're only human we're all trying to get to the bottom of something sometimes and it's tough sometimes there are no answers it's just you do what you believe is right and hopefully you're right when you do that it's not all black and white sometimes it's it's great but I I do agree with your sentiment councel and good points and I'm going to try my best to make sure that we do bring back the way the things should be you know so with that being said I'm going to call down the first person William gr groski thank you William it's tough to say subject matter is trash and yard ways please be curious of the three minute rule please I will try thank you I was going to read my statement first my name is William red greni a lot of you know me from hanging around the city and stuff okay Leo I just want to say one thing to you on what you said Kudos thank thank you now I'm just going to give you just a quick before I read my thing why people get so mad and frustrated for instance you to $500,000 you're always trying to get for this neighborwood piece of property that's what fires people up gets them mad why are you going for take do a favor for your old friend or G that no all the neighborhood up there oh just for that one particular neighborhood we need money for these guys to keep their jobs one one of the things one of the things I want to do I'm just telling him why the people get out of why the people get upset Mr mrowki if if I may please one more thing I'm going to not allow if you're going to talk to any city counselor please refer to them by the number of the seat they're sitting in not by personal names but by if you want to say counselor pet that's one thing but I don't want to belittle it and then the short wave shape perform seat number six that's why do people get upset out thank is because you're persistently after some money that we don't have people are sitting here trying to save their jobs right the city doesn't have the money and yet you want to throw $500,000 after a cheap piece of crap uh yard property okay this pertains to a situation that started on 414 19 2015 right uh I'll read this I'm having a hard time to see because my allergy so if I screw up I'm sorry okay this was a letter that I addressed to Mr Pacho on May 6th okay this was an email to his uh personal email account at city of fora because in a previous situation he told me through email to contact him on any problem with the DPW directly through his email that's why this is being read here my eyes are bad okay Mr Pico I watched a few weeks ago my 83-year-old neighbor put out five brown bags of yard waist for pickup according to your schedule after it was not picked up and sat for three days there I again watched him take it into his yard again I now again watched him this Monday evening put back out the bags for pickup according to your schedule and it's still sitting there to right now it is still there all right uh I and I have heard nothing from kucho or anybody else at the City Department of Public Works I'm picking up this yard waste the thing the point I'm trying to make is that the people are too busy playing with this pag your to thing I complied from day one a lot of people have complied you're just spending all your time chasing that and let everything go down the woods you're just letting it go through I'll pay the dollar t a bag as long as you pick it up on time but if I had left my trash sitting on the sidewalk against your ordinances and codes I would get a fine but this is sitting there because of their neglect and one more thing on the DPW I watched two gentlemen come today to pick a Bucky waste which was a couch and a chair that was soaked and wet it's been sitting in that guy's yard for about four months I watched the two guys I'm 65 years old and I could have picked up coues up better than they did they had no back brace supports nothing there was no safety equipment for these guys they didn't have no gloves and I watched them struggle to put them on the truck what are they doing with the DPW what are they doing with all this money what are they doing we can't get nothing done and again I'm sitting here talking I'm looking at all your faces I know I'm falling on deaf ears thank you thank you next we have TR Joseph Lee subject matter drugs in for River sure my address is 70 Orange Street Apartment 3 Fall River Massachusetts um thank you for listening um I just uh the pis you throw thing is it's not about just trash and not about taking people's jobs away or anything like that at all it's people feel like their rights were violated people feel like if you wanted to raise a tax if you want to raise money for the fun for the budget you know you didn't have to force this well you didn't actually do it previous administration did didn't have to force this upon them and that's what's that's why this this is keeps on being brought up after a year I mean people say they they don't want to talk about trash or if they have enough money for coffee and cigarettes they can buy a bag we're not in a you're not in a position to tell somebody what they should spend their money on and if we want to talk about somebody's spending habits we should talk about the government spending habits and why we are at a shot fall in the first place you know but bottom line I just wanted to talk about that for one minute but um switching the subject to uh drugs in the city um the police department in gler just recently I think it was last week um sent out a big memo on on uh social media about how they are reaching out to drug addicts and they're having them bring them needles paraphernalia anything that you know they that contributes to their problem uh to the police station and they're not going to put them in jail they're actually on the spot right there going to bring them to where they need to go for help I believe the Harold News actually wrote about it um just recently so I think it's something that really should be researched uh not just by the city Council by us as well um Police Department as well because I think that we haven't really done anything you talk about talking for a year of a trash we've been talking about drugs since before I was born in this city you know what I mean and nothing get done nothing there's more drug addicts today than has ever been and I mean we're talking about like I think the purple back thing is wrong don't get me wrong but there's and there are bigger problems in the city don't get me wrong they all should be addressed equally with as much energy not one ignored and one not ignored and all this and that but drugs I haven't seen it I feel like I'm the only person in the city count I mean in the city citizens input that even brought it up in the past two years I mean what what else are we doing besides just talking about it what is functionally being done that's my question so I got that that's it thank you thank you next we have Nicole madas subject matter chapter 62 hello everyone my name is Nicole maderas and I live at five etner Street I personally would like to see an ordinance get the proper attention it deserves before getting passed I don't feel that's been done here let me tell you why currently chapter 62-5 and 62-6 talk about an incinerator do we have an incinerator and yet it was not stricken from the ordinance chapter 62-3 does not mention pay peruse yard waste bags why not tax dollars used for yellow carts wages and to dispose of our yard waste chapter 62-35 mentions items as being recyclable when those same items are no longer recyclable according to the Fall River City website let's take a look at the proposed amendments chapter 62-22 d48 States enforcement shall be only against the generator of the trash doesn't that contradict chapter 42 article 3 which refers to the state sanitary code bag fees are also listed per uh the price the bag fees per bag you can't buy a bag singly you have to buy a roll so why aren't the prices listed per roll as opposed to per bag currently there are no trash limits on how how many bags can go to the curb however trash will not be picked up if it's not in a green cart the number of carts on a in a property may not be enough to hold the amount of trash those people accumulate what does a property owner do to get more carts it's very clear that the proposed amendments were not properly vetted by the ordinance committee because of this this ordinance should not be passed a few counselors have mentioned receivership I don't buy that I refuse to believe that fall River's financial future is in the hands of only two ,000 households and One Last Thing Before I Go adding the definition of official City bag to chapter 62 proves that there was no ordinance in place when you guys when when the wayte zero contract was signed good luck with that in court when waste zero decides to sue for breach of contract you'll you will already have given them all the information they need thank you have a good next we have Richard Ballo subject matter pay your throne good afternoon councilors Richard Bal 50 Anderson Street I hope to convince the six of you not to commit political suicide I know there is nine but I know three already have now this whole entire thing with P thr we know it's just going back and forth back and forth back and forth now there's one individual on that committee who's been found incompetent from a federal prosecutor I think this whole entire thing should be sent back to the committee and revoted on that person should be removed from that committee another person Seated on that committee I think it's a retaliation to the citizens of this city that's what I think do I mind the paper bags I don't mind them I don't use them standard Pharmacy don't use them why because of a loophole so they don't have to use the purple bags they don't recycle they just throw the stuff on a curb in bags you think that's right I hear a councilor say that most of the citizens are doing it right and some of them not it's not fair it's not fair to the citizens who are using it when you got a business who can't afford bags without a problem refuses to use the bags because of a loophole it's it's ridiculous why should everybody suffer send this back you can re you can enforce the recycling part without a problem if you can have somebody go through bags to find out who owns the bag it's not purple you can have find out who owns that bag because they're not Recycling and then find them scrap the purple bags let it go back to committee enforce the recycling part and the trash part there's no reason why we have to keep going after people for $2 they're talking about saving people hundred and something dollars a year on electricity you can save $104 a year on trash bags by not buying them $2 a week it's it's a simple thing $104 I know I'm keeping some of you awake here maybe putting some of you to sleep I don't know but I say send it back to the committee the the administration says that it is legal so why put your life on the line why put your your career on the line for what the previous administration did don't commit political suicide we just need five guys tonight with the intelligence to send us back to committee to just enforce the recycling part and the trash pot remove the purple bags that's all thank you thank you guys next we have William Fontaine subject matter HP parking some of you are familiar with what I'm about to talk about councelor myosa councelor career we have a handicap enforcement unit in the city consist of two officers since 2009 they've issued a lot of tickets oh before I get into that I respectfully ask that you request assistance from the Inspector General and the Attorney General to look into this the tickets Mr pachico came in front of the committee I mean the commission on disability and he told us the tickets had been raised to $200 they hadn't the ordinance never passed I'd like to know what happened to that extra $100 that was collected because I paid 200 bucks so someone owes me $100 plus many others in the city city um Corporation Council at the committee on ordinance says that that 200 $0000 fine was illegal because it was not an ordinance the city says $100 and again I ask what happened to the money all the people who paid over $100 what happened to that money I would like my $100 back how do we go about that that's why I ask contact the Inspector General since 2007 the in Inspector General and Registry of Motor Vehicles has had a program about handicap parking abuse 2007 the city started it in 2009 with May career it's there's too many too too many discrepancies the commission on disability had a subcommittee that did a financial report 2009 48% of the tickets were paid 52% unpaid 2010 46% were paid 54% unpaid 2011 38% paid 62% unpaid 2012 35% paid 6 65% unpaid that's a lot of money I spoke with councelor quer before the meeting the police the two police officers that they hire the commission on disability highs exclusively to do handicap parking enforcement as of 2015 it is $800,000 the Comm mission is paid out to have these two officers issue tickets that are being forgiven by the traffic department at 20 a week 20 a week is $4,000 a week at $200 if you go by the other standard it's only 2,000 a week that's a lot of money as I said I ask that you contact the Inspector General the Attorney General find out where these laws are where the money is and what how could that possibly have happened how could someone go to and say yes we raised the fine the city council raised the fine you try to wrap it up Mr Fon excuse me can you try to wrap it up please the city council raised a fine of $200 never did the traffic department collected $200 from some people some people only paid $20 on a $200 ticket some people paid $100 on a $200 ticket way too many discrepancies I ask that you contact the Inspector General and the attorney general and in closing counceling seat number one counceling seat number eight I heard both of you say at the legislation meeting I have been to the traffic department many times with people with handicapped parking tickets these two officers are doing their job and they're doing it right so because someone tells you that they forgot to put it up their ticket their plard you go to traffic and forgive a $200 ticket that doesn't make sense what are you going to do when don't do the the purple bag of water okay Mr Fontaine we we understand what you're saying thank you for your time thank you right you're well above your time thank you Mr fr we look into it thank you okay Mr next we have Richard Branco subject matter self-interest get a job by the way I'm homeless just so everybody knows that's why my address never gets mentioned the reason I don't men sink at me I don't mention anyone's address because I don't have the need to it's all here we have it on record if someone wants to mention their address it's up to them we've had incidents where people have been driving by people's houses after they speak so I stopped mentioning the addresses it's been brought to my attention no I understand Mr President but I think it should be made point that one of the reasons why I am homeless is because I do get out here and speak in front of you guys about change and I don't blame the landlords but it is in their self-interest not to rent to me because hell they could be doing you guys a favor with that being said can I stop my three minutes sure I actually wrote this a month ago so this isn't something that came up new as many of us have told you the issue is not with the bags it's with the lies and misinformation behind the scenes if you really want the people of Far River to be on your side just be honest payers you throw was implemented illegally the ordinances needed to be changed we never changed them I have the contract from pay as you throw and there is a clause that says we can terminate it for convenience that's a way out when it comes to this November you guys are battling a battling against a generation that we won't back down I'm sure there's a lot of you that were in your 20s and 30s some of you enjoyed Woodstock and all that other fun stuff we just happen to be in our 20s and 30s and we're battling with you guys about not putting our city into recession and not having the state come and take it over together we can make Fall River a better place where we can all be proud please make it a city where it's not about who you know but about actually what you do with your Fall River Pride to make this city better for the future of not only us and our children and that's all I got next Nancy Alves subject matter trash Etc well hello everybody good evening um as you know I put my name uh to run but I did it on spur the moment I may back out because um I do love Fall River and I do hate what's going on but the trash is out of control in neighborhoods it's just piling up I don't see why the people that are the the men the um the garbage men might one person couldn't come off the truck and just pick up trash around they just take the barrels and leave all the garbage and like citizens of Fall River you should pick up trash too all right I have a bad back probably shouldn't be wearing this but I used to pick it up all the time it should be your duty this is our city it's it's disgusting and there was a lot of talk about drug problem yes it's an epidemic and uh as some of you know I don't drive a car so I'm forced to the South side with these people and I have to walk the streets with them because I have no car I don't I don't want to drive it's a long story too long so it's I think this is something that Fall River can be like a beacon we could start something new um like put drug I know uh I should get more involved with the school committee but like a a drug prevention like be the start like light a fire like it could be called Anna AA slna and it's separate diseases and this disease is out of control I see the most beautiful girls men and just and we're feeding them drugs and I don't care about money if you if any of you know I live in poverty yeah my family's wealthy everybody thinks I'm crazy I'm all right I I have food I have a roof over my head all this extra money and people waste money even at Walmart what do you need all this junk for I mean these people are sick they they they should be in prison in my my thought because the drugs are illegal first of all it's not legal to get them so why are we giving it to them I don't see why well then we got to get the kids cuz they're in DSS custody all these children and the this so even and I'm not I wasn't the best cuz I was an alcoholic I used to drink and I I fixed that because I didn't have help in high school they didn't have a drug program at dery now I'm going to college that's why I haven't been here for a long time I haven't been involved I'm going to college just finished my semester just took a final and came here and I have more time I I care about the kids like the grown-ups if they want to be stupid enough to get high I don't know what we're going to do but this is the children are the ones that suffered and I suffered my parents broke up long story I don't hate them I don't I I didn't have alcohol you know Portuguese homes I'm not blaming my Heritage I'm Irish too the alcohol everywhere no parents and that's what's happened with these kids they starting with the weed and they starting with this I was just like that and I had no help the teachers didn't help there wasn't enough in the school it wasn't no funding and and and and these kids are just going to grow up and we're going to have it like crazy it's going to be Rebellion like they don't want to work they get checks they cash the checks they get high and I know this cuz I have to deal with and I don't know what to do cuz I'm comfortable where I live I was lucky that I have a nice neighborhood praise the Lord but um it it's in the Parks my friends take their kids to Kennedy Park the kids St there was needles there's needles everywhere I call the police hey I'm not touching this needle you know I'm not perfect yes I have a dark past yes I used to drink but I kicked it in the butt and I I'm sober and if I slip once in a while I'm right back I know what is right and that's we have to teach kids what to do and the only way is is is invest more money to to show and father it can start something new called it Anna or uh uh you divide the diseases all right and uh I do have um something I want to read if that's n maybe I wouldn't do it thank you all right I'm sorry but I'm embarrassed and I lived in so many cities I lived all over the United States when I was young I was fortunate and follow was really disgusting I went to San Francisco and everything thank you and and and and it wasn't as bad the Streets of San Francisco and even and Los Angeles weren't as bad as our city it's that bad I have to live with these people thank you thank you God bless you all and uh don't forget Jesus died for all of you so even if you don't believe you should thank you next we have Jordan Silva subject matter pay you Throne was another subject matter on there you can explain if you want we don't have to give our addresses anymore uh council president it's your choice that's a new rule change new Ru address is already flying around all over Far River by our politicians and whatnot um two things I wanted to talk about the first one he failed to mention was the $166,000 in salary that the city the taxpayers all these people pay uh we can't refer to people's names is that a is that a rule yes it is is that in writing anyway is that just like a personal whim no it's in writing I can show it to you it's in writing okay so what's that chair three the P the the the person sitting in that chair I wanted to know first why you were um trying to find out my wife and myself uh our addresses at 2: in the morning you don't have to ask people I'm asking you that question he's not gonna answer any questions he's not here to answer questions you can continue to speak Mr Jon wanton you to talk you don't want to answer that question they're not going to engage in conversations you have three minutes I figured that don't worry I came here anticipate in that um I think the person in count in seat 3 has to resign tonight right you've you've been you've been deemed not credible right by a special prosecutor for Bristol County you should never you should never come here again ever ever masquerading as representing anyone right that's a fact I'm sure you won't do that either um so so everyone in floriva know you're going to be paying that person's salary in seat three until uh November hopefully um then I came here for pay you throw everything I've heard about pay you throw from the politicians has been complete lies right I heard RBT come here and say more truthful statements about pay you throw tonight than I've heard from people who have been in politics for 30 years in Florida like seat 7 for instance saying we can't get out of pay you throw that's not true we're not stuck with it it's not even here yet it's not show me a law that says that that for River has a pag you throw program show me in one city ordinance doesn't exist doesn't exist um so you I want everybody I want to thank the per uh the the the council woman in seat three I'm sorry seat one because you're the only person who's come on record and said your vote for pay you throw is because you want pay you throw to come here okay and again I when I say that I'm being 100% honest you're the only person who says that everybody else wants to say uh oh it's already here we have to because of a contract or whatever non it's all lies complete lies right none of it's true it's to steal $2 million a year from when I walk down the street cuz I walk downtown a lot too right when I see when I see a single mom in Fall River or somebody on a fixed income or an elderly person or a disabled person that's who you're taking that $2 million from to give to the government budget right so so people I like to know how much raises we talk about 14 Grand to KY Pico and whatnot it's it's it's it's budget wide it's the entire $270 million it grows every year we're just told oh yeah just things get expensive things get expensive um anybody who votes the pay you throw tonight y you're the only person who's bringing the pay you throw here it's not legally it's not legal today if if you bring it to for River I'm asking everybody at home like I always have and hopefully this is the last time people go on their record and say what they want how they feel about it and I hope everybody votes those people out and replaces them with people who say without a doubt they're going to get rid of PAG your Thro and that'll be it thank you next subject matter P thr hello and thank you for letting me come here before you tonight my name is Don seret I've been here twice before and I'm here to plead literally plead with you put this to rest pay as you throw isn't forced if you don't like it don't use it it's that simple nobody says you have to buy purple bags how you get rid of your trash crash is going to be your own responsibility over 80% are complying and compliance has gone up since the fees have been put into place I don't know why this Council anyone on this Council would want to stop Revenue there's money coming in where there was no money coming from the landfill any longer why would you stop any Revenue I don't care if it's $2,000 it's money coming in and that's something we need with a $6 million shortfall I just just want to see my Council put this on the back burner use this as it's in place I don't care about ordinances I don't care about legal fees I just care about looking at the the Citywide Department cuts that are coming when our police department has not been fully staffed since the Korea Administration our fire department is now under staffed we have school net School spending that's not going to be met this continues I want to see something different I'd like to see something proactive for a change our Police Department can't be proactive they're too busy responding every call they take is response turn on a scanner and listen you're putting people's lives in danger and we have Cuts coming down the road that frightens me I'm a mother I want my child to live in a safe City and I'm not worried about trash I'm worried about a decent education and I'm worried about my child being safe in his own City and when we have stabbings and shootings and we have people making reports of attempted abductions this city council sits in front of us and talks about trash that frightens me that's all I can say that truly frightens me because that tells me the priorities are in the trash and that's not a pun thank you for your time thank you next you have Joshua Silva subject matter trash and dump good evening councilors Josh Silva 325 Pine Street um I know a lot of people are sick of talking about trash and the whole issue and uh I don't think people realize we've been talking about trash and Fall River for probably like 40 years now um with the sale when the city sold the landfill and when we decided to not upgrade the incinerator to the EPA standards and uh when the airport was closed because the seagulls from the landfill were getting in the way of the planes and I guess a few years ago we talked about expanding the landfill and last year we talked about expanding it or not expanding it so Public Safety is important but it's a separate issue from this issue and we've never dealt with it in the city and it's always been a bandid upon a Band-Aid upon a Band-Aid upon a Band-Aid and right now we sit here and the pays you throw ordinance can get past I don't use purple bags I have a private hauler doesn't really whatever but I know this tax dollarss that I'm paying that are going to fund the sanitation Enterprise account so we know that show up today and the new budget's coming in a few weeks I haven't really heard anybody talking about it only last year's budget so we'll probably get this thrown on our laps so I'm just wondering what the new fee is going to be and I know people are against flat fees but when you're going to be buying bags and paying a fee I wonder how people going to feel then so there's a lot of questions to say we're sick of talking about trash we've been talking about it forever and we've never found a long-term solution so it doesn't really matter anymore but either way that's all I have to say and I'd also like to ask Council and Cat three to resign [Applause] immediately there being no one else we can Finance pursuant to the open meeting law any person may make an audio or video recording of this public meeting or may transmit this meeting through any medium attendees are therefore advised that such recordings or Transmissions are being made whether perceived or unperceived by those present and are deemed acknowledged and permissible we have uh two items together before us in accordance with the provisions of chapter 44 section 32 of the mass of trues general laws I recommend the following Appropriations to your honorable body item number one at the sum of 2,932 being the same is hereby transferred and appropriated from the insurance Recovery Fund to be credited to the water Enterprise fund for Capital expenditures is there a motion motion to F Council motion to fill council is made and seconded all in favor I item the second item on that same appropriation that the sum of 15,000 be and the same as hereby transferred and appropriated from the extraordinary repairs inactive capital projects to be credited to the water ront Improvement Capital project motion counc second motion full Council remain seconded all in favor I thank you there being no further business for finance I'll entertain a motion to finance motion Finance motion to finance M seconded all in favor finances now agend regular city council meeting will begin in two minutes you have been watching the Fall River City Council meetings a service of Fall River government television and the City of Fall River the Fall River City Council will resume shortly please stay tuned [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] conclusion I went here we go ladies peanut butter thing huh your phone is there a phone Joe's missing her phone did anybody grab a phone Joe's phone number did you only bring one phone tonight I only have neph yes Colleen are you ready you're all I care about thanks city council please come to order clerk will call the role councilor Casey ker D Silva here mayoa here Mitchell here peler Perera here rioo here president Camaro here will everyone in the council chair please rise for a moment of Silent prayer please remain standing for salute to the flag to the flag United States of America and to the rep for it stands one nation God indivisible withy and jce for all pursuant to the open meeting law any person may make an audio or video recording of this public meeeting or may transmit this meeting through any medium attendees are therefore advised that such recordings or Transmissions are being made whether perceived or unperceived by those present and not deemed acknowledged and permissible Madam clerk president the first item before you is a financial order in the amount of $2,932 to be transferred from the insurance Recovery Fund to the water Enterprise fund capital expenditure second motion to adopt the order has made in seconded we need a roll call CL yes we do roll call on adoption of the order councilor's Casey yes Korea yes D Silva yes mayoa yes Mitchell yes heler yes Herrera yes rioo here pres yes the second Financial order is the amount of $155,000 to be transferred from the extraordinary repairs in active Capital project credited to the water front Improvement Capital project motion to adopt second motion to adopt the order has been made and seconded roll call on adoption of the order councilors Casey yes karea yes D Silva yes myosa yes Mitchell yes peler yes Perera yes Rio yes and president Camaro yes what's that we have a communication from the mayor and the requ request for confirmation of the appointment of Alfredo elves to the board of election Commissioners motion to adopt motion to adopt second as made and seconded on the motion CC C1 Council Casey thank you very much Mr President uh I just want to say it's a privilege for me to uh uh say yes to this it's uh Mr ALS uh was one of our colleagues and uh he's a person that uh truly inspired me and I thank him very much for being in the position where I can vote on this thank you C C6 C pal yeah I like to say the same thing Al used to sit in the first seat because the alphabetical order You' done a good job but but but you know again we always kind of miss the boat because uh you know we should know what's going on I certainly didn't get a call uh letting us know that you're going to be appointed of course uh we get the agenda and I knew you were coming and uh I says you got my vote so you got my vote but the mayor should let us know what's coming down AEL thank you C anyone else cc7 Council Pera sure since my colleagues have given Kudos I am thrilled and we talked about this Sunday at church um I attend Mass with uh councilor Alves on many Sundays and um I told him I was delighted and I told him I was delighted to see this I think he'll make an excellent commissioner thank you for accepting this he will thank you counselor um I you know listen I also want to say that I've sat alongside councel RS on many many meeting nights many many years and he is extremely dedicated and as he does a good job with the Board of Elections as he did on the city council will be in good hands congratulations counc I'm also going to support it congratulations motion has been made and seconded roll call on confirmation of the appointment councilor's yes ker yes DVA yes myosa yes Mitchell yes peler yes herera yes rioo sing and president CRA yes counc president CC P was that abstain no what is it yes oh oh oh same all right I all right I didn't know I thought said up stay it's almost like a week okay it's j congratulations kiss me he smart man mam clerk item number three is a communication from the mayor and proposed ordinance regarding Water and Sewer connections and infiltration and inflow program and the proposed fee schedule yes second motion will refer to ordinance motion refer the committee on ordinance legislation as made in second all in favor I item number four is a communication from the mayor in a proposed loan order for phase 15 of the water Improvement projects M motion to refer to ordinance should be authorized to be published and referred to the committee on finance authorized to be published motion second has been made to authorized to be published refer to committee on audience has been made in seconded all in favor um item number five is a communication from the mayor and a communication from the administrator of community utilities with regard to the restoration of City roads and sidewalks um this is basically um forwarded to you for informational purposes so motion to motion accept and place on file made seconded all in favor council president CC C you know uh should we get some of these guys in to make sure they're doing the right thing it's your call counil you I mean sure it's on here and uh you know we're the guys that have to fight all the time with the utility companies and if you don't ask them to come in to try to rectify some of the situations what's the use of putting it in it's a good idea do you want to refer this communication and draft up a resolution to have them come before the public committee wherever you like to send Transportation okay that way we can push him a little bit right so the motion will be referred to commit and public Le partol throughout the whole city less whatever I is that in form of a motion before you is there a second to Second all in favor I thank you madam cler I item number six is a communication from the mayor and a draft intermunicipal agreement between the city of f River and the town of Freetown with regard to the development of South Coast Life Science and Technology Park mo um I did receive a call earlier from the cooperation Council he has made a number of changes to the agreement which may affect the town of Freetown they have asked that this um that the council consider tbling this time motion to table second all in favor I have a communication from the mayor in an order accepting the provisions of Mass General Law chapter 40 section 8G which provides for Mutual Aid Services between communities motion to adopt motion to adopt communication remain seconded all in favor I I item number eight is a communication from the mayor and proposed amendments to the fee schedule as they relate to vote ramp fees moot to adopt motion to refer the committee be appro committee ordinance motion to refer the committee on ordinance has been made as there a second second second all in favor have a number of requests to amend the traffic um chapter motion refer to ordinance motion to prer the committee on ordin legislations remain in seconded all in favor the committee on ordinances and legislation at a meeting held on April 28th voted Union Missle to recommend that the accompanying proposed ordinance be passed through first reading as amended is a miscellaneous traffic ordinance motion to adopt committee's report second motion to adopt communion report has remain second do we need a roll comment Qui no all in favor I the committee on ordinances and legislation at a meeting held on April 28th voted unanimously to recommend that the accompanying proposed ordinance be passed through first reading as amended this was amendments to the solid waste fees motion adopt committee's report second on the motion to adopt the committee report has has been made and seconded on that motion cons six Council P Town yeah is that the $100 a ton is that the one is can you tell us what the fees will be is that the only one uh it it amends the fees the pickup fees for mattresses yeah and the construction and demolition de that's all packages together all right I I just like to say a little bit about the solid was and uh some people had stopped me and they've got to weigh in the truck and the goods in the truck they got to go down to um uh the pier State Pier the state Pier to get weigh up and the question was if a guy had a a state body and he'd have to go down there and weigh his load and then go back down there and get the truck weighed up so they know how much you got so the question was well is this guy got to do this every time and the answer to the people who will ask me no once you went there with the truck and they know the net weight of the truck they'll go down and get weighed then they'll bring it up they don't have to go back uh of course they complain a little bit about the fee but again we have to do what we have to do and it seems I'm talking to uh uh Kenny that uh we seem to be raising a little more money instead of eyeballing the product that they have it's weighed it's a lot better just for everyone so I think it's working out well with that a you thank you thank you coun motion has been made and seconded to adopt all in favor any opposed cler the committee on ordinances and legislation at a meeting held on April 28th voted three y two nay to recommend that the accompanying propos ordinance be passed through first reading as amended with council's ker and Rego voting in the negative Solid Waste fees as they relate to the official City bags motion to adopt motion to adopt the commission report hasn't made is that second second second on the motion Council 66 Council pel 10 you know it people are right it's been a long time coming we kicking a can down the road whether or not this is legal or not and it would have had to go through ordinance really uh to make it more binding and and I think we have to do tonight is we should do tonight is to pass it and get it through as you heard from some of the people who addressed us earlier this evening that our job is on the line that you vote for this is political suicide but you what you do for the city if your ticket's right that's the way to go you got 85% of the people of for River are doing the right thing then you got the other 15% feel that it shouldn't be take it to court waste more money tonight should be the night to vote what you feel is the right thing for the city of for River put this to bed let's put it to bed it's got to go down tonight if not we're going to live with this right through the whole election let's get rid of this one it's the right thing to do the money's coming in uh we're going to recycle and people can talk about me say what they want that is the way to go a thank you counc CC seat 4 Council myo thank you uh Mr President um I'm going to take an opposing view to my colleague in cat 6 and I understand that people are sick and tired of uh this pag of throw issue U but as somebody had said earlier we have been talking for trash for a number of years uh but there's really four reasons why I need to to oppose this tonight and it has nothing to do with politics um I'm not going to make I'm not going to sit here and make decisions that I personally do not feel comfortable with and I want to outline the reasons why I'm not comfortable with this um ordinance as it is here uh before us this evening number one there has been no advocacy from this Administration to support this ordinance uh that was pointed out by the council in C2 and I can verify that that there's been no Outreach uh to me personally to support this secondly I would argue that or state I'm not going to argue I'm just going to make my points that um politics is the odd of compromise and one of the things I've asked the for former Administration and this Administration to do and I think we all got to remember that we represent as elected officials everyone in this city and that includes those struggling families those low lwi income families that that are struggling to pay for these bags I have asked both the former Administration this Administration I brought it up at the ordinance meeting that we need to do something when you go to the mass DP website they call out adverse effects on lowincome households because it's it makes up a higher percentage of their income we need to make we need to take steps to minimize that and I understand we need the revenue but we have done Absol absolutely nothing nothing and I will not support something until we recognize those folks that are struggling in our city the third the third reason uh that I'm not going to support this is listen we've been told time and time again that this is legal we don't need need an ordinance uh I understand that the uh Community director of uh Community maintenance is already issued 75 citations and that leads me to my next point this is a broken process we're only fixing one piece of that of this uh page of throw system we are not looking at it it at it in it at it at in its entirety and that's very frustrating to me and I brought this up we have $380,000 sitting in the city clerk's office of unpaid uh violations and citations we heard tonight about handicap parking where we're only collecting 35% we've issued already 75 violations and as of today the city clerk's office and informs me that not one of them have been paid now I spoke to Mr pico about that and he made a very good point when I asked him this question I said we've issued 75 citations why haven't why hasn't anybody paid and his answer to me was if if you think they're not going to use purple bags what makes you think they're going to pay the citation I said okay fair that's a fair uh answer but then I asked what's the mechanism then what's the mechanism to collect these fines and I have not heard of any mechanism at this point in time I've heard the city administrator tell the ordinance committee that they've been they're working on it but they the truth of the matter is they've been working on it for five years when are we going to get a solution to this so until such time as we fix everything I can't support this I understand we want to make this go away but I'm not just going to vote for something just because we're going to make it go away or it's the ically uh smart thing to do I'm going to vote what I believe is the right thing to do I lined out I just outlined my reasons why I cannot support this tonight uh unless it goes back to ordinance and and they figure out what the process is that they're going to collect the fines this to me is meaningless doesn't have any teeth and and I don't understand why we're moving forward with it so with that uh I want to express why I'm not going to support it tonight and I yield Mr President thank you councel Council te two Council career thank you Mr President uh I I agree with my counselor counselor in seat 4 Mike myosa uh I did vote against this in the ordinance committee because there was a lot of unanswered questions and they still remain to be unanswered I'm not going to repeat the points that councelor myosa made I think he said it quite El eloquently so uh with that um I'm going to pretty much second everything that he said and uh and there there certainly is a problem when you don't have a percentage-based um Fe here and I mean you're talking about families that are struggling I understand people feel that uh anybody can afford a $2 bag but that's not necessarily the case and more importantly than that when I make a decision here at this table I make it from a business perspective as something that financially and fiscally makes sense a lot of people are saying well let's just collect the revenue well that's just scraping the floor for dimes and nickels instead of having a sustainable program that works this does not work when you tell me and you come to my committee and you say we project it to ra $3.5 million from this program and we've only at that particular point in time collected 1.7 and there was only a few months left that's a problem that's an unsustainable program that doesn't work that's a Mis projection so I think there was a lot of unanswered questions and for that I'm not going to just support something just because I want it to go away I wanted to go away as well I get calls every day I want to support the guys that are here in the DPW as well I want to support the people that uh are having an issue buying the bags I want to make sure the city is clean but to just vote vote on it just to say we voted on ordinance and realistically it does nothing different than what the administration has said right now exists which is their ability to F or not toine makes no sense to me as a counselor so for that I will not support this ordinance tonight and with that I yield thank you thank you councel coun counc C1 Council Casey thank you very much Mr President uh I certainly know that everybody knows where I'm coming from I agree with the council here that uh this has been going on for too long uh it's time now that we take a vote on it and uh uh to be told that if you vote for this you're out in November to me that's political uh anytime I take a vote it's because it's what I firmly believe in whether I'm for it or against it I feel as though it's the best thing for the city and I'll continue doing that as long as I sit in the seat uh there are ways and certainly I know and I've spoke to Mr Piko Ken Piko uh I spoke to him uh about what has occurred uh since it was stated publicly that the fines are going to be pursued uh the citations are going to be given out and already there's a is a upscale in the use of purple bags so it's already proven itself uh we've had it in front of the ordinance committee it came to full Council back to the ordinance committee and for us to allot ow us to go to back to ordinance committee when we've heard everything from everyone who wanted to say anything for it or against it we've already gone through that and I don't want to take up much time on it but I there are ways there are ways of making sure that people uh will pay the fines I know uh if uh you don't take care of some of your bills when you go for a building permit or when you go for a service that you need from the city of for River there are ways for the city to say well look you're not take caring you're not taking care of something you owe the city so how can you uh go for a building permit or whatever and not expect to take care of what you already owe so there are ways of us making sure that we can collect and with that I yeld thank you councelor c c Council Ron thank you very much Mr President and this is a very very uh unfortunate situation that that we're in first of all with all due respect to Mayor Suter this has absolutely nothing to do with his administration absolutely nothing so he's just trying to make something happen with whatever he has now let's roll back a little bit to the time that this was presented to us by mayor Flanigan sitting in that chair he stated I am going to push this through whether you approve of it or don't W approve of it that's what he said whether you want it or not it's still going to be implemented $3.5 million it was supposed to raise I said to him I I I don't agree with it it's unenforceable you need to look at this according to the EPA standards bullet point number three says that a community needs to adopt an ordinance prior to implementing payers you throw it's the federal law which regulates pay as you throw communities so when we were at the ordinance meeting the the the the attorney said it right attorney Hoak when we passed the the the budget we passed it as knowing that this whole came into into fruition from the from the start we accepted the the purple bags we own the fines and everything else but now here's the situation we need a little bit more teeth in this in order to go to court in order to find people let's just say it does pass this okay and it does go through at the end of the day how do you plan to enforce a pager throw program let's just say you have a a a a building with 12 units in it so unless you plan on doing DNA samples all over the trash how you going to enforce it it's still going to be unfair to the individ idual that is paying I'm complying everybody that I know is complying quite frankly unless I would take a ride up and down the street where I only see you know a few people not complying but at the end of the day they're not I said it from the start I believe that we sh everybody in this room is going to pay to get rid of your trash one way or another accept it I don't believe that payers you throw in a purple bag is the way to go I've said I said it then and I'm saying it now and the reason why I'm saying that is because of the enforcement piece we cannot have DPW workers knocking on people's doors unless you call with police officer we're putting them in danger or whoever the enforcement party is this is a thing that needs to go back in my opinion needs to be re-evaluated find out some way what we need to do to get out of that 0day binding contract with waste zero and in my opinion my humble opinion after getting advice from many many people okay especially a few that that carry a lot of weight in this situation at the end of the day folks if you own a three family house you're going to be responsible for the trash and the story no matter how you slice it I've said this to my colleague to my right we've talked about it amongst us you need to face the fact here is this a great program as Council career says C2 is this a great program is this a good recycling program absolutely it's it's unbelievable unfortunately it was implemented the wrong way we didn't give people enough time to to to soak it in to know that we were going to a pager throw program because it was it was it it was given to the residents shoved down their throats and now people are rebelling this is something that I want my colleagues to think about I I stated it time and time again on and to all my colleagues know the way I feel because I opposed it from the beginning I don't feel that this pay as you throw program even though this com this body passes an ordinance there's still going to be issues like my colleague and C 4 said of enforcement how do we do it and it's not been clear and to me we need to work on this we need to work do we have to implement this program do we need Revenue absolutely do we need to keep our for River Police Department fire department DPW absolutely I myself stated from the start it would be beneficial to implement a solid heavyweight F weight pay uh uh recycling program where if a unit or a property was not complying and not recycling I would go deliver the tickets myself but at the end of the day we need to hold a flat fee throughout the city unfortunately but that's the way it is other communities have a flat fee and they also have uh a bag fee secon has it people pay $300 a year for the fee and then they got to buy the bags but you're talking to town with a quarter of the property a I'm I'm sorry a quarter of the people this is something that needs to be vetted I don't feel that it's been vetted thoroughly enough councelor mayos did an excellent job and his committee vetting it out but this was something that was thrown in people and that's why people are rebelling I believe that we can accomplish what we need to get with Revenue but even at that we need $6 million in order to fund the sanitation department so how are we going to do that that we need to do a lot more talking and and and a lot more resolving quickly in order for us to close gaps and meet uh certain budgets down the road but to un to and to my colleagues that are that are now saying they don't they don't oppose uh nothing for nothing but the research should have been done when the budget was presented before you and you should have been questioned then but it was Scare Tactics that we used that we we were going to one2 budget that we were going to lay off firefighters lay off police officers astronomical numbers were given of how many people we were getting laid off nobody did an analysis on that it was just unfortunate the way this was presented and I uh right now I'm just saying I am not going to support this I didn't support it in the ordinance committee I feel it should go back should go back for some uh uh for some more comprehensive uh conversations and and and and looking into this how are we going to get rid of our Municipal trash this should have been done a year ago two years ago three years ago but you know what it is everybody likes to play politics rather than get down to business I yield thank you before I call next just a couple of things I just want to point out and the question I have counselor when you say that sooner or somehow we're going to have to pay to get rid of our trash that's right you're talking about the fee instead of exactly okay that's right the resident fee for every homeowner over wrong Mr President if I own a piece of property and I got a three which I do okay my family and I we we have a three family clarify you said I said it before I said it before what what is it that you said that sooner or later somehow we're going have to pay for this how how we're going to have to pay to get rid of our Municipal trash right but which what what way not through the general fund I believe that every single parcel should pay pay a fee so we can get the 3.5 million all right all right thank you councel Council t7 Council pero okay let me tell you what I think when I first got married I had a gas bill an electric bill and a phone bill 42 years later I got a gas bill got an electric bill got a phone bill got a cable bill got an internet bill now you even have to bundle got a bill for cell phone it's just the way life is if you choose to have cable you pay for it if you choose to have a cell phone you pay for it every single community in this country is looking at what to do with trash personally my opinion is that manufacturers should manufacture things and package them up where it's disposable you know you buy a box of cereal this big but the cereal in it this much a lot of waste we need to do something with our trash I was here fighting for the landfill not to close not not to close the airport because to get rid of the uh landfill keep the airport open because I believed that the economic development we were going to get from an airport was much more than what happened with trash because now that it's built it's built you have to pay to get rid of trash when people come down to the council chambers and they talk about and they'll talk to the council about salaries well let's look New Bedford does this you know this is what they're getting in Worcester this is what they're getting in secon so we can't hire somebody to come in and be the treasurer and pay them a small amount because they can go to all these other communities and make a lot more money we say that when we're talking about trash we're not looking at what do other communities do in dmouth they recycle they pick up their bags every other week they pick up their recyclables every week down in Fort Lauderdale they have a trash fee they buy bags they recycle and on the last Thursday of the month is when you put out your heavy items and on a certain day is the day that you put out your waste your your trash CL big or what have you so the whole system needs to come together however the budget was voted on and voting on the budget included included the payers you throw so to say that we don't like payers you throw I'm not a fan of payers you throw I think that there are other options but I think that at this point in time all you're doing is looking at everybody every body being on the same page buying the bags keeping that money in there and if you want to do this and councel rioo talked about uh in the end the landlord's going to pay in here it's those who generate the trash shall pay that's not my job that's Kenny Pico's job to figure out who that is because that's the one thing I wanted that the landlord not be responsible because quite frankly I'm tired of being responsible for people if everybody was responsible for themselves we'd live in a better world but you already have this in the budget you need over $6 million to keep DPW intact working doing what they need to do you're going to have to come up with an Enterprise fund just like you came up with a storm water fee because we have to pay for the CSO we have to get rid of our trash and you have to pay for it right now there is a committee looking into things looking into other options and other Solutions that's all well and good let that committee look into it but for right now you have to continue with the program that you voted for you voted for the money and now oh now well people don't like it we're not going to do it you know people are poor they can't afford it yeah I have a tough time affording things too but I get it and you make sacrifices and maybe you don't have steak at night and maybe we do something else but you do it everybody has their own lives and they do what they feel they need to do but as a community we have a responsibility to get rid of our trash as councils we have a responsibility to fund the budget that was voted on if you want to do this and say we're going to do this for one year there's no emergency Preamble tonight do this for one year and give a year for the committee to look for themselves but at least vote on this and move it is not fair to people who are paying for the bags and other people who aren't if you don't want to pay for the bags don't pay for them privatize get a get a dumpster you can do that nobody's saying you have to do this but you know when you talk about ordinances and how we're going to do this and how we're going to do that every single ordinance is like every other law there's always a loophole nothing is perfect you do the best that you can but for me I say you put it in the budget that's what the money's there for now you can't reneg and say well now we don't want to do it that's not fair that's not fair to me so if you want I'll even opt to putting in a sunset Clause that we passed this sord for a period of one year allowing the committee to research and come up with whether it's $100 per household whether it's $50 per whatever it is if that's what we're going to look at then look at that but I I get it that this was all implemented halfway through this was horribly implemented we all fought it many of us fought it others didn't but many of us here fought it that it couldn't be done and the former mayor said he could sign it he just didn't read the rest of the contract on what else he had to do because this should have been done August 1st of 2014 with that I you Mr President thank you thank you councilor counc seat five Council vice president Mitchell thank you and uh Lynn you stole a lot of my thunder because a lot of what you said I uh was thinking the same thing you know I could get a tremendous Round of Applause here this evening all I I'd have to say is I'm voting no but but is that the right thing to do for this community is that the right thing to do no it isn't no it isn't and I'm going to tell you why there's a hole in the budget and I'm going to tell you why there is the landfill closes that could could I speak now please let the council speak one more word and I'm going to ask the policeman to remove it don't look at me I didn't say I didn't say you please let the council speak there's a hole in the budget we lost the Tipping fees when the Landfill closed okay we were dumping our TR crash for zero now we've got to pay for it the fact of the matter is is when we passed this budget and Lynch got it right that money was in there and to be quite honest I was not a f fan of Pia throw as a matter of fact one of the people here this evening it's that's saying I'm not voting for this told me it was the way to go and I disagree but the fact of the matter is is we've got it and you know we are not going to end this tonight by voting for this because we've got a task force that's looking into our trash problem and hopefully they come up with a better idea but until such time as they come up with a better idea this is the only deal we've got on the table now a lot of people come to the table and they talk about the fact that we shouldn't vote for this but I haven't heard one person come to the table and say Here's the solution don't vote for this but here's the solution nobody's given us a solution but as my colleague in seat 7 has just pointed out this is $6 million dep deficit for trash removal sanitation whatever you want to call it and none of my colleagues have given me a solution they' spoke against it but they haven't said this is what we can do to rectify the problem now the politically expedient thing to do is to vote against it and please some of the people who are here in the audience but you know what if if we can't make our bills or pay our bills at the end of the year the very people who come to this table and say don't pass this ordinance will'll be saying why didn't you guys pass something to protect us well I'll tell you what the right thing to do is to vote for this and I'm asking my colleagues to vote for this because I feel that this city needs the revenue and I feel that we've got a task force that's going to look at the whole trash program and hopefully come back with better ideas if they don't we still got pay as you throw because we as my colleague also pointed out my colleague SE 8 we are going to be paying to get rid of trash whether we like it or not we have got to pay to get rid of our trash but many years people in for River didn't have to do that as I stated we were getting tipping fees and we were getting rid of our trash at no cost but that is ended and it's not coming back and I'll tell you right now if somebody came up with a proposal to open another landfill so that we could get more tipping fees and get rid of our trash for nothing I'll tell you what I'd be the first one to oppose it and you know what I think all of you would too with that I thank you Council motion everyone hold on everyone that has spoken who wanted to speak I believe there's one follow-up question Council you want to follow up or you all set I honestly don't believe anyone here is going to change anyone else's mind so the right thing to do would be vote vot counc C2 counc KB well I just want to say to counselor Mitchell and a couple followups to councelor perrera I mean counc you that seats please yeah uh five and seven so counselor in seat five you talk about now I'm new here right I'm relatively new to politics you're a seasoned politician of course you're talking about the most politically expedient thing to do when I get elected and I sit here I try to make the decision aside from politics I try and make the decision that's best for the community when you look at what you just said to please people to do the politically expedient thing I've heard many of my colleagues say that 80% of the city is complying so 80% of the city loves this thing so the politically expedient thing to do with the vote for the ordinance and get the 80% of the vote out there come November if you're seeking re-election of course so to me that doesn't make any sense I mean I don't I don't why would I please the the the maybe 100 people that come to these meetings when there are literally thousands more that could potentially vote for me based on this so I'm not voting no on this and that's the point I'm trying to make here I'm not voting no because I'm trying to please 100 people in the audience I'm voting no because of the facts that were presented in my committee which the program missed its projections doesn't make sense to put it in for another year when I know I I it would be my opinion that it's going to miss its projections again when I know there are other options when I know that the fiscally responsible thing to do is look as as many options going forward as possible ones that have been politically unpopular here at this Council since before I was born which include our own transfer facility which include privatization which include a number of different things that's the politically not advantageous thing to do but the right thing to do but to say oh it's politically okay it's politically experient to to vote Yes for this or no for this rather I think is a bunch of baloney so I want to to make a comment on that and then second I agreed with Council Pera on her Sunset Clause I in fact suggested it to my committee during the meeting and it didn't go anywhere nobody wanted to do that in the committee I thought that would have been a nice compromise Council myosa earlier said politics is the art of compromise there was no compromise in the committee I was willing to say well let's finish out this year because I understand we need the revenue but it didn't go anywhere in the committee what where was the Compromise there so I agree with you councelor Perera on the sunset Clause of counselor and seat number seven um but I also don't think it's fair that we have to tell the people on a comment that you made whether they're going to eat steak dinners or have to buy bags you got people that make 80,000 70,000 60,000 and then the average in fall river is $31,000 a year and we're putting a burden on people with a with a project of mismanagement this is the problem I take with this with this entire the way the city's going with the current Administration with the last Administration this department is going to cost 6.9 sanitation not DPW sanitation $6.9 almost $7 million to run next year I mean it and you're trying to fill it with a bag fee and then there's going to be possibly a household fee I mean it's all over the place there's no Clear Vision of true financial management from a business perspective from understanding that if there are surpluses in certain departments that that shouldn't be just just transferred to another department to fill a gap we have to have sound fiscal management those are the reasons that's where I came to my analysis I'll be the first to say I don't know if it was me that one of my colleagues was talking about but I did support this program and as councelor rioo said I still believe it is the best recycling program out there right now because it's a force incentive program if you don't buy the bags and don't increase your recycling then then going to get fined that's the basics basis of this program it's not like people have increased the recycling just because so in that regard it is a good program unfortunately I think the implementation was incorrect here and we're seeing that through through the numbers we're not seeing that through people's opinions you're seeing that through the numbers so I think that's that's not even Up For Debate but there are other options out there there are other things to look at and I know we have a trash committee that we're looking into but to say oh we're going to pass this just to to give it more teeth that I I have to support this I'll be the first one here if other people haven't already said it I made a mistake I thought it was going to work I thought it was a good program I voted for the budget I I'll be honest I didn't think that voting for the budget at that time meant that I was going to be voting uh for pay as you throw and I think some of my colleagues would agree with that the mayor didn't say didn't say that Corporation councel didn't say that I only found that out at the last meeting of the ordinance committee so I don't think that was fair to me I don't think that was fair to my colleagues but to say that now it's it's my responsibility to support a program that that I now have the facts and figures in front of me no intelligent person in business would say oh yeah now you have to support something because you thought it was going to work in the beginning I'm now saying I saw the program in reality I disagree with it and if people have a different opinion than me there always November if you disagree with what I have to say is always November if you like what I'm doing same thing with that I yield I would ask my C my colleagues not to support this everyone has spoken as I said who wants to speak and if we're going to keep going back and forth I think the right thing to do is just vote on it we're not going to convince anyone different from our opinions but other people have other statements they want to say Council seat five Council vice president Mitchell you want have a followup counselor yeah uh for one thing I would like to say that just because 80% of the people are complying doesn't mean that 80% of the people in this community agree with it I'm compliant I don't agree with it okay but the thing is I think it's the right thing to do okay secondly uh when we voted for payia throw I agree many of my colleagues included myself didn't realize that we were the the implication I guess you could say shame on us for not but that's the way it was for me yourself and many of my colleagues here the other thing I would like to point out is when the sunet Clause was brought up in the committee meeting I said okay I would agree with it if the sunset was for the following fiscal year and I was told no well I wasn't going to vote for a for a sunset Clause that was only going to last for two months I mean to me that was ridiculous C if I may you cannot put a sunet clause on this ordinance there is no you cannot put a date on an ordinance you either vote for the ordinance and it's intact if you want to get rid of the ordinance you vote to get rid of it you just don't put a sunset Clause with a date on it Mr President I agree with you okay know the law I I realize that too because Corporation Council pointed that out okay okay uh so the fact of the matter is but I I just felt that if that would resolve it but the Corporation Council told me it it couldn't I was going to bring that out but you beat me to the punch uh the fact of the matter is is you can't vote for an ordinance with a date ending you either vote for it or you do not vote for it okay so when you look at everything as I pointed out earlier I don't like it but it's the right thing to do John Kennedy made a uh wrote a book called profiles encourage I encourage people to read it thank you I yield thank you Council c s c PR yeah I I just want to respond to my colleague in seat number two I don't know if I misspoke or he misunderstood but when I talked about eating steak or or having something else I was talking about my personal life when I'm paying a gas bill an electric bill a grocery bill a cable bill an internet bill that everybody in their own household looks at that your car insurance goes up your homeowners insurance goes up and you're still getting the same pay that's coming in I know a lot of the DPW guys that are here and everybody comes and and I hear complaints all the time and then I get this one call that'll encourage me that oh I saw this DPW guy and he literally was flipping and something fell he went around the truck to get it I called to compliment because so often I call to criticizer you know it's nice when you hear something good but you look at people right here in City Hall that haven't gotten raises and other people have there's an imbalance there there's an injustice there I get what people make and what they have to live on but when it's a bill that you have to pay that that's part of your living expense you've got to make adjustments and that's what I meant I'm not I could care less if people buy coffee smoke cigarettes have a cell phone I don't care it's up to each individual but I'm saying for me personally you know that's what I do in my house if we can't afford something okay something else gets cut Mr President I yield and ready to vote thank you councelor the motion before us to adopt the committee's report the motion has been made and seconded to click do you want to give us the count on what the committee's report what the vote was there again I know you already said it 3 to two two to two the committee's report was um the recommendation was three y to n to pass the ordinance through first reading as amended so the Motions to pass the first reading as amended ad motion to adopt as made again and second again roll call is to adopt the committee's report or are you voting on The ordinance this is just a well what was what was that you read to I I believe it was the Comm the committe Comm report you don't need a roll call on the committee's report okay on the ordinance long as it's be us is there a motion to adopt the ordinance motion to adopt the ordance first reading motion to adopt the ordinance and seconded roll call on adoption of the ordinance as amended councelors Casey yes kareah no to Silva yes myosa no Mitchell yes fer yes herera yes rioo object it's not the first Mr President he cannot coun need to vote Yes or no you cannot object councelor no president C no motion carries Mr President M clerk committee on ordinances and legislation at a meeting held on April 28th voted unanimously to recommend that the accompanying proposed ordinance be passed through first reading as amended this is the structure projecting into a over a public way ordinance motion to adopt second motion to adopt as amended as am made seconded all in favor I committee on ordinances and legislation at a meeting held on April 28th voted 5 years to recommend that the accompanying proposed ordinance accompanied by an emergency Preamble be passed through first reading second reading passed to be enrolled and passed to be motion to adopt the emergency Preble made and seconded call on the motion councelor which one is that council president on the motion on a motion counc C2 Council CRA is there just a way through the through the point of VO point of order Mr President I can't even hear what he's saying people please refrain from conversation in the council CHS please through the president perhaps to the clerk uh it came to my attention because I chairman of this this committee and I didn't didn't know at the time or I'm not sure I'm still not sure Mr President does this okay hold on Council take a one minute recess excuse me Council Mitchell will you please sit down you have been watching the Fall River City Council meetings a service of Fall River government television and the City of Fall River the Fall River City Council will resume shortly please stay tuned Council career thank I just on the motion through the president regarding the emergency Preamble piece to this brought to my attention and I'm not sure if it's if if it's okay to do the emergency just because of it if it constitutes an emergency true emergency I don't know if that's something you want to discuss clerk with us but just because it doesn't I mean I don't know I'm not sure if it falls under emergency it's it's it's up to the council to call whether or not we believe it falls into an emergency or not for the most part until someone challenges it and then it's it's it has a really problem do you yeld councelor yes C she s counc PR what happens is that when somebody comes in to put in a handicap spot near their house if it depends on when they put the paperwork in and sometimes traffic commission they miss a meeting because they don't have a quarum so it gets kind of held off so when it comes here to us it's already coming here to us after somebody has probably been added a month to try to get it to get the spa that's why most of them get put through with an emergency pre amble because it's somebody who is driving in and needs the spot in front of the house that's the only reason with that I Y there's never been a challenge to a handicap parket emergency preamble to double check my question count is correct where are we motion to adopt emerc Preamble has to meeting seconded roll call on adoption of the emergency Preamble councilors Casey yes kareah yes D Silva yes myosa yes Mitchell yes peler yes Pereira yes rioo yes president Camaro yes and for Passage through all readings motion to adopt motion to adopt passage to all readings has been made and seconded all in favor I committee on ordinances and legislation at a meeting held on April 28th voted unanimously to recommend that the accompanying letter and ordinance be referred to the traffic commission this was with regard to a proposed ordinance um miscellaneous traffic on Pine Street motion to ad motion to adopt as remain in seconded all in favor I item number 16 is a miscellaneous traffic ordinance for Passage through second reading and enrollment motion to adopt motion to adopt the ORD remain in second all in favor I I item number s 17 is also a miscellaneous traffic ordinance for Passage through second and enrollment motion to adopt item number 17 is a made in second all in favor and item number 18 is a proposed ordinance that relates to site plan review for Passage through second reading and motion to adop Mo to adopt as remain second all in favor I be it resolved that the committee on ordinances and legislation discussed the drafting of an ordinance stipulating that when a May Le's office the staff in the mayor's office as well as the corporation councel and the assistant Corporation councel POS positions shall be vacated within 30 days of the mayor leaving motion to adopt motion to adopt is there a second second Sor motion to adopt has made and there's a second on the motion counc c 2 Council K uh just on the on the motion I just want to know if there's any other is there a precedent for this where did this kind of the Genesis of it are you asking through the chair to the colleague that's sponsor the resolution please yes counc Mitchell do you wish to address thank you uh the reason I put this forth if I could Mr President specifically on the question which was is there a president and I mean that's I guess the councelor has a FL counselor the only thing he wants to know is there a president that this is you know okay so there's no other research behind this no other community that has done this not to his knowledge I would imagine okay then that I'm not going to be supporting this thank okay you'll get to speak councelor Council seat six Council pwn thank you very much uh you know you get a new mayor that comes in I don't care who it is and this mayor chose to have two Corporation councel leave the administration and sometimes I find it hard to believe that uh where he's got maybe five or six months left that you at least would try to find out what they were working on and before you just discard them and get rid of them but to say that you're going to get elected the mayor next year if I ran and then uh come January I got a month and two Corporation councils are gone it's ridiculous you may just want to keep them just to make sure house cleaning is all right or maybe they would fit in the bill so I to me you you're strapping the mayor but not only that I think we may have a CH review that's the time that that should come up chter review so why why forces with this tonight when Mr mayos has got half the signatures and it looks like it this be good to talk about a CH review instead of pushing this in front of us tonight so that's why I feel sorry my colleague are you thank you Council Council C 5 is sponsor resolution Council vice president Mitchell thank you the reason I put this forward is I felt that the former Corporation Council uh was overpaid and when she was let go and she also uh was responsible for monies being lost by this city as all of us know and I supported the fact that the new mayor coming in felt that we should have a new Corporation councel and assistant Corporation councel the assistant Corporation councel graduated from school and she was doing an internship in our city and the former mayor decided to pay a $70,000 and she was graduating from school I'll tell you what there's lawyers that graduate out of that AR making $70,000 in their first job and I just felt that that was wrong and it never came before this Council it was a done deal and a year later she was making $80,000 now it was over $200,000 in those two salaries between the Corporation Council and the in the assistant Corporation Council so the new mayor comes in and he felt he wanted to get get rid of those individuals because a I don't think he had much confidence and B he felt this these salaries were outrageous now these two individuals because there's no ordinance or any way to protect the city these two individuals have initiated proceedings which more than likely are going to lead to a suit against the city and what I'm trying to do by passing an AUD ordinance such as this and this is something that could go into the ordinance committee work with the corporation councel and be flexible about putting in something that will protect the city in the future so that is why I put this ordinance in and I would wish and hope that my colleagues would support it if you don't that's okay and what I'm trying to do is protect the city from future suits and I think that we in the ordinance committee it's no one's committee it's an ordinance committee we in the ordinance committee can get together with the Corporation Council and come up with something that hopefully makes the city less vulnerable to these type of lawsuits that's why I sponsored this resolution but if the my colleagues don't feel it's a uh an idea that they want to support that's okay I I tried thank you I yield thank you Mr President um I'm I'm the last one to speak uh no one else has the hand uh motion leave to withdraw second second motion leave to withdraw has been made and seconded roll call we need a roll call I'd like to have one I think we could all say yes sorry on granting the resolution leave to withdraw councelor Casey yes Korea yes D Silva yes mayoa no Mitchell no peler yes Pereira yes rioo yes president CRA yes I'm click whereas residents and business owners can pay their real estate motor vehicle excise personal property tax and water bills in person at the collector's office counter or online through invoice cloud and whereas a service fee of 2.95% of the amount owed is applied to all credit card pay payments and a flat fee of 40 cents is applied to all electronic check payments and whereas users of this service have expressed that the credit card service fees are high because they vary depending on the outstanding amount now therefore be it resolved that representatives from the administration the director of financial services and the city collector be invited to a future meeting of the committee on finance to discuss the features of this service and the fees associated with it and be it further resolved that options be presented for a more affordable credit card service charge or that consideration be given to charging a flat fee regardless of the amount of the transaction oppos to adopt to adopt the order has been made in seconded on the motion c c for to sponsor the mo sponsor of the resolution Council myosa thank you uh Mr President uh before I uh talk about this resolution I submitted I want to um address my colleague in C6 there will be a question on the November ballot I'm quite confident that we will get the signatures to get the chter review on the ballot and I want to take this time to thank the citizens of uh of for River for their support my colleagues that have supported this uh it's been a long effort but the question we are very confident we will have it on the ballot uh in regards to this resolution um I understand the reasoning to charge a service fee um but what I don't understand is why we're charging a variable rate as opposed to a flat rate so if I have a property tax bill of $1,000 I'm paying $29.50 and if you have a water bill of $100 you're paying $2.95 and to me it's just a transaction it's the same transaction there's no difference in time there's no difference in the quality of that um transaction I don't think there's any extra effort so I just need I want to understand I've been getting complaints from people I don't know if any of my colleagues have U but I've been getting complaints and concerns from uh constituents that they feel that this fee is excessive so maybe there's a reason for this Fe fee I don't understand why it's variable variable I could understand a flat fee if it's a $3 fee or $2.95 cuz to me the transactions the same you're not doing anything different so why is somebody paying more for that fee so I just want to make sure it's fair and it's appropriate and that's why I put this resolution in and I hope my colleagues can support it thank you Mr President thank you Council Council C 5 Council vice president Mitchell yeah uh I'm not positive about this but I believe uh counselor that the reason the fees are different is because the credit card company charges you a percentage in other words if you're paying the taxes to the city of PA River of $1,000 the credit card company takes 2 and a half% and I believe I might be wrong but I believe that what they're doing is passing on the cost of uh what the credit card company charges the city to the consumer to I'm wrong I'm being told could could I make a motion just to bring we could it's going to go to committee so we'll find out exactly why from the people who do this on a daily basis well I I thought probably just adop the resolution and we'll figure it out all right motion to adopt motion to adopt as remain second all in favor I I thank you and CLK items 21 item 21 and 22 are citations adop motion to adopt the citations and made in second all in favor I ordered that a public hearing be held by the city council on Tuesday May 12th at 7:15 to hear old persons interested in wishing to be heard on the petition of Mass Electric company for an underground conduit on dery Street the hearing granted second motion to adopt as a made and seconded all in favor I ordered that a public hearing be held by the city council on Tuesday May 12th at 7:15 to hear all persons interested and wishing to be heard on the application on behalf of Natasha vera for permission to operate a secondhand article store at 427 Second Street any objectives no motion to adopt second no objectives a motion made a hand be closed the permission be granted as main second all in favor I have the police chief's report accept and place on file motion accept and place that file has made there a second second all in favor I applications for the renewal of auto body shop licenses motion to adopt the license renewals motion to adopt the renewals has remain second it all in favor I item number 27 is a request for the revocation of a storage permit I'm sorry of a um auto repair shop um at 28 Augustus Street at the request of the owner motion to adopt the second motion to adopt as remain second all in favor I item number 28 is also a request to revoke inorder motor repair shop license at 999 Broadway at the request of the license holder motion to adopt second motion to adopt as made second all in favor item number 29 is in order for plans uh for the acceptance of Winslow Street ex extending from North Main Street to a dead end motion to adopt second um this should be referred to the planning board motion to refer to to the planning board second motion refer to planning board as made in second and all in favor I have a number of claims Corporation motion refer The Corporation Council remain second all in favor I item number 31 are minutes of the community preservation accept and place on file motion to accept and place on file as minutes as made in second all in favor all right item number 32 is an application for a banner to be placed at South Main Street from May 22nd to June 26th beh of the American Cancer Society motion to allow second motion to allow has been made in second Madam clerk just real quick it says at Center place and Cultural Center is this one Banner or two one Center yeah okay motion to adopt as remain second all in favor I item number 33 is a communication from a city resident regarding the school lunch program motion to accept the place on files motion to accept the place on files May second all in favor I Council seat 7 you have a question uh Mr President could we also send a copy of that letter to the school dep the school committee thank you not a problem counc thank you good idea click item number 34 is a communication from a city resident with regard to a pothole accept and place on file motion accept and place on file as made in second all in favor I counc seat seven and again I'd send a copy of that letter to Mr Pico or maybe I could give him my copy I'm sure he probably has one we'll get on to them we can send to the school committee too well no no no it's on a we handle those kidding kidding we'll make sure Mr P gets a copy of that letter concerning the par holds Madam clerk any items f after the agenda uh we have one more item on the agenda it's a communication from DP with regard to the wetlands and waterways regulation programs at place on file second motion to accept and plac on files made in second all in favor I we have some citations that were filed after the agenda was prepared there a motion to adopt the citation motion to adopt motion to adopt remain second all in favor and we have a number of applications for drain layer bonds are all the ples in place yes is there a motion to adopt the adop motion made in second all in favor I um Mr President can we take a brief recess to sign the ordinances Council recess for 2 minutes on that counselor and seat one Council Casey I just wanted to bring something out before we ended um that the citation uh that the water department got for the uh outstanding performance I think we all received one but I think the people of for River should know that that award was received and also one from the governor because of the job that the water department is doing and I think that's great for everybody to know one other thing I'd like to just bring out ask is about the bike ride on uh Sunday to um uh raise funds to help the uh vets in need it's going to be held uh May 17th it's going to be opened at 8:30 it's going to be held at the Liberal Club and if anybody wants to go have a good time and help a good cause uh that's the place to be don't forget Liberal Club uh May 17th it starts at 8:30 I think registration is 10:30 thank you thank you councelor did the governor send a check with that just a I looked for the check and I called but there was no check but at least it shows the work that's being done thanks counselor councelor we'll recess for one minute you have been watching the Fall River City Council meetings a service of Fall River government television and the City of Fall River the Fall River City Council will resume shortly please stay tuned [Music] he n [Music] [Music] Council reconvene mam clerk the last three items before you are the proposed ordinances for Passage through ordination um we have a miscellaneous traffic ordinance motion to adopt second motion to adopt the miscellaneous traffic ordinance has been made in seconded all in favor I I we have a second miscellaneous traffic ordinance motion to adopt motion to adopt miscellaneous traffic ordinance me in second all in favor and lastly we have the proposed ordinance that relates to the site plan review motion to adopt second second motion to adopt the site plan review as made in second all in favor I I that's all we have Mr motion to adjourn motion to adjourn has remain seconded all in favor I you have been watching the Fall River City Council meetings a service of Fall River government television and the City of Fall River catch any meeting online at www.fr gv. us video OnDemand [Music]