[Music] it beings 7:40 Tuesday February 18th 2025 first order of the business is the call of order when I call your name please respond present Council Brooks pres councilor Craig Cormier pres
councel Del owitz present Council harder present councilor Heath present councel heglin pres Council kazinski present Council Mac present Council TBO Munos present Council ton
presid and president tyus is absent so we have 10 councils present one absent in absence of of council president Tyrus the first order of business the election of President Pro 10 for this evening February 18th 2025 at this time I now
open I now order the office of the city council Pro open the order for the election of President proam any nominations Council dtz I nominate Elizabeth kinus seconded motion made by Council D LS seconded by
Council heglin are there any other nominations for president protown move to close the nominations second motion made by Council Dar LTZ seconded by Council M to close the nominations all in favor say I Madam CL
cler I recuse myself okay point of order y uh councelor ton are all BR call votes roll call Von one second okay to close the nominations I'm going to do a roll call
vote Council Brooks yes Council Craig Cormier yes councel D LTZ yes councel harder yes councelor Heath yes Council heglin yes councelor kazinski yes councilor ma yes Council tbot MOS
yes Council tone yes yes okay 10 y to close nominations so so noted I will call the role of members please see the names of the Council of your choice Council Brooks councelor
Elizabeth kazinski councelor Craig Cormier councelor kinus councelor D lawitz councelor kinus councel Hardon councelor kinus councilor Heath councelor kinus Council hegan councelor kinus councilor
ma councelor kinus Council TBO M councelor kinus councilor ton I have nine votes for Council kazinski is now elected president foram for this evening [Applause]
f please rise to recite the opening pray the Pledge of Allegiance almighty God we thank for this even INSP protect all people of our
city Us weate in unity and Harmony amen I to un States of America to the for it stands one nation God indivisible and justice for
[Applause] all announcement of open meeting recordings any person may make a video or audio recording of an open session of a meeting or may transmit the meeting through any medium subject to reasonable requirements of the chair as to the number placement and operation of equipment so used so as not to interfere
with the conduct of the meeting any person intending to make such recording shall notify the chair forth with all documents and Exhibits used are referen at the meeting must be submitted in duplicate to the chair as they become part of the meeting minutes pursuant to General Law chapter 30 subsection 20 is there a discussion I mean is there
anyone recording tonight's meeting we'll begin with the reading of the minutes of Prior meetings you December 16th 2024 regular meeting January 6th 2025 regular meeting councelor forier move to W wave the reading of the minutes and accept
them as printed second motion made by councelor Cormier seconded by councelor Heath to wave the reading of the minutes and accept them as presented is there a discussion on the motion the clerk will please call the role councelor Brooks yes councelor Craig Cormier yes councelor General lawitz yes councel harder yes councelor
Heath yes councel heglin yes Council kazus yes Council math yes Council TB Munos yes and Council
tone yeah 10 10 the motion passes there are no public hearings there are no Communications from the mayor there are no petitions applications Communications Etc reports of standing committees at this time we're going to take out of order and we're going to begin with the
appointments committee with item 11472 on page two of our agenda item 11472 a measure confirming the mayor's appointment of Robert Oliva to the position of city engineer for term expiring January 16th 2025
councelor heglin thank you councelor kinus uh I move to remove the item from our agenda as uh we were not able to meet on that tonight as our appoint this morning second motion made by councelor hgin seconded by councel Dons to remove the item from the agenda is there discussion on the motion the clerk will
please call the role Council Brooks yes Council Craig Cormier yes Council D LT yes Council harder yes councilor Heath yes Council heglin yes Council kinus yes councilth yes Council TBO M yes and Council
tone yeah 10 the motion passes item 11473 a measure confirming the mayor's appointment of Christine Oliva Kumar to the position of City Assessor for term expiring January 16th 2028 councelor heglin thank you uh Madam
President proem we met on this item tonight as the appointments committee um you know Miss Kumar has been with us for for three years now it's gone quickly but in that time she's made a great impact uh on the department and the City Assessor role she has come highly recommended for her
professionalism her efficiency her Innovative nature in streamlining processes and making things happen quickly um and also for her constituent service work it's not always easy when people are upset about maybe their assessments or other bills that come their way but she handles things really
well and professionally um she's also a resident of gardener and very committed uh to the role and to the city and so the having no objection the appointments committee was in favor and so I move to confirm uh the mayor's appointment second motion made by councelor Hein seconded by councelor Heath to confirm
the mayor's appointment is there discussion on the motion the clerk will please call the role Council Brooks yes Council craigan yesc coun dtz yes councel harder yes councelor Heath yes Council heglin yes councel kinus yes
Council ma yes Council T yes and counil ton yeah 10 10 the motion passes item 11 1483 a measure confirming the mayor's appointment of Eric mcavan to the position of police chief for term expiring January 16th 2028 report from the appointments committee councelor
he uh thank you Madam presid Pro time time um yes we um the appointments committee met with um Chief mavan earlier today um the chief has 30 years of experience in policing
25 of which was uh well which is here at Gardner um he was hired as a patrol officer for the Gardner police department in April of 2000 was promoted to uh Sergeant April uh 05
um February of 2012 he became a lieutenant and um 10 years later he became the police chief the chief has stabilized and strengthened the Gardner police department during his um during his tenure at this position he currently
has the department at 100% staff um pending this uh last training that goes through um with a well diverse uh staff which includes officers that are bilingual um the appointments committee
was in favor we voted um unanimously and we would like to go ahead and have the have this in front of the full Council as a whole and pass motion made by councelor Heath to
confirm the mayor's appointment seconded by counselor heglin is there a discussion on the motion councelor heglin I just want to Echo what um what councelor Heath said we had this meeting earlier this evening and I think it's really clear that Chief Maven you know has helped stem turnover and and balance
out the Staffing um that there's really good supports and accountability within the department um that trainings are offered uh we talked a lot about the critical incident training uh for mental health um training that the officers have gone through which build I think a
pretty significant need um and after the schools it's the second largest department and and I think our biggest one of our biggest ones in the budget anyway that he oversees and and does it very very well so I'm fully in favor of um confirming this appointment thank you councelor further
discussion the clerk will please call the role councelor Brooks yes councelor Craig Cormier yes councel General lawitz yes councel harder yes councilor Heath yes Council heglin yes Council kinus yes Council math yes counc TBO M yes and Council
tone yeah 10 y the motion passes item 11 1484 a measure confirming the mayor's appointment of Nicholas to the position of Deputy Chief of Police for term expiring January 16th 2028 report from the appointments committee councelor Heath thank you madam president
um the appointments committee met with uh deputy chief earlier this evening deputy chief completed his um well his three appointment in this position he began in 2010 and has worked
his way up through the ranks from a patrol officer sergeant and most recently as the Department's community community policing Lieutenant he has always been actively involved in the community through several different nonprofit Outreach and service organizations I'm looking forward to him
continuing that work in this role since his first appointment he also graduated from the FBI's National Police Academy this is a prestigious competitive and hard accomp accomplishment to earn um I think he is through uh one of three
officers that have um went through this for Garder um with that being said the committee um the committee voted unanimously to recommend therefore I move this appointment to be certified second motion made by
councelor Keith seconded by councelor heglin to confirm the mayor's appointment is there a discussion on the motion the clerk will please call the RO Council Brooks yes Council cig Cormier yes councel D lards yes councel hard yes councilor Heath yes councel heglin yes
councel kinus yes Council math yes councelor TBO Munos yes and councel tone yeah 10 y 10 y the motion passes item 11488 a measure confirming the mayor's
appointment of Tina brega trustee to the position of Williams Rockwell educational fund for term expiring January 15th 2028 report from the appointments committee councelor heglin thank you madam president protim uh the appointments committee met on this item also this evening um this is a
reappointment um as we all know or many of us I'm sure know Tina was the former president and CEO of GFA so she brings a lot of excellent Financial expertise to this committee um and and to the Rockwell gift fund but also she knows the community very well having worked here for so long she still serves on
boards and and committees through GFA so she is still active in our community um and and when she was President CEO I know she had the opportunity of starting the uh student advisory Council so she's had that chance to work with students um and hear from them directly about their
experience as as young adults in our community she is also a graduate of gardener High um councilor Brooks reminded me this evening uh Class of 73 um it's an unpaid volunteer position I think we're lucky to have her expertise on that group uh the mayor highly
recommended it we had no objections and so I move the appointment to be confirmed second motion made by councelor heglin seconded by councelor Heath to confirm the mayor's appointment is there a discussion on the motion the clerk will please call the role councilor Brooks yes councelor Craig Cormier yes counc D lawitz yes councel
harder yes councelor Heath yes councel hegan yes councel kinus yes Council ma yes Council Tio MOS yes counc tone yeah 10 10 y the motion passes item 11 1489 a measure confirming the mayor's
appointment of autumn Brown to the position of Animal control officer for term expiring January 16th 2028 report from the appointments committee councelor Heath thank you madam president um the committee met with Miss um Autumn
Brown uh earlier today uh along with Chief uh maabin was there with her and uh he spoke highly of her Services um she's been here for just over a year um and this is a
reappointment which the initial appointment was one year which this right here is now 3 years um and he couldn't do nothing but Rave about her he I think he used the term as a Spitfire she's
all she is a um remarkable employee and um the committee voted unanimously to recommend therefore I move this appointment to be certified second motion made by councel Heath seconded by councel heglin to Ser to confirm the mayor's appointment is there a
discussion on the motion the clerk will please call the role councelor Brooks yes councelor Craig Cormier yes councel dwit yes councelor harder yes councelor Heath yes councelor hegan yes Council kinus yes Council mat yes Council TBO mun yes and
councelor tone okay sorry just checking 10 10 the motion passes item 11490 a measure confirming the mayor's appointment of Alana murve to the position of Animal control officer for term expiring January 16th 2028 report from the
appointments committee councelor Heath uh thank you madam president um ala Reserve um the committee met with her earlier today at the um meeting right before this meeting and um um she again just like the previous um item um
or animal control officer she is a she is part of a three um person team over there at the um ACO the Animal Control Officers and again came highly recommended from both the chief and the deputy chief um again this is a this was
a one-year appointment now that um that is getting reappointed for 3 years um the committee voted unanimously to recommend therefore I move this appointment to be certified seconded motion made by councelor Heath seconded by councel
heglin to confirm the mayor's appointment is there a discussion on the motion the clerk will please call the rooll councelor Brooks yes councel Craig yes Council Dar lards yes Council harder yes Council Heath yes Council heglin yes
Council kinus yes Council yes Council T mun yes and Council tone yeah 10 y 10 y the motion passes item 11491 a measure confirming the mayor's appointment of Cheryl slack to the
position of an animal control officer for term expiring January 16th 2028 report from the appointments committee counselor Heath uh thank you madam president um again this just like the last two items um we met with well she
was not able to go ahead and um make it today but um we met with Chief uh Chief maab um and he went ahead and he spoke in her behalf and said that she is again highly recommended like the last two um with that being said we went
ahead and we voted unanimously to go ahead and recommend this appointment to be certified seconded motion made by councelor Heath seconded by councelor heglin to confirm the mayor's appointment is there discussion on the motion the clerk will please call the
rooll coun Brooks yes councel Craig Cormier yes councelor D lawitz yes councelor harder yes councelor Heath yes councelor heglin yes councelor kinus yes Council math yes Council TBO Munos yes Council tone yeah 10 10 y the motion passes item
11496 a measure confirming the mayor's appointment of Anne Hurst to the position of disability commission member for term expiring January 16th 2028 report from appointments committee councelor heglin thank you m Madam president protim uh again uh the appointments committee met this evening
earlier on this item um while uh commissioner Hurst was not able to be there I think most of us that know her know that she lives in Breeze um these issues she has years and years of experience advocating for people with disabilities um she has personal
connections to this I know I first met her when I was working at the state house um and in that capacity as being an advocate uh for people with disabilities and so I think we're again really lucky to have her expertise uh and skills and knowledge on this uh
commission um she is highly recommended by the mayor and so we were in favor of this appointment and so I move the uh appointment to be confirmed second motion made by councelor heglin seconded by councelor Heath to confirm the mayor's appointment is there a discussion on the motion the clerk will
please call the RO councelor Brooks yes councelor Craig Cormier yes councel Dar lawit yes councel harder yes counc Heath yes Council heglin yes Council kinus yes Council math yes Council TBO Munos yes and Council tone yeah 10 10 y the motion
passes at this time we will take a brief recess of the meeting to swear in those who have been appointed here this evening we will reconvene after the swearing in is completed and call the meeting back to order at that time I know back I'm lot of breath yes please
yes please ra your right hand Christine K have been chosen to assess taxes and estimate value property for the purpose of Taxation for the city of Garder for you insuring do way that you would truly and impartially according to the best of skills and
judgment assess in operation all such taxes as you may during the time assess that you will neither overvalue or nor undervalue any property subject to Taxation and will Faithfully perform the duties of assessor I do congratulations
[Applause] than okay me I st your name Eric do me swear me swear that we Faithfully in impartially will faithfully and impartially discharge and perform all duties discharge and perform all du
incumbent upon me incumbent upon me as the police chief of the city of Gardner as the police chief of the city of Garner I will bear truth faith and Allegiance I will bear true faith and Allegiance and will uphold and defend and will uphold and defend the Constitution of the United States of America the Constitution of the United
States of America and the constitution of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and the constitution of the common wealth of Massachusetts I will obey and be bound I will obey and be bound by such rules and regulations by such rules and regulations by the city of gner of the city of Gardner and its police department and its Police Department I
st name I Eric M do Sly swear do Sly swear that it would never betray my badge that I will never betray my badge my Integrity my character or the public trust my Integrity my character or the public trust I will always have the courage to hold myself in others I will
always have the courage to hold myself in others accountable for our actions accountable for our actions I will uphold the Constitution I will uphold the Constitution my my community my community and the garden of police department and the garden of police department so help me God so help me God
I st your name I Eric M hereby accept the position hereby accept the position of chief of police for the city of GH of chief of police of the city of G [Applause]
on up I st I Nicholas do Solly swear do Solly swear that I will bear truth that I'll will bear truth faith and Allegiance faith and allegiance to the United States of America to the United States of America and the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and I will support the
Constitution and I will support the Constitution and the laws thereof and the laws thereof [Applause] you're oby okay
okay we're going to go to the meeting is back in order we are now going to go again out of order to the economic and Community Development Committee item 1 1500 on the
third page of our Council agenda item 11500 a request from councelor Elizabeth kazinski for a one-month update from the director of Community Development and planning is there a motion councelor Heath yes I'd like to make a motion that
the item be placed on file and the director of community community development and planning brief to Council on his one month um results sorry second motion
made by councelor Heath seconded by councelor dnal lawitz to place the item on file and for the director of Community Development and planning to brief the city council on his one- month update is there a discussion on the
motion the clerk will please call the rooll council Brooks yes Council Craig Cormier yes councilor delwit yes Council harder yes Council Heath yes Council heglin yes Council kazus yes Council yes Council TBO M yes and
C yeah 10 10 the motion passes so per that motion passing at this time I'd like to ask uh director of community Planning and Development Jason Stevens to come up to the podium and give the council a briefing on his one- month update thank
you thank you madam Pro I want to say thank you for the opportunity to give this update on the work of my department as I said on the eve of my first day when I last spoke to the council among my top priorities are going to be increasing transparency and
communication with the work of my department I want to thank those of you who I found time with to meet and I'm looking forward to meeting with the rest of you moving forward it's been almost a month since I've been in this role and a lot of that time has been spent getting up to speed
with the workings of the department and the numerous projects and programs that we're involved with the good news is that there's a lot underway that I think we can all be excited about a lot of good opportunities for growth and development here in Garder among this good news there are a few problems that
I feel I need to go over with you all tonight first I want to give an update on the administration for the cdbg program I reviewed what the council looked at last year and the issues that came to light at that time in terms of the reporting errors prior to my arrival the auditor
and Treasurer have been reviewing the reporting for cdbg cdbg programs and their records and reports I want to be clear on the next couple of points first all money we have received from cdbg has been properly allocated
and spent no money is unaccounted for however we have identified errors in our reports made to the state and there were also errors uh reporting errors made to Housing and Urban Urban Development as
well for background how the cdbg program works we receive our annual allotment uh amount and through our process allocate those funds we then Advance money to the program which which it is then reimbursed by the state once those reporting requirements are
met these reporting errors delayed the state's approval of the project and program list for fy2 specifically those reports were supposed to be submitted to the state on a quarterly basis the state last year in their review found those errors and mandated Corrections before the process
could continue for outstanding reimbursements and the upcoming Year's approvals to correct this I'm going to be prioritizing meeting the pre-application deadline later this month it is important that we keep on top of the schedule and the reporting requirements because of that is the
source of the of the delay and can lead to the projects being pushed off or increases in costs in addition to the internal policies in my department that will be enforced this goes hand inhand with the cdbg ordinance that the mayor has
submitted to better formalize this process and steering committee unfortunately it's clear to me that both the mayor and the coun here tonight did not get accurate reports as to the status of the program and on this issue specifically I reached that conclusion
by reviewing the correspondence from the previous director to the mayor and the council compared to that what was uh corresponded between the department and the state also from watching the city council meeting where this item was
discussed honestly upon a review I don't even think other members of the department grasp that these errors were occurring or needed to be addressed what I mean by that is that there were Corrections we had to make to satisfy the guidelines for cdbg reporting to the state last year and
when the state ordered us to nothing else appears to have been done my findings from these last three weeks is that poor management review by the department lack of Staff training and poor internal policies and procedures on my department led to cdbg
reporting not being taken seriously or seriously reviewed by the director and siloing of Staff responsibilities hindered the department from realizing the broader issue the next matter I bring to your attention is the ongoing Redevelopment
of the rear main street property this pertains to another matter on your agenda this evening so in the economic development committee wanted me to make sure that I go into some depth about the situation and proposed solution as you all know the city had
been engaged for a number of years now redeveloping that area this began with the acquisition of the property and its subsequent demolition of the former Factory building there that is that is where we have now discovered the problems that we are currently facing
originate when the building was torn down in 2015 the decision was made to use demolition debris to fill on the site and this debris was deeper than what was estimated by the engineers when surveys were done the problem this creates is an unst unsuitable subsurface
to build off of I think it's important to go over how we got here and what I need what I think needs to change in how we do business in my department specifically first I plan to review the original demo plan to better understand how and why these decisions were made at
the time and also to determine if it was done correctly and did it meet the specifications at the time on my first day the head engineer for fuss O'Neal called to inform me of the situation and ask how I wanted to proceed quite the first day a question I
had then is why borings were not done as part of the due diligence on this project this would have discovered this issue far earlier in the process instead of after work had already begun another issue I have with how this was put together by the previous
director is that less than 5% for this Project's budget was put aside for contingency when the standard is at least 10 ideally closer to 20% the reason that this standard is because the situation is exactly like this compounding this was a serious
communication communication issue my department was notified in writing of this issue last September however that information was never passed on and updates on the project to the mayor and other City departments made no mention and in some cases even
contradicted what the engineers were reporting as to the status of the project my first day when this came to my attention I notified the mayor the mayor immediately then conven me with myself the engineering firm for the project the city engineer the purchasing director
and the director of the DPW we then discussed our options and the mayor made the decision to stop the work until we had a clear path forward which is again what is being presented to the council I do think after a lengthy communication with the engineers
that what has been presented is the best option available to us what is being presented is a geotextile fabric that will cover the area where demolition debris was used and will effectively and evenly spread the shifting weight on top of it for moving
Vehicles as I said there is more a plan I plan to look into so that I can better give an explanation of what happened that got us to this point because I think it's important for all of us to understand how and why these decisions were made especially when they result in errors to make sure we learn from our
past mistakes the way in which the existing structures that were on site were demoed and the manner at which the site was filled were not conducive towards further Redevelopment and in fact these decisions are the reason we're standing here today reporting on this rather than
continuing the project on schedule the project is still moving forward just with some delay until this is settled candidly I can tell you that in my first 3 weeks here it's been a lot things are not smooth and there are a
lot of areas that need Improvement so I want to assure assure you all of a few things first I'm fully committed to getting things right and making sure the department runs correctly and effectively second I'm willing to make the tough calls for my department to
make sure that that happens and last that the mayor and I are committed to keeping city council informed every step along the way thank you director okay we're going to go back out of order to the reports of standing committees
we're going to go to finance committee page two of our agenda we're going to begin with item 11 1481 an ordinance to amend the code of the city of Gardner chapter 171 thereof entitled Personnel to add the position of human resources manager to the the
compensation schedule report from the finance committee councelor haglin thank you mad Madame President proem um lead to a motion this is something we've previously taken up it's already been through first printing uh just as a reminder it's really just codifying a position change within the HR department
that we've already approved um and so I move to send the ordinance amendment to Second printing second motion made by councelor heglin seconded by councelor D allt to send the ordinance amendment to Second and final printing is there discussion on the motion
the clerk will please call the rooll councilor Brooks yes councilor Craig Coria yes councel joh lawitz yes councilor harder yes councelor Heath yes councelor Hein yes councelor kinus yes councel math yes councelor TBO mun yes
and counc tone yeah ten ten the motion passes item 11 1482 discussions regarding the City's health insurance payments and trust fund report from the finance committee
councelor General lawitz thank you madam president um leading to a motion this item is in front of Finance keep the finance committee to keep an open dialogue about the health insurance account um I recommended to uh I recommend everyone to continue viewing the finance committee for updates as we will continue to discuss on the item um
but I felt there's information to bring to the full council at this time um in short the Health Trust balance as of January 31st of this year is just over $1.4 million this is is over a million dollar higher um than it was at the very end of last year on uh December 31st
2025 where it was roughly at about $350,000 um as outlined in our packet with the information from the auditor this has occurred for two reasons uh there are things called stop-loss reimbursements um which came in at roughly $440 ,000 this is these are large claims that are covered by our
stop loss insurance policy uh the auditor did note as well that he's hoping there is another payment um for about the same uh for $440,000 that comes before the end of the fiscal year but he does not know when uh and when exactly the timing of that will be uh the second error was monthly withholding
journal entry um that um the payments from um get moved over this was not completed for several months due to the process being used at that time uh this process has been updated with additional safeguards um as well as reporting um
the auditor mentioned in the email um un does have automatic reporting capabilities that he's going to uh utilize the further um add additional again safeguards um I do want to make it clear uh that the money was always in the city accounts uh but was not being accounted for properly in the Health
Trust balance um the auditor noted that a comfortable balance in the account would be between 1.8 and2 million well we are still short of this number uh we are much more comfortable position than it previously was reported um Finance as the state will continue to um have this item on their calendar and receive
updates from the mayor and the auditor and um at this point I would move to remove the item from the full Council calendar second motion made by councelor D allow second by councelor Ma to remove the item from the full Council calendar with clarification that it remains on the finance committee calendar that is
correct is there a discussion on the motion count uh mayor Nicholson thank you madam president just to add clarification just be sure you're on a microphone if you want to come to this just to clarify uh add to what councelor general L said $440,000 from stop loss insurance is wir to the city's accounts this morning so that has also been
received and added to those totals that the csil previously mentioned thank you thank you for the update Mr Mayor any discussion from the council the clerk will please call the role Council Brooks yes councelor K comia yes councel General LTZ yes
councelor harder yes councelor Heath yes councelor heglin yes Council kinus yes Council ma yes Council tboos yes Council tone yes 10 10 the motion passes item
11497 a communication from the mayor regarding the contract with Keller Partners company for for grant writing and lobbying Services councelor General lawitz thank you madam president this is something the finance committee had asked for um it's just the the contract
that um we had approved funding for um in the past here's the documents um outlining killer Partners uh role in the grant writing lobing services as well as his recommendations from other communities um and municipalities in there um so it's there for everyone's information uh
the finance committee uh recommended and I so move to place the communication on file second motion made by councelor D second by councelor Ma to place a communication on files there discussion on the motion the clerk will please call the role councelor Brooks yes councelor Craig Cormier yes councel D lawitz yes
councel harder yes councelor Heath yes councelor Hegman yes coun kinus yes Council M yes Council tunos yes and Council tone yes 10 10 the motion passes item
11499 an order to reappropriate 8 million $161,000 of unexpected Bond proceeds to other capital projects report from the finance committee councelor Mac thank you um this order to reappropriate 8,161 of unexpected Bond proceeds to
capital approvement projects um the list of the capital approvement projects is in your pactic would C be uh covered um by these funds left from The Waterford street street school project um the items have to have a useful life of at
least 30 years um these funds were borrowed in June of uh 2022 um these funds are available based on the loan being taken out exceeding the the amount needed there is still a buffer that was left out um from the
$8.1 uh million um to be set aside in case there is still need for any type of replacement or repairs uh to the elementary school These funds cannot be used to pay um against the loan um so it's wise for the city to use it towards
some of our Capital project items the finance committee was in favor of the reappropriation of the loan funds for these projects and I make a motion to move the order second motion made by councel Max seconded by counselor D allowt to approve the reappropriation of the funds and approve the
order this uh item requires a 2third vote and we will do a roll call as we have on all other items is there a discussion on the motion councelor Mac um I just want to say that if you look at our Capital Improvement projects there quite a few and um this is going to cover both City Hall the schools our
SE our new Senior Center and although um some of these projects might be specifically where we as a council might not have focused um that with Ty and bond these are the items that they think that's important for us to make repairs um City Hall hasn't had repairs done in
many many years um so I think this uh this money is what being spent wisely um and I'm happy to support this this um order thank you thank you councelor mack further discussion councelor hgin thank you madam president proam um Council Mac
touched on this and I think it was well said but I want to maybe dive a little deeper into it um and really why the money is available so when the city built our new Elementary School it was done through the msba or the Massachusetts school building authority which is a state agency that oversees
every aspect of school construction arranges the financing and importantly in our case pays the lineon share of the cost uh the part that is relevant to us tonight is the financing component that was previously mentioned so the City guided by the msba issues bonds um and
or borrows this money for the project projected toal cost of the construction prior to the first shovel going in the ground uh that number the dollar figure is where the expertise of the msba comes in right they do this throughout the state all the time from there the construction proceeds and the city's
reimbursed by the state for our project there were two factors the state reimburse us for 80% of the reimbursable cost they didn't have to go to that 80% but they did um and that's the maximal maximum possible reimbursement rate and obviously impacted our side of the total
costs which which included non-reimbursable expenses the other piece is twofold the actual construction costs came in under budget and contingency funds uh a normal process for a large project like this uh where additional or unanticipated costs may
arise in our case um they weren't Folly used so simply put the process through the msba facilitates the borrowing of these funds for the amount they determine no bidding can occur and no project can proceed with the msba until those funds are secured so because this
project finished under budget that's what's created the availability of these funds thank you thank you councelor huglin further discussion councel Harden yes Madam president I've been on this Council for over a decade in that time we have always been cash strapped and
always playing catchup with Capital Improvements in maintenance usually when I have been asked to vote for spending like this it's because something has broken dramatically failed and we don't have any options the problem with that is it's no way to do things we all know
letting things sit and get worse only increase costs and make a big breakdown more likely which only costs more to fix when it becomes an emergency I'd like to highlight one example of this on this list the front entrance of City Hall we can all see the
steps Shifting the brick work falling apart handicapped door failing the stairs pushing away from the building and the rust oozing out of the columns I was a barber but you don't need to be an engineer to see there is a problem
here we have two options do nothing and eventually we will need to put up yellow tape blocking off the front entrance while we try to figure out how to find what at that point will probably be millions of dollars to fix
or we can maintain what we have at a functional cost I am not 100% behind every single item on this list but I am 100% behind mind is being proactive with maintenance and improvements because what I have seen
far too often and been asked to vote on is what happens when we don't do this we end up being forced to spend far more money tear down buildings build new ones and have emergencies so I will be voting for this and I hope that it passes thank
you thank you councel harden further discussion councel Brooks thank you madam president we are being asked today to approve the spending of over $8 million in capital projects that's a lot of money it's
money coming from the issuance of debt in 2022 to be paid back over 30 years or until 2052 it would be easy for me to say sure no problem because I will get the benefit of the spending but not have to
deal with the payments quite frankly I will be very surprised to still be here in Garder above the ground in 2052 for me the issue is what I am leaving to my children and grandchildren is it fair to them is it what I want to
leave as a legacy the money has already been borrowed and has to be spent in compliance with state laws we rushed the borrowing of these funds in order to avoid higher interest rates which was a good
plan unfortunately the the financial information from the new elementary school project management team had not been updated to show lower than budgeted construction costs so we borrow too much and now have $8 million in excess funds
from the project Mass General Law chapter 40 section 20 says if a balance remains after the completion of the project for which the loan was authorized the balance may be appropriated so my first question
is the new elementary school project complete are we totally done and the project closed I would hate to have this order approved only to find that there are issues at the new school that require further spending next I understand that the list
of projects being funded have been vetted by the Capital Improvements planning committee and I have no doubt that they are necessary projects however I do have a few few more questions the first project on the list is for the gardener High School
auditorium upgrades I understand that the auditorium has been closed for most of this school year while undergoing major Renovations my second question are the funds in this order being allocated for additional work not
included in the current renovation plans or are there are they to cover cost overruns in the current project or are they supplanting or replacing funds that the school committee had already committed to the
project if this $1.5 million is to supplant or replace money previously committed by the school committee is it in the best interest of the city as a whole or are we bailing out one department at the expense of
others the second project on the list is $50,000 for bathroom upgrades Garder high school now I will acknowledge Madame President protm that the new high school is 50 years old and in need of major
upgrades but come on question three does it make sense to borrow for 30 years to pay for a $50,000 bathroom upgrade the $50,000 bathroom upgrade cost is well below the $150,000
threshold for Capital Improvements that can count toward net School spending meaning within the school budget I would ask the same question for the $80,000 for Gardener High School stair tread replacement and the $50,000
for Gardener Middle School storefront replacement there are several other projects at 200,000 or less on the list covering other City departments question four shouldn't we be finding a way to cover those smaller projects within the annual budget
rather than using a 30-year loan just as I expect the school department to cover some of their projects under net School spending so I expect small capital projects for other City departments to be funded under the city
budget and by the way it is acceptable to use free cash because capital projects are considered one-time expenses finally we can find it easy to fall into the into the delusion that we suddenly have found money that
we can use to cure what ails us The Debt Service on this loan is already baked into future budgets until 2052 we can approve this reappropriation without any additional Financial hit to the city so here is my final
question if this order for $ 8,161 th000 had not been a reappropriation of already borrowed funds but instead had been a new loan order for an additional 8,161 th000 of borrowing over 30 years
would be would we be so willing to approve it we including our children and grandchildren are going to pay this debt for another 27 years do we really want to spend 30 years paying for a range of smaller projects that happen to be next
in line on the Capital Improvements list are we missing an opportunity to do something transfers informational for the City City Hall has already been mentioned City Hall the building will soon be pushing a 100 years and we can expect no outside financial assistance
for its Rehabilitation should we direct more money there the Waterford Community Center is radically changing its purpose from school to Community Center should we focus on that building the storm water system is
getting old and is running add or over capacity in some locations such as Union Square should we push funding in that direction I believe we can do better and I will not be supporting the order as it is currently written thank you thank you
counselor further discussion councelor ma um thank you um Madame President protm um and and if it's in order I'd like the mayor to address this um according to the um Capital Improvement planning meeting on July 31st when when
this first started being discussed um my understanding was under the direct of the mayor that the $8 million $4 million was supposed to be targeted for City expenses and $4 million was supposed to be targeted for school expenses which is how this list became came about um so it
wasn't um just uh supposed to be specifically you know targeted just for the city funds um so if it's appropriate I'd like to hear from the mayor thank you councel Mac further discussion any further
discussion Mr Mayor thank you very much Madam president for Tim uh to answer uh councelor Ma's question on the 50/50 uh the reason why we tried to get as close to uh 4 million and 4 million uh was because the money was taken out
originally for the school building so for the benefit of the school department that's why we looked at trying to get as close to that in the end if you uh look at the total amount of the loan that's left over it's close to $8.5 million which is why the final request is about 8.1 um
around it was ended up being closer to a 6040 split um but that was based off of the list that tyin Bond our city engineering firm and fuss and O'Neal our other on call Engineers uh took a look at our Capital Improvement list that's
annually submitted by the uh by the Capital Improvements planning committee to the city council voted on by the city council and signed by the mayor on an annual basis this was most recently done in October um to uh say of these projects that are on the list which one of these are considered 30-year uh
lifespan list uh the way that Bond Council our City's legal council that approves all of our uh approves and oversees all of our interactions with our loans our bonds our debt service because there are several general laws that relate to those matters um what they required a proof that the projects
would be 30 years and that could either be done by finding warranties on a specific project or by a stamped Engineers letter that say in the average course of business this type of a project has an average lifespan of 30 years and if we did not have specific quotes that estimate by an engineer had to have a PE stamp a professional
engineer stamp uh that was associated with it uh the letter from time bond is included in your packet this evening that it said of all of the items on the capital Improvement list these are the items that had um a 30-year lifespan or minimum after that uh the uh items were
prioritized based off of lack of other grant funding available for those types of projects I'll use the underground storage tanks at the DPW as an example of that uh there are specific Brownfield remediation grants or the state us fund or things of that nature that's available for that type of work where
you're not going to find that work for repointing the front of City Hall uh and doing building upgrades here uh so those were the different factors that went into coming up with those plans that were there uh and where the 50/50 split came from the school Department's um projects that they have included in
their share of this funding either came from their uh submissions to the capital Improvement plan of which many of those are on that list um or projects that they saw just general building upgrades uh as has been said earlier where these
had to be a 30-year project the general laws have specific requirements as to what can be considered a 30-year project and what cannot be considered a 30-year project any project that has Paving Paving can only be done in a loan of up to 10 years any project that's associated with an outdoor Recreational
facility that's not a building can only be done for up to 15 years and any equipment purchases can only be done for up to uh 20 years if you look at the original submission that the school department asked us to consider that included updating the clock system at Gardner high school that was considered
equipment so that could not be something that was done with that so that's why the engineers backed that out similar was done with updating the uh we you know looked at whether or not to do a sprinkler system at the new community center that was considered equipment so that was something that uh got taken out by Bond Council and the engineering
firms so things of that is how all of this got broken down into determining what projects made it in the end and where that split came to uh between the city and the school thank you thank you anything further Mr Mayor uh to um add to the other questions that the council
has raised here I tried to take notes as best I could so if I miss anything thing I am happy to answer any other questions that may come up uh the question on is the school done the school is done we do have two open purchase orders that are already allocated for and our munus Reporting System um we believe that we'll be able to close those out but we're just waiting for the final
contractor okay to sign off on those um in which case we actually think it might be a little slightly higher than what we're currently projecting um so that is uh the questions there if there is any other bills that come in we already have those funded with the severe cushion and the open purchase orders that are there
um by tun of a couple hundred thousand um but we U the school is done we don't anticipate any further costs on that we're just waiting for the PO close out process to go forward with that uh the auditorium work uh that Council Brooks mentioned that is the work to replace the funding that uh project was
originally funded out of the school's school choice revolving account that's funding that the uh school department receives from the uh Commonwealth for all school choice students that are coming into Garder as a of tuition payment for lack of a better term that
funding can be used to fund either regular budgetary operations can be used to fund Capital Improvement projects or can be used for other uh projects as the school department sees fit under the purview of the school committee this last schools uh School approved budget that uh went through the regular
budgetary process for fiscal 25 uh did have some salaries that were in that were're in the process of lowering the amount of salaries that are being taken out of this fund because this is really a one-time fund account out uh cuz we don't know how many students each year are going to come into the district via
school choice um so the current FY 26 budget proposal that we're working on right now actually reduces the amount of annual salaries that are coming out of this onetime fund budget by about $600,000 uh so we're working towards that goal in that area there however that's the account that if there's any
surprise repairs any surprise maintenance any surprise costs that the school department May incur um that's the fund that is available almost as as a backup fund uh if you will or this the school department version of a rainy day fund that's there that if something comes up most significantly that account
gets um looked at when there's issues of out of District special education placements where we have a student Gardener that's needs are too um high level for us to be able to handle in District with our students so we have to send them to other locations uh across the state that could be
anywhere from the sio school to Deo to uh specialized agricultural schools in certain certain cases if a student wants to study a culture they're considered a gardener student and we'd have to pay that uh fee there that's our backup account where we can pay some of those there's been years where we've taken hits of up to $700,000 in one year and
that comes mid year uh so having that cushion in the back uh is the good practice for that uh based off of the um percentage of the annual School operating budget that's there so the funds are being used to replace the original school choice funds that were paying for the auditorium renovations to
replenish the school choice count so that we have the standard cushions based off of the uh best practices that if a surprise R uh cost comes out mid year we'll be able to cover those costs uh if there's any other questions that I missed in my
chicken scratch notes that I took real quick while the councilors are talking I'm so happy to answer those thank you Mr Mayor thank you m president for time further discussion councelor J LTZ thank you madam president um I'm going to be in support of this I was in support of the finance
committee the um things items that are on the capital Improvement plan some of that are now here have some of them sat there 10 plus years um and just stagnant there and don't get accomplished as Council harder mentioned um we should be
fixing things proactively not waiting for things to break to a point where they have to be completely replaced um I do have a you know talk about leaving this to our kids and our grandkids um there's a big large Focus here on the school on the with pool um while taking
piece by piece some of these are smaller items but the high school with the with the projects it's 1.5 million uh excuse me $3.5 million aan um plus the Middle School um is over almost uh 1.25 million
the community center is getting sorry quickly here the back of the napkin math um but close to a million over a million dollarss um Greenwood pool nearly a qu ion uh and the City Hall that was mentioned is about $1.5 million
Improvement so um I think those are being made and those are what need to be made um and I look forward to see these um improvements being done in the city thank you thank you counselor further discussion councelor heglin thank you madam president proem um this has been
good discussion and debate I think it's important that when we're you know looking at money this big we have these questions and we have this discussion um I think you know for me personally I really appreciate councel Harden's remarks as well I filed you know two proposals
looking at Old buildings that fell into disrepair and really were Beyond repair and and what can we do with those now and they're too far gone so I like the proactive nature of this I like the spread that this presents as well between schools which serves a number of our community members perhaps the most
um the community center I think is going to be transformational for this city I think it's going to be a huge opport for us um and again is going to serve a wide range of our residents so I think investing in that is an incredibly important um thing for us to do and and I think this is a great opportunity to
do that um and then economic development is really covered in this as well with rear main so we we cover different areas I think we've spread this well I think we're really getting the most bang for our buck as as much as we can because the money has been slated it has been borrowed um and I think where we're
prepared for that 30 years um of the length of the loan as someone who you know barring any unforeseen incident will be living here for 30 years um you know I'm I am comfortable with this and then taking that on um and so I will be
supporting this tonight um you know I I I'm excited about this opportunity I think we've had a lot of vetting of these projects between Tai and bond between the bond Council um between the school committee between the city council the finance committee so I'm I'm pretty confident in this process and and
I'll be supporting this this evening thank you thank you councelor hlin is there further discussion councelor Brooks yes uh thank you madam president protab uh to start I'm not disputing that about these projects being 30-year projects I understand they're 30-year
projects I understand that that they've been vetted I guess I just have a problem with this I have two problems one problem specifically I guess is with the the school auditorium because the the school committee did choose to spend
school choice funds on it and now we're allowing them to back fill I'm looking ahead of next year's budget and saying okay we're going to be having to swallow I believe a large increase in school transportation next year because there's a new contract and
so we already are going to in next year's budget going to have to be finding ways to give the school department more money could These funds be used somewhere else that's I guess my question and and more generally I guess
because this is $8 million we didn't expect to get and we're not going to be in a position in the next 10 years to do additional borrowing of this size I guess I would have preferred for
us to have taken a step back and said okay here's the list but is there anything and I use the word transformational anything big that we could have done or anything else we could have done to use some of these These funds and found other sources for some of the smaller projects and I know
that doesn't free up a lot of money but it's just it's just I'm looking at it from a different point of view that's all uh so thank you thank you councelor Brooks further discussion okay the M the motion uh just to repeat it because we've had a lengthy
debate uh the motion was made to uh adopt the order to reappropriate 8,16 $1,000 of unexpected Bond proceeds to other capital projects made by councelor Max seconded by councelor d lawitz uh this is a 23s vote and needs eight votes
to pass and we're going to do a roll call vote as we have on all motions as we have a counselor on the phone this evening and if there's no further discussion the clerk will please call the role Council Brooks no councelor Craig Cormier yes councelor General lowitz yes
councelor harder yes councelor Heath yes councelor heglin yes councelor kinus yes councelor Mack yes coun TBO Munos yes C tone
yeah n y one N9 y one no the motion passes now to continue out of order we are going to head to the last item on our our agenda on page three item under economic and Community Development Committee reports from standing
committees item 11498 an ordinance to amend the code of the city of Garder chapter SE seven thereof entitled boards and commissions as amended by item 11289 as enacted on December 16th 2024
to add a new section six to be entitled Community Development Block Grant steering committee is there a motion councelor Heath thank you madam thank you madam president um um I'd like to make a motion to send
the item to first printing second motion made by councelor Heath seconded by councelor General L to send the item to first printing is there a discussion on the motion councelor Brooks thank you I just have a a question and I apologize for having to ask it here I didn't get chance to ask it after the uh economic
and Community Development committee meeting the membership on this committee there five members is that how I understand it EXC on what what on this committee on the we're establishing the E I'm sorry on the um boards and commissions the Community Development
Block Grant steering committee will have how many members five uh there's going to be five members on the committee five members okay okay that's right that's my question thank you thank you further discussion the clerk will please call
councelor Brooks yes councelor Craig Cormier yes councel General lard yes counc harder yes councelor Heath yes counc heglin yes Council kinus yes Council ma yes Council TBO MOS yes Council tone
yeah 10 the motion passes there is no unfinished business in matters for reconsideration there is no new Business Council comments and remarks are there any Council comments and remarks councelor ma um I just want to make everyone aware that February is heart
awareness month you will notice that the ladies on the of the council tonight are wearing a shade of red um to support the ongoing need for awareness since the 1950s heart disease has been the leading cause of death for both men and women women who often don't give enough
attention to their heart health this this is an important reminder to practice good heart and cardiovascular care for yourself and others thank you thank you councelor Mac are there further Council comments and remarks okay if there is nothing further I'll entertain a motion on the floor to
adjourn after the closing prayer so Mo motion made by councelor Brook seconded by councelor Cormier all those in favor say oh no the clerk will please call the role councel Brooks yes counc Craig Cormier yes councel D lawitz yes Council harder yes councelor Heath yes Council
heglin yes Council kinus yes Council math yes Council Tio MOS yes Council ton 10 years the motion passes Almighty father who SE overall as we we thank thee for the opportunity of joint deliberation and action witness
during the course of this meeting bless Lord all who are gaed here the people who represent we are and do th attend to our until our next meeting amen meeting stands adjourned thank you everyone