Call to order the Monday, June 1st meeting of the Gardener City Council. The clerk will now please call the role. >> Councelor Brooks, >> present. >> Councelor Craig Cormier. >> Council Low, >> present. >> Councelor Hard. >> Council Heath. >> Council Hegel,
>> present. >> Council Kazinskus, >> present. Councelor Matt >> present. >> Council Tami >> present. >> Council T Muse >> and President Tylers >> present. Those who wish may now rise for the opening prayer and pledge of allegiance. >> Almighty God, we thank thee to bring us
together this evening. Inspire us to worthy deeds and sound decisions and direct us toward the attainment of good city government. We pray thee to bless and protect all the people of our city and to guide and inspire us so that we may live with liberty and unity and harmony. Amen.
I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. >> Announcement of open meeting recordings. Any person may make a video or audio
recording 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 used so as to not 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 or referenced at the meeting must be submitted in duplicate to the city clerk as it become part of the meeting minutes. Is anyone recording tonight's meeting? No response. There are no meeting minutes of prior meetings.
There are no public hearings, communications, or petitions this evening. Reports of standing committees, safety committee, item 11809, an application for bowling alley license, Gardener Candlepin bowling LLC,
123 Main Street. Council Don, >> President Tyrus, uh, the safety committee met on this application and the applicant is in good standings and, uh, I'd like to make a motion to approve the application. >> Second. >> Motion made by councelor Tone, second by
councelor Mack to approve the application. Is there discussion? All those in favor? I. >> I. >> All those against, no. The motion passes. Item 11810,
an application by GameStop number 3725 for license to deal in secondhand articles at 376 Tony Boulevard. >> Yes. Uh the safety committee met on this in this on this application and the
applicant is in good standing and up to speed with taxes. Um I'd like to make a motion to accept the application. >> Second. Motion made by councelor Tassone, second by councelor Mack to accept accept the application. Is there discussion? All those in favor? I. I.
>> All those against no. >> Motion passes. Item 11811, an application by House of Peace and Education, Inc. doing business as Hopeful Boutique for a license to deal in secondhand articles at 29 Pleasant
Street. Councelor Jome. Yes, President Cyrus. Once again, we have Matt and they are in good. The safety committee met and this applicant is in good standing. So, I'll make a motion to approve the application. >> Second >> motion made by councelor Tone, second by councelor Kazinskus to approve the
application. Is there discussion? >> All those in favor? I >> I. All those against no. Motion passes. Item 11812, an application by the Salvation Army for a license to deal in secondhand articles
at 8 Union Square. >> President Tyros >> make a motion to approve this application as well as it was discussed by the uh safety committee and they are in good standings. >> Second. >> Motion made by councelor Tone, second by
councelor Dur allowitz to approve the application. Is there discussion? >> All those in favor? I >> I. All those against no. Motion passes. Item 11820, an application by Gardener Coins and
Cards, Inc. for a license to deal in secondhand articles at 18 Parker Street. >> President Tara. >> Councelor Tone. >> Yes. I would like to make a motion to accept this application as presented. >> Second. >> Motion made by councelor Tone, second by councelor Mack to accept the
application. Is there discussion? >> All those in favor? I. I all those against no motion passes. Council Stone moves to suspend the rules for item 11826. Is there any objection?
Hearing none, the rules are suspended. Item 11826, an application by EcoATM LLC for a license to deal in secondhand articles at 677 Tempany Boulevard. >> Thank you, President Tyrros. Uh, the
safety committee met and this applicant is in good standings and um was discussed with the chief of police as well and would like to make a motion to approve. >> Second. >> Motion made by councelor Tassel, second by councelor Kazinskus to approve the application. Is there discussion?
All those in favor I. I. >> All those against, no. >> Motion passes. Finance committee. Item 11815, an ordinance to amend the code of the city of Gardner, section 8 of chapter 625, thereof entitled water rates.
Councelor Hegley. >> Thank you, Mr. President. I believe this item does need eight votes to pass for the second printing. So I'm going to respectfully request more time. >> Council Hegler requests more time. Is there any objection? More time will be granted on item 11815.
Item 11822 prior year unpaid bill ACA filing and compliance. Councelor Dowitz. >> Thank you President Tyos. For the same reason I'd like to ask for more time again on this item. Is there any objection to more time on item 11822?
Hearing none, item 11822 will have more time. Item 11814, a measure accepting the job description of a new chief of staff position for the mayor's office. Council Heg, >> uh, leading to a request for more time,
I did just want to mention that the finance committee met on this position. Uh we were two to one in favor of recommending it to the full council. It was before us for several meetings uh and it's something that the mayor had submitted. Um but wanting again more time for not only um other counselors to
consider but some of us as well uh on the finance committee I think it'll be appropriate to delay that a little bit. >> Thank you. Council Hegeland. Council Hegeland request more time. Is there any objection? More time for item 11814. Item 11816,
an ordinance to amend the attachment F of chapter 8 of the code of the city of Gardner thereof entitled primary non-union compensation schedule. Councelor Heg. >> Thank you, Mr. President. Uh leading to a motion, I'm hoping to separate this
out the chief of staff position from some of the other sections on personnel for it. So with that I move to divide the question into part A sections 1 2 and five and part B sections 3 4 and six.
>> Second >> motion made by councelor heglin second by councelor dur allowance to split the question. This is a simple majority vote. Clerk will now please call the role. >> Council Brooks. >> Yes. >> Council. >> Yes. Council
Heglin, >> yes. >> Councelor Pazinsquez, >> yes. >> Council Mack, >> yes. >> Council Tone, >> yes. >> President Tyros, >> yes. >> Seven years. The question is split and we'll begin with item A, which is
sections 1, 2, and five. Council Headlin. >> Thank you again, Mr. President. Three to council. So, leading to a motion. Um, if you haven't, I would definitely suggest you watch the finance committee meeting where this was discussed. Councelor Mcnite I think a very good debate on this topic uh and covered the issues
pretty thoroughly. Uh so just to clarify too this proposes a new position to replace the current aid position in the mayor's office. So it's not entirely new. The version approved by finance is a title change with added duties responsibilities and a modest pay
increase. Finance felt it was ready to move to a discussion with the whole council. However, for myself, I think another point is that I want to make sure I mention too is that my support for this is contingent on cuts being made in the mayor's budget that would offset and produce savings uh and be
more than this costs as a position. So, my suggestion is that we don't vote on this tonight uh but schedule a vote for our next meeting uh so that final approval cannot take place until after the budget is done so we can evaluate those cuts. So with that I move to
postpone the question until June 15th regular meeting. >> Second >> motion made by councelor Heglin to table the question until the June 15th meeting of the city council. Second by councelor durowitz. Is there any discussion upon the motion?
>> All those in favor I >> I. All those against no. >> Motion passes. Item B, sections three, four, and six of the item. Councelor Heglin. >> Thank you again. And leading to a motion, I um I want to actually start by
thanking Councelor Brooks who brought another issue with this to my attention. So, there's a problem with the ordinance cited within the overall ordinance. The numbering is off. So, ordinance number 1692 was recorded incorrectly. Uh 1692
was recorded as two separate unrelated ordinances. So, it applies to the youth center uh as well as a zoning ordinance that we had done right around the same time. I believe citing the ordinance uh as I'm going to amend tonight by name in addition to the number resolves the
issue um at least in the immediate. And aside from this, the issue I would recommend to the council president be looked into more thoroughly just to see if there are other numbering concerns. Also though, as a result of councelor Brooks's inquiry, I discovered that the
youth center um other position, the assistant position there also has a sunset clause um that has not been dealt with. And both of these need to be done before June 30th in order to keep those positions in existence. So really the goal with separating this portion out
was that we can keep this moving and deal with it before June 30th. And so to correct for both of these issues, I'm proposing an amendment which also removes the sunset clause on that position and corrects the citation error that was made with the ordinance. So I
move the following amendment be adopted in place of part B of the divided question. I provided that amendment to the clerk and council president. >> Second. >> Motion made by councelor Heg to amend uh the proposed ordinance. Second by
council Kazinskus. Is there discussion on the amendment? Council Gazinskus. >> Uh just for point of order after discussion on the amendment, we're going to we'll have a chance to discuss it al together. >> Okay. Yes. >> Because I do have comment but it's not
on the amendment. It's on the item. >> Thank you counselor. Any further questions or comments on the amendment? >> All those in favor? I. >> I. >> All those against? No. as amended. Councelor Heglin.
>> Uh with that, I would move part B be sent to first printing. >> Second. >> Motion by councelor Heglin, second by councelor Dalawitz to uh to send to first printing a new park ordinance uh
that reads as follows. Be it ordained by the city council of the city of Gardner as follows. Section one. Section three of ordinance 1692 titled an ordinance to amend the code of the city of gardener chapter 8 thereof entitled personnel to amend the attachment E thereof entitled
non-union compensation schedule to add the position of youth center director is hereby repealed. Section three of ordinance 1693 titled an ordinance to amend the code of the city of gardener chapter 8 thereof entitled personnel to amend the attachment e thereof entitled
non-union compensation schedule to add the position of assistant youth center director is hereby repealed. Section two section six of ordinance number 1694 is hereby repealed. Section three. Sections
one and two of this ordinance shall take effect upon passage and publication as required by law. Is there any further comments or discussion? Council Kazinskus. >> Thank you, President Tyros. Uh, I appreciate councelor um Brooks and
councelor Hegeland's uh work on this and um councelor Hegeland's action to uh fix the error and the issue and it um you know this is again one of those things we first we could have gotten this item much sooner than we've gotten it now. Uh
because it leaves us to scramble and I know I said this a couple of meetings ago when we get something brought to us. I take pride that we do our job and that we're able to correct this moving forward and the council, you know, has a
huge responsibility of oversight, but correcting mistakes and bringing things that get brought to us at the last minute are not something that we should have to be worrying about all the time. Um, there are exceptions, of course. There are things that sometimes that get
brought to you and need to be done, but this is not one of those exceptions. And um it's just sometimes when things are brought to us, I just want the public to understand that it's it's not like we chose to just have this brought to us at this moment. Things have to get to the
council before they get to the council floor and not everything is not initiated by the council. It comes from somewhere else. Um, so I do appreciate again the work on this because when there is a final product, I appreciate that it is done correctly. And um, I
think it does show the ability of this council to be able to to do that and do it in a timely manner for what needs to be done for the city and for for important positions um, that need to have our action before they can get finalized and do good work for the city. Thank you. >> Thank you, councelor. Any further
discussion? Council Brooks. >> Uh, thank you, Mr. President. it. I guess it would be my understanding there'd be we'd have a vote on this for second printing at a subsequent meeting, which is fine with me. I I will support this. I have faith in my fellow
counselors that that this is as they're presenting it, but h having the ability of a second printing allows us also to verify that that's what it is. So I I I am supporting. Thank you. >> Thank you, counselor. Any further discussion?
Motion on the table is to send part B to first printing as amended. All those in favor I. I. >> All those against? No. Motion passes. There's no unfinished business. New business. Item 11829.
A measure authorizing as an amendment to the lease agreement between the city of Gardener and Growing Places LLC for space at the Waterford Community Center. Council Dowitz. >> Thank you, Mr. President. I move to authorize the amendment to the lease agreement. >> Second. >> Motion made by councelor Dowitz, second
by councelor Hegund to authorize the amendment to the lease agreement. Is there discussion? Councelor Dawit. >> Thank you, President. Thank you, President Daros. Excuse me. Uh this amendment is an additional space for growing places. Um it's the old uh actually just a section of the old teachers um lounge room um from the
junior high school days. Uh they're going to be using the area for um clerical office space type work um which is needed for their um the type of business they're um operation they're running. Thank you. >> Thank you councelor Lowz. Any further comments or discussion?
>> Uh councelor Kazinsus. >> Thank you President Tyrros. Um I just I do want to make clear with this amendment. I appreciate the amendment being made. it's important for this to get done. Um I do just want to make clear for the public watching who do see the amendment in it and you know seeing
the letter that was submitted with it um this has nothing to do with the CAC at all. The CAC had absolutely nothing to do with this. This is completely a growing places item. Thank you. >> Thank you counselor. Any further discussion?
>> All those in favor I. All those against no motion passes. Councelor comments and remarks. Are there any counselor comments or remarks this evening? Councelor Brooks. >> Uh thank you, Mr. President. Uh two different topics. Uh first, the uh
emergency operations kitchen at the current police station uh is now completed and ready to for operation. Uh this is work done by Monty Tech students and uh saved the city a tremendous
amount of money in in doing this. Uh what this does is allow for uh food preparation and such during emergencies at the uh police station and at that emergency site. And it's it's a huge uh boost for the city and something that I
think had been part of the original plan for the building but was not uh able to be completed because of the cost. Second thing I want to talk about uh I was I attended both the uh guard high school graduation and the Thursday night
awards uh along with with uh counselors Hegelund, Tyrros, and Heath. Uh the graduation was was very well done. It's it I I think it's a great class graduating this year. Um it was
interesting uh watching uh different people supporting the students as they were going through and encouraging them to to you know wiggle their toes, breathe, whatever it took to get up to the front to get their diploma. I was also impressed during the awards
ceremony with how much was given in awards and scholarships. Uh my understanding was it was over $600,000. This community have to be very proud of that giving. Uh that's way more than any of the area
communities uh around here. Um and some of those scholarships were not just one-time scholarships. they were fouryear scholarships for these students. I think this community is very should be very proud of that and I think it's an indication of how people here
are are investing in the future of this community and and this society by encouraging these students to uh to continue with their education and and sitting there made me very proud to be from gardener. So thank you. >> Thank you councelor Brooks. Further
council comments, council man. >> Um, just for the public watching, I just want to make them aware that the elevator um, here at city hall is not functioning at this time. Um, and there are actions being taken to repair it. However, I from an experience today
being in city hall, I know for many um, citizens it's a hardship for them to use the stairs. So, if you can email call um the offices that you have questions, you can drop off any payments in the front mailbox in front of city hall. Um or
even if you can just make it a one flight of stairs, you could always go to the clerks or the mayor's office and they could call down the person that you're you need to see or speak to. Um but um we are aware and and this is um something that is um is a matter of
importance and in a priority. So, I just want to let people know that it's being worked on. >> Thank you, councelor. Council Gazinskus. >> Um, I think to the mayor did send us an email today, Mr. Mayor, if you want to talk about the department heads being able to come down to the accessible floor.
>> If you want to go to a mic because I think that's a really good point that you >> Thank you, Mr. President. Thank you, counselor. Uh, the elevator is uh in the process of being repaired. We're working with the company to do that. However, we uh as councelor Kazinskus just said, uh
if anyone does require, you know, assistance and isn't able to utilize stairs, there are phone numbers listed on the door of the elevator. Uh city hall staff have been instructed to meet whomever needs services downstairs and the basement level. Uh extra additional
chairs will be set up that way. Uh if people need to sit and talk with uh the city staff member to do to do the work, that work can be done. Uh if you have a hard time or if you don't have a cell phone on you or you're not sure how to call those, uh you can visit any of the offices on the basement level floor and they've also been instructed to let my
office know so we can get the correct people down for you if not calling the office directly that you need uh access to. So while this repair is ongoing uh for anyone who is unable to use stairs at all, that is an option. And for anyone who is able to make it up to the first floor, we're going to have the mayor's conference room set aside uh so
that anyone can come down and meet uh in that office as well too if you can't get up to the second floor. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Any further counselor comments or remarks? >> I'd like to thank councelor Brooks for bringing up the awards night. I it wasn't until my freshman year at UMass Ammeris that I, you know, talking about
scholarships with my my friends and classmates that I realized, wait, that that's not like that everywhere. It's very unique and special to Gardner that we have that that sort of scholarship base for our our students. Um, another achievement that happened over the weekend, uh, is the boys high school
track team broke the high school 4 by 800 meter relay record. Uh, that stood for 16 years. And as my former track captain, counselor Hegeland, uh, can tell everyone, those are tough to beat and and rare when it occurs. So, congratulations, boys, to your achievement. Uh, well done. Matter of
business for the council. I'll be sending communication later later this evening uh to councilors and the mayor of our June bud budget schedule which will be quite busy. Today's June 1st. June 8th will be our uh first special budget meeting uh to discuss the mayor's
budget. June 15th will be our next regular city council meeting as scheduled. June 17th is new this year. That'll be the date that I will request a budget amendments by counselors be submitted to the clerk's office. That way they can be
compiled and presented to the council at June 22nd's second budget meeting, special budget meeting. This timeline will give us a reserve of 6:29 June 29th to uh hold if we need for a budget uh
veto override vote. Any questions? >> Council Gazinskus. Uh, so when you say to have the any budget amendments submitted by the 17th, we would not see them until the 22nd. Correct. >> Correct. The clerk will compile them that way.
>> And that's for open meeting law as well. >> Exactly. They'll be compiled. Obviously, counselors are are still in the moment or at that night proposed new amendments, but this way counselors can kind of see the numbers in front of them and see all the amendments listed out for that meeting on the 22nd. >> Thank you.
>> Any further questions? Is there a motion to adjurnn after the closing prayer? So >> moved. >> Second. >> Councelor Tone motions to adjurnn after the closing prayer. Second by councelor Kazinskus. All those in favor. >> I. >> All those against no. Motion passes.
>> Almighty father who ceased over all as we adjourn. We thank thee for the opportunity of joint deliberation and action witnessed during the course of this meeting. Bless Lord all here and the people whose representatives we are and do thou attend to our common welfare until our next meeting. Amen.
>> Stand. Thank you.