all where's my pen okay now I'm ready okay the Tuesday April 22nd 2025 meeting of the Gardener City Council Economic and Community Development Committee will come to order the clerk please call the vote kazinskus presents
present seeing as there is a quorum present is anyone here recording today's meeting okay no one is recording the meeting we will begin with um the April economic
and community development department update director Stevens to take it away thank you Madam Chair um just going to start off with the everyone's favorite uh topic the rear main project and kind of the progress that we've had this month i hope continuing on sort of the
positive outlook that we had uh last month so currently um just a couple things that we're working on between myself Fussen O'Neal and the contractor UEL um just myself working with the city uh conservation agent as well as the
city engineer um ident identifying the limits of the uh pond brook that runs through the site just to make sure that there is no um issue with any of the concrete footers that are going to be required for the additional work to um
oversee the unsuitable and unforeseen uh conditions that have in previous meetings been discussed um and O'Neal is preparing a plan for the layout of the underground structures uh where they're located um just um service tunnels from
the existing uh still present um factory site um or smoke stack that's I believe now used as a uh cell tower um so they're mapping out those just so um uh UEL can u do a remediation and backfill
plan uh formed on the present field conditions um and UL is also going to be providing a unit cost for the flowable fill to rectify those conditions um a number of PCOS have come come in um we're still pending authorization
through FE O'Neal uh so those are um change orders uh for additional work needed uh that includes the splash pad the geo fabric installation in the vehicular areas pedestrian areas um soil
conditions uh for the landscape areas so the green space as well as the drainage structure change just to uh have additional drainage on site uh with the present conditions so all those are currently in review with Fuss and O'Neal so all pretty good things uh to be
considered um we're pretty much I would say nearing the end i would hope by the next uh monthly update I hopefully uh could say proudly that we're back into construction uh but that is going to also um require additional work on the
site so that's estimated to be about a few weeks of work for the tunnels about a month work for the vehicular areas about 2 to 3 weeks for the hardcapes uh and about 3 to four weeks excuse me
for the uh drainage system on site so overall about uh 2 months 2 and a half months worth of work required of additional work on top of before the actual contract contract original contracted work can get started um so
just to give kind of a full update uh regarding that um if there's any questions regarding that you can I I feel like it should be more of a conversation so rather than just go over everything if there's any questions regarding the rear main project we can
uh stop there okay uh are there any questions comments from the committee just quickly Madam Chair that um that pre-work that you're talking about that's two to three months that that we have to do that before um that geo
fabric geoteexile fabric that that's being paid for from the bond reappropriation work that's part of the pre-work okay so that's included yep all right that was just my final yeah everything related to the unsuitable and unforeseen conditions as well as the high groundwater um is all part of the
additional work um so once that's completed the original contract the work can begin um again if if it does begin within the next month you know we could expect um June July or or no if it was two
months after then May so then July early August uh completion of the additional work late summer to complete the full work yep yeah are you still expecting the contracted work to occur this this year like late summer yeah immediately
following the additional work we're expecting the contract original contracted work to begin i like to hear that um you know we're trying to make sure that everything is kind of in place so that you know the Tensar staff that's going to be like actually traveling with
the fabric is is coming from out of state so we're coordinating with them as well as UEL to make sure that this site is fully prepped for them so that once they're there as they travel out of state immediate installation um you know whatever work is needed over
over the coming days following that but they can get to work right away following so if there's no more questions I'll just continue on any further questions from the committee um I just had actually one um I think we touched on it before the uh the smoke stack cell phone tower is there any
plans of replacing that or is that getting redone or is that same as I believe it's Yeah that's in a 99-year lease that we have with AT&T i want to say we're 84 years left on that lease from its original signing um but it is
in their lease so you'll see there's some work that's been done on it in the last year for anyone who's seen a crane buy that too it's in their lease that they're in charge of its maintenance um so that's why when they put on the new uh cell phone equipment last year they had to go in and reinforce the smoke
stack itself because they had the uh smoke strap smoke stack as it was before that work was done wouldn't be able to hold the weight of the new equipment that was on it uh so they've done some reinforcement work on it they've done all the repairs and repointing on that structure right there um the building
around it may need some updates to it just to get it done even a coat of paint to cover the outside of it uh but that's owned and operated by the GR uh so that's something that their board would have to oversee uh but the smoke stack itself does have to stay up for at least however uh like I think I
want to say it's 84 more years that we have that lease with AT&T right now for them to use that as a cell tower okay thank you uh and I was just going to follow up to uh the the project itself so when the original contracted work so
we basically don't see any changes to the original contracted work we have to do all this clean up first because of what was discovered and that's been very quick um meaning in a in a good way meaning it's been thorough and it's been thought out so that we can get to the
original contract to work right now so that's what can get us on track to what we had expected to do before this was discovered through the we've done so far yes okay okay um Okay go ahead moving on from there I'll just talk about some other projects that we've seen progress
on the mass trails work along Crystal Lake Drive uh work has continued uh following May or March 31st I believe it started um only work remains is a chain link fence a couple of uh two rail um a
two two rail not fences uh posts it's kind of like a safety guard for some of the sharper turns to prevent yeah anyone like riding along to especially bikes that just go go over the over the side so safety being a concern for ourselves
uh there um I haven't gone out so maybe some top coating uh in terms of like sealing they weren't able to do it prior uh in 2024 so I believe they had already finished it but there might be some left they have finished it uh and then some seating for the for the loan so it's
it's pretty much most of the way there um we do have quite a bit left over in those funds so in total we've paid out around 380,000 um out of the 600 that we have total uh 500 of that being grant 100,000 being
the match with the city um about 220 so about 220k remain I would estimate probably about 20 to 30 uh would be needed for the remaining remaining work and then we're going to actually use the rest of it uh with DPW to actually pave
Uh hopefully Crystal Lake Drive that's the the goal for that i know that the I've driven on that road a few times just to check out uh prior to um the contractor starting work over there and it that road could use some uh
TLC um but that's all the updates I had for for that project if anyone has any questions or I can move on to the next item you said the 500,000 was the grant and then the 100,000 was our match rate okay thank you any questions comments from the committee
thank you madam uh chair that uh paving of Crystal Lake Drive will go from where the bike trail ends at Greenwood Pool to along Crystal Lake through the cemetery to where the new bike trail picks up uh it's not going to go from Park Street
all the way through because there's a gas line that needs to be replaced and if we pave the whole street there then it'd be digging up what we just paved uh so we've already contacted Unatil about that because the gas line goes from Park Street Crystal Lake Drive and then up Abbott Street uh so that's where we'll be picking it up from where the uh
Greenwood Pool area ends and goes forward from there uh the trail if you look is roped off in certain spots right now uh that's because the uh concrete slabs for where the ballards will go so to make sure cars can't go down there uh were just poured last week so those are
all done too i just walked it today it actually looks really cool I think it looks fantastic and I think the only question I have for clarification is that that 500,000 grant money is that kind of use it or lose it fun so makes a lot of sense by June 30th
oh thank you and um I would just say thanks for getting that moving because it is a use it or lose it situation so that's another reason to use it um but I I don't know as if there hadn't been followup and things moving along that we would have not lost so it seems like
we're going to be able to keep it investing the city so I appreciate that other questions comments from the committee on the master item okay go ahead following that we have the master plan uh steering committee of which madam chair is one of the members for
that committee as well um we did have host the kickoff meeting between ourselves um ourselves being the steering committee uh BSC group and Barrett planning group the two contractors for that work um I felt it was a very fruitful meeting um a lot of good
conversations between um the steering committee in terms of getting a full inventory of items that the planning groups would want to have in terms of um areas that we've already developed such as urban renewal plan our city's urban
renewal plans uh downtown uh revitalization um as well as some of the demolition projects which I'll also be touching on uh shortly um so and then we also had kind of a a tour of the city as well with those planning groups so we'll be
hosting monthly meetings following that and the city will have its first ever master plan at the at the end of it all so hopefully that will lead the city in the next 20 plus years uh of its development in terms of um addressing
the needs of the city the needs of its citizens and um what we can expect for for gardener and its its development over the next two decades that's the whole purpose of it so we're we're hopeful with with how that'll finalize
and just for the public watching as well can you talk about any other beneficial items that it is for a city to have a master plan um besides the development of the planning stages of it but there's sometimes there's other items if you
have a master plan you can be eligible for certain things mr mayor I don't know if you have more absolutely Madam Chair so there's a lot of times that particularly for the planning grants that are out there both at the state and federal level um and these federal grants that I'm referencing to are not the ones that are currently being talked
about in the news um those do require you to have a master plan in place in order to be eligible to receive those funds in fact a lot of these grant programs are only eligible to projects that are listed in a master plan uh that way uh the granters know that the
grantees being us the city have a plan in place that this is the project we want to do this is how it's implemented in the larger scheme of things rather than just throwing things at a wall and hoping it sticks uh so that's why having a master plan is so beneficial uh and it's one of the reasons why I can still
remember back in 2020 it was one of the conversations that we had when I first took office was that we need to start getting our own master plan to open up these doors for us that are currently closed uh the um later on in the agenda I know there's uh communication from me about the appointees uh to that steering
committee uh but it is something that's meant to guide all of the city's projects and initiatives on a long-term thinking plan for the next 15 to 20 years is your average life of a master plan and you'll provide updates along the way but the smaller things that we've done in the past our open space
and recreation plan the two urban renewal plans uh our expired economic development plan that expire expired back in 2015 um all of those things are things that become chapters of your master plan it actually becomes a full book that basically says if you want to
do a project on this look to this chapter and see what it says and that's your guide moving forward for the next two decades um so you know the committees will be looking at drafting our new economic development plan through this process uh drafting a housing production plan to see where our areas of growth can be uh for the city
but also where our housing stock stands with uh relation to the demand that we're seeing um uh updating our two urban renewal plans that are about 10 years into their 20-y year lifespan so making sure those are still staying on
par uh with the uh goals of the city in the current state it is now that it's been 10 years since it was first adopted and seeing if they still fit where we'd like to go all of those things are done through the master plan process there's public hearings there's approval by the city council all those other things that have to be done and then approval by the
states uh both the executive offices of housing livable communities and the executive office of economic development both have to approve the final product as well and then we become eligible for all of those opportunities uh in the future too thank you any other further comments questions
from the committee just the question that uh this is the first one Marger is going to have yes um just for the public's awareness is this a new concept or is it something that's been out in municipalities for decades for decades so it's fair to say you know in the
mid2010s maybe we probably should have been talking about this and implementing it so I'm glad to see that it's getting traction and I appreciate it um it sounds like a lot of effort director stole my thunder a little bit that councilinsus would be the appointee for the council but that's all right um and
I look forward to the work uh the council produces yeah i uh if I may Madam Chair I I remember talking about needing or working towards getting a master plan and updating the plans that we have in my 2020 inaugural address and I just co and changes and staffing
changes and everything that was there and funding changes and grants and everything is the reason why it took us 5 years to get there but we're we're finally there and I think it's one of those government processes take time and we we waited and now we're ready to put the pen to paper and then hit the ground
running right thank you any questions comments okay go ahead thank you along with that the city will have its own uh hazard mitigation plan so previously it adhered to Montusett's uh hazard mitigation plan which was also
done back in I believe 2015 um so now we'll have gardener's own hazard mitigation plan um that addresses uh issues like um ice dam failures heavy rains extreme
temperatures hurricanes everything that mother nature can really throw at us uh we can come to expect that could have um if we're not prepared devastating effects on the community so making sure that we um take charge in in in that way as well and
that we have something that's curated to us as an individual community um uh so that meeting will happen actually next week uh for its kickoff on April 29th so looking forward to hosting that and moving forward with that as well and
monthly meetings and hopefully have future updates regarding that and and who's in those meetings uh so in those meetings is myself uh Paul Taposski um and Paul um with the city he's um the
he's the director emergency management emergency management i was like all I could think of was me on FEMA in 2020 cuz Paul and I were thinking he just he I mean he was an absolute guiding light when it came to us getting literally every cent
reimbured and doing those processes so Paul came his emergency management yep uh police chief uh Makavein uh Fire Chief Lgoy um uh Greg Dumas from Conservation
Commission uh Councelor Brooks um as the um public service public safety commission um and I believe that's that's all of the members um so we'll be hosting that
yeah that's this is kind of this is like closing the circle in a way to what we talked about after the um the terrible floods in Lemonster and how we wanted to that was like our um real response to it and I just thought it was really responsible for us to do it at the time but now it's nice to see that it's
moving forward it kind of goes through all this stuff so thanks for getting that together um this is another one that um was originally partially grant funded the council appropriated the match for it i don't have the dollar numbers off the top of my head but we can certainly get those too if the
council would like a reminder on that um it used these are plans that back that began after the uh September 11th 2001 terrorist attacks that were uh were suggesting that cities and towns look at this uh we never did it uh here in
Gardner they used to be called disaster plans and then they were called disaster and climate change plans and now they're called hazard mitigation plans to put them all into one category um and having this would be a chapter of the full master plan and does also open the doors for us to receive uh funding from MIMA
and FEMA which we currently are not eligible for uh same thing with the Commonwealth's uh municipal vulnerability preparedness grant program or the MVP program as they call it uh you're also not eligible for grant funding for that unless you have this plan in place too so this again opens
those doors for us thank you further questions comments from the committee um no i'm just excited um I hear all these and I'm and you know I'm not taking notes i usually rewatch everything on YouTube and everything else but um you know I'm listening and
I'm thinking back to like you said to where I wanted to start president Dyros you got ahead of it you if I remember right I don't have my notes with me you brought up the plan that was here am I correct you you put it into the agenda when that happened about allow in case
something happened here um to come up with the uh with the plan which was great and then um you know the ego development uh committee you said it's 2015 since it was was 2015 10 years ago the echo dev plan that we had yeah it
was put in place in 2005 and expired in 2015 so this is us making a new one because it's been 10 years since it expired and everything else which is great um you and I'm just I'm excited you know and I I just I hope the city um and the constituents see that we're
really really making sure that we're ahead of it right so that's all thank you good moving on from there uh just a quick update for the Gardener Redevelopment Authority is my position also encompasses that of executive
director uh for that organization uh I have been out there um with on the one of the properties that we own uh quite the name for gardener the Garvos property um a number of times with prospective uh buyers for it uh we have
gotten a number of offers and the GR is currently in the process of uh looking at and considering those offers so we'll be having uh the second meeting to do such on Friday actually we had the first last week um so pretty quick turnaround
there but hopeful for the outcome there cuz I know that property has been the G's hands at least since 2012 I believe that the uh urban renewal plan and the the remediation of that site was was finished so it's been a number of years
thank you questions comments okay following that um I'll just move on to another board uh planning board we've had a number of public hearings uh this past month one of which for the uh historical zoning ordinance amendment um
we approved that uh as presented uh in our last meeting uh that was I believe last Wednesday i forget the date in April that was but um we've also had public hearings uh prior to that earlier in the month i believe April 8th uh on
the self- storage facil on a proposed self- storage facility as well as uh some two family or multi I think it's actually three uh family residents uh on Emerald Street so those were proposed as well as uh received some comments from
the public and looking forward to you know moving forward and seeing how the public engages with those and and seeing where those where those go but just to give a quick update regarding that board thank you anything from the um committee any questions or comments
uh following that there's the another another council/board the gardener cultural council was able to meet in regards to um processing um whether to move forward with aotments for applicants uh that was actually earlier
in the month uh and just this morning we had our final meeting to actually decide on aotments uh for that so I vice chair on that on that council and that uh that was decided this morning so we'll hopefully the applicants should be
getting notified shortly in regards to um their applications and their funding and I'm really looking forward to how that uh plays a role in terms of Garner's vibrancy and especially this coming summer there's there's a couple things on there that I'm I'm quite
excited for so I'm looking forward to to how the community reacts to some of those projects and just for clarification so that the a lotments so that total amount of funding comes from the state and then it comes to our local cultural council because we apply for it and then we decide as a local cultural
council who to disperse that to based on the applications we get from people in the from organizations in the city um% Yep so that's a yearly um thing that we would do and that's one of the principal functions of the cultural council is if you have an established one in your city or town you can utilize those funds from
the state so if we as long as we meet who we're supposed to we get to like you said um we get to award those funds and see where they go so that is pretty neat i agree with that questions comments
i'll talk about some of the work from my assistant director uh Evan Cudmore uh the Greenwood Pool project um we currently already have a contract with Thai Bond in terms of professional engineering and environmental uh
consulting services for that uh as they oversee the project um in terms of its its demolition um has already gone out to bid on the uh or no actually will go out to bid on the 24th i'm getting ahead of myself a couple days early uh so that
will go out to bid on Thursday the 24th of April it closes on the 24th it closes on the 24th oh sorry it closes on the 24th i think we had the the pre the pre-sight Oh you know what go ahead no you're right okay we had the the pre-sight walk on the 17th last week so
that was with prospective contractors as well as uh I believe a member of the historical commission and a couple other members um just walking through the site getting a view of it um you know if they're interested in in moving forward with bidding and uh it will go out to
bid on Thursday the 24th for a 30 31day period 30-day period 30 30-day period comments so June we should expect demo to start yes I would say so I would say it might
take for any remediation for the site but there will be work being done on site can expect fences to go up fences will go up and the like I said by then following 30 days from April 24th so that would bring us to late May so yeah
June we'll be starting asbestous remediation uh treatment and then demolition will follow shortly after and that the I mean just to kind of add that to um assistant director Kenmore said at the uh CDBG meeting last week um that
they're and again just kind of for the public they're well aware it could run into pool season and so um the demolition the beginning of it whatever but they're well aware of that and so they're trying to be really cognizant of that and so any fencing or anything that did go up would be high enough and far
enough away to be sure that there was you know there were safe swimming and um things to enjoy but they are very aware that that could could be a um position and they're trying to work around it but either way they want to get the work done in the best way possible so
um we did talk to the contractor too we know the pool opens June 18th it's either going to be the 18th or the 19th depending on when the last day of school is um and so their goal is to get the building down by that date they may still be hauling debris off after that
date but at least the demolition will be done by that date itself and then we had talked about before and this also is from CG meeting but I think it's important is um you mentioned the historical commission member being there you know at the site um and there's I
had asked the question on Friday and they've taken out any all the historical things will be take that's there's been an inventory done um all of that is been been identified or already removed to um
be preserved in the best way possible so just again for the any from from the public watching um we have talked about that previously and in I think in the council meetings the mayor had mentioned that before we talked about that in another one of these meetings but I think it's worth mentioning again because it's it's we're getting there
finally so and and I think it's important just to know for the public too that this is a problem that was decades in the making i'm I'm very excited to see us doing something to honor uh the gift that the Greenwood family gave to Gardener and put the the the parcel back to productive use and in
the spirit of expanding the outdoor pools facilities so uh a tough decision but I think it's going to really complete all the work that's going on into that that section of gardener uh and really complete the picture so um
the uh Greenwood Pool sign is set to come down by end of week we're taking that down just to save it from the demolition that's there in the demolition contract is saving the uh copper Koopa uh the the two big ones and the two smaller ones in the building and trying to find a way to utilize those in
the pavilion that'll eventually be built there uh as well as all of the bronze plaques have been in city hall for the last 2 years so any concerns about any weather damage from the roof damage that's there uh those were out long before there were any holes in the roof and they're in safes here within city
hall uh and then the wooden counter uh that's in the vestibule is also set to be saved from the building and brought into Perry Auditorium uh for us to utilize here too so we are trying to find ways to save portions of the building to honor the gift from the Greenwood family um and just looking at
the uh city's website with the purchasing director uh to clarify something that was actually to correct something uh that was said earlier uh the bid is already open it closes on 4:24 at 300 p.m uh and it was a twoe bidding process uh for the demo it's not
a uh one of the 30-day processes that's there so I I thought that sounded different so I just wanted to clarify that on the city's website so that's available so actually that moves up the timeline so that's good quite significantly the bid closes on the 24th yes and that project is going to be
split into two separate bids one for the demolition of the pool and one for the construction of the pavilion um just with you know any any issues with with funding with especially with construction materials and uh currently
um just to have those separate so that we can expect a reasonable quote not have it one now and then have the quote come in higher than expected down the line um so that is that is going to be split into two and then we are going to
be loming and seating the the grounds following the demo just in case there is any any delay between between projects just so it's a usable space for the community once the the demolition is complete thank you there's a lot of environmental site work that needs to be done too where the proximity to Crystal
Lake is there so the construction of the pavilion itself will have to go through a full environmental review just like the demolition had to do separately so that's another reason for the two separate bids thank you further questions comments from the committee um I just had um one uh Thank you Madam Chair um there was one item in
particular I have a constituent that ask over and over um and I I never get to ask questions but I feel like right now is the time to ask was there a register i guess there's an very antique regular like some register that's in
there that everyone that came in they used to use and that's how they charge them but it's a very antiqueish register i don't know they go on the pre-sight uh the historical commission's gone in there and knowing one of their officers Alan Allen and Nelly I feel like that would have
been brought to our attention had that still been in there because Allan went in with his wish list of everything to save and we saved it um but we can certainly take a look thank you further questions comments okay go ahead
along with that for demolition 205213 Main Street um we had a slight delay in them obtaining their demolition permit due to some uh groundwater um there was full testing done on the groundwater to make sure it was safe in terms of uh
dumping into the sewer main um the correct we went that through the director of health um as well as the city engineer to make sure that we took all the right precautions even though the the water itself was clean um so
that was all performed and the demol demolition permit was obtained um and so the actual uh substantial completion date for the project will be May 2nd thank you questions comments from the
committee thank you and oh finally the um CDBG application for FY25 was submitted by Assistant Director Cudmore don't have the full
list of project items that we went over in the steering committee but just off the top of my head that included um the proposal for um design for school street school uh for that site it included uh
downtown uh phase phase uh phase 5 um and that includes along Willow Street um infrastructure curbing sidewalks lighting um that sort of thing and the final
was what was the final waterford waterford Street School yeah the fire and fire electrical fire system for Waterford Street School were the three projects that we move forward with um so we're looking forward to hearing back from the state in regards to any
comments regards to that but we have not heard anything yet so the committee needs they make a recommendation it's submitted by the assistant director and then the state from there takes that and they do the vetting and that's how we find out what
we can get the um funding for okay Mr may thank you Madam Chair uh this was the application that the council voted on a couple meetings ago to endorse there was no changes between what the council voted on and what we had now uh and normal timeline for us to find out about those grants is late September
early October so we're still it's not unusual for us not to hear back about anything yet um and that's funding that again the state receives from the federal government and then the state gives it out to cities and towns that are mini entitlement like us and that means that we're under 45,000 in
population thank you questions comments or committee i think just uh because CDBG program's been in the council spotlight in the past something new I believe this year from when I was on the CDBG steering committee a few months prior was that uh new practice was we
gave the state contacts an advanced copy right for review so I think that's an important thing to note that that was one of your implemented improvements to the program uh that occurred this year thank you and then also the um the CDBG steering
committee the new ordinance is now in um practice and um so that was the group that had met on on Friday and um so moving forward that's how it will be and I think that will help to get the regular updates and the regular meeting
schedule process further questions comments okay I think that's enough that's it okay 1 month that's all you did thank you yeah absolutely okay uh moving to item 11514 a
communication from the mayor regarding the appointment of an ad hoc advisory committee to take part in the drafting of the city's first master plan mr mayor thank you Madam Chair uh as was stated just a little bit ago uh the Department of Economic uh excuse me the Executive Office of Housing and Livable
Communities and the Executive Office of Economic Development both require um our cities and towns excuse me our master plan process to have a um steering committee to obtain feedback from
residents to uh work towards um a full breath of the community uh to oversee the draft drafting to make sure that our consultants that we hire are able to be um to be in line with the city's vision
for ourselves um we've appointed I've appointed my members of the committee i know the council president has an appointee who he's already mentioned is uh Chair Kazinskus um but just I wanted you to know who I have appointed and why I've appointed them to so that's the purpose of this letter that's here in short uh Director Stevens is going to be
chairing the committee as the department that's going to be overseeing the implementation of this work uh that's work being done to um really oversee the like we said the projects that the city's going to be implementing for any community development guides and there could be changes along the way but
really our guide for the next 15 to 20 years so that's why he's there the planning board representative is Mr eric Flint uh Mr eric Flint was recently appointed to the planning board uh he serves as a conservation planner for the city of Worcester uh and the reason why he brings a unique perspective to this is that he works on implementing master
plans with his current job that means that uh he knows what goes into these plans how they're drafted the type of language that should be used for them and really what the vision is that should be implemented with the overseeing of this uh Rebecca Maroy uh from the Greater Gardener Chamber of
Commerce she's their president and CEO and has been uh since January of 2023 before that she worked as a staff member at the chamber and before that uh she owned her own business um so being someone who works in the business community has owned her own business uh
and the number of businesses that we've had express interest in Gardener recently are things that uh really made her stand out as something that if we're working to make Gardener truly open for business what do we need to do to accomplish that goal uh state representative John's Lotik as a lot of
the things that are in these plans open us up to state grant funding i figured it would be good to have a state perspective on that committee george Olette a retired housing developer from the city of Gardner who also chairs our housing authority uh where housing is one of our priorities and we're looking
at uh you know I mentioned in my uh state of the city address zoning uh for housing in the city and just reviewing the red tape that's there that's been put in for a while that doesn't need to be there where we're drafting a housing production plan someone who actually has knowledge of how the city interacts with
developers who are looking to build housing and what the city's processes are I thought provided uh some insight as well especially with the housing production plan uh and then lastly on my appointees and somewhat uniquely um Alexander Lucia who is a 2022 graduate
from Garden High School he's also a local business owner with his photography studio and his uh film studio and his clothing store that he has um where this is a long-term plan I wanted someone who has that long-term
interest in Gardener for someone who wants to stay here for a long term too uh and just providing that youth perspective to the committee to see what it is that you know someone who's graduating college would like to see in order to stay here in Gardener after they left uh and thinking back to my own
class of 2013 at Gardener High School how many of them are still in Gardener um it's far less than the number of us who graduated in the class and what can we do to get our students to stay here because that's Gardner's next generation in future uh so those are the individuals who I've appointed to the uh steering committee for the master plan
uh and I um wanted to make sure you knew who was involved and the reasons why they were picked as I've done in the past with various committees that I've appointed thank you thank you Mr mayor person's comments from the committee now I feel like I need to just I need to explain my appointment so um as as was
stated councelor Kazinskus is uh the council president's appointment to this committee uh for many reasons but I think the biggest ones include um her time as acting mayor she's probably the counselor with the most awareness of the operations of the city um I can opine on
the best um examples and experiences creating a master plan and also being chair of the economic development uh subcommittee there's natural alignment with her working with Director Stevens um in close contact uh for this item so it was a natural fit
with that I'd be happy to make a motion i will entertain a motion i move I thank the mayor and I move to um recommend this item be placed on file second motion made by uh councelor Ty seconded by councelor Heath to recommend the
increase be placed on file is there discussion all in favor say I i close say no motion passes item 11529 a discussion of the regional planning commission um this is an item that I put on the agenda uh because I
just felt like it was something that is relevant to the department uh we have talked in the last couple of years particularly around about our RPC's um relative to the grants that we have submitted and the um contracted grant
writing that we've done that has quite frankly paid for itself time and time and time over uh and I just wanted to talk about kind of what the city partnership is with the RPCs that we use uh because I think it's a good discussion to have and kind of
understand like what they're doing for the city uh and just for the the public watching the city partners with the Monus Regional Planning Commission but that's where we fall under um and they
there's an amount from the state that we have and they get that amount basically from the city so it is funding that comes to us but just kind of goes directly to them and so then we have their services uh we also use the Central Mass Regional Planning
Commission CMRPC um and that offers a lot more services that we've been using over the past couple of years quite honestly so that was really kind of where I wanted to open up the conversation because um
they get paid for services that they offer that we can utilize in a lot of places that MRPC does not and so I think it's important to look at what that picture is and and where that falls with the city and I would like some you know feedback from the department just again
like an open discussion if anyone wants to start off i'll start off madam chair thank you um so as you said the Montichus regional planning commission is our state statute defined uh RPC or regional planning commission uh that's set by state
statute uh they are our on call if we need technical assistance for things like um planning studies in terms of they do offer some limited grant writing uh that's new in the last about year and a half um they discontinued uh any
assistance with the community development block grant because they said that was too involved for them to get involved into so uh they do offer some grant writing uh but it's really just the writing of the grant not the overseeing of the grant that's there um and then again any uh technical
assistance when it comes to implementing different plans or drafting any different plans that's what your RPC is for is to help partner with you through your planning processes that are there um additionally the Montichus Regional Planning Commission is the city's uh as
they call it the MOO the Metropolitan Planning Organization every city and town in the uh country has one of those as defined by federal statute uh those are um a metropolitan area is defined by the number of population that's there i don't know the specific number off the
top of my head what defines metropolitan and what does not but um the uh NPOS are set by federal statutes the RPC's are set by state statute and those can intertwine and for us that is intertwined uh where the difference relies uh lies for us statutoily is that
the central Massachusetts Regional Planning Commission is our hazard designated organization so if anyone has to help us through any type of disaster relief any type of um situation like the Lemonster floods like uh you know things like that nature
we'd actually be going to CMRPC for a defense and disaster planning uh that's set by statute also it just that's the one where we overlap and change RPCs we contracted with the Central Mass RPC because when I was looking for a grant writer for the city I reached out to MRPC and they told us they didn't have
the capacity to do it at the time as I've said their grant writing staff is still uh new within the last year or so um and it's helpful for us in times when they let us know what grants are out there but this um you know we still have a on call contract with the Central Mass Regional Planning Commission to help us
write those grants uh because there's a lot of times that the uh limited staff at MRPC has already been called for by the smaller communities in the area that they oversee uh so we've been doing a lot more work with the central mass regional planning commission that doesn't mean we don't do work with the mass uh monetizer regional planning
commission they have helped us write some grants in the past uh just whenever they have the capacity to do so because um you know they cover gardener fits lenser and all the communities in between um CMRPC covers basically Worcester to Hoverston
um in uh that portion of our region that's there uh so that those are the two RPCs that we've kind of been working with why we work with two of them versus one uh and why we pay one where the other one's taken as a direct deduction from our state aid cherry sheet that we receive annually from the Commonwealth
thank you no in uh in respect of the time I would like more discussion on this item because I think it's more important when it comes to uh we've had various items come before the council contracting with CMRPC and I know the mayor and I have discussed you know the benefits of the CMRC uh C too many
acronyms CMRPC um and kind of add additional services they provide over the MRPC i think I got that right so um just in time I think we can email some questions over to them i would like to see what it would look like to go with just one for
simplication in terms of communication planning and just strategic alliance with them so um that I'd like to request more time on it i think we I I was going to say so leading up to we'll um if we can agree we'll all keep the item on the calendar we'll continue discussion at the next meeting is that fair for
everyone sure thank you i don't think we need a motion for that i think we can just agree to keep it on the calendar okay uh item 11454 report on the investigation of the Mackie Park project i know we had some questions from the last time um ask for a little bit more
information do you have that so most of the funds as I had said last time most of the funds still encumbered are in a contract with eh Perkins in regards to some telephone polls that need to be moved on behalf of Verizon so some of the communication in front of you
there's a 28page uh packet of emails in regards to back and forth between National Grid Tai and Bond uh in regards to I only printed out one for the sake of the planet uh the one that's actually is it yes so funny um and then the one
pager that I also printed out is probably the more pertinent pertinent one in terms of the most upto-date um correspondence so that was uh they were Tyen Bond and National Grid had originally um at least in in regards to
the most recent uh correspondence on December 23rd um contacted them had gotten a uh ticket uh work ticket and then um on March 28th they had contacted
them again uh that was by the time that the work was expected to at least begin uh but they had responded that the work was larger than what was to be expected there were TV wires uh also uh within
the the telephone poles so they would have to also con contact Comcast um since then they have created a new ticket in regards to the new work for the TV uh cable wires used on those on
those poles and they have followed up twice uh after the creation of this new ticket but no further updates have been able to uh be gathered from at least Verizon's perspective but National Grid and uh Tai and Bond have done quite a
job uh and the 29 pages of emails I've printed out kind of overlay uh or give give overtight to that um the amount of work that they've they've done yeah they were out today moving the wires so if you drive by you'll notice that the old cut poles I think only have one or two wires left and those are the Verizon
wires that still need to be moved thank you so once that's done so once that is done then that's the money's encumbered the holes can be moved the contract with the age perkins is for filling in the holes after they've already been moved
so once those funds are unencumbered I'd be more than glad to move forward with the the final final ramp for finishing Mackie Park okay any questions comments from the committee uh I think I would entertain keeping
this on the agenda as well so we can until it's full out and we can just close it out and we'll just do another update in the future okay so we'll keep item 11454 on the agenda thank you for that item 11510 an order authorizing the creation
of an economic development and finance manager for the position for the community development and planning department and approving the job description for said position um President Tyrros madam Chair I'd like to take this item and next one together as they're they're linked and uh apologize
I have to consult my notes uh but the advantage of being awake at 3 in the morning so item 11510 and 11511 will take up together now and 11511 is an ordinance to amend the code of the city of gardener chapter 171 thereof entitled
personnel to amend schedule E thereof entitled non-union compensation schedule to add the position of economic development and finance manager these items were referred to economic development committee from the council when previously um they were already have been in the finance committee too i just would like to make a note of that
as well go ahead thank you Madam Chair um I'm in support of taking a little more time on these items uh and for a few good reasons i'm organizing my thoughts using the past present and the future um the past of this department was fraught with errors errors we've discussed from project management and
delays that have continued that have continued to cost the city hundreds of thousands of dollars maybe even a million dollars um and counting from the projects that never came to fruition i think the director gave uh a fantastic update of just in the past month all of the boards commission's work that he's
put together to make more funds available to the city that haven't been in place for over a decade in some cases um at present this department is still very much occupied with catching up from the past since Director Stevens took over he has somehow uncovered more errors jump started previously stalled
projects and made numerous positive changes to the management of core functions however Director Stevens is now the most senior and has been with the city uh is the most senior resource in the department and you've been with the city just over 90 days that's correct so while I think director
Stevens has done an absolutely commendable job I also think it's important and our purpose as an oversight committee um to take a moment and a deliberate pause and take time for strategic consideration of the desired future state while we're working on fixing the past in other words let's not make fast decisions when it comes to the
future state of operations of this department because the last thing any of us want is this in this meeting is to be back here in 5 years facing the same problem because we didn't ask the questions we didn't do the research we didn't challenge each other to address the fundamental issues that got us here
in the first place something that made me start down this path was that I saw the assistant director of community development's job posting uh it was posted on Friday and it contained the responsibility of supervising the financial project manager position that position um doesn't exist yet that's
what these items are about um and while it's another indication that I think our city's human resource function has also made positive substantial changes for the better responding to department needs getting jobs posted quicker than ever uh it did make me go back and review chapter 50 of our city code uh
which outlines only the director's job uh duties um so I'd like to request more time and recommend the mayor and directors submit an ordinance update to codify the duties of the assistant director and the proposed financial manager position so that the responsibilities but also more
importantly the accountability for those roles is clearly defined with the department going forward and with that submission um I would also appreciate an accompanying narrative much like a master plan for the department um that outlines the strategic direction and the rationale behind the proposed work
structure if that makes sense if I could add to that Madam Chair um absolutely happy to provide the documentation that the council president uh requested i just want to note that we've been having issues with e-code which is the city's ordinance online
system and that the changes that were made in December have not been reflected on the e-code yet um the administrative changes the administrative changes yes so all of the job descriptions were actually taken out of the ordinance with the new section put in to say that the council has to approve all job
descriptions instead uh because we had situations where just like the council president said and this is exactly why we did it some positions had their job descriptions codified in the ordinance where others didn't um but the council still voted to approve those job descriptions um and some job descriptions were approved without the
council even knowing that they existed um so that's why those changes were made um that said uh the administration was already looking at providing a list of all of the current job descriptions to the city council through the budget process as well that way if you're voting on the salaries for a position
you know what those positions cover um so that's just I just want to throw that out there that that section of the e-code has not been updated that chapter 50 actually was removed from the administrative update but you wouldn't know that if you saw the E-code because we're working with the vendor to update that um so for the benefit of anyone who's watching too who's looking for any
codes we're hoping soon but it's up to whenever the vendor gets to it um but again I I think it's right on the nose what the council president said that it's good to just get out there with what these positions actually cover thank you thank you uh so and so is this
this is a motion or we want to wait for more time we want more time because we want them to um we're requesting that the the ordinance update and the narrative be provided supporting it yeah and and let's talk um I want to talk more about the the ordinance update
because I think the mayor had forgotten that they forgot to update or haven't gotten to update the city's website i saw the um new ordinance for the CDBG steering committee so I thought the chain is where sorry I'm just going to just on that really quickly um and so who's overseeing to be sure that they get to
it is that I don't know what department specific office it would be the clerk's office okay um and I also wanted to acknowledge that the director gave us some we requested at last meeting some information from neighboring communities i see Fitchburg responded um so I
appreciate that we'll be reviewing that as a subcommittee um and make sure that you know we document how we want to structure this department going forward because I think we're at a really critical point where we have the opportunity to rebuild and make it a really solid foundation i'll just I'll just make one point for
the uh paperwork that I provided for this i did highlight sections that I thought were kind of applicable to the other sections that I highlighted within the two job descriptions of community development coordinator and program management assistant um
parts of their jobs I I felt like aligned relatively closely with almost every single aspect of of our job whether it's uh functional like um financial administration with overseeing
CDBG grants or or uh else um other other uh job responsibilities so just wanted to highlight that as you're overlooking the paperwork I provided thank you do I think we should take the time to absorb this i we we we understand that your I
mean I can I think I can collectively say for this committee um or I'm going to add that we can all agree that we know that your department needs to hire and get structure and and and you need support and so any support that we can offer in the capacity that we can as an
oversight committee like you know glad to be able to do the next couple weeks but we certainly understand kind of the urgency here but also we want to be thorough and obviously that's kind of what these conversations are about so um I I do think it's worth the suggestion and that way we can do this once and do it correctly and then look at what we
did and you know make it better before we give our recommendation because really it's a recommendation from the committee is what it is so um so we'll take more time on that item as well if there's any this was any objection from the committee okay um there's anything else I will enterain a motion to adjurnn so second motion made by councelor he
seconded by councelor Tyrus to adjurnn all those in favor say I i say no about chair thank you thank you all right