I call to order the Monday, February 2nd meeting of the Gardener City Council. The clerk will now please call the role. >> Councelor Brooks, >> present. >> Councelor Craig Cormier, >> present. >> Councelor General Law, >> present. >> Councelor Harder, >> present. >> Council Heath, >> present. >> Council Hegel, >> present. >> Councelor Kazinskus, >> present. Council Matt >> present. >> Council Tony
>> present. >> Council Tivo >> present. >> And President Tyrus >> present. Those who wish may now rise for the opening prayer. Pledge of >> allegiance. >> Almighty God. >> Almighty God, we thank thee for bringing us together this evening. Inspire us to worthy deeds and sound decisions and
direct us towards the attainment of good city government. We pray thee to bless and protect all the people of our city and to guide us that we may liberate in 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 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 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 anybody recording this evening's meeting? No response. Reading of minutes of prior meetings. We'll begin with the reading and approval of the November 3rd, 2025 joint public hearing of the city council and planning board. Councelor Cormier.
>> Move to wave the reading amendments and accept them as printed. >> Second. >> Motion made by councelor Cormier, second by councelor Kazinskus to wave the reading of the minutes and accept them as presented. Is there discussion? >> All those in favor? I. I.
>> All against? No. Motion passes. Public hearings. Item 11754, High Street National Grid to relocate two jointly owned poles on High Street, beginning at a point approximately 10 ft south of the center line of the
intersection of High Street and Newton Street and continuing approximately 120 ft in an east direction, relocating P30 and P31 on High Street to alleviate clearance issues to new construction being built on Newton Street. The public
hearing is now open for item 11754. Public hearing uh hearing notice reads as follows. Notice to abutters January 23rd 2026 to abutters and interested parties pursuant to the provisions of Mass General Laws chapter 166 subsection 22. You are
hereby notified that a public hearing will be conducted on Monday, February 2nd, 2026 at 7:30 p.m. on the petition of Massachusetts Electrical Company doing business as National Grid and Verizon New England Inc. for permission to excavate the public highway and to
run and maintain underground electrical conduits together with such sustaining and protective fixtures as it may find necessary for the transmission of electricity. said underground conduits to be located substantially in accordance with the plan filed here within marked 115754
High Street National Grid to relocate two jointly owned poles on High Street beginning at a point approximately 10 ft south of the center line of the intersection of High Street and Newton Street and continuing approximately 120 ft in the east direction. Relocating P30 and P31 on High Street to alleviate
clearance issues and new construction being built on Newton Street. A sketch of the proposed pole location is attached for edification. City Council of Gardner, TT Sierra, and City Clerk. Is there a representative from National Grid here to speak to the position?
Please come to the podium. If you just state your name and your representation. >> Sure. Colton Marshall, representative from National Grid. Uh this is a job for uh new construction at 38 Newton Street. The building is close ex too close to
the existing overhead high voltage lines which necessitated us to reroute power. So, the plan is to relocate Pole 31 westerly uh to shorten the span distance and then ro uh locate pole 30 sort of diagonally
southwesterly across the street to gain additional clearance from that building located at 38 Newton Street. Two pole relocations. Thank you very much. Would
anyone like to speak in favor of the petition? Would anyone like to speak in favor of the petition? Would anyone like to speak in favor of the petition? Would anyone like to speak against the petition?
Would anyone like to speak against the petition? Would anyone like to speak against the petition? Do any counselors have comments or questions to the petition? Hearing none, I now declare the public hearing
closed. Communications from the mayor. Item 11775. A communication from the mayor regarding the implementation of exhibit F of attachment one of chapter 8 of the code of the city of gardener. thereof entitled primary non-union compensation
schedule. Council General Allowitz. >> Thank you, Mr. President. I make a motion to place communication on file. >> Second. >> Motion made by council journal allowance. Second by councelor Mack communication on file. Before there's discussion, I'd like to call Mayor Nixon to the podium to address the council.
>> Thank you very much, Mr. President. uh as I uh informed the council when this ordinance was originally passed uh on November 17th and its subsequent second printing in the meeting after that. I just want to give an update on how the new salary schedule ordinance has been
implemented across the uh city for our non-UN employees. Uh the uh new scale system went into effect for the third pay period in December. At that case, all those employees that were included in the uh new compensation ordinance received the retroactive checks because
it had an effective date going back to July 1st. Uh so the beginning of the fiscal year. Um and we've monitored how that's been implemented across the different employees uh who uh were included in that ordinance. Uh, as I said at that meeting too where this was a full new system, I expected that there
were going to have to be some reviews and potential amendments that would have had to be put along the way just because this was a full systematic change from what we had before with the implementation of the new step scale. Uh, there are three items uh that have been recommended after uh, you know, reviewing those that I do plan on uh,
submitting to the city council for your consideration later on. Uh, as we expected that there would be with again a full new systematic change from start to finish. the letter included in front of you list out what those three uh changes are. The first is that the position of mechanics at the golf course, the way the math worked out uh
in the formula with the new scale versus the old scale as these were positions that were one of the few positions in the previous ordinance that did have their own step scale originally. Um the math ended up that they were actually going to be making the same where we intended for them to get an increase and in one case it actually was a little
lower than what they were making before. So, we do intend on submitting uh amendment for that to rectify those positions there to make sure that they were treated the way that they were supposed to be treated. Receiving a little bit of a bump uh off of last year for the golf course mechanic positions that I paid for out of the golf
enterprise account. Uh the formula that was used worked for the first step of what the step scale was, which is where that formula carried over from the previous ordinance, but not in the third step. So, if it would the person was in the first step or the second step, the formula worked the correct way, but not if you were in the third step already.
Uh so that's where that change needs to be there too because of how that carried over in the actual step scale itself. Uh the second item that uh you know I'd be looking to address soon uh relates to the department head positions. Uh if you remember in the proposal that was passed and adopted by the city council the
positions of police chief, fire chief, human resources director, city clerk, and city solicitor weren't included in that ordinance as they were outside of the process that was going on with the department of labor relations in the city at the time with the department head positions. Uh the following positions now can be added. the director of purchasing and civil enforcement, the
senior center director, the director of veteran services, the city auditor, and the city director of community development and planning. Uh so having them added to uh the department head section of the ordinance is something that uh do plan on submitting uh soon as well. And then lastly, the um
uh one change that I think should be made too just for equity purposes in this case is that with the position of the lifeguards, we changed the lifeguards pay at the amendment that was made on the council floor that I think was good to be uh to be made uh that made it so that our lifeguard positions received a bump and were included in the step scale as well based on the years of
service with the city in that position. However, it was given an effective date of July 1st, but the pool opens on the last day of school, which has always been in June, which legally has to be in June. Uh so I'd be recommending that that effective date for those lifeguard positions be changed and we'll be submitting something uh equivalent to
this amount uh be changed to June 1st instead of July 1st. That way we have our lifeguards starting at the corrected rate of pay rather than being employed for a week and then having to go through all the paperwork of changing their pay rates uh the first week of the fiscal year and go back and uh take care of all of that. That way it's consistent across the swim season that way. Um the only
other concern that came up uh is really uh an education factor with it I should say. And I said with some new applicants because the step scale starts at a starting step or a step zero instead of a step one. Some people are confused as to where they actually start on the scale if they're applying for a job and
reviewing that. Um it's something that normally with a phone call the information gets corrected and they understand what how the you know the system works at that time too. So it's one of those six one half dozen or the other. I don't think it's that I I don't think it's an issue with the system at all. It's just something that has come up as questions a lot and I told you I'd
let you know if we've received any questions from employees or potential applicants or things of that nature. Um we have hired several positions um not so many of the ones that are in the ordinance themselves but we have you know talked through the different you know ways that this is done and those positions that we have hired and it seems to have gotten through to most of
the applicants the most of the employees that we have uh now understand how the process works in terms of assigning years of service in terms of assigning uh what step scale a person's at. Uh we do have a promotion that I believe I'll be submitting to the city council soon as well for a position that is going
from a subordinate position to a higher level position which would require uh council approval to award those years of service in terms of the step scale as well to uh commensurate with this person's years of service uh and the recommendation of that department head. Uh so all of those things are you know some of the highlights of the reviews
that have been done since this has been implemented in mid December. Uh but uh it seems to be working pretty well and I'm excited. You know, aside from those little, you know, slight concerns that could be tweaked here and there, I think it's a good system that we have moving forward and uh I like it. Um and I know
the uh the employees who are involved in it um have had good feedback on it too for the by and large. >> Thank you, Mayor. Mr. President, >> did counselors have any questions to the mayor while he's at the podium? Council Lawrence. >> Thank you, Mr. President. Uh Mr. Mayor, you spoke to the amendments you're looking to put forth. Yeah.
>> Um >> do you have a timing on those when the you could be expecting them to the council? >> Uh it'll be submitted by the end of February and then whatever committee review process takes after that. Uh but I plan to submit them to the uh council president through the clerk's office for
uh whatever committee assignment uh it is given by the end of February. >> Thank you. >> Any other questions? >> Thank you, Mr. President. >> Motion made by councelor during allowance. Second by councelor Mack to place his communication on file. Any
further discussion? All those in favor I. >> I. All those against? No. Motion passes. There are no petitions, applications, or communications. Reports of standing committees. Safety committee. Uh before we have these items, I'd like to go over the procedure
as this is the first time we'll be utilizing these new council rules. In accordance with rule 20 and rule 22, if there's an objection to suspending the rule, I will invite the committee to give a brief explanation as to why the item requires suspension as long as no
counselor objects to that. After the explanation, a vote will be called without debate. A majority of counselors present and the council president would need to vote in favor to suspend rule 22. If neither are achieved, then the item will be returned to committee.
The Committee on Public Safety moved to suspend the rules to take up items 11740, 11741, and 11742. Is there an objection? Hearing none, the rules are suspended. We'll begin with item 1140.
Application for motor vehicle dealer licenses class 2. A. Salvador Chevrolet 442 West Broadway. B. Salvador Chev Chrysler Dodge Jeep Ram 442 West Brock.
>> Thank you, President Tyrros. Uh the public safety committee met on this these applications, these two applications and um the both businesses are in good standings and caught up with the tax role. We did uh speak with uh
Chief Mcabine and had he had no issues with businesses as well. And so unanimous we unanous unanimously voted to uh recommend to the uh full city council. Uh so I'd like to make a
motion to approve uh item number 11740. >> Second. >> Motion made by councelor Tony second by councelor Cormier to approve the license. Is there discussion? >> All those in favor I >> I. All those against no. >> Motion passes.
Item 11741, applications for motor vehicle dealers licenses, class 2. K. Blake Motors, 412 Main Street. L. Salvador Chevrolet, 421 West Broadway. M. Salvador Chevrolet, 249
West, uh, Tiffany Boulevard. N, JPJ Automotive LLC, 78 East Broadway. O. Brian's Auto Sales, 549 West Broadway. P. Osagi Enterprise LLC, 43
Toby Street. Council Done. Thank you, President Tyros. Again, uh, public safety met on item number 11741. And all of these businesses are in good standings and up up to speed with taxes. And we're recommended uh by Chief
Mcabine as well. And uh the the public safety committee voted to uh bring these before city council uh today unanimously. And I'd like to make a motion to approve the application for these items. Second motion made by
councelor Tone, second by councelor Tmunz to approve the license. Is there discussion? All those in favor? I. >> I. All those against no. Motion passes. Item 11742 applications for motor vehicle dealers
license class 3 B. Oagi Enterprise LLC used auto parts sales 43 Toby Street. Council Stone. >> Thank you, President Tyros. Um similarly to the previous two um item 11 1742 was discussed and uh they are in good
standings and no issues uh from Chief Magabine and uh the committee voted uh unanimously to bring before the city council. So I'll make it a motion to approve the application for item number 1142.
>> Second. >> Motion by council. Second by council to Munz to approve the license. Is there discussion? All those in favor? I. >> All those against? No. Motion passes. There is no unfinished business. There
is no new business. Councelor comments and remarks. Councelor Heath. >> Thank you, uh, President Teros. Um, tonight we recognize the start of Black History Month. Uh this year is a significant year as MRS 100 years since
the first formal history week was established in 1926. Over the last century, this tradition has grown into a vital time for our nation to reflect on the brilliance and resilience of the black community. Black history is a is American history and its
impact is felt in every part of our lives, including our safety. Um, every time we stop at a red light in our city, as I did on the way here, we should remember that Garrett Morgan in 1923, he patented the three position traffic
signal, adding the yellow caution light we use today. His invention changed public safety forever and has saved countless lives. So, as we mark this 100redyear milestone, let's do more than just look at the past. Let's use this month to celebrate the progress we've
made and recommit ourselves to making gardener a community where everyone has the opportunity to lead in. >> Thank you, Councelor Heath. Any further comments? Councelor M. >> Thank you, President. I just want to commend the um DPW staff for the amazing
job they did during our most recent storm. um you know they worked some of them worked from Sunday into Tuesday morning and um you know the priority was after they cleared the streets and salted was opening up the sidewalks for the schools. Um I just I just want to
comment about the businesses downtown. Um I hate to see people criticizing DPW for not clearing out their businesses. First and foremost foremost is the either the property owner or the business's responsibility to clear out in front of their business. and the city of Gardner has done very well with
helping them out over the years. Um that they're extremely reliant on that. Um some of the property owners did a great job on their own, but there are some that um are asking where the DPW is. Um they need to understand to switch over the equipment to do the downtown. Um it
it the equipment takes a day or two to switch over the equipment and then a day or two back. So they have to have a period of time where there's no snow in the forecast. they will get to it. But again, feel free to clean out in front of your business so that your customers
can access your establishment. Um, but know that the the DPW is doing the best they can. Thank you. >> Thank you, Council Mack, for their comments. >> Not I'll entertain a motion to adjourn after the closing prayer. >> So move. >> Motion made by council uh Tone, second
by council Kazinskus to adjurnn. All in favor? I. I. All against no. Motion passes. >> Father who sees overall as we adjourn, we thank thee for the opportunity of joint deliberation and act with us during the course of this meeting. Bless
Lord all that we gathered here and the people's representatives we are and do thou attend to our commonwealthare until our next meeting. Amen. Stand.