Okay, I'm going to call Are we recording? I'm going to call the Friday, June 27th, 2025 meeting of the economic and community development committee to order. The clerk will please call the role. Councelor Christens, present. Councelor Keith, present. President,
present. We have Cororum present. Is anyone here recording the meeting? No one's recording the meeting except for staff. Uh we'll begin with the review and approval of the meeting minutes of the May 30th, 2025 meeting. Madam President, I move to wave the regular minutes and accept them as
presented. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. President. Um, is there a second? Second. Motion made. Any discussion? Uh, so motion made by President Tyra, seconded by councelor Heath to uh with reading the minutes and supplements
presented. Any discussion? All those in favor say I. Those post, no. Motion passes. We will uh begin with the June economic and community development update. Okay. And we'll go from there
unless we feel we want to start with the Mackie Park project or the regional planning commission. We'll take anything out of order just cuz update um is something that is very thorough and I want to give a lot of attention to in the meeting. I'd hate to ask a question that might be covered in the update. So
Okay. Yeah, that's that's then I will forego the Mackie Park and presentation on CMRPC and then we can just start with uh first discussion of the rear main project. That's been largely my focus of this past week as we look towards the
closing of the fiscal year. I've included um in the kind of organizational I really like these folders because they can organize everything really well. um before. So it's in the second it's in the second pocket in um is uh inclusive of I mean
it's started with usually the um either the standard contract form um or the amendment uh and amendment request as well as the um
um reimbursement request for the for the project. So there's in there a two-week look ahead, a preliminary project schedule, and then those uh reports sent into MassWorks. So
just to give an overview for that. Um given the current timeline uh and the fact that the these funds for this project were supposed to be uh done in full and reimbured in full uh by um Monday the 30th uh the end of this
fiscal year. Uh I asked for a full fiscal year uh extension to those funds um in order to give us the full timeline we would need. uh we do not plan on using that and I will go into that further when we talk about the preliminary schedule for the project. Um
but we do have the full extension of a fiscal year for the funds to be reimbured for the rear main project until June 30th of 2026. So I'm very happy with that. Um there was also some moving of line items to make up for uh
previous reimbursements of which we had already over spent on certain line items. If you look at the contract amendment request and you go to page 404. So we had already over spent on
design and engineering by the amount of over 100% of of that line. So we we had originally put in the contract for 150,000. Um I proposed to increase that line item within the scope of the contract of an additional 150,000 so
that we are within the bounds of uh 20 we are admitted a 25% buffer of uh line items of overspending. Uh obviously 100% is way over uh what that is. So by their own rules uh that these these items are
needed to be moved in order to be within compliance uh and be able to reimburse. So that is for the design, engineering and bidding. Um and then part of those funds are being taken out of the uh other site work and the contingency. Um
and the contingency is also paying for an expected increase in construction admin and project management of 50,000. Um and this is separate from the um so
if you actually look to page it page no actually in the reimbursement requests apologies. So in the other form on page 305 there is the two the two invoices being
submitted for reimbursement from UEL uh and not submitted for reimbursement all of the uh invoices from Fuss and O'Neal. So in the original contract when we had discovered the need for the additional work to make the site able to be constructed upon um that additional work
wasn't in the scope of the original contract and the funds that we have acquired uh in order to pay for this have already been acquired through city means and there is no need for a contract amendment to change the scope of work for paying for the additional
work to redesign the project as well as the few works of a few weeks of work needed to get us to what it was the intended original work within the scope of the contract. So all of the most of the work that we've done this year uh isn't actually being submitted for
reimbursement because we have already acquired the funds to pay for that work. Um once we get to the original scope which we can expect to uh I'll talk more when we get to the project schedule as well. When we get to that point, then all those funds as we pay them out will
be submitted for for reimbursement through the Mass Works grant. Um hopefully that explains um the reasoning behind that. Um as we talk about the project schedule and kind of jump around it. So we have both the twoe look ahead
as well as the preliminary schedule here. This goes through the full look ahead. Um this is going to be um kind of dispersed out further for especially the the later line items such as colored concrete lman and seed landscape
irrigation. We don't expect those to be done in January and February because they require warmer temperatures in order to be done properly. So that's why we asked for the full fiscal year extension. We do expect the majority of construction for this project to be completed within the annual year or
within the calendar year. So by December 31st. Um, but we did ask for the full fiscal year extension in order to get that leeway with some of those items where, you know, we can't have snow on the ground. We can't have anticipated snow or cold weather when it comes to doing items like concrete and lmen seed
where, you know, they just require that kind of weather. As we look towards the immediate future, we have mostly additional work uh you know, continuation of of submitts. So that is the the redesign for the project as well as cutting this the site uh to the
additional depth. So cutting it to where we need it in order to put the tensar geotech fabric that's already been through city council as well as the layers of gravel, second layer of geotech, more gravel and that's considered the appropriate site for then us to continue from the original
contract and original contracted work. Um, so we're going to be looking in the next week to putting in the drainage structures in place, continuing that until July, the end of uh the week of July 7th. Um, the water quality unit and tie-in is
already set in place. And starting next Monday all the way until the end of the week of July 7th, we will be removing and filling the obstructions. Uh so all of the service tunnels, all of the um concrete structures that are are below
um below the site, the um constraints of the existing brook that runs through downtown have already been defined and the destruction of the concrete structures will not interfere specifically with the the constraints of that. That's already been mapped out
through myself and the engineers over at Fus and O'Neal. So that is not need to worry. that was already redirected under um the road that was constructed. I forget the name of the road. Um it Derby Drive. Yeah. Um so it's mostly under
Derby Drive, but there is portions that we are aware of that we'll have to um not interfere with, but the constraints of of those obstructions have been mapped out and we're looking to start that on the 30th. So, it should be quite loud and uh hopefully signs of active
work happening for the rear main project. Uh I know there has been active work this week, but honestly, we're just happy that this project hasn't uh has has been able to continue. um this we've dealt with a lot of issues and there's been a lot of work over the last 6
months um whether or not this was going to be something that we could continue with and I'm happy to say that uh the state has been very compliant with us and understanding of the situation um city council has been understanding of the situation in terms of the additional funds needed for it. So, I'm thank you
all and the rest of city council as well as the mayor and plenty of others within both Mass Works uh the executive office of economic development um and and many others who have made this possible and and a project that we can look towards completing uh within this year uh well I
would say within the next 12 months. Um, so that is the rear main project and that has been again the the majority of my I would say maybe not the majority of my time but definitely a lot of a lot of my focus for this week. Um, any
questions on the rear main project before I go on to Greenwood Pool update. Thank you. Thank you. Yeah, I appreciate that. Thank you for the Greenwood pool I have at the start. So I just wanted to give an overview of the timeline of why we are at the point
where we are in terms of um the project. So I have included within um this an email correspondence between myself and the uh CEO of uh associated building records. The um associate
building records are the ones who have um received the bid. So these these are in the the last pocket. Um if you can get them out, apologies. Um so again the project schedule email correspondence as well as a bid uh protest um labor uh
decision. So uh we had received a bid protest um in regards to when bids were being opened for this project. Um there was an overlooked bid that was um improperly delivered uh by a mail
carrier to it was supposed to go to a specific room. it was labeled for a specific room um and it wasn't delivered to that specific room. So, at the behest of the engineers for the project, Tai and Bond, they recommended that we consider this an overlooked bid and
opened it the following day. Um following that, uh the associate building records was that overlooked bid and they were the lowest bid, so they were awarded it. Um and then a bid protest came in from a another bidder uh for that project. Um and so we had to go
through the process of of appealing the bid protest decision. Um or the the yeah the bid protest. Um that was a issue that lasted probably all the well all the way until May 23rd as as listed on
the the printout of the um decision from uh their names at the the end. Um Jonathan Elder um and uh the hearing officer Justin M. pulk. Um, so we were had our hands effectively tied in terms
of what we can do for the project all the way until May 23rd. follow immediately following that the bid protest uh decision was uh lifted and that we can move forward with ABW as the um awarded bidder, we uh me being the
and the um purchasing director all work together in terms of working with ABW in ter in terms of getting uh bonds and certifications from them and all the necessary documentation needed to um properly award and move forward with the project. Uh that's been also uh a
multi-week process just as the nature of of what it is. Um we had received a preliminary draft for the project schedule. Um we had expressed the need to want to move that up. Um, and so my
email correspondence with Fred kind of shows that, you know, I it word for word I'd request that demolition, particularly the above grade building removal, begin as soon as possible. I'm happy to coordinate with the pool manager on necessary closures during demolition so your team has the time it
needs without restrictions to get the project completed because this is a project that we want to be completed but we also want to be mindful of any days that uh active demolition is happening so that the outdoor pool uh isn't actively uh hosting any any any users uh
at that time. Um, so I've given him the go-ahhead of of moving that schedule up. Uh, so we're not running into this project being in uh, you know, October, November. Um, and so they've drafted a new preliminary project schedule, which
is the one also in front of you. So at line item 24, they have the above ground building removal now moved up to happening between September 26th and October 7th. um we can expect that to I would I would intend that to move up
even further from that intended date because it's one of the further aligned items and because there are a lot of things on here that are going to happen in conjunction rather than uh you know one after the another after another. Um, so I would expect that to move up further, but as it's happening in
September, it still gives us probably about 3 weeks worth of time to um not hit within uh open pool season and uh be the active demolition to happen during um when school is active. So, we
wouldn't expect any anyone to really be using the pool anyways during that time. And even if we move it up up to three weeks, that's still going to be the case. So, I'm happy with I'm I'm currently happy with that and we will uh look towards putting out the signs um
for the project um not next week, but the week of the 7th. Um uh with that said too, uh just for clarity sake, for the people who are watching, no matter the public, uh those white project signs uh we did try to change on a couple of
the projects to see if we could put renderings out rather than just the verbiage that's there. But that's actually a um uh executive office of housing and livable communities requirement that the sign verbiage be consistent across all CDBG projects across the Commonwealth. So that's why those white signs that
have the the project name, the address, the builder, the contacts at city hall and all of those things. Um that's why that's like that. That's a requirement of HLC for the CDBG program uh when those signs go out. So, we will try to also get uh something out that has a
rendering of what the project will look like in the end when we move forward with our CDBG projects or just any other project that we get state funding from. But um the contents of the main sign themselves are actually dictated by state regulation. Y aside from that's really all I have for
Greenwood Pool is the project schedule um and kind of the explanation behind why we're at this point. I don't know if there's any questions regarding it. We've already had the pre-sight demo uh visit to Greenwood Pool. It was on Tuesday, like the hottest day. So, it was fun going in there, which is
essentially a greenhouse, and uh and exploring like what it's going to what the process is going to be like. And I I do look forward to moving forward with ABW as a partner for them. Uh they're very excited and and are hopeful that it will be a um pretty um quick process.
Thank you. Questions, comments from the committee? Um, I don't have any questions. Does it work? No, I have no questions. Great work. Thank you for this. Incredibly helpful. Good afternoon. I
have no paperwork uh in regards to the North Central Pathway, but that is completed get going being completed uh this week, today, and I believe um next week. Those funds do have to be uh completed at the end of the fiscal up to
I believe uh July 15th. So we have a few weeks of time but we're working with Mass Broken Stone as well as I believe ML Partllo the main contractor for for the for the pathway have already completed their work. Um so I know a lot of people are already enjoying uh the usage of it. I know some citizens have
already reached out to my uh email and phone regarding uh a a lip between the paving on Crystal Lake Drive and the pathway itself. That is because there are two different contractors doing those two different sets of work. Um so
we expect mass broken stone to uh create that lip between there so there isn't a little bit of a drop off for any users who are going with um any wheelchair or disability. Um, so we expect that to be completed uh upon uh completion of the
project, but as it is now, we still have to do the the ceiling and and and the final touches. So we expect that to be part of that. Thank you. And just for clarification, you said so the funds have to be set spent by July 15th. Yes. Okay. And um I just have to say for this
project, it was the same with the um corner willow in Maine. Uh it was one of those things where you like we know it was coming you know from this meeting you know it's happen it's coming then you see it all being done and you see it done and then even with this project you come down Park
Street and you see all the trucks and it's getting done it's being done like that is how this is supposed to work. So that is super refreshing to have seen that in the last couple of months with these things and having it match up to what we say and what's going to happen and all the work you're doing in all the offices like that is that's should be
refreshing for anybody in the city to be able to see and because these are there's a lot of things that happen too with work that isn't loud and isn't in your face but it's happening. It's when these things do that's I don't know it's just this sense of like okay first of all it's summertime yay but also um there's progress and there's things
being done and I know personally us sitting in these meetings and and and being here going through it having a committee for this purpose it's really nice when you physically see it happening so um North Central Pathway was the most recent one that I had gone by and I was like this is right what we
just talked about so that was that was pretty pretty refreshing it it is beautiful out there I've been able to walk it myself. Yeah. Twice now. And it's it's great. I'm I'm I hope everyone gets a chance to go out there and enjoy it. Uh most of it is is like I said,
completed. So, it is in its final stages. Um but enjoy it, bike it, walk it, and you know, we look forward to completing the rest of it uh with future mass trails grants um and completing all the way up to the rest of the North Central Pathway. And you know, whatever
we can do to beautify too. Um, if I may, um, I had a couple constituents who, you know, live right there and, um, they've found a lot of usage of walking up and everything else and, you know, taking a lot of this
stress off just enjoying the view and everything else. So, um, they wanted me to tell you, thank you. I appreciate it. So hopefully continue it continue it up and then they can walk the whole thing with the the bridge going over 140. I I really look forward to when it's in it
and when it's in its completion because that'll be it'll be really something and it will really connect us all the way truly up to New Hampshire at that point and it's it's it's it's awesome for lack of a better word. Um outside of the North Central Pathway uh as is visible
from going down Willow Street the demolition on Rome is completed. Uh we are just waiting for the um last time we went out there with one of the building inspectors and um the representative from Castello uh dismantling. Um we were just waiting for the the seed to kind of
take root. I think it has since done so. I have to take a drive out there past there today. Um but we expect that to also be kind of finalized either either early next week or or maybe the uh sometime next week or the following. Uh is having the close out for that. the
fence is coming down. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, the the main fence has already come down. I believe it's just a temporary orange uh kind of uh I think it's I've interpreted as to keep people off the grass so the grass can grow. Yeah. Um but yeah, we we already have
done compaction testing for that. Um and we'll look towards um again the proposed use for that is the sale of the the property and and uh we'll look towards that uh following um aside from the Rome building I'll
give a quick overview of the department um and excuse me just one second on the Rome building. So on that piece just can you just for the public watching just I think this type of repetition is important. Who owns it? Who's selling it? Who could buy it? like just really quickly how that is going to work next.
I mean told us I just would like it. It'll be it'll be it'll be sold uh in a similar way to a lot of properties that you know have been worked on by the city of Gardner where they're then sold to the GR uh and then the GR um you know meets with developers and
listens to their propositions and usage for the site and then they make the decision on terms of uh the eventual uh buyer. Um so then they draft the purchase and sale agreement and and all the conditions therein. Um but yeah
hopefully that that answers uh answers that and provides some context there. Thank you. Madam chair the uh city did give ownership to the GR about two years ago. So the GR currently owns it. So that's not a process we have to go through again. So next is for GR to sell it and do their process on that. Yeah.
Once we get the the close out also from EOHLC because it is a CDBG project. Um, so once we have that full close out, then we can move forward with the sale of the property. And I think one of the things with a project like this too is now that it is done and it is beautiful, what's going to happen next is the
question, you know, and so that's just I think it's important to clarify for that reason. And also, you know, I get questions, oh, is there going to be another part going in, you know, and it's sometimes they'll have good intentions behind it, sometimes we don't have as good intentions behind it. Then I I like I I like to talk about the
process of when we have these types of things and things get torn down or there's or they're repurposed. There's a lot of options and sometimes in some spaces parks are the better option and other times, you know, things do get sold and built and thing, you know, there's other avenues that are taken.
But um I I was assume people have best intentions when they say things like that. I just like to be able to give them, you know, the other kind of piece of it as well. So um thank you for that. I have no more questions or comments on that. on the building. Um, yeah. Actually,
one day I I drove by the uh, you know, the site. Mhm. Oh, D. Next day, I don't know how this grass grew so fast. It counts like you. That's what I was going to say. Out of all of the new director's accomplishments, he got grass to grow. Yeah. Yeah. The only other thing is we
could take a laugh right there. That would be great. We had 13 Saturdays of of of rain. That's all I told myself. Honestly, I was like, when you have new grass, it has to be watered really, really good. And we had a ton of water and then we had tons of rain. That's all I can think of. Like, it's true. The same thing. I
was like, there's a lot of grass there now. I I haven't been able to drive by. I usually drive by on my on my way in on Mondays and when I I I head back to to Boston where I I live on the weekends on on on Fridays. And uh I I haven't seen it. So, I'll probably be astonished when
I drive by when I eventually leave today. Yeah. It'll be like night and day. Yes. Yes. So, are we good on that? Yes. Okay. Awesome. Uh, so for the status of the department, I'm happy to say that uh we have a verbal commitment for the
economic development and finance manager and a written uh commitment uh so uh for the assistant director position. Um I'm very happy with both of these candidates. Um, I don't know if if you would want me to go into their
backgrounds um of of who we're looking to hire or if you want to wait till they're they've actually started in order to to do that. We should wait. Okay. More appropriate. Yeah. One of them is the assistant director is is looking to start on July 7th. Um so very
soon um a week from Monday and the uh economic development and finance manager uh we have the the verbal commitment out there for um but we're looking for them to probably start sometime around early to mid August um because they are they
are um uh moving in order to to accept the position. So but very looking forward to both of them. Um, honestly, I've I've been saying to to everyone, I looks like we're gonna have an all-star team uh after they start. So, I'm I'm I'm very looking forward to that and
having a full staff uh for my department. Um but yeah, good for you. That's great. Questions, comments? That's awesome. All right. I I think that's that's really everything. Um I
think Okay. I'm pretty sure it's it's kind of been a blur of the past 10 in a month. So, add it to the list. Um, thank you for that. Any other questions, comments on this topic from anyone? No. Any comments, Mr. Mayor? No. Thank
you. All right. We will um Thank you, Director Stevens. We will move on to item 11454, a report on the investigation of the Mackie Park project. So yeah, these two the these two items in subcommittee are the two items. First in your in your uh so it
starts with the CMRPC versus MRPC. Um and second is the email correspondence with Ty and Bond regarding this. So this actually has been a little bit of a back and forth between myself and and Matt Warzk over at Ty and Bond. We've had some correspondence in April,
correspondence uh I think actually right before or like right around um our last meeting, correspondence in June uh June 6, and then correspondence 2 days ago on Wednesday, June 25th. Um so the last I
heard from this is that there are just one set of uh wires on the poles uh given with uh the contract we're looking to use uh to fund the the ramp project uh for for the um for Mackie Park. Um,
again to give context for anyone who who hasn't um heard me give this before, but uh we're looking to uh use a couple different funding sources in regards to paying for this additional ramp. Um, and one of them is tied up with a current
contract with um eh Perkins in regards to filling in um a series of holes that will be made once telephone poles are removed. um the double poles for Park Street Park um that are currently in place. We're just waiting for those
second set of poles to have all their wires moved over to the first set of poles. Um and then those poles were moved and then for the contract to be completed um it has been a process over the last um I don't know how many uh
meetings that we've had uh in regards but there has been very consistent correspondence between myself and Tyan Bond in regards to making this a priority understanding that you know there are some funds in regards to um the use the the uh funding for this that
you know are federal funds and you know could be uh potentially taken away. Um so we want to be con we want to be um cognizant of that and and um you know knowing that that this this has to be continue a continuous priority for for
for them in terms of their work and and their correspondence with both Verizon and Comcast. Um and these last set of wires are with Comcast now. So they are no we are no longer dealing with Verizon at least. Um, I know that was something that we've gone back and forth about.
So, it is just the last set of wires with Comcast. Um, but I know I I would like to meet with the city auditor uh potentially next uh Monday and uh see if there are any other funding sources that could potentially pay for it because I
know this again has been a back and forth with us. But I do want to hopefully at least pursue any other avenues that we have in order to pay for the for the final ramp because I know this is something on a lot of people's minds. I've been asked to speak about it at um an upcoming um disability commission meeting and I would hopefully
have uh a better update than than just we're waiting for the polls to have their wires moved and hopefully have at least a plan B in place rather than than just continuously, you know, back and forth with Comcast and Verizon and other utility companies. So, that's that's my
uh that's my full update for for Mackie Park. Thank you. Uh any questions, comments from the council? Um yes, if I uh madam uh chair, so just for clarity, the delay is it was Verizon, but that
was Comcast. Yep. Right. But Titan B, they seem like they respond pretty quick. They are very quick. Yeah, I was I'm reading it and everything else. So, it's Comcast is the like you said, they're the ones that we're waiting on to I don't even know how many tickets
they put in in regards to this this work ticket. It it's probably close to like five in regards to this one last set of wires cuz every time I I reach out to them, they say they they'll they'll put another ticket in. I I think they say we'll follow up again this week and see if we could put
another ticket in in on top of the ones that they already have set in place. So they are they are as on top of it as they can be and are probably as frustrated or even even more so than than than I am in regards to it. So um they want to see this done just as much
as as we do and have been you know great uh to work with in terms of being able to be reliable with their their active correspondents. Awesome. Thank you. I do. I appreciate your advocacy on be on behalf of this project with Ty Bond
and then theirs with Verizon who now checked off the list now with Comcast. I think that's I think it shows us how you get stuff done. You know, we all wish for were sooner. Um but just, you know, providing this written correspond with them and seeing that you're doing it,
that's really helpful and to see to see how you are. But I know a few meetings back you had established with them like I'm going to be reaching out to you regularly about this just to let you know so that they knew that this is what you know something that's happened and I think that it seems like it's been effective but also keeps us within this
professional you know it's professional correspondence with them to just say this is this is my job this is what we're going to do and this is how I need to be able to um to do it. So, I appreciate their relationship there as well and I thank you for your advocacy and part of the city and hopefully this gets done, you know, sooner than later.
They know then they know I'm going to keep pushing on it. My my that exact email is in this correspondence. It's on page four. Um, so they know that I'm going to this is something that is on the agenda for for this subcommittee specifically. Um, and that is something
that I will have to speak on every other week um in regards to. So, they know that there's a need for it. They know that I can't just keep giving the same the same update in regards to we have to move the wires, we have to move the wires, we have to move the wires. I'm frustrated with it and and they
understand that, but they're they really are doing everything they can in regards to to reaching out to Comcast and and urging them to to do this quite simple uh last bit of work. It really is just moving one set of wires to another set of telephone poles. So, I would hope
that that they can they can do that work um and we can be at least have a different update for for the next meeting. And then my second question is the funding sources. Can you just remind us if you have the figure what the um
what what's the figure? What's the funding figure that we would need? I don't have them in front of me, but I believe it's close to 55,000. So we're looking for 55 like the encumbered amount after finishing that that would move over to the encumbered amount is less than 55. I think the
total amount is 55 and then part of those are going to be coming from ARPA funds. So ARPA was the the program through through CO uh from the federal government. Um part of it I believe was the last year's summer festival. Um and
then I believe around 33 32 I think somewhere around that is is specifically the Park Street contract. So the uncovered funds from this Comcast they're the last step that is going to cover this last 33 or whatever. So that's what you'll be talking to the
auditor about is 33. Okay. Thank you. Other questions, comments? Just from a timeline perspective um because this is a situation you kind of stepped into when you were first hired with the city. Um, and thank you for carrying the ball on it. When we have this resolution to
the Park Street Park telephone issue, uh, Time Bond's already done a design for the ramp to make it fully ADA compliant. Um, would the actual construction of that ramp have to go through the bidding process or is or would the current the contractor that
worked on Mackie Park, would it be a part of their So, because the contract has already been completed, uh, we would have to go back to bidding. um and go through the bidding process in order for this to to be done. Um unfortunately, it's just the the scope of the original
work has already been completed prior to my my start here. Um if if we would be able to make an amendment and do it with the original contractors, that would be a lot easier for both my sake and the rest of the city's sake. Um but that's as the
contract's already completed, we we will have to go back to bidding. No, good to know. especially from a construction season perspective. There's a backdrop that we're working against and you know going out to bid it's a 30-day process. So if there are two weeks two weeks okay so that's better. Um but there's a
process that needs to be followed and um hopefully we can get it done. Yep. Thank you. I just have another quick question just for I don't know if anyone here has a room um just for clarity. I know it's Comcast but I thought it was
Xfinity. Are they still the same thing? They still are the same thing. Yeah. All right. I'm just I'm like all right. I know we're referring to as Comcast, but I don't get a Comcast bill. I get Exfinity bill. So, I'm like, you want to know who to call? Yeah. Yeah. That's I think it's a I think Comcast is the parent company and Exfinity is like one
of the services that they they provide. Yeah. Cool. Thank you. Anything further on this item? Okay. Item 115. Uh, so for an action on the item, I'm going to propose
that we keep it on the calendar as we've had progress. Um, and we know we're going to get there. I think we're all very clear on that, but I think we should keep it on the calendar. Any question? Okay. Item 11529, a discussion of the regional planning commission. So, I have a little
presentation printed out for everyone um just on the differences between MRPC and CMRPC and and hopefully strategies that we can use um as we look forward. Um really the overview of this is that we really should be utilizing both of them because there are different um
categories of work and and uh services that they provide. Uh but just to give an overview uh this is comparing the Montichus Regional Planning Commission with the Central Mass Regional Planning Commission MRPC and CMRPC uh respectively uh highlighting their differences and and hopefully strategic
value to the city of Gardener. Um so the core services uh differences between them MRPC serves 22 communities including Gardener as our our main no uh our uh Massachusetts planning organization. So that's the group that
that we are uh by the Massachusetts uh law uh that we're a part of. Um it specializes in land use, environmental planning, uh brownfield redevelopment and and GIS. Um and again is the main no for the the gardener region. Whereas
CMRPC serves uh 40 central mass communities not including gardener uh but focuses more on economic development, urban revitalization, energy use uh and finance uh through grant help and and and other services. Um so they are the NO for central mass
and has you know strong in regional uh coordination with the 40 that they they do serve. Um so with the specializations and strengths MRPC has a lot of knowledge of gardener the Montichus region uh has use in terms of transportation planning that we're
already currently using hazard mitigation that we plan on um using for our uh in work uh hazard mitigation plan uh and zoning diagnostics as well as targeting support through brownfields funding which is one of the main economic development sides that we're
looking to be a part of the the new position position the economic development and finance manager specifically is overseeing the the Brownfields redevelopment fund. So we also are looking to engage with them in that way. Whereas CMRPC does have strong economic development uh in in their
division there uh expertise in in corridor revitalization downtown strategies um and offers advanced uh GIS so global information systems uh dashboards and and grant collaboration and assistance. Um the only issue with with that last one is that they have
been a bit overworked. Uh I would say swamped for lack of a better word in terms of the amount of communities uh using them. Uh I think they're seem to I think it's somewhere between 12 and 15 additional communities that are reaching
out to them in terms of uh grant collaboration and assistance. Um CDBG uh is a big one that they've had a lot of communities reach out to. Um so that has kind of lessened their their
availability in that regards. Um but obviously they they do have the their place in terms of those other services that they provide. So moving on into like why engage MRPC they are the planning the the the re primary regional
planning agency for gardener. um you know they have statutory um Massachusetts uh plan organization responsibilities such as uh transportation improvement program aka a tip which we often use hazard mitigation these are all things that I said that
we've we we are already utilizing uh here in the city um we have had long outstanding local partnerships uh with MRPC um and they have contextaware zoning and and infrastructure planning support such as the like I said the
transport portation as a as a as a large one, whereas CMRPC does have larger and broader economic development services um experience with urban core revitalization and insight into housing production and broadband workforce
development. Um, so they have their they have clear differences between them. And so my kind of three strategic recommendations on that on the final page are maintaining MRPC as the lead planner uh planning
partner for gardener but still leveraging CMRPC for specialized economic development and urban revitalization support uh because they do fill a lot of niches that that we don't have currently with MRPC. Um in
the same way that you know we have on call engineers in the city uh and we have a series of on call engineers but we don't use um the reason we have multiple is because we some provide you know specific services that other other you know engineering uh engineering
firms don't provide. So we have them on call because they fill niches that not all uh engineering firms do. It's the same it's the same with that and um you know we're hopeful that engaging with both of them um you know we can really
address any regional scale challenges that we face in terms of planning um any transportation issues any um brownfield redevelopment as we look towards that and and then really developing the again the urban urban core that is like our
center of downtown um and as it's growing south gardener as as well. So I I hope that kind of provides context as to why I want to maintain our relationships with both rather than uh look towards engaging just just one of
them. Um and the the services that will hopefully be engaging with both uh both both agencies. Um that's really all I have for that. Hopefully it pro hopefully that provides uh enough context for my decision. At
least my recommendation I guess I would say in regards to that. Thank you. Questions, comments from the committee? I thank you for this document. I think it's good especially to reference in the future when when we're faced with an appropriation for contracting services
with CMRTC. Um, I'm going to make a recommendation that we leave this on our calendar for a bit longer though because uh I know the director reported we have some training and services that MRPC is going to be providing to your new employees and this could be a vehicle to get an update on
how that training went, what was covered and uh sort of a value there. And once we receive that update, I'd be happy to go with the director's recommendation. But that's what I'd like. Thank you. anything for your counselor.
Mr. President, um I agree with that. I also just kind of want to reiterate too like there is some initial training that they're going to be getting from the RPC's like CDBG training is what comes to mind first. You know, there's things like right off the bat, you know, you're
going to be utilizing them for. So, I I agree with uh President Tyrros in that respect. I I think it makes sense because we will see it like sooner than later. It's not something we should take off and then bring back on. Um we'll certainly can revisit it down the road in the future, but for a decision right
now, I think we should just we should keep it for that to see how it goes. I I appreciate this. I think this is incredibly helpful. Um and I think um I think that we'll see uh I just lost my train of thought when that happened.
I think we'll see the results of of what you're talking about once you can apply it particularly to your your new staff members um especially the assistant director I would think so anything further on that if not then we will keep the item on the calendar okay
anything further on the topic of the meeting I'll enter motion made by friends seconded by uh councelor he to adjourn All those in favor say I. I. Say no. Motion passes. Thank you very much.
Meeting stand.