We're just starting out again. >> Okay. I saved your seat. >> Thank you. >> I was going >> I got Good afternoon everybody to the
COE board meeting of February the 2nd, 2026 at 2 p.m. in the afternoon. Before we begin, I got an announcement to make. Any person may may make a video or audio recording of our open session of the meeting or may transmit the meeting through any medium subject to
reasonable requirements of the chair as to the number and placement and operation of the equipment used so that not to interfere with the conduct of the meeting. Any person intending to make such a recording shall notify the chair forth with all documents referenced or
used during the meeting will be meeting are to be submitted to duplicate to the chair pursuant to the open meeting of public records law. All documents shall become part of the official record of the meeting. >> Okay. >> Anybody filming other than us?
>> Perfect. >> We're all set there. All right. Uh did everybody read the minutes? You know, Michael sent it on online. All set. Okay. >> Okay. We have a >> Thank you.
>> Okay. Second. >> Second. >> All in favor? >> Okay. So, thank you everyone. All right. Next thing is the treasure report. So this over here is okay.
>> On the minutes I'm reading about the elections that we had at the last meeting. >> Do we have to update the bylaws? >> We do. We talked about that at the meeting as well. Um, and we've t had that discussion in previous meetings.
Um, we do have to update the bylaws. We purposefully put that off until the final changes were made by the city council and we have a better feel on where our our housing location will be. >> Yeah. And the second question I have is
on on the C um the CEO position. Now, I know you clarified by saying that the the director and the CEO position are two different things. The city government hires you as a director, that
you're elected by the board to be CEO. My question is, does the director have to be the CEO? >> Um, I'm pretty sure that the bylaws allude to the fact that the director is installed as CEO. Okay. >> But I don't know exactly the answer to
that. >> Yeah. Okay. Fair enough. Thank you. >> And the CEO does not have a vote on the board. Neither does I'm really just here as I can. >> No, you're the one with all the information. >> Oh, yeah. Quickly.
>> Okay. >> Okay. As we turn to your budget report, the color pages page one at the top at the top of that page is the general fund. And um as always as we are now
approaching going in for the last half of our fiscal year uh Mike has outlined um in red our accounts where we are over and see the red in that first column
there custodian outage the red the red ones are all um accounts line items where we have gone over uh which couldn't you know be held because of overtimes and custodians and
things like that and >> or are projected to be over either over so we're we're over the projected budget percentile for this time of the year. So right now we should be at about 56 57% and some of those we're at you can see
62 or 87%. Um if all of a sudden we had no overtime, we wouldn't be over budget by the end of the year, but we're projecting to be over budget for all of those red line items. >> And of course, you all can understand the overtime because of the weather that
we're having. Now, the purple ones or blue or however you want to refer to them, those are upcoming possible contracts or purchase orders and they're expected. They may be over even than what he's what Mike has listed or they
could be under. But in any way he has made mention of them so that we are aware that they are coming. So at the moment at the moment um in January we spent $21,3922
cents and that includes salaries and all the expenses and the year to date uh we spent $119,93210 leaving us with a balance of 92,45311 and Um, so that's where we are on the general
fund. Is there any question at all? Anybody? Okay. So that and that's at 56%. So we're moving and and it's good that might keeps us aware of possibilities and we will probably go over and we'll
have to beg somebody to be able. So then moving to the bottom of that page is the gift fund. At the moment in January, can everybody hear me? In January, uh we we received a gift of
$9.95, $995. And year to date, we receive gifts in that account of $3,712.78, giving us a balance in our gift fund at the moment of 97,293.91. And of that, of course, 25,000
is dedicated to painting. If we if we do I hear say if we ever get water, we will do a little painting. So that is the gift fund. Any questions on the gift fund? Okay. And the third page
which is page two and three are the um revolving fund. Uh again you see he's got some items outlined in purple. contracts instructors and um McDonald events or
there are that on page three he's got the handover theater and the bus and those are outstanding purchase orders where he you know we pay for shows and trips and things so Mike has been able to keep
the purchase orders open and pays off for them but they are outstanding so at the moment In the revolment fund, we u we have if you look on page three, we
have a cash balance of 60,6648. And we have >> that green line. >> Oh yeah. >> Yeah. and and that's we have cash balance of that and then minusing out
our upcoming expenses we actually have $42,440 87 in our new fund and and that's we're at the moment
and turn that page next page page is um is FY24 and that one is closed out. Next year you won't get that page. Okay. And now to page five, we have our
state grant just listed a lot of upcoming expenses, possible expenses there. A lot of them are the salaries for the instructors. He's given you the neat last names of the instructors and the possibility
he's possible their salaries through the end of the year. You can see all that in purple. Uh and in January there were not too many expenses out of the state grant
22424 and 48 cents and at the moment we have a available we have a a cash balance in the state grant of 65,59224 and the available balance
in order is 36 6,75838 and then the available balance after the salaries which he which he has got projected over here 29,06121 those are so state that grant is still
in good shape 296121 and any questions on the state And last page is blank because we haven't started to use that money yet. And in that account FY268
grant, we have $89,136. So that's good. So that is any questions at all on any of the grants, any of the account, any of the grants, any of the accounts? Mr. Chair. >> Okay. Thank you very much, Terry. And
may I have a motion? >> I make a motion that we accept the minutes. I'm sorry. Treasure report. >> Second. Very good. Thank you. Any discussion? All in favor? >> I. >> Any opposed?
>> Okay. So moved. Thank you very much. Our next thing on our list is going to be all business and Michael will have stuff on that I'm sure. >> Yep. Um, so not a whole lot uh to report on Waterford Street. We did have some we
did a little bit of of preemptive work moving the stuff that had been brought down there two or three years ago. Um the office furniture and um file cabinets that were kind of in storage on one side of the building we brought to the other side of the building just to
make sure that people know like we didn't buy new equipment and bring it down there. We didn't have equipment brought from here down there. We simply moved it from one room to the other um so that work could be done in those other rooms where the the stuff was stored. Um that's really what I got.
We're moving ahead and selecting some paint colors in anticipation of the final work being done and the certificate of occupancy being issued. Once that's done, we can go in and do the cosmetic stuff. Um, holding off on some of the locker removal until that
time as well. We'll take the lockers out and paint at the same time. We're looking for kind of a location. We'll try to save them. There's no good reason to scrap them unless nobody wants them, but um we'll we'll try to be as kind and gentle in removing those as we possibly
can, but otherwise not a whole lot. We were able to walk through the building and saw most of the bathroom work is now 100% done. The fixtures are in, the partitions are in. The bathrooms were painted. Um, which was a concern of ours because it was really this kind of dingy
dingy dingy brown uh tile or finished work before. Um, so it it looks it looks really pretty good down there. Um, you know, it's still a building under construction in improvement. It's it's
not moving ready yet, but there's been a lot of progress. >> Thank you very much. >> Questions? >> Question. >> Yes. lockers. Uh I know we had talked about removing all of the lockers. What if we removed one side?
>> That question is beyond my pay grade right now. Um now I don't know the answer to that. We looked at it. I think like when you look at that hallway, it's a long hallway as opposed to maybe a shorter one on the elementary side. Um it's and I think the lockers make it
look like a school. So I that's my personal opinion, man. I'd like to take them out and in those areas where the lockers are, put like nice chair rails and a lot of the furniture that's been donated by our seniors over the last couple years that we had stored down there, the hutches and the dresses and
the, you know, the nice little um nookie kind of stuff. Put that where the lockers are. There's no good reason to have the lockers. Somebody has suggested, well, maybe folks that are coming to yoga might want to use it. But the reality is that in every room we put coat hooks and, you know, benches. Uh,
people aren't going to want to leave their pocketbooks in the hallway or that kind of stuff. I just don't think the lockers are I mean, they're not going to be carrying books to and fro and getting love letters from their classmates that they want to have a vanity mirror or something.
>> Find some in there. >> Um, yeah, that's that's what I was. We found a whole locker full of books. I'm like, "Oh, that kid did well." Um, but yeah, I So, we're torn, but thankfully we're not we're not at the point where we have to make a decision, a final
decision on those. Um, and we'll look at that. We might keep one small bank there and just see what happens. Uh, whether or not people use them for a short term, but yeah, that's probably not very likely. I mean, I have very strong feelings about them. I think it makes it
look like a very much like a school, right? We're trying to >> reduce the degree to which it looks like a school. >> Bless the world. Actually, they did a really nice job painting the outside. They primed the whole building, right? The building's been primed with like that gray primer.
>> Really covers up a lot of the old, you know, stains and things. The lockers on the outside actually look really good. On the inside, not so much. >> Right. They didn't paint the inside. They have stickers and whatever else. >> Stickers and they're a little dingy and
maybe there's an old shoe in there or something. >> So So they can't be I'm just thinking out loud. Um they can't be repurposed or put to another type of use. I'm >> sure they could. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. They absolutely could. You know, if there's
another institution in the world that wants lockers, I think that the city would be eager to explore that opportunity and let them take the lockers to use them. They're not going to be put in a new school. And one of the things I learned in this whole process, which was kind of interesting,
is that when you build a new school, you make uh a promise to not use the old furniture. you promised to equip and outfit that new school with new furniture, new desks, which makes sense because some of the stuff at Waterford Street is at, you know, it's 50 years
old. Um, and it probably is good that they didn't take that, you know, to the new school. It's it's showing its age. Some of it was actually in, you know, interesting condition. I don't know that I would be excited to move my kid into a new school with old
furniture. So, I like the idea on the Massachusetts Building um commission's requirement that you buy all new stuff for that school. And so, that's why a lot of the, you know, people like, "Whoa, all these these tables are good." The tables are 50y old technology.
They're old, you know, it's old design, old colors. They're, you know, getting a little rusted on the bottom, 12 to 20 pounds of gum underneath them. like honest to mature um you know somebody
might want to take them home and refinish them and use them for something you know cool for their grandma or something but otherwise me they're really me there's nothing really exciting about that stuff um so the same thing with the lockers and that's it's
my opinion you know maybe I'm speaking out of turn that's just you know my um my opinion I think that the city leaders are in agreement when we get there that we're going to take the vast majority of those lockers out. We just need a place to put them. >> We'll have to declare them surplus, salvage them for folks that want to
reuse them, try to keep them in good shape, and then ultimately, you know, bring them to the metal and get three cents a ton of fun. >> I'm wondering the preschool that just burnt on West Broadway,
>> they're looking for a building and I wonder if they could use the lock isn't in the building. Yeah. Yeah. The answer is maybe. I I I'll tell you what I remember about the process. Early on when the school the new school was built, the school
department surplus their property. So, schools from all over the Commonwealth came in for well, first of all, city departments went in. They offered first to your local community. City departments went in. Then schools and state agencies went in and handpicked. And then nonprofits were allowed to go
in. So folks like um I you know I'm guessing that Ascension Parish Holy Family School went in and some of the preschools went in and kind of cherrypicked the stuff. So whatever was left was probably not wanting. I think they did a yard sale once and sold
chairs for like we'll give you a dollar each to take them. No, it was pretty. But they were pretty inexpensive. Um, I think what's left there is probably going to the land of un unwanted toys. >> Um, yeah. I don't know that it's junk,
but it's it's old t. It's really not useful anymore. So, well, it's not useful for schools, public schools. It could be used for something else. >> Maybe we can get the metal from all that. Like, you said going to scrapard because the city make a lot of money
this past year donating it to the ZAC. So, I just get the money. >> Yeah, that that metal though was probably a lot more than the lockers that are there. I mean to get to get any kind of serious bank for a lot a lot a
lot of metal. And it's also based on weight. So it's the type of metal and the weight of metal um that gives you the the financial benefit. I don't think those lockers are going to eat either one of them. They're not heavy and
they're, you know, kind of a genuine me kind of stuff all the time. It'll it'll fetch us a couple bucks, but nothing nothing to retire on. >> All right, any other questions? >> All right, next thing on our list is new
business and Michael will give us a business report. Um let's start with facilities because that's really been a huge um issue for us in management. First of all, I want to just say thank you to the our
contractor who's hired by city DPW, New Drain Solutions. They do an awesome job on our lot. They really do. They're very attentive. They're responsive. Um, you know, I've caught the plow driver here a couple times and asked for some little extra work that they do without batting
and I um and then the city comes in and kind of does the additional cleanup and sands it. I was really proud after the the big storm we just had of the condition of our lot. And in fact, if you really look at the lot, we only lost
two spaces in that whole lot. and we had 20 ines of snow across that entire uh footprint that to have that kind of loss is actually really pretty good. That wouldn't have been possible. We made a call to DPW asking to bring a front end loader a week and a half, two weeks
before this storm. So, it wasn't in anticipation of or preparation for this storm, but we saw it was already starting to encroach. And I said, you know, just in case. And I thought, and and the conversation was, when you have a chance, if you can, if you can, I understand. 30 minutes later, the front
end loader was here and they pushed all the snow back and thank God they did because a week later we had, you know, 20 ines of snow. So, I'm really so appreciative of not only the people, but the philosophy. Um, I say it all the
time. We're very lucky in this city to have colleagues and associates that really want to help and rise to the occasion every time. And you never have you never ever hear the answer no. They may say, "Well, I may not be able to do it that way, but we'll figure out a
solution." And they get into the arena with you and fight the fight. And I'm I'm just so unbelievably grateful as a director to have that kind of support. That being said, we are maxed out on space now. Um, if you didn't read the reports, the DPW was on the streets for
42 hours. Um, they're still doing a lot of cleanup downtown and getting them back here in the very short term, I think, would be um I think I think would be probably not as respectful as I can be. So, I haven't
asked, but we're going to need to take some of this snow out of here if another storm comes. I mean, it's going to have to be trucked out. There's no place to put it anymore. Um, and I'm hoping we don't get to that point. Um, in addition to the snow, we're having some ice problems. We've had some really
significant ice problems. I think this is a second time. The first time it happened in the last 6 years. We had an ice dam on the roof. It resolved itself very quickly because we had some warm days and it thought out and we really didn't have a problem. We haven't had any warm days in four weeks. Um, the ice
dam is significant. the the ice that was coming down the gutters was I I can't even begin to describe it. It was so thick and plentiful. So, the um facilities folks here, our volunteers and staff have been out there chipping
away at the ice um along the gutter system, but we have to get on the roof and get it out of the gutters. Um we're spreading some salt to try to melt it, but without some uh warm days, we're really going to be in a pickle. My fear is that that's going to start building
up and cause some damage to the roof andor to the wall. So, we're watching that. We're doing what we can. Um trying to melt with salt and get that out, but it's significant. And the ice itself, I mean, we're pretty much we we've gone through a lot of ice melt this year. Uh
by far more than we've ever have. It takes us just about a bag per storm at moderate uh spreading. So at that that's a lot. Um but you know even this morning we had a spread because what had melted
yesterday froze over and we just can't risk it. The back deck was very slippery and that back deck is the emergency egress for the the um CAC come down the fire escape on that deck. It was it was terribly icy and dangerous. So we
treated that with ice melt and sand. having the sand um kind of suck up some of the water so it wouldn't refreeze and it's gritty. So now it's a lot um a lot safer. We are not though uh without accidents and so you know just moving
that much snow is really putting a strain on our staff because we do it by hand trucks. We using snow blowers and ice picks and shovels. Um and you know it's it's been a lot of work and quite honestly we've had some slips and falls.
um that are causing some issues. Similarly, uh we have an issue with our main stem in our boiler room. So, the main stem feed six circulating pumps for all the heat in the building. That main stem was surrounded in a thick
insulation. As a result, when moisture got in, it stayed in and those that stem is is rusted beyond uh repair. There's no We are literally skimping along. um and praying that we don't have a significant
problem. We have two circulating pumps that are leaking. Uh one significantly we had to shut it off. We're supplementing that heat with other systems. So, we've been able to maintain temperature. Um, and you know, I admit it hasn't always been the most
comfortable for our participants in programs in the sense that it's really hot as opposed to cold, but the heat, if we don't crank, it doesn't uh circulate to all the different areas in the building and it becomes problematic. You
can't have staff working in um in a super cool environment or cold environment, but the warmth um they're just wearing their bathing suits, so we should be fine. Um no, no, it gets it gets seriously hot in some of these rooms. I'm really not um being funny
about it. But in other ones, if we didn't crank it there, we'd be breaking pipes and freezing pipes. Royal Steam is expected to be in here this week. I anticipate that bill is going to be is going to be substantial. Um, and so we're expecting, you can see in the
finances that there's a anticipated about $5,000 is what we're budgeting. I'm hoping it's going to be closer to the 3500 4,000, but our projections, Terry and I were just working on it. Now, we look to have about another
$13,000 of expenses with $7,000 left in the budget, which is why it's red line. So, I anticipate us having to go back to the city council and asking for a supplemental budget on repairs and maintenance for sure. Um, and I'm going to speak to those things in a minute.
Um, you know, our overtime is not snowreated. It generally is not snowreated. We have been managing our overtime real well, but we open three days a week. We're open at night three days a week. Um, and generally that's
absorbed by non-overtime staff and we're able to adjust sometimes adjust schedules, but all 100% of our overtime that 434 that's bringing us closer to 500 is 100% coverage for evening programs since July. Now, you do the
math. That's not a lot of other people that are doing evening coverage. We're not paying a lot out of overtime for that coverage. we're able to to do some um reconfiguring of hours in time and uh having the exempt staff cover that time,
but that's not, you know, going to be doable for the rest of the year. So, we'll either have to look at cutting back our evening programs or increasing the overtime budget. And I'm hopeful you're going to increase the overtime budget. For the first time, I've had a tap into the on call standby account for
really on call standby expenses. And normally I can transfer that on on call standby appropriations by overtime appropriation. It gives me a little bit more money in overtime, but I'm eating into that all on call standby money as well. So a little nervous going in this
year. We've done really well in the last 5 years keeping to budget and not being over except some extraordinary expenses like for example when we had to do the sewer pipe in the kitchen. Um but that didn't come out of our budget. that came out of our special appropriations and we
had the money for that under capital expenses. So, that was um a saving grace. A few things just to note also about the finances. I want to let you know the gift fund. We actually got it in a donation of $1,000, but last month we got a donation through
a credit card and I I submitted a turnover for the entire amount of that credit card deposit. I was supposed to subtract $5 from that for that covered the uh handling fee. So that's in this month. So that's that nine. It's the,000
- 5 is a9.95. So it's actually $1,000 uh donation. Um we are we are approaching um again we try to do some projections. Um we have a $60,000 cap.
I lied. I don't remember $80,000 cap on revolving funds. So we have an $80,000 cap on expenses. We're at 44,000 plus the 18 of POS, which brings us to the $62,000
mark halfway through the year. So if we've already spent 44,000, we can anticipate certainly spending another 44,000. Um even 35,000 will be too much. 30,000 is going to be too much. So, I think we're going to be very close to the
expense limit on the revolving fund and we'll have to go in and ask the city council to ex extend the cap uh raise the cap on that as well. Um, social media. So, I don't know, we we got for the first time some negative
comments on social media. They really weren't justified. Um, I think there was some confusion as to the nature of what folks thought was happening and what was actually happening, which I thought we addressed um, pretty well. So, I would
say it's really a non-issue from our perspective. I don't I I I love having comments because I think it affords people the opportunity to weigh in and give us some positive and negative feedback. I think negative feedback really pushes us to do better. And you
know I'm not really afraid of negative feedback and in fact from negative feedback we have enhanced programs done more I think then a little bit more responsive um but we may have to modify our social media um policy and practice
to conform with the city's uh policy which quite honestly we haven't done um and uh I'll be working with Lauren to get that back in line. We have a just a ton of programs coming up. Our St. Patrick's Day event is maxed out. Um we
maxed out on our uh tax aid within a week. Um you know, every program we're doing, we're seeing higher participation. We've exceeded every past year's participation in just about every
program. Um so in that regard, I think that that's a reflection that things are going well. But I also want to make sure you know and understand we can't be complacent in that and that we should always be looking to that quality improvement continuous quality improvement model of how can we do
better be better um and get more people engaged. That being said I don't know that there's a whole lot more. So we'll give a lot of time for Q&A um if anybody has any particular thoughts or comments they want to direct towards me and I guess
part of open discussion. Well, let's do let's do director specific stuff. Then we'll do open discussion. Any thoughts, comments? Anybody have anything on their mind? >> Wow, that's pretty good.
>> But waiting to get to the place. >> Microphone. >> Yeah. >> So, we're going to go open discussion if there's no questions. >> Can we talk about water, right? >> Yeah. I mean, I can answer some questions, but not all. I know that you were there recently. >> Y
>> and obviously they said a little bit. Um is there any chance that we can get to see what the hell's going on? >> Yeah, I think there's a very good chance we can get in now and see what's going on. I think most of the the uh substantive construction work is done. There's still a lot of work to be done. You know, I'm not I'm not pretending
that we're we're ready. We're um project ready to move in. We're still waiting on it. There was a back order, for example, the doors. The doors will be replaced. Um, so there's still some work to be done. I've had the conversation with city leaders asking whether or not it's
appropriate. I've been given the nod with a little bit of of temperament like we're we're ready, almost ready. Let's just get this stuff done before we start um kind of bringing people in, but we're pretty close to getting ready. Yeah. I
feel, you know, very confident in um the work that's being done there. Again, as you know, I've been down there recently. We're down with some volunteers. Um, I think you know what's what's progressing is good. The city is being
very very cautious in proceeding to make sure that all of our eyes are dotted and tees are crossed and we've made sure that, you know, all reasonable concerns are addressed before kind of going gung home. I think a
pretty good pretty good policy. >> And who's who's choosing me? >> I am 100%. We're going to go with a mauve, >> cherry red in one room. >> Um, nope. So, the color scheme we'll
we'll select based on uh age friendly recommendations and then and go to that. So, like if you look at this room, I really like this color scheme. It's neutral, but it also has a little bit of pop. We'll do an accent wall in all the rooms, um, which would just be a
secondary color as long as well as a trim color. So, we'll have probably three colors in every room. Um, the interesting thing is going to be like the cabinets that are painted, you know, what's that going to look like? We're going to trim color it. Um, I think so. I think you paint the colors one, the
walls one color and the cabinets that that trim accent color. Um, no crazy colors, no sky blues or although I do like Caribbean green. I think Caribbean green with a nice white accent will give
us all on the very very hot room. Give us that feeling where we're in the traffic. >> Couple of fake palm trees, >> some fake palm trees, couple carrots. >> Yeah. >> Is I know that when we look at plans, this still going to be a craft room, right? So, the answer to that is our plan is
we're going to have >> that out of selfish need. >> Yes. I I think we're going to do every other room we suggested but the craft room >> just cuz you're here. No. Um, >> so there are there are eight rooms officially kind of put aside. We'll have
a craft room that'll be generally used for craft, right? So, it's not going to be exclusively crafts. more the game room that'll be generally used for games but not exclusively for games. The pool room which will be for pool. There's no other thing we can put in. >> So you the theory could offer like two
craft classes at the same time. >> Absolutely. >> If the room is open. >> If the room is open and you know we're still the one thing about walkrough is we'll have more parking but we won't have infinite parking. So, we're still going to have to temper our expansion and recognize that our our neighbors in
the building will also have some parking needs. And my feeling is they're going to want to expand their services and expand their services. That's going to mean, you know, more pressures on parking. Um, that's a conversation for us all to have and start looking at what
that legitimately looks like in the course of a week. But um yeah, I imagine that that's one of the things we talked about very early on about moving is we'd finally be able to have a location that we could have, you know, have two
programs going on at the same time, big programs going on at the same time. We can't do that here. We can have one big program and a small one. Um keeping in mind the CAC is growing by leaps and bounds. Their utilization is way up. Um their utilization is way up. It's crazy.
um they've expanded ours to try to to manage it. I imagine that model will continue as we get down into the new location. Um you know, Growing Places is growing just by and that's why they're called Growing Places in in this new location. They have new opportunities
and these new opportunities are presenting themselves from discussions I think you know in good way explorations of their growth. Um, I imagine the archives being Waterford Street will provide access to more people using those services. And while I don't see
lines of people going into the archives, I imagine there'll be more traffic going in there. And then we don't know what the utilization is going to be on that elementary side, elementary side. Um, we don't know. So that's going to generate whatever it is, it's going to generate
at least some additional traffic needs. and um and parking. >> We'll have back door in the elementary side is if people have to park by playground,
you know, swampy area, can they come through that back door? >> I don't know. I don't know the answer to that. You know what I'm saying? Originally that was we had looked at three entrances at on the elementary side for the senior center and one of those primary entrances being the door
you were talking about by the boiler room. Um and it provided us some easy access places like the gym so we could we could maintain and monitor some oversight as to who came and doing check-ins and that kind of stuff. I
think the junior high side gives us some opportunities we wouldn't have had on the elementary side, but it's also going to cause some um, you know, real hard deliberations on how we manage, you know, folks for the large programs. We
don't have the big room that we would I I take that back. We do have a big room. We'll be using the cafeteria, auditorium, and the gymnasium, but the distance is a little bit farther. It's an extra, you know, 14 steps. But logistically, we're going to have to I'm
being funny. We're going to have to have some kind of system that really affords us the opportunity to monitor, you know, how do we monitor what's going on in the room? If somebody has a medical situation, we're very close now. Somebody yells at the bottom of the stairs, we can hear. Somebody yells at the top of the stairs, we can hear.
Somebody yells in this one, we can hear. Like, we're in close proximity. And that's one of the really, you know, good things. When I moved the chamber to our new location on 200 Main Street, we moved from an office situation of eight of us being in a construct of maybe a 40 square ft space. We were on top of each
other. So, we overheard telephone conversations. We knew exactly what was going going on all the time. And we moved to 200 Main Street and each of us had individual offices and a big office suite. How did we manage that? We built in some mechanisms to afford us the
opportunity to really be able to monitor, track and trace any kind of extreme things that were happening in the office. We'll have to do the same thing at Waterford, but I don't think we can do that until we're there. I just don't know what that's going to look like. Um, we have ideas, we have
thoughts, we'll implement what we think is the best solution and hope it works and then if it doesn't, we'll adapt like we, you know, generally do. adapt and overcome. I don't know what our timeline is. Um
I'm I'm hoping it's know spring, early summer. Um I think like every construction project in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and almost across the nation, we are being restricted because of availability of
equipment and furnishings and contract labor. there's a huge shortage and everything is backlogged. There's nothing that's coming in on time unless you're buying bolts and nuts from your local hardware store. There's just so many things either not available or on
back order. And so the big equipment stuff is what I'm talking about. Um, you know, the doors are just just another great example. Nobody's fault. They're just backboarded. When they get in, we'll install them. piece of cake.
>> Other thoughts, comments? >> Any update on the electrical? >> No, no, no. Again, beyond my pay grade, I don't know uh what the but but what I can tell you is that the city council
Oh gosh, everything's blurring. I'm going to guess last March or April uh voted in anticipation of a final determination of money available from the bond for the elementary school. They
made some decisions on how that money would be spent spent once it was uh once it was audited and released. And part of that vote was of 550,000 if I'm remembering correctly. uh earmark for electrical upgrades at
Waterford which specifically if I again if I remember right and I may be speaking I return was for the electric room not necessarily you know new lights or outlets or that kind of stuff >> they building
>> yeah I think you know the yeah I'm not electrician but you are um I think that was part of the plan I think part of the plan was to increase capacity the switch that's there is the original switch that was put in in 1955, 1958
hasn't been changed. Um, and the I think the power was upped a little bit at one point from the street, but it's still what they want to put in that question. >> I don't I you know, I don't know. I don't know the answer to that. I would
say knee-jerk reaction is probably not. Um, will it suffice in for a short term? Yeah, I think it would. it would allow us to kind of get in and then uh upgrade it, you know, later, but it certainly would be
more practical, I think, to do those kind of repairs first. Um cuz I imagine when you pull the switch out, it's going to mean the power's down. If the power's down, then things like, you know, lights and heat and computers and air
conditioners and refrigerators and freezers and stoves and other types of equipment being used in the kitchen are probably not going to work when there's no electric. But honestly, I think people here should know and people listening should know like that's just
it is a little bit beyond my pay grade. I don't I don't know the answer specifically. um speculating. >> Is there any talk about putting probably solar panels in the roof of the building? >> Yeah, there was a lot of talk about it. They talked about that a while ago actually and um I think that they'll
probably move forward with that uh once we're in the building. I do I do think so. I you know, one of the one of the challenges is we're and and it's also great opportunity. So, it's a double-edged sword is we're looking at a school that was built in 1958. And so
what what would that mean putting solar panels up? You know, do we have the structural capacity? I mean, the thing is built like a brick house. It's crazy how how thick the walls are and how um structurally sound this building is. The engineers made a note to me while while
they were looking at the roof that they said, "Oh, so when was the roof redone?" And when they looked at it, it was never redone. The roof is was in very good condition for a 60-y old roof, right? So, they were they were making comments about what good shape that building is
in considering its age. And somebody said to me, "Boy, you put you put a small amount of renovations in this building now, it'll last another 60 years. They don't make it like this anymore." And they really don't. I mean, it's a very, you know, very
>> sturdy building. Yeah. Yeah. Old construction style, not new. >> Um, you know, not using engineered eye beams and things like that. Um so that again gives me great confidence that this is the right decision. Um,
and what we asked. So, the roof solar panels, I don't know. I don't know what the load of a solar panel on a roof is, and I don't know that they're in the position to determine that yet. But I imagine that's a very good idea. And it would be really good for the tenants in
that building and the city to not have to absorb all of those energy costs um by going to in offsetting them with solar. >> That's a big footprint. 70,000 square feet. That's a big footprint.
Again, got the biggest solar array. >> I have a question about the visibility. >> I'm going to let you turn your mic on first. >> The visibility uh from the street is not that great for
the senior center. Uh is there some plan for some signage at the street to lead people where they need to go into any of these uh organizations? And is it possible to think about a walkway or a covered
walkway towards the senior center that might encourage people to come in? >> Um so let's answer the first question. We've talked a lot about signage. We actually have. um and not to the degree of having any specificity, but there's a
general acknowledgement that signage needs to be put up, including at the front of the entrance to the junior high school, which is specifically for the the um you know, Charles McKeen Wing Garden Senior Center. So, that's that's
been already floated. Um putting signage out in the courtyard, having directional signage in the parking lot. Oh, and by the way, the parking lot is also on the thing of things to do. The city engineer has taken some time and created a new
plan for parking, which includes moving the curb cut that exists now on Waterford Street over to allow for another lane of parking along the what I'm going to say is like the common in front. Um, I've also asked to maybe cut
into the common um, and put some additional parking in that green space right at the front of the building. And it may only result in 10 or 12 additional spaces, but 10 or 12 spaces would be really good to have. Um, somebody commented about, you know, right now that common space is being
used for the um, farmers market, but for those of you who've been to the farmers market, they've done extremely well. And I want to congratulate that group for just bringing together a huge production. Um, and I'm proud of it. I think that gardener really when faced
with those opportunities rises to the challenge. It's a it's a great farmers market. It has gotten so big that that front area is now no longer really appropriate in terms of size for the farmers market. So they said, "We got a whole field next to us." you know, is that at some point in time they'll look
at the possibility of, not look at moving, the possibility of and explore whether or not that field could be used to house a farmers market at some time in the future, which would then lend itself better to losing some of those parking spaces in the front. I mean,
some of that greenery in the front for parking spaces. So, great great question. The visibility continues to be a discussion and dialogue we're having like making sure that there's line of sight from Waterford Street to the front of the building. >> We need a big E on sign at top of the
building. >> I'm thinking a sitgo sign can be the new sitgo sign. It says garden senior center. >> Wouldn't that be cool? Yeah, that it's not allowed under zoning. So for those of you remember the >> the shell station sign they used to see
from route two that was grandfathered in. Um, for many years they wanted to get that down in the Dunkin Donuts sign. They want to get it down, but it was grandfathered. It wouldn't comply with today's zoning and gardener, but it was able to stay there. And then the new owner was able to just change the facade
without changing the structure. Um, signage signage is a problem. I would love an electronic uh letterboard sign, but electronic letterboard signs are specifically prohibited by ordinance. And you may say, "Hey, wait a minute, Mike, that's not true. this one at Mount Community College and you are right
>> the mama community college is in Santorm City ordinances facility so they were able to get me there but we can't get it we were trying to do one in front of the chamber that's how I know this um so maybe that's one of the things we asked the the U city council to do at some
point in time is review that ordinance and see whether or not it's appropriate at this time for the city of Garner to allow it because if they allow it for us it would have to allow it for other people, but they can make that restrictive that it has to have a certain amount of visibility and line of
sight and not impede traffic. Like there are restrictions they can put on it. Not so much to just make that the only location, but to make it safe for any location that somebody might, you know, propose. Um, that's not on the cards. It's not on the table. We haven't asked
for that. Um, I think at some point in time I would love to ask for that and we may get shot down which wouldn't be the worst thing in the world. Um, there there are more important fish bigger fish to fry and more important things to consider.
>> Is there any chance of us losing more parking space? Yeah, losing it, not using because they already added another canopy of some kind of the building and uh it's kind of blocking the view senior center like you were mentioning. I can't see it on the street that low. >> The canopy, I don't know anything about
the canopy. I don't know. I don't know. So, I can't comment on it. I do understand at least in very basic non-committal conversations that that's not a permanent structure.
Um, and I don't I don't know if it's there forever or if it's there for a short period of time. I just don't know enough about it. But if it stays there, it changes dramatically a few things. It changes line of sight to the building. It changes our traffic pattern. Uh and
it it absolutely throws on its head the proposal by the city engineer, the parking lot design. It's going to eliminate all the parking along that side because trucks have to make the loop and come up along the side to get in there. And second, it would eliminate the loop in front of the senior center.
So, um, I have a feeling that that and and I got to tell you, I'm glad it's not me. I have a feeling that that's being discussed at levels way way above my pay grade. I'm certain that they're looking at the impact if that's a permanent structure on
I I'm certain of that because I I've heard very specifically the concern that city leaders have for our building in general, not that particular subject. So, I know it's on the radar. I'm certain of that, but I don't know what the resolution is. I can't answer
>> because the reason I'm mentioning is because now you're also looking at having the buses go through that area. >> Well, that's what I was saying. It's going to change the drop off. Um, if you lose a lot of parking space out closer to the building, people already park on the street. Larger building people are not going to want to walk. >> Yeah. >> A long distance along the street on the
sidewalk and this and that to get into the building. Oh, that's that's definitely um something that the folks we talked to, you know, councelor Tyrros two years ago when he was the council lady on councelor Heglin um I'm certain
that's a concern they all have and the mayor specifically, but I I don't know what that looks like. I I don't know until I know. So that's a discussion that is happening among those folks and that's where it
should be happening >> ongoingly they say on ongoing yeah I mean this is a work in progress right so uh things are are changing as the needs of the organizations are better identified um and I imagine once we get
in there things will change too right u as we see you know needs or have concerns, those conditions will change to adapt to that. That's just a, you know, part of the
part of the course. So, I'm not I mean I mean I worried about it. I worry about it. I'm not concerned about I'm not losing sleep over it yet. So, that's a good thing, you know, and I think being conservative is my job to be concerned to say, "Okay, we're going in here. does
make sure that this space is good for the senior center but also works for our partners, right? So, it doesn't do any good for any agency to be in there and all of a sudden be restricted in what they can and can't do. Um, as long as it doesn't impact the others in that
building, I think we should do that, right? Let's talk about something other than what else you got for me. Um, let me let me throw out just a a couple things from a volunteer perspective. Every day I'm amazed. I mentioned the facilities back
doing the ice. Um, I'm going to give a huge amount of accolades and recognition to Scott Palmary. The guy, honestly, if you didn't know any better, you would say he's a paid member of the staff. He's here very early in the morning. I get here early. He he comes in, you
know, literally minutes after me. Um, we we did a newsletter blurb on him this one and uh it's our new senior center trading card. So, what I would ask the board to do is think about that as I tell you the story of Scott. We put him in and one of the comments we put on his
trading card is he lost sleep once while he was on vacation cuz he didn't get to the floors. Now, most people think that's a pretty funny comment, but the reality is he lost sleep while he was on vacation because he couldn't get to the floors. Um, and I think that's cool. I think that our the fact that our seniors
have really adopted um the center whether it's facilities or programs or services or in whatever way they do it and really adopted this place in a much different way and that is so cool. And this morning if you could see
him Burman out there chopping ice was cold and that ice is thick. with a 4 in device now blocking an emergency exit because of that snow dam right the water's just fallen it it's not being um you know brought navigated to a different place so it's collecting in
front of our doors and they were out you know managing it uh Doug Monroe from DBW lines and signs he doesn't just respond I get I get emails from him saying Mike what what what posters can I do for you this month oh Valentine's Day is coming up what buttons do you need being
proactive um asking us how he can help and the list goes on. And right around this board, so many of you do so much for us that I cannot begin to express my appreciation because you make come to work fun. Um you make come to work worth
it each and every one of you. My thank you for that. I was going to say times you come in and people will notice that we come in and say, "Oh my god, the floors look wonderful." You can tell it's polished the wood floor as well as the inlay tiles on the side. It's absolutely Reliable.
Keeps up even with all the winter storms until the >> salt and comes in. That's really hard to do. >> Any other thoughts or comments? All right. Finish. >> All right. Our next scheduled meeting will be on March the second at 2
o'clock. And I'm going to have a motion to adjurnn. I'll make a >> motion. Second. Okay. All in favor? >> Any oppose? All right. Thank you very much everyone. See you next time.