to order for Friday, February 6, 2026. Uh, if the assistant clerk could please call the role. >> Councelor Brooks, >> present. >> Councelor Forman, >> present. >> Council, >> present. >> Uh, is there anyone recording this meeting?
Not. We will wave the reading of the announcement of open meeting recordings. Uh, first item on the agenda is reading of minutes of prior meetings for October 16th, 2025 and November 18th, 2025. a motion. >> I'll make a motion to accept them as as
presented. >> Second motion by councelor Harden, second by councelor Brooks to wave the reading of the minutes and accept them as presented. All in favor? I >> I opposed. Gary's [clears throat] uh next on our agenda is departmental
updates. We will start with the library. Good morning. Thank you for having me. >> Thank you. >> I've got a written update for you as well as the latest schedules of library programming. >> I don't think I've ever met. >> Marita Clemens. >> Nice to meet you.
>> Nice to meet you, too. And we've met >> we've met a few times and I >> Yes, I am. I am a trustee of the library. >> Oh, >> so just by way of disclosure. Yes. >> Yes. So nothing on this will be
particularly new information to councelor Brooks. Um thank you all for having me today. My name is Marita Clemens. I've been the director of the library for a little over a year and I've uh brought some updates for you of what we've got going on. Uh to start
with, as you may know, the library is subject to um state certification requirements. In order for the city of Gardner to remain certified, the library has to meet current requirements regarding uh primarily our budget and
hours open. At this point for fiscal year 26, we are well on track to fulfilling them all. This will be the first time since 2009 that we will meet the open hours requirement in full. very excited about it and I'd like to thank the city council for their support on
that. Um, we are also intending to meet the 15% of the budget uh being spent on books, periodicals, and other circulating collections for the public. Um, and we intend to ask for similar numbers in the upcoming budget. Uh, we
also intend to remain open on Saturdays throughout the summer of 2026. This will be the first time in a very long while we've been able to do that. Um, in December I applied for three grants to support the library. The first is the
connected and online grant through the Massachusetts broadband initiative. Um, if uh granted and finalized, we'll be receiving 30 computers, including desktops, laptops, tablets, accessories, uh some of which are specifically to
help for access for the disabled. Um those are to be used by library patrons for education, healthc care and workforce development. And we are intending to tailor some of our programs for all age
groups to uh use those computers and uh cater to those particular areas. Um, I also put in a request to the Beamman Foundation, which is a local nonprofit, for $3,000 for children's readalong
audio books in uh their essentially picture books with a digital audio book built in so that kids can have the book read to them. Uh, I've been informally notified that we'll be receiving that and we're very excited about the impact it'll have not just on our children's
collection, but on our growing multilingual collection. Um, we've also put in a request to Fidelity Bank Community Giving for $12,000 to fund new furniture for the children's room. Um, I'm very hopeful about that. It's uh
certainly a need that is pressing. Uh, we'll have received a total of $4,000 in grant funding for large print and audio books over the course of fiscal year 26 from the Nolton Foundation for the Elderly. We've received $500 for children's programming
from the Ryan Patrick Jones Heart of a Hero Foundation and we've applied for five grants from the Gardener Cultural Council and supported four programmers who have applied for grants to perform at the library. Um I do intend to continue applying for grants throughout the year
to support the library, especially our programming and capital expenses. Um the building is now 21 years old and while it is in good repair, many of its systems are aging. Um for example, the
furnishings, as I mentioned, the children's room furnishings are, as you can imagine, subject to heavy use. Um the building is privately owned by the Levi Haywood Memorial Library Association, and the association takes responsibility for most capital
expenses. The city covers most operating expenses. Um, while the building is currently repair and keeping an eye on all existing services to see what will need repair or replacement in coming years, uh, we've recently had an energy assessment and
we're waiting on the results. Um, we're I will then be looking to facilitate an upgrade and retrofitting of the lights and uh, whatever other services are advised to try to cut the energy bills for this facility.
Uh I am also looking to explore alternative technologies such as uh solar panels or heating pumps that may be able to help us become more environmentally and financially sustainable in the future. Uh I would like to update you as well on
the library's current programming. Due to the hard work of the staff, our programming numbers are continuing to trend upwards for several years in a row now. In particular, I'd like to draw attention to our young adult programs. I put some numbers on the chart here
before you, which I am not going to read for the microphone. Um, however, we hired our first dedicated young adult staff member in October and uh in their first month working for the library uh
November, which is historically kind of a low EB in library programming, we had 53 patrons in attendance. um which is more than we've had in some years. Uh so we're very excited about that. In the upcoming budget cycle, I
will be asking for uh the young adult librarians hours to be um increased. They currently work 18 hours a week. I think increasing them for to 25 hours a week would allow them to dedicate more time to planning, collection,
development, and other administrative needs that are necessary in order to uh keep what's essentially a pilot program running in good order and continuing to serve that portion of the population. Uh we're also looking to upgrade the
library's website. Um which I it's well over 10 years old at this point and it is held together through the dedicated hard work of one person. Um when they're on vacation, the website cannot be
updated and uh I'd like to get a more modern [snorts] flexible system going. Um, some recent highlights at the library that I would like to let you all know about. Uh, we do now have a teen
advisory board that is meeting monthly to let us know from the young adult perspective what they'd like to see going on in the library. Um, all of Gardener's third grade students will be visiting the library next week. It'll be their second of three visits to the
library this year. Um, we have begun purchasing Spanish and Portuguese materials for the library circulating collection. Uh, you're not seeing too many of them on the shelf right now because we're still getting our cataloging system up and running, but I'll be having kind of a grand
opening of that section when it is more up to-date. Uh, we've had a fearless writing workshop which has been very popular lately. It started as a four-week program and uh has continued on a monthly basis.
Um upcoming on February 25th at 6 p.m. we'll be hosting a roundt program called Peacecore Through the Ages. Uh it'll be arranged by local Peacecore veteran Arthur Young and facilitated by Mark Girin who is the 14th director of the Peace Corps and we'll have uh many
veterans of the Peace Corps who served at different times speaking to their experience. Uh, and this year's summer reading kickoff, our third annual kickoff block party will be Wednesday, June 24th. I would like to uh invite you all and
everybody from the city of Gardener and the surrounding area to join us. This year's theme will be plant a seed read. Um, we've already began our summer program planning and we'll soon be looking for sponsors to donate uh books and give away prizes and support
gardeners readers. Thank you. If you have any questions, thank you very much. >> All right. Nice to meet you. >> You too. Thank you for having me. I did include in that packet for you the programming schedules for the adult children and teen programs that are
upcoming. Do >> you have any question? Um yeah, I did I did learn yesterday about the program on February 25th on the Peace Corp. >> Yes. >> And u being a year ahead Garter High School of Mark Aaron. Uh I know him,
Arthur. Is that I think it could be a very interesting program. >> Is it being recorded at all? And you know, I I kind of bring it up with with somebody else in the room that might have some capability only because I think it it's it's a connection that
Gardner has with the Peace Corps or with the national thing. It would be an interesting it could be a very interesting discussion. >> That is a uh great idea. I should perhaps speak to our community access television about that. >> Thank you.
>> We get that [clears throat] done. >> Sorry. >> All right. >> Thank you so much. All right, next agenda is cable commission. Good morning, counselors. >> In your I I sent T an email uh with the
report in the packet. Um uh I don't know if you have it with you or not. I'm sorry I did not make copies. Um we've continued to do all of our regular recorded shows that we do meetings. Um city council, school committee are broadcast live, zoning board, planning
board are recorded and then rebroadcasted the next day. Um we have completed the uh fall lecture series um for the museum. We do all that and broadcast them and then get them copies so that
they can hold them for historical facts. Um, we're currently preparing for the spring season. They always start with the uh the step dancers, so I'm assuming we'll be hearing for them before St. Patrick's Day for for their first one. Um, we've continued our regular monthly
shows that we shoot. Uh, the Gardener Educ uh with Garden Education Television, we do uh senior moments. We do uh GCAT chat in coordination with uh the prevention coordinator, um Veronica Patty here at city hall. Um we continue to shoot things at the senior center for
events. so some seniors who can't make some of the events can still see what's going on at the senior center. Um we continue to record all the city announcements and produce a monthly mayor's update um that uh the mayor wants to do. I think we're going to be
going to bimonthly with that again. Um we recorded this year's inauguration and uh produced the memorial lights video um and the carolling with the mayor video um as long as numerous other ones. We've continued to produce gardener high
school sports. Um we currently cover um ghs home games of the varsity teams depending on who's home and also with availability of our staff to be able to get there. Shane's done a great job with all of that. Um, and we're looking forward to do producing varsity, uh,
softball and baseball depending on scheduling and availability. We've also recorded and rebroadcast the fall high school and winter concerts um, to get it out to people. Uh, we talk about equipment. Equipment has been running pretty well. Um, we've been
taking good care of it. We try not to, uh, you know, make sure that if something's starting to happen, we don't jump on it right away to get it fixed. Um unfortunately we had in the past budget I'll go back on this because I know that the three you know you guys are new to this committee um that the c
we were looking to get two camera a camera for the sports that was a better quality camera higherend camera and unfortunately the [clears throat] cameras that we had speced out have been discontinued so I spent a few weeks trying to find those cameras still to see if anybody had them or start bringing cameras in to evaluate. Um, we
were lucky enough to find a distributor that still had cameras in stock. JVC camera company has basically closed their video um, corporation. Um, so those will no longer be available, but we were able to find some um, actually
at a reduced rate. So I was able to purchase two cameras um, of the higher quality for the sports. They just handle sports better. We actually use them both at the um they also handle further distances and light darker light better. So we used them at the inauguration uh
for those videos. Um we were able to get those. Uh we're still working on researching the closed caption system. There's one that works right with the system that we already have that's like built into it. And then there's another one I just got a quote for yesterday. I know that we're in a the you know we're
in a spending freeze right now, but it was in the budget. So, I want to try to get it through because I'd like to add the closed caption. We have two options. We can go with closed caption just for English or we can have another one we can add on for an extended amount of cost. Add on Spanish um closed
captioning as well. Unfortunately, the closed cap with the cost of this, the closed captioning system would get located at Gardener High School in the studio, which would mean that the city council meetings when they go live would not have it. The closed captioning on it, but every rebroadcast thereafter
would have it. Um, as the closed captioning is done on the, you know, YouTube channel already by the YouTube equipment. Um, so the I had spoken before about the switcher in the back. Um, unfortunately
the switcher in the back runs on what? On Windows 10. Uh, Windows 10 is no longer um, >> no more safety protocols are being released for Windows 10. I've spoken to Bob Berllo. I not Bob Burlo. Oh my god.
I'm sorry. That's a mult person at the school. Bob O'Keeffe. Um, and we would we're looking into how to either get it off the network um, or to upgrade it to Windows 11. Unfortunately, getting it off the network means that we would no longer be able to stream city council
meetings. Um, we're looking into other options to be able to stream off of a different platform, a separate device, so that we would not have to use it. Um, it is the easiest way for us to stream using those. Um,
but I tried to see if we could get it if it could just be upgraded. Our vendor who sold it to us thought there was an option. We might be able to get it upgraded. Unfortunately, when I sent the serial numbers, um neither the one here or at the high school were able to be upgraded.
So, she is trying to talk to the company to see if they will give us a tradein. The company that originally produced made them has now been sold to another company. So, there's some stuff like that if they would give us any trade-in value towards them. Um, so I may be I'm
am trying I'm probably putting one into the budget uh for this upcoming year um to replace the one here at city hall. The one at the high school is offline so it's not an issue there um to be able to bring it up to Windows 10. And I'm also looking for a lower cost option to be
able to send from there to a streaming platform. Um, for that the cost of replacing it is anywhere between 10 11,000 to 15,000 depending on which vendor um and what specs are actually in
it for what we need. So, I'm hoping that uh I'll be able to find a cheaper option than that and uh keep the budget down. Um, I'm in the process of finishing up the FY27 budget. Um, as always, my staff is my first priority
in any budget, taking care of my staff. I can have the fanciest equipment in the world, and it doesn't work without a person pushing the buttons or putting it in the right direction. Uh, nor does it take the people I have, Shane and Andy, our are um a wonderful team that we have
going right now. They Shane works very well with with Veronica and and um, senior center director, Mike Ellis. We do a lot of stuff with the senior center. Um Shane's actually we've set up a time to go down and show Mike how to
use some cameras and some of the seniors to use some cameras. Um so that they might be able to record some of their own events that we're not able to get to. Um pretty soon we'll be preparing for the ghs and the the golf graduations
and of course our our favorite time, the 24 hours of the Relay for Life. um the spring museum spring museum lecture series and the summer concerts in the park. Um the one thing I did forget to put in here and it was not on purpose. It was just that I kind of was writing this out
quick because I found out Tuesday we were having a meeting. Um, I have been talk I have was in conversations with President um Tyros and um councelor Kazinskis because there had been some problems at the end of last year um with the stream cutting out of the city
council meeting um midway. Andy and I must have 25 to 30 hours of being in here when the council is not running stream tests to the point where we stream for 30 for six hours one day on
and off running it like it was a real council meeting with that and um we couldn't create the problem. Um I did speak to Mr. Rokeef um to see like if there was a backup that started running at a certain
time at night. Um and it may very well be that that was what it was is that the you know the the system runs backups periodically throughout the day for the city council network but then at a certain time it uploads it to a cloud and that may very well could take up
[clears throat] bandwidth. So, I have asked and requested that he push the backup time um till like the 10:00 time to go to the cloud. It came back up in here. We didn't have any problem when we were doing it all day in here. So, um and he has agreed to work and see if that's
what it was. So, just so you know. Okay. >> And I have updated the president and councelor Kazinski on that as we've gone through it. So, >> appreciate that. >> Questions. >> Live streaming. You live stream from city council chambers? >> Yes. >> Where else do you live stream from?
>> City council chambers and the studio. We could we could stream from the studio. Yep. >> So everything So if you if if you're uh broadcasting from the relay for life, how are you doing that? >> So Comcast comes in >> y
>> and sets up a drop for us. >> So you it's a onetime setup. >> It's a onetime setup. It's not a permanent setup. No. Okay. All right. Thank you. questions. >> And if we were to set up other drop, I'll just continue with that. If we were to set up other drops, say we wanted to
put a drop at Monument Park, um not only would it be getting the equipment from Comcast permanently installed in there, which would be a budget item. It's not they don't just do it for free. >> Um it would also be then wiring.
And probably now the way that they're doing it now would be a direct fiber wire, which I've looked at running fiber from here to the high school um to eliminate some of the things. And it is, if anybody knows what fiber costs to run, it's up there in probably
$50,000 to run it from here to the high school. And I just can't >> I can't see where we're not a tax based you know entity um because it comes in from um the cable returns which have
diminished with the uh you know the extent of streaming. Um I I try to be very frugal so that you know the equipment we need you know the people we need but you know some of that stuff that we can record and get on the next day. Um, I try to be frugal with that. Um, in case, you know, all of a sudden
that money dries up and then we don't have us anymore to be able to bring the stuff to the community that we've been bringing to the community. >> All right. Thank you very much. >> All right. Thank you very much. >> Appreciate this morning. We have council on a
senior center. Good morning councilors pres uh chairman cormier uh councilors hard earn and Brooks. Thank you for allowing us to be here. I'd like to just take a minute before I start uh my remarks, my update for you to introduce and recognize the chairman of the board
of the council on aging who's here today, Ron Dameka in the audience. Ron and the board continue to be a huge uh presence at the senior center and really influence our policies and programs in a big way. I'm very appreciative of them. And speaking of appreciation, um you
know, the two folks that spoke before me, Tim and Marita, have been doing just crazy things at the senior center. And so on behalf of our senior center, I want the folks on the council to know um the huge impact they're having on our organization and our population and the
great work that they do. I'll pick on Tim for a minute and the programming that he talked about senior moments. We've seen a pretty significant uptick in the number of viewers and participants and feedback we get from those programs. So, we know that there
is a now um pretty robust population that are viewing it and taking in the information that our different guests have. U so I'm so appreciative of Tim and Shane coordinating shooting onsite as well being at the senior center so
people can see our facilities. It's a big lift for sure. He also mentioned the video production for seniors program we do. We got a grant for $80,000 between Templeton and Garter. So it's two senior centers. really 40,000 for gardener. We bought some equipment, production
equipment, zoom screens and things like that that Shane and Arthur Collins from Mount Wuk's Community College have been instrumental in getting us the technical um advice and information and training we need to be able to run that program well. So again, very appreciative of
them. A lot's been happening this season, uh, as you know, but I I would be remiss in not taking the opportunity to also acknowledge New Drain, who is our contractor through the city that does our plowing and snow removal, and
the DPW. Our lot has been remarkably clean, um, safe, ice free, snowfree, and in this last big storm we had, we lost two parking spaces. Um, now that may not seem important to anybody, but when you're moving 20 in of snow over a huge,
you know, area like that, the piles kind of accumulate. And, uh, we were able to mitigate that. Our staff worked hard to mitigate it, but certainly DPW and New Drain participated in that in a big way. And today, um, and we have a vendor at
the senior center doing some work, Royal Steam, who's really pulled out the stops. I'm going to explain why they were there in a minute. Um but so very appreciative of them. We're in the throws of budget season as well. Uh the thing that always concerns me the most is we have been pretty much level funded
for the last 5 years. We've never we haven't seen major upticks. However, the city council has come to the table with some additional funds for those extraordinary expenses. For example, when we had the break in the sewer line, um they provided a supplemental appropriation for that again for which
we're grateful and we could not continue our programs with the broken sewer line. So, it is important for you to know that that this wasn't a trivial or trite expense that it was, you know, very much uh needed and impactful on our organization. We're probably going to
need some assistance again this year. [clears throat] Our programs have continued to increase. our uh holiday program alone increased overall by about 12% but our Christmas meal went from 250 to 450 this year. So like our numbers
are really I think indicative of the fact that we're trying to be engaging and connecting to seniors. Our number of engagements in total in 2025 exceeded 11,000. 11,000 unique individuals, not 11,000 duplicate encounters. And that by
the way in speaking with somebody from executive office of aging and independence is a big number. That's a big number for our senior center. So we're really kind of ex excited about that. Um you know we've done some work in the program in the building and on our programs. We've expanded our program
done some repair work. That's generally what you do in facilities and we've been able to keep up on that. For example, one of the legs on our ramp broke. We able to complete the repairs on those ramps without impacting our programs or services. We didn't have to close for the day. We didn't have to close the ramp for the day. We worked it into our
schedule so that we could get that work done so that it didn't affect anybody coming or going uh from the building. And similarly uh as you'll see significant issues uh boiler the manifold at the gardener senior center which feeds six zones in the building.
The manifold is deteriorated and rusted. It started spraying significant leaks. The leaks are not in themselves a problem because we have floor drains and the water just trickles down other than the waste of water. The leaks are a problem because it reduces the pressure
in the system. When it reduces the pressure in the system, it allows air in and those air blocks stop heat. So, we had zones that were without heat. We were able to mitigate that and manage that over this huge cold spell. And I think that's important to understand
that this hasn't been a problem that was that we detected yesterday and fixed today. We detected it three weeks ago, but we we're not in a position we could shut down the the center, right? So, we're able to continue to stay open and provide programs and services with a
significant uh boiler issue that we managed um to last yesterday and this morning. the last of that work on the manifold was done, but the the bill is going to be is going to be pricey because it's it's major work. Um, I
don't know what it's going to be. I think I'm going to be able to to work some numbers in my budget to cover it, but I may be coming back, and I included that as an issue or challenge for the welfare committee. I may be coming back for some additional uh money. So, the it was the manifold. We had two circulating
pumps. The pumps were were gone. We had to replace those and the domestic uh hot water boiler for some reason was magically just turning off. So they did some troubleshooting on that as well and they think they have fixed it. With this cold weather, ice dams and ice damage
has been a problem for us. We had significant ice dams up on the roof. Um really impacting again drainage and access and egress points. So ice was building up in emergency exits. We've been managing and mitigating that. really working hard to reduce the amount of ice that's there and ensure that
emergency exits are open and available for our seniors in the building. Um we're able to clear most of the ice before this warm patch. So we have a 100 ft gutter system. We were able to keep this the city from sustaining any
additional damages by really managing and focusing on mitigating um measures. So I'm really excited to report to you that there was no additional damage. nothing came through the building. Um, but if you saw the the ice dams, you would have been pretty um you would have
been pretty worried. There were some recent changes in the city's parking ordinance that I just want to bring to your attention as we talk about ice and weather that could impact our ability to do the things we've done for the last 5 years pretty well and that is um you know to keep the snow and ice off the
parking lot. I'm nervous now that not notices have been taken down in the parking lots that we it'll be more difficult for us to to get folks out of the parking lot while we're trying to clear it. And um I I'll just put that on. I know it's on the city council
agenda, but it has more of an impact than you think, especially for the senior center, right? So, we don't want people parking in areas that aren't cleared, that may be icy now. Um and and we've been very successful over the course of the last five and a half years
at doing that. Um so I'm a little bit nervous. You have the key metrics. I won't do that, but um I want to give you just some final updates. Our personal costs, our personnel costs are within budget, although there are two exceptions. Our custodian at 58% of the
year custodian salary hit 62%. We're over budget. If that trend continues, and it will because his salary is set, um we're going to need to either do some transfer of appropriations if we have the money or come in for a supplemental
on that. Similarly, our overtime budget was shot in November. Now, again, um just to explain to you, we've expanded our programs. We do night programs now. We do some weekend programs now. um to avoid paying overtime. The director
covers those programs and that's just not sustainable. There's no way I can continue to do three nights a week um without having a mental health impact. And so our overtime budget, we're almost we're almost done. We will be done after this last storm. We had overtime. So um
it's it's done. We're going to need some additional money. Our organizational expenses are pretty good. I just talked about the maintenance. Um, I I'm projecting right now at about a $7,000 deficit. I may be able to mitigate that, but there will be some amount that we're
over budget. If I'm able to move some things around or um put off some projects, we we may be able to get that in. Our it budget is a fixed amount, 275 a month. Our budget was 3,000. Just doing the math, we're going to be $300 over. We know we're going to be over on
that. So, I just want to make sure you know that in 2 or 3 months when I come in ask them for a supplemental, ask the mayor for a supplemental that like these are not extraordinary expenses with the exception of m with the the maintenance and repair on the boiler. Um, I am going
to also ask our revolving fund right now. The revolving fund was set by this group at $80,000. Um, our current revenue is 75,000 and our current expenses are 44, but we have outstanding purchase orders of 18. That
brings us to 62 at the halfway mark. We will exceed 80,000 in both revenues and expenses. I am very mindful that your prerogative though to set that cap. Um, and I don't want to be in a position where I am not uh fulfilling the wishes
of the council. So I'm asking if we could uh increase that cap and we had that conversation last at the beginning of the the fiscal year in setting the caps um hoping that it would be a little bit higher. Similarly, that's the issue with lifeline. Uh our lifeline
generated proposed projected revenue is about $18,000 a year minimum. Um and our expenses are equal to that and our cap is 10,000. So we are going to exceed the cap. Um and that was a interesting
conversation. I think we came in and asked for 20,000. The council passed 10, but we knew right at during that discussion we were going to exceed it. So I'm hoping we can get those two accounts back on the finance committee and see if we can amend those if you
would be so kind. Um just so you know about personnel, we have three full-time staff. So we have myself, our administrative coordinator, and a facilities person. The facilities person doesn't do program stuff. So it's two of us doing programming, advocacy,
um counseling, case management, and and that's an really important factor for you all to understand that when we look at the work at the senior center, which has expanded dramatically in the last 5 years, we've done that keeping the same staff footprint. We have additional
part-time staff that do about 41 to 47 hours a week, including 15 hours for our media, marketing, and lifeline coordinator, and then just general administrative staff. Um, I would ask also if you would help me
look at whether or not we can get a retired snow plow, uh, especially in light of the ordinance changes, having a plow there. We don't have the luxury of being able to call DPW and say, "The lock's clear right now. Can you come up?" for calling new drain and saying the lot's clear, come on over. They come
when they come and then if they have the opportunity later in the day, they'll come back. Um, we're able to schedule the lot closures so they know between 7 and 9 the lot's empty and they can come and clear that last swath. Um, if
they're not able to do that, maybe getting a retired snow plow from DPW might be a good idea. Similarly, we're going to have to do a uh have we're going to need a new snowb blower probably next season. Uh the last thing I know the salary review and increase
was proposed. So, I really won't talk about that. I'll let the finance committee do their job and make recommendations. Uh other than to remind you that the senior center is more than bond bonds and bingo. Um there's a lot of work and it's a lot of it's a lot of
emotive work. It's a lot of, you know, mental work as much as it is physical work. So, um, I always worry that people don't understand the dynamic of and impact of the senior center, which is why I made sure I included the October
update that we provided to the um to the council. our financial impact on our community like real money going back into pockets is about $2.3 million back into pockets not made up like value of or could be assessed like real money
going into senior's pockets whether it's the elimination of the part B Medicaid payment or the medex payment this is real money $15,000 in farmers market coupons $234,000 in raft it's real money um I was amazed at that financial impact
and I'm hoping that you uh know that as well. I think that's all I have. U I I make one last comment. We are not in Waterford Street. We don't occupy Waterford Street. We're not there in Waterford Street. We took advantage of the opportunity and invitation for some
folks in our community to make some donations of office equipment, including file cabinets and desks in anticipation of of relocating to that center. but we don't have the space at 294 Pleasant Street to store that in perpetuity. Um,
so we put that stuff down there, but we don't occupy I think I've been in Waterford Street once in the last 6 months and that was to move furniture so some work could be done in the area in which we were storing that. But but we're not in there. Um, just so that the
council knows there's no daily presence with the exception of um of maybe the office furniture that somebody is suggesting right there. That's what I have. It's a lot. I apologize. >> Oh jeez, necessary. There's a lot going on up there.
>> There's a lot going on. And I, by the way, I very much appreciate the fact that you come and participate in our programs. It's meaningful. I like having you in there. I like being a little braggadocious um because you allow those programs to go on. you know, it's the city council and the mayor, uh, their
leadership and their finances and their philosophical support that allow us to do what we do. So, I appreciate it. >> Thank you. >> Um, in regards to the parking ordinance, there actually haven't been any changes to the ordinance, but the traffic
commission was having issues and that the signage that was up was actually from before the code red system went in place. So, it was actually >> uh at odds with the ordinance that's in place right now. Uh so, they asked to
take it down because in that last storm, there were people that were following what the sign said, but actually was at odds with what the current ordinance is. Uh I'm not sure if they're going to do anything to replace those signs for this winter. Um but obviously before next
winter, we'll make sure that that's addressed. If I might though, those those signs allowed us to make sure that and our neighbors are awesome. We have we have really good neighbors who park in the public park, but they know and understand the impact of staying there during snow removal. So, every day
between 7 and 9, if there's a snow event, we don't we don't look at it, they don't look at it, nobody worries about it, but if there's a snow event, they'll come out in their bathroes and move the car to allow us to clear it for our seniors. And I I think that really
speaks to the community that we've created that it's not just staff or participants in the center like we have a whole ton of people that are supporting our organization in so many ways. >> Yeah, let's throw that out. >> Any questions?
>> No, I do not. Thank you. >> Yes, sir. So, you talked about the revolving fund and the lifeline revolving fund. >> Yes. So my my first comment would be that if in my understanding of how of the process is that if you're getting to where
you're over your limit, >> I guess you would need to send a letter to the mayor requesting an increase. >> Yep. >> And I believe it would be up to him to put it before council to say, you know, there's an adjustment in the amount. Okay. >> I agree. and and and if if we're doing
that much more and and as you understand it's it's actually the spending I think that's limited. So you could be taking in a 100,000 but if you're only spending 60 in a given year you're you're under you're okay. So it is it's looking what you what you
anticipate spending and I would think on the on the revolving fund if if you can show if you're showing that you're spending more than what we've been do we've been authorizing if you will there shouldn't be a problem doing that on the lifeline
account I do recall that there was conversation about intentionally making it a little bit lower so that you you would have to come back and give an update on the program for us to give you more uh leeway in the uh authorization.
And so again, I would say if you're at that point to send a letter to the mayor requesting an increase in that because you have these things. And I know at the time of our discussion, uh there was there were some concerns raised about who was doing what and what the city's liability was and all that. And there
was some conversation about this maybe being a transition to a different model. And we were we were the middle person in in some kind of transition. So I think in all of that discussion would probably come back up when you when you send up a request to
increase and and I think on a lifeline that is something that we would we should be expecting because that's that's how it was left >> last year. We knew we were short because I think at the time we were even saying it should be higher. >> Yeah. Yeah, I mean we we we know our fix
well not fixed our expenses per month just for the subscriptions are about 1,500 >> 15 * 12 is 18,000. We talked about last year and and there was a lot of conversations about lifeline but we were migrating the full system in December.
Um, and the reason for that is we're looking at seniors who have payment booklets and envelopes and they're used to sending them to a certain, you know, location and making the checks out and we couldn't do that mid year. We couldn't, it would just be too confusing
and create chaos. So, we made the final transition of payments in December. Um, but again, we know just for half the year, for the whole year, we know it's 18,000 bucks. That's a given. That doesn't include our equipment purchases.
It doesn't include replacement batteries or anything like that. Similarly though, the revenues exceed expenses. You need to know that um our revenues from the program will certainly cover any of the costs for equipment we purchase for
future subscribers. Absolutely. We're we're not running a deficit on that. So, that's kind of a good thing as well. >> And and I guess the other thing I'd say, you know, I I understand you you're doing repairs on equipment and whatnot at your current
location and there's been conversation for the last couple years about the senior center moving to Waterford and I sit here thinking you just don't want to spend another dime more than you have to location knowing that you're going to
go how long can I >> you know do I really have to fix this or can I get through this winter and be fine. So, I think it behooves us to to keep moving forward on on Waterford. I think on that project, we're back to
having a reset to say what what do we what do we need to do? What and try and get an overview of of what needs to be done in the building in order to have groups move into the property because I think I think that's we we've had a
couple of false starts on it. We we need to just get it to where we know what we're doing and move forward. >> If I may just quickly say we we share that as well. We've been very reluctant to put major money into, you know, the building for any kind of aesthetic stuff
or non-essential. The two expenses I just explained, the ice removal and dams and um egress and the boilers were pretty essential. Uh what was happening in the back exit uh emergency exit is the water just was damning and
collecting and it caused uh several of the stair treads were not not safe at all. So we had to close the emergency exit down till we had that repaired and that was welded and the cost of the welding and repair of that uh fire escape was 2500 bucks. So we've been
putting that off. I' been saying, "Oh, well, we're going to be going in and we don't really need to do it." But I just felt like a threemon um you know, kind of watching it and concerned and redirecting people was too much. I was getting the point I was getting nervous and said, "Let's get these fixed so that
if somebody does use it, it won't break underneath them." Um and then the boilers. I mean, we just we had to fix the boilers. We're going to have another really, really significant cold snap this weekend and we couldn't if those boilers had gone down, we would have been certainly dead in the water. So,
uh, we couldn't risk it. >> Okay. >> Thank you, counselors. Appreciate you. >> Finally, any counselor questions, concerns, comments? Entertain motion to adjurnn. Motion to >> second. >> Motion by councelor N. Second by
councelor Brooks to adjurnn. All in favor? >> I opposed. Motion carries. Thank you everyone. Appreciate