Everybody, I'm calling to order this emergency meeting of the Greenfield City Council on April the 21st, and it's currently 6:33 p.m. So, thank you all for being here in your various um places.
This meeting is being recorded by the city council and Greenfield Community Television, GCTV9. If any other persons present are doing the same, you must notify the chairperson at this time. >> I'm not recording, but um you and Kathy
can't both be unmuted. Terrible echo. >> Can you hear Maryanne? >> I cannot hear Maryanne. >> Councelor Bulock, we cannot hear you. >> I could hear her. >> Can you hear me? >> Yeah. >> Can you hear me? >> You might have been talking to her family.
>> I hear Rachel. No, they can't hear us. >> Now we can hear you. Now we can >> Okay. What >> and Laura, you shouldn't you can't be unmuted at the same time because it makes a really bad echo. >> FYI, that's what Maryann said.
>> All right, we are going to do the roll call right now. So, I'm going to turn it over to Clerk Scott. turning my audio on if you want to touch yours off. Okay. Um,
Councelor Golib is not in attendance. Councelor Gordon >> here. >> Councelor Dilmath >> here. >> Councelor Botmley is not here. Councelor Bulock >> here. >> Councelor Williams here.
>> Councelor Bulldook here. Councelor Webb has not logged in yet. Councelor Brown >> here. >> Thank you. Vice President Garrett, >> I'm here. >> Councelor Minhos, >> yes.
>> Councelor Cibson, >> here. >> And councelor Wandelowski >> here. you have a quorum. >> Thank you everybody for taking the time
to be here um after less than a week since we were last together. Our first order is to suspend the Greenfield City Council rules or procedure. >> Can I have somebody read the motion which is on page three?
>> Sorry. So moved. Do you need a second? Do you need >> We just have to have that read if somebody can read it for me. Oh, I can read it too then if um uh the Greenfield City Council
moved that it be ordered that the Greenfield City Council wave the rules of procedure chapter 565 section 8 order and disposition of business to allow the agenda items be taken out of order. >> Second. >> Thank you. We'll do a roll call.
muted. Yep. Okay. Councelor Gordon. >> Yes. Sorry. >> Thank you. Councelor Damuth. >> Yes. >> Councelor Bullock. >> Yes. >> Councelor Williams.
>> Yes. >> Councelor Bulldock. >> Yes. >> I don't believe Councelor Webb has joined. >> Councelor Brown. >> Yes. Vice President Garrett, >> yes. >> Councelor Minhos,
>> yes. >> Councelor Ciban, >> yes. >> President Wandelowski, >> yes. >> The rules are waved. The >> All right. So, next we're going to go to
the public hearing and second reading. Councelor Bullock, can I have you read that? >> Yep. Order number FY26-118. The city council upon recommendation of mayor disorder move that it be ordered
that the sum of $250,000 be appropriated for the purchase. >> Sorry, I'm going to have to have you read the page four. >> Oh, sorry. Um, public hearing. In accordance with home rule charter, the Greenfield City Council will hold a
public hearing on Tuesday, April 21st, 2026 at 6:30 to appropriate $250,000 from borrowing to purchase the XXXBTU generator to replace police department emergency redundant power gener
generator. The city, Do you need Do I need to keep going? Sorry. >> That that should be fine. Okay. >> So, I'm going to open the public hearing. It's 6:38. >> And just a reminder, if anybody wants to
speak under the public hearing, >> put your name. >> Put your name in the chat box. At this time, I don't have anybody. So, I'm closing the public hearing at 6:38. And now, we can go to the second
reading. And now I don't read the actual order. Sorry, I just read the same thing again. >> Okay. >> Read the second reading on page four. >> Yeah. Um, the city council may consider the same
on Tuesday, April 21st, 2026 at 6:30 p.m. via Zoom. Uh, conferencing system to appropriate the city council second reading April 21st, 2026. Appropriate $250,000 from borrowing to purchase the
XXXBTU generator to replace police department emergency redundant power generator. Can you also read where it says second reading? >> Yep. City council second reading April 21st 2026.
Appropriate $250,000 from borrowing to purchase XXXBTU generator to replace police department emergency redundant power generator. Thank you, Councelor Bulock. All right, now we're moving to the
motions, orders, and resolutions. And this might sound like exactly the same thing that you just read, but now I'm going to read you the full order. Order number FY26-118. The city council upon recommendation of mayor disorder moved that it be ordered
that the sum of $250,000 be appropriated for the purchase of an XXX BTU generator to replace the Greenfield Police Department emergency redundant power generator located at 321 High Street and to meet set appropriation. The treasurer with the approval of the mayor is hereby
authorized to borrow said sum of $250,000 pursuant to Massachusetts General Laws Chapter 44 section 8 or any other enabling statute. And the mayor is hereby authorized to apply for, contract for, accept, and expend any federal and/or state grant available for this
project to be used to reduce the within appropriation. And further, the mayor is authorized to take any action necessary to carry out the intent and purpose of this project. >> Is there a second? >> Second. essentially
>> and we'll just open it up to discussion. I don't think you guys got a chance to talk about this in ways and means because of the emergency nature of it >> and Joe Pugs is on to explain about generator things. He can explain for
you. >> If you have any questions, folks, please feel free. >> And Joe, could you maybe just state for the the public who you are and why you're here to answer our questions? >> Oh, certainly. Uh I'm the city of Greenfield central maintenance uh
central maintenance and facilities director. >> Thank you. >> I'm going to ask counselors to either put to put your name in the chat if you want to speak just so we can >> know who's first.
So, mayor, my my question is if you can just give us the background on what happened and why this generator is so necessary. >> So, I'm actually going to turn that to over to pugs, but it is absolutely
necessary that we have a generator. It is the backup for all uh fire dispatch emergency calls and there are laws regulating that we have a redundant source of power and I'm going
to leave the next part to Pugs if you could allow him to speak for a couple of minutes please. >> Are we okay? Uh I All right. I'd like to take a minute and thank you very much everyone for your time. Uh and I do understand the urgency in the matter here and everyone's need to understand
what's happening. So the emergency generator located at the police department which is colloquially referred to as the police department emergency generator is technically the emergency response center emergency
power generator. And that emergency response center by its nature exists within the police department. But as the mayor has already stated, it handles all 911 dispatch for Furcog as well as Greenfield. It also handles all fire
department and EMT notification calls. Uh so it's unfortunately it's not simply the police department's dispatch that functions through there. It's all emergency services. uh and as a consequence of that the building is required to have complete redundant
power on a semianual basis the units are tested for uh integrity and function uh about a month or so ago ours underwent testing and showed less than optimal numbers in their
performance larger investigation revealed that a very critical component the winding of the generator was actually suffering ing critical failure and ultimately the generator had to be removed from service. Uh we all obviously have two paths
forward here. There's repair and replace. Uh we did approach from a replace perspective. However, the unit is over 15 years old. Uh it it would ultimately suffer other
failures of other components in the very very near future. And so the determination was made by myself and the generator manufacturers that it was probably cost prohibitive to repair and
far more intelligent to replace. >> Thank you. Counselor's questions. also renting it, if I may interrupt for a minute, um, President Wandelowski, and renting it initially, the rental per month figure that we obtained was
$20,000 a month, which is why I am so grateful that all of you could come for an emergency meeting because it takes a little time to order that and get it in place. Um, Pugs was able to whittle that number down to $14,000 a month, but I
think we're looking at 12 to 15 weeks if we were to vote on that tonight. Thank you, >> Council Brown. >> Hi. Um, my question was about if the center also services for COG, if they
also are paying for any of the replacement. Not to my knowledge >> they are not >> I believe surrounding townships handle and route their own emergency calls. the furcog aspect. It's I would need chief
to speak to the technicality of it or it but I believe it's something to do with our historical records and everything routes through us. That may not necessarily mean it's answered by us but that we serve as a hub.
>> I have one more comment on that. Um, we service this dispatch unit does serve Greenfield, but calls would be made. You know, if there were a three alarm fire and things were needed by just like we
had last week, um, we could be calling people up for something that's happening in another community, but mostly this services the city of Greenfield. Most other uh local municipalities, many of them run through the state police
barracks. They are unable to um add green fields because uh their facility is bursting at the seams and um they they're just not able to take on
one more person dispatching from there. I have counselor Williams. >> Yeah. So, purchasing the new, if we decide to purchase new, what kind of warranty do we have on this? And how many years can we expect it to last?
I I would anticipate a manufacturer's warranty to be standard at 3 to five years, although I can get more detail on that um and get it over to you fairly quickly, probably within the next day. Uh I would anticipate the warranty period to be 3 to 5 years. The
anticipated life cycle of the unit 15 to 20 years. >> Thank you. Mayor, what's the impact of this on our budget and what are the opportunities for funding from other places whether it's grant, federal, or state?
So, we immediately reached out to everyone because this was an unexpected um obviously we have a capital plan with things that we're expecting to either uh uh expected to expire or that we might need. We have all of our vehicles lined
up for what we might need. We look at buildings, but you you don't know when your refrigerator is going to die. Um you get a refrigerator, you hope that it lasts for 10 years. Some of them go for 20 years, some of them die in five. So,
um, but the impact on the budget, which is why we're having an emergency meeting, was I put it for um, you know, I put it for borrowing. We asked reached out to our legislative delegation. Um, they reached out to see if MIMA had
anything. Um, Mima had a uh a generator that was much smaller and would not fit the city's needs. I have Amy K. Helain working on grants. This was all within the very first day that
we were reaching out to everyone. Um, occasionally there is grant funding for something like this, but and we talked about this with the delegation because of how it happened. you need to replace it at the time because every month that
goes by we're spending between 15 and $20,000. So, um Amy still has that in, you know, she's still started looking for a grant, but odds are that we will be actually paying for this and adding to the
borrowing because I hadn't expected we hadn't expected that to happen this year. Um and if by any chance, you know, grant funding became a a available that always can be substituted if it came in
within the correct, you know, timeline, but um most likely we'll we'll have to purchase that. >> Thank you, M Mayor. I've got councelor Minhos. >> Uh first off, thank you for convening us so quickly. I mean the that number
20,000 per month is kind of that's a lot. We don't want to keep that waiting and add that to the city's tab. Um I like what you just said, Jenny. I just got me thinking about something. Um are
there potentially some types of grants or something that we could apply for that could uh help us pay this off like retroactively like once we've gotten it? something that could help us with our costs. >> In general, it does not work that way.
Um, we we put in immediately and reached out to all of our um, you know, besides Joe and Susanna. Um, we also, I believe, reached out to
McGovern's office as well. It just doesn't come through that fast when something like this happens. And um the reason for you know capital planning in general is to have things like this that that you're prepared for
what's going to what's going to die at what time. But some things as in as in a generator that backs up all of the emergency services in the city. There really is not much choice here. I have one last question.
Do you anticipate then decreasing capital for next year to offset this or does it not work that way? No, if you decrease capital expenditures, often times you just end
up paying more later because the price of everything goes up. I try to put as much as many things infrastructure- wise on as we can. um you know to do a parking
lot to pave a parking lot a few years ago is probably half the price of what it is now. So that's why we have every department submitting their capital plans and
um we try to to borrow and use capital stabilization for the things that are needed for the city. We have a little we have a team. We have the capital uh you know we have the capital commit committee
and um and we have each department head who looks over especially DPW um looking at many of the infrastructure needs throughout the city. So most of the things that are on the docket for
next year we'll be putting them on the docket for next year. I won't I won't be um decreasing that. We're not building any big buildings, but frequently you have to replace water manes and like the asbestous
sewer pipe uh water and sewer pipes that we have. We know we have seven of those. You just might as well do them one at a time year after year because they're going to let go. It's just good to to plan to spend extra money on your sidewalks and streets because they they
cave in. people that don't take care of things. Then sometimes you have to do like for paving a full what do they call it? Um reclamation and it's twice as expensive if you wait. Thank you, mayor.
I don't see any additional questions, so I think we can move to roll call. >> Sorry. I think um that councelor Webb is is logging on with a question. Um, >> recording in progress.
>> Hi. Sorry I'm late. Um, I just wanted to ask mayor, uh, I know that asking about capital was brought up, but I know on the capital improvements plan there was an okay for 150,000 to replace lockers and enclose a
staircase at the police station. I don't Is that something that we can push and use that to fund this? >> Uh, truthfully, Councelor Webb, I was not going to put that forward. >> Okay. Um many things are approved
in capital planning but we can't afford to put everything forward. So frequently I I use my best judgment and the input of others who are smarter than I am to choose which ones we really must do. So
that was not going forward. >> Okay, cool. Just wanted to check. Thank you. Okay, I don't see any other hands. Going. Going. >> Clerk Scott.
>> Councelor Gordon. >> Yes. >> Councelor Dillamus. >> Yes. >> Councelor Baldock. >> Yes. >> Sorry, I called the wrong person.
Councelor Bullock. >> Yes. >> Councelor Williams. >> Yes. >> Councelor Bulldock. >> Oh, double. >> Yeah. Councelor Webb, >> yes. >> Councelor Brown, >> yes. >> Councelor Garrett,
>> yep. >> Councelor Minhas, >> you. >> Councelor Cibson, Als, >> yes. >> President Wandowski, >> yes. The motion passes.
>> Thank you, mayor, for moving this quickly and making sure that we are keeping everybody safe and have the backup that we need. >> And thank you everybody for coming out an extra night >> to get this done. I really appreciate each and every one of you. Thank you so
much. >> Okay. And then we have another order which was a placeholder. Could I have um somebody read it on page six? >> Yep, I can read it. Order number
FY261-121. Uh, the city council moved that it be ordered that the Greenfield City Council take from the table order number FY26-089 to adopt MGL chapter 32B sections 21-23, which authorizes the city to implement
changes to employee health insurance plans through the alternative negotiation and transfer process established by the Commonwealth, including the pursuit pursuit of the transfer of participation from Health New England to the group insurance commission GIC, which was tabled at the
April 15th, 2026 city council meeting. >> Is there a second? >> Second. >> Non debatable. >> And this is non-debatable. So the first >> vote will be about taking it from the
table. So if you want this to be voted on tonight, then you will vote yes to take it from the table. on the motion to take from the table. Councelor Gordon, >> no.
>> Councelor Dilmas, >> um, pass. >> Councelor Bulock, Bulldock, Bulock, excuse me. >> Um, >> no. >> Council Williams, >> no.
Councelor Bullduck, >> no. >> Councelor Webb, >> no. >> Councelor Brown, >> no. >> Count Vice President Garrett, >> no. >> Councelor Minhos, >> no.
>> Councelor Cis, >> no. >> Councelor Dilis, >> no. >> Does the president wish to vote? >> I do and no. The motion is defeated. The item remains
on the table. May >> with your permission, President Wandowski, may I share an update on what happened? >> You may now. >> Okay. Um,
so we had a meeting the Thursday after city council. Very long meeting. I've thanked all of the people present, union leaders, Paul DeMarco from the teachers um union, the attorney and myself. We
sat down and hammered this out for about two and a half hours. It's kind of a everyone went out and got cookies and um people voted unanimously to move over to the GIC. We left the split
as as it was. um you know 2080 with the HMOs and and uh 6040 for the PPOs and we have I received signatures from everybody handed to my office yesterday
about 11:00 a.m. So that is all set. we will have to reconvene one meeting um to because there were a couple of typos and one little thing but no the whole agreement is done and so I feel
very confident and I want to thank everybody here those of you that encouraged us to go this way we were we did great we have great employees and they were fabulous and on all sides everybody worked together so thank you to each and every one of
Congratulations. Yeah, >> that's good. >> Thank you for the update and congratulations. I was so excited when I got that text on Thursday. >> I breathed a sigh of relief. Okay. Do we have any motions for
reconsideration? All right. I will take a motion to adjurnn. >> Motion to adjurnn. Second. >> Ah, he beat it. >> We will have to have a roll call. Sorry. >> Councelor Gordon.
>> Yes. >> Councelor Dilmath. >> Yes. >> Councelor Bullock. >> Yes. >> Council Williams. >> Yes. >> Councelor Bulldock. >> Yes. >> Councelor Webb. >> Yes. Councelor Brown.
>> Yes. >> Vice President Garrett. >> Hi. >> Councelor Minhos. >> Yeah, boy. >> Councelor Cis. >> Yes. >> Does the president wish to vote? >> Sure. Let's go.
>> The meeting is adjourned at 7:02 p.m. >> Thank you. Thanks.