so I'm going to call this meeting to order and I'm going to announce that the planning and construction committee is recording this minute meeting if anyone else is recording it they must notify
the chairman at this chairperson at this time so now we have to do a roll call Ann Charles present Carol Collins here Nancy Hazard here Mike pray it he's here he's just not hearing us
you're muted Mike John schultes here and me I'm here G okay so now we need to approve the minutes from the January 14th so move but public comment is technically listed
first and I do see a member of the public oh okay IEP is member of public right yeah did you have something you wanted to say I guess Stephie you're muted so got me all excited love
com no I'm just listening today okay thank you you're I I get I have a lot of comments after the meetings happened but I I just I'm here to listen thank you okay it's Matt just letting you know
I'm I'm here on Zoom I'll be doing the minutes thank you Matt no problem you're wonderful thank you so do we have a motion to approve the minutes from the January 14th so move seconded okay is
there any comment about the minutes Noone none so Matt there was one uh correction I sent you adding the word not that was missing or is that the next set of minutes that's this set that has the knot okay
and that's been added yeah I didn't I just added at the end of the sentence um I think I emailed about it but I just said he was discussing planning uh getting a planning study done before construction so I just added a word at
the end of the sentence instead of the not because I didn't want to confuse it with the double negative [Music] got it I mean are are we ready to vote on them okay aan Charles yes Carol
Collins yes Nancy Hazard yes Mike Pratt yes John yes and I'm a yes so test unanimously okay the new business we need to discuss the spreadsheet that
Nancy was offering to to do so thank you talk to us for that um at the end of our meeting last time uh it seemed like well I'm I'm a big picture person so I was sort of wanting something that
was so we had all the buildings on one piece of paper so we could um see them all at once and be able to um decide you know what are the things we want to know about those buildings we have these fabulous dashboards but in
each building has a dashboard so that's a whole piece of paper so I was thinking okay what are the critical pieces that we absolutely need to know uh and could we add them to the spreadsheet as a way of just helping us with our
discussion and you're willing to take on this as a project I am or I am but there already is a spreadsheet that has all the buildings with pertinent information oh there is one so we could
just take that spreadsheet and refine it down into the condensed version is there is that a single yeah it's on the website okay and when you say the pertinent information everything so I guess one of the things I heard you say
at the last meeting was that um there's some buildings for example that you might that that an engineer looking at them and reassessing them would be good so I'd love to have I don't know if a column is there to do that um yeah yeah
so there might be a column or two that we might want to add in order to facilitate our discussion to get up to a place that is so that we can be clearer about what we would like the plan to
cover so a lot of this information is already available like the parks and all the properties the municipal and school buildings are on the dashboard spreadsheet Recreation has a website that has all of the parcels and parks
with great information also and but does that have the large maintenance needs over the next 20 years all listed there some of them and again I think that that is a
task where we would be hiring someone to determine those things so I think that some of this would be part of what we would be hiring for and part of this would be determining what the priority
is so those could be added right I was thinking that of the former is what we yeah what we need what we want the project to cover and it will be I'm thrilled that you you have more than I thought and it
will be useful really do she does she always does yes she's fabulous it would be useful when we go out for be to have something that we've put together too if we ever do that so it so could that continue to
well I'd like to hear from other people but um you know could that continue to reside right where it is and have things added to it a column or two added to it well I don't when you say we where it is do we have access to it can we can we
start controlling it or putting everything into one package like Nancy suggested I mean you're telling me that the parks has one and you we we have the the green study for the buildings I mean I thought we wanted to put it into one overall uh spreadsheet and it could
always it could always link it to some of the other spreadsheets if necessary so I'm saying that that information is is pretty much already available so yes we could take the Parks information and add that to the spr whatever combine
that into one yeah I think I'm seeing exactly what John is saying how it's the one condensed that has these specific things we're looking for pulled from the other sources so that we can look at the big picture Al together rather than Parks here schools here this there is
that right that was what I was suggesting yes and who's you know the question is is is Nancy gonna do that or someone else like Carol has a Carol has no Carol has no time to do it right so the question is
how how can I be helpful is there a way that someone other can be helpful to you or is everything on the spreadsheet on the computer in such a way that well sound should be an Excel spreadsheet I'm trying to that's what I'm hoping that we could just
it sounds to me like the answer is to make a new spreadsheet and just to pull the information off of the other spreadsheet so we're just pulling the information that we want in the format that is standardized so we can that's what it sounds like to me at least is that what
you would like that seems like it might be the simplest way to start off unless someone sees something that I'm not seeing which is possible Mike
Stephen I agree get get a copy and we'll start from there let us let that be our copy yeah and is there a way we can play with it on the website I mean no okay so we
need to there's a Excel version that I can send out that would be great that would be wonderful car thank you and we'll just start playing with it anybody else have anything else you
want to add I would just say that rather than just I was thinking rather than just play with it somebody should we should maybe we could designate Nancy to be in charge of it and let let her try to populate it from the stuff that that
she's given uh and and to try to coordinate it the way you know she she suggested which I thought the the format that she had was was well thought out and I think that would be a good basis for what you know we could put together if if NC's willing yeah yeah
I'm willing to do that as long I I want input from this committee about exactly you know what are the columns that you want um that may or may not once we see it I think we'll be able to establish once we see it we can tell what we have
we don't have yeah Mike totally agree I'm sorry I was talking over you what were you saying I think it's a yes once we get it we can uh share on what we'd like to see on it and and disregard or remove the
things that don't really matter right Etc clean clean it up I guess for our purposes and then decide or and then we can weigh out and prioritize and it will give us the information we
need yeah your proposed columns are very solid in my opinion nothing immediately jumps to mind as something to add or something we don't need it seems like you've got it figured out in terms of what we'd be looking for and it would be very helpful I think
thank you so we'll just put this on the in progress right it's so the action is Carol you're gonna EX I guess find the Excel sheet and spread send it out right that's what you're going to do and then
I'll we'll take it from there and I have the list on the recreation site right parks and Facilities good okay so now on to Capital Improvements committee for those of you
who don't know about it I'm own it as uh chair of this committee an Charles is on it because she was appointed by the superintendent of schools to represent the schools on it and uh Mike tozo as
chair of ways and means is on the committee so the three of us met three nights and we heard from all of the department heads on two of the nights and then we met
uh after that to talk through what we were going to recommend to the mayor Steve do you know if she has made a decision on on how to proceed from what we recommended
and not not yet um we have the list uh we've gone over it and uh she's still uh weighing the options um one of the uh the larger options uh is looking at the overall budget too um and trying to
figure out how that's all going to fit together but uh uh she is away this week but I believe next week we're we're meeting like four or five days so we should have a uh a pretty good firm handle on what what exactly um she wants to present okay well then I'll just tell
everybody what we chose as the committee and and then uh you can tell Steve what you disagree with so he can tell Jenny how's that I'm good so we started there was nothing
from the fire department from which department shocking the fire well they he wanted a truck I well he's getting it but it didn't go through Capital Improvements so I don't know what the thinking on that was but he's getting his truck can
you repeat that I couldn't hear what you said they didn't have any no which department fire fire oh fire thank you it must be your accident sorry fire I'll talk more slowly no no no no I just I got to get used to your
accent okay okay so then we got to the police department and what they asked for were uh bodyw warn cameras and Cruiser camera upgrades and that was a $236,100
expenditure and we voted to approve it they wanted to replace the defibrillators that they carry in the cars and that was a $2,610 uh expense they wanted three new Cruisers because no Cruisers had been
bought for a long long time and everyone uses a cruiser as their off office and so each policeman would have a new defibrillator and new cameras and you know so forth and so on and the three
police cars will be paid for out of cash and that was a $280,100 ask and then they wanted to have some new radios and batteries because they don't have enough for they hire new
people and so we as a committee approved all of those expenditures and sent them on to Jenny for her thoughts any questions about any of that that was all they asked for
incidentally was there a price on the new batteries and radi I was just about to ask for my notes what was the price on the radios and batteries the radios and batteries were 35,3 $324 thank
you and then we got to the DPW and we will be giving them well I don't know what how this is going to work because I see that they got 300 a little over
$300,000 in extra money from the state I mean I read that in the newspaper if that's true or not who knows but they get chapter 90 funds from the is that from the state Steve or is that from the
federal government that's uh that's directly from the state okay so they get 622,000 more for the highway fund because they don't have have enough to do all of the highway work that they need to do and
that's a continual uh expense they wanted to replace truck truck number 47 I'm sure you all know exactly what that is it's a on ton truck and it was
$150,000 they wanted to replace truck number 16 which was a 3/4 ton truck that was 90,000 and we voted not to let them have that because we we the mayor said we could spend $2 million that that was
what she was comfortable with and so that was the thing that we took off their list they need to have a forestry bucket truck which is $250,000 they wanted to replace trash
truck number 197 which is $370,000 the discussion around that was that they would need three new three new trash trucks to have those cans where you put them out by the side of the road and they pick them up and we can't
afford three new trash trucks so we voted to give them one new trash truck which was $370,000 can I ask good question about that um there was the
um the grant which was enabling the DPW to change to single use right uh Is this different from that yes because there's another truck that goes around and picks up your garbage okay so this is the trash as opposed to the rec TR thank you
not the uh recycling gotcha thank you okay than there also needed a vehicle to go around and read the meters for the new water meters and that was a $25,000
expenditure the Cal Rain Street Bridge repays or need to be done and they need an engineering and design study to give to the state to get the money from the state this is called the shovel ready
process and so that was a $35,000 expenditure to get shovel ready for the coal Rain Street Bridge repairs and the Rudell Street needs a new Maple Brook
cover and a detention Pond which has been on this list since I've been on Capital Improvements and I moved here in 200 probably 2008 or n they've been asking for the Maple Brook cover to be
replaced on Rell Street and so we voted $344,000 to do the study for that and that was all that was on their thing
except they added $87,500 to do this Municipal study that we have been talking about in this committee and the Capital Improvements committee much to my
sh voted not to uh fund that right now that we needed too many other things and if we weren't getting a TR anyway that is not going to happen in this budget year perhaps next year was what I was
told yeah so some other notes on that the vles that are being replaced uh we're talking about workhorses that are old enough to vote things like the forest bucket bucket truck where there if things break the replacement pieces are no longer being made so they were
rather urgent um that CT repairs for uh flooding and issues that are becoming Public Safety hazards at that lot on Rell Street where there's the storage buildings that look quite dilapitated and um as for that study
because of how tight the budget is going to be for this next year and because of so many things that we're pressing you know due now we have this arterial bleed here the the funding just was not there for it this year I have a sure go ahead a question
or comment about or question about Rell street so um the um the planning yeah that the city applied for um MVP
Municipal vulnerability um Grant to do that and they the MVP people it it was re it was turned down it was rejected it was rejected um because according to what I
heard it was rejected because they felt like there needed to be a bigger picture study about why it was flooding and they weren't willing to put money into repairing that area until that other
study was done so I just would like to and it's interesting that it's a DPW because that the MVP Grant was applied for through um Eric chag's Department uh devel what's that um Landing planning
thank you uh and so I'm not quite sure why it's showing up on the DPW budget um so they'd actually do the work probably yeah maybe but seems like they need to talk to each other there something's going on there that's
peculiar because well Steve is our pipeline to the mayor and so you can you can ask Steve to please tell her that Nancy was concerned about a
study that the grant got turned down you know in your discussions on what to go forward with right yep yep I'll let her know is that okay N I guess that's yeah that's I mean that's the short I guess that's is that clear enough vaguely
clear but I think if I bring it up she'll know what what what it's all about I hope so maybe in an Ideal World the study that we voted because that was a study to figure out how to fix it will be enough to then turn around and submit for Grant maybe that's what they're trying to do
is do the study fingers crossed but according to MVP they didn't want a study just on the um retention Pond and the Culvert they wanted something bigger so I want to be sure that we're doing the right
study that's good point I didn't know that it was not brought up at the meeting yeah do you have any input Carol into that I don't actually okay um so that was all the DPW wanted
and then we got to Recreation and the Rocky Mountain Highland Ridge Trail Way finding and map development was $75,000 which we approved
the they have had people get lost on the mountain and they couldn't didn't know where they were were because there's no there there are no places that Mark where you are to tell somebody you're lost can I ask a question about that
sure um so it's been maybe two years that the uh rec department has been asking for CPC funds to do the whole Trail issue and they put they got some money to do some pieces of it and I'm
just curious about well how far along this would take us and exactly what it would do um because they already did some pieces of it my looking for more information iess my understanding was this would complete it
okay that was my read of the situation as well okay and it so it's it's not just Rocky Mountain but it's Highland Park it's it's that whole system yes okay and and they have started on it that is what she said and this would be
what they need to complete it okay thank you and they asked for tennis and pickle ball court repair and resurfacing and I would guess that's the one at the dog park and that was
35,000 I understand just from knowing somebody who's working on the funds to use for the uh from the taxes C CP CPA CPA
C committe committee CPC that they also asked them for this money and they had a less expensive way to do it I don't know if the CPC is going to approve it but they were presented with a less
expensive way to do this resurfacing and repairs than the 35,000 just Steve is another whisper to Jenny is she might want to check with with what was presented to the
CPC okay and they asked for $250,000 for pickle ball Courts at the place where they want to put the new pickle ball cour ABI yeah
abomi field and that would be to the city's part of a grant to build a million dollar worth of pickle ball Courts at Amber comie field and we voted no on that because if you had to raise
money for a skate park and you had to raise money for a library surely pickle ball players can do fund racing to play pickle ball so that was all that the recreation department
wanted okay at the middle school they have a fire alarm panel that they can't get parts for anymore and the fire alarm goes off and well also the screen is no longer legible on it the
little digital screen and yeah it's in bad shape and so they needed $300,000 to replace the fire alarm panel which we voted to give them cuz it's not
just the panel it's the entire system that has to be replaced to go with the new panel because parts are not available for the old technology right so it's a giant pain and then the uh Discovery School at Four
Corners has a nurse's office that is does not have handicap available EG too and they also need to have um a bathroom in the nurses office and so
they need an architect design study on how to make this happen and we voted $85,000 for that and that was all the schools needed
they found a way to buy boilers without it going through the through Capital Improvements old funds from when the high school was built that's reserved for the high
school's use it counted yeah so who's getting a new boiler the Pas school the high school is getting a new boiler the new high school sadre yeah yeah would have wanted it to have lasted longer but at least the
funds were already there and won't have to be pulled from something else in town right okay so that was it okay G set wanted
$450,000 to build out the materials uh they are taking it out of their Enterprise F they're paying for it out of their Enterprise fund and what he explained to us that happened was
they didn't pay for putting the equipment on the telephone poles so uh the bigger part of the story is that there were Court battles over who would pay for putting the equipment up or replacing the poles with something
stronger and the end result finally you know going through all these different Court battles ended on the side of you know your horizons of the world and so now they get basically to tell that you have to pay them whatever amount they
want you to pay them and if this grant because they're using it to secure that Grant right um from the Enterprise front without this a lot of the polls that were the beginning of the G set network would have to the gset stuff would have
to be pulled off of it um he did talk about how certain polls that are already due for replacement there are ways you can cut corners and the the NG set has been working with internet and other Western Mass towns to figure out the best ways to navigate that so it is H
complicated obnoxious situation yeah that's that's the bottom line is polls need to be paid for and and the city is still negotiating with them on maybe the taxes on the sounds like blackmail to
me could be but the city has property taxes you know on the polls so you know it can be worked out but anyway he wants the $450,000 to come out of the Enterprise
fund uh and now we get to our favorite subject the sewer fund and they wanted $200,000 for in inii repairs inflow and Ill infection
repairs and I'm sorry how what was that number 200,000 okay which is a recurring yeah that's an annual thing thank you okay so leaving SE behind we're now to the water fund the water tanks have
to be inspected and to inspect the water tanks they have to bring in divers who are wearing suits that do not contaminate the water when they're in the tank and so that is a
$35,000 charge see the things you didn't know your taxes went for and they need to replace the water facilities truck number 44 which is
80,000 and then their favorite thing on here was to engineer and design for dredging Green River and that's a $500,000 that's like above the pump station is that where they're talking
about was this the one where there was like a gravel Island that was developing and will eventually block off the pipes that we used to get our water in town I think it was that one I don't remember yeah yeah that's that's exactly
the one where they have to dredge the whole area do you know if that's where the pump above the pumping station um that I don't know I I don't know if it's above the pumping station or not I'm sorry how much money did they
want for that 500,000 that's a little bit of change but if we want to keep having water in our town and not have everything blocked by gravel M and so what this was in adding up what we
recommended to the mayor who said we could only spend $2 million but that 2 million was out of cash not counting Enterprise water fund and certain other specific right the the water sewer and G said are Enterprise funds which have
income coming into them and they use the money from that to pay for the repairs needed we were $150,000 over what she said we could spend and we let we decided to let her
choose what if you know if this is really or we can borrow the $150,000 so that that's what we spent three nights of Our Lives doing so we did specify which we recommended to be
the borrowing versus which from cash so that she would know what we were prioritizing as committee so this may be more than you ever wanted to know about what goes on behind the scenes in the city but this
is one of the things that planning and construction Committee participates in comments questions good see I'd have to think
about what all of what I just heard before I would have a um maybe a comment about uh which of the you know which of all these things are less high priority
is there you know or do we or which are the highest priority so in other words do we want to would we want to give a little more guidance in terms of what we think um the money should be spent off
obviously it's the mayor ultimately yes I understand that right and and and I would say that she has been around to every department head and narrowed their list down to this and and
basically it was just well they didn't get the truck and they didn't get the pickle ball courts and that's about all well but also there were certain projects that had been originally submitted but were already withdrawn by the time it reached the committee uh
like the parks and wck were looking at getting some pre-cast resturant rooms at certain Parks but they looked at it and realized that because of plumbing and Uphill issues it would be more expensive than they realized plus there were questions
about how well they would be treated in the areas that they were looking at in terms of long-term feasibility so things like that were withdrawn preemptively yeah no questions comments no um give me one more second I'm sorry
I I was just wondering what what happened to uh working on the uh Green Green River Park swimming uh pool Arrangement um did that completely get dropped from any consideration well that
that is not in this year's thinking project so uh it's like our study you know there's no there's no not going to be any shovel ready um design for what's gonna what what's GNA happen and I'm not
sure where it's going Carol do you know that I don't actually have been thinking about why don't we give the Green River School to the Y and then when that church gets moved put the swimming pool
there that's a nice rectangular lot well that's he thinking way ahead um like making this I have a question about so the municipal study the
875 so that's a study that we were going to make a spreadsheet for and think about so um so it gives us a year yep to get ready to ask for some more money to do the study is that kind of the situation okay and then we would do an
RFP and then and then following on this um when the mayor came and talked about the municipal study she mentioned that there was a similar amount maybe 84,000 that was in there for study for school School building that was that
Discovery School at Four Corners for the uh nurses uh office because so the reason it was more because they have to look at either some kind of major grading and ramp to get a an egress there or if they move the
nurse's office then they have to restructure for bigger doorways they're limited where they can put it because they need it to have an adjoining bathroom and sink and so that is why all of that money was for one study for
one room at one school got it thank you for clarifying that and and there has been a lawsuit filed against the city was there a lawsuit I know there was a complaint but a lawsuit I thought so the one from the police you mean no no no about not having it
accessible I thought that I thought there wasn't a lawsuit with a million dollars that the guy just got maybe you're right PL went in years and years and years ago this is a school that's been sitting on a disability access
issue for many years but just it's rough that the study is probably the same price or more than what it will cost for what work gets done I was going to say the study that's a really high price for it must be very complicated but I
yes you know more about it I certainly don't um know why it costs so much but why that particular study is so expensive although bathrooms are historically hugely expensive but but
then again this is not construction this is just the study the design rather I shouldn't say study it's a design right it might also be study in terms of
here are the options which are not just this design or that design but relocating versus making the I don't know but anyway thank you for explaining that and it requires outside work too to make it so that a wheelchair can get up
to the building and into it so I'm curious about how this group feels about losing the opportunity of trying to do the municipal study this year or is it is everybody fine with putting it
off for you oh you muted yourself John myself okay I don't really think we're ready to move forward with the study I think if we if we get all our ducks in a row uh get our our our our spreadsheets done get some of our
thinking in place uh and then we can even formalize an outline for the study at at a little later date uh what we what we'd like to see as part of the study um then we can get a better understanding of what what the real value of the study is we can even get
some preliminary proposals on on that kind of on a study uh maybe have a going to the mayor with a real budget for that study next year so I think we're working in the right direction we just we need to get a little keep keep
moving I can it and it does look as if getting Federal money is going to be a problem problem for schools in a safe City they seem like or for any federal money in a blue state so Stephen as as the um money guy
in town how does it sound putting it off for year uh it makes sense um we we're pretty limited this year and and hopefully you know things will get better but uh I don't foresee that things getting much better in the next
couple years at least yeah we've got two years for sure before things change yep at least okay so it seems like the the only uh topics that that would even could
even be discussed would be signage up on the for the um Trails trails and yeah and unless it I mean I sus I
suspect well Carol you're familiar with every truck in the city no you're not a lot of these trucks were made in the late 90s I know I've seen many of them but I was going to say it's my suspicion is that we need all the trucks they're asking for but do you
get that I'm working on a fleet study okay these it I mean it's Unique these don't go very far I don't know if you're talking about the really big trucks but well for buet truck of them okay yeah and so you can have a really old
truck and not have many miles on it like we just replaced a car that how old was it it was like 20 years old and it only had like 40,000 miles on it which it's it's like the police vehicles don't have lots of mileage but they get
driven a lot sitting a lot yeah and part of the problem with the police vehicles is so many of the older cars are out of service so often that they were having to double up people to in one car which reduces their spread
and is inefficient for us to be paying for okay so does next month I will be out of town so do you want to have a meeting in March or do you want to wait until April and if you want to have a meeting what
topics should we put on the agenda well I have a thought okay since you're going to be out of town and there's no urgency about the um plan that we're working on why don't we skip that month
and you know work on the spreadsheet and be ready for April and it there's this meeting law issue that always gets in my way um I'm just wondering is there any
way to get input into that spreadsheet so that I have something to do um if we don't have a meeting there's the question I guess that's the question if it's if it's a conversation
just between two members of the committee that's fine open meeting law is more of a concern when it's you know increasing the group of people to where it would be a quorum it you can't send an email and
ask for ideas is what what he's saying but I could let's say call one of the members on the committee and have a conversation with them and pick their brains and then call a different person and pick their brains yes okay that
would work for me I guess or or would people prefer to have a meeting in March and then then we be all together and have been put into the spreadsheet idea you can always you know just table it for now and if you decide
to have a meeting have it and if you don't feel ready for it then not have it so you don't you also don't have to make a firm decision on it today that is true can just see how far along you are and whether you need a
meeting how's that Nancy how does everybody feel about that what what how would you like to move the forward I'm just a scribe I'm not making decisions Nancy if if you can if you
have positive movement on your on your spreadsheet um can you can you publish it in a manner that you know that the committee can look at it in other words can you put it on can you like you said you sent your email to to Jean can you can you just attach your
spreadsheet and then then you could go you could just elicit comments from us on on what you've done um and you know we' be I think every be happy to review it and take a look at it and have individual discussions with you so Matt is it legal for me to take
that and put it on a Google spreadsheet or on a Google doc or something so people can look at it that not appropriate that should be fine but I'm just gonna check with Kathy uh Scott or city clerk in the morning just to verify always good to double check on things
but we can't as a group reply to her email with the spreadsheet for sure yeah definitely not we and you know she might talk to people but I can't I mean it gets complicated if it's a group C what
I will say is so like I think if the Doug document was public then it would be different where then there's no restrictions but if it's a document that's more restrictive in the access that's when the open meeting law uh
concerns kind of more R and how would we make it uh so that it's public well typically what like some committees do so say if they're reviewing a plan for a certain meeting usually for the agenda for that
they would attach a PDF of what they're reviewing or what they're referring to uh just so that people can view it okay well the second Tuesday in April is the 8th and the second Tuesday in March is
the 11th so you know we can just should we table whether or not we're meeting and not have it in the minutes I think that's fine I I'll I'll
say to Nancy is um reminder that agenda postings would need to be at least 48 business hours in advance to the meeting uh not counting weekend so it would have to be posted by Thursday at 4: uh before
the Tuesday thank you no problem yeah right now I'm kind of leaning forward towards maybe having a meeting but we'll we'll think about that well you need at least three people though to attend right if Jean's not here so you need everybody but one person
okay to have a quum that's a thank thank you that's a good point so do we have a motion to adjourn and thank you all for coming to this meeting so moved second second all in
favor by bye thank you thank you thank you [Music]