Heat. Heat. Good evening. Welcome to the December city council meeting of Greenfield City Council. That was kind of redundant, but so glad everybody could be here and uh I
guess we will jump right in. So, thank you all for being here. Uh the time is 6:36. So, better a little bit late and organized than uh on time and disorganized.
This meeting is being recorded by the city council and Greenfield Community Television 9. If any other persons present are doing the same, you must notify the chairperson at this time. Great. We have uh the recorder and Anthony. All right. Do we have any of our
counselors online? I don't think we do. >> Okay. So, councelor Gordon is in sick. So, we can do a roll call to get started. >> Uh, councelor Bulock is running late. Um, is was traveling and should be here
soonish is my understanding. >> I did. Thank you very much. Councelor Golib >> here. >> Councelor Gordon is out sick. Councelor Master Tataro >> here. >> Council Bottomley >> here.
>> Councelor Bullock is running late. We'll try to announce when she arrives. Councelor Williams >> here. >> Councelor Perry >> here. >> Councelor Healey >> here. >> Councelor Brown >> here.
>> Vice President Garrett >> here. >> Councelor Minhos >> here. >> Councelor Toronto. >> Yeah, I'm here. and the president Wandowski >> madam >> here. >> Madame President, you have a quorum.
>> Fantastic. Uh I know towards the end of this meeting, we're going to recognize the counselors who um are coming off of the council, but be before we get to the end, I just want to recognize them right now at the beginning. So um councelor
Torono, thank you for your service. um especially as as cheering ways and means um the last couple of years. So really appreciate that. Thank you very much. Uh councelor Perry who was with us a very short time
and I also want to recognize councelor Healey who has been chairing our economic development committee. So, we're not allowed to buy you presents or anything. So, but just want to recognize the hours and hours that you all have put been putting
into it. So, thank you so much. So, we're going to start with the pledge of allegiance. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation
under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. >> Thank you. All right. Our our next order is to suspend the Greenfield City Council Chapter 565 rules and procedures um
which is on page six. Do I have someone who would voluntarily read that motion? Thank you. >> Uh the city council moved that it be ordered that the Greenfield City Council wave the rules of procedure chapter 565 rule 8 order and disposition of business
to allow the agenda items to be taken out of order. Majority vote required. >> Second. We do. All in favor? >> All right. Any opposed? Extensions. Thank you.
All right. Uh, next we're going to approve the minutes from November 19th, um, which were added on December 15th. So, I'll take a motion. >> Second. >> All in favor?
>> Amendment. Sorry. >> Okay. I was a little late, but um can I amend I have to pull up where it is, but where it says progress is being made at the transfer station regarding the rat infestation and continue to use pest control measures that cause no harms, no
harm to rodents, it should say no harm to other wildlife. It kills rodents. So that was all. >> Can can you continue to use pest control measures that cause no harm to
>> to other wildlife? >> Thank you. >> So we had a motion. I need a second for that amendment. >> Second. >> All in favor? So that was amended.
>> Okay. So now I need a motion to vote the minutes as amended. >> So moved. Second. >> Okay. >> All right. All in favor? >> Any opposed? Extensions. Great. Motion carries. >> Are you opposed?
>> Oh, I'm sorry. I'm not opposed. >> Thank you. I'm a little slow tonight. Sorry. >> So, I apologize. All right. Um, so first up on our agenda is communications from the
superintendent of schools and the school committee. So, I'd like to invite up um school committee member Melody Goodwin and Superintendent Sha. And we left you some kisses. Yeah, these are fancy kisses with almonds. You know, you guys you guys
don't spare any expense here, you know. Well, thank you and uh happy holidays to everybody as we get come up on the upcoming holiday break for us in the schools. Anyway, um you have in front of you an enrollment summary for the our latest one as of early December. And
just um I won't read it all to you, but in general, 1345 students in our public schools that is plus three from the last month. So, and things will eb and flow throughout the course of the year. The state takes official snapshots on October 1st, March 1st and at the end of
the year for a lot of our funding. Um, obviously people move in, move out, etc. So, we are up a few students. So, that is just a for your information there. Did want to talk about some of the nice things that are going on and we're fortunate in that sense to have
great support in our public schools. Um, one is our from the Greenfield Education Foundation. Many of you have heard of GEF, maybe. Uh, they're a board that solicits donations and will support many teachers requests. Teachers have an application process that they will fill
out. And they will support things sometimes that can't be supported from the public school budget. And I met with their their board in November and want to thank them publicly for a lot of the things that they've been doing over the course of the years. And they did just fund many programs for our teachers. And
I do want to let you know about a couple of those that they supported. They are funding for teacher Anna Marhea $1,400 to fund the raising of trout in the classroom for a study of life cycles, food cycles, and water chemistry. They're also funding $1,550 to Emily
Regowski to help fund transportation to the Boston Science Museum for all chemistry students at Greenfield High School on a field trip. GHS was also covering $3,000 of that transportation for the students. Uh they are supporting Jeannie Horton with $629 to purchase
seven waterproof waterproof Bluetooth speakers for classrooms in their programs at AAL. Supporting $2,800 to Lisa Morrison, health and phys physical education teacher at Greenfield Middle School to purchase equipment for instruction and cooperative games for
students in grades five to seven during PE classes. and also supporting $3,200 with Anna Hartman, who is a French teacher at Greenfield High School to help support transportation to the airport. In spring of 2026, they are going on a trip to France. We have
students going over there for the French club members. Um, so they have done a nice job in supporting a lot of our programs and I just want to give them a nice shout out and if anybody has extra money, feel free to donate to the Greenfield Education Foundation for funding. Uh, I have some great news that
we heard today. Um, and I don't know if I'll steal the mayor's thunder later on or somebody else's, but I'm going to give it to you anyway. In that sense, we received a nice grant from the Massachusetts Broadband Institute connected and online program. Our technology director, Ian Edwards for the Greenfield Public Schools, along with
Athena Lee Bradley, the city grant writer, corroborated on a grant about a month or two ago and had some nice back and forth going on and wrote a grant together. And that and that's what we want, right? We want to be together. Well, we got news this morning. We we being all of us schools and the city got
this grant. Uh this will award for the schools 450 Chromebooks, 100 docking stations for those Chromebooks, 12 carts. It will award 15 laptops, 15 tablets for park and recreation, eight laptops for the library, 10 laptops for the housing
authority, some printers, total supplies, all-encompassing with a few other add-ons in there, almost $250,000. So, I'd like to thank TheA Lee Bradley and Ian Edwards from the city and the school department for working together. And right, these are things that we
would have to spend. We need these Chromebooks. I'm I'm sure your departments need them as well, too. we would have been buying these this year with money, right? Pure money. So, this um this helps, right? And shows the collaboration that we have between the two two departments. So, I appreciate
Athena's help and Ian's help on that and congratulations to them for doing that. I wanted to let you know that our schools are in the midst of uh raising their music programs. Many of you have seen some of the concerts. I can tell you I haven't been able to get to everyone depending on the schedule. I went to a couple last week. We can went
to Federal Street School. If anybody has any students, that was packed there. It was a very cold day. Parents were lined up. They had to park blocks away to get in there. I had never really seen a a place so tight. Um, in that sense, kids did a great job. And parents, I think,
were really excited. And then on Thursday night, I was fortunate to go to the Greenfield Middle School and Greenfield High School combined concert at Greenfield High. And that again was a sold I say sold out. There were a few empty chairs in between, but it was busy. It was packed everywhere all the way up into the upper seats there. And
they did a great job. Both middle school and high school students did a great job. So, I think you're in good hands with the music teachers that you have coming through in the programs being expanded for our students. As we know, the arts are really important for everybody. As well, too. I want to also
recognize Nate Woodard, Greenfield High School senior. Depending on where you were about an hour ago, just tonight it was on TV, but it was filmed last week. He was the recipient from the Gary Rome surprise squad, super student of the month award. And the whole school was
out there to meet Nate. They surprised him. Uh he was in a meeting with myself and one of his counselors and then he went back to the high school. The gym was packed with all the students, the band, the TV. They had a drone flying in the gym out there. Um he came in, everybody was screaming for Nate and the
band was playing and you can see it. Um it is on WGGGB tonight. It's on their website as well too if you check that out. Um he received a $1,000 scholarship from Gary Rome along with many other things and again it is on the it was on the news tonight and they'll run that this week. So congratulations to our
senior Nate. I know many of you know him. He does some city many things in the city and a commission as well and he is ever so busy for the schools too. So I think we all benefit from Nate as well. And I was also fortunate to attend a dinner awards ceremony a week or so
ago to honor Sophia Rockowitz who is the saludiatoran ranked number two at Greenfield High School. She received the Mass Massachusetts Association of School Superintendent award. So each superintendent in Massachusetts can give an award to one of the top students. And the thing that stood out with Sophia was
that not only is she very smart academic wise, right? If you're in the top, you know, couple, you're really good, better than I was in school. But not only is she have books smarts, she can do a lot of different things. And I want to read you a few things. I was fortunate to sit with her mom and dad and her sister that night, who is a sophomore at our school
at GHS as well. And she does so many things. She is our sole nominee for the University of Rochester's Boston Law Honorary Science Award for high achievement in science and math for Greenfield High School. She is, you can probably guess, a member of the National Honors Society and has made the highest
honors in the honor role every quarter that she's been in the high school. And the teachers call her a high impact student. She is taking four advanced placement classes right now, physics, Spanish 5, English, and calculus. She is also the president, as I
mentioned, of the National Honor Society, vice president of the Spanish club. She's on the GHS student council in her community through her church. She volunteers with the bread of life, spending Saturdays preparing and delivering food for residents in need. She's also a very talented athlete. She is the captain of the varsity softball
team. Has won two state championships with that team. She is a waitress in her free time. I don't know how she has much free time at a local restaurant and pub working Saturdays and Sundays as well as a subway artist at Subway. And she also does, which I love because I'm a skier
as well too. in the wintertime. She is a ski instructor up at Mount Snow for special needs students and teaches developmentally delayed children and and adults how to ski. So, I just wanted to let you know we have great students in in Greenfield. And I mentioned to you may have you may or may not have seen
the article that she was mentioned in with students from Franklin County. And I always try to remind people that as much as we watch the news throughout the day or you see it on on TV or in online now, it's instantaneous. And you sometimes you see a lot of negative
things and they'll even tell you not to watch the news in life because it's probably not good for your psyche and your own well-being. But I want to remind people and I always do it at a graduation speech and I'll probably do it again this year that after you go to an event like this and you see top students representing their districts
and we see Nate and Sophia and many others who are doing great things for the Greenfield public schools out there that we being yourself and me as as we get a little older in life are in good hands because there are going to be great teachers, great doctors, great lawyers, great service members, great
tradesmen's, you know what I mean? Trades women out there to take care of us. So if you ever get down in life, look at some of these best these these real good students and realize that you're in good hands on that. So those are just some of the nice things that are happening in the Greenfield public schools and we thank you for your support.
>> Bravo. Your >> well tomorrow um the singing continues at Newton School at 1:45 for music and tomorrow night at Newton um community readers will be there. So, you're more than welcome to come if you want to read
to um K4 students or if you just like to see um what happens at an elementary school, you're invited. So, Newton is busy with music and reading tomorrow. Um and there is a busy busy busy group of
people doing a superintendent search. Four o'clock today, four o'clock yesterday, I think four o'clock the day before. There's like a four o'clock run going on. Um there's a lot of excitement and I think they had 25 candidates apply
which is a really large number of candidates, a good pool. And so that excitement um I don't know when the announcement will come for um when they've gotten down to wherever they're getting to, but I know they're very
excited about the process and I really appreciate the hard work that that process takes. Um and really appreciate the fact that Roland is here and it's not easy being a superintendent of schools. Uh it's one of those jobs that
as somebody who's been a designate on a day. Uh it's you can't imagine um the different things that they handle. And so I'm really grateful that he's here. Um he has been amazing to work with. Uh and they have to find something better
than him, which I'm not sure they can or I'm keeping him. So that has been really the the trend. Um I don't care what the state says. So, um, and I want to thank all of you and really hope that we move forward in a positive way with the
school committee and the city council. I think I know all of you. Um, and I wouldn't still be here without Whit who convinced me to keep going. Um, and Derek's my neighbor. Best Christmas
lights on our street. Um, and so there's so many, um, I am one of the people who watch has been watching city council and school committee for 30 some odd years. And so it's not easy. The Greenfield Educational Foundation was started by
Robbie Conn um, as a realtor and I blackmailed him emotionally because they I bought three houses from him and decided he needed to give back to the community. Um, but again, good people. And one of the things that I got to do for a month and a half is walk the
streets of Greenfield and parts of Greenfield I had never seen before. Um, and I got to see growth. I got to knock on doors and talk to people who normally aren't here. They're not in your audience. They're probably not
watching you on TV. And their love for Greenfield um really warmed my heart. And so they want the best for their children and that's clear. I even talked to parents who have taken their children out of Greenfield and I got to know why.
I begged to know why. Um so I feel like all I've done is listen um and trying to move forward in a positive way. But I want to thank you all for your service because it's not easy to sit here um night after night. Um, so and for those
of you leaving, why? Just why? That's not right. We will find you for something else. That's all. So, thank you so much for inviting us. Thank you both. Um, there was one question posted. Uh,
so I will read that. Um, I know last week, uh, there was a question about the school reorganization, and my question was since this came up after a year of it being thrown off track and there's no money in
the budget this year for school reorganization, what do you see as a good process to re-examine? I'm going to tell you it's been six years way back there was um a committee
and I was part of it. Um Kia Burton King, Jen Peralt, um Adrien Nunes um a promise was made because the fourth grade was at the middle school at that time. We brought the fourth grade back to the elementary school and the fifth grade was supposed to follow the next
year. That was the plan and Superintendent Harper was here. But we had this little thing happen called a pandemic. Um, and then we were all trying to stay six feet apart, which didn't work well at our elementary schools because 20 students six feet
apart don't even fit in a hallway. So, um, to me, that's been a broken promise to parents, uh, our elementary parents. So, the plan that was made last year was fifth grade and eighth grade. Um I think
it may take stages to do both, but I am um really hopeful that the fifth grade um that was key among parents in the community that um they want their fifth graders at their elementary schools. It's been consistent for the last six
years that parents are looking for small elementary schools with small class sizes. So I think the budget this year, it'll be intense. Um, I know it's not another good fiscal year. Uh, that would be different for all of us. Um, but I think we can look at that and at least
make hopefully that piece. I think it's going to take stages to get all of it. Unfortunately, we were looking at it as one big clump. I think you have to break it down. >> Thank you. Counselors, any questions? Uh, Councelor Perry,
>> I won't be here next month, >> but I hope the superintendent is here next month. Uh, the superintendent is here for the public good. It's not really about the school committee and the council. The superintendent comes to tell the public what's going on. And that's why it's very important to have
the superintendent here. I appreciate you giving up your time and coming. I know you have a busy schedule. You're doing a lot of stuff. Giving up nights is not fun, but it's important for the public to hear from the superintendent and that's why we asked him to be here. So, good luck.
>> Thank you, >> Councelor Toronto. Um, yeah, a couple things on this. Uh, I see the numbers. I see the numbers that have come across these years. Um,
the only thing I can ask about these numbers, which I've asked about for the last couple years, why are they so high? Why are they so high for, you know, you got elementary school, third grade,
Federal Street, 44 people. Four Corners, 46 people. Newton Street, 36 35 people. Uh I know that there are two classes per >> school.
That's unacceptable to me. That's unacceptable as a parent of children who are there to have 23 students in a third grade classroom. That is absolutely ridiculous. And we need to do
better. And I've pushed for this. And there's been haters along the way. I don't give a what they say. The haters along the way that will say that I don't support the schools. I support the schools more so on a
fundamental level than anybody else in this room can possibly fathom. There is no world that exists where there should be 23 students in a third grade because that's
going to be what 23 students in fourth grade. That's going to be probably was 23 students in second grade prior to that. Absolutely ridiculous to think that that is going to be a
sustainable teachable method. And unfortunately for some of you who don't have kids, maybe you shouldn't chime in on this, but you cannot understand how that's going to affect the trickle down as they go through the
rest of their education. So, it has to start early. It has to be there early. We've asked for the numbers. We've asked for the money. We've gotten stonewalled
for years. We're finally Thank you, Superintendent. Thank you for giving us real numbers because we haven't gotten these in previous years, which has been very frustrating for a lot of us doing the work of trying to build the budget
for it, trying to trying to fathom how we're going to uh push through these hard times. And I know this is not just a green field issue. This is a a much broader issue.
But what are we doing about it? That's all we can do here. That's all we can do with the school committee, with the with the the city council, with the mayor's office. We can only do what we can do in our borders, if you will.
But if we're going to be like lazy and complacent about it and just allow this to continue to happen, have 23 25 kids in a classroom for for children.
That just seems like we're not doing what we should be doing. We're not we're not giving them our best. And if we're not giving them our best, then what the sorry, what the what are we doing, you know? Like I I I I would really like to see like I
understand where this schematic is coming from. I would have really hoped that it would have been a a bit more positive light for me to have seen. And I'm I'm I'm again, I don't want to I don't want
to play the lame duck here, but I am I'm out next month, right? You guys won't have to hear me bitching anymore. That's fine. I'm sure plenty of you will be thrilled about that. Um some of you will miss me, and you're welcome. But like I
I I just can't fathom why we still have four years later after talking about this, we have numbers in our elementary schools which are are are setting us up for failure.
Like and and anybody else want to want to tell me I don't give a about the schools. Really? You want to tell me that out in public? Like I don't care. Like I actually give a about the schools and I want our kids to do better. My kids go to the schools. I
went to the schools. I want them to all do better. But if you don't have a cognitive path forward on how it's going to happen and it's just going to be a bunch of virtue signaling and and and
you know resolutions and and crap like that's going to occupy the time, you're not going to help the schools. You're not actually going to help the students. You're not going to help the future of our community. So I would I I I'm really just
soapboxing right now. because I got one time left to do it. Okay. Is is to say like can we do something real that's actually going to take effect that's actually going to make an
impact for the future of our children in the schools. And I don't see that that is that hasn't been happening. And I would really love to see that happen. answer. >> Now you can answer. Yes. >> Okay.
>> I think that was a question. >> Yes, it is. >> Okay. >> I am >> I did end on a high note >> which made it a question. >> Oh. Oh, >> I understand your pain. Your child was in a class of 26 in kindergarten. I
understand your pain and I know I'm committed to smaller class sizes, especially at the elementary school. our reading scores are abysmal and um I would like Greenfield to become not only green but a place where all children are
able to read by third grade and that starts with small class sizes at the elementary schools and I'm committed to that and through the budget process there may have to be hard trades you know um how can you expect Newton school to have good scores when last year they
didn't have a third grade teacher because one was out on medical and one was out on um maternity leave. So, they didn't have a third grade teacher most of the school year. Um there's there's real lack of um
instructional leadership if you're just doing crowd control. So, I am with you with that. And it's going to be hard because there's so many things that we do want to see change. Um and it's going to be traits. So, um, very proud we just
got music back on online. That was a big loss. The arts were a big loss to our district and I was very happy to see all those children up on that stage um just playing their hearts out. It gave me joy. So I think there's a commitment um
the new members uh to reading and I am committed to small class size because teachers cannot meet the needs. It's not just small class sizes but statistically five students in a class of 20 have special needs. So you picture five of
those children all having preferential seating. You would have to sit in a circle all day. It's it's really about trying to meet the needs of the population because all of the accommodations. Um,
and we're also staffing wise for instructional assistance. If anybody's looking for a job, we would really like to see your application. We are looking for instructional assistance. Um, and those people are heroes in our classrooms. They provide support. We've
always had a shortage. Last year um we were looking advertising for an instructor assistant the first day of school all the way to the last day of school. So staffing is getting very hard. Substitutes as somebody who does that um regularly. Um
I would say that is another they don't have enough of them. Um and I think last year superintendent Patnau told me they had three three for the whole district. And so our instructional assistants are being used. Um so we need more
volunteers. We need more um people to get involved in their schools. And I am committed to small class size and the reading. Definitely the reading. Um and that commitment is why I'm sitting here and kept going and walking all over
town and knocking on doors. So I would say to you um we can only improve. Um and Roland has taken a lot of heard all the stuff that
came before. Um but since he's been here, he's been so responsive to anything. Um you know, a phone call away like this is happening or that is happening. um and
the changes that need to happen. Um hopefully there are 300 families who choose to take their children somewhere else and I personally set a goal that we could get at least a hundred of them back this year
um just by changing a few things. I know a bunch of parents told me if fifth grade was at the middle school they would be looking elsewhere. So, I was hoping that change may pay for itself. Um, and that's sort of how you have to
look at things today is what what can we sell ourselves as, which is different. So, thank you. Yes. Thank you. Uh, I've got councelor Minhos and councelor Perry.
>> Oh, you were amen. >> Okay. >> Howdy. Thank you guys for showing up. Um, I know this is a broader, longer conversation to be had, but the two points that you just raised about the
smaller class sizes and the better reading scores and being able to read earlier. And this is probably, you know, way too early to start talking about the budgeting and stuff like that. So, I'm not saying, "Hey, give me a whole rundown of all the technicalities," but
what is it in order to accomplish those things? What is it that the city council can give you? So, you have a printing press somewhere like I I I
I'm pretty good. I I mean, Donor's Choose had me on Good Morning America. We rad in 350,000 one year. Um, I think right now it's just support. I mean, it's going to be hard decisions. And I'm really glad Roland's here. He
doesn't have any um like how do I what's the word? Like, you know, he's not going to he's going to listen. And the trade is hard. Education. I've been an educator a long time and budgets are always a trade. Um, you know, there are times though I've
faced like I built a new school and then they wanted me to cut 26 teachers for a brand new school and I'm like that leaves me and you know how many people for 800 kids. So I think it's all about we're in it together. I mean um but our
city also has problems with water which concerns me. Um, and as a taxpayer, I would really prefer you not to go a little crazy there because I am sort of the angry taxpayer as well. So, I think
we can commit to things like citywide literacy activities. We can do a lot. We have a beautiful new public library. There partnerships. We lost a lot of partnerships during COVID. Um the schools had great partnerships with the public library um with the Y the recck
department trying to bring those things back um are pretty amazing. So, um, and we had a lot more grants, um, and we lost a lot of, um, grant money that was coming into, um, our schools. And so re
exploring those pathways, um, I'm very interested in, um, because that was millions of dollars that provided a lot of things for our kids that, um, and Roland heard me with the swimming at the Y. Um, so that was something we that was just done in
Greenfield in grades two through five. Um, every class went to the Y. Um, the Y was very proud. They were keeping research that a child in Greenfield had not drowned um throughout that program. Um, and
they were getting funding um to help keep that alive. So, I'm hoping that will keep going. So, I think there's what I've also seen is our PTOs are very strong um and There are people who are committed as well. We have strong parents who just want to know what to do
and it's giving them some ideas. So, it's going to be a trade. So, if you say, "I want this and I'm going to say, well, we traded three of these to get, you know, it's going to be like that because you just don't have the money to." Even when you give a school
millions and millions of extra dollars, they still want more. they still want more because they like robotics and we like chemistry labs and we like stuff. Um, so you have to be very careful about the process.
>> So I have councelor Golib and then councelor Healey. Um, I'll I'll echo councelor Toronto's primary point of um making the elementary grades smaller
and your point member Goodwin about prioritizing literacy. I also, as we look at these numbers, I notice that the two drop off points that I notice are between sixth and seventh grade and eighth and nth grade. I'm imagining that
the eighth to 9th grade is related to the tech school and their offerings. Is that accurate? >> Okay. And yes. >> Okay. A lot of that. And so that makes me curious about I've heard I've heard a bit about efforts to bring programming
like you said, member Goodwin, to increase programming at the high school that would attract students to Greenfield. I'm curious if there's similar similar shift between the sixth and seventh grade that you're considering, but um we we don't need we
have a long meeting. We don't need to go into that. But I just want to highlight for the for the council, for the public, for you all that I'm grateful for any efforts that you all are doing to retain students at those ages. >> Yeah. So, thank you.
>> I just want to end things on a light note. Um thank you for everything both of you do. Um When we talk about reading, I I go back to my childhood and Chick, right? And there was a program back then and I always used to joke Pizza Hut taught me how to read. So, you know, you had
mentioned like teaming up with local businesses, maybe Domino's of the world. I think it was like if you got seated and did seven reports, you got a sticker and then you went to Pizza Hut and got a free slice of pizza, you know, like things like that. They don't do them as often anymore. And I don't know if it's because those were subsidized by like
state grants or whatever they were for the businesses, but um yeah, Pizza Hut taught me how to read. So, I'm very grateful for that. >> Uh if I may, Councelor Healey, we do have a reading initiative going on right now. It just started after Thanksgiving and it's with the Springfield
Thunderbirds, the AHL hockey team down there. And Boomer has been around visiting the schools and will be around this week as well. And if the students read so many books, I think it's 20, don't quote me on that, they will get a free ticket to a game to Greenfield night in January. It may be the 24th
somewhere. It's that Saturday night in that range. And last year had a great crowd, so we're anticipating a great crowd. So maybe hockey will help them read as well this time. >> Yeah. As a followup, that's that's great because I find like, you know, a lot of a lot of children don't have the passion
with reading. They struggle. So when you motivate them with rewards like that, it it does help them go a long way. So thank you. >> Great. Thank you so much. We really appreciate the update and the conversation. >> Thank you.
>> And I just as a reminder, if anybody's here for public comment, there's a signup sheet over here. So throw your name on um and you'll have three minutes to speak. So, now we're gonna hear from uh Erin. >> And just as a quick reminder because you
have like 15 things on your list and I know we only budgeted 10 minutes. So, >> I'm sorry. Okay. The mayor is currently conducting interviews and deliberations for the new superintendent and as has asked myself and Stephen to provide updates and commentary to the council
tonight. The main street redesign project is still moving along slowly but surely. We are now around 75% done with the design and engineering process and will be moving on to the next phase soon. Additional changes are expected for ground penetrating radar, which will help make sure all underground utilities
are mapped out to prevent any larger problems as the project moves into the construction phase. We are working closely with Mass DOT to have a clear understanding of the next phases of the process and will have regular communication with the public and business owners to provide updates and
answer questions. We are continuing the cleanup work on the former Lunt Silvermith property. Indoor air tech in indoor air testing of the detox center will begin soon to gather more data for um the LSP.
The warming center has already been open several nights this year. We received a grant again this year that will cover 30 nights of the center being open this winter. Each shift has one community volunteer and one public safety employee either from the fire department, police
department, or the sheriff's department. We are again so thankful this year for the willingness of of our community members and our public service and our um public safety staff to help serve this need in our community.
The mayor is aware that there have been discussions in council subcommittees about allowing a consent agenda and wanted to share her thoughts and experiences on this not only as a mayor but as a former city councelor and current member of the school committee. Consent agendas can be very helpful for
certain things such as approving new board new members of boards and commissions or approving minutes for agenda items that need more thought. Consent agendas are not in her opinion ideal. They can even unintentionally stifle debate and hinder transparency in
the legislative pro process. This year our recreation department took over the planning and operation of Jingle Fest and it was a smashing success. Again, Christy Moore and the team at recreation in coordination with the DPW and central maintenance have gone above and beyond to create a magical weekend. If you haven't pressed
the button on the common to spread cheer yet, I strongly encourage you to go down there and watch the lights sing and dance. The human rights committee had their annual person of the year ceremony at the library two weeks ago where they honored Larry Thomas. If you don't know Larry, you are missing out on one of the
most beautiful souls and advocates in the city. Larry works very closely with our unhoused neighbors and is a critical link between those neighbors and the services they need who is absolutely an excellent choice. The mayor wants to extend her profound thanks to the outgoing city councilors who spent so
many years working hard for the city. She served with several of you during her time on council and knows how committed all of you are to the future of Greenfield. On a personal note, I have truly enjoyed working with all of you and I've learned so much from from you and I I thank you for for that.
Thank you all for your service to the city. As we move into budget season, we will get updates on our projected health insurance increase and financial forecast and concerns for FY 2027. We met last week with our health insurance
and are expecting a um double-digit increase again, which is not great. And um our capital planning uh has been turned in by our departments and we are working hard to
prioritize projects based on the most critical needs. With that, I'm going to turn the rest over to Stephen. >> All right. Well, thank you. Um and we are turnurning away in the business and finance office in order to close out,
set a tax rate, uh move on, uh with those types of things. Um I'll just uh remind everyone that I am new here, treasurer's new here, tre uh collector, accountant as well as assessor. So
everyone in my departments are new. Um most all do not have municipal experience uh prior to uh but they are doing a bang-up job. They are doing a great job uh working very hard. Um a lot of us uh
spend 10 12 14 hours a day uh trying to get this uh done. Uh and we are moving ahead. Um I'm happy to report that last uh FY25 uh will have a positive ending balance of almost a million dollars.
uh which is wonderful. Um and it looks like and Christina will have more information here. Uh our tax rate is going to go from $19.54 to $19.31. Uh so and that's a testament to the job
uh Christina has done in order to find values uh where um they had been hidden previously. So, that is a wonderful job on her part. Um, tonight, uh, we're
going to look at, uh, a couple votes, uh, required by the do in order to close out, uh, FY25, uh, and set the tax rate. Uh, one has to do with closing out deficits. I'll be here to answer any questions, uh,
regarding that. Uh, it may look like a lot. Uh, however, these are one-sided deficits. So, it's not including the re the positive balances in those accounts. So, that's why we're ending with uh about a million dollars and in surplus
um to go to free cash. Uh then the other one is to clean up a uh previous order in order to um deal with a uh the rockboard van. So, it's actually bringing down the amount uh going forward. So those two things will clear
it up. We'll be able to uh submit for certification of the tax rate and then we will be able to send out bills um on December 31st. uh which is vitally important because if we don't then we
can't collect until May which then creates um cash flow issues and a lot of other problems that I don't want to get into but but that is one of the things that we really need to do uh to finish this out. Uh we're also
starting on the budget uh for next year. Um it's going to be a very tight year. Um there's no question about it. Uh, as you know, uh, Massachusetts is, um, scheduled for a bit of a recession, uh, coming up. Uh, so that's going to be tough. Uh, on the good side, uh,
interest rates are coming down as well as the stock market's doing well and a lot of the state revenue, uh, derives from capital gains, uh, investments, those types of things. So, um, hopefully that will kind of write the ship on the
state level. Um some other issues that uh we're hoping to overcome as far as the budget. Uh we don't know what the state aid's going to look like. Uh you know, with the changes in the federal government, it'll be tough to gauge how much uh money we're
going to get from the state uh as well as the federal government. So, our local aid may be impacted and as well as health insurance. So, we talked about it before. Unfortunately, health insurance is looking like it's going to increase around 10 to 15%. I hope not. Uh we're
still working on that, but you know, a 10% increase to the health insurance is about a million dollar increase to the budget. Uh so that is an issue that we're looking uh closely at. Um and then finally uh we will be going out for
bonding as well as and no new bonding. It's mostly just uh reissuing some old bonds and and converting those to more long-term debt. So, uh we are on track to do that. So, thank goodness uh we
have a good team in place. We're moving ahead and uh we'll be back many many times to talk about the budget and and get that moving forward. So, um thank you.
>> Thank you. So there are a few questions um that were submitted which you guys are welcome to take in any particular order and I think you covered a few of them already just in your comments. So >> well I have them in no particular order
because I forgot what order they came in. So I just wrote them down. So um first regarding the olive street which I believe um vice president Garrett had submitted a question about um utilities and walkability in the neighborhood. The mayor has gone out um walked the
neighborhood and checked you know taken pictures. Um she then reached out to Paul Newell at the DPW who is reaching out to utility companies. All that being said the process with utility polls is incredibly slow. um
and utility companies. Um uh it's just slow there. They can be they can be uh uh difficult to to get on the schedule to move, but it is something that we are aware of and um we can keep pestering them. Um another
question was about snow removal. Um, how can we enforce snow removal and make sure that it's happening properly? If there's snow on a private property, um, you can contact the non-emergency line at the police department. If it is on public property, call the DPW. Um, there
are, uh, fines in place for, um, private property that are not keeping their sidewalks properly maintained. Um um in regarding school reorganization questions,
um the mayor wanted to comment that last school year the school committee voted to pause um the reorganizing plans and then hold and then after that they held one meeting to further discuss. Since that one meeting, there has not been any
other meeting to discuss. And the mayor suggested at the last school committee meeting that they start meeting again. As capital requests are coming in, the mayor wants to be smart about how taxpayer funds are being used to ensure
that money is not being invested in buildings that may not be operational in the near future. Uh, and there was one other question. No, there wasn't. I was Yeah, I think that's it. >> There were two others. So, one is just
the process for locating and notifying owners of their or their families regarding abandoned or hazardous properties in the city. >> Yes, that is the other question and I have that one written down too. Great. So, um when we know who the all of the
owners are of the abandoned or hazardous properties and um they we are contacting them. We are sending out letters. We are sending out certified letters. Uh I know for a fact our building inspector, police department, health inspector have gone and knocked on doors of these
places if they are occupied. Um so we know who all the owners are. We do everything we can to contact the owners to encourage them to bring their properties up to code to to make sure
everything is um safe for either occupants or the community at large. And if none of those things are working, then we pursue other um options through the legal system. >> Thank you. Um and the last question was
the status of certification for free cash. >> Uh sure. Uh as soon as we uh set the tax rate, um they'll have the information that they need. Uh then we have to send in a couple other pieces of information and then free cash should be certified.
Then >> uh councelor Haley I it just seems like it's kind of late in the year to be setting free cash. Typically, we know that number prior to even setting the tax rate. So, I'm I'm a little concerned there for a couple reasons. And and you could take it. This is my last meeting,
so you guys can take it to the next one after that. But one, I see a lot of uh financial orders on here pulling money from capital stabilization. You're also pulling money from general stabilization. Last time I checked the capital stabilization account, I think there was like $650,000 left in it.
somewhere around that range from the last meeting. Um, and we don't know what that free cash number is. So, it's like you're kind of saying we're going to back feed these accounts with that free cash, which is x amount of dollars, and we're supposed to vote on these and make
these determinations without that knowledge. And it seems like um, you know, I'm going to abstain from all those votes because I just don't feel comfortable voting without having all that information in front of me. >> Yeah. Um you we are a little late. There's no question about it. We've had
such transition uh in our departments that uh getting this all together um has been uh quite a hurdle. Um however, we are moving forward. Uh and you know, next year it'll be much better. Uh but you're right, your free cash is dwindling. There's no question about it.
And uh each year it seems to get a little bit lower, a little bit lower. Um, you know, uh, hopefully, uh, we can go ahead and through the budget process write that ship and kind of rightsize the budget, uh, to where it needs to be. But the the big pieces are health
insurance and those types of things that we really do need to tackle. >> Well, I I I work out of a business in Westfield and I talked with one of their city councilors and they're sitting on about 7% of their on capital stabilization of their overall budget, which is like a lot larger than ours
obviously. So, you know, councelor Bulock and I over a year ago brought up these concerns and >> you know, this is exactly what we're talking about because now we have we have these issues where we don't know how much money we're going to have in these stabilization accounts and we're
not and if we get a small free cash certification, we don't have any we don't have any accounts to draw from, it's going to be a real problem. So, I hope you guys think really hard about how you're going to stabilize the the fiscal year. You're not the only municipality having insurance issues, but um you know with
proper planning and I know some of it pushed over from the previous administration, right? So it's not all your fault, but we have to do something to try to find a solution to this because it's going to be it's going to be devastating in the next two years. >> I have councelor Master Tutoro and then
councelor Toronto. >> Yeah. Um to follow up on that as far as stabilization goes, you have I know you don't have a number, but do you have like a general idea? >> Um you you we well we're looking at about a million in free cash. So so I
think most of that will go to stabilization. Um and so you know some we're based upon that number we will have to look very closely at capital projects uh going forward. So there may not be a lot of capital projects, but uh
most of that in my opinion should go to stabilization because that's the rainy day fund and that's what we need to do for the future. And um as far as uh getting this out to the do tonight, um
if we don't send the tax bill out and we're not sending bills out till May, we're not only like going to have trouble paying bills, but we're going to lose a ton of interest as well, right? Because that
that money's in short-term investments is Correct. >> That is correct. So each quarter it's about $11 million or so. So you know 2 3% of that is is a significant amount of money. >> Right. Yeah. So it would behoove us to >> take care of that.
>> It certainly would. Yes. >> Before the night's over. Okay. Yeah. >> Councelor Toronto. >> Yeah. I love I love talking about this stuff. Um, I know that a lot of people the moment that I open my mouth, let's just put it that way, they want to just
vote against whatever I'm going to say. Um, and that's just been apppropo for the last four years. Okay, that's fine. Um, I think it's wrong to do that. But uh
the other part of this I I I've always looked at free cash as a bad investment. Okay, so level with me on this. You go and you do your personal taxes every year and you go, "Oh I got
$5,000 back." I look at you and I think you're a fool that you got $5,000 back because you could have had that $5,000 in your paycheck the entire year, but you allowed the federal government to
take your money, make interest on it. You didn't make any interest on it, and if you put it into a savings account, you wouldn't have made jack anyway because that doesn't work anymore as our banks go. But what I the all of that to say is I don't like like a couple years
ago during COVID when when we when I started here we got like $4.5 million in free cash and I said wow that was really everybody over budgeting their department like that's ridiculous
that's all that free cash really if you want to take the long and the short of it free cash means we overbudgeted And now we're finding out that when we reconcile our money, we got some left over. To me, I don't want to run as I don't
want to run a city or municipality on that. I want us to run not to say as close to zero as possible. Always have a little bit of padding. Always have a little bit of rainy day fund. I've talked about this with the schools. No one want to listen to that one either.
But like you don't want to overinflate your budget because then you're taxing the crap out of all of your citizens the entire year only to find out, wow, we got this surplus of money. Great. And we can put it into capital
next year. Guess what? This city doesn't need any more capital projects right now. We are not fiscally able to fund a goddamn thing for about 10 years. If you if if I can ride out on the sunset like
Butch and Sundance for anything other than this, that is my You're not paying for anything. None of your housing projects, none of your extraneous stuff that you want to do. We're taxed out.
literally taxed out, pun intended, in Greenfield. We got a library. Love it or hate it, doesn't matter. We got a fire department. Love it or hate it, doesn't matter. The Got a high school, love it or hate it, doesn't matter.
These are things we're still paying for right now. We have no capacity to borrow anything without really putting ourselves in a bad bad state of being.
Like my parents would have slapped me in the face if I ever tried to borrow this much money. But recognizing that the years going forward with things with the terms of like free cash, it's not free. We already paid for it. We paid for it last
year and now we're just getting the residuals of it. So the understanding of how this stuff works, I think is really important for folks not only on this council, but folks going forward who
look at this stuff, who say, "Why can't we just buy this? Why can't we just borrow this? Why can't we just bond this?" You can't just keep borrowing and borrowing and borrowing until you have nothing. Otherwise, look in the gutter. That's
what you're going to see. The rest the city's going to be in the gutter. We're going to go into receiverhip. I honestly I will say this honestly and I I told you I would John if the school department right now
doesn't go into receiverhip this year that is a that is a problem with the state not paying attention. Our school department is so screwed right now. We can't we can't take care of this in
house. Sorry for the sorry for the bad news guys. We can't take care of this in-house. And if the state doesn't come in and put us in receiverhip, it is going to be detrimental to the future of our children who grow
up in these schools. And that's I don't usually speak in absolutes, but I am absolutely stating that right now. >> Thank you, councelor Councelor Williams. >> Yes. Um, I have a question on something
different uh that's been listed. Going back to the issue on the hazardous properties, um, I would like to know if you can comment at this time if there has been any progress going forward regarding school the issue on school street. Um,
there is an ordinance in place that allows the city to find owners who do not take care of their property and that's been an eyes sore and a health hazard for quite a while. So, I would like to know if you can comment. I know
there's might be some legal issues involved, but if you can comment on any progress going forward, I would really appreciate it. So would the folks in my precinct like to hear it. Thank you. Yes, there have been conversations and
forward progress. I won't comment more about that because I don't know legally what else I can say at this point, but there has been forward progress. >> Councelor Bonley and then councelor. >> Um, this is more of a statement than a comment. hoping that maybe in January we
can actually revisit um or at least look back at the budget because there are several departments that had overages and I know some of those are energy related that we've talked about this year. So I mean somehow we have to fix some of that when we're wasting hundreds
of thousands of dollars on energy especially when these are newest buildings in the city. So I know that's part of it. Um but it's hard to look at all of those numbers this quickly. So, it might be worth putting that on as an agenda item for next month.
>> May May I respond to that? >> Um, Carol Collins, our energy director, is here tonight. If there are any further questions you want to ask, um, just throwing that out there. >> I don't know, is this the right time or
>> uh, it's not on the agenda. I know the line item that we're going to vote on later, part of those uh, deficits have to do with energy. So, that would be the time that you could ask that question. Councelor Golden. >> Um, first I want to thank you for your
responses to me. I'm not I'm working on a deadline and I really appreciate your responses. Um, I did want to ask about a response to something. I know that councelor Gordon has asked for the flock contracts. I'm not sure if something's being lost in translation. I appreciate that that Chief Dodge has um sent
information on pricing. We've gotten half a contract. I'm wondering um I'm wondering when we will get the full contract of the flock cameras and if you're able to answer that or if you could just say it's coming by the end of the year when we will receive that.
>> The answer is I don't know. I have contacted Chief Dodge about it a couple times. I will go back and ask him again. But I I I think that there is um that that there might not be exact I think there might not be the exact contract that is being looked for,
but I'm not 100% sure what the issue is. I have not had time this week to follow up on it, but it is on my list. >> Okay. It seems like from the email that the that the request to Chief Dodge was about pricing and that the request to the and that that was answered but the
request to the mayor is full for the full contract of the ongoing services. So if you could look into that >> I I'll follow up on that this week. Thank you. >> Any other questions? >> All right. Thank you. Um I'm going to
take this a out of order because we voted to do that. So, I'm going to um ask Fire Chief Strahan to come up. Um and I asked the fire chief to come up because we received a citation from Ammerst um because of our mutual aid support of the devastating fire at
UMass. And I wanted to recognize the chief and have him uh speak a little bit about um their role in that. So, >> I appreciate that's on page 36. >> Uh thank you all for the invite. Uh this is uh uh Deputy Chief MacGyver. I've
asked him to join us. Uh before I get into that, I just want to say thank you to the outgoing counselors. Uh pleasure working with you for uh some of you for many years. Uh some difficult questions uh sometimes um and uh I really it was
truly uh an honor working with you. Uh um and I appreciate you uh everything that you did. I did receive some uh emails from some counselors uh thanking us uh for the response to Ammeris. Thank you for that. I appreciate that very very much. Uh I will report that um we
are taking the legal uh necessary steps with buildings on the school street property. It is an active process that we're working on very hard. Uh and that's all I can give you for an update on it. Uh uh the fire department is a a part of a survey team um that has been
tasked and legally tasked with looking at um some of the options for that property. Um Ammerst uh we got a very nice letter from the town of Ammerst. They had a very big devastating fire uh with a building that was under construction and
then um quickly extended into some other buildings that overwhelmed the water supply system which made some things um challenges for the uh putting out that fire. That fire uh burnt for about 4
days. Um, we were asked about our 15 to send our brand new ladder truck, uh, which, uh, you all approved a year ago, and it came in very quickly. It spent 14 hours fighting a fire, uh, under pretty
hard conditions, um, temperature- wise and whatnot. Uh, it's not a matter of just setting up the the ladder truck and letting the water flow. You go, you put out a little bit of fire here, you move the truck, you put a little bit of fire here. Uh, you move the hose. Uh, the
company that went down there was um was Group Three. Um, Captain Phelps was acting captain. I was I mean acting chief. I was out of town so I did not have the opportunity to go to that fire. But they do what what uh this department
does every day and that is perform at the highest level of uh professionalism uh and dedication to make sure that whatever mission that is tasked to the fire department gets done and it gets done uh in a very high quality manner.
and to be recognized by uh another um organization such as the city of Amoris is truly humbling to uh get that comment back. So, thank you for the opportunity to be here. I don't really have any other details other than that to say. Um
uh the last thing I want to follow up is it just re uh enforces our our very aggressive and very uh robust mutual aid system that we have uh in the fire service, not only at the county level, but at the Western Mass level, at the state level and beyond. Um that that
fire um they have one ladder truck uh and they have a quint, but they have one ladder truck uh and they needed seven of them. And so often we're asked, can we share trucks? Uh, and the the answer is yeah, you could, but in incidents like this, they needed more more help than
they had. We have had fires in town where I've had six ladder trucks on dedicated to the to the fire scene. We have five of them in Franklin County. So, just put that in a little perspective when you start thinking about, man, it's a lot of money for for
a piece of equipment that we could share and and and when I when I've I've gone and I made the argument and you've all supported it, this is the results of it. We were able to help our neighbors and then, god forbid we ever have something like that, I know we can count on them
to provide the same level of dedication and help that we provided them. I'm happy to answer any questions. Councelor Garrett, >> first of all, thank you tremendously for the work that you do every day and the work that you folks did in Amoris. I actually have a question about the
ladder truck. Um, we end the city end up going with a straight ladder versus a platform. Did you get any feedback from anybody who was at the fire about its performance as compared to the model that you guys were using prior?
>> We didn't. Uh, I will tell you this. Um the majority all but two uh all but one now because that firefighter retired uh worked on a straight stick. Everybody else has worked off the platform and that's what they knew. So there was some reluctancy of the firefighters and
hesitation about going to this. I will tell you that the capacity of this truck um it's about 500 gallons less a minute out of the top of it. Um but really had advantages that the old truck didn't have. uh and it performed very well and
it really was a statement back um to the guys that have embraced it and have done so much training to get up to speed because it was a whole brand new animal. Um we didn't have the funding to get the the platform that we that we had. We we
we bought a very really really good truck and it performed beyond the expectations that even we had. Councelor Perry. Well, >> I just want to thank you for everything.
I I I had the pleasure of watching these guys work because uh they're at prospect for three years and so I talked to a lot of guys and saw a lot of stuff. But as budget season comes up and the inevitable debates and discussions come up, just remember the fire in Ammerst.
When someone makes a sarcastic remark about, oh the fire department, oh the police department, just think about Ammeris and what a difference we made because of what we do for our fire department, our police department. Thank you.
Um, if I can end it, if there's, you know, I'll obviously take more questions, but if I can end the last statement, I really, we can't do it without the support of of the mayor's office, uh, and city council and the support that city council has shown the fire department over the years is and
the city as a whole has been tremendous and we we are truly humbled for that support. So, thank you. >> Thank you. Thank you so much for joining us. Really appreciate it. So, next on our agenda is the board of assessors. And I think I'm going to make
an executive decision to have them present right before we vote on that line item instead of having it in our distant memory with other things happening. If that I I see nodding, so if everybody's okay with that, um I'd
like to go to public comment. So, we're going to bring you up when we talk about and get to the motion. So, I'm sorry, Jim. >> So, thank you. Um, so we are now, uh, we've got, um, two
folks for public comments. Um, and I don't know if we've got anybody online, but if you're in line and want to make public comment, then just put your name in the chat and we'll get you in the roster. So, as a reminder, you have three minutes. Um, and you just need to state your name and your address. So,
Pamela Goodwin, >> I'm not going to take the almond Hershey kiss. I think I think they >> No one's taking it. It's yours. >> Oh, it is. Oh, I want a bag full. Um, so thank you again counselors for all
your hard work. Um, last public meeting I ran out of time. >> I get your name and address. >> Oh, sorry. Pamela Goodwin, 54 High Street, apartment 307 at the Welden. Um, I want to encourage the counselors and
anybody taking the time to watch this meeting, um, to watch the joint meeting where the ad hoc just met with I think it's community engagement. Um, I watched it and it just happened on
Monday night. Um, so I think it's really full of great information. I want to thank Councelor Wahab for his comment. Councelor Williams, Councelor Perry was there. Um, and I was put on the ad hoc by the mayor because of my experience
being unhoused. I did resign a little early. Um, and I think they might have met for about eight months and um, I think I resigned about month seven. We did often meet twice a month, but I did a whole lot of ground work. I found a lot of
payment, interviewed a lot of un um housed people, went to other towns and police districts to ask um what they do. Um and so um I just feel like my personal opinion is
there's a whole lot of agencies and entities. I counted up 17 that are trying to be helpful to the people who don't have a roof over their head. I also felt out of that um a lot of times the left hand didn't know what the right
hand was doing and I did make that part of my public comment um when I decided to step down a little bit early because I think it's continuing by the sounds of it and I was supposed to be on it just a limited amount of time and then make those recommendations.
Um, I was looking for accountability for places like clinical support offices, service net, what's going on in sober houses, what's going on in the group homes. I have had some experience working as staff members in group homes
in the past. I base that comment on the interviewing of the individuals who are very unhappy some of the time in certain situations. I helped a young man who didn't feel safe where he was housed. He was in and out of the hospital. I'm
still helping him in district court working alongside his lawyer. There's supposed to be a big grievance somewhere that's been filed. Um and he's had to have surgery for being out in the elements and I'm still working with him and we're going back into district
court. He, his attorney, and I um the end of the month again in December. Um, I took him under my wing and I just find him delightful, but I think other people find him quite a challenge and he's the one that I'm spending time with and checking on. He's in medical respit unit
right now. At one point, we had a grievance or two that went before the human rights commission. It turned out to be a bust. Something like that maybe could have gone to MCAD. And so I have high hopes that the current human rights
commission, should there be a grievance, uh we'll know what to do with that. So I thank you for your time. Um and I have consulted with the mayor about a few of these things. >> Great. Thank you. >> Thanks for the candy.
>> Some there's somebody else right >> here. Oh, there's one right next to So you're good. Uh next I have Mike. Love it. Uh Mike Lovevet, 96 Maple Street. Uh I was at last month's city council meeting uh where the flock safety cameras were
brought up and I would like to echo the concerns at the center of councelor Gordon's questions from last month and the comments made by the veteran who spoke uh here last time. I did not know much about flock safety when I got here.
Um, and I still don't really fully know where we stand with having them in the city or getting more. But I just want to say I went home and I learned a lot about Flock and I didn't like any of it. Uh, this is a company that I did not know was worth 7.5
billion dollars. They've grown primarily through government contracts and targeting municipalities just like ours and trying to sweep this equipment into regular budget items that often receive no push back. This has helped Flock
build a national network of 88,000 cameras in 49 states. And I use their word network because they do. on their website they list themselves as the largest public private safety network as their primary differentiator.
I still don't understand their data sharing and based on the questions about the contract I'm wondering if you're in the same boat. There's been evidence that flock data has been given to ICE. There was a woman in Texas who was tracked down in Illinois as she st sought to cross state borders to receive
an abortion. I'm wondering, is Greenfield going to allow our cameras data to participate in cases like that? One of the most concerning aspects of this company is where they get their money. In March, they received $275 million in funding from the founders
fund. And that's started by a guy named Peter Teal. And for those unfamiliar, I don't have enough time to discuss how destructive of a figure Peter Teal is, but I'll come back next month and talk more about it. Over the summer, Peter Teal was asked in an interview with the
New York Times if he agrees that the human race should endure. And for 13 seconds, he stammers and hesitates. And only when he is asked again does he reluctantly say yes. The second thing that Flock says sets them apart is that you can stay ahead of
crime with their product, i.e. prevent it. No matter what these tech companies say, preventing crime doesn't happen when you track people everywhere they go. It is best prevented by meeting people's basic needs. No one can eat a flock safety camera. No one can be housed by one. And there is no flock
safety camera that will reduce the size of a classroom. There are departments around this city that do meet people's basic needs every day begging for money. And I don't think we should outsource any part of our public safety to a bunch of tech billionaires who do not care
about us. Thank you. >> Thank you. Uh online I've got Susan Regic. >> Thank you. Susan Regic, 45 Forest Avenue um here in Greenfield. Um, I just want I
know that you are going to be voting on some uh funding around the Lent project and I just wanted to from a community point of view uh let you know that the uh Lunt Neighborhood Action Group has been working closely with the city. Um
and uh we are all in the process of developing information that we hope will lead to funding for whatever cleanup needs to be done at Lunt through an environmental bond bill that is um going
to be uh I hope uh done and ready to go by the end of uh this fiscal year. Um, I'm we are working with uh Senator Cumberford around this right now to make sure that we have all the information we
need to be able to both support this bill and to be able to um take advantage of it once it passes. So, I just wanted you to know that the lent funding that you're uh having requested on your docket now is important to this process
and um I think I'm hoping that within the next year or two I will not have to go come before you about anything about the Lent project at all. Thank you very much. >> Thank you. And thank you everybody who spoke
tonight and for showing up. We really appreciate it every time. Um, so it is 8 7:59 and we're closing public comment. Um, and I'm moving to the public hearing and second reading. So that is page 39
and 40. Um, and could I ask uh, councelor Botmley to read that for me? >> Yep. Let's see. Make sure I got the right page here. Public hearing. In accordance with home rule charter, the Greenfield City
Council will hold a public hearing on Wednesday, December 17th, 2025 at 6:30 p.m. at Johnzan Community Center, 35 Pleasant Street and Zoom. Meeting ID 920510006018 to receive public input on the following. Approve amount not to exceed
85,000 from capital stabilization account number 8402 to complete installation of highspeed electric vehicle charger at police station. Approve $47,577 from capital stabilization account number 8402
for information technology upgrades to public safety equipment. Approve amount not to exceed 10,000 from capital stabilization account number 8402 to continue engineering and consulting services for cleanup project study at
former L silvermith property. Approve amount not to exceed 20,000 from capital stabilization account number 8402 for site work and paving around department of public works sludge press. The city council may consider the same on Wednesday, December 17, 2025 at 6:30
p.m. at Johnzon Community Center, 35 Pleasant Street and Zoom. Meeting ID 92051000-6018. Materials can be obtained from the city clerk's office, 14 Court Square from 8:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Monday through Friday or phone 413772155A
extension 6163. Laura Wandelowski, Greenfield City Council President. Thank you. And now the tax classification, please. >> Tax classification. Public hearing. The Greenfield City Council will hold a public hearing on Wednesday, December
17th, 2025, 6:30 p.m. at the Johnson Community Center, 35 Pleasant Street, and Zoom. Meeting ID 9251000-6018 to adopt a residential factor in accordance with the provisions of Massachusetts general laws chapter 58
section 1A which shall be used by the board of assessors to determine the percentage percentages of the local tax levy to be born by each class of real and personal property. The assessor shall provide all information and data relevant to making such determination and the fiscal effect of the available
alternatives. The hearing is required under section 56 of chapter 40, Massachusetts general laws. Laura Wandelowski, Greenfield City Council President. >> Thank you so much, councelor. It's 8:02 and I'm opening the public hearing. Um, I don't have anybody signed up. If
anybody would like to speak to these items, um, please indicate and we can get your name on the list. It is 8:02 and we're closing the public hearing. So, um, next is the second reading. Um, Councelor Bonley, can we
keep going? >> Yep. >> Thank you. >> City Council, second reading, December 17th, 2025. Approve amount not to exceed 85,000 from capital stabilization account number 8402 to complete installation of highspeed electric vehicle charger at police station.
Approve $47,577 from capital stabilization account 8402 for IT upgrades to public safety equipment. Approve amount not to exceed 10,000 from capital stabilization account number 8402 to continue engineering and consulting services for
cleanup projects study at former Lunt Silvermith property. Approve amount not to exceed 20,000 from capital stabilization account number 8402 for site work and paving around DPW sludge press. >> Thank you so much.
So I would like to move up um under motions, orders and resolutions um items 12, 13 and 14 to become one, two and three. point of point of order.
>> Wait, did I miss something? 114. >> Oh, the utility. >> Yes, because that's part of >> Okay, got it. Okay, sorry, got it wrong. So, we got to do 11. Um, >> uh, councelor Toronto,
>> uh, I was just making a point of order. Do do we not need to have a second reading of the um the tax residential factor? We don't. Okay. Perfect.
Perfect. So, um we're gonna we're going to jump to number 11, um which is on page 86, which is approve revision amount to purchase Rockport utility van. Pardon me.
>> Will we have a break? It's 8:05. >> A break before we go into the motions. It's >> usually at 8:30. >> Oh, okay. I can wait. >> It did used to be 8. Okay. >> In the olden times. >> Okay. >> But yes, there will there will absolutely be a break. So, we're just
shuffling papers. And when you're ready, um Councelor Bottomley, um would you read the order on page 86? Yes. This is order number fiscal year 26-063. The city council on recommendation of
Mayor Disorger move that it be ordered that the city council approves a revision in the amount needed to purchase and equip the previously approved Rockport utility van for central maintenance from 90,000 to $79,693 from capital funding appropriated for
the fire department ladder truck. Majority vote required. >> Second. Uh was this a ways and means? >> This one did not come to committee but um it seems like this is uh a requirement from the department of revenue to correct this. I I don't
remember doing this in the past when the amount is lower. Usually we don't have to do this but I think it's just following the their rules. >> That's my understanding. So and it's less money. So yay.
All right. All in favor say I. >> I. >> Any opposed? Abstensions. Okay. Motion carries. All right. Next order, which is page 87. Um, and I'll
have a comment once after you read it. This is order number fiscal year 26064. The city council upon recommendation of Mayor Dorger moved that it be ordered that the city council approves the transfer of up to $846,950 from 8400 general stabilization to cover
fiscal year 25 line item deficits as required by the department of revenue. Majority vote required. >> Is there that? >> Thank you. >> So this did not go to committee. Um, we
learned on Monday the mayor's office through the department of revenue in order to set our tax rate, we need to to do this order. Um, and as we learned earlier, because of all of the
new folks in in city hall, uh, they're they were woefully behind. Um, I've talked to the mayor and the whole team this afternoon, this morning, I can't remember. Um, and we're pretty much in a rock, between a rock and a
hard place. Um, if we don't vote on this, it's going to cost this city literally millions of dollars. So, I just wanted folks to know um I was not happy that this didn't go to Ways and Means um even though you all met yesterday
uh and that we didn't we don't have a lot of time to look at this or talk about it. So, that's that's my commentary. Um I know we've got Stephen here if folks have questions. So, and we do have a legal opinion that was
emailed. Um, I talked to attorney Quinn today. Um, and based on the charter, we can move this because it's not an appropriation. It didn't need to have the public hearing or the second reading in order for us to vote on it tonight.
So, I just wanted and folks to know that um that we are within our legal bounds to to go ahead. Councelor Golov, >> I just I I'm not sure I'm going to vote on this. I'm inclined to join councelor Healey in abstaining. The way this is
written is I don't understand it. Uh it's a bit convoluted and I wanted to watch ways and means to really understand this. The city council approves a transfer of $846
plus,000 to cover line item deficits. I hear the I hear the legal reasoning to do it and I'm not appreciative of the city putting us in this position that either we vote on something that doesn't make sense and
sounds troublesome or we or we rack up millions of dollars. So, I would like to understand this better and I really wish that this had come to Ways and Means so that we could because this is a significant decision that we're
being asked to make. >> Council Toronto, >> I don't want to sound like a jerk. I always do. But I I want to put forward uh in in contrary to to what was just said, this
is the importance of paying attention the entire time. This is the importance of paying attention to what goes on with Ways and Means. Having been there for four years, I think a lot of counselors get complacent with allowing other people to
do the work for them. And I'm saying this bluntly, and I'm saying this as the person who's who's taken that burden a lot of this time during the last four years. And I know that next year it's
gonna suck for all of you because y'all ain't been paying attention. And so things like this are going to come up that you're going to have no idea what you're talking about because you weren't paying attention. You were expecting somebody else to do the work
for you and then give you the nice gift wrapped, you know, with a bow on top summation when it came to a city council meeting. This is your wakeup call. Don't
do that. Pay attention. This is this is pedestrian to me at best. Looking at this, I know exactly what is happening here. I know exactly why it's happening. We cautioned some things ahead of time,
but this is not out of the norm. This is not something that's unheard of. That's never happened in city council in anywhere before. This is, as I said, for lack of a better term,
folks not paying attention ahead of time. There's no proactivity. There's no engagement from our own, and I say this, myself included, volunteers. We are volunteers.
We're not paid like if you work in a big ass city like Boston or something and you're on city council and you get paid thousands, tens of hundreds of thousands dollars a year. We don't. But if you're going to be involved, be involved. Be engaged. Do the homework. Don't do the
homework while you're on the city council floor. Do the homework at your home. Otherwise, don't do it. And I understand that's why a lot of people don't want to take these positions is because they don't want to invest themselves that much into it. But this is not this is
nothing new. It's just another example of how even folks who are already on this body and I'm I'm I'm not trying to slight anybody. I'm really not. But when you're not engaged and you
don't pay attention, these are the questions that arise on the council floor, which these it should have even needed to go to Ways and Means. This is so pedestrian. It shouldn't have even needed to go to Ways and Means to begin with and and if it has to skip for that month
because people are away or because people are sick or because whatever whatever's mount this is not this is not, you know, a five alarm fire that that we need to call a special meeting in addition to what we already do to be
able to handle. This is this is very easy business to cover. That's just what I want to put out. I've got councelor Minhos and councelor Bonley. >> Um I don't feel ashamed in saying I
don't really know what that is. So could you explain it? Asking nicely. should I think I would like to ask Stephen if that's okay. Councelor um or councelor >> happy to take a a little bit of a stab
at this if it helps people a little bit. Um it's my understanding the books are closed. So the numbers are the numbers. So yeah, I I agree with councelor Golib that it would be better if this whole system would have come sooner. Uh I
think that's better. It it's I think this every year I've been on it, we've gotten the numbers at different times. Um, and this is late and I think the people that are working on the budget in the finance office would agree with that. But the numbers are the numbers. It's closed. So I we have to set the tax
rate. So that's the most important part. I think we can but I think it's important that we go back and look at it. Um, but I don't know that at least for me it it's not going to necessarily change anything right now. Even if we had everything down to the line item and you could speed read somehow, the books
are closed. So these numbers are what they are and we have to set the tax rate. Um, I I don't know if that helps at all, but I do think we should look at some of this because there were overages and it's hard. You can't digest that in a day. I mean, that's my old other old
repeat that I hate getting information at the last minute. It's not real helpful for us trying to figure things out. If that helps a little. But >> yeah. So Stephen, if you could explain at the basic level what's happening here and so we're transferring funds.
>> Oh okay. So so essentially what's happening is that um so within a department let's say uh there's salaries and expenses. Sometimes the salaries go into the negative and the expenses are in the positive. So the net result is a positive. However, the do is requiring
us to close out the negative balances to another account. Uh so to the uh stabilization account. So, as we clo So, we're going to take all the negatives, close those out to the uh stabilization, which is the $800 and some odd thousand.
And then as soon, which will then increase our $900,000 free cash number or bottom line number plus the $800,000, which is uh 1.7 million. Uh and then once that 1.7 million in free cash is certified, the
money will then go back to the stabilization account. So this is really an accounting function. That's all it is because the money is going to go one place and then go back to the other and that way we will balance out and most importantly be in compliance with what
the do requires us to do. Uh, any other questions? I mean, it it feels like I I appreciate councelor Bottomly, maybe at a subsequent meeting you can look at where those overages are as we look into the next budget year. So,
uh, >> yeah, if anybody wants to dig any deeper, >> councelor Brown >> to postpone looking into overages, we will do that maybe in in the new year. But also, if Carol wanted to speak to anything about the energy piece, I feel
like I'm curious to hear. >> Was that a question? >> Yeah, either Yeah, I I would love to >> discretion >> move it to a vote if that's okay. Does anybody anybody else comments? Okay,
so we're going to do a roll call. >> Councelor Goolum, >> yes. >> Councelor Mastroaro, >> Councelor Bottomley, >> yes. Councelor Bulock is not here. Councelor Williams, >> yes. >> Councelor Perry,
>> yes. >> Councelor Healey, >> yes. >> Councelor Brown, >> yes. >> Vice President Garrett, >> yes. >> Councelor Minhas, >> yes. >> Councelor Torono, >> yep. >> Does the president wish to vote?
>> Yes. And yes. >> The motion passes unanimously for those attendance. Those in attendance, excuse me. Thank you. >> U Vice President Garrett, uh would you be willing to
read uh page 92, item 13? >> Sure. Order number FY26-065. The city council move that it be ordered. The Greenfield City Council votes to release the legal opinion requested by the city council from city
attorney Gordon Quinn. dated December 17, 2025 regarding a transfer of funds from general stabilization to cover fiscal year 2025 line item deficits as required by the department of revenue. Majority vote required. >> Second.
>> All in favor? >> Any abstensions? Great. The motion passes. All right. So, our our next item is the tax classification. And I I know it's
8:20. Um I'm hoping your presentation is about 10 minutes and then we'll take a break and then we can come back to discuss the order if that feels good to everybody. All right, let's do it. So, thank you for being here. Um, we appreciate having you back
and to get into the taxes and lowering our taxes, right? >> It's going to take me a minute. I have to figure out how to share my screen, but it will show up on that over there. I know you can.
Okay, thank you very much for allowing me to come here and uh let you guys know how things are doing in the city. Um so this is our fiscal year 2026 classification hearing. If you want to we can uh so what we're doing here is we are we
are going to be determining whether or not to dis to distribute the tax level levy equally among all classes of property or whether we are going to shift some of that balance to the commercial properties. Um and we're
going to go on ahead and take a look at that now. Here closer. There we go. Here. Do that. Is that better? >> No.
>> Yelling. Okay. Yelling. I can yell. Okay. Is this the next slide? Is there more? Okay. So, when we're doing the classes of property, I just wanted to let you know what we're talking about. So, we've got residential houses, we've
got commercial, we've got industrial, and we have personal property. So, those are the classes that we're talking about. So, the current classification percentages, I just want to let you know what's in the city. So right now we have 77%
residential and 23% is that commercial bucket which has industrial, personal property and all your other commercial properties. Uh so here's the property breakdown. I just wanted to give you like a major overview of where we're at. You can see
that most of our uh value is in single family and condos. We've got some multifamily. We've got apartments. We've got uh some in uh commercial industrial. This is just kind of where we are at and
where we're sitting. We've got uh some uh vacant land, chapter lands. We've got quite a few utilities. We've got an electric generation plant. We have three telecommunication uh companies and one electric company.
So, that's just where we're at. So those uh resources um generate a lot of income for the city. Uh I wanted to briefly cover the median assessed values for single family homes in condos which is about $300,000 this year. Multifamily is
about the same 296 and commercial is at about $399. Um so going ahead and okay so now we're going to talk about the tax rate calculation. So, what we're going to do is we're going to take the tax levy from what the
do allows us to take and we're going to divide that by the taxable value from everything in the city and we're going to uh times that by a,000 and that's our tax rate. And so, these are the actual numbers
that get us to our tax rate of $19.31 that Stephen mentioned earlier. So now we're going to go to split rate options. So on the very bottom, that's the under the equal share at one. Um
that's when everybody is paying $19.31. If we split the tax rate, the residential properties are going to pay a little bit less and the commercial properties are going to pay a lot more. Going to the next slide. Okay. So, I
wanted to show you how this applies to the median assessed values. So, right now, using that $300,000 uh figure for residential and $399,000 median assessed value for commercial.
Uh this is what the median taxpayer is going to pay. So on residential, if we start at one and we have an equal tax share, the typical bill is going to be 5,793
and commercial because it's a higher uh median assessed value is going to be paying 7,724. And so, as you can see, the the further you split the rate, the residential side is going down a little bit and the
commercial side is going up pretty significantly. So, the next slide will show us what this is going to mean in dollars. So, under the median assessed value for each of these properties, the residential, if
you go just a little bit, is paying about $175 $174 less, but the commercial property is paying $772 more. And it just gets uh more and more extreme as we go forward up to the max,
which is 1.5. And uh here it is in percentage. And the main point here is that if we do a even a 10% increase to commercial properties, residential properties are only getting
a 3% discount. So it even if we move to a 10% shift, the residential properties are not going to get a 10% discount. So going to the next one. Sorry.
There we go. So, I just wanted to reiterate what our options are. So for a split rate we can give a 3% residential tax break but then the commercial properties would get a 10% tax height.
The other option that we have is increasing revenues through assessing commercial properties correctly. Um, I have found even in the short amount of time that I've been here, I have been able to reassess some properties to
about $9.3 million in additional assessed values. And that's actually providing a lot more benefit um than trying to uh shift the tax rate um into these different things simply because
the way things are going. >> I know she's in a presentation, but I would unless you're going to pursue that, I'd like to know what it is that you're doing. Thanks.
Uh yes. So what I'm doing is um generally so commercial properties are valued differently than residential properties. A residential property basically it is square foot um condition
all of those things and there's a lot of demand and and all of those things. But in a commercial property there are three approaches to value. There's a sales comparison approach, there's a cost approach and an income approach. And the two that have been applied the most are
the sales comparison approach and the cost approach. And for commercial properties, it's an incomeroucing property. The most important uh approach to value is the income piece. And that is the piece that I can
pay more attention to. And that is where I'm getting the additional value by valuing the properties correctly by putting we are supposed to be valuing these properties as the market values them not by per by per square foot or by
the land price. I mean that's a piece of it but it is one piece and for commercial properties it's not the most important piece. So some properties are going to go up some properties are going to go down. What we really need to do is get the
the get the commercial where it is supposed to be. And at that point, then we might be able to revisit the split split tax rate again once we have a more robust tax base for our commercial properties to support it.
Um, which is my next point there. Um, and I did want to point out that even with the short amount of time that I've been able to do this, um, I've been able to, um, give you guys an a little bit of a boost to even get that median value
for the commercial properties up. So, the median value for residential is that 5,000 mark and for commercial, it's just a little bit more. So if we just value these properties correctly, we will get
a lot more benefit. Um the income approach he was uh speaking about the income approach we were just talking about requires the uh landlord's property owners to submit income and
expense statements under the pains and penalties of perjury. These have not been examined very carefully in the past for a variety of reasons. In fact, all of the valuations you're seeing, whatever
problems there are, this is a cumulative effect of a variety of things. Let's just leave it at that. So, what we're really working on is to make sure that we understand what the true value of these properties
are. And we expect landlords to abide by the rules and report them uh appropriately. And we will we do have ways of taking a look to see whether the income and expense as reported is reasonable. And we're going to be
looking at that. Sorry. Okay. Okay. So, uh, the other option that we need to vote on tonight is a residential exemption. Um, now this one is an exemption for up to 35% of value for owner occupied single family condos and
condos. Um, the main issue with this one is that it does require an accurate occupancy database, which we do not have at this time. Um but I did want to briefly cover this
as far as what it is. Um basically it's a reduction of the um valuation. Um and then that means that lower end properties pay less and higherend
properties pay more. Um, and again, if we had more of a robust database that could show um who is owner occupied and which ones are not, um, that kind of thing. Um, then we could do more with this.
And I will turn this over to Jim who can explain a little more. >> Apologies for the eye test, but it'll do you good. um AC this shows the impact of a 15% exemption
which translates into an amount of 47,716. So in other words you take the average value multiply it by 15% and that is the amount of value that is deducted from
every residential property. Okay. So, if you start out on the left hand side with the 150 thou a a $150,000 property, uh the tax rate right now is
1931. Well, the exemption, as I mentioned, how it was calculated, winds up being 47,000. You subtract that from 150. So, the net valuation is now 102,000.
And when you're looking across all residential properties that have had this decreased value, the lowpriced ones get a better deal than the high-priced ones. Okay? But
it's a tax rate that everybody bears. Okay? And what that means is the tax rate starts out at 1931, which is where it is now. And if we do this reduction, the tax rate will be 2172.
And at the bottom, you can see the before tax bill and the after tax bill. Before people were paying 28.97, that's in the that's in the $150,000 column. And after this uh change, this uh
exemption, the after tax bill for the $150,000 property is only 2222, a reduction of $675. Okay, so this this can be a good thing.
In effect, what happens is you're kind of splitting the residential tax rate by shifting the burden Okay. And uh the one thing I didn't mention is there's a break even point which if you recall on the first the
first slide that showed um you know a crossover that's the crossover. Okay. And we did this for I'm sorry we did this for um not just 15% but you can see uh the range
and what you can also see on the right hand side of the chart 150 250 350 and so forth is the impact on the tax bill. So the lower properties under 350 you know are getting a few hundred dollars
in tax break. The the really cheap properties get a lot more. and the more expensive properties pay somewhat more in taxes. >> So, I'll take this one. So, we do have a recommendation for residential exemptions. Um, it does require an
accurate database to let us know who is an actual um owner occupied uh single family home. uh and we can revisit this if it's established. Um then the other thing we wanted to note
is that it does increase the residential tax rate and it provides relatively small benefit but we can revisit that at another time. Um the other exemption we wanted to cover really fast would be the small commercial exemption. Um we need a
reliable database for this in order to do employee counts. Um the do approved max is about 10%. Um again I would reiterate that in reality the best thing we can do for these small companies the small businesses that we want to support
is to assess them properly. If we can actually assess them properly they will have a lot more benefit than messing around with the tax rate. Although again once we do have them assessed correctly um we can revisit that.
Um allow me to say one thing. Um we have um uh institute last year we did a couple of presentations uh via GCC and this year we're doing a couple of presentations resident education
and I would encourage you only if you're interested in this stuff to uh come on January 14th at 6:30 via Zoom and uh you'll probably hear a little more about how we do our
Thank you. Uh should we do do you guys want to take a break and then we can ask questions and get into the debate part of it um all at once because I think if we start questions we're going to then be going for a while.
Okay, that's if we'll take a few quick questions. Um, >> I I do think that it's important to take a break. This is a really important conversation and I really want us to be able to give full attention and it has been two hours and 10 minutes.
>> Um, five minutes. >> Williams, real quick question. Okay, >> so we're gonna take a We're going to take a five minute 10 minute break >> and then we'll be back ready to ask some questions and then we can release you.
>> Thank you. Hey, hey, hey. Hey. Hey. Hey. Hey, hey, hey. Hey, hey, hey. Hey, B. Hey,
hey, hey. Back down. Go. Recording done on go. Okay, not everybody is back. Now we don't have quorum.
All right, for the counselors who are here, we're going to Zoom. So, I'm calling us back to order. It is 8:50. All right. So, I'm going to take some general qu general questions um for the assessor
and then and then we move to the orders, we can get into more specifics about the specific orders. So, councelor Healey and then councelor Williams. >> Yeah, I have a couple. Um, >> so the small commercial exemptions, um,
my one concern there, and I remember the slide, so you don't have to pull them back up. Um, you know, a lot of small businesses that I work with tend to lease their space, right? So any exemption made to that property would probably go to the landlord at that point. and you're
really relying on a good faith effort of the landlord to extend that tax break down to um their renty, right, their lease. So, that's that's one problem I I see in there. I'd much rather see more engagement in small businesses that are
leasing spaces through the city than giving the landlords tax exemptions. Um, and these are just comments they probably don't even require. Um, secondly, um, the the residential exemptions, if I understood correctly,
that only applies to single family homes because I on the slide I said single family home or single family owner occupied. >> Uh yes. So that would apply to single family owner occupied and condos
>> and so they are kind of lumping that in together. >> So you know I I do have some concerns there as well. Um, one one being um, you know, like as a homeowner who takes a lot of pride in his property and other
homeowners that take pride in their property, you almost feel penalized for having to pay more, right? Like why not just let your house get run down? Like what's the So you have the same problem that, you know, um, they were mentioning in other areas in Greenfield. What are we doing about these derelct properties?
Well, if I own a property and I want, you know, like for me it's a pride thing. So, I'm going to do I'm going to keep my property nice anyways. But, um, and the other concern there is like you might just make enough people angry enough to just move to Westfield or move
to another community. They're already pulling their kids out of the school systems. Like, what's there to just leave this community and go move to Deerfield and buy a more expensive house in Deerfield where the tax rate is lower, right? So, I do have concerns there and I'm just, you know, you don't have to answer them. I just want to make you aware of my concerns because I tend
to be a lot different of a voice than the rest of the council and it won't be here next year um when this conversation comes up. So, I hope this echoes in this conversation next year. But, I do appreciate everything you're doing. I think going after the commercial properties and having them pay their fair share is definitely important. And
um the the other thing I would also emphasize in years going forward is like we tal we've like bounced the idea of split tax around for a long time. Um please do not do a split tax until we get at least 30% commercial industrial businesses within the community. Thank
you. >> Thank you very much. I I think you have made some very good points and we will consider those things as well. >> Thank you. All right, councelor Williams and then bottomly Minhos and
>> councelor Haley. You you mentioned different tax rates. The tax rate is the function of budget and valuation. So the important figure is how much your bill is, not how much the tax rate is.
>> Oh yeah. Yeah. It's it's inverse to me. Like you're you're still paying more, >> right? If you have a nicer home, you're paying more. >> Absolutely. >> So, first off, I'd like to thank you for your work because I mean, one of the
things that we learned in the last mayoral election here is when folks went door todoor, what people were saying is their biggest concern was their ability to stay in their homes because of taxes. And I think this is a first m from what I'm understanding here, and I'm old and
tired, so but I think I'm getting it. Uh it seems to me that this would be a huge benefit for the residential homeowner here, particularly folks on fixed income. Um it it does it does look like
a a great a great step forward in terms of people's ability to stay in their homes. And as a senior citizen, I truly appreciate that being on fixed income matters. So I want to thank you for doing this work. Councelor Bodley.
>> Um I want to echo too and thank you for your work because this started back with Randy and this the board of assessors are doing a great job of outreach to the public and there was a time when we were told it was too complicated and uh I haven't heard that for several years now. You guys have
>> it is too complicated. you've dove dove into this topic and have answered so many questions and I think that's really important for the community and for us to have faith in our city and the assessment. So I thank you for that. Um my my old thing that you probably are
tired of hearing I actually would love some kind of split tax rate. uh again because what I'm hearing from people trying to stay in their homes and I know I I I know it can't be a ton but I don't feel that I feel like the commercial properties have been undervalued for so
long that it the proportion just seems so high because I just hear from uh people on fixed incomes that if we all know not your fault the valuations across the country have skyrocketed the last few years and so it's just extremely difficult and especially for
fixed incomes there's nothing they can do. Um, so that was one comment just in fairness even though it doesn't provide much of a relief for the homeowners to do like a 1.1. Um, I did have questions on you were talking about enforcement or
I had a question about enforcement and these reporting the reporting you get because we all know even when you report your taxes people fudge on stuff and so I mean how how how can you how do you guess what those if those numbers are
correct or do you have any enforcement if you think they're not the self-reporting? Um, so an idea was put forth in uh some of our our board meetings um that the health department might be a better uh place to put those
occupancy databases. Um a people are probably more willing to report to the health department than they are to us, the assessors. Um, and then also they also need to know the same information. And
so I thought that was a really good idea and that was another another perhaps not enforcement but a more of a this might be a more appropriate place to start that database. >> Great. I I just have one more question
um on abatements. Do you know the dollar total dollar amount of abatements and are those mostly for commercial industrial or are those >> I'm not sure we really have an answer for that yet. Um
so far I've got two one of each. >> Um so I'm not really sure and I'm not entirely sure how much you know at this time. So abatement season starts January 1st and goes to February 1st or
February. Yeah, February 1st. Um, and so our abatement season is just starting to heat up. I am hearing a lot, but hearing a lot doesn't mean that it'll actually come to fruition to actually an abatement. So I'm not sure which way
it's going to end up going. Uh, when we did the reports, it did seem to be pretty even. application is the first step. You have to apply for an abatement and that's a big hurdle for a lot of people.
>> Thank you. >> Um I have councelor Minhos. >> Uh again like everyone else has expressed thank you for compiling all this info for us. Um two things. one, is it correct in stating, and I
know Jim, we've discussed this before, but um is it correct in assuming and stating that we have millions of dollars worth of commercial property value
that is currently untacked due to the fact that it is run and owned by nonprofit agencies. I see giant buildings that could that are at least worth, you know, 2 million, 1.5 million,
right? that have commercial aspects that have multiple different aspects in in in one singular building that are currently by the research that I've done and community members have done that are currently just not on the tax role as a
true commercial property simply because of the fact that there's a um nonprofit operating out of it or they own it. Is that true that there is millions of dollars worth of commercial property
that is not being taxed because of that reason? >> Um there are a couple of issues there. Yes. Um nonprofits that are approved by the state as nonprofits. 501c3 doesn't matter. That's the IRS. But it's the
3ABC that goes through the Secretary of State. If they approve and and say this is a nonprofit, they get tax exempt status. However, what we do is we we take a proportion of
whatever they're doing that is profitm and tax that. So for example um an organization has uh one floor of a building
and it's renting out say half of it. Well we tax that half. The other half which is used for the organization's mission we do not tax. It's they're exempt. I mean assuming all that they
are exempt. Does that answer the question? Is that helpful? Uh yes, but also I mean those are those are some buildings are ones that are mixed use right that have commercial like commercial activity but then also nonprofit activity but then there's also
buildings that are strictly just that nonprofit or nonprofits are running them and they own them >> and those are off the tax role. >> That is correct. I mean well regardless of whether the state obviously has given them that classification and deemed them
so but I believe and I think you know from the research that many community members have done. I mean they the um nonprofits bring us a lot of help and that is much needed in our community but
everything has a ideal per quota you know concentration. We have a more than enough fiscally speaking nonprofit concentration where whereas you would rather have a viable
running business operating out of a building. We have so many buildings being run by what I would call the nonprofit industrial complex here which does multiple things. You know, rips you off from your commercial activity that
you could actually have all that other stuff, job creation, whatnot. But then also taking these prime location properties off the tax role, increasing the burden on the regular uh mom and pop stores and
also the regular residential units. I think that's our biggest issue rather than like, oh my god, we aren't taxing the businesses enough. Even though I love to stick it to big business, you know, tax them to hell. Sure. But the reality, I think, is that we have so many goddamn nonprofits operating out of
Greenfield that occupy so many of our the uh main prime real estate and commercial space that that is the probably one of the biggest reasons why we have such an insane inflated tax burden on the average residential unit.
Um, my second question is, can you is it possible legally to have a different tax standard for a owner occupied home versus a rental property? >> Is that possible
to make that classification and then to tax them on separate rates? >> Yeah, it's by statute. >> Okay. according to this exemption that uh presumably you all are going to vote on whether you know what percent.
>> Yeah, >> but I saw I Okay, >> so it is specifically for single family owner occupied homes. Um as to whether or not we can tell who's
owner occupied and who's not, that is another matter, but it is specifically for owner occupied. There's several multif family properties. Let's say like a family was large at one point in the early 2000s. The kids have now moved on except the parents still live there.
They're not hogging up a whole house. They live on one portion and the rest of it. They've rented it out. I would like to see them not, you know, be classified and penalized for that and providing someone a home. Um, so that's I think
that was a portion that was missing. It only includes a single family owner occupied and not multif family owner occupied. >> That is correct. And you know, you're you're talking about something that's in the law which we have no control over.
And and and frankly, everything we do is by the books, literally by the books. The do is looking over our shoulders, so we can't play around. and and they're they're looking at number of exempt properties and the value of the exempt properties. All that
is, you know, public record. And and by the way, uh some time ago, we did a uh a study of uh the number of tax exempt properties, how much the value was, and um it turned out there are only
a handful of any substantial valuation. And while we can't tax them, we could do uh some something like a pilot program, payment in lie of taxes. The difficulties with pilots,
there are a lot of difficulties. It's basically a negotiated, it's a negotiated deal. And I I think the negotiations tend to be nonuniform. So, some people are strongarmed into uh, you know, putting
forth more services than others, and it gets into some really messy stuff. Boston's a prime example of that. So, and if you want to talk about uh tax exempt properties, Boston has that problem in spades. I won't name them,
but for example, there's a current uh nonprofit that is shelling out $4,000 to a uh landlord. Um, and I mean, they might not have control over it. The landlord's just, you know, charging them just because they can. But if a nonprofit can
shell out $4,000 a month, I think they can do a payment in lie of taxes. >> That's right. But if they're a renter, that has nothing to do with us. >> That certainly is true. But as far as
taxing goes or valuation, the fact that they are renting space, you know, if they're renting space, I don't know. Can we can we deduct a certain part of that property for and take it off the roles if it's being used
by an exempt organization? >> I'm not sure. And we can we can take >> I'm talking about a organization that owns property as well as rents property in other locations of the city. And there are many organizations that already do this. They own like four different commercial properties and on
top of it they haven't somehow acquired another one. So they're renting that one as well and they're shelling out $4,000 instead of doing the work that they're supposed to do. So if they can do that and they got money for that, I think they can do a payment in le of taxes and reduce the tax burden on on the poor
residents. >> Okay. I I want to make sure other folks have a chance to speak. So councelor Torono, you were next. >> No. Okay. Sorry. Uh councelor Master Turo. >> Yeah. I I just want to thank you for re
at least thinking about revisiting how commercial properties are being taxed because we had this discussion last month uh last month and the debate was the value is not in the sales uh uh uh
value. The value of the property is in their income. And I hope that comes to fruition because that's going to that's going to generate a lot of uh tax revenue. Um
I understand what councelor Mount Minhaus is talking about as far as nonprofits. I'm not going to say who it is, but they own a lot of property in town. I don't think there's anything I know there's nothing we can do about it, but there was a house on Country Club Road that was sold recently
about what they paid over $500,000 for the h for the house, it's gonna get chopped up into little cubes and gonna be taken off the tax row and um because it's a nonprofit educational, you know,
quote unquote um I I just wish there was something legislatively that we could do to say, okay, this is the limit of pro this is There's a limit of of the
amount of property a specific or any nonprofit can purchase within the city or any town for that matter because if you look at Albany, Alby's going broke. The city of Albany is going
broke because everything is either city- owned or owned by nonprofits. and the the tax burden on single homeowners is is killing the city. So, I don't know, you know, I I don't know if there's a something that could
be done, but it it it's like that's by a thousand cuts. Rant over. >> Okay. Because I I thank you for revisiting the answers to these questions. we can certainly uh take these into consideration and uh I do
reiterate that we do have to follow the law as to whatever that law turns out to be but it's these are all very good points that do need to be considered uh within our deliberations when we consider these matters. So, thank you, Councelor Garrett. >> Thank you. As everyone else has said,
and um I was hoping, you know, I know where I'm going to vote on all of these. I'm going to go with the recommendations that you so kindly put forward, and I appreciate it, and your arguments make sense for next year, and I know this is 12 months out. Um the this conversation is very very similar to the one that
happened last year and I imagine for the counselors that have been here before the one the year before that the year before that year before that the nonprofit concern in particular I have heard a lot I know I'm correct that we can't prohibit them from buying property in town because we live in a capitalist
society where people can buy and sell property so that's a no-go. We can't force them to do a pilot program so that's a no-go. But what we can do is have data. And so if you folks could share that data so councelor Minhos's concerns can be addressed, he can see the specific numbers as far as
evaluations of the property are concerned. So we can really get a handle around this in next year's presentation. That would be fantastic. And then secondarily, uh the residential exemption. You had great data about the impact in single family homes. Um, kind of echoing some of councelor Healey's
comments about commercial uh the commercial exemption with the burden on those that lease their properties. I'm deeply concerned about adopting the residential exemption because of the impact on renters. And so I I was trying to look up the percentage of the city that rents and I am convinced that I'm
confident a landlord would take their increased assessment and pass it on to those that are renting from them and that would be potentially disastrous for those folks renting those units. So that's that alone is why I won't vote for the residential exemption. I love
the idea of attacking rich people more, but it would hurt those who have the least to actually provide for themselves. So I think having that data in the presentation would be really helpful because looking at the chart it's really attractive. It's like look rich people getting taxed more poor
people getting taxed less. Fantastic. This is how it should be. Except it wouldn't. It would in fact actually bite those who have the least means the most. And so that's at least potentially. We don't know what a landlord is going to do but they're not in that business not to make money you know. So that's not
really I guess the questions are can you include that data? >> Um yes. So, actually, while we were talking, uh, I was just thinking, you know, actually, there's totally a report that I can pull that will show you, um, all of this information. Um, so I can definitely, um, with the exemptions and
and and and the charity, uh, those organizations, I can actually pull that data for you and include that in a future presentation. Um, and I think you do make some very good points about the residential exemption. Um, that data I don't have. you know, we don't h we
don't keep track of who rents properties and who is actually occupying the properties. And so I do think that those points are very valid and should be considered when considering the residential tax rate. >> Yeah, there's there's nothing you can do. I mean, when a landlord's costs go
up, what do they do with them? They can eat them, share them, or put the burden on the renter. Unless you've got a better idea. And we don't have one either. >> It is.
>> Did Did I have counselor Healey? >> Okay, >> I'll keep this real short. So, I just want to rebuttal against a couple different things that were said. So, um, one, we do have for people that are having trouble paying their taxes that are on a fixed income. We have
exemptions for that. They h and we have meetings at the senior center where they could come to those to learn how how to do that. So, um that that was one rebuttal. And then my other rebuttal was about the rich comment. Um and you knew it was coming. So, let's be honest,
there's no rich people in Greenfield. There's >> rich >> like truly rich people in Greenfield. There's people like me and that that work 80 hours a week raising a family of six that bought my house for $220,000 back in 2010 and has come home after
work and has worked in his house for four to five hours after working a 15-hour day to get it to where it is. I am I am not rich. I have a hard work ethic. I work 80 hours a week. I'm on a
single income with my family and there's a lot of people in Greenfield that have that same philosophy, right? So to say let's let's charge them more because they put in a little more effort. It just isn't fair to me and and it shouldn't be looked at that way. Like it
that now if if I in inherited $3 million, I'm already paying taxes on that first of all to the federal government and and the state. But it's you don't you don't have that in Greenfield. You have people that bought houses when the market was low
that could afford that house and have a mortgage locked in at 3.75%. And they're paying 1,500 bucks to $2,000 a month for their mortgage because they bought a house when it was affordable. And now you want to put tax burden on those people who might have a fixed
income of where they started to pay more because their house value has gone up by doing a 15% classification. Right? So you have to be very careful there because you may think you're helping but you're you're you're burdening the working class truly. Thank you.
>> I think we misspoke. We're not taxing the rich. We're taxing the people that are houserich whose houses have good value and and that we have to do by law. >> Cuts a transit first. re we're already
paying our fair share of taxes >> based on a higher value. So to come after us because we have nicer houses >> you well you would be if you charge me 15% more than somebody else because my house was valued more.
>> That is a fundamental problem with the uh housing exemption. >> Can you share a point of order with this debate like >> Yeah. Are we getting too into the actual >> Yeah, we >> Yeah, I want to call a point of order because
>> that's great. It's my last meeting. >> Yay. >> One, because we don't have a motion on the floor, and two, because the motion that will be on the floor is actually for no residential exemp exemption. So, I actually want to keep us talking about what we're actually talking about. So, I
would I would make a motion to actually talk about the thing. I think that we're ready for that. I would like to make the motion so that we're actually talking about the thing that we're talking about. I think that we've asked our questions. Can I do that?
>> Okay. So, you're okay. Councelor Toronto, did you have something that's germanine to this discussion that is not in the orders that we're going to vote on? >> Thank you. Um my question I'd forgotten when I
raised my hand and then you came to me and I was like I didn't have anything to say but I actually did. Uh I'd forgotten what I was going to talk about was um you had mentioned something about the uh ability to
uh to kind of um identify like who like like who should pay more or like what not kind of like a like on a scale so to speak and and there's really no way for us to know.
So, if like a landlord has a property, they may be renting it for an exorbitant amount of money, right? But we can only we can only put them on the tax role for x amount of dollars because that's the square footage or the the formula that's
there. Is there no way of it? Maybe it wasn't just that one, but something else that you said uh in response to one of the other counselor's questions. It got me thinking. So, kind of like section 8 works. They
work off of the wage match program with the state. So, is there something locally that we can do from the assessing point of view uh to essentially deter determine like
utilizing the wage match if you know what that is? like like it it literally goes in and says, "Well, you say you live here and you make this much money and now we're going to essentially look at your W TWS." Um, and and see if that equates because most
of the time those things are utilized for uh like sustainability programs or or assistance programs. They want to verify that you're not making as much money, therefore you
qualify for assistance. So, in this same vein, on both the positive for folks who could benefit from it um to get a lower tax, but also to keep
the playing field fair for everyone. Is there not do you guys have access to any kind of like wage match uh going against somebody who who owns a property in in the city or no?
>> Um if you're talking about u maintaining a maintaining a database. >> Okay. So for that the problem is basically uniformity. So, there are lots of different ways that we can look that up, but some we're going to find, some
we're not going to find, and it's just not going to be consistent throughout the whole city. So, there's at this time there's no way to find that out for everyone because some people are going to fly under the radar. Some people they're only going to
advertise over here. They're only going to, you know, tell the government this piece. So, all of the pieces, they're just kind of scattered all over the place and we just don't have any consistency. Um, that's why I thought the health department might be a good place because pretty much everybody
talks to the health department and everybody understands and knows why the health department is there and they are a little bit more open and free with that information and it's something a consistent standard that we can apply to the entire city and that is something
that we are required to be as fair. >> Okay. So the reason I'm asking this is I understand that more people would probably be willing to talk to the health department because it doesn't have to do with money necessarily. So that being said, like don't don't we
have some sort of avenue to I mean there are so many other functions of the government that that uh do a do a check on your financial records. So if if I mean I'm not trying
to like attack people who may not have the means to do it. I'm attacking the people who might be nefarious in their their means of uh of of wanting to to circumvent the system. So if if somebody
comes to you and and gives you a you know an affidavit or something that says you know hey this is my hardship. I need a a tax break uh of X, Y, and Z because I only make this much money.
Sounds good. And to the bleeding hearts of us, we want to help them out. But at the same time, if you were to if you were to use something like a wage match program and all of a sudden you found out they made $95,000 a year, you're gonna sing a different tune, right?
you're not going to feel so compassionate about their situation because they can afford the taxes that are presented before them and they shouldn't be granted like a hardship or you know an exemption for it. So that's what I was asking about. Do we have any
sort of avenues built in um when folks are applying for an abatement or an exemption uh that would check that would would would look at that kind of wage match like what are they reporting to the IRS to the state
to the feds versus what they're declaring under pains and penalty of perjury right to you they can everyone can sign that affidavit all day and say yeah this is my true intent test. People lie all the time. So, what I'm saying is
like, is there a is there a a back door? Is there a check on that um when it comes to the reporting of wages when those uh types of exemptions or or revisions are considered?
>> Um yes. So, we do uh check all that. they have to actually provide real evidence of their uh income, bank accounts, all those kinds of things. Um, and then just generally, we do have some tools that I'm going to use that, you
know, I am going to do a search to find those kinds of things. Um, but as far as uh exemptions and all of those, we are actually uh the ones that I've seen, the requirements are actually pretty tight
and we do require actual government documents that back them up. >> All right, I think we can move to actual the motion. And I just want to comment um I've worked for nonprofits my entire
career. So I'm just going to take on the punching bag of the nonprofit complex. Um many of the services that government used to do is happening through nonprofits. So those buildings might have been city buildings at one point or
government buildings whether it was the state and not paying taxes. So I I you know I'm working for very small nonprofits that don't have huge buildings and doing all the things but um you know I don't think they're they're our punching bag for uh and our
hospital is a nonprofit. Um so are our colleges some are doing payment in lie of taxes and other places. Um I know Bay State is you know with healthcare going up. Uh so I just wanted to comment on that and uh
Also, the state contracts with a lot of these nonprofits in town. The state is paying for is subsidizing mo a lot of those services. So, it's not a free ride. They do provide services and, you know, we need them because, you know, think of all the departments that used
to be in town are no longer there and the nonprofits have taken over those jobs. Sorry, I just had to put my my two cents because it's easy to attack our nonprofits for not paying, but um they are employing people. They're paying payroll taxes um and doing all of that.
So, thank you. So I will take a uh motion from councelor Bottomley um which is on page 93 uh about the residential factor >> order number fiscal year 26-060A.
The city council moved that it be ordered that the city council adopt a minimum residential factor of one resulting in an equal tax rate for all classes of property for the fiscal year 2026 majority vote required. >> Second.
>> Thank you. A comment from committee please. >> Um this this uh came here so we didn't discuss this committee. >> All right. uh discussion. Councelor Golib,
>> again, I'll like I'll echo the thanks of your work and I'll I'm going to vote yes on this, but I also want to echo councelor Bottomly and the openness to exploring a split tax rate. The reason I
continue to vote on yes on this is because I haven't heard from any constituents during the during the time that we're discussing this. I haven't received any emails asking to change this or vote differently or in support or against. Um I have heard from many
people who are very concerned about their taxes and so just a comment to the community that if there are people who want us to change this or keep this to please let us know because this is one of the most important votes that we take and we don't hear from really anyone
about it. So therefore, I will continue to vote yes on this and I hear the I hear the really legitimate concerns about impacts on our our businesses and I so I wouldn't I wouldn't vote if I were to vote for split tax. I wouldn't
do that lightly. So just a statement to the community um about that. Councelor Benley. Um >> I'm going to vote in favor of this also, but I I do want to say in the future if we want to look at it, I think it's
better to do it early September, October, so that not only residents can come, but businesses have a fair opportunity to know we're actually considering it. Um so they can also speak to it just in fairness. >> All right. So I think we can move to a
vote. Um, let's do a roll call. >> Councelor Golib, >> yes. >> Council Master Tataro, >> yes. >> Councelor Bottomley, >> yes. >> Councelor Williams, >> yes. >> Councelor Perry, >> abstain.
>> Councelor Healey, >> yes. >> Councelor Brown, >> yes. >> Vice President Garrett, >> yes. Councelor Minhas. >> Yes. >> Councelor Toonzo. >> Yep. >> Does the president wish to vote? >> Yes. >> Yes. And yes.
>> The motion passes. >> Thank you. And uh next order. >> Uh this is order number fiscal year 26-060B. The city council moved that it be ordered that the city council votes that no residential exemption be adopted for
fiscal year 2026. Majority vote required. Second, >> third. >> Any discussion or questions? >> Councelor Golib, >> I realize that I do have a a question about this one. I was surprised to see
no after the presentation of the data up here. Um because it seemed like this would be I was surprised to see the motion be for no residential exemption after seeing the the redistribution of the tax burden. And I appreciate
councelor Garrett's comment about how the re redistribution would be redistributed. Um and just very briefly just what what was the rationale given the given the numbers that you shared
for asking us to do no residential exemption. So the way I am approaching my entire job is that my job is to give you guys the data to make these decisions. And
this is one case where I don't have the data to back myself up. So I don't have enough data to figure out who is who this is going to apply to.
And so that is my only my only issue is the data. And if we could find a way to fix the data, I wouldn't actually have an opinion. I
would leave it to you guys to make that determination. So my really and truly it is the hole in that data. It's whether or not we can actually figure out who this is going to apply to and who it's not going to apply to. Seeing no other questions, um I think we
can just do this as a voice. So all in favor say I. >> Anyone abstaining? Any opposed? Thank you. Next motion,
>> order number fiscal year 26-060C. The city council moved that it be ordered that the city council votes that no small commercial exemption be adopted for fiscal year 2026. Majority vote required. >> Second. >> Any questions or discussion?
All right, seeing none. All in favor say I. I. >> Any opposed? Council Minhos and any abstensions? >> Councelor Perry. Thank you. Motion passes.
Thank you. Thanks for being here. Safe drive back. Yeah. >> All right. You made it first year through your first uh assessment hearing. >> Woohoo. All right. So, we are going back to
motion number one, which is on page 41. And I think that would be uh with my good friend, counselor Healey. Yep. Order number FY26-053A1. Move that it be ordered that the Greenfield City Council declares real estate at 62 Meridan Street being shown
on assessor's map 20 lot 1516 and 17 to be surplus property and transfer said property to the mayor for sale or lease. >> Second that. >> All right. Um so I wasn't at this meeting but um I talked to other
counselors. It was uh unanimous. Yes. At at the um EDC meeting last month. >> Is there any background about the property? Just so we we know. >> I wasn't at the meeting, so I'm going to kick it to whoever wants to talk about
it. >> All right. >> That's the Green River School, >> right? Okay. Just just wanted somebody to say it out loud so everybody is on the same exact page. Fantastic. >> And uh
>> All right. I talked to >> What's going on over there? It's just sitting there doing nothing. So, >> all right. >> I believe uh there might be >> Great. Thanks. which would be the next order would to be to sell it, but we can
talk about that when we get there. Right. >> Sounds good. I I spoke to the mayor about this um last week maybe. So, there aren't any there there's interest in the property. There aren't any actual buyers. Um and some of the frustration
is that the state won't tell us that the interested parties um are okay under the educational uh whatever >> restriction on the property until after like they get the offer and go to the
state. So they're like can you give us a like hypothetical? So um that is potentially scaring away some buyers. So, just just wanted folks to hear that background. But there's >> I'm really concerned that this might you know
>> I think we should leave this as a parking lot. Um, >> I also will say that the mayor is committed to really making sure that it stays within what the neighborhood wants, which is, you know, something
educational. So, that being said, can we vote it? >> All right. All in favor say I. I. Anyone opposed? Abstensions. I'm looking at you, Councelor Perry.
>> This is my precinct. I'm not that crazy, you know. >> All right, let's move to the next one. >> Yeah. Next one is order number FY26-053A2. The city council moved that it be ordered that the Greenfield City Council authorizes the mayor to sell early 62
Meridan Street assessors map 20 lot 1516 and 17 pursuant to the city council policy for the sale or lease of city own land and authorized the mayor to execute all documents necessary to accomplish the same. Um, >> thank you. Again, this was a majority uh
unanimous decision. Um, and this basically just gives them the permission to sell or lease the property. Any comments, conversation? All in favor say I. I didn't see anybody opposed or
abstaining, so I think we are good to go to the next order. Okay. So that's Petty Plane Road. So this is order number FY26-054A1. City Council moved that it be ordered that the Greenfield City Council declares real estate at 77 Petty Plane
Road being shown on assessor's map 20 lot 20 to be surplus property and transfer said property to the mayor for sale or lease. >> Second. And this was another unanimous positive decision. >> Great. Councelor Perry,
>> I just want to mention to to me this is a test case scenario about how every vote we make here uh every decision that department heads and other people in position leadership matters because once upon a time someone thought it was a
great idea to buy or co- buy this property and then now years later no one paid attention to the house. It sat there. It sat there. It sat there. It sat there. It fell apart. And now we we
have this dump sitting there that we're that no one has any responsibility for. No one's accountable for it. And we are left deciding to get rid of it. And it's kind of unfortunate that there's no timeline of of knowing who made what
decision what when and who's responsible and why the house fell apart in the first place. And here we are, you know, getting rid of. We just talked about property values and property, all the importance of property and here we are with property that was just wasted for
years because no one's accountable for it, you know. So that's just my two cents worth about every decision we make matters 10 years from now, 20 years from now. And so that's why every decision we make here is important. And every decision that department heads make in
their positions is important because it comes down the road sooner or later someone's left holding the bag. Tonight it's us. >> Council Healey. >> Yeah. So um there are ways you could protect this from happening. Um
and the mayor when they they do go to sell this they do you could either auction this property or you could put it out for an RFP. If you put it out for an RFP, you can assign deadlines for development. If it doesn't get developed by then, it comes back to the city. They have to buy it back for the price they
sold it as, right? So, you have an opportunity to resell at that point to another developer. Um, so just keep that in mind. I I think I think it's a double-edged sword. Yeah, you don't want to take the property back, but you have to be smart about the next step, which we're going to talk about next. So, we
just leave it there. >> Thank you. And I know Amy's not here, but hopefully she'll hear that in the notes so that it's a it's a good reminder. All right. All in favor say I. >> Any abstensions? All right.
Next order. >> Order number FY26-054 A2. The city council moved that it be ordered that Greenfield City Council authorizes the mayor to sell 77 Petty Plane Road assessor's map 20 lot 20 pursuant to the city council policy for the sale or lease of city own land and
authorize the mayor to execute all documents necessary to accomplish the same >> second. >> Thank you. Um, again, this was another unanimous positive decision and this basically gives her the right
to write that RFP or get rid of the property. So, >> great. Thank you. >> Any rants? >> I mean, how late do you want to be here? >> Let me tell you something about a news property.
>> Okay. >> All right. All in favor say I. >> I don't see any abstensions or opposition. So we will go to the next property uh zoning ordinance
>> for ADUs. >> Is this a groundhog day? This is order number, let me make sure I'm on the right page. Yes. Six uh FY26-061. Um, the city council moved that be ordered that the city council of Greenfield amend the zoning ordinance
chapter 200 section 200-56 accessory dwelling units to add language in bold and remove language in strikethrough has required revisions under the affordable homes act signed by Governor Mora Healey relative to accessory dwelling unit 760 CMR71 to read as follows and attached exhibit A
and further amends the table of contents and index of the code and further that non-substantiative changes to the numbering of the ordinance be permitted in order that it be in compliance with the numbering format of the code of the city of Greenfield. Thank you, Pizza Hut.
>> Did I have a second? >> Uh that was councelor >> for those following at home. >> So this was a a joint meeting between the planning board and the EDC. Um during that meeting we noticed a couple other small corrections we had to make
some grammatical uh corrections and a couple strikethroughs we had to add. Um so the exhibal ex the original exhibit A has shown was not approved. We did amend it. So I'm going to have to make a motion to amend this. Um if anybody
wants to discuss it first or I can make the motion and then we can discuss it. So I'd like to make a motion to amend. What's that? >> I did. I made a motion to amend. >> Oh, I got to do the whole thing. Oh,
geez. I got to get to the next page then. Hold on one second. Um, >> I got it right here. So, um, let me write this down. So, principal, you have it there. >> Yes, it would. You're the best. Um,
okay. Okay, I'd like to amend it as stated that the city council um so the changes in exhibit A because nothing um we have to add that the city council of Greenfield amends the zoning ordinance chapter 200 section 200-56 accessory
dwelling units and uh article 4 use regulations 200-4-3 has shown in exhibit Okay. Yep. So, um, one of the amendments is revise the word principal. It was
spelled wrong to principal, um, as noted in section D2. And then remove the word det um, strike the word within on in section 200-4-3 B8 and then strike the word detached in
section C20. And that needs a second. >> Do we have a second? >> Second. >> Can I explain this a little bit? So, um, >> yes. No. >> What happened here was the AG came back with revised recommendations on ADU
saying we can't prohibit them from multifamily housing. Um, so we had to then go back and rework this whole section in the zoning ordinance allowing that. In the process of doing so, we noticed a grammatical error which we talked about and then we noticed that there was still a couple sections in
that articles of use that had the word detached or attached and we had to get rid of those to match the rest of the zoning language. So that's why we did it so we didn't have to come back around and do it again. And it was caught by I forgot who on the planning board. Um, but they did it they did a great job.
So, >> any questions or comments? >> Okay. So, this is the motion to amend. >> Did I just curious as if did did Al say this was okay? >> He didn't even come. I think he's given up on the ADU front. So,
>> all right. All in favor of the amendments. I >> I >> Any opposed? >> I >> Okay. Any abstensions? All right. And now um we will
vote on the full motion >> as amended. >> As amended, any comments? >> All right. Oh >> this uh yeah but there there was another meeting that
took place after this after the joint meeting regarding regarding this uh >> I wasn't there so >> right >> y >> but you have the notes from that >> I have three weeks left I didn't read
them okay so at last week's EDC meeting this was discussed and uh there were three people we had a quorum and there was one recommendation
yes and there were two nos just for the record >> on this state >> that's right it's state law but who cares >> councilman Hus >> so I was at that meaning I can kind of
explain it. Basically the whole thing is we have to follow this because this is the law. Um but uh councelor Masaro and myself um voted against it. I you can explain your
reasoning. My reasoning was um although it's the law and yeah, we got to vote for it and I would hope that everyone would even though I'll be a troublemaker and vote no because then that could get us into legal trouble. But just on principle, I do not agree with the state
kind of shoving their version of whatever uh they want to push for for for their agenda of housing or whatever it is down onto small municipalities and forcing us to do things. I don't agree with that. I believe in as much freedom
and liberty as possible at the local municipality level. Second, not everything legal is moral. If you think that, please read a book. Slavery was legal. I'm not saying this is to the level of slavery, but please read a book if you think that everything legal is
just handed down from God himself and it's just the right thing to do and we should just follow the law. Sometimes it's good to not follow the law. >> Okay. Um, >> sir Garrett. >> Uh, so civil disobedience is great, but the moral thing is to give people
housing and I sorry I just was being reactive. So I am done. >> Council me, >> I'm all for uh um protected ADU. Um,
I think that uh Boston, the attorney general, the the the the governor shoving laws down uh local m municipalities throat is uh the crossing the line. I could use Wendle as an
example. The state is telling them if they want to put a battery storage facility in their town, they can do it. Conway has taken the option of an unprotected ADU
off the table. We could do that, too. I know housing is important and we need housing. This is my opinion. I'm not out to debate it. I'm voting no. I know it's a meaningless
vote. It's a protest vote, but there it is. Any other discussion? Okay, we'll take a roll call. >> Councelor Golib, >> yes. >> Councilor Master Tataro,
>> no. >> Councelor Bottomley, >> no. >> Councelor Williams, >> yes. >> Councelor Perry, >> no. Councelor Healey, >> yes. >> Councelor Brown, >> yes.
>> Vice President Garrett, >> yes. >> Councelor Minhos, >> nope. >> Councelor Toronto, >> nope. >> President Wandelowski, >> yes. >> The motion fails.
>> Your problem. Okay. Uh, councelor Golib, >> you have a parking lot. >> Um, page 76 or 76, excuse me, item six.
76 mayor's appointments and reappointments. >> I got it. Thank you. Order number fiscal year 26062. The city council moved that it be ordered that the Greenfield City Council pursuant to charter section 210 affirms the following appointments and
reappointments by the mayor. All terms to expire December 31st, 2028 unless otherwise posted. Cable Advisory Committee Committee Jonathan Weber Anthony Warden Fernando Flurry alternate Stephen Number Alternate Mayor's Task
Force Against Domestic and Sexual Violence Committee Alana Gery. Um majority vote required and this received a positive recommendation. A motion second. >> Second.
>> Thank you. positive unanimous recommendation from committee with gratitude for everyone who's on this on these committees. >> All right. All in favor? >> Any abstensions? Opposed? Thank you.
>> All right. So I we're back to councelor Bottomley on page 82. Uh capital stabilization. This is order number fiscal year 26-056. The city council upon recommendation of mayor disorder moved that it be ordered that the city council approves funding
not to exceed 85,000 for the complete installation of a high-speed electric vehicle charger at the police station to be funded from capital stabilization account 8402. Majority vote required. >> Second that. >> All right. >> And recommendation was unanimous
positive from the committee. Any discussion? All in favor? >> Any opposed? Abstain. All right. >> Uh, it upgrades.
>> Uh, order number fiscal year 26-057. The city council upon recommendation of Mayor Dorger moved that it be ordered that the city council approves an order to fund IT upgrades to public safety equipment in the amount of $47,577 to be funded from capital stabilization
account 8402. Majority vote required. >> Second that. >> Uh this was also unanimous positive recommendation. I really don't want to be that guy. But what does it mean by it upgrades given
the uh Thank you. given the public comments that we had. >> I told her to go home if you don't problem. You know, >> thank you so much. >> You've been saying thank you to everyone. I thank you putting this be
going to all these meetings, putting all this time. I really appreciate it that you're doing that for my city. So, um, those are I you maybe you're not aware of it, but Windows 10 went end of life.
Microsoft basically forced everyone who had a Windows 10 computer to upgrade to Windows 11 because they got they were not provided anymore security updates. that prompted the city to go ahead and
upgrade the the machines that you could up to Windows 11, but there were some that were not did not meet the requirements to do that. Nine of those computers, MDTs are were computers that are on fire trucks, ambulances, and
cruisers. So, that's basically what that is about. >> Thank you. That's very helpful. I appreciate it. >> Oh, thank you. Anything else? I can go home. Thank you. >> All right. All in favor say I.
>> I. >> I. >> Any abstensions? Opposed? Thank you. All right. >> Uh, the next order is order fiscal year 26-058. The city council upon recommendation of Mayor Dorer moved that it be ordered
that the city council approves funding for continued engineering and consulting services for the cleanup project or project cleanup study at the former Lunt Silvermith property in the amount not to exceed 10,000 to be funded from capital stabilization account 8402. Majority
vote required. >> Second that. >> This was unanimous positive. >> All in favor? Hi. >> Hi. >> Okay. I don't see any abstensions or anything else. All right. Final one.
>> Order number fiscal year 26-059. The city council upon recommendation of Mayor Disorger move that it be ordered. The city council approves funding for site work and paving around the DPW sludge press not to exceed 20,000 to be funded from the capital stabilization
account. 8402. Majority vote required. >> Second that. Also unanimous positive. >> All in favor of the sledge press. >> Okay. Thank you. >> Things I never thought I would say.
>> That's right. >> All right. So, um, we are at the final stretch. We don't have a presentation of petitions or similar papers. Um, I don't have a report of committees. Unfinished business. There always is unfinished business. old
business. Um, and so our new business, we have uh our departing counselors. And if any of you have anything left that you haven't said that you can say in a short amount of time, She's holding you to that.
>> I want to thank the 2024 chairs committee, especially then presidently for giving me this job, giving me the opportunity to serve. It was a privilege. I want to thank all my fellow counselors for the pleasure of serving with you. Each of you have uh brought
unique talents and individual perspectives and opinions to the table and I've learned from each and every one of you. So, thanks a lot. Thanks to the mayor and her staff for working with me so great graciously even when we disagreed. Thanks to all the volunteers who serve on the various boards,
commissions, and committees. You do all the work for us. Thank you to the mayor's task force against domestic and sexual violence. I had the pleasure of serving on that board for the last two years for making a difference and teaching me so much. Special thanks to
all those employees that serve the town, the unsung heroes who show up every day and make sure the job gets done. To the people of precinct 7, especially Kate Boington and the neighborhood network group, thanks for giving me a chance and a second chance and a third chance and a
fourth chance and for allowing me the opportunity to learn, especially from my mistakes. Also to Mike Nelson at the fairgrounds for working so diligently to reach consensus on various issues. Thanks to all the people, there's no one left now, but who show up for these meetings and let their voices be heard
at the public comment. to Roxanne Weedengardner and to Karen Patnode, thank you for your graciousness toward me in the aftermath of a tough moment. And thank you to Kathy and Quinn and Tammy in the city clerk's office for
tolerating my stupid questions and my questionable sense of humor. And I want to thank my wife Susan, who's probably sleeping right now, for letting me do this. Thank you. >> Thank you. I don't remember if councelor Healey is
on longer or councelor Toronto >> same time. >> Okay. So, we'll go alphabetical. Councelor Healey. Well, I I will say first of all, I'm disappointed that you have a stopwatch because um I was really hoping to pull a filibuster
um to remind the counselors that haven't been here as long as Mike and I and and John I think has been here quite a while as well. Um because we've worked together on some very late nights, one o'clock in the morning and the council
meetings luckily this year were not as gruesome, but um they they have been there. So, thanks to all the counselors for all the hard work you put in. I'd like to thank everybody here because as you know, you know, we might have varying opinions on multiple topics, but
I respect you all very much and I do appreciate um all your hard work even though I may not agree with it, but um I do appreciate it because um I think balance is going to be a very important thing for this council in the future. I think uh
when you're making a hard decision, just if you could just take that 30 seconds to think about me in the future and say, I don't want to use the what would Derek say, but I'm going to do it anyways. Right. So, um >> yeah, exactly. What would Derek do?
Right. So, um honestly, it's been a pleasure, everybody. It really has. And to the constituents and people, um that have tolerated me as well and to the people that respect me for my opinions as well. Um, thank you um, for stopping by my house, for, you know, supporting
me when I needed it. Thank you to the clerk's office because I'm not always the easiest person. I like to throw last minute Hail Marys. Um, because I'm a busy man, right? And most importantly, um, thanks to my wife and, you know, my four children for giving me the time to do this. It was a big sacrifice and I
appreciate them. Thank you. H Knew I was gonna open with that, didn't you? Um, >> you can you can tag me all you want. I don't care. >> If I followed any rule, it won't be that
one. Uh, no, I I appreciate uh all you folks. I appreciate the time that you dedicate obviously uh being here in the in the grind with you. I know what it means uh and what sacrifices that
entails. Um I'm not going to say I'm terribly sad to be leaving. Uh there there is definitely a brevity to this and um there's going to be an inner peace after
this. I think I think one person, she's not here anymore, but she did see me in Stop and Shop uh a couple weeks ago and then apologized to me profusely afterwards. Aaron, um who who bumped into me there and
said, "You look a lot more relaxed." And I go, "Well, that's because I know that I'm leaving city council. Like, I'm all set. Like, it's good." No, it was it's it's good. It's all fun. Um, but uh, no, I I've enjoyed my time here
and uh, to the capacity that I can. I I I hope that I've been able to help um, in the capacity that I can, especially with the the ways and means. I've taken that very seriously. I really hope that
folks a cautionary tale. I hope that folks going forward take that just as seriously. Um it is important to all of us old and young uh how how the the funding gets spent in this city. And it
is really important. It's it can't just be off of the the 10 folks that you have in your echo chamber uh that some folks might call their constituents. Th those aren't your constituents. Those are your friends. And so listen to your
constituents. Make decisions that are based on what is going to be not for what you perceive the greater good. It may be totally different. Keep an independent thought on what is going to be the greater good for the folks that
you are representing. There are a lot of decisions that I've made while I've been here for four years I didn't like personally. I didn't want to vote for, but I did it because that was what I was tasked to do.
I really hope that that can continue. I really hope that that that can be something that I can leave you with at least is to um get out of your own head. Get out of your own ideology.
what you think is best is not necessarily best for everyone and you don't necessarily know better. So that thought needs to immediately escape your brain if you're going to represent
um other folks in a legislative body. Uh and I guess that's really all I can say. Uh but thanks for bearing with me. And you know I know I'm crass. I know I speak my mind and
maybe don't follow all of the FCC rules on what you're allowed to say and what you're not allowed to say, but guess what? I don't give a So, there you go. Just one last time. >> Thank you. You all make this council
made this council better. Um, I respect each of you and what you brought. So, I'll take a motion to adjurnn. All in favor? >> All right. Good night, everybody.