Good evening everybody and welcome to the Greenfield City Council October. I'm um delighted to have a smaller audience tonight for a moment. >> Can you all hear me? >> We can. Councelor Bullock,
>> I just turned the video on. >> I could hear you online. >> Can you all hear us? >> Do you hear the John Zan online? >> I don't. Uhoh. >> Me neither. >> Should be good now. You should be able to hear us now.
>> Oh, yeah. We hear you. >> All right. All right. There's always a little something, isn't there? So, thank you all for being here. Um, just as a reminder that this meeting is being recorded by the city council and GCTV. If any other persons present are doing
the same, you must notify the chairperson. And I know that Anthony is recording. And it looks like nobody else. Alrighty. So, um I'm just flipping pages. Um and we're
going to start with a roll call. And we have two folks online, so we're going to have to do it as a actual roll call. >> Three, I think. >> Uh councelor Golib >> here. Councelor Gordon
>> here. >> Council Master Tataro >> here. >> Councelor Bottomley >> here. >> Councelor Bulock >> here. >> Councelor Williams >> here. Councelor Perry >> here.
>> Councelor Healey >> here. >> Council Brown here. Here. Vice President Garrett, >> I am here. >> Councelor Minhos >> here.
Here. Sorry. >> Councelor Toronto >> here. >> Uh, President Wandowski >> here. >> Madame President, you have a quorum. >> All right. Great. Um, so next is the pledge of allegiance and all stand who
wish to To the flag of the United States of America to the standy. >> All right. Our first regular order of business is approval of the minutes for August 20th and September 30th city
council meetings. I'll take a motion for that. >> So moved. Second. >> I think that was councelor Toronto and councelor Bottomley. >> All right. And now we're going to have to roll call approval.
>> Thank you, Councelor Gool. Yes. >> Councelor Gordon. >> Yes. >> Councelor Master Tataro. >> Yes. >> Councelor Bottomley. >> Yes. >> Councelor Bulock. >> Yes. >> Council Williams. >> Yes.
>> Councelor Perry. >> Yes. >> Councelor Healey. >> Yes. >> Councelor Brown. >> Yes. >> Vice President Garrett? >> Yes. >> Councelor Minhos? >> Yes. >> Councelor Toronto? >> Yep. >> Does the president wish to vote? >> Yes. And yes. The motion passes
unanimously. >> Great. Um, and just a reminder, anybody who wants to be in public comment, we have a sign-in sheet as you come in. Um, you get three minutes and you have to state your name and approximately where you live. Um, either street address or
at least Greenfield. And if you're online and want to be part of public comment, you just have to put in the chat your name. Um, we can't see your hand if you raise it. So just as a reminder, we'll get to that part portion in a minute. So um first item of
business is the communications from the superintendent of schools and school committee. And I know the superintendent is unable to be here tonight. So we have vice president Sexton this. There we go. Howdy. How's it going? Um, I'm here mostly to give an update about the
superintendent search, um, which is an very important process and one of the sort of key charges for us as a school committee and something that impacts our entire community. Um, so I really want to make sure that folks are aware that it is happening and ways that you can get involved and add your uh your voice
and your input into shaping the type of candidate that we get and the kinds of priorities that we're communicating to that candidate once they get here for what what we want. >> Point of order. Excuse me. I'm sorry. >> Sure. >> Put the mic a little closer because you
very quiet. That's unlike me. All right. No, I I I understand that I do sometimes have a soft spoken voice. So, I appreciate the I want to make sure you can hear me. So, yes, mostly just saying that superintendent search is very important. Want to make sure that you
all know ways that you can add your voice because we're not just communicating the type of candidate that we want, but the kinds of priorities we have as a community for where our schools are going and the type of leader we think that we can help address those priorities. So, um we've really officially started in earnest. We are
contracting with NZDC um who also did our building study uh to support us as we go through this process. Um they're going to be really supporting us doing a community needs assessment over the coming weeks. This will look like focus
groups with five different community entities. A lot of them are school constituencies, so students, teachers, parents, etc. There will be a general like community member focus group that will be had. Um there will also be an
online survey that will go out. This information will be used to compile then a candidate profile um which will inform um how we are sort of uh rating for a lack of a better word or how we are analyzing the candidates that
we receive from the job posting against what our community is saying is important to them. the kind of leader that they're looking for and the kind of um priorities they have moving forward. As for the search itself and who will be actually looking at candidate profiles,
um there is a small what we're calling a steering committee that I'm uh leading as that that are three representatives from the school committee itself. So that's myself, Mayor Dorger, and member Ann Childs. And we'll be doing a lot of the logistics. We're going to be getting rooms. We're going to be making sure
that times are displayed. We're going to be the ones getting out all of the like press releases and invitations to participate. Uh but we'll also have a search committee and this will be made up of different members. The exact makeup um will actually be being decided at a special school committee meeting
this Friday morning at 8 a.m. for those who would like to join on Zoom. This is a continuation of our last meeting last week uh where we handled most of these details, but there were a few things about the search that we wanted to spend a little more time on. Um but that
search committee will actually be responsible for looking at different candidate information. Um they will be looking at uh applications, references, resumes. They'll be conducting first round interviews. Um and the an invitation to participate in that search
committee because this will be broader than just school committee members will be going out very shortly. As soon as we nail down exactly the sort of makeup of it that we're looking for, then we can advertise and get specific individuals who would like um or who have some
interest uh in being part of that. So, look out for that as an opportunity. Um the we have a general timeline for this whole search that will end us up in February with an actual candidate ideally getting a an offer letter from
us. Um, and so between now and then, we'll do first and second round interviews. We'll have them here. There will be opportunities for everyone to interact and meet the candidates. Um, we'll be advertising those as broadly as we can because we want this to be an incredibly participatory sort of thing.
We want folks there adding their voice. Um, and as part of that, there are additional opportunities for public input uh that I wanted to make sure were highlighted to you. So, I talked about these community forums. The exact timing, like the exact date and day and
where, etc., are still being worked out, but it's looking like it's going to be in the last week of this month that we're going to be trying to have those focus groups. Um, additionally, though this is not co-sponsored by the school committee, I've heard of another forum
that's happening over Zoom on October 22nd specifically to talk about graduation readiness and what we think education is for. And then another late addition for public input into education generally that I've heard um is on
November 6th uh I think Joe Cumberford has been organizing a public comment session related to local contribution of chapter 70 funds. So those were other opportunities, not necessarily directly related to the superintendent search, but again opportunities for us to talk
about what we want to see in education, what our challenges are that the state is responsible for, what the challenges are that we are responsible for. Um, and with that, I think I would take any questions. >> Thank you, counselors. Any questions?
Councelor Garrett, >> just to say thank you for the work that's clearly going into the superintendent search. It's obviously very important for the city as you are no doubt aware. So I appreciate what you and the steering committee are doing and >> what the hiring committee will be doing in the future.
>> Great. Thank you. >> Thank you. Um I have two questions. Um one is our interim interested in per minutes or are they an interim only person? Um I at this point I believe that our interim is is only available as
an interim due to the number of waiverss and being in retirement. There's some sort of complexity there. Uh so I don't think that Dr. or I don't think that Mr. Doyle is actually eligible. Um and it has not been a feature of the conversations that we've been having. I
really think we're looking for a totally new candidate. >> Great. Okay. Um, and the other is out of the blue, but I in I think as I was driving in this morning, I heard a story about a study that the school committee has approved um looking at the special
education transportation and just if you want to expand a little bit on that. I know we've talked about that here in the council. So, I think my counselors are interested in that. >> Sure. Yeah, thank you for that question. Um at last week's meeting we did vote to approve um the expenditure that would do
a study of our special education transportation specifically I think to get a sense of you know if we fully contracted all of it out as opposed to running any part of it inhouse what would that like is that more efficient less efficient more cost effective less
cost effective um this was a the process for bidding out this study started actually under our prior superintendent uh former superintendent Pat Node uh kind of as a as a response to some of the inquiries that we received uh during the course of the budget season. So,
we're trying trying our best to be responsive to getting the information we know that counselors and and ourselves are interested in. >> Thank you. >> Thank you. Anything else? >> Great. >> All right. Thank you so much. We appreciate having schools here and
getting updates from you all. So, thank you. >> Great. So, I'd like to invite the mayor up and uh to hear from city hall. Mayor, I feel like we need walk up music for you because we're sitting there
waiting like what's your walk up song? >> I don't sing. >> Okay, there you go. All right, so I'm going to start with a an update on the transfer station. So, um, after last month, we had the D out on the Friday
after the Wednesday of the meeting, and, um, they're requiring some, uh, adjustments to how we operate in order to address the rodent infestation. Uh, we need to make sure that every
piece of trash and recycling is removed from the floor at the end of every day. Additionally, we need to hose down the floor at the end of every day. Last month, we shifted ours at the end of the transfer station so that we can get this
done, and we have been doing that and ensure that our staff gets out on time. We also removed the bor from inside the transfer station, mowed the bowl, and cleaned out the rat's nest under the staff lockers.
>> Very good. I want to give a special shout out to the central maintenance for doing that nasty job. Um, thanks to all of these changes, the rat population is decreasing.
D is coming out weekly and we are complying with whatever they are telling us. So for now uh we need to keep uh our hours uh the hours and as they continue to work on the problem we we we will be
looking for a different break room for the employees under capital expenditures and more attention to that facility may be needed that may mean more in the line of capital expenditures there um also on in the DPW line tyin bond is
beginning a survey uh on our water and sewer systems. Once we have a full analysis and that's complete, uh DPW and our grant writer will go ahead and apply for state revolving fund money to address the inflow in infiltration
uh that we've been working on. The delegation has encouraged us to think big for this project. They believe that there may be money out there for us to complete this because people understand that anything that happens here affects everything to the south of us.
Um Greenfield Business Association the agenda made it sound like this was an event that was coming up but oh no that's okay but um that actually happened. We had a fabulous gathering at the library with many business owners and community members. We did discuss
the Hope Street um project and downtown development in general. I'd like to give a big shout out to Hannah from the GBA and the lab the library staff for hosting us. Um also on October 29th, there'll be another Hope Street
conversation hosted by the LO League of Women Voters and uh that will be broadcast on GCTV. And that's all I have for now unless you have any other questions. Thank you, mayor, counselors. Uh, thank you for taking the rat nest
from under people's lockers. That seems so common sense. So, thank you. That's >> truly disgusting. >> Vice President Garrett. >> So, I have a question on two of these items. Uh, the first one is about the engineering survey. I know for the two
years I've been on council, we've been spending a bunch of money on INI. And is this survey going to survey the rest of the system or is it a it is okay. So that was my kind of first question. That's good news. And then my second question is regarding, you know, the
Hope Street lot and the question of revenue from that lot if it was reopened to parking. So there's a number floating around in the newspaper. I just saw it in another editorial today. I know it's in the fever swamps of Facebook kind of roaming around convincing people that
it's real. But this $200,000 number on revenue is something that I frankly think is a keystone of the S side. And I would love to I mean, just to be blatant, I would love to you to take a rhetorical hammer to it. Um, and so if you could tell us why it is not going to
be $200,000 a year if that parking lot is reopened, that would be very helpful. >> Okay. So, um I can't predict the future of what anything could be, but um I did go down um to the treasur's office
today. Um we used to make a lot more on parking because we used to charge for parking on Saturdays. I will tell you that. Um, and I will tell you that we have had four public records requests for parking and
um, which we of course will get to, but I just did um to today I did the past two years for parking revenue. Um so parking revenue for the for fiscal
year 24 the total parking revenue for fiscal 24 was 355,000 491 that's total parking revenue $80,000 of which was for the parking passes that's
not so in fiscal year 25 was 320 22604 um 80,000 of which is for the parking passes. So roughly for parking meters it's $250,000 a year. So personally I
don't see how that is possible. >> That includes the garage. >> Well, yes, that includes the garage. So keep in mind that you would just be moving people from one place to another. Unless we had a whole lot more people
that were coming here. I don't see how that would how that would be humanly possible. Um it's the same number of people that are parking one place or another. Um, so the total revenue for parking annually for
meters is $250,000. You have the same number of people. The way that we would make more for parking I'm is is if we had more people that are coming to things here in town. The way that you get more people here in town is
if we have more development, more commercial, more housing. >> Thank you much. I have councelor Perry and >> thank you mayor. I have three questions one at a time regarding the home street
watt will the RFP only include housing options? >> No the RFP and I think that we said that um the RFP that we had and we had a draft of it when it first came out when
we knew we were voting on it. It was for commercial on the bottom floor and um h housing on the upper floors. If the
developer you put it out like this and then you see what what developers come in with. They could choose to do that or not. So you put it out and you see what developers come in with. So the that's what the options were. >> Okay. Thank you. And will the RFP be
asking for market rate housing? >> The R that was what >> it suggested market rate housing. Yes. >> Okay. >> It was the the it could be market rate housing and it
could be mixed income housing. So they might need to have a few affordable units in it. I would like more market rate housing. That's my hope that it would be more market rate housing. It may be some a few mixed some some mixed
rate housing as well, but we need housing of all of all types. >> Right. I think people were just confused and concerned about the differences. And so I was asked to ask that question question specifically. And the last one, if by act of God some miracle happens
and the yes vote passes, uh would you consider using revenue bonds to cover repair to the parking lot? >> Revenue bonds. >> Yeah, that's been floated around in the same ETH system that John's talking about.
>> Um the theory is revenue bonds don't cost a city anything. that maybe Mike Teranzo can explain it a little bit better, but revenue bonds don't cost the city taxpayer. And so people are asking if yes happened and the decision was made
to possibly go back to parking would could revenue bonds be used revenue. >> I guess I would say this councelor Perry with the things that we need in the city I'd be hardpressed to be thinking about building a parking lot 115 steps next to
a parking lot. That would be very difficult for me to think about. Being the mayor of a city is very difficult. I have to think about what this city actually needs for the future. And I I can't envision that we need a
parking lot next to a parking lot. We have a parking lot that I worked very hard to brighten up, to clean up that during business hours has 120 vacant spots
from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Monday through Friday. So to to to be to be building and spending money uh to
even if it were free to um to bring a a parking lot next to a parking lot isn't exactly what makes sense to me. So I'm not going to commit to that today. No. >> Okay. Thank you very much.
Um, I've got councelor Minhas, then I'm going to go to councelor Bullock and we've got Toonzo and Gallib. So, just want to make sure. So, I think much of this conversation could be clarified if the city could
just come out with some specific numbers, right? So, in order to get to that, well, you might not have the numbers currently right now, but just to kind of clarify, the parking lot, the Hope Street lot and
the garage have at some point in time both been operational at the same time. Right now, that garage was built after the existence of that lot. Right?
And why can't we just get a number? And I'm not saying that this would help one side or the other. I think it would just generally inform the public. Can't we get a number which just says, "Hey, before it was used as a
temporary fire station, what was the revenue specifically generated from this location?" there might not be like a slot that you can just go to a chart sheet and say, "Oh, whoop, here we go." But if we could get that as a public, I think that would
quash a lot of people's concerns. Um, I mean I regardless of how I'm voting, I've I've ex explained before. I know I'm not I would like to see development, but we have concerns about what revenue
that that has created in the past versus what it could potentially create in the long term. Um, so can we is there a way that the city could just be like, okay, this is what it used to generate when it was operational and if
today it were to be operational, how much revenue it would create and also what would be the cost to like basically just three numbers like and what would be the cost to repair it to get it to generate that revenue. I think that
would help like a lot of people. So, I'm actually really really really glad that you asked that question because I don't get on Facebook, but I'm hearing about it. I've looked at it a little bit and I hear it's kind of ugly
out there and there's an awful lot of talk about what could come, one thing or another and there's a talk about exactly what would be from this and what would be from that. So I'm going to tell you in 2015 we switched um operating systems as far
as revenue goes. So there's nothing at all that you can get pre205 for the you know for the numbers from anything. Um and I will tell you we don't break out
from parking lot from one. I looked because I thought, I'm gonna come in here tonight and people are going to say, "What is it that you can get from this one as opposed to that one?" I would love to tell you what we get
from the parking lot, from the Hope Street. I mean, from the, you know, the parking garage, what we get from Main Street. If I knew that, I would not keep that from you because because I just wouldn't. It's just not
me. It's not there. It's account6006. We did it, didn't we, just before we came here. >> It's It's all right there. We went back as far as it would come. I was down with the treasurer today and it does not
break it down by where it's located. We can find out. I mean, you can look at the papers. I'll send them to you and we'll be sending we'll be we'll be answering the public records requests. You can see big chunks where it says, you know, we've got the when people buy
parking passes that has like a different code in it, but it doesn't say where they, you know, it it's not broken down by where they parked. It It may have had that a few years ago,
but it certainly doesn't for the past four years. So, I do not have that information. But I think I can tell by the by hearing the flavor of it that people would want to know that like what was the most, you know, what was the most used parking lot of ever. I know
from being on planning board. I know from being on planning board that that the most traveled part of the city is from um Federal Street up, you know, from Federal Street up.
You're right. You know, where the YMCA, the post office, etc. We all knew that. That's everybody knows that, you know, we talked about that a lot as far as parking studies. You know, it's very true. There's more people that were pulling in and out of
the YMCA, the library, etc., etc. As a matter of fact, when the library was being put in, I remember going to meetings and advocating um more for it going down to where the fire station is now so that we were spreading out traffic. I remember doing
that because of things that I'd gone to with, you know, traffic patterns. So, we knew where people were traveling more because they did studies about that. So, go ahead. This might be slightly off topic, just
slightly, but it is still in the parking. Um, I have had some constituents reach out and say, "Is does the city have a plan in place right now currently to uh switch the parking on
Main Street from I don't know what's the legal term or whatever for diagonally to parallel parking? Is that something that's like in the works for the city right now? >> Yes. Yes, there is a plan for that. And
I asked about that today as well. And when I first got into office, that was the very first meeting that I went to. It was with the GBA. And I thought, boy, if you ever want to be at something where you're afraid that people are
going to throw things at you, go to a meeting where you're talking about parking and changing it. It was like, oh my word. I went, it was a um business association meeting and we were talking about that that and I thought, am I
actually going to come out of here alive? Um and and I did. I, you know, kept smiling and being polite and I said, "Yep, it's going to change because we're going to change the configuration
of Main Street." I didn't think of this plan and um it's mass dot and they won't give us the money unless we do this you know their way with the complete streets is a
new way of doing things a walkable community with the bike paths and it's you know the acceptable way with mass dot and and yes we'll be changing that I I say things kiddingly. I'm I hope I'm
not alive when that happens. I say that just kidding. My children would hate me for saying that, but I thought, oh boy. Oh boy. I mean, this has been enough right now. Um but oh man, oh man. You know, so yes, indeed we are. And I'm
going to tell you quite truthfully, Council Mas, there's going to be less spaces. Yep. >> Yep. There's going to be less. And and at at those meetings it was people wanted to know and I asked today how
many less. Okay. I said how many less? No one. No one would answer it. I said can we get that number? Can we get that number? I asked today. Somebody said I'll find out. I will find out. Now,
um, now this is another this another funny thing. Handicap spaces. Handicap spaces. Um, can you have handicap spaces in diagonal parking? Okay. Are there any are there any handicap spaces in diagonal parking?
>> Yes. >> Okay. Can you have them in parallel parking? >> Okay. All right. Well, at any rate, the bike lanes, people will people will be ready. tomatoes rocks will be will they be throwing them about that whether
they're on the inside or the outside. Okay. Yep. So anyways there will be changes. People don't like change. People don't like change but the number there will be a few less. But remember walking is the number one
exercise in America and it's good for you. Obesity is the number one problem in America. I just like to put a pitch in for that. I also thought of, you know, on a humorous note of, you know, putting a little sign up for how many calories um one would burn by, you know,
walking uphill from the parking garage. I myself have gained well over 10 pounds being in the mayor's office, you know, sitting in front of a computer as opposed to walking twice a day, which I used to do, but um anyways, too much about me.
>> Thank you. I'm going to move to councelor Bullock if that's okay. Um, and having walkable downtowns actually generates more business when people are not parking in front of where they're going. There's a lot of studies on that. So, for what that's worth, >> Councelor Bulock,
>> there. >> Yep. Um, okay. The So, I have a few questions to back us up. I have I I think I have four questions. Um um I'm going to ask you two just to
start us off, but the first is mayor, do we need more parking? >> No. >> Okay. Do we need more housing? >> We most assuredly need more housing and we need more people.
>> Okay. So while I like I mean you know I'm one of the people who put in a records request for specific breakdown of um revenue uh from 2019 to 2025. Uh so I I obviously care about
the revenue but um I want to just appreciate you for starting the conversation I believe with saying that we desperately need housing. Um, I read an article this week about uh how desperate the housing crisis was
that in um some school districts across the country, they were opening lots uh for the in public school lots for overnight parking so that families could sleep overnight in their cars um in front of the schools to increase attendance. Um, and having worked
closely with DCF in our region, I just thought how not far-fetched that would be for for our uh our county potentially. Um, and my other question for you is, uh, what do we what are our
options or do you know what our options are if we don't like any of the responses we get in the RFP? >> Um, not to choose any of them. Thanks. That's helpful. Um, and then
last, uh, you know, as I said, I I requested the information and I I kind of thought that we couldn't get those breakdowns. Um but what I did remember was that when I joined the council, there was a lot of conversation about um
easing enforcement uh parking enforcement because businesses were opening back up uh from COVID at the time and um there was al obviously and you know people the whole time I've been paying attention to
parking which is really only four years that I I didn't think about parking much before I was on council. Um but most of the time people have been complaining about paying for parking and so it's interesting now that we are so excited about the potential revenue um
of a parking lot. Um but there's basically I'm I'm wondering if you had to if you had to estimate sort of what the factors were in that reduction. Uh what I gleaned from
looking at the budget books from 2018 forward was one one of the things we're looking at when we see that number go from 600,000 and and drop um is that there you know we're you're estimating
revenue in future years. Um and then the other things that I could see clearly especially from 2019 forward was that there would be co was obviously an a reduction in use of parking. um that
there was a reduction of full-time employees within the um parking unit, that we, as you said, we stopped uh charging for parking on weekends. Um and that we actively eased enforcement of
violations. Um and so I'm wondering if you feel like any of that is the context around why we saw a revenue drop. Um, and if there's anything else that you think um, you would add to the list in terms of
context for why we saw a significant revenue drop from 2019 to 2024. >> Well, I think the the the biggest reason for the revenue drop was eliminating single singly eliminating Saturday
parking. That's where you got most of your >> um, parking revenue was Saturdays. Um and uh at the time also Wilson's was open. So um >> Oh, right. Wilson >> Wilson's was open and Saturday parking.
And I will tell you something, people hate parking tickets. People really hate parking tickets. They don't mind. They don't complain about their fees as much. Like if you're doing a building project, you're excited that you're you're able to I know this is how I feel. I'm sure
everybody doesn't feel the same as I do, but you if you're lucky enough to be putting like an addition on your house, you know, you you have some extra so you're you're able to do that. You know, there's something that goes along with that. You're putting an addition on so you know you're going to get a building permit. We've gone up on some of those
fees. We have not gone down on our local receipts because some of those things have increased. um meals, you know, meals meals and um hotels have increased, but parking's
gone down. And I wouldn't not for a nano second think of going back to putting Saturday parking on or you know but I would say that to answer your question
the reason why it's decreased would be Saturday parking. >> Thank you. That's helpful. >> All right councelor Toronto. Um, yeah, I wasn't really going to say anything, but uh, thank you, Councelor Perry, for
uh, kind of requesting that I would say something about uh, revenue bonds. I have not said anything about revenue bonds. I do not want to talk about that issue, but I do appreciate you understanding that I could give something to say about that. Um, I'm not a part of that conversation when it
comes to um, the parking lot at all. Um, but I was actually going to say something that councelor Bulock just said as well is though I though I agree with you, uh, mayor that obviously getting rid of Saturday decreased a bunch of the revenue for that, there is a significant
a significant decrease in the amount of parking enforcement than there was um, even a few years back um, when we had I think we have what just one part-timer right now doing it. >> We actually just added another part another parttimer. We used to have like
a full time and a half for almost two full times I think at some point in time. There was always somebody walking around. Um and I know nobody likes tickets. Um I' I've advocated for there to actually be more parking enforcement. People will hate me for that. I don't care. Not not necessarily on the meter
part, but on the the dangerous parking areas, the corners, the Chapman Street, no parking, where now a tractor trailer or a a truck with a trailer can't get down there. I would like to see that more enforced. Um, right out in front of Denny's, just if anybody from the DPW is
listening, can you across from Denny's that is a terrible intersection on the weekends trying to turn down uh Wildwood A. Um, there is a no parking here to corner, but it's facing Denny's. It doesn't face it. So, when you're pulling up, nine times out of 10, it's a it's a car from out of state that's pulling up
there. Now they're parked 10 ft from the intersection, which is already a terrible intersection cuz you got a utility pole on the other corner. Um, that's just as an example, but like Chapman Street, Well Street, all of those side streets that are already narrow enough that that was what I would
like to see more enforcement of with those kind of fines. Um, a little bit different from the meter fines that are already that are already given out. um because I think it makes more of a dangerous uh intersection not only like I said for vehicles trying to travel down it but for pedestrians. Um it it
makes blind spots everywhere. Um, but I would I think that that would be a way to bring back some of that revenue as well because I I know that we talked about this at some point in the four years on Ways and Means um about
it didn't really seem I I I get why there was some relaxing on it, but if we had somebody full-time, the amount of revenue that was generated paid for their position and then some. So it wasn't like we were losing money um by having somebody on that position.
>> Um so it it was just kind of I don't really I never really got a good answer as to why other than trying to I don't know be nicer to folks and relax some of the enforcement. Um why we why we stopped that. Um we have we have
rules and if if you're if you're not doing it then you get you end up getting a ticket. It's It's kind of on you, right? I mean, >> so Councelor Toenzo, thank you for saying that. We actually heard what you said about that and we added a a second person to parking because the person
that we had is a walker. That's what he does exclusively. So, he was always just doing the downtown and the new person that we added drives. So, the chief had talked about that. So, I wrote down Denny's. He's doing the he will and I I
wrote that down and if anybody has any just drop me notes. We have loads of people who have suggestions. I write them down and we actually get right on them whatever they are. The person will be out there looking at that one in particular. And if anybody else has has any suggestions, they also will be
ticketing for people who don't shovel sidewalks. So, um, which is one of my pet peeves because then people who have, um, mo that are mobility impaired, um, have difficulty and that's a lot of times
are, um, often times they are, uh, rental properties and, you know, that's that's a real problem. So, if you just drop a note to the mayor's office and um
we'll make sure that somebody gets out there. So if >> if I could just note and I also understand that some of this has to come into being on the budget committee with the way that the budgets have worked out and so sometimes you got to do with what you got to do but I think that this would be
a great example of where um of an understanding of how um cutting off your face to spite your nose is not necessarily good practice when people are thinking about what the
budget ary process are going to be in the future because cutting from a department um for certain reasons when they could be for the wrong reasons and it can affect it can have a trickle down effect onto things that you may not have thought of. Uh so I just food for
thought as we're going to be starting the new budget cycle that I won't be involved in this year which is great but uh >> there also many of the kiosks are broken and they are all going to be replaced. I think that's going to be coming out of
um the parking benefit, but I'm not exactly sure. Um and they won't just be paid for with I don't think it's just going to be using the app because that wasn't friendly for all generations. I think there's going to be they're going
to be able to be paid by couple of different modalities so that it's more user friendly to those who don't love apps as much as just everybody doesn't love apps. We'll just put it that way. Some people like to pay
with different things. >> I love it. Diversity apps or not apps. I went well yeah if I went for a walk with seniors and they said they would like some of them would like to pay with you know credit cards instead of apps >> or maybe >> or coins even like an oldfashioned thing
like a coin right how about that >> who has that councelor Golib >> um councelor Perry's question about market rate housing just prompted me to want to u make sure we have shared language and I wanted to just share a thought and you'll you'll know what I
mean once I say it. um ask you if you if there's anything that you would like to add to it. Today in the paper there was a my turn um claiming a couple of things that I don't think are completely accurate and maybe misleading. Um the the city was accused of a bait and
switch um from switching from affordable to market rate. And I think a couple of definitions are important. First of all, that what we voted on and what the city requested was that we declare the land surplus and that we enter a request for proposals process. There was nothing in
what we voted on that declared that we were doing any type of specific housing. So there was no bait and switch. >> That's one thing I want to just see if you have any additional thoughts on. But two before that one was that um in the sentences before that it said the city
um it is now talking the city is now talking about market rate housing defined as top of market housing um that 93% of our households could not afford. Just so everyone is clear market rate this is Wikipedia's definition. The market rate for goods and services is
the usual price charged for them in a free market. So if a landlord charges a certain amount and the renters pay it, that is market that is market rate. Um and affordable housing there's various definitions but one is below the median
in a certain area and the other is a another is um a 30% um 30% of someone's income or less that would be going to housing. And I want to say that what is going on what what we have agre what the
council voted on was to put out a request for proposal and see what the market will bring back >> and see what developers are able to um to propose to us and that is we're listening to the market and I hear what you're saying is that you're wanting the
housing there to be market rate as defined by by by the general definition that is ex that we typically used not by the definition that was in the my turn today. So, I just want to ask if you have any additional thoughts that you would say
to that. >> Thank you, Councelor Golib. Yes. Um, I've been actually coming to city council meetings for a long time. And when these votes come up, what you are actually doing as a city council is you are voting to allow the mayor to sell
the property and then you put the property out to bid and um that property we will put out to bid to sell. We will put out an RFP. It is that is exactly what is going to happen. We came forward
and we spent a long time discussing with people about what we intend to put in an RFP. We actually had a sample out here. We intend to have this in it. It will have several things and then we will see what people come in with with their
proposals. People actually asked for pictures to be drawn. And I thought I'm not going to draw a picture because I do not know what builders would come in with their ideas. But um but what you
actually voted on was to allow the mayor that you voted that you that you elected to to sell this property and to put something in in that neighborhood that would that that hopefully most of the people in the neighborhood would be
happy with. Thank you for the question. >> Do we have another one? Uh, Council Toronto, and I have a question, too. >> Just a kind of um a general question. I' I've been asked this multiple times and I didn't really
know how to answer it. Um, if we've just we voted to declare it surplus property >> to allow the mayor to sell the property, >> why not just sell the property? Why is what's the point of having an RFP? Why not just sell it? I mean, do we have an
RFP that is scheduled? I know we're looking at declaring uh Green River School property. Is that going to have an RFP attached to it, too, or are we just selling it? Why don't we just sell it and let the person who buys it develop it how they want to develop it? That's It just seems like a
very weird thing to a lot of folks to have a contingency based upon the sale of the property instead of selling property. Well, I think some of that is um some of
that I would say is probably done with care and concern about the neighborhood. Um maybe we could have an amusement park or the casino. Um um we could we could probably put I don't know how the neighbors in you know
up in precinct 7 would feel if I sold it to um you know to the developer and said how about we have a a casino up there. You know um you you put out an RFP
um because you have some guidelines of what your think what your intent is. So you've got some guidelines in there of what you are requesting that you would like there. So this is a commercial, you
know, it's the central commercial district. So you know what things fit in there and you're you're adding the guidelines to what you would like in there. We've done this before also for the bank downtown and we put in ideas
for there for what we would like and we've looked at it. We've rewritten the proposals for there. Um, so you you do it with um with good with good intention for the city that you are governing
because you are looking to the future of this. And I do see I mean this is I I can see as I'm sitting around here looking at this that I know that I'm not making every counselor at this table
happy and I understand that. But um I don't think that I would be making every counselor at this table happy either if I put out an RFP for a small amusement park um on the Hope Street lot um
or a um or a casino, a small casino. So, uh, it would have to be something that was allowed by right uh or or that was allowed, but you put out a request for
proposal and there are certain things that are allowed in certain zones and you do it with an, you know, with an intention and and u there are reasons why we do certain things. Well, that was the reason why I asked is is that's the questions that I've been asked by some
folks is um well, isn't that the point of why we have zoning laws >> and what and and accepted uses already. So then what why would we need to restrict that further is what I've been asked and I was like I don't really know how to answer that question other than
what you started out with was it's in you know it's what is seen as being in at the time considered the best interest right but I've had people bring up to me kind of the the overlay
>> of the French king right >> that was all done with what was thought at the time as the best interest of the use of that land or uh how it could be sold. We reszoned it at some point because we thought, well, it wasn't working that way. We're going to reszone
it and maybe it'll get a use of the land after that. Well, so far, I mean, it's been a short time, but that hasn't worked either. So that's those are kind of the questions that have been bounced around with folks that I've talked to is well >> they they essentially are are saying why
not let the market make the decision rather than and because we already do have our zoning laws, we have the buy rights, we have um those kind of uh limitations if you were already put in place. Um, so I mean I
guess maybe these people are a little bit more free market when they're asking me that. Um, and that's why um I didn't have a a clear question on what I guess the city's response was to that. So I'm glad that you were able to
answer. Thank you. >> Thank you. I have councelor Bullock and then I'm gonna go back to councelor Gulib. Oh, you know, we're going to go to councelor Williams first because uh she hasn't had a chance to speak. Okay. Good evening, Mayor.
>> So, let's talk about money a little. Um, you said that fiscal year 25 $322,64 was the total income from parking. Correct. >> Mhm. >> Okay. And that the meters
were $250,000 of that. 250,000. Is that what you said? >> Um, >> that was the income from the meters. >> The meters were about 240. 242. Yeah. >> Okay.
So, that means I had 250. So, I'm going to go with 250 for now just because I did the math. Um, that means that's 7 $72,64 was from all of the sources of parking in the city. So the the lots
all the other lots is that correct? >> No. No. >> No. Okay. >> No. From all parking from all parking meters and lots $242,000 and then $80,000 came from the things
that people hang. >> I see. Okay. Thank you. Is that everything? I just want to make sure. Okay, great. Um, so Councelor Bulock. Yeah, I mean I kind of changed my mind, but I think Patty's question made me
think of Mayor, do you regardless of the revenue, do you feel like it's more important that everyone in Greenfield who wants a home has one
than it is for us to have another parking lot? Yes. I I think one of the biggest needs in this city and in the state in the nation I think is housing. >> Absolutely.
>> I just I just went to um this weekend I went to um my grandchildren had a track meet in Sarasota. Um, and they h have a beautiful downtown and they had all kinds of things going
down. My leg was actually bothering me. There was no parking and they had all kinds of stuff downtown and there wasn't any parking. My son had to drop me off, but they had all kinds of people there.
And it was about 2 and a half hours away from home. It was a very vibrant downtown, all kinds of restaurants, and people were driving around there. Two little parking lots that were smaller than all of our parking.
I drove halfway home and I had to go to the bathroom halfway home. And I I go into a a new Dunkin Donuts and the doors locked. I go over to the to the Dollar General store and I ask them, "Do you have a bathroom?" And the ladies,
they're outside actually having a cigarette and they said to me, "Well, we do have a bathroom. It's in aisle 18." And they're like, "You can use it. It says don't enter, but you can go in." So, I came out and I thanked them for their humanity.
and they said, you know, we have a new Dunkin Donuts, but we can't find anybody to work here. And I thought, yeah, we have that problem, too. We have restaurants that used to be open, you
know, more hours. We have we have restaurants that can't find help and uh we don't have enough people to fill the slots. We need more people here. So, I know that we need more housing and we definitely don't need more parking. So,
yep. And I heard that at the GBA meeting, that's for sure. So, anyways, that's all I have to say on that. And thank you for those nice people at Dollar General. All right. I'm going to go to Councelor Golib and then counselor Perry and then I think we're going to wrap this up
because we've got a debate coming up in two weeks. So, we can we can let them debate it out there if that's okay. Um, I may be hounding a point too much, but I didn't realize that there was such a question about why we go for requests for proposals, and I just wanted to
clarify that a little bit. Um, the idea of just selling the lot, I I don't even know how that would happen without looking to looking to the market for proposals. The mayor cannot just legally select the
person to whom she wants to sell the lot. I imagine that we are legally obligated to request proposals in order to ensure that the community that the city receives the best proposals possible. Is that could you legally just
choose the person to whom you wanted to sell the lot? >> No, you cannot. There are different ways that you can sell things. You can you can auction things, but uh I mean there are different ways that you
can do things, but you can't just say somebody could come up to you and say, "Oh, I'll buy that lot for such and such." You have to do things according to procurement laws. Um but in and councelor Torenzo or many of you could
say many of you could um have a lot of knowledge of that but in a city you you you elect people who are looking out for the city's future and you may not like every
decision that I make and that's okay. Um, but I am I'm I'm trying to make decisions that are good for the city. Um, and I would assume that most of you would would probably not like an amusement park on on that lot or a
casino. Um, I don't know about that, but um, some of you, I can tell, would definitely like a parking lot. And most of you would probably like housing. Uh, and some of you would like commercial on the bottom with housing on the top. I'm trying to make a good decision and an
RFP process is the way that we will go so that we will get bids and that it will be appropriate and legal and uh you know and then you know people came forward in a in a a proper manner so that it will go to a vote and clerk Scott handled that very appropriately
and we're going the you know the right way legally and we'll it will go to a vote and then we will put it out for the proper procurement way and and we will have it go out to bid and and then we will set it up properly.
>> And so rather than going rather than going to an auction in the highest bidder, you are deliberately choosing a process through which the public can participate over the course of time as we as we discern who the best p best company to
develop this land will be. Correct. >> Correct. because that makes a little bit of control over what could be there because and I don't have my zoning book in front of me although I was on planning book for six years because if if we just put it out
that way that casino could be right around the corner from us >> councelor Perry tell you that that I don't mind the slot machines myself but I'm not sure that that would be the best thing in the neighborhood. How many licens are in this state? >> Yeah. I just want to mayor, I just want
to say I'm I'm a happy going lucky guy. Just ask my dog. You know, I'm I'm I'm a happy guy. This is not about me. It's not about anybody in the council. It's about the residents and the citizens. They want to be informed. They want to know what they're voting for. They want to hear straight information, you know,
and people who are I keep hearing the same stuff. Lazy people, fat people, don't want to walk, you know, all this kind of stuff. I'm sure if we took a poll, 98.5% of the people in Greenfield will say, "Yes, we want housing." It's not an
eitheror proposition. People just want to know what they're voting for. They want to hear specifics and they want to be respected and let them make the decision. And so all the stuff we've been talking about, it just, you know, kids sleeping in cars. Come on. You
know, you know the sidewalks. You mentioned sidewalks. Well, sidewalks is important for everybody. Some people cannot walk up hills. That's just a fact of life. And so we don't have to belittle them to try to make our point that we need part we need housing. Of
course we need housing. Everybody knows that. Everybody accepts that. It's a different conversation. So just I would just ask people in these last two weeks to respect everybody and let the people decide and not worry about this or that. And tonight's the first time I heard
about casinos and anything else going in there. So you can be kind of flippant if you want, but that's just going to twerk off people out there who want serious answers about a serious issue for the city, for people in that neighborhood, for people who work there, for people
who experienced whatever they've experienced. And for the people who want housing to make sure that they know what they're voting for, which is why I asked that question about market housing because I keep you keep telling me, "Oh, we're voting for lowincome housing." No, that's not what you're doing. So, make
sure people know what they're voting for or against. Thank you. >> Point of order. Madame President, I think it would be really helpful the way our process is supposed to be set up since we spent I don't know how long on
this discussion to submit questions, which no one ever does. And it's great that we have this back and forth. I think it's needed, but we're asking very specific questions and we're questioning the mayor's integrity, other people's integrity.
Counselors can put these questions in writing before the meeting so that the mayor can answer the questions and the research can be done. That's the way it's supposed to. I know we don't like to do that, but instead we have this big grandstanding thing where we go back and
forth and back and forth. I just don't think it's the most productive way to do it. When you want direct, specific, transparent information on data, then you should ask the question and it should be in writing so that they have time to look at it and then it's really
transparent instead of hitting people up with these questions at the meeting with no notice. >> Thank you, Councelor Bonley. Um, and it's a good reminder that we all talked about this in July and voted 10 to one on it. So, we've we've hashed through a lot of this already, so I appreciate
that. I do have one question that has nothing to do with parking. Um, I got to notice that we were awarded a community one-stop award, which will help with uh our vacant downtown spaces. And if you
all wanted to just tell us what that is, if you know, but otherwise, we can have it come back to the council next time because I thought that's really exciting. I'm looking it up. I have it. I wasn't prepared. Sorry. >> Okay. We >> My brain is not there yet.
>> I'm I'm drawing a uh I'm needing a moment on that. >> That's okay. We can come back. It's not coming to the front of the brain right now. >> Oh, the bacon store. The bacon storefront. $50,000 vacant storefront.
Thank God for these little computers. Councelor W President Wandowski, $50,000 vacant storefront program award to provide municipal incentive to encourage commercial tenants to fill qualifying vacant storefronts. 30,000
downtown initiative award to develop a model of using public art to address downtown wayfinding needs. Thank you, Erin and Hold and the computer. I didn't >> Okay, we'll come back to this because I think this is a great opportunity and
it's part of this discussion about our downtown and what we want to see in it and um filling those storefronts. So, thank you, mayor. >> Thank you, Mayor. >> And we'll do this as the debate, y'all. So, come to the debate. >> Thank you. I appreciate that. Great.
>> All right. Thank you as always for being here. And that is uh concluding our city employees portion of the meeting and we're going to go to public comment online. They didn't give a last name.
>> Okay. I don't know for sure. >> Okay. Uh, so first up I have Max Webb. >> Hi, my name is Max Webb. Um, I live in Precinct 9 and my name will be on this year's ballot for the Precinct 9 city
council seat. To not bury the lead, this is just about rats. This isn't anything else. Um, in early spring of this year, I founded the Greenfield Trash Pickup Club. We have held weekly trash pickups around town using the blue bags provided by DPW
and collected over 70 bags of trash on public land. We have partnered with the Connecticut River Conservancy, Green River Cleanup, and Ad Hog Unhouse Committee to host encampment cleanups to our unhoused population. After the election, we will be working with the DPW to set up regular curbside trash
pickup at the encampment sites. I am also working on a litter campaign with the Greenfield business association that will inspire pride of place and hopefully engage the youth and greater community to promote proper trash disposal downtown. As we have collected trash, we have kept data on what we find
and where and hope to use this to identify ideal locations for receptacles and streamline DPW's work when collecting waste along our streets. Lastly, and most importantly to the conversations that have been at hand, we have partnered with Mass Audabon to bring awareness to the harm that
rodenticides, specifically second generation anti-coagulants, cause our wildlife and how they are an ineffective long-term solution to our rat problem. Escars do not kill rats right away. Instead, it builds up in their system over time, and they are often found dead
by predators, eaten, and then those predators, owls, foxes, eagles, to name a few, are poison as a result. As scars perpetuate the problem by killing our silent partners in rat control, it is my goal to collaborate with the high school sustainability club and developing IPM
plans so that school composting can continue and students themselves can learn how to create a sustainable environment for their future. Um, I wholeheartedly love what is being done at the transfer station in regards and I support it closing so they can continue
to keep cleaning and do their own IPM plans. Um, feel free to reach out to me via email if you'd like more info or to get involved. And thank you for your time. >> Thank you. I'm going to go to Ryan um online.
Hi, it's Ryan Whitney, uh, Chapman Street, Greenfield, Massachusetts. Can you hear me fine? >> Yes, we can. >> I hope you can hear me. All right, good. I'm just using a different mic, so I didn't know. Um, I had sent you guys all an email about transparency and the way our um, meetings operate. I think a lot
of you have gotten that email and a lot of you responded back to me. And the perfect example tonight I seen was when John was talking about how uh you guys submit questions and whatnot and how that doesn't operate. I think with just I don't think it's done on purpose, but
it's really frustrating for somebody with disabilities that can't attend the meetings uh in person that a lot of these things uh microphones not working and stuff. And I stated a lot of this in um in my email, like a lot of microphones aren't working. Like you
can't hear it that much during the historical commission meeting. They I think they only have like one microphone and it doesn't pick up like the whole room properly. So you can barely make out what people are saying. That's very hard for me. And then like open meeting law stuff like even Laura like changing
the open like what's on the agenda. It might not seem like a big thing because you're having coffee and you oh we should put that on there but this is our government and I'd like to see it ran as a government not like a social club or something like that. Like even the time wasted on a ballot measure question
that's going on. It sounded more like a campaign meeting right now than a city council meeting. I never hear about uh like anything else in the last like 6 months except for about housing in every single meeting. I go to homeless
commission housing. I go to economic development housing housing housing housing but then there's no other conversations going on so much. I go to all these meetings and it's very sad to see like us hyperfocus on one thing and I just would like to like get back to
business almost and not all this like weird stuff we got going on now and just please pay attention to transparency stuff and uh that's about it. Thanks. >> Thank you. Uh I've got Stephanie Vasser.
Hey, I'm Stephanie Vasser. I'm from Shelurn, Massachusetts. Um, I just wanted to come and talk to you guys um about what is further on your agenda um addressing zoning um changes to adding animal clinics and hospitals and how
they are listed um in Greenfield. I've been working for over a year trying to find a space in Greenfield to start a small animal urgent care clinic um and bringing that in. I've been trying moving into a working on moving into a space that has been vacant at Cherry Rome Plaza for over 10 years. Um and the
way that the zoning um definitions right now do not allow um veterinary hospitals or clinics in limited commercial which is that area. Um the definition change um will allow that and it has um worked
through the economic development committee um yesterday and with the planning board. I worked with them starting in June or July on this um and hopefully we can make it go through so that we can get this open for everybody and service our region and give us a much needed service. Um all of the
veterinary clinics that I've reached out to because I know that all of this is transparent. um they're very collaborative and excited about it. Um and this will be a non-corporate option to be able to support our pet owners in this area and also um be able to have um more employment opportunities. So, thank
you guys for your time and um have a great day. >> Thank you. Thanks so much. Uh and then I've got Ramona Latranka online. >> Hi, can you hear me? We can. >> Okay. Wonderful. Hi. Um, my name is
Ramona Electronica. I live in Precinct 5. Um, and I wanted to just jump on and talk a little bit about the Hope Street lot. I live about a block away from the lot, so it's um, right in my neighborhood and it's a super important issue to me. And I will be voting no on
the issue. And, um, I am a renter here in Greenfield. Housing is buying a house is not really an option right now, unfortunately. And housing is just such a big issue for us in this country and in this town and in this community. And I think it's really important that we
continue to fight the fight to get more housing. And I just wanted to jump on and say a little bit about what a no mean no vote means versus a yes vote means. And I think a lot of information I'm hearing is people saying, I vote yes, we get a parking lot back. But what
I'm hearing from the mayor and from other representatives is that doesn't necessarily mean we're getting a parking lot back. And so what it does mean is that we continue to have a vacant lot here at Hope Street until something else can be decided. So we go back to the
drawing board and it's another year of a vacant lot, another year without anything there. And I think that a no vote allowing a developer to create housing that really works for Greenfield is a more important choice for us. And
so that's why I will be voting no. And I urge a lot of people both in my precinct in my community and in the Greenfield area as a whole to vote no. Thank you. >> Thank you. And that I think concludes our public comment. So thank you
everybody. um public hearing and second readings. We don't have any on the agenda for tonight. So, we're going to go to motions, orders, and resolutions. So, our first is the local general election warrant. Um and can I have somebody read
that for me? It's on page 21. >> Oh, and they have You also have to read the warrant on page 22 and 23 as well. >> I can do it. Thank you. >> Order number FY26-047.
The city council moved that it be ordered that it be ordered that the Greenfield City Council hereby approves the attached local general election warrant from November 4th, 2025 and further authorize the city council president to sign said warrant on behalf of the city council. Majority vote
required. Should I continue on and then >> I'll second. >> Okay. >> All right. >> Thank you. Uh, city bannual election warrant, city of Greenfield, Commonwealth of Massachusetts, Franklin, SS. To either of the constiples of the city of Greenfield, County of Franklin.
Greetings. In the name of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, you are hereby required to notify and warn the inhabitants of said city who are qualified to vote in elections to meet at the polling places designated for the several precincts in said city as follows. Precinct 1 through nine,
Greenfield High School Gymnasium, 21 Bar Avenue. on Tuesday, the 4th day of November, 2025, from 7 am to 800 PM for the following purpose. To choose by ballot the following city office. Two city councilors at large four-year term. One city councelor precinct 5 4-year
term. One city council precinct 6-year term. One city council precinct 7 four-year term. One city council precinct 8 four-year term. One city council precinct 9 four-year term. Three school committee members four-year term. One school committee member two-year term. Two assessors, four-year term.
Three trustees of AK Warner Fund, two-year uh two-year term. One elector under Will of Oliver Smith, two-year term. Three trustees of Janine Elbas Education Fund, two-year term. Ballot question. Shall the citizens referendum petition that proposes to resend the following city council measure approved
in July 16th, 2025 take effect? that the greedy Greenfield City Council authorizes the mayor to sell 53 Hope Street, assessor's map 52, lot 25, pursuant to the city council policy for the sale of city-owned land and authorize the mayor to execute all documents necessary to accomplish the
same. Yes. Summary. A yes vote will resend the city council measure authorizing the sale. No. Summary. A no vote will uphold the city council measure authorizing the sale. Given under our hands this 15th day of October, 2025. Laura Wandelowski, city
council president. A true copy. Let's test as Kathern J. Scott, CMC, Greenfield City Clerk. Date of posting. Constable. >> Thank you. You must be fun in history class. >> At least I think so. That's for the
students. Uh, any comments or questions? All right, I'm going to go to Clerk Scott. If anybody is interested in receiving a ballot by mail, a vote by mail,
applications are online on our website. They're available in our office, and you can call the clerk's office, and we will mail you an application. Clerk Scott, while I have you, when's the last day to register to vote to for the upcoming election? Have I missed it?
>> You have not missed it. Let me pull up my calendar. >> Not that I'm not registered. The last day to register to vote or change your party, which doesn't apply here because it's a nonpartisan election, is Friday, October
24th. It has to be into the clerk's office. by 5:00 p.m. on that day. >> And if I wanted to vote absentee because I'm traveling somewhere crazy, um, how would I do that and when can I do that?
>> Wonderful question, President Wandelowski. Um, you can vote in the city clerk's office absentee up until noon the day before the election, but for absentee voting, you do need to qualify for that. So, that
means you are unavailable to go to the polls on election day from 7:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. If you're traveling, if you have surgery, if you are going to be with someone having surgery, that sort of thing, that would qualify you for that. Um, there is an application form
that needs to be filled out, but you can do that in our office or you can fill it out and we can mail you one. >> Thank you. It's a very easy peasy process. All right. Just want to make sure everybody knows because uh our turnout
on um off-year elections is I don't know 2% or something crazy like that. So the more folks who know how to vote, the more we can get people to vote. So let's uh take a roll call on having the warrant approved. >> Councelor Goolum,
>> yes. >> Councelor Gordon, >> yes. >> Councelor Master Tataro, >> yes. Councelor Bottomley, >> yes. >> Councelor Bulock, >> yes. >> Councelor Williams, >> yes. >> Councelor Perry, >> yes. >> Councelor Healey,
>> yes. >> Councelor Brown, >> yes. >> Couns uh Vice President Garrett, >> yes. >> Councelor Minhos, >> yes. >> Councelor Toonzo, >> yep. >> And does the president wish to vote? >> Yes. And yes.
>> The motion passes unanimously. Thank you. >> Thank you. Uh, next we're at mayor's appointments. Uh, so I'm going to go to councelor Golum. >> Order number order number fiscal year 26045. The city council moved that it be
ordered that the Greenfield City Council pursuant to charter section 210 affirms the following appointments by the mayor. Board of License Commissioners, Emily Bulldock. Term to expire December 31st, 2028.
Crossroads Cultural District Committee Caitlyn von Schmidt and Tess Peron Poe, both terms to expire December 31st, 2028. Greenfield Community Television Board of Directors, Sarah Bullduck, term to
expire December 31st, 2028. Greenfield Local Cultural Council Danielle Lucier, term to expire December 31st, 2028. Opioid Use and Prevention Commission Pedro Alvarez term to expire
December 31st, 2028. Majority vote required. >> Is there a second, please? >> Second. >> And there is not a report from the committee. We were unable to reach quorum. My car battery died on the way to the meeting. We did everything
possible but we were not able to meet. So this is up to everyone. >> Any questions? >> Yeah. >> Um somebody who's running for office is on
uh uh two of these proposed is >> Oh, okay. one. Um, so I'm just curious to know how that may or may not affect uh if that person were to be elected as
a counselor. Um, it's it's just a question I you know I just would like the answer if we have one would that person be removed from that commission or uh
>> it depends on the rules. Um, I know that there are counselors who are currently on commissions, um, city councilors, so that's it's not a prohibition. Uh, I don't know if councelor Gallib if you have any enlightenment on that since they're working on it.
>> Uh, >> it's more of a curiosity than anything else. So, >> I'm on the tax fund and I'm here and there's been no hook around my neck yet. So, I guess it's okay.
I did ask her at the last Peace 7 neighborhood meeting. I said, "You sure you want to do all this stuff?" Because she's also on a couple other commissions and she said, "Yep." So, you know, she knows under she understands. I've warned her about time commitments and she's a go-getter. So, here we go.
>> Great. And she's not elected yet. So, all right. Any other comments? Um, then we'll take a roll call. >> Councelor Golem. Yes, >> councelor Gordon. >> Yes, >> council master.
>> Councelor Bottomley, >> yes. >> Councelor Bulock, >> yes. >> Councelor Williams, >> yes. >> Councelor Perry, >> yes. >> Councelor Healey, >> yes. >> Councelor Brown, >> yes. >> Vice President Garrett, >> yes.
>> Councelor Minhos, >> yes. Councelor Torono. >> Yep. >> Does the president wish to vote? >> Yes. And yes. >> Motion passes unanimously. >> All right. Um, back to you, Councelor Bell.
>> Sure. Order number fiscal year 2648. The city council moved that it be ordered that the Greenfield City Council rescends the affirmation for the appointment of Hannah Rashkoffen to the Greenfield Local Cultural Council voted
during the city council meeting held on September 17th, 2025. Majority vote required >> second. And the rationale for this was that the the appointment uh came through there's two committees that are very
similar in similar in name and purpose and the appointment that came through to us was for the wrong one. We approved it and then the city is asking us to resend that one and to appoint Hannah to the correct committee.
>> Okay, that seems to make sense. >> All right, Councelor Golib. Yes. >> Councelor Gordon. >> Yes. >> Councelor Master Taro. >> Councelor Bottomley.
>> Yes. >> Councelor Bullock. >> Yes. >> Councelor Williams. >> Yes. >> Councelor Perry. >> Yes. >> Councelor Healey. >> Yes. >> Councelor Brown. >> Yes. >> Vice President Garrett. >> Yes. >> Councelor Minhos. >> Yes.
>> Councelor Toronto. >> Yep. >> Does the president wish to vote? >> Yes. And yes. The motion passes unanimously. >> All right. We're in a rescending sort of mood tonight. So, um, we're going to go to the >> not yet. >> Same page.
>> Oh, same page. Okay. Sorry about that. >> Yeah, sure. Um, order number fiscal year 26049. The city council moved that it be ordered, excuse me, that the Greenfield City Council, pursuant to charter section 210, affirms the following appointment by the mayor to the
crossroads cultural district committee, Hannah Rushkoff for term to expire December 31st, 2028. Majority vote required. >> Second. >> All right, let's move to vote. >> Councelor Goom,
>> yes. Councelor Gordon, >> yes. >> Council Master Tataro, >> yes. >> Councelor Bottomley, >> yes. >> Councelor Bulock, >> yes. >> Councelor Williams, >> yes. >> Councelor Perry, >> yes. >> Councelor Healey, >> yes.
>> Councelor Brown, >> yes. >> Vice President Garrett, >> yes. >> Councelor Minhos, >> yes. >> Councelor Torono, >> yep. >> Does the president wish to vote? >> Yes. And yes,
>> motion passes unanimously. >> All right. Now, we'll go to councelor Healey with the recision. Is that the right word? Um, of the conservation restriction. >> Sure. This is order number FY26-050.
The city council moved that be ordered that the Greenfield City Council resend the following order voted during the city council meeting held on June 18, 2025. Order number FY25-104. On June 18th, 2025, the Greenfield City
Council on a motion by councelor Bulock, second by councelor Gordon. It was unanimously voted that it be ordered that the Greenfield City Council approved the conservation restriction to the Francis K. Princy Stos individually and as trustee of the Douglas G. Starts
and Francis K. Starts living trust co Douglas G. St4 Factory Hall Road, Greenfield, Mass 01301. Pursuant to the section 32 of chapter 184 of the general laws of Massachusetts on a parcel of land currently owned by Francis K.
Princy individually and as a trustee of the Douglas K. Starts and Francis K. Starts living trust to be transferred to the Franklin land trust and partially located in the city of Greenfield, Franklin County, Massachusetts constituating approximately 25 acres as
described in exhibit A. a description of the premises and exhibit B reduced copy of plan of premises and further authorizes the city council president to sign on behalf of the city council. >> Is there a second? >> Second.
>> Okay. Um we didn't I didn't have this brought to EDC because it was um basically just some housekeeping. So as they went to go uh further move on with this agreement, there was some scribe error and some boundary errors that they had to correct in the agreement. So they
had asked us to withdraw this agreement and then um vote on a new written agreement. >> All right, makes sense. Appreciate the rationale. Any questions? Anyone? >> All right, let's let's go ahead. >> Councelor Goolum.
>> Yes. Councelor Gordon, >> yes. >> Councelor Master Tataro, >> yes. >> Councelor Bottomley, >> yes. >> Councelor Bullock, >> yes. >> Councelor Williams, >> yes. >> Councelor Perry, >> yes. >> Councelor Healey, >> yes. >> Councelor Brown, >> yes.
>> Vice President Garrett, >> yes. >> Councelor Minhos, >> yes. >> Councelor Toronto, >> abstain. >> Does the president wish to vote? >> Yes. And yes. The motion passes unanimously. >> All right. So, now we're going to the
corrected version. >> Correct. Yeah. This is order number FY26-051. City Council move that be ordered. The Greenfield City Council approved the conservation restriction granted by Francis K. Princy Stos individually and
as trustee of the Stos Realy Trust. CO Douglas G. dots 54 H factory hall road greenfield mass 01301 pursuant to section 32 of chapter 184 of the general laws of Massachusetts on real property currently owned by Francis K princy stock individually and as a
trustee of the realy trust to be conveyed to the Franklin Land Trust Inc. and partially located in the city of Greenfield, Franklin County, Massachusetts, constituting 26 and 9/10 acres as described in exhibit A, description of the premise and exhibit
B, reduced copy of recorded plan of premises and further authorizes the city of council president to sign on behalf of the city council. >> Second. >> All right. Um, so this is obviously just the corrected version of uh the previous
order and not much more to say about it. Thank you. >> All right, let's move forward with a vote. >> Council, >> yes. >> Council Gordon, >> yes. >> Council Master, >> yes.
>> Council Bottomly, your >> Sorry, should I start over? if you could for the public. Thank you. Thank you, Councelor Golib. Sorry, starting over because my microphone was not on so people possibly couldn't hear. >> Okay. >> Yes.
>> Councelor Gordon. >> Yes. >> Councelor Master Daro. >> Yes. >> Councelor Bottomley. >> Yes. >> Councelor Bullock. >> Yes. >> Councelor Williams. >> Yes. >> Councelor Perry. >> Yes. >> Councelor Healey. >> Yes. >> Council Brown.
>> Yes. Vice President Garrett? >> Yes. >> Councelor Minhos, >> yes. >> Councelor Toonzo, >> yes. >> Does the president wish to vote? >> Yes. And yes. >> The motion passes unanimously. >> All right. So, last one for tonight is
the zoning ordinance. Um, councelor Healey. >> Yes. So, um, order number FY26-030. The city council moved that it be ordered that the city council of Greenfield amend the zod ordinance chapter 200 article 2 definition
sections 200-3 terms and words paragraph B animal kennel or hospital by adding language in bold and by deleting language in strike through as follows and attached exhibit A and further amends at the table of contents and index of the code and further that the non-substantiative
changes to the numbering of the ordinance be permitted in the order that it be in compliance with the numbering format of the code of the city of Greenfield. >> Second. >> Thank you. Um, so this one's going to be a little bit of a loaded topic, but um,
it went to EDC and planning board in a joint uh, meeting back I think it was in July um, or August and it bounced around. Um, it was tabled at that meeting by the EDC last night at the EDC meeting. we brought it back from the
table and we amended it based on um some conversations we've had at the EDC meeting. So um I'll take I guess any questions on that and then I would you know amend this after
>> I just had a question because I I see the definition in here and was there a separate definition for animal hospitals and this is making clinics separate or >> Yes. Um that's that's a great question.
So there there was a previous appendix A which um had struck out the words animal kennel hospital based on Ali's law. Um there was a suggestion that we couldn't have zoning restrictions on animal
kennels based on a new Massachusetts law. After further clarification, he said we could still have uh zoning restrictions on animal clinics. So, we found it best to leave animal clinics or sorry, animal kennels or hospitals in our zoning um bylaws with restrictions
and amend this to have just the animal medical center clinic wording in there as a separate entity. So, the um I could kind of unfortunately the old language isn't in the packet. I do have it in front of me.
>> Other questions? I I see councelor Golib. >> So, just to be clear, the language it's on page 87. Is that what we're voting on or is a motion to amend coming forward? >> A motion to amend is going to come
forward that. So, the the information on page 87 is the correct language, but we amended it a bit further last night. >> So, >> I guess I'll make a motion to amend. >> That's what I was going to ask next.
>> Great. Second. >> Um, >> that was councelor Bullock with a second or councelor Gordon. amendment. >> Can you state the amendment before we get the second because I don't know what they're seconding. >> Yeah. So, um the the amendment would
basically be the language on page 87 in the packet. The only change there would be in the the zoning table of uses where animal medical center or clinic in the GI district would be by special permit. >> So, you're so you're amending it to
change from G from Yasseng GI to SP. >> Yep. >> Thank you. >> Other questions, comments, maybe just a little rationale of why the switch in GI. >> Yeah. So the the rationale in the GI
district was um you know there there's the GI district abuts a lot of um some of the GI district abuts a lot of the um residential districts and since it's by special permanent residential and general industry should really be
reserved for industrial uses I we didn't feel like this was a good fit for like an industrial use whereas we felt like it would fit more into the commercial um office districts. or general commercial. So, um you know, we decided to do that by special permit
and I apologize I'm losing my voice. >> Any other questions or comments? So, GI is general industry just to make sure everybody heard that. So, our vote right now will be on the amendment first. All
right. Councelor Golib, >> yes. >> Councelor Gordon, >> yes. >> Council Master Tataro, >> yes. >> Councelor Bottomley, >> yes. >> Councelor Bullock,
>> yes. >> Council Williams, >> yes. >> Councelor Perry, >> yes. >> Councelor Healey, >> yes. >> Councelor Brown, >> yes. Vice President Garrett? >> Yes. >> Councelor Minhos? >> Yes. >> Councelor Toronto?
>> Yep. >> Does the president wish to vote? >> Yes. And yes. >> The motion to amend passes unanimously. >> Okay. So on the floor is the amended motion. Any other conversation about that?
>> I see none. So can we move to a vote, please? >> Councelor Goolum. >> Yes. Councelor Gordon, >> yes. >> Councelor Master Tataro, >> yep. >> Councelor Bottomley, >> yes. >> Councelor Bullock, >> yes. >> Councelor Williams, >> yes.
>> Councelor Perry, >> yes. >> Councelor Healey, >> yes. >> Councelor Brown, >> yes. >> Vice President Garrett, >> yes. >> Councelor Minhos, >> yes. >> Councelor Toronto, >> yep. >> Does the president wish to vote? >> Yes. And yes.
>> Motion passes unanimously. All right. Thank you. So now going back um we do not have a presentation of petitions and similar papers uh reports of committees at the time of posting. No topics
unfinished business. Uh nothing there's always unfinished business clear but uh old business uh nothing came up. So we have new business. um and notice of zoning amendment proposals.
We can either have councelor Healey who's losing her voice or if there's someone else on EDC who'd be willing to read this. >> Yeah, I'd appreciate that. Thank you. >> Page page 89 for those >> I'll read it. Notice of zoning amendment proposals
October 15, 2025. The following zoning amendment proposals have been submitted to the Greenfield City Council for consideration. Amend zoning ordinance section 200-56 accessory dwelling units required revisions under the affordable homes act
signed by Governor Mora Healey relative to accessory accessory dwelling units 760 CMR 71.00 00 submitted October 6, 2025 by the
planning board. >> Thank you. >> Any motions for reconsideration? >> I will take a motion for adjournment. >> So moved. Second. >> Are you have a problem with adjourning?
>> Uh yes. Um, I would just I don't know if this because this is the only uh time and space I would see where we could uh communicate to the general body public about an incident that had happened um
that is concerning uh a lot of the conversation that we had and just the message that I had. I'm not sure where to stick that in. I don't know if that's possible. Could we put that in our next council meeting?
>> Um >> because I feel like we're at the end. We've had a whole evening. >> It's not like a debate thing. >> What's that? >> It's not like a debate thing. I'm not uh I'm not trying to make any sort of like grand gesture, but it does have to just
do with the election that is coming up and then it will become kind of irrelevant after that. I'm just trying to keep on topic and we're going to be outside of open meeting law. >> Okay. >> Thank you. >> I just like to say people just be nice
to each other. That's all. Where we have an election coming up and you might feel strongly about things but just be kind. That's all. >> Okay. Thank you. >> Kindness is good. >> Call to adjourn. >> Yep. Roll call to adjourn.
>> Councelor Gol. >> Yes. >> Councelor Gordon. Yes. >> Councelor Master Tataro. >> You bet. >> Councelor Bottomley. >> Yes. >> Councelor Bulock. >> Yes. >> Councelor Williams. >> Yes. >> Councelor Perry. >> Yes. >> Councelor Healey.
>> Yes. >> Councelor Brown. >> Yes. >> Vice President Garrett? >> Yes. >> Councelor Minhos? >> Yes. >> Councelor Torono? >> Yep. >> Does the president wish to vote? >> Yes. Let's stay all night. Um 8:16 and
we're adjourned.