all right this meeting of the Greenfield city council committee chairs is called to order at 6: PM this meeting is being recorded by committee chairs if any other person present are doing the same you must
notify the chair person at this time purpose of this meeting is to prepare agendas for subcommittees for Council consideration no discussion or comments will be entertain unless requested upon by the committee chairs
right so uh we don't have anybody remote we're all here so we have to do a quick roll call Council wowski yes councelor Garrett yes councelor Healey yes
councelor Golab councelor toronzo yeah Madam president you have a quorum fantastic so going through um and before we jump in I just want to say I've been thinking a lot about the most
recent council meeting and um I sometimes like in the moments sort of don't get a chance to kind of react because I'm also sort of trying to manage what's in the room but um I will be saying at the next council
meeting that we need to conduct ourselves with more civility um I'm not going to allow name calling and I know I'm going to ask uh the clerk to help me if uh there's some instances uh that we need to stop call things out and we all are
committee chairs so I also want to hold us to a higher standard because you are the leaders of the council so enough said but um I rewatched the uh the school committee
meeting and um I'm trying to assume positive intent of people as much as we can so that's I'll also hold myself to that standard and it was hard to know what to say in
the moment uh I was really surprised by the conversation and in retrospect I do wish I had spoken up to so I appreciate you naming that and I will thinking about about that I'm trying to hold myself us thank
all right so first item is the parliamentarian um a quick update that I have talked to David singer uh he is not interested in being parliamentarian um another name that has that was suggested
was bricket Alis um as being someone who's really good about process so I don't know bricket I or any so I don't I don't think we can uh have a discussion about it but if folks
have uh other suggestions of folks let me know or um have uh worked with bricket and uh can let me know just how how that interaction is one question I have about that is um is
I don't believe he's a resident of Greenfield any longer does that matter with a parliamentarian because they're not elected officer to the city can they be from anywhere you guys know so there's nothing in writing anywhere for the city of Greenfield about a
parliamentarian um the last parliamentarian that we had resigned because they were moving out of the town but that wouldn't have it was it was their comfort level right not wanting to travel which is totally fair right um so
that shouldn't be a barrier itself sound right um and it was time you know not just the travel type thing um yeah that's all um and other name is my my neighbor
Henry who uh was the assessor for the town of Heath and it's just really really good with parliamentary procedure so never been on the city council so I'll follow up with that that name as well yeah anybody that can keep us on
the rails is somebody I'll be glad to see yeah uh and the other person I talked to uh who was a city councilor a very long time ago um is not interested because you might want to comment on things that are happening in
Council I think that might be that might be a it is a barrier a barrier for a lot of people Zinger was one of them before Council that I would want to comment on fair enough um all right so are we
keeping this on removing it for now we're gonna just keep it do it okay okay uh approver approval for mayor disorder a pilot agreement with uh milbrook LLC
um I wasn't clear when I was reading this if this is something for EDC or Ways and Means um I know it's payment and L of taxes assume ways and means like based on I also minute I didn't fully understand it when I read through it like it's a lot there so that that's
basically when you have renewable energies come to town it's their way of paying because there's no way to like price their solar panels substantially so they come up an agreement with the city that says hey we'll pay you an x amount per year in L
property taxes so it's a 20 year agreement from what I saw seem like an no-brainer but I would say that's probably a ways and means thing even though it's budget season then I'd be glad to take it at youc if Mike's busy you know I can if you want me to I don't remember off the top of my head I
apologize look back and see who had them last which was a long time ago um and then let you know but I'm sorry I should have looked and I did not yeah but it was either ways means are
EDC and we could take it in EDC it's kind of think it might have been EDC but I'm not sure EDC isable given uh everything that's going to be on Mike's plate I will I will also just look it makes sense because it is a kind
of a new business in town and yeah it's like a tiff right that would go to EDC in a way that would tiffs would definitely go to EDC so we go Tiff committee first right which those chairs Rob right which yeah that we haven't
seen okay uh next item is approval of the memorandum of of agreement between the city of Greenfield and permanent firefighters local that's going to be weigh means this does not have a Current financial aspect to it oh it doesn't so
it's just approving theou okay so even though it's a contract that deals with money amongst other things until there's a financial order it's it can go to ways and means I'm not saying not to I'm just being clear that
there's no appropriation associated with it do you don't want it to go to Ways and Means which is seems like a place that it should go to name thoughts every other contract's
gone to away me is that true I think that's true not sure okay thank you uh uh okay continue discussion on inviting department heads to present to the Council on a monthly basis Uh
current issues so I let me just look what I have in my notes of who we have teed up um see it right in front of me um I know we have uh Amy cathine will be coming in
March to talk about um Economic Development uh and then April we have Carol Collins for energy and I don't I don't know if we got past that to May so
um any any suggestions of uh departments that you all want to hear from I would say likely with new ordinances coming forward the Departments that have to do with those ordinances would likely be
appropriate and I know that Marlo is going to be bringing forth the solid waste ordinance so is sponsoring he I reached out to um uh Marlo and asked him to come to ano
and he will this this month so maybe when it comes before the full Council that would be helpful for him to come and give an update on the recycling and I know that um the other one is Christian plant is going to be uh bringing forward new ordinances
related to the cultural Council so perhaps he would be interested in coming as well um those will likely come before a& R in April for at least for discussion there may be really fast discussion we might even vote on it at
that time um so those could be appropriate people I mean he's not a department head so Amy is his boss Amy is his boss so she might you might ask her to mention it maybe it's not him maybe it's her and she shares what's coming forward um so I'm hearing um it's
very brief like this is a tiny this is this is about um uh formalizing the cultural Council in The Crossroads Cultural District so you you give us a heads up that it's coming forward and it also hasn't been submitted yet so yeah it's brand new so she might not even
want to I'm thinking out loud and respons yeah so I'm hearing May for DPW that's all right there's always a reason to talk to Mar yeah that would work yeah I think that's good uh tentatively would we want to just
hear about the cultural Council and everything that entails in that in June potentially maybe we don't want somebody coming in June given that it's the budget vote yeah budget will be in May it will be in May okay starting the summer talking about
cultural council stuff does not sound bad yeah yeah sure do that about yay yeah ex like yeah okay um do all makes sense any other
departments that are exciting Recreation uh Recreation is working on a trail project right how was that the trail markers give us an update on that yeah I would love an dat and and I would
say I don't know what I'm going to hear back from the department heads so you have so you haven't heard from anybody uh just the solid waste I haven't I haven't heard from anyone yet to respond to your question I was like I'll look and
then I was responded and I haven't and I didn't respond um we'll probably hear back I've asked to hear back from people by March so so did you get that whole spreadsheet thing yes oh my goodness okay good see it like we should
give it's a beautiful and like not just for this process but now we have this thing yeah like for other like it's a great resource now that we have well so I haven't heard yet that many by the way Capital committee um did
get the update from um wreck if you guys are interested in seeing that uh it was the last meeting of cap committee where Recreation attended oh very much yeah they had future asks this
year uh so next item is uh vice president Garrett's notice of resignation from sustainable Green Field implementation committee um and I will be appointing councelor Brown as a replacement and I've already talked to the mayor about
it so good want that under new business to make that acknowledgement yes very committing I just want to make sure I'm being mindful of myself uh so next we have mayor's appointments Board of Health um and
historical commission so that goes too and Constable yes I was have a con well this is my question I tried to look it up but I couldn't find it what is our Constable what do they do they have a club they swing around and a very
never that um in the municipality of Greenfield that I know of the only office that uses a constable is the clerk's office for the posting of warrants our Charter requires that we
have two um we have had one for a while because other things take pressure um and so I spoke with the mayor speak
email um and she approved recommending David pant who is a former Greenfield police officer um and came recommended by the current Constable which is also a former
Greenfield police officer okay so and what I what is the posting of a warrants I feel like I should know the answer to this but what does this mean so when when you guys approve uh an election
warrant it has to be posted physically posted in one of each of the nine precincts and we have a list of businesses in those precincts that get
the posting okay um and if it was really fun in 2020 because everything was closed so we had to come up with new and different places that would have been open um so that's as far as I
know okay that's what our constables do for us okay I don't know if any other office uses them okay they're post liar and if and if they can't do it then it falls to me okay okay the Del and we
we do pay them a small fee too okay small in my opinion but okay yeah okay cool thank you an appendix like it's anual organ there there are many of like the the fence person and oh I know yes the walking the bounds thing up in New
Hampshire where they have to walk the borders of town every year czy yeah they still do no oh I'm curious to do that anyway okay we should put a field trip all right the Antiquated let's walk the border of the
TS that's the city council sounds like a long day a smaller CH uh proposal for a new ordinance to establish an opioid use and prevention commission submitted by councelor bulock on February 25th I assume that goes to
it goes to ano and it just occurred to me um I know she's away right now but if councelor bulock was able to come to ano that does not violate a quorum to have a counselor another six counselor speak
correct a quum of 13 is half of 13 which is seven other half of 1 thank you very much I don't think it does I mean it definitely doesn't VI at the council quum um and if they're
sitting from not at the open meeting anyway right so does the quum even apply at that point pardon would the Quorum even apply if it's an open meeting yes still would apply so you can have at a subcommittee there's five people that
are supposed to be there Quorum is three if you get seven counselors there and they all wish to participate that's a quorum of the council and that's a violation but if they're just unless their only participation is public comment which they're allowed to do yeah
as a citizen not a counselor but they're not allowed to engage so if they're making public comment and they're saying I would vote for this right well that's being spoken as a counselor because a citizen doesn't get to vote um so as
long as she doesn't make a declaration of whether she would vote for or against explicitly right um not fascinating and and you know
she everybody stays in their Lane then it it shouldn't be a problem explain the or want us to invite her uh yes I spoke to her the other day and she said she was going to try to go to the meeting okay great thank you for doing
that and yeah that would also be helpful um and aran's meaning I'm imagining that she's speaking on behalf of the subcommittee and we are speaking as AO members is that accurate that's a good lens to view it through
okay thank you uh proposal for the formation of Greenfield unhoused Community Review Committee ad hoc Committee of community relations committee U so that'll be a community relations to
discuss the for formation of committee great idea and then the council will have to vote to form that yeah correct do they have to when it's a ad hoc thought Tammy told
me so the ad hoc previous to this um and I always think of the biomass way back when um I believe they were voting by the council maybe not the membership but that was the difference
right to create an ad hoc committee you state what the committee will be called how the possible membership will be structured okay um what their goal is and when they
expire like upon completion of the project or goal has been met or which I think it's in the it is in the resolution right um or you can say they have two years from this state
and they expire because if you don't put an end put an ending on it go on get go on for a long time okay not our no okay all right um next item is approval for the
president to prepare and forward a letter of support on behalf of the Greenfield City Council in regards to Mayor disorder's requests from the state legislature to funding from the environmental Bond bill for the clean up of the property um the lent property does that need to go to a
committee or can that just go to the full Council suit I mean nothing has to go the committee right but I think this is personally I think it would be fine to go to the full Council like it seems like a pretty much okay so let's do that do you have one
question about that what is the logic and this is not an argument on one side or the other I've just not seen this happen like this and I'm curious the logic to have this be a letter of support as opposed to a resolution thinking behind
that um I spoke to John about it and we were trying to decide what had more teeth and whether it was going to be a resolution I mean basically we want to support the environmental Bond Bill to
get money for green field for the cleanup the intent and so it felt like a letter and I don't disagree with that I'm just curious It's it felt like a letter had more teeth going to the legislators okay cool thank you for
doing that so that's full count um next one is pretty straightforward transfer 354,000 from free cash to tax title legal expenses to settle pending legislation related to tax title
taking so that is going to be ways of me uh capital budget do need me to read all of these uh 15 orders okay those are going to go that's only in public hearing first reading and second second reading so that's going to go to what
capital is going to Ways and Means y then we have proposed four zoning amendments for adus I assume that that should go Toc he is Thursday y um and then you guys already
foreshadowed that there is a solid waste ordinance so that is going to go to ano can I say and I don't know you said you did talk to Marlo uh briefly by yeah I okay um so he
has a timeline for this okay because the new trucks are coming in May June I think they might already have one of them okay um and this is a complete rewrite yeah of the solid waste which
has been needed to be done for a very long time um The Catalyst to getting it done was the new trucks and the new process and that sort of thing um so we're trying to keep this a little
bit separated from the ordinance review so that it hastens the process sure um to approve an ordinance or an amendment or something like that you need to hold a public
hearing before it can be finally passed off to the council would you be interested in scheduling a public hearing for this we don't have time now in April at Theo
meeting at Theo meeting okay how's going to work when the time comes to do this at Council floor do you have to read the whole previous ordinance you do not or can you just say strike the
whole ordinance and replace an entirity yes with the ordinance you don't have to read the whole because it's like attached as exhibit a yeah okay perfect right it's like 17 P very it's very in depth which you know needs to be
um yeah and as much as we don't confuse counselors about right serious strike but we're gonna that in parenthe if you if you look at what we have and look at what's proposed you can visually see there's a distinct
difference between the two documents so yeah and and I'll just just for a clarification with the ordinance review yes absolutely I want this to passes soon as it can and um as things come forward
through the ordinance review I see them us just voting on them as they come as works for the rhythm of council so not like this is the process and this this is the ordinance review ordinances and these are
not so that we can get through it as soon as possible yep okay so next uh on the agenda is EDC meeting um so there's all your items anything to no the only new business there would be like I said the ass
petition and I don't know procedurally like what is the timeline Cathy to get that in front of us get it in front of council do we have to have a special meeting so we're not in violation or we going to need to because it missed this month it missed this month I know Tammy
is working with Eric to schedule it I'm I'm thinking it's the ano regular meeting in April for the citizens petitions for zoning amendments EDC um that would be EDC right that would be at
the EDC regular meeting to have planning board come to that for a joint meeting okay um I can ask her to let you know what date they're working towards but I believe it's the April EDC because we have 60 days right for
the whole process no you have more than that right okay so you have to hold the public hearing within 60 days okay we have plenty of time um after the public
hearing is closed by both EDC and planning board then planning has 21 days to get a recommendation to us if they don't get a recommendation to us in the 21 days the council can move
forward um whether they submit a recommendation or not okay so and then linking it back to council Master's amendments since those are probably going to be in the April meeting on the agenda for Council vote if we do vote on
them in that meeting and now we have the citizens petition coming in and we does it automatically change it or do we have to go back and vote on you know be on this month's agenda because the hearing is this month why wouldn't they be at the full Council because they have 21
days after the close that's F Council can't is easy don't worry about it I'm just wondering if we're voting on that in mid April and then afterwards we got to come back to it for these citizen how that's going to is it better to like
just table it and then so or put it through later um so Master taro's timeline is going to end before the citizens
petition will so but that doesn't mean that Master taro's like the breaks can't be hit a little bit to wait for the other zoning amendments so that they can be dealt with
in the same yeah um but it it depends on what the conflict is between the two zoning amendments Al the U the citizen petitions
are all about adus master didn't have anything on ad it was the planning board that originated oh yes yes sorry you're right correct and the citizen petition basically just wants to put more restrictions on on adus compared to the Bo's
recommendation but that makes sense if they were coupled together but there's also the zoning amendments proposed by the planning board for the Adu that has a an earlier end date I'm
not saying they can't all travel together that's what I was kind of getting not mention but they right it's going to have an earlier end date for the planning board proposal than the citizens petition proposal but that doesn't mean that they
can't travel and one be done earlier than its end date you know we just we just have to keep an eye on the timeline okay um and the best person to talk to about that is Tammy I should have brought the the folders but I
didn't no but that makes sense to consider those together if we can just a question I know that when there were multiple zoning pieces that came forward a few months ago people got confused and kind of L them together and I I honestly
haven't read the the or the proposals in in depth yet because they haven't come to me for vote yet um but if if coun Master taro's zoning pieces are signif don't have to do with adus they don't then is there not a benefit for us to
talk about them on on different nights as opposed to lumping them together so that they don't get muddled with confusion we have adite yeah unite and other changes something like that the time permits what I what I would pose is to table the adus to the next meeting
okay but we'll have to look at timelines but we can also simply just not put them on this agenda because they can go on the next even better exactly because I feel like the zoning M ter zoning is going to be a conversation itself and then trying to do both those in one
night I think that's makes a lot of sense yeah okay so I'm hearing that we're it sounds like not taking the adus site plan review is connected to adus to so yes but the other caution is
I don't think Adu night should be budget vote night is that is there a risk of that in planning April May is the budget April be well so tamy said about the public hearing for the it just depends citizens dets on April 8th it's
not 21 days until the April meeting so we have to wait until May till May unless there's a way to get that public hearing sooner which I'm not sure is there a reason that she picked April or is it just because that's a month off
of the last one um they usually again this is usual and not cast in stone the current zoning proposals the public hearing is being held at the planning board so the next person's turn I see is
the EDC regular meeting so that's how they usually try to go so that no one's holding a special meeting right because we have to have time to get the public Hearing in the newspaper right twice in two successive weeks not less than 14
days prior to the hearing and such so zoning is really all about the timeline right and if you can do it now or should you that sort of
thing so what did we come to the conclusion like what we all agree we could either do it all in April or we could do it I don't think you can do it all in April because the 21-day deadline won't so yeah we'll be doing adus in May
then budget or you push it if we push it to June we can't the only C on being if we would run out of time on the aduse the planning board right am I hearing to take the doning amendment section 200 adus from the
March meeting for EDC no we can keep it on we'll still talk about it um because we're talking about it in the meeting on Thursday anyways I I just think getting it out to it won it won't go to the council yeah letting the planning board know that hearing what thinking as far
as keeping them all together probably would be helpful too so I'm just I'm just like hitting the braks on Adu and budget the same night like that we're not going to make wise
financial decisions on our City's budget if we have hours of public comment and then discussing the budget can we discuss the Adu piece in June and I know you probably don't have the dates in front of me we can look okay all right
yeah thank you I'm thinking we may not have time with the planning for its version that may be wrong anything else for EDC that um not not old or current business I do have some things planned for the future one of them um they're not on the agenda not
on agenda so I can't talk about them but I do have future meetings I want to discuss later okay perfect right ano um so I would like just a running agenda item under discussion of like ordinance review
process until we're complete so that we are on page four yeah see this one is it is it General enough to allow us to truly talk about our process because it says ordinance review updates regarding
submiss um of proposed ordinance amendments submitted by department heads and their related committees if we were wanting to talk about more than just that bit of the process is that okay or should we have
something just quite open-ended like a ordinance review process so do you want me to say that again um do you have a process we're we are in the process of discussing the process I mean it's it's
iterative so last time we talked about what we want our guiding principles to be and I've written language that I'm going to send to the through you to the to the committee for example that but also we haven't yet talked about okay how are we going to divide up the
ordinance responsibility between us that would go under process I think that there's things that we can't foree because we've never done this before and so having an open-ended agenda item ordinance review process would allow us to continue to
talk about it so open meeting law doesn't like open open Agenda items but if we had the item and then we put some bullets that um were a little more specific yeah just
put a bullet that says discussion of yeah because we're not vo it we're not and it's kind of impossible to predict we've never to do this well I think we do need some agility and some space to talk about the things that come up in a
public forum and I don't disagree with you yeah but we also have to keep open meeting law we need to meet open meeting well um so I think we might
be able to get a little creative okay um and come up with something that is not open-ended but allows for discussion to happen yeah without being in violation open meeting that
sounds great I I whatever allows us to do that I know I'm looking for last how you had it written last month worked for us on Theo agenda yeah I mean at least I think it did at least how I interpret it okay so I'm looking
to last month we can um remember yeah it said review of city of Greenfield ordinances per City Charter sec 85 review of bylaws like I interpreted that to mean that we could
talk about it talk about whatever came under that right but that's it's giving you some specifics yeah it sounds it's specific and wide enough it worked for us right I thought we a good discussion yeah um if that works for you if that feels specific enough for you to be in compliance with the law
that that's let let I'll look at it again um and we'll go from there okay so so you'll let me know if that doesn't work and we need to talk about it is that yes great thank you um if we set for ano if I may just
to bring you all up on ano yeah so we've received two recommendations for Amendment okay and two or three um people saying know the language we
currently have is fine it doesn't need to be amended um I will be sending you some things sounds great sounds great
um yeah I think that's I think that's everything I trust that you and I will come up with language that suffices SC yes I think that's it for okay
community relations uh will be going over the uh ad hoc committee and that will be the main discussion um three counselors two maral appointments or is it three Council
appointments uh I don't have it memorized does page um uh so three members by the city council president two members from the mayor's office and I did talk to uh
Amy Cain um he was just worried that there would be duplication and thought that actually there won't be duplication after after we had a conversation about it so it's really not meant to to be part of the unhoused Community
conversations that are happening but um how we can get some conversation and recommendations and will one of the questions that you're asking I'm curious what if there's any advice for the
ordinance review if there are ordinances that folks feel like impact unhoused folks I don't know if there's not I don't know if there are or not but curious is that something that you sound familiar not really it it doesn't ring a bell with
either one of us Quinn has been elbow deep in those [Laughter] ordinances we'll be we'll be talking more yeah so nothing related all
right and uh last but not least way and means any changes agenda look good other than it sounded like Derek wanted to take the first part of that for pilot agreement yeah I don't really care if it's where
it goes that's one thing for you to do when you're trying to it you want do you want um capital on here for discussion do you want to invite anyone or are you um i' sent this over to uh
Tammy previously um so what we did last year or what we can do this year I think because of what capital entails is do it in the um Regular meeting in March and as we did last year
um invite any department heads that would like to attend there are no present but if they want to be there if other people have questions I've already told the ways and means that if they have questions when they look at hopefully they've picked up a packet by now and uh
looked it over um and then Aaron did send it over to us via email so they didn't even have to pick up a packet um to look at it ahead of time so that they knew any questions they had and if they had questions it'd be um appropriate to watch the capital
committee meeting that were recorded so that if their question was already answered it wasn't um everyone hates when I say this wasting anybody's time um and then if there are further questions if
the um department heads elect to be there and to answer them they can if they aren't there then the questions go unanswered um and the folks can vote how they want to without all their questions answered but I don't want to relit I
don't think we should be wasting a bunch of time Rel litigating presentations that have already been made um it seemed to work pretty well last year and so I said well let's do it again one thing that might be helpful
there in the future I'm not saying this year but in the future when we have those Capital committee meetings like if an email can be sent who spoke about what that night to counselors so we could go back and look at our email and say hey if we want to watch you know G's
performance it was on the second capital committee meeting so you're not looking through five videos right find that so I'm sorry I'm a little not there at the moment um so you
had said to have Capital done in March at our normal meeting at your Norm at the normal council meeting noral w means normal Ways and Means okay um it seems how there's only one other thing on our
agenda right I asked Tammy when I talked to did it seem at the time you know it not obviously it hadn't gotten to the 5day rule yet so she couldn't foresee what was coming right but she said as of then it looked pretty thin and so I didn't think that it was a necessary to
add an extra meeting sometime in March to discuss capital okay now I'm understanding what you're saying sorry so yes Capital FY 26 will be added to your agenda um counselors with questions need
to try to watch the capital and if they have additional questions to submit them so that they can be asked at the ways and means meeting or they could reach out to you know myself or Jean or um
Capital members Capital members can not remember her name right now um where does she work and child's she was the other and myself and Gan wall okay we're on there um I believe the other two should be
able to answer any the questions that would come up uh from and of course now that we've got the list of what from there has been put out there that could even shorten the amount of questions and do we we don't need the department heads
to attend ways and means but they can if they wish that's what we did last year to work out pretty well writ there's always documentation with all these requests as well right like we would get in our packet at oh yeah was a big thing yeah so that that did work out
y of backup just like they do at um right here yeah yeah um and so the council will be voting on the capital in they can vote in April okay yeah just want to make
sure I just I want to kind of push back on this just a little bit because I agree that we have a responsibility to do our homework before the meetings and to to watch as much as possible and to get as many questions answered as possible and I also appreciate
efficiency and not long talking and long question now it's asking and like efficient speaking at Council meetings um and I think we have a job to make effective decisions and so I don't think
that people should be like shamed or embarrassed or feel like they didn't do their job if they didn't ask the question before a meeting I think that people should have the right to ask and be encouraged they ask questions well I just I like hearing people should submit
their questions before and questions might come up that they didn't think I don't care about that of time so I'm just want us to like make sure that we're holding good space for questions to come forward in April so we
can make a really robust decision and um this was just for the the subcommittee okay that I'm not I'm not requiring presentations at the subcommittee because it draws out the meetings to have the people come and say exact same thing that they already
presented so the presentations are what or not any questions can be asked I don't I mean I understand where cath is coming from that it does make it easier for everyone just like we have to do this now stuff on the regular Council
um where it's like if we didn't foresee any questions coming up for you know the mayor the school department or other department heads that are invited we're we are I agree with you we're almost discouraged to asking questions um which I don't I disagree with completely
wholeheartedly and I I and I respectfully have disagreed with the interpretation of what we got the clarification on open meeting law to be and we are according to what they sent us allowed to have open discussions on a
topic that was what the idea of new business is for that's what the idea of old business is for and they had said the way we were doing things prior was totally totally fine um before some stink was caused by you know a member of
our community who wanted to file a violation every time you know someone sneezed without predicting they were going to sneeze um but that's okay all right I just wanted to make sure that we were on the same page of April yeah I'm just not
having like five 10 meetings like we did two three years ago okay for Capital um that Drew it out for like 10 hours and then 10 meetings for operational which was yeah you know more than a third of
April was spent at Council meetings and that was way more than what we should be asked to do um two last operation operations meetings extra meetings right we had yeah back then
last year no no this year last year last year we believe we did in one it we did it and then the rest of it got up got done in um uh our regular meeting okay that's right we had one extra meeting and then
we had the regular monthly meeting we finished it that's when the schools came out yeah no that was Operation schools didn't have any Capital last year that's what I I jumped to operations operations we were able to do in three which was okay less than a third of what the prior
years had been also do you have a schedule yet in mind for the operation budget it's going to be after April 21st because we're we we changed those dates
last year so they'll be the end of April early May okay A little later than Charter language has not changed in that aspect yet it wasn't a charter it was the code it had nothing to do with the charter it was our own code and it was
so we just moved it was easy to move there wasn't that deadline wasn't a charter deadline the charter says we have to approve the budget by a certain date the mayor has X number of days to get it to us all we did was give her um she has to
do it within at least that time period and we move that those sticks but that wasn't a charter Amendment I'm remembering it differently Pi we never proposed a charter Amendment for this because it wasn't look like you
have a question cine I don't remember what was Charter and what was code and we should look at that I know that some was Charter and some was code and the intent of bringing them forward wasn't that we would pass we would Implement a code like if it is
that the mayor has to get it by April 2 first but we still have to vote in May that was never the intent and talking to the mayor that was never int the intent that we would just have three weeks to deal with it um so this is that was our first fight of the Apple we can still do it in June if we need to without holding
a special meeting we need to verify I hope that you're right and you you I believe that if you're that certain hopefully you are are right we'll have to look verify and again I'm not saying that I'm right
you're you know I'm not we'll just have to look and we'll have to find um because I just remember it differently yeah yeah you need to be very clarify that yeah okay we need more than three
weeks is this Kathy is clerk Scott is this something you can cve I or some I feel like someone needs to be on top take the lead with verifying this like this week and communicate it to the mayor so it is it does leave us with
three like if we will we will look at this tomorrow nothing is changing as far as city council with that timeline we always did it in May anyway correct so when we did the capital meetings last year we did them like I remember it was near my
birthday which is the end of April we got so or that's capital the the um operating operating was done in April and those meetings ended I think our deliberations were on April 30th or May 1st and that was before it went
to full Council in May it was the same time my concern is that the community finds out what the operating budget is three weeks before we have to vote on it operating budget needs to be submitted by the mayor to the
council I may be a day off here on or before April 2nd that's not the change I do have our so last year our ways and means meetings were the 23rd of
April the 16th and the 30th so we we were at the end of the month okay is it acceptable if we look at this and then rather than try yeah yeah I'd
rather not you can trying to guess at it uh so the last thing is the city clerk report so um it has been brought to my attention that we are often violating our 5-day Rule and they wanted us to ask
you well do we want to keep the 5-day rule in place I do I think there will always be exemptions but we will try and hold to it is there anything that is there a pattern of things that end up coming up
against the 5day rule like I know that there's for example appointment right that's one those to me are not you the council doesn't typically reject appointments because we're desperate for folks to be on our various committees so I really generally don't have a problem with
those you know going through you know and I know that we have rules that we should follow but other like a financial order feels much more significant to not just oh suddenly increase Financial order one day before the end of the it happens yeah and it can happen right so
do you have a is there any sort of pattern we've seen with things coming up against the five dear rule uh or is it just kind of always but nothing in particular yeah there we go okay that's fair I think the fived day roll kind of protects you guys you know if we
start get rid of that then it's like opening up gates for hey we need this done in three hours it's one o'clock on a Frid you know it can't be less than 48 hours because that's still that's quick but again 48 hours for today was Friday
at 5 yeah so 48 hours for Council is Monday at 5: right and if we get something at on Monday at 4: and we're just sending it out to the council and the council expected to vote on it on Wednesday
night there's no way to Beed and and really the 5day rule came about so that the the Council Office who was me at the time and Tammy now wasn't like
refreshing their email every like looking so that's where the 5day rule came from because what's important so people work on things for months and then they send to the council and the council has to do
it this month MH like you've had this a year and a half and now it's a rush yeah yeah the council needs time too right y we do but the Council Office also needs
time um and I think we all know that the Council Office does a spectacular job agre keeping us all in line and I include myself and because they do it
every single day all day long so they know the dates the deadlines the this the that um and that's a frustrating job down there yeah yeah there's so it's it's giving
it's giving a little bit of a because something always comes in and if we're going to have the five-day rule uphold it that's right I would agree even if a counselor sends an email
on the third day saying can we put this on never happened it happens no I'm saying never happen happen no it's going next it's going to next month yeah um so if we're not going to hold it at five
days literally five days get rid of it yeah it has to be across the board me you like five days done and I you know have a little
reputation about being a so that's okay five days you have a reputation of like holding us together I'm talking I'm talking here okay so I mean if we're gonna have it have it keep it at five days if we're
not going to keep it at five days get rid of it I imagine that there might I don't believe I've ever asked to violates the 5day rule um I could imagine and I don't know what the circumstances circumstance is but that there could be an emergency I don't know
what that is and I think that there's always an exception to a rule but I think when I see things coming out they don't look like most of the things don't look like emergencies to me again it depends on Whose emergency right right but who's urgency someone's urgency is
different than a collective emergency and and I think that ultim like you we've elected you to represent us like I think that that's a conversation that shouldn't be a random counselor like you're like this is a collective emergency I trust both of you to have that
conversation I can't I mean again I can't foresee the you know but I can't honestly think of anything that the council deals with that would require that emersion of action because even if it were something
where the city needed money for whatever there's already systems in place for that we wouldn't be granting that money anyway that would all be through the state Emergency Management Systems anything like that so I I mean there's never going to be an ordinance that needs to go into effect like that like
there's never going to be an economic you know change to zoning that needs to go like that like definitely not anything from community relations like and I don't like there's no Financial orders that we would we wouldn't be able to entertain like that anyway because we have rules of first readings and all
that jazz and any kind of emergency procurement it's done through dcam in the state anyway so if all of a sudden you know this place started to collapse and they needed to like have money to secure the roof or whatever it would be would that wouldn't be anything we would
be voting on anyway it's not like a a capital expenditure just thinking about the roof collapsing after thinking about the stairs outside I'm like don't say it too loud they might hear you would you have something I was just going to say I think they do a good enough job in the clerk's office setting
sending an email saying hey the five-day rule is this date make sure you get everything in it's if you don't get it in you don't get it in that's your problem right we know the rules so we've got a Fed day rule that we're going to hold
yes cool that is everything on our agenda U you have the draft agenda which I think we've talked about so we're all set unless anybody has anything that you want to address within
the agenda the only suggestion that I have um is again going to the appointments so the appointments are on here first which don't usually have a lot of
discussion or contention or debate would you like to move this appointment to last so that you end on an easy note end on an easy note no on the council agenda for the
appointments it's just a thought completely justifi I like that idea because I feel like if we're in a highly debatable Topic at the end of the night we get tired if we do it and or if we do something and then at the end of the
night we have another highly debatable topic we're tired so if we have something that we all usually pretty much agree upon at the end of the night we make good decisions fine that's the hope at least yeah that sounds good and I I have another
question also I think and just looking at what's before us and I don't want to jinx anything but it feels straightforward next month will be the more exciting um the second bullet approval
of formation of unhoused Green Field should that be removed because you're not ready to have it go on the council agenda yet are you I am you are yeah okay thank you because we can form the committee
without who's going to be on it right and the appointments will come down the road okay never mind okay and we've talked about it in the committee many previously okay um I
might try to shorten up the approval of Laura walosi to prepare a letter thank you to shorten it up a little bit okay also bottomly will write the letter and then I will sign the letter well you're the president you can ask
him you have a copy of it anyway oh do we need a motion to adjourn he something before we go yeah um so dial back to where you started this meeting um I know the elephant in the room and people don't like to speak directly I do um and I know that that
comment was geared towards me as was yours um I stand firm on what I said I did not call anybody a name I used the verb ending an ing to describe behavior that has
happened over the last few years in constant rejection from the school committee which I think is we have all at some point asked questions and have been Stonewall
if if this council is more concerned about floofy language being used rather than being direct and asking questions from the people who are spending over half of our City's budget
every year and that's what concerned about I don't know why I don't know why we're here because we're doing exactly the same thing at that point you're you're essentially telling me like I can't say something if I'm not going to be as polite about it well I will tell
you that I think that a couple of counselors that I've dealt with who are the most impolite are the ones who use passive aggressive tones say indirect things while meaning it exact
like everyone knows what you're saying without saying it like that to me is disrespectful because now you're just kind of being a snake in the grass at that point but me directly saying that we are not getting information from the
schools which were not and I know that you were on this email the rest of you weren't earlier from a from a concerned resident about the lack of transparency and the response we got from Glenn today was an absolute lie an absolute lie that
they have given us any piece of information we have asked for we have been stonewalled over and over and over again and their own school committee member who wants to get Staffing information is charged money and still hasn't gotten that information I don't believe last I knew still hasn't they
got charged money for a fouryear request that is ridiculous we are entitled to see what is there and with the heavy Administration that we pay for I don't want to hear the superintendent or the assistant to the assistant to the assistant of the superintendent doesn't have time to give simple information
when we are making budgetary decisions on that that being said this is my I should have done this an hour ago when you first brought it up this is I'm done as chair I'm absolutely done I had alluded to this before I wanted somebody to replace me I thought that we should
have done this when we reorganized I didn't agree only some of my words gut around apparently but I didn't agree that we should have the same chairs going from year to year as it needs to be revolving and I'm sorry this is the straw that breaks camel's back like if
you want me to sit there and and sit on my hands because I might use a little bit more direct language and not have to thank and be apologetic to everybody with everything that's not what I'm here for I'm here to I'm here to make I'm
here to make hard decisions and ask hard questions because the citizens of Greenfield deserve ve that they don't deserve to just be thanked over here and and SED over there to death when they're struggling with what's going on with
their taxes with what's going on in our city that's more important to me and I didn't swear at anybody I didn't call anybody like I could have said a lot worse words trust me I could have ones that couldn't have been printed I could have said I use an
old school term because it's exactly what's happening it's pacif it's pacifying it's not doing the job that they're supposed to be doing and just because somebody gets called out on it and it hurts their feelings too
bad too bad then do better like that's all I'm saying do better they they deserve it that's what they were elected to do and they're not doing the job that the students require because they're too concerned
about fluffing up the administration however you want to word that it's it's exactly what's happening it happened at the they don't think I attended it I watched it I watched the school committee meeting this last time it was a joke that budget meeting was a joke it was just more of the same and
you have like one or two people who are who are brave enough to ask questions and then they get shot down for it or you get ridiculed for it or like like as if you're you're the villain and I'm sorry I'm not I'm doing what I'm supposed to be here for I'm doing why I
ran to begin with was because there was too much of that going on before in the city council so I'm sorry but you're asking me to help and and I'm trying to help and if you don't like the way I'm doing it then sorry peace you
can find someone else to to chair this committee because I'm not doing it this is my last time I'm here so we'll see what happens as far as a participation other ways and I'm sorry like I'm I'm sorry but it's it's I think that that I think that the
response I'm not asking you to to not speak your mind I think the the term you used was really visceral and I could have said ask kisser I could have said a lot more things ubber Stamper I
could have I I used a verb an action verb to describe what I have viewed going on there because I rewatched I I did watch the subcommittee meeting and you know chairman Johnson did not direct
his comments at the city council he was directing them at his members I wouldn't be happy if I was one of his members and was being told that I was being disrespectful but I I I guess that's not our fight um well it's the first time that
he's had cart blanch to say whatever he wants about us as as a city council to get out of the way to not ask questions to not not bother the superintendent to not do any of that stuff can you hold on and just because you've said a lot and I
think a few other people want to want to respond interest what clerk Scott has to say and we're probably violating open meeting I again should have said something when you began the meeting that way because it's not on the agenda right I I thought
and I don't mean to hamper discussion because I think everything that's being said here is a great conversation um but it's not on the agenda there I've done my job I
can't I think there's I I've been in conversation with so many different counselors from different cities with so many different interpretations of the open meeting law and cultures around the open meeting law and I think it's better that we have this conversation a little bit like respond to that in public
then not I'm curious I know you wanted to say I saw I'm just saying in the past four years I've experienced you know passive aggressive behavior I've experienced this from other counselors It's never been called out it's happened in previous
meetings we as a council just need to try in the future to you know you I respect the passion for what we're doing here I respect your passion I respect the passion sometimes our emotions get the best of us it is what it is we need
to just move on and and the school committee just needs to move on like I've I've been in meetings with school committees I've been treated by their chair the same way you guys have I understand the frustration and I've always questioned the school budget from
my first year Transportation costs I don't want to go too much into this because open meeting law but I'm saying let's just not leave this on a S note we need to work together for the next year to get this done and I appreciate your service past three years let's just get through this and put it in the past
please everybody and with that motion to adjourn I just I can I say one thing and it's non- debatable well then I'll have to after
okay we need a vote so vote to adjourn all hi hi we're adjourned at what 7:14 [Music]