Good evening everybody. Wow, that was so authoritative. I'm gonna say it again. Good evening everybody. Thank you. Welcome to the Greenfield City Council meeting of November 19th, 2025. It is 6:31 and I'm calling the
meeting to order. Thank you for everybody for for being here tonight. Um, it's getting colder and darker, which definitely makes us not want to get out of our jammy pants.
So, thank you all for being here. Um, this meeting is being recorded by the city council and GCTV9 over there. If any other persons present are doing the same, you must notify the chairperson at this time, our intrepid reporter. Thank you.
And for the counselors who are pairing remotely, which I don't think we have anybody remote >> so far. >> Okay. So, we won't read that. So, we're going to do a roll call of members.
>> Clerk Scott. Thank you. Councelor Gol has notified us that she will not be attending tonight. Councelor Gordon >> here. >> Councelor Master Tataro >> here. >> Councelor Bottomley >> here. Councelor Bullock >> here. >> Councelor Williams >> here.
>> Councelor Perry >> here. >> Councelor Healey is not yet in attendance. >> He is sick. >> So he just >> Okay. He has notified us that he will not be here tonight. Councelor Brown >> here. >> Vice President Garrett,
>> I am here. >> Councelor Minhas >> here. >> Councelor Toronto. >> Uh sure. President Wandowski >> here. >> You have a quorum. >> Thank you. >> We're going to do the voluntary pledge
of allegiance. >> I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.
All right. So, we're going to approve the minutes from our September and October meetings. Do I have a motion to do that? >> I'll do that. >> Thank you. Is there a second? >> Second. >> All in favor? >> I.
>> All right. Thank you. All right. Our first order of business is uh communications from the superintendent of schools and the school committee. Um when they did not send their notes ahead of
time, so I'm going to call them up and ask them some questions. They cannot tell us anything unless we ask them first due to open meeting law. So, point of order. >> What?
>> So, >> what does that mean? That's never been said before, ever at a meeting. Uh we have bullet points like from the mayor and so of the points that they're going to make and that goes out in
advance and the school committee and schools generally do that as well and need to get that to us within the time frame for the posting of the meeting and because they had not done so um will be in violation of open meeting law.
According >> point of clarification, there has been a lot of talk about this open meeting law jargon in the last couple years before I have to leave this pulpit that I have for two months. It is
is all I'm going to say. Like you can ask at any point a question to anybody without it being presumably conceived ahead of time. That is not open meeting law. That is not a
violation of open meeting law. >> Sorry, I'm not asking you guys not to ask questions. I'm asking them not to say anything unless we ask them a question. So, it's the flip of it because if they have an agenda and it's not on our agenda, they can't speak to
that agenda. >> But then why then why bring it up is my question at that point. Why why bring that up? Like >> I don't want them to be in violation. >> They wouldn't be in violation. They can't they can say whatever they want to say. It doesn't offering information
isn't a violation of open meeting law ever. And nowhere is it that that listed on open meeting law that you can't talk about something that wasn't presumably anticipated ahead of time from either
the board that's holding the meeting or the persons that are attending the meeting. That that would be a violation of the meeting is that's silencing people. >> Point of order. Councelor Gordon. Um it it sounds like President Wendelki,
you've received uh advice to the contrary of what councelor Torenzo is saying. So um luckily I do have a question um that perhaps to kick us off here. >> Thank you. I appreciate that. >> Um welcome. Thank you both for being here. Um I'm curious if uh what you'd like to up I hope that this is a
question within the rules. Um what's new on the school committee and in Greenfield public schools? We'd love to know. >> Uh thank you councelor Gordon. I have a few things I could update you on. I appreciate that. Um, good evening everyone and let you know some things that are the great things that are happening in the schools because there's
always a lot of things going on and sometimes they just, you know, in our daily lives we miss what's going on. Uh at Discovery Four Corner School, they've begun the junior coaches program designed by Playworks, which is a professional development thing uh program that our individual aids, pair of professionals have been working with
and our teachers with fourth grade students volunteering to be trained to teach games during recess, one day per week to students in kindergarten and first grade. So, the fourth graders are going to be helping out the kindergartener and first graders during recess because some of you may be able to picture recess on a playground, an
open playground, just children running and doing lots of different things. Obviously, trying to contain some of their energy at some points and keep things orderly as well. As of now, 35 students have signed up to participate and be trainers for that. So, that's a
great opportunity for those students to start leading at such a young age in that sense. uh Federal Street School last night held a nice presentation with members from the Joy for Justice in schools from the Collaborative for Educational Services in Northampton. They presented anformational session to
families about the restorative practice pilot program that we're starting in our schools. And Federal Street will be our first school to pilot that program. So, we're very excited about that. Um all of our elementary schools and our middle school will be having a turkey trot next Wednesday. So, you might see a lot of
people running around the streets of Greenfield and wondering what's going on. They're getting their exercise in. That'll take place on Wednesday the 26th. And the Thunderbird, the hockey team from Springfield, the Thunderbirds mascot, will be stopping by to promote the upcoming Thunderbirds rate reading
challenge, which will result in the end in many students going to a game in January for that. So, we're excited about that. Uh, Greenfield Middle School has a lot of nice things going on. One of our students at Greenfield Middle School, Cesaly Paterno, won the logo contest for the Greenfield Human Rights
Commission and will be invited to the Human Rights Commission Awards in early December to be recognized for her artwork. So, that's a nice compliment for her. They'll also be partnering, the middle school will be partnering with the Greenfield Public Library through the Libraries Without Borders grant, which will allow six field trips for our
students to go to the Greenfield Public Library this school year from the middle school. And in early December, the first week After we come back from the Thanksgiving break, the middle school will be hosting a fourth annual cookies and cocoa event on December 4th. The families will gather in the cafeteria
for cookie decorating and hot chocolate. The high school last week just held a nice play, a drama club had a great performance. Little different than what many times people have been used to because it was held on the stage and the audience sat on the stage in that sense.
It was presented. They presented Nightfall by with Ed Edgar Alan Poe by Eric Cobalt last weekend with a nice performance that engaged everybody in there in an intense blackbox style theater on the stage with the acting crew. Our National Honor Society at the
high school is again volunteering to adopt the family in Greenfield this year where they're going to adopt the family as a team as well as spend the day distributing food and gifts throughout the community. And I'd like to thank the National Honor Society and our Key Club for volunteering during the
superintendent search focus group. They volunteered to babysit if parents came and had children to so they could participate in that. Our special education department is very busy. Last night they held a joint event between the Greenfield Special Education Parents Advisory Council, CPAC. You may have
heard of that, and the Family Center, which is Community Action, which was a workshop supporting families in creating and reinforcing binders for their children's individual education plans, IEPs. You're probably familiar with that, and related documentation. And also earlier this month, just a few
weeks ago on November 5th, a family supporting agency, Family Empowerment, in collaboration with the Department of Developmental Services and Hampshire and Franklin County ran a treasure rit ran a transitions resource fair hosted at Greenfield High School. Um, in closing,
uh, we have host, we were fortunate to host at Greenfield High School. I know some of you attended and saw a one of four statewide listening forums for the chapter 70 listening tour that they were go doing and I spoke with all the people who were on the stage prior to the
starting and they had said that the one in Greenfield was one of the best attended throughout the state. So it was very very well supported by everybody up and down the valley coming out to that and a lot of great speakers that lasted almost threeish hours in that sense. So
they had a a good turnout for that. So thank you to all who did that. And I was fortunate enough to present last month to the Greenfield Citizens Academy, which is a new initiative run by the mayor's chief of staff, Aaron, and had a lively discussion with all the people who were there. And I thought that went
well. So it's a nice opportunity for us to get out in front of people and tell them about our schools and then answer questions and be available for them. So thank you, Councelor Gordon. Those are some of our updates. Thank you, councilor. Are there questions? >> Yes.
>> Uh, council Williams. >> Yes. One of the first things you mentioned was uh restorative practice in schools. Could you explain what that is? >> Our at our elementary schools, they're going to be undergoing restorative practices. It's
teaching children how to work together with each other and be responsible for their actions. in that sense. And what that would include would be thinking about some of the things that they've done. If somebody has done something that might not be appropriate in the school setting in the past, and I
say past many several years ago, but not too long ago, students would get suspended a lot, right? And have punishments that would take them out of school. Now, we need to we know we need to keep students in school, right? there's take sending somebody home to watch TV, sleep, do something like that
doesn't really work. At this point, students will be talking with either counselors or some adults and sometimes when they get a little older in the middle schools and high schools, they can talk with each other in groups and sort things out. So if Stacy and I had a problem with each other and a concern
instead of, you know, separating people and trying to hope it goes away in life, they would work on it and and talk that out. So this will be working with the teachers there, our students there, and even their parents as was last night opened up for them so they can see
what's happening. So we'll we'll have more updates on that for you throughout as this gets rolled out. We have a posting right now for posting for a position. and I think we're pretty close and probably we'll be hiring somebody within the next week. They've had some interviews already. Uh it was a grant-based position for that. So, we'll
update you in the future on that. >> Okay. Thank you very much. >> I've got Councelor Garrett and then councelor Master Toro. >> Thank you both for being here and for the kind of rundown of what's going on in the schools. Um I was curious about the superintendent search process. I
know that there is a steering committee and the timeline on that I'm less certain on. So I would love just any details you could just remind us of. >> Thank you for that. Um yeah, so we are at uh the place now where we have
wrapped up the community needs assessment process. That was the focus groups and online survey and interviews of current school committee members that I I think discussed the last time I was here. We ended up with 147 pieces of engagement. So that's folks showing up either to a focus group, a survey, maybe
they did both um or across the interviews as well as just other pieces of feedback that we've received in other ways, which I thought was really representative. And when I say that people filled out a survey, I don't just mean they clicked the bubble and then skipped the rest and and submitted. I mean we're talking like paragraphs. people people really um put a lot of
thought and input and feedback and and that was um consolidated into our candidate profile which really emphasized educational leadership that focuses on student achievement things like literacy and um STEM participation and encouraging folks to go into entrepreneurial or vocational uh stuff
but really thinking about what our students academics is looking like. Um the the second uh key theme was inclusionary practices and collaborative leadership. someone who wants to work together uh to make our programs and our schools better. Um and someone who is a skilled operations and management. I
mean, they need to know the budget inside and out. That was a clear theme that emerged which I think that we've certainly all discussed and I think certainly all support. Um so those were really those are really the things um on on that end. We have that candidate profile. We have the application is
still open until December 1st. So we are actively receiving folks. The last number that I heard was 15 applications for the superintendent role. That does not mean that we will be offering 15 or having 15 finalists. That means that we have folks at least 15 who have opened
and started the application process. Um we do have a screening committee. So this will be the group of of folks who will sort through all of these applicant materials, choose the folks we want to offer first interviews to, and then ultimately select a slate of finalist
candidates that we will then sorry that we will then forward to the full school committee which will then conduct second round interviews and make the ultimate selection of the the final candidate that we would like to choose. there is still plenty of opportunity to make your thoughts and feelings known about um
specifically we had two questions in these in these things which I'll just ask you now is you know when you think about the person who should be superintendent what prior experience and expertise what skills what attributes what characteristics would you expect you can email all of your thoughts to us
we would love to hear from you and then the second when you think about their first year on the job what are their priorities if you could write their agenda for that first these six six months to a year, what would you put on it um to help focus their attention on the needs of what Greenfield really
really needs right now. So feel free to email us. I just want to say that the the opportunity for input has not closed. I want to be very clear about that. Um the screening committee will be meeting uh December 3rd and December 9th. These are orientation and training sessions where we will learn like how to review
these applications, how to come up with good interview questions, how to interview someone as a group, you know, these sorts of things that not everyone who is going to be a member of this committee may have experienced before. Um, and then we will also come up with the actual first round interview
questions, go through that whole process of scheduling, etc. um that screening committee essentially will be done with its tasks before Christmas and we will know our like finalists by Christmas. The actual finalist selection and candidate
selection will happen early next calendar year which means after the other folks have come on um and by February is when we're hoping if all goes according to plan we will know by February who our new person will be. Um happy to take any other questions about
that. Thank you, councelor Mr. Chad. >> Councelor Garrett asked exactly what I was going to ask. So, >> okay, great. Uh, councelor Williams. Yes. Could you give us the email where people can send >> Sure. >> their information? >> So, you can send it directly to me which
is stex1gpsk12.org. um there that so that will come to me directly at the school committee uh address and then there's also a general school committee which will go to all of us as well as I think you're on that um and is Becky on that and Becky who is the the sort of head administrative
assistant for the schools will be on that as well and that is s I think that's school commgpsk12.org So either of those would be just fine. >> Can you repeat your email slowly for the folks in video land?
>> Yes, my email is s t a s e x1 at gps k12.org. >> Thank you. >> Thank you. a lot going on in the schools. So, thank
you both for being here. Appreciate it. >> Thank you, President. >> Thank you very much. >> We have one last question from Councelor Toronto. Sorry about that. >> Sorry, I'm going to keep you out of that table for a second. Um question is um
we've had this issue uh recurring for a couple of years at least if not more. Um we have large class sizes uh especially at the elementary age. Is there any
update on what is being done to remedy that? Um, I know some changes uh probably came with uh in into in
certain schools when the whole relocation homeschool stuff happened, which I don't know why we ever did that, but um we we still have very large class sizes,
especially at the elementary level, which is only going to continue up the curve. And we everyone always talks about declining enrollment around here and we do have declining
enrollment. We've seen that. But the fact that we have enrollment in these schools and we have things like 23 25 kids in a second or third grade class
is ridiculous. It's ridiculous to expect that they're going to get the quality of education the teacher is going to be able to provide a quality education no matter how great they are. Um we're we're short staffed on paras on
IAS across the board. We've we've had these positions open. We underpay them. Egregiously underpay them. Which is probably why we can't get anybody to take them because even the new contract
is only what $1,750 or something like that an hour. That's ridiculous rate of pay when the minimum wage for any job is $15 an hour. So why would anybody want to take like
if you want experienced workers to come in and help our children, why wouldn't we a offer them better incentive pay and benefits
to be helping folks with special needs that are there already and reduce the class sizes so that the all of the students students can get a better quality education. And I think that this
is a thing that gets overlooked time and time again and just kick kick that can right down the road every year. Oh, well, we we we put a band-aid on this one class that had 25 kids. Okay,
you took care of that. Great. What about that class over there? That that class has 24 kids. So, I I just want folks to understand or know what steps are being taken from
the school department to mitigate these circumstances to to give our kids the best quality education that they can, especially at the the fundamental level, the K through five level. I'm not saying that that I'm not I'm not
discussing. Can I let them answer the question? Thank you. >> Can I Can I finish what I was saying? >> Yeah. >> I'm not dismissing that 6 through 12 doesn't also need smaller class sizes as well for the same
reason, but as as kids get older, it is a little bit easier to make it um add a couple more students to that class size. Definitely at the fundamental level of the K through five. Why do we
why? There should be no class K through five that has over 20 kids in it. Not a single one should have that best practices. Uh uh Desessie would tell you that. Everyone would tell you that like 18 is probably the max you
should have there. Yet, we have classes in our elementary schools that have 20 plus kids in them. And that to me seems really overlooked. And I would like to hear what steps have been made to do
anything about that because it doesn't seem like anything's been really done about it for the last half decade. Anyway, >> you might have Yeah. So the new guy here um >> right daytoday picture. >> Yeah. In in the last half decade in the
last five months I've been right um been here really don't have an answer for you for that. Right. How can how can you rectify it going forward? I can I can answer that. I can't answer the past to you. And you know some of the past I
think you kind of some of you would know the answer. The reason we have class numbers is because we've allotted x number of teachers per x number of students, right? And you divide that out and that's what you get. Um, and you generally know that when you're making a budget, there's not too many surprises, right? We do know that people will move
in, don't get me wrong, to the district throughout the summer. We'll have some enrollments, but people also move out and they leave. So, there might be a net gain of a couple here and there, but generally not backbreaking that you're saying. So, these aren't surprises coming through the door. We and I'm not
blaming anybody. We are voting for those. We the school committee, teachers, etc. Like when we make that budget, you know what you're going to get with the budget when you do that in April or May. It's not a surprise that we're sitting here in November and you're telling me there's 22. Well, probably, you know, and I'll tell you
from me going through the budget now. Now, coming right this cycle that we're entering, I'll know next April and I'll be able to tell you here's what you're going to get if you vote for this budget. You're going to get 22, right? or you're going to get 18 if you hire an extra teacher, etc. That the math is
politely fairly simple, but it costs money, right, to do that. So, going forward, what we can in terms of looking on that is we have a a I think we have a nice budget process here. They've established a nice budget calendar to keep things moving along and then it's the choices, right? Choices have to be
made at some point and votes have to be taken as to what the budget's going to be and what it's going to include. And um if that's a concern, obviously I've taken some notes on that and we'll keep that in mind. We'll present different scenarios. Okay. Um school committee
members, right, etc. City councilors at some point in the spring or summer, here's a budget presented for you, right? We can do this and here's what the projected numbers are for you. um if we need to save x amount of dollars and cut whatever it is right at that time
frame, well, we will do that. But your numbers will go from blank at every level to this. And so you know what you're getting with the vote in that in in my opinion, in that sense. They're generally not surprises coming through. They may not be acceptable, don't get me wrong, or what people like, but you do
know what you're going to get. Um so I just wanted to say with you that class sizes like improving class sizes is a shared priority. The quality of the learning environment is a shared priority that we have and there are
systemic factors that are making it difficult for us to both get what we want. And I will just share that in another role that I have in my life like I've learned that in the past five months two of our educator lensure preparation programs have closed like
regionally. Um they're not preparing any more educators. And so when we think about the fact that we like the educators are are leaving the profession um and that it is harder to find replacements for them that this is a problem that we are going to have to think really creatively about because it's not I think only a reflection of
our local choices. I think some of it is a broader reflection of our regional picture and even the state and national picture of what the like education profession is looking like um and the pair education profession. Um I would love to have more conversation like more
situ like uh more opportunities to think about what solutions are whether that are that's like local grow your own programs where we really work on getting our students who are here with us to start early uh on that path or whether there are other you know solutions that
we could explore. Um but I just wanted to acknowledge that like it is a shared priority and it's not going to be fixed overnight unfortunately. Yeah. Councelor Bullock. >> Yeah. One is a question just because I
know that we lost teachers at the middle school level with the budget um last year. Did we do you remember if we lost teachers at the elementary level? Um, I don't want to say for certain off the
top of my head because it's been a while since we had those deliberations, but I don't believe that we >> Okay. I remember definitely we did at middle school, but then my other um I guess it's more of like a request for next month is um this came up a couple times during the election. Um, some
folks are asking questions about whatever happened with moving the fifth grade back to um the elementary school and the idea of renegotiating our schools. I mean
just to sort of like you know whatever spread it wider you this isn't we aren't just experiencing a lack of enrollment. the state is experiencing that people are having less children. Boston's closing public
schools too right now. Um, and so I'm aware that budget season is starting in like two months. Uh, and so before we get to a budget season where something gets like flipped at the last minute in
front of us, um, I would love to get an update on that workg group that I know there was at least a meeting or three that happened that was discussing like are we going to close a building? Are we going to move the fifth grade back like people had anticipated? So next month
that would be great to hear. Councelor Gordon, >> I just wanted to ask Vice Chair Ston if there are any other updates from the school committee that uh you'd like to share that we haven't asked about. >> Uh that's an excellent question. Um uh I think the sort of the the most
major update that actually involves you all is we are looking to think about how to improve like we've we've been wanting to improve the relationship that we have with you all and think about how to be more collaborative. Um, and so one thing that I would actually love to hear from you all is what is your ideal version of
the relationship that we have as a school committee, city council? How do you want to see our two respective organizations or committees interact with one another? Um, how do you see information exchange happening? Um, you
you know my email now, so you know where to send it. Uh but those that's that's a sort of you know we have been actively talking about how we might best facilitate that but we would love to do that together. We feel like talking about communication doesn't make sense to do individually if the goal is
communication. Um so that that's uh that's another thing to update about. Um otherwise I think we are we are excited about getting into budget season. very excited about our budget calendar and I believe some of our members have um gone
and started doing more of the listening sessions that they had done before like going to PTO meetings, going to CP CPAC meetings, really hearing from from the various constituencies outward um what their priorities are for us so that we're making sure that those are reflected in the numbers that we are
seeing. So um I think that's about it but thank you for the question. looking around. >> I'll just do a PTO plug that the wreath fundraiser Oh, I think it it closes this week, I think. And so, if you need a wreath, please buy one.
>> I can't believe I didn't have a form come home with me to sell one of the >> All right. Thank you so much. Appreciate you. All right, I'd like to invite the mayor up. You have a long list for us, mayor.
You've been a little busy. >> Hi, everybody. Um, so I would just like to give you a compliment. I thought you did a very good job with your questions. Um, a unique approach of getting around
to our lovely open meeting law. That was rather clever. and you started that off quite well, I might add. Um, so um, uh, SNAP, we were facing potential lapses in the SNAP benefits and, um, my
office quickly brought together a group of social service providers, food banks, community partners, and our legislative delegation to discuss further coordination so that we could best serve the people of Greenfield. this group developed some plans that we can
implement if we wind up in the same spot in a in a few months or later in the year. Um it is important to understand that our pantries are still seeing a much higher demand than normal and continue to need our support. Many
people are going to be in need because of rising cost and health insurance and new requirements for SNAP benefits etc. Um, please shop local and consider donating to the pantries if you're able and just supporting your local uh
grocery stores and businesses in general. That will really, you know, help our local economy, which means the local folks that live here, too. Um, Community Action has not yet received um federal funding to support the normal
fuel assistance programming. At the moment they are only processing applications for emergency assistance. Um we will continue to monitor the heating assistance situation. Our property compliance group has been
meeting monthly and um thank you um President Wandelowski for having us to your meeting. But just for all of you, we are meeting to help owners come back into compliance with health and building codes. These issues range from overgrown
yards that block sidewalks um to buildings that have um have fallen into disrepair and are a safety concern. We are making progress on addressing the most concerning properties
but certainly are not finished yet. These properties are health hazards. They create public safety issues. Um, bad things happen in the abandoned buildings and each one of them is a unique situation and they're they're not
easy to solve. Um, we are moving ahead. This I I have all of us up here tonight in case we have other questions. We are moving ahead with plans for public engagement in advance of writing the RFP for the Hope
Street Lot. We will share meeting dates and times before the end of the year, but we expect to have a publica engagement process that will happen in early 2026. We're still finalizing the details. Um,
but that engagement process will in include a communitywide meeting and um smaller conversation with the Hope Street neighborhood. There will also be opportunities for sharing input in writing and in meetings with our community and economic development
director, Amy Cahelane. Um let's see. Um we have been in contact with our state delegation about health insurance which is plaguing everyone. Um, every municipality is facing the same issues that we are and I'm sure
that you remember our health insurance went up 20% last year and 17 the year before. Um, the massive hikes are not sustainable. We will know more about FY27 um, costs in the coming weeks, but I'm
very concerned about the impact of that on the city's budget. We likely are facing double-digit increases again this year. And this is not a problem that actually can be solved right here in Greenfield. Next, our warming center plans are in
place for the winter. We will open once again um at the Salvation Army on the coldest nights. Thank you to Paul uh Leslie and the Salvation Army for again opening their doors for the unhoused neighbors this year. This will be um
there will be three four-hour shifts per night on the nights that we open with one volunteer from the community um and one public safety officer on duty. Thank you to the medical reserve corps and all the volunteers that are
assisting with this and Amy Kahelen who's coordinating a lot of that. Um, next we are making um progress, well I guess we're actually done for the fall on planting uh more street trees in the neighborhoods that need them. We were
just awarded uh $95,000 cool corridors grant from the state which is an addition to the 118,000 that we won last year. Uh, new trees were planted in the neighborhood surrounding Bay State and Franklin and the Mi and Middle School
over the last few weeks. More will be planted there in the spring. Next year, we will also plant new trees along the Federal Street between Cleveland and Silver. Um, and
as part of that project, some green belts, which are currently paved, will be reclaimed and returned to grass and plantings. We've continued to see great improvements on the rat issue at the transfer station. We continue to use
bait that causes no harm to any other creatures and both the staff and the pest control have reported fewer sightings of rats and their waste. D came out last week and gave us a glowing report. Thank you to um central maintenance and the transfer station
staff who have worked so hard to get this problem under control. To keep it under control, we will be maintaining the current hours for now. Um and um counselor
on the on the cameras um on the cameras. I have some in some information on cameras and I just wanted to say I I shared your concerns and was looking up a little bit about this as well about ICE and you know general surveillance.
>> Can I interrupt for just a second and let counselor Gordon ask the question so that everybody hears it out loud. Thank you. >> Great. Thank you, mayor. Um, yes, I had previewed this question for you. So, I appreciate you bringing an answer. This came up um just in the last couple of
days um I got as I got a a email from a constituent about it and and I have also been wondering about the cameras um going up at intersections around town. I was going to say recently or the new cameras, but I gather that they've actually maybe been there for a little while now at at least some locations.
Um, and maybe I just hadn't noticed them, but um, yeah, I was I was, you know, I have been surprised to see them and I'm curious to hear more about them from you. Um, just in terms of, uh, what kind of contracts we Greenfield has signed. Um, you know, there are definitely concerns as you mentioned
about this technology and where the data is shared. Um, because, you know, they they say that they're just taking pictures of license plates, but we know that there's a lot more of surveillance u footage that's captured by these. So, um curious just to hear more about um
the overall plan for these um the contracts, you know, how long we've had them, how long we plan to have them, uh etc. And thank you for sending the current contract. I saw that that just came into our email right before this meeting.
>> Thank you. I thought that went to everybody. Sorry. Um so, thank you for that. So um I actually have learned a lot about this just in a day. Um so um first I wanted to to say one thing about
the ones that are on um that are at intersections. Um the the ones that are intersections some I I just wrote this out so I could say it right. Some people misidentify the
sensors that are on the traffic lights as cameras. They're actually not cameras. They're sensors that have to do with the traffic light operations and they don't record and are not those are not used by law enforcement or the ones
on ours aren't. I don't know if they are in, you know, as you go along a highway. Um the process of determining to install a camera is an internal dis discussion. you asked like the process that would happen between the mayor and the IT
department and the police department. Um and um we have like inside of buildings we have I think you know inside of all of the buildings there's cameras inside of the
buildings. I think there are and there are cameras probably inside the school buildings and on the outside of the school buildings. Um and none of those are flocks. None of those or or the ones um any ones in the park. I think there are in
different places which I'm not going to go into but any of the new ones we since I've been here we haven't put any of those in. We are talking about um uh one place I recently received an
email about poet seat tower um and the graffiti that's up there and all of you passed something for $50,000 for us to sand blast up there. And I did take a walk up there just this week
because I received a an email from from a former city councelor about what it looked like. And I went up there and I thought, well, they've colored it all in pretty much, so I guess they're not going to be drawing too much more there. It's pretty well decorated.
Um and but to spend the money there, you know, to actually be spending money to be sand blasting that or doing something else with that would actually be a waste of of taxpayer money and city money in general because it's going to happen
again. So, um I mean that's something that is under consideration whether or not if if we're going to take care of that problem. at the same time you put something up so that you're preventing it from happening the next time. But
anyways, to go back to a couple of your questions, um the process of determining it, how that's determined, um we do have in we have all of those cameras. Then there are four flocks cameras. Okay. And
um we there's not an option that we used that or we are not paying for an option that does facial recognition and the data that we capture is owned by us and is not shared with any of the feds. So I
think that was the that was the thing that gave me pause as well which I didn't hadn't actually even thought about that. Um, if there was a thing that we could have bought for facial recognition, we didn't purchase it. So, um, and I don't know
more about the contracts. So, I can look, we gave you the policy because the for anything that we have within the city, there's a whole policy that's around it. So, that's what I sent to everybody today. Um, but I think there are times when there are
legitimate times when you need that. We had a very tough incident that happened just behind us in Energy Park where somebody was badly injured and that was not a that was just a regular CCTV camera that we put up
because somebody left in an ambulance and there's you know little things that seem to happen down there a fair amount. So, um, and you know, nobody's actually when something happens, um,
that would be a time that somebody's going to look to review it. Did I answer that pretty much? Go ahead. >> Yes. Thank you. Thank you so much for that. Um, I'm just curious if it's possible for us to get a list of all of
the different kinds of cameras and sensors um that are city-owned that are up in various places around town. Um, I don't know if a comprehensive list exists, but but if it did, I'd be very curious to see it just partly to so that I can go back to the constituents who are getting in touch with me and say,
you know, actually that's not a camera, that's a sensor, you know, and let people know kind of what what they're seeing. So I don't know the answer to that. What I do know one thing, you know, if you were doing a whole
security system anywhere, I don't think that you um I I don't think it would probably be the smartest thing. Although I don't know this. I think that probably the military
wouldn't be like advertising. Well, we put this right here and right there. Like I don't if I if I send that list as a foyer, then that would be um security things actually usually are
not done in a public something. But um so I don't know if that's actually going to if that's possible. councilors. I have councelor Bullock. >> Yeah, I have a few things. Um
uh mostly on two issues. One is the Hope Street lot which um I've continued to talk a lot about since November 4th. Um and so there's a few things I've been talking to. I'm glad to hear the plan
for public engagement. I've had a lot of questions from precinct 5 folks about when those will be held, how what they're going to look like, where they're going to be. Um, so appreciate that those dates are going to come out with ample time for people to arrange their schedules to get to them. Um, I
did have a question from a handful of folks in my precinct about um the review of the RFP. So, if this is a known an if that you have an answer to this, great. If you don't, I'm fine to take it in the
next meeting. But if you're open to a committee who reviews the RFP or will that be re reviewed internally by the city? >> Do you mean review the responses to the RFP or review the RF? Okay. >> Yeah, sorry.
>> There will be a committee who will be reviewing the RFP and that committee will include a community member. Great. Um, and then okay, the other thing this I just heard today that so there is an
ongoing issue with the law where people are parking um in front of the jersey barriers that block the lot and they're blocking the sidewalk. So, I heard from a resident today who is in a like is in a scooter
and walks their dog, a prospect, and um sent me a picture actually of the of the vehicles blocking the sidewalk. And so there was a question about whether or not enforcement will be taking place um for cars that are parked in non-parking
spots on Prospect Street so that um handicapped folks can access the sidewalks clear like have them be cleared. Um if that's something we can anticipate in the near future. I believe some of that is the armory
work and uh trucks were being parked on the sidewalk across from the side of the armory on Prospect Street. Someone last week put a sign up, a homemade sign on wood and said, "Please don't park here." And I've noticed that people haven't been parking there that the people
working at the armory are parking on the grass on the side of the armory. So, I haven't seen in the last few days. There was trucks there last week parked on the sidewalk blocking the sidewalk, but I haven't seen that in the last several days. And my window looks right out onto
Armory Street, right? I can see the Armory and I've been watching the work because there's guys in space suits and white things. I don't know what they're doing in there, but there there's a lot of work going on, but they have not been on the sidewalk in the last week or so. I have pictures from today from a
resident who's I mean talk about surveillance. I got te I got texted them. Um but we can I but just the question really is about the sort of enforcement that Prospect Street residents were concerned about parking in that area and some of the fixes that
we heard were increased handicap spots um and enforcement down that end so that there wasn't that clustering up and people could actually park um and access the sidewalks. And so I'm just more wondering about um the sort of
enforcement of people that are parking not in dedicated parking spots. Um, to your point, Councelor Bulock, a resident from either Prospect or a neighboring street, I'm not entirely certain, reached out to our department, um, and asked to be put on the agenda
for parking and traffic specifically to talk to them about trucks that were parked at the very end of Prospect blocking the view um, not in parking spaces. So, um I don't know if I think parking and traffic is meeting next Tuesday. So, I'm um assuming they'll get
on the agenda for that meeting, but you might want to double check. Um otherwise, they'll surely be on it for next month. >> Okay, great. I'll make I'll see if they're the same person. Um and then the last thing I have is just about related to SNAP. So, um there's been some
ongoing conversation in the community, especially with um the SNAP delay this month and with the lie heap funding not happening that you know people this month are having to make decisions between whether they're going to pay their utility bills
or um buy food. And so a group of residents have got together to try to put a um a public free refrigerator and pantry um somewhere whether on private or city property. And I'm wondering if you're open to a conversation
considering the current moment we're in um with people needing 24-hour access uh to food if there's potentially a place in the city that that could be um accessible for folks as we go into the colder months. I don't need a yes or no. Just more are
you open to a conversation about it. >> I'm open to a conversation about anything. That's the fact of the matter. Um I've never thought and you know was a question I wasn't thinking was going to come up tonight that anybody was going to ask me about putting a refrigerator
outdoors. Um but there you go. And but I certainly am, you know, I think I was right where you were with the snap thing. I was ready to throw up actually. It's nauseating to think of
what are you going to pay for? So I, as you're just saying it, I'm like, I don't know. You know, when the thing first comes up for what where are we going to put lockers? Each one of those things, it's a big it's like a big
thing. You have to find out, oh, where's this gonna go? Right away, I'm like, where is this going to plug in? Is there any liability? Blah blah. Is the refrigerator going to fall over? But I am definitely open to the conversation. >> Councelor Garrett, >> I have two questions. Uh, one about
trees and one about the parking garage. So the um the tree question is just do we have a tree inventory? Some of the sidewalk inventory with conditions. So I'm thinking about us planting these new trees, you know, 80 years, 60 years, 100 years they're going to have to be replaced. And I know obviously we have
trees in the rest of the city. Um and I'm just wondering like do we have a replacement cycle and just how that process works? That might be a DPW question or almost certainly is. Um and then the second question about the parking garage. Um, again regarding the Hope Street lot, one of the things that
kept coming up is no one wants to park in the parking garage and you know X Y and Z. Regardless of that, there is a telephone pole right in the middle of the sidewalk on the I guess the north side of Olive Street. And I'm just curious if we were going to have that
moved underground, that electrical conduit, what is the process that would take? Obviously, there's financing concerned. um right by the auto body shop there's like a telephone pole and you see folks walking down that sidewalk or if you've done it yourself you kind of have to scroll around it and it's wicked narrow you know talking about
handicap accessibility it's just one of those things that if that was changed that would improve access to the garage for the folks that are using it and I know that moving a telephone pole underground not the pole but the wires is not cheap so I am sure it is obviously expensive but how does one
even go about doing that so trees deleable. >> So, I'll take the tree one first. And you're sitting right next to um councel Bottomly, >> who that would be a great person you me to talk to. But I'm going to tell you
there is a tree inventory. Um I'm going to thank the tree committee for doing that. I've actually seen it. It's fascinating. They have listed like the trees like the rem um all over town and and they know like you know any there
it's they've got them all over the whole town. It's listed. is a map of whatever they are. And then the tree committee um they're I don't actually know what the financial arrangement of any of this
is probably for a dollar like just roots rents from the city for a nominal fee. And I don't know if there's any nominal fee that or they just have the tree committee use that. They have a they're growing trees up there to get
that ready for the you know for next year and there's always a plan of where they're going to go. These cool corridors grants are really something. Um because one of the big problems is watering them. Um you
don't you think that it's easy to put them in. It is it's well it isn't easy to put them in actually. I've of helped once or twice. It's not easy at all. It's a lot of work and um and and then but watering them is a pain
because you know you have to lug the water from whatever it is. So that it's wonderful that with the cool quarters grant that they're going to actually water them I think for a year. Is that right? For a whole year. And um and so so there is a plan and they're always looking at one neighborhood or another.
And this was a really this was a citizen initiative with the you know the the grant for these two different things and it's unbelievable but there's always a a plan and they they actually plan like which ones they're going to put in so they know you know they don't going to
plant high ones under utility polls. So I think I answered that one pretty good. Um and on the poll I have no idea. Do I know I don't know on the on the pole? I know from talking to um John Lunt moving a pole is probably pretty much like you
know giving away your firstborn it's that's really hard. Moving poles is a difficult thing. Um you know moving poles putting those poles anywhere else dealing with the utility companies is not fun.
um they take for I shouldn't say that but it does seem like it's like very hard to um do anything with the utility poles and the utility companies. They're big conglomerate so getting a utility poll seems like an act of Congress I
think but I've never actually tried. So that's all I know about that. Well, thank you much. And um yeah, again, I was joking that as long as it's not my first born, but it does seem like it's it would be a really valuable thing even if it's difficult. And so obviously
not going to happen in a day or a month or maybe even years, >> but I eventually would love to know, you know, >> how to get rid of that pole. >> Yeah. >> Okay. >> Chainsaw. >> Yeah. I mean, other than vandalism, >> we'll get George Washington. I I I'll I'm going to write that down on my app.
That was that was the second question. And I wasn't thinking was going to come up tonight either. Okay. As a wonder, I'm just trying to decide how hard it is to move a poll. >> I change my mind all the time. You can move polls.
Any other questions? Councelor Minhas. And then and then we're just evolving here. Um, I know we've talked about this in EDC and community relations before, but I just since this is a broader forum and more of the public might be listening to
this and the recording of it afterwards. Um, and I know you've addressed this before, but so there's approximately 30 or so dilapitated properties, right? Um, the city doesn't own all 30 of them. Correct.
>> That's that's correct. The city owns four. >> Yeah. Four. Okay. Of those four, the ones where you can find the owners, right? >> Is the city anticipating once those
properties are sold eventually, um that any excess equity, if there is excess equity, will be returned to the owners. >> So, so one of the four is the Green River School. So, we kind of own that. I
don't think that goes back to anybody. I don't know that that one. Um, and the three others I've been in touch with the attorney. We won't be keeping any like there's a new law on that and we won't be keeping anything. If it's supposed to
go back to somebody, that's exactly where it will go. Exactly. It has nothing to do with money. It has to do with safety. one of the ones and I think I explained this so thanks for asking
that um that I was at yesterday. I I walked down and looked at it's one that we own and it's very hard for the city to own, you know, besides all the things that you do. We we didn't want any of these. They just fell our way because
that's what happened. And then um we have them in the one that I looked at is all boarded up except somebody picked off one window, which that's a bad thing
because nothing will happen or hopefully nothing will happen unless somebody gets in there. So it's a it's a real safety thing. So you know, I had three kids. I could imagine just exactly which one of my kids would be in there in that window. and it wasn't something that you
you you wanted. He now builds houses, as a matter of fact, but he'd have been the one that I found in there. And I thought you you don't want things like that and you don't want them next to you. So, we will and we've been in touch with the attorney about this because
um as I said, that's an things can happen in those. So, yes, it will happen however it's supposed to because we'll follow the procedure. Council Tranzo,
>> kind of on that same note, and maybe you don't know this or have this information. Um, the house that burned on the corner of Ozgood and School Street, what's up with that? >> Well, that that's a great question. That
is one that councelor Williams has been um uh asked me several times. It's one of that that one's on the list. Um, and I've learned a lot about um that too. We're writing to the
delegation on this. When you have a fire in something, it can take a long time for an insurance company um to settle something because they're looking to find out exactly
um where the problem was started. Um and um it takes them a long time to settle whatever it is. So, and it takes a lot of money to take down a building, especially if it has bad things in it. And many of our houses
have asbests in it. But overall, it's about it could cost about $100,000 to take down a house. So, um, one of the things that we're looking for, um, yeah, $100,000 to take a house down to because
of the the things that are in it have to be properly remediated. So, there are several of them throughout the city, two of which we own, one on severance, one on um by the school. And, you know, they're condemned. There's
nothing that could be done with it. And so, um, in in with your help, we'll be looking at the, you know, foreclosed or foreclosing properties that, um, there used to be a $25 fine per year to just
say my house is vacant, but we'll probably be increasing that so that there's some money in the pot. Um, so that these buildings can be taken care of so that there's funds there to to get that taken care of. with this one
on School Street. We don't own that. The owner owns it. And so at this point, we have reached out on numerous occasions and are how do I say this? Um just making that
well known to the owner um uh that something needs to be done. >> Could I follow up? >> Sure. Is there not I I know that that's not a uh city- owned property. Um but
do we not have any avenue of uh I don't know what you want to call it like a like a blight uh restriction on properties like you can't just let your place go into complete disrepair. I know that
insurance takes a long time. Fire insurance does not take as long as that property's been burnt. That's been over a year anyway. Insurance is done. They're settled by now. There's no way that they haven't finished an
investigation like and and and if that's the case, why is there is there an avenue for the city to go at the insurance company and say you need to remedy this now one way or another? because you can't
just allow this to happen. That's going to be another place where, sorry, I know our dump has rats. That's I bet that place is infested with rats. I can guarantee it. >> And that's disgusting. And it's
ridiculous for people to have to live around that and look at it. And there I think that there if there isn't already an avenue that's being addressed from the city, there
should be a little bit more pressure on you can go after the homeowner all you want and they can just tell you to pound sand, but the insurance company can't. That's that's the people who have the bucks. >> So go after the money. go after the people who have the bucks to do it and
be like, "If you are not going to pay out for a rebuild, you have to pay for a tear down because that's it." Or else sue the the person who owns it and tear the damn thing
down. Like that's it can't sit there in the in the state that it's indefinitely while people are trying to figure it out. like that that doesn't help anybody else in the neighboring community and it causes a a ripple effect that's just
going to spread from there to to the neighbors that are around it and that's that just doesn't seem like a a proper way to conduct business. So, um, all of those things that you brought up, we just I don't know if our
meeting was yesterday or the day before, but getting in touch with that the insurance company, we're on that. So, each one of those things that you said, we're doing. But I do want to tell you one thing. What the the fire chief said,
and this is my first experience with going through one that had a fire in it, how long it took. I do not believe that that one is settled. Um, and you just you said the fire insurance
ones are done, and I do not believe that that is the case. Councelor Torono, what I was told yesterday at the meeting was that the worst ones to finish with insurance companies were houses with fires in them. Now, I've only been doing this for a year and 10 months, but
that's what I was told yesterday. So they've said that that happens in other municipalities and this is the first one that I've gone through. But we did we are at that in I would say four or five different ways but going I said ask the
very same question that you did. >> Thank you mayor and team. >> Okay. Thank you. appreciate the robust conversation. So, I'd like to invite the chief assessor, Christina Summers, to come up
as part of our regular um having different departments come and present to us. And we can only have uh we can't have uh Jim up because then you'll have quorum. Sorry. As much as we like you,
And thank you for joining us tonight to just give us an update on what's happening with the assessor's office and department. And if you want to turn hit the button then we can hear you.
Bring it a little closer in case myself closer. There we go. Green is go. >> Okay. Gotcha. Nice to be here and I'm happy to take any questions that you would like to
ask. >> So, how's the assessor going? The session going? >> Well, it's awesome that you bring that up because we have quite a bit going on right now. Um so um right now we are in
the process of uh getting the tax rate set and uh it's a pretty big lift this year. We had a change of assessors. Um I just came on board in September and so I've been madly trying to uh scrape everything together and get it all done.
And um so I thought um I could let you know how things were going so far. Um so far we have uh submitted I've submitted uh some things to our regulatory bodies to make sure
that we're um doing everything the way it's supposed to be done. Um my background is in valuation. I uh have a background as an appraiser. Um so I will be applying those skills to our
taxation system and um so to start off I just wanted to kind of let you know kind of where the market is um and just using the tools that our mayor has very kindly
um provided for me to do my job. um we have been able to determine there's about a 9 and a half% market increase for single family homes in this area. So therefore, um that's kind of where we're at as far as it's reasonable to assume
then that uh the values of the properties are going to go up about that much. Um this is just for single family residences, of course. Um, but that's an example of of showing the market moving. Um, and that means that the values are
going to move. It doesn't mean that the tax rate is going to be higher. That's up to you guys to determine, but I did want to let the public know that this that our assessment values are tied to the market value. And the market value has gone up about 9 and a half%
according to the data that we have here. Um, let's see. We do have the next thing I'm working on is the new growth that we have in the city. We've had a lot of um uh people that are renovating their
houses. Um we've had some new builds. Um and all that kind of stuff. We also have some new personal property accounts. Um so we have these are pretty they are preliminary numbers at this point since nothing has been actually
approved by the do yet. Um, however, but I did want to let you know that we do have some growth. We've got about $4.6 million in personal property growth in this year and a little bit of commercial growth that we were able to capture about $35,000.
Um, and then residential, we have $3.6 million in residential growth um this year. Uh, for a total of about $8.3 million, $8.4 million about um which is comparative to last year except that
last year we had invested a lot in uh gaining personal property accounts and so we had a lot of gain last year um in personal property. Um but other than that our numbers are pretty close.
Um, and I just wanted to let you guys know that I was working on um, uh, updating our model to keep it current and, uh, keep it correct and, um, on top of the market changes that
are happening these days. And, uh, looking forward, um, next year is going to be a revaluation year. And so, um, that's going to require a lot more, uh, a lot more things that we're going to
need to do, but it coincides very nicely with what I would like to do. And what I'm seeing in in our model is that I want to uh get everything correct, get everything accurate and um and then basically what we're going to do from there is submit everything to the
regulatory bodies and um make sure that we are taxing everybody appropriately and um I'm really excited to do that. I think this is I'm really excited for this opportunity. Um I am somebody who just I love my job and I I think this
whole thing is fun. So, um I'm excited to uh apply my talents to this and um we had been talking about getting information out to the public. Um so we have a couple of uh committee we have
some uh educational sessions. Uh one is scheduled for December 10th and there's another one in January. And that is what we are focused on right now is getting that tax rate out.
Thank you and welcome to the city. So, we're so appreciative of having you here. Um, I've got councelor Master Tutura and then councelor Minhas. >> Hi, and welcome. So, you have a background in real estate.
So, what what you how do you anticipate this market beginning? I've noticed that housing houses are beginning to uh come down slowly.
Do you anticipate that yourself going forward? >> Uh as far as anticipating, I'm not sure anyone can anticipate the market these days, but that's the wonderful thing about um being able to have a model that we can change and we can change. uh we
can go up, we can go down, we can actually change to reflect those market conditions and that's uh going to be part of my job is to analyze that over the next year. Um and uh yeah, that's an exciting part of my job. >> And one more question and I think we're
going to maybe of course the newspapers here. So, um I think we're going to be talking about this at Ways and Means, or at least I'm going to bring it up. Um considering uh bringing forward a motion of a split tax
rate. Um what's your take on that off the top of your head? Or do you care to devulge? Um so, as far as split tax rate goes, we have had those discussions in our appraisal board meetings. At this time,
the consensus is two things. Number one, we don't have enough data to get everything right, and I'm working very hard on that. That's one of the things I really want to get done, especially with the commercial properties. I want to make sure that we get those data cards
correct and we get that in there. Um and then the other piece of it is that our primary um our primary tax base is residential and our commercial tax base is not very wide or broad. Um and so
there is a question as to whether or not the the commercial tax break base is broad enough to support such a thing. But we can certainly take a look into it. um when I'm further into this whole process um I can have u more numbers
that we can play around with and I can present possible scenarios. >> I'm going to go to councelor Menhus and then we can come back. Thank you. >> First off, thank you for coming before us and welcome to the city. Um something
that a few residents were asking me about which I did not have the answer to. They said they've been getting stuff in the mail about um some city department asking about coming inside and seeing potentially like what's going on and what renovations and stuff
they've done. Is that the assessing department? Is that you guys? >> Yes, it is. So, one of the things that uh is required from the DOR and the regulators is that we go by and we inspect um the uh every single dwelling
or every single property uh in the entire city once every 10 years. And so um that's part of this process is that um and especially since my primary goal is to make sure that the property cards
are correct. Um if the if my um my my property listister who is uh Evan Greg back there. Um I did want to introduce him to our city council as
well. Um but if he can gain access to the uh exterior of the property and the interior of the property, then we can get those tax cards correct and if I have correct data, then we can have correct assessments. And that's what
really what we're looking for is I want to make sure that the data is correct. And um over the past 10 20 years or however long it's been um sometimes a lot of things can get missed. Um, and a
lot of times, um, especially with interior condition, maybe somebody if somebody hasn't hasn't been there or touched that card for 10 years or whatever, then the condition may be incorrect. And it doesn't matter which way it can go. It can go either
way. But my my whole point is to get that card correct so that we can have accurate assessments. And I think that is the main point is accuracy more than anything else. >> Um so is the process just to clarify for
the public. So you're I haven't received this. My family hasn't but um yet that I have seen but um so you get something in the mail and then how are you supposed to respond or do you schedule an appointment or like what how how does that work?
So, what we would like to do is um so the process is that uh my lister is going to go out. We have a list of of uh properties that have not been uh visited in the last 10 years. And so, we're going to go out and we're going to visit those properties. And at that time,
we're going to uh the lister is going to um put a notice on the front door to let everybody know that we were there. And if you would like to call in and schedule an appointment because you think that your information is incorrect or anything like that, then you can call
in and um make an appointment with our lister and he can come out and take a look at the interior of the property and get all that done. Um we have been also sending out letters ahead of time. Um, since we have this list of about 200
homes that we're going to go see in the next, uh, like month or two, uh, we've been sending letters out um to the the affected property owners to let them know that we are going to be on our way out and that they're going to see us in the streets and they're going to see the notices on the doors and and that we're
out there doing our jobs and getting our our things done for the city. Councelor Toronto. >> Oh man, I have to be the guy with a very, very unpopular comment right now.
Um, so I know that people hate assessments. I know that people try to shield what they have because they don't want to pay more taxes. I know that people's move things around like, "Put a no
trespassing sign on my yard so you can't come in and blah blah blah blah blah." My super unpopular opinion on this is if you guys are doing assessments and
obviously you're you're legally allowed to view the property externally and not internally unless someone lets you in. and you have to make uh assessments based on what you know of the property
layout from building permits from I don't know best guess I guess at certain points like um is there I don't know I think it would be a a
usable function to uh assess high and if the person has a problem with it because they didn't let you in to look at what's actually there, then they can
call you and say, "Whoa, whoa, whoa. What do you charge me? I don't have I don't have like tile bathroom. I don't have like LVT flooring. like I don't have all of this stuff that you're you're insinuating I do. But if they're not going to let you in
and they're going to stonewall it, hit them at the max because that I mean that's just my like I said, I knew this was going to be completely unpopular opinion, but I say hit people at the max until they let you in because that's part of paying your fair share. And if
you're skirting around paying taxes, then you're creating a higher tax for your neighbor, for other people in the community who are doing the right thing. And this goes across the board, not just in home assessment, but in general, like
if you're cheating the system to save a buck, you that's going on somebody else's tax roll. That's going on someone else's dollar. So, do do is there a function I know that
it's probably not, but is there is there some sort of default function that like well, we know you have three bedrooms and one bathroom from the last that we knew. You can look at the house and be like, there's definitely more than three
bedrooms and one bathroom in this place, but they won't let us inside. Can you uh put something out there that would say
unless you let us look at it, we're going to hit you with this like I don't know like a flat heavy tax, I don't know. I don't know how they how they would discern that, but like in something like that because I I just know a lot of people who who will be
like, "You're not coming into my house. you're not coming in looking at my stuff, you know, like, and I've been on the flip side of that where I've I've asked in previous years of the assessor's department. Um, it almost seems like, you know, folks were getting
penalized previously from beautifying their exterior. Like now all of a sudden, well, I wanted to make my my yard look good. I wanted to make my house look good, my landscape look good, and then you tax me more on
it because of that. And I always thought it should be the flip side. Like I feel like people it it like I said like a blight tax. like you if you're not keeping up your place, there needs to be some sort of function to to provoke people to take care of their
their place and not just make it look like crap on the outside and then they have like, you know, a Taj Mahal inside that no one's ever going to see. So, you know, the rest of us want to see nice properties around as well and want to
want to see the place kept up. It it gives everybody it gives the whole community a look. Um, so I just don't is there any any function that can happen as far as that or is that just going to be completely illegal?
>> Well, we certainly don't do anything illegal. That would be illegal. Um, however, we do have a default and that default is average. And so if if I and you know it really kind of depends if if
I have evidence from other sources that the home has been remodeled, then I'm going to put the home in the condition that reflects that evidence. Um and it goes both ways. Um
there's uh we've had instances where things have been too high and we're we need to put them back down in their proper place. So, it does go both ways and you did a great job in explaining
exactly that. >> Councelor Brown, >> I basically had I had a similar question um but just about like assessing renovations that they don't get a building permit for, which I think the
rental registry will also help with. Um but is that standard across communities to not do interior assessments and it's just exterior unless someone um reaches out? >> Uh yes. So the do requires that we uh
request access but um as far as uh we don't go past uh you know no means no and we don't go past no trespassing signs. We don't open gates and it really is up to the homeowner. And it is also in the homeowner's best interest to um
make sure that our data card is accurate for many many many reasons and that is one of them. >> So I have councelor Bullock Botmley Perry and we will go back to master
then. Sorry for the shortened version of your name. >> No disrespect. >> Councelor Bullock. My question is about so you said that there's about a 9 and a half% market increase. Um and I'm
wondering if like if so if the tax rate stays the same, which we were lucky last year, um does that mean that single family homeowners would be looking at a
potential 10% increase? No. Okay. Because I was going to say because new grow does new growth offset that and then my only other question for you is can you just share what the education topics are for those of us who
are not wellversed in assessing and the exciting things we could learn about it. So the um the tax rate is set by um both the do and and the mayor and and all of the people involved. Um the valuations
are also set by do um well they're approved by do we we have to uh go by all of the regulations um and so the tax rate and the value don't necessarily go
together. If your tax rate goes your the tax rate can go up and down the value needs to stay at market value and that's just kind of the way it works. Um, so the tax rate can be debated at a another time when we're ready to set the tax
rate. Um, but the value itself needs to match market value, what buyers and sellers are actually dealing with today. Um, as far as the education topics, um, I basically want to make sure I want to
provide access to the public, to the assessor so that we can answer questions. And, uh, you know, I understand that what I do is kind of a black box. Nobody knows what valuations are and all that kind of stuff. But I want to lift the lid a little and get some transparency into this and let you
guys know what I'm doing and let the public know what we're doing and just provide, you know, access points so that they can ask questions and they can get their questions answered. And so the education outreach is basically going to be just what do I do? How are tax rates
set as far as the valuation side? How is that um how do those two things connect? How they may not connect all the time? and just what is um what is it that I do? What is it that I don't do? Um because basically my job is all about
data. I'm here to um to find out all the really cool things that are going on in the market and apply that to the town and to the the property values here. And that's just uh I just want to make sure that the public has access to that.
Thanks, >> Councelor Bottomley. >> Hi, and welcome. Uh, just a quick question. I don't know if you have this tonight. You said residential was about nine and a half increase. Do you know what the commercial property assessment would be this year? Increase percentage
>> that I don't have especially so commercial is hard just all together because each segment of the commercial side is very very different. Um, I can speak generally I have an You know I can speak generally that you know office is
going to be different from industry or industrial which is going to be different from retail which is just going to be different from multif family. So the commercial side is very what we call segmented. It's just it varies. Some are going to be up some are going to be down. And um so we really
don't quite have an overall statement that can be said whether it's going to go up or down just depending on what you're looking at. >> Thanks, Councelor Perry. >> Nice to meet you. Thanks for being here.
Welcome aboard. Good luck. I have the assessor's web page up. Uh Evan, you're not smiling. Alex has a nice big grin on his face and you're so serious. But I I was just uh because when you mentioned the 200 that that is 200 resident go out
there. Well, when I first read the release, I thought it was going to be thousands. So maybe maybe you should have put that number in there so people didn't freak out. I noticed that people on social media were kind of freaking out thinking that people were going to be coming to their house. 200 is a
relatively small number of properties uh in the big scope of things. So but welcome aboard and smile. I do have a response. Um, so the do requires that we do 10% of the or is it
uh we visit the property once every 10 years. Um, and so this is going to be an ongoing process. And so I just wanted to make sure that um we're not limited to the 200 homes, but that that's where we're at right now.
Uh yes, we have like 6,700 parcels and there's no way we can get to everybody in one year. >> Great. Council me. >> Yeah. Uh getting back to John's uh council bottomly's question about
commercial property. I I've been privy privy to property cards in the past and um just seems to me that in general commercial property is
which which is one way to avoid perhaps a split tax rate is commercial property seems to be value valued less than private homes And
what is it? 84% of our taxes tax revenue comes from private private homes, right? Um or somewhere in that neighborhood at least 80%. So to take the burden off the some the
homeowners um again I looking at some of these commercial properties I Okay, so here's this home that's valued at $350,000 and there's a commercial business on
Main Street, for instance, that has several offices. It's full, right? and its value is substantially less. And knowing that the land portion of the property tax is a
very small amount of the overall tax rate of of a particular piece of property. So, uh, somebody's saying that, well, it's on a small plot of land. It's not it's not as
valuable as a home that's on a half an acre. To me, that's bologoney because you have a building with several offices, right, that has substantial square footage and it's valued at $100,000 less
than somebody's home. To me, that like I have to scratch my head and wonder why. >> So, it's actually all about the buyer. So, um, the the real question is, is there a buyer for that property that is
a commercial property that is possibly dilapidated or possibly not, depending on whether or not we've been able to get inside and take a look. Um, and uh, the question is whether there's a buyer. We know that there is a lot of buyers for
that single family home, but there may not be very many buyers who want to buy a commercial building and uh try to find leases, try to find clients, trying to
find a way to um make that that business profitable. Can I >> that said, I also think that uh one of the major projects that I will be doing over the next year is we need to um well
and it's even part of the reevaluation process which is why it aligns nicely with what I would like to do is that we need to pull apart our entire model and focus a lot on commercial properties. Um there are a lot of things that are not
being in the correct way. Like our model is assessing them on a price per square foot basis and it should be on a price per unit basis. We have a lot of things to do over the next year. Um and so we need to be taking uh you know that's
going to be what I'm going to be doing over the next year. Um it's going to take a while but um I'm excited to do it. I think it'll be a lot of fun. Um, but as far as uh whether or not you can find a buyer that will buy that that commercial property, there may be an
issue with it. There may be a zoning issue with it. There may be lots of different things like um I know that office space is not as desirable as residential area. Is there a conversion factor we need to take into effect? Is this the highest and best use of this
property? There's just a lot to it. There's a lot to it and um it's really about the market between buyers and sellers. Is there a buyer for that piece of property? >> Followup please.
If I own a commercial piece of property and assuming it's uh you know maybe there's a retail business on the first floor and all the upper floors are office spaces.
and all those spaces are full and people are paying their rent. Why would I want to sell it? Because you bring up, okay, well, does somebody want to buy this? But the the owner of that building wouldn't why would they want to sell it? They're
making money. So, uh, if they're bringing in income, right, and it's it's a valuable piece of property, it's an asset, right? Why would it be undervalued?
I mean, based on a sale price because why would that particular building owner want to sell the property if it's a successful piece of property, right? And then it and it's valued less than
some private home that's, you know, so a three-bedroom home, you know, typical maybe two baths, three bedrooms, you know, your average home. I'm I'm
>> I I think that one thing that Christina said um we should pay a little bit of attention to and that was that if we have a house for sale here and I'm just thinking of somebody that just sold their house. It was on for two
days. There were people lined up and it was gone. I'm thinking of a property on Main Street that I'm not going to name the number of Main Street, but it was, but I heard it's under
agreement and I'm like, hallelujah. Um, that was on for a lot longer than two days. So, I think just listen to what she had to say about that. That was a very good point.
Um yeah, so there are lots of reasons why buyers and sellers want to participate in the market. Um they can uh as far as uh business owners, they can sell a vacant property, they can sell um a fully occupied property. Um
and the valuations are just very very different. And um it's very nuanced. It's very complex. And uh there's a lot to it. there's a lot that goes in it and that's why uh single family homes are just not valued the same way as
commercial properties. Um they're just very very different and you can't really compare them. >> Thank you so much. We really appreciate the conversation and the good news is we're going to probably have a special meeting so we can come back and talk about tax rates and do this again in
more details. So, thanks for joining us. We appreciate it. All right, folks. We're going to do public comment um because we don't have a long list and then we can take our break. Does that feel good? Great. So, if anybody is here to do public comment
and hasn't put your name on the list, um please let me know and we'll get you on the list. But, um the first person I have down is Maria Burge. >> You going to do some calisthenics with us? >> Yeah, sure.
>> All right. And everybody has three minutes as you know. um as well as uh your name and where you live. >> Maria Burge um Garfield Street. So I am I am here um for some thanks
thank yous. Um a few months ago I came before you and I said we were organizing a 5K of uh Father Williams who is a a Marine Corvette and myself we organized a 5K that just happened last week.
And it would not have happened if we did not have the city's um departments co collaborate and I'm here to thank every one of them. So the VSO Chris Demarz promoted our event and we had 136
runners and walkers participating. Christy Moore uh from the rec department she has the experience in organizing. So she helped us advising and stuff like that. Now the DPW set up roadblocks, the
AMR set up emergency services on the site and the school department. Um Angela Mass and the student council were very helpful in gathering volunteers. But I'd like to give a special thanks to the Greenfield Police Department and
especially to Deputy Chief Chris Green for giving up his Sunday to ensure our safety. Thank God nobody got hurt. Um so Father John could not be here uh tonight to to thank everyone in the
city. the um thank you may from the mayor's office also and of course father Pierce for hosting the race at the blessed sacrament parking lot. It was we did it in three months what normally
you know you start planning something like that you know for what a year to six months and it would not have happened without the collaboration of the city. I thank everyone involved and I invite everyone and challenge everyone
for next year because this was our first but it will grow and again thank you. >> Thank you and really appreciate the appreciation for our city employees. Um it's always nice to hear that. So thank
you so much. Uh Pamela Goodwin, please. Good evening, counselors. Pamela Goodwin, High Street. Um over there at the Weldon. Um, I'm one of the volunteers who worked at
the warming center last year and we had a great organizationalformational meeting recently. Um, and I just wanted to say that 13 people attended and most everybody there had also um donated some
time. The shifts are 7 to 11, 11 to 3:00 a.m., 3:00 a.m. to 7:00 a.m. And we're getting ready because it's been already pretty cold, pretty early. Um, the person that's involved with the volunteers themselves is Sarah Ahern.
And, um, I do have her email address um, but I want to reconfirm it because it looks a little bit strange. Um, but we're looking for extra people and as you heard tonight when the mayor was talking about pretty much one volunteer
and then one either EMT, police or deputy sheriff's department so forth uh will be there. If it's really crowded, then we're going to need backup people and we would probably have a second volunteer as well as the um people from
the police department or um in an EMT. So, there's backup chance where you might be called and said, "It's a little crowded. Can you come on over for a little while?" And Sarah said she was going to take a list of those people, too. 7 to 11 is pretty doable. I'm
pretty elderly, but I can go home and go to bed a little later than normal. I've done the 11 to 3:00 a.m. just means you take a nap later on in the day if it's needed. Um, and so I just wanted to put that out there. We're always looking for
people. Donations can be given to the interfaith cfc.org group that's run by Amy Clark. And if anybody wants to make donations toward blankets, flashlights, tarps, towels,
whatever, um Amy Clark is superb at that, working alongside of Larry Thomas at Wildflower Alliance. I also want to say I totally agree with CO counselor Toronto. I almost always
do. I was a little floored to hear that there was going to be an open meeting violation. I actually watched the last um school committee meeting and I was a little appalled that members of the school committee were kind of
micromanaging what it is that the interim superintendent was going to come and speak to the council about. And I was kind of screaming at my TV set when I was watching it because I thought pretty sure we paid a wonderful
very experienced person to decide what to come and report back to the counselors about. Um so u amazed that somehow nobody was going to get any information out of him until someone asked a question. I have one other
comment that I'll save for next month since my time is up about the ad hoc council that I was on for the unhoused. Thanks for your time. >> Thank you so much. >> Uh we have Damon Lee. I I hope I got the
name right. >> Oh, thank you. Hard to read. If you want to push the button, then the green light will come on and we can hear you. >> Got it. Uh, I'm Donovan Lee. I'm a resident of Greenfield and I just wanted to come up and raise a bit of issue with the comments the mayor made about the
not disclosing where surveillance equipment is around the city. Um, it is a matter of public record. These aren't military secrets. If you want more information about that, you can reach out to the uh Secretary of the Commonwealth, the
public records division. They're extremely knowledgeable about these types of things. Um, generally these types of surveillance equipments are public record. Um, they're owned or contracted by the city. They're paid for by taxpayer dollars. Um, we have a
reasonable expectation of privacy in our own community. Uh, and the city really shouldn't be allowed to withhold those from us. Uh, I also want to raise issue with the com comparing these surveillance operations to military surveillance operations.
As a veteran of the US Army, specifically a scout, literally someone trained in military surveillance operations, if this administration in the city's police department, want to treat its community as if they're surveilling it like a military
operation, that's a huge problem. No one deserves to be surveiled the way that the US military surveills anyone around the globe. And we definitely don't deserve to be surveiled in our community where we should feel safe by our administration and the police
department. Thank you. >> Thank you. And I don't think we have anybody online, do we? >> I think so. >> Okay, great. Thank you everybody who for sharing your thoughts and comments. We really appreciate you showing up.
Since it's 8:25, can we take a five minute break? That's probably going to be 10 minutes. Okay, great. I'll see you back. Hey, hey, hey. Hey, hey, hey.
Hey, hey, hey. Heat. Hey, Heat. Bang. Back down. We're down at 8:33. All right. So, we are at public hearing and second reading. There is nothing on
the list for that. So, we're moving to motions, orders, and resolutions. Um, so with councelor Goliv being sick tonight, um, this is all going to go to councelor Garrett for a little while. And as just a reminder, every year that
ends with a five, we have to or zero, we have to review all of our ordinances. So a lot of these that you're seeing in front of you tonight, it's not because we're redoing all of the codes. It's the some tweaks that are happening to our ordinances as part of that ordinance
review. >> Councelor Garrett, for the first one, um Crossroads Cultural District Committee. >> Okay. Um, so I read the order, then we give the report from committee after it's seconded, right? Yep. Okay. Order number FY260.
Uh, I'm sorry, 26-041. The city council moved it to be ordered that the Greenfield City Council amend the code of the city of Greenfield as written the attached here to chapter 120 cultural crossroads cultural district committee sections 120-1 and 120-2 A B
and C and further amends the index of the code and further the non-substantial changes the number in the ordinance be permitted in order that it be in compliance the numbering format of the code of the city of Greenfield. Majority vote required. >> Is there a second please?
>> Thank you. Okay. Um, so this one came to us or is coming to you folks with a positive unanimous recommendation from committee. Um, and the basic gist on this, it was a change in the number of members and the composition of the committee as requested by the city
department responsible and the committee itself. And so that's the basic gist here. Um, it's reduced the number of members in part in order to make sure quorum can be held and clarifying how vacancies are dealt with.
Councilors, any questions. Fantastic. All in favor of these changes say I. >> I. >> Anyone opposed or abstain? Thank you. Motion passes.
Okay. Order number FY26-042. The city green city council moved that it be ordered that the Greenfield City Council amend the code of the city of Greenfield as written in the striketh through attached hereto chapter 136 human rights commission section 2 membership uh terms vacancies paragraph
A and further amends the index of the code and further the non-substantial changes the numbering of the ordinance be permitted in order that it be in compliance with the numbering format of the code of the city of Greenfield. Majority vote required. >> Second. >> Thank you.
>> Okay. Uh this one is a reduction from on the human rights commission from 9 to seven members and that is the only change again for reasons of difficulty of holding a quorum. And so this will make it easier to have a quorum because there will be fewer members. >> And what was the recommendation from the
committee? >> Oh, I'm sorry. The recommendation is positive unanimous. >> Great. Councilors, any questions? All in favor say I. >> I. >> I. >> Any abstensions? Opposed? Motion
carries. All right. We're on um chapter 193. >> Okay. Uh order number FY26-043. The city council moved that it be ordered that the Greenfield City Council amends the code of the city of Greenfield by deleting the entire
chapter 193 Ways and Means Committee in its entirety and further amends the index of the code and further the non-substantive change to the numbering of the ordinance be permitted in order that it be in compliance with the numbering format of the code of the city of Greenfield. Majority vote required. >> So this one needs an explanation. It was
positive unanimous. We are not eliminating ways and means. So no one is off the hook. We need your work. We're grateful for all of you. Um, this is duplicative. So, our rules of procedure already established the ways and means committee in addition to all
of the other city council committees. And so, this is just simply removing a duplicative section that is in the code of the city as opposed to the city council's rules of procedure. >> Thank you. Any other questions, concerns? Councelor Toronto.
Um, my other concern um with removing something like this is I almost feel like this is a lack of a better term an added protection to keep to make sure that
that uh entity as it is as it were exists. Um, and I don't know, call it lack of faith that I I don't want it to be overturned by one little code change later. So, I
would I would like to keep this there. Um, in case some folks want to try to upend it later. So, uh, that that's just my thought. Clerk Scott, can I ask you a question?
>> Within our code or within the state, how does it specify for bodies like the city council in regards to um budgets? Is that kind of codified? So that >> is
thank you councelor Garrett. So if you guys go to page 35 or under membership for example on this chapter 193 it says there shall be a ways and means committee consisting of five members who shall reside in the city of Greenfield be registered voters therein. So this is
not necessarily even this chapter 193 version of the ways and means committee is not even necessarily a city council creature and so I hear councelor Toronto's concerns but a simple majority vote could also amend the rules of procedure in the future. We could have a council president who
doesn't appoint members to Ways and Means. There are a lot of ways Ways and Means could be torpedoed that this doesn't protect anybody from. So, I'm not concerned about getting rid of this. Any other discussion? All right. I think we can go. Oh,
Council Mr. Ch. Yeah, I'm not sure. Uh I'm for this either. Um yeah, if it ain't broke, I fix it.
That's my thought anyway. So, I'm not quite sure how I'm going to vote on this, but it may not be a yes. >> All right. I don't see any other questions. Um I think we're just going to do a voice vote again. So all in
favor say I. Um abstensions and opposed. So the motion failed because we needed seven, right? >> Sure. Go ahead and explain.
>> So in the charter requires that a majority vote of the council seven needs to happen to affect a change in an ordinance or to approve an ordinance. This only received six yess. There were
seven nos. So, it fails. Six yes, four nos. Sorry about that. >> Okay, we're moving on to wetlands. >> Order number FY26-044. The city council moved that it be ordered that the Greenfield City Council amend the code of the city of Greenfield as written in the strike through
attached here to chapter 423 wetlands protection and further amends the index of the code and further the non-substantive changes numbering the ordinance be permitted in order that be in compliance with the numbering format of the code of the city of Greenfield. Majority vote required. Okay. So the changes in this came from
the conservation commission itself and the most substantial one is on page 40 if folks want to look at that um section C and the substance of it kind of the summary is um if there's a modification to pre-existing infrastructure it
clarifies that a enlargement of that structure facility is something that has to have further scrutiny as compared to simply being able to be done because it's a pre-existing structure. So, my guess is
the genesis of this was somebody, oh, it's the same thing and then they replace it with a much larger building, pumping station, etc. Um, and then on page number 41, section one, we are now uh applicants are now able to submit their uh applications electronically or
by paper as opposed to having to do seven copies as was in the previous version. And beyond that, yeah, it's just about digitizing. And those are the main changes. There's a couple references to legal documents
that give conservation commission's power where it mentions they'll be amended from time to time so we don't have to keep coming back every time there's a new addition of the book on wetlands for lack of a more scientific or legally accurate name. >> And what was the recommendation of
committee? >> Positive unanimous. Thank you. Councilors, any questions? So, I'm hearing this potentially better protects our wetlands, which is a good thing. Um,
we might not know this, but I I've had some questions from resident and I'm just wondering if we know the jurisdiction and if it's a conservation commission. you know, the state is also involved in wetlands and so is the federal and um I know that I can't say
my backyard is a wetland just because it gets wet once in a while. Um and then say so I don't I don't know if that was part of the discussion at all. Uh how the jurisdiction works. >> I don't believe we discussed this. Okay.
>> And I do not know the answer. >> I will investigate that myself. So, if there aren't any other questions, um, all in favor? I. Any abstensions? Any opposed?
All right. The motion passes. Okay. So, this is appointments. Um, order number FY26-052. The city council moved that it be ordered that the Greenfield City Council pursuant to charter section 2-10 affirms the following appointments and reappointments by the mayor. All terms
to expire December 31st, 2028 unless otherwise posted. Board of License Licensed Commissioners Amanda Abramson, Conservation Commission, Erica Leform, Constable David Pay and Joseph Leance, Council on Aging, Janice Colbear, Marggo
Pek and Randy Handleman, Elderly and Disabled Tax Fund Committee, Jim Gisman, Franklin County Technical School Committee, Paul Duran, Greenfield Local Cultural Council, Marcel Laflam, Emo Schwagger, Historical Commission, Matt Abby, Housing Authority Committee,
William Mason, term to expire December December 31st, 2030. Parking and traffic commission, Sebastian Gutwin and Gene Wall. Both terms who expire December 31st, 2030. Planning Construction Committee, Carol Collins, and Nancy Hazard. Public Library Board of
Trustees. Doris Codri and Samantha Wood. Public safety commission, David Lenoy, Ed Jarvis, Katherine Bryce Barger. All terms to expire December 31st, 2029. Recreation Commission, Barbara Zakio, and Heather Valenta. Retirement Board,
Marian Fisk. Sustainable green field implementation committee, Hannah Rexen and Jonah Keane. Zoning Board of Appeals, Deborah Guilts and Mark Maloney. Majority vote required. Uh, this came with a positive unanimous recommendation and gratitude to the
people volunteering on our committees. >> Any other questions? All in favor? I. Any opposed? Abstain. Motion C passes. And we only have one
thing for councelor Bottomley. >> Sorry, just finding it here. >> Page 72, >> order number fiscal year 26-055. The city council upon recommendation of Mayor Disorger moved that it be ordered that the city council approves the order
to amend and clarify the prior city council vote on financial order fiscal year 25-085 which included an appropriation of 200,000 from stabilization fund 8400 as part of the general fund appropriation. This order corrects the
funding account to pension stabilization fund 8407 in the amount of 200,000. Majority vote required. >> Second that. >> And I don't remember this coming to committee. >> I don't think it did, but it looks like
it's just a clarification of of the funding. >> Yeah. Chairs, we decided to send it straight since it was just a correction. >> Yeah. So I think it's just it looks like a just a correction. >> So any any questions counselors?
>> All in favor say I. >> I. >> I. >> Any abstain and etc. Okay. Motion passes. >> Okay. So we do not have pre presentation of petitions or papers, report of
committees, unfinished business or old business. So, we're at new business now and first reading. And it looks like these are all ways and means. So, councelor Bottomly, if you could walk us through it. >> Yep. Uh, city council first reading
November 19th, 2025. Approve amount not to exceed 85,000 from capital stabilization account number 8402 to complete installation of high-speed electric vehicle charger at police station. Approve $47,577
from capital stabilization account number8402 for IT upgrades to public safety equipment. Approve amount not to exceed$10,000 from capital stabilization account number 8402 to continue engineering and consulting services for
cleanup project study at former LS Smith property. Approve amount not to exceed 20,000 from capital stabilization account number 8402 for site work and paving around DPW Sludge Press.
>> Thank you so much. Any motions for reconsiderations? I will take a motion to adjourn. >> I move that. >> That was it. I'm sorry. I got confused. Who Who motioned? >> I I moved
>> and we had a second. Great. All in favor? >> All right. It is 8:50 and we stand adjourned. Thank you everybody for your service and for your evening.