[Laughter] Good evening and welcome to the Good evening. Good evening and welcome to the Lawren City Council regular meeting. Uh today's date uh Tuesday June f July 1st 2025 pursuant to chapter 20
of the act of 2022. This meeting will be hybrid allowing participation both in person at the city council chambers and remotely. The soon link for this uh meeting was provided to anybody that requested through the city clerk's office. This meeting is also been
transmitted live through the uh Facebook Lawren City Council page and YouTube Lawren City Council page. Madame Cler, Madame Clerk, Roco, Councelor Levy, present. Councelor Lelant, present. Councelor Luzon,
present. Councelor Del Rosario, present. Councelor Santiago, present. Councelor Marmal, present. Councelor Reyes, present. Council Vice President Infante, present. Council President Rodriguez, present. Uh, please join me for a moment of silence.
Now join me for the pledge of allegiance to the flag of the United States of America to the stand indivisible with liberty and justice for
all. Uh, councilors, can I get a motion to approve uh minutes? Oh, never mind. Uh, we're going to go straight to public participation. Um, we have the first name. The first name is H. Mali. The rule for public
participation are as follow. You're going to have two and a half minute to speak. Uh at the two-minute mark, you're going to hear a beep indicating that you still have you still have 30 seconds. Uh please refer to this council as a whole 53 Chester Street. Good evening
honorable members. We the citizen are proud to support Lawrence Police Officers Union. Lawrence police, one of the best police department in the nation with the impeccable leadership by honorable chief Morris Agler doing
excellent job to protect our citizens. Lawrence police, thank you for making Lawrence a safe city. Million thanks to our awesome DPW and leadership workers for making Lawrence a beautiful city.
Thank you for doing excellent job. Lawren inspection department. Sorry. It's I see. I see. with all you out. So,
English keeping track of cuz it was 40 families out of 40 like what's the deal for often like touch and basically somebody else's
right right that wasable It's not easy. It's always [Music] I'm That's okay. Good evening and welcome to the budget and finance committee meeting. It is
Monday, September 22nd. It is now 6:10 p.m. Voting members present, I have to my right the vice chair of this committee, councelor Vivian Marmmo, and Council President Javanni Rodriguez. Pursuant to chapter 20 of the acts of
2022, this meeting of the budget and finance committee is being conducted both in person and via remote participation. A reminder that persons who would like to listen or view this meeting while in progress may either attend here in the city council chamber or use any of our social media platforms. At this point,
can you join me in a in a moment of silence for um Coach Yansy that passed away uh over the weekend? And now join me in the pledgece to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it
stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Councilors, we have minutes to approve from August 25th, 2025. I will entertain a motion for the minutes.
Motion to approve the minutes. A motion has been made by Council Marmal, seconded by Council President. Discussion on the minutes. Seeing none, all those in favor say I. I. I. And the eyes have it.
All right. Councilors, can I have Hang on a second. Can I have a motion to unte it 361-25, authorization to expend $122,938 with 71 from the Office of Planning and
Development Grant Grant Funds from the Massachusetts Department of Public Health for winter protocols and temporary placements of fire victims. Motion to unt. Second. A motion has been made, probably seconded. No discussion on table items. All those
in favor say I. I. The eyes have it. I believe we have our representatives here. There were some questions regarding the homelessness um factor of it. Can we just go back um just do a quick overview of what this grant is
once once again? I don't know. I'm looking at both of you. I'm not sure who's going to come up, but Okay. Come on, come come on over. Um, just a quick I'm here to support her. Okay, got it. Got it. If we can get your name and title and address for the record.
Sure. My name is Milagro Kong and I am the homelessness initiatives coordinator for the city of Lawrence and uh, you needed my what else would you need from me? What is the office address? The office
address is 360 Mary Street, entrance K, unit or suite 270. Thank you. So, um, Milos, can you just, it's been a while. It's been like I think almost two weeks since we've discussed this. Just give us a quick overview of what the grant is and then
we'll go back into the questioning. Absolutely. So, the um Department of Public Health uh of the state of Massachusetts have awarded us uh this funds so that we may be able to shelter
homeless individuals during the harsh winter um weather. And this will be in warming centers or it would be in shelters that already exist that will do overnights for them. They
will also provide food, clothing, blankets, personal care products, anything that they will need to keep themselves um warm inside. This also includes a warming center or warming centers uh so that that during the day
uh they are able to go and have hot chocolate uh whatever they need um during the day. Uh so this will run through um we hope that by April we should be able to have all these funds
spent down uh with the centers that we will be uh using to help us um with the homeless population. So I think um we're going to have if just to give you a little bit more. So,
we're going to have uh street outreach workers that will engage with the uh individuals and families that are homeless. They will also be assisted um with ensuring uh that the places that
they're in are efficient and also compassionate towards these folks. There's also um a request that was made and has been clear um made clear to us that no matter what the issues if they
are active users they should be allowed to come into these warming centers. And it is uh a desire and also part of the plan to provide triage uh for most of the folks
entering the shel the overnight shelters and the warming center. This will be promoting health um making referrals if they need referrals and coordinate any other services
um specifically mental health um with other organizations within the community. So in essence that is what these funds are for. Thank you. Absolutely. Um, counselors, any additional questions or comments?
Coun council president? Uh, thank you for being here. I just want to know a little bit more about you first because the police, but I would like to know more about Oh, absolutely. So uh my background so I
used to work for the city uh 15 years ago and uh this is one of the areas that I worked on out of five others that I was able to manage during my tenure uh at the city. So I do have uh the
qualifications. I have a master's degree in management uh and also have a lot of certifications. Um I'm going for my second master uh right now. Uh it should be done fairly
uh maybe by the end of December. Uh finish a second masters. Uh I I don't know what to tell you. No general like you know because I mean it is important to to understand based on the based on
the description the job description that absolutely the that you're holding u the job that you holding have an specific job description that over years have changed the people that are on that position. So understanding your background will help me more to understand how you
potentially manage any type of uh project or any type of funds that get to the city. My my uh original thought when it comes to that position it was uh mostly to be a micromanagement of resources that we get throughout the
homeless community. Not necessarily uh like a case by case situation more like generic. So I wanted to know like I wanted I'm wondering to know if that's your approach on this position or or in general you have more specifics that you might we might don't know.
Sure. Well, this is the situation the um once I left this this position actually was dismantled and it did not exist. Then it came back and depending on those that held the position they created their own views of the position. Now in
2016, a lot of the work uh the the position was created and uh is also part of the uh the city charter that is now uh a quote unquote uh permanent position uh
within the city. So a lot of the work that I did back then and that was recorded when I was here in uh from 2004 to 2010 um is now the description that you will have for this position. So it's
basically coordinating with all of the agencies that provide services to the homeless. It is bringing them together and making sure that we are not uh duplicating efforts but we are uh thorough in the services that are
provided to the homeless individuals. specifically uh working with uh agencies that house uh and also agencies that just do outreach such as the health center, community action council and most of these larger agencies that
provide some level of um services or resources to the homeless community. uh it is for me also to work with the state um making sure that I am up to date with all the changes that might happen
throughout the you know policies uh changes so and this is the uh so when meeting with the individual uh organization or actually collectively as well I'm able to share that information so that we could better serve the
homeless individual. I also come with a grant writing um skill that I have done and I used uh while I was here in the city back then. Uh I did most of the grant writing for the supernova which is um a collection
of agencies that come together write a proposal for the same purposes as I am doing today. Today we are also um working on getting more funding and I am actually writing this grant as we speak. um to acquire more funding for
individuals that are homeless. Now, these funds are also specific. So, I know um councelor Marmo had a question regarding um if we could use these funds for uh fire victims and for and there
are some fundings that are earmarked for just services to the homeless regardless if so if we had a fire during the you know winter months that we are holding this grants then we can use it for them but I cannot use it for example for the
folks that recently were in a fire in um L and Oxford Street that that is not going to be possible to do. So most of these funds are restricted uh to and they have a date. So we use it from this date to that date. So I cannot go
backtrack or try to you know filter in other um other groups uh within the grant that was allotted to us otherwise the grant is taken back. Thank you, Madam Chair. Uh the reason that I'm asking is because uh
uh knowing the position what you can do and knowing the type of homeless a lot of people uh might think like homelessness is just the typical uh panhander in the street or perhaps uh those one that are now at the home at
the shelters and stuff like that. is like five different type of homeless. Even people that are doubled up on an apartment are potentially be uh potentially be homeless uh at some point and and the different level of homelessness. Correct. That's what make me understand
that potentially some type of uh fund some funds that we're not pursuing currently might we might be able to pursue and be able to provide services to them to those and all the programs that we might have uh based on their characteristic of people that are
potentially be homeless. uh we can also adapt those programs to be able to help people that really need it when it comes to rental system or when it comes to potentially uh those that are truly in need. Uh with this grant specifically, you will find
because it's given to us from the state of the department of from the state Massachusetts and also from the health department, uh there's a little bit of um room so that we could use the term
families. Now, the grant, for example, that we're writing right now, it's only for individuals, meaning there's I mean, they could be husband and wife, but not children. So here in the in the winter time um from now until next year if we find with these fund we find families
that are homeless then we are able to help them for the sheltering in at night they could come in sleep in a cot and then come back and go to a warming center. So it's not sort of a a place that they're going they could stay there
for the 30 days that we have the place open. They could stay they could come in for 3 days and go out. So that's there's more flexibility with this one right here than the other ones that we will receive. They're very strict with the language and actually the level of you
know homelessness that they're in. So for for us right now for this for the purposes of this grant we have the wording uh included that we are including individuals and families um mother and child they could go in. Now for other grants, for another grant, we
cannot have children stay in the shelters. No, I mean I appreciate that you explain that the grant and that and and your uh your expertise about the position as well because it's very important for us
to understand as a as a people that is it's a point of contact in the community. uh we we serve out there as as your eyes sometime when it comes to uh homelessness homelessness uh some type of issue related to homeless. So we can
pass that over and understand the how you view the position how the city is going to take that approach and potentially how we can help uh those people up there. So, thank you for explaining that and um and I want to know like once once
we finish up with the question and I want I have one more question related specifically to the grant. Perfect. Thank you, Council Marl. Um through you, Madame Chair, my line of questioning in the last
meeting was uh because the title of the grant says um or on the memo itself, it says for fire victims. So, if you don't mind repeating yourself again, I'm not sure if you've already answered it through our council president's
question. You said you were mentioning how the fire victims from Lowell Street would not fall under this grant. That's correct. Could you like uh walk me through as to what was what's the criteras of this grant? Um
well, just so I could gain an understanding because it says fire victim, so I'm not sure. Um also when when when we have a fire, let's say in the winter time and you know this happens every winter we have a fire
whether it's a minor fire. So these folks fall under that. Why? Because with these funds we are able to put them in hotels and we don't have the flexibility with other funds. So this will be for hotel stays um in the event of a fire or
a natural disaster. the water breaks out somewhere, we have a flood, too much snow. So, this could happen then as far as um helping the fire victims. But we right now uh in my office, so I have
folks that had a fire in June. I wasn't around, so I can't I don't know what type of how the you know what how it was caused. I don't have any information. However, um if I'm not able to help them with fundings, then I will send them to
the community folks that work with other fundings that could Our whole goal here is to utilize all the resources that we have in the community. The city I and I don't speak for anybody, but I speak only of the knowledge that I have is a
place where we could um provide direction to. So we're a hub and therefore we need to direct them where the fundings are, where the housing are. Uh we've taken a role that is very um you know honorable in uh putting people
into hotels but that within government that's kind of questionable in times of audits that unless we get specific funding or provide it we can't take that out of our general fund. So that's why some of these grants are great uh to do,
but our role mainly is to direct traffic like a traffic controller and you know send the people where they need to go and that is part of my role. Um and that's what I do. So, they come in. I have had many people come in um in my
office since I came in in July and um we've been able to redirect them and have them get the services that they need in a community uh nonprofit organization. No, I I appreciate the answer and I want to like stick specifically to what this
grant is about. Um, so I can have an understanding as to what we're approving because I had a whole set of questions for you under the assumption that uh the Low Street fire that happened recently would fall under in receiving uh or
benefiting from this grant. So if they continue to be homeless for minor fires is what you're saying for minor fire victims. C council Marmo from reading the the order of um um authorization
the way that I'm reading this is this this this grant specifically if it happens during the extreme cold um weather months then fire victims and correct me if I'm wrong um fire victims could be um privy to to
using the city could be privy to using these funs funds to help the fire victims immediately after that fire has occurred. I'm not seeing anything here about long-term assistance, but at least what I'm reading here is if something happens during the extreme cold
weathers, the these fundings this this fund can be used for immediate action. Correct. Until the city comes up with something. And the other thing you you you should know if you have not and I have also kept you informed through your emails and sending you the information. We just
had a 30-day uh 30 days report after the fire. We raised 55,000. Um most of those people and I, you know, some of them were extremely honest. They says, "I don't need it. I work." Um so we were able to up some other folks's funds. I'm I'm talking specifically of the August
12 fire. Now, um if they so happen to have another episode of fires, these funds will be available to them if they need hotels. However, the reason why I'm mentioning this is the law is very clear that if they are now, as of um April of
April of 2023, the landlord is responsible to spend $750. And so, we need to take that first. We can't use this money first. It has to be their money first, then we come in like any other insurance that you get. Um,
you know, you first use your primary and then you use your your your secondary and we will be always the secondary. So, it it gives us more manageable. I mean, we had certain situation during that fire that people were demanding of us
and some did get away with it, but nonetheless, we've helped everyone that needed to be helped. So far um we are sending a survey asking the uh folks that were affected the victims you know you know
if we did a good job what should have we done better so on so it's very single five or six questions that we're going to ask them so that you could also have that information in the event anybody in the community asks you know about how we did as a city uh then you will have those answers as well we will collect
that um as well so I hope that you have received received the information that I have sent uh to you all so that you have a little you know of all the work that was done. There's a lot of work and most if not all of the agencies within the city work together to get things done
and help these victims. Some people are always going to complain and I think you know that that's human nature. There's always somebody that's going to say that we didn't do enough. Well, we did what we needed to do and I think we did well. That's my own, you know, uh, my own, uh, opinion of the services that we provided
to everyone from the from you guys, city councilors, and connecting other folks to, uh, the community answering with food and clothing and all that other stuff. We did we did a very good job. If I may, this will be my last question. No problem.
Um, you being in the role that you're in, what do you say um, we could do better in? What do I say we could do? I think coming here and only having and being away from this environment for so so many years, I really have to get really
acquainted with how we run things. Everything right now since I've came uh since I came to my position, everything has been emergency mode. So therefore, people don't act, you know, to the fullest. They just act to deal with whatever situation comes in. So from day
one, um it has been always emergency. The first day we had on the 15th, I came on the 14th. On the 15th there was a fire. Uh then you continue on having not only issued we have homelessness coming in every day because they think that we could pay their hotels. So every single
day there was an emergency. We have young people coming in. So right now I can't I cannot with all fairness uh to everyone that that works here in the city say um that there should be something done better. I believe that so far we've been able to survive all of
the situation that have been you know that have come my way at least and I have worked with every single department so far and we've we've come we've come to you know to to to do what we've needed to do so so far
I think we're okay all right I have a question regarding your earlier statement um pertaining to some grants or some funding not or I should say locations not allowing children to be housed temporarily with their parents. So when
the city comes across that situation, what is the protocol that you have? And I know you've said that certain things you you're not you're still getting the hang of, but have you've had that situation since you've since you started? Uh let me see. uh
I have not as it relates to that but when families are involved in anything we we we have to get involved the department of children's and service and they will provide some either they will provide either a a shelter that takes them in and they're usually all in
Boston and outside this area. So none are in the Marramac Valley but um this is where um they're usually sent. So there's always an agency that would take care of the families and the reason is that we are truly concentrating on the folks that are on the streets right now.
Um and if there is children that come, if there's a fire and there's children, we will always give them um to the agencies that take care of the families. Absolutely. And I see here too the letter from from
um the Office of Health and Human Services. It states here that the engagement contract will be effective through uh June 30th of 2026. You mentioned a date of April. So what happens if say we
don't have the emergencies that that we So if we don't that that would be a miracle. We don't have the emergencies, right? And there's monies left over. What can those funding be used for? Well, my my um observation with that is
that this fundings will be divided into two or three agencies, right? And all of these agencies when you have people work overnight, you have to pay them overtime as well. So, a lot of that funding is going to go and I'm thinking that if we start as you approve this, this will
start immediately. And so from now until April, which is really the cold cold months specifically now we're talking about December, January, February, very cold. These shelters might be open 30 day 30 days uh each time uh that they
open. So therefore there's a lot of money that's that's going to be, you know, uh used to house these people, feed these folks, and also pay for the staff that is there. So I'm thinking that you know we might be short um in
what we might be giving these folks the agencies. So it's not you know it's not like we're giving them a lump sum and just do work and not get paid and not you know don't pay your rent we'll be okay. It's not I mean this this out of this funding there's going to be sort of if they have subcontractors that we have
nurses that are going to be coming in to do triage right then we have food. were thinking that during those month they could use aside from what they already use 12,500 divided into two or three agencies. That's not going to be enough for the months that we're going to be using them. And then guest services such
as clothing, showers, uh buying personal care products, all of these things that you you we might need um and other personal supplies. Then we have um program support and this includes uh you know the assistant of getting them IDs.
most of the folks uh that are there living in the encampments and everywhere they're living, they're going to need new IDs, birth certificates. So, this is also paying the support staff that is going to help them. And if they need um and I know some of these agencies do, if they need to pay uh like the $25 or the
$50 for their IDs, these agencies pay it for them, but this comes out of this money as well. So, then we have office supply. we only you know put in there uh a thousand uh 1,024 which anything I mean that money will be
consumed fairly fast everything is so expensive that for three or four agencies getting this money it'll be like $300 or $400 each um and that's I we don't think it's going to be enough so in accommodations again it's 24,000 and this is only 135 nights any in any
hotel uh we took the highest rate we um looked into different hotels and found, you know, that a happy medium was $185 a month. So therefore, um if we have people stay there, if we have 10 people stay there uh for just 10 nights, the
money is gone. So we have to think of all these things. It's a lot of strategic planning and you have to be extremely wise how to use these funds. So these funds are not going to just hang around until June. June for us is the month that we have to give a report of everything that has been done.
collecting information from everyone um and actually sending in a final report to the state of what we have done in order for us in the future to be considered for any other money that they have surplus. So thank you. Absolutely.
Any other you guys you want a question? Oh, council president. Yeah. Um just uh I want to get a couple of things. Uh when it comes to the protocol to call for um an emergency an emergency
shelter, a winter u winter situation that it's a that kind of like you know it's it's it's time for to call for a a shelter and for homeless. How the how you guys decide that I know that it's based on weather but I
mean there's a lot more than that. Well, they should be prepared. Every person that has you know that has been that will come into a collaboration with the city would have to be ready as from the moment that we get this money. So
getting caught. So we know that there was an agency that um needed CS and blankets. So they were uh immediately uh prepared so that if we got cold weather in November, they were able to get the
folks in in their facilities with new. My question will be more around like as a department, how you guys decide to call for an emergency uh to open up the warming center? Well, um, right now what has been done in the
past is that there is always a coordination. So, we know when the weather, we go by the weather. There's no way for you to go any other way. If it's the weather is too cold, people are going to be out in the streets, then this is when we start sending out. As
far as I'm concerned, in the history of uh other warming or shelters, overnight shelters has been when the weather gets really cold and they start preparing the places for it. That's the protocol so far. I cannot
tell you what's going to uh what it was years ago because I wasn't here. So, I don't have that I don't have that information for understand. So basically based on weather it's going to be cold center uh to be open and and then you
communicate with everybody. So walk me through the communication process. How you guys get Fox to Well, right now we have worked with it to create a lister for all of the um organizations that are serving homeless
individuals. So right now we have a about 145 uh individuals that are in a group that immediately anything happens or any information that they need to know goes out to them. This is we're getting ready. Now mind you for
uh the one of the things that we're going to be able to implement this year is transportation. So, we're going to work with some of our transportation folks that they could be picking up these folks and bringing them um to to the
shelters. So, that's I don't know if that answered your question. Actually, that was my next question. I have writing over here. Transportation. I went ahead of myself, right? I should have waited. I think that you read my cheat sheet. No, it takes wisdom. I mean, you can't
just expect people to walk over if we're freezing and the locations. And what we're doing is we're trying to um section off the city. So, we're going to have a shelter in South Lawrence for those that are in the Denmark uh area, high school, and all of that area. So,
we could have a shelter for them to go in. Then, we're going to have another one close to Park Street area. We're going to have one here. The senior center is going to be also available, the the uh Lazarus House. And also we're going to have in the west street we're going to have the house of mercy. So
we're going to try to section off the city and when this transportation is already set for us with this grant it will not be that way because this grant does not provide us transport transportation dollars. But I believe that uh with the other funding we could
work this we could work this uh that the transportation uh could take place immediately after November 15th. So one more question madame mad through you madam uh madame president madame chair of the committee um one one thing that I would like to
know uh is if you guys work just with organization with uh or you also work with individuals that deal with homeless you need to clarify your question so you I mean do you work is very do you
only work with organizations or you guys work also with individuals that are helping out uh homeless uh people one way or another. Okay. So um I'm not sure of your question because when you say
individuals I'll clarify a little more. So you keep on mentioning uh are I going to be working with three different organizations or four so far for so on. My question is around whether or not you guys also going to be working with indep independent
people that go up there every day to help our homeless. Well, if you're talking about church, if you're talking about churches that go out there and service the homeless without being sort of a nonprofit, a homelessness uh serving organization, then yes,
absolutely, we will work with them. Um I also want to be very careful in what I am agreeing or saying because we have to work with institutions that are recognized by the state. Yes, they can be volunteers and help. Yes, they can
continue to do the work that they're doing as long as they're steering these folks to some resources within the community that these people could get more permanent help versus just bringing them sandwiches or clothing or you know
some um personal care products. Um we we need to be very consistent with uh the help that we provide. I do understand that you you might think that, you know, Peter or Paul are out out in the
community and they're going out there helping the homeless. Well, if they're not recognized as an entity, um then we cannot h we cannot partner with them in the sense that we're going to be giving them funding unless they come in through an through an agency and work under a
1099 and things like that. So, all that stuff gets tricky with the wording, not even related to funding. I'm more related to uh getting to know specific things that they potentially know that we might don't know. Okay, I understand your question cuz I mean it's everything is around
funding but it's not I mean it's more like sometime we have individual people up there that are helping out that have a lot of information that we potentially don't have. I mean I I know somebody that that person goes and hope and and uh and that person have and I say that
person because I don't want to even say she or he uh because potentially you will know what who I'm talking about but that person goes and uh have the 16 different stops to 16 different locations so that potentially when we
have that uh the warming center I'm pretty sure nobody's going to that 16 locations to inform inform the homeless uh this is open today so you can go ahead and and and be a little warm uh instead of being here uh there is there
is because I mean we all think like okay uh and that's why I was talking about the communication because sometime we communicate with each other to have funds but sometime those folks they don't have nothing they don't have that information and sometime it's difficult to even communicate uh at all about
things that are happening within the community. So, one of my roles is to gather all that information so that yourselves, city council have the information where all these pockets of homeless uh homeless individuals exist. I had this
done. I've done it before. So, I'm not a stranger to do that. I go walk I've been walking uh the the streets with uh some of the outreach workers. So, we have a lot of pockets. So many people overlook like Denm uh Denrock which is on 114,
right? There's an encampment there. So therefore, you know, we know that it exists. So we will send So this is what I'm saying. When we're going to section off specifically in January, we will do the point in time count. We go to all of these places and we do work with
individuals. Now, now I I understand your question better. these individuals if they have so I work I know a mechanic here in this that he goes out and he does a lot of this work so this mechanic I take I pick his brain out and I say okay so go with me to the ones that I do
not know so if I don't know I need to find that out so this is the work in the ground that is done in order for me to do a successful sectioning off I must know where all of these places are so we have a place now in Trenton Street there's only one individual but it's an
encampment there's only one individual there but it's he's there. So you look into and the thing is that you have to understand where some of these people will move during the winter time. They will move to another location where they feel safer and actually they're not going to go through uh you know they're not going to suffer too much of the uh
weather conditions. So those are the things that and I think yeah your question is you know am I going to work with people in the community to give me information? Of course that I will do. That is my role to do that because if we want to reduce the number of homeless individuals in the city, we must work
together. This cannot be done by one individual. This cannot be done by one department. We have to all work together. So if you know of an encampment that you think nobody else knows, then we need to know that information. And this is what I was saying earlier when having the lister for all of the homeless organization.
listen, I want to have a meeting with all of your outreach workers because they go out to places that I might not be able to go out or that I am not aware of. So, it's working together to bring all of this um all of these resources to folks and also letting us know where the
need is for us to go and meet the needs of the people that really need that. Okay, we're good. Any other questions or comments? Um, council, um, what role does your department have, uh,
with the Lawrence Police Department in terms of your, you know, what your mission is, um, when it comes to not only this grant, but how your department operates and does your department collaborate with any other department
such as veteran services or I'm pretty sure that there's got to be some sort of like um like inter I don't want to call it inter agency but interdep department um where you know what you're doing affects other departments and I would like to see if you and other department
heads kind of join in when it comes to um seeing the mission of what you're trying to do. Absolutely. We work together in everything. I think the chief is here. He could speak to that. Um, also, um, they have a behavioral health unit that
we have worked together with both, uh, Lieutenant Fleming and Detective Monte Carvo, and they were the first ones that I met when I came to this position. The encampments, they worked very well with us. They helped. I mean, I went in to do my due diligence, giving notices out to
folks, but they went in and helped. Department of ISD inspectional services came in to help us and uh you know even saying that even outside of our we work with the state department the department of um conservation that's right on
Jackson Street they came out and they claimed they took six trucks load of of trash um when you talk about working with other department we worked with the board of health we work we have to it's not a choice we are a city and all of these resources are within in the city
and we have to use that. So I cannot work in a silo. I have to work with those around me and this will be this will continue to be and it will extend even further than what we are doing today. Again as I said and I have to repeat this so that you would understand
uh where my where all my energies lie. It's all in emergencies. So therefore, when the emergencies subside, which I don't see the date that that's going to happen anytime soon, then I could truly start building up. So we're building while we're putting out fires, you know,
we're building and that's, you know, and that's natural and all this when you didn't have uh someone in this position that would take it to this level plus all the other stuff that needs to be done. There's a lot of reporting that needs to be done. So what time does one have to write and to talk about what
they have done? You know, I believe that our history sometimes tells us that, you know, we we do a lot of criticizing, but we don't realize all the work that takes place for one, like right now, people might be getting sick of me or me sending report and I really don't mind
if they do, but I'm reporting back what I'm doing because if it's, you know, the respect of telling everybody, we're working together and, you know, we had an infestation uh recently in um on Methuan Street. Well, I didn't feel that that was my job and I truly say that
that was not my job because I am not the board of health. But guess at the end of the day who had to resolve the issue until this morning. It was me because we needed to bring everybody together. Police department was there. Um also board of health was there. I you know
inspectional service was there. But we all coordinated. We came together and the issue is resolved. at, you know, 3:00 this afternoon, we finally closed, you know, I closed my my um the case that we're all good with this woman that
that had the issue. So, this is what I'm saying. We have to work, counselor, we have to work uh together. There is no way that, you know, we work in silos. It's absolutely not. It's impossible if you really want to get things done. Thank you.
Well, through you, Madam Chair. Um, I would like to put in a a motion to send this item to full uh to full counsel with a favorable recommendation. I'll second the motion. Motion has been made by Council Marvel, seconded by Council President Rodriguez. Any further discussion?
Seeing none, all those in favor say I. I. And the eyes have it. Thank you. See you next. You have a good evening. You as well. Thanks. Councilors, can I have a motion to untable item 364-25, authorization to expend 1,28,942.73
for the of the 2026 Massachusetts Municipal Public Safety Staffing Grant brought to us by uh Director Shepard from the police department. Hi, director. Hello. Hi. Good evening, city council. I'm doing well. How about yourself? See, I'll be coming more often. You'll be
seeing more often. I'm working a couple of GRS right now. You will be seeing more often. But thank you for having me today. Uh Rosa Shepard, director of support services at Lawrence Police Department, 90 local street. Um and I am here to present the
fiscal year 2026 Massachusetts Municipal Public Safety Staffing Grant. We are grateful and happy that we've been having this grant for the past 12 years. And this year we applied for the amount of 1 million 208 942.73.
And this is to help for the um sending uh the recruits to the academy. um being able to equip them with the uniform and everything that they need while the academy as well uh paying for them while uh for the salary once they come out of the academy and support some of our
overtime as well for the uh sworn officers. So this is okay specifically for to send office recruits to the to the program. What's it the training? Yes. New recruits.
New recruits. Okay. How many uh director Shepard, how many new recruits do we have for the pipeline? As of today, we have eight in the lower academy. Okay. And I'm assuming the eight will the 1.2 million be used for the whole
eight or how about I guess the my question should be what is the the price for the individual or what is the cost of for an indivi to send an individual to training? So, right now, this grant is going to start January 2026, but
usually it's $3,200 per um per recruit Okay. And do we usually get this grant for the last 12 years? For the last 12 years. So, we usually we've been getting this grant for the last for the past two years. Yeah. Council, any questions or comments?
Council President Council President I should just council president and it's a grant that we've been we've been dealing with for 12 years now and u at least for the last 10 that I've been here I've been seeing this every year
and u that that these these grant have helped us tremendously uh to the city of Lance I was looking at that expenditure per capita that's something that it is very appreciative of seeing this I've seen that the city of Malden
Uh the city of Hab right around us is spend $141.33 per capita and uh we the city of Lawrence we spend $16749 per capita. So with a total population of about uh 76,000
uh people obviously uh our population is a little high but I mean uh it's good to have that statistic is always good. So, let me let me ask you how uh councelor the chair of the committee just mentioned uh and ask you uh as of how
much you spend per send somebody to the academy right now. Again, it's just that the uh the recruit is $3,200 and the equipment itself with the uniform, you looking between $33,000 to $5,000.
Okay. Do you mind putting together for next meeting, not today, but do you mind putting together from point A to point B from the beginning of the recruitment when we ask for the list of the civil service uh all the way to u having somebody on the street? How much we the
city of Lance uh spent including salaries and any any other cost per individual under the staffing grant? It just is No, no, no. in general in general and that way we just have the number because what I'm trying to get is essentially that there is
there it's a a project that I want to work with somebody I don't know with who but I mean with somebody at the state level uh is that you know the way that Connecticut uh do with municip and the way that Connecticut have Connecticut have a law
that allows municipality to actually backcharge those cost to um other community that potentially get those already uh trained officers that doesn't have doesn't have to go through civil services and and uh and essentially what
what happen is that those municipality that train them they get a specific amount of dollars uh for for anybody that leave the municipality within some amount of years I I believe it's two years after they get hired originally.
So I want to get start getting data as to how much that cost to the city of Lawrence from point A to point B meaning from the beginning uh when they walking through the door to be on the academy the academy the uniforms and anything else including salaries to the city of
L. So we know like when we lose somebody we will know how much we lose in in terms of funds uh not just in terms of people uh in terms of obviously the the the personnel because I mean I think it is important
to start talking about that um and having that grant out here to discuss specific about the staffing we don't have that many opportunities to discuss this type of this type of things and all another level because when we discussing
the budget is kind of like you know so many things at the same time. So um I just want to know that that specific number I know the recruitment process might take up to six months or maybe more for the academy time and all the stuff and then so I just want to know
like in general. We'll do. Thank you. You're welcome. Any other questions or comments? See none I'll entertain a motion. Motion to send to full counsel with a favorable recommendation. I'll second the motion. Motion has been made by council Marmal,
second by council president. Any further discussion? Seeing none, all those in favor say I. I. The eyes have it. Councilors, can I have a motion to unte item 365-25. Authorization to pay prior year bills
totaling $32,8653. Brought to us by Director Shepard from the Lawrence Police Department. Motion to unable. Motion has been made, properly seconded. All those in favor say I. I. And the eyes have it. Director. Sure. So um this item is to pay prior year
invoices um in the amount of 32,865 865.53. Um these were invoices that unfortunately due to unforeseen unexpend uh we were not able to um to pay before
the end of the fiscal year. And as as you can see um the chief and I we've been able we have sat down and be able to revise invoice by invoice and the amount to make sure we do not uh be a repeat offender for next year.
Can you We have one, two, three. We have quite a few invoices for security technician. Um, oh, never mind. I'm sorry. The description is there. You don't have to.
Never mind. All right. Counselors, any questions pertaining to the invoices? Seeing none, I will I'll give you guys a second. Sorry, we were just given this tonight.
Um, our secretary is out. Take your time. So, sorry if we're just, [Applause] council president. Yeah. Um just wondering do you have any other vendor uh when it comes to the bed
hospital or we just work with one for the animal control? No, just in general the for the veterinarian hospitals. We do have all the vendors. Um vultures is the more the more full and more
equipped vendor when it comes to to uh um to the to the uh to animals right now. We have utilized all the vendors just this one is open 24/7 and it's more reliable than any other beds. I know
we try again we try to utilize all the all the vendors as well. I mean that hospitals are expensive. I feel like taking care of an animal is more expensive. So unfortunately with this bender all the other all other all other veterinarians they don't take
emergency u you cannot just walk in with a with an animal and have them and have take care of it. This this this one in particular you can just come in and they are able to help you right away. Uh is that is those be as are those bills get passed over the owners when
Yes. That's something that we've been definitely been uh uh looking at. Um when we looking at or you passing it over? We're passing over. We're passing over. So yeah, be before before any invoices being paid right now, we verify with our animal control as well with the chief of police to make sure that these the
owners of the animals get this invoice because sometimes come to the police department. So it is my job to make sure that I bring it to to their attention for that deliver for the invoice to be delivered to the correct person. Yeah, that's why I was wondering to see if there is any other vendors because sometime you know we got to think about
you know they're going to have to pay these bills. It's not quite cheap. Mhm. So let's take it over to whatever if it is not at night. I understand. Uh also I was wondering um um
I'm fine. I I have went blind. Do we have are you guys considering to have any type of u like a like a general insurance for for animals that we get if the bills for the animal
beds get expensier. So like a general uh insurance liability liability insurance for any type of emergency we have with the animals we get that is such thin on the market. I am not aware but I can I can research for you. All right. Thank you.
Yep. I am not aware of any Yeah. Um, director, we have I see the the commercial cleaning bill. It's this is very minute, but because we have like the reason why I'm asking this,
it's it's a minute situation. It's a minute um um amount. However, we are about to open the new police station, which is a much larger building. Do we do you guys have an estimate how much um
the cleaning service is going to increase by with this new building? No, we have not. But under this contract, we are uh well actually we're going to start uh doing uh the process of getting a new company in December. So the chief and of course uh uh we're
going to sit down and start looking once the building opens completely. We're going to go in and make sure and try to see the h um how much it will cost. But again, we will have to go through an RFP or beat at at that point because definitely we are not talking about $26,000 a year. It's definitely much
much larger. But that yeah, we're going to start the process right around December January uh to see uh for for the new building. Thank you. Any other questions, Council President? Just just mentioning that and piggybacking on that a lot of people
want to be looking up for that contract. Uh we want to have an open process and transparent process because everybody is going to be looking out for that just just to be aware. Yeah. Yeah. Any other?
Well, Madame Chair, I recommend um I make a motion to send item 365 to the full council with a favorable recommendation. Second that motion has been made, seconded by the council president. Any further discussion? Seeing none, all those in favor say I. I and the eyes have it.
Thank you. See you next week. All right. At this point, I'll entertain a motion to adjurnn. Second. Motion has made second. All those in favor say I. I. I. The eyes have it. Personnel.
Yeah, she's here for personnel. Huh? Good evening and welcome to the personnel committee meeting. It is Sep September 22nd. It is now 7:10 p.m. Um, voting members present. To my left,
I have councelor Anna Levy and to my right, um, subbing in for quorum purposes, we have the council president, Giovani Rodriguez. Pursuant to chapter 20 of the acts of 2022, this meeting of the personnel committee is being conducted both in person and via remote
participation. A reminder that persons who would like to listen or view this meeting while in progress may either attend here in the city council chamber or use any of our social media platforms. At this point, can you please join me in the pledge? I pledge algiance to the flag of the
United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Okay, council. We don't have any minutes to approve. We have one item under new
business and it's item 388-25 contract renewal city clerk and it was brought to us by the council president Javanni Rodriguez. Council president, I will ask you to address this item while sitting here because then I'm going to lose corn.
So, we have our city clerk here. Council President, do you want to tell us a bit about this item? If you go to the podium, you I'm going to lose court. Okay. Council President, you have the floor. Yes. Well, um the city clerk um is um it's in
front of us because she is uh her contract is is uh is for renewal. uh it's a foro and we as a council um under the city chat u are we are responsible for um a few positions the city clerk is
one of them including the city attorney and uh three school committee members and other position that I cannot just mention it top of my head but um one two of those positions are contracts uh that uh that are uh deal with uh approve and
appoint and confirm by the council and the city clerk is one of them. Uh I believe three years ago, right? Three years ago, we um we enter into a contract with the city clerk and um in
October uh 10, 2022. And now for uh this time around we are we need to renew her contract and review uh the terms the duties
uh the uh the commitment also salary the KPIs the benefits and so forth so on uh and that's why we have this document in front of us which is a representation of u the the what's going to happen with u
the agreement between the city clerk and the city of Lawrence through this contract. It is a legal bonding contract that is being reviewed by the council today and we would like to open up an opportunity for the city clerk in case she have anything to add to the
discussion. City clerk name, title work address for the record. Good evening councils. Thank you for your time. Um Eileen Okconor Bernell. I am the city clerk. I am a Lawrence resident. and I reside at 257 Mount Vernon Street right here in the city. Um
the package in front of you has two documents in it. One is my current three-year contract which is about to expire and then also a proposed new contract. The terms are identical to the old contract. The only changes are the dates which are highlighted in yellow for you and then the salary. Um we have
been doing the 3% increase annually and that is all that that new number is is the same 3% increase um annually. I would love to talk to you a little bit about my office and the stuff that we do in there if that's time permits. Um
I do think my team and I work really hard and I um I have been very fortunate to have some wonderful staff. My two assistant clerks in particular are both excellent and I know any clerk will be lucky to have both of them. Um there's three basically a three-pronged spear in
our office. The first is the vital records. when you think of marriages, deaths, births, also things like dog licenses, business certificates, and we also maintain records for the zoning, board of appeals, and the planning board. Um the second is the part that I do with you folks, which is the city
council, um the meetings, um the stuff here helping you with your ordinances and things like that. And then the final piece obviously is the basement. It's the elections, which we're in the middle of one right now. And um you can see the role that my office has played in that both on election day as well as the preparation for it which is substantial.
There's a significant amount of preparation that goes into an election. And um then the postc closing we actually um had till 5:00 tonight for anyone to ask for a recount, things like that. So the staff stays, you know, the building closes at 4:30. We're here till 5:00 waiting to make sure no one comes
in to ask for a recount. Um no one did. Just sorry you heard it heard it here first. Um, but basically we do all kinds of stuff and one two things that have happened recently with my office that I am really proud of and I want to make sure you guys are aware of is the Commonwealth of Massachusetts they
managed the vital records for the all the cities and towns and um at the end of 2024 they changed the marriage license process. um they changed the format of the document and the contents of that document. And my staff stepped up and really did an excellent job
changing those marriage licenses, making sure that our applications were done well. And it was a very straightforward process though and it was learnable. They gave us a really nice guide to follow and I felt the staff did a great job with that. Then no sooner does that end then they said we're going to do death
certificates next and then birth certificates after that. The death certificates were really difficult. um we had to do a totally new system of just logging in was different. Um but then with the death certificates, we work with ISD because they give out the
burial permits and we work with the undertakers. Um and the Commonwealth had sent out emails talking about trainings that they were encouraging us to do, encouraging us to do. There's a June 1st deadline. It's going to hit. Kudos to my staff and to
myself. We took the online trainings and we were totally ready. And I honestly felt like no one else did. Um to the point that both ISD um Pat Ruiz and his staff and the local funeral homes were calling us. How do we do this? What do we do? And we walked so many people through it. The Methuan called us,
Haveril called us. We were a resource for other communities. So for me, you know, being here about two and a half years, I know that first year I was calling Ian Drew and Mthuan. I was calling Caitlyn Wright and Haveril a lot. I need help. Please, what do you do? How does this work? and they were awesome resources for our office and
they have been. We work very well with the local communities. But I have to say it felt really nice for other cities and towns to call us and say, "What do you do with these death certificates?" And to be able to be the one to give the answers to say, "We actually created our own little checklist. You want me to send you a copy?" They're like, "Yeah,
please. Thank you." Um, so I want to say like that's not something that you would see. Um, but it is something that we felt really proud of and it was a big learning curve for the whole state to the point that they actually pushed back the deadline from the Commonwealth um because cities and towns were struggling with it and I give my staff and myself
credit um for being on top of that and really having it be ready and I I think we did a great job with it. So there's just things that you don't see behind the scenes that I do feel like we're doing really well. Um and I I I sorry to interrupt you and I want to add pertaining to this. Perhaps
there could be someone watching online or you know saying to themselves why is this so significant just birth certificates or death certificates but if you consider the amounts of individuals and the amount of records that we have yeah that's a lot to get through.
Yeah. Can I just give you one example today? today. So, September 20, whatever it is, 2nd, one of the town clerks from Western Mass, now granted, small town, Western Mass, sent out an email today. I have a question about the maiden name on
the new form for the marriage license. This is my first marriage license of the year. And I'm thinking the amount of marriages like the amount of marriages that we do, the amount of deaths that we see, we have a hospital and you know, so that means the amount of deaths and births that we see as far
exceeds what a lot of other um communities see because we are a hospital. So not only if you live in Lawrence and pass away, but if you live in another community and pass away at our hospital, we get those death certificates, too. So we do have a very high volume compared to other communities and we manage it really
well. Thank you, counselors. Any questions or comments, council president? Uh, madame clerk, thank you. Thank you very much for everything you do with the council. Um, me and um I can witness
that the amount of work you do when it comes to stuff. Yeah, we do a lot of things uh that is not necessarily uh just the agenda. It's a lot more when it comes to procedures and process that
uh have to be on there and uh and and over you know in the last two years we have worked together to make sure that we deliver a good product when it comes to city council stuff. Um and I also when it comes to your office I mean it's something that
we have um we have seen um many different changes and we going to keep on seeing more changes because it's been uh we've been proposing new things. Uh now we have uh all of the meetings. Uh that's one of the thing
that it might not look important but we have all of the meetings in one page that we don't have to look for it uh on different um different scenarios, different agendas and so far so one and that's something that you keep on doing every week to update us uh so we can be
up to date with the different meetings around the city and and I appreciate that and also we we we've been working together to having agenda management agement uh system that uh we're going to be um launching soon. Um and that's
something that it is going to be very helpful for that uh for the agenda system that we have because people might think it's an agenda but yes it's a lot of documents that we need to be managed and it's a lot of information that need to be put in place and um the system that we have which is a paper track
system basically right now is is is very challenging for the department. So, that's something that we're going to keep on working just like the minutes. We've been catching up with the minutes that we have from previous uh previous years and stuff like that. And and I think that we're finally going to get to a point
that we can say yes, we good, but also the system that we're trying to implement that will be helpful uh for the when it comes to the minutes and that's something that people don't see, but I mean it happening at your
department. So many things stop moving. So many moving parts. Just just thinking about the elections is is something that especially every year we have election every year. Uh municipal wise is the more the one that people talk the most.
But there is election uh elections at the state level, election at the federal level, election at the local level and the three different governments. you guys be able to manage those at the election division which is under your responsibilities and with the help of
that uh assistant city clerk that you have in place that that uh that you guys are providing a great service to the city of L. So thank you. Thank you. Um, council president, thank you. And I was forgetting we are actually working, the council president had given me kind of an initiative or a
goal to reach and I've been working towards it um to have an electronic agenda system um that's software driven that will connect every document to the agenda which will make it a lot easier for counselors that want to look backwards to say whatever you'll be able to click on the document on the agenda and it'll take you right to all the
documents. Um we should be rolling that out in the month of October. So, it might not be that first meeting, but this by the second meeting in October, we should be rolling that out. So, that's coming up and that. So, thank you um for reminding me. But also, um it's good when your boss gives you a challenge, you know what I mean? Like, and it was a big challenge. When he first said it, I was like, I don't need
that. Um but actually, I think it's going to make both of our lives a lot better and all of your lives a lot better. Um and it was it's a lot of work getting it off the ground, but once it's off the ground, it will be a really great resource for everybody. Thank you for having Yeah, that was I think um
it is I served on the board of trustees for Fitchburg State as a student rep. However, I Fitchwork Day is unique because the student rep does have voting powers. Oh, nice. And we had the system electronically where exactly what you the council
president yourself just described is what we used and it was amazing. I just needed my little iPad for everything and everything was there. Um, so I'm I'm happy to hear that we're we're going to be transitioning to that. And also I want to thank the council president for bringing up the minutes because that was
going to be one of my questions tonight. As you know, Madame Clerk, I I I one of my consistent questions is regarding minutes and bringing our bringing us up to speed on that and ensuring that we're that we're putting them out. Um, so I'm glad that something's being worked out
between the council president and and yourself. I also want to I want to thank your office for being proactive. We had a meeting last week about elections and the state coming in and everything and and etc. But before any action was taken
by any other individual, your office did was before us in March stating that you were preparing to meet with the state to have them come here to Lawrence for specifically for this election. So you guys have been proactive. You have been
thrown a lot of stones. Um, and and I and as council leadership, we have those conversations and I appreciate you keeping us informed on what's going on and and you still do your job and you treat everyone fairly and equally and
that's really important considering I mean, yeah, there's leadership, but at the end of the day, there's nine bosses that you have and that's a lot to manage and that's a lot to deal with. So, I appreciate that. And another thing that the people don't know, unless you're a counselor, is you
help with other things. Like I I don't know the amount of times I have reached out to you because I'm either stuck at work late or I'm in a meeting but I need a citation language or I forgot to message uh DPW, can you follow up for
me, you know, for this I'm stuck at work or or whatever it might be. I just send you a quick message when I need that little extra support. So, I appreciate um taking on that additional task, minor task that doesn't really fall under you and and you make sure to keep myself and
our and our secretary and whomever is involved up to date when you are asked uh for that support. So, thank you for that. Thank you, Councelor Levy. What? Oh, yes.
That's is something that I've been looking to be changed that we don't have to push that we don't have to and that was the way before that we don't have to push it and keep it on but this is something that we need to work but no I want to thank you for
everything that you do it for us and I'm so glad that my fellow counselor already approach the theme for the Min. One of the thing that a lot of people keep calling and asking for for the mics principle also for the different committee that's they don't see I don't
know how behind we are on some of the mics for for the committee but I'm glad that we um are working right now and being try to to get you know updated all of this because uh it is hard sometime
that they looking or they cann't find something they immediately start calling us as a city council and that's I think so that this is one of the um very important uh in uh and also another
thing that I would like to see is a little bit more thin posting on the wet whatever that we have um uh so many other you know like it's uh well the agenda I don't know see we can
post it in in the web or in our page the city page. Sure. Can I may I just on that one thing that we have an amazing feature on our city council and on the city's website. If you scroll down if you on the main homepage and you scroll down maybe I
should do a PSA just on this. There is a calendar on the main web page of the city and my staff and I we connect every agenda in the whole city to that calendar every day. So, if you send me a calendar for the disability commission, it goes on there. If you send me a an
agenda for the planning board, it goes on there. And I don't think people realize it's there, but if you just scroll down, are you looking at it now? Maybe. Um, yes. I So, I just pulled up our our city.com. So, just scroll down on the main page and you will get to a calendar. It's
under like there's usually two or three big Okay. things. And if you click on the dates, it literally brings you to the event. It will give you the times. It gives you the location and then there's actually a little feature. This is like download agenda. You click on the agenda. It will bring you right to the agenda for every single meeting. And I don't think people know it's there and I
don't know how to make them aware of it. But we also have the agenda center and other places you can look for stuff. But that calendar literally we connect every single agenda. Um they're all there. So that's is something that we I can see it right now. Yeah. This is something
that maybe we can start telling people, you know, they should look on the calendarance that is on the bottom of the quick little um videos on um Facebook or something like that. Yeah, I know exactly what I mean. But it it is there and we have been doing it. Actually,
council president is the person that told me, "Make sure you're putting these things on this calendar. Make sure you're attaching the agendas." And so, we've been doing that. Um but I don't think because one time Rich Russell, who I love, we all love counsel Russell. He made a comment about something and I was like council there's actually a calendar
on the main homepage if you scroll and he's like oh so I and he's pretty in tune with stuff like he loves to go look at all those things. So yeah know he's the one one of the people you know the more likely to complain about oh they don't have the agenda they don't have the this
or this. So when I showed it to him he actually was surprised to see it too. So I just think that tools and that tool's been there for at least a year now. Oh I see the download. Okay. Yeah, I was sorry to interrupt. I was just about to say I don't see agendas here, but on the right it's it's on the right and
and maybe we can black that people can notice it that it's in great font. So, it's very you can't you can miss it, but it's there. But the it does have every meeting and every agenda is posted to every meeting. So, it is um they're there. I just But I hear what you're saying too like like
let's get it done. Let's let make sure people know too. That's the other thing. Yeah, absolutely. But I I did want to mention that because I it's a lot of work to upload all those and I don't know if people ever realize that they're even there. All right.
Thank you. I learned something new tonight. There you go. Um any other questions or comments, council president? I'll make a motion to send it to the full council uh with a f recommendation. Thank you.
Motion has been made. Is there a second? Second by councelor Levy. Discussion. I'm going to Maria. I'm going to add this um anticipated executive session because there's going to be eight of us. So, you never know what can be asked or brought up just in
case. So, we can have we could be prepared for anything. Yeah. Okay. Thank you. I do have a one more question in here. Councelor Levy. So practically this contra only will change on the percent that has to be the increase or there is
something that we are thinking to add or to take him out from the contract that is going to be similar. The contract that I put in front of you is with the yellow highlights on it. So there's two there's my old contract is the first four pages and then the next four pages
is a proposed new contract um which is identical in terms. The only changes are the dates are for now for October of 2025 which is when your vote would be and um I've added in you've been doing the 3%
so I added in the 3% so that it's there um and then there'll be 3% future years so those are the only two changes to that contract that is going to be on the contract those changes. Yeah. So the pages um so there should be
two documents in front of you. One is like one pages 1 2 3 and four are the old contract pages you know whatever that's five six seven and eight are the new contract and they're highlighted in bright yellow and that's that would be the contract that's going before the full council so what we agree yeah because one I'm sorry
okay so one thing is like I was looking for because I don't have nothing on hand when I came in here and I say I came I sometime I keep it in my house some of the contract for some the employee but I was looking it looks like I just leave it in here. And I didn't have anything
on hand before I was coming. I said, "Well, I hope that I'm going to have it, you know, during the during the meeting because I I remember a couple of things, but I couldn't remember everything that that happened." But thank you so much for putting both
both there, the old one and the new one. I had to separate it. So, it might be more easy less. Yeah. Whatever works. All right. Any other questions or comments? Seeing none, all those in favor say I. I. And the eyes have it.
Thank you, council. Thank you. Um, madame clerk, there there may be not may obviously there are going to be additional questions. There's still time if the council decides to add or whatever to your contract, that will be the time to do it.
Um, an additional time, the time to do it is now, but if there's anything additionally, as you know, we will handle it at the full council. Full council. Fantastic. Thank you very much. Thank you. Thank you, council. So, we're going to have anticipated just in case.
All right. Motion to adjourn by council president, second by councelor Levy. All those in favor say I. I. And the eyes have it. Thank you so much, counselors. Okay, good evening everyone. This is um Councelor Marmal, the chair of the
housing committee. Uh we had uh a scheduled subcommittee meeting today for Monday, September 22nd at 7 p.m. However, due to lack of quorum, this meeting has been cancelled. Right, that's all we have to say. Okay.
I don't know.