e e e e [Music] we're live right now we're live counsel we're live counselor I'm Cur I didn't [Music] SC e to see SE me you we right good evening and welcome to the budget and finance oh counselors can I have a motion to read to resume from Recess so move second motions made made by council president seconded by the Vice chair Council marmel um all those in favor say I I and the eyes have it um today is Monday June 3rd it's officially 7:13 p.m. counselors uh that I have in the chamber with me today to my left councelor Wendy lzone to my right councelor and vice chair of the budget and finance committee Vivian marmel and the council president javanni Rodriguez pursuing to chap 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 in person at at here at the city council chamber or can um access the meetings through our Facebook and YouTube channels Pages at this point can you please join me in the Pledge of Allegiance [Music] States all right counselors um and people in the audience it is the chairs and the committee members decision to postpone the budget hearing for greater lence Tech and Lawrence Public Schools to Wednesday the the 12th at 7 p.m. due to the fact that we received both budgets really really late um the Lawrence Public Schools we received on Friday counselors this is not our full-time job so we're not here in the office every day and great allarm tag we received it today so we have not viewed any of these packets um so can I just to make it formal can I have a motion to to review just just for for formality I mean I don't but to review the budgets for greater Lawrence Tech in Lawrence Public Schools on Wednesday um June 12th at 7:00 p.m. so move motions made been made by Council marble is there a second second seconded by Council lzone discussion see and none all those in favor say I I and the eyes have it all right moving on to we have the Airport Enterprise fund good evening counselors good evening M chair um director what page are we starting off on is9 is it what page what page 165 165 yes toang uh good evening counselors I come before you uh requesting the fy2 uh mayor's recommended budget of $72,900 which is an increase of $81,000 uh that uh is reflected on uh two major projects that we are implementing one is a heating system for the maintenance uh building is about $440,000 I do not know I have a guarantee while I will apply for Grants I do not have a guarantee that those uh grants are yet to be um available in FY 25 so that's why you see that increase there additionally we also have some higher energy cost uh which we reflected on National Grid and higher bills um uh for gas natural gas and heating price as well as uh Fuel and Mark if you see on page two uh that is is where that 60,000 maintenance of um uh repair and replacement of the heating system as well as some uh advertisement as we are projecting that we will break ground for a new uh call terminal building it's called an administrative office building for the airport replacing the current building and so that too is something that we expect uh will be coming uh for fy2 M chair 165 and 166 is the details yes okay as a reminder uh we are an Enterprise fund all of our expenditures that we are requesting this year we do project that we will meet with uh income coming into the airport from our various sources all right counselors any questions or comments for um the airport budget regarding the airport budget Council marmo I'm sorry do you mind repeating again um the the repairs and maintenance yes I'm happy to do so so we project uh not project we expect we would like to replace the heating system in the maintenance building the maintenance building is what holds our plows our holds our vehicles uh we want to obviously keep them climate uh coordinate as well as we do have some heavy uh piping of sprinkler systems that require a certain temperature otherwise it will freeze in the winter with the wind gust that we have at the Airfield uh so that's a $60,000 maintenance project that we expect to come in so that is a chunk of that $81,000 increase that you see I do expect to apply for some grants and if those come in we would offset them obviously with what we are requesting um additionally uh we do have uh we budgeted uh uh several thousand doll for higher gas of natural gas the way we currently heat our current Administrative Office Building uh was pretty pooris is a 1955 build so um as much maintenance of as we try to do to recoup some of that energy sadly the building just does not sustain and we also added for the uh cost of fuel as we all know those costs have increased and they also impact the Mowing and the plowing that happens at the airport in both uh Mowing and plowing season um and if you could briefly go over what other assessments uh would consist of and then lastly um what would be the site improvements off of uh page 165 so we have on personal services uh by the mayor's recommendation uh 35,8 um we have purchase Services of 17272 uh supplies $11,200 uh intergovernmental uh 7,446 other charges and expenditures of 25 231 uh capital outlays of 12 7500 uh gives us a grand total of 7, 72,9 um those are broken down into uh page 166 and you could see those in uh the various uh categories and counselor I could go through them if you like or let me know when yeah like so under other assess so under other assessments what would that consists of um and then in terms of the site Improvement um if you could just briefly yeah absolutely happy to uh do so so the other charges and expenditures as as you're relating to that 25,000 we have uh some instate travel that has been uh allowed there uh dues and memberships of various sources uh the personal Casualty Insurance as an Enterprise something you may not see with other departments uh we do have to frontload that money for insurances and and and other expenditures of that type Medicare uh Healthcare and dental and that essentially comes up to that $25,000 you may not see that in other departments and again the department with for uh employees as we have at the airport uh we try to keep that as consistent as we can and uh is one of those things that's mandated uh To Us by the budget and finance so there's no negotiating on our side on our side it's just what we're told we have to budget for that so uh on Capital outl outlays and side improvements uh that historically has been uh monies that have been placed there in preparation for other projects uh what we foresee in the upcoming year is a drainage project that is um on the the west side of the airport it's a side Improvement to ensure that the uh water uh rain and storm water properly drains uh towards the marac and the the current uh configuration that we currently has is a picture stream bed has uh has had sediment for various decades that rivered when it becomes a a flowing river jumps and goes down into various other residential neighborhoods and uh instead of going down the the uh previously engine neared uh project now you're talking about an airport that was designed in 1934 A lot of other neighbors have moved there since and so what we have is water from the neighborhood that is sometimes flowing into the airport and so we are also talking to North Andover as you know most of our projects uh do require permitting from North Andover in order for them to do their due dilcy to to facilitate that that water and they manage their own water in the neighborhoods uh instead of allowing that to come into the airport counc president you m chair just to build up around that what council marmore is is is saying and the project related to the drainage I remember that last year the same issue was brought up right and uh some allocation was around that I mean what happened back then we had so to your point it was being it was in the design phase last year we were ready to uh launch essentially the the the contractor phase to be able to start we wanted to start now before the rainy season comes around um but where we were we had about a 15ot buffer before we had to go to Army Corps North Andover requested the full uh length of that of that permit design so it currently stands with Army Core Engineers so we're now past the faa's opportunity to apply for a grant there's no way we could start between now and and the time period that we wanted this summer so it's something that we're looking to start next spring counselor but we are ready uh at least from the local permits permits are appear to be ready the last one is North anord Conservation Commission uh which is cited for next week uh once they give us their their signage then we wait for the Army Court of Engineers because it is beyond the scope and it's all due to conservation land if this was an open field where we could go in there and just use a backhole I wish it was that simple but because it deals with conservation it deals with Wetland protection acts and all the other uh rights um therefore it it just requires that much more uh government red tape to be able to do this properly and to to make sure that it meets those regulations as cited because essentially the water is coming from the neighborhood into the property uh the city the the April property right to some extent I mean we still have 15 Acres of water that were draining we're also red diverting a catch Basin if you will or a head wall so that that pressure doesn't directly come at a 90° angle it kind of flows into a pre-existing stream I would love to show you or any other counselors what we have there's also a stream that has been restored some years back uh with some natural plantings and and other uh ways of of properly managing and we're also in this new design there's going to be a higher wall with some 3 to one ratios of uh of descent to ensure that that uh soil does not uh fail in the higher storms that we have been getting especially over the last uh summer we we saw one storm of 7 Ines in 7 hours which was historical they just didn't hit the airport although it was counted at the airport because we do have the weather service for north and over there all right so hopefully we can get into a resolution soon on that because I mean I've been hearing the same issue for quite a am of years now from our end we're ready counselor uh really now is uh the aspect of requesting the permits uh to be able to to truly be ready on the paperwork side but uh you know we were ready uh on the aspect of of equipment and we even had a a contractor's meeting and then we we were told we required the extra uh permitting so then we had to kind of set that process aside and we'll restart the bids once uh those ready because those contractors did not want to hold those bids until next year essentially the code of engineering get involved because uh the town of North Handover request the full length of design that otherwise it wouldn't be requirement correct correct what are they uh supporting the April with in terms of uh what are they doing the town of North and the what are they doing to me to to ensure that uh because essentially we are the verying some type of water that come from the neighborhoods sure so what how they are involved in the that I understand that they're doing is they are going to put some more drainage um on that part of those those four streets uh if you look at them on a map uh facing towards the West they look like four fingers but they wav poav uh and and others and so there's also a couple cat basins that have been paved over and I think that they're going to look at their engineering to see if they could replace those into their uh system of of water management the other challenges that have happened uh beyond the subdivision that came in there some years back is a lot of those neighbors have been installing gutters and so the the precipitation once it falls and the velocity of that water flowing is what truly is causing a lot of that erosion into uh those parts of of the neighborhood um but again you know I'm happy to give you a full tour the walking tour and you could kind of see it for yourself but as forth as there's still more options I think North Andover still has the opportunity to ask for some easements and and then be able to put the proper piping so that it flows towards north instead of flowing uh West towards uh the the hill of North Andover it could probably flow directly towards a meramac and you know right under the railroad tracks uh on this side of the airport so that's an opportunity but again it's one that costs money on their part and and I don't know you know what their appetite is um the Conservation Commission for what is worth is well aware of these and and is essentially pushing for North Andover as a town to do more all right great uh how much money did the city invest last year on this issue the City of Lawrence um out of the font account I I'll have to take a look uh you know what we were in if you're talking about this uh calendar year is the uh design and you know that that was um it's still you know we're still looking at those figures I don't have uh I don't have a here I could happy to bring it back maybe maybe we should you know get a count and and when it comes to that specific issue because that that issue it's coming from something else that is not some aspect some one way or another uh somebody else fault I think it's good to it's good to kind of like get to know the numbers over the years I think that this project that we have proposed and if we would have started this uh summer this this last uh we we could have managed it properly or at least get a good control of it uh but um with the design and the team that has been uh essentially informing us I'm confident that we could address and and continue to manage our water on the airport I can't guarantee that any other water coming in from from the neighborhood of the Town it that's a different story and I mean that's also something needs to be uh you know discussed but uh we're managing and we're putting some right protocols in place we did put some uh erosion controls some core logs several then those I could tell you those are about $122,000 worth of cor logs that we spent in in and around the airport to make sure that water from the outside of the airport does not come in and those erosion controls as temporary as they are they still meet the requirements of wetlands and the S because they're natural materials no problem thank you any other questions or comments seeing none thank you so much thank you very much counselors counselors the next budget we have is a city attorney's budget attorney hen good evening counselors let me start first with an apology and a thank you apology is because of a personal matter I could not be here in person but I was in front of my computer um the whole night I was I was watching your your audio trying to connect the and then when when that didn't work I realized nothing was happening I did my phone which was funny because I thought everything was great cuz I heard you do the the city clerk I watched you do the city clerk and then you asked me to speak and you heard nothing I was I was there I do apologize for that um as you can see my budget is on 50 and 51 um what my budget doesn't change year for year but what you do see this year is we're finally filling the positions so we have the uh addition of the first assistant City attorney and I'm happy to say starting tomorrow we will have the second assistant City attorney starting um we are also having a um a confidential secretary who will eventually repl my confidential secretary after she teaches her everything she knows which will take some while but she will be starting in approximately 7 days too we're just waiting some Matters from the Personnel department but as far as all the other uh amounts you know there are a certain amount of Shifting that happens in my department depending on whether the funds are needed for any judgments Etc but they pretty much stay the same from year to year attorney can you explain the in the $175,000 increase under court judgment it was 25,000 last year and now it's being increased to 200,000 so just so you know that that I I don't mean to say it this way that's kind of a fake number it's the way it shifts um the the CFO can tell you that we we put that money because we don't know we're going to need it we put it into other funds and so then when we need it we shift it back into that fund so um there was not that much in court judgments that year but this year we're we're trying to even it out so that we're ready we don't have to do that ship and as you may see and you've probably seen recently what happens is a lot of times I'll come before you and say okay I need you to take this money from over here and put it over here so I can use it so um it is not there is no increase in the amount of payouts that we had it's in the same it's just the shifting of money from one apartment to another okay and then the the confidential secretary I know that you're transitioning secretaries um and there's a a training period but the reflected on the budget there's two is it for the current and the new or are you planning once a year your current Secretary retires are you planning to fulfill a separate I would love to but I'm crossing that bridge when it comes to it right now that's for the current Secretary and the one that's that's starting the week okay councelor is any other questions or comments for the City attorney hearing none I think you're all said t who I I know a lot of people weren't happy tonight but I was pretty happy with your number well you know I mean we weren't happy but I know you thank you so much counselors any other and for those watching at home um I know the schedule the budget hearing schedule does have an alternate date of June 5th and 6th um the vice chair will be away uh those two dates uh and the the dates were scheduled prior to to my knowledge of that which is why the the propos the postponed budget hearings for the School departments will be held on the 12 so that uh the vice chair can participate in those discussions uh counselors any other qu any comments or anything pertaining the budget before we we enter recess again all right seeing none I will entertain a motion motion the resist motion has made by the council president seconded by the Vice chair all those in favor say I I and the eyes have it thank you so much for