##VIDEO ID:uriOsetqnoA## city council page and our YouTube Lauren city council page pursuant to chapter 20 of the acts of 2022 this meeting of housing committee is being conducted both in person and via remote participation a reminder that persons who would like to listen to or view this meeting while in progress May either attend in person or at the location that I have previously mentioned uh joining us today are voting members to my left which is uh Vice chair and counselor for district a fidelina Santiago um in addition to our counselor for district F uh councelor Mark La plant if we could all rise for um the Pledge of Allegiance before commencing this meeting I pledge allegiance 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 the four the first order of business I do see minutes um that require uh Council approval which is dated October 10th of 2024 um can I get a motion to approve motion to approve okay all those in favor say I I and the eyes have it the next order of business is item number 5072 for the acceptance of voluntary easements from the Essex company for the mass do Asberry Street Redevelopment project we have our acting planning director Mr Daniel McCarthy you have the floor good evening councils uh Daniel McCarthy I'm here on behalf of uh the planning department in the City of Lawrence um this is part of the ongoing project for amsbury Street you're all familiar with this we have conducted some takings from uh several properties um there are several other um agency and um large vendors um that we wanted to deal with the SS company asked whether they can do a voluntary easement rather than be uh involved in the taking they're going to donate the easements to I did send some records over but I have another package here watch location yeah see more clearly thank you so it's stra it's straightly it's fairly straightforward we're asking for two easements uh from the exus company one of them is a temporary easement uh that runs along the side of the canal that's so we can construct a sidewalk um that's in in in in one of the pictures you can see there on the map and it's a grassy area to the left of the wooden rail um the other easement is a permanent easement um it's at the intersection the intersecting corner and it's a two two square ft triangle and it's an area where one of our um light poles is going to be installed and it'll be encroaching on a portion of their land um so this is part of the bigger project to make uh Asbury Street a two-way street um okay so I'm looking at the diagram I just wanted to make sure mhm easement I'm going to call it easement number one for the sake of not trying to convolute y your your presentation so um corner of amsbury Street and Canal Street yes are you referring to this pole like this right that pole is going to be replaced and that is the easement to which you're taking um temporary easement frankly we probably already encroaching on their land so getting this seasman actually makes it clears up the title A little better whose land uh the yix company so they own the dam and they own the canal and they own they used to own the entire city M okay and what is the second one again um so it's it's you can see it in the background but if you look at the um the the parcel map with yellow it's a it's um okay okay I believe it's that's on Asberry Street yeah that's on Canal Street that's on Canal yeah so if you're looking at if you're looking at the picture it runs behind that it's a grassy area that you can see on the side of the canal so there's a so there's a wood Beam fence talking about this grassy area back here in the that green area that green area yes so we need that because we're going to be putting in a new sidewalk there and we need to frame the sidewalk to P the concrete and the frame will go on their land okay and again this um easement has been reviewed by their attorney Attorney Kevin Foley worked on it for the City of Lawrence as well um and it's been approved and will be signed by their vice president and by the mayor after you after and it'll be record the registry of deeds okay discussions questions um councelor Le plant thank you quick question so I see the picture I see the current sidewalk I see the guard rail I see the grass so are you suggesting or is this is is this going to take the entire bit of grass all the way down to the walls of the canal and that going to make that a side so the easement is strictly so that their employees their the construction workers can stand on that parel if they need to to pour the concrete so they're not going to be removing the grass we're not going to be disturbing that in any large manner footprint for the sidewalk Remains the Same yes okay and so that's just in temporary ement so they can do the work gotcha thank you I have a question and um this is like point of clarification on my end um do we hire like third-party companies um when we're um when when it entails uh dealing with these type of projects the um the actual construction of this project will be done by the um Massachusetts Department of Transportation so they will be advertising this project in the last next week or two and it'll go out to bid and through a competitive bid in our RF RFP uh we did a similar thing with the rail trail and marry ma Street intersection and Ma Street intersection so these are our state projects but when it's but they they're going on for the for the benefit of the community and goes through a process so the city is responsible for acquiring all the easements and what they call soft cost that's a tital defects any issues that would arise to utility access things of that nature the city's responsible for clearing all of that before they'll advertise it so we did get a we did get a waiver for them to go to advertising this is the last project on the 20124 calendar so the fiscal calendar so this will be under construction next summer the reason why why I asked is because I notice um and this is like a separate issue uh but I'll give you an example when there's work being done in the in our in our roads and our sidewalks and we have third-party companies such as either the gas company or eversource I've been hearing a lot of complaints of they are not cleaning up after themselves leaving equipment whether it's cones whether whatever material is being used to redevelop um whatever the project is so I just wanted to make make sure that we are doing our due diligence with whoever we're working with that they are doing their part in you know cleaning up after themselves and not leaving anything behind on someone else's property or on city property um yeah my experience with the with the state is they're they're more attentive to this as well in these projects or the cities included in the notifications and stuff because they will'll not notify all the abutters that the Project's you know moving on down what days you'll be um impa by the construction they make sure that you always have access to your driveways that you or your front doors or if you have a business that that your customers will always be able to access to things so and um our department of uh Public Works usually reviews these projects to make sure it's going on the in the cases with the utilities we don't always know when the Project's going in they they they sometimes show up and start taking okay is there any further discussions questions no so I'm looking for a recommendation I'm looking for a recommendation to um uh be sent up to full council with a favorable recommendation Mo to for for favor recommendation second okay all those in favor say I I and the eyes have it the next um order of business we are wanting to untable item 43023 is that correct Mr McCarthy yes that is correct okay can I get a motion to untable motion to un table all those in favor say I the eyes have it so item number 43023 amend the city's Housing Development incentive plan hdp extending the proposed Housing Development Zone to include more City neighborhoods and am amend other aspects of plan thank say that again which one is the original that is color okay well they're both color but the uh the aerial photograph that's the original uh existing H dip District um when this was done it was created to mimic cover Mo the downtown overlay District um when the when the state created this program part of that was uh intended to do um priority development districts where the city's identified and the overlay districts qualify for this um almost automatically um we had some complaints that this was being directed primarily towards developers and the the downtown the Southside and that people in the neighborhoods wouldn't so we have two developers who are uh starting projects within the uh Arlington Mills overlay District which is on the methan line on Broadway if you take a look at the the area map you can see that the you turn it this way the the right side is the methan property line the left side is the um Broadway me is that you that's me I don't know than thank you the the North Boundary of this district is the rail trail and the southern boundary is the Manchester Street and Lake Street so that's the area of the existing overlay District we have two developers who've gotten permits to build inside there and new housing and they like to take advantage of this program so we' like to amend the map to do this now when we typically do map amendments they the supposed to go to the state it's be reviewed the state has already pre-authorized us because this is an overlay District um in in the Mass housing uh development and livable communities uh is I preceeded this I I know there is a uh an interest in maybe expanding this even more so but this is all we're asking for now because otherwise we're still going to go forward um you know I do have another document on uh budget and finance that will be taken off the table in the next couple of weeks but we want more input from the mayor's office and that one is on the um the length and value of the of the Tiff agreements So currently it's only a 5year uh tax credit and the maximum only 50% of the uh improved value of the land okay um do you mind just walking me through a bit more so they're redesigning um what the proposed uh development district will be with this new map mhm yep so both both of the districts Encompass portions of of uh smart growth overlay districts which were developed by the as a ordinance by the state under chapter 40R to promote housing um the very first one that we did in the city was called the reviviendo gateway overlay but that one did not meet the state guidelines was never officially a 40 hour um the second one we did in 2005 uh 2006 was the Arlington Mills so that was when I started with the city that was one of the first projects I worked and that is the Mal and Mill District around the the spet river and there was a a bunch of vacant Mill buildings that were being redeveloped um there's a few industrial dist businesses there but for the most part um it's been um uh under underutilized uh we currently have permitted four projects on that under the overlay District but um those were done using um overlay requirements the H dip is intended to um develop market rate housing rather than affordable housing per se you can do up to 20% affordable housing to qualify but but 80% of it has to be market rate housing and the two developers in this case are both their intentions are to do market rate one of them I think is only 12 units of housing which is over the futa Market and the other one is a a larger project I think is about 30 units and that's going to be on Broadway in a vacant lot I think the already started the basement um foundation work on that one okay um questions discussions councilor the plant sure so thank you so if I understand this proposal correctly we're trying to make it a little bit easier to create more housing in this part of the city we are we are and and and it's also to it it's it's it's typically not utilized for new construction it's for substantial Redevelopment of O of Aging properties and that's ideal for the this District because what we have is one of them was a a existing Foundation from a building that burned down and the other one is the fruit area as we said it had a uh abandoned uh office uh space above the market which hasn't been utilized in our 50 years or so and it's going to be redeveloped and made into 12 Apartments 12 or 14 Apartments I forget exactly but do you have any projections on housing growth in the city and how that's going to impact the school department well this project is going to increase housing by 42 units so I don't know the estimated number um those numbers typically depend upon the program uh how it's being done in sometimes the not the if it's a a corporation a charal corporation which is working for a purpose um Lawrence Community work does a lot of family housing with multiple units uh some developers do you know one bedroom two bedroom units that are probably more um accessible or or or or preferable for empty nesters or single men or women who might be uh you know graduate from college or something like that so it's it's a variety stuff I I couldn't project the numbers but I can uh I can probably make an inquiry to the state and if they have some guidelines so the answer is and I'm going to be a little rough here but you know that I have a lot of respect for the answer is no we don't have any projections right now with respect to the increased housing and what that would mean to our schools after we just built two brand new schools at least two with the Ley the Ley and the um and the Oliver school that we're going through uh so that's the first thing uh the second thing is do we believe that this part of the city is not congested at all is there any parking problems in this part of the city is there any uh people who are feeling frustrations about travel in this part of the city before before D McCarthy ansers that question than economic development director for the city of lawrens um and for impact on schools and the growth of school it depends on apartment size so if a one zero zero to one bedroom do not generate a a child for for the school department um he's going to answer parment question he's going to answer the what dep parment question Oh So based on what you just responded how of these uh oh I'm sorry no counselor you have the floor go ahead well I I I think you may be reading my mind which is which is we don't have solid numbers we don't have projections we and and and the challenge I think we face as a city I'll be very polite now the challenge we face as a city is that we don't don't look at the entire city as a whole we don't consider all the elements of the city we say we have a housing problem let's create more housing but we don't think about well what does that mean for parking for the current residents that are now we don't even ask the school department do you have enough space in your facilities to have an increase and we don't consider that there are while these numbers may not be stunning in quite the way I just walked out of the L C advisory Council when they're talking about 300 or 400 apartment units that are going on in various places in the city and I'm thinking to myself if we just start thinking things little tiny bits these tiny bits all add up in addition to the big bits that are adding up um the number of vehicles that we have and I just don't think that we are and I'm now I'm venting and uh this is not really a question but I don't think that we have we don't we don't have the wherewithal right now to manage the kind of growth and housing growth that we're expec expecting and a fundamental part of housing growth in the city is understanding where do we have unlawful Apartments to make our places safe for their current residents and I don't think that we've done an adequate job with respect to that if you were to through you madam chair if you were to say to me you know we're really working with ISD and we by the way we don't know what the number is there's a lot of stuff we don't know we don't know the school projections we don't know how many lawful Apartments we have in the city although everybody will tell you we got lots we just don't know where they are what they are uh we know there's a lot of cars we know that's spiked out tremendously so we have some data but not a lot but the point here is until we get our house in order with ISD and go through a plan that formulates what are we doing to make sure that we reduce the unlawful and maybe increase the lawful maybe we can increase something like this or what the L is looking and hate to bring that in but what they're talking about right now and so it it makes it difficult for for me for my vote to say yes to something like this when there are too many loose ends and there's no I'm going to be polite again political will to go ahead and do what needs to be done to get a honest assessment of where we are as a city with our housing units and then saying what are we doing to make sure that our current residents are being treated with the that they have the proper school systems that they're not crowded that that they don't have to take 40 minutes to cross the bridge I've heard ridiculous comments at certain parts of the time time of the day when they can't get to where they need to go because of that and we are seeing an influx of Resident parking the the gate is open the gate is open for Resident parking I finally had to say yes to resident parking in my district because I have no place else to go and but but that's going to be a shortterm shortterm solution to much longer problem that's not going to be sustainable so anyway that's the vent and that's the vent for me having a lot of concerns about this concerns and this is not my district if Mr Del Rosario was here he would look to me and say you got all that stuff in your District Le plant why why why are you stopping it here I'm not one that's looking for stuff in my district like this to be honest with you because I want the quality of life to be enhanced so anyway that's my event thank you madam chair I appreciate he in your event I I I know that wasn't a question but I just want I just want to respond uh in a in a simple part part of the reason um the state approved us to go forward with this is because when we created this overlay District it was studied by the state and reviewed so all the issues of parking were adopted so the parking levels in this are far higher than are necessary for the the amount of housing that's going in the city is actually working with fruit areia to help them create a a new parking lot anybody who's familiar with that market for the last um 15 20 years it's been a Sandy dirty parking lot so they're going to be operating it putting new um Utilities in and going to be leveling that up and Paving it making that market more accessible for the public and creating more parking for for both Shoppers and tenants and for people who want to utilize our park and our rail trail so um I I don't disagree with some of your comments about the the parking situation but I think on on on this level this Pro this product has been uh well thought out by the state um both of the projects I mentioned have gone gone through the zoning and the planning board project and they did have um all their available parking on site fire to both projects okay all right any further discussions questions no all right well I like I understand the need for housing I'm very involved when it comes to um you know um with real estate and I I see definitely the need that everyone like it's it's not even a Lawrence issue it's a it's a global issue when it comes to housing um and then trying to kind of find solutions to the other challenges that the the city face that uh the counselor mentioned which is the parking um so I'm hoping that the city is kind of taking that into consideration when we're thinking about developments within the City cuz I also do see that the city does need to uh tackle these underutilized spaces um spaces that are completely blighted um and have the potential to transform this city uh to be productive to be um have the quality of life that that we speak of so with that being said um I'm just hoping that the city is doing its its due diligence in taking everything into consideration in being able to make everything work out um so I'm looking for a recommendation I'm not counselor how do you feel Madam chair I it's been my it's been my reflection even though I may have a a minority view on some of these um these things I don't I I've never been willing to try to kill things in the committee I would not support a motion to send this up with a fable recommendation but I understand the need at the full Council for all of us to have a voice on this particular issue I don't want to keep it here if there was a motion to send this up as a committee report I would second that motion okay so I'm looking for a Rec uh a motion uh to submit item 43023 uh to full Council W as a committee Report with no recommendation with no recommendation as a committee Report with no recommendation so second all those in favor say I I andd eyes have it is there anything else um within our agenda that you want okay that is it thank motion to adjourn motion to agend Second all those in favor say I and the eyes have it thank you thank you e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e [Music] I an agenda I'll call you back Joan he's not gonna attempt is it son I don't okay I see oh how did your thing go how did your thing go no that one got cancelled we're going to do another one on it's going to be November 1st good evening and welcome to the budget and finance committee meeting this today is Wednesday October 23rd it is now 7:21 p.m. voting members to my left I have councelor Wendy lzone and to my right the vice chair of this committee councel Vivian marmel 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 CH in the city council chamber or use any of our social media um Pages at this point can you please join me in the pledge United States America councelors we don't have any minutes to approve the first item under new business is item 50324 fiscal year 2025 property tax CL classification public hearing brought To Us by our chief assessor Alexi Vega Mr Vega you have the floor uh good evening Council as I do have a uh presentation uh i' like to um put up on the screen uh and you folks should have received a hard copy of the presentation voice both email um and I'll just go through the presentation it's going to be a very quick overview uh this is just the first step uh in the tax classification Factor presentation we're going to do another one a much thorough one uh when the state certifies our values so good evening counselors um so the assessors put a packet together uh for you this evening to walk you through the entire tax classification um requirements by the Department of Revenue in order for you to determine the a tax classification Factor uh the values have to be sertified by the state they're not certified as of yet the state is currently reviewing our numbers um so we should have uh certification by the time uh the councilors meet during the public hearing sometime in the middle of November during the calendar year 2024 the city went over the entire valuation of the city uh we reviewed all the sales that were U recorded at the registry of deeds uh and um to No Surprise of anyone's property values did increase significantly uh for fy2 the overall value of the city of allance is $8.4 billion that's taxable value does not include exempt properties uh this is a 10 10.2% increase over last year $7.6 billion across every class of properties major class of properties from residential to personal property the values increase roughly around 10% so across the board you're going to see uh an uh everyone being treated fairly and equitably uh when the council has produced uh voted on their budget in June so the average single family home uh assess value in fy2 uh is $450,000 this is an increase of roughly 11% over last year year uh in FY 23 the value uh average value is $375,000 uh so if you own property a single family home in the City of Lawrence you're dealing you're doing really well for yourself uh as far as valuation is concerned um so the slide number five uh gives you an overview of the entire city of lience for the last three years as you can see uh per uh the four major classes of property residential uh property values on the right hand side have increased uh significantly uh for this year it's roughly 10% 10.3% for residential commercial 10.8% industrial 99.6% personal property 88.5% the overall valuation of the city allance again is $8.4 billion and to the bottom right you'll see the taxing Levy capacity that the city has uh adopted in their budget over the last three years so in FY 23 it was 82 .9 million and 8 uh 24 was 84.4 Million uh which is only included um New Growth and for fy2 councilors you voted uh in June to increase the budget by proposition two and a half plus the uh anticipated New Growth which was $900,000 on slide six uh gives you a a brief explanation of what the levy is the levy amount is the amount of money you actually raise in taxes uh the levy limit is the potential that you could have raised uh and as you know in Prior years in the last decade or so we have not raised to the full Levy capacity uh the state also allows you to use proposition two and a half plus New Growth so when the state determines what the maximum allowed for proposition to an app your number that you can use or raise up to is $2.4 million plus the new growth uh the estimated New Growth uh again this is under review by the state we should get certification uh within the next couple weeks um so the overall valuation uh that we're ant anticipated to be certified is roughly $1.5 million that's $600,000 above and beyond what we anticipated in the beginning of the year because we just didn't know and we like to be a little bit more conservative than the opposite happening let's say we would have come to you during the budget season that the new growth is anticipated at $1.5 million and we brought in $900,000 I think we' be in the red because we'd be 6 months into the fiscal year so we'll be down here in November saying crying wolf and saying you're going to either cut or raise more taxes and that's the opposite so this is a blessing this is a great thing um slide number seven uh gives you a 10-year comparison of of the entire growth um estimates or or uh what that was actually certified by the state as you can see U we've been averaging around $1.5 million the uh anomalies you see in 201221 was the Columbia Gas disaster uh they since have slowed down made they've made improvements but not as drastic as they had to do in South lence uh so these numbers are very very healthy and great for the city um the reason why we have the tax classification is because if you didn't have this classification hearing you would have to adopt a factor of one which is a single rate uh what that would mean is that the residential commercial would play pay the same rate which is $10.45 and you'll see later in the slides uh then in the bottom you'll see that what the impact is going to be um when we shift the tax burden to help the residential taxpayers and shift the tax burden to the residential I mean to the commercial industrial and personal property right now the city's overall value without a shift uh is 8020 80% residential 20% commercial when we shift the burden you're going to see the DraStic drop on both sides here's the historical data of the city of lawence and their tax rates actually what I want to point out here is the tax shift that the city councilors have adopted um for many many years which is the maximum allowed by law uh which is 1.75 for this presentation I used the same as what we've done in the past 1.75 but again you guys can uh uh during the public hearing uh the city councils can adopt a different Factor this slide number 10 will uh is actually uh given provided to us by the Department of Revenue and this is your taxing capacity as you can see here um for 2025 the City of Lawrence can actually raise 101 million City councilors have been very tight with their budgets and have not chosen to raise to the full Levy limit and have chosen for fy2 to adopt uh to B to budget only 87.7 million which is a great thing because that's when folks see a difference in their tax bill the excess Levy capacity that the council is going to vote for when we do the public hearing is the uh excess Levy of 13.7 million this is what's been left on the table for the last decade or so decade or so here's uh slide number 11 is the average single family tax bill um see down to the bottom it's going to increase slightly uh and that's due to a two factors one is Proposition two and a half and two the value is increasing over last year last year's value again was 405 uh and this year is $450,000 the next five slides are going to show you the impact on the tax shift a shift of 170 and this goes down all the way to one I'd be here all day if we did that uh we chose the top five uh the best shift for the residential taxpayers the shift of 170 uh reduces the tax burden on the commercial industrial personal property uh shift to 175 and I'll just go through these really quickly 171 you'll see that the tax rates continue to increase for the residential and decrease for the uh commercial industrial personal property I'll stop at 175 here's the most advantageous tax factor for the residential class here's the comparison of the single family home single family home in the City of Lawrence average uh will increase $179 condos will see an increase of $142 two families their values just skyrocketed uh we had to make sure that we meet the state standard at full and fair cash market value uh and that's 100% so two families uh if you own a two family God bless you you U doing really well for yourself uh that tax bill will increase $291 three families $128 commercial class of properties $536 and then the industrial uh class we'll see an increase of 4,454 there's a snapshot of the factors for single family homes compared to the commercial side and the average single family tax bill throughout U various municipalities including uh the state in the bottom as you can see Lawrence is one of the lowest uh if not in this uh comparison the lowest tax bill uh for single family home uh in this comparison report here again this is just the beginning uh we do have a timeline set in place so that when we we leave the budget and finance we're hoping that it's sent up to the full Council to order a public hearing and we'll be back to give a full presentation uh and then folks uh during this time this period that we wait they can call the assessor's office and we can answer any questions they may have all values are already on our website they're preliminary they're not certified yet but we can also help folks and answer any of questions um that concludes our presentation and we'll be more than happy to take any questions thank you councilors do you have any questions or comments coun LZ thank you uh Madam chair [Music] um Mr bega why is this is not certified by the state we are you guys are you are presenting this to the budget and finance committee because of the timing of the city councilors if we would wait till the state certifies our values which is going to be between the next two weeks three weeks we'd be way behind so we're just giving you preliminary um what if scenarios uh we're not asking for a vote matter of fact if you were to take a vote today it it wouldn't con it wouldn't count it wouldn't we'd have to do this all over again so we're just going through the timeline and going through the through the motion if you would say so this is just like a practice round to get it uh to the full Council to order the public care so we'll we'll be we'll be out set by then uh through you Madame chair if I me um yeah and that is my um that's why I asked the question but also let's say that the state doesn't certify for you sent uh what will happen are we going to be looking into a new document correct we we'll present to you uh a set of new numbers uh typically when we do this the numbers don't change much uh we just can't can't wait uh we just got to make sure that we hit our timeline uh and the state wants to make sure that we are are good to go when they certify our numbers not to fall behind uh and this has been done before this is past practice and this is the best result in the in the manner of which the Lauren city council ordinance uh puts things on the agenda uh to you Madame chair and yes I understand that but it's it sounds very contradicted uh sending something to get certified by the state and presenting the document here and I know it's practice common practice uh I mean it it's contradicts um just a comment um and I understand your time frame and all that it is still concerning that we are sending something to the state to get certified and then we are uh sending something to the full Council when we don't have the certification and I do understand your position um in terms of the time frame thank you Madame chair you're welcome if I could make a comment with that uh we're not asking the city council than a budget of Finance to do anything other than send it up to the full Council to yes public may I man sure may I no no I I understand I just making a comment it it uh as a new counselor uh it's concerning that we're sending something to the state and I understand it's a all it's a practice and it it looks like a small contradiction we not we are here to send it to the full Council yes but I'm also May it's not about your department it may be about the state because we have to wait for their certification uh that's just to put it there it's it's not nothing to do with your department thank you Mr Vega any other questions or comments Madam uh ch um please excuse my ignorance I see here on purpose the maximum allowable tax shift is one. 75 but then we're seeing scenarios of 1.7 like different increments do we know where we stand as to what it would be the tax shift um that we're going to be going with if I'm even wording that correctly no because it's we're looking at different we're looking at different scenarios correct correct so coun Council Maro so we're looking at different so essentially the the city council has the option to vote on any of these RFS right the the the residential Factor rates um however Mr Vega went to 1.75 cuz for the last three I think he for the last years I have it here um under city of Lauren's historical tax information for the last one two three four five six 78 nine years the city council has voted um has voted for the the the 1.75 Factor okay um I forget I I forget the discussion of last year when I when I first voted or two years ago when I first voted on this but essentially since since that's the historical Trend um I think that's why and correct me if I'm wrong Mr Vega uh you spend a little bit more time with the 1.5 1.75 correct um scenario okay but we do have but because we have the option of voting uh differently uh he he has the obligation to present to that to us as well that makes sense do you want to add anything to that or did I cover it okay um Mr Vega just in um can you explain for people watching at home or from whoever um in our gallery or in the chamber currently what new growth means for the City of Lawrence absolutely thank you and take you the slide New Growth is basically uh any new construction or activity that's been taking place in the inspectional services department the Department of Revenue mandates the assessor's office to use every single sale and every new uh every new permit that was issued during calendar year 2023 for FIS year 25 so this includes any new buildings any additions any new personal property accounts uh that purchase new equipment or has or new existing accounts uh that um that added more inventory to that property so if you see a single family home that's converted to a two family that's second addition on the second floor that's considered New Growth because it was not taxed the prior year uh so that's what we're allowed to add to the tax roles and this is what the counselors have done in PRI years is tax all of the new growth and leave aide proposition to an because the new growth has been healthy for many many years thank you you have a question any other questions or comments okay Mr Vega or chief I should say Chief Vega you're chief assessor is there anything else you would like to add um before I move forward other than we're just waiting on the state's preliminary reviews our numbers look solid um and we still have to go through a public disclosure this will give the tax pay the public disclosure give the taxpayers 5 days to we have to advertise it and you'll see it in the city of Law's website uh to give them a chance to look at their values come in the office speak with us to see if there is a significant difference in what their opinion of the value is compared to what the assessors have submitted to the state you have five there window so this will allow both sides to look at the property yet again without using the abatement process all right that's that's the key part to the reval and the 5day public disclosure ultimately after the public disclosure is over St certifies the numbers we'll come back to the city council uh during the public hearing those numbers values New Growth are set in stone the next U item for the council is this to adopt the factor once that factor is adopted we submit all our numbers back to the state and say the council met during public hearing uh they voted on a factor here's the assesses put the numbers together and figured this is going to be the tax rate we need to certify so we can send out our bills gener 1 that's the third quarter bill after the bills are done taxpayers have 30 days to file an appeal formal appeal in the assessor's office um to um you know say that uh there's an issue with the value of the property record card misclassification you know we're not perfect uh but you know the city councilors and dur in this budget also allocates a certain amount of money so that we can reduce not just senior exemptions veterans but also any adjustments to uh property Valu so taxpayers do have 30 days um window forther yeah so it's a long process chair U Madam chair it will be possible it uh if we can get something to uh share with the constituents with our constituents something simple um would you mind sending us like something one pag yes one pager of the presentation I sure yeah thank you I also want to say I appreciate that you and your department are they you guys stay ahead of the game because once we wait um from my conversations with you usually when the state gets back it's it's minor things uh that we can fix right away if if if any um usually when individuals start these processes um and wait for certain things and are then behind it's somehow the city council's fault because we need a vote we need this we need that and they turn it around and and we're the bad guys so I appreciate that you guys are are are taking are always uh moving things along and and trying to trying to get ahead of the process you're welcome um any other comments or questions all right so you need a vote for Poli for a public hearing uh to send it up to the council and then to without a recommendation just as a committee report so then at the full Council we can order a public hearing okay councils can I have a motion to send as a committee report so motion has been made by Council marmel second seconded by councelor lzone discussion seeing none all those in favor say I I and the eyes have it I was about to say all those in favor say hi thank you the next item we have have item 40 50424 appropriation transfer in the amount of 40,000 from the stabilization Reserve to the Judgment accounts for litigation settlement and we have here our first Assistant Attorney um Kevin Foley to present this item attorney you have the floor thank you councils good evening I'm standing in for City attorney uh Tim hooton who's traveling he's traveling back I think as I as I'm speaking to so this first item is for a um a transfer from uh stabilization to a case that was just recently settled so this is just to pay the settlement yes okay Council has any questions or comments Council lzone can uh thank you Madame chair um can you explain to the people that are here and watching what settlement what it means yeah no what yes and which which settlement why you settle yes no no which one which one what was a settlement the settlement if you can provide it publicly I know there certain things you cannot say public yeah without um without getting into the details the identifying the particular case this case that settled um the the potential liability for the city was more than double what we're asking the council to approve uh in fact I was involved with the case I have over 20 years of litigation experience and we went through Discovery depositions um the person the plaintiff um had some um without getting too much had um damages well in excess of of what we're asking the council uh could prove damages well in excess of what the council we're asking the council to uh to transfer over um I took the unusual step of taking this case to what they call judicial uh mediation uh before the Essex County Superior Court in saem massachus assetts before a judge that probably has about 30 years experience handling these types of cases the plaintive want wanted much more uh than what we're asking for and we wanted to give much less than what we asked for and this is the amount that the judge recommended and both parties agreed and I think that's the nature of a settlement because both parties walk away unhappy you know we don't necessarily want to pay this much and they don't necessarily want to accept this much but that's what happens with a lot of civil litigation Council Lan is that they that um it's it's the nature of a settlement that both parties compromise and this is the amount that we agreed upon I hope that's helpful a little bit um thank you Madame chair you're welcome any other questions or comments seeing n you're good I'm going to ask you later seeing none at this point will entertain a motion motion to app uh sent a full councel with a favorable recommend motion to sent a full Council item number 50424 to full council with a favorable recommendation motion has been made is there a second second proberly seconded all discussion all those in favor say I I and the eyes have it thank you very much all right stay right there you have you have a second item item 505-20 24 the appropriation transfer in the amount of $350,000 from stabilization Reserve to the legal services account attorney yes uh and and this this amount that's being asked for is an amount that has been uh been um approved by City attorney Timothy hooton he's gone through it and it's really our best estimate of what we need the city attorney's office need between now and the end of the fiscal year uh to cover our litigation costs and primarily what I'm talking about is we have three uh Major law firms uh that are handling ongoing matters that are that preceded my time joining the city attorney's office and we based that estimate on the amount of invoices that we've had to pay for them uh during the year and took an estimate and then calculated that out to the end of June so that's how we came up with the $350,000 so I'd ask for a favorable recommendation on that okay I do want to read for the record the memo that attorney Hoon sent to um the council and our city clerk real quick you want me to read that Madam chair oh do you want do you have it with you is is this the uh I have a r i can just just I can just read it I have it right in front of me I'm looking to see if I have it in my package I don't know if I do or not sorry it's okay I believe I do yes I believe the memorandum you're referring to was dated October the 3rd 2024 I have received October 8th but it could be the same it may be this was to the council president um and the city council and copied with the city clerk and to the mayor and to the the CFO and to the chief of staff uh from Timothy P Hoon City attorney have reviewed the ongoing litigation expenses current outside legal bills and expenses have exceeded the the actual 2025 Appropriations consistent with our prior years practice we will need to appropriate from the reserve to pay ongoing outside legal counsel fees and costs of in court related expenses for the rest of the fiscal year we have several outside firms that I mention and he mentions and here Brody hadon Valerio demilio and Hillman H Roberts Weinstein I anticipate billing from those firms continue at the same rate as the past 3 months that a transfer of $350,000 to Legal Services and Reserve should be sufficient to sustain the department to the end of the fiscal year accordingly i' ask you to please appropriate the transfer from the stabilization Reserve in the amount of $350,000 Timothy preh thank you councilors any further questions or comments counc Madam chair can we ask for a committee report I would like to know where this money is is where they are spending this money I mean if they can share I know that's IL legal uh it's legal but if we can get a committee report report on the cases that it and what and and what we use outside um legal services for yeah invoices as I know they must have invoices and for which cases it's an a huge amount of money y can you let um uh attorney who and know just to send a little bit more supporting documents for next for next week sure okay um in that case can I have a motion to send this up as a committee report so move motion has been made is there a second second probably seconded any other further discussion seeing none all those in favor say I I and the eyes have it thank you Council thank you next item on our agenda is item 50624 appropriation transfer in the amount of 20 $250,000 from the ARA slf freecash account to a new account to support lawren Community Works Redevelopment of the die Works building we have our Financial Manager Miss Su Fink here councelors um as you indicated I'm here to request an appropriation transfer of $250,000 of the unallocated Opera free cash to support Lawrence Community works for the renovation of the die Works building located on Island Street currently there is $735,000 in unallocated um upper free cach that's available to be used and with your Indulgence um some staff from lence Community works are here and they can better explain the project to you then I can so Maran Kina delins good evening I'm Maran py nadell I'm the project director for the die Works project um let me um I'm sorry to interrupt you um Miss F do we have all I'm seeing is a memo here um never mind I got it I got it never mind sorry consider okay um just a quick overview of the dieworks project um this is going to be a Redevelopment of the historic dieworks building which is right in between 50 Island Street which is affordable housing and commercial space and the new Island parks side arm Michael Hyatt homes uh both developed by Lawrence Community works this is really the last undeveloped building in that area and the program for the building it's a fully commercial space as I said it will be a u 15,000 square foot site for LEF Feria uh a site for the greater Lawrence Family Health Center and then um primarily the site for the expansion of the Lawrence Community Works movement City program um and so we're very excited about the project moving forward we have almost all the funding in place save this $250,000 which I hope you will support um as use of the arpa funds and I wanted to just give an opportunity for these three um youth who are with me who are participants in movement City to just introduce themselves and tell you a bit about um the why what movement City how movement city has affected them and their vision for the future on the expanded space okay and I yes and I just have the I used to work for the health center and I was um I was advocating for for funding at the state level for for this project and I know I and I got a very uh detailed overview and I hope I wish you guys the best because this would be overall an amazing uh project for the city thank you and I'm happy to go over the kind of capital stack in the building if if that's of interest to folks good evening I'm Marcelo perz man and I am from Lawrence Massachusetts I immigrated about 6 and a half years ago and I've been a member of boomman City for 6 years and currently now I'm a teaching assistant at boomman city um and as you know Lawrence is a City full of immigrants right there's and with that the Youth of like the kids or the people who move in have a hard time kind of of um settling and feeling like this is a place for them um especially when they're taken away from their original country you know and this is something that I experienced firsthand as literally 6 months after I moved into Lawrence I was put in the movement City youth program and um before when I was kind of settling and I was pretty shy kid I didn't really want to um approach people or put much effort into really liking Lawrence per se um but movement City gave me a safe space to speak my truth to them and really just voice the things that are annoying me or some or just talk about any social issue that really I'm passionate about and just that space Not only allowed me to feel better about myself and the things that I was feeling um because now we have people to talk about it but I also was um introduced to people that feel similarly you know and I was able to find friends that I wouldn't you know necessarily be able to find if I wasn't in the program and you know now that I'm a teaching assistant I see this a lot like about a year ago a new kid had come in from the Dominican Republic just uh had just immigrated and they um he was again a very shy kid didn't know kind of what was going on and he kind of gravitated to me um because I was kind of one of the only people that was kind of accessible to him that really spoke to him quite literally I was kind of the only ones that spoke Spanish the way that you know he would want to have like a engaging conversation I guess um and he I saw him turn in about two to three months from kind of like little caterpillar in his in his um um his cave I guess to a more social butterfly per se um and I even helped them write a song about just growing up as a teen um and just him talking about the issues that he had um moving from the Dominican Republic to Lawrence and just different other social issues that he felt he wanted to speak up on and it was amazing to see from me and and I just uh think that movement city is so valuable for kids like me and kids like him to not only be able to find a community that accepts them how they are and listens to them but also um has like has them be able to call Lawrence their home you know which is something that a lot of people especially coming in are reluctant to do I myself was reluctant to do it for a long time but now thanks to movement City I feel like Lawrence is as much of a home as where I was born and grew up so yeah thank you thank you thank you I want oh oop sorry go ahead hello my name is kerz and I am from Lawrence and I've been in movement City for the past 7 years which is a lot because I am a junior now now and since I've ever since I've started the program I've always been a shy kid very like I would love to dance but I would never dance outside of my house I would hate to do public speaking but here I am thanks to mov City talking to you guys and movement city has been an outlet for me to express my creativity be able to show my hid find a hidden talents or just express myself in general they have also helped me academically getting into high school and also leading me towards applying to colleges and scholarships which in the near future as I become an alumni of m city and we move into this new building I want to be that I want to be the person that movement city was for me to the younger generation that we are going to have in that building and I would love to show them that when there's more to the city than to be in the streets or to be in or to do anything else but if you know you love if you don't know you have a passion or you want to create something you could come to movement City and be able to express yourself and use that opportunity to come to moving city thank you you you did great you did great um I'm Justin um brome um and I'm a junior and I've been in movement City for like almost six years now um and when I started off I was pretty shy like wouldn't speak to nobody just mind my business go along with the day um and then throughout my time I'd like once in a while converse with people cuz movement city was there to help me conversate with people um and and it's also taught me how to express my emotions like whatever is going on in my life at the time um it's helped me Express those through my artwork and it's also helped me figure out like finances helping with school work and it also helps um with college applications High School applications which is right now important to me um and I feel like moving forward um in the new building we would have more of that accessible to the youth um more importantly on the finances and college and what you want to do after high school um and I feel like moving forward we should um have that more accessible to the youth and have that more what's the word um available to more people and with new building that should be available thank you thank you great I'll just close by saying I should have started with it the this expansion space will allow the program to serve we now serve about 150 students through the course of the year and it will allow us to double the size of the program and offer all of the things that they've talked about to more more youth in the city I want and I want to get I'm actually I'm on the die Works web page currently and um I I I want to read some of the numbers that you guys have on on your website because I think it's important for the community to know this you have 80% of residents live in a food desert without access to health healthy affordable food 33% per of residents are obese 12% are diabetic and 177% have childhood asthma 40% of households do not have a computer or internet access the lowest in the state 22% of high school students won't end up graduating from Lawrence High in addition to this being the new home for movement City this project will will also be the new home of a grocery store a new a new Health Center a community Hub that that will be available indoor and outdoor for for Community Gatherings and other youth programs so this is like I mentioned earlier this is an important project for us for us and our community thank you I really appreciate your reading that into the for everyone to hear and um the opportunities here the synergies between the three uses the connections to the other youth organizations that are right in this downtown area um really makes this a youth Hub in a very exciting way and we're leveraging what's happening at the building with additional funding that's coming in through the atrias health foundation with some really Innovative um programming that will bring youth to the front in in improving family family wide Health um and so fir works is really an important critical piece of that so we hope you'll support the this our funding thank you I'm seeing that councel lone councel lone no I am no this is great and I think it's going to be great for the community and for the view but I would like to see uh and I would like to make a motion yes to send it to the full Council we favor recommendation that I think they should include something for our colleagues to see uh this great project uh and Madame chair if I may I would like to make a motion to send this uh to the full council with favorable recommendation second Mo has been made properly second in discussion no if you can send a one or two pager on the overall die works or honestly or just print out what you have on your web page because everything is there that would be great all right all those in favor say I I and the eyes have it thank you so much thank you councilors um just a question when is the full council meeting gonna be next Tuesday um it is election day oh I'm sorry oh nice thank you s that is an act that's an awesome question we don't know yet okay so it might be that Wednesday okay that Wednesday either the six the sixth the 6th yep okay yeah Wednesday the 6th I will um speak to our Clerk and our council president okay thanks very much no problem all right our last new item and then we have one under taed business um item 53-24 authorization to expend five 4 45 45,000 1,777 for the pup 911 support and initiative Grant director Shephard you have the floor good evening c councils i Am here to present the Commonwealth of Massachusetts state 901 department grant uh in the amount of photo $ 45,3 se7 um this grant will be essential for the Department as it's going to be utilized to pay for the salary and overtime of dispatchers and the overtime for the SW officers that work at the dispatch as well we're going to be um purchasing six new new desktop which will currently replace the six that we have right now because they are outdated and they don't support the current software or the new windows 11 it will also pay for the new uh the it the software for the uh uh for the uh newcome [Music] um the QED which is the maintenance that we have to uh pay every year for the uh for the software syst just for just for the dispatch and as well for the um eator eator is an equipment that we bought last year which is a a recording um um a Recording Technology we bought it last year so this year we're only going to pay for the me for the minutes for just for a full full four year for this uh for on this Grand counselors any other questions or comments Council marel so if I'm hearing this correctly the 45,000 it's for maintenance no um just I'm sorry no that's fine let me just grab the page so out of the 405 $ 36,18637 computer dispatch itself which is QED and newcom it will be $88,700 the radio console which is uh the the the radio that we uh dispatch utilize to be able to communicate with officers when they in an emergency that will be um just the maintenance because we already have the radios it will be 7,000 $980 the equipment for for which is equator is going to be $2,532 45 okay any other questions or comments counc L you all set um okay at this point I'll entertain a motion motion to s a full council with a favorable recommendation motion has been made is there a second second second by Council lone discussion any other further discussion seeing none all those in favor say I I and the eyes have it thank you councilors can I have a motion to untable item 43-24 the authorization to expend $300,000 for the municipal clean or efficient energy initiative of the marac valley renewal from the Massachusetts Attorney General motion to un table motion remain properly seconded all those in favor say I I the eyes have it and we have our city engineer Theo Rosario um for this item good evening honorable councils um so we are just um asking for um the authorization to expand $300,000 that you have already approved in another uh session with the full counselor that Grant has been approved and then we're just like for the administrative uh part of it to expand it uh so we just received the money so this is a grant from um from the attorney's um from the attorney's um general office right and um it's just to cover it should be under your table for the position of um the supervisor of energy projects so that's what I was going to counselor's um should be under table yeah um I'm seeing here right here I'm seeing here um the total budget and use of award $240,000 would be for the supervisor of energy for the salary of the supervisor of energy and then 60,000 would be for fringe benefits at 25% can you what is what what does that mean oh well the The Fringe Benefits it's just like the benefits that an employee receives from City like you know Insurance um or it's not insurance it's just like the French benefits is um um for the retirement and all that all that part that that's that's what it means the French so they are paying for it so the city has not to pay for for that so for the salary is just $120,000 okay council is any other any further questions or comments I feel confused is it me no question think um from my understanding this grant is to basically more than 50% of this grant is to is is to pay for a position that's already approved I must it has been approved right I remember it from the yeah from the budget hearing um so so now we can fill this energy supervisor that we don't currently have uh what is what is the plan this is going is this individual going to be reporting to you I'm assuming is it part of DPW or so this is a part of um DPW um but then it will um actually um report to uh the ag office and the doe the department of um energy resources mhm uh so they are managing in this this project for to um actually to supervise uh the the the program of clean energy Municipal clean energy for the city of lawence so now okay so not only would they have to be reporting to our DPW director but also the AG and d d r exactly the d o r d o e r okay um this is one position it's just one position any other C counselors if you feel comfortable we can send it up as a community report um that's exactly what I was thinking then if we can have um a little bit more information of how that role is going to look like or or or what pending projects energy projects that we have that you guys might need help with that we'll need this position this is under the mara Valley renewal funds okay okay so to spend like probably like around $21 million to uh for energy um um efficient projects okay all right so with send it up as a committee report I'll also um can we have a note to also invite the DPW director H hman to our next full council meeting yep um in case anybody else has specific some projects or Etc all right motion to send item number 45324 as a committee report um with you know no recommendation just as a Comm uh to city council I submit that as a formable motion motion has been made properly seconded this for any further discussion seeing none all those in favor say I I the eyes have it thank you all right at this point I'll entertain a motion to adjourn motion to adjourn motion has been made properly seconded all those in favor say I I and the eyes have it thank you so much counselors for