##VIDEO ID:30ZpvgelQ2I## good evening everyone I will call the city council to order at 8:00 P.M on Monday December 16th this meeting is being recorded please join me in the Pledge of Allegiance Pledge of Alle to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God invisible with liy and justice for all if I could ask you to remain standing uh join me in a moment of silence uh two of our former city council members uh recently passed away uh Robert Bobby Brennan who was the ward 2 counselor from 1984 to 1985 he also served 18 years on the school committee and then Marilyn Perry who served as counselor at large uh from 1984 to 1991 so I'd ask if we just have a moment of silence for both uh these counselors thank you thank you very much may be seated there are let's see 17 items on this evening's agenda and I will ask the clerk to please read agenda item number one minutes of the city council meeting December 2nd 2024 Council Brown thank you Mr President move to accept and place on file the minutes motion made second to accept and place on file the minutes is there any discussion hearing none all those in favor oppos minut minutes of file 10 0 agenda item number two now is the time for the public hearing on the proposed zoning map Amendment from Justin mlet trustee on behalf of one Maple Terrace to include one Maple Terrace identified as map 70 parcel 274 in the malor village District order number 24-100 9305 okay so there this there will be no uh public hearing tonight as we had a challenge with the uh advertisement so I would entertain a motion to reschedule the public hearing for this topic Council Robi thank you Mr President move to reschedule the public hearing to January 6th 2025 motion Maiden seconded to reschedule the public hearing to January 6 2025 and advertise any discussion on the motion seeing none all those in favor opposed the public hearing is rescheduled to January 6th 2025 at 8:00 p.m. and we will advertise votes 10-0 agenda item number three now is a time for the public hearing on the application for amendment to special permit from attorney Brian faul on behalf of garden remedies Inc to allow for the relocation of the establishment from 416 Boston Post Road East to 423 to 423 Lakeside Avenue order number 24-100 9306 a okay this public hearing we've taken up in four stages first with the public speaking in favor second questions from the public third public speaking opposition and then finally questions from the city council so I will be uh setting a time limit of 3 minutes per speaker this evening through the size of the the crowd here so again 3 minutes per speaker so we'll start with the public speaking in favor please state your name and address for the record please thank you president iing Brian faul from Myck o Connell here on behalf of the applicant Garden remedies Inc uh with me are our chief executive officer Jeff Harold and our chief operating officer Zach Hall um seeking an amendment to our special permit to relocate the marijuana retail establishment from 416 Boston Post Road East to 423 Lakeside Avenue which is Route 20 west garden remedies is excited about this opportunity to relocate in malro and continue serving its existing customers and patients just working through this so um this is Garden remedy's current location at 46 Boston Post Road East this is the malro Square Plaza um Garden remedies was malo's first retail cannabis establishment opened uh in June of 2019 for adult use and September 2019 for medical Garden remed use was also the first woman in clinician founded cannabis company in Massachusetts um moving forward so um we've had a minimal impact on the community I mean honestly we would say we've had um no impact or proba a positive impact overall um from our operation um current operations have not contributed to significant traffic um we wish that we had which is part of the reason that we're looking to relocate um we've been a professional retailer without complaints from neighboring businesses customers or the police um we have a policy to ensure that the surrounding area um is free from trash we run a clean operation both inside and outside the store and we have a zero tolerance policy for consumption on site or near the store been a good corporate Citizens Community Support um working with local nonprofits such as the community cupboard um sponsored local events such as the farmers market um and our employees give back with Community cleanups uh we care about the community so why are we looking to relocate um overall this is a business decision um store revenues have been in a sharp decline since 2020 down 48% from 2020 to 2023 um this year's projected revenues look like they'll be down about a third from 2023 numbers um store traffic is down we do think a lot of it is attributed attributable to the route 20 East construction project that has certainly not helped um but the the location itself um we think is less than ideal for our retail operation um so we're looking to relocate in Malo instead of leaving malro but Garden remedies is at a point where it is looking to open a different store it's maxed out at three retail locations in the state um and this location is not working um but we would like to stay in malro for a variety of reasons i' like to keep serving our local customers and patients um would like to retain our local employees um we like to add a medical location to the west side of the city right now um um there are two medical providers um in Mal Garden remedies being one of them both both located on the east side of the city this would uh provide an option for um medical uh cannabis establishment on the west side of the city um an important in in this building is an increase in City uh revenues as Garden remedies revenues would go up so would the cities share the 3% excise tax um on um cannabis transactions um we we feel as though new location will work out very well for the city as well as Garden remedies so our proposed location this is 42 423 Lakeside Avenue Route 20 west just west of the 495 interchange um most recent tenant was the Vitamin Shop um this is actually a location that we looked at when we were um initially coming to Malo in 2018 we had hoped that this would be our location didn't work out then um but looks like it will work out now um this slide shows the store converted um to Garden remedies Garden remed signage and and window wraps um and our sign on the pylon that's existing um at that location so some of the features of the new location we have um direct access off of Route 20 also have access um on Landry drive to the rear of the store um like our existing location we have a sec waiting area for patients and customers um you have to show your ID to get in um we have a dedicated employee and delivery entrance so the entrance that customers and um patients would be using would be different than the entrance for employees U bringing in um inventory would have opaque exterior windows that's something required by cannabis Control Commission regulations um in terms of parking this is a shared um lot with the oral surgeon um next door 53 total shared spaces 23 would be directly next to our building we think that works out favorably um with what we think is going to be our projected activity average of 18 transactions per hour maximum of 23 average transaction time about 3 minutes um so we think we've got plenty of parking in that location um as it currently stands um just on our procedural status um we had a community outrage meeting on December 2nd um we were before the site plan committee informally last last week we'll be before them formally um if we get this special permit um because cannabis establishments even without site changes require formal site plan approval under the zoning ordinance um I provided counselors with a draft decision again we're amending our existing special permits was a little bit different than some of the other special permits you may have done um you have that draft decision um with your materials um and I also submitted tonight um a number of letters from current customers and patients uh the city clerk has those um and they'll get entered on the record as part of the hearing um in summary we think this is an ideal move for garden remedies um this is an excellent retail location um and one that we think will allow us to uh continue to thrive in malbro and continue to serve our existing customers and patients we thank you for your time and look forward to your questions thank you attorney faul any other members of the public speaking in favor please uh come on up to the microphones please state your name and address for the please Michelle Mercier 22 Carter Street Hudson Mass CEO and president of the malor Regional Chamber of Commerce oh no go go right ahead Michelle thanks hi um I just wanted to come up and I think you've heard a lot of great arguments here that they've seen and that they've that they've stated for their future of the new location they've been dedicated members of the chamber for five five years and six months to be exact um renewing in June they've had to my knowledge no incidence with the public or you know anything being called on them anything like that as well as I think it would be a loss to Malboro if they were having to leave this community so I am in favor of them staying put right here in Malboro and continuing to you know give give back to the community the way that they've been doing up to this point and I think the new location is in the best favor of the business as well thank you Michelle thank you any other members of the public speaking in favor hi uh JP Gallagher one of the owners of L hu buring and Roasting Company right next door uh I just want to Echo Michelle's statements but also say that um as you saw they support the malare farmers market which we put on um they help us with our snap match program and they've also uh been sponsors of our malor Brewers October Fest so we'd love to see them continue to stay in malor and to continue to uh support our community events thanks JP thank you any other members of the public speaking in favor any other members of the public speaking in favor any other members of the public speaking in favor hearing none I close that portion the public hearing questions from the public any questions from the public thank you my name is Laura butland and I live at 44 for Drive I have a question so your location that you're at on the east side what's the size of that location versus the size you want to move to this 3 3,000 square ft now 5,000 is the new got it so current location is 3,000 square ft the new location will be about 5,000 square ft do you think that that's going to be big enough to Warrant what you're going to move to yeah we so I mean that's not a significant move yeah we yeah it's it's not so much the size of the building it's the location the retail location visibility and and closer to the highway now do you think that you would have a problem with competition you're going to have two down in the west side yeah I mean it's it's a competitive Marketplace for sure um but it's really no different along that same stretch of roadway um you have three um retail liquor license establishments um that are all competing with each other and all um doing well and in business so we don't see that as really any different we'll also be the only medical provider that's right Zach reminded me we'd also be the only medical provider on the west side of town now what about a traffic study because I feel as though I live in that area of town the traffic is horrific especially you know your your high traffic times Landry Drive trying to get in and out I know you have a front entrance and a back entrance and I have personally had a situation where someone is coming out of the Shell gas station and decided to go Eastbound in the oncoming traffic lane now don't take this the wrong way but people that do consume marijuana aren't thinking clearly because I've witnessed it what what precautions are going to be in place for something like that for an incident that they could be coming out and going in the wrong direction because they're intoxicated yeah I mean I can't comment on that there's no on-site consumption in the store or on the premises in terms of traffic impact um the very early days of retail cannabis in Massachusetts for sure had traffic impacts when there were only two or three stores in the entire State it's certainly a competitive maturing market right now and we don't find that the traffic impacts are any different for this kind of establishment than for any other retail establishment it's an existing retail Plaza since 2006 um wellestablished traffic patterns and and we don't think after the initial um week or two when we're a new store um we don't think there'll be any um different traffic impact from our location than any other retail establishment okay that's all thank you thank you laara any other questions from the public I am Jack Dulan 31 McCory drive and while it's good to see a business being productive for the city and uh and so on just like probably a lot of local residents I live in the neighborhood could you describe a little further you said there's been no incidents per se uh in in your current establish your current location uh what do you what do you do to either prevent that or if you were to have some kind of a customer problem in in your location either inside the building or outside how do you monitor that what would you do about that that type of thing because of you know like any business which is concerned about the customers that come in and they do their business if they for some reason as Laura mentioned there might be somebody Who's acting inappropriately somehow as a result of of using that business you know what can what can you tell us as residents that would make us feel like this is not going to have any kind of an impact we have to worry about yeah I mean I I can take that I mean just like any business if there's a customer issue um in our feels threatened or uncomfortable um we'd notify the police just like anyone else um you know that's a secure facility you have to show your ID um before you get into the facility you have to walk through a security booth before you get in um all of our packaging is you know child resistant and sealed for people when they leave um and you know we've been doing it for a long time we were the eighth license group in the state of Massachusetts to sell cannabis um we've been around since 2013 um we have a lot of Sops in place security you know full security team um exterior cameras all those things that we rely on thank you that was my question thanks Jack any other questions from the public any other questions from the public any other questions from the public hearing none I close that portion of the public hearing public speaking in opposition any members of the public speaking opposition councelor oh yes hang on uh yes councelor and my uh we did receive one letter of uh opposition for the uh Amendment to the application for special permit by Gard from garden remedies from a Betty Chan masy of 37 Foria drive thank you Steve um members members of the public speaking in opposition any members of the public speaking opposition come on up hi I'm Christina hullman I live at 11 masteri Drive um so when I tell you that this is directly in my backyard it is literally in my backyard I can see it I have two young children um and there's also the um richer elementary school that is right down the road from there and um as it was previously mentioned there's already a dispensary down the street and my understanding and I could be wrong is that there's another one being built near Chipotle I don't understand why we need three dispensaries in the space of a half mile a mile whatever that exact radi ra radius is um I'm concerned that that you say it's not allowed to be used on property so to me that just encourages them hey let me get like right outside the property and go park on the side street and use it um I just I don't understand why we need so many of them in one location and you say that you are hoping that you're moving because of not enough traffic at your location and you're hoping for an increased traffic so I don't we don't need increased traffic in our neighborhood as it is we get a influx of people cutting through our neighborhood to get from the hotels to the hockey rink back and forth we don't need even more traffic coming through our neighborhood um for for a business like this a business that's going to be open until what is it 11:00 at night um like I said I have young children as it is I already have issues with the extended stay hotel and the clientele there um late at night and I've had to call the police because of that hotel and the response time isn't the greatest so I am really concerned about what the response time would be for a business like this if you do have an issue cuz you're hoping for increased traffic which we just we don't need in our neighborhood for the young kids that are there and for the amount of this type of business that is already in that location so that's just what I have to say about it thank you thanks Christine any other the members of the public speaking in opposition come on up Laura Laura butland I play The Devil's Advocate so I currently run a business in this town in which there's a pot shop I cannot say a good thing about it we've had a horrific experience horrific the councilors here know how bad it is I'm not saying your business is like theirs but what has been displayed at them has put a bad taste in my mouth do I believe you guys would do great there absolutely do I believe you need a standalone building like that 100% do I want you to leave the city no everybody deserves a chance but what I have witnessed firsthand I can show you pictures I can show you videos it is a bad deal and I live right there like Christina and a couple of other neighbors here we live right there I have to deal with it when I go to work I don't want to deal with it when I go home and the traffic that we deal with there it's awful I mean our neighborhood is a cut through I've seen I know what you're saying you know you have a big tolerance you stop people from tailgating in the parking lot they'll do it they do it every single day in our Plaza my Plaza stinks like a big skunk it's awful and my customers complain I've lost business because of this business in my Plaza and I've run a business for 29 years here I take pride in what I do and I take pride in this city born and raised here I don't want to see this type of atmosphere in our neighborhood I just don't think it's a good fit do I think it's a good fit somewhere else maybe in an industrial center off the beaten path yes I do but not where residents go people walk that area I walk that area with my granddaughters people at the homestead um sorry I call it Homestead Village it's the homestead suits that's a dump it is just an attraction for bad trouble and if they can walk over there and get their marijuana because they smoke it right there on the sidewalk I mean I've had to walk through a business to get away from those people smoking it to come back around onto Route 20 to finish my walk it smells and it's a it's just not good for my grandkids to be around and they're little they're they're two and three years old I don't want that for them I just don't I just don't think it's a good it's a good fit I and I know that sounds terrible because I run a business here and I wish no ill but I just don't feel as though this is a good idea at all especially we have another Standalone going in down at hanford's and the one that I have in my Plaza will be topheavy I mean why do we need three in one end of town and I get you have medical versus recreational I understand all of it but if you've lived what I've lived the past two years I've had people urinate in front of my building behind it on the side of it I mean I've been assaulted I can't all these people come from the marijuana facility and they don't care that someone's policing the parking lot they're in their car rolling their thing up stinking up the whole place they just have total disregard that and the trash the trash I mean honestly come down see what we're dealing with down the other end of town before you make this decision all of you sitting here and I know Dave's been down in my Plaza tion's been Trey's been it's terrible absolutely terrible it's disappointing cuz we're at the end of the line but I'm sorry I'm totally against it unless there's a better idea like I just don't have a good good feel about it and I apologize thank you Laura any other members of the public speaking in opposition any other members of the public speaking in opposition any other members of the public speaking in opposition hi my name is Susie wette I live on North bro Road and I want to thank the ladies for speaking and the gentlemen it's traffic there's so much traffic on our road it was it's a cut through Road from all over town to come through there and that's just going to add we feel like this would add more traffic they're going to come up they're going to cut off through Route 20 they're going to come up by Hanford and go in the back way to use your facility they're going to come around and come down and everybody keeps cutting through I was promised when they put the Apex Center in that they had a 40 light turning for the Apex Center nobody will come down northb road but everybody does everybody comes down to beat the light and to get to Starbucks I just think this is going to add more traffic we have a lot of pedestrians walking up and down the street I think it's just not going to be it's going to be a bad safety issue thank you thanks Susie any other members of the public speaking in opposition any other members of the public speaking in opposition any other members of the public speaking in opposition hearing none I close that portion the public hearing questions from the city councilors council naan thank you Mr President um just a couple of questions um regarding the business you have two other locations in the Commonwealth is that accurate yes uh Newton and Melrose okay were they all open about the same time have they've been open since 2020 or before this was our last yeah so we those other two locations were open before malro okay and has there been um a decline in Revenue at the other locations as well yes there has been okay and is that attributable you think just to the the amount of other stores that have opened across the Commonwealth as the the industry has become more mature yes okay um who is your closest uh medical marijuana licensed competitor is that in the green go group down the road it is it's not Hudson that's not correct to Mescal off of right off 495 exit Okay um and then it says here um the store traffic is down attributable to obviously the route 20 construction project which is um decreasing do you think if this is um this is not approved and then you do end up staying in that location is that a if that's a possibility after the construction projects open I mean the construction project winding down is certainly um helpful but our location overall compared to this new location this is a much better location where we're looking to move okay um and then the other piece that I'm just I'm wondering about and when this comes to committee I'd like to see a little bit more about um The increased City revenues um obviously if you guys sell more that's going to obviously do more for taxes that the city um will retain which is wonderful news um would you all like to see that um I am a little bit concerned with having three locations within a mile from each other if there is really a net increase in that um so like look forward to having that discussion when we come to committee thank you Council naan Council Brown thank you Mr President um I wanted to ask a question um where it says minimal impact on community zero tolerance for consumption on site or near store you would mention in the present ation that your um your company's been in business for a while you have standard operating procedures um what would that look like for for that exact type of a scenario a customer leaves the store there's signs posted and whatnot once they leave the store they're up to their own devices so what do you have in place to I guess one recognize that somebody might be consuming and then also what would you then do if it were founded thank you yeah so uh the person inside in the security booth monitors the cameras that are outside um and you know depending on the situation could go out and talk to the to that person could call the police um also everyone scans their ID when they enter the facility so if had that happened and say they drive away we have that person's information to be able to provide to to the police um we've also banned customers or or if they you know uh went against one of our policies so the next time they show up we can say hey you're not allowed back into this facility um and turn them away thank you and if I may just ask another question um and I'm I'm not sure if this is easy to answer or quantify but um I have to recognize the concern of one of my constituents who owns the business on the west side in the plaza with another dispensary and um they've had some ISS issues with clientele um if you had to generalize and it really pains me to even say it this way to generalize your clientele um because you do have the recreation and the medical um what what would that look like um like in an average business day like what's the makeup of your clientele it's all across the board so you could have a medical patient that's 15 years old all the way to a customer that's 100 years old um it really varies it's uh pretty much split male female um you know it's all across the board just like any any store I think uh it's it's very uh fun to go into our store and to stand behind the counter and see the differences of people right you have one you know 21-year-old and then a 90-year-old in line right next to each other there to purchase the same things sometimes for the same reasons thank you thank you Council Brown Council or thank you Mr President thank you for your presentation uh first and foremost I'm not going to judge you on another business in town it needs to rectify their concerns and I'm very concerned that it hasn't been rectified and if it's not I'm going to suggest the police department get active with it now I remember when you first opened it was a trial period and during that trial period if I'm not not mistaken the police department had oversight so that is something I may be looking at as a suggestion when it goes through various meetings is maybe do a trial period again uh I haven't heard any complaints of your facility of what I just heard for another facility which is very concerning it's a disrespect for their neighbor their business neighbor and I have not heard that from you so that's why I started my questions with I'm not going to judge you based on another business business what I'd like to know is have you talked to the other tenants I know Dr Lynn is over there I've been in there so I know he's there that's not a fun process but I've been there uh have you worked with them to ask what they're getting for traffic I know what you're expecting for traffic but have you talked to Dr Lyn and is the physical therapy place still there too yes um to see what their traffic demand is during the same operation time that you may be there sure so Dr ly will our landlord um so that is helpful um he's he's welcoming us there uh as his new tenant um you know we haven't heard any issues at all with the with the parking um sufficiency um and he wouldn't least wouldn't have leased to us knowing his business is next door um if that was going to be a concern and a question what What attracted you to that area um because I know you see them off in Hudson right off the highway is that one of the reasons or maybe I should let you answer it What attracted you to this location sure I mean it it's a huge draw I mean anybody who has to have a physical retail location as this establishment does um it doesn't really get a whole lot better right off the highway very easily visible from Route 20 um easy in Easy out in terms of access um it's a it's an ideal retail location and we think we do very well there as I mentioned this was high maybe top of our list when we were looking for places in malro back in 2018 it didn't work out then but we're hoping it will now and thinking of the highway you know crack a barrel you see there are signs going up in the sky what is your plan for signage and I hope it's not going to be like a Cracker Barrel sign it it is not um there's an existing I can just pull it up here actually um the one you showed that's it that's it that so you see the third panel down is um what ours will look like when it's on that that's it and then build building signage as well I may have additional questions I'll ask later but um I'm concerned about something else that was brought up but not with your business I haven't heard any bad news so that's a good sign thank you thanks thank you Council Orum Council pre good evening thank you for being here um uh have you guys scouted I have a couple of questions have you guys scouted any other locations and have there been any you know potential locations that you could go in if this fails um and also what makes you if you do get into this spot what makes you think you could be competitive with the other locations that are either there or will be there um because there are like everyone has mentioned there are going to be two other ones there there's one right now um I'm just curious um you know considering the traffic issues over here how um impactful it will be moving over there with the other uh businesses sure so I I can start um we've looked at a few other locations but this has always been high in our list we have looked at other communities as well um but we are hoping to stay in malbro where we have an existing customer and patient base and I think that's one one reason we'll be successful there is we already have our built-in customer and patient base but we're now going to be in much more convenient location for anyone on the west side of the city um who has been daunted coming over um to our shop they won't have to do that um and I think the easy 495 access is is going to be um very crucial to um that site being successful thank you Council prese Council of idol thank you Mr President thank you gentlemen for your presentation very simple question what percentage of your clientele is medical 20% thank you thank you Council vital Council ducet thank you very much Mr President uh couple of things uh first is uh you're taking over the entire building then correct okay um and also um the other uh dispensary that is near you is about um mile away yeah roughly a mile away yeah so um I've been living with the rout 20 construction for the last year or so so my sympathy with that overall um but I um I think the situation that you're looking at if this opens up which seems to be fair it is isolated from the back from behind as well as 495 so um you know that whatever I'm not sure how westbound traffic would get there at this point but as far as eastbound traffic it seems to be very straightforward so um I'm open to see what you guys have as far as the move goes and I think uh um Council orra point just have uh another travel supervision for a while sure thank you I I can just in terms of access so westbound traffic can either get in directly off of Route 20 heading west um or can go in through Landry drive cuz that's two-way and then anyone coming eastbound um there's a light right at Landry turn left on that light and you come right around and you're in that back entrance there thank you Council duet any other comments from the question councilors that haven't spoken yet Council pre have one more question um if you guys do get this location uh what kind of actions would you take to help uh calm the concerns of the citizens that are around there um the neighborhood around there U how would you be proactive in keeping a positive image for the shop sure I mean I'll let Jeff address it as well but I mean we'll be open book talk to any of our um existing neighbors and the you think it's only retail there there are a lot of residents right behind um that Plaza and right next door um and we have not had complaints um we haven't had complaints from our co-tenants in fact you heard heard from one of them tonight um who spoke highly of us so um we're an excellent neighbor um we're just as concerned as anyone if there's an operator in the city um that's not maintaining high standards because it reflects on us and our industry um but that's not us um we're a very different operation um we have an existing uh clientele and we're looking to expand that and I think you'll you'll see an excellent operation at that location but we're open book and Open Door folks are always able to reach out to us at any time if they have concerns you thank you Council pre any other questions from the councilors questions from the counselors questions from the counselors hearing none I close that portion of the public hearing and the entire public hearing and this item is in urban Affairs thank you for your participation tonight thank you agenda item number four communication from the mayor Thank you regarding opep trust update councilor Irish thank you Mr President motion to accept and place on file their communication please motion's been made in second to accept and place on file the opep communication any discussion on the motion seeing none all those in favor oppose the communication is filed 10 0 agenda item number five communication from the mayor gotting gift Acceptance in the amount of $5,000 from the Cummings Foundation awarded to the recreation department to be used to be used for families who require financial assistance for recreational programs Council Iris thank you Mr President motion to accept uh motion to approve the uh the gift please motion made in seconded to approve the gift any discussion on the motion seeing none all those in favor opposed gifts approved 10 0 agenda item number six communication from the mayor gu Grant Acceptance in the amount of been made and seconded to approve the grant any discussion on the motion seeing none all those in favor opposed Grant is approved 10 Zer agenda item number seven communication from the mayor regarding notification of extension of temporary appointment pursuing to Mass General Law chapter 41 section 61a of Theodore L Scott as interim commissioner of the Department of Public Works for an additional 60-day term effective December 16 2024 Council na thank you Mr President motion to accept and place on file motions made in second to accept and place on file communication and discussion on the motion Council or I stand in favor so in case Ted's watching I don't even know if he's in here but I um I've been very very happy with his performance as our DPW commissioner he's responsive talk about communication you ask a question you get a response immediately that's the way it's worked with me and I'm sure all the W counselors appreciate that because I know I was always on the phone with DPW back in those days but uh I just want to speak highly of how good he is is about communicating thank you thank you Council Oram on the motion to accept and place on file the communication any discussion on the motion seeing none all those in favor oppose Communications file 10 Z agenda item number eight communication from the mayor regarding notification of mayoral reappointments to the cultural Council pursuant to Master General Law chapter 10 section 58 of Mary Watson a Mary Watson Avery and Marsha Waldman Council and aen thank you Mr President um we have several reappointments that have come down from the mayor tonight um so we'll try and do these as quickly as possible um some of these actually they all excuse me are reappointments um so a few of them I will be motioning um if there is no objection from any of the other counselors that we approve here tonight um so starting with um the appointments of um Mary Watson and Mara Waldman i' moved to approve this one we can just accept place on file because the mayor has excuse yeah that's sry the mayor has the appointing authority we don't have any um jurisdiction on this one so just well then uh I would like to motion to accept and place on file the communication motion made in second to accept and place on file the communication any discussion on the motion seeing none all those in favor opposed the cultural communication reappointments are appr are filed 10 Z agenda item number nine communication from the mayor regarding the reappointment of Barbara Pelini Allen to the commission on disabilities for a three-year term to expire on December 7th 2026 Council naan thank you thank you Mr President going be a little gunshy31 if anyone's questioning that they came up as one of the running jokes but thank you very much on the motion to approve the reappointment any further discussion seeing none all those in favor oppos the reappointment is approved 10-0 agenda item number 10 communication from the mayor guting reappointments of Ralph Lofton Thomas golden Robert LaVine and Thomas Pope to the zoning board of appeals for a 5-year term to expire on the following dates Ralph Lofton February 24th 2027 Thomas golden February 24th 2027 Robert LaVine February 24th 2028 and Thomas Pope September 12th 2026 Council anen thank you Mr President um this one I am going to move um to refer to the Personnel committee um sometimes it's often helpful for people to hear what these different boards and commissions do um and this is the zba is a very important one and seeing as um all of these terms expired several years ago I don't think we are in any danger of stopping City business so uh move to refer to Personnel motions made in second it to refer to the Personnel committee any discussion on the motion seeing none all those in favor oppos it's going to Personnel 10 0 agenda item number 11 communication from the mayor regarding the reappointment of Gregory Gregory metrus to the license board for a six-year term to expire on June 1st 2030 Council naan thank you Mr President move to re uh move to approve the reappointment thank you motions made and seconded to approve the reappointment any discussion on the motion seeing none all those in favor opposed the reappointment is approved 10 0 agenda item number 12 communication from the mayor regarding the reappointment of Jonathan Steinberg to the board of assesses uh for a three-year term effective from the date of city council confirmation Council naan thank you Mr President um to not to say the board of assessors isn't very important but since we just had Mr Steinberg here last meeting to set the tax rate I don't think we need to haul him back here so move to approve the reappointment Motions made and seconded to approve the reappointment any discussion on the motion seeing none on those in favor oppos the reappointment is approved 10 0 agenda item number 13 communication from rundo Netto owner of 36 Jefferson Street regarding proposed zoning map amendment to reone 36 Jefferson Street identified as map 56 parcel 136 from residence B uh to Neighborhood business district councelor Robi thank you Mr President uh I'm moved to refer this to Urban Affairs the planning board set a public hearing for January AR 27th 2025 and to advertise the public hearing motions made in seconded to refer this item to Urban Affairs 25 planning P right say the wrong date no January 27th 2025 that's the Y everybody got hung up on the 25 part okay that's all new so motion motions made in second to send to Urban Affairs the planning board set a public hearing for January 27th and to advertise and that's January 27th 2025 any discuss on the motion Council doet seeing no discussion all those in favor oppose this is going to Urban the planning board with a public hearing on January 27th 2025 and advertise the vote is 10-0 agenda item number 14 Petition of Mass Electric in Verizon New England to install one joint owned poll on Farm Road beginning at a point approximately 50 ft Southwest of the center line of the intersection of elor Eldorado Drive installing new pole 85 -5 Council vello thank you Mr President move to set a date for public hearing and to advertise the public hearing motions made seconded to set a public hearing and that'll be for January 6 2025 and we will advertise Mr President councilor duet thank you very much Mr President I need to recuse myself from this one since I'm in a butter really yeah I own one of the one of the units say no more y you should have yelled at me in the beginning we'll let the record reflect that Council duet will not be participating in this particular item on the motion to refer to oh no to set a public hearing for January 6 2025 into advertise any further discussion seeing none all those in favor oppose it carries nine in favor one abstained one absent agenda item 15 communication from Central Mass mosquito control project regarding notice of the 2025 commission meeting dates councilor Orum what can you tell us a way to end the year the mosquito guy uh it's just a notification of next year's meetings in 2025 and hopefully we won't run into any serious issues if we do we'll be talking about it in the summer but I would ask that it be accepted and placed on file and the clerk keep it active on his site as well thank you Mr President motion made in second to accept and place on file a communication any discussion on the motion seeing none all those in favor opposed it is filed by a vote of 10 agenda item 16 minutes boards commissions and committees councelor duet thank you very much Mr President motion to accept and place on file the minutes of the boards commissions and committees motions made in second to accept and place on file the minutes any discussion on the motion seeing none all those in favor opposed the minutes are filed 110 10 0 item 17 claims Council Brown thank you Mr President move to send the claims to legal department please MO motion made seconded to send the claims to the legal department in discussion on the motion seeing none all those in favor opposed it's going to Legal 10 Z reports of committee Council Robi thank you Mr President I have two suspensions to request the first one is for a communication from William cuso motion been made and seconded for a suspension of the rules all those in favor of the suspension oppos suspension carries 10 z uh in 20 22 we had approved a oneyear license to operate his uh gasoline station and then on December 19th 2022 we extended it for a year and December 18th 2023 we did a further extension so to keep him in business we need to do a another one years extension of the um gas station I'm going to move to approve a one-year extension from today's date through the year and hopefully we'll all have our act together in 2025 to know to get this here well before it expires motion made seconded to approve the extension and this is for the extensions for the hours of operation all right so he's getting a little leeway on the beginning and end for operations so on the motion to approve the one-year extension for the hours of operation for the cast station any discussion on the motion seeing none all those in favor oppose the extension for one year is approved and the vote is 10-0 Council Roi thank you the other suspension is a request for me as the city council's member on the Richard School building committee to do a brief report there's been a request for suspension to update us on the rich of School progress all those in favor of the suspension oppose suspension carries 10-0 Council Roby thank you Mr President so in July of this year the building committee did approve a selection subcommittee who prepared a request for service for the owners project manager known as OMP uh the RS RFS was advertised there were 28 responses and 10 ultimately sent in all of their information uh the committee chose a business called vertex which from the information we were provided has numerous projects that they have completed within the state of Massachusetts and is well known by the school building assistance Authority um we also then had discussion with the lp and the SBA on the next step for this project the designer RFS um that will be placed on December 18th with the selection of the designer to take place in February of 2025 I will note that that SBA is really who selects the designer there will be a subgroup again of the committee who will try to give input but um they'll do what they want to do the designer will then be part of the next phase of this the feasibility study and they have two options that they're going to be looking at the first is a 950 student project on the current site using a new site or an addition or Ren ation to the existing building keeping students K to5 in the building the second choice is a 870 student School 4 K to 5 again with the district funding and expansion at cane school to handle the anticipated new student load the estimated cost that's out there is anywhere from 35 million to 150 million I will again uh point out that if work is done at cane school because they choose option two that is at the city's expense there will be no absolutely no help from the SBA to fund that so that's something we'll all need to think about working with the SBA means we benefit from funding to help the city but it also means the process can be slow that means 2025 will be spent creating the preferred schematic program and an anticipated vote of the council for funding will not be coming to us until September of 2026 or whoever is sitting on the council at that date in time vertex has suggested Community meetings if those are set up I will keep you in the loop and um let you know the result of the designer selection when we make that decision thank you thank you Council Robby any other reports of committees hearing none Council naan move to a journ motion made in second to adjourn all those in favor opposed we are adjourned at 8:51 thank you everyone e