and I&#39;ll call the city council to order at 8:00 on Monday evening, June 22nd, 2026. This meeting is being recorded. Please join me in the pledge of allegiance. &gt;&gt; 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. &gt;&gt; Thank you. We have 15 items on this evening&#39;s agenda and I will ask the city clerk to please read agenda item number one
&gt;&gt; minutes of the city council meeting June 8th 2026 &gt;&gt; council of vital &gt;&gt; Mr. President, I&#39;d like to make a motion to accept and place on file the minutes. &gt;&gt; Motion&#39;s made in second to accept and place on file the minutes. Any discussion on the motion? Seeing none, those in favor? Opposed. The minutes are
filed and the vote is 100. Agenda item number two. &gt;&gt; Communication from councilors Aing and Naven regarding municipal aggregation June 2026 update. &gt;&gt; Council Naven. &gt;&gt; Thank you, Mr. President. Here we are again. Um I just want to note a couple of things. Um in the last quarter um the
residents who have signed up for the municipal aggregation plan um have saved $274,587. Um they continue to do so. It&#39;s a it&#39;s a modest amount u by comparison to some quarters, but still we&#39;re doing quite well and that is to make up um that is with us making up the day ahead
ancillary charges um for ISO New England. So we continue to do well and that rate is still below the national grid um basic retail rate. Um we also have 100% renewable energy um which is part of this contract and that is
further um that is further savings for um by comparison to the national grid green rate. We have saved to date um 38,636,000. That&#39;s for all residents who are participating in this program. Um and so whereas the numbers may seem um you know
relatively modest quarter to quarter um they certainly are adding up to real dollars. And then finally, I do also want to note that um the municipal aggregation committee will be meeting on June 30th um for an update and to discuss pending challenges that we are facing. So with that, I recommend move
to recommend that we accept and place on file. Motion remains second to accept and place on file the communication. Any discussion on the motion? Seeing none, all those in favor? Opposed? Communication is filed and the vote is 100. Agenda item number three, &gt;&gt; communication from councelor Ducet regarding additional information
regarding geothermal energy. Order number 26-1009726. &gt;&gt; Mr. President Ducet. &gt;&gt; Thank you very much, Mr. President. Uh motion to accept and place on file uh the information. There is a link that is on this page. I&#39;m going to be building
into a QR code so you can actually scan it because if I press the here button, it don&#39;t go there yet. So I&#39;ll work on that. Thank you. &gt;&gt; Thank you, councelor Duz. And it should work. &gt;&gt; So it should work on on the PDF online. &gt;&gt; I I will try it online. And it is on it
is on uh the city clerk and city council website as well. &gt;&gt; Excellent. Thank you folks. Appreciate it. &gt;&gt; On the motion to accept and place on file the communication. Any discussion on the motion? Seeing none, all those in favor? Opposed? Communication is filed and the vote is 100. Agenda item number four. &gt;&gt; Communication from the mayor regarding
grant acceptance in the amount of $59,500 from the Mass Division of Conservation Services awarded to the city to be used for the preliminary measures needed to evaluate the potential acquisition of the Hood Tree Farm property. Councelor Iris. &gt;&gt; Thank you, Mr. President. Motion to approve the grant, please.
&gt;&gt; Motion&#39;s made and seconded to approve the grant. Any discussion on the motion? Seeing none, all those in favor? Opposed? The grant is approved and the vote is 100. Agenda item number five. &gt;&gt; Communication from the mayor regarding proposed ordinance amendments to the city code. Chapter 125 personnel section
5 preparation of classification descriptions and to chapter 125 personnel section 6 salary schedule relative to the position of recreation coordinator. &gt;&gt; Counc. &gt;&gt; Thank you, Mr. President. Motion to refer to the finance committee, please. &gt;&gt; Motion is made and seconded to refer to the finance committee. Any discussion on
the motion? Seeing none, all those in favor? Opposed? The item is going to finance and the vote is 10. Agenda item number six. &gt;&gt; Communication from the mayor regarding the appointment of Aaron Regusa Katon as city collector assistant director of finance for a two-year term from the date of council confirmation.
&gt;&gt; Council Orum. &gt;&gt; Thank you, Mr. President. I&#39;m going to recommend that we refer this to the personnel committee. &gt;&gt; Motion remains seconded. refer this item to the personnel committee. Any discussion on the motion? Seeing none, all those in favor? Opposed? This item&#39;s going to personnel and the vote is 100.
Agenda item number seven, communication from assistant city solicitor Jeremy Mcmanis regarding request for release of a lowinccome deed restriction on the unit at 64 Village Drive, excuse me, unit 4 in proper legal form, order number 26-1009754. Councelor Roby.
&gt;&gt; Thank you, Mr. President. First, I&#39;ll push my button back again and move to accept and place on further communication. Then I would like to suspend the ask for a suspension to move agenda item number 15 up to this item rather than holding it. &gt;&gt; Yeah. No, you don&#39;t have to suspension.
You just make a motion to move item 15 up with to discuss with number seven as well. &gt;&gt; So move motion&#39;s been made and seconded to move item 15 up to agenda item number seven. Any discussion on the motion? All those in favor opposed. Item 15 is now
along with item seven. Councelor Roby. &gt;&gt; Thank you, Mr. President. So, I&#39;m going to move to approve the release of the affordable housing restriction which was the recommendation of committee and which is in proper form from the solicitor. &gt;&gt; Motion&#39;s made in second to approve the deed restriction removal. Any discussion
on the motion? &gt;&gt; Seeing none of those in favor? Opposed? It is approved and the vote is 10-0. You&#39;re all set, Mr. Attorney Cypriano. Agenda item number eight. &gt;&gt; Communication from assistant city solicitor Jeremy Mcmanis regarding proposed salary ordinance amendment
pursuant to chapter 125 personnel section six salary schedule relative to the positions of city collector assistant director of finance city collector recreation director assistant recreation director in proper legal form order number 26-100 967 9697D.
&gt;&gt; Councelor Irish. &gt;&gt; Thank you Mr. Uh motion to move down to reports please. Motion made in second. Move this item down to reports of committees. Any discussion on the motion? Seeing none, all those in favor? Opposed? This item&#39;s going down to reports of committees. And the vote is 100.
Agenda item number nine, application for junk dealer, secondhand dealer license by Paulo Dumont, DBA, Amigold Financial LLC, 257 Simano Drive, Unit Suite 150. &gt;&gt; Council Pillo. &gt;&gt; Thank you, Mr. President. Move to refer the junk dealer license to the public
services committee. Motion made second refer the junk dealers&#39;s license to the public services committee. Any discussion on the motion? Seeing none, are those in favor? Opposed? This item&#39;s going to public service and the vote is 10. Agenda item number 10. &gt;&gt; Communication from TVI Inc. DBA Savers
regarding a request to amend condition number four of their junk dealer secondhand dealer license for the hours of operation of the store at 222A East Main Street. &gt;&gt; Council Fillo. &gt;&gt; Thank you, Mr. President. Um, after reviewing the amendment to the condition, uh, I am moving to approve,
uh, the change in the hours of operation. &gt;&gt; Motion&#39;s made in second to approve the hour the hours that amend the current hours at Savers, which really reduces them. Uh, gets rid of the what October set of hours that they had.
&gt;&gt; The motion made, seconded to approve the amendment to the hours at Savers. Any discussion on the motion? Seeing none, all those in favor? Opposed? The motion to amend the saver&#39;s hours is approved and the vote is 100. Agenda item number 11, &gt;&gt; petition to mass electric and Verizon to
install one join pole on Pleasant Street beginning at a point approximately 250 ft northwest of the center line of the intersection of West Main Street National Grid to install a 50ft class 2 pole. The pole will be installed between pole three and pole four on Pleasant Street on the same side of the road as pole 3 and pole 4. The pole will be
labeled P350 on Pleasant Street. &gt;&gt; Council Fello. Thank you, Mr. President. I move to set a date for a public hearing on July 20th and to refer to the city engineer. &gt;&gt; Motion made and second to set a public hearing for July 20th and we refer this item to the city engineer. Any
discussion on the motion? Seeing none, all those in favor? Opposed? Excuse me. The item is approved to have a public hearing on July 20th and referred to the city engineer and the vote is 100. Agenda item number 12. Tition of Mass Electric and Verizon to install one joint owned pole on Sedbury Street
beginning at a point approximately 400 ft south of the center line of the intersection of Carver Hill Carver Hill Road National Grant to install a 50ft class H1 pole. The pole will be installed between pole 36 and pole 37 on Sbury Street on the same side of the road as pole 36 and 37 and the pole will
be labeled P 3750. Councelor Fillo. &gt;&gt; Thank you, Mr. President. Mass electric and Barzin are keeping us busy. I move to uh hold a public hearing on July 20th and refer to the city engineer. &gt;&gt; Motion&#39;s made and seconded to hold a public hearing on July 20th and refer
this item to the city engineer. Any discussion on the motion? Seeing none, all those in favor? Opposed? Motion carries. This is going to be a public hearing on July 20th and we&#39;ll refer to the city engineer and the vote is 100. Agenda item 13.
&gt;&gt; Minutes of boards, commissions, and committees. &gt;&gt; Councelor Ducet. &gt;&gt; Mr. President motion to accept and place on file the minutes. &gt;&gt; Motion made second to accept and place on file the minutes. Any discussion on the motion? Seeing none, all those in favor? Opposed. Minutes are filed and the vote
is 100. Reports of committees. Who would like to go first? Councelor Irish. Thank you, Mr. President. Uh finance uh finance committee met on June 15, 2026. uh meeting convened at 6:30 p.m. Uh we
had two items on the agenda that evening. Uh first item was order number 26-1009765. Uh creation of the Lazot Drive stabilization account and transfer request in the amount of $200,000. Um, on a motion by Council Fillo,
seconded by the chair, uh, the committee recommends approval of the transfer request in the amount of $50,000 from the undesated funds uh, free cash to the Westside Fire Station stabilization account. Uh, that carried vote carried 5 to zero. Uh, next was on a motion by
council, second by the chair. Uh, the committee recommends approval of the order to create the Lazot Drive uh, stabilization account. That vote carried 520. On a motion by council, seconded by the chair, uh the committee recommends
approval of the transfer request in $50,000 and $100,000 from the undesated fund free cash to the newly established Lazot Drive uh stabilization account. That vote carried 520.
Next up was uh order number 26-1009697D. Uh tax salary ordinance for the following positions. City collector assistant finance director. city collector, recreation director starting at step four and assistant recreation director. Uh on a motion by council
vital, seconded by the chair, uh the committee recommends the sevenst step salary ordinance for the positions of city collector, assistant finance director, uh city collector, recreation director, and assistant recreation director, which shall be based on 40hour
per week with an effective date of August 1st, 2026. uh be sent to the city solicitor to be placed in proper legal form um which is attached. That vote carried 5 to zero. Uh the meeting adjourned at 6:45 p.m.
Mr. President, that&#39;s the end of my report and I will be asking for two suspensions. The first one would be on order number 26-1009765. &gt;&gt; Motion made and seconded for a suspension for order number 9765, which is the lot drive stabilization account.
All those in favor of the suspension opposed. Suspension is approved and the vote is 100. Councelor Irish. &gt;&gt; Thank you, Mr. President. Uh move the recommendation of committee to approve the Lazot Drive stabilization account along with the transfer request. Please &gt;&gt; motion made and seconded to approve the
Lazot Drive stabilization account and the two transfers, one for 50,000 for the Westside Fire Station and the second $150,000 into that newly created Lazot Drive stabilization account. Any discussion on the motion? Seeing none, all those in favor opposed. The motion
carries. The transfers are approved along with the creation of Lazot Drive stabilization account and the vote is 100. Councelor Irish. &gt;&gt; Thank you, Mr. President. I will also be asking for suspension this evening for order number 26-10096-97D. Please. &gt;&gt; Motion&#39;s made in second to suspend the
rules for order number 9697D, which is the salary ordinance, sevenstep salary ordinances for the four positions. All those in favor of the suspension 245 10. Uh the mo the suspension carries and the vote is 10. Councelor Irish.
&gt;&gt; Thank you. Uh move the recommend move the recommendation committee to advertise. Please. &gt;&gt; Motion made in second to advertise the salary ordinance for those four positions. Any discussion on the motion? Seeing none, all those in favor? Oppose.
The four positions will be advertised and the vote is 100. &gt;&gt; Thank you, Mr. Anything else there? &gt;&gt; Yes. Uh, thank you, Mr. President. Uh, public service announcement, the finance committee will be meeting on July 13, 2026. &gt;&gt; And just a quick point of order to Mr.
President, if I may ask, um, doing those transfer that did include the 50,000 for the Westside Fire Station. &gt;&gt; It did. &gt;&gt; Thank you, Mr. President. Thank you. &gt;&gt; Who wants to go next? Councelor Roi. Such a gentleman. Councelor, &gt;&gt; most certainly.
&gt;&gt; Thank you, Mr. President. So, the Urban Affairs and Housing Committee met on Wednesday, June 17th at 7:30. We had two items on our agenda. The first one was order number 261009747, an application for a modification of a special permit from Matthew Donnelly on
behalf of Target to amend condition number nine, signage requirements to increase the wall signage from 3 to four for the Target located at 423 Donald Lynch Boulevard. Present for the applicant was Matthew Donnelly. Uh the chair read through the comments from the department heads. No one had an issue
except for the building commissioner Payton questioning whether we were going to allow the increase in the maximum square footage of the signs. I also read a letter from the assistant city solicitor stating that the council could amend the conditions but the planning
board would be required to do a variance because it was over the 300 foot allowed. So the applicant was given that information. Council Vchilla move to amend the current permit 9A to read wall signage. Two signs located over the store
entrances, one pharmacy sign and one sign to read drive up. All the sign locations are as depicted on the front elevation and left elevation as shown on signs on the plan stated May 10th, 2025. The motion was seconded and carried. And then there was a motion to recommend
approving the current signed permit as amended, which also carried. Um, this is in proper form, so I can ask for a suspension to take it up this evening. &gt;&gt; I don&#39;t think it&#39;s &gt;&gt; I&#39;m sorry, it&#39;s not I&#39;m confusing myself with all this. Suspend the rules to
refer to the solicitor to be put in proper form. &gt;&gt; Been a request for suspension of the rules to for the target special permit to be sent to the solicitor. All those in favor of the suspension opposed. Suspension carries 100. Council Roby. &gt;&gt; Thank you. Move to refer this to the solicitor to be put in proper form for
the July 20th meeting. &gt;&gt; Motion made and seconded to refer this item to the solicitor to be put in proper format for our next meeting on July 20th. Any discussion on the motion? Seeing none, all those in favor? Opposed. Item carries and the vote is 100 to refer this to the solicitor put
in proper format for our July 20th meeting. Councelor Roby. &gt;&gt; Thank you. The second item on the agenda was order number 261009705, a communication from attorney Robert C. Buckley on behalf of Redgate Real Estate Advisors LLC regarding the proposed
zoning amendment to chapter 650 zoning to add a new section to create the Forest Street Residential Overlay District FSD. President for the applicant or attorney Buckley and attorney Christine Hung from Rhymer Bronstein and Elizabeth Bellow
from Redgate Real Estate Advisors. The chair read through the May 22nd letter from the planning board with its generally favorable recommendation subject to the inclusion of the board&#39;s recommended modifications. The modifications included and I listed
what they all are. I&#39;m not going to read through them. The chair just started the chair stated we would discuss those as we went through the draft zoning and she began reading the amendment to chapter 650 to add the forest street
residential overlay district. Again, I&#39;m not going to read through all of these, but I would like to point out a couple that I think are important from the planning board&#39;s recommendations. The first one is the planning board recommended limiting the number to 400 with the option for 50 townhouse style
units. It was agreed that the maximum number was what was key and the type of units would come with the special permit. Council for Chillo moved to amend by adding after multif family dwellings the following provided that the total number of units within the
entire FSROD shall not exceed 400 that was seconded and the vote carried 3 to one. Uh in discussing multif family housing, there was a discussion on the ability of the council to vary the 12% affordable units with suggestion for the
solicitor to strike everything after 80% of the area media income. That was seconded and the vote carried. And the planning board recommended increasing the required perimeter property setbacks from 20 to 50 ft. Councelor Press had a move to amend C by striking 20 feet and
inserting 50 and by striking in D 25T and inserting 50 and in E by striking 80 feet which is the height and inserting 60 ft exclusive of rooftop mechanicals. The motion was second and carried. Uh again, councelor
Fchillo moved to recommend amending chapter 650 by adding the forest street residential overlay district language as amended and suggested review by legal department. It was seconded and carried. So again, I&#39;ll ask for a suspension to refer this to legal to be put in proper
form. &gt;&gt; Request for suspension of the rules to report out the uh information for the Forest Street Residential Overlay District. All those in favor of the suspension opposed. Suspension carries. 100 council Roby. &gt;&gt; So move to refer this to the solicitor
to be put in proper form for the July meeting. &gt;&gt; Motion made and second to refer the amended Forest Street residential overlay district to the solicitor to be put in proper format. Any discussion on the motion? Seeing none, all those in favor?
Opposed? Motion carries. 100. This will go to the solicitor put in proper format. &gt;&gt; Anything else? Council Roby. &gt;&gt; No, &gt;&gt; you&#39;re good. &gt;&gt; Council vital. &gt;&gt; Mr. President. Thank you. Uh city council&#39;s uh public safety committee met on June 15th. Voting members present
were myself, councelor Irish, and councelor Gould. Uh we were talk discussing order number 26 19773, which is a city council resolution in support of a nicotine-free generation policy. I read a resolution
in support of the nicotine-free generation policy that I that I researched uh across the state. My research showed that we had an annual estimated health care cost directly attributed to smoking of 4
million 4 billion74.74 billion of which approximately a third of that goes to public health care. There&#39;s also around $7 billion in annual productivity losses due to smoking related illnesses and premature deaths and about 9,300 Massachusetts residents
died last year from smoking related illnesses. My my goal of bringing it up tonight was I I felt that it was important for us, this body, to say that once and for all instead of kicking the can down the road, father, we&#39;ve known about the dangers of nicotine since the 1960s. And
it&#39;s about time that we stop and we tell the young the next generation. We made mistakes. We don&#39;t want you to make the same mistakes. Um, on a motion made by councelor Gold, seconded by the by the chair, the committee recommended acceptance of the city council&#39;s
resolution in support of nicotine-free generation policy on a vote by two to one. U council Irish voting in the in the nay. The recommendation of the public safety committee is to approve. &gt;&gt; Thank you, council vital. Any other
reports of committees? Hearing none. What do we got left? &gt;&gt; 14. &gt;&gt; 14. Mr. President, are &gt;&gt; we waiting for that one? &gt;&gt; Mr. President, excuse me, sir. Do we need to have a vote on the resolution? &gt;&gt; You didn&#39;t ask for a suspension. &gt;&gt; You can, but you didn&#39;t ask. &gt;&gt; I would like to have a suspension
on the resolution tonight. &gt;&gt; Motion made and seconded for a suspension. All those in favor of the suspension opposed. Suspension carries. 10-0. &gt;&gt; Council vital. I would like to move the uh move the recommendation of the public
safety committee is to approve the resolution. &gt;&gt; Motion&#39;s made and seconded to approve the resolution. Any discussion on the motion? Council Vital. &gt;&gt; Thank you, Mr. President. And further research, I found out that Northampton just recently last week approved uh the
nicotine free generation policy. Theirs is going to go into effect on July 1 uh next week and they will become the 26th 26th community in Massachusetts to adopt this this type of policy. So I thought that was a more upto-date uh finding
that I found. Thank you. &gt;&gt; Council vital council ducet. &gt;&gt; Thank you very much Mr. President. Um this is really something that uh I am seriously debating about. I&#39;m not a fan of prohibition. I know what the issues
are with tobacco. My father smoked most of his life. Um, and when I went to high school, there was a smoking section outside where the kids and the teachers smoked together. But now we have dispensaries &gt;&gt; selling stuff and we&#39;re making tobacco
illegal. So, I have a hard time supporting this. Uh I I respect where it came from, but I can&#39;t in total conscience uh support this and I apologize to my associate uh because I respect him and what he brought to the
council. Thank you. &gt;&gt; Thank you, Council Ducet. Councelor Arm. &gt;&gt; Thank you, Mr. President. Um I&#39;ll start off with the fact I don&#39;t want to age myself, but I started interning here in Marro in 1977. Add up the years, it&#39;s
close to 50. But more importantly is this resolution. Um, Council Vital, thank you for leading the charge. I work in a town that&#39;s looking at this right now and the towns near us have already adopted it. You couldn&#39;t have said it
better. We&#39;re we&#39;re trying to let our future generations know the mistakes we made back in our generation. Mr. President, you and I know there was a smoking area in Marble High School, too. But again, it was a norm. And I can&#39;t
more than respect the fact that you brought this to the council floor. I remember maybe 10 years ago one of my board members saying we should be charging $50,000 for a permit because that&#39;s the medical and this was a doctor on my board. That&#39;s the medical cost for
every license we submit. Maybe more. Maybe he said 500,000 because there&#39;s a major cost to the medical needs that anyone that smokes faces most likely and it&#39;s sent out to the general public. So
I see that as another issue. So I&#39;m in support of this resolution and hopefully the board of health down the road will consider adopting it. Thank you, Mr. President. &gt;&gt; Thank you, Council Orum. Any other counselors? Councelor Fillo. &gt;&gt; Thank you, Mr. President. I uh I commend
my colleague Council Vital for proposing this uh resolution. And although I would like to support it because I think it&#39;s a strong cause, I do worry about its infringement on personal liberties in our community. I also worry about the potential for black markets to continue to arise. Right. I I know for a fact
that there are, you know, sad to say, but children who were born after 2010 in our community who are already attaining these products, although they cannot legally purchase it. Um, so in my mind, although I I agree with the premise of this issue, I think that we really um and not necessarily us as a body, but
the federal government and the state government needs to hold accountable big tobacco companies and these lobbies that for years have done um terrible things in our community, right? False advertising. And I know that there&#39;s been years and years and years of work put into that. And many attorney generals across the country have sued
these these companies. But um again, I worry that this resolution um would not really be be getting us to where we need to be going, right? That um um it would only kind of be exact, you know, this problem will still persist regardless of this resolution. So um for that reason,
I will not be supporting the resolution tonight. Thank you, Mr. President. &gt;&gt; Thank you, Council Pello. Councelor Irish. &gt;&gt; Thank Thank you, Mr. President. Um very commendable resolution. I was a no in committee um with Council Ducet. is is on on route to a prohibition. Um what
could happen next is that we&#39;re going to start having a resolution on diet soda. Um there&#39;s a lot of data on that information as well. I think it&#39;s to personal liberties and our personal use and I just don&#39;t think it&#39;s a resolution that I can support. Thank you, Mr. President. &gt;&gt; Thank you, Councelor Irish. Councelor
Preiato. &gt;&gt; Thank you, Mr. President. Um I actually am surprisingly in support of this resolution um despite what my other some of my other counselors uh have agreed to. Um but I mean the truth is that you know these tobacco companies do exploit
people. They exploit people underage um teenagers even younger. um they exploit adults as well um by you know making these products really tempting for underage users um they may making them
really like like trendy and whatnot. Um I I can agree that it does sort of infringe on personal liberties but um if we are going to hold these tobacco companies accountable this is I think a a right step in that direction um since
they are not doing anything to protect our communities. uh we should be the ones to be protecting our own community. Um this does not prohibit, you know, overage smokers. It does not prohibit all tobacco products. Um so they are still able to get those tobacco products. It just limits what is
available to them. What is available right now is the most temp some of the most tempting tobacco products for for teenagers. Um and I would like to keep our community safe. um considering that you know smoking is a pre-existing condition on a lot of
insurance forms. So that does say a lot to me and to compare uh to have the comparison of marijuana to um a tobacco uh cigarette I think is almost a false um comparison. Um we have an extensive
amount of data that tobacco products do contain a lot of um carcinogenic um ingredients um toxic chemicals. Um so um to say that one is just like the other I think is a bit um facitious but
um to each his own. Um but I today I will be uh in support of this resolution. &gt;&gt; Thank you councelor Presiato. Any other counselors? &gt;&gt; Council vital. &gt;&gt; Thank you Mr. President. Um, I think many of you know that I&#39;m the executive director of the addiction referral
center. And every day I have to deal with individuals and help individuals who have addictions. And we can keep putting our head in the sand and say that this doesn&#39;t matter. My parents did. Oh, and by the way, another reason why I&#39;m having this go forward is my mother passed away
to cancer attributed to cigarette smoking. And another reason why I&#39;m promoting this is that vaping is rampant in our school systems here in Marro. So if this body cannot tell our kids that we&#39;re against this, that we put our foot
down and we say enough is enough, we&#39;re going to be the ones who stop it. We&#39;re the ones who are going to tell our kids that smoking is not acceptable. Now, uh, I want to address counselor um, the whole idea of freedoms because freedom
is real important to me, too. But it&#39;s not necessarily freedoms. If I choose to smoke and I get cancer and I don&#39;t have healthcare, well, now all of you have to pay for my mistakes, the the mistakes of that I made doing
cancer. So, it&#39;s not just my personal freedom because I don&#39;t want to pay for that person&#39;s cancer. I don&#39;t want to pay for that person&#39;s mistakes. Why should I have to? What about that freedom of me not having to pay those taxes? So, this is this hits home really a lot
with me from many different areas. I want to be able to tell the kids in my school, the kids that I coach that I did everything I could do to keep these harmful products away from you. &gt;&gt; Thank you, Mr. President. &gt;&gt; Thank you, Council Vital. Council
Chillo. &gt;&gt; Thank you, Mr. President. And I I do very much appreciate council Presiato and councelor Vital and I do think you bring up some strong points. My I guess my major concern here is that there&#39;s this notion that it will not prohibit overage consumers, which eventually it
will, right? There will be 25year-olds, 35year-olds, 45 year olds who are not able to purchase tobacco products, which I agree on a premise is a good thing. But I&#39;m very concerned that it creates this permanent class of consumers who will not be able to legally purchase these products and therefore it will
just fuel illicit sales across the state, across the country. Right? I think we saw very similar. I know prohibition&#39;s been brought up a few times, but we saw the same thing with alcohol when this when this was done before. Um, you know, I I I&#39;m happy to come back to the drawing board and discuss this. I do think it&#39;s an an
important issue and it&#39;s something we can address in our community. Happy to work with the board of health on that one. But I again, I&#39;m just I am concerned that this leads um not to less nicotine use in our schools. I I I just I I&#39;m struggling to see how this
resolution will will take away these products from our students. If anything, I see a a black market of sales continuing to increase over years to come. Thank you, Mr. President. &gt;&gt; Thank you, Council Fillo. Council Ducette. &gt;&gt; Thank you very much, Mr. President. Um,
as what councelor Fella was talking about, um, you know, prohibition was an issue after it was gone. You know, like we&#39;re slowly notching this away, but you know, the the issue is that if you can&#39;t
get it legally, you&#39;ll find a way to get it illegally. Um, and that&#39;s true of alcohol during prohibition. It was true with marijuana before it was legalized. And it will probably be true of tobacco if it&#39;s made totally illegal. And the problem is that once the stuff is
illegal, you don&#39;t know what&#39;s in it. And that&#39;s that has big health concerns because you know what gets diced and you know put into the stuff is worse than uh if it was done through a proper manufacturing process with quality
control which happens in you know in businesses but don&#39;t doesn&#39;t happen in the black market. So um you know I I ended you know my my father also had cancer issues and with his uh breathing
and stuff. So it&#39;s something with me it&#39;s been serious but I think that uh we should be doing what we can to keep it out of school but completely eliminating from the market I don&#39;t think is uh a long-term win. Thank you.
&gt;&gt; Thank you. Council Ducet. Anyone else? on the motion to approve the resolution for the nicotine free generation. All those in favor, please raise your hands so I can count them. One, two, three, four.
All those opposed, one 2 3 four five. President makes six. The motion does not carry on a vote of 4-6. Agenda item 14. City Council resolution uh commemorating
the 250th anniversary of Malro declaring independence from the Kingdom of Great Britain. Submitted by Councelor Pachillo. Councelor Fillo. &gt;&gt; Thank you, Mr. President. I&#39;ve been waiting for this one. I uh first and foremost just wanted to give a little bit of contextual uh background as to
why I&#39;m digging something up from 250 years ago. Uh but for those who do not know, this is the 250th anniversary of the United States. And I know we have many members of Malbro&#39;s Revolution 250 committee here in attendance tonight. I know I see Steve, I see Brendan, I see
the Rose, I see Kathy. Um and I really appreciate them being here tonight because about over a year ago, I was approached by some of the members of the committee um to help out with some various events going on to properly commemorate our city&#39;s role in the last 250 years of this nation. Um, some of
you had attended our ghost tour that we held. I know many counselors came by to that. Um, we had a really great event down at the country club to celebrate the Williams Tavern, um, which was a real hit. Um, and really saw some great community buyin over the last year or so. Um, with that being said, this week
is a big week for the committee. Uh, there&#39;s going to be a large celebration this Saturday. And to commemorate that and to also commemorate the town council&#39;s resolution declaring independence, I wanted to submit the following. A uh in one moment
told Lindsay I would do this. A resolution to commemorate the 250th anniversary of Malro declaring independence from the Kingdom of Great Britain. Whereas the city of Malro recognizes that on May 28th, 1776, the then town of Malro voted to declare its
independence from the king of Kingdom of Great Britain. And whereas the town voted that quote, &quot;If the honorable Continental Congress shall for the safety of the United Colonies declare them independent of the Kingdom of Great Britain, we the inhabitants of Malbro
will solemnly engage with our lives and fortunes to support them in the measure. And whereas the city acknowledges the importance of this historic milestone, honors the contributions of all Malbor revolutionaries, and looks ahead toward building the future for the next generation and beyond. And whereas the
city recognizes that a joint volunteer group known as the Malber Revolution 250 committee has been organizing for over two years to celebrate the city&#39;s history and role in the American Revolution. And whereas on June 27th, 2026, the Malbor Revolution 250 committee and the city of Malbor will
host a major community celebration featuring several integrated events including a patriotic parade, an old-fashioned muster with food and music, and a live artillery demonstration. Now therefore, be it resolved that the city of Malro commemorates the 250th anniversary of
the city&#39;s independence from the Kingdom of Great Britain. And before I make a motion, I did also want to acknowledge that councelor Sergeant has been a huge partner in getting a lot of these events off the ground for us. So, uh, with that, I move to approve the resolution. Motion made and seconded to approve the
resolution. Any discussion on the resolution? Seeing none, all those in favor? Opposed? The resolution is approved and the vote is 100. Well done, Council Villo. &gt;&gt; Thank you, Mr. President. Move to adjourn.
&gt;&gt; Motion made and seconded to adjurnn. All those in favor opposed. We are adjourned. The vote is 10. We&#39;re adjourned at 8:36. Have a good evening, everyone.