##VIDEO ID:H-V6PHZNTrM## e e e e e e e e good evening I will call to order the uh finance committee meeting on February 3rd 2025 at 7 p.m. uh we have two items on the agenda this evening uh communication from mayor Dumis with a mid-year transfer request totaling $928,000 19350 the communication from May Dumis with midyear transfers request totaling 9 92882 8 uh do uh from various departments for FY 2025 moving funds from and to accounts as outlined in the transfer sheets um I'll read the letter submitted uh by uh mayor Dumis D council president aing and councils en close for your review and approval are the midyear transfer requests we are requesting $ 27,7 from reserved for salaries to fund the sick leave buyback of one Department of Public work Works employee who is retiring uh we are also requesting $600 from the property liability insurance to fund the board secretary stien with the health department uh the mayor's office transfer is to cover the first payroll of FY 2025 for the summit internship program the remaining transfers are internal uh departmental transfers in the following amounts inspectional services in the amount of $40,000 Department of Public Works in the amount of $791,000 City solicitors office in the amount of $37,000 Fire Department in the amount of $10,000 assessor's office in the amount of $177,000 the mayor's office in the amount of $6,000 153 uh additional details on these internal transfers can be found with this enclosure I want to thank all departments uh for performing their due diligence and funding finding funds within their budget for these transfers I would also like to thank City auditor Dian Smith with her staff for the assistance on these transfers each representative department head City auditor Diane Smith and I will be available at a future meeting to discuss please do not hesitate to contact me or my office with any questions J Christian Dumis mayor with that said I will begin uh with the first transfer sheet uh from the uh mayor's office in the amount of $615 if if anyone has any questions on that Council Robby thank good evening Mr Man thank you Mr I'm just curious why salary Reserve isn't being used for this considering its employment um and the funds are available I think the option was just to keep reserve for salaries because of Union contracts even though you probably budgeted for a full year and we're halfway through the year there will be money left say that again when we budgeted I assume you budgeted for the full year it's now February for the intern program so the intern program no I mean for for contracts correct well we didn't know what the union contracts would be regarding the for the actually when we settle for the contracts so I think we'd want to utilize as much as we possibly can for reserve for salaries to fund that okay and if I can ask what credits are you talking about that are available to offset the ability to remove this funds from property liability sure I think Diane can attest to that good evening um through through Maya we um we receive credits over the years for doing different trainings and whatnot so these are credits that we have earned um thanks to Christa homie the procurement officer being you know getting all the department heads to utilize the training results and credits and it brings down our premium okay thank you sure thank you guys no council V thank you Mr chair um Mr Mayor is is this a summer internship program program is this for marble residents it is just marble residence very good thank you thank you Mr chair I mean if you want more information about the program I can do that if you'd like so no I was just going to say to to help Council Roby the the funding reserve for salaries doesn't matter when we send the contract when we settle the contract it's going to cover the whole year for their salar so that that's why you don't want to have to touch reserve of salaries unless it's a retirement or something that we need funds for at this point thank you m Mr President okay so uh any further questions moving on to the next line item would be from the fire department uh for the $10,000 see no questions no questions on that one perfect uh moving on to the next line item which would be from the assessor's office any questions in regards to the Assessor's Office transer see just sorry hang on cuz so the order that you have them in is not the order they were on on the agenda so I'm trying to catch up with where where they are cuz that's not no I the order from the copy it's the order from the packet I believe depending on which part you printed from the packet anything number was from janary I'll I'll talk to our Council secretary about that going forward sorry M all right so assessor's office assessor's office how much was the assesses again 17,000 I'm good with the assesses I'll set counc just so you know I'm having the same problem I had all my notes on the agenda information I but that's fine I'm following here uh the position was vacant it says um is that now the senior assessor it is filled it is filled it is filled thank you y thank you Mr chair thank you Mr Mayor okay now moving on to the the next one is the medor r transfer request uh from the city auditor which is the fund the 6 buyback in the amount of $27,600 for the board secretary commission okay Health commission CC thank you Mr chair just a a quick question regarding the uh transfer for the board secretary do we know why that was AB an overs this was an oversight with the budget so we had a grievance with the Union um so when two board secretaries have to work to go to the planning board of Board of Health um the hourly wage is if the same if not less than their hourly wage so we um um agreed with the Union to pay time and a half because it is considered overtime so that's where the difference lies so it's just being competitive and being paid what they actually should be getting paid so but that explains that so thank you I think it's fair you know if they have to come back at 7 o'cl at night I think it should be time and a half so no makes sense thank you Mr Mayor thank you thank you Mr Mayor uh moving on to the next one is the from the legal department uh with the transfer in the amount of $37,000 Council thank you I just have a question on the Widow's pension Mone used um 6,000 was budgeted for taking all of it we know the future we will need this fund or it depend on yeah I don't I don't believe that we will so we can but I don't want to speak out of turn I was told no um so we've been funding that about the same amount that past three years um it came to my attention last year that there are no longer any people that are entitle to that so we will not need to nothing needs to be spent in this fisal year that's why I took the entire 6,000 and I will not be budgeting it um for next fiscal year thank you Mr chair on that I just curious it said additional legal cost um looking for the page I'm going off my agenda information but what are we experiencing that cause for additional legal council hi if you can answer that I don't know if it's confidential but just curious on these outside various legal matters good evening to the to the chair evening um generally we're seeing an increase in a couple different areas specialized labor Council costs which primarily have to do with collective bargaining and we're also seeing some additional uh specialized environmental costs with a particular lawsuit environmental it's an environmental type of lawsuit yes against the city okay if that's all you can share for now that's fine but just curious I saw that and said what's going on thank you thank you Mr chair thank you C moving to the next item is the inspectional services light item uh for $40,000 transfer thank you Mr chair so this has in it that there's $75 $75,000 available but when I looked at the February report since we don't have januaries yet 75,000 is encumbered with nothing left so what are you un encumbering to free up to use 75,000 sure and then if we need we'll have tin come up to explain um uh July 1st he um went under contract with for leaf it's a vendor that he's been using over the years so we encumbered the entire 75,000 if you look at the year- to-day budget reports we haven't spent a penny um out of those funds and Tin Can elaborate as to why we haven't used them um for this year good evening counselors uh for this year we we did not use four leas Services um they're mainly used for uh the building side and not for the sub trades um by by Statute I I cannot contract electrical and plumbing inspectors through a contract surver they have to be directly hired to the through the city the needs for the Department were on the electrical and plumbing gas side and on the building side so the money wasn't being utilized it was I asked Dian she said it was available to be transferred we have have no outstanding bills with them at this time but in the spring we will'll probably use them for some code enforcement work I had a candidate available he didn't work out so we're looking for another candidate to help out on that side of it but there should be sufficient funds remaining in there to take care of that aspect that Professional Services is used mainly for overload where we have large projects and where we didn't have the proper Staffing to do that review work or do that inspectional work and so far we've been able to manage with with the Staffing that we've had and we have hopefully a new candidate coming on board to fulfill the inspection position that's still open so that's the reason for it so you're asking to use 40,000 of the 75 which does leave you funds if you need it in the spring as yes okay thank you you're welcome thank you Mr President oh you coun for thank you Mr chair thank you guys for being here just a quick question regarding the plumbing gas inspector and then the assistant Plumbing gas inspector so the the assistant is paid per inspection but then the the regular plumbing and gas inspector is paid hourly that's correct okay and so I can only help but see a major discrepancy in the amount of inspections done by each of them close to 1,200 compared to just 79 and so in the available budget right now about $6,500 You're Expecting 260 inspections that we will exceed that in the amount of inspections that this position does corre our projection show that because of the amount of work that was permitted from last fiscal year we took in almost half a billion dollars of worth of construction work and so we knew that would those inspections would be coming Downstream of those the fees and that's kind of where we're at now okay and so we're trying to shift to get the assistant plumbing inspector to take up more inspections instead of well shouldn't say instead of but in alignment with the other position correct that's the way their their contract is structured as per inspection versus an hourly have before my time got you right thank you you're welcome thank commissioner Mr President so so tin in the past when we've had big projects we somehow we either contracted through the special permit process or something to have inspections inspectors dedicated to those projects you saying we can't use fourleaf to do that now I mean how do how do we supplement some of the bigger construction projects that we have I can use four for the building side yeah but not for the plumbing and gas it's by Statute they have to work directly for the municipality they can't work through a vendor does that make sense well I'm not sure I understand it I'm not sure it makes sense so in this particular instance um I could have if the statute allow me I would have hired a fourleaf plumber yeah but I can't I can I it has has to be somebody directly employed by the city whether it's full-time or part-time well I'm just curious because we in the past we used to do that it's possible I don't maybe it was all for the building part I don't remember but we we Apex any big project we had we hired someone dedicated to oversee that project and we could have done that also I think I I never used that process my predecessors did so I assume that if we was in that planning process or stage we could have anticipated it but you I didn't I didn't realize that that we would how much influx it would be how many projects we had coming through one of the things I think we did we had as part of the special permits a set amount of fee dedicated to support inspectional services and the the the uh proponent liked it because then they had a dedicated inspector that they could you know they didn't have to wait in line at the building department they they had someone that was there all the time helping them out uh or getting the inspection completed I will definitely look into that process thank you that's a good question Council on the inspections plumbing and electrical are how are we doing on the revenue side are we collecting enough for the $25 per inspection which seems kind of low to be honest with you but curious if we are collecting enough Revenue to pay for the in these inspections and is there enough capacity at 25 per inspection to attract people into this position it's very difficult to find uh help to be honest and I'm having an issue with two current assistants now they're uh they're very busy in other jurisdictions are doing their own come so it's hard to get uh quality people to come in and I would like to have more than just two just so have backup U that we have but it we're finding it very difficult um their salaries aren't other jurisdictions are paying $40 an inspection and we're we're trying to compete against that I feel that is a concern and if you need to come back to us for that I'd be glad to entertain it but i' also wanted want to know if we are collecting enough Revenue to pay for these inspections I will look at the revenue side of it it's very close it's very tight on on on those particular type of in uh permits so maybe to allow for that better service we could charge an additional or change the fee for the inspection and then also change the rate for the inspector so I think it's a win-win I'm sure the people out in the commercial and building world don't mind this is some very limited costs but I see that maybe as something in the future that you can come back to us it's been almost four years I think since you did the the the fee structure so and and cost of everything has gone up so definitely would like I'll take a look at that thank you very much you're welcome sir thank you Mr chair president so uh so to council Oram so building permits through halfway through the year we've taken in $747,000 gas permits $188,000 Plumbing permits $52,000 and wiring permits $195,000 so it's over a million dollar worth the permits any further question right moving on to the next one which would be um starting with the DPW Building Maintenance thank you good evening commissioner good evening and it's okay with the committee will go through each page the first one is the uh on the first page is for $200,000 transfer if anyone has any questions on that page Council vital thank you Mr chair Mr commissioner you and I had talked previous $200,000 is an awful lot of money um for the increase in in the cost of electricity can you tell me what the city's doing to try to uh avoid this next year so um we uh we have a couple things on the capital uh that will be coming down uh City and school side we're replacing equipment um for the school side we're going to be coming down for the middle school for controls right now we can't control the heat in the rooms and you have some rooms that are 91° and some that are freezing so uh getting those controls set will save uh was still looking into solar um the rooster and and tough shape on the ones that are left and we uh we went out to try to see uh if we could get a package on a roof and it wasn't that attractive um but um we had a meeting Capital meeting with Matt Wells from the school last week and we're we're entertaining maybe uh solar canopies maybe we're going to take a look at that maybe at the high school and middle school so that's just starting we're trying to take a look at that um so I think I think the way we projected this last time and um we were we're trying to do it on 2023 and there was a little rate change but we have the 2024 full in and we're projecting the weather is colder um you can see that in the gas too the heating degree days in December are 25% higher and 14% higher in January so um the council had had lowered the electricity by 100 so we're putting that back plus we're putting an additional 100 uh there as well and and that's what and it's a usage so uh we want to make sure we have enough in there so we're not coming back um to the council so if we get to the end of the air transfer and we projected too conservatively we can move that money somewhere else but that's our projection at this time did that answer question thank you very much Mr commissioner thank you Mr chair yeah counc R I'm probably the one that reduced your um energy needs and I understand I even my home energy has been crazy these last two months especially natural gas it's it's ridiculous but there's been changes on that Forefront with the uh gas companies but the question was and I think from the budget review is where we're going with capital projects for solar geothermal try to get ahead of this curve because I don't think your non-renewables are going to go down in any way especially with the recent news so um I would suggest you know maybe when you come back to the full budget again let's talk about that that's I mean I was trying to cut it so we could push the envelope for renewable energy uh but obviously I know you're up against rate increases we just want to examine it these canopies to make sure we're not uh solving one problem and creating another though so we just want to make sure we do it right and we want to take the time to make sure we do it right um the electricity is uh good till 2026 the end of 2026 so that's that's a fairly reasonable rate y um so we have that locked in for a while anyway so we have a little time with that I know the town hall and has a canopy you may want to check in with them see how they're doing being a close neighbor but thank you and yeah we're going to have to address energy needs as we go along it just non-renewables aren't going to change I have a feeling they're going to keep going up so thank you thank you Mr chair Council Roy thank you Mr chair um not specifically electricity but through your whole packet every single one of your transfers are coming from lines that have excess due to vacancies so I'm just going to throw that out there now um what would happen if those vacancies weren't there and you still needed this money and what are you doing to fill the vacancies I'd be coming down to the council for ask I'd be fighting hot I don't think Council ausing would have the same argument that there's always plenty of money there if all the uh positions were filled um so we'd have to be more conservative if we didn't what we're doing to filling we filled uh seven positions in the last s months and we're currently trying to fill another one uh but what we will not do is we will not put the wrong person in the position we're not going to do that because these These are union positions and we're stuck with people if they're not the right ones and the value to the city is the people corre it it's easy to see like materials and and contracts of money but it's the people that can save the city a lot of money if you have the right and the wrong ones create havoc and disrupt the rest of the department waste my time waste the assistant commissioner's time so we we are adamant about getting the right people in there so but we are we are we are so that's like one a month at least we're we're we're uh hitting so are there any um places within your budget where because you are working with less people you're comfortable with having less people and therefore could reduce your budget in the future and just to throw that out there no okay everybody's working harder that's just that's just the people that are there buy into the buy into the vision that just like me I'm doing two job that's what it takes we're wearing it for the long haul wearing it for the right people because once you get them in there then it's then it's uh you really see the magic so that's what we're all in it for but I to that point if I I may through you Mr chair we see that with the cemeteries you know like if we had an adequate staff we wouldn't be dealing with the issue that you had with the veterans meeting so things unfortunately do fall by the wayside if we're not appropriately staffed we just I'm very thankful that we have a very dedicated DPW team uh and staff that go above the extra mile to make sure that the city is running as well as it can be with the staff that it doesn't does have thank you president Ron thank you Mr chairman so I just want to make sure so Council Orum don't ever apologize for reducing the budget it was the right call all right I mean the issue should be how are we saving money and not using as much electricity not okay we're going to give you more money that's not the right reason the issue is to live within a budget that wereth s so and I encourage all the councils because what you're seeing is in front of you we're running $765,000 under in salary line items because we can't hire people nothing's going to magically happen on July 1st next year that says those are all going to get filled again and no council Roby they will kick and scream to try to cut the positions that ain't going to happen but I know from years on the budget that if you reduce the budget these transfers that we're making tonight that are moving money within the approved budget not from free cash not from a transfer somewhere else is okay the the budget we set and go talk to the people that are paying the taxes and ask if they're happy with the tax bill I mean if we increase the budget the tax bills go up higher so don't be don't ever apologize for cutting the budget I guess that's my my message to you it was it it you made one someone else made another one but they they were good calls and we've proven over the years yes the commission will come back and ask for more money but the money is in the budget it's not money that we're increasing the budget by so that that's a key point I want the council is to understand it's very important thank you Mr chair thank you president chair if I may um couple questions um capital projects manager and the financial and analyst uh those say exess due to vacancy are you hang on I'm sorry you're way ahead we're on one sheet here yeah we're still on the 200 okay it was in general but I can wait I can CU that I think some other people like question all right so we'll move on where all set we'll move on to the next page just a note by all means the apology was the fact that the electricity rates are going up and so especially natural gas but no I I respect the fact that you're running a conservative we are all running a conservative budget but at the same time we need services so it's a catch 22 thank you all right moving on to the next uh page which is the transfer for $100,000 I think some may have some questions on this page councilor Roby thank you Mr chair I am curious about the city engineer position uh where you're taking almost $60,000 do we not have a city engineer Tom Tom volunteered some money uh because he saw the need no because the uh we had the budget line item in the budget but remember the the salary started on September 1st so there was there was extra money for those those months in there thank you and if I may Mr chair is that 2,000 that you're transferring or the available balance you're is it it's 2,000 that's what I thought so Tom's not giving up a lot but I thought I heard 16 but that but again if it works for the budget that's fine thank you and if I may Mr chair just want uh DPW commission is sitting in front of me and it says excess due to vacancy uh 90,000 what's happening there I hate to ask you about your own job but you have an amount of 9,500 being transferred and says DPW commissioner excess du to vacancy was that from last year or that's this year that's this year so this this that's because the my position was being paid out of the assistant now we just we switched it over into the other one okay hopefully anticipating uh me taking the position of someone moving into the into the assistant okay that's fine I just was concerned for you more than and the city but thank you thank you Mr chair Council of idol thank you Mr chair underneath the the uh or codes it says increase usage and is it is it this increase is it due to increase usage or is it due to increase in delivery fees increase and and other costs that they're charging the city sure so the our gas contract goes to the end of the year so it's not um last year it changed but it's it's it was locked in for a year we'll be probably looking this month to see if we can extend that to see if uh the rates go down or there's a favorable rate maybe to to go for the next year but that's not due to the rate the rate is set this is usage so we're seeing um December was 25% the uh heating Degree Days was 25% more than last year and January is uh 14% more than last year so we're project we don't know what's going to happen in February and and what the what's in the accounting Now does not have January's invoices in it yet that's just December's so though uh January was colder uh we and uses more heat so it's February so we're predicting we're projecting the usage higher this year not the rate just one more question Mr commissioner are most of our facilities using efficient boilers like right I get all these cards in my mail saying you know you update your boiler and save this and save that how are we as far as a city doing as far as having efficient boilers as we as we place them we repl them with with better blows like the The Walker building that one uh got delayed a bit but that's almost done now so that was a higher efficiency but um we don't go around we don't have a plan to replace them um like a preventive maintenance as they go down that's when we come down and ask for it so I mean I don't think our boilers are outdated as far as efficiency is concerned thank you thank you Mr chair thank you com for chill thank you Mr chair thank you Mr commissioner um just a quick question regarding usage um like you said we're working most of us are working through Auditors reports through the end of December so I see that we've only expended 12.5% of this light item and I I can't help but you know light bulb kind of goes off so wow that's pretty pretty low compared to what I would have expected but when is that Peak usage season because in my mind it's November to February but it sounds like it's December towards March I mean when when is our December towards March yeah uh so in my house we don't put the heat on till after Thanksgiving so I don't know about anybody else but you don't count those months sounds good and so the city operates on put on sweater put on socks sounds good no I just keeping that in mind I mean I still think you know based on what I'm seeing it seems like we're still going to be under but I can understand the need so appreciate it if it keeps if it keeps going going the way it is so again it's a usage much like tra you can't predict so we want to make sure at this point I have to park enough money there now we still have the end of the air transfer if for some reason that's there I can move it later but I want to make sure I have enough money in those usage accounts and sometimes money can can turn back into the general fund I have to keep enough in there for the final invoice you're never sure what the final invoice is going to be either so right and that I totally carries over into the next year yep sounds good thank you good question Council V all right moving on to the next page for the $100,000 transfer this is thank you Mr chair this is where I jumped to sorry about that I thought we were talking about all these excess due to vacancies um but the capital projects manager is listed as as well as the fin the financial analyst and curious what the status on those Capital project man was filled but that was another one like Tom's that was was um was was the um started in um September okay um financial analyst was vacant and then was filled part of the way through it is filled okay thank you that's pretty much just curious on those two I don't know how you're running a department though with all these vacancies but you know I I agree with you at the same time you want quality employees so I understand your theory and I could tell you those two positions are very highly qualified it makes makes it's it pays off dividends in the future and hopefully the financial analyst can help you on the energy needs and maybe looking at a capital plan for equipment that may not be in Failure but are not efficient I hope we get to that point we will be thank you thank you Mr chair all right moving on to the next transfer page of 100,000 any questions on that move on to the next page for the $110,000 transfer fine then we will be moving on to the next page for the $24,000 transfer Council or thank you Mr chair um is this based on the fact that you have these vacancies that you're seeing this overtime I mean we see this with police and fire I don't know if you're running into the same situation um this is this is one of the items um we had put in for the budget we have an on call there because of the treatment plants and um how it's in the other divisions it's structured so that if the uh head treatment plan office operator like the division head is out someone takes his place we don't have that structure yet um yeah that's probably something we'd be looking at in the future so it's a lot of stress um I I'd invite I'd invite councilors down to take a tour of the the treatment plants if you if you if you uh so desire Crystal friendy would be more than helpful more than happy to walk you through it's a it's a very uh stressful it's a it's like an organic um living living organism that you have to if something gets disrupted it has to play all the way through the plant so it's a very stressful thing and we have an on call system so that we we make sure I can take some of the stress off the head treatment plant operators and those people are going to be very hard to find in the future those those licenses are high in demand and the private sector is uh is um is grabbing them up and and if we have to if for some reason someone leaves and we can't fill that position that's going to cost probably twice as much to do that work and and all the treatment plants are different it's not like you can come in and run just because you know one you can come in and run another one it's it's like a relationship with the plant you have to you have to learn and know you know how it's operating so uh that's what that's for the the on call plus they've we've had some incidences where they're on call but they've had to come out uh as well um we had the and you'll see on the uh the PLC the generator PLC which is a program of logical controller which the generator is supposed to kick on uh to run all the equipment in the plant it failed and it didn't kick the generator on so that means you have to bring the staff up and keep them 24/7 so if if that doesn't happen we're in trouble we're polluting the river so um we we had that emergency that's what one of the transfers and that's kind of why we need that system so we can jump on that we had a problem with the the generator um the other generator um a few months back as well so um we're going to be trying to look at getting a generator contract to get preventive maintenance for those cuz we can't have that happening so um that's why there's overtime in those accounts and we know we're going to be getting that um so we are going to be putting that in the budget next year we feel that's important so yeah and I can respect what you're saying about Wastewater operators they also small Wastewater operators are in demand uh and I'll take you up on that offer uh when it's a little bit after winter thank you thank you Mr chair Council so uh no further questions that we'll move on to next transfer page of $149,000 and that does include the PLC generator replacement that the commissioner was talking about no questions on oh Council R I thought he was talking about the PLC when we were talking about the overtime regular not when we're at 149 is that where we are we're on the $149,000 transfer okay cuz this is well unless you're talking about a service contract is that so I was talking about it on the overtime because when this failed we had the manate 24 we had to bring guys into to man the system um and and to manually over andcheck it because we can't rely on it so this was an emergency repair for 149,000 okay we you we use funds from another one and we're we're going to replace it this that answer your question yes thank you okay then moving on to the next transfer page for $114,000 any questions on that page moving on to the next page is a transfer request for 94,000 if I may Mr chair Council if you could just explain on the pumping station the need for the funds for the two pumping stations one's 80,000 the other one's 14,000 uh what what is it actually so that's 90 94 at the cover sheet total the revised cover sheet I gave more detail there the one that was dated January so that was for the uh we had another another failure at the conquer Road Pump Station generator we had to replace that okay so that was 94,000 thank you thank you C that concludes with the DPW of the $791,000 transfers um no further questions I will entertain a council vitol like to make a motion to accept the transfer motion is made made and second it to approve order number 25-100 9350 uh media transfer request totaling the amount of $928,000 any further discussion seeing none all in favor carries 4 to zero good job Finance thank you commissioner mayor thank you are we ready to adjourn Mr chair no one one more item one more okay uh so now next up is uh order number 24-100 9191 uh communication from mayor Dumis with a capital Improvement plan for FY 24 to fy2 2028 and this this letter was uh submitted back in May um but I'll read the the letter submitted by mayor Dumis uh dear councel president aing and councils en close for your review is the FY 24 Capital Improvement plan uh that spans over the next 5 years as you know this plan is simply a forecast for anticipated needs and is subject to change each year as projects needs an an available uh funding change uh the projects for fy2 before have been funded largely large largely by two categories free cash and bonding all items to be funded by free cash were sent down earlier this year and have been approved all items to be abond bonded for FY 24 are within the capital Bond request sent to the city council on Thursday May 29th totaling uh $1,270 th000 um I would like to take uh thank uh comp troller Williams udor Smith and all departments who were involved in putting together this plan prioritizing our Capital needs means making tough decisions however I'm proud to say malbro is in a strong financial position to continue making those Investments uh please do not hesitate to reach out with any questions you may have sincerely J Christian Dumis mayor good evening Mr Mayor again um I'm thinking we may have quite a few questions on on sending this Capital Improvement plan down I know it was uh certainly anticipated that some councils wanted to see this um so I will open that up to the finance committee if any questions if not I'll open up to any council president auson thank you Mr chairman so councils the the the reason we look we look at this so it comes down in you know last May so we got a free cash transfer for 2.7 million we saw the bond package for 10.7 million and the ask or the the wish list had if you read the capital Improvement plan was 17 over $17 million so it's important at this point in time of the budget process or Capital planning process to look and see how we did and then what to expect so you have in front of you an email that I had sent to the mayor asking you know based on my review I wanted to make sure what was and wasn't funded um so it's it's hard to do in this kind of setting but if you look at the three pages of the capital plan and just focus on fiscal year 2024 you know I went through each one to say which one was either funded or not funded and then asked why so I'm just going to go through my email real quick so for the if you remember the discussion on hildr and Ward parks that was a $1 million Bond you remember that discussion evolved ultimately what we did was we moved a free cash transfer of $858,000 we did not Bond the million dollars so we funded the upgrade to Hildreth and we did not do Ward Park Ward Park will be I anticipate coming in the fiscal year 25 Capital plan all right the dog park there was an ask for $150,000 we had funded through Opera $150,000 so I just asking is there money needed or required to finish the dog park and the response was no all right so that was the dog park was funded with ARA and then whatever funds the mayor and the commissioner use out of the uh parks and wreck fund so items that I couldn't find or that weren't funded per Council either through the 2.7 million in free cash or the $10.2 million in bonds are the following the police department parking lot so the commission provided information says yes they had earmark funds to use it uh so my understanding with those funds that doesn't need anything from a council approval standpoint and we're going to get a pave parking lot for the police department the William Street playground there was a request for 168,000 never came to us which is fine they've got the parks revolving account you should see it when you look to update when they give us the update of the parks and wreck revolving Fund in June you'll should see a line item that they upgraded the playground but you will note if you look at the playground list and you have questions you can ask 168,000 was this year there's another $200,000 for next year at least in the plan so all that Williams excuse me if you're asking me I don't know you have to ask the mayor or the commissioner I I don't know the answer to that question sorry Mr chair is that that hear question 168 is Williams and then there's an additional 200 also for Williams so it's a 368 but yeah 368,000 playground yeah so this is to replace the whole playground at Williams Ballfield correct cor so this was this was part of it this was the equipment and then we have an additional uh amount of money for the labor and then the DPW will be prepping the site to save money this is going in between the two ballp correct where the where the uh we had to dismantle the other one because it uh it wasn't safe this one will be this one will be like like of the caliber you see in Mal brro it will be much better than what was there very good and it will have the the the surface like you see it good now the handicap surface thank you thank you Mr chair thank you Mr pres okay so so continuing down so jar generator 250,000 that wasn't funded uh the woodcome controls for half a million that wasn't funded lights and signs at the high school that wasn't funded Energy Efficiency that wasn't funded $300,000 sewer main Improvement East so they use the water infrastructure revolving account for that um then both the East and West wastewater treatment plants we had $800,000 in each of those and they've used um about 400,000 for each of those so I bring that up because when you're going to see the fisc year 25 to 29 plan some of these items may may not move forward depending on what the need is by the mayor and not just Ted but the other departments right so that's why it's important to look ahead one thing that was glaring when I looked at this and asked the mayor about is Rich a school all right Minor Detail it might be a little bit of money that we have to set aside uh it's not in the capital plan it should be so the May has assured me that when we see the fisc year 25 plan we're going to see where the forecast funding for Richard School similarly those of you interested in the fire station you'll see that fiscal year 25 and 26 A funding for a fire station all right so it'll be interested to see what the fiscal year 25 plan shows for funding for the fire station um and then I asked the mayor when do we expect to see this FIS year 2529 plan and so yes it's going to be updated and hopefully we'll see it before the capital request comes down so if we there's any changes we want to make make we can provide that Insight from the council to the mayor and the department heads as well so again the purpose of it is to look at the plan how did we do you know what did we get done what didn't we get done how did we fund the items and then look at what's going forward five if you want to go through five six seven and eight you can but that to me that's going to be our discussion when the capital plan comes down uh that sure early Springtime late springtime time frame that's all I had so if no everybody's good that should just be a motion accept them place on file thank you Mr president president oing motion to accept thank you Mr chair I appreciate it and and I'm happy to uh you know with that motion happy to go forward with it just a quick question I have a lot of the schools in my district here in ward 6 and I couldn't help but notice that three of these projects do involve the schools and went unfunded in this fiscal year so just wondering kind of what what was the thought process behind that why did these projects not get funded and um is there anything that we should be concerned about with these these three projects at the schools so much like uh we've had kind of a revolving um door there with the finance person at the school we're on our third here so Doug Diaz had had ways of and and worked with us and we could find we would put stuff on there and he'd he'd find money for it um last year we had the uh on there but you know it was a tough year so they they didn't have the money some of these knowing that now that the the the the school may not have them the money for these we're going to have to put them forward especially uh so the generator these are important for not only for the school but for facilities as well the generator at jar uh the witcom controls was the Energy savings that I spoke about and the that uh the lights and signs are emergency right now we're kind of jury rigging the the sign it's really really needs to happen fairly soon and the Energy Efficiency is is stuff we put together we we get grants for it but if the grants out there we always want to try to spend at least 200,000 a year on that a lot of times you know we can get grants on that but if we don't we still want to be able to spend that money on improving the uh Energy Efficiency so we will be we will be coming back with these no that's great I appreciate that and good to know I'm just uh want to make sure we're on top of it so I appreciate everything and appreciate your assistance so thank you Mr chair you're welcome uh Council D thank you very much Mr chair um so as far as the Energy Efficiency um what is the type of savings that you're looking at getting is this uh insulation or is it um maintenance of uh heating systems like What specifically the Energy Efficiency stuff you're doing really um we work with a a consultant and and we we work through like if it's cane school you know changing the heating or anything like that certain grants are better for certain things so we work with him um nothing particular in mind Dan Jackson knows and has quite a bit of stuff to choose from and they kind of they kind of meet and uh Priscilla works with it as well to try to figure out what's the best fit for the for the grant money do we keep track of what the return on investment is with these Investments you know what the savings are we're doing the Energy Efficiency what's the savings coming out the other end yeah I don't think we have an exact number on that because it's it's it's it's hard to quantify okay much like you you change a furnace and you know it's more efficient are you getting that Efficiency do you see that on your bills it's kind of tough to but then the next year is colder so you know if it's right you get into Degree Days and all that that's true but yeah know be curious to see what sort of results we know if we're putting something in more efficient we're being more efficient the exact number is tough to track okay thank you Council Roy thank you Mr chair I know it's also tough to track when prices keep increasing I know we put in a more efficient uh furnace in our home but we're not really seeing a lot of savings with the cost of gas Rising on an annual basis um I just want to throw out there my concern being on the Richer School building committee that I don't know if we're going to know the cost um for you to input this in the fiscal year 25 Capital um and there's the potential that it would be both richer and Caine if we go with option two that will be discussed as we hire a designer um right soon so just be aware that I think excuse me if I threw you Mr chair a number needs to be added somewhere so I don't want to lose focus and not have something not on the capital Improvement plan I I mean the fire station number was just continued over and over and over again I think those costs probably are going to be a lot higher than that as well so um we'll just do a due diligence and make the best educated guess that we can possibly as long as it's still represented so we have a general idea that that project is forthcoming um just for transparency purposes but I think if it's not on the list I think we wouldn't be um doing the proper Justice okay I mean as long as you all understand that these numbers will will change and shift so um but I think we need to to put it on the list thank you Council will for putting that out there no further discussion I will entertain a motion motion to accept and file apologies councel motion motion's been made and seconded to accept and place on file order number 24-100 9191 a communication from mayor Dumis with the cap Improvement plan for FY 24 to FY 28 any further discussion seeing none all in favor it carries 40 thank you everyone obain a motion to adjourn motion has been made and second it to adjourn all in favor it carries we are adjourn e e e I'm going to call the city council Urban Affairs committee meeting to order uh we were supposed to start at 7:30 it's now 8:00 so we will begin we have one item on our agenda order number 24935 a communication from Justin Malay trustee on behalf of one Maple Terrace real estate trust propos zoning map amendment to include one Maple Terrace identified as map 70 parcel 24 in the Maro Village District it's currently located in the residence our seone uh committee members absent this evening are councelor naven and Lander so there will only be three of us myself Council duet and councel pre officially voting on this with the other councilor certainly here to ask questions and give input committee members and the council were sent the minutes of the public hearing that was held on December 16th we also also we also received I forgot to open up my computer the um communication from the planning board with their recommendation um open my computer uh dear council president Michael aing regarding Council order 241 9305 at its regularly scheduled meeting on January 27th the board took the following action regarding the above referenced Council order on a motion by Mr laventure seconded by Dr finby the board voted to send a negative recommendation to the city council on the above reference proposed zoning Amendment the a finb foron use lentur and Russ and nay Z the motion carried 5 to Zer the board focused on the proposed zoning Amendment and not the developers preliminary concept on how the parcel would be developed veloped and provided the following reasons in reaching its recommendation the consensus of the board was that the proposed development shown by the proponent is in keeping with the character of the surrounding neighborhood however the board had concerns because the malor village zoning code will allow for higher density and higher allowable structure height than what is being proposed in the planning board's opinion the developer established that the proposed development wouldn't be overly burdensome to the neighborhood Hood but did have concerns on parking however the board agreed the proposed zoning change would allow for changes that could negatively impact the neighborhood and stressed the unknowns in the planning board's opinion the developer not did not establish that the proposed zoning Amendment would provide a use not found elsewhere however the board agreed the city would benefit from additional housing the board concluded without a comprehensive understanding on why this parcel was excluded from the original Mal Village zoning it would be hard to judge if the proposed zoning change is in keeping with the intent and purposes of the city zoning ordinance furthermore the board felt that the proponent would benefit from additional guidance from the building department regarding additional Avenues he could seek and I will respond um I had sent the planning board both the map that everybody has a copy of uh in their uh mailboxes as well as the minutes of the public hearing that was held when the council discussed the malb village zoning both the minutes and the map clearly reflect the de decision of the um people who brought this to us that they were looking at the business district of downtown and you can see that they clearly skirted the RC on the East the RC on the south and the RB on the North north of the area that they chose so that they really were focusing on the business district in downtown maloro um I will if the petitioner would like to come to the well he certainly welcome if he has any comments I will let him offer those now otherwise I'll open this up for questions comments from the committee thank you thank you I I did want to mention so you said that because that just to the uh if you're looking at at the house just to the right of the property is zoned business and they didn't change that to malor Village just wanted to note that because I I think from from what you were saying was that all the you know the business districts were changed to malor Village is that what um from the map that I'm looking at and I think when I looked at this myself these were the areas around where you are on Maple Terrace to the south of you is business to the east of you is some business and to the north and west so you're surrounded by business but they specifically skirted the RC part of all right the zoning as well as RC to the South RB to the west and RB to the north yeah I did want to note though that I am the only property on terrist so it's a it's a little bit different than you know the the RS that zone that you're speaking of the RC would be A's place and then my property but my property is the the only one Maple terrus is the only property on on that street which basically right in front of the house is the cane storage building and that's in malor Village which could eventually be a six-story high apartment building Madam but I would like to mention councelor for thank you would like to mention that um although your house may be the only one on that street it is part of that whole block so that if you look at it the the street splits between the two blocks so I think that's the the point of this was to keep that residential block intact and I think that's why the line was also cut that way all right yeah do councelors have questions councelor duet thank you very much Madam chair um you know this is It's a small section of RC surrounded by business district but uh moving yours into the um City uh the uh Village District actually just kind of erods that spot which is not um that your corner is actually one part surrounded by Village District the other part is business uh so I again I don't see uh the benefit of actually changing at this point beside from instituting spot zoning which I'm not necessarily for I don't want to change the Sony of just one lot for the sake of changing for one lot councilor vital Madam chair I see most of us looking at this map but I'm not sure if he has a copy of this map can I may I give it to him you can just so as a reference a m it's know it's hard for me thank you thank you and I believe you bought the property after the rezoning was done so you w here when that process happened yeah I think it was pretty it was like the same year that the zoning happened I bought it in November though of 2014 so I think that um resoning H must have happened earlier in the year uh the public hearing was in October of 14 October yeah coun pado thank you madam um just reading over um the letter sent over um from the board um I think uh I tend to agree pretty strongly with their reasoning for a negative uh recommendation um they do list um that they do have concerns about negatively impacting the neighborhood and stress and and stressed the unknowns which is I think one of our biggest worries on the council is in the event that you would happen to sell we don't know if the person that is buying would want to tear down your house and build you know something much bigger if it did go into the it did get reasoned um and um I think that that's just everyone's main concern here and I think it's unfortunate that you're in the position um but um you know we really want to protect this whole residential block and and um preserve its Integrity as a neighborhood um like you say you're the only one on your street but behind your house there are many houses and many people that live there so I would hate to see them be squeezed in together with much more other people if there was a developer that came in and decided to build up thank you yeah so just to respond to that um yeah I right next to my house is a five family which is I think it's 43 a place and that covers like a significant amount of his lot and um you know so it's it's just that my lot is very underutilized in um by being included into this Zone I I actually I wrote in a letter that I submitted to uh the council that I don't know if it's possible but if I could be held to what I want to do I would be open for that to build a three family house with you know and and to um adhere to all of the M Village uh requirements and and basically have parking not not on the side of the the house but underground under the house um and I just don't I don't know if that's something that and I I can only speak for myself but I think I'm pretty comfortable with the rest of the council agreeing that this is our dilemma every time we have a zoning change because we have to vote on the zoning change first and it's typically part in part with what a developer wants to do but there's no guarantee that that's what will happen and there's nothing we can do to make you do what you say you're going to do or for you to sell the property and turn it into somebody else putting a hotel there um so we need to really look at this as the city and totality when we do zoning changes um and really look seriously on the impact and I know this is a small parcel but it still um is a big decision for the council and I don't know if anybody else has other feelings Council prci I did also have another question for you um councilwoman um is there a way to add potentially add more units through a special permit without resoning I'm sorry is there what a way to add more units through special permit um um for this residence uh instead of have a special permit now or is it just an existing structure cuz existing non-conforming nonconforming I mean no I think it is conform I i' I'm not don't hold me to that but um and is it a single family off the top of my head it's a current three I don't know that you can go more than three family in RC off the top of my head but I did not I don't know if I even made that note on my little cheat sheet um I think I think there were some some suggestions about it that I had noted at the last meeting um maybe seeking a special permit but I don't know if you went and did any research on that if you yeah so I mean I know that um I would be able to apply for special perit I'm pretty sure um I didn't I didn't do a lot of res resarch into that it's a lot I mean I would be back here in front of the council um and yeah that I think the the zoning Chang is a much bigger decision I think than just a approving or uh a special permit so I think that's uh my reasoning for maybe seeking a alternate rout I think Council Austin has some information in an RC zone is an 04 multi family loan one structure and multiple structures consisting of a multi family dwelling containing three or more dwelling units on a single lot provided the lot meets all the requirs ofle addition has landscape area all requirements of 6509 not apply exuse Dev devel so this isn't District so I don't know what time that 689 but as long as heets the Landscaping requirements appears in the RC have to back for special now why would that be more beneficial he can come up with a special per that alleviates everyone's concern 10 story high District sell it to someone else just I'm not I can't do the work for you we have to to see you theer and I can read you because I did look up 65018 a9e there shall be a landscaped area provided equal to the greatest single floor area of a building or equal to the sum total of the greatest single floor area of all the principal buildings the landscaped area shall meet the following requirements at least 75% of the landscape area has a grade of less than 8% the width of such landscaped area shall average at least 40 ft and in no case shall be less than 30 and the landscaped area should be designed for recreational uses for residents so I did not Mark what article 7 was but um I would suggest you have someone come in and look at your property to make sure that you meet the Landscaping part of this before you go to a lot of work yeah on doing a special permit but that is an option if you meet those things yeah what was that the um the art the um this is listed in the um table of uses yeah and then if you look up RC and go down through it will then tell you um it's 650118 is the condition for uses and then within that there's just talking about 6508a 9e which is specific to landscape yeah any other questions councelor orm I would just suggest also you check in with the zoning officer The Building Commissioner and he might be able to walk you through some of this as well to help you out so if you haven't I would suggest that yeah okay all right I don't see any other questions from anybody do we have a motion Madam chair councelor duet um if the person is Will willing to look into special permit at the end of the day would he be fing this without prejudice if he wants to go forward with that um he could withdraw without prejudice regardless of the future but our our denying this zone change doesn't prevent him from doing that anyway okay motion to deny and it's been moved by Council to set to deny the zoning Change Is there further discussion see none all those in favor so we have three anybody opposed there's all right um I will report this out at the next city council meeting um if you would which isn't until 27th of February and then we have a meeting on March 10th um if you are more inclined to want to know sooner rather than later I don't like doing it but we could ask for a suspension to vote on the 24th or it could lay on the table until March 10th so I can get a feel from the Council on the 24th if they want to suspend to actually take that vote that night I'm sorry okay so our next meeting is the 10 oh I'm sorry on the I'm a week ahead of myself with my little circles on my I'll reported all right so um so it would either be the 10th or the 27th that there would be a vote all right okay yeah it could happen on 10 all right we will see what the sense of the uh full council is on the 10th when I report this out and see if they're agreeable to suspend and we can vote otherwise it will wait until the 24th all right that work for everybody motion to adjourn it's been moved and seconded to adjourn all those in favor 1 2 3 so we are adjourned at 8:21 for