--------- Good evening and welcome to the June 23rd Committee of the Hall meeting. Please join us to salute the flag. 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. Roll call of the members. Councelor Arenzio here. Here. Councelor Kagglandro here. Here. Councelor Gino here. Here. Councelor Go Slaya here. Here. Councelor Hass here. Here. Councelor Jammo is
absent. Councelor Kelly here. Here. Councelor McKenna here. Here. Councelor Noveski. Here. Councelor Zamudo here. Here. And council president Sylvester here. Here. Quorum is present. First item on tonight's agenda
is the council order 25160. That is the uh FY26 revolving funds table. Mr. Viske, good evening, Mr. President, council. Um before you tonight is the fiscal year
2026 uh departmental revolving funds um as prescribed by Mass General Law. It is the city council that sets the maximum spending for these funds. I did attach a copy of the law in there for you and a detail of all the accounts. Um we don't
spend any money unless that money is there. So this just sets the maximum amount we could spend for each of those funds for fiscal year 2026 and happy to try to answer any questions on that. City councils councelor Jenzio.
Thank you Mr. President. Uh Mr. Visque I I was looking through the revolving funds account the H wellness center where that money is deposited from memberships and what have you. Is is that a re is that acting like a revolving account? So yes, so right now
we're accounting for that within the special uh grant account for the OPA funds. Um I was going to bring a new revol I have several new revolving funds to add in fiscal year 2026 um due to the budget and some of the other things that were going I didn't have enough time to
prepare that. So I'm going to get that on the July council uh agenda so that we can uh because that takes an ordinance change to actually change that. So it'll require public hearing but we will be adding and deleting some revolving accounts. One of them would be a new departmental revolving account for the
house health and wellness. Okay. Thank you very much. You're welcome. Thank you councelor. Any other city councils? Nope. Thank you. Do we have to take a call? Uh recommendation to adopt the income tables of 2026.
All in favor? All opposed. So ordered. Council order 25161 FY26 water and soore rates. Mr. Visque. Good evening again. Um
yes. Uh this um 9.7% water and soil rate increase is um is needed due to the fact that over the past several years we've used um one-time revenues such as the OPA funds and uh stabilization funds to um
stabilize a three-year rate increase of 4.25% which expired in fiscal year 2025. So without the use of one-time revenues to actually have the water and saw fund be self-sufficient, uh I am recommending a 9.7% increase in
the water and so rates unfortunately. But I'm hoping that this is a one-time adjustment reconciliation that'll bring us back to uh what would be a lot more reasonable rate increases going forward. But this is kind of needs to be adjusted so that our revenues and expenditures uh
equal each other without the use of one-time revenue. So unfortunately that's a situation we're in and happy to try to answer any questions on that. Thank you. Any counselors? Councelor Arenzio. Thank you. Uh thank you Mr. Visque. So obviously that's a large
increase and and like you say you're just hoping this is a one-time u large increase. Has there been any thought to taking any money out of the water and sewer stabilization account to um kind of curtail this a little? I mean, we've done that the last three
fiscal years, whether it be retained earnings or the stabilization account or and we actually used $3 million of the uh opera funds over the last three years. You might recall in 2022, we voted that 4.25% rate for three years. But when you when
you put that rate in with the expenses, it forced us to use onetime revenues. As a matter of fact, we used $2 million of stabilization fund this year, which, you know, that that's bringing our stabilization fund down to about $3.5 million. So, I'm I'm I'm cautious to use
any more of that stabilization fund. We do have a half a million dollar in there for this year as a contingency because a lot of times when you raise water and soil rates, a lot people start to conserve water a little more. So, we may not hit that math the way I I I figure. So, we do have some contingency in
there. I'm not going to go forward and and um request that money for 2026 yet. I want to kind of see how fiscal year 2026 plays out for the first four or five months when we get closer to setting the tax rate. But um yeah, I mean it certainly can be done, but we've used so much over the last three years
and you might recall our retained earnings was only a 70 $80,000 this year. So we're really at the point where revenue and expenditures are kind of break even. So, uh, I'm a little wary of continuing that practice. And that's why we've kind of put this rate increase off
and, uh, through CO and and some of the tough times, we wanted to kind of stabilize those rates. But without using onetime revenues, this is my best guess on what we need to be to to make revenues equal expenditures on the water and solar enterprise fund. Okay. Thank you for your explanation. Thanks very much. You're welcome. Thank you,
Council. Council has Thank you, Mr. President. Rich, thanks so much. Um, I had a few residents, you know, like you said, unfortunately, it's going up 9.7%. Um, I had a few people ask me, if it's going up 9% this year, it's going to go up 8% this year, and it's just going to,
you know, or nine and a half, you know, 10%, it's just going to keep going up. Um, can you talk a little bit about why it goes why it goes up? What causes this to go up to that extent? Sure. Um, in this particular case, quite
frankly, it's um it's more to make up for the use of one-time revenues. Again, over the last three fiscal years, we've used approximately $3 million a year to um have our 4.25% rate increase stay at that. And um short of using one-time
revenues, again, it's it's the user rates brings in the money to pay for the direct and indirect cost of that. I mean, the majority of the funds go towards our water and sewer assessment and our debt service, but quite frankly,
I I I can't say that those went up 9.7%. This is more a factor of using onetime revenues and actually getting out of that practice. But my hope is that once we do 9.7% over the next fiscal years, we'll have revenues equal expenses, and it should go up at that natural rate, hopefully 3 or 4% like it typically
does. Thank you. So, the onetime revenue is the main cause. Yeah, there's no onetime revenue being used in fiscal year 26. And that's the first time we haven't used onetime revenue since fiscal year 2022. And this will hopefully catch us up to speed. That's my hope. Thanks. You're welcome. Thank you, councelor. Council McKenna. Thank
you, Mr. President. Um uh Rich, I know there's been controversy with the uh water savers that you put on the um holes and you save water by watering your garden. I forgot. I don't know what they're called. Are you still the water meters? The water meters. Yes. Are you
still going to use them? We've eliminated the practice of using the the manual dduct meters that you hook on to your hose and then hook on to your outside meter. There is a program that you can still get a dedduct meter, but it's required to be hard um piped
in. So that again, some people could hook that up to their washing machine, could hook it up to their house in New Hampshire and kind of manipulate that system. So, in order to ensure that there's no uh shrinkage in in in using that system, the the deduct meters are required to be hard um that piped in
hard to your hose outside per se if you're watering your garden or your or your pool. And I believe there are programs for seniors to get free permits and and and such to to accomplish that. But we still offer it. We just don't offer that that uh mobile deduct meter.
It has to be um hard piped into your to your system. Okay. because I know there was um last year they didn't know they didn't um have a timeline of when it was going to end and when it wasn't going to end. But um the other thing too is this uh when you hook it up to your your hose
inside your house, it's very costly. Right. I'm not sure. No, I mean it the the I heard it was the purpose of it is to deduct the saw charges from it. It's very very costly install to install to install it. Yes. Um, I I can't speak to how much it cost to install. I can
probably defer that to somebody else, but um, plumbers aren't cheap, I suppose. I suppose you're right there. I heard it was thousands of dollars. That's what I heard. I can't speak to it because I haven't had it done. Okay. Thank you. Thank you, councelor. Councelor Zambo.
Thank you, Mr. President. Uh, almost 10%. That's It's a lot of money. What's the average water bill? I'd have to try to get back to you. There's an MWR survey that comes out and I can get you that information. I can't do off the top of my head. This is going
to kill people on a fixed income. I mean, this is a big increase. I understand how it happened, but it's going to be painful. Yeah, that's that's kind of why we were deferring it for a while, but it's um at some point you got to you got to reconcile and catch up.
And uh yeah, none of us none of us are pleased with it, counselor, for sure. I know. a lot of money. I I I don't have any suggestions except that uh you know and and the people uh that used to deduct meters and I know listen there
were a lot of scam artists out there and they were taking it to their summer homes and and hooking it up and so you there's no way we can use that plastic meter anymore but it is an awful lot of money to install a hard meter. It's probably about a thousand bucks in most
instances. And uh I've done it. So I and people close to me have done it. And it takes a long time to get your money back from the deduct me unless you're a fanatic with your lawn and your law water and you know 10 times a day. It's
all recovering that money uh you know for the deduct meters. It's it's expensive. But I I understood that and I understood how people were those meters were never a good idea. the way they were set up, it was too easy. I do know that we're setting up a uh home
improvement program for seniors that this may be an eligible expense that they may be able to get reimbured for. Oh, wonder I'll defer to the that other services director on the details, but that may be an option for the seniors. So So it's not only bad news of a 10% water increase. You you've got some good
news, too. So that's I like that. Well, I think it's now that you're bringing it up, it just kind of dawned on me that that may be a good uh absolutely good program for seniors to get a water meter installed. A deduct me, especially the ones that have a big lawn and they, you know, they're barely paying their taxes because they're on a fixed income. Yeah,
swimming pools, too. So, for sure. Okay. Thank you, Mr. President. That's all I have. Thank you, Council Novaski. Thank you, Mr. President. Um, Mr. auditor. All I can say is I am getting quoted. My phone is ringing off
the hook from senior citizens that own their homes said I cannot afford a 9 and a half% increase in water. It's already higher than I can afford now. I
am going to have to sell my home and move out of the city and rents. This is not right. We have to do something to protect. How much can we really reduce this? I wouldn't reduce it at all. But again,
that's my recommendation. So it is sir, you know, but unfortunately, you know, I'm not happy with it. I'll just say that any any reduction that's made when we run fiscal year 26, if we have a revenue deficit, the department of revenue is going to require us to raise
that in the subsequent year tax rate. So, we're going to have to pay it one way or another, but this is my best guess to bring us back to par on revenues and expenses. So, well, just I have a problem with it. Thank you.
Thank you, councelor Council uh McKenna. They um Rich answered my question. I was because I was going to ask what if it doesn't uh pass tonight if we vote no. So that's what I was going to ask. Yeah. Again, we we submit our all our
financials. We do I call it the fake budget tonight because we're voting all the money tonight. But ultimately by the end of November, early December, I have to submit all the stuff to the Department of Revenue and they determine whether we have a balanced budget and whether we have to take action to get a tax rate set. So if they see that
there's a revenue deficit, they'll require us to raise it as part of the tax rate set process. So that's kind of the remedy. I, you know, I wish I could say that it could only be seven or eight, but again, the math comes out to with the 9.7% and um short of any other
kind of windfalls of money, there's there's really no way to raise any other revenue than through user rates. So um you know, the consent decree and stuff like that kind of you hopefully that goes away and it stabilizes it. But um like I said, I can't even blame MWRA this year cuz our our increases were
pretty much 3% for MWR. This is just kind of reconciling us to get get us off of paying for recurring costs with onetime revenue. We saw these raises um 20 years ago when they were trying to clean the the ocean. We saw these um
high water bills. I I mean, I don't think they're going to be as high as now, but they were very high. But at least you can see a difference in the ocean. We've got uh sails coming back. We've got whales. Uh we've got everything coming back because the ocean's so clean. Um it's just we we got
to see what we were paying for. We're not getting to see what we're paying for. We're just paying for it. Well, it's it's hard to see the the the infrastructure under the ground, but we do have, you know, almost 100% of our lines have been realigned and done. We're doing water man replacements throughout the city. We're doing leak
detection all over the place. So, um it's not as sexy as a new building or or a new school, uh you know, a new fire truck, but um the city of Riviera has um totally revamped all its infrastructure over the last 15 years and um hopefully
the consent decree ends and we can just deal with normal increases in assessments and operating costs. But it's um it's tough and I will say that this is my eighth year here and this is the first time that we had to come before you with an increase that high.
We've had some years where we had 0% increases. So we had a pretty good run but um we knew it was going to be wreck in time and that's uh unfortunately where I am today here. Thank you councelor Council Helio. Thank you Mr. President 3 to um to our CFO. I
have a question. Where where were these uh onetime revenues we were subsidizing these bills were from? We used $3 million of the American uh Rescue Plan Act ORPA funds. We used approximately $3 million of our water and sewer
stabilization account and approximately $3 million of our water and sewer retained earnings which is the water and so free cash that's certified by the department of revenue. So those three water and sewer civilization and what was the last one? Sorry. Uh retained earnings which is the water and so free
cash. Um, and in the last four years in the previous administration, in the year and a half of this administration, or actually two and a half years, I guess two years,
oh, two, cuz he got in, you know, you know what I mean. Um, was there any conversations about tearing this this increase in by like subsidizing with the ARPA money so that we'd have a longer runway on this? I know that other cities
did it. I know uh when I worked on Lawrence, this was something that we did. We tiered we used ARPA money to tier in the rates. So, well, we essentially used 3 million to not necessarily tear the rates, but stabilized the rates. So, we adopted a three-year rate structure at 4.25% for
fiscal year 23, 24, and 25. And that was attained by uh partially by using those hopper funds. But we didn't tear them per se. I think in 26 there has to be a lot more discussion on whether we go to a tiered rate system and you know other
things like monthly billing and stuff might help with cash flow and such but um certainly those have to be uh researched. I think MWR prefers us to look at a tiered system but again some people will save money and some people will lose money because ultimately if we have to raise 33 million we have to
raise 33 million. So tearing them is just going to redistribute how those bills would be uh delivered. But certainly something we're going to look into because some people who use small amount of money and uh water and conserve they may pay a lesser rate but
the ones who use more would have to pay a higher rate because again we have to raise 33 million let's say and it doesn't matter how the rates are that the bottom line still has to be that 33 million. Um and help me understand for FY23 24 and 25 we did a we did do an
increase or no? We voted in 2022 as part of the budget process a three-year uh rate structure which brought the rates up 4.25% each year. So that was voted in 22. So that's why you didn't see me over here in 24 and 25 because that was voted
at at the council in 2022. And that was 4.5 4.25 four and a quarter. Okay. Thank you. Thank you councel councelor Kelly. Thank you Mr. President. Um, Mr. Visque, can
you speak to the consent decree just a little bit in terms of how we're being impacted by that now and if it does end or what you foresee it when you foresee it ending and how we'll be impacted by it at that point in time. Thank you. I
would honestly defer to uh Nick Rystrom or uh maybe uh Chris Cherella on that. Hello counselors. So me and Nick have been working in the well Nick has been working the consent decree for the past 15 years, 10 years.
Close to that. Yeah. And um right now we're at the point where we've I think it's 98% of our sewer system is now lined. And after this the next step of the the consent decree is to conveyance.
So, it's upsizing existing utility existing um sewer lines to redirect the flow so we can mitigate SSOs within our community. The major holdup back and forth with the consent decree and the Clean Water Act
is the level the acceptable SSO is zero. So, you cannot have any SSO. So, we've obviously been in talks with the EPA and the DA is how we're trying to move forward since we can't have an
acceptable level at all of SSOS. So, I believe the consent decree as it is now is 2038. Is that correct? I'm sorry. 2035. And at that point, we will
hit our what we've what we've expressed we would already commit within the consent decree that was signed in the years past. I don't know if you have anything to add, Nick. Oh, so um Chris uh has it right.
Um we amended the uh consent decree to move it out uh further to make it financially more palatable for the city. So right now um under our current uh amendment it does take us through uh 2035. Uh we are essentially finished
with the the rehab portion of the um uh the sewer system. Uh what we're focusing now on is some of the bigger conveyance projects, but also uh what you've seen um some of the smaller inflow removal uh
programs which includes um some pump removal and uh relo uh rerouting um you know discharges to the system that uh don't belong that are uh violations of the Clean Water Act. So, um you'll see some
um kind of reduction uh in that regard where we're not uh hitting the rehab uh button uh anymore. Uh but it does bring us still uh out to uh the mid 2030s. Please understand we are working as best we can to get us out of this consent
degree. It's a difficult hoop to jump through, but we're we are trying. Thank you, council. Council H. Thank you for the leeway, Mr. President. This is this question is for Rich. Rich, I'm not sure if you can even answer this
or if um it's even legal, but would the city ever consider a different rate for residents over 65 or seniors? Um would there ever be like a break like that where it's not they're not seeing the full 9.7%
hike, but they're seeing say like a five or a six? I don't know of any law that allows for that, but I can certainly do some research and find out. Great. Thank you. And I also know that the city has the the work off abatement program. Yeah, we
we do have that. We have some programs within the city, but yeah, I'm not sure if there's uh any laws that allow us to charge different rates to seniors, but um I I can't answer that for sure, but no, it's worth asking for sure. Thank you. You're welcome. Thank you, counselor. Permission to speak from the
chair. Thank you, Mr. Visque. Um, Council Hos asked one of my questions. Uh, but my other one is where where there's going to be such a large increase in in the bill with 9%, does the um water and
sewer work off, does that expand at all or does it say the same? Like, is there an adjustment to that work off? I'd have to check exactly how that is um voted. I don't know if that was a council uh a city ordinance or such, but I'm sure it's something we can research.
I don't know that there's any fast and set rule on it's maxed out or anything, but I again I can I got some questions to answer I believe. But yeah, that's a great question and I can find out for you. I appreciate and I know no one wants to be doing this right now. I know the mayor doesn't want to be doing this,
but it it's like the in the with the descent decree like the the people have been hearing, oh, it's coming to an end. coming to an end and now all of a sudden it's oh it's 20 30 something and we're going to raise it 9%. It seems like there's always something coming at the at the resident and we all hear it. So
anything that might be able to be done to to help even the seniors would be great. Yeah, absolutely. Like you know again the tiered system might be the best option because those seniors let's assume they use a lot less water than a family of six or seven. So that tiered rate system might be the the best option
to try to, you know, level uh or or give the seniors some discounts assuming they live by themselves or they don't use a lot of water and such. So uh but I I can assure you we'll we'll look at all the options. Thank you. Any other counselors? Council McKenna. So, I I know that we
talked before that you're not you're not going to um you're going to uh get bids other than CDM Smith to um uh you know, work on uh the sewers. So, am I right you're
getting other bids? We actually did put it out to bid and and um CDM did win the bid and they were substantially less than they were. So, um, so we actually did do that and, um, to the extent that we're going to do that every year, I would defer to, um, Nick and Chris again, but that did that did happen. I
think we should get them in office. Hold on. Hold on. So, and councelor, when you had initi pardon me, thank you for hearing us. When you had initiated that, you asked that we actually put it out to bid because it hadn't been for some number of years. It just been reawwarded. Guess what happened? Their price came down. So because of your
actions and because of the council requesting more, they did come to us with a better price and it created a level of competition. So it just goes to show that probably in the next year or so we'll do it again. And we've also asked a few of the competitors to do a little peer review on some of the work
and scope. They don't do the work, they just do the project design and oversight. So but good good question, councelor. Thank you. Thank you, councelor. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. And can I get a favorable recommendation on the 2026 water and so rates? All in favor?
All opposed. So ordered and for the 2026 budget presentation, councelor Candro. So the idea is to have any of the counselors ask questions. Looks like we have a lot of the department heads here,
the mayor, the CFO. Um, if this would be the time, I know the subcommittee is only five of us, but we had a very efficient process and uh there were a lot of great questions asked and I hope everybody got a chance to not only review the budget, but the uh two hours
and two and a half hours worth of budget meetings we have instead of four days worth of it. So, um just open the floor to uh to questions, Mr. President. Thank you. Thank you, Councelor. Any councilors have any questions? No. Hearing none. No. Councelor Jenzio.
Thank you, Mr. President. I just have like a a statement about the um HS Health and Wellness Center. I know last year's budget hearings uh when the number got to 1,800, we would be at full cost recovery. Uh I got a statement from
Mr. Pella today and there was uh I think 2100 active members and I think at budget hearings you had said uh we're looking to appropriate about a quarter of a million dollars this year. Um that money I think you had indicated is kind
of like a fail safe. So, are you confident that as the uh fiscal year goes on, we may be able to uh save some of that money and it could fall to the bottom line at the end of uh this fiscal year.
I will um I'll have more data on that probably for the July meeting once we close the books on June 30th to see where we ultimately end up. And um certainly the appropriation could be the the the revenue the the appropriation of last resort if we do keep up um
enrollment and we're and we're really uh pleased with the way that's been going. But um we'll certainly look to use all the money in the revolving fund or otherwise before we tap into those appropriations. So I I guess the short answer would be yes that we we could turn that back or or redistribute it if
we don't need it. But again, not knowing exactly where we're going to be as this um HA Health and Wellness Center continues to get momentum, we're hoping that it's a full cost recovery and and we may not have to use that. But that that that remains to be seen and I will have by the time we meet in July, I'll
be able to tell you where we ended up at the fiscal year on June 30th and probably have a better ranch for you then. Okay. Because I know last year with 1,800 was the do we have a new magic number or is I I don't have the magic number right off the top of my head. We did adjust the uh the membership rates, so those went up a
little bit. You know, some people leave, some people come in. But um I will um try to hone in on a on a a more specific magic number for the July meeting. Okay. And then at some point that account will be a revolving account. Yeah, I'm going to propose that we create a new revolving account at the next meeting
that will have to go to a public hearing and then be ordained with a as a revolving fund. So yes, definitely going to be for 26. Okay. Thank you very much. You're welcome. Thank you, councelor. Any other city councilors? Okay. Will any city councilors be
presenting any cuts to this year's budget? If I may, Mr. President. Consowski. Mr. president. Um, I know everybody works hard here and we all try to keep everybody happy with what we get financially
and u, believe it or not, my target is the school department. You know, as I mentioned before, we we had the superintendent up here and coming out of our budget is I think I saw $8 million for transportation for the kids. And I I
think that's a little high. And I think the school committee and the school department should look into that a little deeper. And to help make that help happen, I'm going to propose that we deduct from the transportation, which is part of our budget, not the school
department budget. It comes out of our money a million dollars out of the transportation. We got to do a roll call on this. Yes, absolutely. Councelor, can can I just make one clarification on that? Just let me clarify one second. Y
So, what was that number? Councelor $1 million. Mr. Visque. Um, just to speak to council Novaselski's point, even though um, it is a cost that is borne by the city with regard to student transportation, if
there was a cut that was being proposed to that, it would actually be a cut to the appropriation to the school department for a million dollars because the schedule 19 actually works those um, figures into it. So, we start with the net school spending number and then we do our additions and subtractions and we
get to a net number. So theoretically, if you're going to cut a million dollars from transportation, you would it would be a cut to the school budget to a million dollars. Council Novesowski. Um Mr. President, for the council, um
the um the school committee, uh if you were were watching the last meeting, um they made a number of sizable um changes to the transportation costs. Uh they started at $15 million. So, just to give everyone an understanding, of the $15
million to transport our students, approximately $7.7 million is for special education transportation. Um, that you can't cut. That's required. Um, so $7.7 million right out the gate is untouchable. There is a a few million dollars in reimbursements from the
state, as you know, if a child has to be transported to another district, if there's a special needs person that has um an ambulatory need. Um those are some pretty serious um uh needs, but also it's very high expenses. Some students, one student could cost up to $100,000
one student. Um so looking at that, there really wasn't there was some opportunities. We are looking to see if we can work with other m municipalities to share ride share meaning if a student's leaving river going through Saras picking a student up and then getting to their end uh end school wherever it may may be Beverly
Wilmington etc. But there's a state requirement you can only be on the bus or or transportation for so long. So it's hard to navigate. Um what we did do is we looked at the um the unrequired transportation and made significant changes to that as a school committee uh
or about $1.7 million. So I'll just say this. I am very much uh for fiscal prudence and I don't want to spend money where we don't need to. But to offer another an additional cut on top of the $1.7 million may actually go uh against
what we are are required to transport and they'll just have to take that money from somewhere else and it will result in it will result in probably staffing cuts at the school department. So, I'm just saying I I appreciate that. Maybe if we want to work over the, you know,
from today to next year to to the following year's school budget and revisit transportation again, uh, and find ways to create redundancy uh, efficiencies, uh, then that would be a good idea to work together and collaborative with the school committee. But if you just did a, um, a $1 million
cut today, they'll there'll be uh, there'll be layoffs tomorrow. And and it won't it probably won't change the transportation because we pretty much took the transportation in the school district to the state minimum where we were a little bit overly generous over the last many years but transportation
costs have gone out of control as you know. And also to note, I personally spoke to the inspector general and I als person personally spoke to other districts and asked the state uh legislature to uh investigate uh these these major transportation companies.
And I believe these state um legislators are going to be earmarking two $250,000 in um supplemental um budget money to investigate these large transportation companies for collusion and uh bid rigging. So,
I hope that that happens. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Thank you. Thank council. Council Kogleandro. Thank you. Uh, Mr. President, the mayor actually answered some of my questions. Um, I watched all the ways and means subcommittee meetings. I know how much you all agonized over these cuts and frankly, I
think the M7 cards are they're an alternative, but I worry about safety for the children. I would almost rather them, you know, not take public transportation. But my real question was what we're spending is what we're required to spend. And the other question I had that you answered is does
this really come out of transportation or is it a bigger broader line item? So um Mr. President through you to the councelor uh we spend because of the lottery process which again uh creates an additional burden on transportation. We uh we are going to uh have further
lottery potential changes to the lottery system over the next few years and phase on a phased approach that'll then again further reduce transportation costs. But it's hard to tell a student right now that selected a middle school and has to go across the city through the lottery,
oh by the way now we're not going to offer you transportation. So that would be it would be kind of a you know little bit of a thumb in the eye. We just don't want to do that. But at some point, if we're phasing out the lottery over the next three years, and that's going to be probably voted on next year in the school committee, um that then that will
again reduce uh some of the burden on on cost and give kids more of an opportunity to walk to school and find uh safe pathways. But yes, pretty much we spend now. We're getting much closer to the bare minimum we're required to spend.
Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Thank you, Council Noel. Mr. uh the M7 cards, when will those be put into effect? So, the um Dr. Kelly mentioned it was the $50,000 per middle school and um I want to say it was either 100 or 200 for the high school
level. Uh those will be available for the coming school year. Uh and the students that are were were formally eligible for transportation will have first dibs and then after that it'll go to a uh first come first serve. Uh now just just so you know you everyone for
the crazy amount of money we're spending in high school transportation only 132 kids took the bus. Only 132 kids out of the 2100. And of the 132 we all know that you would see some of those buses after school half full because if they had after school programming or sports
they weren't using the bus in the right home. So we were paying for empty buses in a lot of situations. Now yes I'm not saying that 132 kids aren't going to have to figure it out. Um, but we're going to be able to supplement that with the the the Charlie card, which can be used on the weekend. It's it's a monthly
pay payment that it's $30 a month and so they can use it for after school jobs. They can use it for a lot more than just to and from school. So, I think it's actually a net benefit to the students and the families. Thank you, M. Thank you, council. Council McKenna. Thank you, Mr.
President. Mr. Mayor, uh, do you happen to know how many um, buses Reier owns? Uh Rivera owns a I don't know do we own any large we might own a few of the large buses then we have a lot of the smaller 12 or 14 passenger vehicles but not many. Our fleet's very small and
they're all lease um but it's not it's not very large. Do you know how many um buses we lease? We were leasing about 19. Okay. Thank you very much. And that is now coming down to uh sign it came down significantly. just the high school is three and then um the middle schools
and some other additional was a few more bus routes. So I think we took it down close to nine buses. Thank you councelor Councelor Zambo. Uh thank you Mr. President. I'm told that uh we offer transportation that other
cities and towns don't and and has that been looked at and we why are we one of the only towns that do cities or towns that offer this transportation? It it's millions of dollars and uh you know I I
know a lot of people ask me this question and uh so can you help me? Sure. Uh Mr. president through you to the councelor. Uh for many years, RE has been very um um generous in their their transportation offerings. You know, Malden, for instance, eliminated all non
required uh uh trans district transportation 10 years ago. Spoke to the mayor just last year. I said, "How do you manage this transportation uh spike?" He goes, "I just don't we don't do it. We only we only transport what we're required to." And a lot Everett, a lot of the surrounding communities just don't do it because they can't afford
it. And it's tough to tough to pass on that burden. But it's also, as mentioned, 132 kids for over 30 $360,000. When the buses were costing us $40, $50,000 a year to run, that's one thing. Now that they're 117 a year to run for
two-way transportation, it's it's not it's, you know, you might as well just give a kid $1,000 and say, "Find your way to school." Because at 132 kids for 330 $350,000, do the math, right? You could you could hand them checks and be you'd be better off. Now, I'm not saying we do that, but
we are unfortunately because of the c these bus companies are pricing themselves out of the market. So, because of their their price gouging, we we have to we have to make these decisions. So, I say shame on the bus companies. Yeah. And uh it's just too bad because you're you're you're putting yourself out of business eventually.
Well, I mean, you know, we all want to be generous here, but uh you know, at some point we have to say we've got to bite the bullet here. We can't be offering this cuz we can't pay for it and I can't put a senior out of the house because we're paying for
transportation that's not required. Thank you. Thank you, councelor. So, currently on the floor, we have a a motion to to cut a million. Do you want to still cut that million dollars, counselor? Okay, madame clerk. Shall the committee
of the whole on a motion of council Novaski reduce the school department the rever public schools per schedule 19 budget by $1 million. Councelor Aenzio, no. No. Councelor Cogleandro, no. No. Councelor Gino, no. No. Councelor Gino
Slaya, no. No. Councelor Hass, no. No. Councelor Jeromeo, no. No. Councelor Kelly, no. No. Councelor McKenna, no. No. Council Novaski, yes. Yes. Councelor Zambudo, yes. Yes. And Council President Sylvester, no. No. The reduction fails.
Okay. Do we have any other cuts to the budget anywhere else? City councilors, council McKenna. Yes. I'd just like to say that uh being on the uh ways and means committee, I thought the budget was very lean and I thought there was no
waste and I congratulate you and Rich Fiske for u putting this together. Thank you. Thank you, councelor. Okay. So, so we got a favorable recommendation for
the 2026 budget as presented. All in favor? All opposed? So ordered. Thank you very much. And that's closes business. Okay. See you at six. Part: 2
Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. Good evening. Welcome to Monday, June 23rd, city council meeting. Please stand to salute the flag. 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. Madame clerk, roll call. Roll call the members. Councelor Aenzio here. Here. Council Kogandro here. Here. Council Jino here. Here. Councelor Gino SA here.
Here. Councelor H here. Here. Council Hario absent. Councelor Kelly here. Here. Councelor McKenna here. Councelor Noelski absent. Councelor Zamudo here. Here. And council president Sylvester here. Here.
Quorum is present. Approval of the journal of the regular meeting of June 2nd. All in favor? All opposed? Accepted. Madame clerk. Um, I'd like to request a suspension of rules.
So, under say again, all in favor, all opposed. So, ordered. Um, under the suspension of rules, I'd like everyone to join me in a moment of silence. Um, over the past weekend, we lost a true hero in rever
is a true gentleman, a patriot. He served the United States Marines in Vietnam, returned home to become a rever police member for for many years. He'll always be remembered as a motorcycle cop here in the city and his decorations on Washington and Malden. Can everyone join
me in a moment of silence for Rich? Thank you. While we're on the suspension of rules, madame clerk, can we take up 25185? So, late motion presented by the entire city council that the mayor and city council collaborate on a memorial to be
placed at the corner of Washington Avenue and Malden Street, specifically 661 Washington A. This memorial will be in honor of the late Richard Serino Senior, and the corner will be named Serino's Corner. Council
Kogando. Easiest motion I've ever written. Uh on behalf of all of us, I think uh there's an island right in the middle. That would be beautiful. I Hey, I'll approve anything for that man. even though he wrote me my first traffic ticket ever for not yielding to a
pedestrian on a crosswalk in front of River House of Pizza in my 1988 Plymouth Grand Fury. Um, thanks for being Ricky. We miss you, buddy. And um, he's a legend and he deserves so much more than this. So,
thank you. Any other causes, Mr. Sereno. Okay. Good evening, uh, Mr. President, and through you to the members, Richard J. Sereno, on behalf of the Sereno family, 661 Washington Avenue, River.
Thank you, Mr. President, and through you to the members. I'm here tonight to speak in support of council order 25-185. I'm going to wait a moment for Mr. Cantino. I'm glad my friend Mr. Cantino is still here.
Um I want to thank the honorable members of the council for presenting this motion tonight. Mr. Cantino. Mr. Cantino. Mr. Cantino. We're speaking. Thank you. Thank you. He's going to
finish. He's going to He's going to not speak. Mr. Cantino, thank you very much. The more things change, the more they stay the same. Mr. President, I'm here tonight to speak in order of council order uh 25-185. I want to thank the honorable members of the council for presenting this motion
tonight to name the corner of Washington Avenue and Malden Street in honor of Richard Thomas Sereno Senior to be designated as Sereno's corner. On behalf of the Sereno family, I want to express our profound greatness and appreciation to the members of this community and
beyond. The overwhelming love and support we have received over the last week is a testament to the man my grandfather was. From the texts, calls, voicemails, and social media comments to the messages to the flowers and American flags that were placed along the fence
on his Washington Avenue home to the stories about how he impacted the lives of others in ways we never knew. Uh to the amazing outpouring in support of helping my grandmother in the face of uh in the face of this loss uh through the generosity of donations to the GoFundMe
in her honor. All of these have helped to give us strength and some comfort in the face of an unthinkable, unfathomable tragedy. I also want to express our family's thankfulness and appreciation to the first responders who were on scene that day. the Revier Fire
Department and members of the Chelsea Winthre Malden and Massport Fire Departments, the members of the Revier Police Department and particularly Officer Anthony Matoss for his kindness and compassion in accompanying us to the hospital. The Red Cross, our mayor,
Mayor Keefe, Adrien Maguire and members of his administration's emergency response team who have provided valuable support to those displaced. The Boston Sparks Association who provided support for our first responders on scene. Mike Zachary and the team at Action for their
efforts in securing the property and the Washington Avenue Malden Street neighbors for their concern and prayers as that fire was raging. We are truly blessed to call Rever home. In my decade of working with the city, although I had seen how amazing the people of this community are and how we
pulled together in times of tragedy and despair, our family had been fortunate enough to never be on the receiving end of such a traumatic event until last Tuesday. We feel the the community and friends beyond in rever and beyond collectively have our back and it means
the world to us from the bottom of our hearts. Thank you. My grandfather would have been truly blown away by the outpouring of care, concern and sadness that his passing and these circumstances has brought about. He would be honored, humbled and touched by these tributes. And as his family, he made us proud in
life and has continued to make us proud now. For a man who grew up in Rivier, who served in the Marines during the Vietnam era, and who had over a 30-year career in law enforcement, we cannot make sense that a houseire in his beloved home is what would ultimately lead to his untimely passing. For nearly
70 years, the Sereno family has called 661 Washington Avenue home. My grandfather took great pride in his home, as it was his house in which his parents and siblings created many happy memories. It's hard to imagine that corner without his presence. In more recent years, the corner lot in the
house has become recognizable around the area as the house with all the inflatables. Papa began the inflatable tradition as a seasonal way to make his younger grandchildren smile. But he ended up finding more joy in them than we did as us kids got older. He loved seeing the smiles and joy that the wacky
holiday displays brought to people, members of the public, and his family alike. My grandfather was a good man. He was the best public grandson a a grandson or granddaughter could ask for. He was a hardworking family man, a patriot, a public servant, an all-around
kind guy. I want to thank all of you for naming uh for for this proposal to name Sereno's corner an amazing tribute and testament to retired officer Richard T. Serino, Senior, Richie, Dad, and Papa. Thank you for the leeway, Mr. President.
Ricky, real quick. Um, I had the honor of giving this uh a coin and such to your grandfather as I was the VSO, so I'm sure it didn't make it through the fire. I'd like to present it you with one on behalf of this council and Mayor Keefe. Um, if you would accept this,
please [Applause] on the motion. All in favor? All opposed? So ordered. Uh, well on the suspension rules. Madame
clerk, can we take up 25124, please? Calendar item number 22, motion presented by council McKenna that the city council move to confirm the appointment of Judith Goslin to the affordable housing trust fund board. Council McKenna,
I would like to um vote have the council vote on it tonight, please. Get out of here. Watch out. Sorry. All right. We're going to take a recess, please.
Good evening. Mr. President, good evening, Judith. Good evening. Thank you so much for having me tonight. Mr. President, may I Hi, Judith. I'm the chairman of the appointments committee. I'm just sitting
in the wrong seat. Uh, I should be up there. No, I'm only kidding. Uh, could you just give me a little um biography about yourself, please? Sure. Um, I'm Judy Goslin. I live here in New um and I've
worked in corporate. I've been with um in high-tech for about 25 years. I did elder care for many years and I've done a lot of um I've had positions with data analyst and opened up um a medical
marijuana dispensary back in the 2017 and now I'm in I've been in real estate for the last few years and that kind of brought me to this position. I because of my clients. I do a lot of research
for them be they buyer se or sellers and I had a lot of questions. So I started off at the building department and worked my way and then I met Tom and and after talking with Tom and coming to some of the presentations here at city hall I saw what was going on and I was intrigued with it. He introduced me to
Joe Deg Graalis and here I am. Great. Thank you for coming tonight. You sound very qualified and I just want to say do a good job for the city. I'm very much looking forward to it. Thank you so much. Thank you. Thank you. Any other counselors?
On the recommendation for Judith Goslin to the affordable housing trust fund. All in favor? All opposed. So ordered. Back to the regular order business. Public hearings. Calendar item number three. Hearing called is ordered on a
loan order for phase 16 construction INI capacity improvement mass D for calendar year 25 construction project number 1 19086 petitioners proponents anyone good evening council Richard Visque CFO
281 Broadway. I am here in support of this loan order to continue our compliance with uh consent decree and uh recommend favorable approval. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Visque. Any other proponents? Anyone in favor?
Opponents? Anyone here in opposition? Hearing none. Closing that side. City councilors. Council Zambo. Thank you, Mr. President. We all long for the end of this consent
decree. Can't come soon enough. Thanks. Thank you, councelor. Madame Clerk, I believe we have two roll calls on this motion. If we can roll call. Shall the city council approve a loan order in the amount of $4 million for construction
project number 1 19086 faves phase 16 construction? Councelor Aenzio? Yes. Yes. Councelor Cogleandro. Yes. Yes. Yes. Councelor Gino. Yes. Yes. Councelor Gino SA. Yes. Yes. Councelor Hass. Yes. Yes. Council Hario. Yes. Yes. Councelor
Kelly. Yes. Yes. Council McKenna. Yes. Yes. Council Noveski. Yes. Yes. Councelor Zambudo. Yes. Yes. And Council President Sylvester. Yes. Yes. The loan order has been approved. Uh next up is going to be the resolution. Shall the city council approve a resolution relative to phase 16
construction project number 1 19086? Councelor Aenzio. Yes. Yes. Councelor Kagglandro. Yes. Yes. Councelor Jino. Yes. Yes. Councelor Gino SA. Yes. Yes. Councelor Hass. Yes. Yes. Councelor Jammo. Yes. Yes. Councelor Kelly. Yes.
Yes. Councelor McKenna. Yes. Yes. Councelor Novaski. Yes. Yes. Councelor Zambudo. Yes. Yes. And council president Sylvestri. Yes. Yes. The resolution has been approved. Oops. Calendar item number four. Hearing called is ordered by the River City
Council to revoke for cause chapter 148, license number 221, 870 Broadway, granted June 14th, 1926. Proponents. Anyone here in favor? Proponents.
Hearing none. Closing that side. Opponents. Anyone here against opposition? hearing none. Closing that side. City councilors. Council Cogleandro. Thank you, Mr. President. Uh, two things on this revocation. One, they're not
allowed to have two licenses for one location. So, at the end of the day, this is pretty much housekeeping. Uh, also, the license holder, the person responsible for it, uh, has no interest in it to my understanding. So, I hope we can, uh, vote this out favorably. Thank
you. Thank you. Who are the other city councilors? Okay, madame clerk. Shall the city council revoke chapter 148 license number 221 for 870 Broadway granted on June 14th, 1926? Councelor
Aenzio, yes. Yes. Councelor Cogleandro. Yes. Yes. Councelor Janino. Yes. Yes. Councelor Gino Slaya. Yes. Yes. Councelor Hass. Yes. Yes. Councelor Haramio. Yes. Yes. Councelor Kelly. Yes. Yes. Yes. Councelor McKenna. Yes. Yes. Council Novaski. Yes. Yes. Council
Zambudo. Yes. Yes. And council president Sylvester. Yes. Yes. The chapter 148 license for 870 Broadway has been revoked. Calendar item number five. Hearing called is ordered on the application of 114 Shirley LLC 78 Mil Street Middleton
Mass. requesting a special permit from the River City Council to raise the existing non-conforming structures and construct a five-story mixeduse development consisting of 78 residential units and two commercial units at 114 Shirley Avenue. Petitioner,
Mr. President, honorable council Joseph Kogio One Sprag Street Ree representing the applicant 114 Shirley LLC uh with this uh petition before you for a special permit. Um the council is uh probably aware this is a uh revision of
a previously approved um uh similar application just a couple months back. Uh additional land has been acquired uh by the applicant and uh they are coming before you with a new plan of similar design. Um the the uh plans uh detailed
plans have been submitted uh initially through site plan review. uh we are prepared to make a full presentation and answer all questions. Uh assuming this is going to subcommittee, we're ready to move on and uh and meet there and uh and uh make our full presentation at that
time unless there's any questions tonight, which we're obviously happy to answer. Thank you, Council. Thank you. Do we have any proponents? Anyone here in favor? Any proponents? Closing that side. Any opponents? Anyone
here in opposition? Name and record, ma'am. Name and address, please, for the record. Jan Dumis, 50 Walnut Avenue, River. Uh, I live on Walnut Avenue. I am um adjacent to the building. Uh, it is
Kitty Corner to me. Um, first off, the sixstory building is going to cut off sunlight to my apartment on the uh third floor off 50 Walnut Avenue. Uh secondly, I'm concerned because there is only going to be uh two affordable units in
this new um I believe 78 unit building that they are proposing. It's also going to completely cut off sunlight um to both um 111 and 112 Shuly Avenue.
uh they are going to be um pretty much up against a wall next door to them and that is is something that when I spoke to them a few days ago they really didn't know anything about. Um it's going to be um very large right
up against the sidewalk and I don't know um really what they're going to do um for the for the community to kind of you know help us with say water coming off the building. We've
got some large buildings in the neighborhood already that um when water comes off, they've got some push outs that water comes down onto the sidewalk and creates ice. And without seeing any of your new designs, I don't know if we're going to have that same problem
there. Um it becomes very windy on Shirley with all of these new buildings. I want to see what you're going to do about that. And I'd also like to see a little bit more affordable housing. The rents in our neighborhood are going up and up and up. I want to see more affordable housing, especially now that
you've taken yet another property on Shirley Avenue. You're asking for a much bigger building than you asked for back in April. Yes, I know I keep coming up here time and time again and asking for affordable housing. But Ward 2 and
Shirley used to be the most affordable neighborhood in River and now it's becoming the most expensive neighborhood in River. And yes, I know it's now becoming also the neighborhood that everybody wants to eat in.
I've been told that, too. But I would like it to still be the neighborhood that the community gets to live in. So, can you please, now that you've taken another property, give us a few more affordable units and maybe come and
talk to the community a little bit more and tell us what we're getting into. I'm part of an organization, the River Community Committee. We would love you to come and talk to us. We can help you talk to the community more and and be a
partner in the community and tell us what it is that we are getting into. We're really nice people. We don't bite unless you ask nicely. Um but we want to see what we're getting into and we want to see what it is we're going to see. We're
we're about to lose one of our favorite grocery stores. Um we're about to lose a very nice neighbor and I really don't want to see another monolith that's going to cut out the sunshine. That's going to
raise our rents even more in the community and that's going to take away affordable housing. It's really all I have to say. Thank you, Miss Dumis. Any other opponents? Anyone here against?
Name and address for the record, please. My name is Travis Alpert. I'm a member of East Coast International Church, 19 Cooler Street, River, Massachusetts. Thank you for having me. I I'm interested in seeing your plans, seeing the plans, and seeing the proposals. Um
because I'm a little tall. Um, I'm very interested in seeing the plans and the proposals. I I don't want to propose some, you know, oppose something that could be good uh for the community, but
I'm probably not the only one whose feathers have been ruffled by what just happened in April. You know, uh, where certain things were teased, nothing, you know, came through. The community was not informed. The
community could not show up. I did not appreciate that it was downplayed. Sunlight is a big deal. You know, I've lived somewhere before where I looked out my window and I just saw a wall and that's like living in a prison, you know. Um, and if the plants can be great and it can be great for the community,
then it can be great for the community. But if it cannot, there are so many there are so many nonprofits that are doing this well. you know, Gateway North, Harbor Light Homes. There's so many people that are doing this well
with mixed income living and doing it sustainably and successfully. We are losing people. I was I was talking with with with C council McKenna and uh I used to live in Beachmont. I couldn't afford it. My rent went up 50%. you know, so just so
tonight where where it's going to be this is going to go to zoning where where you'll be able to come and and discuss more, but right now you have to have you you have to either be opposing or positive. So where you're in the middle, I suggest you wait for the zoning meeting. Come up to the zoning
meeting, see the plans and what is laid out and this way you can give an informed opin opinion at that time. Yeah, I'm opposing the momentum of this is what I'm opposing. Okay. Thank you. Thank you. Any other opposition? Anyone else opposing?
City councilors, council has. Thank you, Mr. President. Maybe Mr. Ktoio could answer this for me. Um, I think back in when was it, April, like the gentleman said, um, there had been
talks about the public arts commission being based in there. I know that's something we talked about. the gentleman from the commission seemed excited at the prospect of that. Is that something that you've heard anymore about? I I haven't heard any more
either way on that. Um this is a a a revision I actually kind of completed once the the uh the prior special permit was issued. I'm now just coming back in. Uh I know it was something that was on the table and discussed. Um, I'm going
to be uh talking to the ward counselor and uh and in preparation for the uh subcommittee meeting. Um, so we'll go through all of that and but I I I do recall that that was um something that was discussed and and proposed. Has there been any talk about what the two
commercial what the two businesses will be or the two um not not more since the last meeting councelor? Yeah. And um so it went from 50 to 78 units. Is that correct? There was there's another parcel that had been obtained um and that's why the expansion was uh apply is
applied for and any chance that additional units um affordable senior housing I know we are discussing that with council Novaski. Great. Yes, we are. You're welcome. Thank you. Thank you councel. Council Novaski. Thank you Mr. President. Mr. president.
Um the former, you know, the the vote we had before was for a smaller unit and uh project was sold to to Mario and um he then additionally purchased the building
next to a three family house which would have been totally enveloped by the two buildings that are there now. So, it works out better for everybody as far as getting rid of that uh threetory family building. But
realize too, I still have to have a neighborhood meeting, which I always always have, and let everybody see what's going on, ask questions as I they did tonight, and uh and see what's going to happen and see the plans, and they'll
be produced at that time. So, um I'm looking at the week of July 14th to have the neighborhood meeting and we'll set that up. I'm not sure which night yet. Uh but we'll we'll work on that and set it up and then when the
next zoning meeting is uh in July, I suspect we'll have that at the July meeting and um we just move ahead from there. So, thank you. Thank you, Council. Councelor Arenzio. Thank you, Mr. President. I seem to remember uh I understand there's going
to be two affordable uh units there. Was there an additional uh contribution to the affordable housing trust fund that was discussed? Mr. Chairman, if I may, I can I can answer that. Okay. That was with the prior owner and uh I get they uh Mario
made a uh an agreement with him. So, uh, we're going to do the two affordable units for veterans and one affordable straight out. And that additional money was absorbed as far for that additional
uh, so the 20,000 contribution to the affordable housing is now absorbed in a third unit into that third unit. Okay. Thank you. Thank you, counselor. Any other counselors? This will be referred to zoning.
Public comment pursuant to chapter 402 of the acts of 1965. Public comment. If you're a Reier resident and you'd like to speak on anything on the agenda, please come up. Give your name, address, and the motion you'd like to speak on. You have two
minutes. Name, address, and motion. Ma'am Dean Dumis, 51 Wallet Avenue. Hang on a second. I just have to roll it up. It is motion um 25 I'm sorry I didn't bring my glasses up. 25180 motion
presented by councelor McKenna regarding the uh reverse 911 call residents reminding the fireworks are illegal. Um the R fire has it. Can we also remind the river police department um to
respond to fireworks calls? I have a lot of difficulty um with making fireworks calls to the River Police Department. They are um usually complain back to me that it's the 4th of July and that I should take a
sleeping pill and go to sleep. Um and uh I know that in the past we have also ma had um the city council make motions about um clean up of fireworks debrisze. Um, I know that the uh bill of rights uh
has a law against uh search and seizure, but um do our police look for when they find evidence of fireworks debris, do they search for any additional fireworks? Because when I make complaints about
fireworks in our neighborhood, and there are a lot of fireworks in our neighborhood, do the police search to find out if there are any additional fireworks? because I will frequently make multiple fireworks complaints on the same nights.
And yes, I know I'm watching. I'm good. Um, and usually they are from the same people. Sometimes you will find people with large amounts of fireworks and I will make two or three calls in a couple of
hours. So, can we ask the police department to do searches when they get fireworks calls? Is that at all possible to add to this? And thank you, Officer McKenna, for doing this um reverse call. Thank you so
very, very much. Thank you, M. I mean, I don't know why I just called you officer. I was an officer in 1981, so you're you're on you're on track. Thank you. Thank you, Councelor McKenna. Thank you. Anyone else?
Okay. Thank you very much, Madam Clerk. So, we're going to suspend the rules uh on a suspension of rules. All in favor? All opposed? So, ordered. We're going to go to um order number nine and take up the legislative affairs subcommittee report.
Council Argenzio. Thank you, Mr. President. There were five items before ush last week. The first one was m mainly a housekeeping item. It was an ordinance removing outdated language from title two of the revised ordinances. Um, and we looked
favorably on that and I asked for a roll call to uh to uh look favorably. Order on a second reading. Order on the third and final reading. Roll call for engrossment inment.
Shall the city council approve an ordinance further amending the revised ordinances of the city of River removing outdated language from title 2? Councelor Aenzio. Yes. Yes. Councelor Cogleandro. Yes. Yes. Yes. Councelor Jino. Yes. Yes. Councelor Gino SA. Yes.
Yes. Councelor Hass. Yes. Yes. Councelor Harammo. Yes. Yes. Councelor Kelly. Yes. Yes. Councelor McKenna. Yes. Yes. Council Noelski. Yes. Yes. Council Zambudo. Yes. Yes. And Council President Sylvester. Yes. Yes. The ordinance is engrossed and ordained. Thank you. The
second item uh before us was an ordinance further amending the Rever revised ordinances relative to financial impact statements. This was raised to $10,000. We look favorably on this and I ask for a roll call in the affirmative.
Ordered on a second reading. Ordered on the third and final reading. Roll call for engrossment and ordainment. Shall the city council approve an ordinance further amending the revised ordinances of the city of River relative to financial impact statements?
Councelor Aenzio. Yes. Yes. Council Kaggleandro. Yes. Yes. Council Gino. Yes. Yes. Council Gino Slaya. Yes. Yes. Councelor Hass. Yes. Yes. Councelor Harammo. Yes. Yes. Councelor Kelly. Yes. Yes. Councelor McKenna. Yes. Yes.
Council Novaski. Yes. Yes. Councelor Zambudo. Yes. Yes. And Council President Sylvester. Yes. Yes. The ordinance is engrossed and ordained. Thank you. Uh the third item, an ordinance further amending chapter 8.05 of the Rever revised ordinances relative
to the regulation of vacant buildings. This increase the fines for commercial uh vacant buildings. We look favorably on this. I'd like a call for a roll call in the affirmative. Audit on a second reading. Audit on the third and final reading.
Roll call for engrossment inment. Shall the city council approve an ordinance further amending the revised ordinances of the city of River relative to the regulation of vacant buildings? Councelor Arenzio. Yes. Yes. Councelor Kogandro. Yes. Yes. Councelor Janino.
Yes. Yes. Councelor Gino Slaya. Yes. Yes. Councelor Hass. Yes. Yes. Councelor Hario. Yes. Yes. Councelor Kelly. Yes. Yes. Councelor McKenna. Yes. Councelor Nobasellski. Yes. Yes. Council Zamutoo. Yes. Yes. And Council President
Sylvester. Yes. Yes. The ordinance is engrossed and ordained. Thank you. The fourth item before us is an ordinance further amending chapter 12.2 20 poles, wires, and cables of the rever revised ordinances. Uh we had a lot of discussion on this and we felt it
prudent to leave it in committee. Uh we're going to get some more information on that and seek some help from our grant uh excuse us, our policy writer uh and uh come up with a policy that uh um
concerns the engineer uh letting the wad counselor know uh when uh National Grid wants to put a new pole or uh conduit in their neighborhood. So, we're going to leave this in committee.
So, will the council to leave this in committee? All in favor? All opposed? So, ordered. The fifth item was an ordinance further amending appendix C salaries of the rever revised ordinances which provides for parity salary adjustments in concert with the recently
approved unit A and unit B collective bargaining agreements. This applies to the exempt employees. We look favorably on this and I ask for a roll call in the affirmative. Order on a second reading.
Order on the third and final reading. Roll call for engrossment and shall the city council approve an ordinance further amending the revised ordinances of the city of River relative to parody salary adjustments of appendix C. Councelor Aenzio. Yes. Yes. Councelor
Kogandro. Yes. Yes. Councelor Gino. Yes. Yes. Yes. Councelor Go SA. Yes. Yes. Councelor Hass. Yes. Yes. Councelor Jammo. Yes. Yes. Councelor Kelly. Yes. Yes. Councelor McKenna. Yes. Yes. Councelor Novaski. Yes. Yes. Councelor Zambudo. Yes. Yes. And council president
Sylvester. Yes. Yes. The ordinance is engrossed and ordained. Thank you, Madam Clerk. Back to the regular order of business. And if we could take up uh number 825159. Roll call. What do which one which item are we taking up? And
we go back to number eight, right? Oh, yeah. Okay. Yeah. Yeah. Up next is the committee of the whole report. And the committee of the whole we had
three items which we took up. They were okay where are they? First was the revolving funds for 2026. Um that was it got a favorable approval.
And do we call a roll on it? And we'll call a roll. Shall the city council adopt the FY26 revolving funds table? Councelor Aenzio. Yes. Yes. Councelor Cogniandro. Yes. Yes. Councelor Janino. Yes. Yes. Councelor Gino SA. Yes. Yes. Councelor
H. Yes. Yes. Councelor Jamo. Yes. Yes. Councelor Kelly. Yes. Yes. Councelor McKenna. Yes. Yes. Councelor Nobaski. Yes. Yes. Councelor Zambudo. Yes. Yes. And council president Sylvester. Yes. Yes. The revolving funds table for FY26
has been approved. We also had a favorable recommendation for the FY26 water and soore rates. And if we could have a roll call on that. Pursuant to section 13.04.130 04.130 of the rea revised ordinances. Shall the
city council adopt a water rate schedule effective for billings as of July 1st, 2025, $55 per 100 cubic feet for residential property owners, and $8.37 per 100 cubic feet for commercial property owners. Councelor Aenzio, yes.
Yes. Council Kagglandro, yes. Yes. Council Janino, no. No. Council Gino SA, yes. Yes. Councelor Hass. Yes. Yes. Councelor Haramio. Yes. Yes. Councelor Kelly. Yes. Yes. Councelor McKenna. Yes.
Yes. Councelor Vasilski. No. No. Council Zamutoo. No. No. Voting no. And Council President Sylvester. Yes. Voting yes. The water rates for FY26 have been adopted.
We also had a communication with a recommend a favorable recommendation for the FY26 budget appropriation. Mr. President, Council Kleandro, may I if if you don't mind. Yes. I just want to thank the council. I want to thank all the department heads. We tried something
new this year. Um really looking forward to feedback on it, ways that we can improve it. So, um, again, just want to thank everybody for entertaining the new change and and if anyone wants to discuss a different way to do it, I'm open to that. Thank you. Thank you,
councelor. It seemed to go seamless and kudos to you for running a seamless budget process. Thank you. And madame clerk, on the favorable recommendation for the FY2026 is passed. Roll call. Whereas pursuant
to Mass General Laws chapter 44 section 32, the mayor submitted a proposed budget for fiscal year 26 to the city council on June 2nd 25. And whereas the city council held advertised public hearings to consider the proposed budget on June 5th and 10th and any other dates
necessary as advertised in the public hearing notice. And whereas upon motion the city council accepted the budget as submitted by the mayor after any reductions otherwise separately voted on if any there were none. Now therefore be it voted by the city
council of the city of Rivier that the city council of the city of Rivier shall adopt and approve the budget for FY26 the sum of $286,794,99 which sum shall be appropriated and raised by taxation and other sources as listed in the approving budget for the
city of River FY26 um uh budget appropriation order. Councelor Aenzio. Yes. Yes. Council Kogleandro. Yes. Yes. Council Judino. Yes. Yes. Council Gino SA. Yes. Yes. Councelor Hass. Yes. Yes. Council Harammo. Yes. Yes. Councelor
Kelly. Yes. Yes. Council McKenna. Yes. Yes. Council Novaski. Yes. Yes. Councelor Zambudo. Yes. Yes. And Council President Sylvester. Yes. Yes. The FY26 budget has been adopted as presented. [Applause]
calendar item number 14, communication from the city auditor requesting that all income derived from energy credits and reimbursements received as part of construction of the new River High School be directed and dedicated ated to the high school stabilization fund.
Mr. Visque. Good evening. Richard Visqueke, 21 Broadway, city CFO. Uh before you is a motion that um I recommend approval on and this is to um say that if we get any energy credits
while we are constructing new River High School, I'd like to dedicate those uh energy credits and reimbursements to the high school stabilization account. Uh primarily to fund for future debt payments for that school and uh I'd recommend approval. Thank you very much. Happy to answer any questions. Thank
you, Mr. Visque. Council hero. uh Mr. through you Mr. President to Mr. for Viske. Uh you say this is only during construction. Is there I know that uh during the design conversations that we had earlier last year, we we had
a conversation about any energy offsets from the building itself. Um and we asked the the design firm to consider those. Would that be included under this communication?
Yeah, I'm I'm assuming that this would cover all of the energy reimbursements. I don't know about the ones that would come year-over-year, but I know that it's estimated that there'd be about $5 million of energy credits due to the geothermal construction of the high school and and other credits that were
available. And I just wanted to kind of take those revenues and set them aside before they got mixed into the overall budget. So, um, but we can always amend if if it does, um, if there's any additional dedicated revenue sources we'd like to put in that fund. Is the
city planning on doing any tracking of, um, potential energy savings over just building a regular building without the geothermal or the other energy uh,
gadgets? I don't know how to explain. I would probably defer that to the school building committee and the OPM. I I don't want to speak and and misinform anybody, but I believe at this point the the plan is to uh they're not allowing gas into that site. So, uh the idea
would be to do geothermal, which creates some very large energy credits that we can consider revenue, and that revenue I'd like to dedicate to the high school stabilization fund. Okay. Thank you. Thank you, council. Any other
city councils? No. Madam clerk, can we get a roll call? Shall the city council dedicate 100% of all revenues derived from energy credits and reimbursements received as part of construction of the new River High School collected under Massachusetts
general laws chapter 64L to the high school stabilization fund established under Massachusetts General Laws chapter 40 section B effective FY26 beginning July 1st of 25 or any other action relative there too. Councelor Agenzio.
Yes. Yes. Councelor Kaggleandro. Yes. Yes. Councelor Jino. Yes. Yes. Councelor Garino SA. Yes. Yes. Councelor Hass. Yes. Yes. Councelor Harammo. Yes. Yes. Councelor Kelly. Yes. Yes. Councelor McKenna. Yes. Yes. Council Noveski. Yes.
Yes. Council Zambo? Yes. Yes. And Council President Sylvester? Yes. Yes. The motion is approved. Calendar item number 15. communication from the CFO notifying notifying the city council that the retirement board is recommending a 3% cola increase for
retirees effective FY26. Mr. Visqueke, good evening. Uh Richard Visqueke, CFO 281 Broadway. Um this is an annual um coler increase that um we vote at the
retirement board. Um I I represent uh the retirement board as the chairman and um the 3% raise is the maximum raise we can give and uh it's subject to um uh notification to the council. I don't necessarily think you have to approve it
per se, but happy to have you vote along with the goal of uh uh 3% on the first 13,000 which you'll see in the next motion. We're looking to raise that base to $14,000. This is just simply to vote the 3% core and uh we'll come up and
talk about the 14,000 next. Thank you. Any city councils received and placed on file? Calendar item number 16, communication from the city auditor requesting that the cola base for all retirees be
increased from 13,000 to $14,000. Mr. Visque. Thank you again. Um enclosed with your council packet is um a motion to increase the cola base for all retirees from 13,000 to $14,000.
Um this has been something that's been talked about for a while with our seniors. Um for those who don't know, when we give the cola base increase, it's only on that first 13,000. So, if your pension is $50,000, the caller only goes to the first 13,000. Um, as
required by the city ordinance and by Mass General Law, in order to raise that up to $14,000, um, we need to bring it before the council for favorable approval. Um, it is estimated that that long-term obligation will result in $1.7 million
additional unfunded liability to the pension obligation. We did adopt a policy that um gradually increases the cola base based upon benchmarks. We have hit 70 70% of our unfunded liability
which triggered the $14,000 uh colar increase. And for every uh additional 5% that we're funded, we're proposing that we would raise it 15,000 16,000 with the goal to get to 18,000 by the time we're fully funded. So this is the first step and hopefully what will be many colar
increases for our retirees and I strongly favor uh in favor of this motion. Thank you. Thank you Mr. Fiske. Any city councilors? Councelor Jenzio. Thanks. Uh madame clerk could you recuse me from this vote please?
Should be noted that if any counselors are going to take a vote if they're in the retirement system, uh the city of Rivier retirement system, uh you can just say recused during the roll call. Okay. You're not good.
Okay. Madame clerk, can we get a roll call? Shall the city council approve an increase in the cola base for all retirees from 13,000 to $14,000 pursuant to Massachusetts general laws chapter 32 section 103J. Councelor Aenzio is
recused. Councelor Kaggleandro. Yes. Yes. Councelor Jino recused. Recused. Councelor Goaya. Yes. Yes. Councelor H. Yes. Yes. Councelor Jammo is absent. Councelor Kelly. Yes. Yes. Yes. Council
McKenna recused. Council Novaski. Yes. Yes. Council Zambudo. Yes. Yes. And council president Sylvester. Yes. Yes. The cola base has been increased to 14,000. Calendar item number 17. Communication from the city auditor requesting an
appropriation from free cash in the amount of $140,000 for the sand sculpting festival. Mr. Visier. Thank you, Mr. President. Um, this is an annual request uh in order to help fund the annual sand sculpting festival and I recommend approval. Thank
you. Any city councilors? Councelor Zamutoo. Uh, thank you, Mr. President. Uh, originally I had planned to uh try to cut this from 140,000 to 100,000. After a discussion with the mayor, I compromised and I'm
only looking to cut it $20,000 now. So, it's $120,000. Mr. Mayor, Mr. President, um I appreciate the discussion or the heads up, uh M counselor, and I I won't state your views. I think I know
why you're you're suggesting this cut um because of some fundraising sources that they've refused to use. I won't get in the middle of that, but I do want to just let the council know that uh over the years the city has used free cash to help stabilize or um keep this
partnerships um event going each year. I think we're at year 21. Um, and you know, if you go back 20 years, you know, Tom Emersino and the crew that really started this partnership, um, the cost to the partnership to run the event for
from a state police standpoint in the in the DCR standpoint was probably $50,000, $25,000. Um, this year the bill is $223,000 for the state entity from the partnership. Um because of the
inability to guarantee paying that $223,000, uh the city has partnered with the partnership and and the state and we are offering to pay that whole $223,000. The caveat was we applied for a grant through the Mass Gaming Commission that
was to help pay for public safety and um to help subsidize some of the the fund the the the the police state police detail. Uh we were able to receive a s significant amount of money from the gaming commission this year and we haven't money that we have not received
in prior years and uh also subsidizing it with the standard um free cash appropriation that we've done pretty much every year. There was even at the height when money was really flowing with the opera funds uh there was up to 175,000. So, with some fiscal
responsibility, uh, we're only supporting it with $140,000 and then the additional gaming commission revenues to to pay the entire $22,000 detail payment on top of the inind contribution that the city does to help support this event. We all know that the
event is a fan favorite every year. It attracts, you know, between 500 and 750,000 uh visitors. It really uh it's a boon to the local economy. And of course it is it is s it is emblematic of what the city of REA has when it comes to a
you know the uh oldest uh and first public beach. So I do not want it cut but I understand um councelor Zambudo's um reasoning. Again I'm not asking for you to to to accept it. Um I but I do I do understand what he's saying. Uh and
we have a good relationship. So I'd rather keep it whole. that if he's championing for a $20,000 cut, all I'll say is um we're going to have to find we did enter an agreement this year to pay that full price. So, the city's going to pay for it. I'll have to find it somewhere else. Um it's probably, you
know, in the net of 15 to $17,000 depending on how the grant shakes up. Um so, thank you, Mr. Mayor. Council Zambo, uh we got a few counselors that would like to speak. Would would you be okay with that before we Oh, sure. No, absolutely.
and then I'd like a chance to speak again. Absolutely. Council Hario. Thank you, Mr. President. Through to the member and actually um through you to um Vice President Maguire from the partnership who's here. I just have a few few questions. Um I guess for both.
So you Mr. Mayor, if I'm understanding from your just just previous statement, um do the city's been subsidizing this in some shape way, shape, or form in the last few maybe decade. Yeah, correct.
So, there's been a free crash cash appropriation for as long as I can remember when I was on the council. Again, it went up as high as $175,000 in straight free cash. and the city does not charge the partnership for its own public safety response when it comes to
police and fire. Um, and so I guess my my question uh which it may be happening, it may not be, but uh I I see here on on the partnerships uh advisory board there's 23 members. Of these 23 members, uh how many are appointed by
either the the city council or the or the mayor? And is this something that we should uh that the partnership would consider given that clearly we're in partnership with the partnership and that it might be good for someone from the city to actually be you know either
appointed by the council, the mayor or both uh to be on this board to to participate. So let me say that we we do that. We collaborate with the mayor that's in. We have um a board member that works in the mayor's office. That's um Linda De Mayo.
Um we're in, you know, constant contact with the mayor's office as far as um you know, things that we can do better. Does he have any recommendations for us? So, we already do do that. I think yeah, I guess and and this is something to take back to your board, but would the partnership be amendable to having a a
designated cityapp appointed either again the council, the mayor, or both member on the partnership? Um, you know, as a extension of you don't have to answer that now, I guess. Yeah, you'd have to bring it to your board. I'm not a member of the
partnership. I can tell you that it is a um year-round board. It's a nonprofit organization, as you can imagine. Uh, no one takes a salary. Um, I support them heavily when it comes to just being at their events, promoting them. Uh, my wife recently uh uh was head of the
cheerleading board in the city of Riviera for many years. A PTO uh and PTA mom uh recently this year uh was uh asking if they needed more support. She has a few friends on the board. She has joined the board as a non- voting member to make sure that there's no conflicts.
Uh and she is just a supporting member. So, if you see her at the event, she's actually working them for free, selling goods and and supporting the partnership. Linda in my office is a voting member. She has been for probably uh eight or nine years. Also, another member that you see when they have events. Um their their volunteer board
um you know, like most boards, 20 members, let's be honest, five of them show up to everything. The other 15 show up when they can. And every board needs that. I'm not I'm not discounting their their their abilities, but we all know that it's usually a small core. Uh council has you're on the baseball
board. You know what it's like. Three people show up to everything. The other 10 show up when they can. Um and that's the same for the partnership. Adrian shows up for everything. There's a few that are there for everything and then the few that aren't. But I think that a counselor would probably be great. Maybe u similar to a non- voting member in a
supporting role just to make sure that to pose no conflicts would probably be a good good idea. Yeah, I I guess I just bring it up because we're we're in this what looks like now long-standing relationship. So, it might be good to formalize it a little bit in that we you
know you know for whatever reason if anyone on this das or even any mayor has additional questions they're they're there and they're getting you know real time information about what's happening um on this on this um on the board and
whatnot. Uh but you know again take something to take back you know. Can I say though um our bylaws say that no um city um official can be a voting member.
Um and you know to be an advisory member we have 11 voting voting members and the rest are advisory members. is do your and again this is why I say maybe something written back but do your bylaws have uh say anything about an appointment being made by a city
official or or body I mean we'll have to discuss it but it's yeah that's what I'm asking it's a a nonprofit board helped to be supported by the city I'll have to bring it up to the board I don't feel strongly that I mean we get council
support we're pretty transparent I you know but I'll bring Yep. Great. Thank you. Thank you, council. Council Novasowski. Thank you, Mr. President. Mr. President, uh I know where Council Herlo is coming from, but let me say this. I've been
involved with the partnership from day one of the sand sculpts. It's in my ward and I've been I go down there from day one when the sand is being dropped. And I've been doing this for what 15 16
years. Is it more now? 21. 21 now. Yeah. Lose track. I'm having so much fun. Uh, but I enjoy going down there. They know I'm there all the time, you know. I usually, you know, talk to counselors when, you know, donations come up. If they want to give me the money to give
to them, I do that, you know. So, I'm involved in almost everything. Not none of the big decisions, but they know I'm there helping them and watching them and making things happen the right way. So
that's the way I feel about that and uh as far as the cut is concerned, you know, I'm and the amendment I'm going to vote no. Thank you, councelor. Councelor Coglandro. Thank you, Mr. President. Uh through you to Mayor Keefe, you mentioned boost to local economy. Uh how
much does this event bring to the city or what do you what do you just No, it's it's it's definitely a metric that we want to do more to generate uh actual revenues. Uh, but we're a city and we have a beach. It's a tourist attraction. We have to have attractions to make
people want to come here outside of the beach. That's obviously a great part of it. But we, you know, we wouldn't be a beach community without having events. The city of Riviera to put on this event of the magnitude. I wouldn't want to do it, right? So, I need the partnership. It's, we all need the partnership to do
it. It is a heavy lift. They do events all year long. So they do the whether it's the pumpkin dash, the winter wonderland, the kite festival. This this this one event is subsidizing the rest of the year for uh the partnership and the other events. Kids love the partner
the uh kite event is 100% free. Kids come uh they they they give out hundreds of kites. They enjoy it. They get out there in the in in the um beginning of May. They do, of course, the pumpkin dash, another that is a registration event, but there's also other free uh tie-ins to that. But there's definitely
a um an an ad to the economy. The restaurants in 500 ocean a are packed from Wednesday to Sunday. The hotel is over capacity. As a matter of fact, the hotels um now are taking uh all the
other hotels in the surrounding area filling up for the tourist and people that are coming to the event. So there's, you know, it's it's tough metric, but it definitely it's definitely a boon to the economy. Uh, but it's also if it was just if it wasn't money, it's just a great event.
And I know our residents, it is a little bit, you know, they we do complain about the traffic for that weekend, but we also love it and enjoy it and we we we we share in the joy uh with some of the the traffic misery that we have to endure. Uh, and if I may, the I'm just curious,
the grant, the the gaming commission grant for public safety, would we get that with or without the the event? So, only because we're having the Sand Castle event, we would uh um we'd be approved for the grant, right? So, we um Tom and Amelia and the team, they
actually went to the gaming commission because the the the the money has I will say the public safety cost has risen so much. We all know what it takes to run an event like this to insulate the environment to make sure no one gets hurt. There's a lot of staff on a lot. A
lot of state police at $90 an hour. This isn't, you know, this is this is heavy duty stuff. So, we would not have gotten the money from the gaming commission. The gaming commission, Rivier has not been a very good recipient of the gaming commission over years. I'm trying to change that relationship and um we are
now actually starting to receive funds. They make us go through a lot of hurdles, but um Tom and his team uh really um really put out a good plan and I believe they got $89,000 that we would not be able to use for we will not be able to use for anything. It's specifically for the sand sculpting
festival and the the remaining funds are going to be coming out of free cash to help support the event. And the hopes is next year we can get it again. If we don't, the partnership's going to have to do a little bit better job of fundraising. to council Zambudo's uh point, maybe they should um ask from
everybody and and uh and change that tune. And I think that they'd come around on that too, but I'm not going to speak for them. Thank you, Council Council H. Thank you, Mr. President. I just want to thank Adrian and the rest of the the Reier Beach Partnership um for all the her all
their hard work getting this together and getting this um on the schedule again. I know it was in danger this year. I know you guys worked tirelessly and extremely hard to raise funds and make this happen. Um so I just wanted to thank you and the rest of the
partnership because I know this there was a chance that this maybe wasn't going to happen this year. And like I've said before, there's no other event in the city like it. The food trucks, the the beach is closed. Um you have beer gardens rides. Uh it's a great it's a
great event for young families. Um people walking dogs, people walking on the beach riding their bikes. Um even seniors walking across the street to see it. It's a great event for our city. So thank you. Thank you, councelor Council McKenna. Thank you. Um thank you for
what you do. uh Adrian and the city 25 years ago we used to we we had such a bad reputation that people wouldn't come down to the beach. We had a beautiful beach. It's nice and clean now. We're having events and last year I really
noticed that there was a lot of families at the uh sand sculptures. So um you know people feel safe now to come to Revier. Used to be severe revier now people feel safe. So, thank you for what you've done. I know 21 years we've we ha
we have changed the concept of uh rea there's no more bad reputation anymore. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you, councelor. Any other counselors? Okay. Can can I just Sorry. Go ahead, Council Sambutoo. Thank you, Mr.
President. So, I guess I got to do a little history lesson here. I want to first start by saying I'm a big fan of Sand Castles. Always have been. I've been an ambassador for Sand Castles. Uh
I soured on their fundraising practice because they forgot where they came from. And they forgot where they came from when we started giving them money to help subsidize it. There was a company, a corporate company that was
supporting them since day one. Somewhere around year seven, 8, nine, I'm not sure what year it was, they were going bankrupt. They went back to this said company for an extra 10,000 that year. Could you help us out? We're going
bankrupt. They did then. Now, I heard there couldn't be any elected officials on the board. I guess maybe not city officials, but state officials could be on the board. Is that correct? Well, one of them one of them made a suggestion
that because uh this corporate sponsor wasn't to their liking that they shouldn't accept their money anymore. And they refused to accept the money of a company that gave them probably 150,000 over the years and helped them
when they're about to go bankrupt. So last year I voted completely against this funding. I I thought that might be harsh and so this year I just wanted to cut it a little bit to send a message and and the message is that you don't
forget where you came from. When people support you, you support them. And and uh that's that's where I'm coming from with this. I know that it's only a $20,000 cut and it's not a big deal. It
it's a symbol. That's why I'm putting it forward. Now, the mayor has his reason for not wanting it, and that's fine. We know we're going to come up with the 20 grand no matter what. We know we're going to pay for public safety and and uh so that's that's why I just want to
put that out publicly that I'm not just looking to say something negative about Sand Castle because it's a wonderful ambassador for the city. It always has been and it it uh people love it, kids love it and frankly everywhere I go I I
work in the state and people ask about sand castles at at the church at at the shrine. I'm at the shrine every Sunday when sand castles coming. It's a it's an international event and it's a wonderful thing. So it's it's not about uh being
negative against sand castles. I want that. But there is there's consequences for our actions in life and and that's why I'm trying to put a little consequence in in for the actions of uh people who at one point forgot where they came from. Now I I understand
there's some softening and that uh people are looking at it differently and maybe that was a mistake and I don't know how much of that is true or not but uh that's my whole purpose for this thing and so be it. Thank you.
Thank you councel for your honesty. Councelor Sua. Okay, I wasn't going to speak but firstly I would love to thank Adrian for all the work she's done. I have never seen anybody work as tirelessly as she
does and she really needs to be commended for all the work she does with this River Beach partnership. Secondly, I was listening to counselor Hermillio, which kind of took me for a loop. I don't think they need a babysitter, and
I think that's what it sounded like when you suggested that somebody from the council be on there to overlook what they're doing. To me, that's it just that's the way it sounded. And I I didn't like that. Thirdly,
I understood where councelor Zambuda was coming from until he just said what he said and I would not take their money either being a cancer survivor. So, I'm sorry, but I have to vote no. Thank you.
Thank you, Councelor Kaza Janino, Adrian. Thank you. I've watched it since day one in this year. I've watched the event grow from couple trucks and trailers and a few tons of sand down here to the way it is today. And I think whatever help we give you, I'm I'm going to support you. Thank you.
Thank you, councelor. Councelor Cogleandro, thank you for the leeway, Mr. President. I just want to clarify something. Uh through you to the mayor. If we vote this down or vote for a cut, you're going to find the money somewhere else to pay for this. Is that plain and simple?
Yes. Thank you. Thank you, councelor. Any other counselors? Okay. Madame clerk, can we have a roll call on council Zambudo's $20,000 cut? Shall the city council approve an appropriation from free cash to Sand
Sculpting Festival account in the amount of $120,000? Councelor Jenzio. Madame Clerk, if I vote no, will the 140 come back up? Excuse me. The 140. So the 120, that's a substitute motion to the Okay. Okay.
Motion that's on the floor regarding the Thank you for the clarification. No. Councelor Aenzio voting no. Council Kaggleandro. No. No. Councelor Jino. No. No. Councelor Gino SA. No. No. Councelor Hass. No. No. Councelor Harammo. No. No.
Councelor Kelly. No. No. Councelor McKenna. No. No. Council Novaski. No. No. Council Zamutoo? Yes. Yes. And Council President Sylvester? No. No. The substitute motion fails.
$140,000 prevails. Thank you. Thank you, Adrian. Thank you. Okay. I know. Madam Clerk, can we have a roll call on the $140,000 appropriation for the sand castles?
Shall the city council approve an appropriation from free cash to sand sculpting festival account in the amount of $140,000? Councelor Aenzio. Yes. Yes. Councelor Kaggleandro. Yes. Yes. Councelor Gino. Yes. Yes. Council Garino SA. Yes. Yes. Councelor H. Yes. Yes. Yes. Councelor
Hario, yes. Yes. Councelor Kelly, yes. Yes. Councelor McKenna, yes. Yes. Council Novaski, yes. Yes. Council Zamutoo, no. No. And Council President Sylvester, yes. Yes. The appropriation has been approved. Calendar item number 18, communication
from the city auditor relative to the opioid abatement trust fund transfer and the FY26 opioid budget. Mr. Visque. Good evening, Richard Visi, 281 Broadway, city CFO. I am before you this
evening to uh recommend an appropriation from the opioid abatement trust fund in the amount of $143,000. I believe uh Lauren Buck, the chief of health and human services, is going to give a presentation on the details of
this. Um it's worth noting that uh the total amount that uh she is proposing would be um $243,000. However, there are $100,000 uh left over from prior appropriations
from this fund. So uh we netted that out and the net appropriation will be 143, but the spending plan will be $243,000. and uh I recommend favorable approval and I can defer to Chief Buck on the presentation on how those monies will be
spent. Thank you, Mr. Disc Lauren. Thank you, Council. I'm Lauren Buck, uh director of public health, 281 Broadway. I'm also here with Nicole Claremo and Kerian Salomi from our city department. We are going to give you a presentation on our five-year spending plan today. Um and we're going to go through our PowerPoint. You can go to the next
slide. So, I first wanted to start out with some important numbers just to kind of set the scene for where we are. Um, the amount of money that the river currently has in the opioid abatement fund is 688,000. The amount of money about uh the amount of money we'll receive over the next 5
years is about 1.2 million. And the amount of money that we'll be spending each year uh according to our five-year spending plan is about 243,000. This is a big ramp up for us in terms of spending. Um and we are able to do this because we have finally um gone through the process of our community assessment,
our focus groups and our opioid abatement working group has been working which we'll tell you about um to kind of make this spending plan um happen. Next slide. Next slide is just a reminder in order to be as trans transparent as possible,
we have a whole website dedicated to the opioid abatement working group and the opio opioid abatement funds on our substance use disorder initiatives section of the public health website. Um it has agenda meeting minutes posted after every meeting and then once the spending plan is reviewed and approved
by the city city council, we'll also have a section on the web page that outlines this plan. Next slide. Kerianne's going to talk about how we got here. So how did we get here? to our five-year spending plan. Um, first I'd like to say that our opiate
abatement working group we meet we have been meeting monthly since October of 2023. We conducted the community needs assessment which included the citywide survey and focus groups and received input from experts in each topic area.
Our opiate abatement um working group consists of um school resource offices in the public safety sector. We have harm reduction specialists. We have nurse case manager. We have a physician
bereieved family members. Um a first responder with lived experience and four other community members all with lived experience. I just wanted to make that known. Great. Next slide. And what did we do
before we came to you with our plan? We've um had the plan reviewed by city and state officials. So, we've met with JSI/Care Mass. They're the state agency who's in charge of um working through with municipalities their spending plans. We met with them in April and then again in June of of this year. We
discussed with our purchasing department and our solicitor's office in June and we reviewed with the city cabinet in May. We discussed the topics of supplanting, conflict of interest. We discussed our specific program and we discussed procurement laws. So we have all done that before coming to you and
next Nicole is going to present about the specifics. Hi everyone, I'm Nicole Polalmo. I'm the clinician for the SUDI office. Um so overall our fiveyear spend spending plan each year will consist of these three categories that you see right here. So
that's um harm reduction which 30% will go to prevention work and community engagement which the other 30% will go to and the last 40% will go towards um housing. You can go to the next slide. Thank you. Um so for the housing
category there will be $97,000 allotted each year over the next five years. Um that'll be split up into two subcategories which will be sober home and detox bed voucher programs um and the other part will go towards a
highintensity housing case manager. Next slide. Thank you. Um prevention work and community engagement will be allotted 73,000 each year for the next five years. That'll be split up into three
categories. One will be um a new youth prevention program, River Adolescent Wellness, which we're working um with River Boxing and the Police Activities League on. Um another portion will go for financial support to grieving families. And the last portion will go
to the continuation of a business outreach program that has already been started this past year. So, it'll be the continuation of that program. Next slide. Thank you. Um and that last category of 30% it will be another 73,000 it will go
towards harm reduction services that'll be broken up into two categories as well and that will be basic needs and the other category would be street medicine. Um next slide. So this kind of just breaks down a little bit more for you guys. you can
look into it, you know, yourselves the numbers exactly um the amount that would be spent each year over the next 5 years and what the specific program is. And then if you go back to those previous slides, you can see in more detail the specifics of the programs and how they
will be working. Um this just shows a summary of the fiscal year 26 expenditure for you. Next slide and I'm gonna pass it back over to Kianne. So, the last slide talks about the
impact with the sober home detox bed voucher program, the $48,500. We will be able to help 16 individuals that will be covered for three months out of a fiscal year in a sober home bed
or a detox bed if it needs to be paid for. Um, it's about cost about $1,000 a month to fund these um beds. So if you average it out, it comes to 16 people a year. The next um one is the high int
intensity case manager. This would be about 12 to 15 hours a week. Average rate about $60 to $70 per hour. Um this we came up with this high int intensity case manager due to the fact that folks
that we have gotten housed from the street into housing have not been able to sustain without guidance or coaching along the way. So we found that that would be impactful. The next is the
50,000 for the RAW program which is also a matching grant. So they have actually $100,000 for that program. Um the next one is grief support. It's $10,000. Five families roughly could be given
$2,000 towards funeral expenses. Um the continued business outreach that was in fiscal year 25. Um they have done amazing amazing work in the community. They have um trained over a hundred
local businesses and over 196 staff members in Narcan and overdose prevention and now carry it in their establishments. Um the next one is basic needs which is $8,000. That is for things like laundry,
IDs, tea passes, basic needs stuff that folks with UD might need um when they come visit us. And then the last is street medicine, which is about 10 to 15 hours a week with a contracted physician
at about $100 an hour. So, I just wanted to also give an update on our fiscal year 25 initiatives. the Nlloxx boxes that were installed um
last May. We to date we have had 158 doses taken out of the boxes with top of Shirley being the highest utilizer Joe's market second highest Broadway dunks
Shirley a tea stop beach tea stop 437 um reair street sorry coolage street behind wonderland uh convenience store in the corner of Broadway and Hutchinson street that is in the order highest to
lowest utilized and our business outreach data I just told you um but they we have a group of nurses that are subcontracted through us they are called Atlantic Hill Nursing and Wellness they offer staff trainings Narcane kits and
doses with CPR masks free educational materials to alert the public about about overdose awareness and Narcane administration ation. So the and the total number of doses distributed for
that um outreach has been 224. 60 68% of all businesses that were outreached accepted our training. Um if there's any questions we can try to answer.
Thank you very much. Council has Thank you, Mr. President. Guys, thanks so much. I remember when you came up last time and um we talked about the Mallex boxes and specifically about the Joe's Market area and the Shirley AB area and it sounds like it's pretty much there are trouble spots all over the
city. Doesn't matter if it's Broadway or Rea Street. Um but thank you. Um all I have to say is thank God we do have those or we'd be looking at a big big problem in the city. But um I wanted to re talk a little bit about the business outreach. Karen, I know you said 68% of
the businesses accepted the invitation and um have the other businesses given a reason as to why they haven't accepted it? Honestly, they have said that everybody in this city who owns a business that they have engaged has been absolutely
wonderful to them. They've gotten literally like two hard nos that were like we're not interested. Everybody else was like we got to talk to corporate you know they had you know had to talk to their managers whatever. So it's kind of been you know they're not
prying and trying to force them to do anything. So but out of overall 68 it's probably higher than that because they said everybody has been wonderful who they've engaged so far. And it might be like you said a time thing. and they're waiting for their boss to okay exactly
corporate offices to give them the okay. Thank you. Thank you, councelor Councel McKenna. Thank you, Mr. President. I just want to say thank you. I called you, Lauren. I have a um friend, a lifelong friend uh from Beach One who was homeless and I
called you and he called me and he told me that you helped him. You called him and helped him. So, I want to thank you three uh for doing that. And I know that you come down uh Beachmont Corner a lot and and address homeless people. Um, I just want to ask you, and this might
sound a little um, rude, but um, is there any way that you could move the uh, nan box to Beachmont Station instead of having it right in the um, uh, Beachmont um, uh, corner there, the
square, because a couple of the um, the businesses have uh, called me and they really don't like it there. So, I was just wondering where you're having your highest uh overdoses uh in Beach One Station, if you could move it down to Beachmont Station. It's
just across the street. Um couple reasons why the location has been moved to that. One, the box started out uh right across the street from the Beach Monte. That pole does not belong to the city. It belongs to, I believe, the MBTA. Um and they as a policy do not
have they're not allowed were not allowed to have anything on the polls. We moved it to a city pole in the area where there is a lot of has been historically a lot of overdoses. Again the the area is not a specific sidewalk a sidewalk you know it's a general area
and the general area is the beach monte. So we had to move it to a pole that was city owned and that's why it's there. Thank you councelor. Anyone else? Council has Thank you for the leeway, Mr. President. I just wanted to find out what um I was curious what street
medicine when I first heard the phrase, I figured it was the Nalox boxes or something like that, but it's actually work one-on-one with the physician. The doctor goes out. So, it's an a physician that actually goes out with our outreach
team to help folks who might need wound care. They might need antibiotics. They might need Suboxone or some other type of medically assisted treatment. And so that's what street medicine is. I'm sorry. And have we had that before or is that something that's that will be new
for the city? On a volunteer basis, we've had someone that has gone out but not not like this. Not like this. Awesome. Thank you. Thank you, Council Council Novaski. Thank you, Mr. President. Ladies, thank you very much. Uh when I first saw them
there, I was very very surprised. Um and I don't have a problem with being there. Only once did I hear some of the uh businesses complain that they were there either on either end because they said what it looks what it looks like is
something bad and it make can't hear me. Yeah. Okay. and they said it looked something bad and they bad and they didn't want people they didn't want people to think that Shirley A was a a drug haven. So, you know, I kind of let it go. They
didn't they haven't complained for a while. So, you know, it's there. I've seen the boxes open now. The use that it's been been made out of it, how do we know it's really being utili utilized by the people that really need
it? Are there are there uh ambulance calls on it, police calls on it? Uh that would justify them, you know, the boxes being open and people taking out the uh containers. Um so for that we I mean we track the
numbers and stuff so we might not know exactly who's taking it, but we also get the overdose reports from EMS, police, and fire. Um, we don't have exact numbers because we haven't like calculated any percentages yet, but from last year or 2023 to 2024 and 2024 to
2025, there has been a decrease in overall overdoses and overall fatalities due to opioid use or overdoses. So, I mean, we have that data. It's not exact right now, but eventually we'll get those exact numbers. Um, and as far as
the narcam boxes too, Joanne, I wanted to let you know that when we did have it at the T-top, because we do track the numbers, and again, I don't have the exact numbers, but I can get them for you based on the date that we changed the box over to across the street. Um,
there wasn't much action across the T-top. And I don't know if it's because it's more like open in the public where across the street it's kind of like parked cars and you can maybe go in more casually. I don't know what the reason is, but there's definitely been an
increase of Narcan taken from the box now that it's been moved. Um, and then counselor H about the outreach physician. It also helps when we're trying to house people because a lot of the times the housing providers for
these chronically homeless individuals need documentation of some type of mental health disorder, disability, um, substance use disorder. and they all have different requirements that typically you need your doctor to sign off on it. And where a lot of these people are not going to the doctors on a
consistent basis, it would definitely help with some of that paperwork cuz trying to get them to track down a doctor, get to the appointment, you know, get that paperwork and get it back to us, it would definitely increase our chances of housing some more chronically homeless individuals in Riviera. So,
thank you councelor Council Green. Thank you, Mr. President and thank you ladies for everything you do. Um I just have one question. About 6 months ago I requested a Nan station to be stationed on Rivia Beach at at one of the
restaurants that they requested. Did you guys ever have a chance to do that? What restaurant? What restaurant was that again? Talum Takaria. The owner wanted one in her establishment. Oh. Oh, okay. I got you. I wasn't
comprehending. Um I will have our nurses make sure that they target that um Thank you. establishment for you. Thank you. You're welcome. Thank you, council. Permission to speak from the chair. Oh, council.
Thank you, Mr. President. Um guys, thank you for being here. So, I have a question. Who takes the Narcan from the box? And the only reason I ask is because I do believe there's a misconception about what these things do. A lot of people complain about them and I think they think they're going to wake up one morning and there's going to
be a bunch of bodies laying there or that people are taking this stuff to get high when it does the exact opposite. So, if you guys could shed some light on that, that'd be great. Sure. Narcine um it it only reverses an
opioid withdrawal opioid overdose. So it does not have any effect on anybody or anything unless you are prone to you have opiate addiction. That's the only time it's going to affect you. We have put this messaging out to the community
on Rea TV on our web pages. We have gotten this out as much as humanly possible. So, I know that there still are some folks who don't understand what this is all about and what it the purpose is, but I just wanted to give you another opportunity to explain that
cuz its importance. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you, councelor. Councelor Arenzio, thank you. Thank you everyone for being here. These boxes, it isn't necessarily that you it's for somebody actively overdosing. If somebody wants to go down and get one and have it on
their person in case they ever encounter somebody that's overdosing, they'll have it with them. So, it's it's for the public to have. And that was the whole purpose and point was so that everybody has access to this. Everybody carries it on them like you would carry an EpiPen
or, you know, some other life-saving, okay? You know, me measures and more and more people are understanding what this is all about and what's happening out there. and more and more people want to have it on them. If I see somebody on
the sidewalk, what if I see somebody on the train? You know, I want to be able to help and this is a way you can help. So, yes, more and more people. This isn't about what ward has the most overdoses or what part of the city is
the worst. It's not about that. It's about just keeping people safe. It doesn't matter where they are. Okay. Thank you. You're welcome. Thank you, councelor. Any other counselors? Permission to speak from the chair. Uh
just want to congratulate you guys. This is great work. Keeping us informed on this information is is highly important. Um getting the information out. One of my comments was going to be about Tulum because they had reached out as well. Um so I think that's awesome that
businesses are looking out for for the resource as well. Um and I just wanted to commend you all. So, great job. Thank you, Madame Clerk. Can we have a roll call? Shall the city council approve an appropriation from the opioid abatement trust fund to fund the opioid abatement
program in the amount of $143,000? Councelor Arenzio, yes. Yes. Councelor Kaggalandro. Yes. Yes. Councelor Jino. Yes. Yes. Councelor Gino SA. Yes. Yes. Councelor Hass. Yes. Yes. Councelor Jammo. Yes. Yes. Councelor Kelly. Yes.
Yes. Council McKenna. Yes. Yes. Councelor Nasellki. Yes. Yes. Councelor Zamutoo. Yes. Yes. And Council President Sylvester. Yes. Yes. The appropriation has been approved. Calendar item number 19, communication from the chief of planning
and community development relative to minor corrections to the accessory dwelling unit zoning ordinance. Good evening, Tom. Good evening, Tom Scroski, 21 Broadway. I wasn't going to come up and speak. I felt like the letter spoke for itself. It was a few
minor edits. Happy to answer any other questions as you have them. Do we have any questions? This is going to be ordered to a public hearing. Thank you. Calendar item number 20, communication from the CFO requesting a public hearing
to amend appendix A, table of fees of the revised ordinances of the city of River. CFO? No. Any councilors? No. Okay. This will also be ordered to a public hearing July 25th. Motions. Calendar item number 21. Motion
presented by councelor McKenna that the mayor request constituent services to issue a reverse 911 call to all residents reminding them that fireworks are illegal, are a fire hazard due to the close proximity of homes in the city and negatively impact individuals with
certain medical conditions and pets. Council McKenna. Thank you, Mr. President. Uh veterans and vet and pets are vulnerable from the noise of fireworks. An old neighborhood like Beachmont is also vulnerable if a rocket
firework lands on a rooftop. I've witnessed not too long ago six houses going up on up on on fire when a woman threw a cigarette where a wooden near a w wooden porch. Fireworks are just as
dangerous and deadly. I would like I would like the city to do their part and try to curb fireworks in the city. I am asking for a robocall for all residents in River on July 1st. Thank you. Thank you councelor. Any other counselors? All
in favor? All opposed? So ordered. Calendar item number 23. Motion presented by councelor Go SA that the mayor request the traffic commission to consider establishing a traffic commission regulation limiting the number of residential parking permits issued per address or unit to four with
the stipulation that residents may apply for additional parking permits through an appeal process in annual fee to be administered by the parking department. Council go. Thank you, Mr. President. Right now in River, there are no real limits on how many residential parking
permits can be issued per address. Residents can receive up to up to 10 per unit, whether it's a single family home or a multif family building. This lack of regulation is creating serious parking problems across the city, leaving neighbors with limited options
and increased tensions on our streets. My motion asks the mayor to request the traffic commission to consider establishing a regulation to cap the number of permits at four per unit. Households that require more than four
would still be able to apply for additional permit through an appeals process, ensuring that special circumstances are accommodated, such as if someone has four children and they all drive now and they also have a vehicle.
Um, we're also I'm also proposing the option of a modest annual fee for any permits beyond the cap to help manage the demand for support enforcement. This motion is not about punishment. It's about creating a fair
balance and sustainable system. Cities like Somerville, Cambridge, and Boston already limit the number of parking permits issued by households and have annual fees in place. Reva needs to join them by modernizing our approach to residential parking. Our streets are a
shared public resource and it's time that we manage them responsibly for the good of all the residents in the city of Rivier. Thank you. Thank you councelor. Any other counselors? Councelor Hio. Uh Mr. President through to Councilwoman
Borina Sa. Uh I I really appreciate the intent and um and the thoughtfulness put behind this motion. I think it's a it's a great um I think it's a great as a really good
intent. So really appreciate you putting this. Thank you councel. Any other counselors? Council McKenna. Council Leandro. Uh thank you Mr. President. I I appreciate the thought process on this and I do think we have
an an issue with 10 cars per household. Um I would really like to put this into subcommittee and discuss it further. I just I don't I don't know about four. Maybe we talk about more more specifically on the the type of house or the type of apartment or something. And then the fee thing kind of bothers me
too. I like I said I understand the logic and I don't think this is bad at all. I think we can really find a way to to make this work and at some point we should talk about the the resident parking program as well. So, but I I I would I would like to put this into uh I don't even know what subcommittee would
would want to take this, but that's just my opinion. Thank you very much. I don't. Okay, this will go to public safety. All in favor, all opposed. So ordered.
Council item number 24, motion presented by council Kaggleandro that the city council file with the zoning board of appeals an appeal of the decision of the building inspector to issue building permit number B2500401 to 22 Naples Road on June 12th of 25 contesting that the building permit for
the canopy is in violation of condition number four of the special permit. There shall be an unobstructed 20- foot fire lane provided along both sides and rear of the building of special permit C2103 awarded by the city council on March 8th, 2021 for the operation of a
commercial garage. Council Kelandro. Thank you, Mr. President. There's a lot to unpack here, so my apologies in advance. September 24th, 2024, I received a phone call that there
was building going on in between 16 and 22 Naples Road. And at the time, I didn't know who was doing what. I looked up permits on file, there were none. I drove by, there's steel being erected in between those two buildings. The building department went down,
stopped the building, and since then, we've been going through some disagreements on whether it's okay for them to build there. And I want to read some things into the record tonight. March 8th, 2021, this council, not this specific
one, but the coun the previous council, they approved a special permit with nine conditions. Currently, that property is still still in violation of four of them. Number four, there shall be an unobstructed 20 foot fire lane provided
along both sides and rear of the building. Okay, unobstructed. Right now, they were just approved a permit for a canopy. If you look up CMR 780, canopy materials require rigid framework. You have to really do something crazy to knock that
that style framework down. Now, it's been said that the the the fire inspector chiever, he says it's okay. And I will I cannot get an answer from him on why he thinks he can approve this
when this violates this condition of the special permit. I also can't get an answer from the building commissioner who says that this is the fire inspector's fault and that's why he signed the permit. I'm getting the runaround. I asked the solicitor for a legal opinion last Tuesday. I've gotten
nothing. Nobody seems to want to talk to this about this and I have been trying since September to keep it out of this this chamber and keep it out of the public eye because this nonsense should not be going on. Now, I just read one of the conditions that he's violating right
now. Would you be shocked to know that there is now a fence blocking access to that fire lane? There is also a giant truck in between these two buildings. You're not supposed to have anything in a fire lane. It's supposed to be unobstructed.
You're building a canopy. Why? Keeping the ground dry. I don't know. Unfortunately, none of us have standing to file this appeal. It has to be in a butter. And I know
that that process is starting tomorrow. What I'd like to do is change this motion to something that we can do. I'd like to put a motion on the floor and withdraw this one through you, Mr. President to clerk
that the city council order to a public hearing the revocation of chapter 148 license number 651 for 22 Naples Road granted January 24th, 2022 for cause. Cause being they have not met the special conditions of their special
permit and they are currently violating four of them. Number four, there shall be an unobstructed 20- foot fire lane. We already read that one. Number five, there shall be no outdoor storage of materials, equipment, or junked cars. That's a violation.
The parking lot spaces in the rear of the building shall be appropriately marked in stripes. Not happened. A landscaping planter shall be constructed against the front of the building to separ separate the parking spaces from the building. The landscaping planter shall include ornamental grasses and or
evergreens. has not happened. I'm sorry. It's been over four years. And if the building commissioner and the fire inspector think it's okay to allow a permit that directly violates at least one of these conditions, I am beside myself that I have not been able to get
a straight answer from anybody. Enough is enough. And I fear I fear if I pull back other special permits in this city, what I might find. We should do an audit. We should do an audit of the special permits to ensure that these
conditions set by this body, set by the zoning board of appeals, when you get a variance approved, when you get a special permit approved, they become part of the zoning. The building commissioner's job is to enforce zoning.
They have the final say. I'm getting the runaround. I'm tired of it. I did not want to bring it here. And I also want to thank Mayor Keefe who is the only person who tried to get all the the the people that are involved in this into a room to talk about it and it has not happened. I've asked people to send
emails. I've asked people to revoke the permit. I've asked for a legal review. I've gotten nothing. I've gotten well it's their fault. Well, it's their fault. Enough is enough. I'm asking the council to support this motion tonight. It will send this to a public hearing
where we can have a discussion with all the people involved. We have the abuter here that hopefully the business owner shows up because if I want to give this person a chance to comply with these conditions, this is nothing personal. I've been dealing with this
for nine months. Nine months. So, I would like to take a roll call for the revocation of this chapter 148 license and push it to a special hearing. Thank you, Council Public Clerk. Thank you.
You did a very good job. I saw Councelor Kelly nodding her head over there with the zoning stuff. Thank you, Councelor Kelly. I I feel your pain because I'm getting um some of the same issues with the Popeye's at 340 uh
Squire Road. Let's peel it back. Um and I have been doing the same thing with trying to get answers for constituents. Um almost I think we're over three years or at three years as well for the special permit. So I I totally agree
with this. Thank you. Thank you, councelor. Madam clerk, on councel Kogandro's verbal motion to order to a public hearing the license revocation for the chapter 148 license revocation for 22 Naples Road. Councelor
Aenzio, yes. Yes. Council Kogandro. Yes. Yes. Councelor Janino. Yes. Yes. Council Gino SA. Yes. Yes. Councelor Hass. Yes. Yes. Councelor Harmo. Yes. Yes. Councelor Kelly. Yes. Yes. Councelor McKenna. Yes. Yes. Council Basilski.
Yes. Yes. Councelor Zamudo. Yes. Yes. and Council President Sylvester. Yes. Yes. The matter will be ordered to a public hearing. And for the record, council order 25182 is withdrawn by Is that withdrawn? Thank you. Thank you, Madam Clerk.
Calendar item number 25, motion presented by councelor Cogleandro that the mayor request the DPW to install an additional do not block intersection sign and paint a do not block the box at the intersection of Rosetti Street and Broadway. Councelor Coglando. Motion
speaks for itself. All in favor, all opposed. So ordered. Calendar item number 26, motion presented by councelor Cogandro, that the mayor request the chief of police to increase enforcement of the intersection of Rosetti Street and Broadway. Council Kandro, motion
speaks for itself. All in favor, all opposed. So ordered. No further business. Council President. No further business. Everyone have a safe and happy 4th of July and we will see you on July 25th.