Welcome to the April 28th, 2025 city council meeting. Please stand to salute the flag to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for it stands. One nation indivisible with liberty and
justice for all. Good job. Madame clerk, roll call the members. Roll call club the members. Councelor Aenzio here. Here. Councelor Cogleandro here. Here. Councelor Janino here. Here. Councelor Go Slaya here. Here. Councelor H here. Here. Councelor Herio here.
Here. Councelor Kelly here. Here. Councelor McKenna here. Here. Council Novaski here. Here. Councelor Zamudo here. Here. And council president Sylvestri here. Here. Quorum is present. Approval of the journal of the regular meeting of April 7th. All in favor? All
opposed? So what? Calendar item number three. The city council will award a certificate of commendation to Rever Karate Academy in recognition of their 45th anniversary of being in business. Councelor Novaski, I believe you were the first to present
this. [Applause] Thank you, Mr. President. Uh, when I saw that they were on their 45th anniversary, I thought it was very appropriate that we uh recognize such a great business in the city of Rivier and
some great people that own it. looking at our city councelor and uh Dorene and the whole family and it's really great and of course too I have to recognize that my granddaughter is one of their students
and uh you know congratulate uh Anthony for his seventh degree that he got when he went uh down Barcelona right and my granddaughter got her second degree black belt so I just thought it everything fit perfectly with them and I
know there were some other people that also got their black belt degrees. So, and I wanted the whole city council to be recognized in this and that's why I put it from the city council, not just from me. So, with that, I want to congratulate Dorene for starting the
program and uh for Anthony for carrying on and uh hopefully for a few more years that they uh keep doing this. So with that with the permission from um president I'll read the commendation city of Riviera certificate of commendation in
recognition and celebration of 45 years of excellence dedication and service to our community for its outstanding commitment to teaching martial arts fostering discipline and empowering generations of students through personal
growth and confidence since it since its founding. in 1980. Special recognition is hereby accorded to Revier Karate Academy. This certificate of accommodation is presented by the city of council and the city of Rivier on
behalf of its citizens this 28th day of April in the year of our Lord 2025 and of the independence of the United States of America 248. So with that, it was signed by our city clerk, Ashley Melnik, and our
council president, Mark Sylvestri. And from the entire city council, we congratulate you guys. You want to say a few words? Thank you. Say thank you. Well, first of all, I would like to
thank Ira and the entire city council for this honor and recognition. I can tell you it's gone by in a blink. Um, I can't believe it's 45 years. I've been honored and blessed to have been the a
part of so many families. I'm looking at former students, you know, uh, you know, actual students and and family. No, it just it's it's really it does my heart skips my heart skips a beat when I think of it. Um it never gets old for me. I I
will teach as long as I have breath in my lungs and strength in my legs. And I'm hoping to be part of the River Karate. I know Anony's been slowly but surely taking over, but um slowly [Music]
mom mom has a hard time letting go, but but But I know the studio will be in great hands because he's an amazing uh martial artist and an an awesome leader and I'm so honored and blessed to have him as my son. But I want to thank you
all. Um it's been my honor and privilege as I said to serve the community and I hope to continue for many more years to come. Thank you so much. Uh if I may, thank you. Um, I am a product of Rever Karate Academy. Everything I am is because of
that place. And, um, none of it would be without my mother. Um, as a counselor, I want to thank you for everything you've done for so many people in this city. Um, people that have been under your tutelage have in training have become
great things. Police officers, firefighters, lawyers, doctors. Um, yes, counselors. Thank you, Joanne. No Indian chiefs. Uh, no. Um, so as a counselor, thank you for what you've done for the community. As a student,
thank you for giving me the tools that I need to be successful in my life. And as your son, two things. One, I am so incredibly proud of what you've built for us. I know that everything that we have is because of you. And lastly, I just want to wish my mother a very happy
birthday on May 3rd. Thank you. have pictures, I think. Oh, we're doing pictures. Yep. Challenge item number four, motion presented by councelor Go Sawai that the city council award a certificate of commendation to Paul Baglio in
recognition of his strength and determination in his battle against a rare form of cancer. Council go. [Applause]
Thank you, Mr. President. Paul, you want to join me? [Music] Okay, I have a little speech that I wrote, so I want to read it. What can I say about this little courageous hero? I'm going to start by
saying courage is not a measure by is not measured by years by but by the strength of the heart. And Paul Baglio, a brave seven-year-old boy, has shown extraordinary resilience and bravery in his
battle. Despite facing immense challenges, weekly hospital stays with pictures of Oreo cookies sent to me, and pain, Paul continues to inspire those around him with his unwavering spirit,
determination, and infectious smile. Where is it? He looks at you with those with that big smile and face and your heart just melts. His journey has united a community in support, love, and hope,
demonstrating the power of togetherness in the face of adversity. Tonight, let it be known that Paul Baglio is recognized and commended for his bravery, his strength, and his unyielding will. His coverage is a
testament of power to the power of the human spirit and the and his st story serves as an inspiration to all. Paul, you are a true warrior and we stand with you in your
fight. Please keep smiling and sending those Oreo face cookie pictures. He's got he's got to sit down and do a gallon. Yeah, sit down. [Applause]
Push you in. The one thing Paul asked is if he can hit the gavvel. So, I went out and bought him his own gavvel. And it says, "Paul Baglio, a brave warrior." And you have to hit your gavvel. [Music]
[Applause] Great job. So your certificate, it's Paul's. He can take it home and you can play with it whenever you want. Joking. So the certificate reads, "Paul,
in in recognition of his extraordinary strength, unwavering courage, and incredible determination in the face of life's most difficult challenges, he remains a steadfast and brave young warrior with a heart full of hope and an inspiration to everyone around him, all
while battling a rare form of cancer. Special recognition is hereby accorded to Paul Baglio. The certificate of commendation is presented by the city council of the city of Riviera, Massachusetts on behalf of its citizens
this 28th day of April in the year of our Lord 2025 and of the independence of the United States of America, the 248th. This is for [Music] you. Oh
man. And you got one more present. One more present. You want to say hi? You want to say hi? Go ahead. Say hi. Hi. Do you want to say something? Thank you for prairie. Take a picture.
Madame clerk, calendar item number five, motion presented by councelor goaya that the city council award a certificate of commendation to Lieutenant Robert and Pemba in recognition of his kindness and compassion in organizing a police escort for a courageous young boy battling
cancer. Council. Thank you, Mr. President. Yeah. Paul, do you want to come up, too? Come on. Come on up with your favorite police officer. Come on. Okay. So, tonight I want to share a
story about a true true leadership, service and heart really looks like. I have the honor of recognizing somebody whose actions truly made a difference when it mattered most. When I reached out to Lieutenant Impa from the
River Police Department and asked if he could help me with the fundraiser for this brave young boy, he didn't even think twice. He immediately stepped up and said, "Whatever you need." And he meant it. On his own time,
completely off duty, Lieutenant Pemba organized a seven department police and fire escort for Paul, creating an extravaganza, a moment of pure hope, strength, and joy for Paul and his family when they needed it the most. But
he didn't stop there. He also went door todo with me, collecting gift cards, food, and support for Paul's family fundraiser, giving not only just his time, but his whole heart to help people
that he had never met before. Neither one of us had actually met Paul and his family before that night. But that didn't matter. What matters was showing up for a child and his family who needed their community to
stand behind them. Lieutenant Pemba, you showed us all what it truly means to lead with compassion, to serve with heart, and to lift others without ever asking for anything in return. Rob, your leadership and commitment to our
community exemplify the highest ideal of public service. on behalf of the city of Riviera and from the bottom of my heart, thank you. It's an absolute honor to present you with this commendation tonight in rec Sorry, I have to go down here. in
recognition of your outstanding compassion, leadership, humanity, and dedication to the community service by organizing a thoughtful and heartfelt police escort for Paul Baglio, which brought strength, joy, and encouragement to young Paul and his family during a profoundly difficult time in their
lives. Special recognition is hereby accorded to Lieutenant Rob M and Pemba River Police Department. This certificate of commendation is prevented by the presented by the city council of the city of Riviera, Massachusetts on behalf of the citizens this 28th day of
April in the year of our Lord 2025 and of the independence of the United States of America 248. Congratulations right here. All right. Yeah. Hold that. Oh, yeah. There we go now.
calendar item number six. Motion presented by councilors Kaggleandro and Argenzio that the city council award a certificate of commendation to Ethan Day, captain of the River High School basketball team in recognition of his status as the 2024 2025 Greater Boston
League co- MVP and for scoring 1,000 career points. Council Kogandro Aenzio So, um, Ethan is one of the captains of the River High basketball team, and this year he was awarded through the Greater
Boston League as a co- MVP for scoring 1,000 points in his basketball career. 1,000. And I just got this, I'm sorry, I have to read off it. He was also awarded the Massachusetts Basketball Coaches
Association 24 and 25 all senior team. Yeah. So, we have coach behind us. I'm going to let him say a few words on on his behalf as well. Thank you. Um, so Ethan is the third boy in the history of River High School to score a
thousand points. And to do so on, um, February 18th this year, our last game against Northeast Vogue, he needed to score 65 points um, to get to a,000 points. And with the help of his teammates and obviously himself putting
in the work, uh, he was able to do that. He scored 65 points in the last game. And that is a re that is a uh a river high school record. 65 points in a single game. So congratulations. Congratulations uh Ethan. It's always
great to recognize a high school sports star. You did a great job. I'm just going to read this uh certificate of commendation in acknowledgement of your outstanding leadership, athleticism, and commitment to excellence both on and off the court as captain of the Revier High
basketball team. And whereas you exemplified true sportsmanship and competitive spirit by earning the title of Greater Boston League co- MVP for the 2020 2024 and 2025 season while also
achieving an incredible milestone of a thousand career points. Special recognition is hereby awarded accorded to Ethan Day. This certificate of accommodation is presented by the city council of the city of Riviera, Massachusetts on behalf of its citizens
this 28th day of April in the year of our Lord 2025 and of the independence of the United States of America, the 248th. Congratulations. Public hearings. Calendar item number seven. Hearing called is ordered on an
ordinance establishing rules and regulations for the Veteran Property Tax Workoff Abatement Program. [Music] How are you? Name and address for the record, please.
Uh Julia Cervantes 249 Broadway River. Go ahead. Okay. So, this is the ordinance to establishing the rules and regulations for the veteran property tax work off abatement. We kind of want to make it official and um you guys have it
in front of you. Any city councilors? Anybody we have any proponents? Anyone here in favor? Closing that side. Any Oh, you're in favor? Yes. Absolutely. Hi. Uh my name is Donna Dreon. 249 out
Broadway. I work for veteran services and I just want to really highlight part of this that speaks to the younger veterans in River who do not qualify for a senior workoff program and this will really help them out. Thank you. Thank
you. Any Hi, Clarence Zerillo uh solicitor's office 281 Broadway just here in support of the amendments tonight. Thank you very much. Do we have any other proponents? Anyone else in favor? Closing that side. Do we have any
opponents? Anyone against? We'll close that side. Any city councilors? Councelor H. Thank you, Mr. President. I'd like to congratulate you guys on this program. I think it's fantastic. When I worked at the senior center, we had the workoff program um
there and you really saw seniors getting getting involved and um they would come back year to year and they really looked forward to it. So, I love the fact that you don't necessarily have to be a senior, you just have to be a veteran. Um I think it'll be a good mix. Um, but
I think it's very important to get to get people involved and and get people, you know, to stay active and get involved in their communities. I did have one question. Is it only for five? Are there only five spots currently? Yes, five spots. Yeah. And is that
something in the future we could push to eight next year and then like is that just based on the we because of the work we have it five is a number that we can manage and that we could put to work and potentially get them all 66.6 hours you know because the
goal is to max out their hours any more than five and we would be taking hours away from them and we want them to have you know to have the opportunity to do all 66.6 six hours. Okay. And if there's ever a decrease in the numbers with the senior work off, is there a way that
maybe they could get more? Like I know we do the lottery for the uh the senior tax. I mean, what do you mean? Like maybe coordinate with the senior work off and like if we don't get enough if we don't get enough for the senior lottery, maybe we could boost it to the veteran side of it and get even more veterans involved. I would love that.
Yeah, I think so. Thank you. Thank you, counselor. Councelor Green. Thank you, Mr. President, I am so happy to support this program. This provides such a valuable gift to the veterans
um to help ease the property tax bur burden through community service. It helps foster both financial relief and civic engagement, but also most importantly, it's a way to for the community to give back to these people that have served our country and they
are the most deserving people within the city. I I truly believe so. I am so happy to support this and what councelor H just said, I totally agree with him. Thank you. Go for it. Thank you, councelor. Councelor Hermio. Uh, thank
you. I'm sorry. Sorry, can I just address councelor Hos really quickly? Yes, please. Just so we all have the same information before more questions. Uh the hours were calculated with the CFO and the assessor's office based off the number of dollars were allowed by the statute to give. So I'm not sure how
easily those hours can be adjusted, but the number of participants depending on the uh demand and how many people we're seeing can definitely be adjusted. But I know with how we classify part-time and seasonal workers and stuff like that, uh the hours may not be as flexible as the number of participants, but that's
something we can um speak to the CFO about and to the city assessor as well. Thank you, Councelor Jeremy O. Thank you, Mr. President, and through you too. Julia and Donna, uh you know, really
appreciate the work on this. I think um you know we've all heard the the phrase of we send young men to fight old men's wars uh and we oftentimes don't bring them uh when they come back we oftent times aren't creating a good place for them and uh anything we can do uh and
the the mind the words that come to mind right now largely because I'm in mourning um are rather uh you know the words of of late Pope Francis who said that veterans shall be sentinels of peace but we should be a home of peace and we can be a home of peace if we can
bring our uh war veterans um home and provide for them uh because they so provided for us uh in such a selfless way. So really um appreciate the work that you're doing and you know whatever we can do from the council to continue
to increase resources for uh veterans um whether they served in active duty or not or even if they served in in in battle. But certainly those who did serve in battle um you know just want to continue to encourage you to give us more ideas as to how we can be supportive in that in that respect.
Thank you. Thank you councelor Council Novasowski. Thank you Mr. President. Uh Mr. President question to to our legal staff. Um in one of the sections everybody's required a DD214 you know which shows some of the
military service. Yes. Um, and I know I talked to the president about this because, uh, being a veter veteran advocate, uh, whether or not we can also add, um, to show that someone was a veteran, you know, reservist or national
guard person, an NGV form 22 to show that they have that uh, years of service and some people went overseas and some didn't. And this shows that they did serve their 20 years. And I was wondering if we could insert in uh
number one in section A, I'm sorry, 29230 that also beside the DD214 an NGB22 clarification counselor. Can I clarify if Yeah. Okay.
So an NGB22 counselor could be given if the service member was severely disabled, lost two eyes, two hands, two legs. Um that's when an NGDB22. There's actually a state guideline that breaks down every
category. What certificate would go? Um someone that did qualify that was severely disabled with an NGB22 would qualify for $1,250 on a tax break. So, we could take one, but they would have to be under that category, which is a severely disabled category. It's okay.
I'm just I'm just looking to see if we're going to insert and make sure that that is all part of it, that they can use the NGB22. Thank you. Yeah, the general law chapter 59 section 5N, which is what we adopted in order to give this workoff program to veterans, goes under um
follows the definition of a veteran under section 7 of chapter 4. So, I'd want to check that and I can bring that to subcommittee for you guys if you send it to subcommittee. Thank you. Any other city councilors permission to speak from the chair? I
just want to thank you guys for bringing this forward. I just have one question. So, are we going to do a lottery? If if we get 50 veterans that come into the office and put in for this, we're only going to pick five. Wow. So when we brought it up, we saw that the number of seniors who are
applying for the senior work off has been decreasing pretty steadily. And then in consultation with Health and Human Services and Donna and Julia, um the the number of folks they get through their doors is not a lot. So we would do a lottery if that were the case, but
given their expertise on who walks through their doors and who they're reaching through their outreach and their events, the demand is not that high. But in the wonderful case that it is high, that's definitely a lottery would go into place. We could come back and try to amend the number of folks we get. But to start off with the first
pilot of the regulations, they wanted to start small and see what the demand looks like. Thank you. and and I understand that she there was an issue on what the demand would, but why wouldn't it emulate more of of the work off of why would the just the veterans
office be um I guess weighed down with with supporting those five people? Why couldn't it be spread citywide? Because I'm going to tell you, you're going to have five more than five veterans apply for this. um because you're going to allow younger veterans and they may not ever have stepped in foot in the veteran
service office and they may have never even spoken to any of us regarding this but the minute you put out a tax break for them you're going to see them come into the door and I think we should be ready to at least be be prepared to move that number more than five just all my opinion. So, if I can speak to that, um
I think that is um those are excellent thoughts and I I believe that that is a strong probability and working with other departments and other organizations will really help us to be able to sustain more than five people and give them the amount of work that we need done. And I know that the work was
in will be in May and June. And as you know, May is a big month for us. We can definitely put them to work putting the placing the flags for Memorial Day. Um, but you've you've been in this department. I have. And there's a lot there's a lot of black poles that can be
painted. Correct. So, we could we could get really creative. Um, especially with the young veterans that are homeowners because we have to remember these are all homeowners, uh, veterans who are homeowners. So, but working with other programs and departments within the city, that could also help with us when
we run into that problem because you're you're right, as the word spreads, we will. So, um, that would be great if we get and I'm sure we're all going to work together to make it work. Thank you. Council has any other
counselors? Okay, this will go to legislative affairs. Are we voting on this? Yeah, this will be going to legislative affairs. All in favor? All opposed? So, ordered. Challenge item number eight,
hearing called is ordered on an ordinance further amending free cash distributions to stabilization funds. Is anyone coming up? Yeah. Ah, I didn't I I seen you in here and then I was like, wait, where'd he go? Mr.
Visque. Good evening, council. Richard Visqueke, CFO 2 on Broadway. Um last council meeting we did um bring before you some changes in our financial policies with regard to the distribution of free cash to help um uh spread some
of those dollars into some of the newly created um trust funds that we've created um without reading all of them to you. Um you have them before you. I'm happy to answer any questions with regard to that, but I am here to speak in favor of that. Thank you very much.
Thank you, Mr. Visque. Do we have any proponents? Anyone here to speak in favor? Proponents hearing none. Closing that side. Any opponents? Anyone here in
opposition? Closing that side. City councilors. Okay. This here will also be going to legislative affairs. All in favor? All opposed? So ordered calendar item number nine hearing called is ordered on a zoning ordinance further
amending the rea revised ordinances relative to off- streetet parking. Okay. Anyone here? Anyone at all coming to speak on this? Huh? Do we have any proponents?
Anyone in favor closing that site? Any opponents? Any city councilors? Mr. President, so this was my motion. I spoke on it during the last meeting. Um, I just want to remind everyone the importance of this and what
we're what I'm asking uh to be done. So, I'm asking that the off- streetet parking variances be stopped being allowed to be given by the zoning board of appeals and transfer those requests over to the city council
to be done by way of special permit. And I think we can all agree that off- streetet parking, parking variance is very important. Everyone uh is very interested regarding their streets, the congestion. We just saw an um a discussion a lengthy discussion
regarding off- streetet parking and and curb cuts regarding parking in our ZBA um meeting before this one. So, just wanted to give that little recap. Thank you, Mr. President. Thank you, councelor. Do we have
any anyone of the counselors? Okay, this will be referred to zoning calendar item number 10. Hearing call is ordered on the application of 250 Lee Burbank Highway LLC, 20 Railroad Street, Revier, Mass, requesting a special
permit from the Revier City Council to enable the appellant to reconstruct the existing building with a new two-story commercial structure with a total of 26 parking spaces at 250 Liber Highway. Petitioner.
Yes. Uh good evening, uh Mr. President, three to the members of the council. For the record, uh my name is Richard Lind. I'm an attorney with a business address of 245 Sumar Street in East Boston. Here on behalf of the petitioner, uh with me is Eric Sacerson, who is our project architect. Uh we also have a rule uh of
the petitioner with us as well. Uh Mr. President, I do have a brief uh PowerPoint. I just don't know if that's coming up or it did. Oh, perfect. It's on. Great. Okay, hold on one second. Let me just see here.
Like you do mirroring the screen. Um on or off. Turn the mirroring on. So, it'll show this up there. Right now, it's thinking there's two motors. Okay. Sorry. Bear with me one second. If this doesn't
work, this is doing your Sorry about that. [Music] Sure. Yeah, I can give some brief background. Great. Thank you. Um, so Mr. President, this uh proposal involves the uh reconstruction of a pre-existing
non-conforming structure located at 250 Lee Burbank Highway. Um, currently there's a uh twotory approximately 12,500T structure uh that's used for office storage uh and other um ancillary uses related to the operations for
capital waste. Our proposal would uh demolish the entire structure and propose to re reconstruct the two-story uh pretty much in the same location of its existing footprint. Um once we get that up on the screen, I'll be able to give the members of the council a quick
overview of the site. Um but with respect to what we're proposing, um we're not looking to change really anything with respect to what currently exists there. Uh under the uh ordinance here in the city of River, we're authorized uh by special permit with the council's permission to reconstruct a
non-conforming structure. Uh and we can also uh we're also permitted to actually expand the non-conforming structure uh under the special permit provided that we are uh not creating additional zoning violations. Uh with respect to uh the existing non-conformities, uh we believe
that uh the minimum lot size in the TEED district uh which is 25,000 square ft in this particular area uh would be insufficient as we only have about 22,800 ft. We're not looking to change anything with respect to the lot size itself. Uh with respect to the front
yard setback, the minimum requirement is 50 ft. Uh currently the condition is just over 20 ft. Uh we do have a proposal to uh maintain that setback as is. Uh we are looking at uh some architectural uh features of the building that would uh permit the uh
second level to have a bumpout. We haven't made a full determination on it yet, but we do understand under the ordinance that you are authorized to grant special permit for that to the extent that it increases any of the nonconformity. Uh in addition our sideyard setback uh we do uh maintain a a sufficient sideyard setback at its
furthest point of just over 43 feet. Uh and we again are not seeking any particular zoning relief. Uh based upon our review with the site plan review committee the the uh specifics were uh a special permit from the council with respect to this particular item. So I
apologize if we don't have the actual uh deck or presentation. I know we'd submitted a a number of exhibits with our petition, but uh happy to address any questions or specific comments and if we can get the uh slide deck up, we can refer to that as necessary. Thank you very
much. Uh we got a Do we have any proponents? Is that all you have right now? Yeah. Any any proponents? Anyone here in favor? Okay. Closing that side. Any opponents? Anyone here against or
object? Hearing none. Closing. It's not letting me open it. Closing that side. Any city councilors? Councelor H. Thank you, Mr. President. So, um, is this just like an auto automotive shop currently there now? Is this a
storage facility now? um through through the president um through the chair. I um I understand that there is offices currently with some storage. Uh this is mainly being recast as mostly offices. Uh we're not proposing to include any storage within the building any longer.
So when done over, it'll strictly be an office space. That is correct. Okay. Thank you. Y Thank you, councelor. Council McKenna. Thank you, Mr. President. Um this is my ward. I have no problem with this at all. It's not near a neighborhood. It's
uh set back. Um there's a lot of land there. Um and I don't see a problem with it. So, thank you. Thank you. Thank you, councelor. Any other counselors? Okay. This will be referred to zoning.
Thank you very much. Calendar item number 11. He hearing called is ordered on the application of Sora River Owner LLC 235 Bear Hill Road, Waltham, Mass. requesting a chapter 148 license for the storage of flammables to be exercised at 93 Bennington Street for
the following uses. A 114 space parking garage, a 500galon diesel fuel above ground storage tank in the to be contained in the fuel storage room. and 150galon diesel fuel above ground storage tank.
Petitioner. Good evening. My name is Quinno Sullivan and I'm an attorney with DMrosio LLP 14 Proctor A River Ravier here on behalf of Sora River Owner LLC seeking the council's approval of a chapter 148 section 13 fuel storage license at 93
Bennington Street. Um, as the clerk noted, this is to store fuel at the property for 114 parking spaces as well as a fuel storage room and the generator fuel located on the roof and we're seeking the council's approval of that license. We have um we have worked
extensively with River Fire and they have approved the configuration and the application to the council. Thank you very much. Do we have any proponents? Anyone here in favor? Closing that side. Any opponents?
Anyone opposed? Opposed questions. Okay. My name is Juan Hoya, 145 Bennington Street. We are the building next to the new construction from Sora. Um, we are really I mean I understand or we
understand as a board that um the the gasoline that is in the cars, we had to have one ourselves. That's not a problem. The problem is the the the diesel that is going to be uh on the
roof uh this building that uh I don't know how it might be danger for our building our north side of the building that is the part that it kind of be together with the new construction over there. um don't know what type of a tank
they are using and um if I mean it's not an underground storage tank that it will be safer you know is a is an above uh ground and it's going to be on top of the building plus you know you had an
extra 150 gallons of diesel that I imagine that does the day tank so I don't we we are really confused on what that can cause for us in the future if we if they happen to have fire. Uh we
have a 650 gallons of diesel on top of the building. That can be you know a big problem. Understand. So you're not here in favor, you're not here opposed. You just want clarification. That is correct. councelor
just for the first point the 500 of the diesel gallons will be in the fuel storage room which is located um on the first floor and that's for the fire suppression system and the remaining 150 gallons of diesel fuel will be in the uh a tank for the generator which is
located on the roof. So it won't be the entirety of the diesel fuel. the majority of it will be in that fuel storage room while um only 150 will be on the roof for the generator. So the 150 is not storing, it's just the
gasoline that's in the the generator itself. Correct. Correct. I believe that's from my understanding. Um that that's the gallon the what is in the generator tank on the roof and then the fuel storage room that has the 500 gallons if you're looking at the application that fuels the um that
supplies the fire suppression system. It's a fire pump in the fire suppression system which is located on the first floor and the fire department came down and and approved all this as Yeah, the fire department signed off on the application. Um it's located on the bottom. They um on February 3rd they
did. Okay. Thank you. You got that? Are you okay with that, sir? Come on. I understand it's important. Yeah. Initially when I talked to one of the engineers that is uh in charge of
the the project over there they told us that it was uh everything was located up in the roof. So that was the understanding that we did have. I understand that they have the day tank that is the one that is going to be used
in case of uh emergency that they need the generator but uh he was telling me that the 500 gallons were up in the on the roof that that was the worry that's that's a clarification that you just made on there. Okay. And you understand that it'll be stored down in the in the
in the room and then 150 will be just for the generator itself. Yeah, that's what we call the day tank. Are you comfortable for that? I am okay with that. Thank you. I'm glad we could help. Hello, Mr. President. Uh Ed Terrell 70
Street. Not so much against, but I just have real concerns about this. There's a school across the street and right behind it is the blue line. I don't like to think in worst terms scenarios, but to me, this seems could really go south. Even though the fire department is off
on it, I just have concerns. Thank you. Thank you. Any other opponents? Anyone here against? Yeah, please. You You have to speak from the mic, ma'am.
Name and address for the record. Yes. Uh Blert Costa. I live at 145 Bennington Street and uh I have a I I live with a with a team here. I mean we live uh we own an apartment me and my husband and we just uh we are concerned when we got
the letter and that was good that clarification was done that those 500 gallon was not on the top of the roof as you explained and the lady here explained but still this is a big concern for us. You know, we live so close, so we don't want any explosion,
nothing. I just uh we just want to be safe. That's my concern. Understand. Thank you very much. Do we have any other opponents? Okay, closing that side. Any city councilors? Council McKenna, I was
given to you. Thank you, Mr. President. Um we vote all the time for this uh as a city council. Um and um there shouldn't be um exempt from this because there are
uh commercial um buildings that have uh have the cars in there. And that's that's what they're talking about. Um so for the public, that's what they're talking about, the fuel in the cars that they're going to store. And that's everywhere in the whole city. So, and
that we do have generators on the top of the roof that hold um 150 gallons of uh diesel fuel. So, this is a normal thing. This is they just have to do it by special permit. They have to come in front of the council just to have it. Okay. So, I would really like a road
call roll call tonight if we could do that. Okay. Thank you, councelor. Council Zambo. Thank you, Mr. President. You know, I I don't want to beat it that horse, but for years I've been saying this these uh licenses should not be before the city council, but it it's too
much complication to try to remove it. The bottom line is the fire department signs off on this. They're the experts. If there was any risk, they would not sign off on this. We have to trust the fire department. So, obviously I'm in
favor of this, but I'd be more in favor if we could change the state law and not have us vote on these. Thank you. Understood. Thank you, counselor. Any other counselors? Okay. Um, where are we?
Oh, yes, we are in a roll call. Madam clerk, shall the city council grant a chapter 148 license for the stated purpose to be exercised at 93 Bennington Street? Councelor Aenzio, yes. Yes. Councelor Cogleandro, yes. Yes. Councelor Janino,
yes. Yes. Councelor Gino SA. Yes. Yes. Councelor Hass. Yes. Yes. Councelor Haramo. Yes. Yes. Councelor Kelly. Yes. Yes. Council McKenna. Yes. Yes. Council Novaski. Yes. Yes. Councelor Zamudo. Yes. Yes. And council president Sylvestri. Yes. Yes. The chapter 148
license has been granted. Yeah, we're going to hold. Yeah. Okay. So, uh right now we're coming up on our public comment section. We're going to hold off until there's a presentation given from um Tom Sakoski after his presentation because it he'll
either get more into it or answer some of the questions that might be asked. So, I think it would be more beneficial for us to hear his presentation before we do public comments. Thank you. Next up is the zoning subcommittee report.
Calendar item. Oh, go ahead. Chairman Council Zamutoo. Thank you, Mr. President. Um obviously the zoning subcommittee met this evening at 5:00 for an hour and uh we had uh two items uh the first item
well the first item on the list here is the uh ADU uh regulations which we amended in many ways and uh came up with a solution and uh was voted out favorably. So I would ask for a roll
call on that. Okay, councelor. But um real quick, Council Kelly has something to say on this. Oh, I apologize. No, I don't I'll hold back my roll call. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. President. Um so, I just wanted to go on record by saying I don't I want
First and foremost, I want to thank um Tom for meeting with me twice and being very patient and answering all my questions and really having an open mind with me um and and working with me to try to get some of these modifications. So, thank you for that. I I think the um
the biggest thing here that I'm happy about is the um prohibition of variance relief from the ZBA. So, I think that's great because the dimensional controls that are in here are at least something. Um so, hopefully we won't run into the issues that we we're seeing in other
parts of the country, namely California in this regard. Um however I was very disappointed that council harmo um caught the um under section 17.25.02
02 number five that no ADU shall be allowed within a duplex town home dwelling or condominium because I thought that was a change that you were um that we were standing by. And so I'm a little disappointed to find out that that in fact was an error and it's going
to be deleted. Um but that's all I have to say. I just wanted to go on record saying that our ADU ordinance that we have I think is more than sufficient. Um, and it speaks to what we were trying to the goal of having um, elderly or
senior citizens or in-law apartments. And I think um, that spoke spoke to that issue without having to go on this oneizefits-all state mandate forced upon us. So, I'm against it, but I thank Tom for the modification. So, it's as reasonable as I guess we can get it.
Thank you. Thank you, councelor. Council Zamutoo. Okay. again. So, I' I'd ask for a roll call on the ADU. Madame Clerk, on a on a second reading as amended. Oh,
on third and final reading as amended. Roll call for engrossment in Damon. Shall the city council approve an ordinance further amending accessory dwelling unit regulations in the city of River as amended? Councelor Aenzio. Yes. Yes. Councelor Calvandro. Yes. Yes.
Councelor Janino. Yes. Yes. Councelor Go SA. No. No. Councelor Hass. Yes. Yes. Councelor Jeromeo. Yes. Yes. Councelor Kelly. No. No. Council McKenna? Yes. Yes. Council Novaski? Yes. Yes. Councelor Zambudo? Yes. Yes. And council
president Sylvestri? Yes. Yes. The ordinance is engrossed and ordained. So the next item um Mr. Mr. President. The next item was uh master spray foam installation incorporated 870 Broadway uh requesting a special permit from the
River City Council to change the nonconforming use commercial garage to another non-conforming use a contractor storage yard at 870 Broadway and Revier. And we put many uh conditions on this
and uh I think it uh would be fair to the residents if we read them before we vote on this because I've had many many calls and I think we addressed every every item every resident had. Uh and I think we put enough safeguards into uh
with the especially the ward counselor uh did a lot of work on this and uh uh so if we can read all the conditions I would appreciate it. The exterior of the building is to be repaired, including the replacement of missing stucco and boarded up windows.
The fire department must review and approve fire suppression and ventilation systems within the building. Since the primary use of the building is for a contractor storage facility for a spray foam insulation business, the owner of the property must cease operation of a
commercial garage and used car sales. The building must be brought into compliance with all fire safety and building, electrical, and plumbing codes. All owners and employees of the spray foam insulation business at 870 Broadway shall park off street. 870 Broadway shall not be eligible for
participation in the city of Rivier on street permit parking program. Hours of operation shall be limited to 6:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. Monday through Saturday. The city council shall resend the existing chapter 148 license number 221
issued on June 14th, 1926 for a commercial garage and additional storage of flammables. There there shall be allowed up to six vehicles, three vans, and three box trucks related to a spray foam business to park on site. And only
materials related to a spray foam business shall be allowed to be stored on site. Can we roll call the members? Did Did we also uh read the conditions of uh site plan review in that? Yes,
those were the first four conditions that were read. Great. Thank you very much. Roll call, please. Madam clerk, shall the city council grant the relief requested for 870 Broadway? Councelor Aenzio. Yes. Yes. Councelor Cogleandro. Yes. Yes. Councelor Janino. Yes. Yes.
Councelor Go Slaya. Yes. Yes. Yes. Councelor Hass. Yes. Yes. Councelor Harammo. Yes. Yes. Councelor Kelly. Yes. Councelor McKenna. Yes. Yes. Councelor Novasellski. Yes. Yes. Councelor Zambudo. Yes. Yes. And council president Sylvester. Yes. Yes. The special permit
has been granted subject to the conditions of site plan review and the zoning subcommittee. Communications. Calendar item number 14. communication from the chief of planning and community development relative to a presentation on rever power choice.
Thank you very much. Good evening councilors. Tom Scraky, 281 Broadway. I was we were hoping to plug into it is so in October of 2022, the River City Council unanimously voted to authorize
the city to engage in a municipal aggregation plan like over 200 plus communities throughout the Commonwealth including um Boston, Chelsea, Malden among many others. Um and then September
9th um we presented to you our draft um municipal aggregation plan to submit to the DPU. We submitted shortly after our presentation and the plan was accepted by the DPU um later that year. Um and in
the subsequent period, we've been working on getting this program up and running for a June launch and working with our partners at Paragrin Energy. Um, Marina Patton is really the subject matter expert here. So, I'll defer to her um on the presentation and what we're going to be discussing here, but
we wanted to make sure that we were all clear as a community, you all clear as counselors about uh what the program entails, what the opt out entails, what what all the choices um ultimately entail with this program because I know you all have been getting a lot of questions and I appreciate you working
with us and my office and the mayor's office to get those questions answered. Um but ultimately we think this is a program that provides long-term stable electricity rates for Rivier residents and um consumers and we think it's a positive net benefit for the residents
in the long run that provides more choice and stability. So I'll hand it over to Marlana to talk um and then we'll take any questions um that folks might have at the end. Great. Thanks Tom. Thank and nice to see you all. Thanks for having me. Um, so as
Tom said, I'm with Paragan Energy Group, Mass Power Choice. We're the consulting company hired by the city to help uh implement and then ultimately manage this program, Rever Power Choice. So, I'm going to take you through a presentation that's really geared toward the general public. Um, and it'll look
very similar to the presentation that we did um when we first introduced this program. So I always start with this opening slide that says an introduction to Rivier Power Choice which is an electricity program from the city for residents and businesses. So I always like to make the point that this program
is municipal in nature. It's not a private program. It's a public offering from the city for both residents and businesses and it's only for residents and businesses in Rivier. So people from other communities cannot participate in
this program. It's unique for Revier. So, what kind of program is it? It's something called a municipal electricity aggregation program. And that's a mouthful. And if it leaves you confused like this dog, then the way to think about it, it's a form of group
electricity buying for the community. And it's a municipal alternative to the private electricity markets that everybody gets through the mail, over the phone, and sometimes at your door. And it's a regulated alternative, I should add. So this program had to be
approved by the Massachusetts Department of Public Utilities and they maintain oversight on an ongoing basis. Now, why participate in the program? There are three big benefits um that rever consumers can get out of it.
And I'll add that one of the other benefits that's not on this slide is you're joining more than two other communities that have already done programs like this. So you're in very good company. Um it's well trotten ground. But one of the big benefits is three new electricity supply choices. So
what do I mean by that? We're talking specifically about the part of your electric bill where you pay for the electricity itself. So if you look at the bill, it says supply services. That's the second part of your bill. The whole first part of your bill is delivery services. There's a lot of
little line items there and we can't change that part of the bill. That's a regulated part of the bill. But the supply services part of the bill where you pay for the electricity itself, we can change that. And through this program, you get three new choices for
that part of the bill. Another big benefit is stable prices. So through this program, prices will be stable for that part of the bill for 30 months. That makes the program and I should add that's specifically from uh June of this year
through December of 2027. That makes the program different from when you have say national grids price for that part of your bill. National grids price changes seasonally. And you might remember a few years ago at the beginning of the Ukraine war when
national grids prices spiked to 14-year highs and we were all really suffering. So through a program like this, you would be protected from that kind of a seasonal price spike. And then the third big benefit on this slide is savings
compared to National Grid's price. At launch, Revier Power Choice is definitely offering a price that's lower than National Grid's current price. Most communities with programs like this do see savings on average over time as
well. When you compare this long-term price to the fluctuating national grid price, I have to say we can't guarantee that the program will always provide savings. And that's because the city has signed a fixed long-term contract and national grids prices are going to
change all the time and we don't know what they're going to change to. But UMass Ammeris did a report a couple of years ago looking at these programs across the state and found that the vast majority of communities do see some savings. Now, I'd like to clarify
upfront that this program is not a replacement for National Grid as the electric utility and that can make some people nervous. So, we're not going to take National Grid away and in fact we cannot take National Grid away. National Grid owns the the electricity delivery
infrastructure, the poles and the wires. So if you live in River, National Grid is going to deliver your electricity and send your bill. And you can't change that. But what you can change is your electricity supplier, which is the company that buys electricity and puts
it on the electric grid on your behalf. So, it can help to explain this a little bit more if you stick with me that as a consumer, you actually have three choices for how you buy your electricity in the state. The first choice is your utility buys it for you in addition to
delivering it. So, that's National Grid. When you first open your account, they're going to always deliver your electricity, like I said, and then by default, they also buy it or supply it for you. So when that's the case, that's called basic service. And that you have
National Grid's basic service price for the supply part of your bill. And that's the price that changes seasonally that went really high the other year. Your second option is you sign a contract, private contract with one of those private companies. They're going to buy electricity for you instead of National
Grid. When National Grid puts together your bill, they're going to use a price from that company to calculate the supply part of your bill. But you're still calling National Grid when the power goes out. they're still sending your bill. None of that's changing. The third option is the city signs a contract with one of those electricity
supply companies instead of you. And again, that company's the one buying electricity for you instead of National Grid. National Grid's still your utility, still delivering your electricity, sending your bill, but they're using that price that the city got to calculate the supply charge on
your bill. So that's what aggregation is, and that's what Rever Power Choice is. Now the next two slides are just pictures of what I was describing. So this is a picture of basic service. So on the left side you have national grid both supplying and delivering
electricity. So two services and on the right you have the consumer and then this is a picture of with the program in place what this looks like. You'll see that the right twothirds of the picture are exactly the same. National grid is delivering your
electricity and there's no change or interruption in the relationship between national grid and the customer. So there's no change in the quality of the electricity in how they put your power back on. If the power goes out, none of that's changing. There's no change in
their billing. If you have automatic billing or electronic billing setup, none of that is changing. The only change is on the left. the supplier is in a different color because it's not going to be National Grid buying or supplying the electricity. It's going to be a company called Direct Energy. So,
that's the company that the city signed a contract with. They're the ones that are going to buy electricity and put it on the grid. Now, I mentioned at the beginning that one of the big benefits from this program is new choices for the supply part of your bill. That's what this
slide is about. So there's three colored circles on the left and then we're going to compare them to national grid on the right. And that national grid price is the current residential price that's being used to calculate the supply part of your bill if you have their basic
service. So that's a six-month price. Over on the far left, we have Revier basic. That's the cheapest option in the program. This prices in cents per kilowatt hour. So 13.760 cents per kilowatt hour. That's
the lowest price in the program. And you can see that it's almost a penny below National Grid's current price. The city had to choose one of these options to be what's called the default or the autoenroll one. It's the one you get if
you don't make any other choice in the program. All the programs work this way. So the city chose the cheapest one as the one you get if you don't make any other choice in the program. So that's rever basic. If you participate in this program and you don't make any special request, you're going to get the
cheapest one. You have two other choices in the program that are available by request and you would make those choices if you want to buy more of your electricity from renewable sources like solar or wind. So this is not a change
in the quality of the electricity that's coming to you. You're getting the same electricity off the grid. You always have been, but this is a change in when electricity is being purchased on your behalf and added to the grid. Where's your money going? So through River
Greener, you can get 80% of your electricity from renewable sources. And what I didn't explain, I should have. You automatically get a little bit every year from renewable sources. It's the state law. So this year, you're getting 63% from renewable sources by state law.
So through revier greener, you can pay a little bit more and get 80% of your electricity from renewable sources. Or through the river 100% green option, you can pay a little bit more and get 100% of your electricity from renewable sources. Again, this is not something
that you would get without asking for it. And it does not mean your lights are going to flick on and off if the wind stops blowing or the sun stops shining because you're still getting electricity from the grid. It's just who's dumping it on the grid for you. All three of these prices are fixed for the long term
from the program launch until December of 2027. National Grids price is a six-month price. It's going to change on August 1st. We don't know what it's going to change to now. Now, are you going to get a really crazy bill from this? No, you're
still going to get a National Grid bill, same as you always do. Under the supply services section, you'll see your supplier change to Direct Energy, Rever Power Choice, and their contact information will be there. And then the price that's used to calculate that
charge is going to be a River Power Choice price. And it'll be dependent on which option you're in. Now, the decimal in a different place on this slide than it was on the previous slide, and that's because previously I was talking in cents, and that's easier to talk about these numbers in cents. But on your
bill, they're calculating your bill in dollars, so they move the decimal to the left, but it's the same number. Otherwise, this is going to be a pretty invisible program to consumers. The primary relationship for electricity remains with National Grid. They're still delivering your electricity.
You're calling them if the power goes out. They're sending your bill. You're paying them. You're not getting any new or additional bills or new or additional charges on the bill. And importantly, if you're eligible for a discount from National Grid, like a lowinccome discount or fuel assistance, you would
continue to receive that discount through this program with no change. Now, how does participation work? Well, it's easy for most people because by state law, all programs like this work with an automatic enrollment
model. That is not a decision revere made all of the more than 250 programs in the state like this use that model. What that means specifically is if you have National Grids Basic Service, meaning you did not sign a private
contract with an electricity supplier, so you have that default setting, your account would be eligible for automatic enrollment in June and you would first see this price on your July bill. If your account is eligible for automatic enrollment, you should have received a
notice in the mail already from the city. I always mention that it bears the city seal because many electricity suppliers will step up their marketing when a community is launching the program and they will try to confuse people by sending out mailings at the same time. So if you got something in
the mail and you're not sure if it's legitimate, always look for the city seal. Now I mentioned that it's an automatic enrollment model, but importantly enrollment uh participation is not required and that's one of the hallmarks of these municipal programs.
So that means if your account is eligible for automatic enrollment, you can choose not to participate at all. So you can opt out before being enrolled or you can try out the program and leave at any time in the future with no fee or penalty. That mean that means if you
just want to be in the program for one billing cycle, you could leave the program and there would be no fee or penalty associated with that. And that makes this program different from many of the private offers that are in the marketplace that would offer you a price and require you to be with them for a period of time and charge you an early
termination fee if you try to leave. So some common questions, what if you don't have National Grids Basic Service and you have a private contract with an electricity supplier? Well, in that case, you're not going to be eligible for automatic enrollment and
nor should you be. You have signed a private contract. But if you want to participate, you can. You just have to take a step to do it. You can do that now as the program is launching or you can wait until your contract ends and submit your enrollment request then. So
there's no reason to worry about needing to break a contract that you have if you have a great price or an early termination fee. You can just finish your contract and then join the program whenever that is and you'll still get the program price. If you have solar panels or you participate in community
solar and you're getting credits on your bill or some kind of an incentive payment, this program will not break that. There's no change. Those incentive payments and those credits are not connected to your particular electricity supply price. So, you can change your
electricity supply price without impacting how those credits appear on your bill. As I mentioned before, if you get a low-inccome discount or fuel assistance, there's no change there. And then also, if you have National Grid's budget plan, so this is when National
Grid estimates how much electricity you use over time, and then they charge you the exact same bill every month. You can still do that if you're in this program. So, this is the last slide. This is just what the website looks like. And I like to show people because
in the upper right corner, you see three buttons. Enroll, change your option, opt out. Those take you to really simple forms where you put in your account information and you can submit an enrollment request, choose a different option or leave the program. If you call
customer support, you're calling my company. We actually do the frontline customer support and we can help you with those forms or do that for you. And if you remember nothing, just remember reverchoice.com. You can also always get the current
national grid price on this website. That's a regulatory requirement, so we manage that for the city. There's also a calculator on the website where you can compare the program prices with the most recent previous 12-month average of
National Grid's prices if that's helpful to you in making your decision. And then there's a bunch of other resources on there. So, I think that's it for me and I'm happy to answer questions. Thank you very much. That was a lot. Council Coleandro. Thank you, Mr. President. Um, excellent
presentation. Thank you so much for being here. Uh, I think you answered a lot of questions. Um, I just I have to state because I've gotten so many phone calls about this, the autoenroll is a huge problem for a lot of people and most of those people that call me, I
have to walk them through the opt out. Um, what are we doing to aid these people that someone like me, I'm looking at my rate right now, I use Town Square Energy. Um, I get $1155. That's my rate. So, that's a great price. Thank you. Um, what uh are
are are there ways to lower this rate? And are there ways to help educate the people on how to opt out? I think the big problem is a lot of people don't like that they're they feel like they're being forced to do this. And I know you just said it's a state law and and I didn't know that either, but what can we do to help educate people and to help
get these people that want to opt out and don't really know how to do so? Uh well, presentations like this hopefully. Um I know there's going to be another presentation and we've got um the website and customer support. So if people want to call, we're happy to talk
them through that process. Um but you're right that it's a it's not something River chose. Um, and I guess the other piece I would add as a caveat that might be helpful for folks to know as you're talking to people is that the program's
not made for people to bounce back and forth. It's really made for people to be in for the long term. It's very expensive for electricity suppliers if people bounce in and out of these programs. So, there is a provision in the contract that says if people want to opt out and then come back, they're not
guaranteed the program price. they will probably get it but they the supplier has a right to charge a higher market price if the electricity market has moved. So right now none of the electricity suppliers are doing that but it's a caveat that I offer because it's
important for people to know that that's a possibility. If we have another big runup like at the beginning of the Ukraine war when prices really spiked what happens is people that opted out suddenly call and they want to get back in and they can't get the program price. So that's just something that you may want to offer folks as they're thinking
about this. The other thing that you may want to offer them is that right now they are saving. So it's if they want to try it out and then leave the program in two months or three months because they feel like it's not right for them, there isn't a risk. They can leave. There's no
penalty or fee. And if they call to opt out or they submit an opt- out request, their opt out is typically processed with the next billing cycle. Thank you. And and what I've been telling people is if you're uh someone who doesn't shop around for rates that this will ultimately benefit you and you
don't need to do anything. If you do like I do shop around uh then you should opt out. Is that accurate? Uh yeah. If you don't, you're right. It's a great program if you don't want to shop around because the city's done the shopping around. Um if you want to shop around then yeah, you're free to
you're free to opt out and do your own thing. Absolutely. Yeah. Thank you very much. And if I could just add some local context to it. So both my office Zakazib and myself can answer any questions as well if you want to talk to somebody local as well as the mayor's office and 311 are all pretty well verssed at this
point on this program. And as to if you want to shop around and are a savvy consumer, there are some potential opportunities to get better supply rates. But one thing I'd say, and I've seen the postcards come in, you get $150 gift card if you opt into a cheaper
rate. And you know what my grandma always used to tell me is, you know, if it looks too good to be true, it probably is. Now, the rate is what it is. The rate might be low today, but some of the postcards I've seen, the rate ends right before winter, which is
super convenient because winter is when the rates get much more expensive. So, what they're relying on, the same reason why I can sign up for free HBO Max for for three months because I want to watch um White Lotus, they rely on me in
months 4 through 12 and 3 years from now, I'm like, "Wait, I still am paying for this." Um because you after that point, you autoenroll at whatever their rates are. So, if you're a savvy consumer, it can work out. If you are somebody who might get roped in by that
initial low rate and then forget where you are and the prices fluctuate regularly, that could be problematic. So, it's just kind of buyer beware. Thank you. Thank you, councelor. Councelor Green. Thank you, Mr. President. Thank you for
coming and explaining um everything today. I did have a couple of questions which you did answer. Um, one of them was the residents on the payment plans who are who are on a payment plan and I'm glad they can still keep that payment plan as well as the lowinccome
discount. Um, residents are concerned and and the reason they've called I mean in in drones when I tell you a a lot of people have called that they don't like the fact that we have to opt out and I know it's I think it's a state law.
State law. Yeah. um that they and it just it it seems like we're not being transparent with them that we just basically threw this upon them and this is how residents of of re the people who have called me um have felt. Um the
other concern that I have is your last uh picture that you had up there said December of 2027 rates. How high will they go? I mean, they can go double of what we're paying now. And and I mean, I don't think they're really saving that much money.
It's less than a penny. So, to answer the question about what happens at the end of this contract, so this contract, the prices were fixed because the city went out to bid and it got competitive price bids from electricity suppliers that reflect where the market is right now. The city's going to do the same
thing in advance of the contract expiring. So before December 2027 hits, the city will go out and we'll get competitive bids at that point that will reflect wherever the market is and we'll sign a contract assuming they see a price it likes. It'll sign a contract
and so the prices will just reflect wherever the market is, which would also be the case for National Grid's basic service prices and would also be the case for any prices that are offered privately. So the electricity market is always changing and 30 months from now,
I mean, a lot of different things could change. prices could go up or they could go down and whatever the new prices will just be a reflection of that market. The other concern I have is you said something about national grid still owns
the polls so we're still dealing with national grid. Yep. So is P power choice a middleman? Uh no that's just the name of a program. So the river power choice is just the name of a program. the the change that's being made is the city has signed a contract with a company a type
of company called an electricity supplier. So to back up a minute, when you have National Grid Basic Service, which is kind of the default, it's what you get when you first open your account. National Grid's delivering your electricity, which they're always going to do, and then they go out and they buy
electricity from companies called electricity suppliers. They don't they don't generate it. So, electricity suppliers submit price bids similarly to what they did for Revier and National Grid signs contracts with them to get that basic service price. With Revier
Power Choice, instead of National Grid signing a contract with those companies, Rev signed a contract with one of those companies and that company is Direct Energy. So that company's job is to go out and buy electricity from generators and make sure it gets put onto the grid
in the amount needed to serve river. That's the only change. So there isn't a middleman because it still sounds like there is a middleman. Electricity suppliers are middleman in that you're not buying electricity from a generator, not buying electricity from
a power plant yourself. So consumers don't make contracts with um a gas plant or a wind turbine. Consumers don't do that. Consumers can or or municipalities or national grid can make contracts with
middleman companies called electricity suppliers. They deal with the electricity generators and then they turn around and they sell it and they sell it to national grid to the consumers that have basic service through national grid or they sell it to a municipality for a program like this
or they sell it directly to consumers through those offers that you get in the mail. Okay. So what I what I'm getting at is if they're selling it directly to the consumers, it'll be less money than No, there's no it's always it's always an electricity supplier that's selling
it. The benefit here is that Ravier was able to use the group purchasing power of the community to get a competitive price. Now, that's not saying that an individual consumer couldn't go to direct energy and maybe get a lower price for a period of time. That's also
certainly possible. Neither National Grid nor Ravier nor any individual supply contract can guarantee at any one moment that they're always going to have the lowest price. One of the big benefits of a program like this though is the stability of the price. So the
price is competitive with national grid right now. Most of the time communities do see some savings. You're right, it's not a lot. You're not going to be able to buy an island in the Bahamas, but it's a little. But the big real benefit is stability. You remember when the Ukraine war started a national grid's
price was up at 33 cents a kilowatt hour. It was like a a 14year high. And people that were not in programs like this, I was one of them where suddenly our our bills went crazy crazy crazy high because national grid their price changes every six months and it follows
the market. But if you have a program like this, the price is fixed for 30 months. So if some crazy thing happens, you're not going to feel it when you're in a program like this. And then when the city goes out to bid and gets new prices, those new prices will reflect
wherever the market is and everybody else in the market will have similar prices. And also, it shouldn't be a big surprise to the community because there's a regulatory requirement that the city makes a big announcement about it 30 months before the prices take effect. So, everybody should know about
it and they could leave the program then if they don't like the new prices as well. And the consumers have the right to opt out at any time. Anytime. Anytime. And another big concern people have is what if everybody opts out except one person? Will that person be penalized and get a higher price? The
answer is no. That's a risk that Direct Energy took when they signed this contract. The risk is all on them. So it's not dependent on a certain minimum number of people participating. So however many people participate, those people get the price and everybody has
the right to leave at any time. Thank you. Yep. Thank you, councelor. Council McKenna. Thank you, Mr. President. Thank you for your presentation. Um, I got a zillion calls. Uh, the first call I made uh was to um Mayor Keefe, and I called
him and I said, "Is this fraud? Is this real?" I mean, I knew it had the the seal on it, but anybody can put the seal on it, you know? And he said, "No, this is legit." But I just felt like I didn't have enough information to give to my residents to tell them about this
program. this is wonderful that you're coming up here and doing a presentation, but not everybody has uh rea TV. So, how can we get the word out to uh our residents uh to about this uh because
like I said, not everybody reads the Reier Journal, not everybody reads the uh Reier Advocate and not everybody has cable TV, especially now people are opting out uh because Comcast is so much money. So, um, I just want to educate
the people because a lot of people don't know and I couldn't even tell them, you know, what was going on. I told them that I would get back to them, which was like 2500 people. But, um, anyways, um, is there some way that we can get the
word out to residents uh, instead of on television? Thank you. We thought this would be a necessary first step and hopefully you all can work with your constituents as as we have been to make sure the word's getting out. We're also having an event
May 8th at 10:30 at the River Senior Center um for anyone that would like to come and get more information. And then we'll be working with uh the mayor's communications team, which we have already, you know, with press releases and so forth, but also using social media to get the word out in addition to
the mailers and everything else. But I actually just um when I took a break from the zoning subcommittee, went up to my office, a gentleman came up and spoke to me um about this program and he had a flyer. And I think the really truly the most impactful thing you can do is point people to this website because it has
everything that they need um if you're kind of in a pinch that you got to point somebody in the right direction. So I would certainly encourage you to do that. Thank you, Council. Council H. Thank you, Mr. President. Thank you so much for being here and for the presentation. And I know the city's been doing a great
job of outreach. I feel like every time I go on social media, I take screenshots of um the flyers and and the comments and I'm sending them to constituents and family members who have reached out and things like that. So, regarding the savings, would you say a few dollar I
think it said $4 possibly per month? Is that something that in your experience with other communities that you could touch on? It really depends on how much electricity you use. So, um I don't have my phone to do the math real real quick, but like if you if you it's like almost
a penny savings right now. And if you use 500 kilowatt hours a month, that would be $5, right? 500 pennies. Um if you use less than 500 kilowatt hours a month, it would be a little bit less than that. If you use more, it would be a little bit more than that. And is is
there an opportunity for say after December of 2027 to see more of a boost if we opt into another another plan like this? Sure. So, it really depends on what the delta is between the community's price and where National Grid's price is. And that can be
impacted by a lot of different things. Um, as I said, National Grids price is really volatile and the community has uh a community specific price. National Grids price has to accommodate their entire service area and they also can't decide when to go out to to get prices
which River will be able to do that. So yeah, there certainly could be a larger delta um when you guys go out to bid next time. And I could just speak on experience from somebody who had a municipal aggregation plan during the Ukraine spikes. our bill in comparison
to friends of mine who lived in other communities was significantly lower. And you know, of course, that's not always going to happen, but the future is uncertain from an economic standpoint right now. So, it it's nice to have stability and I think that's ultimately what we're looking for here. Thank you.
And one last thing, sorry. So, I've had a few residents reach out um just based on our past history with National Grid and um our failings recently that there's not there won't be any huge spike in the delivery charge because we
are saving on the other end or anything in in that sense. Correct. Anything that the residents have to worry about? That's correct. It's a common concern and um I'm glad you brought that up. So, it can be helpful to know where National Grid makes their profit on the bill. They don't make a profit on the supply
services part of the bill. They make all their profit on the delivery services side. So there's no financial incentive for them to penalize anyone for making a choice either to participate in a municipal program or to sign a private contract. But separately from that, the
delivery charge part of the bill is regulated. So National Grid is not at liberty to just change that without a huge rate case in front of the Department of Public Utilities. So they really are okay with programs like this and with more than 200 of them already
in operation throughout the state. We are not seeing issues in that way. Yep. Thank you councelor Council Her. Thank you Mr. President. I guess I just have well first of all big fan of community
aggregation and um you know look forward to as we design all other policies in the city. uh trying to figure out how we get alternative sources that we can pull additional energy sources so we can kind
of feed um the particularly alternative sources um non-fossil fuel dependent uh so we could feed this program um from our own end as well and maybe help offset some costs for for residents in the long term. I have a more like technical
question. Uh I'm a resident. I have a 25-y year lease with a solar company. Uh, and they've logged they said, you know, uh, they've calculated that my solar panels are going to create 600 kilowatts uh, of of electricity per hour
or per month, right? Uh, but I spend 800 and I've locked a rate in at 9.19 kilowatts per hour. uh if I opt in or if I don't opt out, I guess, how does that affect
my I guess my my bill? Does it affect my bill? So, if you have solar panels, when your panels are producing, you're not buying electricity from the grid. And this program has nothing to do with you. But if your panels are not
producing like at night and you turn the light on, you get electricity from the grid and you have to pay for it. The rate that's used to calculate that part of your bill would be a rever power choice price if you were in the program. If you're getting credits from those
solar panels because you use less than you produce when they're producing, those credits would be used to offset that cost of what you're buying at night, but they would go a little further because the underlying bill is a little bit lower, right? So, I
understand that. But let's say uh a lot of these companies will lock in a rate with you for you for uh for the length of the lease, right? Um, are you talking about your net metering credit that you get on your No,
I'm talking about the the solar the solar lock on the on the rate, right? So, yeah, this program isn't going to have any impact on anything other than the price you pay for the electricity that you buy from the grid. That's the So if I have this but if I have this contract I guess with the solar company
because they're providing me the solar the the solar panels and they're saying anything in excess of what you produce we're going to lock you in for 25 years for this right uh this doesn't supersede that. It does
not change it does not have any impact on that. So essentially if you have solar panels and if you're locked in a higher rate you wouldn't be able to take advantage of this program. Is the is the rate what the rate is for? I miss I'm not sure what what the rate is for. So, but if it's in general, if
you're buying I'll just say that the only thing this program can impact. The only thing it has the possibility to impact is the price you pay when you buy electricity from the grid because your panels aren't producing. I understand that. That's it. What I'm saying is some
companies are locking in that a the supply the supply price. Yes. Uh yeah, that may differ from this. Maybe higher, maybe lower, but this doesn't necessarily I guess this wouldn't impact consumers who are who have that
arrangement with the solar company. So, I'm not familiar with that particular arrangement, I'll be very honest with you, of a solar company acting as your electricity supplier because that means that they would be in addition that means they would be buying electricity
for you. Yeah, I would they're probably doing some sort of aggregation purchase as well, I guess. You know what would be helpful is if you wanted to give us a call and we could talk through your bill. We could off the top of my head, this particular scenario doesn't sound
familiar, but that doesn't mean that doesn't mean I can't figure it out. Well, what I'd like to put you I'd like to put you in front of someone who does like sell solar, unfortunately, you know, who who can get in the weeds around this and and help explain that for Yeah. In in general though, for
people who have solar panels, this does not change any part of their relationship or their contract or anything with their solar company. The only thing it impacts is the price you pay for electricity when you buy it from the grid. If you have a relationship with any company that is serving as your
electricity supplier, meaning on your bill under supply services, you see that company's name listed as your electricity supplier, then you could not do both at the same time because you can only have one electricity supplier at the same time. So, if you're looking at your bill and this company that you have
a relationship with is listed as your electricity supplier, then you're correct. You could not do both. You would have to choose one or the other. But if on your bill you see basic service fixed from National Grid as your electricity supplier, then you could do
this program and that. Does that help? Yes. Okay. I guess at least for me, I'm Yep. Control F in right now and Okay. Yeah. Helps provide. Yeah, you can. I mean the big picture you can only National Grid will only let you have one electricity supplier. So whatever this company is, whatever your relationship
with them is, if it's not that, you could still participate in this program. Yeah. Thank you. Y thank you councel council Jino. I just want to say thank you for clarifying the program in front of us right now to make my job easy when I get the phone calls to me answer the
question. You answer 90% of the questions I got already. Thank you. Any other counselors? Okay, thank you very much. It's very informative and this will be placed on file. Welcome.
Yes. Now, in the public comment section, so if you are here as a resident of Revier and you're looking to speak on a motion um pursuant to the acts of 1965 um and you want to speak, please come
before us. give us your name, your address, the motion you're looking to speak on. Yeah. Uh Anthony Cutler. Uh motion 20. So um there was a little bit of disagreement and debate about this specific issue. Uh term limits. uh but I
think that you know uh this is the best approach to this matter because if you look at holistic if you look at this matter holistically the um the key stakeholder here is the voter and if we want to improve morale and we want to uh get more people involved leaving this up to the voters is
um the best the best way to go about this um I I think there are two um counterveailing elements here I think there's um an ambition to minimize career politics, which I understand, but then
you judge the post that with the fact that if this were to pass hypothetically, um people could still serve five year terms as a city councelor, 52 terms as a war counselor, 52 terms on the school committee, and three four terms as mayor. Um so I'm not
100% sure that it completely addresses it, but if the voters uh want this to pass, then I respect that. So uh I support this motion. Thank you. 111 Brandon Lane. Name and address. Anthony Pazi Ali, 51
Arcadia Street. Mr. President, um motion. I can't speak on the motion because you guys already voted on it. So, I'm a little bit frustrated about that. I wanted to comment on the ADUs. I was at the subcommittee meeting. I was hoping to get a parking thing
straightened out. I didn't like how it went. I was going to appeal to the other counselors and now I cannot and I don't really know how to remedy that. So, I guess it is what it is and I'll let it go. I'd ask in the future if you guys are going to move public comments, please move anything that's getting
voted on after the public comments so that we can come up and be heard. I do want to comment on Michelle Kelly's motion on term limits on the ballot. I support that 100%. Let the people's voice be heard. Let them have an opportunity to say how they feel. Anytime the people can make a decision
or be involved, we should allow them to be. Thank you. Name and address. Steven Daviano Jr. 172 Prospect Avenue. I'm speaking on motion uh 25-135 about the street sweeping. Um it
undoubtedly happened this past Monday. The street sweeper did not come by. Um it has happened years past. It sort of actually happens every year, especially that first one. They miss the they miss they miss it because it's a
holiday. And then what ends up happening is following week, uh, people are at work, the sweeper sort of comes in, gets the other side. Basically, it it resolves itself by June. But if our tax dollars are going towards street sweeping on that day, I'd like to see it
happen. I have a mess in front of my house still. So, you guys are all welcome to come take a look if you don't believe me. I support the motion. Thank you. Thank you. Name and address, please. Uh Jim Mccur 193 Cresav Ward one. Uh am
I allowed to speak on uh Mr. President, am I allowed to speak on communications or motions only? Anything that's on the agenda? Anything that's on the agenda? Yes, sir. Okay. Yep. I'd like to talk about uh item 25-125 HYM and the tax increment
abatement. Um, thank you uh, honorable council. Uh, tonight I want to talk about a simple choice. Do we stand up for rea families or do we give away our future to a wealthy developer? Right now our city is
facing major challenge. We need to build a brand new high school, a $500 million investment in our kids and our community. It's the biggest bonded project in the city of Riviera's history. The truth is we can't afford to be
careless with our finances. It is very likely that in the future the citizens of Reier will be asked to approve approve a Proposition 2 and a half override which would raise property taxes for every homeowner and business in the city just to help to fund a new
school. And yet at the same time we're going to be talking about giving a massive tax break to HYM, a billion dollar developer. it. That's not just bad math. That's bad leadership. If we give away tax revenue
now, it means less money for our schools, our roads, our public safety, and it forces ordinary ree families to pick up the slack. Ree families that are already struggling with the cost of living, housing, and
taxes. We can't allow that. Residents shouldn't have to pay twice. first by losing potential revenue by from HYM and then buying seeing their own taxes hiked to a Proposition two and a half override. It's simple. Developers who
profit from Rev's growth must pay their fair share. Just like every small business owner, just like every homeowner, just like every taxpayer like yourself, it's only fair if Reier residents can't get tax breaks. Why
should multi-billion dollar developers HYM project will increase demands in our public services? They'll rely on our police, our fire departments, our roads, and yes, our schools. They should be investing in
Revier, not taking away from it. As you elect officials have a duty to pro protect the future of our city, and that starts with protecting the people who live here. No corporate tax breaks, no special deals. Let's put Ree first.
Let's make sure HYM pays their fair share. And let's build the high school our students deserve without crushing the families who already call the city home. Thank you. Anyone else? Madam clerk.
Back to the regular order of business. Calendar item number 15, communication from the policy writer and analyst requesting a public hearing relative to various amendments to title two of the Ree revised ordinances. So be ordered to a public hearing. Calendar item number 16, communication
from the Chief of Planning and Community Development, requesting a public hearing on amendments to title 17 and title five of the Riviera Revised Ordinances relative to food trucks. On to a public hearing. Calendar item number 17, communication from the chief of planning and community
development relative to a tax increment exemption agreement between the city of Rivier and HYM Investment Group LLC. Tom, good evening councilors. Tom Scraki, 281 Broadway. Um, February 10th, the HIPP
district was approved by the city council for the Suffach Downs, Green Street, and the Shirley Avenue neighborhoods. And as we mentioned that evening, the express intent for for getting this done first and foremost was to provide support for the portico
project, which is 473 unit development uh high-rise style development. That's really the signature project um for the Suffach Downs development. And we then after the council approved it worked on getting the district approved at the
state level. It was approved April 2nd and then subsequent to that we started discussions with HYM on negotiating a tax increment exemption deal. Um the TAI as we call it has been submitted to you is in draft form. It still
requires state review and review from our council and this solely um pertains to the portico development and nothing else uh around um the Suffach towns development. Um and it proposes a 50% increment exemption for a period of 15
years. It has a sunset clause whereby if construction does not begin by November of this year um this deal effectively expires. Um and it also has a clause that no abatements can be saw in the first 10 years of this um Thai term. Um,
separate to this, we have been working with HYM on a series of community benefits that we'd like to bring to a negotiated agreement um that will be separate to but complimentary to this TAI agreement because essentially um HYM
um needs to make the numbers work on the portico project and you know looking at that project in a vacuum there are certain numbers that they need to meet um to to hit their investment goals but at the same time. There's a series of other projects over this decadesl long
partnership that we have with HYM that we're looking to secure additional benefits um that again our goal will be to bring a tie to the city council hopefully for execution May 12th um but at the same time bringing an agreement
to the city council that um brings other additional benefits to the city tied to various other projects that are happening throughout the Suffach Downs development. Um so some of the main contours of this agreement would be um payments of $4 million at various
milestones throughout the development process and those would be secured we hope before 2030. So in the more immediate term um have a clause that states that if the project is sold during a certain time period, the net profits of that sale, a percentage of
those net profits would come back to the city just to cover us in the event that for whatever reason HYM were to sell this property, which we feel like is unlikely given their long-term commitment to the city, but it's just a hedge we'd like to cover for. Um we are
looking to have a community benefits um clause related to the employment of a river residents on this project. Um and benefits to uh other other river resident benefits such as um things related to the tickets for the stage at
Suffach Downs. And then finally um we are working with them on potential community benefits that they could bring in uh for the Amaya development which of course is already uh constructed. but there's um various retail spaces on the first floor that are not yet occupied. So, those are all things that we're
working on. Um the $4 million is kind of the biggest uh the biggest ask there and one, you know, we feel confident in securing and we think would be a big win, which to the point we heard earlier, we we've got some debt service obligations coming up and this will align right with those and provide us
with some additional financial security. Um, so top of the line though, you know, in consultations with, you know, mayor's office and our CFO, I think we feel like this is an agreement that is aggressive but fair and also protects us from the
event in which if if construction does not begin at this site, we would find ourselves in trickier fiscal waters than um if it did with this deal. And so we feel good about the deal we've put together here. Um, and our goal would be to either send it to committee or I
understand it might be tabled and then voted on by the full committee on May 12th. Um, in order to get into the next round of HDIP funding because it's both a local tax agreement and a state tax credit. In order to get into that round for the state tax credit, we need to
have a vote um May 12th. So then they can then submit to the state to meet this round because the next round would be much later in the summer and they'd basically miss out on a on on another construction year. So our goal is to work with them to get shovels in the ground July one and this helps us
accomplish that goal. Happy to take any questions you might have. Mr. Mayor, no. I'm just here if anyone has any questions as well. Okay, Miss McKenna. Uh Council McKenna. Thank you my my little
[Music] student. Um I just want to know um Tom or May um has the state given any increments to HYM yet?
So the the state provides a tax credit? So their their deal is a little bit different. Um, and it would be I think right now it's maxed out at um $4 million that they would receive for this project. So that's what they would be applying for a state tax credit for $4
million. So they would ultimately get um $19 million from this deal. Is that right? Roughly. Okay. Thank you very much. Thank you, Councelor Councel Kelly. Thank you, Mr. President. Thank you,
Tom, for the presentation and um some of the information here. Um so I my first question is um so the way I'm looking at this at the last meeting we were talking about a million dollars roughly over 20
years but we needed to negotiate that. So now based on that we're looking at 15 years instead of 20 correct in addition and then $4 million that's frontloaded that's tied to some of the other development projects. Okay. So then what would the the the total? So
I'm seeing 42 million 97,000 here. So is that 50% of that figure? Uh that's the current land value. So that's the baseline for um val evaluating uh the tax increments.
So currently that's the value of the land for tax purposes. After the development, we anticipate the development will be valued somewhere around 200 million. So this would basically exempt that
what60 million roughly from 50% of that taxable value from so so we're still at that 20 million roughly um it would be closer to if you think of this about 750
to 800,000 the first few years and then it slowly ramps up to about a million in year 10. Um, so it's it's roughly between 13 to 15 million depending on how you want to evaluate it, but then that additional 4 million
would bring it down to right around 10. Okay. And so I noticed that there's a sunset clause in here. Um, and it says construction has to commence before the end of the year. To me that is so vague because what exactly I I know you know with building permits and things like
that um every six months they'll they'll developers can get reviewed and if they've done just a little bit of work it it's okay and they they get to you know extend another six months. So is this just you know they put a shovel in the ground so they started construction and they're it's all set because that needs to really it's vague to me and
that needs to be tightened up. Sure. um councelor through through mr president to to the councelor uh we we can clean that up a little bit more and I'll just say that uh we've also reached an agreement that they they will pull the permits by June 30th uh so that they
will uh effectively pay a portion of the permit fees that they're required to pay uh and breaking ground means site activation not just coming there with a shovel and being vague so we can clean we can firm that language up if that's the wish okay I'd appreciate that and this just really this whole thing rubs
me the wrong way because I began asking questions about this project about a year ago. I was concerned about the progress there or lack thereof the viability of the project and every time I rose my concerns, every time I raised my concerns, I was told, "Oh no, those are just rumors. There's nothing wrong.
Everything's great there." And now either that was in the best case scenario just inaccurate or worst case scenario I was being deliberately misled. I I don't know. Um because now we're being told that we have to have this tax incentive plan. Uh we had to
vote on it favorably in order to boost that development to start up again when all along I was told it was just doing fine. But now all of a sudden so I'm not forgive me if I'm not 100% confident in anything that has to do with this project now. Um, which upsets and saddens me because I want the project to
be successful because I know we desperately need the revenue to fund that high school and this revenue is crucial in terms of us funding that high school. So, it just seems like boy, we're over a barrel now, right? Uh, the rationale being if we don't allow HYM
the tax credit, we're told, well, maybe then the project will stall and we need this revenue. So, it's almost, you know, the everything was was going just fine until the this tax incentive plan became available and now all of a sudden that
it's available. Oh, they need this money to get things going again and we need them to get the money because we need the money to fund the high school. So, the whole this is it. That's rich. That's all I have to say. It's really rich. So, that's it. Thank you. Sure. And if if I can um Mr. President, if I can throw you to the counselor. Uh, by
all means, I'm not a devel developer and I'm not in high finance, but I don't think that anyone can disagree that the state of the economy and the state of the development of that the entire northeast has been in a little bit of a a sluggish environment and it's uh definitely uh heading towards some more
trepid waters. um you know every developer comes here there you know I don't want to get any polarizing political terms but tariffs are freaking people out and ultimately the the sense of certainty is is only uh the the only constant is uncertainty in the
environment when it comes to the construction field uh you know you can probably hear the trades are very much supporting this deal every trade that has reached out to you and I'm sure that they will come to the council to voice their support 1000 IBW sitting on the shelf um uh construction construction
laborers, 22 on the shelf. Um there's there's thousands and thousands of labors across Massachusetts that are out of work. Uh so that there is a trickle down economics when it comes to helping spur this economic development. It's not what we ideally planned on in 2016. Uh and I understand that you know there's
certainly pessimistic pessimistic and optimistic views on any uh largecale plan, but I don't think anyone planned on a pandemic and certainly I don't think anyone planned on these unprecedented times that we're facing today. But as we know the e the economy in uh construction es and flows every 10
to 15 years. So I'm not a clairvoyant and I I could sit there and you know we could probably toss a coin and predict what's going to happen tomorrow. One of us is going to be right, one of us is going to be wrong. The only thing we can do to is to come together and work together to make what's best for Reier.
So ultimately ideally no no one wanted to plan on this two years ago or three years ago. But this is the certain times that we're facing. And I'll just say this again not a developer. I don't build things. I'm helping to uh chair the city to make sure that we're heading in the right direction. But we are very
much in a in a road a game of chicken. Uh and this isn't chicken with a developer. We're in the same car facing the wall. And we want to make sure that we can help that uh push that domino over to get the entire pro project back on track because yes, it is behind. That
is 100% certain. So this deal all in is approximately $11 million over the life of the the deal. when it comes to approximately $15 million with somewhere around $4 million back and then we are going to continue to negotiate and I know that some of you have some ideas and we'll be willing to hear and listen
and I know that the Tom O'Brien and his team are going to listen as well. Um this is going to help you know get us you know I say this all the time 50% of 100 is better than 100% of zero and that's unfortunately what we are facing.
So, I appreciate your your foresight, you know, a year ago when you had seen some of this and I don't know some of your information that you were gaining from people in the trades was probably very very true. Uh, and I appreciate you trying to give that information, but you know, we have to put a positive outlook on what's going on in our community and take a team approach and that's what
we're doing here. Thank you. Thank you, Council Councel Zambo. Thank you, Mr. President. I find myself in a tough position here. So, we're looking at $11 million. Is that we're looking at
Okay. I don't want to bring up old wounds, but I see, you know, I I said we were in a financial mess when we moved to high school to Wonderland. Uh I don't want to talk about future litigation or all that other crap, but it's out there
and it's a problem. I don't see how we're going to pay for this high school. And now I screamed, I don't want to take money from Suffach Downs because we were supposed to that was supposed to give the taxpayer a break. We were going to
get 47 million a year from Suffach Downs. And I lost that argument, of course, and I was the only guy that voted against moving it to Wonderland because I knew we couldn't afford it. Now, with the money we were going to use
from HYM's project to help pay for the high school is $11 million less. I I just the logic just doesn't make any sense.
Uh I I agree with your analogy that uh 50% of something is better than 0% of of nothing, but it's not a great analogy. It's not a it's not a
palatable analogy, I should say. I'm I'm worried about the fiscal health of the city, and I'm sure you are, too. and and we can all say, you know, Zambo is full of crap. He talked about uh you know, receiverhip and all that. And I'm I'm
not even going down that road at this point, but I see a problem uh down the road here. And and and we're at a crossroad and I'm I'm not sure how I'm even going to deal with this. I'm I'm not I'm not sure where I'm going to come down in the end here, but I am not
in a comfortable place. I can tell you that right now. on the people out there are not happy and um there was an example here tonight and that's what I'm getting from a lot of people. You got the ner they're saying to me you're going to you know I I was the biggest
brager of this project. I was I was the biggest cheerleader because it was going to uh create $47 million a year in in revenue. And but who knew that interest rates were going to go to 89%. And I
don't care how much money and how much backing you got. It's just an impossible environment to build right now. And so part of me wants to help them uh get over this hump and and the other part of me says you're going against everything
you you said you were for. So I'm I'm in a I'm in a I'm between a rock and a hard place here and I'm I'm trying to be honest with everybody. We're all in a between a rock and a hard place here. This is this this I don't see a good solution here. So, I don't I don't know
why I'm going on like this, but I don't I don't find myself in this position much in life, but I'm in a I'm in a tough place here right now. And uh I'm hoping that so someone can make this more palatable to me. Of course, and and councelor, Mr. President, through
councelor Zambo, um you know, you're right. There's there's so many uh there have been so many environmental changes over the last three to four years, certainly over the last six years that have made every calculation that every economist has planned change and alter. You know, you just said the interest
rates and it's it's been um so turbulent um that you're seeing large-scale developments across the Commonwealth, across the entire Northeast just come to a screeching halt. And that's exactly what's happened. Not one largecale development, high-rise construction, has
come out of the ground in the last 15 months. This is a high-rise unit. This isn't five units. This isn't five over two. This is high-rise steel construction. And we know that it doesn't always pencil out. So, that's one. Yes, there is certainly a level of support. But again to domino and to help
support the entire project rather than just literally sit there and watch and wait another year, year and a half until the hopes that interest rates come down, the uncertainty when it comes to things like tariffs are are not part of the uh equation. Uh and then what will happen?
So this is a one-time deal. Uh and I'll just use some examples. The city of Lyn is negotiating a $47 million tax uh tie right now. $47 million um for a larger development. the the the surrounding communities are going to get more competitive and and offer these to to
these construction firms and these people that want to take advantage of some more um support. Uh the BCEC in Boston, we we negotiated a sale clause, which we hope we don't have to take. But if there's a cash windfall by any development on a tax agreement, we want
in on that. Now grant we don't want to see this person sell within 10 years, but if there's a cash windfall and we helped incentivize that, we want we're going to get a we're going to get a claw back on that. So it could make the the the deal even more lucrative. Uh BCE did a large under Mayor Manino did a large
increment finance like this and they actually made out because of that sale clause. Um I mentioned, you know, unfortunately one of the largest um trafficked environments in our city was deal dealt with through a tax deal market basket. As everyone remembers, the Northgate shopping plaza was a
desert. It was dying. And through economic development, through your your some of your uh some of your plight, counselor, you were you were you were ahead of your time. You helped negotiate one of the uh first or the best tax deals in the city to Market Basket, a
multibillion dollar uh grocery chain that came to the city of Riviera and completely turned around the Northgate shopping center that we all see today. Now, you may not like all the shops. You may hate the traffic, but that was done through a tax deal through the city of Ria, through some of the councils that
sit here today. Uh, different scale, different times, but had you not done that, God knows what we'd be looking at right now on Squire Road. Thank you, councelor. Thank Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Mr. President, if I can just comment, I agree with you. We, you know,
I was I was the cheerleader for the market basket tiff. However, that was a pre- permit tiff. This is all a different ballgame here. And you know, I don't want to get into the legality. I some of us don't believe
it's legal to do that. Others, you know, there's no case law and and all that. But that was offered to Market Basket to come to Revier. In fact, when the when the special permit was written, it said
supermarket on it. And I said, "No, we're not offering this tiff to supermarket. We're offering this tiff to Market Basket because it'll revitalize this mall and that's what we need. This is a different ballgame. And I'm not saying
that this isn't going to help the city get this over the hump. Like I said, I'm I'm torn here. I'm really torn. But that's you can't you can't compare this to Market Basket. Market basket was a vision. It was here's a tiff, come now,
if we had done this to HYM, here's a tiff, come and do this, that's a different story. This is after the fact, and this is to try to boost, you know, I I And this is only
talked about because the state offered this incentive program because it it requires local buyin. I don't know if a lot of people watching TV tonight know why this even came up. It's because of a new state incentive that requires local
buyin and otherwise we wouldn't even be talking about this. One one thing um about the as to the legality. So um I did speak with HLC and it's it's regular common practice to bring HIPP projects in front of them that have already been
permitted. as I I think I mentioned at the time was my experience doing this in Fitsburg. Um because the HD program has actually been around since I think 2015. So um the program has been around for a long time. We just adopted it here only recently. Um but we're also working with
um uh council at Anderson Kger um who is helping to work with us on this tax deal and I'll I think you might be familiar with them and they will um help to clarify any other legal issues we might have here. Thank you, councelor. Council Leandro,
I'm just gonna I'm just gonna leave it there. Thank you, councelor. Councel Coleandro. Thank you, Mr. President. Um, I have uh three three questions. Uh, the first question is, has Boston given or are they looking to give a tax incentive on their side of this project to HYM?
So Boston is ineligible for the HDI program because they're not a gateway community uh a gateway city, but um I would I I know they're considering that for other projects that they're doing like commercial to residential conversions. Okay. Uh thank you. And so
another question, originally this Suffach Downs project at full buildout was supposed to give $47 million and it was said the other night, uh Mr. Mayor, I hate to put you on the spot, but it was said you said $60 million. is 60 million the new number that we're estimating it will generate at full
buildout. Uh so we when we were talking about exclusive of property taxes it was closer to that 40 plus million. Uh we were estimating the $60 million as ancillary taxes such as mills tax, hotels revenues um and and some of the the trickle down uh economic um funding
sources. So that would be the full buildout. And again um that's you know 15 or so years from now, 10 years from now. Uh we want to get that ball going so we can get closer to that that that that full buildout scope. Uh we're not ha no one's happy and you nor should you
and I and I appreciate some of the people in the residents here that have their frustrations. There's no doubt. But you know this isn't criticism. I was a counselor as well. On any given night we could sit here and literally dole out a million dollars in in motions and uh this is a million dollars to spur another million dollars in economic
growth. So we're giving a million to get a million or we can give zero. And you know, I'm not saying that, you know, I I like feeling threatened or under the gun, but this is one where I feel it's real. I do. I feel that there'll be there will be a lot of people sitting because they can take their investment and get four and a half% from a bank by
doing nothing. And and you've heard u you know, these these developers all come and say, you know, it's 6.5% minimum to get into the ball game from a development standpoint. So to take that risk of $100 million or $120 million, they're looking for a little bit of backup and and that's where we're
becoming a partner in this project and um it's something that we have to make tough decisions and I'm asking that you make that tough decision with us and there'll be time to negotiate more if you're looking for some other added incentives. Uh I'm not sure how much room there is, but I know that uh everyone will be willing to sit at the
table. I started at, you know, much less, they started at much more. And we sort of met in the middle, you know, right around about, you know, for dollar average about 11 million. I wanted to give zero, you know, I mean, that's the truth. But we we I can't just do what I want to do. I have to do what I feel is
the best interest of the entire community. Thank you. You answered a couple of my other questions. I just want for clarification and for the people watching that may not be up to date on this. This is specifically for the portico building
only. This is only for the next building and and more also this is going to be a way for us to keep keep this all this entire project union built. Is that correct? You know that's a you know council that's a very good question and
yes that is the answer and that's what the fair is and I'm just going to say part of this was to protect union construction labor because had we said walk we'll walk their they their next option would be to probably say hey we have to revisit how we construct this
and um that was the fair too is protecting union employment uh for the people that have really fought for this project there was a fear that they would walk from the PLA and they would have a right to because you know financing would change and that would just be the way it would be and I would be I would
be very upset and I know that a lot of our residents would be very upset. Hence why we're also negotiating an even higher percentage of rever union labor on the site. That's you can't really put an equation to that. There's no real dollar on that but that would be something that is an added bonus to the
residents of our city to make sure they're employed. Thank you very much. Thank you councelor Councel McKenna. Thank you, Mr. President. Um, so I want to just uh reiterate what you said about um uh construction stopping. Uh on in
the Boston Globe last week, there was an article that said all construction in Massachusetts has stopped. So, um that's just one thing. Uh the second thing is um maybe we should go back to the table
and redefine uh the high school and uh just instead of having wave um corridors and uh you know and um uh a uh a wall that goes up so they could have outdoor
and indoor concerts. I think we need to go from a Cadillac to a Camry because we're losing we're going to be losing some money. The other thing I'd like to say is that uh for 20 years, REA gave
NECO a 20year incentive um for 20 years and and they left us, you know, not in a good state. So, I just I mean, we've done this before, you
know, to bring a a company in to keep the company. We've given them an we've have given them tiffs. We've given them incentives. So that's that's what I want to say. Thank you. Thank you. Um M Mr. President, through you to M madam um council McKenna. Um so right, NECO was
the number one employer of the city for a number of years and it was a great industry. Obviously that changed uh they they moved their plant but you know the good news is is uh that after being idle for some time there was massive amounts of unemployment uh related to Revier. But it did its job when it was there.
Um, what I would also say is, you know, listen, I know that everything kind of piggies back piggybacks onto the the high school. Uh, just know that, uh, on sides, you know, we don't not every project in the city is completely tied to the construction of the high school. Although, yeah, this is a big there's a
big, uh, it is a big project. You know, 250 million to the city. 250 million approximately coming from um the, uh, MSBA reimbursement. We have already because we we we work behind the scenes on contingency plans with everything. You know, if God, you know, something
happens, you know, in the community, we lose a major employer. We, you know, health insurance, I'll just use health insurance, right? If we if we're solely basing every decision in the city based on finances, our health insurance premiums for the city went up over $6 million this year. $6 million. How much
of that? That's that's half of the debt service to the high school year. just the health insurance went up, right? The state is seeing unprecedented amounts of health insurance increases, double digit increases two years in a row. So, do we just say, "Hey, let's scrap health insurance and let's go to the GIC like
everyone, you know, if we're just going to make financial decisions, we can do things like that." I don't want to. We're going to have to figure out ways to be more nimble and and and work on making sure that we keep people uh getting great health benefits and we protect our residents and our employees. But those are the types of decisions
that come across my desk every single day. We've already worked on value engineering for the high school. It hasn't I think it'll be on the next school committee meeting, school building committee meeting to the tune of $20 million, right? We're already looking at different energy credits. You know, they just uh Conigley is finishing
up their their school in Waltham under budget and with almost all of their contingency money left, $18 million. I spoke with the mayor the other day, Miss McCarthy. Um, so there's no doubt if there's an in case of emergency break glass last moment for the city of
Riviera, we're going to break the glass. And you know, I know that we talk about, you know, Proposition 2 and a half and and and and all of these overrides and whatnot. You know, there look around every city, you know, Winthre, Melrose, Medford, um, how many other communities have done these over the last couple
years? And they're doing them constantly. Brainree, they're doing them almost every year. You know, the city of Rivia has been fortunate because of its uh thoughtful process to growth to not have to put that burden because when you talk about 2 and a half%, what has what
what cost has gone up less than 2 and a half%. Has your utility cost gone up less than 2 and a half%. Has your insurance costs gone up less than 2 and 1 half%. Has our has our raises gone up less than 2 and a half%? Of course not. So, when we can only raise taxes 2 and a half%, we have to be mindful of everything else that we do. That's why,
you know, you see the mayor's office when you see the budget come out, what we're making sure we're doing to not overspend what we have and we're doing a good job financially. We're going to continue to do that. We're never going I I promise you that we're never going to put ourselves into that financial
jeopardy that get that got brought up a few years ago. That's not going to happen. We will take a thoughtful approach on the design and the Cadillac conversion and make sure that we're ready to turn it into a I call it a Volvo. Nice safe vehicle option. There's nothing wrong with the Volvo. Not that I
drive one. I can't afford one, but you know what I mean. Thank you. Thank you, council. Council hear me. Thank you, uh, Mr. President, through you to whoever is listening because the first part of my intervention here, uh, will be to clear up a few things. The first thing being
that uh you know as well respected as uh Tom O'Brien is the uh CEO of AY HYM and I actually do believe he's a good faith actor in the development world um as he is uh for the working people on his
projects and particularly on this project uh he has already gotten a discount for the wages for the people on this site. Um so now he's asking the city of River uh for a little extra money and I
understand the economic pressures at play here right um you have you know the markets are uh revoling against a series of policies and there's unsurityity uh as to how our economy is going to um
blossom or spiral in the next few years. uh we were headed straight towards uh rate cuts from the feds and now you know uh the the Fed chair uh Powell said last week that he was not going to do that.
So I can see how this could affect the borrowering and the lending for a big development like this one. Um, the thing that strikes me about what happened from the moment where we approved the HTEP and where we are today is that the
city of Boston, a city of almost 800,000 people, uh, to be the CEO of the city of Boston, you have to spend about $2 million at least. And for whatever reason, Tom O'Brien, who's been in
politics for a very long time, because the way he's been able to be a good developer in Massachusetts, is he has been first a good politician, decided that he wanted to run for mayor. Now, I can't imagine that's not a calculated move. And I
can't the mayor of Boston. Yeah, get I know. Yeah. Yeah. Oh. Uh I can't imagine that's not a calculated move. And I can tell you that there is another multi-millionaire running for mayor in the city of Boston right now who has lined his coffers with his own money. I
say all this to say that I really appreciate the efforts of the city. I still don't think that this goes far enough. I really would like to point out uh particularly the payment of $4 million here that you've out uh laid out. I don't think that we should accept
this. I think that um we should be looking at something closer to $8 million on this council. Uh in fact um I don't know what the procedure is, but I'd motion so that we can direct the mayor to negotiate as close to $8 million as possible, but I just don't
think $4 million is acceptable. I know we have a few more weeks leading up to the final vote on this. Uh but I would not be able to vote in favor of something like this for less uh for for anywhere close to four million. Um and I understand the economic times but I do
you know I wanted to provide some context about this particular project. Um again the wage cuts that have already been implemented uh you know uh you know all the other things and so you know just want us to be mindful about that as we consider
particular things like you know all not just the high school all the other things that we have to pay for in the city of River. So um uh I've actually the clerk would help me with how procedurally that would go here. Uh but I would I would propose that we increase
this $4 million number to eight million uh and go from there. Okay. Would the Would it then come back to us? The city council. Got it. So when the contract comes back up, uh, then that that would be the
right time to do that, Madam Clerk. No, what she's saying is now is we have the ability to do it. Oh, right now. If could I at this meeting, but we we have to sit with Tom and Got it. Got it. Okay. And if I could just interject, if there was any adjustment from that $4
million figure that was proposed by the council, that would be separate from the TAI agreement, which is strictly about Portico. This was sort of a separate development agreement that I I might need to seek clarification on, but I don't think would actually need to be voted on by this council because it's not
um we are not giving them any benefits. They're providing benefits to us and this this signed agreement would basically be their good faith um agreement that they're making strides towards that. So as a result of the you wouldn't want to engage it. Exactly. I understand that.
So, you know, but it is not tied but tied. So, really important to to be able for us to advocate for our constituents in that way. So, um yeah. So, I guess procedurally we just have to see a final
form. Is that right, Tom? For the separate development agreement. Yes. Okay. And so, what is the next step with this draft? So the next step here would be this would I imagine get tabled tonight and
taken by the full council May 12th within the next week we would send a new tie agreement to the council that has um followed review by our council by HYM's council by the state. Um but again that's just the separate tie agreement
and then there'll be we're working on what the contours of this will look like with our council but a separate agreement that we'll also send along as soon as possible. I mean I don't know if there's any formal vote that needs to be taken for me to understand the spirit of the
council tonight. If that's what you want us to bring back to the negotiating table, we hear you loud and clear, but we'll defer to the the council on on that matter. I I don't think there's a procedural vote needed. until we have this final. Could we add a
motion to this? Just saying that he'd like him the mayor to take back an $8 million offer. I mean, I think that's what we just said. He said he's willing to take it back. I mean, if you really want to put a motion. That's why that's why it's written. Is
that Is this already This has already been negotiated, correct? Still in negotiation. Still in negotiation. Th this is the this is sort of our baseline I would say. And then Tom, just to clarify, in order
for them to receive the funding from the state and the t tax credits from the state, they would need this this TIFF essentially. They would need a local TIFF um in order to submit the full application. Is there a proforma or anything that we could we
can see before we take a vote where they're making this like so they have to submit a full application to the state for the HDI program and I can inquire with HYM if that's something that they could provide to the council. I imagine it's public information. So I believe
that the submission deadline was actually tonight for that. Um and they submitted this draft tie agreement but they'll submit the final one when it's ratified if and when. Yeah. So, I'd still like to motion that we uh ask the mayor to negotiate to I'm
going to let councelor Aenzio speak and then councelor Aenzio. Thank you, Mr. President. Thank you very much, Mr. President. So, I I understand we're in a very distasteful uh position here and I'm sure the mayor, this is the last thing he wanted to do is come up here and propose this. Uh but the economy has
tanked, construction has stopped. Um this is a very important project for us. development. Uh we need to make sure that it continues on and thrives. Um I I applaud Councelor Harammo. Uh can the
mayor go back and by by uh the 12th of May maybe squeeze out uh some more money? I'm all in favor of that. Uh but I we can't cut off our nose to spite our face here. I know promises were made in the past and and as councelor Kelly
said, she she uh I give her credit. she brought this up and uh you know was told that uh no that's not happening and everything is excellent but it wasn't and this came down the road and we're faced with it and as a council you know
we have to make some tough decisions here and you know we can't just say well you promised this so you know that's it we don't want to do it and the project tanks and we're sitting here a year or two years wondering when uh the
project's going to kick back up. So, I think the mayor has has made his best effort. I think he can go back. Hope not hopefully he can go back. Maybe he can squeeze a few more dollars out as council Haramio said. I'm all in favor of that. And uh I think we need to make some tough decisions and but make sure
this project that we're relying on, you know, continues to thrive. Thank you. Thank you, councelor. Council has Thank you, Mr. President. I'll be brief. Um it does make me somewhat nervous when you see if we don't agree to this that we're going to lose another cycle, another
construction cycle. And Tom, you had referenced something earlier about um benefits for the city rea workers. Um you had talked about the stage con the concert concert tickets other than financially. Are
there any other benefits that we could look into for Reier residents by getting into this? I think the primary two would be the the component related to hours worked by Rever workers, which as the
mayor noted is sort of an intangible. We can't put a dollar value to it, but certainly Rever workers can. Um and then we were in very preliminary discussions about some things we might be able to do to provide some community benefits to the um one of the ground floor tenants
at Amaya. Um and then in addition with the stage at Suffach Downs, we're talking about potentially a donation for um a set amount of tickets to be allocated by the parks and recck department or or donated um to the public health department for one of their auctions for the various concerts
um for the stage at Suffach Downs. Did you say residents on the ground floor of the Amaya building? Is that the the retail on the ground floor of Amaya? So working out some sort of community benefit associated with one of those um
tenencies. Thank you. Thank you, councelor. Uh permission to speak from the chair. Thank you. Um so Mr. Mayor, I appreciate you, Tom. I appreciate you. Um I have a meeting with Tom O'Brien uh tomorrow
morning, so I will be sure that we discuss this at length. Um, I I also am a huge champion for this project. I'm I was a huge champion for the high school project. And as many people have said tonight, none of us want to be in this predicament right now. None of us. But
we are in it as se several of you said and and these are the things we're facing. Um, but I do want to hold them to the added reactions. And this is a this is the the big uh this is the one hiccup I may have uh with this whole
thing. The last time when the when the project was doing well and the building happened, I was getting calls from from union after union after union that there weren't enough rea workers on that site that a lot of the the companies as they do brought in supervisors and foreman
and those were the guys that are get protected in the jobs and the unions we know uh they work the longest they get there at the beginning they stay till the end. Um but those were were predominantly coming from outside of Riviera. Um and I think that's a big fix that we need and we need to stand firm
on that. Um also I I think that we as we're talking about this and and the negatives of it, I think we got to look at the positives of jumpstarting this. As Councelor Jenzio said, we could be sitting here two years from now looking at the same parking lots we're looking at right now. Um or or we could be
jumpstarting our our our economy. We could be jumpstarting jobs in the future down the line and these are all the things that we have to look in. So we're looking for for extras and how do we get there and things that we look at. We look at jobs for reair residents when the when the building's done and we need to really start thinking hard and long
about this. Yes, we're in a bad we're in a tough time right now. These economic times turn. Um but I I I don't see I think we're in a rock and a we're in between a rock and a hard place here. And um I I'm looking forward to trying to support this, but I need Tom's um in
in here from the unions that they they've solidified the the more workers on the site. That that's a big one for me. Um and now I believe councelor, you have a motion you want to put into the floor. Yeah. And you know and for the you know for clarity I understand to you
know councelor Jenzio's point um we I I think we all understand this would be a non-binding motion but I think we want to send a message to uh the developer here that you know 4:00 I mean 4 million u just doesn't quite cut it and you know that we have to pay our bills too. Um
and so just a motion to uh give the city uh you know give the a hardline city I guess what we would say. Oh the this is why they pay you the big bucks. You see we got we need this money so we can give Ashley a raise. Just
saying. Thank you. Um, verbal motion by councelor Hermo that the mayor be requested to negotiate a separate development agreement with HYM to include an additional payment to the city of Rivier in the amount of $8 million tied to the construction dates
of other Suffach Downs projects. Uh, Madame Clerk, if we could just say an additional four from what's already been proposed. I think not adding eight, just adding an additional four. So doubling what they've already proposed. Yeah. So it's eight. So eight total. Yeah. Total of
eight. Yeah. Okay. Perfect. Thank you. Mr. President, do we get a chance to talk about this motion before we vote on it or Absolutely. Okay. Uh may I Yes, please. I I understand. You know, I I'd like to get as much money as possible, but I think that's that amount of money.
Now we're talking about why we're even giving a tax break in the first place. Uh it's we're going to we're going to ask him for$4 million more dollars. we may as well give him a 10-year deal at that point, you know, and and scrap the extra 4 million. So, I that's just my thoughts on it.
Thank you. It's a nonbinding motion. It's just us giving us our intent. You're you're But when you ask the mayor, when we file a motion, the mayor has to accept or deny that motion. So, we're asking him to ask for an additional four million where I
understand I wasn't responding to you. I was responding to the chair who looked at me to see if I had to respond. I'm I'm responding to what you said, counselor. Thank you. We can just let him finish. Yeah, councelor. Okay, Council Kelly. Thank you. So, I
think what this motion might do though is just send the message to the developer that we're not really too happy about these terms and it might open the door for just some further negotiation that the city council isn't too keen on this and you know maybe it wouldn't be four million but maybe it
would be 2 million or maybe it would be another million or maybe so I think it just opens the door requesting for some further negotiation. So, um I I think it's it's a good thing. Thank you. Thank you, counselor. Any other counselors? Um,
why don't we ask the mayor to look into additional things for Rea residents other than the financial aspect of it? I don't know if they're offering 4 million. We just ask for 8 million. Um, why don't we ask the mayor and the
planning department to meet with HYM and see what benefits they can provide the Rea residents? Mr. President May I Yes, please. Um I'll just I'll just say that u council has uh all the
councilors uh you know I hear you loud and clear. Um so you know you could put a motion in. Uh I don't know if like I said if it's non-binding you're you can ask me right here. I'm right here. So uh you don't have to go through the process. Uh I I understand exactly what your wishes are. I will go back to the
table and continue to negotiate for more in every facet including the economic facet and and I I'm pretty clear sure that um the development uh development team is probably watching this if not live. They'll certainly be watching it within the next 24 hours. So, I think that they're going to hear your tone
loud and clear uh and know that um it sounds like there's some been some very rational and reasonable thought from the entire body and we'll take that back to them that we uh we're looking to um see how much further we can work this this agreement so that it's even more palatable for the the body. Thank you,
Council Colandro. Thank you, Mr. President. Uh would it be feasible now because we've already stated that we're going to ask for 4 million and hope that they give us one or two. Can we lower the amount of money that we're gonna ask the mayor to negotiate because we literally just put our cards. We just
showed our hand uh multiple people. So, can I respond to that? It it opens the door for negotiation. It doesn't say that if we got one, we'd accept it. But what I'm saying is it's opening the door that we want more. So, let's negotiate more. That's it. Okay. So, maybe we should just ask to negotiate more
instead of put a number on it. So, President, roll call on this motion. Can I have substitute motion to table this? We have a substitute motion on the floor to table this. [Music] This is to table.
This is to table counselor's verbal motion. No, I don't want to do that. I'm sorry. I wanted to table the original motion. Councelor Haramo's motion is on the floor right now. Madame Clerk,
do you want me to reread the motion again? Okay, please reread the motion by council that the mayor be requested to negotiate a separate development agreement with HYM to include an additional payment to the city of Rivier in the amount of $8 million tied to the construction dates of other Suffach
Downs projects. Councelor Arenio. Sorry, ma'am. I'm Oh, excuse me. Total payment, not an additional payment, right? Oh, I heard additional. Sorry. I just want to make sure. I don't want to. Yes. So, there was 4 million. It's It's just
a negotiation. There's There's a There's a separate negotiation on this floor for $4 million. He's asking for an additional four on top of that. So it' be eight total or just an additional payment of $4 million that the mayor be requested to negotiate a separate development agreement with
HYM to include an additional payment to the city of Rivier in the amount of $4 million. Period. Okay. Councelor Aenzio. Yes. Yes. Councelor Cogleandro. No. No. Council Jino. No.
No. Councelor Gino Suaya. Yes. Yes. Councelor Hass. Yes. Yes. Councelor Haramo. Yes. Yes. Councelor Kelly. Yes. Yes. Councelor McKenna. No. No. Council Noasilski? Yes. Yes. Council Zamutoo? No. No. And Council President
Sylvester? Yes. Yes. The motion passes. Motion to table the motion. Madam clerk on to Yeah. If [Music]
then I remove my motion so I can discuss it before I put the motion back in. Is that okay, Mr. President? Council Kogando. Thank you very much, Mr. President. We don't have room on our because of our meeting ordinance, we don't have room to put this in subcommittee. By tableabling it, we're assuring that we can bring this up at
the next meeting. That's the only reason we're tableabling it. So, we want to make sure that we have the ability to handle this issue on May 12th. That's it. Nothing malicious. Thank you. Motion to table. Madame clerk
to table the communication to the meeting of May 12th. Councelor Aenzio. Yes. Yes. Councelor Cogleandro. Yes. Yes. Council Jino. Yes. Yes. Councelor Go Slaya. Yes. Yes. Councelor Hass. Yes. Yes. Councelor Jammo. Yes. Yes. Councelor Kelly. Yes. Yes. Councelor
McKenna. Yes. Yes. Council Novaski. Yes. Yes. Councelor Zambo. Yes. Yes. And council president Sylvestri. Yes. Yes. The communication has been tabled. Thank you for your time tonight. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Tom, appreciate it.
Motions. Calendar item number 18. Motion presented by councelor Go SA. that the mayor request it to update the citizen serve form to sign up for site plan review to include a yes or no checkbox if language interpretation services are needed and if yes what language will be
required council Ginoa thank you Mr. President, during my attendance at site plan review meetings, it became clear that some res residents do not understand what they are being told um during the site plan review process. To address these issues,
I put forward this motion requesting the IT department update the citizens serve form on the site plan review allowing residents to request their language interpretation while filling out the forms, not having to wait the two weeks.
So, I'm pleased to announce that thanks to Michael Wells and the IT department, this motion has already been implemented and the forms are already updated and available now on citizen serve. So, I guess I'm withdrawing the motion or
putting it on file. Putting on file. Thank you. We'll place this on file. Thank you. Calendar item number 19. Motion presented by council Kleandro that the mayor request masdot to paint new lines, repair all potholes, and install additional lighting on Squire Road.
Councelor Zamutoo is recused from this motion. Council Kaggleandro. Thank you, Mr. President. Uh I I have tried to communicate with Masto on this issue. Um I'm now attempting to do so through a motion in hopes that somebody does something. the if you're not from
Ravier, uh it is very difficult to know exactly where those lines are, especially I live on Newman Street and at the bottom of my street is where that third lane starts to close off to that that second lane.
Like I said, if if you don't know this area, that's incredibly dangerous. It's not well lit and we need to fix potholes and we need those lines if anything repainted. Thank you. Thank you, counselor. Any other counselors? All in favor? All opposed?
So ordered. Calendar item number 20. Motion presented by councelor Kelly that the city council approved the following non-binding public advisory question to be placed on the November 2025 municipal election ballot. Non-binding ballot question. The city of Rivier is seeking input on whether to make changes to
terms of office for elected officials. Question one. Currently there are no term limits for elected officials in the city of Rivier. Do you support a charter change that would set term limits for the offices of mayor, at large city councelor, ward city councelor, at large school committee member, and ward school
committee member. A yes vote means you support term limits for elected officials. A no vote means you do not support term limits for elected officials. Council Kelly. Thank you, Mr. President. So after the discussion we had on term limits during the last meeting, I decided to submit this motion
under Massachusetts General Law Chapter 53 section 18A which allows for a non-binding question of term limits to be put to the voters on a ballot so that it is decided by this. So it is not decided by this council alone. I think
it's apparent to everyone that residents really want to weigh in on this issue and have their voices heard. This simple ballot question would empower residents to have a say in shaping their government structure and would allow for direct democracy. However, a council
vote on term limits sidesteps that and allows for unfortunately an inherent conflict of interest. This is not a reflection on the members of this council. But we'd be remiss not to recognize that even the best intentioned counselor faces an inherent conflict
here. If we alone vote on this issue, we are ruling on our own job security, which thereby creates an appearance of impropriety. The obvious solution then is a ballot vote, which removes any bias by simply letting the voters decide. At
our last meeting, it was mentioned that voters could not handle this question. That they may say they want term limits, but in actuality would not realize that they'd be losing experience. That's nonsense. Voters completely understand and want the opportunity to vote on this
issue. Denying them an opportunity to be heard is insulting and it assumes they cannot handle having a choice. Others may say we already have term limits. They're called elections, which is catchy. But this argument also fails miserably because when incumbents
run unopposed repeatedly, it it fails. There is no democracy in that. And in our last 10 municipal elections, incumbents ran unopposed 31 times. Where's the choice at the ballot box? Then how exactly does
an un unopposed incumbent get voted out? Where is the democracy in that? This proves that incumbency and name recognition in Riviera act as a p act as powerful deterrence to newcomers who would otherwise enter a race. Just look
at our last ATL large race where three open seats sparked eight brand new candidates to run. In closing, I hope we can all agree tonight that a ballot vote on term limits builds faith that we serve the public, not ourselves, that their voices are important to us. That
we are not here to cling to power, but we're here to hear from them. That's what's most important. Let's not rob them of having their voices heard on this issue in November. Therefore, I move that we put the question of term limits on a ballot vote in November. And I respectfully request a vote on this
motion this evening. Thank you. Thank you, councelor. Do we have any other counselors? Councelor Arenzio. Thank you. Uh Mr. President, I know uh you made a motion and it's coming before um legislative affairs on May 12th. You still want that to go forward?
Uh I think this will be going to legislative affairs as well. Well, I was Yes. So, I councelor Kelly makes a good point and everyone knows how I feel about term limits, but I certainly have no problem this going on the ballot and and hearing what the uh residents have
to say. Uh, but I still would like this to go to subcommittee because I'd like the uh city solicitor here and the election commissioner uh to have some questions asked and that way we can clarify what the uh people are going to
be voting on. Um, it's still a non-binding question. So, it's it's still even after the question uh goes before the voters, it's it's still going to be a vote of the council and it's still going to have to go to the legislature. So, I don't want anyone to
think that, you know, that's the end of it. It still has to go through the whole home room petition and what have you. So, I have no problem it going uh out to the residents and but I I'd still like some questions answered by both the city solicitor and the election commissioner.
Thank you. Thank you, Council Hass. Thank you, Mr. President. I understand um you want to listen to the voters, let their voice be heard, and if this goes on the ballot, that's essentially what you're doing. But with an election, that's what you're doing as
well. that they're voting for the best candidate that they believe in. Um whether that's school committee at large, whether that's a ward counselor. I spoke on this on the last at the last council meeting
and I was very positive regarding my um relationships with veteran counselors, counselors that have been here for years. Have I leaned on them? Absolutely. Um, the mix of new faces and veteran
leadership is extremely important for a position such as a counselor. It's something that's necessary. Um, it's you rely on their their advice and that's how you grow as a counselor. You saw how quickly our first if you're
a new counselor in your first term, you saw how quickly two years went. Um, I don't see the benefit of placing a timeline on someone's ability to do a job. I understand the way the original motion
was worded was very interesting. Sure, you could run for at large for 10 years. Maybe you want to run for a ward counselor another 10 years. So, you put in 20 years right there. But, uh, I think you need that voice. You
need that veteran voice. And I think that's an important thing for new counselors. I don't see the point in someone who's 25 years old. You have a young kid fresh out of college who his dream has always been to be a ward counselor and he gets in at 22 is first
time running and you're going to say 10 years from now you're done. You can run for school committee but your your time as ward counselor is finished. I don't think that's right and I don't think we should put a a timeline on someone's effectiveness to do a job for this city
and especially one that if they're passionate about it, I don't see why you would take that away from them and um that should be with the voters. They should elect the best candidate possible and that's where I stand on that. Thank you. Thank you, councelor.
Council McKenna. Thank you, Mr. President. Um, I just want to say that I went to school four years to be a teacher and I didn't have any experience when I got in the classroom my first year. It took a real long time for me to
get adjusted to teach kids. It didn't take my first year or my second year. It took multiple years. I've been a counselor for 10 and a half years now. the things that I know now, I didn't know back then. It I've learned it
through years of experience. And I just think that's so valuable when you're a counselor. I mean, I I'm here 10 and a half years and I look at uh councelor Zambudo and counselor uh
Novasolski still for um you know, knowledge and stuff that I need to know. So, I just think time is valuable. I really do. And experience is valuable, too. So, that's just how I feel. Thank you. Thank you, counselor. Counselor
Zambo. Thank you, Mr. President, I think everybody knows that uh I once was for term limits. I got here and found out I made a difference and I stayed and the people agreed with
me. But that's not that's not the point of this motion. Uh you know, this motion is a nonbinding referendum. It's, you know, to me, non-binding referendums are like a bucket of spit.
They're not worth anything. You don't get anything out of a non-binding resolution. If this was a binding resolution, it would be something to vote on. So, I can't support this because it's a non-binding
not has nothing to do with my feelings that I disagree with term limits. It has to do with I disagree with non-binding resolutions. So that's how I stand on this. Thank you. Thank you, councelor. Councel Cogleandro. Thank you, Mr. President. So, I just want some
clarification because now we have we have two motions before us that are in regards to term limits. Is there any collaboration in the future? Are we gonna Yes. So, I I was actually gonna let everyone speak, but I was going to
pull my motion, add myself to Councelor Kelly's motion, and uh expect this to go to legislative affairs to be honest. Okay. Um I I have supported term limits in the past, and I don't believe that, and I think councelor Kelly made made
this point uh in different wording, but I don't believe that this decision should start with a body that it's going to affect. And I would be for this uh to to put this question to see how other people feel. I do agree and you know I I don't know what kind of turnout we're going to get. I don't know if this is
going to be 50/50. If they're going to shoot it down, shoot it up. I I don't know what's going to happen, but it is worth it to give them a voice and let the process start with them and not us. Um thank you very much. Thank you, councelor. Anyone else? Council Kelly.
Thank you, Mr. President, for the leeway. So, I just first the first thing I want to say is that's the point of this motion. Yes, it is non-binding, but that information that we get from this vote lets us know how our constituents feel about term limits. We can respect
the way they feel and then decide exactly how far we want to take it and work out the particulars and the specifics at that time. But to say that we don't want information from the voters, to say that it's not worth a bucket of spit to find out how your
constituents feel about something is I I can't even wrap my head around that. Um I'm sorry. So I do want to hear from the constituents and being up here as an elected official, I want to enact their will. This is a tool for me to understand what they want me to do. So
that's that's the purpose of a non-binding vote. The second thing is um we don't need legal review because it is a non-binding vote. If we want to send this to legislative affairs, I'd ask that it be sent quickly because the next step if this does not go forward would
be a public petition that would require signatures and we can get it done that way, but that's going to take some time. So my only caveat would be is that I would respectfully request that we put this on to the next um legislative affairs subcommittee as soon as possible. Um the next thing is you know
in terms of still we have they have these um um voters have the choices at the ballot block so we don't need term limits. I I think I said there were elected officials that ran unopposed 31
times. So, if everyone is so hung up on name recognition that candidates don't even want to be bothered entering the race and incumbents are running unopposed, the voter goes to the voter bo poll and there's no other name there for them to choose from. So, where is
the choice in that? That that's that's a big issue for me. And we see proof that when seats open up, it encourages new people to run. Just like we saw in the atlarge race the last time we ran with three seats opened and eight new people threw their hat in the ring. So it the
proof is right there. And in terms of um you know counselors can still be here for years that council Sylvestri president Sylvestri made the point you can be a ward counselor, you can be then you can be an atlarge counselor. You can be here for years. It's not like we're saying, "Hey, two years and you're gone. Four years and you're gone." It wouldn't
work that way. And in terms of a learning curve, I think everyone has a different learning curve. Some people might pick this job up very quickly in the first year. Other people might need time to kind of know the ropes depending upon your background and where you're coming from from a private sector. So, I
don't think that uh having a huge learning curve can be said for everyone who has this job. So again, I want to hear what the constituents have to say and I think this should absolutely go to a non-binding vote. Thank you. Thank you, counselor. Permission to speak from the chair. Thank you. Um Mr. When you're
done, Mr. President, if I could Yes. Absolutely. So, uh I think everyone knows I I put the first motion up um two year four years ago and then I put it up again. Um I'm in favor of this. I I will be withdrawing my motion from um and and
adding myself to councelor Kelly's. She said that was okay. Yes. Um and um I am in full support. I don't I I think this is a great idea. Oh, I this stagnation that everyone is talking about uh
doesn't exist. And uh what about lame duck? So if say the mayor, if it's his last term, his last four years or her last four years is lame duck. They're not accountable to anyone. We we want to say that this makes the uh candidate or
the incumbent more accountable to the voter. The last two years of your uh council, you're lame duck. You can do anything you want. You're not accountable to anyone. Four years as mayor, you're not accountable to anyone. Same thing with the school committee. So, you know, be careful what you wish
for here. Uh, it it sounds great and it sounds great to the public. Oh, term limits get these people, but they keep getting voted in and voted in. That's that's the that's the voters's choice. So, if if somebody runs
unopposed, I I don't know that candidates are scared to run. Maybe people are satisfied with with their representation. So there was a lot of assumptions being made about term limits and that's and it's based on assumptions
and fallacies. So I again I have it no problem going to the voter. Uh I would never deny the voter a voice uh in any issue. So I just wanted to have my say and uh we'll talk about it at legislative affairs on May 12th. Thank
you madam clerk. This will be going to legislative affairs on May 12th. All in favor? All opposed. So ordered. Calendar item number 21. Motion presented by councilors Garino SA and McKenna. That the city council award a certificate of commendation to Justin
Poppy of Luigi's Pizza and Beachmont in recognition of his efforts in competing on CBS's reality show Survivor. Council Green Sua and Council McKenna. Thank you. I'll take the first lead. I'm just going to save my comments for uh that night, but um this is a great
um uh certificate of com commenation for Justin and uh it was actually um councelor Karina SA who put this motion in. So um I'll save my comments for that night. Thank you. Thank you, councelor.
I've already spoken on my motions, so I will save my comments for the um Thank you very much. I'm sorry. That's okay. Thank you very much, Council Hario. Um Mr. President, uh 300 Clark, if you could please add me as a
co-sponsor of this, um if that's still okay with Council Goraya. I'm sorry. No, that's okay. No, you're okay. And then um and I can reserve my comments for the day. Thank you. Okay. All in favor, all
opposed. It's all ordered. Calendar item number 22, motion presented by councelor Arenzio that the city council officially named the 4ft wide footpath running from 2011 Arnold Street to 688 Park a Embracio Way in recognition of the
Embracio family who have resided at 2011 Arnold Street since 1948 and who have assisted in maintaining this footpath for decades. Further that the mayor request the DPW to install appropriate signage at both ends of the footpath bearing the name Embracio Way. Councelor
Aenzio. Uh thank you, Mr. President. Uh this this footpath I I think 99% of the people in the city don't know it exists. The neighbors use this to go from Arnold Street, Vein Street up to Park Avenue to get on the bus. It's existed for 70, 80
years. Uh this family has lived here since 1948. In fact, Charlie Embrace who is a retired Rivier firefighter. They've helped maintain this thing over all these years. So, I I think it would be a nice thing to recognize the family. Thank you very much. Thank you,
councelor. All in favor, all opposed. So, ordered. Calendar item number 23. Motion presented by councelor Oenzio that the mayor request the city's policy writer and analyst to draft an ordinance amending chapter 12.2 20 poles, wires, and cables to enable and provide the
city engineer in conjunction with the ward counselor with the authority to grant and review pole locations. Councelor Arenzio. Uh thank you, Mr. President. I know we spend endless uh amounts of time here at the city council talking with national grid and these
pole locations, conduit locations, I think can be handled uh by the city engineer and DPW uh with the input of the ward counselor. Anytime a ward counselor is in favor of something uh we always support them. When they're
against a certain uh thing happening, we we support them. So, it's always the ward counselor that, you know, weighs in on this. I think it'll save the the city council a tremendous amount of time. And uh it's and then when we do have
somebody in front of us here from National Grid, we kind of vent. And the person we're venting on really has nothing to do with the subjects that we're talking about. We certainly reserve the right to have National Grid come before us to answer some questions
or concerns that we may have. Um, but at least when that person comes in front of us, it's it's the person we need to talk to and the person that can give us some answers. So, I think this will go a long way for just freeing up the city council and and thank you. Thank you, councelor.
Councelor Goaya. Thank you, Mr. President. I stand in full support of councelor Jenzil's motion. Um, this is actually a proactive step towards improving efficiency and accountability in this process. By shifting the responsibility, we not only save valuable time during our council
meetings, but we also ensure that decisions are made by those who have a deeper understanding of the city's infrastructure and needs. It holds utility companies more accountable as they no longer are able to send representatives who, as we've seen in
the past, often lack the answers to critical questions that we may have. I believe this will lead to more transparent, effective, and responsible process better serving the constituents in the city as a whole. Thank you. Thank you, councelor. Any other counselors? Councelor Zambo. Uh, thank you, Mr.
President. This this motion has too much common sense attached to it. Uh, it's it's real and I and I appreciate it. Thank you. Thank you, councelor. All in favor, all opposed. So,
ordered. Calendar item number 24, motion presented by councelor Go SA, that the mayor request the appropriate department to explore the feasibility of equipping all fire department vehicles with epipens. Further that the administration explore the availability of state or federal funding which would offset the
cost of purchasing and maintaining an epipen supply. Council go. Thank you, Mr. President. Um I actually got this motion from a city of Rivier um gentleman who came up to me and said,
"Well, maybe this is a good motion." And it really is. I I ran with it because I thought it's fantastic. So, thank you, Ed. Um given that our firefighters are often the first on scene during emergency calls and considering the documented delays in ambulance response times that we've actually seen within
the city of Riviera, having EpiPens readily ex available could be the difference between life and death for residents experience anaphylactic shock and we've seen that actually happen recently that they did not have the epipens on an ambulance call and I mean
um when the firefighters came first and they had to wait for the ambulance which took a lot of time and then they could have died. So this is a no-brainer. Thank you. It is a no-brainer. Council Hario. Uh thank you Mr. President and through you to councelor Buer. So why
I'm going to ask if she could add me to this motion as well and I'll tell you why in a second. Uh you can see my wife is texting me here in the wee hours of this council hearing and uh I know that she's watching this and we have a recurring fight because the woman has a
severe peanut allergy but refuses to carry her Epipad. So this is great. Uh you know and I know that Angela loves my wife so maybe she had a conversation with her. I wasn't present etc etc. Sorry but I just got to say this is
great honey. I know you're watching at home. Uh, you know, now you don't, thanks to your friend here, now we don't have to carry the Abby pens anywhere. Uh, which you've never done anyway. Uh, but you know, nonetheless, uh, this is a matter of public safety and I really
appreciate um, um, thoughtfulness on this. Thank you. Thank you, counselor. Any other counselors? All in favor? All opposed? So ordered. Calendar item number 25. Motion presented by councelor Go Sua that the mayor request the traffic commission to
provide for two-sided parking in the Riverside neighborhood. Further, that the DPW be directed to install no parking here to corner signage on all streets in Riverside, both sides 20 ft from the intersections of Northshore Road and Milsav or Hayesav.
Councelor, I think I'm going to hold my comments till um in if we can send this to traffic, I'll hold my comments for then. Thank you. Thank you, councelor. All in favor, all opposed. So order. Calendar item number 26. Motion presented by councelor Goaya that the
city council award certificates of commendation to the women of the Jack Sadder House who are featured in the viral calendar girls project. Council green. I will reserve my comments for the presentation. Thank you. All in favor? All opposed. So ordered. Calendar item
number 27. Motion presented by councelor Arenzio that the mayor request the DPW to have the street sweeping contractor complete the full street sweeping route on holidays. When the sweeper does not complete the route, residents unnecessarily move their vehicles and the street does not get cleaned until
the following month. Councelor Oenzio. Thank you, Mr. President. And we had a resident here uh speak about this issue tonight. Um, this mainly affects WAD 4 because we get swept on Mondays and that most of the holidays fall on Mondays. So, we
don't have the traffic control out because they have a day off and we certainly don't want um tickets issued on holidays. However, there are some residents that get up, move their cars, uh move the cars from in front of their house and expecting to get swept. Now, I
know the contract calls for the street sweeper to complete the the route, but the sweeper is showing up looking at the street. Uh, well, there's too many cars there. I'm not going to bother going up. So, the people that do move their cars and sweep off onto the street, the
sweeper doesn't show up. So, I just want to they're contracted to complete the um the full day, the full route, and I just want to make sure that that happens. Thank you, counselor. All in favor? All opposed. I So ordered.
Calendar item number 28. Motion presented by councelor Kaggleandro that the city council order to a public hearing an ordinance further amending the rea revised ordinances relative to financial impact statements. Section one, financial impact statements is hereby amended by deleting the word five
and inserting them place in place thereof the word 10. Council Kogando. Thank you, Mr. President. Um, I think, correct me if I'm wrong, but councelor Zambudo put this ordinance in over 20 years ago. Um, and if it was $5,000 back
then, I think we should bump it up to 10. Uh, things are more expensive and, uh, frankly, I'm sick of having to come up and say, did we do a financial impact study on this? So, uh, thank you. Thank you, Council Councelor Zambo. Uh,
thank you, Mr. President. I agree with councelor Cgalandra 100%. I I might even want to go to 15 because 20 years ago I think it's probably I I'd be amendable to that but I think it's a great motion. I support it
anyway. Thank you councelor. All in favor? All opposed? So ordered. Oh no. This will be ordered to a public hearing. 12. Yes, sir.
Calendar item number 29. Motion presented by council McKenna that the mayor request masdot to paint a uh do not block the box markings for traffic control on Bennington Street at the intersection of Crescent Avenue. Uh Council Zamuto's recused from this
motion. Council Clandro. No, it's Joan McKenna. I'm sorry. Councelor McKenna. Oh boy, we're having a really good time tonight. Really tough night. I know. Um uh beach one is uh dissected into
various parts. DCR mass dot uh 7:30 to 8:30, 2:30 to 3:30, 4 4:00 to 6:00. You can't get through um Bennington Street. We have 24,000 cars that pass through
Bennington Street every single day. People from Beachmore can't get out to go into East Boston. they can't go get out to go to Boston because uh the line of cars there's two rows of cars so they're stuck. So the back the traffic
backs up all the way two blocks. Um I saw it the other day when I was driving down River Street. They have a do not block the the box which really works. It really works. So, I'm asking um the
mayor to look into um this for Crescent Dav going out to Bennington Street. Thank you. Thank you, councelor. Any other counselors? All in favor? All opposed? So ordered. And there is a one late motion presented by councilors
Jeromeo and Sylvester. It's regarding a proclamation for mental health awareness month. Council Hero. Thank you, Mr. President. Thank you for your support on this. I will um I'll just read it and let the the resolution speak for itself. It's a little lengthy.
I know everyone wants to go home, but uh this is to to call for uh May to be mental health awareness month. Uh and in particular, the first Wednesday of May um with a a spec specific set for the first one Wednesday of May, which I'll
read here. So whereas Americans across the country continue to confront an ongoing mental health crisis, whereas we continue to see increasing reports of loneliness, stress, anxiety, depression, suicidal thoughts, and substance use disorders. Whereas the 2022 national survey on drug use and health conducted
by um by the CDC found that the number of American adults living with mental illness has risen from 51,400 to about 60 million in 2022. 23% of Americans over the age of 18 and 36% of Americans with the between the age of
uh 18 and 25 have lived with mental illness during the past year. Uh whereas 13,200 adults have serious thoughts of suicide during the past year. Whereas on October of 2022, a study from the Kaiser Family Foundation on Mental Health in
America survey found that 90% of the public think that there is a mental health crisis in the United States today. 55% of the public think that the mental health issues in children and teenagers in the United States today are a crisis. 47% of parents say that the CO 19 pandemic has had a negative impact on
child's mental health. And 51% of all adults say they or their family member has experienced a severe mental health crisis. Gender, race, and social economic status are predictives of access to mental health resources and outcomes. Whereas the stress in America
survey of 2023's conducted by the American Psychological Association found that 26% of adults are so stressed that they struggle to function. 47% of adults struggle to go to work or attend school because of stress. 58% of Americans
between the ages of 18 and 14 feel completely overwhelmed by stress every day. Whereas the 2022 access to care survey conducted by the national council for mental health well-being found that two in five Americans reported need to needing mental health health care. 43%
of Americans who needed mental health care over the past 12 months did not receive it. And twothirds of Americans believe that it is harder to find mental health care pro mental health care provider pro provider than it is to find a physical health care provider. Whereas
a 2024 household poll survey found that 17% of adults reported symptoms of anxiety disorder. Uh CDC uh mental health disorders and chronic conditions report um that without proper diagnosis and treatment children can face problems
at home and in school which can interfere with their f future development. Whereas more resources should be dedicated in schools to the prevention, early detection, treatment of mental health disorders in children. Whereas childhood depression is more likely to persist in into adulthood
adulthood if left untreated. Whereas it is important that the United States provide the and the city river provide the necessary funding and resources to reach children and youth early on in life. Whereas uh the October Sorry again, I apologize. I know it's pretty
lengthy. Um but it's about mental health awareness, right? So this is what we're doing. Whereas the October 14, 2022 CDC morbidity and mortality weekly report found that three in four high school students experienced at least one adverse childhood experience during the
CO9 pandemic and that these experiences increase an individual's likelihood to report poor mental health or suicidal behavior in the future. whether the uh CDC mortality uh weekly report found that in 2020 and 2023 the number of
pediatric emergency department visits associated with mental health conditions increase and was most pronounced in girls between the ages of 12 and 17. uh whereas the co 19 pandemic has accelerated the use of digital technologies such as any social media whereas there has been a great concern
about the impact of social media on mental health in children and youth where whereas um this whereas the CDC's youth risk behavior survey data uh summary found that nearly three in five teenage girls in the United States felt
persistently sad or hopeless which is double that of boys and the highest levels ever reported in decades. 30% of TJ teenage girls in the United States seriously considered attempting suicide in the past year. Youth experienced high and worsening levels of persistent
sadness or hopelessness across all racial and ethnic groups. Um I'm going to skip over just some of it because it's a lot of data. I want you all to read it, but I understand that the night the night is uh is ending here and I
want to be um just thoughtful of that. Uh so whereas according to the 2023 national survey on LGBTQ youth mental health conducted by Trevor Project 56% of people uh who identify as LGBTQ youth wanted mental health care in the past
year were not able to get it and 41% of the same people considered attempting suicide over the same period. Whereas disparities remain in access to mental health treatment for communities of color Asian Native American Hispanic black individuals less likely to receive mental health care than any of their white counterparts. Whereas in 2021,
survey conducted by the National Council for Mental Health Well-being found July um that from July 20 to 2021, 46% of black adults say they experience more stress and mental health challenges, but just 21% say they have received treatment or care of any kind for their mental health. 45% of Native Americans
have experienced more stress mental health challenges, but only 24% received care. 42% of Hispanics, but only 26% received care. 40% of Asian but only 11% received care. Almost half of 47 or of all adults sulver surveyed stated that
the cost of help or treatment is an obstacle in seeking treatment for mental health. Um just going to skip a little bit longer here because uh there are some very important pieces here uh that I would like everyone to hear intently. Whereas maternal and child health are
linked and according to the journal of clinical psychiatry one in five people who give birth are impacted by mental health conditions. 75% of people who give birth go untreated. Mental health conditions are the leading cause of maternal deaths accounting for 22% of
pregnancy related deaths according to the data from the m maternal mortality review committees in 38 states uh conducted in 2020 by the US centers of disease control prevention. 6 to 8% of people that give birth suffer from
postpartum pregnancy related anxiety which includes symptoms like e uh being easily stressed, worried, overwhelmed or tense. 4% of people that give birth suffer from postpartum or pregnancy related obsessive compulsive disorder which includes symptoms like disturbing
repetitive intrusive thoughts which m which may include thoughts of harming self or baby. 14% of people that give birth suffer from postpartum or pregnancy related depression which includes symptoms like negative thinking including guilt, helplessness, hopelessness or worthlessness.
9% of people that give birth suffer from postpartum or pregnancy related post-traumatic stress disorder which includes symptoms like change in cognition, mood, arousal associated with traumatic events typically around childirth. 3% of people suffer from postpartum pregnancy, bipolar disorder
which includes symptoms like manic or hypomomanic episodes alternate with depressive episodes. Two out of uh two people who give birth for every 1,000 births suffer from postpartum psychosis. a medical emergency that often leads to
suicide, infanticide, which include symptoms like delusions, hallucinations, paranoia, rapid mood swings, cognitive impairment, focus on death or reckless behavior. All of these conditions are comorb com co com co com co com co com co com co com co com co com co com co-orbid with things like substance use whereas provisional data published by
the CDC found that uh suicide is the leading cause of death in the United States um u sorry whereas veterans are more than 50% more likely to experience mental health challenges than the general population where it is important the United States and the city of
provide additional funding and resources to veterans to support veterans and their mental health needs whereas 20 uh 2023 national veteran suicide prevention annual report found that 6,300 veterans died by suicide in 2021. Uh a daily
average of 18. The suicide rate for veterans was 72% greater than for non- veteran United States adults and the suicide rate was the highest amongst veterans between the ages of 18 and 34. Whereas it would be appropriate to observe May 2025 as mental health
awareness month in the city of Rairs. Now there be it resolved that the River City Council supports the designation as May of the Mental Health Awareness Month to remove the stigma associated with mental health illness and and place emphasis emphasis on spec uh scientific findings regarding mental health
recovery in the city of River and declares mental health oh okay almost that's almost we're almost there declares mental health a citywide priority supports the expansion of funding for mental health services namely the city's crisis intervention unit and urging the state to expand and
its mental health infrastructure. Rec recognizes that mental well-being is equally as important as physical well-being for residents, communities, businesses, and the economy of River. Applauds the uh local and nonprofit medical faithbased organizations and working to promote public awareness of
mental health and providing critical information to support families affected by mental illness. Encourages all to draw on mental health awareness month as an opportunity to promote mental well-being and awareness. ensure access to appropriate coverage and services support quality of life for those living
with mental health uh illnesses. Designates the first Wednesday of May 2025 as a maternal mental health day in the city of River and further directs the mayor to promote promate this resolution advertise on its city's media pages mental health resources throughout mental health awareness month and on
maternal mental health day. Sorry. Thank you all and thanks for indulging me. It's a great motion, counselor. I support it wholeheartedly. Any other counselors? Council, you're not going to read it, too, are you? Yeah. Yeah, we have to. Only one section. All in favor?
All opposed? Thank you. So ordered. Uh point of personal privilege. I just want to wish my mother Sharon a very happy birthday. Today is actually her birthday. Love you, Mom. That closes tonight's business. We'll
see you all May 12th.