good evening welcome to the April 8th city council meeting please rise to salute the flag I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all okay roll call of members councelor agenzio absent councelor councelor janino here councelor Gino SAA here councelor Hass here Council Aro here councel Kelly here councelor McKenna councel noas salski here Council sylvestri here Council zambuto here and council president Cog Leandro here yeah Quorum is present all right approval of the Journal of the regular meeting of March 25th 2024 all in favor all opposed so move so Ed Council order 24133 the director of hhc and sui appear before the city council to provide information on knock loocks boxes and provide an update on monies from the opio settlement good evening everyone names and addresses for the record please sure um Lauren Buck I'm the director of Public Health for the city of Rivier 281 Broadway hi I'm Nicole palmo I'm the clinician for the sui office and Rivier 281 Broadway hi K Anne salami program manager 34 Dam Street R welcome thank you um we're here today on uh representing the opioid abatement working group to give the city council updates on the opioid abatement fund strategies you can go to the next slide so I first wanted to give us uh just a a review of the opioid crisis with a focus here on rev the graph that you're seeing on the slide represents um the number of opioid related overdose deaths this is from m sov um for three different cities in our area Chelsea Rivier and Winthrop Rivier is the pink column in this in this graph and you can see that in 20 I'll start in 2020 we had 21 um opioid related overdose deaths 2021 25 20223 um Chelsea and winr have a much smaller population than us um so proportionally the numbers may seem a little uh our numbers may seem higher but proportionately we have a a higher population um and this is um like I said from mass.gov 2023 is not um reported yet at mass.gov so we can use preliminary data from the Rivier police department and we can uh know from that data that we had about 123 total overdoses with about 17 fatal overdoses next slide so just to give a review of what the opiate abatement funding is um many attorney generals from from different states chose to bring litigation against opioid manufacturers opioid Distributors um with the recognition that there was um kind of Nefarious business practices happening um and recognizing that they were you know targeting uh advertisements with a recognition that these products were much more um addictive than initially um advertised and so massachusett is one of the states that received an allocation of settlement funding the pink um chart on the right hand side of of the uh slide shows that 60% of this money went to the state's opioid recovery and Remediation fund so that went directly to the Commonwealth of Massachusetts 40% went to the municipalities of which we are one of 30 350 and so we got a portion of that 40% um the opioid abatement funding uh kind of Administrators are encouraging people to use a a pooled funding model with the shared service of which we are um a part of with Rie uh sorry Chelsea and winr we have chosen to have this money appropriated each year by the city council and JSI John Snow Institute is just the contractor that oversees the reporting of this funding next slide there's a lot of words on this page but basically it's just a major overview of what the uh funding can be used for in these in the following buckets opioid use disorder treatment support for people in treatment and Recovery connections to care harm reduction address ing the needs of Criminal Justice involved persons supporting pregnant or parenting women and families including babies with neonatal abstinence syndrome and finally prevention of the misuse of opioids and implementation of prevention strategies a lot of different categories underneath each of those big buckets next slide this is just an overview of what the city of Riv can expect over the next 17 years and what we've already received um it's a lot of numbers on the screen but I just want to highlight every you know bring everyone's attention to the right hand side of the screen with the total numbers for each calendar year you can see that they're not necessarily consistent they vary and at the end of the the 17 years they do kind of go down and down each year uh so it's important to have a plan for long-term spending next slide so uh what have we spent so far so fiscal year 23 we didn't spend any money why um we decided we needed to do the route of city council city council appropriation and we were we wanted to wait until until the budget season for fiscal 24 to be appropriated and for fiscal year 24 um you can see that we have two line items that we have uh that the city council appropriated um for salary and benefits and then for miscellaneous goods and services um a note that this balance includes payment awarded uh in March 2024 from Walgreens tevia allerin and Walmart um which have not been appropriated by the city council yet they just rece were received last month and I also want to note that going forward don't anticipate needing to spend any of this money on salary and benefits that was a kind of a one-year um situation and we don't anticipate needing to use that uh that line item anymore in the in the future go to the next slide and so the obviously the goal is to spend this money um efficiently but also with with a lot of forethought and so there we are going to be presenting about the opiate abatement working group which is the decision-making body on how to spend this money we are representatives of that group but there are many different um interests represented in it but the goal of that group is to create a long-term spending plan with regular meetings communicating to the public communicating to the council and the administration of which we are starting here today and really thinking of innovative ideas to do so I'm gonna pass it off to Nicole hi everyone I'm gonna be talking about the sorry next slide okay about the um working group that we've created it was part of the agreement that we had you need to have a working group that makes kind of decisions on where this money goes how it's spent um and just brings different innovative ideas the group is uh consists of a bunch of different partners um we have MGH Primary Care um who specializes in homelessness Outreach and substance use disorder we have people with lived experience on their own and people with lived experience of family members or loved ones bereaved parents um we have Outreach workers that specializ in substance use and homelessness as well um community- based organizations we have some people from those like healthy streets and health Innovations and then our Municipal departments who are kind of on the front line seeing this every day um like myself K and and Lauren we get a lot of homelessness calls um substance use disorder coming in from family members and individuals um so we're kind of who consists of this group and makes the decisions on where the money goes together um and we have the school resource officers too so rpds in there we're always open to accepting new members into the group if people are interested in wanting to know where this money is going and wanting to have a voice in that um so what we do like I said we make the decisions on where the money goes but we bring also a multitude of different viewpoints um based on kind of your area of expertise and from there we vote and make decisions on what we're going to do with the money um we meet monthly right now and we're going to continue to do that for the foreseeable future unless we need to meet more than that um we have minutes and agendas that are taken every meeting and eventually those will be those haven't been updated yet right eventually those will be on our website so that the public can view them see what we're talking about see what we've discussed what we've voted on um and then the dates of the meetings are up there we've met six times already next slide please um so just to reiterate the importance of having people with lived experience represented in the decision making is that those are people who are directly affected by the opioid crisis um so the requirement of the agreement it has to reflect the input of our communities people who have personal experience with the opioid crisis and experts in treatment and prevention and staff of organizations that are carrying out this abatement work um we're ensuring that r is hearing all of these voices um we're going to do surveys with gift cards to give out to community members so they also have input and kind of say and where this money goes and where they would like to see it go um we have people that we've invited to the working group that we provide transportation for like people who are suffering from chronic homelessness or substance use disorder and can't get themselves to the group we provide transportation for them to come so there's really no barriers of being in in this group um we have regular communication with our Outreach workers and our website will eventually be up and running in the next month or so and then we plan on doing some focus groups as well next slide please so these are the spending priorities for this fiscal year 24 um because it was kind of we got together so and like short notice and we didn't get the council appropriation of the money we only had $10,000 to spend for this fiscal year um we kind of wanted to start out slow and do more long-term spending um a thousand of that is going to be for the gift cards for the survey participants $500 for a speaker fee to come in and kind of discuss with us um maybe some prevention strategies for kids in school um we have to vote on that still $2,000 will be miscellaneous funds that will be held by an outside agency so that could be for stuff to help with laundry services transportation to medical appointments um things like that um funding for like funerals funeral costs um and then $6,500 is going to be used towards the noock boxes which is what brought us here kind of tonight um there's different styles and different types of noock boxes and that totals the $10,000 that we voted on how to spend that money this year and then Ken's going to get into the noock boxes thank you hi everyone so noock boxes I know everybody is wondering what is that what does it mean so noock box is basically there are outdoor cabinets that can be placed throughout the community on outside um light posts or what are those things called I don't know ballards um so if anybody recognizes you will see a if you look on the slide you'll see the big purple sticker that says no lockone so it'll be easy to identify um the cabinet will the outdoor cabinet will hold up to 12 um kits in the lock Zone and there's two doses in each kit um those are the outdoor ones and the ones next to it the little emergency overdose emergency kit those we are going to try to roll out um as we work on our business engagements with engaging with small businesses to hopefully encourage them to start to have noock Zone in their establishments as well um Biden and Harris just put out a a release that um they are encourage in that within businesses to have Noone on hand and have staff trained on how to use it so none let me back up Noone and Narcan is the same it's just the generic name is Nar uh the generic name is nxone and the brand name is Naran so if I say those words and you're confused that's what it is next slide so some frequently asked questions nxone is a medication how can it be used in public some of those questions might come up as of this year the FDA made Narcan a non-prescription medication this means that anyone can access Naran either by buying it at a pharmacy or obtaining it through a har Reduction Program the noock boxes are an extension of our har Reduction Program and in R next question would be would it be dangerous if a child got their hands on Noone nxone is relatively safe medication the benefits of none used for preventing opioid overdose deaths far outweigh the risk of the medication it is crucial to note that nxone is effective in reversing the effects of opiates but it will generally not harm if opiates are not present in the system nxone is not a controlled medication and has no street value you cannot become addicted to it the next question does this insensi drug use Studies have shown that nxone access and distribu distributation does not lead to more drug use or riskier drug use some Studies have actually shown that the availability of nxone may lead to a decrease in opio use the next question what security measures will be put in place and how will the Narcan be restocked the S the sdhi office plans to monitor the noock boxes closely and restock them from our stores weekly we have consulted with the neighbor with neighboring communities who have implemented this program over the last 6 months and they have experienced almost to no issues with vandalism or inappropriate use we also work closely with revia PD and will update them with any issues that arise next slide and I'm going to turn this over to Lauren and she can talk about um the heat map and locations we have identified so we wanted to make sure we were were locating these boxes um in in places that really needed it and using data to do so and so our data analyst was able to compile three years worth of Overdose data and create what's called a heat map um this is basically just a a computerized um picture picture U demonstration of where our overdoses occurred this is deidentified data it's longitude and latitude is used and so you can't pinpoint specific um houses or anything like that it's deidentified and kind of widened to in a certain extent however it does prove very useful when we're trying to determine where these would be most effective so on this slide I just have the overdose heat map for 2022 but if you go to the next slide you can see the heat map for 2023 and 2024 obviously we haven't had um we're only into April of 2024 so it looks a lot different but then you can also layer all of those years together and that's what we um use to to do our initial scouting locations we we haven't picked uh locations for every box but we have quite a few good locations picked out and if you go to the next slide you can see this is a a blown up or a zoomed in map of of where we've just decided to locate three of the boxes they're in the green stars are where the boxes will be located um and again they're right over major areas of of uh overdose that we can tell because of the way that the the dots look they're yellow they're bigger we know that that's means that they've had more overdoses in that area over the last um three years so uh three locations on this slide on the next slide you can also see another location that we collocated between two hot spots as well and then on the final slide um we're also using uh as a way to identify where uh locations are uh we do regular syringe pickups based on 311 and emails and calls um and so we know you can see that the green area the green star doesn't reflect a heat map for an overdose but it does reflect a compilation of uh syringe pickups where we've had a large number of syringe pickups which also can correlate to where we need to have these boxes and so that's another location that we have determined we've we've um done ride Drive alongs with uh DPW to make sure we're locating these uh in city land and to make sure that we all you know we can do the the digging of the poles and all that kind of stuff but we had our first first driveth through a couple weeks ago we need to do another one to make sure we're um we're catching all the right areas but these are the initial locations that have been identified and that is it you can go to the last slide which is basically just if there are any questions thank you thank you very much um I know we have some counselors who have questions I'm going to start with counselor sylvestri thank you Mr President and uh thank you all for being here tonight um before I proceed with questions I wanted to highlight the the model used to calculate the distributions from the opioid settlements the the model that was allocated was first the US Department of Health and Human Services used data the prevalence of opioid disorder in a County from the years 2007 through 2016 they got this data by impatient to detox facilities and and other um areas like that they then took the data from the centers of Disease Control and prevention and other federal agencies on overdose deaths in a County from the years 2006 to 2016 drug enforcement agency then used data on opioid shipments from 2006 2014 to that specific County so that's how they came up with the money um allocated to each individual um community and the reason this hits home so so much for me is because I had so many friends um struggle and and lose their lives in in these years um so it's it's very important that this allocated funds is is used in uh the proper ways um how much to the state was was used in salaries I I is it 8,000 or is it 88,000 uh for fiscal year 24 it was 88,000 okay um are you familiar with the term supplanting um yeah okay yeah so I have a little bit of a concern that that that's what we we we did here um so clearly in the opioid abatement funds funds that we get issued it states that you can't replace what you had in in in thing right so we removed some positions from from the sui office and now we're recreating other plans of action with opioid abatement money that's the key definition to supplanting I I think we need to take a a longer look and maybe contact the JSI for some input um on exactly how we're using the funds because I know that 88,000 shouldn't have been used for salaries and what's disappointing even more so um is that we were promised last year that no money was going to be used from the opioid abatement on on salaries um so then my next question would be you plan on the how do you plan on doing the surveys how do you plan on getting the surveys out so we're going to put it on the website on the Facebook pages we're going to do um community outreach and to our uh homeless population and give out gift cards and try to get it out that way as well as um office the health Innovations office and the high school is having a high School uh self-care fair so we're going to make sure that we have surveys there for the younger folk to you know complete the survey and get a gift card H have you looked into the model that Boston or Lynn or swamp Scott have used for there you have yeah we we actually copied some of their questions okay because I'm not sure using the gift cards for the survey would be the best part I think the survey should be Mass blast Maybe use some funding to put it in the newspaper get it out there and then use the gift cards for the people that come and use work on the focus group that that's usually how it's so I hope that's that's what we plan on doing yes um and then my last thing I'm I'm going to leave with with the noock boxes you know it's a it's a good idea as you said um the Biden Harris Administration just pushed for for stores locally to to put them inside you know their medicine boxes or cabinet um my my concern with the noock box is do we have to purchase the noock own from the noock boxes no so we're part of the CN CNP program which is the community noock Zone Program through the state so we get it for free and we're able to stock the the cabinets okay it do you think this is a missed opportunity for outreach by making by putting the nock's OWN like in boxes instead of having like training sessions where you meet with people in in these red areas um because the you have a number that says 25 there was 25 calls or are but actually only 22 of those uh five of those were nonopioid related so 22 were opioid related I mean what are the chances someone saves a life outside within the loog box I mean well the hope is is that it's readily available people can see it out and about God forbid something happens you know hey there's a the loock box right down the street that's the hope and the the other hope is is that we make sure that our Outreach workers are doing homeless Outreach every week and they are on the boots on the ground you know getting folks making sure that they have no lock Zone we're doing post overdose door knocks we're making sure families are carrying it anybody who enters office we ask them if they need it or they you know know about it we train them Etc and how do you how often are we going to check the boxes weekly okay thank you thank you counselor councelor McKenna thank you thank you for being up here uh I just have a few questions first of all I've lost a lot of students everybody knows that I was a teacher for 33 years and I lost a lot of students uh from overdosing um and this is really near and dear to my heart but who is going to prevent the abuse of people just going into the boxes and or kids and just taking out the um the items that are in there and the other thing too is uh I know you said that the high school is is educating they're having a program but I really do think that you guys really need to go into the high scho the Schools starting from the first grade and tell them what this is about and how it saves lives you know so um I think it really education starts in the schools and I really think that that's where you guys should start so it is not being abused by people just taking it out or kids taking it out I can see high school kids going in and taking it out you know so well our thought is is if they're taking it then hopefully it gets used by somebody who might need it that's the thought thank you counselor councelor H thank thank you Mr President guys thanks so much for being here tonight can you talk a little bit I know you showed the map with the hotpots and um 23 I think 2022 there were quite a few um red or yellow ones but can you talk a little bit about the placement of the NX boxes and I know the city there a few hotpots centrally located is it mostly is it down the beach is it near public parks have have you guys worked with the Rivier police to find out what the the worst or the toughest spots are yeah so based on the heat Maps um the group's kind of input the police department data um our people with like lived exper current lived experience you know where they are seeing the most people that they're with using all that stuff um is where we kind of decided or voted on where they would be best used but they're pretty spread out around the city so there's you know one over on West Riva where there's a lot of we get a lot of the syringe pickup so if you're using and you're dropping your needle and you walk by the noock Box hopefully it you know is a sign oh okay I'm going to take this with me just in case when I get to the house I'm going to or down the street something happens I have it on me you know someone will go in my bag and find it or it's in my hand um the beach down the beach in Beachmont sherle AV that's obviously a big hot spot um so so sherle AV there'll be two there's going to be one near the park like kind of in the middle of sherle Av which there's some restaurants too that potentially have high overdoses and then near have the train station as well there's a lot of overdoses over there um Broadway we have one the Dunkin Donuts is there's a lot of Overdose data from Dunkin Donuts and then Target because that's where our main encampments are typically located um so there's a lot of people who are using coming in and out of those encampments all the time so we're hoping that these get people and they're like paths traveled and they use them as needed and any idea how many boxes the city will get total we purchased 10 as of right now and each one has was it 12 kits so um 12 kits with 24 yeah 24 doses 24 doses in each and I take it once the the NX boxes are up the city there will be a map to show to find where the NX boxes out throughout the entire city thank you thank you counselor councelor yo hi thank you for being here and um very exciting work that we're doing to uh prevent more overdoses in our city so I really commend you on that just want to touch base I know that in the um in the opiate Community there's an increased use for the har for the har reduction vending machines and I wanted to see if you can talk through us uh talk us through that and uh see if there are have you made any like comparisons between the boxes and the machines and what works best and what's like the best practice right now MH um we actually have a really exciting opportunity to bring a harm reduction vending machine to rever as well through a different source of funding the eaps grant which is the grant that established the behavioral health unit in Rivier um and we are we've looked at um different again we've consulted with the city of Lynn has has uh you know gone that route as well so we talked with them and we reached out to a couple different companies but the goal and hope is that very soon we will also have a harm reduction vending machine too now the the plotting of the location of that and what what goes into it in terms of supplies is kind of a long process because they have to individually measure each um item that you put in a vending machine package it send you know all that kind of stuff has to go into it but the hope is that we'll all we will also have a harm reduction vending machine as well the noock boxes are obviously they only have Naran whereas a harm reduction V vending machine C have a lot more selection um they're obviously a lot more expensive um but the hope is that we'll have both and um and so just for like fiscal purposes how are because um you could probably use some of the funding same funding right how are we weighing that I guess um well this was an opportunity that came through the eaps grant because uh there was some extra funding that ye like in this fiscal year and so I asked for it to be um allocated for a harm reduction vending machine so we're in the early stages of that but that's where it's a different source of funding okay understood thank you thank you counselor councelor Gino SAA thank you all for being here we really appreciate the work that you're doing to help these people um I have a question I was listening to my colleague coun um councelor McKenna and I totally agree with her with the education starting first in the in the schools uh will there be any NX boxes in the schools systems not as of right now the school system they have their own way of doing things and not sure well I can speak to the fact that every um nurses station in R Public Schools the nurses carrying a lockone and have been trained as well as the um the school resource officers as well uh so in Rivier Public Schools the nxone is in the nurse's office okay um and in the placement of these boxes how about to avoid abuse um placing them in an area that's actually patrolled by police that has the police maybe have cameras there do you think that would be a possible um solution to it so um we've we've heard that um from other people as a suggestion um what I will say is we do talk regularly with r PD and before anything is cemented in the ground we'll make sure that they are aware of the locations um but they're also is is an idea that you know this is a resource that we want people to use and potentially people might be more uh reluctant to access it if they know that cameras are on and so you know it's there's a balance that you have to walk there and like we mentioned um the city of Lynn has had these boxes uh for about five months now and they haven't really seen any uh inappropriate use or any vandalism obviously you know that could happen any time but but we also want to be cognizant that this is a population who would potentially be reluctant to access the Narcan if it was under surveillance I don't know if do you want to add anything the reason why I asked is in case somebody decides to take three four five of them out and then go off a bid somebody really needs it and there isn't any left but you are going to be refilling them Weekly right all right perfect thank you so much for all the work you do thank you counselor councelor Kelly thank you thank you for being here tonight and providing all the information that you did um I have a question regarding when you you had a chart up um and it was depicting the allocation of funds and I could be wrong but it seemed like there was a very nominal fund um being allocated for prevention and education and and I would like to see um and I don't know if it would be an option or if you would consider to try to allocate more funds towards prevention and education um in the schools and in other you know we re I mean of course we want to um help as much as we can by having this resource but I think prevention is where it all starts right and and we need education regarding that so I think maybe we want to allocate more funds in that direction sure I can start but I'm sure you have something to add um we have actually only appropriated fiscal year 24 so the opio abatement working group decides on how to spend the whole rest of the money um and I can tell you that there's a strong support um to put money towards prevention as well so you know I don't know if you want to add anything to that but um there's prevention will be considered and you know that's a strong um the buckets that I introduced that's something that we've talked a lot about in terms of bringing money to that in the future okay thank you and then my other concern I heard you mention that um are are you had some statistics regarding danger or safety to Children if they were to um get into this so there did I hear right that there would be no danger to a child if they were to um you know I know we have to weigh these things um but that would be you know a very high on my priority list that a child is not in any danger from this whatsoever honestly it is very very safe medication if it's like a flown spraying up your nose so if you don't have opiates in your system and you spray it up your nose nothing nothing's going to happen however there's always a chance that you can have an adverse effect to anything right you never know what your body can take so that's why they don't come out and say this is absolutely safe because there's always a chance but the the risks Farrow way the I mean that's what I meant thank you thank you very much counselor and thank you all for being here this evening and answering all of our questions have a great night we're going to place this on file item number four Brian D project manager leftfield will present an update on the Rivia High School building project good evening sir name and address for the record please good evening Brian daen one High Street um just wanted to run through a little uh what we've been up to with the project for the last number of weeks since the schematic design submission uh and what's coming a a little bit of a look ahead until next month into next month um so we I'm I'm just going to you have that actually correct yeah perfect okay um so the sort of line on this page is is where we're at now what we've done to date is um we have submitted the schematic design package we have submitted the vote language um which is the second slide here um that ultimately will um move forward on May 20th to the msba legal department um I hope to get sign off from them in the next in the coming days we submitted uh the package on February 29th we spent a couple of weeks um answering questions with msba staff uh the project uh including the superintendent mayor and a few other folks from the school system and City attended a facilities assessment subcommittee meeting with the msba which went uh very well we heard uh really nothing but praise uh on the project on the proposal that meeting we've also had what's called a project scope and budget conference call um all of that is leading towards the April 24th msba board meeting uh where I have extremely high hopes that they will pass the project uh and issue a board action letter the following day um that's really the point uh when we get the board action letter in the project scope and budget agreement within a week of that meeting that's when all the numbers become finalized um I'm confident that we're going to be at least as good as the numbers we present Ed you probably better um but until the msba board uh makes the motion and confirms the final Grant amount um that's sort of a ball in their court so once they issue the project scope and budget I've compared that before to sort of acceptance of an offer if you're buying a house um so we're going to come back to the council meeting on the 6th to approve that offer that is not the full debt authorization Bond authorization vote um after that meeting we will be doing the uh running the advertisements and um Outreach required to get us towards the May 20th meeting which is the meeting We'll be asking uh the council to um formally approve the borrowing um that all then sends us off and running that's sort of the msba side I can answer any questions in a in a second but I also just wanted to note we're proceeding with the permitting process we've re-engaged the Conservation Commission peerreview is underway that should all lead towards either a June or a July hearing uh for the anrad process the delineation of wetlands on the site we've also um plotted out the meepa the State Environmental permitting process most likely in June and September we'll be doing public hearings um that will create a spot on the website be able to take questions get info out there um run meetings in a number of languages live and really do a lot of Outreach that leads towards the meepa filing uh meepa filing uh will probably happen in September we've also re-engaged National Grid um and worked with various City departments to just get on top of what's going on down there there some electrical work um National Grid would like to get um going on and that probably will benefit the project so we have their attention it's always good to have National Goods attention way in advance um and we've met with the city and um the city planner to speak about some some of the items to get as ahead of as we can on um the potential for a commuter rail stop so in terms of site usage and permitting we uh we are Full Speed Ahead but the real big uh stuff in the next month is all this msba related stuff that um ultimately leads towards the bond authorization hearing on May 20th thank you very much Brian I'm just going to go from my right to my left if any counselors have any questions or comments coun sylvestri thank you Mr President uh Brian thanks for coming up always um Brian do we have a a a maybe a glance at numbers right now like they look like they're getting better do they look like they're getting worse um I think the msba share the msba offer if you will is going to come back a a few million better than what it was submitted as um I I certainly don't want to put words into the msba board's mouth but um in working with their staff they really crunch through every number in the budget and ask a bunch of questions about why should it be eligible why isn't it eligible and um we think we've made some Headway on um them agreeing and accepting that certain items that are sort of a judgment call uh are in fact eligible so I'm I'm confident I think it'll get a little bit better than what we presented excellent news thank you thank you counselor any other counselors permission to speak from the chair thank you Brian thank you for being here I was happy to see the conservation side of it was restarted I watched the meeting the other night um do you anticipate everything being okay on the conservation end in regards to the additional flagging and the wetlands that are at the racetrack are they I I did I did look into movable Wetlands by the way so th those were a real thing but do you anticipate everything being on track with the current design do we anticipate having to change anything I think um I think we'll get through that process without any major changes and by what I mean by major changes is we might have to tweak areas a little bit here slide a road a little bit a drive but I don't Envision us losing having to lose any site program any of the actual fields or parking as a result of this so there's always going to be some uh give and take on what our Consultants where our where our Consultants believe the wetlands are and the concom process and their peer reviewer so um we think we've approached it conservatively and um I I just don't Envision major change to the site I think the long-term the trickiest thing with that site is um getting the projects permitting and planning done in a way that still allows the train station to fit in there very good and and do you know I know that the study from the company that you all hired was done and that we have to continue now with our third party to essentially um evaluate the findings do you know if the concom has started that process of looking for a thirdparty company and if they have do you know when that would be completed they have um the company the company I believe is starting or has started the peer review so they they they have it they know the schedule and um that's why I said it could be a June hearing could be a July hearing um to sort of finalize it but uh systems are on track from either that June or July final hearing thank you and just to reiterate May 6th we'll be voting on the approval of the mba's approval of our submission and then the vote for the bonding will be done on May 20th is that correct correct so there'll be two weeks in between we're we're uh anticipating hopefully a presentation again publicly on the finances of the city we're also uh potentially an executive session on May 6th to talk about the eminent domain so the big issue for this council is going to be cost right now and I I agree with Council sylvestri you know wanting to know about the money so we have to be sure beyond a shadow of a doubt that the city can handle this um so that's all the questions I have thank you again for being here any other counselors Brian thank you place on file calendar item number five Matthew Terell chair of Ria high school student Senate will will provide an update on the current state of the high school and students needs good evening sir name and address for the record please Matthew Terell 215 creson AV um could I grab an HDMI cable thank you so much see if I have e time todaya to me would this be your first request as the chair of the Senate to get Mac capable HDMI cables well I did it last last time so yeah it worked you want me to try all right yeah no maybe oh yeah there we go all right let me just get this all set Maybe I think yeah let's go um so first I would actually just like to kind of go back on some of the stuff that was um presented with the Narcan stuff just for some school-based stuff um we have been with both student Senate as well as our student representatives of the school committee been working on an increased focus on um Public Health in the school system so some of the things we've done is um just recently in the past couple months we've held two CPR training um sessions where students were able to get CPR certified um we're currently working with the school department um to kind of look to plan to increase Narcan access within the schools whether it be like in classroom or just increased spots in the Halls as well as our student Representatives have another program called respire which is aiming to just look to find ways to decrease um vaping electronic cigarettes other drug usage within the school so that's a lot of stuff that's going on there but um today I'm here to present to you guys about Transportation needs for Rivier high school students so today we're going to talk about scope of the issue how it impacts students and families solutions that other communities have had for transportation needs with their schools and then finally put some recommendations for rier um so just to first start we've done a similar um presentation to the school committee on this because I know a lot of their a lot of the stuff that has to get done also has to go through them um directly but a lot of what they kind of told us at least with the funding wise and kind of like big picture stuff would have to come through you guys so that's why we're here talking about Transportation so first we just want to kind of talk about what is the problem so we have a feedback form that all students families parents can respond to just about General things that they're wondering about the rhs community and maybe problems they have so I just want to put into context kind of this issue so one quote we got was that it's generally frustrating to have to pay $25 to $30 each month to use a public bus students on my street are eligible to take the bus while I can't and then I've seen kids get restricted from taking the bus that live a block over from me because they're technically 1.9 miles away I get a bus ride home and they don't when we practically live next to each other so as some of you may know in believe it was 2021 the school committee updated their transportation policy for both middle school students and high school students on who who could and who couldn't take the bus it was you had to leave 2 miles away for rhs students and 1.5 miles away for middle school students and a lot of kids kind of got kicked off the bus um they didn't really have a lot of Transportation so we just wanted to talk about how this impacts R families I'm going to talk about myself I I was technically 1.95 miles away so what that meant was that I live in the middle of um the intersections between I think it's Summer Street and uh I forget but Webster thank you and the bus stops about three houses down from me and I was not allowed to take it luckily I was able to appeal and I am now able to take the bus but if I wasn't my path as much as it is only maybe a 40-minute walk I would be walking along winter bav I would be walking along cars that are going 40 mph right next to me when sidewalks have utility poles right in the middle of them and it's just not a safe walk and this is unfortunately the reality for plenty of students in the city and then also we look at increased commute times because more parents are able are having to drop their kids off at school or more kids are um having to drive to school we see more cars on the road at pickup and drop off time and this is not only creating traffic around the schools but this is creating traffic all across the city leading to just more traffic congestion um so what are other communities doing to kind of address Transportation needs um we looked at one was Salem public schools who has mandatory Riders so people who are like in K to2 it's students who live one mile or more away from the school 3 to 5 1.5 miles away from the school grade six uh 2 miles in accordance with M mgl and then as well as grade 7 to 12 students who live two or more miles from the school those students along with ones with IEPs as well as like special needs students also are mandatory Riders but they also have established non-mandatory riders that are kind of given access on a case-by casee needs basis criteria for this can include economic status walkable route status so the safety of their commute to school if they were walking or biking as well as younger sibling ridership such as if their sibling in the middle school has access to a bus but they don't um kind of it's really dependent on existing capacity of the bus so if the buses were full of mandatory Riders non-mandatory Riders at the time would not have bus access but they would still be able to put into tiar so if applicants met all three criterias the economic status walk boat route and sibling and then so on um so we're kind of looking at while understanding that the like population and circumstances of Salem are drastically different than Riv how can we possibly model this system expand on it and learn from it just so we don't have such a cut off of you live 2 miles away you live 1.95 miles away one of you can take the bus one of you can't um but we also wanted to look kind of at a community that's not necessarily exactly like us but kind of more like us in Salem we looked at um Boston Public Schools who did a youth transportation project in 2018 a lot of the takeaways is that several groups of the teens would also be excited to use public transit if it was cheaper and more affordable and then the findings revealed that young people who cannot access opportunities that are available to them won't seek them out so as a result of these findings the city of Boston now provides free M7 cards to all Boston Public School students age 11 and up in partnership with the MBTA um so what exactly is the M7 card program currently RPS provides middle school and high school students with free s cards which gives us half off on Transit Transit options so blue line um whatever bus routes but an M7 card would provide students with free rides unlimited free rides throughout the school year and then it would return to the S card during the summer months where the cost to the city would be $0 so it's about $30 a month per card and then it gets shut off in the summer and it gives you access to all Rapid Transit lines bus lines and I believe it's 1A for the commuter rail um so let's move on kind of Transportation recommendations for rer so we wanted to look at it for quick fixes so this is stuff that can be done for one month to a year so first thing is we want to look into adding a crossing guard or a police detail whatever is easier at the intersection of Harris Street and American Legion Highway I've had to walk this to go to swim practice there's plenty of students that have to walk across the highway and along the highway onto Shirley AV onto the beach and right now there's no kind of protection away from all the cars that are going down that highway so we would love to see just anyone that would be able to direct traffic and make it at all safer for the kids as well as we wanted to continue collaboration with the state and all planning agencies um for like planning efforts Along American Legion Bell Circle VFW Parkway I know recently we were awarded a grant for a study um I believe it was a long BFW Parkway just to increase um pedestrian and bike safety so I'd love to see increased collaboration between the city and all those planning agencies and then we also wanted to look at the context that as of right now Rivier High School is not going to be in the current location it's going to be moving down to Wonderland so we wanted to create a new rhs timeline so we wanted to First along with the school department and RPS Transportation start and complete a busting study for Wonderland so we know which students are going to be eligible for the bus and what buses are going to be needed compared to when it was at the current 101 School Street site and then we also want to start communication with the MBTA in regards to the M7 program and then also Implement more robust complete Street projects throughout the city just because if it's safer to walk if it's safer to bike we will see more kids that are able to safely get to school and that's just kind of a overwhelming thing if it's people going to work people going to school um so why are we focused so heavily on the M7 card let's look at it this way this is a map of areas within half a mile to a walk to a Blue Line Station it's about a 7 to 12 minute walk if you're a slower Walker you a faster walker and a weekday frequency for these trains is every 5 to 8 minutes if we had this M7 card students in Beachmont students in Shirley AV would be able to hop on the blue line in the morning or in the afternoon and get straight to Wonderland and walk across to school and then we look at the 116 which is going to be a new combined bus route of the 116 117 with the new um better bus redesign project that is going to be implemented over the next couple years we're looking at an area with .5 miles again this is going to be again a 7 to 12 minute walk and the weekday frequency is every to 8 to 12 8 to 10 minutes so these students even if they miss one bus they're only going to be waiting 8 to 10 minutes to catch another to get to school and once again we can see the area covered here and then lastly this is the 110 another um frequent Transit bus that will be implemented as part of the mbta's better bus redesign project once again all the same things but what I really wanted to show you guys was when we look at this of a high frequent Transit coverage in ReRe once this um bus re design is finished we see all the places in Broadway Across the beach Beachmont even up into West Rivier that will be covered in a f in a 7 to 12 minute walk to a highfrequency Transit stop so when we look at this we see that there's so many students in these areas that if they were just had a card that they could just tap not worry about paying and they would get to school within 10 to 20 minutes in the morning and 10 to 20 minutes home in the afternoon so I'm taking AP stats right now I'm not the best um mathematician but I did a little number crunching so the cost per year per student would be about $270 as of right now rhs enrollment is at 2,98 students so the net cost is if we implemented this at the start of the year we would be paying 566,000 if we got a card for every single student in rhs and that's for one year and then also we looked at the year over-year enrollment growth for the past 10 years in Rivera public schools and specifically rhs and we found a year over year enrollment growth of 2.4 so we looked to hopefully implement this by the year that the new rhs opens when it will be the most effective and using that 2.4% we found that it would cost about $ 68,276 N5 the first year and then we also looked for the program cost over 10 years to kind of give a big picture and we found that from 2028 to 2038 um while still accounting for the 2.54 year-over-year enrollment growth it would cost the city in 10 years about 9 million $9.3 million now if we take a look at just this year's transportation funding for RPS overall we're spending about 8.2 million this year just on transportation and that is for high school that is for middle school that is for elementary school that that is for even um busing kids who need um transportation to different schools out of the city so when we look at this and we increase all of that it's going to be not a negligible but it's going to be a worth investment into these students to get this uh greater access and also we wanted to just do one little thing if there's a possibility of there being a commu rail stop at Wonderland we wanted to also focus on the city council providing a pedestrian um pathway over the highway so students can also easily get to school from the Wonderland um station whether it be a pedestrian bridge an underground people mover with an escalator and we just wanted to really focus on getting these students to and from school in the safest and most cost-effective way possible and then before I have any other questions I just wanted to give some other updates for student Senate and student reps um our student reps have collaborated with City lab to offer representation on the school committee and working on on increasing accessibility of city meetings um the school spirit engagement committee is working on a districtwide Culture Night hopefully that will be happening in May um scheduling committee is looking to have a field trip volunteer day at the New England home for the deaf as well as a mental health workshop for students and staff um mental health committee is working to supply classrooms with updated stress L boxes so that's just things like stress balls um different just stress relieving activities for the students and then as well as our student sen at Star our next Edition is out on the 24th of April and that'll be our ninth Edition so I would love to field any questions that the counselors might have thank you very much Matthew any counselors councilor sylvestri thank you Mr President Matt every time you come up you're more and more impressive man that that was an amazing presentation um some amazing information there I love the M7 card idea um and any way that we can support these happening please let us know thank you for your time thank you thank you counselor councelor Janina hi mat thanks for coming again tonight pedestrian bridge I'm all for it a great idea yeah the numbers you Ed on this year this total School population uh total no that is total Riv High School population to so it's not including the students that already walk the school little in the school area that uh the 20098 was the enrollment of River High School so all students grades 9 to 12 so potentially it will be a lower number based on students get dropped off at school walking to school and what have you as opposed to everyone getting the M7 cat uh yeah so I think the best way to go about it is definitely an opt-in program so we find those students that are in those 7 to 12 minute walks to those um bus or train stops and while they have the option to either drive to school be dropped off or walk to school we allow them to opt in to owning that M7 car because not only is it for could be useful transportation to and from school we have a lot of kids that work in other cities work in downtown and they would be able to kind of go into downtown practically for free throughout the school year and um not have to worry about Transportation costs going to work going to other places but definitely that cost could be decreased if we don't have that full enrollment um buy in for those cards right thank you I I'm looking at this here at your numbers and stuff and I'm figuring could be a lot lower you're at right now yes based on actual people using the M7 C and stuff like that it's a great idea and uh I think we do help you out with it let me know all right thank you thank you counselor counselor Gina sa thank you Matt for coming every time you come here you're even more impressive you really are um I just have a couple of questions you were talking about getting uh police at the end of Harris Street yes driving by there every day yes I see kids they they actually go in and out in between the cars they don't care to look and see where they're going um I agree with having the police officer there it's really important that they cross safely but you're still going to have the stragglers that want to do what they want to do um um as far as the cards are concerned I I agree with with these C the M7 cards but I don't agree with them um being used other than going to school so I think the cost if if we could get each of the students one of those cards but limit it to to and from school I think it would the cost would go down drastically um and is there any way that the school system could help with purchasing them as well is there any extra money in the school budget so when we when we presented to this when we uh presented this to school committee as well as talking with the transportation director there is no extra cash within the school uh school system to support this um so they really kind of told us to come here but um to your point of course um so to your point about using it out of school and all of those things it wouldn't be at any extra added cost the city so if we look at two and from school that's two trips 5 days a week that's 10 trips um that will come out at least on the subway it's about $24 and on the bus it gets to about I think about $17 to $20 so when we look at it these students are using these cards and they can be using these cards more than once if they're going to internships or stuff like that in the city they're ending up using these cards more than the $30 a month that we're paying for them so in a way that we're saving money rather than having these kids or the city kind of pay on a tap BYT basis how about um will that be included with the student discount will the students be getting a discount the cards have a student discount attached to it yeah so would that cost go down so if you were to get a month um of Unlimited on your student discount card that is $30 a month so it's the same exact price as the city would be paying per month per card now wouldn't it be cheaper to get another bus or a couple more buses on than getting the cards um no actually um the average cost per student for transportation by bus is close to $2,000 per year but of course we also don't have the whole population taking bus so it's kind of like equals out that we're paying this if we were giving it to all the students so obviously that cost can go lower if we're just including the students that are eligible okay thank you of course thank you counselor counselor H thank you Mr President Matthew thanks for coming up here um great presentation I know you mentioned you researched Salem a little bit in their um their roots in their transportation plan have you researched or looked at any of the surrounding cities or towns regarding the M7 and the effect that that had and if it was successful or not um yeah so the only um comparable District that has been invested in the M7 card is BPS and I know they're kind of different just because of their size and the money that comes in for that system so it's just kind of not Apples to Apples completely but um there's plenty of um private schools that invest the money and give the cards to their kids um I know BC high I know um some other school districts within um Boston also do it just like private schools but um it's been it's been successful to the extent that it's better than busting their kids to and from and this is something I believe you said that they'll be able to use it the entire school year and as soon as the summer comes they'll return it to to the city or to the school department the the card itself will will go back to an S card which the students would be able to get half off throughout the summer so exactly what they have now but the the city would only be paying $30 a month from September to June and then pick right back up on school STS correct and they they would just get issued new cards because they don't have like a 10-year card they just give them to the schools every year and it's like a 23 24 24 25 great and congratulations on being named to the governor's youth Council by the way thank you thank you thank you thank you counselor councelor yarmo uh Matthew this is uh public transportation is my My love language so this is great uh we'd be really excited to see if we can partner with mot to try to get a study on the amount of um traffic we can reduce uh through peak times I think that that'd be a great opportunity to explore there and um uh you know I think we can find some votes here if not we'll try to whip them up to try to find that money in the next you know we have at least 10 years to plan it so um maybe we can start putting some money in the pig pigy Bank to make this happen I think um you know allowing students to move to and from not just for school but for all other purposes we know that this is a workingclass city and a lot of our students work to help support their families and we want to make sure that they continue to do that and if we give them a little break uh by by investing in this M7 card that would be a great initiative so thank you so much for presenting and look forward to working on this with you all right thank you thank you counselor any other counselors permission to speak from the chair thank you all correct me if I'm wrong but when the school department submits their budget to the council we are allowed to cut but whatever we cut let's say we make a cut this next budget we then have to make up for that that shortfall next year by law um so if the superintendent puts in money for the M7 cards it'll go into their budget we know that whatever we cut we have to make up anyway so I I mean we're we're going to approve the school's budget we'll do anything for Education up here so just tell the superintendent to work it out um as far as I'm I'm so I hate to send you back there but um as far as the Harris Street ameran Legion Highway I know we discussed police but if you wanted to get like a a crossing guard there I would absolutely contact director babo and the parking Department um I think the M7 cards are a great idea and uh I'm I'm curious to see how many cards we would get that would replace public busing because we pay I think 9.1 million this year for public transportation so I think it's a great idea it's more cost efficient and we like that up here so um great job my man can't wait to see you next month all right thankk you very much place on fire next up is the zoning subcommittee report chairman zambo uh thank you Mr President as we know the zoning subcommittee met this evening at 5:00 we had several items on the uh docket uh the first up is uh 24-22 an ordinance further amending the revised zoning ordinance of the city of Rivier relative to homebased child care uh that was voted out unanimously in favor I would ask for a roll call roll call um on the second reading ordered on a second reading as amended shall this apologize for that we're working it [Laughter] out ordered on a third and final reading as amended perfect Eng roll call for engrossment in ordainment is no shall okay shall the city council approve an ordinance further amending the zoning ordinance of the city of Rivier relative to homebased child care as amended councilor agent zo is abson councelor janino yes Council Gino SAA yes voting yes Council aass yes yes Council arelo recused recused councilor Kelly yes Council coun McKenna yes Council noas salski yes Council sylvestri yes Council zambuto yes and council president cogliandro [Music] yes the ordinance is engrossed and ordain sorry for throwing your curveball there next item up was uh uh 2411 four Overlook Ridge LLC uh varis residential harici side 3 21 Z Hudson Street Jersey City Jersey I don't have to go through all this uh the relative a zoning audience further amending the Overlook Ridge overlay District so uh Madam clerk I'll let you handle the uh how you want to this was voted out favorably I I believe unanimously I call for a roll call so for the roll call call I just have a question just because I'm not on counil J um what are the uh um the conditions of the special Department oh sorry is this not the oh what's the question sorry my apologies were there conditions attached to the zoning Amendment well the the changes the amendments are what oh I wasn't I'm not in zone sub commmittee so you can walk me through them uh chairman within the zoning subcommittee it was voted upon um and with a favorable recommendation that the uh Property Owners ENT to a development agreement with the city of Rivier indicating that 15% of the um residential unit in the new on to be developed on lot 15 are dedicated for affordable housing at what uh area of mediate income I believe that was not discussed is anyone in the can anyone answer that question for the counselor what the Ami is going to be for the affordable so the sort of standard accepted definition for affordable housing it would be what would apply here 80% of the area median income can a r call please I'll set councelor yes thank you ordered on a second reading as amended ordered on a third and final reading as amended roll call for engrossment and ordainment sh the city council approve an ordinance further amending the zoning ordinances of the city of rier relative to overlook Ridge overlay District as amended councilor renzio is absent councilor janino yes councilor Jano yes councel Gina SAA yes voting yes Council H yes voting yes councilor hero no voting no councelor Kelly yes yes councelor mcken yes yes Council anovas salski yes Council sylvestri yes Council zambuto yes and council president C Leandro yes voting yes subject matter is engrossed and ordained the third item up in another ordinance this time I won't ask for a roll call this is 24-11 five an ordinance further amending the zoning map of the city of Riv relative to CD in R A1 zoning districts in North Rivier it was voted out unanimously ordered on a second reading ordered on a third and final reading roll call for engrossment ordainment shall the city council approve an ordinance further amending the zoning map of the city of Rivier relative to the conservation zoning district councelor jenzel is absent councelor janino yes voting yes Council Gina SAA yes voting yes councilor H yes yes Council arameo yes yes councilor Kelly yes yes Council McKenna yes yes Council noveli yes Council sylvestri yes yes Council zambo yes yes and council president cogliandro yes voting yes subject matter is engrossed and ordained the next up is uh 24118 this time it is a special permit and I this was voted out unanimously and at this time I will ask ask for a roll call thank you shall the city council Grant the relief requested subject to the conditions offered by site plan review Mr President sorry what are the conditions sorry sorry councelor the condition what are the conditions the conditions are in the packet I'll bring them up what what page are they on sorry oh is this Francis Street the oh the town oh I'm sorry we're good I don't need the commissions we're all s roll call okay councelor regenia was abson councelor janino yes voting yes councel Gina s yes voting yes councel H yes voting yes Council Aro yes voting yes councelor Kelly yes voting yes councelor McKenna yes voting yes Council novas salski yes yes Council sylvestri yes yes Council zimuto yes yes and council president Cog Leandro yes yes granted special permit is [Music] granted Mr President can I file for reconsideration uh suspension of rules all in favor all opposed suspension rules pass es all in reconsideration all in favor all opposed so whated resume regular order of business this is a communication from the city CFO relative to an amendment to appendix Table Three salaries of the revised ordinances of the city of Rivier parody salary ordinance good evening ma'am name and address for the record please Clarence relo 281 Broadway solicitor's office uh very simple ordinance that some of you have probably seen before in your years up here but I have a request for the city council to make a minor Amendment on page packet page 71 or mini packet 10B I don't know which ones you guys have uh this is subsection F table F salary schedule mayor city council and legislative branch employees there are two tables labeled one and two there was a typo we should not have the percentages included there if you do the math it does not add up so we are asking that this Council strike 3% 0.75% and 3% from those tables under Section F in numbers 1 and two okay just F1 is where we'd request the amendment so this is going to be ordered to a public hearing as amended uh Council janino I'm looking at this over and um I notic that the on SE section g schedule of Sal of boards of commissions that under the clerks for the commission Conservation Commission Board of Health and legends commission is there any way we could add the traffic Commission on there R I would direct that question to Rich vke I can bring it back to him I'm not money man but um I can definitely ask him cuz it's also a Clerk's job that that's been overlooked for several years okay and that was brought up back about 20 years ago when I when I was doing it yeah definitely councelor we can do that can make that Amendment so we can order this to a public hearing uh as amended and we'll have time to hash out all the details so at that point bring it up again and we'll discuss what we think is fair all right any anyone else order to a public hearing is amended sorry the public hearing will be April 29th thank you there a motions motion presented by councilor Gina SAA that the mayor requests the traffic commission to install PE speed calming measures on Pomona Street including but not limited to a speed hump councilor Gino sa motion speaks for itself any other counselors all in favor all opposed so Ed this is a motion presented by councilor arillo and councilor agenzio that the city council ordered to a public hearing to the following ordinance for the purpose of increasing safety by expanding recreational opportunities for young people in ordinance further amending chapter 2.57 Parks and Recreation Department of the revised ordinances of the city of Rivier Council yo um Mr President thank you I'm actually going to make a motion to send this to committee instead of to a public hearing and if the my colleagues would entertain that uh we would like to Senator uh Parkson wreck if there's no objection we'll send this motion to the Parks and Recreation subcommittee all in favor all oppos so what it thank you Mr President okay this is a motion presented by Council Aram milillo that the city council refer the following proposed ordinance to The Climate sustainability and Workforce subcommittee for further discussion an ordinance creating stronger jobs for R residents and improving the well-being of R's Working Families Council Yu Mr President I'm also going to make a quick amendment to this motion and then um move forward with as as presented uh there was a typo in section two of this motion if we if like my um colleagues could humor me uh by adding the word duration to number four in section two of the motion um before we sent it to the subcommittee yeah can I get a second for that Mr President second second not requir oh sorry thank you okay mad Clerk yeah ad okay all right this oh so we're going to refer this to the climate sustainability and Workforce subcommittee for further discussion did did one of the counselors want to speak councelor Kelly I just um I'm a little this isn't is this an ordinance it's presented as an ordinance so if this is a new ordinance could this me maybe go to a joint subcommittee of legislative affairs as well um because there is in section one it seems to speak to all public construction projects in the city but then later in section two and three it's just referring specifically to construction of the new Riv high school so I'm a little confused regarding that so maybe if we did a joint subcommittee with legislative affairs we could kind of tweak that and and um just get some clarification Mr President this is just able so I think if we could just sorry go ahe this is just a preamble so um well if I if I could make a suggestion I think having a joint subcommittee having two chairs and and whatnot I don't think that's the right move we can put this into the workforce subcommittee and then take it out and put it into legislative affairs to have a separate uh it it no this is going to get referred to a subcommittee um so that would be my recommendation is to do one subcommittee and tackle the issues there and then legislative issues that are involved with it we could tackle it a later date um I don't know how you feel about that councelor I'm amenable to that councelor Kelly any any objection to that plan that's fine that's okay so this is going to be referred to climate sustainability and Workforce subcommittee a late motion motion presented by councelor McKenna that the mayor requests the DCR to close the tide Gates when a nor raser is predicted by a meteorologist the DCR used poor judgment during the last two nor Easter by not closing the tiag gates leaving the lower portion of Beachmont underwater including a brand new park installation which costs the city thousands of dollars councelor McKenna thank you Mr President um I have pictures to show of um the Wednesday and Thursday storm so I just want everybody to know and I know everybody knows that I've lived in Beachmont my entire life same house a block away from the ocean I I've been a city councilor for nine years and experienced many many storms for more than a week meteorologists were predicting that there was going to be a coastal storm and nor EA was with 60 mph winds heavy rains and High Tides living by the coast you never underestimate a nor Easter because the winds come off the water and they push the ocean onto the L which happened Wednesday and Thursday an nor Easter is not like a regular storm with winds coming off the Southwest it's different so if you so if you're predicting tides that are 13 foot Tides you're really getting more than than that April 3rd Wednesday night they asked to have the floodgates closed the response was well they are only predicting 13 foot waves we usually don't close them unless we have 14 foot WS Thursday I asked again to have the floodgates closed Bill Good from DCA said I will not close them and I stand by my decision okay great because of this man's blunder the whole lower half of beach Mar receive 2 and a half to three feet of water because he did not close the gates ocean water was rolling down with for Parkway inundating these areas people lost cars boilers washers and dryers their basements were flooded and yards were flooded a park that the city has been working on for the last three years which we just started renovating that cost $155,000 had two feet of water no one in the lower half of beach man has seen this flooding in 27 years 27 years because I don't understand we have floodgates okay the Army Corps of Engineers designed these floodgates to protect the lower half of Beachmont and you have one man and a couple of couple of other men men men I don't even count and I'm a counselor and a woman all right and these men made the decision to not close these Gates okay then why do we have Gates why do we have Gates it takes I don't know a crank to close the gates you keep them closed for high tidde it's 2 hours I understand if there's an emergency okay there's an emergency the apparatuses will get through if there's an emergency I know the rever firefighter fires Fighters would get past this emergency uh to get to the emergency I understand that we're inconveniencing uh win from residents for two hours but we had at least 50 families that were inundated with water that lost cars that lost everything because one man made a decision that he wasn't going to shut the gate for two hours okay I so DCR totally dropped the ball on this one and I hope in the future they do a better job of playing God for these poor Beachmont residents thank you very much thank you counselor any other counselors wishing to speak counselor Gino sa I completely agree with my fellow counselor as I represent another really really um bad area when it comes to water and flooding in nor easers and DC definitely dropped the ball on this one and I hold them completely responsible and they should never ever ever happen again close those Gates when they need to be closed thank you counselor all in favor all opposed oh we have uh I my apologies ma'am come on up name an address for the record okay hi my name is Lorraine chafy thank you for having me I'm a resident at 181 winr Parkway in Rivia and I've been there for 26 and A2 years in October it will be 27 years my house just got destroyed my downstairs is destroyed they put me on flood when I first bought the house in 97 I was on flood insurance when they built the wall across the street from my home they took us off flood insurance 2 years ago they made us go back on it because the water table is rising the water table did not rise the floodgates and the park that's what caused this I have videos from my house I can see the floodgates from my bedroom window I can see the waves coming over in my spear room which used to be my daughter's room I have full view of the park I saw workers from Rivier DPW they were shocked that it was flooded and one went in the park and had to pull a yellow plastic net that was that was put in the drains for the renovations of the park when he removed that yellow plastic netting the Water started receding at 8:00 in the morning my downstairs was flooded when he went about 2:00 and pulled that the water started receding my whole backyard water was gushing in my home I've never had water I have a complete renovated downstairs with Italian tile on the floor a mobble fireplace Custom Cabinets I am destroyed now the flood insurance tell me I'm a basement do you know what that means that means they don't cover diddly except a cleaning and if I want to cut a wall so now I have to go to my home insurance and see if they'll help me I'm retired I've lived in the city for almost 27 years I had to go back to work so I don't lose my house and now I get hit with this the floodgates destroyed our area I don't know what else to say I don't know what you can do but we definitely need help this was this could have been pre this was preventable definitely preventable and anybody that would like to come to my home I invite you you can come to my home I will show you videos um I don't know how to put it up on your website I have it on my phone you can see the water coming in my home you can see the cars that are stuck not Cars not just stuck on Broad sound which usually floods okay lever cars were being towed because we had so much water the water coming down the parkway was going around broad sound not straight across broad sound and up the parkway it was going everywhere and in my house I don't have anything else to say I hope that you can help me and help us our area um and the park it's destroyed thank you thank you ma'am good evening sir name and address for the record please Hal Abrams 169 winter Parkway and we all up about each other we're all friends and neighbors and we have not had flooding since all the improvements done in the previous administrations in fact she's absolutely right what was a flood area at one time is no longer a FL a flood area on on the r uh flood maps uh my house was in the flood area and it was taken out of the flood area because of the precautions because of the revent because of the pumping stations because of the gate and they all have to be simultaneously worked sometimes things happen during a storm we all know that and previous years when DCR did not act I believe the R emergency management Council or or group of people that used to head it they opened up the gates themselves they went down there with DPW and they over they overran whatever objection MDC or DCR during those times and re did it uh his his uh D Donnie Goodwin would go down there with a a full full loer it opened up the gates and and prevent the flooding from happening another person from uh who used to live in uh War I Joe do Greco Joe do Greco used to come down there during the storm was head of DCR and he would make sure the pumps would be working the gate is open and all the measures work in fact he went one better um there is a drain that has not been cleaned in numerous years that goes the back of her house my house in the back of it would be uh lever AV and back of the Louis p p and this drain goes underneath the Our Lady of large Church to Sals Creek which I'm glad to hear that it's going to be Sals Creek is going to be cleaned out shortly but this drain also takes away the water goes into through uh sales Creek and then goes back to the ocean and back of suff downs this too needs to be cleaned out and they used to clean it out with the vac machine and they would take all the sludge out of there and everything that's in there and we're hoping that in case something does happen again with DCR R can override it it can be uh it can be done with a mandate uh and it has been done before sometimes people in DCR they're busy in other areas but R DPW always went to the cause and and they would take care of it and we ask that we get back on that procedure thank you very much thank you sir counselor H thank you for the leeway Mr President I was thinking that was a a thing a few years back that the DPW or someone would over overrun that and um I was thinking I was a little crazy till Mr Abrams brought that up but I don't understand I think it was Mr G that um and councelor McKenna said the waves have to be a certain I think 14 feet that's when they predict they to shut the gates is they have to be 14 ft but it's a different scenario when it's a nor Easter coming in from the water the winds are different and the waves are higher and I just want to say because I have the floor right now I'm sorry I interrupted you but they did par partially shut the road so the road was shut anyways so what what if it it was like a tenth of a mile down that they shut the road so people couldn't they shut shot Beach so a tenth of a mile that could have shut the the uh Gates and people had to turn around you know so I mean it was crazy they had the road shut so shut the gates I agree totally um I think that's something the city should look into I totally agree with councelor McKenna and all the other counselors that spoke here tonight anytime we can lessen something like that amount of flooding that causes that amount of damage to those residents over in Beach month that is definitely something we should look at and you know maybe we should look at the city makes its own call if that happens that's something to think you have a counselor here that knows the uh predicament of of the ocean so I mean they could ask me I I mean which they never have so thank you thank you all in favor all opposed so awarded next Monday is Patriots Day Mr President point in Personal Privilege State your point counselor thank you sir um I'm hoping that the uh president would say the next meeting is the 29th of thank you but um I just want everybody to know that next Monday is the beginning of Passover you know Jewish holiday 22nd two on two Mondays okay I lose track of days next week's a holiday um and this is one of our key holidays that you know everybody knows we eat matah unleavened bread because when the Jews were being attacked by the Egyptians at the time and I don't want anybody to take offense to this uh it's just history and for 40 years they were out in the desert and they couldn't let the bread rise because the Egyptians were after the Jewish people all the time so that's why we have this 10 days and then there were the plagues and everything like that went that went on but uh I do want to wish uh all my Jewish friends that are in hearing distance my young lady from East Boston and uh you know wish everybody a happy and healthy Passover and uh we have to eat kosher we can't eat out on the street everything has to be eaten in the house so um I just want to wish everybody again happy Passover a healthy one and a safe one thank you thank you counselor this meeting is adjourned and the next meeting will be April 29th thank you very much have a good evening e