Good evening and welcome to the Revier City Council meeting of January 29, 2026. All rise and salute the flag, please. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation
under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. >> Roll call the members. Council Argenzio >> here. >> Here. Councelor Kogandro >> here. >> Here. Council Gino is absent. Councelor Gino SA >> here. >> Here. Councelor Hass >> here. >> Here. Councelor Kelly >> here.
>> Here. Council McKenna >> here. >> Here. Councelor Mccario >> here. >> Here. Council Novaski >> here. >> Here. Councel Sylvestri >> here. >> Here. And council president Zambudo >> here. >> Here. Quorum is present. >> Approval of the journal of the regular meeting of January 12th. >> So move.
>> All in favor? All opposed. >> Mr. President. >> Councelor McKenna. >> Uh, a point of personal privilege. Please >> state your point. Please. >> Thank you. Um, I would like to thank Roa for shoveling the public stairs at Brad
Street Winthrop A and Prevy's Way. I want you to know that Previty Way Prevy's Way used to be Unity A and multiple people used that um those public stairs to come down and use the TA station. So, thank you. I also want
to thank the DPW and the new plow drivers. Uh they filled up every blue bucket that holds the rock salt several times before the storm. Uh when all the sto and all the stores ran out, they got slammed on Facebook for not doing a good
job. But with the amount of snow we got uh in we haven't had in the last several years. They did a good job keeping up with it. And I want people to realize that we all have new plow drivers and
they have to work at it to to get the, you know, to get it. Um, we don't have the Murio brothers anymore. We've lost them, the veterans of of the the the plows. So, uh, be patient people. I
mean, you know, they're doing a good job. And lastly, and I'm not trying to make any uh waves here, but not waves, but get uh accolades. Um I would like to thank the
mayor because I called him with a number of problems and I called him directly and he resolved it. So I just want to say thank you and that's my phone ringing. So I'm going to end this now. Thanks. >> Hello. >> Thank you councelor councelor Gino SA.
Thank you, Mr. President. I'd also like to take a minute to recognize the DPW workers. Um, first and foremost, some of them worked 36 to 48 hours straight. And what people need to understand is they are doing the best that they can. There
was a ton of snow. And sometimes they have to come out more than once to get what you want done. But they have I called them. I called upon them. I have to tell you at least 20 to 25 times every single day this week and they did
everything I've asked. It might may have taken a little bit of time, but they did do a great job. They came by the house to make sure that everything was good. They made sure that the the mayor also was aware of everything. I texted him. I texted all the DPW workers. And some of
them, what you have to realize is they're on a salary. They're on they don't get paid for overtime. and they worked tons and tons and tons of overtime to help the the residents. So, please residents, I know we have another storm coming. Please, please, please
reach out to your city councilors and we will let the DPW know and they are doing an amazing amazing amazing job. Thank you, >> Mr. President. >> Thank you, counselor. Madam >> calendar item number three hearing
called is ordered on a bond authorization for the renovation of the McKinley school in the amount of $37 million. >> This is a public hearing. So we'll hear from the proponents. >> Well good good evening honorable body. Congratulations Mr. President. I'll be
really brief. I know this is a public hearing, but um Rich Visqueke, our CFO, and Tom Skovski, chief of planning, going to go through the slides, but uh just today we had an M necc Menrech, which were a member of we have now officially expanded to three
communities, which has been the hopes of the city for many years. It was the initial reasons why we created this group of regional call centers. We but we only had two. So now we have three and we actually will have the we'll be this buildout. We'll have the ability to add even more. But it was it really
struck me today when we had uh police and fire departments from Chelsea added into the group of Winthre and their leadership, the city manager was there, their their 911 call takers uh leadership and just having the expertise in the room. It's gonna that's just the
soft benefits that we're going to continue to get from this program and again the other financial benefits that Rich will lay out and and you'll just hear about more and more. Uh but in down the road adding more communities reduces our city's assessment uh when it comes to the the overall operating cost of a
911 by hundreds of thousands of dollars a year. Add another community, it's another few hundred thousands of dollars a year. I'm not going to pretend to you and say that this project is neutral and you know it always costs us money, but we have a we have a school that's been vacant for 10 plus years and we're going to give it new life and it's going to be
put towards great community use. We always talk as a community about how can we better use space in our city for community and I know that there's always the angst of is it going to be housing and things like that. So no, this is going to be take take city parcels that
we're using to rent space out of. We're going to take that and in-house it. We're going to put it towards public safety use uh and we're also going to put it towards educational purposes and beyond. So, I'm excited uh to revitalize that neighborhood and that school and uh and I'm really grateful for you to take
the time and listen to our our presentation tonight. Thank you very much. And I'm here for any questions. >> Thank Thank you, Mr. Mayor. >> Mr. Director. >> Good evening, counselors. Um, I will go through the nuts and bolts of of the McKinley school renovation plan and then
I'll hand it over to Rich who will talk about the money. So, the McKinley School renovation project um is really the renovation of two buildings in one. So, there's the historic 1904 building um which is what
will house the early childhood center and the municipal offices for parking and retirement. And then the new 1924 building which will house the Metro North wreck as the mayor had indicated bringing Chelsea River and Winthre together under one roof for purposes of
public safety coordination. And there'll be, you see there in pink, kind of a a central corridor in between that will link the two buildings. But for all intents and purposes, there'll be two separate buildings. They're seismically separated. Um they have different systems, different modes of egress, and and for all intents and purposes, two
different buildings. Um here's the early childhood school at elevation. Here is what the wreck building will look like. So certainly similar, but there is some distinctive design characteristics that make them um stand out and look different from one another.
And then here are the municipal offices in the back. This is the foster street view. Um you've got the retirement boards offices on the right and parking on the left. And then here's the landscape plan. Uh what you see here is uh we will have a
crossblock connection linking Foster Street, Neman Street. Um we'll have some additional tree plantings. So, there's going to be a preschool playscape that's um mandated by law as we're providing an early childhood center. There's a welcoming and arrival space for parents,
um teachers, and and students as they're coming into the building, as well as a community gathering space that will serve purposes both for the students, but also workers at the wreck, parking, retirement, and just um you know, generally for users of the building. Then, of course, there's parking. And
there's 48 parking spots together between on street and and off streetet spaces. And here's the proposed design at elevation. Um what things will look like when all is said and done. As the mayor indicated, it's building that's been vacant for over a decade. And I think we
all can agree what we see here is uh will be a beautiful highlight to the neighborhood, the Broadway corridor, um and just overall the city. So, briefly to go over the program, um between the three different uses, uh first we'll start with the 911 call center. Um it will have a training and
EOCC center, uh a state-of-the-art dispatch room. In the basement, there will be bunk rooms and a fitness center. There'll be offices for wreck administrative staff. Um and again, serving Chelsea Winthre and River al together. What you see up here is what the entrance will look like for the
wreck. Um this is from the Heman Street view. Um, and just to go over a few renderings of what things might will look like on the inside. Um, here's the training and EOCC center. So, this will both be for rec staff, but this can also be another resource. We're always um needing more
community space, more training space, both for municipal and other purposes. This will be right here on the the first floor of the building. Um, accommodates about 30 people, but it could, you know, be larger. And you know, I can just think of a an event for a W five community meeting we had a few weeks
back that um things like that could also be a great fit for a room like this. And here's the state-of-the-art dispatch room that's proposed to be on the second floor of the building. And then to get an overview of the early
childhood center, it'll have eight classrooms which effectively doubles the capacity of her public schools early childhood offerings. Today we often have to turn back many families to um the system because we we just have limited capacity uh as it is today. It will also
include administrative space and offices for for the teachers and staff and an indoor play space uh on the third floor which is where revering has been for the past few years. This will be a space for for days like today where you can't go outside and play in the playground, but
it will also be a multi-purpose space that can serve for community events and meetings and and and things like that. Um here is just a look at on the first floor of the classroom space. Um there are these little cubbies on the side for kids if they need to take a break or sit
down. Um hopefully we'll actually have teachers supervising them, not just children running wild as there is in this hallway, but gives you a sense of what we're going to be looking at. Um here's the second floor view. Um much of the same and a typical classroom space.
And with uh early childhood um classrooms, you need to have restrooms and wash facilities right there within each of the classrooms. That's a a desi requirement. Of course, these are younger kids. They have different needs and um we took that into account as we were designing the building.
And then the indoor play space, event space, and multi-purpose room. It's basically a big empty space um but has a lot of flexibility where we can bring in furniture for community events and things of the like. There's also a space right on the other side of the event space on the third floor that is, you
know, if you're thinking about hosting a community event. Um it's kind of like a an entryway um gathering space where where folks can come in and um you know, be welcomed into the building. And this could it will be designed as such that you know you could just access it from
the elevator right to the third floor without going to the first and second floor classroom building. So there's kind of like that separation that is valuable for such a community space. Um and then the municipal offices, uh this will be the the foster street side
serving parking and retirement. I don't have any fancy renderings for those their offices. I think you all have a good idea what that'll look like. Um and then just briefly to go over project benefits. So you know public safety modernization, we talked about that a lot uh when I last presented to the
council. state-of-the-art regional coordination. Like the mayor alluded to, um there's a pretty significant cost savings for consolidation. Um bringing Chelsea into the fold, we stand to save about $250,000 every year in operating costs uh for the city. And that actually
is a number that could grow further year-to-year based off of um increased competitiveness for state 911 grants and and other factors. But this was a 2025 estimate from the wreck as to what the the cost savings would be for the city. And then as the mayor mentioned,
potential expansion opportunity to bring other communities in the into the fold and realize further cost savings. Um for the McKinley Early Childhood Education Center, it allows for the preschool expansion, reduces the burden on our existing elementary schools. Um it's
going to serve a lot more families in the city. Uh we've got a, as we've talked about with the council in previous years, a real child care need in the city and this will meet that need. um and also provides potential for afterchool programming above and beyond the river public school offerings.
The city of River offices, you know, owning is better than renting and we're currently renting parking and retirement from landlords and and this will provide some cost savings and certainly in the case of parking which is one of the more uh widely used user services amongst our
municipal offerings. Um, you get a lot of people coming into this building often confused that why we have to point them to the post office to pay their parking ticket and now we'll have kind of a a cohesive um city hall campus um that we can point them to a city that we
own or building that we own. and um neighborhood benefits obviously for Broadway promotes further investment in the corridor um brings a new customer base adjacent to the Broadway district both with uh the teachers and um the folks at the wreck and finally it
provides you know that revitalization of a a key source of neighborhood blight and community meeting spaces as I alluded to before and briefly on the timeline before I hand it over to Rich um we've completed asbestous PCB and lead abatement at least on the interior
here. Um, and design development's been completed and we've moved to construction drawings. Uh, oil tanks were removed in uh, the fall. Uh, and we closed bids on 20 uh, December of 2025. We have the low bid as track builders.
Um, and we are waiting to award a bid hopefully with issuance of the bond authorization. Uh, we've completed a rad or we've started a radio tower microwave study. As we talked about at the last council meeting, the the weather has complicated the timeline on that, but we're currently working through that
late February, early March. And that will basically determine uh the final height of the tower. And our goal is to start construction late winter and open in the summer, fall of 2027, hopefully this summer, but depending on how things
go here timeline wise. Um, and I will hand it over to Rich to talk about the money. Thank you. Good evening, council. Um, with regard, >> Mr. CFO, >> thank you. >> Okay. So, um, for this particular project, um, the total estimated gross
cost would be, uh, $43.5 million. Currently, we have $6.5 million worth of grant funds from the school, and we anticipate um dollar for dollar recovery from the state's 911 emergency uh grant system at um $19 million based upon the
estimates of um what was bid on through um the process of picking a a a construction uh company to do so. So, um, total estimated cost to the city is going to come in around $17.5 million. Average [snorts] annual debt service on
that would be around $1.1 million a year. Of course, we don't know where the interest rates will lie. And, um, we won't permanently bond that until the project is complete. We do have enough money on hand right now where I think in 2026, we won't have to borrow any money. We may have to do a short-term note in
20 uh 27, but I believe that the debt service will actually come on in fiscal year 2029 around 1.1 million again based upon the total cost upon completion and where the interest rates are at the time. Um, but what's worth noting and I think what a lot of people had questions
on is that the city does need to authorize a bond for 37 million because the cost of the construction contracts 31.5 million and our bond council and and financial advisers. We we we're not allowed to execute a contract for construction until we actually have the
funding secured. So, by authorizing a bond for 37 million, you allow me to sign the contract so that construction can start. But again, the the uh language in the bond authorization does say that every dollar that comes in via grant actually reduces that bond authorization. So that's why we're at
about a net $17.5 million. Um and just a brief breakdown of this, and I know that we're we're probably bound to committee on this, but just to give everybody a feel for it, the construction um of the building, $31.5 million. That's the contract we await to sign. We've already secured our owners
project manager, OPM, for 1.2 2 million architect at 3.5 million. Then there's always a contingency for the owner which is 300,000 construction contingency 1.1 million 3% of the the the cost of the construction and the soft cost of 5.9
million. That budget comes out to 43.5. [snorts] The aortionment right now based upon square footage is that the school would be 47.3% of the total space. The uh the emergency call center will be 35.2% 2% and the city um officers, the retirement board and the parking
department make up 17 and a half% of that. Um [snorts and clears throat] I just want to make note also that approximately 4.4 million of those soft costs will be directly 100% a portion to the um emergency call center to handle the furniture, fixtures, equipment, technology, radio, tire, etc. So, some
of this will be a portioned out based upon square footage, but some of these expenses will be directly for the wreck, and we anticipate all that money would come back net zero cost to the um city in the project. And those are my two slides um on the
finance. Happy to try to answer any questions. Um I'm certainly in favor of this project as far as public meeting goes. So, I'll be on record saying that I am in favor of this bond authorization project. So, thank you. Thank you. So, um, are there any more
proponents? Hearing and seeing none, we're going to close that side of the hearing. Any opponents, people opposed to this project? Hearing and seeing none, we'll close that side of the hearing. Councilors,
councelor Aenzio. >> Uh, thank you, Mr. President. And I just want to first say that I'm very excited about this project. The wad for this McKinley school for 10 years has been kind of a blight on the neighborhood and it looks like a beautiful project. Um
I'm very excited about it and I thank you for doing the test on the uh on the height of the tower. If it can come down a little bit, I'd appreciate it. If not, if it has to be that height, then then so be it. Um, and just to go over the bond authorization, you're just
authorizing that amount of money. You're not actually going to borrow that. Uh, you'll just borrow what is necessary. >> Yeah, that's correct. I mean, statuto is part of my job. All the contracts that come through, I'm required to sign them to ensure that the funding is available. >> So, if we try to bond the net amount, we
technically don't have the funding available. So we bond similar to the school project we authorized 493 million but we know all the grants actually reduce that authorization so it's kind of a natural protection that we can't borrow more than uh we get uh counting all the grants that we'll receive.
>> Okay. Thank you. I'm all set. Mr. President, >> thank you councel councelor uh McKenna. >> Thank you Mr. President. I have a c couple of questions. Um will the tower be included in that price of 43.5?
Okay. Um, and the other thing is, um, uh, I I think the building's beautiful. I think it would really improve the, uh, neighborhood. Um, I was just wondering, um, you said I think the, and I might not
be, I might not be right, but, you said the last meeting the school department did contribute some money towards this. Will they be contributing every year until the bonding is paid up? uh it's just a onetime deal that they're
>> their contributions were 6.6 6 million uh sort of upfront in that er that's where that number went from 43 to now we're at 31 right >> um they will be responsible for their end of the maintenance uh when it comes to typical school maintenance but as you
know uh per state law the school net school u chapter 70 money um does not go towards uh school building the city is responsible for that end so just like building a any new school is on the city's side the the school um budget is
designated towards educating the students in upkeep of current schools. So towards the construction, no not any further. We were able to use ESSER funds which was in essence sort of a an overlap of opera related funds. uh that's why we're able to use it towards
school construction. But uh we're we're unfortunately it would be nice but they would uh it would be take the the the department of education feels that it would be taking away from the education even though you know it all kinds comes out of the same pot but they will be of course operating they'll be paying for
all the staff there. All of that >> that goes into operating the school will come out of the school uh funding uh typical annual budget. >> Okay. I I was just thinking about um Suffach Downs is creating a decorative light um for their building. Uh could we
make this um you know this pole um the tower like more decorative? Uh, is there any plans in the uh work plans that you would do something like that and still just make it like the one that is it
going to look like the one down at the VFW? >> That tower? >> Who said no? >> I don't believe it'll look at like the one at the VFW, which which is also renting space for sure like 5G and things like that, which this will be
solely for the purpose of the wreck. I think as for um decorating the tower, I think I I could just speak as sort of the city project manager on this. My charge has been to to cut costs and um
that's a a difficult area I think to to significantly I guess embellish without adding to the number of that bond authorization. >> Okay. >> But we can certainly explore it. >> Okay. And I just want to say one last thing. Um I do believe that this
building will pay for itself. uh in the long run. So, um I I'm for it. So, I'm I mean I think it looks beautiful. Thank you. >> Thank you, Council Council Sylvestri. >> Thank you, Mr. President. Uh Mr. Mayor Ton, thank you for your time coming up
tonight. This is really exciting. I'm I'm excited to see that that school get, you know, some some life back to it. Um just a couple questions. I know we have the agreement with the cities. Will we look in future to add more cities?
>> That's that's exactly right. So, we we're building it to have the capability of adding another at least one more community. Uh we could possibly even add an additional depending on the size and again without um without uh you know
going too getting too far ahead. We want to get in, operate with the three because that'll be new and we know there's new training and and new people and our director is exceptionally good and everybody knows that. Um but get them in, get them up to speed uh with with responding to the three communities
and then um we have some inquiries already from other municipalities because as you know regionalization across the Commonwealth has been an initiative and and it's very hard. Some cities you see right near us are are uh having financial setbacks. So if they
can save Chelsea's going to save about $5 million over the next five years and then they'll start because they get the state pays for their entire uh aotment for the next five years. They say hey if you regionalize we'll pay for your entire uh freight. >> Okay. >> So other cities are going to want to do that.
>> Uh and and uh and it'll help them with you know cost down the road. So, we'll get more inquiries and we'll we'll we'll make decisions and of course the council would have to be part of uh entering into any any future uh MOAS. >> Awesome to hear. Um just a couple more
questions quick. Um with the early childhood, will will all the other loc the locations within the city also be closing and and everything will be streamlined in one location or will we have multiple early childhood programs? This will allow us to double the
capacity of the programs. So, those programs will exist. I can't state, you know, exactly if they'll stay in the same classrooms, but we can expand the capacity. We're currently at eight. Now, we'll be at 16. >> Is there is there a cost to early childhood care in the program in the
city? Is there a cost to it? >> Um, so it there is a cost. Um, but you know, it's relatively, again, to the mayor's point, I wouldn't say costneutral, but you also there are fees associated with prek as
opposed to early um or the rest of the school programming. >> And just lastly, we'll also be saving by moving the retirement services because they're we're in a lease right now with their where they're located, right? >> Both retirement and parking.
>> Awesome. Good to hear. Thank you. >> Thank you, councelor. Council material. >> Thank you, Mr. President. Uh Tom, do we have an operational cost of the 911 center once it's up and running? >> And who who burdens that cost? All three cities.
>> Yeah. So, u defer to the two wreck board members here. >> Um well, currently we we establish a budget. So, uh the wreck is a standalone entity. Winup and River are the two uh parts that pay the assessment. So, we got an assessment. I believe the city is
about 80% and uh winter is about 20%. Once Chelsea comes on and we just had the meeting today, we just asked for new aortments. It's half of the um data is on call volume and the other half is on population. So um I'll just throw numbers out there. We might be instead
of 80%, we might be at 45%. But bringing Chelsea in, what it does when they pay for all the operational cost of Chelsea, they also pay for the executive director salary and stuff. So the the the overall assessment to the city is going to come down substantially because we have a third member and because we get benefits
of doing that. Now that assessment pays for the operational cost of uh of the so we only build in our budget the cost of the assessment but we won't know the true cost of that until this is all complete and we have all the u data and and we'll split up those aortionments between three communities as opposed to
two. So, don't have hard numbers on that yet, but it's anticipated that they're going to come down and they'll come down substantially in the early and then they'll probably ramp up once those benefits of getting a merger come in. But, as the mayor said, this um we we had a uh a little bit of a deeper dive
into the actual [snorts] facility for the 911 call center and they're building that in anticipation that they may get another community. I believe they have 16 stations for 911 call takers. We'll only use 12 when Chelsea comes in. So there'll be more capacity to actually bring someone else in and continue to
have some cost savings there. >> Okay. Thank you. >> Thank you, Council Councelor Hass. >> Thank you, Mr. President. Great minds must think alike because councelor Sylvester touched on a lot of the points that I wanted to touch on such as the consolidation savings on bringing other
communities in. And I know you said I think Tom you said the study in 2025 um said $250,000. That's correct. That was uh right at the end of 2025 [clears throat] as they were presenting to Chelsea to bring them on to the um into the partnership.
>> And so the more communities we bring into that that number will will climb. >> Correct. I mean there's just economies of scale you know there's only so much more you need to add but then reverortion would would lower each time.
>> And I know you said the fall summer or fall of 2027. So that will be ready for the 2027 school year. I take it. >> That's the goal. >> Great. Definitely excited about it. Building looks great. Anytime you talk about emergency services and improvements to that and um eight
additional early ed classrooms, that's a huge thing for the city. Thank you. >> Thank you, councelor. Councelor Kelly. >> Thank you, Mr. President. Um I just have a quick question following up on Council McKenna's comment. Um would it be possible to
um get some estimates in terms of aesthetics for the tower or any stealth features that maybe could be implemented or anything? Could we at least get some cost estimates for that? Because I I love the project. I just I don't love the tower, but I understand it's
necessary, but if we could maybe get some estimates on that, I think it would be great. >> Uh Council Kelly, thank you. Uh when when Council McKenna said that, I actually thought the same thing. thing. I said, you know what, that wouldn't be a bad idea to try to make it blend in a little bit more and also be a little bit
more appealing. Um, it will be a smaller in in in um size of the the metal uh bars. Uh, but I think that that's worthwhile. We're using uh Cambridge 7 as an architectural firm. They've been extremely uh good at looking at the
historic preservation of the old McKinley School. They're very cognizant of that. even though it's not deemed a historical site, it is to us a historical building over 100 years old. Um, so I know that they they like this project and you know, most architects
are very artsy. So they want they'll they'll we can ask them. I'm sure that they won't offer any uh cost uh uh to us and and and see if they can do something that maybe is a little more artistic or would would would blend into the neighborhood a little bit more. And I and I would be very much in favor of
that. >> Just some ideas. That would be great. Thank you so much. Sure. If you have any color palette choices, please let us know. >> Thank you. Thank you, councelor. Councelor Novasowski. >> Thank you, Mr. President. Uh, gentlemen, thank you. It is a great project. I know
it's not in my ward, but I have huge concerns about it. When there are call takers from Chelsea and Winthro, they take calls from Revier also. So the there's a standard operating
procedure for each uh fire and um police dispatch. Um and those tra those trainings are are done currently. So uh every call taker knows River's SOP, Winthre's SOP for both fire and uh police. Uh the same will happen with
Chelsea and um they're they'll and the the one thing that we like about Chelsea is you know calls in uh second languages or other well spoken languages. It's hard to get a lot of call takers. So Spanish for instance is obviously a very
large call volume in the cities of Chelsea and Rivier. So if we it adds to the amount of staff that can answer those calls. uh and we always have um assistance on but in the interim of the training there'll be a monitor on each
new staff member. So basically, if Tom is coming from another city and learning the rever call SOPs, there's going to be a a a well-trained veteran employee or director standing by assisting those calls to make sure that Tom not only is
learning on on the un the the the little nuances of each city, but is doing it well. And nobody there's not one person, not even right now, because staffing challenges, another reasons why regionalization is a big thing is staffing challenges. And these these high level stress positions are becoming
very very common. Lots of turnover. Uh is this consolidates resources. It helps everyone out. But they train for months before they're on their own. Months and months and months. It's kind of it's not as rigorous as a police officer. But dispatch is very unique. High level
stress, knowing the streets, knowing all the information, lots of good computers that give us good feed give good feedback and offer the support to police and fire. but they don't go on their own until they are ready, very ready. And that's what we appreciate most with our
director. She's exceptional at making sure that. >> Thank you. Um, how many employees do we plan on the rec center? >> The so the state the fully op we're looking at about 12 stations on a on a busy
night. So you can run uh you know so for the for the three cities you may have up to 12 stations running on a busy shift. Uh but you may you probably might be able to have on the they they go off of historical call volume, right? You know maybe Saturday evening in the summer
might be a little busier than Monday afternoon in the in in the winter. But uh they go off of historical call data and they make sure they have appropriate staff and there minimum staffing levels just like the police department. you can only have you can't go below the minimum. So if there's call outs then
you you would get forced. It's just like public safety there's force ons and things like that. So we maintain we maintain the state mandated minimum and uh we obviously operate with some fiduciary responsibility. We're not going to have 30 people in there. >> And how many administrative people?
>> There's a director, an assistant director. There's um there's there's an IT we're going to be actually uh looking at being able to afford a full-time IT manager uh rather than contract that out neutral but uh and then have and then
there's um some other supervisory staff >> and how many employees are coming in from the school department on the for the kids. Oh, I'm not I think that I'd have to ask the school department on on the staffing ratio for the um for the uh
the the rooms, but it would be standardized to what the requirements are. But uh that would again that would all be school department budget um fully when it comes to operating the school and janitorial or custodial. >> What what I'm leading up to is I know
you mentioned the 48 parking spaces. >> Yeah. Are there enough to handle all the people and guests between the 48? There's some in the back of the building and some in the side of the building. >> You know, I'm just I'm just concerned about people that are working there are
parking in the residential neighborhood. You know, where because parking is difficult everywhere in the city and I know it's definitely on Yemen and Bane and, you know, all around there. So, I have a concern about that. Well, and it's particularly difficult when you have two feet of snow and we've all
experienced that this week. Um, so I think you could consider parking and retirement basically a net neutral because currently they they operate without any parking in the same neighborhood. Um, but with the other two, we did do um a systems analysis talking with the director of the wreck
and early childhood respectively to make sure we had enough parking to accommodate the needs of both user groups. Is there going to be guest parking for the people coming into the uh parking department? >> So there'll be new parking in the rear of of McKinley which you know today is >> for that.
>> Correct. Correct. And that's today used for you know the the contractors across the street. So that'll be >> including retirement. >> Um I mean I think it will primar I think we got to sort out the details of that but it will be for both of the municipal offices in the back.
>> Thank you. And you know, I think a lot of my questions were answered. I had written down, but they were all answered, you know, during your presentations and some of the questions. And you know, I'm very pleased with this. I'm happy with the numbers. I was concerned about the school department not giving enough funding to be able to
pay that portion of it. So, uh, you know, I'm satisfied with that and I can move ahead with it. Thank you. >> Thank you, counselor. Um, obviously I'm a big proponent of this and uh so I'm not going to take up any more time. I'm
going to send this to Ways and Means on the uh 9th of February. >> Thank you. Thank you, >> Mr. President. Can I just ask one more question? You know, is is this going to be union construction? So, similar to all of our um state
procurement, um we can't require it to be union, but uh obviously uh because it has to be, you know, the lowest most qualified bidder. Um so, this uh builder uh does have signitories with a lot of um union contractors, but they are it is
not a 100% uh union position. um similar to the high school um it goes out it gets you know you can't you cannot restrict that but they have the same requirements that the state with um uh veterans own veterans preferences uh uh uh womanowned business minority owned
businesses all the state bidding requirements are metage prevailing wage you name it >> thank you very much >> welcome thank you Mr. Present. >> Thank you. >> Calendar item number four, hearing called is ordered on the application of Misen Salem of Llama Company LLC,
Chumsford, Mass, requesting a special permit from the River City Council to enable the appellant to operate a commercial auto storage parking use for 289 vehicles on lots 17 and 18 Green Street, River, Mass.
>> Name and address for the record, please. Just hit the button, please. >> Minim I got it. Yeah. So, um, withdrawing without prejudice, actually the application. >> Did Did you get the address? I didn't
hear the address. >> I need your address. >> My address is 25 Moore Street in Chsford, Massachusetts, 01824. >> Okay. Thank you. >> You're welcome. So, >> okay. So, is that all you're going to offer for
>> That's all you want to talk about, right? >> Is there anything I should do? I don't know. >> Say that again. >> Oh, they are. >> Okay. >> Yeah. So, I still got to go through the public hearing. Thank you. Thank you
very much. Uh, so that closes the proponents, I guess. Now we'll have the opponents. I don't think we have any opponents. Any councilors have any questions to withdraw without prejudice? All in
favor? All oppo? No. Roll call. Roll call. Shall the city council allow the applicant to withdraw the application without prejudice? Councelor Agenzio. >> Yes. >> Yes. Councelor Cogleandro. >> Yes. >> Yes. Councelor Gino is absent. Councelor Gino SA. >> Yes. >> Yes. Councelor Hass.
>> Yes. >> Yes. Councelor Kelly. >> Yes. Yes. Councelor McKenna. >> Yes. >> Yes. Council Mccurio. >> Yes. >> Yes. Council Noelski. >> Yes. >> Yes. Councelor Sylvestri. >> Yes. >> Yes. And council president Zambudo. >> Yes. >> Yes. The application has been withdrawn without prejudice. >> Thank you. Calendar item number five,
hearing called is ordered on the application of Capri LLC 1559 Northshore Road requesting a special permit to reconstruct, alter, and extend the pre-existing non-conforming singlestory structure by constructing a two floor addition consisting of eight residential
one-bedroom units at 1559 Northshore Road. >> Proponents. >> Uh, good evening, President Zambudo and city councilors. Uh my name is Nancy O'Neal. I am an attorney located at 14 Proctor Avenue. I represent the
applicant uh in this matter, Capri LLC, owner of 1559 uh Northshore Road. And I am joined here tonight uh by Miss Claudia Ggo of Capri LLC. Uh many of you here uh may know Claudia. She is a resident of W 6 in River and the owner
operator of Capri Beastro. So the applicant here is a River resident and local small business owner. Our proposal here tonight is to construct a two-story addition over the Capri Beastro uh which you can see here. Uh this addition would
contain eight one-bedroom apartments. These apartments would be on the smaller side around 360 square ft each. The total living space proposed here across all units would be 3,000 square ft. Uh so this addition of 3,000 square ft of space is essentially the size of three
medium uh apartments or the eight smaller uh apartments that we are proposing here. Residential apartment use as well as the underlying restaurant use are allowed by right in the general business district where the property is located. And under this proposal uh the
footprint of the structure would not change. The proposal is to build up uh and create two new stories. So the finished building height here would be around 29 ft uh which is less than half uh or about half the maximum height allowed uh in the GB district. So this
building would be on the smaller side for recent developments uh in the Shirley Avenue neighborhood. So the proposed apartments uh are designed as transit oriented units. This property is a threeminut walk from the River Beach uh station on the blue line. So given
the proximity uh of this building uh to public transportation, residents are expected uh to utilize the train uh and walk to local businesses uh in the Shirley Avenue neighborhood for their day-to-day needs. And of course uh the first floor restaurant uh is being
retained. So again, the applicant here uh is the property owner, operator of the restaurant. She is looking to improve uh the conditions of this 125 year old building and sustain the economic growth of Shirley Avenue. Accordingly, we respectfully request uh
the city council look favorably upon the application and we are happy to answer any questions that you may have and discuss the project further at zoning subcommittee. Thank you. >> Thank you. Any other proponents? People in favor?
>> Tom Scroski, chief of planning, community development. I'll be brief. You've heard enough from me tonight, but I just wanted to support Claudia's application here. She was been working with the city and our TDI partnership on a program called Build on Your Business in Shirley Avenue where we're helping to support small business owners providing
them with opportunities and tools to help build above their business which is both a tool to you know create more housing production but also support small business owners and in this case a river resident to um make their idea a reality. So this seems like a great project, pretty modest development.
Happy to support it. Thank you. Any other proponents? Hearing and seeing none, we're going to close that side of the hearing. Opponents, anybody opposed? >> What's that? >> One letter on file. >> One one letter on file. You want to read it?
>> The name of the resident that uh just filed a small letter of opposition was uh Hakee Ulam at 1539 Northshore Road. His main complaint was about >> So noted. Any other opponents? None.
Councilors. Council Novasowski. >> Thank you, Mr. President. Mr. President, uh, you know, right off the bat, I'll say I'm for this. Uh, it's right at the corner of my where I live. >> You are >> and, [clears throat] uh, I know that I know Claudia very well. And uh we've
actually been working on this for about two years and uh with all the changes we've been having to make and and doing different things and making it viable. Uh we've been working for it and she finally came out tonight on it and uh
one thing and when we come out I know we're putting this in zoning sir >> of course you know just you know so when it does come in zoning we'll there'll be a parking restriction like we do in all the other >> locations. Uh >> yeah, >> there' be no parking and no permits issued to any of the tenants.
>> It's a special permit has to go to zoning anyway. So, >> right, that's where >> I understand that, but just so you know, and u >> absolutely. >> It's a nice looking building and uh I've worked with them on the architecture stuff and uh I'm I'm happy with what I
see. So, thank you. >> Thank you, Councelor. Councelor Kelly. >> Thank you, Mr. President. I just have a couple questions. And so I noticed the application it's it's referenced that um water and sewer are already adequate. So there will be no upgrades being done to
the water and sewer or any payments into mitigation fund or anything like that. >> Press the button. >> So we will discuss all of that with the site plan review committee and if they determine that some sort of utility upgrade is needed, we're happy to do
that. Um, so we'll take care of all of that. Um, it's very common for developers to upgrade sewer lines or water lines as needed and we'll respond to that need. >> Right. That's why I was surprised to see that the notation that it was adequate because I didn't see that any studies
were done to to evidence that. But, you know, but it's difficult for me to support. I know this is modest at only eight units, but for me it's more of a cumulative effect that we have, you know, 15 here, 12 here, eight here, and
it all adds up and it all does put a strain on our resources. So, just something for us to think about and we'll talk about it in zoning. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Thank you, councelor. Any other counselors? This will be sent to zoning on the February 9th.
Calendar item number six hearing called is ordered on the application of Ardit Kra 500 Governor's Drive Win Mass requesting a special permit to reconstruct alter and extend the pre-existing non-conforming structure a garage by constructing a two and a half story two family dwelling on lot a
Elmwood Street reair >> councelor >> uh good evening uh again President Zambo and Counselors, my name is Nancy O'Neal. I am an attorney located at 14 Proctor Avenue. I represent uh the applicant in this matter, Mr. Kra, the owner of the
unnumbered Elwood Street lot. And I'm joined here tonight uh by Mr. Kra. This project uh is for the conversion of an old garage structure on the property uh to a new two family dwelling. As you can see here, uh the property currently
contains a dilapitated uh freestanding uh garage. This is a commercial building. It has had a variety uh of commercial uses over the years. Uh the structure is an eyesore. It has been disrepair in disrepair for many many years. Um and it is a drain on the
neighborhood which consists primarily of one and two family residences. The applicant is looking to remove uh the garage, eliminate uh commercial use and construct a attractive uh two family home uh on that parcel. uh four parking
spaces uh which is the minimum required uh for a two family uh would be provided uh one uh lot away at 55 Elmwood Street. So this proposal is for an attractive parking compliant two family residents that would greatly improve uh the
aesthetics of this neighborhood. A community meeting was held for this project uh in October. Attendees were positive about the project uh and a letter of support uh from the neighbor at 71 Elwood Street has been submitted. The neighbors are happy to see uh this
old garage be replaced uh with a new home. And for these reasons, we would respectfully request uh that the council look favorably upon the application. And again, we are happy uh to answer any questions um that you may have and discuss further at subcommittee. Thank
you. Any other prooners hearing? See, we're going to close that side of the hearing. Prop owners. Anybody opposed? Seeing none, we're going to close that side. Officer Gino.
>> Thank you, Mr. President. Um, as the attorney said, we did hold a community meeting. Um, all the residents that did show up were all in favor of this building. What they're basically doing, it's it's
the it's the ugliest commercial garage that you'll ever see. And what they're trying to do is put a two family on that lot, which will bring everybody's value up on that street. Also, they currently park on the street.
So, they are going to have a second lot which is actually going to be dedicated to just parking and it will take cars off the street. And that's what residents were really excited about. They don't want to look at that garage anymore and they would really like to see the parking come off the street so they can park their car on the street.
That was word for word what was said at the meeting. Um, and for me seeing all the residents that were there, not one was not in favor. It's a no-brainer. Thank you. >> Thank you, councelor Councelor Kelly.
>> Thank you, Mr. President. Um, so I can definitely see the residents point of view um replacing this garage with a brand new structure. That is a very tempting and from an aesthetic point of view um I can understand why they love
that. However, um this lot is only 2250 ft. Is that correct? >> Oh yes, that's right. So for a single family home, we're up around 4,500 square feet uh minimum pursuant to our zoning, I believe.
>> So to me, we're not dealing with just, you know, a few hundred feet making an exception or something like that. We're we're basically um would be approving only half, you know, the amount that would be required for a single family home for a two family. [clears throat]
So I'm very very concerned with setting that precedent. That would be my only concern with this. Um maybe a single family maybe, but even then um you know at this point it's not so much that we're um we're basically just not we're
re redefining our entire zoning code to allow something like this. And again, I'm just concerned about the precedent that it sets. Um anybody else that has a 2200 foot lot is going to want to put a two family on it. and we're going to be subject to litigation if we deny it because they're going to point to this
precedent. So, um it's a big concern for me, but I can see why the neighbors would want, you know, a new building here. I just don't know if a two family is the way to go. Thank you, >> Council Murio. >> Thank you. Um so, it's a 2200 square
foot lot. >> Uh yes, that's correct. I can speak to the history of this neighborhood a little bit. So when this neighborhood was laid out in the 1880s, the 2200 square feet, 2250 was the base lot size. So on this street, Bates Street, Thorn
Dyke Street, Fairfield Street, most of the lots were built on that 2250 square ft. Um, so there are a number of houses on this street that are two families and are the same size lot. Um, so this would really just be in line um with all the
homes that were built um in this portion uh of the River Street neighborhood. >> And where is the parking going to be? >> Uh, so we have a we have a board that we can uh get that will show you. Um but uh at
this property it would be this proposed residence another uh two family residence next to that and then there would be um a shared parking for this structure and the neighboring structure that would have eight spaces. So this uh structure would have four, the structure next door would have four um and those
two structures would be compliant with >> So the packing is going to be on someone else's property. >> Uh so it's it would be the property uh of the owner. >> The owner owns the other structure. >> Yes, that's right. And what if the the owner decides to sell the property? >> Uh there would be easement rights uh for
that lot. So those parking >> So you're going to create an easement for us. >> Yes, that's right. So the parking spaces would always be dedicated um to this lot. >> I'm going to have to be on board with Miss Kelly on this one. You know, we're going to set a precedent if we're going to build on 2200 foot lots now in Revier. Uh we're putting uh big
buildings on 5,000 foot lots. This is going to set a precedent all across the city. I would be in favor of a single family in the lot, but a two family, I can't support that at this time. It's a that's a small lot. 2200 square feet.
>> That's all. Thank you. >> Council Kaggleandro, sorry. >> Thank you, Madam Vice Presidents. Um, I'm getting messages from the Abutter on the right. They're not happy about this at all, and I wouldn't be either. How many feet are between this house and the
O'Donnell house on the right? >> Uh, so that's that would be a three feet uh section. >> Three feet. And how tall are you going? >> Uh, 35 ft. >> You're going 35 ft high and it's three feet from this house next to it. I
cannot support this. Thank you, >> Council Sylvestri. Um that I was going to wait to zoning, but that was my my question right there was the from the picture the the distance between the garage in that house to the right there.
They they literally could reach out the window and open the other guy's window. I I this is um I don't know in in the abuters you said are for this, but now you said the one is not.
Yeah, this this is I don't know. This is tight. Thank you. >> Anyone else? >> Any other counselors? >> This is going to zoning on the 9th February. Public comment pursuant to chapter 402
of the acts of 1965. >> Anybody interested in public comments? Doesn't look like it. We'll move on. Call the chief. >> Two items out of order. >> What's that? >> Request suspension of rules to take the
two items out of order. >> On suspension. >> On suspension of the rules to take a couple of items out of order. All in favor opposed. >> I. >> Calendar item number nine, communication from the chief of police requesting approval of a 5-year contract with Axon
Enterprises for the procurement of bodywn cameras for sworn police officers. >> Chief, welcome. >> Thank you. Good evening. Thank you for taking me uh up front. Appreciate it. Um so I'm here to request approval for um
two separate contracts. The I'll start with the first uh bodywn camera program. So this has been talked about for a long time with the River Police Department and um the department's ready to to
implement this this technology. So this technology will in increase public trust and transparency. It's going to provide objective information to us which will in turn protect the integrity of the officers and hold officers accountable
for any misconduct. um instead of relying on third-party narratives and uh officers recollection of events, we'll be able to uh view video and u make determinations. Other advantages are it will document
crime scenes when officers get on scene that can be used u in criminal matters, will capture spontaneous utterances um from defendants and uh victim and witness statements. Um, and this particular model also
offers uh real-time translation for over 50 languages. So, we're really excited about that um that aspect of it. So, I'd be happy to answer any questions anybody has.
>> Okay. Uh, Councelor Garina Sua. >> Thank you, Mr. President. Um, I completely agree with the chief. Um if the cameras provide accountability and um they build trust between the officers and the community. I motion to approve
this. >> Thank you, councelor. Um Council Sylvestri, >> thank you Mr. President. Uh Chief Captain, thank you for coming on tonight and being here. And this is uh long overdue as you said. And um I not only
to to capture uh our officers, you know, if if they're doing something wrong, but actually to to make sure that they're not being falsely accused of of things and when they're doing them right, and people can come out and say, "Hey, he did this and this." Well, now we have
the proof. Um I I off I rarely hear bad things about our police officers on the streets about excessive force or anything like that. So, um I think it would it's going to benefit us and I appreciate you coming out tonight. Thank you. >> Yeah. No, thank you for that. It definitely um has been shown to reduce
frivolous complaints and it helpful it's helpful for that and you know any any lawsuits that may be be filed that um are unwarranted. So, >> thank you councel councelor Kelly. >> Thank you, Mr. President. Um I'm in full
support of this. I just had a quick question. And I noted here that um you refer to um the video evidence being preserved. Um how is it is it just kept on a drive and for how long and who can
access it and are there any protocol calls in place to if um the public wanted to see footage or how is all that going to be handled? >> Yes. So it's a cloud-based system. Um it's actually a digital evidence management system that we're already using to preserve uh other types of
video. So um that's that's one of the benefits that it will it will be a seamless transition. Um and yes uh so just like any other um piece of evidence or document that we have, it will be subject to public records requests. So
that could be done and then we would determine um if it's appropriate to release it if there's some exemption that applies um and then if not then things need to be redacted. So um that's another thing that's included in this in this contract that we have um redaction
software to appropriately um redact license plates people's uh faces in in certain circumstances. >> So is there a time limit for how long it's stored? Um, so,
um, I' I'd have to double check on certain. There are certain ones that are never deleted. Um, and then there are ones that that will that will overwrite at some point. So, we can set those those parameters. Joe, do you have it?
Can you speak to that, Lieutenant Turner? >> Um, the retention we call a retention schedule. Retention schedule is how long we can hold on to the it's it's incident type based. So a great example would be lowest the lowest type of video we'll have is training videos. We can actually use the cameras to train which is great because we'll do whatever drill we do.
We put on the TV what we did right and wrong. That would be like a that's our choice not by law. That's like a 7-day we just get rid of it is deleted. Something that's more significant like certain types of domestic crime um any form of like property crime things like that the state has certain regulations
regards to how long we're supposed to retain it. As a matter of fact, uh, Lieutenant Ramboli is headed to a big course next week on that specific topic on exactly how to retain it, when to, how long to retain it. And we just follow guidance. We don't want to reinvent the wheel. We do exactly what
the state tells us we're supposed to do with which crime, how long we save that video. So, >> perfect. Thank you so much. >> Thank you, council. Council McKenna. >> Okay. Thank you, Councelor Cogleandro. >> Thank you, Mr. President. I I am so
excited about this because I believe that some of these videos are going to be how uh we we can set an example for how policing is supposed to be done. I have seen nothing but amazing things from our department. Just a quick budgetary question. Is this grant funded? Is it is there going to be some
sort of a necessity for more funding down the road? >> So, this will be a five-year contract. So, it is divided up. What we are waiting on is a determination. We applied for a grant that would cover the the first year for $250,000.
Um, we should have that um we were supposed to have it already. So, I'm hoping we get that um that answer soon as far as how much, but um then the timetable ticks forward um and covers us for five years. >> Fantastic. Thank you, Chief.
Thank you, council. Councilman Curio. >> Thank you, Mr. President. Uh, this is a great uh I I read most of this proposal by this company, and it's very thorough of all the equipment that they're supplying and the uh u support they are. This is a five-year contract. At the end
of the five years, what happens? Um, we look at, you know, whether we want to continue with the program and what that looks like and and what it costs and any other, you know, technology that we might be able to take advantage of and and go from there.
>> And they supply an IT person for the first year with this with this company. So there is a service contract that we they are you know extremely so Axon enterprises one of the reasons that we love this company is they they are very customerfriendly and they've been
supportive um again we already use them for uh digital evidence management and the tasers which is the next thing on on the agenda. Um so yes they they will be responsive and and helpful. So, they'll set up a little room within the police
department that will handle the IT part of this uh program. >> No, >> no, >> no. >> Okay. It's all iCloud based. >> It It's cloud-based. Yes. Yes. >> Cloud-based. Okay. Thank you. >> Thank you, councelor. Uh councelor
Cognel is going to kill me for this, but um Council Sylvestri, >> thank you for the president. Uh thank you for the leeway, Mr. President. Um Chief, >> just just a real quick question. when I I might have >> when you said there's actually um live
translation. Is that meaning the cops will get a translation in their earpiece or >> um so it it's going to come directly out of the body camera itself? But yes, it's it's real time translation. So, um, they they have to they hit the button, you speak, um, it comes out, I speak, and it
comes back out in your in your language. >> Oh, wow. That's that's an awesome feature. >> And the whole thing is is recorded. So, um, >> we we know we can rely on it. >> Oh, that is that is really really good feature. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. President. >> Thank you. Before I call for a roll
call, I just want to explain that that was a a breach of uh rule 8 and and uh I I had said I was going to enforce rule eight. So that well it was kind of a joke because it was >> that was a test, Mr. President. >> Anyhow, now we'll call for the roll
call. >> Shall the city council approve the 5-year contract between Axon Enterprises, Inc. in the city of Rivier for relative to body warn cameras for sworn Rivier police officers. Councelor Aenzio, >> yes. >> Yes. Councelor Cogleandro. >> Yes. >> Yes. Councelor Janino is absent. Councelor Gino SA.
>> Yes. >> Yes. Councelor Hass. >> Yes. >> Yes. Councelor Kelly. >> Yes. >> Yes. Councelor McKenna. >> Yes. >> Yes. Councelor Mccario. >> Uh, yes. >> Yes. Council Novaski. >> Yes. >> Yes. Councelor Sylvestri. >> Yes. >> Yes. And council president Zambudo? >> Yes. >> Yes. The contract has been approved.
>> Thank you. Challenger item number 10, communication from the chief of police requesting approval of a 5-year contract with Axon Enterprises for the procurement of lease lethal control lease, I'm sorry, less lethal control devices, Taser 10.
>> Okay. So, um, currently we carry Taser 7s. Um, and one of the things we are looking to do, we are already in a five-year contract with Taser for the Taser 7s. We're in year four of that. So, what we would like to propose is to
um renegotiate with with Axon and upgrade our Taser 7s early to the Taser 10 um for a lot of significant reasons. So, one of the things about the Taser 7s that we carry now, um, and I'm not sure
if anybody has seen any body camera footage on YouTube, um, about Taser deployments, but typically, um, they have two probes, both of which have to penetrate the person that you're trying to control. Taser 10 now has um learned
from the mishaps with needing to have both those probes um make contact and now it's a single probe deployment. So it will be much more effective for an officer that's struggling to try and control somebody. So it's we go from
needing two to needing one. So that's a huge benefit. The second thing is currently we have one cartridge with the Taser 7, the Taser 10. now upgrades to 10. So the officer would have 10 opportunities to try and make contact
with somebody that they were trying to control. Um that's a huge benefit. Uh the other thing is the distance needed to um make contact is currently with the taser 7 25 ft um which extends now with
the taser 10 to 45 ft. So that's that's a big advantage. um tactically uh you distance is our friend when we're trying to deescalate and um and control somebody to keep our distance. So that's a huge benefit as well. Um the other
thing I wanted to mention is um they've now implemented a light and sound warning alert. So when that taser um is is taken out and ready to be deployed, it actually makes lights and sound as a warning system. And that in and of
itself can be a deescalation tool. It gets people's attention. Um, so it it also it's going to implement nicely with the body warn cameras before when the officer is getting ready to deploy the taser. If the body warn
camera has not been turned on yet, if they didn't have an opportunity to turn it on, it's there's a Bluetooth connection that will that will turn it on for them. So it's um it's a huge benefit. Uh the other thing is it comes with a lot of reality based trainings for us.
So there's virtual reality training that um use of force things and uh allows us to train to make uh better decisions. So a lot of decision m decision- making based scenarios that the officers can see um and and do. It's just something
that comes with the package. So I wanted to mention it. So, if anybody has any questions >> before I uh before I call on my colleagues here, I I do have the CFO here. We're we're asking to approve this. I don't have any numbers in front
of me. U do we have a we have a figure on the five-year contract? >> Yes. So, I did provide I did provide um I did provide the quote. So, right now, so right now, um, we're in the five-year
contract, and that is, let's see, it's uh 23 232,000 over a six-month period. Um, which equates to a yearly cost of 46,000. The
new contract will be 304, 394 over 6 months. um which is about 49,000 for the first because we'll get a credit for getting out of the original contract and then um the yearly cost
will be 63,000 from there on. >> So it's 63,000 times from M Mr. CFO please. >> Just want everybody to know what they're voting on here. I >> um Yeah, sure. So five years ago we um got our first contract for the TAS and
and we fund that through the capital plan every year. So, this will just continue to be an item in the capital plan each year that you'll appropriate money for. So, it's a small increase, but uh typical for these types of things and it should have no problem. >> Great. Now, I feel a lot better about asking for a vote on this. But let's any
any questions? Councelor Aenzio. >> Thank you, Mr. President. I just like to uh thank the chief that this uh technology is very impressive. I mean, not extremely the the uh uh warning system for the taser, the least uh less
lethal or or less um and be able to deescalate situations, the translation services through the um uh body warn cameras. I mean, very impressive and and thank you very much and I full support of this. >> Thank you.
>> Thank you, councelor uh councelor Sylvestri. >> Uh thank you, Mr. President. Uh, Chief, I I agree with my colleague. Um, this really is some awesome technology that we're bringing into the city to help us. Uh, on the um the sevens to the tens,
does every officer on the force have a taser um accessible currently? >> No. >> Okay. >> Not at this time. >> Will they moving forward? >> Uh, not under this. No. Okay. If >> even with this amount of funding, we're still we're still limited to uh certain
officers. >> Okay. And you said we get a credit. Will we send the sevens back and receive 10? Is that how >> Yes. Okay. And and that the credit will kind of move forward toward um toward the next contract. Yeah.
>> Thank you, Chief. >> Councelor Karina SA. >> Thank you, Mr. President. Um, I love the idea of changing these traers to the the the newly
um the more high-tech ones. Um, number one, it it can deescalate these dangerous situations without using the deadly force, which to me is amazing. um they can save not only the lives of
the the residents, but they can also save the lives of the actual person that is being tased because you're not using a gun. Um it this is amazing. I I'm so happy with this. The only question I have, you just said that they're not
enough per officers. Will each shift have an officer that will have a taser? >> Yeah. Do you you have the numbers, right? >> Yeah. Um we We started when we started the Taser program probably 10 years ago at this point. We chose to do an elective program. And when it comes to
equipment and agencies, you have two choices, everyone or select people. Doing a voluntary program a huge proponent of because these officers ask to be on the taser list. They ask to get one. And what that does, it creates a refresh for us of the people that are like they're motivated to stay up what
they're supposed to be doing. There's a lot of procedures with the taser. It's a lot of extra work for the officer. And there's certain officers that it would be a drag on the agency to be issuing them a piece of equipment which they're not going to properly maintain. The 50 officers that we have their taser officers, we make sure they're focused
on patrol. So, great example, if you become an SRO, we pull the taser because we don't want the tasers in the schools. We give that to a patrol officer and we make sure they're those officers are spread out. So, right now, I have a list of officers that want the taser. We look at the shifts and we see our coverage on the shifts and make sure that we have a good spread of those officers on the
shifts. So, it's important. Um, I'm I'm a big proponent of elective uh specialty assignments and equipment. We want the people that are motivated and want the device and that will then use it in compliance with their training and statute. So,
>> thank you very much. Motion to approve. >> Thank you. Obviously, uh I'm in favor of this, so I'm just going to call for a roll call vote here. >> Shall the city council approve the 5-year contract between Axon Enterprises, Inc. in the city of Rivier
relative to upgrading less lethal control devices to the taser 10. Councelor Aenzio, >> yes. >> Yes. Councelor Cogleandro. >> Yes. >> Yes. Council Jino is absent. Councelor Gino Slaya. >> Yes. >> Yes. Councelor Hass. >> Yes. >> Yes. Councelor Kelly. >> Yes. >> Yes. Councelor McKenna. >> Yes.
>> Yes. Councelor Mccario. >> Yes. >> Yes. Councelor Nellski. >> Yes. >> Yes. Councelor Sylvestri. >> Yes. >> Yes. And Council President Zambudo? >> Yes. >> Yes. The contract has been approved. >> Thank you. >> Thank you, Chief. Thank you. Back to the regular order of business.
>> Calary item number seven, communication from the mayor relative to the appointment of Lily Martinez to the parks and recreation committee. >> Appointments [cough] calendar [clears throat] item number eight, communication from the city auditor relative um I'm sorry,
requesting various amendments to the revised ordinances table of fees. [snorts] >> Mr. the CFO. >> Good evening. Rich Visky, 281 Broadway, CFO. Um, as you probably recall, we came in before the council earlier this year
with some uh fee adjustments and um we actually got some additional adjustments through [snorts] our fire um prevention office and um I believe city clerk and a few others. So, um, we just want to, um, kind of get this all squared away once
and for all and, um, looking forward to, uh, having further discussion on this at an open hearing, but this is a continuation of, uh, the fee survey we did and adjusting these fees to catch up with, uh, surrounding communities. Happy to answer any questions.
>> So, so I I guess you have a a new schedule of fees or is there something Are we going to Is that what we're trying to do? Approve something tonight? Yeah, I believe that schedule was submitted with the council order. >> Okay. >> But I believe it needs to go to public hearing according to the city clerk.
>> Okay. Any questions? >> Council mccurial. >> Just uh one question. Uh Mr. Viske, the parking lot park and fly and commercial storage is $200 per space. >> Yes. >> What was it before?
>> I'd have to check for sure. I I um >> I'm new to this, so I just want >> point of information. I I believe it's been 200 for quite a while. >> I believe it's been 200. Yes, >> for quite a while. >> Yeah, >> it's pretty expensive. >> I I would like to increase that because we there's going to be a proposal on the
table for possibly 289 cars located in the trailer park. >> That just withdrew. >> I'll I'll just have to check. Some of these fees are set by uh state law and such. So, I'll just have to see if they are uh uh able to be increased, but I
can certainly do some research and maybe make an amendment before the public hearing on that particular item. >> Okay, great. >> I know they withdrew their uh their proposal for that, but it might come back to us. >> Oh, and I agree. I'm pretty sure that is set by the state, but we'll find out.
And >> thank you, Mr. President. Appreciate >> always uh always looking to charge more fees. I didn't mean you, I meant the city. >> Council, >> thank you, Mr. President. One quick question, Rich. Um, is it possible uh
council mccur just sparked this, but is it possible to get this table from what the fee was into what it is now so that we can see the difference? >> Is that in there as well? >> Certainly. >> Piece of cake. Thank you. Um,
okay. So, on the motion, >> it's going to public hearing. >> On a brought to a public hearing on February 23rd. >> Thank you, council. >> Sorry for that mental block. Motions. Calendar item number 11. Motion
presented by councelor Kogandro that the mayor be requested to direct the chief of police to install a traffic camera at the intersection of Kushman A and Adam Street on utility pole number 1370. This request was previously submitted under motion 24-237 in July of 24 and was
unanimously approved by the council. However, the camera was not installed due to the lack of available funding. >> Council Cargleandro. Thank you, Mr. President. Uh, I am going to place this on file. I did speak to the chief. This camera is being funded through a grant
and will be installed in the next round of installations. Thank you. >> Placed on file. >> Calendar item number 12, motion presented by Council McKenna, that the city council request Tammy Saparito of National Grid to appear before the city
council to address citywide issues of double poles and street light outages. Further that all city councilors be requested to compile a list of national grid work orders and issues to present to Miss Saparo at the proposed meeting. >> Kasa McKenna.
>> Thank you, Mr. President. Uh it really speaks for itself. But I would just like to say that Dan Cameron who took uh uh uh Tammy who retired and Tammy took his place. Uh he was up here every six months talking about double polls and we
were grilling him and trying to fix him uh fix it and we did fix a lot of it. But now uh I have we haven't had anybody come here for National Grid to talk about uh the issue of double poles and street light lightage. uh that are out
that's out. Uh it's ridiculous. So, I'm asking the council uh when she comes when she's scheduled to come to have a list of your polls that you want to address and um because I don't think she will she might have a list but um on
different wads on what uh double polls are. But I'd really like to address the street uh outages. Um, so, um, because there's a lot of street lights that are out. Um, so I would really I'm asking the council to just come up with the
list so we can hand it to her. >> Okay. Is that funny? >> I apologize. I was trying to I'm trying to >> No, I wasn't talking to you, Mr. President. >> What happened to the program? >> I don't know what happened to the program, but I'm asking her to come up and talk in front of the council. So,
thank you. >> Okay. We're gonna we're going to have to work to uh bring that program back. We're not going to do it here tonight. I don't I don't believe. But we will we will work to get that back. On the motion. All in
favor? All oppose. So, calendar item number 13, motion presented by councel McKenna, that the city council order to a public hearing an ordinance further amending title 12 of the river revised ordinances relative to construction procedures for street and sidewalk openings. >> Council McKenna.
>> Thank you. Uh so I would really like to create an ordinance um for National Grid and all the utility companies. Uh National Grid comes into our city, cuts our tree uh streets, then patches it when they are finished. With inclement
weather and time, eventually their patches corrode into sink holes in in divots, leaving drivers and pedestrians vulnerable. A perfect example is Wave Avenue in Beachmont that is totally sinking. Four years ago, as a part of
putting in new pipes around the neighborhood, uh National Grid committed to repaving this road. They never did. Multiple calls have been made by the city engineer and myself, but National Grid keeps on pushing back the starting
time. This ordinance will create National Grid and any other utility companies when applying for permits to pave curb to curb instead of doing patch jobs that don't work. Thank you, >> Council Novaski.
>> Uh, Mr. President, through you to council McKenna. Does this include contractors in develop in developing new buildings because that happens to put in new waterwork and new drainage. >> Well, that's a state highway, too. But,
uh, I just want to make sure that we hit all the construction people and make sure that the public works overseas these and make sure that the work is done appropriately. Thank you. >> I think that's wonderful.
Councelor Aensio. >> Thank you, Mr. President. You know, I I think this is a great idea. Uh, however, there's a couple of things we need to look into. I don't know if a city ordinance has jurisdiction over a utility.
>> We don't. Um, so I think maybe some advice from the city solicitor is if this ordinance, you're trying to cure a problem, but I don't know if our ordinance overrides a utility. And the
second thing I'd like to bring up is if a homeowner um is hiring a company to put in a new sewer line, um this cost would be directly uh passed on to the homeowner. Uh so a
homeowner that has to uh repair a uh sewer line or something may have to pay, you know, a much larger uh amount of money. Uh this happened. There's a gentleman on Suffach Avenue. We had just uh paved Suffach Avenue and he wanted to
convert to gas and the city denied him because we had just paved. Uh but then the city did acquies and said, "Well, if you do do this, we need a 10- foot wide swath curb to curb." And the um homeowner had to pay an extra $3,000
to uh National Grid to do this. And then within I don't know maybe two months the city came by and had a water break and they had a little patch and then on the other side of him there was a a gas leak and then there was a little patch and he
felt he was really rad over the coals for this $3,000 and he was very upset. So, I I agree with the motion, but I think we need to have some information or maybe some uh relief for homeowners that are converting to gas or putting in
a sewer line uh so that so that we don't price them right out of the u right out of the job. Thank you. >> Thank you, councelor Councelor Kelly. >> Thank you. Just a quick question and I I don't know maybe councelor Rajenzio might have some insight into this but if
this were a larger construction company and they were contracts would it be possible that the terms of this may conflict with any of the terms in the contract? >> Possibly. >> Yeah, possibly. Yes. I >> So just something to think about. Okay.
Thank you. I I think it's it's a great idea and and believe me, I'd like the the roads paved the way they're supposed to be paved, but um I think we need to just cover our homeowners uh so they're not paying an exorbitant fee for some work that they're probably just
squeaking by trying to get uh done. >> unintended consequences. Absolutely. Uh Council Novasowski. >> Thank you, Mr. Mr. President. I remember years ago we passed an ordinance or a rule that once a street is paved, nobody
can cut it open unless there's an emergency for five years. >> And you know, as far as I know, that's still in effect. So, you know, DPW and site plan review should be overseeing that and watching it and making sure that things like that are taken care of.
>> I'm sure some people don't even know that exists. Um, on the motion, I will send this to a public hearing on February 23rd. Calendar item number 14, motion presented by council Jino that the city
council present his certificate of accommodation to firefighter Frank Barry in recognition of his retirement after 29 years of dedicated service to the city of Rivier. Um, I did receive a call from councelor Janino today. He wanted to add councelor Gino SA to that motion
as well. >> On the motion. >> Oh, oh, wait a minute. Council Gina Sia. >> Thank you, Mr. President. Um, councelor Janino would like to see this come to fruition next at our next meeting with the other first responders if that's
possible. >> On the motion. All in favor? All opposed? So audited >> calendar item number 15 motion presented by councilors Argenzio McKenna and Mccurio that the mayor and superintendent of public works be requested to include a line item in the
upcoming public works budget preparation specifically for the planting of street trees and installation of tree pits along city streets. The planting of trees in an urban area such as Reair is vitally important to the air quality and quality of life. A suggested amount for the FY27 budget is between$10,000 and
$20,000 with a goal of increasing this amount in subsequent budgets. >> Councelor Aenzio. >> Thank you, Mr. President. Uh the city has kind of fallen behind in its tree planting program. uh we have an excellent uh program where we remove
dead trees, trim trees, but the planting of trees has has kind of fallen away and it's extremely important in an urban area. I know we have a DCR uh planting program and they do an excellent job and I'm very appreciative that they can come
in and plant trees for us and plant trees for priv uh owners of private property. Uh but we shouldn't just be relying on the DCR. I spoke to Mr. Ian Briggs uh who's in charge of the program and he gave me a list of trees uh that
they've planted in the calendar year of uh 2024 and 2025. They planted 217 trees in Revier. Uh but one of the things 168 of them were on private property. 14 were on state property. there were only
22 trees uh that were actually planted on city streets. So, uh like I say, very appreciative of what they do. Uh but I think we need to have a a hand in this and really uh push this tree planting
program. There are plenty of uh empty tree pits around the city uh that could be uh filled with trees. Um, another thing that happens is when we do our streets over with chapter 90 money, you can spend chapter 90 money uh putting
trees in on these streets and the city has kind of uh let that go. We've had a lot of uh uh sidewalks and uh streets done over and over the last few years with no planting of any city um any city
street trees. Uh, I know we did, uh, kind of let the homeowners decide if they wanted one in front of their house. Um, but it's really not their property and we really need to uh concentrate on on lining our our city streets with some
trees. So, thank you very much. >> Thank you, Council Council McKenna. >> Thank you, Mr. President. Uh, everybody knows I'm a tree hugger. Uh, five streets this summer were redone by the city and only six trees were planted.
It's a disgrace. We are allowing residents to make the choice on whether they want a tree or not and leaning towards not planting them because they don't want I don't know the feedback,
bad feedback. These are city sidewalks and the city should take over the say on where a tree goes. A study from the National Conservatory last month concludes that trees covering tree
coverings in a lowincome urban community has the widest tree covered disparity in the northeast part of the United States. Residents in the city oppose trees in front of their
property because they feel they are messy. They uproot sidewalks and cause water and sewer damage. But if they're placed strategically, they will not cause a problem for residents. These new trees are designed to grow 15
to 20 feet. They are not the large elm trees that were we when we were kids that once grew. It is important to know that trees are essential part of a healthy environment in a heavily urban city like Reier, especially in Beachmore
and the Point of Pines. Air pollution and extreme noise is a constant factor as airplanes fly morning and night, skimming these areas before departing and descending. If the winds are blowing towards Beachmont, there is a constant
smell of air fuel extracted by aircrafts departing and descending over the tarmac. Fuel is also dumped on a daily basis from planes passing over neighborhoods. Residents health is definitely at risk.
trees catch fuel dumps uh dumping gives off oxygen collects carbon dioxide that is caused from pollution. This is necessary. We need to we need to be better at this. Uh you go to Winthrop,
you go to Everett, Chelsea even and there's a lot of trees and we have we're I don't know what's going on becoming a a concrete city. So I I urge the city to do a better job. Thank you.
>> Thank you, councelor. Councelor Mccurial. >> Thank you, Mr. President. I want to briefly speak to the importance of investing in a street pre here in the city of Riviera, especially in our densely populated neighborhood
where green space is limited. Street trees are not just decorative, they are essential urban infrastructure. They help reduce extreme heat, improve air quality, manage storm water, and make our streets safer and more walkable. In
communities like ours, trees directly improve public health, neighborhood pride, and overall quality of life. The proposed $20,000 allocation from the city will allow us to plant 22 and a half inch caliber trees, which is
standard size for long-term urban survival. This funding is a solid start, but it's important to be clear it only scratches the surface of what's needed citywide. If we are serious about climate resilience, sidewalk safety, and
neighborhood improvements, we will need to invest more in future budget cycles. To stretch these dollars further, I negotiated with the local reputable landscape company to donate and demonstrate two different tree pit covering options at no cost to the city.
A port inplace rubber tree pit and a plastic tree grade system. Both op both options improve sidewalk safety by reducing trip hazards, protect tree roots, lower long-term maintenance cost, and enhance the overall appearance of our
streets. This approach allows us to best test practices, support local businesses, and make smarter long-term decisions while keeping costs down. In closing, this funding represents an important first
step, but for this program to be truly effective, it must be expanded and sustained. I urge the council to support this investment and to view it as the foundation for a stronger, greener, and more resilient rev. Thank you, Mr. President.
>> Thank you, councelor. Uh, councelor Garino SA. >> I'm going to be the oddball, but that's okay. Well, this motion would be an excellent opportunity to expand tree planting and install tree pits throughout the city, both of which
greatly do improve the air quality and overall quality of life. I believe it is equally important to incorporate resident input. Residents should have the opportunity to weigh in on whether they want a tree or a tree pit adjacent to their property before any intera in
installation takes place. For example, the sidewalks which belong to the city, the residents have to clean up when there's a snowstorm. The residents should have an input on whether they want the tree in front of their house or not because those trees eventually get
bigger and what happens is they uproot that sidewalk. How many times have I had to call the DPW that a child has fallen on a sidewalk that a tree has been has uprooted? Then the other my other issue is
um Council McKenna mentioned the Point of Pines residents. Well, people purchase homes in the point of pines, Oak Island, even beachmont and riverside to either have oceanfront, ocean view, or river, riverside, like the river
view, and you want to put a tree in front of their house. Not if they don't want it. I don't think it's fair to the residents who purchase their homes to have riverfront, oceanfront, whatever views to be told that, "Oh, you're going to have a tree in front of your house.
forget all the money you spent on your house because I'm putting the tree there anyway. It's just not right. I think residents need to have input. Sorry. >> Thank you, Council Novaski. >> Thank you, Mr. President. I have a few items on this and I agree with Council
McKenna and Council Murio. Now, in the last three years, I've had some side two streets done. Not one tree pit was cut in in that new sidewalks. Over the last three years, I've put in requests for 22
trees that have not been done yet. Now, I'm wondering if $20,000 is enough. Uh but you know we pass a budget and the mayor should be providing the money that we ask him to put into the budget
to so we can do these trees and as as far as you know the the sidewalks coming up the new trees they're putting in now the way the roots are growing are not raising sidewalks. the old ones are,
>> but I know the new ones are not raised in the sidewalks. And I have many, many pits, empty tree pits with dirt in them that have never been filled with asphalt temporarily or anything, and people are falling over them. Now, as far as
putting trees, now all the trees that I've talked to people about, I don't put them right in front of their house. They have property lines in between them. I put them at their property line so it's not directly in front of their house and they love it, you know, and they think
it's a real good idea. So they don't have that tree sticking outside their window. It's off to the side a little. And one thing as far as the height of trees, the city engineer has determined that we're not going to be putting trees on
the same sides of telephone poles [snorts] because of the way they grow. when the National Grid comes in and they trim a tree, it looks like a Y, like a slingshot. So, I don't have a problem with that, you know, but
and and I make sure that when someone asks for a tree, it's not if it's on the side of a pole, I said, "We can't do it." Bottom line has to be nonpolesided. Um, and when they do put do a tree,
National Grid requires a 10-ft length on either side of a gas line, not to put in a tree within that 20 ft. So, uh, and I'm sure the same things with a water line. So, those are just my
things about it and, uh, everybody take it from a point of interest. Thank you. >> Thank you, council. Councelor Sylvestri. >> Uh, thank you, Mr. President. I just want to say I fully agree with this motion. I've actually have gotten quite
a few calls this past year about um DCR not getting around to the neighborhoods enough. So, I think us helping that um solve that is is a step in the right direction. So, thank you. Fully support this motion.
>> Thank you, councelor. Councelor Kelly. >> Thank you, Mr. President. So, I can see both sides of this. Um, on the one hand, uh, residents pay property taxes. They buy a home, they pay the taxes. They should definitely have a say in what goes in front of
their house or to the side of their house. On the other hand, we do not want to become a concrete city and not have any shade and trees and, you know, lose the aesthetics of what the trees provide. So, I find it hard to believe
that we couldn't make an improvement and make some headway on this while also still respecting those residents who may want to opt out and maybe just meet in the middle um instead of just, you know, one broad sweep without asking anyone's input. We might get some people that
refuse. Um but we we probably will get a lot that will say yes and that will, you know, make everyone happy. I think um it was unfortunate that we lost a couple of opportunities specifically Washington A um when that project was done that we didn't implement any trees there or ask
any residents. So I don't think we should be losing out on those opportunities in the future to at least get some resident input to try to put some in if not all. That's all. Thank you. >> Thank you councelor Councelor Cogleandro. >> Thank you Mr. President. Um, I I agree
with councelor Kelly. That was pretty much what I was one of the things I was going to say. I do see both sides of this, but um I want to say that I did take advantage of the DCR program and I got four new trees this year planted. They do a wonderful job. Um, and I I
also am the financial impact statement guy and uh because this is over $15,000 potentially. Do we need an financial impact statement on this before we pass this motion? So because it's a budget in addition to the >> it's a request for the budget. So it's
not there's no >> just making sure. Thank you. >> On the motion Mr. President Council, >> can I have my one minute? Uh >> you have your one minute [laughter] rebuttal and we're following the rules. We're following the rules. Yeah.
>> I just want to respond to uh what councelor Novalski said. the city engineer who was also the tree warden did make that uh statement about no trees under wires national and I dis totally disagree with that the national
grid and the DCR have appropriate trees that they recommend to plant under wires they only grow 12 15 feet they never reach the wires and national grid and DCR both have appropriate variety ies
that they recommend. So, I don't see uh taking 50% of the city and and not being able to plant trees. There there are there are trees that can be planted under wires that don't ever reach that height. So, I I I think in the future
maybe we could call him up here and and have a little discussion about where trees can go and where they can't. So, thank you. >> Thank you. And thank you for keeping that under a minute. on the motion. >> All in favor? All opposed?
>> Council Garino S. >> I'm sorry. I need to I would like to put an amendment to this motion. >> And the amendment should say with resident input. >> Well, >> you want to accept the >> I'm sorry. I I just I have to
>> accept the amendment. No. >> Okay. >> On the original motion. All in favor? All opposed. >> No. >> Council Garino SAI is recorded as no. >> No. >> You hate trees.
>> Thank you. >> Let's uh let's have a roll call on this motion. >> Wait, are we doing it as amended? >> No. >> Why don't we take the amendment first and then take >> a roll call on the amendment first? >> All right. Let's have a roll call on the amendment.
Well, uh, just sort of clarification, there's there's nothing in here, uh, in the motion, the present motion that says anything about residents. >> So, what are we amending? >> I mean, >> that that's [snorts] okay. >> So, she wants to add
>> the res No, you're going to have to do a separate motion. I >> Mr. Mr. President, this this motion is to add a line item to the budget. I don't I don't think adding a line about resident input would be appropriate or fitting. >> Okay.
>> And I'm not I I I understand what councelor Garino Sai is trying to do. I just I don't think this is the place to do this. >> Okay. Here's here's what we're going to do. We're going to vote on this motion as is. And if council Garina Sire wants to put a future motion in, we can do
that. But this is just for a funding request and and and I agree with the council that you can't really amend that. So on the original motion, roll call. >> Roll call on the original motion as proposed by councilors Arenzio, McKenna,
and Mccurio. Councelor Agenzio, >> yes. >> Yes. Councelor Cogleandro, >> yes. >> Yes. Councelor Gino is absent. Councelor Gino Slaya, >> no. >> No. Councelor Hass is absent. Councelor Kelly, >> yes. >> Yes. Councelor McKenna, >> yes. >> Yes. Councelor Mccurio,
>> yes. >> Yes. Council Novaski, >> yes. >> Yes. Council Sylvestri. >> Yes. >> Yes. And council president Sam Zambodo. >> Yes. >> Yes. The motion is approved. >> Calendar item number 16. Motion presented by councelor Go SA that the mayor request the department of planning
and community development to provide the city council with an update on the usage of results of the quant AQ monitors to study air quality in W 5. Council Gorino SA. >> Thank you, Mr. President. I'm going to hold my comments for when Tom comes up to speak about it.
On the motion, all in favor opposed. Calendar item number 17. Motion presented by councelor Greeno SA that the mayor request the traffic commission and the department of public works to evaluate and if deemed appropriate install and/or paint do not block the box pavement markings and appropriate signage at the intersection of Rivier
Street and Northshore Road following a resident's continued complaints regarding vehicles frequently blocking the intersection creating safety concerns for pedestrians, emergency vehicles and motorists. Council Garino SA
>> motion speaks for itself >> on the motion. All in favor, all opposed. So audited. Calendar item number 18, motion presented by councelor Go Sawai, that the mayor and the inspectional services department in coordination with public
works and the police department to develop and implement a standardized construction accountability and neighborhood protection plan for all active construction or infrastructure upgrade projects citywide. Such plan shall include, but not limited to, one, a public publicly accessible compliance
checklist outlining requirements related to noise, hours of operation, debris control, safety, fencing, sidewalk access, and on street parking impacts. Two, a requirement that each construction site designate a clearly identified on-site compliance contact
available to the ward counselor, residents, and city departments. Three, routine and documented inspections throughout the duration of construction, not solely at project commencement. Four, a graduated enforcement process with meaningful penalties for repeat or
ongoing violations, including fines, potential work stoppages where applicable. And five, a mechanism for residents to report violations in real time with clear response protocols and follow-up. Further that the administration provide the city council with a status update and implementation
timeline with in a reasonable time frame. >> Councelor Gorino SA. >> Thank you, Mr. President. Um, our neighbors deserve construction and infrastructure projects that are safe, transparent, and respectful to the community. Um, too often I've noticed
that residents experience excessive noise, block sidewalks, safety hazards, and unclear accountability during construction projects. there are more than one construction job going on at a time and you don't know who's doing what and who's responsible for what. So I
think a checklist will help with implementing this um and finding out who is responsible. The plan ensures that every project has a has clear rules, publicly accessible checklist, on-site compliance contacts, and routine
inspections. It creates a graduated enforcement process with meaningful con consequences for repeat violations. I can't even tell you how many times I shut a job down. I I can't. And give residents a simple way to report issues in real time by implementing the
standardized accountability and neighborhood protection plan. We can balance progress with the quality of life in our community. It is about transparency, safety, and respect for the residents, for the workers, and for the city as a whole. the residents right now we're being um and I'm talking about
the point of pines area in particular right now we have the M MWR8 project going on and then they're getting ready to do the roundabout project there's construction materials everywhere there there's um closures here closures there
plus they're doing the work on the General Edwards Bridge I need to know what equipment belongs to who where it is and how it's impacting the neighbors and why you're doing construction at this time when you should be stopping at this time. There needs to be some form of accountability. Thank you.
>> Thank you, councelor. Any other counselors? >> Council McKenna. >> Thank you, Mr. President. I just I put a motion in a couple of months ago because the residents in your ward um uh counselor uh they were complaining about they couldn't even park in front of
their house or across the street because the construction workers were taking up all their parking spaces. Um and I asked if they could be um bust in and nothing was done. So um but I get I get the
point of what you're trying to make here. It is a big problem for the city. So, thank you, >> Councelor Kelly. >> Thank you, Mr. President. I think this is fantastic and I think it's we need
it. Um, my concern is that if it's if it's strong enough to be implemented. I mean, it look it looks good on paper. I just hope that we can get control over it enough so that it can be implemented um correctly. I don't
know if we would need, you know, an additional department to handle this, who exactly would handle it. I I think the atlarge counselor should also be um privy to the information. Um but I think it's a great idea. Um again there might
be some contractual terms in this that conflict with um terms of you know within contracts that we might have with contractors. So I I hope we can implement it. That's that's all I want to say. Thank you >> Mr. President.
>> Thank thank you Councel Kelly. Councelor Novasowski. >> Thank you Mr. President. Mr. President, I think it's a it's a good idea and I agree with councelor Kelly. I don't know how much can be overseen with it because it's mostly a even though they have all the departments involved in it. But we
have to realize too and I don't really know what construction is going on down in down the pines other than new water pipes and the bridge. Uh but we have no control over state contracts only those
that are working in for the city on city property. So if they're doing something like on the Linway, we have no control over those folks. But anybody that's on our city property, I say yes, we do have a control over in some some sense of a manner. Thank you.
>> Thank you, councelor. Councelor Garino. >> I would like to add counselors at large to this motion as well. And um as far as um Mr. Novas, Council Novaski, they do impact the Point of Pines and Riverside
neighborhoods, whether they're in on the Lyn General Edwards Bridge or not. All their equipment they throw on the Point of Pines side or the Riverside um side, which is actually it may be state property, but it's impacting the residents. And then not only that, when
they shut down those roads, they're impacting the traffic. We can't get home. We literally cannot get home. They can't leave because nobody wants to let you out because you're too busy trying to get up to the North Shore somewhere and we can't get out of the streets and then we can't get home. It's crazy. You
have no idea how long it takes for me to get home from here. So, thank you. >> On the motion, all in favor? All opposed? So audited >> calendar item number 19 motion presented by councilors Gino SA and Janino that
the mayor request Julie Demorro and the traffic advisory committee to draft a proposed ordinance amendment to title 10 of the revised ordinances of the city of Rivier establishing clear definitions and procedures for the use of speed tables and portable speed bumps including but not limited to one
definitions distinguishing speed tables from portable speed bumps. Two, criteria and guidelines for placement, including roadway type, traffic volume, proximity to schools, parks, senior housing, and pedestrian heavy areas. Three, a formal application and approval process. Four,
a schedule and inventory listing within Title 10, identifying approved locations and duration of use. And five, maintenance, removal, and seasonal protocols to ensure consistency, safety, and transparency citywide. Council Guino Shaya,
>> I would like to send this to traffic, please. >> Could we send it to traffic? >> On the motion, all in favor, all opposed. >> There two late motions. Calendar item number 20. Motion pres late motion presented by councelor
Kogandro that the city council award a certificate of merit to Asani Anderson a second grader at the Whan school in recognition of his quick life-saving actions on January 13th to save a classmate who was choking during lunchandro. >> Thank you Mr. President. Um
I've never put in a certificate of merit request before. This is my first one and I think it's incredibly deserving. We had an eight-year-old who when asked, "How did you know how to stop him from choking?" He says, "My dad taught me." When you hit him in the back and the
child stopped choking and he legitimately saved his life and I think that >> unbelievable. >> It completely warrants a certificate of merit and I hope you'll all support it. Thank you. >> Absolutely. Anybody else?
>> That's a that's quite a kid on the motion. All in favor? All opposed? So audited >> late motion presented by councelor Zambudo that the city council order to a public hearing a zoning ordinance further amending title 17 of the revised ordinances of the city of river relative
to special permits. >> I guess I need permission to speak on my motion here. Correct. >> Thank you. Uh so let's get a couple of things straight. The proposed amendments will provide the city council oversight to
residential developments within districts zone for business. The propos proposed amendments do not eliminate the ZBA as some people have been spreading around. uh the the city council will need to approve the
residential use first by special permit and if dimensional relief is needed, the applicant then goes applies to the ZBA. So, I'm uh that's what I'm putting this in. I'm sure you've all read it and I'm
sure you've all heard about it and uh I'm looking to send this to a public hearing. >> Mr. President >> Council Novasowski, >> you know, it it's uh it's good that you want to look and do something about this, but I think we ought to discuss this a little further so everybody
really understands what's going on. And I think it should be put in the committee before the public hearing, >> then have the public hearing and let the committee hear what's going on afterwards. >> Well, that's a that's a a point of disagreement between you and I. I think
that it could go to a public hearing then go to committee. It doesn't mean because it goes to a public hearing that anything's etched in stone and it's not going to be worked out in committee. So, um I I I don't see the reason to go to committee first, but that's up to the
council and uh you know, I think that uh there's going to be a lot of discussion on everything that's in here. And uh I'm I'm sure it's not going to be all the way it's written and there's some implications of uh of uh the
famous MBTA Community Act. So there's a lot of stuff to go along with it and and I it's eventually going to go to committee. I'd like to send it to a public hearing and then go to committee, but that's up to the council. >> Mr. President,
>> council, it's an ordinance change, correct? >> It is. So, wouldn't it go to zoning after the public hearing by? >> Yes, of course it does. >> So, then let's hash it out there. >> Yeah. Well, that's what I said. >> So, it's going to a public hearing on the
23rd of February. Uh, no further business. We will meet on the 20th of February. >> The 9th of February, excuse me. Thank you all.