City Council - Finance Committee

CITY OF EASTHAMPTON OFFICE OF THE CITY COUNCIL Easthampton Municipal Building 50 Payson Ave., Ste. 100 Easthampton, Massachusetts 01027-2260 Telephone #: (413) 529-1460 MINUTES FINANCE Meeting 07/14/2021 Attendees: FINANCE Committee Members: Councilor Dan Rist, Chair Councilor Peg Conniff Councilor Homar Gomez Other Attendees: Nicole LaChapelle, Mayor Jennifer Gallant, City Treasurer Shannon Walsh, PVPC, Historic Preservation Brad Riley, Affordable and Fair Housing Jeff Bagg, City Planner John Bonavist, PM Honeywell Peter Jessup, Valley CDC Jamie Webb, Assistant City Planner Mike Janos, Honeywell, senior engineer Janna Tetreault, EAFHP Alix Orton, Honeywell John Bruner, PVPC Meeting called to order at 5:00pm. The meeting was held remotely due to the COVID-19 pan- demic and was videotaped. Minutes from 05/13; 05/17; 05/20; 05/26 and 06/15 were approved 3-0 Mayor Communication: None Public Speak: None New Business 1. Energy Savings Performance Contract Project A. Presentation from Honeywell regarding impacts of pandemic for air quality and how to make improvements going forward. B. Energy Savings Performance Contract is under MGL Department of Energy Re- sources (DOER) MGL c. 25A, Sec 11i C. Several contractors submitted an RFQ and Honeywell was selected. D. Buildings in scope: Muni Bldg, Public Safety Complex, Water department, Wastewater Plant, High School. E. Timeline Oct 2021 0 Sep 2022 F. Project goals: Public Safety; Healthy Buildings; Energy Reduction/Cost avoid- ance/Deferred maintenance and sustainability 2. Supplemental Appropriation A. $58,083 from Affordable Housing to Valley CDC Housing Predevelopment As- sessments: For conducting planning and pre-development tasks necessary for the creation of new affordable rental housing in Easthampton. • Peter Jessup reported that this appropriation will be to evaluate property and site plans for development of affordable housing. 30 to 50 units. • Once a site is located, Valley CDC will act as the developer and there would be multiple funding sources to fund this. The cost would not fall to the city exclusively and according toe Peter J, the City would not be the major fund source. • This plan details nicely with the Housing Production Plan Motion to recommend to the full council the supplemental appropriation of $58,083 to cover the cost planning and predevelopment tasks to create new affordable rental housing in Easthampton by Councilor Gomez. Second by Councilor Conniff. Motion passed 3-0. B. $15,000 from Historic Preservation to Hampshire-Hampden Canal History Sur- vey: For the regional collaboration to hire consultants to assist with historic docu- mentation and preservation of the Hampshire and Hampden portions of the New Haven and Northampton Canal. • Joint study with 6 communities including, Northampton, Southampton, Southwick, Easthampton, Westfield, Russell • The Connecticut portion of the canal are listed on the National Historic Reg- ister. • The mapping effort will be to fully understand what is left, what can be pre- served and what can perhaps include historical narratives. The canal was hand built in the 1800’s. Some of it is still known, much is not known. This effort is to be used as a planning tool. Motion to recommend to the full council the supplemental appropriation of $15,000 to cover the cost to hire consultants to assist with historic documentation and preservation of the Hampshire and Hampden portions of the New Haven and Northampton Canal by Councilor Gomez. Second by Councilor Conniff. Motion passed 3-0. Next Meeting August 17, 2021 @ 5:00pm