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 Fax #: (413) 529-1417 Minutes City Council Finance Committee Meeting, 3/23/2022 Attendees: Finance Committee Members: Councilor Dan Rist, Chair Councilor Tom Peake, Clerk Councilor Koni Denham Other Attendees: City Council President Homar Gomez Mayor Nicole LaChapelle City Treasurer Jennifer Gallant City Auditor Hetal Patel City Planner Jeff Bagg Assistant City Planner Jamie Webb DPW Director Greg Nuttleman Conservation Agent Cassie Tragert Meeting was called to order at 5:00 PM. The meeting was held remotely due to the COVID-19 pandemic and was videotaped 1. Approval of Minutes: 3/9/22. Motion made by Councilor Denham and seconded by Councilor Peake. Motion passed 3-0. 2. Mayor’s Communication: None. 3. Public Speak: • Beth Tiffany asked if the multi-use path was related to another path project. Councilor Rist said that it did not. 4. New Business Interdepartmental Transfers: a) $3,000 for computer, radio & battery recycling: DPW Director Nuttelman stated that this was costs to recycle computers, monitors, radio equipment, and batteries. Motion made by Councilor Denham and seconded by Councilor Peake. Motion passed 3-0. Supplemental Appropriations: b) $32,500 for structural evaluation - WWTP Headworks Building and storage compliance. This was a priority when the city did the integrated wastewater management plan. There are steel beams that can be corroded by the environment in the plant. This part of the plant was constructed in the 1990s, but some parts were built in the 1950s. Motion made by Councilor Peake and seconded by Councilor Denham. Motion passed 3-0. c) $39,354 for pedestrian safety improvements on Holyoke St.: Director Nuttleman explained that there is not defined sidewalk on the East Green Street side, so this would do design work ahead of a Complete Streets application. Councilor Peake spoke in favor of the appropriation as someone who uses that crosswalk frequently. Councilor Denham also noted that she had noticed safety issues at that intersection. Mayor LaChapelle also noted that there had been a fatality in that area, and that the family of the victim was in support of this. Motion made by Councilor Peake and seconded by Councilor Denham. Motion passed 3-0. d) $10,000 for funding of the EV Charging stations & Valley Bike Share program: Conservation Agent Cassie Tragert noted that the charging stations had received some use, but they only had 18 months of data. People use the charger for 25 cents per kilowatt hour. Once the car is fully charged, they are charged for the use of the space to encourage them to move. Eversource adds a demand charge when the chargers use more than 2 kilowatt hours. This leads the energy costs to be higher than it would be reasonable for them to be used. Eversource does not currently have a good rate plan. This is not an Easthampton-specific problem, and other municipalities are dealing with similar issues. City Planner Jeff Bagg also noted that the Valley Bike Share does not generate revenues, and described these two programs as investments to bring the city to the table when it comes to addressing climate change. He also noted that federal dollars might be used to expand these programs in the future. Motion made by Councilor Peake and seconded by Councilor Denham. Motion passed 3-0. e) $25,000 for consulting services for NPDES Permit Compliance: Director Nuttelman stated that this consultant would help the city to avoid fines when it comes to upcoming regulatory changes. NPDES stands for National Pollution Discharge Elimination Systems. Motion made by Councilor Denham and seconded by Councilor Peake. Motion passed 3-0. f) $58,000 for repairs/upgrades at the Lovefield St. Waste Water Pumping Station: This was another recommendation from the plan. This pump takes a large amount of the city’s wastewater to the wastewater treatment plant. It needs to be updated, and that requires it to be bypassed temporarily. This is design work for this project. Motion made by Councilor Denham and seconded by Councilor Peake. Motion passed 3-0. g) $108,188 for a replacement dump truck – Highway Division: There is a 2008 truck with almost 100,000 miles on it that would be moved away from being a front-line truck and replaced with this one. It would take over a year to deliver a truck due to supply chain issues, so it is important to be proactive. Motion made by Councilor Peake and seconded by Councilor Denham. Motion passed 3-0.  h) $120,000 for pump inspection/repair at Hendrick St. Water Treatment Facility: This pump was installed in 1996 when the water plant was built, but they need to be repaired. They can only be repaired one at a time. The Hendrick Street facility will be fully operational throughout this process. This will also replace some communication equipment within the water department. Motion made by Councilor Denham and seconded by Councilor Peake. Motion passed 3-0. i) $150,000 to fund an addition to the Sewer Division garage: This truck is currently stored at the water department in the cold months and left outside in the summer. This should prolong the life of the vehicle. Director Nuttelman hoped to get 20-25 years out of the truck. Motion made by Councilor Peake and seconded by Councilor Denham. Motion passed 3-0. Supplemental Appropriation from the CPA Fund: j) $137,500 for land acquisition at 17 Ward Ave. - rail trail connection to Park St.: City Planner Jeff Bagg stated that this was separate from the work being done on the Park Street Safe Routes to School grant. This was unanimously approved by the CPA committee, regardless of whether or not the city received this larger grant. The city has since learned that they did receive that grant. He also requested that the public hearing be moved back as the city is working with a private property owner and may need more time. He stated that there are some variations of this where the property was not purchased outright, but instead the city sought a permanent easement. There is also a possibility of a partnership with Williston. Park Street passes over the rail trail via a bridge. The idea would be to acquire land for a ten-foot- wide multi-use path with ADA grades, which would connect the bike path with Park Street. The parcel was appraised at $110k, with the rest of the money being for due diligence etc. Councilor Peake asked for some clarification on the timeline. Councilor Denham spoke in support of the proposal, and noted that she used the muddy trail that is currently there. Mayor LaChapelle compared this process to the process with CitySpace, where the city wanted approval to access the money even while the exact course of action had not been settled upon yet. Jeff Bagg also noted that the Planning Department could not really enter into formal discussions until they confirmed that they had the finances available. Motion made by Councilor Peake and seconded by Councilor Denham. Motion passed 3-0. 5. Continuing Business • Quarterly fiscal reports from the City Auditor: This was not discussed tonight. • Quarterly Report on Covid-19 grant funding and spending: This was not discussed. • Review of elected officials/board & committee stipends. This was not discussed. By motion made by Councilor Peake and seconded by Councilor Denham, the meeting was adjourned at 5:59 PM Next meeting: 4/13/22