City Council - Ordinance Committee

Ordinance Subcommittee Meeting Minutes for 8/20/24at 6:00pm Present: Councilor Denham, Councilor Smith, Councilor Derby, Dillon Maxfield I. Motion to approve meeting minutes for 1/3, 4/23, 5/9 6/11, 7/16 by Councilor Derby, Seconded by Councilor Smith. Passed 3-0 II. Signage a. Language restricting political signage is unconstitutional; strike language from Section B: ‘Election Signs Shall be displayed for a Period not more than 90 days before an election and 7 days after. ‘ It’s a constitutional right to keep the sign up. i. Councilor Derby: Where is Planning Department’s development of revisions of signs? Planning Department (Dylan Maxfield): will get back to you on that ii. Motion made by Councilor Smith to move the striked language to be passed to the joint planning committee. III. Language for Definition of ‘Surveyor’ needs to be defined more clearly. a. Dillon Maxfield: Somebody who is certified through Massachusetts Land Surveyors and having a current license. Put this into definition section i. Current Section 2.1 Surveyor definition changed to language Dillon Maxfield recommended for use of planning and applying for different grants through state. 1. Motion made by Councilor Smith, seconded by Councilor Derby IV. Research on sewer sludge i. Pfas is a big part of the research; Councilor Denham asking to move forward by dividing work. Councilor Denham wants to meet with the Agricultural Commission to partner regarding a decision on this. ii. Deep beliefs in Easthampton around right to farm (agricultural commission) and residents’ rights to know what is in their food. This is an action step to collect research to determine how they believe as a commission they want to do and approach this issue. 1. Maybe not farms, but agricultural land that is the city’s responsibility a. Opportunity to take leadership as a City on how to move forward. i. Councilor Denham wants us to partner with Agricultural Commission to better understand the needs of the farmers in our community. They have expressed some concern around cost to test land vs. pfas and food supply issues. ii. What is the link between the pfas and the sewage sludge? Not sure how all the pfas in the files for research were related to the sewage sludge. iii. Denham: This issue came up because of the ‘old farm’ used this sewage sludge and the smell was noxious. V. Motion to adjourn made by Councilor Derby, seconded by Councilor Denham, approved 3-0.