City Council

METHUEN CITY COUNCIL REGULAR MEETING MONDAY, MARCH 7, 2022 @ 7:00 P.M. GREAT HALL, SEARLES BUILDING Chairman Beauregard called the regular meeting, scheduled for March 7, 2022, to order at 7:00 p.m. Members present: Councilor Finocchiaro, Councilor McCarty, Councilor Saba, Councilor Saffie, Councilor Simard, Councilor Zeigler, Councilor DiZoglio, Councilor Faretra and Chairman Beauregard. Acceptance of the Agenda MOTION BY: Councilor DiZoglio, seconded by Councilor Faretra to accept the agenda. MOTION BY: Councilor Faretra, seconded by Councilor to amend the agenda to remove TR-22- 19 (withdrawn by Mayor Perry) UPON VOTE: UNANIMOUS MOTION BY: Councilor DiZoglio, seconded by Councilor Saffie to accept the agenda as amended. UPON VOTE: UNANIMOUS. Pledge of Allegiance/Invocation Everyone stood for the Pledge of Allegiance. Councilor Zeigler gave the Invocation for the evening. Council remained standing for a Moment of Silence for Tamar Bucci from the Massachusetts State Police who was born in Andover and lost her life in the line of duty and John Rimas a Methuen High School Hall of Famer and former Principal at the CGS. Acceptance of Minutes Reading and Acceptance of Minutes from Previous Meetings: February 7th 2022 Regular Meeting MOTION BY: Councilor Faretra, seconded by Councilor Zeigler to waive the reading and accept the minutes of March 7th 2022, regular meeting. UPON VOTE: UNANIMOUS. Proclamations/Correspondence - None Presentations/Projects/Depart Updates - None Mayor’s Report Mayor Perry reported that the Greater Lawrence Sanitary District has informed the City of Methuen of a prior year credit of $967,000 which will go into Water and Sewer Retained Earning. He distributed the letter received March 7th, 2022. On the COVID front, the city has completed the test kits distribution and still has a significant number of test kits for city residents that are looking for them. It is important to understand that the “Stop the Spread” will end March 28th 2022. The Greater Lawrence Community Health Center will stop the testing March 28th. We still have approximately 3500 test kits available for residents that haven’t gotten them. The have opened up for additional test kits from the federal government. Insurance companies are now covering any procurements from local pharmacies. There are plenty of “at home” test kits if people need some and didn’t get one can contact the department of public health, Felix Zemel, and we will get some kits out to you or people contact Councilors, we can get them out to you and you can get them out to the people. There is an expiration date at the end of June. He doesn’t want people thinking you store them and can use them forever. There is a limited life on these. The news on COVID is good. There were twenty-six new cases last week, which is the lowest number since the beginning of summer last year. Today was the first day where we went parents’ choice with Methuen Public Schools, where kids could chose to wear a mask or not wear a mask. When he did the read at the Timony and Marsh Grammar School, he took the opportunity to address the students and say this is a great opportunity for me to learn about diversity. Some people are going to chose to wear the mask. Some people are going to chose not to wear the mask. With his medical issues, he occasionally wears the mask. It is a great 1 METHUEN CITY COUNCIL REGULAR MEETING MONDAY, MARCH 7, 2022 @ 7:00 P.M. GREAT HALL, SEARLES BUILDING opportunity for us to teach our young folks to accept people no matter what their view is on the mask wearing. The feedback from the Superintendent was that the day went seamlessly. Mayor Perry indicated the city is flying the Ukrainian flag outside city hall in show of solidarity for our Ukrainian friends over the travesty that is happening in Europe, the disgraceful event and we want to appeal to the Council and we want to run a separate event to kind of do something to raise money for Ukrainian refugees. He would rather not do it on the city side alone. He knows Council has a resolution on the agenda tonight. It is probably something we should talk about going forward. “Do we do something like that?” Mayor Perry reported on ARPA. Today, they conducted a dry run meeting in preparation for meeting with the Council and are ready to present whenever the Council sees fit to hear the department heads talk about their priorities. He thanked the department heads who did a very good job. No easy feat here. There’s a lot of projects. When you get to the DPW ones, all of his water and sewer which totals some place in the seventy-million-dollar range could take up the entire amount. That is incumbent upon us to prioritize the most priority things for the city. The Mayor stated that the City of Methuen wishes to extend its heartfelt sympathies to the family of Massachusetts State Trooper Tamar Bucci. The flag is at half-mast outside city hall and will be through the day on March 9th. Our condolences to all her family, friends, and the Massachusetts State Troopers for all they do for us and all our police officers in recognition of the dangers of the job they put themselves in in the line of duty every day. Councilor Faretra noted the Mayor mentioned at the last meeting about the RFPs being almost like an al a cart when it came to the trash. He asked if there is an expected date when the RFPs will go out. Mayor Perry said they have started the process and have done the legal advertising and are in the RFP process now. His thought process is once we get the answers back and have the facts, we can say if we do this it costs that. If we do that it costs this. To have one more public discussion before we have a Council vote and try to get as many people involved as possible because there’s a lot of options on the table. It will really be a shopping cart kind of option. We will look at all the options. For the people that are out there we’re looking at weekly recycling. We’re looking at variations of automated trash pickup and how it would be done so that it would be less strain on our senior folks, how we can do this with our seniors vs. larger households. He saw the RFP that Joe Cosgrove and Pat Bower put together with Lauri Antonacci’s help and that is in the process of going out. We expect quick feedback on that and we’re trying to make sure we get to Council in the April time frame so that we are not looking at this in July. End of April time frame so Council can make a decision. Councilor Faretra said with the way the process is going right now you don’t see a scenario and have to come to the Council and ask for an extension on the current contract. Mayor Perry indicated he would not do that. His intent is to make sure we have all the numbers so that we can make a common sense decision for the city. The citizens have got to understand – he thinks people don’t understand something like this on the tax rate. If you look at the trash and recycling the costs have gone up 150% in the last five years. We’ve got to do a better job. There is an educational piece on the recycling because Methuen is one of the worst recyclers in the Commonwealth. We’ve got to do better. And Part of that is – we sent a mixed message out to our citizens on what recycling is: pizza is in, pizza is out, pizza boxes in, pizza boxes out. And there’s different groups of recycling that Joe Cosgrove has gone over with him. The Council is going to like what they see. Councilor Faretra noted the calendar that went out for 2022 on the top still said “when in doubt throw it out”. Councilor Saba noted the item for the COVID money was withdrawn but it seems like the deadline has gone by. He asked if all of the available funds were used. 2 METHUEN CITY COUNCIL REGULAR MEETING MONDAY, MARCH 7, 2022 @ 7:00 P.M. GREAT HALL, SEARLES BUILDING Mayor Perry responded, no. There was about $120,000 that was left over. He withdrew it because the state came back this afternoon and said they were still considering. Despite the fact that he got a final, final that he shared with the Council, the state said they are still working it out. Councilor Saba said we don’t have a final report, obviously. Mayor Perry responded, no. Councilor Saba noted if it is going to be up to the Council we should move as soon as possible to have the ARPA meeting. Mayor Perry agreed. Councilor Finocchiaro asked for a timeline regarding the youth center if everything goes the way the Mayor is anticipating that we might be able to move to the next step. Mayor Perry indicated at one point it was discussed. He doesn’t know if a resolution came forward. He is looking through the agenda items because he remembers Councilor Faretra saying during the meeting “What happens at the end of the five years and we haven’t used it as a youth center, does the building go back to the schools?” whether he brought that up through the Mayor’s report and it was something else they discussed. The School Committee has voted to give the building to the city. The State Senator has approached the city for using it for a youth center. It is a great idea. The State Senator has earmarked $500,000 from state and she would like the city to match that. As you can well understand we don’t have a lot of pockets to go into to do that. He did submit it to ARPA and the ARPA request was denied. Council will see that as part of the revenue loss. Before he came to Council with a resolution, he wanted to understand the full nature of the Pleasant Valley School. His understanding is that it has asbestos. It doesn’t have an elevator. He’s been in there and looked through it. He doesn’t want to come to Council and say he needs $500,000, when the building is going to take four million dollars to renovate. We did an RFP about eight weeks ago and got no takers for an engineering study of the Pleasant Valley School. He reached out to Senator DiZoglio and informed her of that and she is using her limitless talent and energy to try to see if we can get somebody who would be interested in responding to the RFP and reissue that. At the latest, right after we do our ARPA meeting for the Council, but probably before we would come to you with a resolution authorizing at least authorizing some expenditure to see what the nature of the expense is to make the Pleasant Valley inhabitable for a youth center. It is a great idea and to be on record he fully supports it but it is hard for him to visualize it if a million dollars is going to leave him three million dollars short of where he needs to go with it. he doesn’t want to come to Council with half a picture when that’s the case. We tried to reach out to all the usual engineering firms to try to get them to do it but there was a lack of interest. They will work with the State Senator to try to get that. She wants to bring the youth to present to City Council so that you can see the group that is interested in doing it, much like Newburyport did it. The idea long term is whether it becomes a non-profit or it remains a city owned building. There is lots of legal issues to be addressed in that. This is the first of many hurdles. There is a lot here. He doesn’t want to come to Council with a resolution until he understands the scope and the magnitude of it. Councilor Finocchiaro asked the Mayor to give the Council the documentation that was discussed during the school committee meetings and all at some point she knows there was discussions about legal work and what that would actually look like in order to accept from one side of the city to the other so that if there is anything drafted on that if the Mayor could send it to Council. Mayor Perry agreed to provide information on the youth center. Councilor Finocchiaro said say the city puts it back out for an RFP and somebody did pick it up, are we talking roughly six weeks from now or eight weeks from now. She asked for the anticipated timeline. Mayor Perry indicated it would depend on when the city gets the feedback. It could be as short as four weeks. We are motivated to move on it and the State Senator is motivated to move on it. 3 METHUEN CITY COUNCIL REGULAR MEETING MONDAY, MARCH 7, 2022 @ 7:00 P.M. GREAT HALL, SEARLES BUILDING Public Participation Brad Jones, 97 Druid Hill Road, thanked the Council for moving along to get access for the contractors back into the transfer station. He did not know Council had already approved for contractors to get back in. The paper going around the room is back of his dump truck. After you see the picture envision that he did someone’s kitchen and he had about twenty-five of those boxes stacked flat on top of a load of debris and not knowing that he could get into the transfer station he sent his truck and said its cardboard, its recyclable. There’s no fee. He sent his truck over. The young woman who runs the scale house should be commended. She follows to the letter of what she is supposed to be doing and there’s no exceptions. She said that she would sell us a dump sticker so that we could get in; but we were not allowed to take the cardboard because they are not set up for commercial cardboard. He took the entire load of cardboard over to North Andover and dumped it at TBI. After a couple of weeks, he had another load. He brought the load over and purchased a dump sticker. We dumped the load and she said you can’t leave the cardboard. That’s what he had to take away from the transfer station. She said that the transfer station is not set up for commercial cardboard recycling. He was in there last week. He had done his floor at his house and tested the waters. He pulled up in a commercial truck and said I’ve got some cardboard. She said “we can’t take commercial cardboard”. He said it was from his own house. She did let him in. There were only twelve small cartons. When he was out there he saw those are the same two dumpsters that have been out there for more than twenty years. Whereas you can’t handle commercial cardboard, you need to tweak the system. If he brings a load in and has to go somewhere else to get rid of the cardboard that makes no sense. He didn’t know if Council was aware of that; but that is the way the system is set up right now. The girl is very good at what she is doing. No exceptions. He is hoping they can tweak the system a little bit. Public Service Grants: None Licenses: None Contracts: C-22-51 John Hoadley and Sons Company, 672 Union Street, Rockland, MA 02370 for 5.5 and 6 Ft. Bury Hydrants in the Amount of $44,128.00 MOTION BY: Councilor Faretra, seconded by Councilor Zeigler to approve. Councilor Saffie disclosed she is dating someone in the Water department and would abstain from voting. UPON VOTE: 8 yes, 1 abstention (Clr. Saffie) C-22-52 LHS Associates, Inc. 10 Manor Parkway, Unit B, Salem, NH 03079 for (5) Image and Precinct Bundle, ICP Unit, Ballot Box, Carry Case and Poll Pad Bundle with Receipt Printer & Software Application in the Amount of $36,375 MOTION BY: Councilor Zeigler, seconded by Councilor Faretra to approve. UPON VOTE: UNANIMOUS. C-22-53 Merrimack River Watershed Council, 60 Island Street, Suite 246, L.00awrence, MA 01840 for Spicket River Watershed Planning Project in the Amount of $40,0000 MOTION BY: Councilor Simard, seconded by Councilor Zeigler to approve. UPON VOTE: UNANIMOUS. 4 METHUEN CITY COUNCIL REGULAR MEETING MONDAY, MARCH 7, 2022 @ 7:00 P.M. GREAT HALL, SEARLES BUILDING C-22-54 Ferguson Waterworks, 25 Concord Street, North Reading, MA 01864 for WCHS -416 Hydraulic Guillotine Wire Cutter in the Amount of $25,920.60 MOTION BY: Councilor Zeigler, seconded by Councilor Faretra to approve. UPON VOTE: 8 yes, 1 abstention (Clr. Saffie) C-22-55 TEC, Inc., Full Design Services, Charles/Lawrence Streets MassWorks Project in the Amount of $105,000 MOTION BY: Councilor Zeigler, seconded by Councilor Faretra to approve. UPON VOTE: UNANIMOUS. Other Committee and Officer Reports Councilor Zeigler reported that the Assistant City Council Clerk Search Committee has met and reviewed the applications received. There were four candidates that we’re going to be moving forward to interview. Three have accepted an interview. The committee will be going through the interview process. Their intention is to have a candidate put before the Council at the first meeting of next month. Councilor Faretra reported that the Committee for Athletic and Recreation Enhancement met last Monday. The topic that came up again that seems to be a hot topic in the community is the tennis courts where in speaking with Superintendent Angelo is probably the biggest project that we as Councilors know. Mr. Angelo gets asked about it as well. He is looking forward to meeting with the department heads because it is one of the projects that the city is looking for with recreation. Councilor Finocchiaro Substance Abuse, Mental Health, and Homelessness Committee next meeting is March 28th at 6:00 p.m. An update on the newly instituted Veterans Committee which was thought of by Councilor Faretra comprised of her, Councilor and Veteran Mike Simard, and Councilor Faretra. They had their first meeting and she was elected Chair. What they decided to do was close a loophole that was in one of our previous items that wasn’t accepted and that is due to the Veterans’ Service Director pointing that out to us. The committee is working on solving that. That is something that they anticipate will be brought before the Council for the next meeting as long as all the legal language is in order by that time. That would be an exemption for property taxes for “Gold Star Families”. Unfinished Business Resolutions: TR-22-13 Transfer Free Cash of $36,375 to fund City Clerk Poll Pads/Image Cast Equipment Required due to Redistricting MOTION BY: Councilor Simard, seconded by Councilor Faretra to adopt. UPON ROLL CALL VOTE: 8 yes, 1 no (Councilor McCarty) TR-22-14 Resolution Accepting State DEP ARPA Earmark $250,000 MOTION BY: Councilor Zeigler, seconded by Councilor Saffie to adopt. Mayor Perry indicated the full project is 5.2 million dollars. This earmark helps but there is a lot more to the project. UPON VOTE: UNANIMOUS TR-22-15 Resolution Accepting State DPA Earmark $50,000 MOTION BY: Councilor Zeigler, seconded by Councilor Faretra to adopt. UPON VOTE: UNANIMOUS. 5 METHUEN CITY COUNCIL REGULAR MEETING MONDAY, MARCH 7, 2022 @ 7:00 P.M. GREAT HALL, SEARLES BUILDING TR-12-16 Resolution Accepting FY’22 Shannon Grant $74,810.65 MOTION BY: Councilor Simard, seconded by Councilor Zeigler to adopt. UPON VOTE: UNANIMOUS TR-12-17 Resolution Accepting National Environmental Health Association Grants for a Total of $26,600 MOTION BY: Councilor Saffie, seconded by Councilor Zeigler to adopt. UPON VOTE: UNANIMOUS TR-22-18 Resolution Authorizing Expenditure from the Edwin J. Castle Fund for the City of Methuen Veterans Services ($15,000) and Methuen Historical Society $2261) MOTION BY: Councilor Zeigler, seconded by Councilor Saffie to adopt. UPON VOTE: UNANIMOUS Ordinances: None Consideration of Appointments Stephen F. DeFeo, Jr. Community Development Board MOTION BY: Councilor Faretra, seconded by Councilor Zeigler to approve. Councilor Saba asked how long both candidates have been serving. Mayor Perry indicated Mr. DeFeo has been on the Community Development Board since 2018 which is in the checklist he sent to Council. Ms. McLennan has been serving for eight years. Councilor Simard thanked the Mayor and his staff for doing the checklist at the Council’s request. Councilor Finocchiaro said in the discussion of making sure that we are having good discussions and developing policy and also trying to be fair with our voting. She noted that the candidate Council is voting on, Mr. DeFeo has served for more than the ten years total. But, the 2018 is in terms of consecutive for her, she went through a decision process where we said okay for the other folks that we voted no previously when they had over ten years consecutive, is that different that a situation where they have served far more than ten years but it hasn’t been consecutive and to her based off of the information that we have, for example, already existing in our City Council which says that you can’t do more than the three terms consecutive but there is not a lifetime restriction on number of terms. To her that is consistent with what the residents have chosen for other positions, such as the Mayor’s office and the School Committee and the City Council. In this situation, after thinking about it, it makes sense to her to treat this person as under ten-year membership. She wanted to make sure that is clear so that people aren’t under the impression that Council didn’t know or other things. This individual has been on and off of this board. That to her is an important discussion and maybe others feel the same way. It is important to have that discussion because if that is something that we do want to change with these positions or with anything else, we need to think from that perspective. This is a slightly different vote in that circumstance. She is going to consider this under ten-year appointment. UPON ROLL VOTE: UNANIMOUS Janet McLennan Board of Assessors MOTION BY: Councilor DiZoglio, seconded by Councilor Zeigler to approve. UPON VOTE: 8 yes, 1 abstention (Clr. Finocchiaro abstained and disclosed she is employed and works in this office) 6 METHUEN CITY COUNCIL REGULAR MEETING MONDAY, MARCH 7, 2022 @ 7:00 P.M. GREAT HALL, SEARLES BUILDING New Business Resolution TR-22-19 Resolution Authorizing Transfer from Free Cash of $631,562 for the funding of ineligible expenditures originally charged to the CARES Act Coronavirus Relief Fund (“CvRF”) WITHDRAWN FROM AGENDA (per Mayor Perry) TR-22-20 Resolution Authorizing Expenditures of $421,331 Remaining from the 2016 Department of Energy and Environmental Affairs Rail Trail Grant MOTION BY: Councilor Saffie, seconded by Councilor Faretra to adopt. Councilor Faretra thanked the Mayor for bringing this resolution forward. Mr. Bower and Mr. Angelo worked hard on trying to find as many projects as we could to cover. Francis Morse Park is also Burnham Road and for anyone who is a fan of softball and has been in that stadium, that field, and when they were there last year for the play offs with the lights going out, its just for a program as strong as that Methuen High School Softball Program, their facility has been sub-par for years so he is glad to see that go forward. Veterans Memorial Park obviously you are looking at improvements there on top of the with the street hockey rink and then adding a pickleball court which he knows the Superintendent has been dying for since he came on board. Hopefully this can get approved and we can move on. Councilor Saba noted he is glad the city is finally using the money that sat in the account for several years. Council is actually voting on all of these items. For instance the Burnham Road there was a bigger plan initially before that and on a project like that, he would like to see also to see where we are at with that and what we eliminated to do that. He understands we want to do other projects but is Council voting on these items and then this is the go ahead for all these projects without us actually reviewing them individually or shouldn’t Council be presented with one item at a time so we can review it and vote on it. Mayor Perry clarified if there are any contracts over $25,000 Council has to see it. Councilor Saba said he doesn’t know if there would be several contracts or one. Director Angelo said each one would have its own contract. He would be coming back to Council for all of those projects. Councilor Saba noted Council is just approving to go ahead with this. We are not actually moving any money yet. The CAFO said that is correct. The city will go out and do all the procurement as appropriate and bring it forward to the Council with any other contracts. This gives them the authority to move forward with that project. Councilor Saffie said she is pleased to see parks having more money. The fitness equipment proposal, have you looked at seeing if the Holy Family Hospital might donate money. She knows that in Burlington there is a hospital that does that. It is right next door to a public park. Director Angelo said, as part of this proposal, he has been in contact with Blue Cross/Blue Shield of Massachusetts to do some funding for this. We’re eligible for a $50,000 grant which he feels very confident the city will be able to attain if we have the money to offset the rest of the costs so that’s why he put this forward. He’s been in communication with them quite a bit over 7 METHUEN CITY COUNCIL REGULAR MEETING MONDAY, MARCH 7, 2022 @ 7:00 P.M. GREAT HALL, SEARLES BUILDING the last few weeks. They are waiting for him to come back to them and say we have the money on our side and he can move forward with the application process. Councilor Zeigler asked if the projects are outlined in order of preference, how they are going to be procured, or is there an intention to try to procure them simultaneously. Director Angelo said he would say it is for projects they need to achieve. A lot of this he took from the Open Space and Recreation Plan that was done in 2020. He’s had communications with Methuen C.A.R.E.S. and Matt Curran at the high school about some of his needs especially with the high school field. The Burnham Road project is very important for him. Anyone who goes down there after a rainstorm knows that sometimes you need a boat to be able to get to first base. It is something that really needs to be addressed. It impacts recreation as well as the high school. It is a win-win for all. That would be a priority for him because that would be something that needs to get done. The other projects are projects that he’ll have additional funding to offset it. That is how he chose those projects so that it doesn’t have to come out of the local taxpayer pockets. It will come through grants and other opportunities that we might have as they present themselves. Councilor Zeigler asked the Director what would be his anticipation in terms of completing all of these projects. “Is this something that you are looking to complete within the year or looking at this over a couple of years?” Director Angelo said it would depend on the project. Some of projects we’d probably be able to hit the ground running pretty soon. For some of the bigger projects, they will have to go out for design and go through the whole procurement process itself. They are also in the middle of the Gill Park renovation at the moment. He put a number of proposals together through ARPA and said we are going to have a lot of capital projects going on. He’s been talking to Director Bower and the Mayor about doing their capital improvement projects for athletic facilities as well. He doesn’t want to give a definitive timeline yet because it is really going to come down to what impacts the high school sports season or how it impacts the youth organization. They are going make sure they schedule around it and have as least of a impact as possible. Councilor Zeigler noted that having grown up near the Riverside Park, she is aware that park has high utilization with walkers and runners. She agrees with Councilor Saffie that’s going to be really exciting once we get the fitness equipment in there, it will get a lot of use. Mayor Perry clarified that what is allocated for Francis Morse Park on Burnham Road is not the be all end all. When we meet and go through the ARPA, there is another $400,000 that is in there for additional items at Burnham Road to bring it up to full state and readiness. That is up to all of us whether we choose to do that or not. These funds were sitting here. The idea was how do we take this and use them the best to improve as many things in the city as possible. Councilor Saba said a project like that wouldn’t come before Council until they approve the ARPA portion so that we have the whole project. Mayor Perry agreed. Councilor Finocchiaro referred to the last page of the packet which is an email to a former employee that is dated in 2018 and it talks about these funds being held by the city and being drawn down for the purposes of the Rail Trail Alliance. She wanted to confirm first that its been formally approved to use for this circumstance and that you have that in writing. Mayor Perry and the CAFO responded yes. 8 METHUEN CITY COUNCIL REGULAR MEETING MONDAY, MARCH 7, 2022 @ 7:00 P.M. GREAT HALL, SEARLES BUILDING Councilor Finocchiaro asked if there were any limitations in that discussion. Mayor Perry responded, no, as long as it was used on parks. Councilor Finocchiaro commented these are all excellent choices. This is going to make a really big difference for Methuen. She completely supports these parks being renovated. The Rail Trail group had mentioned that they had wanted to speak about this. She didn’t see them in the audience. Her thought would be this is something that potentially could have a second read. She wants to make sure everyone is all on the same page. There’s been some discussions about the use of this fund that we sort of had offline in terms of legality and other things. She wants people to understand where we are at and the thought process behind all of that and be able to ask those questions. Unfortunately, they weren’t able to make it. They found out about the meeting last minute. That she understands but feels they would want to speak on it and just in the interest of making sure that we’re hearing all of the residents concerns and are able to answer all of the questions, not because she doesn’t support these expenditures because she does. She will motion to table so they can have that discussion and so that the City of Methuen is on the same page as to the background and the reasons as to how this came to be but she will leave that up to what the body decides. These are great projects. She appreciates Mr. Angelo for putting all this work together and making it fit within the confines of the available funds. Mayor Perry said after he spoke to with the Rail Trail people and there’s a lot of misunderstanding here. Legally he’s gone through all the documents with legal. The city cannot spend this money on that structure. An engineer has reviewed it and the structure does need some work. The city does recognize its responsibility and other avenues it has. He is going to reach out to the Rail Trail people. The first day he was in office Bill Buckley came to him and said we have this $461,000 so we’ve known where this is. But we’ve got to move forward and use it. There are other avenues that we are going to look at. He’s spoken with Director Zemel on improving the structure on the Rail Trail. There are other things he would share with Council, not in a public forum. It might be something for Council to think about going forward. He has to communicate and will copy Council in the Communication. If Rail Trail people want to reach out they can. Councilor Finocchiaro noted it is helpful if we have a public conversation only because there was a lot of people besides that group that had an interest in this at that time. It would be good to publicly disclose those documents. MOTION BY: Councilor Finocchiaro to table. No second. Motion failed. UPON VOTE (to adopt): UNANIMOUS TR-22-21 A Resolution to Affirm the Methuen City Council’s Support for the Independence, Sovereignty, and Integrity of Ukraine (Requested by Chairman Beauregard and Councilor Finocchiaro) MOTION BY: Councilor Saffie, seconded by Councilor DiZoglio to adopt. Councilor Finocchiaro read the resolution into the record. She thanked Chairman Beauregard for the idea and his efforts. It is important we stand by and have this discussion at the local level. 9 METHUEN CITY COUNCIL REGULAR MEETING MONDAY, MARCH 7, 2022 @ 7:00 P.M. GREAT HALL, SEARLES BUILDING Chairman Beauregard said this is a symbolic measure. We have a responsibility to take a stand at all levels of government. He thanked the Mayor for raising the Ukrainian flag at city hall. It is important to take that stand. UPON VOTE: UNANIMOUS. TR-22-22 A Resolution to Support Women in Government By Improving Language in Methuen City Council Rules and Procedures (Req. of Clr. Finocchiaro, Clr. Saffie, Clr. Zeigler) MOTION BY: Councilor Zeigler, seconded by Councilor Faretra to adopt. Councilor Finocchiaro read the resolution into the record. She noted this helps set the mindset that language is important. She is proud we have had that history and those currently serving. She thanked Councilor Saffie and Councilor Zeigler for everything that they do, everything that they bring to the table, a different perspective, a different learned experience, and the more that we show that women are in these great positions of leadership and make a difference, it helps to influence the next generations. She is proud to serve both of them. Councilor Zeigler noted this resolution was brought up by Councilor Finocchiaro, as she mentioned, as a symbol of our advancement as a Council. When these rules were written, the gender wasn’t taken into account. What’s important is for us to move forward and set the tone for our current Council and future Councils. It is fitting that we do this now during Women’s History Month. Not only are we celebrating the month, but this is a way for us as a Council to ensure our leadership is strong. She encouraged Council to be in favor of this measure so that we can move forward together. Councilor Saffie thanked Councilors for their hard work. She is happy to support this. Councilor Faretra noted there are many other Councilors here who have daughters. He thanked Councilors for bringing this forward because the next generation needs to know that the sky is the limit. There are no limitations. He appreciates them bringing this forward on behalf of his daughters and all those in the community. Chairman Beauregard commented several Councilors have daughters. This is a great step forward for our city. It is interesting how our language in our Charter often times its antiquated. It says snapshot in time when this really wasn’t at the forefront of our collective mind. He is glad that it is. UPON VOTE: UNANIMOUS Ordinances: TO-22-11 Ordinance to Restructure the Methuen Police Department (to create additional police positions, per reorg- add 6 patrol, add 2 Sgts, remove one Captain, add one Deputy Chief) Chairman Beauregard said the Council voted to approve the proposed reorg which had been recommended for approval by the Public Safety Committee. This ordinance would implement the changes that were outlined in the plan. MOTION BY: Councilor Simard, seconded by Councilor DiZoglio to adopt. Councilor Faretra asked for some clarification from the Chief on the timeline. Last week it was discussed he was working to get individuals into the academy and with eliminating a Captain he would like to get an idea of the timeframe. 10 METHUEN CITY COUNCIL REGULAR MEETING MONDAY, MARCH 7, 2022 @ 7:00 P.M. GREAT HALL, SEARLES BUILDING Chief McNamara said they are on a time crunch with respect to getting our police reserve officer candidates into the academy and having to secure those seats. At the time, we had twelve viable candidates ready. They’ve been properly vetted and available to go to the academy. All twelve are offered the opportunity. It turned out well for us in the long run. Seven of our twelve reserves deferred which he was taken back by. Reserve candidates and candidates for appointment to police and fire departments have the ability to defer the opportunity to go to the academy two times. The third time they either go or they are removed from our list. In this case, we were able to secure five candidates. One of those five is already academy trained. That person will be able to start right away. We had already been vetting some great transfer candidates. Two of them are ready to come over almost immediately. That works out in our favor. Typically, we’re worried about losing candidates to other cities and towns and having to pay the training costs associated with that. In this case, Methuen is on the winning side of the equation. He feels very confident that Council will be pleased with these two transfer candidates that he has identified. That is seven and right now he is vetting a couple of other candidates to see who would be the most appropriate to come over and when is the best time to do that. At least three that will start right away. The other five would go to the academy April l8th. The two positions relative to Sergeant, in his mind that’s something that could wait until the next fiscal year. He doesn’t think that is something we need to move on right away. It is more important to have the boots on the ground right now. However, that first group of candidates that we sent to the January academy graduate June 24th. He’d like to get the Sergeants started probably in July. Reason being he’d like to have them up and running and have those Sergeants trained as well. He’d like to get the Sergeants going in July. Our academy recruits from the January academy, when they come out in June are going to go into our field training program. That is where they learn to be Methuen Police Officers. The timing works out well for us. Councilor Faretra said recently we had some of promotions, including three Sergeants, is that list still in place so when this does come up you already know the two individuals that will be. Chief McNamara said he knows who the candidates are on that list. We are in a good position. There are good quality candidates up and down that list. One of the candidates that was not chosen on the last round was tied with another candidate. He put forward the name of the candidate that had the most seniority. In his mind that was the proper tie breaker in this situation. Both of these candidates were well suited for the positions. That person would be one of these promotions. He would continue to go straight down the list unless there was some reason not to. Right now, he doesn’t see that there would be one. Councilor Faretra asked about the Deputy Chief position. Chief McNamara said he would like to move on that as soon as possible. He would probably need a little bit of guidance from the people in this room in terms of the process. In his mind once you create the position he’d like to move on putting forth a name to the Mayor for consideration and if the Mayor is so inclined to submit that name to Council. Some negotiation would have to go on behind the scene in terms of what a potential contract might look like similar to what he went through months ago. But eventually it would go in front of this Council for approval. He’d like to see that happen sooner rather than later but there are additional steps that we need to take. 11 METHUEN CITY COUNCIL REGULAR MEETING MONDAY, MARCH 7, 2022 @ 7:00 P.M. GREAT HALL, SEARLES BUILDING Councilor Saffie said they would not be in the Superiors’ Union. “Is that what you’re saying?” Chief McNamara responded, not in the Superiors’ Union. They would be selected from within the Superiors’ Union. By virtue of taking this job, the individual would be removed from the union. Councilor Saffie asked if the Chief sees this position mirroring what his position is, meaning they can’t acquire overtime. It is a 24/7 type role. Chief McNamara responded he doesn’t think traditional overtime is appropriate. There is another discussion that perhaps is appropriate relative to private work that could occur. That is something that would be negotiated and the contract discussions that would take place. Councilor Saffie you mean private work that the taxpayers aren’t paying for it. Chief indirectly you could argue that the taxpayer is paying for it – he is referring to is the type of road job – it is not coming directly from the city budget; but he has often said that it is taxpayers’ dollar. You can argue that the taxpayers pay it because they perhaps pay it in the form of hire bills. He sees it as a different pot himself. It perhaps would be appropriate but that is a discussion we’ll have to have at a later time. Councilor Saffie this is kind of premature. You kind of touched upon it but the salary for this, this isn’t set – this is still negotiable, right? Chief McNamara said he believes it to be, yes. Councilor DiZoglio said it speaks kudos to the Chief to hear that people are transferring to Methuen not from Methuen. He was not present at the public safety committee meeting. He was out of town and apologized. He very much agrees with the Chief’s proposal and loved what he heard from the committee. The one thing he is really confused about is the Deputy Chief position. It is not a contract position but its going to be a contract and Council is going to approve a salary. He asked how that works with a contract, if we put a salary scale for Deputy Chief position where it is going to be contract. Maggie Duprey, CAFO, said her opinion would be that it would go forward, we have a handful of contracted employees. This would be one of those employees where the contract would come forward to Council for approval and appointment to the position and then that would be added as a separate piece of the Wage and Salary Classification, similar to Chief’s position and hers. Councilor DiZoglio said the Chief would recommend. The Mayor would appoint. Council would approve. Maggie Duprey said that is her understanding of how it would go. Solicitor Rossetti agreed. Councilor McCarty thanked the Chief for including the Council every step of the way. This is an implementation of the audit the city paid to have done. Council had a Workshop and Special Meetings on this. The Chief was able to give Council a forecast of different variations of the plan throughout the years. To him, this seems like a proper proposal. He thanked the Chief for “no surprises” or anything like that. He is happy to see positions added on the lower half of the department as far as Sergeant and Patrol – he speaks to a handful of patrolmen on a regular basis and some of them are panicking because as people retire you need that farm system to keep the rank replenished. He thanked the Chief for that. It doesn’t wear out the patrol and its ultimately the best service for the residents. 12 METHUEN CITY COUNCIL REGULAR MEETING MONDAY, MARCH 7, 2022 @ 7:00 P.M. GREAT HALL, SEARLES BUILDING Councilor Simard commented that the Chief is doing what the audit is telling him to do. He can see it across the city. People come to him saying that things have changed. They have a lot of respect for the police department, the work you and your officers are doing and he sees within the department that the culture is changing which is the most important thing, morale is up and its very important, especially when you are answering calls for service and you’re knowing that the public is behind you, the government is behind you. It is just good to see. One thing to note is the Deputy Chief will be non-civil service. Chief McNamara said that is his vision. He doesn’t think it is appropriate for that position to be civil service. He’d like to see it be a contract position, perhaps coterminous with the Chief’s contract at some point. Councilor Finocchiaro said she had a procedural question. If you look at the agenda that was printed out for Council it says “An Ordinance to restructure the Methuen police department to create additional police positions, per reorg, six patrol, two sergeants, ?” and it doesn’t say the rest of the information, the one Deputy Chief, remove one Captain position. “Is that okay if we actually pass this as is? “She asked if this was posted correctly, maybe updated from the version the Council has. Is there anything that we need to say in advance in case this becomes an issue. Chairman Beauregard noted this was a draft agenda that was sent out with the packet. The item that is posted on the bulletin board and also online has the full accounting of what the reorg ordinance would do. What was publicly presented did include the full rundown. It was the 48- hour requirement. Councilor Saffie noted for the record she has an appearance of a conflict. She took the civil service exam and her name is on the list. She has no intention of pursuing that. UPON ROLL CALL VOTE: UNANIMOUS Chief McNamara thanked everyone for their efforts and support. TO-22-12 An Ordinance Amending Wage and Salary Classification Plan, Middle Management Legal Assistant MOTION BY: Councilor Zeigler, seconded by Councilor Faretra to adopt. Councilor Finocchiaro asked for some background on this. The Mayor noted it was brought to him and he approved it. Solicitor Rossetti said it was brought to his attention that the salary classification for the legal assistant hasn’t been updated, with the exception of COLAs, since on or about 2005. Given the change in market rates for top legal assistants and in consultation with his own staff, including the excellent service we get from our legal assistant, Carmen Ortega, he felt it was appropriate that the classification be adjusted to reflect market rates based on each of the quadrants depending upon experience and qualifications and certainly Ms. Ortega falls within the top quadrant in the classification. This is long overdue and he appreciates very much the Council’s consideration of this proposed ordinance. Councilor Finocchiaro thank you for that background. She always does an excellent job. Solicitor Rossetti added that one of the keys here too for the Council is that not only does she provide invaluable service to the assistant solicitor and him; but she is also does invaluable 13 METHUEN CITY COUNCIL REGULAR MEETING MONDAY, MARCH 7, 2022 @ 7:00 P.M. GREAT HALL, SEARLES BUILDING work for the Council as well, helping with putting agendas and packages together and helping out with research. He has witnessed that firsthand. Councilor Simard said with all the uncertainty and transition that we’ve had in the legal department, Ms. Ortega has been the glue that has held us together during this transition and that is very deserving. It has been since 2005 and she is very worthy or a raise. Councilor Saba said he has worked with Carmen for over four years and is glad the Solicitor mentioned her other contributions to the city. She has stepped in when Linda wasn’t available and has done a phenomenal job for this Council.. She is a remarkable person who has a lot of skills that the city relies on. This is way overdue and he is glad this is happening tonight. CAFO, Maggie Duprey, noted that the Legal Personal Services budget line does not have the funding for this increase for Fiscal Year 2022 budget. She would anticipate working with the Solicitor to have a transfer put on the next Council agenda in order to move funding in for this position. Solicitor Rossetti said he conferred with the CAFO and there would be sufficient funding for an intradepartmental transfer from City Council Personal Services to Legal Department Personal Services because there was a budgeted line item for assistant clerk of Council and nine months have lapsed without an assistant clerk for Council. The funding is available. Councilor DiZoglio said Carmen has always been a pleasure to work with and speak to. Chairman Beauregard she is an outstanding employee, long overdue. UPON ROLL CALL VOTE: UNANIMOUS Request of Councilors – Councilor Faretra asked the Mayor to follow up on the Cardboard item mentioned during public participation and reach out to Mr. Bower to get that rectified. Mayor Perry explained that the changes/fees Council approved were not going to be implemented until April lst. Councilor Faretra noted they were in place within 48 hours. Mayor Perry said he would follow up. Any Other Business for the Good and Welfare of the Community Councilor Zeigler reported there was a COVID Memorial Ceremony held on March 1, 2022 for residents who were victim to COVID 19. She thanked Councilors, residents, and community members who attended and were able to share their experience and who were able to mourn together and heal as a community. On March 25, 2022 there will be a “Credit for Life Fair” and are looking for volunteers. If you are available, it is a three-hour time block at the high school starting at 7:30p.m. Individuals may reach out to the high school and sign up. On March 24th and 25th 2022 there is the Methuen Scholarship Telethon. Anyone donating a minimum of $50 would receive a certificate for a large cheese pizza from Batta Bing. 14 METHUEN CITY COUNCIL REGULAR MEETING MONDAY, MARCH 7, 2022 @ 7:00 P.M. GREAT HALL, SEARLES BUILDING Adjourn MOTION BY: Councilor DiZoglio, seconded by Councilor Zeigler to adjourn. UPON VOTE: UNANIMOUS I do hereby certify that at a meeting of which a quorum was present, the foregoing minutes were approved by the Methuen City Council by a unanimous vote on March 21, 2022. Linda Gagnon COUNCIL CLERK 15