City Council

City of Salem, Massachuse s “Know Your Rights Under the Open Mee ng Law, M.G.L. c. 30A ss. 18-25 and City Ordinance Sec ons 2-2028 through 2-2033.” The City Council Commi ee on administra on and Finance co-posted with the Commi ee of the Whole____________________________________________________________________________ met in the Council Chamber on _Monday February 10, 2025_____________ at ______6:00_______P.M. for the purpose of discussing the ma ers(s) listed below. No ce of this mee ng was posted on _January 30, 2025 __ at ___ 8:58 A.M._ (This mee ng is being recorded) ATTENDANCE From Administra on & Finance Commi ee - Chairperson Merkl, Davis, Sto , Harvey and Watson-Felt. Also, Prosniewski, Morsillo, Hapworth, and Varela (Zoom) along with Dave Kucharsky, Director of Transporta on, Chief of Police Miller and Lt. Tucker. ABSENT WERE: None SUBJECT(S) #35 $80,000.00 to fund Bollard installa on design plans on the Essex Street Pedestrian Mall. These funds would go towards crea ng design plans for bollards and other barriers on the pedestrian mall for controlling tra c, protec ng pedestrians and enhancing security. The project would include xed and retractable bollards. Cost es mates will be included for each op on, allowing the city to determine the best approach for the installa ons. This is in response to events that occurred in New Orleans. Kucharsky - Background - A few months ago I met with Sta from the Mayor's o ce, police and re, as well as DPS, to discuss be er ways to control vehicular access to the pedestrian mall. During our discussion, we had consensus that we essen ally needed to develop a design plan. I suggested, we reach out to one of our on call contractors to see if they had any experience with this. Bowman has experience and they did a study for us using 4 of the access loca ons. We had a discussion and we would like to engage them to put together a design plan for us. If we hire them, we will start with per nent sta and stakeholders walking the site. They will put a design together, help us get bids for the construc on, review the bids with us and oversee the construc on. They have experience in arenas, campuses and ci es in other parts of the country. I don’t know the exact loca ons, but I can get those for you. They will work with the city to be sure the u lity lines aren’t disrupted. There is an ordinance that restricts the vehicular tra c between 11-2 daily and we can cket those people that are viola ng, but the retractable bollards can be put on a mer so we won’t have that problem going forward. Tucker - We currently have signs at each end and we have enforcement down there during the hours of 11-2 but we can’t have someone down there every second. We have issued some ckets and we have given verbal warnings to UPS, FedEx and other delivery drivers. Delivery access is only supposed to be from the west end of the street. Discussion included a need to re-design the pedestrian mall altogether in the future. Not easily accessible for those with mobility issues and tripping hazards for everyone. The stakeholders that are involved in the design and walk through haven’t been iden ed yet, so it was suggested that those that are a ected in Ward 2 be included. Also, there are 5 access points ti ti ti ff ti ffi ti tt ti ti ti ffi ti ti ti tt ti ti ff ti ff fi ti ti ffi tt ti tt ti tt tt ti ti ti fi ti ti ti ti tt ti ti fi where vehicles can drive onto the pedestrian mall but only 3 or 4 are included on current study but the walk through will help to iden fy the loca ons that need to be addressed in the design. There would s ll be emergency access by using the retractable bollards, so the police and re would be able to retract the bollards easily in about 30 seconds. One councilor asked about access from Front St and Derby Square and wonders if Front St. could be closed to vehicles as well but that is not part of this project and there hasn't been any discussion on making Front St. open to only pedestrian tra c. The next place they will look at limi ng vehicle access will be at the Common. There was discussion on limi ng the delivery mes but understand that the delivery vehicles have their own schedule that may con ict with longer hours without access. The council would like to discuss other areas that we should limit vehicle access but Chief Miller said that this is very expensive. The barriers cost about $1000 each and they an cipate that they will need about 700. Most of the bollards will be xed so the underground u li es will only be an issue for the retractable bollards. They would like to have this complete by October 2026 but the police dept. plans to purchase (or borrow from other municipali es) other barriers in the mean me to limit access. Public comment: None. Watson-Felt mo on to referral back to the Council with a posi ve recommenda on, seconded by Harvey. Mo on carriers 5-0. On the mo on of C.Harvey mee ng adjourned at 6:55P.M. ________________________________________________________ (Chairperson) ti ti ti ffi fi ti ti ti ti ti fl ti fi ti ti ti ti ti ti ti ti