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03-16-2015 REGULAR COUNCIL MEETINGREGULAR MEETING OF THE AGAWAM CITY COUNCIL Minutes dated March 16, 2015 Meeting was called to order by President Johnson at 7:00pm at the Auditorium at the Roberta G. Doering School, 68 Main Street, Agawam. Item A. Roll Call ROLL CALL – 9 PRESENT, 2 ABSENT (Councilors Calabrese and Letellier) Roll Call was taken with the following councilors present: George Bitzas, , Paul Cavallo, James Cichetti, Council President Christopher Johnson, Joseph Mineo, Vice President Dennis Perry, Donald Rheault, Robert Rossi and Anthony Suffriti. Councilors Cecilia Calabrese and Gina Letellier were absent. With nine councilors present, there was a quorum. Item B. Moment of Silence and the Pledge of Allegiance. President Johnson asked for a moment of silence and the Pledge of Allegiance. Item C. Citizen’s Speak Time Two citizens were signed up to speak. The first was Fire Chief Alan Sirois who spoke on TOR-2015-3 stating that this was necessary to update the Code with a more current permitting and fee structure. Without this increase, the taxpayers would end up footing some of the bill. The other speaker was David Peter from Foxboro who is an environmental distressed property redeveloper who spoke in support of TO-2015-14 to help assist in the property assessment of the Games & Lanes property. With this assessment, it might show that now is the right time to clean up this area. Item D. Minutes 1. Regular Council Meeting – March 2, 2015 Motion to approve the March 2, 2015 Regular City Council meeting minutes was made by Councilor Cichetti and seconded by Councilor Rossi. The minutes were approved by a voice vote of: 8 Yes, 0 No and 2 Absent (Councilors Calabrese and Letellier), 1 Abstention (Councilor Rheault) Item E. Declaration from Council President None Item F. Presentation of Petitions, Memorials & Remonstrances 1. TR-2015-1 4 - A Resolution appropriating from the Community Preservation Fund and authorizing the expenditure of Community Preservation Funds for the rehabilitation of the tennis courts at Perry Lane (CPA) Motion to approve made by Councilor Bitzas and seconded by Councilor Cichetti. Councilor Mineo provided a report as Chair of the Finance Committee. He stated his committee vote to send a positive recommendation with a 5-0 vote. Councilor Bitzas stated that this was a great use of CPA funds and that Agawam was instrumental in changing the way CPA could use funds in this way. Councilor Rossi inquired why would we want to use CPA funds for tennis courts that were private and ones that people paid to use as well as that not being town property. He also wanted to know why wouldn’t we use CPA funds towards the high school tennis courts instead which to that Council President reminded him that several months ago the Council passed the funding for the new Athletic Facility at the High School. New tennis courts are a part of that project already and the courts at Perry Lane have been a town facility since the 1980’s. Councilor Mineo agreed there are no fees to play tennis at the Perry Lane tennis courts. Councilor Bitzas mentioned that the CPA app clearly states how it is to be used. Councilor Mineo stated that he would have liked more back up and that anything referred to the Finance Committee from this point forward must have sufficient back up. The vote was 9 YES, 0 N0 and 2 ABSENT (Councilors Calabrese and Letellier) 2. TR-2015-15 - A Resolution accepting a grant from Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts pursuant to Massachusetts General Laws Chapter 44, Section 53A for the Agawam Personnel Department (Mayor) Motion to approve made by Councilor Cichetti and seconded by Councilor Suffriti. Council President Johnson reminded everyone that the amount of this grant was $5000.00. Councilor Bitzas stated that Agawam won this award for converting insurance to save money as well as receiving this grant. Councilor Rossi stated that he wasn’t aware of any negotiating going on and it would have been nice to be informed. He also asked how much the actual savings were? Were they significant? Where is this grant money going? What will it be used for? When these types of decisions are made there should be greater transparency and should be made public. Was this really worth it – it seems as if some are now paying more for medications. The vote was 9 YES, 0 N0 and 2 ABSENT (Councilors Calabrese and Letellier) Item 7. Report of Council Committees None. Item 8. Elections None. Item 9. Public Hearings None. Item 10. Old Business 1. TOR-2015-1 - An Ordinance to amend the Code of the Town of Agawam to add section 180-95A to assist the Council in Zone Change requests involving the Wireless Telecommunications Overlay District (Councilors Rossi, Letellier and Perry) (Referred to Legislative Committee) Motion to approve the second and final reading made by Councilor Cavallo and seconded by Councilors Cichetti and Mineo. The vote was 9 YES, 0 N0 and 2 ABSENT (Councilors Calabrese and Letellier) 2. TO-2015-13 - Budgetary Transfer of $10,000.00 from Health Regular Salaries (#15101-51010) to Health Temporary Salaries (#15101-51020) (Mayor) Motion made by Councilor Rheault and seconded by Councilor Cichetti. Councilor Mineo provided a report as Chair of the Finance Committee. The school nurse at Clark Elementary School resigned. The funds in this account were depleted to cover costs of hiring substitute nurse(s) for the school. They just replaced the full time nurse and this transfer is to replace the funds in that account. The Finance Committee voted 5-0 to send a positive recommendation. The vote was 9 YES, 0 N0 and 2 ABSENT (Councilors Calabrese and Letellier) 3. TO-2015-14 - Budgetary Transfer of $11,994.00 from Reserve Fund (#16605- 57300) to Community Development Professional Services (#11802-52190) (Mayor) Motion to approve made by Councilor Cichetti and seconded by Councilor Cavallo. Councilor Mineo again provided the report for the Finance Committee stating that there was some discussion regarding the item and that his committee voted 5-0 in favor of sending a positive recommendation to the Full Council. Councilor Rossi asked why the town was paying to have this assessment done. Shouldn’t the gentleman interested in purchasing the property pay for this? Councilor Bitzas stated that this isn’t just for the potential buyer but is the necessary step the town has to take for anyone interested in purchasing that property. Councilor Rossi mentioned that he was not questioning the need for this just that maybe the town shouldn’t have to pay for it. Councilor Mineo stated that if we don’t make this investment then no one would want that parcel and that there aren’t many other options out there. The vote was 8 YES, 1 N0 (Councilor Rossi) and 2 ABSENT (Councilors Calabrese and Letellier) 4. TOR-2015-3 - An Ordinance to Amend Chapter 103 of the Code of the Town of Agawam (Mayor) (Two Readings Required) Motion to approve the first reading made by Councilor Cavallo and seconded by Councilor Cichetti. Councilor Cichetti as Chair of the Legislative Committee provided a report noting that the Fire Chief provided a great deal of explanation. His committee voted 4-0 in favor of sending a positive recommendation to the Full Council. Council President Johnson reminded everyone that this was to adopt a new detailed Fire Department permitting and fee schedule and thanked the Chief for his refreshingly detailed memo and supporting information. The vote was 9 YES, 0 N0 AND 2 ABSENT (Councilors Calabrese and Letellier) 5. TOR-2015-4 - An Ordinance to Amend the Code of the Town of Agawam by adding Chapter 178 Fingerprint-based Criminal Record Background Checks (Mayor) (Two Readings Required) Motion to approve the first reading made by Councilor Cavallo and seconded by Councilor Cichetti. Councilor Cichetti as Chair of the Legislative Committee again provided a report stating that a few councilors had some questions however the Police Chief was away and would provide answers to those questions upon his return. He stated that his committee voted 4-0 in favor of sending a positive recommendation to the Full Council. Councilor Suffriti asked since Councilor Letellier had some questions which the Police Chief was unable to answer at this time, wouldn’t it make sense to table the item however Council President Johnson (who was the maker of some of the questions) said he was willing to support the first reading and then get the answers to the questions prior to the second reading and it would have been nice if there had been some back up with this item. The questions are (1) what was the reasoning behind specifying these particular licenses for fingerprinting (2) If the licenses/permits are granted annually, then does fingerprinting have to be done annually as well – maybe every three years would make more sense (3) what is the difference between having CORI checks and FBI fingerprinting. The vote was 9 YES, 0 N0 AND 2 ABSENT (Councilors Calabrese and Letellier) Item 11. New Business 1. TO-2015-15 - Budgetary Transfer of $18,000.00 from DPW Wastewater Professional Services (#22542-52190) to Wastewater Overtime (#22541-51030) for insufficient funds due to extreme weather and emergency standby overtime coverage. (Mayor) Next Agenda, referred to the Finance Committee. Item 12. Any other matter that may legally come before the City Council. Councilor Cichetti as well as many others wished everyone a Happy St. Patrick’s Day. Councilor Mineo congratulated the AHS Boys Hockey team for making it to the State Finals. It was a great hockey team this year. Ditto from Councilor Perry as well as wishing his wife a Happy 36th anniversary. Councilor Rheault send out hockey congratulations stating they outplayed Watertown and could hold their heads high. Councilor Cavallo stated that the joint School Budget Finance Committee/City Council School Budget Committee meeting was moved from April 2nd to March 31st at 6:30 and is open to the entire Council. Councilor Bitzas also congratulated the hockey team and mentioned to be careful out there with the many potholes. Please report these as soon as possible to the DPW or the Mayor’s Office. Adjournment. The Motion to adjourn was moved and seconded all around the house with all in favor of adjourning. The time of adjournment was 7:41pm.