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CC MTG MINUTES JANUARY 21 2014 REGULAR MEETING OF THE AGAWAM CITY COUNCIL Minutes dated January 21,2014 President Johnson-I'd call the meeting to order. Item 1. Roll Call President Johnson-I'd ask Barbara to call the Roll please? ROLL CALL•-10 PRESENT, 1 ABSENT(Councilor Leteilier) President Johnson - With ten present, we have a quorum. Councilor Letellier is under the weather this evening. • Item 2. Moment of Silence and the Pledge ofAftlance. President Johnson-I'd ask everyone to rise for a moment of silence and Pledge of Allegiance please? Item 3. Citizen's Speak Time President Johnson -For those who haven't appeared before, as I call, I'd ask you to approach, state your name and address and your comments are limited to five minutes. First is Russell Dupere? Russell Dupere-Good evening. I'm Russell Dupere. I'm labor counsel for the town. Address is 94 North Elm Street in Westfield. I just wanted to give you a brief background of the contract negotiations. I was involved in negotiating all those contracts with the assistance of Vincent Gioscia who's the Solicitor for the town. Negotiations were amicable. The contracts are in line with area settlements, most settlements have been about 4% -6% over three years total, yours is • S% so right in the middle of the range. I think the negotiations were very successful overall. The groups were reasonable to deal with. I think the town did well in negotiations and I think the unions did well as well. If you have any questions of me, you can certainly ask. I'll stay in the audience if anything comes up and I guess the last thing I'd like to add is that it was I think negotiations were done in good faith and I think both parties had a reasonable round of negotiations this time and it was successful. Thank you. President Johnson-Thank you. Next is Janine lacolo? Janine lacolo - Good evening. My name is Janine lacolo and I reside at 95 Park Edge Drive in Feeding Hills. I'm here to report on the Relay for Life for Agawam 2013. In just a couple of days, I'll actually hopefully stand before a large crowd at the Agawam High School to kick off our 2014 season and Pm hoping to see a lot of familiar faces but also many new faces as well review, acknowledge and celebrate this past year and get ready for this coming year. So the Relay for Life of Agawam 2013 was a great success. I'm really proud of what we did. We had 320 participants and 30 registered survivors although we had a lot more purple shirts in the crowd that were not registered. We were fortunate to have recognition of two of our committee members - Mike Lydich was presented with the 2013 American Cancer Society Media Partner Award for Western Massachusetts and I was given the 2013 Sandra C, Labaree New England Volunteer Values Award. Forty-five volunteers in New England states were given that award and 1 • • I was one of them. I was truly honored to receive this award but I assure you I do not work alone. Supported by our ACS staff partner, the Relay for Life Agawam planning committee is some of the most dedicated and amazing people I've ever worked with including 8 year old Kylan who has so much passion, as much passion for fighting cancer as she does for making loom bracelets. Because of everyone's dedication to the Relay for Life of Agawam's mission, I'm thrilled to say that we surpassed last year's goal of$50,000 by almost $18,000! We still have a lot of work to do though. Through the Massachusetts.gov website, the Executive Office of the Health and Human Services maintains the Massachusetts Cancer Registry. This registry collects information • on newly diagnosed cases of cancer in the state and currently the 2005-2009 data is the most current reported. Being a teacher, data certainly interests me so I looked at Agawam's statistics for those years and I was really saddened by the numbers. In our small community of almost 30,000 people,the number of actual cancer cases in those few years were 946. Breast cancer wag the leading cause of cancer in women with 154 cases and prostate cancer lead the charts for men with 126. The combined number of diagnosis in both men and women with lung cancer was 125. That makes almost 400 people with just three types of cancer. It doesn't even take into consideration the 954 expected cases that the American Cancer Society projected. Can you imagine? Almost 2000 Agawam residents suffered through a cancer diagnosis just five short years ago. That makes it approximately one out of every 15 people in town here who have cancer. We all know somebody and they all just popped into your head. It makes me sad to think of the need for support during that time that might not have been found as easily as Relay for Life of Agawam provides now. I'm happy to report that the overall cancer mortality decreased by 2.1% per year for the males and 1.2% for females for that time period per year. While this data may be more than five years old, it remains important to us in understanding what happens in our community. We still have many residents who face each day fighting to see their next birthday. This data is also very personal to me. My brother Jan was part of the 9 males living in Agawam with brain cancer during most of that time. Jan's journey towards a cancer free world was his dream for seventeen years and it's now become my mission. I'm happy to report we're getting close too. The American Cancer Society reported recently that we're seeing the lowest mortality rates in history. Over the last twenty years, there's been a decrease of 20% in cancer-related deaths -- that means 1.3 million loved ones have been spared death. Through ACS and ACS cancer action network advocacy efforts, many accomplishments are impacting and improving the lives of cancer patients and their families. The most significant of these would be the passage of the 2010 Affordable Care Act which among other things prohibits insurance companies from denying coverage for pre-existing conditions and the American Cancer Society had a big part in that. The funds raised through the Relay for Life events help people stay well, get well, find cures and fight back. In 2012, ACS spent $304million on patient support, $97million on detection and treatment, $160million for research and $153million on prevention information and • education. Personal donations contribute 62% from those events such as Relay for Life. I urge all of you to come out to support the many survivors, care givers and volunteers on Friday and Saturday, May 16'h and 17'h at the Agawam High School track as we celebrate, remember and fight back. We have a lot of people in town that we can support and also local communities. 5:00 we'll have our survivor reception and I invite you to come out and see the purple shirts. I thank you for your time and I look forward to seeing you in May. President Johnson—Thank you. Next we have Maurice Cahillane? Maurice Cahillane —Thank you. Good evening. My name is Maurice Cahillane. I live at 86 Atwater Terrace in Springfield and I practice law at Egan, Flannagan & Cohen in Springfield. I'm here tonight representing the Agawam Administrative Union and on behalf of the union, I would urge you to approve the collective bargaining agreement and as Mr. lupere said, the parties negotiated the contract in good faith. It provides for a relatively modest increase in wages. 2 • That increase is the same for all the other unions in town and it's consistent with the wage increases that are being given to public employees in the area and we would urge you to approve . the contract. President Johnson—Thank you. Next is John Connor? John Connor — Good evening, Mr. Chairman. My name is John Connor and I represent the Agawam Police, Maintenance, Clerical and Police Supervisor's Unions. I too am here to strongly urge you to vote in favor of these contracts. I will note that over, since July of 2010, if you were to look at the contract raises of these groups, they would average approximately 1.3% which I would suggest is an extremely modest increase particularly at a time when the cost of health insurance was increasing. I understand that there was a slight decline in the last round on the negotiations with respect to the health insurance but by and large over that period of time, you have seen an increase in health insurance and modest increases in wages. Lastly, I would just point out that particular in the Police Department, there's been a significant decline in number of personnel. When I began representing the Police Department Patrolmen, I believe there were 42 patrolmen that were on staff, there are now 34 patrolmen that are on staff. You will see that similar trends with the Clerical and the Maintenance so what you're seeing is people being paid modest raises, working a lot harder, taking on a lot more responsibility, these are people that live here in the Town of Agawam, they work very hard for the money that they earn and they deserve your support and I strongly urge you to vote in favor of these contracts. Thank you Mr. Chairman. President Johnson—Thank you. Next is Shelley Borgatti-Reed? Shelley Borgatti-Reed — Hi. I'm Shelley Borgatti-Reed, 10 Shelley Lane, Feeding Hills. I'm here to speak about the zoning change that you are going to be voting on for the Walnut Street Ext. area? I think it's a great idea. I think that area needs to be looked at sooner than later, it's been pretty dilapidated for a long time but I've got to say I think you're putting the cart before the horse, you can't have a development there with the Games & Lanes property sitting the way it is and I've been doing some research on Games & Lanes and for us, for EB's and my brother who owns EB's and looks at it every single day, it's awful and we watch people dump things there so at the very least, it needs to be cleaned up. Someone approached my brother and asked him, he just got here so he didn't have a chance to sign up for Citizen's Speak but someone approached him and asked him if he would help clean up, if he would help patrol the property and from what I'm reading in these past newspaper articles, the gentleman that owns that property back in 2012 owed $31,000 in back taxes. I don't know if he still owes money right now but I'm imagining • that if he does, it's quite a bit. So why are we cleaning it up? And why are we responsible for maintaining it when he owns the property? It also says that the DEP has certified that he's out of money. Well I'm not sure how they did that and why aren't they involved in it? Why is it up to the town to take care of Games & Lanes when this gentleman owes back taxes? So that means I can dump stuff in my yard and walk away and say I don't have any money to clean it up. That's just unacceptable to me and I can't believe we don't have any recourse, any legal recourse, of course Councilor Johnson you're a lawyer, I'm not a lawyer, but it can't just sit there because what's gonna happen is the roof's gonna cave in and then there's gonna be a pile of rubble there and everybody's gonna drive by it and look at this pile of rubble, we can't leave it like that! And you can't make a pedestrian shopping center there when the police have been called to that area for 62 times in that Games & Lanes, that's horrible — the crime and the dumping there -- it's atrocious and if you have to look at it every day,you would know what I meant. So I just wanted to say I'm hoping that somebody is proactively because it's up to the town to recourse, to have 3 • • some kind of recourse to go after the person that owes all that back taxes and we shouldn't have to take care of the property and let him fly for all those taxes, I think it's terrible. Thank you. • President Johnson—Thank you. That concludes Citizen Speak Time. Item 4. Minutes 1. Regular Council Meeting—December 16,2013 President Johnson —Is there a Motion? Moved by Councilor Cichetti, seconded by Councilor Mineo. Questions or discussion on the December 16'� minutes? Seeing none, all those in favor say Ay? Any opposed? It's unanimous. 2. Regular Council Meeting—January 6,2014 • President Johnson—Is there a Motion? Moved by Councilor Cichetti, seconded by Councilors Rheault and Mineo. Questions or discussion on the January 6`h minutes? Seeing none, all those in favor say Ay? Any opposed? They're unanimously approved. Item 5. Declaration from Council President • None. Item 6. Presentation of Petitions,Memorials&Remonstrances 1. TR-2013-50 -A Resolution to Appropriate Funds for Agawam Police Supervisors Association,Agawam Clerical Employee's Association,Agawam Department of Public Works Employees' Association,Agawam Police Patrolman's Association,Agawam Building Maintenance Association, Agawam Administrative Union,AFL-CIO,Local 1973 Firefighters' Association(Referred to Council Workshop)(Mayor) President Johnson — Is there a Motion? Moved by Councilor Bitzas, seconded by Councilor Cavallo? Questions or discussion on TR-2013-50? Councilor Bitzas? Councilor Bitzas—Yes, I think, I went through all the contracts here for everybody and I do feel that it is very fair 2% and 1.5% and 1.5% in three years —5% in three years is fair for the town • and I think it's fair for our employees. I know it's difficult times but everything is going up and they have families to support and I think the town can afford in my opinion 2% and 1.5% and 1.5%for three years for those people that do everything for us. I hope we support it. Thank you. President Johnson—Other questions or discussion? Councilor Cavallo? Councilor Cavallo—I also support the raise and one of the reasons why I support the raise is that I can go back at least fifteen years, having worked. in this town as a Principal at the High School and Assistant Principal and being on labor committees and it's always been the feeling and for the past 15-16 years that whatever the School Department got for a raise, it was only fair to give the same amount percentage-wise to the other unions in town and it's been that way for a long time • and I feel that to not give you a raise with all the unions here it only means that we're gonna go back to court, back to negotiate, you negotiate in good faith, we go to court and what if we lose? 4 • • We've got damages to pay, I mean I feel as a Councilor I don't think that's the way to go for the town so tonight I will be voting for the raises for the unions presented here tonight. ! President Johnson—Councilor Rossi? Councilor Rossi -- Yes, Mr. President, I'd just like to have clarification on this Resolution on what it means. Does this simply mean that we're in favor of giving them a raise? I mean there's no dollar amounts where they're coming from. I know that they're later on on the Agenda but what is this Resolution actually mean itself? President Johnson — To be honest with you, I don't know that it has any legal significance because the actual appropriation comes with the transfer that's later on the Agenda. Councilor Rossi -Well that's my point. • President Johnson -- I would also point out for the Council's edification that the listing of the fiscal years in the Resolution is incorrect. Where if you look under the fourth Whereas it should say instead of FY2013,FY2014, FY2015, it should say FY2014, FY2015,FY2016—they are off by a year. • Councilor Bitzas—Can we make a Motion to make an amendment to that Mr. President? President Johnson—If you would like. Councilor Bitzas—I'd like to make an amendment to correct it. President Johnson — So I would take that as a Motion to correct the fourth Whereas clause changing the fiscal years to fiscal 2014, fiscal 2015 and fiscal 2016. Is there a second to the Motion? Motion is made by Councilor Bitzas seconded by Councilor Mineo. So we have the amendment in front of us. To further answer Councilor Rossi's question,they did not provide us with the Attachment A but since the dollar amount matches the transfer I can only assume that they intended the transfer be the Attachment A because if you'll look at the Attachment A amount listed in the Resolution it says $332,164.00 and that's the same amount of the transfer later on on the Agenda and the Resolution purports to approve the funding necessary for the first year of the agreements which totals $332,164.00. Councilor Rossi—But that figure there is taking money from Water& Sewer increases,correct? • President Johnson —No, as far as I'm aware by looking at the Resolution later on the Agenda, it's strictly general fund and that the Water, Sewer and Golf Department appropriations are TR- 2013-54, -55, and -56 which come from their Retained Earnings. So this, in other words, the transfer and the approval of this Resolution doesn't and that funding amount doesn't include the • enterprise funds,the enterprise departments. Councilor Rossi—Okay. That's the $24,000—okay. President Johnson—Councilor Rheault? Councilor Rheault—To further clarify your point then, if the Resolution is adopted as amended, does that mean that the, we need a separate Motion for the funding, is that correct? 5 President Johnson — The actual funding is an item later on the Agenda, it's the actual budget transfer. Councilor Rheault—Because if you approve this with the three amendments, you're approving all three years of the contract even though it only states one,I think, on that. President Johnson—Well,the operative language in the Resolution is the Now Therefore clause and the Now Therefore clause says that we're approving the necessary funds for the first year of the agreements totaling$332,164.00 so my interpretation of that is that we're approving just that- the first year—funding but not to grant legal opinions but if we approve the Resolution and the Collective Bargaining Agreements go into effect, we as a Council can't later say that we want to fund a position less than what's in the Collective Bargaining Agreement. It doesn't mean that we're obligated to fund the total number of positions but we can't say for instance that position A is in the collective bargaining agreement at $10,000 and we want to fund it at $8,000. We're obligated to fund to collective bargaining positions at the rates that are in the collective bargaining agreements if we approve the Resolution for all three years but again, we're not obligated, if there's fifty positions in a particular department, we're not obligated to fund all fifty positions but we couldn't say keep all fifty positions and fund them for less than what's in the collective bargaining agreement per position. Is that clear or too confusing. Councilor Rheault—Well,the other question I will ask on the transfer. President Johnson—Councilor Perry? Councilor Perry — Yes, thank you Mr. President. The way I interpret is we're looking at this Resolution that's before us and basically saying that we're in agreement with the contracts that have been negotiated — year one 2%, year two 1.5%, year three 1.5% plus at the bottom it's saying we agree to the funding for the 2% year one so basically what we're doing with this is we're agreeing to the contracts that have been negotiated, is what my understanding of it is, along with the dollar amount for the first year that will come up with the transfer later on to meet that 2% because what's in the budget currently that we approved back in June, this exceeds it—year one —the 2% - in the salary reserves that we voted on back in June. So that's what this is all about, in my understanding. President Johnson —Yeah, for point of clarification, the budget that we passed was based upon the salaries from the prior year because the collective bargaining wasn't complete at that point, so the funding levels for salaries in the current budget that's approved is based upon the prior year. So this Resolution approves the appropriation for the first year only but it doesn't move the dollar amounts to the particular departments,that's what the transfer does. That's confusing also. Councilor Rheault — My previous recollection in discussion with the Auditor was that if we approve the first year transfer,we in essence have approved the three year contract. President Johnson—That's in essence true but as I just said we can't choose to fund the position for less than what's in the collective bargaining agreement if we approve this but we're under no obligation to fund all the positions. We're only under an obligation that we can't say that we want to reduce the compensation for a police officer or a fire fighter or an administrative assistant or a working foreman or whatever the position, we agree that whatever's in the collective bargaining agreement, that's the rate of pay that we'll approve but we don't have to approve necessarily all the positions that exist in a future budget that's put before us. Councilor Rossi? 6 Councilor Rossi — Yes, I don't have any problems with these salary increases or what's been negotiated 2% is fair with me, my only problem is that I do not want the money coming from Retained Earnings from Water and Sewer and the Golf Course to subsidize those budgets. That's • my only feeling on this and I don't want to be held hostage that if I vote for this that money is, we're obligated to fund that through those enterprise funds. I feel very strongly about that, that this Mayor was very adamant in not funding that Sewer Project there based upon the fact that he didn't want to see water & sewer increases for the residents of this community so if he's not willing to give them sewers to see an increase in water and sewer rates, I don't see why he should • want a raise in water and sewer rates for salary negotiations and if he's gonna negotiate those kinds of raises, he should find the money somewhere else and that's called planning. It's called management. We don't take from Peter to pay Paul, that's my only point here. I have no problems with the percentage increases,just where they come from. President Johnson— Stepping from the Chair,just to address what Councilor Rossi just pointed out, the difficult part is that the only place that you can fund the enterprise funds, the enterprise departments from, would be their Retained Earnings or from the General Fund which would be the taxpayers and since neither the Water, Sewer or Golf Course in theory operate on tax dollars, they operate on fee revenue, whether it be water fees, sewer fees or golf fees, the only place that you could fund the collective bargaining agreements as it relates to those three departments would be from their Retained Earnings because their Retained Earnings is similar to the town's "Free • Cash". So that's relative to those three departments. Relative to the item of Agenda,my problem with the item of Agenda is that we as a Council during the budget process last year set the amount of funding for collective bargaining. We as a Council approved a cut to that funding and that cut was ignored by the powers that be in negotiating these collective bargaining agreements so in my opinion it goes strictly to the integrity of our budget approval process. If we approve this then in my opinion why bother holding workshops, let's just hold a Public Hearing, approve whatever's submitted to us because our primary function is that of being the appropriating authority for the town and we decided before the collective bargaining was completed what the amount that we as the appropriating authority wanted to set aside and this request substantially exceeds what we set apart. That's my problem. Back into the Chair, further questions or discussion on TR 2013-50? Councilor Bitzas? Councilor Bitzas—Yes, Mr. President, with all my respect to the Council and those people who are going to vote pretty soon, if we don't have a problem with the salaries, then you should support this but if you say you have a problem with a, b and c, then you're not supporting it. It's very simple. If we send it back to the Mayor, what will happen? We cannot tell him what to cut or renegotiate because there'll probably be lawsuits. So if you really increases are so,they're not • so small, they're very fair increases 2%, 1.5%, 1.5% - 5% in three years — I think you should support it, in my opinion, but I'm not going to tell you how to vote but I'm still supporting it and I believe we can find the sources and we can fund it. Thank you. President Johnson — Further questions or discussion? Seeing none, oh, excuse me, Councilor Perry? Councilor Perry—Thank you Mr. President. I understand what you're saying George and I have no problem, I know the employees of our community work very hard = police, fire, DPW, administrative,they all do,they work very hard but we sat here back in June. We were presented with a budget and in that budget meeting; we sat here and discussed different cuts, okay? The cuts that were proposed were reducing the Salary Reserve on the town side and on the school side and on the reserve. The cuts that were recommended were to bring the tax levy even so there would be NO tax increases to residential, commercial or industrial. If all three of those cuts took 7 • • place, the taxes to everyone would have remained the same and those recommendations were made on the fact that we were not cutting any jobs, any departments' requests or anything of that nature. The wisdom of this Council was to cut from the Salary Reserve on the town side from the Reserve Fund and leave the school side alone. We made those decisions back in June and basically said this is what you have to negotiate with. They went to the collective bargaining table and said we don't care what the Council says, we're gonna negotiate whatever we want which far exceeded what we gave them to negotiate with and as Council President said and I've said over the eighteen years I've sat up here, the biggest thing that we face as a Council is our annual Operating Budget. That's the biggest thing that we have to make decisions on. We made decisions back in June and we were basically said we don't care what you decide,we're gonna do this anyways. To me that's a slap in the face. If your boss said to you, you've got x amount of dollars for this project and you came back and said well it cost$300,000 more, oh well, because this is what I wanted to do. What would your boss do? You wouldn't be there much longer and that's the point I'm trying to make to the Council. We have to stand up for the decision we made back in June. So something to think about. Thanks! President Johnson—Councilor Cavallo? Councilor Cavallo—Yeah that was July 7 h I believe and I was the one who spoke up not voting for a cut on the School Department and that was voted in favor not to cut the$300,000.00. There • was a second vote cutting$150,000 I forgot the amount of money as you were saying Dennis on the town side. Well I can go on record that I voted against that. I know the whole Council majority of people voted but I voted against that and I just want to make it clear that the votes that were taken that night, so the School Department cut was not done that night because the Council voted not to do anything to the School Department's budget for negotiations. Then there was a • second vote with the town side and that's when the reduction was made but personally and I'll state it right now, I did not vote for that. So I stand here today voting to appropriate this amount for the raises for the unions. President Johnson—Further discussion? Any further discussion? Seeing none,we first have the amendment which is to amend the fiscal years noted in the Resolution from 2013, 2014, 2015 to # 2014, 2015, 2016, if you're in favor of the amendment to the Resolution, vote yes. If you're opposed,vote no. I'd ask Barbara to call the Roll on the amendment please? ROLL CALL—10 YES,0 NO, 1 ABSENT(Councilor Letellier) President Johnson — With a vote of ten yes, you've approved the amendment. We are now to • TR-2013-50 as amended, again if you're in favor of the Resolution, vote yes. If you're opposed, vote no. I'd ask Barbara to call the Roll please? ROLL CALL — 5 YES (Councilors Bitzas, Cavallo, Cichetti, Mineo and Suffriti), 5 NO (Councilors Calabrese, Johnson, Perry, Rheault and Rossi), 1 ABSENT (Councilor Letellier) President Johnson—With a vote of five yes, five no,you've defeated the Resolution. 2. TR-2013-52 -A Resolution confirming the Appointment of Tricia O'Grady-Howard, 121 Reed Street,Agawam,MA 01001 to Planning Board to a Term Expiring January 1,2018 (Mayor) 8 • President Johnson —Is there a Motion? Moved by Councilor Rheault, seconded by Councilor Perry. Questions or discussion on TR-2013-52? Stepping from the Chair for those who weren't • at the workshop, Deb Dachos said that this individual is a landscape architect and she feels that she will be a very valuable addition to the Planning Board. Seeing no further discussion, if you're in favor of the Resolution, vote yes. If you're opposed, vote no. I'd ask Barbara to call the Roll on TR-2013-52? ROLL CALL—10 YES,0 NO, 1 ABSENT (Councilor Letellier) President Johnson--With a vote of ten yes,you've approved TR-2013-52. 3. TR-2013-53 -A Resolution accepting a grant from the Commonwealth of Massachusetts State 911 Department pursuant to Massachusetts General Laws Chapter 44, Section 53A to the Agawam Police Department(Mayor) i President Johnson — Is there a Motion? Motion made by Councilor Rheault, seconded by Councilors Cichetti and Rossi. The grant amount is $52,083, Questions or discussion on the grant? Seeing none, if you're in favor of accepting the grant, vote yes. If you're opposed, vote no. I'd ask Barbara to call the Roll please? ROLL CALL—10 YES,0 NO, 1 ABSENT(Councilor Letellier) President Johnson—With a vote of ten yes and one absent, you've approved TR-2013-53. 4. TR-2013-54 -A Resolution to appropriate$4,547.00 from AgawamGolf Course's Retained Earnings Account to fund the Agawam Golf Course's Regular permanent,Golf Overtime Accounts(Referred to Council Workshop)(Mayor) President Johnson — Is there a Motion? Motion made by Councilor Rheault, seconded by Councilor Suffriti. This Resolution has the same errors that TR-2013-50 did so the Chair would entertain a Motion to amend to correct the fiscal year references? Moved by Councilor Calabrese, seconded by Councilor Rheault. Questions or discussion on the amendment alone? Seeing none, without objection, I'll do it by voice vote. All in favor of the amendment say Ay? Opposed? The amendment passes unanimously. We are now to TR-2013-54 as amended. Further questions or discussion? Seeing none, if you're in favor of the Resolution, vote yes. If • you're opposed,vote no. I'd ask Barbara to call the Roll please? ROLL CALL—b YES (Councilors Bitzas, Cavallo,Cichetti,Mineo,Rheault and Suffriti),4 NO (Councilors Calabrese,Johnson,Perry and Rossi), 1 ABSENT(Councilor Letellier) President Johnson — With a vote of six yes, four no and one absent, you've approved the Resolution to appropriate$4,547.00 from Retained Earnings to regular permanent and overtime. 5. TR-2013-55 -A Resolution to appropriate$8,040.00 from theAgawam Wastewater Department's Retained Earnings Account to fund the Agawam Wastewater Department Regular Permanent,Regular Temporary and Wastewater Overtime accounts(Referred to Council Workshop) • (Mayor) 9 0 r President Johnson — Is there a Motion? Moved by Councilor Bitzas, seconded by Councilors Mineo and Cavallo. Same errors with the references, so the Chair would entertain a Motion to amend the fiscal year references? Made by Councilor Calabrese, seconded by Councilor Suffriti, all those in favor of the amendment, say Ay? Opposed? The amendment has passed, we're now to the main Motion as amended. Questions or discussion on TR-2013-55? Councilor Cavallo was your light just on? I didn't know whether you had comments. Councilor Perry? Councilor Perry—Yes,thank you Mr. President. Again,these,what we're looking at here is the negotiated 2%, 1.5%, 1.5% and this money that we're transferring is to appropriate the funding for those contracts so I just wanted to make sure that everybody knew that they're voting on the actual contracts for those particular departments and the raises that go along with it. I know we just basically told the police, fire, DPW and everybody else no but again,just keep in mind these are the contracts that we're voting on—the 2%for fiscal 14 which this money will cover for those raises and then the 1.5% and 1.5%will go in effect over the next two years so just wanted to keep everybody, and remind them that that's what they're voting on. Thank you. President Johnson — Other discussion on TR-2013-55? Seeing none if you're in favor of the Motion as amended, vote yes. If you're opposed, vote no. I'd ask Barbara to call the Roll please? ROLL CALL — 5 YES (Councilors Bitzas, Cavallo, Cichetti, Mineo and Suffriti), 5 NO (Councilors Calabrese, Johnson, Perry, Rheault and Rossi), 1 ABSENT (Councilor Letellier) President Johnson—With a vote of five yes, five no,you've defeated TR-2013-55. 6. TR-2013-56 -A Resolution to appropriate$11,832.00 from the Agawam Water Department Retained Earnings account to fund Agawam Water Department's Regular Permanent,Regular Temporary and Water Overtime accounts(Referred to Council Workshop) (Mayor) i President Johnson — Is there a Motion? Moved by Councilor Bitzas, seconded by Councilor Cavallo. Again, the same incorrect references, so the Chair would entertain a Motion to amend the fiscal year references —moved by Councilor Calabrese, seconded by Councilor Suffriti. All in favor of the amendment only say Ay? Any opposed? The amendment only passes. Questions or discussion on TR-2013-56 as amended? Seeing none, if you're in favor of the Resolution,vote yes. If you're opposed,vote no. I'd ask Barbara to call the Roll please? • ROLL CALL — 5 YES (Councilors Bitzas, Cavallo, Cichetti, Mineo and Suffriti), 5 NO (Councilors Calabrese, Johnson, Perry, Rheault and Rossi), 1 ABSENT (Councilor Letellier) . President Johnson—With a vote of five yes, five no,you've defeated TR-2013-56. Item 7. Report of Council Committees None. Item 8. Elections None. 10 • ******* Please see Item#4 ******* i President Johnson — Councilor Rheault has raised a question regarding TR-2013-54 about a Motion for reconsideration. The Yes votes were the prevailing side so to reconsider there would have to be a Motion and a second from the prevailing side to reconsider. Councilor Rheault has made a Motion to reconsider TR-2013-54. Is there a second from the Yes side? Councilor Rheault--It doesn't have to be from the Yes side I don't think. President Johnson—I believe that the Motion and the Second has to be from the prevailing side. I don't have my Robert's Rules of Order Book with me but that's my belief. If you hang on a minute, I will see if it's in our Rules. Councilor Rossi—If the Chair pleases? • President Johnson—Councilor Rossi? Councilor Rossi—Why don't we go into recess? President Johnson—If it's the Council's pleasure, I'd be happy to take a two minute recess. We • have a Motion to recess by Councilor Calabrese, seconded by Councilor Rossi. All those in favor say Ay? Opposed? We stand in recess. Thank you Councilor Rossi. President Johnson — I bring us back into session. Councilor Rossi has Robert's Rules and in reviewing Robert's Rules on a Motion for reconsideration, Councilor Rheault was correct, the Motion must be made by someone who voted on the prevailing side but it only requires a second and the second need not be from the prevailing side. So, I have it here if anyone wants to review it but we just reviewed it the Vice President and I so at this point, Councilor Rheault has made the Motion to reconsider TR 2013-54, is there a second to the Motion? Motion made by Councilor Rheault, seconded by Councilors Calabrese and Rossi. We're back to TR-2013-54 as amended. Again if you're in favor of the Resolution, vote yes. If you're opposed vote no. I'd ask Barbara to call the Roll please on TR-2013-54? ROLL CALL — 5 YES (Councilors Bitzas, Cavallo, Cichetti, Mineo and Suffriti), 5 NO (Councilors Calabrese, Johnson, Perry, Rheault and Rossi), 1 ABSENT (Councilor Letellier) • President Johnson—With a vote of five yes, five no,you've defeated TR-2013-54. Item 9. Public Hearings 1. PH-2013-16(TOR-2013-8) —An Ordinance to Amend the Code of the • Town of Agawam Zoning Ordinances§180; Mixed Use Business District (Public Hearing continued 12116/13) (Tabled 12/16/13) (Referred to Joint Council Workshop with PB) President Johnson—The Public Hearing was continued from our December 16t`meeting and the item was tabled at our December 16'h meeting. Is there a Motion to take the item off the table? Moved by Councilor Rossi, seconded by Councilor Perry. All in favor of taking the item off the table say Ay, any opposed? At this point, the Public Hearing is still open. The Chair would ask I1 • • if there's anyone in the audience who wishes to come forward and speak in favor of TOR-2013- 8? Corinne Wingard — Good evening. My name is Corinne Wingard. I live at 194 Elm Street in Agawam. I'm here because I feel there's just no down side to passing this Ordinance to create a new mixed use Business C zoning district. We would lose nothing. Nothing bad can happen if we pass this but there would be tremendous positives through the town. I think there's five main ways that this is good for the town and the first and most important way is it would help solve the Games &. Lanes problem. Under the current zoning, there are very few uses for that property. Under the new zoning, there would be, it would allow more options and more uses so that it makes it more attractive to a potential buyer cuz they have more options of what they can do with the property. It would also send a positive message to businesses and it would create a more attractive gateway to our town. It would increase the supply and variety of market rate apartment type housing especially for young professionals and seniors and it would again importantly make • us eligible to get infrastructure funding from the state. So I was going to go like this 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 5 is thumbs up but I'm not that coordinated but I would hope you give a thumbs up because this is a terrific opportunity. Thank you very much. President Johnson—Thank you. Anyone else wishing to speak in favor of the mixed use? • Ed Borgatti —Hi. My name is Ed Borgatti, 135 Franklin Street. Forgive me, I didn't plan on speaking tonight so I might be a little bit all over the place but I just want to say I'm 100% for the zone change. I just think it's way down the road. I think you have a lot more issues there than worrying about a zone change. First of all a fence maybe would work if you don't have anything immediate maybe some basic cleanup of the property. How you make that happen? That's your job but it needs to be cleaned up. It's an embarrassment. I have people tell me it's an embarrassment and I get upset talking about it. So if a fence going up would be a huge plus for the area to start. I don't think it's a lot to ask for as far as saying that that's people's livelihood to have that parking lot, that is absolutely absurd. The livelihood of those businesses relies on getting rid of that building not worried about what people are parking there or not. That's just the most unbelievable thing I've ever heard and as far as making a Northampton area, we're signing ten year leases with Dollar Stores and Salvation Armies, you'll never see a Northampton type environment there. First of all, if you want quality retail there you've gotta do something about that Sullivan Bridge. You've gotta widen it, you've gotta get on that. I know there was discussion of that at one time but that needs to be addressed again and somebody needs to get on it because that needs to be opened up so people can come in to Agawam. In defense of people who don't want retail or whatever, it is true that there's a certain non-quality retail that you're just • not gonna get because it's just not accessible and I know a lot of you know that but opening that Sullivan Bridge would be huge. Also, the contamination issue, to use that as an excuse it's just absurd, I am for the mixed use zoning but I think it should be held off so you put your feet to the fire that makes you have to clean that area up. Don't put a feather in the cap and say, I know a lot of you grew up here, I grew up here, I went to school here and please, step outside the box and look at the area from somebody who grew up in Agawam. Understand how bad it is. Main Street's looking good, Feeding Hills looks good, what is the problem down there? There's gotta be something that can be done. Don't be told that you can't do anything and then change it to mixed use and look like there's a feather in the cap saying oh we're making a change—you're not making a change until it gets cleaned up. It needs immediate cleaning! I'm ready to go over there with a truck, I know I talked to Jimmy, going over there with a truck and making dump runs myself and kudos to like Gina and Bob Rossi that spoke up and actually said that needs to be cleaned up first. It absolutely needs to be cleaned up first. If you want to vote for your zone change tonight fine but if you don't clean it up, that's the sad part. It really, really needs to be 12 • r cleaned up. Let me just make sure I covered everything. I think I did. Alright, I think I'm good but I really just want it to get cleaned up because I really get a lot of people, I hear a lot of people, I think I give a lot back to the community. I'm not trying to toot my own horn but in the last two years, we gave back $17,000 to this local community to all the sports team and everything just doing our give back Mondays. I need to have a vibrant area there to continue to do my business. We're doing great, I'm not denying that but I'm working hard because it's not, I don't have a business where people are driving by and popping in, it has to be a destination and we had to promote it that way to make it a destination because we certainly don't have any traffic driving r by. So if you think it's easy to do business down there go look around at what's come and gone, just in the last two years, so we work hard down there. I know that Letellian Jewelers,Rene over at Hair & Co., we've all been there for twenty-five years and we work at it and we have a cafd down there now doing great. She's awesome but she complains also that you're just looking at that place every single day and I go in that cafd and she looks right at it and it's just so frustrating. Please get it cleaned up. Please. Thank you. President Johnson — Thank you. Anyone else wishing to speak in favor of the mixed use business district? Seeing none, anyone wishing to speak in opposition to the mixed use business district? Anyone wishing to be recorded in name only in favor of the mixed use business district? Seeing none, anyone wishing to be recorded in name only in opposition? Seeing none, I hearby close the Public Hearing. We have before us TOR-2013-8. I'm not sure if back in December we had a Motion to approve it or not, so the Chair would entertain a Motion to approve. Motion made by Councilor Cavallo, seconded by Councilor Bitzas. This is an Ordinance amendment and requires two readings so this would be to approve the first of the two readings. Questions or discussion on—Councilor Rossi? Councilor Rossi —Thank you. The Walnut Street Shopping Center I have given a great deal of consideration and thought on this to the point where I've even woken up a couple times early and that's totally unacceptable to me. Listening to Mr. Borgatti speak over there, he hit a few nails right on the head. To promote a zone change at this point in time would be a huge, huge mistake. A zone change isn't gonna solve the problems down there. When you touched on the volumes of traffic over at the Sullivan Bridge, that's only the spear of the iceberg, of the sword, you have to look at the volumes of traffic coming down Springfield Street, congestion on the intersection down there. You have to look at the volumes of traffic on Suffield Street and the egress and access that they have in that they have in that area. You have to look at the way that shopping center is set up. Whoever planned that thing and developed that thing had absolutely no vision whatsoever, totally no vision, that is not a shopping center. When Ed Borgatti said that his store is a destination, that's exactly the way that thing was developed. That is nothing more than three • small strip malls, strip centers, with no coherence whatsoever. The only thing that they have in common is the proximity to one another. If you want to get that thing done, if you want to get that shopping center vibrant again, because it has been vulnerable since the day it has begun and over the years,through all of the further growth and the inability of Agawam to stay competitive, we've lost a great deal down there. We used to have the Food Mart to draw a lot of traffic down there, destination traffic, Zayre's —destination, every store that was down there even if you went to those anchor stores, no one would ever park over there and look, they wouldn't, if you walk out of Dave's Pet Food City and you say to your partner, your wife or whoever you may be with, what do you say we get something to eat, you can't even see his building from there! People will be talking about going someplace else to get something to eat when you got a fine establishment right there in the same shopping center but they would never see it. If you want to get that place cleaned up the first thing you need to do is you need to get that building out of there,you need to tear that building down and bulldoze it so you never even knew it was there,that's the first thing. The second thing you need to do is you need to partner with Mass Highway because the only way 13 r you're ever gonna get traffic into that place and have pedestrian accessibility is to partner with Mass Highway. You have to restructure the interior, the flowing of the traffic on the inside, we talked about at one time making part of that one way to come in and go out and have exits out towards the hill and out towards Suffield Street and have entrance only off of Springfield Street, all of those things have to be considered and another thing that you really need down there and it's desperately needed it over the years is you gotta have a Merchants Association or an Owners Association so everybody can get together and get on one page and fix those facades up, maybe put some awnings up, maybe talk about putting some industrial, that goes with one another that entices someone to shop, for someone to stay in the area. Those are all problems that have to be looked at and I'm gonna tell you something, mixed zoning isn't the answer for that, not now not ever will be the answer for that. Maybe in a suburban setting mixed zoning probably would go well because they were forced in that years ago, that's the way we were brought up, that's the our society developed through mixed zoning, where people lived above the storefronts and they walked across the street to the mills,that's not a trend here for Agawam, a suburban community, that's not the way, we're not looking for residential, is that what we're looking for? Apartments above those buildings? You want to put mixed retail and mixed commercial, that's fine, but we don't need rentals up there, but I'm getting away from the subject, the point I'm trying to make is this, mixed zoning isn't the answer. It's not going to be the answer right now and if we go ahead and create a zoning, a district for mixed zoning, all we're going to do now is further complicate an already over-burdened zoning that we have in this community right now and I don't think there's anybody on this panel right now that doesn't agree that we've got some very serious problems in our zoning laws and this is just gonna further complicate it because if we pass this, it's not gonna stay with the Food Mart area, it can go anywhere in the community, it's a by right. Any development you want to make in the Games & Lanes area,you don't need a zone change to do,you really don't. This City Council and this Planning Department can get together, put their heads together and come up with anything that we need necessary to get a viable building in there or make it a park, I don't care, make it whatever you want to do with it but mixed zoning is not the answer and if this Council goes ahead and makes it right now, it's a huge, huge mistake. Get rid of that building and let's partner up with some other organizations and start making some real progress down there. President Johnson--Councilor Calabrese,then Councilor Bitzas? Councilor Calabrese — Okay, yeah what Mr. Borgatti and Councilor Rossi here have been saying here tonight make so much sense. I've really been mulling this one over a lot and I've gotta tell you I've been kind of going back and forth, yes, no, yes, no, some things about it I really like, other things I'm thinking is it really necessary? But for me it's coming down to a r matter of priority and priority number one has got to be doing something with that Games & Lanes, I mean it's been sitting down there like a hulking heap for years. I can remember having my son's kindergarten birthday party there, well the kid's now in college and that fire happened shortly after his birthday so I mean it's ridiculous. While I was inclined to favor this mixed use zoning, I think it's too soon, I think it's moving in the right direction but not at the right time, so I'm actually going to be voting no tonight even though I kind of like the concept of what's going on here only because we've really gotta put pressure on getting that Games & Lanes property cleaned up so that the businesses down there on Walnut Street Ext. can have a neighborhood that they can be proud of again. I mean they've already got wonderful businesses that they're proud of,they deserve to have a decent surrounding in which to do business. Thank you. i President Johnson—Councilor Bitzas? 14 • Councilor Bitzas — Yes, Mr. President, I don't know if you Councilors went through all this information that we got and all the positives that would come with the mixed zoning. I don't think any businesses are against that, the only problem he said is to clear the zoning, the old building which I agree with you should be as soon as possible but if we don't do this, the mixed zone change,that would delay it a lot longer and that area would be more depressed for years and years to come, This is to be a saver for that area. This is to be a concept, I can see it, so people go there and walk around with sidewalks and pedestrians and cafes and shops, being the New England character of the town, to be a destination point, to have every single restaurant there or • every single businesses and we attract more businesses and if pass this mixed zone, it's a great opportunity now, we expedite Games & Lanes property for somebody to get it and use it, even as a parking lot to make a park in there or something, you make money for them so this is, my opinion, it is a very,very plus and I think if you agree and you say yes, I agree we like this but we wait, you don't do us a favor and you don't do a favor to the town too. That area is so bad, needs something and if instead, if you bring a quality development, more quality developments will • come. Agawam is a beautiful, beautiful town to live and raise our families, if we have something attractive there, the people of Agawam we would patronize, they'd be there with the kids, with the carriages, go around, socialize,have gardens,walks, this is two examples in the South Hadley village and it said the Village Commons is an outstanding example of mixed use development in South Hadley center which includes retail shops and restaurants, a movie theater as well as ...component, it is designed to fit compactly all the small site and town commons and well defined street lined, pedestrian friendly features and parking in the back. Then we have another one, I'm not going to read everything, ,.,Commons in Amherst with the same idea. It is absolutely, we should go with all this information that we have and I believe Mr, President, we had a workshop and I believe we had a great presentation from the Planner and I would like to see somebody for the record to say to the people, what the workshop was, make some report, * unfortunately I was not there, I was working late, but somebody should make some report about the presentation. We make a big mistake, if you really want to see that area developed and be nice to help all the surrounding businesses and community, we have to make the first step to the right direction, one step forwards not stop and go backwards for many, many years to be there. Thank you. President Johnson—Councilor Rheault,then Mineo? Councilor Rheault — Yeah, well, if you want somebody that was at the workshop, I was there and I didn't hear an awful lot that really turned me on. I think that the comments by Shelley and Ed and Councilor Rossi are very valid. I think it would be a serious mistake to change the zoning and then leave the eyesore there. The real problem is Games&Lanes. You've got to get that out of there. Unfortunately, the Mayor is not gonna step in and get involved. He wants no part to it so it's up to this Council to do something with regards to it. What that answer is I don't know yet but we've got to put our heads together. As far as comparing it to South Hadley and to Amherst, those are college towns; we've got a different total atmosphere. Look across the street from our shopping center and what do we got? The Agawam Motor Lodge and Medallion across the street? So and the widening of that bridge is on the plans so it would be incumbent on us to get together with Mass and straighten that out because that's the gateway really into the town. Passing this zone change is not the answer. We've heard this language about ten years ago on property out on Corey Street and it hasn't changed and there's been nothing done there and there's been nothing done on the shopping center so if we're gonna really do something, we've got to start talking and take some action. • President Johnson--Councilor Mineo? 15 • Councilor Mineo—My opinion is I think we've got to start somewhere and I believe passing this tonight,I thought we were going to be eligible for some type of grants down there. President Johnson—Yes,that is my understanding too. Councilor Mineo—So if you vote against it,then we're not looking to get any grants so I mean I think it's a positive and I understand about putting the cart before the horse but I mean I think we've got to start somewhere. I understand Mr. Borgatti's point; I certainly would not want to own a business across the street from that. It's terrible. I'm surprised that, I don't know how long, it's got to be over ten years that Games & Lanes has been out of there and I can't believe that we can't do anything about it to make any type of improvements down there but I think passing this, if we can get some type of grants, I think we're moving in a positive direction and I mean like I said,I think we've got to start somewhere. President Johnson—Councilor Cavallo? Councilor Cavallo—Yeah,maybe some of you, I don't know if you're familiar with the Millls in Ludlow and I believe the same group when we had that little piece of land where they finally put that solar farm was it WestMass, Mr. President, or they come in, yeah, they started renovating there. They have Health South is one of the big anchors but they have a building that there basically is there and they're renovating it and it's mixed development,they're gonna have stores, there are gonna be some apartments there and so forth and as I said before at the last meeting when I went to Connecticut, it was a golf course that went bankrupt and it was purchased and it was open space and it was very simple, easy, to get the people in there and build of course a mixed development property. But I agree with, and again I had my thoughts about it too because at the workshop all we heard was that the town is not gonna take responsibility for Games & Lanes. The developer or the owner of that building was there and he said he had put a million dollars into the property already to clean it up and there's more that has to be done and frankly, I don't know where the money would come from but I think the town would be absorbing a lot of debt and liability if they did purchase the property based on what I heard at the workshop. So again, Mr. Borgatti is correct, I agree that we've got to get rid of Games & Lanes before you can really revitalize that property,there's no question about it. And then when we were on the Casino Committee, we were told that DOT and a couple of you went to that same hearing and they were there and they said we're gonna have to do something with the bridge to get the traffic into the Big E grounds but then I read in the paper a couple of weeks ago, the DOT has already come up with their budget over the next couple years and they're gonna take care of the Viaduct in Springfield on Route 91 and they're spending all this money now and that's it, I don't know how much money is gonna be available to take care of the Sullivan Bridge so you really in a Catch 22 situation here but again, I'm inclined to go along with a couple of the councilors that spoke this evening and I think it should be put on hold before we can do something with the property at Games &.Lanes and once that's rectified then certainly it's something we can reexamine in the future. Thank you. President Johnson— Stepping from the Chair, I'm confused by some of the comments that I've heard. First I believe Mr. Borgatti spoke in favor of the zone change, not in opposition to the zone change. With all due respect, I share Mr. Borgatti and many of the councilors' frustration regarding the Games&Lanes property but that's not what this is about, with all due respect. This is about changing the underlying zoning on that district. Why doesn't it work now? Because part of that property was developed before zoning existed, another part was developed under our current zoning which was written in the 1950's which promotes strip mall development so part of the difficulty that most of those property owners face is they want to redevelop their properties, 16 i • they can't because they're existing non-conforming structures and as an attorney I'll tell you it's very difficult to get approval to modify existing non-conforming structures, they're very strict rules regarding that including ZBA approval and the ZBA's hands are tied relative to what • percentage of the property can be redeveloped or modified. I said at the workshop that we had with the Planning Board and I firmly believe that this is step one in a three-step process and the steps I believe are we need to change the underlying zoning so that property owners there can find a way to redevelop those properties to make them more modern, we need to as a community develop a Master Plan for the public spaces in that district and certainly, what most of the people think is the top priority is, we need to deal with the Games & Lanes property. I met with the Mayor this afternoon during Agenda review and he indicated that as I suggested at the meeting last week, that he's been in contact with the PVPC—Pioneer Valley Planning Commission—on the concept of a redevelopment authority as a way to deal with the Games & Lanes property so that the liability of the town would be limited if the property was ultimately owned by the redevelopment authority and then there's a whole host of grants available to redevelopment • authorities to just do that—redevelop the property. But again, we can't change the Mayor's mind relative to what he feels his position is regarding the Games &Lanes property but we shouldn't in my opinion leave the property owners who overwhelmingly support this, they all got notices in the mail from the Planning Board and from us, and not a single one showed up and said it was a bad idea,the only one that showed up is Mr. Borgatti and he spoke in favor of it. I don't get the logic of saying let's shoot it down when it's a step in the right direction. It may not be the • solution. I don't think that it is the solution but it's one of the steps in the solution and it does make us eligible for state grant money according to PVPC by moving forward with mixed use development so why do what the property owners don't want us to do which is leave it the way it is, forego potential grant opportunities and make it harder to deal with the Games & Lanes problem and the overall structure. If you looked at the aerial map of that area, the proposed • district, you can see the Springfield Street side was all developed in the 50's,the Food Mart plaza and such as strip development. The back part where EB's and such was developed prior to that, prior to zoning being in place, so we need to get our act together and get our zoning updated from the 1950's to this century and put in place a tool that property owners can use to make their properties better and then we have to do our part. We have to follow through and make sure we get the plan, the Master Plan, of the public spaces in that area and we have to do what Mr. Borgatti says we have to do. We have to get Games & Lanes cleaned up. It's gonna cost the taxpayers money unfortunately but the responsible vehicle, I think, to do it is with the redevelopment authority to limit the liability for the town and just when I say that, it's not necessarily the liability for clean up on that site, it's the potential that the plume from that contamination is spreading to adjoining properties and if the town becomes the owner of the property by way of tax title, we're not responsible to clean it up but we may potentially be liable • to neighboring properties from which the contamination spreads, especially if the EPA or the DEP come in and say that it's an imminent public health hazard. Then we could be required to step in perform the clean-up but if we taut it in a redevelopment authority, it would be the only asset so if someone wanted to sue, yeah you could have the worthless piece of property if you want it because that's what it is unfortunately, it's a property that the cost to remediate • substantially exceeds it's fair market value. So I plead with you, the Planning Board put a tremendous amount of work into this, they spent months and months and months, please it's a step in the right direction. Stepping back into the Chair, Councilor Rossi then Councilor Calabrese,then Councilor Bitzas. Councilor Rossi—Well I certainly agree with the redevelopment authority coming in and doing • something with the Games&Lanes but I'm gonna have to draw your attention to the early 1980's when there was an evaluation done on that shopping center, the same questions were asked in the lower 80's that are being asked today, the same problems existed then, that exist today. Those 17 • people that owned those properties down there were asked if they were gonna do something with their buildings and unanimously they said no. They were not gonna go and do anything with their building or change those buildings so to go and change the district down there for building owners or property owners down there who have no intentions of knocking those buildings down or going through major renovations to put up some kind of a mixed development. There is no rhyme or reason to those shopping centers down there. You're gonna have to get people to put their heads together and decide what kind of retail and commercial storage fronts that you want to get together, to get some sort of cohesiveness. If you're looking for pedestrian activity, you're gonna have to have people come there, get out of their cars and go shop somewhere. Right now it's all pointed purchasing down there, all of it, Ed Borgatti was absolutely correct when he said people come to his place, they come there purposely to go there and when they get in their car they leave, they don't go on foot and go looking at other shopping areas down there. These questions had been asked back in 1984, the same questions, and nothing has been done. Games & Lanes has been vacant for over 20 years, nothing has been done. I agree that doing with the redevelopment authority is wonderful, let's get that thing out of the way and then if you decide that mixed use is something that you want, let's get everybody together, let's all put our little heads together, put our shoulders together and get to the wheel and decide what we want to do and come out with some kind of a plan in how we want to do it and if mixed use development is the answer, then so be it, you've got my vote but beforehand, I think the cart is way, way before the horse. I don't even think there's a cart in sight,that's how far I think this is way out of whack • here and I respect the enthusiasm of the Planning Board and I admire their interest in all of this whole thing but I think it's way, way too early to even consider this because I think it's gonna be more of a burden in the long run because nothing's gonna get done. There's nothing that's gonna get done down there, that's all. If you want my personal opinion, I think this mixed zoning was designed for one purpose — Games & Lanes property. Once that thing was cleaned up by the • redevelopment authority, vacant property, then some developer's gonna come in there and put up some kind of a medical center. Do you think that's the answer down there? That's another destination point. You're looking for vibrant shopping, that's not the answer. I think you ought to hold off on this,that's my opinion. President Johnson—Councilor Calabrese? • Councilor Calabrese — Yeah, I almost want to say ditto to Councilor Rossi. Again, I'm not objecting to the concept of what's being proposed here. I have a problem with the timing. I love the idea of the redevelopment authority that Councilor Johnson was talking about and we talked about it at the workshop. I think it's a great idea. I'm a little dubious on the grant money. The Commonwealth is still in pretty hard economic times and I'd kind of like to have a little bit more i of specifics other than saying well we will qualify for some grants. That's like saying the check is in the mail to me. Again it's not the concept I object to, it's the timing and I think we need to really light a fire under that Games & Lanes to get that resolved,then we can move forward with something that's rational,that fits in the environment down there so again I am going to be voting no but it's not because I'm objecting to the concept,I'm objecting to the timing. Thank you. i President Johnson—Councilor Bitzas? Councilor Bitzas—Yes, Mr. President, you did a great presentation and I appreciate that. I think if you didn't open the eyes of all the councilors, I don't know what else can do that so I don't see any businesses to oppose this. Not one. All the businesses they like it and we have us here now • try to oppose it, find excuses, find something a reason to say `no I'm voting against it because but I like it . You cannot have both ways, you like it you vote yes, you don't like it you vote no period. We have the grants coming to us. We have the promise as Mr.President said before with 18 the Mayor that we're going to do something to clean up the property of Games & Lanes, this is not be an obstacle for cleaning up nor if you vote against it, you expedite the cleaning of the Games & Lanes. If you think that way, you're absolutely false. I mean we have a responsibility to this town to make that area better and as I said before this is the first step to the right direction. If we say I don't and we say okay don't give any attention, all these people the business down there, they like to see this happen and we're down here saying no we don't want it for a, b and c reasons but we like it. You cannot have both ways again. Now have the courage to vote yes if you like it and vote no if you don't like the concept period. I'm not going to tell you how to vote; you vote for your conscience but think about that area there. This area needs help, needs our help to make it better. As the President said you give all the reasons how we can say no? Thank you. President Johnson—Councilor Perry? Councilor Perry — Yes, thank you Mr. President, through the Chair I actually agree with you George this time! Councilor Bitzas -That's a good start to a new year! Councilor Perry — The way I look at it is if we leave it as is, it's gonna stay as is. Games & Lanes is definitely an eyesore, it has been, we the majority of us sat at a workshop back in November I believe it was with the Mayor in regards to Games & Lanes and he point blank told us that there is nothing that the town was going to do about it. We're not going to take it on taxes because then we own it and we own the liability. As Councilor President stated there is a plume of contamination that could possibly be going out and the town would take that liability on. The Mayor made it clear to us that evening that he wasn't planning on doing anything. He had experts in there explaining everything to us. I'm glad to hear in your meeting today that he's taking your advice in regards to redevelopment, creating that and hopefully moving forward to eliminate that but getting back to what we're discussing, the mixed zones, it is the start as far as I'm concerned because like I say, it's a beginning. It's the starting line to where we have to move forward in that area. Basically I agree with Councilor Rossi, we have to partner with Mass Highway as far as the Sullivan Bridge goes. I believe it was probably about 8-10 years ago that ! this Council and I was charged with it because I was the head of the Traffic& Safety Committee, put a letter forth because they lowered the status on that project. There's different levels that Mass Highway rates projects, or pending projects, and they actually lowered us down to Level C I think it was which would mean it's never gonna happen. We put a Resolution together and letters and sent them to the state and Mass Highway and they moved us up to Level B I believe it was at the time. I think if we're ever gonna get any type of response or money to re-do that bridge, this ! is a step in the right direction. Put the zoning in place, put a Master Plan together on the infrastructure, I mean that's our job, that's the community's job to do that, we will get some benefits from grant money but also the efforts to get rid of Games & Lanes, all these things are going to be positives to hopefully get money to re-do the infrastructure or grants to help us to do that so I think this is the first step that we need to take because like I stated in my opening statement is to leave it as is, it's going to stay as is so I'll be voting in favor of it. Thank you. Councilor Mineo -Move the Agenda item. Councilor Cichetti—Second. ! President Johnson—There's no other lights on so we have before us TOR-2013-8. If you're in favor of the first reading, vote yes. If you're opposed, vote no. It requires eight votes. I'd ask Barbara to call the Roll please. 19 • ROLL CALL — 6 YES (Councilors Bitzas, Cichetti, Johnson, Mineo, Perry and Suffriti), 4 NO (Councilors Calabrese,Cavallo,Rheault and Rossi), 1 ABSENT(Councilor Letellier) • President Johnson — With a vote of six yes, four no, you've defeated the first reading of TOR- 2013-8. Item 10. Old Business • 1. TO-2013-24 -Order granting or renewing a Class 2 Dealer's LICENSE for Agawam Auto Mall,Inc. 825 Springfield Street,Agawam,MA(Clerk) (Tabled 12/16/13)(Referred to Administrative Committee) President Johnson—What's the Council's pleasure? • Councilor Bitzas—So moved. Councilor Rossi—Mr.President? President Johnson—Councilor Rossi? • Councilor Rossi—The Committee made a recommendation to keep that on the table. We have a Motion to keep the item on the table. Is there a second? Motion made by Councilor Rossi, seconded by Councilors Rheault and SuMiti to leave the item on the table. Since the Chair is in doubt, I'd ask Barbara to call the Roll. If you're in favor of leaving the item on the table, vote . yes. If you're opposed,vote no. ROLL CALL —7 YES (Councilors Calabrese, Cavallo, Cichetti, Perry, Rheault, Rossi and Suffriti),3 NO (Councilors Bitzas,Johnson and Mineo), 1 ABSENT(Councilor Letellier) President Johnson—By a vote of seven yes,three no,the item remains on the table. • 2. TO-2013-58 -Order granting or renewing a LICENSE for Automatic Amusement and Weekly Amusement Device(s)for The Quest,Inc.d/b/a Michael Anthony's, 1251 River Road,Agawam,MA (Referred to Administrative Committee)(Clerk) • President Johnson — The Chair would entertain a Motion to approve. Moved by Councilor Rossi, seconded by Councilor Suffriti. TO-2013-58, -59, -60, -61, -62, and -63 were all referred to the Admin Sub-Committee so at this point I would refer to Councilor Rossi for the Admin Sub- Committee's report on those items. • Councilor Rossi—Thank you Mr. President. The Committee met on January 17"on items 2013- 58 — an Order granting or renewing a LICENSE for Automatic Amusement and Weekly Amusement Device(s) for The Quest, Inc. d/b/a Michael Anthony's, 1251 River Road, and the Council voted unanimously to approve and if I may group that together Mr. President with 2013- 62 Order granting or renewing a LICENSE for Automatic Amusement and Weekly Amusement Device(s) for Sabre Entertainment d/b/a Bourbon Park, 360 North Westfield Street, the Council, the Committee voted to unanimously send a positive recommendation for that one also. 20 • • President Johnson—Do you want to give the balance of the report now Bob or just do it by item classification? • Councilor Rossi—Well,either way, if you, those are the only two items on the Agenda that were amusement licenses, the other ones were automobile licenses so I'll take them any way you want. There was a recommendation and discussion for both amusement devices,there was a unanimous discussion to approve the renewal of the licenses on those. • President Johnson-I think it might make sense to give the balance of the report and then we can deal with the items in groups after the balance of the report. Councilor Rossi — Okay, the committee met on January 17"', members present were myself as Chair, Donald Rheault — Vice Chair, Anthony Suffriti and Joe Mineo and Dennis Perry, Councilor Perry,was absent due to illness. Also present Councilors Cichetti and Bitzas,Attorney Skolnick represented Mr. Falkowski, who was not present. The meeting was called to order at 7:00pm at the Agawam Public Library in the Community Room. The first item on the Agenda was TO-2013-24 (Agawam Auto MalI). After a lengthy discussion it was decided that the committee would want to take that under further advisement and keep that item on the table and re-schedule a meeting for next week, we were planning on having a continuation of that meeting tonight at 6:30 to resolve the issue but unfortunately there wasn't enough time to have the • meeting posted so that meeting will have to be re-scheduled for some time next week and I've already spoken to Barbara about looking for a hall. As I said earlier TO-2013-58, -59, -60, -61 and -62 all Class 2 Dealer's licenses were made to send a recommendation for approval for renewal for those licenses and the committee also took under advisement TO-2013-63 Carando d/b/a Euro Imports and again after lengthy discussion it was decided that the matter would be taken under careful consideration or other considerations that would require another meeting so that was requested by unanimous vote to put on the table and again we were gonna resolve that issue this evening but again as I said early for the sake of being redundant, we couldn't have the meeting and that will be discussed again next week and I'm assuming that the committee will get the new licenses from New Business and we will be discussing that also. The meeting was adjourned at 7:55pm. Respectfully submitted, Robert Rossi, Chair. President Johnson —Thank you Councilor Rossi. So we have a positive recommendation on - 58, -59, -60, -61 and -62 and a recommendation to table-63. So at this point,we've already got a Motion and a second on TO-2013-58. If you're in favor of that Automatic Amusement and Weekly Amusement Device license for Quest d/b/a Michael Anthony's vote yes, if you're opposed,vote no. I'd ask Barbara to call the Roll please? ROLL CALL—10 YES,0 NO, 1 ABSENT(Councilor Letellier) President Johnson—With a vote of ten yes, you've approved TO-2013-58. • 3. TO-2013-59 -Order granting or renewing a Class 2 Dealer's LICENSE for Balfor Motors, 1801 Main Street,Agawam,MA. (Referred to Administrative Committee) (Clerk) President Johnson — Is there a Motion? Moved by Councilor Rossi, seconded by Councilors • Cichetti and Suffriti. Again, we've got the report of a positive recommendation. Let the record reflect Councilor Cavallo, we've got too much noise on the left side over here now. So if you're 21 • • in favor of TO-2013-59, vote yes. If you're opposed, vote no. I'd ask Barbara to call the Roll please? • ROLL CALL—10 YES,0 NO, 1 ABSENT(Councilor Letellier) President Johnson —With a vote of ten yes, one absent,you've approved TO-2013-59. I'm not grouping them because Councilor Letellier asked a few meetings ago that we take individual votes and although she's not here,I'm trying to honor her request. 4. TO-2013-60 -Order granting or renewing a Class 2 Dealer's LICENSE ` for P.J. Lapointe d/b/a The Car Connection,820 Springfield Street,Feeding Hills,MA.(Referred to Administrative Committee) (Clerk) President Johnson — Is there a Motion? Moved by Councilor Rossi, seconded by Councilor Cichetti. If you're in favor of the license,vote yes. If you're opposed,vote no. Barbara,please? ROLL CALL—10 YES,0 NO, 1 ABSENT(Councilor Letellier) President Johnson—With a vote of ten yes, you've approved TO-2013-60. • 5. TO-2013-61 -Order granting or renewing a Class 2 Dealer's LICENSE for R. Conlon d/b/a Motor City Car Co.,91 Ramah Circle North,Agawam, MA. (Referred to Administrative Committee)(Clerk) President Johnson — Is there a Motion? Made by Councilor Perry, seconded by Councilor • Rheault. Seeing no discussion, if you're in favor of the license, vote yes. If you're opposed, vote no. Barbara? ROLL CALL—10 YES,0 NO, 1 ABSENT(Councilor Letellier) President Johnson—By a vote of ten yes,you've approved TO-2013-61. • 6. TO-2013-62 -Order granting or renewing a LICENSE for Automatic Amusement and Weekly Amusement Device(s)for Sabre Entertainment d/b/a Bourbon Park,360 North Westfield Street,Feeding Hills,MA (Referred to Administrative Committee) (Clerk) President Johnson — Is there a Motion? Moved by Councilor Rossi, seconded by Councilor Cichetti. If you're in favor of the license,vote yes. If you're opposed,vote no. Barbara? ROLL CALL—10 YES,0 NO, 1 ABSENT(Councilor Letellier) President Johnson--With a vote of ten yes, one absent, you've approved TO-2013-62. i 7. TO-2013-63 -Order granting or renewing a Class 2 Dealer's LICENSE for Dino Carando d/b/a Euro Imports,325 Main Street,Agawam, MA.(Referred to Administrative Committee)(Clerk) • President Johnson —The Chair would entertain a Motion to table TO-2013-63? Motion made by Councilor Rossi, seconded by Councilor Rheault. All those in favor of tabling say Ay? Any opposed? It's unanimously placed on the table. 22 • f 8. TOR-2013-9 -An Ordinance amending the Code of the Town of Agawam creating the position of Chief Procurement Officer as required by Massachusetts General Laws(Referred to Council Workshop) (Mayor) President Johnson — Is there a Motion? Moved by Councilor Bitzas, seconded by Councilor Suffriti. Just stepping from the Chair, I know at the workshop Councilor Letellier expressed the desire to table this for further study, but we've received the responses to the question so I don't know what the Council's pleasure is this evening. Councilor Bitzas? Councilor Bitzas—Yes, Mr. President, I when it first came to my attention I was totally.against it. I said well we did it so many years why not continue to do it but then I cannot support it without more information and more communications and I spoke at the meeting that I need more informations and I spoke with the Mayor and I told him I need more informations. So we got it. We got more than enough informations that I think I believe it'd be wise for this town to have a Chief Procurement Officer and the reason is I went every single city and town that we have the informations from the administration, the Mayor's Office, and about 90% maybe 95% of the cities and towns do have one and why not us having one? And also the question that concerns us, we have about five or six pages here, they were answered and I was satisfied with that and I don't see now any problem and I believe it would be an asset to the town,the salary it start pretty low as compared to the other towns, it's a full time and the money would come from DPW and some • from the Law Department and about$28,000 would come from the side of the town. Again, I'm not going to ask for you to support it, I respect your opinion, I respect your vote, but I believe after all this information we have, I will, I am in total support of it except if somebody make me change my mind after discussions, so so far I'm in favor of it. Thank you. President Johnson—I don't know who's light was on first? Councilor Calabrese? Councilor Calabrese — Not a fan of this one, I want to point out that this is a Tier 3 Step 1 Administrative Union contract amounting to about $57,000. Let's remember folks that that's gonna ultimately have a pension attached to it, benefits, paid time off, it's a pretty big salary for something that I've never heard of a problem procuring goods and services and contracts and the like in the town and I'm just not in favor of creating a whole new position particularly at this point in time of the economy. We have a lot of people, private citizens, living on fixed budgets that don't make this kind of a salary, that are paying their taxes and I just can't, I just can't support the creation of this particular position at this time. Thank you. President Johnson—Councilor Rossi? r Councilor Rossi — Thank you. I have to agree, this is the first time that I've ever heard of any real problems and as I look at the documentation that I got and I just received an email not too long ago from the Superintendent of Public Works and he clearly states that most of the procurement is done by his division, some $11 million almost$12 million a year, he says out of a total procurement of$17 million comes from his end and they want to fund it again from Water& • Sewer Retained Earnings simply because most of the procurement comes from the DPW garage. I call that pretty much mismanagement and we're paying people good money over in that DPW department, there should be somebody over there that they could send to be qualified. Now I understand that they sent someone to be qualified, why don't they take that person and put him over in DPW and give him a salary out of the DPW budget? Why do we have to pay it out of Retained Earnings from the Sewer & Water Department? We'll be doing work for the School Department, why isn't the School Department being responsible? They could certainly tax the business end of the School Department over there if they're gonna do some of their work, 23 • • entering their logs into the MUNIS systems'and stuff like that, the purchase orders, why can't the School Department pick up some of the funding on this thing? I just think it was poorly put together. From my personal judgment, I think if they sent someone within the system, that's in • the system already to get online,to take care of the bidding and make sure everything is done,and to get back to the DPW, we just had a sewer project over there, Tighe & Bond does most of the procurement stuff like that,the Superintendent doesn't even get involved in that kind of stuff and when Jack Stone was here, he sent his secretary, Terry Hill, she was the one that they sent to be certified through the state and she worked for Jack in doing all that stuff right around the time he • retired and then she went to work for Cheryl St. John, so there was never an issue here. I think the issue here is you're getting someone trained to take over the responsibility to make sure that we're doing everything and everything is in line. I know that Cheryl St. John has some problems with the way things are coming through the system and she has to double check and she has to work twice as hard to get the information and that's only because it's not, the procedures aren't being followed correctly. We have the system in place, the MUMS system is in place and it can be done correctly, we just need to have somebody qualified, go to school, get trained, make the proper entries so our Auditor can make the payments. I don't like the way the thing is all set up at all and I have to vote no on something like this. I think it's just, that's it, I don't want to say any more. President Johnson — Other questions or discussion on TOR-2013-9? Seeing none, this is an • Ordinance requires eight votes and this would be on the first reading. If you're in favor of TOR- 2013-9, the first reading, vote yes. If you're opposed, vote no. I'd ask Barbara to call the Roll please? ROLL CALL -- 6 YES (Councilors Bitzas, Cavallo, Cichetti, Mineo, Perry and Suffriti), 4 NO(Councilors Calabrese,Johnson,Rheault and Rossi), 1 ABSENT(Councilor Letellier) President Johnson—By a vote of six yes, four no,you've defeated TOR-2013-9. • • • • 24 • • 9. TO-2013- 64 -Transfer of$303,525.00-from Reserve Fund#16605-57300 in the amount of$93,525.00 and Salary Reserve##16605-57350 in the amount of$210,000.00 to the following accounts(Referred to Council Workshop) (Mayor) COUNCIL.REGULAR PlaIMANEN"I' ___i 11111_ SlO1D f $ 657.00' MAYORREGUI..ARPERMANENT 11211 51010 55,186.00:' ADMINISTRATIVE BUILDING REGULAR PERMANENT 11221' S 1 Ol0 $ 314.00 AUDITOR REGULAR PERMANENT 1 1341 51010 ( s 3 06 00 CLERK REGULAR PERMANENT 116 4 11 5W10 $ 3643.00 ASSESSOR REGULAR PERMANENT 11371 51010 S 4185.00_� IT REClIL.AR PERMANENT ....... . 1.11341; 5101 O °[$ 3.128.00 YOL CELfI�AR PFMAIN�11IARPER FN MANT 1 _20 f S 65�247 RE iAR 310.00 .._... _ _.... 2101 540 _... POLICE OVERTIME 121 Ol 51030 S 4,434.00 - POI.ICE 12101 51050 s, S SOO.00 POLICE UNIFORM ALLOWANCE L.12101 51070 $ 273.00_ _.._ 1270I 31080 POLICE COURT T1H'IE r x�E 12101 S 112�0 $ 8,47p.O0 i POLICE SCIENCE CO . ,POC.IC>~FIREARMS QUALIFICATION_ _. �12101 31130 $ R,d00.00 POLICE L.ONGEVPLY - -12101 51 4OD I S 6 000 O FIRE RN]GULAR.PERMANENT _12201i SJOlO S57077,00' 31020 S 500.00' FIRE HO AYE 12201 51050 _$_ 7 SOO ^m __ Dl 51030 1 $r.._ 340.00 INSPECTIONS SERVICES REGULAR PERMANENT :12501 51010 _$f5 642.D0; VW kLM RF�GVn_AR PFRMA13F_T1T 1 S 1Ol 51 O 1 O $ 2,469.00 COMMUNITY DEVEI.OFI�IENT REGULAR P�tMANEIYT. 1 1801 ._S i O I O_,__$ 2 614.00� . LIBRARY RF,GU[.AR P1RMANNENT ............ ......... _;.16101 51010 1 S 17,739.00_� _PARKS�RECREATION REG1-lI-AR PERMANENT 16201' S 1OL0 $ 2 473,00 ,.__..1 ..._._...._.� ......._.._J GOA REGULAR PERMANF✓7VT _ i3411 j 51030 $ 6 131.00! COA REGULAR TEMPORARY ._ _ IS411r 51020 $ a24,00� PUBLIC REGULAR _.._ ...__._ 1qCj!PYAY_RFrqULAR PERMANENT .00 1RGHWAY REGULAR TTEIMPORARY ........... ....... ..... . _ 1422 5 1020$-27 980 00 Jt DGI-IW YOVF.IiTIMEUI.AR PERMANENT . .._.__ i_14201 _S1D30_ry�...._539�00.... WGIIWAY SNOW&ICE OVERTIME y_1 $1031 !. S 1,900,00 _MOTOR VEHICLE MAINTENANCE_REGULAR PEZiMANE 14901 51010 $ 3,018.00, MOTOR VE3iICLE MAINTENANCE OVERTWE i4901 31030 $ 13�4.003 ENGMIdERING REGU AR PERMANENT 14101 51010 S 6 244_00 ENGIIVEEEiING OVERTIME Ti-4i01 51030 $ IO.OQ y . HUII.•PING.MAINTENANCE REGULAR PbRMANaIT 1iA21 SIOIO.i_5....._390225 BUILDINGMAINTENANCEEGU RLAR TEMPORARY ,1,19211 51020 S 40.001 BUILDING MAINTENANCE OVERTIP� :11921 S 1030 S 1 200 00 I, BOARD OF APF$AIS I6604� 31 100 S 454.00 President Johnson —These are the actual transfers to the departmental accounts that went along with TR-2013-50. is there a Motion? Moved by Councilor Perry, seconded by Councilors Mineo . and Cavallo. Questions or discussion on TO-2013-64? Seeing none, if you're in favor of TO- 2013-64, vote yes. if you're opposed,vote no. Barbara? ROLL CALL — 5 YES ( Councilors Bitzas, Cavallo, Cichetti, Mineo and Suffriti), 5 NO (Councilors Calabrese, Johnson, Perry, Rheault and Rossi), 1 ABSENT (Councilor Letellier) President Johnson—By a vote of five yes, five no,you've defeated TO-2013-64. Item 11. New Business 1. TR-2013-57 -A Resolution Accepting a Grant from the • Commonwealth of Massachusetts Department of Fire Services pursuant to Massachusetts General Laws Chapter 44, Section 53A to the Agawam Fire Department(Mayor) President Johnson—That'll go on to our next Agenda. • 25 • • 2. TR 2013-58 -A Resolution Accepting a Grant from the National Association of County and City Health Officials pursuant to Massachusetts General Laws Chapter 44,Section 53A to the Agawam Health Department • (Mayor) President Johnson—Next Agenda. 3. TO-2014-1 - Order granting or renewing a LICENSE for a Weekly • Amusement Device(s) for Crestview Country Club,281 Shoemaker Lane,Agawam,MA (Clerk) President Johnson—That'll be referred to the Admin Sub-Committee,next Agenda, 4. TO-2014-2 -Order granting or renewing a LICENSE for Automatic Amusement and Weekly Amusement Device(s)for Springfield Turnverein,60B North Westfield Street,Feeding Hills,MA (Clerk) President Johnson—That'll go to the Admin Sub-Committee,next Agenda. 5. TO-2014-3 -Order granting or renewing a LICENSE for Automatic Amusement and Weekly Amusement Device(s)for Agawam Bowl,359 Walnut Street Ext.,Agawam,MA(Clerk) President Johnson—Admin Sub-Committee,next Agenda. * 6. TR-2014-1 -A Resolution Accepting a Gift in the Amount of Ten Thousand ($10,000.00)Dollars from the Agawam Dog Owners Group pursuant to Massachusetts General Laws Chapter 44,Section 53A for the Agawam Dog Park(Mayor) President Johnson—That'll go on to our next Agenda. • 7. TR-2014-2 -A Resolution Confirming the Reappointment of Alice Smith,523 North Westfield Street,Feeding Hills,MA to the Historical Commission to a term expiring January 1,2017(Mayor) President Johnson—That'll go on to our next Agenda. • 8. TR-2014-3 -A Resolution Appropriating three-hundred thousand dollars(300,000.00)from Free Cash for the purchase of sixty-six(66) motorized golf carts and corresponding service plan for the Agawam Municipal Golf Course. (Mayor) President Johnson—I would refer that to the Finance Sub-Committee, next Agenda. Item 12. Any othgr matter gat may legally come before the City Council. President Johnson—So do we start left or right? Don said we start with the best, George? • Councilor Bitzas—I will pass, it's bad weather out, be careful driving home. 26 0 President Johnson—He said he's making a Motion to reconsider? No,Councilor Cavallo? * Councilor Cavallo--I have nothing either and the weather's bad. President Johnson—Councilor Suffriti? Councilor Suffriti—Yeah,I agree with Councilor Cavallo also,I have nothing. President Johnson—Councilor Rheault? Councilor Rheault--Nothing this evening. President Johnson—Councilor Perry? • Councilor Perry—Nothing Mr. President. President Johnson—Councilor Mineo? Councilor Mineo—Nothing tonight. President Johnson—Councilor Cichetti? Councilor Cichetti—Nothing. President Johnson—Councilor Calabrese? Councilor Calabrese—Stop by the High School and check out Rosie,they're in the build season, it's the best time of the whole year to just see what the kids are doing. President Johnson—Councilor Rossi? Councilor Rossi —Yes, thank you, Barbara would you double check and let me know what date you come up with, what's amicable for everybody and also would you get a Memo sent to the Mayor's Office please? I received a phone call just before we came up concerning Ridgeway Drive. One of the owners over there was concerned because someone banged on his door requiring that they needed help because there were some problems in the house and it turned out that the house was a halfway house, I didn't know that we had one on that street. Could you double check and see what he can find out about that and if in fact,we do have one, I don't know that there's any law requiring the neighbors to be notified when those kind of houses go onto the street, I'm really not sure about that, maybe we could get some kind of a statement from the Law Department to find out if in fact, if there isn't a law if it would be appropriate at least to let those people know if there's going to be some kind of a halfway house either lock down or otherwise, the neighbors should at least be aware that those, that it does exist there at least, could you get that information out to me so I can get back to this gentleman and tell him what's going on? I appreciate that. Thank you. President Johnson --The Chair would entertain a Motion to adjourn. Moved and seconded all around the house. All in favor of adjournment say Ay? Opposed? We are adjourned. • flournment at 8:48 m 27 • s • • • • • • • • 28 •