CC MTG MINUTES MARCH 3 2014•
REGULAR MEETING OF THE AGAWAM CITY COUNCIL
Minutes dated March 3, 2014
President Johnson—I'd like to call the meeting to order.
Item I. Roll Call
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President Johnson—I'd ask Barbara to call the roll please?
ROLL CALL— 10 PRESENT, I ABSENT (Councilor Letellier)
President Johnson — With ten present, one absent, we have a quorum. Councilor
Letellier is en route through the ostriches of technology she said she should be here
momentarily.
Item 2. Moment of Silence and the Pledge ofAlleziance.
• 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 — As each speaker approaches, I'd ask them to state their name and
address and each speaker will be limited to five minutes. The first speaker is John
Connor.
John Connor—Thank you. Good evening Mr. Chairman. My name is John Connor, 84
Ridge Road in East Longmeadow, Massachusetts. I'm here on behalf of my clients. I
represent the Agawam Police Officers, the Agawam Maintenance, the Agawam Clerical
and I'm here to speak on behalf of this contract that you are going to consider tonight and
I just had a couple of points that I would like to make for your consideration. First of all,
I ask you to consider the fact that this is in fact a modest contract. The contract calls for
• five percent over three years and if you were to look back to the last contract essentially
what these employees are going to be receiving over that six year period is an average of
1.3% which is less than the 1.5% that I believe the Council indicated was what they
believed was an appropriate amount. Other communities had fared much better, if you
read the paper last week, the Springfield Police Department received an award by
• arbitration which was six percent over the same three years — that's 201/o more than this
contract provides for these employees - from a municipality that has been in financial
ruin for the last ten years! Agawam is nowhere near in that financial shape. The
arbitrator considered the finances, considered the Cost of Living and awarded those
police officers six percent. I believe that this Council should do the same and at least
approve a five percent. Your own School Committee approved the same wage increases
• for the School Department personnel and frankly I haven't heard any rationale for why
your police officers, your firemen, your administrative and your maintenance personnel
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deserve less than what their counterparts have received on the School Department.
Frankly the folks on the town side work just as hard as the School Department personnel
and if the money is good enough for the School Department personnel, it is certainly
good enough for these employees and I would note that, particularly with respect to the
police and fire, these are individuals who put their own personal safety at risk in the
interest of the public's safety and I think it's difficult to tell them and to tell their families
that they don't deserve the same raise that School Department personnel have already
been approved for. The other point I'd like to make is that the money is there, that this
Mayor submitted a balanced budget; he planned for a 2%raise in this budget. We are not
here looking to fund a lucrative contract that requires a supplemental appropriation from
this body. This is a modest contract that has been budgeted for by the Mayor and all
we're asking is that the Council approves those monies. And lastly, I would just note that
during negotiations, not just in this contract, but over the last several negotiations, these
unions and these folks have worked cooperatively with the Mayor's Office in order to
improve efficiencies and in many cases, they have agreed to consolidation of positions
which to this day saves the taxpayers an awful lot of money but the result of that and the
burden from that falls on these employees. The fact of the matter is that the number of
employees today is a lot less than it was three years ago and it was certainly a lot less
than it was ten years ago. So they're being asked to do more for essentially the same pay.
All we're asking is for you to recognize their cooperative spirit in working with the
Mayor's Office and working with the town to assist in delivering services in an efficient
way. To recognize them for the sacrifices that they make every day is what we are here
to ask you to do. Now as an attorney for these unions, I know that you are aware that I
S had sent a letter over and I had some concerns about the Council —
Clerk—One minute please?
John Connor—One minute,okay. The fact of the matter is that the union do not want to
litigate this matter but I can assure you that they will and I will do my job which is in this
instance to fight for what is right and just for these people for very modest wage. The
cost of that litigation is going to far exceed whatever money is in dispute here today and
it really becomes an issue whether or not you want to recognize these individuals for the
hard work that they do or whether we want to embitter and create difficulties in labor
management. It is not worth it. This is a modest contract. It was budgeted for and I ask
• you to approve it tonight. Thank you very much.
President Johnson—Thank you. Next is Steve Buonoconti?
Steve Buoniconti — Thank you Mr. President and through you to the members of the
! Council, good evening. My name is Steven Buoniconti, spelled B-U-O-N-I-C-O-N-T-I.
I am counsel to the Agawam Administrative Union and I'm here on behalf of them this
evening to speak out in favor of TR-2014-5 the Resolution for the funding of the
contracts. As Attorney Connor had mentioned, these units have bargained in good faith
and as you take your jobs quite seriously and try to set a certain budget for the town,
these unions respect that and don't ever contest that role. However, there is give and take
in contract negotiations. It's not just about money. There are things that are given up by
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certain unions, probably things that you're probably not even aware of when you're
making this determination, but that is why there is separation of powers, that is why the
authority is given to the Executive Branch to negotiate contracts and for the Legislative
Branch to appropriate the funds because there's a lot more to it than just the money and
as Attorney Connor mentioned and Attorney Skolnick is gonna as well, these are modest
contracts in this day and age with the financial constraints that this Council faces and
other Councils all around the Commonwealth face, this is a modest appropriation when
compared to other municipalities. As Attorney Connor mentioned, we have an obligation
• as attorneys to advise our clients and to zealously represent those clients and when this
Council is deliberating about what to do with the appropriations, you're fully within that
right but I would suggest to you that when"Council-ors" start to make statements beyond
the funding mechanism and try to give directives to the Mayor about what the
appropriation should be inside a contract, that I would suggest to you is a violation of
f1 150E in the Collective Bargaining contract and I say that, I don't say that with the desire
to go there but if forced to we will. When you have councilors say "the point is that we
authorized what percentage he the Mayor should negotiate and the Mayor ignored us
that's the point". We as a Council "set the amount of funding for collective bargaining".
I would suggest to you that another councilor during this conversation and this being on
• January 13 of this year at the workshop meeting asked the question which I would think
that you should seriously weigh in your deliberations this evening which is "what's the
point in making that statement? What message are we trying to send? They will just
have a lawsuit." Such statements, that bell can't be un-rung, I would suggest to you no
matter what, you say this evening, comments that are on the record in minutes put the
Council in a serious position legally-wise that I don't think we want to address. This
group has negotiated in good faith with the Executive, the appropriation is now to the
Council, you have the full right either to authorize or not authorize that appropriation but
when you overstep that authorization and you weigh in and make public comments about
what the contract should entail, I would suggest then you are tripping the wire of 150E.
We don't want to go there and we urge your authorization this evening. Thank you.
•
President Johnson—Thank you. Next is Scott Skolnick?
Scott Skolnick— Good evening President Johnson, members of the Council, my name is
Scott Skolnick. I am the attorney for the Town of Agawam Department of Public Works
i Employee Association. My office is located at 850 Springfield Street in Feeding Hills.
Our members work hard to serve our community. On behalf of the association, I would
like to inform the Council that we had a lengthy period of negotiations regarding the new
contract. We believe that the negotiations were done fairly and in good faith. Very
simply, we believe that the new contract is reasonable to both sides and we ask that the
Council put politics aside and simply approve the contract. Thank you very much.
President Johnson—Thank you. Next is Laurel Placzek?
Laurel Placzek— Laurel Placzek, 10 Stuart Circle, Westfield, Massachusetts. I've been
a dedicated Department Head here for twenty years. During those twenty, over twenty
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years, the town and schools have been treated equally when it comes to collective
bargaining. I ask that you continue that tradition and support our contracts. Thank you.
President Johnson—Thank you. Next is Andrea Ciak?
Andrea Ciak — Good evening, Andrea Ciak, 873 Springfield Street, Feeding Hills.
Council members — in a few months I will complete forty years of service to the town.
I've seen the town go through many changes during this time. One concern I have with
! the budgets, where increases in personnel are requested through contracts is that the town
contrac5ts wait until the teachers have settled, and then town employees are generally
given the same percentage. It is difficult to understand why the town contracts are
always under review and the school contracts are not given this same treatment. I'm not
questioning the need for the education in the town only in the manner in which
determinations are made. Our town employees are also important to daily operations.
We should not have to be penalized when our contracts were negotiated in good faith. I
am in the Clerical Union but believe all the other unions including Custodial, DPW, Fire,
Police as well as Administrative deserve the same increases which the School
Department received. We also work very hard in our positions with some putting their
lives on the line to keep our town safe. I would like to thank Councilors Bitzas, Cavallo,
Cichetti, Mineo and Suffriti for the support they have shown for the town contracts. To
Councilors Calabrse, Johnson, Perry, Rheault and Rossi — I am requesting that you
reconsider your position in this matter and Councilor Letellier--I sincerely hope you will
support the town workers. Thank you.
President Johnson —Thank you. Next is Peter Sadowski?
Peter Sadowski — Good evening President and Council. My name is Peter Sadowski, I
live at 25 Homer Street in Feeding Hills, Massachusetts. I'm the President of the DPW
Employees' Association and also an active member of the negotiation team. The
negotiations were very lengthy and I thought that the terms that came out of the contract
negotiations were even on both sides —the town side and our side. In the past years I've
been involved in negotiations, the percentage raise have been below what the increase of
insurance has been. So the insurance increase has not kept us even with the amount of
percentages that we got for a raise. Cuts in positions, also we have five working
• foremans positions that have been eliminated so some guys like myself who are at the top
tier of their position have no evaluation every year, we have no step increase, we have, at
our top step in the position that we're at and with these positions taken away from us,
we're stuck. The only raise that we get is what we get for percentage raise every year
and with the work that's being done with the DPW, I mean we're short-handed quite a
few guys, probably I'm gonna say between eight and ten guys less on the work force than
when I started 18 years ago. We've acquired some new parks, more work, less work
force and these guys are doing the work that is being expected of them so with that I'd
like to urge the Council to support our contract and we feel that we are no different than
the teachers, we're out there working 12 -16 -18 hours a night, day, cleaning the streets
for snow so that the teachers and the students can get to school so that the teachers can do
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their job. So again, I would hope that you would support us and our contract. Thank
You.
President Johnson—Thank you. Next is Anthony Grasso?
Anthony Grasso — Anthony Grasso, I am a Police Sergeant for the Agawam Police
Department. I've been with the town for 16 years. Prior to that I was a Police Special.
First let me say good evening to all of you. I'm here on behalf of all the police officers
because we love what we do. You guys had split last time we were here and I'm up here
to tell you that we are doing more with less; we've been doing it for the last five to ten
years, I'm just gonna reiterate what Attorney Connor said. Every single one of us, as I
said before, we love what we do; we put our lives on the line for everybody in this town.
I have the best job in the world and I know everybody back there will tell you the same
thing. I'm saying this specifically to you Ms. Letellier because to me you are the last
vote. I'm hoping tonight that you'll reconsider everything and you guys will go forward
and give us the contracts that we're asking for. We did everything in good faith. We've
done everything that you've asked of us. That's all I have to say. Thank you.
President Johnson—Thank you. That concludes Citizen's Speak Time.
Item 4. Minutes
1. Regular Council Meeting—January 21,2014
0 President Johnson — Is there a Motion? Moved by Councilor Cichetti, seconded by
Councilor Suffriti. Questions or discussion on the minutes of January 2l't? Seeing none,
all those in favor say Ay? Any opposed? It's approved unanimously.
2. Regular Council Meeting—February 3,2014
President Johnson — Is there a Motion? Moved by Councilor Cichetti, seconded by
Councilor Suffriti. Questions or discussion on the February P meeting minutes? Seeing
none, all those in favor say Ay? Any opposed? It's unanimous.
0 3. Council Workshop—February 12,2014
President Johnson — Is there a Motion? Moved by Councilor Cichetti, seconded by
Councilor Cavallo. Questions or discussion on the workshop minutes? Seeing none, all
those in favor say Ay? Any opposed? Please note Councilor Mineo's abstention from
i the workshop minutes, otherwise it's approved.
Item 5. Declaration from Council President
None.
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Item 6. Presentation of Petitions, Memorials & Remonstrances
• 1. TR-2014-4 . -A Resolution authorizing the Town of Agawam to expend
funds in excess of the available appropriation for snow and ice removal
(Mayor)
President Johnson — Is there a Motion? Moved by Councilor Cichetti, seconded by
Councilor Bitzas. Questions or discussion on the Resolution? This is the Resolution that
• allows deficit spending which will hopefully be made up by transfer later. 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— 11 YES, 0 NO
President Johnson—With a vote of eleven yes, you've approved TR-2014-4.
2. TR-2014-5 -A Resolution to appropriate funds for the Agawam Police
Supervisors Association,Agawam Clerical Employees Association,
Agawam Department of Public Works Employee's Association,Agawam
Police Patrolman's Association,Agawam Building Maintenance Association,
Agawam Administrative Union,AFL-CIO,Local 1973,Firefighters Union
(Mayor)
President Johnson — Is there a Motion? Moved by Councilor Bitzas, seconded by
• councilors Mineo and Cichetti. Questions or discussion on TR-2014-5? Councilor
Bitzas?
Councilor Bitzas — I think you want to start with me I guess again. Again, this is very
important and I hope some of you will change your vote. I'm not going to tell you or
demand you change your vote but I think we heard everything here tonight and what
troubles me is the couple of lawyers that they said that they going to sue us if we don't do
anything. I don't want to take any chance for any lawsuit because the lawsuit would cost
us a lot more than the appropriation so I hope the Council will pass it, put it behind us, let
the people be happy at work and move forwards for a better town. Thank you.
President Johnson —Councilor Mineo?
Councilor Mineo — Again, I will be supporting this. I hope we get more support this
time. I think that these contracts are, to me they seem pretty fair, I think we saw what
happened in Springfield. I certainly wouldn't want to have that happen here in Agawam.
•
President Johnson —Councilor Cavallo?
Councilor Cavallo — Yup, when I received the letter from Attorney Donnaly, well I
didn't receive it the Mayor did and we received copies of it, I became quite concerned
when the issue of minutes were mentioned by the lawyer that the Mayor had consulted
with and the fact that the attorneys would be given copies of the minutes, the attorneys
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for the unions,to look at and determine whether or not any kind of negotiation was going
on by the Council. So I took it upon myself to get copies of the minutes and I'm
' concerned, this is not a personal front to any of the councilors but, based on of course
what Mr. Buoniconti mentioned tonight and also based on the reading of the minutes
sometimes we let our emotions get to us and we say things that we don't feel would be
subject to any kind of in this case some kind of litigation where it would be against the
Council's position of not appropriating any money for the unions. So I look at that and as
Councilor Bitzas mentioned, I'm concerned about being sued, I'm concerned about when
• you hear things about triple damages and so forth. I'm not a lawyer but I can read and
when I read that I became concerned. I've always been for the raises over the past couple
of votes going back to the town, the city, budget hearing back in June and this intensifies
or really makes me more concerned about the situation as it's presented this evening
based on the information I have in front of me. So I'm inclined to support the
appropriation this evening and in reference to the School Committee, just so that
everyone knows and I think most people do know that the School Committee is a
negotiating body. They do negotiate with the teachers and administrators. We have a
lawyer—I was on the School Committee —we have a lawyer, we sit in a room and we do
tell the lawyer how much we feel that we want to give the teachers this year and what we
can afford. We are a negotiating body (School Committee) but as pointed out by of
course the lawyers and all of us know up here, we are not a negotiating body. So I hope
this gets clarified tonight. I hope my colleagues who are against the appropriation would
vote for it this evening so I think it's only a half a percent. We've just expended money
out of Free Cash for golf carts. We've done a lot of other things where we spent money
and sometimes it's questionable but sometimes we realize it's needed and I think that this
is not gonna do one bit of harm at all and I think we should, the Council should
reconsider and give it a positive recommendation tonight to support the appropriation.
Thank you very much.
President Johnson—Next is Councilor Letellier.
•
Councilor Letellier— Yes, thank you. I know I'm that one that was absent last time so
I'm trying to really speak fairly and speak from my heart. I think there are a couple of
competing issues of fundamental fairness here. Yes, the School Committee passed the
2% raise. We are different bodies. We have different ways of doing things. I agree that
• the town side and the school side should be considered equally when it comes to
compensation and I also agree that this town side has gotten far much more scrutiny
about their budget than the School Department has but again, we're two different bodies.
I also have to think about how a contract that's more than the amount that was in the
agreed upon budget affects the town as a whole and I think that's the dilemma for all of
us here. Without getting to the specifics of the contracts or how it was negotiated, there
was an amount set aside in the Salary Reserve fund that has been exceeded and so that's
my dilemma is that we approved an amount, the amount was exceeded, how do we
address that? We also have competing allegations of interference with contractual
negotiations, etc. Our attorney says we're okay, this attorney says we're not. We're
Iawyers. That's what we do but I think because the School Committee has already
approved the teachers' contracts for the raise, it would be fundamentally unfair of us to
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treat the town side differently and so therefore I will be voting to approve the raises.
(APPLAUSE)
President Johnson—Any other discussion? Councilor Rossi?
Councilor Rossi — Thank you Mr. President. My position has always been that I was
never not in favor of the 2% increase that was given over here. My only concern was the
mechanisms that were used. I was always opposed to the use of the Enterprise Funds to
! fund the budgets. Now I understand that using the Enterprise Fund to budget direct and
indirect costs, I know that that's a legitimate appropriation to do that but my question is
here in Agawam, I have never seen a policy or guidelines that sets the use of those
Enterprise Funds for the terms of the goods and services that comes out of those funds
and I would like to see that happen over here but for me to use my argument for that for
! the purpose of these negotiations would be unfair and so I think that's an argument for
me for another day and I wouldn't want to see these people under these contracts to suffer
for that argument that I pose on that position so I will change my vote and I will vote to
appropriate this money.
! President Johnson — Other questions or discussion? Seeing none, if you're in favor of
TR-20145,vote yes. If you're opposed,vote no. I'd ask Barbara to call the Roll?
ROLL CALL — 8 YES (Bitzas, Cavallo, Cichetti, Letellier, Mineo, Rheault, Rossi
and Suffriti),3 NO (Councilors Calabrese,Johnson and Perry)
President Johnson—By a vote of eight yes, three no, you've approved TR-2014-5.
3. TR-2014-6 -A Resolution to appropriate four thousand five hundred
forty seven dollars ($4,547.00) from the Agawam Municipal Golf Course
Retained Earnings account to fund the Agawam Municipal Golf Course
! regular permanent and golf overtime accounts. (Mayor)
President Johnson — Is there a Motion? Moved by Councilor Cichetti, seconded by
Councilor Mineo. Questions or discussion on TR-2014-6? Seeing none if you're in
favor, vote yes. If you're opposed, vote no. I'd ask Barbara to call the Roll?
•
ROLL CALL — 8 YES (Bitzas, Cavallo, Cichetti, Letellier, Mineo, Rheault, Rossi
and Suffriti),3 NO (Councilors Calabrese,Johnson and Perry)
President Johnson—By a vote of eight yes,three no, you've approved TR-2014-6.
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4. TR-2014-7 -A Resolution to appropriate eight thousand and forty
dollars($8,040.00) from the Agawam Wastewater Department's Retained
Earnings account to fund the Agawam Wastewater Department regular
permanent, regular temporary and Wastewater overtime accounts (Mayor)
President Johnson — Is there a Motion? Moved by Councilor Cichetti, seconded by
Councilor Mineo. Questions or discussion on TR-2014-7? Seeing none if you're in
favor, vote yes. If you're opposed, vote no. I'd ask Barbara to call the Roll?
•
ROLL CALL — 8 YES (Bitzas, CavalIo, Cichetti, Letellier, Mineo, Rheault, Rossi
and Suffriti),3 NO (Councilors Calabrese,Johnson and Perry)
President Johnson—By a vote of eight yes, three no,you've approved TR-2014-7.
•
S. TR-2014-8 -A resolution to appropriate eleven thousand eight hundred
thirty two dollars ($11,832.00)from the Agawam Water Department
Retained Earnings account to fund Agawam Water Department's regular
permanent,regular temporary and Water Department's overtime accounts
(Mayor)
•
President Johnson — Is there a Motion? Moved by Councilor Cichetti, seconded by
Councilor Mineo. Questions or discussion on TR-2014-8? Seeing none if you're in
favor, vote yes. If you're opposed, vote no. I'd ask Barbara to call the Roll?
0
ROLL CALL — 8 YES (Bitzas, Cavallo, Cichetti, Letellier, Mineo, Rheault, Rossi
and Suffriti),3 NO (Councilors Calabrese,Johnson and Perry)
President Johnson—By a vote of eight yes,three no, you've approved TR-2014-8.
• Item 7. Report of Council Committees
None.
Item 8. Elections
None.
Item 9. Public Hearings
• None.
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Item 10. Old Business
1. TO-2014-4 - Transfer of $332,164.00 from the Reserve
Fund #16605-57300 ($122,164.00) and Salary Reserve
($210,000.00)to:
COUNCIL REGULAR PERMANENT 11111 51010 S 857.DD
MAYOR REGULAR PERMANENT 11211 51010 S 33,825100
AMDINISTRATIVE BUILDING REGULAR PERMANENT 11221 51010 S 314.00
AUDITOR REGULAR PERMANENT 11341 51010 S 3,406.00 i
CLERK REGULAR PERMANENT 11611 51010 S 3,643.001
ASSESSOR REGULAR PERMANENT 11371 51010 S 4,195.00
ITREGULAR.PERMANENT 11541 51010 S 3,128.00 j
TREASURER-COLLECTOR REGULAR PERMANENT 11381 51010 $ 6,912.001
POLICE REGULAR PERMANENT 12101 51010 S 65,247.00 i
POLICE REGULAR TEMPORARY 12101 51020 : S 310.00,
t
POLICEOVERTIME 12101 51030 $ 4,434.00
POLICEHOLIDAY 12101 51050 $ 500.00 i
POLICE UNIFORM ALLOWANCE 12101 51070 S 275.00
POLICE COURT TIME 12101 51090 S 1,600.001
POLICE SCIENCE COLLEGE 12101 51120 S 9,470.00
POLICEFERFARMS QUA LIFICATION 2101 51130 - $ 4,600,001
POLICE LONGEVITY 12101 51400 . S 600.00
FIRE REGULAR PERMANENT 12201 51010 . $ 57,077.001
FIRE REGULAR TEMPORARY 12201 51020 S 500.00 1
FIRE OVERTIME 12201 51030 S 7.500.001
. FIRE HOLIDAY 122o1 51050 $ 340.001
INSPECTIONS SERVICES REGULAR PERMANENT 12501 51010 S 5,642.00
HEALTH REGULAR PERMANENT 15101, 51010 $ zy469.04
-.
COMMUNflI'DEVELOPMENT REGULAR PFRMANEN`11$O 1 51010 $ 2,614.00
LIBRARY REGULAR PItMAld!N7' 1 b]D 1: 51010 S I7,352.00�
PARKS&RECREATION REGULAR PERMANENT 16201 51010 $ 2,473.00 i
COA REGULAR PERMANENT 15411, 51010 S 6.131.001 ...
COA REGULAR TEMPORARY 15411 51020 S 824.00 j
PUBLIC WORKS REGULAR PERMANENT 14001 51010 $ 5,501.00
HIGHWAY REGULAR PERMANENT 34201 51010 S 27,973.001
HIGHWAY REGULAR TEMPORARY _ 1420I 51020 $ 80.00 i
EIGHWAYOVERTIME 14201 51030, S 900.00
HIGHWAY SNOW&ICE OVERTIME 14201 51031 S 1,900.001
MOTOR VEHICLE MAINTENANCE REGULAR PERMA1.14901 51010 $ 3,018.00 1
MOTOR VMCLE MAINTENANCE OVERTIME 14901 51030 S 134.00
ENGINEERING REGULAR PERMANENT 14101 51010 S 6244.001
ENGINEERING OVERTIME 14101' 51030 $ 10.00
BUILDING MAINTENANCE REGULAR PERMANENT 11921 51010 S 39,095.00
BUILDING MAINTENANCE REGULAR TEMPORARY 1192E 51026 S 40.06
BUILDING MAINTENANCE OVERTfME 11921 51030 S 1,200.D0
BOARD OF APPEALS 16604' 51,100 S 454.00 1
President Johnson — Is there a Motion? Moved by Councilor Cavallo, seconded by
Councilor Cichetti. Questions or discussion on transfer? Seeing none if you're in favor,
vote yes. If you're opposed, vote no. Barbara?
ROLL CALL — 8 YES (Bitzas, Cavallo, Cichetti, Letellier, Mineo, Rheault, Rossi
and Suffriti),3 NO (Councilors Calabrese,Johnson and Perry)
President Johnson—By a vote of eight yes, three no, you've approved TO-2014-4.
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Item]]. New Business
1. TR-2014-9 -A Resolution confirming the appointment of Jennifer
• Towne, 11B 775 Springfield Street,Feeding Hills,MA. To the Agawam
Housing Authority for an unexpired terms expiring the second Monday in
January,2017 (Mayor)
President Johnson —That'll go on to our next Agenda.
• 2. TR-2014-10 -A Resolution confirming the appointment of John W.
Bennett, 15G Mansion Woods Drive,Agawam, MA. to the Agawam Housing
Authority to a term expiring the second Monday in January,2017(Mayor)
President Johnson—That'll also go on to our next Agenda.
•
3. TR-2014-11 -A Resolution accepting a grant from the Massachusetts
Gaming Commission pursuant to Massachusetts General Laws ($70,000.00)
(Mayor)
* President Johnson —Do we want that just to go to the next Agenda or does the Finance
Sub-Committee want a crack at it? 'We'll refer that to the Finance Sub-Committee,
4. TR-2014-12 -A Resolution Accepting a gift in the amount of Ten
Thousand (310,000.00)Dollars from the Friends of the Agawam Senior
Center pursuant to Massachusetts General Laws Chapter 44,§53A for the
Agawam Senior Center Nutrition Program (Mayor)
President Johnson—That'll go on to our next Agenda.
Item 12. Any other matter that may legally come hee ore the City Council.
•
President Johnson—I believe tonight we start with Councilor Bitzas?
Councilor Bitzas—Nothing this evening.
•
• President Johnson—Councilor Letellier?
Councilor Letellier —Yes, thank you. I was thinking on that Gaming Resolution, since
the Community Relations Committee had a little bit more to do with Gaming, I don't
know if they should be part of that meeting as well because the Finance Committee really
• hasn't had much to do with any of the casino stuff.
Councilor Calabrese—Yeah, I was actually going to suggest that.
President Johnson — Councilor Mineo will gladly kick it.
• Councilor Letellier — We can do it together Joe, I just knew that her committee had
more information than we did.
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President Johnson—Anything else Councilor Letellier?
Councilor Letellier—I'm sorry,no. Thank you.
President Johnson —Thank you. Councilor Cavallo?
Councilor Cavallo — I'd like to remind those people who are on the School Budget
Committee, we've got a meeting tomorrow night at 5:00. I think all of you have an
itinerary. You also have a calendar of all of the meetings so that doesn't mean we
exclude anybody else from the City Council so it's 5:00 up in the library in the Junior
High School and they're gonna go over, they'll have the Department Heads with them,
they'll have an opportunity to ask them questions and they'll actually have for you a
! preliminary budget, well we've already received the information about the increase in the
budget, but they'll have for you information about some of the concerns they have and
why some of the increases are there. Of course, the biggest one as you see of course are
the salaries, that's the largest one and also there's another meeting, did you get an email,
Councilor Rossi, regarding Thursday, there's a meeting, I'm on this committee and
! President Johnson is ex officio and Bob Rossi, Councilor Rossi and I are on School
Facilities Committee, yeah, they are having a meeting or we're having a meeting and I
believe, right Barb, it's 4:00? Yeah, 4:00 at the Superintendent's Office so this is the
committee that's been looking at the buildings and in particular one that they're gonna
really stress with us I know when we meet on Thursday, Bob, is the Early Childhood
Education Building. They are certainly looking to what? They want a new building so if
! anyone else is interested and has the time to come to the meeting, it's gonna be at 4:00
but what we'll certainly do if,Bob do you think you're gonna be.going? I'll be going and
we'll report back to you and try to let you know what's going on there because if you
recall Superintendent Sapelli was looking for that idea to move ahead with a new school
and we know that that's not gonna happen, it's not gonna be a reality but they're really
! pushing for the Early Childhood so two meetings then if you can make them this week.
Thank you very much.
President Johnson —Thank you. Next Councilor Suffriti?
! Councilor Letellier—Can I go back on saying I was done?
President Johnson — Certainly! Since George didn't have anything this evening we
have bonus time available in this round.
! Councilor Letellier—No, no, no, it'll be quick. I have previously asked Cheryl, we had
gotten a print out of the year-to-date for the School but that's not helpful so what I'm
looking for, I'd ask Cheryl for, the last calendar year printout and I haven't gotten it yet
but I think it'd be helpful �o have the Iast two completed fiscal year printouts so we can
do some of the analysis that we try to do on the town side. So whether it should come
! from—
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President Johnson —So do you want the calendar year or the last two fiscal years?
Councilor Letellier—The last two completed fiscal years. Thank you.
•
President Johnson — The only thing that may be confusing is, just from personal
knowledge, is they at the end of the year the School Department whatever money they
have left, they slide it all over and spend it on different things and so it's not— what I'm
saying is it won't be particularly helpful unless the transfers are on there because as
• Councilor Cavallo will tell you, it's practice in the School Department that they turn back
39 cents every year to the town, So there's—
Councilor Cavallo—But we're also encumbering expenses, right Chris, some aren't paid
until August or September,I mean that's the same with the town.
•
President Johnson --Right, but in other words if the appropriation was $10,000 and they
only spent $8,000, then they get to the end of the year and they say we have $2,000 left in
that line item, we can move it to another line item and spend it on something else.
• Councilor Letellier —Right, I understand, okay, so how do we get that information as to
what the balance was prior to the transfers? I guess that would be the crucial
information.
President Johnson — I think what I'll have to do is talk to Cheryl and see if the School
Department has their record of transfers, because like I said, what they do is and if you
got the printout it's gonna show that that $10,000 was spent.
Councilor Letellier — No I understand the theory, I understand the theory and the
practice but I guess, you know, I get up here every year and I say "Department X, you
never spend your money. Why are we giving you the same amount of money?"and since
• we vote on both sides, I think that we should be giving equal scrutiny to School
Department budgets and if they're not, if the same department doesn't spend its money
every year or the same line item doesn't use all its money every year, maybe that's one
way to come up with this extra money that the School Department is requesting.
• President Johnson —I'll talk to Cheryl and see if they have the record of the transfers so
that that will give us a clearer idea of what they're actually spending and then what they
pool at the end and spend on other things.
Councilor Letellier—All right, thank you.
•
Councilor Cavallo—Can I add—would the Business Manager have that information?
President Johnson — They should. I know in my day, they kept it but I don't know if
they still keep it now.
•
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Councilor Letellier— Yeah, I just want some sort of formal written request that's gonna
get us the information that's actually gonna help us in the process. I'd love to be able to
. go to the meeting, I have swimming lessons at 5:00. 1 just can't, you know, everybody's
got what they have to do.
President Johnson—Councilor Suffriti?
Councilor Suffriti — Well, after that, nothing tonight and I'm just happy and glad to see
• that everybody finally moved forward on the union contracts so that we can move
forward on other issues that are being presented in front of us so thank you.
President Johnson—Councilor Rheault?
Councilor Rheault—No, nothing.
President Johnson—Councilor Perry?
Councilor Perry—Nothing this evening, thank you.
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President Johnson—Councilor Mineo?
Councilor Mineo—Nothing.
President Johnson —Councilor Cichetti?
Councilor Cichetti—Nothing this evening,thank you.
President Johnson —Councilor Calabrese?
Councilor Calabrese — I just have a quick question, Paul. Why are these meetings so
early? It's hard when you work during the day to make a 5:00 meeting, you know? I
work and I do work late on Tuesdays and I can generally make a meeting on Tuesday if it
starts at like 7:00 but 5:00 is absolutely impossible. I'm just curious why those are being
set so early in the day?
•
Councilor Cavallo—Well, it's always been that way.
Councilor Calabrese — See, I don't remember them being this early because I've been
on the committee and I've never had to miss a meeting.
•
Councilor Cavallo —The last meeting Joe and I were the only ones there.
Councilor Calabrese — Probably because it was during the day. So, if there's any way
of scheduling these more like 7:00?
•
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Councilor Mineo — But again, if I can just go back, the meeting that's Thursday is at
4:00. Why can't they make these meetings, I mean I know you can't make it, I can, but I
mean, I don't know how many times over fourteen years I've said this, they 3:00
meetings and 4:00 meetings, I mean I can't make them and I'd like to make them but if
you could talk to Mr. Sapelli and see if it could be just a little bit later for me anyways.
5:00 is fine, I don't mind 5:00 but 4:00? I can't get out of work.
Councilor Calabrese—And that's all I had.
•
President Johnson—Councilor Rossi?
Councilor Rossi — Thank you. Paul, did you say that meeting tomorrow was at 5:00?
Library? Junior High? Okay, oh okay, that's all I have thank you.
•
President Johnson — Congratulations to the hockey team playing for the Western Mass
title again Thursday evening, not to let out the other sports team, boys basketball played
in the playoff game at West Springfield High School, the last game at the old gym, they
could have made a few more free throws from what I understand and would have been
victorious but with that, the Chair will entertain a Motion to adjourn. Moved and
seconded around the house, all in favor of adjournment say Ay? Opposed? We are
adjourned.
Adiournment at 7:42pm
•
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