CC MTG MINUTES DECEMBER 1 2008•
REGULAR MEETING OF THE AGAWAM CITY COUNCIL
DECEMBER 1, 2008
President Letellier — Welcome to the Agawam City Council meeting of December 1,
2008.
Item 1. Citizens' S eak Time
President Letellier—And we have two speakers this evening. The first is Richard
Theroux. Richard?
• Richard Theroux—Thank you Council President Letellier, Council members, ladies and
gentlemen. My name is Richard Theroux. I am Chairman of the Senior Center Building
Committee and I'm before you for the last report on the Senior Center. Fourteen months
ago, I came before you along with the administration to ask this Council to approve the
bonding for that center and as we are all aware, this beautiful building located on Main
• Street is 95% complete. I wish to thank publicly the committee that I had to work with
starting with the Vice Chairman of the committee, Councilor George Bitzas, the late
Pauline Paquette, the late Kathy Cote and Jane Schmidt and certainly two main members
of the Friends of the Seniors, Don Cerall and Emil Cote. These people have been
invaluable to not only me but to the administration in moving this project along. As I
stated, we are 95% complete and the Council had an invitation last week to view the
building unfortunately scheduling back and forth, different councilors couldn't make it,
so I'm going to make this offer here this evening that I or Councilor Bitzas would be glad
to take any individual councilors through the building at your convenience. Just get a
hold of either one of us, preferable me during the day if that's workable for you and the
• reason 1 say that is because the building has not been turned over to the community at this
point and there are conditions and safety conditions that have to be met so you have to go
through with one of the committee members and if you would like just call me or call
Councilor Bitzas who's offered that also and we'd be glad to just take you through the
building before it's going to be opened. Speaking of the opening we are hoping that this
center is going to be open the first of January. We are, at the present time, working room
by room with the Friends of the Seniors committee and doing the furnishings for each
particular room. As you are aware, the Friends of the Seniors have raised over
$200,000.00 for furnishings for this center. That will not come out of the bond. We are
confident we will hit below that mark and certainly have the furnishings that are suitable
for this wonderful structure. Now I will say this that in my closing remarks from the
• times that I've come before you, each time, each section was a challenge. We met that
challenge. This building will be on time and on budget. It was not without problems
however, I think we overcame them. In a short period of time the administration, Mayor
Dawson and Attorney Johnson, will be before this council with the agreement with the
Agawam Housing Authority and I know the Council's aware of the issues there. The
Housing Authority were tough negotiators on what they needed for their residents as well
as the administration negotiating what we needed for the Senior Center. We've come to
what all thinks is a pleasing spot, a compromise and I think we're gonna work out the
•
issues that we have there. Again, nothing is without a little compromise and a little
friction, but I'm confident that that is going to be before you within the next few weeks
• and we will move forward. Again, it's a project that was done at a different time,
certainly a better economic time. So, in closing I certainly want to address that. This
Council is certainly more aware of the budget considerations that will be coming before
you and that came before you fourteen months ago. This is a very expensive project but
it is also a project at this point in time that I believe that even in these economic times,
this project will improve the fabric of our community especially for the seniors that are
gonna use it and the seniors that are coming. And also I believe that this building will be
used for many issues that the town has,meetings and other programs. We're hoping to
have the bulk of it for the seniors but will give the building more usage. But in the throw
of economics; the area that we're dealing with is a senior population that has found,
certainly as we are all aware, their personal finances to be stretched. They will be
allowed to use that senior center on a day to day basis, a place to go and meet new friends
and reacquaint with old ones. The dining facilities itself are absolutely overwhelming
with the seating capacity of 250. This also will allow and a very major point is the
expanded kitchen facilities that will allow our seniors program for Meals on Wheels to be
+ expanded. The one hot meal that a senior might be getting for the entire day will be
delivered out of that center and expanded. So even though we all understand the expense
of this building and no one more than me, every Tuesday meeting with the committee and
meeting with the construction crew, seeing these dollars being spent, but I believe and I
did fourteen months ago, that this is money well spent for our community, well spent for
our seniors. They certainly have stepped up to the plate with the fundraisers and other
items that they have done to raise that $200,000.00 to furnish this building and I believe
that when we open it, you will be very proud, not only of your vote but of your
commitment to have this new Senior Center be part of our community. And in closing, I
again, thank you for that commitment fourteen months ago. We will be opening again in
January and if you find the time and the interest to do a tour before that opening, please
• contact me or Councilor Bitzas and we will make the time to show you a building that
you all have been part of and I thank you for that and I thank you for your support and I
thank you for your attention this evening.
President Letellier—Thank you Richard. Next we have Michael Grandfield.
•
Michael Grandfield—Michael Grandfield, 27 Dorwin Drive, West Springfield. Good
evening. I'm sure you'd all be disappointed if a member from the Chamber of
Commerce wasn't here arguing to lower the taxes on all our businesses so that's why I'm
here tonight. The Agawam Chamber of Commerce as you know has been advocating for
a reduction in the amount of property taxes that has been shifted onto the business
community. As you all know many communities have a single tax rate many years ago
Agawam elected to have a split tax rate whereby the residents pay one rate and the
business owners pay another. As recently as 2004, the percentage that was shifted onto
business was under 140%. The next year that amount jumped to over 160% and now this
evening we understand that the shift is proposed to go to the maximum allowed be
current law of 175%. While many may choose to concentrate on the tax rate itself, this
shifting of the tax burden onto the business community is real and results in businesses
•
paying more and more of the subsidy to the other tax payers. Using last years figures, the
business community paid a $6.7million premium in Agawam due to this shift. While we
are not asking tonight that everyone be taxed at the same rate, that decision was made
many years ago, we are asking that some of this heavy burden be lifted from the business
community and that the shift be lessened from its current 174%to help Agawam continue
to be a desirable community for existing and potential new businesses. On a separate
matter, we would like to thank the Town Council for their hard work in dealing with the
complexities with one of our local businesses namely Six Flags in its supporting the
streamlining of the approval process for the some of their new rides. We thank you and
look forward to working and improving the support, communication and cooperation
between the Chamber of Commerce and the Town Council. We really do thank you for
all your hard work. Thank you.
i President Letellier—Thank you Michael.
Item 2. Roll CaU
President Letellier—Barbara, could you please call the roll?
ROLL CALL— 10 Present, 1 Absent(Councilor Rheault)
President Letellier—Yes, thank you. Councilor Rheault will not be here, I believe due
to illness. He shouldn't call you, he should call me. He should call the Council President
• and not Councilor Cavallo,but that's okay.
Item 3. Moment of Silence and the Pledme of Allegiance
President Letellier—Could you please rise?
Item 4. Minutes
(a) Regular Council Meeting—November 17,2008
0 President Letellier—Sorry, I just wanted to say that I meant that completely in jest,
about him calling me and not you. I meant it in jest, I don't want anyone to take offense
and before it becomes a fire storm, I meant it completely in jest, I apologize. Next we
have the minutes of November 17, 2008, moved by Councilor Simpson, seconded by
Councilor Perry. Any discussion? No? All those in favor please signify by saying Ay.
• Opposed? Okay, we have passed them unanimously.
Item S. Declaration from Council President
None
•
•
Item_& Presentation of Petitions,Memorials &Remonstrances
(a) Resolutions
1. TR-2008-20 -A Resolution Requesting the Mayor to Appropriate Funds
for the Board of Appeals to Employ Outside Counsel for the Appeal of the
Special Permit Granted to Six Flags New England.(Council)(Tabled
11/17/08) (Majority of those present and voting)
President Letellier--The item is on the table, do we have a motion to remove it from the
table? Moved by Councilor Calabrese, seconded by Councilors Bitzas, Cavallo and
Rossi. Any discussion? Oh, I'm sorry. Forgive me, my brain's still not here yet. Could
we please have a vote on the motion to move from the table? Barbara, could you call the
! roll?
ROLL CALL — 9 Yes, 1 No (Councilor Perry), 1 Absent (Councilor Rheault)
President Letellier—With a vote of nine yes, one no, you've taken the item from the
table. Is there any discussion? Councilor Bitzas?
Councilor Bitzas—Yes. We have had this for six months now we've tabled and I
respectfully ask the Council to either take off the table or just vote against it until if they
need it in the future so they can come back to us and ask for the money and we can act.
Thank you.
President Letellier—Thank you Councilor Bitzas. Councilor Cavallo?
Councilor Cavallo—Yea. I concur. I feel that it's been on the table long enough. I was
voting in favor of keeping it on the table but if something occurs where some kind of
legal assistance is needed on behalf of the ZBA, okay, we would certainly support them
since they do work for us.
President Letellier—Thank you. Any other discussion? Councilor Perry?
Councilor Perry—Yes, thank you Madam President. Has any information been
forwarded to the Council President, any manner in regards to this item?
President Letellier—The last I spoke to the Mayor and I asked her a couple of weeks
ago, or less than a month ago, the plaintiffs still had the suit on file even though Six
Flags, the issue is no longer there because the Dark Knight obviously never went up. So
for some reason this lawsuit is still pending but I would agree that this can get brought
back up if the plaintiffs were to go forward. I don't think is the...for the issue at all,but
as far as I know the lawsuit is still pending.
Councilor Perry—Thank you.
•
President Letellier—Thank you. Barbara, could you call the roll? A yes vote is to ask
the Mayor to appropriate funds, a no vote is to not ask the Mayor to appropriate funds at
this time. Thank you.
ROLL CALL—2 Yes (Councilors Mineo and Perry), S No, 1 Absent(Councilor
Rheault)
President Letellier—With a vote of two yes, eight no, one absent,the item has been
defeated.
Item 7. Report of Council Committees
1. Council Sub-Committee
(a) Rules & Regulations—Councilor Calabrese
Councilor Calabrese—Thank you. The Rules and Regulations Committee last met in
the third quarter of this year and at that time we had discussed updated the rules and
streamlining a newer form putting some of our Rules and Regulations into uniform text
and that is going to be done, I got a little behind having to sit in the President's chair for
Madam President but...tough shoes to fill. I will be bringing all those updated rules and
regulations. Thank you.
(b) Utilities & Street Acceptance—Councilor Mineo
Councilor Mineo—We did have two meetings scheduled and only one meeting came
off. At the last City Council meeting on November 17`h I did not open up the meeting
due to the Western Mass Electric representative did not show up for the meeting and
S there was some residents there that had some questions about a pole relocation over on
North Westfield Street. That meeting has been rescheduled to December 15`h and all the
abutters were contacted again for that meeting. Come to find out that is not a pole
relocation. They are actually going to be putting in a new pole. We did have another
meeting tonight where my committee met and a lot of the councilors showed up here,
i Councilor Bitzas, Councilors Rossi, Cavallo, Simpson, Councilor Calabrese and my
committee members Jill Messick and Bob Young. Western Mass Electric came in and
did a presentation on a new infrastructure project that will be going on here in Agawam
or actually it will be going from Ludlow to the Connecticut line and WMECO will keep
us abreast of the project and it's gonna be, it will be a better thing for Agawam to
strengthen the grids. Thank you.
•
(c) Licenses—Councilor Rossi
Councilor Rossi—Yes, thank.you. The Licensing Committee have been meeting,
Councilor Cavallo, Councilor Simpson, we have been meeting periodically throughout
• the year for the issuance and renewals of assorted licenses, automobile licenses, dealer
licenses, and the like and everything has gone very smoothly. This Council has passed
•
all the renewals and the applications and I'm happy to say that everything is going well
on the licensing end.
•
President Letellier—What a pleasant change of place,huh?
(d) Public Safety-Councilor Perry
! Councilor Perry—Yes, thank you Madam President, I agree it's been calmer in the
licensing than before, definitely. Our Public Safety Committee met once this last quarter
on November 201h at the Agawam Library. Myself as chairman, my committee members,
Robert Rossi, Councilor Rossi and Donald Rheault were present as was Councilor Mineo.
I had asked that the Police Chief show which he did,we had the Deputy Fire Chief there,
R we had Lt. Gilles from the Police Department, Traffic Division and Jack Stone. We had
two items of agenda that evening, one was the discussion of Shoemaker Lane, the curve
which was brought to our attention by a gentleman at Citizen's Speak Time and also the
second item of agenda was the posted speed limits on Silver Street which was brought to
our attention by Councilor Mineo. We had a good discussion on, there was also probably
i about fifteen people from the public at our meeting, and we had a very good discussion. I
was very pleased with the turn out from the administration with the police and fire and
our DPW. They brought some real good input to that meeting. The history with
Shoemaker Lane and Silver Street—they were redone back in the late or mid-80's and
they were widened and repaved and we had a lot of sewer lines and things put in. A lot
of the money to do that was funded by the state so for the town to go in to and say let's
r change the speed limits on those streets, we can't just do that. We would have to have
engineering studies done, traffic studies done and state approval to do that. So we had a
lot of discussion on how to try and make that curve safer on Shoemaker Lane. Some of
the ideas that we came up with and I'm not sure if anybody's been done there since our
meeting but they have the automatic speed limit sign there showing the speed limit of the
cars approaching the curve. These were all suggestions from the police department.
They are also doing a study for us over a thirty day period which will report back to our
committee in regards to the average speed that people are traveling on that road. They
have radar traps there now. DPW is going to improve the signage there. They are also
gonna put, I believe they call it, Chevron signs up on the curves, they're kind of angled
S and reflect that the curve is there. So overall it was a very good meeting in regards to
Shoemaker Lane so we still have more work and we'll be meeting in about a month on
that. In regards to the posted speed limits on Silver Street, there is none. Again, it was
the engineering from the state when we redid that road, estimated or put the speed limit
on that street so for us to change that we would have to go through a lot. But back in
2001, a resolution did come to this Council to post the speed limits recommended by the
state. At that time the Council elected not to go through with that resolution but our
committee talked with Jack Stone, the police, cuz our hands are tied, they're not posted,
no posted speed limits so its' very difficult for them to issue a traffic speeding ticket and
it could be beaten in court very easily because there is no posted speed limits so there will
be a resolution coming through our committee in the near future to try and have the speed
limits posted on that street. So overall I thought it was a.very good meeting and I want to
say thank you to the police and fire, DPW and my committee members. It was a very
productive meeting. Thank you.
President Letellier-- If I may with my memory, was that the resolution which it was
defeated because the change in speed limit,there were so many frequent changes along
the one street that it would have been impossible for a driver to really follow it? You had
to go down ten miles an hour every couple of feet, every couple hundred feet?
Councilor Perry—Well, yea, and it's changed a little bit since then and Bobbie can
correct me if I'm wrong. You're correct, from Suffield Street up about a quarter mile it's
like 25mph because of the intersection then from there going up past Malone's and up the
hill, it goes to 30mph and then when you get above and around past Garden Street, the
! rest of it going down which is really all industrial it changes to 40mph. But the thing is
right now with having nothing there, it's very difficult for the police, you're really tying
their hands in regards to being able to do anything there so Jack is re-writing that
resolution. We'll have another meeting on it probably right after the first of the year and
then we'll move forward with it.
President Letellier—All right. Thank you. I just wanted the public to know why we
didn't pass it or want it. That was my memory was that it seemed like it was too
confusing because there were three speed limits within a very short period of area. Okay.
Thank you.
(e) Ordinances—Councilor Rheault
President Letellier—Is someone on the committee going to give the report? Okay,
thank you, Councilor Cavallo.
Councilor Cavallo—Thank you Madam President. Mr. Rheault asked me to give the
report tonight and basically in the quarter there were four meetings and all of them were
joint meetings with the Jill Messick's the chairman of the Zoning Review Committee and
they were very productive meetings. We discussed the following and many of these were
voted on by the Council. The first was TOR-2008-2 regarding the height ordinance of
i rides at Six Flags and also the next one was the enforcement and penalties for violations
of zoning ordinances and the third of course was TOR-2008-4, the sign ordinance. We
discussed those on October 1, 2008 and then on October 20`b there was another meeting
and here we dealt primarily with the sign ordinance. Then on November I e the third
meeting was held between both committees and the sign ordinance was another one that
was brought up again and by a vote of 2-0 by the Ordinance Committee and 2-0 from the
Zoning Committee, we sent a positive recommendation to the Full Council for approval
as amended and approved at a previous City Council meeting regarding the sign
ordinance. Then at that last meeting on November 1&,there was discussion of TOR-
2008-5, the trench permits and.again by a vote of 2-0 on Ordinance Committee and 2-0
from the Zoning Committee, again, the vote was to send a positive recommendation to
the Full Council for approval. Tonight, we met again a joint meeting to discuss the noise
ordinance and this came about as a result of a complaint by a neighbor in that area that
•
there is excessive noise given off by the rides at Six Flags and we examined the
ordinance and it's Section 121-1, Section E, and the noise ordinance specifically states
• that amusement parks are exempt from provisions of the noise ordinance. After some
discussion between both committees, we felt there was really no need to go ahead and
establish or write an ordinance. We felt that if that was to be done it would simply
present more problems. It'd be very difficult to enforce as well. So the committee
decided and again unanimous vote of 3-0 by the Ordinance Committee and 3-0 from the
Zoning Review Committee, that we would, the noise ordinance would remain as it is, as
it exists now in the code and that concludes my report.
(f) Zoning Review—Councilor Messick
President Letellier—Ditto or?
Councilor Messick—I will concur with the report of Councilor Cavallo as far as the
meetings that were held jointly with the Ordinance Sub-Committee which we normally
do but I did have one committee meetim all by myself without the Ordinance Committee
and that was the meeting on October 27 attended by Councilors Rossi and Bitzas and
myself in discussion of TO-2008-43 which was the Grace Baptist Church Zone change so
that they could pursue disposing of that property and we voted 3-0 to send a positive
recommendation to the Council. Thank you.
(g) Finance—Councilor Young
Councilor Young—Yes, thank you. In the fourth quarter we, the Finance Committee,
met three times in October and once recently on November 191". Oh, I'm sorry, once in
October on three different matters. October 6th we met on items TO-2008-39 which was
a transfer of S5137.68 to the Council temporary salaries account, also TO-2008-41 which
+ was a transfer of$2000.63 to the Assessor's salary account and finally on that date we
discussed TO-2008-42 which was a transfer of$1807.26 to the Mayor's salaries account
which are all negotiated salaries, one within the budget, two outside the budget and all
three matters were given a positive recommendation from the Committee and then went
to the Council for full approval which they passed. On November 19a', we met and
reviewed TR-2008-52 which we'll be discussing and holding a hearing on tonight which
was the adoption of the residential tax factor for 2009 which 1 will give a committee
report later on on the matter. I would like to, that concluded our business in the fourth
quarter thus far however, I think we'll have several other matters before us before the
year is over. I would like to thank my committee members, Councilors Rossi, Mineo,
Perry and Calabrese and also special thanks to our City Auditor, Cheryl St. John, our
Treasurer Laurel Placzek and our Assessor, Kevin Baldini. They attended several of the
meetings in the fourth quarter thus far and maybe more to come and again without their
hard efforts we wouldn't be able to make the business happen. Also, special thanks to
our Council Clerk, Barbara Bard, for all her efforts in coordinating the meetings and
minutes and that's the Finance Committee report so thank you.
(h) Industrial Relations--Councilor Perry
• Councilor Perry—Yes, thank you Madam President. We did have one meeting this past
quarter. We met at the library on Wednesday, November 12a'. The item of discussion
was Easthampton Savings Bank and the possible location on Main Street. I met with
Debbie Dachos and three members from Easthampton Savings Bank on that day. They
have purchased the property on 770 and 769 Main Street to locate a new branch there.
We're in the preliminary planning stages at this point in time and one of the things that
they're looking at is there's a small portion of land and this is where the old Agawam
Public market is, there's a small portion of land that the Town of Agawam actually owns.
We actually inherited that property from Hampden County when it was disbanded from
the state and we're looking at the possibility of them possibly purchasing that. I'm
0 working with the City Solicitor right at this point in time and we'll be having, my
committee will be having another meeting, hopefully next week in regards to this and at
that point, I'll have more information in what we may bring forth to the Council for
possibly the sale of that property so that's my report. Thank you.
• (i) Ad Hoe Sewers—Councilor Rossi
Councilor Rossi—The Sewer Committee met a couple of times over the fall as you all
are aware then we came back with a revised plan and that plan was presented to the
Council and it was approved and as it stands right now the sewer, the bonding and
everything has been authorized and everything is going as planned. I do intend to call
S some meetings after the first of the year with the committee to make sure that we stay on
target and things progress with the first phase and we are hoping that that first phase will
take place at the first ground breaking in the springtime but I will report to the Council
after the first of the year with a further update as to what's going on and I will keep the
Council posted as well as the community as we get closer to ground breaking. Thank
you.
(j) Ad Hoc Recreation—Councilor Bitzas
Councilor Bitzas—Yes, we did not have a meeting this quarter. Hopefully when spring
comes, we will have more meetings about the new park down on School Street. Thank
you.
(k) Ad Hoc CPA—Councilor Simpson
: Councilor Simpson—Thank you. Nothing was referred to our committee during this
time frame.
2. Report from City Auditor
Cheryl St. John—Good evening. During the past quarter the Accounting Department
0 has successfully completed all the financial reporting for the Town of Agawam for the
fiscal year 2008 which ended on June 30 '. Our department processed bills up through
0
July 151h for the fiscal year 2008 and from July 151h through the end of November we
have been extremely busy. We have prepared all the financial reports which included the
annual report, the Department of Revenue annual checklist, the supporting schedules, the
Schedule A, Schedule 1, the Schedule 19 and the Community Preservation CPI and CP2.
The Town of Agawam's annual report is a thirty page report which includes a balance
sheet, a budget analysis, a debt schedule, accounts receivable reconciliation, and other
miscellaneous schedules. A copy of this report was distributed to the auditors,the
Department of Revenue, the Mayor and the Council. During the summer the Department
of Revenue came in and trained us on their new Gateway software. We are now required
to submit all of our reports to the DOR electronically through the Gateway system which
is on the internet. On September 15`h, I prepared and submitted the Community
Preservation CP 1 report to the DOR with the Assessor. This form is required in order for
• the Town to receive the Community Preservation State revenue match. I also prepared
the Community Preservation CP2 report and submitted it to the DOR on September 24,
2008. This report summarizes the 2008 fiscal year activity in the Community
Preservation Fund. In September, I worked with Renee Jury in the School Department to
pre tpare the end of year school report due to the Department of Education on September
30 . I assisted her in preparing the Schedule 1, the 2008 actual figures and the Schedule
19, the 2009 estimated figures to make sure the Town complies with the net school
spending requirements. In fiscal year 2008, the Town of Agawam's required net school
spending amount was $35,631,965.00. In fiscal 2008, we spent$42,597,629.00. This
included the school appropriation plus the school's share of amounts the town spent on
administration, nursing, maintenance, employee benefits, active and retiree health, dental
• and life insurance, all out of the town budget. Agawam exceeded net school spending in
the fiscal year 2008 by$6,965,664.00, The fiscal year end checklist along with the cash
reconciliation form, Treasurer's quarterly cash report, Schedule of outstanding
receivables, statement of indebtedness, detailed analysis of undesignated fund balance,
and the balance sheet were submitted to the DOR through their new Gateway system on
October 2, 2008. From this information, the DOR certified the Town's free cash on
October 6`h in the amount of$5,823,815.00. They certified the retained earnings for the
Water Enterprise Fund in the amount of$2,109,972.00 and the Golf Enterprise Fund in
the amount of$104,798.00. October 61h through October 10th the Town's independent
auditing firm, Powers & Sullivan, performed their field work for the town's audit. I
provided them with the necessary financial reports to perform their field work. They will
issue a report on the examination of the basic financial statements within the next few
months and that will be forwarded to each of you. During the month of October, I
prepared the 66-page Schedule A which was submitted to the DOR on October 271". This
report summarizes the fiscal year activity for funds. If this report is not submitted timely,
. the state will not issue the town's quarterly payments. The previous auditor paid our
independent auditors, Powers & Sullivan, $3,500.00 every year to complete this Schedule
A. I have saved the town $14,000.00 preparing this report myself since I was hired.
Currently, I am working with the Assessor to complete the tax rate recapitulation forms
that are submitted to the DOR to finalize the new tax rate for the new fiscal year. As of
today, all of the accounts payable are up to date and paid as soon as we receive them. We
process accounts payable warrants daily and in the fiscal 2009 from July I"through
today, the principle clerk in the Accounting Department has processed over seven
•
thousand invoices. In the payroll area, we have had a very busy quarter too. With
temporary summer help for public works, the golf department and the election workers,
• we have been busy setting up these new employees in the payroll. In addition,when
contracts are settled we have to calculate the retroactive pay. During the time of the year
we are contractually obligated to pay additional pays such as longevity, firearms, and
holiday pay which also creates additional work for the payroll girl and Laurel. There
were five holidays over the summer and the fall which gave my administrative assistant
less time to process payroll but my staff worked as a team and were able to meet these
deadlines in order for the employees to have their direct deposits on time and Laurel too.
This past quarter was extremely busy in our department and we have successfully closed
the fiscal year and prepared and submitted all the financial reports prior to their
deadlines. If any Councilors would like to see any of these reports or if you have any
40 questions, please feel free to stop in my office and I'd be happy to meet with you. Thank
you.
President Letellier--Thank you Cheryl. I think that's an excellent addition to our
agenda to have the quarterly reports. Thank you.
Item 8. Elections
None
Item 9. Public Hearings
I. TR-2008-52 -A Resolution Adopting a Residential Factor of.811267
Pursuant to Massachusetts General Laws,Chapter 40, Section 56. (Mayor)
(Referred to Finance Committee) (Majority of those present and voting)
President Letellier—Do we have a motion? Moved by Councilor Perry, seconded by
Councilor Rossi and Councilor Bitzas. Do we have a report by the Finance Committee?
Councilor Young?
Councilor Young—Just a point of order, aren't we supposed to have a public hearing
and then do the reports and discussions afterwards? I wouldn't want to taint the, or
prohibit anyone from speaking because of our report but—
President Letellier—You are correct. You are correct. My error. I'm still getting back
into the swing of things. I apologize to everyone. I'm sorry. All right. So I call the
public hearing to order. All those in favor will speak first, then all those who wish to
1 speak against will speak second, third we will have those who wish to speak in favor in
name only, last is those who wish to speak in opposition in name only. Who is
presenting on behalf of the town? Are you presenting Laurel? Kevin? Okay, come on
up. Please state your name and address for the record and you have ten minutes to speak.
Of course we'll be happy to extend if you need it.
•
Kevin Baldini—Kevin Baldini, City Assessor. I met with the sub-committee, Laurel and
I met with the sub-committee on December 19`t' and presented the information regarding
•
•
the tax rate and I don't know if the Council wants me to go through the presentation
again or just ask questions of me or what would be the best?
President Letellier—Perhaps you could summarize for the public how the town came to
this factor. I don't see that the Mayor is here so perhaps you can let us know how she
came to that figure.
Kevin Baldini—Okay. Most of the information is on the last two pages of the booklet
that I prepared for the Council and what is does on the second to last page just gives sort
of a track history of from fiscal year 2000 to the current where the residential and
commercial average values and average tax bills have gone. Last year the average tax
bill was $2690.00 for the residential tax payer and that would go up to $2811.00 which is
40 an increase of$121.00 at the maximum shift of 175%. At that shift the commercial
values which actually dropped slightly during this update that we had, our tri-annual
update, would go down $53.00 at the maximum shift, I guess there's a chart, I also
prepared a chart that I sent out this week which shows the comparison between some of
the surrounding communities and the commercial and industrial split communities such
as Chicopee, Holyoke, Springfield, West Springfield and Westfield and the chart shows
that even with the increase that we have this year, we're still the lowest commercially and
residentially in the area with the competing communities. I've had, Chicopee had their
rate set and so I was able to get the information for 2009 from Chicopee and Westfield
and Chicopee's rates actually went up $0.84 on the residential rate and up $2.11 on the
commercial rate and Westfield's went up $.040 on the commercial rate and I know I
wrote it down somewhere, $0.40 on the residential rate and a $1.11 on the commercial
rate whereas Agawam is going up $0.33 on the residential rate from $11.74 to $12.07 and
$0.40 on the commercial rate from $25.64 to $26.04 at this shift. So comparatively to
other communities it's still the lowest residentially and commercial rate of the
surrounding communities.
•
President Letellier—Thank you. Any questions for the Assessor? Councilor Bitzas?
Councilor Bitzas—Yes. Mr. Baldini, can you explain to the Council and also for the
people that are watching us tonight, this seems like the people they pay more taxes even
r though it went down a little bit, can you explain about the valuation of the houses? Did
they drop now? They should be down, the rate, or how the state, I know it's a couple
years ago, the valuation, can you explain the valuation, the state law, so the people can
understand a little bit better and us too?
Kevin Baldini-- Sure. The values actually, residential values for fiscal 2009, are based
on the 2007 market. There's based on 2007 sales and the average value in 2008, last year
fiscal 2008, was $229,500.00 and it's actually going up slightly to $232,000.00, an
increase of about 1 %a% and that's based on 2007 sales. The 2008 market, I did a little
study before tonight's meeting and I don't have hard figures obviously but it is slightly,
S declining slightly and the commercial/industrial values like I said did go down a little bit
and that's why that shift, even though we're shifting to the maximum level of 175%or
that's the recommendation, the commercial/industrial values still, since their values
i
declined, even though the shift was 175%, their average tax bill still went down$50.00
where the residential values because they went up slightly, their average tax bill went up
• $120.00. I don't know if you want me to get into Proposition 2 %2 and how that works. I
don't know if that was part of your question, I'm not sure.
Councilor Bitzas —If you would like to elaborate, yes, and then I have another question.
Kevin Baldini—Sure. Proposition 2 %2, I think a lot of people misunderstand, it doesn't
mean an individual or a business is taxed, individual tax can't go up more than 21/z%,
what it is is an increase in the tax levy from one year to the next. If our tax levy is for
instance$1 million one year, last year, you multiply that by 2 1/2% to come up with
$1,025,000.00 and then you have say$25,000.00 in growth so it's $1,050,000.00—that's
is what next year the town can levy in taxes. How that's distributed between individual tax
payers has nothing to do with the 2 1/2 % so that's how it works. We're constrained,
every city and town is constrained to go up only 2 1/2% each year in their levy.
Councilor Bitzas—Okay and the next question, I asked the last time, is there any way by
law to bring the taxes lower than what was presented to us?
•
Kevin Baldini—The residential rate?
Councilor Bitzas—Yes.
Kevin Baldini—No. We're at, the 175%is the max.
Councilor Bitzas— So this is the lowest we can go for it?
Kevin Baldini—.Right.
•
Councilor Bitzas —Thank you.
President Letellier—Thank you Councilor Bitzas. Any other questions for Mr. Baldini?
No? Thank you very, very much. Anyone else wishing to speak in favor? Please state
your name and address.
Marc Katsoulis—My name is Marc Katsoulis, 18 Maple Meadows Lane, Agawam. I
want to wish everyone a Happy Holiday and belated congratulations to the President on
her recent birth. I didn't get a chance to give you a call or anything. I apologize. I'm
hear tonight and I hope it's gonna be a little refreshing, every year at this time as the
previous speaker already mentioned, we have a tradition, I'm hear to speak on the tax rate
and the tradition is always the Chamber of Commerce, the business interest, this year we
even had two full page ads in the paper representing the business community. I don't
know if I'm being a little bit refreshing or boring but I thought I'd came in tonight as a
resident and I'm like everybody else. I'm retail friendly but I also think we have to look
out for the retail end of it and I can't compete with the Assessor who did such an
excellent job, and took a little wind out of my sales which I knew he would but the two
•
things I want to stress and for me this will be refreshing cuz I'll be very brief, number
one how hard the Mayor and your Finance Committee and the Assessor worked on this
and number two very important, Agawam's comparison with other communities. This
community has a lot to be proud of and none of us want taxes if there ever was a trying
time in this country, it's now. And everywhere you go you hear Agawam is the lowest
and I hope after your Finance Committee makes their report,you'll listen to the Assessor
and you will also listen to the Mayor and I hope this Council will vote the present
• recommendation and represent the residential end of things for the people of Agawam.
Thank you.
President Letellier---Thank you Mr. Katsoulis. Any one else who wishes to speak in
favor of the proposed tax factor? No? Seeing none, anyone who wishes to speak in
s opposition to the proposed tax factor? Seeing none, anyone who wishes to register in
name only as being in favor of the proposed tax factor? Sure, come on up if you'd to.
Please state your name and address for the record.
Treasurer/Collector--Laurel Placzek, Treasurer/Collector. As a Collector I'd like to
keep the residential rate a little lower.
President Letellier—Thank you. Anyone else wishing to register in name only as being
in favor of the proposed tax factor? Anyone wishing to register in name in opposition to
the proposed tax factor? Seeing no further speakers, I close the public hearing. And now
may I have the Finance Committee report? I'm sorry. I'm doing okay guys, I'm getting
0 back in the swing of things.
Councilor Young—Okay. Thank you. The Finance Committee met on November 19''
at 7:OOpm. In attendance were the entire Finance Committee, Councilors Rossi, Young,
Mineo and Perry and Calabrese, didn't want to read my own name, sorry. Also in
• attendance were again our City Assessor, Kevin Baldini, City Treasurer/Collector Laurel
Placzek, City Auditor Cheryl St. John, also in attendance were Councilors Messick and
Bitzas as well as one resident, Billy Chester. Again, after reviewing the information we
just heard from the Assessor and the other folks again the percent, again and just to
remind the community and the board and the audience our job,basically our job and by
law what the town and the Council have to do is come up with a tax rate that will meet
the financial budget that was voted on back in July so again not everyone here voted for
that budget but again our job here is simply to come up with a tax rate that will meet and
fund that budget that we approved six months ago. Again, our hands are tied, they can't,
we have a table that's provided by the state that only gives us so many choices which
really in my eleven times doing this, we have little choice, very little choice for us to
make here other than the shift. Again, so based on that and the budget that was approved
again the increase of the rates that were proposed, residential—a 2.8%increase and the
commercial increase of I.6%, with all the information that we just discussed the Finance
Committee voted 5-0 to send a positive recommendation to the Full Council for
approving the proposed tax factors. Thank you.
•
•
President Letellier—Thank you Councilor Young. Any other discussion from the
Council? Councilor Bitzas?
•
Councilor Bitzas—Yes, I did attend with the Finance Committee and I had two
questions for the Assessor and the Treasurer and I supported it that time and I continue to
support it this time the tax rates and as I can see down here in the nice graph, we are the
lowest in the area. We pay$12.07 tax rate in residential and the commercial rates $26.04
compared to four other cities and towns. Do I like to see those taxes down? Absolutely!
And I ask the city officials if there's any way they can drop those rates down and they
said no, they cannot do it so I actually we have no choice than to support it because this is
the lowest we can go either way for the commercial and the residential. I wish there was
a way to bring this down, the taxes, to help myself and all the residents but we cannot do
it. So with that, I hope the Full Council supports it. Thank you.
President Letellier—Thank you. I'm not sure who was next we'll just do Councilor
Rossi and then Councilor Cavallo.
Councilor Rossi—Are we still in the public hearing or?
President Letellier--No I closed the public hearing.
Councilor Rossi—Oh, you did? I'm sorry. I'm sorry. Let me just respond a little bit on
that. I agree that we do have the lowest tax factor in the area but we certainly have the
0 lowest tax bills in the area and there's a little bit of a difference there. And yes, you're
absolutely right as the Chairman of the Finance Committee said, we really didn't have
any choice, we have to establish a factor because we have to get the tax bills out based on
the budget that we passed over here. But the way to get the tax bills down is just not to
have so much of a budget. I don't know any other way to put that. I wish I could say
• something a little differently but the only way to do that is by having a smaller budget. I
wasn't in favor of the budget and didn't vote for the budget but I guess I have to vote for
the tax factor because I think that's the only way we can do it. But I don't want anybody
to be mislead here. Just because Agawam has the lowest tax rate around doesn't mean
we have the lowest tax bills because we don't. There are people who have a much higher
tax rate in this area who pay less taxes than we do in Agawam. So let's be perfectly
honest about it. The only way to get it down is through the budget process and I think
Councilor Perry said it quite aptly at budget time be very, very careful because in
December or November, we're gonna be looking at the tax factor and everybody is gonna
be screaming about their tax bills. Now this $121.00 represents an average figure of this
entire community which means some will probably pay a little bit less but some will be
paying extremely more because it is an average. So as I said at the sub-committee
meeting I voted for this but I want an asterisk placed next to my vote and my approval for
it. Thank you.
' President Letellier—Thank you. Councilor Cavallo.
Councilor Cavallo—Question to Laurel, can I ask Laurel a question?
•
President Letellier—No. We would have to go into Committee as a Whole for you to
i do that, which is not a problem.
Councilor Cavallo—The only question I have is when will all this take effect on which
bill, which cycle? The increase? Okay,...the Assessor, it was stated by Assessor Baldini
that based on 2007 real estate assessments, of course since that time we've all taken big
dips and people are finding that out when they sell their homes that they're not getting in
some cases what they paid for them and yet, these taxes still have to paid, that's an
unfortunate tragedy of this whole thing in a bad economy like this but again, the bills
have to be paid and I am taking to heart some of the points that Councilor Perry has made
in the past and also Councilor Rossi made this evening that next time around,I'm a new
councilor, next time around I will look very carefully at that budget as I try to make some
moves as I did in the School Budget during the summer that there is gonna be a time
where we're gonna have to say no and there are many cities and towns who have said no
and have reduced their budget and they said no in the school portion of the budget and I
think it behooves all of us here to really scrutinize next time around because I know I
will. As Councilor Bitzas said it's too bad there wasn't a way we could lower the taxes
but we can't so I think we still have to provide services but at the same time let's be
economically wise here and I take the wisdom from both of my colleagues here. Thank
you.
President Letellier—Thank you Councilor Cavallo. Councilor Calabrese?
•
Councilor Calabrese—Just when Councilor Rossi said with regard to budgeting I think
it's no secret I don't think I've voted in favor of a budget for the last three years and just
for this reason alone. We are up against furthest tax shift that we can have now going
forward. We can't shift this any further. This is the maximum amount of shift and I do
• listen to what Councilor Perry says every year he reminds us remember people this is
what we're gonna be setting the tax rate on in December and here we are setting the tax
rate. In previous years the shift has not been to this extreme, the last time we did the shift
it was at 1.74% and now we're up at 1.75% and I do want everyone to keep this in mind
at budget time. Thank you.
•
President Letellier—Thank you. Any further discussion? Councilor Messick?
Councilor Messick—The Mayor has asked for budget cuts from all the department heads
and this is because we are in a financial crisis. What I would like to see is us make those
cuts and then try and continue working forward with those cuts in place. If it's possible
to make those cuts in a crisis, we should be able to make cuts and continue to work and
provide the services on an ongoing basis so seeing how severely we're impacted right
now, I would really like to continue with a smaller budget because again Councilor Perry,
very wise,we're making this shift. And I looked at the shift pretty carefully and I didn't
just for the maximum shift, I went looking from an actual cents point of view, it's $.33
for residential, $.40 for a business. It's pretty much the closest you can get without
raising residential more than business so that's why I'm in favor of this. But again I'm
•
hoping that we can make these cuts. We can find out they don't hurt that much and we
can continue on with a smaller budget because I don't think we can continue doing this
• infinitely. Thank you.
President Letellier—Thank you. Any further discussion? Just that the public knows,
the two tax rates will be as follows—for residents it's $12.07 per$1000 of evaluation—
and for commercial it's $26.04 per$1000 of evaluation. And I see no further discussion.
# Barbara, could you please call the roll? A yes vote is to approve the tax factor of
.811267.
ROLL CALL— 10 Yes, 0 No, 1 Absent (Councilor Rheault)
President Letellier—With a vote of ten yes and one absent, we've approved the tax shift
and I thank Assessor Baldini and Treasurer/Collector Placzek for coming and Cheryl St.
John, our Auditor, for being here for questions as well.
Item 10. Old Business
1. TOR-2008-5 - An Ordinance Creating Article IV of Chapter 155 of the
Code of the Town of Agawam Establishing a Permitting Authority and a
Permit Fee for Trench Permits in the Town of Agawam Pursuant to M.G.L.
Chapter 82A. (Mayor)(2/3) (Referred to Ordinance Committee) (Majority of
those present and voting)
•
President Letellier—Do we have a motion? Moved by Councilor Cavallo, seconded by
Councilor Perry, Councilor Cavallo do you have the committee report?
Councilor Cavallo—Yes, the committee agreed in a unanimous vote, okay, that we send
you a positive recommendation and approve this.
President Letellier—Thank you. Any further? Councilor Messick?
Councilor Messick-- I can add a little bit of information about what the trench
permitting is about. It has to do with actually digging trenches. Trenches are defined as
holes in the ground which are longer than they are wide essentially. In 1999, a three year
old died after being buried in a trench in a Bridgewater backyard. At that point in time
there were not safety plans in place for holding up the walls of trenches. This is
something that the DPW has been required to do for a while. The state government has
been requiring people to do for a while and this is kind of a final step in that, in that there
• were actually requiring us to have a permitting authority. So, the Superintendent of
Public Works currently regulates the excavations and will be having them designated as
the issuing authority as well. And the trench permit will be $25.00. Thank you.
President Letellier—Thank you Councilor Messick. No? Seeing none, Barbara, could
you call the roll? This is the second of three readings.
ROLL CALL— 10 Yes, 0 No, 1 Absent (Councilor Rheault)
0
President Letellier—With ten yes and one absent, you've approved the second reading.
• We have multiple motions to move the third reading. I heard Councilor Calabrese cuz
she's sitting right here, seconded by Councilor Messick. All those in favor of moving the
third reading? We need two votes, one is to move the third reading and then actually
have the third reading. So, Barbara, could you call the roll on moving the third reading?
a ROLL CALL— 10 Yes, 0 No, 1 Absent (Councilor Rheault)
President Letellier—With ten yes and one absent, you've voted to move the third
reading and now we will have the third reading. Barbara, could you please call the roll
for the third reading?
•
ROLL CALL— 10 Yes, 0 No, 1 Absent(Councilor Rheault)
President Letellier--With ten yes and one absent, you have approved the third reading.
2. TO-2008-53 - Order Granting or Renewing a LICENSE for Amusement
Device(s)—The Quest,Inc., 1251 River Road,Agawam,MA.(Clerk)
(Majority of those present and voting)
President Letellier—Do we have a motion? Moved by Councilors Simpson and Rossi,
seconded by Councilor Cavallo. Do we have a report from the License Committee?
i
Councilor Rossi—We do and first of all, let me apologize to the Licensing Committee
that it kind of got by me, there was only three of these requests and their relatively similar
ones. This one here in question,The Quest, is for 1251 River Road and really it's just
golf video game, two pool tables and a fuse ball table. I didn't call a meeting but I will
defer to every member of my committee who has a problem with it but I find no reason
not to renew the license and I would recommend a positive action from the Council.
President Letellier—Thank you. Anyone else from the License Committee or from the
rest of the Council have any question or discussion?
Councilor Cavallo—No I concur with Councilor Rossi. I looked them over and they're
fine.
President Letellier—Thank you. Barbara, could you call the roll? A yes vote would be
to approve the license for The Quest, Inc.
ROLL CALL — 10 Yes, 0 No, 1 Absent (Councilor Rheault)
President Letellier—With ten yes and one absent, you have approved the Automatic
Amusement Device Licenses.
•
•
3. TO-2008-64 -CLASS 11 LICENSE for renewal—Sarat Ford Sales,Inc.,
243-249 Springfield Street,Agawam,MA. (Clerk) (Majority of those present
and voting)
President Letellier—We have two different items, one for each side of the street. Do we
have a motion? Moved by Councilors Simpson and Rossi, seconded by Councilor
Cavallo. Any discussion or the report from the Licensing Committee?
Councilor Rossi—Yes, again, my apologies to the committee and the same thing, Sarat
Ford their two addresses listed as you stated 243-249 Springfield Street and the other one
was 250 Springfield Street, the other Sarat Ford building,both are Class II Dealer's
renewals. I find no reason not to send forward a positive recommendation to the Full
Council for approval.
President Letellier—Thank you. Any further discussion? No? We have to vote on
each item separately, they're different agenda numbers. Barbara, could you please call
the roll?
• ROLL CALL-- 10 Yes, 0 No, 1 Absent(Councilor Rheault)
President Letellier—With ten yes, you've approved the first license.
4. TO-2008-65 -CLASS H LICENSE for renewal—Sarat Ford Sales,Inc.,
250 Springfield Street,Agawam,MA. (Clerk) (Majority of those present and
voting)
President Letellier—Do I have a motion? Moved by Councilors Perry, I'm sorry, Rossi
and Simpson, seconded by Councilor Cavallo. Any discussion? No? Barbara could you
please call the roll?
ROLL CALL— 10 Yes, 0 No, 1 Absent(Councilor Rheault)
President Letellier—With ten yes and one absent, you have approved the second Class
II license for Sarat Ford.
•
Item IL New Business
1. TR-2008-53 -A Resolution Confirming the Appointment of Priscilla
Peterson, 51 Monroe Street,Agawam,MA. 01001 to the Agawam Veterans
Council as an Honorary Lifetime Member(Mayor) (Majority of those present
and voting)
President Letellier—Next agenda.
i
•
•
2. TR-2008-54 -A Resolution Authorizing an Appropriation and Loan
Order in the Amount of$400,000.00 for the Repair,Reconstruction or
• Replacement of the Sanitary Sewer Force Main Crossing of the Westfield
River in the Town of Agawam. (Mayor) (213 Majority Vote of the Full
Council or 8 votes)
President Letellier—That's in addition to what we have already appropriated so we're
• going to refer that to the Finance Committee, next agenda.
3. TR-2008-55 -A Resolution Adopting the Town of Agawam Local
Natural Hazards Mitigation Plan. (Mayor) (Majority of those present and
voting)
• President Letellier—Next agenda.
4. TO-2008-66 -Transfer- $45,000.00 from Reserve Fund(16605-57300)to
Veterans' Benefits (16604-57100)(Mayor) (Majority of Full Council or 6
votes)
• President Letellier—Barbara, could you Richie Girard to come to the meeting? Thank
you. Next agenda. That's referred to the Finance Committee as well.
5. TO-2008-67 -Transfer-$12,803.63 from Council on Aging—Regular
Temporary Salaries (15411-51020)to Building Maintenance—Regular
• Permanent Salaries (11921-51010) (Mayor) (213 Majority Vote of the Full
Council or 8 votes)
President Letellier—Refer that to the Finance Committee, next agenda.
6. TO-2008-68 - Order Granting or Renewing a LICENSE for a Weekly
Amusement Device(s)—Springfield Turnverein,Inc., 176 Garden Street,
Feeding Hills,MA. (Clerk) (Majority of those present and voting)
President Letellier—That'll go to the License Committee, next agenda.
• 7. TO-2008-69 - Order Granting or Renewing a LICENSE for an Automatic
Amusement Device(s)—FSF,Inc. d/b/a Riverboat Bar& Grill, 11 South End
Bridge Circle,Agawam,MA.(Clerk) (Majority of those present and voting)
President Letellier—Next agenda, Licensing Committee.
8. TO-2008-70 --Order Granting or Renewing a LICENSE for an
Automatic Amusement Device(s)--West Springfield Fish& Game Club,
Inc.,P.O.Box 25,329 Garden Street,Feeding Hills,MA. (Clerk) (Majority of
those present and voting,)
• President Letellier—That'll go to the License Committee, next agenda.
•
9. TO-2008-71 - CLASS II LICENSE for renewal— Auto Kraft, 119
Walnut Street,Agawam,MA. (Clerk) (Majority of those present and voting)
President Letellier—That'll go to the License Committee for our next agenda.
10. TO-2008-72 - CLASS It LICENSE for renewal— Chris Auto South,
Inc., 207 Main Street,Agawam,MA. (Clerk) (Majority of those present and
voting)
President Letellier—Again for the Licensing Committee, next agenda.
11. TO-2008-73 - CLASS II LICENSE for renewal— Elias Auto, 1123
Suffield Street,Agawam,MA. (Clerk) (Majority of those present and voting)
President Letellier—For the Licensing Committee, next agenda.
12. TO-2008-74 -CLASS II LICENSE for renewal-- RNK Auto Sales,28
Moylan Lane,Agawam,MA.(Clerk) (Majority of those present and voting)
•
President Letellier—Next agenda and that's go to the Licensing Committee.
13. TOR-2008-6 -An Ordinance Amending Section 180-811 of the Code of the
Town of Agawam Governing the Height of Fences within the Setback Area
of Corner Lots (Councilor Simpson) (Majority of those present and voting)
President Letellier—That'll get referred to Zoning& Ordinance and next agenda.
Item 12. Any other matter that may legally come before the City Council
President Letellier—Did I start with Councilor Simpson last time? I believe I did. Let's
start with Councilor Perry this time.
Councilor Perry—Nothing this evening, Madam President, thank you,
President Letellier—Thank you. Councilor Messick?
Councilor Messick—This is actually in regards to the transfer, the request for further
funds for the...This is getting referred to the Finance Committee but I was actually gonna
request more information because I'm particularly concerned about just the difference
between the construction total $206,000.00 and $572,000,00, I would like to see more
information than what has been provided to us currently, of itemized details and so
hopefully Councilor Young will either request that or not mind if I do? Okay.
Councilor Young— Sounds like you just did.
Councilor Messick-- I was actually just gonna make a suggestion but we can work on
that together maybe okay, thank you, other than that I have nothing.
President Letellier—Thank you. Councilor Bitzas? .
• Councilor Bitzas—Yes, Mr. Theroux spoke earlier about the Senior Center for a tour. I
just want to clarify something. If it's easier for the council to have Barbara coordinate a
tour,have either two, or three or four go together, it'd be a lot easier, in the morning or
afternoon, evening. Evening is a little bit more difficult because you have to have
someone come and open it for us but I would appreciate it if Barbara or you contact
Barbara to have two or three groups or four groups whatever. Mondays and Wednesdays
are my days off. I can have the whole day for you, evening too. So you'll be in for a
surprise. Thank you.
President Letellier—Thank you Councilor Bitzas. Councilor Young?
•
Councilor Young—Yea. Just a couple of questions I guess. The Zoning Board of
Appeals, the openings and the public hearing and the elections, I don't see them under
New Business?
President Letellier—They'll be under Elections for the next agenda.
Councilor Young—Okay, great.
President Letellier—And we have I believe five applicants this time around.
Councilor Young—Awesome. I guess a request for some updates on a couple of the
items I don't know who the right one to direct this to is, there's been talk of moving to
the Senior Center for the meetings,moving of our Auditor out of the town hall to
elsewhere, I don't know what's going on with those but I would like an official update.
• President Letellier—Moving the Auditor, that's definitely on hold. Definitely on hold.
Councilor Young—Per agreement with the Mayor or just our opinion?
President Letellier—Per agreement with the Mayor and the town is waiting to hear from
! the State Architectural Access Board to find out if they really have to use that particular
office or if adjustments can be made with other offices where the ramp is.
Councilor Young—Okay. Also maybe someone has an update or maybe we could ask if
more people have this question, any updates as to what the status of the construction of
• the band room and the gymnasium here at the Middle School is? I think they've been
under repair or construction for several years.
...I think three?...
' Councilor Young—I think I was promised an answer several meetings ago from the
Mayor and I haven't heard word on that. So maybe—
•
•
President Letellier—Why don't you work with the Council Clerk to get a memo out
from the Finance Committee?
•
Councilor Young---Okay, so then it may be related to the move of the whole meeting
platform but I don't think so. And then maybe Council President or someone could
invite, I see that based on the subject that random councilors get invited to those meetings
on topics and maybe that's because they contacted Council President?
•
President Letellier—Yea, I noticed that. No, Council President wasn't invited either.
...multiple conversations...
Councilor Young- ...so maybe you could enlighten us. Thank you.
President Letellier— I would enlighten you but I have idea of the rhyme nor reason as to
why certain people are invited and not the Council President nor Council Vice President,
but I'm certain that it will be addressed. Thank you. Councilor Simpson?
Councilor Simpson—Nothing tonight, thank you.
President Letellier---Thank you. Councilor Mineo?
Councilor Mineo—The Tennis Road issue which you're talking about I just wanted to
let everybody know I did decline to go to that meeting. I think the people spoke loud and
clear three years ago ... I was invited to that meeting and this is another reason why I did
not attend that meeting—why the Mayor invited me, School Committee person Anthony
Bonavita, Councilor Messick, and Corinne Wingard, I mean I like Corinne and I know
she's on a lot of boards but I mean there is an entire Council here. We should have all
• been invited! And that comment in the article is about people sitting at the table. Why
were we not invited back in March and April to the table? This has been going on for
seven months and I don't have a clue about this. I don't know if anybody, ...the
meetings were happening for the last seven months and nobody had an idea and this thing
just gets slung at us. I just don't know where this is going and that's one of the reasons I
declined. I don't want be, I just didn't feel that the timing of this meeting was proper. I
mean if it's an issue that's this important I think the Mayor should have addressed the
entire council and not pick out certain people and that's another reason I declined. I think
it's important that we all know the same information and no one or two people from the
council but it's back.
•
President Letellier—Thank you. Councilor Cavallo?
Councilor Cavallo—When I read the article in the paper on Sunday. In fact my wife
read it first and she said "Aren't you still on the City Council?" That was her comment
s when she read the article. I say in jest but you know at least I thought our President, at
least OUR President, and the Mayor should realize that anything that does transpire has
to come before us! We're the legislative body and I wasn't too happy about it either. I
•
•
didn't take it personally at first then later on the last couple of days, I spoke with some
people and I have taken it personally. The other item I want to mention here this evening
• is as Councilor Mineo pointed out that many us three or four years ago, this particular
proposal was voted down...by the residents of the Town of Agawam and unless they feel
that because there's a new mayor that there might be a chance for her or whatever to ...in
this particular project. We still know that you have the state to deal with if you're
looking for some kind of access or egress to this property and the people spoke, they
don't want it. There are some concerns—takes precedence, what about Steve & Barry's,
they'll be gone and we're back to the old Food Mart problem and shouldn't we be putting
our efforts and trying to get someone else to occupy that building? I mean in case the
other six or seven...1 mean our attention should be thrust in that direction. I guess we
can't do much about it but get that building occupied again so I'm really torn here and I
feel, all due respect Madam President, I thought at least YOU should have been invited
and I think you should take that as a personal front.
President Letellier--Thank you. Councilor Rossi?
• Councilor Rossi—I don't think I want to even touch that. Apparently we don't have the
right kind of glasses, I don't know. I thought there was supposed to be transparency.
Transparency was supposed to be one of the big issues here with this election,but maybe
you need special glasses I don't know. But now what I would like to say, I would like to,
Barbara, if you would, set up a Licensing Committee meeting prior to the next scheduled
council meeting, I would be very much appreciative of that. I will on vacation so I won't
• have an opportunity to schedule it so I want to make sure it's done now. Thank you.
President Letellier—Thank you. Vice President Calabrese,
Vice President Calabrese—Yes, Barbara, could you do a follow up memo to the Zoning
• Board of Appeals asking if they have a response to the memo which I sent to them last
month and if you need a refresher to what that was? I know they resolved that one issue
but there was another question of a broader scope that I had included in that memo. And
also with regard to our prospective move, this is in response to the email memo that I had
sent around just before Thanksgiving at the request of Richard Theroux and Tony Albro
• and we're not going anywhere. The consensus, after speaking with Tony and with
Richard, the facilities at the new Senior Center would not be able to handle the capacity
of some of the larger crowds that we do have here from time to time and one of the other
rooms in that building from what I understand has a yoga mat type of a flooring which
would be damaged by the use of chairs. So we're gonna be here...video and audio
# equipment...just to give you an update on that particular item and that's all I have this
evening. Thank you.
President Letellier—Thank you. And at our last Executive Session I want you to know
that I had drawn up a memo to the Mayor about the items we addressed and between
Barbara's computer, Councilor Rossi's computer, CeCe's computer, nobody could open
any of my attachments. No matter how many times I sent them, no matter how many
formats. So I can send it like it is and you can trust my wisdom or I can try again to
0
•
resend it to everybody but I think it's getting time that it probably just should go out. So,
Barbara, I'll refax that to you, why don't you send that out. I'm gonna meet with the
Mayor in the next week or two and because there's been a lapse of time between our
meetings,if anyone has any items that you wish fox me to bring to the Mayor's attention
or me to discuss with the Mayor, you can email me or let Barbara know and IT try to set
up a formal agenda to the Mayor so we can have a productive meeting. So if you could
do that by the end of the week and maybe I can meet with the Mayor next week. Okay?
• Thank you everybody for a good meeting. Do we have a motion to adjourn? All those in
favor please signify by saying Ay? All opposed? Thank you.
Adjournment
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•