CC MTG MINUTES JUNE 15 2009 REGULAR COUNCIL MEETING OF THE AGAWAM CITY COUNCIL
JUNE I5, 2009
President Letellier—Good evening and welcome to the Regular Meeting of the
Agawam City Council for Monday, June 15, 2009.
* Item 1. Citizen's Speak Time
President Letellier—Our first item of Agenda is Citizen's Speak Time. Barbara, do I
have the list? Oh, okay, sorry. Just a reminder for those of you who have not spoken at
Citizen's Speak Time before, you'll have five minutes to speak. The Council
0 Administrative Assistant will keep the time and she will notify you when you have one
minute to go. We ask you to state your name and your address for the record and the
item on which you are speaking. Thank you. Our first speaker is Jack Downing.
Jack Downing—I'm Jack Downing. I'm the President and CEO of the United Veterans
0 of America doing business in Massachusetts' Soldier On. We run shelter and treatment
program for formally homeless veterans and I'm before the Council tonight just to give
you some information on a piece of legislation that's going to the Mass. House in regards
to the former State Training School here in Agawam. As a result of meeting with Mayor
Dawson, Rosemary Sandlin, the State Representative, Senator Buoniconti, Richie Girard,
. the Veterans' Service Officer,there was some interest in us taking a look at the old State
facility because we have been engaged by the Department of Veteran Affairs and HUD to
provide permanent housing for formerly homeless veterans. And the model we have
which is now being, the first one is being built in Pittsfield, MA, is to build limited equity
cooperative apartments for each veterans to own. And because the average age of a
veteran in our care is 54 %2 and because veterans who have gone homeless have lost
0 everything and by everything we even mean contact with primary community we would
regularly call family that there's a need for veterans to live in some kind of congregated
service area to receive services but at the same time to have the maximum amount of
independence and security in the place that they dwell. There's a model called Housing
First, that's very common now in the homeless world where we're taking people off the
0 streets, not putting them into shelters but moving them into permanent housing. In the
model we have, what we've done is taken veterans in, we get them in treatment for their
addiction issues if that's it, we get them in cooperation with their therapist and their
mental health issues and their meds, and they live with us for a minimum of six months
and a maximum of seven years to get into the routine and the service line that they're
• going to need to stay successful. And then we're building these limited equity co-ops for
them to own and operate. And so what happens with that and kind of a win/win I think in
this situation, is we're looking for communities that are looking to have veterans live
there who are good neighbors and good partners in the community which I think our
history in Pittsfield shows a tremendous connection between our veterans and the
4) community at large and the second thing is because it's owned by the veterans,they
become tax payers to the community. So in Pittsfield, we're building a building that's
gonna provide $25,000.00 in taxes to the tax base in the community for every year that
1
we're there so we sit it as a win/win. We think it's a•process that can really work. It
seems that Agawam is a blue collar community that's very responsive to veterans' needs
and we think that we've proven that as an organization, we provide the services, we bring
in the excellence that's necessary to do this work and we have an outstanding record of
accomplishment over the last eight years of operating. The project in Pittsfield is the first
time in the history of the country that we've built ownership units for formerly homeless
veterans. The project in Agawam will be the second or third project on which we do that
and the way we go about it is we work with both the state and the federal government and
with HUD on funding for the project and once we get it built, our veterans already run the
buildings they live in. The veterans who are in our care now, operate the buildings on the
campus at the VA Hospital that we lease from the VA and the $2 million facility we have
in Pittsfield is run by the six of the formerly homeless vets that live there. So we would
work with the community. We want to be good neighbors. We want our veterans to be
part and parcel of it. The planning of the building—we would work with your Veterans'
Service Officer on what kind of facility he might like to see there to serve veterans in the
community and the one thing that we've found successful with our vets that we've done
in Pittsfield, is we've built a greenhouse at our place which we would plan on doing here
and we would be glad—what we do in Pittsfield—we do flowers for downtown Pittsfield.
We do the flowers for all the veterans' memorials in Berkshire County and we do a lot of
work with the retired senior volunteer program.
Clerk- One minute please.
r Jack Downing—Average age of a vet in our care is 54 %a. Everybody in our care has a
high school diploma and all our people have successfully negotiated the change in their
life from homelessness to stability and productivity in the community. Okay?
President Letellier—Thank you very much Mr. Downing.
•
Jack Downing—Thank you for having me here tonight. Okay. God Bless. Thank you.
President Letellier—Our pleasure. Thank you.
President Letellier—Next we have Paul Bulmer.
Paul Bulmer—Good evening. I'd just like to speak to the Energy Commission. I think
that it would be a great idea for this city because I can only see it gaining saving money
and making us more energy efficient in the long run as well as the short run so I'd just
like to speak to the fact that I support it one hundred percent.
President Letellier—Thank you. We need your name and address please?
Paul Bulmer—Paul J. Bulmer, 342 Adams Street.
President Letellier—Thank you.
. 2
Paul Bulmer—Thank you.
President Letellier—Next we have Jay Berger.
Jay Berger— Good evening Council members. I'm Jay Berger. I live at I OG Castle
Hills,Agawam. I'm here in favor of the Agawam Energy Commission. I'm a member of
the Agawam Democratic Town Committee. About eighteen months ago, I recommended
• that we undertake a project in Agawam that has been working in other communities.
This was the beginning of Go Green Agawam. During the first six months, i wrote
endless columns in local and regional newspapers and magazines regarding methods to
save energy. This we call euphemistically `harvesting the low hanging fruits' --items
such as turning down the thermostat in winter, raising it in summer, putting in low flow
toilets, placing compact fluorescents rather than the traditional light bulbs, growing your
• own vegetables, taking shorter showers, etc. etc. The exhibit of events in the new School
Street Park and all of the above we certainly should continue. Under the leadership of
Corinne Wingard, Councilors Jill Messick and Gina Letellier along with Councilor
Cecilia Calabrese, it became evident to our Mayor Dawson that Go Green Agawam
should lead to an Energy Commission. The serious rationale behind the move is the
* availability of large amounts of grant money from state, federal and stimulus for the big
tickets items so necessary in today's economy. The newer energy saving windows,
energy saving boilers, solar energy panels, wind power, bio mass water power plants and
energy savings kitchen appliances,all of this would follow an audit by the
Commonwealth Energy Commission's appointed people. Those communities with
commissions in place and first in line will get the greater share of what has been
budgeted. Those left behind will just have to wait. I urge the Councilors of Agawam to
give this proposal your earliest and most sincere consideration. The citizens of Agawam
will be pleased to see the energy savings we've realized from this upcoming commission.
Thank you for your consideration.
•
President Letellier—Thank you. Next we have Doug Ronnau.
Doug Ronnau—Good evening. My name is Doug Ronnau. I live at 1 I I Florida Drive.
Dear Members of the Council, in 1992 the newly Postmaster General, Marvin Runyin,
. gave a service talk to all postal employees. A statement that he made that has stuck with
me all these years, he said simply "In organizations in society, roughly one percent of the
population creates change, ten percent of the population sees what's going on and
prepares for the change and everyone else says `what happened?"' I don't want to see
Agawam be in the `what happened' category, it's time to take charge and form an Energy
Commission for Agawam. We have a multitude of talent within our community, with
expertise in engineering, the sciences and building trades. An Energy Commission is just
good public policy and can save our community money over the long run. Please give
your support for an Energy Commission for Agawam. Thank you.
President Letellier—Thank you. Next we have Dan Bulmer.
� 3
Dan Bulmer—Good evening. My name is Dan Bulmer. I live at 41 Letendre Ave. I'm
here tonight to speak in favor of forming an Agawam Energy Commission. I see that the
Town can only benefit from the formation of such an organization and I'm also up here to
speak against allowing the zoning change on Doane Avenue and that area. I think that
owners of the property understood and knew the zoning when they purchased the
property and that the Town needs to find a way to use the property for its intended
purpose and not go, take the easy route out, and change the zoning. Thank you.
S President Letellier—Thank you. Next we have Corinne Wingard.
Corinne Wingard—Good evening. My name is Corinne Wingard. I live at 194 Elm
Street and I'm the co-chair of the Go Green Agawam Committee. I'm also speaking in
favor of the Agawam Energy Commission's creation. The Go Green Committee was
established about a year ago. We've had some excellent speakers and some of us have
attended various seminars at UMass and meetings with the Center for Ecological
Technology and the Pioneer Valley Planning Commission about energy conservation. As
you know we sponsored the extremely successful Earth Day event at School Street Park
and also sponsored a program on energy savings for seniors at the Senior Center and as
Jay said, working with DPW staff who have been just absolutely wonderful, did apply for
a free audit by the state of all our town buildings. Excuse me, I have intermittent asthma,
sometimes I run out of breath. These days we hear about green just about everywhere.
I've been bringing copies of the Green Living journal to the library. The librarians tell
me that they've been flying out the door. So it's clear that energy conservation is an
interesting concern of many people in town. The time is right for Agawam to establish
an official Agawam Energy Commission. Having this commission in place will position
us extremely well to obtain the large amounts of state and federal money becoming
available for energy conservation. For the state, ten million dollars is already in place
through the Reggie (?) auctions which are ...offset caps and trades and this will be
renewed every year. Every year there will be ten million dollars to be divided among the
cities and towns as we apply. There simply is no downside formalizing an Agawam
Energy Commission. It's a win/win for the town, its citizens and the environment. So I
ask you to please vote favorably for the Agawam Energy Commission. Thank you.
President Letellier—Thank you. Next we have Diane Arventos.
Diane Arventos—My name is Diane Arventos and I live at 84 Corey Colonial and I'm in
favor of forming the Agawam Energy Commission also and I also wanted to thank the
City Council for supporting Shriners Hospital. I've worked there twenty-four years and I
really appreciate your support. Thank you.
President Letellier—Thank you. Next we have Ray Lucia.
Ray Lucia—My name is Ray Lucia, 777 Silver Street and I'm here to give my opinion
about the zone change for Doane Avenue even though I'm probably shooting myself in
i the foot. i really think every consideration should be made to develop this land and keep
it industrial because I think we need the tax base and I think industrial tax base is
4
•
beneficial to the Town. It has been said that this land is landlocked and I'm not saying it
because I want to benefit from this but this land is adjacent to land that I own and other
than the fact that the person who owns this land now that wants a zone change, doesn't
own it, I mean there is a possibility of getting to this industrial land through other
property. And the other consideration is and I don't know whether it's possible but
Western Mass has all this land in there and I think if you start re-zoning it and not
keeping it industrial is a mistake. I think that now that this land is coming to the
limelight, every avenue should be investigated to see if we can do something with
Western Mass as a possibility and try to develop this area into some industrial base for
the benefit of the town. Thank you.
President Letellier—Thank you. Next we have Shirley Kibbe.
• Shirley Kibbe—My name is Shirley Kibbe. I live at 40 Doane Avenue in Agawam.
President Letellier—Please speak into the microphone.
Shirley Kibbe—Can you hear me now? Okay. I just have to read my little speech here.
• I have nine more names to add to the petition that we already gave which makes a total of
approximately 194 names.
President Letellier—You need to state your name and address for the record.
Shirley Kibbe—I have to what?
President Letellier—State your name and address for the record please?
Shirley Kibbe—Oh, I thought I said it. I said Shirley Kibbe. I live at 40 Doane Avenue
! in Agawam, MA.
President Letellier—Thank you. If I missed it I apologize.
Shirley Kibbe—That's okay. Okay I know you are all cognicent of the fact that the area
is a priority habitat of rare species. I do have a couple of pictures that we took recently
! on the property in question of an Eastern box turtle you might like to look at. You have
already heard and read in the Council minutes most of the reasons I am against the zone
change, so I won't reiterate but I do have a couple more things I'd like to mention. At the
first Planning Board meeting on May 21", Mr. MacNaughton told us his plan would be to
build $300,000.00 homes. Then at the Council public hearing on June I", he told us his
• plan would be to build$400,000 - $500,000 homes. Why did he change his mind within
a week or so? Was he trying to impress the Council by enhancing the value of the
property or was he trying to convince the Council by alluding to more tax dollars for the
town? My other question is this. Is there any guarantee of the price of the homes he will
end up building there? Is there a guarantee? They could be of a lesser price. Is there any
• guarantee that if he gets the zone change, he won't sell the property to somebody else?
Then what? It seems to me there are too many unanswered questions with this zone
5
•
change request. This leads me to the question, is the town willing to give up industrial
land for something as doubtful as this. Thank you.
•
President Letellier—Thank you. Our next speaker is Jim Consolini.
Jim Consolini—Jim Consolini. 101 Doane Avenue. I'd like to take this opportunity to
thank each and every one of you for returning our calls and for taking the time to come
up to Doane Avenue and see what our concerns are. There are several things I could talk
about but we kind of went over all these items the last meeting we had. I do want to
impress upon you that if a new road is created in that area, then the second egress would
be coning out at Doane Avenue. That's gonna create a big safety problem. Our children
have always played on Doane Avenue. We do not have sidewalks there. They play in
the road. The petitioner has stated that having a second egress that it might help Doane
a Avenue, but it will not. You have to bear in mind that there are gonna be fuel delivery
trucks, FedEx trucks, UPS trucks, you name it, any kind of truck that comes down that
new road is not gonna back up any place. It's gonna come out on Doane Avenue and
when it comes out on Doane Avenue, if it happens, you're gonna conie out of a thirty
foot road onto a twenty foot road, onto the cul-de-sac at the end of Doane Avenue. And
• then these vehicles would have to travel the whole length—a quarter of a mile—down to
Silver Street. Children playing down the other end know the vehicles that come off of
Silver Street,they know the residents, they know the vehicles will not be coming back,
they will not know about these other vehicles coming into Doane Avenue from the
eastern hem. A big safety problem. I'd be very concerned. The town officials that
# originally changed this zoning of all that property that we're discussing to industrial
knew exactly what they were doing. They kept Doane Avenue Residential A and they
zoned everything else around Doane Avenue Industrial. What did they do? They created
businesses north and south of Doane Avenue. They protected Doane Avenue. They
made us Residential A-1. They created a buffer and they also knew that the land and
area,the land that's in question right now, would be landlocked and then when I say they
protected Doane Avenue, we are looking to you to offer us the same protection and vote
no on this proposal. Thank you.
President Letellier—Thank you. Our last speaker this evening is Ruth Cosimini.
Ruth Cosimini—Hi my name is Ruth Cosimini from 102 Doane Avenue and I have
laryngitis so my grandson is gonna speak. I wrote something. "Hi. I am Ruth Cosimini
of 102 Doane Avenue right here in Agawam. I could repeat what has already been said
but I am sure you all understand what we are trying to say. It is not the right time to build
with so many choices to stay put and fix up their own homes instead of buying new. The
•' market is just not ready to be flooded with new homes. Yes, some of you think that new
homes raise the price of homes around them but empty homes will bring the value down.
I am also worried that Agawam is taking on too much already and new homes being built
is a drain on the schools and other services. Maybe you have older kids and life was
good when they were in school but times are changing and one thought that comes into
• mind and that is overcrowding, not to mention that extra trash pickup that will be needed
and the use of water. Now are you willing to hire or should I say can we afford to hire
6
i
more police and fire to support the new homes and families coming into town? I say if
you are a willing to hire at least twenty people to each department if not more then maybe
new homes here in Agawam will work. I want to thank all of the councilors that took the
time out of their busy days to walk the area in question and I hope you all saw the things
that we see each day. I just want to ask how many of you took the time to go and ask the
question around town of what do you think of new homes being built any where in town?
Well, I work in two little established places here in town and I took my own little survey
and you know what most of the people have said? They do not want to see any more
homes built. Now these are the people of the town not just ones on our street. I also
work in Connecticut and guess what? People have come up to me and just want to say
that they agree'that we do not need more development here in town. Now these are the
people that have elected you into office with the hopes that you would do the right thing
when faced with questions or decisions. And they are the ones that can choose not to re-
elect you. I hope I have stated my concerns in positive way and I hope your vote here
tonight will be the one people in Agawam can respect and that is no new homes. Don't
destroy the homes of our wildlife and place more burden on a town already at the
breaking point(?).
! President Letellier—Thank you. Nice job young man. That's our final speaker for this
evening.
Item Z. Rail Call
President Letellier—Barbara, could you please call the roll?
Mr. MacNaughton—off microphone
President Letellier— Sir,you had to sign in be 7:25 to be on the list and you came in
after 7:30.
Mr. MacNaughton —May I address the Council?
President Letellier—Sir, you may not. The public hearing will re-open. If you have
. something new to.add, you can add it at that time but you showed up late for Citizens
Speak Time and it's too late to sign up.
Mr. MacNaughton —Will I have the opportunity to speak?
President Letellier—If you have something new to add, you will.
!
Mr. MacNaughton—Okay, thank you.
President Letellier—Thank you. I'm sorry. Barbara, could you please call the roll?
ROLL CALL— 11 PRESENT
7
President Letellier—I'm sorry. With eleven present, we have a full quorum.
Item 3. Moment of Silence and the Pledge o Alle iance
President Letellier—Would you please rise for a moment of silence and the Pledge of
Allegiance?
Item 4. Minutes
a. Regular Council Meetine—June 1,2009
President Letellier—Moved by Councilor Simpson seconded by Councilor Perry. Any
discussion, changes, additions, corrections?
•
Councilor Messick—Yes, I made a statement and I asked whether there were any vernal
pools and there was a line because you couldn't understand what I said, it was "vernal"
V-E—R=N—A—L L . Okay,thanks.
* President Letellier—Okay, thank you. Anything else? No? All those in favor of
approving the Regular Council Minutes from June I", please signify by saying Ay?
Opposed? One abstention? One abstention we have. Thank you.
Item5._Declaration from Council President
•
President Letellier—The only thing I wanted to indicate was that I slid meet with two of
the gentlemen from Soldier On last week, seeing my proposed letter, I'm asking that at
the end of the meeting under `Any other business' you would state whether or not you
support that letter. It would be nice if we could send it unanimously but if not I can
always send it under just my name if necessary. And that will be it.
Item 6. Presentation of Petitions,Memorials& Remonstrances
Resolutions
1. TR-2009-16 -A Resolution Adopting the Fiscal Year 2010 Annual
Operating Budget for the Town of Agawam (Mayor)(Tabled 6/1/09)(Set
Public Hearing Date for July 27,2009) (Majority of those present and voting)
President Letellier— So we'll keep the item on the table unless I hear otherwise.
Item 7. Report of Council Committees
None.
Item 8. Elections
i
None.
S
•
Item 9. Public Hearings
•
1. TR-2009-15 -A Resolution Adopting the Fiscal Year 2010—2014 Capital
Improvement Program (Mayor) (Tabled 6/1/09) (Majority of those present
and voting)
President Letellier—Do we have a motion to remove from the table? Motion to remove
the Capital Improvement budget from the table? Councilor Mineo? Second by
Councilors Messick and Rheault. Do we have a report? I'm sorry. Barbara, could you
please call the roll of all those in favor of taking it off the table?
ROLL CALL— 11 YES, 0 NO.
is
President Letellier—With eleven yes, you've taken the item off the table. Do we have a
motion on the underlying item? We need a motion if we're gonna have any discussion—
moved by Councilor Mineo. Do we have a second? Seconded by Councilors Perry and
Messick. Do we have a report from the Capital Improvement Budget Sub-Committee?
Thank you.
Councilor Mineo—Yes, we did meet and I was at the meeting with Jill Messick, Paul
Cavallo, Cheryl St. John, Mayor Dawson and Laurel Placzek. We did approve the
Capital Improvement plan. Basically everything is the same that it is every year except
for the voice over internet protocol telephone system. It was approved 3-0 to improve the
Capital Improvement Plan however, well, if you want the report I'm just gonna give you
the report and then if there's any other discussion, I'll make my comments.
President Letellier—All right. Thank you. Anyone else from the Committee want to
add to the report? Okay, let's open it up then. Councilor Mineo do want it again?
Councilor Mineo---It's not that I'm against this Capital Improvement Plan, it's just that
we received something over the weekend or on Thursday that's gonna be under New
Business that they are gonna be taking some things out of the Capital Improvement Plan
and these items are gonna be taken out of the Stabilization Fund. At the time that we
met, none of this was discussed. So basically with no budget and this is being added and
I'm gonna say I was not aware of it and I've talked with a few of you folks up here and it
doesn't seem like anybody was aware of any of this. Anyways, I did speak with
Councilor Cavallo and I did talk with Jill Messick, Bob Young, George, Dennis, Bob, I
think everybody, I knew nothing about this so it seems like nobody else did either. So I
guess we're looking for an explanation but I'll move on to whoever wants to speak next.
President Letellier—Do you wish to go into Committee as a Whole? The Mayor is here
for us to ask and so is Cheryl St. John,
Councilor Mineo—That's fine. I'll make the motion that we go into Committee as a
Whole.
9
•
President Letellier—Okay, seconded by Councilor Cavallo. All those in favor of going
into Committee as a Whole,please signify by saying Ay. Opposed? Abstentions? We
are in Committee as a Whole. Councilor Mineo, did you want to address anyone in
particular?
Councilor Mine@ - I guess the Mayor if she would like to come up and explain what
happened from the time my sub-committee met and what has gone on I guess and what
we received on Thursday.
Mayor Dawson--Thank you very much. As all of you are aware,the State's budget and
the numbers that have been sent to us through cherry sheets have radically changed over
the months. This was provided to you in its entirety in April. At that time, we thought
that the School Budget was pretty well locked in with the additional stimulus funds at the
0 $1,565,437.00—correct Dr. Czajkowski? That's the number. Then we thought that the
numbers from the House and the Governor were not so far off that we couldn't create a
budget. So we started to take care of those numbers and put them together, seeing how
we would be able to make the budget balance while maintaining jobs in the town. At that
time,we had the budget the way that we thought we would be able to present it to you in
! a timely fashion in accordance to how we have always done things. Then, we were just
about ready to do that and we found out that we had another $1.3 million that we had to
come up with and in looking at that what we had to do was go into our budget and pull
out the capital expenditures and really place them in a Stabilization transfer--that is your
Tab 31 in your budgets that you received—and the choice to do that was that the Capital
! items were really gonna be left in your capable hands to make the decision. This—what
we are looking at tonight—will prioritize them. The evening when we vote on the
budget, you will tell us as a city what you feel is best out of these things to fund. So there
are two different parts to this. This is do we agree in theory that this is the right thing to
do. The next part of this at Tab 31 which is the Stabilization Transfer is$489,815.00 and
41 those are items that I needed to make a transfer from the Stabilization in order to be able
to fund them and that's how we decided to do them. I would be happy to take any other
questions as well.
President Letellier—Thank you. Councilor Mineo, did you have anything else you
wanted to ask? Thank you. Anyone else have a question for the Mayor? Councilor
Young?
Councilor Young—.Mayor Dawson, so do we have an updated Capital Improvement
Plan based on this change?
0 Mayor Dawson —The Capital Improvement Program which simply outlines what it is
that we as a Town has prioritized is what I am asking for the positive vote for tonight. In
order for us to be able to bond and to continue to maintain our bonding status, we need
this within the town as an agreed upon item of priority. It is on the evening when we will
be voting on the budget that you will then be looking at which ones of these items you
! wish to fund in the 2010 calendar year or budget.
10
•
President Letellier—Councilor Young?
Councilor Young--Thank you. I'll think about it.
President Letellier—Thank you. Councilor, I'm not sure who was first. We'll do Rossi
and then Cavallo.
! Councilor Rossi—Yes, Mayor,the items that I saw in the Capital Improvement—I don't
have them in front me, I have them at home—but the ones that I saw are the ones that are
normally formed in our budget process. But they've been removed from our budget and
they've been taken from our Stabilization Fund in order for you to balance the budget,
correct?
0 Mayor Dawson—Correct.
Councilor Rossi—Well,my question to you is that I don't, I think there isn't anyone in
this room or anyone that I know of that can tell me with any kind of certainty what's
gonna happen next year. If we take our rainy day fund and start funding things out of our
! budget to balance our budget from our Stabilization, what kind of shape are we gonna be
in next year when we deplete those Stabilization Accounts and not make the necessary
adjustments in this budget here. In what kind of shape will this leave us for our future?
Mayor Dawson —We have a, I've been assured by both the Auditor and the Treasurer
through our meeting, that we have a very healthy Reserve Fund as well as a very healthy
Stabilization Fund and that this amount of money will not damage what—I certainly
understand about saving—and it's money that you would only use when it's a rainy day.
It is definitely a rainy day. And in order for us to be able to maintain our infrastructure
the way that we have in the past, we will need to use some of the savings. The two funds
have $3 %2 million and$2 %z million respectively in each one and a$489,815.00
Stabilization Fund transfer; we really feel is in the best interest of the Town.
Councilor Rossi—You feel it's in the best interest of the Town to deplete what we have?
I understand that it may healthy at this point, but I think,my point that I was trying to
make is, it might not be healthy tomorrow or a week from tomorrow. My point is that
these things that are normally processed in our budget, programmed in our budget and are
prioritized in our budget, are now removed from our budget and we're taking them out of
our Stabilization Fund—kind of like robbing Peter to pay Paul, in my view. Now I think
that we could get into a problem.
President Letellier—Committee as a Whole is to ask questions, we can have discussion
afterwards.
Councilor Rossi—Well, then my question is what about the future? If we take this.
money now, healthy as it might be today, what kind of shape is that gonna leave us for
tomorrow? Is this a wise move at this time?
11
Mayor Dawson—In my best estimation and from the people that I work with, the .
Auditor, the Treasurer and even other mayors that I've spoken with, there are a lot of
places in government right now where we are taking our Stabilization Funds, they will be
replenished when the times, when the economy begins to recover and I understand you
concern and I greatly respect that, but at the same time for right now, these are the items
that I made the decision to place into the Stabilization Fund transfer and I felt that it was
in the best interest of everyone to manage the money this way.
President Letellier—Thank you. Councilor Cavallo?
Councilor Cavallo--Well, I wanted to know what the balance was and she gave us what
the balance was.
President Letellier—All right,thank you. Anyone else with questions for the Mayor or
for the Auditor, she's here as well? No? Do we have a motion to come out of Committee
as a Whole? Thank you, Mayor Dawson. Moved by Councilor Messick, seconded by
Councilor Bitzas. All in favor of coming out of Committee as a Whole,please signify by
saying Ay? Opposed? Anyone who hasn't spoken already with regard to the Capital
• Improvement Budget? No further discussion? All right. Seeing none, Barbara, could
you call the roll? A yes vote is to approve the Capital Improvement Budget, six votes are
needed.
ROLL CALL—5 YES (Councilors Cavallo,Letellier,Messick, Mineo and Simpson),
• 6 NO (Councilors Bitzas, Calabrese,Perry, Rheault, Rossi and Young)
President Letellier—With a vote of five yes, six no,the Capital Improvement Program
has not been approved.
2. PH-2009-3 - (ZC-2009-3)Zone Change for the Property located on the
Easterly side of Silver Street and Southerly of Doane Avenue in Agawam,
for Aspenwood Associates LLC,and J. Kirk MacNaughton,Manager,
Petitioning the Town of Agawam to Change the subject property from
"Industrial B"to Residence A-1"(Referred to Zoning Review Committee)
(Tabled 611109)
r
President Letellier—Do we have a motion to remove from the table? Moved by
Councilors Perry and Simpson, seconded by Councilor Messick. Barbara, could you
please call the roll on removing the public hearing from the table?
• ROLL CALL—11 YES, 0 NO.
President Letellier—With eleven yes, you've removed the public hearing from the table.
We will now re-open the public hearing for NEW information—new information and
that's strictly new information. Do we have any new information from the Petitioner?
! Mr. MacNaughton? Come on up. Thank you. Please state your name and address for
the record. Once again, you'll have ten minutes to speak.
12
•
i
Kirk MacNaughton —Okay,thank you. My name is Kirk MacNaughton. I am the
manager of Apenwood Associates. My address is 10 Rolling Green,East Granby,CT
• 06026. I just want to say I apologize for my lack of familiarity of how the process works
when I was asking about speaking earlier so please accept that. I wanted to say a few
words. I do have some new information. I do have some things I'd like to clarify and
points I'd like to make to the Council. We're here to correct a zoning error. I don't
really know what the whole history is. You've heard a lot of people state why the
• property is zoned the way that it is. I don't really know why it's the way it is but it is one
and we have to deal with it. The Town of Agawam has allowed this problem to occur
and I'm here asking you to help me correct what is an existing problem. Again,the
problem as we spoke before is that we have an Industrial zoned parcel that is currently
landlocked. Its only access is through a residential property. That's in violation of state
laws before it can be used as industrial property. It cannot be developed as an industrial
property with its only access going through the residential property. There's been
comments by neighbors that while it could perhaps be accessed through somebody else's
property or some other way, however I marked up the plan below showing and
highlighting the wetland area on the map in blue on the plan. That shows the wetland
boundaries on the parcel and it shows that it would be extremely difficult in today's day
• and age to cross over wetlands especially for industrial type use to get to the industrial
zoned land. So this condition really renders that parcel in its current zoning un-useful.
You have an industrial zoned property that you can't use as industrial zoned property. So
I'm here tonight to ask you folks acting as the zoning authority for the Town of Agawam
to help me by correcting this situation and in our opinion the cleanest way to correct the
situation is to grant the requested zone change. We feel that the zone change would be
appropriate from a land use stand point, The property is adjacent already to existing
residential zone properties and as a matter of fact, one third of the parcel is already zoned
as a Residential zoned property so we're not really asking you to re-zone an entire parcel
and taking just one parcel and make it Residential—what we're asking you is to correct
• an existing situation where one third of the parcel is already zoned Residential and we
would just like to have one zoning designation for the entire parcel. We felt that the
Residential zone was the more appropriate one rather than coming back and saying well
we'd like to re-zone the residential land industrial because typically towns don't like to
go from a more restrictive use to a less restrictive use so that's why we feel that this is
• appropriate. This zone change and we've had a lot of folks coming to speak from Doane
Avenue but the land that we're requesting the zone change for is not even adjacent to
Doane Avenue,the land that is adjacent to Doane Avenue already provides them with a
residential buffer, we're not seeking any change of that land adjacent to Doane Avenue.
We're seeking a zone change for land that is further south separated by 125 feet and
probably as much as a couple hundred feet from their houses and so we're really just
• trying to create a zone that's compatible with the Doane Avenue use. We're also asking
and again just pointing out that the situation we have right now—we don't comply with
the state laws. We cannot access the property through the residential zone parcel to get to
the industrial zone parcel zone. That really kind of takes the use right out of the picture.
At the Planning Board meeting we were at last week, the Town Planner was there and she
• stated that generally she is not in favor of zone changes but in this particular case, she
stated and she actually, I'm just gonna read from her staff notes, "the only access to the
13
i
Blue Sky parcel is through a residential zone. Under state law, you cannot access a less
restrictive zone through a more restricted zone. In other words,you cannot provide an
! access road to industrial land through a residential zone. Given these constraints,
residential use would be the only feasible use of the property. Usually it's undesirable to
have residential development adjacent to industrial zone land however; the property in
question is physically separated from the remaining industrial zoned land by steep slopes
and wetland." So I'm just gonna add to that that she's saying that if we did change this to
. residential from industrial, the land to the south of the property is zoned industrial but
these new homes that we would build is in the residential community that we would
propose to build would be significantly separated from the industrial use to the south. I
just think it's important that you folks as the town authority of zoning recognize that the
Town Planner's job is to review and evaluate the facts in a case. She the Town's
professional in land use issues and she acknowledges that this access issue is a problem
and again she states that the residential use would be the only feasible use of the property
so again we're just really trying to utilize our property in really most any way feasible but
as it's zoned right now, we really couldn't utilize it so in effect it would be almost a
taking if it weren't able to be used. Now, we've heard from a lot of neighbors that have
come from Doane Avenue and spoke, petitions and many, many people have given their
• comments. They've all asked you to deny this zone change. Many of the arguments
seem compelling on the surface however; when you get right down to it, I think that a
property owner's rights can't be ignored. A property owner has a right to utilize his
property. There's been a lot a comment about the fact that it's industrial zoned property
and that industrial zoned property is more valuable to the town and it would create more
• revenue for the town and that's the type of use that Agawam should be promoting but in
this particular case, and this is not generally a true statement, but in this particular case,
the industrial zoned property in addition to its limitation of access, if it were somehow
able to be accessed and utilized as industrial property, with the limitations of the
wetlands,the setback issues of industrial property, the percentage of the site to be zoned
and that type of thing, in the best case scenario you probably would have two small
industrial buildings is about the maximum to be put on the property. Two small
industrial zoned buildings would generate in tax revenue perhaps in the range of maybe
$30,000.00 a year, more or less. We're proposing a residential property where the
proposed homes are gonna be in the $450,000.00 range, something like that. One of the
speakers said that I had mentioned $300,000.00 homes, well that's not feasible and I
never really said that.
Clerk—One minute please.
Kirk MacNaughton---Okay,thank you. Fourteen $450,000.00 homes, $450,000 to
• $500,000 would generate tax revenues of approximately$60,000.00 as opposed to
$30,000.00 so there is a financial benefit to the Town. Many people have come and
spoke and they said well there's too much construction in town. Too much new
construction and the market's bad,there's too many unsold homes right now but the fact
of the matter really is that Agawam has appreciated steadily rising property values
specifically because they've had a controlled development. They've incurred new
development,there are new homes, new homes, expensive homes bring in families with
14
i
money, creates revenue, some of the people who want to talk about the school system
into town government. People say well new development brings in kids, kids are
expensive, you know we don't want to spend our money on more kids but the fact is it's a
trend of benefit to the town. The more new homes,the more new homes, the more new
revenue the town will generate and more of those property values will go up.
Clerk—Time.
President Letellier--Thank you sir.
Kirk MacNaughton—Could I have an extra minute or ?
President Letellier—Do I have a motion to do that? Motion to extend the time period
by Councilor Rossi. How much time do you wish to extend? Two minutes. Seconded
by Councilor Calabrese. All in favor of extending the time by two minutes, please
signify by saying Ay? Opposed? Two more minutes. Nine yes,two no. Okay, Barbara,
could you call the roll? A yes would be to give him two more minutes; a no would be to
deny him.
s
ROLL CALL—6 YES (Councilors Bitzas,Calabrese,Cavallo,Letellier,Perry and
Rossi),5 NO (Councilors Messick,Mineo,Rheault, Simpson and Young)
President Letellier--With six yes, five no, you've extended his time by two minutes.
•
Kirk MacNaughton--Thank you ma'am. Thank you, Council. Many of the people who
have come and spoke today in opposition of this requested zone change have spoken
about the way that they like the status quo. There's about fifteen residences on Doane
Avenue that back up to our vacant, open space. People that like the privacy that the
woods give them. They like the fact that the wildlife lives on the property and comes
into their backyard. They like to send their kids out on the property to play and they like
to hike on the property. All these things have been said so I'm not saying anything that's
not un-proper. Many people have gone onto my property and garden. Many of those
people have dumped trash on my property and everybody likes it because it provides
them a benefit but they get a benefit without really having to pay for that benefit. It's
really not their property, it's my property and I'm seeking the right to utilize my property.
From a land use standpoint, I don't think that most of the arguments that were presented
in opposition really have much legal or land use standing so I just want to kind of
summarize by saying you folks you have a very difficult decision to make in the face of
so much opposition. You have a petition with two hundred people, you have thirty
people come and speak against it but what I'm really asking you to do is to do the right
thing for the land use of the property. I'm asking you to evaluate the facts in the case,
look at this property, we have an existing problem that has been made in part by Agawam
zoning and we'd like it corrected. It would, if you do this, would put the entire property
into one single zone which is really the way that it should be. It'll curb that access issue.
Clerk—Time.
15
•
Kirk MacNaughton—Okay,thank you very much.
•
President Letellier—Thank you. Anyone else wishing to speak in favor of the zone
change? Is there anyone that's new wishing to speak in opposition of the zone change?
Sir, did you speak last time? Okay, come on up. Please state your name and your
address for the record, sir.
Ronald Cabana Sr—Ronald Cabana, Sr. and I live at 14 Doane Avenue. I just want to
say I grew up in East Longmeadow and it was real nice now and if you look at it now, it's
a big mess with the traffic and with all the building and everything. The second thing is
nowadays you know they'll build a house anywhere they can fit it. When I bought my
home; we bought it cuz of the way it was. To me this whole thing is just about money.
• They stuffed the power plant down our throat and now we're gonna have them behind us.
Well I think everyone is against it knows this thing is all about money. The one person I
heard speak for it is thinking about money too. That's it.
President Letellier—Anyone else who did not speak last time?
•
Peter Kane—My name is Peter Kane and I live at 639 Silver Street and I'm opposed to
this zone change. The wildlife cannot speak for itself. This man knew buying this land
that it was zoned industrial and he's just trying to change your mind. Thank you.
President Letellier—Anyone else wishing to speak against the zone change? Seeing
none, anyone who wishes to register their name only in favor? Register in name only in
favor? Seeing none, anyone who wishes to register their name in opposition? Anyone
wishing to register their name in opposition? I now call the public hearing closed. Thank
you. Do we have a motion by the Council? Moved by Councilor Bitzas, seconded by
Councilor Cavallo. Let's start with a report from the Zoning Review Committee,
Councilor Messick—The Zoning Review Committee met twice on this issue. The first
one was two weeks ago and they voted to wait for the Planning Board's decision on the
issue. The Planning Board made a negative recommendation to, well made a proposal, a
motion to make a negative recommendation in order, in other words, to not recommend
the zone change and then voted 2 for and 2 against. And so that was the report from
them. It doesn't help us very much. The next time we met this evening. Again
Councilors Rossi and Bitzas on the sub-committee along with myself were present and
Councilor Calabrese and Joe Mineo was here too. We discussed some of the issues that
Mr. MacNaughton had brought up and we took a vote and voted to make a negative
• recommendation to the Full Council 3-0 to not approve the zone change.
President Letellier—Thank you. Anyone from the Committee wish to speak?
Councilor Bitzas?
Councilor Bitzas —Yes, I let the gentleman speak because I believe in freedom of speech
but I agree with the things that we've said here and.I make the motion from the
16
•
i
committee and seconded and we voted three of course to go against the zone change. I
believe without saying too much this is not for the best interest of the Town and I hope
• the Full Council supports us and not change the zone. Thank you.
President Letellier—Thank you. Councilor Rossi you are on the Committee, did you
want to add anything?
• Councilor Rossi—Yes, thank you. My reasons are fairly simple. Going back in history,
I understand of what the planners originally intended for the people up on Doane Avenue
and although Mr. MacNaughton calls it a mistake, I believe it was an intention by the
then Boards to keep that separate buffer zone for the people of Doane Avenue. I don't
really find any other reason to vote against it at this point. I did go up there and wander
around. I looked at the properties up there and I do understand what they're trying to
• preserve up there. And they have their own little corner up there. I think it was provided
for them. It was guaranteed to them earlier by other Boards and I don't find any reason
why we should go against that now. So that was my reason for voting against it and I
believe that this is probably in the best interest for the`area and the best interest for the
Town. Thank you.
•
President Letellier—Thank you. Councilor Calabrese?
Councilor Calabrese— Yes, I too am going to be opposing this zone change. Mr.
MacNaughton made some comment about the land being compatible with the use of the
land on Doane Avenue and I find that this land already is compatible with the use on
Doane Avenue. I'm very familiar with that street. My son himself goes up there and
plays on that street and I've had an opportunity to speak with many of the residents on
Doane Avenue and I think as their elected representatives it's part of our duty to protect
the citizens of Agawam. As Councilor Rossi stated I don't believe this was a zoning
• error at all. I believe that prior councilors who zoned this property knew exactly what
they were doing and for the sound reason that exists there today. Thank you.
President Letellier—Councilor Cavallo?
• Councilor Cavallo —Yes, I'd like to speak, I also will be against the zone change. My
brother-in-law called me the other day and he told me the history of this property and
Councilor Rossi you are correct—that goes back fifty years when that was zoned and the
fathers of our town wanted to keep it that way. A second point I wanted to make is that
the people that live on Doane Avenue have put up with a lot. The power plant is in the
back there and there's a lot of trauma that people went through back then as we all know
• a few years ago and they called me and I went up there and spent an hour and a half with
them and I found it a beautiful walking path. But they showed me everything and the
concern that I had of course was coming into that cul-de-sac, okay? I can understand
where Mr. Consolini is coming from when he talks about the possible danger that could
be created with trucks or whatever coming through and I am definitely against and I
• certainly hope that my fellow councilors agree. Thank you.
1?
i
•
Councilor Mineo—Yes, I just wanted to, well actually I wanted to thank Mr. and Mrs.
Kibbe and Peter Kane and Jim Consolini. I was out there yesterday and I walked the
• property and I spent an hour and a half as did Paul. It is a beautiful piece of property. I
again don't believe it was any type of mistake or error on the town's part. I went down to
the end of the street where Mr. Consolini lives and saw where they want to put the road
going into Doane, It would be a 30 foot going into, leading into a 20 foot road. It just
doesn't sound right to me. In the best interest of the town,we should not approve the
• zone change. Thank you.
President Letellier—Thank you. Councilor Messick?
Councilor Messick—I'd just like to add a few reasons that I have personally for going
* against the zone change. One of the things that Mr. MacNaughton was very clear about
and this evening when he spoke to us was that he would have no other option for his
making his piece of property economically valuable or economically feasible other than
this zone change and that simply is not true. It would be more expensive for him to make
it economically feasible but it would be possible. I just want to make that clear. Also, I
spoke with Missy at the National Heritage Endangered Species Program for quite a long
time as far as the box turtles and the worm snakes and other plant species that are on the
property and Mr. MacNaughton has actually spent quite a lot of time speaking with them.
He presented their response to what he was saying in a little bit different light. Missy
said that well while some sort of residential development might be possible, preferably
what they'd be looking at would be small buildings on very small lots clustered in any
area that would completely avoid the Eastern Box turtle and worm snake habitats. I told
her we don't have zoning that allows for cluster developments and she said yes,that
would be a problem. So with this property I think that going back to what the other
councilors have said, I think that when this property was zoned the people did know and
I've heard this in a number of places that this parcel of land is just simply not conducive
* to be developed. The entire process can take years for one thing going through with all
the phases, if he could go forward with it and one of the inspections of our statute on
subdivision regulations—the very first thing that we say is we're gonna"minimize
damage to the environment unless a clear and contrary intent is manifested". I don't
think there is a clear intent. My other concerns are the access into Doane Avenue at the
• end and the way that street is becoming—you could prospectively be creating a traffic
circle which you can't really do on a dead end road, have a traffic circle. There's a sub-
division regulation problem with that. And all in all, I just think that this particular zone
change is not in the Town's best interest. Thank you.
• President Letellier—Thank you. Anyone else? Councilor Young?
Councilor Young—Yes, I'm also not in favor. I didn't take a trip down there to know
why but also what I'm most disturbed about in the process is that it got to this point. That
our Town Planner condoned this idea? That one of our Board's voted and it was a split
decision that this would even, that this was a good idea? And again, I think my biggest
• concern is the process and how he got this far. I mean these are the same boards and
folks that are now making the second ugliest intersection in town up in the corner of
� 18
Shoemaker and Route 187 and the world's ugliest bank, in my humble opinion. I think if
for no other reason these are the same folks that have done that to us as well. I think this
moved me to look a little closer at the folks and qualifications of the folks that are
making some of these decisions and I certainly will be voting no.
President Letellier—Thank you. I have asked the Vice Chair person...you now have
the gavel. I am very familiar with Doane Avenue. I've been friends with a resident there
• for well over thirty years and so I've driven up there many,many times both in the back
seat and of course as a driver myself. It is very dangerous. There is a limited obstructed
view. It's an extremely narrow street. When the snow is there and there's a snow bank,
it's really, really narrow. You folks have petitioned us before about the potholes.
There's something about that street that even when the potholes are filled, it's still
incredibly dangerous and I think it would be convenient for at the end of this new street
to just swing around. That's one reason. Secondly, I am disturbed and I say this with all
due respect at the presumptuousness of the petitioner in telling us that our town made a
mistake and that it's our responsibility to fix it. If our town thinks it made a mistake, our
town will fix it. No one has made any movement to fix it. Zone changes are not to
benefit the landowner. Zone changes are to benefit the town as a whole. He also referred
to this as being a taking of his property. This is not a taking of his property. This is not
eminent domain. He bought this property. He got it for half of the listing price. He
knew what he could do and what he couldn't do or his company knew what he could do
and what he couldn't do. Then he mentioned something about we're preventing him
Rom using his property. Again, when you buy property, you know or you should have
r known,my guess is he had lawyers. I'm guessing that he's had people review these with
him. If he didn't know what he could do with the property, then shame on him. That's
not the town's responsibility to change zoning to make something more economically
profitable. So for the reasons that most people have already stated, I don't believe that
this zone change benefits the town. I believe it would be a detriment to both the property
owners and to the wildlife and to the habitat there. Industrial taxes are a much higher
rate. We all know that. We have a split tax rate here. So you're looking at he's giving
estimates with no map. We have nothing in front of us to say if his estimates are even
remotely accurate but if the difference is between $30,000 and $60,000, that's clearly
eaten up in town services—clearly eaten up in town services! And I think this is the first
. time I've spoken in my year and a half as chair but I feel very strongly about this. I think
that zone changes a really for limited uses and so I'll be voting no and I thank you for
letting me speak. Is there anyone else wishing to speak? No? Barbara, could you call
the roll? Eight votes are needed for a zone change.
ROLL CALL—0 YES, 11 NO
President Letellier—With zero yes, eleven no, you've defeated the zone change. Thank .
you. (APPLAUSE) Councilor Perry, I saw your light?
Councilor Perry—Yeah,just a point of privilege, we have to send something in writing
• within thirty days?
19
•
i
President Letellier—We'll do that. Barbara and I will work on that and I'm gonna call
and I did this last time, please respect that it's literally a one minute recess so the crowd
may leave so that we can hear each other speak. Please don't turn it into five. Thank
you. One minute recess.
RECESS
President Letellier—Okay, we're back on the record.
Item 10. Old Business
1. TOR-2008-6 -An Ordinance Amending Section 180-8B of the Code of the
Town of Agawam Governing the Height of Fences within the Setback Area .
of Corner Lots (Councilor Simpson)(2/3)(Referred to Ordinance
Committee)
President Letellier—Moved by Councilor Simpson, seconded by Councilors Calabrese
and Perry. Any discussion? This is the second reading. Any discussion? No? Barbara,
could you call the roll? Six votes are needed to pass the second reading.
ROLL CALL— 11 YES, 0 NO
President Letellier—With eleven yes, you've unanimously passed the second reading.
Motion to move the third by Councilor Simpson, seconded by Councilor Cavallo. First
we have the vote on the motion to move the third. Barbara, could you please call the
roll?
ROLL CALL— 11 YES, 0 NO
President Letellier—Thank you. Now we have the motion of the reading of the third
reading. Barbara, could you please call the roll?
ROLL CALL— 11 YES, 0 NO
• President Letellier—You have approved the third and final reading.
2. TOR-2009-4 -An Ordinance Adding Section 3.8.5 to the Code of the
Town of Agawam Establishing the Agawam Energy Commission.
(Councilors Calabrese,Letellier and Messick) (113)(Referred to Ordinance
r Committee)
President Letellier—Do we have a motion? Moved by Councilor Simpson, seconded by
Councilors Perry and Rheault. Do we have a report from the Ordinance Committee?
Councilor Rheault—The Ordinance Committee did meet and had a brief discussion
regarding and a couple of questions were raised there whether in fact the department
20
heads mentioned in the motion had an opportunity to express their opinion and at that
time they didn't. We have a meeting coming—when is that?
Clerk-It's on June 24`h at 3:00 at the library.
Councilor Rheault— So I would wait to perhaps get further comment until we hear from
them...
President Letellier—Do you wish to table?
Councilor Rheault - ...(inaudible)
President Letellier—Okay, that's fine. Any other discussion? Wait, we're either gonna
table it or we're gonna have discussion?
Councilor Rheault— Why don't we accept discussion?
President Letellier—All right. So there is no motion to table. Councilor Calabrese?
Councilor Calabrese—What I was gonna suggest is that we go ahead and have the first
reading and since our next meeting is gonna be after the June 24 h meeting that we can
then do the subsequent readings if the Council so chooses. So I would actually
recommend that we actually go ahead with the first reading tonight and then wait until
our July meeting for the subsequent readings.
Councilor Cavallo -Madam Chairman, can I speak? I was also at that meeting?
President Letellier—Certainly, I'm sorry.
Councilor Cavallo —Well, at that meeting, I recommended and Jill concurred, Councilor
Messick concurred, that we meet again in a workshop type thing where other department
heads that are gonna become involved in this program would be present so that we could
get input from them and their concerns, whatever they may have to say regarding this
Commission. So I don't think there's a need for a reading tonight, okay? I think that I
would like to wait until the 24t" when we have our discussion before we go with a reading
for approval. I'm not saying I'm against the Commission but as a councilor I want to be
well informed and everyone seemed to concur with that so I don't see any reason to rush
it. We have to go through with this anyway and I would much rather have the meeting
first.
i►
President Letellier—Okay. Councilor Messick you are on the Committee do you have
anything to add? Oh, you're not on the Committee. Those on the Committee are
Councilor Rheault, Calabrese and Cavallo. Okay, my apologies. Anyone else wishing to
discuss the matter? Councilor Rossi?
21
r
Councilor Rossi—Yes, thank you. I wasn't at the meeting. I wasn't able to attend due
to a prior commitment but I too have a lot of questions that I would like to ask. First of
all, I would like to ask the question on who is there now and what have we been doing up
to this point and all those other things. And just a little bit more detail about what this
commission will be, how big it will be. I noticed it seems quite extensive and I
personally think...But anyways, I think there's a lot of questions to be answered and I do
agree that it would be awfully presumptuous for the Council to have the first reading
without having these things answered. This is a huge undertaking over here. The intent
is not to make government larger. I think we should try to streamline it. So I would like
to ask some very serious questions before we get moving on this thing and not get it too
far out of reach.
President Letellier—Thank you. Councilor Mineo?
Councilor Mineo —I just wanted to know if that meeting has been posted.
Clerk- It is sitting right here and will be posted in the morning. I wanted confirmation
first.
Councilor Mineo—I know that the meeting is at 3:00 and I cannot get out of work and
I've said this over and over, I've said this to people up here that I do not get out of work
until 4:30 so if you're having a meeting at 2:00 or 3:00, it doesn't work for me. It might
work for other people up here but I certainly don't have vacation time or sick time taking
time off for work for these meetings and I hate to inconvenience anyone up here. I really
do but it would be nice if these meetings would take place—even 5:00 would be fine for
me. That's all. I just wanted to put a point out and I've said this before. It's just difficult
for me and this is something I'd like to attend. I'm in favor of it. I would Iike to go and
get some more information. I wasn't able to attend the first meeting. Maybe if there's a
possibility for a different time? If not, then I'll wait to get the report at the next council
meeting.
President Letellier—Councilor Rheault do you have objections to changing the time?
* Councilor Rheault-I have no problem. I didn't even know it was made.
Clerk—This was given to me from upstairs.
President Letellier—From the Mayor's office?
Clerk- I believe Linda put it in place and then gave it to me.
President Letellier—Councilor Messick?
Councilor Messick—At the Ordinance Sub-Committee meeting, the gentlemen agreed
that I should set up a meeting. I contacted the Mayor cuz they wanted to meet with the
Mayor and the heads of departments and asked her to come up with an appropriate time
22
to meet with all those people since they work for the town. And the quickest meeting that
she had available which everyone could come to was the 20' at 3:00. This is what I am
proposing to you. I'm not sure how the heads of departments would feel about meeting
in the evening but we can certainly come up with another date and ask them. I'd like to
get this going. I know there are a lot of questions. I know there are a lot of questions as
far as functionality, who would be on it, of course, the whole question of adding the
government and that type of thing. I think that what we're really looking to do is to have,
in other words, have a group that can completely focus on a very complex, maze-like
amount of funding, there are twenty or thirty different programs that you can apply to for
grants and just to keep up with all the information that is just pouring out of the state and
to go to these seminars and to learn about how to access the people that you need to know
and the funds that you need and the grant application and requirements. It's just a lot of
work and I think too much for town employees. No one is saying that we haven't done
everything possible to reduce our energy. I mean I'm sure that up until this point, we
have but what I am saying the culture in Massachusetts is changing and as the funding
becomes available and as the departments and what's going on,these programs become
more complex, we really need a`specific group to keep track of it all. Just like
Conservation keeps track of wetlands protection updates and CPA keeps track of the
! CPA information in the state and we really, I believe we need a group to focus on this
and just to keep after it. So that's my rationale in case anybody's wondering. If anybody
has specific questions—certainly just email me with them and I will get back to everyone
on it. We have a lot more information than just contained in here and I'd be more than
happy to share it. So that's the reasons we want to move forward. Thank you.
President Letellier—And just to add as one of the co-sponsors, having this in place puts
us higher on the list for these funds. So the sooner we get this in place, the sooner that
we qualify for some of these funds and we're gonna see that there are gonna be stricter
and stricter rules, like we have all these lottery rules that we have to follow. I think we're
r gonna see stricter and stricter energy rules and if we can get that money from the state
and federal government, that's less money that we have to budget from the taxpayers.
Councilor Messick—Right now, a lot of these things are grants as incentives for people
to become more green. The Green Community Act is actually providing incentives. But
what the state is working toward is mandates for these things. There's gonna be a lot of
training that our Building Inspectors are going to need to do. There's going to be
mandatory, before builders can get their licenses, there gonna have to have education as
far as energy efficiency and ... of the building. So a lot of the things that are coming
down the road right now are strong suggestions but they will be mandated in the near
future and the quicker we can hop on the train and say yeah we're behind all this, the
! more help we're gonna get from the state in order to implement these programs and
eventually they're gonna say you need to do this now. So that again, Gina is absolutely
right.
President Letellier—Councilor Rossi?
23
r
Councilor Rossi—Yes, are we saying that we can't apply for grants or all of these things
won't take place unless we hire a Commission? I think we need to talk about these
things. My question to you is really who's the Chairman of the Ordinance Sub-
Committee? Aren't they the one that are supposed to be calling this thing?
President Letellier—Councilor Rheault?
• Councilor Rheault—We had somewhat of a general discussion and Jill volunteered to
contact the department heads but I would have liked to have known first and to come up
with a time and date that would have been appropriate.
Councilor Messick—I'm sorry. I thought we agreed that Wednesdays at 3 were fairly
good for everybody- That's why I -
•
Councilor Cavallo--At this point is there something—
President Letellier—All right. You know what? We don't need to spend all this time
about scheduling. We can do that off the record. Yea, Councilor Cavallo?
•
Councilor Cavallo—Would it be possible then that we could ask the Mayor to ask the
department heads to come later?
President Letellier—Yes, we've done that before.
r
Councilor Cavallo -Yea, we've done it before. We've had people here. I think it's only
right that we accommodate people like Councilor Mineo and other people who work who
really, because this is a very important thing that we're talking about and I think we
should have some or all of the councilors there if they can be there and Joe is willing to
• be there and I don't like, I don't want to deprive him of the opportunity. I don't mind
meeting at 5:00 or if it's 5:30 or 6:001 don't care. I think it's important enough for all of
us to be there and know what we're getting into.
President Letellier—Does the Council wish to table this? Do we have a motion to
table? Motion by Councilor Rheault to table, seconded by Councilor Rossi. Barbara,
• could you please call the roll?
ROLL CALL—11 YES, 0 NO.
President Letellier—With eleven yes, zero no, you have tabled the item.
0
3. TO-2009-23 -Transfer of S 66,000.00 from Reserve Fund (16605-57300)
to Line Items-Street Lighting(16602-52120)(Auditor)(Referred to the
Finance Committee)(Majority of Full Council or six votes)
President Letellier—Do we have a motion? Moved by Councilor Simpson, seconded by
Councilors Calabrese and Rossi. Can we have a report from the Finance Committee?
24
•
Councilor Young—Yes, the Finance Committee met this evening at 6:30pm. Present
were the Finance Committee—Councilors Young, Calabrese, Mineo, Rossi and Perry.
Also in attendance were our Auditor, Cheryl St. John, as well as Councilors Rheault,
Bitzas and nearby was Councilor Messick. The bills for street lighting to the Town, from
WMECO for March,April, May and June which would be the last and final bills for the
2009 budget fiscal year are here to be paid and this money would pay them. So basically
you don't have a whole lot of choice. The root cause of having to do a transfer at this late
date, my understanding that due to human error, a transcription error, back last year when
they took the budget they took the '08 or '07 actual as opposed or forecast as opposed to
the revised '09 forecast. So anyway, I guess they budgeted the wrong number and came
up short and now it's time to pay the bill. One way to do it at this point is to transfer it
from the Reserve Fund. The Committee voted 5-0 in favor of recommending to the Full
Council that we approve the transfer. Any questions?
!
President Letellier—Thank you. Anyone on the Finance Committee wish to speak?
Anyone from the Council wish to speak? Barbara, could you call the roll? Six votes are
needed.
! ROLL CALL—11 YES, 0 NO.
President Letellier—With eleven yes, you've approved the transfer.
4. TO-2009-24 -Transfer from Reserve Fund(16605-57300)to Line Items-
! Water& Sewer(16602-52490)(Auditor)(Referred to the Finance
Committee) (Majority of Full Council or six votes)
President Letellier—It has been requested that we defeat this item and take it off the
Agenda so we will have to defeat the item. Do we have a motion? Moved by Councilor
i Rheault, seconded by Councilor Perry. A no vote would be to defeat the transfer. Is
there any discussion? No. We have to vote it down. Barbara, could you call the roll?
ROLL CALL—0 YES, 11 NO.
President Letellier—Thank you. We've defeated that transfer.
!
5. T072009-25 -Transfer of$130,000.00 from Reserve Fund (16605-57300)
to Line Items-Medical Claims/Insurance(16603-57060) (Auditor)(Referred
to the Finance Committee) (Majority of Full Council or six votes)
! President Letellier—Do we have a motion? Moved by Councilor Simpson, seconded by
I believe a yawning Councilor Perry. Do we have a report from the Finance Committee?
Councilor Young—We do. In the same meeting this evening with the same attendees,
but it was closer to 6:50pm. We did discuss this matter and again the root of the issue is
a that insurance cost has gone up due to the hiring during the year—34 employees —32 of
which were on the School Department side,two of which were on the Town side. So
based on the insurance rates required and I guess they didn't plan on that and well they
25
f
were unforeseen,they hadn't planned on hiring that many folks, our duty is to move the
money for this amount and that's the estimated cost...as I understand that for the
insurance. So the Committee voted 5-0 again to approve the transfer.
President Letellier—Anyone else from the Committee want to add anything? Any
discussion from the Council? Barbara, could you please call the roll?
ROLL CALL—11 YES, 0 NO.
President Letellier—With eleven yes, you've approved the transfer and Cheryl,thank
you for staying.
6. TO-2009-26 - Order Granting or Renewing a LICENSE for Weekly
Amusement Device(s)—Alano Club of Springfield;36 King Street,Agawam,
MA. (Clerk) (Referred to the License Committee)(Majority of those present
and voting)
President Letellier—Do we have a motion? Moved by Councilor Simpson, seconded by
0 Councilor Rossi. Do we have a report by the Committee?
Councilor Rossi—We do. I met with my Committee, Councilor Cavallo and Councilor
Simpson, and we are all in agreement that we should send a positive recommendation to
the entire Council to grant them this new license.
President Letellier—It's granting a new license.
Councilor Rossi—Grants them a new license for the Alan Club on 36 King Street.
President Letellier—Any comments from the Committee members or discussion from
the Council? No? All right. Seeing none, Barbara, could you call the roll? Six votes are
needed to grant the new license.
ROLL CALL— 11 YES,0 NO.
President Letellier—With eleven yes, zero no; you've approved the license.
Item 11. New Business
1. TR-2009-21 -A Resolution Amending the Rules and Regulations of the
Agawam City Council(Councilor Cavallo)(Majority of those present and
voting)
President Letellier—I believe you need to bring this back as an Ordinance, correct?
That's fine. So we won't refer that to anybody yet.
r
26
2. TR-2009-22 -A Resolution Amending the Rules and Regulations of the
Agawam City Council(Councilor Rheault) (Majority of those present and
voting)
President Letellier—We'll refer that to the Rules Committee, next Agenda.
3. TR-2009-23 -A Resolution Appropriating Four Hundred Eighty Nine
Thousand Eight Hundred Fifteen ($489,815.00)Dollars from the
• Stabilization Fund to Various Accounts (Mayor) (213 Majority of those
Present and Voting)
President Letellier—Place it on next Agenda and put it on the Finance Committee.
* 4. TR--2009-24 -A Resolution Confirming the Reappointment of Kenneth J.
Largay,24 Day Street,Feeding Hills,MA. 01030 to the Agawam Liquor
Licensing Commission to a Term Expiring the first Monday in June,2014.
(Mayor) (Majority of those present and voting)
President Letellier—Next Agenda.
!
5. TR 2009-25 -A Resolution Confirming the Appointment of Frank C.
Pignatare,685 Suffield Street,Agawam,MA. 01001 to the Agawam
Veterans Council to a Term Expiring April 1,2011.(Mayor) (Majority of
those present and voting)
! President Letellier—Next Agenda.
6. TR-2009-26 -A Resolution Confirming the Appointment of Richard
Karam, 132 Robin Ridge Drive,Feeding Hills,Ma.01030,to the Agawam
Veterans Council to a Term Expiring April 1,2011.(Mayor) (Majority of
• those present and voting)
President Letellier—Next Agenda.
7. TR-2009-27 -A Resolution Confirming the Appointment of Beverly
+ Sanford Follis,92 Anvil Street,Feeding Hills,MA.01030 to the Agawam
Veterans Council to a Term Expiring April 1,2011. (Mayor) (Majority of
those present and voting)
President Letellier—Next Agenda.
! 8. TR-2009-28 -A Resolution Confirming the Reappointment of Francis
Curnow, 115 Forest Hill Road,Feeding Hills,MA.01030 to the Agawam
Veterans Council to a Term Expiring April 1,2011. (Mayor) (Majority of
those present and voting)
• President Letellier—Next Agenda.
27
9. TR-2009-29 -A Resolution Authorizing the Posting of the Warrant for
the Primary Election on October 6,2009 and the General Election on
November 3,2009 by the Board of Registrars. (Mayor) (Majority of those
present and voting)
President Letellier—Next Agenda,
Item 12. Any other matter that may lezally come before the Cate _Council.
•
President Letellier—We'll start with Councilor Perry.
Councilor Perry—Just one thing this evening about the letter you wrote about Soldier
on, I'd be happy to be a co-sponsor. Thank you.
•
President Letellier—Thank you. Councilor Messick?
Councilor Messick—I am in support of your letter as well and that's all.
• President Letellier—Thank you. Councilor Bitzas?
Councilor Bitzas —Yes, I am very happy with helping the veterans and the gentleman
who spoke to us spoke very, very well and the cover of the booklet that's in front of us it
says "The fight doesn't end when they get home." We must help the veterans. The other
. thing is I have a couple people called me and they are very upset about the yard waste—
John Stone and the Mayor—have tried to eliminate already for the summer months. I
think it's a mistake. I hope to send them a letter to find some money -the $50,000.00. I
think they must do it. Not everybody can have a pick up truck and they have ...and I
believe with the heat and the bad weather I mean the hot weather...I think we should ask
the Mayor to find some money and to reinstate for the summer. At least this year and the
• next year, I think it's the smart thing to do. I just disagree with it. Thank you.
President Letellier—Thank you. Councilor Young?
Councilor Young—I am in favor of your letter on Soldier On. Thank you.
•
President Letellier—Thank you. Councilor Simpson?
Councilor Simpson—Thank you. I am also in favor of the letter. I know it's getting late
but just right after the meeting, could I see the members of the School Budget Sub-
Committee briefly? Thank you.
President Letellier—Councilor Mineo?
Councilor Mineo—I agree with your letter. Nothing else this evening.
• President Letellier—Thank you. Councilor Cavallo?
28
•
Councilor Cavallo—I am in support of your letter and I did get a couple phone calls as
George did and I think there could be money,there's money there to take care of that. I
• think it's a big issue and I agree,there are people that don't have pick up trucks and so
forth. And then you gotta go to the Town Hall to get a permit to go to the dump—
Bondi's Island, whatever it is so they have to incur another expense to go through this
when their tax dollar was taking care of it.
Councilor Bitzas—Point of information. I hope we send a letter or something signed by
all of us.
President Letellier—Why don't we let everybody finish and we can take a poll on
whether or not you want to be on that letter. Okay? Councilor Rossi?
Councilor Rossi—I'm in support of your letter and I do, I think it's a shame to take this,
they should continue that service. I mean it's always difficult to take something away
from something previously enjoyed. I don't really understand why $30,000.00 ...but
apparently it is...(in audible)
• President Letellier—Thank you. Councilor Rheault?
Councilor Rheault—I am in support of your letter and I wrote the Mayor on the 9t'of
June and I have not, it's not too much time but I did not get any response and Barbara, if
you'd be kind enough to follow up on that. Plus on that meeting I think we'll change the
time from 3:00 to see what's appropriate and see if we can meet at 5 or 5:30 and let me
know.
President Letellier—Thank you. Councilor Calabrese?
! Councilor Calabrese—Yea, I'd be happy to support your letter Gina and with regard to
that meeting on the 24 h, I'll make myself available that evening to discuss that further.
Thank you.
President Letellier—Thank you. On the yard waste, I think Councilor Rossi has a point
• here maybe that, I don't if it's Sub-Committee 91 or#2 or#3 that deals with the DPW,
maybe we could just talk about what we need to do to get that money back in the budget.
We can send a letter as well and I think if people want to do that then yes. Do we want to
vote for a letter?
Councilor Bitzas—Point of information? You cannot add, the Council, we can cut but
we should suggest to the Mayor if...to put it back in.
President Letellier—No I'm aware that we can't add but there might be money as
Councilor—the percentage of the budget that that amount is, it's literally less than a
percent and I don't know why this is suddenly a big deal when it's such a miniscule
• savings but I will, Barbara and I will work on a letter to the Mayor and Jack Stone about
that.
29
Councilor Young—Madam President? Could I just make a point? I would add that I am
in agreement on the yard waste pick up but again, I think we're making a mistake if we
attack this budget one issue at a time. So $30,000.00 here doesn't sound like a big thing
but I'm sure there are many other cuts and shifts as we saw tonight earlier that we aren't
all fully aware of, not that, you know put one letter on one item, but I think it might be
wise or more prudent since we do have the whole month of July is to kind of take a tally
of all the issues that or what we've reviewed over or however the group wants to do it, I
can propose a way or something but I just hate to tack on one item at a time. If I meet
later in the month and I find something that's even more egregious to us all but we
already promised you$30,000.00 and $20,000 there and $100,000 there and they're
gonna say well now what—I mean it's just a thought. Cuz we're basically doing what
the Administration is doing to us, and we can attack it onesy/twosies.
Councilor Bitzas—Point of information?
President Letellier—I think that's a point well taken. Why don't we give everyone time
to digest their budgets? We've had them for what? Four days?
Councilor Bitzas—I hope the Mayor will get the message anyway so—
President Letellier—Yea, I would think that the comments tonight would be helpful but
I think it makes sense and go ahead, have your sub-committee meetings.
Councilor Perry—Yea, I think if we just write her a letter and we're all sitting up here
against it—just a letter saying we're not happy with it.
President Letellier—I'm gonna make the executive decision that I'm gonna follow
Councilor Young's suggestion which is have your budget sub-committee and let's pick
and choose which battle we need to go after. Okay? All right. I think—
Councilor Bitzas—Are we sending a letter?
# President Letellier—We're not gonna send a letter.
Councilor Bitzas—I'lI send a letter myself.
President Letellier—The Mayor said at the beginning of the meeting that the DPW
director wants to eliminate it and I think Councilor Young makes a good point and that's
before we one item to write a letter on, let's look at the whole budget, review it and then.
Councilor Bitzas—I will send her a Ietter and if anybody likes to sign it, I will do it
because this is the time the people they cut their grass so quickly so we need it now and
do it quickly. It's very important. They pay enough taxes they should be helped. Thank
• you.
30
President Letellier—Any other matters? Motion to adjourn? All in favor? Ay.
Opposed? Thank you.
•
Adjournment.
•
•
•
i
•
!
•
• 31