CC MTG MINUTES APRIL 5 2010 R
REGULAR COUNCIL MEETING OF THE AGAW"CITY COUNCIL
April 5, 201 D
President Rheault—Good evening ladies and gentlemen and welcome to the April 5,
2010 Agawam City Council meeting. Barb, do you have the list? Oh, Pm sorry.
Item 1. Citizen's Speak Time
President Rheault—We have several speakers wishing to address the Council this
evening. For those of you who have not addressed the Council before, you have up to
five minutes. State your name, address and the subject matter for the record. The first
one is Paul Cavallo.
Paul Cavallo—Good evening. My name is Paul Cavallo. I live at 6 Castle Hill Road,
Agawam, MA. I am here tonight to talk about or react to the article that appeared in last
week's paper regarding our school system reorganization and I'd like to and again this is
not a critique,this is simply some suggestions that I think in the future the committee
when it's formed should take into consideration. First of all, I question right now the
need for a new high school and it's based on the following information. The present high
school in 1998 was renovated along with four elementary schools. At the time,the New
England Association of Secondary Schools and Colleges determined in their evaluation
that we could not be accredited fully because we needed a new library--that was one of
the big areas in addition to curriculum. So at that time Mayor Cohen formed a committee
and over a period of a year, we did add onto that building a state of the art library. It met
all of the state regulations and rules regarding what that library should consist of and I'm
sure many of you have been up there, I've talked to the librarian there on many occasions
I see her since I left and she said it's really one of the best things any school system could
possibly ask for. In addition to that my other question is how can we justify the need for
a new high school when you have to present to the state some justification. For example
just recently if you read in the paper, Longmeadow High School is going to undergo a
renovation because when they had their ten year accreditation study,their building was
found to be in ill repair. They have to do a lot of work and they're basically gonna do the
w same thing that Agawam High School did back in 1998 —they're gonna renovate. Also,
Minnechaug Regional High School has been approved for a new school and their new
school is going to be more or less a format for future high school because they're going
to design them basically the same way and it will cut costs on a new school. My other
concerns are because the population has erupted in terms of the high school population
and have any projections studies, I'm sure Dr. Czajkowski has done this, if you go back
to kindergarten right now or first grade and at every School Committee meeting we
would look at how big are these grades and if by the time four years from now, does it
warrant a new high school because we're overpopulated. I'm sure that's something that
you have to present to the state committee to justify the need for a new high school. So
that's of concern. The other thing that I want to talk about was the, I mentioned
Longmeadow and Minnechaug so the difficulty receiving state aid; it won't be a sure
thing. The other thing is about the move of course the moving the Jr. High to the High
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School. Now the high school is very capable comfortably of educating at least a
thousand students. That's a very comfortable amount. Certainly we've been up as high
• as 1300 and I'm not quite sure of the size right now but if you're going to move basically
classes of 700 into the High School, you will have a good part of that building empty and
since 1998, in fact two years ago, we added on another parking area at the high school
and remember those students that go to the High School are not of age to drive a car. I
think that they need at the High School if there's anything that has to be done to our
• present High School is something that's been on the back burner and has been presented
to the Council even when I was on it—the need for a new track and to me that would be
something that would benefit not only the town's people but also any of the athletes that
participate in numerous athletics up at the High School. So that, and of course in addition
to the track if you recall, there was a need for new bleachers as well so really I think we
were looking at something in the neighborhood of close to two million dollars to bond
this particular project which I think we need very badly.
Clerk—One minute Paul.
Paul Cavallo--Okay. The Early Childhood Program there's no doubt that they are in
terrible quarters. There's no question about it that we need a new facility for them and
just to throw this out, why couldn't we possibly annex that program to one of the
elementary schools and I know there's been a water problem at Clark School when I was
on the Board we had some difficulty with the classrooms, the portable classrooms and
maybe there's a way that we can work something out and have the Early Childhood to the
• Clark Elementary School for example because that's about the only school that has
enough room and that would be an appropriate place for the Early Childhood Program to
be is next to an elementary school. The other point that I believe and I don't want to take
too much more time, I want to see if I skipped anything, also in the High School if I
could have one more minute from what I understand in the basement the DPW is possibly
• going to be moving and the Park&Rec may move too. That would be a good move to
do that. That would mean you would gain access to more square footage for additional
classrooms and in particular I think a TV studio would be appropriate at this point
because we have been talking about that as well. I'm not sure where it would be located
but if it had to be located on the first floor we could always do that done in the basement
—put the classrooms down there.
Clerk—That's time.
Paul Cavallo—And then the Tuckahoe the reason I would be against the Tuckahoe land
would be this I think if we were to instead look in terms an adjunct to our present
industrial park.
President Rheault—Mr. Cavallo your time is up.
Paul Cavallo—Could I have just fifteen more seconds Mr. President?
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President Rheault—It would take a vote of the Council. Moved by Councilor Rossi,
seconded by Councilor Mineo. All those in favor? Opposed? You have fifteen seconds.
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Paul Cavallo—It's just a quick item and that is the location is certainly is close to Rt. 57
and of course 187 that takes you into Connecticut which would take you to Bradley
International Airport so again I think that land not only if it became an adjunct to the
Industrial Park it would certainly give us tax dollars which we are in dire need of so it
• would be a financial benefit to the Town as well. Again, I don't want anyone to take any
of this as a criticism it's just something that I have digested over the past week or so and
if there is a committee formed, I'm certainly available to anyone who forms that
committee to be a member of that. So again, I thank you very much for your time
tonight.
•
President Rheault—Thank you. Forrest Bradford?
Forrest Bradford—My name is Forrest Bradford. I live at 21 Oxford Street, Agawam.
I would like to first express personally my supporting thoughts for recent sufferings of
our neighbor on the Council, Jill Simpson. To respect the time agenda, we're minimizing
tonight a bit but there will be a resolution introduced to the Council under New Business
next Council Meeting, I believe it's the 19`"or the 20t` which will be to declare Agawam
Green. This is very exciting. It's something that I think is very supportive to the children
in this town. Our newly formed group which is Agawam's Refrigerator List is part of
what I'm trying to promote as a national movement called America's Refrigerator List
and it's basically to encourage citizens that we can unite together and support our Council
or other leaders that be by giving them a green light and saying let's go ahead with these
programs for our kids, let's make a drastic change. It also is based on the fact that
Agawam has the first zip code in the nation and then we go right to 99950 to Ka.chican,
Alaska, kind of exciting—we put that on our t-shirts and we could have upwards of a
• million dollars in funding coming to Agawam which is a value of about$90.00 per
household by just completing some promises basically and showing our intent that we
intend to take steps to seriously look at reducing energy levels in our community and also
following things such as putting solar panels on homes, water heaters, wind mills,things
of this nature. Part of our movement is to get people involved for that exact purpose. So
we do have a neighborhood that's willing to go forward with putting solar heat. Also
other alternatives such as wind mills and we're just looking for some help. We're
looking for some help from the town officials perhaps the Energy Commission to come
together with things that we can use and put on our homes and we can actually show the
children of Agawam that we're gonna change this world for them. We're going to help
ensure that their future is. Whenever we hear of a tragedy or discouraging comments
from young people about what we have today, it energizes me to want to go forward and
do more. Today we have pretty much printing presses in our homes and we have
YouTube, Facebook, email, all kinds of communication means there's no reason why
Agawam can't be recognized as a leader in this movement for the children. So anyway I
respect the Council. We all work together. We've got a great team in this town--a lot of
positive people who want changes to happen. I say let's please go forward. Let's do this
for our youth. So I'm asking you as a citizen of Agawam and I'm keeping the speeches a
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little bit short, to please do what we can. Let's declare Agawam "green" by May 14c'.
It's worth it. Thank you.
President Rheault—Thank you. Travis Ward?
Travis Ward—Good evening. My name is Travis Ward, 32 Columbia Drive in Feeding
Hills and a member of the Planning Board acting as Chairman here in Agawam. Before
you tonight is the possible appointment of Mr. David Chase. Mr. Chase submitted a
letter of interest to the Town in response to a vacancy created by the resignation of Elaine
Awand in November, 2009. Mr. Chase was recommended by former Mayor Dawson and
in respect of the change of mayor through the election, deferred an appointment to Mayor
Cohen and he also supports this person. In fairness to all residents,the position was
posted and advertised on January 28, 2010. Mr. Chase is well-qualified and has prior
experience in the West Springfield Planning Board and is well-received by many
residents in this town. Therefore, the Planning Board fully recommends and supports the
appointment of Mr. David Chase to the Agawam Planning Board to fill the last vacancy.
Separately if I may, you have a public hearing before you tonight for the gas storage
. license of John's Trucking here in Agawam. We recognize that he is a long-term,
excellent member of this business community. I would ask you to maybe look at an issue
that I've worked on for a while and have not had any success in remedying and that's the
amount of dirt created and silt created from their property coming onto the roadway of
Silver Street and as a business person on Silver Street, it creates a tremendous amount of
dust and mess if you will. They are two totally unrelated items but modern times suggest
• that if you have a construction site or a non-paved area you have a gravel runoff mat of
thirty to fifty so that the trucks clean their tires before they enter the public way. People
have told us in town; department heads and such, that because they're grandfathered
nobody really has the power or departments can differ on who's responsible to address
that with John's Trucking. It would be a very simple fix to have a gravel walk-off,drive-
off mat, to clean the tires. I can specifically remember last spring when the streets were
swept that there was literally inches and inches of material from their lot in each direction
on Silver Street. The streets were swept and within a week that area had inches and
inches of debris again for what extends to be about a quarter mile down the street by the
time the tires fully clean themselves and when you see a car go by or a big truck go by,
i the dust on the road goes up into the air, onto the homes, onto other cars. And so we
respect John's Trucking tremendously as a business in this town but it seems like such a
simple thing to fix in our business community, a high traffic area leading to the Industrial
Park and if you were to drive up and down that street and really take a look,you'd see
just how bad that road is and I think it's a simple thing and we can do better in terms of
keeping that street clean and it's a very simple fix for them. So if you can find the right
people to look into that but I thank you for your time and consideration of that issue but
we do as well fully support them having a license if you so see that it fits them. Thank
you.
President Rheault—Thank you. Joan Linnehan?
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Joan Linnehan—Good evening. My name is Joan Linnehan. I'm the Director at the
Agawam Senior Center, 954 Main Street. I'm excited to be here tonight as a friend of
• Forrest Bradford and his family. The initiative that he has been taking to declare
Agawam"green" is something great for the future and I want to make sure that this is
something that will be good everyone. Even the seniors who I know that we help with
fuel assistance these days—maybe in future there'll be an answer for that. So I do
support his initiative. Thank you.
President Rheault—Thank you. Kristine Lynch?
Kristina Lynch—Good evening. Kristina Lynch and I also work for the Senior Center
here in Agawam. Good evening Council. I too support Forrest's movement here for the
Agawam going green. Some of us have kids who live in town, maybe you live in town
yourselves, you may have your kids who live in town, your grandkids, great grandkids, I
myself being a newlywed and a current homeowner have been looking for a new house
and looking in Agawam because I would love to live in Agawam. It's a fabulous
community. We have been looking at houses that do have some solar panels on them and
you can't find them very often, you know, it's to save money. So I too support Forrest
and I hope that you guys will help us have Agawam go "green".
President Rheault—Thank you. Dick White?
Dick White—Good evening Council. My name is Dick White. I reside at 52 Hamilton
Circle in Feeding Hills. I also do support Forrest and his family. I have been a resident
here for forty years, worked in the town for forty years. I am a retired mechanical
engineer and a few years back I started greening my own house and I think it's a
wonderful thing to do—not for my generation in particular—but for my grandkids. The
refrigerator list referred to is things that we can do ourselves. Next month I'll be going to
• Indiana where my daughter and my four grandkids Iive, and THEY will get a refrigerator
list for their refrigerator. So I do hope that you will consider this green movement and by
May I e we would like your support. Thank you.
President Rheault—Thank you. Terry Walsh?
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Terry Walsh—Good evening. My name is Terry Walsh and I reside at 27 Oxford Street
here in Agawam and I would like our Town of Agawam to take all the necessary steps to
declare itself"green"by the Council meeting of May 10, 2010 and I also would like to
thank Forrest for all his efforts he's put into this project.
• President Rheault—Thank you. The final speaker is Lucy Fieldstad.
Lucy Fieldstad—Hi everyone. My name's Lucy Fieldstad. I would like you to give the
greening of Agawam a lot of consideration especially for our future generations and I
• kind of like Forrest too.
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Item Z Roll Call
• President Rheault—Will the Clerk please call the roll?
ROLL CALL—10 PRESENT, 1 ABSENT (Councilor Simpson)
President Rheault—Ten present, one absent, you have a quorum.
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Item 3. Moment of Silence and the Pledge of Allegiance
President Rheault—Please rise for a moment of silence and Pledge of Allegiance.
Item 4. Minutes
(a) Regular Council Meeting—March 15,2010
President Rheault—Moved by Councilor Perry, seconded by Councilor Walsh. Any
corrections or additions? If not, voice vote is sufficient, all those in favor? Opposed?
* One abstention from Councilor Rossi.
Item S. _Declaration from Council President
None
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Item 6. Presentation of Petitions.Memorials& Remonstrances
(a) Resolutions
• 1. TR-2010-14 -A Resolution Confirming the Reappointment of Ronald J.
Hamel,52 Federal Avenue,Agawam,M.A.to the Agawam Veterans Council
to a Term Expiring April 1,2012.(Mayor)
President Rheault—Moved by Councilor Perry, seconded by Councilor Letellier. Any
discussion? If not, will the Clerk please call the roll?
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ROLL CALL—10 YES, 0 NO, 1 ABSENT (Councilor Simpson)
President Rheault—Ten yes, one absent, you've approved the confirmation.
2. TR-2010- 15 -A Resolution Confirming the Appointment of David Chase,
2 Colonial Avenue,Agawam,MA.to the Agawam Planning Board to
complete an Unexpired Term Expiring January 1,2013. (Mayor)
President Rheault—I see Mr. Chase in the audience; do you wish to address the Council
in any way?
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Mr. Chase (off microphone)—No,thank you,but I'd be happy to answer any questions
from the Council
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President Rheault—Well, I'll leave it up to the Council. Entertain a motion? Moved by
Councilor Perry, seconded by Councilor Letellier. Any questions to Mr. Chase by the
Council? If not, obviously you are very well-qualified and respected. Will the Clerk
please call the roll?
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ROLL CALL—10 YES,0 NO, 1 ABSENT (Councilor Simpson)
President Rheault—Ten yes, one absent, you've confirmed the appointment of David
Chase, Congratulations David.
• 3. TR-2010-16 -A Resolution Confirming the Appointment of Karl Stieg,24
Edgewood Lane,Agawam,MA. to the Historical Commission to a Term
Expiring January 1,2013.(Mayor)
President Rheault—Moved by Councilor Letellier, seconded by Councilor Perry. Any
• discussion? If not, Clerk please call the roll?
ROLL CALL— 10 YES,0 NO, 1 ABSENT (Councilor Simpson)
President Rheault—Ten yes, one absent, you've approved the confirmation of Mr.
Stieg. Barbara, could you take care of the announcement to Carl.
!'tern 7. Report of Council Committees
(a) Council Sub-Committees
• President Rheault—After discussion,we're going to entertain a motion to table those
until the next meeting.
Councilor Magovern—I'd like to make a motion to table it to our next meeting.
• President Rheault—Moved by Councilor Magovern to table, seconded by Councilor
Rossi, Any discussion at all? All those in favor of tabling? Opposed? The item is
tabled until the next meeting.
Councilor Letellier—Point of Information? Are we also going to table the Auditor's
• report because she is here so maybe it makes sense to let her do her report and not to
make another trip.
President Rheault—Sorry I missed her name. Where is it?
Councilor Letellier—Under Report from the City Auditor?
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President Rheault—Oh, I'm sorry, I missed it. Thank you. Cheryl do you want to come
up? Seeing you're here, we don't want to bring you back for another meeting.
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(b) Report from City Auditor
Auditor—Good evening Councilors. During the past quarter, the auditing department
has been busy working on accounts payable,payroll,financials and other miscellaneous
things. In the Accounts Payable area, the accounting principal clerk processed 3,824
payments during the past quarter. During the past quarter in the payroll area everything
has been routine. Our administrative assistant that does the payroll is on medical leave
and the principal clerk is performing her duties while she is away. In March, I attended
the Massachusetts Municipal Auditor's and Accountants Association Annual Education
Program in order to keep my certification as a Certified Municipal Accountant.
Highlights of the program included legislative updates, classes on the economy,fraud
prevention and detection, veterans'services, internal control policies and procedures,
pension reform, ethics and update from the department of revenue. The DOR stated that
the community preservation state trust fund distribution will increase 2%to
approximately 31%for fiscal year 2011. Other miscellaneous things that our department
• has been busy working on during this quarter are journal and budget entries, monthly
reports, recording fixed assets, balancing accounts receivables,preparing the fiscal year
2011 accounting budget, attend staff, budget c& council meetings, handling basic life
insurance claims and answering the switchboard. I would like to thank my staff for their
hard work and look forward to preparing for the town's next fiscal year end this
upcoming quarter. Have a good evening.
President Rheault--Thank you very much Cheryl.
Councilor Letellier—Move to accept?
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President Rheault—Moved by Councilor Letellier, seconded by Councilor Rossi. All
those in favor? Opposed?
Item 8. Elections
None.
Item 9. Public Hearin s
I. PH-2010-1 (TO-2010-12) -Public Hearing for a GAS STORAGE
• LICENSE Application for John's Trucking of Agawam,Inc.,415 Silver
Street,Agawam,MA.(Referred to License Committee(Clerk)
President Rheault—I now open the public hearing and a report first from the Licensing
Committee.
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Councilor Rossi—Thank you Mr. President. The Licensing Committee reviewed the
application for the storage permit and we found no reason not to go ahead and submit a
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recommendation for approval. However, this information just given to us by Travis
Ward of the Planning Department did not come to light at that time. There is no
• connection however that I can find from the Licensing to connect the issues that he
presented here tonight. However, I don't know if there's anybody here from John's
Trucking that would be willing to discuss this issue. If not, we could go ahead and hold
the public hearing if you'd like but I would seriously holding back any kind of
recommendation until I had an opportunity to talk to Mr. Rosati or his representatives just
• to get an idea or feeling to what this is. Now I don't know if this is something that could
be handled from a safety issue and maybe turned over to the Safety Sub-Committee of
the Council and I would willing to do that. So I'll go in whatever direction that the
Council wants me to go in but in terms of the License itself,there is no reason to not go
forward with the issuance of the license at this time.
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President Rheault—What we'll do is, is there a representative from John's Trucking
here to speak on their behalf? Please come to the microphone.
Brian Theroux- Good evening. I'm Brian Theroux representing John's Trucking.
• John Rosati- I'm John Rosati from John's Trucking.
Brian Theroux—In reference to the statements made earlier regarding the dust control,
we're in the process of creating a plan,putting a plan together, we currently have Rico
taking care of some of the maintenance of the street and we're also devising, we're also
• in the planning stages of putting a tracking pad in the beginning of the driveway to
control that during the busy season.
John Rosati —The only problem we do have is on sites we do make tracking pads on
different sites for different buildings and they really don't work. Somebody came up
• with the idea but if you have new tires and they have deep grooves,the mud gets into the
grooves and it doesn't come out until you get centrifugal force when you get up to twenty
miles an hour, thirty,that's when it comes out. So we can build a long tracking pad in
our yard,we can put pavement and it's not gonna come out until you start down the road
and get some speed up to throw this out of the tire so we're trying different things but
• nothing has really happened other than everybody says make a tracking pad and if you
see sites where they do make them and we do bring them stone to different sites that have
to have that tracking pad and they just don't work until you pick up speed. And I don't
know how we're gonna come up with an idea that's gonna work other than centrifugal
force throws that dirt out of the tire. And this only happens when we have a lot of rain
and we get mud in the yard. If we went to stone the whole yard, it's at different piles and
different locations, it's just impossible to do right now. But we have been paying, when
you see the sweeper out there, the Town's not paying for that, we've been paying for Jim
Rico to come over and do it every time we see some, almost every night after a rain,he'll
be going up and down the street to take care of that problem.
Councilor Rossi—Have you been doing this for quite some time, John?
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John Rosati—They brought it to our attention about the middle of last summer and that's
when we started that part of trying to work with the town. We put stone in at the end of
• our pumps and we had Rico start doing it after every rain storm.
Councilor Rossi -And you have some kind of a maintenance agreement with this
cleaning company you said?
John Rosati- With Rico, JR Sweeping.
Brian Theroux—In addition to our own, we try to oversee the property and have
someone go out and manually take a look at the street, not just for dust and sand but also
if there was to be anything else that would enter the roadway, We also communicate
with the neighbors on both sides of the street within at least a few residences and actually
ask them to communicate with us as well if there's any issue they have, so we try to be as
neighborhood friendly as possible. Thank you.
President Rheault—Any other questions from the Council? Councilor Perry?
Councilor Perry—In regards to the dust or in regards to the license?
President Rheault—Granting of the license.
Councilor Perry—Oh, granting the license. Yea, I do have a few questions. You're
looking for 10,000 gallons underground diesel?
John Rosati-That is correct.
Councilor Perry—According to what I'm seeing here, and waste oil? It says 5000
• gallons if I'm reading this correctly, what's before us?
John Rosati-It's a tank that the town had us put in a year ago. It's a double wall tank
and it's outside the garage and it's protected by jersey barriers.
• Councilor Perry—Okay and that's for the waste oil?
John Rosati—That's for waste oil.
Councilor Perry—And the bulk oil above ground is 300 gallons?
John Rosati—That's just oil that's inside the garage for oil changes, yes.
Councilor Perry--For oil changes, okay and looking at the sketch that we have here, do
you currently have underground storage at this point in time or no?
John Rosati--That tank is still in the ground right now.
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Councilor Perry—Okay, the 10,000 gallon?
John Rosati—The 10,000 gallon and it's monitored inside our garage.
Councilor Perry—Okay, so it has been there so—
John Rosati—Yea, it has been there.
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Councilor Perry—Okay, I'm just looking at the sketch so you have pumps obviously at
each one?
John Rosati—Just one pump.
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Councilor Perry—Just one pump and that's just for your own personal trucks.
John Rosati—For fueling up our own trucks.
Councilor Perry—Okay.
President Rheault—Okay,thank you. Any other questions regarding the granting of the
license? Thank you very much. Do you have anything further that you'd like to say?
John Rosati—Just that if anybody can come up with the problem on Silver Street,
anybody's idea, we'll be glad to try it. We've been trying our own ideas and I guess the
best thing right now that we put in place is JR Sweeping sweeping after a rain storm.
President Rheault—All right,thank you.
! Councilor Letellier—I'm sorry, may I have a question?
President Rheault—Councilor Letellier has a question.
Councilor Letellier—Thank you. You said that, I'm picking up on what Councilor
Perry has said, you said that the truck is already,the tank is already in the ground?
Brian Theroux They've been in the ground for years.
Councilor Letellier--For years?
Brian Theroux—Well,we had to replace it.
Councilor Letellier—So is this permit because you had to put a new one in to replace it
or just that we're catching up to the fact that you didn't have a permit before?
Brian Theroux—That's correct.
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Councilor Letellier—So the tanks have been in there and there haven't been any
problems with spilling or anything like that.
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Brian Theroux No absolutely not. We have a system that is monitored from in the
garage. We take regular readings on a daily basis. We also are working with
Environmental Compliance Service, they oversee all of the administrative piece along
with myself. We have all of the licenses that are needed and necessary; all of the permits
so there has been absolutely no issue with the tank at all. Correct.
Councilor Letellier— So has the tank been permitted before?
Brian Theroux No, the tank, we had permits but I'm not quite sure how this developed
—this piece of business tonight.
Councilor Letellier—Okay, so did somebody tell you oh, you needed a permit or you
realized you didn't have a permit or?
Brian Theroux—As far as we knew, we had all permits that were necessary for
•. compliance to store waste oil and diesel fuel on the property. So this is something that
we're just participating in and making sure that everything on our"end is proper.
Councilor Letellier—Okay, thank you.
• Brian Theroux—Not a problem. Thank you.
Councilor Letellier—You're welcome.
President Rheault—That's all the info I had as well, all right,thank you. Anyone who
• would like to speak in favor of the granting of the license? Anyone who would like to
speak in opposition of the granting of the license? Anyone who would like to just be
recorded in name only in support of the license granting? Anyone who would like to
speak in opposition to the granting of the license? If not, I will close the public hearing.
What is the Council's pleasure?
•
Councilor Letellier—Move to grant the license.
President Rheault—Moved by Councilor Letellier to grant the license, seconded by
Councilor Rossi and Councilor Bitzas. Any further discussion? Councilor Bitzas?
• Councilor Bitzas—Yes. I do agree with Councilor Rossi that it's two different issues
that we're working here for the license for nothing about the situation that they have. I'm
very happy to see businesses to come here and recognize they have a little problem and
they're willing to work with the neighbors to correct it. That's.a credit for them so I was
really impressed with that and I hope that the Council we help another business and give
• the license. Thank you.
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President Rheault—Clerk,please call the roll?
• ROLL CALL— 10 YES, 0 NO, 1 ABSENT (Councilor Simpson)
President Rheault—Ten yes, one absent, you have approved the storage license.
Item IQ. Old Business
•
1. TO-2010-11 -An Order Granting or Renewing a Class U Dealer's
LICENSE—Motor City Car Co.,Applicant Richard Coulon, 91 Ramah
Circle,Agawam,MA.(Referred to License Committee)(Clerk)
President Rheault—I'll entertain a motion. Moved by Councilor Rossi, seconded by
Councilor Walsh. A report from the License Committee?
Councilor Rossi—The License Committee recommends that we send a positive
recommendation to the Full Council for approval.
• President Rheault—All right. Any discussion on the license? If not, will the Clerk
please call the roll?
ROLL CALL— 10 YES,0 N0, 1 ABSENT (Councilor Simpson)
President Rheault—Ten yes, one absent, you have approved the Class II License.
2. TO-2010-13 -An Order Granting or Renewing a Automatic Amusement
Device(s)—American Legion Post 185—Wilson Thompson Post,478
Springfield Street,Feeding Hills,MA.(Referred to License Committee
• (Clerk)
President Rheault—I'll entertain a motion to accept? Moved by Councilor Rossi,
seconded by Councilor Letellier. A report from the License Committee?
Councilor Rossi—The License Committee sends a positive recommendation for the
renewing the issue of the Automatic Amusement License for Wilson Thompson Post 185,
478 Springfield Street.
President Rheault—Positive recommendation from the Committee. Any further
discussion? If not, Clerk please call the roll?
•
ROLL CALL—10 YES,0 NO, 1 ABSENT (Councilor Simpson)
President Rheault—Ten yes, one absent, you have approved the license.
•
13
i
Item 11. New Business
1. TR-2010-17 -A Resolution Confirming the Appointment of Todd
Crevier,26 Yale Avenue,Feeding Hills,MA, to the Agawam Veterans
Council to a Term Expiring April 1,2012.(Mayor)
President Rheault—Next Agenda.
2. TR-2010-18 -A Resolution Regarding the Extension of Keno To Go for
On The Way,301 Springfield Street,Agawam,MA.(Councilors Rheault
and Rossi)
President Rheault—Next Agenda.
•
3. TR-2010-19 -A Resolution Confirming the Appointment of Ralph
McEwan,70 Carr Avenue,Agawam,MA.to the Agawam Veterans' Council
as an Honorary Lifetime Member(Mayor)
President Rheault—Next Agenda.
i
4. TR-2010-20 -A Resolution confirming the Appointment of Rielly
Longtin,469 Corey Street,Agawam,MA to the Agawam Veterans' Council
to a Term Expiring April 1,2012 (Mayor)
i President Rheault—Next Agenda.
5. TR 2010-21 -A Resolution Authorizing Preparation of Statement of
Interest for a New Early Childhood Center and High School(Councilors
Rheault,Rossi,Bitzas and Walsh)
President Rheault—This particular item I sent an Interoffice Memorandum to the
Council suggesting that we offer the opportunity for the Superintendent to present to the
Council a Statement of Interest for the Proposed Long Range Proposal. She has agreed to
come, It's gonna be a brief presentation. The reason why I put it on is because I felt
along with the committee of myself, Councilor Rossi, Councilor Bitzas and Councilor
Walsh,that the Council should be in full information as promptly as possible and this is
the quickest we could put ourselves together before we get too much press out there.
Hopefully, this is a long range program as the Superintendent will explain and it is what
she felt was the needs of the Town. We are welcomed and she is as well I'm sure any
comments, criticisms, additions or corrections or what have you from the town,from the
i town to the committee and she will certainly entertain all these thoughts and hopefully
this will—I thought this was a good opportunity to go it and give you ample time to
digest it. So I'll entertain a motion to allow her to give this presentation. I think it's best
to go into Committee as a Whole. Thank you. Moved to go into Committee as a Whole
by Councilor Rossi and seconded by Councilor Bitzas. All those in favor? Opposed?
i We are not in Committee as a Whole and the floor is yours for your presentation. If you
would kindly introduce the members of your table to the audience as well as—I would
appreciate it Mary.
14
Dr. Mary Czajkowski—Thank you Mr. President and thank you for the opportunity to
be here this evening. I'd like to introduce beginning with my left this is Miss Patti
Cavanaugh the Assistant Superintendent for Business and Human Resources now known
as the Director of Finance. Also Mr. William Sapelli, Assistant Superintendent for
Curriculum, Mr. Anthony Bonavita, Vice Chair of the Agawam School Committee and
Mrs. Shelley Reed, member of the School Committee. Thank you for the opportunity
tonight to share what I think is a plan for the future and when I say for the future I'm
talking the 215t century for students in our school system and by no means is this a plan
that must be adopted tonight. I'm not looking for funding here this evening but basically
giving you an update and a status report of our schools and at the end of the presentation I
will address some of the concerns that were raised earlier. But let me begin with first our
Long Range Planning Committee. I think there's been criticism among schools, among
the town, that there is no long range planning and back in January I sent a Memorandum
to Mayor Cohen seeking members of the City Council, the School Committee and the
Administration to form a Long Range Planning Committee to begin to discuss some of
the issues within our schools. The School Committee members included Linda
Galarneau, Kathy Mouneimneh, Sheeley Reed and Mayor Cohen acted as ex-officio.
0 Representing the City Council—George Bitzas, Robert Rossi, Till Simpson, John Walsh
and Donald Rheault acting as ex-officio. Also serving on the Long Range Planning
Committee is Laurel Placzek and from the School Administration Patti Cavanaugh and
myself. Now in looking at this committee, the purpose of the committee was to examine
the present and future needs of Agawam Public Schools in Grades Pre-k through 12,to
• review the School Buildings Facilities Assessment which was conducted in the fall, to
discuss the topic of grade reorganization which has been a topic since 2001 and to
address some of the Early Childhood concerns both the educational concerns and the
safety concerns. Now with the new regulations set forth in the Massachusetts School
Building Authority(MSBA) in order to get reimbursed for any renovation or construction
0 project it requires strict adherence to their regulations and guidelines which includes
what's called a"Statement of Interest". Now to date, the Long Range Planning
Committee (LRPC)has met on two occasions. The first meeting took place on February
22nd at 6:00 in the Early Childhood Center and we looked at our present and future needs,
reviewed the School Building Facilities Assessment,talked about grade reorganization
M and I addressed some of the serious concerns at the ECC regarding both education and
safety and I also discussed with the LRPC the guidelines that now are set forth in MSBA.
Most recently on March 29 h,we met again at 5:OOpm and we had Anthony Sylvia there,
the DPW Superintendent that presented some plans for the new ECC parking lot. During
the last several years,there's been several safety issues concerned with vehicles getting in
and out of the ECC parking lot and Mr. Sylvia presented in which our before and after
school program would address through funding some of the ECC parking lot concerns
and he presented the plan to the LRPC. I then presented and discussed what I am going
to present to you tonight which is a long Long Range Plan. At that meeting, Councilors
Rossi, Rheault, Walsh and Bitzas asked if I would make a full presentation to the City
Council and thus I am here tonight to do so. Our current building configuration,
currently we have grades K-4 at Benjamin Phelps, Clifford Granger, Robinson Park
School, James Clark School. Then we have our Agawam Middle School which is a grade
15
five and six, our Junior High which is a grade seven and eight, our grade 9-12 which is
the High School and then our pre-K or our Early Childhood Center and then I also noted
Town Offices and the Agawam Town Hall as that has been a topic of discussion within
the community surrounding handicap accessibility and various other concerns. Now the
plan that I'm proposing this evening is a plan that looks to the future. It's not something
that's going to occur within the next ten years and when I say the future, I'm talking the
best time to plan is when we are in the economic downturn. That's when you begin
planning and having discussions with the community, with parents, with students, with
City Council, with School Committee to talk about what the future will look like for
Agawam. I think we have been criticized that we haven't had any long range planning
and this is an opportunity to do that. Now the plan that I'm gonna present to you this
evening is a proposal but it doesn't site what I'm gonna consider a deficiency as to why
we're gonna submit a Statement of Interest and why I'm looking for your support to
submit that Statement of Interest which is basically the ECC. But the proposed building
configuration, our elementary schools would become grades K-5 —Granger, Phelps,
Robinson Park and James Clark School—currently they're grades K-4 they would
become grades K-5. The Middle School would be configured to be an elementary school
grades K-5 and it would be named the Roberta G. Doering Elementary School. The
0 current High School would house a"true"middle school and we've worked on a middle
school teaming concept for grades 7 and 8 and a true middle school as you have separate
wings in the high school and it would house approximately three grades for a total of
1150 students would be formerly Agawam High School. Grades 9-12 would be anew
high school along with an ECC. Now as I indicated that Statement of Interest that we're
0 looking to submit is a Statement of Interest for an ECC. This is one plan and I emphasize
that would become administrative offices along with what you'll see in the next slide that
would house all central offices, all special services, our school counseling offices,the
town and school administrative offices. So Town Hall would be housed with the school
to consolidate once again services. Our Park &Recreation department, we have a pool,
• we have fields, we have a cafeteria center,we have a gymnasium; a police complex in
which either it could be adjacent to or there is plenty of land within that area. There was
discussion most recently in the last couple of years and I know Mr. Bonavita chaired a
Community Center committee or some sort of a Recreation Committee in which we
could house a Community Center...and these are just some of the ideas that could be
r included in the consolidation of services. The proposed high school would include a new
athletic complex along with an ECC. I would partner with higher education namely
colleges—Westfield State College, Elms College and BayPath College in which I would
have conversations with the Presidents of those colleges to partner with Agawam to
become early childhood programs in which we encourage students to become educated in
early childhood education and to go into teaching. Now some of the advantages to the
model in housing both school and town administrative offices (1)the Jr. High School is
handicap accessible. It has ramps, it also has an elevator. With this model we would
maintain our elementary neighborhood schools. We would have an auditorium for school
and community use. We would have a cafeteria that could be self-sustaining for our
school and town employees. We would have a pool and fields which we could have a
0 fitness program for our school and town employees. There's ample parking. It could be
a centralized location. It could be an expansive area. There could be public broadcasts of
16
City Council and School Committee meetings and workshops and community forums.
Now let me talk a little bit about this MSBA and what that means. It's the first step in the
• MSBA's application process for any new grant program for school construction and
renovation. A school district must submit what's called a Statement of Interest—an SOI
—and it must identify the perceived deficiencies in their school facilities. Now the
Resolution you have before you this evening along with the School Committee's
Resolution is to submit an SOI because of the deficiency at our ECC —not our high
school—our ECC. However, I look to the future of not continuing to do piece meal
additions and add-ons to buildings but to really plan for a future facility. This SOI is not
an application for funding. It doesn't guarantee anything. All it does is it brings to the
attention to the MSBA our schools' deficiencies and namely I would like to bring to the
attention our ECC. The SOI must be submitted electronically using the SOI system and
the MSBA invites school districts annually to file a Statement of Interest. So the first
requirement is you have to identify a priority and there are eight priorities set forth in
M.G.L. Chapter 70B, Section 8. I'm gonna be identifying number 7 which is the
deficiency so you'll have a brief description of that deficiency and then you must provide
also supporting documentation. Now I'm going to leave tonight with you and I'll leave
• with Barbara, a copy of the Massachusetts School Building Statement of Interest
application which sites specifically what you must do and as I indicated there are eight
priorities and I would site number seven which is the replacement or addition to obsolete
buildings in order to provide a full range of programs consistent with state and approved
local requirements as determined in the judgment of the Authority. Now we had a walk-
through of all of our buildings this past September with Fire Inspector, our Building
• Inspector and our Director of Maintenance and our ECC was supposedly supposed to be a
temporary location twenty years ago. We have children with autism that have no space to
move,to use equipment. Our Occupational Therapists are operating in hallways. We
have no storage space. We have students that are three years old that are in diapers being
changed with no privacy. We're trying to do the best we can with what we have. We
• currently have eleven children with autism in our ECC. If we're looking to the future,
this SOI might site that as a deficiency and recommend that we build a new ECC. I
would like to take that one step further. Now, in addition to the electronic submission,
the district must also mail the following documents to the MSBA. It must be an original
of the signed and certified SOI. It must be a certified vote of the City Council. When I
• discussed this with the LRPC, President Rheault suggested that we bring this before the
City Council in a manner that you have time to digest what the SOI is. You're not voting
on that this evening but merely I'm giving you a presentation of what that SOI would be.
It also requires the full text of the vote of the School Committee with a copy of the
minutes of the School committee at which the Committee voted to authorize the
• submission of the SOI, signed by the School Committee Chair. I'll be making this same
presentation to the School Committee at the next School Committee meeting which will
be the 13t' of April. They have not seen this presentation as of yet. The current MSBA
timeline is this. MSBA annually invites school districts to submit SOI's for as many
facilities as necessary identifying deficiencies. I'm going to identify the ECC as the
9 deficiency. The SOT process opens in late summer and it's annual so it will open up in
late summer and school districts have three months to file a SOI electronically with
written documentation. Now what happens after that? As I indicated it doesn't guarantee
17
•
any funding. All it does is site our deficiency. The MSBA then comes out and they
conduct a site visit to review the deficiency, to determine whether the ECC is deficient as
• we have outlined in our proposal. Now along with that they will look at what are your
plans for an ECC? Are you going to grade configure to include your elementary schools?
Are you gonna add onto your elementary schools? Are you gonna build a new ECC?
Would it be a pre-K to 3 early childhood center? And that's where I began to think about
long range, for the future,Agawam High School. The original building--Agawam High
• School—was built in 1955. It is 55 years old. In ten years it'll be 65 years old. The
main building is 123,000 square feet out of a total of 235,000 square feet and I will
address some of the citings that our Building Inspector and Fire Inspector when we did
the walk-throughs of the high school with respect to the future of what that will look like.
Now you can see the City Council Resolution TR-2010-21 is asking for your approval to
submit a SOI to identify this deficiency. That basically concludes the PowerPoint
presentation but I would like to bring to your attention and I will email this document to
Barbara and have her give it to you as well. Back in September, September 22nd,Fire
Inspector Scott Mitchell, Dominic Urbinate,myself and the Building principals
conducted a walk-through and I'd like to just highlight some of the concerns that they
cited and you can see this when I email this document. It's an Excel spreadsheet. The
High School - ADA concern-Americans with Disabilities Act-bathrooms, stage, locker
rooms are in non-compliance. All the interior bathrooms downstairs are in non-
compliance. The stadium, track, locker rooms,bathrooms have been in the Capital
Improvement budget for years. I'm not sure exactly the number. Classroom space, no
TV studio—use maintenance area. Interior Science wing—renovate. Interior art wing—
• renovate. Chemistry labs —now back in 1980 the science wing was added. That was
over twenty years ago, okay? They're asking for separate lecture and lab facilities. Once
again I'm preparing for 20 century, 10 years for the future. Need more storage space.
High School technology communications—update sound and light sound booth.
Technology—music area needs upgrading. Vocational wing—upgrade, remove or
• combine with visual performing arts. Roof--solar, voltaic and/or thermal. Add fans for
circulation. Double-pane, screens. Improve dust collection system, install emergency
lighting, improve ventilation in photo lab, resurface major tennis courts need repair,
replace floor treatment in the back gym, repair broken smoke detectors, bleachers need to
be automated in the main gym, fumes, rusting ceiling panel supports in the chemistry
• labs, downstairs bathrooms need upgrading,repair all non-working windows, emergency
lighting, bleachers, no security cameras, sports facilities,reconfigure for equal facilities
in women's locker rooms similar to men's, no security cameras, locks don't work on all
lockers. Those were some of the areas that our Building Inspector, our Fire Inspector,
our Director of Maintenance cited in the High School. So I would ask as we move
forward once again that this is for the purpose of planning. It's for the purpose of long
range planning and I think it's important as a first step to come before you,the governing
body, the City Council, to come before the School Committee to share one plan. The
MSBA, if we submit an SOI in late summer, we have three months, actually the
applications will come out in late summer, we have three months in which to submit.
Probably some time next year they may come out to do a site visit and look at our ECC
and say what are your plans? Do you want to build a separate new ECC or do you want
to reconfigure with your other schools? When you look at the future of education and
18
•
you look at early childhood education and you look at the number of children and
students that want to go into teaching that can become a learning lab for our high school
• students. It can become a partnership with our colleges to prepare students for the future.
But once again, that is just one plan. So that concludes my presentation this evening.
Certainly if you have any questions, I'd be more than happy and I know the resolution
that you have before you this evening is, you're not going to be voting on it, but between
now and the next time you meet when it does come up for a vote, if you have additional
questions, I certainly I would be more than willing. I know the other night Mr. Rossi had
some questions regarding the budget,he contacted me and we met and talked about them.
If you certainly have any questions, I've discussed also this, Laurel is part of the LRPC,
there are some items that have been included in the Capital Improvement Budget. Once
again, I think it's time that we all come together to begin to look to the future and plan for
the fixture in a way that is systematic and involves the community, involves students,
involves parents, involves tax payers to look at our plan. Thank you. The potential
reimbursement is 72%to the school district and now all of that actually that funding is
up-fronted. It's very different than it was in the past. Thank you.
President Rheault—Thank you very much Mary for the presentation and are there any questions
• from the Council at this point? Councilor Letellier?
Councilor Letellier—Yes,Mary,I have a question. If we're selling this as a deficient ECC,how
do then piggyback that gigantic building with the high school in it too.
• Dr. Mary Czajkowski—That's a great question Councilor Letellier. I spoke with a
woman, Diane Sullivan, at the MSBA today and I actually emailed her my PowerPoint
and I asked for her input on it and she said to me that MSBA is looking for creative ways
for schools districts to work together to come up with new models that might be
innovative and I explained to her that we may be looking as a future for, and that would
be, the priority would be the ECC, there's no question but I'd rather have them come out
• and tell us "you build a separate ECC and we'll give you 72%reimbursement'' or"you
look to the future and we put you on a list along with other schools who have gone
through this process"and maybe that might be a good idea because they may say that
eventually 10 to 20 years from now, our high school will be 65 years old. If you look at
Minnechaug, if you look at Longmeadow, and if you look at Chicopee Comp, our high
• school was built prior to them. So once again, it's planning for the future and for what
we you know,the high school is the huh,the hub of our school system and I really think
that I would allow, I would say let the MSBA come out and tell us no you can't use that
as a piggy back to the high school,then you can only build,but once again I think you
still need to engage in conversation about the future of Agawam High School.
•
Councilor Letellier—No I'm not doubting that, I'm just wondering do we then do two SOI's—
one for the High School and—do we do a third one as combined high school/ECC and then a
plain high school and then a plain ECC? Or is that too much work for the town?
Dr. Mary Czajkowski—No, that's a really good question because Diane said to me you
can submit as many SOI's as you want so we could submit one separately for the high
school, one separately for the ECC but I would like to begin with the ECC as the
19
•
deficiency, have them come out, have us sit down with them and say is this a viable plan
or should we be submitting another SOI down the road for a high school or should it be a
combination. That's a great question. It's a question I can't answer until we actually
submit this SOI and they come back and give us some more direction_
Councilor Letellier—And you think they'd be willing to have that conversation"we're
submitting an SOI for an ECC but by the way we have this idea as well" or is it you
• submitted this,the conversation becomes this. Is it gonna be a narrow blender?
Dr. Mary Czajkowski—That's a really good question. When I explained to her that I'm
presenting tonight at the City Council meeting and I had a proposed plan, her comment to
me was "we like to see districts thinking ahead and preparing plans and having those
• conversations." So it wasn't no you can't do that,you need to separate that, it was I think
you're thinking long term and that's a good thing and that's what we want to see school
districts doing—thinking long term.
Councilor Letellier-Thank you.
• President Rheault—Councilor Walsh?
Councilor Walsh—Yea,the Statement of Interest, I know as we had talked about it within the
confines of the committee,we're talking long range as far as bringing it to fruition but now as far
as having the team come out to evaluate, I don't think we ever discussed that but could you let us
* know what we would expect? In other words, if we submit it this fiscal year,how long before we
see the people from the Commonwealth?
Dr. Mary Czajkowski—That's a great question, Councilor Walsh and I think the time
line that she explained to me was applications come out annually. They come out usually
at the end of the summer. She would email me; alert me that they're coming out the end
• of the summer. We would have three months in which to submit our Statement of
Interest and once again I would prepare a SOI and I would work with the LRPC or the
City Council combined School Committee to submit the SOI. If we submit it, we have
three months to submit it,we submit it by the end of November let's say, I would
anticipate that they would respond within two months to come out to do a site visit to
look at that deficiency. So either way,they have to,they can't just say no. They will
come out and they will look at your school.
Councilor Walsh —Thank you.
• President Rheault—Councilor Messick?
Councilor Messick—You're talking about repurposing the Junior High so with the
MSBA program, none of the funding available for that would be available for
repurposing that or would having school administrative offices count for even a
• percentage of the square footage?
• 20
Dr. Mary Czajkowski—I believe that MSBA would not reimburse for any town or
school administrative offices, that's correct. You know,when I was thinking of this plan
• and thinking of the Agawam Jr. High School, it's the only school in thirty years and once
again I will forward you, email you, the square footage along with the renovations and
additions to all of our schools and I got this from Mr. Kupec,Roger Kupec, and it sites
the building,the section, the year it was built and the square footage and if you look at all
eight buildings, the only building that does not have any renovations done is the Jr. High
School. It was built in 1973 and it has 131,000 square feet. Now that requires a lot of
repair. You'll see that when Nick went around the building inside and outside,in order
for us to upgrade that school to make it a school would be very,very expensive with
respect to wiring, with respect to replacement of windows,replacement of the roof,the
mortar is chipping around the outside of the building. It would be very costly to renovate
that and code it up to a school building but I believe and I'm not anywhere in
construction or anything like this but I believe it would be cheaper to renovate that to
include a community center,town hall offices, administrative offices, it would be much
cheaper to do that because it wouldn't require as much work and that's a building that
hasn't had any renovation done since it's been built.
♦ President Rheault—Councilor Bitzas?
Councilor Bitzas—Thank you Mr. President. Mary, I know it was a short time...in the
paper it appears about these plans, I don't know if you have the answer but did you hear
any comments from your administration, the teachers, any parents and if you did can you
explain to us or in the future can you bring this information to our committee? Thank
you.
Dr. Mary Czajkowski—I've learned there's no best kept secret here in Agawam so I
know it got out somewhat sooner that expected in the newspaper but some of the
♦ comments that I've heard, I've heard actually from a couple of students that thought it
would be a great idea to have grades six, seven and eight at the high school because it
would be a new school for them. I did hear from a couple of School Committee members
who thought it was something that needed more discussing and something that would
look to the future and I did hear from, I did get an email from a parent saying that she
♦ liked the idea and hope that we would look to the future in trying to get up to par with
other school systems in the area.
Councilor Bitzas—Thank you Mary but they do understand that it's not something that
would be done tomorrow.
Dr. Mary Czajkowski—No I, it probably won't be done in my time here as the
Superintendent but I certainly would like to be part of the planning process. It's
something that certainly is going to be long range.
. Councilor Bitzas—Thank you.
0 21
President Rheault—Entertain a Motion to Come out of Committee? Moved by
Councilor Rossi, seconded by Councilor Magovern. All those in favor? Opposed?
• Again,thank you very much for a very informative discussion and I'm sure that we'll
here from many people in the town regarding this.
6. TR-2010-22 -A Resolution Requesting Special Legislation Regarding
Drag Racing within the Town of Agawam(Councilor Magovern)
President Rheault—Next Agenda. Is that gonna be in an Ordinance form Councilor? If
it is it's your committee.
7. TO-2010-14 -Transfer of$286.00 from Reserve Fund (16605-57300)to
Auditor—Regular Permanent Account(11341-51010)(Mayor)
•
President Rheault—To pay the difference in the Auditor's office. Next Agenda.
Item 12. Any other matter that may Legally come before the QU Council.
President Rheault—We'll start to my furthest right, Councilor Bitzas?
Councilor Bitzas—Nothing this evening, Mr. President.
President Rheault—Thank you. Councilor Magovern?
Councilor Magovern—The only thing I'd like to say is our Rosie Robotics team
deserves a great applause. They came in second in Worcester in an international
competition for one of the best and our Agawam crew was one of the best robotics team
in the entire nation as far as I'm concerned and I think they deserve a great recognition
and I think a letter might be nice from the Council to the Robotics team commending
them for the great effort that they put in.
President Rheault—All right. Councilor Mineo?
Councilor Mineo —Nothing tonight.
President Rheault—Councilor Rossi?
Councilor Rossi—Yes,just one small item. I've been getting a lot of calls Iately and I
got one again today as a matter of fact. Some concerned citizen posted some pictures on
my back door of the walkway on River Road and the complaints that I've been getting is
that the walkway is not very well maintained. People go down there and they walk their
animals and stuff like that,they don't clean up their messes. The ones that do, they have
these multi-colored bags that they just leave folded up somewhere next to sign posts and
those types of things and no one seems to be picking those things up. Now I know that
we can't legislate responsibility to our citizens but I wish we could but we can't but I
thought we had some kind of a maintenance program and I'd really like to know who's in
charge of the maintenance and I'm gonna ask Barbara if you would send a memo to the
22
•
Mayor's office and find out who is in charge of the maintenance, what the schedules are
and why can't we have those things picked up. Now the last time I questioned this I
• wanted to have the DPW, I know that they go up and down that River Road quite
frequently and to have somebody in a pick up truck stop by and empty a trash barrel or
something, I don't think would be too far out of the way but I'm told that there is some
kind of a private maintenance program. Would you find out Barbara if you would and
through the Council here and if someone else has any ideas or thoughts I would be more
than happy to listen to them but I was a little disturbed when I saw the pictures. Someone
actually went out of their way to go down and take pictures of these kind of things and it
really disturbed me because we put a lot of time, effort and money into this walkway, not
only for the citizens of this town but we have a lot of visitors to this town who use that
walkway and I have personal knowledge of that. To have something like this exist down
there, it's just, it just should not exist so I would really like to have something done.
Something that's gonna be lasting and maintaining so if we could get a letter out to the
Mayor and maybe he could respond to us with what's being done, what can be done and
what can be done on a continuing basis I certainly would appreciate that.
. Councilor Bitzas—Point of information, Mr. President?
President Rheault—Councilor?
Councilor Bitzas—Through the chair to Councilor Rossi, I did speak with the Planning
Board Director, Debbie Dachos, I had the same problem, some of the people they
• complain to me and they're supposed to bring this week I believe after Easter, barrels
along, the DPW is supposed to do that and also they forgot to take the signs off—closed
the park,the bike path closed for the winter, so there's about six signs there so yes, I
think the DPW is supposed to take care of that and supposed to bring the barrels this
week. I don't know if they did that. Barbara of course she can check with the Planning
• . Board, the DPW, I believe this should be done right now. Thank you.
President Rheault--Thank you. Councilor Walsh?
Councilor Walsh--Nothing tonight. Thank you.
•
President Rheault—Councilor Cichetti?
Councilor Cichetti—Nothing tonight. Thank you.
• President Rheault—Councilor Messick?
Councilor Messick--Just a quick reminder that our Earth Day celebration is going to be
on Saturday, April 17ei from 11-3. We still have some spaces available. They're free.
You bring your own table and set up. We just provide you with a space. If you have a
green business or a community organization that you'd like to highlight, we more than
welcome you and you can give me a call at 786-8125 or call the Council Office. Thank
you.
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•
President Rheault—Councilor Letellier?
•
Councilor Letellier—Yes, thank you. This is more for the Council I guess than the
public but the Capital Improvement Budget Sub-Committee did meet tonight with the
Mayor, Laurel Placzek, Cheryl St. John and Anthony Sylvia and went through the
original, initial draft of the Capital Improvement Budget. Everyone received that tonight.
• If you weren't at the sub-committee meeting, it was waiting for you at your desk. The
Mayor has to present the final version to us by April 14t' and so they want to get it
printed on Friday. So what I'm asking is for in the next couple of days you can review it,
if you have any proposed changes that you'd like the Capital Improvement Budget Sub-
Committee to review, let me know by noon on Thursday. I know it's a packet deadline.
• You can email me directly, or call me or email Barbara and get any proposed changes to
me. We're gonna set up a sub-committee meeting for Thursday at 5:00 in the Council
Office in the event that there are proposed changes the Council wants. If there are no
proposed changes the Council wants then I will notify the Mayor and we won't actually
have a full sub-committee vote until we get the final version because I know Anthony
Sylvia said he had some changes and the draft that we have tonight does not have all the
• charts that show what the total bonding for the year will be and I think we need to know
that total bond before we can really have an informative vote. So again if you have any
changes or proposals that you'd like the sub-committee to make to the Mayor's office, let
me know by noon on Thursday. If you can cc the whole Council, that'd be even better
and then we will post the meeting for 5:00 on Thursday in the Council Office if there are
• changes that people want to make. After we talked about this schedule, I realized that I
probably will be out of town Thursday afternoon. I'll be there at noon though but I'll
probably be leaving at 4:00 so Jill Messick indicated that she would run the sub-
committee meeting if we have to have one and if you're not sure about anything just call
me I'll be in the office tomorrow. Thanks.
•
President Rheault—Councilor Perry?
Councilor Perry—Nothing this evening,thank you.
President Rheault--Thank you and that concludes this evening's meeting. I'll entertain
a motion to adjourn. Moved by all the Council, seconded by all the Council. All those in
favor? All the Council. Thank you and good evening.
Adjournment.
•
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