CC MTG MINUTES MARCH 7 2012 ' REGULAR MEETING OF THE AGAWAM CITY COUNCIL
Minutes dated March 7, 2012
' President Johnson —Welcome to the March 7, 2012 meeting.
Item I. Roll Call
' President Johnson - I'd ask our Administrative Assistant to call the roll, please?
ROLL CALL—9 PRESENT, 2 ABSENT (Councilors Cichetti and Letcllicr)
President Johnson — With nine present, two absent, we have a quorum. Councilor
Cichetti informed me he's returning from out of state, since his plane doesn't land until
about ten minutes from now, he's gonna make every effort to be here but likely won't
make it in time and Councilor Letellier's coming in as we speak. Vice President Perry
' said she's parking her car so she should be here momentarily.
Item 2. Moment of Silence_and the Pledge of Alleance.
rPresident Johnson — I'd ask everyone to rise for a moment of silence and Pledge of
Allegiance, please.
' Item 3. Citizen's Speak Time
' President Johnson —There are no citizens wishing to address the Council this evening.
Item 4. Minutes
1. Regular Council Meeting—February 21,2012
President Johnson — Is there a Motion to Approve? Moved by Councilor Rheault,
seconded by Councilor Mineo. Any questions or discussion on the minutes? Councilor
Cavallo?
Councilor Cavallo — Yes, Mr. President, I read the minutes even though I wasn't at the
meeting. Am I in a position to vote yes because I understand them and I have no
questions about it.
President Johnson — It's your choice. Generally, some people like to abstain if they
weren't at the meeting but you're certainly free to vote for them.
Councilor Cavallo—Yes, I do. I read all of this so I'd like to vote.
1 President Johnson — Okay, any other q uestions or discussion? Seeing none, all those in
favor say Ay? Opposed? It's unanimous.
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Item 5. Declaration from Council President
None. `
' Item 6. Presentation-of Petitions Memorials & Remonstrances
1. TR-2012-7 -A Resolution Confirming the Reappointment of David
' Cecchi,29 Albert Street,Agawam,MA to the Historical Commission to a
Term Expiring January 1,2015(Mayor)
President Johnson — Is there a Motion? Moved by Councilor Bitzas, seconded by
Councilors Mineo and Magovern. Mr. Cecchi contacted me and indicated unfortunately
he has a conflict this evening so he wasn't able to come here to address the Council but I
think everyone here knows David and knows of his dedication to the Historic purposes in
Agawam so he just wanted to share with you that he would have loved to have been here
but unfortunately he's at a banquet for one of his children. Any other discussion on the
' resolution? Seeing none, I'd ask the Administrative Assistant to call the roll please?
ROLL CALL --10 YES, 0 NO, 1 ABSENT (Councilor Cichetti)
' President Johnson -- With a vote of ten yes and one absent, we've approved the
resolution and the Council thanks goes out to Mr. Cecchi for his willingness to continue
to serve on the Historical Commission.
2. TR-2012-8 -A Resolution Amending the Rules and Regulations of the
' Agawam City Council and Abolishing all Existing Ad Hoc Sub-Committees
(Referred to the Rules Committee) (Councilors Johnson and Perry)
President Johnson — Is there a Motion? Moved by Councilor Perry, seconded by
Councilor Bitzas. It was referred to the Rules Committee at our last meeting. Councilor
Rheault is the Chair of the committee.
Councilor Rheault — Yes, we held a meeting on the 271h of February. Attending were
the committee members — Vice President Perry, Councilor Cichetti, myself as Chair.
Also attending were Councilors Rossi, Mineo, Magovern, Bitzas and President Johnson.
The meeting was called to order and there was very little discussion regarding the
removal of the Ad Hoc sub-committees. The general consensus of the Committee and
the Councilors present was to abolish all Ad Hoc Sub-Committees except the Ad Hoc
Sewer Sub-Committee. The basis for keeping this committee is because we are in the
process of putting the sewers in and to keep the community abreast of all the information,
it would require the focus of just this committee. It's a very busy and detail-oriented
sub-committee and it would benefit the community to keep it as is. Again, the general
consensus was to support the resolution so the Council can become more proactive and
' provide a better opportunity for the Council to address certain things that have been
neglected in the past (i.e. examples of setting up monthly Ordinance meetings, Zoning
Review, etc.). This will establish better communication and upgrade some outdated
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Ordinance and Zoning concerns as well as others. An amendment was suggested to
change the Internal/External Sub-Committee to be named "Community Relations Sub-
Committee". That amendment will be offered during discussion at our City Council
meeting. Motion was made for the committee to positively recommend the resolution as
amended by a vote of 3 to 0. Bear with me, my second part is glued. The second item of
' Agenda was `Any other matter that may legally come before the committee'. It was
agreed upon by all to direct the President and Vice President to appoint both a Chair and
a Vice Chair of all committees. It was also discussed that if a sub-committee meeting
there is a quorum of councilors present, can all participate or just the committee
members? The Chair requested an opinion from the Massachusetts State Ethics
Commission/Attorney General's Office regarding this matter which I believe you should
' have all received a copy. I would only stress to you the importance of following the
Open Meeting Law and to be guided by what they set us up as the directions of the
committee. We closed the meeting at 7:19 and respectfully submitted by myself as Chair.
President Johnson — Questions for the Chair of the Rules Committee? Councilor
Bitzas?
Councilor Bitzas — Yes, Mr. President. I do not have a question but I was there and I'm
glad I was there. The meeting was a very, very good meeting and I do agree that we do
' have so many committees. Every new council-elect or every year we always add
committee here, committee there and sometimes less is more. It'd be less meetings and
more accomplishments with the five members so now we have so many committees and
many times the same people they belong to same committees so now by bringing more
together I think it will be a lot better. So I'm supporting. Thank you.
President Johnson— Other discussion? Councilor Perry?
I Councilor Perry — Yes, thank you, Mr. President. First of all, I want to thank all of the
councilors for their participation in one our workshop which I thought was very
productive and basically being involved in reorganizing our sub-committee or ad hoc
' committees and things of that nature. I think it's very important that we do this, that we
move forward in a proactive manner in regards to what these committees can do. When
you have what do we have twenty I think, total committees and sub-committees and ad
hoc committees spread out over a course of a year, there's a number of different meetings
and things of that nature, condensing this to what we're trying to do with this resolution,
is only gonna help us to be more proactive. Making three member ad hoc committees to
fall under the purview of regular Council sub-committees and having five members, I
think it's gonna help us to streamline Agenda items that come to us, but also putting
together goals and action items for these committees to help move our Council forward in
helping the community and I want to thank everybody for that. I do want to put forth an
amendment to the resolution that's before us and that's to strike out on Section C —
Internal/External Relations Sub-Committee and strike out `Internal/External' and put
' `Community Relations' Sub-Committee. So we're striking out `Internal/External' and
putting in `Community'.
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President Johnson — So we have a motion to strike `Internal/External' from sub-
paragraph C and substitute in its place `Community' is there a second to the Motion?
1 Motion is made by Councilor Perry, seconded by Councilor Bitzas. Questions or
discussion on the amendment? Seeing none, all those in favor of the amendment say Ay?
Opposed? It's unanimous. We're now to the main motion as amended. Stepping from
' the Chair just as a housekeeping matter I would make a minor amendment to the last
paragraph since Councilor Rossi has a Sewer Sub-Committee meeting scheduled for
tomorrow evening that we indicate that the Ad Hoc Committees are abolished. The
amendment I would offer is that the Ad Hoc Sewer Committee would be abolished
effective upon the naming of the members of the new Administrative Sub-Committee
provided this passes just so that his sub-committee stays in place through the scheduled
meeting tomorrow and that sub-committee would be subsumed by the new
Administrative Sub-Committee so the amendment I'm offering is that none of the other
ad hoc committees have any meetings that are currently scheduled so they would be
abolished upon passage of this resolution in signature by the Mayor but the Ad Hoc
Sewer Committee would stay in effect until replaced by the Administrative Sub-
Committee. Amendment offered by the Chair is seconded by Councilor Bitzas.
' Questions or discussion on the second amendment? Councilor Rheault?
Councilor Rheault — I have one question. Do —by abolishing that committee —does the
committee under the new direction still have the public serving on the committee?
President Johnson—No, it's a sub-committee of the Council.
Councilor Rheault— So those currently serving on that committee would no longer play
a roll?
President Johnson— Correct.
Councilor Rheault — All right. Thank you. Questions or discussion on the second
amendment? Councilor Rossi?
' Councilor Rossi — Just for clarification. We're not actually abolishing the Sewer Sub-
Committee, we're just placing it into, under the Administration, correct?
President Johnson — Right. Any other questions or discussion on the second
amendment? Hearing none, all those in favor say Ay? Opposed? It's unanimous. We're
now into the main motion as amended. Any further discussion? Seeing none, I'd ask the
Administrative Assistant to call the roll on TR-2012-8 as amended.
1 ROLL CALL— 10 YES, 0 NO, 1 ABSENT (Councilor Cichetti)
President Johnson — With a vote of ten yes, one absent, we've approved TR-2012-8 as
1 amended.
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Item 7. Report of Council Committees
' None.
Item 8. Elections
' None.
Item 9. Public Hearings
None.
Item 10. Old Business
' 1. TO-2012-11 - An Order Granting an Application for Abatement,
Redetermination,Extension or Deferral of Sewer Betterment Assessment
Requested by Joseph A. & Mary Ann Czerpak,636 South Westfield Street,
' Feeding Hills,MA.
President Johnson — That was referred to the Sewer Sub-Committee at our last meeting
' and because of inclement weather, they haven't had the opportunity to meet so 1 would
ask that we just move it onto our next Agenda to allow the sub-committee to meet.
Councilor Calabrese—Motion to Table?
President Johnson — We have a Motion to Table by Councilor Calabrese, seconded by
' Councilor Rossi and Councilor Magovern. Any questions or discussion? All those in
favor say Ay? Any opposed? It's unanimous. The item is tabled until our next meeting.
Item ]]. New Business
1. TO-2012-12 -An Order Granting an Application for Abatement,
Redetermination,Extension or Deferral of Sewer Betterment Assessment
Requested by Ralph DePalma for the Property Located at Rear 683 South
Westfield Street,Feeding Hills,MA.
' President Johnson — That will be referred to our new Administrative Sub-Committee,
next Agenda. Do you want me to read the balance of those or just — we have a total of
eight or seven more requests for abatement, redetermination, extension or deferral of
sewer betterment assessments. They are TO-2012-13 through TO-2012-19, those will
also be referred to the new Administrative Sub-Committee.
2. TO-2012-13 - An Order Granting an Application for Abatement,
Redetermination, Extension or Deferral of Sewer Betterment Assessment
Requested by Giuseppe Tirone and Ralph DePalma for the Property
Located at 497 South Westfield Street, Feeding Hills,MA.
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iPresident Johnson —Please see Item #1 above.
' 3. TO-2012-14 -An Order Granting an Application for Abatement,
Redetermination,Extension or Deferral of Sewer Betterment Assessment
Requested by Joseph A. & Mary Ann Czerpak,for the Property Located at
South Westfield Street,Feeding Hills,MA.
President Johnson—Please see Item#1 above.
' 4. TO-2012-15 - An Order Granting an Application for Abatement,
Redetermination,Extension or Deferral of Sewer Betterment Assessment
' Requested by Luigi Chiarella for the Property Located at 371 South
Westfield Street, Feeding Hills,MA.
President Johnson—Please see Item#1 above.
5. TO-2012-16 -An Order Granting an Application for Abatement,
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Redetermination,Extension or Deferral of Sewer Betterment Assessment
Requested by Thomas S.and Paul J.Napolitan for the Property Located at
South Westfield Street, Feeding Hills,MA.
' President Johnson—Please see Item#1 above.
6. TO-2012-17 -An Order Granting an Application for Abatement,
' Redetermination,Extension or Deferral of Sewer Betterment Assessment
Requested by Thomas S. and Paul J. Napolitan for the Property Located at
South Westfield Street,Feeding Hills,MA.
1 President Johnson —Please see Item #1 above.
7. TO-2012-18 -An Order Granting an Application for Abatement,
Redetermination, Extension or Deferral of Sewer Betterment Assessment
Requested by St.Anne's for the Property Located at South Westfield Street,
Feeding Hills,MA.
President Johnson—Please see Item #1 above.
8. TO-2012-19 -An Order Granting an Application for Abatement,
Redetermination, Extension or Deferral of Sewer Betterment Assessment
Requested by Paul G.,Karl J. and Linda Schmaelzle for the Property
Located at 336 South Westfield Street,Feeding Hills,MA.
' President Johnson — Please see Item#1 above.
9. TR-2012-9 -A Resolution accepting Massachusetts General Laws,
Chapter 40, Section SG (Mayor)
President Johnson — I don't believe that needs to get referred to a sub-committee. It's
fairly straight forward. So that will move onto our next Agenda.
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10. TR-2012-10 -A Resolution to waive the right of first refusal for land
classified under M.G.L. Chapter 61B located at 365 Main Street,Agawam,
MA. (Mayor)
President Johnson — That will also I believe go onto our next Agenda. In speaking with
the Mayor this morning at the Agenda meeting, he indicated the process involves the
Conservation Commission making its recommendation and I know it's been sent to them
so hopefully they'll have the opportunity to meet before our next meeting and we'll get
their recommendation relative to the property. So that'll also go onto our next Agenda.
Item 12. AnV other matter that may legally come before the City Council.
President Johnson —We'll start on the right this evening. Councilor Cavallo?
Councilor Cavallo — Yeah, I just have one item. I appreciate the explanation that
Councilor Rheault did receive from the state regarding the Open Meeting Law and I think
it's gonna make our job a lot easier as Chairpersons of our committees. We, the
Chairperson will be in charge from what I understand, that Chairperson will make a
decision as to whether or not the public will be participating that are there and in many of
our meetings, and I remember when I was on the Council, there would be, like your
' meeting, five or six more people than the original board itself and I think it's incumbent
upon that core person to make the right decision or else if you have five or six councilors
and three, well there'll be five now on that committee, you'll have almost enough for a
' meeting so to speak and it just doesn't Iook kosher having that situation so I think it's
wise for that Chairperson to use good judgment as to whether or not they open it up to the
floor for the councilors or they open up to the public. I think it depends probably on the
gravity of the situation but I thought it was very well done and a lot of cases are presented
here so it makes it clear to us. That's all I have.
President Johnson-- Councilor Bitzas?
Councilor Bitzas —Nothing this evening.
President Johnson— Councilor Calabrese?
' Councilor Calabrese — Yes, I have a couple things. First of all, I want to wish Team
839 Agawam High School Robotics much luck in their competition at WPI. They're
gonna be having their first Regional this weekend. They placed extremely well in their
first scrimmage of the season in Suffield. They placed second overall out of thirty five
schools from all over New England. So they have a really wonderful team and also I'd
like to thank James Cichetti, our Public Safety Sub-Committee Chair for moving very
' quickly on an issue that I had brought up at the last meeting with regard to some broken
glass and some broken plastic tubing that was found at the Agawam High School parking
lot and I just want to read this memo from Mr. Sapelli if I may. "Dear Mr. Cichetti, it's
dated March I", I am in receipt of your memo of February 22"d in which you asked if the
surveillance camera located near the high school's band room could be re-directed
toward, due to broken glass and plastic tubing being found on the school grounds. I
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' spoke with instruction technology director Michael Feeley who confirmed that another
security camera will be installed in that area of the school building in a week or two."
And I really appreciate the quick, rapid response to that situation and I just wanted to
extend a thanks for a job well done. That's all I have.
' President Johnson— Councilor Perry?
Councilor Perry — Yes, thank you, Mr. President. I'll just be brief in regards to; I want
to thank Councilor Rheault for getting this information to us in regards to our sub-
committees and the Open Meeting Laws. As we discussed that evening, Don, that we as
councilors are still members of the public. We have the right to go to any public posted
meeting that we want to but again as Councilor Cavallo had said, it's up to the
Chairperson if they do open it up to the public, the councilor attending the meeting has a
right to voice his opinion but the main concern is that when any type of voting is done,
it's done under just the committee members themselves. So you do have a right to attend
these meeting, if it is open by the Chairman to the public, you do have a right to speak
your mind but that's where it ends and it's up to the Chairperson to make sure they
follow those rules so thank you Don.
Councilor Rheault— You're welcome.
President Johnson — Councilor Rheault?
Councilor Rheault — Yea, just one thing. I want to wish the High School hockey team
the best of luck in their final game tomorrow evening and hopefully they can turn that
around and beat South Hadley.
President Johnson—Councilor Magovern?
Councilor Magovern — The only thing I want to add is again to reiterate what Councilor
Calabrese said about Rosie Robotics, I think that the town should be proud of what our
robotics team has done. I was up at the library the other night and they had one of the
robots up there and one of the members took a lot of time explaining the inner workings
of that equipment to me and I'll tell you, it's just amazing what our high school children
can do. Again, congratulations for getting this far, hopefully they'll go down there and
ireally make Agawam proud so again they're to be congratulated. Thank you.
President Johnson— Councilor Mineo?
Councilor Mineo —Just good luck to the Rosie Robotics team and the hockey team.
President Johnson—Councilor Rossi?
' Councilor Rossi—Nothing this evening.
President Johnson —Councilor Letellier?
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Councilor Letellier — Yes, thank you. I do want to thank Councilor Rheault for getting
that opinion from the Ethics Committee about the Open Meeting Law. That was my
position when I was Council President was that as long as you didn't vote and you sat
separate from the committee, you had a right to participate. I know we had gotten a
position letter from our City Solicitor that was opposite so I thank you for taking that
extra step to getting that matter clarified. But just to remember when we do have a
meeting if you're not a member of the sub-committee, you have to sit apart from the
' councilors. You have to sit with the public and it can only be opened up for fellow
councilors to comment if it's opened up to the rest of the committee to the public. As we
all know the Open Meeting Law, the violations are getting steeper and steeper so it's
really a simple process, I think, it was a good memo and I thank Don for getting it and I
think we can all follow it and still participate as we want to with those simple rules — sit
separately, wait until you are called upon, if you're calling upon a councilor you've got to
let other members of the public speak. Thanks.
President Johnson — Council Vice President and myself will get the new committee
' assignments out hopefully by the end of the week and we will take the suggestion of the
sub-committee and appoint Chair and Vice Chair far each of the sub-committees. So
hopefully we'll have that out by the end of the week. I also thank Don for getting the
opinion. I'll get out to the Council, there's a recent decision from the AG's office and it
was about a month ago with the City Council from the eastern part of the state that really
explained everything that Don had in his memo but it clarifies what exactly the Chair of
' the sub-committee can and can't do and what they actually suggest in that decision is that
if it's anticipated that a majority or quorum of the full body will attend, they actually
recommend that you post the meeting both as a Council meeting and as a sub-committee
meeting hence opening up — in this decision which just came out in January, they walk
that fine line between what is participation versus what is deliberation. And that's the
legal niceties of what they define. In that particular case, it was an eleven-member
' council that met in their chambers like this and all eleven members sat at their normal
chairs and the sub-committee meeting was conducted by the President of the Council but
then only the sub-committee voted and they said that's an Open Meeting Law violation.
' And so they talk about what Don talked about in his memo and what Councilor Letellier
just talked about which is the other councilors have to sit in the audience and participate
when called upon but it puts in there, in this decision, what the Chair of the sub-
committee has the ability to do at a meeting. So I'll make sure that we get that out to you
but they recommend that if you anticipate a topic to be such that you're gonna have a lot
of councilors there, just double post the meeting both as a Council and as a sub-
committee meeting. With that, is there a Motion to Adjourn?
' Councilor Letellier — May I ask a question just in case it's not - would that then require
the Administrative Assistant to appear and take, keep regular minutes versus just sub-
committee minutes? Was that addressed?
' President Johnson — No, because minutes is within the Rules and Regulations of this
particular council.
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Councilor Letellier — Okay, so she wouldn't have to appear as opposed to the regular
Council meetings.
President Johnson — Right. What they suggest is in this particular case what it was was
a School Budget sub-committee which of that council was a five-member similar to ours
and like I said, they met in their normal Council chambers and all eleven councilors were
present and all were sitting in their normal chairs and they conducted it as a normal
1 Council meeting but then when it came time to make the recommendation relative to the
school line item, only the five members of the sub-committee voted and that the Attorney
General's office said well that's a technical violation because you didn't call it as a full
' council meeting and therefore the six who weren't members of the sub-committee could
only participate and couldn't deliberate. And even the author of the opinion says you are
really splitting hairs when you talk about what's the difference between participate and
1 deliberate but they make the recommendation to that City Council that if you know you
have a hot topic which you're gonna have a quorum of the full body, double post it as a
regular council and as a sub-committee and now you're covered.
Councilor Letellier—Thank you.
President Johnson — We had Motions to Adjourn all around the house. All those in
favor of adjournment say Ay? Opposed? We'll see you in a couple of weeks. Thank
you.
1 Adiournrnen t.
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