CC MTG MINUTES SEPTEMBER 17 2012 ' REGULAR MEETING OF THE AGA WAM CITY COUNCIL
Minutes dated September 17, 2012
President Johnson—I'd call the meeting to order.
Item 1. Roll Call
tPresident Johnson—And I'd ask Barbara to call the roll please?
ROLL CALL— 11 PRESENT, 0 ABSENT
President Johnson—With eleven present, we have a quorum.
SItem 2. Moment of Silence and the Pledge ofAlleQiance.
President Johnson — I'd ask everyone to rise for a moment of silence and Pledge of
Allegiance please.
Item 3. Citi en's S eak Time
President Johnson— We have no citizens wishing to address the Council this evening.
Item 4. Minutes
' 1. Regular Council Meeting—September 4, 2012
President Johnson — Is there a Motion to approve? Moved by Councilor Cichetti,
seconded by Councilor Magovern. All those in favor say Ay? Any opposed? Please
note Councilor Mineo's abstention. With a vote of ten yes and one abstention, we've
approved the meeting minutes of September 4,2012.
' Item 5. Declaration rom Council President
1. Presentation from Y Express -Kirk Smith,President and CEO of the
YMCA
President Johnson — Next we have a brief presentation under Declaration from Council
President from the Y Express. So I would invite Kirk Smith to come up to the podium
there if you'd like and you can make the presentation.
Kirk Smith—Good evening. Mr. r Council,thank u so much for this opportunity g Chair, you pp y
1 to talk about an exciting new project. I'm Kirk Smith, President and CEO of the YMCA
of Greater Springfield. I'm joined by our VP of Government Relations and Education,
Kathy Treglia, and our Executive Director of our Agawam and West Springfield YMCA
programs, Jason Pirnie. Well, I really appreciate this opportunity. We are in the process
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' of a fundraising campaign to open what we call a Y Express and a Y Express is simply a
YMCA without a pool or a basketball gym. It's about usually between six and ten
' thousand square feet. This particular project will be about 8500 square feet. Jason if you
want to show a couple renders that we have there and the proposed location is at the
forgive me because I'm not from New England — I'm kind of new, I've only been here a
couple years but—it's the plaza where Dave's right down the road here, Dave's Pet Food,
Pet Supply Store and it's right near the furniture store is what we're looking at. So what
it is is it's a lot more than a fitness center. It's really designed to be an environment that
' encompasses every segment of the family. Our target is young people, teenagers, young
families and what we call active older adults. Our desire is to create an environment that
is small but yet large enough to accommodate again that many different groups at some
cases at the same time so if you could show them the other one there — yeah, they're in
your packet. If you look at your packet I'll refer to those each of the renderings are there
but the idea is if you have kind of like for example, some of our older adults may not
necessarily want to work their bodies but they want to work their mouths and so we're
creating an environment, a social space, there'll be a cafe there for a cup of coffee or tea
or latte. There'll also be a child development center within this location where we will
spend up to two hours with a young person while their mother or father or both are
working out. There'll also be a small fitness area and what makes this fitness area unique
is that it's relatively small in comparison to a traditional sized YMCA but it also creates
' an environment, just say you are conscious about your body, well it's not like you're
gonna have fifty different people looping at you at once, so it's very inviting and
comforting. Also you get the attention of our second to none professional staff who will
' work with you around wellness coaching, we'll help you come up with a plan, we'll help
you with diet,we also offer classes again in thinking about our seniors or older adults, sit
down aerobics where the elderly can come out and work out and never have to stand up.
One of the things we're most proud of and most hopeful for is the tech center. A tech
center is designed to help with STEM education— Science, Technology, Engineering and
Math — we want a young person to walk into a Y Express here in Agawam and
communicate with a kid in Hong Kong, communicate with a kid in one of our countries
on the great continent of Africa, our Europe, and so the idea is how do we create a space
again that helps to meet the needs of every segment of the family, whatever your family
dynamic may be and our goal is to have the funds raised by early December and we'll
start to build out in January with the grand opening somewhere I think was it late May or
early June of next year.
President Johnson —Does anybody have any questions? So this is proposed to go right
down the street here on Springfield Street?
Kirk Smith—Yes sir.
' President Johnson —WilI it be a membership-type facility or a-?
Kirk Smith — Yes, it will be a membership facility and we have what we call, because
the YMCA of Greater Springfield we have a coverage of fourteen different cities and
towns and we have several facilities throughout those communities and we have what we
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call an All Y membership which simply means that for a certain fee you can take
advantage of each of our family centers no matter where they're located not only here in
Springfield and Greater Springfield but throughout New England and then we have what
we call the Family Center specific membership where you pay just to go to that location
alone. Those memberships are subsidized so there will be opportunities for a person who
may not be able to pay the full price, we'll discount it or subsidize it to make it
affordable.
' President Johnson—Councilor Calabrese then Councilor Perry?
Councilor Calabrese—Hi. Thank you for being here this evening.
Kirk Smith—Thank you.
' Councilor Calabrese—What are your proposed hours of operation at this point?
Kirk Smith — Well, we plan to open I think it's about twelve to fourteen hours per day
' initially. We generally like to open in some cases as early as 5:30 depending on the need
and we can go as late as 9:00/9:30 in some cases but right now we haven't gotten to that
point. We're still trying to get a real good feel for how the community will respond so
' will we get that early usage from our active older adults, maybe they like to come out
about 9:00 and be finished by 12 so they can get the 1:00 nap and then we would look at
that. We don't want to stay open too late but we also understand that our young people
and we want to give them a safe place to hang out as well.
President Johnson—Councilor Cavallo?
Councilor Cavallo — I
thought you were ahead of me? No? I attended a function at Six
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Flags and I think you were there and you spoke about the program. I understand you're
trying to raise some money are you not for this project?
Kirk Smith—Yes.
Councilor Cavallo—How far along are you? Was it $500,000?
Kirk Smith — It's $500,000 — we're about $100,000 so far. We have some significant
requests still out that we have yet to hear back from but yes, there's a $500,000 goal and
' we're at $100,000 so we're $400,000 away.
Councilor Cavallo — Do you have the location pretty much secured in Agawam? Is it
locked up tight or are you still negotiating for the use of the facility?
Kirk Smith —All but secured, again, for us we're a little bit nervous about entering any
type of official lease until we can raise the funds but it's all but a done deal. it's just a
matter of getting to that $500,000 goal before we launch.
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Councilor Cavallo—So you don't know the cost for leasing that property?
' Kirk Smith — Yeah, we have an idea. We've set up a couple different scenarios and
there is somewhat of a negotiation but our goal is to try to get it the first year at about
$25,000 to $30,000 the first year in the lease and then it will kind of scale up throughout
Ithe life of the lease.
Councilor Cavallo—Okay, thank you.
1 President Johnson — Councilors Magovern, Mineo — so we'll start with Councilor
Magovern and we'll go in order.
Councilor Magovern — What are your plans — you mentioned some of my questions
from Councilor Cavallo but what are your specific plans for raising the other $400,000
that you've got to come up with I mean what kind of programs have you got in mind?
Kirk Smith — Well, ultimately it just comes down to asking the question. I mean we
' don't have many special events or there's really no gimmicks. We're having
conversations and what we've done is the prospects have been placed in three different
tiers. So our upper tier, our larger tier, is our major potential fenders such as United
IBank, Six Flags, Westfield Bank, and the idea is to keep the campaign concentrated in the
Agawam and West Springfield communities and so that's the first step and our goal is by
the end of this month to have answers back from that higher tier and then the second tier
is the project committee, we have a project committee of about 26 people and we're
asking them to make commitments. And again these pledges,they're pledges,they're not
actual dollars and every potential funder or donor has until December 31" of 2013 to
Imake good on that pledge. So right now it's just a pledge which is more of a promise so
we want to work on that and also the last tier and these are our donors who you know if
I it's $10 or $20 or $30 or whatever it takes and we're hoping to get folks involved with
that as well. So the timeline again is to be wrapped up by the first or second week of
December.
Councilor Rossi — Yes, thank you. My understanding is that this is going to be strictly a
privatetized fund, a privately subsidized venture that it's coming to money that's going to
be used for this is going to be strictly by donation?
Kirk Smith—The fundraising piece, correct.
ICouncilor Rossi—What commitment has the YMCA made for this?
I Kirk Smith — Great question. Throughout the process and you have to know that I've
been working on this, we've been working on this probably wow, maybe eight or nine
months to even get to this point and one of the things that the YMCA has committed to is
to provide $50,000 of seed money which is ten percent of our goal to kind of start the
fundraising conversation so the Y has already committed. The board has already
committed to that. We've also dedicated a number of staff to this project as well.
I
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Councilor Rossi—From the YMCA?
' Kirk Smith —From the YMCA.
Councilor Rossi—Now, you also mentioned that over a period of time that your funding
will have to be escalated because your costs are gonna be increasing. Are you hoping to
subsidize this by memberships?
Kirk Smith — Yeah, what we're gonna do and again, the initial $500,000 allows us to
cover the build out and the first year operating deficits that we projected through our
performance, that we realize that we will have some kind of operating deficit. The idea is
after about the second year, it will begin to pay for itself but to answer your question, we
will raise money year round to support people through programs and membership
t subsidies. Right now we give away in the neighborhood of $700,000 annually to our
members across Greater Springfield to come to the Y and participate in programs and
membership. So that will continue, the Y Express will be a part of that fundraising
' process—ongoing. .
Councilor Rossi — So you mentioned that your target area is gonna be residents from
Agawam and West Springfield, but you can't really exclude any other cities or towns, can
you?
Kirk Smith—No. From the opportunity to support us financially or to participate?
Councilor Rossi--Well,to participate in the program?
' Kirk Smith — Oh, no no we're open to each community but we understand in order for
p Y
this to be truly successful, at least initially it's gonna take some significant buy in by both
the cities of Agawam and West Springfield.
Councilor Rossi— Okay, and finally one last question. That $50,000 seed money, is that
just seed money or is that an ongoing commitment throughout this project?
Kirk Smith—Well, I think in terms of, again, the initial funding, it's for this however the
Y is prepared to support the Y Express ongoing, going forward, so even after that first
year which we do project a deficit, maybe not as significant as the first year, the Y will be
there to support with what we call intra-Y financial support.
Councilor Rossi — Okay, and one more, the last question, why would you pick that
particular location to put this program, it's not like it's in the mainstream? How did that
all come about?
' Kirk Smith—Well, how we ended up where we. are, again, no lease has been signed so if
there's other opportunities, we're certainly open to having those conversations and oh
now they turn the lights on towards the end of the presentation, isn't that awesome?
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' What's that all about? Is that my signal to leave? I get it. I get it. Just kick me out! But
how it came to, it's just geographically it's on the border of West Springfield and
' Agawam. We thought with Main Street, the visibility it would be accessible to folks
traveling both too and from work between each city. So that's really kind of the idea
behind it is what would be, and of course Mayor Cohen, I mean that's an area that he's
been really excited about and thinks that this can actually be a boost economically to the
city just behaving a Y positioned that way. So it just made sense at this point.
Councilor Rossi—Thank you.
Kirk Smith — But if you have a space you want to offer up for free, then we can talk
' about that!
Councilor Rossi—If I had one, I'd be glad to do it for you.
Kirk Smith —Thank you.
Councilor Letellier—Yes, thank you, welcome Kirk.
Kirk Smith —Thank you. Good to see you again.
' Councilor Letellier - Good to see you again too. Just I guess as a bit of a caveat, I am a
Y g
member of the Y through their Livestrong Cancer Recovery Program which is a
wonderful program and I have one on one support from a team of great personal trainers
and I'm looking forward to the Y coming but I know this is a Question and Answer
center so I'll save my speech for later, question and answer session. Can you expand a
tlittle more about the scholarship opportunities available, the fact that individuals as well
as businesses can make pledges and that you have until December of next year to make
good on that pledge so you could do $10 a month for the calendar year and that's
$120.00. So maybe you could expand on that a little more.
Kirk Smith — Well in terms of the subsidy, how it works is that what we try to do is
again if a person walks into, when we actually establish this YMCA it probably won't be
called a Y Express, it would be like the Agawam Wellness and Program Family Center
something like that but Y Express helps us draw distinction between this location and the
traditional Y but at any rate, when a person comes into this YMCA and they say listen I
want to be a part of it but I don't have the resources right now. Pm struggling between
jobs or whatever the case may be then what we do, we have a very comprehensive
scholarship or subsidy program that will help get you into that YMCA so even if it's $5 a
month and we'll review that after six months. One of our mantras that we're very proud
of and it can be a very taxing promise at times but we turn no one away due to the
inability to pay. So it doesn't matter your financial situation, you should be a member of
the Y. In fact, when you're struggling financially this is probably the place you want to
be. In terms of donations and how it works, so if a person wanted to support us, I'll give
the numbers 413-739-6951 x 172 and that's our development office. You can also visit
our website at springfieldy.org but anyone can give by contacting our offices, emailing
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us. You can support this. One of the cool things about this and I've gotta share this with
you, maybe it's two cool things — one it's innovative. There's nothing like this that I
know of in Massachusetts and I doubt if there's anything similar in New England, this is
new and I think if we can establish this we'll have a model for the rest of the region. The
other part is the Y Express is really an environment where it doesn't matter again your
background or where you come from when you walk through those doors, you matter and
you are important to us. We want to establish that and we think Agawam has an
opportunity to set the tone with this location and lastly, I think to our earlier point, if you
have a Y Express in that plaza I think it will add to it, it will add life, I think it will
galvanize activity and shopping and if you want to leave a legacy and say a person
donated $250, well they'll get a plate permanently fixed in that location and we're gonna
' dedicate an entire wall to all of our donors that supported us at $250 or more. So you can
leave a legacy or a memorial, you can do it in someone's honor. We're also interested in
naming opportunities so if a donor, we have a menu of choices. So we can sort of
piecemeal the process. If someone donated $25,000 well we can name the Tech Center
after that individual or organization. We'll name the Fitness Center after that individual
or organization; the cafe, heck we'11 even name the locker rooms after an individual and
you know if you're really desperate, we'll name a restroom after you! And so whatever it
takes, we want to make this a total community effort, really Agawam a little bit more so
than West Springfield, the reason I say that is because it's in Agawam and I can certainly
' see in five years, West Springfield saying we want our own. That's why we want to call
it the "Agawam"Wellness and Program Family Center. So many opportunities, no dollar
will be turned away; no person will be turned away.
' Councilor Letellier— Thank you and you also had mentioned which people may want to
know, when you were at the Rotary Club like if there's a kid that's on a scholarship, it's
not a free ride. They're expected to volunteer and really get a sense of ownership of their
membership.
' Kirk Smith — Nothing in this life is free despite what some of our children may think.
One of my son's, he thinks everything is supposed to be given to him because of his good
looks but the fact of the matter is although we may have a young person that's 100%
subsidized to be a part of this YMCA, he or she is going to have to work it off,
community service, provided by participating groups, they're gonna have to come in and
' listen, you know when you get a little older and you want people to listen to you because
you have so much wisdom to offer, well we're gonna require they come in groups and
listen to some of our leaders and seniors of the community and they can offer them
insight, so yes, although it's no cost to them financially, it will be a cost to them time
wise in participating in constructive programs to be a part of the YMCA at no cost
financially.
iCouncilor Letellier—Thank you.
' Kirk Smith—No problem.
President Johnson—Councilor Bitzas?
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Councilor Bitzas — Thank you Mr. President. I would like to thank you very much for
' choosing Agawam to bring the Y here instead of West Springfield. I hope West
Springfield waits to later on. It's a big cry in our town for a community center and I hope
someday we will have that too but can you tell us how can it be used and what the
' benefits be for our youth. We have a beautiful Senior Center for the elderly and I hope
the elderly going to use this facility also at 4:00 when the Senior Center closes. So our
children, the kids, after school, they don't have much to do. Can it be also like Agawam
' Y and community center until we have our own, and if it, how you can, can you tell us
what your plans are to attract the youth of our town to be there?
' Kirk Smith — Yes, thank you. Well, what we're doing now and I think and this gives me
an opportunity to say and to share that the YMCA of Greater Springfield, I know we had
a cap here I think it left maybe in the 70's, I believe, but we remain in this city of
' Agawam so we're still here programming and providing the quality programs. We have
a great relationship with the Rec Department and provide pre-school activities so we're in
Agawam and working closely with the schools and you guys have a robust, a fabulous,
' after-school program already, so we're working with them to do some enrichment and
those types of things. So we're gonna use the relationships that we already have first and
foremost. So we're a captive audience already and how do We work better with the
school and be aligned as a partner to begin to draw young people,particularly that Middle
School age, so that twelve and I think that may be a concern, that 12-16 year old is what
we're worried most about and so what we want to do is create an environment and again
we talked about the Tech Center, that there's more to being online than Twitter and
Facebook, right? There's more to it and so what else is there about online activities and
things that they can learn. Also, we're gonna have focus groups. We're gonna have
' programs that we already have in place, not in Agawam just yet, to deal with the
childhood obesity issue which is a huge issue in our community and throughout Greater
1 Springfield. We're gonna have what we call inter-generational programs where many of
our older adults, there's sort of one of two things that relates to older adults and young
people that we find to be true in almost every community, either (a) they can't stand
' them. Older adults just can't stand these teenagers, they're rude, they're disrespectful,
what happened to them, it wasn't like that back in the day, right? But then you have
another group of seniors who are afraid of them because you never know what they're
gonna do next. So wouldn't it be great if we had intra-generational programming where
young people can sit down with seniors and learn. We are also working on having some
of our most outstanding youth come in and do tutorials and help close the digital divide
between some of our seniors because everything is going online. Heck, the days of the
paper bonds are gone, everything is electronic and our seniors need to make that
transition and they need our help to do that. So there'll be multiple programs and this
evolves and we're not just coming up with a menu of programs, we want to react to what
the need is in the community. So what do you think? And we're listening.
' Councilor Bitzas —Thank you.
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' Councilor Cavallo — Yeah, Councilor Bitzas stole a little bit of my thunder because I
was gonna ask you, now you also I'm sure have spoken with the School Committee?
Have you met with them yet?
Kirk Smith —I think I'm scheduled to, I think it might be a couple weeks away.
' Councilor Cavallo — Okay, because I'd think they'd become an integral part of this
whole procedure, not procedure, but the process in terms of integrating the children in our
' community and the ones who attend the Middle School and the High School and the
reason why I say that, I know that the committee has been off again on again trying to
create a Teen Center in our town which we desperately need and they were trying to find
' facilities for it and it's been a difficult task and I remember I was on the committee at one
time but I had been off for a while, the Vice Chairman, Anthony Bonavita, was the
Chairperson of the committee that was organized to work on this development of the
1 Teen Center. So I think they may be a very key component here for you, more so than
us, because they deal with the children every day and the issues. They would be very,
very important for you to talk to and I hope you garner a lot of information and ask them
' a lot of questions because we definitely need some place for our children to go especially
when we get into this time of the year when it gets dark early and kids still want to go
out, okay, and I hope you can, you're gonna meet with them soon you said, in a couple
weeks? Pardon?
Kirk Smith—Next Tuesday.
' Councilor Cavallo — Oh, good, good and I hope it's a profitable meeting for you but
keep that in mind and pick their brains because I know they've got a lot of ideas.
Kirk Smith —Mr. Councilman, I appreciate that. You make a great point and I think you
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really kind of underscore our belief that the only way this is gonna be effective is it has to
be a collaboration, it has to be a collaborative effort between our government leaders,
government officials, other non-profit organizations and businesses, and also again on the
' government side, our schools. So this only works when we come together so it's not a
strictly YMCA Greater Springfield thing. It will never work that way so absolutely we're
interested in having the conversation and how, again, why reinvent the wheel? I think
there's ways we can work together and save some money at the same time and that's one
of the reasons we're taking this route without a pool or a basketball gym because the cost
stays down, the overhead is minimal and it gives us a chance to be self-sustaining
' relatively quickly.
Councilor Cavallo—Thank you.
' President Johnson — Councilor Mineo and then Councilor Magovern will have the last
word.
' Councilor Mineo —I was on that committee also, Paul, with Anthony and Billy Euliano.
We did go to the Wilbraham Y. Did you take over for James Morton?
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Kirk Smith—Yeah, yes, two years ago.
tCouncilor Mineo —Okay,thank you. I'll wait for what I wanted to say.
' President Johnson —Councilor Magovern?
Councilor Magovern —I just wanted to thank you for coming out again this evening and
' to carry on what Councilor Cavallo said, I think it's very, very important that you do
make some type of presentation for a teen center and for those people who have come
into Agawam in the last twenty years, you probably don't remember but we did have a
' very, very active and involved YMCA here in Agawam back in the 50's, 60's and 70's
and Perry Lane Park as you alluded to actually was the YMCA center and as I said it was
a very involved Y because they did build the swimming pool and there were many
' programs and their youth programs were very, very active along with Saturday night
dances and as a teenager I can remember the active involvement that we had with the Y
so I would love to see you come back into Agawam and maybe recreate some of the
' involvement that the town had back in those days with the YMCA and for anybody in
town that's got any of the memorabilia from the early Y, it might be very interesting to
get it to somebody in the Town Hall or the City Council because I think at the Y, I think
they'd love to see what was here forty years ago. Thank you.
Kirk Smith—Thank you.
President Johnson —Certainly on behalf of the Council, we thank you for coming and as
a product of the Agawam YMCA; I grew up right next to the Agawam YMCA. My dad
was on the original Board of Directors of the Agawam YMCA
' Kirk Smith—Wow.
President Johnson — So I believe strongly in the organization of which you are a part
' and I want to thank you all for corning this evening and making the presentation and I
wish you success in gathering the $500,000 so that we can get this facility open here in
Agawam.
Kirk Smith — Mr. President, I was doing some math and I think we can probably take
care of the $500,000. I was counting everybody and I think there's a way we can knock
' this out in about the next five minutes!
President Johnson--We tried but the Mayor cut it out of our budget. What can we say?
Kirk Smith—The Mayor did it, okay, all right,thank you!
' President Johnson—Thank you sir.
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' Item 6. Presentation o Petitions Memorials& Remonstrances
1. TR-2012-43 -A Resolution Accepting a Grant from Massachusetts
Department of Conservation and Recreation pursuant to
Massachusetts General laws Chapter 44, Section 53A '/z for the
Agawam Fire Department(Mayor)
President Johnson — Is there a Motion? Moved by Councilor Rheault, seconded by
Councilor Cavallo. Questions or discussion? It's a $5,000 grant going to the Agawam
Fire Department. Hearing none, all those in favor say Ay? Any opposed? It's
unanimous.
r2. TR-2012-44 - A Resolution Confirming the Appointment of Nicholas
Pandolfi, 16 Wisteria Lane, Agawam,MA. to the Planning Board to a
Term Expiring January 1,2015 (Mayor)
President Johnson — Is there a Motion? Moved by Councilor Bitzas, seconded by
Councilor Letellier. Mr. Pandolfi is here. I don't know if anyone has any questions?
I've known him since he was — so — seeing none, all those in favor of TR-2012-44 say
Ay? Any opposed? It's unanimous. Congratulations Nick and thank you for your
' willingness to serve.
3. TR-2012-45 - A Resolution requesting the Installation of"No
' Parking" Signs along Moore Street(Referred to Community
Relations) (Councilor Rossi)
' President Johnson — In conversation with Councilor Rossi earlier this evening and
Councilor Letellier, the Community Relations Committee would like to re-write the
proposal as was originally presented by the Engineering Department so this item twill
remain with the Community Relations Committee to continue its work.
' Councilor Letellier—Should we take a vote to table it?
President Johnson — It probably would be a good idea. Motion made by Councilor
' Letellier to table, seconded by Councilors Cichetti and Calabrese. All those in favor of
tabling say Ay? Any opposed? The item is on the table.
Item 7. Report of Council Committees
None.
' Item 8. Elections
None.
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Item 9. Public Hearin s
11. PH-2012-3 Public Hearing Date set for October 15, 2012 for TOR-2012-
3 An Ordinance to Amend the Code of the Town of Agawam Zoning
Ordinances§180-2 "Definitions and Word Usage" (Two Readings)
' (Referred to Planning Board and Legislative Committee) (Mayor))
Item 10. Old Business
' None
Item ]]. New Business
1. TR-2012-46 - A Resolution Accepting the "Massachusetts Stretch
' Energy Code" in the City of Agawam (Councilors Calabrese and
Cichetti) (Set Public Hearing Date—Suggest October 1,2012)
' President Johnson—The adoption process requires a public hearing. The suggested date
is October 1, 2012 and not wanting to have two public hearings on one meeting so we'll
set the public hearing for October 1, 2012. I don't think it's necessary to refer it to a sub-
committee since we all were at the workshop last week and heard the presentation.
.Item 12. Any other matter that maylega!L come before the City Council.
President Johnson—I think we'll start with Councilor Letellier this evening.
' Councilor Letellier— I have a few items so forgive me. I will not be here for the public
hearing for the Stretch Code. I have a vacation that was planned a long time ago. I was
one of the supporters of it the first time it was on the Agenda last term and I look forward
to hopefully all of you passing it at the next meeting. I think the Y coming to Agawam is
a wonderful idea. I've heard Kirk speak at a couple different occasions and as I said, I'm
' at the Y a couple times a week in Springfield. I've also toured with Mayor Dawson when
I was Council President, we got a tour and met with the President of the Scantic Valley Y
and if you want to know how a Y can boost business in the area, that plaza is full.
There's coffee shops, there's restaurants, there's a Post Office, it's a great spot so I would
encourage anybody that has any questions to do that and business donations are great but
we can also each give S50, S25 whatever is in your availability and George has asked me
' to speak on the Harvest Festival so it will be Saturday, October 20`h. It's the Harvest
Festival and Family Fun Day put on by the Rotary Club. There are activities for every
age group from a bounce house for little kids to antique car shows. There's gonna be hot
air balloon rides for the first time, yummy food, DJ's, the Truck Stop Troubadours which
is the country band that we had last year that does a little Johnny Cash, a little everything
is gonna be there, the antique car show. In terms of our residents, we're gonna have the
Academy of Artistic Performance, Rosie Robotics doing a demo, the High School Band
and Cheerleaders are gonna put on their halftime show which they did last year which
was great. There's going to be all sorts of yummy food — healthy and not so healthy —
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' and some crafters so it's 10 to 5. The rain date is the following day, that's a Sunday so
hopefully we'll all be there. Thank you.
' President Johnson--Councilor Rossi?
tCouncilor Rossi—Nothing this evening, thanks.
President Johnson —Councilor Mineo?
' Councilor Mineo — Yea, I just wanted to say that I hope that this, the Y, I hope it really
happens here. I was on that committee. Mayor Dawson put that committee together and
' I remember a bunch of us going up to Wilbraham, what a facility, what a facility they
have up there. I hope, I really hope that we could have something like that here in
Agawam. We have no recreation center. This is something that I've been pushing for for
years. I think it would be a great, great thing for Agawam, for all the kids. Thank you.
President Johnson—Councilor Magovern?
1 Councilor Magovern — I'd just like to again add my two cents worth for the YMCA. I
think it would be great for Agawam. Again, the youth center is needed and if I remember
back correctly I think that Council President Johnson was a great champion swimmer at
the YMCA so accolades to your swimming prowess and I'm happy to say that my dad
was also on the Board of Trustees along with President Johnson's father and I think it's
great that another generation can try to do our best to try to get the Y re-involved in
Agawam.
' President Johnson —Councilor Rheault?
Councilor Rheault -- Yeah, I guess I can ask through the Chair to Councilor Rossi, I
haven't seen any response from the Mayor's office regarding this Sewer meeting. Have
you?
Councilor Rossi — Well, I haven't got a response from them but I was gonna, I intended
to take that up with Council President after the meeting rather than do it publicly over the
air. I was gonna question that actually.
Councilor Rheault—Okay.
' President Johnson—Councilor Perry?
' Councilor Perry - Just briefly on the Y, I definitely would love to see it come into town.
I know first hand how successful the one in Agawam was. We actually lived there at the
Y — the big white house that was there — my parents rented that for almost ten years so I
' grew up there with the movies on Friday nights behind the -
President Johnson—That was us throwing snowballs at you -
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Councilor Perry — That was, it was that, definitely, definitely, so I actually watched
' them put that pool in but I think it would be great for the community to have it back in
town again and have a great successful facility down there. Thank you.
' President Johnson —Councilor Cichetti?
Councilor Cichetti—Nothing this evening, thank you.
President Johnson—Councilor Calabrese?
' Councilor Calabrese — Yes, Barbara, I'd like to set up a workshop with regard to TR-
2012-45? If Monday night is available then, yeah, if that's possible I can't think of any
other conflict that might be — and we'll just make sure that the residents of lower Moore
Street and also Valley Street, they had expressed an interest in being involved in the
conversation. That'd be great. Thank you.
' President Johnson—Councilor Bitzas?
Councilor Bitzas — Yes, 1 would like to thank Councilor Letellier who explained to you
about the Festival. Also would like to publicly thank Sarat Ford to be a major sponsor for
the event and every single one of you, you put your names and be contributors to the
Festival and all the other businesses and your names of course will be on the back of the
program so it will be all over town so we thank you so much, the Rotary Club thanks you
and I hope we have good weather and we have a great time. Thank you.
President Johnson —Councilor Cavallo?
Councilor Cavallo — This is a little different. I hope everybody has a lot of patience
' these next fourteen days or fifteen days with the traffic. I came in from Springfield
around 12:00 and I had to find all kinds of ways to get home. I get the feeling for
seventeen days I'm a prisoner in my own town. I can get out of it but I can't get back
into it. So I guess we just have to bear with it. That's all I have to say.
President Johnson — The Chair will entertain a Motion to adjourn? So moved. All
those in favor? Opposed? We are adjourned. Thank you. (7:37pm)
' Ad'ournment
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