CC MTG MINUTES APRIL 1 2013 REGULAR MEETING OF THE AGAWAM CITY COUNCIL
�+ Minutes dated April 1, 2013
President Johnson—I'd call the meeting to order.
Item 1. Roll Call
President Johnson—I'd ask Barbara to call the roll please?
ROLL CALL--10 PRESENT, 1 ABSENT (Councilor Letellier)
• President Johnson —With ten present, we have a quorum. Councilor Letellier is out this
evening.
Item 2. Moment otSilence and the Pledge ofAlleeiance.
President Johnson — I'd ask everyone to rise for a moment of silence and Pledge of
Allegiance please?
Item 3. Citizen's Sneak Time
President Johnson — We have three citizens wishing to address the Council. I'd ask
when you approach, state your name and address and you each have five minutes. First is
Bill Sapelli.
William Sapelli — Thank you. Good evening. First, I'd like to thank the City Council
for their kind words with regard to the hockey team at your last meeting. I think to the
person around the table you wished your congratulations, you extended your
congratulations to the hockey team and I just wanted to say it was a wonderful event. We
have had over the several years Western Mass champs, individual and team
championships, but a state championship is few and far between. So the School
Committee is going to recognize them on April 9t' at their meeting. I believe I sent a
• letter out to each and every one of you if you'd like to attend; we'd love having you there
so thank you for that. I'm here this evening to speak about the SOI which is on your
Agenda for a vote this evening and I just wanted to make a couple of comments with
regard to that Statement of Interest which also is known as an SOI as you people know.
As School Superintendent, if a new school is going to be considered, it has to start with
an SOI being submitted so as Superintendent of Schools it is my obligation to submit an
SOI otherwise discussion cannot even take place with regard to that idea so based on that,
I am submitted an SOI again this year. In the past for those of you who've been around
like I have, at one time with the MSBA, the Mass State Building Authority, you would
submit a request, be put on a list and you would remain on that list until it came up.
S Recently, there is a new procedure which you have to annually apply so there really is no
list other than the list of those they select and then the rest are not selected, if they're
interested down the road, they have to keep submitting annually. One might say well, a
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group of people from MSBA came out and looked at the school, walked through the
school, architects, engineers decided when it was submitted last year that Agawam didn't
S qualify and that's true. What some people are of the mind set that once we applied last
year, we didn't get on the list, we may have just been off the list, they don't know where
you finish, they don't tell you so other schools were selected so no longer are considered,
so maybe Agawam moved up. So with that in mind, whether one thinks that we do or
don't need a school, I need to submit an SOI so that at least it can be discussed.
. Submitting a Statement of Interest doesn't commit us to anything financially or even
verbally, that we're looking for a new school that you're in favor of or not, your vote to
submit an SOI doesn't even me you're in favor of the new school. It just means you're in
favor of submitting this SOI so that it can at least be discussed. Not submitting an SOI
means we can't even discuss it, it's off the table, done. There are some other alternatives
to that as well as some people have mentioned to me and that is at one time you could not
0 submit for renovations to buildings, it was a new building or nothing. Now they've also
changed that where there are chances to submit for renovations not necessarily brand new
so that's an option that we could investigate I suppose as well but I'm just asking you to
consider passing this SOI just so we can at least discuss the topic. That's all it commits
us to. Thank you.
•
President Johnson—Thank you. Next is Francis Hoban?
Francis Hoban — Francis Hoban, 94 Red Fox Drive. What I want to discuss with you
guys today and gals, excuse me, is I guess prioritization of the projects that the town has.
I'm just gonna read a quick list of things that has, projects that have been completed—the
library expansion, the Fire Station Headquarters, the High School expansion, the DPW
garage, the Senior Center, School Street Park, the Bike Path and recently I heard mention
of a possible, a new Town Hall. I recognize that not all of the money that was spent on
this may have come from the town, I guess some of it is from the CPA but every single
one of these projects cost this town money every year to run and it cost a lot of money
and when we talk about some of the projects, I'm just gonna use School Street Park as an
example, even though it's completed and whether the money may have come from the
CPA, the amount of money it takes to keep that in operation,to keep the lawns mowed, to
keep it plowed, is an incredible amount of money. The maintenance on the lawn mowers
and things of that nature is significant. When we say we're just mowing the lawn, I mean
we're talking about a significant amount of wear and tear on these machines. The
question I have for you and I ask every single one of you is I've got a whole in my
backyard and I'm dumping $20,000 into it because this town, on the western side of this
town, the septic soil will no longer accept a regular septic system so now I'm digging a
whole and I'm dumping $20,000 into it and the question I ask each and every one of you
i is why are we spending money for a Town Hall —how many people could possibly work
in the Town Hall —can somebody give me a number? Anybody? There's 500 houses on
the western side of this town that have septic systems that are failing. There was like 75
or 78 that failed in the last two years. I'm looking at each and every one of you and I'm
asking you the question, guys, why do five hundred homes have absolutely no response
from you? We're talking about $1.5 million a year in taxes that we pay. Is there a five
year plan? A ten year plan? Or is there no plan at all? I tried to sell my house, I wasn't
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leaving town, I can't sell it because I'm now upside down on my house. There's a
gentleman up the street from me who just put a septic system in. He's got a hump in his
• yard, he can't sell his house because it's not worth what he owes. You have a
responsibility to every single person in this town and you are letting us down. I'll look
you square in the eye and I'll tell you, you are letting us down. I'm disappointed and the
answer plain and simple is if we can't sell our houses on the western part of this town,
who the heck wants to move over here? The answer is nobody does. Our houses are
losing value and this town has a responsibility to fix it and each and every one of you
have had tons and tons of time to do something about this. How many years has it been
since the first complaint came through? And you still are not doing anything. I do not
find your performance acceptable. I really don't. We pay you to make decisions to
support the town and the people in this town and you've got five hundred houses over
there. You do the math on how much it's gonna cost. You know what? Maybe it's time
• to open a construction business, anyone think about that? Because you'll make a crap
load of money with these septic systems failing left and right. I ask you to please take
into consideration, I've got to write a check for something like $20,000!
Clerk—One minute please.
Francis Hoban —Think about that. I want every one of you guys to open up your check
book and think about what it would be like to write a check for $20,000! Where do I get
a check for $20,000? It's a loan. I don't have $20,000 in the bank. Five hundred houses.
You've had your time to do something. It's time to act on this. This is, it's unacceptable
guys, absolutely unacceptable, to leave us hanging over there. We're the one writing the
checks left and right. I ask you to please step up to the plate and represent every single
person in this town fairly. Thank you very much.
President Johnson—Thank you. Next is Richard Melloni?
• Richard Melloni — My name is Richard Melloni Jr., 172 School Street in Agawam. I
guess I've got a few lesser problems than a few people here. I think this is a major issue.
I talked about it the last time I was here. I do agree with him, five hundred homes up
there, we're paying taxes like crazy, our taxes keep going up. I don't understand why
they keep going up, especially with all the industry and everything we've done in this
* town to try to keep our tax rate low. Everybody says our tax rate is low but it's not that
low, taxes keep going up, and we're not helping the rest of our citizens out. So I do want
to reiterate this gentleman's issues and I think you guys need to take a good hard look at
it and figure out what we need to do for them, our town people. To move on real quick, I
talked about School Street, I live on School Street, thank you, we talked about the River
• Walk. I know it's going through, I talked to the gentleman who came from the town
today to look at my front yard to try to determine grades and all that stuff and a real nice
man came out and wasted my time because he has no idea what's going on. He doesn't
know anything about the engineering and what's going on so I accomplished nothing
today and I just wanted to thank Debbie for, I mean, I ended up with nothing. Moving on
again, I guess living in this town for fifty years, I've got a lot of issues. Real quick--I'm
not gonna make a big issue out of it because I don't seem to be going anywhere with it. I
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have a car license in this town that has failed. The garage that it was at was sold back in
July I believe of last year. We tried making an attempt to move the license, sell the
• license, transfer the license, somewhere so we could have still access to this license, car
license, automotive license, even if it was in somebody else's name. We understood that,
we were told that it couldn't be done but we believed that it could be done because it had
been done in the past. As Mayor Johnson, ex-Mayor Johnson, would know, he was the
legal representative for that and it did get transferred. It's not a physical transfer, it was a
loophole, we thought maybe we could fall into that same loophole, but that's been
• basically killed for us so we are going to let this fall where it falls. You guys make your
decision, we understand, we don't want you breaking the law on our behalf. We were
just trying to maintain something that we've had for forty-something years. We had
permission. We won't go into discussion but things got twisted around, the truths
weren't completely told, and it fell where it fell. How much time do I got because I could
go on forever and ever? I will leave it at that and I appreciate your time and I am sorry to
keep bothering you about the same issue over and over again but these things we really
need to, the rest of the town we really need to work on and hopefully we can get that
done and by the way, I see on the Agenda, Frank Pignatare's being moved in or possibly
being elected into the Veterans' Affairs, I vote yes on that.
•
President Johnson—Thank you.
Item 4. Minutes
• 1. Regular Council Meeting—March 18,2013
President Johnson — Is there a Motion to approve? Moved by Councilor Cichetti,
seconded by Councilor Bitzas. Questions or discussion on the minutes? Seeing none, all
those in favor say Ay? Any opposed? It's unanimous.
Item 5. Declaration from Council President
None.
Item 6. Presentation o Pelitions.Memorials& Remonstrances
•
1. IR 2013-17 -A Resolution confirming the re-appointment of Christopher
Sanchez,36 Hemlock Ridge,Feeding Hills,MA to the Agawam Veterans'
Council to a term expiring April 1,2016(Mayor)
• President Johnson — Is there a Motion? Moved by Councilor Rheault, seconded by
Councilors Cavallo and Bitzas. Questions or discussion on the Resolution? Seeing none,
all those in favor say Ay? Any opposed? It's unanimous.
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2. TR-2013-18 -A Resolution confirming the re-appointment of Aldo
Mancini,Jr.,482 Southwest Street,Feeding Hills,MA to the Agawam
Veterans' Council to a term expiring April 1,2016(Mayor)
President Johnson — Is there a Motion? Moved by Councilor Magovem, seconded by
Councilor Rheault. Questions or discussion on the Resolution? Seeing none, all those in
favor say Ay? Opposed? It's unanimous.
i 3. TR-2013-19 -A Resolution confirming the re-appointment of Frank
Pignatare,685 Suffield Street,Agawam,MA to the Agawam Veterans'
Council to a term expiring April 1,2016(Mayor)
President Johnson — Is there a Motion? Moved by Councilor Mineo, seconded by
0 Councilors Rheault, Cavallo and Bitzas. Questions or discussion? Seeing none, all those
in favor say Ay? ,Any opposed? It's unanimous.
4. TR-2013-20 -A Resolution confirming the appointment of Sandra Hottin,
12 Rowley Street,Agawam,MA to the Agawam Housing Authority to a
term expiring the second Monday in January,2015 (Mayor)
President Johnson — Is there a Motion? Moved by Councilor Magovern, seconded by
Councilor Bitzas. Questions or discussion? Seeing none, all those in favor say Ay?
Opposed? It's unanimous. On behalf of the Council, I want to thank all the individuals
who have offered their service to continue on both the Veterans' Council and to Ms.
i Hottin for her service to the Housing Authority.
5. TR-2013-21 -A Resolution Authorizing Preparation of a Statement of
Interest for a New Early Childhood Center and High School (Mayor on
behalf of the Agawam School Committee)
• President Johnson — Is there a Motion? Moved by Councilor Calabrese, seconded by
Councilor Cavallo. Questions or discussion? Councilor Cavallo?
Councilor Cavallo — Yeah, I just wanted to say that earlier, a couple months ago, I was
appointed to the Facility Needs Committee for the, actually for what this is all about, this
0 Resolution and I attended the meetings and at that time, also, Councilor Rossi was on the
committee, and we attended three meetings so far and we were given tours of the Early
Childhood Center and also the High School and also personnel were there, school
personnel, to indicate the needs that they felt should be addressed and in order to have
these addressed, of course, as Superintendent Sapelli said during Citizen's Speak Time,
i that you have to keep this poker in the fire to keep it hot in order to be considered
somewhere down the line. I'm glad he prefaced his remarks by saying that this is not a
done deal, that it doesn't mean they want to build a new school, they are just keeping
their name there and he also mentioned the alternative that possibly, if we could not build
a new school, we could certainly look at some of the concerns, at the High School in
0 particular and in the Early Childhood Center, that are in dire need of repair and I think
both Councilor Rossi and I think you would concur with me, the restrooms for the
students at the High School are in deplorable condition. We also looked at the
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gymnasium locker rooms. We also know there's a violation of Title 9 because the girls
do not have to same facilities in the locker rooms that the boys do in terms of teams and
we went down stairs and checked out the Technology Department and at another meeting
we spent the day, not a day but a couple of hours, at the Early Childhood Center and they
were talking about, the Director was concerned about the close cramped quarters there.
It's a beautiful building. It absolutely is. Unfortunately, they cannot add on very much
there, there isn't any property to add on from and two of the classes this year have been
turned over to Clark School because there was an overflow and they were able to
accommodate the students though in a tight squeeze. I'm not and I said before, I'm not a
big promoter of building and it costs money. It's a tax liability. You have to bond.
We're presently paying off bonds on schools that were renovated back in 1998 but I have
no problem giving an affirmative vote to this Resolution. I saw the people, I think the
fact that the School Department made the Council part of this, that we're not just voting
• on this and it's come before us but a couple members of this Council have been involved
in this particular proposal in terms of what it's all about so I appreciate that and I will
stand in affirmative voting for this proposal tonight, for the Resolution. Thank you.
President Johnson —Councilor Magovern?
•
Councilor Magovern — I just want to second what Councilor Cavallo has been saying.
This high school is in good shape but we definitely need to have renovations. The tech
needs to be resolved, the gym needs to be resolved, the locker rooms need to be resolved
and most importantly we need a new track. Now I've heard people say well we're not
• gonna put the money into a new track because we're gonna build a new school. I'm not
in favor of building a new school. I would vote against this if I felt the proposal was for a
new school because I think that we don't need one but what we do need is renovations,
we need it brought up to date, we've gotta get the best science labs we can possibly get,
we've gotta get the best gyms and as I've said before at the Council meetings, it's an
• embarrassment to have our track team going to other schools outside of our area for
official meets because our track does not meet the codes for our official track meets. So I
think that something has to be done. I don't want to see this turned into a proposal for a
new school because every time that we've had the state authorities come in to look at our
high school, they say basically we have a very sound high school but we do need these
renovations. So I'm totally against a new high school but I am in favor if this form is to
go in and try to get renovations to try to get an Early Childhood Education then I'd be in
favor of it but no way would I support a new high school. Build what we've got,
complete what we've got and make it better. Thank you.
President Johnson—Councilor Bitzas?
•
Councilor Bitzas — Yes, Mr. President, thank you. By supporting this Resolution
Authorizing preparation of a Statement of Interest, you're not supporting a new high
school and I'm not going to support a new high school myself right now, but I will
support this Preparation of Statement of Interest so I'll make clear by voting that just this
very, it's only a procedure. I was a member of the committee for many, many years,
every year we have to do that. Our high school is in good shape. Now great buildings
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they don't make great education. Only great teachers make great education. So the
buildings could stay there but as I told you last week, our committee we're working for a
new track, it's a good track, so very soon you're going to hear the good news, they come
front to us, we vote for it, for a new track to allow the money and also the CPA they
going to pay, I hope, for the study and they going to pay also for the new tennis court and
with the money with the bond we have, the town will put some bond, we can pay also for
the high school for the ladies, the girls restrooms and other needs to be done in the high
school, I think there are a couple rooms. I think the dressing room is most important for
the girls. As I said, I hope you support this just to keep the procedure to go forward to
have this in the books, but it's not supporting high school, I don't think we see a high
school in fifteenhwenty years a new high school but this is just procedure so I would vote
in favor. Thank you.
President Johnson—Councilor Rossi?
Councilor Rossi — Thank you. I don't particularly understand why we continually are
getting these Statement of Interests for these high school. I mean the MSBA came in
here and said we were not qualified to have a new high school previously and our
building, everyone will agree that our building is structurally sound. It does need some
cosmetics as Councilor Cavallo mentioned, we did go through the buildings and there are
some cosmetic needs and other needs that have to be done and I don't have a problem
with this Statement of Interest, I think that we need to keep the dialogue open in terms of
the High School and other schools in the district but what's happened historically when
we do these kinds of things, it's easy to sit back and throw our hands in the air and say
we're not gonna do something because we intend to build a new building when in fact
we're never gonna build a new building, at least probably not in our lifetime. And that's
what I don't want to have happen. I want the dialogue to continue to go on about the
needs that we have with that track which has been going on for probably ten or twelve
years now. The Title 9 that Councilor Cavallo mentioned has been going on for probably
r ten years now and we're making some ground but it's very, very slow and every time we
question some of these things I hear well we're in the pipeline for a new high school. So
I just don't want that to be an excuse here. I'm willing to go and I'm willing to give them
a vote on the Statement of Interest just to keep the dialogue open but I wanted it to be a
reminder that it's not an end-all that we have to continue to keep fighting to get those
• needs done at the high school and I think it's a shame, as Councilor Magovern says,that
our track team has to go to Suffield to practice and we can't have home events at our own
field. A high school is supposed to be our signature high school and it's in awful shape—
not structurally — but cosmetically and I don't think it's gonna cost a lot of money to do
that and I think what we should be doing here rather than looking for Statement of
0 Interest on high schools, I think we should be looking for Statements of Interest on
repairs and renovations to the high school. I think that's the way we should be going. I
think we're spending too much money on foolishness. I think we started, we've gotta get
our priorities in order and I think that this gentleman out here made some perfect good
sense to me in terms of the Southwest district up there. I think our needs have to start
focus on things like that rather than things like this. That's just one man's opinion.
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President Johnson—.Any other discussion? Councilor Rheault?
Councilor Rheault — Yes, when I came this evening I intended to vote against the
Statement of Interest primarily because I did not want it to be thought that I was in
support of building a new high school but as listening to my fellow councilors to their
intent of supporting the Motion, I totally agree with them and fully support it without
getting redundant on all the reasons.
! President Johnson —Any other discussion? Just stepping from the Chair, the Statement
of Interest is to build a new high school. Hopefully, if we go through the process again
and we're told again by the State that we don't qualify that we can again shift gears and I
concur with Councilor Rossi and with Councilor Cavallo that at this point next year,
hopefully we're voting on a Statement of Interest if we don't qualify for a new high
• school to do renovations to the existing high school because to keep pounding away to try
to get a new high school when we're being told that we don't qualify, there are other
renovations and other projects that could be funded through the School Building
Assistance that I think we should start to work toward. Any other discussion? Councilor
Magovern had his light on, then Councilor Cavallo.
•
Councilor Magovern -- I'd like to have something go in here if at all possible where
what we're voting for is a Statement of Interest for the renovations to the high school and
take out a new high school because a new high school is just gonna slow it down and kill
the discussion on what has to be done which is renovating the existing high school so I
am not in favor as Councilor Rossi, Councilor Rheault and others have said, I'm not in
favor of building a new high school but I am definitely one hundred percent behind
bringing our high school into some kind of modern-day criteria so I don't know if this is
something that can be done where we don't vote for a new high school but the
renovations.
• President ,Johnson — Just stepping from the Chair for a Point of Information, the
deadline for submitting is April 15'h and in order to submit a proposal for renovation, we
would need to have much more information that we have on hand at the present time so I
think this fixrther the notion of if we again get them in to do an evaluation, we can at that
point hopefully if we don't qualify for a new school which I don't want to put words in
even the Superintendent's mouth but I don't know that there's any anticipation that
they're gonna come in and say a year later that we now qualify when last year we didn't
but hopefully we can point out some of the problems that exist and then put that together
in a renovation package next year. But I think it kind of defeats the purpose not to renew
the Statement of Interest so that they can see us on the list again, that they, being the
! state, know that we want funding to do work up at the high school. Councilor Cavallo,
then Bitzas?
Councilor Cavallo — Yeah, I just wanted to note this, as the Chairperson of the School
Budget Sub-Committee and I think Superintendent Sapelli knows that in the total budget
• request, Superintendent Sapelli included his Capital Improvement budget and if I might
just sight this in that Capital Improvement for Fiscal 2014 is a two million dollar bonding
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proposal and it includes bathrooms and the things that I think you were alluding to
Councilor Magovern and I believe also in particular the Title 9 violation of the girls'
i bathroom so I'm glad to see that it's in the Capital Improvement and maybe that's our ace
in the hole if we keep on reaching these impasses in terms of the Statement of Interest so
at least they're keeping the fire hot with this as well which I think is good. That's all I
have to say.
President Johnson—Councilor Bitzas?
•
Councilor Bitzas —I just wanted to clarify to Councilor Magovern through the Chair that
we cannot amend this at all. We have to go this way like it is because the School
Committee voted on it as is so we have no right to do, not one iota for that. So that's a
clarification.
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President Johnson— Seeing no further discussion, if you're in favor of TR-2013-21 vote
yes. If you're opposed, vote no. I'd ask Barbara to call the roll please?
ROLL CALL— 10 YES, 0 NO, 1 ABSENT (Councilor Letellier)
•
President Johnson—With a vote of ten yes, you've approved TR-2013-21.
Item 7. Report of Council Committees
• None.
Item 8. Elections
None.
• Item 9. Public Hearings
1. PH-2013-3 (TOR-2013-1) -(Public Hearing Date Set for April 16,2013)
An Ordinance to Amend the Code of the Town of Agawam Zoning Ordinances
§180-29 "Article IV Residence A-3 Districts Use Restrictions"(Tabled
3118113) (Referred to Legislative Committee) (Planning Board)
President Johnson — It's on the table until our next meeting which is when the public
hearing is set for April 16, 2013.
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Item 10. Old Business
. 1. TO-2013-6 -An Order Granting or Renewing LICENSE for a Class 2
Dealer(s)-Town Motors II,393 Main Street,Agawam,MA(Charter
Object) (Referred to Administrative Committee) (Clerk)
President Johnson — That matter was Charter Objected at our last meeting. I'd ask
Barbara to call the roll at this point. Tf you're in favor of granting the license, vote yes.
If you're opposed, vote no. Barbara?
ROLL CALL — 0 YES, 9 NO, 1 ABSENT (Councilor Letellier), 1 ABSTENTION
(Councilor Mineo)
President Johnson—With a vote of nine no, one absent, one abstention, you've defeated
TO-2013-b.
Item 11. New Business
1. TR-2013-22 -A Resolution confirming the reappointment of Gladys
Fernandez-Largay,M.D.,187 Edgewater Road,Agawam to the Agawam
Board of Health to a term expiring the first Monday in February,2016
(Mayor)
President Johnson—That'll go on to our next Agenda.
2. TR-2013-23 -A Resolution confirming the reappointment of Beverly
Sanford Follis,92 Anvil Street,Feeding Hills to the Agawam Veterans'
Council to a term expiring April 1,2016(Mayor)
President Johnson—That'll go on to our next Agenda.
3. TR-2013-24 -A Resolution confirming the reappointment of Francis
Curnow, 115 Forest Hill Road,Feeding Hills to the Agawam Veterans'
Council to a term expiring April 1,2016 (Mayor)
President Johnson—That'll go on to our next Agenda.
4. TR-2013-25 -A Resolution confirming the reappointment of Rene
Trudel, 66 Brien Street,Agawam to the Whiting Street and Thomas Pyne
Fund for a term expiring December 31,2015(Mayor)
President Johnson—That'll go on to our next Agenda.
5. TR-2013-26 -A Resolution confirming the reappointment of Frank
Mazzei, 476 Springfield Street,Feeding Hills to the Agawam Veterans'
Council to a term expiring April 1,2016 (Mayor)
•
President Johnson—Also on to our next Agenda.
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6. TO-2013-11 -An Order Granting or Renewing a PERMIT for a Junk
• Dealer--T's Jewelers,559 Springfield Street, Feeding Hills,MA(Clerk)
President Johnson—I'd refer to the Admin Sub-Committee, next Agenda.
7. TO-2013-12 -An Order Granting or Renewing a LICENSE for a Weekly
Amusement Device(s)—Crestview Country Club,281 Shoemaker Lane,
Agawam, MA(Clerk)
President Johnson—I'd also refer to the Admin Sub-Committee, next Agenda.
Item 12. Any other matter that may legally come before the City Council.
0 President Johnson—We'll start with Councilor Rossi this evening.
Councilor Rossi— Thank you. Just a couple housekeeping items. Barbara, would you
see if you could find some space for that Administrative sub-committee at the library
preferable in the urge room if we can for our workshop on the sewer issues -
President Johnson —We're hoping to schedule it the last week of this month and I think
we're gonna get space at the Senior Center because the library is booked up solid with
events.
0 Councilor Rossi—Okay. Also, would you schedule some time prior to the next meeting
for the Admin Committee and also I would ask Councilor Cichetti to call for a
Legislative meeting? I've got some issues that I think need to be addressed prior to the
public hearing next meeting concerning that Ordinance, the Ordinance change on 80-29
of our Town Codes. I think there's some things that we should discuss before that
! meeting comes up. I don't think that the issues were completely resolved. I think it was
more of a pep talk, pep meeting at the last Administrative meeting and not really dealing
with the legal issues and some other issues that I think should be addressed and I'd like to
bring those up.
Councilor Cichetti — I already spoke to Barbara and we're gonna have our meeting on
the 10P of this month which will give us plenty of room before the public hearing to
address any issues that come up prior to our public hearing, okay?
Councilor Rossi—Okay, great, thank you.
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President Johnson—Councilor Mineo?
Councilor Mineo—Nothing tonight.
President Johnson—Councilor Magovern?
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Councilor Magovern — The only thing I'd like to add is that I appreciate the Citizen's
Speak Time talking to us about the five hundred residents in the western part of the town.
i A few of us on the Council are just as frustrated as you are in getting this sewer resolved.
I think it's something that has to be done in the next few months, up or down, it's gotta
be settled because there are citizens up there that are in need. I can remember years ago
when I was on the Conservation Commission that we talked about septic tanks and it's
done nothing but get worse over the years. So thank you for your concern and coming
i this evening and anybody else that wants to come, you're welcome to come and talk.
President Johnson—Councilor Rheault?
Councilor Rheault — Yes, I was approached by the owner of Oak Ridge Country Club
this morning and he's quite concerned that the condition of the road preceding his
i business is still in deplorable condition and he said that he's actually had a couple of
weddings refused because people weren't too happy about the surroundings and how to
get there and so forth so I would hope that, Barbara, probably you could send a letter to
the Mayor asking if there are any intentions to surface coat that or I don't want to see any
businessmen unhappy in the town.
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President Johnson—Councilor Perry?
Councilor Perry—Nothing this evening,thank you Mr. President.
i President Johnson—Councilor Cichetti?
Councilor Cichetti —Thank you Mr. President. I'd like to take the opportunity to thank
Mr. Lemanski up at the High School, Superintendent Sapelli and the entire School
Committee for inviting us to the Academic A's that were handed out at the last School
Committee. Just some of the numbers that were told to us and the kids that we saw, it
was amazing. There were 163 kids that had a grade point average of 3.0 or higher that
received an Academic A in just the Senior Class out of I think it was 305 kids, I believe.
I mean you're talking over sixty percent of the kids up there! Just my hats off to that
whole school system up there in the high school, the teachers are obviously doing a
fabulous job. Thank you.
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President Johnson—Councilor Calabrese?
Councilor Calabrese — Thank you. I too want to thank Mr. Lemanski and Mr. Sapelli
for their unwavering support of the Rosie Robotics program. As you all know, I'm a big
• fan of that program. Our kids competed in their last regional competition over the
weekend down in Connecticut against 52 teams. They ended up being the 8 h Seed
Alliance captain which if anyone is familiar with that knows what that means and it took
the tournament champion alliance to actually knock them out. So they distinguished
themselves very well. They did take home an award for their entrepreneurship and our
• own Allie Bessette was recognized specifically for her commitment to industrial safety
which anyone that works in any sort of an environment that includes machinery and
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equipment knows that a safe work environment is not something to be taken lightly and
it's something that Rosie Robotics has always been recognized for as being a very high
quality team and I just want to again thank you all so much for your commitment to the
team and it's been a great run being a Rosie mom. I'm gonna miss it. Thank you.
President Johnson—Councilor Bitzas?
Councilor Bitzas—Nothing this evening.
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President Johnson —Barbara, could you make note of that? Councilor Cavallo?
Councilor Cavallo -- Yeah, I have just two things. The, I went up Tuesday night last
night because the School Committee had a workshop regarding the budget so I was there
• and Councilor Cichetti was there and then George came in. We were the only two that
didn't have a suit on and George came in from work and had the tie and coat on and it
was very nice of Mr. Sapelli and the School Committee and the Mayor to allow of us
during the ceremony to go up and shake hands with the kids along with the School
Committee and the Mayor and I thought that that was very nice of them to do that and the
place was packed. George may have been there because there were votes there too but
anyway, I'm only kidding. That's the first thing and the second thing I want to mention
is those of you out at home tonight if you will be here tomorrow at 6:00, the School
Budget Sub-Committee and I not only welcome our other councilors as well I wish you
would come and of course our committee all knows and they all have a copy of the
budget. That's at 6:00 tomorrow but those of you out there; the School Budget's a very
important budget. It represents over fifty percent of the annual Town Budget so if you
really want to know really how this money is spent and some of you are concerned about
where is the money going, some people have spoke at Citizen's Speak Time tonight, you
will see that from what my purview, my firsts view of the budget, looks pretty sound and
it looks pretty reasonable and done well. But that's my opinion. Other people have other
opinions so be down here tomorrow night at 5:45 get a parking spot and it starts at 6:00
so thank you.
President Johnson — Thank you. The Chair will entertain a Motion to adjourn. Moved
and seconded around the house. All in favor of adjournment say Ay? Any opposed? We
• are adjourned.
Adjournment at 7:40pm.
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