CC MTG MINUTES NOVEMBER 18 2013 r
REGULAR MEETING OF THE AGA WAM CITY COUNCIL
• Minutes dated November 18, 2013
President Johnson —I'd call the meeting to order.
Item 1. Roll Call
•
President Johnson —I'd ask Dennis to call the Roll please?
ROLL CALL—11 PRESENT, 0 ABSENT
President Johnson — With eleven present, we have a quorum.
Item 2. Moment of Silence and the Pledge ofAlleziance.
President Johnson — I'd ask everyone to rise for a moment of silence and a Pledge of
Allegiance and during the moment I'd ask you to keep Barbara and the entire Plante
family in your prayers as her dad passed away this past week.
Item 3. Citizen's Speak Time
• President Johnson — We have one citizen wishing to address the Council. Henry
Kozloski?
Henry Kozloski — Henry Kozloski, 102 Meadow Street, Chair of the CPA Committee.
I'd like to announce that there has been an increase in CPA matching funds. They
basically doubled it so we're now receiving this year $230,000 into the CPA fund. This
• helps us in the future, hopefully with the track and other things in parks, housing,
historical preservation and affordable housing. Thank you.
President Johnson —Thank you.
• Item 4. Minutes
1. Regular Council Meeting—November 6,2013
President Johnson — We have a Motion made by Councilor Cichetti, seconded by
• Councilor Rheault to approve the minutes. Questions or discussion on the minutes?
Seeing none, all those in favor say Ay? Any opposed? It's unanimous.
Item S. Declaration from Council President
0 President Johnson—There are none.
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Item 6. Presentation of Petitions Memorials& Remonstrances
• None.
Item 7. Report of Council Committees
None.
• Item 8. Elections
None.
Item 9. Public Hearings
1. TR-2013-48 -A Resolution adopting a Residential Factor of.829731
pursuant to Massachusetts General Laws, Chapter 40, Section 56 (Mayor)
President Johnson — I know our Assessor is here to make the presentation so at this
point, I will declare, oh, we need a Motion. Is there a Motion to approve? Moved by
Councilor Cavallo, seconded by Councilor Bitzas. At this point, I'll declare the Public
Hearing open and ask the Assessor if he wants to come up to make the presentation.
Kevin Baldini - Good evening Councilors. Thank you for inviting me to speak tonight.
My name is Kevin Baldini and I am the Assessor for the Town of Agawam. Each year,
the City Council of Agawam must decide at the public hearing on classification how to
allocate the tax levy between the residential and business classes of property. The
proposed tax levy for the town for FY 2014 is approximately $51,743,527. After
reviewing the information prepared by the Assessors' Office, Mayor Cohen is
. recommending a shift of 1.49 which results in a residential factor of .829731. At this
shift the proposed residential tax rate would be $15.55 per thousand and the proposed
business rate would be $27.93 per thousand dollars of valuation. The proposed tax levy
to the residential class would be about $31.86 million.and the proposed tax levy to the
business class would be about $19.89 million. In comparison to other cities and towns in
the area, the average residential tax bill in Agawam is very competitive with similar and
• surrounding properties. According to information provided by the Department of
Revenue, Agawam's average single family tax bill of $3,245 for FY 2013 ranked #250
out of 337 communities reporting. West Springfield's average bill of $3,533 and
Westfield's average bill of $3,924 placed them higher in the rating scale at #230 and
#183 respectively. By comparison, Longmeadow, which is almost exclusively
• residential in character, had an average residential tax bill of $7,362 which placed it at
#41 in the state of reporting communities. The Typical Comparison spreadsheet
contained in the booklet that I provided to you is the best indicator of the effect this shift
will have on residential, commercial and industrial property in Agawam for FY 2014. At
that shift, for the typical commercial property valued at $304,800, the estimated tax
increase would be about $43 from FY 2013. For the industrial property valued at
$441,800 the estimated tax increase would be about $62 and for the single-family home
valued at $208,100, the estimated tax decrease would be about $10. I did hand out a
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sheet, I emailed a sheet and I also put a sheet in front of you there, that sort of detailed
what I wanted to do is I wanted to put into detail what this shift would actually have on
the properties in Agawam and if you look under the single family residential category,
there's 7,706 parcels classified as single family residential and in this interim year of
adjustments, 6,037 were unchanged in value. The market indicated that there was not a
need to make any changes to the assessed values to the properties. 1,041 increased in
value and 628 went down in value. A lot of that is due to the fact that we're doing our
cyclical re-inspection program so some houses go down a little bit after we do the
property, some go up a little bit and there's also permit activity which accounts for some
of those increases also, additions, new bathrooms, finished basements, garages would
account for an increase in value of those properties. When I ran the numbers, 6,815 at
this shift, 6,815 will experience a tax decreases. That represents 89% of the single family
homes in Agawam. 27% will actually have no change in taxes so there'll be a zero
• balance in the difference and 864 will experience a tax increase which is about 11% of
that 7,706 parcels but 376 of those would have an increase of$30 or less. Condominiums
— when I did the analysis for this year's interim adjustment of the 1,597 condos — 1465
decreased in value, 18 increased and 114 were unchanged. Again, some of the ones that
increased did some things to their condo, they put in finished basements, they added
• bathrooms, there was some reason for the increase other than the market and in the
commercial and industrial class between the two classes there's 469 parcels, again, no
changes were made to the market; 421 or 90% of those properties went unchanged so
they had the same value as last year and 43 increased and 5 decreased in value and so —
just to try to flush out a little bit what that would mean at the rates that were proposed by
• the Mayor. I guess that's about it. I don't know if anybody has any questions?
President Johnson —Are there any questions? Councilor Letellier?
Councilor Letellier— Yes, thank you and if I missed this at a prior meeting, I apologize.
• When you did the breakdown of residential in terms of what percent's gonna have an
increase, what percent's gonna have a decrease, you didn't do that for the commercial
and the industrial, you talked about whether their value went up or down but not how the
effect of the business rate is.
Kevin Baldini -- Well it's the same value, if that property is valued at, 90% went
0 unchanged—
Councilor Letellier—Right,yeah.
Kevin Baldini — So if that value is 441,800 and it's at 441,800 next year as on the chart,
• it will go up $62.
Councilor Letellier—$62.00.
Kevin Baldini -- Yeah, so I didn't do that because it would have been just — they're all
• going up but they'll all go up except for the five that maybe decreased in value or there
was some abatement activity or there was some reason for those five properties going
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down but all of those commercial/industrial properties, 90% of them are staying the same
so if it's a say a $900,000 industrial property, instead of going up $62.00 it would go up
$124, just double it. So 90% of those properties are gonna stay the same so that's why I
didn't run any type of a schedule and last year was a re-val year so all the property values
changed so that's why I wanted to try to show how that fell but this was a much more, not
much changed.
Councilor Letellier—Thanks Kevin.
President Johnson —Other questions? Councilor Calabrese?
Councilor Calabrese— I just really had a comment. I want to thank you so much for this
letter that you prepared for us because it really kind of helps flush out the numbers and I
• think makes my job a little more easier so that I can see in real numbers.
Kevin Baldini—It's very concrete.
Councilor Calabrese—This was very helpful and I want to thank you.
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Kevin Baldini --Thank you. I plan on doing this and it's sort of a process of discovering
at the sub-committee meeting some questions were brought up and it sort of made me
think about how to address those questions and so now I plan on doing this every time we
do this. Just sort of flush it out as best I can.
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Councilor Calabrese —Yeah, sure, because I did find this very helpful. Thank you.
President Johnson -- Any further questions? Seeing none, and again on behalf of the
Council, Kevin, thank you for putting together an excellent presentation both orally and
in the written materials.
Kevin Baldini—Thank you.
President Johnson — So at this point, anyone wishing to speak in favor of the proposed
• residential factor of.829731 can approach? Anyone wishing to be recorded in name only
in favor of the residential factor? Anyone wishing to speak in opposition to the
residential factor? Anyone wishing to be recorded in name only in opposition? Seeing
none, I declare the Public Hearing closed. We have before us TR-2013-48, is there any
discussion? Seeing none? Councilor Perry?
Councilor Perry—The Finance report?
President Johnson —Councilor Mineo?
Councilor Mineo — Yup, we met last week, attending the meeting were myself, CeCe
• Calabrese, Don Rheault, Bob Rossi, George Bitzas, Chris Johnson, Kevin Baldini and
Laurel Placzek. After much discussion about the 1.48 and 1.49 shift, we took a vote and
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it was 2-1; myself and Don Rheault voted in favor of the 1.49 shift, CeCe Calabrese
voted against it and again there was much discussion from both sides but our committee
! voted 2-1 to go with the proposed tax factor.
President Johnson—Now other discussion? Councilor Bitzas?
Councilor Bitzas — Thank you Mr. President. I was at the meeting and we discussed in
! details and the Assessor was there and I did voice my support for 1.49. I believe it's a
very fair shift and I'm very happy to see that 6,815 parcels will see a tax decrease so and
also the industrial and commercial is not that much difference this year. Last year we had
a big savings. This year we have some but I think it's a great, great rate for both
industrial, residential and commercial. We're the lowest in the area and I'm very happy
to do that and I think kudos come to all of us and to the administration and I hope the Full
! Council supports 1.49.
President Johnson --Other discussion? Councilor Perry?
Councilor Perry — Yes, thank you Mr. President. As I say every year at this time, it's
! time to pay the piper. We discussed the budget at length, we had three workshops this
past summer in June regarding the budget and as I always say back then, we have to pay
for it and tonight's the night that we will pay for it but I'm happy to say, the rate
increases that are being presented are minimal which is due to the administration, the
department heads and things of that nature who worked very hard on our budget. The
one thing I can say is that there were some budget cuts recommended in our budget
hearing. We did make a little bit of a cut but I think if we made the full cut that was
recommended we would be having everyone either the same or lower based on the
evaluations that Kevin has given us. We talked about in the budget hearing, I know
Councilor Letellier and Councilor Rossi made a point of the excess that is left over every
! year. We really seriously have to start thinking about that and looking at that and coming
up in January, not in June, on how we can lower the taxes for the residents and not just
keep it equal or slight increases. These are things that we're elected to do. It's the
biggest thing that comes before us every year so with that I will support what's been
proposed and let's go to work. Thanks.
President Johnson — Other questions or discussion? Stepping from the Chair, I'll say
tonight what I said at the Admin Sub-Committee meeting the other night which is I
support the 1.48 classification which results in a slight increase in residential and a slight
decrease to commercial/industrial. Over the last twelve or thirteen years, the spread
between the residential rate and the commercial/industrial rate in Agawam has gone from
! $5 or $6 per thousand to what's proposed here which is between $13 and $14 a thousand.
As I said at the meeting the other night, I own commercial property in four or five
different communities around Western Mass including Agawam and over the last twelve
or thirteen years, the bill that's gone up the most of all the commercial properties that I
own is the Agawam bill and it's not because values have gone up more and it's not
because we're spending more, it's because over the last twelve or thirteen years, more
and more has been shifted to the commercial/industrial tax base. Like I said when a
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dozen years ago, the split between the tax rates was about $5 or $6 a thousand now it's
almost going between $13 and $14 a thousand. So it's easy to say let's take the path of
• political expediency and reduce the residents' tax bills by $10 but you do it by increasing
the commercial and industrial tax bills which costs us jobs. Every time that the
commercial and industrial bills go up it gets passed along to the tenants in those
commercial properties and takes off the bottom line on the industrial properties so if we
want to be friendly to business I think we should take the opportunity to keep pushing
back towards relying less and less on our commercial and industrial base but that's my
opinion. Back into the Chair— further discussion? Seeing none, if you're in favor of TR-
2013-48, vote yes. If you're opposed, vote no. I'd ask Dennis to call the Roll please?
ROLL CALL—9 YES, 2 NO (Councilors Johnson and Letellier)
President Johnson —With a vote of nine yes and two no, you've passed TR-2013-48.
2. PH-2013-15(ZC-2013-6) -A Petition for Zone Change for property
located at Sheri Lane Parcel H13 8 18, by applicants John Conte and Louis
Conte,661 Barry Street, Feeding Hills,MA (Public Hearing Date set for
• December 2, 2013)(Referred to legislative Committee)
President Johnson — I think we tabled it at our last meeting until December 2, 2013 so
that item will remain on the table.
Item 10. Old Business
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1. TO-2013-24 - Order granting or renewing a Class 2 Dealer's LICENSE
for Agawam Auto Mall,Inc. 825 Springfield Street, Agawam, MA(Clerk)
(Tabled 11/6/13) (Referred to Administrative Committee)
President Johnson — What's the Council's pleasure? We have a Motion to remove the
item made by Councilor Calabrese, seconded by Councilor Rossi. All in favor of
removing the item from the table say Ay? Any opposed? The item is off the table. Is
there a Motion on TO-2013-24?
Councilor Rossi — Well, the Admin Committee met this evening, Mr. President, and we
want to take this under advisement further and we were gonna ask to have this kept on
the table until the sub-committee can reconvene and further discuss the issue. So we
would respectfully request that this remain on the table.
President Johnson — So I will now take that as a Motion to put the item back on the
table. Is there a second? Motion made by. Councilor Rossi, seconded by Councilors
Mineo and Magovern. All in favor of putting the item back on the table say Ay? Any
opposed? The item is back on the table.
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2. TO-2013-39 - Order granting or renewing a Class 1 Dealer's LICENSE
for Sarat Ford Sales,Inc., 243-249 Springfield Street,Feeding Hills,MA
(Referred to Administrative Committee) (Clerk)
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President Johnson — Is there a Motion? Moved by Councilor Rossi, seconded by
Councilor Letellier. The matter was referred along with the next seven items to the
Admin Sub-Committee so I would refer to Councilor Rossi for the Admin Sub-
Committee report on those eight items.
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Councilor Rossi Thank you Mr. President. The sub-committee met on those items and
unanimously agreed to send a positive recommendation for approval to the Full Council.
Items 2013-39, 40 and 41 for Sarat Ford, Inc. 255 Springfield Street, 221 Springfield
Street, 243 and 249 Springfield Street, Motion for approval.
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Councilor Letellier---Motion to consolidate items 2013-39, 40 and 41.
President Johnson — We have a Motion to consolidate TO-2013-39, 40 and 41 made by
Councilor Letellier and seconded by Councilor Magovern. All those in favor of
consolidating those three items say Ay? Any opposed? It's unanimous. Any further
questions or discussion on those three items? Seeing none, all those in favor of the three
items say Ay? Any opposed? It's unanimous.
Councilor Letellier — I think for licenses I think we should be doing Roll Call votes just
• in case there are any issues later.
President Johnson—Then I would ask Dennis to call the Roll on—
Councilor Letellier—Sorry, Dennis, I'm not trying to make more work for Dennis.
Councilor Perry—Not a problem.
President Johnson — He's very efficient. I'd ask Dennis to call the Roll on the
consolidated three items TO-2013-39, 40 and 41. If you're in favor of granting the Class
1 Dealer's licenses in those three instances, vote yes. If you're opposed, vote no. I'd ask
• Dennis to call the Roll?
ROLL CALL — 11 YES, 0 NO
President Johnson -- By a vote of eleven yes, zero no; you've approved TO-2013-39, 40
• and 41.
3. TO-2013-40 - Order granting or renewing a Class 1 Dealer's LICENSE
for Sarat Ford Sales,Inc.,221 Springfield Street,Feeding Hills,MA
(Referred to Administrative Committee) (Clerk)
President Johnson --See Item # 2.
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4. TO-2013-41 - Order granting or renewing a Class 1 Dealer's LICENSE
for Sarat Ford Sales,Inc.,250 Springfield Street,Feeding Hills,MA
(Referred to Administrative Committee) (Clerk)
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President Johnson —See Item 4 2.
5. TO-2013-42 - Order granting or renewing a LICENSE for an Automatic
Amusement Device and Weekly Amusement Permit for The Buc,Inc., 84-86
Maple Street, Agawam,MA (Referred to Administrative Committee)
(Clerk)
President Johnson — Is there a Motion? Moved by Councilor Rossi, seconded by
Councilor Rheault. Questions or discussion on the item which is granting or renewing a
• license for an Automatic Amusement device and Weekly Amusement permit for The
Buc, Inc, 84 — 86 Maple Street, Agawam. Councilor Rossi, was there a separate report or
was that consolidating all of them?
Councilor Rossi — Well, it was consolidating all of them. Mr. President if you wish
2013-42 - Order granting or renewing a LICENSE for an Automatic Amusement Device and
• Weekly Amusement Permit for The Buc, Inc., 84-86 Maple Street; TO-2013-44 - Order granting
or renewing a LICENSE for an Automatic Amusement Device and Weekly Amusement Permit
for West Springfield Fish & Game, 329 Garden Street, Feeding Hills, MA; and TO-2013-46-
Order granting or renewing a LICENSE for an Automatic Amusement Device for Friendly's
Restaurants, LLC, 19 Springfield Street; all send a positive recommendation and for the
• Council's pleasure, if they wi 11, to consolidate those three items for a Roll.
President Johnson — Motion to consolidate TO-2013-42, 44 and 46? Made by
Councilor Rossi, seconded by Councilors Rheault and Magovern. Questions on the
consolidation? Seeing none, all those in favor say Ay? Any opposed? Any further
discussion on those items? Dennis?
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ROLL CALL— 11 YES, 0 NO
President Johnson —By a vote of eleven yes, you've approved TO-2013-42, 44 and 46.
• 6. TO-2013-43 - Order granting or renewing a Class 2 Dealer's LICENSE
for Zielinski Bros,218 Shoemaker Lane,Agawam, MA (Referred to
Administrative Committee) (Clerk)
President Johnson — The Chair will entertain a Motion to consolidate TO-2013-43 and
• TO-2013-45? Motion made by Councilor Letellier, seconded by Councilor Rheault.
Questions or discussion on the consolidation? Seeing none, all those in favor of
consolidating those two items say Ay? Opposed? The items are consolidated. At this
point, the Chair will entertain a Motion to approve those two items. Moved by Councilor
Rossi, seconded by Councilor LeteIlier. Questions or discussion on the two Class 2
Dealer's licenses? Seeing none, I'd ask Councilor Perry to call the Roll. If you're in
• favor of the Class 2 Dealer's licenses, vote yes. If you're opposed, vote no.
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ROLL CALL— 11 PRESENT, 0 NO
• President Johnson — By a vote of eleven yes, you've approved TO-2013-43 and TO-
2013-45.
7. TO-2013-44 - Order granting or renewing a LICENSE for an Automatic
Amusement Device and Weekly Amusement Permit for West Springfield
Fish & Game,329 Garden Street,Feeding Hills,MA(Referred to
• Administrative Committee) (Clerk)
President Johnson — See Item# 5.
8. TO-2013-45 - Order granting or renewing a Class 2 Dealer's LICENSE
for Elmwood D&J Auto Sales & Service,521 River Road,Agawam, MA
(Referred to Administrative Committee) (Clerk)
President Johnson—See Item 46.
9. TO-2013-46 - Order granting or renewing a LICENSE for an Automatic
Amusement Device for Friendly's Restaurants,LLC, 19 Springfield Street,
Feeding Hills,MA (Referred to Administrative Committee) (Clerk)
President Johnson —See Item 45.
Item IL New Business
1. TO-2013-47 - Order granting or renewing a Class 2 Dealer's LICENSE
for ACE Auto Body, 1363 Main Street,Agawam, MA (Clerk)
• President Johnson —Next Agenda, refer to the Admin Sub-Committee.
2. TO-2013-48 - Order granting or renewing a LICENSE for an Automatic
Amusement Device for FSF Inc., dlbla Riverboat Isar& Grill, It South End
Bridge Circle,Agawam,MA (Clerk)
• President Johnson — That'll also get referred to the Admin Sub-Committee, next
Agenda.
3. TO-2013-49 - Order granting or renewing a LICENSE for an Automatic
Amusement Device for Scoreboard Bar& Restaurant, 15 King Street,
Agawam,MA (Clerk)
President Johnson — Also get referred to the Admin Sub-Committee, next Agenda.
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4. TR-2013-49 -A Resolution Confirming the Appointment of Shelby Hall-
Gibbons,49 Anvil Street,Feeding Hills,MA. to the Agawam Housing
Authority to a Term Expiring the Second Monday in January,2015 (Mayor)
President Johnson —That'll go on to our next Agenda.
5. TOR-2013-8—An Ordinance to Amend the Code of the Town of Agawam
Zoning Ordinances §180; Mixed Use Business District. (Refer to Planning
• Board and Set Public Hearing for December 16, 2013).
President Johnson — That'll be officially referred to the Planning Board for their Public
Hearing and recommendation and to set our Public Hearing for our second meeting in
December which is December 16`h because there's not fourteen days between this
• meeting and our next meeting on December 2"d when you look at when it can be
advertised in the Advertiser.
Item 12. Any other matter that may legally cor to before the Cif Council.
President Johnson — Being that I remember it was difficult getting by Councilor Bitzas
last time, this time we'll start with Councilor Cavallo.
Councilor Cavallo —Very difficult, hopefully he believes in brevity is the soul of wet. I
have nothing tonight.
President Johnson— Councilor Bitzas?
Councilor Bitzas -- Two things Mr. President. First of all I'd like to wish everybody
Ha py Thanksgiving and happy holiday season and also I want to remind you that the
26t' Tuesday I invite you, we have the Rotary Club West Springfield and Agawam. We
• have a Thanksgiving luncheon and if you'd like to come, please let me know, we have a
number and at that luncheon we're going to honor the two teams, the football teams,
talking about the football team Agawam did fantastic this season, they broke the records
since 1967, they have 8-0 straight wins and also in the playoffs they beat Northampton,
they have a 9-0. Unfortunately they lost the final but we should do as a Council you see
front to you I have a Resolution, I sponsor, Barbara was not available because of the
death and I want to express my sympathy to her and her family, if any of you'd like to co-
sponsor the Resolution to honor the team, you call Barbara and you free to do so and with
that Happy Thanksgiving.
President Johnson— Councilor-elect Suffriti?
Councilor Suffriti — Thank you President. Again, I also want to give my condolences to
Barbara and her family as well as a Happy Thanksgiving to everyone and Council, thank
you very much for easing me into these new duties I'll be taking upon. You guys have
all been great and I really appreciate it. Thank you.
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President Johnson — We promise it's not gonna be as tough as sitting next to George.
Councilor Calabrese?
• Councilor Calabrese —Next Monday, the 251" at 6:00, 1 do have a Community Relations
Sub-Committee meeting scheduled to kind of begin talking about what's going on with
Games & Lanes. I do have to do a pre-apology however because I am going to have to
leave that meeting early at 6:30 because I neglected to keep in mind something I have in
* mind with my daughter but I did want to at least get the ball rolling with Games & Lanes
so we're gonna go ahead and convene at 6:00 next Monday if anyone would like to come
and see what's going on, that'd be great and Happy Thanksgiving and heartfelt
condolences to Barbara and her family.
President Johnson --Councilor Cichetti?
a
Councilor Cichetti — Just would like to pass Happy Thanksgiving to all the Councilors
and everyone out there watching. Thank you.
President Johnson —Councilor Perry?
•
Councilor Perry—Yes, thank you Mr. President. I want to wish all of my colleagues up
here on the stage and their families, our camera crew and everyone out there a happy,
safe Thanksgiving holiday and I also want to pass on my condolences to Barbara and her
family for their loss. Thank you.
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President Johnson — Councilor Rheault?
Councilor Rheault — I share the same sentiments that Dennis just mentioned and I wish
each and every one of you and your families a very Happy Thanksgiving.
President Johnson —Councilor Magovern?
Councilor Magovern — Just a very Happy Thanksgiving to everybody. It's my favorite
holiday of the year and it's the time to give thanks for all of our blessings and again to
s Barbara's family. Keep them in your prayers and also I'd like you to remember Frank
Pignatare's family with the loss of his daughter. So again, thank you.
President Johnson—Councilor Mineo?
Councilor Mineo — My condolences also to Barbara and her entire family and I would
• like to just wish all of you and every one out there a very Happy Thanksgiving.
President Johnson —Councilor Rossi?
Councilor Rossi -- Thank you. Just a little bit of housekeeping. Last Council meeting
• we sent, or a few of us Councilors sent a Metro up to the Health Agent as a formal
request for the Games & Lanes and Councilor Calabrese, if you will maybe you can
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follow up with your committee, I was in hopes that a formal response would be
forthcoming but apparently it was not. Maybe someone should remind him that there's
obligations by law that says that he MUST respond if he has a written, formal thing so
maybe somebody should remind him of that. But I thought it would take it a little bit
more seriously,just removing the boat isn't gonna quite do it so maybe if your committee
would pick the ball up from that and maybe we could get a response as to what he intends
to do and how he intends to do it? I would appreciate that.
Councilor Calabrese—That's one of the intents of the meeting, u
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President Johnson —Councilor Letellier?
Councilor Letellier— Yes, thank you. I also want to extend the Plante and Bard families
my very sincere condolences and the Pignatare family as well. I also want to wish
everyone a very Happy Thanksgiving and a Happy Hannukah, it's Thanksgivikkah this
year so to our Jewish friends, Happy Thanksgivikkah! I do have a couple of actual
business items. With regard to Games & Lanes, and I apologize for not researching it
ahead of time, I really think that the city needs to look into tearing that thing down and
passing the cost on to the owner. Yes, the boat's gone. I mean I drove by it again this
weekend to see if any new stuff was there but it's, really the tops of the windows are
missing, people vagrants can get in there, homeless people, kids could be in there doing
God only knows what and I know that the surrounding business owners are upset at the
town but the town doesn't own the property. So I think the town needs to decide if
they're gonna take that step and do what they need to do to demolish it so if your
committee can look into that, that'd be great. With regard to this new mixed-use
Business district, I've looked at it, it's a little long, a little complicated and I'm curious,
was this written by the Pioneer Valley Planning Commission? Did this come from our
Solicitor? Why wasn't our Legislative Committee involved? We've made it a point that
we've wanted to be more involved with zoning. They said, it says look at parcel J blah
blah blab blah blah but there's no list of addresses. I personally don't have time to go to
Town Hall and look at all those maps. I'd like to know what addresses are involved, you
know, what areas of town are involved. I think it's a good starting point but I don't know
that I'm gonna be ready to suddenly just say yes on December 16` . I'd like a workshop
with the Planning Board. If PVPC wrote this, I'd like them to be present. There are
some things defined, there are some things that aren't defined. So if you're gonna create
all these new uses, I think we need to be careful to make sure that we've got the proper
definitions for the items that are listed in here. Like cafe says small restaurant, well that's
real helpful,you know? I mean, then it says that these are the only business uses allowed
but then as you continue the pages, it's clearly that those aren't the only business uses
allowed, so do we need to consolidate it, I don't know and I don't want to be super picky,
but I don't think a Public Hearing is the time to really go through the kind of detail that
needs to be going through. So those are my thoughts, my initial thoughts on that. Thank
you everybody.
• President Johnson — I share your thoughts on both items — the Games & Lanes and the
mixed use and if I didn't, that's referred to the Legislative Sub-Committee —but I agree
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with Councilor Letellier, I believe it was written by PVPC and reviewed by our Law
.Department but we extended the invitation at the very beginning of the.term, not even the
• year, to have them work with the Legislative Sub-Committee and for whatever reason,
they didn't. A couple of housekeeping items real quick, I put out at your places
Evaluation Forms for our staff. If you could get those back to me by the next meeting,
I'll compile them and sit down with the two staff members. Again, I offer my
condolences to Barbara and her entire family. What an awful year and Happy
Thanksgiving to everyone and hopefully in the next week or so, I'll be putting together
our second annual holiday dinner so that Councilor Magovern can lead us in the
lampshade dance as he did last year but hopefully getting that out to you. Barbara and I
were working on it but she's obviously been detoured. So if you have any questions, the
Council Office is probably not gonna get manned most of this week, so if you need
anything just send me an email. I check in there just about every day but the office is
• locked when I'm not there so if you need anything just let me know. With that, the Chair
will entertain a Motion to adjourn. Moved and seconded all around the house, all those in
in favor of adjournment say Ay? Any opposed? We are adjourned. Thank you.
• Adiournmen_t.
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