ORDER-2020-70 : An Appropriation from Free cash (account 01-324001) and Capital Stabilization (account 84052-590000)in the amount totaling $984,925. to various capital accounts as set forth herein.

Transcript (~15 min @ 6:38)

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▶ 6:44 Leila Migliorelli: Okay, so next up is Order 2020-70, an appropriation in the amount of $1,308,925 three hundred and eight thousand nine hundred and twenty five from free cash account number zero one dash three twenty four zero zero one and two hundred fifty thousand from the capital stabilization account eight four zero five two dash five nine zero zero zero zero to various capital accounts is set forth here in.

▶ 7:17 Mark Garipay: Councilor Garipay? Yes, in light of everything that has transpired over the last couple of weeks, I'd like to make a motion that we hold this in committee. I think it's the prudent thing to do at this time, especially with what we're experiencing economically. There are a number of items on this order. And if this order does fail by any chance, They will not be able to be, they will not be able to come forward in front of the board for another 6 months. I would prefer prefer this not to happen.

▶ 7:48 Mark Garipay: I do not want this to be taken that I do not support public safety. That is the farthest thing from the truth. But by holding this order in committee, it also gives us more time. to hear from the administration on where they think we'll stand financially in

▶ 8:08 Mark Garipay: the next few weeks so they put that you know like the motion is to keep this in

▶ 8:14 Speaker 2: committee second that for at least the purposes of discussion okay

▶ 8:18 Leila Migliorelli: councillor Garipay pay motions to hold this in committee seconded by councillor

▶ 8:24 Speaker 1: McMaster? We would need a call vote. On discussion. On discussion? On discussion.

▶ 8:41 Leila Migliorelli: Are we, Kristin, are you doing a roll call for the, for discussion? If it's on to people. Dr. Girgiridis?

▶ 8:54 Jen Grigoraitis: Just just because of the complexity of the format we're doing this in, do we have any members of the administration who are quote unquote here virtually to speak tonight on behalf of any of the items in this in this order I know it's hard for us to know if they're in attendance but I would want to make sure we also have an opportunity to hear from them is the clerk of committees no if anyone's here

▶ 9:23 Speaker 1: councillor Grigoraitis it's the city clerk yes there are attendees in waiting to speak including Elena Proekes Ellis Rick Stinson on most of these orders and

▶ 9:44 John N. Tramontozzi: also chief Kalina from the fire department thank you I think we're on suspension of rules so can we hear from chief Galala we motion to suspend the

▶ 9:58 Leila Migliorelli: rules and the rules I'll entertain a motion to suspend the rules we have a

▶ 10:12 Speaker 1: motion on the table that's on discussion can we not discuss that the rules are

▶ 10:16 Mark Garipay: suspended can i can i remove that motion uh for the purpose of uh letting the um administration

▶ 10:23 Speaker 2: so i'll withdraw the second

▶ 10:27 Speaker 3: which second which one are the motion i'm withdrawing the motion and counseling

▶ 10:35 John N. Tramontozzi: second so all right now we uh we got a motion to suspend the rules to hear from the administration yes there's a second by uh councilor thomas i'll call the roll councilor eccles

▶ 10:58 Speaker 1: councilor Garipay yes councilor mcnaught yes yes all right

▶ 11:04 Speaker 1: chair Migliorelli yes ramantosi yes

▶ 11:11 Speaker 1: Yes. Councillor Stewart?

▶ 11:15 Speaker 1: Yes. Councillor Jamaleddine? Yes. Councillor McMaster? Yes. Councillor Grigoraitis? Yes.

▶ 11:22 Speaker 2: Suspension of rules passes.

▶ 11:41 Leila Migliorelli: We have, we're suspended, the rules are suspended, we, I can't visually see who's here to speak first. Is Chief Polina online to be able to speak? Yes.

▶ 11:52 Speaker 4: Can you hear me? yes all right can you see me I just hear me I can just hear you okay can I

▶ 12:03 Speaker 1: interrupt for one moment um a city uh this foot if you switch him to panelist if you click on the attendee list you can transfer him to panelists and then

▶ 12:29 Speaker 4: you'll be able to see him at least now he's a square we can hear you chief but

▶ 12:46 Speaker 4: we can't see you but that's okay okay I can appreciate this these trying times that we're in right now but i have a prepared statement that i'd like to read into into the record as best but uh again ahmed kalina fire chief of the city uh respectfully request the adoption of water before you for the purchase of a new fire engine uh also known as a fire pumper truck for the fire department cannot emphasize enough um importance of purchasing a vital piece of fire equipment as i've previously stated our fleet is aging it's tired and unreliable and we've frequently experienced delays in our responses due to mechanical issues our vehicle repair over the years has increased significantly our oldest engine is now over 20 years old the national fire protection agency known as the nfpa standard states their vehicles This old should be mothballed, i.e. retired.

▶ 13:53 Speaker 4: Recently, this engine pumper failed its pump test, and it cannot perform at its rated pumping capacity.

▶ 14:03 Speaker 4: With the purchase of a new pumper, I would move the 07 pumper truck, currently located at the Tremont Street Fire Station, into the spare apparatus category and place a new pumper. engine to station which is the tremont street we would then retire the 1999 pumper truck which is now over 20 years old a pumper is critical piece of a fire equipment it's used to pump water from the trucks on board water tank through hose lines and into structures to attack and extinguish fires is also carry large amounts of hose used for water supply from the fire hydrants in the streets to other fire engines other equipment carried ground ladders medical equipment biohazard equipment and most important the personnel who executes their duties most most of the times in hostile environments and i guarantee the safety of the public and the firefighters if the city doesn't provide us with equipment to achieve our goals my professional opinion this pumper is essential to public safety that is why the city's cip committee ranked the pumper high on their list of priorities i respectfully request and we appreciate your consideration of support for this order thank you

▶ 15:41 Speaker 1: any questions vice chair Migliorelli i have three people in queue uh yes so Tramontozzi was first

▶ 15:49 John N. Tramontozzi: Yes. Councilor Tramontozzi? Yes, thank you. Thank you, Chief Colina, for coming in. Just to give a little background information on the benefit of the public as well as the counselors. Beginning in June of 2019, the fiscal year 20 capital improvement program committee was established by the mayor to review the city's capital improvement projects i was the city council representative at the time and also members of that committee included members of the administration jimmy scafie the auditor at delarusso the treasurer at flavin public works director rick stinson martha grover uh school committee member ed o'connor and a community representative lisa lewis uh it was up our goal and the purpose of the committee to evaluate the administration's capital improvements and i need to mention this because we looked at the city's needs for the future and rated them uh in terms of priority of uh of needs and uh the we grouped them in group a b c d and e starting a's urgent high priority projects down to e which was very low priority the the equipment the fire equipment and that's in this order were all part of the group a a category a group a being urgent high priority projects that should be done if at all possible a special effort should be made to find sufficient funding for all the projects in this group so um i just want to just bring to the attention of the the council that uh the pumper as well as as the other fire equipment and the front fight at the floor of the of the station we're all classified by our committee as a group a urgent high priority needs now obviously this was before now coronavirus over at 19 situation and I would leave that to the vote of the council whether or not we can put behind us these urgent high priority projects i would ask the chief how urgent is the need for this particular vehicle thank you council the um the apparatus once we execute

▶ 18:39 Speaker 4: um contract it would go um into manufacturing phase and it would take a pumper truck about 12 months to 14 months to manufacture so anything that we do now or delay it's just it's just going to take that much longer about a year maybe a little bit more

▶ 19:00 John N. Tramontozzi: before we take delivery of that apparatus is the public at risk if we delay the uh

▶ 19:07 Speaker 4: the appropriation of this monies the public's at risk anytime our apparatus doesn't start uh fails to move forward being able to pump at its capacity these are the challenges that we have right now not exclusive to one piece of apparatus an aging fleet purchase of this pumper

▶ 19:38 John N. Tramontozzi: would be the start of placing thank you i appreciate it i'll defer to other members

▶ 19:45 Speaker 1: who might have some questions really counselor mcmaster was next counselor mcmaster hey madam

▶ 19:51 Speaker 2: chair good evening thank you for being here chief um can you talk a little bit about the

▶ 19:56 Shawn M. MacMaster: uh costs that uh we've accrued last few years relative to our apparatus and let me back up for a minute and i just want to make sure that i understand um the plan for this vehicle correctly So if I understand it correctly, what will happen is if we approve this appropriation and this goes out to bid, the engine is customized for our needs, it will replace – what will happen is engine four will go out of service, and engine two will replace engine four, and the new vehicle will replace engine two.

▶ 20:36 Shawn M. MacMaster: Do I have that correct?

▶ 20:45 Shawn M. MacMaster: you do have that correct yes okay so with respect to engine two can you talk a little bit about the costs that we've incurred over the last few years how however far back you can go so we get a sense as to how much we're putting into

▶ 21:09 Speaker 4: engine two currently yeah so yeah we'll put in a hundred hundred thousand dollars

▶ 21:18 Speaker 4: give or take hundred dollars for engine tools specifically for the last three

▶ 21:24 Shawn M. MacMaster: fiscal years and do you have a sense can you break that down a little bit so we have an idea of what that looks like on an annual basis are we seeing more costs over from one year to the next and I assume some of that's going to depend on

▶ 21:41 Speaker 4: the nature of the repair it depends on the nature of the repair but I'm sorry

▶ 21:44 Jen Grigoraitis: to interrupt madam chair I just given the time it's 8 14 p.m. and per our rules we need to gavel into the full council meeting by 815 I'd like to make a motion to recess this and come back to it to recess made by councillor