Appropriations & Oversight Committee — 2022-03-03
Attendance
Christopher Cinella ; Jack Eccles ; Mark Garipay ; Jen Grigoraitis ; Maya Jamaleddine ; Manjula Karamcheti ; Shawn M. MacMaster ; Leila Migliorelli ; John Obremski ; Robb Stewart ; Ryan Williams
Agenda
- Call to Order
- Public Comment
- Orders
- ORDER-2022-74 : Appointment of Jennifer Champagne, 11 Faxon Street, to the Human Rights Commission for a three-year term, said term to expire the last day of February 2025
- ORDER-2022-75 : Donation from various library trust funds totaling $2,000,000.00 toward costs related to Melrose Public Library Renovations; said funds to be deposited into Fund No. 3390
- ORDER-2022-76 : Acceptance of Fifty Thousand Dollars ($50,000) from a FY2022 State Budget Earmark to Address Ell Pond Water Chestnut Infestation
- ORDER-2022-77 : An Appropriation from Free Cash, account number 01-324001, in the amount of One Million Five Hundred Thousand ($1,500,000.00) Dollars to the Memorial Hall Renovation Project, account number 33864-490000.
- Adjournment
Minutes
CITY OF MELROSE APPROPRIATIONS & OVERSIGHT COMMITTEE CALENDAR● MARCH 3, 2022 Web-based remote meeting Remote meeting 7:00 PM , Melrose, MA 02176 Attendee Name Title Status Arrived Jen Grigoraitis Chair Present Leila Migliorelli Vice Chair Present Shawn M. MacMaster Present Jack Eccles Absent Mark Garipay Present Maya Jamaleddine Present Robb Stewart Present Manjula Karamcheti Present John Obremski Absent Ryan Williams Present Christopher Cinella President, ex oficio Present
ORDER-2022-74 Appointment Appointment of Jennifer Champagne, 11 Faxon Street, to the Human Rights Commission for a three-year term, said term to expire the last day of February 2025 Recommend Passage City Council
ORDER-2022-75 Donation Donation from various library trust funds totaling $2,000,000.00 toward costs related to Melrose Public Library Renovations; said funds to be deposited into Fund No. 3390 Recommend Passage City Council
ORDER-2022-76 Grant Acceptance of Fifty Thousand Dollars ($50,000) from a FY2022 State Budget Earmark to Address Ell Pond Water Chestnut Infestation Recommend Passage City Council
ORDER-2022-77 Appropriation City of Melrose Page 1 3/4/2022 12:05 PM Minutes Appropriations & Oversight Committee March 3, 2022 An Appropriation from Free Cash, account number 01-324001, in the amount of One Million Five Hundred Thousand ($1,500,000.00) Dollars to the Memorial Hall Renovation Project, account number 33864-490000. Recommend Passage City Council City of Melrose Page 2 3/4/2022 12:05 PM
Transcript
▶ 0:00 Jen Grigoraitis: Thursday, March 3rd, 2022, and this is a meeting of the Appropriations and Oversight Committee, the time being 7 p.m. I will call this meeting to order. I am Chair Grigoraitis, and joining me tonight are Vice Chair Migliorelli, and Councilors McMaster, Garipay, Stewart, Karamcheti, Williams, and President Cinella, ex officio. this gives notice of a quorum for the record pursuant to an act extending certain covet 19 measures signed by governor baker on june 16 2021 that extended the remote meeting provisions of his march 12 2020 executive order suspending certain provisions of the open meeting law this meeting of the appropriations and oversight committee will be conducted via remote participation we will post a comprehensive record of these proceedings as soon as possible after
▶ 0:56 Jen Grigoraitis: the meeting on the city of melrose website and on mmtv3.org the public can find online online access instructions to view this meeting at the city of melrose.org backslash remote hyphen meeting and just for the record it looks like we're now joined by counselor jamala dean as well so at this time i will motion by unanimous consent to open public comment seeing no objection public comment is now open this is the portion of our meeting where any member of the public can comment on any item on our agenda i'm just checking we do have several attendees in the virtual room if there is anyone wishing to speak in public comment if you could please raise your digital hand i'm not seeing anyone mr clerk how about you i'm not seeing
▶ 1:48 Jen Grigoraitis: anyone with their digital hand raised at this time okay all right so at this time i will motion by unanimous consent to close public comment. Seeing no objection, public comment is now closed. We have, I believe, four orders before us tonight. The first item before us is Order 2022-74, Appointment of Jennifer Champagne, 11 Faxon Street, to the Human Rights Commission for a three-year term, said term to expire the last day of February 2025. And at this time, I would entertain a motion to suspend rule 37b so that we can hear from members of the administration madam chair i just fyi i think the mayor's having trouble getting on so okay i think other people have an issues too i don't know something that happened is he okay um i did motion so i don't
▶ 2:49 Jen Grigoraitis: guess okay so we I'm also open we can take an order out of order I do believe all of these orders are requiring members of the administration to be present so I'm looking to see I do see miss champagne in the virtual waiting room I'm happy to move to if we want to Andrew have you heard from the mayor I'm emailing him an attendee link, and I'll just make him a panelist. Okay, so we'll continue just with our procedural emotion to suspend rule 37 B. Then I'll jump at 1 motion to suspend rule 37 B. So, I think he's in. Okay. So we have a motion made by vice chair. Really? Seconded by counselor Stewart to suspend rule 37 B. Mr clerk when you have a 2nd, can you please call the role? I know you're juggling a lot.
▶ 3:48 Sure, um, nice chair. Yes. Counselor McMaster. Yes. Counselor. Yes, counselor. Yeah, counselor Stewart. Yes. Counselor. Yes. Counselor Williams. Yes, president. Yes. And share the greatest. Yes, that brings us to 9. yes. And yes, so the motion carries, so at this time, we'll bring in mayor Broder and Ms champagne. And I see mayor Broder's. Name, but no video. Oh, there we go. I have more luck than last night. That's right side up. All right, Mayor Broder, the floor is yours. Terrific. Thank you Madam Chair and thank you to all the members of the Appropriations and Oversight Committee. As you know, we are here to consider for you to consider the nomination of Jennifer Champagne to the Human Rights Commission.
▶ 5:10 Paul Brodeur: I first met Jen a little while ago when she expressed an interest in coming on to the, coming on to the Commission and It's kind of great. You never know what you're going to get right and had a chance to review her resume from some folks on the, and then had a chance to talk with her. And I can tell you about. In terms of background and temperament, you have her. Her resume before you she's she's an attorney that has a, you know, she hasn't been an attorney. Quite so long, certainly compared to me, she has a, an incredible range of experience. Representing a very, very diverse client set. She is a compelling advocate and. She is certainly engaged in our community and this is an opportunity to bring a really outstanding candidate.
▶ 6:10 uh into a position of significant responsibility i think she'll be an asset to the commission and to the city and i look forward to her favorable uh consideration by you folks and appreciate the opportunity to be here thank you mayor broder miss champaign thank you for being here tonight if there's any statement you wish to make to the committee you can do so now thank you chair and thank you mayor broder for those kind words thank you council members for taking the opportunity to meet with me tonight. I would be honored to serve as a commissioner on the Human Rights Commission if given the opportunity. Melrose has given so much to our family, especially the past two years, and I would just like to give back to Melrose. I'm an advocate in training and by nature and
▶ 6:58 Maya Jamaleddine: think that the Human Rights Commission would be a great fit for me. If you have any questions, I'm happy to answer them. Thank you. Are there any councillors wishing to speak? Councillor Jamaleddine. Followed by Council Williams. Thank you. Chairman. Thank you so much for stepping up and, you know, and your interest in serving on the human rights commission myself and other fellow counselors had the honor to serve on the human rights commission. So it's very dear to our hearts. uh um what what made you think of the human rights like what what is the most interest uh for you um as by serving on the human rights commission sure thank you councillor for that question um so as you saw by my resume currently i'm a stay-at-home mom and teaching to pandemic
▶ 7:57 homeschooled children. Before that I practiced law and advocated for a very diverse clientele which just gave me an exposure to a lot of different people in the first-hand experience to see what people were struggling with whether it be refugees or immigrants from around the world, low-income minorities, veterans, elderly. So I've always been an advocate in my work So, I feel like this is just a way for me to continue that work as a volunteer in Melrose from a personal background. Advocacy has been a big thing for me since I was a child and my younger brother has cerebral palsy. So, I watched how he dealt with physical disabilities, but on top of that, compounded by discrimination through his school, from friends, and through a broader system.
▶ 8:50 And I also have a lot of first hand exposure, working side by side, not as a representative, but as a coworker with immigrants. And I would just like to give back to those communities. That's that's great. Thank you so much. And for, you know, I'm sure your experience and we'll, we'll bring a lot to our community. Have you had any. experience with the population in Melrose with our residents in terms of you know having any interaction you you pointed out immigrants and you pointed out you know minorities um how have your experience been with those like people from this population so I'm going to be honest I feel like my exposure in Melrose has been pretty limited because I moved here in December 2017
▶ 9:44 I guess and with young a six-week-old baby at the time and so right as I was looking to really start to get more involved in our community the pandemic hit and the past two years have felt like a wash for me as far as getting more involved this year I have been involved with children in Melrose I've been leading a reading group for other homeschooled children in Melrose since september which has been a great experience yeah awesome thank you so much and good luck thank you thank you councillor chamaldi and councillor williams and then i have vice chair Migliorelli and councillor karmachadian hello miss champaign thank you for joining us tonight uh jennifer and i live quite close to each other so we see each other passing all the time
▶ 10:32 Ryan Williams: and um of course as a ward 7 resident i'm thrilled to see somebody of her caliber and as the mayor set her temperament joining the hrc i've had a lot of opportunities to to speak with jennifer and get to know her over the years and i think she's an excellent choice for this uh for this role uh she's always been very communicative and she's always impressed me with her thoughtfulness about city issues so um i just wanted to to offer that recommendation i had wanted to ask about her intentions with joining the hrc but i think counselor Jamaleddine's questions really explored that thoroughly so i'll just say welcome aboard and thanks for coming to talk with us tonight thank you very much councillor williams thank you vice chair Migliorelli
▶ 11:20 Leila Migliorelli: thank you ms champaign um for putting your name forward for this position um i also served in the human rights commission alongside councillor Jamaleddine and it was a wonderful experience to um get to know the community better um and uh really connect with residents and make a difference and i guess i would i would say like what's your familiarity with the human rights commission work currently and what might you like to um change or add going forward in your um tenure there uh great thank you counselor for that question um so i from what i know um the human rights commission is very involved in just keeping an open dialogue and being involved in a lot of Melrose community events. I think obviously I'd like to continue
▶ 12:07 Leila Migliorelli: that great work. I think for me, I think open dialogue is just a huge issue these days, not just in Melrose, but everywhere. So anything we could do to keep an open dialogue would be something I'd like to work on. I'm, as I said, big into advocacy, but there are a lot of ways that I think we could add to the dialogue but also offer assistance and I don't want to step on other programs if they're already in existence but I know for me one thing I've noticed just through our small reading group in Melrose the past two years a lot of young kids have really struggled with reading in particular with virtual learning and a lot of kids get left behind and I've just seen how helpful it's been to the small number of kids in our group and I've wondered
▶ 13:00 Leila Migliorelli: if something like that if we could work with the schools and maybe get involved and find out what children might be struggling in reading and create something like that where we have volunteers leading reading groups for children just to get involved and learn a love for reading oftentimes i find that a lot of the kids who do get left behind are kids who are from lower income families or minority families so i think by nature without even being polarizing that would be a great program if it's not already being done. Thank you, Ms. Champagne. You're welcome. Councillor Karn Fahey. Hi, Ms. Champagne. Thank you so much for putting your name forward and for wanting to be a part of the Human Rights Commission.
▶ 13:48 Manjula Karamcheti: I'm actually the liaison on the City Council to the Human Rights Commission, so very much appreciate what you shared about your background professionally and personally. Seems like you he would be a really great fit. Councilor Migliorelli kind of already asked my question, but I'm gonna ask it again, just more in the scope of thinking about diversity, equity and inclusion and the Human Rights Commission's role in that. What do you see as the Human Rights Commission's role in thinking about diversity and equity and inclusion in Melrose? Sure, um, I think that I can learn more and would hope to learn more, um, through, uh, working with the commission. Um, 1 thing I've been doing for the past 6 months through my daughter school is a seed training where it's all about, um, teachers and parents learning about, uh, seeking education, equity and diversity.
▶ 14:45 Um, and it really focuses on open dialogues and so I think. Our role is to make Melrose as open and welcoming and safe for all as possible. I think there are various ways we can do that continuing work that we already are. I think there are small steps that also could be added that help, for example, just making it easily accessible links for representation. I know even my husband's firm right now, they want volunteers to help people from Ukraine apply for visas and things like that. Um, I know just from the legal end, that's always very helpful and a small step that we can do. Um, but I think more just community opportunities for dialogue in a safe forum where people can ask questions, uh, in a comfortable and safe forum and disagree and debate, but learn from each other.
▶ 15:40 Wonderful, thank you so much and I look forward to seeing you at the meetings. Thank you. Thank you. Are there any other counselors wishing to ask questions? President Sinella. I have a question, but thank you for being here. I've never been on the Human Rights Commission, but I'm happy. To make a motion to approve you, recommend you to the full board. Second, we have a motion recommendation for passage made by President Sinella seconded by Councilor Stewart. Is there any discussion? Seeing none, Mr. Clerk, can you please call the roll? Please, Chair McLeroy. Yes, Councillor McMaster. Yes, Councillor Garipay. Yes, Councillor Jamaleddine. Yes, Councillor Stewart. Yes, Councillor Carneshetty. Yes, Councillor Williams.
▶ 16:45 Jen Grigoraitis: Yes. President Zanella? Yes. And Chair Grigoraitis? Yes. 9 yes. 9 yes, so the motion carries. Thank you, Ms. Champaign. You will be recommended to the full Council at our next meeting, which you do not need to attend. Thank you very much. Have a great night. Thank you. Thank you all. Thank you, Mayor Broder. Have a good evening to both of you. All right. The next item on our agenda is order 2022-75, donation from various library trust funds totaling $2 million toward costs related to Melrose Public Library renovations, said funds to be deposited into fund number 3390. And I believe we have library director Linda Gardner joining us tonight. There she is. Hi, Linda. Good evening. How are you? The floor is yours to give us a little information about this request.
▶ 17:53 As long as you're a little hard to hear. When we were initially looking to move forward. Innovation trustee. To 2Million dollars. In support of. You're you keep fading in and out. Is it possible to try to bring your Mike closer? Okay, the trustees voted to 2Million dollars. In support of the building renovation. Um, they also have previously. Funded the study that led to the application, which was successful survey. Really have a strong commitment to seeing this project. succeed and so we have recently affected the transfer of funds from the trust funds to the city account thank you are there any counselors wishing to ask questions what is the president's enough motion to accept the donation so
▶ 19:36 Jen Grigoraitis: So we have a motion to, I'm going to go with recommend for passage, made by President Sinella, seconded by Councillor Garipay. Is there any discussion? Seeing none, Mr. Clerk, can you please call the roll? Vice Chair Bigley-Early? Yes. Councillor McMaster? Yes. Councillor Garipay? Yes. Councillor Jamaleddine? Yes. Councillor Stewart? Yes. Yes. Councilor Stewart? Yes. Councilor Karimshadi? Yes. Councilor Williams? Yes. President Sinella? Yes. And Chair Grigoraitis? Yes. Nine yes. Nine yes. So the motion carries and this will be recommended to the full council. Thank you for being here tonight. Lovely to see you. All right, the next item on our agenda is order 2022-76 acceptance of $50,000 for my FY 2022.
▶ 20:40 State budget earmark to address El Pond water chestnut infestation. I believe we have conservation agent Eric Devlin joining us for this order. We have 2 more that I'm just adding right now. I guess that's it. Hi, I believe Paul Moore is also here on behalf of the Conservation Commission and is Michael also a member of the CONCOM? Yes, he's the Commission Chair. Okay, all right. Thank you. Welcome, gentlemen. The floor is yours. Okay, so I know that we were, well, the Tate Leopard Garabedian, I believe, We've made the request from the state to get this grant for us after I mentioned the problem that we were having with the water chestnut out there at Elkhorn, and we were desperately seeking funding to be able to deal with this problem and a couple of different methods
▶ 21:53 Jen Grigoraitis: that we were looking into, mechanical harvester being the best choice that we came up with In order to effectively tackle this over the course of. At least 3 years, so. I believe we've finally got everything in place to be able to actually get this transferred over to the city so that we can be in using it for the contract that we have from. Salt Lake management. Okay, thank you for that update. So this is a earmark that replica was able to get inserted into the 2022 state budget. And this is just transferring the funds. Into the city accounts, are there any questions from. Or comments from counselors counselor, followed by council Williams. That's okay. The floor is yours. Thank you. Thank you. Eric for being here. I appreciate it. Quick question.
▶ 22:54 Mark Garipay: Last year, and we had, I think, allocated some free cash for this project. Also was that about 25,000. So, do you remember that? I don't remember the dollar amount. 27,500, 27,500. So, um. That plus this 50,000 will all be for the chestnut project chestnut removal. That's correct. Uh, the 27, 5 was an original quote that we got for 1 year's treatments. uh we need to do this for at least three years so that was only funding for one year and the price goes up every year you know due to inflation and other costs that are beyond my control so um yeah my next question was this is a three-year process it's not something that we can with all the money get done uh get done in one year it definitely has to be a three-year process
▶ 23:46 Mark Garipay: That's the treatment? Yeah. And how much does it cost annually to treat our ponds in Melrose? We've been spending around $10,000 per year just doing maintenance treatments, herbicides, alum treatment over in our pond in order to keep the phosphorus level down, and algaecide. What is the, um, is that enough money? I guess it's more or less the question. Is that enough money to. To keep these ponds, so we don't run into the same issue. I don't know if the chair or Paul wants to speak on that as well. My opinion is it's not enough to cover it. We're kind of always. Part of the problem is that since this treatment always happens during the summer months. We're always splitting 2 fiscal years to begin with.
▶ 24:44 So, the bills come in for 1 treatment. At the tail end of 1 fiscal year, and then others are coming in at the beginning of the next. So we're always playing this game to try to make sure. Do we have enough money to cover this particular bill for this year versus the next year? Because the fiscal year ends right in the middle of when we're doing the treatments. If I could add, this is Michael Piwanski, I'm the chairman of the Conservation Commission, and annually we get a report from Solitude Lake Management, who we've worked with many years, sort of presenting their recommendations for the various ponds that we are in charge of. And every year, frankly, we don't have enough money, so we work with Eric and the other
▶ 25:33 members to pick what we think is the most effective, but we're never able to really meet the recommendations of solitude. So it could end up costing us more in the future if we end up with a problem like we have at El Pond where like the water chestnut just very quickly overtook the pond. not exactly i mean lpond happened very quickly over just a few years but like i say we're we're never we never quite have the funds to meet the recommendations of this company i think it's another important part to mention is this when we consider it is that we've been very lucky that we have a number of members of the community that have you know come together to help us you know do some hand pulling over you know several weekends to help us maintain this somewhat
▶ 26:30 Mark Garipay: and as you can see we're still falling far behind so um you know not not only is it just a matter of funding um but you know we're having to kind of backfill some of that with volunteer work which is wonderful and it's great to see people get out and you know take some ownership of this but still it just underscores that you know we we don't have the funding that we need to tackle this problem I guess I don't want to put you on the spot, but what do you think is a realistic dollar amount? I mean, we're in the middle of starting budget season. We don't have a ton of a ton of funds, but what do you think is a realistic. Dollar amount annually that would help you. Keep keep up with this project and treat the pawns.
▶ 27:22 I'm sorry, go ahead. Eric, do you recall that, you know, say just outside of this mechanical harvesting that we're embarking on for the next three years, do you recall, as far as just the chemical treatment, what their full recommendation would go annually? Was it closer to 20 or is it less than that? Without doing, taking the water chestnut treatment out entirely. it was somewhere around i want to say maybe 15 000 somewhere around there just based off the recommendations for what they had on the last sheet so okay um just one last question so the 15 000 that would be um is there an annual um maintenance after we do the three-year water chestnut project that we have to uh uh have to do in order to uh keep them from growing uh and is
▶ 28:26 that included in the 15 or would that be in addition to the 15 000 that would probably be in addition to it i think they were saying they want 1200 per year for one day of manual hand pulling by them and that's just with one or two people so they don't do a ton uh in that one day but that's pretty much an anticipated annual maintenance item for years going on after that we're trying to supplement it with volunteers excuse me like like paul said um we'd be seeking volunteers to help us keep up with this maintenance this hand pulling maintenance pretty much forever like you'll never fully get rid of these water chestnuts so we're going to have to try to look for volunteers and use continue to
▶ 29:18 Ryan Williams: use solitude um for the foreseeable future okay um thank you uh you know the pond is in the middle middle of the community but it's also a big portion of uh my world war four so um i appreciate all your your help and everything you do i know it takes a lot of time so thanks a lot thank you Councillor and now Councillor Williams. Thank you all for being here with us and thank you to Councillor Garipay for raising these questions because he answered some of the things that I was going to ask. So what I have that's different was a question regarding whether there are any chestnut problems in any of the Ward 7 ponds, Towners Pond, you know, Ward 7 and Ward 6, Tundra's pond and Swain's pond, and whether anything that this grant funding is going
▶ 30:15 towards would serve as treatments for those, or are those mostly focused on algaecide and herbicide? We don't have any water chestnut problems in those two ponds, thankfully. I mean, I don't, I hope it doesn't, I'm not really sure, I'm not really sure exactly how the water chestnut ended up in El Pond to begin with. I'm assuming it was from um uh ducks or you know geese or something like that going back and forth and just we were unlucky enough to have it go in there but it there isn't anything like that over in those other two ponds at the moment I know water lilies although native they tend to grow in nuisance levels over a towner so I believe that's the biggest problem that we tend to have over there ideally I'd like to have
▶ 31:04 second herbicide treatment or something in order to keep them under control because typically I'll get a lot of complaints around August that the water lilies have pretty much taken over towners. But I can't think of anything else at the moment just offhand about what we would need grant funding for. The last time that we tried to do mechanical harvesting of the water chestnuts there was an issue right with the scheduling of the machine and we couldn't get it out is that correct yeah we need basically we needed to get the contract signed and have everything all set up well before june which i believe that's we got the uh free cash appropriation at that point it was too late to be able to try to get a contract with them and and so do you feel
▶ 31:59 Ryan Williams: that with the timeline of this funding that uh you'll be more likely to to make that contract in time for the before the seeds drop yes that's great that's great and i want to say speaking as a guy who got out on a kayak and pulled a bunch of water chestnuts it is frustrating to see them reappear but it's also kind of fun to go out on the lake and uh and do the work so if you guys have any more volunteer opportunities please let us know because we'll be happy to share them with their constituents it is a lot of fun thank you there'll be plenty of them thank you councillor williams are there any other counselors wishing to ask questions councillor Garipay i would just like to make a motion uh to recommend for a passage second second so we have a motion to
▶ 32:48 Jen Grigoraitis: recommend made by councillor Garipay seconded by president sanella is there any discussion Seeing none, Mr. Clerk, can you please call the roll? Vice Chair Migliorelli? Yes. Councilor Garipay? Yes. Councilor Jamaleddine? Yes. Councilor Stewart? Yes. Councilor Karamshadi? Yes. Councilor Williams? Yes. President Cinella? Yes. Chair Grigoraitis? Yes, yes, yes. So, oh, Councilor McMaster. We can't hear you. It wasn't called. On the roll call vote. Yes, my apologies. Councilor McMaster. Thank you for catching that Councilor McMaster. So 9, yes, so the motion to recommend carries. So this will come before the full Council next week. Thank you all for being here tonight. And I just want to 1 more time, recommend recognize rep for her advocacy at the state level to ensure that these funds are available.
▶ 33:57 Jen Grigoraitis: So, thank you all have a good evening. All right, our final item for tonight is order 2022 77 and appropriation from free cash account number 0, 1, 3, 2, 4, 0, 0, 1. In the amount of 1,500,000 dollars to the memorial hall renovation project account number. 3, 3, 8, 6, 4 dash 4, 9, 0, 0, 0, 0. And I know we have many people coming on for this. Denise, are you going to be kicking things off? Yes, I am and I think we have everybody. Let me just double check here. Very good. Okay. Yes. Good evening. And thank you for this opportunity. I'm going to just introduce the folks that are here. My name is Denise. Kathy. I'm the director of planning and community development. And joining me tonight is Kathy, who is the executive director of Memorial Hall, Bonnie Reese, our city engineer.
▶ 35:06 Denise Gaffey: Brian Neely, who is our consulting engineer with Gale Associates. And Patrick De La Russa is also joining us, CFO, to answer any questions specific to free cash. And also we have the chairwoman of the Memorial Hall Board of Trustees and several members in attendance, I believe. I just want to mention that in case any questions come up later. And as, you know, we have been developing plans to restore the exterior more and address water infiltration issues that have plagued the building for years. The council previously approved 2.3Million dollars for this work. And as our 1st step, we hired Gail associates, they are experts in building envelope work. To thoroughly evaluate the building, so they performed an extensive leak audit, including test cuts and geo technical evaluations.
▶ 36:02 Denise Gaffey: In addition to a visual inspection inside and outside of the building. This in depth testing methodology identified more extensive damage than originally envisioned and. Along with structural defects that we could not identify initially through visual inspections alone. This was all outlined in a very detailed report that Gale Associates prepared, which was submitted along with this order. So hopefully you've had a chance to take a look at that. So, consequently, as part of this process, Gale advised us that the construction budget would only allow for us to address the most immediate areas of concern to prevent water infiltration now, but that we would need to establish a future phase of work.
▶ 36:49 Denise Gaffey: In order in roughly 5 to 7 years in order to tackle the rest of the work. So, that that funding for that is is estimated to cost approximately 1.5. Billion dollars, and that particular scope of work was itemized in the memo that I also submitted with this order. In which we're going to review in a little more detail in a few moments. So, we presented this information to the board of trustees. To Mayor Broder and to Patrick DellaRusso along with our recommendation that. It would be more, it would be most cost effective and advantageous to try to fund all of this work now. If at all possible in order to take advantage of the design team that is in place. To avoid cost escalations that will occur.
▶ 37:34 Denise Gaffey: In future years, in addition, additional mobilization costs that will occur. Also to minimize disruptions to the building and to allow Kathy and the trustees to proceed to address the interior renovations that are needed. And really should only be accomplished once the building is weather type. And also, just as an aside, I've been involved in other restoration projects at Memorial Hall over the years. Including many smaller projects that were accomplished with grants. and more limited city funds and the results have been a more of a piecemeal approach that makes tracking repairs and identifying identifying future needs more challenging so i think there's great advantages to accomplishing all this work at one time to ensure that everything is weather
▶ 38:20 Denise Gaffey: tight for decades to come so given this information and the availability and the availability of free cash which is ideally suited for one-time capital expenses like this it's recommended that we make this investment now. So with this as a background, I thought it would be good to just turn this over to our consultant from Gale Associates for a very quick presentation of the findings from the evaluation. He has put some slides together just to show you in a little more detail some of the areas of deterioration and disrepair that we hope to address and restore as part of this project um and then we'd be happy to talk talk about it further answer any questions that you have so if we could have uh allow brian to share his screen right now all right there we
▶ 39:28 go all right one second sorry it's starting to get wrong counselor gary can you not hear sorry uh yes if they could just speak up a little bit i'm having a little trouble here it's a little little thing sorry thank you thank you all right i'm not sure this is not sharing the right can you see the presentation now perfect thank you yes we can i'm just going to quickly go through presentation that i believe you have a copy in front of you just to go over the scope of work that um we are performing at the memorial building uh these are some overall shots that we're taking with the drone uh that we used to fly the project during the evaluation phase the evaluation phase as Denise mentioned was included testing of the brick and the roofing materials to understand
▶ 40:57 the existing conditions in a better detail we also performed geotech boring to get a better understanding some of that settlement that was observed in the stairs and this allowed us to put together a detailed set of documents as far as noting what the deficiencies were which what led to the uh budget scope and uh repair items on the left side you can see some of the deterioration of the interior space because of moisture penetration that's occurring through the rising walls at the roof above the roof level causing damage to interior finishes within the gar hall and the auditorium on the right side you can see some photos of the condition of existing window sills that are uh laminating pulling apart glass is falling out um on the
▶ 41:44 upper clear story windows just causing problems um obviously not being air and watertight um we're also going to be treating and addressing a lot of the peeled wood elements making sure they're consolidated repaired and agent solid and repointing all the brick and stone and adjusting concrete um small and prepared images um so the scope of work i won't go through the detail but is going to include concrete major work window work where we're going to remove and restore the existing windows we're also going to include a new low profile aluminum storm windows to improve the energy efficiency of the building uh the roof uh the doors will be replacing the north entrance doors which are the opposite side of the building from the fire station
▶ 42:27 then we'll be repairing some miscellaneous damages to the existing doors that will remain We'll be removing or replacing the roof with a new PVC roof membrane with additional insulation for improved energy performance. We're also going to be addressing some of these issues at the chimney cap by lowering the cap, capping the abandoned flue, removing the deteriorated metal flue liner that is basically hanging on at the top of the roof. There is multiple areas of sheet metal roofing within the project that is either missing or place i'll move over that in a minute i'll also show you some structural steel that we identified during the test cuts that is uh delaminated and in poor condition it needs to be repaired
▶ 43:12 now some additional scope items are listed in the bullet that denise provided to you which will be adding to the project and look over and these pictures so it just gives you an idea of some of the general conditions we're looking at um where joints that have failed previous repairs that are on um that don't use the same water type as the original building and leave a dissimilar kind of spotting look to the facade concrete um smalls that are uh potentially a hazard to people walking the store and also could let more moisture and more damage into the building uh the major repairs are going to be replaced um with the detailing that matches the existing scene at the top right some water joints that are open loose on the right are a sample of a metal
▶ 43:56 t that we're going to be inserting into the sky-facing joints that protects the water joints from further water filtration and provides a longer lasting detail uh the window repairs are going to be removing the windows putting them into a shop removing the glazing and the lead cage um putting in new glass or repairing the existing reset existing glass and then putting new glazings in and then painting every switch we'll also be adding a New color glass to the auditorium clear story windows. Well, a lot of the glass in that space, they repair and replace over time as the. Wood muttons are failing and the existing ways and parties a lot of rolling windows in. Those glasses are repaired with different types of glass, which given on.
▶ 44:44 Regular appearance, the insides will be replacing the incorrect color glass with 1, uniform color as part of this additional money. We'll also be providing shades in all the windows that are currently missing that. That includes some of the changing rooms in the upper level that don't have any shades at all. And other locations where they're missing or damaged. The interior store windows that we discussed are going to be installed on the inside of the window. They're going to be thin profiles so that they don't impact the aesthetics of the interior of the building. We can provide additional energy efficiency to the single pane windows that are there now. The upper clear story windows currently during some performances need to be darkened there that's darkened by using a black plastic bag.
▶ 45:29 Um, ribboning over the windows that's leading to further deterioration of the existing would trim. And what we're going to replace and said with this electronic exterior shades that can be used. To lower the shades in those areas during the performances that need require it. Um, and then, uh, so successful and maintainable from the exterior is needed. uh that'll be powered with controls so it'll be a safe method to access that into to operate them uh the rear of the stage area includes uh sheet metal and trim that is deteriorated will be replaced um to match the existing uh the front entry door has some damages uh the wood that will be repaired painted uh similar the existing metal doors are going to
▶ 46:13 remain but we'll prepare any spots and provide equipment uh the north lobby doors are in poor condition they don't meet current um egress code requirements so we'll be replacing them with doors that match the south lobby doors to face the fire station which are two pairs of larger leaf doors but we're going to replace them with fiberglass wood door rather than with the solid wood door because those are used mostly for maintenance and catering and things like that and get a little bit more abuse the rear door on the top right hand corner is the organ door which is in poor condition as daylight visible through air and water against the building so we'll be repairing or replacing that with a new fiberglass door to match the system roof replacement as i mentioned has several
▶ 47:05 conditions that we'll be addressing to provide a watertight flashing condition we'll be increasing the thermal proficient thermal efficiency of the roof As the chimney cap we talked about earlier, that will be reduced. The top right shows the existing condition. The bottom right shows the lowest condition that the historic has approved. You can see on the left the damages to the existing flue liner. That is no longer connected. The sheet metal is in generally good condition. We'll be doing some repair work as needed. The copper banding element on the left will be removed and replaced with new. And what we want to do with the project is bring back some of the original ornamentation that was not a part of the original building, but it's no longer there.
▶ 47:51 You can see in the right, the current photograph of the building and on the left postcard image from the early 1920s that indicate there was some banding that goes around the front piers. You can tell that that's missing by some shading of the existing stone. Now, the upper left-hand side, you can see a sample of what was there facing the fire station, and then a wreath on the side that faces away from the fire station on the north side. So we'll be putting those elements back on and replicating the existing. We've worked with manufacturers in the past to provide 100% replication of the existing reputation through molding and sheet metalwork. So these are just some samples of what we'll be doing, but in our case matching the existing banding and wreath structures.
▶ 48:36 During the demolition and test cut work before we found that there was some deteriorated steel elements that hold up the stone piers at both sides of the building. You see in the bottom right the exfoliation of the steel when water enters the building and thus the steel starts to flake, this is significantly deteriorated. So we'll be storing that section of the building and removing or replacing the steel and it's new to match existing. I believe you all have a copy of the expanded scope budget and the line items that we're to add to the project to complete all of the wire renovation items and then as our graduate schedule um assuming that this is accepted and passed we are planning on completing the 100 design scope
▶ 49:22 with these additional items by the end of april uh sorry by the end of march so that uh april will be out to bid and we'll be looking at construction through the fall and spring of 2023. thank you i'm going to leave any of these on denise or uh stop share hi i think you're okay to stop sharing for now unless any of the counselors want to see any of the images again at this moment um but at this time we're happy to answer any questions that you have are there counselors who wish to ask questions counselor Garipay thank you um i supported this order originally when it came down i'm gonna support it now i think it's important that we do the exterior fix it all at all at once so we can get to the interior and get ms pickett broader a building
▶ 50:34 Mark Garipay: that uh that um we can rent it hopefully not that we're not renting it but continue to uh rent and get to it maybe self-sustaining uh on the budget but um i guess i i just have a couple questions and and Ms. Gaffney and I have talked and she understands my frustrations with this with this process. I guess the question is why didn't we bring Gale and Associates in closer at the beginning of this process so when we got the first round when it first came down for 2.3 that we allocated two years ago we didn't have more of an accurate number in detail. It seems like once Gale and associates went in and did a detail inspection we found a lot of additional work so how come just curious how come we just don't get on projects of size we don't bring them in earlier
▶ 51:26 Denise Gaffey: or a company like them in earlier so we have more of an accurate number that we're voting on sure i think what happened originally is we had a very small amount of money through an earmark back in i want to say 2018 and at that time we were trying to um identify and fix some some of the immediate concerns that kathy was having with water infiltration and with deterioration inside the building so we didn't have a lot of money we didn't have the kind of funds that we to do the the scope of evaluation that was done once we brought gail on the inspection that the engineering company at that time did which again was designed more to identify some quick area fixes in the building at that time with the small amount of
▶ 52:20 Mark Garipay: money that we had um that their investigation was more of a visual survey and didn't give us the the extent of the um uh information for that we could get with a more destructive kind of testing protocol that we were able to undertake later i'm just i'm just wondering if if we had spent a little bit more up front would we not be looking at an additional 1.5 million and i you know in this project uh for the initial i think you said that the initial um was an engineering group that that gave us an initial estimate um because we didn't have the money to go or we didn't we didn't allocate the money to go out and do a full scope inspection at that time or is this typically how it uh it tends to work with these size projects
▶ 53:16 Mark Garipay: the goal at that time wasn't to do and in retrospect it maybe wasn't a good decision the goal at that time was to try to take to use some of the funding to just do some repairs in the building and so instead of getting the funding that was needed to do the full scale evaluation So it's just the approach because it was just a small amount of money at the time. Yeah, I mean, my concern, like I said, I'm supported, I'm 100% behind it. My concern going forward is trying to get as much of a post-accurate number on these large-sized projects. But also when we're asked to allocate $2.3 million and two years later, if the money hasn't been spent we just went through a cip process we have 96 projects i'm
▶ 54:07 Mark Garipay: wondering that 2.3 million dollars in in over the two years could have been allocated to a different project that may cost us more money because we've had that money tied up that's that's my my only concern i hope we can take a more a larger view with these um or a more detailed view with these when when these projects as they come down i've already had you know we've already discussing discussing with patrick and my concerns on this so i just um i just have trouble tying up two point two point three million dollars uh for two years when we have so 96 projects on uh that we're looking at on a cip um but i know this has to be done i fully support it um that's just uh that's just that's it thanks thank you counselor okay next up i have counselor stewart
▶ 54:54 Denise Gaffey: and then I have Councillor Karim Cheney in queue. Is there anyone else, any other councillors wishing to be added to that list? Okay, Councillor Stewart. Thank you, Madam Chair, and thank you everyone for coming forward to us tonight. This was an unanticipated, you would consider this as unanticipated, right, based on the results? I think it's safe to say that the extent of the scope was not anticipated. That's correct. I mean, we do have, and I will clarify, we could do a project now with the funding that we have, and it would make the building watertight. It's just that we know we wouldn't be able to address. We know that in five years time, the elements that we can't do now, the portions of the roof
▶ 55:51 Denise Gaffey: or the portions of the masonry that aren't that you know we're not we wouldn't be reappointing right now would need to get done in five years and so then we'd be chasing the problem again understood understood um well since it was unanticipated and we're drawing off of this um there's there's a capital investment that i assume would need to be deferred as a result because we're shifting the monies from something else that we may have had planned to this what what is getting deferred um i'm not sure that there's anything being deferred right now i think and maybe patrick is the best person to speak to this because we we we are we do have the benefit of some funding available that i think is a little bit unique um right now because of um because of
▶ 56:46 the free cash situation and because of the arpa funding so i'm not aware of anything that is actually not being done specifically because of this project but if i make to the counselor a great question good evening um no we don't have anything in the queue right now that's being deferred in the past i think you'll recall we had the library project itself within the queue when we talked about other projects we talked about the bb at a much lower level of funding at that time That was in the queue and the projects that we had for the fire department for the ladder truck that's already been out there. And that project has been completed. So, 1 of the, um. Benefits of just of this project, the way it's we're proposing that it be funded concept is that right now we're just entering a brand new program.
▶ 57:40 We'll have the opportunity to look at these projects 1 on 1 without without having behind us. The concern that perhaps another project wouldn't wouldn't it wouldn't be funded the way we had anticipated or, like, set up a placeholder and the debt program because right now there isn't the only thing I would bring to everyone's attention is that we are cognizant of the fact that the bulk school debt will be coming on in fiscal 23. And so it comes on the 1st, 2 years, probably about 65,000 dollars right now from what we know, then it goes up to a 30 year to almost 200,000 thereafter. It's 351,000. Per year, so another. Benefit of finding it the ways we've been proposing this evening counselor is that, um.
▶ 58:31 Robb Stewart: We're not, we're not going to be going out for another note at a time when we know that, you know, we had that other obligation out there. So, this would really help relieve that the debt program from having to, uh. Be concerned with that, you know, I've gone a little bit back and forth on this quite honestly, because. You know, I know we're waist deep in the planning effort. And it feels like we're jumping the line a little bit because this was a piece of work that we had identified we had funded and we had agreed to and supported. And what I'm hearing is. There's something that has to get done within 5 to 7 years, but it doesn't have to get done today. I don't know the status and the details of the, but if there are items that have to get done today that are potentially higher priority.
▶ 59:37 Robb Stewart: And what's being asked for tonight that gives me cause and pause for for questioning. Are we aligning what we need to do in terms of priority with how we want to allocate the dollars? So, I'm, I'm interested in, um, before I be rash about my decision. I'm interested in how you see that perspective and how we're making these decisions relative to all of the things that we need to do. It's the 96 different projects that we have in line and I know a lot of them are out there, right? But I know there's several of them that are center. So, let me understand how that decision gets made relative to everything else that we need to do if I may typically and that's an excellent question because we're 96 projects on this current list that we're looking at.
▶ 1:00:32 We have yet to fully rank them as a committee. We go through this dilemma each time that we have a capital program because the number of projects that are on there as rated by the committee members are of different priorities to different members. And then collectively we come together and formulate a program that actually orders them based on the collective wisdom of everyone on the committee. So, what we see here happening is a couple of things. 1 is that we, we cease to always. Provide as as much resources as we can with the knowledge that we know of today. We do know today specifically. That the work that we're looking for now to have done a memorial hall. If not completed, regardless of how it's funded, it's the building itself will not get better.
▶ 1:01:27 We know specifically today what the problems are. We also know that the additional cost in a, in 4 or 5 years be higher than what we're looking at this evening. That's a known. And regardless of how candidly, how it's determined in the end to be funded, whether this be the proper funding vehicle or not doesn't change that. We do have programs and projects. There's a number of exactly as you indicated that are much smaller in scope. Some projects within the program are water and sewer based, so they'll be funded through water and sewer enterprise or water and sewer capital. So, they're not all derived from general fund. The ones that we can do that we're able to do. We will do through general bond notes or, and or.
▶ 1:02:16 Unlike other opportunities over the last past couple of years, we now have an ability, which is quite interesting to take advantage of. We have the 8.4Million dollars in funds. Which that the funds could not be used for this big project that we're talking about this evening counselor. We cannot use those funds for this project. It puts an existing project. However. The advantage that we have is that typically the projects that we find on the capital improvement program. That are looking to be funded. There are a number of them that can be funded through. And there are a number that we can fund from free cash. Historically, we didn't have the offer funds available and we always deferred to the free cash now that we know that it's there. And then there's an actual committee designed to.
▶ 1:03:07 To balance that, um. Those considerations out, um, we don't have to use free cash for items in the past. I'll, I'll say, for example, public safety vehicles. Which are also part of the CIP program, we don't have to use free cash for road improvements or sidewalks. Even we can defer a portion to opera. So, we have an avenue open that we, we typically would not ever have. So, if we're ever looking to take advantage of this, I'll consider it in my own mind, a 1 time opportunity. To, um, get this work done now, if that's what the desire of the council is. not incur an additional cost and not incur the financing cost that at some point would have to be undertaken whether it's now or five years from now to get this exact same work done
▶ 1:04:01 that we're asking tonight now just the 1.5 million would generate approximately 1.1 million in interest costs if we intend to borrow it if we added it on to the to the debt schedule So, again, it's not without cost. Candidly, the debt schedule absolutely can support it, but given the way these items have lined up in front of us now, in my opinion, clearly this would be the time where the project is actually in motion to use these funds that are here today without going to the market and addressing that issue. If, in fact, that's what the City Council would like to do. Thank you Mr. De La Rosa. Just a couple of comments based on what you shared and I do appreciate that. I think we want to be careful about how we position ARPA
▶ 1:05:02 Robb Stewart: and the funding there. We had a fairly long appropriations meeting just the other night where the Mayor came on and talked and respond to a lot of questions that we had about what the current thinking is. And I don't think the major thrust, um, rightly, so it's going to be on, um. It's really, it's going to be used, I think appropriately for, um, the. The original intention of the monies that were dispersed by the federal government in terms of helping the community. Uh, finding some of the social aspects that, uh, people. I've been burdened with and being able to fund certain initiatives, whether it be workers or some initiatives to be able to support that. So just my feedback on that is, I think we want to, as
▶ 1:05:56 Robb Stewart: an administration, be careful about how we're saying ARPA is going to be used. And I would not want to position that as, you know, for us to fund the capital investments. So just as feedback. Okay, I will defer for now, because I know there's a number of other folks that have questions as well. I may come back with more, but thank thank you. Uh, everyone and thank you manager. Thank you Stuart just next step. I have concept form shady followed by counselor and then vice chair. Make me a rally. Is there anyone else looking to be added into the queue? All right, Councillor Carr and Cheney. Well, thank you to this whole team for being here to go over the Memorial Hall proposal with us and why you're requesting these funds.
▶ 1:06:49 Manjula Karamcheti: I mean, I just wanted to start by saying, I feel like Memorial Hall is such an important pillar in our community. Personally, my daughter's dance recital is there. My son will be playing in the pops later in the year. um we had our really important vaccination clinic at memorial hall um i've been to chamber of commerce meetings there and even our inauguration was there so it's a very important place and space in our community and i think it's important for us to take care of it if i understand in regards to the funding with this free cash it's just for the outside and will it take care of everything in the gale report in regards to the issues that were surfaced so just to clarify and i and i tried to to make this clear in the memo um it it does
▶ 1:07:49 Denise Gaffey: everything it'll it'll do 100 of all the roof related work including the roof membrane and the flashing and the downspouts and the gutters it'll do all the and that's steel um deterioration that you saw in the earlier slide it'll do 100 of all the um masonry pointing so for the brick and the granite that'll all get repointed and it'll include 100 of all the work associated with the windows all the window restoration in addition to the um the um installing uh the window darkening system some shades that are needed and um the interior storm windows that don't currently exist and then the north the north side doors the um the the scope of work that's not included is this the front stairs that is um that is a sort of a separate it's viewed as
▶ 1:08:44 Denise Gaffey: kind of a separate scope because it would be done under a different trade and it's not as integral to the um building envelope per se so um that is not being recommended right now that would that that would have obviously additional cost implications. Okay, so the free cash request doesn't include doing that part of the project. I did notice that piece in the Gale report and it looked like the stairs were in dire shape in many ways, but this doesn't include that. Yeah, I mean, we did study it and we know the footings would need to be redone. so the stairs would all need to be taken apart and a new footing system would need to be put in place and then the stairs would be reinstalled um that since they are ornamental they are not used
▶ 1:09:39 Manjula Karamcheti: for um any um they're not used they're not used at all they're not accessible so they're not the the main stair staircase um that that wasn't viewed as a higher price as higher priority at this point um and then just to make sure it's sort of i understand why this request is coming now when it seems that there was some funding allocated before if i'm hearing what everybody has been talking about is it being requested now because the amount of money available prior would sort of start the exterior work but not finish it and so since we're starting we have this opportunity through free cash to complete portions as opposed and be done with them as opposed to start something have to close it up and then open it back up again
▶ 1:10:37 Denise Gaffey: so it is really um it is a consequence of the timing we were we were we've been um you know we've been working on the project for a while now and the consultants have been pulling the plans together and we were getting getting pretty close to like 90 completion we've had various meetings with different um groups the historical commission the historic district commission the energy commission to get feedback and you know the kind of permitting that you need to do for a project like this so we've been going through all that process and as we were getting closer to to um getting this project getting the plans completed and putting it out to bid um it also sort of of it coincided with our conversations around free cash and it just seemed logical to sort
▶ 1:11:22 Denise Gaffey: of take stock of whether there was any desire to complete, you know, to add the scope now and do it now. Okay. So, this allows for us to do more while work on the building is already going on as opposed to starting some work, stopping, and then starting work later. Oh, that's very true. Yes. So, we have not bid the project yet. We're pausing for a moment to see if the Council chooses to fund, to make this additional allocation, in which case it'll take Gail a couple of weeks just to complete the plans in order to include this additional scope. And then we will put the complete project out to bid. So, we have not done that yet, but But there is, you know, just to piggyback on Patrick's point earlier, there are significant cost advantages to doing it all now. I mean, we will.
▶ 1:12:21 Maya Jamaleddine: It does cost a lot to remobilize to, you know, in 5 years time to bring a new engineering firm on and the fees associated with that. And then, and then the mobilization for a contractor. Um, we'll add a lot to the cost, so we'll be able to take advantage if we do it all. If we do it all now. Right Thank you so much. That really helps me understand the need for the funding now and how it. Can help in terms of moving memorial hall forward. Thank you. Thank you. Counselor. Thank you. Chairman. Thank you everyone for being with us today at tonight. And thank you. Mrs. for, you know. always being there and patient to answer all our questions um i know we had conversation before about this um uh project um just a follow-up question uh when was this study done so the work
▶ 1:13:21 Maya Jamaleddine: the study that um dale associates has done the evaluation i think it has a september date on it september of 2021 september 2021 so that was uh was it uh during the time when we had the previous proposal proposal so these issues were they discovered during the first um uh project proposal or no no they weren't no to this no no they did a much more on detailed and thorough investigation i see okay uh what is the total cost for both projects now are we talking so our original our original budget um was 2.3 that was the addition 2.3 million was the addition original allocation and then if you add 1.5 to that it will be a total of about 3.8 Okay, do did we do now with those 2 studies and did we do full study for the whole building? Are we expecting to get more surprises or is that the final request?
▶ 1:14:36 Denise Gaffey: I know it's a hard answer. Well, I, I think we feel very confident and I can let Brian jump in. I think we feel very confident in the evaluation that they did on the building envelope, which is essentially all of the exterior portions of the building. Plus, the visual inspections that they did into your interior to the building. I think we feel very confident that we've. Captured all of this scope for this for this project. Brian, do you want to add anything to that? i would agree with that i mean based upon the scope of work could you try again sorry it's all good based on the scope of work that we have identified we feel that the documents the budget that is based upon them are sufficient for what we're looking for today
▶ 1:15:25 Leila Migliorelli: and as denise said the only things that are not included are the few things that were decided were site work and not necessarily building up Awesome. Well, good luck with the project. I am in support and I am looking forward to having another, uh, community dinner. Um, there, so thank you so much. Thank you. Thank you. Councilor Jamal Dean, Vice Chair Migliorelli. Thank you Madam Chairwoman and thank you for everyone for being here tonight. Um, most of my questions have been answered. Um, but I just wanted to state that, um. That I think that infrastructure is always something we should be investing in and, you know, I, I'm a firm believer in, you know, not putting something off that we can we can tackle today.
▶ 1:16:14 Leila Migliorelli: Um, and while it seems like the timeline may have. Could have gone a little bit better in terms of if we had found this out earlier and would have been able to approve the full amount earlier. Um, that would have been ideal, but obviously things happen and this is how projects. Uh, progress, I would be interested in this is sort of not quite on the topic of memorial hall, but if we're, you know, we're talking about the and the other projects that are on the list. I mean, at some point, I think the whole council might need a presentation on the. I'm assuming that we'll be getting that and then so that we can go through a prioritization of that and looking at what are the different funding opportunities for each of those projects.
▶ 1:16:49 Leila Migliorelli: If that comes sooner, perhaps before we go in and head into other projects and looking for approval for other projects that might help alleviate some of these questions going back and forth. Um, on that also, I just out of curiosity, I know in the, yeah, in the housing production plan, there's a mention of the CPA and would something like that cover renovations if we were, would we be able to you if we were a part of the CPA if we had CPA, would we be able to use those funds to to fund this project? So, um, my understanding of the CPA is that is yes. Um, 10%. There's basically 3, 3 legs to that stool CPA funding and it's affordable housing. It's historic preservation and it's open space and recreation.
▶ 1:17:36 Denise Gaffey: And you have to spend at least 10%. Of your CPA funds annually on each of those 3, then obviously you can choose to spend more on any 1 of them, but. So, you know, so, yes, you, you would, you would, we would be accruing funds to be spent on historic preservation projects. And given that this is a, it is a historic building on the national register of historic places. And with a preservation restriction and inside of a historic district, it meets all of the, you know, checks all of those boxes. So I would say, yes. That's that's great because I think, yes, it is. It's such a landmark in our city and something that if we can tackle outside, it'd be nice to tackle the interior and really, really make the building.
▶ 1:18:24 Jen Grigoraitis: Uh, you know, focal points and and getting new, um, people in as it to perform and, um, you know, rent, bring in more rent to the city. So, um, thank you very much. And I, I look forward to supporting this as well. Thank you vice chairman really counselor Williams. I'd like to motion for passage. I have a recommendation for Councilor Williams, but Councilor Karmchady, are you raising your hand for? A second. A second, all right. With a second made by Councilor Karmchady, is there any discussion? I did just want to ask, while we're on discussion, a few quick questions because the issue of accessibility came up and i know um a couple years ago when we held early voting at memorial hall we actually had to pay to have a wheelchair ramp brought in is that issue going to be addressed
▶ 1:19:27 Denise Gaffey: as we do this exterior work to make sure that the outside of the building is completely ada compliant um well i can let brian answer that i know from our code evaluation or the code evaluation that um gail associates has done i think the exterior ramp actually complies with the code um with the exception there's a minor exception with the railing am i right about that brian i know there's some right so the building has the ada renovations performed about 20 years ago and those renovations did provide a handicap entrance ramp along the north side that in the doorways and the ramp down to the ground hall all appear to apply with current code requirements we did note that there were a couple minor items with the railings that may need to be adjusted and a
▶ 1:20:19 Jen Grigoraitis: couple things in the bathroom that might need to be adjusted so we'll be going for review or variance requests on a couple of those items there is an understanding of the town doing a separate ada study then we'll also be looking at the building at a later date so the next Next to your renovations don't necessarily touch those items, but there should be 88 access through what's installed currently. Okay. And then does this I know there's also a monetary amount that once we hit that. I think it's 30% of the assessed value. Of the building that then triggers the requirement to ensure that all work we do going forward is bringing the building. To code both interior and exterior are we hitting that.
▶ 1:21:05 threshold with this additional funding right so all new work is required to be ada compliant um so if you know the work we're doing in the north entry store the door has to be you know ada compliant when we replace that door so all new elements will comply with it um the project of this scope is going to exceed the 30 value of the full and fair cash value because the building is in our opinion under assessed um so we will be triggering that amount and we will be going um for a variance for the items that currently are not compliant and the goal at the end of the day would be to be doing that through your interior renovation projects as well as through the accessibility study of the performance city so it's done with concurrent projects since those
▶ 1:21:47 Denise Gaffey: don't really mesh well with the mainstream the roofing contractors will be using on this project and the major issue just to be clear is the um is the access to the stage which is kind of a tricky issue with and it is a tricky issue especially in a historic building um so that's that's something i think that will be a bit of a challenge to try to figure out in the future you know for a future interior project if we're going to try to have to make the stage accessible okay thank you all right is there any i may have been the only one on discussion is there anyone else mr clark can you please call the role vice chairman clearly yes councillor mcmaster yes councillor Garipay yes councillor Jamaleddine yes councillor stewart yes councillor karmshidi yes councillor williams yes
▶ 1:23:01 Jen Grigoraitis: Yes. President Sinella? Yes. And Chair Grigoraitis? Yes. We have nine yes. Nine yes. So this passes, this passes with a motion to recommend for passage. Sorry, it's late. So this will go before the full council at our next meeting. Thank you all for being here with us tonight. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. I appreciate your support. You're wonderful. Thank you. Thank you. That concludes our meeting for tonight. So I will entertain a motion to adjourn. Madam Chair, I'll make a motion to adjourn. All right, we have a motion to adjourn made by Councillor Stewart, seconded by President Zanella. Mr. Clerk, can you please call the roll? Vice Chair Migliorelli? Yes. Councillor McMaster? Councillor Garipay? Yes.
▶ 1:23:59 Councillor Dvalladine? Yes. Councillor Stewart? Yes. Councillor Karamcheti? Yes. Councillor Williams? Yes. President Sinella? Yes. And Chair Grigoraitis? Yes. Nine yes. We are adjourned. Have a good evening, everyone. Good night.