Minutes
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TOWN COUNCIL MEETING OF JULY 18, 2023 MINUTES CALL TO ORDER 7:15 pm – Meeting delayed due to WCAT Technical Difficulties ROLL CALL Present: Councilor Honan, Councilor Fucillo, Councilor Munson, Councilor Belcher, Councilor DeMarco Councilor Aiello, Vice President Ruggiero, Councilor Flockhart President Letterie PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE Councilor Flockhart MINUTES Motion by Councilor Belcher to Approval of Minutes, June 27, 2023 as circulated 2 nd by Councilor Fucillo Passed Unanimously- Vice President Ruggiero, Councilor Flockhart Abstained GENERAL INFORMATION AND RECOMMENDATIONS Town Manager reports on Water Rates-See Presentation on Town Website PUBLIC HEARING(S) None PUBLIC COMMENTS Vasilios Mallios P5-concerned that the BOH and other committees should be recorded as minutes do not always reflect what is stated. If school committee has representation as Town Council President why does not the Board of Health Discusses huge sports facility as for being at the Middle School site. This would help generate revenue for the town and bring people into our center and help our economy with our town. Town Council President discusses when Charter written wanted to bridge gap between towns and schools , this is why we have an elected member. Council President is an ex officio on all committees and he will review. He has also brought up looking into a possibility of doing something similar with the Middle School. Paul Lucerto- Swetts Liquor-Publicly thanks Councilor Honan for weeding our tree in front of his store, unknown to her he had filed 3 weeks ago a see click fix and he has heard nothing. Is there a maintenance schedule for the trees and grass, they need to be maintained. He talked to Councilor Aiello about a drain with stagnant water and asks the Town Manager to help control this. Town Manager will look into this and add a “brick” to help with this stagnant water and why is it stagnate? Can town review. Would like transparency on what is going on with the Middle School, it would be great to bring in some revenue. Jim Nelson P4-Has a question about the sign at Highlands, who authorized the sign? Town Manager states it’s federally contracted and has to be legally shown due to the grant. This bothers him that this sign is in this particular place. Paul Caruccio-Represents the Winthrop Republic Committee. He is upset of this Biden sign and believes it is more political than federal granting. He would like to see sign relocated. This park is dedicated to veterans and it is inappropriate sign is here. It looks like infrastructure sign with a political statement of Biden. Jack Dowd P1- Appreciates all efforts of town looking good and thanks all involved. The green space in the middle of the center is being destroyed due to dogs from the Somerset Building. There should be signs in the center notifying that no dogs allowed. Town Council President has requested signs and they will be put up TOWN COUNCIL MEETING OF JULY 18, 2023 PAGE 1 CORRESPONDENCE None COMMITTEE REPORTS Finance Committee Positive Recommendation by the Finance Committee that Town Council appropriate from the Water Sewer Capital Stabilization Fund the amount of $174,062 Public Health & Safety Meeting will be scheduled Rules & Ordinance Meeting will be scheduled SCHOOL DEPARTMENT REPORT Town council President report’s summer vacation and it is also incredible to see the use Ingleside Park, also at the meeting there was a Presentation by Town manager applying for a grant that could lead to new roofs for our schools and give opportunity for solar on the Schools. A project is ready to go and if we do solar we can hopefully get the roof’s funded. Councilor Aiello agrees great program but are we sole sourcing to just one company or have we looked at other competitors. Town Manager states we can negotiate, no just one company. Councilor Fucillo asks is there any disruptions to school, Town Manager states we minimize and hopefully do during the summer. TOWN MANAGER REPORT -Ferry update-First couple week’s huge success, attendance high and doing great. Open Ferry building as a main terminal. -Tip project update- No night work, just days. Get email list of all businesses so they are aware -Sumner Tunnel update-Using June traffic data as a baseline. Tuesday’s seem to be the heaviest traffic days, running close to 30 min. over normal time. Follow up meeting in 3 weeks. -Trash update-Bags have sold out, people have been buying and working out well. Councilor Flockhart asks if the Tips Project has started in the Highlands? No, this is outside vendors that should hopefully be completed by the Fall. Vice President Ruggiero discusses the presentation of the Air BnB and asks if the request of the Town Council is for review and rewrite the current by law. Town Manager states we are looking for any input to help with the Ordinance to be written. Councilor Aiello asks DPW Director Calla to update on the Highlands Construction. He realizes this is very disruptive and all are trying their best to make this construction as smooth as possible. Everyone looking to be completed so the Tips project can begin in the Spring of 2024 Councilor Flockhart asks if we can have any report on this work. DPW Director reports that every Thursday to the Town Manager and it is on his blog and website. Councilor Aiello thanks for the repaving of Pleasant St. Also the curve in both directions of Pleasant St., the new signs are wonderful. As for the Ferry, great additional parking and heavy ridership is great. It is obvious a Ferry can be successful. Councilor Belcher asks about raking on the beaches. Seems it has stopped sooner than should on Otis St. If this happens in the future can abutters be notified. DPW Director reports due to piping plovers there is restricted guidelines. They have no choice but to follow these guidelines. As enclosures grow the amount of raking gets smaller. Council President asks on Bayou Way, this is a private way and National Grid using for parking. Will this be redone after National Grid completed? Yes, it will. TOWN COUNCIL MEETING OF JULY 18, 2023 PAGE 2 COMMISSION OF DIVERSITY, INCLUSION AND COMMUNITY RELATIONS- Report on July 12, 2023 Meeting Town Manager reports on new members that for this committee and excited about upcoming year and tasked with getting speakers this year to speak at their meetings. OLD BUSINESS Town Council appropriate from the Water Sewer Capital Stabilization Fund the amount of $174,062-Tabled Discussion-TSAC/ Locust St.- Tabled Winthrop Beach Access Points-Tabled Hermon St. Short St Walkways-Being reviewed and getting pricing options Council Town Council President reports that the New Bus line on Walden St. seems to be transitionally good and working as it should Councilor Aiello asks about the MBTA providing bus shelters? Town Manager reports that spots where reviewed on where they might be able to go. It is going to the MBTA Committee and they will report after their meeting. Motion by Councilor Belcher to suspend Town Council Rules to return to General Information and Recommendations for Town Manager report on the Water /Sewer Rates-This presentation will be put on the town Website. 2 nd by Councilor Fucillo Passed Unanimously Town Manager reports on Fy24 Water Rate Presentation Council President asks where we are on our ability on MWRA for loans. DPW Director states 2028, we can still use the lead line replacement money. We can go after Phase 2 for the partial funding available. Councilor Munson asks about water loss? Does this effect water rate? DPW Director states our water has dropped significantly. Down to 16%, down by almost 9%. An average assessment takes 3 years. Asks for a status update on water meters to be installed. DPW Director Calla reports just under 800 remaining. Councilor Aiello knows AARPA money has helped is there any other sources. Town Manager reports yes they’re reviewing federal funding. NEW BUSINESS Municipal Town Hall Parking Lot Regulations-Town Councilor explains the recommendations from TSAC as we have had complaints from citizens on parking in the town lot. Spots will be limited, additional handicap spot in back. Town Council President refers this to Rules & Ordinance Committee Appointments Motion by Councilor DeMarco to accept the appointments by Councilor Letterie 2 nd by Councilor Fucillo Councilor Aiello requests Town Councilor Privilege this be continued until next meeting and requests an Ex. Session PUBLIC COMMENT Jack Dowd P2-Asks workers on Crest Ave when they would be done. He would like a date of completion. Main St. to Center area sign states School Zone 20 MPH, people are still speeding. Will there be another sign at the beginning of Walden St. in Center area. Jim Corkhum P1-Forty years he was the parking clerk and a by law was written on all parking violations. Woodside Ave has been a problem and it is still a problem that should be reviewed. He would like a parking space for a disable vet Bob Oliver on Woodside Ave. TOWN COUNCIL MEETING OF JULY 18, 2023 PAGE 3 Suzanne Swope P4-Opportunity to go into Boston on the new Ferry and it was delightful. It is working very well. IF bus lines continue to operate in their efficient way, it would work out great. Karin Chavis-Unfortunately due to technical difficulties, the Town Council had no audio PUBLIC RELATIONS / UPCOMING EVENTS- Nomination Papers for the 11-7-23 Election are now available at the Town Clerks Office/Deadline to Return 9-19-2023 ADJOURNMENT Motion to adjourn by Councilor Belcher to adjourn at 8:30 PM 2 nd by Councilor Munson Passed Unanimously Public Documents used in the meeting are available at Town Managers Office. Documents Used in this Meeting: Handwritten Notes / Committee Openings Documents Roll Call Log Written Motions / Verbal Motion Respectfully submitted Denise Quist Town Clerk Council Clerk TOWN COUNCIL MEETING OF JULY 18, 2023 PAGE 4