City Council Minutes 04-27-2020Regular Meeting — Beverly City Council, Beverly, MA
MINUTES — Monday, April 27, 2020 @ 7:00 PM
Remote Meeting on Google Meet/Hangout
Called to Order @ 7:00 PM
Confirming Member Access:
Council President: As a preliminary matter, this is Paul Guanci, President of the Beverly
City Council. Before beginning the meeting, I would like to announce that this meeting is
being recorded by the City of Beverly and livestreamed by BevCam on both Channel 99
and via BevCam's YouTube channel. I am confirming that all members and persons
anticipated on the agenda are present and can hear me.
• Members, when I call your name, please respond "Here"
• Staff, when I call your name, please respond "Here"
• Anticipated speakers on the agenda, please respond "Here"
Introduction to Remote Meeting:
Good evening. This Open Meeting of the Beverly City Council is being conducted
remotely, consistent with Governor Baker's Executive order of March 12, 2020, due to
the current State of Emergency in the Commonwealth due to the outbreak of COVID -19.
In order to mitigate the transmission of the virus, we have been advised and directed by
the Commonwealth to suspend public gatherings, and as such, the Governor's Order
suspended the requirement of Open Meeting Law to have all meetings in a publicly
accessible physical location. Further, all members of public bodies are allowed and
encouraged to participate remotely.
The Order allows public bodies to meet entirely remotely so long as adequate
alternative public access is afforded so that the public can follow along with the
deliberations of the meeting.
Ensuring public access does not ensure public participation unless such participation is
required by law. This meeting may feature public comment.
For this meeting, the City Council is convening by telephone and video conference via
Google Hangouts as posted on the City's website identifying how the public may join.
Please note that this meeting is being recorded and televised live, and that some
attendees are participating by video conference.
Accordingly, please be aware that other participants or viewers may be able to see and
hear you, and anything that you broadcast may be captured by the recording. You have
the option to turn off your video if you are participating via computer. All participants
should keep their microphones or phones muted unless recognized me to reduce
background noise and feedback. Please wait until the person speaking has finished
before speaking so we can clearly hear all participants.
In addition because of the remote meeting I am going to read Rule 22 of the Rules and
Regulations of the Beverly City Council:
Rule 22. All Sub - Committees of the Council shall cause records to be kept of their
proceedings. They shall report by Ordinance, Order or Resolve, unless otherwise
provided by law. No Sub - committee shall act by separate consultation and no report of
as a body shall be received unless agreed in Sub - Committee actually notified and
assembled for the purpose in hand, and signed by a majority of the Councilors of the
sub - Committee. Every Subcommittee to which any subject may be referred, shall report
thereon as soon as possible after full consideration therof and a vote thereon; However
if the Council may, by majority vote order any matter pending before subcommittee to
be acted upon the Sub - Committee at its next Meeting and /or to be forthwith returned
to full council. (Take a roll call vote now to agree to vote committee work back to the
full council so you can vote on the floor tonight)
Meeting Ground Rules for Public Hearings
• 1 will introduce each speaker on the agenda. After they conclude their remarks, I
will invite the Council to provide any comment, questions, or motions.
• Please remember to mute your phone or computer when you are not
speaking.
• You may mute yourself or be muted by the meeting host by clicking the
microphone mute /unmute icon, pressing the mute button on your
telephone, or by pressing *6 on your telephone keypad.
• Please reserve the Chat function for technical difficulties and strictly the
City Council not for public comment.
o Please remember to speak clearly and in away that helps generate
accurate minutes.
For any response, please state your name and affiliation before speaking.
Regarding public comment:
o After members have spoken, I will afford public comment as follows:
■ 1 will first ask members of the public who wish to speak to
identify their names and addresses only;
■ Once I have a list of all public commentators, I will call on each by
name and afford 3 minutes for any comments.
• Finally, each vote taken in this meeting will be conducted by a roll call vote.
Roll Call: Stacy M. Ames, Kathleen M. Feldman, Timothy P. Flaherty, Julie R. Flowers, John
P. Frates Jr., Scott D. Houseman, Todd C. Rotondo, Estelle M. Rand, Paul M. Guanci
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Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag: Councilor Houseman
Moment of Silence:
Resolutions: None
Presentations, Awards & Memorials: Senator Joan Lovely
Comments by Citizens (subject to the conditions contained in Appendix A to the
"Rules and Orders "): Anyone who would like to speak at the Meeting has until
9:30AM on the day of the Meeting to register with the City Clerk. (Limit of 3 @ 5
minutes each).
Public Hearings:
#078- 7:15PM -Mayor request- Transfer -up to 195,000 from City's Reserve for
unforeseen account into building inspections department.
Ayles: We will have a lein on the property so it will go back to the city.We did
get lower bids of $130,0004140,000, but there are many unforeseen things anad
any unspent money will go to back to free cash.
Ames: Is this a time sensitive matter? A safety issue?
Ayles: It is not yet, but we are anxious to get it done.
Perry: I am ok with this, I agree with Councilor Ames and worry about a safety
issue. With the unspent money coming back I would recommend you approve
this request.
Public hearing Held, Closed and approved on the floor Roll call Vote 9 -0
#080- 7:30PM - Petition - National Grid & Verizon Plan #28743112 - McPherson Drive
Matthew Farren from National Grid was present to answer any questions.
Public hearing Held, Closed and approved on the floor Roll call Vote 9 -0
#081- 7:35PM - Petition - National Grid & Verizon Plan 429361213 -Balch Street
Matthew Farren from National Grid was present to answer any questions.
Public hearing Held, Closed and approved on the floor Roll call Vote 9 -0
# 096- 7:40PM - Mayor request- Transfer - $16,464 from the reserve for union
Negotiations.
Ayles -This is payment for part custodian's positions in the union.
Perry -There is funds for this I recommend this request to be approved.
Public hearing Held, Closed and approved on the floor Roll call Vote 9 -0
#091- 7:55PM -Mayor request- Transfer $100,000 to fund work associated with the
testing and monitoring of property at the airport.
Ayles -this will come from a balance of airport enterprise fund, outside of City
General fund. It will be in a standalone Enterprise fund. It will then transfer into
a Project fund so that we would be allowed to charge costs for the project over
municipal fiscal years if necessary.
Jacob Butterworth - Beverly's licensed site professional from Sage Environmental.
Here to answer any questions you might have.
Gloria Bouillon- These funds will be used for upcoming invoices, monitoring the
airport. Testing areas that were impacted with petroleum release and water sampling.
Houseman- Are there two contaminants?
Butterworth- Yes they are two separate things. The petroleum and the pfas. We are
testing both and have a good handle on the petroleum, but are still testing the pfas.
Flowers- This is important work and I would be in favor to keep our community safe. This is a
good place to start.
Ames -I would like to know how much has been expended and Length of time this amount
of money will fund this project?
Butterworth -Gloria can tell you what we have already spent. I think this amount will go
a long way and we can lower the cost burden on putting additional
sampling points in.
Bouillon -this is such a huge cost, we are hoping for a federal grant for this. So the
100,000 is to cover the expenses but there is a huge movement for airports to
get help with these costs.
Houseman - Funding coming from Airport enterprise fund, in the future could we use our
Water enterprise fund, since it could pertain to our drinking water?
Perry -In a memo I did write to you there is sufficient funds for this. Possible to use
water enterprise, I probably would not go with, because we use that to offset fees.
My instinct is to stay with the airport funds.
Feldman -This is important, how soon can you start and how long will the testing take
before we get data back?
Bouillon -we do have that data available currently. Further testing will be done and we
will get you those results.
Mayor -Our desire was to have this done yesterday. So we are ready to go.
Butterworth -Ready to initiate work and get results 2 -3 months.
Collins -We have tested our drinking water twice, and we are confident 100 percent our d
drinking water is safe to drink.
Public hearing Held, Closed and approved on the floor Roll call Vote 9 -0
#089 -8: l OPM -Mayor request- Transfer $32,000 from airport enterprise fund balance to
match Mass DOT grant.
Public hearing Held, Closed and approved on the floor Roll call Vote 9 -0
#079- 8:20PM- Relative to the Beverly Retirement -Chap 188 Acts of Acts of 2010
Guanci- I think we should hear from some of the people on the line.
Richard Pierce -We were told to bring this back to the council after a 5 -4 vote 2 years
ago. So here we are.
Guanci- Can we here from Finance Director Ayles. I know it's the council's decision
but I would like to hear from Mr. Ayles.
Ayles- I am speaking as the City's treasurer not as my position on the retirement board.
There are three areas of costs. First the city pays amount in pension fund last year
it was 11 million. It will go up 1.4 million in costs. 2 nd part. City is in the lower
part of the funding ratio, we are far behind and we should strive to be better. It
would get worse if this passes. Y piece is bond rating is very important, this
would down grade our rating and it could costs us in interest ratings. The funding
ratio is too low for us. Between Gerry Perry, Carol Augulewicz and myself we
have over 100 years of financial expertise and the three of us have agreed this is
not a good time to approve this request.
Public hearing Held, Closed and Denied on the floor Roll call Vote 9 -0
Acceptance of Minutes of Previous Meeting:
Regular Meeting — April 13, 2020- Roll Call Vote Approved 9 -0
Communications from His Honor the Mayor:
#104
Late File
Motion to accept Late File Roll Call A 9 -0
April 27, 2020
The Honorable City Council
City Hall
Beverly, MA 01915
Dear Honorable City Council:
I respectfully request that you approve a loan authorization in the amount of $1.4 Million
that will increase the authorization for the ongoing water main work in and around the down
town area. The project was initially authorized by a $2.3M loan order and we are seeking to
add to that as the projects scope has proven to be more complicated than originally expected.
The project involves cleaning, inspecting and relining of existing water mains as well as
laying additional new mains to create redundancy and system enhancements. With the age
of some infrastructure pushing 100 years, the need to replace sections and add valves and
gates was far greater than anticipated. Additional complications related to old trolley tracks
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and cobblestones added costs unexpectedly as some of the City's older records were not as
thorough as today's standards require.
The totality of this project is water system related and therefore would be fully funded
through the Water Enterprise fund. I have attached suggested Order language for your
review and consideration. The order must be published at least 10 days prior to final
passage, should be referred to the Committee on Finance and Property for a report thereon
and requires a public hearing. Where the order authorizes the issuance of bonds, it will
require a two - thirds favorable vote of all the members of the City Council.
Please initiate action on this matter at your next City Council meeting, April 27th, 2020.
Thank you.
Sincerely yours,
Michael P Cahill
Mayor
Ordered: That the City appropriates an additional sum of One Million Four Hundred
Thousand Dollars ($1,400,000) to pay costs of cleaning, CCTV inspection, and
cement lining of approximately six- thousand eight- hundred and fifty (6,850) linear
feet of 12 -inch cast iron water main and the relaying and renewing one - thousand and
fifty (1,050) linear feet of 6/8 -inch cast iron water main, including furnishing and
installing all valves, hydrants, fittings, couplings and pavement, including the
payment of all costs incidental and related thereto, and to meet said appropriation the
Treasurer, with the approval of the Mayor, is authorized to borrow said sum under
M.G.L. c. 44, §7(1) or any other enabling authority and that the Mayor is authorized
to take any other action necessary to carry out this project. Any premium received by
the City upon the sale of any bonds or notes approved by this order, less any such
premium applied to the payment of the costs of issuance of such bonds or notes, may
be applied to the payment of costs approved by this order in accordance with M.G.L.
c. 44, §20, thereby reducing the amount authorized to be borrowed to pay such costs
by a like amount.
Set a Public Hearing for May 18, 2020 at 7:15PM Roll call Vote 9 -0
Communications, from other City Officers and Boards:
#099
April 21, 2020
Dear Honorable City Council,
I would like to re -elect Lisa Kent to be the Clerk of Committee's for the Beverly City
Council. I recommend that you approve this request at your April 27, 2020 Council
Meeting.
Sincerely,
Paul Guanci, Council President
Referred to Legal Affairs Roll Call vote 9 -0
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April 22, 2020
Dear Honorable City Council:
I request your approval to use FY2020 funds toward the payment of two (2) prior year
invoices, totaling $811.50. The attached invoices will be paid out of the respective
Department Fiscal 2020 budget if approved. Per MGL Chapter 44 Section 64, the
required certifications have been filed with the City Auditor.
I kindly request your approval to resolve these matters. Thank you for your
consideration.
Sincerely,
Bryant Ayles, Finance Director
Approved on the floor by roll call vote 9 -0
#103
Late File- April 24, 2020
Motion to accept Late File Roll Call A 9 -0
Dear President Guanci and Members of the City Council,
The Community Preservation Committee (CPC) began its review of 7th Round funding
applications earlier this year. That process was interrupted by the COVID -19 coronavirus
pandemic we are currently experiencing, and resulting in the suspension of public
meetings, hearings and other business typically engaged in by local boards and
commissions. The CPC resumed its meeting schedule, remotely, last week and voted, on
April 16, 2020, to unanimously recommend funding for three of the projects before it.
The CPC plans to review the remaining funding requests under consideration in May
(Phase II). The CPC felt strongly that is wasimportant to resume the review process as
soon as possible so that the project proponents could be informed as to whether or not
they would receive funding and then proceed accordingly during this very uncertain time.
We wish to thank the applicants for their interest in pursuing CPA funds and for their
patience as we found a new path through this process. The three projects that the
Community Preservation Committee is recommending to the Beverly City Council for
funding are:Restoration of the stone stairs connecting Gillis Park to Pleasant View Beach
with afunding recommendation for $22,635.00 (CPA categories: Historic Preservation
andRecreation)
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❑ Restoration of the vaulted ceiling and rose window in the lobby of The Cabot
Performing Arts Center with a funding recommendation for $275,000.00 (CPA category:
Historic Preservation)
❑ The replacement of the failing roof shingles of the Roger Conant Apartments, located
at 77 Sohier Road, and owned by the Beverly Housing Authority, for $96,000.00 (CPA
category: Community Housing) Beverly City Council
RE: Community Preservation Committee Seventh(7th) Round CPA Project Funding
Recommendations April 22, 2020 The CPC is pleased to submit the enclosed
recommendations of the three, Round 7 (Phase I) project applications for a total of
$393,635.00 of CPA funding. All recommended projects are subject to the terms and
conditions imposed by the Community Preservation Committee, as noted below and
through anticipated Grant Agreements (GA) or Memorandums of Understanding (MOU)
or other documents, as is appropriate. The following conditions are common to all
recommended projects: 1. Projects financed with Community Preservation Act funds
must comply with all applicable State and municipal requirements. CPA funds are
administered and disbursed by the City of Beverly. 2. Project oversight, monitoring, and
CPA fund control will be carried out as required in project Memorandums of
Understanding/Grant Agreements or other such documents. 3. The CPC will require
project status updates from recipients and back up invoices for any CPA fund
disbursement requests. 4. All projects will be required to credit CPA funding in their
promotional material and, where appropriate, on exterior signage. Applications for all
projects are available online via the Community Preservation Committee's
web page at http: / /www.beverl trMa.goviboards- commissions /community- I)reservation-
committee/. Requests for copies of these documents or any questions may also be
submitted to
Denise Deschamps, staff for the CPC, via email at deschamps@beverlyma.gov
As you are aware, pursuant to Massachusetts General Law, a public hearing must be scheduled prior to any
City Council vote is taken on the attached order.
Respectfully Submitted by: Community Preservation Committee
Chair Marilyn McCrory, Open Space & Recreation Committee Representative
Vice Chair Heather Richter, At -large Representative
Derek Beckwith, Planning Board Representative
Robert Buchsbaum, Conservation Commission Representative
Thomas Bussone,11, Housing Authority Representative
Christy Edwards, At -Large Representative
John Hall, At -Large Representative
Nancy Marino, Parks & Recreation Commission Representative
Wendy Pearl, Historic District Commission Representative
Set a Public Hearing for May 18, 2020 7:30PM Roll Call Vote A -9 -0
Communications, Applications and Petitions:
#101
Application for Pawnbrokers License for Nyan Group /dba Cash Point 135 Cabot Street.
Approved on the floor Roll Call Vote A 9 -0
#102
Late File
Motion to accept a Late File Roll Call Vote A 9 -0
Correspondence from Dewberry Engineers Inc
Re: Cumming Center Flood Mitigation Measures
Received and Placed on File Roll Call Vote A -9 -0
Order #077
Second Reading
Legal Notice - #2020 - #077
City of Beverly
ORDERED: Be it ordained by the City Council of the City of Beverly as follows:
In the year two thousand and twenty,
An Ordinance amending an Ordinance entitled Chapter 270 - Vehicles and Traffic:
Amending Chapter 270 (Vehicles and Traffic) — Section 25 B (Stop intersections) by
removing the following street segments:
On Direction of Travel At Intersection of
Balch Street West McKay Street
Amending Chapter 270 (Vehicles and Traffic)- Section 33 BI (Obedience to specific
traffic- control devices) by adding the following street segments:
Name of Street
Direction of Travel
At Intersection of
Balch Street
Westbound
McKay Street
Amending Chapter 270 (Vehicles and Traffic)- Section 33 GI (Obedience to specific
traffic- control devices) by adding the following street segments:
Name of Street Direction of Travel At Intersection of
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Cabot Street Northbound Goat Hill Lane
McKay Street Southbound Balch Street
First Reading: Monday, March 9, 2020
Second Reading: Monday, April 13, 2020
Ordinance to take effect upon Publication & Final Passage.
Final Passage: Monday, April 27, 2020
Attest:
Lisa E. Kent
City Clerk
As per order of the City Council
Please publish Friday April 17, 2020
Send tear sheets and bill to:
City Clerk's Office
191 Cabot Street
Beverly, MA. 01915 -5849
Ordinance Final Passage Approved on the Floor Roll call Vote A 9 -0
Reports from Committee
Legal Affairs Committee:
#092
Application for Sandwich Board Sign -FKM Brands Corp -112 Rantoul Street
Approved on the floor Roll Call vote A 9 -0
#097
Appointment- Director Planning & Development, Darlene Wynne
Approved on the floor Roll Call vote A 9 -0
Motion to adjourn at 9:54PM
Roll call vote- Ames -Y Feldman -Y Flaherty -Y Flowers -Y Frates -Y Houseman -Y
Rand -Y Rotondo -Y Guanci —Y Approved 9 -0
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