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City Council Minutes 03-25-2020Beverly City Council Beverly, Massachusetts City Council/Committee of the Whole Wednesday, March 25, 2020 7:30PM Google Meet/Streamed on Bev Cam A remote meeting of the Beverly City Council and Committee of the Whole was held Wednesday, March 25, 2020, following the guidelines from Governor Baker's Office that a quorum does not need to be physically present. This meeting was live streamed on Bev Cam. Members Present: Councilor Guanci, Councilor Rand, Councilor Rotondo, Councilor Ames, Councilor Flaherty, Councilor Flowers, Councilor Houseman, Councilor Feldman, Councilor Frates. Member Absent: Also Present: Mayor Michael P. Cahill, Chief of Staff, Stephanie Bilotti Finance Director Bryant Ayles, Health Department Director William Burke, Public Health Nurse Teresa Kirsch, Budget Analyst Gerard Perry, President Guanci called the meeting to order at 7:30PM. Your Honor the Mayor. Mayor: An update from Governor Baker's press conference. All schools will be closed until at least May 0'. City Hall will be closed until further notice. Grocery stores are working on marking the check outlines to keep 6 -foot distance; all self check out registers are closed, regularly sanitizing and cleaning register and store. A mandate of at least one hour per day for seniors only to shop. Here in Beverly we are asking residents to shop on certain days pertaining to what Ward they are in. We thank everyone at the Senior Center, Fire and Police Departments, Meals on wheels and all the groups helping those who need our help. They are working overtime to help the citizens of Beverly in need and we are very grateful. Burke: The Health department is closed to the public; our staff is all present and working. If you are sick stay home, on 3/16 the City stopped alcohol being served and we need to police that. On 3/20 an announcement from the state of a Public health emergency, which opens up options for us. On 3/23 the health department emergency staff speak with each other regarding cases of COVIDI9, issue isolation orders, follow up with those cases daily. 15 confirmed cases in Beverly as of 4:00 today. Stay home, wash your hands and social distance yourself if you need to go out. Kirsch: Follow up on city cases, sick people are told to isolate or quarantine, even in your household with your family. Checking on supplies and medication. Flaherty: How can we get better informed? How do we get the word out to the younger generation? Mayor: We have 3 new social media pages. "Mybeverly01915" on Facebook, Instagram and twitter. We update our website. We send a reverse 911 call out every other day with updates. Share this information and encourage our constitutes to join these websites. Rotondo: Mr. Burke do you have enough staff? Are you in good shape? Burke: Yes right now we are in good shape. Our biggest challenge is health nurses. We are having school nurses training to help out. Everything changes on the fly and we adapt to it. Feldman: My Mayor would it be better to go back to plastic bags in the grocery stores? We hate to go backwards, however we might need to for a time being. 2 Mayor: The Governor has lifted the ban on plastic bags. The biggest concern for Beverly is running out of the paper bags. The stores are not comfortable using the reusable bags, the virus could be on those bags and spread. So for now we are sticking to the paper bags. Houseman: Hospital testing? What is the capacity at the hospital? Kirsch: My understanding for testing Beverly Hospital is limited to ER patients, in house patients and Lahey employees right now. Things will change as more test kits become available. The hospital is having one floor for anyone with the virus or suspected of having it. The hospital is very busy of course and changes day to day. I stay in touch and will let you know information as I get it. Flowers: Mr. Mayor, there are concerns for renters and businesses closing. Is there anything on the local level to help? Mayor: There are concerns, nobody is going to be evicted during this time. Courts are closed and nothing moves forward with not paying. Trying to gather information from congress to help small businesses and their employees. Ames: Mr. Mayor, Councilor Rand in a memo told us about a potential River House resident exposed to the virus. How is he? How can we help? Mayor: Important questions. Yes, local shelter to quarantine until results of test are confirmed. Working with Lifebridge and Mayor Driscoll and Mayor MaGee, trying to find shelter for those who need it. It has become a challenge. Even if that person does not have a positive result on the test we still need to find a shelter for all these needs. Ames: Thank you for all your efforts. Feldman: Is there any policy change on trash/recycle pick up? Also I have gotten calls of broken glass on streets in Ward five after JRM trucks leave. Mayor: Stephanie Bilotti will be speaking with JRM tomorrow. Will follow up on those streets with glass. Frates: The truck needs a new sweeper on it, it happened in Ward 6 last year. Guanci: Is it still a two barrel limit. A lot of people are cleaning out basements and garages, more trash. Mayor: Not at this time. Keeping things the same. JRM has enough to deal with too. Houseman: Follow up on the River House. What are Chiefs doing for overflow of homeless, any sights? Mayor: Conversations have been going on. Thank you Councilor Houseman for all your work for River House last week. Sights do not look promising for distance. We are thinking dorms or motel /hotels might be best option. Salem State a possible site. Students are still there, that might change, ongoing process. Flowers: I saw they are setting up medial tents in parking lot, with shower and dividers. Mobile unit interesting resource. Mayor: Thank you. We did speak about that, concerns with weather outdoors. Frates: Wanted to Thank Councilor Rand for all her hard work. Health Department how is your supplies inventory. Burke: MEMA and State takes care of that. I will reach out to ask the hospitals. Rand: Thank you all for joining us. Working overtime. Mayor I have a question about the Housing trust fund. Get creative to help shelters. What is Mark Foster's planning in this? Mayor: The affordable trust fund is depleted. We do see a need and we are trying to figure out a request for availability of funds. Mark is part of the Mass Task force. We pay about '/ or 115 of his salary. He is in talks with our needs for resources and equipment. Ames: Spending on road construction progress? Still plan to go forward. Mayor: Cabot Street project improvements need to match on both sides of the street, so we must complete sidewalks, need to figure out the rest of further down Cabot Street. Flowers: Asking you to look ahead. Rainy day fund? Ayles: It is very early in the process. I don't expect big impact this fiscal year, but I am keeping a close eye on it. The biggest impact will be next year, it is my desire to get a balanced budget for FY21. We have a lot of work to do. We will keep an eye on revenue funds. Perry: Just a thought. Chap 44 Sect 32 allows cities to extend budget out 3 months. That could be a consideration. We are waiting for the House of Reps to come out in April with their report. I think you will be ok FY20, FY21 will have financial challenges in my opinion. School and Municipal should not spend as much as possible. Try to save and get back funds in to free cash. Houseman: Waiting for the State for us? What about the Federal Government, a potential we will run into issues. Perry: Not sure what's going on in DC watching it very closely. When I get the numbers I will report. Mayor: to add to that, tomorrow a group of Mayors will be speaking about this topic. I will get back to you. Guanci: Thank you Councilor Rand for all you hard work, she volunteered to be the point person for this Virus and she is doing a great job. Mayor: I echo that. Councilor Rand. Rand: Thank you to Bev Cam and to the City Hall's IT department for all their help. We bring our constitutes voices to the table and try our best as City Councilor's to take the best action. With that, we can keep moving forward as a team. Guanci: Entertain a motion to adjourn Flowers: Motion to adjourn Houseman: 2nd Guanci: Motion carried 9 -0