City Council Meeting Minutes May 3, 21 A
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City Council Regular Meeting
Public Meeting Minutes
Monday, May 3, 2021, 7pm 2021 MAY 13 P 1: I'o
This meeting was conducted under the `Executive Order Suspending Certain Provisions of the
Open Meeting Law G.L. c.30A, §20', signed on March 12, 2020. This remote meeting was held
over Google Meet and live streamed by BevCam. Public access information for the hearings was
provided on the meeting agenda.
Paul Guanci, City Council President, called the meeting to order at 7:00pm over Google Meet.
City Clerk, Lisa Kent,took the attendance by roll call.
Members Present: Stacy Ames, Dominic Copeland, Timothy Flaherty, Kathleen Feldman, Julie
Flowers, Scott Houseman, Todd Rotondo, Estelle Rand, Paul Guanci
Members Absent: None
Houseman led the councilors in the pledge of allegiance.
Guanci made a statement about the meeting being recorded by the City of Beverly and streamed
by BevCam on channel 99 and BevCam's YouTube channel. He confirmed that all members
present could hear and noted the remote meeting format and process due to Covid-19. Guanci
read Rule 22 of the Beverly City Council. He introduced a vote to allow items to be taken out of
committee and voted on the floor. Kent took a roll call vote and the motion carried (9-0). Guanci
read the guidelines on virtual public hearings.
Presentations,Awards and Memorials
Paul Earl, Chair of the Beverly Harbor Management Authority(BHMA), gave some highlights
of the group's mission and activities.
Public Hearings
Order 9090-7:15 PM-Transfer$18,000 from Airport Enterprise Fund Balance to match grant
from MASSDOT Aeronautics Division.
Bryant Ayles, Finance Director, stated the Airport Enterprise Fund balance is currently around
$476,000, so this would be the transfer to match the grant.
Gerry Perry, City Council Budget Analyst, recommended approval.
Guanci opened the item to the public then closed the hearing as there were no members of the
public wishing to speak.
Houseman motioned to approve. Rand seconded. A roll call vote was taken, and the motion
carried (9-0).
Acceptance of Minutes of Previous Meetings: April 20,2021
Houseman motioned to approve. Flowers seconded. A roll call vote was taken, and the motion
carried(9-0).
Communications from His Honor the Mayor
Order#093-Grant-$7,500 from the Mass Cultural Council to create an Artist in Residence Pilot
Program.
Catherine Barrett, Director of Grants, stated the City regularly applies for grants from the
Massachusetts Cultural Council and applied for this grant last year for $5,000 for the sidewalk
poetry program. This year the amount that could be applied for was increased to $7,500, so the
planning director along with a team of other folks decided they would really love to have an
artist in residence. It really adds a lot of artistic value to downtown.
Darlene Wynne, Planning Director, added that there is still a lot of work to do, so ideally this
would be a July, August, September pilot project and then possibly transitioning to a longer-term
scenario.
Ames asked who was being worked with on this grant.
Wynne stated it is from the Massachusetts Cultural Council, and that she has worked with the
mayor and Chelsea, and had conversations with Montserrat, Cabot Theater, and Beverly Main
Streets.
There was some discussion with Ames, Houseman and Wynne about the logistics of the program
which Wynne stated are still being planned.
Discussion on Order#093 was paused for the 7:30pm public hearing.
Public Hearings (Continued)
Order#074-7:30 PM-8th Round CPC Project Funding Recommendations
Heather Richter, Chair of the Community Preservation Committee, and President Guanci gave a
summary of the request.
There was some discussion on the projects, other funding sources, and grant opportunities.
Ayles stated if these are approved, there will be $1,064,000 remaining, with$720,000 of that
remains in the open space reserve.
Guanci closed the public hearing.
Rotondo motioned to approve. Flowers seconded. A roll call vote was taken, and the motion
carried(9-0).
Communications from His Honor the Mayor(Continued)
Order#093 (Continued)-Grant-$7,500 from the Mass Cultural Council to create an Artist in
Residence Pilot Program.
Rand, Copeland, and Houseman expressed their support for the project and asked to be kept in
the loop when an artist is chosen.
Houseman motioned to approve. Rotondo seconded. A roll call vote was taken, and the motion
carried(9-0).
Beverly City Council Meeting Minutes—May 3,2021,page 2 of 7
Resolutions
Order#092-Wendy Lee O'Malley-PACE Program Manager
Erina Keefe, Sustainability Director, and Wendy O'Malley gave an overview of the program.
Rotondo asked in regards to the idea of getting to carbon neutrality if there is a benchmark in
mind for property owners.
Keefe stated that Beverly has almost 11,000 gas and oil heated residential properties and 604 gas
and oil heated commercial properties, so the goal would be to get both of those numbers down to
zero by midcentury, and there are benchmarks along the way. The goal of this would be to
reduce commercial properties by a couple hundred by 2030.
Houseman asked what the general openness of commercial lenders is to participating in this.
O'Malley said there are already at least eight capital lenders that have registered to be listed as
ready to lend under the PACE program.
Feldman asked if this program is exclusive to retrofitting.
O'Malley stated it only allows for retrofit of existing buildings but there is an eligibility for
expansion depending on the improvements that are being proposed.
Flowers asked what the outreach or public education component of PACE looks like.
O'Malley stated that MassDevelopment has a North Region team specifically that works with
Beverly on PACE and other programs that are offered and would also work with Beverly on
creating any marketing that the City would like to use.
Copeland clarified that there is no cost to the City.
O'Malley confirmed there is no cost to the City in terms of participating besides the
administrative effort.
Keefe stated she would be the lead contact coordinating with businesses and MassDevelopment
but collections would need a point person.
Copeland said he wanted to make sure this is part of a larger plan for sustainability efforts.
Keefe stated there is a content draft plant right now and there will be a public comment period in
June. It will be brought before the Council soon to get an aerial view of all the ways we are
thinking about sustainability.
Houseman stated he had no doubt he would end up voting in favor of this but would appreciate
having some additional time to go over the details.
The item was held to the meeting on May 17.
Communications from His Honor the Mayor(Continued)
Order#094-Appointment-Human Rights Committee-Ms. Mindy D'Ippolito, 20 Odell Ave.
Referred to Committee on Legal Affairs.
Beverly City Council Meeting Minutes—May 3,2021,page 3 of 7
Order#095- City of Beverly Capital Expenditure Plan 2021
Perry noted that the debt ratio dropped, which is great for the City and is due to a lot of work
done by the mayor's team and Mr. Ayles.
Rotondo gave the mayor and Mr. Ayles credit for refinancing which has saved the City and
taxpayers a lot of money.
Rand stated she would like to have a conversation at some point in the future around why or why
not to consider bonding for road infrastructure improvement.
Houseman moved to receive and place on file. Rotondo seconded. A roll call vote was taken, and
the motion carried(9-0).
Communications,from other City Officers and Boards
Order#096-Council President Guanci-Change Meeting Date of the Regular City Council
Meeting in June.
Guanci requested that the June 21 regular meeting be moved to Tuesday, June 22, and the
councilors agreed that would be fine.
Houseman moved to receive and place on file. Flowers seconded. A roll call vote was taken, and
the motion carried(9-0).
Order#097-Councilor Feldman and Councilor Rotondo-Amendment to Ordinance Chapter 215,
Section 215-12.
Flowers moved to set the public hearing for Monday, May 17, at 7:30pm. Rotondo seconded. A
roll call vote was taken, and the motion carried(9-0).
Communications,Applications and Petitions
Rand stated she needed to recuse herself for Order#098.
Order#098-Beverly Farmers' Market-Addy Shreffler
Addy Shreffler presented on upcoming season of the Beverly Farmers' Market.
Rotondo asked about construction near the park.
Shreffler stated there were discussions with the construction company and police department for
closing the street and construction won't be happening during the market time.
Ames suggested the possibility of using the farmers' market as a compost drop off site for those
in apartments.
Flowers motioned to approve the farmer's market request. Ames seconded. A roll call vote was
taken, and the motion carried(8-0, Rand recused herself).
Order#099-National Grid-Petition-Sohier Road Plan#29350047
Rotondo moved to set the public hearing for Monday,May 17, at 7:15pm. Flowers seconded. A
roll call vote was taken, and the motion carried(9-0).
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Beverly City Council Meeting Minutes—May 3,2021,page 4 of 7
Order#100-South Essex Sewerage District FY 2022 Budget(available to view in the City
Clerk's Office).
Feldman moved to receive and place on file. Ames seconded. A roll call vote was taken, and the
motion carried(9-0).
Order#101-City Clerk-Renewal-Second Hand Junk Dealer License for 2021.
Rotondo motioned to approve. Feldman seconded. A roll call vote was taken, and the motion
carried (9-0).
Order#102-City Clerk-Renewal-Pawnbrokers License—Nyan Group d/b/a Cash Point, 135
Cabot Street.
Rotondo motioned to approve. Flowers seconded. A roll call vote was taken, and the motion
carried (9-0).
Order#103-City Clerk-Renewal-Petroleum Storage Registrations for 2021.
Rotondo motioned to approve. Flowers seconded. A roll call vote was taken, and the motion
carried(9-0).
Order#104-City Clerk-Renewal-Ice Cream Truck Vendor-Steven Wright, 116B Collins Street,
Danvers, MA.
Feldman motioned to approve. Rotondo seconded. A roll call vote was taken, and the motion
carried(9-0).
Order#105-LATE FILE-City Clerk-Temporary Hawkers and Peddlers License-John Bediz.
Rotondo moved to accept the late file. Flowers seconded. A roll call vote was taken, and the
motion carried (9-0).
Rotondo motioned to approve. Rand seconded. A roll call vote was taken, and the motion carried
(9-0).
Motions and Orders
Order#078-Proposed Ordinance change for a handicapped parking sign at 39 Front Street.
Flowers motioned to approve. Feldman seconded. A roll call vote was taken, and the motion
carried(9-0).
Reports of Committees
Committee on Legal Affairs
Order#079-City Clerk- Fortune Teller's License Application-Laura Nestor of Salem
Witch Supply, 61 Winthrop Ave.
Rotondo motioned to approve. Ames seconded. A roll call vote was taken, and the
motion carried (9-0).
Beverly City Council Meeting Minutes—May 3,2021,page 5 of 7
Committee on Public Services
Order#085-Reappointment-Human Resource Director-Pauline Teixeira
Ames asked each reappointee to talk about their biggest accomplishment in the past year,
any future goals, and how the Council can help.
Teixeira said today marks her 17th year as the Director of Human Resources. This year a
lot of the work was around Covid-related issues. Teixeira highlighted some of the
outreach that has been done for retirees since HR cannot hold the usual event and stated
they are working with Mr. Toppin to get more diverse hires by posting jobs in more
places.
Ames motioned to approve. Rotondo seconded. A roll call vote was taken, and the
motion carried(9-0).
Order#086-Reappointment-Director of Municipal Inspection/Building Commissioner-
Steven Fredrickson
Frederickson stated he has been with the City for about 14 years. This has been a very
challenging year with going into people's homes for inspections and having to get
creative and flexible. Frederickson noted a new permit system the City is moving over to
and energy goals for building codes.
Flaherty motioned to approve. Flowers seconded. A roll call vote was taken, and the
motion carried (9-0).
Order#087-Reappointment-Director of Engineering, Commissioner of Public Service,
Public Works-Michael Collins
Collins stated he has been here more than 20 years. The public works department in
Beverly is unique compared to most public works departments; it's very rare for it to
have the breadth and depth that our department has. Collins stated the department has
grown from five divisions when he was originally hired to nine divisions. Those were all
functions that existed in the City before,but they were scattered around under different
purviews, so they've been consolidated which has brought a much greater level of
efficiency to the overall operation and a lot more collaboration. Collins highlighted the
work done through the pandemic, including at the schools.
Rotondo motioned to approve. Rand seconded. A roll call vote was taken, and the motion
carried (9-0).
Order#088-Reappointment-Director of Parks, Recreation and Community Services-
Bruce Doig
Doig stated he has been working for the City for 18 years. He started as the recreation
director and now as Director of Parks, Recreation and Community Services works with
the health department, library, senior center, and veterans' services.
Rotondo commended Doig and Collins for their attentiveness to their work and
responsiveness to requests.
Copeland thanked them for their hard work and dedication.
Beverly City Council Meeting Minutes—May 3,2021,page 6 of 7
Rotondo motioned to approve. Feldman seconded. A roll call vote was taken, and the
motion carried(9-0).
Order#070-Reappointment-Human Rights Committee-Chief John LeLacheur
Guanci noted the solicitor's correspondence after the last meeting stating that the
appointment was received by the Council April 1 and per the City Charter went into
effect May 1 since the Council had not taken any action.
Flaherty moved to receive and place on file. Rotondo seconded. A roll call vote was
taken, and the motion carried(9-0).
Rotondo motioned to adjourn. Flowers seconded. A roll call vote was taken, and the motion
carried(9-0). The meeting adjourned at 9:56pm.
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Beverly City Council Meeting Minutes—May 3,2021,page 7 of 7