20211206 City Council Minutes 14 �� d
City of Beverly
Regular City Council Meeting
Public Meeting Minutes
Monday,December 6,2021,7:00pm 1011 ' , - I P 3: 3
Paul Guanci, City Council President, called the meeting to order at 7:00pm and took the
attendance by roll call.
Members Present: Stacy Ames, Kathleen Feldman, Julie Flowers, Scott Houseman, Todd
Rotondo, Estelle Rand, Paul Guanci
Members Absent: Timothy Flaherty,Matthew St. Hilaire
Rand led the pledge of allegiance. -
A moment of silence was held for Patrick Payne.
Resolutions
Order#225- Fire Chief Paul Cotter
Rotondo read the resolution.
The motion to approve and then take a brief recess was made and seconded. A vote was taken,
and the motion carried(7-0). The meeting recessed.
The meeting was called back to order.
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. A vote was taken, and the motion carried(7-0).
A motion was made and seconded to go out of order and move to Communications from other
City Officers and Boards. A vote was taken, and the motion carried (7-0).
A motion was made and seconded to accept the late file from the Board of Assessors and attach
to Order#216. A vote was taken, and the motion carried (7-0).
Minutes
June 8, 2021 - Special Budget Finance &Property/Committee of the Whole Meeting
November 22,2021 - Regular City Council Meeting
November 29, 2021 - Special Public Services/Committee of the Whole Meeting
A motion to approve was made and seconded. A vote was taken, and the motion carried(7-0).
Public Hearings
Order#211-7:15pm-Budget Transfer of$205,547.00 into the Fire Department Budget to fund
costs associated with recently agreed upon MOA between the City of Beverly and the
Firefighters Union.
A motion to approve was made and seconded. A vote was taken, and the motion carried(7-0).
Presentations,Awards and Memorials
Beverly Bees—Anita Deeley
Deeley gave a review of her family's farm and practices and the situation with the Board of
Health.
Peter C.Nechtem, attorney from Maclean Holloway Doherty & Sheehan representing the
Deeley's farm, spoke about the farm and stated they came before the Council in hopes to open a
dialogue with the Council about what can be done to help the Deeleys and others like them who
want to operate small sustainable commercial farms. Nechtem stated that the Board of Health's
order to remove the roosters from the farm is being fought about in court. Nechtem stated the law
provides protections for commercial farms and suggested if the Board of Health is unwilling to
amend its regulations, then perhaps the Council would consider a"Right to Farm" ordinance.
Houseman asked if adopting an ordinance would solve the dilemma with the Board of Health.
Jesse Dole, Assistant Solicitor, requested that because this is an ongoing act of litigation it not be
discussed further with a back and forth with the Council. Dole stated if the Council would like to
discuss the item with him as the City's attorney in this act of litigation, an executive session can
be scheduled.
Public Hearings (Continued)
Order#216-7:30pm-Chief Assessor, Peter Caron-Allocation of Fiscal Year 2022 tax levy
percentage among the four classes of real and personal property and consideration of the
adoption of open space, residential and small business exceptions.
Caron gave an overview of the order, stating this has been a trying year in the assessors' office
dealing with the impact of Covid,particularly on the commercial sector. Residential values have
been going through the roof. Single family values increased by approximately 8% and there were
similar increases for condos. Commercial values were basically carried over mainly due to the
impact from Covid. With the rise in residential values, that caused a shift in the tax base as
residential properties make up a bigger portion of the tax base, so that is one of the reasons the
mayor recommended going to the 1.75 classification factor, which is the maximum by law.
Rotondo asked when there would be a discussion of a residential or commercial exemption.
Caron stated the problem with either of those exemptions, if it were to be enacted, is it requires a
bit of lead time. For example, for a residential exemption we would have to make a
determination on every residential property in the City as to whether or not it is owner-occupied,
so that would take a bit of effort on the assessors' office to make that determination. If there is
any appetite for going that direction,then that might be something the councilors and mayor
want to discuss so we would have enough lead time.
Ames stated it feels like once this comes up, it does not go down and asked what would be the
impact of going to 1.75 on businesses and their tax rates. Ames asked if the 1.75 is set in stone or
if it could change if commercial property becomes more valuable.
Caron stated the commercial rate is dropping by almost a dollar per thousand and, for probably
95% of the commercial properties in the City, the values were not changed, up or down, so most
Beverly City Council Meeting Minutes—December 6,2021 page 2 of 7
businesses are going to see a reduction in their taxes simply because of the rate dropping without
the value going up correspondingly. Up until four or five years ago, commercial and residential
properties were both increasing at a similar level on an annual basis in terms of market
appreciation. That changed substantially in the last four or five years where residential values
have taken off and commercial values have either had modest increases or, like this year, did not
have changes because of Covid issues and pressure on businesses. Caron stated the opportunity
to reduce that would be one of two things, either the bubble bursts on the residential side which
would allow the commercial factor to be lowered without having a dramatic impact on either one
of the classes, or the other thing is if property becomes more valuable. Caron stated his concern
in the short term is recovery of property values, particularly for the retail sector and smaller
retailer properties where vacancies are way up and landlords are having trouble collecting rent. If
that stabilizes and the commercial sector starts improving and the restaurant industry rebounds,
commercial values may start going back up again which would allow some play possibly in that
area. Caron noted that the first two tax bills had the 2%2%, so the third and fourth quarter bills
would show the savings from this decision.
Rand asked at what point a business would be assessed lower.
Caron stated it would be a response to market data; everything is value driven. For commercial
properties, we look at the income and expense information from the owner, rents, vacancy levels,
bad debt, and borrowing rates.
Gerry Perry, City Council Budget Analyst,thanked Bryant Ayles and Peter Caron for their time.
Perry stated there are two responsibilities tonight, should the Council choose to do so; one is to
vote the shift,and the other is to not give the open space exemption. The board of assessors has
more authority than the mayor on setting the tax rate. Mr. Ayles has worked with the board of
assessors on policy issues and how to go forward. The City can go up to 21/2%, but the board of
assessors are going up roughly 1%2%this year to provide residential property tax relief by using
the amount of new growth the City has to offset the setting of the tax rate so that it is not a big hit
on the residents. From last fiscal year to this fiscal year, the total residential values went from 6.7
to 7.3 billion dollars. That kind of an increase does cause problems; the statute only allows the
shift to 1.75 to get property tax relief for the residential. There is still going to be about a 4.1%
increase in the residential taxes, or the average residential taxes, here in the City of Beverly, if
the Council agrees to do the shift. If the Council does not approve the shift, the residents would
pay even more. They are doing everything they can within their ability to provide property tax
relief to the residential classes here in the City of Beverly. Perry recommended approval if the
Council would like to give residents as much tax relief as possible.
Rotondo asked on average what the 4.1% would mean to a resident, even though it is the value of
their homes going up and not that tax rate is going up.
Caron stated a 4.14% increase would increase the average family home by $296.
Perry stated we are only going up about 11/2% and because of that we will leave on the table this
fiscal year $1,125,287 in excess capacity, which is available by law in future years. Legally you
could assess this over the 21/2%next year. Perry stated he is not saying this is what the City is
doing but it can be done if desired.
i
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Houseman asked if the City would be in a good financial position and be able to maintain that if
it did down the road continue to forgo that excess capacity.
Perry stated he is optimistic of the future finances with the City's reserve positions and debt
positions. There is some preliminary sense of what next year looks like, and we are in good
shape.
Guanci closed the public hearing.
A motion to not accept an open space exemption was made and seconded. A vote was taken, and
the motion carried (7-0).
A motion to accept a residential factor of 89.1009 was made and seconded. A vote was taken,
and the motion carried (7-0).
A motion to hear from Mayor Cahill was made and seconded. A vote was taken, and the motion
carried (7-0).
Cahill read a letter into the record describing the background of the decision on a 1%2% increase.
A motion to receive and place the letter on file was made and seconded. A vote was taken, and
the motion carried(7-0). The letter was filed with Order#216.
Presentations, Awards and Memorials (Continued)
JRM—Peter Gamache, Representative from JRM, and Eric Barber, City Engineer
Barber stated the Engineering Department is responsible for administration of the trash and
recycling program. There have been some disruptions in the industry, so we are here tonight to
talk about that and provide some information. Trash collection is like any other municipal
service- best served when it is uneventful. It has a significant amount of activities that take place
behind the scenes. Today's discussion is about showing what we can do to control our situation,
but mostly to bring to light some of the issues that are out of our control, so we can proactively
try to find solutions to the unfortunate reality that this situation is going to impact everybody.
Recently, the City has been experiencing some irregularity and inconsistency with its trash and
recycling program, much of which is out of our control. Today's meeting has been established to
address some of these concerns,to better demonstrate the challenges that we all face, not only as
a City but JRM and the entire region as a whole. Beverly is not unique in its trash disposal
challenges.
Gamache stated what has happened in the last two months is the incinerators have either broken
down or shut down due to upgrades. The RESCO facility in Saugus, which we use the most often
on the North Shore, has one and a half to three hour waits in line to dispose of the trash. We now
deliver to other sites or transfer stations. Usually we have three or four trucks pick up trash, then
they go to the incinerator or wherever we can get them,then because of the waits by the time
they get back it is 1:30/2:00pm and most of those trucks have to finish with the trash before we
start on the yard waste. With daylight savings now, it is critical to get it done before four o'clock,
and it has been very difficult. JRM pays a very high standard of salaries but cannot get help
anymore. They are short on truck drivers all over the nation; other haulers are in the same
situation. What is going on with the incinerators is pretty much out of our control. The North
Beverly City Council Meeting Minutes—December 6,2021 page 4 of 7
Andover facility went down for two weeks, and Saugus has had an issue with their incinerator
and long lines. It can be a two to three hour wait every day out there. Gamache apologized for
the missed yard waste pickups and delays. JRM went out on Saturday with extra crews working
to pick up what was missed earlier in the week.
There was discussion on if the facilities are privately or publicly owned, who manages them, and
if anything can be done on a state level. There was also discussion on constituents calling the
JRM 800 phone number and not getting calls back and other communication issues. Gamache
noted that North Andover and Saugus are owned by the same company, so they try not to do
repairs at the same time but recently it has just been the perfect storm. They are good at
communicating to JRM when they will be closed, but the three major incinerators on the North
Shore always seem to have issues at the same time, and it tends to be around the busiest times of
the year. It is just the sheer volume of trash.
Flowers asked to confirm that this is not a unique to Beverly problem and other municipalities on
the North Shore and haulers are having similar issues. Flowers also asked if it seems like a
temporary problem, and what the most helpful answer to give is when Councilors are fielding
calls from constituents about weekly trash.
Gamache stated everyone is in the same predicament because they have to go to the current
centers too. The industry right now does not have enough employees; there are enough trucks,
but not enough employees. There has been a Covid spike, so more employees have been out and
it has been challenging to hire new employees. Gamache stated he has been in this business since
1985 and this is by far the most trying time in his career doing trash. Gamache stated residents
should leave their address and telephone number with the JRM office who will try to get to that
as soon as possible.
Feldman asked about the scheduling system in the office in terms of how things are re-
prioritized. For example, if JRM decides to skip yard waste in one area in order to prioritize trash
pickup in another. Feldman asked if there is a way to share that information to get ahead of JRM
getting 20 calls in the same block that the trash was missed.
Gamache stated JRM tries to wait until 3:30/4pm to see if there is going to be a delay of service.
At that point, most municipalities get a phone call to let them know what will be delayed. Some
municipalities then can do an isolated reverse 911 call. There have been some setbacks in the
JRM office with returning phone calls which are being addressed.
Councilors thanked Mr. Gamache for his work and for coming to the Council meeting.
Barber stated that JRM is responsible for fielding calls, however, if there is a need to reach out to
the Engineering Department,the contact information is on the Beverly website. Barber advised
contacting JRM first, but there is the Q alert system online and those messages come to City staff
and can be forwarded as soon as possible to JRM. JRM's job is hard enough; do a good job
presenting trash. There are limits and specific ways it has to be broken down so the hauler can do
their job effectively. The better we are at presenting our trash,the faster they can be, even in
trying times, in doing their job, so that is going to be on everybody to pitch in.
There was some discussion around if large scale composting would take any pressure off the
issues happening at the incineration sites or if there were the same issues with recycling backing
up. Gamache noted that a lot of it is cyclical depending on the time of year.
Beverly City Council Meeting Minutes—December 6,2021 page 5 of 7
Order#207-Appointment-Mr. John (Jay) Leahy, 9 Fieldstone Lane to the Beverly Historic
District Commission
The motion to take Order#207 out of order was made and seconded. A vote was taken, and the
motion carried (7-0).
A motion to approve was made and seconded. A vote was taken, and the motion carried (7-0).
Communications from His Honor the Mayor
Order#226-Reappointment-Mr. Derek Beckwith, 564 Hale St. and Ms. Sarah Bartley, 10
Kittredge St. to the Beverly Planning Board
Referred to Committee on Legal Affairs.
Order#227-Reappointment-Mr. William Lowd, 18 Pearson St.; Mr. Justin Repp, 14 Cornell
Rd.; and Ms. Nancy Marino, 9 Wellman St. to the Beverly Recreation Committee
Referred to Committee on Public Services.
Order 9228-Reappointment-Mr. George Simon, 11 Pineknoll Dr.; Ms. Emily Flaherty, 111
Corning St.; and Mr. Todd Callaghan, 9 Clark Ave. to the Beverly Harbor Management
Authority
Referred to Committee on Public Services.
Order#229-Donation-$312 from Residents at Turtle Creek for Low-Income Veterans
A motion to approve was made and seconded. A vote was taken, and the motion carried (7-0).
Order#230-Reappointment-Mr. J. David Suminsby, 67 Arbor St. Wenham,to the Beverly
Harbor Management Authority and Residency Waiver
Referred to Committee on Public Services.
Order#231- Deed to DONALD PASQUARELLO AND GERDA PASQUARELLO, a 4,650
s.f. parcel of the land("Lot A") located between 20 and 16 Holly Lane, Beverly, Massachusetts
for consideration Nine Thousand Three Hundred Twelve Dollars and 00/100 ($9,312.00).
Referred to Committee on Legal Affairs.
Order#232-Deed to MARK D. PANICALI AND LORI SPERINO-PANICALI, a 3,844 s.f.
parcel of the land ("Lot B") located between 20 and 16 Holly Lane, Beverly, Massachusetts for
consideration of Seven Thousand Six Hundred Eighty-Eight Dollars and 00/100 ($7,688.00).
Referred to Committee on Legal Affairs.
Communications from other City Officers and Boards
Order#233-Community Preservation Committee-Out of Cycle Application for Moraine Farm
A motion to set the public hearing for December 20 at 7:15pm was made and seconded. A vote
was taken, and the motion carried (7-0).
Beverly City Council Meeting Minutes—December 6,2021 page 6 of 7
Order#234 -City Clerk-Renewal-Second Hand Junk Dealer-Lena Nargozian Gallery
A motion to approve was made and seconded. A vote was taken, and the motion carried (7-0).
Order#235-City Clerk-Renewals-Additional Class I, II and III Motor Vehicle Licenses for 2022
A motion to approve was made and seconded. A vote was taken, and the motion carried (7-0).
Order#236-City Clerk-Renewals-Livery/Taxi Licenses for 2022
A motion to approve was made and seconded. A vote was taken, and the motion carried (7-0).
Unfinished Business from a previous meeting:
Order#215-Sergeant Henebury-Amendment of a City Ordinance 270-49 "Handicapped Parking
Sign" 9 Fossa Terrace. (Final Passage)
A motion to approve was made and seconded. A vote was taken, and the motion carried (7-0).
The motion to adjourn was made and seconded. A vote was taken, and the motion carried (7-0).
The meeting adjourned at 9:01pm.
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