20210602 City Council Finance and Property Committee Minutes City of Beverly
Special Budget Meeting of the City Council
Finance & Property/Committee of the Whole
Public Meeting Minutes
Wednesday,June 2, 2021, 7pm
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:OOpm over Google Meet.
Assistant City Clerk, Christine Dixon, took the attendance by roll call.
Members Present: Stacy Ames, Timothy Flaherty, Kathleen Feldman, Julie Flowers, Scott
Houseman, Todd Rotondo, Estelle Rand, Paul Guanci
Members Absent: Dominic Copeland
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. He stated
that this meeting does not have public participation, and the public hearing will be on June 14.
Guanci turned the meeting over to Councilor Flaherty, the Chair of Finance and Property.
FY22 Department Budget Sessions
Maryann Holak-Council on Aging (page 100 of the budget)
Holak thanked those who stepped up this year to help seniors. She stated it looks like over 9,000
residents in Beverly are ages 60 and over, so it is getting close to 25% of the population. Food
accessibility is one of the things we at the Council on Aging have been most surprised by and
concerned about. Our bus drivers started delivering food to people who could not come to the
senior center to pick it up. There have been 27 housing crises in the last three months. The
process for applying for public housing is a very long process. Two staff members are mostly
devoting all of their time to it. There have also been 13 protective services filed in the last 90
days. We are primarily offering social services during this time, and our staff really has not taken
any time off in the past year.
Rand asked about the decrease in line 51699.
Holak stated the decrease was because two part-time positions were merged into one position.
Rand asked how it compares to other communities staffing-wise.
Holak said Beverly has less outreach staff compared to Salem and Peabody. We have been able
to really capitalize on interns and extend our reach. We care so much about the people that we
serve, and we have lost a lot of people. Holak took a moment to acknowledge their passing.
Holak stated there will be two interns coming from Salem State,but there is still one fellowship
that is usually 25 hours per week that has not been filled this year.
Ames expressed her appreciation for Ms. Holak's comments and Councilor Rand's questions,
stating that it feels like so much of a generation has been lost and noting that the impact on the
Council on Aging staff is really direct. Ames thanked Ms. Holak for the work she is doing and
spoke about how it seems like the work has changed so much due to the pandemic. Ames spoke
about re-envisioning government so that resources are there to serve people as efficiently and
thoroughly as possible.
Flowers acknowledged that the Council on Aging staff members act as caregivers and thanked
them for what they do. Flowers asked about the Walk in the Woods program and if Ms. Holak
envisioned seeking out more grants for that kind of programming or if programming like that
would become part of the budget.
Holak stated that most of the programming budget usually comes from the enterprise fund
because small fees are charged,not for membership but for events or activities. This past year,
Eastern Bank gave a $10,000 grant; Bootstraps and others really stepped up as well, so almost
everything done for seniors this year was at no cost to them.
Flowers asked if there are any wish list items that the budget cannot accommodate right now.
Holak stated Beverly Hospital had reached out and the community benefits person offered to
support the Walk in the Woods program and match the grant that was already received so the
program can be repeated. Holak stated she really hopes to monopolize on outdoor programming
and see where it goes. Everyone loved the Cook's Night Off program, so we hope to apply for
grants or other opportunities like that. As far as a wish list, we are going to need a housing
specialist, even if it is only temporary until Briscoe and some of the other things that are in the
works become available. There is a small financial aid fund that people can apply for up to $300
a year, and that kind of opportunity for people on a fixed income to apply for extra funding
would be important. In Peabody, Habitat for Humanity has community preservation funds to do
home improvement projects for elders, so if there is any way to find grant funding for that; we
want people to stay in their homes as long as they are safe.
Houseman noted the physical plant issues, such as repairing the parking lot and sidewalk, and
building repairs, like the air filter units, and stated that he hopes there can be greater speed in
replacing those units. Houseman stated that on the housing issue, it seems like there is a lack of
available resources, and he offered to talk offline about some possibilities and creative solutions
that might be out there.
Mark Foster-Emergency Management(page 64 of the budget book)
Foster gave an update on Covid-19, stating that one of the best things Emergency Management
was able to do was to work with Bill Burke and the Health Department to deliver some of the
first vaccines to first responders back in February. One of the disappointments was that the City
could not get any more vaccines. Foster stated he would like to run some more vaccination
clinics. The last clinic with the VA and some of the veterans last month went pretty smoothly. In
the beginning, Emergency Management supplied the nursing homes with PPE before anyone
could get it. The nursing homes in this city took the biggest hit. The largest percentage of people
who died were in nursing homes and in the very first few months. Some of it would have been
preventable if they had the proper PPE. We did the best we could. The other issue was that much
of the funding we got was from FEMA through a grant program, and there was a changing floor
level of what they would fund and a lot of confusion about what was eligible. We had experience
with previous FEMA grants because of hurricanes and were able to work with Bryant Ayles and
Beverly City Council Meeting Minutes—June 2,2021,page 2 of 9
Catherine Barrett to get some money, and we spent very responsibly and carefully. They did a
great job. We also now have a PPE storage location for the city.
Daniel McPherson-Harbormaster (page 67 of the budget book)
McPherson said he is expecting a lot of people to be active and preparing for a busy season.
Rand thanked Mr. McPherson for his work with the Harbor Management Authority. Rand asked
if there were more boaters and people out during the pandemic or any unusual things.
McPherson stated last year boating activity was up by 20%, so there has definitely been an
increase in activity. It has been steady and this will be a busy summer.
Lisa Kent-City Clerk (page 12 of the budget book)
Kent stated there was not much difference in the budget and offered to answer any questions.
Houseman, Guanci and Flowers thanked Lisa for being responsive, helpful, friendly and easy to
work with.
Matt Lipinski-Animal Control (page 49 of the budget book)
Lipinski gave an overview of what the department does, including enforcing dog licensing and
animal immunization, handling complaints, wildlife calls, and animal cruelty and negligence
concerns, as well as patrolling open spaces to ensure compliance and working with the Board of
Health on rabies and inspections. During the pandemic, more people have gotten animals,but
there has also been an increase in relinquishments. We assist with that and make sure it is done
properly.
Houseman stated he had read about a hawk in Swampscott poisoned by rodenticide and asked if
they had run into that kind of issue in Beverly. Houseman asked if the role is primarily public
health or public safety.
Lipinski stated he would consider it both because it overlaps so much in day to day duties. With
rodenticide,people think of the target species but don't think of the species that consider the rat
prey, so we do our best to educate in terms of what may be better techniques and practices.
Houseman stated there have been people who have come to the Council on issues of rodent
control. It is very difficult to control, but the best practice seems to be some kind of sustained
program that is funded and has some staffing. Animal Control, which is that intersection between
public safety and animals, would play an important role in trying to develop a systemic approach
to rodent control in the City of Beverly. Houseman stated he looks forward to working on
developing a proposed program that would implement something like that.
Lipinski stated Animal Control works closely with the Health Department on complaints, and
when it comes to corrective action, guidance usually comes from the Health Department with
Animal Control there as a helping hand as necessary.
Flowers asked why there are increased patrols under line 5 13 10 for overtime.
Beverly City Council Meeting Minutes—June 2,2021,page 3 of 9
Lipinski stated a big piece of that is homecoming events, and throughout the summer there are
increased patrols given the additional restrictions during the summer. Looking back in that line a
few years, it was usually up around what it is for this year. It went down during Covid so now it
is being built back up for coverage.
Rotondo asked if 54000 and 54899 are just going back to pre-pandemic funding.
Lipinski confirmed.
Allison Babin-Library (page 106 of the budget book)
Babin highlighted some of the achievements during the pandemic. Over 172,000 items were
checked out, the bookmobile delivered over 32,000 items; over 57,000 items have been checked
out on e-drive, which is ebooks and digital audiobooks; over 20,000 patrons were served at the
front door service, which was our curbside service during the pandemic and is now retired. 2,733
people came in to use the buildings by appointment between September and early May. The
library offered 365 virtual programs. In addition to that, 146 virtual story times have been held
and just under 6,000 people attended that range of virtual programs. There were a number of
special initiatives this past year, including expanding our commitment to being more inclusive
through programs, collections, and physical space. The library launched the BIPOC voices
program in partnership with Abu Toppin; we provided a number of anti-racist training
opportunities to our staff to focus on how to create an antiracist library culture. We replaced
some outdated artwork in the children's room to feature prints by Christian Robinson, and we
offered new name tags to staff so they can have their name and their pronouns if they so choose.
We renovated our story time room and our arts and crafts room. We expanded our digital
collection to include new platforms. We added a really robust set of holistic programming like
yoga, art programs online, and walks in the area. We significantly expanded our library of things
collection to include items that are really helpful for parents with increased time at home with
their children,like coding robots,puzzles, a laminator and things like that. The library is now
open in a much more traditional way. This proposed budget meets the minimum requirement for
state certification and was prepared keeping in mind what it takes to provide regular services and
adding back valued services.
Houseman said the bookmobile makes a big difference to those it serves who cannot get out to
the library.
Feldman said she is very grateful for the work this year and her family was an avid user of the
book pickup program.
Michael Cahill, Mayor, said Allison started as the director in the middle of the shut down and
she has been absolutely top notch and has done wonderful work on behalf of our community and
her leadership in the department has been great.
Chief Peter O'Connor-Fire Department (page 56 of the budget book)
O'Connor stated the department has been lean for quite a while. Since 2002, we have been
running pretty much three apparatus. We have a fourth which means we will be able to operate a
ladder truck in the City.
Beverly City Council Meeting Minutes—June 2,2021,page 4 of 9
The budget required a bit of work. In the past, we had an overtime budget that stayed about level
for the better part of 10 or 15 years. It takes looking at a lot of historical data and a lot of
projecting at what we expect to see over the next year. Bryant Ayles has been phenomenal in
helping figure that out.
There are a couple things going up this year. We are in the last year of the SAFER grant which
paid for some staffing for the last three years and that will change in December. There is an
increase in the shift coverage line, which represents keeping that fourth piece in service all year
round. The biggest change in what that means is that we have a ladder truck that does ladder
company duties and that we have an engine downtown that does engine duties. Looking at
calendar year 2020, we had 94 fires and did about 4,715 runs. This calendar year we are already
440 runs above where we were at this time last year and three fires above where we were this
time last year. The staffing makes all the difference in the world and the ladder truck has been a
big help. This past year was one of the first times that we truly saw the benefit of having the
company in service all the time. Engine one was only out of service 25 days out of the last year.
In FY20,that truck was out of service for more than 180 days. We put a lot of thought into the
numbers and are trying to get to the right place.
Houseman asked about the role that DPS plays in maintenance and how much specialized
maintenance is involved.
O'Connor stated the Fire Department had a dedicated mechanic, Jack Morris,who retired, so
when he retired everything transitioned to two mechanics from DPS, and they have been
outstanding and have really stepped up and done a tremendous job. A lot of other things on the
fire equipment side like self-contained breathing apparatus,we have doled out. It is amazing how
much Jack Morris did while he was here.
Flaherty asked about the status of trying to fix up the fire station under capital improvements.
O'Connor stated we have had some of these conversations. The headquarters station is the one
that is going to need attention in the next few years, and we will have to look at how to address
that. As far as locations though, this is a great location for response times; the same thing could
be said for North Beverly. One of the limitations of the station is that we are building the trucks
for the height of the doors and that is a concern.
Ayles added that it is a topic that is discussed on a regular basis with Commissioner Collins and
the mayor as well. The timing issue on some of this has to do with when free cash is certified.
We certainly want to put resources towards the investment because we want to make sure to
maintain that asset.
Cahill stated that we should ask it again when Commissioner Collins comes in next week
because he has had people there looking at the needs. There are things that can be done in the
meantime. We have had a lot of people step in this year like Chief O'Connor and Darlene who
all stepped up during the pandemic and have done incredible work.
Chief John LeLacheur-Police Department (page 51 of the budget book)
LeLacheur presented a level service budget. Since March of 2020, officers have still responded
to approximately 18,000 calls of service. We were tasked heavily with Covid compliance and
Beverly City Council Meeting Minutes—June 2,2021,page 5 of 9
working with the Board of Health. We are looking forward to the move next month. The project
is under budget and on time. LeLacheur stated that the harbormaster and animal control will be
somewhat affected by the current police reform bill because they will not be able to hire part-
time officers. There are no more part-time academies, only full-time police officers. It could
have a financial impact in the future. We are really working towards going to electric or hybrid
vehicles as the technology improves. We could get non-pursuit vehicles electric or hybrid soon,
and we may want to wait to see how the pursuit-level vehicles test before purchasing.
Flaherty asked for more information on not hiring part-time reserves.
LeLacheur stated reserve officers used to be hired from civil service who would go to a part-time
academy on nights and weekends and then become part-time certified. They would then be put
through field training to be able to work in certain functions and they could replace officers who
may be taking vacation or out injured and would save us a significant amount of money not
having to pay a full-time officer overtime to fill that position. When we hired full-timers, we
could get a temporary waiver to work up to 270 days before going to the next full-time police
academy.Now, we have to wait until the next police academy starts and put them through the
full-time police academy. For the harbormaster particularly, all of his officers are reserved
certified. There are no more reserve academies. Police reform has eliminated it, so we are going
to have to have more full-time harbormasters, or we are going to have to take police officers on
overtime or assignments and put them into those roles in the future.
Cahill stated that, as the chief talked about, we will not be able to get waivers for officers to
work until there is a spot for them in the next academy that has an opening, so what we have
tried to do is anticipate retirements. Each time an officer is hired we have to wait for a spot in the
academy. We can't always anticipate an opening, so in that case we could find ourselves short-
handed and burning through some overtime, or we hire early and carry more positions knowing
that an opening is coming. Management of staffing the department may get more costly.
LeLacheur stated currently there are two officers in the full-time academy, and the next academy
is not until September. If someone retires in July, somebody cannot be hired until September, so
then we would be three positions down until the two graduate from the current academy, which
will be October, and then we would be able to add another position.
Rand asked if the lieutenant increase in line 51109 was due to promotions.
LeLacheur stated a position was added with the Council's approval back in December to assist
with licensing and internal affairs investigations.
Rand asked how overtime is managed and stated she would be curious to see a breakdown of if it
is used to cover time off and events or because of being short-staffed, as well as if it is spread out
across departments and ranks. Going into the new building and the changeover to civilian
dispatch, it would be good to have a sense of where overtime is being applied.
LeLacheur stated it is a little of all of the above. We have contractual obligations. It can be
vacations or major crimes. The majority of overtime is filling vacancies in staffing and making
sure we have a car in each neighborhood. The Police Department used to come to the Council
every year asking for$100,000 or$200,000 to fill the overtime budget. LeLacheur stated he has
not come to the Council to ask for that and has always been able to manage.
Beverly City Council Meeting Minutes—June 2,2021,page 6 of 9
Rand stated she remembered that shift and it is a great budget practice. If it is possible to see in a
spreadsheet, it would be helpful to look at or just however that information is organized. Rand
asked if there is a concentration of need, why there isn't more coverage in that area.
LeLacheur stated we do have that in a way because the beats are much smaller in more
concentrated areas; ward two and ward three are smaller areas than the other wards. Others are
also working, like the community impact unit and the traffic unit, so even though there are the
six ward cars, there are always other officers out there. One of the other things we have talked
about is putting out some walking beats or bike patrols.
Rotondo asked for a description of how the new dispatch center is going to work.
LeLacheur stated there are some labor issues being worked through, but the job for the dispatch
manager was put out there. The goal is to have combined fire/police dispatch in the new police
station, and that will free up officers for other functions.
Cahill added that it will free up about one officer all the time over the course of every shift in a
week and that will help with staffing on all shifts. The goal is to have transitioned over to the
new dispatch by the second half of the fiscal year.
Flowers asked about the increase in line 53003 for accreditation on page 54.
LeLachuer stated Beverly Police Department is trying to become an accredited agency in the
commonwealth. Part of police reform mandates a certain standard for every police department in
the commonwealth, so we have been rewriting a lot of policies. We are in self-assessment right
now. It is also about having best practices and the same policies as other police departments in
the area for mutual aid.
Flowers asked if looking to the new police station and ways it might change the budget and
looking at programs like the Denver STAR response team, how we could have more dedicated
social workers or if that is something coming in the future. The community impact officers do an
incredible job.
LeLacheur stated the police department has been working with Ms. Barrett for a grant on a
second clinician. Clinicians often still want police backup; we want to make sure the civilians
that go out are vetted and the calls are vetted because they can still be dangerous. It is something
we are certainly going to look at.
Feldman asked if the change in line 1210151340 was because a lot of events were cancelled.
LeLeacheur stated it was partially because of that and also to engage more with the community.
We felt it was important to bring that back to what it was in the past. It was cut last year knowing
that there would be fewer events.
Feldman asked if it is now more on par with something from two or three years ago.
LeLacheur and Ayles confirmed.
Houseman asked about what kind of accreditation and training the dispatchers will get.
LeLacheur stated one of the things we are working on is there are certain crimes that could be
reported by form on the website and get assigned a case number, like vandalism or
unemployment fraud. A dispatcher will send officers according to priority. There are times
Beverly City Council Meeting Minutes—June 2,2021,page 7 of 9
where officers are sent a call, then something more serious comes in and they are rerouted to
another call. Dispatchers go through a 40-hour 911 program run by the state on how to use
equipment,prioritize calls and handle text message alerts. They also go through another
certification program as well as customer service training and annual continuing education
training.
Ames stated she was going to give her annual pitch for the community impact unit. The work
those folks do in the community is priceless. They build trust, and the more of that we can get
along with the social workers' work are worth their weight in gold.
LeLacheur stated the goal is to add to the community impact unit so there can be someone all the
time on a day shift and all the time on a night shift. Salem has 99 police officers and Beverly has
71. We do a tremendous job with the amount of people we have.
Paul Guanci left the meeting at 9:07pm.
Darlene Wynne-Planning/Community Development(page 39 of the budget book)
Wynne stated two of the professional staff have received their credentials from AICP (American
Institute of Certified Planners) and one is on the way. The department staffs ten boards and
commissions. Daily activities fall into five categories- development and permit review, long-
range planning, short-term projects, maintenance and enforcement, and customer service. There
are a couple minor changes in the budget. Overtime went up a little. It seems like everyone is
home and wants to do work on their houses during the pandemic, so there are more permits. In
2020 conservation filings were up 40%, and in May of 2021 there are the same number of permit
applications as there were in all of 2020. Those require site visits, inspections, follow-up
meetings and paperwork. The other line is for a recording secretary. It has been a struggle to get
recording secretaries who want to stay on, and it is really important to have a great recording
secretary. The proposal is to increase the hourly pay rate. Hopefully that will help quality
candidates stay. The consulting line is a little bit smaller this year; we get a lot of grants and are
lucky to have technical assistance from different entities. We still would like to use the
consulting line for zoning changes and implementing recommendations from the master plan,
preservation plan or the climate action plan, or in case projects or grant matches come up.
Rand expressed her appreciation for Ms. Wynne and her department's work. Rand stated she
hoped to discuss sometime what other communities are doing for planning processes that include
young adults like 13-20 year olds and if there are initiatives that help connect with that age
group.
Wynne there are some things that have been done and there are other opportunities to make them
a little more successful. They are the future of Beverly and we want them to feel invested to help
set what the community is going to look like.
Rotondo thanked Wynne for all her work and stated that the office is great with customer
service.
Beverly City Council Meeting Minutes—June 2,2021,page 8 of 9
William Burke-Health Department(96 of the budget book)
Cahill, Ayles, and Doig stated they were available for questions as Bill Burke could not attend
the meeting.
Ames asked about an overview in terms of what budgetary normalcy is. Ames stated she has
worked with the mayor on public health projects where public health and where people live have
intersected in negative ways and had an adverse effect on neighborhoods. Ames asked about the
vision for the Health Department's role moving forward and if there are areas for investment.
Cahill stated the Health Department has been at the front lines and was really taxed. The
department is staffed in a way that works in a normal time. They are involved with a number of
things, but this year they had to get involved with all the shut down and reopening. It fell to the
Department of Health to fill that inspector role and help interpret guidance from the state.
Fortunately the resources that came to help came quickly so we were able to hire on several part-
time positions.
Ames stated she appreciates the thoughts and all the effort and spoke about the importance of
working collaboratively together across departments and as a community and not siloing
organizations. Health is important across the board to all of us and it is a matter of better
communication and coordination of resources.
Flowers noted line 54261 for office supplies is up and asked if that is looking artificially lower
because there were cuts in 2021, so these are just being rebuilt to previous amounts.
Ayles confirmed, stating there was concern about revenues, so end of the year spending was
limited in an effort to preserve the City's stability going into a pandemic and brought down some
levels for the FY2021 budget.Now that we are seeing the revenues at a more typical level, we
are able to bring those levels right back up to where they were pre-pandemic.
Rotondo commended the work of Mr. Burke and his staff. Rotondo suggested, going forward,
maybe re-thinking how the board of health works with the community.
Cahill stated there is going to be time to reflect a little bit as we are moving ahead. They have
done incredible work for sure.
Cahill stated he had information on McPherson budget discussed at the last meeting. The total
budget is $122,787,000 or$122,797,000. So the City of Beverly funds are about$68,000; the Y
matches about$54,000. It is a combination of full and part-time staff year round and seasonal;
this only includes programming out of McPherson and does not include programming out of the
Douglas Stevens Teen Center or the summer basketball league.
Rand motioned to adjourn Finance and Property. Flaherty seconded. A roll call vote was taken,
and the motion carried (2-0).
The motion was made and seconded to adjourn the Committee of the Whole. A roll call vote was
taken, and the motion carried(7-0). The meeting adjourned at 9:36pm.
Beverly City Council Meeting Minutes—June 2,2021,page 9 of 9