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1995-01-03REGULAR MEETING OF THE BEVERLY CITY COUNCIL, JANUARY 3, 1995 ROLL CALL: PRESENT: ABSENT: Coughlin, Gilmore, Golin, Murray, Rollins, Troubetaris None Mahan, McGlynn, and Nardella PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE TO THE FLAG: Led by Councilor Coughlin ACCEPTANCE seconded to passes. OF MINUTES OF PREVIOUS MEETING: Motion made and accept minutes of December 19, 1994 meeting Motion CONFIRMATIONS: Motion made and seconded to remove ~417 and #418 from the table for confirmation - motion passes. #417 Reappointment of members to Commission for Physically and Mentally Handicapped - into the council on November 17, 1994 and amended by Communication from Mayor on December 19, 1994, the appointments of Kevin Gallant, Norman Ganley, Saul Gross and John Borsetti were unanimously confirmed. #418 The appointment of Elise Bernstein to the Commission for the Physically and Mentally Handicapped was unanimously confirmed. #470 The appointment of Traffic Supervisors for the Beverly Public Schools was unanimously confirmed. #471 The reappointment of Katherine Fanning as Trustee of the Beverly Public Library was unanimously confirmed. #472 The appointment of John Young and Kevin O'Reilly as Trustees of the Beverly Public Library was unanimously confirmed. #473 The reappointment of James Simpson, John Gallo and Donald Neuman as members of the Beverly Harbor Management Authority was unanimously confirmed. COMMUNICATIONS FROM HIS HONOR THE MAYOR: #1 January 3, 1995 Honorable City Council City of Beverly Dear Honorable Council: It is necessary for the City of Beverly to borrow $900,000 to complete payment of Beverly's share of improvements to the RESCO incinerator. These improvements were discussed and approved over a year ago by the then Board of Aldermen. As Don Young's memo points out, I was led to believe that the Board of Aldermen approved the bonding of the payments for each of the three years, but in fact only the first year was approved. This is, therefore, something of a housekeeping issue in that we need to approve this borrowing in order to fulfill the commitments made earlier. Memos from Judith Mulligan and Donald Young are attached for your information. I would appreciate it if you would take a first reading on this matter tonight, January 3. Very truly yours, William F. Scanlon, Jr., Mayor Referred to the Committee on Finance and Property January 3, 1995 Honorable City Council City Hall Dear Honorable Council: I hereby request that your Honorable Council authorize the Mayor to sign the attached lease between the City of Beverly and the New England Flying School as per the attached letter from Beverly Airport Commission Chairman, Robert Farmer. Very truly yours, William F. Scanlon, Jr., Mayor Referred to the Committee on Legal Affairs and Accounts January 3, 1995 Honorable City Council City Hall Dear Honorable Council: I hereby request that your Honorable Council authorize the Mayor to sign the attached lease between the City of Beverly and North Atlantic Air, Inc. as per the attached letter from Beverly Airport Commission Chairman, Robert Farmer. Very truly yours, William F. Scanlon, Jr., Mayor Referred to the Committee on Legal Affairs and Accounts January 3, 1995 Honorable City Council City Hall Dear Honorable City Council: I hereby reappoint, subject to your confirmation, Mr. Marshall Handly, 6 Clark Avenue, Beverly, MA 01915, to serve as City Solicitor for the year 1995. Very truly yours, William F. Scanlon, Jr., Mayor 3 Laid over for confirmation. #5 Honorable City Council City Hall Dear Honorable Council, I hereby reappoint, subject to your confirmation, Mr. Peter Seamans, 35 Standley Street, Beverly, MA 01915, as Administrative Aide to the Mayor for the year 1995. Very truly yours, William F. Scanlon, Jr., Mayor Laid over for confirmation. Honorable City Council City Hall Dear Honorable Council: I hereby appoint Mrs. Linda Giallongo, 31 Home Street, Beverly, MA 01915 to serve as Executive Secretary to the Mayor for the year 1995. Very truly yours, William F. Scanlon, Jr., Mayor Received and Placed on File #7 January 3, 1994 Honorable City Council City Hall Dear Honorable Council: I hereby reappoint, subject to your confirmation, Mr. Herbert Schlein, 106 Lothrop Street, Beverly, MA 01915, to serve as a member of the Hazardous Waste Oversight Committee. His term will be effective until January 31, 1998. Very truly yours, William F. Scanlon, Jr., Mayor Laid over for confirmation. #8 January 3, 1995 Honorable City Council City Hall Dear Honorable Council: I hereby appoint, subject to your confirmation, the following citizens to serve as members of the Hazardous Waste Oversight Committee: Ms. Kathryn Kowalski - 1 Dartmouth Street She will fill the expired term of Ernest Stokham and her term will be effective until January 31, 1996. Mr. Carmen Frattaroli 14 Beaver Pond Road He will fill the expired term of Elaine Carey will be effective until January 31, 1997. and his term Very truly yours, William F. Scanlon, Jr., Mayor Laid over for confirmation #9 January 3, 1995 Honorable City Council City of Beverly Dear Honorable Council: I hereby submit for your information the Report from St. John the Evangelist School, Beverly, MA 01915. attached annual Beano 111 New Balch Street, Very truly yours, William F. Scanlon, Jr., Mayor Received and Placed on File. #10 Honorable City Council City Hall Dear Honorable Council: I hereby submit to your Honorable Council my Mid-Term report for the year 1995. Very truly yours, William F. Scanlon, Jr., Mayor 1995 MID-TERM REPORT 1994 has gone by in a flash. It was a busy year and one, I believe, in which the City, through the Council and the Mayor, has made significant progress. Let us look back for a moment to this time last year. We had yet to get a handle on the deficit. Every state agency in sight had been alienated. There was no relief on the horizon for sewer rates. We faced an $800,000 bill for extra costs associated with an eminent domain taking of land near the new bridge. Our Community Development Office was out of business. Some $700,000 in funds had been frozen. We stood in danger of losing over $400,000 in claims regarding the construction of the new library. With respect to these issues, there has been improvement. We know the deficit. It is now below $2.1 million. We expect it will fully disappear next fiscal year. We are on reasonable terms with State agencies. The MBTA is designing and will build for us a 400 car garage to aid commuter congestion and help provide parking for nearby Beverly businesses. We will soon be reimbursed the $800,000 for the eminent domain taking. The Community Development Office is up and running well under a very effective new director. The entire $700,000 has been freed up, and we settled our past problems for the sum of approximately $75,000. Legislation introduced by our State Senator, Fred Berry, and ultimately signed by Governor Weld will significantly help control the increase of sewer rates next year and beyond, although in the current year we had no choice but to make a very large increase in rates. Under the strong leadership of the City Solicitor, we won the Library arbitration to the tune of $411,000. Without doubt 5 some things are better. Another optimistic indicator - We have also seen continued improvement in residential real estate prices in Beverly with quarter to quarter improvements in each quarter of 1994 versus 1993. Exact the typical house worth $160,000 last year is now valued at between $175,000 to $180,000. Home ownership represents most people's greatest asset. To those who have to sell, this increase is important. We got the budget done on time and without controversy. On the city side, every union - City Hall workers, Fire, Police, DOW have all settled for no increase for this year and without great argument thus demonstrating an understanding of our difficult financial situation. Don't get me wrong. Not all is wonderful. Public Works remains largely an unscheduled activity. This must change. Complaints about rude behavior by City workers come in every week and at least some of them must be justified. But, we are trying to treat people with dignity, and we believe that nearly every one wants to do a good job if given the tools and the opportunity. On another front we settled the construction and lease difficulties with the Montserrat College of Art and the College went on to lease the balance of the Hardie School and to purchase several downtown properties. The College is an important contributor to the vitality of the downtown. Let me move from specifics to philosophy. After all the important question is not where we are but where we want to be. To me the clearest signal from the citizens of Beverly in the elections of 1993 was one to move carefully in the direction of a broadened commercial/industrial tax base. For years the City has been treated strictly as a bedroom community with two very negative outcomes. 1) The residential tax rates have been ratcheted up by the maximum every year since Proposition 2 1/2 began in 1980. 2)Despite the heavy tax burden on residents we still don't have the necessary funds to provide citizens with the services they have a right to expect. Beverly today raises 79% of its tax revenues from its residents. That leaves only 21% to come from commerce and industry. That compares with 35% in Danvers and a full 40% in Peabody coming from commerce and industry. And so it is no surprise that I have given considerable attention to improving the commercial industrial tax base. Dawson's new store will be opening very soon; the Waverly building has been renovated; new construction is planned at 220 Rantoul Street. Still the list is short. Certainly the largest project to be considered has been the rezoning of the South Parcel at the USM site. This project has probably been studied in greater depth than any in Beverly's history, and I won't bore you with a detailed review. Suffice it to say that I am very much in favor of the project which I believe will add at least $175,000 to our annual tax revenues, but more importantly, will be a cornerstone for future economic development in the City. I much appreciate your courageous 7-2 vote in favor of the project, and I can tell you that the mitigation package which you obtained is the envy of other municipalities in the area. I know that first hand. As you are aware, few projects of size will have unanimous support. Indeed, there are those who oppose the rezoning project and who have exercised their rights to bring the matter to an election. The right of dissent is a basic American freedom which must be protected. Still, in the future I hope that the leadership of groups such as the so called "What's Best for Beverly Committee" will have the courtesy to be forthcoming about their objectives and their sources of funding. It is indeed unfortunate when narrow private interests masquerade as ordinary concerned citizens. 6 To those of you who honestly oppose the project, I respect your view, and I hope you will respect mine. Going forward into 1995, some things look encouraging. We haven't blown the snow removal budget yet. In the Spring, significant amounts of repaving will begin. Money is available from several sources including Chapter 90. As the year progresses, I believe we will have a capital plan which will include elementary school facilities and both new police and new fire stations. We hope to be able to fully fund our schools which this year were underfunded to help reduce the deficit. One of our targets has been overdue taxes - taxes more than one year late. This number appears to have peaked in June of '92 at just over $3.5 million. By June of '93, it was down to $3.1 million and by June of '94, it stood at $2.75 million. Now in December of '94, it has been reduced to under $2.5 million. We are optimistic that early in 1995 this amount will fall even further. There are other positive things. Beverly's commercial use of its extensive waterfront is minimal and in 1995 under the direction of the Harbor Management Authority, we will come up with a plan to better utilize this asset. The North Shore Music Theater has volunteered a sizeable contribution in lieu of taxes. We have received a reduction in our ambulance costs over the next four-year period of over $200,000. Beverly will be the site for the Arbor Day Project, an honor bestowed on only one municipality each year throughout the entire State. The well received Traffic Island Program will be back, bigger and better. The exciting project to upgrade the Common will move forward. The Charter Commission will conclude its diligent efforts to modernize our Charter. I would like to say a word about the volunteers. There are more than 200 members of Boards and Commissions. I thank all the volunteers. There are probably a few of you whose willingness to help has not been picked up on at our end. Especially now that Peter Seamans is on board, we can do a better job in this regard so don't be too shy to call. Perhaps I should say a word about our approach. Just as your attendance at Council Meetings has been extremely good, we, in the Mayor's office, have tried to be there and to be accessible. Anyone who wants to bring a new business to Beverly can readily talk to the Mayor and all the relevant City officials. Any citizen who wants access to the Mayor's office can readily get it, usually within a few days. The recent addition of Peter Seamans to the office funded largely by a State Grant means that we can do a better job with constituent services. Linda, Peter and I are here to help you. In closing, the Mayor and the Council worked closely together in '94, and I expect we will do so again in '95. I thank you for your wisdom and cooperation. Maybe we're a little like the Patriots. We did a lot better in '94 and can do even better in '95. Received and Placed on File COMMUNICATIONS FROM OTHER CITY OFFICERS AND BOARDS: #11 December 21, 1994 The Honorable City Council City Hall 7 Re: City Council Order #410: Amendment to Language of Watershed Protection Overlay District Section of the Zoning ordinance relative to Propane Gas Dear Councilors: At a Special Meeting of the Planning Board held on Monday, December 19, 1994, Board members discussed the above-referenced Order and the issues raised during the Joint Public Hearing held earlier that night. Based on comments received from the Salem/Beverly Water Supply Board in a letter dated December 19, 1994 and from the Fire Chief during the public hearing, the Planning Board voted unanimously to recommend to the City Council that Order #410 be adopted, SUBJECT TO TWO AMENDMENTS TO THE LANGUAGE ORIGINALLY BEING PROPOSED. The initial proposal would have added the phrase "propane gas, stored above ground, to be used for residential home purposes." to Section 29-30.C.6. of the Zoning ordinance. The Planning Board recommends that the wording listed below be adopted by the City Council (the Planning Board's suggested changes are in bold print): 3. propane gas, stored above ground, to be used for residential home heatlag purposes; and 4. propane gas, stored above ground, to be used for retail resale; provided, however, that the containers being filled for resale shall be no larger than forty (40) pounds capacity. If you have any questions relative to this recommendation from the Planning Board, please do not hesitate to contact City Planner Tina Cassidy at extension 171. Respectfully, James A. Manzi, Chairman, Beverly Planning Board Referred to the Committee on Legal Affairs and Accounts COMMUNICATIONS, APPLICATIONS AND PETITIONS: An application for 2nd CMVDL -112 Rantoul Street by Francis Koram, 56 Collins Street, Danvers, MA 01923 Referred to the Committee on Legal Affairs and Accounts #13 A communication from Commonwealth of Massachusetts, Office of the Secretary of State, relative to implementation of the Motor-Voter Law Received and Placed on File (Copies to all Councilors) REPORTS FROM COMMITTEES: #1 The Committee on Finance and Property to whom was referred the matter of Mayor's request for authorization to borrow $900,000 for RESCO improvements, have considered said matter and beg leave to report as follows, to wit: Submit the accompanying order and recommend its adoption. ORDERED That $900,000 is appropriated for payment to Refuse Energy Systems Co., (RESCO) for Beverly's share of the cost of improvements to the RESCO incinerator and related facilities required by changes in law or otherwise; that to meet this appropriation the Treasurer-Collector, with the approval of the Mayor and the Finance Director and under the direction of the Committee on Finance and Property, is authorized to borrow $900,000 under G. L. Chapter 44, sect. 8 or Chapter 355 of the Acts of 1991, and to file an application with the Emergency Finance Board to qualify the bonds under Chapter 44A of Massachusetts General Laws; that the City Treasurer- Collector is further authorized to file a certified copy of the loan order and provide such other information and execute such other documents as the Board may require; and that all bonds or notes issued hereunder shall be certified to in writing as to their genuineness by Shawmut Bank, N. A. Be it further ordered that the City Council of the City of Beverly hold a Public Hearing on Tuesday, January 17, 1995 at 7:50 p.m. relative to this loan authorization. Order read once and passed to a second reading, laid over under charter provisions #11 The Committee on Legal Affairs and Accounts to whom was referred the matter of zoning amendment re definition of propane gas in Watershed Overlay Protection District have considered said matter and beg leave to report as follows, to wit: Submit the accompanying order and recommend its adoption. ORDERED: That the City Council accept the recommendation of the Planning Board and amend zoning ordinance Section 29- 30.C.6. in accordance with the following language: 3. propane gas, stored above ground, to be used for residential home heating purposes; and 4. propane gas, stored above ground, to be used for retial resale; provided, however, that the containers being filled for resale shall be no larger than forty (40) pounds capacity. This ordinance to take effect upon passage. Order read once and adopted. #1g (#~62 of 199~) The Committee on Legal Affairs and Accounts to whom was referred the matter of Ordinance change - parking on Matthies Street, have considered said matter and beg leave to report as follows, to wit: Submit the accompanying ordinance and recommend its adoption. City of Beverly In the year one thousand nine hundred and ninety- five An ordinance amending an ordinance entitled "Motor Vehicles and Traffic: relative to parking prohibited on certain streets at all times Be it ordained by the City Council of the City of Beverly as follows: 9 That Chapter 14, Section 120 of the Revised Ordinances of the City of Beverly, 1989, be, and the same is hereby amended by adding thereto the following: "Matthies Street, southerly side, from McKay Street fifty feet (50') westerly." This ordinance to take effect upon passage. Ordinance read once and adopted. #15 (#~61 of 199t) The Committee on Legal Affairs and Accounts to whom was referred the matter of Mortgage Discharge - Donald Jones, 18 Grant Street, have considered said matter and beg leave to report as follows, to wit: Submit the accompanying order and recommend its adoption. ORDERED: That His Honor the Mayor be, and the same is hereby authorized to sign the attached mortgage discharge for property of Donald Jones at 18 Grant Street, as recommended by the Planning Department. Order read once and adopted. #~6 (#474 of 1994) The Committee of the Whole to whom was referred the matter of Referendum Petition for rescission of zoning amendment - South Parcel of United Shoe Property, have considered said matter and beg leave to report as follows, to wit: Receive and Place on File Order read once and adopted. Motion to adjourn: 9:35 P.M. Constance E. Perron City Clerk