Left In Lowell

Holy rat droppings, batman, was that a long meeting.   o_O   I thought my bladder was going to explode. Not that you need to know that, but I just want you to all understand what I go through for you. Not to mention having to listen to John Cox all night. And Armand. And the other councilors piling on Dick Howe for piling on John Cox.

That’s right - if you tuned in then tuned out after the first hour, you missed some great fireworks. Which I will comment on after the flippity flip. So click it already!

Here are my exact notes from the beginning: “Amusing watching them try to figure out the audio – STOP THAT TAPPING DAMMIT!” In an effort to get the sound working, apparently the City Council procedure is to tap the hell out of the mic in front you. Armand, you know who you are. And off camera somewhere, one of the mics was giving off a gawd-awful grating noise. It sounded a lot like a bad mic GETTING TAPPED ON. I guess the sound system wasn’t working within the chamber, but it worked fine for viewers at home, and I felt like throwing something at my screen by the end of all the tap-tap-tap-tap-tap-tap-tap…

Ahem, back to the city council meeting.

Okay so I ended up with eight pages of typed notes in shorthand, and that was missing some of the very end because I had to go to the bathroom (and admittedly, grab some ice cream, a sort of reward for sitting there three hours - are any of my readers masseuses? my shoulder kills!). I’m going to copy and paste a lot of them almost unedited because I’ll go insane trying to fix it all up completely. I think partly, my notes were more thorough because I had put the text of the agenda into Word, and wrote my notes below each item. So I could follow along a lot better, but that means more work on this end. Maybe having the agendas available before the meetings wasn’t such a good thing after all. ;-P

If there’s items or notes that are unclear you can hope the official meeting minutes really will be up on the city website, as it looks like they will do.

My impression is that the upcoming elections are affecting councilor’s demeanor and what they say. Well, duh, right? I think they were a little bit more critical on development issues, though I doubt it’ll translate to much more than lip service. A subcommittee on Zoning apparently has been changing and tweaking the zoning codes and rezoning the city, and they had a report. Hopefully some substantial changes there - but it still does not address the problem of the cozy relationship between City Manager John Cox and the planning board, or the planning board’s non-accountability either with the voters or the city councilors, who are great at saying now that they are disgusted at how the city is being devoured by some unscrupulous developers, but where’ve they been since the beginning? The development process in this city has been flawed quite a while, and it’s great they are at least attempting to address it, but it seems to me to be somewhat ineffectual in nature. How about firing the Planning Board chair? Or firing John Cox for his management of the process? Nope, won’t happen. They will not or can not, I can’t decide which.

Another note: I think Howe is on to something when he opposes Cox, but it’s so easy to dismiss him as crazy and not quite on the same page as everyone else. What will we do when Howe is gone, though, and there’s no one with 40 years’ clout to oppose Cox?
****

Before the meeting actually started, there were some reports by some people…the guy from the local Salvation Army talking about Katrina relief efforts here, and the dude from the Merrimack Rep Theatre:

• Donations to Salvation Army = 30K or so. Smith Baker Blding – new items can be dropped there, used are only for the thrift store and not being accepted for Katrina victims.
• Report from the MRT, Liberty Hall E Merrimack, fundraising effort, increased audience by 40%, completion Keep Theatre Alive fundraising campaign, complements the City Manager, 500K almost 25% of budget of which they need half. Matt Coggins DPD planning.

Now on to the meeting:

UNFINISHED BUSINESS
Order-Vacate, discontinue, abandon portion of Western Ave.
Approved: unanimous

Vote-Execute License Agreement w/The Courtyard for sidewalk seating.
Donoghue: got more info, satisfied can support
Approved unanimous

PUBLIC HEARINGS (Scheduled for 7PM)
Ordinance-Amend Zoning by extending INST Zone on Marginal St..
Speakers:
Nancy Judge: co chair of Highlands Neighborhood Assoc.
Approached by realtor etc, meeting, questions asked and answered. Since then HNA has not been approached with any opposition, will be good for tax base, etc.

James Flood, Atty: recently acquired property, for dev, meet with neighborhood, discussed proposed dev, neighborhood was in favor of residential dev., want to tear down existing bldng, build on footprint, parking would be underground and some lots on outside,

No opposition.

Caulfield: inaudible [mic dead], request be approved
Approved, unanimous

Ordinance-Amend Ch. 8, entitled Fire Protection & Prevention.
Proponents, none, opponents none.

Approval: unanimous

Pole loc’s-Mass. Electric Co. 1 pole Stackpole St. & Verizon conduit locations School St., Broadway St. & Perkins St.
No pro, no opposing.
A. Mercier: at least one important to new school
Caulfield: [inaudible]

Refer matter to wire inspector: unanimous

CITY MANAGER (Aka “City manager portion of meeting.”)
Communication-From City Mgr. requesting approval Out of State Travel.
Approved unanimous

Appointment-Richard Lockhart to the Historic Board.
Donoghue: intend to support this appointment [Then she goes on about new historic districts, names submitted including neighborhood people, to be filled sometime within next week or so].
Cox: not enough people to fill some of the neighborhood positions, 2 districts need more ppl
Donoghue: CM typically appoints and we approve…perhaps for future appnts…we may not always know who the applicants are – can the council be provided with names and resumes – I will support these appointees because I know them personally but would helpful for individuals we know nothing about. For example: ZBA application; I asked we be given resumes of people applied – many times we know the people, “maybe the public thinks we’re rubberstamping” but we know many of them personally – but for the others it would be good.
Elliot: good that the historic board appointments are getting looked at, I’m getting calls
Howe: I look at tonight’s vote a little differently, this public hearing [on historic board creation] occurred July 12, people came and spoke eloquently about urgency to create boards – here we are more than 2 month’s time, and now we’re finally getting them on the docket soon. I will not support these motions until CM does what the council told him to do on these historic board positions.
Caulfield: [inaudible, stupid mic]
Elliot: Historic district appnts do not require council confirmation, so we don’t need to wait until next meeting to deal with those.
Cox: there are a couple districts we do not have enough people, but the others ones I’ve met with etc
Milinazzo: Current projects are not on hold because of these historic board appointments? [answer; no]

Howe votes no, everyone else yes, passes

Appointment-Mary Burns to the Planning board.
For position that expires Sept 26 2006, this is to fill new Councilor Broderick’s vacated planning board position.
Elliot: Want to be on record opposing this appointee – based upon concerns recently raised by neighborhood groups, individuals; there may have been better applicants for this appointment. City Manager had an opportunity to appoint someone more qualified.
Cox: I evaluate each candidate, listened to councilors who called, blah blah. [Lynne’s Note: yeah, evaluate…]

Milinazzo & Howe vote no.
Donoghue: reasserts need to have info ahead of time
Everyone else: yes. Passes.

Resolution-Opposing the passage of Senate Bill #1504 (Broadband Investment & Consumer Choice Act).
Resolution against this bill which takes local control away from telecomm decisions. [Lynne’s Note: funny how much complaining they did last year when we brought up the resolution against USA PATRIOT Act - that it wasn’t the City Council’s place to comment on national legislation.]
Caulfield: [inaudible] – Respect Sen McCain immensely, but opposed to this bill and for resolution? [hard to hear]

Motion – To refer to Mayor’s ad hoc committee on Cable TV
Elliot: supports sending to subcomm; this bill wants to eliminate any limited local control we have now.
Cox: Thinks passage of this would lose franchise fee to city from cable, which supports LTC and other community activities.
Elliot: Maybe a rep from Meehan, Kennedy, Kerry have some more info. This is a giveaway to industry, telecomm bills under this congress atrocious – virtually any action by this congress is against consumer and for the big cable companies
Caulfield: my understanding this is not in favor of the cable TV co’s too, cost them a lot of money

Passed by voice vote

Vote-Enter into License Agreement w/Bay State Chowda for sign on Phoenix Ave.
(Rogers and Phoenix Sts)
Elliot: will support, but wondering about Boston Chowda [?] restaurant that had been talking about being in the works downtown.
Cox: that was prior to me getting here, heard nothing since, don’t think its going to happen
Approved unanimous

Vote-Declare surplus and seek proposals under Ch. 30B for 100, 152 & 174 River Pl.
Cox: Just to let you know where we are at about this “important [land] parcel,” one of the “new frontiers as we continue to grow.” Had appraisals done, beginning Request for Proposal process. “Unlimited potential.” On river. Suggest it go to subcomm immediately. [Lynne’s Note: is that salivating I see, John? Can you get any more excited?]
Donoghue: Myself and Jim had motions to send this to subcomm when appropriate, will affect that whole area of the city, do we know when Post Office will be vacating property?
Cox: They’re gone.
[This is DMU zoning - Downtown Mixed Use]
Howe: Send to subcomm before anything else is done, subcomm might decide it should stay in the city’s ownership
Mercier: motion to send to subcomm
Martin: support that motion, [bloviates a lot about how wonderful this parcel is etc]
Milinazzo: [same bloviating] On selection process, can member of council sit on board deciding on developer, process, etc
[answer: Hasn’t been done before, we can look into it if interested]
Motion: voice vote approved

REPORTS (Sub/Committee if any)
Martin: zoning subcomm, code needed update and changes, some are substantive. Mentions that this subcomm includes some City Councilors, neighborhood activists [Lynne’s Note: Yeah? Who?]
Stopped some of the poorer dev projects from getting off ground already.
Elliot: more important discussion took place, members of Pawtucket Citizens Council concerned about certain property [missed the street names], people shouldn’t have to worry about open space, took up zoning code which had not changed in 40 years, unfortunately we won’t see the benefits for a while. This is another way to be more aggressive with developers, reduce density, keep character of neighborhood, need to continue to find loopholes developers use and close them.
Howe: have motion in relation to this one [is sort of denied on this?]
Motion of report of progress – voice vote approved.

Motion rules suspended: voice vote approved. For discussion with Susan Lemay, City Assessor.
R. Mercier: Susan Lemay City assessor thanks for being here. Had questions, sent them to the CM and he passed them on. Susan answered questions I had at length , thanks for great length of time. Just have a few questions to ask publicly. Are we going to have a book in your office with property values.
Susan: FY 2005, 2004, once 2006 values are set will be avail., 2006 valuations finished at the end of Oct, then they are sent to the state to be certified.
R. Mercier: trying to cover ourselves if it doesn’t come back before election so we’re not blamed for not getting stuff done [Lynne’s Note: resentful much? Her tone makes it sound like she hates being accountable to people…oh how the populist have fallen.]
How do we know that the process of valuation is not flawed in some way, that we have fair assessments, etc? Do you have anything in place for that?
Susan: CM had us review last readout, then checked sales in 2003, 04 & 05, check for work done on property, then we look at any anomalies and check each one to see why the valuation is high.
R. Mercier: Let’s say I’m 70 years old and I want an application for abatement, I’m a vet as well, and a widower, are they the same application?
Susan: No, veteran application is separate.
R. Mercier: Is there a means test for widowers’ abatement, vet abatement?
Susan: You can only get one statutory abatement for the year, apply for one, separate applications. We can send out flyers with all that info.
A. Mercier: have you ever had revaluations not get certified by the state?
Susan: no
A. Mercier: then can we make public the uncertified assessments?
Susan: well sometimes they kick it back; the revaluations are preliminary until they get certified.
Caulfield: Susan: two family homes went up drastically; I note on monetary abatements were at __ [didn’t catch the #], elderly people are petrified [of abatement process], I brought some down myself and they are still petrified, has the dept of revenue simplified the form for over-assessments? What has the city or assessors office done to alleviate any doubts people have about getting abatements?
Susan: we can help them get it filled out, but it’s their property and they have the information about that property, they can help US with that. When someone calls and can’t come to office we go out to their location and fill out the application.
Caulfield: Is someone from the city going to be there to help them?
Cox: The assessors’ office.
Susan: We do that, we attach information to the application with instructions.
Elliot: Maybe when it comes to the deadline nearing next Feb maybe the Assessors office can set up maybe in the hallway to help those individuals that need it. We shouldn’t mislead here though, the state sets up the process and nothing has changed; maybe we can put together a strategy to help people through abatement process. But it needs to change at the legislature level. We are allowed to do revaluations every 3 years - in that three years multi and two family went up drastically. [Mentions getting assessments out before election, why can’t we have the prelims]
A. Mercier: Just to clarify: revaluations cannot be made public until certified [by the state], chances are that the revaluations will not be certified before elections.
Martin: question: you looked at properties that increased more than 15% - didn’t find any incorrect?
Susan: Almost none. There’s nothing flawed, cannot find a flaw in process [that contractor used]. Things changed on some properties that we didn’t know, that can change valuation, which is why we have abatement.
[Conversation about abatement goes on.]
Donoghue: Want to point out, when we get revaluations back that is only half the story, [asks:] Have the books been closed? [answer: no] Well we can’t set tax rate, until we know our cash situation, until we know that, property assessments won’t tell us what the tax bills next year will be. Budget drives tax rate but our budget is done, the other stuff out of our control.
Broderick: do we spend same relative as other cities in our revaluation process?
Susan: yes, it’s based on # of parcels and we do the background work.
Milinazzo: Concerned with drop in value of commercial property.
Susan: yes it puts more burden on residential.
Milinazzo: I think it [drop in commercial property value] is continuing and the council will have to look at it
Howe: [New topic:] If you dramatically increase spending you have to pay for it. 80% of budget is salary and benefits and that went up dramatically. [Lynne Note: this would be about him flipping out about the 1-year retroactive 3% raise for city workers who went without a raise at all for 2 years.]
MOTION: Report of progress accepted

Donoghue: Not subcomm but first Cultural Task Force meeting has been scheduled, Wed Sept 21st, 7:30am. Reminds Mayor Mercier that this was pursuant to his motion to create cultural task force for this. Open to public.

PETITIONS
Gas Mains-Keyspan Energy-Req. Gas Mains in Mammoth Rd., Llewellyn St., Westview Rd. & Lawrence St.
Motion: send to public hearing Sept 27

Claims-3 personal injury, 1 property damage
Referred to law dept

Misc.-P. King 427 Lakeview Ave. req. Handicap Sign
(and two added similar – I think – requests from A. Mercier)
Referred to traffic engineers dept

MOTIONS
C. Howe-Req. Council revisit Zoning Ordinance recently adopted & implemented.
Howe: in my many years public service, I cannot recall another period of my history where so many neighborhoods were disrupted by developments that are not welcome, its by a few builders who apparently have the inside track, and are probably barely within minimum of zoning requirement. I get a call almost every other day, complaining about the type of activity going on in undersized lots, just seems to me ought to be something done to curtail irresponsible development. [Lynne’s Note: Here’s where things get good, and heat up!]
[Howe talks about a specific example, a piece of land that was subdivided leaving an existing 2-family home on one lot, 3500 sq ft lopped off for another one family house.] To simply sit back and passively allow this sort of thing is unconscionable.
Martin: I think the property Howe addressed is something we looked at and corrected and will have ]updated code for] something hopefully by next meeting. New zoning code endorsed by neighborhood group, etc, as an improvement to old code. [Lynne’s Note: again, which neighborhood groups, I wonder? Certainly they don’t ask the CBA, the North Canal Tenants’ Council, etc.]
Elliot: I understand Howe’s concerns, we all get calls, but I don’t think this council has been sitting here passively doing nothing, not a fair statement. There’s 25,000 pieces of property in the city; the “people at home” [hi, Mr. Elliot! I’m watching!] should know we’ve added more stringent requirements than anything that’s been done over the last 40 years. There are open space requirements in some of these districts, we thought we dotted our i’s and crossed our t’s. I don’t think it’s fair for Howe to sit there and say that we’ve been passive.
Caulfield: RE specific example of Howe’s, is there going to be anything done on that?
Armond: I share everyone’s concern here, but that was a situation that was allowed and will not be anymore. It was an unfortunate incident that could not be stopped
Howe: Want to respond to Elliot, as far as what we’ve been doing in this city, concerning protection of neighborhoods, I don’t think the evidence supports the comment made by Elliot, Martin. All one has to do is look at the wreckage of the PB and ZBA, that have been instrumental in disrupting this city. Its just unbelievable the way the development went on in this city without anyone working against it.
A. Mercier: Not a fair statement! [yelling here]
Howe: Have aright to make my case, we’re the ones that confirm the appointments! [loudly, yelling]
Cox: Glad you said we! [also yelling]
Howe: you’re the CAUSE of it!
Cox: [gets angrier], They [the zoning subcomm] worked for hundreds of hours, you don’t show up, you have a lot of nerve, Mr. Howe, [gets ANGRY]
Howe: My reason for not going is that it’s already a done deal, YOU run the whole deal.
Cox: that’s an INSULT!
[more yelling!]
Martin: To say the subcomm had preformed conclusions, neighborhood groups showed up and their stuff was adopted. [Lynne’s Note: Yeah, but which ones goddamnit all!]

Everyone votes no except for Howe: obviously motion doesn’t pass.

C. Howe-Req. Mgr. provide Council w/copies of NMLAC Agreement.
Passed over, moot for some reason (I think they got copies before the meeting).

C. Howe-Council direct Mgr. submit copy of written policy, if any, re: use & operation of City Motor Vehicles after consumption of alcoholic beverages etc.
[Almost not seconded]
Howe: what promoted me to file this, was the report charging the superintendent of schools was arrested for driving under influence. Then an article appeared about the recent BBQ, quoting a city official about drinking at the event. I strongly suggest having a policy concerning the use and abuse of alcohol when using city motor vehicles.
Cox: Superintendent does not have city car, policy of use of any city equipment – there is no written policy for any of that stuff. We certainly expect all city employees to use prudence. Method we have now works very well.
Martin: do people get a booklet or guideline when hired for the city?
Cox: for sexual harassment etc. yes, first: there’s not many who have a city vehicle, and we have had no problems. I can only imagine what that would look like, people running around with cameras [to catch people at it]
Howe: This is very simple: all the policy has to reflect is that if you are using a city owned vehicle, prohibited from drinking alcohol.
A. Mercier: what is the motion?
R. Mercier [jokingly] refer to CM
[Determined that’s where it should go, sent to CM, which we all know he’d ignore even if it was a good idea, because it was Howe’s.]

C. Howe-Req. Mgr. submit report from CDM & Signatory resulting in contract w/City dated 8/4/03 w/completion date 12/05/05 etc.
Howe: when they [CDM] contracted with the city they agreed to complete phase one of our plan for untreated discharge into Merrimack river, this would decrease pollution by 48%. This motion requests that CDM submit detailed report, what they’ve done/accomplished. We’re supposed to separate sewage and drainage [according to an EPA requirement]. The runoff alone is almost as bad [with chemicals, etc], and there’s no indication and no plan as to how to deal with the runoff. There was an article about a lake in the Lowell area closed because of toxins. Even with all the money we plan on spending on separating the sewage from the runoff. So with this report on phase one, see how many places we’ve managed to separate them and implement it elsewhere in the city.
Caulfield: We are starting our first project dealing with flooding in Pawtucketville.
Howe: what Bud refers to has nothing to do with this Phase one. We’ve got to build retention chambers. The motion calls for CDM to report, but we don’t want Mark Young to submit report.
Caulfield: what is happening in Pawtucketville is getting the flooding taking care of and separating the sewage.
Elliot: maybe it wasn’t part of phase one, but we made the commitment and still should. Is there a problem with the detailed plans submitted? Those plans did not have spending millions on retention tanks, am I correct?
Cox: [agrees]
Howe; continues arguing his motion.
Motion approved

C. Elliott-Req. Council adopt Bd. Parks recommendation re: Edwards St. Soccer Field Concession Stands.
Elliot: Lowell Youth Soccer [I think that’s what it was called] requesting to build concession stand. No tax money for this, it’s by soccer fundraising. Ordinance has to be changed because commissioner wants to add bathrooms, so it exceeds ordinance space limitations. Went in front of Board of Parks already.
R. Mercier: great plan, board of parks supercedes subcomm, doesn’t need to be sent to subcomm – this would be a roll call vote of the council.
A. Mercier: can we vote tonight?
[yes]
Passed, unanimous [R. Mercier comments: see with this vote they can now pull a permit]

C. R. Mercier-Req. clarification on long term use plan for Municipal Buildings.
R. Mercier; just want a clarification on use for these buildings, looking at the projection in time, these three municipal buildings. [details on buildings, plans, etc] I like the idea of one-stop shopping [RE city hall] and annexing buildings around the area. I wish health dept was in the area [of city hall]
Cox: big issue is money, I can get you full report and maybe some estimates to put some of these places back on track

C. R. Mercier-Req. Mgr. contact State to paint center lines on Pawtucket Blvd.
R. Mercier: Out late quite recently and hard to see lines along Pawtucket Blvd [makes joke about not having beer or being in city vehicle har har].
Caulfield: asks for sidewalks and more lighting along Pawtucket,
[this has that been referred, the city owns that section talked about]
Passed, voice vote

C. R. Mercier-Req. Mgr. report on plans should disaster hit Lowell.
R. Mercier: mentions Katrina, how would we evacuate if there’s flooding. I want the public to be aware what the city would do if disaster. I know mayor is supposed to call state of disaster after calling and getting 5 city councilor votes, but wants CM to give report, put something in place to put a presentation.
Cox: Office of Emergency management meets every 2 weeks, should be able to get report to Council
ACM: Evacuation routes planned and announcement on LTC, [R. Mercier interjects: and what if no electricity] Reverse 911.
R. Mercier: where do we go today for this info?
Voice vote, passed

C. R. Mercier-Req. 3 Way Stop @ corner Ludlam approaching Barker St.
R. Mercier: what used to be a quiet neighborhood has turned into a younger neighborhood with children. Barker is a two way stop, the parents want it to be 3 way.
Voice vote, Approved

C. Milinazzo-Req. Mgr. have proper dept. repair lights @ Shedd Pk Tennis Courts.
Milinazzo: this is the second time this has been referred, and getting calls again, if we can get this looked at.
Passes, voice vote

C. Milinazzo-Req. Mgr. investigate feasibility of Labor Harmony Clause in Middlesex St. Garage Contract.
Milinazzo: if we had this clause before the new school was contracted we wouldn’t have any of these problems we have.
Voice vote passed

C. Milinazzo-Req. report on Neighborhood Issues @ Fayette St. Park.
Milinazzo: brought up that the park has had a lot of noise there at night. Have planning dept look at what’s going on at the park
Caulfield: vandalism behind [school – didn’t’ catch name] – want police to go down there
Approved

C. Martin-Req. Mgr. report on progress of Stoklosa School.
Martin: wanted to hear from CM about when school ready to be used
Cox: was in meeting with school dept members, appears second and third floors totally done. They have a date now of Columbus Day for kids to get into the school. Auditorium pretty much done. Caf looked 99% finished. Tile work completed in caf. Health Dept was there last week. Library, is on the first floor now, shelves up, start putting in books soon.
Martin: anything about the explanation about how why they said it would be done by Aug and it wasn’t?
Cox: I think this can be expected with these big projects.
Milinazzo: I bumped into school committee member this morning, who asked, how come you don’t see the contractors doubling up on workers until it’s done.
Cox: I think it’s a matter of Team A needs to wait for Team B to finish, I think Jackson wants to be out of there, I know we want them to be out of there.
Howe: The week that we were meeting, we paid Jackson 247K, even though they were 6 weeks over their schedule. Its my understanding there was an additional payment this week – haven’t been able to determine that – is unconscionable. Capitulating to the contractor.
Cox: one alternative is we can refuse payment, and the contractors up and leave the site, they aren’t going to work without payment. I want to get the site built and then we deal with it.
Caulfield: this school has character, architects to be commended, caf – Emeril Lagasse would be proud to cook in it etc etc etc, school is marvelous. One negative, not finished on time. We’ll get the building finished, cut the ribbon, and get the kids in the school.
Donoghue: The Subcomm wanted to get school built, then we can deal with the fallout.
Martin: always a contingency fund and holdback, we did recoup money on past projects.
[more dialog, arguments]

C. Martin-Req. Mgr. investigate providing aide to cities re: Hurricane Katrina.
Martin: city should explore what we can do. If we can help, we should help.
Cox: police chief [went down?] right after the disaster began: there has been some discussion for some Lowell people to go down there. There’s a logistics problems, ppl sleeping in tents. [goes on]
Voice vote, approved

C. Martin-Req. DPD provide update on Two for Lowell progress.
Voice vote Approved

There were a couple more things and more discussion, nothing really major and I had to run to the bathroom so you’ll just have to see if they put the meeting minutes online!