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The Fall River Podcast is an experiment in delivering audio podcast recordings from FRGTV Fall River Government meetings.
This is not an official channel of the Fall River Government or FRGTV. Thank you to FRGTV for providing the original source of recordings via their YouTube channel.
This website & podcast aim to provide another option for the citizens of Fall River to access important government meetings through audio podcasts. It was created by Matt Medeiros, a resident of the city.
[00:00:00] Roll. Yep. Okay, we're gonna call to order meeting of the Fall River Redevelopment Authority Wednesday, January 25th. Uh, recording of the open session can be viewed at Fall River Government Television, www f fr g tv.us. Um, the person went to the open meeting law. Any person may make an audio or video recording of this public meeting or may transmit the meeting through any medium attendees.
[00:00:28] And therefore advised that such recording or transmission are being made, whether perceived or unperceived by those present and are deemed acknowledged and permissible. We're gonna do a roll call, John Erickson, Joan Madras, Ron Russen, uh, also participating here. Sarah Page, our executive director John Kauflin, or counsel Kenny Ola, administrative services consultant.
[00:00:52] And Sarah sh our, uh, temporary executive assistant. Uh, we want to, um, we, we want to talk to, uh, talk to the, uh, resignation, I guess, of, uh, Joe Marshall, our, our, uh, former, um, uh, chairman who we're gonna miss Soley. And, uh, we have a little, uh, token of our appreciation to present to Joe, which I think you're gonna understand, right.
[00:01:20] Well, and then I think Joan's going to, Joan's going to, oh no, the mayor first. The mayor first, and then Jill. Um, I just want, I just wanna tell everybody, It's watching us in, uh, the TV land that, uh, what a great job this board does week in, week out. I couldn't be more proud of them, their efforts. Um, I, I know that, um, John, Joan, Louis and Anne that are here, uh, the other two that Aren with us are gonna be joined by our new member, Ron, and I can't imagine how far they can take this board.
[00:01:52] But with that being said, they're. Big shoes to fill because I want to acknowledge the work done. While Joe Marshall was chairman of his board, he did a lot of great things for the city, whether it was the, uh, industrial park, whether it was the city pier, whether it was any project in and out, he tried to see it through to the end and make sure all he was focused on was making Fall River a better place to live.
[00:02:18] I'd like to call him up right now to, uh, to give him a citation from the city that, um, hope. I'm, I'm recognition of your many years of dedicated service and commitment to the city of Fall River and the redevelopment authority. I count you as a friend and I wish you nothing but the best. Thank you very much.
[00:02:36] Thank you.
[00:02:41] And I. Say just a couple of words. It's really been a pleasure. I hate my back here, but it's been a pleasure working with everybody here, including Anne and we, um, it's one of the better boards I've ever served on. Everybody had something to offer and going forward, [00:03:00] city of Fall River can only benefit from, from this group.
[00:03:03] Still got a lot of work to do. I'll be watching you anyway. Yeah. Thank you. Appreciate it. Yep.
[00:03:13] Got one more thing. Pleasure. Thank you. So on behalf of the board, we have a little bit of something to commemorate your time with us. That's nice. So we put some photos together from, uh, the groundbreaking at City Pier that we did during the summer. And uh, you know, it's been a pleasure working with you as we've been steward's for, uh, development in Paul River over the past couple of years.
[00:03:36] So long time we'd like you to accept this on our behalf. I appreciate board. Appreciate that. Thank you. Thank. Thank you. Course, Joseph. It was a pleasure. You leave, it'll this together. Thank you. Appreciate that.
[00:03:58] Uh, thank you guys. Thank you. Thank you very much. I'll be around here. You're we'll be calling you. I'll be run
[00:04:14] Thank you. Bye guys. Byebye, uh, we want to introduce our newest, uh, board member, Ron Ruskin. And, uh, we're really excited about Ron, especially, uh, his background in real estate development. I think he's gonna be a great, great addition to the board here, and we're, we're all really looking forward to working with you.
[00:04:30] Good. Thank you. I look forward to being on this board too. Thank you. Welcome. Next item on our agenda is, uh, approval of the open minute, uh, excuse me, open, um, session minutes from December 13th. Um, are there any comments on the minutes? No. No? Okay. I need a motion to approve these minutes. Motion to approve the minutes of the December 13th, 2022 meeting.
[00:04:59] Second. I can't have to abstain cause I wasn't here. Correct. For the majority. No, you can, um, we can, you can. The rule is you can approve minutes even if you weren't here. Okay. Yep. Then I, second. Second. Okay. Uh, roll call. Jenn Sson. Yes. Joan Madis. Yes. Ron Russin. Yes. Um, you guys have the warrant? Mm-hmm. , um,
[00:05:27] this meeting totals. Seventy thousand three hundred eight thousand sixty three cents.
[00:05:36] Any questions or comments on the warrant? Um, in that case, uh, I need a motion to approve the January warrant motion to approve the January warrant as submitted. Second. Second, uh, John Erickson? Yes. John Maderas? Yes. Ron Russin. Yes. . Um, [00:06:00] Sarah, do you want to do the, um, the update on the recruitment for a project?
[00:06:04] Mm-hmm. coordinator slash executive assistant? Yes. Um, I wanna let you know, we, I've done quite a bit of interviewing and advertising and, uh, we expect to have. Two, but probably three second interviews next week. And, um, Johnny and Joan are participating, so we're going to find dates that work and, um, I'm really encouraged about the, um, candidates that we have.
[00:06:37] Did you say three? Just three. Well, I, I definitely know we want to interview two and we may want to interview. Okay. Um, innovation way. So as they anticipated, we just wanted to confirm that we closed on a large tract of land that we've been negotiating for quite a while, and we've received the funds as negotiated.
[00:07:05] Perfect. Uh, city Pier phase four update on installing the docks. Uh, you guys may have seen that the, the piles went. . Um, Sarah, do you know what the timetable is on the actual docks and the ramp? Yeah, I'm, um, so I want to say a couple of things about the piles. So, um, you may notice that there were two caps on the piles and they were, um, We use the absolutely most durable wood that's called Greenheart wood, and it comes from Guyana and it, um, isn't uniform because it isn't um, uh, you know, it is them put through a mill and.
[00:07:58] Um, so when they were putting the caps on the piles, they're, they're not, um, symmetrical and so the caps looked odd to me. And so after seeing two, I said, stop. We wanna rethink the design. Johnny agreed that that was a good idea and I purposely had them leave them on there so that, you know, as we think about a better design, we can.
[00:08:28] What they look like and really figure out a better, um, a better solution. And there's a question whether we want them white. I think that's typical of all the local marinas I understand, or most of them. And, uh, but I'm not sure that for our peer, we want them white. So we're, um, you know, if we weren't putting docs in, in a few.
[00:08:53] It might have been a different decision, but given that we're gonna have equipment out there anyway for the [00:09:00] docks, there's no reason, there was no reason to put in caps that seem to not look great, and we're going to come up with a better solution. And so the docks, um, we're having a meeting next week to work through design issues and finalize a schedule.
[00:09:20] The goal is to get them out to bid in February and, um, you know, have them installed in the spring and where the design issues we're looking at or whether, uh, they were originally envisioned as they would. But as we've been talking with people who bid on the pile project, they've been encouraging us to think about aluminum because it holds up.
[00:09:48] So, um, and we're also needing to, um, do more work on what exactly kind of gangway we want. We need an 80 foot gangway to make it ada, uh, compliant. And, uh, we have some work to do to decide exactly what kind of gang way we. . So that's a big next project to really focus on so that we can get that out to bid quickly.
[00:10:19] And so we have two funding sources. Um, one is an earmark, uh, in the state budget that, um, It funds most of the cost of the pile project. And then we recently got a Seaport economic Council grant that will fund most of the cost of the docs. And so I, um, am proposing a vote to authorize the chair to sign all the contract documents related to the state funding and the Seaport economic Council funding.
[00:10:57] So that we can just proceed with all that contract paperwork. Do we have a motion to, uh, authorize the chair? Yes, do do the, I'll do a during discussion. The only question I have is, are you gonna need the signed before the next meeting? Cause we don't have a chair until the end of next February meeting.
[00:11:17] Yeah, I, John Kauflin and I talked about that and, um, Johnny as the vice chair can sign in lieu of the chair. Uh, he fills in for the chair. Okay, good. Okay. Trying to make sure. Yep. Uh, quick question. Those, those conical caps we're talking about mm-hmm. , I imagine the pointed so that like birds don't down. Yes.
[00:11:40] Is that the only like option that shape, or, um, well, you can get other shapes, but we have such a problem with birds out there that I think we want that conical shape. So they're. Nesting and sitting on those. Okay. And keeping them off as much as we can. Do you not like the condom? Well, maybe if they're a different color, but they kind of, yeah, they look, they kind.
[00:11:59] The [00:12:00] color, the color on marina is, uh, white. Is it specifically because it hides a lot of the, uh, the seagull. Oh, is that what it's looks like the, uh, conehead family from Saturday night? Well, I know, but if you look at all marinas, they're all white because are they the seagul excrement, if they're sitting under there, would not be as visible if you have a darker.
[00:12:19] then it shows one. Yeah, you have to be graphic, but just being honest, they're probably gonna get dirty anyway. So Well in obsessing about the cones, I cut online and found that, um, they do jump out as you, at you when you try by . I know. So you can get different colors. You can order different colors. So you could conceivably order a gray that kind of matches the um, The pile and wooden show seagull stuff too much.
[00:12:50] But, um, there's not a great solution. And you know, my issue with the white is, huh? I, I don't, the white doesn't offend me. It's like that's, you know, whatever you want, but that's what marina is. White cops. But we're a fountain of information. Uhhuh you. Fountain of scandal information. . Yeah. I didn't give it any thought fresh about white.
[00:13:13] Okay. Why not? Did you see them? Yeah, I guess I, right. I could buy there at least once a week. Yeah. And it didn't really stand out, honestly. Yeah. So it's been, I sent you guys pictures though. Well, if you did, there wasn't, when we, the caps were on, they were, you know, a few days where you could see it without the caps.
[00:13:38] Um, so we do need a, um, a motion. So, yes, so a. To authorize the vice chair to sign all contract documents related to the state funding for the piles and the Seaport Economic Council Grant for the docs. Second. Second. Uh, you need a roll call on that? Um, you need a vote or you don't have to have a roll call.
[00:14:03] A all in favor of all the opposed or local or something. So, all in favor? Aye. Um. So, uh, Sarah, do, do you wanna talk about Pleasant Street? Yes. So did we vote on, we didn't vote on it. No. No. We need to vote like everybody last say aye or call. Okay. We say aye. Okay. Just do the roll call. All in favor? Aye. Aye.
[00:14:24] Aye. Opposed? Abstain. Karen . Uh, yeah. So Pleasant Street, uh, road Map. So the roadmap is almost done. We're going to get a, um, final draft in the next week or so. Um, and we got a lot of feedback from city staff. We had a meeting, Ken and I with. Um, our colleagues in the city and got a lot more comments and got those to Emily and she's made changes.
[00:14:59] [00:15:00] So we're really close, thankfully, to having the roadmap finished and certainly a lot of work has been done on the urban renewal plan. And so, um, that's moving along. What's really hung us up, as you know, is a confusion. MEPA regulations, which were promulgated at the beginning of 2022 after our con, after we entered into this contract within US associates.
[00:15:33] And, um, it's been really hard to get to the bottom of what NEPA is requiring. We're really the first organization that's gone through an urban renewal plan under these new requirements, and so we think that we've, um, gotten close to a decision of exactly how we're going to approach it. We've simplified the proposal that tie in bond, who are involved in working on this and doing a number of.
[00:16:08] Is, for example, they have to do an analysis of climate change implications on of our urban renewal plan. And, um, so, so one of the issues that we're dealing with is because we're adding a significant amount of. After we already entered into the contract, we're going to need to amend the contract and increase the amount of money.
[00:16:37] Now, the good news about that is that, um, mass housing decided to amend and increase all of the peop, all of the organizations involved in this. Neighborhood Hub grant program. And so, um, the city is going to implement a amendment to our original contract, which was a hundred thousand, and it will become 200,000.
[00:17:07] So, , our mass housing program officer has been working with me to figure out how much Mass housing is willing to see us increase the contract within US Associates because it's coming out of that new 200,000, which is really unfortunate because that money is dedicated to starting to implement. . And so we're trying to get that, um, additional cost for the plan, uh, down as far as we can, and I'll be bringing that to you at the next meeting.
[00:17:47] Um, so once we have the roadmap, you know, we'll have a meeting with our, um, team that, that has a zoom call to kind of think about where we are in the [00:18:00] process. And that's next Wednesday. My assumption is that we'll have the roadmap and we can talk. We can talk about our new timeframes for the Urban Renewal plan because she's, Emily has figured out timeframes, and I think that we should talk about having another Citizen's Advisory Group meeting, and it may be that we do it without Emily because she has a limit on the number of meetings that are in her contract, and we need to save a couple for later on in the.
[00:18:35] So it may be that we should send the roadmap out to our group. Um, call a meeting and just, you know, find out what they're thinking. But I'm getting emails from people saying, Hey, what happened? Where are you? And so, um, I think we need to get everybody back together sometimes soon. Okay. Um, Uh, so I need, I, I need a motion to, uh, authorize the vice chair to sign a memorandum of understanding with the city to allow the redevelopment authority to be reimbursed under the Neighborhood Hub Grant.
[00:19:12] I didn't really speak to that, so let me cover that. So originally we had orig, so there's an original contract done in 2021 between mass housing. The city of Fall River and in that contract it specifically says that the redevelopment authority is going to do work under this contract and it includes our, uh, bank information for funds to be, um, uh, put into our account by Mass Housing.
[00:19:47] And it envisions that we will bill mass housing. , we have a new contract officer and we're doing this new a amend. The city is doing a new amendment and our new contract officer kind of understandably feels that there should be a memorandum of understanding between. The redevelopment authority and the city explaining that we're doing this work and will be directly billing mass housing for this work.
[00:20:19] And so, um, we've been working on it. It's probably a two paragraph document that says that, and I'm going to run it by John, run it by Mass Housing, run it by the city and you know, one or two of you. And then my hope is that we can. And, um, you know, not wait until the next meeting because I want to just get that in place so we can, um, do some more billing.
[00:20:51] Okay. Okay. I, I make a motion to authorize the chair, the vice chair to sign a member of, uh, understanding with the city to allow redevelopment authority to be [00:21:00] reimbursed on the Neighborhood Hub Grant. Second. Second. John Erickson. Yes. Joan Madeiras. Yes. Ron Russin. Uh, thanks. D Downtown Historic. Yes. So I got an update from Andy Robley, um, and he is working on section seven of the, um, uh, the plan that, um, We'll go to the Mass Historic and he expects to have that done for us to review next week.
[00:21:34] And, um, then he'll work on the next section and, um, and give it to Mass Historic. And after that we'll have a public meeting and, and, um, he's making good progress. He's working on the most difficult parts of the, uh, proposal. Yeah, proposal and, um, he's pretty confident that we're going to be able to get mass historic to agree to our, having one new, one historic district and not requiring that our expansion creates a second downtown historic district.
[00:22:15] So, um, that's what he's working on. His proposal will propose. It makes sense for it to be one historic district. He was really happy when he was here to be at the library and find a document that Mass Historic had written itself quite a long time ago that said that there should be one big historic district, which is exactly what we're proposing.
[00:22:45] So he was thrilled when he found that, cuz he thought that that would really butchers our case.
[00:22:55] Right. Um, vice Chair makes a finding that an open session would've a detrimental effect on the litigating position of the public body. The purpose of the exec executive session is to approve the executive session minutes from December 13th, 2022, and discuss the strategy with respect to potential litigation regarding the City Peer project.
[00:23:16] Uh, I need a roll call to enter into executive session and not to return to open. John Erickson? Yes. Joan Mades? Yes. Ron Russon? Yes. Okay. Um,