2025-10-06 – Finance Committee Meeting – Meeting Minutes

FINANCE COMMITTEE MINUTES

Notice is hereby given that a meeting of the standing committee on Finance was held on Monday October 6, 2025 at 7:00PM in the Council Chambers, City Hall, 45 School St., Brockton, MA. The meeting was called to order at 7:02PM with all members present and President Thompson presiding.

Councilor Asack moment of Councilor’s Recognition:  Economic development, Rob May, it was his last day as their director here. He has decided to retire and she just wanted to recognize that they were very lucky to have him here and to direct their office as their city planner and the office of planning she believes for the past 12 years not only did they gain a director of planning but they also were very lucky to have his partner John be a part of the community. He was very involved in the community, especially with the farmers market. So, she thanks him for that and thanks him for his vision and the many projects he worked on. And if he would like to come up with Council Lally and herself they would like to present him with a citation.

Rob May: thanks city councilors and the mayor and the administration his 12 years has been very exciting. They’ve done a lot. There’s always more that they could do. Thinks the best days of the city are still in front of them. They have a 25-page Google doc on their drive of all the projects that they’re working on. It will help the team continue what they’re going on forward with and making sure that they’re in strong and capable hands. Their interim is John Fay who’s with me and item number seven on the agenda. Vote nicely for that please. Wants to thank them all again. It was a privilege working for the city, working for its people and businesses alike. It’s been

wonderful. Thank you very much. Thank you.

1. Acceptance of the minutes of the August 18^th, 2025 Finance Committee Meeting.

Accepted and placed on file.

2. Acceptance of the minutes of the September 2^nd, 2025 Finance Committee Meeting.

Accepted and placed on file.

3. Reappointment of Christina Derome of 315 Sully Road, Brockton, MA 02302 to the Brockton License Commission for a three-year term ending in July 2028.

Invited: Christina Derome

Christina Derome: been a pleasure the past 3 years to get kind of behind the scenes and help the city keep it safe from projects or plans or parties and stuff. She’s really enjoyed it and she kind of wanted to stay on and continue.

Councilor Lally motioned to recommend favorably. Motion was properly seconded.

Councilor Farwell on the motion: was it everything you expected when you were appointed? tell us a little bit about it?

Christina Derome: it was live for the first couple of meetings that she was involved

with and then kind of they’ve been home, which just been a little surprised at. It was all she thinks like a public forum. She thinks more of the public would actually attend. Nobody really logs into the Zoom, you know, that’s not part of the meeting. So, that kind of she just thought it would be more in person, but it’s been good. Worth it. Yeah. Thank you very much.

The motion carried by a hand vote.

4. Appointment of Dorosella Green of 84 Malvern Road, Brockton, MA 02301 to the Brockton Beautification Committee for a one-year term ending in September 2026.

Invited: Dorosella Green

Councilor Derenoncourt motioned to recommend favorably. Motion was properly seconded.

Mayor Sullivan on the motion: on behalf of Miss Green’s application, thank you. As you know, for boards and commissions, he has anybody that’s interested file a resume and a letter of interest and then they do a Zoom interview. She was phenomenal. She has a background. She wants to continue to give to the community. So, he’s so thankful for her efforts. The best is yet to come with her adding to a dynamic team and beautification committee.

Dorosella Green: she’s just really excited to move back to Brockton. She has been here for the last three years. She grew up here. She’s excited to bring all the things that she’s seen in the different cities and towns she’s lived in to this space and that’s why she brought her whole entire family because this is a big deal to be able to reinvest into the community.

Councilor Nicastro: just wanted to say the beautification committee is close to her heart because how the city looks makes such a difference to citizens and non-citizens alike and she really appreciate your willingness to serve.

The motion carried by a hand vote.

5. Ordered: That the City, pursuant to M.G.L. Ch. 44, §53A and 53A½, hereby accepts the following donation of $500.00

From: PLYMOUTH DISTRICT ATTORNEY’S OFFICE

To: COUNCIL ON AGING

Invited: Director of COA Janice Fitzgerald

CFO Dr. Troy Clarkson

City Clerk Cruise: Miss Fitzgerald did reach out. She’s unable to attend tonight.

CFO Dr. Troy Clarkson: this donation from the Plymouth County DA’s office was to be intended for the use for the senior safety and wellness senior picnic.

Councilor Lally motioned to recommend favorably. Motion was properly seconded and carried by a hand vote.

6. Ordered: That the following named sum be and the same is hereby transferred as the same was submitted by the Mayor as follows:

Transfer of:  $246,175

FROM: FIRE- PERSONAL SERVICES                                                        $246,175

TO: LIBRARY- GOODS AND SUPPLIES                                                   $246,175

Invited: Library Director Paul Engle

CFO Dr. Troy Clarkson

CFO Dr. Troy Clarkson: As they may remember during their budget discussions, they presented to them a fully funded library budget. Each year, the Commonwealth provides state aid for libraries. And over the last several years, they’ve presented that budget to them in a variety of formats based on the guidance from the department of revenue about how that should be reflected. They had a fairly substantial discussion during the budget hearings about that. There is some subtle differences between the mass board of library commissioners and their guidance and the guidance from the department of revenue. This transfer is requested to ensure that based on the guidance from the Mass Board of Library Commissioners that the library is able to maintain its certification through the Commonwealth this year. So, there’s no question that this will fully fund their obligation to the Brockton Public Library. That figure was provided by Library Director. So, he recommends that they approve this transfer from fire salaries is an area that can that can certainly handle this. The fire salaries had a surplus of over $1 million last year and as you know that’s generally due to the fact that they budget for a fully staffed fire department and with retirements and people that are out there’s usually a surplus at the end of the year. Chief Nardelli is aware of that transfer and was copied on this memo. He submit that to you for approval.

Councilor Lally motioned to recommend favorably. Motion was properly seconded and carried by a hand vote.

7. Ordered: That the City Council authorizes the acceptance and expenditure of the total grant funds in the amount of $1,600,000.

FROM: MASSWORKS INFRASTRUCTURE PROGRAM                         $1,600,000

TO: PLANNING DEPARTMENT                                                                 $1,600,000

Invited: Director of Planning and Economic Development Rob May and or Designee(s)

CFO Dr. Troy Clarkson

CFO Dr. Troy Clarkson: As he mentioned in the memo, this is a Mass Works infrastructure grant. It’ll fund road and park design for the Troutbook redevelopment area, something that

they’ve discussed extensively over the years here in this forum. The full grant application and grant award is in your packet. So, I’m happy to defer to Mr. Fay for any other details and answer any questions you have.

Councilor Nicastro: According to the grant, this is just for design of roads?

Interim Director of Planning and Economic Development John Fay: Yes, that will take $1.6 million just to design them. Yes, that is for roadways, utilities, storm water runoff, detentions. It’s it includes all the above.

Councilor Nicastro: give her an idea of how many miles of roads will be in this area, this development project. Do you know offhand?

Interim Director of Planning and Economic Development John Fay: he doesn’t know that right now, but can find that out for her.

Councilor Nicastro: Would you find that and let me know?

Interim Director of Planning and Economic Development John Fay: absolutely.

Councilor Nicastro: Because she’s just wondering what does 1.6 million buy us? Okay.

And how long will this will the design work take to complete?

Interim Director of Planning and Economic Development John Fay: it’s usually about two years.

Councilor Nicastro: Okay. So, this doesn’t include laying it out and paving it and all that stuff.

Interim Director of Planning and Economic Development John Fay:  It does not. No, this is for design work only.

Councilor Nicastro: All right. And are there mass works grants available for that kind of work as well?

Interim Director of Planning and Economic Development John Fay: Yes. it the mass work kind of it spans the you know the spectrum of design construction etc. It’s an it’s kind of a

catchall for infrastructure improvement grants.

Councilor Nicastro: she hopes he’s able to obtain them. She gets so many calls about bumpy roads and ward 4 and so she liked to see the money that comes from the state focus on the

the existing bumpy roads and not new ones. She will keep in touch with him on that.

Councilor Rodrigues: a quick question if you know this and if you don’t, could you just find that out for us? What kinds of other projects does Mass Works fund? Does it do, let’s say, because he’s looking at infrastructure. He’s looking at roads, ball fields, sports complexes, anything like that. Do you know if they have any funds for that?

Rob May: yes, a million six is a lot of money. What he does want to say though

and remind the council and the public at large is that Massachusetts, the commonwealth has put aside funding from economic development and housing bond bills that support the creation

of new residential units or the attraction of new jobs here in our communities. Under the Mass Works grant, they’ve applied for and received both planning grants and construction grants. So the reconstruction of Petronelli Way, reconstruction of Center Street, Railroad, those were all paid for by Mass Development Infrastructure Grants. And in order to apply for those grants though, you need to have the construction drawings done. And that’s what this drawing that this is going to do. It’s not only going to pay for the roads and infrastructure design within the 60-acre urban renewal district. It’s also going to pay for the design of storm water improvements along Troutbrook in inside the district and the parks that are going to be associated with that project. So that’s but just the design work, not necessarily the work design work for this. Yes, it’ll be a much larger grant that they get for the construction of the actual roads. But are there are there any sorts of hints or some things that you’ve heard down the you know the chatter box in the sense that there actually is funding to take this from a design stage into something else. There of course is no guarantee. But this is a high priority project with the state. The governor has met with the developer and develop and the developers also met with the mayor to make sure that the Beacon Hill delegation knows that this is an important project. It’s a creation of up to 1,200 new residential units all within walking distance of the MBTA train station. and is going to be a significant boost of housing revenue, tax revenue into the city as a result.

Councilor Rodrigues: And lastly, who is the developer?

Rob May: The developer is Charter

Councilor Tavares: on behalf of W 2. just to let you know, her door knocking was not great.

because most talk about infrastructure, road and as she just heard you know all this money for design. She hopes they can work together and point out all those roads just talk about complainants. She feels bad because like they said at end day. She thinks word too kind of literally left behind because like they feel like you know they are literally kind of neglect something like that and she hopes they can work with them. She hopes they can work with them with the design you know this with the hope you can get whatever grant necessarily because telling them words are not doing good with infrastructure.

CFO Dr. Troy Clarkson: believes the Troutbrook, the downtown Troutbrook project is still posted on the website for the planning and economic development department. He would urge everyone, including the public, to read that. It’s about 74 pages. It will have in it a

an anticipated budget which he’s sure has to be adjusted now given the economy in the country but there will be obviously they need these grant funds but there will be local contributions

required as well. So, this is something that they really need to follow carefully because it it’s comprehensive it spans a large area and there are a lot of moving parts that we’ve got to stay ahead of. But it’s on the website for those who are interested.

Councilor Asack motioned to recommend favorably. Motion was properly seconded and carried by a hand vote.

8. Ordered: That the following named sum be and the same is hereby transferred as the same was submitted by the Mayor as follows:

Transfer of:  $100,000.00

FROM:  POLICE – PERSONAL SERVICES                                                    $100,000.00

TO: TRAFFIC – GOODS AND SUPPLIES                                                     $100,000.00

Invited: Traffic Commissioner Captain Mark Porcaro

CFO Dr. Troy Clarkson

Captain Mark Porcaro: So, the budget that they recommended and that they passed for the traffic commission provided an amount for the lines and signs line in that budget. Although

there were sufficient funds in there to begin work, it did not provide the totality of the funds that the traffic commission wished to do the full scope of the work that they would like to do for this fiscal year. Recognizing how important that road work is to the mayor and to the city council, they come to them with a requested transfer so that their initiatives for this year can be fully funded.

Councilor Lally motioned to recommend favorably. Motion was properly seconded and carried by a hand vote.

9. Ordered: In accordance with the General Laws of Massachusetts, Chapter 44, recommending that the City Council approve the expenditure of $2,000.00.

FROM: AUDITING – PURCHASE OF SERVICE                                          $2,000.00

TO: MUNICIPAL SOFTWARE SOLUTIONS                                                  $2,000.00

 

Invited: Interim Auditor Juan Gonzalez

CFO Dr. Troy Clarkson

CFO Dr. Troy Clarkson: As you know, from time to time, departments do receive bills after the close of the fiscal year. This is one of those such bills. The contractor is someone who has worked with the city for some time. So, they present this prior fiscal year bill for your approval.

Councilor Lally motioned to recommend favorably. Motion was properly seconded and carried by a hand vote.

10. Ordered: That pursuant to M.G.L. c. 40, § 14 and the City of Brockton’s Ordinance 2-157, the City of Brockton hereby accepts the Lease Agreement entered into with Hawkeye Fence LLC for certain real property located at 91 Foster Street, Brockton MA to be leased to Brockton Public Schools. Said lease agreement shall run for a three-year term beginning July 1, 2025 and ending June 30, 2028.The Mayor is authorized to execute any and all documents necessary in connection with said Lease Agreement.

 

Invited: Honorable Mayor Robert Sullivan

City Solicitor Megan Bridges and/or designee(s)

CFO Dr. Troy Clarkson

City Clerk Cruise: Just a brief mention when he read the mayor’s letter last week, there was an Scriveners error in there and Hawkeye LLC is certainly a for-profit corporation. The letter alluded to it and he didn’t catch it till the end of the meeting. As a nonprofit corporation, they are not.

Mayor Sullivan: for those that, grew up in the city a long time ago. they’re talking about the old Nissen’s Bakery in Ward 2 on Foster Street. This has been utilized for many, many, many

years by the Brockton public school systems. Ken Thompson, director of facilities, is based out of there. It’s their storage facility. He knows a lot of them know where it is. This was put out to an RFP, in the past. It was kind of a contract that just happened year after year after year after year. He wants to thank the solicitor who has brought a sense of professionalism to the solicitor’s job. Also, Mike Morris from working in procurement for two decades. So that’s what this is tonight. This is a building on Foster Street that the school department has used for many years. there is a need for that to continue for three more years and the authorization would be to

allow me in my capacity to execute a lease to meet the standards of mass journal law. This is a

step to legitimize and create the uh bridge between the city and the school department related to the council’s ability to approve their use of real property not bought or controlled by you

all or the school department.

Councilor Farwell: question for the solicitor. You and I have worked on this somewhat extensively. This will allow us to satisfy payment to Hawkeye for FY25 charges that are as yet unpaid. Bring me up to date on where we are with that. The least that you all have is for FY26, 27 and 28 as long as there’s appropriations. He understands that on the school committee’s agenda for tomorrow night.

City Solicitor Megan Bridges: She’s not exactly sure the title of the agenda item. That’s not covered under what’s in the lease in front of you. That is coming from school department funds and they’re approving payment of a late fiscal year bill.

Councilor Nicastro: She has some issues with the terms of this because she thinks it’s incomplete. Up in the whereas twice it says tenant desires to lease a portion of the premises and yet she understands it’s the entire premises at 91 Foster Street. So, you know which one is it?

And if it is a portion, how much of the property? Square footage, a plan,

something. Down below under rent payments, It says we’re paying the landlord

rent the sum of $96,000. Sh would imagine that’s per year, but it needs to say that. Then down below, we’re paying four equal quarterly installments of $24,000. when are they due? You need to show a due date.

City Solicitor Megan Bridges: So, March, it’s by design that there’s no due date because sometimes folks get caught up in these payments and then it gives the landlord the opportunity to say, “Oh, you should have paid me on this date.” Unfortunately, in these types of situations, the users of the space aren’t always monitoring the transactional aspects. So, the lease is based on an R on RFP and she’s sorry that they don’t all don’t have that as part of your packet. They’ll make sure to include that going forward. The space is approximately 25,000 square ft. It is the entirety of the space. And the lease is not to be read in a vacuum. is to be read in conjunction with the RFP which gives a description of who the leor is, what the space is for, and She’s sorry that they didn’t have those documents with the lease. The process still isn’t perfect. The school department manages its own procurements and then they get the lease in front of you. And that’s sort of how we got here.

Councilor Nicastro: She doesn’t know who does their real estate work, but needs some work. Now item number six at the top of the second page talks about the premises being used as a general-purpose office, vocational classroom, and a parking lot as more fully described in that document that we don’t have. She sees from the assessor’s card on this property that it’s zoned R2 and industrial and she can’t find any she did some research on it. It was the Nissen Baking Company and it was built according to the card in approximately1938. So she imagines it’s a pre-existing non-conforming use, but is there some kind of approval for what it’s being used for right now?

City Solicitor Megan Bridges:  So, when these bids originally went out prior to 2025, the school facilities department did this as a package for combined general use office vocational classroom space parking for Brockton public schools. That was how facilities chose to procure what they needed for themselves. She would suggest that she sees and understands her question right now. She understands it to just be for warehouse space. The lease gives more general use than

what they maybe use it for now. She believes mayor as a chair of the school committee you would know this better than her but Brockton public schools is trying to reduce its footprint outside of its own buildings and we’ve been working on that collaboratively. Specifically, Church Hill Linen Space they don’t occupy that anymore. She doesn’t know what maybe they were using the Church of Linen space for that they need 91 Foster Street for. Now, again,

she’s happy to provide the RFB documents, but that’s how it was described.

Mayor Sullivan: Just point of information, Churchill Linen was used for storage. A lot of the CO materials were there as well and some classroom furniture. The Nissen bakery the parking would be in the exterior behind it in the front abutting Foster Street, but there’s also office space in there where Mr. Thompson and some of the facilities have their office. It’s probably a secondary annex office, but nonetheless there is office there, but most of it if you’ve walked in is the old bakery storage facility where they actually have a lot of school supplies store there from custodial to

janitorial. there were actually school committee member Joyce Asack actually had the cradles to crayon store there for a while. The backpacks were there for school endeavors as well. So

again, it’s a pretty large space. It’s very open. It is maxed out in terms of the pallets that they

have in there. Has toured with Mr. Thompson he took me on a very thorough tour of it, but this doesn’t say warehousing. This doesn’t say storage. It says, as I just read, general purpose office, vocational classroom, and parking lot. And no department of the city is above our zoning laws. The only one who’s above our zoning laws is the federal government. Now that we’re cleaning this up and addressing it, and he applauds this effort, it’s been several years in coming. He understands. Let’s get it right. Let’s do it right the first time. And those are his concerns primarily.

Councilor Minichiello: sees that the lease is beginning July 1st, 2025. Is there any money’s previously owed or is this basically covering that building and bringing us current on it in an effort for your all for the approval of this body that’s necessary?

CFO Dr. Troy Clarkson: He does not believe there’s been any FY26 payments made on this space because of the outstanding lease.

Councilor Minichiello: so, they owe there’s money set aside then obviously in their budget correct?

CFO Dr. Troy Clarkson: Yes

Councilor Rodrigues motioned to recommend favorably. Motion was properly seconded and carried by a hand vote.

11. Resolve: WHEREAS,            The City of Brockton is fortunate to have many organizations dedicated to the sports interests of our young people, and,

WHEREAS,          These organizations diligently work to hold down the costs of their operations in order to allow as many children as possible to participate in various sports, and,

WHEREAS,          Recent fee increases voted by the Brockton School Committee have dramatically increased the potential costs to certain community-based, youth sports organizations;

NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED:

Representatives from The Brockton Blazers Softball organization and any other youth organization affected by fee increases be invited to a meeting of the council to discuss the impact on their ability to continuing sports opportunities for young people.

Invited: Representatives from The Brockton Blazers Softball

Al Blazer of 24 Gladys Rd. Brockton, MA 02302: earlier this year in the summer they were notified that there was going to be a new rental fee for the usage. They used the fields at the Raymond School. Previously before this, they

did not have a rental fee for their field usage, and, they were informed that it would be $20 per day for the new fee which, currently they permit for approximately 210 days per year. So, if

you do that math, it comes out to upwards of almost $5,000 a year. Since expressing our concerns to the school committee, they have been informed that they are going to be reducing that by 75%. So, essentially a $5 per day rental fee. So, they’re in the process of submitting for our permits for the 2026 softball season. They’re estimating that it’s going to land somewhere in the around $1,000 per year. It’s from our perspective, it’s very much appreciated that they did reduce these fees for them, but we are also in a situation where this is a fee that similar organizations to themselves both in the city and in surrounding towns do not have to consider. This is, you know, $1,000 or so that we’re going to have to find a way to make happen and that they can’t use for other means. They do our best to try and keep our registration fees as low as possible for the families of Brockton. They don’t want to price any girls out of being able to play softball if they want. They know and that’s only a fraction of the cost of what it takes to play. There’s you know equipment and you know they do what they can to provide where necessary, but they are a we’re a small volunteer-run nonprofit organization. Again, they’re trying to keep those costs just to what they need to function and not go above and beyond. Most of anything else that they do, they do through fundraising efforts. And just as an example, this year through the efforts that they did between 2024 and 2025, they were able to start the first ever Brockton Blazers scholarship and they awarded $3,000 in scholarships to graduating seniors from this past senior class who came through our program. They’re hoping that we can continue to do efforts like that give back to their girls and their families and just try to provide the best softball experience that we can for them and just make it as accessible as possible. They’re again, they are there’re going to be in pretty decent shape for the 2026 year. Primarily because, you know, they have fundraised decently. They did reduce these fees to make it a lot more manageable. And

they’ve also had some very generous offers from members of the community who have offered to step up and help us out.

Councilor Farwell: He filed this to begin a dialogue after receiving emails about fees to be charged to our community-based organizations. He doesn’t know if Mr. Furtado is here. If he is,

could he, if without objection, could he be added to the guest list? He is also involved in youth sports and he in inadvertently left him off the invited guest list and he apologizes. So, any objections to having Mr. Furtado speak to the council.  Mr. Furtado if you’d like to speak, please come forward. But one of the things he just would like to come out of this meeting tonight is

that he understands the park commission may have their fee structure. The school department has its fee structure and as a body he would like them to work with all of the various entities in the city to hold down costs as much as possible for our youth sports programs. They have people who do not have a lot of money to pay fees so that their sons and daughters can participate in sports. And it really is you get more out of athletics than just the athletic ability and development. you get socialization skills, you learn to win or lose, which is part of life. And so, he’s a very big believer in what these gentlemen do and ladies do for their community. He just wants to make sure they don’t take for granted what they can offer for all of the youth sports organizations. He doesn’t know if Mr. Furtado would like to add to that.

Herminio Furtado: Please see attached read in statement.

Councilor Derenoncourt: have you ever received a bill from the school?

Al Blazer: No, we have not as of yet.

Councilor Derenoncourt: So, in regard to your calculation, like how do you come up with that? because you said from $20 to $5. Can you explain that?

Al Blazer: when they were originally informed of the new rental fee, they were told it would be $20 per day.

Councilor Derenoncourt: And then like who?

Al Blazer: By the school facilities team. They were alerted just before they went to into effect. e Were told $20 per day. Then once they tried to get more clarification, when they did the math, it was going to come out to close to $5,000 for their permit for the for the next year. They were then told that they were going to apply a 75% reduction. So that you know if you take that $20 that now goes down to $5 per day.

Councilor Derenoncourt: if I’m not mistaken right he believes that the school you know gives your organization the parking space for free. Is that correct?

Al Blazer: Yes, that’s correct.

Councilor Derenoncourt: So, and the school has not charged you a penny. Is that correct?

Al Blazer: they have paid an administrative fee every year that he’s been involved. He means it’s not much. It was only $10. It’s gone up to 25 this year. But this is the first year that they are charging them a rental fee for these.

Councilor Derenoncourt: So, they can say that this school has been good to your organization.

Al Blazer: Yes, that’s correct.

Councilor Derenoncourt: Because the reason he’s asking this question is the fact that they would like you know all of you to do well but the mistake that they cannot make right is to send a message out there saying that you know because of money you are not able to do what you’re

supposed to do. So, the reason he’s asking you this question, he knows the answers, but people may not because he knows for a fact that you have not received a bill from this school and they have not charged you anything and they open the door for you. Matter of fact, your organization has been operating without a permit. Is that correct? And they let you do it.

Al Blazer: That’s not correct.

Councilor Derenoncourt: Did you pull a permit?

Al Blazer: We have a permit. We have had a permit every year since he’s been involved in the organization in 2018.

Councilor Derenoncourt: So, would that be okay to email it to us. Maybe you can email it to the clerk and the clerk can email it to us.

Al Blazer: Yes, sir.

Councilor Derenoncourt:  you know, because the problem that he means, obviously organization has been good, but the problem that I’m trying is he’s knocking on doors right now, people talk to me about this because people are saying that, you know, why is the city of Brockton charging these kids money? Why are doing this and that? And he’s like, he doesn’t think so. He just

wants him to put it on the record saying that they do not because it’s important for people out there who are passionate about sport knowing that their children can go and play and knowing that the city of Brockton, especially the school is not charging them. And that’s why he’s asking him this question. They have amazing kids that can play in the city. They cannot

continue sending the wrong message out there saying that their children have been charged for everything. When you don’t explain the information, people assume that because of what he’s

been hearing at the door and sometimes it would be easier to somewhat change the conversation and talk to people out there and let them know that, well there might be a possibility for us to pay some money, but we are moving from $10, right, to $25. Understand it might be tough for a lot of people but I feel like the city of Brockton especially the school department has been very gracious to you guys.

Al Blazer: We’re not moving from $10 to $25. We’re moving from $10 to $1,000. That’s a significant increase. Additionally, we are being charged that because our fields are under the maintenance and management of the school department. Whereas other organizations who are under the maintenance and managers of the parks commission do not get that fee because the parks commission has the rule that they do not charge Brockton youth organizations. So this is this is our concern is that this is a cost that we are going to have for the 2026 season that other organizations similar to ours don’t have to deal with and it just because our softball fields happen to be school fields.

Councilor Derenoncourt:  So, he will try his best to see how he can talk to the folks that will make that decision for moving from obviously I’m taking your words for it for moving from 10

bucks to a 1,000 you know if he can talk to them and see how they can actually work with him and himself would be more than happy to do so but also what I’m willing to do on the record is that if it’s $1,000 he will donate that money to your organization. How’s that? But if it’s not $1,000, hopefully we can come up with something because he does know for a fact the school is willing to work not just with your organization but with any organization who has a desire to push our kids through sport. He just want to say this because he couldn’t possibly sit here hearing that we are not doing what we’re supposed to do. Do we have problems? We do. But at the end of the day, you know, as a city of champion, there is so much that we can do with the little that we have. He feels like we got to work in collaboration with every person who is willing to do this to move our city forward. That’s what he would like to do. So, he will give you my information after this meeting so we can stay in touch and see how we do we go from there.

Councilor Rodrigues: He’s one of these individuals that runs a non-sports program here in the city for the summer and he knows that this is this issue is not a city council issue and it’s not an issue that we can actually do anything about it other than bring a resolve so we can start a discussion to discuss some of the things that are taking place in the community. They at the Cape Verdean Association, they put together a summer program every year that basically provides a summer camp for kids ages, he would say, K to high school students. This past summer, they had close to 300 kids in the program. 75 of which were paid children, young people in this

community for the summer program. For the first time in the history of this city, they were actually charged a rental fee for the schools. He’s not going to say that they didn’t get a bill. They got a bill. The bill was for a grand total of $66,000. They reduced it to 25% of that $66,000 because he guesses that’s the on the ongoing reductions that they talk about. We still had to pay 19,000 almost $20,000. Now, think about this for a second. They had to tell 11 young people from this community that they could not provide them with a summer job because they had to pay a rental fee to the schools that these kids go actually go to. He does not mind paying for custodial services or any sort of ancillary services, but to him find it ludicrous that we’re asking

children most of whom that actually go to those schools during the school year and then in the summer when their keeping them off the streets and engaged doing something during the summer that they now have to pay a rental fee for the building. Now, they had our school was

the Gilmore School. There was no air conditioning in most of the rooms that we used for the summer program. There were mice running around doing their thing in there. There were

schools this it’s not one of the newer schools that there using and this set price supposedly is the same across the system. Again, he doesn’t want them to go too far off the handle here because that’s not the doing of this body. But he finds it ludicrous in the sense that they ask children that are engaged during the summer off the streets doing positive things in our communities that yes, they can go to school that your parents are paying for during the school year, but if there’s a summer program, those programs that do not make any money out of it, they go out and they seek out funds from banks through state programs to appropriations that our reps can put in because they turn around and whatever resources they get, they turn around and provide employment to teens and young adults in this community so that they can stay engaged during the summer. But this year, they had to tell 11 of them that they couldn’t provide a job to because those funds had to go to pay the rental of the 10 classrooms that they used in one of these schools. Not necessarily the custodial services individuals that are hired during the summer specifically, but what his colleagues, what he finds a little on the ludicrous side is the fact that if

we cancel the program; the school will have to do without these funds. It’s not like there’s a bunch of people knocking on the door saying if you don’t rent it to organization A, they’re going to do it to organization B. There’s not a great deal of demand for people to provide services in most cases free of charge to the kids in our community, but yet at the same time they’re willing to take food and funds from teenagers or young adults in this community because they have to pay rental for those facilities. Again, I know that has nothing to do with us. They did not put in the policies in place that actually has to do with that. That’s something that the school committee decided to do on its own. You know, all well and good. He agrees that people need to pay something, especially if you’re renting buses. The drivers that that are using those buses, they’re paid overtime and or in addition to there’s gas that’s used on those buses, there’s some other costs associated with that. But if it’s for school children, the almost 17,000 kids that they have in the school system, if those programs are programs run by organizations that are not for profit,

they’re not making a dime out of those programs, he thinks they got to sit down and

really have a conversation about what is the school spending on those programs, have the organizations pay for what they’re spending for those programs. He thinks they got to be very careful because the answer in most cases would be why would he want to do that if I’m not getting anything out of it? Why does the program to begin with? And it’s the

same thing that goes with UL in terms of what is the gain for them to continue to run your programs or to run your programs if it’s going to cost you money out of your own pockets or having to charge these inner city kids that you know what the other option would be for them to go out and do the things that some of these other kids are doing who are not involved in this programs. So that’s why he thinks the conversation is actually an ideal thing to start having. Bring in the people that are actually associated with this because he can understand if it’s some university somewhere that’s coming in looking for to use our spaces, yeah, let’s charge

them. If it’s some for-profit organizations that are coming in to use our spaces for whatever reason, yeah, let’s charge them. But if it’s for organizations that are utilizing children from this system, children from this system, to me, it makes very little sense that we’re sitting here, you know, having to deprive 11 young people an opportunity to earn somethings during the summer

because they have to provide those rental fees to the schools. that again, it’s not like there’s a lineup of organizations or people out there looking to come into the system to say, “Well, don’t rent it to them because I’ll be able to rent it from you.” These schools would sit there vacant during the whole summer months. So, there trying to do this because some of us are concerned with the day-to-day lives of young people in this community, but to continue to do this to me is ludicrous because what it does, it does take away from all that we’re trying to do to keep these kids safe. And to me, it’s something that we need to sit down and have a real conversation about

because it sounds all well and good. We’re going to start charging rental for facilities. Great. Let’s start charging rental. But are we charging rental to every single organization that uses those facilities? And I can tell you that the answer is no. There’s some that use it for nothing and there’s some others that are being charged. But if we’re charging children, children that use those systems, He thinks they got to be very careful because we’re running into an issue here where some people would just say, “Forget it. Not interested in doing it because why does he have to take money out of my pocket to fund something that actually benefits the children in this community and that’s something that he thinks they need to take very serious as we move forward.

Councilor Lally: something that he wants to just clarify. This isn’t a conversation over bills that the Blazers have been paying up until this point. This is a conversation about what they were told

was going to happen in the future. The subsequent outcry and appeal to officials and appeal to the public is what brought on the conversation that changed these terms that lowered this to from $5,000 to $1,000, which is still a 1,000 more than before. He thinks that it’s, you know, it’s not

about, you know, show me the receipts. This is we’re talking about you know how policies are going to affect people as they change. He knows obviously talking about the spaces

that we have to use. He knows one thing that his colleague did ask you Mr. Bazler have the schools been good to you? He said yes. One thing that he would stress is that in turn you have been good to the schools. It was the Blazers and the leadership of the Blazers working with state senator Michael Brady, the ward counselor Shirley Asack and the state representative Rita Mendes that got an earmark from the state to make major improvements to the fields that they use. That’s money that came from the state to this city to school property that was not going to be spent otherwise. He thinks it’s a symbiotic relationship. It’s a two-way street. The property is

not left a mess. The property is taken care of. The property is used and cherished for the purposes that it was designed to be used for. He just wanted to highlight that. He thinks the problem they’re seeing is they have one clear issue that as counselors we hear about and our colleagues on the school committee hear about as well which is they need more things for the youth. They need more activities. They need you know places where they can you know have something to do and find a purpose, have some fun, have some success. Mr. Furtado, you’ve coached some pretty successful teams, you know, as they remember.  and there’s a lot of different, you know, they’re all saying that, they’re all hearing that, but we’re going in different directions. The parks commission on the city has completely different policies. As to the school department, why are we separate? Why are we two different entities? They are fields being used for youth sports, for anyone if they want to use them or rent them. Why are we on two different pay scales? Why do

you have to consult a map to figure out how much you’re going to pay to let kids play a sport? You know, the parks department has 10 groundskeepers responsible for 850 acres of land.

They’re paid between 50 and $60,000 a year. The school department has 210 acres of land. They also employee 10 groundskeepers for a quarter of the amount of land. They’re paid between 80

and $90,000 a year. There’s a lot of things. If they merged, if they employed section 37M and merged administrative functions, they could take this and not only have one clear consistent policy that is beneficial for youth sports, which is the least objectionable thing in any municipality, but they could also, you know, save quite a bit of money. They’re looking for recoup five grand. That’s quite a lot more than five grand. They’ve covered this tonight, but he wanted to just stress that, He appreciates the efforts that those gentlemen are undertaking to provide for the next generation. He wanted to stress again that this was not a conversation over old bills. This is a conversation over how they’ve been operating and changes to policy that are

being implemented that we are discussing with the hope of heading that off. He appreciates their time.

Councilor Asack: just want to say thank you for all that they do for our youth. She knows that they’re lucky to have them here before us to actually kind of fight for them. We all support our youth. We all support our sports and she’s glad this conversation came up. She’s glad they found out about it. She doesn’t think they would have found out if Mr. Bazler hadn’t made the comment. So, She’s very glad that he did and he knows that once the conversation came up with the school committee that they were also in discussion with them. So, there is a possibility of what they may do and make changes. She just wants them to know that they have her support. They’re here to support our youth and she hopes that they come to a good agreement. She knows it doesn’t seem fair that our parks department is following one policy and the school department is doing something else. So hopefully they can come to a good agreement and make it fair for all our youth.

Councilor Asack motioned to recommend favorably. Motion was properly seconded and carried by a hand vote.

12. Resolve: Be it resolved to have Mayor Robert Sullivan, Brockton CFO Dr. Troy Clarkson, DPW Commissioner Patrick Hill and City Solicitor Megan Bridges appear before the Finance Committee of the Brockton City Council to discuss the recent trip to meet with representatives of the Aquaria treatment plant regarding a proposed purchase of the Dighton desalinization plant.

Invited: Honorable Mayor Robert Sullivan

DPW Commissioner Patrick Hill

City Solicitor Megan Bridges and/or designee(s)

CFO Dr. Troy Clarkson

CFO Dr. Clarkson: Reread the email that he sent to all of them prior to our departure to Miami for this visit because he thinks it helps frame their discussion for this evening. In the email he sent to them, he said, “Our objective for the trip is to discuss the remaining years in the contract, begin to understand what a successor contract might look like, and also explore the possibility of a purchase. All options are on the table and our visit is exploratory. However, with communities in the metro south area needing a confirmed supply of water in the future, our potential role

as a regional supplier is emerging as stronger than ever. We will travel on Wednesday and return on Thursday. And as he noted to them last night in my email, their visit conformed with those

objectives. And with that, he’s happy to answer any questions.

Councilor Derenoncourt: well obviously he filed this resolve in regard to the recent trip that was taken to Miami by the CFO and obviously the DPW commissioner and of course his colleague Council Rodrigues and in regard to his letter and in the spirit of transparency which he stated you know it’s important for people to understand that when you are dealing with taxpayer money there’s a way of doing it and he feels like that trip number one was unnecessary and number two it was calculated and the intention behind it was to achieve what you intended meaning to select one person which is as we speak in a race for mayor and take that person to Miami and in regard to your email based on our communication you stated that this person had prior knowledge what he would say he would argue the same for council Farwell he was actually number one an elected person as we speak, but also a elected mayor. So, if your intention behind, you know, selecting a group of people to travel to Miami on the taxpayer money, it would be okay to

invite not just one person, but also somebody who was actually elected. And unfortunately, you did not acknowledge it to me or anybody else, which he called him out on it on a press release which was sent out on September 26. And when he put that press release out criticizing his decision to travel to Miami for 24 hours, which was unacceptable and there was no reason for it. 2 days later he received a text from you know somebody acknowledging that they’re going to pay the money back. So, they are in the taxpayer business and as elected official we have a solemn obligation not just to make decision but making decision for all of us. And the question is, how come only one person was invited when every single one of us up here are elected? And then number two, why the city solicitor was not even included in this invitation. And again, for those

of you who are watching at home who may not be familiar with this with this story, it was a trip that was taken to Miami on their money. So, the reason he called that resolve is because he wanted people to understand the complexity of what has been going on and what they can do as a community to change it to end and like he said on my press release the backdoor deal and making sure that everybody who’s up here is able to understand what they are doing how they are doing it and what do the community you know think of it and tonight what he hopes to achieve is that an explanation inform you. Number one, what did you learn from that trip within 24 hours? How much money did you spend? Who paid for it? And why the city solicitor was not invited. And obviously, Aquaria is hot on the ballot in terms of do they want to buy that plant or not buying it. By now, he thinks you know my position. He’s against buying it as they speak because like he said many times they are not in a financial stability to purchase a plant for $58 million and at the end of the day you pick somebody who is your friend and in preparation for this meeting last Monday you went to the Association to have a meeting to prepare for this and he just give you a date. So, the question is why did you go to the association on Monday to talk about how they are going to answer this question how we going to make this preparation to carry on as a CFO of the city of Brockton you have a solemn obligation to all of them not one person especially when there’s a mayor is going on you took the time on the taxpayer money on the taxpayer time to go to the association to have a meeting you probably shocked because he has access to this information and go of there to prepare for this and these are the backdoor deal that they have to end and he hopes that and the mayor will be able to somewhat well particularly you Mr. CFO will be able to explain your reason to Miami your reason to go to the association on Monday they may probably didn’t even know that to meet with council Rodrigues to talk about how not only to talk about this meeting tonight but how to approach it and he will leave it there.

Mayor Sullivan: he’d like to respond to some of these statements if he could. As someone that served 14 years in the council, the executive body is a distinct separate branch and legislative body. So, the executive branch, visa the mayor, whoever he or she is, can travel wherever they want. The only notice that needs to be given is to the council president to serve as acting

mayor while he or she is out. I’ve done it many times. I’m sure councilor Farwell did it when he was mayor.  Councilor at large Rodrigues was elected to be the acting mayor by all of us and he voted for it that night after Bill Carpenter passed away. So, he was elected and he did serve in that role for six months. But he just wants to say a couple things because he’s not going to sit here to be a political punching bag. You’re running for mayor. Moises is running for mayor, but he has three more months to continue as mayor. They pay $8.7 million a year to Aquaria. 8.7 million. So, if they don’t do their due diligence, they are short changing those that elect them, the taxpayers. He also acknowledges to all of them during the budget, he told them about this trip, each and every one of them, when he was asked to give an update, he said there is a travel plan for Miami. He said that to everybody. Now, he also said that night when the acting mayor was there, there was a price point that was offered by Aquaria for the city to buy it. When he became mayor, they jumped that up by millions of dollars. He said that they could check the minutes. So, you know, he’ll sit here tonight and answer any questions. He stands by the fact that the CFO and

Pat that works for him went down there. He also thinks it was important to have someone else go down there. He was not able to go down there. He did not go down there. But also, he has not been working with Aquaria. he has not had a good relationship since he sat up there with them with Aquaria. But he will tell you this, they’re coming to the end of a term. They have to come up the city of Brockton has to come up with a solution. Either they’re going to renew the contract or they’re going to petition the state. They are going to make us have a secondary water source. That’s a fact. So, he’ll sit here tonight and he’ll answer any questions. He has three more months to continue the role as mayor of the city of Brockton, but they have to come up with a solution for a secondary water source until such time as the Commonwealth of Massachusetts tells them they do not need to. You’re going to also hear tonight that there’s going to be a water ban in

effect as of is it Wednesday, Pat?

Commissioner Hill; Yes. Wednesday.

Mayor Sullivan: So, Aquaria is going to be a thriving component to provide water. It’s down 50% Silver Lake right now. They are doing a watering ban across the city as of Wednesday.

CFO Dr. Clarkson: He’s happy to be responsive and engaged and above board with this council as he always is. He won’t respond to some of the notations in the speech that they just heard that imply that the work of commissioner Hill and the mayor and he is anything but above board. In fact, the mayor’s correct as part of the executive branch. They’re not required to

provide notice to the council prior to any travel, but in the spirit of collaboration, they did so that they knew that they were traveling for this purpose. The total cost and he’ll be glad to provide them the exact receipts. It was flight and hotel. But the total cost is about $1,700. Councilor Rodrigues paid his own way. Commissioner Hill and himself for flight and hotel only, actually all the food, and there was a premium in the city’s travel policy for food, but we even paid our own way for food. So, this was truly he thinks a fiscally conservative approach that they took and it was really necessary. He will address one thing that the councilor said though because he finds it repugnant frankly. He meets frequently with many of them here in city hall outside of city hall when you request his presence or his engagement on issues he’s responsive sometimes after hours sometimes before work. He thinks one of the hallmarks of his seven years of service to the community here has been his responsiveness. Yes, of course, he met with Councilor Rodrigues at his place of work, as he’s done with some of them, because that’s his job is to

be responsive to discuss a variety of issues. He’ll continue to do that and he’ll gladly carry himself as someone who is responsive and engaging and transparent and that’s really his job is to be responsive not to one councilor or two, but to all of them and so should any of them wants him to come to their place of work or your home or for them to come to city hall. That’s how

they operate and in collaboration. As he mentioned in the note to them last night, since 2010, this city has spent approximately $12 million on the fixed cost of this Aquaria contract. $12

million with very little to show for it in return. Pat Hill and himself have explored during their tenure here together, they’ve tried to find ways to maybe put that money to work better for them. He knows there’s a variety of opinions on this council and in this community about the advisability and the efficacy of purchasing the aquarium plant. But the bottom line is from his perspective from a purely financial standpoint if they take the principal and interest payments on let’s say 45 or $50 million and add in operating costs, it’s less than the $9 million they spend every year. Stack on top of that the fact that Southshore Metro South communities are clamoring for water and are willing to pay significant sums. This could actually the acquisition of this could

be a source of significant revenue for the water enterprise fund and for the city. So, he thinks it would be irresponsible not to look at this acquisition as a way to save the city money and provide a significant public benefit to our neighboring communities in the metro south area. He’s not aware councilor of any press release. It was not sent to him. He can’t answer any questions on that because it was not provided to them. If there was a press release out there and he send

it to him, he’ll be happy to take a look at it and respond to anything in that. He mentioned in his

opening statement, the objective of that visit was to discuss the current contract that expires in 2028 and a potential extension of that contract and a potential purchase. Those were the discussions that they had. They were cordial and engaging. They did take a tour of a water treatment plant in Florida, which is proximate to Miami, to see how that one operates and he thinks it was a very helpful visit. Those conversations continue and he’s sure they’ll report to them again in the very near future about additional developments as they occur.

Councilor Derenoncourt: Excellent. So, in regard to the question that he stated in his opening statement the first would be obviously Mr. Mayor he understands that it’s part of his job to travel. There’s no question about that and probably are on the same page. But the problem that he does have with this particular shoot was the fact that number one it was selective and number two the person who’s supposed to be looking out for them right in terms of like the city solicitor was not even invited and they go. So obviously for him the question is why? Why you know Megan Bridges was not invited. That’s number one. Number two, you stated it and spoke about this. There was a deal on the table to buy this plant and he’s glad you didn’t. The moment you become mayor, they shoot the price. He knows he’s been fighting so hard to come up with a deal to purchase that plant. Unfortunately given his determination to bring what he thinks is best for Brockton, he has not been able to do that.

Mayor Sullivan: that’s not accurate at all. He hasn’t not had conversations and negotiations and he would not think it would be right to have our chief legal counsel to go down there because number one, we were not negotiating a price. It was a fact-finding mission to find out what the next steps are and to do visual face to face. The proponents down there, the people that work for Aquaria did not want to do a Zoom. They wanted to do an in face. They wanted to do it on their home turf. He couldn’t go. Pat and Troy could go. The next person that dealt with him in the capacity of mayor other than the late mayor Carpenter was acting mayor Rodrigues. So, they had worked with him before and again he stands by the fact that the solicitor wasn’t going down there because this was not a negotiation. Their attorneys weren’t at the table. So, there should not be our attorney at the table.

Councilor Derenoncourt: So, was it your decision to invite the councilor or was it because you couldn’t go?

Mayor Sullivan: he couldn’t go. when they wanted to accommodate, he could not go. He

made that clear. They wanted to know who was going. It was suggested, well, should may should the former mayor go because he had worked with us in the past. I don’t have a problem with that.

Councilor Derenoncourt: They make they make that recommendation, not you.

Mayor Sullivan: They suggested they wanted someone that had served in a capacity that negotiated with them in the past.

Councilor Derenoncourt: So, let me just say this too, Mr. Mayor. you know given the situation that we are dealing with as we speak and obviously as you know there’s an election going on why would it be okay to select one person when there are two people heading into the race.

Mayor Sullivan: first of all coucilor both of them are elected up there him and I were running against each other in 2019 when that gentleman was negotiating with Aquaria so he can’t opine on what he’s saying right now all he can tell him is he wasn’t there he stands by the fact that they had conversations with them he has not heard from Aquaria at all since that fact. Either you or Mr. Rodriguez will have todeal with that after the fact. But it is what it is. He’s not going to be questioned by Jean because he stands on what happened.

Councilor Derenoncourt:  No, no. So, he means, he’s not challenging him on this.

Mayor Sullivan: It appears that you are. That’s the interesting thing.

Councilor Derenoncourt:  Well, he means, Mr. Mayor, so you can be somewhat defensive and that’s okay. The price was jump. How did you find out?

Mayor Sullivan:  because they came into his office about he doesn’t know it was before covid so they came into his office and jumped up the price to his face.

Councilor Derenoncourt:  so, you had a meeting with them

Mayor Sullivan: excuse him.  He told him, he hasn’t met with them in years but on January 6th of 2020 he became mayor of the city of Brockton 6 weeks later they had the pandemic within

those 6 weeks they came to see him.

Councilor Derenoncourt: Yes, so from that meeting that’s when he realized that the intended price was jump and therefore this was not into their level of satisfaction. He wouldn’t

buy it for that, right?

Mayor Sullivan:  Who would negotiate in good faith when the city was quoted one

price, the next person comes in and the price is a different and it’s escalated up. Nobody in the common sense would negotiate.

Councilor Derenoncourt:  he’s okay with that. he’s okay with that 100%. Matter of fact, he is with him on that one. That’s what he stated earlier in regard to the price that was left behind for him when obviously the council made a statement about leaving him a letter in regard to advising him to buy that plan. When he became mayor thankfully so he taken his own position in regard to looking at it whether or not it was feasible to buy it based on his conclusion he realizes that the price changed therefore he stop it there. And that was the last time that he had a meeting.

Mayor Sullivan:  It wasn’t his conclusion. It was the fact that to his face they jacked up the price by millions of dollars. There was no need to do a conclusion. But when he was a city councilor, council president, he went down there and he had filed many resolves with these individuals. They did not appear. The only reason they appeared before this body, this was before you on the council is because they cut 100% of their funding and they’re in a budget cycle. So all he can tell them is he has not had any conversations with the two principles. Mr. Hill and Mr. Clarkson have. This will not be acquired before his term expires.

Councilor Derenoncourt: Mr. Clarkson so in regard to your meeting in in Miami what can you tell us? What did you learn? what was the point of the meeting? What was this cost and how much money you think about buying this plant and where do we go from here?

CFO Dr. Clarkson: So, as he mentioned in his opening statement they discussed in generalities they toured the existing plant. They discussed the dynamics of the contract that ends in 2028. That is obviously a concern for the city because they are required to have that secondary source.

So, they need a secondary source. Then they discussed what a potential purchase but the mayor is correct. They did not negotiate any costs. They really talked in general terms. The plant needs to be run and so they did talk to them about the fact that any purchase price if they should choose Aquaria as the company to operate the plant which is certainly a logical choice given that they’ve operated it since it was constructed that a purchase price would likely be inversely proportional to the length of the term of the operating contract. That is meaning to say if they were willing to

execute a long-term contract for the operation then perhaps the purchase price would be less. But they did not negotiate a specific purchase price. They merely tried to set the stage for what Commissioner Hill and himself believe would be a very beneficial acquisition not only financially for the city but to secure clean PASF free water for the foreseeable future which is I

believe from a public policy standpoint a critical and important point.

Councilor Derenoncourt:  Mr. Mayor, do you mind if he asks the commission a question?

Hi commissioner, how are you? Good evening. In regard to Aquaria do you have any assessment in terms of like what’s going on? He’s talking about data assessment and if yes, when was

that?

Commissioner Hill: The last assessment he believes that was done of the treatment facility was done in 2020.

Councilor Derenoncourt:  No, this was an update. This was not the assessment. What you are saying to me now, it was an update. Not the assessment. He’s talking about a real assessment of that plant. What you are saying is okay, but it was not an assessment. It was an update of the assessment, which was in 2020.

Commissioner Hill: Yeah. So, 2020 was the last time that somebody went down there, they went through the entire plant, they did an assessment of the books.

Councilor Derenoncourt:  Okay. So, he’ll help him with that one. The last time that they had a will assessment of this plant was in 2017 in terms of like tangible data right what they had in 2020 was not an assessment it was an update of that so if they are thinking about buying this he means now if we are serious about buying it don’t you think it would be important for them to at least have an idea of what they are getting into and obviously this is not new. He was on the council in 2018 live in 2020 comeback recent. So, for him this is not something that they

can take lightly and the reason he’s saying this is because when it’s come down to water

plants and he took some times to do some research about it and he will open the door at least to give you guys some ideas. The livelihood of a plant of a water plant it’s 20 years in terms of

like what it can do if you maintain it properly right it can last probably 30 to 50 years and that will require rigorous maintenance and at the end of the day we haven’t had that with the

plant. The problem is not buying the plant. The problem is the fact that they don’t have enough information to justify the purchase of the plant. And that’s what they got to understand. And he said that over and over again. Even though the city is not in a financial stability to purchase the plant now, it’s not just buying the plant, but it’s also maintaining the plant. It’s also taking

care of the people that are working for the plant. Yeah, they might be able to purchase the plant. Now, the question is, do they have enough money to maintain it? Hypothetically, let’s just say that they buy the plant for he doesn’t know $20 and the next day something burst. It will be there responsibility to carry on and he is open to take a look at what has been going on to see whether or not they could be you know to see what they can do in terms of as a city but about purchasing the plant he feels like it is irresponsible and he also has a question for the city solicitor. The reason he’s saying this to you, number one, and he’s going to stick by it, traveling to Miami

for 24 hours in the process of buying something that will take millions of dollars was unnecessary. Does he believe they should travel somewhere? Of course. Yes. But they took a trip on the taxpayer money for 24 hours. And when he calls that out which was September and I’m giving you a date and he called it out on September 26 what you are talking about Mr. CFO came on September 28th. He has the text he has the information in regard to the opportunity. So for him he feels like they have a lot of work to do and the people that he’s talking to out there they are not in favor of buying the plant. Do they need a second water sources? Of course, yes. Do I believe we should probably do some business with that? Yeah, let’s have a conversation

with Aqua. Let’s sell it to other places. Instead of paying $8 something million, they can make a deal with them. He knows the contract is coming down. He knows it’s about to expire. By law, we’re supposed to have a second water sources. But to push that so hard on people and saying that we are spending about $9 million and they are not getting anything back, it’s a false narrative because the problem is not just buying the plant but assume responsibility and he will leave it there. So madam solicitor, do you have a minute?

CFO Dr. Clarkson: If he may though, Mr. because he did ask a couple of questions first in that presentation. So, he will gladly answer the financial questions that he just posed, councilor, and then defer to Commissioner Hill on the issue of the maintenance of the plant, but he does need to respectfully but vehemently disagree with your premise that we can’t afford and we’re not in financial condition to purchase the plant. That premise is false. In fact if the market and the bond rating agencies didn’t believe that their financial position was sound they would not have changed their outlook from negative to stable. So independent third-party rating agencies have looked at Brockton’s finances and what they have done in the Sullivan administration in collaboration with him and his team and given them that change in outlook if they didn’t believe that they were sound financially. And the reason why they discuss it is because it is very simple math. They are spending $9 million a year under that contract with nothing in return. That’s not a false narrative, councilors. That’s an unfortunate financial reality. And when they have an opportunity to actually spend less and provide more, then he believes they are obligated to pursue that on. So, the on the question councilors of available funds for maintenance, of course, we have the funds to maintain it. He’ll allow Pat to discuss the rigorous and ongoing maintenance that Aquaria has undergone in that plant. A few years ago, some of them may remember they offered a tour. And not only is it spotless, but it has been maintained and updated constantly. It’s in as good shape, if not better, then when it was constructed. So, on the financial question, yes, it’s a sound financial decision, but yes, spending $9 million and getting nothing versus spending millions less and owning something is a sound financial proposition. And, Commissioner Hill, he’ll defer to him on the maintenance question.

Councilor Farwell: Mr. Chairman, could he raise a point of parliamentary inquiry just for a minute?

President Thompson: You may.

Councilor Farwell: Okay. The resolve is to discuss the recent trip to meet with representatives

of the aquaria treatment plant regarding a proposed purchase of the Dighton desalinization plant. Now talking about maintenance costs and everything else that he thinks that in my opinion but subject to your ruling would be a separate evening and a separate issue. In his opinion, they should be focusing simply on that trip, the results of the trip, who went and question should be

relating to their participation in that trip. But obviously that’s your call, but that’s his parliamentary inquiry.

Councilor Thompson: Well, he appreciates that, councilor. They’ve walked a little bit down this path. he’d want Commissioner Hill just to finish his assessment the discussion about the maintenance and assessment of the plant as it sits today. And then at that point they can move on to other questions regarding.

Councilor Derenoncourt: he has a question for the solicitor too.

Councilor Thompson: And one last question for the solicitor. But yeah Commissioner Hill

DPW Commissioner Hill:  He means the long and short of it is no plant is constructed to last 20 years right the components of the inside a water plant just like the components inside of a sewer plant have a life expectancy generally speaking in drinking water application the pumps all that stuff yeah has about a 20-year lifespan. The building itself, he means, he doesn’t know how long the building would last. He assumes it’s constructed to last 100 years. The Silver Lake plant right now, as they speak, is 80 something years old. The plant continues to operate. They’ve replaced many components in that plant. Some of them 50 years old, some of them 60 years old, some of

them 10 years old. Plants, as you know, depending on the water quality and the issues that they’re going through, operate differently. Components act differently. Some components last a very, very long time. Some do not last that long. The pipeline itself is a 20-in ductal iron pipe. The shelf life on a ductal iron pipe is 50 years. They don’t expect there to be much maintenance on that.

Councilor Derenoncourt: it’s like you said something which is pretty fascinating though and he admires his honesty in regard to know the lifetime of the plant and that’s his fear and obviously he means he does not have the ability to go in there and pay attention of what has been going

on and that’s his fear. What if they assume that responsibility and the next day you know something happened? So, he’ll leave it there. Madame solicitor do you mind? Obviously they had the conversation and as the person who has the legal mind to determine you know contract negotiation in this community and of course sign off of them why didn’t she go to Miami?

Solicitor Bridges: respectfully she thinks the question was posed to the mayor and she’s not sure she has an answer for the question. She wasn’t part of it.

Councilor Derenoncourt: Well, like were you invited to this trip? You didn’t?

Solicitor Bridges: I was not.

Councilor Derenoncourt: Were you aware of this trip?

Solicitor Bridges: she knew about it to some degree.

Councilor Derenoncourt: So, your obviously as the lawyer for the people, right? And with buying something like this, she doesn’t think it would have been important for her to at least be there to listen to the conversation?

Solicitor Bridges: She’s always happy to offer her opinion or expertise whenever it’s asked for.

Councilor Derenoncourt: So obviously your opinion as the legal counsel was not requested

in this time.

Solicitor Bridges: It wasn’t.

Mayor Sullivan: council that question was asked to me and answered. There was not going to be any negotiations. This woman is an exceptional lawyer and she is a pit bull negotiator. It doesn’t make practical sense or legal sense to have our legal counsel go on a trip where there’s not going to be negotiations. He has full faith and confidence in the information coming back and if it got to the point where there were numbers being floated of course Megan and then opposing council would sit at the table but she would not have gone down to Florida he would not have approved it because there was no need to have legal counsel there.

Councilor Derenoncourt: He means he’s glad he said that though. So, he too believes that she is an impressive lawyer in regard to what I’ve been seeing in this community. Phenomenal. He thinks they can agree that she has been doing an excellent job and by virtue of her ability not just to represent the city but to process complex information. In his view as somebody who’s sitting up there, he would assume it would be wise to have that legal mind in regard to any

conversation that they may intend to do.

Mayor Sullivan: he disagrees with that. As a lawyer, He would disagree with that.

Councilor Derenoncourt: But Mr. Mayor, he understands that he is an attorney, obviously. But in this particular issue you had the mayor but not the attorney.

Mayor Sullivan: there would be no need. He’s not going to answer it again. I’ve already said it and it’s on the record. There was no need to have legal counsel fly to Florida for 24 hours when there was no going to be no negotiations or opposing counsel there. You wouldn’t do that. Under the standard ethics, you’re not going to have a lawyer go down when there’s not opposing counsel there. You just wouldn’t do it. Respectfully, that was his decision as mayor, and he stands by his decision.

Councilor Derenoncourt: earlier he asked him Mr. Mayor, was it your decision to invite the counselor? And I believe you said no.

Mayor Sullivan: Earlier, it was what he told you was that the principles down in Aquaria wanted someone in an executive role. he couldn’t be there. he couldn’t go. They had dealt with former

acting mayor Moises Rodrigues. So, it was their decision. It was not a political scheme. And

that’s what you think it is. It wasn’t.

Councilor Derenoncourt: How’s that? So, it was their decision to ask for this particular elected official, not yours.

Mayor Sullivan: Mr. President,

President Thompson: he doesn’t know how many times he’s going to answer it. If you have any new questions to ask, but we’ve been asked it’s a simple he’s answered it at least twice to you.

Councilor Derenoncourt: he will end with this and obviously you know they’ve been there and done it. The problem that people do have with those of them who are elected is because often times that’s what they do. They took a trip to Florida and again he said it before and he’s going to say it again which was unnecessary to the point of they went there to take a look at what’s going on and, on that chair, he just asked the DPW commissioner in regard to when was the last time an assessment was done respectfully so he tried he said 2022- 2020 and he said nope 2017. So, they are in the process of talking to a company that could potentially sell them a plant for a lot of money. What he would say on the record is that the intention behind this is bad. And if those of you who are watching from home don’t pay attention to this, it’s going to be very detrimental because here’s what they will do. They just got out of a budget deficit and they did their best to move away from it and as they speak they are in the process of negotiating or somewhat talking to buy a plant and the goal is that is to put tax on people and he set that up here and he has a record of voting against every single tax proposal. He will not support anything that would be detrimental to the taxpayer. as somebody who’s out there talking to people, their fear is that how much his tax is going to be and he doesn’t have an answer for them and as somebody who’s sitting up here, he has got to be able to have information to tell these people what happened on that trip, what was talking about, what was the negotiation. He means, technically, there was there was no money involved. That’s part of the reason she couldn’t go. But if there was no money involved, if there was no, how does he put this? potential buying the plant. What was the point of the treat?

Mayor Sullivan: first of all, the taxpayers are paying money. They’re paying $9 million a year for three more years under the contract and it’s highly likely that they’ll continue because we’re mandated to have a secondary water source. But again, he’s already asked and answered. He doesn’t know what else you want him to say. Maybe in the next 3 months there’ll be a decision made, but he highly thinks that that’s unlikely.

Councilor Derenoncourt: We’ll leave it there.

Councilor Rodrigues: wasn’t going to answer or each even intervene in this particular thing, but since my name was tossed out a couple times, He thinks he owes it tothe folks that are watching them and the folks in this room here. The counselor has definitely some issues with numbers. First of all, he keeps tossing this $58 million. $58 million. He doesn’t know where he got this from. Honestly, there were no numbers discussed at $58 million. None. So, he doesn’t know where he keeps getting this $58 million. It doesn’t exist right now. They had made an offer some years ago to purchase the plant when he was the mayor and they had negotiated that. He thinks what the mayor didn’t say is that that purchase and sale had expired and when they came up they jacked up the price. That’s what happened. It’s not that they wouldn’t jack up the signed purchase and sale because that was a purchase and sale that he signed in December of 2019. So that’s what it was. He actually invited himself on this trip because six years ago they started with a working group that had Councilor Lally on it. It had you, Mr. President, on that one. It had himself and he believes Councilor Monahan was part of that working group to try to figure out what do they do with this monroity that they have called Aquaria. He knows people are perfectly fine. They have another $27 million that they’re going to piss down that pipeline in the next three years. People are fine with that because he will not purchase. He will not purchase. But again, are they telling the taxpayers that yes, they are willing to give again the taxpayers, not the income taxpayers, the real taxpayers who are paying property taxes and business taxes in this city. Are they telling them we’re perfectly fine with tossing away another $27 million without any of them doing anything? He invited himself to this trip. This trip was set up long before, and by the way, it was not on September 26, Councilor. It was on August 27th, and they returned on August 28th. And you were not the only person running for office. There was eight of them running for office. He knows he has issues with numbers. You have issues with numbers, but some of them owe it owes it to taxpayers to clarify that there was eight of them running for office.  this this trip was set up in April for them to go down there. The mayor couldn’t go. It was cancelled. It was set up again in May. He got into a car crash. Could not go. It was set up in June and the mayor couldn’t go. It finally was set up for August and I said we got to do what we can just to go on a fact finding

mission and that’s what this was. It was not a negotiation. There were no dollars and signs going back and forth. And by the way, He told these gentlemen from day one that he was going to pay for his trip because he did not want to come back and have to deal with the issues that you

guys went on a vacation or whatever the hell the whole thing was. He thinks the council thinks too high of himself to be honest with you to think that he decided to pay $500 and something dollars for a trip because of a press release because he put out a press release. It was, you know, Barack Obama putting out a press release. So therefore, they all must jump on the press release. He had never seen your press release. He still hasn’t never seen If they could just address the No, I am. But that came up and my name was brought into this councilor. That’s why I’m responding to it and it needs to be clarified. I did not go down there on a taxpayers’ money because I know that I have an interest to make sure from my family and friends and my neighbors that we come up with a solution to this problem because doing nothing isn’t going to be the answer. Are we going to go now and be okay with the fact that we’re going to have a water ban in the city because we’ve drawn too much water from that lake and we continue to draw too much water from that lake? Is that okay with anybody watching us at home right now? Is it okay with anybody sitting up here that we now have the capabilities of drawing some additional water? But remember, every time we draw water from that plant, we pay for it because there are two costs. There’s the fixed cost for $9 million and whatever we borrow we buy from that plant. So, if

you folks are fine with that, that’s okay because it it’s called democracy and it’s a majority rule. But the fact that we are going to for the next three years pay $27 million. And when it’s all said and done, just in those numbers, it will turn into $137 million without absolutely nothing to show for. To me that’s criminal. We are throwing away $130 million worth of these poor taxpayers in this community, and we have nothing to show for it. So, that’s what I went to Florida to find out. Is it possible that we can do this? find out how much longer do we have because you know what we sat here and we couldn’t figure out is it two years left is it three years left nobody knows when this thing expired so we went down there to find out when does this thing expire so I can make an intelligent assessment of where I stand on this I understand the concerns about buying the plant I understand the concerns but no matter what we do we are going to have to come up with water and that water budget line item is already in the budget for the next 3 years because those are the obligations for the 9 million that we owe Aquaria for the next 3 years. So that’s already there. So one of the things that we keep saying is that we you know we’re in this budget issue. We can’t afford this, we can’t afford that. I am actually sure if this body and the administration decides to purchase that plant for a reasonable cost that it wouldn’t cost any additional funds to the taxpayers. It would not let me say that again. It would not cost any additional funds for the taxpayers. Right now, we are paying them $9 million. If we

were to entertain a purchase of that, what our payment would be versus the operation of that plant is well within what we are annually paying for with our own budget. So, it would not cost any additional dollars. So but a study needs to be done. We need to figure it out exactly is the plant feasible? Can we kind of grab this plant and move forward with it? And let me tell you something. I have it from some reliable sources at the state office that said, We will not give you an exemption of your second water source demand because you guys currently have a second water source and we’re not going to let you get off that second water source. So, you got to come up with it. Either you go back to Aquaria to renegotiate a new contract or you figure out a way to purchase that plant. That’s what I was told from a very reliable source. All right. But I just wanted to make sure that we were clear with these numbers because again, it was stated that just the two of us were running for office. No, there was eight of us. And it was it was stated that it was in September. It was not in September. It was in August. You know, just so that we can make sure that we’re clear so we’re not sitting here and giving the taxpayers of this community information that’s not the correct information. And again, I invited myself. I invited myself. I paid for it myself. And I’ll do it again if need be. I would not use taxpay dollars to do it because to me, it’s that important for this community. And it means that’s what we do when we’re leaders in this community. Stand up and act like it. And that’s what I did. And I’ll continue to do that again. Thank you for your time, sir.

Councilor Farwell. Just I’ll try to be brief and I’m not running for mayor. I don’t want to get into the politics of this, but I think a couple of things are important. The original email that was sent out by Dr. Clarkson said, “Our objective for the trip is to discuss the remaining years in the contract, begin to understand what a successor contract might look like, and also explore the possibility of a purchase. All options are on the table and our visit is exploratory. I have served as mayor. I’ve served in state positions. If that was the intent of the trip, I’d want the city solicitor

with me. If I’m going to explore the possibility of a purchase or a successor contract, I want somebody along with me who is legally trained and can ask the right questions. A little earlier, Dr. Clarkson and mentioned that the purpose was a successor contract. Again, that’s a legally binding document. I would think we would want some original notes kept about what the discussion was, who from Aquaria said what, any representations made by Aquaria. And again, I would argue that someone with legal training go. Neither Commissioner Hill nor Dr. Clarkson, our engineering people. Dr. Clarkson has a PhD in public administration. I just think we missed an opportunity here. If that’s what we wanted to do to go down to Miami and try to identify

what our future strategy would be, then we would have the appropriate people down there. It doesn’t bother me that councilor Rodrigues went. Although I will say this and it’s not a criticism. It’s just hindsight as 2020 vision. If I had been the mayor and I had two councilors running for the highest office in the city, I wouldn’t have picked one of them to go. It put council Rodrigues behind the eight ball because a lot of people think it was set up and I have to apologize to you for that. That’s unfair. It certainly riled up the Derenoncourt supporters and I think needlessly. I sent out and finally I sent out an email and I sent it to the mayor’s office but it became a public records request and I said I’d like to have all of the notes, memoranda, statistics, any documents,

any materials brought back from the Miami trip so that we all could take a look at them. And the answer I got back from the law department was there are no such records. So, we sent people down there. I still don’t know if the thing is for sale. I have no idea if a price was discussed. We have no materials back whatsoever in terms of notes or any anything that Aquaria might have

provided to us. And the last thing is, let’s remember that if this thing is ever going to be purchased, I’m sorry, if this thing is ever going to be purchased, it’s the council that has to vote on that. If you were going to go down to Miami on a trip like this that’s exploratory, why wouldn’t you send out an email to councilors’ and say, “In a week, we’re going to be going to Miami. Do you have any questions you want asked? Do you have any materials you’d like to have back from Aquaria?” solicit the very people that have to make the decision on whether to fund a purchase or fund a successor contract. And that wasn’t done. And it’s disappointing. So, , without assigning any blame and with the old adage, hindsight is 2020 vision, I think we missed an opportunity to do it a little cleaner. I think we missed an opportunity to maybe help ourselves out a little bit, understand what our relationship with Aquaria may or may not be in the future. And I just wanted the people who put me up here and who trust me to try to somewhat intelligently analyze these issues. I wanted them to know where I’m coming from on this. I think there’s a lot more work that needs to be done. I look forward to whatever work product or information is forthcoming. Thank you.

Councilor Tavares:  Yes, actually I just listen to all basically in the meantime I just want to do some clarification and I just have one question. My question I understand you said during the travel purpose was not deal done was any negotiable done that time?

Mayor Sullivan: Well, I wasn’t in Florida, but what I was told by the parties that came back, there were no negotiations done.

Councilor Tavares:  Yes, then that’s all I want to understand because that’s like you know literally like you know if it was nothing done no contract like you know no buy whatever is I don’t think like you know is all this because you know nothing has been done basically you guys just travel just took a look explore you know you guys see like you know not necessarily like need to buy another stuff you know you guys return back again then they respond it was not material that mean like you know nothing was done I think it was very clear because the way is back and forth up and down I don’t think I’m to not be able to understand too much is confuse me and then confuse people out there because I keep go back and forth up and down uh like probably people’s watching us out there going to be like you know they close any deal you know

or they didn’t close any deal but at this point no deal was closed and then decision basically whatever the perspective of like a lawyer does not need to go because why she need to go you know and I just for clarification I asked this question and I think everybody you know to be here that’s its thank you.

Councilor Minichiello: I think that basically what happened was this is fact finding mission, right? I mean, we’re going down there to see whether or not there’s this is going to make sense. We have our financial guy, our money guy. We have our superintendent you know, basically going down there to you know, talk to these people and report back. If a deal was being brokered, I would have sent Megan. But a deal wasn’t being brokered. Okay, this was this was more fact finding. If now right now what to me the next step is we have to make a decision. You know we need to do some more due diligence and figure out is this an investment that we want to get out and get involved with. Is this a project that makes fiscal sense for the city of Brockton? You know you know whether you know council Rodrigues should have went you know I’m not going there. You know or whether or not you know councilor Derenoncourt  should have went that’s just you know that’s politics and I’m not getting opening that door. However, you know, we need to now figure out does this make fiscal sense and like council Derenoncourt said, you know, what are the potential liabilities that could that could hamstring the city? You know, if pipes bleak, if there’s some infrastructure that needs to be replaced and it’s going to be very costly. Four years ago, we a bunch of us went down there in person. city council. We were invited to go down and you know and it’s an interesting place down there.  But it’s a very costly place and it has equipment that is you know specialized, very specialized. You know, you’re not going to go to Home Depot and pick up certain hardware for this thing. This is very specialized

and to me, you know, it has potential risks. However, you know, we pay an ungodly amount of money and we have to make the decision of whether or not the it’s it makes sense to figure to

purchase this thing or we basically punt and continue to you know pay the cost and renegotiate another contract with either this group or someone that they sell it to. you know, my I’ve always, you know, I’ve always had this one concern and that is people say, “Oh, well, you know, there’s going to be people that are interested in buying more water.” Well, that hasn’t happened yet. We’ve had this we’ve had this um you know, contract for how many years? And I don’t see us sharing the cost with any other community or selling water to any other community. I hope that the people, you know, that have that vision and view are correct. you know that yeah, if we purchased this plant and if it made sense to purchase the plant that there are going to be other customers that we will be able to tap into and to share, you know, and share some of the financial burden and be in control. But remember, being in control means being responsible for all the fiscal cons that can go with this thing. And I’m sure there are, you know, the plant is not new anymore. You know it we have to again have engineers go down there give us you know a report and have our money people you know determine whether or not this makes sense you know and then that’s when we talk we tap our very seasoned and very professional attorney and have her put the deal together but I I just think right now to beat up on saying oh Megan should have been there I  don’t think so you know I wouldn’t have sent her down there if I were mayor because we’re not ready to put a deal together you know if we’re putting the deal together that I want Megan in there if but we’re not we don’t know what we’re doing yet. So why I you know I want her working here on things that she’s working on you know so that’s my two cents worth you know I think right now it’s a lot to do about something but we just have to determine what direction we’re going in here so and you know obviously Pat and Troy you know need to tell us whether or not what their opinion is. I mean it is this a is this a good investment or is

this not a good investment? I think I know what Pat’s position is. We’ve had conversations about it. I think I know what Troy’s position is, too. But, you know, we need an update because time has gone by and, you know, what are the risks and what are the rewards and does this make fiscal sense for Brockton? It’s a lot of money, you know, and remember, we also were talking about a new high school, too. So, that needs to weigh into all our conversation, too. So, that’s it. Thank you.

President Thompson: I know we’ve been at this for a little while tonight. I know we pretty much hit the end of the discussion on this particular resolve, but during this conversation, we learned that Brockton’s about to initiate a water ban. I was hoping with you with no objection going to

ask the commissioner come up two minutes just kind of because this would be the first water ban that I think I’ve incurred in my six years up here. If just a quick briefing on what recommendation.

Councilor Lally motioned to recommend favorably. Motion was properly seconded and carried by a hand vote.

Commissioner Hill: Good evening councilors. So, we’ve been kind of watching the drought uh area in in the region and you know the region is in a significant drought. It’s labeled as significant drought across. So, I’ve been in discussions the recommendation has always been once we get to a certain point regardless of our situation that if in a in a regional drought that we should kind of concede and enter into a drought management plan. In the past I’ve been hesitant to do that because we do have our second source. Our ratepayers are paying for that second source. We’ve had an opportunity to turn the water on when needed. Silver Lake has maintained pretty well over the past, at least in my tenure as commissioner. It’s maintained pretty well. This year it’s not the case. So, we’re currently 52 in below at Silver Lake. Which is pretty significant. there isn’t a lot of rain in the forecast. Typically, this time of year we’re diverting water. there’s no water to divert out of the ponds. So, I had a conversation with DP this morning. I told them that I was going to be instituting a water ban so there will be no outside watering uh in the city and that will be effective October 8th. I have filled out all the paperwork. I spoke with the mayor this morning and everything will be publicly announced tomorrow.

President Thompson: Great. Thank you for that.  Mr. Commissioner on that I have a question on what he just said. One question please. The water bans. I thought that having the secondary source and having aquaria that’s always prevented us from having to have a water band. Is that not the case?

Commissioner Hill: So typically, I mean that in essence is the idea of having a second source so that we don’t run into situations like this. The problem with Aquaria is when we use Aquaria to offset loading at the lakes or lake levels it comes at a significant cost. So, I’ve put a call into Aquaria. I will be turning the Aquaria plant on. I will be pushing water at the max maximum rate which is 3.81 81 million gallons per day. That will ramp up slowly throughout the week. I expect to be at 3.8 probably sometime early next week. And that’s just to kind of offset what’s going on at Silver Lake for now. We’re going to kind of have to ride this out. To give you an idea financially what that looks like, 30 days of aquaria water at 3.8 8 million gallons per day is almost $200,000. So, we don’t necessarily have that stuff in our budget. I don’t like to do it,

but out of concern for the lake because when the lake levels get lower, the water gets warmer. When the water gets warmer, we we open the door or opportunity for something like cyanobacteria to spawn. You know, that spawns in warmer water. It’s not typical for this time of year. However, it’s been warm. like I said, there is no rain in our future. So, to be responsible with Silver Lake, to be responsible to our partners around the Silver Lake area and to get some use out of the aquaria plant, I think this is the responsible thing to do.

President Thompson:  I appreciate that and thank you for your indulgence on this issue. Mr. Mayor, quickly, please.

Mayor Sullivan Yeah, nothing to do with the drought. I just want to remind everybody historic day is coming up this Thursday. public safety building, ribbon cutting 11:00 Thursday the 9th. The governor unfortunately is unable to join us, but Congressman Steven Lynch will be there. So, anybody that’s watching, anybody that’s here, please join us. It’s going to be a wonderful day. And again, the city council partners in this because of the funding. So, thank you very much.

President Thompson:  Thank you, Mr. Mayor. I will open it up quickly for a council’s recognition. Any councilors want to be recognized? Seeing none, council. Yes. Councilors, just to inform you, next week is our holiday week. Columbus Days is on Monday. Therefore, our city council meeting will be on Tuesday, October 4th, 14th, uh 700 p.m. in this chamber. Thank you all for being here. Good evening.

Meeting Adjourned: 9:13PM