LOWELL CITY COUNCIL
REGULAR MEETING
TUESDAY OCTOBER 23, 2012
CITY HALL, CITY COUNCIL CHAMBER
TIME 6:30 PM
CITY CLERK
1. Minutes of City Council Meeting October 16th, for acceptance.
UNFINISHED BUSINESS
2. Order of Taking and Acceptance of Canal Street.
UTILITY PUBLIC HEARINGS (Scheduled for 7PM)
3. Underground Conduit – National Grid request to install underground conduit Broadway Lowell, MA.
CITY MANAGER
4. Communication-From City Manager Responses to City Council Motions and Requests.
5. Vote-Approve MOU Inspectors Unit 7/1/10-6/30/12
6. Vote-Execute Crosswalk Easement to UML within Broadway
7. Vote-Supplemental Appropriation ($87,000) Police Dept.
8. Communication: Elizabeth Craveiro, City Treasurer – Presentation of the new online payment system.
REPORTS (Sub/Committee, if any)
NEW BUSINESS
9. C. Leahy – City Manager update Council regarding Kearney Square bridge construction project.
GENERAL PETITIONS
10. Misc. – Tony T. Quach request for zoning change 228 Plain Street.
11. Misc. – Elaine Miecakowski request Fulton Street be repaired (new hot top) in Spring of 2013.
MOTIONS
12. C. Mercier – Req. City Mgr. outline steps to be taken to reassure Council that new phone lines will function during power outages so as not to interrupt or prevent residents’ emergency calls to police and fire.
13. C. Leahy – Req. City Mgr. provide update regarding replacement of track at Cawley Stadium.
14. C. Leahy – Req. City Mgr. have proper department review the intersection at Twelfth, July and Methuen Streets for a report and recommendation for signage at that intersection.
15. C. Leahy – Req. City Mgr. contact Middlesex Sherriff’s Dept. to coordinate a schedule for the work release program in the Spring and Summer of 2013.
16. C. Lorrey – Req. City Council approve residential parking only on Riverside Way and Lawrence Drive where parking is legally available.
17. C. Lorrey – Req. City Mgr. and City Council plan and adopt a residential parking plan for the Acre and other areas affected by the University expansion.
18. C. Lorrey – Req. City Mgr. contact State delegation and Governor’s Office for additional public safety funds in case of the possible early release of inmates due to the Massachusetts Crime Lab scandal.
19. C. Kennedy/C. Leahy – Req. City Mgr. evaluate & assess the current workforce of inspectors under the supervision of the Building Comm. and make recommendations to the City Council re: Certification and the need to increase Health, Building, Wire, Plumbing and Electrical Inspectors.
20. C. Kennedy/C. Leahy – Req. City Mgr. explore the feasibility of augmenting the current number of inspectors with part-time certified inspectors who will work 20hrs a week.
21. C. Kennedy/C. Leahy – Req. the Greater Lowell Regional Vocational Technical High School Committee and the Superintendent consider offering courses for potential Health, Building, Wire and Plumbing Inspectors that would lead to satisfying the requirement necessary for licensure and/or certification.
22. EXECUTIVE SESSION: Executive session regarding likely litigation with multiple parties, public discussion of which could have a detrimental effect on the City’s current and future position and its ongoing settlement negotiations and second to conduct contract negotiations with non-union personnel, City Auditor.
Dear Gerry- The themes that are emerging no longer permit kicking the can down the road and the following are worth our perusal.
As the wastewater enterprise funding disaster unfolds, and the evils of the unfunded mandates and EPA tyranny become clear pay special attention for an answer to Rodney’s question about the funds allocated under the Cox administration and how they were spent, as the Council should be fully advised before another dime is spent. Perhaps the wastewater account should be fully audited. Amidst all of the babble about rate increases, remember that the administration has already admitted that it cannot predict rate increases with certainty because the extent of further EPA unfunded mandates in the future is unknown.
Second, as to inspectional services, the matter of threshold inquiry is the certification status of those who were hired pending certification, and why those who have not qualified are still around, if any. Screaming out from the agenda is the lack of a structural engineer in inspectional services, which leads to the next major question.
As to the Kearney Square Bridge construction, the Floodplainers and significant others have paid careful attention to the developments. To understate the case, based upon their actions and the “Everything ENEL wants” mantra that pervades the mentality of the uninformed. ENEL has demonstrated that they cannot be trusted, as Peter Aucella can readily inform you as to the over $400,000.00 that ENEL owes the Park Service for past damage that has never been paid. It is therefore no surprise that the finest engineering minds within my access have stated unequivocally that properly designed, a modular replacement could be installed within thirty days and with minimal disruption, which is always of no concern to ENEL.
Beyond the Council, should we be concerned that the City and Park Service may cave, or that a deal is pending where the City gets the bridge repair and ENEL gets its hideous crestgate?
Thomas A. Wirtanen
On “EPA tyranny:”
Right in front of my house, in high rainfall events, we get what you might call a “flash flood.” What happens is that rainwater collects in an “urban watershed” which collects rainwater, via storm drains, mixes it with house sewage and rushes it down to our treatment plant (Duck Island).
At times, Duck Island cannot keep up with the assault of “Gray Water” (stormwater/sewage mix). So, the operators have a choice, either let the “Gray Water” overflow into the Merrimack or use the pipes (large diameter main trunks running to Duck Is) as “storage.”
When they miscalculate the “Storage” it flows out, through the storm basins, back out onto the streets. I have seen “shit flow up hill.” It then ponds on Coburn St. and in my front yard. This is made worse by nitwits that try to drive through it, cause wakes to push further onto my property. My neighbors have had the water flow into the basement, via cellar windows.
Worse yet, is when young kids come out to frolic in the temporary “swimming pool, they have swirling on thier stoop. After the place dries up, the residue blows in the wind, kicked up by passing cars.
I’m not sure what “tyranny” is in this context. But, the USEPA’s NPDES Program is being rolled out over decades. It decreases water pollution, curbs erosion and protects public health.
Some may think this sort of thing is better left to a golf outing fundraiser and a WCAP/Sun co-sponsored shindig.
That’s utter crap. This is a huge problem with multiple facets to it. This is not the sort of thing you leave to parochial interests.