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Date: 11/20/2019
EAST LONGMEADOW – The East Longmeadow Town Council met for a regularly scheduled meeting on Nov.12 to discuss several issues including preliminary discussions around the town’s tax levy for the 2020 fiscal year and adding a second ambulance to the town’s Emergency Medical Services.
One of the smaller orders of business of the day was to approve three different liquor licenses for Saturday, Nov. 16. The council unanimously approved each motion, one for a celebration of the Vietnamese New Year at St. Paul the Apostle Church, another for a fundraiser at the Masonic Temple, and the final one for the town’s 125th anniversary Gala at St. Luke’s Church.
During the Tuesday meeting the council also hosted a public hearing to discuss the tax levy limit and property tax rates for the upcoming 2020 fiscal year. The biggest issue from the public hearing was whether or not the town would adopt a split tax system to differentiate between residential and commercial properties.
Diane Bishop, the director of assessing with the town’s board of assessors, cautioned against imposing a split tax stream. She said, “We have to weigh what is in the best interest of our community. If we shifted into the dual stream, a single family home could save $650 per year but the average commercial and industrial property would see almost an $8,200 dollar increase.”
Bishop also added that the current proposed tax rate for next year would be $20.84 per thousand, which is much lower than the council was expecting for next year, but she explained that number is not yet final. The council unanimously approved to keep the town with a single tax rate for fiscal year 2020.
As part of the meeting, the council had to vote to rescind previous votes to use funds from the MGM Casino Mitigation Funds, one for $55,000 for General Fund Capital projects and the other for $45,000 to purchase and equip a pickup truck for the police department.
Council member R. Patrick Henry Jr. explained the council did not take the proper measures to use those funds, which is why they had to rescind the votes. “The MGM Casino Mitigation funds were technically not available to this body without applying to the state for them, so we were not authorized to use those funds. We have other funds in the account we are using for the Pine Knoll Upper Lot paving,” he said.
The council unanimously voted to rescind both of the previous votes in order to correct the funding for both of the projects, before approving to appropriate the funds for both projects from the General Capital Fund.
Another major topic of conversation at the meeting was continued discussion of adding a second ambulance to East Longmeadow’s Emergency Medical services and was brought forward by Fire Chief Paul Morrissette. He said, “We have that 10-minute minimum wait if the ambulance is coming from Longmeadow. If your loved one’s laying on the ground for that time, your anxiety is building. If we have the ability to make that second ambulance work, we would really appreciate it.” Morrissette also explained that the lease for the first year would cost $135,159 and comes directly out of a fund designated specifically for purchasing a new ambulance.
The council unanimously voted to purchase a lease on a second ambulance for the town and to authorize the payment for the lease from the ambulance fund.
Moving on, council member Donald Anderson continued the discussion about the rezoning of the property at 330 Chestnut St. He explained the subcommittee is still in the process of reviewing the proposal but at this time there is no imminent recommendation for a course of action.
Under the new business portion of the meeting, council member Ralph Page brought forward a motion to have an audit for the Town Clerk’s office, which he explained is required by the town’s bylaws. However, after some discussion the council motioned to table the vote for an audit for a later date once they found out more information about an audit or if the recent audit from September would count.
Another order of new business was to update a new bylaw to create a Charter Review committee, and was brought forward by the Town Council Bylaw Committee. Councilors Page and Henry explained that the new committee would actually be a subcommittee to the town council. They said the new committee would have seven members, as opposed to the past when it had nine members and was its own separate committee. Ultimately the council motioned to approve the wording for the new bylaw and to hold a first reading for it at the council’s Dec. 10 meeting.
The council closed the meeting with discussions about updating the current liquor license offenses and penalty policies. The biggest topic of discussion was whether or not the new policies should be a bylaw. Councilor Page said he was in favor of creating a bylaw for the new fees and penalties. “The Charter’s pretty specific, whenever there’s a fee or a penalty, a bylaw’s gotta be created,” he said.
The council unanimously voted to send the motion back to the bylaw committee to approve a new bylaw for liquor license offenses and penalties.
The East Longmeadow Town Council will meet next on Nov. 26.