East Longmeadow finances strong but department, school needs are many

Date: 1/20/2022

EAST LONGMEADOW - East Longmeadow Town Council President Michael Kane began the Jan. 11 meeting with a moment of silence for Councilor Thomas O’Connor, who died Jan. 8. His obituary highlighted his time in municipal service, including as animal control officer, an election commission member, chair of the capital planning committee, charter commission member as well as councilor.

Kane said O’Connor was, “very passionate, to say the least.”

Financial Situation

Town Manager Mary McNally and Finance Director/Town Accountant Stephen Lonergan reported on the town’s financial situation. “We are now on very solid financial footing based on the balances of town accounts,” McNally said. She identified staffing issues in certain departments, particularly the Finance Department and Human Resources (HR).
“Every time we hire a new person, we have to figure out a place to squeeze them in,” McNally said.

The Finance Department has been running on a “shoestring budget,” McNally said, and encouraged the council to explore software upgrades that can help the department automate some processes that now require staff.

“Our HR Department, no disrespect, is in shambles,” McNally said. “I have an HR director who is in tears pretty much every single day, or close to it,” and “working well beyond the 37 and a half hours,” she is allotted.
“We have serious needs,” McNally said. “The good news is we have the means this year.”

Lonergan detailed those means. There is $5.6 million in free cash available, while the levy limit is currently $2 million below maximum capacity. The stabilization fund, which is essentially a municipal savings account, has a balance of $3.4 million. The town managed to lower the tax rate for Fiscal Year 2022 (FY22) by $.77 compared to FY21 without tapping into reserves. “I can’t even explain how incredible that was,” Lonergan said.

Revenues are “right where they should be,” for this point in the fiscal year, Lonergan said. He shared that a representative from Standard and Poor told him during a recent audit that East Longmeadow “is operating almost business as usual during the pandemic.”

School Committee

The East Longmeadow School Committee joined the Town Council for a portion of the meeting. The council and committee are required by the charter to have at least one joint meeting. McNally described her vision for the meeting being, “To see if we can open the door of communication a little wider this year with respect to, particularly, to the School Committee budget.” She added, “We want to bridge the divide.”

East Longmeadow Public Schools Superintendent Gordon Smith told the council the district has been using the federal Elementary and Secondary School Relief (ESSER) grants to build its infrastructure.

Smith said the grants support the hire of adjustment counselors and other social-emotional support. He emphasized the social-emotional needs of students and told the council that the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and the Children’s Hospital Association declared a national emergency for children’s mental health in October 2021.

One resource the district has been using to address this issue is a partnership with River Valley Counseling Group to increase the number of students receiving counseling. Unfortunately, Smith said, the group is at maximum capacity and cannot receive any more referrals. That means there are “students in need,” who the district cannot serve.

The district is also investing in new curriculum and software to help close the learning gap left in the wake of 2020’s fully-remote learning.

Public Hearings

Two public hearings were conducted regarding changes in liquor licenses. The first hearing was a change in the license for the Pride gas station and convenience store at 13 North Main St. Attorney Nick Amanti explained that Pride Stores, LLC. was selling the alcohol portion of its business to Pride Operations, LLC. an entity recently created “to hold all the operational permits and licenses necessary to run the convenience stores and gas station.”

The move is part of a larger restructuring of assets in the wake of Prides Stores being acquired by the private equity firm, ArcLight Energy Partners Fund VII. The day-to-day operations are to remain the same, Amanti said.

The second public hearing was a request to change the liquor license for Ichiban Restaurant, 422 North Main St. Clerk of the Council Jeanne Quaglietti explained that she had been working with the husband and wife team that run the restaurant. The wife owns the restaurant along with Huang Garden, Inc. The liquor license is being transferred to the husband, under the company name Ichiban 422, Inc. Quaglietti said all of the paperwork was in order.

Both license transfers were approved.

Alcohol Violation

Quaglietti brought a separate liquor license matter to the council’s attention. A liquor store in East Longmeadow was reported to Quaglietti for selling to a minor. After the issue was reported to the Alcoholic Beverages Control Commission (ABCC) in Boston, the agency conducted surveillance and found the store selling to 16 year olds with fake out-of-state licenses.

The store, which was not identified during the meeting, was given a two-year period during which it must not have any other violations or face a one-day liquor license suspension.

“Nobody gets a pass,” Councilor Kathleen Hill said, adding it was important the ABCC take the violations seriously.

On a separate note, Hill also told the rest of the council that the ABCC had increased the number of “all alcohol” licenses that the town can issue because of the amount the population grew in the 2020 federal census.

COVID-19

McNally reported the COVID-19 positivity rate was 16.31 percent for the week ending Jan. 7. “It’s the highest it’s ever been,” McNally said. The East Longmeadow Police and Fire Departments, as well as the Department of Public Works, have been particularly “hard hit” due to the post-holiday season surge, McNally said.

During the meeting, McNally said the Board of Health (BOH) was “struggling” with whether to reinstate the mask mandate for all public indoor spaces, which had been lifted in fall 2021. On Jan. 14, however, the BOH issued the reinstatement order, which currently remains in effect until Feb. 28.

Town Manager Search

The municipal search firm Community Paradigm Associates closed the town manager application submission window on Jan. 4. McNally, who has resigned as town manager, but is temporarily staying on to help with the transition, said the firm will vet the candidates and the finalists will be screened by a local committee by early February.