Mayor’s Update
January 30, 2017
Attorney General Maura Healey: Since our last City Council meeting we were very fortunate to host Attorney General Maura Healey for a Town Hall forum at City Hall. Over 400 people attended from across Essex County and the surrounding region. AG Healey discussed a wide range of issues and provided time for Q & A on topics important to the attendees.
The Merrimac Valley Planning Commission has been working with the Mayors and Managers to create a new marketing logo and website to attract businesses to the region. This is a significant improvement from the old mill and smokestack!
On January 13th the Merrimack Valley Chamber hosted the annual Mayors and Managers breakfast where each community leader presented updates on the economic development in their community.
Intermodal/Garage Facility: We are awaiting the final draft of the Purchase & Sale agreement for the property. My thanks to the City Councilors for their input and recommendations. We have drafted an updated version of the Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) with the Merrimack Valley Regional Transit Authority (MVRTA) and are awaiting review by the Federal Transportation Administration on the MOA and the 30% design documents. We hope to have feedback in the next several weeks.
New Public Records Law: Mark Reich from KP Law gave an overview of the major changes in the new Public Records Law on January 18th. Staff from Newburyport, Amesbury, Salisbury and Merrimac attended. They are tight timelines and penalties for failure to respond and we are very fortunate to have City Clerk Richard Jones who will continue to serve as the point person or Record Access Officer. A guide to the updated law may be found on the Secretary of State website- www.sec.state.ma.us/pre/prepdf/guide.pdf
First Look at the New MA Marijuana Law: Massachusetts Continuing Legal Education (MCLE) provided a panel of legal experts to discuss the recently-passed recreational marijuana law. Adam Fine, Richard Evans, and William Luzier presented the current status and the many unknowns at this juncture. As more information becomes available we will continue to hold Public Safety team meetings and identify next steps for our community.
The Annual Massachusetts Municipal Association (MMA) Convention was held on January 21st and 22nd in Boston. About 12 employees from across departments attended Friday workshop sessions regarding Finance, Health Care, Energy, Human Resources, Public Records, as well as a trade show with hundreds of vendors. On Saturday January 22nd the mayors met with Gov. Baker, Sen. Warren, Sen. Markey and Cong. Capuano to discuss the impact of leadership change in Washington and our State.
Governor Charlie Baker gave his State of the Commonwealth address on January 24th. He discussed the state of the economy, business development and innovation, social service programs including DCF and homelessness, education, public transportation, energy, the opioid crisis and establishing a new Council on Older Adults. He stressed the importance of our collaborative working relationships.
House 1 Budget: Unfortunately Newburyport did not fare well with the Governor’s budget and we are beginning to build our FY18 budget starting with a -6.2% or -$264,113 decrease in local aid from FY17. It is early in the budget development process and we could advocate with our legislature to increase funding.
Budget Forum and Workshop: My sincerest thank you to the City Councilors who participated in the budget workshop forum on Saturday January 28th with School Committee members and the public to assist us in building priorities for this budget cycle for our school district. Ethan Manning, Finance Director led the presentation with overview of the budget process, historical trends in state aid, revenues and operations. Superintendent Viccaro and Exec. Assistant Nancy Lysik supplemented the presentation with school budget information, highlighting unfunded mandates and level services vs. level funding. Good breakout group discussions were facilitated jointly by City Council and School Committee members. Summary priorities will be posted on both the City and School websites shortly.
Department of Public Services Updates:
1. Plum Island Air Vac Alarm system: installation on Northern Blvd. will be completed this week.
2. Plum Island Hydrants: Bid document development for the PI hydrant repairs has been more challenging due to the location of some hydrants on private property. Notice will go out this week to all residents and bid documents will be issued early March for a start date in early April to begin the replacement.
3. Wastewater Treatment Facility: Thank you for your approval of the bond order necessary for ordering the clarifier covers and biofilter. This was taken separately from the remaining construction work to meet a late spring timeline. Tonight you have the remaining request for $4.2M bond order in your packet to pay for the costs of odor control and facility upgrades at the City’s Wastewater Treatment facility.
Additional measures for odor controls underway include the start-up of Hypochlorite pumps and new Ferric Chloride pumps for the headworks and long run from Plum Island.
4. Highway: Beta Engineering has completed the assessment of every sidewalk in the City and we anticipate receipt of the report by the end of this week. Each City Council will receive a complete copy of this report.
Evergreen: As you know, we are interesting in seeking a new water source and future well and believe that this site provides the best possibility. We initially were granted very restricted access and timeline which could not be met. Evergreen has agreed to allow the city full access to the site with no timeline restrictions. In exchange, the permitting process through the Planning Board and Board of Health will proceed on parallel tracks.
Food Drive: I still must fulfill my community service hours in Amesbury for our team losing the Thanksgiving football game. Unfortunately weather cancelled our initial date so we are rescheduled for this Saturday, February 4th 11:30 – 1:30 in the Stop & Shop parking lot. Come see me decked out in Amesbury colors and bring a canned good or donation.
State of the City: The annual State of the City address will take place Wednesday, February 8th at the Senior Community Center. Light refreshments will be served at 6 pm with the program starting at 7 pm. The public is invited. I will also deliver the State of the City to the Chamber membership on Friday, February 10th at 7:30 am at Nicholson Hall on Harris Street.
GO PATS!