Intermodal Facility/Garage: The asbestos removal resulted in delays in completing the foundation work pushing the precast deliveries until Sept. 5th. Notifications to all abutters regarding the truck route and parking restrictions are being updated by the Planning Office. Information is posted on the City website and will continue to be updated. Unfortunately the IAG meeting is in conflict with the joint meeting of the City Council and Planning Board Thursday night, 8/16 at 7 PM on Waterfront West. A new meeting will be scheduled for the following week.
Riverfest: The concert is scheduled for Sat. Sept. 1st from 12-6 pm at the Waterfront. The headliner, Bare Naked Ladies will be a big draw. We have held two meetings to prepare for the event. The first was with Police, Fire, DPS, Coast Guard, Harbormaster, Verizon, EMS and AJH and today with Police, Fire, DPS, Waste, and The Chamber. Details will include Police, Fire, NEMLEC and the Sheriff’s Department. Satellite parking has been arranged at Mark Richey Woodworking, Middle School and Mersen to date. Chamber is working on adding Graf Rink. There will be four shuttles starting at 8 am and running continuously throughout day. Shuttle drop off will be at the Custom House. Once the parking lots are full, sign boards will direct all traffic away from downtown and roads will be closed to concert goers. A flat rate for the day for parking is preferable to manage the level of cars and parking anticipated. The Chamber will notify all businesses and residents downtown. Command Center and Medical tent (staffed by AJH RNs) will be set up in the NRA lot. Mello is sending 15 volunteers to assist with trash. Maps of satellite parking, road closures and concert details are being developed to be posted on the Chamber, City and Police websites. We anticipate costs for all details to be approximately 39K at this juncture.
MVPC Mayors & Managers Meeting: Michael Flanagan, Department of Labor Standards presented the OSHA standards adopted for Workplace Safety and Health Protection for Public Employees. Health and Safety inspections have been initiated and DPS has had a preliminary inspection. Overall the goal is to provide proactive inspections to improve working conditions.
Resiliciency Plan for the City of Newburyport: Michael Morse from Storm Surge will be compiling all the data we have collected over the past several years to complete this important document.
Green Communities Grant: DOER has awarded the City of Newburyport $195,579 for this competitive grant. This year’s funding will be directed to additional energy work on municipal buildings.
Personnel Changes:
Lori Bunyan is our new HR Director starting 8/27. Lori brings 30 years of HR experience to the City. Her appointment will be before you for your first meeting in September.
Greg Jones is no longer working as the Senior Project Planner in the Planning Office and the position has been posted.
Giselle Stevens began work today as the new Head Librarian and Sara Kelso has been hired as the Assistant Head Librarian.
Cynthia Dadd retired on Friday, 8/19 and a nice reception was held at the library.
Rosemary Columbe has been hired as the new Office Manager at the Council on Aging and will be leaving her position in the Auditor’s Office.
Paul O’Brien left on Friday, 8/10 and we wish him all the best and thank him for his work over the past 15 months. The Chief of Staff position has been posted.
Restaurant Owners: Several restaurant owners requested a meeting to discuss the status of liquor licenses and other issues. We are in a very different position than most municipalities that have caps on the number of liquor licenses and must request additional licenses through the legislature. We held a follow up meeting with Craig Holt, Chair of Licensing Commission and Councilors Eigerman and Earls to discuss further. There was no agreement on limiting the number of licenses but the Commission will due further review of an establishment’s history before renewing liquor licenses.
Chapter 41C1/2 and Senior Property Tax Relief: On July 10th Gov. Baker signed the bill authorizing the City to hold a special election to implement C 41 C ½. (See attached) However, the House also passed House Bill 4001, modeled after Reading for a local option to adopt tax relief for seniors. We are reviewing these options and state reimbursement before presenting additional information to the City Council. If we move toward a special election it would be in the spring.
NRA/WFT/City: At the joint meeting on 7/18, the NRA presented a draft RFP for transfer of the land to the Custom House Maritime Museum. The NRA has requested input on the draft RFP. The request for a joint review committee to make recommendations to the NRA is moving forward and will include Council President Connell, Andy Port, Planning Director, Susan C.S. Edwards, Executive Director
Museum of Old Newbury and WFT represented. KP Law is reviewing the procurement processes for redevelopment authorities and a decision should be available to the City Council shortly.
C & J Bus Lines: Jim Jalbert, owner is very concerned about the need for more parking for commuters on Rt 113. The Chamber President and I met to discuss options and status with MADOT. This service is very important to our City and residents and we will continue to work with C&J on resolving these issues.
Plummer Springs Bridge: We held two meetings with W. Newbury with new Town Manager Angus Jennings and their DPW Director; there is a strong desire for the bridge to reopen to cars. We first need to get a better assessment of the replacement work and costs with BSC Group who just received the contract.
Whittier Bridge Mitigation: We are close to finalizing the payment that will come to the city for Wash/McCourt’s multi-year use of city property for staging; the issue is what is standard to return the site to pre-work conditions and what is mitigation.
Opioid Litigation: The firms of Sweeney Merrigan Law, Rodman, Rodman & Sweeney and KP Law are managing the litigation, providing updates and recently requested factual data from the city. All information is confidential at this juncture but we can hold an executive session to discuss further once we have additional information to report out. Marshal Murray and Chief LeClaire are working closely with my office on this matter.
School Committee: On 8/28 we held a retreat with SC members, Superintendent Sean Gallagher and Assistant Superintendent of Curriculum Angela Bik. It was a very productive meeting with positive discussions on the direction of the SC during the next year.
Essex Heritage Kiosk: We reviewed a mockup of the kiosk and made final edits. The kiosk will be installed near the Visitor Center and NRA pop-up park in late October.
Clipper City Rail Trail: Many residents are raising concerns regarding the status of the rail trail maintenance; the city has not accepted the project and will not until the contractor satisfactorily completes the extensive punch list. This includes drainage work, landscape replacement, seeding, mowing etc. We hope to see these completed in the next few weeks. The Planning Office continues to work on erosion controls behind the wastewater plant and we anticipate this being completed in the next month also. We are waiting for a response from MADOT on how to proceed with clean up and know we need to seek additional funding outside of the MVPC Brownfields grant of $100K.
Swearing In Ceremony: Marshal Murray accompanied me to the historic swearing in ceremony of William Gross as the 42nd Police Commissioner for the City of Boston on 8/6/2018.
Change of Command Station Merrimack River: Captain Eric Doucette, Commander Sector Boston officiated the ceremony as we said farewell to Chief Patrick Brown and Senior Chief Shawn Crahen took command of the Coast Guard station.
On Coast Guard Day, August 4th Petty Officer Robert Munroe was awarded the annual Rear Admiral Rybacki award. Munroe is the son of Scott Munroe, owner of the Black Duck. It was nice for a Newburyport native to be stationed in his hometown and to receive this prestigious award.
Visitors Booth Dedication: On 8/4 the Visitor’s Booth on Merrimac St. was dedicated in honor of Pete Morse, long term President of the Newburyport Bank and a man who gave so much to his community.
Firehouse Center for the Arts: On July 22nd, local students present a very powerful play on gun violence in our schools– The Burials. It was followed by a Q & A panel discussing community concerns regarding the safety of our schools and training programs.
Community Host Agreement for Marijuana Cultivation: KP Law has developed a model CHA. A meeting was held with Michael Reardon and his attorney from Happy Valley who received a copy of the HCA, reviewed it with their legal and sent back a red-lined version. KP is reviewing their changes. Riverrun is reviewing their HCA with edits from KP Law. Once these HCAs are finalized, copies will be forwarded for CC review.