MAYOR’S UPDATE
October 12, 2021
Mayor Donna D. Holaday
City Council Agenda
Pickle ball Courts: The project is being endorsed and supported by the Newburyport Council on Aging. After substantial planning and conducting a study, the pickleball courts will be of real value to its membership and community. It is also a fast growing and popular sport. The courts will be located adjacent to the Senior/Community Center. A fundraising plan was also developed, and the Council on Aging would like to proceed with the Request for Proposal process to move the project forward. I am asking for your support on this.
CPA Funding for the Restoration of Nock Middle School Tennis Courts: As requested, the language and application for the CPA Funding has been modified to include the City of Newburyport School District and the Newburyport Parks Department. Both the School District and Parks have agreed to this change. The CPC meets tomorrow night and will review the changes in project management.
Electrical Fees: We wish to increase our electrical permit fees this year. The last time our electrical fees were reviewed was in 2009. Greg Earls has done great work in evaluating the fee structure and recommendation based on a comparable study of fees with Topsfield, Salisbury, Newbury and West Newbury. The fees are modest and in line with neighboring communities. I seek your affirmative vote on approving the increases.
Market Landing Park Expansion: We continue our work with Sasaki on finalizing the conceptual design for the Market Landing Park. Thank you to the ad hoc waterfront committee and Planning Department for their work and to all who participated in the survey and provided feedback to the Sasaki team.
Bulkhead: Last week we held a meeting with GEI’s coastal engineer on the status of the bulkhead project and to determine if there is a need to elevate the bulkhead as we move forward on the next phase of the renovation to address the continuing degradation of the structure. We plan to incorporate the ability to add to the bulkhead and raise the boardwalk in the future (10-15 years) as the need arises.
Reservation Terrace Work: We are working with the contractor on finalizing the schedule for the work to begin on Plum Island at Reservation Terrace. Thank you again for approving this project. The state is providing $400,000 in funding with $100,000 in city funds for the project. It should be completed in 4-6 weeks weather permitting. An updated survey was completed last week by GZA and a pre-construction site visit is scheduled this week.
Indigenous People’s Day: The first Indigenous Day celebration for Newburyport was held yesterday at Moseley Park. This special event hosted by the Unitarian Universalist Church First Religious Society included speakers, presenters and performers. Highlights included prayers and acknowledgements from Red Dawn and her family; reading of the Resolution; as well as remarks by Reverend Rebecca Bryan and Mary Flyn from the church; Teddy Speck, Theater in the Open announced a community read “This Land is Their Land” by David J. Silverman; followed by musical performances by Imagine Studios and much more. We had a wonderful turnout from the community, and I’m very grateful for all who participated in the event.
DEI: Several of our DEI Alliance members recently volunteered two full days of their time to participate in a virtual Essential Partners training leading dialogues. They learned much about about crafting successful dialogues and using this tool as a way to create community cohesion. The group is now creating a plan to move the group forward in engaging the community in future forums.
State of the City: I plan to hold my final State of the City address on Thursday, October 28th at 7:00 here at City Hall in the auditorium. I hope that you will be able to attend my last address as mayor.
OTHER:
COVID-19 – It is important to understand that the COVID-19/Delta virus is still around us and are numbers have reached the highest level since the first surge.
Rapid Recovery Grant: We received a Local Rapid Recovery Plan for Newburyport from our consultant at PPRI. The 191-page report includes findings of their study, using the four-part “Commercial DNA” framework adopted by the Department of Housing and Community Development, as well as data from the business survey and a review of existing and ongoing planning work. A set of “tactical” project recommendations have been made for projects going forward. We will be providing additional communications and follow ups as we work directly with the DHCD on these initiatives.
Plummer Springs Bridge: A meeting was held with the Town Manager, Angus Jennings of W. Newbury to discuss the update to our MOU for our joint efforts to renovate this bridge. We are need to address the significant escalation of costs and the gap of $1.1M. Both community grants, Small Bridge program and MassWorks grant have an end date of June 2022; we are trying to extend this time frame in hopes that additional infrastructure funding will be available to assist in the cost escalation.
Upcoming Dates:
MA School Building Authority: we received positive news on our Statement of Interest for the Science labs at NHS. A first meeting with MSBA is scheduled for 10/19.
Global Gas: Public Hearing is scheduled for 10/25 at 6:30 PM
MADOT: Public meeting on the Rt. 1 rotary redesign on Wed., Nov. 10th at 7 pm.