MAYOR’S UPDATE October 25, 2021
Mayor Donna D. Holaday
City Council
Newburyport Youth Services: As all of you know, a recent inspection of the heating equipment in the building determined the system to be obsolete and the cost to repair or replace it makes no financial sense at this time. With temperatures beginning to drop, we had to close up the building last Friday. The NYS office and Rec Center are shut down this week, while we look for options for temporary space. We are trying to keep NYS staff and programs together if possible. Currently, we are looking at churches with a site visit tomorrow; a site visit was conducted last Friday for an open commercial property on Parker Street that could accommodate middle and high school programs, and two other commercial spaces. While we work with NYS to look for new programming and administrative spaces, staff is working remotely and meeting locally as a group. We just received the final draft of the environmental site assessment of the Brown School from Credere. We are requesting additional information and clarification regarding this investigation and we will release the study shortly.
Voting will be held on Tuesday, Nov. 2nd for Ward 2 at the Brown School in the 1st floor classroom as you enter the building from Milk St. Portable heaters will be onsite and this space can be safely used for voting.
57 Low Street: Credere also completed the environmental assessment at 57 Low St. the former National Guard site and no concerns were identified with the boring tests or air quality tests within the building. We are in touch with the National Guard on the possibility of revisiting the City Council vote on purchasing the property since we were allowed to complete the outstanding testing that was of concern to some City Councilors. We will review these findings in more detail with the City Council as soon as
the full study is finalized. I anticipate a response from the National Guard this week on the potential prospect and process of revisiting this purchase.
Fire Station Project: The waiver of appraisal and damages has been signed by the Gabriels and myself for the property acquisition of 1 Lieutenant Leary Drive. We can now move forward to approve the land acquisition with the negotiated sale price of $400,000. The next steps are working with Winter Streets Architects on the final design.
Market Landing Park Expansion: We continue our work with Sasaki on finalizing the conceptual design for the Market Landing Park. Funding approval is needed for Sasaki to move forward to 75% design. I fully support the late file submitted tonight to separate design and architectural between former NRA balance and parking revenues to cover the $437,000 costs; it includes $45,000 in contingency or $11.5%.
Bulkhead: We have not heard about our federal “earmark” for $3.4 towards this project and
consequently the grant administrator for the Seaport Economic Advisory Council (SEAC) has requested we hold our application for $1M until the May 2022 round. This is important as the full funding for the project needs to be in place to be considered a viable application. This also provides more time to see if the State release of ARPA funds could also be a potential funding source.
Reservation Terrace Short-Term Protection: We were ready to mobilize today but equipment had to be removed from the beach due to the weather conditions. SumCo hopes to begin on Wednesday, again weather permitting. The project must work around not only the weather, but tides and the City and DCR will allow a flexible schedule of work that may go into evening hours under lights. The contract and permits runs through the end of December but I am optimistic the project will be completed prior to that
end date.
MA School Building Authority: We received positive news that we are one of several applications that the MSBA is conducting a more thorough review of our Statement of Interest (SOI) for the Science labs at NHS. A conference call was held on 10/19 to review the process with MSBA key staff and their consultant with myself, facilities, NPS Administration and key NHS staff. This was followed by a site visit to NHS by MSBA and Principal Andy Wulf and Science Teacher Erin Hobbs were key in presenting the science department needs and vision. We will be notified on 12/15 or 3/2 following
the next MSBA review of SOIs whether or not we move forward to the next eligibility period or should reapply for next year. The MSBA contribution would be 43% of eligible costs.
AGENDA ITEMS:
CPA & Nock Tennis Courts: As requested, the project manager has been changed to the Newburyport Public Schools and Parks Department. I would like to thank the members of Friends of Newburyport Tennis for their efforts and encourage their continued advocacy for tennis and funding.
Teamsters Department Head Contract: We appreciate the due diligence by the Budget and Finance subcommittee on the recently negotiated three-year contract with the Department Heads. The request for comparative salaries from other municipalities was submitted to the Chair by Ethan Manning, Finance
Director earlier today. I encourage your approval of the contract tonight.
IT Staffing: As you know, IT is essentially managed throughout city operations by a sole person, Mark Kavanaugh. We need additional supports to address individual department and staff needs, upgrades to our website (which again is getting very stale), enhance communications and social media as well as to establish a succession plan. I look forward to reviewing this request further and please note that supplemental budget requests must be approved before the tax rate is set. The funding for this supplemental budget is available from the cuts made to the FY22 budget during review and passage.
State of the City: I cordially invite City Councilors and the public to join me Thursday night, 10/28 at 7 pm as I give my final State of the City Address. It will be held in the City Hall auditorium and Newburyport HUB will live stream the event.
OTHER:
COVID-19 – As of last Friday, the vaccine booster shot was approved for people 65 years or older, people 18+ who live in long-term care settings, people 18+ who have underlying medical conditions, people 18+ who work or live-in high-risk settings. All eligible individuals as listed above may choose which vaccine they receive as a booster dose (it does not need to be the same as the original vaccine). CDC’s recommendations now allow for this type of mix and match dosing for booster shots only. At this time, we do not plan to re-open the vaccine
collaborative; local appointments to get the vaccine can be made through the state’s website at vaxfinder.mass.gov or you can call 2-1-1. If residents are homebound and need a vaccine, they can call the Homebound Vaccination Program Central Intake Line at 1-833-983-0485 Monday through Friday 8:30am to 5:00pm. We also anticipate
UPCOMING DATES:
NED: Andy Port, Planning Director and I meeting with Mr. Karp and team tomorrow in Boston.
MADOT: Public meeting on the Rt. 1 rotary redesign on Wed., Nov. 10th at 7 pm.
ELECTION DAY Nov. 2rd: My sincerest thanks to all running for office in this election season. Please be sure to vote- early voting is this week at the Senior Community Center – T, W 8:30 am – 3:30 pm; Th 8:30 am – 6:30 pm, F 8:30 – 11:30 am. On Nov. 2nd polls are opened from 7 am – 8 pm.