2026-08-31 - Finance Committee

0:02Good evening. I will call to order the

0:04finance committee meeting on August

0:0531st, 2026 at 6:30 p.m. Uh we have one

0:10item on the agenda this evening. Uh

0:12communication from the mayor. Uh

0:14proposed order for the acquisition of 40

0:17Lock Drive. Uh with that, I'll begin

0:20with order number 26-1009808.

0:25Communication from the mayor. proposed

0:27order for the acquisition of 40 Lock

0:29Drive. um that the mayor is authorized

0:32to enter into an agreement to acquire

0:34any necessary interest uh in the real

0:37property known as 40 Lock Drive Malro

0:40Mass for municipal purposes including a

0:42new fire station by a friendly eminent

0:45domain taking uh for the sum of

0:47$4,50,000

0:50uh subject to the terms and conditions

0:52of the agreement and any applicable laws

0:56and the following conditions. completion

0:58of any required due diligence and

1:00favorable vote of the city council

1:02authorizing the acquisition of the

1:05property as referenced in the agreement.

1:08In furtherance, therefore, the city

1:09council by a twothirds vote of all its

1:12members hereby authorize an

1:14appropriation of 5 million 92,666

1:20uh to provide funding for the

1:21acquisition of real property for a new

1:24westside fire station, including any and

1:26all damages, services costs relating

1:29there thereto and any design or

1:32construction costs associated with the

1:34new westside fire station and to meet

1:37the said approp appropriation by

1:38reappropriate reappropriating

1:415,92,666

1:45uh currently in land acquisition account

1:48number 1 193006-58120

1:54uh to be available for all such

1:56purposes. Um with that I will also read

1:59the letter submitted by the mayor.

2:03Dear council president Oing and

2:05counselors, it is with immense pride

2:07that I submit this request to you

2:09enclosed for your approval and

2:11acceptance is an order regarding an

2:13agreement to acquire the property at 40

2:15Lock Drive, Malbor. This order

2:18authorizes entering into an agreement

2:20relative to the friendly taking of the

2:22property based upon terms negotiated

2:24with the property owner. Once due

2:27diligence is complete and satisfactory

2:29per the per the agreement, IN anticipate

2:32requesting a future vote to authorize

2:34the actual taking of the property and

2:37adoption of an order of taking which

2:39would be recorded at the registry of

2:42deeds.

2:44Also included for your approval as part

2:46of the order is a request to change the

2:48purposes of the funds in the land

2:50acquisition account number 1

2:521930000006-58120

2:57to reflect the appropriation of funds to

2:59be all encompassing for a new fire

3:01station project including land

3:03acquisition and design and construction

3:05and not limited uh as it is currently

3:08set up. The approval and this

3:10acquisition and re reallocated uh funds

3:13will streamline the process of building

3:16of a muchneeded westside fire station.

3:19There is much work that needs to be done

3:21but this is a a a massive step forward

3:24towards ma meeting the needs and demands

3:26of our growing community to ensure

3:28public safety and response times for the

3:31west side of the city. This milestone

3:33could not have happened without the help

3:35in collaboration of my office with

3:38Westside Fire Station Committee, our

3:40legal department, both police and fire

3:42department, DPW, MEEDC, and the support

3:45of the city council. I look forward to

3:48discussing any questions you may have

3:50about the acquisition of this important

3:52property. Sincerely, J. Christian Dumis,

3:54Mayor. And at that point, Mr. Mayor, if

3:57you wish to bring anyone of your team.

3:59Um, also a reminder to the finance

4:02committee, this would we'd be voting on

4:04two votes this evening um on this agenda

4:07item. Good evening, Mr. Mayor. Good

4:10evening, Mr. Solicitor.

4:13>> Good evening.

4:15I don't know what you can kind of go

4:18through on on um the the friendly land

4:22taking um and um we or any part of the

4:26agreement that you wish to share um what

4:30>> so we are hopefully entering into

4:32agreement to acquire 40 lock drive for

4:35the fire station and if council approves

4:38it then we can start doing our due

4:40diligence with testing the land and

4:42moving forward to see what that will

4:44encompass. office to move forward to

4:45actually the design and then obviously

4:47the building of the property. So what is

4:50before you just need the approval to

4:53enter in this agreement so we can take

4:55the next steps moving forward.

4:57>> Thank you, Mr. Mayor. And and yeah,

4:58we're all very happy to have this be

5:01coming down streamlining this. Um we've

5:03all had an opportunity looking at the uh

5:05committee years ago for the fire

5:07westside fire station and appropriate

5:09these funds. Um, at this point I will

5:11open it up to the finance team if we had

5:13any questions or any councils have any

5:15questions. Council vital.

5:17>> Thank you, Mr. Chair. I'm this is the

5:19first piece of property that since I've

5:21become city councelor. I'm not familiar

5:23with the term friendly eminent domain.

5:26Uh eminent domain I always thought was

5:28you the city wanted it and and took it.

5:31What is a friendly eminent domain?

5:33>> It means that they agree to it and we

5:34don't have to go to court basically. So,

5:37it's just an agreement between the

5:38sellers attorney and us. So, it's a

5:41friendly taking rather than us coming in

5:42saying we demand this piece of property.

5:45>> Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Thank you, Mr.

5:47Chair.

5:47>> Thank you, Council Vital.

5:49>> Councelor Orman,

5:51>> thank you. Actually, I asked this

5:52question earlier, too. It's confusing.

5:55[clears throat] Excuse me. It's

5:56confusing to see two different numbers

5:58in here and the mayor explained it, but

6:00maybe he could explain it for the

6:01general public just so they know what

6:04we're appropriating versus 4 million

6:06versus 5 million. I would ask that maybe

6:08the mayor explain what he pretty much

6:10explained to me just so the general

6:12public knows as well.

6:13>> Sure. The 4 million is the purchase

6:14price of the property and then the 5

6:16million is what we have allocated to

6:19actually for mitigation money that city

6:22council have been able to accumulate

6:24over the years. um to designate to the

6:26Westside Fire Station.

6:28>> And if I may, will that account still

6:30remain in effect with the 1 million in

6:33there for future costs such as the

6:35building cost?

6:35>> That's why you was before you to vote

6:37on. That's why we're changing the

6:38verbiage. So, it will be allocated to a

6:41fire station and not connected to a

6:44specific address as previously it is now

6:47currently.

6:48>> Thank you for the clarification. Thank

6:50you, Mr. Chair.

6:51>> Council

6:53Councelor Ducet.

6:55Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. Uh, just

6:57general question and procedure. Are we

6:58going to go through the entire contract

7:00page by page or we just doing general

7:03summaries?

7:04>> Nope.

7:04>> Okay. Um, thank you for that. I

7:06appreciate that. I

7:08>> I just figured that some of the things

7:09that we've kind of seen on some of the

7:11other things before uh that we really

7:12didn't have to go through the the total

7:14agreement.

7:15>> Yeah. Yeah. No, that that's fine. I do

7:16have a couple of questions. So, I just

7:18wasn't concerned about the process of

7:19that. So, I appreciate the

7:20clarification. Um, just a couple of

7:23things. Um, one of the things I noticed

7:26is in a couple of sections of the

7:28contract, uh, items are eliminated,

7:31right? Um, intentionally omitted, I

7:34think is the appropriate term. Why is

7:36that so?

7:37>> Sure. Through the chair. So sometimes

7:39when you're going back and forth

7:40negotiating an agreement which has many

7:42paragraphs and an order you know A B C 1

7:452 3 4 numbering system rather than and

7:49let's say a particular sentence is just

7:51coming out and there's not going to be

7:53whatever section D anymore. A lot of

7:55times you'll see it'll just rather than

7:57reumber everything and watching out for

8:00references within internally to the

8:02document just put the phrase

8:04intentionally omitted.

8:05>> Okay. Okay. So the biggest argument

8:07point and many of these was

8:08intentionally admitted which is fine. Um

8:10is this something that is going to be

8:13cleared for the last version to get rid

8:15of those

8:16>> or is it is is the final draft

8:19continuing to have intentionally

8:20admitted

8:21>> through the so the final draft will have

8:23it as you see it and that's that's

8:25common. Yeah.

8:26>> Okay. Um the other question I had

8:30specifically was with item 19.

8:33Um and and just to be clear, I'm in

8:36total support of this. So this is this

8:38is not this is, you know, just going now

8:40trying to get clarification. Um but uh

8:44city agrees not to record this agreement

8:46or any memoriam and thereof at any

8:49registered deeds and owner's option. Any

8:51attempt to record it shall render this

8:52agreement null and void in owner sold

8:55discretion.

8:57I thought when we purchase it, we have

8:58to record it. So what's going on here?

9:00>> Sure. So what that paragraph is saying

9:03is [clears throat] this actual agreement

9:05itself would not get recorded at the

9:07registry of deeds and and that's pretty

9:09common right when we're okay

9:11>> but the actual the order of taking that

9:14um would transfer ownership that will

9:15get recorded at the registry. Okay. So,

9:17it would be a separate document that

9:18actually does the recording and the

9:20deeds, not this contract.

9:22>> Correct.

9:23>> Gotcha. Okay. Thank you for that. That

9:25actually makes it much clearer.

9:26>> Um, and it's for the first time. I just

9:30want to make a comment. I've never seen

9:31a reference in party three uh sorry,

9:34section 3 into section 7. Uh, jumping

9:37ahead like that. But um in section

9:40seven,

9:42what were those um the owner

9:45representations that the Omar is full

9:47powered attorney?

9:49Um this is just regular boilerplate that

9:52came up as far as contracts and

9:54agreements

9:56>> for section 7.

9:57>> Yes.

9:58>> Some of those are pretty common that you

10:00would see. Other those have been

10:01negotiated as part of the this

10:03transaction. They're things

10:05representations are things that the

10:07owner is putting on the record

10:08essentially going into the transaction.

10:11>> Okay. Okay. Okay. That's great. Thank

10:14you for the clarification. Do appreciate

10:16that.

10:19>> All right. I just had questions about

10:20now you said you're going to do due

10:22diligence to you know test the land,

10:25test the soil. If something is found

10:28that cannot easily be remediated, would

10:30that cancel the sale?

10:33Yes. So, so the so the city would have

10:36the option to review the situation at

10:38that point uh in this 60-day period. So,

10:41it depends obviously on the details of

10:43what that would be.

10:44>> Correct.

10:45>> All right. Thank you.

10:46>> Thank you, council.

10:48Any further questions for the finance

10:50committee?

10:52>> Mr. President,

10:53>> so I I just want to expand on what

10:56council or mentioned in the vote that

10:58the council's taking. So, the the

11:00changing of the order for the $5 million

11:02that if you recall in 2022, we

11:05authorized a prior administration a land

11:08acquisition of $5 million

11:10to purchase 100 Lock Drive and we've

11:13been carrying that in our capital

11:15account forever. Well, since 2022,

11:19right? So the the discussions with the

11:22mayor and the solicitor and the finance

11:25team um in order to make it appropriate

11:28to now we we don't want 100. We're now

11:30going to pursue 40 lock drive and that

11:34lot works the uh price is less. So, the

11:38reason that portion of the orders before

11:40you is to say that $5 million that was

11:42dedicated to 100 lock drive is now going

11:46to be dedicated to buying Westside Fire

11:49Station

11:51somewhere, which is good in in this

11:54particular case. If this all works out,

11:56that's an additional million dollars

11:57that would come under. All right. But it

12:00will allow the mayor and his team to do

12:05design work, other things without having

12:07to come back to the council. Separate

12:10from that mitigation money that we've

12:13been tucking away, the Westside Fire

12:16Station mitigation account has almost $4

12:18million

12:20in it. And that's from

12:23Green District phases one and two.

12:26That's about 2.8 million. Fezant Hill

12:29Retirement Community 1 million Lazot

12:31Drive 50,000

12:34pending. In other words, projects that

12:35we've approved, but they [snorts]

12:37haven't broke ground yet. Because

12:38remember, just because we approve a

12:39project doesn't mean it's going to get

12:41built. We've got the other two um

12:44buildings at Lazot Drive. One's for

12:4663,000 and one's for 74,000.

12:50We have the $74,000 one, but it's in

12:53that quasi state before free cash is

12:55certified. So, we'll see that once free

12:57cash gets certified. Green district

12:59phases three and four, that's an

13:00additional $600,000 each. So, that's

13:03$1.3 million more that's coming into

13:06that Westside stabilization account. So,

13:08go 4 million plus 1.3, you're up to 5.3

13:11million. Okay.

13:14The Ames Forest Street project had

13:16$90,000 uh coming in, but it's in court

13:21right now, so we may not see that

13:23depending on how the court case goes.

13:26Other projects that are before us, the

13:28campus resoning, the Forest Street

13:31residential overlay, those are all

13:33opportunities to put more money to the

13:34Westside Fire Station.

13:37So again, we're talking the fire station

13:39bond will be about $35 million. It's

13:42going it won't be $35 million. I'll tell

13:45you that right now. It'll be something

13:46around there. All right. That impact is

13:49going to be $145 per year to the

13:51additional uh to the average taxpayer.

13:55All right. But right now before us, what

13:57we want to be able to do is like we none

13:59of that matters if we don't buy a parcel

14:00of land and build a fire station. So,

14:03you know, I encourage the finance

14:06committee to approve the mayor's order,

14:08which does two things. allows the mayor

14:10to proceed to finalize the purchase and

14:12sale agreement, do all their due

14:13diligence, and change the order that

14:16fixes it from 100 lock drive to

14:18basically buy stuff associated with a

14:21westside fire station. So, you have two

14:22chunks of money, 5 million, which is

14:24really a land acquisition and an extra

14:26million for what the mayor is going to

14:28do, and then the stabilization account

14:30that has currently 4 million with 1.3

14:32pending coming, assuming they build. And

14:35then who knows what else if the other

14:37projects come forward and what the

14:38appetite of the council is for

14:39mitigation. Even more money that would

14:41be used to offset the bond for the fire

14:45station, which is good. I mean, we've

14:46been doing our homework slowly trying to

14:48chip away because that $145 per year is

14:52not assuming any of that money gets

14:53applied to reduce the bond. So, that's

14:56that's good news. But again, I encourage

14:59the finance committee to look favorable

15:01on the mayor's order, which again does

15:02those two things. allows the mayor to go

15:04ahead and and finalize the purchase and

15:06sale and change the order. The mayor

15:09will be coming back to us for

15:11authorizing of the taking and an order

15:13that actually transfers money to buy the

15:15parcel assuming the council and the due

15:19diligence goes in the favor that the

15:21city is hoping for.

15:23>> Thank you.

15:24>> Thank you, Mr. Chair.

15:25>> Would we uh ask for if this goes

15:27through, would we ask for a suspension

15:29for the next meeting? I mean, I'll look

15:31to the mayor, but I think that'd be

15:32appropriate because they want the timing

15:34is to get this move. Remember, the goal

15:36was to get this done before the end of

15:39the year so we can start the design

15:40phase. Yes. And get the fire station

15:42moving because again, you're talking

15:44building a project and a building takes

15:4718 to 24 months. So, it it's these these

15:51tax impacts are two years plus down the

15:54road, less whatever ban Brian comes up

15:56with. But um it's it's it's still a ways

16:00away. But as the mayor said, this is a

16:02big step to get what was the word?

16:04Massive step. Is that the one? Massive.

16:07>> This this is big because until we find a

16:09spot to put it, we can't do anything. So

16:10that's why it's key.

16:12>> Thank you. Thank you, Mr. President, for

16:13that information. Um council vital and

16:15then I'll go to council.

16:17>> Thank you, Mr. Chair. I'd like to make a

16:19motion to allow the mayor uh the sum of

16:21$4,ion50,000

16:23to uh subject to all the terms and

16:26conditions that we talked about before

16:28in order to purchase the property at 40

16:30Lock Drive.

16:31>> If I could I comment on that?

16:32>> Yes, absolutely. Mr. President,

16:33>> if you could council vio just make a

16:35motion to approve the order as written

16:37by the mayor. I think that that'd be

16:39simple. mentor once time told me that I

16:41was a little verbose so I was trying to

16:43keep it small to begin with but in order

16:45yes let's make a motion to to uh approve

16:49the motion as as written

16:51>> u thank thank you councel motion's been

16:53made and seconded to approve order

16:55number 26-1009808

16:59um which authorizes the mayor to enter

17:02into an agreement to acquire any

17:03necessary interest in the real property

17:05known as 40 Lock Drive Morrow Mass uh

17:08for municipal purposes, including a new

17:10fire station by a friendly imminent

17:12domain taking for a sum of $4,50,000

17:17uh subject to the terms and condition of

17:18the agreement and any applicable laws

17:21and the following conditions. Uh also

17:24motion to approve the appropriation of

17:27the five of $5,92,666

17:32uh to to provide funding for the

17:34acquisition of real property for the new

17:37westside fire station including any and

17:39all damages services cost relating there

17:41too and any design construction costs

17:44associated with the new westside fire

17:46station and to meet said appropriation

17:49by reappropriating

17:515,92 $2,666

17:54currently in land acquisition account

17:57number 1 193006-58120

18:02to be available for all such purposes.

18:05Motion's been made and seconded. Any

18:07further discussion?

18:09>> Mr. Chair, earlier you had mentioned

18:10that we're going to have two votes. Is

18:12now we going to combine the two?

18:13>> Yes. So my my thinking was that you you

18:18said approve the order. So that was the

18:20that was the order, right, Mr.

18:22President?

18:22>> That's correct.

18:22>> That's that's correct. Council

18:25>> and thank you. I was going to actually

18:27jump ahead of Council of Bital, but

18:28that's fine. I was in agreement with

18:30exactly what he was asking and

18:32motioning. So I'm all set.

18:33>> You're all set. Thank you.

18:34>> Okay. Motion's been made and second. No

18:36further discussion. All in favor? One,

18:39two, three, four. It carries. I will

18:42entertain a motion. Oh, with uh and

18:45that's okay to have a suspension. Thank

18:46you. carries with a suspension. With

18:49that said, uh motion I'll entertain a

18:51motion to adjurnn.

18:52>> You sure you want to adjurnn? It's a

18:54summon night. We could stay a little

18:55longer and talk about things. Motion to

18:58adjurnn.

18:58>> Motion made and seconded to adjourn. All

19:01in favor? 1 2 3 4 5. We are adjourned at

19:066:49 p.m. Thank you. Thank you. Got it.